Tribe of the Mountains Chapter 17 — Seduction   In Thebes, "free women" is the name given to all women that do not have a proper father or husband to protect them. They can`t have lands, but some few banks accept their money. The taxes are very high though, so many of them keep money stashes where they can. Most end depending on a male relative to live, or on a pimp. Nowadays there is one exception, a woman adept of magic. If she is good enough she may be allowed to have money in any bank and to own land. But this new rule is not accepted by all and long judiciary battles where their male relatives try to confiscate the money are usual. Of course, a powerful female mage can be very persuasive and make her relative to drop the cause. After all, as everyone knows, people sometimes simply disappear.

In Thebes, "free women" is the name given to all women that do not have a proper father or husband to protect them. They can`t have lands, but some few banks accept their money. The taxes are very high though, so many of them keep money stashes where they can. Most end depending on a male relative to live, or on a pimp.

Nowadays there is one exception, a woman adept of magic. If she is good enough she may be allowed to have money in any bank and to own land. But this new rule is not accepted by all and long judiciary battles where their male relatives try to confiscate the money are usual. Of course, a powerful female mage can be very persuasive and make her relative to drop the cause. After all, as everyone knows, people sometimes simply disappear.

When I went to Thebes to rescue Stephen though female mages where not accepted by society, they said that our frail intellect was not capable of controlling powerful magic. It took years, many deaths and several serious incidents for this to change. And in many cities a powerfully gifted female is still killed as a witch, even nowadays.
 
 
From the Journal of Erynia the first.

OK, girls you want to go out, explore the world outside.

Perhaps find a decent man and marry, have “normal” children as you say and not worry about losing a part of yourself to the goddess.

You keep saying that none of us, goddess servants are telling the truth, that we only want to force you into losing your individuality and becoming part of a monster.

If you do not believe in your elders, in the books, in the testimonies of those that came from outside and prefer to trust your dreams. Then you are either visionaries or fools.
So, the door is open, you know the way to the next town, go to your paradise then and see what it is. I will tell you one more time:

        - There is no romance outside of the mountains, here you can meet a partner, date her and be together for as long as you want. Outside, it is your father who decides if the boy can or can`t date you, sometimes the families even marry girls at a young age.

        - A girl that wants to be respectable can`t go to a tavern with a boy, they can meet in parks or in parties. The rich do have dances and special commemorations, but there will always be a chaperone nearby and the father will know who talked to his daughter.

Now, you will be girls without father coming from out of town. In most cities, women can`t have land, practically only barmaids or whores have any source of income and many need a male to administer this income since not all banks open accounts for women.

So, a group of barbarian women with money come from nowhere? The authorities will be looking for excuses to take the money and make you slaves from day one. Even if you get in a better city and put your money in a bank, males will think of you as bed partners, never as proper ladies for marriage. They need to find a social hole for you in their society and the place of “free women” is the only available.

I know it, I was there, but if you doubt, again the door is open. Let`s see if you are visionaries or fools.
 
 
Discourse of Arya Erynier on the day of loss.

Five girls of the third generation left.

Two of the girls came back alive but badly hurt, they became serious man hatters and a terror in nearby lands.

The tribe freed one that was enslaved.

One actually had a successful career as an adventurer and came back years later with a partner willing to be converted to the goddess. But this is a tale for other day.

The other simply disappeared.
 
 
Arya Erynier's Journal:

Erynia asked me to relate the facts that led me to be “seduced” by her. She told me that she could barely understand how she succeeded much less write about it.

This is most amusing, since I do not think that she seduced me. In fact, what happened was quite the opposite in a sense. Erynia would not be able to seduce anyone, after all, her previous experiences were with Stephen and this was mostly a kind of intellectual friendship that evolved to something more over time and with the girls after the Goddess altered their whole sexual identity and in a moment of high sexual tension created by new feelings and physical changes.

