Intended Ch. 07

"Veba!" He looked at her in shock, incredulous that she could treat such a serious matter so...casually. "Are you certain you are all right? First the scars I felt all over your body last night, and then I make you bleed and you act as if you do not care. You should be furious with me; why are you not? I do not know how I am going to live with the knowledge that I treated you so brutally, and I think you may still be in shock. Perhaps when we get back home we should both go to the Spiritwalker for help."

"No!" she interjected, with more passion than she had demonstrated the entire conversation. Finally her eyes met his, and he saw...worry reflected in them. Steadying her voice, she continued. "No one else needs to know what happened between us last night. How about this?" she proposed. "I will tell you something private, something that will help you to understand why you need not feel guilty, if you promise to keep it confidential. If I tell you, will you give up this notion of speaking to the Spiritwalker or anyone else about this matter?"

Still confused, Letan studied her face for a moment. Reluctantly, he replied, "Very well, I will speak of this to no one. What do you wish to tell me?"

"I find receiving pain between the furs very...exciting, and it is nearly impossible for me to achieve release without it. So you see, I very much enjoyed our encounter last night, and there is nothing for you to feel guilty about."

"It has not been that long since the last time we shared furs. I do not recall you needing...pain before."

"It is...something I discovered somewhat recently; I now reach higher peaks than ever before," she explained. "Now that you are aware of it, perhaps next time we can try even more things."

"Um...I do not know. As badly as I feel this day, I cannot imagine wanting to experience anything like that ever again, Veba."

"Oh, you get over it," she assured him. "Should you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." Smiling, she leaned in and spoke more softly. "And I do hope you will someday change your mind; your enormous manhood filled me beyond anything I have ever experienced before, and it was exquisite."

A jolt surged through Letan's body; he found her statement both appalling and...incredibly arousing and did not know how to respond.

"Now, promise me you will say nothing to anyone else, including the Spiritwalker."

Though he remained uncertain, he could see from her eyes she had told him the truth. He nodded his head. "I promise."

"Good. Now, if you really wish to help me, you can carry this heavy skin back to the camp."

~*~*~

While Sala slept the rest of day following the accident, by morning she had recovered sufficiently to move about the camp. Her body ached all over, however, and she still felt emotionally spent.

"What you are experiencing is normal," Nira assured her. "Your body is sore because you held the muscles so tightly for an extended period of time, and as for your emotions, I do not think I need to explain why you continue to feel drained after such a traumatic experience."

Since she had woken, Jakal had not left her side for even a moment. Despite her reassurances that she did not blame him for the accident -- after all, they were heading back to the shore when the incident occurred, and they had to help, and besides it was Rila who capsized the canoe, and she was just a frightened child -- the guilt he carried did not leave her mate's blue eyes. In fact, he was so contrite it almost seemed he was...begging her to forgive him.

On the journey back to the Camp, the couple walked slowly near the back of the procession, both from lingering weariness, a result of their harrowing experience, and to provide them the opportunity to speak privately.

"Jakal, I wish I understood why you continue to chastise yourself for what happened. I am safe, you are safe, and so are all the young people. It was largely because of you that we all emerged unharmed."

"I know, Sala. I thank the Spirits that no one was killed or seriously hurt, but I fear my actions have only put you in even greater danger."

"How so?"

"The Spiritwalker may not have been there to witness the incident, but do you really think with two hundred people in our Camp, the majority of whom were there, that this will remain hidden from his knowledge for long?"

"I...had not considered that."

"My whole reason for pressuring you to go on the lake was to prevent the Spiritwalker from using your weaknesses against you. Just like when we first left the river, I was trying to think several steps ahead of our enemy, and just like before something terrible happened, only this time we managed to avoid a tragedy.

"I pushed you to come back home, swearing that I would keep you from harm. When you developed this...anxiety about drowning, I worried that if the Spiritwalker learned of your vulnerability before you got it under control he would not hesitate to exploit it, putting you at grave risk.

