ONYX

Part Eight

by Kimra

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Talon Black was smiling, he was also trying not to, but it was a failed attempt. Nearly two weeks of a black tinged goddess in his company and he could no longer repress the smile. It was a smug sort of smile, not elated a childish, just superior and none of the other Eagles knew what to make of it.

She had tried to hold back for the first few days, keeping her distance, disappearing when she needed to, but it hadn’t been long before she had been there whenever he walked in, or at least soon after. He knew, with a males pride, that she was his right then, that he had her.

And how he wished he could keep her. Two weeks of her, rediscovering her, re-learning everything he had forgotten and noticing those things time had not allowed him to last time. Two weeks and he was, once more, addicted.

There where concerns of course. The Sparrow’s where getting edgy, like their kind often did, with peace talks over the Eagles should have been on their way nearly five days before, but Talon kept them still. The superior of their party none of the others questioned him, but he knew they where rallying themselves to try.

Not to mention Onyx herself, still trying to fight him, still trying to pull away whenever something reminded her of who she was. She was doing something there, sneaking through the corridors, listening to shadowed conversations. She was seeking something and she would not tell him what it was.

He was uncertain if he was the cause of her visit, in some strange way, and he knew she listened to him and his kind as much as the Sparrows who belonged here.

Sooner or later she would try to leave and he did not know what he would do then. Probably let her go, probably he had no choice. Nobody could make his Onyx do something she did not want to.

He gave a sigh, his smile marred by a small frown as he tried to figure out his next move. Soon he would have to move on, soon he would have to obey his King and forget all the Stones.

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Onyx’s body pulled upwards in shock, sleep thrown to the side, her system waking and the persistent summons of her kin pounding in her ears and mind. “What’s wrong?” She asked aloud although there was no need, they heard her thoughts just as she heard theirs and it was theirs that had woken her.

It took her only a moment to realise that the onyx summoning her was not any bead of it about the Sparrows Nest, none she had come to know in her weeks staking these shadows as she sought whatever she was meant to find. The bead that pulsed out the sharp call for her was further away, deep within the boarders of the Stone Lands.

The feel of that bead, the feel of it calling to her and Onyx was reminded of everything she betrayed when she allowed herself to fall into Talon Blacks bed. But it was too late to care, or worry, because for two weeks she had slept no where but his bed, if he was there or not.

It had stopped mattering that she risked so much simply to reach his room, that if they where heard there would be repercussions. It had stopped mattering that she wasted time in his company she should have devoted to serving her Empress. Things had stopped mattering, because he made her forget.

A sign to release those thoughts and the tension in her body as Onyx lay herself back against the soft bed, closing her eyes and surrendering to the summons of that single onyx bead. It was the most aware of her kindred onyx stones, the most intelligent, and it was the single stone of onyx her Empress possessed so that all the Stones where connected.

She sent her awareness out, following the thrall of the tiny stone. It took all her concentration, and she was glad she was in Talon’s room, because in here, she knew no one would accidentally stumble upon her if she was not paying attention. She reached out, seeking the message her Empress had left her. And she let her awareness fall to a single bead of onyx, and the world that surrounded it.

Stones did not have eye’s, they did not have mouths or nose’s, they where intuition and knowledge that seeped into them from the world beyond, but that did not mean they knew little. Things other’s couldn’t notice, things eyesight distracted you from, things smell stopped you from noticing, they all came to the stone, and the stones murmured about it, thought about it, and waited. They waited to be listened too.

This onyx bead was impatient, it knew it’s duty, and knew Onyx wanted to hear the message it had to pass. It was older then Onyx herself, it had waited for her after the last Onyx, and for many generations before that it had been the connecting stone between Empress and Servant.

There where words it passed, things it had been told and heard, things it wasn’t supposed to know but knew anyway. But it told her as well what it was meant to, the message her Empress had demanded it give to her.

Princess of Onyx. The Princess of Sandstone is with child, and must for her safety, be immediately escorted back to the Stone Lands. As no Stone is closer, I charge you with attending to this duty. Take both Coal and Haematite to the Spider’s Web. Haematite is to help Marble guard Sandstone on her journey home.

You, Princess of Onyx, guard of our people, shall remain with Princess Coal. The Weeping Stone still cries for the Spider’s Web and we can not allow it to be left unguarded for a moment. Topaz and Sapphire will leave Tiger Lands to take you place in the Sparrow’s Nest. I will dispatch Quartz and Emerald to the Tiger Lands to take their guard.

Although this blessing has come at an unfortunate time our people will not falter. There is to be no delay, Princess of Onyx, we can afford to waste no time.