She had the memories of the boys though and tried to use some of them. Well, I had dealt with much more skilled men. But, let me start this by the beginning.

Since Erynia`s father, Elric had raped me my life was complicated. My father, though grateful for his promotion and fully aware of my lack of choice, had to keep the appearances and send me out of his house. Since he was a good man, he covertly administered my money allowing me to deposit some economies in a bank, where they could not be easily stolen.

On the other hand, now any man could rape me since, as the law states: “A man shall never lay hands on a woman without permission since this is a disgrace to the father`s or husband`s name and he has the right by law to demand compensation.” As my father had expelled me, I was considered fatherless. Raping me was not creating dishonor to him anymore and, as such, it would not be punished. This is why many women in my situation find a pimp to protect them and end being prostitutes.

But I was a servant in a powerful house and the protection of the house was over me. Everybody knew what had happened and, in a sense, I was considered property of Elric of Melbor. If I, or even worse, my daughter was harmed House Melbor would take matters seriously and, weird as it may seem, thus it was that the same man that raped me now protected me.

This protection extended even, to some extent, to forcing the landlord to be fair with my rent. No, he never talked to the landlord, but it was not needed. As I said, everybody knew what happened to me, the landlord would not risk Elric`s anger because of a few extra coins.

What kept me safe, also attracted the attention of a few, rich men. They wondered what Elric had seen in me and some had sent their servants to make very improper propositions regarding my sexual life. For now and while the House protected me I could ignore their advances.

I was not making a lot of money, just enough for rent, food and daycare. But, if there was extra work in the House, like a party or something similar I was allowed to get a wage a little bigger that month and this extra I saved in the bank. Not a bad life financially.

Of course, my daughter, Sonia, would have to work for the House, but I am sure that they would find a way to justify paying her dowry and would arrange a marriage for her. All proper and good, I would work to my death serving the man that raped me, then my daughter would work for his family until they decided who she would marry and I, of course, had to be grateful and remain a quiet little pet.

I was desperate. My girlfriends had abandoned me, even the few that were also servants in the House. Nobody befriended me, many proper families forbid their children to play with my daughter, she was already being called names and I was always afraid that someday a man would risk Elric`s anger, get me when I left my job to go home and do worse things than what that old man had done.

I had noticed the mercenary living next to my apartment mostly because he never brought girls home and was a bit effeminate in his mannerisms. I did not doubt for a second that he was good with his sword since his posture indicated this and he also had a nice ass, but his hairless, almost feminine face and something in his movements called my attention. I really doubted that he found any girl attractive at all.

No, I had not lived a sheltered life, my father being relatively poor and all, besides, I had caught two male servants of the House kissing once or twice when they thought that no one was looking. It is interesting what you can observe when you are “invisible as a maid” as we would joke among ourselves while I still had friends. So, I probably caught mannerisms and well, something in my neighbor ways that most people would not notice, but to me were very obvious.

And yet, he came to talk to me one afternoon while I was watching my daughter play in the playground. When he approached I first found it scandalous since a young male does not talk to a single woman without chaperones and near children. The appropriate thing to do would be asking my father and then meeting me with his presence or of an elder relative … and then I caught myself. There was no right way to approach an orphan, a widow or a “free woman” like I was. Weird, but knowing that my social status would fall more only if I started to openly offer my body for money was in a sense liberating. Since I had nothing to lose I decided to listen to the young fellow.

Erynia must have known all of this in that cold, calculating mind of hers. She approached slowly giving me a lot of time to think and to see that I could talk to her. The damned cold bitch even knew in what day to get closer. A day where there were no followers of the hanged God about since they were in a cult and also, reasonably few of those women that love to make life difficult for everyone else.

Sometimes I really love Erynia for all the wrong reasons. She is incredibly considered in that cold way of hers. Who else would wait one or two weeks for the perfect moment to be able to speak with me when she could be blunt and look for me in my home at any time like some former “interested parties” had done? Yes, those interested parties had not succeeded, but I was getting desperate and she knew it. Then, perhaps this is why she waited. Oh, I quit. I will never know. When I ask she simply gives a cold smile and show another memory, completely unrelated.

