The Love Confession

Scanning, uploading and/or distribution of this book via the Internet, print, audio recordings or any other means without the permission of the Publisher is illegal and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and characters are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The Love Confession Copyright© Emy Naso 2005 Fairy Tales and Love Songs Edition Cover art and design by Danni Kelso All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation. Published by loveyoudivine 2005 Find us on the World Wide Web at www.loveyoudivine.com

The Love Confession

Even

the heavy canopy of intertwined foliage couldn’t hold the torrential rain back from its skyway descent to mother earth, the ground beginning to flood as the deluge filled the sodden pores and swamped the nests of hiding insects. A blanket of mist fought the clearing effects of the inundation, drawn from the soil in the humid heat of the day. Teyrnon ran his fingers through his white beard, feeling the moisture, both from the cloudburst and the tears in his eyes, dripping down his cheeks and soaking into his facial hair. His shirt stuck to skin, the broad chest plainly outlined. He staggered to stand up; cursing for the ten thousandth time the pains and unsteadiness in his legs. For half an hour, he waited for the storm to move away from the side of the mountain, sensing its anger slowly subsiding, satisfied it had made the trees bow to its power. As the last sweep of the tempest crashed lower into the valley, covering the view of the slate roof houses, Teyrnon picked up the rough-hewn wooden stick he used to support his unstable walk, edged along the crumbling dry-stone wall, and again paused.

1

The Love Confession He knew they would call him names, run away and laugh. Some would even show fear. Teyrnon could imagine what they said to their parents about the Wizard of the mountains, as they had named him. At least his self-taught ability to lip read gave him some knowledge of what they said about him. Like his aching and useless limbs, the deafness had been a curse. The greatest anger within his heart was because he didn’t understand why he had been afflicted. The Tollens had cast their malevolency, and Teyrnon had been stricken. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t comprehensible and there was no way he knew how to question the Witches of Fate. Their leaders, The Tollens, had deigned it to be so. His suffering was not their concern. It was arbitrary and cruel. He saw the tall grass move and knew they were walking in the fields below his cabin. Staggering, leaning on the staff, Teyrnon raised himself up to his considerable height, the once proud body momentarily remembering its prowess. His clothes were ragged, his face unwashed, as the first glint of sun burnt the last of the clouds away and sent a single arrow shaft as straight as Teyrnon’s back had once been. The light caught the white bark of the birch trees, just below the stream. From the field he saw them walking. No, it was not a walk, but God’s hymn to humanity. His way of saying they were 2

The Love Confession blessed with grace. He counted them, even though his eyes were weak. Twelve beauties of the village. The maidens came to fetch the precious oil bubbling up in the rock formation to the west of their homes. This oil would bring them light against the evil dark and warmth when the sun became a prisoner of the night. Teyrnon stood and remembered he should be proud. There was once respect for him. To be called the Wizard was an honor; now it was derision. The young women approached. He watched. They knew he looked. Twelve pretty maidens, not yet taken as brides. They carried their tall gray clay jars, filled with the life giving oil, and were now returning to the village. When they came, jars empty, the women would climb up the rocks. Now the heavy oil filled the containers, and that way would be too difficult, so they had to return along the accessible fields and meadows. This was the spot. Teyrnon screwed his eyes up and looked. One of the young women pointed up to him. They laughed. It was a defensive giggle, as in their hearts he sensed they feared him. That made him even sadder.

3

The Love Confession One stopped momentarily and mockingly waved to him. Then they hurried on, as fast as their heavy loads allowed. But she paused. The one he waited for. He had bribed the corn grinder to tell him her name. It was Klaudia. She was so young and beautiful, such a magnificent body. The woman stared up at Teyrnon, lowered her eyes and then her lips moved. He tried to wave. Teyrnon’s broken body wouldn’t let him react quickly. She was running to catch her friends. One last look back at him. Then, like the rest, she disappeared beyond the trees. Teyrnon felt more tears. He hobbled back to his cabin and wondered why he went on living. 

