One Life Well and Truly Promised Page 6

  Akhila licked her lips as she waited and Akintunde thought they must be dry. They hadn’t felt dry a moment ago. They’d felt…wonderful, and at that moment the only thing he wanted in the whole world was to kiss Akhila again.

  “No…I don’t want to kiss,” he finally stammered and was surprised to find that his heart was pounding noticeably in his chest, just like when they raced up the mountain.

  Liar! His mind screamed, rebelling against his cowardice. The lie only made him want to kiss her all the more, but he’d never admit it, especially to Akhila. His body however, remained frustratingly paralyzed as she frowned at his apparent lack of desire. For once she was not torn, she wanted to kiss him again very badly and then suddenly she was angry.

  Akhila made a threatening move toward him. “I could make you,” she insisted, her eyebrows furrowed. Akintunde stared at them, mesmerized by how black and wonderfully formed they were. She was perfect. Everything about her was perfect.

  He smiled at the coming challenge, and raised his arms to fend her off. She raised her arms as well and they locked hands. They both squeezed tightly and for a moment he was mesmerized by the soft, black hairs on her forearms.

  “Could not,” Akintunde answered defiantly, but knew she probably could, in fact, he wasn’t at all sure his heart was in beating her. She was nearly half a year older and though he was now larger, she was still far more aggressive…at least when they wrestled.

  “Could too!” Akhila insisted with glee and pounced on him. He fought her for all he was worth for a time, but when she finally forced him onto his back the strength of his struggles diminished and in the end he happily submitted to her kisses. They kissed for several long minutes before Akintunde suddenly realized that the God Ea had visited him with an erection that felt hard enough to cut stone. Blood rushed to his cheeks and he thrust Akhila off into the sand once more. He glanced down, mortified and then quickly flopped over onto his stomach. The hot sand did nothing to ease his distress.

  Akhila stood up with a happy laugh, her eyes finding the source of his discomfort before he was able to hide it. For some reason she couldn’t fully understand, it made her deliriously happy. Their kissing had started out innocently enough, but she’d been keenly aware of his growing desire. She was not embarrassed by it at all and relished the feel of his hard spear of life as it grew and pressed against her lower belly. No matter what his mouth said, he wanted her, and his spear of life proved it.

  In fact, she’d like to get a good look at it, for it felt much larger than she’d imagined.

  Even though she’d laughed at his discomfort, Akhila’s emotions were also in turmoil. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and her body was warm all over. A part of her wanted to run away and hide, afraid of the intensity of her own feelings, but a larger part was deeply curious. She had a strong desire to pounce upon Akintunde and wrestle him onto his back, so she could closely study the symbol of his lust. But as she gazed down at her friend, her breathing slowed and she became aware Akintunde’s acute embarrassment. Her natural female empathy won out, so she fought down her curiosity and let the matter drop.

  “Come Tunde, let’s go…” Akhila began but suddenly cried out as a well-aimed dirt clod hit her squarely in the side of the face. Her hands instinctively went to the hurt and she spun away. Seconds later another missile struck her in the middle of the back and she fell to her knees.

  Akintunde completely forgot about his predicament as he watched Akhila go down. He quickly scrambled across the sand and over to the relative safety of the river bank. He immediately began to pull large chucks of muddy clay out from the soft earth.

  Dirt clods and mud-balls were flying all around now; some aimed for Akintunde’s hiding place, but most were sent Akhila’s way. The girl was alternately crawling across the sand and covering up for protection against some of the better-aimed attacks.

  “Akhila!” Akintunde yelled as he absently formed one, two and then three perfectly round mud-balls. She answered with a yelp as another missile struck her left calf. She began to crawl toward the bank at a faster clip, spurred on by the relentless attack.

  “Hurry Akhila!” Akintunde encouraged her, and without thought for his own safety pulled his sling from the tie at his waist and stood. He fired off three shots in quick succession, his sling making one perfect revolution for each missile he launched.

