Two Blue Wings

“Ocean magic…” Chapter 20 (1^st draft a sensual chapter)…

Horus and His Companions The Sun The Light & The Moon…

Finding myself after the bright flash of light with surprisingly no dizziness this time, standing between Mark and Brian nearer than I would like on a cliff over looking the ocean. Then it hit me the intoxicating feel of the clean breeze grabbing at the conjured golden robe that flapped around me wildly. I felt the cool breeze deep in my bones, deeper into my heart. It was a sensation I had never felt before.

“Welcome to Anice…” I heard Marta say from behind me, over the rushing sounds of the wind in my ears.

I turned around to find Marta and Brad walking toward us.

“Didn’t know you didn’t like heights,” Brian said.

“Umm, yeah, well, I can get use to it, if it makes me feel the way I feel now!” I said, taking a glance over the edge at the huge expanse of water that glittered with light reflecting off the waves born by the ocean.

Marta placed her hands on my waist, like she was holding me in place for me to visually catch up with my footing there.

“Yes, it makes me feel that way too, like I could fly, getting lost in the air over the sea. In fact I can fly. But you can not at this point, Gemma.” Marta said, smiling widely at me.

“Good to know. I kind of figured there was a catch to what I felt!” I said. It still felt so good. I noticed how Marta’s dark auburn hair whirled around her face as the wind commanded it.

Brad reached out his hand placing it on the back of my neck, drawing me close then kissing me tenderly.

“Hey,” I said to him, appreciating the taste of his lips.

“Well, now that Brian got that out of his system, we have some work to do, Gemma,” Brad said, then looking over to Mark, who stood smiling slightly. Brian was undaunted by the statement, grinned back at Brad.

“Gemma, we will be making our way down the cliff to the ocean for that swim. Then Alec will be joining us. That is the work, Brad mentioned,” Mark said, offering his hand to me.

“I am up for all of it. Should I be worried at this point?” I said, wondering what he met by ‘work’?

Marta said, “I can answer that one. No you do not have to worry, now or at anytime. What we teach you is set up for your success. We need you successful, Gemma. We also love you very much. So no worries there for you.”

Brian said, “This isn’t a job interview… you have the job already, girl!”

“Good to know Brian, I kinda figured that. But Marta… could I fly in the past?” I said, I was intrigued, it was like a memory was floating around my head attempting to reconnect with me.

“From what I understand of your abilities and bravado in battle, yes, you could fly taking great risks, according to both Lucia and Alec,” Marta said, giving a squeeze to my waist. Felt like reassurance I was remembering things right.

We started our walk down a well worn sand covered rock path. It was less steep than I had anticipated. I was right now less fearful as I fed off the sensation given me by the view. It was then I heard Marta in my head…

“Gemma, fear is something we allow, coming from what we imagine. You and we are in control of this environment. Our intentions support our efforts, the energy flows to each of us to be used. There is balance. Where there is an attempt at balance there is no room for fear. We are too busy for it. Lucia, confirmed that for me, when we last talked. She told me of her ‘death’ and Alec catching her, once she had completed what she went to do. Her intention carried her back to us… with you. So enjoy your feelings. I have you in my hand, remember that…” Marta said to my heart and head.

I whispered, “I will.”

Marta placed her hand on my shoulder from where she was behind me on the path. Yes, I felt she had heard me. This talking in our heads, I gotta get it down, for when I can’t see them, I thought.

The sand was so fine and white when we reached it. I felt if I had to walk in it for long, I would grow very tired. But then I was here, where I have not been getting tired physically in this world. I only got tired mentally… I am guessing that is energy driven, I thought.

I heard the ocean waves crashing, but the rock pinnacles were much farther out into the ocean than seen from the top of the cliff where we had started.

“Hey, Gemma, take off that robe, give it to Marta.” Brad said.

I did and Marta dismissed it from her hands.

I feel the spray of the ocean on my skin, the wind would cool it down immediately, raising goose bumps on my flesh. I guess I will have to tough that out.

