Keeping With Destiny

by Stephan Knox

  Just ahead, she spotted stacks of rubbish containers, one on top of the other so high until they were leaning against the side of the building. She reached out, grabbing whatever she could and pulled the tower down as she passed it and kept going. Chancing a glance over her shoulder just long enough to confirm the three men bumbling over the obstacles.

  When she reached the end, she was back out on a main street. She recognized this one. She knew at the far end was the bridge that would take her across the riverbed and where the boarding house was, and she headed for it.

  Her heart pounded with fear, she was out of her element. She didn’t know the city by any means other than its name and she didn’t have anything with her, not even a gun. She was so stupid, she knew as well as drenn she could not survive on her own. Not in a place like this. She glanced behind her, no longer seeing the men trailer her and she slowed to just a fast walk so she could catch her breath. Only when she returned her focus to her escape route, she found they’d somehow cut her off, as the three stepped out into the street— between her and the bridge.

  She skidded to a stop, then turned and headed off back down another alley way, finding an open door about midway down and she dashed inside, shutting it then letting the timber fall in place to barricade it shut.

  The place was dark but as her eyes adjusted she realized she was in a storage room and she cut through, coming out right where she had started— in the tavern.

  “Say! Your man came looking for you.” One of the same men they’d ate with spotted her and called out as Aari ran out the front door and right into Tannin.

  Aari let out a yelp, slamming her heels into the ground, dragging her feet as best as she could to defy being carted off. She won out but only to fall back on her ass before realizing it was Tannin. But that didn’t change the fierce look in his eyes as he caught her arm, yanking her back up to her feet, and dragged her down the block to the corner of the tavern. “Tannin!” She shouted relieved despite the sudden realization she was in equal amounts of trouble with him too. Though she figured she’d fair better with his rage than whatever the other three had planned for her and she glanced around knowing the men chasing her would be showing up any moment.

  “Why did you run off?!” It was more a scolding than a question.

  “You left, and there was a man inside, looking at me strangely, so I left to come after you.”

  “I went out to the sloop.” He glared down at her, “To take a piss, Aari.”

  “I—” she stalled, looking up at him, “I didn’t know. I thought you left me!”

  “Drenn you are trouble, but by Destiny, I did not come all this way to abandon you in a cesspool city. I told you I would protect you. I meant it.”

  “But you didn’t say anything.”

  Tannin leaned in over her, slapping a hand flat on the tavern wall over her head. “I distinctly recall you telling me checkmate.” His glare would have likely taken on a permanent factor in his features, only Aari’s pursuers had just arrived, and they didn’t seem keen on the fact that Tannin now had her once more.

  “Best you move on, mate. This piece of skin be ours,” the glinty-eyed man of the group spoke coolly, keeping his hands down at his sides, tense. His two friends just a step behind him, one slapped a club stick in his hand, while the other licked his lips in a crude gesture at Aari.

  Tannin turned and looked at the three. If he was concerned, it didn’t show. Rather he seemed more annoyed that the men dared interrupt him. He hadn’t moved at first, save for the flare of his nostrils, and Aari saw his chest take in a long breath, then without a word he straightened, letting the full fathom and more of him tower over the three men, his hand fell from the wall to the Bowie knife at his belt. The three looked at Tannin to Aari then back up to the man they’d have to go through to get to her. The change of heart told by the instant slow back walking, then ducked away back into one of the alleys.

  “Let’s go before they come back with more friends.” Tannin took her shoulder and led her away, his attention on the crowd.

  She followed at his side, doing her best to keep up so he didn’t have to pull on her for once. She was grateful he hadn’t allowed the other men to touch her, but she also hadn’t forgotten how this had all started.

  They reached the other end of the bridge and came up to the vendor where he’d purchased the fruit the day before, then turned down a concrete path, and followed along the high stone wall, heading towards the boarding house.

  “Hey, wait. What you said back there earlier. You said They called me child.” She had heard every word and hadn’t missed the meaning of his comment. “How do you know that?” She twisted to look up at him, but Tannin’s grip tightened, dragging her with him. “You mean it was you They came for? They never intended to speak with me— just you?” She felt the wall on her back when he suddenly slammed her against it. Her head snapped back, cracking against the stone surface, flashing stars to the backs of her eyes. Tannin’s finger thrust into her face as he walled her in with his body and she saw the rage about to tear from his lips, but he halted the start of his words, perhaps because he saw the tears in her eyes.

  “They’ve abandoned me, haven’t they?” her question much softer this time. She didn’t really want the answer. She already knew, but she couldn’t stop her heartache from asking the inevitable. All the loneliness she had endured, only to come face to face with more of it. It wasn’t fair. Her Symbiotai chose her, because she was small just like her. That should have counted for something. She and her sym may have been runts, but they were still a viable Symbiote and a breeder at that. More off they had survived this far when so many others had not. How could They abandon her?

  Tannin’s rage melted at the sight of her pain. Once more, he’d disregarded her feelings in all this. “Yes,” he answered reluctantly. “They’ve abandoned you.” He wished he could lie to her, but he couldn’t. Not on this.

