jrzgrl02: I wonder if my readers are getting a good mental image of this child. I certainly hope so. Dais is Sekhmet's best friend so you never know what he knows. As for, Anubis it's a wonder if he knows anything as well. Mia? Hmm. Maybe. Did found out I have an issue with acid reflux; took me out for an entire week and two days of work. I get to go back to work on 9/11 which just sounds so…odd?

Enjoy the new chapter, everyone, and, as always, KEEP UP THE REVIEWS!

CHAPTER TEN

The rest of the afternoon was spent following the woman and Wildfire to a couple more places. Their last stop was the grocery store, but the next to last stop had been an eerily familiar place. Sekhmet had been shocked to the core when the two mortals had led him to a park. It looked like the very same park his nightmare had taken place in.

The familiarity had sent unpleasant chills down his back. The two mortals had met up with the little mortal boy (Yuki, wasn't it?) while he was visiting the park with his parents. Every minute he had spent sitting on the park bench with his newspaper up had been an internal torture. His stomach had clenched painfully, his throat had closed up, and a pressure had built up behind his eyes and forehead.

/Just like the last time Cale made dinner./

Finally, they had said their farewells and had gone grocery shopping. After they left, Sekhmet had tossed the newspaper and bought a few things from the store. He had returned late in the evening. The others had already retired for the night so he knew he would have to report to Anubis come morning.

Sekhmet put the new snacks away into cupboards and made sure to change the hiding place for his peanut butter cookies. Nether Spirits knew the other three warlords could always find them if he didn't hide them in a different place every few weeks. When he returned to his room, he found Tala fast asleep in her "bed." He found two of his biggest pythons laid out on either side of her. He found that they were keeping her quite warm.

Tired from a hellishly long day, Sekhmet didn't even bother changing out of his shirt and jeans as he slipped into his bed. He lay down on his back, rolled to his side with one arm tucked under his head, and fell fast asleep.

That night, he had an out of body experience. He dreamt of a dark space with nothing seemingly around him. His armor stood a few feet from him. Floating around and behind the armor was a small ball of green light. It bobbed to and fro, swirling around the armor like a playful will o' wisp. He reached his hand out to summon the armor, but he was unable to.

He leaned back as the ball of light shot forward at him. It stopped a few inches in front of his face where it just floated. Slowly, he brought his hand up to it. Right before it could touch his hand, a heavy weight on his chest abruptly woke him up. He opened his eyes and looked down at his arm that was wrapped around whatever had slumped into his chest.

He couldn't see her in the dark but he knew the figure slumped into his arms was Tala. He told himself she must have had another nightmare. He frowned as he lifted a hand to her cheek. Why was it wet?

"Tala?" he murmured.

He thought maybe the child had been crying. He willed the candles in his room to light. He closed his eyes to give them a moment to be able to bear the light. As he opened them and looked down, he wished he hadn't.

The little girl lay on her back beside him covered in blood. Her arms were crossed over her stomach with her eyes closed as though she were sleeping. The blood covered her from her shirt up to her face where it stained her cheeks. Sekhmet quickly sat up, placing both hands upon the child's face. He tried to discern where she was bleeding from.

"Tala?" he murmured, shaking her.

She didn't wake. He moved one of his hands from her shoulder to cheek. Her cheek was frigid. No. No. She couldn't be!

"Tala!"

"Big brother?"

His eyes shot up and he sat straight up in his bed. The room was no longer dark, the candles were out, it was light outside, and Tala stood in the bathroom doorway. He was out of his bed and by her side in a matter of milliseconds. Despite the obvious lack of blood all over, Sekhmet ran his hands over her face and down her arms, looking for any injuries.

Tala grabbed his hands by the wrists and slowly brought them up to either side of her face. Her eyes were full of concern and fright.

"Sekhmet, are you okay? I heard my name," she murmured.

He closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself. His heart was still racing. He could still feel the blood staining his hands and the image of Tala's still body made his stomach clench painfully.

Tala stared up at her brother in confusion. She had woken up early and before the sun. She had wandered out into her brother's room only to find him fast asleep. Tala had been hungry so she had wandered out of the room and let him sleep. The little girl had walked down the hall and around the corner to the kitchen.

It had been easy to fix herself some toast with butter. She had sat at the table and eaten it quietly. As she had been leaving, she had heard a sound from the living room area. Tala had been surprised when she had walked around the couch. She had found a man with short dark hair and a large scar over one of his eyes sleeping on the couch.

She found a large blanket lying on the floor in a mess. Tala had picked it up and draped it over the man. She had placed the softest of kisses on his forehead, causing the man's face to soften a little, and then returned to her brother's room. After returning, she had gone back into the bathroom and settled down with her iPad. She had been reading a story for school when she thought she had heard her brother call her name. The little girl had stood up and been at the bathroom door when she heard him say her name again, only louder.

