|
|
Moonshadow smiled at Thunderstorm.
She had known the instant that they had met this group of close-knit
friends that the Cherokee's shaman powers would resurface. It
had been an undoubted fact. One thing Shadow had never expected
though was the men having secrets of thier own to keep. Shadow
glanced at the mound of rubbery flesh that was heaped in the road,
and then at the two men and Kayura.
Thunderstorm was standing under her own power now, albeit unsteadily,
but she was standing. Kayura had sat Cale up, and the Overlord
was carefully watching the two young women as they approached.
Dais stared, eye wide. Then in order not to alarm anyone, he banished
the full armor and stood quietly watching the scene in his dark
green body-armor.
Storm watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. Shadow
smiled at him, showing no fear. Kayura stood slowly.
"How.. how did you do that?" Kayura asked the Cherokee,
one hand resting on Cale's shoulder.
Storm merely smiled, extending her hand to aid Cale in standing.
The Overlord accepted, with a moment's hesitation. Once standing,
he brushed his hand against Kayura's in a silent thanks.
"Tell us, please," Dais asked, joining the group fully.
"How did you manage that feat, Storm?"
"We all have our little secrets," Storm began, her voice
still resonating with the dormant power of the supernatural. Her
glance strayed to Shadow, who reached out and flicked her fingernail
against the shoulder-guard of Cale's battle armor. "Some
require little explaination, some require much."
Cale, too, banished his battle armor after a moments thought,
leaving him standing in his crimson body padding. He glanced at
Kayura, waiting to see what she'd say before speaking himself.
Kayura nodded her head at Storm. "I respect your secrets.
Thank you for saving Cale's life. Thank you."
"I owe you, Thunderstorm." Cale said, his throat felt
raw and sore from the heat of the flames that he had been buried
within.
He ran a hand through his hair, shaking it clean of soot and ash
on his way through. Kayura ducked out from beneath the damp shower,
glaring playfully at the Overlord.
Storm and Shadow glanced at one another.
"We have some things to talk over," Storm said quietly.
"Excuse us."
Taking the silent Shadow by her arm, they walked off into the
damp greyness, fading away like ghosts. Cale squinted to see if
he could discern them from the background, but found no trace
of them left. Kayura took his hand.
"Let's get you back to Mia's." She breathed. "Both
of you need to be cleaned up."
Dais looked down at himself, finding the gooey green ichor from
the beholder on his hands and armor. Smiling, he mused to himself.
"Women..."
*********
Elsewhere
*********
"What in the Seven Circles of Hell was that?" Diamond
shrieked.
Styx panted, face flushed clean of color, her eyes wore dark circles.
The Jewel of Transendance was silent, dormant, dark. Not a gleam
or a glimmer gave indication of the pure light that had emitted
from it seconds ago. The cantrip that Diamond had placed upon
it was still alive; it had moved slightly, becoming a visible
black cresent against the dull surface.
Styx shrugged, having not yet regained the facilities of her speech.
She closed her hand around the Jewel and it flared to life again.
The brilliance forced even Diamond to look away. The young Emperess'
mouth opened in a soundless scream of agony. Just at that moment,
Lethe and Phlegethon appeared in the tiny glen.
Lethe, seeing her sister in the throes of agony, rushed over,
prying her fingers loose from the Stone. Phlegethon joined his
two sisters, breaking the cord that was looped around Styx's neck
and yanking the Jewel away.
Diamond could see the cantrip fly loose, its six spindley little
legs splayed. The sorceress moved to catch it, but was too slow.
Archeron snatched the insect-beast from the air, looking at it
with disinterest. Diamond held her hand out, demanding the cantrip.
Acheron looked from the sorceress to his sister. "Should
I?"
Styx nodded, panting to catch her breath. As Diamond recieved
the cantrip from Acheron, Phlegethon held the Jewel up by the
cord. It glowed with a pure, healthy light, alternating colors
between sky blue and angelic white. His brow furrowed in confusion
as Diamond approached, murmuring the arcane and esoteric words
of magic.
The cantrip leapt from her hands, folding its legs around the
Jewel and altering its own coloring and that of the Jewel to a
sickly shade of blue and ivory. Styx straightened, rasping in
the backwash of pain.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"The cantrip slipped," Diamond explained. "Without
the cantrip, the Jewel is unable to be physically touched by those
with evil thoughts."
"Sister!" Lethe exclaimed, at the same moment. "The
Overlord of Corruption is dead!"
Styx stared at the two youngest members of her family. Phlegethon
thudded his fist against his chest, puffed out with pride.
"We worked together."
he declared, with a toss of his fiery red mane of hair.
Styx beamed with pride.
"Good work.." she murmured. "Now only if we could
take the others down as easily."
"Remember," Phlegethon growled. "The orange runt's
mine.."
***********
Mia's House
***********
Sage's boredom wore off as one after another the guys returned
to spend a few hours together at Mia's. Aside from the time they
spent at Mia's, the guys were never together as a full group.
And after the rain had stopped today, they were all eager to get
outside and work out thier pent up energies. Today, the usually
inane chatter was confined to serious talks about that.. that
thing that had floated through town earlier.
Cale, Dais, and Kayura had returned silently to the house, and
without making thier presence known, retired for the evening.
The Ronins, along with Sekhmet and Liza, sat outside on the deck,
awaiting the return of Mia and Artemis. Kento paced the deck irratably,
rubbing his square jaw with one hand and with the other stuck
deep into his pocket.
"So, what do you think that was, Sage?" Rowen asked
the pensive Warrior of Light.
"I have not a clue." Sage smiled though. "I only
saw if for a few seconds before it knocked the news camera out."
"From what I heard, it was big and round," Cye inserted.
"With a whole bunch of eyes on it."
"And it floated on the air, as if it were flying," Sekhmet
finished.
Liza let out a nervous laugh. "Do you really believe that
there was anything there? What if it were a hoax? Or maybe they
were filming a new.. a new Godzilla movie or something.."
"Liza," Sekhmet began as gently as possible. "This
is something very serious. If you had seen some of the things
that we have, you would understand the whole problem."
Liza turned to look into Sekhmet's eyes. "That's the whole
problem!" she exclaimed. "I don't understand! There's
a lot of things that you haven't told me about yourself, Sekhmet!
I want to understand as much as I want to help you. But you have
to help me to understand you."
Sekhmet gave a deep sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head
slowly. "One of these days, I'll explain it all to you, but
not right now."
The sound of an opening door cut him short. Looking up, he joined
all the others in gazing towards the sliding doors that led out
onto the deck from the house.
Artemis pushed the doors apart, and walked outside, followed by
Mia.
"I am telling you, Mia," Artemis was saying. "That
creature that terrorized the city today was a beholder. A beast
that was fairly common in the Underrealm when the wizard covens
still held power."
Liza was instantly confused. "Underrealm? Wizard covens?
Someone had some explaining to do!"