Nura and Anubis

Emerging from the corridor, Nura looked about the room. There were very few furnishings; chair and writing table, cushioned settee, many items on a wall of shelves and of course a bed. They were all fine pieces, just not as much as she would have expected. The room was quite small and enclosed, no windows or other doorways visible. The light was coming from a small table of various candles. It was enough light for her to see, though shadowed. She noticed it was placed as far away from the bed as possible. The room was scented with cinnamon and almond, the most pungent fragrances used in the rites of Burial. This was for her quite comforting since these scents reminded her of what she knew, and distracted her from these more disturbing new experiences.

Anubis himself lay stretched out upon the bed, now wearing a long white linen robe, loosely tied at the waist. His arm was drawn up over his eyes, his other hand rested upon his chest. Without seeming to move otherwise, he spoke flatly. "I left a robe for you on the chair. Likely too big but it should suffice."

Since his eyes were covered or at least his attention seemed away from her, she didn't make much fuss of laying aside the shift and putting on the robe. It was indeed too big. A good portion of it pooled on the floor at her feet. The sleeves draped long over her hands and she could nearly wrap it around her middle twice but tried to bunch it up instead then tied it. She giggled lightly at what an image she must make but got no reaction from Anubis.

Face gone solemn again, Nura stepped to the side of the bed. It was much larger than the cane one in the monument chamber. The four posts were draped with sheer linen. The other three sides were dropped down as veils. She released the fourth as she climbed onto the bed. Immediately she felt the much more comfortable mattress and lay down, stretching out as he did, on her back. She stared up at the fabric criss-crossing the top of the bed and chewed on her lip.

"No." Anubis said quietly. "I am not angry with you."

Nura looked aside to him. Still he had not moved. "Then you can hear my thoughts."

"Yes, at least those most prominent."

"You seem disturbed by something. If not me, then what?"

Anubis sighed. "I am sorry my Little Light. Long life. Many memories. Some things are too familiar and others are too long forgotten."

She lay still a moment, trying to sort out what meaning this might have for her and finding none. "If I did something to---"

"No, Nura, you have done nothing. My ghosts come unbidden. It was not you that called them." At last he drew his arm down and rolled on his side to look at her. Propped on one elbow, he twisted the fingers of his free hand in a stray lock of her hair. "I do worry though that I shall hurry you and to prevent that you must stand your ground. Say when tis enough or too much too soon. I cannot always trust my own judgement, especially… at such times."

Nura looked into the polished onyx and smiled softy. "But you are the Guide, are you not?"

He reflected her smile in his eyes and on his face. "Yes, so they say. Still---"

"Sssshhh, dear Guide, this is a new lesson for me. It may be difficult or uncomfortable to learn, I cannot know, but I have wish to learn, however frightened or reluctant I may seem."

"Promise me then, always truth. If I ask, you shall speak your mind plainly, honestly. Even if I do not ask, you must promise to stay me and tell me 'Tis enough.' Hm?" He extended a hair-wrapped finger to draw a soft line across her cheek as she nodded agreement.

Anubis dropped back onto the mattress then and again covered his eyes with his arm. Nura looked at him a moment then rolled onto her side toward him. She whispered, "Are you in pain? Do your eyes ache?"

A soft "Yes." hissed from him. He took a deep breath, sighed and swallowed before his hushed voice continued. "Though in jackal form the light is not as cruel, still it pains me after long hours. It shall pass." She saw a broad grin appear on his face beneath the concealing arm. "Tis the desert. What am I to expect but Ra's torch? Yes?" But the grin faded too quickly and again there was a hard swallow.

Nura lightly lay her hand on his chest then rested her head there too, looking down across his white robes until she closed her eyes, wishing she could help take away his pain or at least ease it.

She felt the resonance of his voice vibrate through his chest "But you do, Nura." His free hand raised to gently stroke her now dry silken hair. "Your presence is more comfort than you can know."

Slipping from beneath his hand, Nura curled away from him and left the bed. He listened and, in his way, watched as she went to the table of candles, putting them out one by one.

His voiced stopped her. "Not all. You need not darken all."

