The Contestants Ch 01

Author's Notes:

Intro

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This is a story about a very hard choice; one that is almost impossible to make. It is also a story about the interaction between a human and non-humans.

The story has been fitted into the category of Novels and Novellas. It could however have been entered into other categories as well, since it embraces fantasy, romance, and incest.

As it evolves, you will find aspects of passion, rage, desire, and jealousy and although violent at times, there is also love in spite of everything, gentleness, and forgiveness. It's a classical M/F tale although two men are involved. Above all though, it is a highly romantic tale.

When the story begins, it is set in the 19th century and as it unfolds it will move over time.

A couple of warnings

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There is an element of incest in the intrigue. Strictly speaking it is not incest in the pure physical sense, but through the nature of the relationships of the participants, incest is implied. Those readers, who are very sensitive to this aspect, should refrain from reading further.

Love described here is very explicit, so no underage reading please. Here I would also like to advise those who seek quick action to seek elsewhere because this story takes its time to develop. All other readers, I hope, will be enchanted and wish to follow me into further chapters of my tale.

Copyright

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This story is a work of fiction, an erotic fantasy/romance written by thomcats. I reserve the rights to be listed as the author of this story, wherever it is posted. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without my permission.

© thomcats AKA VoyaMariner 2014

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THE MOST FORBIDDEN

The girl sat huddled behind a lace screen and stared impassively at the couple writhing on the bed. She turned her head slowly and looked at the colored woman, who had just entered the room with a bucket of water in her hand. The girl showed no surprise or fear when she discovered the woman. She merely smiled secretly and mischievously and put a finger towards her lips as if prompting both herself and the woman to remain silent. Then she loosened a hairpin, and her mass of golden hair fell about her shoulders. She broke the hairpin in two and tested the sharpness of the broken ends. When satisfied with the result, she lifted a doll that she had kept hidden in her lap and savagely stabbed it in the back with the sharpest of the pins. The effect of her action was startling. The man on the bed, who until now had been totally concentrated on the woman beneath him, cried out loudly and fell on his back in the bed. He acted as if being hit by a spear or a sword and seemed to be in great pain, and all the time he kept shouting. The prostitute, scared out of her wits, rolled off the bed and tried to crawl under it. The girl now laughed silently, and the colored woman in the doorway still couldn't move, frozen to the floor in pure dread. When the commotion threatened to expose the girl, she quickly rose to her feet, gathered up her silk skirt to be able to move faster, and ran out of the room past the colored woman, who now turned to watch her flight. In the corridor, the girl turned again, smiled and put a finger to her lips, and then she headed towards a heavy curtain and disappeared into its folds.

This was Celia's first meeting with Anna, and although the incident took place eight years earlier, it remained as vivid in Celia's mind as if it had happened yesterday.

**********

The next time they met, the girl came looking directly for Celia.

It was a late night, and Celia had finally ended her day's work and stumbled into her tiny bedchamber in the attic. In the flickering light of the candle, she saw a girl sitting on the bed. Celia nearly dropped the candle to the floor out of fright, and she managed to get the door shut in an instant. It took her but a brief moment though to recognize the strange girl from eight years back in this young woman. Only later would Celia wonder about how she could spot the resemblance so quickly, and although her memory of that fatal night was still very clear, it couldn't be the full answer to that riddle.

"Mademoiselle!" Celia whispered fiercely, "You are in the servants' quarters now. You mustn't stay here. If your mother or sister is one of them women working in this house, I beg of you to go to her room. Madame would kill me for sure if she found you here!"

"You needn't be afraid," the girl laughed confidently, "I belong to no one here, and no one will find out that I am visiting you in your room."

Celia had now recovered somewhat from the shock and started to feel anger.

"Now, if you don't belong to anyone in this place, I must ask what kind of family you have that can let you run around like this in the middle of the night."

The girl stopped smiling, and her brilliant blue eyes were suddenly veiled with an emotion that Celia couldn't interpret.

