******************************************************* **Priestess Of Light** By Lady Brick Lady_Brick@yahoo.com Rated: PG Disclaimer: All these characters but a few belong to me. **Part 4: Playtime** ******************************************************* Kierke stood frozen, every muscle tense. The razor-sharp blade at his throat tickled his skin. Internally, he cursed himself for being caught so easily of guard. "Drop the sword, bucko," the voice whispered. "Unless you fancy a brand new wind hole." Kierke held out his arm, dropping his sword. In the same motion, he flicked free the dagger he always kept hidden in his right sleeve. He brought it quickly behind him, placing the razor-sharp tip to the side of the neck of his captor. The person, whoever they were, stiffened at the cold metal at their throat. The blade at his throat quivered, and Kierke knew that for all their bluster, the thief was not capable of actually killing him. "Well," he stated, putting as much growl into his voice as he could, "I suppose we are at a bit of an impasse." The only reply was a dry swallow. "I'm a reasonable man," he continued. "I rarely kill anyone, unless I'm forced to. Or I'm in a bad mood. That seems to be up to you right now." The steel at his throat trembled, and then slowly began to lower. Light suddenly flooded through the clearing, throwing everything into relief. Half blind, Kierke heard the person behind him drop their knife and begin to flee. Lashing out with his arm, he snagged a handful of course fabric, and yanked. The thief tumbled to the ground, followed by a loud clatter of metal. The knight's eyes slowly cleared. The sight that greeted him was not surprising: the priestess Andora, her staff in hand, the crystal atop blazing like a beacon. Taika stood sleepily next to her in her night shift, helplessly clutching her unstrung bow. Kierke almost laughed. Instead, he turned to the figure at his feet. A gangly youth was slowly getting to his knees. His shirt and breeches were dirty and threadbare. Scraggly brown hair stuck out in every direction. He was surrounded by a jumbled pile of about half of the supplies the small camp had brought with them. "Well, boy, you better have a damn good explanation as to why you're trying to walk off with-" Kierke broke of as the thief glared up at him. The face that stared up at him with such hatred was quite definitely female. <> ran through his mind. He cleared his throat and said instead, "As I was saying, girl, explain yourself." She scowled and spat on his boot. Kierke was a patient man. His years of training as a knight, serving the King of Sartaine, and then hiding the Princess had taught him that. But being woken in the middle of the night after a hard day of travel to be threatened and spit on by a grubby teenage girl was more then he could take. He took a step towards her with no clear thought in his head other then she deserved a good beating. A shimmering wall of light interposed itself between knight and thief. Andora stepped forward, her hand still glowing with magic. "Please calm yourself, Sir Kierke." Her voice, as always, was soft, soothing. "The young thief is here because I summoned her." Kierke and the girl both looked at the priestess with astonishment. "What?" they echoed each other. Andora gestured to the supplies at the girl's feet. "What do you see around you?" "Merchant's wares... spices, metal craft, silks..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the cooking gear and old clothes on the ground. Her jaw dropped in stunned surprise. "What the hell?" "It was an illusion." Kierke and Taika could have been invisible to the priestess. "I sensed you nearby, your nature. It was the easiest way to get your attention, convincing you we were wealthy traveling merchants." "And what, pray tell, was the purpose for that, besides disturbing our sleep," muttered Taika, her royal veneer worn thin. The priestess didn't answer, her head instead cocked to the side, as if listening to something. The three in the clearing stared at her. She blinked, and then turned her head back towards the others as if suddenly remembering their presence. "We best get back to sleep if we are to begin traveling at dawn," the priestess said, in a tone indicating there was to be no further discussion. She turned towards the thief. "And I expect that you will still be here in the morning, as you will be joining us in our travels." Andora's voice carried no threat, her face was as calm as ever, but the girl cringed under her blind gaze, nodding. The priestess turned gracefully, returning to her bedroll. After a moment the others followed, one more now added to their number. It was only when they returned to the fire