Okay, sorry that i didn't update last nite. It was just that i went to a farewell party/BBQ thing and then when i came home dad wanted to watch Terminator 2 on my laptop and then when that finished it was like midnight, so i had to go to sleep. Well, heres this chapter....its a bit strange, i'd be the first to admit it.
Nakhti: Hey! Guess what! The sabre dance is here! HOORAY!! And if you want, you can be the personification of hope, she's pretty cool and she gets to kiss Ardeth....kinda....My defination of a mary sue is any female OC character that falls in love with the main male character...thats why i call Zen a Mary-Sue. Shes not modelled on me at all. I don't like the name, i don't have chestnut hair, i'm not blind and sure as hell! i'm not pregnant!! Jesus Christ! I'm only 17 AND a GOOD GIRL! *looks around nervously* It's true! True i tell you! Yeah, well, the sabre dance is written for u, so i hope you enjoy this chappie.
Siri: Updated! Sorry i'm late though! Please forgive me!
MedjaiAngel: Hopefully, the next couple of chapters get you even more interested! Can't u just see the Sami-Nhir, accidently trippin over their swords and falling off a cliff? hehehe.
****Ardeth sat where he had been told to sit several hours ago and did not move. Very slowly and carefully, he lay down and and curled up, his back to the world, his head laid down upon his hands. For all the world, it almost appeared like the teenager had died where he lay, his body was so still. All that gave the boy away was the slight rise and fall of his side, his ribs showing against the taut brown skin.
Ardeth was despairing. He was giving up. There was no way that he was going to get out of this camp. He was going to die here. He was never going to see his mother again, nor his father. Tears stung the Med-Jai's eyes. There was so many things that he'd wanted to say to his parents, there were so many things that he wanted to do. He wanted to give Abel a hug and tell her how much he loved her. As the boys grew into men, they tended to withdraw from their mothers, not telling them how much they loved them, no longer 'mummy's little boy'. He'd wanted to thank his father for all the years of wisdom and caring he had imparted onto his son.
But he was never going to see them again, he was going to die in this camp, a slave. Hated, alone, unloved.
Ardeth clenched his eyes shut and a tear squeezed out, unwanted. He blinked hastily to stop others from following and started as he saw a dark figure on the edge of his vision. On his peripheral vision. However, as he moved his head to see the figure better, it stayed on the edge of his vision no matter how he turned his head.
Ardeth sighed deeply and closed his eyes, but the figure seemed to dance behind his lids. The figure was of a dark-skinned girl with dark clothes and black-midnight eyes. Ardeth squeezed his eyes shut and wished her to leave but still the blurry figure stayed, taunting him while being on the edge of his vision.
Ardeth knew what it was, he knew what the figure meant. He knew that he was letting his desperation take him over, he knew that his spiritual soul was waning, that the figure on the edge of his vision would come closer and closer to him, until it engulfed him, and he ceased to live.
Yes, he would exist, his body would breathe and walk, but he would not live.
Still Ardeth did not care, and the figure became slightly clearer and closer. The Med-Jai's spirit faded further.
****"How much further?" Hashim questioned one of the warriors riding beside him as he anxiously calculated how long his son been under the capture of these strange Sami-Nhir.
"A couple of days sir." The warrior answered shortly while moving in the saddle to accommodate for the awkward movement of his horse navigating down a small dune.
"A couple of days?" Hashim blanched, thinking of what other horrors his son could be facing. "Can we get there any quicker?"
The warrior looked at his leader sympathetically, "I am very sorry to say, but I'm afraid not sir. We are moving as fast as possible."
"Yes, yes. Of course." Hashim narrowed his eyes to stop sand from entering as the horses hooves kicked up sand. "I can only hope that we're not too late."
****Ardeth was rudely awakened from his self-pity stupor by a kick to his legs.
"Wake up Med-Jai!" A warrior grinned down nervously at the boy and placed the boy's food in front of the teenager. "Eat up! It's probably going to be the last meal you ever have. In fact," The warrior babbled on, his tongue loosened by alcohol, "This meal time is probably going to be the last time that everybody here has a meal." He must've seen the puzzled expression on the boy's face because he spoke further, "Your father rides for you. He comes. And we will fight, oh yes, we will fight." This time, there was a tremor of fear in his voice that came out even under the influence of the alcohol. Then abruptly, the Sami-Nhir turned around and left the bewildered teenager behind.
