Eternal Discovery

Chapter 14A Questionable Loyalties (Revised)

Guinavere followed the object falling from the sky, it landed with a great thump in the gravel of the shallow bit of the river. She walked over to the impact zone to see the object was a person. The person was badly wounded, there were multiple burns and serious bleeding from several places "hey you are you alright?" she shook the person, no response. "come on, are you even alive?" she pressed the person's neck to feel a weak pulse "he's very badly wounded. He's barely alive. Come on let's get you some help"  she rolled him over to see that it was Tema and stood up from the surprise. "What? You. What happened to you?" he opened his eyes to show the emptiness of them and looked towards the noise "how did you get so gravely injured?"

"b...omb"  he muttered

"bomb? Are you referring to the neutron bomb."  She looked far to the distance to see that the town of Dark Sabre remained intact "but the bomb should have wiped it out"

"j...ump" he muttered

"he must have picked up the bomb and jumped so high that only he took the explosion"

Guinavere then walked over to the axe she put on the floor and dragged it over to where Tema was "he is no state to even move. I can finish him off here" she raised the axe up and was ready to strike but she remained still in place "why can't I strike? He's defenceless and at death's door so why can't I kill him?" she just looked at the limp Tema and put her axe down "it doesn't feel right killing him like this, he's barely alive." The sky turned a dull grey as the daylight began to disappear. She put her axe on her back and walked over to him "come on." she picked him up and carried him into the dense forest.

Traversing the forest was difficult, it was densely overgrown and had swamps scattered all over, so she had to find the easiest way through as since she had a body in tow.  She had to step over vines and be careful of the wildlife aswell. She lost track of time as she traversed the forest and didn't notice that the sun was setting making traversing more impossible.

After a while doubts began emerging in Guinavere "why am I aiding the enemy? He's vulnerable and should just be put out of his misery so why am I helping him?" Rustling noises could now be heard around her, she scanned the area to see shapes dancing among the trees, she then saw pairs of lights staring at her from different directions. The lights emerged as wolfs, which growled as they encircled Guinavere surrounding her completely. One of then lunged and suddenly an arrow shot from nowhere piercing the beast killing it instantly, several more arrows emerged from the sky covered in fire  surrounding Guinavere. This however scared the rest of the wolves back into the forest. "who's there? show yourself"

After a moment answering the call a fairly muscular woman emerged from the forest in front of her "who are you?" she didn't answer "come it's not safe here. There's a secure area a little this way". Guinavere was led to a clearing with a fire in the middle, she propped up Tema on a tree and walked over to the mysterious lady and she turned to face her "your with the enemy aren't you?" she was slightly taken back

"how'd you know?"

"it's the aura you present or rather the auras of other people around you"

"Just who are you?

"No one. Just someone who's returning her debt" she pointed over to Tema who just stared blankly at the fire "he helped me with no regards for his life and by tradition I owe him my eternal gratitude. Can I ask his name?"

"His friends call him Tema" the woman walked over to Tema inspecting him she then whispered something

 "You can call me Kyla"  in his ear and walked back to Guinavere "he's gravely wounded both physically and mentally. He's lost all purpose, emotion and even will"

"is he even aware?"

"I can't say. (after a moment's pause) Are you satisfied?"

Guinavere paused  "what?"

"you caused this. Your aura tells me your conflicted and guilty"

"I was only doing it to the service of my lord"  Kyla looked back at Tema, walked over to the fire and blew it out.

"come with me there's something you need to see".

She beckoned Guinavere a little away out of sight so Tema was there on his own "what are you doing?" asked Guinavere but Kyla just directed her to Tema's direction. A giant bear emerged from view, it sniffed around and saw Tema. it walked over to him growling and showed its sharp teeth being no more than a few inches from his face "what are you doing? That bear's going to eat him"

"Your right. He is known as Brutus. Well known for his viciousness and tenacity, even the strongest warriors fear him"

"so why?" again she just pointed.

The bear remained a few inches from Tema, he looked in its direction and weakly lifted up his arm towards it, he slowly moved his arm towards the bear until he touched it's nose. The bear calmed down and liked it, he then licked Tema's hand and walked on, vanishing into the woods. Guinavere didn't seem to comprehend the situation

"what just happened?"

"That boy is broken, shattered and fractured, he should be dead. Something is keeping him alive but right now he's barely nothing more than a living corpse unable to feel or even live. It's so depressing that even the most vicious hunter can't help but pity him. Now ask yourself this is this what you truly want?" Guinavere stood there unable to answer the question. Kyla relit the fire and sat next to it, Guinavere joined back up with him

" look do you anything of a pink-haired girl"

"yeah... Why?"

"my scout tells me that she's elsewhere in the forest"

"yeah she's with him"

"well right now you should go home and decide where you go from here. My scout tells me that the girl is moving through the forest  a little away from here and I have to bring him to her now  it'll be too dangerous to leave it "  

Kyla walked over to Tema, picking him up and started to walked away but turned towards Guinavere before she left "just think. Do you truly want this? Only if you answer this question will your soul ease" and with that she vanished into the darkness leaving Guinavere alone at the clearing. She was all alone with only her thoughts keeping her company, she wondered what she should do and where she should go and after a few moments she too got up and left the through the forest

© 2012 by T.Mullaney All rights reserved.