A Warrior's Legacy

by Guy Stanton III

  I opened my eyes alertly the next morning and I wasn’t overly surprised to see an apple sitting beside me on the ground or to hear Relentless still munching on his late-night snack in the background.

  One thing was for sure neither I nor Relentless were likely to go without a healthy breakfast while in these mountains. After breakfast I rode off towards the secluded valley in the mountains that I had discovered on my way north.

  The morning was hot and the sun felt good after the chill of the night air of the mountains. There were narrow openings into what I believed were other valleys to either side of the main trail that I followed.

  It was a good place for an ambush and I wanted to make sure that I knew the lay of the land so that there weren’t any surprises when Ziya got here with her girls. I was about to pull Relentless down one of the narrow valley openings, when I heard what sounded like a distress noise emanating up a narrow opening on the opposite side of the main trail.

  I pulled Relentless back around and waited listening intently. There it was again!

  Something was definitely in distress. I drew my bow from behind my back and held it at the ready as I eased Relentless down through the narrow valley opening.

  It began to open up some, but it continued on downhill and forested slopes rose sharply up on either side. The grassy bottom of the valley began to turn swampy and the going got trickier to navigate through. Open bogs and marshy ponds popped up everywhere.

  It was not a very nice place. I had been following a set of horse tracks in the upturned mud. Why had the unknown rider come to such a place?

  Why not skirt the swampy valley bottom and go along the edges of the forested slopes to either side?

  We almost slipped down into a boggy marsh and I made the decision that I was turning around, when I heard the sound of distress much closer. It was a horse, probably the horse of the unknown rider. It had probably slipped into a bog like we had just nearly done and was now stuck.

  The sound had come from just around the bend and I let Relentless go onward. The scene of distress quickly revealed itself. The horse’s rider wasn’t a he it was a she and in particular it was my midnight temptress.

  A beautiful roan mare was bogged down in a marshy bog. Her backend haunches were sunk in deeper than her front shoulders were. She was shivering visibly from both fear and fatigue.

  Raya’s black hair hung free and didn’t show any of its glow in the sunlight. Her shimmery black cloak was completely mud splattered and she was knee deep in the mud herself. She was urging her mare on in a soft encouraging voice that sounded more like a plea to me.

  The mare tried again valiantly, but she was stuck fast and soon gave up exhausted. Raya had been pulling hard on her bridal, but gave up when the mare did. She stepped forward and leaned against the mare’s chest looking exhausted herself.

  I would give a good bet that she was shedding some tears too. She seemed to be very attached to her horse, which was something I could understand well. One of the stranger aspects of the whole situation was that both the mare’s head at the eyes and Raya’s head were wrapped with a black cloth.

  Why would Raya blindfold herself and her horse?

  I dismounted and walked to the edge of the bog they had fallen into. The mare had noticed me, but was too exhausted to warn her master.

  “Looks like you could use a little help Raya.”

  Raya spun around at my voice her sharp teeth bared and her claws ready to strike at anything that approached. She was such a wild creature this strange girl of the night.

  “Easy Raya! I’m not here to hurt you. Do you want my help to get your horse out?”

  I wouldn’t say she relaxed any, but she did manage to utter a monosyllabic, “Yes!”

  She’d proven to me before her wild natured behavior and in her present condition of frayed nerves I didn’t trust being right next to her, because in the passion of the moment she might lose her temper and run me through with her sharp fingered hands.

  “Alright you’ve done enough in there come back out and stand up here on the bank where you can encourage her.”

  Raya didn’t move but just stood facing the direction of my voice her face mutinous.

  “Raya if you want my help you do it my way or not at all!”

  She gave a strangled sounding grunt of frustration before she began to slog through the thick mud.

  “To your left more Raya.”

  She corrected her course and reached out blindly for the bank. She was completely exhausted looking as she tried to pull free of the thick mud. Her hair was soaking wet and what part of her face that was visible was streaming with perspiration. It dawned on me then that she wasn’t used to the heat of the day and on top of a several hour long struggle to free her mare she was dressed up in a cloak made heavy by mud.

  She would’ve fallen back into the bog, if I hadn’t grabbed her arms and helped pull her up and out the rest of the way.

  She was surprisingly heavy for her size. Another mystery to be discovered no doubt. I led her by the arm over to some dry looking ground, grabbing my water satchel off of Relentless as we went by him.

  I stopped her. Her lips were dry, which meant she needed fluid in a bad way. She’d sweated too much out, but convincing her of the next step was going to be hard.

  “Raya you’re burning up. You need to get this cloak off and get cooled down or you’re going to get heat sickness, which you may already have!”

  My hands went to the clasp of her cloak, but her hands came up and grabbed mine.

  “Let go. This has to come off.”

  Her hands went to the clasp and I read her intentions, “You want to do it?”

  She nodded and I let my hands fall away. I hated not being able to see her mesmerizing eyes. The cloak came apart and fell wet and heavy to the ground. She wore a woolen overcoat sort of dress that went to her knees. No wonder the girl had been sweating!

