Message-ID: <25071asstr$963148204@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: <20000708083212.24800.qmail@nym.alias.net> From: Delta <delta@nym.alias.net> Subject: {ASSM} RP "A Question of Honour" by Delta 3\5 (MF) Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 09:10:05 -0400 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org> Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: <URL:http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/25071> X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Story-Submission: <ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Moderator-ID: gill-bates, IceAltar RE Should you wish to comment upon my story, I can be reached by E-mail at: delta @ nym . alias . net Comments and critizisms are welcome. Standard disclaimers: This is a work of fiction - no character within is a depiction of any real person, living or dead. No place or event described within exists outside of the writer's imagination. Copyright retained by the author and this post is for private use of the reader only. It is not to be published in any form whatsoever, including being made available on BBSs, or on Web Pages, without the express prior consent of author. Any readers who are underage in the jurisdiction in which they reside are asked to please pass by. Delta. A QUESTION OF HONOUR Part 3 Riltan awoke in a cold sweat, sitting upright, his heart hammering in his chest. He reached over for his canteen, noting that his hand was trembling. 'Trembling', he thought, wryly amused, 'shaking' was closer to the truth. He took a long pull of water, trying to calm his mind and body. The dreams were back - with a vengeance. The screams still echoed through his mind as his heart rate slowly returned to near-normal. He looked up to the sky. The great moon was setting, the horizon lighting with the day to come. He took a shuddering breath. In the two nights since Takene and Iro had left, he had been awakened by the dreams thrice. He would never be rid of them, he feared. The last time he had awakened the boy with his cries as he tried to escape the dream. Riltan looked over to see Lere still sleeping - the sleep of the innocent, he thought. His gaze wandered around the camp, noting that everything was in its place. The new camp location was definitely an improvement, Riltan decided. It was more defensible, more difficult to spot and had good access to water. The damp night smells still hung heavy in the air. It continued to surprise him that here, so close to the dry wastelands, there was so much moisture in the air. Not that he was complaining, he thought, yet it was surprising. He shrugged into his shirt and fastened his boots. It would be a waste of time to try to return to sleep, and there was much to do. He began preparing breakfast for himself and the boy. It would be a light breakfast today, and today they must go looking for food as well. Once Takene had returned, he would make the trip to the sacked Caravan. It was likely that there would be emergency rations yet untouched. He would go alone. Though it had been some time since the sack, it would yet be a grizzly sight and the boy could do without that. The boy. His gaze returned to Lere, sleeping quietly, his face relaxed and soft in the early morning light. He was a good boy, eager to learn. He had picked up signing rapidly and had a good memory for the signs he'd learned. His description of how they had escaped the carnage was imaginative. They had been lucky to have been picking berries at the time of the attack. Yes, he'd been imaginative, inventing his own signs as he went. The telling of the tale had disturbed Lere, however, and he'd been quiet for a time after that. Riltan had brought him out of his thoughts with a little lesson. Signing was easier than spoken language, Riltan thought. There was little of the convoluted grammar to be found. It was a language shorthand. It had the added advantage that he didn't have to speak. In the past two days he hadn't spoken more than a score of words. He found he liked that - not speaking. His eyes focused again and he found the boy was looking at him. <Good Morning> he signed. <Good Sleep?> <Yes> Lere replied. <Food Soon?> <Soon> Lere smiled at him and arose. He headed for the temporary latrine which Riltan had constructed. Breakfast finished, they cleaned up. Riltan replaced his tooth-brush in its holder and turned to Lere. <Women return today. Not-know camp move. We go - wait.> Lere nodded. He ran through his vocabulary, questioning a few signs. He smiled as Riltan nodded solemnly, recognizing his effort. What pleased him most, was that now he knew something which Iro didn't. It would sure surprise her. Together the man and the boy slipped out of the new camp and headed for the old one, the man wary and cautious, the boy struggling to contain his exuberance. Behind them, on its lead, came the pack animal. Riltan was amazed by the boy's resilience. Perhaps it was that he simply didn't realize the seriousness of the situation he was in. It was all still an adventure, with safety no further away than his Guardian - or Riltan, himself. Riltan stopped short, causing the boy to look at him questioningly. He shrugged and stepped out again. He would have to watch himself, he thought. He would be leaving soon. It would not do to have the boy become dependent upon him. That thought suppressed the flip side - it would not do for him to grow close to the boy. Takene and Iro emerged from the brush and Lere moved forward to meet them. He was stopped short by Riltan's hand on his shoulder. <What?> His eyebrows went up in the question sign. <Wait. Look.> Lere obeyed. He watched Takene and Iro come to a halt as they noticed that the camp was no longer where it had been. Riltan tapped him on the shoulder. <Not look-at women. Look beyond.