2 The Promise

It was embarrassing how Maxixe always managed to get himself into such a mess. 

As usual this was not a realm that he enjoyed visiting much but he had a promise to keep.

This promise and his need to fulfill it was what made him reckless and throw caution to the wind.

It made him beg to exchange places with his cousin Aiden and ride the Wild Hunt in his stead.

Just for a chance to meet with Kaoma like he had promised when they were children. 

As time passed she managed to remember him less and less.

Since he no longer visited Kaoma in her dreams.

He was of the age to get married and his parents already handpicked a suitable bride for him.

But he could not forget Lady Kaoma and made up his mind to see her one last time.

Maxixe remembered Kaoma as a refreshing beauty.

Desirable, soft spoken with an adorable sense of humor.

Everything the women in his world were not.

As they were wicked and full of deceit.

Well known for their perverted nature and debauchery.

He wanted a partner that he could trust.

A home filled with warmth and laughter and children of his own. 

How could he forget the very first time he laid eyes on Kaoma?

She had just turned nine while he was already twelve.

He had been accompanying his cousin on a hunting trip.

When the prey they had been hunting crossed over into the human world.

At twelve years old he was very arrogant for his age.

Having already gained the reputation of a fearless warrior and a cunning leader.

Already men twice his age were jealous of his future and the potential of what Maxixe could become. 

Kaoma was very small for her age.

Looking more like a six year old in his eyes than a nine year old.

Frisky and full of energy she had managed to outrun the elderly women that were put in her charge.

She had been playing hide and seek in the woods when she grew weary of the game.

Then wandered out of the boundaries that her nannies had instructed.

It was then she spotted a piglet, with a sprinkle of light brown fur and a mane of black that went straight down its back.

Even then Kaoma was breathtakingly innocent, she made a pretty angelic face with her cherubic features.

A chubby face with cheeks begging to be pinched and the thickest blonde hair he ever laid eyes on.

Her face was flushed with excitement as she clutched the squealing pig crying out for his mama.

But Kaoma was determined to carry her new found pet home to the castle. 

He became a hero in her eyes when he swooped in to save her from the mama warthog.

That sprang out in a rage from its burrow when it heard the cries of its offspring.

"Let it go," Maxixe shouted.

At first she was surprised to see him but when she looked in the direction he pointed.

Then she saw the mama warthog kicking up dust to reach her child.

Kaoma started running with the piglet in hand.

Maxixe had to pry the piglet loose from Kaoma's hands.

Before the mama warthog could bore her to death with its massive tusks. 

She wailed for a few minutes on his chest, soaking through the white of his shirt.

Kaoma only stopped after he promised to take the place of the piglet and become her playmate instead.

Even then she was cute and bossy and managed to wrap him around her fingers.

The last time he saw her she was fifteen.

He had enticed her out into the woods on a midsummer's evening, to dance the night away.

It was then she made him promise to always return for her no matter what.

Her face was drunk with fairy wine and her lips stained with the crushed red berries.

Those intense amber eyes devoid of guile as she stared at him intently. 

Her desire for him, pleased him to his core.

It made him want to relieve her of her clothes and kiss every inch of her but even at fifteen she still looked at him like a playmate.

Simply wasn't the right time to take her as a bride.

For she saw him as nothing more than a friend.

Her being natural and innocent in the wanton ways of women made him hesitate.

Every time he returned to this realm Maxixe was stripped of his powers.

An agreement his parents enforced to make sure that he would not linger for too long in Kaoma's world.

The thought never occurred to him that if he stopped coming regularly.

She would one day forget him altogether. 

It was dumb of him to ride the Wild Hunt without the company of his loyal men. 

Evidently those riding in the Wild Hunt would be feeling crazed and driven out of their minds by power, it was incredibly dangerous to be around them.

Anyone caught in the Wild Hunt would be swept away by murderous intent to complete the tasks assigned to them.

Those gifted with the sight that managed to spot his entourage would feel compelled to leave their loved ones behind and join them. 

Once he crossed into this world being stripped of his powers immediately the horse did not recognize its rider and flung Maxixe from its back adding injury to insult.

He had not even thought to bring weapons, very brazen of him to think that no harm would come to him as long as he rode with the Wild Hunt. 

Clearly even the humans could see him as they snuck upon him while he rubbed his bruised fanny.

Soon ten of them surrounded him wearing the colors of Castle Hellshire retainers by some dumb luck he had at least managed to land in the same place as Kaoma.

"Take me to Lady Kaoma now," he ordered.

Maxixe's voice shook with authority but for some reason when he opened his mouth to speak no intelligible words would come out.

Another condition of leading the Wild Hunt was that only the members of his entourage could hear and understand him.

To these humans he was all but mute, just perfect for their wicked imaginations and what they had in store for him.