The Woman on the Lae

Leda wanted to trust Brandon. His kiss had kindled something inside her, something she wanted to fulfill. She had felt this way about men before, but usually she'd remember Gerald, and then be ashamed of her lust. There were women didn't feel that way. At Cliffhouse, some were so happy with men and sex that they would touch themselves every night they spent alone at Cliffhouse. Leda always dreaded seeing Gerald.

When it became clear they couldn't make a baby, that no amount of fucking or beating would make her a good mate, he set her aside and Leda cried with happiness. When his name was finally blacked out on her chest, she already knew she wouldn't be going to the whorehouses. She would risk her life, run away, die in the woods maybe. She didn't want to belong to a pimp or any man ever again.

And now Brandon was proposing the same thing, and she didn't have the sense to be disgusted by it. After one kiss, she was wet for him.

Why did he make her feel that way? He was very handsome, but then, most men were attractive in one way or another. Even Gerald had attracted women with his strong arms and wide smiles. Maybe it was Brandon's power; he was Head Ranger and no one would lay a hand against her because they knew he supported her. It was enviable, but it hadn't mattered until his lips touched hers.

Leda suspected it might be the years Brandon had spent not attempting to touch her at all. Yes, he had encouraged her to do subservient things for him, but it felt more like a game than a threat. He knew she didn't like to be servile, and he liked to see her bristle. When she didn't wipe his boots, he didn't bruise her, he only smiled and continued with his business. When his men assumed she was a woman they could fuck without consequence, Brandon made it clear that she was a valuable resource - she could trade establish trade between the women at Cliffhouse and all the soldiers and rangers who travelled through the forests. She had a purpose, and she was valuable enough to protect. Leda could never pretend that he saw her as an equal, but he saw her as something more than a collection of holes. So they had a respectful relationship, one that was practical, not physical. But suddenly, Brandon had lifted the veil between them and Leda's body had responded.

But she couldn't do anything about it. What would happen to her trade if she were to have a child? It wouldn't be like giving birth at Cliffhouse. There was no one here to help her through her labour, there were no women here to help her feed and nurture the baby if she couldn't nurse, and there was no other person who could look after her animals and her business if she had to be at her child's side. Brandon might say he wanted to be near their children together, but if if he was here, how could he maintain his status among the rangers? What did he know about anything beyond hunting men down in the forest? And what about when he stopped caring? What kind of man would he be then?

Stop thinking about it.

She gave herself the order and then put her mind into her chores. She cleaned up what was left of the mens' suppers and smothered the fire in the stove. Usually she slept naked, but with Brandon and two strange men in her barn, she decided to stay in her shift. She washed herself, moving the damp cloth under the light fabric and quickly brushed out her hair. She was about to blow out the candle when a knock came at the door.

She thought about not answering, but then, they'd just come in her room. She put on the boots and shawl again and went to her front room, hesitating for just a second before she opened the door.

It wasn't Brandon. It was the younger man he'd come in with; Alec. He was out of breath.

"We found a boat," he said.

"What do you mean?" Leda was genuinely confused. After Brandon's overtures, she'd forgotten why the men were here in the first place.

"A boat," Alec said. "The man from the mines, he's here!"

"Where is he?" Leda said.

"Brandon is following a trail in the forrest, but I think he could be in the house, you have to leave now!" he grabbed her arms. "Come on!"

"Where is he?"

"He told me to look after you, now come on."

Alec yanked her through the door and Leda had no choice but to trail behind him as he dragged her off her porch and into the woods.

They were running, hard, and she couldn't see anything. She tried to remember the steps, the turns they made, but it was all she could do to stay on her feet as the young man dragged her away from her home. She could feel the rain penetrating her shift as they ran farther away. Suddenly a small branch whipped into her face and she stopped, her eye searing with pain, only to feel herself being lifted from the ground. He was carrying her now, but Leda wasn't sure where.

Then, Alec tripped. Leda cried out with the sudden impact of her body hitting the forest floor, but her voice was muffled.

Alec had put his hand to her mouth. He was still on top of her. His body covered more of hers than it had when he first fell. He was fumbling now, trying to get up on his knees, but even though Leda's cry had died out, his hand was still to her mouth.

Then she heard his belt unbuckle.

Leda screamed then, and struggled with every ounce of strength she had. He pushed her body down and his hand went to her skirt.

"You're a real bitch, you know that?" Alec pushed her skirts up. "You think you have a right to live alone? Tell me where to sleep and eat? You're nothing. You're a broken set of parts. And someone needs to remind you."