And when the words where done that bead of Onyx conveyed all else it had assimilated since last they spoke. And with care and sympathy Onyx allowed it to commune whatever it pleased. It took little time for it to exhaust it’s thoughts and with care and tender appreciation Onyx left the bead to it’s place and returned her mind to the body still laying in Talon Black’s bed.

Onyx was not surprised, when he eyes finally opened, to find Talon Black perched on the end of the bed, watching her with avid curiosity. She blinked, though, not sure what her next steps where to be. The utmost haste had to be used to protect Sandstone, but watching Talon Black she felt the overwhelming need to pause.

It was at that thought that she nearly jumped. Her body moved fluid and smooth, taking her to her feet and then to her dress. She didn’t look at him, knew what had to be done but couldn’t look at him to tell him.

Her dress was over her head, the onyx that guarded the room coming to her in a smooth puddle and taking a place on her ankle where it would wait for her orders. She stopped then, her body tense as she stared at the wall, her back to him and everything that they had shared over the last two weeks.

She knew him too well, though no better then before. It was enough though to make her know the expression of pain he would have in his eyes when she left again. She glanced accidentally and could see his eyes already darkening, already realising what was happening. Unable to face it she looked back to the wall.

She didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to give him up again. She had been happy, in a strange way over these two weeks and parts of her wanted to argue that she deserved that. But there was no argument to be had, she knew it, because she had her duty and her duty was now somewhere else.

It was nothing like last time, last time she had been called away when he was busy, last time she had simply left, no confrontation, no time for him to realise what was happening and it had been better that way, safer. This was dangerous and her whole being knew it.

She tried to met his eyes, ready to tell him, ready to explain that she would now leave and that two weeks of intimacy where to once more be ignored, maybe for another six years, maybe forever, but when she turned the second time he would not met her eyes.

“Talon.” She tried to get those eyes to look at her, but he continued to look aside his body tense like hers. She knew she was freezing, knew her body was breaking into it’s role as a guard. She was nothing now, emotion gone from her expression, just a stoic lady who would die if they told her to and she knew he hated it, but also that it couldn’t be helped.

In a need to make this work, she forgot the urgency of her message, she could not simply walk out. She had to tell him she was going this time.

“So that’s it?” He spit it out before she could forge on, and only then did his eyes come to her, sharp and hard and almost as empty as her own, but his had anger flaring in their depths.

“Yes.” She was firm, certain, there was nothing either could do, nothing either would do.

“And if I don’t let you go?” He demanded, a bitter look to his face, one she couldn’t even hate him for, one that made her wish she could stay. Those wish’s where ignored though, set aside to ponder and regret another day. Just like last time, she would remember this.

“There is no choice Talon Black. What must be done, must be done. And I leave, now.” And that was all she could say, all she had to say. She turned to the exit and made to exit, but he stopped her, his hand on her upper arm, fingers curled tight around her muscles.

“Leave me something.” He begged, his voice breaking, emotion so thick she felt herself shudder in regret. She didn’t want him hurting, didn’t want him feeling pain, but there was nothing she could do. She didn’t mean too but she frowned and she looked at him again, wishing he would just let her go, because it would so much easier if she could just leave.

“What?” She tried to control herself but the breath was lost in surprise. She remembered to be hard, to be cold and detached, the way she had to be with him, the only way that either of them would survive their interlude.

“Leave me something, something of yours! Anything-“ he was looking her over quickly trying to think, trying to decide. “A lock of hair, one of your bracelets, I don’t care.” There was begging in his eyes, the kind that made her want to give in, and even though she knew she shouldn’t she did give in. But she wasn’t sure what to give him, her personal effects where limited, and she had never given anyone anything except for her Empress which had been that one onyx bead.

“What can I-“ He interrupted her, a hard kiss she wasn’t expecting but he wasn’t trying to initiate sex, the kiss was something else, something she didn’t want to understand. She let it happen, it required no reply and she was glad, because she could not have replied, it was too dangerous.

“I don’t care.” He pleaded, softer, his eyes filled with emotion and she swallowed and looked away trying to think. Already the onyx she had hidden about the Sparrow’s Nest was coming to her, finding it’s way through the cracks and walls in a liquid flow so that she could leave but she didn’t have time for this.

A barely constructed thought and she did the only thing she could. She reached for the onyx settled on her ankle and it obeyed, coming to her hand. It was her closest, but she had no other near her to share, so she took a piece of it, a small piece that allowed itself to be taken for the task and then she held it out to him.

He took it from her with a nearly blank expression on his face, the anger gone and a sadness settling into his eyes. A sadness she understood but could not save. So instead she bowed her head to him, just a soft sign of respect and left the room hoping he never understood how personal the gift she had given truly was.

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