Memories Lost - First of Apocalyptic Hell Series

Adultry

    My peaceful sleep was disrupted with an eruption of loud voices and curses, I groaned as I began to set up only to duck to avoid being struck with a frying pan. I leapt to my feet to face where the noise was coming from to see Charles body slam Asar into the ground, fists were flying and many curse words were being said. I sighed in frustration as I walked over to the two Neanderthals that were fighting. I could see Melanie running up as Aulcmid was closing in coming from another direction. Alex jumped in trying to separate the squirmish, but Charles took him out as if he weighed nothing. 

    “How could you?!” Charles bellowed as he swung at Asar’s head, luckily for Asar he managed to tuck his head away before his fist made contact. Aulcmid came up behind Charles and quickly wrapped his arms around his waist and hefted him up. He may not have been the largest man out there, he certainly was scrappy. He had a good hold on Asar as Aulcmid hefted him, Asar lifted off the ground with him. “You son of a b***h! She is my wife!” He bellowed as he tried to swing at Asar, all Asar could do was dangle as he struggled to free himself from Charles' grip. When I got to the group of them I reached up and gave Charles’ wrist a quick squeeze on the pressure point to get him to let go. 

    “What in Tartarus is going on?” I growled at the pair of them. 

    “I’m sorry Sayuri, I didn't intend to cause such a problem amongst everyone.” Asar looked at me, his face was etched with guilt, even worse when he looked at Melanie. 

    “Like hell you didn’t!” Charles spat at him as he struggled to get out of Aulcmid’s grip, which wasn’t going to happen till Aulcmid decided to release him. 

    “Alright that is it! Will someone explain!” Even though I already knew what the cause was of all this fighting. Charles had somehow found out about Asar and Melanie having a moment of weakness. 

    “That bastard took advantage of my wife! He f****d my wife!” I sighed as Charles practically spat everywhere. He was furious and rightly so, he was beginning to look like a rabid dog. 

    “Alright, before anyone does anything they may regret,” I gestured to Asar, “Go with Alex and take a walk.” Alex walked up to take Asar off away from the group. “And you.” I turned to look at Charles. “You need to take some time to breathe and calm yourself before you do something you will regret AND cost us what we just earned from King Adrastos. I know that you feel betrayed right now and after you’ve taken a moment or two to calm yourself AND speak with your wife then we can readdress this matter. Do NOT act like some hot headed hormone driven teenager. We cannot take that kind of risk.” I turned to leave before I spun back around, “And the next time you decide to throw a frying pan, be sure you aren’t throwing it in the general direction that someone is going to be hit with it.” Aulcmid set him down as he stormed off, thankfully in the opposite direction of Asar. He didn’t even stop to look at Melanie as he left. She tried to follow him but he wasn’t stopping for her, she eventually stood there looking completely defeated. I sighed and rubbed my temples, I swear some days mortals have more drama than any race that I know of. 

    “Care to explain what that was about?” I heard Orus’s voice from behind Aulcmid. 

    “Just a daily dose of mortal drama. We have it under control for now.” I sighed as I looked at Melanie, she looked heartbroken and defeated. 

    “Let’s hope that they do not cause any other problems or my father may change his mind.” Orus looked at me concerned. 

    “I assure you they won’t be a problem for your father nor anyone else.” Granted I wasn’t completely sure that was going to work, but I would certainly do my best to keep those two separate. Even if it took me tying them together so they would have to deal with each other but not start a fight I would go that far. 

    Orus took my word as he left, I walked back to my bed before flopping down on it. I sighed in aggravation over what had just happened. I was hoping it was going to take a bit before Charles found out the truth, but I certainly wanted to know how that happened. For now I was going to try and get some rest and relax. Granted it didn’t last long before I heard Asar walk up with Alex. 

    “Sayuri.” was all he said. I sighed as I raised up so I could sit and face Asar. I was able to see just how much damage Charles had done to him and was rather impressed. Asar’s nose was red and there was still a bit of blood on his upper lip and there was a bruise forming just underneath his eye. “I just wanted to apologise for everything that I have caused. I didn’t mean to cause trouble for anyone, especially for you.” He looked embarrassed and ashamed of what he had done. I sighed as I turned so I was sitting on the edge of the bed, I patted the spot that was next to me, motioning for him to take a seat. 

    “No need to apologize to me Asar. The person you should apologise to is Charles. You slept with his wife, now yes Melanie is a grown woman and all, but she is married. Even with modern society having crumbled that doesn’t mean that the concept of marriage has ended with it.” I tried to be sympathetic towards him about it all. 

    “I know and I know what we did was wrong, I never would’ve thought that anything like that would’ve happened. I promise that it will never happen again either, I do not want to jeopardize anything for anyone on this journey.” He looked so ashamed and pitiful like a puppy that had been caught being naughty. 

    “Just from now on, keep it in your pants unless you know the woman isn’t attached to another man. Next time it could be someone bigger than Charles.” I laughed at him as I rubbed the top of his head, messing up his hair. He finally smiled and even laughed a bit. “It’s not the worst thing that can or will happen.” 

    “Let’s hope the rest of the journey is uneventful.” He chuckled and finally relaxed and stopped moping so much. 

    After all that disaster, things finally settled down and we were finally able to rest. Charles didn’t come back till late and even then he stayed on the far end away from Asar. He wouldn’t even talk or look at Melanie. She sat with Caethrynna and I, but I watched as she looked at Charles hoping that he would look at her or even come over and speak to her. She looked crushed, she couldn’t even eat; she just picked at her food. I felt bad for her, but that is how things are. You don’t go outside of your marriage and unfortunately times like these make things even harder than they should be, especially a grueling 4,000-5,000 miles journey filled with danger and constant fear of being captured or killed. 

    After the feast we all settled in for a good night's rest, poor Caethrynna had to be propped up by rolls of soft moss so she could be comfortable. Aulcmid stood at the foot of her bed looking out over the clearing, he was ever vigilant. I stretched out on the bed and listened quietly as everyone settled in for the night. I perked up as I heard Caethrynna whisper to Aulcmid, I opened my eyes to see what she was doing and I watched as she asked Aulcmid to lie with her for the night instead of standing. 

    I watched from my bed as Aulcmid gently stripped out of his armor and laid next to Caethrynna, once he was in place she rested her head against his chest. He seemed to not know what to do as he gently wrapped an arm around Caethrynna’s tiny frame. Conflicted emotions crossed his face as he stayed there, before he looked over at me and locked gazes with me. A brief flicker of panic crossed his face before I gave him a soft smile. I closed my eyes once more as I thought to myself that my assumptions about Aulcmid might just be correct.