Realms of Valen

Cold Blood

War of the Gods: Volume III

by Rickk Berry III

©2016
by Rickk Berry III

All
Rights Reserved

Cold
Blood, Realms of Valen, and Winter Symbol logos

by
Rikk Berry

Edited

by
Lisa Marling, Ph.D.

Cover
background art (except blood splatter)

by
Samantha Kross

Thank you to
everyone who

lent their
considerable talents

and support
during the creation

of this novel.

Chapter I

“Why the hell does this have to be up on the side of a damn
mountain?” Kaidia asked loudly so she could be heard over the
howling wind.

“You think they'd hire someone like us to get it if it were a
walk through a park?” Nadia asked in return.

“I was being rhetorical,” Kaidia replied.

The two were climbing a snow-clogged path up the side of a mountain
in the northern realm of Auronost. Unlike Haelstross, which had a
healthy mixture of both hot and cold weather, Auronost rarely saw
temperatures warm enough to melt snow and often saw temperatures cold
enough to freeze spit in mid-flight. They were working their way
along a path that had likely last seen human feet thousands of years
ago. As they rounded a corner and snow started to fall for the sixth
time on the journey, Nadia pointed ahead and shouted back to Kaidia.

“There it is!”

Kaidia looked past Nadia. The path sloped upward and curved to the
left, following the mountain. Ahead, off the main path, and half
buried in snow on a flat area carved into the side of the mountain,
was the ruin of an ancient temple.

“Watch out,” Kaidia said as she shouldered past her
younger sibling. She held up her hands and let out quick bursts of
fire, melting away the snow on the path so the pair could make their
way to the decayed building in a more timely manner. Upon reaching
the small courtyard outside the temple, Kaidia increased the heat of
her flames, melting the snow to reveal cobblestones and a pedestal
that had served as the base for a statue in the distant past.
Whatever figure had stood atop the pedestal had long since
disappeared.

“Judging by what's left of that building, this place dates back
to the late First Age or early Second,” Kaidia speculated.

“I'd have to agree, Sis,” Nadia said as she glanced
around. “Who in their right mind would live up here?”

“Someone who really liked snow, wind, and the cold,”
Kaidia answered with a shrug.

Both Valengaard daughters were dressed for warmth, wearing furs and
leathers. Though they didn't expect trouble, both wore their weapons.
There was no telling who or what might have taken up residence in the
cold climate. Rumors of a fourth race of elves that loved the snow
had always abounded, but no proof of them had ever been found. The
usual scary stories that parents told their children at night offered
up trolls and great beasts that lived in the cold and snow. Certain
cold regions on Valen were home to animals and some of Valen's
people that enjoyed the chill, or those that had been exiled from
their homes. However, from the looks of it, nothing had been here for
untold centuries. Nothing seemed to live this high up on the
mountain. In fact, Kaidia couldn't recall having seen a single living
creature beyond herself and her sister since they had begun their
ascent.

Kaidia walked across the cobblestones to the temple door. The temple
itself was fairly modest. Whoever the people were that had used it
had been small in number. The god pushed on the door and the rotting
wood collapsed under her touch, falling into dust and splinters at
her feet.

“Well, you just destroyed an ancient artifact,” Nadia
teased.

“Shush,” Kaidia huffed in response. The two siblings
walked into the small building and glanced around. Despite the age of
the place, the ceiling had, mostly, held up. There were holes that
let in shafts of glaring light that were intensified by all the snow
outside, making the shadows inside all the darker. Kaidia held up her
left hand, palm up, and a flame burst to life in her palm.

“Don't know how to conjure spheres of light?” Nadia
asked.

“Do you?” Kaidia returned, looking back to her sister
with a raised brow.

“Um, no,” Nadia replied and mimicked her sister's idea, a
flame springing to life in her own hand. Kaidia just smirked and
returned to her inspection of the interior. There was little to see
in the little temple, even with the extra light: a broken altar,
upended braziers, and the rotted remains of a few wooden pews.

“This place is a mess,” Kaidia remarked.

“Well, it's not like there's a caretaker,” Nadia said.

“Are you sure your information is correct?” Kaidia asked.

“Did you see any other little temples on the way up here?”
Nadia asked rhetorically.

“With as deep as some of the snow was, we'd never know if we
passed one or not,” Kai said with a chuckle.

Nadia gave a snort of laughter and walked over to one wall, looking
over an apparently empty bookshelf, making sure nothing was hiding in
one of the shadowy corners of the shelf. Kaidia walked toward the
decimated altar and stepped over one of the overturned braziers. A
faint glint from behind the old altar caught her eye. She leaned down
closer to the floor, free hand reaching down to shift a deteriorating
rug to the side.

“Nadia! Get over here.”

“What is it?” Nadia asked as he stepped up beside her
sister, looking down to the floor.

Kaidia didn't say anything, simply grabbed the iron handle in the
floor and heaved upward. A trapdoor opened. The door, made of heavy
iron and stone, would normally take at least two people to open, but
Kai had found her strength had increased quite a bit since her
godhood had been awakened. She hadn't really paid it any mind until
she'd been made aware of her title. After that, she had looked back
over the previous years and she saw, in retrospect, signs that she
hadn't been aware of at the time.

“I think we may have found what we're looking for,” Kai
said, looking down into the darkness revealed by the open door.

“Only one way to find out,” Nadia said.

“Agreed,” Kaidia replied before carefully climbing down
into the hole. An old ladder was mounted to the wall. It was metal of
some sort and in remarkable condition, having been protected by the
heavy stone door for the past centuries. Climbing down with just one
hand made the going a tad slow. Kai raised a brow as her feet hit the
floor. She looked around. The room she was in was entirely black. She
couldn't see anything despite the flame in her hand. It was
impossible to see how big or small the place happened to be. She
moved along the wall until a table came into view. Atop the table was
a small pile of torches, a few old books, and several sheets of old
parchment. Kai picked up one of the torches and lit it with the flame
in her palm.

She clenched her fist, snuffing out the fire in her hand. Nadia
appeared at her side and wordlessly picked up a torch herself and lit
it off of Kaidia's.

“Go along the walls. There's bound to be torches mounted on the
walls. Light any you find. We've got to be able to see what we're
doing,” Kaidia instructed. Nadia gave an affirmative nod then
started off the way she had come. Kaidia continued along the wall. As
she had predicted, after a few paces, Kai encountered a sconce
mounted on the wall with a torch resting in it. She lit it and kept
walking, glancing around to see if Nadia was in sight. She saw the
light of Nadia's torch across the room, then raised a brow as the
light disappeared, blocked by some shape in the darkness. Kaidia kept
walking, lighting torches as she walked along.

Slowly, little by little, the room brightened, and Kaidia could see
bookshelves filled with books, scrolls, and loose stacks of papers.
She smiled lightly as she saw Nadia coming toward her. The sisters
lit their last torches before meeting in front of a short hallway
that was little more than an alcove in the wall with a door in it.

“It's a library,” Nadia stated the obvious.

“Aye. Now, we just have to find the book you're after,”
Kai said.

“And, of course, the library has to be several times larger
than the building above it,” Nadia grumbled.

Kaidia glanced back to the now lighted room. It was, indeed, a
taller, wider, and longer room than the entirety of the temple above
them. Even with all the torches, the room wasn't exactly bright. The
center of it remained dark and Kai guessed there was a brazier there,
but even if they could light it, they'd need the torches in their
hands to search the shelves.

“Wonder what's in there,” Nadia said with a jerk of her
thumb toward the door in the alcove.

“Might as well find out,” Kaidia replied and pushed the
door open with her free hand. The faintest scent of decay wafted over
her. She stepped inside with her sister just behind her. Holding
their torches high, the sisters looked around.

The room was smaller than the library, but still larger than the
temple. Six beds occupied the room, three against each side wall.
Against the back wall was a wardrobe. What caused the sisters to
pause silently were the six sets of skeletal remains lying in the
beds.

“That's... odd,” Nadia commented.

“A little. They've been here so long that it doesn't even stink
in here,” Kaidia said.

“Must be ventilated somehow,” Nadia surmised.

“Yeah, there,” Kaidia said, pointing to small holes
drilled into the wall. “Those are drilled up to the surface.
They let fresh air in. On their own, they don't look like much, but
there are a bunch of those around the walls in the library, up near
the ceiling.”

“Wouldn't think that would be enough,” Nadia said.

“Doesn't seem like it, but it works,” Kai replied.

The two walked along the room, careful to avoid bumping into the beds
while they looked for anything of note.

“Damn, it's cold in here,” Nadia said, her breath visible
as she spoke.

“Let's hurry up and find that damn book, then,” Kaidia
urged.

Kaidia went to the wardrobe and pulled it open. In the light of her
torch, she saw what one would expect; clothes. Tunics and pants were
folded and piled neatly on shelves. Boots and shoes were sitting in a
neat row at the bottom. No sign of any books. She closed the wardrobe
and looked around, spotting her sister on the floor, looking under
the beds.

“Checking for monsters?” Kai asked.

“Shut up,” Nadia retorted. Kaidia laughed and started
back toward the door.

“Find anything?” Kaidia inquired.

“Just boxes. Probably have personal belongings in them,”
Nadia answered.

“What we're after probably isn't in one of those. If we have
to, we'll come back and look through them, but let's search the
library first. I'd rather not disturb their things if we don't have
to,” Kaidia said.

“It's not like they'll care,” Nadia muttered.

“Yeah, I know. And who knows, my curiosity may get the better
of me before we leave,” Kai responded.

Nadia got up, brushed her knees off, and then walked out into the
library with her sister. The room, lit by all the torches, was slowly
growing warmer.

“You take one side of the room, I take the other?” Nadia
suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Kaidia agreed.

The two siblings split up and began to search the shelves. Nadia had
been hired to find a specific book. Kaidia had just come along to see
if she could find any books of value. Collecting books was a hobby of
sorts for her and she had figured that she'd have a decent chance to
find something rare or old or both in this place.

Nadia held her torch up near the spines of the books on the shelves
and began the painstaking process of reading the faded and dusty
titles. All of these books seemed to be well used. Likely the only
reason they were still around was because of their secluded shelter
that protected them from thieves and the elements. Kaidia did the
same on her side of the room, slowly working her way along the
shelves, peering at the titles. She knew what Nadia was looking for,
but her search for books that were worth something slowed her pace
considerably.

Along the shelves the two sisters walked; slowly making their way
through the subterranean library. Every time Kai found a book she
wanted to keep, she took it to a table that was illuminated by the
light of the torch mounted above it. By the time Kai reached the
center of the room, she found that her earlier speculation had been
correct; there was a brazier in the center of the library. Actually,
there were six; all evenly spaced out around a circular table. Upon
inspecting them, Kai found them to be empty. She sighed, mildly
annoyed by the situation. She raised her free hand and conjured a
large sphere of fire, then simply tossed it into the nearest brazier.
A flame roared to life in the metal bowl of the brazier. She repeated
the process with the other five, lighting the center of the library
quite brightly, not to mention heating the room a good deal faster.

“That helps,” Nadia said from the end of a set of
shelves, across the center area from Kai.

“Yeah, I thought it might. Any luck?” Kaidia asked.

“Not really. I've found one book I want for myself and no sign
of the one that we're supposed to find,” Nadia answered.

“I've found a few I want... and after we find your book, I may
get a team together and move all these to one of the empty rooms I
have at home. Can't have too many books,” Kaidia observed.

“Yeah, a return trip will be easier with a portal now that you
know where this place is,” Nadia said, glancing around. “And
it's better that these be with someone that can take care of them
instead of just passing the centuries away here with the skeletons.”

“I agree,” Kaidia said before moving off into the shelves
again.

Nadia went off into the shelves on her side again, looking over book
spines once more, her eyes beginning to grow tired of the practice.
She had seen story books, histories, guides to plants, scrolls that
turned out to be maps and star charts. She knew that she was seeking
an actual book, but the curiosity of what might be on the scrolls was
too great a temptation to be ignored.

Kaidia and Nadia continued their searching, the minutes turning to
hours as they did. Neither woman paid much mind to the passing time.
They had nowhere to be. Near the front of the library and nearly out
of shelves to search, Nadia's eyes caught a book spine that stood out
from the others. Instead of being scuffed, worn, and faded, it was
bright, the lettering of the title shimmering in the light of the
torch. She reached out and pulled it from the shelf.

“Cities of the First People,” Nadia said, reciting the
title. It wasn't the book she was looking for, but it caught her
attention and she decided to keep it. She held onto it and looked up
to continue her search. Right beside the empty space where the book
she'd just taken had been, was the book she was looking for.

“Here we go,” she said to herself as she took it as well.
She then lifted her voice to be heard by Kaidia across the room.
“Found it!”

The two siblings met in the circular space in the center of the room,
where the sorcerous fires burned brightly in the empty braziers.
Kaidia took the tome from her sister's hands.

“A History of the Esmera: Volume I,” Kaidia read the
title. “No wonder you're getting paid so much for finding this.
It's extremely rare. I've never seen a copy before, just heard about
it.”

“There doesn't seem to be a second volume on the shelves back
there,” Nadia said.

“Because there never was a second volume. The author died
shortly after writing this and no one ever bothered to continue his
work,” Kaidia explained.

“But the Esmera have histories of their people in their
libraries,” Nadia commented.

“They do, but the earliest point in those is centuries after
the end of this. Even the Esmera are like everyone else in the world
in the fact that there's a massive part of their history that they
can only speculate upon,” Kaidia elaborated.

“Makes sense, I suppose. Though, of all the races, you'd expect
the Esmera to be the type to stand back, watch everyone else make a
mess of things, and write it all down,” Nadia said.

“Even they got dragged into the centuries of war during the
Second Age,” Kaidia replied.

“I suppose it's difficult to avoid a fire that engulfs the
entire world,” Nadia said thoughtfully.

“Indeed. Ready to go home?” Kaidia asked.

“Not yet. I want to go back to the bedroom,” Nadia said,
gesturing to the back room.

“Just can't curb your curiosity, can you?” Kaidia asked
with a hint of a smile.

“Nope. Call it a scholarly interest,” Nadia said and
started for the back room.

“If that helps you sleep at night,” Kaidia said as she
followed her sister.

They stepped back into the bed chamber, the siblings taking sides of
the room automatically, and lighting the torches along the way. Once
the room was lit up, the sisters pulled the boxes from under the
beds, careful not to jar the skeletal remains. Upon opening the
wooden boxes, the sisters saw nothing more than either of them
expected. Ancient coins, letters, and trinkets. The coins weren't
like the ones used now and the letters were written in a language
that neither sibling recognized.

“This doesn't even resemble any language I know,” Kaidia
said. Most languages on Valen were connected in some way or another
and could be traced back to earlier times. There were a scant few
examples of languages in the world that, in written form or in spoken
form, didn't resemble any other language known. Kaidia knew of them,
could recognize them on sight, and she didn't recognize the language
in which the letters were written.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Nadia agreed.

“Someone should recognize this,” Kaidia said as she
tucked the letters back into the box she'd taken them from.

“Well, when I find a linguist who specializes in ancient
languages, I'll come back and pick these up for them,” Nadia
said.

“Something to keep in mind when we're bored,” Kaidia said
with a shrug.

“We have strange hobbies, Kai,” Nadia said with a
chuckle.

“Better than shaving goats for fun,” Kaidia responded.
Nadia gave a short laugh, then quirked a brow as she spotted
something in one of the boxes. She reached out and picked up a
necklace. It was a leather cord with a silver pendant. The pendant
was circular and engraved with a symbol she had never seen before; a
doorway with three stars around it. One star above and one star to
each side of it.

“This is something else I've never seen before,” Nadia
said, holding it up for her sister to see.

“Me either,” Kaidia concurred after taking a moment to
study the pendant.

“I know someone who might be able to tell me about this,”
the younger sister said as she tucked the pendant into a pocket and
started putting the wooden boxes back under the appropriate beds.

“Let me know what you find out, little grave robber,”
Kaidia said as she stood up. Nadia gave her sister a dirty look.

“Ha ha,” she said with no lack of sarcasm. “Just
open a portal home.”

“After I pack up my books,” Kaidia replied.

Chapter II

Kaidia and Nadia stepped onto the main street of Vortha in the dead
of the evening. No one saw them appear, not even a city guard. The
stone-paved street was damp with recent spring rain and the warm air
was thick with mist. Kai adjusted her heavy pack as she glanced
around.

“Damn. How long were we in that library?” Nadia asked.

“It's hard to say, I lost track of time in there,” Kaidia
answered.

“Well, my place?” Nadia suggested.

“I'd say yes, but both Vex and Echo are waiting on me at home.
Vex is probably dead asleep but Echo worries a bit,” Kai
refused with a smile.

“Well, yeah... you're nuts and things explode wherever you go,”
Nadia teased.

“Watch it, I'll make you explode,” Kai retorted.

“Nope. See, we have a sacred, unspoken pact,” Nadia
countered.

“We do?”

“Yes. I'm the little sister, you're the big sister. You protect
me at all costs and never raise your sword or magic to me.”

“Sure,” Kaidia said with chuckle as she reached out and
tweaked Nadia's ear.

“Ow! Hey! That's breaking the pact!” Nadia protested,
though she was trying not to laugh. Kaidia pulled the younger woman
to her and hugged her with one arm.

“I'm a god, I'll break any damn pact I please, little sister,”
Kaidia said with playful growl. Nadia squirmed in her sibling's
embrace, but calmed and wrapped her free arm around Kai's waist.

“That's cheating,” the younger Valengaard claimed.

“I'm a god, I can't cheat,” Kai stated.

“That's cheating too!” Nadia huffed.

“Nope,” Kaidia contested.

Nadia grumbled, pushed away from her sister, and lightly thumped the
older woman on the shoulder.

“You can't pull the god card every time,” she protested.

“Sure I can. I'm a god,” Kaidia said with a smug smirk.

Nadia threw her hands up in the air. “Ugh! I'm going home.”

“Tell Sae I said hi,” Kai said with a chuckle.

“Will do,” Nadia said as she walked off down the street.
She turned to walk backward and waved. Kaidia waved back, then turned
to open another portal.

* * *

Nadia pushed her front door open and slipped into her dark home.
Apparently, Sae had gone to bed. Nadia wasn't quite sure what time it
was, just that it was well into the dead of night. She made her way
to her study, easily navigating through the dark house. She knew it
like the back of her hand and didn't need a light to move around.
Once she was in her study at the back of the house, she closed the
door and went about the room, lighting the wall mounted lanterns as
well as the one on her desk.

She settled in behind her desk and put her pack down on the floor
beside her, after taking the two books from it that she'd picked up
at the long forgotten library. She set aside the one she had been
paid to find and focused, instead, on the one that had caught her
attention. She gently opened the book, mindful of its age. She raised
a brow. It appeared to be written in an early form of the common
tongue. It was a bit rudimentary and less fluid than the common
language of today, but she could read it. Nadia quickly became
engrossed in the pages and read long into the early morning.

* * *

Sae-Mirra yawned as she walked downstairs, then raised a brow as she
sniffed the air. Nadia's scent was fresh and lingering in the air.
The kyrian frowned, faintly.

“If she's home, why didn't she come to bed?” Sae asked no
one in particular. Her feline ears perked, listened for her wife's
movements. No sound emanated from anywhere in the house, so Sae
started toward Nadia's study in the back of the house, her tail
flicking lazily with her steps. She pushed open the door to Nadia's
personal sanctuary and couldn't help but smile.

Nadia was slumped over her desk, fast asleep. An old book lay open by
her head. Sae walked over beside her wife, her footfalls silent in
the still air of the room. Granted, any sound was muffled by the rugs
on the floor and the shelves full of books, so creeping about was
beyond effortless for the kyrian. She leaned down kissed Nadia's
cheek, then her jaw before nipping at Nadia's ear.

“Wake up, love,” she cooed softly. “Up, up.”

Nadia grumbled something unintelligible, and weakly batted at Sae
with a hand. Sae stifled a laugh and stroked her hand down Nadia's
back.

“Nadia... I'm naked.”

Nadia's head shot up and she sat upright in the chair, eyes sweeping
over Sae. She frowned faintly.

“Liar,” she accused.

“Had to wake you up somehow. Besides, I'm naked under my
clothes,” Sae replied.

Nadia just snorted in response, her eyes still looking Sae up and
down. Clothed or not, Sae was beautiful and Nadia gawked fairly
often.

“Want something to eat?” Sae asked as she walked to the
door.

“Sure. Then I have to drop this book off to my employer,”
Nadia said, putting both books from her desk into her pack.

Sae walked into the kitchen with Nadia following her,
knowing full well that the noble, who was supposed to be
sophisticated, was ogling her ass. The kyrian didn't mind; she
returned the favor on a regular basis.

Nadia leaned against the small table in the kitchen
where the two shared most of their meals and watched Sae-Mirra moved
about the place, preparing their morning meal. As she watched, her
mind drifted back over the time they had shared together and the
young noblewoman couldn't think of a time in her life that she had
been happier. She came back to the present when she felt hands on her
thighs and smiled as Sae leaned in close, her nose nearly touching
Nadia's.

“What's going through your mind, Lady Valengaard,”
Sae asked, her voice a soft purr.

“Just thinking about our relationship,”
Nadia answered.

“Good things, I hope,” Sae said with a faint
smile.

“Of course. I was just thinking that I can't
remember a time when I was happier than I have been since we got
together,” Nadia said, her voice quiet.

Sae just smiled and leaned into Nadia, resting her head
on the woman's shoulder, and smiling as she felt Nadia's arms slide
around her middle. The pair stayed like that for several minutes,
simply enjoying the warmth of one another.

Nadia raised a brow as a bubbling sound intruded on
their quiet embrace and pointed toward the pot over the cooking fire,
which was bubbling over.

“I'm no cook, but I don't think that's supposed to
be doing that,” she said. Sae-Mirra looked up, then squeaked in
surprise and bolted for the pot to the sound of Nadia's laughter.

* * *

Nadia walked through the open gates of the city of Loxdis, a coastal
city several days from Vortha. She silently thanked her sister for
teaching her how to create portals. She'd been to Loxdis several
times. There was a fence here who would pay her well for all sorts of
items and seemed to know a hell of a lot about all sorts of things.
Loxdis was generally considered an Esmera city, but during the Third
Age, it had become more and more diverse. While Esmera still made up
the largest segment of the city's population, one could find those of
every other race living within the city walls.

Nadia worked her way through the busy marketplace, past all of the
shops in the business district, and into the residential area. She
walked past the poorer neighborhoods and into the wealthiest
neighborhood in the city. Her employer lived here. Aside from some
sideways looks from city guards, no one paid her any mind, despite
the fact that she wore her usual leather armor and her sword and axe
hung from her hips.

Upon reaching her employer's home, a decadent mansion that made her
own considerably fancy home look shabby, she knocked on the door and
waited. A few moments later, the door opened. A young elven woman
peered out at Nadia, then opened the door wider. She had golden
blonde hair that was held back in a ponytail and crystalline blue
eyes. She was gorgeous, but Nadia was forcefully reminded of the
elven twins, Sesaria and Alyssia, that she and her elder sister had
fought last year. Those two had been beautiful, just like this girl.
They were now buried in the crypt of an ancient fort that was hidden
away in the wilderness, destined to be forgotten.

“Lady Valengaard. Master Varragosa said you'd be stopping by
today or tomorrow. Please, come in,” she said and stepped
aside. Nadia stepped inside and gave the elf a small smile.

“I assume he is home,” Nadia inquired.

“Yes. Follow me,” the woman said with a gesture before
walking further into the home. Nadia followed, glancing around at the
opulence. Nadia noted a lot of white and gold. Not her preference,
but the home and its furnishings were undeniably high-quality work.
Down several hallways, up two stair cases, and past several sets of
doors, Nadia found herself led into a large library that doubled as a
study. Her employer, Cazden Varragosa, was sitting behind a desk at
the far end of the library, in front of a wall that was made up
largely of floor to ceiling windows that let in all the light the
room needed during the day. The light made his reddish brown hair
glow and put his visage in faint shadow.

Cazden appeared handsome and youthful, but, like most elves, it was
difficult to discern his actual age. He looked up as Nadia
approached, led by the elven woman.

“Ah, Lady Valengaard, lovely to see you. Thank you, Ellesia,”
he said, eyes shifting from Nadia to the blonde elf, who was
apparently named Ellesia. Ellesia nodded to Cazden, then to Nadia,
then turned and left the room.

“You arrived sooner than I expected. Was your journey
successful?” Cazden asked.

“Yes, if a bit of a hike,” Nadia said, digging into her
pack.

“I have no doubt. My information put that temple in an
exceedingly remote location. I knew I'd need someone exceptional to
get there,” Cazden said.

“I'm sure any adventurer worth their salt could have made it,
but finding the book was tedious,” Nadia said, pulling said
book from her pack and holding it out to Cazden.

“How so?” Cazden asked as he took the book carefully.

“The library under the temple was large. Many of the book
titles were in languages I didn't know or wasn't well versed in.
However, I did manage to acquire an item or two for my own benefit,”
Nadia answered with a smile.

“Yes, the information I had said that the place was ancient,
dating back to the First Age,” Cazden said.

“Or very early Second Age at the latest. I'm surprised anyone
knew it was still there. It hadn't seen any life, sentient or
otherwise, for centuries,” Nadia responded.

“You and I share that wonder. I have no idea how my informant
knew about the place, but asking too many questions of such people
usually ends with them no longer wanting to work with you,”
Cazden said.

“Indeed. I really have to curb my natural curiosity when
dealing with such people,” Nadia admitted.

“Curiosity is a good thing, Lady Valengaard. Tempered with
caution, of course. Curiosity will lead you to great knowledge, which
can lead you to great wealth,” Cazden said, using the moment to
pull a heavy bag of gold from a drawer on his desk. He set it down on
the desk in front of Nadia. The noble picked up the bag and smiled at
the weight. It was the size of both her fists combined. She tucked it
into her pack.

“Thank you,” she said politely.

“Oh, no need. You've proven reliable, excellently so. I've no
doubt that I'll have more work for you in the future, Lady
Valengaard,” Cazden complimented.

“I look forward to it. If there's nothing more, I'll be on my
way. I have a couple more stops to make before I leave town,”
Nadia said.

“Oh, by all means, don't let me delay you any further. Feel
free to wander around until you find your way out of this place. I've
lived here for years and I still get lost,” Cazden gestured
around himself to his home with a chuckle. Nadia gave a half smile.

“I think I remember how I got here. If I get lost, I'll shout
for Ellesia,” Nadia said with a chuckle of her own.

“That's what I do. Have a good day, Lady Valengaard,”
Cazden said.

“And you,” Nadia said before turning and walking out.

After about an hour of wandering about the large home, she found her
way out and back into the city proper. She made her way back to the
shops and found the large pawn shop owned by her fence here. The man
who owned it, an Esmera by the name of Laro, dealt in both legal and
black market items.

Nadia stepped inside, glanced around the store. There didn't seem to
be anyone in the shop at the moment. The place was a catch-all for
all sorts of items and the shelves and display cases showed as much.
Books, scrolls, jewelry, clothing, weapons, armor, shields, and
countless other items.

Behind the main counter at the back of the store stood Laro, his
attention on a ledger in which he was writing. Nadia's boots sounded
out on the hardwood floor as she made her way to the counter. Laro
glanced up as she drew closer. He was a handsome man with long, dark
hair. His eyes were grey, a thin scar ran down the right side of his
face, and he wore a charming smile.

“Ah, Nadia, a pleasure to see you again, as always,” he
greeted the noble.

“Laro. Doing honest business?” Nadia asked.

“It's all honest,” Laro said with a wave of his hand.
“So, what did you bring me today?”

Nadia set her pack down on the counter and searched through it. She
pulled out the necklace she'd taken from the ancient temple and set
it on the counter.

“I want to know what you know, if anything, about this,”
Nadia said. Laro picked the necklace up and looked it over, studying
it for several long moments.

“Wait right here, I think I have a book that has something on
this,” he said before walking into the back room of the shop.
Nadia peered down into a display case on the counter at some
ceremonial knives while she waited. Laro returned with an old book in
his hands. He placed the volume on the counter and opened it up,
turning it a bit so both he and Nadia could look at it properly. He
flipped through several pages until he found what he was looking for.
Upon the right hand page was a sketch of the very necklace Nadia had
found. It took up the whole page. On the left hand page were notes
about it. She peered at the notes and gave a small sigh of relief.

“Common tongue. At least it's not in some obscure, dead
language,” she said.

“Old common,” Laro commented.

Both of them set about reading the notes left to the side of the
page. After a few minutes of quiet, Nadia stood up straight and
blinked.

“A key to a doorway?” she asked.

“That's what it says,” Laro confirmed.

Nadia dug into her bag, pulled out the book she'd taken from the
library for herself, and set it on the counter before she started
flipping through the pages.

“I know I saw something about keys and doorways in here. A way
to gain entrance to cities,” Nadia muttered, more to herself
than to Laro.

“What cities?” Laro asked, trying to catch glimpses of
the pages to see what the book was about and having sparse luck.

“Ancient cities, the ones built by the first race,” Nadia
explained.

“As far as I know, those are all gone,” Laro said.

“I thought so, too. However, in this book, there are maps
Haelstross, Auronost, and the other realms with locations of their
cities. Or, well, where they used to be anyway. Some of them
obviously aren't there anymore because modern cities are there now.
But some of them are in places where no one has lived as far back as
I can tell. Surely those cities are still there, since no one has
been around to tear them down or mess with them,” Nadia
expounded.

“Worth a shot, I suppose,” Laro said.

Nadia disregarded the map of Haelstross. There was no where left
there for an ancient city to hide, at least not that she could think
of. She looked over Auronost and the southernmost realm that was also
covered in ice; Phaedeos.

“See? Several cities are in both of these realms,” Nadia
pointed to where cities were marked on the maps.

“You better dress warm. But if you find something, you'll be as
famous as that sister of yours,” Laro said with a chuckle.
Nadia eyed him a moment, then chuckled herself.

“Yeah, I suppose so. Oh, look, this is a capital city. Or,
well, that's what I'd guess with this marking beside the name,”
Nadia said, pointing to a little crown beside the name of a city in
Phaedeos.

“Shoot high, don't you?” Laro questioned with a chuckle.

“Might as well,” Nadia said with a shrug.

“I suppose if you don't find the capital, you can always try
one of the other cities,” Laro reasoned.

“Exactly,” Nadia agreed.

Nadia closed the book and tucked it into her pack, then picked up the
necklace and tucked it away as well.

“Leaving without buying something or selling me anything?”
Laro asked, feigning hurt feelings.

“Got something I might be interested in?” Nadia asked.

“Of course. I always have something,” Laro said with a
charming smile.

* * *

Nadia walked in her front door to be immediately confronted by her
wife and the smell of food. She quirked a brow, staring right into
Sae's eyes.

“Yes?” Nadia asked after a few moments of silence.

“Your sister and her significant other are coming over for
dinner,” Sae informed Nadia.

“Okay. When did these plans get made?” Nadia inquired.

“When your sister showed up. She's in the den. Go entertain
while I finish dinner. Echo should be here soon. Listen for the
door,” Sae said, pushing Nadia into the den before walking off
to the kitchen. Kaidia had settled herself into an armchair with a
book and she looked up as Nadia entered.

“Hey, little sister,” she said with a smile.

“Hey. What brings you around?” Nadia said, sitting in
another of the four armchairs that sat around the currently empty
fireplace.

“Just felt like visiting. Also curious if you found out
anything about that necklace you took,” Kaidia said.

“Yeah, I went to Loxdis today. All I know is that it's old and
is supposedly the key to ancient cities that likely don't exist
anymore,” Nadia replied.

“You mean the cities built by the first race?” Kaidia
asked.

“Yeah. That book I picked up from the old library has maps of
all the realms and locations of all the ancient cities, supposedly.
Now, obviously some of them don't exist anymore because our cities
are in the same locations. Corrana, Vortha, and Sarkos are all
examples of this,” Nadia said.

“But...” Kai urged.

“But, there are locations marked in Auronost and Phaedeos,
including a capital city, where no one has been in centuries upon
centuries,” Nadia said, obviously excited by the prospect.

“They might still be there, like that temple,” Kaidia
finished the thought.

“Exactly. Want to come along?” Nadia asked.

“When?” Kai queried.

“Next day or two,” Nadia replied.

“Ah, no. I have contracts for the next few days,” Kaidia
said. “But if you find one of these places, let me know.
Exploring a place that old can be dangerous, even for someone like
you. Doing it alone isn't advised,” Kaidia said.

“Makes sense,” Nadia said, though she was a bit annoyed.
After all, she was a grown woman, she could handle herself, but she
hid her irritation at her elder sister being... well, her elder
sister.

“Where are you actually going, Auronost or Phaedeos?”
Kaidia asked.

“Phaedeos. It's where the capital city is, or, at least, I
think it's the capital. Just wish I could travel there with a
portal,” Nadia answered.

“Well, you could try, you'd probably just end up in a snow
drift somewhere,” Kai chuckled.

“Or in the middle of a fucking glacier,” Nadia muttered.
Kai laughed.

“Travel by foot, I've already had to melt you out of ice once
in the past year,” she teased.

“I was defending the city! It was noble and stuff!” Nadia
protested.

Kaidia just laughed harder. A knock on the doorway made the siblings
look up. Sae stood in the doorway.

“Dinner is ready. Where's Echo?” she asked.

“She should be here any minute,” Kai said with a shrug.

A knock at the door caused all three of them to glance toward the
front of the house.

“See?” Kai asked rhetorically.

Sae went to answer the door, with the sisters following behind her.
When Sae opened the door, she and Echo stared at one another a
moment.

“This is always cute,” Kai said in a whisper to Nadia.

Sae and Echo, in a display of their primal sides, leaned in and
sniffed at one another, ears perked in curiosity. The two had met
before, but hadn't really had a chance to sit and get to know one
another.

“Aw,” Nadia whispered back to Kai and both siblings
stifled a laugh.

“You two hush,” Echo shot a look past Sae at the noble
sisters.

Kaidia just burst into a fit of laughter and Nadia hid her grin
behind her hand. Echo stepped inside and closed the door behind her
while giving the siblings a stern look that both ignored.

* * *

After dinner, Nadia had asked Echo to teach her how to summon orbs of
light and the two sat in the middle of the den practicing while
Kaidia rested in one of the soft chairs with a bottle of ale and Sae
laid out in front of the fire.

“I still need to get her to teach me to do that,” Kai
commented.

“You don't know how to summon light?” Sae asked.

“Fire usually works,” Kaidia replied.

“Yeah, but those light orbs are so much brighter,” Sae
said.

“I know, hence I want to learn how. I just haven't asked her
yet,” Kai returned.

“It's a fairly basic skill,” Sae teased.

“I know, but the focus of my sorcerous education was combat
magic,” Kaidia growled.

“The mighty Kaidia can't summon light,” Sae mocked
playfully.

“I'm going to defenestrate you,” Kaidia threatened.

“You break one of my windows and we'll have a go round.
However, you should be more concerned that you know that word, but
don't know how to summon light,” Sae taunted once more,
fighting back a grin.

Kai growled, stood up, and an orb of light so massive that it filled
the entire upper half of the room crackled into existence, blinding
everyone in the room, and probably everyone even looking remotely
near the house from the outside.

“Son of a bitch!” Sae shouted, covering her eyes. Echo
and Nadia both let out curses and averted their eyes as well.

“Kaidia! Stop! We don't need another fucking sun!” Echo
yelled.

The massive sphere of light blinked out of existence, leaving the
room seemingly pitch black despite the lanterns mounted on the walls.
Kaidia started laughing and sat back down.

“Goddamn it, Kaidia! I thought you couldn't do that!” Sae
shouted.

“I figured it out,” Kai replied with a shrug, which no
one saw because they were still effectively blind. Echo stood up and
blinked her eyes rapidly, starting to see more than the blurry lights
of the lanterns.

“You should control yourself a bit better,” she said,
looking toward where she knew Kai was sitting.

“You assume I wasn't perfectly in control just now,”
Kaidia retorted.

Echo just snorted. She, Sae, and Nadia were regaining their vision.
Nadia looked amused, Sae and Echo appeared distinctly less so. Kaidia
just smiled as she sat there watching them all. Echo walked over and
leaned down, placed her hands on the arms of the chair and put her
forehead to Kai's.

“Ready to go home, god?” she asked with a raised brow.

Kaidia simply kissed the kyrian woman with obvious delight.

