A Warrior's Journey (25 page)

I pulled the vessel up between two buildings
and shut it off. We made our way out of the vessel and into one of
the adjacent buildings.

It was eerie to say the least. Dust covered
over top of everything, but the everything in question looked as if
it had been all left out yesterday.

Thanic went about making food for the
children and the rest of us from a supply we had pretty much stolen
while in the city. All matter of dishonest practices were afoot on
this holy mission it would seem. Would the Creator really honor it
I wondered. Talaric had the first watch and he went off to explore
the town for any hidden dangers. I decided to join him.

Larc searched around the store for anything
that might prove useful. Evette had sat down on a box and had
seemed to space out into some form of semi consciousness. She
looked about ready to fall over at any minute.

He found a rack of clothes and leafed
through them glancing from the clothes in question to then
meassuringly glance over to Evette’s back mentally judging the fit.
A button down shirt looked like it would work and he pulled it out
giving it a good shake to clear it of dust and hopefully any
spiders that might be residing in it.

Orhanin had disappeared, but now reappeared
carrying several items that made it clear to Larc that they were
both on the same mission. Their eyes met and Orhanin pointed upward
to the second story meaningfully.

Larc nodded and gave him the shirt.

Larc went over to Thanic and picked up one
of the water jugs they had brought from the city. Thanic glanced up
in question of the action.

In a low tone Larc responded, “Keep the
children with you. Take them outside if you think it best.”

Thanic’s eyes drifted to Evette and then
back to Larc and he nodded his understanding. Larc went upstairs to
see how Orhanin was coming. He pretty much had everything set up.
Larc went back downstairs trying to mentally prepare himself for
what was to come.

Evette was still sitting where she had been,
but her head was bent over farther. She was asleep. Larc leaned
down and scooped her up gently and she startled awake. She glanced
up at him, but he didn’t offer her any answers as to what was going
on.

As he climbed the stairs she clamped up in
one tight ball of muscled tension and in aggravation Larc said,
“Relax, I think you know me better than to think I would be that
kind of an animal!”

Evette studied him closely, she didn’t know
how, but she did know him enough to know that he was better than
what she was thinking him capable of in her panicked thoughts. She
wanted to resist anyway, but she really didn’t have the ability to
do even that still left in her. He carried her into a room with a
big bright window in it. Two chairs and a stool were arranged
before it. Orhanin was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the
stool and had a small table pulled up beside him with stuff laid
out on it.

What were they intending on doing to
her?

Larc set her down on the stool facing
Orhanin and before she could hold onto it, her coat was whisked
away by Larc.

Larc sat down behind her and as she started
to rise his hands on her shoulders pulled her back down gently, but
firmly. She wasn’t going anywhere.

She was trapped!

“I’ll kill you if you touch me!” Evette
intoned vehemently, as she gave Orhanin a baleful stare of
promise.

The big man didn’t seem impressed by her
threat. He looked at her for a moment and then glanced down and
folded his hands together and after a moment he began to talk
softly in a gruff tone, as one who didn’t often talk much about
private matters would. “Once upon a time I was married to a woman
that held my heart in the palm of her hand. We had a little girl. I
was away on a mission. It was always hard to leave them, but it was
my job as warrior. While I was gone some bad men in the area came
into my house and violated both my wife and my little girl, for
several days. When I got home my little girl was dead and my wife
only had enough life left in her to tell me how much she loved me
and who had done this evil thing. She died in my arms a few moments
later and with her the last of everything I ever loved was gone. It
took me seven years to tract down all those responsible for the
death of my family, but I found them and I made them pay one by one
until justice was done. I of all men walking upon the world of any
of my Lord’s creation would never molest a woman, but if you think
I am you have my permission to kill me with my own knife.”

Orhanin drew a knife from his belt and
pressed it into one of Evette’s hands. Her fingers closed around
the handle reflexively, but it was obvious the story had made its
full impact on her.

