Natural Selection

August was doing better. He still wasn’t talking much, but neither did he have that far away look in his eyes. Silas and I had discussed his leaving, which I knew had been coming. He had his own companion and children to return to and I had known he wanted to get back to them as quickly as possible.

The three of us had ceased our travels to eat, and too, I think we were both curious to see how August would react around other people. I hoped we did not regret our choice.

A slave had come to serve us, and had chosen August to kneel beside. He, seeing her there, had grabbed her up to kiss. It was a long kiss, one that explores and tastes, a kiss to familiarize himself with a woman he did not know. Eventually though, he had released her and concentrated on his food. At this, Silas stepped over to the inn keep, their conversation held low before he returned.

Within ehns there were several women, approaching our table. Slaves, young girls, a whore, a woman pregnant as well as a dark skinned woman and a very large woman. These women approached August, one lowering to his lap. It was the dark skinned woman, who was immediately pushed away, which was no wonder, if he had any memories of the mamba camp.

The pregnant female was pushed away as well, as was the woman that would have made four of me. A slave begged fro food and he ignored her. One he had chosen and she was pulled to his lap, kissing her. I was trying to figure out what it was Silas was trying to determine.

Silas looked at me an explained that August was sniffing them out, for lack of a better word, as potential mates. He waved me over to August’s side, to see if he would push me away as well. I approached and his eyes lifted up to meet mine and immediately pushed the other girl away. He looked down to his plate, lifting a piece of the bosk and offered it up to me. I lowered down next to him and took it. It was clear that he would share with me.

He pulled me onto his lap without thought and began to kiss me I was trying to shy from him, to gently urge him out of the kiss as to not cause any commotion. The girl that he had been kissing was still trying to get his attention, but he ignored her in favor of our very public display, and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable while he continued to kiss me, undeterred by my trying to remove myself from him.

There was a call from across the room, directed at me, a man rising from his table and stalking towards us, yelling out for all to hear, that if Silas did not collar me, he would for my behavior.

Silas was already trying to get us out of there, rising and shoving at August’s shoulder to get him to stop. The experiment had suddenly turned into something more.

The man repeated his threat, holding up a piece of binding fiber to our guard. August did not seem to take note of what was happening, and Silas gave his excuses to the man, standing up for me.

I was able to distance myself from August’s lap and move behind Silas. I felt so small and vulnerable, my heart hammering out a rapid tattoo.

August eyes lifted when I rose to meet my own, then narrowed when I stepped behind Silas in lieu of protection. The man who had wanted me collared reached out to grab my arm, and then it happened.

August was quick. His fist slammed into the side of the man’s head, knocking him off balance and he wobbled, unprepared. August voiced a word and bared his sharpened teeth at the man. Mine, he said, as if I was little more than a possession already. August grabbed me and jerked me towards his chest. I appeared we would have to work on August’s social skills.

Whore, I heard him call out as we made our way out of the inn, I not daring to look back.

Kiss

We stopped in a small town that was far enough away for us to feel safe, though in retrospect, I didn’t know that I would ever feel safe again. August had fallen into a deep sleep, which neither of us could not rouse him from. It was Silas who came up with the idea to pinch him, but it was me who was supposed to administer it.

Pain is often an opening. Whether or not it would work on him was anyone's guess, but this would be no fragile, matronly pinch, instead, cutting to directly to the quick of things. There was always the danger of retaliation and I knew that. Somewhere in the back of my mind this made sense, but even as thumb and forefinger connected, I hadn't expected the volatile reaction that would follow. August immediately flailed awake, his arm coming down atop my own, trying to knock mine away. I heard the crack of bone, mine, and cried out, immediately pulling my arm back into my chest and cradling it with my other hand. The back of my eyelids burned with hot tears and I whispered to Silas that he was.. receptive.

While Silas wrapped my arm to stabilize it, and our attention turned back to the real patient, who had sat quietly staring, as if in some sort of trance. He had known to strike out at pain, which Silas had concluded rose him notches above infantile. He was in there, somewhere, lost and unable to find his way out. And was it any wonder, after all he had been through?

I lowered in front of him, my hand touching the top of his knee. His gaze dropped to my hand and I realized there must be a shadow of recognition. I took his hand, pressing his palm against my chest, while I leaned in, my mouth at his throat. I could taste the combination of lake water and sweat, as well as something more. Uncertainty.

Much can be said for the primal urges of the body, the ancient telling of temptation and delight. He responded, his eyes flaring as I kissed him. Or rather, as he kissed me.

