[TW/ Intoxication, infrequent strong language, sexual language]
Lancelot's honour and loyalty is put to the rest. Ari calls into question who she can and cannot trust.
Gripping at the collar, Ari pulled him down to her, her lips colliding with his to wash away the pain of this day. Like the culmination of a rolling drum, on its final beat they crashed together devastatingly, neither finding the will to pull away or part from how they melded into one. A singular kiss so strong which stole all of the air from between them leaving nothing but ruins in its wake. He both wrecked her and made her whole, her lips already bruising from such coveted force, and she made him embrace life, to thirst for endless time in the cup which was her.
When they separated after a long moment, it was like relief for the ability to fill their lungs again, but neither of them deviated too far, holding one another in the silence filled with the echoes of their ragged breaths.
Lancelot tilted his forehead against hers, nuzzling as he uttered her name with the grace of a warming smile reserved for only the Fey queen. He didn't need to look to her to ask for permission to steal another kiss for he had a feeling that she would not decline him, his eyes remaining closed in his light-heartedness as he ghosted his lips towards hers again.
Ari felt the scratch of the coarse hair over his lip drift across her skin, her parted lips already waiting and begging for the reprieve of this torturous stillness. She resisted for a moment but she could wait no more, snaking her palm up and into the concealed space of his hood.
Her kiss was fierce, almost catching him off guard and Lancelot obliged, hungrily grazing his lips over hers in return like he had been starved of any satisfaction for weeks. Though the leather bind separating her skin from his was almost frozen, he did not feel it, so lost already in her and whereas before he had thought that a drunken woman was not how he wished to end his night, he would take his love losing her senses for him any day.
The silence swiftly turned to the soft puffs of air which fell between them, a battle in itself where no one would win. Ari felt the tautness of his neck bend and tighten beneath her palm as he dipped to meet her, their height difference making itself more prominent. His hold on her did not loosen, splayed hands gripping her neck and her waist and encouraging her, if anything, to delve further into this embrace.
Swiping her tongue across his lip when she found a chance, she tasted the fresh crispness of the forest dew that she adored encapsulated in the salted fade of sweat on his skin. The caress was her wordless supplication to be allowed a deeper connection this night, a thirst building to quench her appetite for him further.
Yet Lancelot fanned the fire which was building one flame beyond what she had implored, not just letting her in but thoroughly sending a weakness to her knees when his hand trailed down her chest and circled around her body, clutching to her side over the thick fabric of her coat.
A flutter blossomed from where his palm smoothed over the round of her breast so audaciously for a man who had once been bashful to even look at her body, let alone touch. Something of a salacious ache sweltered in its path and down to her core for something heavier to rain down in the swelling storm, a quiet whine escaping unashamedly as well. It still amazed her that hands so strong could hold so lightly, as if they were hands which belonged to another more delicate creature than the towering Ash man.
Lancelot smirked like a wolf showing off it's catch to the pack when he felt her quiver, realising the effect that his wandering touch had had on her. It had been but a little over a week since they had coupled, and to experience this feeling was new to him, but he couldn't help but wonder for a moment if she was as sexually frustrated as he was right then? The mere sound of her breath catching sent an urge flooding within him, and after this hellish day why should they not indulge in each other?
He tried to hide it, his desperation coming through in the heat of his kiss, but impulsively he edged her to move, guided by his hands on her waist and willing her towards one of the trees hiding them from sight.
Clumsily, they stumbled the one or two short steps, trying to keep their lips connected. The breath of a gasp moved past her lips as she hit the solid bark with a brash thud, her back taking the force but there was no pain. She'd known what to expect but still it was a surprise, for her mind was elsewhere focussing on him, on her fingertips in the base of where his thick curls were neatly tied away and on the bite of her lip where he gently grazed his teeth.
Lancelot's weight pressed her into the Elm, his hand darting to the flaking bark by her shoulder where he had to steady himself. She did not protest to being this way, a tug on his sword belt pulling him closer against her but there was little space left, his body essentially holding her up.
He seemed to have a passion for pressing her against nature, whether it be a boulder in a valley or a tree on the outskirts of her camp and Ari revelled in it too. She rolled against him just for the sake of it, to feel his powerful body move with hers and the moan which rattled from her chest spilled when he sponged his mouth to her neck with a lecherous intent, yet right at the same time as a twig cracked with an echo like thunder, something which neither of them had caused.