Brad came over to me. Grabbed me by the shoulders standing me directly in front of him. His lips moving, he placed his hand on the top of my head. It was then I felt a warmth surround me. This feeling then clung to my skin and then disappeared leaving the warmth intact. The ocean spray came only as a refreshing coolness on to my skin, and not something I had to dread or tolerate.

“That should do it for now. For our swim. We would not want you uncomfortable. But you are on your own swimming my dear. We will be with you, but I am guessing you will not have any problems,” Brad said, taking my hand and leading me into the surf.

I saw Marta and Mark, run out into the surf with the waves appearing to swallow them whole. Brad pulled me into the surf, along with my uncertainty.

“Hey,” I shouted above the roar of the waves. “This chop looks rough. You don’t have to catch a breath but I do!”

“Trust me Gemma, just go in, all the way in. The spell that is on you is an aquatic one, I control it, I will keep you breathing!” Brad shouted back.

Brian then wrapped his arms around me just below my bare breasts, picking me up slightly he carried me into the waist high surf, then setting me free afloat in the sea foam. The waves did the rest and took me under into the blue green waters.

I fought hard to get to the surface, but I was tumbling. It was then I had to catch my breath, I was totally out, with the struggle. I felt a chill of fear come over me as I shook my head to free myself from fear and the surf. I took the breath I was denying myself…

I was breathing water! Oh the Gods… what had Brad done to me. He was there holding on to my upper right arm. In my head his voice was too loud now.

“Gemma, my god, calm down enough to hear!” Brad said, he pulled me full length of himself, holding me tightly.

I thought, can you hear me?

“Yes, I can hear you, we all heard you, Gemma, just calm down relax, I will not let you go until you do… dear just breathe normally. We did not take you out here to drown,” Brad said to me, I felt drowsy in his arms, he was doing what Mark had done… it felt like that, the calm. I then felt Marta touching my bottom and my back with her hands.

I heard Marta say to Brad, something like let her go from the calm, she must learn to trust us.

The drowsiness left me immediately. I was out of the tunnel of calm and back into the raging waters. I clung to Brad. I felt him respond with a tighter grip on me. Then I felt between my legs him too, long and very firm. Oddly, I found this comforting and not sensual.

Marta patting me on the bottom and rubbing my back using both of her hands.

It seems like a long time, until I was calming myself in the rock of the ocean, as it floated us in and then out. The out felt a longer period than the in. I wondered if we would make it back in again…

“Gemma, we are safe in the sea. You are safe here too. We are in our world, not the one you left… Brad is going to let go of you. Open your eyes, look at us first, please,” Marta said, in my head, as her words then echoed into my heart from down my throat.

I opened my eyes and saw them in the twilight of green water right at eye level with me. They both smiled. It was surreal. I saw and felt my hair moving with the water. I felt Brad let up on me, then let me go. I spontaneously started moving my arms and legs to stay with them. I was surprised I could.

“Gemma, enjoy, remain calm, ask questions just like you are doing, girl,” Brad said, in my head. I felt my mind rest on where the words had been, my body felt free and not tired. I then felt I was part of the water and part of these two with me, right then.

“Yes, rely on the unity, Gemma, very good,” I heard Marta say.

I looked hard at them both. They looked like angels to me. Beautiful, sensual, strong…

“I have never been compared to an angel, Gemma. Actually I have been compared to much worse characters in mythology!” Marta said, to me. Then she swam around grabbed my waist from the back of me and guided me that way as she followed Brad out into what looked like the darkness of the deep.

I figured out why they liked to swim, it was restful, just floating in something larger than myself. But I was in as much control as was the body of water embracing me. Yes, it was different here. Once I got over anticipating the worse… the fear. Gods, she was right. Why can’t I use the warnings she gives me?

“Gemma, because you over think things. I think that comes from your lack of memories, your fear about your lack of memories. You are compensating. That is not unusual for you from what I understand. You will regain both your confidence and memories. You are powerful, Gemma.” Marta said to me in my head.

“Just remember her words. What we just accomplished here. Soon you will need both of these, when Alec arrives,” Brad said.

“What have I accomplished? I was helpless without you two, if what I have to do is that serious here soon with Alec,” I thought out loud to them both, I felt a bit of anger well up in me. Gods, they are right I will want to know if I can do what it is Alec will ask… shit I gotta calm down, I thought.

