Beyond The Bounds of Zupolis

Chapter 3

 “What the hell is that thing?” Amara asked me.

     “I’m not sure, but I think it may be a faun” I said eyeing it suspiciously.

     “You mean the one grandma talks about? I thought they don’t live here anymore. We can’t be seen associating with them. They’ll kick us out” she whispered in a hushed voice.

       “You think I don’t know that? After all that we have done, if we get in contact again, it might even start a war. But what do you want me to do? I am a lot of things, Amara, but I am not a murderer and I’m not planning on being one anytime soon either. So I have to help this thing and deal with the consequences; with or without your help” I said as I walked back to where it lay as she stared back at me walking away with an unsettling look on her face.

       “Fine, I will help you, but only on a few conditions.” I said as I walked up towards it and stood across from it with my arms crossed across my chest.

       “Do you really think you are in a position to condition me? Just help me first; we will take care of the rest later” it said. I looked down at it with armed folded across my chest and a lifted an eyebrow at its bleeding wound.

       “I’m sorry, help me. Please, I’m in a lot of pain, I really can’t have a negotiation right now” it added groaning.

     I ran towards it and knelt down as my sister joined me.

       “Can you walk?” I asked it as it tried to get up and fell back hard on the ground flinching in pain.

       “Okay so that’s a no” it grunted hissing through its teeth.

     Without a warning, I pulled out the arrow from its side and its leg.

       “Ow! What the hell, lady! Are you crazy!” it yelled.

        “Get it together! Things are about to get a lot worse.” I commanded. I turned around to look for something to hold the wound. I may have the natural ability to heal myself, but I can’t heal others. My eyes spotted the cloth around its waist and grabbed it as regretted it as soon as I did.

        “Whoa, I’m sorry” I looked away as his lower half revealed his naked masculinity. I was going to wrap it around again when the faun stopped me and asked me to stop the bleeding. I tore the cloth in half, considering it was pretty long and thick as I wrapped it tight around both the wounds as he kept cursing and groaning under his breath. As we finished wrapping him up, I placed one hand the side of him that was injured, careful not to touch the wound and Amara held him on the side. We carefully propped him up in a sitting posture and waited for the increased pain caused by sudden movement to subside. I held his arm on one hand and his waist on the other as I helped him get up with my sister helping on the other side. After a couple feeble attempts, he managed to stand up but merely. But we held onto him tight. I was holding his hands in mine and realised that despite the appearance of his hairy arms, his hands were soft and warm as was the rest of his body. The weight of his arms around me was crushing my sister and me even though we were sharing the burden.

         “Where are we taking him?” she asked as we aimlessly carried him through the woods for quite some time now.

        “I know a place, just walk. Stay with me, please. Come on, come back. Stay with us, we’re almost there” I said to him as I felt his body getting cold and his grip loosening around me, his hands slipping down.

        Looking down at him and his sudden vulnerability, I realised he was no threat to us. He never was. I was slowly starting to regret shooting him. Fauns are not dangerous, at least to one’s life; to one’s heart, I was not too sure about that. They are said to be creatures that have the ability to charm women into falling in love with them; they were womanisers. Looking at his moonlit face, sparkling with sweat, I noticed that he looked beautiful despite his bloody and sweaty front. His features were sharp and perfect, as if sculpted and so was his body. But I had no time to be distracted; I had to save his life. Half running towards my hiding place with a dying faun in our arms was not what I pictured my adventurous voyages to be.

      “How much longer is this going to take, Daph? Because I don’t think he has much time left” Amara said impatiently.

      “Just... a little… longer” I said panting.

       “And how are we going to heal him?” she asked growing more anxious by the second.

      “Just stop talking!” I snapped back at her. I do not have much energy to talk since most of the faun’s weight was on me. I knew where to take him and how to heal him. But I cannot say it out just yet, just in case it all goes to hell and we’re doomed with the Albatross around our necks. Right now, I just needed to focus on getting there in time, without letting him loose too much blood and remain in a conscious state. Fifty more steps and we will be there and he will be safe. We can save him. I kept repeating this to myself to keep me from panicking. We couldn’t walk faster because that would hurt the faun and would tire him into an unconscious state.

        The moon was now above our heads which meant that we were walking for at least an hour or an hour and a half. And that was when we reached the place. It was a dungeon located within the depths of the woods. It was once inhabited by the sailors. This was mostly because what lay beyond the end of the woods was a vast stretch of ocean that paved way to the sailors to travel the other end of the world. They were said to have lived here almost five centuries ago and fled the place after the death of Xasuyah when they were being chased away by the people of our village, Okanoa. None of them ever dared to even turn they heads in our direction ever since. Rumour has it, that the sailor who had married our siren, Yazjin, burned down the entire population of the sailors, including himself, seeking revenge for the murder his one true love and rejoined with her soul and lived happily after their death. It was said to be an irony how their life began after their deaths. This was mostly why death of anyone in our village was celebrated, for death wasn’t really the end, it was a new beginning in a different world, the land where dreams come true after life. Yazjin was not the only rebellious fighter who fought his people. Our goddess Xasuyah fought with her entire clan of sirens to be with the one man of her dreams, the only man who ever loved her for true self. Sailors were to be lured, not loved, they said. But she did not care; she fought for her life, rebelling against her parents, the king and queen who planned on executing her on her sixteenth birthday. A siren’s sixteenth birthday was usually the day when she mates with her partner in our ancient tradition. When Yazjin was brought to light about this plan of her parents, he summoned a group of his sailor friends and managed to kill the royalty in their sleep. This resulted in the worst war that we had ever seen; killing thousands from both the sides. And that lead to the wide pit between the sirens and the sailors, separating us for eternity and wiping the existence of the sailors completely off this world. However, a few of what they possessed still remained implanted in our land, which was once unanimously inhabited by both of our people. One of the most treasured among them was, for instance was this secret dungeon; their hiding place.