“I think that's a yes,” Nadia said to Sae. Sae just
chuckled. Kai broke the kiss and glanced over to her sibling.

“Did you learn what you wanted?” she asked.

“Uh huh,” Nadia said, holding up a hand, a small sphere
of light bursting to life in her palm.

Kaidia nodded, then gently pushed Echo back so she could stand.

“Remember what I said. Get in contact with me before you go
exploring one of those old cities if you find one. It'll be fun
exploring a place like that together,” Kaidia said, eyes on
Nadia.

“Yeah, I will,” Nadia said with a nod. Exploring with Kai
would be fun, but she still had a bit of a petulant urge to defy
Kai's instructions and just explore whatever she found on her own.

With a few hugs and kisses on cheeks, Echo and Kaidia departed,
leaving Nadia and Sae on their own.

* * *

Later on in the evening, after they had both settled into bed, Sae
leaned over toward Nadia. Sensing her wife's proximity, Nadia put her
finger between the pages of the book she had been reading and looked
up.

“Yes?” she asked.

“So what's this about exploring old cities?” Sae asked.

“Ah, yeah, in all my excitement, I suppose I forgot to tell
you,” Nadia said with a sheepish smile.

“Uh huh, seems that way,” Sae chuckled.

“Eh, you know, it all came together so quickly...” Nadia
trailed off.

“I don't doubt you. Just be careful, okay? I don't care what
you do as long as you come back to me in one piece,” Sae said
before pressing her lips to Nadia's cheek.

“I'll be just fine, Sae,” Nadia assured.

“I know,” Sae said. She put her own book down on her
bedside table and blew out the candle resting there. Then she rolled
over and snuggled up against Nadia. “Night.”

“Going to sleep on me so quickly?” Nadia
asked as her hand gently stroked down Sae's back.

“Why?” Sae inquired. “Got a problem
with me sleeping?”

“Well, I mean, what if I don't come back and this
is our last chance to play?” Nadia asked, a flirtatious smile
on her lips.

Sae-Mirra growled softly and gently swatted at Nadia's
shoulder before she shifted under the covers and straddled Nadia's
hips.

“Can't have that, can we?” the kyrian asked
rhetorically before she leaned in and kissed her wife's smile.

Chapter III

After a kiss goodbye and a long trip on a ship to Phaedeos, Nadia
found herself in an old inn nestled in a small fishing town on the
coast. The place was poorly lit and smelled unpleasant. Nadia was
happy the cold muted some of the scent. She had chosen to sit at a
table off in one corner of the building with her back to the wall.
She didn't know anyone here and playing it safe was wise. Beyond
that, she was an obvious stranger to the place. She didn't even know
the name of the town. There had been a sign on the docks, but it had
layers of ice and snow on it that completely hid the name of the town
from curious eyes.

A fire blazed in a large central fire pit, warming the room nicely
despite the frigid chill outside. Aside from some unsavory looks,
people left her alone while she ate and drank. When she was finished,
Nadia walked up to the bar, cloak rustling about her feet, and got
the innkeeper's attention.

“I need a room,” she stated.

“For you, the best I've got. One silver,” the innkeeper
said with a warm smile. He was an older man with a large frame. He
was strong, but it was obvious he'd let himself go as he had aged,
though he looked like he could still swing an axe or sword if the
need arose. Nadia returned the smile and opened her mouth to respond
as she reached under her cloak to retrieve the coin to pay for her
room, but she was cut off by a man speaking from her left.

“She don't need a room. She can warm my bed,” he said. He
was a big man, larger than the innkeeper. In fact, the man's size
approached that of Nadia's father, Boreth. The man had an axe on his
hip, but Nadia got the impression he wasn't a warrior or a mercenary.
He was short-haired and had stubble along his jaw. He wasn't
particularly pleasant to look upon, especially for Nadia.

“I'm bound to another,” Nadia informed the man curtly.

“There you go, Mezza, she's with someone else. Go home,”
the innkeeper said.

“Bah, what her man don't know won't hurt 'im,” Mezza said
as he leered down at Nadia. She could smell ale on his breath, a lot
of it.

“Woman,” Nadia stated.

“Huh?” Mezza asked.

“I'm bound to another woman. A kyrian woman,” Nadia said
and leaned away from the man's awful breath.

“Ha! Bet you two are real pretty together, but I bet you're
with her 'cause you ain't had a real man yet,” Mezza said,
stepping closer.

“Mezza, boy, you're drunk as hell. Go home, I said!” the
innkeeper shouted.

“I'm not attracted to men,” Nadia growled.

“I can change that,” Mezza said before he lunged and
grabbed at Nadia, catching hold of her cloak. He jerked her toward
him as she pulled backward. With a ripping sound, the clasp that held
her cloak together was torn from the fabric and the cloak came off in
the man's hand as Nadia took steps backward, pack dropping to the
floor, hands straying to her sword and axe, but not pulling them.

“Mezza!” the innkeeper shouted, only to have Nadia's
cloak tossed over his face. Mezza leered at Nadia, obviously
undressing her with his eyes. She had worn a long sleeved tunic and
leather pants with fur-lined boots, knowing she was heading somewhere
cold. Regardless, they complimented her form. At the moment, that
wasn't a particularly good thing.

“C'mere!” Mezza demanded as he made a second lunge toward
Nadia.

She side-stepped the wild grab, spun about, and kicked Mezza in the
back to send him sprawling onto the floor.

“I suggest stopping,” she said calmly, watching the man
push himself to his feet. Mezza, being drunk, didn't pay her advice
any mind. He charged again. Nadia saw it coming and jumped up to seat
herself on the bar top, while giving a flick of her wrist to cover
the floor where she'd been standing in a sheet of ice at the same
time. Mezza hit the ice, slipped, and went down with a mighty thud
that shook the whole floor. He seemed only partially aware of his
surroundings. Nadia assumed that he hit his head when he went down.

“Get his dumb ass outta here!” the innkeeper shouted to a
couple of the big man's friends who had stood and watched the whole
thing. They hurried over, helped the big man to his feet, and walked
him out.

“Well, that was fun,” Nadia quipped, not without a bit of
sarcasm.

“I'm sorry about that, miss. Mezza is an idiot when he's
drunk... and when he's not,” the innkeeper said.

“No worries,” Nadia said as she jumped down onto the
floor, then fished into her pockets and pulled out a silver coin.

“No, no. The room is on the house after that fiasco,” the
man said.

“Thank you, but you still have a business to run and I don't
like charity,” Nadia said as she dropped the coin on the bar
top.

“Fair enough. At least let me repair your cloak, hm? I'll have
it fixed by morning,” the innkeeper said.

“That's a deal I can live with,” Nadia said with a smile.

“Good, here's the key. Second floor, room eight,” the
innkeeper said as he tossed a key onto the bar top. Nadia took it and
headed for the stairs with a wave goodnight.

* * *

Nadia settled herself at the bar the next morning. The warmth of the
inn's main room made it difficult for her to wake up fully, but the
scent of cinnamon wafting from the kitchen countered that sleepy
warmth. She hadn't seen the innkeeper since she'd come downstairs,
but she could hear him in the kitchen. She was mildly surprised when
he came from the kitchen carrying a plate of pancakes that he set
down in front of her. The origin of the cinnamon scent was revealing
to be either the pancakes or the syrup on them. She looked up to the
man, eyes questioning.

“Least I could do after that mess last night. I mended your
cloak as well. I'll go get it,” he said and disappeared into
the kitchen. Nadia assumed his living quarters were somewhere in the
back of the building. She had planned on eating rations from her
pack, but it would be rude to refuse the meal the innkeeper had
obviously spent time and care preparing. Beyond that, the pancakes
were rather enticing. She picked up the fork on the plate and started
to eat, finding the flavor to be extremely pleasing. She had finished
half of the plate by the time the innkeeper returned with her cloak.
He set it on the bar top next to her and smiled.

“Thank you,” Nadia said after swallowing a bite.

“Think nothing of it, miss,” he said, raising a hand.

“What's your name?” Nadia asked.

“Erik,” he answered.

“My name is Nadia,” the young woman replied.

“Lovely to make your acquaintance,” Erik said with a nod.

“Likewise,” Nadia said and kept eating.

“Glad to see you like it,” Erik said, obviously pleased
with Nadia's apparent approval with his cooking.

“You have a talent,” Nadia said with a chuckle.

“Ah, you warm an old man's heart. Now, I may be overstepping my
bounds here, but curiosity is a powerful motivator. What's a pretty
girl like you doing all the way out here?” Erik asked.

“Searching for an old city further south from here,”
Nadia answered.

“Old city? There's nothing south of here except snow and ice as
far as the eye can see. Maybe an abandoned shack or two,” Erik
said.

“I have information that says otherwise. It's just a wild shot
in the dark. The city was from the First Age. It's likely that it's
not there anymore,” Nadia explained with a shrug. She pushed
her empty plate away and smiled lightly. Erik set a mug down on the
bar top and filled it with milk.

“Well, best of luck. Try not to freeze to death. That'd be a
shame,” he said. Nadia took the mug and chugged down its
contents.

“I think I'll be okay. This isn't my first tough trip,”
she assured the innkeeper.

“I figured not. Judging from last night, I'd say you're a
mercenary, and a formidable one at that. Just saying that bad luck
can bite anyone, so be careful,” Erik said.

“I will. Oh, here's the key to the room,” Nadia said,
setting the key on the bar top.

“Thanks,” Erik said, grabbing the key.

“Well, I'm off,” Nadia said as she stood. She took her
cloak from the bar and wrapped it around herself, the picked up her
pack.

“Safe travels,” Erik said as Nadia headed for the door.

“Yeah, I hope,” Nadia said and stepped out in the bright,
cold morning.

* * *

Hours later, Nadia was trudging through knee deep snow while more of
it fell from the sky. She worked with ice magic more than anything
else, so she was more resistant to cold than the average person, but
even she was beginning to become irritated by the gusts of wind that
cut through her cloak, through her heavy clothes, and straight
through her skin to her bones.

Earlier, she had tried to blast a path through the snow with fire,
but had succeeded only in creating a very slick channel of ice that
was quickly buried under more snow. She knew what direction to head
toward and the setting sun told her exactly what direction she was
going. Taking a glance around, she could see nothing but snow.
Though, with the sun nearing the horizon, she needed a place to camp.
However, there was nothing in sight, so she just kept walking.

As the sun sank below the horizon, plunging Nadia into starlit
darkness, the young noble kept pressing on until she took a step and
sank up to her waist in the snow.

“Son of a...”

Nadia growled and, in a knee-jerk reaction, gave off a shock wave of
fire that melted all the snow around her, including several feet
below her. She realized her mistake the moment she made it, then let
out gasp as she dropped down to the ice below her, smashed through
it, and went careening down a long chute of ice in near complete
darkness. She felt the ice leveling out, then grunted as she crashed
into a hard wall. She got up and brushed herself off, muttering.

“That was worse than sub-zero snow up between my legs.”
she grumbled.

Nadia decided to test her new skill and held her hand up, summoning a
sphere of bright light and looked around herself. The icy tunnel
reflected the light eerily. She glanced to the wall she hit,
expecting more ice, but found herself staring at stone.

“What the hell?”

She stared up at the wall of stone, examined it, studied it, looked
for any markings. The stone wall was rough, but without any distinct
markings or inscriptions. She sighed, then quirked a brow as she felt
a strange hum against her chest. She looked down at her chest, pulled
her cloak aside, and noticed a faint glow beneath her tunic. She
slipped a hand into her tunic and pulled out the ancient necklace she
had found in the chambers beneath the abandoned temple in Auronost.
She paused a moment as she realized that temple was practically on
the other side of the world from where she now stood.

She nearly jumped when a beam of light shot out of the wall and hit
the pendant, then disappeared. A few moments later, a rumble shook
the iced ground beneath Nadia's feet.

“Now what?!”

The wall that disappeared up into the snow and ice above Nadia's head
parted. A massive section of the wall sank in, pulling away from
Nadia, then split in half and slid apart, revealing a dark hall
beyond. From where she stood, Nadia couldn't tell how tall or wide
the hallway happened to be; all she could tell for certain was that
it was enormous.

“Too bad Kai isn't here to blind me again.”

Nadia threw her ball of light up into the air and let it hang there.
She concentrated on it and it grew larger, brighter, but nowhere near
what Kaidia had done a couple of days beforehand. Nadia paused a
moment, thinking about what her sister had told her about not
exploring alone. Nadia had no way of getting in contact with Kaidia
or getting back up to the surface of the snow far above her. She had
no choice but to continue on. At the very least, she could find a
place to sleep, and, tomorrow, another way out.

Conscience suitably assuaged of any sort of guilt, Nadia started
forward into the darkness.

Chapter IV

“Have you heard anything from your sister?” Echo asked.

“Nope,” Kaidia replied.

The couple was lying in Kaidia's bed, deep underground in her tomb
turned home. Kai was leaning up against the headboard, reading a book
while Echo contented herself with nibbling on Kaidia's shoulder.

“You think she's alright?” Echo questioned.

“I'm sure she's just fine,” Kaidia replied without
looking away from her book.

“How can you be certain?” Echo asked, insistent.

“Because she's a tough little brat. Did I ever tell you how she
got that scar near her eye? The one that cuts through her eyebrow?”
Kai asked.

“Nu uh,” Echo replied, teeth nipping at Kai's shoulder
through the cloth of her tunic.

“When we were kids, I was maybe fifteen, Nadia would have been
eleven or so, we were sparring in the back yard. We had started out
rather courteous of each other, being polite, but we're sisters so it
ended up being a competition. Despite the fact that we both knew I
was stronger and would inevitably win, we just kept going. Mother and
Father were inside and were trusting of us not to set the yard on
fire or anything crazy like that. However, as we kept doing our
damnedest to knock the other one down, bloody a lip, or make the
other cry, I got a good shot in, knocked her backward, and she went
headfirst into the stone wall that surrounded our yard,” Kaidia
expounded.

“Ouch,” Echo remarked.

“Yeah. She had blood all over her face, but she didn't start
bawling like you would expect a kid her age to do. She just got back
up and jumped back into the fight,” Kaidia finished.

“Tough little brat, indeed,” Echo said with a chuckle.

“Yep, and she just kept on fighting. Well, until Mother looked
out the window and saw all the blood. Gods, did I get yelled at,”
Kai said with a chuckle.

“I can imagine,” Echo replied, a faint smile on her lips.

“Wait until you see her pissed off. You'll have to cover those
big ears,” Kaidia said with a smirk.

“Big ears?” Echo asked rhetorically while she laid her
ears back against her hair. She huffed and her tail swatted against
the mattress under the covers. Kaidia simply gave a soft laugh.

“Gods, you're cute.”

* * *

Nadia crept along in a silence that was deafening. She swore she
could hear her heart beat and every sound she made echoed endlessly.
Her foot kicked a piece of metal and she gritted her teeth against
the sound that echoed like thunder down the cavernous hallway she was
walking along. She glanced down at what she had kicked and raised a
brow. It was a sword. She bent down and picked it up. It was ancient,
but the craftsmanship was exquisite. She looked to the floor again,
searching for anything else to give her a clue as to why the sword
had just been laying in the middle of the massive hall. There was
nothing. No indication of how it got there; no ancient bloodstains,
no scuff marks on the rock, no marks left by a blade.

She moved on, carrying the sword with her. The cavernous hallway went
on and on with no deviations, no doors to break the monotony. The
only thing that seemed to change was the temperature. When she had
first entered the hall, it had been cold, but the further she walked,
the warmer it became.

After a walk that felt unnecessarily long, the hall abruptly opened
up into a vast, empty space that made the huge hall seem tiny.

“What the hell?” Nadia asked herself. She took a moment
and poured more power into her sphere of light, making it larger and
brighter, lighting up more of the darkness. Nadia saw she was
standing at the edge of a gargantuan hole. She moved her sphere of
light forward and noticed several stairways dropping off of the
rather large ledge that she was standing upon. She could see
stairways all around the rim. From what she could see, the ledge
tapered off and was actually a semi-circle. Along the walls in her
sight-line were doorways, walkways, more stairs. It was a veritable
maze of the aforementioned. Was it a city?

She stepped out onto the staircase nearest to her and started
downward, bringing the massive sphere of light with her. She couldn't
see the bottom, yet. It was a sea of blackness. She carefully walked
down the steps, peering into doorways and windows carved from stone.
From what she could see, there were dishes left on tables, tools and
weapons left lying out. It seemed like everyone had left in a rush.

She sighed and kept making her way further and farther down, stairway
after stairway, until the bottom of the pit started to come into
view. What she saw made her pause.

“Trees?”

She kept walking downward, step after step, the sphere of light
following her, revealing more and more. The ground at the bottom of
the chasm was covered in grass and trees. Further away, barely
visible in the shadows, were the remnants of a city.

Nadia stepped off of the last step and onto the grass. She took a
deep breath, the air was strangely fresh. A copse of trees stood
ahead of her, stretching from one side of the ravine to the other.
There was no way to just walk around it, not that she expected to
find anything in there. She looked upward; the walls of the chasm,
which had clearly been manmade, disappeared into the darkness above.
Without seeing the city on the other side of the forest, Nadia was
amazed. The walls of the chasm were a city unto themselves, stairs,
floors, windows of homes and the like from the ground to the very
top.

She looked toward the small forest, took a breath, and started toward
it. As she stepped past the first trees, her sphere of light floated
above the tree tops, filtering light down through the leaves. She
felt a bit like she was outside, walking through a forest in the
middle of the day. The effect was ruined by the fact that the
sorcerous light was unnatural in color, artificial to her eyes. As
Nadia walked further into the trees, she wondered how they grew down
here in the dark. With all the ice and snow above the roof of the
cavern, she knew there was no way sunlight made it down this far.

The trip through the trees didn't take long at all and suddenly,
Nadia found herself stepping out of the other side, facing a field of
grass that was eerily illuminated by her light. She walked through
it, the ancient sword still in her grip as she walked along. As the
city came closer and grew brighter, she could see that it was
anything but a ruin. It seemed like she should find living, breathing
people in there as she walked through, but all of her senses
instinctively told her that she would find nothing alive here; only
the ghosts of time.

Stones, cut and lay together on the ground like bricks. They rose up
from the grass as she started into the outer edges of the city. As
Nadia looked around, she could see that the entire city was built of
stone. All of that stone was cut and smoothed with amazing precision,
making the dead metropolis hauntingly beautiful. The stonework was
beyond what any race was known to be able to produce at the time, or
for many centuries afterward. Nadia couldn't recall anyone producing
anything comparable to what she was seeing until early in the Third
Age and this city was from the First Age, she had no doubt.

Glancing into windows and doorways, none of which had glass or doors
in them, revealed many of these buildings to be shops, inns, or other
businesses. She paused for a moment, shrinking her light, bringing it
down to her, letting it hover near her head so she could bring it
along with her into buildings. She stepped into what had once been a
shop of some sort. Jars lined the shelves. Whatever most of them had
contained had long since turned to dust. A few of the jars had been
exceptionally well sealed and still contained their original contents
- mostly ingredients for elixirs, potions, or remedies. The smell was
mildly stale with the faintest hint of some of those ingredients
clinging to the air.

“An apothecary,” Nadia stated to herself.

In the days when this was a functioning store, she was certain that
the scent of the shop would have been rich and possibly overwhelming,
but as the years had passed the scents had faded, leaving only the
barest traces for Nadia to detect. She suspected the only reason the
stale smell of the air wasn't stronger was because of the trees
beyond the city. The air in the chasm was fresh, after all.

She looked over the shelves, and then moved on to another set that
held scrolls that she was almost afraid to touch. They had been here
so long that they might crumble if she tried to hold them. There were
books on another set of shelves and a doorway that led into another
room that held even more jars of ingredients. She moved to the main
counter, stepped behind it, and looked around. Spying a metal box
covered in dust and cobwebs, she picked it up and set it on the
counter. Upon opening it, she saw it was full of coins and a few
gems. She plucked one of the coins from the box and looked at it in
the bright light of her sphere. It was gold, that much was obvious,
but the inscriptions on both sides of it were utterly foreign to
Nadia.

Excitement swelled up in her chest and she wondered if she had
actually found one of the lost cities of the first race. The
implications were huge. Very little was known about them, their
cities were thought to be lost, all artifacts taken with them. But
here she was, holding what could very possibly be a coin from the
first race, standing in one of their long abandoned cities. She put
the coin into her pocket, then closed the lid on the box, and set it
back on its shelf under the counter.

She wanted to stay here and peruse every shelf, every book, every
scroll, but she knew she'd spend the rest of her life in the city if
she went through every building with that sort of mentality. She
stepped out of the apothecary and back onto the stone street. As she
walked deeper into the city, she started seeing more things left on
the ground like the sword she still had in hand. More swords, pieces
of armor, axes, daggers, coins, rings, necklaces, among other items
lay scattered along the street and on streets that branched off of
the one she was walking along.

Nadia thought it odd that none of the windows or doorways had glass
or doors in them. Obviously the first race knew how to work with
glass; the apothecary had glass jars, after all. Apparently they
hadn't been worried about theft. Weather wasn't really a concern; the
city was in a cavern, after all. Though a cavern this big could have
its own weather, either naturally or magically. She glanced upward,
seeing nothing but black. If she didn't know better, Nadia would
assume she was outside on a starless night.

As she explored, Nadia found that a few of the buildings weren't
businesses, but rather opulent homes. She assumed they were the homes
of city leaders. After coming across a few of them, she decided to
explore one. Upon stepping inside, she felt a telltale tingle course
through her body.

“Magic.”

She peered around the main room of the house, illuminated by her
sorcerous light. Banners hung on the walls on either side of a cold
fireplace. The cloth had rotted somewhat over time, but the crest on
the banners was still visible. It was a shield with some strange
symbol emblazoned upon it, resting on what had once been a rich, blue
background. The vibrancy of the banners had faded, though not quite
as much as one might expect, given the time that had passed. The
shelter from the sunlight that the banners had enjoyed had preserved
them rather well.

Nadia moved through the room, looking over lush furniture and the
intricate stonework of the home. Ancient paintings hung on the wall,
depicting scenes of battle, of peaceful landscapes, and many other
subjects. There was a stone bookcase that housed volumes from floor
to ceiling. Upon eyeing the spines of the books closely, Nadia
discovered, as she expected, that they were in the same strange
language that she had, earlier, found on the coin. She moved on
toward a stone staircase that led to the second floor of the home.

Luxurious, if dusty, rugs covered the stone floor of the hallway,
silencing the sound of Nadia's heavy boots, not that noise was a
concern. She peered in rooms as she walked. One appeared to be an
artist's studio, complete with a half-finished painting on an easel.
The next room had, apparently, been used for storage. Crates and
chests were stacked upon one another and took up much of the room's
space.

Nadia came to a third room and that tingle raced through her once
more, stronger this time. She stepped inside the room and looked
around. It was a bedroom. A large bed rested against the right hand
wall, unmade; the sheets looked to be made of a fine silk. A window
on the far wall was open to the darkness of the cavern. The left-hand
wall bore paintings that flanked a wardrobe. She walked over to the
wardrobe and pulled open its double doors. Inside were shelves filled
with folded clothing. Down near the bottom were shoes. All of it was
of the finest quality.

On one stack of folded clothes rested a small, plain, but darkly
stained box. Nadia picked up the box and opened it slowly. Inside was
a deep blue jewel that prickled her senses.

“So, you're the source.”

She gently picked up the jewel and set the box down. She eyed it
closely, then raised a brow. The jewel began to glow, getting
brighter and brighter as Nadia held it. As it got brighter, it got
hotter, and she dropped it. It fell a few inches, then stopped and
rose up in the air hovering in front of Nadia's face.

“Shit.”

She took a step backward as the jewel's radiance grew stronger and
stronger, rivaling the sphere of light. Abruptly, the jewel let off a
burst of energy that slammed into Nadia, throwing the woman across
the room, into the headboard of the bed, breaking the wood. She fell
onto the bed and everything went dark. From the extinguishing of the
sorcerous lights or her involuntary retreat into unconsciousness,
Nadia wasn't sure.

* * *

Kaidia ducked Vexarilia's kick, then pushed the young woman away. The
pair were sparring deep in Kaidia's subterranean home, Kai training
her protege to defend herself. Vex enjoyed learning from Kaidia, be
it sorcery, swordplay, languages, or anything else. For as young as
she was, Kai knew an impressive amount about a vast number of
subjects, and Vex was constantly surprised by her mentor's abilities
and knowledge.

The room that Kaidia had modified to be a training room was one of
several large caverns that rested deeper underground than the main
part of her home. She believed that it had originally been intended
as a large, ceremonial tomb and had simply never been finished. Given
that there were several rooms of similar size and shape, she was
fairly certain that this had been planned to be a family tomb of
sorts. The larger rooms meant for the “greater” members
of the family with the smaller rooms intended for the lesser members
and the upper part of the tomb meant for servants of varying sorts.
Such tombs had been commonplace late in the First Age and throughout
most of the Second Age, but grew rare as the Third Age went on.
Having done her research, Kai knew that no noble or royal families
had lived in this area since the Second Age, though exactly when in
the Second Age was difficult to determine. Beyond that, there was no
way to tell which family had commissioned the construction of the
tomb. It was a mystery to which she would never know the answer and
Kai both enjoyed it and was irritated by it.

Vex charged at Kai throwing a flurry of punches, all of which Kaidia
deflected or dodged with a calm ease that Vex both admired and
loathed. The two women danced around the firm, but padded floor,
punches and kicks flying. Kaidia slowed herself to compete with Vex
on an even level, pushing just hard enough to force Vex to the edge
of her limits. She wanted the younger woman to improve, not become
discouraged.

Echo, forgotten in the moment by the two combatants, sat at the edge
of the padded floor, watching with a smile. The kyrian had quickly
become endeared with Vexarilia, finding the girl's eagerness to learn
to be refreshing compared to many of the arrogant warriors she
encountered who believed they knew everything.

Kaidia captured one of Vex's arms and hip tossed her onto the floor
with a heavy thump. Vex raised both hands, a large fireball roaring
to life in her palms. Kaidia closed her fingers around it, crushing
it as her fist closed, putting it out.

“You're lying on several cloth floor coverings that are filled
with hay. Fire is not a wise idea,” Kai chided.

“The room is stone,” Vex protested.

“You're not and I'd rather not have to treat you for burns and
haul in a whole new set of flooring pads just because you want to
bring magic into a fist fight. If you want to test your sorcery
against me, there's another room for that and you know it,” Kai
said, barely managing to hide an amused smile in an effort to come
across stern. From the look on Vex's face, the girl knew Kai wasn't
actually mad.

“Yeah, but it's not like people with whom I'm in a real fight
are just going to stick to fists,” Vex contested.

“She's got you there, god,” Echo said playfully.

Kaidia gave the kyrian a glare to which Echo responded by sticking
out her tongue. Kaidia just rolled her eyes, and turned her attention
back to Vex.

“You want to test yourself full-out against me?” she
asked with a raised brow. Vex seemed to consider it for a long
moment, then shook her head.

“Not tonight, no,” she answered.

Kaidia nodded, then pulled Vex to her feet before ruffling the girl's
hair.

“Go do something productive,” she instructed. Vex
snorted, then walked from the room. Echo padded on bare feet over to
Kaidia and nuzzled the god's jaw.

“You're a good teacher,” she purred.

“Thanks,” Kai said as she wrapped her arms around Echo's
waist, one hand drifting down to stroke the kyrian's furred tail,
earning a throaty purr for her effort. The two stood there, enjoying
the moment. The quiet peace of the embrace was interrupted by
Kaidia's hold tightening, all of her muscles tensing at once. Echo
looked to Kaidia's face, her eyes searching. Kai looked distressed,
eyes glaring at a wall. Then, as quick as it had come, it was gone,
and Kaidia relaxed her hold.

“What was that about?” the feline woman asked, voice
tinged with equal parts curiosity and concern, both of which were
reflected in her eyes.

“I'm not certain. Last time I had a feeling like that was when
Nadia let her magic overwhelm her and she froze herself,” Kai
answered, meeting Echo's gaze.

“You think she's in trouble?” Echo questioned.

“I don't know. The last time, it was far more intense, lasted
longer. It's completely gone now,” Kaidia said thoughtfully.

“So she's probably okay?” Echo asked, uncertain.

“Probably. I might go to Vortha, just in case,” Kaidia
said.

“That would be the sisterly thing to do,” Echo said with
approval.

Kaidia nodded, then turned, and with a leisurely gesture, opened a
whirling portal that lit up the entire chamber, which was no easy
feat. She glanced back to Echo, whose eyes had turned to bright blue
pools with narrowed slits for pupils. She loved that animalistic look
when it came over the kyrian.

Chapter V

Nadia stepped into her home, closing the door behind her. She quirked
a brow as she heard voices coming from further into the house. She
set her pack down and walked into the den, pausing in the doorway.
Kaidia glanced up from where she sat with Echo sitting sideways in
her lap. Sae-Mirra occupied the second chair in the room.

“Oh, look who's home,” Kai said with a smile. Nadia felt
a twinge of irritation, but pushed it away.

“Yeah, all safe and sound,” she replied.

“Really? Nothing happened?” Kaidia asked with a raised a
brow.

“Nothing major. I found the city, but I fell into it... so I
decided to explore on my own. It was in a massive chasm in a cavern
that was even bigger. It's no wonder no one has found it. It's in the
middle of nowhere. Oh, here,” Nadia explained, then reached to
her belt, pulled the ancient sword from it, and tossed it toward
Kaidia. The elder sibling caught it by the hilt and looked it over.

“Damn. That's old, but the quality... it's exquisite,”
Kai said, looking it over. Echo raised a brow.

“We didn't know how to make swords like that until the past
four hundred years or so. Well into the Third Age,” she said,
ears perked, eyes studying the blade. Kai handed it over so Echo
could heft it.

“There's a lot more there. They have an armory there, several
forges. It's a huge city. I want to go back,” Nadia said.

“I'd like to go with you,” Kai said with a look to her
sibling.

“Sure. Just be careful around anything sorcerous you find,”
Nadia responded.

“Oh? Have a problem with something?” Kaidia asked.

“Yeah, an artifact. It exploded,” Nadia answered.

“That's what I felt,” Kai said, more to herself than
anyone else.

“Felt?” Nadia asked.

“Yes. I felt a strange sensation. I felt something worse last
year when you took on that force that attacked Vortha and put
yourself on ice. When something bad happens to you, I feel it. It's
hard to explain, but it only started after my godhood happened,”
Kaidia explained with a shrug.

“Sisterly connection?” Nadia asked.

“I suppose so,” Kai replied with a shrug.

“Might be familial in general,” Echo suggested.

“I don't know. Nothing bad has happened to Mother or Father
since my apotheosis,” Kai said.

“Let's hope you never have to find out,” Sae said.

“Indeed,” Kai agreed.

Silence fell. Kaidia stared into the flames dancing in the fireplace
while Echo continued to examine the ancient sword Nadia had brought
home. Nadia walked over and nuzzled Sae's cheek, earning a purr from
the kyrian.

“Glad you made it home safe,” Sae said softly. She and
Nadia shared a quick kiss.

“Aw, so cute,” Kaidia teased playfully from where she
sat.

Echo nipped at Kai's jaw lightly. “Oh, hush. We look the same
when we do that.”

“Yeah, but she's my little sister, so the whole thing is cuter
by default,” Kaidia explained, her tone very matter-of-fact.

Echo just snorted and shook her head before she stood up and handed
the ancient sword back to Kaidia. Kai took it and stood up as well.

“Where do you want this, Nadia?” she asked.

“You can keep it. I'll get another when I go back,” Nadia
answered.

“Ah. Well, thank you. I'll put it on display,” Kai said
with a smile.

“Are you two going to stay for dinner?” Sae asked.

“No, but thanks. Vex probably has dinner about ready at home,”
Kaidia declined.

“She's probably wondering where the hell we are, too,”
Echo commented.

“Yeah, we did kind of leave without saying anything,” Kai
said with a chuckle.

“You should probably head home then,” Sae suggested.

“I agree. We'll show ourselves out. Let me know when you're
going to head back to that city, Nadia. I want to see your
discovery,” Kai said.

“I will,” Nadia said.

With that, Kaidia and Echo left the room and the door closed a few
moments later. Nadia sighed softly, stepped over to the chair Kaidia
had occupied a minute before, and settled down into it. She put her
head in her hands and heaved a sigh.

“You okay?” Sae asked, eyeing her wife with mild concern.

“Yeah, I'm okay,” Nadia assured as she sat up and leaned
back into the chair. “Just tired.”

“Understandably. Just relax, I'll make dinner, then we can
settle in for a quiet evening,” Sae said with a soft smile.

“Sounds like a wonderful plan,” Nadia responded with a
weary smile.

* * *

“Kaidia, you look bothered,” Echo said, looking up from
the old book she was reading. The two were lying in bed. Echo had
been reading, but every time she had glanced up to her lover, the
woman was staring down at the blankets covering them from the waist
down, deep in thought.

“I am,” Kai replied.

“Is it Nadia?” Echo asked, putting her book down.

“So it wasn't just me,” Kaidia said, looking up to meet
Echo's eyes.

“No. Her magic felt more intense, stronger. Like she had more
power,” Echo said.

“Right. It felt different, as well. It still felt like her
magic, her energy, but it's like something tainted it,” Kaidia
thoughtfully hypothesized .

“Well, she said that artifact exploded. Maybe it's just
residual. If that's the case, it'll wear off with time,” Echo
said.

“Let's hope that's the case,” Kai said, though she didn't
look any less troubled.

“She's your sister. Everything will shake out alright in the
end,” Echo assured Kai with a kiss on the cheek. The little
show of affection brought a small smile to Kaidia's lips.

“I hope you're
right. Everything else in her life that's gone awry has always worked
out in the end,” Kaidia said, though Echo wasn't certain who
the god was trying to convince, herself or her lover. “Even the
whole town square incident.”

“Town square incident?” Echo inquired.

“Back when she was sixteen and I was twenty. She
had pissed off some of the older students at our academy earlier in
the day. Unfortunately for her, I had a date with Ashlin that night,
so she was walking home alone,” Kaidia said, beginning a bit of
a story. Echo settled in to listen, her ears perked forward.

“I think I see where this is going,” Echo
coaxed.

“Predictably, because kids are jerk-offs, those
students attacked her together while she was headed home, through the
town square in the middle of Vortha, late at night,” Kaidia
confirmed.

“I'm assuming it all ended poorly,” the
kyrian said, eyes searching Kai's face.

“Yep. You know Nadia. She's impulsive and
self-control is not one of her primary qualities,” Kaidia
replied.

“Not always one of yours, either, you know,”
Echo said with a chuckle.

“No, but I've always been more capable in that
regard than my sister,” Kaidia retorted. “Anyway, instead
of staying calm and trying to down them one at a time, she just let
rip with pure energy. It blew a crater in town square, took out the
statue there, took out all the windows facing the square, took out
everyone attacking her, and she overloaded herself, so she went down,
too.”

“Damn,” Echo remarked.

“Yeah. Nadia went for broke that night. Woke up
half the city,” Kaidia said. “Ashlin and I were in the
middle of getting... excited... when the explosion went off. We had
the windows in the bedroom open, so it was real clear.”

“Excited? You mean you were ripping her clothes
off with your teeth,” Echo said with a laugh. “You don't
need to mince words when it comes to Ashlin on my account, love.”

Kai nodded with a slight smile, then took a breath, and
continued her story. “We went running. There were people
already there, of course. City guards, people who lived on the
square, and so on. I picked her up and carried her to Mother and
Father's house.”

“Who were undoubtedly worried,” Echo said.

“They were worried on several fronts. The
explosion had woken them up, then they saw me carrying Nadia to them
as they were leaving the house with several high ranking city
officials, and then when they found out Nadia was partially
responsible for the whole mess... it was a long night for them,”
Kai said.

“So, I get the feeling there's more to it than
Nadia being knocked out,” Echo said, wanting the rest of the
story.

“Yeah. She'd badly injured all of her attackers.
Healers took care of most of them and had them back home that night,
but a couple of them didn't wake up even after being healed. There
were a couple of days of worrying, but they woke up and so did Nadia.
Hence, everything worked out in the end,” Kaidia said,
finishing the story.

“No one got in deep shit?” Echo asked.

