The Order of Events: The Red Wolf (13 page)

The next four days, Samana trained hard and long, fist-fighting with Amen, swordplay with the Mother as she used her substitute sword. Every day brought growth and experience. Climbing trees, jumping from outer wall to inner wall, running wall bridges, lapping the outermost wall, and dodging blows dealt swiftly in held stance to increase evasion.
              It was draining, but well spent time.

The three travelers in the sands had spent the passing days traveling once more, resting on the cool night, and traveling at day, getting ever closer to their destination.
              The leader, Satthias, walked ahead with his son, as the wise one, Runa, was a good length of twenty people behind the leading two. Her old body was unable to take as much punishment as their young ones.
              The boy strode next to his father, his face wrapped fully, leaving only his yellow eyes to peak from behind the cloth.
              The wind was strong and the sand punishing, scraping against persistent bodies, as loose cloth blew in the wind like streamers.
              The boy removed his mask and spoke to his father, taking a quick look back to see that Runa was still far behind. “Father, I had another of those dreams last night. The girl was in it again…she had a certain way about her, like a warrior…”
              The boy’s father took interest in his son, and always allowed him to speak his mind thoroughly. “Do you remember anything about her this time?”
              The boy thought hard, showing his sharp teeth, and nodded. “I do, father. She wore gold about her, it was like some kind of dress, I guess…with armor built onto it, and she had a great sword. It’d make mine seem like a toy, I guess you could say.”
              The boy had a short sword at his side. At the mention of the sword in the boy’s dream being great, Satthias put his hand to a sharp and long weapon at his side, the blade ranging at three and a half feet. “Maybe, someday, when I pass on, you may have my blade at your side, son.”
              The boy shook his head, and tapped his short sword at side. “Mine suits my needs, father, it is proper for cutting greens when we find them. Besides, I would rather you be at my side than your blade.”
              The father smiled upon his son, and ruffled his hair with his hand. “As long as I can, I will be at your side, my son.”
              Satthias caught a glimpse of Runa staring at him, and felt a clouded feeling overcome him. The sight of Runa was enough to make him feel uneasy, for she always would speak of the prophecy, and Satthias did not feel at peace at the prospect of killing off the world.
              Returning his view ahead, Satthias saw a strange outline, high and foreboding before him. They had reached their destination.
              The mountains were great and stood far above any living being. Their tops could not be made out, for their height was so sheer, that mist was forming to block any further acknowledgement of their size, as they grew cold in their high reaches.
              A great distance within the mountains was not sand but dead grass, ash ridden and burned long ago from when the wolves had come through the pass, leaving the once green and joyous ground dead, with lifeless ash floating about the scene like ghosts of the long lost past life the pass once held.
              Satthias patted his sons shoulder and spoke. “We’ve made it, the Khergy Pass.”
              The two stood together, marveling at the sight, giving Runa time to catch up and stand beside them. “We’ve made it, have we? Then we await the coming of the eclipse here.”
              Runa sat down, and rested her old body, as Satthias agreed and walked towards the opening, looking through the long and opaque ravine. It was a beautiful and awakening sight.
              Satthias was met with a feeling of wrongness, surveying the ash ridden ground, which the beasts of their blood had made dead as they are. Responsibility to the other life of the world grew stronger within him. His people were near extinction, only he, his son, and Runa were left as survivors, the one, Rartyr, who had left them years ago, had probably been killed long ago, either by weather, or by those who would fear his appearance, beastly and inhuman.
              Satthias left the opening of the pass and took place on the ground, next to his son who was drawing the shape of the moon in the ashy ground with his blade tip. “Father, when the eclipse does take place, will it hurt when the change happens? Will I still be myself?”
              Satthias placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and was to speak, but was cut off by Runa, who spoke drawing ash from the ground. “You will change for the better. You will be yourself, in mind, but you must remember, young one. You must carry out your destiny, and not falter, for our blood depends on it, or we will surely be the last of our kind, and in time be but ash, as surely as this ash was once alive.”
              Runa held her hand out as the ash was blown from her hand by a breeze that was escaping the long ravine.
              Satthias felt his son turn his eyes upon him, as the father looked upon Runa, her head bowed and tired eyes closed. “Father, what will happen to you when I change?”
              Satthias turned his attention to his son and smiled his heavily scarred features, showing his sharp pointed teeth. “I’ll be with you, always.”
 

