An old and tragic love story repeats itself through history, in the After Colony universe can Trowa Barton and Midii Une find a way to make. . .
by Midii Une
1090
Anno Domini
Madelyn
gazed up at the stars in the cold late winter sky. How long had they been
there, where had they come from? So beautiful they were and there were so many
of them. And yet each one seemed so alone and far apart.
She
shivered a little and pulled the scratchy woolen blanket closer around her. Her
pale, moonlight-colored hair was bright against the dark blanket.
She
breathed deeply and hugged her arms around herself. She didn’t mind being alone
with the stars. She loved her father and her three brothers. But lately she
worried a bit, the land was torn with strife, her father’s peaceful little
earldom threatened by neighbors. Loyalties in the country were torn by civil
war. No one knew who it was safe to pledge allegiance to. Madelyn wished
suddenly she were far away from it all, just as the cold and lonely stars were.
“My
lady Madelyn,” an irritated voice called. “Are you up here again? You’ll catch
your death of cold in this place. The place for young ladies is safe in their
beds. Don’t you know that by now?”
Madelyn
sighed, she was 14, she didn’t need to be told what to do. She was the lady of
this castle after all, her mother had been dead for many years, since the birth
of her youngest brother.
“Listen,
my lady,” her elderly maidservant, who until recently been her surrogate
mother, whispered as she put her arm around the slender young girl’s shoulders.
“Tis a secret, but I have heard your father say a knight will come tomorrow.”
“A
knight! And what is that to me,” Madelyn said, obediently climbing back into
bed. “Knights come and go without notice. Is this one special?”
“Yes
lady, he will be your husband,” the old woman said.
“Husband,”
Madelyn said wonderingly. “What does he look like, what is his name. Oh why
must I leave here?”
“I
know that your father does not wish you to leave,” the old woman said. “But you
must marry this knight to keep the peace. His family threatens your father’s
lands and villages. You must make this knight love you my child, it is a
maiden’s duty to aid and protect her family in this way.”
Madelyn
forgot she was “lady of the castle.” She felt like a child, a frightened child.
All this responsibility and to be wed to a man she’d never met. He could be
old, ugly, cruel or all three. But she must obey her father. It was her duty.
She turned her face into her pillow and cried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
daughter of his father’s enemy. She would hate him. He didn’t want a wife, but
it was his duty to marry someday after all. He was a soldier, he’d always been
a soldier. He was feared by all who’d met him or heard his name. A glimpse of
him in his bright silver armor with the red and gold crest was enough to send
most enemies fleeing for their lives.
“You
do not sleep, Sir Trevin,” his squire questioned him. Trevin flicked his
emerald green eyes over the squire.
“I’m
aware that I am not asleep,” he said. “I was but thinking about the Lady
Madelyn. I think that I will have a girl who despises me for a wife. Can I ever
trust the daughter of my father’s enemy, do you think?”
Madelyn
and her younger brothers watched as the knight and his companions approached
their father’s palace.
“He
wears his armor,” she said. “He does not trust us, nor do I trust him.”
She
was prepared to hate this knight, but still she wished to know what lay beneath
that silver helmet. He was not old, her father had told her they were of an
age. She closed her eyes and whispered an old charm for luck that her childhood
nurse had taught her. She loved and still partially believed in the old tales
of magic the woman had told her when she was still a little girl.
Then
she went down to meet her husband.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
forest that surrounded the clearing containing the small, lovely palace ended
abruptly and Trevin could see that the earl and his family were waiting for
him. Still, peaceful as it looked, it could be a trap. He dismounted his horse
carefully, leaving his helmet on but pushing up the visor. All he could see of
his bride was her shining fair hair, it fell over her face as she looked at the
ground. It seemed she was afraid to look at him. He sighed. He would have to
make an effort he decided. In all but the legalities she was already his wife.
Trevin
pulled off his helmet and handed it to his squire, he ran a hand through the unruly
reddish-brown bangs that fell a little over his eyes. He liked the mysterious
air it gave him and enemies were unable to see him clearly so they couldn’t
read his face.
All
Madelyn could see of her future husband was the silver gleam of his armor beneath
the lashes of her lowered lids. She was almost afraid to look at him. She knew
what would come next. He would take her hand and then they would go in and be
married. She would belong to him and no longer to her family. Madelyn closed
her eyes tightly and swallowed.