My father comes for me? Is it possible? Is it possible that there is hope? But--- Ardeth faltered, almost too afraid to even begin to hope, I hoped in the trial, to make the Sami-Nhir see the truth, but the trial was rigged, I hoped to make Jawhar and Zen not hate me, but that hope was shattered. I hoped to escape but that just condemned me even more. Why should I even dare to hope when there is no hope for me?
Ardeth knew that he was being pessimistic but he was afraid to hope. Another disappointment would break him. The dark figure was so close that it filled the teenager's despairing vision, he could almost feel her taking over his soul, feeling the icy dread that clutched his heart and seeing the deep pit that he had fallen into in his dreams.
Ardeth knew there was only one thing to do. As a child, he'd hated doing this task but if he wanted to be free from his demon, he must do perform the task.
Meditation.
****She glided towards him, a hand outstretched, the fingertips almost seeming to graze the tips of his cheek. Her hair was long and flowing…..her clothes as bright white as the other had been as dark black. Except this one was different from the other one who had been stalking him. This ones face was calm and peaceful, and seemed to have an aura of gentleness around her. Her eyes were big, dark and brown…….deep and rich in colour.
He realised he was trembling but he had no idea what for. Was he scared? Terrified of the vision that stood before him? She inclined her head to the side, her pale, long blond hair swishing slowly around her head and looked at him. He breathed in a deep shuddering breath and closed his eyes in search of his deeper feelings. This was meditation.
His father and mother had tried to teach him this for many many years but he had been too full of life, too impatient to be able to sit still. There were always things to do, places to go, interesting things to see. He had been a child then…..and now, in all this desolation, despair and heartbreak….he had become a man. Now, he was finally beginning to walk the fields of his mind, now, he was able to go deeper and realise his true feelings. Not the ones that he made up to fool himself, but the ones that ran so deep within his true self, that he could not fool himself.
Was this the reason why Allah was putting him through this trial? Through this horrid ordeal? Just to teach him how to find himself? To become a man? He was putting him through this JUST FOR THIS?!?! Ardeth was getting angry – he was letting his feelings and emotions take control.
The image in front of his metaphorical self faded.
No! Concentrate! CONCENTRATE! With a level of self-control that earlier had seemed out of his reach, Ardeth managed to still his anger and concentrate on his breathing.
The image became clearer.
Now she was kneeling before him, her eyes looking deep into his own. He shuddered and now knew why he was trembling. It was because he was afraid. He was afraid that she would leave him forever in this black hole that he had created…..in this deep lair he had fallen into. He frantically looked around him to see if the black shadow had followed him into this dream world but even when the black mage did not appear, he continued to panic. Where was it? Was it going to wait until his full concentration was on this image on front of him until it jumped on him and dragged him back down? Would it wait until his back was turned before it stabbed the knife through his ribs into this heart?
[No]. The word wasn't spoken, but Ardeth heard it. His heart stilled and he looked back at the spirit-girl in front of him. Her pale pink lips moved and she spoke again. [She will not harm you here.] It didn't make any sense. Her lips moved and she spoke, but he did not hear it. Yet, he knew what she was saying. Was it real?
Is any of this real?
[It is as real as you make it.] She answered his unasked question.
He was shocked. "You can hear what I don't say?"
[Only if you want me to hear it.]
"What are you?"
[I am you.]
He was confused. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense. What was he doing here? How did he get here?
[Ardeth Bay. Son of the Chief of the Med-Jai. You are here because you needed to be healed. Your mind took your conscience here so that I could heal you. You needed to understand yourself and you needed to escape from your other mage. You are dreaming. You know this but wish it not.]
"My other mage? Who are you?"
