Double blind

Chapter Six

She was exactly as the Sage described.

And more.

Much more.

When she arrived, they all gathered around to greet her, the men and women of the Chosen Brigade of the Seventh Seal who rarely saw a new face or heard a new story in their severely isolated mountainside retreat, let alone two. The men were especially curious and hovered until they got close enough to see for themselves. Then they swallowed hard and quickly moved back a respectful distance.

The women offered her tea, made from a scarce dried herb which she immediately recognized, and the most comfortable seat in the communal meeting place. She accepted both with a natural grace that captivated them all.

The women felt tense, for obvious reasons, but also intrigued.. and, a tribute to their inherent grace, only slightly jealous.

The children stared wide-eyed and enchanted — especially the older boys.

But the men just stood there, stunned, and mesmerized, and in the fullest sense of the expression, terrified out of their minds.

They all learned, as she sipped her tea, that she had moved into the old Dogsfire Inn — an ancient house built around an ancient tree about a mile or so down the creek from their isolated community. She had recently purchased it from the estate of the previous owner, an elderly woman of indeterminate age who had operated the inn's small restaurant, held seances, and told fortunes when she wasn't attending her duties as the local postmistress and cursing the government in at least three different foreign languages.

Yes, the woman smiled warmly at them. She, too, had heard the stories about the previous owner being a gypsy whose parents died in a fire way back in 1862. Such interesting stories. Very imaginative.

She took another sip of tea.

Wasn't she scared, a young and attractive woman like her, to live in a place like that, all by herself? They all wanted to know.

She smiled pleasantly and then stretched, unintentionally — perhaps — revealing a taut and slender figure beneath a loose tunic that embodied the very essence of everything sleek and sensual.

Scared? No, of course not. Why should she be scared? She laughed. Such a beautiful location, and such a beautiful old house — or it would be once she furnished it. And, as they could all clearly see, it wasn't as if she lived there alone.

The children bobbed their heads, completely entranced by this once barely imaginable fantasy suddenly there among them in the flesh.

The men gulped nervously and made a conscious effort to hold their bladders.

She thanked them for the tea and stood, causing the men to step back hastily and give her — or rather them — plenty of room.

What was it the Sage had said? Very very dangerous.

Jesus God, yes.

What would she do down there all by herself? one of the women asked.

Well, she wasn't sure just yet. Keep the restaurant open, if it wasn't too much trouble, and perhaps hold seances and tell fortunes when she wasn't busy being the local postmistress and speaking her mind about the sorry state of the government.

She was only fluent in two foreign languages, she admitted apologetically, smiling that warm, charming, and seductive smile one last time. But that was all right.

Her cat would provide the third.

The group parted, and the strange and beautiful creature glided away.

She and the sleek, muscular, and terribly dangerous animal that never moved far from her side.