Chapter 33: A Father's Love.
Sela eleth's head felt like it had a thousand mini kiande amedha scrambling around screeching inside it, but eventually she was able to force her eyes to open and she waited for them to actually focus to survey her surroundings, she appeared to be laid on some sort of straw mat in what appeared to be a cave of some kind, she tried to move to take a look around but she couldn't manage more than to twist her head around, it took her a few seconds to realize that both her wrists and her legs were bound together, that's when the memories of being hit with the stun weapon after surviving the Arbiter's parting shot came flooding back to her, she remembered the pain and her muscles spasming out of control as the small darts hit her in the chest.
Turning her head to try and look around herself she noticed that her hunting mask had been removed from her face as her night vision was nearly nonexistent, if wasn't for a couple of small candles burning on a ledge off to her left there would have been next to no light in here what so ever, that's when she noticed that there was someone sat watching her from the shadows directly next to the small candles.
The shadowed figure noticed she was awake and stood up but they stayed in the shadows just out of her sight, "Looks like our friend is finally awake" the person said in a distinctly masculine voice, but it wasn't that that caught Sela's attention, it was the fact the person spoke in perfect ooman.
Suddenly she heard a series of footsteps coming closer to her from behind her where she couldn't see because of her restraints, then a set of boots came around her from her left and stood directly in front of her, because she was bound on her front she wasn't able to look directly up and see the person's face, "Never seen one of these things go down so easily from a Taser hit before, mind you now that I think about it I've never seen one this small before either" the second voice said, this one sounded much more feminine than the other one,
"Given its shape I'd say it's female but I was always led to believe that the females were much bigger than the males" the male voice said without moving from the shadows,
"Must be a young one or something, maybe some of these sick fucks bring their kids along with them when they hunt, you know like a day trip to the fucking zoo to see the fucking wildlife?" the female said with obvious venom in her voice,
"Will you two pipe down? You get any louder and you're gonna give away our position" a third voice said from somewhere off to Sela's right, this one was most definitely male by how deep and gruff it was,
"Sorry boss" the male in the shadows said,
"Sorry boss but you know how angry these things make me" the female said,
"They make us all mad Angel but the last thing we need is this thing's parents hearing us and bursting in here shooting the place up" the third male said,
"So now we have it what are we going to do with it boss?" the male in the shadows asked,
"Simple we're going to get as much intel as we can from it, maybe it has a ship we can use or maybe we can use it as a bargaining chip to get the fuck off this rock" the other male said, then he walked around in front of Sela and bent down to get a good look at her, he was about her father's age, dressed in the same military fatigues that her Matriarch had described to her from when she'd first met him, his hair was a kind of sandy yellow and his square jaw was pocked with a verity of small scars, but by far the worst thing about him were his eyes, his eyes were just two dark balls of pure hate and it was directed at her.
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Jack got a distinct feeling of both nostalgia and familiarity with the jungle he now ran through, the all too familiar plants and trees he passed by at high speed like a whirlwind of color with a bleakness thrown in to it, the familiar humidity making him sweat underneath his armor as he ran, he jumped over roots and tufts that were exposed from the ground as he followed a game trail through the trees, just above the ground hovered a green and yellow swirling smoke like trail, it had appeared shortly after he'd appealed to the spirits for aid in finding Sela eleth.
As he ran he found himself wondering about the humans that had taken his daughter captive, his first concern was that she was ok and unhurt and he swore to himself that if they had brought any harm to her human or not he would extract a painful vengeance, but he found himself wondering how they'd got here, were they survivors like him? Or were they something else? Whatever they were they were talented at leaving no sign, while they'd left plenty at the abduction site, here there was nothing, no boot prints, so snapped twigs or disturbed plants, no nothing.
In fact, if it wasn't for Jack's Dream Warrior senses there would have been nothing for him to follow at all, this is what led him to believe that they were indeed survivors of the bad blood abductions, he knew that he wasn't the only one they'd taken obviously by the trail of dead humans that Tik had found while they'd both been trapped here, they had obviously learned that to survive here you had to be completely invisible, there was no sign or marks which given that they were carrying an unconscious girl with them while they moved was rather impressive, Jack found himself rather impressed with their skills as a whole given that he knew that surviving here was no mean feat and he'd had the aid and assistance of a full blooded Yaujta huntress while he'd been here.