Anyway, this feminine looking man, with his expensive armor and clearly well used sword approaches me and show me a piece of what I took to be jewelry. Well, enough is enough, “Hold on mister, I am not this kind of girl.”

He looked into my eyes and answered in a cold tone of voice “You are a young mother, aren`t you? This stone will test your child for magic and some magical illnesses.”

“What is the price?” I asked.

“Give the stone back after use and go to the fountain park with me in your next day off. No demand, just walk and talk. In public.” It was the weirdest proposition that I ever got. The park was used by groups of youth in what looked like a choreographed ballet. The women would walk the park in a certain direction, the boys in the opposite one, the chaperones that were always nearby and the gossipers that were everywhere forbid them to talk too much with each other, but they could appreciate their possible mates and act more boldly in the next party or ball.

So, this mercenary was inviting me to walk with him in a park where the only couples walking together were married, usually watching their teenager children in their dating games, or fiancées getting to know each other better, but with the approval of the girl`s father and a chaperone nearby. Anyone that did not know better would think that we were a married couple, especially if we brought my daughter.

“OK, but we take my daughter Sonia with us. And since she is only one year old we will not be able to stay long.”

As if she heard her name Sonia quit the little game of “trying to throw the wax ball” that she was playing with her favorite friend and tried to approach us in that weird way of walking typical of her age. Of course, she fell after only four steps, but this is why the daycare center had a floor of sand. Before Sonia could cry the priestess of Luna that was taking care of that part of the center came, took her and brought her to me. We mothers were forbidden from walking into the sand to get our children, they said that a bunch of mothers cooing to their babies would make it difficult to watch the ones that didn`t have a parent nearby.

The young priestess gave me my baby and I saw that she had a new scrape on her knee. Actually, Sonia showed the scrape to me as if it was the most important thing in the world. Well, while I was looking at my daughter and “talking” to her, the mercenary approached.

“May I touch the stone to her forehead? It is all that is needed.”

“Do you know this kind of stone? Is it trustworthy?” I asked the priestess before she could leave to take care of her other charges.

The priestess looked at the stone for a while, then at the mercenary with a mix of fear and astonishment. “By the moon, I never saw a medicinal stone so well done. You must know a very good mage. Wait, I can sense the influence of a Goddess in it too, it was made by a mage and a priestesses? Please allow me to test the children with it. The temple will pay.”

The mercenary answer was weird. “No problem, it has charge only for ten children though. You can test these ten, let`s consider this a favor from one goddess to the other.”

Something passed between the mercenary and the priestess, even I could feel a little disturbance in my spirit, as if something was talking to me, but not to my ears, to my soul. The priestess stood there for a moment with vacant eyes, then she said “Let`s start them, just give me a minute”.

The next moments were a bit frantic, as the head priestess was called, the excited priestesses decided which children to test and talked a lot with the mercenary in a kind of language that I simply could not follow, things like attunement, kinetic energy, spiritual plane simply went over my head. In the end, Sonia was tested and they found that she had a little capability for body magic and some strong affinity with the spiritual realm. The perfect combination for priesthood. Well, at least here there was an option, an opportunity to run from her father`s household.

“So, in Aesir`s first day may I come to your apartment and get you at the first bell?” The mercenary asked. The Aesir days were three days of celebration for Odin, Thor and, oddly, Morrigan. Also, in the mix of religions typical of the city, those days were a kind of non official commemoration of the delivery from Hecate`s hordes or from Loki`s children depending who you considered responsible for the wasting disease. They were the only holidays in the dry season.

