The Heart of the Falcon: The Guardian Maidens Book 3 Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Preface to Book Three

  Chapter 1 - Secrets and Revelations

  Chapter 2 - The Sixth Woman

  Chapter 3 - A Swim and A Resurrection

  Chapter 4 - Clarifying Things with Gerald

  Chapter 5 - The Meaning of Names

  Chapter 6 - Taming a Raven

  Chapter 7 - Stacy is Home Again

  Chapter 8 - A Surprise Visitor

  Chapter 9 - First Expedition

  Chapter 10 - Five Elements

  Chapter 11 - First Exploration

  Chapter 12 - Raven's Rest

  Chapter 13 - The End of the Day

  Chapter 14 - The Beginner's Body

  Chapter 15 - The Beginners Mind

  Chapter 16 - The Book

  Chapter 17 - Second Expedition

  Chapter 18 - Pushing Ahead

  Chapter 19 - Pressing In

  Chapter 20 - The Raven's Tale

  Chapter 21 - The Journey Home

  Chapter 22 - Changes and Roles

  Chapter 23 - Preparing for Dinner and Changes

  Chapter 24 - Jack and Tanya Understand it All

  Chapter 25 - And Now, a Word from April

  Chapter 26 - Greeting Visitors from Far Away

  Chapter 27 - Mug, Pitcher, and Bowl

  Chapter 28 - At Last, the End of the Day

  Chapter 29 - The Beginner's Birth

  Chapter 30 - Preparations

  Afterword

  About The Author

  Other Series by The Author

  The Heart of The Falcon

  The Guardian Maidens of Sturgil’s Mark Book 3

  Marilyn Foxworthy

  First Edition

  Copyright © 2018 Marilyn Foxworthy

  All rights reserved.

  Preface to Book Three

  My name is Marilyn. I have written before about some of the remarkable men of the Jensen Family. This time, we are in the middle of an epic fantasy about a novice adventurer monk. This is the third book of his story.

  I call it “Book 3: The Heart of The Falcon”. That’s how it starts. It starts with our Adventurers getting to know Shaheen, The White Falcon, the 311-year-old elven beauty, the newest addition to our hero’s band. He and the others need The Falcon. And she needs them.

  Ready?

  But first, before you turn the page, beware of several things that you’ll find on the other side of this door. I warn you now. Here’s what you should know before you decide to read the story of our hero and his wonderful life:

  The story is, at times, highly sexual. At times graphically so. If that isn’t what you want to read, you better stop right now. Take the book back to the store and get your money back. There’s a lot of sex.

  The story is long. It isn’t a quick read for a single afternoon. In fact, the tale is several volumes long. This is probably just one book of an epic saga. The entire series is long. If you want a short little diversion, stop now. If you get hooked on the story and spend more time than you wanted to reading, and possibly rereading, the entire adventure, maybe that’s my fault, but I make no apologies for it.

  Spoiler alert: And this refers back to point 1, our hero is remarkable in many ways, but one of those is how several women may fall in love with him at the same time. And because he’s so remarkable, they generally have no jealousy between them. I’ll leave it to you to read how that plays out, but if the implications disturb you, I recommend a more traditional ‘Bodice-Ripper’ romance. OK, let’s just spell it out: there’s probably going to be some harem elements to the story. Heroes know how to satisfy. But, pay attention to the next point…about the allegory aspects of that.

  Allegory alert: If you read the story correctly, many of the people, especially the women related to the primary hero in the story, will actually represent different aspects of the same person. As people, we are complex beings. You will find explanations of the ‘oneness’ of the characters, so keep in mind that what may sound polygamous, may actually be an allegory of one monogamous relationship. Or don’t. You can read it however you want to, but it was written in many respects as an allegory. That doesn’t make it any less fun. It does make it more like eroticism for philosophers though.

  The story was written by me, but in the same style as my other books, as if our hero had kept journals of his adventures, and I just edited and published them. That may have been more the case in some books than others, but it’s the style I enjoy right now. I was a fan of the great pulp writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I think it influenced the language and style to some extent.