Leda couldn't really hear him as she looked at his neck, trying to remember which spaces where weak or strong. She pinched her fingers together and, making a last hopefully guess, with all the jabbed them into his jugular. He was surprised at least. He sputtered for a moment, choking and it was enough for Leda to pull her head back and push it forward into his nose with all the strength she could muster.

He pulled away with a shout as his nose exploded in blood and Leda took her chance. She pulled away from him. Focused on his pain, he was easily pushed off, only swiping for her ankles as she got up and ran and ran into the forest.

She was breathless and clumsy but she had never run faster in her life. Alec's blood was dripping into her eyes and making it impossible to see, so she ran with her hands in front of her like a mad woman. She could hear noises behind her but she didn't know if it was Alec or an animal just the sound of the rain hitting the leaves. And she didn't know where she was running to. She wouldn't risk going back to the house. She didn't know if she could even find her way back to the house in the dark. As lightening illuminated the forest, she remembered the cellar.

Years ago, before Brendan and the rangers had found her cottage, she had dug a root cellar in the woods. It was badly done. She couldn't dig it deep enough without the silt caving in. Instead of filling it, she let it be, lining the shallow hole with wood and covered in it old branches. It would either be her hiding place or her grave, she told herself at the time. Tonight, if she could find it, it might fulfil the former purposes. She caught her breath and looked around.

It was from behind her though, that she was snatched. She tried to scream as Alec's arms grabbed her, but he clamped a hand over her mouth. As she moved her lips against his fingers, and struggled against his chest, her blood went cold.

This wasn't Alec.

"Shhhh..." She trembled as his voice curled. "Stay still for me."

Leda looked to the arm he had wrapped around her stomach. His forearms were decorated in blue markings. His hands were black with dirt and calloused. He was holding a knife.

This could only be the man from the mines.

Leda tried to breath through her panic as he held her in front of him. Why was he doing that? He was using her as a shield, a hostage. If Brendan found them, it might work, but if Alec found them...

"Please, " she tried to speak but her mouth was covered. She tried to relax her body and stop fighting him for long enough to take his hand away. He didn't. She tried to look up at him, communicate with her eyes somehow but his hands were holding her head firmly. Lightning flashed and she began to panic. Her arms where pinned to her side. She did the only thing she could think of, she stroked the side of his legs gently.

Confused, he swatted her hand away, taking took his hand from her mouth without thinking. And Leda didn't waste a second.

"I can hide you," she said it as soon as air hit her lips. "They want to kill me too."

The man's grip on her tightened. She still hadn't laid eyes on him, but she could feel him behind her. He was a big man with a hard body. It would be hard to get them both in the root cellar, but she'd solve that later.

"Please," she said. "I have a root cellar in the woods. I made it in case I ever needed to hide from rangers. If we go there, we can both make it through the night."

His grip got tighter for an instant.

"Please," she tried to stay calm, but she wanted to scream. "Please, no one has to die."

He hesitated, then suddenly, he let her go.

"Alright." he said. "Take me."

Leda turned to look at him. She had been right; he was tall, taller than any man she'd ever seen. His pants were tearing and he was without a shirt, displaying a thick, muscular torso under broad, looming shoulders. She couldn't see his face in the dark, but she could tell his hair was longer and his face was hidden by a beard. Physically, he was every bit as dangerous the men they were hiding from, but he didn't want to risk a fight. Leda didn't either.

She nodded to him, and he sheathed his knife. He was about to let go of her, but then he hesitated, and clutched her hand firmly in his.

"Don't think you can run away and leave me."

Leda took his hand and started running. The man behind her followed; he was at a pace, but lumbering. They weren't surrounded by forest where he was from. He was confused by the thickness of the trees, like a bird caught in a house - eager to fly, but unable to escape what was around him. But even if she wanted to leave him behind his grip on her wrist was too tight.

When she found it, the man helped her pull open the door, trying not to disturb the branches and moss that she had used to make it blend in with the forest floor. Upon seeing the small space inside, the man turned to Leda with furrowed brow.

"This is not a cellar, this is a coffin," his highland accent was thick.

"It's a tight fit," Leda said, stepping into the hole. "We'll have to lay down."

She didn't wait for him, she just lay down on the wooden planks she had laid on the floor, barely well enough to keep the earth out. She was about to sit up and close the door over her, when the man, started by something, climbed in after her, shutting them in together.

It was a ridiculous plan, Leda realised now. If she was alone, she could close her eyes and wait out the night in relative comfort. With another person, the largest man she'd ever seen no less, the space was nowhere near enough.

The man lay on top of her, trying to bend his body around hers without putting his weight on top of her. She tried to look away as he adjusted himself, putting his elbows on either side of her head as he slowly lowered his body over hers.

