Keeping With Destiny

by Stephan Knox

  The sage remained quiet a moment, his hand floating up to test the small cut on his jaw. When he dropped his hand, he left no puncture mark or scar behind.

  Tannin watched as the Keeper turned and headed down along the stony garden wall. The sage’s flowing shift and thin matching cloak waving softly behind him as he walked. Then, just as his footsteps reached the edge of the market street, bustling with people, the sage vanished like a wisp of dust in the breeze.

  Tannin turned, sheathing his blade and headed back to the bathhouse. He had watched as she’d grown weaker. Even as her scent had begun to fade, he had let her carry on with her stubborn tantrum, figuring she would give in eventually. But if her life force had also begun to fade where that even the Keepers of Destiny could not see her, then it meant she was far more capable of self-suffering than he thought her of.

  Well, it was going to end. One way or another.

  CHECKMATE AND FEAR

  Aari rested back against the edge of the pool, letting the heat from the water soak her aching muscles while she took long deep inhales of the aroma coming from the camphor and juniper berry floating in the water. She’d not enjoyed a bath like this since she was little and still lived at the temple. A spiral of smoke circled the bathhouse from the bowl set around the pool filled with more of the herbal mix. The combined mixed of burning incense and soaked herbal water was meant to overpower the strong smell of sulfur that was in the ground water as well as stave off the stench of the city outside. However, the herbal mixture did more than just that, it aided her healing. Her stomach had finally stopped hounding her for food several days past and now just stayed in her midsection like a petrified knot. She could go days without eating if necessary. She’d done it before. She’d grow weak, but her body’s ability to heal would sustain her. Though, she didn’t know why she bothered. Living at the academy only to be placed at the Skaddary Base to be equally miserable. Now, to be dragged across the terrain for no reason other than she could make a single man immortal. Life had no goodness in store for her.

  She felt the weight of her fate subdue her and for the first time, she thought about giving up. And for that one moment, she let go.

  Letting her body relax, Aari closed her eyes and slipped down the pool’s edge, letting her body sink into the water until it completely engulfed her. The last bubble let out by her submersion shutting out the world. Under the surface there were no sounds to remind her there were people nearby to be weary of. No smells of stench or food she refused herself. No one telling her what her imprisonment would be. No—

  Hands grabbed her under the shoulders and yanked her out from under the water.

  She let out a long shrill scream, kicking and screaming to be free from her attacker. Her back found the stone floor and in a blur of movement, Tannin landed on top of her, straddling her hips. One hand had her pinned at the shoulder while another dragged a sheet over her chest, granting some modesty in that instant.

  She reached up, slapping him, but it did nothing for her defense.

  He grabbed something and shoved it in her mouth, then clasped his hand over her mouth so she couldn’t spit it out.

  “Now eat!” he commanded.

  Aari fell still under him, her tongue savoring a taste to tell her he’d shoved some meat in her mouth. Some farm foul or the like. She refused and tried to push it out against his hand with her tongue.

  “Eat now or we stay like this all night and I warn you, with you laying naked underneath me, I’m likely to get horny very quickly. So, you either eat or we fuck. You choose.”

  Reluctantly, Aari quickly started chewing. She no sooner swallowed, he was shoving another piece down her gullet. After the third bite, he released her mouth, satisfied that she would continue to eat without further protest. But, by the fifth mouthful Aari felt her stomach twist and she knew if he forced her to take another bite it was going to come back up. “Stop please. I’m going to be sick.” Her hand went up weakly to block the next intended morsel.

  He took a deep breath, nostrils flaring, but then decidedly gave in. He pushed to his feet, lifting her in the same movement and then tugged at the sheet until it was wrapped around her. He pointed her to take a seat. “Stay put while I wash up. Need I remind you, if you try to run, I’ll just hunt you down again, and if you’re lucky, I’ll find you before any of the whore traders do.”

  Aari’s face went white and she quickly sat down. She wasn’t planning on running. She’d already ruled that out in her head several times. She didn’t know how to live outside of the militia. Only once when her scamper had been hit by a road mortar and it took her three weeks to make her way back had she ever spent any amount of time away from the base alone. She didn’t even know anyone on the outside to go to for help. With no credits, or work skills outside of the militia, how would she manage to provide for herself? She was vulnerable out here. And there was little doubt she could go back to the base now. Her only chance to survive was to stay with Tannin, at least until another path came along.

  She snapped her eyes to the wall when her captor dropped his trousers before jumping into the pool naked as the day he was born. That is, if he truly had been bor. Destiny save the poor woman who had to birth that giant. She shifted a sided gaze about until she could spy him, but he hadn’t come back up. She waited, yet the pool’s surfaces settled until smooth as glass. And he still never surfaced. She stood, taking a cautious step towards the pool. But jumped when Tannin came bolting up through the water’s surface with a roar.

  “Ahhh, drenn that feels good,” he moaned when he broke the surface. He shook his head then his eyes fell on her right away, “I told you to stay put.”

