Chapter Seven - My Protector

Chapter Seven – My Protector

Though my eye lids were sealed tightly shut I could still imagine the warm sun rays resting on the sheets and on my skin where I could feel the heat. It felt so good on my skin that I nearly forgot the nightmare I had had that night.
Saeron began purring next to me, the vibration numbing my body as it made me feel tingly. I smiled, knowing he was happy again today. My only hope was that he'd be this happy everyday, and then perhaps, when I got up the courage, I could ask him to let me go back to my family. But would he grant my request?
I shifted under the cover, my head buzzing with several thoughts. I missed my family more than anything, I tried not to think of them too much though, except when I was alone so that I didn't cry in front of Saeron. I wondered how they were doing though, if they thought I was dead, if they were all alright. I quickly shifted my thoughts to the nameless stranger as a tear fell from my cheek. It had only been a few days an already this person, who I hardly even knew, didn't even know his name, was giving me presents.
I brought my wrist up to my face and admired the bracelet around it. Each color began to sparkle in the rays of the sunlight. The colors danced every which way as the sun hit the twirling gems, each one giving off it's own show of lights. The sight was almost as beautiful as when I had first seen the display underneath the moon.
Saeron moved behind me and I quickly hid the bracelet underneath the covers as not to raise questions. He neither said a word nor looked at me as he trailed out the room with a what I could of sworn was a grin on his face.

I lay back in the sun, listening to the sound of the fish jumping for small insects in the pond, and my mind began to wonder to the dream I had dreamed last night. It took me a second to recover the details, but for the most part the dream was just a remake of my past, only I saw things in my dream I had never seen before.
In my dream I couldn't help but grieve at that part of my memory I did remember. He was so brave and all he wanted was to make sure I was safe. My Protector. I regret every part of that day. I regret ever bumping into that guy and breaking his pottery. To think that something so trivial took my best friend away from me. No, he was more than my best friend. My even more than a brother to me. We were somehow made for each other. Almost like he was my other half. How could a bond so strong be broken with just one event?
I looked beyond the trees into the vast jungle when Saeron was, somewhere. My vision suddenly twitched and my body moved up and down. A tremor? I stood to my feet, just in time to see the earth part just in front of me revealing a monster with wings 5 times the size of me.
The head forced its way through the jungle at top speed, ignoring me as it passed, leaving a gust of wind behind it. My heart began beating frantically in fear and I just about lost it when the creature whirled around, coming back for me, obviously smelling my scent.
I saw it just before it got to me. It's face, if you could even call it a face, was covered with hundreds of mouths filled with teeth, sharp gnashing teeth. And it's body was covered in rock plated scales the size of fists, most likely a characteristic used to dig through the earth. But why come here? Why come out of the earth at all?
As it's teeth got closer and I struggled to move out of it's path I felt another gust of wind force its way though the side of the winged, fanged monster. I just about fell back from the force of everything when I realized Saeron had placed himself in front of me, acting as a barrier between me and the monster. Had he been the gust I had felt?

“Hurry! Get out of here!” He commanded. There was no arguing with him, I had to do what he said. So I started running as fast as I could and as far as I could.
I would have kept running, I was so afraid, but something made me stop. It wasn't courage, nor was it the sound of fighting. It was the sound of pain I heard as the monster fought Saeron. That's why I stopped. That's when, for that brief second, it smelled me again. This time I failed to realize it coming for me until it was too late. I screamed just as he saved me once again. This time he was only able to block the blow and I watched as blood squirted from his wounded arm. Thankfully he landed on his feet he seemed okay.

“Leave!” His voice was more frantic now than commanding.
“Please be careful!” I yelled to him as I headed into the jungle again. I saw a smile light up his face, but before he commenced the battle.

I kept running, both weary and hopeful. Weary that Saeron would die, but hopeful that I would find my way back to the village.

I came across a meadow and immediately recognized it. It was the one I had discovered the day I decided to ride Nara to escape for the first time.
I found a spot next to a tree where I nestled both comfortably and anxiously. I sat there, dazed for an hour, each minute passing by like hours as I waited for any signs that he was still alive.
I eventually grew too impatient and began heading back, despite the fact that I didn't know the way.

It was beginning to get dark and I had lost all sense of direction when two shining circles caught my attention. For a second my heart's beat rose with fear. The circles then met me and I immediately recognized the figure.
“I'm glad your safe,” I said with true relief in my voice. “I was worried you might have gotten killed.” He looked at me for a second. I wasn't sure if he was looking for some false statement in what I said or what?
“Did you?” His question seemed to be directed more to himself than to me. As if he was considering what I had said further. He walked closer to me and lowered his body. “Get on, I'm going to take you back.”
“Won't the weight of me hurt your wound?” I inquired, my eye glued to the encrusted blood on his right arm.
“I'll be alright. As long as your safe.” He voice was more than reassuring. I climbed on his back, holding tightly to his fur as we made our way back to the temple.

“Get away from her!” I heard the words clearly in my head. “Hurry, get out of here, Dante!”
“Taj, please, don't!” I begged through a bloody lip.
“No, Dante. I can't let him get away with this,” His voice was clear and sharp. “You'll pay for the way you treated her!”
Then all hell broke lose.

