"You are strange to me."
"How so?"
"You follow me around, yet your order that you speak of seems to be very strict. Would you not be expelled or executed as you say for what you are doing? I do not follow their ways"
"I don't know."
Kormac breathed heavily as he hacked at the plants holding him back. He wouldn't dare admit it, but he was envious of the acid that dripped from her fingertips and melted away the vines that stood in their way. But it was his turn to lead, and so he swung his axe with as much conviction as he could muster.
"I believe in what they have taught me. I believe in the mission. And you seem to have the same goal." Another swing, and his axe landed, caught in a heavy tree trunk.
"Of saving mankind?"
Her giant zombie warbled as he worked on pulling his blade free. He glanced back, not sure if it was a mocking sound or not. The zombie unsettled him. The dogs he could accept, they almost reminded him of the shaggy mutts he remembered walking the grounds of the temple. They leapt and ran, wagged their tails, sniffed at his feet and licked his hands when he would reach down to pet them. With a last final tug, the axe popped free, yet he was having difficulty convincing his arms to lift it again.
"Yes." He turned, out of breath. "Can it be your turn to lead? I think this is harder for me than for you."
"Certainly, Kormac." She stepped forward on silent feet, and the leaves veritably parted for her, before she even lifted a hand. "The oasis should be just ahead, and then we can stop for the night."
"That sounds glorious."
"It does." She pressed forward for several yards more, and then spoke again.
"I do not mean to question you so much. It is just that I sense that you have been lied to."
"I know your thoughts. What troubles me, is that I sense the logic behind them, yet I cannot convince myself that I have been wrong. This whole time. That my life was taken away from me and that I was given a new one with someone else's purpose. I do not know how to face that possibility."
"There is evil everywhere in the world. I cannot imagine a way to completely remove evil. The spirits tell me that there will always be balance. There will be good, and there will be bad. For every member of your order fighting for good, there will be someone out there… somewhere… seeking to undo what you have done."
"You don't believe that good can ever triumph over evil?"
"That is not what I said.. But no, no victory for either side can ever be permanent. The world will always find balance."
"What about justice?"
"Ah. That I am not so sure about. I believe justice is something you must seek for yourself. It does not come looking for you. But look. Do you see, the trees are beginning to break up."
"And I believe I can smell water."
No sooner had he spoken, than her dogs rushed forward, finding open space, difficult to see in the darkness. She laughed and ran after them, patting their strange red rumps as she went.
Kormac and the zombie followed more slowly, having difficulty weaving through the trees. The zombie gave a low keening grunt as it struggled to push its head through a low bunch of branches.
"You and me, we weren't made for these jungles were we?"
The zombie broke free with another grunt, and in a clumsy, loping gait galloped forward to meet the others. Kormac simply watched for a moment, as this strange woman rejoiced freedom from the damp, close jungle with her entourage of undead beasts. Two of her dogs rubbed and leaned against her leg so heavily that she tripped and stumbled beneath them, and all four decided to jump on her. The larger zombie shifted its weight from foot to foot, as if unsure how to join in their celebration.
Kormac finally managed to get his boots free of the undergrowth and tramped out onto the open land. There was a small stretch of dry grass where his companions were now rolling about, and then sand, and then an open beach, rippling lake touched with moonlight. He sighed and dropped his axe on the ground, threw down his pack, and leaned down to unlace his boots. He could already imagine the water around his toes and ankles.
"Are you going swimming?"
He looked back and grinned, free of his boots. "Isn't the water calling to you?" He pulled off as much of his armor as he could, helm and shoulder plates falling to the ground. When he looked back up again she was standing next to him, stripping off what little clothes and armor she wore. Without her mask, she looked human again, and he couldn't help but stare transfixed as she began to run into the water. She soon turned back around to look at him.
"I thought this was your idea! Why are you still standing there?"
"I… I was just going to… Just wash my feet."
"The water is warm." She tilted her head, smiling, her teeth white in the pale light. He was staring, he knew he was staring, but he couldn't stop. She was naked, and the moonlight shone off the top of her shoulders, around the curve of her hip. Dear lord, it was as if without that mask with the horns and the spikes, he suddenly remembered she was a woman. A beautiful woman. A beautiful, brave, deadly, bizarre woman. And then suddenly, he remembered too, that he was a man.
He would have sworn that she could probably see the heat on his body that he suddenly felt, and he was very glad that he hadn't managed to get his plate mail off yet. She must have seen it, because she smiled wider and walked back up the beach, commanding her dogs down the beach away from them.
