Stalking Fate

by K. R. Fajardo

  “We came looking for shelter because he said we would be safe here.” She snapped.

  Furious that this lady would have the nerve to make demands of her after shooting her friend in the back, Senka rose to her feet, pulling her blade free of its holster. “But obviously he was wrong.”

  Immediately the entire family raised their weapons. Smirking, Senka reached to pull her other blade free, but was halted when Duncan’s hand fell on top of hers. “Don’t Senka.”

  “But they shot you!” she screeched, gesturing at the woman with her blade. “In the back!”

  “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get out of here.”

  Using his good arm to push off his knee, Duncan managed to get unsteadily to his feet. Glaring angrily at the woman, Senka put away her knife, and slid under Duncan’s good arm to help support him. Together they managed to make it just a few steps, before he staggered and nearly fell, taking her with him.

  “Duncan, are you sure we can do this?” she whispered, helping him to steady himself once more. “It’s a long way back to the forest.”

  “What did you just say?” Dropping her bow, the lady took several hesitant steps their direction.

  “Nothing that concerns you,” Senka snapped.

  But the lady acted as if she hadn’t said a word. “Look at me.” She demanded, as she continued to move toward Duncan. “I said look at me!”

  “Listen here lady. If you think you can…” Senka began, but was cut off by Duncan.

  “It’s ok Senka.” Duncan said softly. Turning back to face the woman, he slowly raised his gaze to meet with hers. “Hi Andria.”

  Instantly the woman turned white as a sheet. Slapping her hand over her mouth, she stumbled backwards as if she were about to fall. Seeing her distress, the man and the boy immediately rushed to her side. “Honey, are you ok? What’s wrong?”

  But despite their questions, Andria remained silent, her attention focused solely on Duncan. Pulling free of her husband’s hold, she closed the distance between them. “Duncan? Is it really you?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

  Bracing his injured shoulder, Duncan smiled weakly. “I’m afraid so.”

  In the time it took Senka to blink an eye, Andria’s face contorted from sadness to uncontrollable rage. Closing the few steps between them she raised her hand and slapped him hard enough across the cheek to leave behind a mark. “You son of a bitch!” she cried, shaking her hand. “After all these years now you decide to show up? Do you know how long we searched for you? Cried for you?” Hitting him the chest, Andria’s tears streamed down her cheeks. “Damn you Duncan! We all thought you were dead!”

  Stunned, Senka watched the upset woman continue to whale on Duncan, but when she raised her hand as if to slap him again, Senka drew the line. Pulling her knife once more, she stepped in front of her wounded friend. “That’s enough.” She warned. “I understand you are upset with him, but if you do that again you’ll have me to contend with.”

  Dropping her eyes to the blade, Andria backed off. “Who are you?” she asked, as if seeing her for the first time. “Or should I ask what are you?”

  “She’s a friend.” Duncan answered for her. Feeling his hand come to rest on her shoulder, Senka looked back into his saddened expression. “Put the knife away Senka, she’s not a threat.”

  “Not a threat?! You have got to be kidding me!” With her arm extended, Senka gestured to the matronly lady. “She shot you with an arrow, slapped you across the face, then whaled on your already injured body. If that doesn’t make her a threat, then me and you definitely have two very different definitions of the word!”

  “Trust me, I deserved it.” He sighed. “Now put the blade away, please.”

  “Not until you tell me who the hell she is and why we are allowing her to beat the shit out of you!”

  Heaving a deep breath, Duncan turned his attention away from her to watch as the crying woman was embraced by her loving family. “Because I deserve every hit and blow she has delivered.” Shocked at what was happening, Senka watched tears form in the corners of his eyes. “She once cared for me and I all I ever did to repay her was hurt her.”

  A mixture of shock and jealously stopped her heart beating in her chest. Mouth agape, she looked back over her shoulder. The woman looked fairly close to Duncan’s age, was it possible she was an ex-lover or vexed sweetheart of some kind. “I-is she your ex-girlfriend or something?”

  Dropping his gaze down to her, Duncan shook his head sadly. “No. She’s my sister.”

  The second he saw that little girl playing on the swing Duncan knew he had made a terrible mistake. He didn’t belong here. Andria had moved on with her life. Gotten married, had kids, and forgotten all about him. And why shouldn’t she? She deserved that. What she didn’t deserve was the pain his sudden reappearance was causing her. And standing there, watching his baby sister crying into the arms of her loving family, he was painfully reminded of why he had made the decision to never come back in the first place.

  “Sorry for disturbing you.” Taking in his sister one last time, Duncan slowly turned his back on them. Behind him a very confused Senka stared at Andria with her mouth agape. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  “But your shoulder…” she argued, shifting her attention to the continuous stream of blood pouring from around the arrow.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  The words had barely escaped his lips, when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked him off his feet. In a flash, Senka was by his side. “Yeah, I can see that.” Throwing his uninjured arm over her shoulder, she wrapped her own arm around his waist. Together they slowly began to stumble their way back toward the forest. However they only managed to make it a few feet before he stumbled again.

  “Ughhh,” Senka groaned, struggling to keep him upright. “When we get back home you need to go on a diet old man.”

