Tower above the sands
The moonlight spilled through the transparent purple drapes of the tower window silhouetting Eerikai’s naked body. Zhamar allowed his fingers to flow over the soft curve of her waist, delicately making his way up her back like the wind riding ocean waves. Her bottom lip clenched between her own teeth and the sound of her soft groans gave him the satisfaction of knowing that his fingers had contributed to the pleasure filled night. Eerikai rolled over onto her side laying parallel to Zhamar, she slid her one hand down his chest, allowing her fingers to separate as they took different paths between his tightly muscled abdominals.
With her other hand she curled her fingers through his jet-black locks. She fell into the unshakeable gaze of his deep dark brown eyes; her nose grazed his slightly as his eyes remained fixed on her green ones. Her eyelids slid shut for a split second to refresh her drying eyes; before she could open them his lips were pressed against hers. An uncontrollable explosion of arousal and euphoria grabbed her, that or Zhamar’s arms pulling her to him closing the gap between their bodies… But just as fast as the passionate kiss came it was gone. Her eyes tore open as Zhamar rolled out of the bed and made his way toward his things next to the open window.
“When will I see you again?” she said woefully as she scanned his naked body falling in love with his leanly muscled build, tanned skin and heavily tattooed body all over again. “I don’t know” Responded Zhamar casually as he began putting his clothes on. “You can’t just say that to me! You enter my bed, have your way with me then you leave for months and then show up again when you please! That’s not what I want”
A cool night breeze swept through the room, Zhamar paused before responding allowing the silence to ring loudly.
"Then what do you want Eerikai?” his voice empty and emotionless. Eerikai wrapped the bed covers around her body and floated over to where Zhamar stood. She rested her head in his still uncovered back and rested her arms round his waist “I want your love”
“You have my love,” replied Zhamar softly, he lifted her arms up off of his waist and let them drop to her sides as he turned to face her. The moon’s light made her white skin glow, illuminating the freckles around her nose, the night breeze blew her curly brown hair off her shoulders. For all of her beauty, Zhamar would not stay with her. “Eerikai, I have to go” He turned his back on her as he threw his breastplate on and began fastening the straps to the rest of his armor. “When will I have all of you?” she whispered to herself. “I don’t know” he replied, his back still turned to her. Tears welled up in her eyes, Zhamar froze, his buffalo skinned cloak in hand. “I love you Zhamar, we are very different but I still love. I would die for you if I were asked to and I would die seven times more if you asked me…” her tears overwhelmed her as the last of her words were caught in her throat. Zhamar turned his head to look at her as she threw her head back and her arms flew up simultaneously.
What happened in a split second seemed to occur in slow motion. Her skin melted into black feathers while her finger melded into feathering stub like limbs. Her face squished narrowly as her eyes slid to the sides of her face, her lips and nose merged smoothly into a vicious black beak. He watched as fascinated as the first time he had seen it; she made something that seemed so unnatural look like an art form. What used to be arms fell to her sides as wings, her talons dug softly into the carpeted floor as she allowed the light streaming through the window to compliment the black, gray and white designs of her feathers. Eerikai stood at 5’4ft in her harpy eagle form, huge for a girl who was only 5’7 as a human. The long feathers of her tail completed the transformation. Eerikai cried out, Zhamar complied stepping out of her path to the window. She leapt up effortlessly onto the edge “Where are you going?” his voice slightly giving away his concern. “I don’t know” she replied, she had no lips to speak but he voice that seemed to come from her eyes was as audible as his own. Without turning her eyes to him she dropped out of the sky-scraping tower and spread her wings flying toward the moon. Zhamar threw his cloak over his shoulder and grabbed the rest of his things; he had to reach the city without running into the black guard if he wanted to complete his mission. Leaving under the cover of night fall was his best bet…
Zhamar dragged his
feet heavily through the desert sands willing him-self forward with each step.
He was completely covered in protective clothing, leaving only his eyes
exposed. His back ached as if he had slept o a rock and the soles of his feet
felt like they were bleeding, but he had made longer journeys and this one was
nothing compared to those. As the sun retreated behind the horizon he began to
worry about setting up a safe camp. His nose picked up nothing but the smell of
sand and cacti for miles, no water.
Oddly enough even after leaving Eerikai hundreds of miles behind him in
the opposite direction, her smell continued to linger. He let his thoughts of
the last night they had spent together runaway with him. The taste of her
sweat, her nails digging into his back, the whisper of her voice speaking words
of love in his ear, the smell of- His day dream was interrupted by the smell of
steel and a familiar combination of blood, sweat, fur and anger. How could he
have let his guard down for that long? How could he have let whoever or what
ever get past the range of his nose. Zhamar turned in circles using his eyes
and his nose to locate where the intruder was and how far away. His eyes became
useless under the cover of night and his nose was plagued by another problem.
Why was Eerikai’s scent still so strong? He was already a day away from her
village and he had washed himself twice since that night. Panic struck him as both Eerikai’s scent and
the intruder’s scent continued to steadily grow stronger, he grasped the
handles of his twin Romphia blades and un sheathed them from under his cloak.