Her eyes shot wide and she almost gasped while a spike of fear shot through her veins but Lancelot covered his palm over her mouth to silence her instantly before she made a sound, like he'd already known through prior knowledge to do so, leaving her enough room to breathe through her nose.
Footsteps, Ari heard them, circling around where they were stood so compromisingly entwined together.
Lancelot reacted when his ear twitched with the snap by hushing her so abruptly in this way, he hadn't even thought of what he was doing or that his other hand had moved from her waist and wrapped around the leather grip of his sword. Whoever it was was treading behind him, Fey, given their scent, and neither picking up nor slowing down their pace. There were few tents built for sleeping in beyond where they were. The queen's orchard and some of their livestock in this sparser region of bracken and thin, spindling trees north of the clearing.
Their eyes met as he lifted his face away from being sunk into her neck where he had been leaving a trail of open kisses, his movement achingly slow and unsurprisingly noiseless like he had been groomed to be his entire life. Ari could see his worry mirroring hers and staring back at her, that his mind was turning to find a way out of this situation. They'd never been so close to being caught as this and though she'd always suspected that the event might come, she was not prepared for it to be tonight.
Ari's initial shock had passed and her breaths had calmed to silence, so she removed her fingers from curling within his hair and covered his hand over her mouth, gently squeezing as an indication for him to loosen his hold, which he did. She listened as the footsteps grew louder and she couldn't tell from which direction they were coming or going until she saw a faint glow in the distance over his shoulder. A flicker of a lantern or a flame of a torch, she couldn't tell. Her frosty fingers squeezed again around his hand now sitting on her neck, her head shaking so subtly that from any greater distance, it would not have been noticeable. But they were so near together, the tip of his nose practically touching hers.
Do nothing, she tried to tell him, feeling how he'd reached for the blade at his hip.
Her pulse was threading fast beneath his palm, the vein throbbing against his skin and if she were holding him then she would have felt his doing the same. Lancelot felt like he needed to do something, anything to not let her name be shunned or her reputation tainted for being happened upon in this circumstance with him, the murderer. He replaced his hand down by her shoulder against the bark, tilting forwards further so that he hid her with his body and cloak as the footsteps passed.
Air hitched in her throat with the intimacy that would normally cause such a burning desire to course through her veins, what had been flowing only moments prior. She could feel the shallowness of his breaths run down beside her ear, her eyes closing as she was enveloped into the shadows of his cloak and hood.
The rest of the forest was still, like it were devoid of any creature at all and not filled with hundreds of Fey mostly tucked away in their cots by now as the moonlight beamed down between sweeps of pale, grey clouds up above.
She tilted her head against his for comfort, a silent 'thank you' for shielding her so honourably. Her fingers pressed too to his waist in a reassuring gesture, his chest inseparable from hers as they rose against one another.
Lancelot, for once, diverted his whole attention away from her. He knew that he had her protected and that there was no more that he could do as they waited it out for what felt like hours. Eventually the heavy tread of footsteps in the hardened trail moved on, and he sighed with relief, dropping his shoulders as he pulled himself back upright and readjusted his feet for a lesser overbearing stance than had just been.
Ari let her eyes sit closed for a moment longer, the reality sinking in of how close a call that had been for their affair to be discovered. His thumb trailed down her lips, a reminder that she could finally swallow and take a breath like she had heard him do. Blinking, she opened her eyes to the darkness, met with his perfect storms rolling over her face and checking that she was okay.
The passer by was another reminder that so long as they are here, they are never truly alone. It was infuriating, yet there was little that they could do other than gather their things, saddle the horses and leave to be free from the inevitable face to face judgement. But of course it would just follow them wherever they went. Her title as queen could not just disappear and everything be merry like they wished.
Her orders for there to be more frequent patrols tonight had obviously slipped her mind in the aftermath of dealing with the Red Spear and her indecency, for she should have known that someone may pass by here.
"There will be no rest tonight," Ari lamented tiresomely.
Lancelot had already assumed that. He nodded to himself more than her, "I will stay near to your tent."
