A Warrior's Revenge (17 page)

The grandeur of the past was now forever
buried. It was time to move into the future. With that knowledge
firmly in hand I stepped into the room, only to see that she had
been too nervous to take me up on the option of the bed and instead
had fallen asleep with her head resting on her arms against the
table.

Some long buried emotion came awake within
me and I actually felt sorry for her for a moment. How strange her
life must be to her right now. She had real courage and I saw a lot
of my old mentor in her.

Should I move her to the bed?

I decided against it. I’d end up waking her
and besides she didn’t have much longer yet to sleep before the
night gave way to the day so I sat down in the other chair and
watched her quietly, as she slept.

“You’re a good man.” Came a soft voice, I
glanced around the room in concern, but I saw no one. I must have
imagined the voice.

I went back to staring at my bride, as she
slept and I reflected on how much I’d like to wrap one of the curly
tangles of her red hair around one of my fingers. It was only the
beginning of my reflections upon what I would like to do with her,
but I sat where I was and acted out on none of them.

Ellanara’s eyes flew open and she sat up
abruptly disregarding the stiffness of her limbs, as everything
came flooding back to her. The first thing she saw was him! He’d
been watching her sleep! She glanced away from his stoic features
to the ring that was brightly flashing on her finger. Why was it
flashing?

Then she remembered him saying about how the
ring was tied into the heartbeat of the wearer. It had never done
that for her brother or Eva, but apparently she wasn’t going to be
so lucky. It wasn’t fair!

No matter how calm she appeared on the
outside the ring would betray her, as a truth detector for what was
going on inside of her!

She heard a deep chuckle and she looked back
up at the man she now called husband. He spoke, “Salanicus. Husband
sounds too formal.” He intoned deeply.

This was really insufferable having someone
always knowing what you were thinking as you thought it. He was
probably reading her thoughts even now! As if in response she saw
the wisp of a smile briefly appear before he got up.

Ellanara glanced up and down his tall form
nervously, as he stepped toward her. She kept forgetting just how
big he was. His hand reached out and it was a struggle for her to
stay still and not flinch, as his fingers twirled several tangles
of her hair around a finger.

“I don’t like that!” She said firmly.

“Objection noted.” He said in his deep
voice, but his fingers continued playing with her hair thus proving
a point. He didn’t take orders.

“Please stop.” She asked softly looking down
at the table and his fingers immediately withdrew from her hair and
she learned a valuable lesson in how to deal with him.

“It’s time we headed back to our ship.” He
said.

Our ship!

Ellanara glanced up ready to debate that in
heated denial, but she stopped overcome by the intensity of his
eyes daring her to say otherwise. She got up and followed him from
the room without saying a word and out into the underground ruins
and then into the light of the morning sun. Being out in the
morning sun and away from the closed in feeling of the ruins was a
welcome relief.

“Get up beside me. Stop walking back there
like you don’t trust me.” Salanicus intoned deeply.

“Why? Don’t you trust me?” She fired back
smartly.

He looked back at her, “Sure I do. About as
far as I can throw you, which is surprisingly far. Want to see how
far that is?”

Ellanara quickly stepped up beside him
feeling very small next to his towering frame. This man would have
made her father and brothers look small. Glancing down at her hand
by her side and spying the glowing ring only served to echo the
fact that she now belonged to this stranger. What was even stranger
was that God had somehow orchestrated this. Why would He do such a
thing to her? The question was pointless. He had and that was
that.

Ellanara glanced up the long frame beside
her and not for the first time since she’d been trapped in this
arranged pairing she wondered how in the world it was ever going to
work out between them. It was clear to her that there was a buried
hostility towards her and her people within the big warrior by her
side. He was so different than anything she was used to and yet God
surely had her best interests at heart? She hoped so.

It seemed like an endless journey through
the ruins, as much as the ruins themselves seemed endless. Ellanara
glanced up at Salanicus, “It must’ve been terrible when all this
happened to your people.”

He glanced down at her with a look that
spoke volumes and she swallowed hard and took a step back, because
of the sudden level of hostility she saw radiating out from him
toward her. He continued on after a moment and she followed after
him hesitantly.

A terrible thought occurred to her, “The
Vallians weren’t the ones that attacked you were they?”

He stopped and turned to her and studied her
for a long moment, “You really don’t know do you?”

“Know what?” She asked fearing to hear his
answer, some part of her already knowing that she wasn’t going to
like it.

“The Vallians, your ancestors betrayed us by
not coming to our aid, as we had done countless times for them in
the past. Instead they used the slaughter of my people, as a
fortuitous time delay in order to jump world and flee with all
their people back to the first world like cowards, while my people
were hunted down almost to the last man and destroyed!”

Throughout his impassioned indictment of her
people he had been backing her up across an open space, until she
felt her back press up against a pillar and in a very real fear for
her life she watched as he pressed closer to her.

“If the Vallians had stayed perhaps this
wouldn’t be like what it is! At least they would have died with
honor!” He spoke out harshly, as Ellanara looked up into his
wrathful countenance already hearing the sound of her spine
shattering, as he broke her in half over his knee.

In a desperate rush to stave off the
inevitable Ellanara whispered out, “I didn’t know! I wouldn’t have
come here if I did! I swear it!”

The intensity of his eyes diminished some.
“I know you don’t.” He said.

He abruptly turned away from her and stood
scowling, as he looked out over the ruins that stretched out across
the valley that the grand city had once filled. Another horrible
thought occurred to Ellanara and she gave voice to it, “Did you
take me as your wife so that you could take out your revenge on
me?

He turned back to face her, the scowl
falling from off his face, “No I did not! It was my father’s wish.
My father and your ancestor Tadias set this up. They wanted to end
the division between our peoples and the best way to do that they
felt was for our bloodlines to co-mingle. Tell me do you think that
was a good plan?” He asked, as he came back to stand over top of
her threateningly.