[Yes. Your other mage. You know her well for you have fostered her and unconsciously let her grow until you cannot even control her. She stalks you in your dreams and terrifies your conscience. You know of who I speak. I can tell.]
"The black shadow."
[Yes.]
"Who is she?"
[You know her. You have always known her. She has stalked you ever since you have been able to grasp the concept of her. She is your fear and your terror. Your depression and your cynicism. She is your dark side…..and in this situation, she is killing you slowly.]
"Killing me slowly? I don't understand."
[Ardeth, son of Hashim. You are giving me up, and in giving me up you are giving in to her and she is killing you slowly.]
"How can I be giving you up? I don't even know who you are. Who are you?"
[You know this too. But you do not recognise me so easily, son of the Med-Jai. I am Hope.]
"Hope?? HOPE?!? How can you be hope?"
[I am your personification of Hope. Everyone has a different perception of what Hope is, and I am her for you.]
"I don't understand. Why are you here?"
[All so confusing. So many questions for one so young.] The girl leant forward and gently ran her finger down his cheek. [The main reason why I am here is……..]
"Yes….?"
She leant forward even more and her hair brushed past his cheek, its long, pale strands gliding smoothly past. Ardeth shivered as he caught her scent, a pallid washed-out flowery smell……a smell of lilies and ice roses. [The main reason I am here, is to give you my gift.]
"Y-your gift?" Ardeth's throat constricted, he could feel her every breath on his neck.
[Yes.]
His trembling was more marked, her hair shifting with her every breath, tickling his cheek. "W-what is your g-gift?"
[Myself.]
Ardeth's heart stopped and he drew his breath in sharply and turned to face her. She smiled gently at him, leaned forward and softly placed her lips on his. The kiss was fleeting and soft, almost like a figment of his imagination. Her lips were cold yet warm, her touch sending shivers down his spine. She pulled back and placed her hand on his cheek.
[Never lose Hope, Ardeth, son of the Med-Jai.] Fluently, she stood up and stepped back, her image fading with every passing second.
"No! Come back! Don't leave me!" Ardeth started panicking as her outline faded even more.
[I will never leave you. I am you. The rest is up to you.]
With a start, Ardeth jolted into his awareness and frantically blinked his eyes, willing them to adjust to the dimness. For a couple of seconds, disorientation took over and the boy anxiously tried to work out where he was.
He turned his head as he saw a movement in his peripheral vision, and the dark shadow that he thought he had seen morphed back into it's surroundings. For a second he panicked, thinking that his dark mage had come back to haunt him but then his dreaming in meditation came back to him.
Ardeth shook his head slowly, thinking over the strange events. He grinned suddenly. He had finally achieved the deep meditation that him and his parents had tried to teach him, but it had only come to him under these conditions. Was that why he was here?
And the image that had come to him. His personification of Hope. Whether his mind had subconsciously or consciously made up the image, it's message had been true.
He had been wallowing in his self-pity and he had been allowing despair to overtake him. If he wished to survive through this ordeal unscathed, then he must remember hope, pull himself together and push his way through. He was the future leader of the Med-Jai for Allah's sake! When he would be chief, surely there would be trials and ordeals far worse then this. Allah was more then likely just testing his performance to see if he would, indeed, make a good chief. His father had taught him since he had been born, and he WOULD NOT fail his father….nor his mother, nor his whole clan.
They would expect and need their future leader to stay strong, and that's what Ardeth would do.
Well, it seems that deep meditation does offer some answers…….sometimes, Ardeth surmised as he slowly stood up and stretched his long arms above his head.
Once again, he thought he could see a shadowy figure stalking him in the corner of his eye, and Ardeth grimaced. He needed to find his centre. He needed to do something that would help balance him and banish his fears. He needed to……to……
Ardeth searched his surrounding and grinned suddenly as he surveyed the warriors asleep around him. They had been assigned there to guard him, but as most of the warriors here, they had gotten their hands on some alcohol from somewhere, and they had fallen into their drunken stupor as soon as the moon had risen in the night sky.
But what interested Ardeth were the guards scimitars lying useless by their sides.