With a nod she continued to put the candles out, leaving the two largest ones. The chamber was very shadowed to her now but she could see her way back to the bedside. She looked upon his white robe and the contrast of his dark skin and hair against it. Looking down at the oversized robe wrapped around her own body, she loosed the belt and let it fall open. The robe slipped from her shoulders and she caught it to loosely fold the linen and lay it on the chair again. When she climbed back onto the bed, she lay very close to Anubis, stretching her body alongside his. Once again she lightly lay her head upon his chest.

The husky deeper tone returned to Anubis' voice, "You know I… You know that I can see without these eyes…"

"Yes and you shall have to satisfy my curiosities on that… some other time." Her arm draped over his waist, fingers tracing idly along a fold of his robe.

Anubis let his free hand find her hair again then his fingers drifted lightly across her shoulder and drew downward along her arm.

Nura warmed to his touched and her own voice grew softer. "I have imagined that many have served your bed as well as your bath."

To her surprise, Anubis replied with a curt "No."

"No?"

"No. Some. Not many and none for some time." Anubis' arm lifted from his eyes, though he kept them closed. He drew his arm around her and rubbed along her bare back. His fingers sent shivers of warmth through her that he most surely felt radiating against his own body. "Such a hollowness to idolatry and even more so in…" His hand paused upon her back a moment before resuming its rhythmic caress. "I pray I have not fooled myself into seeing something more in your eyes, in your heart… just because I have so wanted it to be there."

Nura turned her head to press a kiss to his bare chest between the gap in his robe. She whispered against his skin. "If your sight is true, then you will have seen that my heart is also, especially in this."

Anubis caught his breath. He was still for a long moment. Nura raised up on one elbow to look on his face. A tear slipped from his tightly closed eyes and slid down the side of his face. Her own eyes had gone moist as well. Slowly Anubis released his tense breath and opened his eyes to her. With tender slow motions he turned her onto her back upon the mattress and leaned over her. His long hair fell across his shoulders and the black satin brushed lightly across her breasts. He looked down into her face, searching within and without. "How can others not see? How can this soft warm light of you not draw them all? How is it that I was made a god and you a handmaiden when to my eyes, you are a goddess of light… with all mercy, kindness, love, purity and no pain."

Nura blushed and smiled warmly. She found enough voice to whisper, "Only for Anubis... only for you, god or no."

He leaned in to press his lips to hers in a tender light kiss, at first, then was compelled to deepen it. Nura responded with her mouth as her hands slid up his arms, across his shoulders, until her fingers drew lightly against his neck. Anubis pressed his hand to her waist, thumb brushing her, then slowly his hand ascended til he felt the full swell of her breast cupped within. She took a deep breath against the kiss in response. He shifted slowly to press his knee between Nura's legs and drew it upward to slightly part them then stopped. Nura could feel the warmest flesh of him, which she had only glimpsed earlier, as he pressed her thigh.

When they broke from the kiss, Anubis again searched her face. Nura's lashes slowly raised to let her golden brown eyes return his gaze. There was a question on Anubis' face, a silent question in raised brows. She searched the depths of shimmering onyx eyes and answered the Jackal's unspoken question with a slow nod and a nervous but soft smile.

Nura closed her eyes again as his head lowered to press his face to her cheek then kiss her neck. Her fingers continued to caress the nape of his neck and his shoulders while she tried to force any remaining fear from her mind. Anubis continued his mouth's attention to her neck and shoulder as his hand left her breast, sliding downward across her tummy until she felt it slip between her thighs again. Much different than the sensation in the pool, she could feel his fingertips caressing her growing moisture.

Fingers parted her wet warmth but as Nura took in a quick breath, they paused. She nodded against his neck, arms wrapping around his shoulders tightly. The fingers then proceeded to make slow and tender exploration.

Beneath her ear, Anubis' deep liquid voice spoke across the moisture from his kisses. "All is well?"

She released the breath she had been holding, nodded again and mumbled against his neck. "Yes… Yes. Well."

Anubis raised up slightly and Nura lay her head back against the mattress. His hand worked ever so lightly between her thighs as he moved her legs apart further to lie between them. His stiffened member brushed near his hand's attention. Nura's eyes opened to see him watching her face. Her breath was shallow, heart pounding. There was still a trace of fear or worry in her eyes.

His words drifted to her quietly, comfortingly "No vows. Neither god nor handmaiden. Only Nura and Anubis. Our hearts and always… your choice."