Training had ended on the fifth day, with only one more day to train before the eclipse.
              Samana was taking a walk across the outermost walls by herself. The weather was filled with breezes and the sun was beginning to lower into the horizon as clouds began to take presence over the vast sky, streams of orange and bright purple filling the sky to a beauty much appreciated by those surveying it.
              Samana enjoyed the spectacle, but her attention was stolen swiftly as she heard the cry of a familiar voice ring out. Henk was calling for help.
              The streaky-haired girl ran across one wall bridge to the next, pursuing the cry for help, getting closer with each step she took.
              Samana saw ahead of her a scuffle of bodies, two to be exact, one was the silent one Amen, and the other was a much taller figure.
              Samana rushed for the back of the taller figure and grabbed him in a great leap, resting on their back, as she kicked them hard.
              The tall figure stopped his assault on the shorter Amen, and knocked his back against the side of the arching of the wall bridge, knocking Samana loose of her grip on him to land on the wooden bridge floor.
              The taller figure was named Belleck. He had picked trouble with Amen since he arrived and was sent to the Order because he was unwanted by his parents, giving him a bad attitude as he used Amen, who was silent and emotionless, as a good target for his anger.
              Amen was against a wall, and was kicked hard by Belleck in the stomach.
              Samana got up from the ground, and saw Henk at the opposite side to her. Henk’s back rested on the wall of the archway, as she was holding a lump on her head, which she received upon discovering Amen being hurt, and then soon getting backhanded into the wall, knocking her skull hard.
              Samana rushed the tall Belleck from behind and kicked him in the back, causing the assault to stop again as Henk was still calling out for help.
              Belleck turned upon Samana and had a look of furry on his face. “I’m not afraid of hitting a girl!”
              Samana held her ground and held her fists at the ready, and quipped. “Neither am I.”
              Belleck was infuriated further and rushed Samana, who dealt two good punches to his stomach and then one to his face, leaving a good bruise to form from the blow.
              Below in the grounds, Mensh, Theira, and Dred had come out of one of the wall entrances and were conversing amongst themselves when they heard the scuffle above them, and stopped their chatter and rushed up some wall steps to see the commotion.
              Belleck held his face sorely and was rushed by Samana with a frontal kick. Dodging the blow, Belleck grabbed Samana’s leg and tossed her across the wall bridge and then returned his attention to Amen, kicking him once more. “Come on, show an emotion…come on!”
              Belleck kept the kicking up, and leaned over the bruised body of Amen, and took his kerchief off, along with his bag of kerchiefs and tossed them from the wall top, sneering. “I bet you can’t show anything now, can you? Come on, show an emotion.”
              Readying another kick, a voice came from behind Belleck as he was hit hard, and soon sent sprawling. “I’ll show you something for sure.”
              Samana had gone leaping into a diving kick and caught Belleck in the ribs. The bully was soon on the floor, gasping for breath, when Mensh and her friends reached the wall top, and saw the scene. Henk was no longer calling, Amen was lying bruised against the wall, and Samana stood as Belleck was rising from his crumpled form on the ground. “I’ll get you…you little…”
              Belleck leapt toward Samana, brandishing a flurry of fists, shouting out loudly. “You little jerk!”
              Samana stood at the ready, as Mensh, Theira, and Dred watched the heroic sight of her. Samana looked impressive, even in Mensh’s eyes, which meant a lot.
              Ready to take the incoming Belleck on, Samana readied herself, as her forward view was blocked out by the approaching Belleck.
              Sending her fist up for the hit, Samana launched her fist from under Belleck’s jaw, as he seemed to float in the air for a moment before contact was made, and then a sharp star ridden pain was sent through his skull.
              Belleck dropped to the ground, and lay in a heap.
              Samana looked ahead and saw the Mother and Hoosun standing before her. The Mother had dropped down and grabbed Belleck by the back of the leg but a moment ago, causing his advancement to stop, giving Samana good enough opportunity to deliver a finishing blow, but not a killing blow.
              The Mother let go of Belleck’s leg, which she held by his foot, in grasp, and spoke.
              “Got half of what he deserved. He’s had a good time coming on this. I’ll deal with him later, though. We need to help Amen and Henk, right now.”
              Mensh rushed over to Samana, leaving Theira and Dred behind, and voiced her amazement at Samana’s heroic efforts. “Samana, you were great. I can’t believe you actually beat him, that was incredible, I…”
              Mensh was cut off by Hoosun, who started taking the passed out form of Henk from the wall, speaking of Mensh’s change in attitude. “Well, you’ll see a different thing every day for sure, young Mensh. After all, she’s been trained by the Mother, and well…look at yourself, you’re always acting all rude and obnoxious, yet you’re in sheer amazement at the feat which Samana performed against that Belleck.”
              Belleck was unconscious on the ground, lying on his stomach.
              Mensh pushed aside what Hoosun said, and went over to help him with Henk.
              “Yeah…I guess…”
              Samana and the Mother took Amen from the wall, and all headed down the wall stairs, heading for the infirmary where the healer, Maela, would work on the two wounded.
              Passing Theira and Dred on the way down, Mensh shrugged at them, as they scoffed at her, not approving of her praise of Samana, and that she was helping who they thought was the enemy.
              Samana spoke as she and the Mother were the last two down the stairs to pass the two.               “When you’re done scoffing, you could drag that pile of Belleck over there, down the stairs to the infirmary, and don’t mind the steps. If he hits any on the way down, it’ll just count them as part of his punishment.”
              Taking joy in the idea of causing another pain, which was the natural pass time of the two, Theira and Dred ran over to the form of Belleck and started dragging it heartedly.