  Just as he suspected, the attack came from Rafiki and his two hulking shadows, Quay and Tasunke. The three assailants were well positioned, hiding behind a large tangle of driftwood with only their heads and shoulders exposed. All three were currently spinning their slings over their heads preparing to let loose another salvo at the relatively helpless girl. To their detriment they ignored Akintunde as their entire focus was now on the struggling Akhila. Akintunde cursed the gods as he watched his first two mud-balls fly wide of their marks, but the third smashed directly into Rafiki’s forehead. The older boy dropped behind the pile of river debris almost immediately.

  Akintunde let out a whoop, which only served to attract the attention of the two remaining slingers. They aimed their next shots his way, but he quickly ducked back down and began forming more mud-balls for his arsenal. Akhila, bruised and angry, finally joined him.

  “Rafiki!” She spat like a curse. Over the years, they’d waged continuous battles with the bully and his two brutish friends. Akintunde nodded to Akhila before standing and launching another three shots very quickly. All three missed, but they struck close enough to give the two goons pause. Akhila was now in full mud-ball mode and was forming missiles with her small, delicate hands at an alarming rate. Akintunde crouched next to her, enthralled by her hands as he watched her work. Her long, thin fingers expertly formed one perfectly round mud sphere after another and for the first time in his life Akintunde wondered just how those hands would feel pressed into his own.

  “Ow!” Akintunde yelled as a missile struck his left shoulder. The pain broke through his fantasies and he ducked down beside Akhila.

  “What are you doing?” she asked with a frown. “Fire!”

  Akintunde smiled at her, all thoughts of his earlier embarrassment gone, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned over and kissed her hard on the mouth. Everything stopped for one superb moment before another mud-ball hit Akhila in the side.

  She winched and broke away panting.

  “You better get them Tunde, or I’ll never kiss you again,” she snapped, but they both knew it was an empty threat. He smiled, gloriously happy, and she grinned back.

  “Get them!” She ordered, so he turned and happily took stock of the situation. Rafiki was once again standing and slinging missiles his way, though this time with a residue of mud on his forehead.

  Confidently, Akintunde stood and quickly launched mud-ball after mud-ball at the opposing forces. With a sling in his hand he had no fear, and all his concentration was on the release point for his missiles. Even so, most of his shots missed their mark, but as the battle continued he soon found his rhythm. He hit Rafiki once more and then Quay twice in quick succession. Tasunke, a large hulking coward, quickly wavered before the onslaught and was soon running down the sandbar away from Akintunde and Akhila.

  “Tasunke!” Rafiki yelled after his large friend, but Akintunde had completely found his mark and his next mud ball struck Tasunke directly in the back of the head and the one that followed struck him in the middle of the back. Akintunde reached down for another supply but before he could gather up the arsenal, the two remaining assailants joined Tasunke in a headlong retreat from the battle.

  “Hurray!” Akhila called out in triumph, standing next to her savior and friend. In the excitement of the moment, she quickly pulled out her own sling and sent the last mud-ball streaking after the fleeing trio. It was very poorly aimed and flew off wildly to the left of their position and plopped harmlessly into the river. Akintunde stared at the watery place where the mud-ball disappeared, his mouth open in surprise at the utter ineptitude of
the shot. He glanced at Akhila, who was equally surprised, for she was a fair slinger, no equal to Akintunde, but certainly on par with Rafiki and his henchmen. She glanced at Akintunde.

  “Hurray!” He added halfheartedly with a pump of his fist, and they both burst out laughing. Their mirth grew stronger by the moment, and when compounded with the adrenaline in their systems, they soon found themselves helplessly rolling in the sand; tears streaming down their dirty cheeks.