"You will not," she refused, kindly, catching the pinch of his brow beneath the shadow of his cowl, "Squirrel needs you more than I, he will be scared even if he does not show it."
Lancelot already knew that the boy was afraid, and he had been gone from his own tent for far too long as it was. Taking that as a more than sufficient reason to unfortunately leave her, he bowed his head and pressed a kiss to her temple, savouring what he could before he disappeared off into the night.
The warmth ran through her like only the chaste touch of his lips could command, pushing away the chill of the night. Her eyes drifted closed and opened again as she felt his presence move away, "Try not to stray in the darkness." For who knows what would be lurking out there tonight.
There was an edge of a good-natured tease in her advice though Lancelot knew that she was serious, and as he stepped away from her he could not refuse the darkened, crooked smile that sat on his face. "Those who are a friend to the pitch night can never stray," he avowed.
"Was that in your scripture too?" Ari countered, mirroring his expression.
No, but it was something in which he had learned many times over in his lifetime.
Lancelot smiled more softly to her, "Goodnight Ari."
One day she would be able to say the words not on a trail where they parted ways but beneath covers and quilts where the only thing that separated them was their slumber, "Goodnight, Lancelot."
~•~
Morning came in its usual way; the slow waking of the forest, the smell of fresh breads drifting through the camp as a wake up call for everyone to rise from their cots. But Ari was already awake, having hardly slept a wink for more than an hour or so at a time. Her mind had been restless, causing her to toss and turn in the breaking flickers of daylight before dawn and it was then when she gave up attempting to rest for any longer.
Trudging through the bite of frost, the ground hard beneath her feet, she wound her way across the edge of the desolate clearing towards the council tent. A flame from her palm lit the wick of oil within the lantern burner and she placed it on the table beside where the box of half written parchments was sitting untouched, the key for which had been tucked away within her boot until she had taken them off in an attempt to sleep, stowing it away in the small leather purse no bigger than her palm that was secured to her sword belt instead.
Birds, sparrow hawks and tits twittered above the tent within the overhanging treetop but she ignored them, too focussed on examining each letter splayed before her that she had failed to complete in the days prior. Unfurling her arms, she leant down to the table, resting her hands flat. There must be something, she thought, pressing her palms further into the smooth pane of wood beneath them, something within these that I can use. The events of the day before, her speech to the elders and her people gave her a jolt of ambition, a sudden flare of passion in her mind for finding the words that had not come to her before.
She glanced through the black inked letters, her words and phrasing and right when she least expected it, there was a spark of revelation. A note to lead on that would surely carry a weight with the human king.
The glass pot of ink was within her grasp in an instant, her lips soundlessly muttering the sentence that she wished to write before it escaped her memory. Her fingertips slid a new parchment from beneath the stone paperweight to rest on the table before her at an angle as she dipped the dry feather quill into the ink.
~
The young Sunborn found herself walking through her forest again about an hour after dawn, her thumb running over the golden wax seal of her family's crest, a circlet with nine arms like single licks of fire, securing the parchment of her message which itself rested behind her back beneath the cover of her mottled blue and black cloak as she ambled towards the north-eastern valley. She passed by groups of children like she used to in her own camp being schooled on the forest thorns and thickets by Dagan, the elder Moon Wing who was not so old, as she made her way to seek out another.
Ari smiled at them politely in passing, one little Sky girl calling out 'hello' to her with a beaming smile as if she were completely oblivious to the blood that had been spilled here just a day ago. She stopped herself in the trail, spotting a low-growing shrub with new berries beginning to flower and picked at a twiglet, breaking it off of the bush. Her feet brought her back to the group, each of the children going quiet as their queen approached and she smiled to them, stooping to a crouch before that same little girl.
She held the small twiglet up before her between them, Dagan watching on while they leant both taloned hands on their simple staff in a dampened wonder compared to the young ones of only six or seven summers, as the queen's powers made the budding stems bare their fleshy, purple juniper fruits within merely a few silent seconds.
"Born in the dawn," Ari greeted the Sky child, whose round, dark eyes were pitched with awe amongst the earth of her rich skin.
"To p-pass in the twilight," the girl recited what she had been taught.
