Spring

Chapter 02: The Picnic

Dappled light filtered through the patterned net curtains, drifted down onto the two slumbering forms underneath the blankets. Gentle warmth filled the room, Mattie's eyes drifted open and it took her a moment to remember where she was. The unfamiliar four posted bed gave her pause for a moment until a figure stirring beside her made her remember. Roland rolled in his sleep so he faced her, his arms reached for her and she let herself be caught, snuggling into the warmth of the tall gunslinger's body. His calloused hand rested on her belly and she let out a deep contented sigh. Could anything be sweeter than this?

She lay there for many a long moment but the niggling feeling of needing to do something invaded her thoughts. She let out a breath and carefully disentangled herself from Roland's embrace. He murmured something and opened one of his faded blue eyes. She kissed his cheek and he smiled up at her. "Where're you going?" His voice still sleep fogged.

"I've been awake a while now Roland. I'm a touch hungry." She said sitting on the side of the bed. "I'm going to go get cleaned up, dress in some fresh clothes and then go find some food." He rolled onto his back as she spoke and placed his hands behind his head.

"And what shall be your plan today?"

"I don't know yet. I think I should be getting back to the world." She said.

"I... I have to cross a desert, I was chasing someone, someone who had answers but I can't quite remember who." He said. "How do I get back?"

"You go when you will it." She said

"And if I don't?"

"Then you stay."

He thought this over as she gathered up her clothing from the night before. It had been scattered around the room and the remembered passion made her grin. "Is there just this place here?" he asked.

"Oh no, there is a small village down the lane, it has a few shops but nothing much, a few fields but if you go too far the place becomes a bit hazy. It makes you think that you'll never find your way back. It forces you to turn around." She said. Mattie sat herself on the edge of the bed and turned to face him as best she could. "Anything else I can tell you?"

He shook his head. "Today, we should spend together. I shall return tomorrow morning to what I was doing." He said, sitting up. He inched over to where she sat and cupped her chin in his hand. He tilted her face up to his and kissed her full on the mouth. The kindling from the fires of last night jumped in the very pit of her stomach. As soon as she started he broke the contact and brushed her hair back from her shoulders, "If that is acceptable to you of course." He whispered.

"Oh Ro' as if I could refuse after you doing that. We'll pack some food and go for a walk. There's a little stream to the south of here, we'll follow it." He nodded agreement and rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs. "But if you continue with this, we won't make it out the room." He hesitated a moment before removing his hands. He laid a kiss on her temple before nodded.

"Go on then, before I change my mind and we stay here all day." He said. Mattie paced across the floor, opened the door, took a glance down the corridor in both directions before ducking into her own room.

One short hour later, Mattie was washed, changed and full of a wholesome breakfast provided for by the bar keeper for services rendered the previous night. She sat at one of the picnic benches in the sun, an open book on her lap, a basket full of lunch at her feet. She looked up at the sound of booted heels striking the cobbled floor. Roland approached looking as good as anything she ever did see. He'd left his great coat inside but he still had his guns strapped to his hip and the hat rammed onto his head. She tucked her book into the basket and arose, catching it in her hands.

"So then Mattie, you show me where we're going, you're the one in the know."

"Very well." She said, she looped the basket through her arm and took his hand in hers. "It's off to the south." She said leading him through the small gate at the bottom of the inn's garden. The sun shone bright in a clear blue sky, the green grass of the meadow couldn't have been fairer. They crossed the meadow in silence before they met the stream. The trickling of the water over the rocks joined with the birdsong creating a wonderful melody. Mattie found it difficult to keep a smile off her face and as she stole glances at the companion walking by her side, she found he suffered as much as she. They followed it for most of the morning before coming upon a beautiful willow tree overhanging the water.

"Let's stop a while." Mattie said. The sun had warmed considerably as it had reached its zenith and it was time for a break, the tree would provide the perfect mottled shade, not unlike that which filtered through the nets earlier that morning. She pulled the blanket from the basket and spread it over the ground. "Are you hungry?" she said as Roland sat down next to her. He nodded and she handed him a sandwich.

"Popkins?" he said with a smile.

"What?"

