9 comments/ 5329 views/ 6 favorites Dark Arrow Ch. 04 By: DarkTerra Greetings again everyone. First things first thank you all for your wonderful feedback, it was greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy this next installment as well. As with many stories this series will span multiple types of sex and could fit into several categories. Because it is set in a futuristic world however the chapters will all be posted here (or such is my plan anyway). Those who have read my first three chapters know that there is already a strong D/s leaning in the relationship sexually. I know some of you have expressed concern about that and how it will impact the relationship between them. All I can say is please trust me on this. There is a story and a direction to these submissions, and while all parts won't please everyone I believe the end result will be satisfying for all Secondly I want to advise you all that this chapter is a bit shorter than my last submission and a little light on the action side of things. This particular chapter is all about backstory for Erillia and setting the stage for upcoming chapters. I had time to crank this one out during break, so I have done so and am leaving it at the logical stopping place in the tale. Future chapters will likely come in pairs or more and will take me longer to get out as school ramps back up. I have also found an editor and am extremely greatful for all the help with this work. Anja I cannot thank you enough for taking on this project. That being said there is one thing I need to add, and that is a caveat for this chapter. Normally I would like my readers to be surprised by what I post, and to discover things for themselves. However I feel I would be remiss if I did not issue this warning. This particular chapter contains a scene with Erillia reliving her rape. It is not the only sex in this chapter, but it does dominate the first third of the chapter. If you are not into nonconsent I hope this does not offend you. It is part of the character's story, and I feel it is needed to expand the character development. If you are so offended by such writing as to be adamant in not reading it I suggest skipping the first two pages. The scene is over by page 3, and in fact, ends part way through page 2 for those looking to skip it. However should you do so, be aware that you are missing plot and character development and that some incidents that occur will be referenced later Again thank you for your feedback, and I hope you enjoy chapter 4. Sincerely ~ Dark Terra ========================== Chapter 4 Erillia stirred and grumbled as she readjusted and tried to go back to sleep. She'd been having a wonderful dream, and she wasn't ready to give it up and rejoin the waking world. She'd dreamt of feeling safe, of being somewhere she belonged. She wasn't sure where it was, but the warmth of the feeling left her feeling raw as she started to waken. So, despite that fact that she knew she'd slept far longer than she was accustomed to, she fought to return to that dream. Only the bloody cat kept licking her, nuzzling about between her legs. Her eyes flew open suddenly as she remembered one very important fact. She didn't have a cat at all, and certainly didn't have one here at her cabin. Starting up she found she was quickly stopped by a pair of handcuffs that were looped around the rail of her headboard. Her forward momentum arrested she flopped back on the bed, and glanced in horror at the shock of black hair just barely visible between her legs. Then the head moved and a face she tried to banish from her mind rose before her. "You thought you could get away from me did you," she heard him say in that lush tenor that had once made her weak in the knees. Memories flooded through her, and her adrenaline kicked in full force as he rose above her. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not after all these years. How was he still alive! Those brown eyes that had haunted her nightmares for so long laughed at her now out of his narrow face. His features were slight, almost effeminate, and his pointed chin and thin lips did little to change that image. For the life of her, she couldn't remember now why he had been considered so handsome. His chest and torso covered her as he moved up and placed a swift kiss on her forehead. When he moved back however he made the mistake of allowing enough space between their bodies for her to get a leg free. She brought what force she could muster to bare, and felt her shin make solid contact with his balls. He grimaced, and let out a shout of indignation and pain as he reared back away from the offending leg. Though in doing so he gave her enough room to switch targets, and she capitalized with a vengeance. He was still moaning from the first blow when her foot connected with his chest, cracking ribs and driving the air from him in a wheezing rush. The force of the kick was enough to throw him backwards, and she was grimly pleased to see him stumble and crack his head into the wall. To be honest she expected him to go down from the blow, but he righted himself far too quickly for her taste. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs he advanced on her again. "What the bloody hell do you think you're playing at Erillia," He snarled as he reached for her again. She could feel the blood pounding in her temples, and knew she was practically hyperventilating at this point. The smart thing to do would be to calm herself down and approach the situation through tactics, but there was something about the sneer on his face that sent shivers down her spine. He deflected another kick aimed for his ribs, and frowned at her. While he held her one foot prisoner she twisted for all she was worth and brought her free leg crashing into his skull. Pain shot through her foot. It was so intense she couldn't stifle a yelp and squeezed her eyes shut, quickly biting her lip to stop any further outbursts. She soon realized that it was a wasted effort. By the time she had refocused her vision he had dropped her leg and was swaying drunkenly as he reached for the bed. She snapped another kick off directly to his face, and was rewarded with the sight of blood streaming from his nose as he collapsed backwards groaning. "Fuck you Leo, you sorry bastard!" she shouted. "One tied up girl too much for you?" He only groaned in response. "That's right. I'm not drugged and clueless this time. This time you're going to have to fight me." She tugged furiously at the cuffs, but she had made this bed. The wood was strong and in good condition, giving her little hope that she'd be able to break free easily. She glanced frantically around, expecting to see others coming to her attacker's aid. "Where are your buddies you lip dick mother fucker?" she hissed as she struggled with the cuffs. "I thought you got off on watching more than you did on actually fucking me. Who'd you get this time? I bet it was hard to find people willing to play with you after your last party ended up with all your friends dead. So how did you survive, huh? Tell me how, you fucking asshole! I know I shot you. You should be fucking dead right now." Her eyes frantically roved the cabin, expecting to see someone rush in any second to help Leo. She wasn't sure she could take whoever he'd brought with him, but she'd be damned if she was just going to lay there and be raped a second time. If she could just get the right angle she could twist around and use her feet to kick through the board. The moans from the floor had died down though, so she was running out of time. She rolled up over her shoulder, frantically trying to kick the rail that the cuffs were looped around. "Erillia, close your eyes!" His voice thundered out from the floor. She gasped as that voice washed over her, and to her consternation she relaxed slightly and her eyes slid shut. "Good girl." A thrill shot through her at the endearment, and something about the situation tickled in the back of her mind. This was wrong. She would never roll over and listen to Leo's orders. Even before they were married she had been too strong willed and independent for his tastes, and he'd told her as much with glee as his friends raped her. So why now was her body taut as her bowstring; waiting to see what he'd ask of her next? Why was she laying here with her eyes closed when she should be trying to escape? Had he drugged her? Was that why she was so willing to obey his order? She was running out of time to figure this out. She could fight her instinct to do what he asked her, but even a moment's hesitation could be fatal here. She was going to have to completely shake off her urge to listen to his commands, but for some reason the idea of doing so didn't sit well with her. There was a groan from the floor, and she heard him lever himself up. She shivered and her eyes started to crack open, knowing she'd wasted an opportunity to escape. "Don't!" His voice washed over her again, and her eyes snapped back closed. "I am sorry little one. I'm not sure what happened, but I need you to just relax and listen to my voice." She shuddered as he spoke. There was something off about this. Leo didn't talk like that, and he had never apologized to her in his life. "Shhhhh little one, just breath. It's me, Ren. Keep your eyes closed, and just listen to the sound of my voice. Work your way back. Remember Bicormish. Remember how we had to get out of the city." At the mention of Bicormish's name images and memories flooded back through her. Nathan Bicormish, steel mogul and her first high profile assassination contract, but what did that have to do with now. She replayed the job. The failed first attempt, and then her brazen attack behind the police line. That's right. Someone had interfered, and then... She gasped as memory flooded back. Ren had stopped her first attack, and then knocked her out and hauled her off to his safe house. Only to drag her along with him on a mad plan to escape over the wall. It was mad, except... They'd made it! They'd gotten over the wall, and then evaded the police search despite her damn near breaking her ankle. And then... then she'd made a bet with him, just as he'd made a bet with her while they hid in the sewers waiting for nightfall. She'd bet him he couldn't catch her before she reached the cabin, and she'd offered herself up as the prize. He had caught her, and her body twitched as her pussy spasmed remembering just how thorough he'd been in claiming his prize. She was his for the next month, and she had looked forward to every second of it yesterday. A slight sob escaped her lips as the last of the pieces clicked into place. "Oh god Ren..." She broke off with a choked cry, as she started to shake and the tears fell freely from her eyes. "Shhh little one," he murmured. "It's ok. There's no permanent damage done. I'm going to let your hands free now though, are you back with me?" She nodded, not trusting herself to open her eyes yet. She felt him lean over her, and after a second her hands came free. She rubbed her wrists reflexively as she fought to calm down. It was Ren here with her, not Leo. She had to remember that, because if she didn't... Well the consequences of her freaking out again didn't really bear thinking about. Slowly she opened her eyes, and glanced around. The sheets on the bed were in disarray, but surprisingly nothing else gave away that there had been a vicious struggle in here moments ago. Then she glanced at the floor. The rug she had gone to such lengths to procure was kicked off to the side of the room. Her first reaction was anger that her prized possession in the cabin had been tossed around like that, but a second later she noticed the blood. She remembered kicking Leo in the face, and seeing his nose began to bleed. Not Leo, she shook her head to clear the image. It wasn't Leo here with her, it was Ren. Oh god... that meant it was Ren's blood. She'd done those things to him. She shuddered and a sob was wrenched from her. God, how could she have been so stupid. Her eyes rose from the floor, tracing up his body to rest on his face. Those green eyes captured her like they had before. They pulled her into them like they had their own gravitational field, one which she had yet to be able to escape. He smiled at her, and she nearly lost it. Those full lips, and square chin set into his rugged and weathered face bore no resemblance to Leo. The only part of him that at all correlated was his black hair. She opened her mouth to apologize again, not that she really knew how one apologized for beating the tar out of a lover you just invited into your bed a few days ago. Before she could get a word out he pressed a finger to her lips. She repressed a shudder as she remembered the last time he'd held his fingers to her mouth, dripping with her juices, and how she'd sucked them clean. God what was wrong with her! How could she not remember that it was Ren in her bed and not Leo? "Stop beating yourself up over this little one. It happened, and I learned a valuable lesson. I should have been more cautious waking you up like that. You are, after all, one of the best assassins in Terra, and the only one that has ever bested me." His dark bass tones rumbled through the room. She licked her lips, which had gone as dry as a bone, and sat up. "Where's my bow?" She asked softly, scanning the room for her weapons. She'd assumed it was in the other room, but then he swore under his breath. "What did you do with it?" she asked alarmed, starting to feel panic setting back in. That bow was more to her than just a weapon. She didn't think she could adequately explain just how much it meant to her, but the thought of it being lost had her ready to climb the walls. He glanced at her, seeing her control balanced on the razor's edge and swore softly again. "Easy Erillia, it's not lost." She relaxed slightly at his reassurance, but remained keyed up as he retrieved his clothes from the far side of the room. "With what happened after I caught you I wasn't exactly thinking clearly. I scooped you up and brought you in here after we were done and you passed out, but I forgot about your bow completely. It's been outside overnight, which to someone like you I'm sure is a cardinal sin." He was right. Her terror over the loss of her weapons turned to righteous anger in an instant. "You left my bow outside! In the fucking grass!" she screamed with a force and pitch even she didn't know she was capable of. He grimaced, but merely nodded his head as he began pulling on his shoes. "What the fuck were you thinking?" she bellowed at him. He didn't answer right away. Instead he finished securing his boots before turning to face her. "I was thinking," he said in a husky voice, "that I had the most beautiful woman in the world in my arms. I was thinking how I couldn't believe that I had a whole month to enjoy you, in every way you can possibly imagine. I carried you in here with my cum still leaking from you, and the second I went to put you down you started squirming. You didn't settle down until I lay down with you." She bit back a moan as his words washed over her, igniting a sudden heat in her that disconcerted her. "I'm afraid I probably did not have the proper amount of blood flow to my brain at the time little one," he murmured, holding her gaze with his. "I am sorry, but all I can say truthfully is that your weaponry was the last thing on my mind when I brought you in here." She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as he continued to hold her gaze. "Clothes!" she rasped. He cocked an eyebrow at her and a small smile played across his face. "I'm afraid I was... a bit hard on your clothes. I can get them for you, but I am relatively certain they are beyond saving," he chuckled. She frowned for a moment, before remembering he had cut her clothes from her yesterday. Right before he had spanked her, and then fucked her until she'd practically passed out. She felt heat rush to her face as she blushed at the memories, but pointed to a chest against the far wall. "I keep a few spares here. Accidents happen while hunting. You're not the first animal to cost me a set of clothes" She wanted to groan the moment she said it. The quip was so childish, but it was out before she could stop herself. His eyes widened and she wanted to vanish from sight, but then he burst out laughing. She leveled her most withering glare his direction, but he was doubled over laughing so hard he was wheezing for breath. The laughter was infections. Deep, rich, and smooth, and as it rolled over her she felt some of her tension began to slip away. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and had he kept laughing she had little doubt she would soon have joined him. He regained his composure though and quickly rifling through the chest, he tossed her a pair of pants and a shirt. She muttered curses to herself about not stashing a few bras and panties as well, but until now it had never occurred to her that she might need extras. She'd never encountered a situation where more than her exterior clothes were damaged, so commando it was. She ignored the moisture that had begun to collect in her pussy at the memories of yesterday, and his description of carrying her to bed, and pulled on her pants. When she straightened up he was gone from the room, but before she finished pulling her shirt on he reappeared with her bow and quiver in hand. She reached out and took them from his grasp. Moving to the chest she drew out a cloth and oil that she always kept there. Almost mechanically she took the bow apart and began cleaning the pieces. He sat near her, but didn't offer conversation as she went about her task. She had been worried about the string more than anything, but the titanium weave resisted the moisture and dirt as well as the rest of her bow did. One of the biggest draws with using steel for her bow was that it was relatively impervious to the elements. Unlike a wooden bow she had less fluctuation in performance with steel, and with the new string there would be even fewer issues. She could probably take a shot in near 100% humidity and have no change over a day with almost no humidity. Finally she put the parts aside for a moment, and breathed out a sigh. "Ren, we need to talk about this morning." "No we don't." She glared at him but he held up a hand and continued. "If you want to talk about what happened then I will be glad to, but I'm not going to force you to. I can hazard a guess as to what happened, and that's good enough for me at the moment." She eyed him, as she considered her options. "Are you planning on leaving soon?" She asked softly. He rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest as he pondered her question. Finally he blew out a breath and his shoulders sagged down a bit as he ran his hand over his face and through his hair. "Do you want me out of here Erillia? Is this your way of telling me that?" She opened her mouth to deny that, but snapped it closed as she considered the question. Did she want him out? Her life was so much simpler when she was on her own. She wasn't used to considering someone else's needs and desires. Not to mention she was an assassin, and having ties to people was a liability she could ill afford. By all rights she should have told him yes in an instant. It had been fun, and they had scratched each other's itch, an itch she would have sworn she didn't even have, but now it was time to move on. So if everything logical said she should want him gone, why did she hesitate? More importantly why was her first instinct to do everything she could to keep him with her, even if just for a little while longer. She couldn't explain it, but everything in her screamed that she needed him. Maybe it was just lust and would run its course, but right now she wasn't ready to be done with Ren. If she did the smart thing and let him walk away now she'd just be distracted and end up trying to track him back down. Assuming of course that her preoccupation with that didn't wind up getting her killed first. Dark Arrow Ch. 04 Her mouth opened to try and explain what was going through her head to him. To tell him she wanted him to stay, but that staying was a risk to them both. No matter how she tried though no sound would come out. Finally she gave up the attempt and settled for shaking her head, as her eyes fell to the floor. Her eyes snapped back up as he chuckled. Damn those emerald eyes, she was lost the instant her gaze locked with his. "Ah Erillia," he whispered, "your face is so expressive. I can almost guess exactly what went through your mind just now. We're both used to being loners. Connections are a weakness we can't afford, but as I told you before we're also human. You can't run away from your need for interaction forever, and I'd hazard a guess that right now you're tired of running." She couldn't tear her eyes away, but she felt herself nod slightly. He smiled lopsidedly at her. "Don't worry little one," he husked. "A bet is a bet. You're stuck with me for the next thirty days." She swallowed hard, and gathered the parts of her bow to begin assembling it. Dropping her gaze to her work for a minute she let the silence stretch out as she worked and gathered her thoughts. "If you're going to stick around that long then you do need to hear this." She looked up, and saw him nod his acceptance before he moved to lean against the wall. She took a deep breath and forged ahead. "You already know I was responsible for the southridge murders. You know the basics of what happened, but... clearly it left a deeper mark on me than even I realized." She paused and considered how best to start. "I don't know if telling you this will help, but you're the first to ever know anything about what happened to me and that's the first flashback I've ever had. Maybe if you know the full story it will quit haunting me," she paused and shrugged. "At the very least you'll be prepared and might avoid bleeding all over my floor next time." He laughed, but brought a hand up to gingerly touch his nose. The bleeding had stopped, but there was crusted blood still in evidence. She winced a little bit. Knowing that it had been Ren all along made her feel slightly guilty for the pleasure she'd gotten out of delivering that kick when she thought he was Leo. "I was just turning seventeen, and had been hunting with my dad for seven years when I first met Leo." She shook her head as she thought back. "Life was tough, but it was still worth calling a life. My mother was never really interested in me once she realized I wasn't into the idea of dressing up constantly and trying to attract the attention of someone just a little higher up the social ladder than us. Her idea for my life goals had me fighting to marry someone who was almost respectable. Maybe even get all the way out of the outskirts and then settle in and have as many kids as possible." She shook her head, and concentrated on refitting one of the pins into an arm of her bow. "My dad was different," she muttered. "He wanted me to be able to hunt, fish, and survive without needing a man. When I first took an interest in his hunting I was barely ten, but he was ecstatic. I don't know who taught him, but he was a master of the outdoors. He taught me to track. He taught me how to make a bow, arrows, and string. I learned to judge distance and windage on the fly. My mother couldn't understand it. She harped on me constantly about finding a good guy, or being interested in someone. Then finally I found someone to be interested in, when I met Leo." He saw the tremor in her hands as she fumbled a part, but she paused for a moment and steeled herself once more. "Leo was the one all the girls gossiped about," she said finally. "He was tall and lean and his dark hair and soft features made him look like he fell off the pages of one of those romance stories. He could sweet talk a bird right out of the air too. I knew enough to know it was all silver tongued flattery, but it was still hard to resist him." She shook her head and snorted. "Not that many of the girls bothered resisting him, mind you." She glanced up and sat frozen, staring out the door for a second. "Shortly after I turned eighteen my father fell ill," she whispered brokenly. "No one ever figured out what he had, but in the span of a week he went from hunting with me to being unable to sit up in bed. We tried everything we could, even sending him to Terra General despite the cost." She shook her head, and he saw the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "We might as well have saved our money," her voice cracked, and she heaved a sigh. "He had just been moved to the intensive wing of the hospital when he went into respiratory arrest. They worked on him for three hours, but they never got him back." She fell silent for a second, and he watched a shudder pass through her. She stood and examined the bow as she snapped the last piece into place. Finally she looked up and he braced himself for what was coming when he saw the anger burning in her eyes. "Leo practically fell over himself to help my mother after my father died," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Of course at the time I was too consumed by my own pain at losing dad to see what was happening, and mom was never good at seeing when someone was playing her. By the time I'd regained a semblance of normality Leo was a regular part of our lives. Mom was so infatuated with him it was almost like he was her child and I was the outsider." She fell silent for a second, and her gaze dropped to where her hand had a death grip on her bow. Ren could tell it took a conscious effort for her to relax her hand, though she showed no other outward indications of the emotional turmoil raging insider her. "If there was ever one thing that Leo Cortofski was good at, it was twisting words and feelings," she snarled finally. "I knew there was something off about the timing of his interest in my family, but he could play the part of the gentlemen like no one I've ever seen. He was good looking, charismatic, and knew all the right buttons to push. Mom had the wedding planned before I even realized I was dating him. He fed her fantasies perfectly, and to this day I think she'd rather have him alive than me." "Then again, I can hardly blame mom for what happened seeing as he managed to play me too," she said, narrowing her eyes. "He came on strong with mom, but when he approached me he was all shyness and 'let's take it slow'. Compared to the other boys who'd shown an interest in me he seemed like a major step up. He talked about my hunting with me, and seemed to be genuinely interested in what I wanted out of life." She shook her head and picked up the bowstring, fiddling with it as she marshaled her thoughts. "About the time I started to suspect he had a hidden agenda he asked me to marry him. Only he wanted to live together first while he got the money together to move us out of the outskirts. It sounded perfect. I'd hunt and provide food for us, and extra to sell while he stockpiled money for us. In a few months we'd have enough to get a small place in one the better districts. It all made so much sense." "Only thing was, six months later we still didn't have enough money. I was out hunting nearly all week every week, and I always brought home far more game than we needed." She shrugged her shoulders and gazed at Ren for a second. The hopelessness in that look tore at him, but he knew she had to finish this. If he tried to comfort her now she wouldn't thank him later. "Meat always sells well, you know that," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I knew something was wrong because of that. I brought home probably thirty pounds of meat to sell a week. Even with living expenses we should have had more than enough money for a small place in a few months. As time passed on I started to ask questions, and at first he deflected them all. Then when deflecting wasn't going to work anymore he said he'd been splitting the money between saving for the move, and saving for our wedding too. He told me he finally had enough for the wedding and that pretty soon he'd have enough for the move too. I should have seen the signs, but when he told me he couldn't wait anymore I stuffed down my nerves and we were married." It wasn't until he noticed the cramp that Ren realized he had his teeth clenched. He knew part of what came next, but he had a feeling that it was worse than he imagined. "I told you what happened," she whispered, "but you need... you need the details." A sob broke through her voice, and he watched as she stood ridged, her breathing so fast she was almost hyperventilating. "He... After his friends had supposedly passed out he joined me in the bedroom. We'd made out before and done some fondling, but this time was different." She shuddered and looked up at him. The sorrow in her eyes was unspeakable, but all he could do was nod for her to continue. "He had me suck him for the first time that night. Then he put me on the bed and talked me into letting him tie me up. I thought it would be kinky, and at first it kind of was. He... did what you were doing this morning, but then he just sat up and slammed himself into me. I screamed and tried to get away, but he just laughed at me." Tears streamed down her face as she spoke. Finally Ren couldn't contain himself anymore. He crossed the room in a second as Erillia broke down sobbing, and wrapped her in his arms. The bow fell from her hands as she clung to his neck, but he deftly caught it and sat it on the bed before wrapping his arm around her again. "I felt myself tear around him," She whispered brokenly, "And he just laughed. The worst though was when he pulled out. I could see the blood on him, and then he called his friends in." She shuddered and buried her face in