Tales of
Erogenia
Based on the online comic created by J.E.
Draft.
Episode 3: The
Chapter
10:
Partings
Zenaria remembered the next
few weeks as among the happiest of her
life. She and Sulia attended
to their duties, the Urulana princess attending to her royal responsibilities
and Zenaria studying with Fulan. In
between they hunted, trained for war, and even worked in the
fields.
Zenaria was spared some
of the manual work due to her martial
skills. The Urulana made no use
of the sword and had little use for the bow, preferring their long spears
for both hunting and warfare, but they could not but be impressed by the
prowess shown by her and Varden when it came to using the long
blade. It became apparent that
in close combat there was no Urulana warrior who could match either of them
and it was not long before many of the warriors were demanding that their
smiths turn to making swords for them as
well.
It was a similar matter
with Zenaria’s powerful bow.
She could easily outrange any even the strongest warrior when it came
to spear against bow. And her
deadly accuracy with the bow was something none of them could
match. Soon both she and Varden
were recruited into training the Urulana in the Kivalian and Erogenian arts
of combat.
When they
were not helping develop the martial skills of the Urulana, Zenaria and Varden
studied with the shaman; Varden to learn more about the skills of healing,
and Zenaria to improve her liaison with
animals.
“You have great
potential,” Fulan told her.
“Perhaps even greater than that of
Qirlan.”
“But I do not want
that kind of power,” Zenaria
protested. “I am a
warrior. Not a
sorcerer. I have no wish to control
the elements of nature.”
“You have a gift, given
to you by Rahlu the Creator. It
goes against the will of the gods not to use
it. Qirlan used his gift for
evil; you must use it for good.”
Zenaria opened her mouth
to object once again. She was
distinctly uncomfortable with the concept of forcing what she thought of
as her animal cousins to do anything against their
will.
“Would you go into
battle without your sword?” Fulan asked, before she could
comment. “Your gift is not
separate from your body or your soul.
It is a part of you. The
gods have bestowed their favour upon you.
Do not dishonour them.”
Zenaria bowed her head
respectfully. Perhaps her gift
was part of the
cha
and not to use it was to go against the will of the
gods.
After
all, I must have been given this gift for some purpose.
She halted her objections
and did her best to learn more about her arcane
ability.
However, even as she grew
closer and closer to Sulia and immersed herself in her training and the daily
life of the Urulana, something constantly nagged at her, and that was a desperate
longing to return to Erogenia.
In spite of her deep affection
for Sulia she knew there could never be a proper bonding between
them. Sulia’s destiny lay
in becoming the next queen of the Urulana although she learned that it was
not a position that was entirely assured.
It turned out that any one of Walenia’s daughters was eligible
for the queenship, provided she fulfilled the
obligations. Zenaria could not
imagine that any of Sulia’s younger sisters could match her in the necessary
qualities. However, they all
trained for the position, mindful of the fact that accident or warfare could
lead to the death of the eldest, thus placing one of them in line for the
succession.
One thing was certain and
that was when Sulia reached her twenty-fifth birthday she would marry one
of the many young warriors of her
generation. There were many to
choose from and the choice of the princess would not be
ignored. But she was expected
to choose wisely, selecting a partner with virtues that would complement
hers.
Whatever Sulia’s future,
it was a situation that held no place for
Zenaria. She could not picture
herself becoming a full member of Urulana society even though her pale skin
was not held against her. She
simply was not cut out for an existence where day to day life meant staying
in one place. For better or worse
her restless spirit drove her to explore new lands
and cultures and nothing could tie her down to a single location for
long.
However, her new life was
not without its attractions. Her
new duties kept her very busy, and she found to her surprise that she actually
enjoyed teaching the Urulana warriors to use bow and
blade. And then, of course, there
were her nights of passion with Sulia.
They surpassed even her relationship with Varden, short as it had
been, although not her affair with her distant lover Tren, a liaison that
had led to the birth of her daughter.
She thought of Tren less
now, But the Beni Sidra assassin was never far from her
thoughts. It was another reason
for returning to Erogenia, because unless she did she would never see the
father of her daughter again.
However, it was not going
to be that easy to get away. She
could not bring herself to simply leave Sulia, not after the blossoming of
their relationship. And there
was another more practical reason.
It appeared that she and Varden had arrived in the land of the
Strangely, it was Sulia
who provided a solution; one that was so unexpected that it left Zenaria
open-mouthed.
They lay in exhausted
stickiness, enfolded in one another’s
arms. Sulia’s breathing
slowly quieted and she kissed Zenaria
softly. “I have spoken to
the queen,” she said. “I
can go with you.”
“With
me?”
Zenaria finally managed.
“Where am I going?”
“I have only been with
you a short time, but it is long enough,” Sulia
whispered. “And I have spoken
with the Shining One who knows you better than
I. I know you love me, yet you
long to be off in search of other lands.
I cannot keep you here, but I do not want to leave you and so I have
asked my mother, the queen for permission to go with
you.”
Zenaria pushed herself up
on one elbow. She could not see
Sulia in the darkness of the room, but she could feel the eagerness in the
other’s body. Slowly she
ran her hand over the other’s hip, moving up to her waist, and finally
finding her firm breast. Gently
she traced circles about the taut nipple.