There was a small sound that came from somewhere deep inside me when I was kissing him, an unconscious effort to draw him out. There was more careful pressure offered his mouth, going as slowly as I could, trying not to frighten him. In some strange way, he was .. virginal and innocent and I wanted to take my time with him. There was little doubt that instinct would take over at some point, or maybe memory.

His hand lifted and fisted in my hair, holding me tightly against him. I had awakened.. something. Lust. Which had quickly culminated into sex. It would take time, but I was certain he was going to be alright.

Fire Realm

My return did not seem welcoming. I had lost the respect I had tried so hard to gain with the villagers. Maybe they saw compassion as a weakness. They were angry that I had taken away their revenge. It didn’t matter that Matthew had not been the cause, just that they wanted him to pay. My trust was wavering. I did not trust Tukuli, had never fully trusted him and now, I could feel the slither of doubt crawl over my skin.

He had bid us to his hut upon return, while venomous whispers surrounded us. He told us that we had found what we had sought, and that now, it was time to leave. I could not have agreed more.

I flinched when he told August that there was more for him to do, but that I would hold him back, because I had awakened something in him. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was true, then with a sigh, decided it probably was. We were to leave in the morning, but first, August would have to attend to the marks, the tattoos he had been given before his time in the sands.

I knew these marks bothered August. Some were fading, while others seemed to hold fast to his flesh. There were parts of August that were changing and neither of us understood it. This ceremony was proposed to make him whole again. We were sent away, until the evening’s.. debauchery began. For our own protection, Tukuli had said, but I knew there was something more.

I was becoming very fond of August. No, it was more than fondness, and that frightened me. I have a habit of diving in too rapidly, of offering too much of myself too quickly. I’m finding that I can’t help it though, it’s just the way I am. I do not give myself in pieces. I never have, and it’s obvious enough that I never will. With me, it seems to be all or nothing.

When at last night befell the village, I had worked myself into a studious calm, praying that the evening would go quickly and that we could leave. I was praying that they would actually allow him to leave. I was of no value to them, but August was revered. There were times I could swear they revered him in God like amour.

With the beating of the drums, we were drawn from the hut. I had looked for August, but I was unable to see his ghost like visage, covered in the heavy tattoos, and then, just like that, he was there in the throng of people, half hidden by their bodies. I felt the perilous beat of my heart at the sight of him and it was all I could do to keep from going to him, even with the hand of Silas on my arm.

There was a savage beauty about him, the bones in his hair gleaming dully beneath twisted dark locks, a man wild and untamable in all his naked glory and for a moment I was awed. If anything, he had a presence about him that few men could carry off.

Tukuli spoke and the villagers cheered. I wanted to get to him, but the sea of people between us made it quite impossible to do. I could not take my eyes off of him though, transfixed no only by his appearance, but the way the villagers held him in such esteem.

Those around me knelt, I however, did not, instead, standing there against the painted glow of the firelight, red curls rippling around my cheeks, staring. Unsmiling. Wary. They had filed his teeth, a barbaric bevel of what had once been a beautiful smile. I had not meant to recoil at the sight, but I had, releasing a startled cry that I quickly quieted by way of forced palm over my mouth. I wanted to cry, to scream, to turn away with revulsion. He looked like one of the .. demons, straight out of the book that I had been studying in the Great Library, a book that few were allowed to view. My viewing had been a gift.

I wanted to bury my face in my hands, to ignore what had been done, but I couldn’t turn away. Then the women began to paw at him, and I found that my hands contracted in to fists, tightly clenching. Neither could I look away from the effects of their touches, which was an obvious delight to all of them.

The chants drummed around me, humming like a thousand bees in my head. It was Silas, by way of drag that had awakened me from my stupor, moving in closer to a companion that was currently coveted by one woman after another. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to feel. Certainly there was an inkling of betrayal and hurt at his fornication, and finally I did look away, unable to watch him.. and them, any longer. I realized what it was, sex, even understood the forces that drove him, and yet, it was something my mind, or perhaps my heart did not wish to accept.

Silas moved away and I was left alone, though no one paid any attention to me, for which I was grateful. One woman after another grunted in animalistic lust and pleasure, the noises unable to force the shadows of the previous scene from my mind.

The chanting ceased and the drums began to thump like the beat of a heart, echoing through the jungle. I could feel the blood in my veins throbbing as well.