  “That needs to come off too Raya.” I said thickly wondering if she would obey me and if she did what if anything she had on below the woolen dress.

  Her fingers reluctantly went to the big buttons down the center of what was more of a shift coat than a dress. Enough buttons undone the heavy shift fell to the ground and as it did Raya folded her arms defensively across her surprisingly ample chest.

  The women of Assoria typically weren’t endowed in the chest as much as the women I had grown up around were, but Raya was an exception to that. As well as was the rest of her.

  I had never seen another woman that could compare with her. She was the most physically fit woman I had ever encountered. There were fit and lithely muscled warrioress’s among my own people and the women of Assoria, but nothing like this!

  Her chest was encased in a halter top of leather, which left her shoulders, belly and lower back completely bare. She had leather shorts that conformed tightly to her legs and ended just above the knees. Her shoulders were solid corded muscle, which trailed down to equally strong forearms. Her belly was completely ribbed with muscle and her muscularly corded thighs that swept down to merge into defined calves showed easily how she could have conceivably jumped the abyss of several nights ago that she had almost lured me into.

  What did this girl eat?

  And beyond that what did she do to get so physically fit?

  She didn’t have a bit of extra fat or flesh on her muscular frame minus her ample chest. Yet she didn’t appear mannish at all, but was altogether entirely feminine looking even with all the muscles, as evidenced by the arching curve of her form from her chest down to her wide hips.

  It was like the muscles were a natural occurrence on her instead of something that had been gained through exercise. She was beautiful and powerful and I was grateful for my own great strength, because without it this woman could probably mop the floor with me.

  I realized I had been staring fixatedly at her body for a long time and I blushed slightly as well as from the urge that came to me to ask her to keep shedding lay
ers of clothing off.

  “I’m sorry! It’s just that the rest of you is as mesmerizing as your eyes and face are.”

  Her eyes?

  “Why do you have your eyes covered?”

  Her cheeks were rosy whether because of my comments or being overheated I wasn’t sure.

  Her voice was soft almost to low to hear, “If I or my horse see daylight it will cause us to go blind.”

  Go blind to just seeing daylight! What was going on here?

  “Are your eyes closed?”

  She nodded and I took the cloth away from her eyes.

  She gasped and reached for it, but I held it out of her reach. I soaked it with the cold water from my bottle and started mopping her face with it. I swallowed hard as my eyes involuntarily followed the path of several rivulets of water as they ran off her face and down her neck to disappear into the cleft of her breasts visible above the leather halter top.

  Dousing the rag again I laid it around her neck and gave her the water bottle and then forced myself to step back.

  “You stay here and look beautiful and I’ll get your horse out. Does she have a name?”

  “Starfire.” she said softly.

  I turned and grabbing the length of rope that I kept on Relentless I headed out into the bog towards the stuck mare. She stirred nervously as she smelled and heard me approach.

  “Easy girl I’m a friend. We’ll get you out of here Starfire.”

  She seemed to settle down at my calming touch on her. I fastened the rope securely to the saddle and then I slogged back out of the sucking mud to the bank. I backed Relentless up as close as I dared to the edge of the bank and stopped him.

  I fastened the other end of the rope securely to him and then eased him forward to take the slack out of the line.

  “Whoa boy.”

  I jumped back down into the bog and eased up alongside of Starfire. I got ready to push behind one of her front legs.

  “Okay pull Relentless!”

  Relentless knowing what was needed of him instantly pressed forward his massive muscles bunching and snapping as his hooves sank into the soft ground deeply. With sucking protest the mud started to let go of the mare.

  I was pushing so hard I was starting to see stars in my eyes. The mare was moving forward farther and then she got her back legs under her and surged for the bank taking me along with her. Relentless didn’t leave any slack, but just kept pulling the mare up the bank. Once on top I yelled as best as I was able to as I was out of breath.

  “Stop Relentless! Stop!”

  He jerked to a halt and so did the mare and I. The mare stood there quivering and dripping muddy water. I gently felt over her back and legs checking for injury, but I found none. She was just tired.

  Relentless came back around and start paying the mare more interest than he should and I realized that the mare was in heat. I quickly pulled Relentless out of the way and tied him off to a tree.

  I turned and saw Raya patting her beloved mare on the shoulder with one hand. Her back was to me and I watched the scene unfold for a moment glad that I had been here to help her. I walked up towards them wanting to assure Raya that Starfire had checked out all right.

  When I had drawn close to Raya I said, “She seems fine except for being fatigued by the ordeal she went through.”

  Raya nodded and for a moment all I could do was to admire the lovely form of Raya’s rear encased in leather before me, when suddenly she moved with blinding speed.

  She had a heavy branch in her hands that she had concealed in front of her. I barely got a hand up to help block the branch’s impact with my head.

  The impact drove me to my knees and then the branch exploded across my back jarring my breath from me and knocked me to the ground. Desperate to defend myself I started to push up, but a terrific blow to my head arrested my movement and sent me back to the ground.