The shirt Evette wore was heavily spotted
with blood and it was already dried stuck to her chest and side.
Orhanin pulled out another smaller knife and began to cut the top
of the shirt off of Evette’s shoulders.

Evette’s hand that held the knife shook
violently, but Orhanin seemed to not notice it. He finished cutting
through the sleeves and sides of the shirt and the back half of the
shirt fell away, but the front half was held in place by the dried
blood.

Orhanin glanced at Larc, “Could you get me
the warm water Larc?”

Orhanin had brought up water earlier and set
it in the window sill. It wasn’t really warm, but at least it
wasn’t cold. Larc handed it to Orhanin and then sat back down
behind Evette.

Orhanin looked into Evette’s eyes and said,
“This is going to hurt and you need to be steady so Larc is going
to hold you.”

Evette nodded slowly and turned the knife
that had been given to her end for end and offered it back to
Orhanin, who took it and laid it on the table easily within her
reach.

Larc scooted up and brought his legs up
either side of Evette’s legs and pressed down on her shoulders. As
his hands touched her bare shoulders she jumped and breathed
heavier, but stayed where she was. Orhanin picked up the water jug
and began to pour it slowly on the bloody fabric of the shirt, as
he tried to soften up the dried blood.

As gentle as he was it wasn’t enough. As he
pulled the fabric down it came grudgingly away from the jagged
puncture wounds and surrounding bruises causing them to open up and
bleed again.

Larc’s teeth ground harshly together as his
jaw shifted hard. He gazed appalled at the sight of Evette’s
injuries. Her trembling body under his hands caused hard emotion to
boil through him. Her breathing was hard, but other than that she
didn’t make a sound.

Orhanin went to pull the shirt away and
Evette gasped out loudly, which is when Orhanin saw her side.

“I’m so sorry!” He whispered out as his face
twisted in empathetic pain.

He loosened the dried blood with more water
and pulled the shirt free from her side.

Orhanin’s face was an unreadable mask, as
with a dampened cloth and more water, he brushed away the remnants
of dried blood from off her chest and torso. Larc was glad that
Evette couldn’t see his face, because he knew it must be murderous
in appearance.

“I’ll break their necks!” He muttered under
his breath.

He didn’t think she had heard him, but she
turned her head slightly and caught him with one eye, “I already
did.” She whispered out painfully, as she closed her eyes and
shocked him by leaning back against his shoulder more fully.

Larc glanced over to Orhanin who mouthed
out, “Keep talking to her!”

“Who did this to you? The Committee?”

“No they just slapped me around a bit for
letting you escape. After that they let me go home with the
understanding that if I messed up again my life was forfeit. I
didn’t much care because I had plans of leaving the country with
the children anyhow. I would have done it to, if it hadn’t been for
a fellow agent determined to make his big career move with my
demise.”

“How’s that?”

Evette went on to explain about the children
and the gold. Larc could see tears tracking down her face that had
little to do with the pain she was in.

“Evette?”

Her eyes opened and he saw the self
incrimination and anguish that marred their blue depths.

“It’s not your fault what happened to the
children. Your actions were noble ones done out of good intentions.
You can’t help it if other people choose to do evil.”

She just looked at him for a moment, as if
there was something about him she couldn’t comprehend. Orhanin drew
both of their attentions back to him. He had finished cleaning her
up.

“I’ve finished cleaning these punctures.
Some of them have closed right up, but some will need a few
stitches.”

Evette nodded.

“I don’t think that after I stitch them that
you’ll have much of any visible scarring to speak of.”

“I don’t care about that.” Evette
replied.

“You may not now, but someday you might and
it will reduce your healing time and risk of infection in the
present. As for your wrists.”

He reached down and picked up one hand and
then the other. They had scabbed over completely, where the
shackles had worn the skin off.

“There’s little that I can do for them and
its probably just best to leave the scabs be. You’ll most likely
have scars though.”

