As Rikke began walking towards Charianna (trying desperately not to stare at her naked breasts!) who was still standing in the street watching him, the crowd of supporters began to close ranks around her.   But she waved them away with a serene smile.   As Rikke passed by the dissenters several of them shouted to him that he should have her arrested immediately.   Rikke just ignored them, focusing only on the face (and not her breasts!) he'd seen in his dreams.   How was it possible that he already knew what she'd look like?   Melmar had no drawings of her and he certainly had never seen her before.   If he had he would have remembered one as beautiful as she was.   Well, that was just one mystery he hoped to solve.   As soon as he had a chance to talk to her.   Coming to a stop a couple of feet from the girl he spoke in a loud voice so that everyone could hear his words clearly, "My name is Rikke Starhm, the Governor of the Inner Provinces.   may I assume you are Charianna?"   She nodded, still maintaining her serene smile.   Then may I invite you to join me and Captain Melmar Morka in the Mayor's house?"

   A couple of her followers whispered that it was probably a trap and a couple of the dissenters suggested that Charianna be taken to the town jail instead.   Rikke ignored the dissenters and Charianna told her followers that it would be perfectly fine.   In a loud voice so that again everyone could hear, Rikke backed Charianna up, "Yes.   It is a real invitation.   You are free to decline and walk away if you please.   If I had ulterior motives I would have had Captain Morka call the guards and you would now be coming with me whether you wanted to or not."

   They locked eyes for a moment.   Then Charianna gave him a playful grin.   "Actually even had you called the guards I would not come unless I wanted to.   But I know you are telling the truth and so I will come with you."

   Rikke had the uncanny feeling that she meant every word that she'd just said.   That she would somehow be able to evade the guards were he to call them.   And that she DID somehow know what was in his mind.   He also felt that maybe these certainties should scare him.   No one should be able to do what she'd just claimed to do.   And yet they didn't scare him.   Instead he felt himself more powerfully attracted to the mystery of her.   Beyond the mystery of who she was and what her purpose was here, Rikke suddenly realized that he wanted to get to know this beautiful woman as a woman and as a person.   To him, having seen her, she was no longer just a faceless name in a vague report about some unnamed disturbance in a province in the hinterlands.   Beyond being beautiful, she was the most desirable woman he had ever seen.   For a moment it occurred to him that she might somehow be working some kind of magic on his mind.   But then he rejected that notion.   The look she was giving him now said that she too found him desirable.   Very desirable.   And that was why she wasn't afraid of him.

   Rikke offered her his arm and said wih a gallant smile, "Shall we, m'lady?"

   Charianna took his arm.   As they began to walk back towards the stone walk leading up to the Lord Mayor's house, Charianna gave him a grin and said softly so that only he could hear, "It's alright to look at my body.   After all, it's only a vessel."

   Rikke found that he had to agree with her, at least partly.   Her body may only be a vessel -- whatever that meant -- but what a vessel it was indeed!   He was going to make some kind of comment, but he didn't know quite what to say and then, anyway, the door to the Lord Mayor's house was opening and Melmar and the Lord Mayor were both staring at him, like he'd lost his mind. He decided to pull rank.

   "Lord Mayor, I find I have the need to use your house exclusively.   Melmar, will you help the Lord Mayor and his family find suitable accommadations for the duraration and then rejoin me?"

   The Lord Mayor, a man named Lamso, started to protest, but then thought better of it.   "Of course, Lord Governor, my house is yours for as long as you need it."   He even managed to produce a generous, if a bit strained, welcoming smile just before Melmar escorted the man and his wife and two children away.   Rikke and Charianna proceeded on into the house and Rikke gave no more thought to the owner of the house and the crowd still standing outside.   He didn't care if the crowd stood there forever or left.   He had only eyes and thoughts for Charianna.

   The house was probably very special as far as frontier houses went.   But looking around, Rikke saw that it was nothing compared to the Governor's palace.   However, exploring a bit further, he saw, through a rear window, that it did have a walled in garden that boasted statues, trees, shrubbery, a gazebo, comfortable looking benches, shady nooks and a fountain.   Feeling that Charianna would be more comfortable in the garden, he escorted her there.   Once they were seated side by side on the bench nearest the fountain in one of the shady nooks, he relaxed a bit, took a deep breath, stretched a bit, folded his hands in his lap, looked at Charianna and said, with a gracious smile, "So.   What can you tell me about yourself?   I mean, beyond the obvious that I can see."

   "And what do you obviously see?"   Charianna asked, giving him a level look, not being at all coy.

   "Well I can see that you are a natural beauty and that makes you much more beautiful than any woman at my court.   I can also see that you are not prudish about your body.   And I can see that you are not of the same people as me.   Beyond that I have no idea what you are all about.   So, what ARE you all about?"

   As he waited for her answer, Melmar came into the garden, purposefully averted his eyes away from Charianna's nearly nude form and said, "I have had the crowd dispersed, the Lord Mayor is settled and what should I do now?"