A
hand reached out and touched her under the chin, inexorably tilting up her
face. She opened her wide blue eyes and looked up directly into his eyes. From
her vantage point she could see beneath the fall of hair straight into his face
as few people ever had. They stared into each other’s eyes for nearly a full
minute, barely blinking, feeling something strange that neither of them had
ever felt before. It was a rare and beautiful feeling. Love. True love.
Love
at first sight.
He
took both of her hands in his and raised each one to his lips, kissing her
fingers softly, moved to the act of chivalry by her beauty and sweetness.
“You are an angel, my lady. My love,” he
said, letting his fingers caress her cheek, a cheek that turned pink from his
compliments.
Her
father watched, restraining himself from grinning victoriously. He had been
right, his daughter was lovely enough to win over even this fearsome warrior.
And, God-willing, she would be his downfall.
“Once upon a time there was a brave knight
who loved a fair lady,” the girl read out loud from a book that was
much-handled and obviously well-loved. Her three younger brothers sat close to
her, listening to the story. Midii read it to them all the time, it was her
favorite story.
“Will
the knight kill the dragon,” the littlest one asked, his blue-gray eyes wide
with anticipation. The small boy coughed hoarsely after speaking and his
sister, no more than a child herself, looked at him fearfully, put her thin arm
around him and pulled him closer.
“Of
course the knight will kill the dragon,” she said reassuringly, planting a soft
kiss on his forehead. “But first there must be trials to prove that the knight
is worthy and that his love for the lady is true. And then they can be together
for ever and ever.”
A
loud knock on the door broke the spell of the story and one of the boys got up
to answer it. There was a man there, he was tall and heavily-built and he wore
an olive green uniform and shining black boots. The little boy merely gaped at
him in astonishment as he walked in without being invited.
“Where’s
your father, boy,” the man asked sternly.
“My
father is resting,” the girl said, stepping in front of her brothers, feeling
protective though she wasn’t sure why.
“I’ll tell him that there is someone to see him.”
“Well, well,” said the man, looking at her
sharply. “You are a lovely little thing. What pretty hair and eyes you have.”
There
was something special about her, he thought. She was poised and brave for a
child her age, she could be no older than 9 or 10. And so pretty, irresistible
really.
When
he left the small house the girl was with him. Everything had a price and her
father had needed the money.
She
looked out the rear window of the truck until she lost sight of her home and
then she made herself as small as possible and curled up in the far corner of
the seat, pressed against the door.
The
man studied the girl. She was like a small, injured forest creature, stealing
frightened glances at him from time to time. This band of mercenaries he was
after was particularly troublesome and ruthless. Her chances of surviving her
first mission were slim but it didn’t matter, she was a disposable commodity
after all.
“Wipe
that scared rabbit look off of your face, girl,” he said. “Listen carefully and
do exactly what I say and you just might live through this.”
The
Alliance officer told Midii what he expected. He gave her a necklace to wear
with what appeared to be a small electronic device on it and a crucifix to
keep. “Keep the cross with you and you won’t get hurt. Don’t forget that, it’s
very important,” he said. “If you do a good job maybe you can earn more money
for your Papa and brothers. I’m sure he’d want you to do a good job.”
He
drove away leaving her alone by the side of the road.
She
walked for hours, alone in the forest. A forest that kept increasing in
density. Midii repeated the story of the knight to herself as she walked. She
could imagine him so clearly, his reddish-brown hair hanging over his face. But
if you were lucky enough to get close to him you could look up into his face
and see his eyes, eyes as green as the forest that surrounded her. If only he
were real, if only he would find her now. She could almost feel a gentle hand
touch her face and lift her chin so she could gaze into those eyes. She blinked
back tears of loneliness and fear. She was all alone. There was no one to see
her cry, but she knew if she started she might not be able to stop.
Finally
she saw a break in the trees that meant a clearing was ahead. She hurried to
it, her feet cracking twigs and crushing leaves as she picked up her pace. As
she stepped into the clearing a boy wearing a dark green camouflage jacket
whirled and aimed a gun at her. She looked at his face and almost gasped, his
eyes, eyes that were hidden by long, unruly bangs, were green. As green as the
knight’s eyes, the knight she had imagined to keep herself from being too
frightened. She stared at him, both afraid of the gun pointed at her and
mesmerized by a face she seemed to know although she had never seen this boy
before.
The
boy looked at the girl. Her appearance was suspicious, what reason could a
little girl like her possibly have to be here in such a dangerous place,
subjecting herself to dangerous people like himself? He studied her closely, he
rarely saw anyone his own age close up. He was always with adults. His green
eyes clashed with her light blue ones and he felt something like a shock.
I
know her, he thought, I’ve seen her before. But that was impossible.