Of course! The Sabre Dance! The warriors back in his home-village had always used and sworn by the Sabre Dance as a physical way of meditation and a wonderful way to centre and calm oneself.
Even though his beating had only been days ago, the wounds were healing well and after all the ointment, bandages and care that the village healer had shown the boy and his wounds, they hardly bothered the teenager anymore. The beating had been performed to cause pain and to dissuade him from attempting escape again, not to permanently harm.
Ardeth gingerly stepped forward, making sure that the chain around his ankle didn't clink, and therefore making sure the guards stayed asleep. When they showed to signs of movement, he crept closer with more confidence until he was only mere centimetres away from their sabres. Still the guard showed no signs of movement.
Ardeth could feel himself sweating, his fingers were shaking as they cautiously grasped the hilt of the blade. For a split second, he considered slitting his guard's throats and making another run for it, but no matter what they had done to him, that was just not honourable. It just wasn't right to kill a sleeping man. It was just too easy! Not to mention that he would not break the promise he had made to Zen.
No matter what the enemy has done to you, never sink to their level, Ardeth remembered the phrase his father had told him with clarity. If only someone had told this tribe that piece of advice, Ardeth smirked grimly.
Ardeth repeated his silent pick pocketing until he was in control of two scimitars.
He, like all the males in the village had been taught the steps and moves of the Sabre Dance, but he had not perfected the steps, and the dance itself was considered slightly dangerous. If there was a small lapse in concentration, it could result with a dropped blade which could then lead to disastrous consequences. Ardeth could vaguely remember, once when he was a very young child, someone had dropped a blade while doing the Dance and the falling blade had ripped open the artery in his leg, and the man had bled to death. The man had been around 35, indicating that the Dance was dangerous no matter how old you were.
Ardeth himself had never performed the Dance by himself. He had always had someone to watch over him, to tell him, correct him if he did something wrong. And Ardeth had never used proper weapons before. He had started using sticks, then moved onto slightly sharpened sticks, then onto blunt swords. He carried faintly visible scars of his mistakes.
Ardeth stepped forward but then cursed as he felt the familiar heaviness of the shackle around his ankle. If he wanted to perform the Dance, the shackle would have to go. Ardeth paled as he thought of what might happen, if he tried to do the Dance with a restraint on his leg.
The boy knelt down and concentrating fiercely, he slid the tip of the blade into the catch of the shackle. Silence, he needed silence still. With great effort he pushed down on the hilt, forcing the blade to cut through the catch, and yet, keep the noise to a minimum. There was a faint groan as the rusty metal protested against the pressure, and Ardeth squeezed his eyes shut to ease the pain, as the shackle shifted position, and in accordance to reaction laws, dug up into his skin as he pushed down with ever-increasing force.
Then with a quiet snip, the shackle dropped off and Ardeth released the deep breath that he had not even realised he had been holding. Still kneeling, the boy bent his head and breathing deeply yet silently, he ran his hand down his leg to his ankle, to feel the damage that the shackle had caused to the tender skin.
His hands came away wet with blood but gentle probing showed that nothing serious had happened, and the shackle had only cut superficially into the boy's ankle, thus the blood explained.
Ardeth stepped forward, testing out his new-found freedom and none-the-less was surprised when he felt cool air brush past his ankle, long used to the foreign, heavy metal of the shackle. Testing it's strength, he put all his weight on the ankle and was pleased to see that it could easily hold all his weight. Experimentally, he swung a sword around, pivoting on the once-chained ankle and was pleased to hear the quiet hum of the blade slicing through the sky.
Once again, he saw the black mage out of the corner of his eye, but instead of ignoring it like normal, he grinned and thought, "You shall haunt me no longer."
Then closing his eyes, he slowly swung the swords and stepped gently forward, feeling their weight and equilibrium. Despite their apparent old-age, they were good swords, well made and well balanced. He need not worry about treacherous stability.
Ardeth concentrated even further and warmed up for the first sequence of the dance. He ran through the steps and swings in his mind, remembering how one led to the other, how the steps wove a pattern themselves, intricate yet simple, uncomplicated yet complex. The dance told a story, each story different and meaningful to each dancer. A dancer bent the dance to tell their own story, the dancer developed their own steps, their own moves to show their own personal meaning.