that Taika noticed that the strange old woman had slept through all of the commotion. __________ "Another person has joined the travelers, Metallia." <>> __________ Taika awoke to the sound of the fire crackling. She rubbed her eyes somewhat blearily, her interrupted sleep tugging temptingly back towards unconsciousness. She yawned deeply, then blinked as her nose caught the scent of something absolutely delicious. Stumbling out of her bedroll and into her boots, she made her way to the fire. She was rather startled to see the girl from last night, cooking what looked like a ball of completely random, possibly food- related items that had been smashed together and jammed onto the end of a stick. Taika blinked, unconvinced that the rather unappetizing blob was the source of the tantalizing smell. "What is that?" she finally asked. The girl looked up at her, her eyes hard and dangerous, for a moment looking liked a trapped and murderous animal. Finally, she settled back, shrugged a bit. "Beggar's sausage." Her eyes did not soften. "What's in it?" Taika pressed. "Whatever I find." Studying her meal, she judged it sufficiently cooked, and took a large bite. "Whatever I *steal*." The expression on her face as she chewed clearly dared Taika to comment on that. She ignored the bait. "So, you did stay after all." She tried to keep her tone neutral. "I wasn't sure that you would." "I wasn't sure I was gonna either." The thief bit another hunk off her stick. "What's up with the lady in the robes? She was really intense last night, all that summoning crap." Taika frowned thoughtfully. Could it be that Andora thought that this girl... "She is a priestess of Selene, the goddess of the White Moon. She says she is gathering a group of planetary warriors from legend to defeat Octavia. I'm one of them, the Senshi of Mars." The title came out with a bit of pride. "Do you think she thinks I'm one too?" the girl asked, blinking slowly. Taika tried to avoid the sight of her chewing with her mouth open. "Maybe." The girl thought about that for a moment, then shrugged and continued eating. "So you aren't going to run away at that or anything?" "That priestess lady definitely has some kind of power behind her." She pulled the last shreds of breakfast off the stick and tossed it into the woods. "I can stick around and see what she has to say, I guess. Not like I have anything better to do." Taika wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "What's your name?" she finally asked, rather lamely. "Damea." "My name is Taika." Damea stood, brushed off her filthy breeches, and headed into the wood, presumably to take care of some private business. "I didn't ask." Taika gritted her teeth. She could tell that this was going to be pleasant. __________ Kierke found Andora near the edge of small stream that meandered peacefully along a short distance from their camp. The old woman had followed her to the water and was sitting on a large moss-covered stone a few feet away, mindlessly humming a tune that sounded vaguely familiar to the knight. Ignoring her, he approached the priestess, who seemed to be gathering a random assortment of water plants. "I... sort of had a question to ask you," he said somewhat hesitantly, hoping that he wouldn't be perceived as rude. The more time that passed, the more unsure he was about how to handle Andora. "That girl, the one from last night... why did you bring her here?" He guessed that 'tricked' or 'manipulated' were most likely poor wording choices. Andora looked up at him, the plants clasped loosely in her hand. "I thought it would perhaps be useful to have a resident thief among our number." Kierke blinked at her, completely bewildered as to how to respond to this. When he saw her slight smile, and realized she had made a small joke, he only became more flustered. The smile slowly faded from her lips. "I believe that you were wondering if she is one of the Senshi that we are searching for. Am I correct?" He nodded slowly, the realized he had once again forgotten about her blindness. "Yes, I was. I don't think that you would have any interest in her otherwise." Andora began to crush the plants she had gathered in a small wooden bowl at her side. "And if she is?" The knight paused. "It just seems so... odd. Almost as if it were too easy. If the gathering of the Senshi is such an important event... well, it seems like it should be more work." More plant bits dropped into the bowl. "Then I fear you will be disappointed. I believe that we will encounter all of the Senshi before we have reached the Black Mountains. His jaw dropped. "That fast? But... how..." Andora stepped lighted over to the old woman and coaxed her into eating the green paste