Still
he decided to take her back with him. He didn’t trust her, he trusted no one,
he never had. But it wasn’t in him to leave her behind. Not her.
As
the two children walked back to the mercenary camp it grew dark. She looked up
at the stars peeking through the canopy of the trees.
“They’re
so beautiful,” she said. “Did you ever wonder what it might be like to live up
there among them? I think it would be safe and quiet and wonderful.”
He
glanced at her in surprise, although he didn’t answer her. How strange that she
would say that. How often he looked up into the night sky and wished he could
get up there somehow. Like that was where he belonged.
1090
Anno Domini
The
wedding ceremony went by in a blur.
Madelyn’s
heart swelled with happiness as Trevin lifted her up on his horse and held her
in front of him as they rode away from her father’s palace. She barely
remembered to turn and wave at her brothers. She believed from the moment their
eyes met that they belonged together.
As
they rode he rested his cheek on her soft hair and curled one arm around her
slender waist. She leaned back against him and he tightened his arm around her.
She
looked up into the sky, at the stars twinkling through the bare tree branches.
“I
love the stars,” she said. “So beautiful and far away.”
He
smiled at her words.
“I’d
take you there if I could, my lady,” Trevin answered. “We could make a world of
our own there and we could be together eternally. I love you so much I fear one
lifetime won’t be nearly enough to spend with you.”
Madelyn
turned to look up at him. He pressed his lips to hers and their hands tangled
in each other’s hair. He felt her tense a little as he probed his tongue
between her slightly parted lips and slid his hand up from her waist to touch
her breasts.
He
stopped and said, “Don’t be afraid my lady. I would never hurt you.”
She
shook her head. “I’m not afraid. It just surprised me, how good it feels when
you hold me. I didn’t know I could feel that way. Is this what it is like to be
married?”
He
laughed a little at her innocent remarks. “That is what it is like for us, my
sweet lady. Because we love each other truly.” He kissed her hair. “We’re
almost home . . .”
He
couldn’t help looking over at the girl, Midii, as she lay sleeping there nearby
on a pile of blankets in a corner. She was huddled like a little kitten, her
soft hair falling over her face and one hand curled beneath her cheek.
Nanashi
kept his eyes fastened on her until he too fell asleep.
He
dreamed, as he always did, of war. He was a pilot, but it wasn’t a mobile suit.
He was flying a plane fitted with machine guns. He could hear the rattle of
millions of bullets. He could hear the bullets exploding through the steel fuselages
of other planes. He could see the bright blue sky all around him and see the
enemies’ planes falling from the sky, plummeting to the ground. Then he felt
himself spinning, spinning with sickening speed to the ground.
Midii
heard a gasp which awakened her from the light sleep she had fallen into. Her
mind was too full to let her sleep. She touched the electronic device and
fingered the cross in her pocket. She looked over at the boy, Nanashi. He was
restless, twisting around in his blankets and breathing hard. She crept over
and gently put her hand on his hair, as she had done with her younger brothers
when they suffered from nightmares. After awhile his breathing grew soft again
and she crept away and went back to sleep herself.
Major
Tom Bennett, USAF, crawled out of the wreckage of his fighter plane. He touched
his hand to his forehead and felt blood there and as he tried to walk he felt a
sharp pain in his side and collapsed to his knees in the grass. Sweat beaded on
his forehead, stinging the gash he’d suffered when he crashed. His arms still
trembled from trying to pull the plane out of that spin, only his skill as a
pilot had saved his life.
He
heard the crackle of leaves and soft footsteps approaching. He pulled the gun
out of the holster on his belt and wrapped his other arm protectively around
his side. He blinked as his vision seemed to fade in and out.
A
young woman, in her early 20s perhaps, stepped into the clearing. Her blue-gray
eyes widened at the sight of the wrecked plane and the wounded pilot who had
come out of it. She took a step backwards when she saw that he had a gun in his
hand. She recognized his uniform as American.
“You-you
are badly hurt,” she questioned softly in broken English.
He
looked at her face as she spoke, trying to determine her accent. He wasn’t sure
whether he’d landed in France or Germany and that made all the difference in
the world. He couldn’t trust this woman, he knew that. But there was something
familiar about her eyes. It bothered him that she seemed afraid when she looked
at him.
The
gun dropped from his hand suddenly and hit the grass with a dull thud as he
pitched forward, suddenly unable to remain standing. The young woman rushed up
to catch him a little and at least break his fall. Tom’s lids fluttered as he
looked up into her face. He reached up to touch her cheek but his hand fell
back before he reached it.