Ardeth had only watched one complete dance before, and had been entranced by the beauty, anger, passion and rage that it had contained. But of course, the next time the dance was danced, it would be different. They never stayed the same.
Ardeth wasn't even conscious of what he was doing, all he knew was that he had never been at peace within himself……..until now.
Ardeth stepped forward and pivoted on his foot, swinging the blades low, and letting them skim over the sand, making a soft low humming noise. He then slowly straightened up, twirling the blade slowly and moving it through a flurry of fluid movements that appeared mesmerising to the untrained eye and intricately difficult to the trained eye. He stabbed the blade forward and then in a quick, unexpected movement, did a backflip which he stumbled on the landing but still managed to keep his footwork going through the paces that he had already planned.
The dance was hard on the body and Ardeth could feel his muscles straining as they tried to keep up the tension on the swords and keep the movement going without letting the momentum take control and get sword meeting sword, or even worse, sword meeting flesh.
Ardeth cursed as he felt a sword slip slightly and this resulted in a slight nick to his forearm as it passed over lower then expected. The minor flesh wound started bleeding but instead of stopping like he would've been made to, Ardeth gritted his teeth and continued. He knew the rule that had been drilled into him - small wounds can lead to larger wounds – but he ignored it.
Deal with it and dance, Ardeth grinned grimly and altered the dance slightly, but still the movements were fluid and graceful, gently placing one foot in front of the other in perilous positions, putting enormous strain on his ankles and calves, Ardeth wove the blades backwards and forwards, inserting flips and almost ballet style dance moves.
Ardeth danced the dance of his recent life. He danced his fear, his pain, his love and his passion for life. His footwork showed his determination and his strength, while his swordplay showed his courage and fear. Expressions flitted across the boy's face, ranging from contempt to abject terror. Tears flowed down his cheeks and several times a sword actually sliced one in half on it's journey and the, now, two teardrops continued on their journey to the sands.
Ardeth was not even aware of how much time had passed but before he knew it, the sun was rising in the East, bathing his straining and sweating body in a golden glow.
Ardeth grimaced as he realised that he had to finish the dance, and thought briefly on how to finish. Giving into his inner self, he closed his eyes, stepped forward on his left leg, did several very complicated moves with his swords in front of him, then went straight into a back flip, before landing spinning around and ending up panting on his knees with his swords crossed over his chest, the intersection placed right over his heart.
Ardeth opened his eyes and looked into the glorious sunset and just knew, that he was going to get through this. He had never felt so calm. So at peace. So wise and so serious.
He was going to survive this.
He had just completed his very first Sabre Dance! Given time and experience, the steps would alter and tell a different story, become even more intricate and delicate, but Ardeth Bay had completed his first Sabre Dance. One of the deepest types of battle meditation.
Ardeth Bay had indeed come of age. His captive stay was giving him knowledge, seriousness and wisdom. He would live to see the end of this. His father, Hashim, would be so proud!
Ardeth couldn't stop smiling even when the guards had woken up, angry at finding themselves swordless with a free prisoner. Ardeth had not stopped smiling even when they had struck him down to the ground and taken their swords back. He had not even stopped smiling when they had sent him away to be punished.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, could steal the Med-Jai teenager's moment of pure, undulated joy.
For Ardeth Bay, had danced his first Sabre Dance and had indeed become a Med-Jai warrior.
****Ardeth's punishment never came as the Med-Jai warriors arrived at the wadi earlier then expected. However, the Sami-Nhir were ready and the ambush had taken place as planned.
Many of the Med-Jai had fallen in the ambush but the ones that were left, fought viciously, trying to avenge their dead comrades and retrieve their beloved little leader. However, the Sami-Nhir fought back just as viciously, trying to avenge their beloved deceased.
It was turning out as Mikail had predicted, at the rate they were going, both tribes were going to kill each other. If the battle continued the way that it was going, then there would be no winner.
****Please leave me a review and tell me what you think!