she had made. "I don't think you quite understand the way this world works, Sir Kierke. When a specific destiny has been laid out for you, it is quite easy to find it, discover what path you were meant to take. It is walking that path, accomplishing that destiny that is the truly difficult task." Kierke headed slowly back to the campsite, pondering the priestess' words. It was only as he was packing up his supplies that he realized she hadn't actually answered his question about the young thief. __________ Andora returned, absently guiding the old woman back along the path. She was pleased that small illusion had worked so well in attracting the thief girl, but was a bit disappointed in her lax manner. It seemed that she would not be as open to the task at hand as Taika. However, intimidation on her part had worked so far in controlling the girl, and seemed to be the most useful tool she had at the moment. It would of course be better if she would work with the others willingly, but whatever it took she would do. She returned to the camp, sensing that the thief was alone for the moment, Taika and Kierke off somewhere together nearby. She could feel the tension in the girl as soon as she came into view, and gestured to her to join the priestess. "Since you do not seem to be the type who enjoys speaking to others, this will be a far faster way for me to find out what I need to know," Andora said as she settled comfortably on the soft grass, the thief plopping down awkwardly beside her. She extended a slim hand to the girl, who studied it with some mistrust. "Does this have something to do with that mystical warrior thing that other girl was talking about?" she asked, her voice rough but laced with curiosity. Andora nodded, silently pleased that Taika had managed to incite her interest. She again gestured with her extended hand. Slowly, with slight reservation but underlying eagerness, the other girl reached out and clasped it. Andora's world exploded with a flash of white light. __________ ((the people were clustered in small groups in the catacombs, hidden from the youma army their large eyes sat sunken in thin, pale faces the Duke's men tore roughly through their belongings, looking for hidden food your mother held you tightly, her eyes blankly staring at your now empty bag "his own daughter," she whispered "I don't care if my mother was just another serving girl, I'm still his daughter then the youma came, leaving only pain and death in their wake you managed to escape, but you never forgot your mother's words)) __________ The vision faded from Andora's mind, leaving the familiar darkness and silhouettes of energy signatures in its wake. She could feel the pent up energy crackling inside of the girl, straining to free itself. Swiftly, she wove a protective barrier much as he had done with Taika. However, with her power restored to full, it took only an instant. She then released the thief's hand. "Damea, I know you have not had an easy life." The thief stiffened at her name. "And the destiny that lies before you is much harder still, but trust in me, it will all be worth it. Your suffering, the suffering of all of the people on this planet, stems to one source." Damea found she was unable to look away from the priestess. Deep within her milky eyes, there lurked sparks of power, as if a bolt of lightning had been torn from the sky and imprisoned within human flesh. It was the same power, the same anger that she had always felt within herself. "You have been born with the ability to change that. You, Taika, the others we will find, you can face this evil that has swallowed this world and destroy it. You are the Planetary Senshi. Do you understand this?" Damea stared at her wordlessly for a few moments, then nodded. Andora withdrew a gold and jade-green wand from her robes, handing it to the younger girl. "This is the key to unlocking you powers. Please keep it safe." Damea studied the wand briefly, something unreadable glinting in her eyes. Then bringing it up to her face, she bit down on it hard. Andora frowned slightly at the sound of tooth enamel scraping against the sacred artifact. "Damea, what in the world are you doing?" "Just testing the gold," the thief replied, mumbling around the wand in her mouth. Taking it back out, she studied it again. "Damn, do you have any idea what the street value of this thing is?" "..." said Andora, for once unable to think of anything more intelligent to say. __________ Red eyes peered out of the dense foliage, watching and waiting, their murderous intentions burned into what remained of their minds by their Empress. __________ Taika hummed under her breath, bow ready, sharp eyes scanning the thick green trees