Chapter 1: The Red Fever
The Red Fever A.D. 1249
Keira Bryn Davan, having just turned 18, danced from gentleman to gentleman around a bonfire, fiddles and pipes played ceremoniously for her. The Rom had stayed up late for this special occasion and she couldn't be more happy with all the attention warming her breast and spinning in her head. It has been six years since Enin was lost in the woods in southwest France and things had been getting better lately.
But when the festivities were over, she was reluctant to go bed without first going to Katalina, who was waiting to read her cards. As Keira entered her wagon, the old woman told her to leave the door open.
"The air is fresher," Katalina said.
Keira pushed through the beads and lace to get to the Seer's table, taking a seat without saying a word to the old woman. The fresh air was a wind that drove through the door, quite mild most of the time, keeping her a bit chilled. But she did her best to ignore it.
"My Child," Katalina said. "This is the first day of your eighteenth year and you look so beautiful. It will be soon for you to find a man to keep you, to bare him children and live your days as a mother."
Keira screwed up her face at that, saying: "Maybe one day, but I don't feel like doing that now. I have things I must do first."
Katalina chuckled as she took her seat and began shuffling the tarot the old woman had made of thin, dried birch wood. "The Old Ways are mostly gone now, Keira. To keep the traditions of your tribe, you must have the wisdom to control your temptations. Only through a family may your tradition prosper."
Then Katalina held out the deck and Keira picked six cards, putting them face down on the table before her. She wondered what the Gods would say to her and what "quest" Katalina would foresee in them. It was her time now. No pithy domesticity. It was time for her to have something real happen to her and *she knew* it was going to be an exciting time for her.
Katalina closed her eyes and flipped the first card. Without seeing it, Katalina knew what it was: "The Fool. It looks like it's time that the maiden grows up. I see a man, a little older than you. He has been hurt by evil forces, but it only made his heart stronger. He searches for something, but he must come to you with a problem. Something only you can help him with."
Katalina flipped the next card two cards. Still, her eyes are closed, but she knows what it is. "The Paige of Tomes. This represent a surprising manifestation of a new passion. Fire burns the earth, a catalyst for the blaze. All this will force you on an adventure away from us. Of course, this will lead to tragedy. The second card, the Tower, is crumbling. I see the Dark Dominion that has come to us from the Holy Land, tainting the Old Ways and warring with the New Holy Church. *Gods...*, I see blood!"
Keira's eyes were widening, her cheeks hurting with the tension of her news. She didn't want to go away from here. The Rom were her family. Where was she supposed to go? What would she do without Katalina?
"Three more cards for the Crescent Maiden," Katalina said, turning the next two cards without opening her eyes. " The Six of Tomes, reversed, my Child. False pride and failure."
Flipping the next card, the Seer added: "The Knight of Sites, reversed. This is the voice of the man, whom will come to you shortly. It is the voice of honor and valor, but also of pride and overconfidence."
What's with all these reversals, for Christ's sakes?
And with the last card, the Seer concluded: "The Eight of Sites, reversed, my Child. A true destination, a mask and a veil. Things hidden may remain hidden, but at great cost. I see both the Material and the Suspirium as dark mirrors, facing one another and bleeding. True horrors will be released, but I cannot say for sure whether you're successful or not. The rest is hazy, untold and unforeseen."
Keira had to stand up, throw her skirt to the side so that the wind wouldn't catch it. All she could think about was that *she wasn't going to do it*. No way. Her destiny had to lay somewhere else. This was a bad reading, nothing more. If some guy came to her, asking for her help, she'd deny them. She'd travel with the *kumpania* and she'd stay away from dangers. This was not a time to be begging for more trouble.
"I know what you're thinking," Katalina said, opening her graying eyes now. "You may deny it as you wish. Though, I warn you, Dame Fortuna has a mysterious way of tricking you into following destiny whether you like it or not."
"Not me, Seer. I'm staying with you and the *kumpania*. My place now is with the Rom."
Katalina smiled and gestured toward the door. "The door is open. You may close it if you wish."
***
Later that night, Keira covered herself with skins in the smaller wagon beside the Seer's own and fell easily to sleep.
In her dreams, she was collecting firewood when she saw a grown man with dark hair walking through the trees. Wondering who it was - thinking perhaps one of the Rom - she began to follow him, looking for him as he weaved in and out of her site. After a few moments she lost him. Keira had never been one to give up, so she kept looking until she came across a steep ravine with large rocks around her. Below her she could hear the small trickling of water and the wind wove around her, rustling the trees to a soft whisper.
At first that's all she heard, but then she began to hear that the wind was joined by some moaning. Curious, she looked around the big rocks until she saw that a few feet away from her, legging wrapped around his knees, the dark haired man was caressing his tight skinned balls and holding up a reddening rope of meat. Keira had only seen something similar once before, so she vaguely knew what it was. Watching him as his hands tugged and stroked his manhood, his head fallen, his eyes closed in the rapture of his flesh, she began to feel all at once guilty and horny. Her own pussy called to her with nerves of satin, warming her loins and crawling up her stomach to her nipples.
