Chapter 8
April crouched in the darkness, her hands bound in front of her. The fire that Shredder had built burned brightly next to the fountain. The water glistened in the flames. He was extraordinarily angry. Across the stone floor of the temple he went, going through the fighting poses, stretching his body, and flinching as he discovered each new injury. He had shed his shirt, and his chest glistened with sweat as he kicked and spun. He stopped, panting, and held his side, slumping over. He examined the smooth skin of his lower abdomen, saw nothing amiss, and looked up.
"I was injured here," he said, glaring. "What happened to it?"
"They gave you a healing potion. When you awoke, it was gone..." April tilted her head, looking at his side.
"Hmmph," he snorted, straightening. She could tell it still pained him, but he wasn't about to admit it. He ran his fingers across his neck to the scratch, and down his bicep, stopping at the deep gash. A fresh trickle of blood wound down his arm from his exertions. He looked up at her.
"I gave you those," she said coolly.
"I remember," he said. "It's a wonder you're still alive..." He closed his eyes, and stood silently, his chest expanding as he breathed, calming himself of the rage that cut through his body.
April glanced at the door of the temple just a few feet away. She had to fight every urge in her just to bolt...but how could she rescue the turtles alone? The evil bastard that stood in front of her was currently the hottest property on this planet, and her only chance of getting the turtles away, and getting home. But she didn't like the way things were going. It was much better when she was in charge. What she wouldn't give for one of Ancha's potions right now...
Suddenly, his dark eyes snapped open. "We must eat." He strode across the room, and scooped up the golden arrow she had carried away from the Palace. He hefted it in his hand, gauging the weight, then walked out the door into the night. April scurried to her feet and went to the door.
Outside the bushes rustled with unseen creatures and strange calls. He turned, glaring at her. "You stay there." And with that, he turned and disappeared into the brush. April stood tensely, the noises in the jungle suddenly sounding too loud. She jumped as there was movement to her left, and a screech of some sort of animal. A few moments later, Saki came striding out of the brush dragging a strange kind of dog-animal, with a blue pelt. He wordlessly pushed by her at the door.
Ten minutes later they sat across the fire from one another. Saki had expertly cleaned the flank of the dog-creature, and cut long strips of meat. He roasted one over the fire and April, who was dubious at first, was astonished at how wonderful it smelled, salty and warm. She watched him cook the strip well and then tear into it. His eyes never strayed from the fire as he chewed, consumed in thought.
April's mouth was watering, but she wasn't about to ask for any. After he had eaten about half the strip, he glanced up at her, and suddenly tossed the rest over the fire. April caught the warm, crispy meat, and managed to tear some off. He picked up another strip, and began to roast it.
April chewed, thinking hard, and decided it was time to level. "So, are you going to tell me where we are? What that device was? It doesn't seem to matter if I know now..."
His eyes shot to hers, and he chewed more slowly, considering. "I can't imagine how chatting with you might sort all if this out..."
"Really," she raised her eyebrows. "You've been knocked out most of the time here. Maybe we can put all of this together."
He chewed slowly for a couple more minutes. "That device was a dimensional transporter, of sorts. I built it to come specifically to this dimension. There has been talk, and a few verified reports, of immortality here."
"Immortality!" April choked for a moment on her meat. "But, that doesn't seem to be it at all. I mean, the women seem to live a long time, but they still die. Besides, I can't imagine how your sources could have missed the part about there being no men. I mean, they sleep with a man every hundred years or something and then kill him!"
He looked at her sharply. "Do you really still believe that?"
April paused in her chewing, suddenly feeling a cold tingle creep up her spine. "What do you mean? Do you think they do something else?"
Saki stared at the fire thoughtfully. "There are many kinds of immortality, Miss O'Neil. Not all of them pleasant."
****************************************************
The turtles had been slumbering, still chained in the round room when the door suddenly slammed open. Waking, they blinked at the figure of the Priestess who stood with several guards. She strode into the middle of the room, glancing at each of their faces. She turned finally to Leonardo, who eyed her warily. "This one," she said pointing at him.