"I haven't had a decent popkin for, I don't know, many moons." He said, taking a bite out of the meat filled bread. She took a sandwich for herself and they ate silently, listening only to the sound of the stream babbling over the rocks at its bed.

"Tell me of your home Roland." She said, finishing her sandwich.

"My home? It's not a place I tell of much. It has changed, sickened in recent times and I don't like speaking of it." He said.

"Then tell me about you Ro'." She replied.

"In exchange for what?"

"Pardon?"

"I'll tell you something of myself in exchange for something of yourself Mattie, you don't get anything for free you know." He said, his voice carrying a playful tone that sounded strange to her, like he was unaccustomed to using it.

"What's to tell?" she said with a shrug, "I have no family I've ever known. I was sent to the Tower at age eleven, later than most but younger than some. I'd developed what they said was an affinity to the elements."

"How'd they discover that?" The gentle wind tugged at the willow branches as he spoke, whispering their own questions.

"I kept setting fires in my sleep. After the third time, they sent me to be taught how to control myself." She said. He laughed. "I never killed anyone. At that point, since then it's been different but at that point... It was a scary time of my life. The Mages at the tower instructed me on how not to burn things, it took a while but I got it eventually. I learned a lot of other things as well."

"Like mind play?"

"Not exactly, that came much much later. I left the tower when I still had much to learn. I didn't want to be controlled by the old men there. I wanted to see the world on my own terms, not theirs, to remain there was to follow their rules. I... I fell out with my tutor, and most of my friends over what I now know was a petty thing." She said.

"Go on." Roland said, taking another sandwich from the basket.

"It was over a sprite, a small dragon that acts as a conduit for our power, with one of them, I would be capable of major spells for a much longer period of time. They're about the size of a cat. I refused; I didn't want that much responsibility. I was sixteen, one of the youngest ever to be offered. That night I ran away, caught the next boat to the wastes and made my way from there."

"How did you fall in with Cathal?" he asked. Mattie took a crisp apple from the basket and shook her head.

"Your turn. I've been speaking for a while, now you keep your promise." She said, taking a bite from the apple. It was as juicy as it was crisp.

"I don't recall ever mentioning a promise." He said. She pulled a face at him as he removed his hat and pushed dark hair peppered with grey back from his face. "But I'll tell you something. When I was a lad, seems so long ago now," Again Mattie found herself wondering at his age, "I had a best friend, 'Bert. All he did was talk and laugh. He had such a sense of humour and wonder at the world, to a point of being a nuisance. I know he often got on my nerves with his endless prattle. One time, we went swimming in the creek near my father's castle. We'd been given that afternoon off from training although the reason escapes me as to why."

Mattie cast aside her apple core and settled onto her elbows, leaning back, she looked up at him as he spoke. "It was a hot day and we'd been at it all morning on the sands. We'd been swimming for a few hours when my foot got entwined in some of the weeds. I'd have died that day if not for him. 'Bert's chatter brought me round after he'd dragged me ashore." He said.

"What happened to him?" Mattie asked sitting up again. Roland looked into the distance for a long moment, a slight warm breeze catching at the longer wisps of hair. She reached out a tentative hand and placed it on his.

"He, like so many others, died due to my decisions." He said this with just the shadow of regret. She didn't really know what to say to that, so far as she knew, she'd never caused someone else to die on her behalf; it was a bit difficult to relate to. Mattie gave his hand a squeeze, it wasn't much but it was all she had. "It all happened a long time ago." He said looking down into her face, "I cannot speak for the future, but for now, I am content enough."

"That's good."

"How did you fall in with Cathal then?" he asked not letting go of her hand.

"I was working as a show-girl down in Lawless; I wasn't that good at it if I'm honest though, back then I felt a lot more self-conscious than I do now. I guess he saw me for what I was, a young woman in distress but more than that, he saw I was a renegade. He was the one to suggest mind craft and it worked. We worked well together and continued to do so." She said. "Since then, he has saved me countless times from all sorts of dangers, including Mage-Hunters."

"Mage-Hunters?" Roland looked at her, his face blank. She fought back the sudden intense urge to kiss him.