I had to admit that this mercenary had given me a precious gift, a possible future for my daughter. “Yes” I smiled coyly. “But you will hire Bernard and sons to carry us in their carriage.” Bernard was a good neighbor, ex military and both he and his sons did a kind of police work in our big building. Hiring them would make sure that all would be nice and proper.

The mercenary smiled a cold, perhaps self deprecating smile. “Of course my lady, as you wishes” He said and added a flourish very properly executed. And this was the same as proclaiming that he was from the aristocracy or had worked a long time for important people. After all, many of my neighbors worked in rich households and knew the manners of those born rich when they saw them. Then, he kissed me in the face and left. This last gesture, the accompanying formal turn and the way that he walked away in a “proper” way left more than a few of those that were looking in awe. Rumors of rich mercenary and “emperor`s guard” started almost immediately. As I left the daycare with Sonia many women that, the day before, didn`t deign to look at me came to talk and desire a good night.

Weird, but this single chaste kiss and his smell made me wet. I, on the other hand, was very confused. I had served drinks in more than one fancy ball and had seen the flourish that the mercenary executed with perfection before. It was the flourish used by a dame of society to accept an invitation to dance from a proper suitor. It was never used by males. But he had done it in such a way that his scabbard didn`t even touch his leg, as only someone used to the sword can do.

My dream that night increased my confusion. At first it started as a normal dream, I was walking in the fountain park with the mercenary, he was very well dressed and a perfect gentleman, then, in that abrupt way typical of dreams, the scenery changed and we were in a lavishly decorated room, like the ones that I saw in House Melbor. This stranger that had not even given me his name kissed my mouth, took out my clothes very slowly, kissed my breasts and continued down, passing by my navel to kiss my vagina and keeping his tongue there, doing something that I had only heard about but felt wonderful. Finally, he rotated in bed placing his naked loins over my face but there was no penis there, only a kind of alluring darkness. I penetrated this darkness and suddenly I was licking a vagina. I woke up startled, but feeling very aroused.

Being raped had forced me to confront the truths about human sexuality, because the most degrading, the most infuriating thing is that for a second, while that stinky old man was penetrating me, I had felt a jolt of pleasure. Of course the pain and the disgust overwhelmed it very soon, but in latter nights I was forced to understand that my desires were not as cut and dry as I thought. That I could hate and love at the same time, be attracted and repulsed, want to steal that silver candelabra over the table in Elrond`s house and want to stick it up his ass. I was capable of hating the majordomo and yet keep his dalliance with one of Elric`s sons a secret. I learned that Because I am a human being and as a human being I feel a little pleasure when touched in a certain place it doesn`t mean that I like to be touched by anyone there.

Looking inside myself with the same calm understanding that allowed me to keep alive after being raped I noticed that now I could imagine making sex with a woman and not get nauseous. Actually, as I started to play with myself, taking care not to wake the baby, I imagined both male and female lovers. Weird, but since my experience with males had been ugly and the mercenary had a certain feminine feel, why not indulge a little fantasy?

When I went back to sleep I was not surprised to see a naked mercenary in my dreams, only now he clearly had a pussy and small breasts. He, or better, she didn`t take a moment to come to me and start caressing my body though, then she went to my vagina, but left hers for me to play with and, the more that I played the more desire I felt. After a while, when I was already feeling comfortable with what we were doing, she increased the pace of her ministrations and brought me to an amazing orgasm.

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed, even the mess that my daughter had done in the straw that made her bed didn`t make me mad. Healthy children pee and poo, after all. After cleaning us both using the little stone basin, that came with the apartment and was always full of water from the building`s pipes, I took Sonia to the daycare and went to work as always.

But those days were all but usual. I found myself paying more attention to details of the household and the city, smiling more and in a general pleasant mood. Every night I would dream of MY mercenary, sometimes as a male, but usually as a woman and I even wondered from time to time if he was not a woman in disguise, like in some novel. But I dismissed this as a flight of fancy since no woman would be able to use that sword and armor.