I had not been looking at him when he took my arm and drew me in. Instead, my gaze had been on some distant plane, only wishing the night would end, but it did not. Instead, it seemed to go on forever. He had the musky aroma of sex, as if he’d bathed in other women, which really wasn’t so far from the truth. I was resistant with that first pull, put feet gave way to the first step, and then another, and soon I found that I was swaying, gliding back and forth in front of him, before I was drawn into him. I heard, felt the rent of cloth at my shoulder and my body stiffened slightly when I felt his teeth cut into flesh followed by the lash of tongue. It wasn’t so far fetched that I would be a meal before the lar torvis rose, and still, I tipped my head to the side so that it wouldn’t be in the way. My lips parted and my eyes closed, momentarily forgetting all that were around us. When I opened my eyes again, I was dimly aware that my tunic was lying at my feet in shreds and the dye from the fires light was casting a red orange glow over pale flesh. He kissed me and I groaned, from both pain and elation, and my arms wrap around him in a coiling embrace, my breasts pressed against his chest, as if I was trying to become one with him. Or maybe, it was that I wanted to erase those before me, because August wasn’t the only one possessed. It was contagious.

He was pulled away from me, and I instinctively reached out for him, wanting to pull him back. I hadn’t realized the word that they were chanting until I saw the fear in August’s eyes. Fire. They were going to throw him in the fire.

I screamed until my voice was hoarse. I clawed to try and get to him, but nothing I did moved the bodies from my path. I watched with a thrill of horror as they pushed him towards the flames.

I could see the points of spears digging at him, and the blood as it moved down his body, uncomprehending. I looked away, trying to spot Silas in the crowd, and by the time I looked back, the rite of ceremony had turned to chaos. A man fell and women screamed. When I looked for the source of the scream, I saw that one of the women had tripped and landed in the fire herself, her body quickly succumbing to flame, a macabre dark dancing doll that bounced, leeched forward then fell at another man’s feet, he too catching fire as if he’d been dry tinder. I stood transfixed, unable to move while anarchy around me continued. The huts had caught fire and it wasn’t until Silas broke the hold on the woman who held me and pulled me towards the jungle that the full scope of happenings hit me. They had wanted to burn him alive, a gift to the Gods, or a meal for each of the villagers to catch a piece of his soul.

I turned around in the midst of escape, to see him standing on one of the roofs, a glorified figure of malevolence. I couldn’t leave him. I had left him once, and I knew I could not leave him again. I tugged back against the pull of Silas’ arm, trying to free myself, trying to return to a village that was quickly going up in flames, but Silas would not let me go. He promised me we would get him.

I don’t remember reaching the tarn, or climbing up upon its back, or taking to flight. I do remember being up in the air and looking down at the river that lay near the village, lighted by the glow of the village inferno.

Silas maneuvered the tarn, which was quickly gaining on a running August, who was being pursued by mamba survivors. Silas ordered me into the basket, the task he had had me practice over and over. Just as I dropped into the basket, I felt the tarn dive, talons reaching out for companioned prey, before we took to the air again.

I could smell the acrid aroma of smoke and for the first time in my life, I wished others ill. I hoped they would all burn, leaving nothing behind but memories and ashes.

We flew over a small lake and Silas commanded the tarn to drop the limp, burnt body into the water. We landed and I was out of the basket as quickly as possible and wading into the water, searching. It was Silas who found him and carried him to shore with me right behind him.

Death comes in many forms. I have felt it often, experienced the physical pain, had seen life leave the body by the point of steel and the loss of breath. I wanted to fight with him, to fight for him. I wanted him to fight for me. I was making unspoken deals with the Priest Kings, even as Silas was drawing out the needle, which he plunged into August’s chest.

He sputtered and coughed, choked and gagged, and I gave thanks for it all. August had come back. He was alive.

Mission Impossible

I had approached the group of children, who were playing ball, inadvertently asking if any held the name of Jeremy. None did, but the little girl with the doll was pulling on my pant leg. Jeremy was her brother. This, was Celia, or Cici, as her sister, who looked at me suspiciously, called her. Aileen pulled her away from me toward the safety of one of the huts. I followed.

I had found the children. Now all I had to do was get them out, without them kicking and screaming, and me being caught. I wasn’t sure how to get it. Certainly I couldn’t just walk into a home that was not mine and whose owner I did not know. Or .. could I?

The door was open, a semi invitation, and I peeked in, my shoulder pressed against the jam. I told her that I had just been passing by, and wanted to compliment her on how beautiful her children were and that she and her companion must be very proud. I needed more information. Was there a man? And if so, would he be home soon?

She had no companion. That was good. I stepped further inside, much to the woman’s dismay, telling me to leave. I stepped in further, not to be deterred. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting. Not the children to be handed over to me of course, and I tried to be sociable, never a strong skill to begin with, which only drew more of the woman’s distrust to me. Cici had started to cry and I instinctively moved towards her, wrapping my arms around her in an effort to comfort, crooning soft words and telling her my name. Meanwhile the woman, with wooden spoon in hand, was coming towards me, in a not so friendly stalk.

