Flashback (Fin) How the knife slides in

[Sheaya]

21st of Spring 514 Some time after 3rd bell The cool, night air blew across the desert blowing sand against the circle of colorful tents that marked where the family of Benshira were staying. The camp was mostly quiet with the families sleeping, even the children laid in their bedrolls, dreaming of their own adventures in the safety of their parents tents. The scent of smoke that lingered on the charred ashes of what had been the fire pit the evening before when the wind died down enough for anyone to notice, but the scent didn't seem to bother the few horses, camels, or even the heads of sheep and goats that were all pinned up and tied up for the night. On occasion you would hear the bleating of a lamb as it dreamed or the sound of a horse shifting it's footing, but all in all it was a peaceful night. The circle around the fire pit had long been blow away, hiding the festivities of the night. As they had liked to do when their work was done the family had all gathered for music and dancing as they all had partaken of dinner with one another. For the first time since she had had their second son Sheaya had danced with her cousins and sister in law around the fire, filling the music with the sound of her bells that brought a smile to her husbands face every time he heard it. The sound of the music of that night had long faded as the family had all fallen asleep for the next day of work that would be coming, and the only tinkling of bells that could be heard on occasion was from when the young mother shifted her foot in her sleep as she laid beside her husband, suckling her baby so he could nurse back to a deep sleep once more. The sun hadn't even began to rise and paint the sky before the sand filled haze of Spring dirtied it and the torches had all burned out, unable to keep lit with the wind blowing as it did. It wasn't as if the light would have helped any as the quiet company of men started riding closer and closer to the camp. Their mounts were nearly silent, without a doubt chosen for their digression and speed by the men of ill intentions riding upon them. The men all made silent gestures to one another, relaying the signals of one man who acted as leader even though his attire did nothing to reflect this. Each man wore black tunics and had shawls wrapped around their heads and faces, hiding everything but their eyes which were startling even in the dim moonlight. Without a doubt these men were Benshira or mix-breeds that had chosen a bloodier and less honorable path to walk. The twenty men had no issue circling the camp, a group of them locating the livestock which held a high value to them for resale as well as easy meals that they didn't have to hunt for themselves. To many of the men they felt they had found an easy target as there were few tents in this group, no where near the numbers they had crossed in the past, and like any raid there was always a chance of finding large amounts of money and goods that these nomads had collected over time. As the men waited for the signal to begin the attack the animals of the camp grew restless, sensing the presences there and sensing something was afoot. The horses started making noises and shifting more, and even the goats and sheep had started bleating and stirring. The leader gave the signal for the attack to start, motioning for a few of his men to start going in and slitting the throats of the tent dwellers before they awoke with any hope, starting with the tents closest to the sheep as the animals could only keep quiet for so long before growing louder with fear. Two men started clearing tents with their daggers drawn to make silent work of the sleepers. Two cousins of Iisar, husband and wife died without making even a sound and somewhat in peace, but the second assailant had more issues as he had chosen the tent of the light sleeper who had already awoken from the animals stirring. Before the thief even had a chance to get near the couple, Bethar had already drawn his saber and had it hidden under his sheets, waiting for the footsteps to close in on him. The intruder hadn't even a chance to defend himself properly as he was caught off guard when Bethar surprised attack him and ran his sword through the man. He made no waist of time after drawing his sword from the slain thief to tell his wife to protect their daughter and light his torch to see if there were more and to wake his brethren. His call out was enough to save one of his brothers from being killed in their sleep as well and to wake the other family tents, but it also unleashed the hell that was about to reign down upon them. As the family banned together, pulling out their swords and slingshots to protect their own, the leader of the thieves made his call. Raising his sword towards the crescent moon he called out for his men to charge and to stomp out the threat.

[Sheaya]

