“Do you love me?”

The question rang through his mind, shifting his thoughts around, searching for the answer as he planned his next step.

“Do you love me?”

It repeated, ringing through his mind, pressing against the front of his skull, or so it felt, as the answer became clearer and closer.

“Do you love me?”

Once again, he remembered it, just as clear as it was spoken, it flashed through his head, longing to be answered. Longing, as it had always been, was what Ashken was used to. However, this longing was different. Most of the times he longed for something, and that was the end of it. But, in this case, he longed for her, and he wouldn't let anything in this world keep him from receiving that which he truly longed, that for which he truly lusts, that which he truly loved.

Yes, Lorelei....” he said to himself as he stopped his sprinting, “I love you.”

He answered her question, though only to himself. He looked down the road, darkness shrouding his vision towards that which he was chasing. He got onto one knee and felt the earth. Slowly, he ran his hands over the parallel ripples in the dirt on the road. Knowing that he was still on track, he dashed forward once again, now certain that he was on the right track. This was unusual to him; being uncertain. Normally, he would plan according to the situation, and not rush it a second too fast. But, this time, he wildly took off in an aimless direction and headed after those that deceived him. Not only was their spite riding on his mind, there was also loyalty, responsibility, love... He pondered these things as the creaks and wails of the axle of the carriage turning by the pulls of the horses came into his range of hearing. He thought, more than once, that wildly running ahead aimlessly was a risky, dangerous way of accomplishing his objective. And, he enjoyed it. It left room in his mind for his imagination to take over, to tell him how he would tear at their flesh, decimate their bones, and annihilate their souls. However, he didn't let his mind take up too much of his concentration, as his pursuit of the captors now reduced from miles to mere inches.

Their was a single lantern to light the way of the road, which Ashken found be quite useful for identifying the captors' vehicle. Once he was close enough, he pounced onto the back of the carriage, caught a bit of the window sill to keep himself aboard, and pulled himself through the curtain. He found himself sitting inside the carriage, three men sitting on the seats in front of him, armed and asleep, and next to him, a woman. Ashken grabbed the woman's hands, which were bound with rope, and tied them loose. He then went down to her feet and unbound them, thus waking her.

“What on earth...” she said in a muffled voice, looking down at Ashken.

Once she noticed her hands were free, she grabbed the cloth around her mouth and untied it as Ashken got to his feet.

“Lorelei, are you okay?” he asked her softly, placing a hand on her cheek, “Did they hurt you?”

She slowly regained her balance as she climbed to her feet and look into his face, her hurt and fear obviously apparent, though collected. Then, she struck Ashken on the cheek, light enough not to alarm her kidnappers, but heavy enough to sting him. She then turned to the carriage door and swung it open  She looked out into the blackish blue night and took a deep breath, then turned to her savior. She stared at him, her blue eyes glossy from the tears she was forcing back with all she could muster.

“Do not follow me,” she said in a cold, stiff, abnormal voice towards him.

Then, swiftly leaped out of the door of the carriage. However, just as her foot left the edge of the vehicle, Ashken followed, and the both of them landed on the bank of a river, rolled, and were then submerged in water. Quickly, Ashken did his best to surface, for landing in the river was not premeditated, and he splashed about as he finally pulled his head into the air. However, Lorelei, who was the perfect swimmer, was not fazed by the river, and swam along gracefully until she reached the other side of the bank. Ashken, who finally caught his breath, drifted to the other side alongside her. He climbed out of the water and coughed and sputtered, then turned his head towards Lorelei, who sat on her knees, wringing the water from her long, black hair.

“Why did you say that? Why would I leave you?” he choked out, doing his best to breath normally again.

She kept her face away from his, as to miss eye contact with him, “Because, I thought  you were interested in me, but, then, I saw you were nothing more than a whore, trying to play with an naive mind like mine. But, I finally understood, when you left me behind, you were doing nothing more than trying to lay with me and leave. Well, I shall be the one who fills that task tonight. And you...” she stopped, now turning to his face, tears rolling abundantly down her cheeks, “Can burn in hell!”

Ashken shook his head, denying what she said, “No, it's not true. Please, listen.” he said as he made his way over to her.

She now sobbed hard into her hands as he crawled over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She immediately slapped him on the face, doubling the mental and physical pain that she had inflicted on him before and backed away from him, shouting,

“Don't touch me!”

Ashken put a hand over where she had struck him twice, which was now red, and a tear formed in his eye, but he quickly wiped it away.