“Don’t
be afraid, lady. I’d never hurt you,” he said, the words coming from somewhere
deep inside before he lost consciousness.
Mariana
sat with the soldier in the woods for a long time, cradling his head in her lap
and gently wiping the sweat and blood from his face with her apron. She
examined his face, so handsome. She smiled a little despite her worry, this
soldier needed a haircut she thought as she brushed the hair away from his
forehead.
He
was the enemy. She should take his gun and shoot him now or at least leave him
here to die. But she knew that she couldn’t do that. He touched her heart as no
one had before. “It’s as if I’m in love with him,” she thought. “As if I’ve
always loved him somehow.”
But
that was impossible, she had lived here all her life and he was an American.
She sighed and came back to reality. If she was going to save his life she was
going to have to wake him up and get him home before dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After
a week of letting her take care of him Tom knew that he was in love with
Mariana. He’d never loved before, he knew that now. He had a wife, back in the
States, but that was fondness, not love. Not like this overwhelming feeling he
had for the German girl who had found him. It was as if he had loved her
forever. Just looking into her big blue eyes made his heart ache. She was
beautiful, she was sweet and she was the enemy. But he couldn’t let that
matter.
He
watched her as she washed the dishes from dinner. Tom knew he should just leave
her alone. He had to go soon and besides he was married already. But it was
like they were magnet and steel being irresistibly pulled toward each other. He
stood up and went to her and wrapped her in his arms. Mariana made a soft
little sound of contentment and leaned against him.
“Do
you have a radio Mariana,” he asked her. “I want to dance with you. Hold you in
my arms.”
She
produced a small, battered transistor radio. “It does not play anymore,” she
said sadly, looking at him apologetically.
“Get
me a screwdriver and I’ll make it work,” he promised.
It
wasn’t long until he managed to fix the radio enough to track down some
scratchy big band music from an American servicemen’s station he picked up.
“Now
dance with me,” he said, taking her in his arms.
He
hummed the music in her ear as they pressed together on the kitchen floor,
swaying gently to the staticky music they heard.
“I
love you for sentimental reasons,” he sang softly and she giggled.
“You
can’t sing,” she said, trying not to laugh at him.
“I
know,” he agreed. “But you inspire me, honey.”
She
blushed a little at the endearment and pressed her cheek against his shoulder.
He continued humming, although he did not attempt actual singing again. Mariana
tightened her arms around him and her eyes filled with tears. He would leave
her behind and she wanted him to go. Wanted him to leave before he discovered
what she’d done. He’d still been unconscious when they’d come to see if she
knew anything about the downed plane.
“The
pilot is dead. I buried him,” she’d lied. “But I found this.” She’d given them
the code book she found in his cockpit. And they had gone away and left them
alone.
They
stood together before the fire exchanging passionate kisses and smoldering
looks.
“Madelyn,
my love. Two weeks without you was like being in hell. It’s like you’re part of
me and if I don’t have you in my bed I can’t sleep for thinking about you,”
Trevin managed to say between kisses and in spite of the stranglehold his wife
had on his neck.
“I
spent each day praying for your safe return in the chapel. I hope that God will
forgive me for the thoughts I had of you My lord. I fear they were not proper
for such a holy place,” she said, undoing the lacing of his shirt and placing
soft kisses on his chest.
She
didn’t tell him she also prayed to the old gods of the forest for his safety,
she feared he might not approve. She felt she would leave no stone unturned to
guarantee his safety. Without him her heart would break and she would surely
die.
He
seemed to read her desperate thoughts. “I’m afraid I love you beyond reason,
Madelyn. Before everything, God, my king, my family. You are everything, my
whole life. You consume me.”
He
lifted her in his arms and carried her to bed. She lay awake, stroking her
fingers through his shoulder-length hair. She was troubled, he wasn’t telling
her all that he had discovered when he had been away. There were rumors that
there had been a battle. There would be a new king, one that her husband was
not loyal to, but that her father was. It was like a shadow over her happiness.
Midii
watched the boy make repairs on the mobile suits. She sat swinging her legs
childishly as she sat on top of a pile of supply boxes. The device around her
neck made soft beeping sounds and she closed her fingers around it, wishing she
could crush it in her hand. It was reminding her what she was doing here, that
soon there would be an attack and they would all be dead, except for herself.
The cross would protect her. She put her hand in her pocket and felt the cool
metal of the necklace. She closed her eyes tightly and thought.
