CHAPTER 9 TWISTED

"Is everyone okay?" Zinesh said looking at his niece and older sister who had sustained a head injury when she fell down while trying to escape from one of their attackers? Their village Labak had been raided by slavers. Almost everyone has either been taken as slaves or killed. They had only managed to escape due to Zinesh's skills as a soldier and survivor. He had sensed the danger and immediately he took precautions and got them out of the village safe, or so he thought.

"Let me look at your head "Zinesh said to his sister as he approached her while dropping his spear.

He checked her bleeding head and saw that she had a small cut on her fore head.

Although she was able to shake it off for a while, she started to feel dizzy after running for a while, which led them to rest for a while so Zinesh could take a look at the wound.

As Zinesh was busy treating their mother's wound , the girls were cuddled up on the snow, they were freezing. Although they had thick clothes on, moving in the snow for long was taking its toll and they were still kids

"I can't go on" Talia who looked more miserable than her sister said. "I'm tired and cold" she added.

"W-We all are" Thia responded with a shaky voice

"We must keep moving" Zinesh said after he finish dealing with Mara's wound

"I won't be long before…"

Woosh an arrow landed beside them as Zinesh was about to finish his sentence.

"Dammit, they foun us" Zinesh panicked, as he looked at the men coming toward them in the distance

"Let's Go" Zinesh said as they all stood up to try and escape

Swoosh another arrow seems to have escaped, followed by a thud

They all looked in the direction of the sound and they saw Mara on the floor with an arrow sticking out of here chest. She had died before she even hit the ground.

"Mom!" Thia and Talia screamed... as they saw their mother lifeless on the floor.

"Shiit"! Zinesh screamed as he immediately took both girl and ran as far as he could. He was quite a strong soldier, but fighting over ten slavers was too much for him. He opted with carrying a 14year old and 9 years old child instead.

"Don't let them escape" one of their pursuers said to the others as they chased after the quick moving Zinesh.

Swoosh another arrow was released but this time it carried an explosive device.

Boom! The deafening sound of explosion rang In Zinesh and the girl's ears but that wasn't their only problem. It seems the explosion affected their footing and the ice gave way making them fall into the unknown.

"You fool, why did you use explosives?" A man shouted at his comrade that shot the bow and arrow…..

A day later

"Help!" Talia screamed as she woke up. She felt cold and in pains, she tried to looks around where she was and saw fire burning, as she looked towards the fire as her eyes fully adjusted and she saw Zinesh sitting with Thai sleeping with her head on his lap.

"Are you alright"? Zinesh asked as he gently placed Thai's head on the floor to check on the awoken Talia.

"Yes." Talia responded at which Zinesh breathe a sigh of relief.

Talia looked at her Uncle and saw he had a cloth wrapped around his arm,

"Are you alright" she asked

"Oh... Yes I just broke my arm"

Talia was about to speak again when Zinesh interrupted her

"Thia seems to have also broken her leg severally. She might not be able to walk for a while".

"Where are we?" Talia asked ignoring Zinesh's comment about her sister

"I don't really know" Zinesh responded

"I would have gone out a bit to check around, but I didn't want to leave you two alone, especially Thia".

"OH, I see" Talia muttered…

"Uncle Zinesh " a voice called out"…

"Hey Thia I'm here" zinesh said, recognizing Thai's voice

"How are you feeling?" Zinesh asked Thia.

The young child could only respond by grabbing tight to his uncle in response, it was obvious she was sad. She had just lost her mom after all.

Few days after staying in the cave Zinesh was able to go out to find out where they were, while the girls rested and prepared to start moving again. Although Thia's left leg was still broken she could now walk, though with the aid of a walking stick.

She is indeed a strong willed girl , not letting her mom's death pull her down too hard. Zinesh thought.

"Hey Thia, Zinesh called out. Hope you are strong enough to move?"..

"Yes I am. Don't worry about me" Thia replied with a smile.

Anytime this would go on between them Talia seemed to get irritated and scoff.

"What about me, he doesn't even care if I am alright " she muttered from behind..

"Uncle Zinesh , don't worry she'll be fine." she said holding on to Zinesh's hand.

"Let's get going" Zinesh said ignoring Talia's antics and leading the way. As they went on, Zinesh would always check on Thia asking if she was fine and asking if she needed help. Although she always replied that she was alright it didn't stop Zinesh from asking almost all the time which pissed both girls off.

"I'm fine there's no need to check up on me every 5 seconds" Thia finally protested " I'm not a baby. Ok?"

"You are to me." Zinesh replied but she was right he thought, "Just let me know if you suddenly feel pain".

"Are you not interested in knowing if I'm alright"? Talia asked

"I know you are fine , Talia" Zinesh said

"Yea, but it won't hurt to hear it once a while you know, you only ask Thia everytime and not me"

"Seriously sister, you are going to guilt him into asking how you feel" Thia said to her sister

"Shut up, you midget. You hate being checked up on and you protest about it. So what wrong if I love being checked up on and ask to be checked up on. Is it a crime?"

"So you're not just a bearded lady, you are a spoilt bearded Lady aren't you?" Thia taunted

Immediately she heard this, Talia pushed her sister and she slipped and fell on her injured leg

This caused Thia who was already in pain to scream out loud

"What have you done?" Zinesh finally intervened.

"Thia are you alright?"

"Oh come on!" Talia scoffed "Thai this, Thia that . Is he on replay or something…?"

"Shut up , you", Zinesh finally scolded Talia "I've had enough of you childishness"

"Ohh so now you remember that I'm also a child" Talia retorted

"All you say is Thai all day long when we both lost our mother.,and we both watched our village and friends burn and die. But it seems you've are high on Thia,or is there something inappropriate going on between the two of...?"

Smack! Zinesh hand landed on Talia's cheek.

He had never hit any of them before, but he was already tired and sick of Talia and her selfish behavior.

"Don't you dare , Talia" Zinesh said with a stern voice before turning to help Thia.

"Let me take a look at your leg" Zinesh said to Thia.

"Does it hurt"? He asked as Thia nodded in response

"Ok wait let me"…. Sshhluck blood suddenly came out from Zinesh's mouth.

He couldn't finish his sentence due to the knife that just came out of his mouth.

Talia withdrew the knife she just used to Kill Zinesh before she setting her eyes on Thai , who was shocked and devastated.