“Not especially. The students that attacked her
were suspended from the academy for a time, but the headmaster seemed
to think that Nadia blowing them to high hell was punishment enough.
As for my sister, our parents were pretty pissed that she went all
out in an instant like that, but they also understood that she was a
sixteen-year-old girl that was being ganged up on, so they let her
slide with a long discussion about self control,” Kaidia
explained. “Nadia's status as a bad ass at the academy was
increased, of course.”

“Of course,” Echo agreed with a soft laugh.
“Never surpassing her sister, I'm sure.”

“No, she was a close second, though,” Kai
replied with a smirk, her eyes shifting to meet Echo's own.

“You'd think people would know not to mess with a
Valengaard,” Echo said, laying her head on Kai's chest, her
fingers tracing little circles on Kai's firm stomach.

“You would think, but life has taught me to never
underestimate the stupidity of people. For all the brilliance of all
the races, we're all capable of resounding idiocy,” Kai said
with a sigh.

“I'm glad I found a smart one,” Echo said,
her tone proud and playful. Her finger gently pulled up the front of
Kaidia's tunic and resumed tracing circles on the god's bare stomach.

“As am I, dear,” Kaidia replied and combed
her fingers through Echo's hair, earning a purr from the kyrian woman
who seemed more than happy to trace her sharp nails along the flesh
of Kai's stomach; especially the scar left from the poisoned arrow
that had pierced the god's skin at the Battle of Silver Lake. The
memory made Echo shiver for a moment. It wasn't a happy one, but she
reminded herself that anyone else would have died on the spot, but
her lover had lived through the ordeal and was whole and well and
still here to love.

Echo leaned over and pressed several soft kisses to her
lover's stomach before pressing herself close to Kai's side and
wrapping her arm around the god. She laid her head down on Kai's
chest and let out a soft sigh of contentment as she felt Kaidia relax
and settle in for a night's rest.

Chapter VI

Kaidia awoke the next morning and raised a brow as she found herself
staring into the eyes of Vexarilia. The woman was sitting beside the
bed and staring at Kaidia.

“You know, that's creepy,” Kaidia said, voice scratchy
with sleep.

“Well, I didn't want to disturb your sleep,” Vex
countered.

“Sure. What're you doing in here?” Kai asked.

“This came for you,” Vex said as she held up a letter.
“It's got your family crest on it.”

Kaidia just pulled her arm out from under the covers and took the
letter. “Thank you, dear.”

“I'll go get breakfast started,” Vex said as she stood
up.

“Please do,” Kaidia said as she sat up, stretched. Vex
stuck her tongue out with a smile before walking out of the room.
Kaidia opened the letter and read it while Echo stirred beside her
and rolled over.

“What is it?” the kyrian asked.

“Just a letter from Nadia. Apparently, she has a couple of
contracts so our trip to her ancient city will have to wait until
she's done with that. No big deal,” Kaidia relayed the
information in the letter.

“A shame,” Echo said before yawning and revealing her
sharp feline teeth in the process.

“It's alright. I can make a round of quick visits to some of my
temples,” Kaidia said.

“A good idea,” Echo agreed as she nestled up to Kai and
laid her head on the woman's shoulder. She nipped at the sleeveless
tunic Kai wore to bed. “You should sleep naked.”

“Really?” Kaidia asked with a raised brow.

“What? You look good naked,” Echo complimented and even
added a meow in on top of it while giving Kaidia her best cutesy look
complete with batting her eyelashes and perking her feline ears
forward.

“No. Not even with as adorable as you look right now,”
Kai refused with a chuckle before leaning over and pressing a kiss to
her lover's lips.

* * *

Kaidia and Echo stepped out of a portal in the center of Quinolt
around midday. Several of the town's people waved as they walked by.
It wasn't that people magically walked into town every day, but they
were busy people. Beyond that, Kaidia had made it a point to make
sure that it was known that she wasn't fond of flocking crowds. Her
clergy helped to get that message out to her followers.

Kaidia started for her temple in the small town, glancing around as
she went, returning a wave here and there. Echo walked at Kai's side
and took the god's free hand in her own as they made their way to the
temple. Orthos, the older man who served as the priest at Kaidia's
temple in Quinolt, greeted Kaidia at the door. Apparently, he had
seen her coming through one of the windows, all of which were open to
let the warm spring breeze blow through the temple.

“Kaidia, my dear, how are you?” he asked. He still stood
tall, his beard had grown long since Kai had seen him last, but the
kind look in his eyes was the same.

“I'm well, Elder Orthos,” Kai answered.

“Bah. No need for formalities with me. Who might this be?”
Orthos asked, gesturing to Echo with a warm smile.

“My... significant other,” Kaidia said.

“Had to think about it?” Echo asked, her tone affronted,
but only in jest.

“Well, you are a beauty, miss. The pair of you together will
give an old man a heart attack,” Orthos joked with a chuckle.

“My name is Echo-Seras, by the way. Since Kaidia is terrible at
introductions,” Echo said, putting her hand out. Orthos took
her hand in both of his and smiled.

“I'm Orthos, priest of this temple. What brings the pair of you
here today? Hopefully nothing like the last time,” Orthos said,
glancing between Echo and Kaidia.

“Just a friendly visit. I thought it might be good to visit a
few of my temples,” Kai explained.

“The people do enjoy it. Is this your first stop?” Orthos
asked.

“Yes. Figured starting small was a wise idea,” Kai
answered.

“Most likely. Though I heard you visited the temple in Silver
Lake and made the people very happy,” Orthos said.

“I did, but I was there for a battle. The temple visit was more
a matter of convenience. I was there already, so I thought I might as
well make an... official appearance,” Kaidia replied.

“A good choice. The clergy there spoke of you glowingly,”
Orthos said.

“Hm, never thought of communication between my temples. I
suppose it makes sense. Just not something I've had reason to
ponder,” Kai said, giving a shrug. “I'm glad I made them
happy.”

“Why wouldn't they communicate?” Echo asked.

“I don't know. I'm still learning all this stuff,” Kaidia
said with a huff. Orthos chuckled.

“There's a learning curve, even for gods. Come inside, you two.
It's about time for the midday meal. We'll eat, talk,” Orthos
said, taking his walking stick from where it was leaning up against
one of the open temple doors. He led the way through the temple and
into the private rooms in the back with Kaidia and Echo following
behind.

* * *

After plates had been picked clean and mugs were drained, the trio of
Orthos, Kaidia, and Echo sat around a small table in Orthos' personal
quarters.

“How is your family, Kaidia?” Orthos asked.

“They're all well, as far as I know,” Kaidia said. “I
live far enough away that I don't see them often. Besides, my parents
are nobles. They're always busy. I'll see them when I stop at the
temple in Vortha.”

“For dinner or something, at least,” Echo added.

“I wonder how they feel, being the parents of a god,”
Orthos said thoughtfully.

“I wouldn't have the slightest idea,” Kai responded.

“I'd say they're proud and probab-” Echo began before a
crash and a scream from outside cut her off.

The trio around the table looked around at each other, alarm on their
faces. Kaidia and Echo shot up and ran for the front door of the
temple. Orthos followed behind with his staff, albeit, at a slower
pace. Upon reaching the front door, they saw townspeople running away
from the front gate, which had been blasted open. Streaming in from
the decimated gate were warriors in white armor, swords drawn. A few
unlucky people had already been cut down and lay dead in front of the
gate. Kaidia and Echo drew their swords.

“We'll hold them off. You get the people who can't fight to
someplace safe. Send anyone who can fight to us,” Kaidia
instructed Orthos, then charged forward, black sword raised. Echo
followed, then split off to take on another of the soldiers.

Kaidia's initial strike was countered, her sword locking with that of
one of the white armored fighters. She raised a brow as she felt cold
emanating from the man. She could see her own breath and the warmth
of the spring sun was gone. She snarled and a whirlwind of fire
roared to life around her, banishing the cold and swallowing the
warrior with whom she had locked blades. He stumbled backward,
dropped his sword as he sagged to the ground, then exploded in a
shower of ice. The shards of which melted as they passed though the
swirling vortex of flames that wrapped around Kai.

She let the flames die away, then raised her sword, the blade
shifting from black to an angry red, imbued with sorcerous heat. The
next warrior ran at her and swung hard at her head. Kai ducked and
the blade whistled overhead. She ran her sword through the man's gut,
the hot blade hissing, steam pouring from wound. She jerked the sword
free and took several quick steps backward in anticipation of the
coming explosion. The warrior, indeed, expired in such dramatic
fashion, spraying ice everywhere. Hearing another blast, Kaidia
turned to see Echo standing with her sword at the ready, her tail
lashing angrily, her ears back against her hair. Several of the icy
warriors were closing in on her.

Kaidia turned and threw a bolt of fire from her free hand. The
fireball hit one of the warriors and caused him to immediately
detonate into a shower of icy shrapnel. Echo jumped away from the
closing warriors and started throwing fireballs of her own. The
flames engulfed the remaining warriors in a hellish blaze, resulting
in a series of explosions. The heat of the fires turned the ice to
water, and then to steam.

Kai waved her hand, extinguishing the flames with a splash of
sorcerous water that quickly soaked into the scorched ground. A group
of villagers, armed with swords, sickles, and shovels came around the
corner of the temple, clearly prepared to fight, only to see that
they weren't needed. They gawked in awe at Kaidia and Echo,
astonished at the speed at which the pair had taken care of the
threat.

“That wasn't so bad,” Echo said, sheathing her sword.

“For us. A normal warrior would have a rough time taking one of
those out,” Kaidia replied.

“Fair enough. They were constructs. Whoever summoned them is
powerful, but I can't sense any kind of power like ours' anywhere
near us,” Echo said.

“We should keep alert as we travel,” Kai advised.

“Agreed,” Echo stated.

“Peace just can't seem to stay around for me, lately,”
Kaidia said, sheathing her own sword.

“A problem I suspect many living gods have had,” Orthos
said from beside Kai, having walked over to her while she and Echo
had conversed.

“I assume so. A myth or ideology can have detractors, but an
actual, living person has enemies,” Kaidia said, half to
herself.

“If they're living correctly,” Echo said with a chuckle.

“Indeed,” Kaidia agreed.

“Where are you headed next?” Orthos asked.

“Vortha. I'm going to visit my family, then spend the night at
my home there before I go to the temple tomorrow,” Kaidia
answered.

“You have a home in Vortha?” Echo asked.

“Yes,” Kai said, turning her eyes to the kyrian.

“I learn new things about you all the time,” Echo said,
hands on her hips.

“That tends to happen as you spend time with someone,”
Kaidia said slowly, confused.

“I'm trying to say that you could have told me,” Echo
said, tail twitching with irritation.

“I never had a reason to tell you before now,” Kai
explained.

“Uh huh,” the kyrian muttered.

“If it helps, you've walked right past it,” Kaidia
offered.

“That doesn't help!” Echo huffed.

“Ah, young love,” Orthos chuckled.

Both Kai and Echo looked at Orthos with raised brows, cheeks flushing
a rosy hue.

“Now, now... I'm old... and a priest. No attacking me,”
he said, hands raised, a grin on his face.

“Wouldn't dream of it. Now, you saw how to defeat these things
if they come back, yes?” Kaidia asked.

“Yes. Fire. We can take care of it if some decide to foolishly
return,” Orthos said.

Chapter VII

The sun had just slipped below the horizon when a blindingly bright
light flared to life in the yard behind Kaidia's Vortha home. The
yard was enclosed with tall wooden fencing and was more a mixture of
forest and garden than grass. The little forest that covered a bit
more than half the yard was big enough to have a clearing within it
and that is where the portal appeared. Kai and Echo stepped out of
the light and into the clearing.

Kaidia walked forward through the trees with Echo walking behind her.
The kyrian enjoyed this time of day, the twilight, where everything
was neither night nor day. It had a calming effect on her. As she
stepped out of the trees and glanced around, she realized where she
was in Vortha. She was a block over from Nadia's home in one of the
city's affluent neighborhoods.

“Really? You couldn't tell me this was here?” Echo
demanded, giving Kaidia a dirty look.

“I could have, but it never occurred to me. I haven't been here
since the day Ashlin died,” Kai replied with a shrug.

“Oh,” Echo said, feeling like a bit of a jerk.

“Don't feel bad about it. I simply haven't been eager to return
here,” Kaidia said, sensing how her mate was feeling.

“I can understand why,” Echo sympathized. “At
least, to a degree.”

“It'll help having you around when I go inside,” Kai
assured Echo. They kyrian perked up a little at that.

“Wait... when you go in?” Echo asked.

“Yeah, later. I'm going to go see if Nadia is home,”
Kaidia clarified as she walked past the house, between it and the
fence, and then off into the front yard. She went to the gate, opened
it, and walked through. Echo closed it after she passed through.

The pair walked the block to Nadia's home, returning a wave from one
of the city's guards. Kai knocked on Nadia's door and smiled when Sae
opened it.

“Oh, hey Kai. You're just in time,” Sae said.

“I am?” Kaidia asked, mildly confused.

“Yes. Nadia is having a... problem. You can probably help,”
the kyrian said. “Hello, Echo.”

“Hi,” Echo replied before following Kaidia into the
house.

Sae led the way to the back of the home, to Nadia's study. She pushed
the door open and walked inside. Kaidia and Echo followed. Nadia was
sitting in the middle of the floor with her right hand held outward,
palm up. Her left hand was wrapped around her wrist, holding it
steady. Her bangs clung to her face, stuck there by sweat. She looked
like she had been through a knockdown, drag out fight. A flame danced
in her palm, then abruptly shifted to a swirling mass of frost. A
moment later it changed to a crackling sphere of lightning.

“Judging by all the sweat, I'm assuming you're not running
through the elements on purpose,” Kaidia said dryly.

“Of course not!” Nadia snapped. The lightning in her hand
changed into water that undulated wildly in her palm. “I've
never even used aquatic magic! What in the hell?!”

“She's been like this since the day after she got back from
that old city,” Sae explained. The water in Nadia's had
reverted back to lightning and a bolt struck out at Kaidia. The god
reacted to it in an instant, her hand coming up, deflecting the bolt
to the floor, which scorched a hole in the carpet.

“Rein it in. Let's go see if Mother knows of some way to handle
it,” Kai instructed. Nadia clenched her fist on the crackling
electricity in her palm. When she uncurled her fingers, smoke wafted
out of her grasp, and she looked up at her sibling, obviously
concerned.

* * *

Syren and Boreth stood up from their chairs in their lavish den when
they heard their front door bang open.

“Mother!” Kai shouted from the front doorway. Syren could
hear the alarm in her eldest daughter's voice, despite Kaidia's overt
attempt to control her tone. Both Syren and Boreth rushed into the
entryway to see Kaidia helping Nadia through the door with Sae-Mirra
and Echo-Seras following, both kyrians were clearly concerned, their
faces were calm, but their eyes were not. She could see her younger
daughter's face was covered in sweat and given that Kaidia was
supporting Nadia, the latter couldn't manage well on her own.

“Bring her into the guest room,” Syren instructed before
turning and leading the way to the downstairs guest bedroom. She
pointed to the bed and Kaidia helped Nadia to it, and then gently
laid her sister down.

“Her magic is erratic, switching elements, difficult to
control,” Kai explained to her mother. Syren nodded, then
shooed Kai, Echo, and Sae out of the room.

“Out. I'll take care of her. You three go get dinner started,”
Syren instructed, then closed the door to the guest room. The two
kyrians and the god looked between one another, then walked off into
the house. Sae went to the kitchen with Echo. Kai wasn't really a
cook. She could get by while traveling, but real meals weren't her
thing. She went to the den where her father had settled.

“Not going to hover outside the door?” she asked as she
settled into the chair usually reserved for her mother.

“No. Your mother knows what she's doing and there's no way I
can help. The only magic I wield is the enchantments on my swords -
and your mother cast those. Beyond that, I know my daughters are as
tough as they come. I have no doubt that Nadia will be just fine,”
Boreth answered before taking a drink from the mug in his hand.
Kaidia smiled lightly.

“I imagine you're correct. So, how goes the business of
nobility?” Kaidia asked.

Boreth snorted. “Damned bureaucrats! I'd rather be out in the
thick of battle than dealing with those idiots.”

“It's a trade off. You get this nice house, lots of money, and
rule over one of the most important cities in Haelstross. In return,
you have to deal with morons,” Kaidia said with a smirk.

“I could make plenty of money with mercenary work,”
Boreth muttered.

“Yes, for now, but you're getting older, Father,” Kai
said, then gave a wink.

“You hush your mouth, girl. I'll be able to best any warrior,
even from my death bed,” Boreth huffed. Kaidia laughed.

“Oh, I don't doubt it. Here's another point to consider; your
nobility was an appointment by the King... well... the last King.
It's not like you can just shrug it off,” Kaidia reasoned.

“Well, I could, now that he's dead,” Boreth argued.

“Probably, but I think Rykar likes having a noble he knows in
power here,” Kai replied.

“That's fair enough, I suppose. I like Rykar. Good man. He's a
good king, thus far, as well,” Boreth said, half to himself.

“There you go,” Kai replied.

“So, how's the godhood treatin' ya?” Boreth asked with a
grin.

“Oh, for fuck's sake, don't get me started,” Kai said
with a groan.

Boreth laughed aloud.

Kaidia leaned back in her chair and Boreth did the same
as a few moments of silence stretched between the two. The big man
heaved a sigh.

“You know, I remember when you were little,”
he reminisced. “Running around with a wooden sword, getting
into trouble, and causing your mother and me all sorts of headaches.”

“And then you two decided to have another kid for
some reason,” Kai said with a chuckle.

“I wouldn't say Nadia was a firm decision. Then
again, neither were you. Both of you were just a natural course of
events,” Boreth admitted. “But you were both a handful,
especially when you got into trouble together.”

“We always have made a good team,” Kaidia
said with a faint smile.

“You have,” Bored agreed. “I saw some
of the kids you two got into fights with and none of them looked like
they were prepared for the two of you.”

“They never were,” Kaidia replied with a
grin. “The looks on their faces when they realized they were
about to get put on the ground were priceless.”

“On?” Boreth asked. “I distinctly
recall more than one occasion where you put them IN the ground. And
then there was that one big dumbass you two put THROUGH a tree after
you threw all his buddies in the pond behind the old temple.”

“At least we didn't kill anyone and you know that
old abandoned temple was a battleground for all the students at the
academy to settle their problems with one another.”

“Until you and your sister knocked it down,”
Boreth said with a chuckle.

“I didn't think we were going to do that much
damage with a little sparring match,” Kai said.

“You two didn't know your own strength,”
Boreth said. “Good thing there were plans to tear it down
already in the works.”

“You really had to twist around to convince
everyone we were tearing it down to save the city some money,”
Kaidia replied.

“It turned out alright,” Boreth said with a
satisfied nod.

“Yeah, everyone thought Nadia and I were great for
doing a public service while Mother thought we were all full of
shit,” Kai said with a laugh.

“She didn't exactly approve of my creative
interpretation of my daughters' actions,” Boreth said with a
shrug. “It's not my fault she lacks vision in some aspects of
life.”

“I'm not sure she'd agree with your assessment of
her disapproval,” Kaidia said, a smile curving her lips.

“Well, she and I often agree to disagree,”
Boreth said with a nod.

“Uh huh,” Kai replied, her tone playfully
skeptical.

“We have always agreed that our daughters are the
pride and joy of our lives and we always knew both of you were going
to grow up to be great warriors, leaders of Vortha, and maybe more,”
Boreth said with a firm nod. “Though I never dreamed you would
become a war hero, let alone a god. Who knows what your sister may
yet become.”

“Hard to say. We've both got a long path to walk
and who knows how many divergent paths we'll have to consider,”
Kaidia said with a shrug.

“Well, regardless of what may happen on up the
road, I'm proud of my girls,” Boreth said with a smile and a
pat of his large hand on Kai's knee. Kaidia simply smiled.

* * *

When Syren emerged from the guest room late in the night, Boreth,
Kaidia, Echo, and Sae were sitting around the dining room table,
playing cards, a small pile of steel coins lay on the table. The four
looked up at Syren.

“How is she?” Boreth asked.

“Asleep. We got the problem fixed, but she's worn out,”
Syren informed them, looking rather tired herself.

“Good,” Sae said with a sigh of relief.

“You should go be with her, dear,” Syren said to Sae.

“I think I will. My hand is shit anyway,” Sae said as she
stood up, dropped her cards on the table, and left the room with a
quick nod to Syren.

“We'll finish the game and head home,” Kai said.

Boreth laid his hand down, Echo laid hers down, and Kaidia followed
suit.

“Ha!” Boreth exclaimed, then pulled the pile of steel
coins to himself.

Syren rolled her eyes and headed upstairs while Kaidia and Echo
cursed and stood up from their chairs, muttering.

Boreth smirked. “Good evening, ladies.”

* * *

Kaidia and Echo walked to Kai's old home in the dark. The
streetlights – torches on metal poles and braziers on stands
nearer the ground – lit the darkness enough for people to see,
but they hardly turned night to day.

Kai opened the gate to her large house, walked up the stone walkway,
and paused at the front door. She took a deep breath and let it out,
then turned her eyes to Echo as she felt the kyrian's hand on her
shoulder.

“Go on, you're not alone,” Echo said softly,
reassuringly.

“Yeah, I know. It's just... been a long time,” Kaidia
replied, her voice low. She reached out, touched the polished wooden
door, and a shimmer ran over it before it swung open.

“Magical lock,” Echo observed.

“Best kind of lock around. There are bars across it on the
inside in case of attempted physical incursions, of course,”
Kai replied.

“Smart woman,” Echo remarked with a half smile.

“I have my moments,” Kaidia replied before walking
inside.

When Kaidia walked through the doorway, every sconce in the room
flickered to life, lighting the room. Aside from a layer of dust, the
place looked as though people lived in it. The dust made Echo's nose
wrinkle.

“We'll have to do something about the dust or we'll sneeze
ourselves to death,” she said.

“Do with the dust what you will,” Kai replied before
venturing further into the home, candles and sconces lighting
themselves as she did. She was careful to touch nothing. When she got
to the foot of the stairs, she looked upward, into the darkness of
the second floor.

Echo watched her lover for several long moments before closing the
door and making her way to the foot of the stairs as well. She peered
up into the darkness.

“Bedrooms?” she asked.

“Yes,” Kai replied. “A master bedroom and a guest
room.”

She started up the stairs, listening to the familiar creaking of them
that she hadn't heard in half a decade. She paused on the landing
with Echo still standing on the stairs. Her eyes looked over a closed
door before she turned away and headed down the hallway.

“What's in there?” Echo asked.

“The master bedroom,” Kai replied.

Echo immediately understood the god's reluctance to go in there and
guessed that Kai was heading to the guest room. Her guess was proven
correct a moment later when she followed Kaidia into a nice bedroom.
She knew it wasn't as big as the master suite, but it was still a
fairly large room. It was well lit with quite a few candles. There
was a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a couple of chairs placed
throughout the room. A thought occurred to Echo as she looked over
the wardrobe, which was made of a darkly stained wood and was rather
nice without being gaudy.

“I didn't even think to pack any clothes,” she said with
a huff.

“I didn't either. But I have old clothes here. I'm sure we can
both find something to wear, even if your chest is a bit bigger than
mine,” Kai said, one corner of her mouth curving upward.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Echo demanded.

“It means my tunics will be just the right amount of tight on
you, in just the right way,” Kaidia clarified, her smirk
turning into a mischievous grin.

Echo's cheeks colored faintly and she huffed. “Leave it to you
to think of that!”

“Why do you think I let you wear my tunics around the house
back home?” Kai asked rhetorically.

“You're awfully dirty-minded for a god, my dear,” Echo
stated.

“I was dirty-minded long before I was a god,” Kaidia
informed the kyrian. “Now, I'd like to get some sleep.”

Echo raised a brow. Usually, a romp in bed followed an exchange like
that. Given where they were, and what Kai must be feeling, Echo
supposed her companion's lack of lustful urges was understandable.
She watched as Kai undressed, lost in her thoughts, then simply slid
under the covers, leaving Echo on the side of the bed. The kyrian
shook her head and sighed softly, then undressed, walked to her side
of the bed, slipped under the covers, and nestled up against Kai's
back, her arm draping over the god.

* * *

When Echo awoke the next morning, she found herself looking at
Kaidia, who was sitting on the bed, fully dressed, simply watching.

“Were you watching me sleep?” Echo asked.

“You twitch when you dream,” Kaidia answered.

“I'll take that as a yes,” Echo muttered as she sat up.

“It was only for a few minutes. You're beautiful and look very
much at peace when you sleep. You know, when you're not twitching,”
Kaidia said.

“Thanks, I think,” Echo replied. She leaned over, kissed
Kaidia softly, then slipped out of the bed, and went to the wardrobe
to search through clothes.

* * *

Kaidia led the way into her parents' house with Echo following her
inside and closing the door. Syren, upon hearing the door open,
appeared from the kitchen.

“I figured you two would come over this morning. Come,
breakfast is almost ready. Echo, dear, that shirt seems a little...
tight,” Syren said, a brow raised.

“It's Kai's shirt, that's why,” Echo responded.

“Ah, that explains it,” Syren nodded.

“Gave me something to look at the whole way over,” Kai
remarked.

“I'm going to laugh when you walk into a wall because you're
staring at my breasts,” Echo retorted, her tail giving a slight
flick, showing a bit of irritation.

“Nah,” Kai said, her hand coming up to scratch behind
Echo's ear. The kyrian allowed it for a moment, even purred briefly,
then batted Kaidia's hand away.

“Quit that! You don't get to use that to win every argument,”
Echo huffed.

“I disagree,” Kai said, then walked past her mother,
toward the kitchen.

Echo looked at Syren who only smiled and shrugged, then gently
ushered Echo into the kitchen as well.

Nadia and Sae were sitting at the kitchen table, both looking fairly
tired.

“Good to see you up,” Kai said to her sibling.

“Good to be up, though I still feel like warmed over death,”
Nadia replied.

“You look like it,” Kaidia stated.

“Thanks, Sis,” Nadia grumbled.

“Quite welcome,” Kai returned.

Sae shook her head as Kaidia and Echo sat down.

Boreth glanced around the table at the four women seated
there, then looked to his wife.

“Do you remember the last time the kids were
sick?” he asked.

“I'm not sick,” Nadia protested.

“Might as well be,” Boreth replied.

“I do remember,” Syren said, pausing in her
preparation of breakfast. “Both girls caught some nasty illness
that was making the rounds in town.”

“Kai was seventeen winters, I think. Which would
make Nadia thirteen,” Boreth added. Echo and Sae looked between
Boreth and Syren, delighted to hear about their spouses' childhoods.

“And Kai, being the stubborn young woman she was,
refused to stay in bed, and went outside to exercise and practice her
magic,” Syren said.

“And Nadia, not to be outdone by her big sister,
went out and worked right alongside Kai,” Boreth said with a
chuckle.

“We had no idea until one of them sneezed and set
off a lightning bolt that hit the temple bells two blocks over,”
Syren said whilst shaking her head. “To this day, neither one
will tell us who sneezed.”

Kaidia and Nadia exchanged looks and smirked.

“What was that?” Echo asked.

“You'll never know,” Kai replied with a
smile. Echo rolled her eyes.

“I don't think I've ever seen you sick,” she
said.

“Nor will you,” Kaidia responded.

“Why not?” Echo questioned.

“I'm a god. Gods don't get sick,” Kaidia
answered plainly. Echo snorted in disbelief.

“Sure. When you DO get sick around me, I'll take
care of you,” she said with a nuzzle to Kaidia's jaw. The god
returned the affection with a kiss to Echo's temple.

“No, you won't, because even if I DO get sick,
you'll never know,” Kai stated.

“Oh, bullshit,” Echo retorted.

“She's not kidding. Last time I remember her being
sick was the incident with the lightning bolt. And I know she's been
sick since, but she hides it well,” Syren replied.

“You just didn't see her wiping the blood she just
coughed up onto her pants,” Nadia replied.

“Excuse me?” Syren inquired with a raised
brow.

“Remember when she went and meditated in her room
for five days and asked not to be disturbed?” Nadia asked.

“I do,” Syren replied. “She told me it
was some task assigned by one of the academy instructors.”

“It wasn't. Kaidia doesn't meditate, she's a
berserker, not a warrior monk. She was just coughing up blood and
didn't know why. She stayed in her room until it subsided. I brought
her food,” Nadia replied.

“And you didn't say anything?” Sae asked.

“She asked me not to,” Nadia shrugged.

Syren turned her eyes to Kaidia and fixed her eldest
daughter with a glare. Kaidia just smiled lightly and shrugged.
Boreth laughed softly and shook his head, muttering something about
pain in the ass children.

“Don't ever do that to me,” Echo warned,
eyeing her smiling lover.

“You won't have to worry about it,” Kaidia
said and pointed to herself. “God.”

Echo rolled her eyes and looked to Syren for help. The
older woman shrugged lightly.

“Be on your toes, Echo. She has an answer for
everything,” she said before turning back to breakfast
preparations.

* * *

After breakfast and idle chatter, Kai and Echo departed, and headed
for Kai's temple, which was located near the center of the city. It
was considered one of the more important buildings in the city. An
old temple that had been dedicated to a forgotten god and abandoned
for some time had been renovated to become what most people were
calling the “Dragon Temple.”

Unlike Kaidia's other temples, which appeared much the same as any
other god's temples; all stone and banners declaring which god they
were dedicated to, the temple in Vortha had been built above and
beyond expectations. The building was wide and tall, built of the
finest stone, with windows of stained glass, and long, black banners
that draped down the front of the building. The banners were
emblazoned with blue runes and a dragon's head; the latter of which
was more of a symbol that a lifelike depiction. But all of that paled
in comparison to the life-sized statue of Kai's dragon that sat on
the apex of the roof, its tail trailing down the roof and hanging off
the edge, its wings spread out wide, its mouth open in a silent roar.
The statue was detailed, every scale, every tooth, every claw, its
tongue, the musculature, everything was true to life. In place of the
actual dragon's silver eyes were large diamonds that glittered in the
sunlight. They were probably worth more than half the city.

Kaidia and Echo stopped outside and stared up at the dragon.

“Holy shit,” Kai said, voice tinged with awe.

“I think that's blasphemous, love,” Echo said, “but
I second the notion.”

“Elves or dwarves?” Kai asked.

“I think it was probably both,” Echo answered. “There
are indicators of both. Dwarven stone workers are probably the reason
why that thing can stay there and not bring the whole building down
or fall off, but elves are likely the ones that did the detail work
on the dragon itself. Both deserve recognition.”

“I don't want to think of what that cost,” Kaidia
muttered.

“Less than you'd think, your holiness,” said a voice from
near Kai's side.

Kaidia and Echo looked over to see a priest garbed in the black and
blue robes of Kaidia's clergy. He was a man in his middle years with
long, greying hair and a beard to match.

“Let's not call me that,” Kai instructed.

“Fair enough, Lady Valengaard,” the man said.

“What shall I call you?” Kai asked.

“My name is Varadae,” the man said with a smile.

“First or last name?” Echo inquired.

“Only name,” Varadae replied.

“Ah, well, nice to meet you,” Echo said.

“Likewise, Lady Echo,” Varadae said with a slight smile.
“I take it you two came to see the temple?”

“We did. I had no idea it was this... grand,” Kaidia said
with a gesture to the building.

“Well, since you are from Vortha, this is considered your
primary temple. Thus, it had to stand apart from the rest. This
seemed like a good way to make it distinct,” Varadae explained.

“It's certainly that,” Kai admitted.

“Wait until you see the inside,” Varadae said with a
gesture toward the building.

Kaidia started toward the temple with Echo walking to her left and
Varadae to her right. People moved out of her way, allowing her to
pass without having to pause. The front of the temple had three sets
of double doors, all made of heavy wood that was banded together with
steel. Kaidia pushed open the center set of doors and walked inside.

The majority of the temple was one massive chamber. The floor was
made of a smooth stone, while pillars of black marble rose up to the
dizzying heights of the stone ceiling, creating a central path to the
far end of the chamber. At the far end was a dais, a throne, and
standing over it all, another massive dragon statue.

“Well, I wish I could say I was surprised,” Kaidia
chuckled.

“That's not as big as the one on the roof, but it's still
huge,” Echo said with a hint of awe.

“And the craftsmanship is just as stunning,” Varadae
remarked.

“Can't disagree,” Kaidia said.

“If you need something while you're here, don't hesitate to
ask,” Varadae said with a slight bow before he walked away.
Kaidia and Echo approached the throne; people gathered in the temple
took notice. The pair paused in front of the throne.

“I'm not sure if I want to sit in that. Seems like it'd make me
look... pompous,” Kaidia said.

“You're going to have to sit in it at some point. I'm sure
Varadae will want to capture the image and use it for promoting the
temple or, at least, something to hang on the wall,” Echo
reasoned.

“He would probably rather have an artist paint a portrait the
size of a small house to hang in here,” Kai retorted with a
cynical tone.

“Don't say that too loud, we'll be here forever while he has
that done,” Echo said with a chuckle. She glanced to the side,
where a young woman had stopped a respectful distance away from
Kaidia and seemed to be waiting for Kai to notice her. Echo tapped
Kaidia on the thigh to get the god's attention, and then nodded to
the woman. Kaidia looked over, smiling warmly.

“Come here, dear,” Kai said to the woman with a gentle
gesture of her hand.

* * *

Several hours later, Kaidia and Echo walked out into the evening,
hand in hand. Kai took a deep breath, taking in the spring air. It
was warm, though there was a slight breeze that was just slightly
cooler than she would have preferred, but she wasn't going to
complain.

“Where to now?” Echo asked.

“Corrana,” Kaidia answered.

“I meant right this second, not tomorrow,” Echo said.

“Oh, right, let's go to a nice restaurant; have a nice dinner.
Just us,” Kai suggested, eyes looking to Echo.

“I like the sound of that,” Echo replied with a smile.

“I figured you might. Beyond that, I'm hungry. I know they
provided us with lunch, but walking among my faithful is tiring,”
Kaidia said.

“Yeah, I often forget I'm consorting with a god,” Echo
mused.

“Oh?” Kaidia questioned, a look of curiosity on her face.

“You're not all high and mighty... not a braggart about being a
god or a noble. You're just you and I like that,” Echo
clarified.

“Being an arrogant jerk has never really been my style. At
least, not that I've noticed. I'm sure someone could find some reason
to argue the other direction,” Kaidia said with a shrug.

“There's always someone to argue, no matter what,” Echo
agreed.

“Indeed. Now, how about that dinner?”

“Lead the way.”

* * *

Kaidia leaned back in her chair and pushed her empty plate away. Echo
mirrored the motion and smiled across the table at Kai.

“That was great,” the kyrian stated.

“Yeah, it was,” Kaidia agreed.

“We can go home and relax... have a nice, easy night,”
Echo said as she stretched her arms above her head and groaned at the
delightful feeling in her muscles.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Kaidia said.

Before they could get any further with the conversation, a city guard
hurried into the place, looked around and, upon spotting Kaidia, made
his way quickly to her.

“Lady Valengaard, Lady Echo. I hate to interrupt your dinner,
but you've both been requested by Lord Valengaard to join him at the
main gates,” the guard informed the couple.

“So much for a quiet evening,” Kaidia muttered before
looking up to the guard. “Show us the way.”

* * *

The guard led Kaidia and Echo to the main gates of the city where
Boreth, Nadia, and several Vortha city guards were gathered. Boreth
saw them coming and motioned them closer.

“Kai, Echo, thanks for coming. Sorry if I caught you at a bad
time,” Boreth said.

“We had just finished dinner, so it wasn't a problem,”
Kaidia said.

“Good. I wanted you two to come along. This is important,”
Boreth said.

“What is it?” Echo asked.

“A minor noble by the name of Lady Helena Orana was on her way
here when her procession was attacked. One of her guards made it here
to tell us, but from the picture he paints, the outlook is grim.
We're going to go investigate. I wanted you and my daughters here
because, if someone is brave enough to attack a noble caravan,
they've probably got some strength to them. A few of the guards know
some limited magic, but you three are powerhouses,” Boreth
explained.

“Got it. Well, let's not stand around,” Kaidia said.

Boreth nodded, then looked up at the assembled guards. “Let's
go!”

Chapter VIII

The walk along the road was quiet. The dark was lit by torches
carried by several of the guards. Boreth led the way, Kaidia and Echo
walked in the middle. The Vortha guards automatically flanked them,
as well as Nadia, who walked near the back. The road to the main gate
split off in several directions, but Boreth stayed on the main
stretch of road, which ran straight for a great distance, and
disappeared into a large forest that many in Vortha used for hunting,
including Boreth, himself.