Nanashi
looked up as he heard a soft thud and saw Midii hop off the pile of boxes she
was sitting on and land softly on the dirt floor.
She
came up to him and held out a crucifix. He took it from her without a word. “If
you wear it always,” she said. “God
will protect you.”
She
looked like she was going to say something more, but instead she ran out of the
building and away from his questioning gaze.
1090
Anno Domini
Madelyn
hummed a little to herself as she walked through her herb garden. She bent
occasionally to pull a weed. But mostly
she was just enjoying the spicy smell of the plants, the warmth of the sunshine
and the sound of the birds singing.
She
was startled as a man she recognized as one of her father’s squires appeared
before her. He knelt and kissed the hem of her skirt.
“Listen
my lady,” he said, breathless with fear and hurry. “My lord, your father has
sent me to warn you. The new king’s army will attack this castle tonight. He
bids you flee this place and come home. Your husband will not be able to defend
the castle, the king is too strong. But my lord, your father, says you should
not worry. You are beautiful and will soon find a new husband. One that is
favored by the king.”
Madelyn
looked at him in horror.
“Come
with me now, my lady Madelyn. The king will strike at night to surprise Lord
Trevin,” the man said, desperately trying to explain himself. He wanted to be
far from this place well before the king’s army appeared.
“Go
away,” she muttered. “Leave me. I must think. I must think.”
The
terrified man saw it was useless to try and get through to her so he turned and
ran to where he had tied his horse and fled.
“The
king is too strong,” she repeated to herself. “My lord will not be able to
defend the castle.”
That
meant he would be killed, she thought, because Trevin would never run from a
battle. He was a true soldier and would fight to the end. Madelyn clutched her
hands to her heart and ran off toward the forest. She must think, she must do
something. She had to protect him, had to protect their love.
A
short way into the forest she saw a hut that she had never noticed before, an
old woman sat before it, stirring something in small pot which hung over the
fire. She realized this must be the home of the wise-woman. The girls who
worked in the castle kitchen and laundry gossiped and giggled about her and her
love potions and fortune-tellings and spells.
The
old woman approached the girl.
“My
lady,” she said, curtsying to Madelyn. “You seek my help on a matter of great importance.”
“I
do,” Madelyn said. “You must help me. I must find a way to keep my lord away
from his castle tonight. Is there something? A spell? A potion? I beg you!”
The
woman turned and went into her hut and came out with a small bottle.
“Give
your lord this potion in his wine,” the old woman said. “When he drinks it he
will listen to you without fail. He will do as you ask.”
Madelyn
gave the woman some coins and hurried back home, casting a fearful eye at the
sun. But she had hours left till darkness, when the king would come. She gazed
at Trevin with large sad eyes the whole afternoon through but he was too busy
to notice. The way the times were meant they must always be prepared. He must
stay close to his castle in case of attack. Madelyn clung to his arm and seemed
to be constantly underfoot this day. He felt like snapping at her but when he
looked at her he couldn’t help but bend down to kiss her. “You are in a strange
humor
today, my lady,” he teased her. “Have you not been sleeping enough at night?”
“Forgive
me, my lord,” she whispered. “I would not anger you with my moods.”
“I
was only jesting, my love,” he said, brushing his hand gently over her cheek.
“I hope you’ll not miss me too much tonight. I must ride out and check the
borders, there are rumors the king’s army draws near. But there is no need for
you to be afraid. I will protect you and this castle with my life if need be.”
Fear
struck her heart and she grabbed at his arm again. “First I will fetch you some
wine, sweetheart,” she said. “Wait
awhile.”
She
ran to the kitchen and dumped the potion into a goblet of red wine. Madelyn
handed Trevin the goblet and watched closely as he drank it. “Now I must leave,
I’ll see you in the morning. Don’t lie awake waiting for me tonight,” he said,
leaning close to kiss her goodbye.
She
kissed him in return, opening her mouth beneath his and pressing him close to
her. He responded and his decision to check the borders this night, a decision
which had seemed so sensible, started to seem a bit foolish and unnecessary.
“Why
do we not go riding out together tonight, my love,” she whispered, her fingers
tracing patterns on his back. “We can
go north where the druid stones are and look at the stars. Oh please my lord,
we can be alone together there. I so wish to be with you tonight.”
Trevin
looked at her, she was so beautiful and he loved her so, how could he say no.
He felt he could not refuse her request.
He
took her hand and lifted her up with him on his horse, just as he had on their
wedding day and they rode north together.
