Walk On Mountains - Chapter Seventeen

Karro stepped out, sending an energy punch at Isiru even before she was completely around the corner. Isiru stumbled back as the punch caught her shoulder, and retaliated with one of her own. Karro grunted as she was knocked to the ground. She waited until Isiru approached, and then punched again, climbing to her feet when the other woman flew against the wall to her left and yelled out in pain. She quickly approached, but wasn’t fast enough as Isiru slammed her against the wall. Her head hit, and dazed her long enough for Isiru to get her in an energy grip.1

"I have to admit," Isiru panted against the pain in her back, "I never thought you would have the guts to attempt something like this. I’m impressed." 2

Karro stared murder at her but did not reply. She knew it might be a one way trip when she came with Grydin, and it looked as though the trip was almost over. She stumbled as Isiru turned and beckoned her captive down the hall, pulling her along in the energy grasp. 3

Karro didn’t remember Isiru being so strong and assumed that this was one of the effects of practicing her powers without regard or respect of the outcome. She knew the people who had left the group years ago to set up camp on this side had practiced, but she didn’t know how much. The stories Grydin had told them were of his time with the ‘clan’, and although he had remained only eight months, he had shocked them with tales of the practices in which they partook. 4

She looked as they stopped in front of a curtain, and could have laughed at how familiar it was to their own side of the mountain. The curtain opened as she was dragged in. 5

Both Yanuia and Marienda looked up as Karro was mentally thrown the floor in front of them. Marienda moved to help Karro as Yunias hissed and launched herself at her mate's killer that stood in the doorway.  Isiru held a hand up and Yanuia stopped in her tracks. 6

"So nice to see you again," Isiru purred. "It’s starting to feel like old times, isn’t it." She frowned as Yanuia tried to fight the energy grip. "Please don’t force me to make you unconscious. I’d hate for you to miss this." 7

Then, displaying the control she had over her energy, she reached out and forced Marienda away from Karro, and on to the floor beside the downed woman. Isiru licked her lips slowly in anticipation as she crouched down, placed a hand on Karro’s chest, and stared into her eyes. 8

Karro gasped as she could feel the energy leaving her, and though part of her wished it wouldn’t end this way, another part knew that she would soon be at peace and in the arms of the man who had left her so long ago. It took most of her remaining energy, but she closed her eyes, not wanting to give Isiru the satisfaction of seeing the life energy leave them. 9

Marienda stared in horror as the life left her friend and fell back as images suddenly flowed through her like an electrical shock. She covered her head with her arms, dimly aware that she was now free from the energy grasp. Nightmare images seemed to be assaulting her from all sides and she closed her eyes tighter to escape. She could hear Isiru laughing and wondered if she was the one responsible for what was happening to her. 10

Her hands went to her chest as she found it hard to breathe and opened her eyes to find Isiru smirking at her, the amulet around her neck glowing a deep red. "Over the years," Isiru said, her voice pleasantly conversational, "I’ve developed ways to transfer emotions and dreams to other people." She paused and smiled. "You may remember the dreams of Grydin and I making love?" 11

"Bitch!" Marienda tried to scream, but it came out as a whisper. Images still ran through her mind, causing tears of frustration and pain to roll down her cheeks. 12

"I just gave you every nightmare Karro use to have. They stay with the subconscious, even if you never remember the dream." She leaned back so she was sitting on her heels, and smiled contently. "I’m not sure how long it lasts," she said as she stood, "but for your sake, I hope it lasts for a long, long time." 13

Marienda watched through tears as Isiru left, noticing that she gave Yanuia a shove against the wall as she departed. 14

Yanuia put her hand against her mouth and absently ran it across her lips as she stared at the dead body of her friend. She slowly sunk to the floor as she stared and retreated into the safety of herself so as not to completely break down from the events that had just transpired. Rocking back and forth, she could hear sniffing coming from somewhere, and looked. 15

Marienda’s eyes clenched tight against the nightmares that continued to assault her. She gasped out as the memories that belonged to someone else surfaced, and could feel the shame that came with witnessing something so private. Although she had had more then a few nightmares in her life, nothing she ever experienced could compare to what Karro had dreamt. 16

