People of the Sun

Chapter 7: Arun

    Thoughts of Yue swam through  Arun's head all night. Has she made it home safely. Is she still struggling trying to make it back on a broken ankle. Will she tell anyone he saved her that would seem ludicrous. Then he just thinks about her, her big beautiful eyes, her smile, her slender body, the way she smells. What has happened to him. He doesn't think he will ever be the same. Yue will forever be in his head.
   He didn't wait till sunrise to head back home. He couldn't stay in the cave that he had shared with Yue any longer. He packed everything he had back in his sack and bundled against the freezing night. It would be dangerous to light a torch. He believed to be far enough from the moonwalker mountain that they wouldn't be out this close to morning. Moonwalkers weren't the only things to worry about.
   Arun used his sword to slide back and forth along the trail feeling his way. He couldn't see more than a foot in front of his face and only it felt stinging ice in the air. He still felt cold through his fur coat. But if he kept a brisk pace it wasn't unbearable. The night was silent besides the ice rain, his sword along the ground and his feet crunching along the path. That is why his ears instantly alerted at the crunching within the spine. Branches and plants breaking with stomping coming towards him.
   Arun turned towards the sound his sword out in front of him. At the ready for the wolf that was slightly larger than him. He couldn't see him but he felt the air shift as it leaped in the air he struck out blindly but relying on his instincts. He could however see the wolfs eyes and he watched the expression in them change when his sword collided with his body. His face was visible as his body was now close enough but it was going down. The wolf howled out in pain as it dropped to the ground. Arun strikes his sword down through the wolfs neck. A killing strike silencing his cry.
  He no longer felt how cold it was carrying a wolf almost twice his weight. He was quite relieved when the rain began to fizzle and the sky grew hazy before the rising sun. He could finally see where he was going and was amazed how far he had blindly come.
  It was still early morning when he brought his mother his first kill. Idalia was a strong women of the people of the sun. Being the wife of warrior captain she was close to all the younger warrior wife's and she over saw most of the farming her mother being a head farmer before her, but her two sons were her pride and joy. If Arun thought bringing her a wolf after being gone day and night without a word he had another thing coming.
   "I want becoming a journier out of your head Arun do you know how worried I've been." She told him taking in his haggard tired appearance.
  "Mother if anything this proves I can become a journier. Look I'm fine and I killed a wolf in the dark of night. My warrior training helped with that. I feel like I've had a life changing experience here. Come on mom I'll make you a fur coat from my first kill."
  "No Arun if you insist on following this path this fur will be important to you." Idalia could see a change in her son and she could see the happiness in his soul shining through. A true mother only wants their child's happiness.
  Arun was happy filled with hope that Yue would meet him. He held onto that hope as his father Abrafo lectured him on leaving the way he did. He wasn't happy his son seeked to be a journier but he was proud of his kill. Arun's mind always went back to Yue and how she was fairing. Dreaming of her meeting him in the ancient city.