Something mystic

Down a shallow shaft in Van Buren, there is the hot spring pool. We bathe there, Rogger and I. Pem washes herself, of course. But Pem! We still cannot find her.

I am panicky about it as I show Stephane the hot spring pool.

“I am sorry, William, that my arrival disturbed your friend so. I have no wish to bring calamity to your life.”

Their words help some, but I am still worried. I say, “It isn’t your fault, Stephane. Pem is temperamental, and we have a history of getting upset and not dealing with it straight away.”

Stephane looks over their bare shoulder, smiles, says, “I get that.” They pull off the rest of their clothes and step into the hot spring pool.

I avert my eyes, though I do not want to. I want to keep staring at them for as long as I can. I find the feeling odd, like a compulsion.

I shake my head and turn around. Then, for some reason, say, “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling myself just now.”

I hear the soft splashing of bathing, then their voice, low and melodic, “I hope it’s not because of me.”

A hard swallow pushes down my throat, and I feel electricity through my arms, heat in my blood. “I … um. I’m not sure.” Goodness, William! I think. What a foolish goof you are.

With some trepidation, I peek over my shoulder.

Stephane has their arms folded on the side of the pool, glistening head resting on their arms, bare back and legs suspended gently in the water, slowly kicking in the pool.

They say, “Ah, William, it’s been so long since I’ve enjoyed a bath. How lucky you two are to have found this place.”

“Three,” I say. “There’s three of us. With Pem, remember?”

“Right,” Stephane says. “All apologies. Pem is certain to return.”

My senses seem more my own again, and I’m left with a kind of dry ache in my sinuses, so I hurry toward the surface, calling out behind me as I go, “Take your time and enjoy it!” Then I rush for Rogger, who is still poring over Stephane’s equipment, now with a travelogue in hand, turning it this way and that.

“Rogger!” I say.

“Hmm?”

“Rogger,” I lower my voice and grip her by the arm. “I think I am bewitched.”

Rogger gives me a curious eye, whilst the other continues to search the documents, says, “What makes ya say?”

“When I am with Stephane, I feel my will sapped, as though I am under a spell.”

Rogger lowers her eye to my trousers, then back up again, says, “Um hmm. I think that’s no weird magic, sir, only your living disposition toward matters carnal.”

I glance down at myself, then, embarrassed, shift my stance awkwardly, and say, “I don’t know, Rogger. This feels something entirely new to me. Something different, like a line in my mind, a surge through my body.”

“Um hmm,” Rogger says, now entirely focused again on the documents. She says, “If this is the Danderglass Range, then this must be the Opine Fields …”

“Rogger, this is serious.”

“Um hmm.”

“What if Stephane wishes us ill?”

“I tried to warn you of that, and you would not listen. Pem, too. But we’ve vetted them now, and I think their references solid. Just keep it in your pants, and all will be well, ma’boy.”

I frown, fold my arms. “It’s not just nature, Rogger. Something mystic is afoot. Mark my words.”

Rogger belches, strokes her beard, says, “Noted,” then carries own in her examinations.

Next time: “Tender Mercies”

Read the first cycle of Gaucho in installments on the Adventures in Secrecy website: 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > 11 > 12 > 13 > 14 > 15 > 16 > 17 > 18 > 19; or, in a continuous scroll on Tablo: https://tablo.com/t-van-santana/gaucho/.

Read the previous second cycle installments on the Adventures in Secrecy website: 1 > 2 > 3 > 4

Gaucho #24