SHOLEM
OUTSKIRTS OF MATAYA
PRATAYA'S SHIK
PRESENT

The night was chilly. She remained still, refusing to shiver. Any movement would be heard by the patrolling men she stalked. Even her breathing was slow and regulated, so as not to mist in the unnaturally cold air, though her heart wanted to hammer its way out of her chest. Her body wanted to fidget, every instinct telling her to move, to do something, preferably to run away, but she waited. Listening. Watching. Biding her time.

The chattering noise echoed through the trees, and she knew she had struck the proverbial silver purse. Only a few men were patrolling on this night and they walked far away from the high wall. Excitement threatened to force her breathing into irregular gasps, but she remained controlled. The wind carried their shrill voices, along with the strange, animalistic bark and mews of their familiars resonating through the interwoven branches overhead, and she knew they were coming closer. She dared to turn her head, ever so slowly, to peer around the tree trunk that was her camouflage. Two pairs of glowing eyes, the only parts of the familiar visible in the limited light, were bouncing in her direction. She would have only seconds to take action or she would be caught, or worse killed.

They drew closer, the men and their familiars busy jesting amongst each other, unaware of the danger near them, and she allowed her muscles to tense, prepared for the swift movements of her blade, her throwing knives that would render their heads from their shoulders. It would only take a few seconds and they would be dead.

Or so she thought.

Without warning, a light flared just east of her position, causing spots to dance before her eyes and completely ruining her night vision. A string of choice invectives came to her mind, but she suppressed the urge to curse and considered the possibility that she had gone unnoticed by the night patrols surrounding the Prataya, despite the unexpected flare, talking could notify the men near her that she was there.       

Stupid girl, Sheil. Stupid, stupid. Rash behavior. No patience. Rushed into a dangerous situation without a plan. She muttered under her breath.    

Still to the east, a loud male voice was snarling the choice words she had been contemplating mere seconds ago, and an accompanying crashing noise suggested he too was suffering from the same handicap to his night vision she now struggled to overcome. Even if she was stupid, it was a small comfort that she was not the only one, someone on their side is affected too from the sudden light, that's a relief.

The two familiar were screeching now, probably calling their owner's attention to her presence, their chattering filling the woods with an ungodly cackle, the men didn't seem to realize she was there yet, she thought and smirked. It was when one pair of lamplight eyes materialized next to her that she realized her hope of going unnoticed was in vain, she had been caught.

She didn’t think.

Her arm moved of its own accord, slicing through bone and flesh as the paw reached for her, trying to latch on in the darkness. The barking of the cannie turned into a surprised howl and then a gurgle as her blade met its throat.

Her hiding place was obviously ruined, she bolted into the open, running towards the sound of her sister's voice and her familiar. The crashing to her east continued, then cut off abruptly with a startled yell and a triumphant bark.      

By the time she reached them, she was certain her sister was through. But that wasn't the case when she entered the clearing. Her night vision returning, all she could see was a man kneeling in the middle of the woods, the short, twiggy familiar latched around his neck with strong, wiry arms, its legs encircling his torso. That was usually how Jaral kills. Her sister, Yalowel was nowhere to be found but She knows she's somewhere around. Jaral, a feline with three eyes and claws at the end of his paws, is hardly much of a challenge to humans, but once he got his arms around you, most of the time, you didn’t survive. Unfortunately, she couldn’t intervene she has to look for the rest of her bond sisters.   

The man reached up, trying to pry the familiar off. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he didn’t have long without air. It would be over soon, the poor bastard. The best she could do was throw one of her knives to hit him on his neck. It served him right let him die a slow painful death. Though, the night is far from over, she can predict that many more men will fall at their hand before day break.      

The creature was mewling gleefully, sensing its victory was at hand. But they were both surprised at what happened next.

When the man’s hands landed on the creature’s arms blood started gurgling, he has removed the knife she threw at him and used it to stab at the familiar's arms around his neck.

She leapt back in shock, and to avoid the flailing familiar, which released the man quickly with a startled shriek and growling loudly at the man. It flapped his paws, trying to throw the knife stuck on his paw, and the man stumbled to his feet, away from the familiar, clutching his throat and gasping for breath.

Instinct kicked in again. She bolted forward, the man was surprised at her sudden move, with one neat slice, the man’s head was separated from his shoulders. He still looked surprised and shocked when his head hit the ground.

The man's headless body stumbled several more feet away, then collapsed against a tree trunk. He shall not be missed. Yalowel chose that moment to run wildly into the clearing, looking between her, her familiar and the head on the floor.

