Frozen Memories – 1.8 Bridge
Hidden Past - Back Cover
DiT smiled as she watched the progress grow slightly, her revenge was almost complete! There was a few small issues however, like Kethend, Draco and their children, and also the fact that it was all a simulated town to begin with. There was also their army to worry about. And thankfully DiT was visited by not Him but one of the others. The Council were keeping careful watch on Arendelle in the real world.
They did it in such a manner that Arendelle prospered without their queen and Princess seen in a year. But they did it so seamlesly well that it was as if the Queen had merely gone on a trip for a year to try and focus on things properly. And the Council she had apparently left in her stead for the year were very careful not to overstep their bounds.
Yet thanks to something happening during the trip. The foursome fell asleep and hadnt woken up. And everyone had forgotten them. However the kingdom felt that the council and those at its head were infact always their ruling body and nothing really did change.
But now, everyone was remembering, or at least astarting to remember, Elsa, her sister Anna, Mark and Marion as who they truly were, good people, just away for a year. There was only one issue, how did they forget ? When that became clear to DiT, it meant only one task, restore the lost memories, which was something Jarius could do in his painting.
"What happens now ?" Nara asked out of the blue as he twirled the locket that Xiaoden had given him.
"Xiaoden and Haversham will wake up Mark as planned. Xinxin will aid you in keeping out further undesirables" DiT replied
"And Tiri ?" Nara needed his chess pieces in the right places to finish his plan.
"She has her task, she will waken with aid from Xendras, Anna and Marion. You need not worry about them" DiT replied, the man did not reply, instead he vanished from the room. He had work to do. DiT went back to typing on the keyboard.
Elsa Eight Days
The 7th Day
2 July 1986
Arendelle
Midafternoon
Castle of Arendelle
"Idun! There you are" Said a soft voice, Idun's elder sister and crown princess of Arednelle, Tiri stepped into view, she had a frantic look on her face that quickly became one of sweet relief, almost as if scared. "Momma sent me to find you, she doesn't look good and I'm scared that my hunt for the antidote wont be in time, she cant get out of bed!" Tiri being scared of anything made Idun nervous. So close to finding her missing girls after so long, and already her elder sister is scared of something.
Idun took in her sister, dressed in dark silver, Tiri wore her heritige of being a Icewraith Princess proudly on her clothing. Her long silver dress was in manner of Idun's own queenly dress, and yet it was silver colored and designed more with combat in mind. And made seemingly of dragon scales in terms of its patterning as well as bits and angles of dragon bones forming a ribcage of a sort upon her chest and lower abdomen. "Tiri, what is it ? Where were you ? I wanted your help with the council this morning" Idun saw worry and confusion on her sisters face
"I was in the market today after speaking with Felix and ensuring food was given out, I nearly got run over by a girl running for the sewer network too" Tiri replied. She held a poster in her hand, one of Xeir "She looked exactly like the woman on this poster, minus the hairband though." Tiri said "Her dress was interesting in pattern and color, unlike anything I had ever seen before, and yet it was also dirty; like its been through a lot, but its cleanable"
Idun stepped forwards and grabbed her sister by the shoulders, which startled and somewhat terrified the princess, the sheer lust of a mother wanting to see her kids clear in Idun's eyes. "You saw her ? When where ?"
"As I said, sis it was about an hour ago in the market, the girl nearly ran me down. How she could run in that dress, but..." Tiri said, only to get cut off by her younger sister as she tried to get her bearings, it made little sense.
"What color was the dress, or outfit or something ?" Idun said giving her sister a look as if asking what was wrong
Tiriu thought a brief second then said "It was dirty and looked rather threadbare yet it was still beautiful. I think it was a Scala ad Caelum outfit by its design alone" Tiri continued then she remembered. "Oh! Mother wants you... and so does Adairon, what you saw in him I'll never know, I dont trust him. He scares me" That was true, the last three years Adairon had become insistent that the girls were dead and they were to start searching on an alternate method to continue the royal bloodline. But Idun refused to stop looking.
And now she had a viable lead thanks to her sister.
Idun nodded at mention of her husband, "I know, the last three years he has wanted me to stop searching; but until I find my daughters, until I see Xeir and Diamond once more, I will inot/i stop searching for them." She said, as queen she had final word on everything. not even her husband could override her when it came to what she wanted done and how to do it. "Besides; I think I know where they have been these last seventeen years"
"Really ?" Tiri asked, "Where ?"
"Scala ad Caelum" Idun replied
"Scala ad Caelum ? You mean that weapon making city a day southeast of here ?" Tiri asked her sister
"Yes, I want to make plans to go there. We can go together, make it look like we're there for weapons for the kingdom. But in truth we're there for information on the whereabouts of Diamond and Xeir; the man I just spoke with, the man that you saw briefly with the guard headed back outside to the Marketplace. He is their brother." Idun replied.
Tiri held up a hand in a 'time out' motion "Hey whoa how, Time out! Hold on a minute sis, back up... Brother ? You had two girls, no boys, in fact last I knew once Diamond was born, you were unable to have another child" Tiri said giving Idun a concerned look, "So if that is the case, how do they have a brother ?" To say Tiri was confused was an understatement.
