- TMK -

Katakos dug his fingers into supple hips, thrusting as hard as he could. Adela moaned, the air swirling with a sweat and musk wind. Katakos bent over, chin against bare shoulders while his hand found her breast. Adela cried out again, clutching her hand to his. Then all sensation rushed to Katakos’ groin, grunting as he spilled himself inside her. Feeling his warmth, Adela tensed and threw her head back. Sweat dripped from the pair as if they fucked in a sauna, Katakos’ rhythm slowing.

           

Finally, Adela fell forward, splaying her limbs over the bed. Katakos followed suit and lay on her back as his sweat mixed with hers. He exhaled heavily, the moisture from his breath condensing on her scapula. Adela barely noticed; her face buried sideways into a feather pillow.

           

“Huh– it’s uh, it’s been a long time,” Adela panted.

           

“Finally, something we don’t have in common.”

           

“I’d call you a liar, but you’re more fun that I thought.”

           

Katakos rolled to the other side of the bed. “Appreciate it.”

           

He lay there for a while, waiting for the sweat to dry. As the stupor left him the air began to feel heavy in his lungs. He sat up, his body uncomfortably slick.

           

“Got anything to drink?” Katakos split the silence.

           

No response came from Adela who by now, had rolled herself in a cushion of stained blankets.

           

“Adela?” Katakos asked again. He leaned over, finding her eyes welded shut, her chest moving with the slow air of sleep.

           

“Shit.”

           

Katakos climbed off the bed, dressing in his long johns and boots. He clambered down wooden steps to the oily light coming from the kitchen. There wasn’t much inside save for a few cupboards and a wood burning stove. Luckily, he found a pristine Treslynn stout inside the cupboard. The beer was surprisingly expensive, but he had seen Adela’s’ herd of greathorn elk. If the two-story frontier house with a working bath wasn’t signal enough of her success, the beer was.

           

He popped the cork and chilled his throat with the chocolatey liquid. When that alone wasn’t enough to cool him, Katakos stepped onto the porch. There, he looked out on the starlit tundra and fence enclosing nearly two hundred ox-sized elk. Their eyes glowed yellow, reflecting the lamplight. Most of them huddled together while a few could be heard issuing dampened calls. The grassy stink of dung also hovered around the porch. Katakos didn’t mind. Dung was as much of the hunter’s trade as blood and hide. After a while, he had just accepted the smell.

           

“Were you fighting with her?” a loose squeak of a voice said beside him.

           

Katakos looked over his shoulder to find a boy pale as Adela on the porch steps. He wore a thick felt coat and buckskin boots, his eyes the same fiery green as Adela’s.

           

“What?” Katakos was more indifferent than confused.

           

“My mom, you were fighting with her, weren’t you?”

           

“Your name?”

           

“Sedryc.”

           

Katakos took another long sip of stout and said, “Well, Sedryc, there’s a big difference between what you think I was doing to your mom and what I was actually doing.”

           

“Then…” Sedryc paused, his face contorting into a frown. “What were you doing?”

           

“That’s something your father is supposed to tell you and I sure as shit ain’t him.”

           

“Ok,” the boy said, resigned. He took a seat on the porch beside Katakos as an artic breeze blew over them. “Summer snowstorm’s coming.”

           

“In the mountains,” Katakos corrected him. “You’re too low out here for summer snows.”

           

“You go into the mountains a lot?”

           

“Yeah.” Katakos took another gulp of beer. “It’s where the game goes during the summer.”

           

“Oh.” Sedryc looked at his feet. “You’re a fur chaser then. Why don’t you hunt in the tundra?”

           

“Only thing in the tundra are giants. Woolly rhino, mammoth, and greathorns. Game too big for me. There’s more money in mountain game anyway.”

           

“You’re not scared?” Sedryc asked, eyes gleaming in the mixed starlight.

           

“Of what?”

           

“Silverhorns, cave lions, sabre bears. Mom says the mountains are full of them. She won’t let me go up there because of them.”

           

“Smart woman.” Katakos looked back into the tundra night. “Cave lions and sabre bears shy away from my baliyon. Too dangerous for a quick meal when there’s so many deer and white ibex.”

           

“And silverhorns? What do you do about them?”

           

“Probably die,” Katakos said honestly. “But if I was lucky enough, like everything else, I’d kill it.”

           

Sedryc examined Katakos once again, fixing on the old scars left from a time Katakos wished he could forget.

           

Sedryc pointed at the ragged brown lines. “Are any of those from the mountain animals?”

           

“No. Bullets or bayonets.”

           

“Legionary,” Sedryc said in a near whisper. “Like my dad.”

           

“So I’ve gathered.”

           

“He used to tell me about the war you know.” The hero worship in Sedryc’s tone became obvious. “Said there was no greater glory than fighting for the Empire. He said that one day, the whole world and all the Gods would fall under the Empress’ crimson star. Then, we wouldn’t need to beg for the God’s aid. Not when we’ve conquered them.”

           

“Probably why he’s dead…” Katakos said under his breath.

           

“Huh?” Sedryc struggled to hear.

           

“Yeah, kid. That’s why we fought.”

           

“He also was fighting for me and my mom. He said this land was the future and he was right. We can buy anything now. It’s way better than our house in Denagan. I’ve got two rooms all to myself now and winter heating!”

           

Katakos frowned. “Two rooms?”

           

“One’s mine. One’s my dad’s. Mom gave it to me after he died.”

           

“Uh huh.” Katakos began to shiver, the sweat having evaporated in the night chill. “Well, I’m sure he’s happy about that.”

           

Katakos stood, stretching his arms as he prepared to go inside.

           

“Are you staying?”

           

“Going back to the mountains tomorrow.”

           

Sedryc’s eyes widened. “Oh, can you do something for me?”

           

“No.”

           

“Can you get a silverhorn? I’ll pay you!” Sedryc blindsided Katakos by tossing him a coin pouch. “Please. Those mountains are where my father died. If she had something other than bad memories, maybe she wouldn’t hate them so much.”

           

Katakos opened the pouch, surprised to see nothing but a gold cauldron glow. Though a pang of greed surged through him, conscience forced Katakos to throw the pouch back.

           

“A silverhorn won’t change anything. Your mom is right to hate those mountains. They’re unforgiving, hostile, and people have no place in it.”

           

Sedryc’s lip quivered. “Then why are you there?”

           

Katakos turned his back to the boy as he entered the home.

           

“Night.”

           

He should’ve felt uneasy by Sedryc’s question. By all accounts, the kid had a point. But Katakos knew, as did Adela, the reason why he belonged in the mountains.

           

In the end, he neither needed nor wanted to be forgiven for the time before the hunt.