for any movement. Kierke would have scolded her for making noise while hunting, but he had gone back to camp to begin packing up. He also seemed a bit uneasy about the thief girl, Damea. On the other hand, he still seemed overly trusting of Andora. If anything, Taika was wondering if he was becoming attracted to the priestess. If anything, he deserved to have some sort of relationship for once. The princess continued her even steps, her soft voice carrying lightly through the woods. Despite Kierke's constant warnings, her soft singing never seemed to frighten away prey. If anything, the opposite seemed true. A slight rustle caught her attention. She raised her bow, prepared to fire, but a small, quite human sob caught her off-guard. Startled, she lowered her weapon, stepping forward carefully. "Damea?" she half- whispered, not quite able to believe that the brusque thief was capable of shedding a tear. A bush slightly two her right parted, and two children stepped out, a young boy and girl no older than three or four years old. They looked enough alike to be twins, and their tearstained faces and ragged clothes were encrusted with mud. "We're lost," hiccupped the little boy, his huge eyes staring at the startled princess. "And hungry," echoed his sister, likewise focused on Taika. "Are you alright? Where is your family?" She took another step towards the pair. "We're *hungry*," the little girl insisted. Her brother nodded earnestly. "Um, alright. We have some food at our camp, if you want to come with me..." Somewhat uncertain, she gestured them towards their camp. "No, you'll do," the children said, their voices twining in a spine chilling unison. Taika brought up her bow. Slowly. Much too slowly. One after the other, the children's heads bulged slightly, horribly distorting their facial features. With a hollow popping sound, they burst, unleashing a multitude of tentacles that arched towards the princess with deadly speed. She gave a startled scream as they ensnared her, tearing her bow from her grasp. "That's better," the young disembodied voices chorused as Taika's energy began to drain from her body. __________ Damea was strolling near the campsite, pondering the priestess' words, when the scream reached her ears. She swore even more vividly than usual, heading off in a flash towards the sound, freeing two of her hidden knives as she ran. It sounded like that idiot girl who had told her about the Senshi thing, Taika maybe? She had probably been frightened by a particularly angry chipmunk, or something equally stupid. The site of the two monstrous children and the helplessly cocooned princess threw her off guard, but she recovered quickly. She threw her two daggers at the creatures, her aim as straight and true as when she had been nailing rats in the sewers of Celtern for her supper. Unfortunately, when the blades reached a point about a foot away from their targets, they froze in midair and burst into flame. The two... things turned towards her slowly. She felt her stomach drop at their eyeless gaze, and a rare fear flooded her mind. And then Taika choked out a word that sounded like "henshin" and Damea suddenly remembered the wand hanging around her neck under her shirt. __________ The weakened Taika didn't hear the words that Damea uttered, but the brilliant explosion of light that followed was hard to miss. Apparently, the children sensed the power and realized that they had a more immediate enemy. The tentacles encircling her suddenly whipped away, leaving her to crash uncomfortably on the forest floor. She looked up, the white light slowly fading. Damea stood dressed in an outfit much like her own uniform. The split skirt and tall, laced boots were a deep green in color however, and her chest plate and gauntlets were wrought of dark bronze. Damea stared down at her outfit, stunned at the change. "Whoa," she managed to utter, not even noticing the tentacles slicing through the air, aimed at her neck. **************************************** **************************************** Well, after about a year's hiatus, I'm finally back. This part was frankly a huge pain in the ass to get done, but now that I'm past it, things will hopefully pick up again. This story may not turn out as long as I was expecting, but since I do have two more planned in this series, so, yay! The series of stories is tentatively titled "Wings Across the Moon" and for those who have been asking, yes, Thalia will return (but not until the fourth story, sorry ^^;) Anyway, glad to be back, and please send me e-mail so I am encouraged to keep going ^^ NEXT TIME: More chaos and madness, and who is that very strange disturbing girl they encounter next on their journey?