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 Ravished Wings (Book Excerpt)by Maria Osborne Perry Buy from amazon.com Page 3 of 4 She rotated the ball gingerly with her fingers, removing the
pieces in the intricate sequence the gypsy had shown her. Her heartbeat
accelerated as one by one the sections separated into her sweat-dewed
fingertips. At length the clip sprang back from the core of the ball and a last
gauzy strip of antler released from the chain.Setting the pieces of puzzle aside she lifted the lid of the trunk. A waft of earthy fragrance assaulted her nostrils and eyes. She shook her head and blinked until her eyes smarted no more. Like whirls of cream were the layers of soft, stainless feathers within the chest. She was seized with an impulsive desire to stroke the lovely things, but put the feeling aside and wiped on her gown the perspiration from her shaking hands. A sharp needle she took from a small pocket of her robe, and with a sharp intake of air she pricked her thumb. Two drops of her blood fell on the feathers; the other five she was obliged to squeeze out. She muttered the ancient binding--once, twice and three times. As she let go her breath the feathers fluttered inside the trunk as if stroked by a breeze passing through the room. Vanda smiled to herself. So, so simple. Immune now from the protective wards her father had placed on the thing before wedding Silfr, she drew the garment out of the trunk. She held it up by the taut cowl against the light from the outside room. No seams, no stitches, no lining could she see anywhere on the mantle. More than a mantle, truly--whoever had tailored it had made it into a tight-fitting gown. So unworldly beautiful and perfect was it she had no doubt the barbarian Saxons were right in their assertion that these swanmaiden's gowns were created by the light elves themselves. The thing was Odette's only link to her heritage. Over the years Vanda had dreamed of taking it out and using the hereditary proscription of the thing before all was set in motion to summon Odette to her, force her to kiss the hem of her robes, to place a knife in her lily-white hands and make her cut her own heart from her breast. But due to Thierry's interference, Odette had been removed to the haven of the Athlan realm, with its demonic incantations that shielded against a summons from across the borders. Vanda had another fancy from time to time--of donning the gown herself. To know flight as did the daughters of Freyja--ah, that would be sublime irony to insult the goddess of whoredom! But the warnings against such a deed had been many, and in the end she always discarded the idea. Besides, that insult would be only to Freyja, and what Vanda truly wanted was an insult so complete and overriding that even in death Silfr would reel from its barbed design. Soon enough would the pagan gods be destroyed forever and Loki turn His face to the spirits of Vanir, the evil spirits that had plagued the universe from its conception. The time was fast approaching when the world would be washed of every form and vestige of sensuality by the hordes of the godly who worked for Loki under His varying faces and tenets. With the world chaste once more, Loki would issue His long-anticipated demand that Freyja and Her brethren leave the Midgard ethers forever. And then the decadent goddess would be permanently expelled from the collective consciousness of the abstemious mortals left. Copyright© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Maria Osborne Perry, sffworld.com. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the author. |
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