Now here she stood looking up at her brother's face. His eyes were closed and his face was blank. She moved her hands from his wrists to his arms and pulled lightly down. With his eyes still closed, Sekhmet knelt down in front of Tala. She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the middle of his forehead.

Sekhmet opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. He patted her gently on the cheek, placed a firm kiss on the top of her head, and stood back up.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

Tala shook her head. "No."

"Okay. I'm going to eat some breakfast and then I'm going to be gone for a while. Are you sure you don't want anything?" Sekhmet asked.

Tala nodded her head. Sekhmet pulled her to his side and patted her on the arm. From underneath his arm, Tala looked up at him with a lopsided smile.

"Have a good day," she told him.

He tapped her on the nose with a finger, causing her to let out a small giggle.

"I will. You too, Tala."

Sekhmet shooed her back into the bathroom so he could change out of yesterday's clothes. Tala thought the clothes had looked familiar to her. She wandered back into the bathroom where she decided to sit on the floor with her back against the wall and iPad in hand. When he was done changing clothes, Sekhmet came in the bathroom to wash his face.

/Holy Nether Spirits, I look like Hell./

When he was done, he gave Tala a pat on the head on his way out.

"Big brother?"

He backtracked and stuck his head through the doorway. He raised his eyebrow, a clear sign for her to continue.

"When I'm done with my work, can I take out some of your snakes?" she asked.

Sekhmet thought about that for a moment before answering.

"Take them out one at a time, except the ball pythons. None of the venomous or poisonous ones. Do you remember which ones those are?"

Tala nodded. On her first day here, Sekhmet had been very clear with pointing out what snakes were okay to handle and which ones weren't. The venomous and poisonous snakes were only okay to pet when Sekhmet was handling them. She watched as he disappeared again and closed the door behind him.

She returned to her virtual school work. She lost herself in the work until most of the morning had evaporated. When she stood up, Tala felt pain lacing up her spine. She rubbed her back with a grimace. Maybe she should have stayed on the bed of pillows and blankets. She took a moment to look at the date on the iPad. It read as November 21.

I wonder who we're going to have Thanksgiving dinner with, Tala pondered.

She hoped it would be with Cecilia and Marla. She missed them. She was really happy being with her big brother, but she still missed them. Placing the iPad down in a safe place, Tala quietly slipped out of the bathroom. She pulled a small stool up to Sekhmet's work bench and used it to climb up on the table on her knees.

Tala looked over the different terrariums before deciding to take out the two ball pythons. She pulled the cover off and reached in to lightly stroke each snake along their middle. Sekhmet had told her this was to let them know she was there and was going to pick them up. She reached both hands in to pick up the first ball python.

Tala let the smaller of the two ball pythons wound around her right arm. She waited until it stopped wrapping around her arm before reaching in for the other. After she had managed to get both snakes out, Tala turned around and plopped down on the table with her legs dangling over the side. The bigger ball python wrapped around her thin waist.

She rubbed each snake with a finger or two and just sat there, swinging her legs back and forth. She was a joyful child who was quite content to spend time with her brother's pet snakes.

/…/

As predicted, Cale had nearly laughed himself hoarse when Sekhmet had told him about his Light rival's case of poison ivy. The other two warlords hadn't been any better. Sadly, this had meant Sekhmet had had to wait until the three of them had calmed themselves down to finish his report. After they had finally calmed down, he had finished telling them everything.

Well, next to everything. He hadn't mentioned the nausea and pain at the park or the hiding of his cookies. The last thing he needed was them working together and snooping out his peanut butter cookies. After that, they had gone their separate ways. Dais and Anubis had gone off to plan for whatever (probably an attack on the ronins) while Cale was meditating.

Sekhmet was currently in the library they had. It was a large room with many books from a variety of long lost cultures. Their books were written in languages ranging from lost and dead to current. Each of the warlords knew several languages which allowed them to read the books with little difficulty.

He ran his finger along the spines of a row of books before stopping on a small black book. The title was written in Bengali. The title said Kimbadantī which Sekhmet knew meant "legends." He knew the language well and knew he had never seen this particular book in the library before.

He snatched up to the book and found himself a comfortable spot in one of the tower windows. Sekhmet leaned his back against the wall and hung one leg down on the inside. He cracked open the book and flipped through it. Surprisingly, the book was not about Bengal legends; it was Nether Realm legends written in Bengali.

It sparked a mild interest as he skimmed over a few of the legends. He stopped when he got to a chapter that was entitled Barma praphullatā.

"Armor spirits?" he murmured.