"I'm not prepared to discuss my family situation with you at present," the girl answered, and Celia was slightly taken aback because although the girl seemed to be in her teens, her way of expressing herself indicated that maybe she was older.

They were both silent for a while and then the girl rose from the bed and went up to Celia and placed her hand lightly on the woman's arm.

"Please, don't be angry with me," she pleaded, "let's be friends. I promise that I won't get you into trouble."

"I really need to get to know you," she continued after a brief pause, "you see I know for sure that you are very well versed in the art of Voodoo."

If Celia had been frightened earlier, it was nothing compared to the nauseating, sinking feeling that welled up in her now. Her knees started to shake, and she stumbled and had to hold on to the bedpost for support.

"How do you know that?" Celia whispered hoarsely.

The girl just shook her head lightly as if indicating that she wasn't prepared to reveal this fact at the moment. They were interrupted by sounds from the other servant girls, who entered the small corridor to reach their rooms.

Celia was now shaking visibly, and the girl turned to her and said in a low voice, "I'm leaving you now. I understand that it would be dangerous to stay, but I'll be back at a more convenient time. By the way, I'm Anna, and I already know that you are Celia."

"Please, please, let's be friends," the girl repeated, "and don't be so scared, your secret is safe with me."

Celia buried her face in her hands for a moment, but when she looked up the next minute, the girl Anna had disappeared without a sound and without a trace.

**********

Celia lay in her small bed and stared dry-eyed and sleepless into the ceiling. Her mind was in a state of complete turmoil after the girl's disappearance. Anna's words had torn the well-hidden memories from the depth of her mind and brought them to the surface. Celia had believed herself safe in this house, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

Like her mother before her, Celia was a slave servant belonging to the woman who ran this whorehouse in New Orleans. Celia thought she could have done worse. Madame was most of the time kind to her, and the girls needed her services and tried to ensure them by giving her some extra money and favors. However, Celia must admit that she had started to feel the strain of her years by now, getting on forty as she was.

Celia's life would have been quiet and uneventful, hadn't it been for the untimely and violent death of her mother. Two of the customers that regularly visited the house, two plantation owners, took a fancy to her mother because she was a singularly beautiful woman, but when her mother refused to give in to them, they first raped her and then they accused her of witchcraft. They managed to get her hanged. At that time, Celia was only ten years old. She later found out about the circumstances concerning her mother's death, and she swore to take revenge on the two molesters. To obtain her goal, she went out into the bayou to seek out an old woman, famous for her skills in Voodoo, and under her guidance Celia learned all there was to know. She put a dreadful and secret spell on the two men, and they both died within a year. No one suspected or connected Celia to what had happened and as the years passed by, she thought less and less about the incident, and she never again used her unique expertise. How on earth was it possible that the strange girl Anna could know her secret unless perhaps Anna was the result of Voodoo herself? Celia knew then that she would have to find out; that she would have to get to know Anna better.

**********

Anna, on the other hand, had no doubts whatsoever that she would see Celia again and come to know her well indeed. She felt very pleased about having managed to establish contact with her at last, finally succeeding in practicing Voodoo though still on a very crude level. It also meant that her efforts to cajole Ibn Ben Akbar in the Library into bringing her the right books with the right kind of information had paid off in the end. The most immediate problem now concerned her meeting with Celia without drawing attention to both of them. She realized that she couldn't go on seeing Celia in the brothel, eventually they would be discovered by either Madame, one of the girls or even one of the customers. That was much too risky even to try. With an inward sigh, she wished for the hundredth of times that she could make herself invisible using pure willpower the way Gareth could...

Anna's relationship to what could now be called her family was complicated. Although she couldn't possibly remember living in any other place than here in the palace, and as soon she became aware of her home and how she related to its inhabitants, she knew without understanding why that she was an outsider. She soon observed that there were a lot of things that she couldn't do if she compared herself not only with Gareth, but also with the other numerous members of the large court that lived in the palace. She also vividly remembered the day when she was told about her status in so many words.

