by Jacinta Jade
Siray traced the path of the scars with her eyes, and she saw that the third claw had indeed just missed the corner of her eye while the fourth scar started just above her eyebrow and ended on her cheek beneath the middle of her eye.
As Siray tried to adjust to what she was seeing, Nafren said, ‘You must have been turning your head when the creature struck you, as that fourth claw only got in a glancing swipe.’
Bringing the mirror up more closely, Siray ran her fingers over the scars. Nafren was right—the deepest one was the one closest to her hairline. She silently thanked the Mother. Yes, the scars bothered her, and it looked like she would have them for the rest of her life, but it could have been worse. Much worse. ‘Thank you, Nafren.’
‘You’re very welcome.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE NEXT MORNING, the glowing wall of light was still up between the two beds. Siray hadn’t spoken to Baindan in two and a half days, although she had seen him briefly yesterday when they’d returned from the therapy room.
On this morning, Nafren came and guided her from the room first, while Porda waited for them to leave before she moved forwards through the wall to assist Baindan.
As per their usual routine, Nafren took Siray down to the level with the therapy room, the usual forest simulation greeting them.
Today, Siray was feeling strong and sure of herself. She hadn’t needed any assistance to dress, leave the bed, or walk to the riser and therapy room. As per the usual process, Nafren had her Change into her yeibon to conduct his examination, but when he was finished, she Changed back again instead of moving off for exercise.
As per their earlier agreement, they waited together by the room’s door.
‘So, Porda was agreeable?’ Siray asked the healer.
Nafren nodded. ‘Not at first, but she came around once she realised the benefits.’
They waited in silence after that, but it wasn’t long until the sound of the door opening greeted their ears. Together, they turned to see Porda enter, alone.
Taking a breath, Siray said goodbye to Nafren, nodded to Porda as she passed the female healer, and stepped through the still-open door and into the hallway. Activating the door pad to close it behind her, she moved farther along the hallway and approached the door marked ‘T3’.
Standing before it, she paused with her hand over the activation pad, taking one last deep, steadying breath. When she was ready, she palmed the activation pad and stepped through the door and into the new room. The door swished closed behind her.
Now standing just inside the room, she watched as Baindan pivoted to see her.
From the middle of the room, he frowned at her and asked flatly, ‘Why are we in here?’
Siray walked towards him and responded in the same tone. ‘Because we need to work some things out between us.’ She stopped some paces away from him, looking him full in the eyes for the first time in days.
At first Baindan looked confused at her response, but then his eyes registered her scars, and his face paled. Visibly swallowing a couple of times, he managed to say, ‘Siray, you have to believe me—I’m so sorry for what happened.’
Siray faced him, crossing her arms, and steeled herself against the face that stirred such emotion in her. ‘Baindan, I’m not doubting that you’re sorry for what happened to me,’ she said softly but firmly, gesturing in general at her face and body. ‘What I do doubt is that you’re sorry for what you did.’
Baindan’s face was slowly resuming its normal colour. ‘You mean, letting the patrol follow us,’ he said slowly.
Siray’s tone grew sharper. ‘Nope. Guess again.’
Baindan narrowed his eyes. ‘What is this, a game to you? Do you enjoy making me feel bad?’
Siray ignored the heated questions and instead snapped out a couple of her own. ‘Is my life a game to you, Baindan? For all I know, I’m now a priority target for the Faction. All because we weren’t prepared for the patrol, which you and Wexner knew about, and a scout escaped.’
Baindan just looked at her but didn’t respond.
‘That’s what I thought,’ Siray said and then marched across to a box that had been purposefully placed in the room for her needs.
As she approached the box, Baindan said tensely, ‘What’s that?’
‘Storage,’ she answered tersely. ‘For some tools that I thought might be useful during our discussion.’ She opened the lid of the tall box and pulled out two long, padded fighting sticks. Closing the lid once more, she made her way purposefully back across the room to Baindan and threw one of the sticks at him.
He caught it in one hand reflexively, using a little more effort than he might have if he were fully recovered, and peered at it while Siray positioned herself closer to him.
He glanced up at her, frowning again. ‘And what am I supposed to do with this?’
She smiled at Baindan sweetly. ‘Defend yourself.’ She leapt.
Baindan’s first defensive moves were made purely from surprise at the unexpected attack, but it was clear that he quickly understood that she really would pound him if he didn’t defend himself. And although he was the best kind of traditional gentleman, she knew that Baindan wouldn’t let this go unchallenged, as he believed himself superior.
And that was the issue.
Siray threw all her anger, frustration, and hurt into the fight, the stick blurring in her hands as she attacked and defended, working around the limitations of her injury. She used a direct style that cut through Baindan’s defences and sweeping counterattacks, and then she started talking again while continuing to press him back.
‘You chose to let a patrol near us. Without informing the rest of us. Even after all we’ve been through,’ she puffed out.
Baindan gritted his teeth as he swept one of her attacks to the side.
‘Even after all I have been through,’ she growled out, slashing down at him from above, and spinning to follow as Baindan jumped to the side to evade the hit.
