The Geis

Excerpt

  David stood behind a large oak tree and watched Sara; he had seen her leave the rath and followed her to see what she was up to. He watched as Sara laid her face against the stone and hoped his request had given her cause to come here.  It appeared to be a somewhat holy place. Maybe this was her place of prayer and refuge. He gazed around the circle of stones and to the forest beyond and wondered how they had managed to get the stones here and arrange them so.  It would take at least a dozen men to lift one of them.  If the stones had come from around here then there would be plenty for the building of a keep, and a curtain wall.  Although it was peaceful here, one could never be too protected; one could never know what the future held.

David watched Sara rise and look up to the sky, which was a deep azure blue with a single fluffy, white cloud.  The look on her face was one of serenity, and while she was not beautiful there was something about her that pulled on him.  He could not put his finger on it but it was there just the same.  He was counting on her intelligence to bring her to his way of thinking, and maybe that was what drew him, for he could not abide stupidity.  He had no patience for the dull- witted; they set his teeth on edge like nothing else.

He watched as she straightened her shoulders and raised her chin just a notch and walked to the center of the circle.  She spread her arms and slowly raised them to the sky, tipped her face up and turned slowly in a circle.  David’s first thought was that she resembled a woman being kissed, and he noted that the sun seemed to be doing just that. Her eyes were closed and he realized that he wanted to kiss her the way the sun did. He moved from behind the tree and as though some invisible rope pulled on him, he headed for the inside of the circle.

As Sara slowly moved in an arc, she became aware of a presence near her.  She had heard no sound of anyone approaching, and remembered the time a deer had come upon her in the circle.  So quiet was the deer she had not heard it enter; it had come right up to her.  Her grandmother had told her that it was because she had been in an enchantment and the deer was part of it.  She righted her head and opened her eyes slowly, expecting to see another deer.  What she saw was Sir David.  His face seemed to glow, and his hand came slowly up to touch her cheek.  His fingers slowly traced her cheekbone as his face came nearer and nearer until his lips touched hers light as a feather.  She held her breath, afraid to breathe, for fear it would break the spell.  Could this be the answer she had sought?  Did it mean she should give him the answer he wanted?

He was kissing her again and she wanted to melt against him as his arms came around her, but she suddenly became afraid and pushed against him instead.  He slowly let go of her, allowing his hands to slide down her arms to capture her hands. He gazed into her eyes and murmured. “Sweet, so sweet,” as his hands squeezed hers gently.  He dropped her hands, turned and left the circle.