A Warrior's Journey

by Guy Stanton III

  Evette studied him closely, she didn’t know how, but she did know him enough to know that he was better than what she was thinking him capable of in her panicked thoughts. She wanted to resist anyway, but she really didn’t have the ability to do even that still left in her. He carried her into a room with a big bright window in it. Two chairs and a stool were arranged before it. Orhanin was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the stool and had a small table pulled up beside him with stuff laid out on it.

  What were they intending on doing to her?

  Larc set her down on the stool facing Orhanin and before she could hold onto it, her coat was whisked away by Larc.

  Larc sat down behind her and as she started to rise his hands on her shoulders pulled her back down gently, but firmly. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  She was trapped!

  “I’ll kill you if you touch me!” Evette intoned vehemently, as she gave Orhanin a baleful stare of promise.

  The big man didn’t seem impressed by her threat. He looked at her for a moment and then glanced down and folded his hands together and after a moment he began to talk softly in a gruff tone, as one who didn’t often talk much about private matters would. “Once upon a time I was married to a woman that held my heart in the palm of her hand. We had a little girl. I was away on a mission. It was always hard to leave them, but it was my job as warrior. While I was gone some bad men in the area came into my house and violated both my wife and my little girl, for several days. When I got home my little girl was dead and my wife only had enough life left in her to tell me how much she loved me and who had done this evil thing. She died in my arms a few moments later and with her the last of everything I ever loved was gone. It took me seven years to tract down all those responsible for the death of my family, but I found them and I made them pay one by one until justice was done. I of all men walking upon the world of any of my Lord’s creation would never molest a woman, but if you think I am you have my permission to kill me with my own knife.”

  Orhanin drew a knife from his belt and pressed it into one of Evette’s hands. Her fingers closed around the handle reflexively, but it was obvious the story had made its full impact on her.

  The shirt Evette wore was heavily spotted with blood and it was already dried stuck to her chest and side. Orhanin pulled out another smaller knife and began to cut the top of the shirt off of Evette’s shoulders.

  Evette’s hand that held the knife shook violently, but Orhanin seemed to not notice it. He finished cutting through the sleeves and sides of the shirt and the back half of the shirt fell away, but the front half was held in place by the dried blood.

  Orhanin glanced at Larc, “Could you get me the warm water Larc?”

  Orhanin had brought up water earlier and set it in the window sill. It wasn’t really warm, but at least it wasn’t cold. Larc handed it to Orhanin and then sat back down behind Evette.

  Orhanin looked into Evette’s eyes and said, “This is going to hurt and you need to be steady so Larc is going to hold you.”

  Evette nodded slowly and turned the knife that had been given to her end for end and offered it back to Orhanin, who took it and laid it on the table easily within her reach.

  Larc scooted up and brought his legs up either side of Evette’s legs and pressed down on her shoulders. As his hands touched her bare shoulders she jumped and breathed heavier, but stayed where she was. Orhanin picked up the water jug and began to pour it slowly on the bloody fabric of the shirt, as he tried to soften up the dried blood.

  As gentle as he was it wasn’t enough. As he pulled the fabric down it came grudgingly away from the jagged puncture wounds and surrounding bruises causing them to open up and bleed again.

  Larc’s teeth ground harshly together as his jaw shifted hard. He gazed appalled at the sight of Evette’s injuries. Her trembling body under his hands caused hard emotion to boil through him. Her breathing was hard, but other than that she didn’t make a sound.

  Orhanin went to pull the shirt away and Evette gasped out loudly, which is when Orhanin saw her side.

  “I’m so sorry!” He whispered out as his face twisted in empathetic pain.

  He loosened the dried blood with more water and pulled the shirt free from her side.

  Orhanin’s face was an unreadable mask, as with a dampened cloth and more water, he brushed away the remnants of dried blood from off her chest and torso. Larc was glad that Evette couldn’t see his face, because he knew it must be murderous in appearance.

  “I’ll break their necks!” He muttered under his breath.

  He didn’t think she had heard him, but she turned her head slightly and caught him with one eye, “I already did.” She whispered out painfully, as she closed her eyes and shocked him by leaning back against his shoulder more fully.

  Larc glanced over to Orhanin who mouthed out, “Keep talking to her!”

  “Who did this to you? The Committee?”

  “No they just slapped me around a bit for letting you escape. After that they let me go home with the understanding that if I messed up again my life was forfeit. I didn’t much care because I had plans of leaving the country with the children anyhow. I would have done it to, if it hadn’t been for a fellow agent determined to make his big career move with my demise.”

  “How’s that?”

  Evette went on to explain about the children and the gold. Larc could see tears tracking down her face that had little to do with the pain she was in.

  “Evette?”

  Her eyes opened and he saw the self incrimination and anguish that marred their blue depths.

  “It’s not your fault what happened to the children. Your actions were noble ones done out of good intentions. You can’t help it if other people choose to do evil.”

  She just looked at him for a moment, as if there was something about him she couldn’t comprehend. Orhanin drew both of their attentions back to him. He had finished cleaning her up.

