“There’s a waterfall on one wall.” The guide frowned at him.
“Could we go to see that?”
The woman glared. “Absolutely not! Valona does not allow anyone to go there!”
Mekos looked at Aradella and gave a slight jerk to his head. She didn’t know what he meant. In the next second, he grabbeda vine dangling from a tree and swung out on it. He disappeared into the forest.
Again, the guide’s face turned red with anger. Through clenched teeth, she said, “Come! We must return to your house and you will stay there until he can be found. No man is allowed to wander about freely. There are women here! They have to be protected from male abuse. From their incessant violence. We have to—”
Aradella didn’t think about what she was doing. She reached up, grabbed a vine near the one Mekos had used, and swung out over the abyss. Behind her, she heard a scream of terror, but it felt so good to move that she ignored it.
Mekos was standing at the bottom, seeming to be waiting for her. “I hoped you’d come.” He reached up and caught her, set her on the ground, then looked at her in surprise. “You don’t weigh very much. You—”
There was a rustle near them. Mekos took her hand and they ran down a narrow trail that had probably been made by animals.
Minutes later, he said, “We’re almost there.”
“I hope so,” she murmured, her voice a bit shaky.
He stopped and turned to her. “Is something frightening you?”
“Of course not.” She kept her shoulders back.
He seemed to be studying her as though trying to figure out the problem. “Is it this trail that’s so far from people?” When she just looked at him, he began to walk backward and said, “You needn’t worry. I can smell things. It’s something I inherited from my grandfather. According to my mother, he was pure fox, a big, beautiful creature. I can assure you that only rabbits have been on this trail in the last two days. No bears of any kind have been here. If there is anything dangerous near us, I can smell it, hear it, and see it.” He smiled at her. “You are safe with me.”
“But they can smell, hear, and see just as well as you can.”
Mekos laughed. “True, but none of them can soar. If something shows up, I’ll take you up into the trees.”
“Like your father did,” she said dreamily.
Mekos looked shocked. “My father soared with you?”
“Yes. At the dance years ago. He whirled me about the floor. It was pure heaven.” He was blinking at her. “You were there. After the swan show? King Aramus?”
“Oh yes! That was you? I saw you two but I was so hungry! The food was wonderful. Salty little meat pies, fruit I’d never seen before. And cider!” Abruptly, he stopped and held out his arm. “We are here.”
Turning, she saw the waterfall. The path had led them downward, making the lava wall that surrounded the Lair very tall. The water cascaded from the top and rushed down to the bottom. It was beautiful!
“I hear slow-moving water so there must be a river nearby,” Mekos said. “Let’s go—” He broke off at what they both saw.
Halfway up the waterfall, emerged a human head with dark hair.
“It’s Papá,” Mekos said and took a step forward. But then he halted.
Tanek came out of the water, his back to them. He was shirtless, with his curved wing ridges exposed. When his waist came into view, they saw two bare legs clasped about him. He was nude and Kaley, also bare, was wrapped around him.
“We should go,” Aradella whispered, but neither of them moved. They didn’t even blink.
Tanek and Kaley soared up the waterfall, joined as man and woman. At the top, just below land, they disappeared inside the water.
Aradella and Mekos stayed frozen, watching and waiting, but the couple didn’t emerge.
Mekos took a breath. “There must be a cave. They like caves.”
“Do they?” Aradella asked, her eyebrows so high they nearly disappeared into her hairline.
“I guess we shouldn’t get any closer.”
