A Call To Battle

Anna glanced up from where she worked over cleaning the cut on Torin's wrist to see him once more gazing off into the distance as if reliving a moment. She didn't think he quite respected how close he had come to death, but truly what did that matter when a woman was involved. A very special woman at that.

Her lips curled slightly into a smile as she asked, "Was she pretty?"

"Beautiful!" He replied back dazedly.

Anna grinned at Torin, as he continued to stare off somewhere past her.

"In what way?" She asked leadingly.

"In every way!" He affirmed.

Still smiling, but with a small frown of censure easing in Anna raised her hands up to capture his face and bring his point of focus to rest upon her, "Torin she could've killed you."

He nodded within her grasp and admitted, "I know that. I don't care though."

Anna let go as she sighed out, "Oh dear."

Giving him a contemplative look she said, "You think she's the one. The one in your father��s prophecy that he urged you to press your seed into deeply when you got the opportunity to?"

Torin shrugged worriedly before wiping a hand across his brow and saying, "I hope so. I mean, God hasn't told me that, but I... I want her! I never.... never been like this before."

Anna nodded, smiling and said, "Well then it looks like you're going to need to look for the right opportunity to press it into the hilt brother."

Torin's handsome face flushed with embarrassment, but Anna didn't miss the resolution within the set of his broad shoulders or the straining pressure against the front of his pants to accomplish that very thing. The scholastic side of Torin was a bit absent at the moment.

Shaking her head Anna said, "You brothers of the house of Arn are all alike when it comes down to it. You vary a bit on the surface, but each one of you has a heart of gold and a soulful ache not to be alone and without the physical comfort of being buried in the woman you select as your mate. I very much am glad to be a part of this family. I want the best for you Torin and right now seeing the way you are about this woman in the night I can tell you that you're never going to be at peace until you explore this road to the end."

Torin nodded, "I know. I need to go after her."

Anna looked down and asked softly, "What about what she told you? The warning that we should all leave and if not that we risk bringing calamity upon ourselves. Do you think she was serious?"

Torin nodded, "Very serious. I am in no doubt that she thinks we are in danger of being wiped out here by some force. A force I would surmise that must originate from within her people."

"Her people?" Anna asked curiously.

"Yes, she's very different from us and the natives. She's black. I never saw such beauty before or a regality of bearing in a person before. Her skin was ebullient with life and her eyes... they were a dark brown and they just seemed to draw me in endlessly. She was almost as tall as me and she's strong. Stronger than a woman of our people is typically I think. She was utterly amazing. Do you find it wrong of me that I should want a woman of color such as she having come from the South like you have?" Torin finished with questioningly.

Anna shook her head vigorously no, "Goodness no! I've never felt that the color of a person's skin meant anything at all. I've never supported slavery of any kind and I have no reservations whatsoever of having a sister of such a color added to the family, if that answers your question."

Eyeing him up speculatively, then she added, "I imagine the combination of you two together will make some very fine looking babies."

Torin looked down and nodded, but his whole bearing was suddenly very pensive.

"What is it Torin?" Anna asked softly.

Torin looked up and Anna read the worry in his gaze as he said, "I worry that I'm not enough of a man to do what needs done. Either to head off this attack on our people or to claim such a woman as she is. I..."

Anna's hand closed over his and with intenseness she said, "Listen to me dear brother! You are a man of God and so your fear as to how to overcome this threat is entirely misplaced as it isn't you who is going to accomplish anything, but rather the Spirit of the living God working from within you. If He has purposed for us to survive here and go on as a people then it will be and I believe that to be so and even as I have, that faith, I know that when it comes down to it everything needful of being accomplished to that end will be. I also feel within my spirit that this is a task that you have been solely selected to the accomplishment of. God is going to do great things through you Torin! I just know it!" She pressed upon him passionately and nodding Torin said, "Thank you Anna. I'm so glad you're part of our family!"

"Me too." She said, nodding and then with a bit of a daring gleam in her eyes, she added, "As for the woman. You say she's the forceful type?"

Torin nodded.

"Well then, a little rope and lovingly done restraint wouldn't go amiss to help aid in staking your claim so to speak."