Her hands pressed across his chest, feeling his heart was pounding as well. She looked to her paler hands on his smooth bronze skin then back up to his face. As her eyes closed slowly, she nodded. Her lips formed a "Yes."

The caressing, tantalizing, maddening fingertips left her and something different of him brushed her. She felt a streak of lightning run up through her as he drew the tip of his manhood along her moisture to lightly touch her most tender spot. Nura's eyes opened again and still he was there, watching over her.

Anubis pressed his hips in slowly and let her own moisture and need begin to take him in. Nura let out a quiet gasp as his pressure parted her and slipped him just inside where he paused a moment, then continued his slow descent within.

Nura's hands went down across his ribs then around to hug herself to him, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. He leaned on one elbow to let his other hand draw along her side, follow the curve of her hip then apply gentle upward pressure beneath her thigh. He prompted her to raise her knee, easing his slow progress to her depth. Nura felt a sharp twinge in the midst of his progress but it was lost again in the sensation of fullness, the feeling of completion, a wholeness with him inside her.

When Anubis reached the last of her, his hips fully against hers, he breathed a quiet moan against her neck and held there a moment with her warm softness wrapped tightly around him.

Nura's fingers flexed along his back. A hard swallow started her breathing once again as Anubis began to withdraw from her. Such a sadness overtook her but it was gone the moment she realized he was pressing in again. The feeling lessened with each subsequent stroke, but each time he withdrew there was a veil of grief forced away by the satisfaction of fullness once again.

Turning her face into his neck, Nura tasted his skin. She felt him shiver within and around her. He gently nibbled along her shoulder, beginning to moan quietly against his kisses there. His rhythm grew more urgent and began to shift her so Nura further raised her knees and drew her legs up around him. This gave him deeper access and they both vibrated with moaned satisfaction.

Anubis raised up to lock his arms at either side of Nura whose head settled back onto the mattress. He looked once again upon the fine curves of her face, how her silky raven hair lay strewn about. Golden brown eyes opened halfway. Her face was somewhat drawn, a look of discomfort in any other arena but this. He knew from experience and her thoughts flowing to him that she was merely overcome with thés new world, the force and depth of feelings in it.

Nura let her gaze drift downward from his face. She took in the sight of him braced over her. Long tendrils of his hair brushing across her breasts in rhythm with his hips. Despite the depth of the shadows in the darkened room, she could see their joined hips and his motion between her thighs. The near parting and rejoining, echoing the grief and pleasure that struck at the heart of her.

Something he touched, something he tapped deep within her began to grow with intensity. She felt an urging, something wanting. It both frightened and enthralled her. His labored breathing became her own rhythm. Nura's chest rose and fell as Anubis took in his own air and released it. Sincere concern appeared on her face as she looked up to his eyes again, his shining fathomless eyes. This time it was he who solemnly nodded, reassuring her that all was well.

So, she gave in to the urging. She let go of the last thread of fear and let her mind slip away into their joined bodies. She felt him swell within her. His pace grew more insistent. She heard her own moans grow louder in the small chamber. She felt herself tighten against his thrusts and finally pressed her head back into the mattress as her hips quivered against him.

Anubis' hoarse voice burst out a shuddered groan as her tightness forced him over the edge. His body stiffened with the rush of release, his issue pulsing deep within her. Nura's body responded further, drawing at him. For a moment, neither dared take a breath. The spell captured both and held them locked together.

A jerking pulse from Anubis' hips brought Nura back from the stasis. She found herself panting, shivering. Her fingers grasped his arms to hold him to her and save her from being lost. Anubis was panting as well and finally let his body drape over hers. His lips brushed her jawline then sought her mouth.

His kiss deepened even as he began to slip from within her. His arms wrapped beneath her and drew her with him as he rolled to his side, cradling her against him. When their lips parted, Anubis tilted his head to kiss her brow. His coarse, husky whisper reached into her misty mind "All is well?"

Nura gathered enough of herself from the mist to make a slow nod. The rest continued to drift about, free, content. On the fringes she felt his tender fingertips brush her hair back from her face. She heard a distant smooth voice softly tell her "Then sleep, my Little Light." but she was already drifting there.

~ fin~