She
rode behind him this time so she could wrap her arms around him and lean her
head on his shoulder. “God forgive me for this,” she prayed silently. “I cannot
let him stay here to die. Let the castle burn and let the king slay all the
people in it, as long as my lord still lives I will not care.”
Madelyn
tightened her arms around her husband’s waist as the horse galloped north.
“Grab
my hand, Midii,” Nanashi shouted trying to be heard over the sound of planes
and bombs and screaming that surrounded him. She reached out her hand and he
pulled her up on the motorcycle in back of him and she wrapped her arms around
his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.
When
they got far enough away, the boy stopped the motorcycle. They sat there like
that for a moment, with her arms around him and her head on her shoulder. He
closed his eyes, how warm she was, he felt right being in her arms. Then he
felt something pressing into his back, the electronic device she always wore.
He could see her playing with it in his mind’s eye. He pulled away from her and
got off the motorcycle. He walked a little distance away and looked at the
ground, thinking.
Midii
got off the motorcycle and clutched the device in her hands. He was the only
reason she was alive, she hadn’t been wearing the crucifix when they attacked,
she would have been killed like the others. Tears trickled down her cheek, they
were the enemy, but some of them had been kind to her.
Suddenly
the boy turned on her, his gun trained on her as it had been when they first
saw each other. His eyes stared at her necklace. “It was that, wasn’t it,” he
asked, already knowing the answer.
The
girl took off the necklace and tossed it on the ground and nodded. “Everyone is
dead, except for us. Because of the cross you’re wearing. I won’t thank you for
saving me. I should have died.”
She
merely stood looking at him, waiting for him to kill her. When nothing happened
she spoke again.
“I
hate you! I hate what you are Nanashi. You have nothing so nothing can hurt
you. I have my name, my family and that’s why I did what I did. I can’t even
tell the one I love that I love them,” she cried.
He
ripped the crucifix from around his neck and tossed it at her feet. Then he
raised the gun, pointed it at her and fired two shots.
1944
Anno Domini
He
really should get up and turn off that staticky radio, Tom thought. But that
would mean rising up off the leather couch in front of the fireplace of the
little farmhouse where he lay with Mariana in his arms and that was something
he really didn’t want to do. A news program was coming on and he felt like he
might as well find out what was going on in the world outside.
He
looked down at the woman in his arms, her blonde hair felt so soft against his
arm. Tom was starting to think crazy thoughts. He could divorce his wife when
the war was over and come back and find Mariana. He had to be with her, she was
as necessary as air to him. He gently ran a hand up and down her arms and back
up into her hair. He bent and kissed her neck softly until he felt her begin to
stir.
“Sorry
I woke you,” he apologized.
A
small smile appeared on her lips and she teased him a little. “You’re not sorry
at all I think,” she said. “There was perhaps something you wanted?”
She
reached up and pulled him down to her and he crushed her lips against hers. She
held him tighter, trying to memorize how it felt to have him on top of her, in
her, one with her. Time was so short and forever would not be enough time to
spend with him.
Suddenly
he pulled away from her and stood up, pulling up his Air Force-issued boxer
shorts and picking up the radio to listen more closely. Without warning he
threw the little radio hard against the wall so it shattered into many small
pieces. Mariana gasped, she had been unable to really understand what he had
heard, her English was not good and the radio announcers spoke so quickly.
“I’m
sorry honey. I scared you,” he said. “It was an aircraft carrier. It was
attacked and sunk. Everybody on board is dead at the bottom of the ocean. That
was my ship, the one I came over on. I knew all those men. Jesus Christ, I
can’t believe this is happening. I would have been there now, if my plane
hadn’t crashed.”
She
looked at him and he looked at her, but this time she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“No,”
thought Tom in disbelief. “She betrayed me. . .”
1090
Anno Domini
She
was like a fairy creature of the forest Trevin thought as Madelyn slipped off
the horse and ran toward the druid stones. They were ancient and foreboding he
thought, set in tall patterns reminiscent of doorways. Were they an entrance to
another world or the entrance to hell? He felt uneasy here, but his Madelyn
seemed completely at home. Her moonlight-coloured hair swirled around her as
she spun around with her arms wide looking up at the stars. She dropped her
cloak on the grass and beckoned to him with her hand and he went to her,
kneeling beside her and taking her in his arms.
“This
is a magic place my love,” she said, her breath coming fast and her heart
beating rapidly. She got up on her knees and clutched at his shoulders
desperately. “Promise me, make me a solemn vow. You must always love me, we
will be together forever, for all eternity. And we will always know and love each
other as we do now.”
