Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

Easy, he told himself, and took some deep, calming breaths. Take it easy—you don’t know how the injury occurred. And it won’t do any good to go into Rage now—it will only frighten her.

He wondered if she would let him heal the bruising and swelling? Most Monstrum Kindred—his kind included—had healing abilities given to them by the Goddess. If the lovely one would let him, he could erase those marks from her beautiful face.

But of course first, he had to meet her, here and now, outside of their dreams for the first time.

Storn watched her silently, trying to think how to approach her. In their shared dreams, she was always wary and afraid. Also, it seemed like she never remembered him. If she had forgotten the dreams they had shared, she might be frightened of him. She—

And then he realized he had run out of time. The human female had stiffened and her scent had changed. He could smell the acrid tang of fear drifting through the night air. Clearly she had seen him looking at her.

Taking a deep breath, Storn stepped out from among the trees.

“Hello, lovely one,” he murmured, being careful to give her plenty of space. “At last we meet outside our dreams.”

12

Only one thing kept Mia from running—his soft, deep voice floating through the night air sounded strangely familiar. In fact, all of him seemed familiar—even his eyes, glowing softly green as he carefully approached her.

“Do…do I know you?” Her voice came out in a breathless squeak and she couldn’t help thinking how big he was. She was slowly getting used to the height and size of Kindred warriors—it seemed that none of them were under six foot seven and most were closer to seven feet. But she was rarely close enough to one of them to feel really small by comparison. Well, except for Talon and that was only because he was always with Kaylee, she thought.

“I know you, lovely one,” he murmured, not really answering her question. “But do you know me? Do you remember the dreams we shared?”

It was the second time he had mentioned dreams and Mia wasn’t sure what to make of it. She knew that women whose minds aligned with Kindred warriors shared dreams with them—that was what had happened to Kaylee and Talon. But she hadn’t been dreaming of anyone…or had she?

“I…I don’t know,” she hedged. “I…I don’t think so.”

“Try to remember,” he urged softly. “We always meet here, at the edge of the Sacred Grove. And it is always evening with a soft breeze rustling the leaves of the holy trees.”

As he spoke, Mia began to think she did remember something. Could this be what the incredibly strong feeling of deja-vu was all about? And could she really have been Dream-Sharing with a Kindred warrior?

“I…I’m not sure,” she said, trying to buy some time. “I do have the feeling I’ve been here before but, well…I just don’t know.”

There was something else about the strange Kindred—something odd and out of place, she thought as he took another step towards her. She looked up at him in the silver-green moonlight, trying to understand what it was. He had something on his head—was it some kind of hat?

Then he turned slightly and the moonlight shone on the side of his head more fully.

“Horns!” Mia gasped, taking a step back. “You…you have horns.”

“Ah yes, you are always surprised at my horns.” He sounded half amused/half sad. “Do they frighten you, lovely one?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t understand—how can you have horns on your head? I didn’t know any kind of Kindred had horns.”

“The kind from my universe do,” he rumbled. “I am a Satyr Kindred—one of the Monstrum Kindred from the ‘verse adjoining yours.”

“A…a Satyr Kindred?” Mia started to say she’d never heard of that kind of alien warrior, but then she remembered that Kaylee had been saying something about it on their trip up to the Mother Ship. She’d been going on about the new Kindred who had come, the one who looked like Mr. Tumnus, the faun from the Chronicles of Narnia.

He’s no faun, Mia thought, looking up at him. She had read all of the Narnia books as a child, multiple times, and she could still remember the whimsical illustrations from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the character of Mr. Tumnus first makes an appearance. He had been depicted as a little goat-footed fellow, barely taller than Lucy, the human girl who meets him, with straight little horns sticking out of the sides of his forehead.

In contrast, the Satyr Kindred loomed over her in the moonlight. His shoulders were twice as broad as her own and though it was difficult to tell in the semi-gloom, she got a sense of great physical power from him—as though he was immensely strong. Also, the thick horns on his head curved around like a ram’s horns and ended in sharp looking points on either side of his darkly handsome face.