She circled him, twirling her stick before her. ‘But you know what really makes me angry with you? The fact that you and Wexner thought you had the right to decide on that course of action by yourself.’
She deflected an attack he made at her side and came at him with another of her own from below with a flick before spinning her fighting stick in a full circle above her head and then sweeping it down again to connect with the top of Baindan’s skull.
The blow, which didn’t hurt Baindan due to the padding, did, however, make him stumble and blink a couple of times.
Huh, Siray thought to herself. That actually makes me feel a little better. She moved to press her advantage, but Baindan came back strong. And ready to talk.
‘Fine!’ he said loudly. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t run the plan past you all.’ He clashed against her padded stick with his own. ‘I’m sorry that I stuffed up and made a mistake.’
Siray was the one backing up now, working hard to just deflect Baindan’s shots as his sweeps grew more powerful with the emotion flooding him.
‘I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you the plan even after it was in motion.’
Baindan slashed again at her, and she furiously knocked it aside, sweat sliding down her face and stinging her newly unwrapped face.
‘And I’m sorry that my mistake means the Faction might know about you. But you know what?’ he ground out, ducking a high slash she threw his way.
‘What?’ she demanded, breathing hard.
‘I’m mostly sorry I broke your trust.’
Baindan had stopped fighting, his stick posed before him.
Siray froze, her heart thudding hard in her chest, then lowered the padded stick and stared intently at Baindan.
‘We’ve always worked together as a team,’ he continued. ‘From the day I first saw you. But a team needs trust. And I broke that.’ He let go of his stick completely, not even watching as it thumped onto the floor, his eyes fixed on her. ‘If I hadn’t, it might have turned out differently. I’m r
eally sorry, Siray.’
She exhaled through her nose in relief. He was finally getting it. ‘Why did it matter so much to give them a demonstration of our allegiance?’ she asked him softly.
Baindan glanced towards the closed door, hesitating for just a moment, before he looked back at her and lowered his voice. ‘This isn’t just any ordinary facility. It’s our intelligence and special tactics site.’
Siray gaped at him, speechless.
‘That’s why I went with that plan,’ he explained, earnestly. ‘Even if we had wandered into the area monitored aboveground, they would never have believed that we were on the run, nor that I had been given special clearance to know the location.’ He gestured between them. ‘No one here knows me, or any of you. They needed solid evidence that we were allies. And when that patrol showed up, it seemed like something that would work.’
Baindan eyed his feet.
‘Of course, that was when I thought there were only three of them.’
Siray shook her head sadly, drained. ‘You should have told us all of this.’
Baindan nodded. ‘I know that now.’
She looked at him, and at the sadness and regret that was evident in those grey eyes of his, the advice from Nafren and Genlie playing through her head.
And she understood.
Baindan was a leader. And he had acted like one, rightly or wrongly. He was used to making decisions quickly and alone, and to weigh the costs and benefits involved.
Yes, if she had been in his position, she would have run her plan past the others.
But, apart from that, if she had had the same facts at the same time … she might have done the same.
Baindan had closed his eyes. ‘I did it all to save you, Siray. To get you somewhere safe. But now’—he swallowed—‘if the scout did survive …’ His voice was strained.
Ever so quietly as Baindan talked, Siray moved closer to him until she was standing just a hand’s length away. ‘I know,’ she whispered into his ear. Then she brought her face close, looking at Baindan’s lips as she did so, and caressed his lips with hers. It was a soft, gentle kiss, and one that made his eyes fly open, then close again as he wrapped his arms around her, his mouth sighing against hers.
Eventually Siray let their lips drift apart and she stepped away from Baindan again as his eyes opened once more. She gave him an affectionate smile. ‘I forgive you.’
The responding smile that broke out across his face was one of immense relief and happiness.
Then she whipped out her stick from behind her back and whacked him across the head with it.
Baindan stumbled and blinked at her in astonishment.
‘Never, ever break my trust again,’ she warned him with mock seriousness, her lips curling up playfully.
‘Never,’ came the response. Sticking out one foot, Baindan dug his toes underneath his own fighting stick, flicked it up into the air, and caught it expertly with one outstretched hand, his eyes never leaving her face. Then he came after her, grinning.
Siray laughed as she deflected Baindan’s attack, her soul light as she feinted with a shot of her own at his head before spinning her whole body around in a circle to drop low and whack him in the side.
Baindan responded by slashing at her diagonally with his stick, then narrowing it in to target her knees.
Seeing the attack coming, Siray turned her body sideways to avoid it, leaning backwards in her stance.
But it was a ruse, and Baindan swept his own stick around low in a powerful sweep that caught Siray behind the knees instead, knocking her over.
Putting out her hands to brace herself for the fall, Siray prepared herself for the pain of landing on the injury in her side.
But before she could hit the ground, Baindan had dropped to his knees and was sliding across the floor to catch her. He pulled her closer to him. ‘Never risk your life to save me again,’ he warned her softly. ‘Without you, I don’t know what I’d do.’ He stole another kiss from her, straightened her up, then slipped out from under her to bounce upright and threaten her mockingly a few paces away with his training stick.