"I decided to take charge. I knew your fear was irrational and thought since I was there when it first developed I understood it; I was just as certain I could help you get over it quickly. You just needed to trust me, listen to me; I would keep you safe and prove to you that you had nothing to fear. I promised that I would protect you, never let him hurt you again and all I have managed to do is offer him one more way to get to us, one more way to get to you.

"I tell you truthfully, it upset me a little when you were alone in the dwelling after we learned about Sedon, and then later when I discovered you had given me the talisman of the Spiritwalkers when we went to retrieve his body. I felt as though you had been letting down your guard too much, giving him an opening to come after you. And that was making things more difficult for me, your 'protector'.

"I think part of me had hoped that by showing you how important it was to conquer your fear of drowning, you would recognize that we cannot afford to let down our guard about anything until he is exposed. I should have just told you how I felt instead of pressuring you to go on the boat.

"But once again I was foolish and arrogant, overconfident of my abilities. I should have anticipated something like this happening with a bunch of children on the lake at the same time as us. Not only have my actions made your anxiety worse than ever, I also exposed your vulnerability to our entire Clan. I was so worried about what I perceived to be your weakness that I was completely blind to my own."

Sala stopped. Pulling Jakal to her, she held him close, placing her head on his chest. She waited until the last of their people had passed before speaking.

"Jakal, you were not wrong about wanting to help me face my fear, and you were not wrong about the other things as well. I have not been as vigilant as I probably should. Our friends, but especially you, make me feel so safe that there are times I forget a little about the danger. But that is my fault, not yours, and I should know better. I am sorry my actions have caused you even more worry.

"While you were persistent about going on the boat, do not forget I could have refused but I did not, because I knew that you were right. The Spiritwalker is too clever, too cruel for us to take anything for granted.

"It is impossible to be perfect, Jakal; we are human and are going to make mistakes. Yes, it makes us vulnerable, exposes our weaknesses; but just as we are imperfect, so is the Spiritwalker. Since we got back, we have been so focused on defending ourselves from an attack that perhaps we are missing an opportunity to exploit his weaknesses.

"He has been spending more and more time in the Ceremonial Hut, and I cannot help but think that might have something to do with all of the questions everyone has been asking lately, especially Keta. She is the only one who outranks him, and he is probably afraid of displaying his vulnerabilities to her; I think he knows she is aware that something strange is going on, and that he is at the center of it. The more time he spends isolated from our people, the less he can spy upon us or learn about our weaknesses.

"It also means he has less opportunity to influence their thinking. You remember how right after Sedon died, practically the entire Camp was speculating about the role he played? I do not think even six moon cycles ago anyone would have dared to speak of such things, but it is becoming increasingly common now.

"If there is anyone who is overconfident it is he. He has always used his power to keep our people from asking too many questions, sometimes from asking any at all. He just assumed he could take any action he wished and that our fear would allow him to go unchallenged. But he never expected someone might dare resist him. But we did resist him, and had the courage to face him in front of all our people, and now some of our people stand with us despite his power. I think our willingness to do that has encouraged the rest of our Clan to ask their own questions.

"None of this would be possible if not for you, Jakal. Back at the river, you said you worried about the safety of our people, and that was one of the reasons why you felt we should return to fight. I agree. If the others are only beginning to feel comfortable enough to start speaking to each other about the Spiritwalker, who knows what other secrets might be uncovered in upcoming days. Defeating him is about more than keeping me safe, my mate; it is also about removing a dangerous man from power.

"I think it is time we start paying closer attention to his vulnerabilities, to his weaknesses. Not only do we need to stave off an ambush, we also should start planning an attack of our own."

~*~*~

Thank you for taking the time to read the latest chapter of my story; I hope you will enjoy the final chapters. I appreciate your votes and feedback so much; this is the first time I've ever written a novel (can't really call it a novella anymore ;-), so your support has meant and does mean a lot!