Green Eyes

“What is it now?” Max groaned as he went to answer the door.

When he opened it, cold dread washed over him.

“Hello Max,” the Viceroy cruelly greeted. “It has been many years, hasn’t it?”

“What can I do for you, Viceroy?” Max fought to keep his voice steady.

“Oh it is more what I can do for you,” Brutus stepped in. “I heard Selene is sick and was wondering how she is doing.”

“She is resting right now,” Max continued with the ruse, knowing it was pointless. “I would appreciate it if you let her be.”

“Good advice doctor,” Brutus settled himself in a chair. “Except for one problem: Navi don’t get sick, do they?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” stammered Max.

“I’m talking about your beautiful green-eyed daughter,” Brutus explained. “The first Kalashonian Navi to be born in over two hundred years. But of course you already know this, Av-Navi, don’t you?”

“If you lay a hand on my daughter…” threatened Max.

“You’ll do what?” Brutus raised an eyebrow. “You can’t touch me, Max. You should know that by now.”

With a growl, Max leapt at the Viceroy. Brutus calmly extended his hand and froze Max midair. Flicking his wrist, he tossed the doctor into a chair across the room. Max struggled violently but to no avail as Brutus had him mentally pinned.

“Mallon, have your men search the premise for the Navi,” Brutus commanded without taking his eyes off of Max. “Be careful; she is very, very dangerous.”

Mallon motioned for ten of his soldiers to follow him and they made a quick sweep of the house.

“She’s not here, my lord,” Mallon reported.

“Clever boy,” Brutus complimented his prisoner. “Spirited her away from me in case something went wrong? But not too far I think so that no one would question her disappearance long.”

“If I may, my lord,” Mallon interrupted. “It is likely she is with Jared.”

“Jared?” Brutus turned his attention to the captain. “Who is Jared?”

“He is a mercenary that fought in the Ammonite Wars,” Mallon explained. “He rescued Selene from one of the town thugs who tried to rape her. I offered him a position in the Blood Guard but he refused. He is the only person in the region that would harbor Selene.”

“Interesting,” the Viceroy pressed his fingertips together as he considered this. “And where does this Jared live?”

“No one is really sure,” shrugged Mallon. “He’ll disappear for several days at a time and then randomly reappear.”

“So in other words you still don’t know where she is,” Brutus summed up coldly.

“I suppose not,” Mallon admitted.

“But he does,” Brutus stood and walked over to Max. “Don’t you, old friend?”

“If you think I’m going to tell you where my daughter is hiding,” Max defiantly shouted at his tormentor, “you’re crazier than I thought.”

“Oh but Max,” Brutus whispered maliciously in his ear, “you don’t have to tell me.”

The Viceroy placed the fingertips of his right hand on Max’s forehead. Closing his eyes in concentration and muttered a few words. Suddenly Max started convulsing and shrieking as if he were being burned alive. Then as quickly as it started, the doctor was still.

Taking a deep breath, Brutus opened his eyes. “You will find Selene with the mercenary in the ruins to the south of here,” he informed them. “Mallon, take a squad of your best soldiers and bring her to me alive. Kill the mercenary.”

“The ruins, my lord?” Mallon shifted unsteadily.

“That is what I said,” Brutus impatiently confirmed. “Is that a problem?”

“It’s just that, well, the ruins are haunted,” Mallon awkwardly replied.

“Tell me,” Brutus glared at Mallon, “which do you fear more: the ruins?” Brutus raised his hand and a blast of lightning shot out from his fingers, catching Mallon’s lieutenant square in the chest, lifting him a couple feet off the ground and slamming him into the wall. The smell of burnt flesh instantly permeated the room.

“Or me?” the Viceroy looked coldly at him.

“You, my lord,” Mallon answered.

“Good choice,” Brutus nodded. “Now go before I consider you expendable.”

Mallon didn’t need to be told twice.

*******

Selene was poking her supper around while she and Jared ate in silence. After she had pried too deeply, he wasn’t interested talking or really acknowledging her. As a result Selene had spent most of the afternoon with Barak while Jared read quietly to himself.

“I’m sorry,” Selene finally apologized. “I didn’t mean to cross a line. I was just curious about you.”

“I suggest you curb your curiosity,” advised Jared. “There are many far less forgiving than I.”

“So you keep telling me,” Selene sighed. “I’d hate to meet them.”

They fell silent as Jared stirred the fire some more trying to keep them warm. The storm of the previous two days had finally blown over, leaving a clear night and a full moon brightly illuminating the white stones. It also made the night very cold.

“This place looks really eerie at night,” Selene shivered, moving closer to the fire.