One of the guards quickly strung her bow and fired a dart at Leo. He cringed as it hit his shoulder.
"Leo!" Don shouted.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" cried Raphael.
Leonardo looked down at the dart and suddenly felt a wash of warm weakness spread from his shoulder to the rest of his body. He slumped as the guards unshackled him from the wall and drug him toward the door.
"Where are you taking him?" cried Mike as they left the room. The Priestess shut the door without a word.
"Well," said Raphael. "Maybe he gets to go do the dirty with that ice bitch or something."
"I wish I could believe that," Don said.
Out in the hall, Leo was being drug between two guards. His mind still felt alert, and he could see and understand everything that was going on, but his limbs felt passive, complacent, as if they couldn't fight even he willed it.
A dignified-looking woman, possibly another priestess of lower rank, approached the Priestess and walked with them. "Ana, what is happening?"
"The Queen has grown impatient. She refuses to wait for that man to be found. We have discovered that these creatures are male, and she insists that we try..."
"But, Ana! It will never work! They are half-animal."
"It does not matter, Crea. The Queen insists. She is growing weaker each day and becomes petulant. I suppose it will not hurt to try."
*********************************************************
"What do you mean, Shredder? How can there be different types of immortality. To live forever is to live forever."
Shredder looked hard at her. "Yes, that is true. But the sources of the immortality vary greatly. Life is an energy that cannot be destroyed, much as Einstein described it. I know it must be difficult for your Western mind to comprehend, but the ancient Eastern philosophers were correct, to a degree. When living things die, their energy is transferred back to the great continuum which underlies the Universe. But, there are some who have discovered how to conserve their energy, to contain it against its desire to return to the primal flow. That is one "form" of immortality. But there are many others. Some through ancient methods have learned to draw directly from the primal flow. Others, have learned to take energy from others..."
*******************************************************
"Bring it before me."
Leonardo was in the most ornate chamber he had ever seen. Through his fog-laden eyes he could make out a shiny marble floors, golden pillars and a crystal throne bedecked with scarlet silk that hung from the ceiling. Around him, the guards knelt low to the floor, and even Ana, the Priestess, knelt demurely on one knee. Leo squinted at the figure that sat in the throne. All he could make out was a tall, feminine form, completely covered in white gauze. The guards rose and pushed Leo right up to the figure, forcing him to kneel.
"It is more animal than I thought." The Queen said. Her voice was ancient, cracking, and possessed of immense power. Leo felt himself sway when she spoke.
"I know, oh Queen," Ana said, standing next to Leo. "But they are most certainly male. I am not sure if he can be properly tapped, but only the Goddess knows."
The figure in the gauze sat silent a moment. "Give him the Amorn potion."
************************************************************
"What are you saying?" April cried. "How in the hell could you think that these women are, what, drinking energy from men? They said themselves that they sleep with the man, the Royal court produces children, and they send them out among the commoners. How could that happen if...if...?"
"You really are not putting your journalistic skills to use, Miss O'Neil." He sat back on the stone, and even smiled faintly. "It sounds like a likely story, does it not? Killing all the men because they are evil, and then making a few babies once a century or so? But consider something else. When you consume another creature's energy, you grow young again. Could that, perhaps, account for the "children"? It also seems strange to kill all the men, despite the women's longevity. What could motivate such a slaughter? But, what if it was something else? What if it was GREED? What if the females of this race discovered they could remain young forever by drinking the energy of their men? I can only think of one thing that would cause a race of women to so recklessly slaughter all their males, even to the last one...the desire to remain young forever."
********************************************************************
A vial was held to Leonardo's lips and could not but drink. As he did, he felt a heat spread through his body of the likes he had never experienced. He felt charged with a kind of energy, a warmth that allowed him to feel the heat of all the bodies that surrounded him. He was suddenly very aware of all the women who knelt around him who were now muttering a kind of chant below their breaths and looking up at him with dewy eyes.