He crouched down slightly as he released his pack freeing himself for combat.
His right leg slid backward, his left forward bent with is knee ahead of him, his left hand wielding one blade remained in front of him bent horizontally
across his chest. With a flick of his wrist the blade in his right hand lay
against his forearm positioned precisely at chest height. He stood in the
middle of the blackened desert ready to defend what was his territory at the
moment.
He allowed his nose and ears to make up for his blinded eyes, what ever was coming was moving very fast, moving purposefully, on a mission… hunting something. Closer, closer, in less then a minute they would be upon him. His grip on his blades tightened as he felt his body instinctively changing to prepare for the enemy. His pupils shifted into wide oval shaped black holes, the rest of his eyes burned a blood red. His skin became ridge covered leathery scales; the color patterns covered his body in dark orange, green and black. “Aaaahhhck!!” Zhamar’s attention shot to the sky, “Zhamar! Zhamar! Im coming with you!” Eerikai was closing in on where he stood, here wings flapping playfully as she began her descent. The foolish girl had unconsciously lead an enemy to them “Eerikai! What are y—“ a hoarse growl cut him off as a black blur took flight from behind Eerkai and snatched her out of the sky. Eerakai and her attacker landed with a hard thud in the sand locked in a one sided battle. “Eerikai!” Zhamar shouted in a voice that was half man half beast. Her cries of horror and the sounds of tearing flesh clouded his senses just long to break his focus. Zhamar abandoned his position without a second thought to rescue Eerikai from what looked to be a huge black feline. “GrrrrrRoooooaaahh!” another black panther lunged out of the darkness at Zhamar’s back. Zhamar rolled to the side narrowly avoiding the unanticipated attack; he landed in a low defensive stance in one fluid movement. The panther landed on all four and without turning back veered forward to join the attack on Eerakai. Zhamar lunged behind him both blades raised above his head. “ooof!” Zhamar yelped as a third assailant knocked him to the ground. He landed on all fours and quickly recovered, this attacker was not a panther. He stood at 7ft tall, abnormally built and clad in thick black armor that covered his entire body except his stomach and feet. The figure cried out in anger, drowning out the growls and cries coming from the attack occurring behind him. Zhamar charged blindly toward the monster and the monster followed suit in response to the foolish challenge. Zhamar, smaller and bred to fight in desert conditions easily over matched his foe in speed and agility. Zhamar waited till he was in range of his enemy then in a matter of a split second stopped, shifter the direction of his momentum, lunged to the side of his enemy and tore through his stomach with both blades. Blood poured out of followed by a few important organs. The enemies deafening cry of agony alerted is comrades to Zhamar’s presence as a threat. Both panther’s looked around but before their eyes or ears could locate him Zhamar was on the back of one of the huge panthers with both blades driven into his stomach. “Aaaaaaahhh!!” the panther’s human voice cried out in violent pain. Zhamar kicked off of his back tearing his blades free from the beast while flipping backward landing next to Eerakai’s bloody body. The second Panther retreated slowly stepping backwards, both yellow eyes dead locked into Zhamar’s red ones. The smell of Eerakai’s blood and the smell of the dying panther’s spilled bowels clawed at Zhamar’s attention but he knew that if he broke eye contact with this enemy he could be lying next to them in a similar state. The Panther’s focus was unshakeable, his fallen brother’s cries had no affect on him, his eyes remained locked on the cloaked reptilian warrior in front of him. Zhamar was ready to silence the last foe when Eerakai’s weak voice whispered from next to him “Zhamar…” he broke focus as his eyes shot from his foe to her mauled and bloody body. She was alive! “Master! Over here! They are here!” Zhamar cursed himself for his own display of weakness. He threw his blade with force and precision. Thhhck! The blade lodged itself between the eyes of the enemy; the large cat dropped to the ground dead seconds after the deathblow. Zhamar looked over Eerikai’s wounds frantically, he had to move her and hide both of their scents before the reinforcements found them.
As he tore his clothing and began wrapping the bleeding opening a heart crushing revelation hit him. The black armor, the organized attack maneuvers; these were no bandits or thieves, he had just killed three black guards. The winds whistled over the desert night brining false peace as eyes popped up all around Zhamar and Eerikai. They were completely surrounded by the black guards; the indistinguishable mixture of their scents gave testimony to their numbers. Zhamar allowed himself to transform a little more. He positioned himself between Eerikai and the direction in which the most pair of eyes steered. As Zhamar scanned the host of enemies’ thoughts of the last night he spent with Eerikai attacked him again. He had a mission, a purpose to full fill and he was well on his way to full filling that which he had been sent to do. But now he stood between the woman he loved and a band of blood hungry Black guard. How did this happen? How had he ended up exactly where his ancestor’s had been centuries ago. He failed his family; his species and himself… but he would not fail Eerikai. She was all he had now; he would not allow them to ravish her. Zhamar through down his blade and ripped his cloak off his shoulders, he unsheathed Sazodo, the sword of his clan. With both hands gripping the handle of the blade he took his ready stance. “Naah-rashu nada- Komodo...”