Sheaya had awoke from the call of Bethar as had Iishar, and the two exchanged worried glances with one another as Shea slipped her bare breast back into her clothing and nestled her child to her chest so he would not stir. "Stay near the children, and use that slingshot if you have to." Iisar told her as he rose out of their shared bedroll and picked up his sword, knowing this was not going to be peaceful. He didn't even waist time to light his lantern before running out to join his cousins and brother in this fight, unknowing to what the threat was at the time. "Come to me Izach, and keep quiet." Shea ordered her eldest, knowing full well the toddler was wide awake at this point. The boy made no means to question as he knew by her tone something was wrong and hurried over to his mother who he could barely see as the moon had a hard time shining through the well woven fibers of the tent. The young woman hugged her boy with an arm as she knew knew this was startling for even her, but she kept herself calm and collect for her boys who needed her right now more then ever. The tent was surrounded by loud cries of foreign men and the sound of hoof beats pounding on the sand. It was only moments before the sound of steel started sounding outside, signaling that the fight had began and this was more then a simple wolf attack. "Everything will be okay Izach," Sheaya whispered as she kissed her son's head. "Your father is out there making everything right. You just have to be brave and strong like he is and do as I say." She soothed before standing and taking his hand. "Ma'ma, I fight with daddy." The boy told her in a hushed tone as she lead him to where they kept their large pots they kept filled with water, dried beans, and other goods hat they used to sustain themselves when food was scarce. "You will fight with him another day, but today you are doing something more important." Shea instructed him hastily as she guided him between the pots and pushed down on his shoulder so he would sit. It was hard to see to begin with, but now she found it near impossible to find the boy among the pots. The sound of the battle started picking up as more fighters started joining in. Through the tent a large light had started burning, hinting that someones tent had caught flame or that the fire pit had been light to help with seeing the enemy. Their family was not normally prepared to fight in the dark, but who knew what conditions these enemies were use to? Knowing she needed to pick up her pace if she was to be of any help she fumbled in the dark for the woven basket laid with blankets they used for the crib and laid baby Gabriel inside of it, not knowing if he was awake or asleep at this point before sitting the entire thing onto Izach's lap and instructing him farther. "You have to be the big brother now and protect Gabriel. I want you to sit here with him and keep quiet. If anyone comes in here you keep quiet, but if they come close to you, you scream as loud as you can." She told the boy who nodded as if he understood. Sheaya stood back and felt fear unlike she had ever experienced before. She had a duty to these two little boys and to her husband to protect them, and the thought of losing either one of them terrified her beyond belief. Saying a silent prayer for her god to watch over her children, she turned and started to fumble around for where they kept the slingshots and gathered as many rounds as she could before joining the din outside of her tent and to scope out the situation. The camp was chaotic with horses and herds of animals fleeing in all direction. One of the tents had indeed been set on fire, but Zior and Naia didn't appear to be in it; in fact Naia could be seen as a shadow in front of the tent, aiming deadly blows with her slingshot at the assailants while shouting questionable language. Shea didn't have time to glance around for her husband at this point to see if he was okay, focusing too much on the task at hand. With the light of the moon and the fire consuming the wool it was easy to tell their own from the intruders. Shea started firing the sling shot at men in range, hoping for a clean blow to the temple to lay them out as it could the other predators of the desert that she had seen threaten their flocks. She missed several times trying to hit the men; her aim had never been good as she had only been taught and trained a few dozen times in her years of being a shepherdess with her family. The lack of experience of hitting a moving target along with the fact her body was trembling with anticipation and coursing with adrenalin was messing her up, but by only Yahal's will had some of her strikes been deadly. She knew for sure she had struck one man directly in the eye and brought him to his knees hopefully blind, and another she had managed to hit on the side of the head. The blow had done little to harm the man, but it had been enough to make him turn his focus onto her and lead him to an unexpected ring through of a sword that belonged to the family. The fight continued on for what felt like hours, and the bodies kept falling to the sand, never to move again. Shea did not dare to look down and identify for her kin as she knew that there were sure to be deaths of their own in this fight, and the knowledge of who had fallen she knew would only make her heart weigh heavy when she had too much at stake. Sheaya was subconsciously took in every sound and scent going on around her as her body pumped furiously with blood, burning a strong memory into her head where she would forever remember every minute that had passed that night. Her heart was racing as cold sweat beaded up and ran down her face, leaving one glad the sun was not up beating down on them. The young mother made several trips back to her tent to grab more rounds when she ran out and to check that her children were still safe and hidden. Every time she caught the assuring glimpse of Izach's blue eyes when they caught the light she gave out a thankful prayer before running back out. An half hour had passed since the attack had started and the fire had burned out mostly by this point, unable to jump to another point thankfully and to spread it's destruction. By this point it was looking unclear who the winner was here as the intruders were still fighting strong and their own numbers were clearly dwindling even though the family all knew that their men were strong and good fighters as they had stood against the beast of the desert time and time again. More and more of the fighting seemed as if it was coming down to the women using what resources they had and were even wielding swords for themselves to fight against these men. Sheaya's nose still burned with the smoke of the burnt wool as she fired her last shot on hand. She was running low on ammo even in the tent and was starting to think she needed to find a new weapon when the sound of a baby crying from her tent behind her. She needed no second thought as she engaged into mad mother mode and charged the tent, her bells jingling loudly as she bolted over the shifting sand to enter the tent, ready to harm whoever had disturbed her children.