  “I’ve finished cleaning these punctures. Some of them have closed right up, but some will need a few stitches.”

  Evette nodded.

  “I don’t think that after I stitch them that you’ll have much of any visible scarring to speak of.”

  “I don’t care about that.” Evette replied.

  “You may not now, but someday you might and it will reduce your healing time and risk of infection in the present. As for your wrists.”

  He reached down and picked up one hand and then the other. They had scabbed over completely, where the shackles had worn the skin off.

  “There’s little that I can do for them and its probably just best to leave the scabs be. You’ll most likely have scars though.”

  Evette watched as Orhanin pulled a needle and thread out of a clear looking mixture with herbs crumbled up in it. She involuntarily reached for something to clutch on to during the pain that lay ahead and found the tops of Larc’s thighs just above the knees and at the contact with them her hands jumped back. His big hands caught hers and placed them back where they had just been.

  Reluctantly her fingers gripped the tensed muscles and ligaments beneath her touch, even as his big hands closed securely around her upper arms. So much of this experience was completely unnerving!

  She didn’t know how she was handling it, but all she knew in that moment was that she didn’t want to have to face the next part of this drama. She scrunched her eyes shut as she felt the needle touch her skin. She was tired and emotionally spent and held captive half naked between two men and she just couldn’t tough it out any longer. Cries of pain bubbled up out of her. It hurt so bad!

  She knew they were doing everything they could not to hurt her, which she still hadn’t really figured out why yet, but she knew she couldn’t take any more pain. On a particular painful prick of the needle she gave a half choked back scream and everything went black.

  Larc breathed out relieved, she had finally passed out. It was bad enough to have to watch it, but to hear her cries of
pain was unbearable and Larc could only wonder why that was. He had seen much pain and suffering throughout his life and in a way he had grown callused to it, but seeing Evette in pain for whatever reason seemed to wrench his guts out.

  “Thank you God!” Orhanin breathed out.

  “It’s bad enough to cause the pain, but to have to hear it to!” He said, as he wiped the sweat off his brow with one arm.

  Orhanin’s big fingers were amazingly agile and proficient in their task. It wasn’t the first time he’d stitched someone up, but perhaps it had been his most careful attempt to get it just right. There was a big difference between stitching up a slash on a warrior’s arm and the work he was now doing to repair such a feminine aspect of a woman.

  Men were meant to have scars, women shouldn’t and if they did it was somehow testament to some man’s failure to keep her safe.

  Larc couldn’t resist starring into the face turned towards him, as it rested back against his shoulder. She was so beautiful.

  He had been taken by the sight of her from the very first moment she had walked into the small prison room. It had been everything he could manage at the time to not show the evident physical proof of just how much she affected him.

  “This one my friend comes with a lot of issues that go much deeper than any scarring of the skin.”

  “I know.” Larc replied.

  They were quiet as Orhanin finished up. After he was done he pulled a jar out of a little medicine bag that he always carried and began to dip out a greenish paste and spread it over the wounds and skin in general. After it was rubbed in slightly he reached for a role of white cloth on the table.

  Larc held up her arms and head as Orhanin wrapped the cloth around and around Evette. He finished with a couple of wraps around her middle to cover the injuries on her side. After they finished patching her injuries, they somewhat awkwardly got the button down shirt on to her.

  When they got it on Orhanin helped Larc carry her over to a bed in the room and lay her down gently onto it.

  “One of us is going to have to stay with her to make sure that she doesn’t try to role onto her stomach and mess up the stitching and reinjure herself.” Orhanin said.

  “I’ll stay.” Larc quickly replied.

  Orhanin looked at him solemnly for a moment and then his face broke out in a smile, “So the bachelor warrior has finally fallen.”

  He chuckled to himself, but didn’t say anything else, as he left the room giving Larc a hard slap on the back on his way out.

  Larc went over to a chair by the bed and sat down and tipped it back against the wall. He let his tired eyes close and after a moment his breathing deepened. He didn’t notice the cobalt blue eyes that slid open to watch him intently for a brief space of time, before they too slid back closed.

  I watched as Evette made her way down the stairs rather stiffly followed by Larc, who looked like he was prepared to catch her should she fall for some reason. Thanic pulled out a chair for her and I brought her a plate of food.

  She didn’t say anything, but she dug into her food with a gusto that I had seldom seen women do. The shadows were growing darker outside as the day steadily gave way to night.

  The SUV, as the vessel was called, was filled up with the smelly fluid that it needed to operate and parked outside. They had all agreed that it was for the best to only travel at night. After we had cleaned up and were preparing to depart I was mildly surprised when Evette asked me if I would like for her to drive. To which I gladly replied yes.

  I had thought to occupy the seat across from her so that I could study how to drive this vessel more efficiently, but I was beat out by Larc, who slipped into the seat before I could blink.

  If this infatuation was what love was then count me out of it I thought to myself. Trying all the while not to admit within myself how envious of him I was for the woman he had found and corralled off for himself. But still it wasn’t right to be envious. I was still only sixteen and he had waited a lot longer than I had for the right woman to come by.

