Chapter 50.2

We stood on the cliffside, looking but not really seeing the waves as they swept up the naked escarpment.

I could sense something.  Out there.  Beyond the sea.  Distant… yet not.

It was a strange feeling, whatever it was.  Unfamiliar.  There was no sense of it calling to me, nor did it feel particularly ominous.  It was just… a something.

“But what?” we mused aloud.

No one replied.

Not that I could have expected an answer.  Not all riddles had ready solutions.

We turned back to the campfire to warm our hands and sighed.  It was peaceful here.  A quiet, sleepy place.  A person could build a home in this little clearing, away from everything.

The wind began to gently comb its fingers through our hair, and we shivered.

A bit blustery, perhaps.  It was a good thing we were surrounded by all the trees, or even the fire would not have been enough.  I had no idea why we had decided to march out into such a remote forest with nothing but a flimsy scrap of cloth for warmth.

Well… no.  It was curiosity, plain and simple.

There were things out here.  Familiar things… out beyond the trees.  Some more present than others.

But that other…

We turned back once more.  The barren cliffside and its unobstructed gales cut through us like a knife.  What heat we had managed to gather simply vanished like it had never been, but that was no matter.  One could not expect warmth in places like this.

Cold liked to creep and crawl out here.  On the edges of things.

Why would there be something out there?  Beyond…

Perhaps a boat?

You’re being too literal.

Our brow knitted together.  It was an ocean.  How else were we supposed to cross it?

Well.  No matter.  It was only an idle fancy.  There were more important things to attend to.

We glanced to our right where the obelisk waited.  The wind, before so punishingly cold, died away, and the heat from our cozy fire returned to fill the space left in its absence.

This thing was not… quite right.  For some reason.

But how was I supposed to fix it?  And why?  I had not been given to understand.

“You!” a woman yelled from behind.

We smiled but did not turn.  I had known she would be upset, but to pursue me even here?

Well, she could wait.  I was still engrossed with my puzzle.

Were there Words here?

Of course, there are.  You just can’t see them yet.

We frowned at her thought.

“Don’t be ignoring me, gash!” the woman growled, marching closer.

Gash?

We turned angrily.  The scorching, desert wind plastered our loose robes against our skin, sending our cloak flying dramatically behind us.  The sands from the nearby dunes pelted audibly against the cloth.

Our pursuer did not have so much protection.  Her flaming, red hair whipped about her, and she held her arms over her head in a futile effort to protect herself.  Her preference for nakedness was doing her no favors.

Not here.

“What in blazes?!” she yelled, confused and terrified.  “Where is we?  Where be me Master?  Where be Donum?”

Seeing her like that, our eyes began to soften.  She seemed so vulnerable.  So lost and innocent.  I wanted to wrap our arms around her.  To tell her everything would be alright.

We stepped forward.

The wind died.  The dust settled.

We lowered the mask from our face.  “I am Donum.”

She looked up, suddenly hopeful, but her eyes did not find what she was looking for.

“I be Donum!” she hissed.

We smiled, nodding.  “So it is.”

The confusion was back.  Shaking her head, she began looking around, but there was not much to see.  Not here.  Only the sand.  The cracked clay.  The pyramids in the far distance, washed pink by the shimmering heat.

Our eyes were attracted there, despite myself.

“Where be this?” she asked again.

We could only shrug.  What answers could I give her?  One place was very like another.  The only difference, a step this way.  A step that.

“A passing mood,” we said finally, then turned back to the obelisk.

We let a sigh cross our lips, leisurely clutching at the grass between bare toes.  This thing really did not belong here at all.  But knowing that and doing something about it were two different prospects.

You changed the other.  Do the same as last time.

The other?  What other?  And change it how?

If I knew that, I’d have done it already.

Well.  At least that was logical.

Maybe…

Slowly, we began to tilt our head to one side.  The world began to blur and tilt with us.  Sickeningly.  There was a tension there…

“Wait!  Stop!” the woman yelled.  “Fucking bawbags!  Stop!”

Irritated, we grunted.  I was not going to get anything done with her here.

We glanced over one shoulder to find her on hands and knees, struggling not to empty her stomach into the fetid water.  Had I pushed too hard?  Gone too fast?

Likely.  You can’t claim to know what you’re doing.  Your magic does not follow any rules I am familiar with.

That was true—the not knowing part, anyway.  The magic bit seemed a little dubious, though.  This was only a…

What?

We pursed our lips thoughtfully.

Still, the woman’s presence was complicating things.

“You shouldn’t be here now,” we informed her.

“And why not?” she returned, panting.  “It be ye what shouldn’t be places ye wasn’t invited.  I want me Master!”

A look of terrible anguish crossed her face.

“He fled from me.  Me!” she choked out.  “I has to catch him.  Hold him fast.  Tell him I ain’t mad.  Tell him he never has to run.  Not from me.  I has to… has to tell him…”

She stopped.  Too overwhelmed by her tears to continue.

My heart practically leapt from our chest.  I could not bear such sadness over something so foolish.

We rushed to her, kneeling in the swamp, heedless to the state of our dress.  Our hands caressed her dampened cheeks, and we kissed her softly.

“Don’t cry,” we pleaded.  “It’s okay.  We didn’t… I didn’t…”

We shook our head.  We didn’t… what?

“Take yer hands off me,” she growled.  “I ought to gut ye, taking me lips like that!  They be fer me Master and none other!”

We squeezed our eyes shut for a moment.  This was getting confusing.  “I am Donum,” I said again.

“No.  Ye ain’t,” she insisted.  “My Donum ain’t got these—“

She lifted a hand from the muck to grasp the horns on our head.  Thick, viscous water dripped into our hair, mixing with the sand, as she gave them a rough shake.

For a moment, the world seemed off-kilter.  Strange.

“My Donum ain’t got these…!” she said again, viciously twisting the nipple on our breast, and we gasped as familiar pain and unfamiliar pleasure raced around to our spine.

Our consciousness rocked, and we began to see double.

Where was I?  What was happening?

“And no Donum of mine never had one of these!” she growled.

Her hand snaked between our legs, and found… found…