Sunday, November 6, 2011

Twenty-second excerpt from 'Twelve Towers'

When the last of the building materials that had lain here all winter long were removed, the capstone, on which they had laid, was revealed. It was pressed below the surface of the ground and had to be prised up carefully. It was smooth on the side that had been facing up, but when the bottom was exposed and cleaned off, it revealed the signs of an ancient rune on that surface. It looked similar to the design on the Huish tower but it was not identical. This one took the form of a many-headed dragon. The men used pulleys to bring the stone up and Athelstan and Gwilym carefully placed it into position. The tower was complete fully a week before Beltane, allowing the men to clean it up to present it to Sir Kay at the dedication. The workers were still busy with the clay channel to the water, a task that Gwilym had forbidden them to work on until the tower was complete.
Merlin appeared at the job site the day before Beltane and handed Gwilym twelve more pieces of river jade to place between the tower and the capstone. And so, once again, Gwilym spent the evening of Beltane carefully hammering in the stones on the edges of his new tower. He remembered last year with Grainne and wondered what she was doing. He hadn’t seen Merlin enter the city. Was she with him?
Gwilym had remained celibate throughout the past year. Partly this was out of memory of Kaitlyn, partly out of fear of being tied down to a town that he knew he would be leaving soon. Partly it was out of loyalty to his sons’ mother and their questions about a new figure in their lives. And partly it was due to him being so busy with this project.
He placed the river jade, watching the Beltane celebrations below him. As he remembered last year’s love-making and his year of celibacy, he became aroused again, and kept glancing behind him to see if Grainne would come again. He inserted the last piece of jade, stood up and surveyed his work, disappointed but also a little happy to be here alone on top of his completed tower. He turned to give the district one last view before descending.
“Another wonderful erection, Gwilym.” Chills ran down his spine and all the hair on his head stood on end as he saw Grainne standing in the middle of the rune. How did she get there during his quick circuit of the top?
“How…?” he began, but was silenced with a slight wave of her hand and a glance at her regal bearing. She was looking with obvious pleasure at the hydra rune on the tower, but her double meaning was clear as she raised her eyes to admire him.
“Come,” she demanded and he felt himself being pulled into her presence. “Undress,” was her next command and he complied obediently. She reached up and caressed him carefully, running her hands down the side of his face while her thumbs traced his strong brow, his prominent cheekbones. Down his neck and across his broad shoulders. Around his bulging biceps and
sinewy wrists while she placed his large hands on her hips. Back up to his hairless chest and defined abdomen. Around to stroke his ass, down his tree-trunk thighs and marble calves. Then back up to the second meaning of her first sentence. A groan escaped him as she stroked his manhood to rock hardness.
She reached behind her back and loosened her shift, allowing it to drop silently to the stone, revealing herself for him. Her breasts were fuller and her belly a little rounder than last year. Her flaming hair was full and curly and her waist was narrow before flaring into smooth, rounded hips.
Grainne reached around his chest to the backs of his shoulders, clamped on and hopped up, entwining her legs around him, straddling his lower belly. They kissed deeply, reveling in each others’ tongues. She lowered herself accurately onto his phallus and he felt himself entering her wetness, feeling the acceptance of his rough manhood into the soft confines of this woman, this priestess, this goddess.
She rode him in this fashion for a while, keeping him on the brink of ecstasy while working herself up in excitement. He helped her in her exertions by cupping her ass and moving with the rhythm she had set. At one stage she drew her upper body away from him, allowing him to reach out and squeeze her breasts. He watched in fascination as some milk dripped from one nipple, and he bent his head down and sucked gently on the sweet breast-milk. This sensation, added to the motions Grainne had already been using, brought her to a shuddering climax. Gwilym followed shortly after, then they both lay down in the center of the rune. A thin mist surrounded them; a repeat of last year…
This time he struggled hard against the more than usual weariness that followed his exertions and asked her, “What does this mean, Grainne? Why here, at Beltane, with me?”
“What better place than here? What better time? And who better to spend it with?”
“You’re avoiding the questions, Grainne. These are rune-stones. I’m placing them as capstones on these towers. I’m finishing them at Beltane, placing river-jade between them and the rest of the tower. Then you and I are consecrating them somehow. What does it mean?” His eyes were closed now and he struggled to keep his mind and ears open as the weariness spread from the top of his head down through his body.
“It’s important, Gwilym…” were the last words he heard as he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

To read the entire first draft in one shot, click here:

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