Jo dodged each swing and caught her foe by the foot but was immediately kicked to her upper jaw by her opponent’s other leg. She fell back on the stone table behind her and was knocked unconscious.
Jo’s opponent was beginning to be vexed by these nuisances. She picked herself up and stretched her back. Picking up Jo’s daggers she surveyed the scene for any more attackers.
“It was an honor to fight another woman in battle, but you are still my enemy.” She said to the unconscious Jo.
But as she readied to execute Jo another hand immediately grabbed hers. She looked to her right and stared in horror as Sheppard stood before her.
“And it was an honor to have fought you as well.” Sheppard replied slowly wheezing.
He searched his tunic for something. The woman’s legs began to shake, it was as if she was staring at the dead.
“I believe this is yours.” He slammed the hilt of the knife lodged in his chest into the woman’s abdomen disorienting her. She fell to her knees coughing.
She watched as he picked up Jo and escaped the settlement.
He rushed outside and ordered his camel to heel. He laid Jo across one camel’s back and returned to the open tent. By the edge of it, the Aterian leader was awakening from the sedative, pulling himself slowly toward the village.
He grabbed the Aterian by the rung of his collar and dragged him outside. As his open wounds scraped against the ground the chief screamed in agony. None of the other settlers stopped him.
“You just had to make this harder on yourself didn’t you? We sought only to know where our kin had scattered to, but your greed and desires forced you to this…” He said as he threw the Aterian in front of the camel, “For the record our women are equals. They are our mothers, our sisters, our aunts, our lovers, yet you probably know none of this.”
He bound the Aterian by the feet to the camel’s saddle. The man hung upside down screaming as the blood trailed through his clothing and drained onto the ground below, “That is why men like you will never become greater than any other animal on this planet.” Sheppard continued.
Sheppard ordered the camels forward, they eventually crossed the horizon with the Aterian in tow.
The woman from the tavern ran outside the tent clutching her torso as she recovered from the blunt trauma of Sheppard’s blow.
Women and children returned to their dwellings as they saw the remnants of the massacre. Rumors spread wildly around the village, inciting the same immortal hatred that the Aterians had when they came to the village.
Remember Dar, they are the reason why your mother is dead. You were there when you saw it weren’t you?
The woman nodded as if to an apparition in front of her.
I am leaving the village just for a season to kill those dogs who took your mother’s body. You trust me don’t you? You trust that I will come back?
She whispered yes to herself many times under her breath.
If they truly are what we believe they are, Dar asked herself, then why did he let me live?
Jo awoke uneasily the next day. She could feel her head swollen still from the battle the previous day. She searched her surroundings but only found a dead campfire before her.
It must have burnt out overnight.
She stretched to her side to loosen her aching back muscles. She made out the face of the person behind her and shrieked. It was the Aterian chief.
The Aterian shuddered. he was gagged and bound to a pike in the ground. He tried to stand up to charge at Jo but immediately fell to the ground. His screams were muffled.
Jo stood up, taking a few steps back. She was in a lush valley with a small river just below her. A rustling in the shrubbery next to her put her on alert. She kept her fists and legs in a balanced fighting stance preparing for the worst.
Packs of herbs and berries tied by animal sinew hit her on the head confusing her. Before she could attack somebody grabbed her from behind and bound her hands in the remaining twine loosely, the man grabbed her by the neck and swept her ankles forcing her to the ground chin first.
She spit out the dust in her mouth when she landed and used her legs to grapple her adversary. Before she could counter, the person let go. She rolled herself upward and saw it was Sheppard.
“Morning young one.” He said heartily, “Just checking to make sure you were still awake.”
He smirked at her and offered her help up. She accepted and then pushed him toward the ground.
“That was not funny!”
“Excuse me?” He was beginning to sound sarcastic, “Why do you think I brought you with me, and don’t say to sight-see.”
She looked to the ground and sighed, agreeing with her mentor.
“I brought you here to make sure that all these years of city-life had not made you weak. You know how to fight Jo,” he reassured her, “but you’re not prepared to take on this world alone just yet.”
“I would not want to take this world on alone,” she responded, “that is what my friends are for, and my family.” She spoke of Sheppard, Solb and Arnael. The only family she had left.
Sheppard did not flinch. He nodded his head in affirmation.
“I see.”
No more words were spoken as he unbound the spindle of herbs. They both helped coordinate the milling and preparation of the herbs.
Sheppard was the first to apply the herbal paste to his skin. His skin burned almost immediately as the herbal paste bubbled violently. He endured the pain and eventually saw his wounds clot and scar right before his eyes.
Jo was next as she applied it to her face and hands, the cuts and bruises she received healed in almost the same fashion.
Sheppard removed his tunic and doused the bloodied patches in the antibacterial solution he prepared. He then tore his tunic, using its scraps to dress his more fatal wounds. Though his body was almost completely healed he never took any injury lightly. Thousands of years of warfare, conventional and unconventional, made him realize how precious his life truly was.