He found himself wondering how long they had been here? Were they here when he'd been dropped in or had they come after him? The evidence he'd seen when he'd been on the clan ship that he and Tik had destroyed had shown him that this bad blood clan had been doing this for a very long time throughout human history, that then got him wondering if they had been responsible for any of the famous disappearances throughout human history, he already knew that they'd taken Perseus who he'd always believed was a Greek myth and legend, but the katana sword that he'd found on the clan ship had turned out to be no ordinary sword, it was the personal sword of the Greek legend.
Jack had no idea how a Japanese style katana sword had become the personal weapon of a Greek hero but it had and it was seriously powerful in the right hands, it gave the user the confidence required to get the job done, it had definitely been designed for a Dream Warrior as it always knew the heart of the one who wielded it, which is exactly why he'd chosen to give it to Shena Black Crest, the second he'd seen her he'd seen the pure white fire of her aura swirling around her and he'd known her heart and the moment he touched her, he'd seen the determination she had to prove herself plus her desperation to be accepted for who she was, this was a struggle that reminded him so much of Tik's own struggle and he felt the same sympathy for her that he'd felt for the woman he loved, he'd figured that by placing this legendary weapon in her hands that although she wasn't a fellow Dream Warrior that her heart would be pure enough for the sword to accept her as its owner, turned out he was bang on the money and it had bonded with her, hopefully this would give her the confidence she needed to get the job done and to get Ryan back and to also deal with Tik when she went into full on mama bear rampage mode which when she caught up with the Arbiter.
The thought of what was in store for that poor Arbiter that had taken Ryan when Tik caught up with him made Jack smile, he knew that when it came to her cubs Tik eleth was a force of nature and just like a force of nature you didn't fuck with them, if she let him live Jack didn't think he'd be judging anyone any time soon.
A large ridge caught Jack's attention off to his right as he ran, the view was absolutely spectacular, from where he was he could see over into the jungle for miles and with the sun over the canopy it was showing off all the amazing colors of the trees and plants creating a living rainbow below him that shimmered in the humidity and heat haze, it was at that point he noticed just where the trail he was following was taking him and he stopped, the long smoke like trail was winding itself through the jungle but it was easily visible to him from up here, it led right through the jungle to what appeared to be a large cliff off to the left, Jack noticed that the smoke was leading up the cliff face to a point where it just seemed to stop and disappear, so Jack took his rifle from his shoulder and picking a spot on the cliff he laid down and set up to observe where the trail stopped.
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"So I'm going to assume that you can understand what I am saying to you" the scarred male ooman who was obviously the leader of the group said kneeling down in front of Sela eleth, his accent sounded very similar to her father's, she debated with herself on whether it would be wise to answer him or not,
"I asked you a fucking question" the man growled in his low menacing voice, she decided it couldn't do her any harm to speak to them, it wasn't like she could actually tell them anything anyway,
"Yes I understand you perfectly" she replied in a quiet voice, this caused both his eye brows to shoot up on his head in surprise,
"Holy shit her English is better than yours Cortez" Angel said from her left in a surprised voice,
"Fuck you Angel" the male called Cortez replied from the shadows,
"Well that's going to make things easier, but then we have seen these things mimic human speech in their traps before" the leader said I his gravelly voice, being referred to as a thing caused Sela eleth's anger to flash,
"I am not a pauking thing! My name is Sela eleth proud full blooded huntress of the clan Mason" she yelled at him while writhing trying to break free of her restraints, Angel snorted from behind their leader,
"Looks like you struck a nerve there boss, guess she doesn't like being called names, did it hurt your itty bitty feelings crab face?" she said in a scornful voice, Sela eleth growled she was really starting to dislike this female,
"Pipe down Angel" the boss said glancing over his shoulder at the female ooman, she just snorted again and walked off a little way over to where the male called Cortez was stood, the leader refocused his attention on Sela eleth but this time his eyes had changed, instead of just the pure hate that had imbued them only moments ago now there was hint of curiosity in them as well, "Well Sela eleth do you know why you're still alive and why we didn't just kill you when we found you?" he asked in a low voice,