He couldn't recall ever hearing of such things. He decided it was worth his time to look into.

[1] Armor Spirits date back to the birth of the Nether Realm. There are many legends that circle around the power of armors worn by Nether Realm warriors. The legend of armor spirits is among them. No one is quite sure of the truth of this particular legend as warriors rarely discuss the subject.

Armor spirits are said to come in many forms. One belief is that they appear before warriors in the form of a small ball of light, similar to a will o' wisp. It is said that this playful little ball of light is only visible to the warrior. Another, more popular, belief is that the spirits are in fact human. This belief stems from the Legend of Hariel and his armor spirit.

As the story goes, the powerful warrior was training one day when he came across a beautiful woman. She was badly injured from a bad fall from a spooked horse. Having pity for the woman, he took her back to his home where he cared for her and helped her to heal. Over the time that it took for her to heal, Hariel felt a weird connection to her; a connection that reminded him of his Inferno armor.

When the woman was able to travel, she thanked Hariel and returned to her home. In her absence, Hariel's heart ached and his armor felt weaker. It was some time later that he went in search of this woman. After he found her, Hariel's armor strength became renewed with an even greater power than before.

Sekhmet raised an eyebrow. He knew the story of Hariel. It was, of course, all folklore. A warrior with that much power who had been both Warlord and Ronin? Impossible. He read on about the woman and Hariel who went on to become close and eventually married.

Their connection served to make the Inferno armor stronger than ever before. He was surprised to see that there were no written parts as to what happened to the woman or when and why Hariel had died. This served as further evidence, in his mind, that Hariel had never really existed. He flipped the page and continued reading.

Many people think of the armor spirits as a weakness. On the contrary, they are said to be a warrior's greatest power. With their armor spirit close by, an armored warrior could unleash an insurmountable amount of power unseen by any other.

Sekhmet frowned. He flipped back a couple of pages and read the brief description again about what people believed the "armor spirits" looked like. The thought of a playful will o' wisp reminded him of his dream.

/Could that mean…I have one? An armor spirit?/

It was quite an intriguing thought. He wondered if any of his brothers-in-arms had had dreams similar to his. He snapped the book shut and sat there thinking about this bit of information. Usually, he wasn't one for folklore yet he couldn't shake the nagging feeling.

Without warning, he heard a loud, sharp voice in his head. He cringed. Talpa didn't sound happy. That meant nothing good for any of them. He left the book on the window sill before disappearing to the throne room to answer the summons.

After he disappeared, the book glowed a gold color like a certain staff. The glow faded away after only a moment.

/…/

The four appeared all at once in the throne room and bowed their heads in respect. Talpa was cackling which could either be good news or bad news. For them, anyway.

"The Ronin Warriors are fools."

Well, that was nothing new. Sekhmet, as well as the others, had to choke back snorts of derision.

"But my loyal warlords are even bigger fools."

Sekhmet knew he wasn't the only one staring stunned at the dark overlord. Their ever brave (or stupid) leader tried to deny they (oh, you're actually including us three, too, for once) were fools.

A loud roar of "SILENCE!" cut that statement in half.

The angered overlord proceeded to rip them a new one. He reminded them of their countless numbers of failures which really stung. Thankfully, the four of them knew their Master's temper well enough to not say a word to the contrary. It was rare he would put them on the spot like this, but it still stung for a warrior to be reminded of his failures.

Finally, after he was done, Talpa dismissed them with the exception of Sekhmet. From beside him, Dais sent him an undecipherable gaze before disappearing. Sekhmet stood waiting and dreading. It was never a good sign to be singled out. This was probably going to hurt.

/…/

"Something's off with him."

Cale and Anubis glanced up from their lunches. Dais was sitting on a kitchen counter across from them.

"Doesn't he have some sick reptiles?" Cale asked, before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Dais shrugged.

"Supposedly. I have yet to see them and Sekhmet hasn't talked about them," Dais replied.

That did sound odd. In the past, whenever Sekhmet had had a sick snake, he had consulted Dais. On more than one occasion, he had borrowed some tarantula venom to help with his snakes.

Anubis leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful look on his face. They all had begun to notice subtle differences in their comrade. He was quieter, spent a lot more time in his room, and had begun helping out more. He had made dinner more than the rest of them as of late.

"When did you notice his…'off' behavior?" Anubis asked.

Dais tilted his head back in thought. He did some calculations in his head before speaking.

"A few months ago, I believe. It started off with him disappearing after that fight with Wildfire," Dais answered.

Hmm. He had disappeared a few times, probably more than they were aware of, and had offered no explanation as to where he had been. Then his disappearances had abruptly stopped, leading to him to spending more time within the four walls of the dynasty.

