Chapter 3

It was dark when I woke up. I was in a haze and I had no idea where I was. All I know is that I was in terrible pain. My shoulder was killing me and I struggled to remember what happened.

Then it dawned on me. I was shot by a warrior behind my back. What a coward! A true hero never attacks from behind. He doesn't deserve his tattoos at all. And he had so many of them! How many did he kill in the same treacherous manner? I deserve to get my own tattoos more than he ever will. Speaking of which. I will get two when I get out of here. Two tattoos for the two warriors I killed in battle.

But how did I get here in the first place? I remember collapsing at the entrance of the cave. Surely I couldn't have crawled all the way inside. Judging by the darkness, I'm way too deep in this cavern. And my wound too. It's not bleeding as much.

I brought my left hand to my shoulder. The arrow has been removed and somebody did a good job of patching me up. I'm not dead yet, am I? But maybe I'm just a soul wandering around and my body is still at the foot of the cave. Maybe I'm in the spirit world by now. Ah. That explains the darkness. But do you still feel pain after you die? I'm in so much pain for someone who's supposed to be dead.

I was still debating this in my head when I saw a faint glow approach. There were some footsteps followed by whispers. Male voices. They might be the soldiers! I need to find my dagger.

The darkness was too overwhelming and I could only pat around the cave floor for my father's knife. I felt the cold stone beneath my palm and kept my breathing as steady as possible. The men are getting nearer and here I am in complete darkness looking for a weapon that I couldn't even use due to my injury.

After some minutes spent in panic, I found my punyal and held it in my left hand. I flattened myself against a huge rock and held my breath.

An old man passed by first, followed by a lean yet muscular young one. I jumped behind the second guy and held my blade against his throat.

"Who are you?", I demanded.

The elder was aghast and begged me to let go of his master.

The youth spoke calmly to me despite the threat to his life. "Calm down. We're here to help you."

"I said, who are you?" I repeated.

The younger one sighed in annoyance and twisted himself out of my grasp.

"You can't even defend yourself. If I wanted to killed you, I wouldn't have hauled you from the entrance and left you to be eaten by wild animals."

I lowered my gaze, embarassed. He must be the one who saved me. How ungrateful!

"I'm sorry", I relented.

The old man relaxed this time and told me to sit and stop moving around too much. He was right. My wound started bleeding again.

"We went outside to get some food. We thought you might be hungry", he gently explained.

The younger man sat down opposite me and slowly chewed on some roots they have gathered. He was not much older than me but he looked fierce. He commanded authority just by his mere presence and I did hear him get addressed as "Lakan". Maybe he's one of those whose families were slaughtered by the new rajah. He never told me his name. I'm never telling them mine.

"I'm Yani, his servant", the elderly said. "He is Lakan Senapati, son of Rajah Sumakwel".

I was shocked! He's the rajah's son. And to think I held my knife to his throat. I'm lucky he didn't kill me.

"I'm sorry about your father's death", I spoke to him.

Yani asked my name and for a second I considered telling him my real name "Naya".

"Lawin", I instead replied, giving my late father's name.