Between the Light and the Darkness - Chapter 10 and 11
>> Friday, April 18, 2008
The next few days were as routine as Tim had come to expect. Ileeya greeted him as he woke up, he was subjected to a backbreaking day of fieldwork under the scorching sun, followed by a very welcome but too short wash period, and then lunch at the hall.
Now, when Tim saw Jondak sitting near Ileeya, he wanted to rip his lungs out. The gall of this guy really bothered him. And he always seemed to know his actions bothered Tim. He wore a self satisfied smile while he flirted with her, and made sure to look over to see what Tim thought about it. He had to know at least partly how Tim felt, it must have been evident on his face.
Who did he think he was, anyway? Tim was tempted to tell him to leave so he could sit by Ileeya himself, but he had no claims to her. And he didn't want to make waves. He could get through lunch only because he knew Ileeya would already be waiting in the cell when he got there. He wished she were waiting for him because she wanted to, not because she had to share a cell with him. He also remembered watching Jondak fight the other day, and he didn't want any of that.
Finally, it was time for another practice day. And it was a hot one. The sun beat down mercilessly on them while Ileeya worked with Tim. She was a calm and patient teacher, never losing her temper when Tim made a mistake. Even with his most frequent mistakes, the worst she would do was scowl at him. Tim had to restrain himself from smiling dumbly at her when she talked to him.
Ileeya hit hard and fast. Tim just couldn't believe how well coordinated she was and how she easy she made it all look. But as quick as she was, she still seemed frail, and Tim was afraid to hit too hard. He didn't want to hurt her.
"You're holding back, Tim. You need to stop doing that."
"I'm sorry," he panted, "I just can't hit you. I'm afraid...I was always brought up to never hit women."
With a little persuasion, Ileeya was able to convince Aark into letting a third member train with them. She told Tim it wasn't unusual for her to work with two at once, that way she could get a different vantage point and see where the problems were.
Ileeya found someone who was pretty evenly matched with him, but a little better to allow room for Tim to improve. She also had Aark take Tim to the weapons room to change swords. The other one was too heavy and bulky, and the shield only served to slow him down. He didn't argue, because he was sure she knew more than he did about it all.
Gylen, like all the other creatures here, was foreign looking to Tim. He was rather lanky, with dark bronze skin and large pointed ears. His intense caramel colored eyes seemed to see right through him. When he was not scowling, which he did while he sparred with Tim, he had a gentle look to his face. Wise and weathered. It was clear that Gylen had a hard life before he even ended up here, and seemed just as unhappy about being here as Tim did.
Tim was more comfortable fighting Gylen. He wasn't so afraid to strike. He actually wondered why Aark hadn't set him up with Gylen in the first place, seeing how well matched they were. But then again, the reason was simple - Aark probably enjoyed watching Tim get his butt kicked repeatedly. 
Two months later, Tim had a couple of slave tournaments under his belt. His first one he didn't feel went very well. He ended up with a fair amount of scratches, scrapes, and bruises, and felt as if he had failed. Ileeya assured him he did well for his first time. The second one went much better, and Tim even managed to create a ranking for himself. It wasn't a great one, but at least he wasn't last. Ileeya was pleased with his progress.
Every other practice session, Ileeya would leave Tim and Gylen to practice their newly learned techniques and go work on her own skills. Tim took an instant liking to Gylen. Though he never spoke, the two didn't have a hard time understanding each other.
The sword become a comfortable weight in his hand. Tim looked forward to these practice sessions. He was a good student and practiced hard, hoping to create a better standing for himself the next time one of the tournaments rolled around. When he was sparring, time seemed to slip away and he could almost forget he was on a strange world.
After one particularly successful practice session, when he was feeling proud of himself, he couldn't help but ask Ileeya why the guards would give their slaves weapons, and then teach them to fight. Weren't they afraid the slaves would overrun the place and escape? He had tried to keep his tone light, despite how illogical the situation was.
But her mood changed immediately and she assumed a defensive stance.
"Because you'd be ripped to shreds. These weapons are intended for practicing only, and cannot hold up against the sturdier weapons the guards possess. They would have no hesitation to slaughtering the entire slave population - new slaves are acquired quite easily. I highly discourage it. The guards would take a revolt as a sport, eagerly hunting down each and every last one of the prisoners, if they even managed to escape before they found a sword through their chest."
He felt stupid for even suggesting it. He felt like he had been put back in his place, and didn't bring it up again.
~*~*~*~*
Chapter 11
Before sleep fully took him that night, he imagined himself and Ileeya in a different setting. Perhaps it was her world. It was beautiful beyond imagination. Bright flowers dotted a huge meadow that stretched as far as the eye could see. The gently rolling hills were lush with thick green grass. A heady aroma filled his nostrils, causing him to feel slightly intoxicated.
A very beautiful young woman was riding on a sleek black stallion, her silvery-white hair trailing behind her. Ileeya. Tim watched, mesmerized as she expertly guided the horse through a series of exercises.
