As
the sun began to set the crew of 5 mounted and rode again. They were now only a
few days from Chiff and all of them were very eager to reach the city. It
seemed odd, but tensions among the small band were rising at an extreme rate.
As the days had progressed Peace’s tolerance of Strife has lessened and
everyone had sensed it. Peace couldn’t hardly look at the man without a
seemingly unwarranted shiver shooting down her spine, and her dreams: her
dreams had been getting increasingly worse. Perhaps a better way to put it
would be to say that her memories were becoming clearer: too clear. It seemed
as if every motion Strife preformed, every word he said, every mannerism he
held, reminded Peace more and more of some nightmare from her past. She had
tried to make some sensical connection with him, some reason, but nothing. She
had searched elsewhere too, trying to recall if she knew Erlfag or if she
recalled the symbol of his warlord, but nothing there made sense either. She
had seen the men of many warlords in her younger days, but none that matched
Erlfag’s. The one in her memories certainly didn’t. He had born the symbol of
the king, not one of the warlords. That had been when the kings still had
power. Yet despite all her searches, her questions, nothing seemed to connect
with her troubled past. Something at the back of her mind kept nagging though,
telling her that everything ought to connect, but nothing seemed to make sense
together.
Peace
leaned forward and clung tighter to Yevish as the sun fully set and the chill
winds picked up. She derived a great deal of comfort from being able to guard
her young ward, her little brother. It wasn’t just human comfort though: the
comfort of being able to care for another human being. It was God’s comfort,
the deep comfort which came only from the Father, the Creator of the universe,
and Peace was infinitely glad for it. During this time of deep trouble in her
soul she wasn’t sure if she’d have been able to survive without this comfort
from Yeshua, from God. Despite everything that was going on within her, Yeshua
was telling her that he was still there, always there, protecting her, holding
her, loving her. She would never be alone, she would never have need to fear,
she could never be touched beyond the earthly things…
Yes,
it was true, nothing could touch her beyond her earthly being, and yet being
touched to the depths of the earthly was still painful enough. Ah, the pain,
she was glad for those who never had to experience such depth of emotion,
either good or bad. For even such a deep emotion, when of good, can cause a
great deal of pain. Peace knew though that the depths of humanity which many
believed could only be touched by love and all things good, could also be
touched by evil, hate, and all things wrong in this world. There was a reason
God warned so much about sexual sins in his word, for truly all other sins were
without the body, but these entered into the depths of the human heart and
soul. Peace knew, Peace knew firsthand and forever she had only wished that she
had never known. Peace shook her head unsuccessfully trying to clear the
thought. Those dreams, those memories…
Suddenly
she was there again: in that simple inn room. He was there too, his strong and
hated hands having just ripped away her thin dress top. ‘Father God on high she
couldn’t live through this again, not even in her mind.’ “Please don’t” Peace
pleaded with the man.
“Don’t
challenge me, girl. I paid for this night, and I will enjoy it.” A rough
chuckle escaped his strong jaw and sent a defeated shiver down Peace’s
backbone. No, she wasn’t defeated yet. Last time she’d been taken by surprise,
unknowing of the ways of vulgar men, in particular of her boss the innkeeper,
but this time… this time she would fight back. Peace reached behind her to the
small table where she had formerly placed a broken table leg (the only weapon
available to her on short notice). The warrior snorted, turned, and went to
inspect the pitiful bed that the room had to offer. Peace threw caution to the
wind and charged, aiming the hefty table leg for the back of the man’s head.
She had almost made contact when the man suddenly whirled and caught the leg.
Peace’s strength was no match for his, so she knew she’d have to rely on
training and cunning. She quickly spun to the right, shifting her and her
weapon out of the man’s grip, and then as quickly as she could she did her best
attempt at a distracted double-strike. She swung fixedly towards the man’s head
with the table leg, the distraction, while firmly kicking at his mostly
unprotected knee with her right foot, the double-strike. Peace may not have had
a great deal of strength, but her kick likely would have damaged the knee had
not the man worn hidden knee bracers. Peace released the table leg and stumbled
back in surprise, desiring to nurse her now wounded and bare foot, but knowing
that such would only harm her more.
The
King’s soldier scowled a bit and threw the table leg aside like a twig. “They
didn’t tell me you were a feisty one. A bit of training to your name as well
I’d say.”
Peace
would have liked to respond, save that she was unable to manage words due to
the fear in her heart. She quickly scanned the room for anything which could
help her out, but failed to find anything. The man took a step forward and Peace
stumbled back, tripping on the hard wood floor. She gasped and tried to push
herself up on her elbows. The man grinned, and reached down towards her throat…
Peace
sat up with a jolt, and then gently leaned forward again, encompassing Yevish
in her armored and weather protected arms. That was the difference between
dreams and memories. Dreams required a state of sleep or near sleep: memories
could take over the mind whenever they wanted. Peace shivered a bit and hugged
Yevish tighter, while reaching down and gently stroking Darkstar. She could
hear the hoof beats of her brother’s and the Stranger’s horse. It was difficult
to see them in the low light, but the moon would rise soon and provide light
for their small party.
Peace
focused herself on Yeshua and began to settle. The world seemed quite peaceful
right now. It seemed odd how everything could seem to be going all right and
all wrong all at the same time. Somehow it would all work out though. In the
end, no matter how long away that was, it would all work out for the better:
for the goodness of the created by the will of their divine Creator.