   Rikke gave him a negligent wave.   "Make yourself at home.   Fix us something to eat.   Later I may need to talk to you.   So just hang around and amuse yourself however you see fit.   I don't care.   Just leave us for now."

   Melmar gave Rikke a troubled look, but he said nothing.   He just turned and went back into the house.

   When they were finally alone, Charianna gave him a somber smile and said, " First of all, it is perfectly OK for you to look at my body.   It doesn't bother me one bit.   Why should it?   Like I said it just a vessel!   Now having said that, let me say this -- you must be a very lonely man.   How do you stand this life you lead?"

   A bit puzzled by her question, Rikke asked, "What do you mean?"

   Charianna, leaned forward to stare at him intently.   "I mean of course that you must lead a very lonely life because you don't dare trust a woman to come into your life.   How would you know that she wasn't just trying to ride your coat tails into power?   And that requires no great insight on my part.   If you had a woman that you could trust you wouldn't be as strongly attracted to me as you obviously are.   It shines out of your eyes as strong as a beacon.   And then I wonder how you can lead the life you live when you must be constantly afraid that your power will be taken away -- whether by someone taking your life or because you have fell into displeasure with your ultimate leader.   And I know where you are coming from.   Among my people I too was once a leader, but I too had to worry about making a mistake in judgement and having my life forfeit.   Now I have true power!" Having made this remarkable little speech, Charianna leaned back, folded her arms under her breasts and regarded him gravely.

   Rikke blinked at her uncomprising honesty.   Then he chuckled a little uneasily. As Charianna continued to stare at him, obviously expecting a straight answer, Rikke decided that he would put the ball in her court.   After all, she had pegged the essence of his existence, but that still didn't tell him what he wanted to know about her.   He returned her grave look and said, "OK then.   I have three more questions that are more specific.   What brought you to this place you are in now? What is this power you are talking about?   As a corollary what is your message?" He paused for a moment, wondering if he wanted to ask the last question after all and then decided that he had nothing to lose.   Either she would answer in the affirmative or would laugh at him.   The first response would prove that he was not crazy and the second response would tell him that he had somehow developed prescience, at least in her case.   Either case would be scary, but he needed to know.   So he took the plunge, "Were you in my dreams last night?"

   "Of course I was!"   Charianna said it simply and without malice, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

   Rikke found himself surprised to be neither afraid or feeling violated, but he didn't want her to see that because he didn't want her to think that she could do that with impunity to him.   So he replied, giving her a stern look as he lifted his right hand and shook his index finger at her, "How do I know that you didn't invade more than my dreams?   Perhaps you have put this attraction for you in my mind?   If you have, you mustn't do that, you know."

   "I could have killed you where you lay.   But I didn't want to do that.   That would compromise my integrity.   So I simply entered your sleeping mind because I wanted to get a little sneak peek and give you one." She giggled like a girl, suddenly, "Ah! I wouldn't make you like me!   Why should I?   I'm already likeable enough as it is!"

   Now Rikke WAS chilled -- to the bone.   How casually she had mentioned her alledged ability to kill him with just a thought -- or however she would do it.   But then he looked once more into her beautiful, open face, with it's look of honest joy and the chill went away.   After a moment of ruminating with his chin in his left fist, he went on.   "Will you be honest with me about something?"

   Charianna nodded somberly.

   "Are you Suskani?   Or do your people, originating in this area, just happen to resemble them?   OH!   Something else!   You haven't answered how you came to this place.   And by place I mean your philosopy, message, or power -- or whatever.   Will you tell me this?"   He started to wait for her answer.   But then he thought of something else he wanted to ask; something he should have asked sooner.   "Why is Melmar so afraid of you?   I mean, you've made some pretty chilling statements, but somehow I am not afraid of you myself.   So I guess I should add: Should I be afraid?"

   Charianna gave him a smile meant to be reassuring as she answered, "I am who I am.   Suskani or any other name has no bearing here.   And I am from where I am.   I came to this place by meeting one who is my superior, one who taught me the true way.   Melmar is afraid of me because he fears the truth.   You have no need to be afraid of me because you, unlike your friend who claimed to want to know the truth, do really want to know.   You might say you were chosen.   Do you understand?"

   Rikke was tempted at that moment to just get up and walk away from Charianna.   For thing she just kept getting more and more enigmatic.   And for another he did not like the way she was talking about him being chosen.   But two things prevented him from leaving.   His pride and the fact that he loved the challenge of a good mystery.   So instead he looked Charianna straight in the eye with every bit of assurance he could muster and said, "I have no idea what you are talking about.   But know this, I will know!   You may have some sort of power or it may be all talk, but I know that I DO have power.   I will use it if you make me!"

   Charianna gave him a calm, unruffled look and asked, "Are you threatening me?   Because if you are it won't do you any good.   I've already told you that you can't hold me.   But perhaps you need to see that I am telling you the truth?"   She closed her eyes for a moment then.   And suddenly wasn't there!

