Retribution

DATESTAMP - PRESENT DAY!

The room is dark! The roof is low, and the four walls are unrelieved by any openings other than a solitary doorway.

Lit only by a flickering light, vague shapes suggest distorted nightmares of everyday objects.

A torturers dungeon.

On one wall, a rack holding items that scream suffering and pain. A long, low, bloodstained table has been pushed back into a corner. Opposite, the dull gleam of lingering embers, with the branding irons still wedged between the coals.

The source of the light sits on a table that is against the wall opposite the doorway.

The only object clearly lit is the face of the man sitting at the table. The man would not be called young, but it is hard to guess his real age. His face is hardened by exposure to all weathers. The hair is cropped short, and there is a suggestion of grey around the temples. The shape of the nose suggests that it has been broken more than once, and he has a small scar beside his left eye. The tight fitting t-shirt bulges, showing powerful chest and shoulder muscles defined by long, hard, dedicated training. Such a man would not normally sit with his back to the door. That he does shows that he feels totally safe and secure. Protected by electronic devices, and anonymity.

The light is coming from a computer screen.

The man has spent many nights sitting at this screen. Tonight, his time is shorter than usual. His hunt is nearing it’s end. The light from the screen clearly shows the muscles in his neck spasm as he tightens his jaw in concentration and tension. He types a few more words, and then presses one final key.

It is sent!

His message of hate!

His declaration of vengeance!

Now his face displays an expression of grim satisfaction.

“Found you, you bastard,” he whispers.
“Now you are mine for the taking!”

DATESTAMP 33 YEARS AGO.

As I awaken, I turn over and grope over my head for my glasses. My hand encounters something warm and yielding, and a stifled gasp tells me I am not alone!

What?

Where?

Alarmed, I scramble to a crouch and peer through the fuzzy world that I inhabit without my specs………………except that it’s not so fuzzy!

I CAN SEE!

And what I can see is a young girl. She is pressed back against a tree, with one hand on her mouth, and the other on her…..

OH MY GOD! Please don’t say that I just groped a girl in my sleep!!!

As I stare at her in astonishment, my face beginning to burn with embarrassment, my eyes take in more details.

Bloodstained hands! Blood on her dress! Dishevelled hair! Cuts and scrapes all over her legs and arms! What the hell!

Tree? Where did the tree come from? Where did all the trees come from? I can feel a mixture of grass, and bare earth beneath my hands and feet, and I can smell the damp leaves composting under the trees. Totally confused, I look around at the forest clearing where I find myself, and struggle to remember how I got here.

My head aches, and there is a bitter taste in my mouth.

Then I become aware of an even more acute problem.

I’M NAKED!

WHAT IN GODS NAME IS GOING ON HERE?

DATESTAMP THE PAST - 33 YEARS AGO

A coarse chuckle snaps me back to my surroundings.

Standing on the edge of the clearing are the three men I have been trying to evade. The one on the left grins evilly.

“Well girlie, you gave us a good run, but we’ve hunted here before!”

His right hand is still holding the knife I had seen him use just a few minutes before.

Minutes! Was it just minutes? God! It seems that I have been running for hours!

“I guess it’s time for us to claim our reward boys!”

They start forward across the clearing.

Despite all my training, and the cool thoughts that had dominated my flight through the woods, panic started to ride up within me.

My eyes darted around the open space.

The men had fanned out to cut off any escape. My shoes were ruined, and I knew I wouldn’t get far in bare feet. In the distance behind the men, I could see the cliff face where my brother was camping, but it was to far away, and even if he heard my screams, Jon wouldn’t get here in time.

Trapped!

The scream that I had been forcing down started to claw it’s way up my throat. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and I could here the men starting to growl in anticipation.

As I registered that the growl wasn’t coming from in front, but from behind me, the scream shot out of my mouth despite every attempt to keep it in.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

As I started to scream, I swung my head to see this new threat………………and the scream died in my throat before it had hardly begun.

Emerging from the bushes behind the tree was the most beautiful, yet also most terrifying creature I had ever seen.

Perfectly silent now, it advanced into the clearing. A shadow that moved with thought and deadly intent. On velvet paws, a piece of darkest night, lit only by the two blazing stars that were it’s eyes. Blazing, and yet of darkest sapphire! How could something be so dark, and yet shine with so much light?

