Love and Betrayal
The lovers left the cave that day each with very different thoughts. Raissa glorying in the simple fantasy of family and a home. Carlos meanwhile earnestly seeking extradition from the noose of his own making. They parted with a gentle, final kiss, just as the sun dipped over the highest peak, sending the first long shadows forth into the center of the settlement. Carlos then stood for a long time watching Raissa's retreating back, absently stroking his black stubble, brow furrowed with care.
He had secreted the knife beneath a rock in the cave, no point risking being found with it now. He knew that he would have to plan any attack carefully with such a small blade. The margin for error was significant. However he also knew that if he did things right he could make the weapon count. Bennett was his biggest worry, while he lived on here and commanded, there would be no easy escape from this wretched place. Many had been the times he had made a break for it, and even though his navigation and bush skills were good, the men had still eventually run him down.
With their leader disposed of Carlos knew that the remainder of this feral horde would be too busy infighting for leadership amongst themselves to care where he was. He could then slip away, alone, into the resultant confusion that would undoubtedly ensue with Bennett's demise. Bennett would be at his most vulnerable when he returned, lust would get the better of him Carlos mused with distaste. That would lead to his undoing. Already the vision of the knife driven with such force into the brute neck, life's blood spurting with each beat of his tormentor's dying heart starkly materializing in his mind.
While he was thankful to Raissa and the risk she had undergone, there was no way on this earth that he would take her with him. She would hate him for that certainly, but there was no way that he could hope to traverse this desert with a woman in tow. She really did not appreciate the hardship or danger of what she wished to undertake, and stood a much better chance of survival if she stayed right here. Besides he was just a man alone, he had no security or wealth to offer. Somehow and soon he must tell her of his decision even if it meant that she despised him.
Also in his thoughts reigned confusion, as he reviewed the events of the afternoon. Part of him truly cherished her, adoring her gentleness, her naiveté, her ability to love and give of herself fully, an ability which he did not possess. Part of him though despised her, and suddenly he would find himself at once too severe and hurting her as they made love. It was as if this anger he directed at her was directed at all women, especially his mother who had treated him as one of little consequence. So with all these troubles to contemplate he watched the majestic sun slowly set, the long purple shadows fading finally into black. Until he could bear the evening's chill touch no further, to retreat to his disturbed guilt ridden thoughts, and bed.
Five full days had elapsed since they had begun their foray into the unknown south beyond, and things had gone satisfyingly well. Renard had bagged yet another boar, and the men were now engaged in gorging of its tasty, roasted flesh. Water had also been plentiful and safe, generally things boded well. Bennett finished his meal unhurriedly, as he observed the bloody sun's departure this night. Time to move soon he knew. The war party had covered vast tracts of ground at a swift pace, not sighting another living soul. The only traces of humanity were the charred remains of settlements, which they had previously lain waste, many weeks, and months before.
The intelligent leader had watched Renard closely, still he could detect nothing amiss with the man. Though always this uneasy feeling pervaded that Renard was somehow not all that he seemed. Bennett's hunches were rarely proven wrong and doubt ate at him constantly over this man. Sven's words of caution ever present in his mind.
He signaled to his men that it was indeed time to move out, and in all but a few moments they stood eager to depart. Weapons at the ready, hunger for the kill in their eyes. The terrain here to the south had changed markedly, with the flatter sandy dunes and open plains giving way to thicker scrub land, littered with rocky outcrops and treacherous, undulating ground. From here on in the going would get slower, as this was not at all the familiar territory that they had traveled before.
Renard was in the lead carefully scouting the land ahead, crossbow always at the ready, and his keen brown eyes meticulously surveying all. There was a real risk of ambush here, for the brush afforded plenty of cover, every shadow at any moment could reveal an enemy threat. He wished with all his heart that he could have been anywhere else but here right now, for unlike the others he had been to this place before, and knew with full certainty what lie just over the ridge beyond....
Not more than half a mile south the stronghold lay, its massive metal walls thrusting up blackly from the sands. He could picture it, still standing defiantly with its battlements well defended, bristling with soldiers and armaments. To attack would be certain suicide even with a hundred men, all this and more Renard already knew. None of this information he had confided to his leader however, Bennett would see it soon enough. It would be interesting to see what would happen then?
He was nervous now, sweating even in the cold which was fast enveloping all. If only he could engineer a situation where all these men were killed? Perhaps then he could slip away to the quiet valley of his home, forever more. Such traitorous ideas flooded Renard's thoughts, as he led the party in silence through the rocky landscape.
This stronghold had been known to him ever since the war. His Father fearing the warlord ensconced within, had initiated talks and trade. Still as far as Renard knew his father's farms paid tribute to this Lord, in return for protection and peace. A fragile peace at best as he had often argued with his father, regretting all that now. He just wished he was home.
Cresting the jagged rise, the men stopped in their tracks, triumph evident in their hungry eyes. Their leader had as always provided them what he had promised, and there below squatted the immense brooding compound; a new victory clearly in their sights.
They had been positioned in sight of the fortress for the best part of four days, remaining unseen and ever watchful. This would not be easy Bennett considered, as he fixed his intense pale gaze at the fortress looming beyond. Dark it stood monstrous, and forbidding. A wall of solid, riveted, metal, thrusting some twenty or so feet up from the earth. The only detectable breach in its defenses the massive portal of the entry gate. This too was well guarded, and more often then not the gate remained shut fast. He had watched, studying the vista below carefully, though as yet no chink in the fortress's armor had presented to him. The longer he watched the more obvious it became to Bennett that to mount a successful attack would be much harder than he had first surmised.
The men too had become more fractious and argumentative, as it became increasingly apparent that any attempt to attack would be futile. However Bennett ruled with an iron grip and maintained discipline in his force, but morale was another matter. This was a magnificent prize to be sure, but the usual methods his warriors employed would not work here. There must be another way and in time he was positive it would present itself.