  Aari resumed her place on the wall and dropped her head, but her eyes drifted back up watching as the man unraveled his braided hair and combed his fingers through it. It was considerably longer than hers and not a single nest of tangles. He dunked back letting the water rinse away the dust, renewing the black luster of it. He then splashed his body with the same warm healing waters before dunking his head down several times sending a spray of droplets in every direction with each shake of his head when he came up. Her eyes followed his fingers as they slid down his chest and wiped the layers of grime from his arms and shoulders. She felt the pulse of her blood quicken with the show of tanned flesh and muscle. His entire body truly had seen the light of sun. The newest detail making her mouth water.

  Tannin suddenly looked up at her, looking pleased with himself. He pushed through the water to the end of the pool and lowered down, resting his arms on the edge. Dropping his chin on his arms, he just looked back at her, a playful glint in his eyes. Aari looked away.

  “I suppose in a way I should be thanking you. If you hadn’t sent me for your pack so you could free the prisoner, I would never have gotten my sword back.”

  Aari still said nothing. What was she supposed to say to that? —It’s mine?— when it wasn’t. Not really.

  He laughed at her, “Fine. Be that way, but from now on, when I give you something to eat, you eat.”

  She stayed silent, still looking at the wall instead of his naked body. Bad enough she was being held hostage, but for her body to get aroused just looking at him, wasn’t exactly fair fate either.

  “Do you understand me, Aari? I expect you to stay healthy.”

  “Am I your prisoner now?” Her voice cracked from the dryness in her throat. Ironic wasn’t it. She had intended to free him only to become a prisoner herself. She heard the rush of moving water as he stepped out and walked towards her. Grateful for the blur of cloth in the corner of her eye, letting her know he’d covered himself with another sheet of bleached linen provided by their boarder.

  “Until I don’t have to worry about you putting a bullet or pulse shot in my skull—” he stood next to her now and reached for her chin and pulled her around to look up at him. “Then yes, you’re my prisoner. But I won’t treat you like one. You’ll be fed good, red-blooded food. Sleep
on a bed and I will keep you safe.”

  Aari pulled her chin from his fingers, glaring up at him. “Matters not if the chains are steel or silk. They’re still chains all the same.” She dropped her head, feeling every bit as sullen as she sounded. Is this what Destiny had in store for her? To be forced into a union for no other reason than he could have her healing ability? She’d felt one of Them shadowing close by, shortly after she and Tannin arrived in the city, but her unseen visitor hadn’t approached her yet. They could have easily done so while Tannin was away. Had They sheltered her all this time just to suit his needs? She did what They asked— sorta— he was free after all. So why hadn’t They come to speak with her?

  Tannin dropped down on the bench next to her, taking her hand in his, “I’ll try to work on that then, okay?”

  She didn’t respond. What could she say? But when she was suddenly being scooped up into Tannin’s arms and being carried out, she froze in fear. She clung to him, fingers digging into his shoulders. This was it. He was going to take her now and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Tears stung at her eyes, her heart racing, and she felt the quiver in her lips.

  “Shhh— easy,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s not going to happen tonight. Or any night soon. Not until you’re ready, and someplace away from others. I’m just carrying you back to our room, so you don’t get your feet dirty.”

  Aari kept silent, still clinging to him, keeping her face buried in his shoulder— still gripped with fear. Fear that she was no longer in control of her own destiny.

  “Shhh,” he kept saying and eventually she eased. More so when he laid her down carefully on the bed in their room and covered her up with another blanket then moved to sit in a chair across from her.

  She peeked out from the blanket at him, “How do you always know?” She swallowed, feeling relief whether he was telling the truth or not about not taking her tonight. “I mean, how do you seem to always know what I’m feeling?”

  “My sym gifted me with heightened senses. I can smell your fear. amongst other things.”

  Aari bolted up right and blinked at him, “You have a Symbiotai?”

  He smiled softly. “Yes.”

  “But your eyes— I don’t understand. You never said. Why is it—”

  “You never asked,” he cut her off with an abrupt answer before she could stack on more of the same question. “As for my eyes, I was born with blue eyes. There was nothing for him to change. But you, however— how is it you have two brown eyes?”

  Her hand floated over the one brown eye that should have been blue. Her gaze dropped a moment, her lips rolling in, uncertain if she could trust to tell him. Then again, he already knew what she was. How she hid it was irrelevant, because at some point it was going to start fading and she would need to fix it again. “Dye. I keep dye in my pack. I inject it into the cornea as needed.”

  “The pack you insisted I go back for?”

  She nodded softly. As did he, as if something in him finally made sense.

  “That’s rather clever and perhaps foolish too. Don’t you worry about—” his voice trailed off a moment realizing what he was about to say. “Of course not. Your eyes would naturally heal.

  “They taught me to do it,” she whispered. Already she felt the loss of Them. They.

  They had rarely made Themselves known after she was placed in the academy. But to have sensed one was close earlier today only to not approach her, made her feel the loss all the same. They had abandoned her after all.