I heard Mark say, “Gemma, tell them to come back in, Alec is here for us.”

I said, “You telling me that, Mark?”

“Yes, because you are a ways out into the sea, you the easiest one to connect with for me… again, Gemma. Good thing, gotta keep that connection going with you.” Mark said, in the center of my chest.

“Hey,” I thought, focusing on where I had felt Marta’s words last, “We gotta go back to the beach now, Mark just told me.”

“Yes, I just felt that too,” Marta said.

Brad swam close to me over my back and grasped my waist, as Marta had done previously.

“Let’s go, I am stronger at this point, we can make time better this way,” Brad said.

I attempted to help, but then just made my self as streamline as possible for him to swim us in. Marta was even with us. This felt so natural, so wonderful.

Once we got near the shore apparently, I heard Brad say to me to expel my breath before lifting my head out of the water. He repeated it again, I squeezed the hand he offered me.

I did.

I coughed once as I walked out of the surf. I felt changed by the surf. I had been out in the roughest water I could have imagined. I felt safe and at home there. I also felt like I never wanted to leave it.

I saw Alec standing nude on the shore, alone, no Lucia. I felt I so wanted to see her.

I was surprised, I felt I had attempted to connect with Alec and he said nothing back.

This was a cue I would take from him for what was about to go down, between him and me. I remember Lucia telling me he is a hard task master. I think I will be finding out, a part of me wanted to rebel and meet his tenacity. Gods, I am insane. What the hell was wrong with me. I did not at this point remember a god damn thing, to counter him with. What is up with that?

I heard a distant voice, then figured out it was Mark, “Breathe, Gemma, this is not a test it is a trigger, just focus, follow what you ‘think’ you need to do next…”

I kept Alec in my line of sight. I held tight the spot in my chest I last heard Mark. I did not want to yield anything to Alec, I wanted to defeat him the way he wanted me to, to show I can make it when I am sent back. I felt my heart pounding. Gods, I must control my emotions, mustn’t let him see me sweat over this. I started watching his hands. His eyes. Which way is he standing. What am I thinking… was this me or experience demanding my attention to detail?

Alec said, “Gemma, stand where you are there.”

I shouted back, “Why? What do you want from me?”

Alec looked back, as if he owned me and the beach we stood on, “Because I want to see if you can defend yourself.”

It became surreal again… this time I felt everything around me. I knew where Marta stood, I could feel Mark’s breathing… Gods am I imagining this? I can’t reveal what I know to this magus.

“No, you are looking to see if you can defend yourself from me!” I shouted back, now I felt I needed to make myself as narrow a target as possible. I found I favored my left hand and my right felt like a shielding option. I was listening to myself, myself talk.

“Really, Gemma?” Alec now shouted back, he gave a side glance to Mark, who was off to my left behind me.

Gods, maybe they are all in on this… like an ambush. I swung side ways to free my back from those behind me. I then placed my full focus on Alec. It was then I felt a warmth in my hands, I felt the need to rub them together. But I knew I must do it in a way it would be imperceptible to Alec or any of them for that matter. I had had no time to prepare, I was not warmed up like I used to be. Where in the Gods names was this awareness coming from… but I had nothing else to follow right then, I was in this jam. God damn you Alec, just prove what you need to and stop this shit!

It looked like he had heard me. Gods, I must act first. I touch my right hand to my left and then pushed out my left palm toward him… then I hit the dirt. A flash of light hit Alec squarely, but I could not see where, I was on the ground rolling to the left with my right hand extended to do what, I was foggy on that point.

Once I refocused on Alec and not the sensations in my body and the burn in my hand, I saw him in a catchers’ stance, he had caught what ever I had thrust toward him and was returning it. I sprang on to my hands and feet and leaped toward him… shit why toward him? I got it, then he missed.

Good for me. When would this end, hadn’t I proved myself. His face was stone cold of emotion and he was now standing back up taking his stance again, this time he was making himself narrow too.

