Chapter Twenty

“Hey Anna!”

Anna whirled around and was shocked at the face that greeted her. She had been digging in the garden the entire spring morning, not expecting visitors at all.

“Gemma,” Anna replied, getting to her feet. She quickly wiped her muddy hands on the front of her garment. “It’s nice to see you. How are you?”

“Eh, okay,” Gemma replied, approaching closer. “Just glad to be out of the cave finally. How was your winter?”

Anna shrugged. “Pretty much how I expected it to be. It’s nice to be out and about again, even if I have all kinds of gardening chores yet again.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Gemma said, with a warm smile. “Well, I just wanted to stop by and invite you to weave baskets with me and some of the girls tonight.”

Anna, flattered, didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Sure... um, but this is a real weaving party and not a cover up for a make out session with the boys right?”

Gemma blushed slightly. “Yes, this is a legitimate weaving party. No boys allowed this time. Besides, most of the boys are so busy with all of the spring chores that they won’t have time to bother with us. Pity though, I haven’t seen Fymor for too long.”

“Anna! Anna, I have to talk to you,” Krull exclaimed, hobbling towards the two young women. Anna glared at him impatiently.

“Please, just a moment, Krull,” she pleaded. He was about ready to protest when she gave him a pathetic face. He realized that Anna wanted to bask in as much socializing as she possibly could. He sighed and slowly went into the cave to relax.

“Wow, Anna, you should have spoken with him,” Gemma commented, astounded at what just happened. Why hadn’t Krull beaten her or even yelled at her for dismissing him like that? “I need to get going anyway. But I’ll come and get you tonight. See you later, Anna.”

Anna waved and watched the girl happily trot away into the distance. Gemma hadn’t made any contact whatsoever during the past year and suddenly she was inviting her to hang out with her and the local girls? Not that she was complaining, but she didn’t really understand Gemma’s logic either.

She began to turn towards the cave when a large, blond figure stepped past her. She let out a little yelp and stumbled a bit, falling on her rear. What was with people and sneaking up on her today? The figure brushed past her without so much as a look of remorse and hurried inside her cave.

Huffily, Anna stood and brushed the dirt off of her backside. She stomped into the cave, ready to give the insufferable brute a piece of her mind when suddenly her breath was completely taken away.

“Taylr…”

Taylr looked up at her puzzled face and quickly looked back down at Krull, who was sitting on the floor. Anna glared at Krull, silently demanding to be informed of why HE was in HER home. Krull sighed and muttered into Taylr’s ear. Taylr nodded and quickly left the cave, leaving Anna dumbfounded. What was going on?

“What is HE doing here?” She exclaimed, pointing at the opening of the cave. She wasn’t even going to think about how he’d ignored her and how much it hurt inside. After not seeing Taylr for months she hadn’t been entirely sorry to see him. He looked even more handsome than he did in the summer.

But that was beside the point. For some reason he was HERE in her very own home. And, he wasn’t here to see her.

“Well, I had been trying to tell you that before you brushed me aside for your little girlfriend,” Krull muttered, raising an eyebrow. “I asked him to do a little work for me, since it’s hard enough for me to get around anymore. He’ll be hunting for us, which really doesn’t change anything because I’ve never really hunted for my family anyway. The maharishi has never hunted with the rest of the chosen men. We don’t kill any living thing.”

“You just have other men kill for you.”

“Precisely,” he replied, with a wink. “He’ll also be doing some yard work and skinning and any other thing that needs to be done around here. Not every young man would be as kind as to help an old man like myself but Taylr is definitely one of a kind. He’s a very selfless young man. So, I do hope you’ll stay out of his way and try not to be a nuisance.”

Anna snorted. “I’ll try.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t know why you asked him anyway. Out of all the men in this clan you had to choose Taylr. I swear you must have something against me.”

He chuckled and started walking out of the cave. “Well, the Wakr has the only family with enough older children to spare one. Isakk would not be able to do my chores because I am still spending too much of his time training him. The only other able-bodied young man would be Zac. And I doubt Zac would be your preference.”

Anna made a gagging noise. “Definitely not. But why couldn’t I just do everything by myself? I could do it. I know it could. And that way Taylr wouldn’t have to be here all the time…” And she wouldn’t have to deal with awkward tension between them.

“Anna, as reluctant as you are to admit it, you are only a girl,” Krull explained, gently. “I’m not trying to patronize you and you know very well how lenient I’ve been with you. All I’m saying is that Taylr is stronger than you are. He knows how to get stuff like this done. Besides, you’ll both be so busy that I doubt you’ll even know each other is around.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. Krull, I told you what happened this summer. I told you about Jed and everything. Things are… well, I don’t know between us. Having him here all the time will just be a little uncomfortable.”