Á

Á

Á

The sounds were magnificent, resonating in the echo chamber of his brain, which for many years had heard nothing, deaf to the music of greater universal love and intimate voices close to his heart. Teyrnon looked around the room. There was the shadow of his desire. Klaudia’s golden hair caught the glitter of the candlelight, reflecting it back like

4

The Love Confession a mighty bolt from Zeus. Holding his hand out in a gesture of peace and reassurance, he beckoned, willed, the woman to come to him. Her radiant smile pierced his body, taking hold of his soul and throwing aside the troubles of his life. One more step and she would be with him. Teyrnon was held in the beauty of her presence, captivated in the spirit of passion. Her tender hand reached forward, an elegant finger within a whisper of the touch for which he craved. The image faded as Teyrnon came out of his dream. She was not there. He was broken in body and still the useless shell of a man. As so often in his long days and nights of loneliness, it was not the salvation Teyrnon sought so fervently. This was but another false image. His faded dreams would have lasted many hours, but Teyrnon felt the nearness of the evil which had first cast him into this pit of despair. The door of his wooden cabin swung violently open, winds of wickedness turning his brittle bones even colder. He didn’t want to look. The sheer iniquity of The Tollens made him curl up on his bed and slowly open his eyes. There they were. The scourges that had arbitrarily condemned him to this life, tearing him from the grace he possessed 5

The Love Confession and flinging him into misery. The Witches of Fate visited without invitation. Standing before Teyrnon, the two-headed Witches of Fate grinned at him, its pitiless expression mocking the broken man. He knew the specter well, Suffering and Sin, both despising their victim. “Why have you come to me again?” Teyrnon cried, shielding his eyes from the hideous sight. “Why do you dream of this women, Klaudia?” Sin hissed vehemently. “All flesh is evil. There is no escape for you. Your pain and agony will increase as you look upon that woman,” Sin ridiculed him, spitting blood and gore from her mouth. The twoheaded Tollens sneered at the wretched figure of the once proud Teyrnon. Sin lowered her voice and called to him. “Do not covet this Klaudia. My sister and I can bring you so many young and gorgeous women.” Suffering nodded at these words. “Young virgins can be yours. Women who will perform the wildest actions. Do not look like that. We know what is in your mind. Accept these gifts…and become our slave.”

6

The Love Confession Teyrnon tried to block out their words. In all the beautiful sounds of the birds, children’s voices and especially this woman, Klaudia, he had no perception, but the vile voices of The Tollens penetrating his mind. Suffering lashed out with a bolt of fire, crashing into his brain, numbing his thoughts, burning the love he still sheltered. Sin laughed and riddled his body with shocking pain. They left him rolling in his torture, the foul smell of their breath permeating the cabin and his senses.

Á

Á

Á

The night shed its veneer of darkness, and once again his misery started with a new day. Teyrnon wished for death to release him. He sat on his bed, little energy left to go outside and see the limited world of his existence. Into his mind came the idea of a journey. In his torment and delusion occurred the promise that if he could reach beyond the river, then somehow this nightmare would end. That morning, this belief became an obsession. He longed for the relief from this life he had been assigned. 7

The Love Confession Teyrnon moved his aching body, took a few steps and collapsed. Dragging himself up, he got back to the bed, crying in this new hopelessness, knowing he was trapped and had only death to look forward to in the endless struggle. He slept and the darkness of his mind was quiet and without form. In the deep shade of his repose, a touch alighted onto his face. Teyrnon wearily opened his eyes, not wishing to return to reality. As the lids of dimness slowly lifted, he saw a figure before him. It was the beautiful form of the golden one he knew was Klaudia. “Why have you come here?” he stumbled on the words. “Have you not called me in your thoughts?” she smiled. Teyrnon knew this was true. He let her help him up and they sat together in silence for a long time, letting the morning become the heat of an afternoon. Eventually she said, “What is in your heart, Wizard?” Teyrnon felt so much pain lift from his body. She 8

The Love Confession had called him Wizard, but said the word in reverence and respect. Klaudia did not deride him for what he had become. “I wish to undertake a journey, Klaudia. But I need help.” She kissed his face many times, and whispered, “I shall come again tomorrow and be your help.” Then the young woman caressed Teyrnon again and went from his cabin. Teyrnon sat thinking the pure thoughts of days gone by. Deep in the valley, Klaudia returned to her village. From a window in the old windmill someone had seen her come down the mountain and jealousy shook their mind. They knew the young woman had been to see the Wizard. It was a forbidden love.