I was crouched, turned away from the woman, which offered me perfect opportunity to draw the blow gun from beneath my tunic. All I could think was .. please don’t let the children scream. By the time I turned around, the woman, who was three times my size, was hovering over me menacingly. I blew, then apologized. She teetered, the look of surprise on her face carved like stone. The wooden spoon cracked over the top of my head and she fell forward, deadweight across my legs.

I immediately began to try to roll the woman off, while speaking as calmly as I could to the children, inundating them with an overload of information on who I was and why I had come. I had my work cut out for me, because Jeremy, as I was to find out was quite a pretentious child, who was sure the mamba would kill them.

It was only by the description of his father and the reason they had come that I had convinced him and I was overjoyed at the fact that he, along with his sisters, would come willingly.

I still had darts, and my knife, and Jeremy held his own, refusing to give it up. I could understand his motives, and since there was little time left to argue, I did not. We four made it to the river in silence, while I was trying to figure out how I could get them into the jungle without being seen. One woman, coming out near the water, had been easy. But taking children into the jungle, without being seen, would not.

I had grabbed a bucket when we had left, our reason to go back to the river, handing it to Jeremy. A guard followed us, and I lifted my eyes to the sky, trying to gauge the time. Tehre was no time to lose. I had turned to the guard, dart in hand, but for just an instant, lar torvis had blinded me, something I hadn't taken into account when debating the angle. Their was a soft his and the dart escaped its cylinder suite of refuge, but it would not hit the target of guard, instead, buzzing past his ear, a fact that wasn't known straight away, until I realized that he was drawing his sword and coming towards me.

Aileen and Celia were pushed out of the way, so that they would in no way be harmed by an errant thrust of sword, and Jeremy dropped the bucket in the water, to which a wafting current immediately caught, dragging it slowly downstream. I was fumbling, trying to load another dart, hoping the guard wouldn't call out before I could fell him, if I could fell him at all. I yelled to Jeremy to take his sisters and run towards the tree line. The an's arm lifted, and for just a fraction, the sun was blocked, casting a long wavering shadow over the moving water. A fraction, all that was needed, I sucked in a breath, and blew.

The dart had hit him in the neck, at so close a distance, a target that could nary be missed, but his arm was already up and poised for a strike, that, and it would take a few seconds for the darting to take effect. Two steps, three, and he was looming over me, staggering for his balance, his sword arm suddenly unsure. His expression was one of amazement and his mouth opened, as if he was about to speak, before the mountain of man began to topple, but not before he called out. But this time, it was not pounds of flesh that would find me, but the razor tip sharpness of steel.

Had he been only one step closer, the wound might have found a fatality, but I had instinctively taken a step back and to the right. As it was, the blade had drawn down from shoulder and over the outside of my left arm in a mere graze. I didn't wait to see where he landed, instead, turning and half limping, half running off after the children, who by now had almost reached the tree line.

I was silently praying that there was still enough time to get back to camp.

The closer I got to the jungle, the louder the sound of.. hoof beats became. I turned to see August riding towards me on the largest tharlarion I had ever seen, with Silas behind him. As promised, he had come for me.

By now the call of the first guard had drawn others, but August had divided the children from them. Matthew was there as well, swooping his children up to him, Jeremy and Cici, while Silas snagged Aileen. I wasn’t so lucky, still in the throng of three men, who did not wish to let me go. You have what is mine, August told them, and he would take me and leave now. I expected bloodshed, but it was Matthew who had pleaded with them, and they had at last, relented and we were free to go. All of us.

We said our farewells to Matthew and his children on the beach. Jeremy had given me his knife, saying I needed it more than he did, which brought hoots of laughter. It was endearing. Not funny, but very endearing.

After we had parted ways I had realized that Tukuli had saddled me with what he thought an impossible task. He did not expect me to be successful.

I almost believed him.

Primal Instinct

We were staying, again, but now, it would be different. I was a woman of worth, one to be respected, and one who was being prepared for greater things.

I have an insatiable appetite, for knowledge, something I had found out when I was with Lucian. I have a lust of libraries, a love for learning and I often find myself studying things so that I might understand them better. But all things are not to be found in the pages of a book. There is education to be had all around us. Medicinal herbs for one, which I was finding fascinating.

Thus far, I had successfully evaded the eating of flesh, able to disengage myself from that part of village life, the only part that I really abhorred, but there was to be a ceremony, a celebration of sorts, and Silas and I had had worried all day about the coming.. meal.

