Chapter 49: Descent From Mount Aeon
Malia and Charles lay on the dry, wild grass with their bodies wrapped as one. On and off, they dozed and woke and made love again, sometimes finishing, sometimes not, and fading back to sleep, still satisfied. It was the best they’d ever had.
The full, blood moon cast a red hue on the dark world while the white beams of searchlights flashed in the distance below but never neared enough to alarm them. They knew General Pinot’s soldiers would catch them eventually. The doom of their fate enlivened their lovemaking and added a thirst to drink their fill; fully, they drank.
They did not sleep. The hours passed in eternity and an instant until the moon fulfilled its arc, and the gray dawn promised the sun. Charles was asleep now, while Malia lay awake, listening to the birds chirping and darting from nest to air to hunt their breakfast for themselves and their newborn hatchlings.