5-2

  Vantaiga emerged from the grove to join Syffox. He was practising with his bow at the edge of the valley. Motionless, he peered into the distance, his bow crossed in front of him with an arrow, adorned with etchings of vines, already nocked. It was an ancient greatbow, yet its polished layers still gleamed. Even with its deep recurve, it was as tall as him.

  It was a bow unseen elsewhere, as the people who had constructed it were long past. Syffox drew in a breath, stepped back, and pulled the string to his ear. He raised the bow high towards the sky and released.

  With a sharp crack, the arrow vanished into the distance, its flight instantly lost to anyone other than Syffox’s knowing eye. The arrow sailed silently through the air on a graceful arc, effortlessly crossing the distance. It soared over a line of stumps that trailed across the valley floor. In each of the stumps an arrow protruded, marking a previous shot.

  The arrow crested its flight and curved towards the ground. Its course came to an end with a thud as it pierced the final tree stump of the row, six hundred yards away. With a gesture of his fingers, Syffox summoned a new arrow out of the air and loaded it into his bow. With his free hand, he raised his palm upwards. One hundred yards from the end of the line of stumps, a new stump emerged from the ground.

  Vantaiga approached him unnoticed from the side, the feminine curves of her body partially covered by tufts of green clover with white and pink flowers. On her feet, she wore low, heeled boots of wood and bark to accentuate her legs. As an immortal, she quickly found mundane clothes bothersome and enjoyed the freedom and creativity of forming her own coverings right out of the body of her avatar.

  With a playful smile, she interrupted her archer consort. “You would think you were hammering rocks with all the noise your bow makes.”

  Syffox broke his practice and turned towards her. He tried to reply but found his voice stuck in his throat with his chest pounding. Words refused to come together as he was drawn into her divinity and the memories of the other day’s encounter.

  Vantaiga giggled and cast a centring spell on him. Syffox drew in a breath to regain his composure. When that failed, he found he could only shake his head and laugh with adolescent embarrassment. He also realised he had no idea what she had said. “I’m sorry, Goddess, you were saying?”

  He tried to focus on her face but failed that as well.

  With a finger, Vantaiga lifted his chin. “I said you are making a lot of noise. You are going to scare away the animals.”

  Syffox quivered to her touch, and his knees weakened. Memories of her being naked beneath him drained away his strength. He used his own magic to brace himself. “Your animals have nothing to fear. This bow is not for hunting anything on four legs.”

  “Oh, so you’re going to terrorise all my spiders? The forest needs them too, you know.”

  Syffox concentrated on his composure to place an arm around her waist. He drew his fingers along her bare back, sending shivers down her spine and dizzying excitement through his head. “Sorry, Goddess, multiple of four legs included.”

  Vantaiga purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Forgiven, then, but there is no need for a war bow in my paradise.”

  He brushed his beard along her neck and cheek, finally ending with a soft, slow kiss on her lips. Vantaiga warmly accepted the kiss, but Syffox found he couldn’t enjoy it. This close to Vantaiga, the glow of her gemstone mantel illuminated her face as it pulled at his store of magic. The sensation brought a stabbing ache to his heart that even the embrace of Vantaiga’s divinity couldn’t push away.

  Oblivious to Syffox’s torment, Vantaiga withdrew from his kiss and looked up at him with hungry eyes. “This valley is for my pleasure, and it’s not an implement of war that is required to please me.”

  Syffox gave her a hug and focused on her words. She still desired him—there would still be a time to join with her. But not yet, not when she was so soon to be before the other gods, and not while he found her power and presence so overwhelming. “You are such a Goddess.”

  Vantaiga looked him warmly in the eyes. “I’m only a Goddess for you.” She tried to give Syffox a smile, but he could hear a hint of sadness in her voice.

  Syffox sighed. This wasn’t supposed to be for him. It was supposed to be for their forest and followers. It was supposed to be to preserve their centuries of work. It was supposed to be for their love and survival.

