He took another step backward, "…This should in no way surprise me," Cuillean said. "You forsook Dahna and I, and now you dare to consider me as your food meal."
"Cuillean," Talaith's gaze narrowed, "…You were never supposed to come out of Thorolf…That is your father's doing."
"It does not matter," Cuillean turned to leave, "…Why would I rely on you to protect me."
He walked back down the path leading through the pillars.
Melanctha raced up to him, out of breath, "…Cuillean, they are dancing with the little ones, come and see…" She pulled him into the hall where he could witness the cavorting of drell and youngster.
Cuillean had a sad gaze in his eyes.
"Will you dance with me, Cuillean?…"
He met her eyes, "…Always."
Melanctha's expression faltered, "…What now."
"I would like to dance with you," he pulled her hand with him.
They danced in the sort of group troupe that the others were already a part of…Cuillean was light on his feet, picking up Melanctha, dancing round and round with her until they forgot everything.
Cagney and other children ran in rings in the middle of their parents and dance partners.
At the end, Cuillean and Melanctha walked Cagney to bed in their cavern. Cuillean put the boy on his shoulder, then when they were in their dwelling, he let Melanctha take him, bathe him, clean his teeth and nails and go to put the child in bed.
Melanctha came to sit with him in the glow of a candle, "…Something troubles you?"
"Melanctha," Cuillean looked over the flame at her, "…You have made me happy…"
"Uh oh," she smiled, "…What is this?"
"I am a proud father, and a fortunate husband…" He checked to see Cagney was in his bed and asleep, then moved to lift Melanctha up…
In the dark of the hall outside their dwelling, he kissed her and hitched up her dress, moving down her underwear to please her.
He held her tight, slowly making love to her against the wall, her knee around his waist, her quiet breaths of rapture in his teness.
"Cuill…" She mouthed silently, "…Cuill…"
He freed in her.
She cried in a silent moan, "…Cuillean, I love you…"
"I will walk the sands of time forever with you."
They rested, his brow pressed to hers.
"I must leave tonight," he murmured, "…There are thanes coming to retrieve me."
"No," Melanctha's eyes lost their ecstasy glow, "…You are not leaving us."
"If I do not, then others—including the two of you—will go hungry…It is a cold winter, and we cannot flee."
"Cuillean, your mother would—"
"She is the one who will hand me off…She has to decide still, but the choice is obvious…" Melanctha left him, stalking off through the tunnel.
She found Talaith in her planning chamber, a group of her captains raising their eyes to Melanctha's arrival. Talaith straightened from her table, "…Melanctha…"
"I am here to beseech you that Cuillean be spared," Melanctha said, "…He is your son…You cannot give him up again…"
Talaith appeared to stiffen and raised her hand, "…Now hold on, Melanctha—"
"He has forever been used as a weapon—all weapons break and dull over time, but not Cuillean," her chest rose and fell, "…He is a new father and has yet to experience a year with his first born—your own grandson…How on this land can you fathom tearing apart his family yet again?"
Talaith dismissed her men and women…Naour was watching, reluctant to leave.
"Do you know what the Ilori were meant for originally, Melanctha?…" Talaith walked towards her, hands behind her back, "…Or have you never learned."
"They were for forging powerful crossings," Melanctha said, "…with Tyrannus Tierra."
"So you have an idea…Cuillean and you are permitted by my blessing to be together, but the truth is…Neither one of you should have been married…You, a lost child with no story but the faded scars under her bachir…Cuillean sees you as a simpleton…You mark on the life of blissful ignorance…He is a weapon that has yet to be used to his full potential…You should know that there is a potential in you that has not been reached yet."
"I don't care what potential is or is not within me…I want Cuillean to remain with his family, not be used to bargain for…for whatever it is you want."
"Do you want Cagney to live?…I can keep him alive…"
"What are you talking about…"
"You have also been chosen to be given away, Melanctha…It will strengthen a union between armies…Namely my own and that of Nuru."
Melanctha felt a chill run down her spine, "…No."
