A Warrior's Revenge (15 page)

In awe stricken terror she watched, as he
became clearly visible and then she started to scuttle backwards
across the floor. She was jerked to a stop, as a rope tied around
her ankle grew taut. She looked down at the unrelenting restraint
and whimpered in fright. This wasn’t happening to her! It just
couldn’t be, but it was!

The big man just stood there studying her
and then she sensed what he was up to. He was using her fear, which
had relaxed her mental blocks, in order to delve into her mind. She
just couldn’t allow that and she fought valiantly to swallow down
her fear and strengthen the blocks again. He’d managed to get past
some of her defenses, but he hadn’t seen anything vitally
important, at least she hoped not. His mental war on her was in
some ways even more imposing than just the physical sight of
him.

Together the physical and the mental aspects
of her captor had combined into her worst nightmare. He was a man,
who could dominate her both mentally and physically. She was
without control over any part of the situation she found herself
in. She’d never felt more vulnerable on every level, then she did
right now, in her whole life.

Her captor spoke, “Impressive.” He said, as
he separated away from the pillar and started to walk toward
her.

Ellanara had never been more afraid of
anyone in her life than she was of him and fervently she whispered
in a desperate plea, “Oh God please help me!”

She watched in a sort of silent horror as he
approached. He had to be almost, if not, seven feet tall! Her eyes
glanced down to his thighs, as he took a step toward her. His thigh
looked almost as thick as her waist!

Ellanara glanced up from the massively
muscled legs to his powerful torso and beyond. His arms and
shoulders were bare and his skin was blacker than the night. She’d
never seen anyone so black before. The muscles of his arms rippled
in grand display and she followed them up past massive shoulders to
his powerful and ruggedly sculpted face. His face may have been
handsome once, but now it was hard and she saw no softness in it.
His expressive eyes that seemed to burn through her were the only
outward signs of any emotion that she could detect. His black hair
fell to his shoulders in tiny little beaded knots that must’ve
taken hours to do.

She had thought that the pinkish random
lines on his arms and face were tattoos of some sort, but then she
realized that they were scars. There were a lot of scars. He was a
warrior that much was clear to her, but what else was he?
Tentatively Ellanara reached out with her mind to delve into his,
but his was completely closed off to her.

“I’ve learned my lesson little Queen.” He
said tapping his head with a finger.

Ellanara just stared back at him blankly,
what did he mean by that statement?

He squatted down briefly beside her ankle in
one muscle rippling motion. He pulled out a knife and her breathing
sped up even more. What did he need a knife for, when he could
choke her to death with one hand if he wanted to?

“This was only meant to keep you from
running off before I got back. You’re choking off your circulation,
ease your foot back a little.” He said, but she remained still.

Ellanara watched, as he tugged on the rope
around her ankle a little, which scooted her whole body back to him
slightly. He slipped the knife in his other hand between the rope
and her skin and sliced the rope off. She then scooted back as far
she could go, until she was stopped by the glass at her back. He
loomed close over her and she couldn’t escape, as he kneeled down
beside her.

On a panicked indrawn breath she watched
both of his hands come to the sides of her head and abruptly she
felt the onrush of his thoughts into her consciousness. His
thoughts were overpowering, but she couldn’t let him have her
thoughts!

By sheer force of will she held onto the
crumbling wall in her mental focus that she didn’t even quite
understand herself. She’d only replicated the one he’d given her
and messed it up a little in an attempt to make it her own, but
apparently she’d done a good job of it, because she sensed great
frustration in the thoughts that bombarded her in search of a way
through. He was a master at this and she felt woefully inadequate
of being up to the task of stopping him. It felt like her very mind
was heating up and then there was pain.

Sobbing and pulling at his hands she tried
to get free, but he didn’t budge and then abruptly he let her go.
Slowly opening her eyes as the pain departed Ellanara heard him
sigh then watched as he got up and went to a pillar in the center
of the room. He looked mad and her observation was confirmed when
he slammed both fists into the pillar.

The glass behind her back rattled, as did
the whole building. The man’s strength reminded her of what Sampson
from the Bible must’ve been like to behold in the flesh. A quiver
of something else went through her other than fear and she quickly
shoved it away out of embarrassment and in order to focus on what
hadn’t happened.

He hadn’t gotten what he wanted from her,
which she didn’t understand. She had seen quite clearly just how
much he had been holding himself back from delving into her
thoughts. Why? Why would he hold back?

Her eyes widened, as the answer came to her.
He had stopped because he would’ve hurt or killed her. He wanted
her alive and uninjured, which was good, but it didn’t answer why?
Who was he and how had he gotten past everybody including Abby to
take her from off the ship?

Confounded, difficult, stubborn, little
female, I angrily raged to myself, as I let my head fall forward
against the pillar. All the information I needed was housed not
twenty feet from me and I couldn’t get to it! I winced. That wasn’t
the truth.

I could get what I needed, but I would’ve
had to break her beautiful mind and I just wasn’t going to do that.
I hadn’t become that cruel and uncaring yet. “Thank God!” I
whispered out slightly in profound relief.

Positive self revelation or not I needed to
know what she knew, but the only way I would get what I needed was
if she told me. How was I going to get her to tell me? She would
have to like me, even trust me to divulge such secrets, as I knew
that she held.

I glanced back at her to see her still
recovering from the shock of my invasion of her mind. I turned my
head back to the pillar. She wasn’t going to tell me anything soon,
if ever. She was absolutely terrified of me and I didn’t blame
her.

In her eyes I was nothing but a beast. I
sighed deeply admitting in some ways that was exactly what I had
become. I needed to be more sensitive and civilized for lack of a
better way of putting it.