  She wiped the tears from her cheeks, seemingly drawing some resolve from an unseen force. Her expression hardening. “Can we go back to our room?”

  Tannin pulled her in, offering some mediocre comfort but her rigid body, though complacent, didn’t accept. So, he led her back to the thatch boarding house and up to their room. He fished out the fruit he had bought the day before and offered it to her, feeling some quiet gratitude when she accepted, and slowly devoured it.

  The room was quiet— too quiet as he watched her eat.

  “How long have you had your Symbiotai?” She spoke between bites.

  Tannin rubbed at his temple a moment then leaned to rest his head in his hand while he kept it propped up on an elbow on the arm of the chair, “Not long. Not even a full turn of the seasons.”

  “How did you? Were you at a temple? Does one still exist?” She leaned forward hopeful of news of a surviving temple. Maybe he would take her there if she would agree to give him the union he sought.

  He shook his head. “His host, who I traveled with, was dying; I agreed to be his new host.”

  Aari slunk back, but after another bite, resumed her questions. “How did you know I was at the Skaddary Base?”

  “I didn’t, but apparently Sif did. When I broke into the sub-terrain station looking for information, he wouldn’t let me leave. It wasn’t until I was brought in that I discovered you. But somehow Sif knew all along.”

  “Sif. Who is Sif?” Aari asked after she finished the fruit.

  “My sym.”

  “You named your Symbiotai?” She gave him a grueling glance.

  “Sure, don’t all Symbiote?”

  Aari rolled her eyes and pushed up, “No.” She dropped the remaining core of the fruit on the bed, rolled off, and stomped out onto the balcony.

  She stared out along the street, lined with buildings. Some were restored ruins of old-world, while others were made of whatever material had been available at the time, squeezed into every accessible space between the restored ruins. All overgr
own and covered in thick creeper roots and vines of flora that had long since lost its green color with the coming of the cold season up in the mountains, now shifting from yellow to brown. Dead brown. Like her.

  Steel cables crossed overhead from one corner to another, some connected to poles along the city. Several more in groups ran out to a large fallen structure of twisted steel beams. The same dead vines twisted around them too. Like her life, something else had crawled in and taken over, then just died there.

  Outside, she glanced back over her shoulder at Tannin who watched her intently. She groaned, not feeling enough distance between them and started up the lattice until she reached the roof top, and carefully crawled up. Getting as far away as she thought he might allow her. Could he be anymore incredulous? No one names their Symbiotai. And he was supposed to be the destiny of their future?

  “Aari?”

  She heard him call from the balcony below with a soft inflection of concern. She rolled to her side, curling up to shut the rest of the world away, “Just let me pretend I’m alone, will you?” Her life was becoming all the more bleak with each step and exchange of words. Empty with every passing moment, yet she didn’t know what hurt the most. That she missed having other Symbiote around as she grew up or that Tannin seemed to have a deeper connection with his in the short time he’d had it than the lifetime she’d had with hers.

  New tears suddenly streamed from her eyes before she ever felt the emotion that sent them, and she knew right then they’d come from her tiny, young Symbiotai.

  NO RESPECTS FOR THE ENEMY

  After another day in the city, Tannin had them packed and back on the trails heading out of town at a quick pace.

  A run in with an old friend in Quinenset told Tannin if he trekked hard enough, they could catch up with a few members of his tribe, just two days hike north of the city, near the valley crossroads.

  Aari struggled to keep up and was burning on the edge of putting on another fit just to slow him down for a more favorable pace, when just as the source had said, they came across a camp of men just outside of the valley.

  “Ni’kmaq niijimaa,” Tannin greeted them each and was instantly buddy-buddy with loud bellowing remarks and hard claps on the back. No one even looked her way. And for the first time, she felt like she was right back at the Skaddary Base. The men there didn’t look at her either as they bellied up towards the mess hall or to one of the canteens for a night of drunk and disorderly conduct. Only difference was here, she had no place of her own to crawl away and hide. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered if she did when she felt Tannin’s grip on her arm, pulling her with him as they all settled around the fire.

  Aari sat in a sulky position next to Tannin, putting on a good prisoner pout, which went completely unnoticed by her captor as the men caught up with each other. Nevertheless, she used her reclusive appearances for other means as well. She was far more watchful than her posture leant to.

  The largest of the men, with a pelt of hair on his chest and a gruff sounding voice, was Taymar, to whom Tannin seemed to have the closest relation, and with Dublin who sat next to him.

  Dublin had long braids of golden-brown hair that hung down his back and bare chest. He also wore the least amount of clothing compared to the others, but not nearly as scarce as the stories she’d heard.

  Across from them was Rayhan, Baturoo, and Caamen, whom she gathered actually came from another tribe of people but had traveled with the small band of men for some time now. Like some destiny touched hero’s tale— out to save the people and the land— kind of stuff.

  To the far left of the fire sat Dalasi and Idi. Dalasi seemed to be the youngest of the group next to Idi, who could have passed as a younger brother to Tannin, and he shared word of Tannin’s mother confirming news that she had taken on a new husband after his father had died in battle two solar cycles prior.

