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"Kayura?!" Dais shouted as he burst thought the doors. Sekhmet was not far behind.
They both entered the once clean and straight room. All the furniture was thrown around and the flowers she had tried to arrange were everywhere. The vase it was on was shattered against a nearby wall. As they slowly walked further in the room, they heard running footsteps behind and quickly got out of its way. Cale stopped right where a broken chair was.
"What the hell happened here?" his controlled voice asked. His intense blue eyes looked around the room and surveyed the damage. No sign of Kayura.
Another set of footsteps came down the hall followed with more. Rowen came in to the room and just about ran into Cale but stopped in time. The others had slowed down already and just walked in to the room. Everybody looked around, afraid to ask who had done this. Suddenly, movement caught all their eyes and they all turned.
A little girl was behind them. Her arms were crossed over a brown outfit. Her brown eyes looked out from under brown hair but she didn't say a word. Another presence came up behind and they turned. Another girl was there but with a blue outfit this time and blue hair and eyes. Before she could say anything, another presence showed up, this time above them.
"Oh, we meet again," the last girl said above them. Cye and Reva looked up and found the sprite they fought a couple of weeks ago. She wore a red outfit with red hair and eyes.
"You again?" Cye asked. The others looked from him to the girl. "Haven't you had enough?"
"I don't know when to quit." She looked at her arm. It was scarred from hand to shoulder. "The Empress wasn't very happy when I came back empty-handed. She didn't like your little gift to me either." She looked down at all of them again.
"Then why did you take Kayura when your quarrel is with us?" Reva asked.
"I'm not doing this because I want revenge on you. Although that is high on my list, it had to take a backseat to my Empress' command. Which means, take that woman and let's get going!" The little sprite pointed to Mia and the one in brown, who was closest to her, started to advance. Anubis quickly got between them. She stopped.
"It wouldn't be that easy to get your hands on her," he told the brown haired sprite.
"You're the one that took Kayura?!" Cale shouted up to the sprite in red. His civilian clothes disappeared and was replaced by the Armor of Darkness. "What would it take to bring her back?!" He jumped after it but the sprite disappeared before the impact. He landed with nobody in his hands.
"Tsk, tsk." The red sprite shook her head. She reappeared just a few feet from where she was originally. "I don't want to stay here any longer than I can. I can tell you don't want me here either so why not just hand over the woman and the girl then we'll be out of your hair?"
"Girl?!" the Ronins said in unison. They turned around and looked at the girls that surrounded them.
Mia couldn't say what she wanted to say. This was turning out not the way she had pictured it. Before she could say anything, the sprite in blue was behind her, a hand on her mouth the other around her waist.
"All of you are turning into a big disappointment," the sprite in read said. "I expected more of a resistance from everyone. What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
Suddenly, an aura started to accumulate around Mia and that was enough of a distraction. Anubis was able to grab hold of the blue sprite and pull her away from Mia. Kala was nearest the brown sprite and held her. Everything was happening so fast that most everybody was confused.
"Where's my sister?!" Mira shouted as she jumped up to tackle the still stunned red sprite. They both landed on the floor and Mira straddled the sprite while she pulled back a clenched fist. "Where is she?!"
"We can't divulge that
information right now," it answered, its voice calm and controlled.
As she said it, the brown sprite turned into stone and started
to crumble under Kala's hold. "You could ask us later."
The blue sprite turned into water and momentarily held its form
before drenching Anubis. "I don't think the Empress would
like that much though."
The red sprite grew bright red and suddenly burst into flames.
Mira jumped back and the inner thighs of her pants where they
had touched the sprite were burned. She walked over the burning
pile but found only ashes within the flames.
"Okay!!" Ryo's voice resonated in the empty castle. "What the hell just happened here and everybody has some explaining to do?!" Everybody but the Ronins looked at each other, reluctant to say their part.
***
The light subsided a little and she could finally open her eyes. She couldn't tell where she was but she knew she was on the floor. Everything was blurred for a second then began to clear up.