A warmth blossomed through Ari's chest, an equally appealing smile playing on her lips as she held the punnet of berries out, gesturing in a nod to say that they were for the girl to take, which she did, beaming, wrapping her tiny fingers wrapping around Ari's.
She could not place the feeling or why she felt so light as the girl giggled and thanked her without a guise or façade as only innocent children can. Maybe it was in the way that they looked to her, failing to see any flaws, the blood on her hands or the darkness in her veins. Or it could of been how they reminded her of her own childhood, the last time when she was so carefree and unburdened by their wars. Her heart swelled and sunk all the same knowing that these were the lucky few who may live through whatever was to come of this letter in her hand.
Ari stood and stepped around the group to Dagan who waddled a short pace or two towards her, their weight favouring one leg. She stood before them, towering in her height but not overbearing with her presence.
"I am looking for a certain Moon Wing," she hushed her voice, keeping her words ambiguous out of the ears of the children who had begun their chatter amongst themselves whilst their teacher's attention had deviated.
Dagan looked to her, grey eyes pale like the overcast clouds bringing the threat of rain. They heard unspoken question of direction, knowing who the queen was speaking of given what she had told them in the council meeting this morning. Twisting their stiff spine between two clipped wings covered today by an ashy cloak, and tilting their chin up to point down the trail behind her, Dagan gave their answer, "There is a mouse which sits outside of her den, you will not miss it."
The scratch of their voice led Ari to turn her face to follow the gesture. A mouse? She questioned silently, but twisted back, acknowledging them and then the children before setting off in that direction.
Turning amongst the steeping mounds of earth that made up the unevenness of this part of the forest, following a foot-worn dirt and stone path that she wasn't entirely sure actually led to somewhere, Ari sought out the den with a mouse as its gate-keeper. She squeezed between narrowings and moved past several other nests dug into the crevices. It was like a secret forest, a maze of sorts with no way in and no way out. The moss-covered rock towered above her, and trees towered above that which filtered the cold sunlight.
Her cloak served to keep the letter concealed, clean and dry lest Ari have to traipse back to the council tent and scribe out another. She was not straying too far from the clearing yet far enough away for this Moon Wing's nest to be secluded from the rest of the camp. The woman hardly ever left the tranquillity of her den, preferring the company of herself than others and the folk here were afraid of her, Ari had noticed, Fey usually went silent when she was around. Her stares could pierce and her talons could scratch even if unprovoked. She had seen it soon after they arrived here how the witch had a snarl and rasp to me met with a careful measure.
Ari didn't blame the Fey for the way that they treated her - the queen did not wish to deal with her either, but there was something which needed to be done and this was the best and most discrete possible way.
At the council meeting after the first break of dawn, it had been decided. The elders who were once reluctant before now agreed that the help of the human king would be beneficial to them.
"So now do I have your agreement?" Ari had asked, after speaking of the events of the day before and as she looked between them they each reluctantly nodded, one by one.
"We have little other choice," was one opinion, and "this attack has pushed us into moving forwards," was another. It was irritating how it had taken an attack on their ally for them to agree with her, but she had their support now which is what mattered.
There can't be much left to this path, Ari mused when it felt like the trail was running cold. She had gone past other dens but none of them had the mouse which Dagan had informed her of and she did not think that they would send her chasing in circles this far into the depths of the valley. But then as she rounded a boulder, coated with the slippery sludge of rain sodden moss and algae from the water cascading down its shear, uneven surface to pool at a puddle at her feet, she saw the wide open darkness of a dead end. An entrance littered with mice at the welcoming, or the bones of what was left at them.
Ari's nerves were stronger than most's but even just standing here sent a chill down her spine. She allowed her lungs to breathe deeply, in and out to compose herself before stepping forwards. Her forest rose above her as she stood half in shadow and half in light before the den which she was seeking. She could see now that she was close that cold sunlight came through the cracks in the ceiling of roots, twigs and vines, like an upturned nest of a crow and harshly illuminated just a spot in the centre. There was no telling how wide or how far this den went for the edges were pitch in shadow. The smell was slightly damp, the runoff of mildew from the earth of the valley hills above rolling down and seeping through the hardened dirt walls.
And there was silence.