Á

Á

Á

Klaudia climbed the steep path, each step precipitous, her lungs fighting for air. Around the next turn would be the relatively gentle slope away from the side of the mountain and there in the clearing stood the Wizard’s cabin. She had hoped he would be waiting for her, as she had 9

The Love Confession promised to return. For many months Klaudia had been aware he watched her when she went with the other young women to collect the treasured oil. They had been afraid. At first she was curious, then fascinated…and now she wasn’t sure what the emotion within her body meant. Reaching the door, she called to the Wizard. There was no answer. Warily pushing at the old, battered entrance, she cried out at the sight. The one-room cabin was wrecked. Even the limited ancient furniture had been smashed and scattered across the floor. Windows were broken and tattered, and the drapes ripped from their place. Her eyes searched the room. Klaudia heard a groan. Running to a pile of wood, once the table and bed, she frantically heaved the remnants aside. There was the body of the Wizard, blood-stained and bruised. With great difficulty, Klaudia sat him up. “Who has done this to you, Wizard?” At first he took time to lip-read her words as he was dazed and she spoke with tears and sorrow. When he understood, he said, “The villagers came. 10

The Love Confession They had been told I molested you.” Klaudia helped him to his feet, staggered outside and with great effort got him to the stream. “Trust me, Wizard,” she soothingly said. Undressing him, she bathed his body in the cooling waters of the mountain stream. She knew the ways of the herbs and mixed them to make ointments. When his cuts were dressed, she helped him back to a clearing by the bend in the stream and let him rest. For a while, Klaudia knelt by him and watched. When his eyes opened, she moved in front of him so he could clearly see her lips and understand her words. “Why are you called the Wizard?” she smiled tenderly. “Once, many years ago, I discovered a way to remember all our knowledge. It was called writing. The people of the land at first thought it was wonderful. Then when I began to teach the children this art, they said it was magic. Finally, they feared it would mean the old ways would be swept away.”

11

The Love Confession “Is that when you were cast out?” He shook his head. “No. It was when this new magic threatened the power of the evil gods that they sent The Tollens to curse me with the affliction you now see.” “But what is your real name, Wizard?” “I was named Teyrnon.” Klaudia felt that same feeling she‘d experience before when watching the Wizard. Now she knew it was love. Raising her arms, she slipped her dress over her head to reveal the nakedness of her body. His eyes took hold of her beauty, letting the swell of her breasts and roundness of hips invade his sensuous mind. “You will be Teyrnon,” she sighed. “It means the Great Lord.” Sliding herself over his body, encouraging him with her eyes to reach up and touch her breasts and take in her nipples, Klaudia let the spirit of her femininity percolate through his being. She leaned forward to let her lips lightly taste his face, her tongue licking and her hair falling forward to cover his passionate stare with this silken drape. Her mouth moved but slowly to find his lips, and when the first tinder wisp of their 12

The Love Confession embrace ignited, the kiss glowed and became a flame in heaven that aroused the angels from their eternal melancholic slumber. Desire grew from that kiss. His erection sought her sex, first as a fire, then a raging love’s tempest, pounding his heart, roaring like a surf in his mind. Klaudia heard him groan; she opened her eyes, shut in the craze of their lovemaking, and saw the transformation of the Wizard. He became the warrior, the knight, the young man of those stolen years. In the womb of her swollen love, he delivered the seeds of ever more. Through the day they loved and explored. Only when the night crept over the mountains did Klaudia rise from their spiritual betrothal bed and say to Teyrnon, “This will be the last day you are alone. Wait for me to come to you tomorrow.” Into the valley she went, with his love and thoughts deep inside of her.

Á

Á

Á

The sun nodded to the bowing moon as they guardedly exchanged their watch on humanity. With the heat came the birds soaring over the fields and the eagles patrolling the snow-capped 13

The Love Confession peaks. Klaudia collected the wild flowers as she ascended the high pass, adding buttercups from the meadow. Her golden hair was let down from the usual ribbon she wore, and in honor of this day she put wine and bread in a basket. The wooden cabin was bathed in sunlight, with the leaves shining as the intensity of the radiation made their veins into beautiful patterns. She thought about the day, committing everything to memory, seeing the significance of the actions around her. Klaudia entered the cabin. It was a glowing, dazzling white. In the center stood a simple wooden bed, dressed with furs. Her Teyrnon lay upon it perfectly still, covered in a snow-colored shroud with his handsome face showing. His eyes were open…but Teyrnon was dead, gone from this world. Klaudia knew this and without shame or restriction let the tears flow. She kissed him over and over again, praying her thoughts would go with him. The beautiful woman placed her wild flowers on his chest and caressed his mortal face one more time. She went to the trees around the cabin, collecting fallen tinder wood. Then she went to the 14

The Love Confession place where the oil gushed from the ground, filled a jar and went back to the cabin. In her heart she found words, sending them to heaven. Then Klaudia lit the earthly fire and stood, with wet, lost eyes, watching the flames consume the cabin and her Teyrnon. When he was free, a great shriek went up in the mountains, as The Tollens were struck dead. Klaudia waited for the embers to cool. She collected his ashes and took them home. She lived and loved, and waited to join her Teyrnon.

The End

15