[Sheaya]

Rushing into the tent, poised and ready to throw herself onto the back of whoever was there disturbing her children, she almost did a double take when much to her surprise there was no one there. Instead she heard her baby crying as Izach tried talking to the baby. "Quiet... Quiet or ma'ma will get mad." She heard her son whispering, doing his best to calm his brother. A sense of relieve washed over her as she dropped her weapon and knelt by the pots to be near her children, hoping her presense would calm the baby who seemed to have had enough being laid down. "Ma'ma, I tell baby to be quiet but he won't." The child tattled as he looked up to his mother. "You're doing well, Izach." She encouraged him as she guided her finger to Gabril's mouth and offered it to the crying infant so that he might suckle it and fall silent again. "Ma'ma, I'm tired. Can I get up?" Izach asked. The patience of a four year old had been pushed to their limits, and she could tell even in the darkness that the boy was still tired by how he laid his head against the pots. "No sweetie, you need to stay down. Daddy's not done outside so you have to stay and protect Gabril, remember?" She shifted her finger in the baby's mouth, still trying to get him to settle down as Izach whimpered, but it was starting to show that he just wasn't having it and that he just wanted to be held. She had started considering picking up the child to calm him and keeping him quiet, but just as she had considered it a shadow crossed the entrance of the tent as a strange man entered the tent. Shea rose to her feet and held her arms out as if to shield her children as the man stared in their direction. "Well well, what do we have here?" The man gave a low throaty chuckle in common tongue as he brushed his hand over his blood stained blade. Even in the dark Sheaya could see the man give a satisfied grin that he had found himself a few little rats scurrying and hiding. "Stay back." She warned, her eyes flicking around the area for something she could use to protect themselves with. "Why should I when you have such a noisy little brat in here? I think I'll just-" He didn't even finish his sentence in hope to catch her off guard. He charged the mother and children, his sword poised to lob off Shea's head in one clean blow. If it hadn't been for the high energy she was feeding off from that night and the fact her motherly instincts were off the radar she might have been unable to react fast enough. The moment he started running towards them, Sheaya grabbed the closest thing she had been able to see, her cooking knife and held it in both hands. He hadn't even finished closing the distance when she met him half way and gave a fierce yell as she ran the knife into his chest and dragged it across with everything she could. It was such a strange feeling to be holding the knife and feeling how it ran through the fabric and skin with resistance. She was afraid for a moment that the sword would come down on her at any moment, but when she looked up to face the man all she saw was shock in his eyes as his body shut down. Slowly she slid out the knife from the man's heart and pushed him back, hearing her own loudly as if it had moved up into her head. The man dropped his sword as he bled profusely, dropping to his knees as he lost control of his own body before dying withing seconds. It was only after he had lost grip of his weapon that Shea lowered hears. "Forgive me, Yahal." She whispered out loud before slumping to the ground and crawling to the side of her children. She laid the knife aside as she could see tears on Izach's face in the catches of the moonlight. The poor child was scared, and she couldn't blame him as she was still deathly terrified here. She scooped up Gabriel from his brother's lap and gently swayed the baby in one arm to quail his cries as she opened her other one up to her older son. "Come here my baby. Ma'ma has you." She whispered to him. The little boy made no delay in crawling out from the pots to hide his face into her chest and to sob into it. All energy seemed to flow out of Sheaya's body as she sat there with her boys, finding the exhaustion creeping into her now that the immediate threat was gone. With Gabe now silent being at ease in her arms, she could hear that the cries outside had grown quiet and she could only wonder what that meant for them in the tent. Her emotions left her drained yet unable to rest like her children as they slept on her, leaving Sheaya alone to wait out to see the result of everything. She didn't know how long she waited for some sign as to what had happened to the rest of her family, or if they were even awake as she sat there, unable to move and check. An hour had probably passed, and Sheaya felt as she had drifted off as she didn't recall seeing the light of the sun starting to rise in he horizon. Her body felt stiff and sore, but she didn't dare move with the boys sleeping as well as they were. Thankfully she didn't have to wait much longer for answers to her questions on which side had survived the attack as one of her kin graced the entrance of the tent with a lantern and gave a relieved sigh when she saw the mother and two children in there, seemingly un-bothered by the body of the man in there with them. "They're safe.... Sheaya and the children are in here!" Ashay called out over her shoulder to the other family members before entering to check on them.

[Sheaya]