It was then I knew I would not survive a direct hit, that I must run towards him with all my might… I was feline after all, I could out match his speed, he was merely Aquaeous… I jumped up and ran as low as I could to the ground at an incredible speed right at him. I sensed he seemed to anticipate this move, so I veered to round him to my right. My right hand preparing to shield for the next roll if I had to take it. I felt wild, transformed, transparent, then I was upon him… I heard myself begin to say words using a strange cadence. It was then Marta grabbed my arm as she materialized next to me, screaming Gemma STOP! I did, her touch was like a force I could not imagine, but no pain followed it into my body. I lay on my back, with Alec on his knees next to me looking down into my face. He was slightly out of breath, I felt too in a bit of trouble. I felt fear hit me, OH MY GOD what have I done. SELFISH SHIT that I am….

Marta said, “Gemma calm down, you did what you were asked to do… what Alec commanded you to do… he consented to this.”

“By the Gods,” I said, I thought what had I done? Then I knew I had poisoned my enemy! It was then Marta looked directly at me… in my head I heard her say, “Gemma repeat after me… et reduxistis unusquisque malum ego mente ponere quod non interrumpatur per voluntatem hoc fonte, sic fiat.”

A mouth full of latin, but it, I said it perfectly as I lay there looking up at Alec’s face. He smiled now with his breathing even. I felt like shit still, from both what Marta had done to me and what I had done to my lover.

I just lay there, I could not say anything, I didn’t know what to say.

Alec then sat back on his haunches, still looking down at me, but his look, his focus on me was different. It felt like love and admiration. It felt like relief. It felt like he was about to cry.

I grabbed his lowering head and pulled him on top of me. He helped and positioned himself over me aligning our bodies there in the sand. We held each other. His face was buried in my hair on my neck. I held him. I was in pain, what kind of pain I did not know just then. He whispered something, to me that I did not catch. Then the pain left me.

He lifted himself up off my body and sat down near Marta. He offered his hand to me to help me up right to a sitting position. Mark, Brad and Brian stood over us. Off down the beach I could see someone coming, through the tears that were forming in my eyes.

What I said just popped out of my mouth, now that I could breathe freely… “Gods damn you Alec, you did it again to me!” Oh I thought why did I say that?

“You are just a hot bed of contradictions aren’t you Gemma?” Alec said, looking at me side ways, then smiled, “Are you ok?”

I said, as I watched the spot off in the distance get closer to where we were, “You allowed me to almost kill you! I don’t even know how or what I just did. I love you!”

Mark dropped to his knees behind me and held me.

Alec looked up, shouted, “Lucia, I half expected you felt that… it was what you worried about too coming true, you jinxed me!”

“Alec, are you ok? Marta did you stop the poisoning yet? Gemma are you ok?” Lucia said, almost breathless from the walk she used to apparently prepare her for what she would find.

Marta said, “They are fine and you will be soon, just sit here next to me.”

Marta helped Lucia to the ground and held her as Lucia focused her gaze on Alec then me.

Alec said, “Now how did it go, you maybe asking yourselves about now?”

I leaned back into Mark’s arms, I looked up at the sky, I dared not even think a response to that, not right now. So I listened.

“Two problems Gemma with what you tried to do. First you were not listening to me, you were afraid. I wanted to exchange energy with you to warm you up for some practice with energies…” Alec said, now looking directly at me, I guess like a lyceum instructor. “So next time ask me or any of us when you feel fear like that, do not respond to it. Never respond to fear with us or even with an enemy for that matter. Because you did, you missed Marta moving into the position she had taken to defend me. I had my shielding down… because the return of your energy would have killed you coming off of me. I returned it with my hands to tone it down, you grabbed energy from somewhere, I am thinking Lucia may know, though she had not given it to you.”

I nodded. I had remember thinking on Lucia, picturing her where we were on those gray flat stones nude and cold attempting to dry off, getting warm in this strange place…

“Second, you did what I told you not to do. You went all the way to the point of just about getting killed. This is not the final battle any more Gemma, where you died giving your all for us… this is home and practice. You will face an enemy who will need to be either captured or defeated, but not at the cost of your own life. If you think or feel that is the case conceal yourself and back off… better yet call me and I will finish them off. Your life is worth more than that to us. DO NOT risk or offer your life to get what it is we need done completed… just play with it, like a game of chess, there is always another day!” Alec said, looking directly at me, then smiling. He leaned forward over to me, placing a kiss on my lips. That did things to me, and it made my eyes tear up more too.