"It is important we cultivate our ties with powerful allies, Melanctha…You could not ask for a better suitor," she lifted her gaze, "…Pilar is gentle with Ilori…He will be a good mate to you if he should decide you are the one that remains with him."
"My son—"
"Is a healthy, vigorous boy…He will grow well and fit in here, and I will protect him until it is time to barter with his value for something else needed…It is the way of the world, Melanctha…Not everyone sews and cuts shoe leather, Dear."
"I will leave with Cuillean and Cagney!"
"Where will you go," Talaith hissed. "You can't leave in the cold of winter…No, you will be picked up by thanes to return to Pilar Sousan while Cuillean goes back to the Craig to fulfill his destiny."
"You're a witch," Melanctha hissed back, "…A cruel, terrible woman!"
"I am a warrior, Melanctha…And I am Kerhasla…My men and women need food and water to make it through the winter…I have a child to raise and mine is the one with the greater mouth to feed."
Melanctha gasped, turned and ran into Naour, who looked into her upset eyes, "…Excuse me," he raised his gaze to Talaith's, "…Nefen, we have visitors."
Melanctha pushed passed Naour, running for Cuillean and Cagney.
"Got a nice neck here," Eluk said, lifting Melanctha by the throat. She kicked and clawed at him. He threw her into the arms of the thane behind him, and settled his gaze on Naour in the doorway.
"That is not how you handle an Ilori," Naour said dangerously, pulling his sword out. The doorway widened and Talaith Lela stepped out.
"How come you enter into negotiations without my bidding," Talaith asked, holding Naour's sword wrist, "…and then take what has not been given yet?"
"I have come for what was demanded by my sponsor, Talaith," Eluk walked closer to her, "…You need to feed your struggling army," he leaned towards her, "…Now is the time to make good on your offers."
There was the sound of rushing air.
Cuillean had downed the thane holding onto Melanctha and now growled nose to nose with Eluk, Melanctha pushed behind him.
His spines about his neck flared as he pressed a knife into Eluk's neck, "…You touch her or try to take her, you will die tonight, Eluk…"
"You go ahead," Eluk baited, "…Kill another son of a Tyrannus…Your son is Bor's anyway—"
Cuillean cut his patak and grabbed Melanctha, running with her…
Eluk felt his face and shouted, "…Kill them!"
Naour slammed the doors to cut the thanes off from Talaith and himself.
"Where is Cagney?" Melanctha asked, running beside her husband…
"Aliba and Lithous," Cuillean nodded they turn left at the next doorway, "…We are heading to the outdoors!"
"What if there are others of your…" She hesitated, "…Eluk's kind…"
"They are thanes and that is what I am, Melanctha…I will handle them, you get into the wagon with Cagney, it will be covered."
They emerged out in the chapel and slid to a stop.
Cuillean pulled Melanctha behind him.
"Cuillean," there were three thanes waiting at the doors to the outside. "You're in a hurry…Ready to come willingly, or will it have to be painful."
Cuillean picked up a saucer full of wax, hot and liquid from the candles' burning, "…It will have to be what you choose, Relind," he flung the wax at the thane standing in front of him, moving Melanctha with a pointing arm, "…Run to the dining!"
Relind and the pair with him lowered their arms, their cloaks covered in drying wax and jumped over the pews to catch up to them.
Melanchta made a line through the tables and around the fire and pots, Cuillean keeping himself between her and the others.
A drell stepped out from the next exit and Melanctha, startled, grabbed the first thing at hand—a broom—and swung at his eyes.
She had good timing and had anticipated somewhat his reaction—the broom swung left and hit his arm enough to make him miss as she darted passed. Cuillean rammed his shoulder into him.
He picked up the tumbled thane and threw him behind into the path of the others giving pursuit.
The next set of halls led to more living quarters and training rooms. Melanctha heard Cuillean behind her, "…Go to the south exit, we will take the armory."
She was running as fast as her legs would take her.
Cuillean heard the thanes chasing after him, "…Cut him off!"