"You should swim with me." She said softly, in a firmer tone than he had heard her use. "It might be good for you."
"I don't know… if that would be a good idea." His mouth was suddenly very dry.
"I said swim, Kormac." She took the pair of gloves stuck in his hands and dropped them on the sand. "You don't have to do anything else."
He wanted to. He really wanted to. But being close to women, women he liked, especially when they were naked in moonlight was not something he could imagine fitting in with his vows. Particularly the vows of chastity.
"I like you, Agwe..."
"I like you too, Kormac."
"But I'm not sure I can do what you want."
"I want you to swim with me."
"Is that all you want?" he asked somewhat sheepishly. He could see that she instantly understood what was stopping him from shedding his armor and stepping into the water with he was he so desperately wanted.
"I want a lot of things, but right now, I want you to let go of what you think is right. There are so many things in this world that will challenge everything you know. " Her voice grew stronger, and she planted her hands on her hips.
"I have taken vows that bind me to a certain kind of life." He was struggling to make himself meet her eyes. Without his gloves in his hands, he felt the need to touch something, hold something, and the skin of her abdomen was so close, so smooth. He forced himself to clasp them together instead, and struggled to remember a prayer to recite.
"You have already admitted that you question the motivations of your order. Maybe it is time for you to question your vows, and the kind of life they told you to lead. You are a good man. You have done great things, and helped many people. Damnation will not come to you for enjoying the world we are given. Whatever spirits you follow, or whatever god you believe in, they gave us life because they love us. Men are meant to love, and feel joy, and live life. And take a moonlight swim in a desert oasis when the time comes." Her voice ended on an exasperated note.
His prayer wouldn't come to mind. But he was very interested in her lips. And the fact that she seemed to be assuring him that whatever he did, would be fine, because he was a good person. That sounded very nice.
Slowly he decided to nod his head. The vows he had taken could still bind him, even if he got in the water. He could not throw away his life and his only memories all at once. He would test the waters, so to speak, and see if he could live with her wisdom.
"You have to help me with the mail." He said, finally unclasping his hands and pointing her towards the clasps on his back. He tried to ignore how cool her hands felt against his neck as she began to help him pull the heavy armor off. It slid to the ground with a rustle and clatter, and he sighed, free of its weight for the first time in more than a week. He rolled his shoulders back, feeling better and better about deciding to get in the lake.
"Good." She walked around him, trailing a hand across his shoulder, shouting behind her, "Come on!"
As she splashed waist-deep into the water he dealt with a last wisp of trepidation before pulling off his tunic and trousers and joining her in the water. He quickly fell into a comfortable breaststroke and swam past her to reach deeper water where he could stand submerged. The moon was bright tonight, though only half-full. Perhaps it was the clear desert sky that made it look so different.
Her head broke the surface next to him, and she spluttered water out of her face and push a pile of hair backwards off her forehead.
"Where are you from, Kormac?"
"Don't remember."
"So they even took your home from you?"
"The temple became my home. The order my family."
"That sounds so cold, though." She floated away from him on her back, the tips of her breasts breaking through the water. He quickly set his eyes back on the moon.
"I miss my home." Her voice was soft, wistful. He was almost unsure if he was supposed to have heard her speak, but he didn't like the sadness he heard. Her voice was unaccustomed to it.
"Why did you leave?"
"The spirits called me to go. I saw the falling star, and knew that they had set me on a road to helping the world right itself."
"I saw it too." He answered, remembering the night he had seen the blue fire in the sky, cutting through the clouds, felt the calling to help.
"We will make the world right again. And then, we should find your home."
"My home? Why is that? I don't even know where it is."
"Because you must have family searching for you. I cannot believe that you were a bad person."
"Anyone can commit a crime."
"Yes, this is true. Anyone can be pushed to do something out of their character. But I cannot imagine you being wantonly cruel, someone who deserves punishment."
"I think you speak too highly of me." He found laughter in this. "I am no saint." He was quickly sobered as he thought of his current state; naked, in the water with a naked witch doctor as her zombies kept watch on the beach.
"No. But that is just fine." She began to swim along the beach away from him, and he soon decided to follow. The dogs were still sniffing at the water where they swam, afraid to get in.
"Do your dogs not swim?" He asked. She stopped, and looked towards the beach where their dark shadows paced and wagged, looking wistfully at the two of them.
"I don't think the water agrees with them." She smiled at him. "And I think my hands are getting too wet." She held them up out of the water to show him her tiny, waterlogged hands. "I'm getting out."
"You go. I'll… ah… I'll be out in a moment." He colored at her smirk.