“How did you survive that one,” Jo asked pointing to his chest, “it plunged straight into your heart.”
“Not exactly, it missed my heart,” He traced the path across his chest, “but it punctured my lung very severely.”
He grunted as he tightened the dressings, “I lost mostly fluid but luckily my blood coagulated quickly.”
He motioned for her to remove her tunic and check for wounds.
“What?” He asked, “I didn’t want to check you while you were asleep, you seemed fine…”
Jo smiled and removed her robes, turning her back to his as he examined her. She could feel his fingers gliding across her skin; they were callous and cold. He must have come from the river below.
“Your back is fine, you have a lot of cuts from something but they will heal in a day or so.”
Her undergarments consisted of a leather brassiere that seemed to keep her upper back straight in combat. The padding was very durable and Sheppard could tell immediately that nothing had pierced her chest.
“Was that everything Medicine Man Sheppard?” She smirked.
“I’ll take your word for it that,” he pointed to her breasts and feigned a look of disgust, “those are fine.”
The Aterian chieftain eyed them very carefully as they examined one another. Though he was still gagged Sheppard could notice he wanted to say something. He asked Jo to let their prisoner speak.
She removed the gag and stepped back to Sheppard.
“You immortals sicken me. That your women are allowed to touch men so and speak to you the way they do?”
Sheppard paid him no heed as he spoke in the mortal dialect, “You jump to conclusions my friend, and she is not just a woman.” He glanced at her, “She’s also a human being.”
The man did not understand his words.
“One day, my confused friend. I hope to see that mortals will learn to exist like we do.”
Sheppard helped their prisoner relax. They stra
ightened his legs much to his dismay and applied their herbal medicines across his appendages in an attempt to alleviate his pain.
“It is going to be a long journey for you back to our lands,” Jo said, “I hope you’re comfortable.”
By the time Jo turned around to procure the dressings she saw Sheppard standing resolute into the horizon.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
Before she could say another word, a small party of Aterians climbed onto the ledge they were sitting on. The woman from the tavern was among them.
A man shoved her aside and demanded the release of the Aterian chieftain. The woman kept her eye on Sheppard the entire time.
The Aterian chieftain barked back at his men, “Free me you dogs.” He saw the woman amidst them, “Dar! Free me at once!”
The woman did not move. She kept her gaze fixed on Sheppard. She saw he had no fear in his posture, he was prepared for anything. Dar knew not to underestimate the man again.
Sheppard did not respond to any of their demands and remained vigilant in front of the chieftain and Jo. The man leading the group was content in their numbers and ordered his men forward, they advanced cautiously.
A man pulled out his mace and swung it at Sheppard but was immediately struck in the abdomen. Sheppard palms connected strikes from wrists to faces crushing bones and noses in the process. An Aterian tried to yell but his screams were muffled by his now blocked nasal passages.
Dar did not move an inch, she continued to watch Sheppard through the cowl of her robes.
It was not until she saw a man about to ambush Sheppard from above the cliffs that she rushed to his aid. Sheppard watched as she killed the ambusher effortlessly.
She paid no heed as the Aterian chieftain blasted her.
“That maneuver you performed,” Sheppard said in surprise, “requires much strength and speed, very uncommon in mortals.”
Dar continued to remain silent, her back still turned to them while facing the Aterian chieftain.
“I didn’t come here for small talk.” She finally began, “I want to know why you let me live earlier.”
Sheppard was thrown off by the question.
“We have our own beliefs and you have yours. We wish to live in this world much like you do.”
She shook her head and changed the question, “What gives you the resolve in the face of such adversity. To let your enemies live.”
Sheppard interjected. “We have something mortals don’t have, time…Immortality.”
“Were I only different.” Dar turned her head and lifted her cowl slightly as to show Sheppard and Jo to see who she truly was. “I am an immortal as well.”
Sheppard smirked. He knew she was the entire time.
“But tell me immortal,” she referred to Sheppard, “Do you believe it will ever end?”
Sheppard heaved a long sigh and proceeded to sit on the ground with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes and hung his head as he thought of the words to say.
“To be perfectly honest, no. Men will always find a reason to hate, and we will always have to find reasons to end such conflicts.”
He held Jo by the shoulder and stood ahead of her in case anything happened. “It disgusts me as I’m sure it does you that men can fight for such reasonless struggles. But this hatred will never truly die, just as mortals fight with one another over pride, family, women and fortune, so too do we immortals fight for our ways…”
Dar did not respond. Her light brown hair fell out of her cowl and waved in the breeze, she had streaks of highlights developing.
“I find your—my people, very honorable. But this amazing power is destroying my hair.”
Sheppard laughed heartily with Jo, “The gift of immortality touches each of us differently.”
The sun began to set slowly above the mountain. The winter season of the region had set in only a month before and the days were getting shorter and shorter. Insects began to sing through the night beginning their endless waltz.
Sheppard dreamed of the harvests at home, his dreams were the only escape from the brutal reality of this world.
“So what of you my friend?” He asked Dar, “Who are you?”