"Renegade mages are dangerous. Hunters are creatures that are not dead but not living. I don't know how they work but I know their effect. When they turn up, we leave town." She said, looking away. She flinched as his rough fingers brushed against her cheek, pausing at her chin before lifting her face back to his. She gave him one of her best smiles, "It's safe here, I know." He pushed his hand up through the thick length of her black hair and ran his fingers down to the tips, letting it slide through his grip. A delicious little shiver trickled down Mattie's spine and she couldn't quite keep a grin off her face. She bit her lower lip as he repeated the movement. Her long hair spiralled around his fingers, coiling around and around the tips as he twirled the ends.

Mattie let her eyes drift closed, the gentle tugging at the nape of her neck was wonderful, his other hand pulled on her shoulder urging her to lay back. His weight followed her to the blanket and she found herself once again lying in the gunslinger's warm embrace. The smell of him flooded her, the warm leather and distant scent of lavender, she breathed in deeply, wanting to drink the smell into her memory. Roland kept his hand on the back of her neck, teasing the short hairs with the tips of his fingers. "You'll have me asleep if you keep on at that Ro'." She said.

"Maybe that's the idea." He whispered. His voice close to her ear. His breath hot on her neck. Somehow, she didn't believe a word he said.

"I don't think so." She let her hand touch the side of his face, work its way down the planes of his chest and waist, settling at the bulge beneath his belt buckle. The sharp intake of breath told her everything, "See, your hands say one thing but mine find another." She gave him the slightest of squeeze before trailing a lingering hand back up his lean body.

"You have me there." Roland said. She opened her eyes a fraction, turned her head and found his mouth. She kept the kiss simple, chaste, unlike her bold hand had been a moment before. His soft lips held a delicate flavour of their own, cinnamon sweet they were, and all hers. The next kiss she gave lingered longer, was decidedly less sisterly, and was ever so much better. This time, his lips parted, his tongue slid into her mouth, hers into his. She so wanted to taste him, to savour him, to hold him in her mind as long as she could. His tongue slipped along hers, dancing in a melody not quite random.

He broke the kiss first, leaned back and clasped her face in both his hands. He looked down at her for a long while, she couldn't help think something was wrong, he turned from her, "No one will find us here will they?" he asked. She shook her head, so far as she knew; this glade had been created for them by the inn's power. They'd not be found if they didn't will it so. He smiled his wolfish smile before kneeling up. He then unbuckled both his gun belts and placed them next to the picnic basket.

"Come back here and do that again." She said. He was there in less than a second, his mouth covered hers, his tongue thrust deep into her, she could feel his teeth under his lips as she forced her way into his mouth. The collision sent fire raging through her, gone was the sweetness, replaced with a desire that demanded fulfilment. His lips bombarded hers as she twisted her head to the left, then the right, each time he drove deeper into her mouth. The waves of fire crashed over her, settling as an intense pressure in her sex, she ignored it, concentrating on the passion his mouth rained on her.

Mattie felt Roland's hands grip her waist, without breaking contact with her lips; he lifted her so she straddled him. She sat up, leaving behind fiery kisses; his large hands remained splayed up her back. The bulge in his jeans nudged against the nearness of her fire and she moved her hips against it. His eyes drifted shut and he pushed upward at her. His hand moved to cup her left breast, she caught it as it moved round and put the index finger into her warm mouth, running her tongue over the callouses there. "Mattie..." it was the barest murmur, the smallest of question. She abandoned his hand to its own devices, pushing her own hands up his blue shirt. She laid her lips against his stomach, kissing the taut warm skin underneath. She let her fingertips explore the lines of his chest for a long moment before pushing them under her skirts. She encountered his belt buckle and had it undone and out the way in seconds. She flipped herself onto her side, lying next to him once more. He made no objection as her fingers made short work of his jean's buttons.

She laid the slightest brush of her lips on his hip as she pushed her hand down the front of his jeans. Her fingers found the steel-silk of his cock, the slight moan and brief tensing forced a smile to her lips. She ran her tongue along the swell of his hip, down his pelvis before resting her head on his belly. Mattie pushed his jeans and underwear out the way, allowing his dick to spring free. She kept her hand around the base as she looked at the cock in front of her. She traced her thumb along the largest vein, letting it rest at the silky tip. She moistened her suddenly dry lips, before giving his shaft a tentative lick, then she gave him another, longer this time. She worked her way up to the head, rolling her tongue over the slit at the tip.