Asay helped Sheaya pick up the boy and carried him for the young mother so she could see for herself the damage of their camp. Someone from their tents had started the fire pit once more and were attempting to burn the bodies of the assailants as the last thing they needed was wildlife sniffing around trying to salvage a meal while they were all here. Shea followed her cousin close, looking at the blood stained sand all around them. You could tell from the unmoved sand where people had fallen and bled out easily from the color of the stains. "Who all is dead?" Shea asked as she kept finding red sand but non of her kin laying out like the men Bethar was tossing onto the flames. Asay kept quiet and shook her head slowly as if she was struggling to find the words; instead she chose to lead Sheaya into a tent that their cousins had lit up with lanterns, tending to two of the men who were alive and breathing, but their wounds looked as if they were bleeding too fast to dress, and both looked as if they were in great pain. "Mercy upon us Yahal." She whispered under her breath seeing the men. She glanced around the tent to see if they had any more hurt, but she saw none in here. For a moment she found herself hopeful that their other kin were alive and well, that Iisar was repairing what had been undone by their visitors as she had yet to see a body. "Is this all who was hurt?" she asked out loud as she looked between the women in the tent. "Don't be naive Shea." Naia spoke up from their kin she was tending to, trying to help him drink some tea to alive his pain. "You're not doing yourself any favors doing that, you know deep down that's not true." Asay choked back what sounded like a sob as she hugged Sheaya around the shoulders with one arm. "Behind the curtain..." She whispered in Common, sending chills down the young woman. She stared at the woven blanket that divided the tent, usually used to separate the children from the parents for when the husbands felt particularly hungry for his wife, but staring at the tent she felt a sense of cold dread wash over her. Goosebumps formed up and down her arms, regardless of the personal little radiator she held in her arms. "I'll take him." Asay offered as she scooped up Gabriel from his mother's arms before she could even argue, "They can sleep with their cousin." She said before leaving the tent. Sheaya turned her head to watch her leave finding herself repeating back the part that struck her odd. "Cousins?" She said, knowing that there had been five children traveling. Naia shook her head, "No, it's cousin now. Asay's child and your two are all we have left now." "I don't want to look." She whispered as she looked back to the blanket, hugging her arms. Her legs felt like wights now, making her even question if she could walk now towards the curtain to look behind it. "You'll regret it more if you don't." Naia said with a tight voice, unable to even look towards Sheaya as she knew what was behind. Shea hesitated for several moments before she found how to control her feet again. Slowly she forced herself to walk forward and to place her hand on the blanket. Her hand trembled as it lingered on the edge, steeling herself to pull it back. The sight took her breath away. Laying before her were two men, Zior laid on one side on his back with his hands folded over his chest. He almost looked as if he was sleeping if it hadn't been for the fact his neck had been sliced almost in two. Laying beside him though was Iisar, his yellow tunic stained with red as he laid much like Zior, on his back with his hands folded. "No! NO! Yahal don't let this be true!" Shea cried out as she dropped to her husband's side and cupped his cold hand in his. The tears started flowing as she placed his hand to her cheek as he use to, as if the gesture would snap him out of this. "Iishar..." She cried, her voice faint as she was straining to speak from fear of letting out a large sob. Nothing she said or did stirred her husband; he did not stroke her cheek and tell her everything would be okay as he use to. Squeezing his hand Sheaya bowed over his body and pressed her head to his chest, allowing her tears to flow freely, thankful her children could not see her like this. Her whole body shook as she silently sobbed for the great loss she felt. Iishar had been such a big impact on her life, he was the man she loved and who she had given her purity, body, and soul to when they wedded. This was the man who held her in his arms and night and kept her feeling warm and safe when sandstorms were raging and she felt so small and terrified. He was her life, he was the one she was to spend her life with and raise many children with and yet hear he laid lifeless before her. She had no idea how long she cried over his body, once again time had passed by at such an unusual rate she couldn't trust her own body to tell. Her eyes were swollen and red, paining her from all the tears she had shed, yet more continued to fall like an endless river. At some point the blanket was pulled back and Naia's voice interrupted her mourning as the older woman placed her hand on Shea's back. "You are not the only widow here tonight, Sheaya. You can't stay here all day and mourn him." She soothed, refusing to look up where her husband laid resting. "Leave me be Naia," She somehow managed to say with her throat closing up on he. Naia just stroked Sheaya's back for several moments, letting the woman have a few more moments of tears before speaking again. "I wish I could, but you are part of this family and we need your help too. We have wounded men, bodies to send off to the next life, and mouths to feed." She waited until Sheay's sobbing lightened and she sat up, the tears still flowing. "You have two children looking up to you, Iisar's children. They need you just as much as ever, maybe even more now with their father gone." Sheaya nodded and wiped at her tears, her breathing was still erratic as every breath she tried to take was threatening to make her crumble with tears once more. Naia hugged Sheaya tightly, allowing her own sadness to shine through as she spoke once more."We can't cry now, not until we can rest. Let's just hold ourselves together until then, okay? Because if you keep crying I know I'm going to cry too." The two held each other in silence until the tears stopped and the two felt they could face one another with tender expressions. Neither one had to say any more to one another as neither knew what to expect if they tried to speak again, but they did know they just needed to keep holding on a little longer for the sake of their family. Splitting up, Sheaya left Naia to tend to the wounded once more as she went to check on the children and to see what help she could be. As her tears dried on her cheeks she made a silent vow to her and her god that she would hold strong from now on. Her husband was dead, but she did have her children still as some of her cousins no longer did. She would be strong for her sons, and she would be strong for her family, she would just have to hold on one day at a time to fight back the tears her broken heart was filling with as right now she knew she did not have the time to let them all flow out.