A Battle of Minds Ch. 06

Silence returned to the forest. The battle was over. The animals that had fled the fire, however, did not return. Even the wind had calmed down completely. If there had been a breeze, however, most trees did not carry leafs it could have rustled. The highway, whose distant roar could usually be heard on quiet days, seemed devoid of cars.

The queen stood quietly at her place, looking down on her enemy's body. There was no reason for her to speak, there was no reason for any sound to be heard, there was no one there, other than her and her enemy's lifeless body -- yet in the silence, it seemed, there was a lingering memory of Daniel's voice. The queen believed to still hear his words echoing between the fallen trees and the shredded grass and bushes. And this echo just made the silence stronger, more acute.

The queen stepped closer to her enemy. Still, he did not move, did not react to her proximity. The position in which he lay on the ground seemed strangely twisted and uncomfortable. As she looked down onto his motionless body, a satisfied smile curled her royal lips. The sweet taste of victory let her momentarily forget the destruction around her, her own exhaustion, the violence of the battle.

As the seconds turned into minutes, however, and the silence in the forest and Daniel's immobility prevailed, the smile froze on her face. The longer she stood there, the less Laura felt like the victor. Her heart started beating faster, as she took in the scene with different eyes: Like awakening from a bad dream, just to realize that the dream had become reality. As much as she stared down at Daniel, there was not the tiniest twitch of any of his muscles, or even a sign of a shallow breath. Did that mean he was ...? That was not what she had wanted!

Laura fell down to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks -- the moisture felt strange in her face, the sting unfamiliar in her eyes. She could not remember when she had last cried. Still, the pain was familiar. It wasn't the pain a queen would feel, but the pain of 18 year old Laura. The pain of a young girl who, an eternity ago, was sitting on her usual chair at school at that first day of the school year, trying to come to terms with having lost the person who mattered most in her world... No -- this was not like that horrible day so many years ago, after she had broken up with Daniel. This was a thousand times worse. Back then, at least, he had continued existing. Back then, not all was yet lost. A loud wailing sound broke through Laura's lips, sharing her pain with anyone who might be near enough to hear. She knew, however, that there was no one there to hear. She was alone.

Suddenly, without knowing why, Laura thought of her mother. Thought of her worried face when her own behavior started changing. Thought of waking up in the hospital and learning that ... This new pain let yet more tears stream down her face. Tears she had held back for too long. Soon, she was not sure anymore what exactly she was crying for -- too many memories, and all of them painful, flooded her mind.

Shaking, and unable to hold herself upright any longer, Laura fell forward, covering Daniel's lifeless body. His face was only a blur to her eyes, as tears obscured her view. Still, she believed to make out that his lips looked as warm and inviting as they had looked so many years ago. Or was it just the memory of his kisses that made her see them so clearly? Her heart was gripped by a longing that seemed to tear her apart. There was only one hope at a remedy: Slowly, carefully, yet unable to resist the temptation, she approached her face to his, covering his mouth with her own.

Then, however, a golden glow distracted her: The locket, hanging down from the chain around her neck, swung back and forth right above Daniel's face. For a few moments, Laura stared at it. Reflecting the light of the rising sun, the little piece of jewelry emitted a mesmerizing sparkle. It seemed to call out to her, taunting her, tempting her.

This stupid thing was at fault for all her misery! It had destroyed her life! With one firm movement Laura grabbed the necklace and pulled it over her head. Then she hesitated. What to do with it? On Daniel's wrist, the shining bracelet seemed to reflect the locket's glow. That bracelet was part of it too, she realized. And again, just as on her 18th birthday, so many years ago, Laura felt rage at the sight of the thing. A different rage, however -- a rage against herself and against the locket as much as against the bracelet. Rage against the magic that had intruded into the completely ordinary life of her hometown. Evil magic that had destroyed her life and taken the people she loved most from her. There was only one option, only one path she could take now.