One night I looked at my dresses and realized that I was in trouble, I still had one or two from when I lived with my father and the House gave us an uniform, which reduced my expenses with clothes a lot. But even fastidious maintenance can only do so much for a dress, I needed a new one to be able to go to the fountain park. Worse, Sonia would need diapers, expensive diapers, made of good cloth and I would need a bag to put the filthy things on when she got dirty and to keep the clean ones still clean.

It may seen little to you girls in our secreted valleys and communal economy, but believe me when I say, cloth was not terribly expensive, but still too expensive for my situation and good cloth more so. Nowadays the romanish empire is flooding the markets with cloth made by their kinetic machines powered by mages and we have one or two of those machines here in the mountains also. But when I met my mercenary cloth was made by hand, in a loon, by a single woman. The best cloth for diapers was made of cotton fibers and the region of Thebes produces cotton, but it was not large scale like today.

When I started to think about dresses, I noticed that my shoes would not serve also and my purse was in shambles. I admit that in that night I fell to despair, for the first time realizing the extent of my disgrace. I should have been smarter, used my female charms to snatch a man while I still had jewels and reasonable clothes instead of waiting for the perfect match. Now, how could I even date, bringing a young daughter and with no wardrobe worth the name?

The worse was that if I went to the mercenary and told him to cancel it he would ask why and I never was good a lying. If I told the truth he would think that I was extorting money from him and might demand something in return. I was considering giving myself to him anyway, but not this way. I needed romance, dates, perhaps marriage. But, who was I deceiving? He would simply take me sooner or later anyway, perhaps pay one month of rent and that would be it. No romance for the defiled.

The next night I was still desperate, I had thought about getting a loan somewhere, but the interest rates that a “woman like this” would get in the banks were simply not worth it. I went to bed crying again to the point that Sonia escalated her crib, came to me and gave me a hug. After this the tears flowed even more freely, but the resolve to go increased, after all, if I got a husband or even just someone to pay part of the bills it might mean a better life to her. For Sonia I would take any humiliation with a straight face.

I cried until sleep that night. The erotic dreams came, but I banished them, such fancies were for those that could, not me. Rolled in bed, felt sorry for myself and all those feelings that only one who was there may understand, I felt trapped, I would have to go to the park in the less horrible finery that I had while carrying a naked child and face the humiliation that this would bring to me as some of my former friends, now with respectable families and husbands, talked among themselves and laughed of my fate.

It was in such a dark mood that I woke early in the next day. As soon as a little sun could be seen in the badly covered single window of the room that we called an apartment I got out of bed thinking dark thoughts but ready to face the day for Sonia.

That is when I looked at the table of our single room apartment and got the weirdest surprise in my life. There was a bag over the table, and a loaf of bread. No indication that the lock on the door (foolproof, the landlord had told me, open only with the right keys) had been forced. The window was still latched, there were no footprints and, thank the gods, Sonia was untouched. But the bread and the bag were there, as if they had grown out of the wood. No note, nothing explaining. Just two simple objects, the bag made of brown, rough cloth closed with a single white lace and the whitest bread that I had seen in a long time, except for Elric`s house, of course.

I approached the bag warily, undid the lace and found a small fortune in gold inside. More than a month of my father`s wages were there, much more than needed to buy a dress, good diapers, food for a month and perhaps even some sweets for the baby. No note, nothing, no strings attached, but only one person would be crazy enough, good enough, weird enough to do this.
 
 
So, in the day before our date I left work earlier (started earlier also, thanks to a deal with the majordomo), went to the baths in the hour reserved for non citizens and paid for the privilege of a complete massage plus scented bath.

In the day of the date I woke up while it was still dark, cleaned myself as well as possible using our water basin, tidied Sonia as best as possible and only then risked putting on my new, expensive dress.