  “Come, let’s swim,” Akhila suggested when she finally had control of herself, “I need to wash off this mud or mother will kill me,” she added and quickly removed her belt and then stripped off her long tunic. She was suddenly naked, and though Akintunde had seen her so countless times throughout their childhood, today the sight left him breathless. He froze and drank in the sight of her thin, brown frame as she walked slowly toward the river. His eyes never left her as she moved, and for the first time he realized her body was growing different from his own. She was now slightly wider in the hips and there were a pair of prominent buds on her chest that Akintunde realized would soon blossom into full breasts. His mouth dried up as he watched and he swallowed hard…filled with a sudden, strong desire to run to her and take her into his arms.

  Akhila half turned as she reached the water’s edge. “Come on,” she demanded impatiently and the spell was broken. Akintunde stood and quickly stripped down, desperately trying to ignore the gift that Ea had blessed him with for the second time that morning. Thankfully Akhila was diving beneath the water’s surface and took no notice, so he raced for the river, suddenly grateful for its cooling touch.

  ♀

  The walk back home from the swimming hole was unnaturally quiet, although both were so lost in their own thoughts that neither noticed the unusual silence. Normally their chatter filled the forest, a natural sound for the area, no different from the singing of the birds or the buzz of the insects. The two were only quiet when they were on the hunt and in the midst of stalking some doomed beast.

  Akintunde followed along behind Akhila, his senses alive with newfound discoveries. He found he liked the way her hair swayed from side to side as she moved and the way her muscled calves flexed as they worked to propel her body up the steep mountain pass. He liked the set of her narrow shoulders, and the thin, smooth lines of her forearms, but most of all he liked the way she smelled. Her scent was clean and fresh, unlike anything else, and he found it tantalizing in an almost disturbing way. The smell was uniquely Akhila, and he found himself walking very closely behind her in order to catch her scent on the air with more regularity.

  ‘She’ll make a fine wife,’ he thought and was suddenly overcome with happiness.

  “Tunde!” Akhila snapped as he stepped on her bare heel for the second time in as many minutes.

  “Sorry,” Akintunde replied and forced himself to fall back a bit.

  For her part, Akhila was also aware of her friend as he followed along behind her. She knew he was watching her, instinct told her so, and she felt very self-conscious. She couldn’t understand why, but whatever the reason, she was having a very hard time putting one foot in front of the other with any amount of grace. She felt clumsy. It didn’t help that Akintunde kept stepping on her heels, as if he were teasing her purposefully. Although why his attention should bother her at all was a complete mystery. Akintunde had been her near constant companion over the last five years. They were best friends, closer than brother and sister; his eyes had been on her countless times before and it had never bothered her in the slightest.

  Today should be no different, she thought, and then wondered if perhaps it had not been a good idea to kiss Tunde. Something had changed between them and she was not at all sure she liked the change…at least not all of it.

  But once Akintunde fell back, Akhila found her rhythm, effortlessly mesmerizing her companion with the regular tempo of her swaying hips. Entranced, they climbed up the steep, rocky trail, breathing easily but deeply from the exertion. Such a trek for those unaccustomed to the mountains would have been torture, but it was routine for any child of the Zagros Mountains. The adolescent daze they were both in did not lift until they pushed out into a clearing and caught sight of Rafiki and Tasunke racing toward them.

  They both immediately tensed, and Akhila’s eyes darted about looking for Quay, who might be waiting in ambush.

  “Run!” Rafiki yelled from halfway across the field, but the two stood frozen, at least until a long, thin spear arched out of the far trees and skewered Tasunke through the chest. Akintunde stood transfixed in the moment as a look of anguish swept over the young man’s face. Blood gushed from Tasunke’s mouth. He gave a gurgled cry then fell to the ground, thrashing about for several long moments before falling still.