Torin started to object over doing such a thing, but Anna pressed on over his objections to state, "Listen to me dear brother. You are a gentleman at heart, I well know that, but in this initial phase of your relationship with her you can't be. That's why I believe your father told you not to hesitate. It's okay to be more elemental and take what you want sometimes. You're neither a hard man nor a selfish one and so I know it's difficult to contemplate what I'm saying, but I think it's for the best. You need her respect and if you relegate yourself to the role of having to ask for what you want nicely from such a woman as her then you're never going to have it. So understand what I'm saying is not to be brutal or anything like that, but rather be in control and yes a bit selfish to start out with. If she's who you truly want, then waste no time in claiming her. There will be time for gentleness, later."

Torin gazed at her for a long moment then before saying, "Tie her up you say."

Anna shrugged and said as she rose up to her feet, "It's only a suggestion, but do make sure you don't make the ropes too tight."

Surprisingly Torin nodded and delighting in this new found raw side of her best friend, who'd provided her with food and a safe place for years before she'd been a part of the family, she leaned over and whispered into his ear, "And if she gets out of line and starts trying to be the boss then fold her over your knee and spank her."

Torin blinked repeatedly, as he gazed up at her in shock and smiling Anna picked his one hand up off his lap and because she knew such a thing as spanking an adult woman's rear had never occurred to his innocent soul, she instructed him by saying as she cupped the fingers of his large hand together, "Remember this, it's very important. Don't smack both cheeks at once as that will hurt in a way you don't want it to. Cup your hand like this and smack one cheek at a time and you'll do just fine."

Wide-eyed, he stared at her as still with a smile on her face, she let go of his hand and kissed him on the forehead. "Enjoy yourself Torin, even as I pray God gives you the strength to avert the tragedy intended for all of Ar'mora."

She left him then, but she didn't stop praying for him.

~~~~~~~

Torin glanced back at the city behind him. Emotion worked hard upon him as he gazed at it.

It hadn't felt like home to him in the short time that he'd been here, but right now it was hard to leave it. He could still see Anna, Dayha, and his three brothers standing in the distance.

They'd all prayed over him. Actually, many had prayed over him.

Mahlon had made it a citywide event and he'd taken it further than just that. He'd laid out before everyone the unseen danger that could cost everyone their lives and Torin could still hear Mahlon's words echoing within his head as he had addressed the city, "I don't think this is a battle won in the physical. I truly feel that we will be wiped out if we're depending on palisade walls and arrows to deliver us from the dark spiritual force I feel that has been leveled against us malignantly from an unseen foe. I think you all feel the same pressure of darkness that I do, as I can see it on your faces and many of you have told me of the visions of total destruction that you've had. If we don't take all these warnings to heart, then truly our blood is upon our own heads for being so foolish. If you're not right with your Creator then get right, because His divine intervention is the only thing standing in the way between you and annihilation. I feel strongly that this is the case and to that end, I and my house are going to pray and fast until this disaster that I feel is coming is diverted from us and in its place we find mercy. I invite you all and in fact I implore you all to do the same. Let us be unified in seeking the face of our God and humbling ourselves to whatever His purpose for us might be."

It had been a new side to see of his older brother for Torin and the people had listened in mass. Even now he felt the presence of being built up from within as the collective prayers of a civilization besieged upon heaven's gate for deliverance and empowerment for him to act as the prophesied intercessor for them all.

Humbled beyond belief and yet more resolute to a task than he'd ever been before Torin turned to the jungle and advanced alone upon it, but he didn't feel alone at all. He felt as if he was in the presence of a very great company of warriors.

He started to run and his running feet moved faster and faster, even as a straight path opened up through the heart of the jungle in a miraculous fashion that defied any natural function of the physical universe. Indeed, he was running it seemed at the speed of twice that of the fastest horse and yet he felt only strength to run faster.

He was heading into a battle that would not consist of just flesh and blood, but of the spirit as even now the Spirit of the living God was upon him as a consuming fire burning away everything of waste in his life and leaving only what had been purified and tried by fire to remain behind. He was being changed and instead of drawing back, he pressed forward more into his calling than he ever had in life.

A warrior of the Spirit who was eager for the battle and at the same time a man of the flesh eager to claim the reward that was his for the taking.