Coated in Blood

"Come here, you're safe now", the dark, cloaked figure called out. Bodies lay dead on the ground, their blood evaporating into mist within seconds. "Just a matter of time before they arrive", he continued "but it's okay, I'll make short work of them!"

Gasping, Abeer awoke from a dream. It was one of the most vivid ones he's had in years. He's been seeing this person for a while, a few times a month for two years. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before looking at the view before him. The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of grass and nature, all hit Abeer's senses. The ocean and coastline were just in view.

"Oh well, it's time to get going, the ship's sailing off in a bit". He stood up, stretched his back and arms, and packed up his camp.

Dawn had just broken, and it was a warm spring day on the coast of what will be Morocco in 1698. Abeer was a young Arab man, traveling alone with plans to see the New World, the Americas. He had camped half a mile outside the port city as he had gone hunting the day before to make some money.

"Come on Thiqa, you're an old mare, I know that, but at least take me to the town this day," he said to his horse before he mounted it. He pats it's neck and sets off for the port. The wind blowing on his face as his horse galloped reminded him of his childhood, faded and blurry to Abeer's memory.

He slowed down once he entered the city's walls. The streets were lively, packed with people and vendors lined up along the edges of the street. The smell of the food, the flowers, and the livestock gave life to the city.

"Abeer! Abeer! Over here!", a voice came from the distance. Abeer looked to the left to face the source of the sound and saw a bearded blacksmith.

"Mr. Amir! I almost forgot you owned a forge in the middle of the road. So tell me, how's business?" Abeer responded gleefully, half joking in the first part.

"Oh my, you must have quite the sense of hearing if you managed to hear me from there. Even the game you bring back tripled 2 years ago out of nowhere," Amir remarked," but as you asked, business is good". Abeer and Amir chatted for a couple more minutes and Abeer tried his best to avoid any topic about his senses.

"Well old man, I'll be on my way, I have to see what this 'New World' has to offer to a traveler like me, but first I must travel through Spain", Abeer ended the conversation, "farewell, the boat to Spain departs at dusk. I'll come meet you again before leaving."

Ameer walked to the nearest café and ordered some food, sitting and staring into the clear sky.

"Hm... it's been 2 years since Rashid passed. Whatever happened to him? It's like you suddenly disappeared one day. I'm not sure, but I'll visit your grave today, old friend." His eye tearing up at the thought of his dead friend. Abeer closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Abeer, I need you to take it! It's the only way!"

"No, Rashid you'll-"

The voices screamed in his ears. The voices belonged to Rashid and Abeer himself.

He opened his eyes and started breathing heavily. "Alright Abeer, deep breaths."

He left his chair, grabbing his satchel before a man, clutching an infant to himself, barged through the door and started shouting, not very fluent in Arabic.

The man was wearing expensive European clothes that were a bit torn and dirty. His skin was pale and he had blonde hair, along with blue eyes. He was rather lanky and taller than the average man.

Abeer walked up to him and asked him to speak slowly and more calmly, as the man's legs were noodles and his words were being uttered too fast to comprehend. Although Abeer couldn't make out most of the words he managed to understand what the man was trying to convey. The man's employer, a wealthy businessman from France had been kidnapped by a group of what seemed like bandits whilst they were on the road.

Abeer felt pity, looking at the ground with his arms folded, and after an awkward pause asked, "Where were you attacked... perhaps I can help?"

The people around him giggled but the man standing in front him of had a blank expression on his face, a gaped mouth and widened eyes.

"Who do you think you are? All you have is a crossbow, an old-looking pistol, and are wearing the most horrible armor I've seen!", the man barked. Abeer raised his eyerbrows and blushed from embrassment due to the remark.

"I have a set of skills that can impress even the best of hunters. I promise to you that I will bring back your employer, safe and not but a scratch on him."

The man let out a sigh and closed his eyes, expecting a poor result, looked back at Abeer, and calmly replied," meet me at the bank when, or if, you find him... please. We were on the road to Fez, maybe 50 kilometers away from here".

Abeer nodded and quickly walked out of the café. As soon as he walked out onto the street, he had noticed a horrifying reality, the ship was about to set sail as it was sundown was nearing.

"Crap! What now? Think, Abeer, think! Miss the only chance you'll get to leave or save some poor soul?", the conflicted man thought to himself. "After all, the bandits wouldn't kill him, right? The guards can get him or his family could pay the ransom money?" He looked at the sky, shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

He then ran towards Thiqa and mounted her. "Oh, I'm going to regret this..." he said to himself as his mount started galloping towards the main road. "But it's the right thing!"

He rode his horse for an hour until he saw a tipped-over wagon. He thought that it must've been the scene of the crime so he dismounted and walked towards it to examine it. The sun almost had set and the darkness of the night was now setting in.