Her hand shaking, Laura took the bracelet from Daniel's limp arm. For a moment she looked down at the two shining objects inside her hand -- one pulsating hot, the other very cold -- then she closed her fist around them and stood up.

Standing next to Daniel's lifeless body, Laura looked around in surprise: Only now she discovered that she was standing quite close to the shore of Lake Leskow. She did not remember them moving during their fight, leaving the narrow forest trail they had met on. But then -- who could know with a battle as violent as theirs, with a storm as strong as the one surrounding them? And now that she thought about it, they had been at the forest clearing at some point too. There were so many parts of the past night that Laura barely remembered; that were nothing more than a blur of wind and blazing fire and blinding fury.

The bracelet and the locket still clutched tightly in her hand, which was tingling slightly from the contrasting sensation of heat and cold, she walked slowly but unhesitatingly towards the water. Once she reached the shore, Laura pulled back her arm to gain leverage and throw the two wretched things as far into the lake as she could... With a quiet "plop", both pieces of jewelry submerged into the water at quite a distance from Laura and quickly sank down into the dark depths of Lake Leskow. Laura stared at the wide circles the lake formed at the place where they had hit the water. She never wanted to see either of those two things again.

For a few moments, she stood still at the edge of the lake, looking out over the water that was sparkling in the light of the early morning. Then she turned around and went back to Daniel. She lay down on the forest floor, barely registering that the grass was moist from the morning dew, she cuddled closer to his lifeless body and closed her eyes.

He was still warm; it was easy to imagine he was still alive. Laura almost believed to feel him breathe, to hear the slow beating of his heart. And then, causing her own heartbeat to increase, his leg twitched. And then his fingers, his arm. This was real! He was moving, stirring. Laura did not dare to open her eyes to look at him, as his arm slowly lifted and placed itself around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his chest. If this was just a dream after all, she did not want to risk waking up.

His other arm moved now too: As he held her close, his hand stroked up her back tenderly, until it reached her head. There, he took a strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger. He started caressing her head gently, while she remained still, her head resting on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart.

They remained lying on the forest floor for a long time; for hours, it seemed to Laura. But time was of no importance. Nothing mattered, as long as she was lying here, in Daniel's arms. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the rise and fall of his chest in the slow rhythm of his breath, and on his fingers playing with strands of her hair.

Steadily, the sun rose higher into the sky, warming the little clearing in the forest. Small waves splashed against the lake's shore, their sounds forming a peaceful song together with the slight breeze stirring the tree tops. Life had returned to the forest, now that the battle was over and forgotten. Laura could hear birds singing nearby -- and suddenly she wondered whether she had heard their song at all during the last months. She could not remember, but she was almost sure that they had been silent for a long time.

Daniel uttered a little sigh -- not a sigh of sadness or worry, but the kind of sigh a person might make when they are completely happy and do not want the moment to pass. His voice sounded as warm as the sunshine, as soft as the grass they were lying on.

Then, finally, before she could stop herself, Laura opened her eyes and lifted her head, so she could look at Daniel. Holding her breath, half expecting to find herself awoken from a wonderful dream and back to the cruel reality of a half-destroyed forest and a motionless corpse. But there he was, his eyes open and meeting hers. His hand had followed her movement; his fingers were still stroking her hair. Slowly, his lips formed a smile. He looked younger, less tired and less weary. All the sadness had gone from his eyes.

"Laura", he said. Just her name, nothing else. The sound of her name reminded Laura of something, of a different day, when he said her name in the same tone -- but her brain refused to draw the connection.

His voice was slightly hoarse, probably from lying there silently for such a long time. He lifted his head too, and suddenly his face was right in front of hers. Laura felt his breath, his warmth, felt her own heartbeat increase. A thousand questions formed in her mind, but the touch of his soft lips on hers made her forget them all. She only wanted to be with him now, here, in this moment. She just wanted to be happy he was here with her, without questioning it. If this really was nothing more than a dream, she never wanted to wake up again.