Short cantering steps, a light trot and a sharp turn, over and over. The air was so still he could almost hear the horse's breath huff as it changed direction abruptly, and he could hear Ileeya occasionally say, "Good, Darkstar. Easy!" They were perfectly graceful and Tim found himself relaxing into the fragrant flowers as he watched, enjoying himself.
She looked happy, a cheerful smile lighting her fair features. A slight breeze lifted her silken hair slightly so that it obscured her face for a moment, then gently set it back down in place. He felt a sense of danger, although he couldn't understand why. There was no danger here, just a beautiful woman who seemed eager to share her time with him. Yet he couldn't help the growing sense of panic that surged through his soul and threatened to take control. He tried his damndest to stifle it.He smiled and lifted his hand to wave back, but then stopped, finally realizing what was wrong. One person couldn't be in two places at the same time.
He turned and looked at the horse and rider. The panic he had been fighting took advantage of the momentary confusion and seized Tim's adrenaline system. As if sensing his sudden awareness, the horse's rider turned her mount towards him and headed his way.
As they moved closer to him, Tim saw the horse's angry red eyes. Its eyes glowed, pulsing. Soulless eyes. The woman, who was not Ileeya, had a maddened scowl on her face. Her eyes gleamed with hatred.
Tim leaped to the side to get out of their path. It was easily done, he realized, because they were not moving toward him, but toward Ileeya behind him. Ileeya screamed in terror and tried to run. The woman and her horse galloped up to their helpless victim. The horse made a wheezing sound as it sucked air into its large lungs, then let it out in an enormous jet of flame.
"Shirra, no!!" Ileeya screamed an instant before the flames engulfed her. She simultaneously shrieked in agony and burst into flames, her once luxurious hair turning to ash within seconds.
A low rumbling sound surrounded him, and a second later, Tim realized the woman, Shirra, was making it. Hysterical laughter burst forth from her mouth. The sound sent a chill up Tim's spine. It was a heartless noise.
"Bitch!" Shirra screamed as Ileeya fell into the flames, pleading with her to stop.
A small sound escaped his lips and the woman abruptly stopped laughing, jerking around on horsetop to look at him. Her eyes were darker now, almost black. They glinted hungrily at him.
She didn't take her eyes off him as she turned her steed around to face him. She stared into him. Her icy glare froze Tim's blood.
"Lover," she cooed at him in a gravelly voice. "Come to me."
She was suddenly atop him, growling and ripping at his clothing. Her touch burned like dry ice and Tim shrieked. She laughed at his futile attempts to stop her, forcefully pushing him down into the flowers with superhuman strength. He was being taken advantage of by a monster! Her ghastly face lit up when she saw his fear. He screamed.
The demon woman frowned at him and started shaking him. She was muttering something he couldn't comprehend. She intentionally laid her hand on Tim's cheek, scalding it. He screamed again and opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Ileeya's concerned face. She was shaking him and telling him to wake up. His face stung where she had slapped him. It took him a few seconds to adjust from nightmare to reality. Rivers of sweat ran down his back, causing his shirt to stick to his skin.He stood up on wobbling legs. A shiver coursed through him as a flash of the dream replayed itself through his mind. He couldn't believe how real these nightmares seemed. He could see the hatred flashing through the demon woman's eyes; could smell the mixture of Ileeya's burning flesh and the flowers around his face when the woman was attacking him. He could still hear Ileeya's tortured screams as she burned to death in front of him.
He suddenly felt happy that it was just a dream. He was glad Ileeya was standing before him with her flesh unmarred. Hell, at this very moment he was even happy he was locked in this cell on on a different world. He grabbed Ileeya and clung to her, still shaking. She hugged him back, murmuring comforting things in his ear.
"It was so strange," he told her. "I dreamt of Shirra, your friend, and she looked just like you."
At the mention of Shirra's name, Ileeya stiffened. She pulled back from him and said, "Yes, that is strange." A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away with a shaking hand.
"Would you tell me? I mean, what happened to her?"
"There's not much to tell. It's just so sad. There was a fire in our village one night. Many people died. Shirra...Shirra included."
"I'm really sorry, Ileeya. It must be very painful to lose a good friend. How long ago did it happen?"
"The fire happened a year or so before I arrived here, about eleven years ago. She looked a little like me, you know. She had the same hair and eye color. People used to think we were sisters. We were very close."
Now it was Tim's turn to console her as Ileeya cried against him. He comforted her with gentle words whispered into her pointed ear. Her body felt warm against his. Tim reveled in the feeling of her in his arms. For months he had wanted to see what this felt like, and it was better than he could have imagined. He wanted more, to gently kiss her and take her pain away, but now was not the time. He got one more smell of her hair before she pulled away from him and retreated wordlessly to her bed.
For the remainder of the night he got little sleep. He was afraid to dream again. Everytime his brain reached dream sleep, he would pull himself out of it. He was almost grateful when breakfast was finally set inside the door, announcing the time to awaken. He was exhausted from his rough night, but a full day of field work was sounding pretty good right about now.