Ren's chest, inhaling his scent. "Do you know what he said about me?" she asked softly, pushing back from his chest. Ren shook his head softly as he gazed into her icy blue eyes. She gave a mirthless chuckle. "He said, 'she's all yours boys, I got what I wanted.' I think he meant it too. He sat back in a chair and watched his partners take turns with me. They were a sick bunch Ren," she murmured. "One of them almost bit my nipples off, another beat me until my nose was bleeding and my eyes were practically swollen shut. Then this one fat fuck choked me until I passed out while they took turns fucking me. He stretched it out by letting me catch my breath and then choking me again. I was sure I was going to die, and I actually wanted to. I kept hoping that he'd hold it just a little longer so that I'd fall asleep and the nightmare would be over. Then he finally did, only just like with you I woke up when I was sure it was all over for me. They were still fucking me when I came to." He squeezed her to him, and she let his warmth and scent sink into her and tried to banish the ghosts of the past flitting through her head. "Leo only touched me once more that night. When they got tired of me bleeding all over them and started talking about taking my ass instead. He laughed and helped them turn me over and tie me again, but said that he was going to assert his rights as husband and take first crack at me." She paused and shook her head. "I suppose I should be grateful," she said bitterly. "I've heard everyone talking about how painful taking a cock up their ass is the first time. Lucky me, I got to pass out and missed the entire event." She fell silent, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She sighed and leaned against him. "Did he look like me?" Ren whispered softly to her. She started back and stared at him. "God no! You and he have nothing in common," she paused and glanced at him again. "Well other than that you both have black hair." "Wait, we both have black hair?" he interrupted. She frowned, but nodded. "Jesus little one," he breathed. "So let me get this straight. The last thing the man who tied you up for his friends to gangbang did before raping you was to eat you out? And you're surprised when your first instinct, when you woke to find a head of black hair between your legs, was to flashback to the most traumatic event in your life? Erillia, if I had known what he'd done, I never would have done that to wake you up. I promised you that I'd show you the softer side of sex, but had I known I would have chosen one of a thousand other ways of waking you up. Bloody hell little one I'm just glad you didn't kill me before you came to your sense." She shivered at that thought. "If I'd been able to get my hands free I would have," she said softly. "So why didn't you?" She turned to stare at him. She had a retort on the tip of her tongue, but his smile stopped her in her tracks. "Tell me little one," he drawled, "when you were in a full blown panic and were ready to kill me, what made you stop?" She frowned as she thought for a second, before meeting his gaze. "You did," She murmured. "You told me to close my eyes... Then you talked me down. I... I don't know how you were able to get through to me, but you did." She searched his eyes for a moment, but frowned when she didn't find the answer she was seeking. "How?" He quirked an eyebrow at her question, but didn't answer right away. "Don't give me that damn look," she growled. "How... no why... why can you reach me like that. Why is it that even when I didn't know it was you, even when I was doing my best to kill you, a simple order from you was enough to stop me in my tracks?" "Well simply put, I couldn't." He held up a hand to stop her outburst. "Just listen to me ok little one?" She glared at him, but nodded her acceptance. "Good girl," he reached a hand out and stroked her cheek before continuing, "now then. As for how I was able to reach you there's a simple answer and a complicated answer. The simple answer is that you put your trust in me, though I'm still trying to grasp exactly how I earned it." She stared at him, and he sighed. "I suppose you want the long answer then?" "You suppose correctly," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. He chuckled at the defiant stance, but resisted the urge to stroke her cheek again. "Very well, but you have to understand something Erillia. What you are asking... these questions get into your psyche. They deal with the very core of who you are as a person, and as such I can't give you exact answers. I can make guesses and I can point you in the right direction, but I can't just answer your questions fully." He paused and waited for her to respond, but she simply nodded for him to continue. Her thoughts were in too much of a jumble to form a more coherent response, and she didn't really trust her voice right now. So she settled for just the nod and then licked her dry lips and waited for him to continue. "Right," he said taking a deep breath, "so what can I say about why I was able to get you to listen to me. First of all it's because you're a submissive, but I've already told you that. What you might not know is that submission isn't about being weak or about one person lording it over another. True submission boils down to trust, and somehow you recognize something in me that you're willing to trust. On top of that for whatever reason you're wired to find pleasure in letting someone else pull the strings, at least in the bedroom though this morning would say it might extend a bit further than that." He smiled at her, "with me so far?" "I think so," her voice sounded unsure to her ears, but he just nodded. "Right, so then there's the more pertinent question of why you responded at all when you thought it was Leo in the room with you. To be honest with you Erillia I can't answer that, although I'd hazard a guess that your subconscious recognized it was me even if most of you was convinced it was someone else." He eyed her and his mouth twitched a bit. "Before you freak out and think you're about to become a puppet to anyone and everyone you should know that nothing about you has changed. You aren't weak willed, and you won't be a plaything for anyone who tells you to do something." "How can you know that? How can you be so sure I won't just cave to the next person to tell me to do something?" She shook her head. "I... how can I trust myself now when..." He reached out and brushed her cheek again, trailing his finger down across her neck and across her collar bone. She was forced to break off as the move drew a gasp from her. "Little one you have more fire and strength in you than anyone I've ever met," he said softly. "I told you to close your eyes for a reason. If I'd tried to tell you to stop what you were doing or to lay still I would be dead right now. You called me Leo, so I knew you weren't seeing the here and now. I hoped that if you'd listen to me and close your eyes you might be able to break out of that panic attack. It worked, how I don't really know, but it worked. For some reason little one you trust me, and you've allowed me to see you with your guards down. Still, even I can't just order you around, little one. You choose to give me control, and you are perfectly capable of taking it back, even from me." She nodded, and turned away from him to pace for a second. What he said made sense. It shouldn't have, and the fact that it did almost terrified her. She'd known this man for less than a fortnight and already she had somehow decided to trust him. No, if she was honest, she'd started trusting him almost from the time she woke up in his safe house. How could she have come to trust him so fast! Then again... he'd proved himself worthy of that trust over and over in that time frame as well. If she was going to be fair she had threatened him, made him a fugitive, and left him on the top of a cliff with a busted knee and nothing but the promise of sex for comfort. If anyone shouldn't be trusted in this dynamic it would be her, and yet he seemed to have no problems trusting her. In the end she wasn't even sure it mattered if she understood it or even tried to understand it. For whatever reason she trusted him so deeply it was beyond conscious choice. She stopped pacing and turned to look at Ren. He stood next to the bed where she'd left him watching her. The sun streaming in from the window back lit him, and almost gave the appearance that he had a halo. She smiled at the image that evoked for her. He wasn't the type of man she'd have said she would go for if asked, but then again until a few days ago she'd have sworn she wouldn't go for a guy at all. He wasn't exceptionally tall, at a glance she'd guess him to be around six feet, but his broad chest still made him an imposing image. Moreover, his eyes had a piercing quality to them that, combined with his chiseled features, conveyed the image of someone who had seen more than he should have at his age. As she gazed at him she came to the conclusion that the why didn't really matter. She trusted Ren to her core, and that was all there was to it. She could waste this time second guessing how they got here and why she felt the way she did, or she could enjoy the ride while she had the chance. She smiled, and walked over to him. "I'm sorry," She whispered as she wrapped herself around him. "The bet was that I was yours to do with as you pleased. I didn't mean for this to happen, because I always honor my bets." "Erillia you have nothing to..." He began, but it was her turn to press a finger to his lips to silence him. "Hush Ren," she husked into his ear. "I believe I rather rudely interrupted your breakfast this morning." She saw his eyes go wide, and smirked. "Now that's just plain poor hospitality. So what can I possibly offer you to make amends for my poor manners?" He pushed her back with both hands, and held her shoulders as he gazed into her eyes. "Little one...are you sure?" For the first time since she'd met him she could hear uncertainty in his voice. Dark Arrow Ch. 04 "Ren, I have four days of being raped and last night to my name for sexual experiences. As great as last night was my bad memories outnumber my good ones by a significant amount. I'd like to change that, if you're up for it. I don't know why I decided to trust you, but it's not some random decision. It's something I feel so deeply that trusting you isn't even a conscious choice. I wouldn't be where I am today as an assassin if I didn't trust my gut instincts. I may not know why I feel the way I do or how this is going to play out, but since I'm here I want to ride this as far as I can." She opened her mouth to say more, but he leaned in and silenced her with a kiss. God those people who talked about toe curling kisses knew more than she'd given them credit for. She melted against him as his tongue stroked hers, and coaxed it to chase and wrestle with his. "Erillia, do you give me your submission of your own free will." She pulled back and looked at him in shock. "If we're going to do this we're going to do it right little one," Ren said softly, reaching up and stroking her face. "Now then. Do you give me the gift of your submission whole heartedly? Do you give me your trust and your body to protect and use as I see fit? Do you consent to be ruled sexually by my will for the next thirty days?" She swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in her throat, as she searched his face. He was deadly serious, of that at least she was certain, but could she do it? Could she give up control just like that? She wanted to, god how she wanted to, but it went against everything she knew. "Yes," the word fell softly from her lips before she even realized she was going to speak. She snapped her mouth shut in consternation, as she tried to gather her thoughts. Had she really just agreed to this? His smile said she had, but... she gave herself a mental shake. She'd said she would trust her gut and it seemed her gut was a little eager to try this out. So she took a deep breath and smiled at him. "Yes Ren," she said in a firmer tone, "I do choose to trust you. I...," she thought back over how he had said it for a second, searching for the best way to say what she felt. Finally she smiled and nodded to herself. "I give you the gift of my submission wholeheartedly. I am yours for the next month, as we agreed." His smile caused a twisting in her guts she was beginning to recognize. Sure enough she felt her pussy moisten, and a shudder passed through her. His smile widened as he read her reaction, and he reached out and stroked her cheek and neck again. She moaned deeply, and squeezed her thighs together to try and stifle the ache building in her. He chuckled, and she felt herself start to drip as she felt the vibrations wash over her. "Oh little one," he murmured, leaning in and worrying her earlobe with his teeth, "I'm going to have fun watching you learn your bodies reactions. You have no clue how expressive your face is, do you? Well never mind. There's still one thing we have to deal with." "What's that?" her voice was raspy and she licked her lips nervously as he leaned back and held her gaze. "You need a safe word," he said finally and looked away to glance around the room. He glanced back at her, and pursed his lips. "A safe word is your pause button. It stops whatever we are doing and releases you immediately. Make no mistake little one I will push your boundaries, but if you are ever truly scared or uncomfortable with what we do then do not hesitate to use it. I won't think less of you and it won't stop things permanently, it just gives you a breather to discuss what bothered you and how you are feeling. For you...," he glanced around the room again, before his eyes lit on something and he smiled. "For you, I can think of no better safe word than 'Obsidian'. Is that acceptable?" "Obsidian," she murmured to herself. "For some reason that word is very familiar, where have I heard it before?" He chuckled. "I'm not sure where you would have heard it, but do you know what it means?" She shook her head, and he nodded. "It's a type of rock. Hard, sharp, and black as night. It was used to make arrow heads ages ago back on earth." He smiled and gestured to her where her quiver sat with his chin. "Considering your choice of weapon and the color of your arrows it just seemed to fit you." She crossed the room and knelt down to retrieve her quiver. Pulling the arrows out she sat them on the bed and gazed at them. She quickly wiped them off and placed them back into the quiver, before turning to face Ren. Obsidian, the word rang in the back of her mind, and she smiled. It called to mind her bow and arrows when she thought of it. The weapon that had seen her through everything else in her life, and now, thanks to Ren, she had a piece of it with her in this new adventure she was about to start. "Thank you