Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [88]
Berun took the pipes, and in so doing his finger brushed against her hand. Berun swallowed and wet his lips. Damp as he was, the breeze made him shiver, but a warmth was growing beneath his skin and spreading outward.
"Sit," she said. "Sit and play."
Berun sat upon the soft grass and put the pipes to his lips. He blew a hesitant note, then began a simple melody, the first Master Chereth had ever taught him. He didn't even know its name.
Lebeth turned her back to him, though she continued to watch over her shoulder as she began her dance. She began with a rhythmic swaying of her hips, then her hands moved up her body to tangle her fingers in her hair. Blossoms rained down to her feet. A few caught in the breeze and fluttered to Berun. One came to rest on his cheek, and his head spun for a moment at the sharp, sweet scent.
Dusk faded to night, the sky going from deep purple to a blackness broken only by the moon and stars, but Berun noticed that it was not getting darker in the glade. If anything, he could see more. Still keeping the pipes to his lips, he turned his head slightly and saw that a warm green glow was emanating from the water. At first he thought that the moonlight had simply taken on an odd sheen, but then he saw that the light was coming from the pool itself.
A rock struck the pool, startling Berun so that his melody faltered. The sudden ripples caused the light to flicker in the glade. He returned his gaze to Lebeth, who had ceased her dance and was watching him. She had thrown the rock.
"You have all your life to stare at water," she said. "You have me only tonight."
Berun began to play again, this time a more lively tune. Lebeth resumed her dance, her hips undulating to the melody and her arms moving over her body. She joined in the music herself, stamping her foot or clapping her hands as she danced, her hair flying about her, blossoms falling at her feet.
She danced closer, bathing Berun in her scent, and looked down on him. "Be wary, son of the Oak Father," she said, almost in a chant.
He did not cease his playing, but his brows creased in a quizzical expression.
She danced away again, and as she did, some of the fabric came away from the bottom of her gown, exposing her legs below the knees. The bits of fabric floated like goosedown on the breeze and broke apart in the air until they were no thicker than smoke, enveloping Berun. It smelled like summer rain.
"My roots run deep," she said, glancing back at him again. She tossed her hair over one shoulder, and the fabric of her gown slipped down. She did not pull it back up. "I sensed the earth spirit during the storm."
The one that saved me, Berun thought.
"Even from afar," she continued, "I sensed… wrongness within it, like the beginnings of rot in wood."
Berun pulled the pipes away from his mouth. "I don't understand."
Lebeth stopped her dancing and looked down on him. Her lips twisted in a mischievous smile. "Play for me, Berun. Fulfill the covenant."
Berun resumed the tune, this time, a melancholy air of low notes over the longest pipes.
"Like the beginnings of rot in the wood," Lebeth continued, and this time her dance was slow, almost more of a swaying, and she drew closer to him step by step. "Do not trust visions of the cold earth, where stone is strong and growing things struggle against the dark. Earth, soil… its life comes from death, from the decay of once-living things. Life comes from death. Of this is the Balance. But in earth where death grows too strong…" Berun thought he saw a shudder pass through her that was not part of her dance. "Beware, son of the Oak Father. Even truth can deceive, when the seeker walks darkened paths."
The rest of her gown, still sparkling like starlight on frost, melted away. The remains caught on the wind and showered Berun. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, the last of his melody fading away on the breeze. When he opened his eyes again, Lebeth stood naked before him, still slightly swaying, the breeze playing