  Tannin’s eyes tightened at the suggestion. They— as in the Keepers. They’d taught her to hide, only to give up on her. Drenn. Didn’t matter, he tried to tell himself, because she belonged to him now. She was safe with him. He looked at her for a long moment. Trying to see her differently now. Being cleaned up helped, but it was obvious she had taken several measures to not look attractive. Her black hair hung in loose ringlets where it was not in the process of dreading up. Other parts had been clipped short, some recently, some had since begun to grow back out from previous hackings. Now that he took the time to look, he could see her brown eyes didn’t match at all. One looked— painted in. He let out a slight huff that only he heard. Ever since that first night when she crawled into the air ducts, he wanted nothing more than to see her face. Yet, not since he’d snatched her had he bothered.

  Her small frame that had been swallowed up by her clothes all this time actually had a likable petite figure. Small round breasts that would fill an average man’s hand perfectly. They’d suit him just fine, too. Eyes, despite their mismatched color, were as big and wide as a deer and just as sad. Lips. He liked her lips and could quickly find himself picturing them—

  Tannin snapped his shoulders back to shut his sym up.

  “Do you promise not to take me tonight?” the question came out rather meekly.

  “I told you, Aari, not until we are away from here. From people. Why?”

  “You can sleep on the bed next to me— if you promise.”

  Tannin could see she needed some form of comfort. Though, she didn’t say, and he would not think she’d tell him if he asked, he too wanted nothing more than to be closer to her, to have her trust. So, he wasn’t about to turn down the offer.

  “I promise.” He pushed up and slid over the bed towards her, settling down at her side, allowing her to keep bundled up in the blanket that separated them.

  Aari considered him carefully a moment, making sure he kept true to his word then settled down, her back to him. Not touching, but close enough she could feel the heat from his body warm hers. More so, her sym felt him— and knowing there was one in him too, felt— comforting.

  The following day was spent meeting with various shady individuals in the city. Some Tannin spoke with over a meal while others kept to the back alleys in the shadows. He kept Aari close, often keeping her in a tight grip so she couldn’t even take a step from his side, but while he kept her close, he didn’t include her in conversation or bother to inform her of anything he was about to drag her into. She felt like one of the gear packs, dropped at his feet then slung back over his shoulder when it was time to leave, and she resented him for it. Her only means to thwart him was to be increasingly reluctant. Dragging her feet didn’t do her much good though, he soon had her thrown over his shoulder, literally, but she refused to eat and that pissed him off considerably. When he attempted to force feed her in front of the men he chose to share supper with, she slapped him. What happened next didn’t go over very well for him when she had bested his patience and he drew his blade to her throat. Aari only smiled back at him.

  “I believe the old ones had a word for this,” Aari remarked, baring a smirk at him, then challengingly leaning into his blade. “It was checkmate.” He wouldn’t dare. For one, a non-lethal cut would hurt only momentarily, and she’d heal right before his guest’s eyes, giving her identity away. A lethal cut would void his chances of union with her. It was a bluff she was safely able to call.

  Tannin let out a fierce growl, “They were right in calling you a child.” He shoved to his feet, “By all means, stay put and don’t move,” he snapped then left the tavern leaving her behind.

  Aari glanced at the men at the table eyeing her and dropped her gaze. But movement amongst the others had her looking when she didn’t really want to. She cautiously glanced up just as a man from her right drew his gaze on her and decidedly was closing in. There was a sinister gleam in his dark eyes, not friendly but he had ideas for abandoned women. She quickly jumped to her feet and ran out after Tannin. She stopped in the muddy thoroughfare. Crowds of people carrying sacks of supplies or trade goods, some not of own their free will as she looked down at the chained shackles that burdened their feet. A man walked behind several of the slaves, cracking a whip, using the sound to motivate them. She spotted a stack of crates and climbed up to see over the heads of everyone else and spotted a tall man farther down the street and she quickly jumped down running
after him. She dodged between bodies, nearly colliding with a woman with an apron filled with potatoes who shouted curses at her as Aari kept going. But by the time she reached the end of the street, Tannin was nowhere to be seen. She whirled around searching for him, to her left the way was barricaded with stacked cars from old-world that was now the playground for a clan of filthy kids. To her right there were still a few pedestrians, but no sign of Tannin. She must have missed him somehow and so she went back from the direction she came. She jumped on her toes for time to time hoping to get a glimpse of the crowd of heads, but still no sign of him. She came alongside a stone wall and once more took advantage to see over the crowd, but still no sign of Tannin. However, she did spot the man from the tavern, only now he wasn’t alone, and they’d spotted her.

  She slunk down and ducked away into the crowd heading down an alley trying to keep her boots out of the muck as best as possible. It wasn’t just that it was likely feces ridden, she didn’t want to risk sinking in it and getting stuck. But when the pursuing men turned down the alley as well, she took off in a run.

  She heard their boots clamoring on the sludge covered ground not too far behind her. Even with the muck slowing them down some, she feared it wouldn’t be enough for her to be able to out run them. She was a good runner, only she’d spent most of her solar cycles driving. And had just spent the last several days in protest of food. It didn’t do her stamina for long distance running any favors, that she was willing to place any bets on her chance.