"Kormac. I have seen men before. You cannot embarrass me."
"Right. Well, I think I could still embarrass myself. " She chuckled, and looked him up and down, as well as she could, submerged to the shoulders in the dark lake.
"Come here." She said, and she reached out a wet hand to the back of his neck, and pulled them together, he jumped as her warm flesh slid against his. Her lips were against his ear, and she whispered to him, "I said I liked you Kormac." And with that, she pressed a cool kiss against his lips and swam off to the shore.
As he watched her dark head bob out of the water, and her body emerge as she walked out of the water, he realized he was breathing heavily, he felt hot, steamy, he wanted her lips on his like that again.
He had no memories of ever kissing a woman before. If he had ever had any, they had been taken away with everything else he had ever thought. And he suddenly decided that such a loss would have been very unfair. Her lips sliding against his, her body warm against his, was one of the nicest sensations he had ever had. Not evil or corrupting, as he had been assured it was.
So he swam until his knees hit the sandy bottom, and then stood and slogged his way out of the water. She was speaking to one of her dogs, patting its leathery head, sitting and working on kindling a small fire. He walked to the pile of their discarded clothing, and fished out his trousers. He realized all of her clothes and armor were still sitting there, empty on the sand.
"Hello." He said, realizing how strange that sounded only after the word left his mouth.
"Hello." She replied, still smiling. "I sent the dogs to do find a rabbit or something to eat. If you're hungry."
"I am. Cutting down trees is hard work." He sat gratefully, and stretched his legs out. Sand stuck to his wet skin. He was doing very well not staring at her.
"Not like demons?"
"No, demons I'm used to." He felt tiredness wash over him like a wave, and he lay all the way down. The sand was still sun-warm on his back. He sighed, stretched, yawned.
"This has been a good day." She said, adding a branch to the fire.
"Has it?"
"Yes. We have traveled far, we have slain many demons, and I made you swim in a lake with me."
"Is that such an accomplishment?" He looked up at her, surprised.
"You are very… attached to some of your ways."
"I suppose that's true enough, but what's wrong with devotion?" He had often taken pride in his order and his faith.
"Nothing! Nothing is wrong with devotion. But blind devotion to something that you do not fully trust, that is wrong. You do not trust your order anymore. They may have betrayed you and their purpose. Why do you continue to live by their ways?"
"Because… It is all I have ever known. I don't even remember a childhood. I don't know how to be anything else. Why are you so bothered by it? Do you wish to convert me?"
"No. I do not wish to change you. Only… set you free. I say the spirits speak to me, they have spoken about you much lately. They say there is a spell on you. A spell that can be broken, that will open up your mind. I think this is about your memories. They say that you are full of potential, and can change many things, right many wrongs, if you can free yourself from your bindings." Her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she spoke, and he was intrigued. He had never been handed a prophecy about himself before. "And… I like you."
He sat up, smiled at her. "Today has been a good day." He took a deep breath and took one of her hands. "I believe what you have said about me. I feel that it is true. But I cannot abandon what is literally the only way of life I know in an instant. I... am afraid of being wrong."
"One day soon. You will see, and everything will become much easier." She leaned close and kissed him again, this time on the cheek. He shivered as a wind came down through the grasses.
"Aren't you cold?" He asked, now blatantly pointing out her nakedness. She smiled and stood.
"Okay, I am cold." She walked to where their clothes lay, picked hers up, and began dressing. When she finished, she picked up his tunic and threw it at him. "You are cold too!" He laughed, and put his shirt back on, feeling his stomach growl.
Right on cue, three dogs came rustling through the grasses, with a catch of squirrels clutched in their mouths. Agwe took them, and patted their heads. "Good job." Her praise sent their short tails wagging as hard as they could go.
They set to work cleaning and pulling the meat off of their dinner, sat it in their one small frying pan on the fire, and then ate with a righteous hunger. The dogs had wandered off again, but the large zombie still sat awkwardly in the sand, its elbows nearly touching the ground, grumbling quietly to itself.
"Now I am really tired." He said as he pulled his rough blanket from his bag and settled in to sleep.
"May I sleep with you?" She asked, her face clear and warm as she sat across the fire from him.
"What?"
"Just… " She sighed. "I want to not sleep alone. Is that alright?"
He nodded, not sure he understood completely, but not opposed. She came around the fire to where he was already laying, and spread herself out next to him. She sat for a moment, and then grabbed his arm and pulled it around her body until he was pressed up against her back. She sighed, and he felt her body relax, sagging into the ground.
So this was it. It was nice. Good to have her so close.