  He wanted to give words to his thoughts. But how could he be angry with her when she should finally find glory after all she had suffered? All she needed was time and patience to accept him. He lowered his head as his eyes glistened. More time, more patience.

  Vantaiga placed her hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat for a moment. She drew in a long breath and finally broke the growing awkwardness between them. “You know something?” She slid her hand up from his chest to lift his chin again. “My eyes are up here… still.”

  Syffox grinned at her interruption. How could he get angry at her when she held such beauty and presence? Stifling a laugh, he shook his head. He gave her another big hug, half grateful for the distraction, half grateful just to have her near. “Well, you do make it hard to look you in the eye with so little covering that beautiful body of yours.”

  Vantaiga teased, “Oh, do you wish I was covering my body more? How about if I cover my legs?” With a thought, green grass sprouted over the bare skin of her legs. “Does that make it easier for you?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Syffox shook his head. “With those long legs, it’ll take more than that to make me look away.”

  “Oh, really? I can cover myself anywhere. How about this, then?” Vantaiga raised her arms to reveal long green tufts of clover bustling out from her armpits.

  Syffox half laughed, half coughed in surprise. “Oh… that’s starting to work.”

  Vantaiga became sly. “That’s too bad.” She cast away the growth from her legs and arms. “I like it when you have trouble focusing.”

  “Then how can I defend my Goddess when her beauty throws off my aim so much?” He gave her a quick kiss, pulled his bow back, turned, and raised it to the sky. He released the string with a loud crack that stung Vantaiga’s ears and echoed about them.

  She grimaced. “Your bow is so loud. Why do you have to disturb my peaceful valley with that noisy old thing?”

  “I have to keep up practice. The forest does not have wide open ranges like this to test my aim. Besides, you never know when you’ll need to rely on a good old bow.”

  Vantaiga rolled her eyes. “Even with all your magic, you still think you need that relic? Wizard, woodsman, even once a rogue, and now the highest priest of your Goddess. You have all her divine power to call upon.” With a wave of her hand, she sent a wash of coloured lights to play across his body.

  Syffox flicked away the lights. “My Goddess has many affairs of the forest to attend to.” He glanced to the sky above. “She may not always be at my disposal. I don’t have our followers to draw upon; my magic can run out. If that happens, I can always pull my bow.” He stepped forward and tried to steal another kiss from her. “And besides, have I ever relied on your help before?”

  Vantaiga leaned away from his kiss and crossed her arms with an incredulous look. “For today, I’ll say ‘no.’ But why not? From on high, I can see everything that happens on the earth and will always be available. Besides, Mackyntal isn’t just sitting around in his shop waiting for you to fire an arrow to replace. Even you can run out. Then what? You will have to call upon me.”

  “When would I ever empty my quivers? I can strike down an army with a single arrow. My Goddess can save her energy for growing her trees.”

  “Ha! Growing the trees that you have spent the last two hundred years pruning! How long has it been since you faced an army? No, my foxy priest, save your arrows and embarrassment.” She stepped back with a flourished bow. “And call upon your Goddess. She awaits to serve you.”

  Syffox flushed with indignity and bit his tongue. He did just recently call upon her, only to be left alone and embarrassed in front of their entire following. “Besides planting trees for you, I do still spend time studying magic. It was no small feat creating that pretty stone on your head.”

  Vantaiga took a moment to soften her tone before his rising ire. “I know, I know. You worked very hard and are very accomplished. But there is no need to fight armies, and I don’t want you to get hurt. It would be much simpler for you to just call me.”

  Syffox clenched his teeth. He did not expect to find himself struggling with his anger so much. He felt an unfamiliar yet irresistible urge to prove that despite her power, he did not need to rely on her. He slowly and deliberately conjured up a new arrow.

  This one was longer and thinner than the previous ones, with etchings of blown leaves along its length. He concentrated on the arrow and poured his magic into it. It took a long moment before he completed filling the arrow with a full quarter of his power. The arrow radiated in his hand and spat off white sparks of raw magic.