She
pulled his dagger from the sheath on his hip and slashed her arm until the red
blood dripped down her pale skin. He watched her, feeling a bit sick and
shocked, as she ran to the center stone, the one that resembled an altar and
rubbed her wounded arm on the stone, coating it with her blood. Madelyn turned
to him and handed him the dagger. “Now you must bleed on the stone, it will
seal our vow,” she whispered.
“I
do love you,” he said. “And I give you my vow.” He took the dagger from her
hand and cut his arm and let it bleed upon the rock.
She
drew him back to her cloak on the grass and pulled on the lacings of her gown,
letting it fall loose around her shoulders. He groaned and pulled her close to
him, kissing her and dragging her down to the ground with him.
“You’re
like fire in my blood Madelyn. I will always, always love you like this,” he
said.
“Now
we will be together forever, my lord,” she said. “There is nothing to fear
anymore.”
Afterward
she lay in the curve of his arm, looking up at the stars. “We will be together
now as long as the stars do shine,” she murmured to him, twining her fingers
with his.
Trevin was starting to come back to himself.
Why was he here in the dark so far from the castle. There had been a threat had
there not? Still she was so warm and sweet in his arms, it could not really be
wrong. He had never felt such passion as he had that night, being with her in
the shadow of the stones, under the light of the stars.
He
raised himself up on his elbow to look down at her when a reddish glow in the
distance caught his eye. Trevin jumped to his feet and stared in horror in the
direction they had come. There was only one structure near enough to burn like
that and make such a hellish, unnatural light. His castle.
“Holy
Christ,” he shouted. “The king’s army has taken the castle.”
He
turned to look at his wife, she was standing there tying the laces of her dress
and tears wet her cheeks, the tears shone in the starlight.
“Madelyn,”
he said. “By God, Madelyn you knew and yet you brought me here.”
For
the first time she heard anger in his voice directed at her. She went to him
timidly and put her hand on his shoulder. “I but thought to save you my lord.
Can you not forgive me. I could not see you killed. I love you too well.”
“You
but thought to hand the king my castle without a fight! You betrayed me,
tricked me here,” he shouted, anger building in him as he thought about how it
must have seemed to the people he was sworn to protect.
“No,” she said, putting her arms around him
and holding tightly. “Believe in me my love I just thought to save you.”
“Do
not touch me, lady,” he said tersely. “Keep away.”
“No!
You cannot mean that,” she said, grabbing his arm again.
He
jerked his arm violently out of her grasp and grabbed her by both arms. “I can
not forgive you or ever trust you again,” he said coldly and pushed her away
from him roughly, she tried to catch herself from falling but she tripped over
her long skirt and hit her head heavily against one of the stone pillars that
surrounded them.
He
looked at her lying there and he could hear her words, “I love you too well,”
she’d said. He knelt by her side but when he touched her hand he could tell she
was gone. He pulled her into his arms and held her close as the stars
disappeared and the sun rose over the stones.
“I
promised to love you forever, my lady,” he said. “We will be together again, I
swear it. We made a vow.”
He
was alone.
1944
Anno Domini
“It
was you,” Tom said, staring at Mariana, still stunned by the news of the
carrier sinking and the realization that somehow she was responsible. He had
loved her so, even thought about leaving everything behind to be with her.
And
he knew now that he would have done it.
Tears
streaked her cheeks, overflowing her large, blue-gray eyes. She nodded slowly,
sitting up on the couch and wrapping the blanket around herself.
“Why,”
he said. “How could you? I thought we loved each other? You were a spy, the
whole time. More than 900 men are dead. They’re dead because of you and because
I’m such a fool.”
“No,”
she protested. “I am not a spy. When your plane crashed they came looking for
the pilot. I told them you had died and I didn’t want them to come back and
find you. I found that book in the wreckage of your plane. When I gave it to
the officers they were satisfied, they went away and never came back. They
would have killed you Tom. I could not let them do that. Even then, somehow, I
loved you. I love you now, so much. Please understand. I’m sorry so many died,
but I could not lose you . . .”
“Shut
up,” he said coldly. “You’re nothing but a little Nazi spy. You had me so
fooled. You make me sick.”
“Tom,”
she whispered. “Please it’s not true. I can’t explain, but don’t be angry, we
have to be together, I feel it.”
“I’m
leaving,” he said, trying to calm his anger, but visions of men he knew
drowning or worse yet becoming food for the sharks in the Atlantic overwhelmed
him. He looked in the mirror, he had failed, he had trusted her and because of
that they were all dead.