When I finished dressing I looked in the mirror bought with the mysterious money and saw that I was looking like a proper lady. For the first time since my pregnancy became impossible to hide, I had a proper dress, a nice necklace, good shoes and my daughter was not looking as a pauper`s daughter, always naked not to mess her clothes, she was in a nice dress herself, with good diapers. She was not happy, of course, always trying to take out the lace in her hair or wiggle out of the clothes, but nothing can be perfect.

I was still trying to keep Sonia from taking out her new shoes when there was a knock on the door. It was the mercenary, tidied up, clean and smelling of perfume, wearing an expensive black jacket over what looked to be a dark colored silk shirt, nice dark breeches and black boots. His appearance was still martial, but in a parade ground style, with the dark colors calling attention in this hot day of the dry season. I could also discern a net of small magical stones spread in his coat. Small, expensive stones that, together with the sword in an adorned scabbard tied to his large black belt would certainly make a thief think twice before attacking us.

In other words, dangerous, dark, but also, to my eyes, looking beautiful instead of handsome. The jacket could not hide his relatively narrow shoulders, the shirt showed the shape of his chest and I could see what looked like nipples, the large belt didn`t hide his wide hips and the tight breaches showed slender legs. I was sure that nobody would notice, when people see a sword and the ease to wear it they think male. But I started to think on him more as a woman than a man. This was somehow proved by the ease with witch “he” complimented me on my clothes.

Sonia calmed down, looking with big eyes when the stranger, the mercenary a little bit bigger than her mother approached. Without saying anything he bowed to us both, took Sonia in his arms and produced from somewhere a sweet that granted to him her undivided love, at least for the next moments.

He had hired a carriage to take us to the park.

He, or better, she as I shall call her from now on led me to the carriage, being the perfect “gentlemen”, helped me to get on it but talked very little during our trip to the park. When we got to the park Sonia was all excited with the fountains and the mercenary took her from one to the other, talking about their history and showing a knowledge of art and, particularly, sculpture that was really not in character with the figure of a northern mercenary.

Sonia ruined her dress with the sweetened corn sold in one of the food stalls, played as much as she could and then decided that the mercenary was a comfortable place for a nap and slept in his arms as if there were no problems in the world.

Since we finally had a little moment of peace, we walked to a quiet corner of the park and I asked the mercenary “Sorry to be rude, but life taught me to be wary, please tell me what you really want with me.”

She didn`t answer at first, simply curved her body, taking care not to wake up the child in her arms and kissed me in the mouth. This show of affection was allowed in the park, but it bordered on the scandal. I loved it. And a new wave of pleasure coursed through my body as I could feel her breath.

After a long pleasurable time she answered “I have chosen well I see. What I want is you. I want all that you are, all that you have. I want you to be one with me.”

“Please explain yourself” I answered a bit worried by what I took to be an evasive answer.

She smiled a cold, weird smile half irony and half genuine amusement. “Come with me first to get married by contract, then to a glen in the woods that I consecrated to my goddess, drink from the marriage cup and everything that I have will be yours. Then you will know that I can`t betray you. I really admire you and would do everything in my power to take you out of the desperate situation where you are.”

Marriage, civilian marriage as they say, but marriage nonetheless, little guarantee of prosperity when the mercenary could simply leave Thebes in the next day, but enough to improve my social standing. A married woman, even a poor, abandoned one was still better than a “free woman”.

“Will you register Sonia in your name?”

“Of course, my love, she is a nice kid after all and, in a sense we are relatives already.” She said this with a cold tone, again with that half smile, as if there was a joke here that only she could see.

“Of course I accept” I said with a genuine smile. She might be cold, but was somehow gentle, which I know seem to be impossible but she managed with those cold eyes and precise way of talking and move while, at the same time, showing attention to Sonia and playing with her. I imagined that marrying her would be at least interesting, besides, it was hope.

We went to the carriage, gave Bernard the good news and both he and the two of his sons that where working as our escort accepted to be witnesses. Then we went to one of the city`s register offices and in a brief ceremony got married on paper.

