Once A Wolf Ch. 02

"Nicely done. Apparently, you are picking up some of my bad habits. I like that in a man. You know, you could have usedyourknife."

Giselle was before him, re-sheathing her sword in that fluid, effortless flourish he admired. He glanced at his belt. There it was, right where he had put it before they had left the cave.

"In the heat of battle, I didn't even think of it," he moaned. "See what I meant earlier? How stupid of me. The male?"

She smiled.

"Beating a similarly hasty retreat. I nicked him. He'll live."

She stood before him, placing her hand upon his cheek. He was beginning to realize just how much he enjoyed the feel of it there.

"Surviving any combat, particularlyhand-to-hand combat, is not 'stupid'," she intoned. What you did displays an amazing degree of courage and coolness under fire. In case it was lost upon you, you didn't just mimic what I showed you; youimprovised.You faced a different combat situation and adapted your technique to it. I don't wish to sound condescending, but I am proud of you."

His heart skipped a beat.

"This is the first time I have ever had the Bad Guys on the run," he opined.

Giselle looked down, pursing her lips. She spoke her next words quietly.

"Geoff, the Golganthans are ouropponents. We have no quarrel with them; we are simply obliged to fight them. TheArcturans are the 'Bad Guys' for creating this artificial conflict and throwing the four of us into it. Remember that. Let's go. We still have work to do."

They made their way down from the outcropping. The two Golganthans had retreated in different directions. Giselle chose to track the male first and, if necessary, return to the outcropping to track the female. As they made their way around the base of the rock, Geoff couldn't help but notice the smooth, vertical walls without viable handholds on the side that Giselle would have had to scale. The lowest available ledge was some ten or eleven feet up. He couldn't, for the life of him, imagine how she had made her ascent so quickly.

The skirmish had been a blessing in disguise. The male had been cagy enough, doubling back several times and hiding his tracks. The injured female had not. She had made a beeline back to their cave. Giselle and Geoff followed her tracks, noted its location, then withdrew, lest they be caught in an ambush even while planning their own.

They took a circuitous route back to their own cave, lest they repeat the Golganthan female's mistake. Along the way, both were quiet, introspective. Geoff mulled over Giselle's description of their adversarial relationship with the Golganthans. He didn't like his conclusions one bit. She read his thoughts and spoke.

"You can't let it eat at you."

"Excuse me?" he replied.

"What we did to the Golganthans," she continued. "It wasn't personal. If we had been a little slower,we would be the ones hurting right now."

"That doesn't make it right," Geoff interjected.

"Itnever is," Giselle pointed out. "Studs Terkel once described World War Two as "The Last Good War". That was an unfortunate choice of words. There hasnever beena 'good war'. Some are worse than others and theyallend badly. The only people who believe in a 'good war' have either forgotten it over time or were never there. Ask any soldier whowasthere – if you can get them to talk about it at all.

"World War Two was the last goodcause, one with a clear-cut sense of right and wrong that everyone could believe in and rally behind. Eventhatwas subject to interpretation, depending where you lived. Almost every significant conflict since has been largely based on hype, a manufactured motive; again, some more grievous than others.

"I would love to say this 'tournament' is a new low. It isn't. It isn't even new tous. American Rules Football. Hockey. Rugby. Professional Wrestling. Bullfights. Cockfights. Dogfights. Modern Lacrosse is played with a type of 'ball', but the original was played with a freshly-severedhuman head. It isall bread and circuses for the masses. Give them a little good old fashioned blood and gore to keep them satisfied."

Giselle stopped, grabbed her companion by the arms and turned him to face her.

"Geoff,this is the new Coliseum andwe are the new Gladiators."

She released him, raising her arms and voice to the heavens.

"Ave Caesar! Morituri Te Salutant!"

He took her in his arms. She was close to tears.

"You really hate this, don't you?"

Her eyes glittered; twin sapphire flames.

"I reallyhatepeople jerking my chain. I hate being used, manipulated, to further someone else's agenda. I always have..."

She looked down dejectedly.

"...and, pretty much, I alwayshave been."

"Giselle?"

"Yes?"

"Who is Studs Terkel?"

She laughed through her tears.

"Get outta town!"

Geoff's admiration for – no,attraction to– this amazing woman with her oddly compelling combination of clipped British tones and American idioms grew stronger by the minute. He knew he still had so much to learn....

*****

On a moonlit summer evening long before that one, Mike Blair had also known he still had so much to learn. He stood at the crest of the St. Charles Road Bridge, gazing east. Below him, cars whizzed by on the Tri-State Tollway. The State of Illinois would soon be extending the Eisenhower Expressway north and west. It would occupy the empty space parallel to the Tollway below. Beyond, the lights of Chicago beckoned in the distance. He wanted to remember this moment, savor it. Instinctively, he knew it would be a long time before he would see it again.

Mike's parents thought she had lost his mind. It was bad enough he had spent the last year studying Japanese and devouring everything he could about martial arts and Japanese culture. Then, they learned he had been corresponding with a "Toshisugu Takamatsu" through his colleague, a "Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi". This Dr. Hatsumi had sent a letter inviting Mike to come to Japan as a foreign exchange student, with himself as their child's sponsor.

It wouldn't even be in Tokyo, or any of the other major cities they knew of. He would be going to a small village called Ueno in the Iga Prefecture, wherever that was. Dr. Hatsumi was not without influence. The State Department and Japanese Interior Ministry had both signed off on the deal, which made them feel a little more at ease. Itwas an honor to be an exchange student, especially to be accepted at so young an age. ButJapan.... Mike's father had served in the Eleventh Armored Division under General Patton. Neither he nor his wife trusted any of the former Axis powers, nor ever would again.

In the end, Mike's mother convinced his father to let him go. Marilynn Blair knew her child was every bit as stubborn and determined as her husband. If they didn't let him try this, they would never hear the end of it. Hopefully, in a few months, he would be homesick enough to want to come back. They watched his plane taxi away from the gate at O'Hare, not knowing what to expect. Neither did he. All he knew was a vow he had made and fully intended to keep:never again.