Ellanara swallowed hard and searched for
what to say and when she did find it she spoke no more loudly than
in a whisper, “It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m bound by what my
father’s before me planned just as you are. My God has also bound
me to the course I am committed to. I do not intend to disappoint
either my God or the will of my ancestors no matter how I may feel
about you and me. I’m sorry for what occurred in the past, but I’m
powerless to change any of it. Any change I can hope to affect lies
in the future and to that effect I will do my best to fulfill my
role as your wife and queen just as I expect you, as a great
warrior to help me save what’s left of my people.”

Ellanara had dropped her gaze downward
knowing that she’d gone too far with her words and now she waited
for the outburst that she felt was sure to follow, but it didn’t
come. One of his powerful fingers reached out and gently tilted her
jaw upward and her eyes skipped up to his to see what her fate
would be.

His eyes had completely changed and for a
moment she didn’t know what to think, only that he didn’t seem
angry anymore. “Spoken like a Queen. Come we need to get to the
ship. There is much to be done in the pursuit of saving both of our
peoples.”

Ellanara blinked, as that was not what she
had been expecting from the big warrior. He took her hand and
pulled her along after him, as he strode off through the ruins at a
pace that forced her to run to keep up with him.

The ship was still there, which was at least
something positive. There was also something else that was
positive. I glanced down at the slightly huffing woman by my side.
I had a woman fit to be a Queen, entirely unlike my first wife.
Now, if only, I was fit to be a King.

I slowed the pace as we approached the ship
and its welcoming committee. My eyes scanned over the awaiting
warriors with appreciation for several factors. They weren’t
surprised by our appearance so that meant that they had scouts out
in the ruins that had alerted them to our approach. They weren’t
displaying all of their number in one mass group, but rather I
could sense the presence of warriors closing in behind us and while
they didn’t know what they may be facing I sensed that they were
ready to meet the challenge head on, which I respected.

These men were experienced and they most
certainly weren’t cowards. I focused on one in particular, who
separated out from the group toward us. He held a sword of
unparalleled rival and something in me stilled at the sight of it.
It had been a long time since I’d seen that sword. It was different
now than when I had first seen it, but no less honorable. In fact
it had grown in honor, which meant those that had wielded it had
been honorable. It helped me to let go of the past a little more
just seeing that sword.

The warriors were communicating along
thought waves between themselves. How very impressive. I
interjected myself into their thoughts and I showed them everything
in a brief instant of time. I showed them who I was, what I did,
what my plans were, and why I had taken Ellanara. I held nothing
back, as I chose to embrace the future and let go of the past.

The big warrior in front stepped out further
to meet us. His inquiring eyes switched from me to Ellanara. She
nodded and said, “It’s true, all of it.”

The big warrior nodded and moved slightly to
the side allowing us room to pass, but I had other plans. I stepped
toward him and offered out my staff. Hesitantly he took it and I
gestured toward his sword. I felt his thought of, “Why?”

I answered his question in my audible voice,
“Because I was the one who made it.”

His eyes widened and he held it out to me
pommel first, as he grasped it by the blade. I noticed Ellanara
staring up at me in shock. I had apparently surprised her with that
admonition. Weapon making had always been the past time hobby of
mine that I had loved most, which had no doubt been aided by the
fact that I was extremely good at it. This sword was special, as my
father had asked me to make it for his best friend and my mentor.
The man, who first trained me as a warrior, Tadias Ta’lont.

The sword had been a risky creation. It was
open-ended, in that it had a limitless ability to learn and emulate
from those who wielded it and carried it. Something like this sword
created for nobler purposes could ultimately become evil, but that
hadn’t happened. It was a much finer weapon now than when I had
first created it.

The sword pulsed brightly in my hand, as I
let the memories it contained of past battles and its sword bearers
flow through me in an endless stream of wanting to learn what its
history had been since I had last seen it. Something became very
clear to me right from the onset. The sword had but had a few
Masters and yet each of them was more honorable at heart than I
was. It was humbling to see how a creation of my hands had eclipsed
my abilities, as both a craftsman and as a man, in the hands of
other men. With that humility of thought came the inspiration to be
better myself.

The survivors of the Vallians still had the
honor that I had seen in Tadias as a boy and a young man. The rest
of my aggression toward these last survivors faded away. I let go
of the sword and it swiveled around and floated back to the Vallian
warrior through the air and I nodded my head forward deferentially
to him in a sign of respect.

I took my staff from his hand and said, “We
need to go.”

He nodded and as one the surrounding
warriors headed up the ramp into the ship. Something very important
had just happened. I had asserted a command initiative and he had
obeyed, which meant that I was in control. Glancing at Ellanara I
could see that she’d seen the change in command and she did nothing
to voice otherwise, but instead she meekly followed the others onto
the ship.

I kept in the background and casually
observed, as the ship prepared to take flight. The bar-Trinity,
curious name for an airship, I thought idly to myself. I perused
thoughtfully through the ship’s data fields both marveling and
appreciating the depth of creativity and pure design that the ship
had been created to be comprised of.

In my idle exploration I discovered the
significance of the three-part design of the ship, which was
reflected by the Trinity aspect of its name. My eyes scanned around
the control room, until they found Ellanara only to see that she
was already watching me with an expectant look on her face.
Silently through my mind I conveyed my praise of what I knew to be
the creation of her beautiful mind.

She looked down to her screens, as a slight
red blush lit up her features. The ship was beautiful in its design
and purpose, but she was even more so. Too late I realized that I
had openly stated those thoughts directly into her consciousness.
Her face got darker and she looked up briefly at me and of all
things she gave me a radiant smile before she quickly looked back
down at her work.