Chapter 33
#33 of The Mating Season: A Life of Dreams
Chapter 33
*Twenty Years Later *
Tyne coughed on his back, his lashes fluttering as the sunlight teased his eyelids with their warmth. He could hear the sea crashing softly, could hear the last remnants of his little boat slapping each other. The boat was so much driftwood now. Like his heart.
Kachada had finally succumbed to his illness. A heartbroken Tyne insisted on cleaning and preparing his body. Moon wolves left their royalty on a stone altar for an entire night before they were buried - so that their spirit would be absorbed by the moonlight and they would live on. Tyne prepared Kachada for the ceremony, and when he was finished, Iyira scathingly told him that he now belonged to Wakiza.
Though Wakiza had been punished for what he'd done to Tyne, the punishment had not lasted long and he had kept his status as merchant. He had even stayed in good standing with the throne: the enemy of Iyira's enemy was her friend. The chieftess was only too happy to hand Tyne over his former tormentor, and the same night he entered Wakiza's house, he was strung up by the wrists and raped.
Tyne escaped that night.
"Imo baa bee?" said a voice.
Tyne's ear flicked. He knew that dialect. Crow wolves. Crow wolves had found him. Crow wolves were black and hard to capture, simply because the tribe's village was located in such a dangerous forest. But he knew he was no where near the White Forest. He listened again, silently translating their language to his own.
"Is he alive?" said a male.
"He was coughing. You think the dead cough?" returned another sarcastically.
Tyne went very still and kept his eyes closed. He inhaled. Males. They were all musky-scented males.
"I say we leave him. We've got enough trouble trying to run from that bitch Naira's puppets."
"Maybe he could help us avoid capture. I don't want to go back to the village. They'll whip us for running away --"
"How the hell could he help us? He's half dead!"
"Maybe he's from the area. Maybe he knows it! We're lost! Do you want to go home and get whipped?"
"No!" cried yet another male. "I'm never going back there!"
"Hey - wake up!"
Tyne grunted when a foot kicked him lightly in the shoulder. He opened his eyes . . . to find four black wolves standing over him. All male. One locked eyes with him and smiled slowly. Tyne smiled back: he had the loveliest green eyes . . .
The End