"My hunting skills ought to be useful here," he said to himself, "come on, it won't be as hard as finding a deer's trail." The pep talk he gave to himself did ignite a slight fire of motivation and hope in him.

The wagon was tipped over on its side and the horse that was pulling the wagon had bullet holes in it. The holes' depth and the diameter insisted that the guns were exceptional and of top quality. Furthermore, the corpses of the drivers had slashes on their torsos and had signs that there was resistance. The footprints, although hard to see, were still visible to Abeer which indicated that three men were attacking the wagon. Abeer reconstructed the scene in his mind: first off, the horse was shot but it seems like the shooter was trying to shoot the two drivers. Since horses can withstand a bullet or two, it proceeded to gallop. Then, there must've been some explosives hidden on the road which detonated under the wagon, thus the wagon tipped over. The horse was probably shot once more, though it would be a waste of ammunition. The third attacker, one wielding the sword, must've run ahead with the two riflemen following behind. A fight ensued, the drivers duelled the swordsman but ultimately losing and the businessman attempted to run away with his employee and that infant in his arms.

What puzzled Abeer was how what should be bandits obtained muskets that were most probably imported from Europe and why said bandits would spare the employee and child.

Abeer followed the footprints that went off the road and into a thicket. After making his way across, he arrived at a clearing and the trail of the already barely visible footprints had now become impossible to see, even to Abeer. A cold sweat went down the left side of Abeer's face as he had to think quickly.

Suddenly, he started hearing voices coming from the distance. He focused on his hearing and concluded that three men were talking near a fire speaking in French, less than 30 meters away.

"Jackpot", Abeer thought himself feeling a bit accomplished. The camp had two tents set next to each other around a fire. Two of the attackers were sitting on the ground and the third had gone to get firewood. The businessman was tied to a tree 20 feet away from the campfire and although he had many bruises and cuts, he was still breathing.

Abeer opened his hunting satchel and coated the tips of his crossbow bolts with a sedative liquid, not having any intention to kill. Abeer took a deep breath and set off to rescue his target.

First, he went after the man who went to collect firewood. Fortunately for Abeer, the man was about 80 meters away from the campsite. Abeer, like a leopard hunting a gazelle, snuck up on the man without making a sound and grabbed him, proceeding to squeeze him unconscious. He looted a piece of paper which had some French written on it off the unconscious individual but refused to loot any money.

He made his way to the enemies camp, crouched before a rock and hidden from sight. To his surprise, there was only one person at the fire.

"Huh, works for me", he whispered to himself as he shot the man with one of his tranq-bolts. Within moments, the man fell into an unconscious state and Abeer sprinted towards the businessman to untie him but something was strange. Instead of the victim looking relieved or happy, he had a look of despair and fear. His eyes looked tired and droopy, and he hung his head.

"No! You should've stayed behind the rock!", the businessman murmured in a trembling voice. Abeer, halfway to the tree, was bewildered.

Out of nowhere, an intensely hot and sharp feeling emerged at the side of Abeer's neck. The very next moment, he was on the ground, clutching his neck as blood came gushing out.

"Haha, knew my aim was getting better", said the voice coming from the camp's direction. It was the last kidnapper, holding a smoking gun over his shoulder. "Don't worry, Mr. Pierre Monet. You won't be leaving anytime soon", he said menacingly to the hostage," as for you, disgusting native, I'll let you bleed to death!"

Abeer's eyes' grew darker and his body was getting colder, the pain was unbearable but he was unable to move anymore. He closed his eyes, thinking he'd die with regret, so many things he wished to do. A tear dripping from his right eye, he spoke,"I'll see you soon, Rashid."

He awoke in a damp cave, illuminated by fireflies and glowing fungi.

Abeer rubbed his eyes and groaned. He quickly grabbed the side of his neck, where the bullet wound was, however, there was no wound nor blood.

"Oh, you're finally here, did not expect you to die this early", a deep voice came from the distance. Abeer looked up and saw someone, a tall masculine figure wearing a hood. The same figure he had seen in his dream earlier, but this time it was looking at him. After a few seconds of silence it spoke," Well, it was you're first time, of course you'd be scared. Don't worry you'll have plenty of tries in your 'life'".

Without even having a chance to reply he came back to the moment, Abeer was transported back to his body in Morocco. He stood up as quickly as he could, shocked by whatever had just happened. His placed his hands on his chest and neck, breathing heavily and gasping for air.

The two men were both staring at Abeer as if they had just seen a ghost. Abeer looked up at the face of his "murderer" and was fuming with rage, his eyes burning with anger. He speedily drew his pistol from its holster and shot his enemy in the head, killing him instantly.

"What in the name of Christ just happened," the tied up man uttered, his eyes locked onto the corpse.