  We drove on through the night. We stopped briefly once and to my surprise Larc took over the driving position. To let Evette rest of course I’m sure.

  By dawn’s early light I could see that we were climbing in elevation and that the countryside around us was more rural in appearance. Evette was driving again and we were off the more major roads that we had been on and were now on smaller less repaired roads. We passed other vessels often, but they didn’t seem to pay us any attention. About midday Evette pulled the vessel over at a place where they sold the smelly fluid for the SUV.

  Evette turned to Larc, “Do you have any more money for gas?” Larc pulled out the rest of the money that he had and gave it to her.

  “Is that enough?”

  She looked at it for a second and then said, “It should be but we’ll need money for the return drive and food.”

  “We’ll find a way even if we have to walk,” Replied Larc.

  “It’s a long walk.” Evette said almost too softly to hear.

  “When do you think we will arrive where these Bible’s that you say exist are?” Larc asked.

  Evette visibly swallowed uncomfortably and took a moment to respond. Larc and I shared a look of shared meaning.

  “We’ll be there in the morning,” Evette half choked out.

  I didn’t think for a moment that Evette’s somewhat nervous hesitation was an early sign of a betrayal of us on her part.

  What then?

  There had to be someone or something at wherever Evette was taking us to that she did not want to face again. Old enemies or perhaps family.

  It seemed quite certain from her earlier statement that she had walked to the city from here. I could see that Larc was thinking along the same lines as I was. Whatever it was in Evette’s past it was taking all she had to drive back towards it, if the white knuckled grip on the steering wheel was any indication of the internal distress that was taking place within Evette was any evidence to go by.

  As evening was approaching Evette directed Larc to drive down a dirt lane.

  “There’s a fisherman’s cottage a couple miles up this road. There shouldn’t be anyone staying there this time of year.”

  Soon a cottage beside a still lake materialized in the evening gloom and as she had said it appeared to be deserted.

  We piled out of the SUV grateful to be free of it and to stretch our legs some. Evette walked up to the door followed by me and Larc. She pulled a loose rock out of the wall beside the door and pulled out a key from the void.

  “How did you know the key was there?” I asked curiously.

  “I used to come here with my mother sometimes as a kid.” Evette said softly, as she stepped into the darkness of the interior of the cottage.

  A light came on illuminating the interior space. In a word I would describe it as ‘homey’. The cottage consisted of just two rooms and a small water closet.

  It was agreed to that Evette and the children would have the bedroom, while the men slept on the floor of the main room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cry in the Night

  Tomorrow was a big day and we couldn’t count on getting any regular sleep in the days to follow so we all turned in early. But after riding in the SUV for days I was too rested to sleep, as well as to tense about what would happen the next day. I was getting ready to pray about my concerns of the morrow, when I heard some sort of muffled cry coming from the other room.

  I got off the floor quickly and went to the doorway of the other room. Evette was moaning and turning in her sleep on the edge of the bed. Should I wake her?

  She seemed to go still and stopped moaning. Guessing that her nightmare was over and the best thing was to let her sleep I went back to my bed on the floor.

  Little did I know that was the cruelest mistake I could have made, because she was deep into the worst part of the nightmare! It was one of the worst she’d ever had, full of darkness.

  Not ten min
utes later I heard a slight rustling from the bedroom and then I saw her standing there. A little moonlight glowing into the room from an outside window showed me enough to see that she was shaking like a leaf and hugging herself with her arms. It looked like she wanted to come further, but something was holding her back.

  I leaned over and tapped Larc’s arm. He was instantly awake, but lay quiet and still trying to discern his surroundings. It was a skill that every warrior would do well to cultivate.

  I pointed and whispered at the same time, “She needs you! I’m pretty sure she’s been having nightmares all night.”

  I had hardly finished, when Larc was already on his feet and gliding off toward Evette silently. I got up too and followed at a distance.

  My skin crawled the closer I got to her at the sensation of something very foul within the place. I didn’t know how I hadn’t felt it before, because I felt the wrongness of it so strongly now, as it polluted the space with its presence.

  I could even now see the form of what was haunting Evette silhouetted in a dark corner of the room.

  Evette was moaning and crying pitifully as Larc approached her, “Please! I can’t make it stop! It’s killing me and it won’t leave! I’m going crazy! I….”

  “No you’re not!” Larc said firmly as he enfolded her with his arms holding her to him securely.

  I stepped up behind Evette and hugged her too.

  Larc pulled her chin up, “Evette do you want us to pray for you, for peace and freedom from this tormenting spirit?”

  “Oh God please yes!” She sobbed crying into his chest. I started to pray for her, even as Orhanin and Thanic came out of the room behind us to stand with their hands on Larc’s and my shoulders saying prayers of their own.

  Glancing back I saw Talaric standing back a way’s looking unsure, as he stared from us to the dark presence in the corner of the room.

  This was important for him to experience and I held out a hand to him, as I kept a hold of Evette with the other. Hesitantly he stepped forward and took my hand and I watched him jolt with reaction to the touch I felt flow into him.