by Jim Spencer
‘Do you take this woman, Sana, daughter of Ruto to be your lawfully wedded wife?’
‘I do,’ and the same was asked of Sana, who also agreed. It was clarified with her a second time, to which she agreed again. And with that, the announcement was made and everyone gave a cheer and begun the evening feast.
‘You can touch me now,’ she said, as Arion sat awkwardly by, not knowing what to do.
‘So what now?’
Sana actually laughed out loud at this.
‘Do I have to tell you that as well?’
‘No, not that,’ he said, feeling himself turning red.
‘Don’t worry. We’ve got all night for that,’ Arion forcibly turned himself away as he could feel himself becoming erect.
*
The plan was all set for them to go at first dawn towards their destinations. Two people had to be on guard most of the night to help protect the people. Once they were selected, Arion made his way into a well decorated tent. He said decorated for it was adorned with dead fur around the corner. He supposed he would be a high chancellor now. He honestly didn’t care too much. It was more like a necessary duty to him. Maybe here he would be able to make a difference, as opposed to denied all the time.
He made his way in. Sana was already there. He stopped in his tracks for a second before composing himself. She seemed to have noticed and simply sat there smiling, waiting for him to make a move, somewhat amused by his fumbling. Or maybe it was because she knew it was due to her. He made sure the tent entrance was closed enough for no one to see and made his way in. It was surprisingly warm inside. He then noticed a small fire in the middle of the room. It was lucky he did, for he almost stepped on it.
‘Come on Arion. It’s not that difficult to walk towards me,’
‘Oh, you have no idea,’ he said, as his feet became heavier.
‘Here, let me help you,’ she held his hand, which was surprisingly soft for someone who lived outdoors all the time.
‘You have soft hands,’ he pointed out, rather sheepishly speaking his mind.
She sat down, and he sat close to her. His breathing became shallow as he came closer, not knowing what to expect. It was only then that he seemed to notice that she was shaking a little.
‘You cold?’ he asked. She simply shook her head. Her hair was in a lock. She untied her hair and it fell to reveal hair going down to her elbows. It was amazing, the difference releasing her hair made. He was suddenly feeling himself become erect again. He touched her hair, and before he knew it, he was close to her. Honestly, he didn’t know when that happened.
‘You nervous?’ she asked, her voice still shaking.
‘A little,’ he admitted. He backed off somewhat as Sana undid her top. Before he knew what was happening, they were together, and he could feel her body next to his. Suddenly nothing else mattered. A surging feeling overtook them both. They both seemed to have wanted the same thing for a while. He was above her and they were naked before he could know it. And suddenly, it was as if the world had stopped.
‘Oh my god,’ he heard her whisper as the rest became history.
*
He awoke the next morning, with Sana in his arms. She smiled and hugged him as they lay there naked except for a small piece of fur which covered them. After a few moments, they heard a tap on the entrance.
‘Who is it?’ Arion said.
‘Cordell. Sorry to be the one, but we really have to go now.’
‘Give me ten minutes.’
‘No worries. We’re still having breakfast anyway.’
‘You still want to come with me?’
‘You think you can stop me?’
‘No, I’m clearly not strong enough. I mean after the first time, I was practically your ragdoll.’
They got ready mostly in silence and once breakfast was complete, he made his way towards Cordell.
‘You ready, kiddo?’
‘Yeah, I’m ready’
‘Ok. We’re going to be together until the edge of the border. Then we have to make our way north. We’re going to go through what used to be the Arctic Ocean. Even though we have our machines, it is still going to take a while. We’re going to be out of contact with rest of the world for a little while.’
‘I understand,’
‘She still coming?’
‘Yeah,’ Sana answered, to which Cordell nodded and left the two at that. Ruto bid his daughter goodbye, knowing it would be difficult for them to part, knowing it was dangerous. He tried his best not to watch, it was still difficult with what had happened recently.
‘You take care.’
‘Come on Dad, when have I ever let you down?’ she replied. Ruto nodded and even came across and shook hands with Arion, who appreciated the gesture.
‘She may not look it, but she can be vulnerable. Please take care of her.’
‘I will.’ Ruto left them, not knowing when he would be back. She stood there for a moment, looking on before making her way back to Arion.
‘Come on, let’s go,’ she said simply. They made their way across to join the rest of the crew.
*
‘Go on laddi. Go on,’ Patrick was practically jumping on him with joy. He seemed to be giddish with boyish joy.
‘So tell me, was she tight?’
‘What?’ Arion asked.
‘Oh, I bet she were tight. Oh yeah,’ he exclaimed, going red in the face and pushing out his tongue, which made him look more like a hungry dog.
‘You know that sounds offensive, right?’
‘Hey, you know me. I got’s to know these fings man. So come on, I bet she is right. Oh yeah.’
Arion didn’t say anything, but shook his head. There was however, an unmistakable glee in his eyes, which Patrick took as a resounding ‘yes’.
‘Oh you dirty fucker. You dirty fucker. I bet you went down good on that.’
‘I don’t show and tell.’