She
watched him go. He hated her. He would never forgive her. Mariana’s heart was
in agony. She looked at his gun, she’d taken it from his jacket when he was
tying his tie in the mirror. She raised the pistol to her temple and fired.
Tom
heard the shot and paused a moment, then kept walking. But burning tears slid
down his cheeks. He was alone, he could never trust anyone again and he’d be
damned if he ever loved again either. He buried the memory of her sad blue eyes
and her protestations of love deep inside.
Midii
opened her eyes. She wasn’t dead, but she was alone. He had left her all alone.
She sat down against a tree and stared at the sky, it was getting dark already
and the stars were ready to come out. She saw a falling star and made a wish.
Someday, someday let me find him again. I’ll make things right. She closed her
eyes tightly and pressed her hands together over her heart.
Nanashi
looked up at the same sky. He was going to find a way to space, he wanted to be
up there among the stars. It was quiet and peaceful and safe there. She had
said that. The memory of Midii alone back there, tugged at him. He hadn’t been
able to shoot her, he’d wanted to, been angry enough to, but something held him
back. A strong feeling that he had to give her another chance. He wished then
that he could have told her his name. He thought about it as he looked up at
the stars. He must have a name. He struggled to think but nothing concrete
came
to mind. Tom, maybe, or Trevor or Trevin or something, Triton perhaps. None of
them seemed right, he was grasping at straws.
She’d
felt drawn there, she didn’t know why. It was like a magnetic pull in a way.
She’d seen an article in a travel magazine and her heart had started to pound
and the blood in her veins tingled strangely. And suddenly Midii was buying a
plane ticket to visit the United Kingdom. Spending money she didn’t have on a
trip to nowhere, to see a stupid pile of rocks.
She
listened to the tour guide. She stood apart from the other tourists, little old
ladies and families with children mostly. No one knew how old the stones were.
They had been ancient long before the construction of the colonies, long before
any recorded history. Legend had it there was a magical quality to the stones
and that ancient people had worshipped and made sacrifices of blood to the gods
there. There was something awe-inspiring about them, she admitted and she felt
the tingly feeling she had felt when she saw the pictures in the magazine. And
yet there was a sense of disappointment.
“What
exactly did you expect to happen,” she chided herself. “Did you expect that
wish you made on a star once to suddenly come true.”
She
walked around the stone pillars, occasionally touching one or the other and
eventually making her way to the center of the grouping. There was a stone that
looked like an altar there. She cringed a little, it still looked coated with
blood from those ancient sacrifices. It made her feel a little ill.
She
walked away from the rest of the group and wandered over the countryside a bit,
it seemed so familiar somehow, although she had never been to England before.
She looked at her watch. Dammit, she thought, they would have left without her,
she’d been lost in her thoughts and wandered too far. Well there would be
another tour group before long and she’d hitch a ride back to town with them.
Trowa
Barton stood on the hill, turning his back on the stones. The sight of them
made him feel strange and light-headed and lonely. He’d come with the circus to
perform in London. They were rarely on Earth and he should see the sights he
supposed. He’d rented a car and just driven with no purpose or direction and
ended up here.
He
looked over the landscape and saw a hill in the distance. There was a castle
there once, long ago, he told himself. He wasn’t sure how he knew. A horrible
fire, everyone killed, all his fault. Trowa shook his head and the strange
half-memory disappeared. Then he saw someone in the distance, walking back up
toward Stonehenge, suddenly appearing like a ghost emerging from the
countryside. It was a woman and her slender figure, graceful movements and long
blonde hair seemed so familiar to him. He wanted to call out to her.
Madelyn
The
word insinuated itself into his brain. No that wasn’t right, that wasn’t her
name.
“Midii,”
he called.
She
looked up and stopped walking. She simply stared at him as if he too were a
ghost. He walked down the hill to her and took her hand.
“Nanashi,”
she said. “Can this be real?”
“Strange,
isn’t it,” he agreed. “I’m not Nanashi. I have a name now. It’s Trowa Barton.”
“Trowa,”
she said, looking at the ground, a touch of fear in her eyes. He had every
reason to hate her, to want her dead, even though the war was over.
“Don’t
be afraid,” he said, tilting her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “I
could never hurt you.”
He
leaned toward her, his hand caressing her cheek, and in the shadow of the
ancient stones, he kissed her.
He
held her close and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“We
have to be together,” he said. “Come back with me to the colonies. Up to the
stars, remember?”
“This
time forever,” she said, looking up at him.
“Forever,”
he agreed.
~*~the end~*~