Deprivation- The Feast and the Famine

Chapter 18- A Knife & A Horse

The horse and the man surrounded her.  Their movements all blended into one until Claudia lost herself in the motion.  The smooth feel of the horse underneath her bent legs and Bennett’s warmth at her back seemed to come from the same being.  Only the taste of the wind rushing by was of a separate world. His mouth was on her neck. Hot breath steamed outwards into the chill air.  The horse’s mane twisted around her fingers on her left hand.  Her right hand enmeshed in Bennett’s hair.

Horse and rider both tightened as the steed came suddenly to a halt. A field, covered in bright autumn leaves swept out. They were surrounded by barren trees. The location was familiar by now, and memories of leaves in her hair and bark scratching her back flooded her made her feel flushed.

Bennett slid from the horse.  The world around them felt empty, like some beautiful haven from the t of the world. Claudia remained astride for a moment pressing her bare knees against the horse’s sides and feeling her heavy skirts on top of her legs like a barrier between her and the real world.

As Bennett set out his throwing knives on a stump, Claudia slid from the horse’s back. His fingers slid over the blades’ hilts in the same fashion they caressed her flesh. All men she knew hunted, even her step-brother who had the finesse of a sledgehammer, but this art of throwing knives seemed barbaric to her.

It fit Bennett who tasted of sweat and often had a slight lingering smell of booze.

“Teach me?” Claudia said as she moved behind him and slid her hands under his shirt. Anything he touched with such gentleness was something special. Though she’d seen him throw, it had never occurred to her that she might try it. Certainly, this was not a woman’s art, but in the end, she felt more like his possession than a proper woman.

Bennett picked up one of the knives and his thumb slid up and down the hilt, “These are your lessons after all.”

“Who knew the piano could be so fun,” Claudia said into the hair on his neck. One hand detached from him and took the blade. It held his warmth.

“You should be marrying me,” Bennett said. His hand curled around hers and helped her support the weight of the blade.   

“I love you,” She said and it was true.  He was her universe in the sunlight with the gleam of sweat on his brow.  No one and nothing else could matter.  His words were strange and out of place, her mind couldn’t hold them and as he guided her hand in throwing the blade, she tried to release the muddled confusion in her brain.

The knife was off target, the hilt striking the tree. Only when the silver gleam had disappeared into the grass did Bennett turn to face her.

“If I loved any woman it would be you,” Bennett said.  His eyes were strangely kind when she turned to face him.  She did not like it.  “We are cut from the same cloth, you and I.  How could I let you marry him? I can’t let you marry him.”

“He is my fiancée.”

“Break the contract. We will deal with the consequences. Neither of us will be happy with you married to him.”

“I cannot break the contract.”

“You mustn’t marry that man.  Do you want to be his?”

“No.  He is a fool,” Claudia smiled.  If her teeth had only been sharper, it would have been a cat’s smile.  “But never the less he is my betrothed.  We have what we have.”

Her hands busied themselves re-pinning her hair while Bennett turned and picked up another knife. He threw it with force and when it collided with the tree shards of bark flew free.