Evette watched as Orhanin pulled a needle
and thread out of a clear looking mixture with herbs crumbled up in
it. She involuntarily reached for something to clutch on to during
the pain that lay ahead and found the tops of Larc’s thighs just
above the knees and at the contact with them her hands jumped back.
His big hands caught hers and placed them back where they had just
been.

Reluctantly her fingers gripped the tensed
muscles and ligaments beneath her touch, even as his big hands
closed securely around her upper arms. So much of this experience
was completely unnerving!

She didn’t know how she was handling it, but
all she knew in that moment was that she didn’t want to have to
face the next part of this drama. She scrunched her eyes shut as
she felt the needle touch her skin. She was tired and emotionally
spent and held captive half naked between two men and she just
couldn’t tough it out any longer. Cries of pain bubbled up out of
her. It hurt so bad!

She knew they were doing everything they
could not to hurt her, which she still hadn’t really figured out
why yet, but she knew she couldn’t take any more pain. On a
particular painful prick of the needle she gave a half choked back
scream and everything went black.

Larc breathed out relieved, she had finally
passed out. It was bad enough to have to watch it, but to hear her
cries of pain was unbearable and Larc could only wonder why that
was. He had seen much pain and suffering throughout his life and in
a way he had grown callused to it, but seeing Evette in pain for
whatever reason seemed to wrench his guts out.

“Thank you God!” Orhanin breathed out.

“It’s bad enough to cause the pain, but to
have to hear it to!” He said, as he wiped the sweat off his brow
with one arm.

Orhanin’s big fingers were amazingly agile
and proficient in their task. It wasn’t the first time he’d
stitched someone up, but perhaps it had been his most careful
attempt to get it just right. There was a big difference between
stitching up a slash on a warrior’s arm and the work he was now
doing to repair such a feminine aspect of a woman.

Men were meant to have scars, women
shouldn’t and if they did it was somehow testament to some man’s
failure to keep her safe.

Larc couldn’t resist starring into the face
turned towards him, as it rested back against his shoulder. She was
so beautiful.

He had been taken by the sight of her from
the very first moment she had walked into the small prison room. It
had been everything he could manage at the time to not show the
evident physical proof of just how much she affected him.

“This one my friend comes with a lot of
issues that go much deeper than any scarring of the skin.”

“I know.” Larc replied.

They were quiet as Orhanin finished up.
After he was done he pulled a jar out of a little medicine bag that
he always carried and began to dip out a greenish paste and spread
it over the wounds and skin in general. After it was rubbed in
slightly he reached for a role of white cloth on the table.

Larc held up her arms and head as Orhanin
wrapped the cloth around and around Evette. He finished with a
couple of wraps around her middle to cover the injuries on her
side. After they finished patching her injuries, they somewhat
awkwardly got the button down shirt on to her.

When they got it on Orhanin helped Larc
carry her over to a bed in the room and lay her down gently onto
it.

“One of us is going to have to stay with her
to make sure that she doesn’t try to role onto her stomach and mess
up the stitching and reinjure herself.” Orhanin said.

“I’ll stay.” Larc quickly replied.

Orhanin looked at him solemnly for a moment
and then his face broke out in a smile, “So the bachelor warrior
has finally fallen.”

He chuckled to himself, but didn’t say
anything else, as he left the room giving Larc a hard slap on the
back on his way out.

Larc went over to a chair by the bed and sat
down and tipped it back against the wall. He let his tired eyes
close and after a moment his breathing deepened. He didn’t notice
the cobalt blue eyes that slid open to watch him intently for a
brief space of time, before they too slid back closed.

I watched as Evette made her way down the
stairs rather stiffly followed by Larc, who looked like he was
prepared to catch her should she fall for some reason. Thanic
pulled out a chair for her and I brought her a plate of food.

She didn’t say anything, but she dug into
her food with a gusto that I had seldom seen women do. The shadows
were growing darker outside as the day steadily gave way to
night.