He was pressed forward to the gauzy figure, and moved along with the pressure, drawn by the Queen. He came up to her face, trembling with desire, and found his hands groping the veil that covered her face. Pulling it away he was rocked with surprise. The face was old, ancient, deeply creviced with wrinkles. Two watery, gray eyes peered out, but Leo found that he couldn't pull away, that he desired to lean down, press his mouth against those ancient, crusted lips.
As he did a wave stabbing fire went down his gullet, and he was paralyzed with pulses of pain. Her clawed hands gripped at his shoulder, and for untold moments Leo felt that his very soul was being ripped out of his body, that it was losing its moorings, that his very cells were coming apart, and that he could feel each tear.
*******************************************************
"Do you think that's what they wanted to do to you? To the turtles?" April cried. "I don't believe it." But as she thought about it, it began to make more sense, a kind of horrible rationality unfolded before her. The way that the Priestess treated Shredder had been different than Ancha, who had certainly believed the "myths" about the war with men and the sacred union between the Queen and a man. But the Priestess wanted something else, that was clear. And what Ancha had said when she had come to the chamber that morning. That she suspected the legends were false, and that the Priestess had horrible things planned. What could it mean?
"I could be wrong," Saki said. He steepled his fingers and concentrated on the fire. "I'm deducing this from what you told me...but, if there is a kind of immortality to be found here, it is none that I could access." His eyes flickered to hers. "But perhaps you could."
"No..no I think you may be right. I am thinking back to all the strange things, the way the Priestess acted, the way Ancha said she suspected something. Oh my God! The turtles!"
*************************************************************
Suddenly the old Queen shrieked and shoved the Leonardo away, where he tumbled down the steps and fell hard on the floor, trembling with residual pain. The Queen was clutching her face and coughing, gripping her throne. "It did not work! They are too animal!"
Ancha came forward with a look of concern on her face. "Are you all right, my Queen?"
"Yes!" the twisted figure spat. "For all the good it did! I must have that man! I must!"
From where Leo lay on the ground he could see the rage contort the old woman's face further, making her look almost like a demon.
"We will have him soon, oh Queen," the Priestess soothed.
"You had better, Priestess!" the crone narrowed her watery eyes. "You said he was handsome?"
"Very. A most fine specimen in his prime. A warrior."
"Yes...a warrior. He should have enough to bring me to my youth, and to dose the rest of the court into their days of glory. He will need to be a warrior to withstand the pain! You, animal-creature! Did you not feel the burn? The horrific pain? Your friend, the man, will experience ten times that! He will have his very soul ripped from his body again and again until we have drunk our fill!"
Leo sat up, dazed. "He is not our friend. He is our sworn enemy."
"Is that so?" cried the Queen. "Then perhaps you will help us? We will let you, your brothers and your little woman friend all go. She thinks she will bargain with him, that she will trade? Perhaps we can trade. Play along, my little green friend, help us to get hold of that luscious piece of manhood, and we will let you all go! And then your enemy will suffer as none has ever suffered before!"
From where Leo sat, surrounded by these women, it seemed like a very good deal. "All right. We will help you get Shredder. And then you let us leave."
"Of course," said the Queen. "You are useless to us! But him! He is what we need to survive into the next century! He will bring me back to my youth! We will drain him until he is merely a crust! Ha ha ha!"
****************************************************
April sat, tucking her bound hands around her knees, thinking hard. "I really think you may be right."
"Of course I'm right," he said haughtily. "What a huge mistake this whole thing was. Oh well, many other dimensions to mine for treasures..."
April glared at him across the fire. "So, it's immortality you're after?"
"Why not?" he murmured. "With eternal life, I'll have all the time to conquer at my leisure."
April snorted. "And what a life that would be! All alone up at the top forever and ever! Sounds more like hell to me."
Shredder just gazed at her and said nothing for a moment. He finally spoke, "It is my affair."
