Legends of Belariath

Morrigan Steel

Into the Beyond Lands

The Summoning from the Field of Rest – Part Two

Warm sunlight fell upon her face, kissed her closed eye lids as the paladin stirred awake to the soft nuzzle as it brushed her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open as she breathed in Cinnamon’s scent, the stallion that had been a gift from Lord Wolf and who had died in battle several years earlier, yet the paladin had no recollection of these events. In fact, she remembered nothing of the land of the living except familiar faces and creatures.

At Cinnamon’s soft whicker she laughed and moved to stand, her hand patting the side of his neck in fondness. “Guess I dozed off, Cinnamon. I’m glad you came to get me while there is still time to finish my chores or father would surely be displeased with me.” Cinnamon’s head bobbed up ad down enthusiastically before dropping his muzzle towards her pouch from which always appeared a treat of some sort. As her hand delved within her pouch she found several carrots and offered them up to him upon her palm, the softness of his muzzle proving to be ticklish as he munched upon the carrots rather greedily.

Her soft laughter drifted over the golden field like chimes upon a summer’s breeze as she and Cinnamon set off towards the bottom of the field where she knew home laid, her hand stroking Cinnamon’s cheek as he rested his large head over her shoulder as the pair walked down through the field. Her other hand drifted out to caress the top of the ripening wheat, its coarseness grazing her fingers and palm as they slipped beneath it.

Her home came into view as did her mother when she emerged from the house carrying a bucket to retrieve water from the well that lay equidistant from the house and stable. “Mother! I’ll fetch the water…” she called out and lifted her hand from the wheat to wave as Cinnamon whinnied.

“Oh, Morrigan! You’ve arrived! Thank you, daughter.” Her mother called back and made to sit the bucket down near the well. Confusion filled Morrigan upon her mother’s remark that she had arrived, knowing she hadn’t slept *that* long at the edge of the field. She brushed it aside and began to sprint towards the bucket as she merrily called to Cinnamon, “Come on slow poke, I’m going to beat you this time!”

Cinnamon snorted and lifted his head as if he was rolling his soft brown eyes at her and began to break into a trot when the sudden appearance of a large white wolf rising from the wheat before them stayed both their movement. Cinnamon snorted. The wolf’s eyes were the deepest sea blue she had ever known, deeper and purer than even the mountain streams that coursed upon the mountains at Cutter’s Pass. His fur was the purest white and appeared to be softer than the down that filled the pillow upon her bed. The white wolf’s maw opened, as if he was about to yawn but instead, the smoothest masculine voice flowed forth that she had ever known to resonate even within her being.

“Morrigan, come. You have been chosen to enter the Beyond Lands. Remember my teachings, and do not look back.” The wolf spoke. Once.

The paladin stopped within her tracks in the hip high field of gold as the realization sunk in. She...was dead! The texts upon Lord Abracus flooded to her memories when she made eye contact with the beautiful wolf, knowing if she refused she would be able to stay in this middle ground of rest but never again would the opportunity come to reach the city made of crystal, Sapphireus, which all warriors sought to achieve. Dependent upon how well a warrior bested the obstacles put before them and fared in the battle with the Great Warrior at Pass of Destiny would govern the ranking of the warrior within the city and Lord Abracus’s vanguard.

Morrigan’s mother began calling to her, more urgently. “Morrigan, come home, please. You have been gone so long!” Cinnamon lowered his muzzle to her shoulder and sent his teeth within her white tunic, grazing the flesh beneath as he tugged upon it in his attempt to urge her onward towards home.

The white wolf turned and cut his way through the grain and she knew if she took her eyes off him even for a moment he would disappear and her chance would be gone. She twisted free from Cinnamon, her tunic tearing to bare her shoulder as tears brimmed, yet she kept her eyes on the back of the white wolf as she made to follow him. “Good bye, Mother, Cinnamon. Know always of my love for you.” She called, letting the breeze carry her words back for she dare not look back lest her feet suddenly root upon the spot.