Below, the others had gotten down, and passed a few who had also heard the raucous.
              Mensh saw the heap of Amen’s kerchief atop his small bag, and left Hoosun’s side to grab them, and then returned to his aid, as they went over to the innermost wall encirclement from the great tree, and entered.

The healer, Maela, was older, but still had a great deal of energy in her as she rushed about her infirmary, grabbing bandages and herbs to fix up the young ones.
              In but a short time, she had Amen and Henk all fixed up and resting on soft beds. Belleck was fixed up too, with a good amount more of bruises from his trip down the stairs, and was confined to his housing amongst the others of the Order.
              Maela wiped her hands on an apron about her waist and watched over the two hurt ones. “Poor, silent Amen, and poor, smart Henk, takes a good bully to hurt ones like them.”
              The Mother stood with Hoosun and Mensh at her side. They stood behind Samana who was between both beds, gripping one hand of each friend, as she watched their quiet faces.
              Hoosun spoke saddened by the sight of the two young ones. “Mother, I don’t suppose that Samana could take tomorrow off from training? After all, it is the last day of her training. I’m sure she would like to stay here, with these two, before she leaves.”
              The Mother looked upon the hurting and nodded agreeably. “If she wishes, one day will not hurt her training. Though I do believe in devotion to a task, we did not see this happening.”
              Samana let her head slump and crashed on the ground between the beds. “Thank you, Mother. I believe in devotion as well, and so I am devoted to my friends.”
              The Mother smiled at Samana and made her exit, speaking approvingly. “You are devoted to a wise cause.”
              Maela sat in a soft, wooden chair, next to a window, looking out to the harvest grounds.               “Such a kind ruler we have here, aye?”
              Hoosun brushed Samana’s head and was to take his leave as well. “Like none other, my friend. Like none other.”
              The owl left the chamber, as Mensh pulled a seat next to Amen and sat.
              Samana looked up at her and looked rather gloomy, as Mensh spoke, looking at the ground while doing so. “I’m sorry Samana. I never really wanted for Amen to get hurt. I shouldn’t have said anything when you threw the apple at me, I never wanted this to happen…”
              Samana apologized herself, and smiled at Mensh. “I’m sorry for being such a pain to you all the time, Mensh. I’m going to stop that now and grow up.”
              Mensh smiled in return and spoke jokingly. “Good, cause that whole childish thing was getting old anyway…”
              Samana and Mensh laughed together for but a moment, and then turned to an awkward state, not used to getting along, and sat silently, as Maela watched the two and smiled to herself.
              Samana sat holding both of her friend’s hands as they slept. Her devotion was truly one of true worth.