Chapter 13 - Confession
"Aargh!"
The scream tore through the morning stillness as the
blonde-haired sleeper woke up with a start. Heart-pounding,
adrenaline-rushing, sweat-pouring energy flowed into her body. She
surveyed the camp, looking for a non-existent danger. According to her
senses, nothing stirred, and she finally took a deep breath. The
lithe-one started shaking as she came down from the adrenaline high.
"Stop it," she commanded her body, which refused to obey her
request. The young warrior sat with her knees drawn up, arms around her
legs, head down. She started rocking back and forth, repeating her plea
at each cycle, sometimes adding a soft "please" at the end. Still, her
body refused to honor her wishes and only seemed to shudder more
strongly.
"You ok Callisto?" asked her male companion who had bedded down
on the other side of the campfire, now long died down to embers. His
genuine concern was obvious in the tone of his voice, although her
somewhat unwilling partner knew enough not to try to get any closer.
She raised her head and stared at her opposite through slightly
teary eyes. She blinked a few times to clear her eyes and focused on
the other warrior, who was sitting up and staring right back. The
former Warlord smiled and replied "I'm fine Joxer."
|
I must look
like a mess, she mused to herself, then quashed that line of thought.
What am I thinking, I'm the Scourge of Greece! In a flash, anger boiled
up from deep within her core and she immediately followed her last
statement with: "What in Hades do you think you're staring at?"
The would-be warrior recoiled from the vehemence in her voice. He
had almost gotten through to her but then she had put up her walls and
shut him out again. But not this time, this time he would break through
those walls and reach past the tough warlord facade of his companion,
or so he hoped.
"Callisto," he began carefully, but rapidly built his anger to
match hers. "You've been waking up screaming or crying every morning
since I've been travelling with you. Now, do you want to talk about it
or do you want to continue with your
tough-warrior-goddess-I-don't-need- anyone-else's-help routine? I'm
your sidekick. You said we should be friends. Well, here's a place
where we can start."
The shock registering on her face was a clear indication of her
state of mind. Who was this man who had taken her timid companion's
place? A whisper of a thought flitted in the back of her mind urging
her to kill this interloper, this threat to her independence. But it
didn't have the strength to drive her into action.
"You know about my dreams?" she asked in a soft, little-girl,
wondering voice. She had been sure that he had been deep asleep each
morning. Her perceptions would have told her he was feigning sleep. Her
senses wouldn't lie to her, would they?
|