Once in the forest, the darkness seemed to press in on all sides, and
the torches did less to push it back. Boreth nearly tripped on the
first body the group came across. A short distance beyond it was the
wreckage of the caravan. Bodies lay strewn all over the road, against
the trees, and in the edge of the forest on either side of the road.
The carriage which Lady Orana had been riding in lay on its side, as
did the horses that had pulled it.

“Anyone else notice anything strange?” Kaidia asked as
she looked over the scene.

“The arrows,” Boreth answered.

The horses, the carriage, the guards, and several of the trees were
bristling with gleaming white arrows. Kaidia moved toward the
carriage, noting that it was empty as she peered in the open door.
Another few feet along the road lay Lady Orana, sprawled out on the
road in her extravagant gown, pierced with several of the white
arrows, and quite dead. Kaidia reached for one of the arrows. Her
fingers closed around it and an icy chill, the likes of which she'd
never felt, bit her fingers with such intensity that she jerked her
hand back with a hiss.

“Damn! That's cold,” she growled, examining her fingers
for damage.

“It's warm out,” Boreth stated.

“The arrows are born of sorcery. Hence, the ability to defy the
air's temperature,” Kai replied.

“Nothing looks to be stolen,” Nadia said, looking into
the carriage. “Someone's coin purse, probably Lady Orana's, is
laying here.”

“So it was an assassination?” Boreth asked.

“It appears that way,” Kaidia said. “But Orana was
a minor noble, the lowest rung on the noble ladder, in fact, if
memory serves. Why would someone assassinate her? She had very little
power, modest monetary assets, and killing a low-level noble is
hardly a statement.”

The hair on the back of Echo's neck stood up and she looked around,
peering into the woods, knowing she could see beyond anyone else
present.

“Then this is either a test run for something larger... or a
trap,” she said, loud enough to be heard by everyone present
while drawing her sword. Kaidia, Boreth, Nadia, and all the guards
did the same.

An arrow whistled out from the trees and Nadia raised her sword up
just in time to deflect it, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Watch yourselves!” Boreth shouted.

Everyone closed ranks, backs to one another in an imperfect circle,
and started back the way they had come. If they were attacked outside
the forest, at least they could see it coming. No sooner than they
had passed the tree line, soldiers in white walked out from the
trees, bright in the darkness.

“Here they come,” Echo warned, her voice a growl.

“Fire. They're vulnerable to it. Use your torches,”
Kaidia advised the guards.

“How do you know that'll work?” Nadia asked.

“Echo and I fought several of these in Quinolt. They're
sorcerous constructs, not people. Fire damages them. When they die,
they explode. Be careful,” Kai advised.

“Take them!” Boreth roared and bolted forward. Everyone
followed his example, charging toward the white-clad soldiers. Swords
clashed in the open fields on either side of the road. Out of the
corner of her eye, Kaidia saw one of the guards use his torch as a
club, and bash one of the icy warriors in the head. The blow stunned
the soldier and the guard pressed his advantage with another strike
that brought the construct to its knees. Another guard caved in the
warrior's helm with a final blow. The following explosion knocked
both guards onto their backs.

Kaidia saw this all happen in the span of a moment or two. She turned
her full attention to the opponent she had chosen, ducking a swing of
his sword, and burying her own blade into his chest. She channeled
power through the blade, heating it to sizzling temperatures in a
heartbeat, completing the fatal blow. She jerked the blade loose and
jumped backward. The warrior fell to his knees, then shattered in an
explosion of ice and frost.

After the flashy death, Kaidia looked around to see the progress of
the rest of her group. Guards were beating a few of the warriors to
death with their torches. Nadia had engulfed another in flames and
fallen to one knee afterward, still feeling worn out from her ordeal
the day before. Echo had smartly given another a fiery death. Boreth
was surrounded by decapitated bodies. He had, apparently, lopped off
the heads of all of the warriors that had attacked him, which had
been most of them as far as Kaidia could tell.

Boreth cleaved the head off of the final white warrior and the body
dropped. In quick succession, the bodies around him exploded,
shrouding him in a frosty mist. When it cleared, he shook off the
chill and looked around.

“Everyone okay?” he asked.

“Mordecai took a sword to the shoulder, but we're good
otherwise,” one of the guards reported. Kaidia, Echo, and Nadia
nodded in agreement.

“Good. Let's head back. We'll send someone out to get the
bodies and clear the road. The bodies need to be prepared to be sent
back to their families,” Boreth said and started the walk back
toward Vortha, which glittered with light in the distance.

Upon walking inside the gates, Boreth split off from the rest to
order a fresh group of guards to see to the bodies on the road. The
guards went about their duties, with Mordecai going off on his own to
seek a healer for his shoulder. Nadia nudged her elder sister's
shoulder, gaining the taller woman's attention.

“I'm going home. I'm not fully recovered from yesterday,”
she said, her voice low.

“Yeah, you look winded. Go on. Tell Sae to take care of you,”
Kai said with a wink.

“Uh huh,” Nadia muttered and walked off, shoulders
squared, back straight. She was a noble after all - there was an
image to maintain; strength to project.

Kaidia turned to Echo, only to be interrupted by a messenger who ran
up to Kaidia and Echo, then put her hands on her knees to catch her
breath. The woman was short, with cropped red hair. She was wearing
lightweight leather armor that was black with a silver scorpion
emblem in the center of her chest, just above her breasts. It marked
her as a royal messenger; one of Rykar's soldiers. She straightened
up and looked up to Kaidia.

“My Lady,” she addressed the god.

“Messenger. What can I do for you, dear?” Kaidia asked.

“King Rykar urgently requests your presence, Lady Valengaard,”
the messenger answered.

“Oh, well, I was going to head to Corrana in the morning,”
Kai replied.

“He's not in Corrana, my Lady. He's up north, on a mercenary
job,” the woman said.

“I'm surprised it took this long for him to get back to that,”
Kaidia said with a chuckle.

“The Queen isn't ecstatic about it, neither is the political
part of his staff,” the messenger said.

“And you?” Echo asked.

“King Rykar will do as he pleases. If that means cutting down
brigands and getting bloody, then more power to him. I find it
refreshing in a royal and I'm happy to see he hasn't lost his taste
for it,” the woman said with a smirk.

“He'll never change. You don't have to worry about that,”
Kaidia assured the woman.

“I agree, my Lady. Now, Rykar is in a town about a day's ride
north of Corrana. It's called Belhurst. Apparently, they're having
some problem with ghostly white soldiers invading it,
indiscriminately killing. Sounds like a real mess. Rykar took
Commander Malcade and a few soldiers, mostly new recruits,” the
messenger expounded.

“White soldiers? Sounds familiar,” Kaidia said.

“You've encountered them?” the messenger asked.

“Yes, twice,” Kaidia confirmed.

“So, you know who they are?” the woman asked.

“What they are. They're sorcerous constructs. They're the
product of a very skilled, powerful mage who specializes in ice
magic. Someone on par with me or Lady Syren or one of the elder
mages,” Kaidia explained.

“Well, I'd tell him, but he was quite adamant that you make
your way to him with all the haste you could manage,” the
messenger said.

“We'll portal to Corrana, then go from there. I've never been
to Belhurst,” Kaidia said with a nod to the messenger.

“Me either,” Echo said.

“You rest here for the night,” Kaidia instructed the
messenger.

“I think I'll go have a drink,” she said with a smile to
Kaidia and Echo.

“You do that. Off with you,” Kaidia said with a smile.

The messenger inclined her head to Kaidia, then Echo, then turned and
walked off to find a good tavern.

“We have to go right now, don't we?” Echo asked.

“You don't, I do,” Kaidia answered.

“Like I'm letting you go without me,” Echo replied.

“Well, aren't you sweet?” Kaidia asked.

“Like sugar,” Echo answered firmly.

“Well, let's go,” Kaidia said, then turned, took a
breath, waved her hand, opening up a blinding, shimmering pool of
light. She walked into it, Echo followed her through, and it closed
behind them.

Chapter IX

Rykar woke with a start, fingers gripping the wrist of the person who
shook him awake.

“Chill out there, Rykar,” Malcade said. He was used to
Rykar waking like that. The man always had. One could hardly blame
him. He'd had a rough past and often woke with an unsettled look in
his eyes.

“What is it, Mal?” Rykar asked as he blinked the sleep
from his eyes and calmed himself.

“Kaidia has arrived,” Malcade stated.

Rykar sat up. He had been lying on a cot in his command tent, still
clothed, his armor on the floor. He shook the sleep from his head and
stretched.

“I'll be out to greet her momentarily,” Rykar said.
Malcade nodded and left the tent. A minute or two later, when Rykar
stepped out of the tent he found Kaidia, Echo, and Malcade engaged in
conversation.

“I see my messenger found you, old friend,” Rykar said by
way of greeting before briefly embracing Kaidia.

“She found me in Vortha. I was planning on heading to Corrana
this morning, but she said you asked that I make haste,” Kaidia
replied.

“Yes, sorry about that. We're a bit overwhelmed here, that's
all,” Rykar said.

“Warriors in white,” Kaidia stated.

“Exactly. Fought them before?” Rykar asked.

“Yeah, outside of Vortha not an hour before your messenger
found me. They had killed a minor noble and her entourage, then
attacked us when we were investigating the scene. Before that they
walked into Quinolt while I was visiting my temple there and just
started attacking,” Kaidia answered.

“Well, I'd say you beat them, given that you're here,”
Rykar said, gently prodding for more information.

“Fire, probably heat in any form, is a weakness for them,”
Kai explained.

“As well as normal damage. We've determined that they're
magical beings, constructs. We can beat down a few easy enough, but
Belhurst is crawling with the bastards... and bitches, I suppose,
some of them appear female,” Rykar corrected himself, though a
normal noble would've balked at his terminology.

“They explode when they die, too,” Kaidia added.

“Yeah, into showers of ice. It'd be festive if it were time for
the winter celebrations,” Rykar said. “One of our
soldiers got his bell rung by one of those explosions. He's still
lying down in one of the tents.”

“Father seemed to weather several explosions from the last
night,” Kai said.

“Your father is a fucking mountain,” Rykar retorted. Echo
laughed.

“That he is,” Kaidia agreed.

“Where are all the people who live here?” Echo asked.

“Fled to nearby towns or dead. Their elders hired us to clear
the place out so they can move back in,” Rykar said.

“We won't have to worry about defending non-combatants, then,”
Kaidia observed.

“Makes things easier,” Malcade added.

“Yes, anyway, feel like helping us out here?” Rykar
asked.

“I'd be happy to,” Kai said. “Though I'm curious
how you're not getting attacked by them right now, being camped this
close to the town.”

“They only seem to attack if we get near the town. When we back
off to a certain point, they stop. It's like they're only defending
the town, you know; if you ignore the fact that they drove out the
people who actually live there. They're not burning anything, for
obvious reasons they're not looting. They just stand there unless we
draw close enough,” Rykar explained, looking past his command
tent to the town that lay several yards beyond.

“Strange. Well, when do you plan to attack next?” Kai
asked.

“Midday. We're going to surround the town; breach from four
different points. Now that there are four of us who know how to
command, we can each lead one of the four groups,” Rykar
answered.

“Works for me. Got a place we can rest until then?”
Kaidia queried, gesturing to herself and Echo.

“Of course. My personal tent is at your disposal,” Rykar
said, pointing to a tent beside the command tent.

“Thanks,” Kai said with a pat to Rykar's chest before
walking past him and toward his tent.

* * *

Kaidia became aware of two people talking above her, though she
didn't open her eyes, simply tightened her hold on Echo's waist as
she and the kyrian lay in the furs and pillows on the floor of
Rykar's personal tent.

“They're adorable, aren't they?”

“You wouldn't think that they're both legendary murder
machines.”

“It's almost a shame to wake them.”

“That's why I brought you in here, Malcade.”

“Like hell. I'm not waking them up.”

“Go on, brother, wake them,”

“Nope.”

“I'm the commanding officer and I say wake them.”

“You can pull rank as King and I'll still tell you to get
fucked, my friend.”

“Well, I'll note that in your official record.”

“What record? You don't keep any records.”

“That you know about.”

“I'm your right hand! I know everything you do!”

“So you think.”

“I know, you di-hurrg!”

Malcade crumpled to the floor as Kaidia's foot shot up and caught him
in the side of the thigh, causing his leg to go instantly numb and,
at the same time, hurt like mad.

“That was a funny noise. Can you do it again?” Rykar
asked as Malcade lie on the floor, red-faced, trying to compose
himself.

Kaidia sat up, looked at Malcade, then grumbled. “Damn.”

“What?” Rykar asked.

“I was hoping to kick you,” Kai replied.

“Well, that would have been rude,” Rykar chided.

“And kicking Malcade isn't rude?” Echo asked as she sat
up and observed the situation.

“Not as rude as if she had kicked me,” Rykar explained.

Malcade pushed himself up, muttering, favoring his still numb leg,
using Rykar as support; a fact Rykar didn't even seem to notice
despite the fact that Malcade was decidedly larger.

“Is it time to start the attack?” Kai asked.

“Once Malcade can walk again,” Rykar said with a nod.

Kai stood up and stretched, Echo mimicking the motions beside her.
Kai walked by Malcade and Rykar, giving the former a pat on the
shoulder as she did. Echo followed her mate out of the tent. Rykar
watched them leave, then looked to Malcade.

“Recovered?”

“Not really.”

“Well, hurry up. We've got heads to cleave.”

Rykar just got a nasty look in return.

* * *

After dividing up the Scorpion soldiers into four equal groups and
placing them under the command of Rykar, Malcade, Kaidia, and Echo,
respectively, they spread out around the town. On a signal from
Kaidia, a fireball launched into the sky, the four groups charged..

When the commanders of each group got within a few yards of the edge
of town, the white warriors within came to life. Rykar's soldiers,
clad in black, collided with the white armored soldiers of unknown
origin in a cacophony of swords clashing against shields, swords
clanging against swords, and the cries of those unfortunate enough to
find themselves impaled on a blade of some sort.

Kaidia sliced through the first ice soldier she met, the heated blade
of her sword cutting right through the white armor and body of the
soldier, the resulting blast of ice doing little to faze her at this
point. Several more detonations rang out, indicating that several
Scorpion soldiers had managed to cut down more of the white armored
constructs. Kaidia moved to engage the next foe she could find,
locking swords with him, exhaling a misty breath. The town felt like
the middle of winter, despite the spring sun overhead.

Kai glanced over the shoulder of her opponent and raised a brow.
Standing at the center of the town was another of the sorcerous
constructs, but this one was a good head and shoulders taller than
any of the others that she had laid eyes on thus far. He wasn't
fighting, simply standing, and watching the battle unfold. Kaidia
refocused on her adversary and shoved him backward, then swung her
blade, and lopped his head off before dashing away to avoid the icy
explosion.

Rykar, sinthite sword and shield in hand, gleefully engaged one white
soldier after another. His sword was wreathed in sorcerous lightning,
though he did as much bashing with his shield as he did cutting with
his blade. He, too, had spotted the larger ice warrior, but decided
he'd figure that monster out when he got to it.

A few more of the white soldiers fell, with blasts of ice that
followed. Echo's ears perked up at the sound of a strangled scream
and she turned her eyes to the source. A Scorpion soldier lay dead on
the ground, several white arrows buried in his back.

“Watch for archers!” Echo yelled.

Kaidia whirled about just in time to dodge an arrow that had been
aimed at her torso. The archer that had fired at her was standing
atop a house. Kai returned the favor, throwing a bolt of flame from
her free hand, catching the archer in the face, knocking him from the
roof of the house. The explosion of ice from behind the building
indicated his demise.

A couple of Scorpions weren't as quick on the draw and fell to the
ground, victims of cold arrows. Their deaths were quickly avenged by
flames and lightning from Echo and Rykar, respectively. It wasn't
until those last two white-clad soldiers fell that the large one,
that had stood still this whole time, finally moved.

The Scorpions, commanders among them, backed up a few steps, eyeing
the large construct warily. His hand reached out, the frost and ice
in the air started flowing to it, and a long staff began to
materialize in his grasp. The staff turned into a halberd as a blade
of ice formed at one end.

“Well, that looks mildly threatening,” Rykar remarked.

“You are the master of understatement,” Malcade muttered.

“Thank you,” Rykar said with cheery note to his voice.

“I'm not certain that was a compliment, Sire,” one of the
Scorpion soldiers said.

“It was. Commander Collins has some strange ways of expressing
himself,” Rykar assured the solider.

“If you say so, Sire,” the woman said.

Malcade just shook his head.

A fireball burst to life in Kaidia's hand and she concentrated on
pouring more power into it, making it larger. To her, this was
simple; this ice warrior was bigger than the others, so she would
need a bigger burst of fire, more heat to take him down. Before the
fireball could grow to sufficient size, the warrior lunged, swinging
his halberd at Kai. She had to jump backward to avoid the strike. No
sooner had she planted her feet than she had to bring her sword up to
deflect a stab of the warrior's halberd blade. She threw the mass of
flames at the warrior's head, hoping to damage him, at least.

He ducked it. Before he could attack Kaidia again, Malcade charged
him. The warrior twisted around, deflected Malcade's sword, and
countered with a thrust of his halberd that was turned aside by Mal's
shield. The blow pushed Malcade back a few steps. Rykar launched
himself at the warrior next in the hope of catching the sorcerous
creation off guard. Rykar's sword was met with the staff of the
warrior's halberd. Before Rykar could pull back, the icy soldier
slammed his head into Rykar's, throwing the king back onto the
ground. Rykar rolled to his feet, growling.

“He's stronger than the rest,” Kaidia muttered.

“You think?” Malcade asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

“Who's the master of understatement now?” Rykar asked
rhetorically.

Kaidia opened her mouth to give a sharp-tongued retort, but her words
died as she saw a fiery chain wrap around the neck of the white
warrior and jerk him backward. He lost his footing and crashed down
on his back, revealing the owner of the chain to be Echo.

“When the hell did you start using chains?” Kai
questioned, face showing surprise.

“It's magic, I'll teach you, just kill it!” Echo shouted
in reply.

Rykar moved first, leaping atop the warrior, burying his sword in its
chest. Malcade moved just after Rykar, running his sword down into
the icy construct's chest. Kaidia put her sword away.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Echo demanded, jerking on
the chain, keeping the warrior from rising too far.

“Being decisive,” Kaidia replied. She held her hand out
to a Scorpion mercenary standing beside her. “Your weapon, if
you please.”

The woman handed her war hammer over to the god.

“Thank you.”

Kaidia took the war hammer, her magic coursing through it, heating
the head of the hammer as she walked over to the pinned warrior. The
chain around his neck, the swords through his chest, kept him from
getting to his feet, and Kaidia calmly walked to his head. She stared
down at him, realizing she couldn't see anything in the eye slits of
his helm. She seemed to consider that for a long moment while
ignoring Echo, Malcade, and Rykar urging her to end the fight.

She raised the hammer up high and slammed the heated head down on the
icy helm, shattering it. An explosion of magical energy unlike the
death of all the other white warriors erupted, sending a shock wave
through the entire village. Kai hit the ground on her back, as did
Malcade, Rykar, Echo, and every Scorpion warrior still breathing.
Every building in the town shuddered as the blast caused the ground
to quake.

Kaidia's vision was blurred, but as she looked up, she saw a cloaked
and hooded figure standing on a nearby roof, observing the battle.
Kaidia's first instinct prevailed and she threw a bolt of fire at the
figure and missed due to her blurred sight. She couldn't make
anything out about the being and before her vision could clear, the
person had disappeared.

“Fuck, my head,” Rykar muttered from the ground, holding
his hand to his forehead.

“Your head'll be fine,” Malcade replied.

“Should've guessed that'd happen,” Echo grumbled.

“Everyone okay?” Kai asked aloud. A general murmur of
positive responses came from the Scorpion mercenaries.

Kaidia pushed herself to her feet, muscles protesting after all the
exertion. Rykar sat up and thumped Malcade on the chest.

“Get up, lazy,” he grunted.

“Go get humped by an oxen,” Malcade replied.

“Um... no?” Rykar responded.

Echo stood up, brushed herself off, then squeaked as she felt
Kaidia's arms wrap around her waist from behind. She turned in the
god's embrace and pressed her lips to Kai's for a brief, but intense
moment. She pushed away and punched Kaidia in the shoulder, causing
the taller woman to give her a questioning look.

“Next time, don't pause for dramatic effect!” Echo
growled.

“That wasn't the intent,” Kai contested.

“Yeah, well, if we hadn't been able to hold it, that could have
gotten you hurt!” the kyrian admonished.

“I had faith in your abilities. Hell, I was pretty sure Frick
and Frack over there could handle it too,” Kaidia said with a
jerk of her thumb at Malcade and Rykar.

Echo sighed, then leaned into Kaidia, resting her head on the god's
chest.

“You're going to be the death of me, woman,” the kyrian
muttered softly.

“You'll get used to it. Now, we should probably help ready the
bodies for transport. We only lost a few, but their families will
want to bury them... or Rykar will. Either way, we have to carry them
back,” Kaidia said.

Echo held onto Kai a few moments longer, then took a step back, and
nodded.

* * *

Kaidia and Echo made the long ride back to Corrana with Rykar and
company, given that using a portal wouldn't have been practical. For
whatever reason, non-living things flew out the other side at
alarming velocities if they weren't anchored to living beings and
Rykar didn't relish the idea of the tents or the bodies of his fallen
soldiers whizzing out of the portal and into the newly established
Scorpion headquarters in Corrana.

When they arrived, Rykar led everyone in through a small gate that
was rarely used. It led into the markets, which were deserted this
time of night. All the stalls were closed up, the shop windows
darkened, and no one was on the street. Dawn would break within a
couple of hours; everyone was asleep. Rykar was looking forward to
getting into his bed with Sage. He had slept better since he'd met
her and after the long couple of days he'd had, he was looking
forward to a good long bout of sleep.

The Scorpion soldiers broke off from Rykar, Malcade, Echo, and Kaidia
when they walked past the headquarters for the Scorpion Company. The
soldiers carried their fallen brothers and sisters into the building
with a salute from Rykar and Malcade. The headquarters had its own
crypt and undertaker. Any bodies not claimed by their families were
buried in the crypt of this headquarters or the one nearest the
fallen soldier's home. There were several headquarter buildings
across Haelstross, after all.

After leaving their horses at the stables, Rykar led Malcade, Kaidia,
and Echo into the newly constructed palace. It was beyond luxurious.
The building was made of finely crafted stone. The detail of the
stonework was intricate and beautiful. Inside, one wouldn't believe
the building was made of stone. There was detailed woodwork, lush
carpeting, almost every light was of sorcerous origin. Kaidia counted
three libraries on the hall they were walking along. Rykar did like
his books.

They small group encountered a maid that was up early, preparing for
the day. Before she could bow or curtsy or make any sort of noise,
Rykar put a finger to his lips, winked, and kept walking. Kaidia gave
the woman a small wave. Rykar led the way through the palace, up two
flights of stairs, and into a long, dimly lit hall. The lack of
bright light was inviting to all four of the tired warriors.

“Kai, Echo, you two can sleep there,” Rykar said with a
gesture to metal door set deep in a stone doorway to his left. “It's
our finest guest room, I assure you. Only the best for a god and her
warlord of a girlfriend,” Rykar smiled brightly.

“Thanks, Your Highness,” Kaidia said with a bit of
sarcasm and a pat on Rykar's shoulder.

“No problem. My room is at the end of the hall and Malcade's is
between my room and your own,” Rykar elaborated. “Just in
case some sort of crazy ass emergency arises.”

“We'll see you in the morning,” Kai said before walking
into the guest room. Echo gave a little wave to Malcade and Rykar,
then followed Kaidia. After closing the door, Echo turned, and her
jaw dropped.

“Holy shit,” she breathed. She gawked around the room. It
was a room fit for royalty. A chandelier hung from the ceiling,
sorcerous lights twinkling on its many branches. A bed bigger than
any Echo had seen stood off to one side, covered in plush blankets
and pillows. An empty fireplace was built into the opposite wall.
Thanks to the warm spring air, no fire was needed. A large wardrobe
stood on the far wall and a bookshelf full of books and scrolls was
only a few feet to Echo's left, on the same wall as the door.

“If this is the guest room, Rykar's room must have a goddamned
water fountain in it,” Kaidia remarked as she looked around.

Echo laughed and then walked over to the bed, shedding her sword and
clothes as she went, ending up in the bed without a stitch of
clothing on her person. She stretched out with a purr and beckoned to
Kaidia. The god smiled and walked over, leaving her sword at her
bedside, then slipping out of her clothes before climbing into the
bed with Echo.

Chapter X

Kaidia hissed and jerked awake as she felt sharp pin-pricks in her
back. She turned over in the bed and growled at Echo, who was wearing
a grin like that cat that’d eaten the canary.

“Claws are not nice, dear,” Kaidia scolded.

“You weren't waking up,” Echo said, flexing her fingers,
her razor sharp claws retracting, turning into fingernails that
appeared completely ordinary.

“Maybe because I'm supposed to sleep more?” Kai asked
rhetorically.

“It is midday,” Echo argued.

“So?” Kai questioned.

“You need to visit your temple,” Echo answered.

“I can do that tomorrow,” Kaidia replied.

“I suppose so. We could spend the day in bed,” Echo
suggested.

“Now you're talking,” Kaidia said with a grin, her arms
wrapping around Echo's neck, pulling the kyrian woman to her, kissing
her deeply.

Three kisses into their day in bed, there was a knock at the door.
Kai and Echo paused, looked to the door, then simultaneously decided
to ignore it, and returned to the pleasure of each others' mouths.
Then the knock came again and Kaidia growled.

“Shh, I'll get it,” Echo said. She got up, pulled her
clothes on quickly, and walked over to the door. She opened it and
smiled politely to the maid on the other side. “Yes?”

“Lady Seras. You and Lady Valengaard have been invited to lunch
by King Rykar and Queen Sage,” the maid said with a small smile
and a demure incline of her head.

“Thank you. Please tell them that we will be down shortly,”
Echo replied.

“Yes, Ma'am,” the maid said, and then walked away. Echo
closed the door and turned to smile at Kaidia.

“Up you get, dearest god,” she said.

“Really? What happened to making love all day?” Kai
grumbled.

“I'm hungry and you are too. We can always come back and tear
the room apart in a bout of passion after we eat,” Echo
replied.

“Maybe tonight when we go to bed again. Once we leave the room
and go eat, I bet we end up busy with something for the remainder of
the day,” Kaidia said as she got up.

“Well then, we'll make sure we're loud enough that Rykar can
hear us down the hall,” Echo said as she watched Kaidia get
dressed.

Kaidia snorted. “Why? Want him coming down here to watch?”
she asked.

“He's got Sage, I doubt he cares about us going at it,”
Echo reasoned.

“You don't know him as well as I do,” Kai countered.

“If you say so. Let's go eat,” Echo said and opened the
door.

* * *

Kaidia walked with Echo, Rykar, and Sage along one of the palace
hallways after lunch, the four of them strolling side by side.

“So, are you going home?” Rykar asked.

“After I make a visit to my temple here. I was going to do it
yesterday, but your battle in Belhurst delayed that a bit,”
Kaidia answered.

“My bad,” Rykar said with a chuckle.

“It's fine. It was a good workout,” Kai replied.

“Wouldn't think you'd need any of those with Echo around,”
Rykar smirked. Sage nudged him and shot him a dirty look, which did
about as much good as a teardrop on a bonfire. Echo rolled her eyes.

“Different kind of workout,” Kaidia said, long used to
Rykar's sense of humor.

“Of course. Well, I have a favor to ask if you can spare
another day,” Rykar said.

“What might that be?” Kai asked.

“Well, some of the soldiers slain in the battle at Belhurst
were followers of... well... you. You're here and it would mean a lot
to the others that survived if you'd bless the fallen... or speak
over them... or whatever the hell it is you gods do,” Rykar
said.

“I can do that. I assume the time to do that will be tomorrow?”
Kai asked.

“Yes. That's when the ceremony will take place,” Rykar
answered.

“What time tomorrow?” Kaidia inquired.

“I'm not sure. I'll send for you when it's drawing near,”
Rykar replied.

“Alright. Well, for the afternoon, I'll be at my temple if you
need me for anything,” Kai said.

“I won't interrupt your time with your followers if I don't
have to,” Rykar responded.

Kaidia and Echo turned at the next hall to leave the palace while
Rykar and Sage continued on, heading for the throne room. Much like
Kai, Rykar and Sage had people to see and business to which they
needed to attend.

* * *

The Dragon Temple in Corrana was a large, imposing building, but not
as visually striking as the one in Vortha. This temple was simply
imposing in the way it was built; massive stone blocks and sharp
angles. It looked like it couldn't be destroyed, not even if the gods
themselves wanted to bring it down. Such were the thoughts running
through Kaidia's mind.

“They'll find this in a thousand years when the rest of the
city is crumbled ruins,” she said, looking up at the enormous
building.

“Why do you say Corrana will be ruins in a thousand years?”
Echo asked with a raised brow.

“That just seems to be how things go. After all, Corrana isn't
the first capital city of Haelstross. In fact, I think it's the
fourth... and no one even remembers the names of the first two. The
third, Ghornazo, is nothing but ruins and piles of stone, steel, and
glass. Now, with war and violence making a return, it stands to
reason that the city will be a target. Look what happened last year.
Corrana was nearly wiped out,” Kaidia explained.

“I've heard of Ghornazo, it was a victim of the end of the
Second Age, if I recall correctly. And yes, Corrana was pretty much
destroyed, but it's been rebuilt. Who's to say it won't be rebuilt
again?” Echo asked.

“Yeah, the massive war that brought the Second Age to an end
claimed Ghornazo and several other cities. Corrana is loved by the
people, but people can change in a thousand years. At some point, it
might be destroyed and they'll just pack up and leave. But, it could
be the capital of Haelstross until the continent ceases to exist,”
Kaidia said with a shrug.

“You're a bit morbid, love,” Echo asserted.

“I simply look at the big picture,” Kaidia replied.

“Without paying much attention to the details of the small
picture, at times,” Echo commented.

Kaidia looked to Echo, brows raised. “Trying to say something?”

“Nah,” Echo said as she gently pushed Kaidia toward the
temple doors.

Kaidia shook her head, but didn't press Echo for an explanation. Not
that they could have had a discussion once Kaidia was inside, not
with all the followers that sought an audience with her once she
walked through the doors.

* * *

After several hours, Echo and Kaidia exited the temple. Kaidia took a
deep breath, taking in the warm spring air. The braziers along the
streets were flaring to life as the sun shined the last of its rays
over the city.

“I think I've healed more broken bones and performed more
unions in the past few days than all of the other temples in the
land,” Kai said as she stretched her arms up above her head.

“You're a good god,” Echo said, her tone playfully
patronizing.

“The best,” Kai replied and gave Echo a gentle push.

Echo laughed and wrapped her arms around Kai's arm, then nestled up
against the taller woman, purring rather loudly as she did.

“So, what's the plan for this evening?” Echo asked.

“Well, we'll eat with Rykar and Sage, then retire to that fancy
bedroom and make use of the plush bed as we had planned to do for the
day,” Kaidia said.

“Sounds good to me,” Echo said, a little smile on her
lips.

Kaidia smiled lightly, as she started walking through the city toward
the palace. She deliberately took the main route through the markets
and the stores, peering in windows, and looking at merchandise in the
stalls. She paused, something catching her eye. Echo glanced around,
following Kai's line of sight to try and figure out what had caused
the god to stop walking. The best she could tell, Kai had stopped to
look at something in a nearby shop window.

“What is it?” the kyrian asked.

“You'll see,” Kaidia answered as she pulled Echo toward
the shop and inside.

The shop was nothing but rows of shelves with trinkets and a main
counter behind which the proprietor sat. The owner of the shop was an
older human woman. She looked up as Kai and Echo walked inside, and
stood up so fast that she knocked her chair over.

“W-what an honor!” she stammered.

“Relax,” Kaidia said with a smile, her hand raised.

“It's not every day I get a god in my shop. Or a kyrian general
for that matter,” the woman said.

“Oh, wow, someone knows who I am for once when I'm with you,”
Echo jested, her tone impish.

“Trust me, all the attention isn't as fun as you might think,”
Kaidia replied dryly.

“Stressful, I assume,” Echo said.

“Yeah. I'm not a people person and my status runs directly in
the face of that. Being around all those people makes me tense as
hell,” Kai explained.

“I'll relax you when we get back to the palace,” Echo
purred in Kaidia's ear.

The shop owner cleared her throat. Kaidia and Echo looked up.

“What can I help a god and a warlord with?” she asked,
putting her elbows on the counter.

“I want to buy a necklace I saw on display in your window,”
Kaidia answered.

“Oh? Which one?” the shopkeeper asked.

Kai walked between shelves over to the large storefront window where
several necklaces of gold, silver, and various other metals hung on
display from little hooks in the top of the window frame. She reached
for one of the silver necklaces and took it gently from its hook,
then brought it to the counter, keeping it from Echo's eyes.

“This one,” the god said.

“A gold piece will cover it,” the shopkeeper stated.

Kaidia summoned a coin to her palm and dropped it on the counter all
in one smooth motion. The woman behind the counter took it with a
smile.

“Will that be all, my Lady?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Kaidia answered before turning away,
the necklace hidden in her closed fist. Echo looked at Kai's hand,
huffed a little, her curiosity starting to get to her.

“What is it?” she questioned.

“A necklace,” Kai replied.

“I know that!”

“Then why'd you ask?”

“Kaidia...”

“Yes?”

“Show me.”

“When we get to our room.”

“What if I want to see it now?”

“Patience.”

Echo huffed softly, but walked with Kaidia back through the city,
into the palace, and to their room without saying a word or trying to
sneak a peek at the gift Kai had bought. However, the moment the door
to their room closed, she pushed Kaidia to the bed and onto it,
making the god lie on her back. Echo straddled Kai's hips,
effectively pinning the other woman.

“Alright. We're here. What did you get?” Echo demanded.

“You might try asking nicely first,” Kai teased.

“Please show me,” Echo growled.

Kaidia laughed and held her hand up, fingers uncurled. A silver
necklace lay in her palm, the pendant polished to a gleam. Said
pendant was a tiger's head, mouth open in a silent roar. While it
wasn't exquisite, the craftsmanship was still high quality, like that
of an apprenticed elven jeweler.

“Well, that's predictable, but touching,” Echo said, then
leaned down and kissed Kaidia. The god returned the kiss and slipped
the necklace around Echo's neck in the process, fastening it.

“My tiger,” Kai stated, fingers tracing along Echo's
jawline. Echo smirked and sought out another kiss which Kai happily
relinquished.

Chapter XI

Vexarilia stood on all fours in the living room of Kai's
tomb-turned-home. She growled at Valka who stood across from her.
Valka, the large panther whose black fur shined in the light of the
lanterns, sconces, and candles around the room, growled back. The two
lunged at one another and collided in the middle of the room and
wrestled on the floor, rolling about, each trying to pin the other
down. After several frantic moments of twisting and fighting, Valka
pinned the much smaller human under her large paws and licked the
young woman's face.

“Okay okay, you win,” Vex admitted with a laugh. She
rather enjoyed playing with the big cat.

Mazoi, Echo's panther, watched the two with a bored look. She was
older than Valka, though nowhere near the end of her life, and had
never been the overly playful sort. Valka stepped off of Vex and let
the woman up. She stood and brushed herself off, then walked over to
the chair where she'd left her sword belt. She had taken it off to
play with the panther. She had just finished buckling it on when both
Valka and Mazoi stood up, looked to the hallway that led up to the
front door, and started snarling.

“What is it?” Vex asked as she turned and eyed both of
the large cats. No sooner than the words left her mouth, the cats
both took off up the curving hallway. Vex followed. As they reached
the top, Vex ran past the two cats and slowed them down, stopping
just short of the door. Given the weight and thickness of the doors,
she couldn't listen through them, so she pushed one open ever so
slightly, making as little noise as possible. A soft breeze of fresh
air slipped in through the thin crack, carrying with it the sounds
just outside the doorway. Vex's heart skipped a beat.

“Voices,” she whispered to the two cats. They seemed to
understand and Vex, not for the first time, got the impression that
these two felines were far more intelligent than one might believe.

A knife glanced off the other door, right by her face, and her
adrenaline spiked. They knew she was here. The panthers, seemingly
sensing that their hiding spot was compromised, launched past Vex,
slamming open the doors as they skidded to a stop on the grass
outside the door, eyes taking in their opposition. Vex followed them,
eyes scanning over the people waiting on her.

