Lynx

Unfazed by the bullet whizzing towards her with unerring speed…  She casually flicks it away with the blade of her sword… Lynx like grace… a face frozen in snow… she cuts herself with her sword…  Shuddering from the pain she reminds herself that she does this not for pleasure but duty…

*****

Mamma… The days here are long and cold… Not a single ally in sight… I’m the only soldier assigned for this task… Major General said he found only me fit for the task… Hawk’s Eye he called me… Sharp, fierce and flies like the wind… He said that I took the place of a hundred… It’s getting harder but I have your protection even though you may not be here… My sword flashes red with blood mamma…  I hate killing but I have to… I have to… Or this war will never end… These so called super human forces… I find them so clumsy… like little children… As I lay down to sleep tonight I feel your locket in my hand… And remember what you said as you were leaving this realm…  “End this war, my Lynx,” you said… I’m trying so hard to do just that…

*****

I run across this searing plain… the hot air brushes intensely against my cheek… It’s as if I’m sprinting from a forest fire… Only there are no forests here… only hot golden sand and the unrelenting blazing sun high in the sky… The powdered azure sky does nothing to shield me from this heat… Yet it doesn’t burn… only gives more speed to my flying feet…

She skids to a stop… bending her knees in a fluid motion… 

What’s this? I just heard the ground underneath me rumble… Surely… not another army now…  I faced one just this morning…

She draws herself to her full height…. With her hawk like sharp eyes she scans the horizon… She sees a dark mass move from behind her at alien speed… but it feels slow to her… Her black cloak billows in the wind as she faces south… There too a large mass… She smiles as she hears a loud war cry rise from the east and the west… A gunshot she hears from the north…

Clumsy children…

*****

“Ahhh… The fair Lynx… Why am I not surprised?” the commander said, stepping out from the troops. She smiled again… A mocking smile… She unbuckled her sword and let it slide to the ground… “Surrendering already, eh… Without a fight? Strange… We were prepared for intense fighting…” he stopped, seeing her strange gestures… she had dropped on to her knees… Her hands splayed like wings across her sides… She started flapping them… uncannily bird like… Before long her clothes lay in a bundle on the floor with her sword… And in her place stood a very large snow white bird with a long feathered tail… She gave a large cry,,, And with lightening speed gathered her clothes and sword and flew away…

She flew across the sky… like a streak of white light… away from the four armies… The troops gazing open mouthed, in disbelief as she became just a speck across the sky…

No wonder… they call me the silent one… Yet they say I speak the most with my deeds… Words are meaningless to me… my thoughts are intense enough to make my actions forceful enough… I think I sent a strong message to them just through this simple gesture rather than the complexity of words… I’ve been fighting for so long… Decades…Yet this war never seems to end… The enemy has an invisible supply of troops… Strangest thing is… We haven’t figured out who is behind this war still… No face… I hope Hin has gathered something useful…

Hin

Short sandy hair…  Striking fiery sienna eyes… Tawny crouching tiger…  She pounces on her quarry… Dagger flashes ruby red with blood… Golden face… Fire heart…  Beast like beauty… fierceness fills her soul… An animal like ferocious beauty… Rose’s younger daughter…  Feral young fighter… Young tigress… Beautiful and dangerous …

*****

The forests… My instincts are on a high… My senses filled with the intense desire for war… for fighting… They gave me espionage mamma… Major General took one look at your languidly small built daughter and said, “Here’s our girl, she’s going to get us information about the enemy!” I guess it would be selfish for me to burden Lynx with everything… Mamma… The enemy razed our house to the ground… They seem to know too much about our ancestry…  We had to hide father with the military after an attempt on his life… Lynx said it was paramount we kept him alive… She said that he was the only living soul who knows all about the Guardians… Our ancestors’ knowledge resides in his bosom… We can’t lose that… She said… The war refuses to end mamma… We’re trying so hard… Major General has asked me to uncover the cause… The cause… I feel it in my mind’s eye… Yet I can’t see it… The lockets you gave us… one half with my older sister and one half with me… Protects us with your love… I’ve heard Lynx has slaughtered battalions… while I have reached the heart of the enemy’s lair… unharmed… Thank you mamma for … your protection… your love… teaching us the secrets of your guild… We sisters fight in your memory… We keep our lives on the line for our ancestry and our guild…

*****

The trick not to be seen in this hot and wet jungle… is to turn yourself into a golden tiger at every possible opportunity…

She jumped deftly across a fallen tree trunk which was like a bridge across the deep stream…

Saw a horrible sight a few hours ago… Commanders… Enemy commanders were bringing their slain back to life… So that’s how they replenish their enemy… Mere mortals playing the role of the Divine… Something really fishy going on there… Well whoever is behind this is certainly angering the Gods… My ears twitch again… Now, who is it? Mortal or Super Human? I’m really getting tired of this…

She turned around and gave a huge roar… She stopped mid-roar in surprise… as her mind was hit with the icy yet pleasant thoughts of Lynx… Sister, don’t eat me…   As a large snow white bird dropped her sister’s clothes and sword…  It alighted right on the other side…  And as it splayed its wings… It turned into the ivory form of Lynx…

“Hin…” she said in her soft voice reminiscent of the pine trees rustling in the winter breeze… icy yet filled with warmth…  “Sister, you flew again?” asked Hin still in her animal form… “I had to,” she replied, “Took me a day and a night to get here…”  “You’re still not tired?” asked an incredulous Hin as her sister pulled on her clothes… “No not yet,” she smiled, “I’ve flown for days without being tired before…  You look tired though…” “Just something I found out…” Hin said turning into her golden form and pulling on her shorts and buttoning her shirt… which were lying a few paces behind her… “The commanders are playing God… The enemy ones I mean… Just found that out a few hours ago… They were bringing their slain back to life…” “No wonder I thought they were like clumsy children,” Lynx whispered, barely audible, “When I was seven mamma told me that the ones who try to bring the dead back to life are infidels… mortals with blackened souls… who turn to beasts… half human… half beast… Human form but beast like with disintegrating souls…  This is all Djjon’s doing… The God of Hate…”

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