Hmmm, I got several review!! I guess, i might continue. I'm writing this on the run, which is different to all my other stories (i normally, write them all up then post them) but oh well. I wanted to see what kind of reception I'd get here. I guess, this must really suck.
Hurtsie warning. Ardeth gets hurt bad here..... Warning ends
****Ardeth paused from tracking the jackal and looked up as a cry split the desert air.
The figure of majestic falcon flew overhead and keened loudly before disappearing over the dunes to the young man's left.
Ardeth marvelled at the gracefulness of the bird then shrugged and continued tracking.
The predator was drawing closer to its prey.
****Ruwaid bared his teeth in triumph as he read the piece of paper attached the messenger's leg. Things couldn't be any better.
Apparently, the Med-Jai youngster they were tracking was no less then the son of Hashim, the leader of the Med-Jai. The future leader of the Med-Jai.
He passed the piece of paper wordlessly to his son and as his son read it, he turned to the men behind him and gave them the orders.
"We have just received information from an informant within the Med-Jai camp itself, that the boy that we have been tracking, is indeed, Ardeth Bay. Now, we all know what this means. When we capture this boy, Hashim will be in a position where we will be able to force his hand, as he cares for his son." He looked around at the sneering faces and contempt produced at the mention of the hated desert tribe.
"So, we will ride down and capture him. I would prefer him to be unwounded as we will need to travel quickly to escape the wrath of the Med-Jai trackers when they realise what has happened, but if things do not go to plan – aim to wound, not kill. But I want to make one thing perfectly clear. If it appears that we are going to lose him, kill him. I only want him alive and our prisoner or dead and free. Understand?" Nods followed his speech and swords were silently drawn from their sheaths and rifles held tighter in the men's dusty hands.
"Fine. Half of the group split up. We will circle him. Keep things quiet but if he realises that we are there, run him down. I don't care how you get him, but capture him. Let's go." He concluded his speech and after catching his son's eye, he galloped away with half the men following behind him. The other half followed Jawhar, in an attempt to circle and trap the unfortunate teenager.
****Ardeth put his hand over his eyes in a vain attempt to shield them form the harsh desert sun. There! He could see the jackal. He was close.
The pale brown and tan spotted creature wasn't aware of him and continued to lope steadily away.
"There he is! I see him. Med-Jai. I do not see what is so fearful about them, he is but a child. No more older then I."
"Careful Jawhar. You have not yet been in a battle with one."
Ardeth tickled his horse slightly over it's ribs and his stallion picked up speed slowly but silently. The jackal was getting larger in the boy's range of vision and it still hadn't seen him.
"He's picking up speed!! Do you think he's seen us?"
"No, Jawhar. Look at him. That stupid Med-Jai has eyes only for one thing. That jackal in the distance. It appears that he has been tracking it as we have been tracking him."
"I thought that the Med-Jai were supposed to be in-tune with everything and sensitive to the nature around them. I thought they were supposed to be better then this! This is almost too easy!"
"I was also told that the Med-Jai were courageous, wild, strong and a fair tribe – their only interest in keeping an ancient evil from unleashing itself upon this earth that Allah provided for us. But, I no longer believe that after I saw the destruction that they wreaked on our village. Sadistic bastards."
"I, also, have heard about that. Although I was only 8 when it happened. That was 10 years ago."
"I was there when we rode into what remained in our village. Nothing was left. Nothing. Those 'warrior's had destroyed everything."
The jackal was becoming uneasy. Something was making it stop and sniff the air. Its ears were perked up and it swished it's tail nervously from side to side. To tell the truth, Ardeth was beginning to feel uneasy. His horse reflected his mood, as it stamped its feet, tossed it's head and whinnied loudly.
"Everything?"
"Yes, everything. Houses – gone. Men – mown down in their dozens. Women and children – captured and slaughtered. We lost over half our village that day. The Med-Jai didn't have the courage to face us. They had to wait until we had left on a hunting party, then they moved into our defenceless village."
The jackal suddenly spun around 360 degrees and looked directly at the black-clad teenager on the stamping stallion and bolted. It had realised it was being hunted. Ardeth let out a yell and dug his heels into his steed's side.
"He's galloping away!"
"He still hasn't seen us though! He's still only watching that jackal."
"I don't care. We'll lose him, remember what father said."
"Yes, alive and captured or dead and free."
"Let's go!!"
Ardeth crouched low over his horse's head, trying to keep his centre of gravity right about the stallion's shoulders so that he could run faster. The jackal was tiring. He was gaining on it.