There appeared to be fifteen of them, both men and women. They looked
like knights or mercenaries of some sort. They were all wearing chain
mail and deep blue tabards, armored boots and bracers, swords
strapped to their backs. In the dying light of the day, Vex could see
the symbol that graced their tabards. It was an especially intricate
rendering of a snowflake, elegant and refined, silver in color. She
didn't recognize it, didn't recall seeing it before.

“Who are you? What do you want?” she demanded.

“Names aren't really important here. We're just here to leave a
message for Lady Kaidia,” a man said as he stepped forward. He
was tall, lanky, looked much to skinny to wield the sword on his
back, but Kaidia had always taught Vex not to assume.

“What message?” Vex questioned.

“You'll see,” the man said and gestured toward Vex. The
rest advanced toward her. She let fire flare to life in her hands,
taking a steadying breath. She wasn't a seasoned warrior like Kai or
Echo; this was nerve-wracking for her. Training, even with Kaidia,
wasn't the same as a real fight. Kai never had lethal intent, these
people were obviously different. The panthers snarled in warning and
lunged as two of the knights stepped too close. With their weight,
they brought the knights down, their teeth tearing out their throats,
almost in unison.

Vex used the moment of shock that washed over the knights to launch
her own attack. The nearest knight's face was engulfed in flames.
Another knight took a burst of flames to the face as well, going down
with a scream. The next didn't have time to draw his sword so he
threw a punch. Vex dodged it and planted a kick in the man's gut,
doubling him over. She drew her sword as she heard the remaining
knights’ drawing their own. Vex whirled around, blocking a
sword strike and shoving the woman backward. In another instant she
twisted back around, knocking a sword thrust aside. In the next few
moments, her own sword lashed out, cutting across one knight's face.
After that, two more knights hit the ground. Despite all their
attacks, none of them hit Vex. Not that Vex managed to inflict any
real damage to any of them either. However, her display of fending
off ten knights at once was impressive.

A whistle rang out and the knights backed off, leaving a softly
panting Vexarilia watching them warily. The skinny man stepped
forward again, his eyes looking Vex over appraisingly.

“You are certainly Lady Kaidia's student. Your skill is
admirable, child. Do you mind indulging me?” the man inquired,
drawing the sword on his back. Despite his lanky body, he seemed to
have no issue hefting the two handed blade.

“If you're certain you want to try to handle me alone,”
Vex said, sword in her right hand, flames flaring to life in her
left.

“Oh, I think I'll be alright, little one,” he said with
an unsettling grin.

Chapter XII

Kaidia and Echo settled down at the table in the dining room reserved
for royalty. Rykar and Sage were already there and they quirked a
brow as they looked over the god and the kyrian.

“You two look tired,” Rykar observed.

“But satisfied,” Sage said with a knowing smirk.

“It was a long night,” Kai replied with a chuckle.

“Ah, and here I thought all that moaning was from ghosts,”
Rykar joked, poorly.

“Were you listening at the door or something?” Echo
asked.

“No, I didn't need to,” Rykar answered.

“You two were a bit... loud,” Sage informed the couple.

“Oh, well, you see, Echo's tongue is just perfectly rough,”
Kai explained.

“Kaidia!” Echo reprimanded.

“Yes, dear?” Kai asked with a little smile.

“Go on,” Rykar jested.

“Rykar!” Echo shouted, her face going red. Whether it was
from embarrassment or irritation was somewhat difficult to tell. Kai
guessed the latter.

Servants with plates of food walked in, setting plates down in front
of the four.

Conversation ceased as everyone ate, probably for the better. The
meal was exquisite and silent. When everyone had finished, plates
were cleared by servants, and conversation resumed.

“So, the funeral rites for your slain mercenaries... around
midday, right?” Kaidia asked.

“Aye. I'll send for you before they begin. Until then, do as
you please,” Rykar said.

“We'll probably wander the markets,” Kai said.

“Duly noted. I have royal bullshit to take care of,”
Rykar said with a sigh.

“I'll check in on Aldric before I head to the forges,”
Sage said as she stood.

“Aldric?” Kai asked.

“Ah, right, we hadn't told you. Our son was born right in the
beginning of spring,” Rykar said.

“Wow, you Hrazengar don't screw around,” Echo said with a
look to Sage.

“Nope, we don't,” Sage returned with a smile.

“So, now, there's Prince Aldric Vaikos,” Rykar said,
obviously proud.

“Congratulations, you two. We'll have to have a drink in
celebration tonight,” Kai suggested.

“All for it, Kai,” Rykar said as she stood up.

Kai and Echo stood as well.

“Don't get into too much trouble, hm? We just rebuilt the city,
after all,” Rykar said with a wink before turning and leaving
with Sage.

“Shall we?” Kai asked, offering her arm to Echo, who took
the god's arm and nodded. Together, they walked outside into the
morning sun.

* * *

After spending a care free morning wandering the vast markets of
Corrana, the funeral ceremony for the fallen Scorpions was a jarring
difference in atmosphere. Kaidia walked along the bodies of the slain
warriors, stopping at each one, quietly murmuring an ancient farewell
to each of the mercenaries. The bodies were laid on wooden tables in
the crypt of the Scorpions headquarters. Each lay in front of the
small tombs they would occupy. The room looked like the walls were
patched in an orderly manner with square slabs of stone. However,
behind each of those square stones was a deep hole cut in the stone,
square like the covers. Most of them were unoccupied, their covers
blank, but a few had names, ranks, and dates carved into them.

Among the dead were two humans, one man and one woman, along with two
elven men, an elven woman, and a kyrian man. Each of them wore a
pendant proclaiming their faith to the Dragon God and, for the first
time since she'd been given the mantle of godhood, Kaidia got the
sense of just how much it meant to those who chose to follow her. She
was amazed that anyone followed her considering the fact that she had
yet to issue any official statement in her capacity as a god. She had
given no godly decrees, no orders, and no rules. Apparently, her
actions spoke for her and people liked what they saw.

As she spoke the farewell over the final soldier, she stepped away,
and let the mercenaries gently place their slain friends in their
final resting places. It was a strange feeling, being asked to be the
one to deliver the final words to the dead. It was normally an honor
reserved for the priests of various gods, not the gods themselves.
Granted, Kaidia was the only living god around as far as she knew.

She observed quietly, alongside Rykar and Echo, as the bodies of the
fallen were placed and sealed away. After the majority of the
Scorpions had filed out, leaving Kaidia, Echo, Rykar, Malcade, and
those of the Scorpions that served as Rykar's royal guard, Kai turned
to Rykar.

“I'm going to make another visit to my temple. I think some of
your soldiers may be heading there,” she said.

“Seems like a good idea. I assume you and Echo will be staying
in the palace one more night,” Rykar replied.

“If that's alright,” Kai confirmed with a nod.

“Wouldn't have it any other way, old friend,” Rykar said
with a smile, hand grasping Kai's shoulder firmly for a moment. His
usual jovial personality a bit subdued. He took the loss of any of
his soldiers rather hard. Kai reached out, grasping Rykar's shoulder
with her hand, returning the gesture.

“I'll see you later on this evening, then,” she said.
Rykar nodded and watched as Kaidia and Echo left the crypt. He sighed
and looked to Malcade.

“Shall we? I want to spend a little time with my son,” he
said.

“Lead the way,” Malcade gestured toward the door that led
to the ground floor of the building. Rykar led the way from the crypt
and out of the building. Instead of the primary streets, he took
secondary streets as he walked toward the palace, Malcade at his
side, his guards walking behind him. Most kings throughout history
surrounded themselves with their guards, but Rykar was most
definitely not most kings. He led the way, he walked out front.
Malcade walked at his side, as he always had. They were friends
before they were King and bodyguard.

Mal quirked a brow and glanced at Rykar as they went down a back
street, but he didn't ask. He didn't need to.

“Someone is following us,” Rykar said without looking at
Malcade or breaking his stride, his voice only loud enough for Mal to
hear.

“Wouldn't busy streets be the best way to go, then?”
Malcade asked his voice similarly quiet.

“If we were commoners or even still mercenaries, perhaps. But
if someone is stalking a king, a bunch of people probably won't give
them a moment's hesitation if they decide to attack. Best to keep it
away from large groups of people to avoid innocent casualties. Also,
this will give us room to fight if whoever this is decides to do more
than follow us,” Rykar explained.

“Understood. How many?” Malcade asked.

“Multiple. Not sure how many. A handful, at least,” Rykar
answered. A handful was understood as five between the two men, one
for each finger on one's hand.

“We should be able to handle them,” Malcade said. “We
have twelve soldiers, not counting us.”

“Perhaps. I have no doubt of the skill of my guards or you.
However, if these people are brave enough to stalk me while I'm in
the company of you and my royal guard, they might be confident for a
reason,” Rykar warned.

“Right. There's no way they don't know what you're capable of,”
Mal said.

“One would think,” Rykar agreed. “And it's not like
I picked anyone but the best for my personal guard detail.”

“So whoever is following us is brave or stupid,” Malcade
concluded, still walking along the street, watching the palace
getting closer.

“Or capable,” Rykar added, also watching the palace
drawing closer.

“Possibly, but how many people do we know about that could be
capable enough to pose a threat to someone like you?” Mal
asked.

“A few, but none that would want to attack me. There are always
people one does not know about, however. Also, a well-executed plan
of attack can level the playing field, substantially. Beyond that,
there's strength in numbers. While my guard has a couple of mages,
they're mostly excellent physical fighters. Several adept sorcerers
could pose a problem. That's a mistake on my part. Remind me to
rectify that later. My guard should be more well-balanced,”
Rykar said.

“Duly noted,” Malcade responded.

Rykar continued to walk, Malcade at his side, his guard following.
Rykar grew more annoyed with each step. Nothing was happening. He was
aware of being shadowed. He'd see a flicker of movement out of the
corner of an eye, feel the gaze of someone on him, and his well-honed
sixth sense for danger that had developed over years of mercenary
work was screaming in his mind. Yet, the walk continued, quiet and
calm. A sideways glance at Malcade revealed that the second in
command of the Scorpion Company was experiencing a similar feeling of
suspense. Mal's jaw was clenched under his beard. He disliked being
followed just as much as Rykar did, even more so now that they were
in such high positions of power. Both men had known that as they
climbed the ladder of status, they would be in more and more danger,
just by default. But this felt like they were being hunted and
neither man liked being prey. Whoever the hunter was, they had to
know that the King and his hand-picked guards would be some of the
most dangerous prey on all of Valen and that, perhaps more than
anything else, was the most unsettling realization about this whole
situation.

Rykar allowed himself a moment of optimism as he and Malcade stepped
into the palace. Malcade finally chanced a look toward Rykar.

“So?” he asked.

“Keep walking,” Rykar said. He never paused, walked along
the main hallway of the palace that led straight to the throne room.
Once every guard was inside the throne room, he held up a fist,
wordlessly ordering a full stop. He looked to Malcade, displeasure on
his face.

“What is it?” the bigger man asked.

“They followed us inside. Ready yourself. This is going to get
ugly,” Rykar said. He turned back to his guards and drew his
sword. In response, all of his guards drew their swords and axes.
Malcade slid his sword free of its scabbard as well.

“I know you're here. You know that I know. Quit hiding and show
yourselves,” Rykar said aloud, his voice thundering in the
vaulted chamber.

Malcade and the guards kept a wary eye on the room as they formed a
protective semi-circle around Rykar. Soldiers stepped out from behind
pillars that flanked the long black carpet that stretched from the
throne room doors to the throne itself. Their number equaled that of
Rykar's guards. Unlike the Scorpions, who were clad in dark plate
armor, these soldiers were in chain mail and tabards like the knights
of old. The tabards were a deep blue with a stylized snowflake
emblazoned in silver on the front. Rykar couldn't place the symbol.
The knights looked as though they had stepped out of the ancient
past. Knights, soldiers, warriors, none had dressed in tabards for
over a millennia.

“And who might you be that have dusted off the trappings of the
knights of old?” Rykar demanded.

A particularly big man stepped forward, eyes cold, body a wall of
muscle. He had long, dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail, a
sword strapped to his back.

“I am Felduke Casvanora, a commander of the Knights of Winter,”
the man answered.

Rykar and Malcade exchanged looks, a conversation passing between
them in a matter of moments. Neither had heard of the Knights of
Winter and both of them recognized the man's first name as one that
hadn't been popular in Haelstross in centuries, if not longer.

“And what business do you have shadowing me?” Rykar
asked.

“You are the King of Haelstross,” Felduke stated. Malcade
and Rykar glanced to one another again, both with a raised brow.

“I am one of them, yes. I am the human king. There are kings
and queens of other races, of course,” Rykar said, watching the
man's reaction to that carefully. A suspicion was creeping over Rykar
that he didn't much care for or really think was possible. Felduke
looked confused at that statement, then turned his head, and looked
toward a smaller figure wrapped in a deep blue cloak with silver trim
that Rykar had failed to notice before.

The figure stepped forward, a gloved hand reached out from under the
cloak, and gently rested on the large man's forearm, seeming to
soothe his confusion. Rykar tried to see into the darkness of the
cloak's hood, to see the face hidden in shadow, but he couldn't make
out a single detail. He couldn't even get a feel for the person under
the cloak.

A distorted, echoing voice spoke out and it took Rykar a moment to
realize it was coming from the cloaked figure. The voice was neutral,
giving Rykar no clue to the person's gender.

“You are the royal with the most power and clout in Haelstross,
King Rykar. Even the Esmera king has less influence. This makes you a
target... the one for which I am taking aim, Sire.”

Rykar smirked, and then laughed aloud.

“Is that so? May I ask why?” he questioned.

“I need to make a statement. A grand one. It is nothing
personal, Your Highness.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. Don't expect me to just lie down for
you,” Rykar warned.

“I would be disappointed if you did, Sire,” the figure
stated.

“I will ask a question first. Would I be correct in assuming
you're the one responsible for the sorcerous constructs, the white
soldiers?” he asked.

“You are correct. I hope you found them entertaining,”
the figure admitted.

“I did. Some of my soldiers were less enthused.”

“I do apologize, but I needed to test them. I'm sure you
understand, Sire.”

The cloaked figure raised a hand and Felduke drew his sword. The
knights under his command drew their own weapons, swords, axes, and
even a mace.

“Go,” Rykar ordered. The Scorpions spread out, picking
opponents. Malcade, naturally, squared off with his counterpart,
Felduke.

The two men were easily the biggest people in the room and both of
them looked rather eager to test themselves. Felduke was slightly
larger, but the difference in weight and height was negligible.

“Must we go through this, Sire?” the cloaked figure
asked.

“Ask them,” Rykar said with a gesture to his soldiers.

None of the Scorpion mercenaries showed any signs of wanting out of
the fight. Shields remained raised, swords brandished, axes at the
ready. The hood of the cloak turned from one side to the other as the
person underneath looked around the room. That distorted voice spoke
out again.

“Fine, we'll make a mess.”

With that, the knights launched into an all out attack by charging
the Scorpion mercenaries. In the stone room, the clashing of swords
and shields was painful to the ears. Rykar watched, relaxed, calm,
and detached. The fighting was quick, but plenty of blood was spilled
on the marble floor. The Scorpions got the better of the cloaked
being's knights. All of the intruders lay dead or seriously wounded
within a matter of minutes. The only Knight of Winter left standing
was Felduke, making it obvious just why he was a commander among
their ranks.

Rykar momentarily wondered just how many of these knights were out
there, where they came from, and why they were formed. He had no
idea; had never heard of them before this day. A clashing of swords
brought his attention back to the duel between Felduke and Malcade.

Felduke brought his sword down on Malcade, who deflected the blow
with his shield. By the time Mal had recovered from the monstrous
strike, a second came from his left. He barely blocked it, but the
force jarred loose his grip on his shield. The third blow, coming
from the opposite direction of the last, knocked the shield from
Mal's grasp. The metal shield hit the floor with a clang that echoed
in the room, but it didn't slow the dueling warriors in the
slightest.

Rykar watched calmly, sword in hand, as Malcade and Felduke sized one
another up. Neither man had a shield now; Felduke hadn't had one in
the first place. The knight made the first move and stepped forward.
Malcade had been waiting for it; he slammed his forehead into
Felduke's nose, breaking it. Rykar could hear the crunch from where
he stood; could see the blood spilling down over Felduke's mouth and
chin as the man stumbled backward.

Mal pressed his advantage, swinging his sword up from the ground.
Felduke jerked backward, limiting the damage to a large gash in his
tabard, revealing the chain mail underneath. He retaliated with a
swing of his blade that Malcade ducked. Mal's sword sliced through
the air, heading for Felduke's shoulder. The knight managed to bring
his own blade back just in time to deflect the blow with the ring of
steel clashing against steel. The meeting of blades jarred both men,
causing them both to grit their teeth, and stumble backward. The
momentary pause in combat gave both men another moment to assess each
other and consider the minute experience they had gained since the
fight had started.

Felduke ran forward abruptly and brought his sword down in an arc.
Malcade side-stepped the attack and swung his sword sideways. Felduke
managed to jump out of the blade's reach, only to be bowled over as
Malcade drove his shoulder into him. Mal brought his sword down
toward Felduke's head. Felduke brought his sword up, blocking the
potentially fatal blow. Malcade stumbled backward as Felduke's boot
slammed into his stomach. Felduke got to his feet again and lunged
forward.

For several long minutes the two men dueled, blades scraping
together, fists swinging, feet delivering a strategic kick or stomp.
Everyone watched, weapons in hand, respecting the fight. Both men
seemed evenly matched in brute strength and skill. Rykar winced
faintly here and there as blades nicked the floor or a column,
chipping the stone. Those repairs wouldn't come cheap. He was quite
in awe of both Malcade and Felduke. While the King knew he could
match them both in combat, he admired their determination, their
grit. Neither gave the other any quarter, but neither struck a dirty
blow, despite several openings presenting themselves as the fight
wore on.

A break in combat left both men glaring at one another, panting for
breath, hair matted to their faces by sweat. Several moments of quiet
passed before the two men stepped forward again, reigniting the
fight. Felduke thrust his blade toward Malcade's chest only to have
the blade glance off of Mal's armor as the Scorpion commander
twisted. Felduke stumbled beyond Malcade, carried by the force of his
attack. The knight planted his foot, pivoted, and came around just in
time to deflect Malcade's swinging blade. The collision of the swords
was rough and knocked Mal's sword from his tired hand. Felduke barely
managed to hang on to his own weapon.

It took him a moment to get a firm grip on the hilt of the sword, but
once he did, Felduke brought the blade out in a backhanded swing that
narrowly missed Malcade's face. Felduke used his sword's momentum,
swung around with his left hand, and slammed his fist into Malcade's
jaw, knocking the mercenary onto his back with a loud crash of armor
against marble. Felduke grinned and stepped over Malcade, raising his
sword to deliver the killing strike.

An armored fist crashed into Felduke's face, knocking the man to the
ground and making him drop his sword. He looked up, bewildered, to
see Rykar standing there, sword in his right hand, his left hand
still clenched in a fist.

“You've won the battle, Sir Knight, but I will not allow you to
kill my brother today,” Rykar stated, the look in his eyes
daring Felduke to defy him. Felduke slowly pushed himself to his feet
and reached for his sword, keenly aware of Rykar's eyes on him. He
cautiously put his sword back in its scabbard and took several steps
backward, hands up, indicating he had no intention of attacking.
Rykar watched him closely, his trust of the man being less than solid
for obvious reasons. He didn't turn back to Malcade until he heard
his friend getting to his feet. Mal gave Rykar a tired smile.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Any time,” Rykar said with a nod, his eyes glancing
around to get a line of sight on the cloaked figure. His breath
caught as he realized he couldn't see the person anywhere in the
room. His wonder didn't last for long. Just as he turned to look at
Malcade, a sword erupted through the commander's chest, the few
inches of the blade sticking out of his chest coated in blood which
dripped onto the floor. The look of surprise on Rykar's face matched
the one on Mal's, aside from the blood that now coated Malcade's
lips.

The sword pulled out of Malcade's back, making the man stumble
backward for a couple of steps before he fell to his knees, coughing
up more blood, splattering it on the marble floor. He fell, twisting
to fall on his back. Rykar dropped his sword and dove down to catch
Mal before he could fall entirely to the floor, saving the man from
cracking his skull on the marble. Malcade's back rested against
Rykar's folded legs, his head in Rykar's arm. Rykar could feel the
hot blood seeping between the plates of his armor and soaking into
his pants, but he hardly cared.

“Well... shit... looks like...” Malcade started, his
sentence interrupted by a cough that spilled more blood on chin and
cheeks. “...this is it.”

“We have healers...” Rykar started, but trailed off when
Malcade waved his hand.

“Not quickly enough... and something is... strange. The wound
burns... not like... not like any wound I've had before... careful
with that bastard's sword, brother. It... it isn't normal...”
Malcade said, struggling around the blood in his throat.

“I will be,” Rykar said, his voice quiet. Malcade raised
his left hand and Rykar grasped it with his own, gripping firmly.

“I'm fairly certain... there isn't anything once... once I
close my eyes. But if there is... I'll be waiting,” Malcade
said, then coughed again, more blood staining his beard and mustache.
“We'll have a drink... and I'll be wanting... to hear of all
the... bullshit you got into... without me.”

Rykar simply nodded, his vision blurring with tears that were
threatening to fall. The man wasn't prone to crying, but Malcade
deserved every tear Rykar conjured.

“It was an honor,” Malcade said, his voice barely a
whisper.

“It was,” Rykar agreed with a nod. A moment later, he
felt Mal's grip on his hand loosen and go limp. The man's hand
dropped, his eyes stared at Rykar, but saw nothing. Rykar reached up
and gently closed Malcade's eyes. He bowed his head, hair obscuring
his face as he gathered himself and tenderly laid his friend's body
against the floor. He picked up his sword, the scrape of it against
the marble was deafening in the utter silence that followed Malcade's
last breath.

He threw his head back, hair flying out of his eyes, and time slowed
as he glared at the cloaked figure. The fact that Felduke and the
cloaked person had stayed silent and respectfully distant while
Malcade had passed barely registered in Rykar's mind. The anguish he
felt at his closest friend's death was burned away and consumed by
unmitigated rage. Lightning crackled on the fingertips of his free
hand and Malcade's blood stained his legs.

Time snapped back to its usual pace as he brought his free hand up
and unleashed a bolt of lightning from his hand toward the cloaked
one's chest that was unlike any he had ever summoned before. His rage
fueled it, amplified it. It was blindingly bright, intensely hot, and
made the entire room sizzle with energy. The cloaked person jerked to
the side to dodge it. Felduke, who had circled around behind his
master, wasn't so lucky. The bolt struck him low on his chest and
pulsed as the electricity burned through his body. He quickly started
to smoke and a moment later, his body exploded, spraying a fine mist
of blood all over the floor and against the cloaked figure.

Rykar didn't give the person under the cloak a chance to process what
had happened; he launched an attack without a moment's hesitation. He
struck at the cloaked one's stomach making the person spin out of the
way of the blade. The cloak flared out with the movement and Rykar
caught a glimpse underneath. He twisted around and set his feet,
sword held in front of him.

“You're a woman,” he stated plainly.

“And?” the woman asked, her voice still altered,
distorted.

“Just an observation,” Rykar answered.

“Like to know who your enemy is?” the woman asked.

“Generally, yes. Why don't you pull back your hood and show me
that pretty face?” Rykar suggested.

“I'd rather not,” she replied.

“Why is that?” Rykar asked, pacing a few short steps back
and forth.

“Because not knowing what I look like obviously bothers you,”
she replied.

“A little, but I'll see under that hood after I've run my sword
through your chest,” Rykar said, his voice a low growl.

He cut off any sort of response with a slash of his sword aimed at
the woman's chest. She couldn't retreat or dodge, she was forced to
block his blade with her own. The attack caused her to stumble back a
couple of steps. Rykar took advantage of the opening and thrust his
sword toward her heart. The woman deflected the blow. The tip of the
sword caught her cloak, pulled it a moment, before Rykar pulled it
back. She whirled away, free hand reaching up to adjust her hood.

She barely accomplished the modest task before Rykar's sword was
making another attempt to skewer her. She used her sword to turn
aside the attack before dancing away from the angered king. She had
to catch her breath.

Rykar proved relentless, however, launching another offensive in
short order; this time a barrage of sword strikes that the cloaked
woman just barely managed to dodge and parry. On the final strike,
she managed to pin his sword to the floor only to take a punch to the
jaw that sent her reeling. She shook her head and, once more,
adjusted her hood. When Rykar started toward her again, she raised
her free hand, a burst of ice cold wind followed, blowing through the
throne room like someone had left the doors and windows open in the
middle of the winter. Shards of ice sailed in the sorcerous wind,
pelting Rykar. Most of the ice shattered on his armor, but a piece
caught him on the cheekbone, slicing the skin, and causing him to
momentarily close his eyes.

When he opened them, the cloaked woman was right in front of him,
sword thrusting toward his stomach. He barely managed to twist out of
the way. The miss left her open and he kicked her in the gut, sending
her rolling across the floor while he stumbled backward. She rolled
to her feet, jerked her hood back into place, and immediately threw
her hand up, frost and ice spewed forth from her hand in a forceful,
tight beam. Rykar had steadied himself and raised his own free hand;
lightning erupted from his palm, and met the cloaked woman's icy
attack. The two sorcerous forces clashed, spraying ice and sparks
everywhere. The chaotic nature of the opposing powers contesting one
another caused a reverberation throughout the room that rattled the
window panes and doors. A groove slowly melted in the floor
underneath Rykar's bolt, while the floor was coated in ice under the
cloaked woman's sorcerous beam of frost.

Both kept pushing, kept their power flowing into their attacks, but
the cost of keeping up a constant stream of magic was steep and both
Rykar and the woman were feeling the stress on their bodies. As if by
some silent consensus between the two of them, the pair cut off their
sorcerous assaults and lunged forward in unison. The woman swung her
blade at Rykar's head. The king ducked the blade, then straightened,
and elbowed the woman in the back of the skull. She stumbled, but
recovered herself quickly and whipped around. Her sword swung high
and the tip of the blade cut across Rykar's neck. It was a shallow
cut, but it burned like hell. Malcade had been correct; this didn't
feel like any one of a thousand cuts he'd suffered before. He gritted
his teeth, resolved to ignore it. He raised his sword and prepared to
begin another round with the woman. A bang at the front of the throne
room drew the attention of both the king and the cloaked one.

“Shit,” the distorted voice hissed in the depths of the
hood.

The bang had been the doors of the throne room slamming open. Kaidia
ran toward Rykar, analyzing the situation as she prepared for a
fight. Several of her Dragon Knights ran behind her, taken from their
posts at the temple, their weapons drawn. Echo was with them, sword
drawn, ears laid back.

The cloaked woman acted swiftly, letting off an icy shock wave that
knocked everyone but Rykar and Kaidia to the ground. But even the
king and the god stumbled with the strength of the cold wave of
power. When the two looked toward where the woman had been standing,
they saw the brilliant light of a portal disappearing; the woman
nowhere in sight.

“Who was that?” Kaidia asked, moving up to Rykar's side.

“I don't know. She kept her face hidden. She came in with
knights and the urge to kill me,” Rykar replied.

“Not like she's the first person with an urge to kill you,”
Kaidia said with a chuckle.

“There's no arguing with that,” Rykar admitted.

“Her knights look... old,” Kaidia said, eyeing the dead
body of one laying nearby.

“Like they're from another time,” Rykar added.

“What do you make of that?” Kai asked.

“I'm not certain. Haven't had much time to think on it, you
know,” Rykar said, his breath heavy.

“Fair enough. You alright?” Kaidia inquired, peering at
Rykar. “You're sweating.”

“Just finished a fight, Kai,” Rykar explained, but went
down to a knee.

“Yeah, but you're never this winded after a fight,”
Kaidia crouched down beside Rykar.

“Well, this was a pretty intense fight,” Rykar said
before sheathing his sword. “Malcade didn't make it.”

“I saw. I'm sorry,” Kaidia said.

“He said her sword blade wasn't normal,” Rykar said,
gasping. “I think he was right.”

“How so?” Kai questioned.

“The wound burns... more than it should,” Rykar said,
gesturing to the cut on his neck.

“Rykar!” a shout rang out from the back of the throne
room, behind the throne. Kaidia and Rykar looked up to see Sage
running toward them.

“...shit,” Rykar muttered and fell onto his back.

Kaidia looked over him from one side while Sage knelt at his other
side. Sweat ran down his face as he struggled to sit up. Kai gently,
but firmly, pushed him back down. Echo walked over and her nose
wrinkled. She knelt down beside Rykar's head, leaned over, and
sniffed at the wound on his neck.

“It's a poison... what, I couldn't tell you,” she said.
“Malcade's body absolutely reeked of it.”

“That must have been what he meant... her sword was coated in
poison,” Rykar said, his speech a struggle.

Kaidia leaned down, inhaled the scent as well, searching her mind for
anything. Then a new recognition, born of the ancient knowledge of
the dragons that had been slowly unfurling in her mind, washed over
her.

“It's an old poison... no... ancient. It's from the First Age,”
she said.

“How do you know?” Sage asked as she moved to put Rykar's
head in her lap. She stroked his damp hair with a shaking hand.

“Dragon,” Kaidia said as she tapped herself on the side
of the head.

“We wouldn't have a cure for a poison not seen since the First
Age,” Echo stated.

“No, we don't... and while I'm sure the cure is somewhere in my
mind, it's not revealed to me,” she said, frustration becoming
plain in her voice and on her face.

“Why not?” Sage asked, her own voice demanding, betraying
her feelings of helplessness.

“I don't know. The knowledge comes in fragments. Little pieces
here and there. I've been able to force it at times, but that's
rare,” Kaidia answered.

“Any other options?” Rykar rasped from the floor.
“Because I feel like shit.”

“I can think of one,” Echo said.

“What?” Rykar asked, panting for breath.

“Stasis. Magic that freezes you in time. Mind and body. You
stop aging. The poison will stop spreading because your heart will
stop pumping. The moment the spell is lifted, it will be like you
blinked your eyes,” Echo answered.

“How does that help?” Sage asked.

“Because we can keep him alive until we figure out a cure,”
Kaidia stated.

“Any idea how long that'll take?” Sage questioned.

“No, but this gives you a chance to see your husband again,”
Kai said, looking Sage in the eyes.

“Fine. Do it,” Sage said.

“Yeah... better than dying...” Rykar managed.

Sage leaned down and pressed her lips to Rykar's for what seemed like
an eternity before sitting up and giving Kaidia a nod. Rykar laid his
head back and closed his eyes.

“Go for it.”

Kaidia started to put her hands on Rykar, but stopped when he put a
hand up abruptly. Kaidia gave him a questioning look.

“Make sure... Malcade is taken care of... properly,”
Rykar said, eyes locking on Kaidia's own.

“You know we will,” she assured him.

He nodded and let his hand drop, then looked over at Sage as Kaidia's
hands came to rest on his chest. He smiled weakly.

“I love you.”

“And I love you,” Sage replied, tears welling up in her
eyes.

“Don't cry. I'm not dying. Well, I am... but... we've got a god
here to stop it,” Rykar said with a weak chuckle.

Sage could only nod. Kaidia waited a long moment before tapping her
fingers on Rykar's chest. The man took a breath and closed his eyes.
Kaidia took a breath of her own before the tingling of magic coursed
through her hands. Rykar went still, his breath stopped, and for
anyone who didn't know what was going on, it would seem as though he
had died. Sage stared at Rykar's still face with look of loss on her
own. She looked up to Kaidia, who was watching her.

“What do we tell the people?” Sage asked. “He
hasn't been the King for long, but he was very loved by the people of
Corrana and elsewhere in Haelstross.”

“Tell them the truth and find a safe place to put him until we
can figure out how to cure him,” Kaidia advised.

“We don't really have any places to put him, unfortunately,”
Sage said, obviously trying to think of some place that would be
fitting.

“Don't you have tombs?” Echo asked.

“I'm not putting him in a tomb!” Sage snarled.

“Okay, okay,” Echo said, hands held up.

“Sorry. I just don't want to do that. It wouldn't feel right
and if anyone caught wind of it, they might spread rumors that he's
dead,” Sage explained.

“I have the perfect spot in my home for him. Well protected,
out of the way,” Kaidia offered.

“Really? You'd do that?” Sage asked.

“Of course. I'm sure he's told you how far back him and I go.
He's family to me,” Kai answered.

“Take him, then. Some of his guard will accompany you, I'm
sure,” Sage said. With a last look at her husband, a stroke of
her hand over his hair, she stood, and walked away. She was now the
highest ranking human in Haelstross; she had work to do.

“Get a stretcher. We need to carry him out of here until we can
get a casket made so we can travel with the body,” Kaidia
ordered a pair of her Dragon Guard. “The rest of you, take care
of the dead. Bury your own in the crypt below your command building.
Malcade is to have a sarcophagus built in the center of the crypt, on
display for all who enter to see. This is where he will rest for all
time. He risked his life many times to protect Rykar in their years
together. He's finally paid the ultimate price for this dedication.
He deserves special recognition as the brother he was to Rykar.”

Kaidia looked around at all the Scorpion mercenaries that were
listening to her as they would have Rykar or Malcade. They all knew
who she was and who she had been to Malcade and Rykar.

“Bury the fallen enemy where appropriate, with respect,”
she commanded. “Go.”

Chapter XIII

The journey back to Kaidia's home was slow thanks to the cargo they
carried. The inanimate Rykar had been placed into a strong, but
nondescript wooden box so as not to draw attention. Granted, a god
traveling with a well-known kyrian general, two Scorpion mercenaries,
and two Dragon Guard knights drew enough attention that no one took a
second look at the box that contained Rykar. However, they were
generally left alone, and often given a wide berth. The mood at the
beginning of the journey was somber, but Kaidia wasn't pleased by
that, so she started telling stories of her time with Rykar during
the war and beyond. The two Scorpions added in their own stories of
Rykar and Malcade, a few second-hand, and by the time they were
traveling through Graveside, the mood was jovial.

As they traveled through the expansive graveyards full of tombstones,
cairns, mausoleums, and tombs, Kaidia was looking forward to getting
home. Sleeping in her own bed would be nice, not to mention sharing
it with Echo and getting a bit of alone time with her lover for the
first time in days.

“Almost there,” Kai said to Echo, who rode beside her.

“Good. Riding horses isn't my favorite thing,” Echo
replied.

“The panthers are more comfortable,” Kaidia stated.

“Without a doubt,” Echo agreed.

As the small group neared Kaidia's home, both Kai and Echo noticed a
fog hanging over the tomb that served as her dwelling.

“That looks odd,” Echo remarked.

“It does. Fog happens a lot out here, but it's rarely ever that
localized,” Kaidia said.

“Maybe this is one of those times,” Echo reasoned.

“Perhaps, but keep yourself alert,” Kai said as they rode
closer, turning off the road and onto the lanes that led among the
tombs and cairns. As they got closer, Kai slid off her horse and
walked forward. She waved a hand, forcing the mist away with a gentle
push of sorcerous force. What she revealed made her pause.

Several knights like those that had attacked Rykar lay dead on the
ground. A couple of them had their throats torn out. Others had been
run through and one was horribly burned. She looked toward the doors
of her home and the blood drained from her face.

Both her panther and Echo's lay dead, covered in ice, on the ground;
their mouths frozen in a silent growl. Pinned to the door by virtue
of a sword through her stomach was Vex. She, too, was covered in ice,
frozen in place, her hands wrapped around the blade of the sword, as
if she had been frozen as she had tried to pull the blade out.

“Vex!” Kaidia shouted as she rushed forward, running
between the bodies of the panthers to reach her pupil. The air was
frigid here, despite the spring sun high overhead. Kaidia could see
her breath as she grabbed Vex's shoulders, the ice melting away from
her touch.

Echo knelt down by the panthers, caressing the frozen beasts' heads,
murmur words of farewell that kyrians often spoke to the departed for
which they cared. She looked up to Kaidia, a pain lancing through her
chest as she watched the god shake the now thawed Vexarilia in a vain
attempt to wake her.

“She's gone, love,” Echo said, quietly. Given the way
Kaidia seemed to flinch away from the words, Echo wondered if she had
actually shouted. But the words got through and Kaidia gently laid
her head against Vex's shoulder.

