Red Dragon

Episode I The Corsair

Chapter 14 Retribution

Melissa turned away from the burning Hian Dai village in grim satisfaction. She now had her revenge and had removed a serious threat to the Silvani. It had taken her several weeks to recover from her experience at the hands of the Dog People. The return to the Silvani homeland had been an ordeal she did not care to recall. Not that she remembered much of it. To her it was a muddled memory of spending day after day stumbling down forest paths, trying to evade Hian Dai patrols.

If it had not been for Shasara and Che Sha she never would have made it. Often her strength had failed her and at those times her companions carried her or helped her walk. The first night after her rescue Shasara had disappeared for an hour into the forest and returned with a few pieces of cloth that she fashioned into some sort of garment to cover Melissa’s nakedness. Then they had let her sleep. But long before she was rested or even close to recovery from her injuries she was rousted out and forced to struggle through the seemingly impenetrable forest.

Shasara led her and Che Sha along paths that were little more than animal trails, not suited for use by humans. But it was a way of avoiding the Hian Dai, and preventing their recapture. It was not a way Melissa would have chosen, but then she probably would have fallen prey to the Dog People once again. Shasara’s choice of routes probably saved all of their lives. But it was very tough for someone as badly injured as Melissa to navigate trails that she could barely see. Only her iron determination to survive kept her going. That and her burning thirst for vengeance.

Eventually they had made it back to the Silvani village and Melissa received the medical help she needed. It took her awhile to heal, as injuries such as she had received were extremely severe and even the use of the Green Heart had not healed her completely.

But she did recover. And as her strength returned and she began her training once again, a plan formed in her mind for dealing with the Hian Dai. The Dog People needed to be taught a lesson, and she now had the motivation to carry out such a mission.

Her plan was not complex. The Silvani and Hian Dai had been warring for centuries. Her expedition into Hian Dai territory had shown her that it was possible for a small party to penetrate their defences. Her plan simply called for using the incredible Silvani talent for stealth and infiltrating enough Silvani rangers into the Hian Dai territory that they could strike at their traditional foe and eliminate them as a threat.

The Silvani elders had been reluctant to support her idea. They regarded themselves as a peaceful race that did not take war to their neighbours, a position that had forced them to endure centuries of victimization by more aggressive peoples. What had changed their minds was Vayasha’s declaration that she would go with Melissa no matter what. Che Sha and Shasara had been the next to support her. Other young Silvani had pledged themselves, and faced with the possibility of dozens of the best and brightest marching off under the leadership of a Shang Dragon Warrior, the elders had decided to support Melissa’s expedition. For the first time in hundreds of years the Silvani took the battle to the enemy.

It had been a most one-sided contest. The Hian Dai, used to having their way with the passive Silvani, had been caught totally off guard. Melissa’s small army had penetrated their defences easily, picking off the Hian Dai sentries and arriving at the Dog People’s village undetected. Then the Silvani had simply surrounded the village and attacked simultaneously from all sides.

The Hian Dai never knew what hit them. The slaughter was horrific, but the Silvani were not in a merciful mood. After centuries of being harried by the Hian Dai and having their children and loved ones carried off, they wanted revenge. From trees and rock outcroppings surrounding the village the Silvani rained arrows upon the Hian Dai. Some of the arrows were smeared with burring pitch, setting the Dog People’s crude huts ablaze. When the killing ended barely a soul remained alive.

It was a brutal slaughter, but Melissa felt it was warranted. In their long unprovoked war against the Silvani, the Hian Dai had shown no mercy. Now they received none in return. It was an extermination. As Melissa regarded the flames and the heaped bodies of the Hian Dai she felt no remorse. The Hian Dai had been a cruel and ruthless enemy. They had ravaged the peaceful Silvani for centuries. Now that threat had been eliminated. No more would the Dog People kidnap and ravage the wives, sisters, and daughters of the Silvani.

Melissa had avenged the wrong done to her. But there was still one more wrong to avenge. She could not rest until her father’s murderer had been punished. As the Hian Dai village burned she sought out her companions.

“I leave tomorrow,” she said to Che Sha and Vayasha. “I must return to my homeland.”

Che Sha’s almond eyes widened in astonishment. “Why must you leave? Surely there can be nothing better for you there than you would find here. You have found an honoured place among the Silvani.”

“That is true,” said Vayasha. “You are now one of us. Your home is far away. How can you hope to return on your own?”

“I must go,” answered Melissa. Her motives were something that she did not wish to explain. She had never told Vayasha nor Che Sha of the murder of her father and her rape and degradation at the hands of the duke’s soldiers. It was something she believed she should attend to herself. She did not want to involve her newfound companions in her quest for vengeance. They had their own lives to live. She would go alone.

Shasara entered the conversation. Melissa had found that the tall silver-haired ranger was more perceptive than either Che Sha or Vayasha when it came to understanding the emotions of others. She showed that now. “You are not telling us something,” she said. “You have a reason for leaving us that you do not want to share, but that has nothing to do with your position amongst us.”

Melissa nodded. “That is true. Why I must leave is none of your concern. You have your own lives to live, just as I must live mine. Returning to Dakmora is something that I must do.”

“Then I must do it too,” said Che Sha. Had it not been for you I would have been ravaged by my own brother and forced to bear his child.”

“Had it not been for me you would not have been placed in his hands,” replied Melissa. “You owe me nothing.”

“Nevertheless,” the Shang princess replied, “you will not go alone. If you are leaving then I am coming with you.”

Melissa opened her mouth to protest, but it was Vayasha who spoke first: “And I will follow my Shang sister. You will not go without me.”

“This is something I must do myself,” said Melissa. “I refuse to take you with me. I will not let you follow me.”

“And how are you going to do that, sister?” asked Vayasha gently. “I am a Silvani ranger. There is no place you can go I cannot follow.”

“Nor I,” added Shasara. “I have an obligation to look after my little sister. If she follows then I will go too.”

Vayasha made a face at Shasara’s “little sister” remark, but let it pass. “You see,” she said, “you cannot escape. When you leave, we leave.”

Melissa sighed resignedly. It appeared that she was not going to leave unaccompanied. “Alright,” she said. “We leave tomorrow.”

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