Crows Murder

But, she wasn’t finished with him and if there was one trait her prior culture had taught, it was the proverb of perseverance. She raised the bag to Crow’s line of just as he pivoted and turned from her, denying her the opportunity to expound what resided not only in her mind, but as also her soul.

She elevated the bag to eye level where the coins clinked in unison as the metal struck each. Crow had given her enough money to start a new life several times over. But, the wealth the assassin had imparted with her as a final gift was birthed from the blood of his victims. Crow had probably ended more lives than her current age and still it was not enough for her.
“Baka (You fool).” She bellowed out to him in her native tongue just he began to board the ship and depart. One thing she had known Crow was good for conversation and departure, “Don’t you know what is in front of your eyes? A frog in a well does not know the great Thassa when he sees it.”

She had tried the assassin’s path in her own stead – relying on instinct, brains, and brawn. But, it was not living… it could never be living. It was rudimentary survival mode and one withered quickly from that form reactionary existence. The web which she had weaved from years of self-defense, even within the collar had begun to unravel like a woman unbraiding her hair. She mobilized towards the dock just as the crewmen lifted the plank. All she needed to do was migrate down the hill at a hastened pace and execute her need. Yurei was aware that it was most likely futile to speak to Crow as he continued his obstinate refusal of listening to her. But, she knew damn well he could hear.

The men had now ensconced themselves upon the ship and the captain bellowed for the sails to be set, just as the plank separated them. Her insolence was noted and she was aware she would anger Crow. However, this time, she was not seeking the proverbial upper-hand or dominance over a situation that seemed to never go her way. She realized this: there was no power she could possess where a man ruled as his will and purpose would be served first. A slight breeze accumulated which pressured the snow-colored sails. The wind would separate her from the man whom all the omens had been gesturing too and he would slip away like the evanescent tides which Thassa herself birthed.
Impermanence was abundant in Gor and a relatively present day reality. However, she had remembered hearing a story in Ar about a warrior who had declared his love for an unremarkable barbarian girl. What was the fellow’s name again? She was certain it was something beginning with a C… but his name continued to change as the story was passed from slave to slave. At some point, wasn’t he called Climate Vitelion? The absolute details of the story were obscure and changed too often to remember every minute fact, but it occurred as something like this: a warrior allegedly stepped up on the auction block of the Curulean and challenged an auctioneer for a barbarian slut. He asserted his love and gained her back. That meant he had had to give her up first, right? It was confusing and it was a dream which slave girls shared in hopes of one day finding their love masters. Albeit it seemed hopeless, there was nothing wrong with occasional faith.
Her heart pounded as she began the descent towards the dock. If she had watched her footing, she would have noticed the small rocks uprooting the path which were heavily concealed by the small blankets of snow.

Another proverb she read from the scrolls of childhood narrated that that if one does not enter the larl’s lair, that adventurer will not catch its cub. Something had to be accounted for and action had to be taken. If Crow rejected her a second time, she would simply return to the refuge of the forest and live out her life amongst nature. Besides, the world beyond cities and the laws of men offered a respite more appealing than the recycling chaos civilization seemed to afford her. If she could survive orphan she-urt living as an adolescent, she could master the Northern Forests as an old woman. But, this time she wouldn’t allow bitterness to consume her like it used too. While her people used to note during rare moments of adversity: One can stumble seven times but recover eight. Her will was as solid as the iron and steel which used to embrace her slender neck. It was unyielding and uncompromising, equal to that of a man’s. But within the last hand or so, her subsequent epiphany revealed that love, no matter how vague or strange it was, was stronger.

“I will never ask you to love me, Crow. I will never ask you to surrender your ideals, caste, or principles. I have no right to do that. But, I am asking you to keep me. Let me come with you. Take me with you… as whatever you want.”

Her expression matched the genuine poignancy of her request. Crow, and nearly just about every man she had encountered with whom she had established amiable or unfavorable terms were aware of her Machiavellian nature. If she and Talena met, there would be difficulty in determining who was the more devious. But, unlike Talena, she had no designs on power and had absolutely no qualms to rule. Yurei had the heart of a Tatrix at times, but lacked the soul and ambition to execute what needed to be done to gain that role. Talena was never raised to please and service men from the moment of birth like Yurei had to do. She never learned the intricacies of shady dealings as a teenage she-urt. She never possessed a mother who would sacrifice public property, slaves, and life itself to ascertain her daughter’s freedom. She never learned the ins and outs of being an ambassadress. She had never carried a child under her heart for nine months. Indeed, Talena was many things and perhaps more; but she would never be the woman whom Yurei was in this very moment and who Suyuan used to be.

Her lengthened gown barely gave her the opportunity to catch herself and the shredding of fabric resonated through the bare branches of which she began to pass. The bag remained in her hand during this time. She was departing the safety of the forest to approach a veritable executioner… one whom saved her life and now was taking flight like the birds of her childhood and visions. Talena, who could have been an alter-ego to her became paralyzed and expired within her heart.