"Really? Do you really think you would be content to live an eternal life as some sort of God, all alone? Do you think you could find satisfaction in an unchanging world? Mortality has its purposes Oroku Saki. The knowledge of our impending deaths makes us appreciate each passing day, value our friendships, work to build relationships with others, understand love and all that is precious in life. I suspect these are things you have never discovered, never had."
He gazed across the fire at her, his face impassive.
She continued, leaning toward him. "Well, I guess it makes sense then. If all you've ever known is hate and ambition, if you've only lived on rage and revenge, then you would not know what you are losing. If you have never known love, you would not understand the power of the passage of time." She stopped for a moment, lowering her voice. "But you do not fool me, Oroku Saki. I discovered something last night I probably didn't ever want to know. That you are still a human being, despite your villainy. That you still have desires...and the need to be touched."
"That is enough, Miss O'Neil. You are boring me."
April would not stop. "What did you feel when you kissed me last night? Or just an hour ago..."
"It was a lapse of judgment."
"It didn't feel that way. It felt as if you needed to be touched. It felt as if you desired another human being close...like you were thirsty for me..."
Saki held up his hand. "You say dangerous things, Miss O'Neil. I am a trained warrior, taught to suppress all those disabling emotions of which you speak. They make you weak and cloud your thought. And what of your precious turtles? If they could hear you now, Miss O'Neil. Preaching love to ME! Bah! I am bored with this. I am going to sleep."
He slowly laid down on the stones, on his side facing her. April looked into the fire and felt shame at the words she was just saying. Who the hell was she trying to convince? Him? Or herself? She too, slowly lowered herself to the floor. Their faces were only a foot from each other, their bodies curled around the fire. His eyes continued to gaze stonily into hers and she refused to blink. Then, his eyes fluttered, and closed.
What could it mean? These strange feelings that were surging through her body. She tentatively raised her hand and reached out to his face. She stopped just an inch from his skin and hesitated. Then she brought her hand back. Was she trying to convince herself he could feel? That he was human? What could be the reason for that?
To Be Continued.....!!!!!!!!!!!!
April crouched in the darkness, her hands bound in front of her. The fire that Shredder had built burned brightly next to the fountain. The water glistened in the flames. He was extraordinarily angry. Across the stone floor of the temple he went, going through the fighting poses, stretching his body, and flinching as he discovered each new injury. He had shed his shirt, and his chest glistened with sweat as he kicked and spun. He stopped, panting, and held his side, slumping over. He examined the smooth skin of his lower abdomen, saw nothing amiss, and looked up.
"I was injured here," he said, glaring. "What happened to it?"
"They gave you a healing potion. When you awoke, it was gone..." April tilted her head, looking at his side.
"Hmmph," he snorted, straightening. She could tell it still pained him, but he wasn't about to admit it. He ran his fingers across his neck to the scratch, and down his bicep, stopping at the deep gash. A fresh trickle of blood wound down his arm from his exertions. He looked up at her.
"I gave you those," she said coolly.
"I remember," he said. "It's a wonder you're still alive..." He closed his eyes, and stood silently, his chest expanding as he breathed, calming himself of the rage that cut through his body.
April glanced at the door of the temple just a few feet away. She had to fight every urge in her just to bolt...but how could she rescue the turtles alone? The evil bastard that stood in front of her was currently the hottest property on this planet, and her only chance of getting the turtles away, and getting home. But she didn't like the way things were going. It was much better when she was in charge. What she wouldn't give for one of Ancha's potions right now...
Suddenly, his dark eyes snapped open. "We must eat." He strode across the room, and scooped up the golden arrow she had carried away from the Palace. He hefted it in his hand, gauging the weight, then walked out the door into the night. April scurried to her feet and went to the door.
Outside the bushes rustled with unseen creatures and strange calls. He turned, glaring at her. "You stay there." And with that, he turned and disappeared into the brush. April stood tensely, the noises in the jungle suddenly sounding too loud. She jumped as there was movement to her left, and a screech of some sort of animal. A few moments later, Saki came striding out of the brush dragging a strange kind of dog-animal, with a blue pelt. He wordlessly pushed by her at the door.
