He flew, feet hardly touching the ground as he ran across the plains, his pale hair streaming behind him. He had never run so fast and the pain was building in his legs but he didn’t relent. Red lines of blood soaked into the back of his fine tunic and ran in streaks mingling with his sweat. Behind him he left the scent green moss and cold steel, but also a lingering, unfamiliar, scent that didn’t suit him. Terror.

Ahae watched the moon in wonder, marvelling at its pale cloak as she made her way up the narrow path. Normal men would have clung to the cliff face but she wandered the trail with complete disregard. Under her breath she sang quietly, her oddly lilting voice only adding to the stillness that hung, dead, in the air. The path was widening ahead of her and she could see a glimpse of the end of the path with every twist and turn. “Land that called us ever homewards,” she sang softly.

He had reached the trees and even they didn’t slow him down. Branches tore at his skin eager for a taste of his ochre blood but he healed as soon as the skin was broken leaving no footstep or spot of blood to mark his passing. The trees were thinning. He could see the path. She had been here.

Ahae surveyed the land from her position at the top of the cliff calmly. Below her the earth was shrouded in fog and spray from the torrent of water that leapt off the edge to her right. With slow deliberate movements she crept to the edge, mesmerised by the swirling of the fog as it undulated beneath her. “We will go home across the mountains,” she sang softly as her ebony black hair curled around her face, seeking solace from the biting winds.

He nearly slipped thrice as he sped through the maze of twists and turns that lead to the cliff face but clung grimly to the rock face and plunged on. The locket at his marble collar bones glinted silver under the moonlight. The path opened out in front of him and he caught a glimpse of Ahae’s face as she turned to smile at him.

Ahae turned calmly to greet her love, her only, her reason for life and smiled. He was perfect. He had always been perfect. The moon reflected his silver hair, caressed his marble face, neck, collarbones and rendered his face with an expression of painstakingly beautiful anguish. His face was tilting and she realised she was falling. She could hear him cry out as he ran towards her but he was already lost from view as she let gravity pull her ever faster towards mother earth.

He leapt over the edge after her, not even bothering to check his stride. She was still staring up at him, smiling, as they fell. He extended one hand trying to reach her, to speed his descent, to cushion her fall. The ground was rushing up to meet them and the fog parted to reveal rocks, moss, and water and then they landed.