She continued her descent down the hill when the shredding of fabric inundated her ears. Her gaze immediately traveled to the hem of Alesia’s slave livery with which she had stolen. She slipped on one of the expertly concealed rocks and collapsed onto her back while her ass collided into the ground with an audible thud. She began sliding down the hill at rapid speed and she flailing, reaching for whatever shrubs and branches she could get a hold of. Crow’s pouch inadvertently had been released from her grasp and landed on the cold boards of the dock. The pouch flew open, dispersing the gold tarns across the icy dock boards until they resembled constellations, glittering beneath Tor-tu-Gor’s influence.

Yurei clamored on the dock and scrapped her knees as she lifted herself to an ironic she-sleen position. Her hair had become tangled and her amber eyes were broad and wild with surprise. But, her momentary clumsiness was soon overcome as she attempted to lift herself to her feet. The ship was drifting further away and the laughter of the crewmen resembled an agitating buzz. It was like a bee had decided to flutter around her head without stinging her. Her head throbbed inexplicably and she felt something moist and warm dripping from a particular region of her head and percolating on the wooden boards. She glimpsed down and noticed blood had stained one of Crow’s gold pieces.

She had hit her head upon one of the uprooted rocks which the snow concealed from her. She hadn’t even realized this until now.

——

Katsumi, the old diviner of the Pani tarn camp regarded Suyuan with a solemn expression as Mizumi held her daughter in a protective embrace.
“The other agent will carry gold collected from lives he has extinguished. The gold he carries the souls of the lives he has taken. The souls require a price for the misery the agent has caused… and it requires the life of his twin soul. His twin must never encounter the tainted gold or else it will take her.”
“Katsumi-sama! What are you saying?!” Mizumi’s usually serene and pensive disposition faltered as she raised her manicured hand to her daughter’s head and pushed her cheek against her breast.
The blind diviner stared directly ahead as the incense curled around her wrinkled face. She was frightening to glimpse at as her azure eyes stared into nothingness. But, she could witness things others could not.
“The souls must be appeased by a sacrifice of love… and when the right moment arrives for the twin to reveal her love, they will take her from him.”

——

She had hoped to invoke something from Crow. However, he wore his stubbornness like a favored tunic; always familiar, enticing, and comfortable. They both seemed to be drowning in their prides.

Her weakness proved to be insuperable even for this moment of revelation. As she attempted to regain her equilibrium, her boot haphazardly stepped on one of Crow’s gold coins – and she slipped again. The splash was quite audible, causing some of the distracted crew members to glimpse over the side of the ship to discern a figure plunging into the river.

“Man overboard!” One bellowed out as the crew went frantic.
“It’s just an ugly, scarred Tuchuk slut.” Remarked one man whose wind-beaten features were as callous as his soul. “There are plenty like her in Turia.” He chuckled and retired below deck.

She thrashed under the currents, attempting to break the surface with her panicked flailing. However, the more she struggled, the further the undertow seemed determined to consume her.

The water proved to be a reprieve from the situation. The balance of where she was a woman – slave or panther was tested as the river swiftly pulled at her. The rapid, bubbling surface was a startling contrast to the seemingly, placid mien of the cold, icy river. The struggle mimicked both Yurei’s and Crow’s souls and how they would seem to perpetually meet but never merge into a single union. While the crew men attempted to rescue her, the river seemed to have swallowed Yurei indefinitely. She never broached the surface and never climbed onto the safety of the bank.
The gold coins continued to gleam under the steadily rising run. It seemed Tor-tu-Gor was oblivious to all that was happening beneath her. There was a speckling of blood upon a few despite the rapid scintillating of the rest of Crow’s coins. It was Yurei’s blood which had splattered from the wound on her head right before she succumbed to the river. A black bird settled upon one of the shrub branches which Yurei had inadvertently broken in her descent to the dock. It cawed several times before taking flight and it soared towards the ship where it glided among the sails before departing for what seemed to be the open Thassa. A black bird in winter was certainly a rare sight The crewmen could not find Yurei’s body and after a pain-staking search, they agreed she was lost to river sleens. But, no blood had bubbled up where Yurei had struggled and neither had the river revealed any signs of aquatic sleen. As the ship departed, one crewman noted the patterning on the dock which the Pani woman had originally stood upon: blood, gold, and sunlight.

—————————————————
But then she awakened from that dream upon the physician’s bed. She raised the back of her hand to her forehead to wipe away the fresh perspiration. She realized… it was a nightmare. “Mistress, Mistress! Are you all right?” The sweet-faced slave regarded her thoughtfully as she pressed the cool cloth to her forehead. Yurei waited for her breath stabilize and gain some measure of equilibrium.

It had been nearly a hand since Crow left and she realized she was dreaming of what might occur if she pursued Crow. She felt Crow’s money bag safely concealed beneath her blankets.

She knew what she had to do now.

This entry was posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:23 am and is filed under The Peacock and The Crow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.