He felt his soul rising out of his wounded body. Up and up … The violence of the storm flowed into him with the potency of Brother Hurricane’s wrath. A Song burst from his lips. In it, he called the animals by their secret names, the names they knew themselves by, and he heard the stirring in the foothills as each lifted its head to listen. Sunchaser solemnly pleaded for their aid.
Power flushed his soul as he sailed over the camp and flew away on the shoulders of the gale.
Forty-three
The towering black trees seemed to breathe around Lambkill. They swayed back and forth in unison, rustling and whimpering, watching him through the eyes of silver spots of moonlight. He could sense their malignant Spirits reaching out for him, hoping to snag his soul and rip it from his body. Their touch slipped like wet tentacles over his skin. Where had this windstorm come from? He’d seen no clouds gathering!
“What do you want?” he demanded. “Stay back. Stay back or I’ll kill her right now! Stay back!”
The tentacles retreated into the darkness, but he could hear the hoarse whispers of the Forest Spirits echoing around him.
He kept his left hand clamped over Kestrel’s mouth and shoved her down the dim game trail ahead of him, causing her to trip and stumble, letting the dead branches rip at her flesh-. The knife wound in her leg must have pained her badly, for she had begun leaning into him, forcing him to carry her weight. How strange to feel her young slender body in his arms again.
He moved his right hand down and ran it over the seashells on her dress, then groped for her full breasts until she let out a muffled cry. Rabid desire flushed his system. His penis hardened with the need of her.
She felt it and whimpered pathetically. If he let her speak now, she would beg him to stop, not to hurt her, to let her go. Knowing that stoked the triumph rushing within his soul.
“So, my wife,” he whispered in her ear. “You thought you could escape me, didn’t you? Didn’t you!” He twined his right hand in her thick black hair and wrenched her neck agonizingly.
She nodded weakly. Lambkill felt tears running warmly over the fingers of his left hand.
“Silly fool,” he hissed. “I told you. I told you I would find you. Didn’t you believe me? You know what a great tracker I am. No one is better than me. I found every heel print you left, every tiny fragment of your dress. I even found the place where you gave birth to my children.”
Kestrel twisted to peer into his eyes. Sweat coated her face, turning it luminous. Her long black hair fluttered in the cool wind that swept the forest trails. Oh, how he used to love to wrap himself in that glossy wealth and couple violently with her.
“Yes, wife, I know now that the twins were mine, not Iceplant’s. My son told me. The first moment that I brought him to life, he called me “Father.” “
Horror shone in Kestrel’s eyes, and Lambkill laughed in disgust.
“You don’t believe me, do you? Well, Tannin didn’t either. I tried to show him, but he closed his eyes and ears to me. That’s why I had to kill him. He thought I was crazy. I’ll bet you do, too.”
He tipped his head back and laughed into the gale. “Just wait. Wait and I’ll show you our son. I’ve taken good care of him—unlike you did. You tried to murder him. He would have stayed dead if not for me and my knowledge of such things.”
A shudder went through her body, and it thrilled him.
If only he could slit her open now and leave her for the wolves and coyotes. He had been planning her death for days. As he forced her down the brush-choked game trail, he talked to her.
“Do you remember what I told you I was going to do to Iceplant? Hmm? I said I was going to let him go so
I could hunt him down and slit him open before your eyes.” A chuckle shook his bony chest. “I didn’t have the chance with him—he forced my hand, forced me to kill him before I could play with him. But now I have you. Oh, my wife,” he said softly, intimately, as she stumbled over a fallen tree. He continued shoving and prodding her down the winding trail.
The faint roars of lions sounded in the distance, calling back and forth to each other across the hills. The birds perched sleeping in the trees awoke and chirped, as though startled by the sound.
“Let me tell you what I’m going to do with you, Kestrel. I’ll tell you so you can think about it while we’re running. First I’m going to stretch you out on your back between two trees and tie your hands to one tree and your feet to the other. Then I’m going to use my knife to carefully slice open the smooth skin’ of your belly. I want to sever the tissue sac that holds your internal organs. Yes, think of that. Imagine what the pain will be like.