I had gone about finding out what I needed
entirely the wrong way. First I had scared her to death in her
room, then I had kidnapped her, and then I had let her fear of me
run rampant, because I thought it would be enough to weaken her
resolve to protect her secrets, but it hadn’t been. She’d been very
courageous in how she’d fought my invasion of her thoughts and last
of all I had caused her pain, which in a way was a confirmation of
all her fears about me no doubt.

I in all reality in her eyes was a strange
exotic looking monster that had dragged her off to be devoured
later in my cave. Not a good beginning. Who was I kidding? It was a
completely hopeless beginning!

I sighed heavily, even as that may be I
still had to try. The security of my people could depend upon it
and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect them and secure
a hopeful future for them. Then why don’t you break her mind and
take what you need came a thought into my consciousness. I answered
it, because I’m not a monster ,even though I have behaved as one
for many years.

I turned away from the pillar and walked
halfway toward her. I stopped right about the point where I figured
she might get up and start running from me. “I’m sorry that by my
actions I have scared you and caused you pain. I have lost more of
my humanity than I’d even thought I had, but still enough remains
for me to see the wrongness of my actions. I’ll take you back to
your ship and your people in the morning, but for now may I offer
you my lodgings for the night and what food I have?”

She blinked several times at me and I found
myself once again mesmerized by her unique eyes. She didn’t move so
I moved away toward the door.

“Who are you?” She asked calling out behind
me.

I turned back to her and saw her get to her
feet gracefully. “Salanicus.” I said before I finished walking to
the table near the door. I picked up my staff and intentionally I
let her see it knowing that it would attract the curious side of
her.

My staff was a simple black color, but it
culminated in a large roundly faceted crystal that shot out rays of
ultraviolet colored light, which twined down the staff and inlaid
itself into the black background in an ever-changing pattern of
intensity. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at her and was
quite pleased to see her attention quite hooked onto the staff’s
peculiarities. She was the type that yearned to know what made the
unexplained tick.

She hadn’t come any closer though and I
decided to use a bluff, “If you would prefer you can stay here and
I’ll be back in the morning to take you to your ship, but don’t
wander out into the ruins at night. Night is when the zanzars prowl
and I would hate to see you fall prey to them.” I turned and went
through the door, as I did the solarium went dark behind me.

“Wait! I’m coming!” She called out on a
desperate note.

I smiled to myself, but I made sure the
smile was gone when I glanced back to see if she was following
behind me in the dark. She was, but she kept a short distance
between us. I couldn’t but help notice how sure footed she was in
the dark, as she stepped over and around obstacles that lay in her
path.

“Your eyes do they help you see in the
dark?” I asked curiously.

She glanced up at me and after a moment
nodded.

“Then they are functional as well as they
are beautiful, a rare combination to have in life.” I said softly
before turning back around and continuing on down the trail. I
didn’t see her reach up to touch her face near her eye for a moment
and it wouldn’t have occurred to me why that was significant even
if I had.

I entered the underground floor and made my
way through the shattered ruins, until I came to a door, which I
opened and held for her. Warily she moved past me and entered into
the room, which lit up at her entrance. She gasped at the visual
array of artifacts that lay around the room.

I’d found them throughout the ruins at
various times in the past and I had saved them. I’m not sure why,
perhaps out of some attempt to hold onto all that once was, but
would never be again. While the artifacts were next to useless for
my purposes I could see that they held nothing but fascination for
her, which is what I had intended to happen by bringing her
here.

She wandered about the room keeping a wary
eye on me, as I put what food I did have out onto the room’s only
table. I pulled a chair out and I held onto it not in any hurry to
disrupt her exploration. I was also in a way proud that I had
managed to remember something of my manners from bygone days.

She saw me standing with the chair pulled
out and blushed. It was different seeing a woman with such white
skin. I hadn’t thought I would be attracted as much as I was to a
white woman, but I was. She was very beautiful and the rosy red
flush to her cheeks was quite eye-catching. My eyes fell from hers
to the chair I held for her. This was a test.

I could’ve pulled out the chair and left it,
but I want to see if she would come with me holding it. Reluctantly
she did and she sat down having to turn her back to me when she
did. This was an improvement!

I started to go to my side but abruptly
stopped. The top of the table came to just below her chest. My eyes
rose from the table to hers and sheepishly I said, “It’s a little
big isn’t it?”

She met my gaze and I was intrigued to see a
slight glint of humor in her eyes that almost overwhelmed me with
the appeal it added to her in addition to what she already had.

“I can get you a cushion to sit on.” I
offered.

“No, this will be fine thank you” she said
quickly.

The food was kind of simple, but it was
good. Hopefully she thought the same; at least she was eating it. I
couldn’t really remember when the last time had been when I had
shared a meal with someone. I had forgotten how nice it could be to
share something such as food with someone.

I heard her gasp and I looked up to see her
feeling around at her neck. Not finding what she sought she turned
her accusing blue-eyed dagger stare on me and I knew what she was
after. Out of a pocket in my leather vest I pulled out the necklace
with its two rings.

“Those are mine! You had no right to steal
them from me!” She said angrily.

I rose up from the table placing the rings
in the palm of my hand, as I went to stand at her side of the
table. I undid the delicate clasp of the necklace and I lifted it
to drop it before her on the table. Her eyes lifted from the
necklace before her up to mine in open question, as to why I still
had both rings.

“That is all I stole from you. These are not
yours to have. They are my peoples and have been since just after
their creation a long time ago on a world far from here.

“What are you talking about? Tadias my great
ancestor passed those rings specifically on to me!” She accused
self righteously.

I glanced down to the rings in my palm,
“Yes, Tadias had the rings, but they were given to him by my father
before your people left this galaxy. They are mine, but I will
abide by my father’s wishes and give you one of them.” I said, as I
laid the small ring on the table next to the piled up necklace.