Lady Moon, Sha'tan #1

Chapter 20: Think before you speak

Darn Kate and her big mouth! She was busted! She should have seen it coming.

“I’ll take it as a yes. So you won’t mind if I add a hundred of the said push-ups to your daily routine?”

She swirled on her chair and mouthed:

“Sadistic dominative hunk!”

He cocked an eyebrow:

“If you insist, a hundred and fifty then? You’d better get started now, if we are to work on your archery skills today…”

She scowled at him and blew him a kiss. She was in a rebellious mood, and he was not helping.

She pushed his arms aside, went to the dojo and dropped to the floor, warping throughout the exercise. A few minutes later she was done and turned to him defiantly.

“Excellent. Let’s see how much it improves your aim with a horse and a bow.”

And sure enough, it didn’t. Which gained her another couple of torturous hours, shooting arrows over and over again, until he grew tired of it and allowed her to go. By that time, her arms felt numb and her legs’ muscles were on strike.

“Be there at the same time tomorrow, with your bags. And don’t be late!”

“I am not sure about this Sensei. I will have to leave really early for swimming and running…”

He grinned.

“I’ll show you my secret; not even Kate knows about this, I plan to surprise her someday.”

He walked to the cupboard under the stairs, opened it, and pulled on a well-concealed ring in the floor. A trapdoor opened, revealing a flight of stairs, leading to a beautiful pool cut in the stone. A Jacuzzi bath and steam room completed the indulgence area, and the view was to die for.

“This is my favourite hideout. I chose to build in this secluded spot partly for the hot stream crossing it, and of course for safety reasons. The only access to the house is through the door, unless you are willing to climb up or down the cliff. There is a private path beside for you to run, and the view is a bonus.”

Dana was speechless. The man was beyond wealthy to afford this; but she saw no reason to refuse to enjoy it.

“Deal! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

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Eddi stomped in the yard, frustrated and furious. Despite Dana’s efforts the previous day to get her to drop her complaint, she insisted on meeting Commander Bashir this morning. And the least she could say was that it didn’t go as she expected.

After she had exposed her version, emphasizing Jan’s violent sexual assault towards her, the man had had the nerve to smile and turn the screen of his computer towards her.

He had pressed a key and the whole scene in the dojo had played in front of her, quite different than her description.

“Soldier Sand, when Lieutenant Heffson decided to give you extra tuition, I anticipated trouble, having heard of your strange behaviour. So I took the liberty to install a webcam in the Dojo you were using, as an additional precaution. The footage you are seeing corroborates the Lieutenant’s report, and invalidates your version. As you can see, you were extremely late, you leaned on him to wake him up when you could just have called him from a distance, and he released you as soon as you screamed. He is to blame for sleeping on the job, but what about you? How should I reward your malicious accusations against your commanding officer, added to your lack of discipline? You are to work in the canteen after class everyday for two months. You can appeal to General Andersen but I doubt he would be pleased. Dismissed!”

And here she was, punished, when her aggressor was…well just in front of her, talking with his friends! Fuming, she yelled at him:

“But isn’t it Lieutenant Heffson, the pervert who tries to rape his recruits!”

Jan stared at her and rolled his eyes, signalling his friends to ignore her. Some of them started to chuckle at her foolishness.

Eddi’s rage went up a notch:

“You can laugh but we all know the truth: this man has some serious issues below the belt. There’s a reason why he is all single, his ex girlfriend could tell you as she told me; he could never satisfy her in bed, he can’t lift it! She dumped him to find herself a real man!”

Dana was at the opposite end of the yard when she heard her cousin loosing it and she raced to silence her, but she was too late. The whole assistance stood in horrified silence at what she just said. Not only was it a lowly blow, with Jan notoriously struggling to get over Kate, but also she had insulted him in the worst possible manner: she had questioned his virility, even implying he was impotent.

“Eddi, are you crazy? Take that back immediately!” She ordered harshly.

Eddi shook her head stubbornly:

“Why should I? He totally deserves it!”

Jan scowled. He was livid, and his cheeks were flushed; Dana had never seen him this mad.

“As you make your bed… I, Jan Heffson, challenge you, Edina Sand, to a duel. If I win, I will use you to disprove your accusations, in public, as they were issued.”

Dana gasped. This was worse than she could have expected.

Eddi had suddenly turned grey but she answered:

“I Edina Sand, accept your challenge, Jan Heffson. If I win you will admit to assaulting me. I choose my cousin, Dana Sand, as my champion…”

Jan chuckled at her words, and Eddi glared at him, unaware of the cause of his hilarity.

“Eddi,” muttered Dana sadly, “Only the offended can be replaced by a champion, and you are the offender…”

“Oooh… Then I refuse the duel.”

“You can’t, you already accepted, in front of many witnesses. I’m sorry Eddi, but you got yourself in this mess. You’ll have to fight.”

“Nooo, I’m gonna talk to the Commander, he’ll stop this!”

She ran back to the main building, leaving a gawking crowd behind her. Progressively, people unfroze, laughing at the perspective of the duel, and the ensuing consequences. Nobody would place a bet on the recruit.

Dan approached Jan, who seemed to slowly come back to life.

“I apologize for my stupid cousin. What she said was absurd, and nobody will ever believe it. Kate told me she had a great time with you, it’s not the reason she left at all, she just loves variety. Any chance to get you to change your mind about the duel?”

Jan stared at her coldly:

“It is time for this little pest to learn about life. She cannot go around insulting people and think she can get away with it, because Daddy will have her back. And I’m doing her a favour: she’ll be kicked out of the army. If I understand well, there’s a war brewing; do you imagine your cousin in a fight! She’d have her whole unit killed! Trust me, it’s better this way.”

Dana nodded:

“I understand. But when do you plan to fight? If you do this now, she’ll be so ridiculous that you’ll end up looking bad. Could you give her a couple of months to train, at least she’d have a strong motivation?”

“You’re right, I can do that. I’ll talk to the commander about it though, he’ll have to sort the training out for her; this time I won’t do it!”

“Fair enough! Got to go!” She hugged him and went back to work.