*But his face*, she thought. It was familiar, yet different somehow. Then, all at once, it clicked. Her mind puzzled it out and a grin grooved in her pretty face. *That's it*, she thought, *Enin!* And just as she thought that, Enin groaned and stiffened, his manhood thrusting through his fingers like he was fucking his fist, and a stream of white seed erupted from the bulging tip. A few more milking squeezes, last drops, and he was done. He began to pull up his leggings, but Keira couldn't wait any longer...
"Enin!"
Enin looked her way, face flushed and eyes wild with fear. He pulled up his leggings and began to run.
"No, Enin! Wait! It's me! Keira! Remember?!"
And then she woke up, her fingers already kneading the soft pulp that hid her inner hollow and the pink bud that held the secrets to her greatest pleasures. Keira panted as her pulse made her dizzy, as her body began to rack with a small explosion of gratification. Sighing after, she rolled over. Somehow during the the hot self masturbation she had begun to cry. Her sobs continued for awhile as her grief for Enin reigned anew.
***
The next morning, Keira was out collecting herbs for Katalina before the *kumpania* got ready to move on to the county of Aquitaine, south of where they were now. For some fun, she asked Mara to come along with her. Mara was her closest friend and, like the others, full blood Rom. Mara was a year older than she was, with hair just as dark, but curly, and darker brown eyes. Mara was just as pretty, if not prettier than Keira, who had light brown eyes and straighter, longer hair.
Mara walked in front of her, answering Keira's question about her Maidenhood tarot readings. "The Seer," as Katalina was most often called by those who were not directly related to her or much in her company, "said that my destiny remained in the Rom, where music and dance would be the centerpiece of my existence."
And Mara was a greater dancer and lute player, which she used to sway locals out of their money when they needed it.
"But what did she say about love? Of family?" Keira said.
"She said that I would have both, but first I must remain with my head in my learnings. Again, dancing and music," Mara said, something that came off a little funny between them and they both laughed. Maybe it was the sarcasm in Mara's voice; the light bitterness she felt for not having a destined husband as soon as she wanted it.
Keira felt a little parched, sighing and realizing that she was looking at a mandrake in front of her. She had picked them many times, something not to be taken lightly. Mandrakes were called witch's root for a reason. If you pulled them without their permission, the mandrake would cast a curse on you. Sometimes the curse was *veneficia* - magic poison.
"The Seer asked for one of these, right?" Mara said, catching her eyes and finding what her friend was looking at.
"Yeah. But it's not fair. Why should I have to leave the Rom people? I'm just as much a part of them as you are," Keira said.
"You're not of the blood. You're *gadje*," Mara said, too matter-of-factly for Keira's taste. Sometimes she thought her friend was a bit prejudice about that subject. It didn't seem to effect their relationship, but there was a little of that "you are an outsider whether you like it or not" that made Keira cringe sometimes.
"I'm thirsty," Keira said, looking for a fresh root *other than* the mandrake for some water.
Mara ignored her as she kneeled down to the mandrake and whispered her desire to pull the mandrake from it's nest. Mara then leaned her ear close to it and listened. A few minutes later, Mara's head popped up and said: "It's a male and it says that we can take it with us."
"Great. Get it and let's move on. I don't want to be out too late," Keira said. She hated being out late ever since Enin's disappearance.
Mara carefully uprooted the mandrake, carefully pulling the roots from the yielding earth. Then she turned to Keira and held it out to her. "It's about time I taught you something that I learned when I turned 18."
"Yeah?"
The mandrake was thus named because the shape of the main root came in two genders. The root either formed an hour glass (female) or straighter (male) shape. Dividing roots often formed "legs". Mara pressed her thumb between the mandrake's legs and began to rub, making sure that Keira could see what she was doing. After a moment a "little finger" sized nub began to appear, lengthening and straightening; the tip was similar to that of a mushroom, shiny and wet.
Mara then handed the mandrake to Keira, saying: "Suck on it."
Keira raised the mandrake to her face and pushed out her lips around the small, wet root and began to suck with her lips. After a moment she felt a sweet fluid beginning to dart into her mouth, again and again like a milked teat. The fluid was refreshing, sending shivering waves of coolness down her throat and throughout her body. The weariness flushed away, bringing her mind at ease and filling her with vitality.
When she had enough, she let her lips slide off the root and it drew back into the main body of the mandrake. Smiling at Mara, who watched the whole thing, Keira handed the mandrake back to her and said: "I can't believe it."
"One of the magical properties of the mandrake. Come on. Let's get going before it gets too late."
Mara took the mandrake and lead on, Keira walking behind her, feeling clear and as light as the air around them. She couldn't help but to laugh and skip from time to time, feeling like she could take on -
"Sheep shit!" Keira said and pointed at the man, laying on the ground next to a bush. He was wearing a knight's uniform, though very little armor. A shield was a few yards away from his bloody hand.
"Oh..." Mara said. "It looks like one of the local nobles."