   There was no mistake!   Rikke had been looking right at her.   And she was suddenly gone!   Nor did he see how any trickery could be involved.   There was nothing here except the bench and the nearby trees and bushes and the open air.   There was no way that Charianna could have concealed herself in the bushes or amongst the trees.   No one alive could move that fast!   She was simply gone, vanished as if she had only been a dream all along.

   Not knowing what else to do, Rikke got up from the bench and started to walk towards the Lord Mayor's house, thinking that he would, if nothing else, tell Melmar what had happened.   Beyond that, he had no plan.   He didn't even want to think what this might mean.   But he'd only taken a few steps when he felt a feather light touch on his right shoulder.   With a small yelp of surprise, he turned around!   Charianna was standing there smiling supremely at him.   And she was completely naked now!

   When he could get his mouth to work all he could ask was, "How did you do that?"

   Charianna stood there in the golden orange rays of the setting sun, the cool late afternoon wind playing in her golden hair.   Rikke felt like he should be scared out of his mind.   But all he could keep thinking was that he was in the presence of an angel.   And angels were nothing to be afraid of.   And he couldn't imagine why Melmar was.

   Charianna smiled at him.   Rikke had never seen anyone smile that sincerely and sweetly in his whole life.   Charianna put the topper on it when she began to dance for joy!   Rikke was rooted to the spot!   And the thought kept going through his mind as Charianna moved from light to shadow to light and showed him every beautiful part of her naked body, "Why do I want to make love to an angel?"

   Rikke would have remained rooted to that spot forever, he thought, but it suddenly came to an end.   Charianna, in some way he didn't see, was suddenly dressed in a diaphonous pink robe.   And she was sitting back down on the bench.   Wondering if it had all been a dream that had seized him suddenly, but sure that it hadn't been, Rikke rejoined her on the bench.   Full of questions, he opened his mouth to ask the first one.   But Charianna beat him to the punch.

   Gazing at him intently as if she were a teacher and he was a recalcitrant student, Charianna asked, "What is power, really?"

   On the one hand Rikke didn't like the way this was going.   He should be the one doing the interrogating.   But on the other hand he was so entranced with this girl that he felt like playing along.   At least for now.   In that spirit he struggled to format a reasonable answer.   But he wasn't sure what to say, given what he'd just seen.   Finally he decided he'd try to finesse it. "Is it real power -- what you've just done?   Or was that some kind of show you were putting on for my benefit?   I mean, it seems impossible --"

   Charianna shifted to a more comfortable position on the bench and Rikke was aware of every small movement of her glorious body.   But he forced himself to pay attention to her words as she spoke.   Holding out her hand as if she was cupping something invisible, Charianna said, "If I offered real power to you, would you take it?"

   Those words from Charianna suddenly made everything click into place in Rikke's mind.   He regarded her soberly for a moment.   He knew he had to say what he was going to say next, no matter how entranced he was with her.   He tried for a light note first, to help soften the blow.   "When you say real power, do you mean that what you've been doing here so far was just an illusion?"   He chuckled to show that he was not entirely serious about what he'd just said.   Charianna grinned back at him.   But there was a troubled look lurking deep within her eyes as if she knew he was prepared to reject her.   However, she said nothing, just sat there waiting for him to break the silence.   Rikke did, "Charianna, I do not know, in all seriousness, what is going on here.   I don't know how you've done what you've done, but I must tell you that I don't believe that the power you seem to have, whatever it might be, is going to be enough to accomplish the goal you seem to have set before yourself.   I mean, I now know why Melmar is afraid of you."

   Charianna did not pretend to be ignorant of the meaning of Rikke's words. "You think that I think that I am going to be able to overthrow your empire and that Melmar is afraid that I am going to be able to do it?   If this is your meaning then nothing could be further from the truth.   I am simply going to live for the truth and if anyone else wants to know it and live it with me then they are most welcome.   I have no plans of conquest."

   Rikke had expected sudden defiance.   This live and let live attitude on her part -- if true! -- threw him.   And it certainly seemed true!   The look in her eye and the sincerety in her voice said that she WAS telling the truth.   He didn't quite know what to say then, since he had been sure -- in that past moment of flashing insight -- that he'd caught her at her game.   And yet -- couldn't she be a very artful liar?   But he didn't want her to be!   He wanted her at his side!   In a quandry, Rikke was floundering for something to say or do that wouldn't alienate her, while at the same time manage to extract the truth.   Melmar's interruption, then, was welcome.   At least at first.

   "Sire!   A runner has just came!   You need to attend him!" Melmar said, bursting into their presence with a wild eyed look.

   As welcome as the interruption had been a moment ago, since it lent him a reprieve on judging Charianna, now Rikke felt a nameless dread freezing the blood in his heart.   The unusual and unaccustomed use of the honorific by Melmar had been the trigger.   He hurried into the house closely followed by Melmar.   He sensed that Charianna was following them.   And that was alright.   He didn't want her out of his sight -- for many reasons.

This Page Has Been Visited times