An eeriness ran through her for feeling like she was not alone, forcing her heart up into her throat. The pad of her finger ran back and forth across where she held the letter in her hand, out of sight hidden beneath her cloak as the silence dragged. She had half a mind to reach out and touch her palm to closest source of life just for her own reassurance that yes, the witch was here.
But Ari was determined to stand in her place, shoulders relaxed and head held high until one of them relented. Tens of seconds stretched on for what felt like minutes, her steady breaths the only sound resonating in her ears when -
"You have come here for my help, why?" The harsh rasp of the Moon Wing sorceress broke from somewhere within the far shadows of the den.
Gold locked on to a spot in the darkness where she followed the voice, her head turning just slightly to the left. It was unnerving knowing that she was being watched but the queen was used to scrutiny, "I was told that your hawks can carry a message the whole length of the land without getting lost."
She did not wish to sound so cold with any of her people, but the last time she had spoken with this Fey of questionable intent had not left her with a reason to wish to be friendly instead. Ari spoke as the queen, no more and no less.
The silence lingered again, a hum like feathers being ruffled and the low, rolling purr of a sparrow's gusset breaking from somewhere. Then a scratch, like a knife's end dragged against stone, and not one but many, lifting and replacing and two grey beads appeared from the destitute of the darkness.
Ari stared back at the eyes examining her, a mutual apathy and also respect for one another. The queen knew not to cross the witch and vice versa, both of them holding a power like few other's in this kingdom.
That deep, cool rasp shrugged again, "They can." Another scratch of talons along the stone ground and Yeva stepped forwards into the light, her rugged feathered wings dusting along the ground behind her. Still stone-faced, her sharp features harsh beneath this light, she found more interest for the queen's alluded reason for being here, "Who is it you wish to send a message to?"
Ari doubted her own decision for a moment, but the sorceress' trustworthiness even more so. The last time that they had spoken was the night of the Winter Feast, where the woman had instigated such torment of Lancelot's mind as she pushed him to journey within the Between. She had taken away his dignity that night and shown no remorse and Ari had not forgotten her decree, you will be the death of him.
Her expression was unresponsive to the doubt, no part of her wishing to show this sorceress that she was questioning, but there was one thing in which she wanted to hear before she said any more, "Can I trust you?"
Yeva raised out an arm, her shawl of matted, weathered feathers falling at her side and a hawk glided from the darkness, batting its wings before tucking them away as it made its perch. Ari knew not to look the bird in the eye, its head twitching as it too examined her like she were its next prey, another body of bones to join the mice casted away outside.
"Marguerite will not deviate," was the answer that was offered, neither a yes or a no.
The bird's ability was not what Ari was speculating, "That is not my concern, but that word will spread of who I am sending a letter to." As of yesterday, the Fey here knew that they were heading to a war though they did not know that their queen planned for them to align with their enemy, the lesser of the two evils.
Yeva responded quickly, indifferent to the matter, "I will not say. I do not care enough to start rumours."
Ari, unsurprisingly, believed her. She bit her cheek for just a second and after a moment, stepped forwards into the light, "I need this to be sent to the human king." Lifting her hand from beneath the warmth of her cloak, she presented the parchment sealed with a round of gold tinted wax between them.
Beaded grey eyes flicked down to the letter, a reaction finally being gained, "To Uther?" Yeva spat to the ground with his name. She was met with a hard stare yet again and when Ari did not retract her request, the Moon Wing shrugged the hawk off of her arm and clasped the parchment between her talons, reluctantly assuring, "Marguerite will deliver it."
Ari bit down for a moment, watching as the old Moon Wing rolled up the parchment, pulling a thin leather strip out from somewhere amongst the ornamental feathers cascading from her crown to wrap and secure the letter.
"I need another to be sent as well," she added, a tentative tilt in her tone, "to somewhere else."
Yeva stopped, her eyes looking up as if she expected more information than that. "To who?" she rasped.
Debating this letter more than the other, Ari held the woman's glare and eventually answered past the slowly forming lump in her throat, "Someone who is not easy to find."
________
wc: 4784
Will there ever be a day when they don't get interrupted whilst canoodling? hehe wait and see.
Lancelot covering her completely was a little hot itself, no?
Is Ari getting a little more maternal these days???
Yeva! I love writing her, even though the end was only a small scene.
I wonder how Uther will react to her letter, and who is the second one for?? o.O