“It is good to know that the blood we gave to you works, it gives you, as a member of sorts, to the Promise access to my energy, which is vaster than I am even aware of… so I can now rest easy you will have the resources you need to do the work you will be doing in that world for us,” Lucia said. “I will, along with Alec, need to exchange energy with you to practice the feel of where you call it from and how it flows… now give me your hand, you are injured.”

I hadn’t notice my hand since I first felt the burn on it during the battle. It started to throb. It was moist and weeping across the palm. It looked like a really bad sunburn, damn, really what am I thinking. I offered my hand to Lucia.

I did not realize what she was going to do with it… beyond looking at it. She took her hand, laying it directly on the wound. That made it hurt like hell. Then I realized or remembered what she was about to do. I said through my tears, “Lucia that is not necessary, please.” I was too late, she had taken my wound upon herself, she was an empathic healer after all. Her face whinced with pain, then she appeared focused and calm. It took about 5 minutes of time, where we all sat silently. I asked to see her hand when she felt back with us and not in her happy place meditating. Her hand was healed too. My hand was perfect.

“Gemma, when we practice again, we will tell you everything to expect and the goal. Burning your hand is not part of that either. I have burnt myself once or twice during testing for a level, the result of a burn can be seen as coming from sloppy application of casting energy or being pushed beyond your limit. There are work arounds that can be learned. I have had to learn them myself too.” Lucia said, now she appeared herself again, but I had to remind myself she was different, there was no more the sadness of separation in her eyes and she was very much pregnant with child, a joy she had hoped for, for a long time.

With a flash of white light, Martin appeared to walk out of thin air and he had someone right behind him. It was Gretchen.

“Well here you all are, I am hoping with limbs now intact. The whole region had to be convinced to step down from the little fire fight they felt going on out here. Glenna came immediately figuring you had it under control Alec, she convincing the FleshEater Clan and the rest of Anice, that no the Lyran were not taking the upper hand through invasion. She told them it was between you and Princess Gemma, with that said they all understood… they surmised it must be sex. So now don’t be surprised if a few come to you, in your official capacity as ambassador to wish you well Alec and the Princess too. The story was substantiated by the inn keepers up the road too… to Glenna’s delight of course!” Martin said, then he offered a hand to Alec, getting him up off the ground. Next a hand to both Marta and Lucia.

“Well the dinner is about ready, Marta, will you and your guests be wanting to come now?” Gretchen said. She came over placing her arms around Alec, then turning her head upward to him, he gave her a kiss.

“Princess Gemma, are you hungry? Should I get the bath ready in your suite in Anice, before you dine?” Gretchen said, with a smile.

“Sure,” I said. It occurring to me I didn’t know I had a suite in a darkones stronghold… and I was still not sure where I stood, now, with almost having killed Alec for a second time.

Brad looking at me said, “You stand right where you always do, Gemma. We love you and we expect a long time together in the future too. I hope you will feel as you remember more that you can always rely on that from us?”

Brad walked over and grabbed me holding me close. I was so tired. I thought about a shower too. Then I thought, or maybe it was a flash of memory that maybe I should eat first, since showering can become, complicated.

Mark said, “Now Gemma, you are thinking like a Lyran… their need for a good meal. I will shower with you and make sure you make it to dinner on time.”

“How about all three of us promising that… helping Gemma out. She has to be ready to face her public,” Brian said.

Alec holding Lucia, while himself being held by Marta said, “Martin can you take us to our room, so we can become respectable for public viewing?”

The flash of light came… I was so ready for it right now.

 

 

Next Chapter… 

“Flesh Eater Welcome…” Chapter 21

Previous Chapter…

“Work and Play…” Chapter 19

 

Table of Contents | Horus and His Companions | The Sun The Light & The Moon | Book 1