Their kiss grew more hungry, their tongues searching for each other, at first playing with each other teasingly, then more fervently, trying to hold on to each other. Laura could taste him, smell him, she felt his teeth occasionally scraping her lips as passion overtook him, she heard another one of his sighs -- and this time it was one of pleasure.

At the same time, Daniel's hands started exploring the curves of Laura's body. His touch was tender, almost careful at first, but like his kiss it grew more and more demanding. Despite this, however, his hands remained above her clothes; his fingers did not touch her skin directly, though Laura could feel the hunger with which he pulled her body against his own. It was her then, who first dared to grab a little corner of his shirt and pull it out of where it was tucked into his jeans. Carefully, almost shyly, she then explored his soft skin with her fingertips. This innocent touch seemed enough to make Daniel's breath go faster. His own fingers now also searched entry under Laura's shirt, though he only dared to stroke softly up and down her back -- Laura had the impression that he did not want to overwhelm her; that he wanted to give her the time to progress as slowly as she wanted.

After a little while, however, Daniel broke their kiss, so he could sit up and take off his shirt completely. She marveled at the sight of his strangely youthful body and his smooth, healthy skin -- he did not look like someone who had spent months hiding out in the forest. And he looked more like the 19 year old boy he had once been than like the man the past years had made of him. Daniel smiled at her expression of amazement, and she returned the smile.

When Daniel gave Laura a questioning look, she understood and nodded: She would let him help her out of her T-shirt as well -- for a moment it occurred to Laura that at sunrise she had still been wearing the expensive garment of a queen; that, indeed, she had not dressed with jeans and a T-shirt in years -- but this was just a fleeting thought. This was not the time and place to wonder about such details. Instead, the girl turned to the side, to give him better access to the clasp of her bra.

As the small piece of fabric fell to the ground, Laura turned back to him. He contemplated her bare upper body, an expression of rapt amazement on his face. To her surprise, Laura felt that this made her blush, and at the same time she enjoyed feeling his eyes on her and the marvel with which he contemplated her more than all admiration the queen's subjects had ever expressed. No one had ever looked at her quite like that. Like he could barely believe she was really there.

Slowly, almost hesitatingly and yet unable to stop himself, Daniel raised his hand to run his fingertips over her tender flesh. Laura put her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, back into a tight embrace. As they started kissing again, they sank back down to the ground, Daniel on top of Laura. She felt the touch of his skin against her own. She wanted to be as close to him as she could, feel his warmth as best she could, the reassuring beat of his heart, the weight of his body. Her hands moved up and down his back; hugging him and pulling him against her.

Automatically, her legs opened, inviting him to lie between them. Through the fabric of their jeans, she could feel his manhood against her sex. A strange feeling swept through her body: Joy, excitement, and also fear -- she was as anxious as eighteen year old Laura had once been, so many years ago, during a pick nick that had taken place on this very same spot in the forest. She felt as giddy as a young girl knowing that soon she would make love for the first time, with the boy who had been her first love, and with whom she planned to spend her life...

She felt like that Laura again. Like the young girl, who had been naïve but also full of hope -- and not anymore like the other, the grown up Laura, the queen. That queen, who believed to have passed through all life could offer her, who had seen the deepest and darkest sides of humankind, had disappeared. Her enemy, full of sadness and willing to fight for the freedom of the world, was gone as well. They were nothing more than two young people in love, lying on a small clearing in the forest, near the lake: They were only Laura and Daniel.

Daniel was lying on top of Laura, and she felt the weight of his body on hers. Not heavy and uncaring, like Martin. Daniel took great care not to hurt her, propping his body up on one of his arms. Feeling the warmth of his body was comforting, reassuring. After a while he turned to his side, loosening the tight connection between their bodies, to be able to run his hands along her smooth skin.

Growing more daring, he took advantage of the better access his hand had now to her breasts. He let his fingers explore the firm flesh, though his touch remained tender and the expression of adoration remained on his face -- just to crush his lips against Laura's again the next moment, overtaken by desire, rolling back on top of her body and instinctively rotating his crotch against hers.

