“Good-bye, love,” Adan whispered, kissing me gently on the lips one last time. When we drew apart I hugged him tightly(as tightly as I could without collapsing from the pain of my stomach wound)…but at last I had to let him go. At last I had to watch him get on a horse, with Wes and Gavin accompanying him on horses of their own.
But just before he rode away, he looked back at me. He put his hand over his heart and then pointed at me (in that familiar gesture of ours that meant ‘My heart is yours’)…and then I watched as he and the other men rode away.
And the two sides of my heart played ‘tug-of-war’ once again.
~
“Eish, Tiril!” one of Tiril’s friends scoffed. “The way you take care of him makes one think you’re trying to be his mother or some such!”
Tiril glared at him before turning back to Janai to keep feeding him some porridge. He had to get the boy to eat (he had refused for the first few days, and now that he was actually showing some hunger, Tiril leaped at the chance to feed him)!
The boy slowly took a bite, eying Tiril warily. “That’s it,” Tiril said in a warm, soothing tone. “The porridge will fill your tummy and make you warm.”
The boy, however, said nothing. He only stared, his eyes empty.
Lifeless.
And they had done this to him.
Once again a pang of pity and guilt went through Tiril’s heart, but he tried to push it aside. This was all for a good cause. They needed the boy, and besides, Tiril hadn’t been the one that had killed his mother. That had been Salin-not to mention that Tiril was also now taking care of the boy and being kind to him. He, Tiril Renshalek, had done nothing wrong.
No one noticed, but as Tiril sat feeding the boy, his chest seemed to ‘puff up’ with his pride.
~
It had taken close to three days, but finally Adan, Gavin, and Wes had found Japheth and the others. Adan felt a bit better now that they were traveling in a group-and that his father and Shastara were on Janai’s kidnappers’ trail.
It was night of the second day they had all been together when the group finally came upon the Rennians that had Janai.
They made a plan to ambush them when complete darkness fell over the forest-which would be in just a few hours. Dark clouds were even now gathering over the moon, and when the few hours were up, it should be completely hidden.
Adan had to force himself not to run at the man holding Janai in his lap and lift his head from his shoulders with his sword. Wait, Adan. Wait, he kept thinking to himself. If he ran out there (into the clearing where the group of close to ten Rennians had made camp) now he would ruin everything. He had to bide his time, no matter how much it was killing him to do so.
He also couldn’t risk Janai seeing him, because then he might start shouting ‘Dada!’ and try to run over-that would also ruin everything. So really, all they could do right now was wait. Adan hoped that Janai would be asleep-his eyelids looked like they were growing heavy-when they did ambush the Rennians. He didn’t want his son seeing any more blood than he already had when he watched his mother nearly die after being stabbed. He was probably going to be traumatized.
Suddenly Adan heard something. “I w-want Dada to tuck me in!” Janai wailed, tears suddenly streaming down his face as the man who had been holding him tried to lay him down on a blanket. “Not you-Dada!”
The man looked like he was getting annoyed. ” ‘Dada’ is not here right now. I’m here, and I’m doing my best to take care of you. You should be grateful!” he said, his tone biting.
Oh, yes. He watched you nearly kill his mother-of course, he doesn’t even know she’s alive so he thinks she was killed-and he should be grateful, Adan thought angrily. Pieces of scum. I’ll rip out your insides for what you did! It was all he could do not to run out there and start just that on the man.
“Want Dada!” Janai sobbed. “Want M-Mama!”
“Mama’s dead!” the man growled, putting his face only inches away from Janai’s. Janai went paler than a sheet. “She’s all burned up.” He was taunting Janai now-and he loved doing it.
“N-nooooooo!” Janai wailed. “Mama!”
The man proceeded to back-hand Janai across the face.
That was the last straw.
Adan had to do something!
He drew his sword and started to run from the shelter of the tall, dark trees-when suddenly, someone was hauling him backward.
“Let go!” he hissed, twisting to see who it was.
Wes and Gavin stood on either side of him. “Adan, this will ruin the whole plan. I know it’s hard-but wait, curse you!” Wes hissed back. “Or do you want your son to die as well?!”
That caused Adan to fall silent for a few moments. “You’re right,” he said quietly.
“Can we let you go now, and trust that you won’t do anything else foolish?” Wes asked, softening a bit.
Adan nodded wordlessly.
Wes and Gavin let him go then, but stayed on either side of him just in case.
~
It had been nearly a week since Adan, Wes, and Gavin had left…and I was getting restless. I wanted to be up and about-going after Janai.
I had already tried multiple times to get up on my own, but most times I ended up collapsing on the floor because of my pain…
But today I was going to walk. Nothing would stop me.
Shakily, I sat up in bed. The room spun a bit and then righted itself. I slowly put my legs over the side of my bed.
Taking a deep breath, I got to my feet…and nearly collapsed with my pain once again-but this time, I managed to stay upright.
I was going to get better.
I was going to walk.
I was going to go after my son.
~
Salin Walarhs could not believe his ears.
“The witch is alive?!” he hissed, grabbing the messenger by the front of the shirt. This couldn’t be!
“Y-yes, m’lord!” the man stammered fearfully.
“It can’t be! I stabbed her-she can’t be alive!” Salin said in disbelief, roughly releasing the messenger. He had mortally wounded the witch-a wound like that would kill any man or woman!
But it hadn’t killed her.
They were in trouble.
Salin knew-he just knew-that she would come after her son. She would be like a enraged mother bear, unbelievably furious that her cub had been harmed…and she would destroy those responsible.