"Sound the horn! Alert my father!"
"Yes Jawhar."
The deep, loud, bass of a horn split the air and Ardeth nearly fell off his horse in surprise. The jackal temporarily forgotten, he stopped the stallion so suddenly that it nearly sat down on its haunches.
"Ha! That got his attention."
"This will cement it! AIM TO WOUND!!"
The young Med-Jai sat up straighter on his horse and tried to ascertain where the noise had come from. Too late he saw them. The horn blew again and the sand dunes around him suddenly seemed alive with the moving bodies of horses and men. Judging from their weapons aimed at him and the screams and battle cries, they did not seem friendly.
"Now the putrid Med-Jai sees the Sami-Nimr in all it's defining glory! Death to the Med-Jai!"
"DEATH TO THE MED-JAI!"
Ardeth stared, open-mouthed as the men seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Realising that he didn't stand a chance against fighting all of them, the boy turned his horse around and fled, heading towards the open sand.
"He's fleeing! The Med-Jai scum is terrified! Running away like a dog with its tail between its legs."
"He will not get far. Your father, Ruwaid, is just over that rise where the boy is aiming. He will be in for a nasty surprise."
Ardeth exulted. He was going to make it. He was accelerating away from the group of men behind him and the open sand beckoned, it's glorious orange/golden colour never seeming so bright in the young man's life. He dug his heels in deeper and slapped the horse on its rump, trying to urge it to go faster.
"He's going to make it! He's going to get away!"
"Allah no! He will not get away. I will bring him down before he makes it."
Closer, closer. He was almost there. The horse was panting hard, he could feel it's ribs pumping beneath his legs. All he needed to do was get out of this trap, then the stallion could rest as much as it wanted. Just another couple of seconds and he would be out.
"Quickly Mikail! He is almost lost!"
"No, he is not."
Ardeth turned slightly to get a look at his unknown assailants when something struck him just below his left shoulder blade. The force of the blow threw him forward and he cried out aloud at the searing pain and jerked spasmodically on the horse's reins.
"There, I have hit him."
"Well done, Mikail. Father will be proud. Where is he anyway?"
Ardeth gasped as the pain grew and blossomed and he pulled the reins in tightly to himself, making the horse jerk to a stop and rear up slightly.
I'll bet that hurts, doesn't it Med-Jai? And that's for Emira."
The horse screamed in pain as the rein tore into it's soft sensitive mouth and tried to desperately to loosen the edge of the rein, pulling its head to the left and virtually collapsing on the sand as the gasping boy on its back pulled tightly on the reins again.
"Oh, his horse is down. Stupid boy. He should've just let the horse keep going, he might've made it still."
"No, he wouldn't have. I would've made sure that the next arrow would've gone through his heart."
Ardeth let another cry escape from him, as he fell onto the ground, the pain in his shoulder growing exponentially. The horse screamed once as he landed on top of the boy and Ardeth gasped as he felt the full weight of the stallion fall onto his pelvis.
"The horse is crushing him!"
"He is still holding the reins, he must let go."
The young Med-Jai unconsciously let go of the reins as the horse struggled to get back up. The pain was debilitating and making the world swim in and out of focus but the boy knew that lying on the sand wouldn't help him and with his last ounce of strength, he swung his leg over the stallion's back and tightly gripped onto it's mane. The horse struggled to it's feet and the boy realising that he had nothing to hit the horse with and didn't have the energy to kick it in the belly – screamed loudly into it's ear. A cry full of pain and fear, made to scare the horse into bolting. And bolt, the stallion did.
"He's back on the horse!"
"Don't worry, he won't be there long."
The stallion laid its ears back on its head and its eyes rolled back into its head. The whites of its eyes showing as it sprinted off, terrified. Ardeth groaned as every stride made his body burn and jerked his torn and bleeding muscles. He wouldn't be able to take anymore of this.
"He's sprinting away! He's going to get away!"
"Trust me Jawhar. He won't get away."
The image of the horizon was blurring in and out of focus as the boy struggled to hold onto consciousness. Almost, he was almost there.
"Shoot him! SHOOT HIM MIKAIL!"
"Just wait Jawhar. Patience. Patience."
"He's getting away! As son of the leader, I command you to SHOOT HIM!"
The world was a just a blur of pain to the boy as he felt the muscles working beneath him. His back felt like it was on fire and he was hyperventilating in a vain attempt to still the pain. He could feel blood running down his ribs and didn't realise that it was running down his steed's side and leaving a trail large enough for anyone to follow.