“I'm sorry, Vex,” she whispered. What she was sorry for,
she wasn't exactly certain, but she felt responsible for the woman's
death. She reached to the sword, gently brushed the dead woman's
hands from the blade, then gripped the hilt and pulled it free. She
dropped the sword and caught Vex's body, gently lowering her to the
ground.

The Dragon Guard and Scorpion soldiers stood guard, silent. There
wasn't anything they could say. All they could do was stand watch
over the grieving god. Kaidia held Vex's lifeless form against
herself, hiding her face against the woman's shoulder still. It took
a few long minutes before she gently picked Vex up in her arms,
cradling the woman tenderly. The doors to the tomb opened and she
walked inside without saying anything.

Echo gestured to the Scorpions and Dragon Guard soldiers to bring the
box containing Rykar. They all followed behind Kaidia, catching up
with her in the main chamber of her home. She led them all down deep
into the tomb, to levels even Echo hadn't seen before. None of them
were furnished; they had been carved out and left as they were. The
entire tomb had been like this until Kaidia had decorated the upper
floors to live in them. But these levels were barren and dark. The
only light was cast from the floating spheres of light that Kaidia
had conjured as she had led them all into the darkness. Kaidia led
the way down a final flight of stairs into a small anteroom. A set of
large double doors blocked their way.

“I've only been down here once. It's the main burial chamber,”
Kaidia informed the rest of the group before she gave the doors a
look, and they shivered under her gaze before slowly opening, the
hinges screeching in protest. Once the doors were fully opened,
Kaidia led the group into the room beyond. She paused and every
brazier and torch in the room ignited at once, revealing a massive
chamber. They all stood on a walkway that led to a raised square dais
that bore an ancient stone throne at its center. A stone bier stood
to each side of the throne.

“Looks like this place was made for a noble or royal with
little family,” Echo said.

“Possibly. No one knows who actually built the place and I've
come up empty trying to find any information about it,” Kaidia
responded.

“Where are we putting Rykar?” Echo asked.

“One of the biers up on the dais,” Kaidia answered before
walking off toward one side of the rooms, to the right of the throne
if one were sitting in it, still carrying Vex's body. Echo watched
Kai go, but said nothing.

Kai walked to a set of double doors set in the side wall and pushed
them open. The braziers inside roared to life and lit the room. It
had several stone sarcophagi; their lids leaned up against their
sides. There was one sarcophagus that stood on its own. It was at the
head of the room, sitting on a low platform that stood about a foot
taller than the floor. She gently placed Vex's body down inside the
sarcophagus, arranged the girl so she looked like she might be
sleeping, and, as a final touch, she used the same stasis magic on
Vex's body that she had on Rykar. It would preserve her until the
magic was lifted and that was likely to be never. Kai stood and took
a long, final look on Vexarilia before lifting the lid of the
sarcophagus from the floor with the aid of her magic and sliding it
into place.

“Rest well, dear,” Kaidia said as she rested her hand on
surface of the lid. She closed her eyes; Vex's name slowly carved
itself into the lid under Kai's hand. The dates of the girl's birth
and death appeared next and, finally, her cause of death. Kaidia
wasn't sure who would ever be down here to read the lid of the
sarcophagus, but she felt it was important to put the information
there anyway. She looked around the room, then walked toward the
doorway. Each brazier she walked by snuffed itself out and by the
time she got to the doors, the room was dark. She walked out and
closed the doors behind her, then walked up the dais in the main
chamber, which had stairs on all four sides of it.

Rykar now lay on the bier to the left-hand side of the throne, his
sword leaned up against the bier within reach of his right hand, his
shield was leaned against the opposite side of the bier. The
Scorpions were saying a soft prayer while the Dragon Guard knights
stood back a respectful distance. Echo stood further back, her arms
crossed. Kaidia stopped beside her lover.

“I didn't think the soldiers in the Scorpions were religious,”
she said softly.

“They're generally not. But they're not praying to any mythical
gods,” Echo said.

“Then who the hell are they praying to?” Kaidia asked.

“You,” Echo stated. Kaidia stayed quiet for a long
moment.

“That's awkward,” she said, finally.

“I can imagine, but you're a living, breathing god,” Echo
said.

“That's still debatable,” Kai argued.

“I suppose it just depends on one's definition of a god,”
Echo said with a shrug.

“I don't really qualify in my own mind,” Kaidia said.

“That's probably a good thing. Keeps you humble in a way,”
Echo replied.

“Humble isn't part of my nature, generally,” Kai said.

“Yes, you're more just straight-forward, but people interpret
that incorrectly all the time,” Echo replied. “I value
that honesty, though. It's part of what makes you attractive to me.”

“I'm glad,” Kaidia said.

Echo glanced sideways at the god, noting the weary look on Kaidia's
face, the faraway look in her eyes, and the frown that curved her
lips. Echo wished there was a quick fix, something to immediately
ease her lover's pain, but she knew how foolish a notion that was.
This sort of pain would take time to heal. She also spied a hint of
frustration. Kai's spine was straight, stiff. Her shoulders were
squared and she looked tense.

“What else is bothering you, love?” Echo asked.

“The fact that I don't know who is responsible for this. I
don't know where to direct my anger or who to attack,” Kaidia
said.

“I'm sure that information will come to light,” Echo
assured Kai, hoping to soothe some of the god's anger.

“It will, but I'm not particularly patient right now,”
Kaidia responded. “On top of that, I've seen the person who
attacked Rykar before.”

“You have?” Echo questioned, eyes widening just a little.

“Yes, in Belhurst. Right after we took out the massive
soldier,” Kaidia said.

“How could you tell?” Echo asked. “The person that
attacked Rykar was cloaked.”

“Yes, but do you really expect two different cloaked people to
show up at two instances where ice-based magic and soldiers were
causing trouble?” Kai asked, almost sarcastically. “Besides,
the cloaks were the same. Dark blue with silver trim.”

“Fair point,” Echo admitted.

“I'm going to bed,” Kaidia said with a sigh. “Show
them where they can sleep, then come join me. I could use the company
tonight.”

Echo nodded and watched Kaidia walk out of the massive chamber.

Chapter XIV

Kaidia had just finished breakfast, though she had hardly noticed
what she had eaten. She sat in her favorite chair in the living room
of her home while everyone else still sat in the dining room. This
was supposed to be her sanctuary, but it had lost its comforting
atmosphere. It felt empty. Kai found it difficult to focus as she sat
there and stared at the floor without seeing it.

An urgent banging echoed down into the living room from the front
door and gave her mind something on which to focus. She stood up and
started up the slowly curving, rising hallway to her door, barely
noticing that Echo had followed her. The kyrian could see that Kaidia
wasn't herself, so she went with the god just in case.

Kaidia pushed open the doors of her home, the one still bearing the
hole made by the sword that had been rammed through it and Vex. That
sword still lay on the ground, stained with Vex's blood, and Kaidia
picked it up as she eyed her visitor.

“What can I do for you, Xerith?” she asked.

“Not brandish a bloodstained sword at me for starters,”
Xerith said, her tone half jesting.

“And what else?” Kai inquired, letting the sword hang by
her side.

“I have some news for you,” Xerith said, her golden hair
pulled back in a ponytail, her usual white robes brushing the grass
at her feet.

“Go on,” Kaidia encouraged, her tone flat. Echo gave her
a quick glance, the concern in her expression wasn't lost on Xerith,
but the priestess said nothing about it.

“I was walking through an old part of the temple that houses
portraits of gods from the First Age. Something drew me down there.
I've never had the urge go down there before, but as the Head
Priestess, you learn that the temple will let you know when something
needs to be seen. So I followed the urge to make my way down there.
That part of the temple is far underground and no one has been there
since sometime during the Second Age. I found where I was supposed to
go, a certain portrait, but I couldn't see it. Lots of spiderwebs
down there, you know, but I cleared them away and was shocked at
what I saw,” Xerith expounded. Kaidia raised a brow.

“And the punch line is?” Kaidia asked.

“The portrait was for the God of Winter. A warrior mage from
the First Age named Morthas Zol. I've seen a copy of it before: a
cloaked man, his face unseen. No one knows what he looked like. His
face was always hidden. All we know was that he had mastery of ice
sorcery that has never been surpassed. But now, he shares his canvas
with another. Meaning his title has been passed on to another
person,” Xerith continued, then paused, watching Kaidia
carefully.

“And?” Kaidia asked, her voice terse.

“There's another God of Winter, a woman, and while I couldn't
see her face, her name is on the plaque at the bottom of the frame.
Nadia Valengaard,” Xerith said.

Kaidia and Echo stared at Xerith for a long moment. Then Kaidia's
muscles stiffened.

“Wait, I thought you priests and priestesses voted on it or
something,” Echo said, more to fill the deafening silence than
anything else.

“No. The temple knows, the temple itself decides. We just
notify people of the decision,” Xerith replied calmly.

“You make it sound like the temple is... sentient,” Echo
said.

“It is, in a way. It rebuilt itself after being razed, after
all. In other ways, it's just a building. No one is quite sure what
is going on there. Not even I know. The secrets of the great Temples
were lost long ago, along with the majority of the Temples,”
Xerith said with a small shrug.

“What could trigger such a thing?” Echo asked. “I've
never heard of the mantle of godhood being passed from one person to
another.”

“It's rare, but it has happened before. What makes this
particularly peculiar is that Morthas Zol has been dead for thousands
of years. When this sort of thing has happened before, the title has
been passed on from one living person to another,” Xerith said.
“As for what triggered it, I have no idea.”

“What sort of powers did this God of Winter exhibit?”
Kaidia asked, her voice tight.

“The obvious ice magic. He was so powerful, he could bring
winter in the middle of summer. Also, while he had a small contingent
of knights in his service, he was very wary of people, didn't trust
many, so he filled out his ranks with ice golems. Living constructs
made of ice and given life with magic. He could raise an army in
seconds. He could make golems of all sizes and legend has it that
they exploded when they died in an attempt to take out whoever killed
them,” Xerith answered.

Echo's eyes widened as she caught on to Kai's reason for asking such
a question and she looked to the god. Kai's jaw was set; her eyes
were glaring at the bloodstained sword in her hand. The pieces of the
puzzle had already fallen into place in her mind... and now they were
falling into place for Echo as well. Xerith was unaware of what had
been happening. Aside from Rykar being taken out of commission, which
was big news, everything else had been happening relatively low-key.

“What's the problem? I figured you'd be happy for your sister,”
Xerith said.

“I'm going to go congratulate her right now,” Kai said
quietly. “Echo, get the soldiers. We'll send them back home.
Then I'm going to Vortha.”

“Kai. Don't react to this rashly. Take a breath, think about-”
Echo started, but was cut short.

“NOW!” Kai snarled, eyes fixing on Echo. There was a fire
in them that startled the kyrian, but she nodded and quickly
retreated inside. Xerith gave Kaidia a confused look.

“What's going on?” the priestess asked.

“You'll find out soon enough,” Kaidia answered, muscles
trembling with barely contained rage.

“Maybe I can help,” Xerith offered.

“You can. Go home,” Kaidia replied curtly.

“Kaidia...” Xerith trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“Go home, Xerith. What's about to happen will reach your eyes
and ears soon enough,” Kaidia said, her eyes shifting to meet
Xerith's own.

“I don't like the sound of that,” Xerith stated.

“You don't have to. Go,” Kai growled before turning,
walking inside her door, and slamming it so hard that the door
shuddered.

Chapter XV

Kaidia slammed the door to Nadia's home open and brushed past a
bewildered Sae-Mirra who had come out of the den to see what had
happened. Nadia came out of her study in the back, eyes widening as
she saw a decidedly pissed off Kaidia walking purposefully toward
her. Before Sae-Mirra could figure out what was happening, Kaidia
darted forward and slammed Nadia through the study door, taking it
off its hinges with Nadia's body. The door slammed to the floor, but
Kaidia held Nadia aloft by the front of her tunic, muscles in her
bare arms flexing with the feat.

“You owe me some lives, sister,” Kai growled. “One
in particular.”

Sae started toward the two siblings only to find Echo's powerful arms
wrapped around her. She gave her fellow kyrian a questioning look.
Echo only shook her head in response.

“I don't owe you a damn thing!” Nadia snarled in return,
her hands gripping Kai's forearms.

Pure, unrestrained power started to emanate from both sisters. Both
Echo and Sae laid their ears back against their hair and started to
back up. The feel of sorcerous energy in the air sent unsettling
tingles through both kyrians and made it harder to breathe. Both
siblings, just standing still, were radiating more power than most
mages could manage while completely exerting every ounce of energy
they had, and it was as unnerving as it was astonishing.

The moment ended abruptly with Kaidia dropping Nadia to her feet.
Nadia threw a punch at Kai's jaw and the elder sibling jerked
backward to avoid the blow. She then launched an attack of her own,
slamming her fist into Nadia's gut, sending her little sister
stumbling backward. Nadia recovered much more quickly than she should
have, given the strength with which Kai had hit her. Nadia smirked at
the brief shock in Kaidia's eyes.

“I'm a lot stronger than I was before, Kai. I've closed the gap
between us. I'm like you now; a living god,” Nadia said, her
tone smug.

“You've learned to run your mouth, it seems,” Kai said,
turning Nadia's smirk into a frown.

The two sisters glared at one another for a long moment before Nadia
bolted forward and slammed herself into Kaidia. She caught her elder
sibling by surprise and managed to run past her. Even as she ran, she
gave Sae a heartfelt look that simultaneously broke Sae's heart and
made her smile. No matter what transpired, she knew Nadia loved her,
and in that moment, she made up her mind. As Kaidia moved to give
chase, Sae broke loose of Echo's hold, and launched herself into
Kaidia, crashing the god into the wall along with herself.

Kaidia grunted with the blow, but shoved Sae off of her, and snarled.

“What the hell, Sae?!” she demanded.

“I don't know what she did, but she's my wife, and I can't let
you hurt her,” Sae said as she stood up. She looked determined
and her hands strayed toward the hilts of the long daggers she wore
at her hips.

“Nadia is responsible for Malcade's death, for Rykar being
incapacitated, for Vex's death, for the deaths of people in Belhurst,
for the attack on Quinolt, the death of Lady Orana, and who knows
what else!” Kaidia said; her voice rose nearly to a shout.

Sae was torn, struggling with an inner turmoil. She stood slowly and
sighed before looking Kaidia in the eyes.

“Don't hurt her if you can help it,” she said.

“I want to help her, but I'll do what I have to,” Kaidia
replied, then ran from the house to chase her sister. Echo followed
after giving Sae a sympathetic look.

Kaidia looked around, and then looked to Echo.

“Maybe we should split up. It's going to be a pain in the ass
finding her even then,” Echo said.

“I suppose we don't have much choice. Just be careful,”
Kaidia replied.

Echo nodded, then grabbed Kai's shirt, and pulled the god close. The
kyrian pressed her lips to Kai's with a purr, letting the kiss linger
for a few precious moments before she stepped back.

“For good luck,” she said with a wink. Kai couldn't help
but smile. The next moment Echo dashed off down the street and Kaidia
ran in the opposite direction, both keeping an eye out for any sign
of Nadia.

* * *

Nadia panted softly, hiding in the shadows between two buildings
nearby. She longed to summon her cloak to hide herself, but feared
that Echo or Kaidia, both sensitive to sorcerous power, would sense
even such a minute expression of power. She contemplated a portal.
Sure, both her sister and Echo might sense it, but she would be long
gone by the time they tracked down the source of the magic. While she
was confident that she had dramatically closed the gap between
herself and her sister, she wasn't exactly sure just how strong she
had become. She hadn't had a chance to truly test her abilities, but
she was damn sure she didn't want to test her power against both Echo
and Kaidia at once.

She couldn't risk fighting either of them in the middle of Vortha for
many reasons; chief among those being people. She didn't want to harm
the people of Vortha, she didn't want to destroy her own city in a
battle with her sister, and when two gods clashed, people and cities
rarely fared well. Nadia took a breath to try and calm herself. Her
nerves were shaken. She hadn't expected her sister to catch on so
quickly and her mind reeled with just how she was going to handle it.

“I suppose I just need to accelerate my plans,” Nadia
said to herself as she focused her mind and raised her hands. She
spread them apart and a whirling portal of brilliant light opened up,
taking up the space in the alley. It hadn't quite stabilized when she
was hit from behind; tackled into the unstable portal. The hit broke
her concentration.

A few very disorienting moments later, Nadia slammed into the ground,
rolled, and hit a tree. She stood up with a groan, eyes searching for
whoever had come through the portal with her. She took note of her
surroundings, as well. Thanks to her interrupted concentration, the
portal had taken her somewhere other than she had intended. Thanks to
the twilight of the sun which had only just set, she was having a
difficult time pinpointing just where she might be. She could tell
she was in the foothills of some mountains, but that didn't narrow
down possible locations all that much. There were several mountain
ranges across Haelstross alone, let alone all the mountains on Valen.

She spotted a shadowed form with a pair of glowing eyes standing
several feet away, just watching her.

“How did you find me so quickly?” Nadia asked.

“I'm a kyrian. My sense of smell is pretty strong and you, like
everyone else, have a unique scent. I've been around you enough to
know it well, so I followed that, and it led me straight to you,”
Echo answered.

“You could have just let me go,” Nadia suggested.

“Why would I do that?” Echo asked with a scoff.

“So you didn't have to fight me on your own,” Nadia said.

“What's life without rolling the dice now and then?” Echo
asked rhetorically.

“No wonder you and Kaidia work so well together,” Nadia
remarked while she drew her sword.

“I love her for a reason,” Echo replied, her own sword
sliding from its sheathe.

“Then this whole mess is going to rip her apart,” Nadia
said, her voice faltering ever so slightly; overwhelmed with an
emotion that Echo couldn't pinpoint.

Nadia charged toward Echo, who met the new god halfway. Nadia swung
her sword at Echo's head, only to miss as Echo ducked the blow. She
spun around just in time to block Echo's responding strike. Their
swords scraped together, the hilts locked, and Nadia growled.

“Why do you resist? You're just doing more damage. You could
come back with me and help make things right,” Echo said.

“Like I could make things right at this point. I murdered
Malcade, one of my subordinates killed Vex, and my constructs
attacked several towns. This is beyond fixing,” Nadia replied.

“You're a god, now... what can they do to you?” Echo
asked.

“I don't intend to find out,” Nadia answered before she
disengaged her sword from Echo's and leaped backward.

Echo started to follow only to stop in her tracks as a blast of icy
air slammed into her. She laid her ears back as the wind bent all the
trees around her. It was quite a shock compared to the warm spring
air that had been present a moment before. The initial gust passed
and Echo looked to Nadia. The winter deity was showing off, trying to
shake Echo's confidence with a display of power. She had frost and
snow roiling around her in a constantly moving wind that seemed to
stay within a few feet of her... and that's when Echo had an idea.

Without moving her free hand, she summoned water to her palm. It
floated lazily about her hand in droplets and beads that defied
gravity. She concentrated them all into one mass of liquid, then
flung it at Nadia with a swipe of her hand. When the water hit the
frigid air swirling around the god, the water turned into a razor
sharp spike of ice.

Nadia's eyes widened at the sight and she jerked to the side just in
time to avoid being impaled. She had to move again as a second,
third, and fourth projectile nearly hit her shoulder, leg, and head,
respectively. The cold wind died and Nadia glared at Echo.

“You're not the only one that can do that,” she said with
a growl before she started flinging considerably large spikes of ice
at Echo, who nimbly dodged them all. She twirled around behind a
tree, the ice slamming into the trunk, and splintering it. The tree
fell toward Nadia, causing her to pause her offensive to avoid
getting crushed.

When she looked up, Echo was gone. She whirled around, expecting the
kyrian to be behind her, but such was not the case. That's when she
heard a whistling sound, turned, and caught a bolt of pure energy in
the chest, which sent her crashing to the forest floor with jarring
force. After taking a moment or two to regain her breath, she looked
around, disoriented by the force with which she hit the ground,
searching for the source of the blast. She looked around the trunks
of the trees, her vision less than sharp in the dimming light. A
moment later, a bright bolt of energy came from near the top of a
tree. Nadia jerked to the side and the bolt slammed into the ground
where she had been lying. She winced, wishing she'd had time to put
her armor on before leaving her home. It would have absorbed some of
the impact of the first blast, at least.

Nadia pushed herself up in time to just barely avoid the next shot,
the bolt of sorcerous energy taking out the base of a tree just
beside her. The tree slowly tilted, then toppled to the ground. She
started walking toward the direction of the blasts, side-stepping
one, then another. A third flew straight at her and she deflected it
with a quickly summoned ward that allowed her to bat it aside. The
ward dissipated and Nadia lunged for the tree that she thought Echo
to be in, and slashed at it with her sword. Normally, the sword would
have just lodged uselessly in the tree's trunk, but with a burst of
magical energy coursing through, and flaring out of, the blade, the
trunk was cut clean through. The slice was at an upward angle which
caused the tree's trunk to slide down along the cut and then off the
stump, and to the ground. The tree crashed to the ground and Nadia
looked around the top of it, but saw no Echo. She looked further up
as she heard leaves rustling above her.

This time, lightning arced out of a tree. Nadia dove out of the way,
rolled up into a crouch, and threw a spike of ice at the top of the
tree. She realized she'd missed when another bolt of lightning
answered her ice.

She dodged the bolt, then decided to end the game with one move. She
leaped forward to the base of the tree that Echo was standing in, and
swung her sword at it. Again, she poured sorcerous energy into the
blade, and cut clean through the tree. She forced much more power
through the blade this time and the effect was far reaching. Energy
lashed out, cut through all the trees around the one Nadia physically
struck, and all of them fell to the ground, leaving Echo with nowhere
to leap.

Echo hit the ground and rolled, got to her feet, and grinned, her
sword at the ready.

“Smart.”

“I picked a few things up from my sister over the years.”

“Apparently.”

The two charged at one another, each aiming a strike at the other.

* * *

Kaidia stood atop her temple in Vortha, eyes closed, concentrating as
best she could. She had sensed the focus of magical energy that had
been Nadia opening up a portal. At the time, she hadn't known what it
was, but then she started sensing bursts of sorcerous energy going
off in the mountains some distance from Vortha. They were close
enough that they could be admired, but far enough away that their
shadows never fell across Vortha. The distance made it difficult to
pinpoint exactly where those magical bursts were coming from, even
for a god.

She knew that the bursts of magic were Nadia and Echo. She knew they
were fighting and she wanted to intervene before either of them
decided they had to end the fight the hard way. She felt a twinge
while trying to zero in on the magic and assumed Echo had scored a
hit on Nadia. It wasn't as bad as when she had felt such pains
before, so she figured the blow wasn't a major one. When the bursts
of magic continued, she breathed a bit easier. She felt several more
bursts and then a massive outpouring of power and she opened a portal
immediately. She and Nadia had roamed those mountains plenty in their
teen years and so she knew an area nearby where she sensed the bursts
of magic that she could safely step out of the portal.

She took a deep breath, then walked into the whirling mass of bright
light.

* * *

Echo and Nadia danced in and around one another, slashing with their
swords, throwing punches, trying to knee and kick each other. Their
blades constantly missed, if only narrowly. Punches and kicks were
blocked and dodged. The two were evenly matched, which was
disconcerting to Echo and thrilling to Nadia. Just a few days ago,
this was unthinkable. Echo would have easily handled Nadia in terms
of raw power. As it was, Echo still had the edge in skill and
physical strength as far as she could tell, but Nadia had more
sorcerous power now and Echo wasn't certain how that had happened.

The pair separated, then lunged at one another again, swords
clashing, showers of sorcerous sparks falling to the ground as both
combatants forced magic through their blades.

Nadia swung her sword at Echo's head, the kyrian ducked, then brought
the pommel of her sword up into Nadia's jaw, knocking the woman
backward. Echo took a couple of steps backward and took a deep
breath, watching Nadia rub her jaw, and regain herself.

Both of them turned at the tingling in their spines that told them
that sorcery was being worked nearby. The pair both knew who it was
and Nadia closed her eyes, focused, and a shimmering dome of
considerable size rose up around them, sealing them off from the rest
of the world.

“I don't want us to be interrupted,” Nadia explained as
she looked to Echo.

“You think Kai can't break through that?” Echo scoffed.

“She can. The question is how long it will take her to do so,”
Nadia replied.

“I wouldn't wager too long,” Echo said.

“Me either,” Nadia agreed. “But a little more time
might be all I need.”

The pair charged one another once again. Nadia swung her sword high,
trying for a kill stroke. Echo ducked under it and tackled Nadia to
the ground. She straddled Nadia's stomach and started throwing
punches at Nadia's face. She got several shots in before Nadia
managed a counter punch and stunned Echo. Just as Echo regained her
senses, Nadia reared up and slammed her forehead into Echo's nose. A
sickening crunch and jarring pain let Echo know it was broken. Anger
fueled her retaliation as she drove the pommel of her sword down
against Nadia's nose, returning the favor. Nadia cried out sharply,
and grabbed her own broken nose.

Echo stood and backed up a few steps, took a breath, and set her nose
with a hiss. Nadia set her own nose while still lying on the ground.
Echo wiped the blood from her upper lip, mouth, and chin with the
back of her hand. Nadia stood up, wiping blood from her face, as
well.

“You hesitate. You've been hesitating the whole fight,”
Nadia observed.

“I don't want to kill you. Or wound you badly,” Echo
stated.

“Afraid of Kai's reaction?” Nadia asked.

“Afraid? No. Concerned is the best way to put it,” Echo
replied.

“Wonderful,” Nadia said, a grin on her face.

Nadia ran forward, charging Echo with a new confidence. Echo sighed
and moved to counter. She moved with such speed that Nadia faltered.
She knew she could move just as fast, if not faster, but she hadn't
mastered it yet. Moving at those speeds without experience could do
more harm than good if she collided with a tree or the wall of the
dome. She could easily break bones and knock herself out. Yes, she'd
easily recover due to her new found godhood, but it'd leave her
vulnerable to capture with Echo here and Kaidia closing in. She tried
to dodge, but Echo, being more experienced, moved quicker, her hand
grasping Nadia by the throat. She reversed Nadia's momentum and
slammed the young god to the forest floor with bone cracking force.

“Just because I would rather not hurt you, doesn't mean I won't
if you force my hand,” Echo explained, her voice eerily calm.

Nadia groaned, rolled over, and pushed herself onto all fours just in
time for Echo to kick her in the face. Nadia yelped, twisted, and
fell on her back. She could taste blood.

“Stay down. Your sister is nearly here,” Echo said. She
could feel Kaidia approaching; could feel the power radiating from
the woman. Kai was obviously ready for a fight. Echo looking through
the translucent dome, in the direction Kaidia was coming from. She
couldn't see the god yet.

Nadia took the moment of distraction to leap up and put her back to
the edge of the dome. She knew she had more raw power than Echo and
knew she had one shot to use it to catch the kyrian off guard. She
threw both hands up and, with what could only be described as a
recklessly massive amount of power, she unleashed an eruption of pure
magical energy that filled almost the entire dome, leaving Echo
nowhere to run and nowhere to duck out of harm's way. She threw up a
ward, but it lasted only a few scant moments before shattering. The
blindingly bright wall of power engulfed Echo and she disappeared
from view.

* * *

Kaidia saw the burst of light up ahead, felt the incredible amount of
power being expended, and doubled her pace, running between the trees
at breakneck speed. She skidded to a stop just short of the wall of
the dome. She looked through the shimmering wall and felt her
adrenaline spike. Lying on the ground with smoke drifting off of her,
was Echo. Some distance away, on the other side of the dome, stood
Nadia, panting heavily, blood leaking out of her mouth, down her jaw,
and dripping off her chin. Her hands were smoking much like Echo's
entire body.

Kaidia breathed a sigh of relief as Echo stirred and started to get
up. That relief vanished as Nadia walked forward purposefully,
straight for Echo. The battered kyrian pushed herself to get up,
barely managing to stand before Nadia kicked her in the knee, putting
the feline woman down on it roughly. The younger Valengaard
forcefully turned Echo around in her kneeling position to face Kaidia
and drew a wicked looking dagger from her belt. It was ancient,
judging by its appearance. A pair of light spheres shot up from
Nadia, illuminating the scene for Kai's benefit.

“Don't you dare, Nadia,” Kai warned.

“Why not?” Nadia questioned as she put the blade to
Echo's throat.

“There's no need! No reason!” Kaidia shouted, sorcerous
force flaring around her hands. She drove her fingers into the dome.
The fingers of both hands penetrated the dome, the shimmering surface
near the points of entry cracking slowly. The muscles in Kai's arms
flexed and went taut under her skin as she tried to pull the dome
apart; rip a hole in it.

“It might just take the fight straight out of you,” Nadia
suggested. “Or maybe I just want to cause you pain.”

“Nadia!” Kai shouted, somewhat stunned by the second
suggestion.

Nadia pressed the blade to Echo's throat. The weakened kyrian lifted
her hand to Nadia's out of instinct, but she had taken too much
damage, and had no strength left to resist what she knew was coming.
Echo sought out Kaidia's eyes, locked her gaze with that of the god,
her lover. She smiled weakly and spoke in a whisper that Kai couldn't
hear, though she could read Echo's lips.

“I love you.”

Nadia dragged the blade sharply across Echo's throat, causing the
kyrian's eyes to widen in pain. Nadia leaped backward, a portal
opening behind her as she took in the scene.

Kaidia let out a scream and the dome shattered like glass, the pieces
dissolving into nothing as she ran to Echo's side. She put her hand
over the wound on Echo's throat; attempting to heal the bloody gash.
She felt anguish wash over her as she realized it wasn't working. The
dagger had been enchanted. As Echo weakly grabbed at Kai, the god
tried to put the kyrian under the stasis magic she had used on Rykar,
but it didn't work. Kaidia tried again... and again. Still, it
refused to work.;an effect of the dagger, no doubt. Echo, vision
darkening, just shook her head gently at Kaidia, trying her damnedest
to not choke on her own blood. She rolled and laid her head on
Kaidia's lap. Kai did the only thing she could think of and pet
Echo's hair with a trembling hand.

“I love you, too.”

She watched Echo's chest rise and fall as the kyrian struggled to
breathe, the tiger pendant Kai had bought for Echo was covered in
blood; it rose and fell with the kyrian's dying breaths. Echo's
fingers gripped Kai tightly and her last breath rattled out of her
wetly, blood mixed with the air. Kaidia's vision grew obscured with
tears and she pulled Echo's body to her. She put her forehead to
Echo's, closed her eyes, and allowed her tears to stream freely down
her cheeks. She sobbed quietly for several long moments, holding Echo
close. She wiped her tears and glared at Nadia, who was rimmed in the
light of her portal. She said nothing. She didn't need to. Nadia
understood the threat; she understood the hell that was going to come
raining down on her and while part of her was frightened by it, part
of her was excited. Yet another part of her was drowning in regret
and guilt for what she had just done. She had just taken the greatest
thing in her sister's life and thrown it away.

Kaidia screamed again, overwhelmed with anger and a deep pain that
she was certain would never fade. A wave of fire roared out from her
which caused Nadia to jump backward into her portal. The last thing
she saw was Kaidia, holding Echo's body, the pair of them sitting in
a field of flames.

The fire torched the better part of the forest around Kaidia and the
mountain above her.

For centuries to come, the legend of Kaidia bringing the dawn in the
night on the far side of the mountains would persist in Vortha.

* * *

Kaidia walked down the center of the street, Echo's body cradled in
her arms. People, town guards, everyone got out of her way. She
didn't seem to notice any of them; didn't notice one of the guards
running away with the likely intent to find Boreth and Syren. Kaidia
paused in front of the doors to her temple, looked down at Echo's
peaceful face for a long moment, then looked back up to the doors. At
her gaze, they opened, and she walked inside.

The bearded, long haired priest, Varadae, rushed to greet her. His
face held concern and worry.

“Lady Kaidia, what has happened?” he asked.

“She's dead. Her body is in stasis. I want to leave her here
until I finish my business with the one who killed her. Then I will
take her to her final resting place,” Kaidia said, her tone
flat despite the fact that she was further enraged that the stasis
magic worked only after Echo's heart had stopped beating.

“Yes, of course,” Varadae said. It was a request the
priest would generally refuse, but not when it came from his god.

“I will leave her in my quarters here. She will not be
disturbed,” Kaidia said, walking past Varadae.

“I will make sure of it,” Varadae assured. Kaidia paused.

“Thank you,” she said before walking on.

Chapter XVI

Nadia stood in a crypt, deep under the ancient city she had
discovered on the continent of Phaedeos. It was a large, circular
room with stone sarcophagi lining the edges. The ceiling was shrouded
in darkness and Nadia wasn't certain how tall it actually was. On the
walls were wooden coffins, preserved in time by the dry, cold air of
the room. They were held on metal stakes that had been driven into
the walls. Each coffin was held by three, suspended over the floor
below. Rows upon rows of these coffins disappeared up into the
blackness above.

“I'm tempted to open them and see what the first race looked
like,” Nadia said.

“I suspect they're all empty. The first race disappeared
without a trace, remember? I remember from the time before my long
sleep, their dead vanished in the same manner,” the tall, lanky
knight said from behind Nadia.

“Fair point. I don't see why these would be any different,”
Nadia replied. She had healed from her battle with Echo. She was a
god, after all. Like Kaidia, the damage she suffered disappeared with
a little rest.

“May I ask what we're doing down here?” the man asked.

“I'm just thinking, Vorc. Just thinking,” Nadia answered.

“I see. Should we not be preparing for your sister's arrival?”
he asked.

“Nothing you could do would prepare you for her arrival. I
suggest you hide when she gets here. You killed her protégé,
remember?” Nadia advised.

“Yes and you killed her lover. After centuries in hibernation,
I want a real fight,” Vorc insisted.

“Do as you will, but do not say I didn't warn you,” Nadia
said.

“Thank you, Winter God,” Vorc said.

“You're welcome,” Nadia said. “I'm still not used
to that title.”

“You are worthy of it. It would not have been passed along if
you were not. Though I wonder at the choice,” Vorc said.

“Why is that?” Nadia asked.

“Because your sister is already a god of an opposing nature.
You are cold, she is heat. That would exacerbate any sibling rivalry
between you two all by itself. You two love each other. That will
amplify the stress and the power you two bring to bear against one
another. When you two fight, it will be destructive to say the least.
If you two didn't care about Valen, I dare say it would be
cataclysmic. When two gods go to war, it's not pretty. I suppose it's
good for the people of Valen that the fight will be on this frozen
hellhole of a continent. Minimal collateral damage,” Vorc
explained. “It is almost as if someone intentionally set this
up like some sort of duel you hear of in fantasy tales written by the
elven scribes of old.”

“Maybe that's what it is - a legendary story. The dueling
sister gods,” Nadia mused.

“This one will be a story for the ages, regardless of the
winner,” Vorc stated.

“Indeed. Another reason I ask you to stay out of the fight.
Beyond the fact that you would be obliterated, I don't want to seem
unfair. Beyond that, you owe me for awakening you from the ages’
long slumber in which my predecessor placed you and your knights,”
Nadia said.

“If you insist, but what if she brings her Dragon Knights?”
Vorc asked.

“I doubt she will, but if she does, you may fight them to your
heart's content,” Nadia answered.

“Thank you,” Vorc said.

“Think nothing of it,” Nadia said with a wave of her
hand. “I'm going to rest. Have your men keep a look out for my
sister.”

“Yes, Ma'am,” Vorc said with a slight bow of his head.

* * *

Kaidia wiped away the last traces of blood from Echo's face and
dropped the stained rag into a basin of red water that sat by her
feet. Echo lay in the bed reserved for Kai in the god's quarters of
the temple. Kaidia sat in a chair beside the bed, looking more tired
than she ever had. It had been a long night for Kaidia. She had
removed Echo's clothing, washed it and Echo free of blood, then
redressed the fallen warrior before she healed the ragged wound
inflicted upon the kyrian's throat. It was little more than a
cosmetic change, but it brought Kai a modicum of peace.

She reached up and gently scratched behind Echo's ear, wishing with
all of her being that she would see those ears flick one more time.
She knew the hope was in vain, that Echo was gone, but she didn't
know what else to think at the moment. The brightest star in her
night had been snuffed out and the world seemed a cold and dark place
without Echo's light. She knew she might be able to resurrect Echo
sometime in the future, but she also knew that such a feat was nigh
impossible. The power it took was far beyond Kai's current abilities
and the sacrifice required to truly bring someone back to life was
staggering. She knew that if she were to ever hear Echo speak again
or feel those familiar arms around her once more, it would be long
after her memories of Echo's voice and the feel of the kyrian's body
had faded from her mind and left the woman a familiar stranger and
little more. For even the memories of gods dimmed with the passing of
time; though Kai hoped, perhaps in vain, that her memories of Echo
did not suffer such a fate.