Oh, I keep forgetting, perhaps this journal will one day be read outside of our little community. Let me explain. In Thebes, there is a diversity of religions, while here in the Mountains we have many different kinds of unions and the Goddess considers marriage useless. So, in both societies when a couple wants to build patrimony together they make a contract stating what are each other`s duties and who will inherit what in case of death. Of course, in Thebes women do not have income and the contract becomes even more important, because it protects them and their children from being, for instance, expelled from their house if the husband is eaten by something and his relatives get greedy. These contracts could be very complicated since the woman could not own a house, loopholes in the law had to be found to protect her. Nowadays things are easier in Thebes since they accept the right of property of some women. Of course, here in the Tribe both sides will have some income and the contract has to be clear on how the properties of the couple will be shared in case of separation.

Well, we used one of the standard contracts given by the city. They tended to be really good since it was not in the cities best interest to have destitute children in the streets. And only when she signed the contract I learned that I was getting married to Erynia the First. When the clerk asked about the weird name she said that it was a new custom in her tribe and, somehow, the clerk decided to accept the female name. Erynia, after all, looked male enough and there was that sword to prove it.

After getting married, it was no scandal for us to leave the city and go to a little altar that my mercenary had consecrated to her goddess in a beautiful glade close to the river. We left Sonia sleeping in the carriage guarded by Bernard and sons, walked a little into the woods, she took a cup of metal, drank a little bit of water. Gave me the cup, I drank.

After drinking the water I found myself in a large cave together with Erynia, only now she was naked and was obviously female. In front of us there was a beautiful Goddess. “Welcome, my child.” She said. “I am here to ask you to join our tribe, be one of us.” And She showed me the waterfall valley, followed by a series of images of the life of the tribe and also of what we had to accept to belong.

“What will happen to Sonia?” I asked.

“She will be raised as a normal child, we will teach her to read, write, hunt and much more. When she is of age she can choose to stay and be one of us or to build a hut close to our lands and live a normal life.”

Even in that day I could see that Sonia would have little choice, if we went to the Tribe Sonia would become too much of a foreigner to live in a city ever again and living in nature, close to the mountains would just postpone the day when she would quit and accept the Goddess.

“Erynia, you married me, are you going to provide for us if we stay in Thebes?”

“Yes, I will. Even if you do not join I will leave you with enough money to survive, but I doubt that house Melbur will leave you in peace.”

So, I could say no, but I would have to leave the city and hide. True, the house would never leave me alone no matter what, not with Sonia being Elric`s daughter.

“OK, Goddess, I accept your offer.”

The dark goddess of the mountains raised her arm in my direction and I was flooded with pleasure as something changed inside me.
 
 
Soon I was able to listen to Erynia`s thoughts, could see her memories and had the choice to help in rescuing Stephen. If she had told me in words that she wanted to rescue her beloved and needed me I would have felt used. But trough her memories I could see that she had been very ethical. I was not only a tool to get to Stephen, she had chosen very well and had come to me only because she felt that we could live together. In her somehow cold way she considered our marriage to be true. She would go to bed with Stephen but I would always be considered someone to protect. Better yet if the three of us could be together, something not completely disagreeable since I had been working with Stephen for the past year and liked him as a person.

So, yes, I would help her to get into Elçric`s house and I started by giving all information that I had on the place to her, every single detail that only a maid know about a place.

Then I opened my eyes and I was still in the glade, looking at Erynia, my lover, my sister, my partner while still holding our marriage cup. Now I could feel the goddess in the water, I could feel the life of the men at the carriage a little distance away, there was a big creature in the river nearby, there was life under the soil. The day was beautiful and, despite being possessed and feeling as a part of a Goddess of the caves and mountains I never felt so free.

Erynia approached, kissed me and placed a pendant with a magical stone over my chest. I felt our connection disappear, but I knew it was temporary, only until we finished the job. Then I would be part of the Tribe forever.