"You want me to aid you in getting off this planet" she replied looking at him, he nodded slowly,
"That's right, you're going to show us exactly where your kind keeps their ships hidden on this fucking rock, then you are going to have the same joy that we had as you watch us fly off into the fucking sunset and leave your ass here to die" he said,
"I can't show you where the ships are" she replied, his face contorted into a snarl,
"It wasn't a request, you are going to show us where the ships are hidden or I'm going to let Angel here skin you alive like your kind has done to so many of mine" he growled, suddenly the anger that Sela eleth had been feeling was replaced by a distinct feeling of sadness, she realized that these oomans had been brought here against their will to be hunted just like she had,
"I can't show you because I don't know, I was brought here too, I was thrown out of a ship and left here to be hunted like a pauking animal by the pauking bad bloods the same as you" she said in a quiet voice,
"Fucking liar you are one of them!" Angel suddenly yelled jumping forwards like she was going to land a blow on the tied up girl, the leader held up a hand in front of her to stop her forward charge and she started grumbling to herself,
"Bad bloods? What are they?" the leader asked,
"They are scum, Yaujta criminals that have no respect for the laws and customs of their people, they care nothing for honor or fairness only for glory and what they can take" she spat with real venom in her voice, it was enough to catch the leader's attention,
"Yaujta is that the name of your race?" he asked, Sela eleth nodded,
"Although I am not a full blood Yaujta, I am a half blood" she replied, Angel got frustrated again,
"Boss why are you listening to this shit? She'd just distracting you, let me at her for five fucking minutes and I'll get her to tell us where they keep the fucking ships!" she yelled, this time the leader stood up and turned around,
"Do you not fucking get it Angel!? The more we know the better our chances of surviving this fucking nightmare! All intel is fucking good intel, never over look any detail no matter how small it is" he said, Angel snorted at him again,
"That fucking SAS mentor of yours teach you that as well?" she asked, this time the leader's reaction was a bit more extreme, he spun around with lightning speed and put a knife to her throat in a spilt second, this caused Angel's eyes to nearly pop out of her head in shock, this was the first time that Sela eleth got a good look at the female, she was about six foot tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, she would have been rather pretty except for the scar that ran right through her right cheek and over her right eye,
"Don't you ever bad mouth him in front of me understand? That man was the best soldier I have ever known, he killed more Taliban and terrorists on his own than every one of us times five" he said in a very low very dangerous growl,
"So where is he now then huh?" Angel replied in a choked voice, the leader seemed to sag under the weight of that question,
"I wish I knew, he went into the jungle one day hunting some Cartel drug lord, got the fucker but just disappeared without a trace, maybe he had enough and just walked off into the jungle, or maybe they got him before he was able to get away, who knows? But that doesn't change the fact that Jack Mason was the best sniper have ever known and the best friend a man could ask for, the man taught me everything I know" he said in a very weary voice, that last part caused Sela eleth's heart to skip a few beats, could he really be talking about her beloved father?
The leader released Angel from his grip and turned back to Sela eleth and kneeled back down in front of her, her mind was racing at a million miles an hour now, she knew it wasn't smart and she knew that the chances of him believing her was slim, but if the person that he was talking about was indeed her father than this was her chance to maybe get out of this without being harmed, "He didn't disappear and he wasn't killed" she said quietly, the leader's eyes locked on to her and she saw anger building in them,
"What did you say?" he asked in a low menacing tone,
"I said he didn't walk off into the jungle and he wasn't killed, he was taken by the bad bloods to be hunted, just like all of us" she said, the leader flashed forwards with amazing speed and grabbed Sela's face with a painfully tight grip, he yanked her head up and placed his knife to her throat,
"How the fuck could you know who the hell I'm talking about? And I suggest choosing your answer very carefully or you might find yourself minus a few of those things on your face very shortly" he said with his voice full of venom, Sela took a deep breath, well as deep a breath as she could take with his hand clamped round her throat,
"You are talking about Jack Mason, ooman master sniper from the twenty second Special Air Service regiment of the UK" she said in a choked voice, the details seemed to intrigue him,
"How could you possibly know that?" he spat in a low voice squeezing harder on her throat, Sela winced in pain,
"Because he's my father" she managed to say through gasps of air.