She forced herself to stand and leaned lightly against the bed. Her eyes flew open as she felt as comforting sensation brush against her emotions, and grabbed on to that, holding it tight as armor against the anguish that threatened to consume her entirety. 17

~~~~~~~~~~18

Pontage took a sudden step forward, expecting Grydin to move back, and smiled when he didn’t. He knew it would be a hard fight, and although he hadn’t counted on doing it without his amulet, he was still confident in the outcome. 19

Grydin glanced to a doorway and, when Pontage automatically followed his glance out of reflex, took the brief second to launch himself the short distance to the other man. Pontage looked back in time to be knocked off his feet and a managed to get a good shot in on Grydin’s back as he went down. 20

Grydin felt the hit on his back as he whirled around to face Pontage, and managed to keep the discomfort off his face as the pain threatened the return to his ribs. Adrenaline kept him moving as he raised his right leg, twisted quickly and delivered a solid kick to Pontage’s shoulder. 21

Grydin stumbled as Marienda’s emotions entered him. He tried to stop them, but the pain and anger were too great. He took a step back, and instinctively blocked a kick from Pontage who was taking advantage of his confusion. Grydin’s vision went momentarily blank and Pontage tackled him, driving him against a wall, and punching his ribs. Grydin yelled out as the pain of the hit, and Marienda’s anguish entered every corner of his body. He kicked out as Pontage moved in again, sending the other man stumbling across the floor. Grydin gritted his teeth as he stood. 22

He mentally reached out and, trying to assure himself that Marienda was safe, tensed for Pontage’s next attack. He moved his arm, his shirt feeling sticky against his shoulder and could feel something wet trailing down his arm. He moved from the wall as Pontage attacked and caught a glimpse of deep red on the stone at shoulder height. 23

He tried to feel his mate again, letting his consciousness brush lightly against her in reassurance before breaking connection. Whatever was going on, she was in too much pain to add his predicament to her burden. 24

Grydin punched at Pontage and connected with his nose, causing the other man to stumble, and bring his hands to his face. He snarled at the blood that showed on his palm. 25

"After I finish with your woman," he taunted, "I’ll walk away and let Isiru at her." 26

Grydin grew cold because he knew that Isiru would immediately kill Marienda, and the anger rose in him as the words ‘finish with your woman’ rushed at him. He couldn’t let that happen, and decided to do the one thing he had vowed that he would never do: he dropped the shield that he had so carefully built the past few years, and let the malice flow through him. 27

He had once told Marienda that their people were basically divided by, to simply put it, evil and good. He had given into his ‘evil’ side once, when he had originally been friend to the person he now fought, but had worked the last four years to abolish that part of himself. Now, he welcomed it back with open arms. 28

Pontage hesitated at the subtle change in his foe’s eyes, as they seemed to change from a deep gray to an almost black. He remembered the Grydin from the past, and saw the same person echoed in front of him. That Grydin had been a vicious adversary when angry. 29

He smirked to hide his discomfort. "Seems some things never change, do they," he said. "You’re still the same person you were, you just needed to discover yourself again." 30

Grydin ignore the condescending tone, and ignored the feeling that the other man was right. 31

~~~~~~~~~~ 32

Marienda clamped down on the nausea as anger unlike any that she had ever known surfaced in her. The nightmare images were replaced by murderous thoughts that raced through her brain, compelling her to fall to her knees on the hard ground. She felt a hand pull her to the bed, and shook off Yanuia as she sat down. 33

"What is it?" the other woman asked. 34

"Grydin," she whispered in a broken voice. "He’s…not dead…" she paused as she exhaled. "But…the anger." 35

Yanuia closed her eyes in relief that her friend was not dead. Before he left, he had told her that he was going to do things Pontage’s way, and it looked like he finally tapped into his inner demon to accomplish that feat. 36

She looked down at Karro’s body, and noticed that she looked more peaceful than she had in a long time. She hoped that she had been reunited with her mate, and wished them absolute love throughout eternity. Pulling her gaze away, she grabbed Marienda by the arms and forced her to stand. 37

"Listen. I need you to get yourself together, and act like you were raised." 38

Marienda looked at her wearily. "I don’t know if I can," she admitted. "Before you arrived, I had my mind made up to employ my past, but…" she paused. "I don’t know if I’m strong enough." She put a hand on each side of her head and grimaced. "I keep seeing snippets of…horror…and…what did Isiru do to me?" she demanded. 39

"They're only memories," Yanuia said softly. "Memories can’t hurt you." 40

Marienda shot her a cynical look but decided against reminding the other woman of her attitude based on memories of treatment at the hands of Rules Enforcement. 41

"You’re right," Marienda said. "Memories, just memories." She sat back on the bed and crossed her legs. "Give me a couple minutes," she whispered as she closed her eyes. 42

Yanuia sighed impatiently, but waited. If this would help Marienda get into action, then she would wait.43