eyes. The surprise was instantaneous, but was quickly replaced with a wide smile, like nothing had happened.
“What took you?” he said.
Arkin weighed his options. Kovos may have snapped and become unstable, but it appeared as though the killing rage had run its course, at least for now. He was as close to normal as possible,
“Laundry.”
Kovos nodded his head. Arkin spoke. “Are you ok?”
“Other than watching my brother get beaten to a pulp, Sasha almost getting raped, and killing three men, I’m doing great!” He smiled sarcastically at the end. Arkin could tell Kovos wasn’t actually smiling and the gallows humor was a good thing. Kovos was still with it.
“Ok. How did it feel?” he asked.
Kovos’ face darkened as he thought. “Not good. But not bad either. They deserved it. I don’t know how I should feel.”
“That’s a good sign, then. Go clean up Keither. He should be waking up soon.”
He turned and saw Legon with Sasha. Her eyes looked blank and out of focus. She was probably in shock. Legon was next to her with his arms around her, talking into her ear. She was rocking back and forth slightly. Her clothes were still covered in blood, but it looked like Legon had wiped it from her face. She had been through a lot, and Arkin hoped that she could keep it together for just a few more days, and then she would be fine. He knelt down and wiped his blades off on one of the dead men’s pants. He reached back and re-sheathed them as he walked back to the tree he’d been in to get his bow.
Legon looked up at him. “Thank you for coming when you did. I know it wasn’t the most opportune time.”
Arkin walked to Sasha and bent over, placing his hand on her cheek. “Are you ok?” he asked in a warm voice.
“I will be. I’m just shaken is all, I’ll be fine.”
“Good. You just sit here for awhile, ok?”
She looked up and wrapped her arms around her knees. There was a small groan and Arkin turned to look at the man Kovos had paralyzed. “Sasha dear, on second thought, Keither is getting up now. Will you take him to go get cleaned up? There’s a small stream on the other side of the road.”
She got up without question and walked to Keither, helping him out of the camp and out of ear shot. Arkin stood and beckoned Legon and Kovos over as he walked to the man on the ground. It appeared that he could still use his arms, which was good. He looked scared, which was also good. As Arkin walked up to him he pulled a small knife out of the sheath on his belt. He knelt down next to the man, Kovos and Legon on either side of him.
* * * * *
Sasha was helping Keither along, or was he helping her? He didn’t know what was going on. He was covered in blood and there had been bodies in camp. Also, why was Arkin here? His head was pounding and fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was getting beaten.
They were crossing the road. There was the sound of water running. Sasha’s lip was bleeding and she was shaking. He remembered what the man had done when he tied her and he knew what happened. All of a sudden the pain in his body didn’t seem to matter, and he was suddenly thankful he was unconscious when they… when they…. He wasn’t going to think it. He saw the stream, moving fast in the mountain pass, the light playing on it, illuminating the trees. He knelt down with her. She scooped up water, splashed it over her face and then started wiping his. He needed to say something to her, something supportive, but what? He had never been able to talk to people, never. But Sasha, she was different. She was nice to everyone, and everyone disliked her for something that he knew wasn’t her fault.
Anger, sadness and hate coursed through him, but also love. Love for someone that was kind to him, love for someone good. That someone could do that to her, could hurt her…But maybe they hadn’t. Maybe that’s what the fight was.
He placed his hand on her wrist. “They didn’t…?”
“No. Arkin came right before they were able to.” She looked down. Shame and humiliation filled her expression and voice.
He breathed a sigh of relief. She was standing now and he stood shaky on his feet.