BREAKING RULES, Combining two worlds (Part 3)

CONFESSION

The eyes of the old leader flashed when she heard the words her friend had hurled at her, but she said nothing.

The rest of the group was so surprised by Margit's outburst that all eyes were on the former clan leader's right hand. No one saw the sinister shadow that passed over Rane's face, no one except Du'gan. Gh'ara's eldest son might have been seen as an empty-headed, boozing but nail-biting warrior with no compassion whatsoever. But what most did not know was that he rarely missed anything. This time, too, the change in Rane had not escaped his notice. Du'gan decided to stay close to the old bitch in order to keep a close eye on her.

"What is your leader up to now, now that the Cavalry has arrived? Our opponents are still in the majority..."

The red-haired woman's deep, husky voice sounded close to his ear and he cursed himself for not being more alert, but her voice sent a shiver down his spine. It was that the smoke and the smell of blood masked her natural scent, otherwise she would not have succeeded, her scent was too strong and had already taken root deep in his brain.

Slowly, he turned his head towards her and a devilish grin appeared around his mouth.

"You're not going to compare us to those Kanjiitée Uami now, are you, beautiful? Latarji's lapdogs may have teeth, but they can't use them... One of us can easily kill five of them."

His grin widened at the sight of her scornfully raised eyebrow.

"Let's just say my brother and I had a very good teacher, one who punished us until we bled whenever we let an opponent win..."

Meanwhile, Gh'ara and his men had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere, and for the last few hours the men had struggled to make their way through the deep snow. Reh'tec had offered them snowmobiles and moose. Gh'ara had kindly declined, although, at this point, he could have kicked himself for being so stubborn. The snowmobiles were a bad idea, no doubt, those things made too much noise, but the moose..., at least he could have taken two, fool that he was.

In the distance he saw a rock formation, and now that it was getting dark, it seemed wise to set up camp there.

"AYEH! Twenty klicks away is a rock formation, I want to make camp there for the night!" He roared.

The wind had picked up considerably and he struggled to get above it.

It still took the small group more than an hour and a half to reach the rock formation, and the sun had disappeared for an hour, dropping the temperature even further below freezing.

After checking the area and activating their camouflage, the men pitched their tents. The rocks provided more than enough shelter from the icy wind and snow, and also protected the men from any Latarji border patrols.

Sitting on his sleeping mat, Gh'ara looked over his equipment. Reh'tec had provided them with excellent gear and he was grateful to the Tároc in a way. Though his life or death was of little concern to him, he did have the faint hope of seeing Latarji one more time to rip his filthy head from his torso. A soft creaking sounded and the warrior looked down at the coat in his hands. There was a large tear in the back. Annoyed at his own behaviour, Gh'ara shook his head. He had to keep his cool, or else he might miss the chance to take his revenge - all because of a stupid mistake of his own.

"I'll take the first watch, Turrah the next..." Varsa's tired face pierced the opening of Gh'ara's tent.

The ikat beckoned his comrade inside.

"No. Let Beh'ra take the first watch, you haven't slept since Rhan waved us off..." The sarcasm was thick and a small smile appeared around Varsa's mouth.

"Yeah, your brother is going to miss you terribly. That was obvious."

Undeterred, Gh'ara shrugged and opened the commlink to Beh'ra to relay the command.

With a thud, Varsa lowered himself onto his own sleeping mat and curled his thick tail around his feet. "But tell me, why don't you want me to take first watch? Usually you're not that concerned..."

Without looking up, Gh'ara continued to mend the torn fabric of his coat. Fortunately, Reh'tec's man had thought of everything, including a repair kit for coats and trousers... ....

"Gh'ara!?" Varsa kicked his friend's tail hard, annoyed by his silence.

Without lifting his head, Gh'ara's eyes slid to his friend.

Even though the man had been blind in one eye for years, and even though Varsa had looked at him almost every day, it still sent a shiver down his spine when the milky white eye looked straight back at him.

"Kick me again and I'll cut your tail off and feed it to the rest of the team..."

Varsa burst out laughing at the cold remark. But then he turned serious again when he saw the eerie glow in his friend's eyes.

All the while, Varsa remained silent as Gh'ara continued to mend his cloak. It was not until old Ikat was satisfied that he put the coat aside and looked at his friend.

"As soon as we find Latarji's hideout, you will take command from me. According to Hakal, he must be hiding near the old border between Finland, where we are now, and Russia. And yes... I know that the area is very large, but the mute has provided me with some razor-sharp satellite photos..." He said.

At the sight of the surprise on Varsa's face, he shrugged. "Don't ask me where he got them. I think Reh'tec has more resources than we know... I suspect even more than Rhan knows.... But I don't care, as long as I can get revenge..."

Varsa gave him a suspicious look. "WE... can get revenge..."

With a gesture of disinterest, Gh'ara waved his claw in the air. "Whatever... As I said... once we get there, you take command. I'm going to go in and destroy the control room, that should give you enough space to signal Reh'tec and get them back in time to launch a devastating attack.

If all goes well, in two days Reh'tec will have a squadron ready at the spot where we were dropped off. That would mean that his men should be able to reach you in about six hours, maybe even in an hour if he sends airships there as well, but I don't know about that..."

For a moment, Varsa watched the man before him with a questioning look before breaking the silence. "Why do I have to take command? And why do you want to sneak in? Any one of us can do the job, you don't have to."

Gh'ara looked at his friend with a cold expression. He had met the younger warrior when he became an Ikat with the first Tároc he served. Over time they had become friends, even though he and Kayla had done their best to keep Varsa away from Nina, Gh'ara's stepdaughter. This had put their friendship on hold for a while. But in recent years, after the birth of Varsa's offspring, the bond of friendship had grown strong again.

"You and the others can take your revenge on Latarji's men as far as I am concerned. The only reason you are with me is that Rhán wouldn't have let me go otherwise..." He looked at Varsa with a dead expression on his face.

"If it had been up to me, I would have gone alone, Varsa!"

His friend looked at him with an angry expression, but before he could answer, Gh'ara was ahead of him.

"This is a one-way trip for me! You have children who need you, I don't!!! Don't pretend you don't know, Varsa! My reason for living disappeared at the same time as Kayla.... The only thing that keeps me alive now is revenge! I want Latarji's head, nothing else. I have no intention of returning..."

With these words, he lowered himself backwards onto the mat and turned his back on Varsa, who was looking at him with a stricken expression.

Varsa had his suspicions, but to hear them so openly was truly sobering.