Once or twice, his hands approached that same area. With shaking fingers he fumbled a bit on the fly of her jeans without much success. Then he let go again, running his hands back up her body, as if he was unsure of whether she would allow him to proceed. In a way, this surprised Laura: Hours ago, when she was still the queen, and he was still her enemy, she would never have thought of him as a shy person.

Now, however, it was not only Laura who seemed to be a different person from the one she had become in the last years -- Daniel, as well, behaved more like an excited and somewhat shy nineteen year old. It was difficult to see the weary and disillusioned man in him that he had been when the two of them met at the clearing mere hours ago.

In the end, it was Laura who made up her mind and reached for the fly of his jeans -- had he really been wearing those earlier? Those same old, worn out jeans that were so familiar to her, the ones he had liked best years ago, in their old life? She opened the top button with trembling fingers, before pulling down the zipper. Daniel helped her as she pushed the jeans down. Laura used her hands for this task as long as she could reach without getting up from the forest ground, then she went on using her feet to help him get rid of the superfluous piece of clothing. When that did not work anymore either, he sat up to take them off completely, and Laura got a good view of him, wearing only his underwear, which showed a very visible bulge. After a moment's hesitation, Daniel took off that last piece of clothing as well, and his manhood sprang proudly into freedom.

Laura had seen many of those during the last years, yet to her surprise the sight of Daniel's manhood made her blush again, made heat rise in her body. Now, that she saw him naked, that she knew what they were going to do, she felt excited and giddy -- and also a little nervous.

Daniel leaned back over her and kissed her. Then he helped Laura out of her own jeans. When she finally was lying completely naked in front of him, on the forest floor, shivering slightly despite the warmth of the morning sun, he remained sitting up: He could not help but stay like that for a little while, savoring that moment of looking down at her and admiring the perfect curves of her body, taking in the view he had been longing for, for so many years. Even though her expensive gowns, her jewelry and everything else was gone, the way he looked at her made Laura feel like she was the most beautiful woman on earth.

After a little while, he lay down again next to her and their lips met once more. After a fervent kiss, his mouth left hers to find its way along her neck -- feeling the vibrations of her throat as she moaned under the touch of his tongue -- and further down to her breasts. There, he stayed for a while, letting the tip of his tongue circle her nipples, finally taking each between his lips in turn, sucking on them, letting his tongue flick against the hardening buds, while Laura's moans of pleasure filled the clearing.

Then his tongue continued its journey downward, and Daniel moved around to settle between her legs. For another moment he sat up, and took his time to gaze at the object of all his desires, on his face an expression of adoration.

Then Daniel settled down as comfortably as he could, and slowly approached her pussy with his face. Laura could feel his breath, before she felt his tongue, exploring the area, parting her labia until it reached her most sensitive spot, tracing around it in circles that grew smaller and smaller. Then, finally, he flicked his tongue right over the little nub and Laura drew in breath sharply, while pushing up her pelvis, to make herself more accessible to his attentions. And Daniel definitely appreciated this -- he delved into his task even more eagerly.

This was different to anything Laura had felt in her entire life -- Daniel wasn't following her orders, he wasn't reacting to any little thought she had, but acting out of his own accord. Yet he was not turning her into his toy either -- he wanted to pleasure her, and not because he had to, but because this was truly his wish. This alone was more than Laura had dreamt to be ever possible in her life, and the knowledge that Daniel wanted to make her happy was more exhilarating than anything she had ever experienced.

The men and women with whom Laura had spent the nights in her royal bed in the castle had always done exactly what she wanted. Any motion of their tongues had been perfectly tuned to what Laura thought she needed at that moment. Direct touch or indirect, little or much pressure, slow, savoring motions or a fast flicking of the tongue... In a way, it had not been much different from pleasuring herself.

Daniel, on the other hand, had to experiment. He had to read Laura's reactions, the quickening of her breath, her moans, the involuntary movements of her hips, to figure out what she liked most -- and he was very eager to learn.