Ren," she whispered, as she walked to him and stepped into his arms. He wrapped them around her, and she let his heat and scent settle over her. She wrapped it around herself like a blanket and buried her face in his chest. He chuckled as he squeezed her. "I'm the one who should be thanking you little one." He held her close for a moment longer then let his arms drop. "Erillia there's something I want to make perfectly clear. What we do in this cabin, or in any sexual setting, has no impact on how we behave outside of that setting. If we stay together long enough for other people to be around us I won't be ordering you around in front of them. I won't tell you when or how to hunt or do anything else. Behind closed doors, and only behind closed doors, when it's just the two of us, that is the only time I will exert control." He looked at her, and she nodded her head in acceptance. If she were honest she'd to admit she was greatly relieved by his restraint. She wasn't entirely sure what would happen if he decided to push his control. Deep down she doubted he'd be able to completely override her will, but he could definitely cause her to hesitate or question herself when she could least afford to. She smiled and nodded again as she stepped back and looked him over. He was eyeing her with a hunger that made her shiver with a mix of arousal and fear. "Do you have any questions little one?" he whispered in her ear. She tried to concentrate, but his breath on her neck made it irrationally difficult. Little one, the endearment that he'd used with her from the moment they'd met. She couldn't describe it, but hearing those words from his lips made her warm in all the right places. She smiled, and met his eyes. There were any one of a thousand questions she probably should ask, but there was only one that really mattered to her at the moment. "You call me little one," she whispered. "I can't explain it, but hearing you say that name... it does something to me. I... Is there..." She searched for the words she wanted but was coming up empty. Finally she shook her head, giving up the attempt with a wave of her hand. He smiled and traced her jaw with a finger again. "You want to know if there's something you can call me as well?" She swallowed hard but met his gaze and nodded. He chuckled. "Well some Dom's like to be called master, but I believe that's a bit much personally." He smiled, and considered for a minute. "An endearment really only means something when it comes from the heart. You like little one, and that's why I use it, but it wouldn't mean anything if it didn't come from the heart. So, little one I will give you permission to pick any endearment you want, as long as it comes from your heart." She smiled and thought for a moment. "Even asswipe?" His eyes went wide, and then he burst out laughing. She smiled, but as his laughter rolled over her she couldn't help herself. She couldn't remember the last time she truly laughed, but soon her alto notes were mingling with his. "You know," he murmured in her ear, "I actually believe you could make that sound sexy." She smiled, and wiped her eyes, as she thought for a moment. She looked him over carefully, and finally something struck her. "You said you were a marine?" His eyes turned questioning, but he nodded. She smiled. "I think I know what fits you best," she said, a confidence settling over her as she met his eyes. "I believe we were discussing how I could repay you for being such a poor host and interrupting your breakfast, ...Sir." His eyes went wide with shock and pleasure, as a shudder passed through him. She fought not to laugh a second time. She wasn't sure why she hadn't seen it at first, but it just fit him so well. Now it was his term to swallow hard, as he appraised her and licked his lips. His searching gaze was kick starting her desire in ways she never would have imagined. "Strip." She jumped a bit at the order, and was more than a bit surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded. He cleared his throat as he gazed at her with that hunger that was becoming more and more familiar. She reached for the bottom of her shirt and had it half way over her head before she felt his hand on her arm. She raised her eyebrow in question as she lowered the shirt. "Slowly," he said gently. "I want you to tease me with this. You don't have your bra or panties, so take your time. Make it sexy, not just a chore getting those cloths off." She chuckled in understanding, and let the shirt drop back into place. "Yes Sir." She said with a smile, smoothing down the shirt. She stilled her hands as she smoothed out her pants as well, and frantically tried to think of how best to do as he asked. She'd seen the establishments where women were paid to do exactly this, but she'd never been inside one. She knew several girls who had taken jobs in one or another of these clubs. In fact her mother would have been happier had she been working her way out of the outskirts that way than she was with her hunting. She couldn't see living her life as one of those dancers though. Suddenly it clicked, and she smiled as she began to sway her hips. She might not be trained to dance like those girls and she might not have music, but she'd always had a good imagination. She hummed a tune softly to herself as she began to sway more, running her hands over herself. She moved slowly towards him, until she was pressed against his chest. She was painfully aware of her nipples as she crushed her breasts into him, and ground against him. She was rewarded with a throaty groan from him that caused her smile to widen. He reached to grab her hips, but she slid away quickly. She took stock of her surroundings and clothes. Had she had her panties and bra this would have been much easier to stretch out, but she did still have a few options. Her pants weren't designed for this sort of thing at all though. She swayed out of the room and into the kitchen, but returned before he could follow her with a stool. She sat it down, and wagged a finger for him to come to her. He smirked and shook his head, but moved over to her and let her push him to sit on the stool. "Getting a little feisty are we little one. A sub usually doesn't shove her dom around like this," he chuckled. "I'm sorry," she said looking at him through hooded eyes, "but you did say to tease you, Sir." She was pleased to see that same involuntary shudder of pleasure run through him at her use of her chosen endearment. It fit him and he liked it. Suddenly she saw how he got to her more clearly that she had before. It wasn't about what he did, but about how he did it. He was always watching her reaction and adjusting what he did to match her desires and need. For a minute she thought he was going to take exception with her shoving him onto the stool. She wondered if he might spank her again, and was surprised to find the thought had her practically melting with need. For a moment their eyes met and she was sure he was going to do exactly that. Instead he chuckled, and crossed his arms as she swayed her way around him. Rubbing her breasts against his back as she passed behind him, and massaging his shoulders and biceps she slid her arms down over his chest. She even leaned forward to blow on his ear and nip at his earlobe. Moving away from him she slid her hands into the waist of her pants and slid them quickly down her legs before stepping out of them completely. Her shirt was long enough to tuck well into her pants when she was hunting. Unfortunately that length wasn't going to be quite enough to completely cover her. It came just to the bottom of her mons, but the swell of her ass and her pussy were left exposed. She was acutely aware of how wet she'd become already as the air hit her burning skin. She couldn't believe it, but being naked from the waist down was so naughty she felt herself start to get even wetter. Before she could lose her nerve she quickly moved out from behind him. She saw his eyes go wide in surprise before she suddenly sat on him and began grinding against him again. He groaned, and she leaned in and captured his mouth with hers. She knew he wanted her to drag out the tease, but she didn't think she had the fortitude to keep this up much longer. She ground hard against him, letting him feel her heat and leaving a wet streak behind as she felt his cock stiffen in his pants. She slid against him as she kissed him, and he moaned into her mouth before trying to shove his tongue down her throat. She closed her eyes and groaned as she humped against him. All finesse she might have had was lost to the frantic need building in her. She jumped as his hand came down like a thunderclap on her ass, and her eyes shot open. She moaned as she felt a surge of juices flood from her pussy. He broke their kiss then and she heard him chuckle. "I think we've established one of your particular fetishes little one." She moaned as his hand fell on her ass again. "Lose the shirt," he growled. Her hands flew to her shirt and in seconds it joined her pants in a heap on the floor. His hands gripped her ass and pulled her to him as he leaned in and nipped her neck. She arched against him in surprise as the feel of his teeth, and he chuckled again before releasing her. "Up," he growled. She shuddered at the heat in his voice, as she scrambled off his lap. "Over to the bed. Bend over it and stick your ass out." She stumbled in her haste to comply, but righted herself and quickly draped herself over the bed. Spreading her legs she thrust her ass up and back as he'd asked, surprised at how natural it felt to take such a vulnerable position. She had been so caught up in the moment last time that she hadn't stopped to really savor the moment, or contemplate what she was doing. This time her passions were burning just as hot, but she hadn't been anticipating this moment for several days. She hadn't been taken by surprised and forced to the ground this time. Now she was free to examine her reactions to his orders. Moreover he wasn't positioning her himself, but rather ordering her to offer herself up. There were no restraints this time, no force what so ever and yet here she was offering herself up. She was still trying to sort through her tangled emotions over this when his hand smacked her ass again hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. Suddenly the why didn't matter anymore. All that mattered in that instant was the feelings coursing through her. The slap of his hand against her ass, the scrape of her breasts against the sheets, and the feel of her juices dripping from her pussy consumed her. "Now then, if memory serves we were discussing your appalling lack of manners this morning, weren't we?" he whispered in her ear as he leaned over her, delivering another spank as he spoke. She could only groan in response, as his hand rested on her ass stroking her heated flesh. "You were supposed to be apologizing to me for interrupting my breakfast this morning weren't you?" She whimpered, but managed to nod this time. "So why is it that instead of apologizing you wound up leaving a wet streak all over my pants?" She groaned as he followed the question up with two quick slaps. "I'm sor... ohhh. Sorry Sir," she moaned as he continued to fondle her ass. "You think sorry makes up for this behavior?" His hands roamed over her ass, and dipped into the crack to massage her puckered star. She sucked in a breath as the unexpected sensation, and her hips twitched. "Don't move," he rumbled, and she shuddered as he continued to massage her. She held her breath, waiting for him to push those fingers into her. It made her nervous, because she was sure there would be pain unless he used some lube, but she steeled herself and waited. His fingers withdrew after another minute though and he just held her cheeks in his hands. She felt him move behind her and braced for him to thrust into her. She jumped in surprise when she felt him blow a breath across her pussy instead. Oh god, was he really going to do that to her after what had happened this morning? Her heart was pounding and her eyes were squeezed shut as she waited for his next move. The first swipe of his tongue across her tortured flesh brought a whimper from her lips, and her hips thrust back into him instinctively. She expected a reprimand, but instead she felt his hands grip her tighter and he thrust his tongue into her. She gasped as he went to work with a vengeance, licking and sucking her like he wanted to devour her. He traced her lips with his tongue and stabbed his tongue into her repeatedly, but refused to touch her clit. She bucked and squealed as she tried to shift his tongue where she desperately needed it. Her juices ran from her like someone had left the faucet on and she could feel her orgasm building, but she couldn't quite get there with the strokes he was giving her. She was nearly screaming in frustration as she humped her pussy into his face, moaning like a banshee. It was there. She was on the edge of that orgasm, about to tumble over, when he stopped. She groaned and tried to force him to make contact with her dripping snatch again, but he moved back. A hand on the back of her neck quickly pinned her when she moved to follow him though. "I believe I told you not to move," he growled softly. She gasped as his hand fell on her ass again. She felt her pussy twitch as he began spanking her slowly and methodically again. She had tears in her eyes and had lost track of how many times he'd spanked her when he stopped just as suddenly as he'd started. Switching to massaging her sore ass cheeks instead as he kissed the back of her neck. "Good girl. You handled that very well, but I'm afraid I'm still hungry. I want you to hold still while I finish my breakfast, can you do that for me little one?" Her eyes bulged as she realized what he meant. God in heaven he was going to... eat her again. He was going to eat her, and he expected her not to move? She wasn't sure that was possible, but he wasn't giving her time to think. He'd already moved to kneel behind her again, and his hands had spread her cheeks. He blew a stream of air over her throbbing clit, and she had to repress the urge to jerk. Then his tongue was on her again, hot, rough, wet, and worming its way around her pussy like it knew exactly where to touch her to drive her wild. She lost track of time as he slowly feasted on her most sensitive parts. The orgasm that had been slipping away was now back in full force, and was going to crash over her like a tsunami any second. Only he backed away again, leaving her teetering on the brink. She groaned in near despair as she felt her orgasm slip away like smoke on the breeze a second time. "Not just yet little one," he chuckled, "although I am impressed that you were able to hold your position through that. I think you've just about made up for your behavior this morning. In fact I think you've earned a little