  I’ve tried to write the story in a way that’s easy for text-to-speech reader software to make sense of. I love listening to the stories myself, and I use a text-to-speech program on my phone or computer, and while I’m exercising or driving. I find that the rereading isn’t perfect, but it’s adequate. Some of the words will be mispronounced consistently, but you can probably tell what’s being said.

  You may notice frequent references to quoted movie lines, song lyrics, and passages from other books. They may seem obscure. If you find something that one of the characters says to be a bit weird, it’s probably a movie line. You can look it up on the Internet or something if you want to. If you get it, that’s fun. If not, I hope you don’t feel like you’re missing the joke

  Refer to point 1, above. Really. I’m not kidding. It gets graphic. And pay attention to points 3 and 4 as well. You have been warned. And, just so you know what to expect, there’s no sexual humiliation, violence, bondage, or anything like that presented in any erotic way. If that’s what you’re looking for, something darker, this isn’t for you. There’s a lot of sex, but it is portrayed as respectful, consensual, and loving.

  Happy trolls.

  Well, ready? Our story starts on a sunny afternoon at a picnic by a swimming hole …

  Chapter 1 - Secrets and Revelations

  I was sitting on the grass by the pools where my family and I often went to swim, and where we could talk and relax when needed. It was afternoon. The morning had been eventful, to say that least, and the events of the day seemed to be just getting started. I had come here with my mates, Valeera, Dawn, Harmony, Brenda, and Alice. Val’s aunt, Lucy had come along as well. We had come to talk and swim and relax.

  Then the shadowy figure of Shaheen, ‘The White Falcon’ as she was called, had showed up with us and everything took a very different turn. Shaheen was a 311-year-old elf woman who had lived in our village for longer than anyone remembered. Because she always kept her face and body hidden, and because the villagers had no knowledge that elves even existed or that anyone could live so long, Shaheen was assumed to be a very old woman; a mysterious and reclusive hag that the village cared for but knew nothing about.

  Her appearing to us now brought out a number of surprising secrets and revelations. The first of those was that despite her age, she was very beautiful and seemed no older than myself or any of the women in my house.

  We were in the middle of these revelations when Shaheen had told Val to look inside herself for answers to the questions she had about what was happening, and what would happen next. Val was looking intently into Shaheen’s eyes, looking for answers to what this sudden appearance would mean to all of us.

  After a minute, Val exclaimed as a further revelation seemed suddenly clear to her, “Oh! Yes! I do see. Elf Boy. The Falcon. Oh, and April. Oh. Of course. Like we said before about Alice and Brenda. But Lucy is on a different road. But still part of us. But different from my mother. And you will move in with us today, won’t you? Am I thin
king right now? I must be. It’s the only way. Oh, Ronin, Girls, this is amazing. Falcon, this is wonderful. Of course. Do you and I need to talk separately for a moment?”

  We were sitting in a circle. Me, my mates: Val, Dawn, Harmony, Alice, and Brenda; and Lucy, Val’s aunt and my mentor; and Shaheen, the 311-year-old half-elf. We were all naked, having planned on swimming, and that nakedness included Shaheen, who simply threw off the cloak she wore as her only garment as soon as she showed up, as if her own nudity were to be expected, the same as ours.

  Shaheen winked at Val knowingly, and Val said, “Everyone, Shaheen and I need to talk. Um, actually, all of us need to talk. Except Ronin. Um, for now. Ronin, it’s um, girl talk. So, can you just wait here for a few minutes? It won’t take long.”

  I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but I had always trusted Val, and I did have a guess about what they had to talk about, so I smiled and told her to take as much time as she needed. The women all looked at Val, and then stood up, and the seven of them walked a short distance away and huddled together whispering.