I arose from the underneath the water. All around me the bath was steaming, and the smell of lavender was prominent in the air. It was getting late, but I just couldn't get out of the bath. The warmth felt too good and the air outside was very cold in comparison. I rested my head on the side of the bath and closed my eyes, the heat washing over me with waves of comfort.
“Oh, sorry,” I quickly opened my eyes to see him standing there in the door way just before covering his eyes. “I didn't see you there, sorry.” I covered myself and tucked under the water, only my head bobbing over the top. I was thankful the only part of me he had seen was the top of my chest to my head.
I wanted to get out of the bath to see the nameless stranger, where he waited for me to get dressed just outside the door, but I couldn't get myself to get over the cold hover around my head. I decided a few more minutes wouldn't kill me, so I promised myself I'd get out in five minutes exactly.
I put my head back once again and the heat began to comfort me just as it had before, only this time there were no distractions, and without thinking I fell into sweet unconsciousness.

“Dante? Dante?” I could he his sweet voice playing in my ear, but couldn't get a hold on where it was coming from. I tried to open my eyes and the lids struggled to flicker. “Dante? Are you okay?”

“Saeron?” I opened my eyes to find my Nameless stranger sitting next to me where I lay on the bed. “Oh, it's you.” I was overjoyed to find him there.
“You had passed out in the bath and I managed to get you out in time,” he said through a comforting smile that made me feel hot all over my naked body. My naked body?! Where were my clothes?!
“I have nothing on!” I said in complete shame as I grabbed for the sheet, pulling to my body to cover myself. “Couldn't you have dressed me first?”
“Sorry,” he said with what I could tell was a sincere apology so it was more than easy to forgive him for looking at me naked. “I didn't mean to look at you. I really wasn't interested in looking at you like that. I just wanted you to live is all.” I couldn't help but smile as he spoke. He really did seem to care about me.
“It's alright. I'm just glad you rescued me from certain death.”
“Anytime,” he said with a smile. “I'm willing to be there when you need a protector.”

We sat comfortably outside the bedroom on the ledge of the temple, my arm felt hot as it inadvertently, but willingly touched his.
“You remind me a lot of someone,” I said with a grin as I remembered my childhood friend.
“Who's that?”
“Just a friend I used to have as a kid. You have almost as much admiration for me as he did.”
“What happened to this kid? Is he a rival I need to watch out for?”
“No, I don't know what happened to him actually. He was here one day then gone the next. I never heard from him again.” I watched as his eyes became very thoughtful. “It's sad to lose such a great friend.”
“You never know. Perhaps you'll meet him again someday.” He said in a cheerful tone that seemed almost hopeful. “Maybe you've already met him and you never even knew it.”
“Nah, I'm sure I would have recognized him. The bond was just too strong.” I said as he looked at me with those thoughtful blue eyes. “I mean, I'm sure if he was still alive we would have met already. Fate would have brought us back together.” He turned away from me, focusing his eyes on the moon that hung my a sliver of light, light that still carried with it enough force to turn his orange and black hair a lighter color. I let out a sigh of pleasure as I once again took in his perfect figure. I didn't what it was, but something about him seemed to absolute to be just human. It seemed as though he was something different entirely. And it wasn't just his beautiful features, his intriguingly gorgeous eyes, or his strangely colored, yet attractive hair. It was the way he carried himself and his expressions. They would more different than any guy I had known. Perhaps it was because he was older? I had neglected to ask him how old he was.
“You never did tell me how old you were.”
“I'm 19. I'm going to guess your about the same, maybe a little younger.”
“Good guess. I'm 18.” It was then I realized the red on his shirt. How had I missed it? Was I really that engulfed in his looks that I had totally missed other details?
“What happened to your right arm?” I questioned him causing him to jump where he sat.
“Ummm, well you know, things happen. It's no big deal” I was much too concerned to believe it was something minor. I unthinkingly grabbed for his shoulder, attempting to tear away his shirt to get to the wound. “Really, it's nothing. Don't worry about it.” He said, pushing me away with a laugh in his voice.
“It looks serious to me,” I said making my way to the wound once again. “Theres so much blood. Didn't you think to clean it?”
“Well, not really.” This time I was successful at removing the shirt. I gasped in horror as I found his wound to be worse than I thought.
“We need to treat this right away.” This time he didn't protest. I quickly got up to find a cloth and dabbed it with water just before tying it around his wound. “There, that should help heal it.”
“Thanks,” he said with a smile. He looked at the bandage thoughtfully. “I never had a mother who took care of me. At least not one I remember.”
“That's too bad.” I said feeling pity for him.
“It's no big deal,” he laughed it off. “Your so good to me anyway. Who needs a mom.”
“I guess,” I said with a smile. But something was bugging me. “That's a little strange you got a wound there today. The tiger who protects me got a wound in the same place.”
“Wow, that's an interesting coincidence.” He said with a smile, but I could detect a hind of anxiousness in his voice. “I bet he got it doing something really dangerous though. Mines just an accidental injury.” He winked, sending my heart racing and my skin burning. There was no way I couldn't agree with what he said.
“Yeah, he saved me from a monster. Came out of no where actually. I would have been a goner if not for him.” I said thoughtfully. Until now I really hadn't thought about all he had done for me. “He's a great protector. I owe him my life.” It was true. I really hadn't seen Saeron as anything more than a nuisance till now, but after living with him for so long, and getting to know who he really was I began to realize he wasn't just a beast trying to keep me against my will. He was someone I could depend on, a creature no doubt, but a “someone” in his own right who was there for me, who protected me when I needed protecting. And I realized over all else that was someone I felt safe with. He was most definitely My Protector.