Autumn (59 page)

             
“The danger is past, my dears, you have done well!”

             
Arabel smiled in grim delight as the last of Saul’s soldiers fell to the ground, his body a useless vessel, his mind and essence captured within the blue entities force-field and locked into the urn by the will of Xavier. Arabel glanced to where Saul Porchetto had last been seen. She gasped in dismay.

             
He was gone. And so was Nick Chauncer.
             

             
“Where are they?” Arabel cried out. “Where are Saul and Nick?”

             
“Xavier’s captured Nick’s essence,” Zander put in immediately, linking with his brother.

             
“Saul’s horse is there,” Eli pointed to the large dappled war-horse, currently rider-less.

             
“He’s escaped!” Arabel cried in dismay.

             
The Dorojenja energy void had stilled as the soldiers had been slain. Now, as Arabel, Eli and Zander watched, it crumpled and imploded into frothy black
gloop
, coating the lawn in a gruesome muck of dank poison. The ground smoked as the void expelled its contents and there was no sign of Saul Porchetto anywhere.

             
Xavier rode up to the trio, his sky-blue eyes weary yet alert.
             

             
“Saul Porchetto is gone,” he spoke calmly and held up his hand for silence as Arabel would have cried out. “He will re-group and try again, but we will be ready for him.”

             
Francesca appeared with Shelaine and Shelaine ran straight into Arabel’s arms.
             

             
“I’m so sorry!” Shelaine sobbed, clutching Arabel tightly.

             
“Sorry?” Arabel repeated, dumbfounded.

             
“I trusted him!” Shelaine cried, tears streaming down her face.

             
“There was no way of knowing he had evil in his heart!” Arabel insisted.

             
Shelaine sniffled and did not reply. Francesca patted her arm in comfort.
             

             
“Secrets are easiest kept when we most desire to believe in their magic,” she offered quietly.

             
Zander began the process of dismantling the energy void once Xavier had given him the assent that it was safe to do so. There was a hush upon all assembled, as if no one dared break the silence which had fallen. The Gypsies all gathered now upon the front lawn and the sun began to slowly rise.

             
Arabel felt an anti-climactic, strange, let-down energy, almos
t a baleful respite, as they
sil
ently watched the day
begin
. She wondered to which far vistas Saul Porchetto would wander in his exile.

             
The sky was a blood red palette of streaming,
living colour and Arabel was reminded
once more of the comfort of the Land of the Red-Orange Sun and of Baltis’ painting. The image brought her comfort and Arabel tucked her hand into Eli’s contentedly
, thankful
as the somewhat disconcerting, disappointed energy faded out
completely
from her consciousness.

             
A new dawn was breaking and Arabel felt the promise contained within its birth. Golden rays now flooded the landscape and hope and love beat strongly within her valiant heart.

             
“Let’s go home,” Arabel said to Eli.

             
The
rest of the
world dropped away as Eli turned his expressive brown eyes t
o behold Arabel’s bold bright blues. Eli laid his
generous lips
softly
upon Arabel’s, and for a moment, they could have been anywhere, so entranced by sensation were they, so enamoured by their deep and abiding love for each other that all time and space
fell away, creating
a secluded par
adise of sublime sensation with only room
for
the
two
of them
.

             
“Home?” Eli repeated softly, for Arabel’s ears alone, and Arabel comprehended immediately what the meaning behind the question he was really asking entailed.

             
“Yes,” Arabel answered decisively, kissing Eli gent
ly but passionately. “Let’s go home. To my home. To our home, if you will honour me by sharing it.”

             
Eli favoured Arabel with one of his engaging, slow as honey grins and his almond eyes sparkled beguilingly with the tacit understanding of Arabel’s important offering.

             
“Your heart is my home,” Eli answered delightedly, kissing Arabel once more with a delectable fervour that had them both craving the heat of a deeper embrace. The pink and
gold energies danced around
and covered them in
an
amorous glaze of sensuous exploration.

             
Arabel melted gladly into the enticing haven of Eli’s strong arms. She poured her abundant, mesmerizing love for him into her answering kiss and she felt the scorching fire of desire as it shot passionately throughout her veins in unfettered, glorious abandon. Arabel’s blood heated and
she felt Eli’s breath quicken in response
. She leaned in to him, forehead to forehead, heart to beating heart.

             
Arabel recognized deeply that this moment shone brig
htly as an impermanent glimpse
of perfection, and as she gazed into the eyes of her eternal beloved, Arabel knew suddenly that the world was as right as it was ever going to be and that her new life of freedom and beauty started right now, right here.

             
Arabel was ready.