The biggest black cat that I had ever seen crawled…..No! Crawled wasn’t the word. Neither was crept. Stalked? Maybe, because it was definitely stalking something, or somebody. Getting lower and lower as it moved forward, one small step at a time. It’s tail was straight out behind, just the tip waving slowly in lazy arcs that were getting smaller and smaller.

Calling it a cat was like calling the Colorado River a stream. This was a “Big Cat” in every sense of the word. I had seen Siberian Tigers in the Zoo, but they were kittens in comparison. The form similar to a Black Panther, but of a size not seen on the Earth for Tens of Thousands of years. A Sabre Tooth!

Panic had given way to shear terror! I couldn’t move! Couldn’t breath! Sweat burst from the pores all over my body, and yet icy shivers were starting to rack my body.

Yet as I watched, my terror abated.

Those terrible eyes weren’t locked on mine! It wasn’t me that the powerful head was targeting. I wasn’t the focus of the hunt!

A scuffle of leaves wrenched my attention back to the men. Ashen faced, they were slowly backing away toward the edge of the clearing. Shaking legs responding leadenly to their desire to be gone. The one with the knife was licking his lips nervously, and I realised that HE was to object of the Sabre Tooth’s undivided attention.

On the edge of my vision, I realised that the cat had come to a stop. His back (How did I know it was a he? I guess some subliminal instinct filled in the gaps) was beginning to arch as he gathered his hind legs under his body. The tail was now quite still. He was preparing to spring!

A sudden noise! A shot!

One of the men had managed to prise out a gun from his waistband, and nerveless fingers had fired it to soon. I never found out which of the men, because the clearing was suddenly full of noise and movement.

The cat gave an awesome scream as a spray of dirt erupted from the ground in front of it, and launched itself into the air. One moment it was there, the next it was amongst the men. I don’t think the knife man even saw it move, before he took it’s full weight on his chest, the fangs crunching in through the top of his skull. In a blur of darkness, massive claws ripped open the face of the man on the right, and then his stomach spilled out it’s contents as he was thrown backwards. The man on the left had turned to run, and I heard his neck snap as the cat caught him from behind with both paws on his shoulders.

A few seconds, and it was all over!!

I was still frozen on the spot! Wide eyed, I had seen my attackers disposed of in an instant. A blink, and I’d have missed it.

Now the cat turned, and looked at me. His eyes locked on mine, and I felt the full force of that ferocious stare.

Yet, there was no anger or bloodlust in those eyes. They no longer blazed with dark fire, but were now lit by a dusky luminosity. Although it was still a truly terrifying site, marked as it was with the blood of the men it had killed, I felt no fear. Rising from it’s crouch, the Sabre Tooth gave a great sigh and shook itself.

“Are you OK? Did they hurt you?”

I heard the words, but knew with absolute certainty that no one had spoken them. No one else was here!

The cat walked slowly towards me.

Are…..you…..hurt?

The voice again! This time I could almost get the direction. Somewhere in front…or was it behind? The voice seemed to come from right beside me.

The cat was almost upon me, and I pressed myself back against the tree.

“Don’t be afraid! I need to check you for wounds! Keep still!”

The cat was looking at me very intently. It had stopped a few feet from me, and once again I was caught up in the depths of it’s eyes.

“That’s better! Just relax! Ah yes! The blood isn’t your’s. You are whole and unhurt. That’s good.”

Dimly, in the deepest recesses of my mind, I thought the cat was talking to me. Oh great! I must be going into shock! Do you hallucinate when you’re in shock?

Suddenly the cat gave a great shudder, and the connection with it’s eyes was broken. It seemed to shrink in on itself, and then fell towards me. Without thinking, I reached out to catch it, falling backwards against the tree as I took the weight of it’s body, only to find myself cradling the naked body of a teenage boy!.... a naked teenage boy who had one one hand on my breast...

"Gods be merciful and may the darkness never find me!!! " I exhale. I know now that this is no hallucination. The warm,heavy, sleeping form in my lap is oh so very real !

" Shhhhh" I coo while combing the fingers of one hand thru his hair. " It's altight now....it's alright..."" I lie. I am lost in a dream where reality and fiction have met b/4 my eyes. but I feel compelled t soothe the boy in my lap. Removing my torn coat, I cover him with it. The cold air that I sit in longer matters to me.,even as I start to shiver...

" L2" She thinks, maybe stroking his hair. [ Later she will come to know Aion as the best MMo..ever!!!!!111one]

but in the cold, in the leaves she sits & waits to see what will happen as she cradles the boy in her arms, protecting him as best she can