Jared glanced up, as if noticing their surroundings for the first time. “I suppose,” he shrugged. “You get used to it after a while.”

Another long silence ensued and Selene found being around Jared was getting increasingly awkward. A loud whinny suddenly shattered the silence as Barak came galloping up.

Jared jumped to his feet, drawing his sword in a smooth motion. Before Selene could react, he was kicking snow over the fire, dousing it.

“What…” Selene started to ask.

“Get in that building over there,” Jared tersely ordered, pointing to a mostly collapsed structure across the street from his home. “And stay down and stay quiet.”

Selene had no idea what was going on, but she dared not disobey. Mutely she nodded and retreated across the street into the edifice. A moment later Jared joined her, his muscles tense.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

“Quiet!” Jared warned as he intently watched the street. “We have unwanted company.”

“How do you know?”

“Barak,” Jared replied. “He makes a great guard dog. Now shut up.”

A few moments later, Selene heard the clanking sound of armor, the tell-tale sign of approaching soldiers.

Fear gripped her heart like an icy vice as all the stories about the Viceroy that she had heard came rushing to the forefront of her memory. She didn’t know who he was or why he would want her dead, but she did know that her father and Jared had gone to a lot of work to keep her away from him. If soldiers were here, then something must have gone terribly wrong.

“Do you think the Viceroy is here?” Selene squeaked, frantically trying to control the rising panic in her.

“Quiet!” Jared hissed. “And let’s pray not.”

“SELENE! SELENE!” a familiar voice shouted into the night. “I know you’re here Selene!”

“Mallon!” Selene rasped. Jared didn’t answer, merely rapped her with the flat of his blade in warning.

“Come on out, wherever you are!” shouted Mallon. “You and your mercenary friend can’t hide forever. The Viceroy thinks that you’re a pretty big deal. Something about being a Navi,” he called out. “Personally, I don’t really care what you are. You’re a worthless bitch who had the gall to stand me up and I am going to make you pay.”

Selene was quaking as she heard the soldiers fanning out among the streets, jolting every time she heard a boot step. Sometimes they sounded closer, sometimes further away.

“Don’t be afraid,” Mallon taunted. “The Viceroy wants you alive. Of course he didn’t say well and we have some unfinished business. Maybe I’ll finish what Arioch began a couple months back. Somebody has to remind you of your place.”

By now Selene was rigid as a statue and hyper-ventilating. Yet beside her Jared stood calm as ever, breathing normally and coolly watching the street outside. Selene couldn’t believe how unbothered he was by their predicament.

“On second thought, maybe you should be afraid,” Mallon continued mocking. “I think I would rather the Viceroy wanting me dead than alive. At least then the pain would end. Lord Brutus is going to make your life a living hell for the rest of your days, at least if your father is any indication.”

Selene looked wide-eyed at Jared. The Viceroy had her father?

“Oh yes, he has your father,” Mallon added as if reading her thoughts. “How do you think we found you so easily? I’ll give him credit, he held out but the Viceroy is just too powerful. Perhaps it would’ve been better if he had just given in. Lord Brutus just reached into his mind and snapped it like a twig.”

“Jared, they have my dad,” she yelped, panic completely taking over. “We have to do something. We have to get my dad.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Selene realized she had made a crucial mistake. Even though her voice was barely above a whisper, in the stillness it might as well have been a gunshot.

Jared shot her a murderous look and suddenly stepped back into the shadows, leaving her standing in the abandoned structure alone and afraid.

“Help?” she squeaked into the darkness.

“Gotcha,” sneered one of Mallon’s Blood Guard, jumping through the open doorway. On instinct Selene retreated a step before the burly man.

That step probably saved her life. Just as the man stepped forward to grab her, a glint of steel flashed across his throat. Suddenly a geyser of blood erupted from his severed carotid. Behind him Jared wrapped his hand around the man’s mouth and gently dropped him to the floor.

Selene was so stunned she stopped breathing as the man’s blood coated her face and chest. She had never seen someone die before let alone such a brutal assassination. As her senses cleared, she felt a screech building in her lungs. But before she could let it out, Jared grabbed and pinned her against the wall, his hand covering her mouth.

“Pull yourself together or we’re both dead,” he snarled quietly. “Now, are you going to scream?”

Selene’s eyes were the size of the proverbial saucer, but dutifully she shook her head underneath his gloved hand. Gently, carefully he removed his hand from her mouth.

“You killed him,” Selene gasped in horror as she stared at the body on the ground.

“Better him than you,” Jared retorted indifferently. “Now if we’re quiet, we might just get out of this alive.”

“But what about my father?” Selene questioned as she followed him out into the street.