“I know and I’m sorry about that,” Krull said, leaving the cave entirely. “But you guys will just have to work it out.”

~~~~~

It was really hard to focus on a stupid garden when a boy like that was digging in another one right next to you. Especially when he was bare-chested and sweaty and the muscles in his back were enough to make you drool yourself into a coma. She watched, completely enraptured, as he used a shovel-type thing made out of a thick branch and bones to dig deep into the earth and muscle it around. He was trying to soften and fertilize the soil.

Krull must be out of his mind. Taylr would have to do double the work just to redo the terrible mess she was making by fixating on him and his amazing back. Her breath caught in her throat as he wiped his sweaty brow with an equally sweaty forearm. His eyes wandered towards her and she swore incoherently at herself as she turned away from him. Great, now he knew she was watching him.

Taylr had hardly felt the sun’s warmth on him all day. What he’d felt was Anna’s heated gaze on him and he silently begged her to look away. He had ignored her as best as he possibly could have all morning. In a moment of weakness, he gaze shifted involuntarily towards her and she quickly averted her eyes.

She looked beautiful. Her hair was stringy and covered in mud, but there was just something about the way that it hung around her as she crouched in the garden that was undeniably sexy. Her slender legs were bent underneath her and she hastily pulled at weeds while blushing furiously. This was going to be a hell of a hard summer.

He had done a lot of serious thinking over the winter. He hadn’t told anyone, even his father, about what Jed had said to him. Certainly people were aware that he had a soft spot for the redhead, but they had no idea about their relationship. No one knew they had been as close friends as they had been. If he were to have told his father what Jed had threatened, he knew exactly what his father would have said. First, he would have forbidden him to ever go near the girl again and the leader’s orders can never be disobeyed. Second, he and everyone else in the clan would blame Anna. They would say that she was brought here to obliterate prosperity and bring only destruction to what should be an everlasting peace between two clans. For that Wakr might even excommunicate her from the clan. Taylr shuddered. That was a fate worse than death.

He tore his eyes away from the girl sadly. He had made his decision and would not go back on it. As a future leader and devoted subject, he promised to ensure peace to his peoples. He would leave Anna alone, disregard her as a female, and let things go as they should be. There would be no blood on his hands.

When Krull had approached him yesterday and asked him to work for him, Taylr had been a bit hesitant to say yes. Not because of the workload, but because of the constant close proximity to Anna. A man could only take so much! But, realizing that Krull really had no one else to help him he couldn’t find it in himself to refuse. Perhaps this was Reina’s way of testing him.

Anna just could not fathom why Taylr was being so distant towards her. Were they fighting? Surely she would know if she was fighting with someone or not. Why wasn’t he talking to her at all? It was as if she wasn’t even alive. As if she was this invisible spirit vainly trying to get his attention.

She walked inside the cave and took her water sack with her. She was parched and could only imagine he was too. She knew better than to invite him to go to the stream with her, so she silently went alone. Was it possible to be so close in proximity of someone yet feel so alone? A short while later she arrived, dipped her water sack in the water to fill it, and made her way back home.

After taking a few large gulps herself, she shakily walked over to Taylr. Their eyes met for an instant before both of them looked away.

“I just went for some water,” Anna muttered, staring at the sack. She extended it out towards him. “Please take some.”

It would be so easy for him to tear that water sack out of her hands and throw her to the ground and make love to her so hard her head would spin for days. He shook his head and accepted the offering silently. He would have to find Lana later.

Anna watched numbly as he tipped his head back and quenched his thirst. His Adam’s apple as bobbing each time he swallowed and for some reason that was the most interesting thing to her in the entire world. Her hands itched to touch him and he was only an arm’s length away.

What was WRONG with her? She was suddenly thinking thousands of dirty things that she never even realized she knew. She was almost sixteen now, almost a woman. Would that have anything to do with these sudden… urges of hers? She took the sack from him when he was done and set it on the ground between them. That way when either one of them got thirsty again, it was in the middle.

That evening, Krull insisted that Taylr stay and eat with them. Taylr had tried to protest but Krull would hear nothing of it. He and Taylr chatted amicably as Anna pushed herself to make the best tasting, most elaborate meal she could possibly make. She felt a little silly for doing it, but if she got even a murmur of praise it would be worth it a hundred fold.

The meal consisted mainly of venison, which Taylr had brought over earlier that day. None of the vegetables had had time to grow, since it was only the very beginning of spring. So, she had to be creative with her recipe. She used a variety of salts, dried herbs, and seasonings in effort to make it a meal Taylr would never forget.

“This is the best venison I’ve ever tasted!” Taylr exclaimed, after swallowing his first bite. Anna beamed, pleased that her efforts were not done in vain.

“Anna is quite the cook,” Krull commented, winking at Anna.

“Anna makes everything really delicious,” Eva added, shoving a mouthful of tender meat into her mouth. “I can’t even imagine how she ever managed when she didn’t eat meat at all!”

Taylr, forgetting all of his inner control, exclaimed, “You used to not eat meat?”

“Nope,” she replied, startled. Hey, she couldn’t complain. At least he was talking to her again.

“Without meat, how could you live?” He asked, bewildered.

She shrugged. “I’m alive aren’t I?”

“But when you came here you were in such a weakened state,” he commented. “I remember. I carried your limp body into this cave. We didn’t know if you were ever going to wake up.”

“I had almost drowned,” she replied, weakly. She had been so touched that he had actually remembered. But then again, he was Taylr and he remembered everything. “That’s why I was so weak when you brought me here. Not because of my eating habits.”

Taylr shook his head but said nothing more. He devoured his meal zestfully, glad he hadn’t turned down the offer. And he thought his mother could cook! Could he eat here every night?