There was a sudden clamor as from one of the rooms on the left hall there came a dozen drell all dressed in furs and leathers, running towards the intersecting hall in which Melanctha and Cuillean flew down, "…Run, Kiross," S'boris snarled, "…we'll delay them!"
The thanes turned their heads at the oncoming group and braced for the attack.
Bodies piled into the hall behind Cuillean, who did not look back, hoping to make the armory.
They descended a wide set of carved steps in the stone, moving with the split-off of tunnels to the right and south.
The armory was full of weapons and armor…Cuillean picked up a sabeeha, a saber, a cudgel and a knife, another he handed to Melanctha, then thinking better, he lifted her dress and hooked it into her underwear, "…Surprise comes best with an eager drell, Melanctha," he pushed her towards the exit, her dress falling below her knees again as they ran and Cuillean was bristling with weapons.
If he had a rifle, it would be a boon.
The south exit was unlocked by Cuillean's sure hands and he and Melanctha grabbed two heavy coats and ran out in a pair of fur-lined boots into the snow.
The din of fighting was muffled in the quiet of the mountainous valley they were running east through to pass by a footbridge over the fortress and into the western stalls for the dileans and wagon animals.
"Keep going, Melanctha," Cuillean could smell the pens as they neared, "…Get into the wagon with Cagney as soon as you can."
Eluk stepped out onto the terrace of carved stone above, where once Cuillean had stood with his mother to talk about their past, and looking down at the foot bridge between reaches he saw the small forms running through the snow.
He stepped off with a leap.
Cuillean felt the weight land on his shoulders and drive him down into the snow. Pinned and held down by Eluk, he tried to breathe in snow and powder, "…Looks like I can make crazy jumps, too, Cuillean…" Eluk raised his eyes and gasped.
Melanctha kicked him in the face, "…Get off him, you brute!"
Eluk crawled off Cuillean after lifting the thane and slamming him into the rocks, then lunged for Melanctha, tearing through the passage to grab at her coat and drag her under him.
"Maybe you need a taste of medicine, bitch," he grabbed her legs and threw them apart, "…I'd like to feel inside you—" Cuillean locked his neck in his arms, dragging Eluk off Melanctha who back-crawled away through the snow.
"Run, Melanctha!"
She got up off her legs and started to run, then slid, stopped, lifted her dress and took out the knife. Looking at the blade, she glared at Eluk grappling with Cuillean's head and neck hold, trying to ram him backwards into the rock wall.
She rushed back to her husband, the knife outstretched in her hand.
Eluk screamed.
"Keep your filth to yourself," she hissed, turning the knife in his groin.
Thus ended Eluk's inheritance of the Sousan treasach.
Cuillean dropped his hold on the drell as Eluk held onto his bleeding groin, "…Bitch, I'll gut you!"
Taking the knife from Melanctha, Cuillean drove it straight through the injured thane's brow, leaving it to fall with the thane onto the snow.
He turned towards his wife, "…That was…"
"Don't say it," she took his hand in hers—covered in blood—and ran with him.
Cagney squealed for his parents as they ran and climbed into the moving wagon, Aliba whipping the dileans attached to the front yokes and hauling off at breakneck speed through the icy valley.
Cuillean covered Melanctha and Cagney in a white fur, hiding them from view and making it difficult for anyone to see them due to the falling snow.
"About time you opened your eyes, Cuillean," Aliba snarled, looking briefly behind her and checking on the kids with Lithous, "…Hold on everyone, it's going to be a hard ride!" She snapped the whip at the dileans—two rookers with white and black fur and feathering. The animals picked up the pace and the wagon was no longer rolling but skidding.
Melanctha looked back at the fortress in the snow—its peaks and openings were blurry in the falling white flakes and its high cutouts in the fangs of the Mimi Cim Horn were covered by the sticking precipitation…She held Cagney tight to her chest, hearing him breathing softly among the fur and Cuillean's breathing barely a whisper…He was fit, he was strong, and he was fast enough to get out of there before the thanes could capture him…
Apparently, so was she.