Copyright © 2008 Rae Lori
All rights reserved, Freya's Bower.
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Uthiel waited until dawn to rise from the water. The liquid from the waterfall gave way to skin, bone, muscle, and blood to form a human body, pale and bare. Finally she could get a good look at the mortal while he slept. She approached him, her gaze remaining fixed on the hard lines of his chest rising and falling with each breath. At first, he startled her when she'd noticed him eyeing her from across the woods. Mother Necksa and her sisters told her to watch out for the mortal men. The gnome guardians of the forest called them creatures of war and destruction. But as she stepped onto the shore and peered closer, this mortal attracted rather than frightened her.
Long, dark hair framed his handsome face, a matching dark beard trimmed around his inviting lips. He slept peacefully, and she wondered if the description of the dangerous mortals fit him. He looked harmless, and the nearer she got, the more she wished him awake. She knelt and reached out to touch him.
"Keep your distance, child," a gruff, though high-pitched voice said behind her.
Uthiel jumped and turned in the direction of the voice. Adrid, one of the gnome guardians, leaned with his back against a tree trunk. A vest of soft green velvet graced his torso, and dark red pants fell over his large, hairy, thick feet. In one hand, he held his favorite cherry wood carved pipe he loved to smoke. Uthiel kept her distance whenever he smoked. The smell reminded her of burnt ashes.
"Why? If he were to hurt me, it would be difficult now that he is unconscious."
Ardid snorted. "But he won't be for long. The sun is rising fast, and there may be more out to find him."
Uthiel gently pushed aside a small band of stray hairs over the sleeping man's forehead, her fingers lingering along his soft, pale skin.
Adrid appeared by her side with the movement of the wind. He slapped her hand away, and the heat of the hit loitered long after his touch. "I said, keep your distance, girl," he said, his eyes wide with fury.
Uthiel stood, smiled, and shook her head. "If it were so dangerous, you would not show yourself so easily in the light."
"Your mind wanders too much, child," the aged gnome said, shaking his own head and chuckling. "It is too dangerous to wander these lands now that the mortals have moved near."
Uthiel stared at the gnome, narrowing her gaze. "And why do you think they suddenly arrived here, Sir Adrid? Are we supposed to ignore their arrival, sputtering about our lands and pretend their existence affects us none?"
"Yes!" the gnome said with a quick nod. "That's exactly what we are supposed to do."
"Ha!" Uthiel turned back to the handsome mortal.
Adrid grabbed her arm tightly between his small hands. "Listen to me, girl. You have not been aware of these mortals as I have."
"Is that so?"
"Quite. My kinsmen and I have been watching them for some time. They are not men of honor with hearts of virtue. Oh, yes, they do entail passion of power and the courage of a blade to cut one another down. But they know not of love and the gift of life as we do."
"These traits are not what I have seen in the tiny mortals no taller than yourself that wander these parts."
Adrid shrugged and deeply inhaled from his pipe. "Give them years to grow into it," he said matter-of-factly.
Uthiel scoffed. "Listen, you...." She stopped as he raised his pointer finger in front of him.
"Mother Necksa advised you to never speak to your elders, much less your betrothed, in that way."
A soft wind blew in the silence between them. Bright colored petals lying upon the thin blades of grass fluttered into the air toward the dark blue sky.
"Betrothed." The word fell from her lips, and still she couldn't believe it. She'd heard stories of her sisters promised to the gnomes of the forest in order to keep order of the elements within the families. No one told her she was to be linked to another.
A small smile crossed the gnome's wrinkled lips. "Ask her."