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The water tumbled down the rocky gorge with violent abandon, sending sprays of crystalline drops arcing over the verdant foliage on each side. The noise of the rushing waterfall washed out all other sounds of the surrounding forest. I relied on Darlin to keep aware of any impending danger and submerged myself in the liquid sound. This was the place, and yet it was different. Everything was so familiar and the level grassy spot at the edge of the lake was branded into my mind, but it wasn't this world, was it? I had traveled so many places since then. It had been fifteen years ago that I had been 'here' and memories swept over me...

Our home was but a small, stone cottage but placed well and sturdy on the lake island. There was a rock in the crawlspace under the house and a bush growing in one corner but that only seemed to make the cottage more a part of nature. My wife was a druid, steeped in the lore of flora and fauna, and she loved this place. We were so happy together although isolated from others of the land. That wasn't a problem for us since we found a newness within each other every morn. Aoife would cross the lake to the far shore and spend her time in the forest, gathering herbs and learning more of the earthpower that was resident in every living thing. She was a gentle soul who abhorred violence of any kind and trusted in her fleetness and agility to carry her from danger.

I was a warrior, traveling the lands in an effort to keep back the constant encroachment of evil creatures that tried to eliminate us humans. With Aoife's help, I was able to see their side of it, at least in part. Before humans arrived in this world, it had belonged to all. When humankind arrived, we spread out over the forests and fields and tried to assume dominance over everything without regard to the previous inhabitants. That naturally did not endear us to them and from the start it was a constant struggle.

Aoife and I did not want to dominate anything. We just wanted to live our lives out together on that remote island and one day raise children of our joined spirits. After a year with Aoife, I finally hung up my mace and shield and turned my energies to farming. I planted an orchard of various fruit and nut trees as well as a large garden with a wide variety of vegetables. I lured a swarm of bees from hollow tree in the forest to a large hive I had constructed and placed beneath an elder tree. We acquired chickens, goats, cattle and llamas and fished the island lake. On occasion I would hunt with a bow but as time went by, I did that less and less. It took a lot of hard work but in short order we were basically self sufficient.

Aoife and I had met near the town of Yew one day as she was studying the unique trees and I was exploring an area of the world I had never been in before. We felt a mutual attraction and I stayed at the Abbey over the next few weeks. Aoife was a tall woman, just a inch or two shorter than I, with deep brown eyes that had glints of emerald and high cheekbones. A full mouth that could be stern, bemused or joyous. The gently curved triangular shaped face was framed by a mass of wavy hair the color of the richest soil, that fell to her waist. Her parents had died when she was a barely a teenager and she was taken in and cared for by the Brothers at the Abbey. There she spent long hours in the libraries and longer ones in the fields and forests nearby, learning everything she could about the world. She had a special awareness of living things and after much study, was finally awarded a Druid's Staff.

I had been born and raised in the wilderness and had learned the martial ways from my uncle, a warrior. My father was a lumberjack and woodworker while my mother farmed. After spending nearly all my life in a remote spot, I felt uncomfortable around too many people. Thus, I avoided people and cities as much as possible. Aoife was much the same way but rather than feeling awkward around people the way I did, she was thrilled when we got visitors and loved to entertain and show off our homestead. Whenever an adventurer would wander by, we would invite them for a meal and if it was late, offered a place to sleep. We had grand times with the fireplace burning brightly to shed light over the central room of the cottage. An excellent meal of fish or game, wild rice or potatoes from the garden, fruits and berries, one of Aoife's wondrous baked creations that were full of honey and other surprises. There was no end to the variety of foodstuffs and ways to prepare them. After the meal, there would be tales, songs and music. Aoife was very accomplished with various musical instruments and I had always had a knack for telling stories, whether they were true or imagined.

Aoife and I were all we really needed, just the two of us working together, playing together, building a life perfectly suited to the two of us. Long walks through shadowed aisles of the forest. Lazy days on sandy beach to the northeast, swimming in the ocean. The flower glade was one of our favorite places and we would spend entire days and sometimes nights, exploring and just experiencing the multitudes of blooms and plants. A deep peace possessed us and when we looked at one another, we smiled at the thought of the long years ahead.

One day, about a year and a half after we had taken up residence in the island cottage, Aoife was wandering through the forest, seeking out herbs, roots and flower buds. She was practicing alchemy as well deepening her druidic lore and the area around us was rich with plant life to explore and use. I was hoeing a row of carrots when I heard a scream! Dropping the hoe into the rich, dark loam of the garden, I ran across the narrow rope bridge I had constructed when we first built our cottage, seizing my hunting bow and quiver of arrows from beside the doorway as I passed. As I reached mid span on the bridge I saw Aoife running towards me, two Ophidian warriors close on her heels. They hissed in rage as they slithered with incredible speed over the tangled hillside. This was not Ophidian territory. We knew from the Histories that they, of all creatures of the land, hated humans with an unparalleled viciousness. That was one reason we had chosen this area to live in, the population was composed of smaller animals and monsters and the occasional ogre, ettin or ogre lord was easily evaded.

