The wind tore at her, but Mailee kept her focus on Rinaru, falling so fast, so far from her outstretched hands.
"Reach out damn it!" She shouted below, and the light bouncing off the windows blinded her. But there he was, just a hair breath from her fingers, his amethyst eyes wide, his arms swinging as if he could turn them into wings.
In a heartbeat, her arms were around his middle, and she slammed into him so hard that the breath was knocked from her lungs. Together they plummeted like a stone, down, down, down towards the rising ground.
Rinaru grabbed the rope, but even that wasn't enough to lighten the blinding impact on her torso as the rope went taut. She held on to him with ever ounce of strength she had, willing her arms not to let him go. The rope sent them careening towards the wall. Mailee hardly had the sense to lean her head away from the approaching stones, and the impact burst through her side and shoulder. She held tight to him still, focusing on her arms, on her too-shallow breathing. They hung there, flat against the wall, panting as they looked at the ground thirty feet below. The rope held.
"Mailee," Rinaru whispered, gasping for breath. He pressed his face into her hair smelling her bare vanilla scent. "Thank you." Mailee's limbs trembled so violently that she had to focus on gripping Rinaru, and her stomach turned over and over. Mailee clenched her jaw.
"What were you thinking!?" She peered up at Rinaru's stunned eyes.
"I thought you weren't going to save me if I fell." He counter back at her with admiration in his voice and something else in his eyes that unsettle her.
"I wasn't tending to do so." Mailee scowled, and started sliding her feet along the cracks in the stone, looking for a foothold. Her skin, torn and bleeding in spots, stung as she found a crevice for her feet to squeeze into. Carefully, carefully, she pulled herself up.
"I'm sorry," Rinaru breathed, his legs hooking into her legs as he also sought out a foothold.
"It's fine," she told him with a small blush. She could feel how tone he was and his petrichor scent was over powering. Shaking, numb, Mailee untangled herself from him and climbed back up the wall, leaving Rinaru to figure out the way in his own. "Foolish. It'd been so foolish to save him. What had I been thinking? And what is this damn warm feeling I'm having towards him?!" After another 30 to 40 minutes of silent climbing they finally made it to the top and took a deep breather.
Mailee said nothing and pushed herself up. Even though Mailee had stopped shaking, she could still hear the man's shriek and only her daring rescue saved Rinaru's life. There were no rules against saving another's life.
"You okay?" Rinaru asked, from his spot 3 feet from her right. He was looking at her bloody hands. She whipped her head around at him and her malachite eyes pierced brightly into his amethyst eyes in the mid-evening sun.
"Does it look like I'm okay?" She didn't let him answer. "The answer is no. Just look for your friend already." She stated sourly as she turned to stare at the vast area before them. But not before out the corner of her eyes Mailee saw Nooroo raising her left hand with the palm towards the side, thumb and one finger forming a circle and three fingers fully clenched is a gesture that expresses a failure towards the male Athean.
Mailee spotted the tallest point far too quickly from her spot on the roof. To her left, in the center of the entrance of a shrine, stood a statue of a goddess. The goddess was no other than the High Lady Laaera. Who is a vastly feared and hugely trusted goddess
Rebirth, desire and power are crucial elements this divine being is associated with and many thinks of her as thoughtless and caring. As long as the right atonements and gifts are give to her then she will hear your pleads. Laaera has no need for lovers. Fortunately this just strengthens the aid Laaera can provide, but only the strongest of gods and goddesses can stand alone.
Mailee was too focused on Laaera's shrine to hear Rinaru for the first time when he asked her something, until he gently touched her should. She tensed up slightly by his touch. "What is it?"
"Dinner. Tonight with me, please?" he asked her hesitantly as he had a light ducked blush growing on his cheeks. Taken back by this unseen offer, she just stared at him in disbelief.
"What....no. I have to get my challenges done. I don't have time for anyone else." She pushed his hand off her shoulder and turned around as she started for the enormous statue of the goddess.
"Wait! What if I get it for you?" He questioned as he tried to keep up with her on the roof top. She paused as she turned her head slightly to him.
"Why would you do that for me? What do you gain in helping me?" She couldn't trust that he wouldn't betray her nor trust that he isn't just using her for one of his challenges.
"Because it was my fault that you ended up hurting yourself. And all I ask in return is a dinner date. You can have whatever is up there, I swear on my life." She can tell he was serious when he spoke to her as there was no smile and he had looked straight into her eye without hesitation. She thought about it for a moment before agreeing. After all what harm would one dinner do to her.
"Very well we have a deal." She watch his lips quark up in handsome smile. She mentally shook the thought of him being handsome out of her mind. "It's on top of the statue of the High Lady Laaera herself. You must respect her before, during, and after." He nodded and they where off to fetch the treasure.
YOU ARE READING
The Mirror Guardian
Random((Book One of The Guardian Series.)) She was the Flame of Light craving peace... They say she is powerful. They say she is the Flame of Life. They say she instill fear into the hearts of many. It is even said that the Devil himself is afraid of her...