reward." She bit her lip as he leaned back in and sucked her clit into his mouth. Her orgasm came roaring back to life, and it was bigger than ever. Dark Arrow Ch. 05 For everyone who has followed this story so far you have my thanks, and I am extremely grateful for the feedback. There were some very valid complaints about chapter four. I wrote the first three chapters so that they could stand on their own if need be. I was not sure how my writing would be received and there's nothing I hate more than having a series left hanging. Because I left it where I felt it could be wrapped up and stand on its own I did not develop enough of the backstory for Ren and Erillia for me to jump straight ahead. I rushed chapter four and I rehashed some things because I wasn't sure how to get the information needed into the story without doing a bit of rehash. On reading it several times I agree that the sex was rushed, and there is no excuse for that. The interactions that were shown do play a major role down the line and there was a reason for what happened to happen but I did not develop the story as well, and for that I apologize to my readers. I have done my best to take my time with this chapter and get the story back to the level that it was with the first submission. That being said there is an undercurrent I am working to build that may not entirely make sense until the story reaches its conclusion. It is the common thread that runs through all of the stories, but it is not obvious. I intend for this story to be at least 10 chapters long so we are just now midway through the story. There will be some things that do not make sense for another chapter or two and at which the reader has to guess. As I've said I expect that there will be parts of this that are more acceptable to some people than to others. I ask that you bear with me as I firmly believe the end result will be worth it. Anja I cannot thank you enough for your editing work. This story would not be what it is without you. Sincerely ~ Dark Terra. Nam mea iam leaena ***** Erillia woke with a start. The bed beside her was still warm, but Ren wasn't there anymore. She lay for a moment luxuriating in a glow of satisfaction that still clung to her body and soul. For the first time she could remember since her father died she was actually looking forward to facing a new day. She shuddered as she contemplated the implications of that feeling. If Ren could make her feel this way after only a few days together she wasn't sure she wanted to think about what would happen after a full month together. She'd depended on being keyed up and expecting the worst out of life since she started killing for hire. If she lost her dim outlook on life what would it do to her focus and her ability to get her target and get out safely? She'd lived the last five years of her life with the feeling that dying would almost be a relief. If she suddenly had something to live for beyond her base desire to keep breathing would she hesitate when she couldn't afford to? She shivered as the cold set in. They'd gone to bed around eight last night if she was guessing correctly, and unless she'd lost her ability to judge time in the last couple days, it was just after four in the morning now. She stretched and was surprised to find she wasn't sore. After everything they'd done she'd expected to have a few aches and pains, but surprisingly she felt better than she normally did on waking. She hadn't really planned on getting up quite this early, but she had told him before dawn. She rolled out of bed sniffing lightly and smiled to herself. Marines... They loved their coffee. Some of them on tour in Terra's sector would occasionally come to the outskirts for a cup. The shops in the upper class areas of town specialized in flavored coffee, cappuccinos, and all manner of unique twists, but for a good old fashioned cup of straight coffee it was tough to beat the shops in the outskirts. Some had even learned to grow coffee in controlled settings so their beans were fresh when ground, rather than vacuum packed and shipped across the stars. Usually that made them cheaper as well, which the Marines appreciated. Other girls hung around the military men when they came to town, which wasn't often, but she'd always stayed away. She bent and retrieved her shirt from the floor where she'd dropped it the night before. She pulled it over her head, and picked up her pants. As she bent and pulled them on she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and smiled to herself. "Staring is rude you know," she said as she straightened and pulled her pants up over her hips. She turned to find Ren leaning against the door way with a cup steaming in each hand. She raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I don't really do coffee," she murmured as he held a mug out to her. "Today you do," he chuckled. She glanced quizzically at him but took the cup. "I thought you were only going to boss me around in the bedroom." His laughed startled her, and she looked at him quizzically. "I guess I did kind of say that didn't I... let me rephrase that. I'll only top you in the bedroom. Right now I'm something much much worse than your Dom. You said we needed to get an early start and you're right, but I'd wager we have an hour or so before we need to grab that bath and roll out. Just in case someone manages to come across us or they do decide to run thermal scans we're going to start your urban training. We'll work theory, memorization, and things like that in the morning and work combat at night before we go to bed. No little one, in the bedroom you never need to fear me as your Dom, but right now I'm your drill sergeant and you should be very afraid." "Using combat as foreplay?" She chuckled as he did his best to hold a glare without cracking a smile. "I may like it rough Ren, but a full on sparing match with you isn't what I'd normally go for to get me warmed up." He shook his head though, and she frowned. "We'll play when we have time little one, but you've had quite the work out the last two days. Considering you've had no sexual experiences since you were raped it's remarkable that you've handled what we've done as well as you did. You said yourself that you were getting a bit sore last night so for today we won't be having sex, or at least not any full blown intercourse. We might play around a little bit with oral or our hands but you need to recover and you need to be trained." She scowled at that. A week ago she'd probably have killed anyone who suggested that she'd ever choose sex over hunting or training. Now though she didn't relish the idea of wasting a single day of the month she had with Ren. As if reading her thoughts Ren reached out and wrapped his left arm around her. "I'll make you a deal little one," he murmured. "I can see you're not exactly thrilled with the idea, but I need you to trust me on this. However, the amount of time we need to spend training is directly related to how fast you pick this up. You make enough progress and we won't need to spend as much time on this. So we go out and hunt for three days. We should be able to pick up enough meat to last us for a week, and if you're as good as I think you are we'll be able to scale back the training by the time we get back and just focus on combat. That will leave us plenty of time to play. So what do you say, three days of hell for a week's worth of fun, is it a deal?" As much as she hated to admit it he was right. If they had to abandon the cabin and return to town it would be difficult to train combat skills. Better to do it now while they could, and it was only for three days. Still, if she was going to do this she was going to get a concession from him as well. "Deal, on one condition," she grumbled. "What condition?" "You're essentially not going to be my... what did you call it... Dom?" He nodded in affirmation, and she took the opportunity to take a deep breath and order her thoughts. "Right, so you're not going to be my Dom for basically the next three days if not longer. Well, I've got a counter offer then. Since I'm giving up three days of our deal, albeit in part due to my need to accustom myself to having sex again, I want to extend our deal." He eyed her cautiously, and pursed his lips. "What did you have in mind three days for three days?" he asked after a minutes thought. She shook her head. "No. I'm thinking that I'm going to need a fair amount of training, and that most basic training stints last for a month or better and then the advanced training that you had probably another month or two. I'm basically at the level that you would be coming to the end of basic training and I've got real world experience so I'm thinking I could use another month of time with you as a full time teacher or drill sergeant... whatever you want to call yourself. I'm suggesting we double to agreement. Sixty days spent in training or in bed as you see fit." Ren gritted his teeth, but carefully controlled his expression as he considered his options. If he agreed to that without reservation he'd be lying to her, he knew that without a doubt. He'd be lucky to get another fortnight with her, but did it really matter? If he just accepted her terms he'd be the only one who knew he had lied. Still, it didn't sit right with him to take the trust she was offering and deliberately deceive her from the start. He'd agreed to the thirty days because he might be able to see that through but sixty was out of the question. On the other hand if he told her the truth now she'd turn on him, not that he could blame her. If she was who he suspected she was then she'd hate him if he told her the whole truth. On the one hand it would be easier if he just went his way now, but after everything that had happened he didn't believe she'd be left alone anymore. She was going to need all the luck and skill possible, and her deciding she hated him now... well it wouldn't be in her best interest. He gave himself a mental shake. He could pretend to be the white hat all he wanted, but he couldn't fool himself. He knew what was coming and selfish as it was he wanted to prolong the inevitable as long as possible. There was so much blood on his hands and so many sins in his past that he could never wash himself clean. He'd done things that he'd never be able to expunge from his memory, and she'd never be able to overlook. No, he wasn't destined to have this peace last, but he could do everything in his power to save her. Besides if she knew what was coming she'd never agree to let him do what needed to be done. She'd hate him for a while, but he hoped that the memories he'd give her between now and then would eventually shine through. If he couldn't have peace then just maybe he could help erase the pain of her past so that she could find her peace. To do that though there was blood that would have to be shed, and she'd never let him do it. She'd demand they find another way, and, god help him, he didn't think he'd be able to see it through despite her. The truth was out then, but so was lying to her. He worried his lip with his teeth for a second, and then sighed. She was too smart for any diversion he might try, and she wasn't going to take being put off on this. Which really only left him with one option. "Erillia we don't know what's coming for us," he sighed. It was a half-truth. He had a pretty damn good idea what was coming, but he didn't know who they'd send. He could live with this level of deception, and it was enough of the truth that she would believe it. "There's a chance we might have to split up for safety before those two months are up. I'll tell you what little one, I can promise you this. You're stuck with me until you kick me out or we're forced to separate because we're being hunted. Sixty days or sixty years, I'll stay with you until you don't want me to or something rips me from your side. Will you accept that?" Erillia sucked in a startled gasp, and he cursed himself for a sudden bloom of shock and hope on her face. He'd overextended on that. Even hinting at being with her for years, god what was he thinking! He bit his lip, and tried to think of a way to soften her expectations. On the other hand... if it were up to him he'd be quite content to live like this for years. He'd gone too far, but it was what was in his heart. Maybe it would soften the blow for her when the hammer fell, and just maybe she'd actually believe him that is wasn't how he wanted things to go. "You've got yourself a deal Sir," she said as she grinned. He swallowed the lump that grew in his throat and nodded. He turned to his pack and pulled out a projector. Sticking it to the wall he aimed it at the floor and flicked the switch. "Right rookie. The first thing we're going to work on is recognizing how the urban landscape can be used to your advantage. You're already pretty good at this since you selected one of the best ambush spots. That being said you also need to recognize how the area can work against you. If you know where they're likely to try and intercept you then you're much less likely to walk into an ambush." The projector image stabilized, and he gestured to the map it displayed on the floor. "Find me the choke points, the probable police routes, the places where it would be easiest to slip in and out of the city, and the areas where it would be most likely that there would be abandoned or empty buildings." She frowned as she looked at the map display. It was familiar, but she couldn't place it. "This isn't Terra is it?" she asked glancing up. He just shook his head and smiled. She walked around the map, looking at the streets. It was similar to Terra, but it was hard to tell where things would be. For a moment she was lost, but then she glanced at the markings on the map. The factories in Terra were on the west and east sides of the city. Warehouses dominated the north and the factory workers lived on the south side. The upper class market district with its theaters and high end shops ringed the port that dominated the center of the city. This city however wasn't laid out the same. From the looks of the streets this city had warehouses closest to the port with factories just a bit further out. There were a few shops dotted here and there near the port, but very little compared to Terra. She wasn't entirely sure, but from the looks of map and the locations of the police stations she'd hazard a guess that the upper class was closest to the wall of this town. There were more shops dotted around the exterior of the town than there were anywhere else, and the housing there appeared to be primarily high-rise towers. "Here," she pointed to the area where the housing section met the factory section. "Those who can afford to will live as close to the upper class sections as possible. I'm not sure, but that seems to be this area here," she pointed to the outer swath of the city. "There would also be some abandoned