Ten minutes later they sat across the fire from one another. Saki had expertly cleaned the flank of the dog-creature, and cut long strips of meat. He roasted one over the fire and April, who was dubious at first, was astonished at how wonderful it smelled, salty and warm. She watched him cook the strip well and then tear into it. His eyes never strayed from the fire as he chewed, consumed in thought.
April's mouth was watering, but she wasn't about to ask for any. After he had eaten about half the strip, he glanced up at her, and suddenly tossed the rest over the fire. April caught the warm, crispy meat, and managed to tear some off. He picked up another strip, and began to roast it.
April chewed, thinking hard, and decided it was time to level. "So, are you going to tell me where we are? What that device was? It doesn't seem to matter if I know now..."
His eyes shot to hers, and he chewed more slowly, considering. "I can't imagine how chatting with you might sort all if this out..."
"Really," she raised her eyebrows. "You've been knocked out most of the time here. Maybe we can put all of this together."
He chewed slowly for a couple more minutes. "That device was a dimensional transporter, of sorts. I built it to come specifically to this dimension. There has been talk, and a few verified reports, of immortality here."
"Immortality!" April choked for a moment on her meat. "But, that doesn't seem to be it at all. I mean, the women seem to live a long time, but they still die. Besides, I can't imagine how your sources could have missed the part about there being no men. I mean, they sleep with a man every hundred years or something and then kill him!"
He looked at her sharply. "Do you really still believe that?"
April paused in her chewing, suddenly feeling a cold tingle creep up her spine. "What do you mean? Do you think they do something else?"
Saki stared at the fire thoughtfully. "There are many kinds of immortality, Miss O'Neil. Not all of them pleasant."
****************************************************
The turtles had been slumbering, still chained in the round room when the door suddenly slammed open. Waking, they blinked at the figure of the Priestess who stood with several guards. She strode into the middle of the room, glancing at each of their faces. She turned finally to Leonardo, who eyed her warily. "This one," she said pointing at him.
One of the guards quickly strung her bow and fired a dart at Leo. He cringed as it hit his shoulder.
"Leo!" Don shouted.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" cried Raphael.
Leonardo looked down at the dart and suddenly felt a wash of warm weakness spread from his shoulder to the rest of his body. He slumped as the guards unshackled him from the wall and drug him toward the door.
"Where are you taking him?" cried Mike as they left the room. The Priestess shut the door without a word.
"Well," said Raphael. "Maybe he gets to go do the dirty with that ice bitch or something."
"I wish I could believe that," Don said.
Out in the hall, Leo was being drug between two guards. His mind still felt alert, and he could see and understand everything that was going on, but his limbs felt passive, complacent, as if they couldn't fight even he willed it.
A dignified-looking woman, possibly another priestess of lower rank, approached the Priestess and walked with them. "Ana, what is happening?"
"The Queen has grown impatient. She refuses to wait for that man to be found. We have discovered that these creatures are male, and she insists that we try..."
"But, Ana! It will never work! They are half-animal."
"It does not matter, Crea. The Queen insists. She is growing weaker each day and becomes petulant. I suppose it will not hurt to try."
*********************************************************
"What do you mean, Shredder? How can there be different types of immortality. To live forever is to live forever."
Shredder looked hard at her. "Yes, that is true. But the sources of the immortality vary greatly. Life is an energy that cannot be destroyed, much as Einstein described it. I know it must be difficult for your Western mind to comprehend, but the ancient Eastern philosophers were correct, to a degree. When living things die, their energy is transferred back to the great continuum which underlies the Universe. But, there are some who have discovered how to conserve their energy, to contain it against its desire to return to the primal flow. That is one "form" of immortality. But there are many others. Some through ancient methods have learned to draw directly from the primal flow. Others, have learned to take energy from others..."
*******************************************************
"Bring it before me."