I had always known the day would come when I would be expected to participate in all matters, including the consumption of human flesh. It was this that plagued me, that threatened to re-erect the wall that August had so rightfully felled with destroying of cards. I hadn’t wanted to know where it came from, because there were times when knowledge, wasn’t prudent. I pretended it was tarsk. I only had to imbibe in one piece, thankfully, and I kept it down without regurgitation. Raw flesh was not to my liking and I was glad I had not known him.

When morning came, I was allowed to go join a hunting party. But to my dismay I found it was to be to a white man’s village. Apparently this village had stolen children from the mamba, and the mamba wanted them back. Children were much more compliant than the adults in the happenstance of slavery, which didn’t sit well with my jungle compatriots, and when our group neared, close enough to see, August bid me to return and wait for him. A hunting I may go, but I would not be participating in war. I did not challenge.

I could hear, even in my retreat, the battle, the cries and the confusion, but I had not stopped.

It had not taken long for the men to return with more than half the children that had been taken. But too, they had something .. or someone else. A man, a white man, who was doomed to be food. A man yet alive.

Perhaps he had beckoned me because I was ghost like in a throng of darkness. I was something familiar, a woman of his own kind. He begged me for help, told me that he had children. That his companion had perished and he was all that they had left. His wounds, as I was to see, were not life threatening and I felt a cold chill of terror, because I knew, even without divination, what his future would be.

I am not a savage, save for the whole eating of raw human flesh thing. That was rather uncivilized. But I had already decided I would not be eating.. this man, instead, I would try to help him. I just didn’t have a clue.. how.

A child lay dead near him, one that had not been so lucky. Had that been my child, would I have wanted revenge? It was possible, that in my grief, I would want vengeance, even if the one it was doled out upon had not been responsible. No, I chided myself. I could not do that, unless, I was sure.

But had this man done it. He said he had not, which of course was understandable, given what he was facing, but I was sure that he was telling the truth. I touched him, my fingers placed lightly atop of his arm. He was not lying, I would have gambled my life on that, a gamble that I was about to have to prove.

His name was Matthew and he from Bazi, had only been in the village for two days before the mamba had attacked. He had three children, Jeremy, nice, Aileen, four and Celia, who was two. They were fair haired children, like their mother, with eyes the color of mine. Elise, their mother, had died on the ship, the Silvertarn, that had brought them here, and had in fact, been dying for several months. He had heard about the healing sands, and had brought her here, to save her.

I understood what hope could do and the lengths that people would go to attain it. I had been one of those people.

I was estranged from my children. Charm was with her grandmother and showed little sign of wanting to come back home, from the letters I had received when in Ar. Olivia was with her father, she too, lost to me. And yet, I knew that both were safe and well taken care of, would continue to be even if something did happen to me. He did not have such luxury.

I would help. Or, I would try to help, but I could not promise that I would be able to save him. What I did promise him, was that if I could not, I would see his children safely back to his family. It was all I could do.

August had returned with Tukuli by now, his arms folded across his chest. I thought he had come to war with me on my request, delivered by August, to allow the man to live, and he had, in his own way, but he held my opinion in regard as I explained the situation to him. Matthew had been told that all men needed to protect the camp when the mamba had attacked, and though he knew little of battle he had done it to protect his own children.

But to free him, I had to prove his innocence. I was to go into the village, discover the truth and return with it. I had until nightfall, at which point, the man would be killed.

August had said he would go with me, but Tukuli said something in a brash manner in the native tongue that I did not yet understand, and August relented. He had been threatened to not follow me. It was planned that two of the mamba would lead me to the village and wait for me until nightfall. I was to find the children and bring them back with me. If I did not meet my deadline, then it would be assumed that I had been captured. Only then would the man and his offspring be allowed to leave.

I was equipped. A blow tube, poison quills, that I was assured would kill no one, only force them into a deep sleep, a small knife, and the promise that if I did not return, that August would come for me, despite the shaman’s warning.

It was not a small camp, and for this I was grateful. At least I might be able to sneak in, by way of the river, unnoticed. Act like I belong, August had told me. I moved to the water and splashed my face, watching those coming and going, gathering water for cooking and cleaning. There were children near, playing, and for a moment I had hoped, no, prayed they would be the children I sought, but they were not. There was a guard with them, a sentinel standing at the rivers edge, one whose attention had drawn to me, eyes narrowed in speculation. I should not, he said, go to the rive alone again, and that I should go directly into camp, where I would be safe. I released a breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding.

I was in.