  If what I guessed at was the truth, it didn’t really bother me. Not now. A day ago, it would have. Even earlier this morning it would have. But now, it seemed as natural and as much a part of our destiny as Shaheen assuming that she would undress as soon as she revealed herself to us. And it really was a reveal. Shaheen’s cloak provided her with what was effectively invisibility, and when she had come, no one had even seen her until she took the cloak off. She was naked underneath.

  I could have gotten insecure or uneasy about what I thought was happening now, but why? And, I realized that I had a way to at least partially verify my hypothesis. I had an elven sight that allowed me to see things with a sense other than my eyes that would verify some of my guesses.

  I closed my eyes and used my Elven sight to scan the situation. I looked to where the girls stood talking and picked out Shaheen. I looked for the ribbons of connection and relationship that emanated from her. Who was she most connected to emotionally? I picked the largest chord that I could find, and sure enough, just as I had guessed, it led directly back to me. Even though, as far as I knew, we had never met, Shaheen felt more connected to me than anyone else in the world right now. And as the girls chatted, I saw the connections between Shaheen and all of them quickly growing stronger. In fact, the only connections that Shaheen had were to all of us, and small ones to the children, Jack and Tanya, and the older girl, April. April was supposedly Alice’s daughter, but was actually a foundling child that Alice had taken as her own when Alice was just 13 years old.

  Here was my guess and what I knew of the situation that we were in: Shaheen was a powerful elf. Well, part-elf. But she had more elf blood, or at least more elveness, than any of the rest of us. Elves were drawn to elves. There was an affinity, and a pull by nature to mate with another with Elven heritage. Each time a part-elf mated with another part-elf, the bloodline of their children was re-purified. Each time two part-elves had a child, the offspring was more Elven than either parent. We were naturally drawn to mates who would increase the talents of our children. Lucy, who was part-elf herself, had chosen Gerald, a non-elf, and so had her sister Jean, Val’s mother, but that was unusual. Because Val’s father was not part-elf, Val herself had less elf blood than her mother. But the normal thing was to mate with someone stronger. That’s how my five women ended up being with me. And, the attraction was very strong, to the point where the idea of not being with each other was unthinkable.

  Now, the fact was that we were the only Elven descendants in the village. And we were supposedly rare, so there might not be any others in any of the nearby villages. So, if Shaheen was ever going to have a husband again, it was probably going to be me. If she wanted to be a wife again, she would probably choose me. The fact that she had come to us today, and that she had immediately removed her clothing, indicated to me at least, that she intended to be part of my family. A woman didn’t get naked with strangers. Yes, Lucy swam with us naked, but we made allowances for that because she was my mother-in-law in a sense, being mated to Val’s father. Families could bathe together, but Lucy was a bit freer about it with us than was probably normal. And because Shaheen was so stunningly beautiful, the fact that she was 280 older than me didn’t bother me at all right now. She didn’t look older. She looked great.

  There was also the widow-wife tradition that came into play in situations like this. When a widow needed a husband, she was often taken in by a man and his mates under a special arrangement called a widow-wife. There wasn’t really any concrete difference between a widow-wife and any other wife, but for certain reasons, which I found out about a few days ago, it made it easier for a widow to find a new husband and family. Shaheen was a widow. If she intended to be a wife again, the widow-wife tradition, and the fact that she was part elf, almost dictated that she would be my mate and part of my house. I think that Val had alluded to it when she muttered, “Like we said before about Alice and Brenda.” Alice and Brenda had joined us as widow-wives.

  Shaheen had already announced that she planned to move in with us. She wouldn’t do that, not just announcing it as a fact before the fact, unless she had decided that I was going to take her as another wife in my house. Yeah, it seemed like a big decision, but there wasn’t any reasonable alternative for any of us. If she wanted a husband, I was her only reasonable choice. She felt deeply connected to me emotionally for some reason, and I was feeling a good attraction to her in return. Things had worked out so well so far when we went with what seemed to be happening, so this new thing wasn’t as uncomfortable as I would have expected.