  Vantaiga crossed her arms in dubiousness. “What kind of spell are you going to cast with that?”

  Syffox only grimaced at her as he nocked the arrow into his bow. He then held the two together with his left hand, freeing his right hand to again raise a new tree stump. This time, a stump rose from the ground a thousand yards away across the valley floor.

  He took a deep breath and stepped back. He pointed the arrow high into the air and pulled the string. The muscles of his arms clenched as he drew the arrow back to his ear. Then, with a groan, he twisted his hips and arched his back to draw the string further across to his shoulder. A stinging crack struck their ears as he let the arrow fly.

  Syffox turned and swooped up Vantaiga in his arms. While the arrow, overflowing with magic, hissed a brilliant streak through the air, Syffox kissed his Goddess firmly on the mouth.

  The arrow blurred through yard after yard while Syffox’s tongue delved out hers. He pressed into her, trying to draw her love into his. As the arrow climbed into the sky, he ran his nails along the base of her neck and scratched them through her hair and scalp.

  Vantaiga stiffened with surprise and then shivered to his touch. As she gave in to his embrace, the distant arrow crested its arc. She relaxed and nestled into his arms and kiss. She may now be a Goddess and hold dominion over life and the forest, but he could still hold her thoughts and body, if not her spirit.

  The arrow hissed a glimmering course downwards as he let his anger and frustration towards her melt into his desire to be one with her, to let the sense of his body and mouth fill her and force away any thoughts of their past or future. The ground raced up at the arrow as his yearning to be engulfed by Vantaiga made the couple oblivious to the songs of the birds, the wind rustling the leaves, and the trail of the descending arrow. Vantaiga let out a whimper as her nails dug into his back, and she forced her mouth harder against his. In the far distance, the forgotten arrow impacted the tree stump.

  A bright flash of light and heat struck the couple in the face. Vantaiga opened her eyes in shock and turned to see a brilliant ball of light growing up from the distant valley floor. A thudding blast of pressure pounded their chests, followed by a hot wind that whipped her hair back and made her eyes water. She drew in a breath and stifled a cough as the ball of light transformed into a massive cloud of flame and smoke rising into the sky. Her expression of shock turned into horror.

  A deafening roar pummelled their ears. Syffox held onto her more tightly as he could feel her wanting to flee. She turned to Syffox with a frantic glare. She was almost about to give words to her hysteria when a trembling shock rumbled through the ground, rattling their bones. A crippling wave of shudders ran up Vantaiga’s body, making her hair rise. She dug her nails into Syffox’s arm to keep her balance.

  Blinking and squinting, Syffox smiled back at her, trying desperately to suppress giggles that threatened to overtake him. Dumbfounded by the scene, Vantaiga’s interrupted passion twisted into anger. She hit him in the chest, causing him to burst out laughing. She hit him again, further angered by his laughter. Her head dashed between the rising cloud and Syffox’s sheepish grin.

  “What are you doing?” The smoke cleared beneath the cloud to reveal a large smouldering crater. “You’re blowing up my valley!”

  Syffox tried to bite back his laughter with mock defiance. “See! That could stop an army.”

  Vantaiga hit him in the chest a third time. “Don’t blow up my valley!” Too angered to speak, she shoved him away and stormed towards the grove from which she came.

  As she stomped away, a hissing sound began to build around them, occasionally punctuated by a light tinkling. It grew in volume until they were peppered by a soft rain of sand and pebbles. Vantaiga stopped and looked to the sky for a moment. She turned towards Syffox with her palms open and shaking at her sides. She mouthed profanities at him and then resumed marching off.

  Syffox knew better but couldn’t resist shouting out after her. “Can I call on my Goddess for help now?”

  Vantaiga continued angrily towards the trees. Her only reply was to cast an obscene hand gesture over her shoulder.

  Half laughing to himself, Syffox raised his arm to shield his head from the falling debris. Cautiously, he looked towards the sky. “Oops.”