“Morrigan, please!” came the faint cry of her mother and the sound of Cinnamon’s hooves as it sounded like he was about to run her down in an effort to keep her there, yet she kept her faith on the wolf before her, her belief in him rather than test what might happen if she did look back. Just as it seemed Cinnamon was atop her and the temptation to turn became almost too much, everything but the wolf before her faded from view, the cries of her mother and horse fading away as she emerged from the field of gold into the chill winds and barren field of ice. The wolf’s claws clicked on the ice as he began to cross it towards the purplish hued mountains on the horizon beyond them.

She shivered in her thin garments, feeling bare without armor or gear despite knowing the tests demanded she must rely on her wits to prove herself. She wrapped her arms about her slender frame as she made to follow the wolf across the barren field of ice when he suddenly sat and turned his large head over his shoulder back to her. “You have passed the first test which the Tempter devised. Many fail.” He lifted his paw and made to lick it.

New understanding filled her. The Tempter, the Torturer, used many devious ways to cause one to fail so what better way to deceive one as caring as her as to use things she loved against herself? She sank to her knees upon the rough ice a few feet from him, her eyes lowered, arms clasped about her against the cold. “My Lord, thank you for seeing me through, though I do not recall anything within the teachings about aid in a warrior’s final journey to Sapphireus.” She asked softly, confusion in her voice. “Will you help me to understand?”

The wolf lifted his massive head and rested his eerily blue eyes upon her before he stretched his paws forward as he stretched his long form outwards then he padded towards her. Just as his nose neared hers his paws rose and found her shoulders and pushed her to her back upon the ice as he covered her with his warm body, the guise of the white wolf giving way to that of an incredibly handsome man with silvery white hair. He was almost too handsome for even a mortal to look upon.

“Those warriors who have had more trials and obstacles within their life to overcome, and who do so, grant them some assistance in their journey to the Pass of Destiny. Those who cling to their faith and seek to please me even through obstacles receive a greater boon in their journey as there is a time where –faith- is the only answer.” Abracus explained as his fingers entangled in her golden mane as he covered her, she suddenly realizing he was quite naked and seemingly impervious to the cold about them. Her emerald eyes widened as his lips descended to hers. “Thus far, you haven’t disappointed me and your mortal beauty is pleasing, even to a god.”

“I am not worthy of you, Lord…...” sultry whispered as his lips found hers, the sensation of his kiss beyond mortal comprehension, beyond mortal words. The sensation seeped into every fiber of her being and exploded into her mind. Shivers near to convulsions filled her but she couldn’t tell it if was from the ice beneath her or the press of his body atop her. In her thin clothes it wasn’t hard to tell he was aroused from the hard press upon her thigh.

His hand tightened within her golden mane and forced her head back so that her lips would lift to meet his. “Do you deny me? If you wish to remain in good favor with me then a proper offering and attitude should be maintained…hmmm? Few mortals have dared to deny me, and I am sure you know where they are now!” a storm brewed within his eyes of blue that now seemed toned with silver and black, anger within their depths.

Perhaps that was why no mate remained with her for long as it would be in competition with him. Words rising in her mind of how things ‘happened’ around those that opposed the paladin or tried to become the sole focus of her desires that might separate her from her deity. Was her god mad? Surely not…simply a jealous one, she reasoned, hoped. Jealous in that he guarded and protected those who served him faithfully. These thoughts were but an instant and she brushed them away as trickery thrust in her mind by the Tempter sent to test her faith. Her hands lifted to wrap around Abracus as his gaze pierced hers.

“As I said, I have yet to be disappointed in you.” His eyes seeming to reveal he had peered within her mind itself. The caress of her hands froze upon the smooth muscular hollow of the small of his back. “You have passed the test of steadfastness.”

Astonishment flickered briefly in her eyes at his words, taking it as assurance that it had been trickery well played by the Tester and she knew she would have to be well on her guard if she was to win her place in Sapphireus, let alone even think she was worthy enough to serve within Lord Abracus’s vanguard!

His fingers tugged back upon her tresses he had entangled within his digits, further exposing the bowing slender column of her neck to the soft grazing of his lips, his touch sending wave upon wave of overwhelming divine pleasure coursing through her. The pleasure was deeper than she had ever known upon the mortal plane of existence, as if her very being had ascended to a higher plane.