Anna must have been close to five years old and Gareth subsequently almost ten. Anna talked about Eavan and referred to her as "mother." Gareth looked seriously at her and stated calmly that Eavan was his mother but not hers just as Conaill was his father but not hers. She became very still and quiet for a while.

"Then you are not my brother," she said to which he nodded silently.

Anna thought that he was playing a game with her, and she didn't realize what it was all leading up to, but as the minutes passed, it dawned upon her that perhaps he was telling her the truth after all, and the world crumbled around her.

"Who am I then?" she screamed.

"You are a human," he answered, "and you come from Beyond The Border."

She still didn't understand a thing. He might as well have compared her with something worse than a changeling. She started screaming in earnest now, and soon the room and the corridors were filled with nursemaids and Eavan's personal attendants, and at last Eavan herself entered the room. She tried to approach the screaming girl, but Anna withdrew huddling into a corner, and Eavan turned to Gareth.

"What have you done? What have you said to her?" Eavan asked in a low, stern voice.

"I've told her the truth," he confronted his mother defiantly. "Father said the other day that he proposed sending her Beyond The Border in an errand, and then she must know, mustn't she?" he continued.

Anna refused to calm down and talk to Eavan and her attendants. Instead, she hid behind Gareth and remained hidden behind his back until the commotion was over and only the two children and Eavan were left in the room. Then she finally ventured forward and accepted that Eavan embraced her. Eavan held Anna gently and looked her into the eyes when talking to her.

"You are much too young to be told all these facts now. The only thing that you need to know is that I love you very much. I haven't carried you in my womb, but I have bled for you, I have fed you, and I have fought for your life."

"And you," Eavan turned again to Gareth, "I sometimes think you have all the bluntness of your father! Believe me when I say that the last words concerning any errands Beyond The Border at this stage have not been said."

As Eavan had promised, Anna was spared this time, and another four years would pass before the issue was brought forth again.

**********

However, the damage was done, and nothing would ever be the same again in Anna's life. Without commenting on the fact, she stopped calling Eavan her mother, Conaill her father, and Gareth her brother. When talking about them to other people, she referred to them as her relatives. She still adored Eavan and showed her how much she loved her, but Eavan wasn't a person to cuddle up to. Her cool beauty and serene personality didn't inspire that kind of closeness or whispered confidences.

It was easier for Anna to define her present relationship to Conaill because the new facts didn't alter much in how they related to each other. Anna had always found him distant, forbidding, powerful, and frightening, and what she now knew about him and later would find out didn't alter this basic opinion. She had always tried to keep out of his way, which wasn't so hard since he rarely noticed her, and their paths, at least until now, seldom crossed.

Anna withdrew from confrontation with other inhabitants in the palace, now better understanding why some of them clearly showed their condescending attitudes when she was mentioned.

"She is merely a human," she could overhear, "what would you expect under the circumstances."

So, at the age of five Anna had no choice but to accept where she lived though she was made aware of that she was growing up in a place where she wasn't born. It would take years before she found out the truth.

**********

Anna knew that the world she lived in was commonly called Inis, — only the Elders used the full name today — and that it was a kingdom over which Conaill and his forefathers had ruled for centuries. She also knew that it wasn't infinite. Far, far away from the beautiful surroundings were the castle was situated was an area called the Border. It was a piece of bleak and sinister ground, and the mere mention of it inspired dread and fear. It was never talked about aloud. Anna didn't know what was going on there, only that it was a forbidden place. Yet, she also knew that it was possible to cross the Border if one knew exactly where to go and reach that place Beyond... where they said she was born... where the humans lived.... As of yet, it was all like a fairy tale to Anna; one with dark shadows in it.

She turned to Gareth and chose him to be her guardian, her confidant, her protector, and her friend and although he had reached an age when he might be bothered having a much younger girl around, he accepted her choice with good grace, without bargaining, without comments, and as the most natural thing in the world.