"I said SHOOT HIM MIKAIL! Do you dare disobey me??"
"You are not your father yet, Jawhar, and I will not take orders from you! Trust me and you will see something!"
The horse was slowing as it climbed the dune, its hooves kicking up the sand. Ardeth relaxed, he was out of there. He was out of the trap, he would be fine.
"Now, we have lost him."
"Just watch……."
He was nearing the top, the summit was a mere metre above him. He would reach the top and plummet downwards and be out of harms way forever more. He would go home and tell his parents about the strange happenings and he would tell his friends about the courageous tale about his escape and he would wow all the girls with his battle scars.
Suddenly, his horse reared up and it was only the death grip upon it's mane that let the boy stay on it's back. A wall of horses and men smashed into the boy and his horse and Ardeth Bay was knocked off his horse and onto the ground, where he fell amongst the sharp hooves and powerful legs of the horses commandeered by the Sami-Namr. No one noticed the boy fall off in the scum.
"See Jawhar? I told you to wait. Now, your father has captured the Med-Jai scum."
"Won't he be trampled underneath all of them?"
"So what?"
Ruwaid held his scimitar high and screamed a battle-cry with enough violence and anger that the very sands seemed to echo and vibrate with its intensity.
Ardeth curled up and tried his best to stay out of the way of the flailing hooves but with all the horses, it would've been a miracle if not a hoof touched him.
"He is being trampled!!"
"So what?!?!"
"I thought we wanted him alive!"
"So we did, but Death is just as good."
Ruwaid reached the dark stallion that the boy had been riding and was surprised to not find the Med-Jai child on its back. Still, that did not stop him and he raised his sword high before plunging it deep into the horses chest, the blade cutting deep and stopping the horse's heart.
Ardeth heard the scream of his dying horse from his foetal position on the ground.
"NO!" That was his stallion! HIS stallion! He'd had it ever since he could remember. He'd learnt to ride on it, he'd trained on it. That horse was his best friend. They were slaughtering his best friend.
The boy struggled to his knees and with great courage and despair climbed to his feet. Immediately he was swept away in a jumble of sweating horses and swearing men. Still, no one noticed the boy and the scream for his dying horse was lost in the swirling cacophony of thudding hooves and guttural screaming voices.
"Father just killed the horse!"
"That is to stop the Med-Jai from getting back a fine steed."
"Wouldn't it have been better to keep it ourselves?"
"Well, yes. But Med-Jai horses have this habit of trying to return to their masters and camps. He would've given away our position."
"Where is the boy?"
"I don't know."
"If he's still underneath that stampede, I don't give him a hope for his life."
"Maybe Allah will take pity on that pathetic creature and spare him."
"Maybe…….."
Ardeth tried to straighten up and cried out his horse's name as he heard it squealing in its death-screams of agony. They couldn't have just killed his horse. That was barbaric. He tried to force his way to his stallion but gasped as a horse cannoned straight into him, his shoulder impacting with its rib cage. The force of the collision threw him off his feet and he fell once again to the ground, this time not so lucky.
A horse trod directly on the arrow still sticking out of his shoulder blade and indiscriminately ripped it out as it galloped on. Ardeth gasped and tears came to his eyes as the pain exploded and tripled.
The world was growing fuzzy. Ardeth Bay was losing control of his muscles as his body was going into shock.
"There he is! Lying on the ground! Is he alive?"
"I don't know. Your father is dismounting to see."
"He was under the horses for a long time. I don't think he'll live."
"Good."
The boy wasn't in the right state of mind to realise that all the men had stopped the steeds and were staring with hate at the boy lying on the sand, its golden colour slowly changing to a dark red as the teenager bled.
Ruwaid dismounted off his horse and strode fiercely over to the boy, wiping his scimitar of the blood from the boy's horse on his robes.
Ardeth's world was fast turning grey and pale, the world seeming to retreat and his eyes clouding over.
Ruwaid roughly grabbed the boy's bloodstained face and stared intently into his fast-hazing eyes and as the boy gave a shudder and closed his eyes, the leader of the Sami-Nihr dropped his head disdainfully on the sand and kicked sand onto the still body of the teenager.
"DEATH TO THE MED-JAI!"
"Is he dead?"
"He appears to be, Jawhar."
"Good."
****No, Ardeth isn't dead. But if i don't get any reviews, i'm not going to update!! Just one review! If i get one review, i'll update! So send in a review!!