“Do you always have to cut off their heads?” she finally asked after they wasted several precious seconds staring at each other.

“I could have let him kill your familiar while I stood idly back watching, I decided to save your familiar instead, did I make the wrong choice?” she snarled back, looking around and sheathing her long blade. She walked over to the body and started checking him for anything useful item she could take.

“Oh, relax. I just don't like it when you hacked off their heads like that,” Yalowel muttered, taking her head in both hands and tilting it to the side. She walks nimbly toward her familiar to check out the damage done to his paws, seeing the knife in her paws, she removed it in one pull and winced. Yalowel can feel the pain of her familiar now that she is near him, she started breathing heavily from the phantom pain.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Yalowel managed to mutter between her heavy breathing. The familiar's eyes darted nervously. He had that much sense, at least.

“Neither should you, I told you to stay with the other girls but you don't listen to me. Come on. I don’t think there are any more  men for a few miles, but the other patrol may have heard the struggle between your familiar and the man.” Sheil said.

Without waiting for an answer, she seized her sister's arm and started hauling her back the way they had come. The rest of the girls that came out for the night were camped there, in relative safety.

“Wait,” she mumbled, rather futilely. “Where are your familiars? And won't we wait for the other girls?”

“The other girls know their way, they will meet up with us once they are done, and Melri knows her way back to me, she'll guide the others back home, as you already know,” Sheil informed her waspishly. Didn’t she understand that her safety is more important to her than any mission, it's important to rescue her from her own blundering. “We can plan another mission in the morning.” Yalowel didn’t protest any further and fell into step beside Sheil, allowing her to stop hauling Yalowel bodily along.

“Tonight's mission was successful,” Yalowel finally offered, rather sheepishly.

“Yalowel,” Sheil said shortly, she doesn't like when her sister started a story and stopped without finishing it. Yalowel's name seems to prompt her; pushing her out of her musing. Sheil noticed that Yalowel looked weaker than she thought, the mission must be taking a toll on her, or the injury on her familiar. Though this particular mission is important in making every other plan they have been making become a reality.

"I was able to sneak into the Prataya office, though it was a bit more difficult than I thought, but I did. And I planted the detonator there, a chance to take out the remaining men making rules that constricted us to a life of slavery. All we have to do now is to wait for the right moment and we can make the final move." Yalowel explained, Sheil can see the excitement on her face despite her tiredness.

"We have to tell the others, this is a very good news. We have to increase our preparation. The time is near, to finally taste what we have been cooking for the past Eight months, I can smell freedom already," She said. Sheil can feel the same excitement building in her body too, they've been working for the past Eight months to achieve this feat. They've lost friends, people they consider family, all in this fight for freedom and now the moment is near, Sheil can taste it.

Sheil never planned to turn out this way, when her mind first started the journey of questioning everything around her in the sorting Gam, she thought it was an infection. Something that will label her as an impure. For fear of getting caught she had to control her mind so it won't affect her actions.

Though fate seems to be working in her favour when she gets paired in a different way than every other glinders, nothing like her pairing as over happened before. It left her with more questions than answers. It left all the administrators in constant fear and awe of them. It finally became the reason they embarked in their journey to fight for freedom.

When they first started on their journey, she never thought she would last more than a few months, but with ten sisters bonded from different glind, joined together both in mind and body, also with their familiars, they were able to overcome many challenges that they faced.

Just like them, many who want freedom for all women join them in their journey, freedom of expression. Freedom to choose how they want to live their lives. Freedom from the oppressive patriarchy that kept them in chains of slavery for as long as they can remember. They came across several women who were ready to take up arms and join them on their journey towards freedom.

They had to start the chain of events from removing the men holding little position in the government, it shook their whole world for a year, no one knows what caused the gradual assassination of the men of lower ranks in the government. No one knows except for Sheil and her bands of freedom fighters, who were named Shalala after one of them was nearly caught.

The deaths of the lower ranks men seems to spur the government into action, all of the men started hiding and becoming extra cautious, which makes carrying out another assassination hard for Sheil and her people. But it only deterred them for a few months, Sheil didn't spend seven years of her life training as an assassin for nothing.

After a few months, they resume their strategic assassination again, taking out almost all the corrupted men running the government of their world. This caused the men to start arresting and torturing women. Most of them innocent. Sheil didn't let that stop her because in every way there are always casualties.

Sheil is ready. Ready to face the only man standing in her path on her journey towards freedom. She is ready to pull down the chain of patriarchy.