"Perhaps he's the one that's sick," Cale offered with a dry chuckle.

Anubis shot him an annoyed look and Dais' response was an apple to the head to which he ducked out of instinct.

"Why should we be worried? He's probably just in one of his moods," Cale added.

Dais shook his head.

"This time is different. I sense something off in the balance for our brother-in-arms," Dais argued.

Cale smirked. "Perhaps we should investigate."

/…/

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Rose looked up from where she was standing and washing the dishes. She looked over at her husband who was working on a crossword puzzle at the kitchen table.

"Honey, were you expecting company?" she asked.

"No, dear," he murmured without lifting his head.

Rose made an hmm sound as she placed down the plate she had been working on. She dried her hands on the half-apron she was wearing as she walked to the front door. Because it was a nice cool evening, they had left the front door open but the screen door was still latched shut. Her face lit up when she saw who it was.

She quickly jogged the last few steps to unlock the screen and open it outward as the visitor stepped back.

"Hello! It's wonderful to see you. I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever see you or Tala again," Rose said.

Sekhmet gave her a small, barely there smile as she invited him in.

"Thank you. I apologize for coming by so late," he apologized with a small grimace.

She assumed the grimace was for the somewhat late hour; the real reason for it was him apologizing to a mortal, Tala being the only exception.

"It's perfectly okay. Is Tala with you?" Rose asked, glancing around the man.

Sekhmet shook his head. "No. She's…at home resting."

Rose nodded. She shouldn't be surprised. It was late after all. She questioned him leaving her alone, though.

"I don't plan to be gone long. Plus I have three…brothers that are…'home' right now," Sekhmet said, hoping she would buy that complete lie.

The smile she gave him told him she did.

"Well, what brings you by this late at night?" Rose asked.

"I was…hoping to ask…a favor."

Dear gods that had been hard to say! He couldn't recall ever asking anyone for a favor, let alone a mortal. This was a first for him. Rose smiled softly.

"Does this favor have to do with Tala?"

Sekhmet slowly nodded his head.

"Then we'd love to help out. What's the favor?"

Sekhmet explained that he needed to work "overtime" for a few days and would not be able to spend as much time with Tala. He seemed to share concern about Tala possibly becoming sick.

"We would be glad to have her visit. How about we make it a week? You can come join us for Thanksgiving dinner and then take Tala home."

Sekhmet found himself agreeing, despite knowing what the Hell a Thanksgiving was. He figured it must be some sort of mortal holiday. He would ask Tala about it when he got back. Rose's husband came up to them with a soft smile on his face.

"Who is this, dear?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"This is the man I've been telling you about. The one who took in Tala," Rose said.

Edgar reached out to shake hands with him. Rose told her husband of the favor he had asked.

"We would love to have her stay with us. We have a small guest room upstairs that our granddaughter uses when she visits. It'll be ready for Tala when she gets here. When should we expect you to bring her by?"

Sekhmet did the calculations in his head, due to the time difference between them. He listed off a time which the couple both agreed that it wasn't too early. Sekhmet thanked them before moving to leave. However, Rose's voice stopped him in the doorway.

"Has Tala been to see a doctor?" Rose asked.

Sekhmet shook his head.

"Do you mind if I take her to her doctor here? Dr. Connor? I could schedule a check-up for her and get her a flu shot," Rose offered.

This caused Sekhmet to pause. He had plenty of experience with healing and could provide any medical help to Tala that she needed, but it was best that a mortal doctor give her a check-up. He nodded his head quietly and almost grimaced at the beaming smile on Rose's face.

/…/

Sekhmet let out a big, wide yawn as he walked down the hallway to his room. He wanted nothing more than to fall into his bed and sleep for the unforeseeable future. However, he knew he had to be up in the middle of the night to take Tala to Rose and Edgar's house. Plus, he would spend a little time with the little one before going to sleep.

He stepped into his room with quiet steps, planning to ask Tala what she wanted to eat for dinner. He froze in the doorway. The bathroom door was cracked open and he could hear the familiar voices of his brothers-in-arms emanating from beyond the door.

Oh. My. God.

"Tala."

END OF CHAPTER TEN

[1] This is what the legend reads in Bengali as Sekhmet is translating it in his head.

Emily: You evil, evil author!

Tigergirl: Where'd you come from? This isn't your story!

Emily: *rolls eyes* Hence the reason why I'm over here. I heard good things and decided to pop over.

Tigergirl: Grr…

Emily: All right! All right! I'm going. *drops voice to a whisper* Please, please read and review. TG lives on reviews! *zips out of the room*

Tigergirl: One of these days…*sigh* Anywho, maybe more reviews can help this old tiger (and, by old, I mean 24) have better health.