“It’s too late for him,” Jared replied with a shake of his head. “Brutus has shattered his mind and he’s little more than a vegetable. If he’s lucky, the Viceroy will just kill him.”

“We can’t just leave him,” Selene protested.

Jared turned around and grabbed her shoulders, giving her a hard shake. “Snap out of it,” his blue eyes cut right through her. “It is your life that matters most, not mine, not his. Max sacrificed himself for you, so that you could get away. Don’t spit on his grave by doing something stupid now.”

“There they are,” a woman called, signaling to her fellow soldiers. The sound of pounding boots echoed across the ruins as the other eleven Blood Guards came running.

Jared turned and drew his sword to face the coming soldiers. “Stay behind me and stay out of the way,” he ordered. “It’s time we finish this.”

“There are too many,” objected Selene.

“Not for me,” retorted Jared.

He stepped towards the soldiers bearing down on him. Tapping the flat of the blade to his forehead, Jared paused for a moment as they closed the distance. Then he struck.

Selene thought that she was impressed by what he did to Arioch but this was something else entirely. The woman was first, armed with a spear, she stabbed at him. With practiced ease and grace, Jared pivoted around the weapon, grabbed it with his left hand and pulled. The woman was pulled forward, right into Jared’s blade as he split her from stem to stern with a swift upswing. As her corpse dropped the spear, he whipped it around and threw it through another soldier’s chest.

Two down in as many seconds with three remaining. Another woman tried to take out his right knee, but the former mercenary casually blocked it down and with a firm stomp of his boot, shattered the blade. Then with a whistling stroke decapitated the unarmed Blood Guard.

He deflected a high strike away, turning the soldiers momentum around so that his back was facing Jared. The mercenary quickly slit his throat and then with a feint and a stab, struck down the remaining challenger.

“Come on, we’re not out of this yet,” he called to Selene.

“What are you?” Selene gaped in astonishment.

“Someone you do not want to cross,” Jared answered. “Let’s get out of here before the rest get here.”

“It looks like you’re more of challenge that I first thought,” commented Mallon as he and the rest of his squad appeared in their path.

“Too bad none of your men have been a challenge at all,” Jared sarcastically retorted.

Mallon hissed angrily. “You’ll pay for my men, mercenary,” he snapped. “But at least you’ve proved to be a nuisance, unlike Selene’s poor father. I wonder who will look after the poor old man when his daughter runs away?”

That was too much for Selene. There was no way that she was going to let them torture her father, no matter how crazy a rescue attempt might be. So she bolted for Barak.

“Selene!” Jared called uselessly after her as she sprinted through the ruins.

“Don’t let her get away,” yelled Mallon as his men started after her.

Jared knew he was between a rock and a hard place. Defeating these soldiers would be child’s play for him, but chances were that Selene would be halfway to Brutus by then on his horse. But he couldn’t keep her tied down and fend off a half dozen Blood Guard simultaneously.

“Max, forgive me,” he whispered as he leapt in front of the pursuing soldiers.

The first one didn’t have time to react as Jared split open his gut. Behind him, a woman managed the block Jared’s downward slash, but he had counted on it. Disengaging, he pirouetted around her as her momentum pitched her forward. Following through, Jared decapitated her from behind.

He simply dodged the next man’s spear thrust and swept off his head. Feinting left, he hamstrung the next man and finished him off with a stab through the chest. The remaining pair tried a joint attack, but Jared outmaneuvered them. The man thrust his spear at Jared’s midsection but Jared jumped out of the way and he impaled his comrade. Before he could pull the weapon out, Jared had already cleaved his skull in two.

“Impressive,” Mallon admitted, his voice betraying more awe than he intended to convey.

“Just you and me,” Jared challenged, straightening up.

Just then, the sound of pounding hooves echoed across the stones as Jared caught sight of Selene galloping off towards her house.

“It would seem that it is only you and me,” Mallon replied triumphantly.

“You have to know,” Jared snarled, resting the flat of his blood-soaked sword against his forehead, “your life is over.”

Mallon drew his own sword and charged, futile as it was. Jared clearly outclassed him. He swung uselessly at the mercenary who merely leaned out of the way without even moving his feet. Then Jared caught Mallon’s sword against his own, sliding Mallon’s blade against his cross guard. With a vicious twist, he sent Mallon’s sword flying into the night.

But instead of killing him, Jared reversed his grip and struck the captain in the temple with the rounded pommel, dropping him in an unconscious heap on the ground.

“You may be of some use to me yet,” he commented, dragging Mallon away and tying him up.

“Unfortunately,” he looked down the direction Selene had disappeared, “I have an idiot to catch.”