They had to get moving-and fast.
~
Adan heard the messenger’s words, and then he heard the man who seemed to be the leader of the group say, “We leave at first light.”
First light would be in just three to four hours.
They had to act now.
Adan looked at his father, longing to go to his son in his pleading eyes.
Japheth nodded, and the small group of Kirians quietly came out from behind the trees, blending into the shadows. There were more of them than the Rennians-this should be easy enough.
Janai had indeed fallen asleep-he had cried himself to sleep after that man had left. Adan wished he could take his son in his arms and stroke his tear-stained face.
Adan kept to the shadows,two targets in his mind-the first being the man who had dared harm Janai. He would find him and kill him the instant he did so.
The second target was the man who had tried to kill Aaleyah. When Adan found him, he would put a dagger in his stomach-slowly. No one ever touched Aaleyah or Janai and got away with it.
No one.
Adan crept up behind a large oak tree that was right near the fire where most of the Rennians sat, eating and drinking. One of them was saying, “I’m glad you finally showed some backbone, Tiril. I was thinking you had gone soft on us.”
The afore-mentioned Tiril glared at the speaker. “I’m no softy, scum bag, and well you know it.”
“Oh ho! Now he’s even back to calling us names! This is turning out to be a great day!” the speaker said, grinning and chuckling.
Tiril pretended to smile and laugh with him before he was sailing through the air at the man, blood-lust in his eyes. The man had taken it too far.
They rolled around in the dirt, fighting, and Adan saw the perfect chance to grab one of the Rennians (everyone’s attention was on the fight). He clamped a hand over the nearest Rennian’s mouth and dragged him backwards into the shadows…and quickly ended his life. The man didn’t have time to scream.
He moved on to the next one, doing the same thing. The fight-which was still going on-couldn’t have started at a better time. Adan didn’t exactly take pleasure in killing the men, but he had never in his life not minding killing them so much. He was completely numb to it-it seemed natural.
The other Kirians burst out of the shadows then, their battle cries filling the air as they rushed at the Rennians, swords drawn.
Adan followed suit, and soon most of the Rennians were dead on the ground(not really having much of a chance to react, though they tried their best to fight back)-all but Tiril (and one other man). A Kirian was about to kill him, but Adan said, “Stop! He’s mine.”
The Kirian stepped away, and Adan approached the now bleeding Tiril (he had sustained many wounds already). Upon seeing the rage in Adan’s face, he started shaking.
“I saw you,” Adan said icily, his voice low and threatening. “I saw what you did to my son.”
“I-I-I took care of him when the others wouldn’t!” Tiril stammered. “I kept him from harm!”
Adan back-handed him across the face, just as he had done to Janai. “Like that? Was that how you kept him from harm?” he growled.
Tiril looked up and suddenly seemed to harden-be filled with courage. “I did a better job of looking after him than you, obviously. If he was my son, I would never let him be stolen from me,” he taunted, his voice cool.
Adan shouted and dove on the man, punching him again and again. Tiril tried to fight back, but he was weak and in pain. He soon lay there limply, taking Adan’s blows.
Wes and Gavin once more had to grab Adan by the arms and drag him backwards. Tiril’s face was swollen now from Adan hitting him so much, and he probably had a few broken ribs by now.
Adan wrenched his arms away from them, glaring, and looked down at the man. “I should kill you, but I won’t,” he said coldly. “You can be thankful that my wife-who is still alive in fact-wouldn’t let me kill the man who supposedly at least showed a bit of kindness to our son-but that is the only reason I will let you live.” Adan turned back to the Kirians. “Tie him up,” he said before running off to find Janai.
~
“Dada!” Janai cried, running toward Adan as fast as his little legs would carry him. Adan squatted down, arms wide open, and when his son ran into them, he embraced him tightly.
“Oh, son,” Adan murmured, his voice cracking with emotion. “I’ve missed you.”
Janai clung to Adan as if afraid he would disappear, and Adan scooped him up and cradled him in his arms.
Other than having a red mark on his cheek where Tiril had back-handed him in the face, he appeared to be alright. There were traces of porridge on his mouth-he had been fed. Maybe Tiril had been telling the truth after all.
No matter. Adan was never letting Janai out of his sight again.
Suddenly Adan remembered something. He went over to the Kirians. “Where’s the leader-Salin?” he asked.
“Dead,” a Kirian answered. Then they dragged his body over to the heap of Rennian bodies which would soon be burned.
Adan noticed, with a rather sickening satisfaction, that he had indeed died by being stabbed in the stomach (and in other places on his body-but the stomach wound was biggest).
He held Janai so that his face was against his chest-that way he wouldn’t have to see any more of the dead bodies or blood on the ground.
“What are we going to do with him?” Adan heard a Kirian ask.
Tiril turned hopeful eyes to him.
“Leave him,” Adan said, glad that the others silently let him decide. “Tie him to a tree. If he doesn’t get away or die of starvation, I expect some animal will get him.”
Tiril paled, but he managed to keep a brave coutenance, something that rather surprised Adan.
The Kirians obeyed, and when they rode away, they left Tiril behind, tied to a tree.
~
“We have Janai,” the messenger bird said in a croaky voice to me. “We couldn’t send word before because of a long-lasting storm, but we’ll be home in another few days.”
My heart soared. They were alright! Janai was alright! They had him!
and sorry it’s so long over due!!! i just started a new story, and you know how it is when you start a new story-you can’t stop thinking about it or writing it for awhile 
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