Complicated

Rossanna woke up with a start, forgetting for a brief moment where she was and what had happened to her. The camp fire the gypsies had built was no more than a glowing pile of embers. The Gods had answered her prayers!!! She wars with her sore muscles to stand and silently reaches the horses. She found her horse loosely tethered to a tree, luckily away from the gypsies’ pitiful nags. Her horse nuzzled her back while she untied the reigns from the low hanging branch. Not wanting to wake her captors, she leads her horse out of the dark but sparsely wooded area to a clearing.

She looked up into the heavens to try and determine the late hour as well as to find the right direction home. The night sky is marred by high clouds. She cursed silently, having no idea which direction to go. She instead gives her horse its lead, allowing it to find a path, hopefully leading home.

Rossanna had been riding for about an hour, when the hairs on the back of her neck began to tingle. She urged her mount to a trot, thinking maybe she was merely sensing the presence of a wolf or other stray nocturnal hunter, looking for an easy meal. However her sense of danger grew and fighting the urge to panic, dug in her heels. The horse took off like a shot, gathering more and more speed, sensing its mistress’s distress. After riding hard for a half an hour, Rossanna slowed the horse to a canter. She felt foolish at her fear, ‘you are such a ninny,’ she thought, ‘your brothers would never let you live it down if they found out you were spooked by the dark.’

“You are probably right. But I can assure you that your fears are without merit,” said a disembodied voice; darkly musical, deep, sensuous and lilting.

Rossanna stifled a scream and began slowly reaching for a knife still hidden in her boot, “Show yourself.”

“Now, there’s takin’ the fun out of life, but if it will keep you from harming me…..” With this a tall man materializes next to Rossanna and her horse. In less than a blink, he had her knife in his hand.

“Well….isn’t this a pretty bit of a poker? You’re going to need something much sturdier than this, if you want to send me to the other side”

“Wh—Who are you? What are you doing out in the middle of night and nowhere?” Rossanna stammered. Inwardly hating herself for sounding so weak.

“Oh, come now. I should be asking you that, but then, I already know who you are and what you are doing here…in the dark. You can thank me for aiding in your escape from the gypsies.”

Rossanna paled and then flushed in quick succession forgetting that this stranger presented his own danger to her, “Thank you!!!! I don’t even know who you are!!! Now answer me, who are you?!?!”

The man handed back her knife, clicked his booted heels together, bowed formally, and said, “My dear Rossanna, I am known as Nokonis, but we are so much more…complicated than our names.”

“Nokonis, is it?” eyeing him carefully in the darkness, “How did you get here? You ride no horse, and though you might be a demon for all I know, I see no wings, either.”

In a blink he was on her other side. Before the horse could even react, he dragged Rossanna from her mount and held her hands to her sides, “I got here the same way I did that……..very quickly.” Smug green eyes locked with stunned blue ones. The horse whinnied softly, sensing the tension.

Gently, he released her, and walked a short distance away. Rossanna felt his absence more keenly than she would have liked. She took several deep breaths in the hope that her heart would slow its rhythm and her head would clear of the fog that seemed to linger there. Never before had a man had this effect on her. ‘What are you thinking, Rossanna?’ she thought, ‘You don’t know any men but your father and brothers. How else do you think are you supposed to react to a man not related to you?’ She gave herself a mental shake and went to her horse, seeking its familiar smell and feel as a comfort.

“You know, of course, that you can na’ go home. Your family believes you stolen by the gypsies, and therefore a compromised woman.” Nokonis said bluntly. “They could na’ take you back. You are forever lost to them.”

Nokonis’ words filled Rossanna’s heart with lead. “Tell me then, where am I to go? With you I suppose? In a pig’s eye!! I don’t even know who…or what…you are!!! I am alone, in the dark, and not even so much as a sword with which to defend myself!” She buried her face in her horse’s mane stifling her sobs.

She felt the wind begin to rise, scuttling through the leaves of nearby trees, and lifting her hair. She turned to face it, eyes closed, hoping that its caress would dry her tears. Instead of the wind’s kiss, she felt Nokonis’ gloved hands softly mar their salty paths. Thinking to herself that things could not possibly get any worse, she allowed his touch, longing to float away on the current.

She then felt his breath upon her tear-stained face, and her heart began beating even faster than before……………