Siray grinned and then opened her mouth to make a reply, but a roar of outrage from the doorway had her snapping her head around to look backwards from where she lay on the floor.
Posed just inside the room, a furious expression on his face, was Deson. He began charging at Baindan.
Oh, Mother. Siray tossed aside her training stick, rolled with a grimace, and came up to her feet, lunging forwards to intercept the sprinting male. She pushed her hands against Deson’s chest as she tried to placate him.
‘Deson, stop! We were just sparring! It’s okay!’
‘No—it isn’t,’ he growled out and, stepping around her, moved again towards Baindan.
He betrayed you, came the snarling thought into her mind. He’s left you vulnerable. A target for the Faction.
Siray clasped her head in her hands. She didn’t know how to stop him … This definitely had not been part of her plan.
Let them fight it out, came the previously spoken words of Genlie into her mind. And Siray recalled the conversation the two of them had had back in the caves. It seemed a lifetime ago.
And then she saw the training stick she had dropped. Letting go of Deson, she ran the short distance to it, swooped it up, and then sprinted so she could dive between Deson and Baindan once more.
Baindan had not moved since Deson had entered, watching with a resigned but understanding look.
Gasping, Siray turned to face Deson and pushed the training stick at his chest. ‘If you really want to pummel him, Deson, then use this.’
Deson froze and then looked at her in angry confusion.
Siray remained firm. ‘I’m serious. Do you really think knocking him out once with your hands will be that satisfying? And besides, I’m sick of seeing the blood of my friends being spilt,’ she told him. ‘But’—she smiled at him charmingly—‘if you want to impress me with your technique and knock him over multiple times, then I’ll happily watch.’
She turned away from the surprised expression on both males faces and strolled across to the side of the room to give them space. Then she turned around to look at Deson again, catching his eye. ‘It made me feel better,’ she finished.
Deson continued to look at her for another long moment. But finally, he nodded. And attacked.
His speed and power did actually impress Siray, fuelled as he was by anger. She also hadn’t realised until this moment that Deson was actually taller and broader than Baindan, but Baindan had experience on his side, and used it to minimise his opponent’s advantage. They were evenly matched.
‘I see you took my advice. Literally,’ came a soft voice.
Siray startled. How did Genlie manage to sneak up on her like that? ‘How did you find us?’ she asked instead, once her racing heart had slowed a little.
Genlie shook her head. ‘I didn’t. Deson did. He decided he wasn’t going to be banned from seeing you again, and came looking for you. I followed him, hoping to catch him beforehand, but,’ she said, returning her gaze to the fight going on before them, ‘I can see that you’ve got the situation under control.’ She smiled at Siray.
‘Yep,’ Siray said, smiling back. ‘I’ll let them exhaust themselves.’
Genlie nodded, and they both turned back to watch. The males had moved farther into the room, and the noise of the padded sticks hitting each other sounded continuously.
The females watched as Deson did indeed knock Baindan over at one point, but he grinned too early as Baindan rolled backwards and bounced up onto his feet, almost smacking Deson in the face with a counterblow from his own stick.
Deson growled and peppered Baindan with blows again, but to Siray, his growl didn’t carry the same menacing weight it had had moments earlier.
The fight continued on, but it was obvious to both females that there would be no clear victor that day.
As the pace of the fighters slowed, Siray sa
id cheerily to Genlie, ‘Time to finish this, I think.’
Siray moved towards the box she had left in the middle of the room, the males oblivious to her actions. Opening its lid again, she saw the pair of items she had spotted earlier—short, padded training knives. She scooped them up, one in each hand. Like the fighting sticks, the training knives were made out of shaped wood, with light padding over the actual blades. Each was the length of one of her forearms, and Siray gripped the handles so that the tip of each training knife was pointed downwards.
Then, walking up to the males, she said, ‘I want you both to stop now.’
They didn’t respond but kept swinging the sticks at each other, obviously deciding that some form of male honour was more important at that moment.
‘Alright, then,’ Siray said. She tucked and rolled smoothly between them, coming up on the other side and flicking her right leg out in a wide arc as she crouched there. This powerful sweep of her leg caught Deson, dropping him, then Baindan as Deson pulled him down with him.
As they hit the ground, Siray rolled forwards again, coming up on her knees to flick both hands out.
The males froze as a training blade was held against each of their necks.
Siray glared between the two males, and repeated softly, ‘I said, it’s over.’ She looked hard at Baindan. ‘You’re forgiven. But you will explain to Deson, and the group, about this facility and why you did what you did.’ Then she turned her head to narrow her eyes at an outraged Deson. ‘And you will listen. I think you’ll understand what Baindan has to say, once he explains. Especially as I know how hard it was for you to ask me to run after that battle.’
She waited until she had received a nod from each male, then stood and dropped the blades.
Stepping casually over their sprawled bodies, she sauntered out, Genlie joining her with a widening smile.
***
That evening, Siray gratefully rested by herself in the room she had previously shared with Baindan, her body aching after the sudden increase in exercise. But even though she hurt all over, she felt relieved as to how the day had panned out.
