Fiery Love

In the woods.

~Prium and Miargos~

"Don't you think this is Madness?"

Miargos' pace behind her gave her a sense of freedom, yet the stalker would not stop getting on her nerves. She spun around at him and yelled,

"You know what madness is? Madness is you following me around. Following me about like a leech, whose anterior sucker connects to its host, giving it a lofty benefit to be stuck on the skin for as long as it wants."

The fact that she halted was like a blessing to him. He had learnt to see beyond her bickers and indifference. He had learnt from his father that one's first love is like a gun put to your temple, whose trigger had been bothered. Just a movement of the finger and off the bullet goes, eating through the skin, crunching bones. Every obstacles in its way tantamount to bygone.

He had been able to make just an iota of sense from that Maxim. And most times, he had knuckled under the fact that his father had only gibbered. But that was the only thing he could hold unto since the death of his father.

He got to her, towering over her, her lips pushing up a sneer as she looked away, towards the endless school of trees.

"You know I love you, Prium."

"There we go again. The cliche. What do you know about love?"

"I don't really think I know anything about it. But I'll be very grateful if you could teach me or help me learn more about it, with you as the subject."

"This jerk. Whack."

She turned away from him, her light but bruised feet sweeping past the litters of fallen leaves decking the path. Her sandals sodden.

"You get more annoying as each day passes by."

He didn't say a think. He chuckled instead and kept on the pace. She stopped suddenly and turned halfway to him, feeling the heat of his gaze,

"I know what to do. I'll give out my womb as agreed with Poseidon. Then I'll joyfully get rid of both you and that crazy Athena."

She resumed walking down the path as he hurried to her and grabbed her left arm. He spun her around almost falling on her. A strange heat oozing from both their bodies in such cozy forest.

"Are you foolish? You would give him your womb? Is that how obsessed you are with destroying Athena?"

He paused as she fought her arm free of his hold. He let go.

"There's something I don't understand. Why are are you so keen on wanting to destroy her? I'm sure it's not just because you think she's a witch misleading the people. I'm sure it has something to do with your father."

She chuckled for a while then allowed herself to be distracted by the recent movement in the woods. Twas just a squirrel climbing up the oak.

"You don't seem to understand it. First of all, Vulcan is no longer my father. My father was beheaded. I was with him that day in the rings after he had been condemned to be beheaded. I saw him die, his fallen head lying separately from the body. My weary arms battling with the stray Ravens bent on making a feast of his corpse. And then after few hours, I saw him rise up. But I wasn't drunk. I saw clearly. I was knelt, looking at the front, my back to the corpse, fighting the ravens off, as I watched Vulcan stand up. When I turned my back to the corpse, I saw yet the head and body lying lifelessly on the cold damp earth. And soon, the corpse melted into thin air and the new Vulcan, a clone, was birthed."

She tried to drag in the loops of air she had squandered, a supplement for successive words.

"What else do you want to hear? So stop disturbing me and go back. Matter-of-fact, your friend left a long while ago, why are you so obsessed? There are lots of ladies in the village. Go and choose one of them. Better still, Tahni is there. She might fancy you too. Quit being a chain of mill tied around my neck. I won't warn you again."

As she made to leave, he grabbed her wrist. She glared at him, her eyes, if capable, would had shot a thread of laser.

"You want to marry your fath-- sorry, Vulcan?!"

She hit his hand off hers and rolled her eyes. She walked off but he followed her.

"Why don't you try kill a lion if you're really courageous and would do anything to have him? Why don't you? At least he asked for the heart of a lion or your womb!"

She shook her head in frustration as she kept up her pace. She didn't bother looking back at him nor giving him a reason to keep following her.

"I can't just watch you waste your life because of your defected way of thought. Even if he's no longer your father, he still thinks of your as daughter. Plus why is Tahni, your sister, younger sister for crying out loud, didn't choose to marry him? Most times I feel like Tahni should had been the eldest, because she acts mature compared to you. But who can ridicule the works of the gods."

He paused suddenly and yelled.

"Why are you acting without thoughts?"

She halted again and turned to him. This time, a sheet of fiery frown spread across her face.

"You think this is easy for me?"

He scoffed and ran few of his fingers through the rumpled curls of his hair.

"You're driving me crazy. Are you even listening to yourself? Easy for you? Like what do you -- Ah!!"

He choked on the words. He seemed not to find the appropriate word with which to complement the predecessors.

"Yes! I love my father and I would marry him. What am I saying? He's no longer my father. I love Vulcan, I would marry him. If I don't marry him, nobody does! I will stop at nothing."

"Prium!"

He called as loudly as he could, but then his countenance fell and the rage spread across his face was tucked in, swapped by concern and worries.

"Prium."

He called again while she yelled,

"Don't you ever call my name again. Unworthy tongue."

But then he pointed his finger. At first she thought he was pointing at her but then traced the tip of the finger to the supposed direction. Twas past her.

"What?"

She pushed a lump down her throttle. Her eyes bulging at the socket.

"Stay where you are. Don't freak out. Don't look back."

He chose the words but she threw them all in his face as she turned,

"What is the fucker--"

Her pharynx took a break as she shuddered at the sight of the growling wild cat. A lion!