Her lips parted in silent enjoyment as she arched beneath his lips, unaware of the mist that was rising to enshroud them. Abracus withdrew his touch from her as within a moment he had flowed into a standing position and she, as if attached to him by an invisible string, fluidly rose to her own feet, the mist swirling about them.

“You have a choice, Morrigan.” Abracus stated as the mists seemed to envelop them, then reveal him sitting on lush green grass at the edge of a winding babbling brook, one knee bent and his arm draped over his knee. The sunlight licked over his divinely chiseled handsomeness, keeping part of his form bathed in shadows and exposing others in supernatural light.

In her mind she knew what he wanted, to give that part of herself that she had always held back, not only from him but from the majority of men. In her heart she wasn’t sure she could give what she deemed such a high price. As her sizzling emerald eyes lifted to his she saw something flicker within them. Was it disappointment? The mists began to close about him and swallow him up. It was now or never.

“My Lord….wait.” She whispered and walked towards him, cutting the mists between them, fingers lifting to the lacings upon her tunic and nimbly untied them, the tunic falling from her shoulders and fluttering to the icy ground below her boots. The mists parted further and the ice turned to the lush grass as she neared him, his eyes sweeping over her curves as they were willingly revealed to him.

Bare toes now strode in the soft grass before coming to a stop before her god as she felt the warmth now, instead of cold, as she was within the sphere of his divine influence. Nimble fingers undid the lacings of her breeches and she peeled them off her hips, down her toned thighs and off her legs and stepped from them to him, her cheeks blooming to be naked before him.

His stoic expression subtly changed as he watched her divest herself of her clothing and his hand lifted to hers to take it, his eyes drinking in her hard body before him, yet feminine soft and curved in all the right areas. “Do not be shy with me, Morrigan. I can view your naked beauty, even if you are clothed…”

The paladin, -his- paladin, knelt beside his thigh, his hand in hers, her head bowed. “Yes, my lord. I give myself unto you, my lord. Do with me as you will.” Sultry tones revealing the heartfelt offer. “Do you accept me?” Her spirit dared to ask.

“You always did have such spirit, Morrigan. Too much at times.” Abracus chided her as he brought his other hand up from the grass and placed his fingertips near her knee, then began a slow upwards trail along her thigh, then inwards to trace over one of the brands upon her inner thigh, his eerie blue eyes peering deep within her being as well as watching her outward expressions. “Your spirit though, is why you were called to serve me.”

She drew in a breath at his touch and held it, keeping her head bowed. “Yes, my Lord.” Her eyes fastened onto his hand as it moved closer to her sex and fingertips fluttered upon nether lips briefly, inflaming her arousal. Softly she gasped. His fingertips progressed upwards to trace over the scar from a long ago wyvern bite upon her abdomen that had been decorated with a dragon tattoo, fingers following its jagged path around to her back and its sweeping decline towards a firm buttock. Firm pressure was applied to her bottom and urged her towards him as Abracus leaned towards her and placed his lips upon her left nipple, suckling it. She gasped at the rush of pleasure that overwhelmed every fiber of her being, her free hand lifting to his head as she held him at her breast. His lips plucked at her nipple, hardening it before he released it and blew upon the wet surface, wisps of bliss further stealing her mind away. Kisses traced the design of the wolf upon the curve of her breast as he drew her back, she straddling him. “It pleases me you decorated your body so, even the marks of your suffering carefully enhanced.” Abracus spoke against the tattoo before his tongue moved to find the hollow at the base of her throat and dip within it.

The dragon on her shoulders rippled as if in flight as she poised over his erect member, her fingertips brushing through the soft silvery white matt of hair upon his golden chest. Tipping forward her lips sought his in the earnest of her offering to him, and as they touched an explosion of pleasure erupted within her. A voice filled her mind…”Your offering is accepted until the final Bonding and Taking upon your attaining Sapphireus….” Colors swirled within her vision as she paid the price her lord had required, her hips descending towards his and the hard rigid member beneath her sex lips…divine ecstasy filled her as she arched over him in the coupling. Her mind and memories dissolved into the pool of divine pleasure…

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