  “Run!” Rafiki repeated loudly, nearly on them now, and then a half dozen strange warriors burst into view from across the field. Another spear arched up into the sky, but Akintunde did not wait to see it land, instead he grabbed Akhila by the hand and they took off, sprinting back toward the river. They raced down the familiar trail with Rafiki right behind. They weaved along the narrow path, moving downhill now and running very fast. Akhila was out front since she was the fastest of the three, but fear kept the two young men right on her tail. They all moved with confidence through the twists and turns, for they knew the path well, and reached the river quickly. Without pausing they all turned and followed the bank upriver for a hundred paces before crossing the shallow ford and climbing up the far side.

  There was no sound of pursuit, but they continued on in a panic, instinctively moving farther up the mountain. All the children of Susa had been instructed from a very young age to flee up the mountain in times of danger, never, ever down. Up and up they went, and it wasn’t until they reached the upper fields that Akintunde realized Rafiki was no longer behind them. After crossing the fields he pulled to a stop just inside the tree line and turned about, eyes wide as he scanned for any signs of pursuit.

  “Rafiki!” Akhila exclaimed when she turned. Akintunde shrugged, mystified.

  “I…I never heard anything,” he stammered, trying to catch his breath. One minute their archenemy turned ally was behind them, and the next he was gone. They stared out across the field, each hoping to catch sight of the larger boy. He was a slower runner, they knew that from experience, but even so he should not be this far behind.

  “Tunde…look!” Akhila said and pointed over the trees to the northeast. Thick, black smoke was rising from the direction of Susa…from the direction of their homes. They both stared at the ominous sign for several long moments.

  “Lowlanders!” Akhila exclaimed with fear. The people that lived in the valley, between the two mighty rivers, were strong and plentiful. Often they climbed into the Zagros Mountains looking for slaves and plunder. It was the reason the wall was being built around the city…the wall which was as yet unfinished.

  “We can’t go back,” Akhila cried in anguish thinking of her mother and father, and after a long minute Akintunde nodded, fighting back tears as he considered the fate of his own family.

  “Not yet, it’s not safe…come on, we need to go up the mountain,” he told her and reached once more for her hand. He found that her touch somehow calmed and reassured him. “We need to go to the Onion Hut…and the protected glade,” he answered, remembering his father’s constant litany that everyone should flee to the glade if some disaster struck.

  Akhila hesitated a moment, thinking of her own family’s emergency plans for danger, and the caves to the northwest. Of course she’d heard of the Onion Hut, but had never visited…as far as she knew Akintunde had only gone once or twice since she’d known him. His attitude seemed confident however, so she finally nodded and allowed him to lead her up the mountain. They climbed in silence, keeping a close eye on their back trail. Luckily the way behind remained clear, free of any enemy warriors. They climbed for an hour and then two, until finally, in the late afternoon; the trail led them along a high rock face
where they could see far down the mountain. The village of Susa was completely hidden in the trees, but smoke still hung in the air below them. They saw no sign of life…or pursuit. Both sighed with relief. From their vantage point they could see almost forever, and it was obvious that no enemy warriors were after them.

  “Do you think our warriors fought them off?” Akintunde asked, thinking of his father, who was the chief slinger and would most certainly be in the thick of the defense.

  Akhila shrugged. “It’d be hard for the Lowlanders to take the entire village,” she replied. “Father always said that the high walls around the homes created a thousand little fortresses inside Susa.”

  Akintunde frowned. It was true, the walls around the homes of the wealthy could be defended, but the warriors from below could still kill and take many people if they were determined.

  In years past, his father spoke of the Akkadians marching down the mountain to make war on the Lowlanders, or Sumerians as they called themselves, but the enemy was always too prepared. Their great cities had high thick walls that surrounded them completely and their warriors fought viciously, with long throwing spears and sickle swords. The wars between the two peoples had lasted for as long as anyone could remember, which was why Akhila’s grandfather Unjay, began the work on the mighty wall that would protect the people of Susa.

  ‘Should have worked faster,’ Akintunde thought, but said nothing.

  “How far?” Akhila asked. She was growing hungry. She’d not eaten since morning and her stomach was beginning to let her know about it…loudly.