jrzgrl02: I don't know quite where the idea came from. I think it may have been in a dream. Oh, I can only imagine the different reactions they would have to Tala. Oooh, the possibilities! Hehehehe I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Queen of suspense, huh? I like it!
collegegal: Hey, girl! Glad to see you checking this story out, too. I am trying my darndest to keep him in character while showing his human side. Glad to hear I seem to be succeeding.
Author's Note: Enjoy the new chapter!
Last time:
"Promise?" she murmured before falling asleep.
Just before he left to answer his master's summons, he murmured, "Promise."
CHAPTER FOUR
Anubis was eating dinner when Cale walked in with an open scowl on his face.
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," Anubis said, without picking his head up.
Cale scowled even further, earning him a chuckle from the auburn haired warlord.
"Have you seen Sekhmet? He's disappeared again!" the Warlord of Corruption growled.
Anubis took in another mouthful before answering through their armor mental link.
[Dais said he's working with a few new snakes. He's been in and out with studying them and collecting their venom. I think he's catching new snakes in the Mortal Realm.]
Cale growled something under his breath as he retrieved a plate of food for himself. He sat down at the table next to the younger warlord. The three warlords had been irritated with their fourth not returning promptly after his defeats from the ronins. Then he had begun disappearing at odd times of the day and more frequently.
Finally, the other day, Master Talpa had summoned his warlords to give them a mission to attack the Ronin Warriors. Sekhmet had been particularly late to answer which had not made the evil overlord happy. He had punished the Warlord of Venom and sent the other three out to attack the ronins while they were out camping. Upon returning from a somewhat successful mission, Dais had gone to question their brother-at-arms.
[He should feel fortunate that Master Talpa didn't send him to the pits.] Cale.
Inwardly, they both shuddered. None of them cared to visit the fire pits, or pits, as they were commonly referred to by the warlords. The fire would burn painfully through their armor yet leave not a single burn mark on their bodies. However, the pain was purely psychological, courtesy of Badamon.
[It's only because he knows Sekhmet is experimenting with his new venoms on mortals before using them on the ronin whelps.] Anubis.
/…/
"And Cecilia says that's a Gordonia flower," Tala said, pointing at a group of white flowers.
Tala was giving her special friend a tour through the garden of flowers he had passed through the night of the rainstorm. He was starting to think the small smile on his face was going to become permanent when around the little girl. He had met her at eight this morning and it was only nine now.
Glancing down at the hand that held his, Sekhmet was pleased to see Tala's bracelet was still securely fastened around her wrist. His smile grew a fraction when Tala held up her other hand close to her face. Twisted through her fingers with its head resting in the palm her hand was a tiny snake. Tala had been especially excited when he had given her the belated birthday gift. He had been breeding snakes for many a year with the purpose of pure experiment.
This particular snake was a baby Kenyan Sand Boa. It was a light cream color underneath and had orange & black splotches running along the top. The little critter was only a few months old, but was different from its typical species. It still occasionally burrowed in sand like normal sand boas yet didn't need to eat a whole lot and was actually quite awake during the day. Plus, this sand boa enjoyed traveling around with a person, whether in their pocket or somewhere else.
What really brought an amused smile to his face was that she had named the snake Herbert. Unable to contain his curiosity, he had questioned her on why that particular name. Her answer had been plain and simple.
"He looks like a Herbert."
Sekhmet was broken out of his thoughts when Tala dropped his hand and let out a series of coughs. He watched curiously as she pulled a small object out of her pocket. She shook it, brought it up to her mouth, and inhaled when she pushed down a silver button on top. She took a few small breaths before putting the object back in her pocket.
Tala held out her hand to take his back. She must have seen something on his face for she spoke as soon as he gripped her hand.
"That's my inhaler. It helps with the coughing before my asthma gets bad," she explained.
He understood why the small object was called an inhaler, but he had never heard of asthma. For now, he left it alone while they walked back to the little waterfall and their favorite tree. It was probably just a mild mortal cold or something.
Tala situated herself on the grass leaning partly on him with her sketchbook and colored pencils. He took her elbow and firmly moved it so that it wasn't sticking uncomfortably into his gut through his shirt. He shot the side of her head an annoyed look.
Sekhmet looked down at the drawing the little girl was working on. She was currently drawing one of the more colorful flowers from the garden. For such a young one, Tala impressed him with how artistically talented she was. Her drawings had a realistic look to them but still had touches to them that reminded any onlookers of her younger age.
So lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize when Tala had stopped drawing. It was only when he felt a weight on his lap that he looked down. The little girl was apparently a little more tired than she had originally appeared. She was sleeping on top of her sketchbook with her face tucked into the corner of her folded arms. This was all on top of her right leg near his knee. The baby sand boa was curled up on the back of her right hand fast asleep as well.
Sekhmet reached his arm out and summoned a small square pillow from his dynasty room. He maneuvered Tala's sketchbook out from underneath her and moved her so she was resting more comfortably. Now she had her arms wrapped limply around her stomach and the baby sand boa laid out on the side of her leg by her knee.
As he brought his hand up to move a piece of hair out of Tala's face, he was startled to find a heat radiating from her forehead. He moved the hair strand behind her ear before laying a hand flat on her forehead. She seemed a little warm to him. He brought the hand up to his own forehead before bringing it back down to hers.
/She's running a low fever. What fragile beings these mortals are./
Tala shivered a little and buried her face deeper into the pillow. He moved his hand down to her arm where she felt cool to his touch. Sekhmet suspected she was probably coming down with a cold as a late result from being out in the rain a few nights ago. He summoned a small blanket then laid it gently over Tala to cover her from below her feet to her chin.
As he sat there, he found that he was content to just watch the child sleep. It made his life seem…normal. Sekhmet let out a loud snort. Neither he nor the other warlords had led a "normal" life since obtaining their armors and coming to serve Master Talpa.
"What are you doing to me, little one?" he murmured
He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be watching a mortal child sleep. He shouldn't be caring that she had possibly caught a cold after waiting out in the rain for him. Yet here he was doing just that.
/…/
That night, after a fun day of spending time with her bestest[1] friend, Tala was much too excited to fall asleep. She was very pleased that Uncle Maurice and Aunt Clarice allowed her to close her bedroom door at night now. She was sitting up in her bed dressed in her pajamas when her bedroom window slid open and her friend climbed through.
She bounced up and down excitedly as he came over to sit beside her on the bed. She had pestered him earlier until Sekhmet had finally promised to come visit her tonight to wish her a good night.
"I had so much fun today! I'm much too excited," Tala whispered.
Sekhmet shushed her sternly and put a hand on her shoulder to push her back down against her pillow. Still smiling, Tala reached behind her to pull a book out.
"Will you read this book for me? It helps me go to sleep," Tala asked quietly.
With a small sneer on his face, Sekhmet hesitated only for a moment before taking the book from her. She scooted over so he could sit side by side with her with his legs stretched out. He looked at the cover, shrugged, and opened the book. Tala snuggled down beside him and leaned on him so she could see the pictures.
"Good night, room. Good night, moon. Good night, cow jumping over the moon. Good night, light. And the red balloon."
As he read through the story, he felt Tala yawn and sag further against him. He, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to tear it up, burn it to pieces, and dance on top of its ashes.
"…Good night, stars. Good night, air. Good night, noises everywhere."
Sekhmet closed the book with thoughts of who in their right mind wrote such an idiotic book. All it consisted of was saying good night to various inanimate objects and animals. Oh, and an old hag [2]. He looked down to see Tala almost completely asleep. He stood up and helped her lay all the way down and pulled her covers up to her cin.
She murmured something so quietly he almost missed it. He stood shocked and half bent over her to see if she would say it again.
/Did I mishear her? She couldn't have meant to say that./
However, in her half-sleepy state, Tala murmured it again but a little louder.
"G'night, big brother."
/…/
/Did she really mean that?/
Upon returning to the dynasty, he had spent the remainder of the morning and all afternoon in a trance-like state. He had emerged from his room to eat lunch and Dais had convinced him to play a chess game with him which he had lost miserably. Then he had tried working with some of his serpents, trained for a little bit, and listened halfheartedly to Anubis and Cale plot out an attack on the ronins.
Now he lay wide awake in his bed staring up at the ceiling. He had a rattlesnake sleeping curled up on his stomach. One arm lay by his side while the other was on his stomach. He ran his thumb gently down the smooth scales with practiced ease. The snake's rattle was making a small sound, letting the warlord know how pleased it was with the attention.
Sekhmet had only known the little girl for a little over two months. Never had anyone's words struck him as hard as hers had. It wasn't that she had insulted him; no, he felt like she had bestowed upon him a gift he didn't deserve. He sat up with a groan and slid the snake gently down to his lap without disturbing its rest.
/I'm one of Master Talpa's four Dark Warlords. I've murdered and tortured a countless number of mortals, reduced villages and towns to nothing, and caused great destruction./
Even as he reminded himself of these facts, a million more questions ricocheted through his mind. Why did he continue to see the little mortal? Why did seeing her smile bring forth a warm feeling from within his chest? And why did his chest burn painfully whenever the little girl was sad because of something he had done or hadn't done?
