sweet temptation

Rose petals fell around her as she spun into misery, crunched beneath her feet, dried before they touched the ground. It was dark in this place with the only light from somewhere far away - it could have been the sun, but it too fell and died, hiding her toes, darkening even as it illumined.

She knew this place, felt the energy of the darkness overcoming her even as it trapped her, wrapping her in its warm embrace, constricting her from her breath, protecting her from harm, killing her while it sheltered her. She groaned, sinking from the light, while grasping for it weakly.

"Impossible," she whispered, "Hateful," she muttered, "Mercy," she pleaded, "It is mine!" she cried.

And her knees were lost in the fading light, shadows dancing around her as her breath at once stirred and doused the flame shining in the distance.

"Peace," he whispered.

"No, it's just! It's mine! It's fair! It's right! I will not surrender. Do not make me surrender. I'm tired of surrender."

"Peace," he whispered.

"Mercy."

"Peace," he whispered.

"Forgiveness."

"Peace," he whispered.

Peace she claimed, the darkness faded, light returned, shades stood still, freedom filled her, pain vanished, and the petals turned to roses carried in her arms, placed before her mother, offered to the Son, and she stood in the Immaculate Heart which stood in the Sacred Heart and peace was hers and light there was shining around her, releasing her from shackles, revealing the wounds of love and healing them with that self-same fire that burned through every dark desire.

"Peace," she whispered and peace was hers.

The lunch affair

The hand over her lips said she had spoken too much. She was beautiful. He was intrigued. What could she have said that revealed so much? He moved to a closer table, leaning onto his elbow to place himself within ear shot.

"It wasn't that bad, Molly. I mean, you shouldn't have said it, but it's not that bad. It's the truth, and you know, sometimes the truth is a good thing."

"You don't think terribly of me, do you?"

"Nah. It's you know, a thing that happens between people. Sometimes it hurts a little, but if they're grown up they move on, right?"

"Oh yes, definitely. But, now that. Now that it's ahhh out there, we'll still be friends, won't we? I don't see how we could be - you have every right to distrust me - but I hope that we can be. We've known each other so long."

"Well, that just depends on a lot of things you know. Like, what happens with everyone - does it work out or doesn't it, does one of us cheat, is one of us crazy - that sort of thing. And you know, you never really know about these things until you find out about them."

"That's true I suppose. I'm just afraid that everyone will know and everything will change and it won't be like it was before. And that would be just dreadful."

As the young lady slumped her shoulders and flopped her hands into her lap, John noticed a tiny smirk showing in the corner of the other girl's mouth.

"Molly, Molly, it'll all work out, I'm sure. Even if everything does change, change is good. We all need change from time to time. It keeps things fresh and all. You know how it is."

With that, John folded the paper he been pretending to read beneath his arm and moved to join the pair.

"Ladies, pardon me for interrupting, but the two of you are so stunningly beautiful that I simply could not resist begging you to let me buy you drinks. I am sad to say, however, that I am somewhat underfunded at the moment, and since this fine establishment requires a ten dollar minimum, I must make a further fool of myself than I had already intended and beg you in the most dramatic manner imaginable," with that he knelt before them on one knee, "to allow me to treat you to lunch."

Molly eyed the newcomer nervously. "I I'm not sure that's such a good idea. We were just leaving, you see. I'm sure your company would be most enjoyable, but I I must go, I promised..."

"Oh, Molly, don't worry about that engagement. This guy wants to join us for lunch, I think that's a great idea, and we should take him up on it."

"But Patty, you have a lunch date with Tom! You just told me!"

"Oh, Tom won't mind at all, I'll just give him a little text, and we'll make it a dinner date. There, no harm done. Now, let's enjoy our lunch, and Molly, do close your mouth, it's not attractive, dear."

John beamed at Patty, "Why, there's no need for you to cancel your date with your boyfriend, I would hate to intrude or to be the source of a lover's quarrel. Harmony betwixt a man and a woman is a beautiful thing and not of the sort with which one should ever wish to tamper."

"Oh, Tom understands. He's done the same thing to me a dozen times. It's perfectly fine, don't you think, Molly?"

Molly's cheeks flushed, "Patty, Tom would never accept lunch from a strange woman!" she paused, "No offense to you Mr. ummm. Oh I'm afraid I didn't catch your name!"

"John, you may call me John, no mister, it makes me sound like a schoolteacher. I hope that you do not think me strange. After all, any man with a bit of sense would surely stumble over himself for the simple opportunity to sit in the company of two such lovely young ladies."

Molly blushed again. "Oh Mr. umm John, please don't think me rude, it's just that it is a little awkward, as I'm sure you can understand, to have a man to whom I have never been introduced ask to order my lunch. I'm dreadfully uncertain in these situations, but I'm certain that Tom would be terribly disappointed if Patty didn't show up for lunch."

"I am certain you are correct, and as a gentleman in full and complete support of peace and harmony between the sexes, I humbly and regretfully rescind my offer. Please accept my apologies for any discomfort I may have caused you."

As he turned to leave, a tiny tug at his sleeve pulled him back to Patty. "John, before you leave, won't you leave us your card so that we might call you sometime. Perhaps we could go on a little double date."

John handed each his card, "I do beg you to allow me the pleasure of your company on some other occasion. I look forward to your calls."

Through the Great Forest - III

There is no good in the river that runs dry.

Nathan pushed forward to walk beside his mother.

"I don't understand what you're looking for. Nothing's changed for the last five hours."

"Plenty has changed, but you look with a city man's eyes, not the eyes of one born of the Great Forest."

