A Warrior's Revenge (5 page)

Zora eased the sweat soaked black hair away
from the hunters face and combed it back over his ear. The fury was
gone from his eyes and all that was left was pain.

“Oh you poor boy! You remember everything
don’t you? Everything that you’ve done?” Zora said in a choked up
whisper, as she leaned forward and kissed the Hunter’s sweaty
brow.

Hoarse from screaming his voice came out
rough, “Kill me!”

Zora shook her head no, “No, I will not do
that and neither will you when you have the chance!”

His eyes closed and he made to turn his head
the other way, but she stopped him with a gentle pressure to his
head.

“Look at me!” Zora said in fervored
passion.

Almost reluctantly his eyes slid back open
to view her.

“This is the way it will be, listen closely!
You are going to remember who you were before all this happened and
you are going to be that person again. You’re going to need help,
which is why I’m going to send Kana in the morning to help you. I
need you to find a way through this! Do you understand me? There is
work that needs to be done! There is a purpose to everything I have
come to learn in my long life. You have a purpose and you need to
step into it, because you are needed! Soon we will need you! Now
try to get some rest. I’ll send Kana by in the morning. She’ll show
you what it is to love life and to pursue it with everything that
one has within oneself. Now I wish you a dreamless sleep. Good
night dear.” Zora said leaning forward and kissing him lightly on
the brow once again, as she got up stiffly and left the tent.

Kana turned in her bed of blankets and then
popped upright with a surprised gasp, as she saw Zora standing
above her. It had to be very early in the morning, as it was just
becoming to grow a grayish half light outside.

“What’s wrong? What did he do?” Kana quickly
asked.

“Nothing, it’s more of a case of what you’re
going to do. He needs someone to take care of him Kana and I
believe that you would be the perfect woman for the job.” Zora said
confidently.

“Me? Take care of him, how?” Kana exclaimed,
in disbelief, of what was being asked of her.

Zora just smiled at her and didn’t say
anything.

“I can’t handle him Zora! You’ve seen him!
He’s a beast! What do you expect me to do with him?” Kana exploded
out with in what seemed like one breath of air.

“Well I expect you to go about treating him
the same way that you’ve treated all the wild animals that you’ve
tamed and gentled over the years. First you show him that you’re
not a threat, then you show him that you care for him, then you
trust him not to hurt you and that you’re not afraid of him,
because you in turn trust him to do the right thing. Once you’ve
accomplished that I think he’ll be just like the rest of the wild
animals that you’ve befriended over the years. He’ll want to be
with you wherever you go and he’ll do absolutely anything for you.”
Zora finished with matter-of-factly, it being an apt description of
every pet that Kana had ever befriended.

“Why would I want that?” Kana asked thickly
not daring to meet Zora’s eyes with her own.

“Who are you trying to fool Kana? We both
know why you would want that.” Zora answered forcefully not letting
Kana retreat.

Kana felt like her face was on fire and she
still couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact, “I don’t know
Zora!”

“Well I do know, now go! This could be your
big chance at the life you’ve been waiting for! The chance to see
change and experience hope of the future for not only yourself, but
your children after you.”

“I don’t understand?” Kana said raising her
eyes up to Zora’s.

Zoar reached out her hand and stroked the
smooth jaw line of the girl, who was as her own children had been
to her, “You will my dear, you will. Now go! He’s been tied up and
alone long enough.”

More out of obedience than desire Kana
crawled out of her bed and exited the tent, able to limp now with
her foot, and wondered if she wasn’t going to her death for the
second time.

Eshta rose to her feet to follow after her
sister, but Zora caught her arm holding her back, “Let her go
Eshta. I know the protective love you have for your sister and I
assure you that she will be all right.” Zora said firmly.

“How can you say that? How can you let her
be in there alone with him? It isn’t safe!” Eshta fired back at
Zora.

“Eshta you must trust what I say, when I
tell you that Kana will never be safer in this life than when she
is with that man.”

“How can you say such a thing?” Eshta
accused harshly.

“I can say that because I know both who and
what that man is. He is of a noble bloodline that I thought long
dead, but now I begin to see a Divine plan emerge from the mess of
our dire situation. That man is the key to not only Kana’s future,
but also for all those of our group, who yearn for something more
than this barely managed existence, which is poised precariously on
the edge of human sanity and endurance. We can’t go on much longer
like this Eshta! We needed this man to come to us no matter how
strange his way of doing so has been.” Zora finished
passionately.

Feeling calmer, but still concerned for her
sister’s well-being Eshta asked, “Who is he?”

“Someone that the Enlightenment Society
should’ve killed when they had the chance to. How fitting it is
that they will have brought their own ruin upon themselves by their
own actions. Be patient Eshta. Let Kana first give the man a
purpose for living and then God willing something much more will be
accomplished in these sad days we live in.”

“And what would that be?” Eshta asked
softly.

“Why our freedom of course!” Zora responded
with a smile, as she hugged Eshta to herself lovingly.

Kana slipped into the tent and closed the
flap behind her and then thinking better of that she opened it back
up. Cautiously she approached the table and its occupant that was
still strapped to it, her would-be killer, who she was supposed to
now befriend and take care of. He was awake and staring right at
her.

“Good morning. I need to check your bandage.
The one on the back of your neck. I need to move your head around a
little.” Kana said hesitantly, as she reached out cautiously to do
what she’d said she would.

His head wouldn’t budge from its side laying
position, granted she hadn’t tried to force him to move it either.
He was clearly resisting her.

“Please.” She asked softly. Something
flashed in his eyes briefly and grudgingly he turned his face down
to the table. There was that power of the word ‘please’ again. Kana
could only wonder, as to the significance of the word’s effect on
him.