warehouses around here," she pointed to the area where warehouses met factory district. "I'd have to guess that this city focuses on trade more than Terra does, and that's why there are so many warehouses around the port. They must be moving large quantities of goods, rather than the more expensive but smaller quantities of high-end goods that come through Terra." "Good observation, now where are the obvious choke points and ambush locations," he smiled as she contemplated the map. She frowned and walked around perimeter of the map a few times before pointing to several narrow streets and dead ends. He nodded and chuckled. "You're good at this so far. Point out the where the police would be heaviest." That part was too easy. She'd spend years learning how to avoid and predict the police. This map might be of a different city, but the similarities were glaringly obvious. She pointed without hesitation, and he nodded. "I want you to look at the map really closely. Memorize it as best you can. We'll come back to this later, but for now it's time to do something else. Tell me when you're done with the map." He smiled and walked out of the room while she walked around the map taking in the details and committing them to memory. She was just about satisfied that she had it fixed in her head by the time he reappeared, a fresh cup of coffee in hand. She took a few more minutes to go over it though. If he'd said to memorize it odds were he had some plan for testing her over it, and she wanted to be ready. Finally she looked up and nodded. He grinned and moved over to the projector, pressing a button to turn it off and taking it down. He went over to his bag and stored it. She smiled to herself as she admired his quick movements and the air of command that surrounded him. Much as she normally hated coffee she realized he was right, she was going to need the jumpstart for the day. So as he rummaged in his bag she sipped lightly at the cup in her hands. It had cooled enough to be easily drinkable, and to her surprise the taste wasn't as off-putting as she remembered. He rummaged around in his pack to a bit, and then sat back on his heels. If she kept staring she was going to want to do things with him they didn't have time for. "So are we done for the morning? Cause if so we need to hit the water and get washed up." "You wish rookie. No we've only done part of it. That took what," he glanced outside at the slowly lightening sky, "a half hour maybe?" She glanced outside and nodded in agreement. That was surprising; she hadn't felt like they'd been at it that long. "Right," he muttered moving to stand. "So much for practical application and map work, let's see how you are at theory." She nodded and he smiled moving to sit on the bed and stroking his chin. "People are the top of the food chain Erillia, or so we're told. The truth is a bit more complicated than that. Humans are their own food chain in a sense. You need to start thinking of them not as equals but as an entire system. You and I, we're some of the predators in this system, but what is the majority of a food chain?" "Prey," she whispered softly as she watched him. He nodded, and his face turned hard. "That's right, and prey fears its predators. You and I are only one side of that scale though. We're selective, and generally speaking we're after large game, but there are plenty of piss ant thugs out there who prey on anything in their path. Then there's the law. They prey on us, but because they are predators in their own way they still don't fit in with the general populace." She nodded, absorbing what he was saying. "So you're saying I should look at the people in the city much like I would the animals out here?" It made sense. She had to admit there were a beauty and simplicity in that viewpoint. Moreover she could already see applications for her line of work. Prey animals were predictable because they followed their nature and their instincts. Understanding how they interacted with their environment was the first step in being able to track and hunt them effectively. You could avoid alarming them, or you could use their instincts to drive them into a trap. "Think about what you've just said, and then take it a little deeper," he murmured. She glanced up at him questioningly. "If you're just about to shoot a deer, and suddenly there are no more birds singing or other sounds what do you do?" he said quietly, and she frowned. "I check for a shadow lynx," she said softly, shuddering at the thought of the local big cats. They weren't imported from earth like the deer she hunted or many of the birds that flitted about in the trees. Terra, before it was colonized, had been home to herds of two enormous creatures that vaguely resembled the pictures and stories of animals once known as bison and elephants. However on Terra these creatures were reptilian. Their need to sunbath was a weakness the human settlers had ruthlessly exploited. It was their size though which had been their downfall as it had prompted the settlers to hunt them out of existence. Weighing in at almost sixteen tons and standing around twenty feet tall they could crush entire sections of a city with a careless step. Dark Arrow Ch. 05 The early settlers had nicknamed them godzillas and scalephants, and had both feared and admired them for their size and destructive potential.With such large prey though there naturally came predators equipped to take them down. The shadow lynx was easily twice the size of the large cats of earth, but with an additional terrifying ability. While it was warm blooded it seemed to possess a chameleon's ability to change it's coloring to blend into the surroundings. They were harder than hell to spot, and could rip you limb from limb with a single swipe. Sleek and black, unless they were hiding, they resembled the panthers she'd read about, though their glossy skin had no fur. They moved with a grace and ease through the woods, and the only warning one was near was the sudden absence of birds. The silence that accompanied their presence was perhaps the spookiest thing about them to Erillia. The way the woods could go from so full of life to so deathly silent sent chills up her spine. It was so quiet it was almost as if where the cats walked was sacred ground. She'd only encountered them a few times, and generally they were content to go their own way if they even noticed you. In the absence of the larger prey animals there was more than enough forage for the deer that had been imported. They reproduced at a remarkable rate, which was lucky since it took many of them to make a meal for one of those cats. She broke out of her musings and considered what had brought the cats to mind in the first place. "So the general populace is like the birds and other animals. If they scatter there's a predator around. If that's the case then why do my kills draw such attention?" He tilted his head and considered her question for a bit. "Well people are by nature curious. Death is not something most people see, and most people seem to recognize that once the target is down the danger to them is minimal. It's rare for an assassin to stick around longer than they have to or take down more people than they were paid for. Some people come out of the genuine desire to see if there is anything they can do to help, but most come because to satisfy their curiosity." "More importantly," he said shaking his head, "most of the people you've taken down were people that others didn't like. Sad as this may be most people would never say a word against these people when they are alive out of self-preservation, but the second you kill them they are there to gloat over what happened to the person." He looked at her carefully and smiled. "I think that's probably enough for now. We'll come back to this tomorrow. You caught on to this faster than I'd expected. Let's get cleaned up and then we can go hunting." She nodded and glanced at him, chewing her bottom lip. "That plasma pistol isn't really suited for hunting," she murmured. He glanced at her in surprise. "Not really," he agreed, "I thought you were the one doing the hunting." "Oh, so you were just going to tag along and make hunting more difficult and not help?" she huffed, glaring at him. "No I figured I would handle the skinning, gutting, hauling, you know... whatever you needed." He said holding up his hands defensively. Though he couldn't help thinking to himself that by god she was glorious when she was angry. "Well think again," she growled. "Go get cleaned up. I happen to have a spare bow here you can use." He looked startled, but when she waved for him to go he moved over to his bag and retrieved some soap. "Make sure to scrub down extremely well with some of the bank sand after you use that soap. I don't want every deer in the surrounding area laughing at us because they smell us coming from a mile away!" she yelled after him. Turning back to the room she glanced at the chest against the wall. Underneath her spare clothes there was a box in that chest. It held her old bow, the one she'd used before she'd made her current bow. She hadn't used it since she was fifteen, but it should still be in working order. That bow had been made by her father for her when she first started hunting. He'd taught her the process and let her help as he worked on her so that she'd be able to make her own later. It was a fine bow, but it wasn't big enough for her anymore let alone Ren. She stood staring at the chest for a moment longer, mentally berating herself for offering him a "spare" bow. She'd known damn well this one wouldn't work, but she'd opened her mouth and said it anyway. Heaving a sigh she turned and strode out of her room and into the kitchen. The Cabin had three rooms, but she'd only used two for years. There was the main room where they had slept and a small kitchen complete with stove. The third room however had not been opened in seven years, not since her father died. She didn't want to admit it, but the instant she made her offhand statement about having an extra bow she'd known what it was going to cost her. She paused in the kitchen and took a ragged breath as she stared at the door she'd sworn she'd never open again. She should know by now that there were somethings it was just not wise to promise yourself. Not using a resource or partner to their full extent for sentimental reason was foolish. It was the king of thing that could get you killed. She could have kept her mouth shut and prevented the need to do this, but she hadn't and now she'd just have to deal with it. Reaching above the door sill she found the key right where she remembered it. Her fingers felt numb as she fumbled with the lock for a second before the key turned. Slowly she pushed the door open, and tried to ignore the way her hand shook. Her knees trembled as she walked into the room that her father had always used.The air in the room was still and the room had a feel that just screamed the room hadn't seen use in a long time. The quilt, emblazed with an insignia of some kind he'd had specially made still sat on his neatly made bed. She remembered when she was younger and he first brought her here how she'd loved sitting in here at night, tracing the lightning bolt that was emblazoned across the emblem. The skull it passed through had scared her at first, but her father had merely smiled and told her it was nothing. Just the symbol of some far off warrior band that was never seen on Terra, an image plucked from a book he'd once read. The scroll at the bottom of the emblem brought tears to her eyes as she stared at the words written there. `Semper Fi´ written in bold black letters across the scroll. In an instant she was back in the past at her father's bedside before they wheeled him off to intensive care. She'd ridden with him to the hospital, but they refused to let her stay with him until they had him examined and transferred to a bed in the ICU. At the time she'd been so distraught she almost missed her father grabbing her hand "It means always faithful," his voice once a strong baritone now thin and ready called her attention to him. She didn't understand, and he read that in her face. "Those words, 'semper fi', they mean always faithful. It's bigger than that though. They mean you can be counted on beyond a shadow of a doubt. They mean you will be there for your friends, for your partners, for those closest to you. They mean when all else fails you won't, that you'll never leave someone behind. They are the heart and soul of the code." She wanted to ask him what he meant, but he'd broken down coughing, bloody sputum frothing out his mouth, as he gasped for breath. The nurses had flocked around him, jostling her out of the way as they suctioned his mouth and throat out and adjusted his oxygen flow. "Erilla," he gasped, snatching her hand fiercely as they started to wheel him away. "One day you'll understand.Right now your mom needs you to be there for her while I can't. I need you to take care of her for me for a while. Remember..., 'Semper Fi'." "I tried dad, god knows I tried." She whispered brokenly as her hand rested on the quilt. She hadn't thought about those words in years, not since Leo changed her life so drastically. Her mother had practically disowned her after the murders. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that girls had come forward from all across the outskirts to denounce Leo for what he was and what he'd done to them Erillia wasn't entirely sure her mother wouldn't have turned her in to the police out of spite. She had done her best, and she could meet her father in the afterlife, if there was an afterlife, with her head held high. She'd kept her mother fed and provided for; even after her mother had declared to everyone she didn't have a daughter anymore. She had kept her word as best she could. If she were honest she couldn't fathom what had drawn her mother and father together in the first place, but then she doubted anyone would be able to see what drew her to Ren either. That thought brought her back to the reason she'd come in here after so long. Kneeling beside the bed she reached under it and pulled out a well-worn case. She preferred her steel bow ever since she'd made it, but there were people who preferred the old fashioned things and her father was one of them. Tears gathered in her eyes as she traced the initials her father had carefully imprinted into the leather. Just like the bow and quiver it held, her father had made this by hand. She rose slowly and carried the case back to her bed. Ren walked in to find her holding a long bow and stroking it affectionately. The mahogany finish gleamed despite the fact the bow was clearly a functional weapon rather than a show piece. Tears were streaming down her face as she lovingly handled it, and he fought the urge to rush over and comfort her. Instead he watched her carefully for a while as she stared at bow. Finally she glanced up and saw him standing there. "That's not a spare," he said in a soft tone as he moved towards her. She shook her head, but held it out to him. He fingered the wood lightly as he took it from her hand. It was yew wood, one of the few trees imported from earth. The dark stain contrasted sharply with the lighter wood visible in the engraving on the bow. He held back the urge to explode into a string of curses. The globe surmounted by the eagle and crossed by the anchor. Underneath was a name he knew too well, "Diablo". There was only one Marine he knew of that had used that name in recent memory. Taking a deep breath he glanced over at Erillia. She made a little more sense now, but damn did this complicate matters. It wasn't bad enough he was in a relationship with someone he was going to have to disappoint. It wasn't enough that the first time he actually found someone that made him want to be a better man and to stick around when the situation had conspired to make sure that couldn't happen. No, that wasn't enough of a twisted joke. Instead she had to be the daughter of a legendary Marine, a legend he'd once been sent to kill. He blew out his breath and tried to calm his emotions. She didn't know what had happened. Hell how could she, he didn't even know what had happened. All he knew was that when he'd been sent here it was the beginning of the end for his career with the Advocacy. When she'd described how her father died he'd started to get suspicious. Now there could be little doubt, and any remaining questions he had were erased when he glanced at the case lying on the bed. The "E.L" pressed into the leather was the final straw. Edward Laroch, outstanding Marine Special Forces record. Single handedly stopped multiple uprisings and took out countless pirate gangs. Took his nickname of "devil" when one of the pirate crews he'd infiltrated referred to him that way. Went off the reservation for unknown reasons and settled on Terra. Had prevented popular uprisings here on several occasions and given no reason for action to be taken against him. That was until they had suddenly sent him in for reasons he still couldn't quite fathom. He looked up at Erillia, mentally adding father to the list of titles he knew the man had. He shook his head. He might not have actually killed her father as he'd been ordered to, but he doubted she'd really care about that when all was said and done. Small wonder she was nearly his match when it came to combat. Her father had clearly trained her well, but hadn't focused on lethal skills. He'd hazard a guess that it was because the point of training her had been to allow her to get away from danger, not rush into it. A noble goal, but with Erillia he felt it was probably a wasted effort. She seemed to be drawn to danger like a moth to the flame. He slowly bent the bow and slotted the string into place. It was supple and despite the fact he was sure this bow hadn't been handled since her father passed it was in functioning condition. He'd not handled a bow in years, though as a boy he'd done a bit of archery at camps. She passed him the quiver. Leather dyed a deep crimson with brilliant yellow arrows. Wooden shaft and real feathers, though they used steel for the heads. He was a bit surprised that her father had made something so bright for a hunting weapon. It was difficult to disguise, and would draw unwanted attention. Then again as plentiful as deer were and as good as lieutenant Laroch was supposed to be he probably didn't need to get that close. He looked at her and the tears still shown in the corners of her eyes. She gazed at him, but he'd bet his bottom dollar she wasn't actually seeing him. Her eyes were unfocused and she was shuddering. He cursed himself silently. All the blood on his hands and it was the one life he didn't take that threatened to break him. "This was your fathers?" He didn't have to ask it was clear, but he needed to get her talking. She nodded, and drew a ragged breath. "Yeah," she muttered softly. "I'm sorry." He reached out and pressed a finger to her lips. "You have nothing to apologize for. Your love for your father speaks well for you." He took a deep breath, and thought for a moment. If he told her part of the truth now it might distract her, but it might be for the best. If she was distracted he could still probably bring down some game, and if he couldn't... well there was always the MRE's. "You father was older wasn't he? He'd be around 65 if he were still alive am I right?" She looked startled, but nodded. "Why do you ask?" "I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but I know who your father was," he said softly. Her head snapped back in shock as she stared at him in disbelief. He turned the bow to face her and tapped the Marine emblem. "Marine corp. He even added the big dipper." He tapped the stars carefully engraved just above the eagles head. "That wasn't added until after space flight and the Marine corp transition to being the main assault forces of the interstellar fleet. There's only one Marine in recent record that used Diablo as his code name." "Your father," he shook his head, "your father was the reason I joined the Marines. He is... was a bloody legend. Your full name is Erillia Josephine Laroch, daughter of Edward David Laroch, First Lieutenant of the Interstellar Marine Corps." Her mouth hung open in shock. Finally she shook her head and stepped away from him. "You're crazy Ren. My father was no Marine he was just a hunter. He worked in the factories here." She shook her head again and shoved past him as she strode out the door. He grimaced. "Brilliant move Marine," he muttered to himself as he slung the quiver over his shoulder and walked into the kitchen for one more cup of coffee. He'd wanted to try and break some of this news softly to Erillia. Maybe even ease into telling her about the extent of his connection to her father. Clearly though she wasn't ready to hear the truth. He was still musing over the situation when she appeared in the door way, her hair still damp and glistening from her dip in the river, and her skin red from the cold and from scrubbing herself down. "Look Ren," she said softly shaking her head as she moved into room. "I don't know what you think you know about my father. I don't know what the truth is anymore. I... I'm not stupid enough to think there isn't more going on here than I know about. Maybe some of what you say is true, maybe it all is. Right now I can't think about this. I have too much to deal with just trying to understand what's going on between us to go back and dig through everything I've ever known to be true for what was real and what was a lie." He nodded. He should have suspected as much. Lord knew his head was still spinning as he tried to wrap his mind around what was going on with them, and he had a far firmer grasp of the situation than she did. "Fair enough little one, but you need to be aware that we will have to deal with these things at some point. You're right, there is more going on that you know, that's why it's so important for me to train you as fast as possible. I'm sorry Erillia, but when you and I crossed paths it set some things in motion that I don't believe can be stopped. Right now you're good, but you're only good in the environments you know. I need to train you to where you can adapt anywhere, because I'm not sure we can even stay in Terra Prim." He didn't say it out loud, but if he were honest with himself it was likely they couldn't even stay on the planet at all let alone in the city. She looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. "I know," she said in a broken tone that tore at his heart. She hung her head for a second, and shook her head. "We need to get going. Deer don't stay to close to here when I'm at the cabin. We need to head upstream for a few miles. There's another tributary that they like to water at up there." "Upstream," he asked surprised. "I thought you told me this was only a mile from those cliffs." He glanced out the door towards the rocky crags. "Those don't look like they're several miles away." "They aren't," she said with a smile. "We're following the river through them there's a meadow that isn't even on most maps. There's a small pond there, and the hunting is almost always good, and if we're lucky the fish might even be biting. "Right so we're going camping again," he said moving over to his bed. She grunted an affirmative as he dug in and pulled out the two bed rolls and tossed one to her. She caught it and pulled out her bow and quiver, slinging them over her shoulder as she waited on him. He rummaged around for a few more minutes, pulling out another small bag like the one he'd given her to hold her bow and quiver and placing a few items into it. Finally he stood and nodded to her. She looked at him, but there were so many things that she wanted to ask that she couldn't think where to start. Finally she jerked her head for him to follow her. She stepped out into the slowly receding darkness and took a deep breath of the cold crisp air. Moving through the forest was second nature to her, but she was pleased to see that Ren was nearly as skilled. She hadn't been sure if her memory of their flight from the cops wasn't tainted by adrenaline and the after effects of the morphine. He wasn't quite as skilled as she was though, and she frowned as he stepped on some easily visible and avoidable branches. "Watch where you put your feet," she hissed. "Cracking branches will drive game away faster than you can blink." He grimaced, and nodded. "Sorry," he gave a lopsided grin. "I guess they focused more on how to kill people than how to sneak up on them when they trained me." She chuckled despite herself, and moved forward again. She glanced back and almost froze at the site of the first golden rays backlighting Ren. For an instant her father was with her again. The cold crisp air, the soft pat of their feet on the leafs, the distant twitter of a bird as it woke, all of it called to mind the many times she'd done this with him. Dark Arrow Ch. 05 She could almost hear her father's voice admonishing her about being quiet just as she'd admonished Ren. Years of memories came rushing back over her as she let herself remember the time spent with her father for the first time in years. So a moment she stood frozen as the past bounced around in her head. Finally she gave herself a shake to break the reverie and moved forward again. "The forest isn't just a landscape," she whispered just loud enough for Ren to hear as she echoed the lessons her father taught her. "It's a living breathing entity. You don't move through it, you move with it. If you try to fight the forest you will lose. There are paths through the trees you just have to learn to read the way the ground changes and flows with them." It was such a small thing to say, and yet instantly she noticed a change in their motions. His steps no longer thudded down as harshly as before. As she moved forward she noticed she wasn't paying attention to Ren anymore, but instead had started scanning the forest in front of them as she would if she were on her own. Whether it was her words or Ren was just watching her movements more carefully she wasn't sure. As they moved forward though it became clear Ren was adept at matching his movements to his partners. He might not be able to move silently on his own, but he could follow her movements as if he'd been trained as thoroughly as she had. She figured that being able to move as a unit was probably paramount in special ops. He might not be able to read the ground as well as she could, but he could match her step for step with ease. Silently they slid through the trees as the sun rose behind them to their left. When they reached the cliffs she stopped and removed her shoes and socks. Ren raised an eyebrow, but followed suit. Stuffing her socks into her shoes she tied the laces together and slung them around her neck before leaning down and rolling her pants up to her knees. The river banks here were rocky and nearly impassible, but the river bed itself was sandy. She sucked in her breath as she stepped into the cold clear water and started trudging against the current. She heard a light splash and a curse behind her as Ren stepped into the river after her. Despite herself she couldn't stop her smile as she thought about how many times she'd walked this path alone since her father died. Thoughts of her father brought her back to what Ren had said. The idea that her father was a former Marine... she didn't want to admit it, but it made a certain amount of sense. Her father knew history and politics as well as law and math well beyond the level that made sense for a factory worker from the outskirts. Then too he'd had tattoos, and good ones too as she recalled, which was almost unheard of among the workers. Getting inked took money, and to get a decent artist took even more. Tattoos were a luxury of the upper class, not something that one saw on a working man. Something she was more familiar with was his unerring aim and knowledge of the woods and animals. He could track better that she was ever able to, and she'd never seen him have to take a second shot to put his target down. Such lethal precision was not something that happened without training. There were others who braved the wilds to hunt, but they didn't venture deep into the trees. On top of that they were lucky to take down a deer with a rifle and often the animal was only wounded with the first shot. Yet her father never seemed to fail to bring something down, and she couldn't remember anyone ever claiming to have seen her father miss. She'd been around the fire at several hunting camps and even seasoned hunters considered among the best in the city looked up to her father as the best among them. They all ribbed each other about missing one shot or the other, and joked about being better than each other. No one she'd met ever claimed to be better than her father however, even after he'd been gone for seven years no one she knew of had ever made that claim. On top of this her father and mother had supposedly moved into the nicer area of the outskirts after they were married, but no one seemed to mention it. The area they moved into wasn't one that was often vacated, and yet her father had procured one of the nicer houses in that area for them. His sudden luck had never been a topic of debate, and yet others who had moved to the area were gossiped about constantly and hounded for details on how they had managed it. Too much didn't make sense at first, though when she thought about it in light of Ren's belief that her father was a Marine it began to make more sense. Still even if he was right, there was more to it than Ren was letting on. She could grant that her father might have been military; maybe even a Marine, but that didn't explain how Ren would know of her