‘I know, I know. But I know you went dowen dirty on her. You lucky fucker. Hey Arion, can you do me a favour?’
‘Yeah?’ he asked, not knowing what to expect.
‘Can you get me sorted with one o’ them birds an’ all?’
‘Patrick…’
‘What, I ‘ave to ask,’
‘You’re a dirty degenerate bastard, you know that?’ he said, though he couldn’t take the smile off his face.
‘I know, but hey, I gotta get me some. I done my bit. I’m a soldier for fuck sake, I deserve somefin right?’
‘Yeah, I suppose so,’ he answered, not knowing what else to say to this. Sana thankfully spared him any further embarrassment by simply showing her presence. Patrick suddenly went all serious-faced, though with his lips pursed.
‘My ladee,’ he finally said. She nodded and he made his way back to his crew, but not without giving one final gleeful look towards Arion.
‘What was he saying?’ she asked.
‘He was…congratulating me.’
‘A little enthusiastic!’
‘He’s a good friend,’ to which Sana seemed doubtful, but accepted.
‘Ok folks, here we separate and go our own ways,’ Cordell announced. He made one final salute to his troops which they returned and joined Arion as they made their way to the trailer.
‘Here goes nothing,’ he said simply.
Chapter 17
Ruto made his way along the planes of the desert land, as it was now. His tribesmen would follow him to whatever end, he knew that. Although some felt his recent decisions had made him somewhat soft. He disagreed. A risk had to be taken before anyone could move forward. He liked Arion. The man had a certain nature about him which just allowed him to be trusted. Either way, he would rather his daughter marry him than some other person who would use her to their advantage.
At least Arion wasn’t looking for power. This was probably the main reason why he had chosen him. Although his daughter clearly liked him as well. This was not exactly comforting, but it came with everything else. His littl
e girl was bound to grow up some day. He was glad she was good enough to make her own decisions. He had made sure of that. In fact, he was one of the few tribe members who favoured the decision of woman and children. They are our future, why should we ignore them? He always said.
And it was a valid point. Some of the tribe members still didn’t allow their woman to leave the house. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about that, as he was not a part of that tribe. But nonetheless it made him feel uneasy that they could be treated this way just because a certain person didn’t want to let them go. That’s why he had taken it upon himself to teach Sana how to take care of herself. When the men would be trained, he would take Sana with him.
Many people would mind. In the end, he had to simply take out time for her in the evenings. He remembered those days. He slept for less than 3 hours for two years straight as he taught his tribesmen how to hunt and later in the evenings would take his daughter out to hunt also. He didn’t see any reason why he should stop her from learning. Once she got to the age of sixteen, the tribesmen began to ask questions as to who would be her suitor. By this point, she was a good huntsman.
Sana was rebellious at this point and wanted to show everyone what her abilities were, but Ruto kept stopping her. Eventually, Ruto suggested that the suitors fight one another and whoever wins, takes Sana. She was livid at this, of course. But Ruto simply asked her to wait her moment. Once the fighting was over, the man stood victorious and went for Sana’s hand. She stood up, completely ignoring him and announced,
‘I wish to challenge the victor.’
Everybody was shocked at this, as no woman had ever dared to do this. Her would be husband found this amusing and decided to let it be. He handed her a knife, instructing her as to how it should be held. Ruto simply nodded towards Sana, who understand the gesture. Once he had done what he wanted to, he stood back and spoke egotistically.
‘Let me see if my love can challenge me’. And with that, she threw the knife straight into his heart.
He died on the spot and everyone stood in shock. Then she did the unthinkable, she challenged all the losers to a duel. After an intense fight, she ended up killing them all. ‘That’s what I think of these so-called suitors,’ she yelled. It wasn’t the fact that she hated men; it was simply the way this was conducted that she didn’t agree with. That was ten years ago. In that time, she had opened her own division that taught men and woman how to fight. But even he could see, everyone had their eye on her. For some day she would have to choose a suitor, even she realised this.
He was simply glad that she was happy. She spoke highly of Arion straight away, saying that even though he had a great deal of fear, he never backed away when he was right. Ruto had seen this as well. What was shocking was that these things that he had learnt in a lifetime, Sana already knew. She was technically better than him. Hopefully now, she would be able to show this to everybody.
They entered the village hut of 88. They had weapons at the ready. If civil forces were here, they would have to take them out. If not, then they would recruit and move on. That was the plan.
*
‘Who should we have as leader?’ Patrick spoke, asking his comrades. He was standing amongst his remaining half a dozen comrades. There was Elijah, Nicholas, Marcel, Terence and Luke. They had been friends for years. One of the reasons was their names. Against all odds, their parents had respectively chosen to keep old English names. It wasn’t that he hated the names, it was just rarely heard nowadays.
‘Well, this mission is crazy to start off with,’ Elijah began, ‘We could have just stayed in civil country if that was the plan. Now we have to win everyone over again.’
‘You know it won’t be difficult,’ Nicholas told him, ‘They kind of need us.’
‘He’s got a point. We’re more of an asset than he realises,’ Marcel spoke, which was close to miraculous since he never spoke often.
