Firefly Light

Chapter 3

Eric watched, the order to halt still in his throat, as Corporal Benson lunged for the girl. This began a series of the strangest events he had ever witnessed, and all within the space of a few seconds. When it looked like Benson had her, she seemed to blur and was then on the soldiers left side, looking at him. Benson fell, untouched. Everyone had seen it happen and surprise was written on their faces, but they continued to follow the initial orders given to them. The girl started to walk towards the brothers. Gonzalez and Hopkins tried to stop her, but she again was able to somehow jump out of their way at the last moment and the two men collided head on. He gratefully realized the thing he had truly feared was not happening. She had not touched her weapons. She was not hostile and was not going to butcher his men. He continued to watch, fascinated, as she moved quicker than was physically possible, over and over again. Her movements were so fast you really could not quite distinguish them. Suddenly, she jumped an impossible distance and was standing right beside them.

Their gaze locked and he realized what had been bothering him about those eyes. They were green. Eric knew that people could have green eyes, and he had seen a few, but not like these. These eyes were emerald green, as green as the woods behind her. They darkened to a band of near black along the outer edge of the iris, but were flawlessly green otherwise. There were no faults, or specks of gold or any other color. It was like they were painted. He had expected the normal Asian brown eyes, almost black in many cases, beautiful in their own right perhaps, but they were certainly not green.

He seemed to be unable to move or speak and Devin, who never lacked for a quick witticism, stood just as dumbfounded as he. If she had been dressed in a flowing gossamer gown and sprouted wings he would have believed instantly that there were spirits of the forest and she was their queen. But this spirit was in a uniform. How could she be human? The smiling apparition spoke in those musical tones, flipped over their heads and was gone. They both stood in stunned silence a few moments longer.

He looked at Devin, who was staring at spot on the edge of the forest where she had disappeared. His mouth was still agape. Eric, not gently, reached over and closed the mouth with his hand. "Compose yourself, Lieutenant." he said. Devin sputtered, "Shouldn't we go after her?"

"Are you serious, Devin?" responded Eric, incredulous. "Didn't you see what just happened? Go after that!? I don't think we really want to catch her, do we? ....as if we could anyway. Listen, just before she began her act out there, I was certain that she was going to slaughter the lot of us. She could have done anything with us she pleased. I mean, she is stunning, but I don't think she can be human. You can barely even glimpse her moves. That sword wielding Fairy Queen can be seen only when she wishes it. ....and her eyes are green....emerald green, not natural I tell you, not natural. You go after her, we'll wait here." Eric looked at the forest. "If there is an army of them like her, then we had better try to avoid being their enemy."

Devin made no move to follow the girl. "We have twenty seven experienced, well trained soldiers here, including us. Do you really think she could have killed all of us?"

Eric called out to the men, "Did any of you actually come into physical contact with that girl...or whatever she is?" "Did any of you touch her?" None of the men spoke and many of them looked at the ground. "Yeah, that's what I thought" he said. He turned back to Devin. "Yes"

Devin looked distressed, which was not his usual look.

The captain turned to look back upon the field. Most of the men were close to rejoining them on the hill, but Hopkins was still laying there spread eagle, out cold, and Gonzalez was sitting in the grass holding his head. A couple of others were tending to them. "Sergeant Borski, splash some water in Hopkins's face and get those soldiers on their feet." "Yes sir", said Borski who turned to follow the order.

He looked again at his brother. Devin met his gaze and asked, "What just happened, Eric? Why did she do this? What do we do next and what do we tell the king?"

"I don't know the answer to your first two questions, but there has to be a reason. I would read it as a warning, but it worries me that we have no idea what her motive is." responded Eric, "I can answer the last two, however. We complete our mission, which means we put this event behind us, and move the unit forward into the town. As far as the king...we tell him the truth. Let him decide what should be done, if anything. At least he will be forewarned."

"Let's get this bunch of misfits moving, First Sergeant!" Eric barked. "You men have five minutes to get ready to roll." He looked at Devin as he continued, "....and we are taking the road, as secrecy doesn't appear to be an issue any more." He called to Borski, "Put Hopkins on my horse, I'll walk." "Same for Gonzalez" chimed in Devin, "I'll be joining the captain on his stroll."

First Sergeant Davis shouted "Form up on me men! Borski, get those guys on the horses." The men began to respond, fall back in to the routine of following orders, but they would never forget what they had seen. The mission had taken on a whole new feel, one with much more danger in it than they expected. They were now tense and on edge, watching the surrounding woods, alert to any movement. What the hell had they all just witnessed?

As the men were reforming Devin sighed, smiled slightly, and turned to Eric. "Maybe you are right, brother, maybe those eyes are not natural, but they are still beautiful ones, none the less." "Indeed", responded Eric, "Hauntingly so. If she is somehow human, in a few years that is a woman you would want to hold, even if at risk to your life." Devin nodded in agreement, "Oh, the danger would only add to the spice for me. I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot at having that in my arms if given the chance" Eric laughed and slapped his hand on Devin's shoulder. "Come on, let's get these slackers moving." They both started to walk toward the road, ordering the men to follow.

Keika had hung on every word, sitting on a limb with a silly grin on her face. She was exhilarated with the compliments, the impression she had left on them. Being thought some variety of enchanted creature didn't bother her one bit. That was a compliment as well, she would take it....and, well, he was right, the she wasn't actually quite human any more. The pain of that fact she carried with her every day. Their names were Eric and Devin, and maybe she had been a little hasty in her judgment of Devin. After what he had said, he didn't seem so bad after all.

Oh, but the words that Eric had uttered..."that is a woman you would want to hold, even if at risk to your life" How sweet and romantic, she loved it! Those words replayed themselves over and over again in her mind. He was perceptive as well, she thought as she touched her left cheek, just below the eye. Yes Eric, you are right, these eyes are not natural, not any more, nor will they ever be again.

On the very negative side, they had not done what she hoped her performance would convince them to do. Keika had thought that if she showed them that there was an unknown force with overwhelming capabilities somewhere in the area, they would turn and leave the valley. The initial grand inflation of her ego caused by her personal impact on the young men now quickly deflated with the realization that what she had actually tried to accomplish had failed completely. Once again she had screwed up. She should have been more direct, threatening she guessed. But Eric was clearly a good, tough officer. He would not abandon his mission without significant loss to his unit. She could not do that. What was she to do now?

As the tired looking mule and the wagon it pulled moved away following the rest of the unit, she once again dropped to the ground from a tree. There was no reason to follow them. She had probably all of the information from them she was going to get, but it would be a good idea to check their last campsite. Their trail was easy to follow and after some time she found the camp. After searching around a bit, she found nothing really useful. They had actually been quite efficient in cleaning up after themselves, had buried their food remains and organic garbage as well as human waste. There was no sign of trash. The fires had been broken up and cold ashes scattered. The camp, although for over thirty men and three large animals, had made minimal impact on its environment and would be invisible within months. She was impressed. They seemed to have an Otani sense of treasuring what was left of nature.

This made it all harder for her to do what she knewshe should, what she would be expected to do. Biting her lip, she also knew that she just couldn't, she couldn't be agood soldier today and do her duty. Shewould pay dearly for it later; everyone was going to be angry with her. She would rather weather that storm, however,than too potentially take part in an event that she would regret bitterly forthe remainder of her life. The decisionwas made.