"Can you open your legs more?" he asked, and without thinking, Leda's body jolted away in panic.

"Shh... I don't mean like that. I need to put my knees somewhere, or I'll crush you."

Leda moved her legs to one side, and he held himself up on his knees and elbows above her.

"This is a bad hiding place," he whispered. His mouth was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. It's all I could think of," she said.

"You were better off as my hostage. Those rangers would have put you back in your cozy cottage by now, and I'd be half-way to town."

"No, you wouldn't." Leda could barely see his face in the darkness, but she could make out the lines of his nose, his eyes. "There are no towns here."

The man didn't say anything for a time. So Leda tried to focus on what was happening above the ground. The rain continued to pelt on their shelter, but she could hear horses, somewhere in the distance. Alec had probably gone back to the barns, and took one of her best mares to cover the woods faster as he searched for her. It was hard to hear anything, though, over the sound of the man's breath.

"No towns," he said, after a while.

"No."

"But surely after a day or two's ride?"

"No." Leda shook her head, even though she was sure he couldn't see it. "The nearest town is probably the one you came from, back in the hills."

"But how do you..." the man caught his words in his mouth. "Why don't you have towns?"

"They'd just be burnt down."

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I never think what it must mean to live near the mines."

The mines used to be the dumping ground of the great cities that one stood before water and war swallowed them up. They were full of metals. Copper, nickel, silver, steel... all the things that used to be taken from the ground and used to create wonderful things in the past. Now few people knew how use these metals but everyone wanted them. The society who could build things again would be the most powerful society in the world, but instead of creating, everyone was fighting over who got the metal. Human invention would start over, that was taken for granted, but who would reap the benefits? The mines were always in flux, falling from tribe to tribe in various battles that were never decisive enough to stop the fighting.

The man shifted his weight above her, and brought his lips close to her ear. Leda could feel the movement and stared at the top of the cellar, trying to ignore the uncomfortable closeness.

"So there are no towns," he said. "Your soldiers live in forts and your rangers move from camp to camp, I understand that, but what about women and children?"

"They live in their own forts. Communes, actually."

"Must be hard." He shifted his weight again. "Why keep them near the fighting at all?"

"To keep soldiers happy," Leda said, truthfully. "And make more."

"But you don't live in a fort," he said. "I saw your cottage when I came off the lake."

"It's an unusual situation."

"A dangerous situation, I'll guess."

"Today, yes."

Leda felt a warm rush of air on her face, and realised the man was laughing.

"Well, I'm glad I didn't have to kill you," he said. "Although I would have, if it meant getting out of this barbaric country."

"I always heard the highland towns were barbaric," Leda said.

"Oh really?" The man shifted above her. "What do they say about us here in the outer lands?"

"Well," Leda gathered her thoughts for a moment, considering how honest she should be. But something about this man drew the truth out of her, and the words spilled out of her mouth. "They say that the women are like men there, and the men are like animals. They say that you fuck like animals too — spreading your seed without care and allowing your bloodlines to be confused so thoroughly that your armies are weak from inbreeding."

The man laughed again.

"That's rather good, that," his breath touched Leda's ears as he chuckled, and Leda smiled to herself in the darkness.

The moment of laughter caused his muscles to tremble. For a second, Leda could feel his body press against hers as he moved his weight between his arms and legs. He was uncomfortable. That must be why he wanted to talk so much. He needed something to take his mind off the pain.

"Let's see if we can move," Leda said suddenly. "Your arms are about to give out."

"They've been through worse."

"If we're going to be out here all night, you should move to a position where you can sleep."

"I can go under you, girl, but you'll have to lay on top of me."

"Alright," she said. She tried to make room for him, but before she knew it, he had forced his way under her and she was perched on his chest. She was surprised at how naturally her curves slipped into his solid form, even as he wrapped his arms over her to keep her from teetering off of him.

"You alright?" he whispered.

"Yes," she said.

"Put your head down, try and get some sleep." he said. When Leda hesitated, he took her head in his hand and pressed it down against chest, forcing her to get comfortable against his body.

"Do you still have your knife?" She asked.

"I do," he said. "If that man comes back, I'll kill him before he can lay a hand on you."

"I thought you didn't care about killing me if it meant getting out of this barbaric country."

"Yes but now I know there is no where to go, so I'd like to keep you alive. You seem to know a few things I could learn."

Leda felt her body flush. She pressed her cheek against the man's bare chest, enjoying the strangeness of the wiry black hair that covered him.

"One last thing," he whispered it softly. "Do you have a name I could call you?"

"My name is Leda," she said.

"Mine's Rob," he put his hands around her again as she drifted into sleep. "Have sweet dreams, Leda."