Sons of Ironstorm - Book 1: Griffon's Rise

Chapter 39: An Enemy Strikes

In the midst of discovery, in the heart of learning,

The enemy they feared lurked in the shadows, did strike,

Seeking to decimate the cadre of heroes

Sent to learn of the Utterance and prepare elvendom

Against the Return, cursed and dark as it was."

- from Cephanon's 'Ruminations', ch. 7

Ciramax sighed with contentment as he leaned back against the wall behind him, his skin still tingling and warm from his most recent embrace of intimacy enjoyed in Elise's arms. Still a powerful and passionate people, lovemaking to the elves was like riding the crest of a tempest, a seething maelstrom of emotion and sensation that engulfed one so completely it was like stepping into a whole new universe. Even when the emotional ties of a relationship weren't involved.

The young prince glanced down at the woman curled up against his side, a slight smile visible in the dim light on her lips as she slept. Ciramax sighed again and looked away, turning to the window instead.

It had been a welcome release from the building tension that had swirled around the Aquilan prince ever since the slaughter at Caeba and finding the young human in the midst of the Tempest seemingly forever ago. In the days since, not even a tenday by even the most generous reckoning, the world he had grown to know and love, had been completely turned on its head then shoved sideways against his preconceptions and assumptions about the nature of Reality. Little of the Reutha he'd been born into now remained; enemies had become friends, elvendom expanded far beyond the Sovun'chul and the Utterance's terrible realization loomed over it all.

Ciramax raised a hand to slowly comb it through his unbound hair. Of course, it was a bit unlike him to lose focus on the task at hand. Not but a handful of turns of the big glass ago his mind was consumed with the Utterance, Gerumenum and the great council. Now all he could think about was how Elise tasted on his lips. Little indeed to take comfort in, other than the fact that he was still an elf.

A mischievous smile touched his lips at his next thought. 'Still an elf and still a man, as far as Elise is concerned,' he silently mused, once again looking down at the beautiful Merisin woman so recently his passionate lover. 'Thank goodness for a sturdy Sylvasin constitution. I thought we'd never find the depths of her need. And now she's the one sleeping!'

As if somehow aware of the irony, Elise stirred and her eyes fluttered open. Catching sight of Ciramax above her, her smile broadened considerably.

<<Still awake?>> she murmured drowsily, her voice low and sensual. <<I am very impressed, Max.>> She reached out to slide her hand onto his thigh, letting it rest there possessively. <<With the number and quality of our intimate opportunities, I thought you truly drained.>>

Ciramax chuckled softly at the teasing turn of phrase as he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

<<Not from lack of trying, I assure you,>> he replied, smiling as she tenderly kissed his hand and fingers before he could draw them back.

He was about to speak again when a soft, scrabbling sound by the door abruptly captured his attention. That sounded like something being slid beneath the door!

<<What, ...?>> he began with a frown, an acrid scent touching his nostrils an instant after the sound reached his ears. He leaned forward to get a better look at the door.