father. If her father was so legendary, then why hadn't she heard about him? She watched the vids that were put out advertising the various branches of the interstellar military, but she'd never heard or seen anything about her father. If what Ren said was true, then he was holding some information back. He was a bit older than her it was true, so it was possible that he'd heard about her father and been drawn to the Marines because of that. Why would they stop running those recruitment vids though if the man was such a legend? The only thing she could think of was that he had somehow been disgraced, and she couldn't see her father doing something that wrong. That wasn't the man she knew, so then what was Ren hiding... They paced through the trees, as she found herself lost in thought. They had trudged upstream for nearly half an hour as she was lost in her thoughts, and were nearly at the meadow. There was a break in the cliffs where they formed a ring around an open meadow with a few patches of trees and a lake she'd have to guess was somewhere around half a klick wide and a klick long. A sudden flash of movement banished thoughts of her father's past and Ren from her mind completely. About fifty yards away a deer broke out of the trees and came down to get a drink from the stream. It was muscle memory at this point for Erillia; she'd drawn, nocked, and fired before her mind even caught up with what she was doing. The twang of the string had barely resounded when she saw the moment of impact. Her instincts were good, and the shot landed right behind the shoulder of the deer about two thirds of the way down the side. She couldn't be sure it would get the heart with that placement, but with the force of a full draw on her bow it definitely would take out both lungs. As if to confirm her suspicions the deer staggered and fell. Ren started to move forward, but she glared over her shoulder and signaled that they should hold their positions. She knew from experience that rushing to a kill was a good way to make a wounded animal, even one on the point of death, start and run. There was no need for the deer to suffer more than it had to. The seconds crept by as she kept careful count. One minute ticked over into two, and two ticked into three, then four, and five. Finally she glanced back at Ren to see that he was watching and jerked her head to indicate they could move. The water was cold, and she'd been standing in an awkward position, so she wasn't surprised to feel her legs and back protest as she straightened up and made her way quickly to the kill. She knelt down and retrieved her arrow before she turned to the work bleeding and gutting her kill. It was work she was familiar with, and her hands moved with almost surgical precision. Normally she didn't make a kill this far from where she'd camp, she realized as she stood back for a second. She'd either had to find someway to carry the deer or they'd have to camp here for a night and cook the meat so it could be packed up and carried with them. If they were going to be out here for a time she'd really prefer to make a couple more kills, but if they camped here that wouldn't be possible right away. The smell of the smoke, and the movement and smell of people would drive the deer out of here in a heartbeat. She was still contemplating when Ren strode past her to the edge of a stream and proceeded to hack down a sapling growing there. It was a hefty young tree about two inches in diameter around nine feet tall. She watched as he quickly lopped the top off to leave a six foot pole before he turned and walked back to the carcass. Dropping his bag off his shoulder he rummaged for a second before coming up with a roll of cord. "Rule number one of the Marine corp and the wilderness," he said with a smile when he saw her watching him. "Always carry a knife. Rule number two, always carry some cordage. If you have those two things your ability to improvise, survive, and achieve your objective is infinitely improved." "What's rule number three, always carry a bag?" she joked as she sat down on a rock to pull her socks and shoes on, noticing that Ren had done the same while she was tending to her kill. She looked up to find him staring intently at her, and his gaze sent a shiver through her. "Rule number three my dear," he said in a soft voice that sounded both menacing and teasing at the same time," is as follows. In order, leave no Marine behind, no target alive, and no woman unsatisfied." She swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in her throat and forced a laugh. He eyed her for a few more seconds and she saw the corners of his mouth twitch up into the start of a smile before he turned back to his task. With deft movements he pulled the deer's legs up and secured them to the pole leaving just enough of it hanging from either end for a person to shoulder. "I'm assuming you don't want to stay around here, since I figured you don't want to be interrupted too often just to go hunting," he said in answer to her quirked eyebrow then gestured to the trussed up deer. "This makes it easier to carry. If we stop to deal with this here we might as well just go back afterwards. The smell and sound of us working would drive everything you might want to hunt to other areas. I'm assuming that you have someplace we can reach relatively quickly where that kind of thing can be done without driving off all the wild life." She nodded in shock, and he smiled as he stood and shouldered one end of the pole. "Lead on oh fair maiden," he chuckled, and she shook off her momentary shock. Moving quickly she stooped and scooped some of the entrails into a jar she then sealed and slid it into her pocket. Hoisting her end she was a bit surprised to find that the deer, though close to two hundred pounds when it had been alive, wasn't a significant strain at all to carry this way. "You'd better be ready to quick march then Marine because we've got a ways to go, and we can't afford to be out in the open with a carcass or it will draw unwanted attention. No need to be quiet now. We won't be shooting anything again today and by tomorrow the deer will have forgotten all about us passing through." The only answer was Ren's chuckle, but as she stepped out he began to whistle. She almost told him to be quiet, but something held her back. Though the whistle was a bit tuneless it seemed familiar as well. "Ain't no use in looking down. There targets to be found. Keep your eyes up, look around. Else you'll wind up under ground." Erillia sucked in a gasp, but found herself falling into the pace of the cadence almost instantly. Her father had once taught her how to set her pace with a rhythm using those exact words. Her mind whirled as Ren continued the tune, but it kept coming back to one inescapable conclusion. Ren had been right about her father being a Marine, and she needed to know what he was hiding. They'd crossed half the open meadow before Ren finally ran out of lines, but the cadence had served its purpose. They moved in unison at a brisk clip, and had so fallen into the rhythm that when he stopped singing they still moved at the same pace. The sun was just reaching its peak when they came to the edge of the meadow and tracked along the cliffs toward the lake. Less than half a mile from the lake she suddenly held up her hand and they stopped. Ren gave her a curious look as she walked over to the cliff and looked up for a second. There was a cave up there with a pulley system designed to bring game or people up to the cave easily. Someone had to climb up first however and throw down the rope. Ren would be able to pull the deer up easier, but unfortunately he didn't know where the cave was. It would take less time if she did it herself and it wouldn't be the first time she'd hauled a deer this hefty up the cliff. "Wait here," she said turning to him, "I'm going to climb up the cliff a ways. There's a cave up there where I usually camp and we can deal with the meat there. I'll throw down a rope when I get up there, and you tie it off to the deer." He looked skeptical, but nodded in acceptance. She turned to the cliff and started climbing. It wasn't very far, only about twenty or thirty feet in all truth, and she was there in only a few moments. She hoisted herself onto the ledge and quickly surveyed the cave. Other than a few spider webs it seemed nothing had taken up residence, but she was taking no chances. Plucking an arrow from her quiver she walked slowly into the cave and cleared it carefully. Her suspicions proved true though, not even a bird had taken up residence. She knelt on the ledge and glanced over to see Ren looking expectantly upwards. She grinned and flashed him a thumbs up before quickly feeding the rope that was coiled nearby through the pulley and sending it down the cliff to him. "Doing ok?" she yelled down as he quickly tied the rope off. He glanced up and grinned as she started to haul the deer up. "Doing wonderful!" She narrowed her eyes as he started to chuckle. "The view from down here while you climb is absolutely amazing!" He broke down chuckling at that and she scowled. Ok, two could play at that game. She reached out and swung the rope just lightly, but enough to move the deer directly over Ren's head. Then she let the rope slip from her grasp. There was a muffled yell as Ren tried to catch the deer and retain his balance, but ended up being flatted as his foot slipped. The deer had only been a foot or two over his head. Not enough force to be dangerous, but definitely enough to hurt. His pride wounded more than anything he glared daggers up at her as she broke down laughing and started hauling the deer up the cliff again. "I see what you mean about the view, it certainly is lovely from up here right now," she shot back at him. He shook his head and climbed to his feet, but carefully stepped back out of range of the deer should she decide on a repeat performance. She chuckled and hauled the rope up, carefully securing it when the deer was high enough to be hoisted onto the ledge. Quickly she swung it in and untied it, dragging it back into the cave so it couldn't accidentally fall over the edge. Then returning she retried the rope to toss it back down for Ren. Before she reached the ledge however a hand suddenly grasped the ledge and a second later Ren's head and shoulders came into view as he hoisted himself up onto the ledge. "I hope you enjoyed that," he growled softly. "I won't be going easy on you when we spar tonight, and I can guarantee you that's the last time you put me on my back today." She wanted to glower at him, but she had a sinking feeling he was right. She'd not been able to match him before and from what he had said she had a feeling he'd been holding back just a little during that first fight. He'd wanted to test her skills and try and figure out why she was chasing him, not to kill her. She was grateful for that because if he was half as good as he thought he was she'd be dead right now otherwise. Still the smug attitude and the half smile on his face made her want to punch him and prove him wrong. Instead she turned back to the deer and began skinning it as he looked around the cave. "Bloody hell Erillia this place is a lot bigger than I figured." He moved into the cave further and gave a startled exclamation. "You have a freaking stove and a smoker in here?" The incredulity in his voice made her smile. "Yes I do," she said in amusement. "There was some kind of crack in here that let in fresh air; it leads out to the top of the cliff. Dad was able to feed a pipe through it and connect those two so that the smoke is vented out up there. It lets us cook without the risk of the smell driving away game." Ren shook his head as he came back into view. "That's quite the set up. Lets you cook the meet to preserve it from your kills, and yet keep hunting at the same time." He shook his head in admiration. Not that things were as Erillia believed, but he'd already dropped enough bombshells on her today. There had been no crack to feed the vent through. One look at the pipe had been enough to tell him that. The Janus self-burrowing air shafts were a common enough tool in the military and in the mining industry, though ones which could extend for the length this one did were rare. A spinning head and micro lasers allowed the device to core its way through just about anything, even the eight foot think titanium support beams and armor that most civilian space ships utilized. The obvious and supposedly intended use for them was for those who might find themselves in underground tunnels, buried by an avalanche, or in some other fashion end up in a situation where oxygen supply was threatened. The device would allow these people to bore an air shaft and maintain enough air flow to survive until rescue arrived. Then again Janus was named after some ancient mythic deity that supposedly had two faces. The founder of the company thought it was a clever reference, considering that publically Janus industrial supplies was a mining and industrial company, though in truth their products were most often developed as a result of commissions by the military. Just like the two faces of the company, their tools could generally serve more than one use if one knew how to use them appropriately. They were particular favorites of the Special Forces since most products were designed to look like innocent industrial equipment. This made it much easier to conceal tools and weapons than if an obviously military device were simply converted to try and pass for something innocent. The air shafts were a prime example of that duality. It wasn't common knowledge, but compact versions were a favored tool among the special operations units for breaching purposes. One could easily bore through an outer airlock door and then drop a small charge through the tube and into the air lock. The resulting explosion would rip apart the airlock and on most craft would result in uncontrollable atmosphere venting. There were a few of the larger ships that could seal off the life support well enough to keep people alive until they got into suits. Those were few and far between however, and even if the crew was able to suit up the shock and panic of the unexpected breach, it was generally enough for them to be subdued before they could offer any resistance. The longer ones however were generally used to bore completely through a ship or for those who were doing deep tunneling etc. Why the Lt. would have had one that long was a bit of a mystery. It wasn't exactly something one could buy easily and if he'd requisitioned it then it would have had to be for a mission. The long tubes though were almost never used by the Special Forces. They took too long to reach their target and were too obvious. In fact Ren couldn't think of a single application where this would be preferable to two or three of the smaller more compact versions.