The startled ooman leader released her and she dropped back onto the floor banging her head painfully as she did, "That's not fucking possible! You're a fucking alien there's no fucking way that you are Jack Mason's daughter! He's fucking dead!" he yelled stepping back from her, then the rage over came him again and he flew forwards and dragged her up right holding her off the ground by her throat and chest straps, "No, you're trying to play with my fucking head just like all of your kind do, with those imitation traps of yours, this is just another one of your tricks!" he yelled then he pulled the knife up and showed that he was going to cut off one of her mandibles, Sela's heart was pounding in her chest like a hammer on an anvil, her mind was racing as this crazy ooman was about to maim her, then a thought hit her like a lightening flash,
"My eyes!" she screamed before he was able to cut into her flesh, the ooman stopped and looked at her curiously,
"What did you say?" he asked,
"My eyes look at my eyes" she said in a pleading voice, the ooman looked confused but he stopped what he was doing, then he motioned with his knife hand to one of the others for them to bring a light over to him, the male called Cortez pulled a candle free and brought it over, the leader took it and held it up to Sela's face and immediately his face froze.
"Boss?" Cortez asked from his side,
"I'd recognize those eyes anywhere" he said quietly in a voice that was in total an utter shock and disbelief at what he was seeing,
"That's not possible boss and you know it! She's a fucking alien! She's just trying to get inside your head again and if you can't fucking see that then I guess I'm going to have to do it!" Angel yelled and rushed forwards with her knife drawn, the leader turned and as he did he dropped Sela eleth painfully to the ground, he raised his knife to defend against Angel's rush attack but she never reached him, before she was able to get half way a long black dart appeared in the side of her neck and she slammed face first into the ground and slid along the floor on her face, "What the fuck I can't fucking move!" she yelled, the leader looked up in confusion and as he did he saw a figure move through the shadows behind Cortez,
"Cortez behind you!" he yelled before looking down and trying to draw his pistol from his holster but he was too late, as he looked back up Cortez was slumped on the floor and he found himself looking right at a very close up view of a very sharp blade only millimeters from his face,
"Wouldn't do that if I was you" a very familiar voice said, the man froze solid, the figure circled around him keeping the blade right in front of his face till he stepped out into the light of the candle, he was dressed in all white and looked like one of the hunters but at the same time different somehow,
"I-I-I-It can't be!" the leader exclaimed, suddenly Sela eleth saw the figure too and she also recognized the voice,
"Father!" she yelled from the floor desperately trying to free herself and at the same time trying to move towards him while going a very good impression of a Yaujta caterpillar, the man reached up with his free hand and pulled his mask from his face, revealing the face of the man that he'd never thought he was never going to see again, the leader collapsed to his knees in shock and disbelief as Jack Mason the man that had taught him everything he knew stood before him dressed in Alien armor holding a sword,
"So Millar, are you going to cut my daughter free or am I going to have to kick your arse and do it myself?" Jack asked in a half serious half joking voice, without a word Millar turned and cut the ropes restraining Sela eleth at the top and bottom, she quickly kicked herself free of them and was on her feet like a shot knocking Miller over in the process, as he watched from the floor she'd run the entire length of the room and thrown herself into Jack's outstretched arms, he instantly dropped the sword and threw his arms around the crying young Yaujta girl, "Shhhh now, it's ok now baby, daddy's here you're safe now" he said in a soothing voice as his beloved daughter sobbed her young heart out into his chest with sheer happiness at being reunited with him,
"I knew you'd come for us" she said through the sobs into his chest as she clung to him like her life depended on it, Jack stroked the back of his beloved daughter's head, taking massive relief in feeling her soft hair once again,
"And I always will baby" he said feeling tears of his own welling up at the happiness that he had been reunited with his beloved daughter and the sheer relief that she appeared to be unharmed. After she'd finished crying Jack dried his daughter's eyes and she smiled at him happily, then slowly he released her and turned to Millar who was sat on the floor watching this emotional father daughter reunion in stunned silence, "I think we have a fair bit to talk about" he said, Millar simply nodded in a dumb founded silence, his brain was still struggling to comprehend what he'd just witnessed, but he got the distinct feeling that this was about to get even harder to understand, Jack walked towards him and outstretched a hand to him, he took it and was pulled instantly to his feet, "So let's get to it then shall we?" Jack said.