She stared at Echo's face, both peaceful and haunting, and thought of
it another way. She had no doubt that if she were to ever attain the
ability to bring Echo back, that the two would rediscover their love
for one another, and it might be like those first days all over
again, with every happy moment ringing new to their minds. They
could, perhaps, relive the discovery of one another all over again.
It had been a wonderful journey the first time, after all.

Kai took hold of Echo's hand, leaned forward, and laid her head on
the bed beside Echo's still body. She slowly drifted off, sleeping
one last night in the company of the one she held dearest.

Deep in Kai's mind, Ashlin wept silently, sharing in the god's pain.
She had been happy that Kai had found another that she could love as
much as she had loved Ashlin. She shared in Kaidia's devastation at
Echo's loss and the almost equal pain of Nadia's betrayal. Her love
for Kaidia had not diminished and she was just as pained by Kaidia's
anguish as she would have ever been while alive. She wanted to put
her arms around Kai despite knowing that she could not. So she
settled there in the back of Kaidia's mind, tried to emanate her love
for the woman, and hoped it seeped into Kai's being. Anything to ease
the pain.

* * *

Kaidia was awoken by urgent knocking at her chamber door. She had
left instructions to not be disturbed, but she had been left alone
for hours, judging by the daylight streaming in through the windows.
She looked to Echo and heaved a sigh upon noting that the woman
hadn't moved in the slightest. Though she had no reason to expect the
dead to stir, she had been hoping the whole mess of the previous
evening had been nothing more than a horrifying nightmare.

She stood slowly, her back stiff from sleeping in a slumped over
position. She stretched before heading to the door, unhurried by
another series of near frantic knocks. Kaidia opened the door to find
Sae-Mirra on the other side, standing between two Dragon Knights who
were keeping her from just walking on inside. Kaidia had mixed
feelings upon seeing Sae. The kyrian reminded her of Echo in many
ways, but also reminded her of Nadia, both for obvious reasons.
However, Sae also shared in some of Kaidia's fondest memories of the
past half decade. After a moment of staring, she glanced to the
knights.

“She's welcome,” she said, then stepped aside to let Sae
inside. The knights moved back to their posts on either side of the
door and Sae-Mirra hurried inside. She gasped upon seeing Echo's
body, hands covering her mouth, eyes riveted.

“I... I didn't want to think it was true,” she said, her
tail going still, her ears drooping a little. “The whole city
has been talking about you carrying her body through town.”

“I don't remember walking through the city, honestly,”
Kaidia said.

“I don't doubt it. You look terrible,” Sae said.

“I feel terrible,” Kai replied.

“With good reason,” Sae said with a sigh. “Oh, fair
warning, your parents are on their way here, and they're both a
bit... worked up.”

“Wonderful,” Kaidia muttered. “How much do they
know?”

“As far as I know, all they're aware of is that Echo is dead,”
Sae said, wincing at the look of pain that flashed through Kaidia's
eyes.

“Do you even know that your wife is a god, now?” Kaidia
asked.

“No... but I knew something was up,” Sae answered.

“Well, the vast increase in her power would be a big clue,”
Kai said with a humorless chuckle.

“Yes, but I never considered she was a god. Figured someone
would announce that,” Sae said with a shrug.

“Xerith came to tell me. That's how I figured out what's been
going on. I imagine she told Nadia, as well. Probably caught her on
her own and that's why you didn't know. Though I doubt that Nadia
wasn't aware of her new station,” Kaidia said.

“You didn't know for four years,” Sae challenged.

“True, but I was highly distracted by other events in my life.
Also, my power didn't spike. It's just been slowly growing, much like
the knowledge that was granted me by the transformation,”
Kaidia said. “She's done the exact opposite on both counts. Her
power is greater and her knowledge, at least of magic, has expanded
greatly in a short amount of time.”

“Probably because your power and knowledge is that of the
dragons. It's much greater and more vast than... well... any other
race I can think of,” Sae said. “If it was all accessible
to you all at once, it would probably destroy your mind and body.
None of the races are built to withstand such a massive change all of
the sudden.”

“And it could be that there is more knowledge and power to be
given to her and she's just hit her current limit. She'll probably
get stronger and smarter as time goes on. I know she fought Echo for
longer than she wanted, which would suggest her skill and abilities
weren't on par with Echo's,” Kaidia said, staring at Echo,
thinking.

“Then how did she win?” Sae asked.

“Raw power. From what I could see, she got off a lucky, last
ditch attack with immense power. She used her one advantage. I'm not
sure how she managed it. Echo would have had to have been distracted
for Nadia to get the attack off,” Kaidia said.

“Well, you used a portal to get near them. Maybe she felt it,
knew you were coming, and was keeping a look out for you,” Sae
suggested. Kaidia looked up and a fresh pain crossed her features.

“I hope that's not true. That would make it my fault,”
Kaidia said, breathless, the air taken from her chest by the
possibility of her role in Echo's death.

“It's not like you could have known,” Sae said to try and
ease Kai's heartache. “But you said you saw the attack...
surely you could have stopped the fatal blow.”

“No,” Kai said with a shake of her head. “She had a
barrier up; a dome. With her new power, it was hard to get through.
She killed Echo in front of me. I was just a few feet away, but I
couldn't get to her. Emotion took over after Nadia slit her throat
and I shattered the dome, but the dagger she used had some
enchantments. I couldn't heal the wound and I couldn't force her into
stasis like I did with Rykar. I couldn't do anything. Even with all
my power, I was helpless. She realized it and just laid her head in
my lap and we held each other for those last few moments...”
Kaidia trailed off, eyes staring at the floor.

“Kaidia...” a voice said at the door. Kaidia and Sae
looked toward the door. Syren stood there, a pained look on her face
that rivaled Kai's. Boreth stood behind Syren, his hands on her
shoulders.

“Mother. Father,” Kaidia greeted them. She wasn't sure of
what else she could say. Sae stepped back a bit, feeling guilty,
though she had no idea why. She wasn't responsible for a damn thing
that had happened. She just assumed it was because she was married to
the one who was responsible for all the hell that had broken loose.

Syren shrugged off Boreth's hands and walked over to Kaidia. The
mother and daughter embraced, Kaidia taking a deep breath, and
allowing herself a brief moment to enjoy the comfort of her mother's
arms. She pulled back after just a moment, however, and looked her
mother squarely in the eyes.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“I figured,” Syren replied.

“As you just heard, Nadia killed Echo. You may not know that
she's responsible for Rykar's situation as well as Malcade's death.
Not to mention the minor noble that was murdered outside of town,”
Kai said, her eyes shifting between her mother and her father.

“But she was with us when we investigated the site of Lady
Orana's death,” Boreth protested.

“I know. She did that on purpose. Not that any of us would have
thought of her as a suspect in the first place, but it was added
insurance against any possible suspicion,” Kaidia said. “Beyond
that, do you know how hard it is to block an arrow with a sword? For
a normal person, it's impossible. Even for Nadia before she was a
god, it would have been more luck than skill. She knew it was coming
and where it was coming from. She was likely controlling the
construct that fired it at her.”

“This all seems very elaborate. Your sister isn't the type.
She's feisty and impulsive, not calculating,” Boreth contested.

“You're thinking of her before she was a god. That sort of
transformation will change who you are. It changed me, however
subtly. Much like her sudden increase in power, I think the changes
to her as a person are dramatic, as well,” Kaidia said. “She's
never been cruel before. Remember the winter we adopted eight stray
kittens because she found them outside and brought them all home?
That's the Nadia that I know. The Nadia I saw last night was someone
else... and she's put me in a terrible position.”

“What position?” Syren asked.

“You think I can just let this go?” Kai asked, gesturing
to Echo's body.

“What can you do about it?” Boreth hesitantly asked.

“She wants a fight. She's going to get one,” Kai stated.

“You can't fight your sister,” Syren protested.

“If it hadn't been for her barrier, a fight between her and I
would have happened last night,” Kaidia replied. “I can't
step back from it. I won't disgrace Echo's memory that way.”

“But this is Sae's wife, my daughter. Not to mention if you two
go head-to-head, I might lose both of my daughters,” Boreth
said. “We can find another way to resolve it.”

“There is nothing else. I tried speaking with her last night.
She's gone. I'm going to try to not kill her, but something has to be
done. We can't just let her run amok,” Kaidia said.

“But... she's your sister,” Syren said, desperation in
her voice.

“She used to be,” Kaidia said.

An uncomfortable silence followed that statement with no one knowing
what to say or how to break it. After several long moments, Sae spoke
up.

“My wife wouldn't do this. She might still be in there
somewhere and, if she is, try to bring her back out. If you cannot...
do what you must,” she said before walking over to Kaidia and
wrapping the woman up in a tight hug, which Kaidia returned. When the
embrace broke, Sae gave Kai a sad smile, then walked out of the room.

Not knowing what to make of it all, Syren and Boreth also hugged
Kaidia, and left the room. Once more alone, Kaidia walked over and
sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes trained on Echo's face.

“When the fight is done, regardless of how it ends, you will be
laid to rest properly until I can figure out a way to bring you back
to me,” she said, though her voice had no hope left in it.

* * *

“We have to find a way to stop this,” Syren said to
Boreth as they sat in their den. Boreth was reading a book to take
his mind off of things. This was the exact conversation that he did
not want to have. He looked up to see his wife staring into the empty
fireplace.

“What would you suggest, dear? How do you propose we stop two
gods from fighting?” he asked. “Two gods, that I remind
you, are our daughters. They're as stubborn as they come. And Kaidia
is right. If Nadia has lost herself as badly as it seems, letting her
run free isn't really an option. Who knows what she'll do next.”

“Maybe you can get between them?” Syren asked.

“Be... between them? Have you lost your marbles, Syren? This
isn't one of their childhood fist fights in the back yard! I can't
pick them up by the back of the shirt and clonk their heads together
anymore. They're gods! I'll be the first to tell you that I'm one of
the best warriors to set foot on Valen, but we both trained our
daughters to be the best of the best... and they are. In a pure sword
fight, I could probably still best both of them, one at a time, but
not both at once. But those two aren't going to just be sword
fighting, they're going to be flinging fire, ice, lightning, and fuck
knows what else around like it's nothing. Last time I checked, I can
barely summon enough of a flame to start a camp fire,” Boreth
said, his tone grave.

“What if we worked together?” Syren asked.

“We do make a good team. But here's something to consider: so
do our daughters. They fight well together and if they both want the
fight to be one-on-one, just them, they might team up long enough to
make sure no one will interrupt them. You think we can beat them in
actual combat? Could you strike down one of your own children if you
had to?” Boreth asked.

“I don't know,” Syren said, looking down at her lap.
Memories of both of her daughters flashed through her mind: the pair
of them running around the house, fights, broken vases, and a few
accidental explosions when they were learning magic. The two sisters
had, at one time, been inseparable. That had fractured after Kaidia
lost Ashlin and simply disappeared. It had hurt Nadia deeply that her
sister would just leave her behind. But she had seemed to overcome
that and went in search of Kaidia, eager to work with her again,
fight side-by-side to make a living. Apparently, that hurt had just
been buried and this godly transformation had brought it back out in
Nadia... or perhaps the pain had been the catalyst to start it. Syren
couldn't be sure of any of it, but it made sense.

“Syren?” Boreth asked to gain his wife's attention.

“Yes, love?” Syren asked as she looked up.

“What do you want to do?” Boreth questioned. Syren
thought a moment before answering.

“Contain them if we can. If we can't, we let the pieces fall as
they may,” she said.

“Very well. We'll follow Kaidia when she leaves the temple,”
Boreth said, though he had little faith that containing his daughters
would work.

Chapter XVII

Kaidia pulled the covers of the bed up to Echo's chin, making it look
as if the kyrian were just sleeping. Kai chuckled to herself at the
image. Echo had never slept lying straight on her back. She had
always slept all stretched out or completely curled up. It had been a
highly endearing trait to Kaidia. A sadness replaced the amusement as
Kaidia realized she very well may never see that again, but she
pushed it away and walked from the room. She closed the door and
locked it, then looked to the Dragon Knights on either side of the
door, then to Edgar, the head of the order who had come to Vortha at
Kaidia's request.

“No one enters this room. If you hear that I die in this
battle, seal this room. It will be Echo's tomb. Am I, in any way,
unclear?” Kai instructed.

“Crystal clear, My Lady,” Edgar stated.

“Thank you, Edgar,” she said.

“You're welcome. But... may I insist on you taking some Knights
with you?” he asked.

“You may, but you will be refused,” Kaidia answered.

“Of course, My Lady,” he said with a nod.

Kaidia reached up, grasped the man's shoulder, and gave him a faint
smile.

“Just in case... it's been an honor, Edgar,” she said.

“Likewise, My Lady, but you will be returning,” Edgar
replied.

Kaidia smirked at his confidence, then squeezed his shoulder, and
walked away without another word. She passed through the main chamber
of the temple to find Varadae waiting between the doors and her. She
stopped in front of him.

“Dragon God,” he greeted her.

“Priest Varadae,” she returned.

“A fight between gods hasn't been witnessed since the First
Age... and we're not even sure about that, given the less than
plentiful records. I have all the faith in the world that you will
win. Though I grieve at the fact that your opponent is your sister,”
the old man said. Kai could see the sorrow in his eyes.

“I don't think anyone will win this, no matter who survives,”
Kaidia said. “But thank you.”

“Safe journey,” Varadae bowed slightly.

“Indeed. Keep my temple in order,” Kaidia said as she
started past him.

“Have no fear of that,” Varadae assured her, then watched
her pass through the door.

Kaidia took a deep breath after the temple door closed behind her,
then started off at a brisk pace, walking through the city and out of
the nearest gate. Once beyond the wall, she headed for a stand of
trees that separated several farmers' fields. Once in the cover of
the trees, she stood still in a clearing, and breathed deep. The
scent of the forest, the clean air, and the sounds of the birds, they
all put her at peace. She closed her eyes and concentrated; sought
out her link to her sister deep in her mind.

At first, nothing happened, but then she started to get glimpses of a
dark, ancient city. After that came a view of snow as far as the eye
could see. She looked down and saw that she was standing on a cliff
of ice. It looked to be a hundred foot drop to the ground below, but
it was difficult to tell since the snow obscured any sort of features
below. It could have been a thousand feet.

“So this is where your ancient city is. This is your new home,”
Kaidia said softly. “Well, knock knock, little sister.”

With the image firmly in mind, she opened her eyes. A moment later, a
portal opened up in front of her, turning the clearing bathed in
sunlight even brighter. She braced herself for the cold on the other
side, then walked through.

* * *

Syren raised her hands from the edge of the clearing and poured her
own power into the portal the moment Kaidia disappeared. It kept the
doorway to Phaedeos open after Kaidia had walked through.

“Let's go,” she said to Boreth.

The two walked forward. Boreth stepped through first. Syren moved to
follow him through, but jumped as a figure ran past her and into the
portal. She raised a brow.

“Sae-Mirra?” she asked to the empty air. She hadn't known
the kyrian had followed them. Clever cat, that one. She stepped
through the portal into the bracing cold on the other side only to
find a tip of a black sword a foot from her face.

“Come to watch the show?” Kaidia asked.

“Come to stop it,” Syren said while glaring past the
blade to her daughter's eyes.

“Do yourself a favor and stay out of it. All three of you,”
Kai warned before sliding her sword into its sheathe.

Syren looked to Boreth and Sae, then back to Kaidia, but said
nothing. Kaidia's eyes swept over them all before she turned away and
walked to the edge of the icy cliff the portal had carried them all
to. She glanced back, then jumped off the edge. She did a slow
somersault as she plummeted toward the ground. She landed in a
crouch, the snow around her blowing out and away from her, leaving
bare stone beneath her. She stood up slowly and looked around. At her
gaze, snow melted away, leaving her a path to walk.

She walked out into the middle of the frozen waste, waiting. She knew
that Nadia knew she was here. It was only a matter of time until the
younger Valengaard appeared. She stopped and took a look at the bleak
white of her surroundings.

A gust of wind blew, throwing snow into the air. When it settled,
Nadia stood a few paces away, her eyes on Kaidia. She wore new plate
armor, ancient in style with a generally flowing design, and frosted
with white. Kaidia snorted softly.

“That armor is almost stereotypical,” she said.

“It was originally made to blend in with the snow and rocks
around here. Though, for the most part, the snow has long since
buried any rocks. This armor is from the First Age. I find it fits me
quite nicely,” Nadia replied. It did, too. The armor conformed
to her body and, if Kaidia had to guess, she assumed it allowed Nadia
quite the range of movement.

“You seem to be getting a lot of hand-me-downs lately, sister.
I thought I was supposed to give you those,” Kaidia said.

“No, you just abandoned me,” Nadia stated.

“I did, for a time, but we've done so much since we reunited.
You'd think you'd be over it at this point,” Kaidia retorted.

“I tried. Even kind of succeeded for a little while, but it was
always in the back of my mind; eating at me,” Nadia said.

“I suppose we all have our issues,” Kaidia said.

Another gust of wind blew and a tall, lanky man in ancient knight's
armor appeared near Nadia. Kaidia raised a brow.

“Who might this be?” she asked.

“One of my commanders. His name is Vorc. Rykar killed the
other,” Nadia answered.

“I'm the one who left a message at your home,” Vorc said,
smirking at Kaidia. “Your house girl really had some fight in
her.”

Kaidia's eyes narrowed.

“That was a mistake,” Nadia said with a sigh.

Kaidia looked to Nadia, then her eyes shifted to Vorc, and the man
exploded in a mass of fire and blood; a shrill scream split the air.
The snow melted right around where he stood, further away, it was
stained with blood. What was left of him toppled over. Nadia looked
at the remains and shook her head.

“What a mess,” she said.

“I'm about to make a bigger one,” Kaidia said, black
smoke obscuring her from view. When it cleared, she was standing in
her black armor, sans her helm.

“I was wondering when you'd be ready,” Nadia said as she
drew her sword and her axe.

“Don't be too eager to die,” Kaidia growled as she drew
her sword. She felt a strange familiarity as she stared down her
sister. She was reminded of all their sparring matches growing up.
She was sure Nadia was experiencing the same feeling.

“We'll see who dies,” Nadia said with a scoff.

The sisters started toward one another at a brisk walk with the
obvious intent of harming the other. Before they could get in
striking distance of one another, they both sensed a burst of magic,
and turned toward the source. All they saw were two crackling bolts
of sorcerous energy careening toward them; one for each sister.

Kaidia and Nadia both threw up shimmering wards and the bolts of
energy exploded on contact, throwing up a wall of fire, but leaving
the sisters unscathed. They dropped the wards only to have Boreth,
both swords drawn, come barreling out of the smoke and snow straight
at them. He planted a foot and launched himself at Nadia, taking her
by surprise. She barely got her arms up in time for the impact.
Boreth was massive, easily half again as tall as Nadia and nearly
that much taller than Kaidia. With all his muscle and armor, he
weighed an impressive amount and Nadia couldn't stand against his
rush.

Nadia was bowled over, dropping down into the snow, and disappearing
for the moment. Boreth didn't pause, he just pivoted, and lunged at
Kaidia. Kaidia, with a bit more time to prepare, brought her sword
up, one hand holding the hilt, the other bracing the blade. Boreth
brought both of his swords down with tremendous force, both of his
blades caught by Kaidia's single sword in an ear-splitting clash.
Boreth's strength forced Kaidia down to a knee in the deep snow until
her eyes flared blue and a distinctly inhuman growl rumbled in her
throat. With that, she began to stand, pushing back against her
father's swords. Both she and Boreth put all they had into pushing
against one another, both of them trembling, their muscles burning.
Once she was back to her feet, Kai gave a final shove and forced
Boreth's swords to the side, causing him to slam both blades into the
rock under the snow. He pulled both enchanted swords up and turned to
face his eldest daughter.

She came at him with flurry of inhumanly fast strikes. Only the fact
that he wielded two swords allowed him to block all of them, but he
had to constantly give ground to do so.

“Get out of here!” Kaidia snarled as she paused her
offensive.

“No,” Boreth stated flatly.

Snow erupted up into the sky and Nadia sailed out of the cloud of ice
and frost in mid-air, sword and axe raised as she came down toward
her father. He blocked both her sword and her axe and redirected her
momentum, throwing her to the side and toward her sister. She slid to
a stop and leaped up, standing side by side with Kaidia. The two
looked at one another for a long moment before nodding to one another
and squaring with their father, weapons raised.

“Shit. I called it,” Boreth muttered.

He barely got the words out of his mouth before the sisters charged
forward. It caught him off guard and both of his swords sailed from
his hands. Both of his daughters smirked at their success and visibly
relaxed.

“You've lost, Father,” Nadia said.

“Yeah?” Boreth asked before he took advantage of their
lowered guard, moved quicker than either woman thought he could,
grabbed them each by the head, and brought their heads together
sharply. The crack was audible and both Kaidia and Nadia stumbled
backward holding their heads.

Boreth used the moment to pick up his swords. Kai and Nadia shook
their heads, both shaking away memories of when their father cracked
their heads together, albeit, a lot gentler, when they were children
and got into fights with one another. As they regained their focus,
they both noticed that Sae had joined Boreth in front of them.

“Enough!” Kaidia shouted, her eyes taking on a steady
blue glow. A shadow fell over them and when Boreth looked up, his jaw
fell slack. Towering over him was the massive blue dragon that served
Kaidia. He'd seen the statue on the temple in Vortha, but that didn't
do justice to the beautiful and terrifying creature glaring down at
him.

“Shit,” Boreth said, his voice barely a whisper. He felt
small for the first time in his life.

Sae was gawking up at the dragon in much the same way, her ears laid
back against her hair. Nadia gently shook Sae to get the kyrian's
attention, apparently not at all worried about the hulking monster
behind her.

“Sae, love, I hate that I've put you in the position that I
have, but this will all be over soon. If I lose, remember that I love
you,” she said. Sae opened her mouth to reply, but Nadia cut
her off with a deep, loving kiss. Kaidia waited patiently for the
moment to pass. When Nadia stepped back, Kaidia spoke to the dragon.

“Take them up to the cliff with my mother, keep them all safe
and out of the fight,” she ordered.

The dragon laid its front foot down on in the snow in front of
Boreth. The big warrior was struck by just how similar to a hand the
dragon's claws and paw appeared. He shook his head lightly and the
dragon leaned its head down in front of him and growled softly.

“Alright, you great beast. Calm down!” he growled back at
it before sheathing his swords and stepping onto the offered paw. Sae
followed him and both of them held onto a claw tightly. The dragon's
wings spread and the creature took off into the sky, quickly settling
on the ice cliff, and letting Boreth and Sae disembark.

“Your dragon is beautiful, sister,” Nadia stated.

“Thank you,” Kaidia replied. There was no warmth in the
exchange, just cold civility.

The sisters looked at one another and without a word, both lunged at
one another. Nadia swung high with her sword and Kaidia ducked
beneath it. When she came up, she elbowed Nadia in the face. The blow
caused the younger sister to stumble. When she turned back to Kaidia,
there was blood trickling down her cheek from the wound Kai's armored
elbow had inflicted.

Nadia wasted no time and flung her axe at her sister. Kaidia jerked
out of the path of the weapon just in time. Nadia charged at her
sister, aiming to drive her blade through Kaidia only to have her
sword deflected. She rammed into Kaidia, who fell back into the snow,
but jammed her foot into Nadia's stomach and flipped her over onto
her back. The pair scrambled up and away from one another, putting a
significant distance between each other.

Kaidia studied Nadia and Nadia returned the favor. Again, Nadia acted
first, her free hand held aloft, ice and frost swirling around her
hand. Kaidia mimicked her sister's movement, flames licking at her
fingers. Both sisters launched their attacks at once, Nadia's ice
became a blizzard, and Kaidia's flame became a roaring inferno. Both
elemental forces roared toward one another, gaining momentum as they
closed the distance between them. A moment before impact, a blinding
beam of light crashed down out of the sky between the fire and ice.
Both attacks spent themselves on the light and dissipated. When the
smoke and snow cleared, Xerith stood between Kaidia and Nadia. The
priestess' white robes seemed to be brighter than the pure snow
around her and she looked as serene as she did confident.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Kaidia muttered to
herself.

Nadia looked shocked by the sudden appearance of the priestess.
Kaidia was decidedly less impressed and stalked toward Xerith with
anger smoldering in her eyes. Her fiery attack had left a clear path
between her and Xerith and the stone under her boots felt more solid
and sure than the snow.

“Kaidia, I have to tell you something import-” Xerith
began before being cut off by Kaidia's hand around her throat.

“I will tolerate no further interruptions. First mother, then
father, then Sae, and now you. Leave or go up on the cliff with
everyone else,” Kaidia said with a snarl, her fingers digging
into Xerith's neck.

Everyone in attendance was shocked that Kaidia would put her hand on
Xerith in such a way, but Kaidia's patience was gone.

“Kaidia... she's not herself. She's struggling against... the
influence of Morthas Zol. His essence is what caused her to be
elevated... to godhood,” Xerith struggled to speak against
Kaidia's tight grip.

“Your point?” Kaidia asked, loosening her grip just
slightly.

“She has to overcome it,” Xerith said.

“She can't be separated from his influence?” Kaidia
asked.

“No more than you can be separated from Ashlin. It's part of
the rite of passage that comes with being handed the mantle of a god.
You have to prove yourself worthy,” Xerith answered.

“And if she cannot win out?” Kaidia asked.

“It will destroy her mind. She will go insane. You will have to
kill her if that happens. You will be the only one strong enough,”
Xerith replied.

“How do we know she hasn't already lost?” Kaidia
inquired.

“She's not wildly destroying things. She's still very present
and her mind is still very strong. But it is the influence of Zol
that caused her to kill Echo and Malcade. It caused her to attack
Rykar and send people to kill Vex,” Xerith explained.

“How did you know about Vex? I never told you,” Kaidia
said, eyes narrowed.

“Come, Kaidia. You know I'm more than what I seem,”
Xerith said. She pulled herself from Kai's grip and straightened her
robes. “You can try to get through to her while you fight. Now
that you know what's going on, you might be able to help her.”

“I'm not entirely sure I want to, but we'll see,” Kaidia
said. “Now get up on the cliff with everyone else. I don't want
to be responsible for killing the High Priestess of the biggest
Temple in the world.”

“I'm not as easy to kill as you may think,” Xerith
stated. With a gust of snow, she was gone. Kaidia looked up to the
cliff to see Xerith sitting on the dragon's tail like she did such
things all the time. The dragon didn't seem to mind. For a brief
moment, Kaidia allowed herself to wonder just what Xerith was, but
only a moment.

Kaidia returned her full attention to her sister. Part of her felt
sympathy for the woman's plight, but part of her felt nothing but
hatred. She wanted to help Nadia overcome the corrupting influence of
Morthas Zol, but at the same time, she did not. She momentarily
resolved her feelings by deciding that she'd simply fight to win and,
if she won, she would deal with Nadia's affliction.

The two sisters glared at one another, studying each other, their
breath floating away in bursts of mist on the cold air. Kaidia acted
first with a massive ball of fire that threatened to engulf Nadia.
The younger Valengaard threw up a ward at the last moment that
managed to halt the flames, causing an explosion a few feet in front
of her face. The searing heat made her close her eyes and turn her
head. When she looked back, there was a wall of mist created by the
fire melting the snow around it and subsequently evaporating the
water that resulted from the melted snow.

Kaidia came out of the mist with a powerful downward diagonal slash
of her sword, Nadia barely managed to block the attack. The force of
the impact of her sister's sword on her own caused Nadia to stumble
backward, but she quickly regained her footing and launched herself
at her elder sibling.

The younger Valengaard crossed swords with her sister again and
tested her new physical strength against Kaidia. The idea proved to
be a mistake. While she was, indeed, stronger than she had been
before her godhood, her sister was stronger still. Kaidia forced
Nadia's blade aside, then slammed her forehead against Nadia's nose.
There was a wet crunch that Kaidia found satisfying and Nadia took a
step backwards, blood spilling from her nose, down her face, and
spattering on her white armor. She grabbed her nose and set it just
in time for Kaidia to throw a hard uppercut to her jaw. Nadia was
lifted off her feet, came back down off balance, and toppled over.

Kaidia jumped on top of Nadia before the stunned woman could scramble
to her feet. She pinned Nadia on her back and put her sword to the
woman's throat.

“I know what you're struggling through; you have to fight or
I'm going to kill you,” Kaidia threatened with a steel edge to
her voice. Nadia's expression shifted from angry to uncertain to
frightened, all in the span of a moment. Her eyes changed and Kaidia
couldn't exactly say how, but they were Nadia's eyes, then they
weren't, then they were again.

“I'm trying,” Nadia whispered. Then her eyes shifted
again and her left hand slammed into Kaidia's head, a hunk of ice
gripped in said hand shattering against the god's temple. Kaidia
shouted in anger and pain, falling off of her sibling and into the
snow. She rolled up, her right eye closed, blood trickling down the
side of her face.

Nadia got to her feet and charged Kaidia. Kai swung her sword high
and Nadia ducked it. The younger woman swung her own sword in a
backhanded stroke at Kaidia, who ducked in turn then came up with an
upward swing of her sword that Nadia just barely avoided by jerking
backward. Kaidia thrust her sword at Nadia's gut. Nadia batted the
attack away with her own sword. She didn't want to be on the
defensive against Kaidia, so Nadia went on the offensive, pitting her
blade against Kaidia's.

The sister's exchanged several attacks, their blades singing as they
glanced off one another. When an opening presented itself, Nadia
kicked Kaidia in the gut, causing her sister to take a few steps
backward. Nadia glanced at her sword and frowned. The steel blade was
chipped and even cracked in a couple of places. Kaidia's sword was
made of blithsite and the stronger metal had a more damaging effect
on Nadia's sword than she had anticipated. It wasn't going to last
much longer. A sudden idea flashed through Nadia's mind and she
lunged at Kaidia again, taking a hard swing with her damaged sword,
straight at Kaidia's face. Kai, guessing at her sibling's idea, swung
her sword upward, at an angle that opposed Nadia's attack as exactly
as she could make it.

When the two swords clashed, Nadia's shattered, and razor sharp
shards of steel rained down on both sisters with enough velocity to
cut exposed skin. Nadia had hoped to send most of it raining down on
Kaidia, but with Kai's opposing strike, it equalized the spray of
damaging metal across them both. Much of the shrapnel glanced
harmlessly off of their armor, but both siblings suffered damage.
Kaidia had several shallow cuts across the left side of her face and
blood trickled down to her jaw. Nadia had a similar array of slices
on the right side of her face, with leaking blood to match.

“I see you have paid attention to what I've taught you over the
years,” Kaidia said. “But now you have no sword and your
axe is lost in all this snow.”

“Yeah, well, I'll figure out something else,” Nadia said
with a shrug right before both of her hands came up and a blast of
sorcerous energy erupted from her body in a singular, massive beam
that engulfed Kaidia and slammed into one of the ice cliffs that
jutted out of the snow. The cliff crumbled into a huge pile of jagged
ice chunks the size of boulders. Kaidia was nowhere to be seen.

A collective gasp arose from the group atop the tallest ice cliff,
save for Xerith and, of course, the dragon. Xerith didn't seem
troubled at all, nor did the dragon. Both just kept their eyes on the
battlefield.

Nadia kept her eyes on the pile of ice, her stance relaxed, but
ready. She was certain her sister had sustained very little, if any,
damage from the attack. Kaidia was a god, after all. Nadia, from her
own experiences as a god, knew the kind of damage one of their kind
could withstand and Kaidia was sure to exceed Nadia's expectations in
that regard. Or were they Morthas Zol's experiences? Nadia was having
troubling distinguishing some of her predecessor's memories from her
own.

A low rumble started, more felt than heard. Nadia could feel it
causing the rock underneath her feet to tremble. It grew louder over
several moments, the ground shook more violently, and the pile of ice
exploded, throwing the boulder sized chunks of ice out in all
directions. Nadia had to sidestep one of the flying ice boulders. It
crashed into the ground somewhere behind her. She heard it hit, but
kept her eyes forward.

Kaidia stood where the crumbled cliff of ice had buried her before.
Fire whirled around her body, lapping at her armor, and lifting her
hair on its hot breeze. The snow and ice around her melted and
evaporated, causing steam to rise in the air.

Nadia noticed that Kaidia had lost her sword somewhere along the
line. Kaidia, as if reading her sister's mind, turned to look at the
ice cliff upon which the spectators stood. Lodged in the ice about
halfway up the cliff, was Kaidia's sword; the black blade standing in
stark contrast to the blue-white ice. To Nadia's surprise, Kaidia
didn't make an attempt to reach her sword; she simply returned her
gaze to her younger sister. Nadia had a sudden ill feeling.

Kaidia walked forward calmly, the fire raging around her body melting
any snow or ice in her path. Nadia growled, shaking off that ill
feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ice and snow erupted in a
whirlwind around her and she started forward at the same pace as her
sister. As they got within reach of one another, Kaidia grabbed
Nadia's shoulder. Nadia swatted Kai's hand away and threw a punch
that Kaidia blocked. The elder sister twisted the younger sister's
arm around and locked it before throwing punches of her own to
Nadia's ribs and stomach. Nadia's eyes went wide as she felt her
armor denting in with each blow, pressing against her body.

The next blow was an uppercut to the jaw. Kaidia turned her sister
loose just as the punch landed and Nadia fell backward onto the rock.
All the while, steam born of the warring ice and fire magics obscured
everything from view and seeped into between the plates of their
armor and into the clothes underneath. Kaidia jumped on top of Nadia,
straddling her younger sister's hips before she started to pummel
her.

Nadia raised her arms to protect her face, but Kaidia was using
sorcerous energy to enhance her punches, which dented Nadia's bracers
and heated them at the same time. After so many shots, her forearms
became numb and her muscles grew weak. One blow knocked one arm
aside, then the next forced the other away. Kaidia saw her opening,
raised both fists up high, brought them together, then slammed them
down on Nadia's face with godly force. The rock beneath them cracked
with the sound of thunder and Nadia's raging ice and snow gave way to
Kai's fire, which burned away all the steam.

The final blow, which would have splattered a normal person's brains
across the rock, had merely left behind a bruise on Nadia's cheek.
She was unconscious, breathing steadily. Kaidia stood up slowly,
shook off the twinge of pain her connection to her sister afflicted
her with, and started to walk away with the intent to fetch her
sword. She paused when snow started falling. A little at first, but
within a few moments the flakes were heavy and it became difficult to
see through them all. When the wind suddenly began to howl and whip
the snow around like a blizzard, Kaidia turned around. Her eyes
narrowed against the wind as she peered through the heavy snow.

Nadia had gotten to her feet, but she wasn't standing straight. Her
head was bowed, her arms were limp at her sides, but the power
radiating off of her was palpable to Kaidia's senses. The ground that
had been cleared of snow by Kaidia's fire quickly became blanketed
once more and the icy wind seemed to grow even more bitter as it
chilled Kai through her armor.

Nadia threw her arms out to her sides and tendrils of ice shot out of
the snow, coming at Kaidia like snakes made of frost. About halfway
to Kaidia the tendrils dove back into the snow, effectively becoming
undetectable. Kaidia growled and kept her eyes on the snow around her
and listened for any sign of the coming attack, but the whirling snow
and howling wind made looking and listening nearly impossible.

The tendrils burst out of the snow all around Kaidia, immediately
striking at the god. Kaidia tried to dodge what she could and block
the rest, but that proved to be an untenable goal. She blocked a
tendril, another couple missed, she deflected another couple, but
then one caught her in the small of the back and sent her stumbling
forward in the snow.

Up on the cliff, everyone watched with rapt attention.

“That's the same magic she used to defend Vortha against that
marauding army that was trying to wipe out Kaidia's temples,”
Sae said.

Kai barely regained her balance before the tendrils were upon her
again. They struck at her repeatedly, tearing off pieces of her
armor, stabbing at the cloth underneath. One of the layered, scale-
like plates of armor on her stomach was torn off and dropped into the
snow. The pauldron on her right shoulder was ripped off and
disappeared into the snow as well. The tendrils struck at her over
and over, leaving her no time to catch her breath or regain her
bearings. Another of the plates of her armor, this one on her leg,
was torn off and dropped into the snow. The next blow threw Kaidia to
the ground. The icy tendrils rose up above Kaidia to strike her in
unison.