> Lere had not yet seen the sign for 'beyond', yet he got the idea and understanding lit his face. He nodded. They were watching to see if anyone was following the women before they made their presence known. That is why they waited here instead of at the abandoned campsite. Here one could see more, better. When Takene and Iro had covered most of the distance to the old campsite, Riltan motioned Lere to move forward a bit and wave. He did so, realizing that his position would allow only Takene and Iro to see him. He looked back at Riltan with respect and nodded. Takene spotted Lere when he waved and relief washed over her. She stopped short, causing Iro to bump into her. She gave a small signal with her hand to say she saw him. "What is it, Takene?" Iro was worried, Lere and Riltan should have been there waiting for them. What had happened? "Look at the campsite," Takene cautioned. "Lere just waved off to the left. Don't look at him. They are watching our backs for us." "Why did they move the camp?" Iro wanted to know, as they started forward again. "I don't know. It was Riltan's doing, of course. He knows these things - maybe he found a better site, maybe someone else found this one and they had to move." Takene kept walking without looking at Lere again. She loosened her weapon in its holster. "We'll circle round to meet them." "Is there trouble, Lere?" Takene asked, the moment they came together. "No, Guardian. We were being careful." At those words the tension began to drain out of Takene. She had not noticed it until it loosed its grip on her. "Good. And you moved the camp to a better location?" "Riltan thought this place was too open, Guardian." Lere was struggling to understand the discrepancy between Takene's calm voice and tense body language. Takene turned to Riltan, who stood calmly by, watching everything understanding more from the way she moved than from any words she could say. "And how are you, friend Riltan?" she asked. <Fine> Riltan signed automatically, understanding the expression, forgetting that Takene didn't know sign. Takene's eyebrows lifted. <You sign?> <Yes> <Problems?> <None. Move camp after you left. Better area now. Wait here for you. Teach boy.> Riltan signed slowly. <Thank-you, my friend> Riltan looked curiously at that last sign, then accepted it with a nod. Friend, he thought. A long time since that term had been directed at him or who he had been. And what did he know about being a friend, he wondered He would make it up as he went along, the decision came to him. He nodded, slowly, ritually, at Takene and signed, <Friend> <Good> she signed back. His whole attitude seemed to confirm her supposition that Riltan was seeking - more than that, reinventing his existence. <What now? We go-to camp now?> Riltan noted that her signs, though understandable, had subtle differences. Apparently the two sign languages had close ties to each other. Interesting, that. It was a relief, however. This would make life much easier for all concerned. Turning to look at the surroundings as he digested this new relationship he surprised Iro, who was looking at him in a most disconcerting manner. She flushed and turned quickly. What had that been about? <No. I not go-to camp. Go-to caravan. Boy take you to camp. I return nightfall. Need food> <No> Takene returned. <We-all go. Carry more, fewer trips. More safe> Riltan was forced to agree. He nodded and started off without further discussion. "Come on, Lere, Iro, we're going to the caravan for supplies." Takene started the two off and brought up the rear. The new turn of events had Takene thinking as well. Things would be easier now. Riltan was not fluent in sign, yet knew enough to make communication possible. She, too, was surprised at how close the two languages were to each other, yet something about Riltan's signing seemed very stilted, as if he could not convey nuances. It was like someone using a dictionary to speak a foreign tongue. As yet she couldn't figure exactly what had, or hadn't, caught her attention. It didn't matter. In time she would. It was not as gruesome at the sacked Caravan as Takene believed it would be. Carrion eaters had savaged the bodies pretty thoroughly and the stench of death, for the most part, was gone. Nevertheless she and Riltan had left Iro and Lere in a safe place, watching over them as they hunted for goods not taken. The raiders had creamed the caravan, leaving behind the bulkier, the heavier, and the more mundane items. That included a fair bit of food - the emergency rations included. Takene and Riltan worked quickly, wanting to spend as little time as possible at the ambush site. They put together a pile of goods which would be valuable to them, including as much food as they could salvage. In several trips they moved their salvage to a hidden location. From there they would take what they could carry back to camp, returning if necessary. Takene looked grimly at the wracks of the bodies of those she had known, however slightly. Riltan, she noted, seemed unmoved. As they moved the last of the goods away from the caravan she shook her head sadly. <Sorry not time bury bodies> Riltan seemed surprised. His eyebrows lifted a fraction. <Why want?