Light of Dawn

Chapter 24 - Shadows of Fear

Rex was woken by the smell of an absolutely delicious smell of what could only be some freshly made sweet buns. He was slowly blinking himself awake but didn't bother to move until the grogginess had left his eyes. He turned his head to the side and found a plate with three sweet buns still steaming as if they'd just been taken out of the oven. With a sigh he sat up letting the wool blanket that was covering him fall to his waist before his hand came up to his throat. As his fingers glided over the soft flesh he felt the roughness of a freshly gained scar run beneath his finger tips.

He paused for a moment before his hand traveled down to his bare chest where again he felt smooth flesh for the most part, until his hand reached a a diagonal scar that ran from just underneath his collar bone all the way down to his right hip. His began to close until he was looking through his grey eyelashes at the blue blanket that covered his mostly naked body. They must've had to operate immediately, he thought to himself as he thought about the last thing he remembered.

He was going at Oda with one of his spare swords after having his favorite blade taken from him. He wasn't in any condition to try beating anybody in a quick drawing contest, let alone someone as skilled as Oda had been. Again he sighed as his hand left the scar on his torso, going up to his hair brushing his back before he turned to look at the sweet buns. When he was younger sweet buns were Rex's favorite treat. He and Hanzo would often rush to the kitchens after a days sparring to see if they could convince Yuri the cook to make them some as a reward for a job well done.

Now when he looked at them he couldn't bring himself to contemplate taking one, even though his knew that those must've been placed there for him to eat. "Treats are for someone who's earned them." He thought out loud before he threw the blanket off of himself revealing that he was only wearing some underclothes. The absence of the blanket covering his legs sent a chill over him but who wouldn't allow himself to be bothered by that. He had something to do, and there wasn't anyone alive who could keep him from doing it.

Getting out of the small cot he went over to the equally small cabinet which stored fresh clothes for any patrols that came through this safe house. They were a pair of black loose fitting silk pants, and an equally loose fitting silk shirt. Pulling them on he quickly made sure that both of his bracelets were intact before he hurried out the back door in case someone tried to stop him from leaving. This wasn't the kind of task that he could ask for help on, because it was something that only he could accomplish. He had to find Oda, and take back his sword from the bastard.

~*~*~*~

Lance, Issac, and Eve were all watching Jake as he lay shivering on the ground where the dark elves had thrown him. He hadn't moved from that single spot for several hours, he just lie there with his hand over the angry red, and sickeningly burnt shoulder of his. Issac could see that his shoulder was right with blisters, in fact he didn't think it would've been wrong to say that his entire shoulder had become just one gigantic blister. The area where the hot ink had touched was all bright red and looked like it was swollen. The mark on his shoulder looked like it was already becoming infected.

It was ringed in dark red and it honestly looked like the veins around it were turning dark, almost black. How anyone could do that to another human being and not feel anything was beyond Issac, and over something so small as asking for help! That was the biggest thing that made Issac so angry about it. Jake had asked the Saint Shields for help in dealing with these vampires, most definitely saving the lives of countless dark elves in the process. Yet he got carved up with a blade so hot that it was glowing white, and than had that wound filled with ink to ensure that it would always be there.

His hands were balled up so tightly that his nails were threatening to break the skin of his palms. And judging from the amount of bristling that Lance had been doing told Issac that he was equally as pissed about this situation as he was. Why shouldn't he be? Lance had been brought up to view Jake as a brother but more than that he, like Issac, knew what it was like to have ink literally burned into his skin. The both of them had gone through the process of having the mark of the Saint Shield's burned into their shoulders, and since their bodies healed on a much faster pace than that of a humans this was a process that could take a while. It wasn't something that should be done to a human, let alone one who had just saved you and your entire faction of Shinobi!