  Unable to help himself, Duncan snickered. Groaning as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder, he leaned onto Senka who was already doing everything she could to support his tremendous weight. Unfortunately the pain didn’t stop there. Radiating down his shoulder and into his chest, it continued growing in intensity until Duncan couldn’t stand it any longer. Dropping to his knees, he dragged Senka down with him.

  “Duncan!” Bracing his head in her arms, Senka lowered him the rest of the way to the ground. “Damn it Duncan, don’t do this to me!”

  He stared up into her worried expression, wanting nothing more than to console her. But dizzying pain, coupled with blood loss had weakened him to the point that it took every bit of strength he had left just to hold his eyes open. Seeing that she was losing him, Senka gripped the front of his shirt and shook him vigorously. Calling his name over and over again, she desperately tried to keep him awake. But it was no use. And as the frigid darkness swept over his body, robbing him of consciousness, the only thing Duncan could think about was how he had yet again failed someone he loved.

  Duncan woke some time later, nestled in the comforts of a soft bed in a room that smelled of pine woods and fresh lilacs. Shirtless, with a linen bandage wrapped around his shoulder, he blinked in confusion as he took in his cozy surroundings. The wooden walls of the bedroom were painted in a pale blue color, trimmed in white. Lace curtains, hung over a single window to his left, which did nothing to block the copious amounts of sunlight streaming into the room and to the right of the bed sat a small table with a lamp and glass of water sitting on top.

  “It’s about time you rejoined the land of the living.”

  Turning in the direction of her snarky voice, Duncan’s heart leapt when he spotted Senka, alive and well, sitting next to him. “You’re alright.”

  Arching her eyebrows, a huge grin spread across her face. “Well sure I am, I’m not the one who got shot by my sister with an arrow.” Pausing, Senka scrunched her lips together as if thinking. “Although I am pretty sure the thought has probably crossed her mind a time or two.”

  “Your sister loves
you Senka… you know that.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed. Biting her lip, he could tell she was struggling to fight back her tears. Flooded with the overwhelming need to comfort her, Duncan reached out and took her hand in his own. “We will get her back.”

  “I hope so Duncan. I know it doesn’t seem like it most of the time, but I really do love Chloe…” Her voice cracked, cutting her off.

  He hated seeing her trying to hide her emotions from him. It was something she had done for as long as he had known her, although he didn’t know why. But it disturbed him greatly that she felt the need to conceal her feelings from him, as if she though it would make him think of her as weak if she were to cry in front of him. But weak was never a word he would associate with Senka. Beautiful, strong, and resilient-yes-but never weak.

  He wanted her to feel safe around him, safe enough to be herself and express herself openly. And now more than ever, he wanted to tell her how he felt. To confess to her that he wanted more than just a friendship. But how could he, lying here in his sister’s house, wounded and weak himself. Considering the circumstances, Duncan opted to remain quiet, giving her the time she needed to regain her composure. It took her a couple of minutes, but eventually she wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. “Maybe I just miss fighting with her.”

  “Well the two of you certainly were good at it.” He chuckled.

  Senka laughed, “Lots of practice.” Furrowing her brow, she scrunched her lips again. “Speaking of sisters and fighting…”

  Duncan grimaced, knowing exactly where this conversation was heading. “I guess you have questions about what transpired out there.”

  “Well your sister has already tried to explain some of it to me.”

  “Oh?” his heart rate immediately doubled and his mind raced, wondering what kind of horrific things Andria might have told her while he was unconscious.

  “Yeah.” Senka continued, “But honestly her explanation left me with more questions than answers.”

  “For example.”

  Senka anxiously bit her lip, worrying Duncan even more. “Andria told me you weren’t forced to leave like the others in the camp. That you left of your own accord and just never to came back.”

  “And?”

  “Well, I guess I just don’t understand why anyone would willingly choose to leave behind their family.” Senka hesitated, no longer able to face him. “But seeing as my mother abandoned me as a kid, then my father and brother did the same ten years later, I might be a little prejudice to the notion.”

  Stunned by her revelation, Duncan gave a sympathetic squeeze to her hand. “I’m sorry that happened to you, I really am.” Wanting to choose his words carefully he hesitated. “I wish I could explain to you why your mother and father left you behind, but I can’t. All I can say is that, at the time I made the decision not to come back, I did so because I felt it was the right thing to do.”

  “How can abandoning the people you love be the right thing to do?”

  “Good question.” Andria said, as she strolled into the room. Crossing her arms over her chest she glared down at him. “I would love to know the answer to that as well.” Ashamed and unable to face her, Duncan dropped his gaze, causing Andria to huff. Shaking her head, she turned to Senka. “Would you mind giving us a moment, dear?”

  Glancing back and forth between the pair of them, Senka rose from her chair to leave. “Um, sure. No problem.”

  Not wanting her to go, and really not wanting to be left alone with his sister, Duncan tightened his grip on her hand. “You don’t have to leave.” Narrowing his gaze at his sister he added, “I have nothing to say to you that can’t be said in front of her.”