Sekhmet fell back onto his bed and rolled onto his side, bringing the rattlesnake down to curl up beside him. He smothered his face into his pillow with a big sigh. It was best he try and sleep on it.
/…Two weeks later…/
"SNAKE FANG STRIKE!"
He had never stood a chance. His fellow ronins were occupied in their battle with the other warlords a few miles away. It had been easy to lure Torrent away and the fight had quickly turned in his favor. The youngest ronin now lay unconscious with the bottom half of his body in the water. The battle had ripped his armor from him, leaving him only in his normal mortal clothes.
Sekhmet could sense Master Talpa wasn't watching either battle and his fellow warlords were wrapped up in their own fight with the other ronins. He banished his armor into his subarmor and crouched down beside the boy. The ronin had fought well, but he had been no match for his rival warlord.
The gentle current started to pull the boy from the bank but without thinking the warlord snagged him by the arm and pulled him from the water. He laid him on his side and checked him over. The injuries were only minor; he appeared more exhausted than anything else.
/I should kill him now or take him prisoner./
Although these thoughts occurred to him, he didn't move to summon his armor (kill) or pick up the boy (prisoner). All he could think of was Tala's face and how she would react if he took the ronin's life or held him prisoner. The thought of her looking distressed or worse…disappointed made him strangely uncomfortable and guilty.
Sekhmet brought two fingers down to the ronin's throat to check for a pulse. It was a steady beat which reassured him the ronin would be fine. He stood up and looked down at the ronin brat.
"Guess it's your lucky day, Torrent."
Now he wasn't quite sure what action to take next. His fellow warlords didn't need or want his help. Plus with how his "little friend" was affecting him he could give away his weakness in front of them, thus royally screwing him over. If they suspected anything was wrong with him, he would more than likely find his ass burning in Badamon's fire pits and would never see Tala again.
The thought of not being able to see the small child disturbed him. It disturbed him more than he cared to admit. He had come to a realization just shortly before the battle had begun. He saw Tala as a little sister; his little sister.
When growing up, he had been an only child. Over the centuries, he and the other warlords had become brothers of sorts with Anubis, their infamous leader, standing in as the "baby" brother. Sekhmet chuckled. Anubis was only twenty or so years younger than the rest of them, but they never let him forget he was the youngest.
All and all, he now thought of Tala as a little sister. It had been a surprisingly happy almost three months spending time together. Tala often referred to him as her big brother yet he had not openly questioned her about it. Yet.
Suddenly, he saw a flash of light and felt the ground tremble. His gaze shot in the direction of where the others were as he sensed his "brothers" return to the dynasty.
"Cye!"
Sekhmet cursed silently as heard Hardrock calling for his fellow ronin. He sensed that the other ronins would soon be upon him. He also sensed his dark master calling him back to the dynasty. He disappeared with a smirk just as Hardrock spotted him.
/…/
Sekhmet pulled the chicken and rice dish out to set it on the counter. Master Talpa had summoned him back to the dynasty, but not directly to him. The other three warlords had been with him for an hour which didn't bode well for any of them. On a whim, he had decided to fix lunch even though it was Cale's turn to cook for the day. He dished out some food onto a plate for himself before disappearing down the hall and into his room.
He sat down at his work table to eat his lunch and look over the current work. There were pieces of fresh snake skin shedding which he planned to use with some of the experiments he was conducting. Sitting up straight, he had a sudden urge to check in on his little sister.
The screen on the wall to the side flashed to life. It showed an image of the little girl's bedroom where she was sleeping soundly. Throwing his hand up, he made the image zoom in on her. She rolled over in her sleep and let out a few short coughs.
He frowned. The little mortal had begun coughing a lot more lately and he doubted it had anything to do with the asthma.
/I'll ask her how's she feeling tomorrow./
Sekhmet closed the image and the wall shifted back to its normal appearance. Had he kept the image a little longer, he would have seen a woman come in to check on the little girl. She took the little girl's temperature and stared down at the thermometer with a deep frown.
"Not again."
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
[1] Not a typo. I figured since she's a child, she would think of him not as her "best" friend, but her "bestest" friend.
[2] It's supposed to be an old woman. However, I think we can all tell how much Sekhmet "loved" this book. LOL
I hope you all enjoyed the newest chapter to "Spirit of the Armors: Spirit's Awakening." So just type a nice little review in the box below and hit Submit. Many thanks!