Kurai Sakura – Yay! A new reader! ;c) It was great to hear from you and I was really flattered by your comments! I am new to original writing, but I do have a few fanfics under my belt, lol so I’m not a complete novice. ;c)

Marxbros – Hello my friend, lol how lovely to see you here! ;c) You’ve no idea how relieved I was that you liked my first chapter! Catch up whenever you can, there’s no rush. :c)

Maenlei – Thanks so much for the e-mail! :c) I’m very glad that you still like how things are going. Lol, and if you felt sorry for Raedan and Eira at the end of the last chapter then you may feel even sorrier for them after reading this one! ;c)

Chapter Five : Goodbye

Raedan woke with a start. He had not meant to fall asleep and leave Eira unguarded, but it hardly mattered, for the girl was already awake, watching him with her unearthly eyes, as she so often did. The dawn had not yet come. The Mountain was still bathed in calm moonlight, which seemed to turn the white snow outside the little cave into sheets of glittering glass.

“It is time,” she whispered, her voice still scratchy.

“For what?” Raedan asked with false innocence, for in truth he knew the answer. Eira looked at him sadly, and then handed him the last of the smoked meat that Father Arwystil had given to her, which they had been rationing between them.

“Eat,” she said simply.

Raedan took only a few small bites, despite his gnawing hunger. He offered her the rest but she shook her head despondently, and so, knowing that it would be pointless to argue, he ate what remained of the meagre meal and washed it down with a gulp of snow-melted water.

Eira stood. Her movements were stilted. Ol had stolen her beautifully graceful, fluid rhythm of moving. She blinked her swollen eyelids, then turned her battered face to the mouth of the cave and began to move towards the grey velvet of the pre-dawn.

“Eira!” Raedan called after her as he jumped to his feet and followed. “Stop, please, you’re hurt!”

She turned slowly, and gazed at him with hollow eyes, but as was so typical of her, she kept her silence. With bare feet and mere animal skins to shield her from the bitter cold, Eira stepped out into the snow. Raedan followed, with the same helpless dependency as the fawn or the cub.

In the clearings and glades the snow had fallen in deep trenches, which often came as high as their knees, but under the shelter of the forest trees only a tiny sugaring of flakes scattered the mossy ground. The bulk of the huge pinewood forest sifted the light, making it difficult for Raedan to tell exactly when dawn arrived.

“You never did tell me why you came.” Eira’s softly spoken statement hung in the air between them.

“No, I know,” murmured Raedan slowly in reply.

She turned to face him, but kept walking as she did so. After a little while she turned away again, leaving Raedan to stare after her. He owed her an explanation, he knew this, but what explanation could he give? The truth? The truth seemed surreal. But more than that, he didn’t want to tell her the real reason why he’d climbed up her Mountain. He knew it was selfish, but he didn’t wanted to ruin the picture that she had painted of him. Raedan liked that portrait, liked the way she looked at him; it was as if he was to her something more than what he knew himself to be.

“Flowers,” he said, once the silence had stretched out, twisted and turned back on itself, “I came to see if there were any.”

Eira studied Raedan, saw the faint blush that tinged his cheekbones and then smiled brilliantly at him.

“What?” he frowned as he caught the way that she was looking at him.

“I like your reason,” she whispered, still smiling mildly.

Raedan scratched his now stubble-covered chin and allowed himself to experience a guilty happiness at her words.

Eira could feel Raedan’s eyes on her back. She tried to walk as normal, not wanting his last memories of her to be corrupted by her injuries. But she also knew that more eyes than his followed her. So far they had kept their distance, keeping to the shadows, but they were there nevertheless. Her simple wooden spear was back in the cave, but then she had no intention of fighting.

“Eira.”

She turned on hearing Raedan call her; she treasured the way that the burr of his accent touched her name. She glowed inside as if caressed. Her bruised lips lifted in a soft smile as she waited for him to continue.

“The birds aren’t singing.” His brow was furrowed in a frown and Eira’s own smile left her face.

“No, I know,” she whispered, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten as a bush rustled to her right. “They will not sing today. They sense the hunt.”

“What?” exclaimed Raedan sharply, quickening his pace he fell into line beside Eira and looked down at her, his eyes intense.

“We are not alone,” she muttered in defeat.

She had not wanted to burden him with this news. His head jerked around keenly, his body grew taut and she could sense the tension drumming through his veins. Eira laid a calming hand on his arm.

“I think they will let you leave,” she said gently. “I believe Father Arwystil has ensured it.”

“But Eira,” he ground out through gritted teeth. “What about you?”

“I must stay and face my punishment,” she replied resolutely, to which she noticed Raedan shook his head grimly.

Once he knew that they were being tracked Raedan did not move from Eira’s side. He didn’t know if his stance gave her any comfort, he just knew it was something that he had to do. He did note, as their descent wore on, that the Mountain’s snow dotted scenery steadily grew more familiar.

“I know where we are!” he exclaimed suddenly, as late afternoon drew in. Eira gasped and bit down hard on her lip. Raedan baffled at her odd response, but understood a second later when half a dozen men, led by Ol, stepped out into the open. Each man had a cruel looking spear trained on the pair.

“Then you go on alone,” sneered Ol. Raedan caught hold of Eira and forced her behind him. He could feel her hands resting lightly on his back as a small moan escaped her. “Go or die!” spat Ol, he snatched up his own spear and aimed it at Raedan’s chest.

“No!” screamed Eira, darting out from behind Raedan she placed herself in front of him as if she was his shield. ‘Eira stop!’ She heard him yell, his fingers gripped her waist as he sought to push her out of harm.

Ol had paused, his spear was held in midair and a twisted smile played on his face.

“Go,” he drawled slowly, “or ‘she’ dies!” he finished in a hiss, wrenching Eira from Raedan’s grasp as he did so and then placing the point of his spear beneath her chin.

Raedan wavered. His blue eyes locked with Eira’s. He could see the tears in those enchanting brown pools as she mouthed one word – ‘goodbye’. He took a stilted step forward, but stopped when Ol increased the pressure on his spear, making Eira wince.

“Go!” Ol shouted.

“Please Raedan,” whispered Eira tearfully. “Just do as he says.”

She shut her eyes, and for Raedan it was as though a lifeline had been cut. Something inside him was screaming, but on the exterior he was powerless. He took a step backwards and despised himself for it.

“Eira, I’m so sorry,” he breathed, but once he’d started moving away he couldn’t seem to stop, it was actually turned away that was the hardest part, taking his eyes from the young woman proved impossible, and when her own eyes shot open again he stopped dead.

Eira fought to find the last of her courage. Ol’s grip had loosened sufficiently for her to pull away. She flew across the distance between her and Raedan, and then threw herself against him in a frantic embrace; his lips sought hers in a desperate response. She gasped in surprise when he deepened the kiss that she’d provoked, and then she crumbled against him as he devoured her mercilessly.

But before the fire between them had time to cool a dozen rough hands pulled and tugged, punching and striking indifferently. Eira was ripped from Raedan’s arms as he was thrown to the floor. Panting while his eyes were still alight with pain and desire he looked up at her.

“Go,” she pleaded, “and don’t look back.”

Ol tossed her roughly over his shoulder as she went limp, finally giving up the fight, and then he and the other men disappeared with Eira into the labyrinths of snowy forest. Raedan lay on the frozen floor, the taste of her forever to stay with him. He was filled with an all-consuming self-hatred. He had betrayed Lynet, but more importantly than that, he had failed Eira.

----------to be continued---------