  “Are you certain you don’t want to rethink that statement?” Andria prompted, darting her eyes to Senka.

  Tension thickened the air between them, making it difficult for Duncan to breathe. He knew exactly what his sister was hinting at, and to be honest, he had no desire to talk about that subject with her, with or without Senka present. Sensing the building uneasiness between them, Senka slowly pulled her hand free of his hold and headed for the door. “Uh yeah, unless the two of you think you will need a mediator, I think I will go downstairs and entertain Gidgit for a while.”

  They both remained silent until she left the room. “I like her.” Andria said, taking over Senka’s vacated seat. “Does she know?”

  “Andria…” he began, but she waved him silent.

  “No, Duncan. No more excuses, no more lies. I want to know the truth. Beginning with whether or not that young girl, who is downstairs beguiling your niece with tales of how she and her sister spent much of their life living in the woods on the run from bounty hunters, has any idea who the man she is traveling with is?”

  Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Duncan shook his head.

  “Did you bring her here to give to them?”

  “What?”

  “Did you bring her here to give to them? To Vincent and the Horde?”

  Hearing his former gang leader’s name, awakened a rage in him he could barely contain. “By the stars, no! I brought her here to find her sister.” He yelled with more venom than he intended. “Do you really think so little of me sister?”

  “Have you given me reason to think any better of you?”

  Her honesty silenced him immediately.

  Biting her lip, Andria studied him intensely, as if she was trying to peer inside him to evaluate whether or not he was telling the truth. It only took a few minutes of her intense scrutiny before Duncan had had enough. “I should go, I don’t belong here.” Sliding his legs off the edge of the bed, he moved to get up, only to be stopped by her hand falling onto his good shoulder.

  “I’m not trying to make you feel bad Duncan. I’m just trying to figure out where you stand.” She sighed, staring back at the door Senka had exited through. “I mean, the last time I saw you, you were a thug and bounty hunter. You killed her kind, and anyone else the Horde decided was not worthy of living, to make money. And now, all these years later, you come strolling into my back yard with her by your side, more than willing to put her life on the line to save yours.”

  “Trust me, the irony isn’t lost on me.” Duncan sighed. Resting his elbows on his knees, he braced his head in his hands, and stared down at his feet. “All I can say is I’m not the man I used to be. I know that’s going to be hard for you to believe when all your childhood and much of your adult life I did nothing but hurt you and Paw. But I swear, as messed up as it was, I thought I was doing what was best for you both.”

  “By killing people?”

  “By keeping the Horde and all the rest of those cretins away from you!” he yelled. His rage burned through his veins like molten lava, threatening to force him to shift.

  Eyes wide, Andria moved to rise from her chair and make for the door, but Duncan caught her arm and held her in place. Not wanting to frighten her any further, he closed his eyes, and took several calming breaths before addressing her once more. “You don’t need to fear me sister, like I said, I’m not that man anymore.”

  Reluctantly, she eased back into her chair as a tear fell from her eye. That lone tear hurt him worse than any arrow ever could. Heart wrenching in his chest he lifted his hand and wiped the offending drop from her cheek. “I love you Andria, I would never hurt you… you know that right?”

  “I want to,” she sniffed. “I mean, you were never anything but kind to me as a kid. You taught me to hunt, to use a bow, and when I was small you would spend hours upon end with me, doing whatever I wanted to do, no matter how ridiculous it was.”

  Chuckling lightly she looked up at him and smiled. “I remember once when your “friends” showed up at the house looking for you and caught you playing tea party with me. They laughed their asses off, calling you princess and all kinds of other girly names, but you didn’t care, instead you just sat there, flowers all in your hair and told them to “fuck off.”

  With a shake of her head, Andr
ia wiped another tear from her eye. “That day I thought you were my hero. You stood up to those men and they backed down. It wasn’t until I got older, that I learned why they were all afraid of you.”

  “I did what had to be done.” He huffed. “It was because of the things I did, that the city officials and the gangs stopped coming around and harassing Paw about the land. Or did you think all the debts just miraculously disappeared?”

  “Don’t you dare lay the things you did on us Duncan.” Andria snapped. “I will give you that you paid off all Paw’s loans, but I also know that isn’t the only reason you stayed. Or are you going to try and tell me you didn’t love the power you wielded as Vincent’s second?”

  Facing him dead on she dared him to deny the accusation. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t. Because though he hated to admit it, her accusations were true. Yes he had initially joined the Horde to protect his family, but as more time past, he grew to appreciate the power and respect that went with it. Everyone feared him, no one dared challenge him, and he had loved every second of it.

  “Duncan…”

  “No Andria, it’s my turn.” He cut her off. “You want me to admit I liked the power? Fine, I’ll admit it. But not just for the reasons you want to believe. I liked it because it was my reputation and power that kept you safe.” Pausing he motioned toward the window. “Rio is the most lawless place in Zerdanda. All the cops are crooked, and the ones who aren’t won’t do anything for fear of being murdered in their sleep. I watched everyday as women were harassed and daughters were forced into marriages they didn’t want so they could protect their families and keep their homes and businesses from burning. But despite all this, you and Paw were never in danger.”