Charlotte Boyett-Compo- WIND VERSE- Hunger's Harmattan Read Online Free PDF Page A

halted her, bidding her to give her eyes time to adjust to
the change. As they stood there so quietly, so still, his fingers caressing
hers in that powerful grip, she became aware of his heady male scent and it
began to play havoc with her senses.
    “Can you see the light there?” he asked
softly.
    Shanee could make out a faint glow to the
rear of the cave entrance. “Aye.”
    He tugged lightly on her hand and they
began moving down a long stone corridor toward the source of that flicker of
illumination. With every step she took, she knew she was going deeper below
ground. Normally that would have concerned her, made her uneasy, but with her
hand tucked safely in Aliyn’s, she felt no claustrophobic anxiety.
    Within the stillness of the cave, she could
hear the whistle of wind and feel it plying gently over her face. It was warm
but wasn’t unpleasantly so. The closer they came to the light, the louder the
sound of the wind and along with it the unmistakable resonance of falling
water.
    “Is there a waterfall within the cave?” she
asked, hearing the eagerness in her voice.
    “You’ll see.”
    It was growing brighter and by the time
they came to a turn in the corridor partitioned off by a massive jutting stone,
she could smell the wild exotic flower scents that had so intrigued her in the
jungle as well as the faint tang of saltwater.
    He guided her around the stone and into a
fairyland of such raw natural beauty and overpowering sensual delight, she
gasped, her eyes going wide.
    The walls surrounding this subterranean
chamber seem to ooze with blood red limestone stalactite. Fantastical twisted,
gnarled and chiseled cones extended from the immense high ceiling alongside
thick tree roots, both of which appeared to be arching their stone and fibrous
fingers toward the green glowing pool of water that stretched around this
hidden room, its waters lapping gently against a pebble-strewn beach. A shaft
of light speared downward from the dark canopy of rock to shed wavering beams
of light upon the undulating waters. To one side a waterfall poured its dark
waters into the vast pool.
    “The Diabolusians call this a cenote ,”
he explained to her as he leaned his spear against one craggy wall. He pointed
to the tree roots. “They pierce the ceiling in search of water.”
    She saw his pallet laid out beside the
gently rippling water. “What a glorious place in which to live,” she whispered.
    “I like the serenity of it and it is as
close to the water as I can get.”
    She glanced up at him. The low light in the
chamber played seductively across his face, swirling shadows over the handsome
plains and passing now and again through his topaz irises.
    “Reapers cannot go into running water, can
they?” she asked, remembering something she had read in the report on the men
who had been created at Riezell-Nine.
    “Actually they can,” he said softly, “but
I’ve yet to attempt it.” A slight smile tugged at his lips. “That was just one
of many lies the scientists fed us on R-9.” He let go of her hand. “Why don’t
you test the waters in the pool, little Amazeen?” He hunkered down at her feet.
“Give me your foot.”
    It was almost as though she had no will, no
mind of her own. She lifted her foot and watched as he pulled off her boot, her
sock. Obediently she lifted her other leg. The soles of her feet tingled as
they touched the damp stones. She gazed down at him as he knelt there looking
up at her and felt her heart thudding almost painfully in her chest.
    “The water is cool,” he said in a husky
voice. “It comes from a deep subterranean well.”
    She found herself unbuttoning her uniform
tunic, peeling it from her shoulders. Pushing her trousers down her hips,
stepping out of them. Without thought, without a single moment of shyness or
restraint, she unhooked her bra and let it fall away. She slid her panties off
and stood there revealed to him in all her unadorned defenselessness.
    Ailyn was on his