Fire erupted out of the snow, melting it away along with the
tendrils, clearing the ground in a wide circle around her. Kai stood
up slowly, flames raging around her body as she turned her focus to
her sister. The expression on her face gave away the anger that had
built with every strike of those icy tendrils. She threw her hands up
and launched a massive ball of fire at Nadia.

The younger Valengaard threw her hands up, summoning a shield of pure
power at the last moment. The resulting explosion of two sorcerous
energies meeting engulfed Nadia. Before the smoke and haze cleared,
large spikes of ice started thrusting up out of the snow, following a
path straight to Kaidia.

Kai rolled to the side to avoid the spikes, eyeing them for a moment.
They were easily her height and massive at their base. She threw
another blast of fire at her sister. Nadia managed to throw herself
to the side and avoid the explosion as the fire hit the ground.

Everyone on the cliff watched as the sisters ran through the snow;
Kaidia flinging fire while Nadia threw sharp chunks of ice. As the
pace of the attacks grew quicker, the flames and ice devolved into
pure energy, with neither god having the time to force said energy
into their desired elemental forms. The volatile forces colliding, or
touching anything aside from their summoners, resulted in violent
detonations of monstrous proportions.

Both Nadia and Kaidia managed to connect with a number of blasts in
their mad flurry of assaults. As a result, pieces of armor
disappeared into the knee deep snow or lay upon the bare rock where
the heat of fire and sorcerous energy had burned the snow away. The
onslaught stopped as the two sisters paused to catch their breath,
their exhales visible in the cold air.

Kaidia started to run forward, straight at her sister. Nadia was
taken by surprise, but reacted with more blasts of pure energy.
Kaidia ducked and dodged from side to side, avoiding the searing hot
beams of sorcerous power. As Kai got within arm's reach of Nadia,
time seemed to slow after she ducked another attack, and gathered
energy into her palm for an attack of her own.

Nadia felt a surge of panic as she brought her hands up, crackling
energy building in her palms to counter Kai's attack. Nadia's hands
nearly touched Kaidia's as the two siblings came together. The two
released their attacks simultaneously, at point blank range.

Up on the icy cliff, sitting on the dragon's tail, Xerith winced. She
was keenly aware of the amount of pure power the two gods were using.
Everyone else had an idea, but it was hard to judge, even for Syren,
just how much power the two women were throwing around.

The explosion that went off as a result of the conflicting energies
shook the ground for miles around and temporarily blinded and
deafened the onlookers. When the smoke cleared and Xerith could see
again, she drew in a sharp breath. Where the two sisters had been
standing, there was now a deep crater in the rock. From where she
sat, she could see Nadia lying still on one side of the crater, her
armor all but gone, and her face bloodied. From this distance, she
couldn't tell if Nadia was breathing and she couldn't see Kaidia at
all.

Kai lay on the opposing side of the crater, half conscious, eyes only
partially open, staring up at the grey sky. Most of her armor was
torn away, her body ached all over, and the only heat she could feel
on her skin was from her own blood. From where she lay, she could see
her sister, who wasn't moving at all. She wasn't sure if Nadia was
dead or just knocked out, but she wasn't sure it mattered at the
moment. She recalled her visit to the kyrian clairvoyant a year
before, how the woman had told her she was going live for a long
time. It didn't feel like she was going to live much longer at the
moment, but she remembered someone telling her once that even the
most powerful clairvoyants would admit that even their clearest
visions were only possible futures. The memory was little comfort at
the moment.

Kaidia pushed herself, slowly, to her feet. Every muscle screamed in
agonized protest as she did. With most of her armor gone, the cold
wind bit through her clothing like it wasn't there. It didn't help
that her clothes had quite a few rips that exposed her skin to the
cold. She started across the crater toward her sister, moving slowly,
breath a bit ragged.

Xerith breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Kaidia up and moving, but
her relief was short lived. The fact that Kaidia was approaching
Nadia meant that the fight, more than likely, wasn't quite over.
Though she couldn't honestly see how it was going to continue. She
thought that, perhaps, Kaidia was going to try and see if she could
exorcise the essence of the God of Winter from Nadia. Xerith was
fairly sure that Kai couldn't do that, but desperate times caused one
to try desperate things.

Kaidia stepped over top of Nadia, then reached down, brushed aside
loose remnants of her sister's armor, and then grabbed the woman's
tunic and pulled her up onto her feet. That was the moment Nadia came
to, her hands gripping her sister's forearms, her eyes wide, the grin
on her face sinister. Kaidia felt a surge of adrenaline as the
telltale tingle coursed through her body that told her Nadia was
gathering a massive amount of power, and quickly. Kaidia reacted on
instinct and jerked backward. She fell backward and pulled her sister
with her. As she fell, she thrust a foot into Nadia's gut, and
flipped the younger woman over her. Nadia landed on her back near the
center of the crater and Kaidia rolled with her, straddling Nadia's
hips. Kai jerked her arms loose of Nadia's surprise weakened grip and
kicked off the ground hard, leaping into the air, hands extended
towards her little sister. She summoned a shield of glimmering
sorcerous energy that covered Nadia, sealing her in a dome of power
just before Nadia's gathered energy detonated.

The eruption of power, momentarily contained by Kai's barrier,
further eroded the ground underneath Nadia and caused the younger
woman to disappear from view, swallowed by the magical force
surrounding her. It destroyed Kaidia's barrier and threw the god
skyward. Everyone watching from the cliff was, once more, blinded by
the brilliant light.

“Don't they know when to stop?!” Sae shouted to be heard
over the rumbling of the explosion as she laid her feline ears back
against her hair and shielded her eyes against the light.

“Never have!” Boreth shouted in reply.

As the light dimmed and the rumbling subsided, the spectators looked
out over the battlefield and let out a collective gasp. Even Xerith
was surprised by what she saw. Where the crater had been, there was
now a hole that was significantly larger. There was a blackness in
the hole that made it appear bottomless. Nadia was nowhere to be
seen; neither was Kaidia. Xerith looked up as she felt the dragon she
was sitting upon shift under her. The dragon peered down over the
edge of the cliff. Xerith slid down off of the dragon, peered over
the edge of the cliff, and let out a surprised gasp.

“Kaidia! What the hell?!” she exclaimed.

Everyone scrambled to the edge of the cliff to look down. There,
halfway down the cliff, was Kaidia, who was hanging by the hilt of
her sword by one hand.

“How in the blazes...?” Boreth trailed off.

“I know... one in a million shot, eh?” Kaidia asked
rhetorically. “Caught it on my way down.”

“How is your arm still attached?” Sae asked, incredulous.

“I'm a god, remember? Though I think my shoulder dislocated
when I grabbed it,” Kai said. “Everyone step back away
from the edge, I don't want to knock you off.”

Kaidia raised her free hand toward the cliff.

“What are you doing?” Xerith asked.

“I'm going to break my sword loose. It only budged a little
when it stopped my fall and I don't have any leverage to pull it
loose. You know: no ground to stand on here. So... gonna blast the
cliff a bit,” Kaidia explained.

“Don't bring the whole thing down,” Xerith said.

“I know what I'm doing. Step back,” Kaidia replied,
growing impatient.

Xerith shook her head slightly, took a few steps backward, and braced
herself against the dragon. Everyone else atop the cliff thought that
to be a good idea and walked over to lean against the dragon. The
dragon, on the other hand, looked at everyone with an expression of
mild irritation.

Kaidia closed her eyes and focused. Emitting her power as force
instead of energy was rather difficult and she hadn't had much
practice at the art. However, it seemed to come to her easier now
than it ever had before. She assumed that it was due to the slowly
expanding knowledge imparted upon her by her godhood, not to mention
her increasing power. She opened her eyes and put her hand to the ice
of the cliff. The ice cracked in a circle around her sword blade
before several feet of ice shattered in a circle around her blade,
causing the entire cliff to shudder and sending the god falling to
the ground. She landed in a kneeling position as shards of ice rained
down around her.

As she stood, the bright light of a portal appeared not far away.
Nadia strode from the light, her appearance battered, especially
after taking the long fall down into the hole created by her last
attack. Kaidia assumed she must look to be in similarly tattered
condition. She raised her sword and set her feet, ready to continue
the fight with her sister. Nadia looked just as determined despite
the fact that she had no weapon. She rectified that in short order.
She began flinging small, dagger-like spikes of ice at Kaidia, who
started dodging them and deflecting them when she couldn't avoid
them. The razor sharp daggers of ice stopped as quickly as they
started, and Kaidia gritted her teeth when she saw why.

Nadia's hands were held apart, palms facing one another, a slowly
spinning spike of ice hovered between them. The spike was gathering
mass as it spun, slowly growing to a truly stunning size. The power
required to produce it was staggering. Most mages were limited in the
size of their attacks, the limits of their bodies to withstand the
amount of power they were using. Obviously, being gods, Nadia and
Kaidia weren't sure where their limits were now, and Nadia seemed
more than comfortable to see just how far she could push herself. Or
perhaps it was simple desperation. Fighting her elder sister, even as
a god, was a daunting challenge.

Kaidia channeled power into her sword blade, causing the blade to
grow hot. Nadia saw that her sister had no intent to dodge the
attack, grinned, and threw the massive spike of ice with immense
force, propelling it with magic straight at her sibling. Kai raised
her sword high and brought it down hard, releasing the sorcerous
energy from the blade at the same time, splitting the spike in half.
With a rush of cold, the two halves of the spike flew by her and
buried themselves into the cliff behind her with a deafening crash.
The energy that cleaved the ice in two kept going, flying at Nadia
with greater velocity than the ice had raced toward Kaidia. Nadia
barely managed to jerk out of the way and the blade of energy sliced
into a faraway cliff a moment later, bringing it down with a distant
rumble.

A much closer rumble behind Kaidia made her turn. She watched as
massive cracks climbed the cliff behind her, straight up to the top
where her dragon stood with everyone watching.

“Watch it!” she shouted, needlessly. Everyone on top of
the cliff was aware of the damage to it, but there was little they
could do beyond bracing themselves for the fall. The cliff crumbled
underneath their feet. The dragon took flight and managed to pluck
Syren from the top of the cliff as it collapsed. No one else was
quite as lucky. As the ice fell into a pile, everyone else fell with
it.

Sae managed to jump out and away from the collapse. Xerith landed on
her feet with the softness of a feather; a serene air about her as
she looked to Kaidia. Boreth went down with the cliff, fell down the
pile of ice with a string of profanities that would make a sailor
blush, and managed to roll to his feet beside Sae. The dragon landed
atop the pile of ice and gently set Syren on her feet at the base of
the pile. Syren thanked the massive creature with a gentle pet of its
muzzle. Kai was mildly surprised the dragon stayed still to allow
that.

After seeing that everyone was unharmed, Kaidia turned back to Nadia
who looked similarly relieved, though her eyes were focused on
Sae-Mirra. However, when her eyes met Kaidia's the murderous glare in
them returned and Kai realized how much danger everyone now standing
around her was in. She realized she had to put some distance between
herself and everyone else. Her best option was to attack her sister
head on. She looked around Nadia, then an idea took form in her mind
and she acted upon it immediately.

Kai's sudden charge took everyone by surprise and she closed the
distance between herself and Nadia in just a moment's time. She
forced Nadia backward with a slash of her sword, then another, and
another; each one forcing Nadia backward a step. One of the swings of
Kai's sword cut a new gash in Nadia's tunic and just grazed the flesh
of her stomach. Nadia kept moving backward until the heels of her
boots found open air at the edge of the rather large hole that she'd
created minutes before. She threw her arms out wildly, trying to find
her balance. Another swing of Kai's blade that was aimed at Nadia's
face caused the younger god to jerk her head back hard to avoid
having the top of her head cleaved off. The move threw her completely
off balance and she fell backward into the hole, struck with an
uncomfortable moment of déjà vu.

Everyone watching gasped as Nadia disappeared and then drew in sharp
breaths as Kaidia leapt into the gaping black maw after her sister.

Kaidia's eyes adjusted to the gloom of the cavern she was falling
into just in time to see Nadia hit the ground hard. Kai wasn't sure
how long the fall was, but even as strong as she and Nadia were, she
knew the impact had to hurt and she knew it wasn't going to be any
better for her when she landed. She forced the thoughts from her mind
and shifted so she was falling directly toward her sister. She held
her sword so the tip of the blade was pointed downward.

Nadia looked up just in time to see Kaidia right over her. The blade
of Kai's sword drove into Nadia's chest as Kaidia landed atop her
with tremendous force. At the same moment, an indescribable pain
surged through Kaidia's body; a consequence of her connection with
her sister. The pain was so great, so staggering, that Kaidia
screamed aloud, her voice blood curdling. Her dragon roared out in
shared pain behind the gathered spectators, causing them all to cover
their ears against the creature's thundering cry.

Kaidia looked down at her sister through her haze of pain, to see
Nadia cough, blood spattering her lips and chin.

“Kai...” she said, struggling to breathe.

“Quiet... let go,” Kaidia whispered while blinking away
tears. Despite everything Nadia had done, Kai still loved her sister,
and this was the last outcome she had wanted; the one she had hoped
desperately to avoid, no matter what she had said to the contrary to
Xerith.

As Nadia gasped, blood pooled under her torso, and the life began to
leave her eyes, Kaidia had a desperate moment, a vain hope, and she
jerked her sword from Nadia's chest, threw it aside, and with both
hands, she worked two magics at once. With one hand, she healed the
wound, knitting flesh and bone back together. Despite that, Nadia had
lost too much blood, which is why Kaidia used her other hand to work
the now familiar stasis magic. She suspended her sister in time, on
the brink of death, fairly certain that she would never be able to
bring her back. However, there was a chance that the godly knowledge
yet to be revealed to her would contain the key to beating death. She
had multiple lives riding on that hope, now.

She closed Nadia's eyes with a gentle gesture of her hand, and then
pressed her lips to her sister's forehead in a parting kiss. She
sighed and stood up, vowing to grieve later. She stepped toward her
sword and picked it up. She wiped it on her pants before sliding it
into its sheathe. She could see the ancient city in the dim light of
the cavern and smiled ever so faintly. Nadia's city. She knew her
sister had been proud of the discovery. Kaidia decided she would have
to seal the hole that the fight had created to keep anyone else from
finding the place. She took a step back toward Nadia's body. She felt
another wave of sorrow wash over her. Nadia lay there, broken, in a
pool of her own blood.

Kai had a sudden urge to clean up the scene before Sae saw, but a
shriek that echoed throughout the cavern a moment later told her that
she was too late. She looked upward and could just make out the
figures of Boreth, Syren, Sae, Xerith, and her dragon looking down
into the hole.

“Come here,” she said. No one up there, aside from maybe
Sae, would be able to hear it, but the dragon was connected with
Kaidia and knew what she had said. The beast leapt into the hole and
spread its wings out with a snap, gliding down to land almost
noiselessly on the ground beside Kai. Its first instinct was to
nuzzle her face, concerned for her, knowing the anguish that was
filling her being. She returned the nuzzle and stroked her hand over
the dragon's scales in thanks before gesturing to Nadia.

“I need to get her body back up to the surface and I need to
seal the hole once I'm up there. I don't have the power to do both
right now. I need your help to get up there,” Kaidia explained.
The dragon gave a soft growl of understanding, though only Kai would
take it as such. Anyone else would just hear an animal's grunt.

The god walked over to her fallen sister and gently picked the body
up in her arms before she carried Nadia over to the dragon, then sat
down in the creature's massive hand-like paw. The other paw covered
her, and she felt the dragon kick off the ground. The gentle jarring
of the dragon landing shook her a few moments later. With the top paw
pulled away, Kaidia winced at the bright light of day now that she
was back on the surface. She stood with Nadia's body still in her
arms and walked solemnly to Sae, who had tears streaming down her
cheeks, her ears drooped, her tail twitching. Kaidia gently passed
Nadia's body into Sae's arms, turned, and walked towards the gaping
hole in the ground.

Sae-Mirra looked down at the calm, bloodied face of her wife, her
chest aching as she held Nadia's lifeless body. Her eyes moved to
follow Kaidia, but her view was promptly blocked by Boreth and Syren
crowding around her. Sae knew her own torment was agonizing. She
loved Kaidia, she loved Nadia, and she had no idea how she was going
to reconcile her love for Kaidia and the fact that the god had slain
her wife. She realized she was feeling hatred for Kaidia all of the
sudden, right alongside her love for the woman. It was confusing as
could be and she could only imagine how Syren and Boreth felt; one
daughter having killed the other.

Kaidia walked to the edge of the hole in the ground and peered down
inside it. After her eyes adjusted, she could see the large puddle of
crimson in the light pouring into the opening. She gave a heavy sigh,
suddenly feeling very tired. She closed her eyes and took a step
back, relaxing, and searching her mind for the knowledge she sought.
Manipulation of rock and mineral was difficult and took knowledge and
power to accomplish. Kai had learned some about it growing up, but it
wasn't an area of great interest to her, so she had only learned the
basics. She hoped the knowledge her godhood was slowly bestowing on
her held what she needed or this may not turn out how she desired.

After a few moments of deep thought, she found what she sought, magic
surged through her body and caused the ground around her to shudder.
Rising up from the ground far below the hole, what looked like dust
began to attach itself to the edges of the hole and grow inward
slowly creating a rough circle of red tinged stone. Once it was
finished, Kaidia looked at it, noting the difference in color between
it and the rock surrounding it. Some of Nadia's blood had found its
way into the rock. Kaidia found that appropriate, her sister's blood
sealing off the city. She sighed and turned around to find Sae-Mirra
marching toward her. Her ears were laid back against her hair, her
tail was thrashing back and forth; both obvious signs of anger.

Kaidia raised a brow, unsure of what to expect from the kyrian. She
didn't have to wait long to find out. When Sae got within reach, she
threw a punch, catching Kaidia in the jaw, snapping the god's head to
the side.

“You fucking killed her!” Sae screamed at Kaidia. Sae
threw another punch, but Kaidia caught the woman's wrist. Sae threw a
third punch with her other hand, but this one was also caught by
Kai's free hand. Sae tried to jerk her wrists free from Kaidia's
grip, but even in her tired state, Kai was stronger than the kyrian.

“You think I wanted to?!” Kai demanded. “You think
I wanted to kill my sister?!”

Sae paused, stunned, only able to blink up at Kaidia.

“I had no choice! She wasn't going to stop! She wanted me dead!
It didn't matter who, one of us was going to die today! She lost, she
died!” Kaidia shouted at Sae, her grip tightening. Sae winced
away from the shouts. “I'm sorry it was her and not me,”
Kai finished quietly.

“I wouldn't want that, either,” Sae said softly. Kaidia
sighed and turned Sae's wrists loose; knowing she'd bruised the
woman. Sae stood there for a moment, her tail still, ears still laid
back, then she wrapped her arms around Kaidia's middle, hugging her
tightly. Kai hugged Sae close after a moment's surprise and stroked
the kyrian's hair. Though it was silent, Kaidia could feel Sae crying
against her, the heaves of breath giving it away. Kaidia just held
Sae close in the frigid air, her eyes closed, simply enduring the
moment.

Kai thought about telling Sae that she had used stasis magic to
preserve Nadia in the hope of bringing her sister back some day, but
she realized that she may never manage that feat and she didn't want
to give Sae a false hope that could last the rest of her life. She
just stayed quiet as she held the kyrian woman close to her. Finally,
after what must have been several minutes, Sae pulled away, wiped her
eyes, and stood straight.

“We should get out of here,” she suggested.

“We'll freeze otherwise,” Kaidia agreed.

The two walked back toward the group, though Syren and Boreth were
too busy mourning Nadia to really notice. Xerith stood apart from
them, observing. The ground quivered underfoot as Kai's dragon, blue
scales muted under the clouded sky, walked over to the god and
nuzzled against her gently. Kaidia's hands stroked along the great
beast's muzzle.

“You can go now, friend. You've done enough today,” she
said. The dragon nodded its head, then gave Sae a gentle nudge with
its nose. Sae smiled faintly, gave the dragon a weak purr in return.
Seemingly satisfied, the dragon sat up, head far above everyone. Snow
and wind whirled around it, obscured it from view, and when the wind
died, the dragon was gone.

Kai put her hand on her mother's shoulder to gain the woman's
attention. Both Syren and Boreth looked up to their eldest daughter
and Kaidia could immediately see the difference in their eyes. They
didn't see her the same, but Kai wasn't sure what she expected.

“We should go home. There's a lot to do,” she said.

Syren nodded and stepped away, leaving Nadia in Boreth's arms. Kaidia
met her father's eyes, but couldn't think of anything to say, so she
simply looked away. Syren summoned a portal with a gesture of her
hands.

“This leads to our back yard. No one will see,” Syren
informed everyone. Boreth held Nadia's body tightly and stepped
through the portal. Sae-Mirra followed. Xerith went next. Kaidia
followed Xerith, exchanging uneasy looks with her mother before she
stepped through. Syren, who had been holding the portal open, stepped
through last.

On the other side of the portal, back in Vortha, the air was much
warmer, but that didn't help the somber mood. Boreth led the way into
the home he shared with Syren, who followed him inside. Sae walked
inside right after them. Kaidia stayed where she stood, staring off
to the side. Xerith looked to Kai, evaluating the god, knowing that
the turmoil going on inside her might very well be beyond even
Xerith's comprehension.

“Are you coming inside?” she asked.

“I don't know if I'll be welcome,” Kaidia said, her voice
quiet.

“You are. Your parents won't shun you. You're their daughter,”
Xerith persuaded.

“I'm the daughter who just killed their other daughter. I just
killed the daughter they were closer with, the one who hadn't left
home,” Kai explained.

“But you're still their daughter. Come inside, Kaidia,”
Xerith said, gesturing to the door.

Kaidia eyed Xerith for a long moment before relenting and walking
inside. Almost immediately after Xerith had closed the door after
coming inside herself, Kaidia found herself wrapped up in her
father's powerful arms. Xerith walked out of the room to join Sae and
Syren in the den. Boreth set Kai on her feet and put his hands on her
shoulders.

“You did what you had to do,” he stated.

“That doesn't comfort me very much,” Kaidia returned.

“Nothing will,” Boreth admitted. “You just have to
keep moving forward.”

Kaidia acknowledged her father's words with a nod of her head. He
smiled just a bit, gave his daughter another pat on the shoulders,
then walked from the room. Kaidia followed him. Once they both joined
Syren, Xerith, and Sae in the den, Syren spoke to Boreth.

“We don't even have burial places for ourselves, yet. Let alone
our children,” she said.

“We'll figure it out, dear heart,” Boreth assured her.

“I have a place to put her,” Kaidia said after a moment's
thought.

“You do?” Syren asked.

“I do,” Kaidia answered.

Chapter XVIII

The funeral procession that left Vortha a few days later was led by
Kaidia on horseback, her wounds mostly healed, with Sae-Mirra at her
side. Boreth and Syren rode behind them, also side by side. Behind
them came two horse drawn carriages of opulent craftsmanship. The
first carried the coffin that held Nadia's body; the second carried
Echo's body. The small procession was guarded on both sides by a
mixture of Kaidia's Dragon Guard and Vortha's city guardsmen; all of
them on horseback.

The ride was long due to the slow pace at which the group traveled.
Even if they wanted to pull the carriages at breakneck speed, they
couldn't. Beyond the obvious reason that the carriages couldn't take
the stress, it would be immensely disrespectful to the bodies within
the carriages. Despite the length of the trip, no one uttered a
single word of complaint.

A couple of days later, the large group arrived at Kaidia's home in
the dead of night. After the caskets containing Nadia and Echo were
tenderly carried down into the depths of the tomb and placed in front
of the double doors leading into the main burial chamber that held
Rykar and Vex already, Kai called for a stop.

“I have plenty of beds for you all. We're all exhausted. We've
been traveling for a long while. We will properly inter them tomorrow
after we've rested and eaten,” she said. “Come. I'll show
you to the guest rooms.”

With that, Kaidia led everyone away from the doors and the coffins
that had been set on the floor. No one gave a look back. Everyone
knew they'd have their chances to pay their respects tomorrow.

* * *

The next day, no one was woken. Kai decided it was best to let
everyone wake and wander into the den on their own. Sae went about
cooking once most everyone was up and moving around. Everyone ate in
silence, the mood somber. There would be time for storytelling,
drinking, and celebrating the lives of the fallen after they had been
laid to rest, but there was a feeling that even then, there wouldn't
be much in the way of merriment. The situation surrounding the deaths
of Nadia and Echo was too dark; the trauma was devastating to Kaidia
and her family.

After everyone had eaten, they all headed back down into the depths
of Kaidia's home, past many empty rooms; Kaidia, Sae, Boreth, and
Syren ahead of the Dragon Guard and Vortha soldiers. When they
reached the two coffins outside the double doors of the tomb's main
chamber, the Dragon Guard members naturally gathered around Echo,
their god's consort. The Vortha soldiers simply took the other
coffin; the one containing Nadia. Once Kaidia pushed the doors open,
both groups picked up their respective caskets and followed the
family members into massive chamber. It had been built out and away
from the rest of the tomb, simply so it could be built as tall as it
was.

A few of the soldiers took a moment to look around at the impressive
sight. Kaidia silently gestured to the ground in front the tall dais.
The soldiers gently settled both coffins down in front of the dais.
Kai pulled the lid, nails and all, from Nadia's coffin first. The
younger Valengaard sister looked as though she could be sleeping. Her
face was peaceful, her body relaxed. Kaidia tenderly lifted her
sister's body from the coffin, cradling her. Nadia's body was limp;
an effect of the stasis magic. Rigor mortis would never set in.

Sae, Boreth, and Syren followed Kaidia up the steps of the dais. The
stone throne at the front and the two biers behind and to either side
of the throne were all bathed in a light that didn't seem to have any
source. Kaidia didn't spare Rykar's body a glance on the left bier.
She turned toward the right hand bier and settled her sister's body
upon it with great care. She placed Nadia's hands on her stomach and
positioned the younger woman's body as any deceased body was arranged
for eternal rest. With Nadia's axe lost and her short sword destroyed
in the fight with Kaidia, there were no weapons to put on display.
Kaidia stepped back and gave her parents and Sae room to say their
goodbyes to Nadia.

The god made her way back down the steps of the dais and to Echo's
coffin. She stopped beside the wooden box and sighed softly. After
steeling herself against the emotions threatening to overwhelm her,
Kai reached down, and pulled the lid off Echo's coffin as she had
with Nadia's. She dropped the lid on the stone floor, then knelt down
beside the open casket. She looked down on the kyrian's calm face.
Somehow, the appearance of sleep made this even harder for Kaidia. It
made the emotional part of her think that there was some sliver of
hope that Echo might awaken, stretch, and yawn to show off those
sharp teeth of her's. The logical part of Kai berated herself for
even allowing the image to creep into her mind.

She worked her arms under Echo's body and lifted the limp, lifeless
form to her from the coffin as she stood. With Echo's head resting
against Kai's shoulder, the god walked off toward one of the many
side chambers that had been built to hold the family of the long
forgotten person for which the tomb had originally been constructed.
All of these chambers were empty aside from the one that held
Vexarilia's body. Kai carried Echo's body into one of the empty
chambers. Unlike most of them, which held rows of sarcophagi or
biers, this one was smaller, held a single ornate sarcophagi that
stood open, its lid rested flat on the floor beside it. She wasn't
sure who the room had been for as no inscriptions were on the
sarcophagus or the walls, but whoever it had been must have been
important.

Kaidia carried Echo to the sarcophagus and gently laid the woman's
body inside. She laid the kyrian's hands on her chest, adjusted the
sheathed sword at Echo's side, and gently adjusted the woman's legs
to lay straight. She paused and reached up to Echo's face, stroked
the woman's cheek, and then stood up. She walked around to the heavy
lid of the sarcophagus and reached down to grab it on either side.
The muscles in her arms tensed and rippled under her skin as she
pulled the lid up from the floor. She set the lid down atop the
sarcophagus, took a final look in at Echo's face, then slid the lid
into place, sealing the sarcophagus.

She placed her hand on the lid and closed her eyes. Letters etched
themselves into the coffin, leaving behind Echo's name, her title,
her rank, and her relationship to Kaidia. It was then, and only then,
that Kaidia let her emotion take hold of her and overwhelm her. She
slid down to her knees beside the sarcophagus, the double doors of
the room slammed shut of their own accord, and Kaidia let out a spine
shuddering scream filled with all of her rage and anguish. At the
height of the scream, energy flared off of her, spread over the
floor, climbed the walls, and crawled across the ceiling in a matter
of a moment, leaving blackened stone behind it in a strange,
intricate web that looked like an artist had purposely painted it.
Echo's sarcophagus was not spared, but there was a beauty to the
markings. Granted, Kaidia couldn't see it at the moment; her mind so
clouded with grief that she cared not to see.

She stared at the floor, thinking over what she had planned.
Something she had been pondering since the first night in Vortha
after killing her sister. She knew no one would like what she had in
mind and that is why she only planned on telling one person. She felt
she had no choice. Her life lately had simply become too much. She
needed a break from it all.

The god took a deep breath and stood, wiping the tears from her eyes
on the back of her hand. Once her composure was regained, she opened
the doors with a gesture of her hand, and walked back out into the
main chamber. Another gesture shut the doors with a bang and a
shimmer of magic slid across the surface of them. Sae was the first
to greet Kaidia, simply embracing the taller woman, and pressing her
face into Kaidia's chest. Kai wrapped her arms around Sae's
shoulders, one hand stroking the hair at the back of Sae's head. She
knew the pain the woman was going through in such an intimate
fashion.

“I know, honey. I know,” Kai said softly, barely above a
whisper. Sae cried softly into Kaidia's chest for several long
moments and Kai had no issue simply holding Sae until she could calm
herself. When she did, the kyrian looked up and met Kai's eyes.

“Can't you do anything?” she asked.

“You know if I could, I would have,” Kai answered.

“I know, but you're a god. It seems like you should be able to
do something,” Sae said with a grumble.

“It seems that way, but for all my power, I haven't fully come
into all the powers my godhood has granted me. I think I've only just
begun and I have no idea how long it will take me to fully realize
the extent of my abilities,” Kaidia said.

“Why can't you just do it all at once?” Sae practically
whined.

“Because it would obliterate me,” Kaidia replied.

“Well, that wouldn't be good,” Sae admitted, though she
obviously didn't feel any better.

“No, it would not. Stay here. I need to talk to you after
everyone leaves,” Kai instructed.

“About what?” Sae asked, curious.

“You'll see,” Kai said and kissed Sae on the cheek before
walking toward the dais. Boreth and Syren had just reached the floor.
Kaidia embraced them in turn, though nothing was said. There wasn't
anything to say. Syren kissed her remaining daughter on the forehead
and Boreth wrapped her up in a bear hug before the two of them left
the room. Syren was still tearful as she walked out, but she knew
there was nothing further she could do here. Boreth followed her,
stoic.

The Dragon Guard and Vortha city guard replaced the lids on the
wooden coffins, then carried them out of the chamber, leaving
Sae-Mirra and Kaidia alone. Kaidia walked up the steps of the dais
and looked past the throne to the bodies of Rykar and Nadia. Sae
followed her up the steps and stopped once she reached the top.
Kaidia turned to the kyrian, then settled herself down in the throne.
She held her hand out and her sword, sheathed in its scabbard,
appeared in her hand. She leaned the sword up against the left arm of
the chair, beside her leg, then looked up to Sae.

“I'm tired, Sae. So tired. The kind that can't be slept off,”
Kaidia said, her voice strong, but quiet. She put her arms on the
armrests of the throne and sat up straight in the stone chair.

“I can sympathize. I mean, to a degree. I lost my wife.
Regardless of the circumstances, I'm not sure I'll ever recover. But
you've lost more,” Sae replied. “And you were forced to
kill your sister. Forced to watch your sister kill your lover. I
don't know what I'd do in your situation.”

“You won't ever be the same and it gets worse with each major
loss. I feel... hollow,” Kaidia said, her eyes meeting Sae's.

“That doesn't help much, you know,” Sae said, her voice
carrying a hint of sadness.

“I know, but I'm only being honest,” Kaidia replied.

“I suppose. So, what did you want to talk about?” Sae
asked.

“To put it bluntly, I'm going to sleep,” Kaidia stated.

“Um, okay. So, you want me to wake you up tonight?” Sae
asked, looking a bit perplexed.

“No, I mean... I'm going to sleep for a long time. Right here.
I want you to serve as my guardian. Wake me if you or the world needs
me. Primarily, if something suspicious crops up. Something that
doesn't seem like it should have happened. If it doesn't feel right.
You'll know it if it happens, Sae. I trust you,” Kaidia
explained.

“But... how... how can you just shut out the world like that?”
Sae asked, face registering disbelief, a hand gesturing up toward the
ceiling of the tomb chamber.

“I can't take anything else. Ashlin is gone, Echo is gone,
Rykar is gone, Malcade is gone, Vex is gone, and Nadia is gone. All
of these people I loved, gone. I'm burned out. I need to recover,
recuperate. I can't do that if I'm walking around in the world with
the demands of godhood weighing on me,” Kaidia answered.

“But what of your believers?” Sae demanded.

“They'll be just like the followers of all other gods; they'll
get no answers to their prayers,” Kai retorted, baring her
teeth in a silent snarl. It was more a show of her detest for the
world's reliance on gods more than any sort of irritation or anger at
Sae for her questions.

“They will be disappointed,” Sae said.

“Then you can tell them that I disappeared; whatever you need
to tell them. You are my representative in this world. Eventually, if
I stay asleep long enough, I will fade from memory,” Kaidia
replied.

“Surely you don't plan to sleep that long,” the kyrian
said.

“I will sleep until you or one of your successors wakes me,”
the god stated.

“What if I want to come visit Nadia?” Sae questioned.

“Do so. You will not wake me in the state I will be in,”
Kai answered.

“What do I tell your parents?”

“The truth.”

“I'm not sure how they'll handle losing two daughters in less
than a week.”

“Nor do I, but I wouldn't do this if I did not think it
necessary,” Kaidia stated firmly.

“How is Edgar going to take this?” Sae inquired.

“He's a field commander. This makes you the head of the Dragon
Guard, effectively.”

“I hope I can handle that.”

“You can.”

A somewhat uneasy silence fell over the room for a few long moments
before Sae spoke again.

“I'll miss you.”

“And I you, Sae.”

Sae moved forward, bent down and hugged Kaidia again. Kai hugged
back, smiling softly.

“I love you, Kaidia. In case I never get to speak with you
again. I want you to know that,” Sae said, the reality of what
was happening settling on her. It was daunting.

“I never thought otherwise. I love you, too. Do good for the
world with my knights, in my name. Even if you're just doing it for
Nadia. She would want you to carry on,” Kaidia said.

“I will,” Sae said before letting go and standing up
straight.

Kaidia nodded, then grabbed Sae's wrist.

“This may hurt a bit.”

“What?” Sae asked, unsure.

A searing pain snaked up her bare arm, a massive tattoo, much like
the kyrian marking on her thigh, burned into the flesh of her right
arm, covering the entirety of her arm. It wrapped around her arm from
her wrist, up over her shoulder and partially onto her back and
chest. She dropped to a knee, smoke drifting up off of her arm. The
pain quickly receded, becoming simply a dull ache.

“What... the hell... was that?” she asked, her ears lay
back against her hair, her tail thrashing back and forth. She looked
to the tattoo, taking note that it was intricate; made up of strong,
flowing lines which all surrounded the dragon rune that had been
emblazoned on her upper arm.

“The marking of the head of my order of knights. You will pass
it to your successor, or rather, copy it onto them. It will never
leave your skin,” Kaidia explained.

“Did it have to hurt that much?” Sae questioned as she
slowly stood up.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Kai answered. She gently pulled the
kyrian woman down to her and kissed her cheek. “Off with you,
dear one. I need my rest.”

“Sleep well,” Sae said, her voice quivering.

Kaidia nodded, let go of the woman's hand, and then settled back into
her throne. Sae gave Kai one more smile, then forced herself to walk
down the steps and out of the room. The massive doors closed behind
her.

Kaidia, now alone in the chamber, save for the bodies of family and
friends, relaxed against the throne, finding the stone oddly
comfortable. She spoke to herself in a whisper, eyes closing, head
dropping forward.

“I'm coming to visit for a long while, love.”