It was mid March and the night was windy. Most of the riders slept on unaware, but Buck tossed in his bunk, listening to the wind. Something was odd about the night and he couldn't sleep. He had almost drifted off at last when he heard a voice outside calling him. "Running Buck... come to me..." It was a woman's voice and very beautiful. Buck stood up and walked out the door without a hint of hesitation or fear. He felt he could trust this voice with his life. Buck followed the sound of the voice into the field behind the bunkhouse, scarcely noticing that he was unshod and in his underwear. The night did not feel cold anymore. Warmth seemed to envelope him, the heat increasing as he got closer. He looked up and there in the middle of the field was the figure of a woman. She stood tall and proud. Her hair was long and brown, tangled with crisp dry leaves and tiny twigs. A rough tunic made of the shaggy winter hide of a doe covered her curvaceous body from the tops of her full breasts to the middle of her thigh. The heat that Buck felt seemed to be emanating from her. Buck tried to focus on her eyes, but found he could not keep his gaze on them for very long. They seemed to be brown like his. "Who are you?" Buck asked. "Do you not know? I am the Earth, Running Buck. I am the mother of all, the giver of life." Her voice was like the whisper of the wind. "What do you want from me?" "It is time for me to change to Spring. I need to bloom to new life. I need your seed, Running Buck. Bring me to life." She moved closer to him as she spoke, and claimed his lips in a kiss. "My- my seed?" he gasped, pulling back. "But... I..." "Shhh," she whispered like the wind rustling through the trees, and put her arms around him. "Do not argue with your destiny, Running Buck. I need the seed of a pure young man for new life to spring out over the land, and you have been chosen." Buck racked his brain as she kissed him again. There were legends like this in his tribe, he thought he recalled. Sometimes young men snuck off in the middle of the night and came back in the morning looking dazed, but it was always hinted that they'd been meeting with sweethearts from another village. Could it be true? She ran her hands down his firm body and quickly stripped him of his clothes. Buck gasped in delight as her hands brushed across his naked chest and over his nipples. Boldly he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. He tried to figure out how to rid her of her garment, but she stopped him and took it off herself. It took him a moment to realize that she hadn't taken it off, it had just disappeared. Buck stood back for a moment to admire her nude body. Her breasts were full and soft, her stomach rounded, her hips wide. This was the body of a woman who had birthed and nourished children. He found his arousal growing all the more stronger. He reached out again to fondle her beautiful breasts and tease her nipples as she had done to him. She drew him into another kiss and her tongue danced with his. When she released his mouth they were both lying on the ground. They laid there side by side, stroking and teasing each other's bodies. She moaned and sighed like Buck imagined a real woman would, not like he would have expected of a spirit. Her flesh was warm and soft and real. He kissed her neck underneath her earlobe and tasted her sweat. Perhaps she sensed that he was thinking too much about the situation, for she rolled him onto his back. The ground was warm and soft beneath him. Buck gasped as she straddled his body and slid his manhood into her in one quick movement. She was hot and wet and slippery inside, and Buck groaned aloud as she rode him agonizingly slowly. She leaned down to kiss him and he was able to look into her eyes at last. They were shifting from brown to green to golden and flashes of every color in between. He was transfixed; the whole world was the flashing of those eyes and the sensations in his groin. He lost all concept of time; at some point her cries became more urgent and her movements faster and harder. As she tightened around him, his own release came and he screamed and thrust his hips harder and harder at her. When at last he lay spent on the ground, she collapsed on top of him and covered him like a warm blanket. After a few moments of steadying their ragged breathing, she rose and stood beside him. She had changed so completely that he wasn't sure it was the same woman who'd lain down with him. Her hair was the golden of daffodils and entwined with wildflowers and budding green twigs. Her body was firm, her breasts high and small, her abdomen flat. Her dress was the same cut as before, but seemed to be fashioned of moss and fresh green leaves. And her eyes were green, only green. "Thank you, Running Buck, for the pleasure you have brought. The land will blossom now." She leaned down to kiss him as he drifted off to sleep. When Buck woke up, the first light of dawn was breaking. He was lying naked in the field, and he was cold. His body was sticky and sweaty. He sat up and saw his clothing folded in a neat pile at his feet. A robin was chirping somewhere nearby. He looked over and the trees were in bud. All at once the memories of the dream that had caused him to sleepwalk out into the field came back, and he blushed. He quickly pulled on his clothing and staggered back to the bunkhouse sheepishly. Fortunately no one was awake yet and he was able to procure clean clothing and hit the shower early. Later that morning as he rode, he glanced out over the fields and trees that had burst into life overnight, and wondered what the truth really was, dream or vision or reality, or somewhere in between? Whatever it was, spring had definitely come. Email Jeni TYR EXPRESSions Home