  Finally, there was the simple fact that it was “right”, and anything else at this point would be “wrong”. We needed Shaheen. She needed us. Not having her as part of the family with us would deprive all of us of some great treasures that we could only have if we were all together. Yes, if I was right, I would love Shaheen, the same as the rest of them. And as I lie back in the grass looking at the ladies, I couldn’t help but think about what a very pleasant idea “loving Shaheen” seemed to be. Yes, this meant adding a sixth woman to the bedroom, but what choice did I have? We were essentially obligated to take care of each other. Our ancestry more or less demanded it.

  On a lark, I reached out to Shaheen with my senses and tried to speak to her silently, the way that Lucy and I had learned to do.

  I said, “Shaheen, will you truly love me?”

  I heard her answer in my head, saying, “I know that you will love me, and for that reason, I will love you. I already do. Because I already know how tender you will be toward me. How are you speaking to me? You have skills that I wasn’t aware of. We are going to have to spend some time getting to know each other.”

  I said, “Do you want to make love with me? Am I attractive to you?”

  She responded, “More than you can imagine. I’ve been lonely for a very long time.”

  I said, “Brace yourself.”

  She said, “Why?”

  I said, “Because I’m going to touch you.”

  And then I sent a small burst of love and relationship down the chord connecting us. At first, I sent a wave of feelings the size of a plum, but I followed it with a grapefruit, and then a cantaloupe, and finally a watermelon. And then I reversed the sequence and sent the cantaloupe, the grapefruit, and the plum. The process took about a minute. At the end, Shaheen was breathing heavily as she turned away from the girls and looked directly at me where I was sitting several yards away.

  I felt her say, “Elf Boy! That was nice! You’re just full of surprises. You got me all aroused and curious now. I haven’t been touched physically for a long time either. No one has touched my skin for a very long time. I’m looking forward to feeling it again. So, you’re in agreement with this? That you take me as a mate? A widow-wife?”

  I said, “We both know that there’s really no distinction between wife and widow-wife. You come to my house as a wife, the same as the others. B
ut of course, entirely unique. Do you girls still have things to talk about, or are we settled?”

  She turned her back to me, to speak to the women again, but I heard her say, “Almost done. You just made it a lot easier. There’s still the matter of April. But we’re almost done.”

  I thought, ah, that’s right. They need to talk about how to help April become a woman. Not a 15-year-old girl, but a 27-year-old woman. That might be tricky to do without traumatizing her too much. Alice had told April that she was much younger than she actually was and for some reason, April had never matured physically to match her true age. She, and everyone else, thought that she was a 15-year-old girl. In fact, she was the same age as Dawn and just a few years younger than Harmony and Val. She needed to transition into her true age.

  A few minutes later, the ladies returned and sat down in a circle with me again.

  Val said, “Ronin, we’ve talked it over, and I hope this isn’t a surprise to you, but we all need you to agree to take Shaheen as a widow-wife. For a lot of reasons.”

  I smiled and said, “I know about several reasons, and yes, we absolutely owe it to her and to ourselves to take Shaheen as one of our mates. The age difference is strange, but I’m OK with it. Is everyone in agreement? I love all of you. But this has to happen, and we all know it, and I can’t think of any reason why it shouldn’t happen, and no way that it can be any different. Everyone close your eyes. Good, now, everyone who thinks that Shaheen must be one of our mates, even if you don’t really want it, raise your hand. OK, now everyone who wants her to be one of our mates, raise your hand. OK, now everyone who does not want Shaheen to be mated to us, raise your hand. Good. Open your eyes.”

  I said, “All of you say that you want this. But I want to hear a bit more from some of you. First, Dawn. Dawn, tell me what you think of it.”

  Dawn said, “Ronin, I love her already. And it’s like we have discussed every time, with Harmony and with Alice and with Brenda. We will miss something wonderful if her love, and her skills, aren’t added to our own. It increases our survivability. In many ways. We all want it. And besides, look at her for goodness’ sake! I won’t be jealous, but Sweetie, you have to love that! What’s the thing about Brenda having breast milk though?”