PROLOGUE
Anno 79 A.C.
It was at the creek where it all began.
They gathered there shortly after dawn, all the girls who were going to dance with the fairies that night. They performed the ritual cleansing by splashing water over their bodies. They did not know much about what was going to happen that night, so they speculated and when they didn’t know, they just tried to imagine. Where their imagination could not help they just laughed. Sena laughed the loudest when water dropped down from her red curls and tickled her cheeks.
Then the mothers came to help them put on their white wedding gowns and place crowns of sweet-scented woodruff over their heads. Once ready, they started the walk through the forest to Sarmisegetusa, where the Great Priest was going to present them to the goddess mother and plead with her for fertility. From that moment on, the girls weren’t allowed to talk anymore but giggling was not forbidden, and they did giggle all the way to Sarmisegetusa.
The capital of all the Dacians was devoid of men. On that magic day entry had been denied to them. Nobody was supposed to see the virgins in their wedding gowns but their chosen ones, and that would be later on. Except for Vezina, the Great Priest, of course.
He led them to the large patio within the temple and there performed a lengthy ceremony, which Ariane felt rather boring. The Great Priest was using the old Dacian language and she wasn’t yet that proficient in it. Somehow, she doubted the ceremony would have been more entertaining if she understood what Vezina was saying. On top of it the andesite slabs were cold, and her bare feet had become icy cold. But she remained quiet just like all the other girls. Only Sena touched her arm with her elbow from time to time when nobody was looking, just to tell her she shared her boredom.
Finally, the ceremony ended, and the girls left the temple. It was the first and last time they were allowed within its walls. Ariane realized this only afterwards and scolded herself for not paying more attention to the interior of the temple.
The mothers had been waiting outside and once the girls came out they led them back to their settlements.
The group from the Bears’ Valley needed some time to get back at the creek and the sun was low on the western sky when they all sat down in a circle. It was there the mothers explained to the girls what was going to happen that night, earning nervous giggling, big eyes, and pink cheeks. It was Sena who asked questions on more specific matters and Thays smiled but she tried to answer them all.
Thays was there for both Sena and Ariane though she was neither Sena’s nor Ariane’s mother. She had travelled with the Greek family when they came to live with the Dacians and slowly took the place of their long-lost mothers. The girls worshipped her, and she loved them back just the same, she who never had children. But here she was, answering Sena’s bold questions to the delight of the others.
Finally, the sun sank under the horizon. They stood up and went into the forest at the sacred place where the fairies were waiting. The mothers placed themselves out of sight around the large clearing and the girls stepped in by themselves. They formed a circle and started to sing a beautiful and haunting song. Sing, dance, laugh...
And the fairies came… The girls could feel their benevolent presence among them and even get a glimpse of golden hair and white hands touching their hot faces. Nobody noticed when the young men sneaked in. But then they stepped within the circle and the girls spread shrieking and laughing at the same time. One by one the men caught their chosen ones and took them away.
Ariane was left alone in the clearing when she saw him approach. Suddenly her legs gave way and she lowered herself onto the grass, watching his approach. He remained standing in front of her and then he stretched out his right arm. It was an intimate gesture that only they understood. It had been his stretched arm she had seen when they first met, under an old oak tree one night when he saved her life and more. She gave him her hand and he helped her up. Then, hand in hand they left the clearing. When they were a good distance away from the clearing they could hear the mothers’ laughs, and they smiled too.
He led her deep into the forest and stopped in front of a large oak tree. There he pulled at a hidden rope and let a wooden ladder fall down along the tree trunk. He invited her to climb, and he followed. After so much time spent in the Dacian woods she had become very skilled in climbing trees, so she didn’t need help. He followed and pulled the ladder up after him. Finally, they arrived at a high platform, large enough to accommodate them both. A wooden roof stretched over them, leaving the sides open. They had an unobstructed view over the forest and the western sky, still alight with the last caress of the sleepy sun.
Ataraxes kneed down to light the fire in the small bronze fire pit in the middle of the platform, while Ariane turned around to admire the setting of their wedding shelter.
A cot was built in the middle of it and the black-brown fur of the bear Ataraxes had killed a long time ago to save her and her father was laid over it. Other furs were laid around the bed and a large clay pot in a corner with woodruff branches spread the sweet scent of the fairy flowers. Other than that, the platform was empty. Ariane laughed, bewitched by the surroundings, and turned around to thank him but when she saw his face she remained quiet. He was watching her with sparkling eyes and half a smile on his beautiful mouth. Then he came closer.
“Luminous eyes” he whispered the name he had given her when they first met.
She did not move. He came closer. First, he removed her crown of flowers and set it carefully on the floor. Then he stood up again and placed his hands on her neck. Then, with a slow move he pushed her gown to the sides until her shoulders showed round and white. He did not stop but pushed down the gown with an endless caressing hand till it fell to the floor, billowing around her feet and leaving her naked. He took a step back, overwhelmed by her beauty. She was perfect and for a moment he feared she was only a fairy and would disappear if he made the slightest move. She didn’t disappear but frowned lightly when he stepped back. Didn’t he like her? Was he disappointed? But then she saw the wonder in his eyes and let him look at her as long as he pleased.
She was tall and slim, with beautiful unblemished white skin. Her long auburn hair partially hid the round breasts, and he gasped when he looked at them. Then he took her in his arms and laid her on the cot. She looked up at him and waited, curious and excited at the same time.
He took his time with undressing. He didn’t have a wedding shirt as was usual with his people because she didn’t have the skills to weave. Instead, she had asked her father to give her a piece of silk he had brought with him from Histria when they left the Greek settlement. He had been happy to do so and had offered her a beautiful dark blue piece. Sena had helped her cut and sew it and she had offered him the rather unusual piece of clothing only the day before their wedding. It turned out the shirt was a little too small and the sleeves too short. But he didn’t waste his time with it, he just laughed and pulled it over his head. The boots and the breeches followed, and he was finally standing straight in front of her, stark naked between the cot and the fire. She looked at his golden body and thought she had never seen anything so beautiful. He gave her time to get used to him then came closer, large chest, flat stomach, long legs, and ruffled hair from the pulling of the silk shirt over his head.
Then he laid next to her, and they turned to each other. She remembered what he had once told her: “I will dive with you deep, where nobody can find us. And you will have to hold on to me tight to get back to the surface. Just to dive with me again.”
He did that with her that night. They dived together into a world of wonder, just the two of them. He taught her many things and she learned them all, avidly looking for more.
When in the morning they emerged from the forest, they were welcomed by family and friends, by warriors and priests, by farmers and nobles. The circle was complete, their king had found his queen, his worthy half. And she was as beautiful as the fairies she had danced with the night before.