"Ah, you're finally awake," a woman's voice said somewhere within the light. She tried to shield her eyes but she still couldn't see her. "I thought my little sprite knocked you out harder than she thought."
A figure moved in the light and she could see the outline of an armor. The figure moved closer then she began to see details. The woman had long silver hair flowing past her shoulders down her back. The armor she wore was similar to the others but its design was something she had never seen before. The figure stopped just a few feet from her.
"This isn't really the right way to treat the oldest of the Ancient's granddaughters. I'm sorry for the inconvenience Kayura." The figure bowed.
"Tyra?" Kayura asked with uncertainty.
"Ah! You remember."
"Not really." Kayura shook her head. "Where am I?"
"You're at my castle. Not much to look at, I know, but it's getting there. Kami knows how long I've tried to keep this place up. Definitely nothing like my father's castle, right?"
"What are you talking about?" Kayura gathered herself and leaned against the wall. The bright light was almost gone now and she could see the woman more clearly.
"Come on. You've been with my father longer than anybody. You know me like I know your sister."
"And I should be happy because?"
"You're going to be part of a great plan. I must admit that it's not as great as some that I've already used but it'll have to serve its purpose."
"What are you going to do? Trade me for Mia?"
"That's not a bad idea but it's a start. That'll be too simple. Your sister knows me better than that. She'd be so disappointed to find that I've been reduced to thievery."
"Then what?"
"You are just like her. Or should I say she's just like you?"
"Who cares? All I want to know is what your plan is and you're dancing around it."
"I can't tell you that. That would make me a common villain and I would hope I'm more than that. Royda would be such a high trophy to achieve if I were a common villain."
"If you're not going to tell me, then don't bother talking to me."
"You are most definitely her sister. But I don't get that kind of reaction from her unless of course we were fighting."
"Do you have some sick
infatuation with her or something?"
"Far from it. I admire her a lot. She's the one that had
kept the rest of the girls sane for over 400 years. I could use
somebody like her."
"And you're using me to get to her? You're a little confused, aren't you?"
"That's because you don't know that plan." Tyra smiled at her. "Maybe you do know your sister and maybe you don't but she'll always come back to me. I'm the one that challenges her. I'm the one that would go against her every word. She might not want to accept that but she likes it when we're fighting. Morbid, isn't it?"
"Not really. All you've talked about during all this is how you like my sister. What's that got to do with me if I'm not even the bait?"
"You'll see when the second part of the plan gets here." She turned away from Kayura and started walking.
"Second part?" Kayura whispered.
Tyra walked away from that section of the room. The prisoner wasn't even in a cell, just held there by an invisible barrier. She wasn't really worried about Kayura. The sprites she sent out were more her concern.
They came out of nowhere. First the brown, then the blue, then the red in the middle. They were all down on one knee and head low. Tyra didn't expect them to come back with anything but she thought they would take longer to do it. This didn't look good.
"Well?" she asked. "Don't expect me to ask why you all are here so early."
"There were too many of them, Empress," the red sprite answered. "They all had the woman surrounded."
"I knew that would happen but I didn't think you would back down from that." Tyra looked from one sprite to the other. "What did they do?"
"The youngest's anger came out of nowhere, your highness," the blue sprite answered. She dared to meet Tyra's eyes. "It was more than we thought."
"You got scared off by a little girl's emotional outburst?! Of course she would be angry! We kidnapped her sister!"
"But the oldest did not move," the red sprite added. "She just stared at me as well as those brats."
"Quite frankly, I expected that. She wasn't suppose to more. If she had, I would have been the one going there!" Tyra turned in a circle. She paced before her throne, a frustrated breath escaping.
This is going to be more than I thought, she said to herself. Fear was the last thing they needed. This was suppose to establish that those girls can be beaten. But how did it turn out?! My sprites run away!!
She suddenly stopped when an idea came to mind. The frustrated look was finally replaced by a somewhat happier one.
"You three are dismissed."
She waved a hand at them. "I will call when I need you."
All three nodded and disappeared.