  The little ungrateful witch had turned on me! I tried to stay conscious, but the darkness closed in fast.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lesson Learned

  My head hurt! I moved and winced, my back hurt to. I ignored the pain and pushed up from the ground. The sun was gone and it was twilight.

  Relentless was still tied up where I had left him. I scanned the area and my attention focused on the traitorous witch that sat on top of her horse a short distance away. I should’ve left them both in the mud!

  I got to my feet feeling a little dizzy. I touched the back of my head and it came away bloody.

  “I’m sorry! I truly am, but I couldn’t risk you following me back. Contact with daylighter’s is strictly forbidden. I should’ve never visited your campsite.”

  She turned to go and I saw my sword fastened to the side of Starfire and my hand went reflexively to my side noting the absence.

  Bitterly I said, “Have you turned thief too?”

  She stopped briefly, “You would use it to follow me. I will see that it is returned to you safely. I am not a thief!”

  “You expect me to believe you about anything after this?”

  She didn’t say anything but started up the trail at a brisk trot with my sword in tow. I stumbled to Relentless and pulled my bow off the saddle and notched an arrow and brought it up so Raya was clearly in sight.

  ‘Release the arrow Zevin! She betrayed you!’

  But my fingers wouldn’t obey and I relaxed the tension on the bowstring, even as I felt so angry inside that I thought I might break apart in wrathful pieces.

  Darkness closed in fast and any hope of tracking her faded with the coming of it. Relentless pawed the ground aggressively snorting. I glanced at him and then back out into the darkness. I climbed into the saddle fast and untied Relentless. He bucked around a little being in a bad mood, which I wasn’t in the mood for.

  “Enough! You want that mare then go get her!”

  I let the reins go slack and Relentless surged forward into the night. His senses were far more acute than mine were and he had the beastly desires of a stallion in search of a fertile mare giving credence to his actions.

  It was a strange ride. I couldn’t see anything at all. I kept my head low and let Relentless make his own way through the darkness.

  Relentless’s head was to the ground with his ears perked forward as he trotted fast through the dark like a hound dog on the trail of a fox. Horses when they wanted to could follow a scent trail better than a dog could.

  At one point I saw the greater darkness of an abyss of some magnitude off to my left and my mouth went dry. I was putting a lot of faith in Relentless and I hoped he didn’t disappoint me.

  On and on into the night we went. No stallion had ever worked harder to get a mate I was convinced of that. The early gray of morning began to lighten the dark up some, for which I was very grateful for as I could see again some. It looked as if we were headed towards a solid wall of rock up ahead. I saw a darker hole at the base of it. A cave entrance.

  So it was true these people of the mountain lived in caves. How was I going to find her in there in the dark?

  What if she found me first?

  It didn’t matter she had taken my sword and I had to get it back. Victory could depend on it. I saw something moving up ahead of us. It was Raya. I saw her for only a moment before she disappeared into the black hole of the cave entrance. I quickened the pace and we were soon at the opening into the mountain.

  I pulled Relentless up, after all his hard work I hated to disappoint him, but it was unavoidable. It was better that I go from here on foot. I tied him off securely and he tossed his head at me angrily.

  “Sorry buddy some other time.”

  I wrapped some rope around a stick and lit it with a spark. Makeshift torch in hand I stepped into the cool damp darkness of the cave and followed the clearly delineated tracks on the cave floor.

  I had a bad feeling about this, but it was all I could do at the moment.

  “Creator help me get my sword back!” I begged softly into the stillness of
the cave’s atmosphere.

  It was an eerie feeling walking through the cave. After I had gone several hundred yards the cave made a series of sharp curves and the awakening daylight outside could no longer be seen from behind me, even Relentless’s disgruntled snorts faded away to nothing.

  I was alone in the cool silent darkness of the cave with only my crude torch to light my way. The cave floor was even and quite worn looking as if it had seen a lot of traffic.

  Suddenly the unwelcome thought occurred to me that instead of just traveling into the darkness to face one thieving opponent what if I was met by several. Were there more people like her? There had to be as there was enough knowledge of them that Zalisha had known to warn me.

  You can’t blame anyone but yourself Zevin. You were warned about the dangers of these mountain demons.

  Icy cold water showered down on top of me and the torch in my hand sputtered and went out plunging me into a dark oblivion devoid of any light. Where had the water come from?

  “You shouldn’t have followed me here!” Came a familiar voice from the darkness.

  “You have something that belongs to me, something that is very precious!” I said addressing the darkness in general.

  “It may be precious, but the question you have to ask yourself is was it worth your life, because you’re not leaving this place alive!”

  Sudden glows in the darkness lit up everywhere and half turning I saw that they were pairs of watching eyes of at least one hundred individuals. They encircled me in an icy glowing force that cut off all chance of escape. I looked back around and a pair of eyes opened directly in front of me and some instinct caused me to throw myself backward.

  I heard the swish of a sword blade and I felt it cut through my shirt and nick my chest. I was knocked to my back on the floor as two feet contacted my chest in a hard body kick.

  Out of breath I rolled away hearing the swish of sword blades behind me. I half stumbled to my feet looking for my hidden opponent within the circle of silent watching eyes.