> Takene was at a loss. How could she answer such a question? Riltan continued. <Better. No grave, no monument. No one say 'Here lie hero, villain, coward.' No one know. No one care. Better. Food for birds. Birds also must eat. Better> He nodded. "Yeah. When I go, I hope it is like this. No memories left behind. Anyone passing will only think, 'someone died here.'" He did not care that Takene could not understand him, did not care that she looked at him curiously. Perhaps she was wondering at his signs, or perhaps she caught his tone of voice, or perhaps she understood his language. Whatever the case, she reached over and touched him lightly on the shoulder. He straightened up. "Yeah. Let's finish up." He found the sound of his own voice strange and fell back into silence. The silence lasted as he loaded up the pack animal, as they filled and struggled into their own packs. They looked carefully around, making sure they had forgotten nothing and that the goods left behind were well hidden, then set off for the new camp. The long slog back to camp was uneventful and passed in the silence in which it had begun. As they unloaded, Takene noticed the four beds which had been prepared and frowned a little. Iro noted the same thing and a small smile played at her lips, hastily covered when Takene turned towards her. "It's been a long day. Get some water and we'll make supper." "As you wish, Takene." Lere's head came up. He had never heard his sister address Takene as anything other than 'Guardian'. Takene saw his consternation and smiled at him. "Your sister has become a woman, Lere, and as such I am no longer her Guardian." "You took here through the 'rites'?" Lere questioned. He had heard of the 'rites', yet, like most young boys, did not know what they entailed - except for . . . . "But, what about her . . . " his voice faded away at Takene's sharp glance, and he looked over to Riltan. Riltan was paying them no attention, simply standing and looking out over the landscape. "We will not mention that, nor will we discuss it further. Do you understand?" "Yes, Guardian." "Now, how were your two days with our new friend?" "The days were good. He started teaching me sign and some other stuff." Lere hesitated. "But?" questioned Takene. "The nights, Guardian . . ." He didn't know how to explain something that he felt was personal to his new friend. Takene became alert. "What about the nights, Lere?" It was an order he couldn't refuse. "He has bad dreams. Very bad ones." Takene relaxed. "How bad, Lere?" "He woke up screaming a couple of times. Other times he didn't wake up, but I did. He was thrashing around - I didn't know whether or not to try and wake him up. It scared me. I'm glad you are back." Lere was relieved to get this off his chest. "Why does he have such bad dreams, Guardian?" Takene shrugged. "Sometimes we see things or do things that bother us so much that they surface in our dreams. Maybe Riltan has seen some bad things, or something bad happened to him." Or did some very terrible things, Takene thought but did not say. Lere looked content with the explanation and she let it drop. In the third hour after moonrise the moans from Riltan's bed became too much for Takene. She arose and approached the dreaming man. His back was turned to her and she reached down and shook him gently by the shoulder. Riltan's response was as instantaneous as it was violent. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her over him, coming to his knees as she toppled. His eyes were wild in the bright moonlight and his fist was drawn back to deliver a death-blow to her throat. It had happened so suddenly, and Takene was so unprepared, that she knew she was dead. Riltan hesitated and Takene saw sanity slowly coming to his eyes. He drew a long shuddering breath as his fist relaxed and he sat back on his heels. He blinked a couple of times, then the enormity of what he had almost done was upon him. His eyes widened for a moment then he grimaced as he sank back within himself. In a flash Takene realized what had seemed so stilted about his signing: He didn't use his face. It seemed an incongruous thought following, as it did, her near escape from death, yet it burned brightly in her, signaling its importance. In sign language, the facial expressions carried a lot of the nuances which tone of voice carried in spoken conversation. Riltan had been like a man speaking in monotone. His face was like a mirror of what he was inside - empty. Empty by choice, she intuited, attempting to refill the shell carefully. A sudden compassion filled her and she reached for him as she sat up. Riltan, however, shrank back and sat on his bed. <Go-to bed. Please. Leave alone> he signed. There was a look of anguish on his face. It was, Takene thought, the first real expression she had seen him make. She wasn't sure, however, whether that was a good sign or not. She thought it was. Takene returned to her bed but could not fall to sleep. The thought of what she must do weighed heavily upon her. That he was no longer what he had been was clear. But did that matter? The things he had done! Yes, it did matter. She no longer found within her the revulsion at what she planned. She rested. It was, perhaps, an hour later when Riltan began to moan once more. Shrugging off her indecision she arose once more and approached him. This time, however, she did not touch him, instead calling out his name softly until he jerked to wakefulness. He looked up guiltily, knowing he'd awakened her once again. <Go-to bed. Leave me, please> his eyes pleaded with her, then widened slightly as she shook her head no. Takene, instead, crawled into his bed and snuggled into him. Tentatively he reached an arm over her. She intertwined her fingers with his and brought his hand up to her breast, where she let it rest. His arm contracted, bringing her tight against him, before relaxing. A few minutes later his breathing betrayed to her that he was sleeping quietly. There would be no more dreams this night, she knew, yet knew not how she knew. Slowly, sleep overcame her as well. In the morning Takene moved her bed to join Riltan's, missing, as she did this, the look of anger directed towards her by Iro. Had she seen, it would have made no difference. What she had to do, Iro would not understand. Not yet. Much later, perhaps, when she had gained the responsibility which must