Thor smiled wide. He loved Gwen’s playfulness; he always had.
“I promise,” he said.
Slowly, Gwen removed her hands. Thor waited, until finally she said: “Okay.”
Thor opened his eyes and was breathless at the site: stretched before him as far as the eye could see were rolling meadows, filled with the most beautiful and exotic night flowers he had ever seen. He had never even known that flowers like these existed. Under the moonlight, these flowers were alive, blooming, and even more so, they were actually glowing, lighting up the night. There were entire fields of glowing yellows and violets and whites, swaying in the nighttime breeze, making the fields look alive, as if they were holding thousands of swaying candles. It was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen.
“Glow flowers,” she said, coming up beside. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
She took his hand, as they looked out at the fields and he learned in and kissed her.
They held the kiss for a long time, and finally they clasped hands, and continued on the trail, through the glowing field of flowers, side by side, Krohn leaping into the flowers beside them.
They had been walking for what felt like forever when Thor asked, with a smile: “Where are we going?”
She smiled back.
“Some place very special to me,” she replied. “It is a place I hold dear to my heart, a place that few people know about.”
They walked for a while in silence, with no sound but the whistling of the wind, and the occasional night bird’s song, along with Krohn’s breathing beside them as they went. Every now and again Krohn would bound into the flowers, pouncing on some animal they could not see, then come victoriously back to the trail, trotting along beside them.
“I prayed for you,” Gwen said, softly. “I thank god that you were delivered back safe to me. The thought of you being gone was too much for me to bear.”
“I’m sorry to have left you,” Thor said. “I wish I did not have to.”
“It’s funny,” Gwen said, “but ever since I met you, I’m finding it hard to think of anything else. You have a way of getting into my veins. It’s hard to concentrate when you’re gone. But it’s hard to concentrate when you’re near me.”
Thor’s squeezed her hand harder, overcome with love for her, amazed to hear that she felt the same way about him as he did her. He was burning with a desire to ask her to marry him. He was starting to wonder if now was the right time and place. He was about to, and cleared his throat, but then felt himself getting nervous, afraid she might say no.
He steeled himself. He opened his mouth to speak, and was about to ask her.
But suddenly they rounded a bend, and they stopped as there came into view a small but magnificent structure, built in the shape of a miniature castle, intimate and quaint. It was nestled in the hills, high up, with a commanding view of the meadows, surrounded by thousands of glowing night flowers.
“My mother’s house,” Gwen said.
“Your mother’s?” Thor asked.
“She and my father found it harder to take each other as they grew older. She had this place built for herself, mainly, to get away from him. From all of us. She liked to be alone. Not anymore. Now, ironically, she’s confined to the castle-at least until she is better. So this place sits empty. Few people know of it. I would come here, sometimes, when I was young, to get away from it all, when she was not here. I wanted to share it with you,” she said, squeezing his hand.
Thor was amazed this place existed. The site of it took his breath away, so quaint, the ancient stone nestled into the hills, its facade covered with clinging, glowing flowers. It looked magical.
Gwendolyn led him across the meadow, up to the structure and in through its small, arched door. She lit a torch as they entered, and used that to light others, lighting up room after room as they went. It was cozy in here, the stone rooms not too large. Gwen lit a fire in the fireplace, mounted the torch on the wall, and she and Thor lay on the pile of furs close to the flames. Krohn came up and sat a few feet away, near the fire. He faced the door, on guard, protecting them.
As Thor and Gwen sat beside each other, Gwen reached over, clasped his fingers between hers, and they leaned in and kissed. Thor felt her hand trembling, and he felt nervous himself. He caressed her cheek, and they held the kiss for a long time.
As Thor lay there with her, feeling overwhelmed with love for her, there were so many things he wanted to say. Most of all, there was something he wanted to ask. Something he
“There is something I need to ask you,” he said, finally, his heart pounding.
But Gwen reached up, placed a single finger on his lips, and quieted him. She leaned in and kissed him.
“Now is not the time for words,” she said softly, smiling.
Thor did not resist as she kissed him again and again. Soon they were in each other’s arms, rolling in the furs, beside the crackling of the fire. It had already been a day beyond his wildest dreams, and being here, in Gwen’s arms, topped all of it. There was no place in the world he wanted to be more in this moment. He only prayed this night would never end.
*
Gwen swam in the Lake of Sorrows. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the water was clearer than she had ever seen it. As she swam she looked down, and beneath her there passed schools of fish, of the most brilliant colors she had ever seen-bright blue and pink and yellow-swimming all around her. They swam past, and she looked towards the bottom, and saw that the sands below were all lined with gold. Gold was everywhere, lining the lake floor, and it sparkled as she went, sending a million reflections of light through the water.
Gwen decided to dive down, deeper and deeper, determined to grab some, to bring it back. But the deeper she went, the farther away the bottom became. Soon, it disappeared completely.
Gwen blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself standing atop a hill. She was in a desolate landscape which she recognized immediately as Argon’s. But as she looked, his cottage was nowhere in sight; in fact, there was nothing as far as the eye could see. There was only the howling of the wind over the rocks.
She suddenly felt movement inside her stomach, and she looked down and was shocked to see that her belly was swollen, sticking all the way out. She was pregnant.
She reached down and felt her stomach with both hands. As she did, she was startled to feel a kick.
She suddenly heard Argon’s voice:
“You carry within you a great being,” he said.
Gwendolyn looked down and welled with tears, knowing what he said to be true. With both hands she caressed her stomach, wanting to send it love, feeling the power radiating from within her. It kicked back.
Gwen opened her eyes and looked all around, breathing hard, wondering where she was. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she saw that she lay in Thor’s arms, in the pile of furs, in her mother’s castle, beside the dying embers of the fire. She turned and saw the first light of dawn breaking through the window, saw Krohn lying asleep, close by, and realized it was all a dream.
Gwen rose, gently extricating herself from Thor, who was sound asleep, and walked over to the open air window. As she did, she looked down and rubbed a single hand over her stomach. Nothing had changed.
Yet somehow, she felt different inside. She felt an energy coursing through her. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow she felt as if she had changed forever.
And in that moment she knew, she just knew, that she was carrying Thor’s child.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
King McCloud fumed as he marched across the plaza before his castle, riddled with his injured and defeated soldiers. Everywhere, his men lay about, moaning, bleeding; those that weren’t hurt, sat on the ground, dejected. It was enough to make him sick. Never mind that they had just had a hundred days of unprecedented victories, of spoils, of a reach into the MacGil side deeper than any of his ancestors. Now all that these men would remember would be their defeat, the loss of their spoils, of their slaves, their injuries, their lost brethren. And all at the hands
