Arcadian Huntress ⚢

Chapter XI Fantasy

When the stag had appeared across the stream from our resting stop, it was I who first noticed. He was a magnificent creature. My bow had been lying on the soft grass at my feet, my arrows still resting on my back, moving slowly so as not to startle him, I reached for my bow.

It was a practiced move. The stag never noticed. Taking confident steps closer, he had lowered his head to lap at the cool, fresh water. As I raised my bow and reached back over my shoulder to pull an arrow free, his ears flicked at the slight noise of the bowstring flexing under my expertise. Fully drawn, I sighted the stag but before I could release my arrow, one of my sisters had sneezed. She was a new recruit and this had been her first hunt. Though it was an honest mistake, I spared a moment to send her a hate-filled glare then took off after the fleeing stag.

No one followed. It was the stag versus me. The prey versus the hunter. 

Until I lost his trail and ended up here, lost myself. Failure did not sit well with me. Nor would it sit well with Lady Artemis. Above all, I wished I had not lost the quarry for her sake. When any of us managed to bring down an animal, she was always been there to embrace us as equals. She rejoiced in our successes, for they were her successes as well. She had been our teacher, our mother, and our Goddess and we were her students, her children, and her maidens.

Just the thought of her brought a flush to my cheeks. I am in love with her. She was my comfort in the darkness, my inner voice encouraging me to greatness, my confidant, and of course my friend. I wished but did not pray, for her presence now.

"Callisto?" her voice, though not sweet or gentle, hummed with life and femininity. I turned at my name. My heart stopped beating at the vision before me. Dressed in a sheer tunic, her thighs bare above the knee and her hair lying unbound across her shoulders, Artemis was a sight to behold. I felt my skin heat.

"My lady," my voice instantly filled with desire.

"Why are you so far from the others? You know you are walking in the wrong direction." Her voice lilted with suppressed laughter. I dropped my head with a shy smile playing at my lips. "You always were too headstrong to ask for help."

"Yes, my lady."

"Enough of that," she whispered. Draping a muscular and tanned arm over my shoulders, she leaned close and ran her lips across my temple. I shivered at the sensation. My knees weakened and I fought to maintain my balance. Her voice fell an octave and slid across my skin setting my nerves aflame. "Let us get back to the others."

"No." The word came unbidden from my lips. "Not yet." I turned in my Goddess' embrace.

"My dear Callisto." 

A wave of desire swept through me at the lull of her voice, settling in my breasts and then moving to pool lower at the crux of my thighs. 

"My brave huntress," her hand flowed along the curve of my shoulder and up the arch of my neck. Cupping my chin in her palm, she continued. "My strong girl," my eyes drooped as she brought her lips close to mine, breathing her wild breath as a caress on my cheeks. "My beautiful Callisto."