Solar Knight: Shifting Sands (book 6)

chapter 31: a tough decision

I would wake up in the sand with anu and aya in my arms.

Something happened during that storm, causing us to fall from our camel, so i quickly grabbed them and took them in my arms and took the brunt of the fall and the storm, to protect them. The searing, burning sensation the sand brushing up against my backside was painful, but luckily, i can heal myself quite easily.

The two would open their eyes and look around.

"Get off me, lecherous fiend!" Anu yelled as she kicked me off.

"You're welcome...." i snarked and held my chest.

"He was only protecting us, sis -" Aya said before a worrying sound took us all off guard.

The camel we were riding was thrashing  nearby, groaning and wailing in pain.

"Jabbar!!" Anu and Aya cried as they went over to it.

I immediately got up and got in front of them

"Get back! He's panicking! It's too dangerous!" I yelled.

"But...." aya said, sadly.

Anu nodded and kept her sister back

I would ease myself over to the thrashing camel, keeping well away from its kicking legs. I would notice that a couple of the legs wasn't moving right, and was flopping around.

It had two broken legs.....
It must've fell over just right and snapped them.....

"Two of it's legs are broken...I'm gonna try and mend them, stay back. One kick can cave in a mans ribcage." I said as i got close and tried to grab one of it's broken legs.

As soon as i did, i was met with a hoof to my jaw, making me fall over. The two girls gasped in shock, but i popped my jaw back in place. The side of my face was now dirty, bruised, and bleeding a bit, all from one kick....i was lucky it was my jaw and not my head.

I would try again, coming at a different angle. This time i got ahold of a broken leg, but was met with another hoof, this one, dislocating my shoulder. I groaned in pain as i stood up, walked over to a dead tree, pressed my shoulder up to it, and cracked it back in place.

I walked up to the camel and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, but i gotta put it down..." i said as i lined up a bead shot and aimed it at it's temple.

"Are you psycho?! No! I won't allow this!!" Shouted anu.

"Not jabbar!!" Aya cried as she got in the way.  

"AYA MOV-" before i knew it, she was kicked by the camel, square in the back and was sent tumbling in the sand.

Anu gasped at the sight and was in a state of shock.

I cursed under my breath as i quickly shot the camel twice in the head, killing it in the process. I had to, it would have been cruel to let it suffer in this heat and  bleed out internally in excruciating pain.

I hurried to aya and gently rolled her over. I channeled my aura into her backside. As i warned them, one kick could shatter the bones of a man, her back was nearly shattered in two and was bleeding internal. She would convulse a bit and would eventually cough up blood as i healed her.

I gave her a moment to breathe and recover.

"Thank...you....i should have...listened..." aya said, groaning.

"Its fine, just take a moment to gather yourself." I said.

She looked at the camel and began to cry though.

"I'm...sorry....jabbar...." she muttered.

"Is she okay...." anu said, walking up.

"Yeah, she's fine. I caught it in time." I said.

"Good." She said as she stared at me with anger.

There was an awkward silence.

"So uh-"

"How dare you...." she growled.

"Look, i tried!"

"It was not your call! Because of you, aya got hurt and nearly killed!" She shouted.

"My fault?? I told you two to stay away! Did you not see how it nearly killed me?! Get outta here with that BS." I snarled back.

"You killed a family member! Jabbar was mine and sis's personal camel and you killed him!"

"Look, I'm sorry for your loss, i really am, but he was just laying there, suffering! I had to do it!"

"It is not your call! You know, we have a law against killing pets in our domain, and since it's royalty, i could have you put to death for it!"

"Oh wooooow kill the person that has done nothing but protect and rescue your asses."

"DO NOT talk to me that way, i am royalty! Now you will listen to me and you will listen to me clearly!" Anu growled as she got in my face.

While she was chewing me out, i couldn't help but look as aya crawled over to the dead camel and start to cry over it's death. It sort of reminded me of when i was younger and i had a pet fox. Her name was sakura, it wasn't an original name, but when she was a pup, she had a pink patch on her forehead.

One day, she had gotten bit by something poisonous and was on the verge of dying. She was just laying there, whining and yelping in pain. I pleaded and begged my father to save it, but he told me that their medicine wouldn't save it in time and would've probably made the pain worse. I was young, so i didn't understand, so mom forced me to come back inside. I heard a gunshot and a yelp, then.....silence. I hated my father for a while, but then....i understood why....

He didn't do it to be cruel.....
He did it to be merciful and end it's suffering, rather than it live it out in pain....

"-DO YOU HEAR ME MANFRED?? YOU WILL ONLY DO AS I SAY AND WHEN I SAY IT!!" Anu screamed at me.

"That's enough." Aya said plainly.

"Stay out of this."

"No....he didn't do anything wrong."

"But-"

"Listen to me, anu!" Aya cried.

Anu would growl at me, before backing off with a huff.

Aya would turn to me, gripping her skirt a bit, still dealing with the pain of loss.

"Forgive her....and me....you only did what was necessary to protect us. I am grateful......Jabbar was a gift to us from a relative of ours. He ran a camel and horse breeding business. He never had the time to come to our birthdays so he was going to give us each a beautiful stallion as a make up gift. We however, wanted Jabbar. We loved his silly face and how he looked, we rode him the entire time, having the time of our lives. So.....mother and father let us keep him. For days on end, we took care of him, spent time with him, and adored him. He was like family...." aya spoke, tears falling down her eyes.

"Aya...." anu uttered.

"Thank you....sir knight....thank you for not letting us having to be the ones to end his suffering! Thank you for protecting us the best you can!" Aya said, with tears streaming down her face.

".........i.....i can relate to your loss. I had a similar attachment and bond with a fox i had once. It got bit by something and the venom was killing it quickly. My father had to end it and even explained why he had to, but i had distain towards him.....i understand your pain....both of you. I'm sorry it went down like this and I'm sorry for how i acted...." i said.

Anu was still upset with me, and didn't speak.

"On me and my sister's behalf, i forgive you." Aya said, wiping away her tears.

We would gather the supplies off of jabbar and said our goodbyes. We had no means of digging a hole for him, so the vultures did the job.....