Leonardo was in the most ornate chamber he had ever seen. Through his fog-laden eyes he could make out a shiny marble floors, golden pillars and a crystal throne bedecked with scarlet silk that hung from the ceiling. Around him, the guards knelt low to the floor, and even Ana, the Priestess, knelt demurely on one knee. Leo squinted at the figure that sat in the throne. All he could make out was a tall, feminine form, completely covered in white gauze. The guards rose and pushed Leo right up to the figure, forcing him to kneel.
"It is more animal than I thought." The Queen said. Her voice was ancient, cracking, and possessed of immense power. Leo felt himself sway when she spoke.
"I know, oh Queen," Ana said, standing next to Leo. "But they are most certainly male. I am not sure if he can be properly tapped, but only the Goddess knows."
The figure in the gauze sat silent a moment. "Give him the Amorn potion."
************************************************************
"What are you saying?" April cried. "How in the hell could you think that these women are, what, drinking energy from men? They said themselves that they sleep with the man, the Royal court produces children, and they send them out among the commoners. How could that happen if...if...?"
"You really are not putting your journalistic skills to use, Miss O'Neil." He sat back on the stone, and even smiled faintly. "It sounds like a likely story, does it not? Killing all the men because they are evil, and then making a few babies once a century or so? But consider something else. When you consume another creature's energy, you grow young again. Could that, perhaps, account for the "children"? It also seems strange to kill all the men, despite the women's longevity. What could motivate such a slaughter? But, what if it was something else? What if it was GREED? What if the females of this race discovered they could remain young forever by drinking the energy of their men? I can only think of one thing that would cause a race of women to so recklessly slaughter all their males, even to the last one...the desire to remain young forever."
********************************************************************
A vial was held to Leonardo's lips and could not but drink. As he did, he felt a heat spread through his body of the likes he had never experienced. He felt charged with a kind of energy, a warmth that allowed him to feel the heat of all the bodies that surrounded him. He was suddenly very aware of all the women who knelt around him who were now muttering a kind of chant below their breaths and looking up at him with dewy eyes.
He was pressed forward to the gauzy figure, and moved along with the pressure, drawn by the Queen. He came up to her face, trembling with desire, and found his hands groping the veil that covered her face. Pulling it away he was rocked with surprise. The face was old, ancient, deeply creviced with wrinkles. Two watery, gray eyes peered out, but Leo found that he couldn't pull away, that he desired to lean down, press his mouth against those ancient, crusted lips.
As he did a wave stabbing fire went down his gullet, and he was paralyzed with pulses of pain. Her clawed hands gripped at his shoulder, and for untold moments Leo felt that his very soul was being ripped out of his body, that it was losing its moorings, that his very cells were coming apart, and that he could feel each tear.
*******************************************************
"Do you think that's what they wanted to do to you? To the turtles?" April cried. "I don't believe it." But as she thought about it, it began to make more sense, a kind of horrible rationality unfolded before her. The way that the Priestess treated Shredder had been different than Ancha, who had certainly believed the "myths" about the war with men and the sacred union between the Queen and a man. But the Priestess wanted something else, that was clear. And what Ancha had said when she had come to the chamber that morning. That she suspected the legends were false, and that the Priestess had horrible things planned. What could it mean?
"I could be wrong," Saki said. He steepled his fingers and concentrated on the fire. "I'm deducing this from what you told me...but, if there is a kind of immortality to be found here, it is none that I could access." His eyes flickered to hers. "But perhaps you could."
"No..no I think you may be right. I am thinking back to all the strange things, the way the Priestess acted, the way Ancha said she suspected something. Oh my God! The turtles!"
*************************************************************
Suddenly the old Queen shrieked and shoved the Leonardo away, where he tumbled down the steps and fell hard on the floor, trembling with residual pain. The Queen was clutching her face and coughing, gripping her throne. "It did not work! They are too animal!"
Ancha came forward with a look of concern on her face. "Are you all right, my Queen?"
"Yes!" the twisted figure spat. "For all the good it did! I must have that man! I must!"