‘Still, it will be near impossible,’ Elijah pointed out.
‘Come on man. What do you guys fink?’ Patrick asked the other two. Terence and Luke were twin brothers and although they kept themselves to themselves, normally one speaking was enough for both.
‘I think we should take the risk,’ Terence spoke, ‘I mean, let’s face it. When we joined the army, what was the first thing that was mentioned to us?’
‘Oh come on, not that lecture again.’ Nicholas spoke out.
‘Think about it though. “It isn’t all rain and sunshine. We’re going to be facing death daily”. I think this is truer today than it has ever been’
‘Well maybe, but we can’t die like this,’ Marcel pointed out.
‘I think dying for a good cause is a better death. And let’s be honest, we are facing an enemy.’
‘Who used to be an ally,’ Nicholas pointed out.
‘Yeah, until they decided to kill children. I don’t care what you’re thinking Nicholas, if you think killing children is right!’
‘I didn’t say that at all. That was awful; I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies.’
‘Exactly. And our worst enemies of the last 200 years just suffered this. I’m surprised they never killed us. And against all odds, they got one of their own married to us. What better measure of peace is that?’
‘And yet civil country, the land where we come from, there act of peace is to order women and children to be killed. You know for a fact if we were there, we would never have allowed that. And yet we move away for five seconds, and they create this mess. Do you remember how this conflict started?’
Everyone shook their heads,
‘Vaguely,’ Patrick said.
‘Well let me remind you then. Our forefathers made a request to neutral country to become a separate nation. They wanted to be called civil, when the state was called United Civil back then. They don’t even have that history book anymore. So Cordell told me. They asked the high members, who wanted didn’t want this separation. After mutual consent, the high members agreed to go to neutral country to do this treaty. What they didn’t know was that civil were planning an attack on the country members. Apparently, there were some jealous factors within. As soon as they left, genocide took place. The lower-class people, who under the high members were treated as equals were ousted out.’
‘They had no choice but to run away. Back then civil country wasn’t an inside jail like it was now. People lived in the outdoors mostly. The sea had mostly dissipated but was still partly there. Once they had left and the high members came back, they were ambushed. I heard only a couple were able to get out, which is the reason we have tribe country today. The fact that the high members survived is what the higher ranks feared.’
‘They began to create fortresses within the outskirts of the country. The fortresses eventually became bigger to protect from invaders and later became an indoor facility. The children were simply taught that outside is bad and inside is paradise, and this bullshit story of tribe country being the ones who attacked us was fabricated.’
‘To add insult to injury, they told their children that civil country were the ones who bravely fought away the people of tribe and that is why they were dangerous. Now the population is becoming bigger and food is becoming scarce. We can grow our own, but we need facilities. I can bet you anything this new war is to facilitate for the growing population.’
‘I have one question,’ Elijah asked, ‘What did neutral country do in this time?’
‘Nothing, they stood, watched and made an amendment to the human rights act after the events. So now, no one can facilitate a coup of a country. And if they do and are found as guilty, then they will be tried in the court of law. Great, isn’t it?’
‘Look, I’m not disagreeing. I’m saying it’s too dangerous. We’re better off just attacking them. We have the element of surprise.’
‘And if we do that. Who’s stopping them from sending another batTalion out in the meantime. How do we stop them?’
No one said anything to this.
There was honestly nothing left to say. Everyone had made their decision. Civil country’s time had come.
*
They were making their way north of what used to be the Arctic Ocean. This was completely unknown territory, at least for Arion. They drove along wasteland upon wasteland. There were old ruins of what used to be civilisations of old. Some buildings were still standing tall, unblemished, but most were either shattered to pieces or only had the foundation on there.
‘I wonder if there are people still living here?’ Arion wondered aloud.
‘Highly unlikely. There’s no food here and most of the nargus are in this region.’
‘How do you know of this place?’ Arion asked him.
‘I had a mission to protect delegates who got stuck here. They were on their way to discuss a peace treaty with Tribe country. That was before the main delegate got killed.’
‘Has there ever been peace with Tribe country?’
‘That was the last time it came this close. Much like now, which is why I want to make sure that doesn’t happen here.’
‘What happened?’
‘Well, I was a different man back then. The Tribesmen were enemies, so I treated them as such. When our chancellor got killed, I got into a desperate situation. We had two options, either get to neutral country, which was closer or go back in the treacherous region with no weapons except a couple of machetes. I was with a tribesman, the only other survivor. We literally spent a month just making our way back, hiding in small pits and old forgotten cities.’
‘It was scary, looking at these ghost towns and seeing what our history had made us. His English wasn’t that good, but understandable. After a few days, I realised I had to learn to communicate with him. So I started to learn their language. It was there that he began to tell me about the truths of some of his history. Naturally I didn’t believe him and probably would have killed him if I didn’t need him.’
‘But the more time we spent together, the more I began to understand that his story seemed more plausible. It just seemed to fit. I can’t explain it, it was like the penny dropped. After many weeks, we finally got to the edge of civil country. I was on the verge of getting into the entrance, when nargus attacked out of nowhere.’