“Fine... then I shall comfort you from here,” he said to her.

“I will not listen.”

“Well, you must see.”

She closed her eyes.

“Well, then, you shall go on with your life, if you insist that you know what you do not, “ he said to her, his voice now breaking up, “And live you life without the man that loves you!”

She stopped sobbing and looked up at him, awestruck. He now sobbed as she did before, his black eyes just as slick as hers, his heaving just as violent, and his passion just as true. She now knew that, for a man to cry for a woman, he must truly lover her. With this, she pounced forward and embraced his wet, soaking body. He did the same, holding her close to him. Though their bodies were wet, they could feel the warmth radiating for one another, and Lorelei took in every ounce of his love he could give, and vise versa.

Suddenly, a loud, sharp blast came from nearby, and Lorelei jumped in Ashken's arms. She looked around and spotted a man, one of her captors, holding a revolver into the air.

“Do not move!” he called out to the two of them, “Or your heads come off!”       

Ashken, who  was only armed with his blade at the time, took his hands off of her and held them in the air for the man to see. Lorelei did the same, turning her face back to her love, crying once again.

“Please, help me...” he sobbed, her eyes turning from orbs of gloom into bouts of fear.

Ashken nodded and began strategical ideas as the man walked over to the two of them. Strangely, the man was alone, which told him that it was the driver that was holding them at gunpoint. He took this into his advantage. He also gazed into the  chamber of the man's revolver, which showed that there were only two rounds left. Ashken didn't know how accurate the man was, but he knew he couldn't let the weapon stay in his hands. The best plan was to disarm him, which wouldn't be difficult for him, for the man was now standing behind Lorelei, in a close enough range for him to draw his sword when the man's guard lowered, giving him the window of opportunity to strike. One negative, however, was the fact that the man had already fired his weapon. He didn't know where the man had stopped the vehicle, which means that he had no idea whether the man had stopped at a distance close enough for his partners to hear his warning shot. Ashken's situation had turned from a waiting game to a game of concentration, for he had to make sure the man's firearm was not aiming at him or Lorelei if they were to escape unharmed.

Just as he planned, the man let down his guard, and he drew his sword swiftly, swinging at the hand which held the firearm. Suddenly, just before Ashken made contact, the man, with his own blade, spun the other way and met his blade with Ashken's, all while they were reaching around Lorelei. The man chuckled and aimed the weapon at Ashken, a large grin covering his face.

“Wrong choice, kid...” the man said in a gruff voice.

Just before the man pulled the trigger, Ashken rolled away from Lorelei, and two of the man's shots sunk into the earth. Ashken got to his feet and Lorelei quickly ran behind him, taking cover. The man threw his now empty firearm to the ground and got into a fighting stance.

“Do you think I can kill you in one blow?” the man said to Ashken, “Bet on it. The wager: your life.”

Ashken respected his arrogance, “I'll take that bet.”

They studied each other, planning their strategies to outdo the other as Lorelei backed down, getting out of the way of their fight. Instead of telling her to run and flee their spot, he was afraid of her running into the other men, if they were actually coming, of course. A thought came over his mind, which he didn't like at all. The man blocked his attack without much difficulty, which means that he was either faster than Ashken could tell or it meant he was studying him before Ashken spotted him, which was when he fired the warning shot. Both of these theories could exist at the same time as well. If the first postulate was true, then Ashken would have to increase his defense, for the man could penetrate his counters easily if Ashken were to react too slow. If the latter was true, then Ashken would have to think quickly as well as react with almost no room for error. Finally, growing impatient, Ashken charged after the man, leaving all strategies to improvise in his head in the next few seconds.  

Just as Ashken came into range to strike, he drew his hand back, then brought it forward. Just as swiftly he had attacked the man before, he had done it again. And, just as he was going to make contact, the man swiftly countered. Ashken found his sword miss the man completely. He then stood still, letting his hand fall powerlessly to his side, letting his sword fall and clash with the ground. Ashken then winced and looked down to find the man's blade impaled through his abdomen. Blood rolled down the blade and into small pools in the grass. As the man withdrew the sword from Ashken's body, Ashken fell to his knees, wide eyes gazing down at the grass. Then, he fell onto his chest and laid there, motionless. He was not dead yet, but, he had lost all off his body. Lorelei screamed his name; He could no hear if. Lorelei ran to his body; He could not sense it. She shook his head; He could not feel it. However, the moment before he closed his eyes he read the lips of the passionate mermaid as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I love you...”