I paused and nocked an arrow then reached for the place of no-mind, the void of awareness, that I had used effectively as a warrior. I was one with the arrow and with a swift pull and release, sent the first shaft streaking through the distance toward one of the warriors. As it traveled through the air, I nocked and released another and another, as if I as a mindless machine of archery. Each slim wooden shaft found its mark and the two warriors writhed upon the green sward of the hill. I dropped the bow and dashed across the last half of the swinging bridge. At that moment, an Ophidian, concealed in the thick bushes at the verge of the waterfall, lanced forward in a blur and struck Aoife just before she reached the foot of the bridge.

It was as if it was all happening in slow motion. I took two more steps and launched myself physically through the air as the long fangs buried themselves in Aoife's shoulder. The creature hunched upon itself, pumping a deadly venom deep into her body. Aoife's eyes, fastened upon me, her face wrenched with pain and shock, her long hair sweeping around her like a dark shroud, and then I collided with the snake with all the impetus of my leap. We tumbled over the edge of the bank, Aoife falling to the ground by the bridge.

Thick, rasping coils slid around me and tightened as we fell. With an enormous splash, we struck the waterfall, neither of us loosening our grip. The surging water swept us over a fall and I groaned as we slammed into a large boulder but only clenched my fingers deeper into the Ophidian's throat. It's long claws slashed into my legs and torso as we rolled through the water. After two more tumbles over successive falls, I managed twist my body so with the next set of falls, the Ophidian landed upon a sharp boulder, my weight and muscles driving it hard into the unyielding, tearing surface. The coils loosened and I held onto the rock and watched the now limp body roll and tumble down the remainder of the waterfall.

I pulled myself up the sheer slope, my body shrieking as torn muscles and half crushed ribs complained. I pushed myself to my feet and staggered up the slope to the bridge, tripping over a tangle of brambles that carried bright red blooms. Aoife was lying still and I fell to my knees beside her. The waterfall roared in my ears as I stared and realized the truth, the awful truth.

I cannot claim any real memory of what happened afterwards, but some length of time passed and I found myself carrying her sweet body over the bridge to our home. I remember laying her upon our bed with tenderness.. sitting beside her, holding her cold hand. I have a vague memory of brushing her hair, as I had done so many times in the past.

The next thing I remember was standing by the bridge, armored and beweaponed and it was late night. Cold stars stared down as ruddy colors dappled the dark ground. Our home of hope and dreams burned fiercely, sending a pillar of thick, swirling smoke shot through with fiery embers, high into the night. I strode to the house as its roof collapsed in fiery ruin and seized a burning timber. I turned and walked across the bridge, touching the flames to the ropes and wooden steps every few strides. At the far side I turned and watched the cottage burn until there were only smoldering ruins left...and I walked away.

For years afterwards, I avoided all people. I ranged the most remote wildernesses and became more beast than human. I hunted only to survive except if I saw an Ophidian and then a red berserker rage would take control of me and I would remember nothing until I came to, gasping over the decapitated forms, my heart thumping in my chest with such power that I thought it would explode. I slept in caves or trees and would sit for hours on high hills, staring at the sky. I avoided all humans and most other creatures in the land. I was an automation of pain and loss, feeling little and caring less.

One day, I stood upon one sheer cliff that hung high over the sea and stared down at the broken rocky crags at the base. It would be so easy, so simple, to just stop. But, her eyes remained in my inner vision and I could not let go. I stood there, the sea wind thrusting against me, feeling the vibration of the ocean waves crashing against the cliff deep beneath my feet. As I stared out over the gray swells that reached beyond my sight, the cold emptiness inside me seem to resonate with the blank expanse of unending water.

I began to sob and it was as if an entire sea began to surge out of me. Images of Aoife, from the first day I saw her smiling up at me from the base of a Yew tree, throughout our life together, the burning cottage, flickered aimlessly through my mind. I knelt at the verge of the cliff, my heart pounding and breath gasping, tears streaming from my eyes, and then I felt a presence. I looked behind me and saw a doorway, an actual doorway with a dark stained wooden frame. There was no door but instead I could see a formless, swirling mass of multi-hued gray mist. I stood up and walked unhesitatingly through the doorway and passed out of the reckoning of that world.

After all this time, after all the inner daemons that had to be slain, the gaping holes in my soul that slowly healed over with tender scar tissue, the interminable loneliness and coldness that I had imposed upon myself; perhaps now I was finally ready to begin to live again?

I've put off reading this because I didn't have the time to devote to it that I wanted to. A good story is much like watching a good movie, it's best when there are no interruptions. I'm glad I waited, it was worth every minute of it. My chest ached and I felt as if I were there, feeling every bit of the hurt, anger and all consuming sorrow with him. Thank you once again for doing what writers do and allowing me to live someone else's life for a brief moment.

Hail Bayn
I sorry didnt post here yesterday, I enjoyed you
story very much.
Keep it up as Chelsea said between you two I have
found some very good reading here.

Bayn the story was excellent. I really enjoyed it. You draw the reader into the story. Letting them expierence what the characters are feeling and experiencing. A true story teller. Keep them coming.
Belle