come to her, should she survive. Just yet she was a woman in name only. It was only with experience that the mantle of womanhood would rest easy on her shoulders - yet, for her very survival, that experience would have to be delayed. Takene was not happy with that, yet her duty demanded no less. Riltan sat quietly, his back to a tree trunk, watching her move the bed. He did not move to help, nor to hinder, her in her task. She understood that he was letting her make her own decision in the matter. It was a curious sort of honour which led him to that path, she thought, something which she would not have expected of the one whose reputation had long preceded him. The sharp bark of a bitter laugh escaped her, attracting his attention. She bowed her head so he could not read her expression. This one, this seeker, she preferred, yet it was the other one she would need - the killer - or perhaps some combination of the two. Finishing the move, she straightened and sauntered over to where Riltan was sitting. <You-me, walk> she signed, nodding her head in the direction she wished to take. Riltan looked at her impassively. <Need talk> she waited for him to move. Riltan shrugged and clambered to his feet. <Not talk here?> <No. Come> Takene set off and Riltan, after pausing a moment, picked up his hat and followed. The green leaves of the trees almost sparkled in the bright sun as the soft breeze tossed them lightly about. Takene led the way past the meadow toward the small pool which lay beyond. At the pool, backs to a pair of young trees, they sat side by side, turned slightly towards each other. Takene breathed deeply, smiled and let the air out with a sigh. It was beautiful there. Riltan nodded and took a deep breath himself. <Dream bad?> asked Takene. Riltan pondered his answer for a moment before answering. Finally he confirmed, <Bad> He knew that it was common knowledge around the camp - how could it be otherwise, with him shouting his way to wakefulness. <You-me, friend?> It was more a statement than a question, and Riltan nodded. <Good> Takene's expression was intense. <Friend help friend> she explained. She believed she could, yet felt a certain distaste for her motives. Riltan appeared slightly surprised and bemused. <How?> <Hold you me> she replied and almost laughed as his brow furrowed. <Touch strong. You relax> Takene rose and moved behind him before sitting once more. Her back was against the tree, her legs open, knees bent, and she pulled him back against her, his head resting on her shoulder and her chin resting lightly on his. How many times had she held her man thus, or he her, in times of pain? How often had the mere presence of the other lent strength to the two, allowing them to go on when movement had no longer seemed possible? This was not her man, but he was a man, nonetheless. And he needed her. She would have need of him later. It would be good having him owing her. She grimaced at that thought. That was not what she really wanted, she knew. It was, however, a necessity. Riltan felt her breath against his throat, felt the rhythm of her chest as it rose and fell. It was comforting and both relaxing and exciting at the same time. If he concentrated he could feel the beating of her heart in her chest. She allowed them to remain thus for some time. Finally she lifted her head from his shoulder. It would be interesting to try and sign from behind, with her arms around him. <Remember dream> she signed, gave him a few seconds then began nuzzling his neck. When he moved his head to give her more room she stopped and gave his face a light slap. <No. Remember dream> she ordered. She then began to nuzzle his neck from the opposite side. He have a low groan and moved his head again. Slap. <Remember dream> <Can't> <Good> Riltan turned his head, put his arm back and drew her head to his. He gave her a light kiss. Progress, she thought. She stood and moved around to face him. She pointed at him. "Riltan." She pointed at a point a few feet away. <Dream> She moved to a point between the two. "Takene. <Here Always> Takene <Between dream and> Riltan <Always>" Riltan wasn't sure he believed this, although he was sure that Takene did. It wasn't really important. What was important was that she was that she was doing this for him. It was something he would not forget. No, this would make a good memory, something he would want to remember. It would be the first good memory, something to treasure. How could he thank her? He slowly pushed himself to his feet and walked to her. He looked down at the serious expression on her face. "Okay. Just you between me and the fire and the flood." She looked up at him, questioningly. He shrugged. How could he explain? He put his arms around her and gave her a light hug. She responded with a tight grip and he tightened his to match. After a minute he relaxed a little to see if she would follow his lead. She merely hugged him all the tighter and he replied in kind. It was a long time before she finally released him. At the end he became all too aware of the heat of her. <Return to camp> Takene signed regretfully and he nodded his agreement. He started off, then stopped as she held out her hand. He looked at it for a long time, then took it in his own and together, hand in hand, they made their way back. end of part 3 of A QUESTION OF HONOUR by Delta delta @ nym . alias . net -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com> | | FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderator: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Archive: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org> Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository | |<http://www.asstr-mirror.org>, an entity supported entirely by donations. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+