Every new thing or situation in life from now on — be it wonderful or sinister — Gareth and Anna confronted together. He often treated her as a younger brother and demanded much of her, and she tried to rise to the occasion and not be "girlish" or squeamish. There were moments though when she just wanted to feel the security of his nearness or to be comforted when everything felt particularly black and depressing, and he accepted being there for her at these times too. Many were the nights, when Eavan silently stole into the children's rooms when she thought them fast asleep only to find Anna's room and bed empty and two golden heads, side by side, on Gareth's pillow in his bed. Eavan then often stood watching them quietly for a long time, listening to their sound and even breathing before clearing her face of worries and leaving them to their peace.

Then, finally, Anna was to know about the parallel world outside Inis and the beauty of it. Again Gareth was her guide and mentor. He showed her the wonderful thing about living in Inis and thus to have the benefit of two worlds at her feet in an instant. She learned to ride in Ireland where Conaill and Gareth kept a huge stable with the most magnificent horses. She learned to hunt in the endless almost pristine forests between Poland and Ukraine, and she learned to swim off the island of Crete in the Greek archipelago. Eavan, however, frowned on these haphazard visits to different parts of the world, outside Inis. There was a war going on at the time on the continent the humans called Europe, and although Gareth was already a master of disguise, they might still run into trouble since they were so young.

**********

Anna was nine years old, when Conaill decided that he wanted her to perform a duty for him in the city of New Orleans. Her going there was preceded by a heated discussion between Eavan and Conaill, Eavan still believing that Anna was much too young for such a venture.

"But that is the whole point," Conaill argued, "no one will suspect a small child and no one will look for her in particular."

In the end, Conaill had his will and Anna was told that she was to deliver an important message to a servant at the market on a certain day. She felt very nervous about the whole thing, not the errand in particular but the prospect of possibly letting Conaill down by failing to perform her duty the way he wanted it done. These thoughts gave her sleepless nights.

"I'll go with you," Gareth offered, "it'll be fun, I assure you."

"But I'm supposed to be alone so as not to draw attention to myself," she answered.

"They will not spot me," he laughed confidently.

Anna's face was smeared with dirt, and she was dressed up in a servant woman's old dress. The courtiers laughed and said to each other that Conaill evidently had finally decided to turn the girl into a changeling after all. Anna pretended that she hadn't heard them. When it was time for her to leave Inis and enter the city, Gareth joined her and before her eyes he transformed himself into his owl-form. She had heard about the fact that Gareth also could show himself as a bird, but she had never seen him perform the transition before. She felt a pang of envy at his seemingly endless possibilities. Then he perched himself securely on one of her shoulders and thus they left.

On the market in New Orleans, no one looked closer at the young Gypsy girl with a bird on her shoulder. The Gypsy children often had animals — be it a monkey or a bird. Anna had no trouble spotting the servant in question since she knew whom to look for, and she slipped the note into the basket without any problem after which they hastily returned to Inis. Not until Anna was back in her own room and her whole body began to shake, did she realize how frightened and tense she had been all the time.

**********

To learn about the facts concerning her early life and heritage Anna eventually turned to an unexpected source.

These days most of her time was spent learning and reading in the huge Library, situated in the center of the palace. She didn't think it was boring or time uselessly spent because she had already realized that it was vital to learn as much as possible, if she was to survive here at all. She knew that Gareth studied too, but they were never in the Library at the same time. Anna suspected that he learned totally different things and probably much more.

Because of their intense studies, Anna also had to accept seeing less and less of Gareth. Days could pass when she wasn't in contact with him at all, and when she saw him, she realized that he was burdened with new responsibilities and that he was maturing fast. She felt an aura of power growing around him, a much subtler and intangible power than the kind surrounding Conaill, but it was there. She could also see its effect on the court. People had started to treat him with a new kind of respect. Even the warlords, who usually only talked to Conaill and took their advice from him, started to seek Gareth's company, and they competed with each other to be of service to him.