Carefully trying not to hurt him Kana pulled
the bandage free and was pleased with what she saw. She had been
afraid that he would pull the stitches free with his struggling the
night before, but they were still tight and he looked to be a fast
healer. She added more paste overtop the incisions and put a fresh
bandage on. When she had finished he turned his head back to the
side to enigmatically stare at her. He tried to move a little, but
winced slightly when he did, which caused Kana to glance down.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Kana exclaimed, as
she saw how badly swollen his hands were from the tight bindings
that held him to the table. She knelt down and reached for small
knife to cut the bindings free, when she abruptly stopped.

What was she doing?

She couldn’t cut him free!

He could do almost anything then, especially
to her!

She gazed at his swollen hands again and she
swallowed hard, because she knew it wasn’t within her to leave him
to suffer like this. Slowly her eyes rose up to meet his, which
were level with hers. His eyes promised her nothing and threatened
nothing all at the same time. Zora had promised her that she would
be safe with this man, but was that the truth?

There was only one way to find out. Kana
reach the knife forward and carefully cut his hand free, when it
was free he clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, but he did
nothing else and his arm continued to hang free beside the table.
Kana moved around and cut his other hand free and quickly moved
back out of reach, but he just continued to lay there on the
table.

She gazed at him in indecision. Maybe she
could leave his feet tied, but no that wouldn’t work either, they
were swollen too. She moved forward and cut them free. Breathing
hard she stepped backward, until she touched the side of the tent,
the little knife clutched in her hand for all the good it would do
her against somebody like him.

He continued to lie there for a moment and
then he pushed up off from the table and swung his legs around so
that he was sitting on the edge of the table. Kana swallowed hard
for a completely different reason other than fear, although that
emotion was still very much a part of what she felt in this
moment.

Kana couldn’t get past what her eyes were
telling her. He was beautiful. She and Eshta were taller and more
muscular than almost every man that they had ever encountered
thanks to the hereditary traits of Khartian descent somewhere back
in their family tree that had also given them their creamy black
skin, dark eyes, and black hair. This man however made her feel
small, even weak, as her eyes scanned over the corded muscles of
his arms to the ribbed plane of his stomach and the powerful legs
below.

He slid off the table to stand before her
and she saw that he was even taller than her by an inch or two. He
could overpower her in seconds and then do absolutely anything that
he wanted to her, which she had made possible by cutting him free.
You idiot, she thought to herself savagely, now why did you do
that?

He walked toward her and she was just about
to slash a whole in the tent behind her and run, when he stopped
and held out his hand toward her. What was this about? What did he
want from her? Then it dawned on her, he wanted her knife!

Kana looked down at the little knife and
reflected on the fact that it wasn’t going to do her any good and
Zora had said that she would need to trust him to do the right
thing. Kana meekly reached forward and laid the knife in his open
palm. His hand closed over the handle and he turned it on himself
and in alarm Kana saw that he meant to disembowel himself with
it.

“No!” Kana cried out and grabbed at his arm
with both of hers and pulled at it. In the brief struggle that
followed Kana ended up pressed up against him with her back to him,
as she placed yourself between him and the knife.

He took the knife with his other hand, as he
clamped his open arm across her holding her immobile, as he lifted
the knife up to his throat. Kana twisted her right arm free and she
stuck her finger up in front of his throat just as the knife
reached it. The blade pressed her fingers back against his throat
and she thought he would slice through them in pursuit of his grim
pursuit of self justice.

The edge of the knife sliced into her
fingers slightly, she winced and he stopped. His eyes met hers, as
she turned her head and she pleaded softly, “Don’t! Please
don’t!”

He looked at her for a long moment and then
asked, “Why?”

It was the first time she’d heard him speak
and she hoped it wasn’t the last time.

“I don’t really know why, but maybe we can
find out a reason why not to. I promise I’ll help you!” Kana said
softly meaning every word of her promise.

A moment passed by, as she stood under the
scrutiny of his intense study. “Please put the knife down.” Kana
asked more firmly and he took the knife away from her fingers and
slammed the knife behind him into the table.

His sudden action caused Kana to jump
slightly in alarm, which only served to make her very aware of how
close she was to him. She didn’t have long to dwell on that feeling
before she found herself seated on the table with the fingers of
her right hand held out for inspection by him.

“It’s just a few little cuts. Don’t worry
about them.” But he didn’t seem to be listening to her. To her
surprise he cleaned each of the cuts with the supplies that were
still left out and then he tied a little white bandage around each
finger.

Kana held her hand out to study it when he
was done. The bandages were more cute than functional, but they
rocked her world. In that moment she realized the reward for every
moment of blind faith that she had put into saving this man’s life.
He had just shown her that somewhere in there was a caring person,
who cared enough to tie clumsy looking little bandages on her
fingers.

A man that would do that was a man she could
trust. Her fear of him and what he could do to her drained away as
if it had never been there. He glanced up at her and she smiled at
him with everything she was joyously experiencing inside at this
moment. He blinked repeatedly and she could tell that she’d shocked
him with her open smile. It was painfully clear that he had no idea
what to do or say.

He turned away abruptly and said, “Now go
away and let me be!” He said roughly, but she wasn’t put off by his
tone of voice in the slightest. He walked over to a bench and sat
down hard on it and let his head fall into his hands, which he
propped on his knees.

Feeling excited inside at the possibilities
that were unraveling and being revealed to her Kana walked toward
the door of the tent to leave, but it wasn’t a retreat. The next
thing to be done in the process of his recovery was that he needed
to eat and there was probably still some soup left over from last
night.

Eshta was waiting for her, when she saw her
hand she asked angrily, “What happened to you?”

Kana squeezed her sister’s cheek and said,
“Nothing for you to worry about dear sister. I have it all under
control.”