From where Leo lay on the ground he could see the rage contort the old woman's face further, making her look almost like a demon.
"We will have him soon, oh Queen," the Priestess soothed.
"You had better, Priestess!" the crone narrowed her watery eyes. "You said he was handsome?"
"Very. A most fine specimen in his prime. A warrior."
"Yes...a warrior. He should have enough to bring me to my youth, and to dose the rest of the court into their days of glory. He will need to be a warrior to withstand the pain! You, animal-creature! Did you not feel the burn? The horrific pain? Your friend, the man, will experience ten times that! He will have his very soul ripped from his body again and again until we have drunk our fill!"
Leo sat up, dazed. "He is not our friend. He is our sworn enemy."
"Is that so?" cried the Queen. "Then perhaps you will help us? We will let you, your brothers and your little woman friend all go. She thinks she will bargain with him, that she will trade? Perhaps we can trade. Play along, my little green friend, help us to get hold of that luscious piece of manhood, and we will let you all go! And then your enemy will suffer as none has ever suffered before!"
From where Leo sat, surrounded by these women, it seemed like a very good deal. "All right. We will help you get Shredder. And then you let us leave."
"Of course," said the Queen. "You are useless to us! But him! He is what we need to survive into the next century! He will bring me back to my youth! We will drain him until he is merely a crust! Ha ha ha!"
****************************************************
April sat, tucking her bound hands around her knees, thinking hard. "I really think you may be right."
"Of course I'm right," he said haughtily. "What a huge mistake this whole thing was. Oh well, many other dimensions to mine for treasures..."
April glared at him across the fire. "So, it's immortality you're after?"
"Why not?" he murmured. "With eternal life, I'll have all the time to conquer at my leisure."
April snorted. "And what a life that would be! All alone up at the top forever and ever! Sounds more like hell to me."
Shredder just gazed at her and said nothing for a moment. He finally spoke, "It is my affair."
"Really? Do you really think you would be content to live an eternal life as some sort of God, all alone? Do you think you could find satisfaction in an unchanging world? Mortality has its purposes Oroku Saki. The knowledge of our impending deaths makes us appreciate each passing day, value our friendships, work to build relationships with others, understand love and all that is precious in life. I suspect these are things you have never discovered, never had."
He gazed across the fire at her, his face impassive.
She continued, leaning toward him. "Well, I guess it makes sense then. If all you've ever known is hate and ambition, if you've only lived on rage and revenge, then you would not know what you are losing. If you have never known love, you would not understand the power of the passage of time." She stopped for a moment, lowering her voice. "But you do not fool me, Oroku Saki. I discovered something last night I probably didn't ever want to know. That you are still a human being, despite your villainy. That you still have desires...and the need to be touched."
"That is enough, Miss O'Neil. You are boring me."
April would not stop. "What did you feel when you kissed me last night? Or just an hour ago..."
"It was a lapse of judgment."
"It didn't feel that way. It felt as if you needed to be touched. It felt as if you desired another human being close...like you were thirsty for me..."
Saki held up his hand. "You say dangerous things, Miss O'Neil. I am a trained warrior, taught to suppress all those disabling emotions of which you speak. They make you weak and cloud your thought. And what of your precious turtles? If they could hear you now, Miss O'Neil. Preaching love to ME! Bah! I am bored with this. I am going to sleep."
He slowly laid down on the stones, on his side facing her. April looked into the fire and felt shame at the words she was just saying. Who the hell was she trying to convince? Him? Or herself? She too, slowly lowered herself to the floor. Their faces were only a foot from each other, their bodies curled around the fire. His eyes continued to gaze stonily into hers and she refused to blink. Then, his eyes fluttered, and closed.
What could it mean? These strange feelings that were surging through her body. She tentatively raised her hand and reached out to his face. She stopped just an inch from his skin and hesitated. Then she brought her hand back. Was she trying to convince herself he could feel? That he was human? What could be the reason for that?
To Be Continued.....!!!!!!!!!!!!