"Mother, ever since we entered the forest, you've been speaking like those crazy shamans who come from the rural parts to persuade the king's people to leave the city. I mean no disrespect, but what has happened to you?"

"When one is away from one's life for too long, he begins to forget what should never be forgotten. I had a good life in the city with your father, but the old ways are the ones that protect us from what lies beyond the Great Forest. And those ways are the ones which we must now cling to."

"I've seen the maps, Mother, and there's nothing on the other side. It's just mountains and glaciers for miles and miles until you get to the pole, and then it changes to a snow prairie."

"No man has ever returned as himself after entering those mountains, and none has gone from one side to the other."

"Of course, you can't go into the mountains and not be changed! You'd have to be terribly dense not to come away with a better perspective on the world. They say that the world from the top of mountains makes you forget the folly of mankind and remember the world when it was new created. Dame Hilde said all of the great writers had been to the mountains, and that was where the learned to write."

"My son, you think yourself wise when you are a fool. Listen." Maura's hand silenced the angry thought about to spill from her sons lips, and Nathan cocked his head, certain he would hear no sound.

He saw rather than heard. A beast with mud matted fur stepped into view. Standing on two legs, it was easily half again Maura's height. It snarled, but Nathan was certain it was not looking at them. When the animal lunged forward on four legs, it missed them by yards. As Nathan swung around to see where the beast had gone, he immediately wished he had not. This time the beast was closer, and was looking almost directly at them. If it rushed forward a second time, Nathan and his mother would not survive. He could just see his mother out of the corner of his eye, but he dared not speak. He watched in horror as she darted forward, attracting the beast's next assault.

"Mother!" he screamed. The beast stopped in midstride, spinning toward his voice as if to attack and then fell onto its face. Nathan's knees wobbled as he watched his mother leap onto the beast's back, stabbing it with a dagger as she came down.

A thousand questions raced through Nathan's mind, but none took form until his mother's hand took his arm and began leading him away.

"Nathan, I did not want you to see what the Mountains Beyond hold for those who travel them, but now you have seen, and now you must know that there are beasts more fell and more dangerous than the one you just killed, but none are more powerful than you. This is true of every beast and every man - we stand over the beasts, though the beasts wish to stand over us."

Nathan could only mouth a silent "What?" as she continued. "Had I raised you in the village, you would know all that you must know, but now you must learn it at a time when the knowing of it must be written in your very flesh. You must learn to watch and to listen. The beast you slayed was a Daemon-Wolf, it hunts by movement and by sound. That is how one must defeat it - using its strength and its weakness against it. You did this without knowing, but you must learn so that you may do as you know - then you will be able to defend yourself and protect the Great Forest."

Nathan regained his tongue and blurted, "Mother, I did nothing to that beast! You stabbed it, you led it away, you killed it! I had nothing to do with it! I want nothing to do with it! I don't belong in this place!"

"All mankind belongs in this place, many have wandered far from it's borders, but all must return whether they acknowledge it or no. You will learn. You must learn. If you do not, you cannot live, and you will instead be born into the Mountains Beyond in the bellies of the daemons."

Nathan fell silent, falling behind his mother, giving her the lead and keeping his thoughts to himself.

Through the Great Forest - II

There is no good in the river that runs dry.

Maura looked down from the overgrown bank into the empty riverbed as Nathan caught up to her. The expanse between the two banks was immense, and the distance to the bottom enough to allow the greatest ships to sail without worry.

"What's wrong?"

"The river isn't here. It's dried up."

"Long time from the looks of it. Look how cracked the bed is."

"This is the river that brought your father looking for a wife and brought his bride to a new life. In all the time before I left, this river was never dry. The elders speak of only one other time in the history of our village when this bed was dry. That story was one of great sorrow. Pray that those times are not being revisited. Come, we must hurry."

"What happened in the old story? Did people die? How long ago was it?"

Maura only said that they would speak of it later and moved toward the bridge. With each question from her son, she pushed faster until they had crossed, then slowed to a pace that Nathan could maintain. Nathan watched as his mother looked from side-to-side and began to do the same. The trees, however, looked no different than they had before the pair had come to the dried-up river. If anything, the forest seemed to grow more pleasant until the dusk winds made the leaves shimmer in the dying light of sunset, and Nathan heard the murmur of running water.

Through the Great Forest*

There is no good in the river that runs dry.

Maura didn't know why this old saying came to mind again and again this day - she had left the river days ago and didn't expect to see another for several days to come. Still, it was an ever present thought, even as she picked her way through the undergrowth of the Great Forest. Her son Nathan, who had been raised far away from his mother's homeland, struggled behind her.

"Mother, how did you ever live in this place?"

Maura smiled at his question. "My son, when the Great Forest has given you life, as it gave life to me and to my ancestors, you come to love it as you come to love your own mother."

"Oh, I see. You love the forest because it is difficult, just as I love you because you are difficult!"

Maura laughed as the branch she had been holding swung back, filling Nathan's mouth with bitter tasting foliage.

"You will see. The Great Forest provides what you need when it is needed. Remember when you balked at leaving without provisions for the entire month's journey and I said it would be unnecessary? Have you noticed that your meals since we entered the forest have been a bit unusual?"

"Well, yes, but Mother, how could I expect them to be the same as we have at home? There is a cook there, and I never taste your culinary umm delights."

"Perhaps this lesson would be better learned if you could not rely on me. We shall see what the elders have to say about giving you to the Great Forest when we arrive."

"I think I'll pass."

"I think you won't have a choice!" she laughed.

*This is a bit of a teaser. My next post will either be this story or the beginning of a serial based on this post.