  Last, sitting more to the shadows on the right, was Nasir, who watched her intently. Distrustfully.

  All the men dressed and acted similarly to Tannin, showing they were definitely of like background, but none stood to the height of Tannin. While Taymar was a close runner up and much bigger in girth, Tannin still towered over them all, reinforcing that he may truly be the biggest man she had ever seen.

  She watched them all from under fallen strands of hair and tilted brow as they talked. She watched their hands as they went for their weapons in a subconscious body check from time to time when the subject of attacks and battles were brought up. It didn’t take long for her to figure out who carried what and where.

  “What brings you to these regions?” Tannin asked. He knew they should have been several regions sou-east of here by now with the rest of the nomadic tribe, preparing for the colder months to come.

  “The Laymask people sent word, asking to join in with ours. Mostly women and elderly. The Blood Lord Jazirian has decimated their people. So, we have held back to wait for them. Our time here has proved fruitful though with information from other travelers,” Dublin explained as he and Taymar usually took the lead in such conversations over reconnaissance and plans of strategy.

  Tannin concurred much of the information with what he knew, as well as share some of the details he had learned in the sub-terrain station before subjecting himself to become captured by the Skaddary.

  A gourd was passed around freely along with a bag of dried meat as they exchanged stories of recent tales and encounters. There were eight in the band and as the brew was consumed, several of them were beginning to take note of Aari. Tannin however, did not. Keeping up appearances that he was not a tied down man. Not heeding that appearance, with proper explanation of her presence, his comrades thought it safe to assume she was an open and available woman.

  “So where did you pick this one up? Not like you to have a woman traveling with you,” Dublin commented, after taking a long swig from the gourd until it was emptied and then tossed it into the fire.

  “Don’t look as those little legs could even wrap around your waist, let alone keep up a trekking pace with the likes of you,” Baturoo harped at him. Give her to me, they’ll fit around mine. And even if they don’t, I prefer dogging style anyways.”

  Tannin laughed then waved in her direction, like she was some joke to his adventure. “This here is Aari, my prisoner transporter.”

  “Outland Gunner,” she hissed at him. If he was going to refer to her by a title, he should at least get it right. She had worked hard to get the rank.

  “Humph— just another word for transporter. Means nothing.” Ibi was the first to actually lock eyes with her, then he twisted, and spat behind him.

  “It means I am clever enough to transport outside our district. It also means there isn’t a gun I don’t know how to fire off.”

  But rather than get the respect she felt she deserved, a few of them began to heckle as if sharing some inside joke.

  “You don’t say?” one of them commented. “Tannin’s cock must be very lucky to be in such capable hands.”

  Aari snapped a glare at the man who’d said it, trying to remember his name. He leaned forward allowing the glow from the fire to hit his face for the first time, giving her a good look at him. Nasir. His name was Nasir. His stare telling her he had a dagger with her name on it if she so much as blinked like a Skaddary. She wouldn’t even give him the benefit of blinking as a human under his imposing gaze. Not even the heat of the fire could win a stare off with her. A trick she had mastered over the solar cycles along with a little help from her sym.

  “What say you?” Taymar broke through the tension with a chuckle. Showing he’d much prefer to hear Tannin’s tale than watch a silent show down. “You tell, while I drink to it,” he jeered, holding up another gourd of mead, took a long swig, then passed it off to make the rounds.

  “I was being held prisoner at the Skaddary Militia Base the one down near the sou-shores of the greater sea. I was making my escape disguised as the guard intended t
o escort me to some new facility. Aari here was my assigned driver. When it was time to abandon the vehicle, I took her as my own hostage.”

  Aari glared at Tannin next, not holding back when the urge to kick dirt his way hit her, and then stomped off. Hostage, he called her. Now she was his joke as well. He wanted her to agree to give him union, but she was still nothing more than his hostage. And when he took her, she would be nothing more than a joke. Their union nothing more but another prison for her. Just like it had been for her sister. Only Aari didn’t want to have to take her own life to escape.

  She crossed the camp. With all the men gathered around the fire, there was no one to stop her. Nothing to keep her from trekking out on her own— except— she had no idea where she was or where she could seek shelter. She knew she didn’t want to go back to Quinenset. She had seen the whore traders Tannin mentioned and suspected the three men who’d chased her had similar plans for her. He’d even made it a point to identify them, one by one. She saw the women they dragged about on chains, selling their bodies for a few measly credits— allowing the buyer to have them right there in the streets or wherever they chose for degrading pleasure.

  ~~ “Are they all slaves?” she had asked him.

  “No, not all. At least not to the man who makes the barter. But perhaps to circumstance, yes.” He’d led her away, but the vision was forever there in her mind. She was one of them. A slave to circumstance. But not even whoring could save her from destitution. ~~

  Having wandered outside the perimeters of the camp, she turned back, figuring she could at least crawl into the tent the men had offered Tannin. But once there, she heard them laughing at her expense again. Her gaze shifted to the gear packs piled on the cot. The tell-tale shape of her issued pistol outlined in one of them.