“You know it will be a long and dangerous journey,” she
said. “And that you might
never return to see your mother again.
What say you to that?”
“I am a princess of
the Urulana,” Sulia answered softly.
“And I do not shy away from
danger. Moreover, should I not
return I have four sisters to take my
place. And
finally it is thought that for too long the Urulana have hidden away from
the world. Now it is time for
one of our number to see what lies beyond the slopes of the
“You are sure about
this?” Zenaria whispered as Sulia’s hand moved to the middle of
her back.
“As sure as am of
this,” Sulia answered as she nuzzled Zenaria’s nipples, taking
first one then the other into her mouth and licking and sucking them to
alertness. Zenaria made a sound
halfway between a sigh and a moan and then gave in to her natural
desires.
Never one to waste time,
Zenaria had made good her preparations by the end
of the next day. She decided
against taking the heavy gifts she had been laden with by the Emperor of
Jingua. Instead she left the
exquisite golden armour with Walenia.
By coincidence the queen was almost the same height as the woman it
had been intended for, Zenaria’s mother, Queen
Cirilia. Zenaria felt almost
guilty in not being able to take it with her, but it was far too bulky to
lug across the vast plains she would have to
travel. Similarly, she left the
armour she had been given, finding it unsuitable in a land that had no beasts
of burden. If the Urulana had
possessed animals like horses, it might have been a different matter, but
on foot such heavy gear was impractical.
She settled on her sword; bow and quiver of arrows; and her heavy
bladed knife. For clothing she
wore only her cotton skirt and halter, and a light cape ostrich
feathers. The feathered cape
served a dual purpose, providing protection against the sun for her relatively
pale skin, and also acting as a rain
cape. It was so expertly woven
that even the heaviest rain ran off – or so she had been
told. She had yet to test it
in a real downpour.
Her only other clothing
was a pair of sturdy sandals. These
were a bit of a novelty among the Urulana who traditionally went
barefoot. In fact Sulia’s
feet were so tough that she could walk on the vicious needle-like thorns
without pain or injury.
It went without saying that
the Urulana princess wore even less than
Zenaria. However, she adopted
Zenaria’s custom of wearing a halter and also took a feathered
cloak.
In addition to their clothing
both women wore an assortment of
jewellery.
Sulia, wore her gold arm bands and bracelets
as well as a light gold chain; and Zenaria gold bracelets and the heavy ivory
and ebony necklace. She wore
the necklace reluctantly and would have left it with Fulan had the shaman
not insisted that she take it.
Finally, she gave in and accepted that the necklace was hers, but
its heaviness was uncomfortable and so she wore it around her waist like
a belt.
Each woman also carried
a light pack which between them contained flint and steel, a few medicinal
aids, fishing line, tea, salt, dried herbs and seasonings, a small metal
cooking pot, two light wooden spoons, two bowls
made out of gourds, and a few other useful
items. Each woman also carried
her own waterskin.
They carried almost no food
except for a few nuts and grains for emergency, expecting to be able to hunt
and forage along the way. Like
Zenaria, Sulia had a sword strapped over her
shoulder. She was far from being
a swordswoman, but Zenaria expected to tutor her along the
way. In addition, the Urulana
princess carried her long spear and like Zenaria, a heavy
knife.
Thus equipped, they were
ready to set out, but not before a series of
goodbyes. They first took their
leave of Queen Walenia and Fulan.
This was hardest for Sulia as
she was leaving the only life she had ever known, but the Urulana princess
was filled with the sense of adventure and said her goodbyes without
tears.
It was the same for
Zenaria. Other than her official
goodbye to the Queen and her consort, she really only had to say goodbye
to Varden. The fact that the
knight had briefly been her lover might have influenced her more had he not
revealed that Kindra was carrying his child and that he was quite content
to stay among the Urulana and further develop his healing skills and train
the warriors in the “civilized” manner of making
war.
“They know nothing
of siege warfare or defending properly against an attacking army,” the
knight stated. “I will be
quite busy teaching martial techniques as well as instilling a proper sense
of chivalry. I will miss your
expertise with the bow, but I have the smiths working on a crossbow that
I believe most warriors will find easier to
use. I believe what I will miss
most is my horse, but the Urulana are brave and have the makings of good
infantry.”
Zenaria
smiled. With the pregnant Kindra
by his side it seemed apparent that the knight was going to have little trouble
fitting in. “Farewell, Sir
Knight,” she said.
“Perhaps one day you and I will meet
again. If I journey to Kivalia
I will seek out your order and tell them what became of
you.”
Varden returned her smile.
He stepped forward and placed
his powerful but gentle hands on Zenaria’s
shoulders. Leaning forward he
kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“Go with St. Brenna’s blessing,
snow princess. I will always
think of you.”
“And I of you,”
she returned. For some strange
reason her voice almost stuck in the throat, but there seemed little more
to be said. She felt the touch
of Sulia’s hand and turning she smiled at
her lover. Together they set
out through the gates of
Luruana.
New adventures awaited her.
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