“Was it not obvious?” She removed her robes revealing her face and body covered only by quilted leather segments. Sheppard took a serious look at her.
“I thought not,” She re-robed and tied the harnesses, “I am my father’s daughter, the man whom you said had been captured.”
“Anach, Captain of the Blades.”
Dar was content, “So you do remember who he was.”
“We immortals believe that a man who lived a good life and sacrificed himself for his ideals deserves the truest merits of history.” Sheppard walked over to the Aterian chieftain, he was beginning to bark curses at Dar for her insolence in the native mortal dialect.
Sheppard tightened his restraints and gagged his mouth again so that he would not disturb the conversation.
“Anach had said your mother was an immortal.” Jo continued.
Dar did not understand any of it, “So you did kill my father?”
“Kill? He sacrificed himself leading his men in an insurrection in our homelands. His men were no match for our defenses and they were quickly overwhelmed in the ensuing onslaught. We did not kill him in cold blood.”
“I suspected as much.” She said as she turned to leave.
“Anach was not your biological father.” Sheppard added.
That set her off. Dar could not believe it.
“My father was a good man! He saved my mother and I from the immortal armies when I was an infant!”
Sheppard motioned for her to calm down, “There was no immortal army young Dar, it was all staged by our enemies to incite propaganda… your mother had given birth to you long before he arrived. Anach found you amongst the dying and vowed to protect you from harm.”
“And what proof do you have?” Dar’s eyes began to fill with anger, “How do I know you are not trying to trick me?”
“What do we have to lie for? We asked nothing of you…your father had given us this information before his passing.”
He was beginning to throw too much information at her. he paused only momentarily to let the words sink in to her head.
“Young Dar…your father did try to save your mother…He was the only father you had ever known but he was not your birth father, you do not know this yet but the immortality passes from the father…not the mother. We found this message addressed to you in his belongings.” Jo added.
Sheppard nodded, “I’m sure Anach had also told you to hide most of your abilities from those around you.”
Dar was weeping bitterly. Their words were beginning to seem true. Jo walked up to Dar as she laid her blades on the ground and hung her head as the tears fell to the ground. Jo kneeled by her side and wrapped her arms around her comforting her.
“We came to this village to find you Dar.” Sheppard finished.
Jo looked back at Sheppard in shock, she did not know that was their original objective.
Did he think it would jeopardize our mission had I known?
Sheppard nodded apologetically to Jo. “Your father had trained you in the ways of the Aterians to hide you and make you seem less conspicuous to others. I’m sure he wanted a normal life for you, not one of war...”
“Your words…may be true…” She wiped the tears from her face, “But now I cannot return to that normal life...” She said to the dead bodies around her.
Sheppard looked away as if feeling guilt for her pain. Dar cut a new smile on her face and stood up with Jo’s help. She walked up to the Aterian chieftain behind her and stepped on his groin causing him to writhe in agony.
“Did you hear that?” She screamed at him in the mortal dialect, “Your stupid ideals,” She seemed to put more pressure with each syllable, “killed my father.”
The Aterian’s pain became unbearable.
Jo restrained her and pulled her away from hi
m, Dar resisted but eventually gave in.
Sheppard reassured her, “He will face his crimes in time, but we mustn’t be hasty. He has invaluable information regarding our enem-ies that we will discover eventually.”
Dar was let go and she walked to the overhang of the valley behind them. She kicked the nearest dead body off of the cliff into the valley below. The echoes were faint but noticeable.
She sat on the ground, resting her hands over her knees in quiet contemplation. She looked like a stoic warrior waiting for a sign.
“You have my blade and my honor immortal.” She said looking back at Sheppard.
“I am no one’s master,” he responded, “A mentor or teacher maybe, but I can only lead you the doors of knowledge. You must open them yourself.”
Sheppard grabbed her by the arm and raised her up. He brushed the dust off of her tunic and told her she answered to no one but herself.
“If I may, where do you plan to go, Dar?” Jo asked.
“I wish to return to the immortal homelands, to be with my true people…”
Sheppard approved the plan and told them to make haste in departure.
He helped Dar bury the Aterian soldiers in the ground. After-wards they all broke into solemn prayer.
Dar learned that should she wish to join the immortal legions she would begin by praying for the souls of the people she has killed. When asked why, Sheppard explained to her that if she could not respect her enemies, she would never respect herself.
Meanwhile Jo prepared the camels and tied the Aterian chieftain securely to the lead camel’s hump. His leg was placed in a secure bandaged splint and harnessed to the saddle.
“Are these the beasts of the southern deserts?” Dar asked.
“Yes, they are docile however,” He patted the camel on the neck, “we train them to carry our packs, and us, when the time calls for it. They are noble animals to be respected.”
“I have never seen one behave in such a way before…”
Sheppard laughed, “Not too long in the future we might find mortals doing this. We will all learn to co-exist with the wilds. Come,” he helped her onto the saddle, “Jo will ride with you on this camel.”
Origin: Eternity's End Page 12
