The Journey

The next morning dawned, and since the weather was nice, she decided to go and see if the hot spring was still there. With the business of cleaning up and rebuilding though, it was nearly sunset before she was free to. The trees between the former village and the hot spring was the opposite direction from where the slavers had landed, so it was quiet in that direction.

A good many of the necros that had come down were still cleaning that field up, or trying to get things in the village sorted for rebuilding. The few who saw her nodded at her as she passed, but nobody bothered her, and for that she was grateful.

She was followed by Misty, but that didn’t bother her. She actually enjoyed having the animal with her.

Silence surrounded them as they entered the clearing, and she stripped down, sinking into the hot water. She was glad that nobody else knew of the small area, well, not yet as far as she knew.

It was nice to relax. Misty took up a spot on rocks where she could see the whole area, resting her head on her front paws. She sank beneath the water, and as she came up, she knew she wasn’t alone.

“I’ve been able to remember a lot more since I’ve actually tried to. The memories of my parents,” she paused, eyes closed as she leaned back into the smoothed rock, “and the rest of my childhood, still hurt, but I’ve also learned from them too.”

Her eyes opened, looking over the forest in front of her, but not at him. She had nothing to fear from him, and with the hellhound laying there, she had nothing to fear from anything else.

“It’s kind of ironic really. You lead these people, however reluctantly, because you killed the previous leader, before you even knew that it was that man who nearly eradicated our people.”

Though she still didn’t look at him, she turned her head slightly in his direction. “We would have been taught from the time we were able to hold a weapon how to use it. You would have been groomed to be a warrior and leader, me to be an advisor, or maybe even an assassin. I don’t think we are the last, I search my heart and am almost positive of it.”

Finally she turned and looked up at him. With the setting sun behind him, she could only make out a dark silhouette, but her eyes rested where a slight reflection could be seen.

“Kyra and Vaako want your permission to be together officially. They want it both as their leader, and more importantly, as their friend.”

He just grunted, shifting lower on the rocks into the shade. Her eyes followed him, his reaction not surprising her.

“It can wait though, more pressing is our need for building supplies..” She moved slightly closer to where he crouched. He could probably see her clearly in the dimming light, but her eyes couldn’t do the same. She could see his face now, and she knew that he would definitely not like what she would say next. “I will go tomorrow.”

If looks could kill she’d have been floating. She was just as stubborn as he could be though, so she continued.

“Look, you and I both know that if you go anywhere you’ll have mercs on your ass. Even if you get away, we can’t afford to lose the time you would take to do it. The seasonal rains are coming soon and we need the building done before that.”

His growl told her that he knew she was right, even if he’d never admit it out loud. Murderer or not, he still suffered from the same sense of pride that afflicted men everywhere.

“I won’t go alone, and won’t be gone that long. You can even pick whoever it is that goes with me. Just make sure they’re strong enough to help move the stuff I’ll be bringing back.”

He grunted again, melting back into the shadows, leaving her alone again.