Mattie opened her mouth wide then, placing his cock inside her mouth. She lowered her mouth onto him, exploring the contours of his dick with her tongue. "Mattie." Roland murmured. His hand pushed into her hair and came to rest at the back of her neck; she bobbed her head up and down over him, paying attention to the tip of his cock. She lapped up the moisture beading there, swallowing it down with the saliva that gathered in her mouth. He moaned and grunted as she moved her head up, suckling at his length as she moved. She ignored the building fire growing inside her; she wanted to hear him whimper some more before that was taken care of. She let him slide from her mouth, her hand drifted up his hard shaft. She let her fingers rub at his length before she took him again. She pushed him as far as she could into her mouth, his fingers clenched on the base of her neck and the noise he made was something else.

She didn't let up; she sucked harder, focusing her tongue on the sensitive tip while her hand moved back and forth along his wet length. He bucked once and she used her free hand to steady his hips. His hand left her head and Roland moaned something in a language she didn't understand. She sucked once, twice more. Hot liquid spurted into her mouth, hitting the back of her throat; she choked back a cough, managing to swallow before another jet fired. She retreated and spat the rest of the salty liquid onto the grass before turning back to Roland. He lay with his head back, drinking in deep breaths as his body calmed down. She snuggled herself against him and he wrapped a lazy arm around her. She kissed his cheek and he hugged her close. "Give me a moment will ya?" he whispered. She nodded and let him hold her.

They lay together under the shade of the willow tree for many a long minute, half awake and half dozing in the warmth of the spring sunshine. She was still dozing when his fingers brushed against her left breast; his palm massaged the soft flesh as she flicked her eyes open. She raised her eyebrows but did nothing to stop the sweet sensations of the cotton touching her firm nipples. "You're not wearing a corset?" he asked.

"I thought it best to leave it behind today." She said with a smirk.

"Oh, like that is it?"

"Roland, after last night what else was I to think." She laughed.

"What else are you not wearing?" he said, gathering her skirts in his hands and lifting them. Her legs were bare over her shoes but she was wearing her underclothes. Not that there was much to this particular item. He gave her a smile that was mostly a smirk before touching the fabric that barely covered her sex. She knew they were already damp from the fire kindled earlier and the slight touch of his hand through the lace set it raging all over again. Roland pushed the material to one side, parted her soft folds and slipped a finger into her slick warmth. He slid it inside, coating it with wetness before withdrawing and pushing it against her sensitive nub. Her body screamed for him then. Fire, which she thought hot before, seemed wan compared to the burning now ripping through her. He increased the pressure, rubbing at her with those working hands, the rough patches creating waves of beautiful red as he moved them. She let her eyes shut and her head fell back, pure bliss radiated from where he touched her.

The pressure beneath his hand increased and she sucked in a breath. She pulled herself from the brink of where he was sending her and forced herself to sit up. Roland cocked his head to one side as she moved. She glanced down at his now hard prick and smiled. Mattie brushed his mouth with hers as she laid her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back to the blanket. She lifted herself over so she was straddling him once more. The tip of his cock nudged against the thin fabric of her undergarments and she held her breath. Mattie reached down and pushed the garment aside, letting his shaft touch her skin. She watched him bite his lip as she took his dick in her hand. She guided him to her then let herself slide down his long length.

"Oh Ro'." She muttered, leaning forward and kissing him. His hands found her hips and she relaxed around him, taking a moment to get accustomed to him inside her. A slight breeze caressed her skin and the scent of willow surrounded them both. Roland's hands worked up her spine and she raised herself on her knees before plunging back down again. The ripple that followed was sweeter than sugarcane. His eyes reflected his delight at the movement and she repeated, flicking her hips forward. Delicious fire flared through her. Red warmth surrounded her as his hands grazed over her nipples, cupping her breasts as she bounced on his cock.