"Adoption" Idun said, the two started walking back to the Throne Room as the council members began filing back in. "The young man was named Mark. Very good manners, yet he seemed... angered, confused the more I think about it, confused and angered that I had drawings of his sisters, named Elsa, and Anna; on missing persons posters that I had Kaedreia draw up" She explained to her sister "He said the two girls were on a pirate vessel, seventeen years ago, he and a group of young men his age stormed the vessel, found them, and took them to safety. According to the young man the girls were adopted the very next morning. That was seventeen years ago, to the day I lost my daughters in fact!"
"So..." Tiri thoughtfully mused "As soon as you see Mother, and also finish todays council session for the evening; what next ? Pack a bag and head for Scala ad Caelum ? No doubt Adairon wont let you even so much as go to the courtyard alone as it is!" Tiri said
Adairon had gotten more possessive of Idun over the last few months. More and more he'd lessened the time she could have outside alone to being completely non exsisting. But he had no control over Tiri; and Tiri made sure of it. Hell if Tiri had her way, Idun would be free to do as she liked, after all, Idun was the queen. and Adairon had no right to boss her around!
"Exactly!" Idun replied, briefly spotting her husband inside the throne room already with many of the lower teir nobles on the council.
"The true question though is, Will Adairon go for it ?" Tiri asked her sister
For a long moment Idun said nothing. Then finally. "Nope; which is why we have to plan this in secret. I want you to come with me on this trip; you can point out the woman that nearly ran you down as well"
Tiri smirked and nodded. "Alright fine I'll pack a small bag, Light knows I wont need it" Tiri then sighed the "For now though, at least see Momma first before planning that far ahead ?" Tiri said, Idun nodded. "After this council session"
"Yes" Idun agreed, "After this council session; when I end this council it will be dismissed for twenty one days. If my daughters are not found by the end of which; I truly do not want to stop searching. This is my last strong lead; but if it proves fruitless..." Idun faltered in her thoughts. "No, I wont stop searching, I will only stop searching for my girls when I am on my deathbed!"
Tiri smirked, "Sounds like a plan. How long do you suppose that will take ?" Tiri asked, seeing a dirty look from Adairon
Idun caught the look as well from her husband. "Keep Adairon as busy as possible, I will finish this council for the day at noon and then dismiss it for twenty one days. During that time, we'll make for Warforge"
Tiori did not like the sound of the choice of words her sister used. So she asked "Uh Sis, when you say to keep your husband busy, you dont mean I have to" Tiri was hopng her sister did not mean to go to that kind of extreme
Idun shook her head"No I do not you have to go and do that; if you so much as think that I'll knock you out" Tiri nodded with a soft, almost thankful sigh. The last thing Idun wanted was rumors to start that her sister was doing the king; "Just keep him busy, at least until we get out of here to Scala ad Caelum"
"Right, from now until we head for Scala ad Caelum keep your husband busy... got it. I'll see to Mom and see you in a bit then sis. do hurry" Tiri then left her sister to the mercy of the council. Adairon did not look very pleased to see the Icewraith speaking with his wife. She was going to have a field day for sure with that guy.
Arendelle Castle
Royal Residental Wing
One Hour Later
Tiri stepped into the residental wing, Ever since the meetings daily in the throne room the Royal Family had been secured within a wing of the castle. Tiri had free reign, as did Idun, but something felt wrong as she moved through the castle. Waiting for her sister to end the Council for twenty one days. They hadn't worry to pack if at all. The only problem they faced was Momma's illness. The Healer was concerned she was dying, her body just shutting itself down. But Tiri knew something bad had happened. Marei was a proud Queen in her day, when Tiri and Idun were born, or rather, hatched in secret. Tiri was damn proud of being a Silver Dragons daughter by showing it off in the form of icewraith bones on her body and clothing whenever possible But Idun was more conservative about it and tried to hide it; having Xeir, and then Diamond, three years apart as a human woman, not as a dragon like their mother had.
Stepping up to her mothers bedroom door Tiri looked inside, seeing the Healer with her mother, Marei. It was not good, Bedridden since the day before. And her nieces still missing. Never able to see her grandchildren. This wasn't good; Standing in the doorway to her mothers room Tiri watched as the Royal Healer tended to her mother, with s firm nod, and a reply nod of thanks from her mother to the Healer, Tiri stopped Kaedrian as she left. "How is she ?"
"Better then last night" Kaedreia replied calmly, "Dont stress her, it may speed the posion, Her fever has broken, but she has a long way to mend fully, if at all; if she gets stressed out, it wont be very long before she dies. I took a blood sample, I can hopefully make a antidote for it before she gets too far along." Kaedrian said softly.
Tiri nodded "Dont let me hinder you" The Princess replied. Kaedreia nodded and left the area to get to work. For a long moment Tiri stood in the doorway, then at her mothers request she gently closed the door to the bedroom. Letting her mother sleep peacefully.
As the door clicked closed she heard laughter; ghostly chilling laughter. Quietly the Princess followed the ghostly laughter towards a window, peeking through she saw two people inthe garden below, laughing between themselves. She heard clearly one saying "Jobs done! We got the sword, and the Regent's down for the count too! Lets tell the Masters the plan's working as expected!"
Tiri's eyes went wide, frist with shock and confusion, then they narrowed with anger. iHer mother was poisoned!/i, without further ado she left the window and went to the guards, giving quick orders to surround the castle and patrol carefully the castle grounds for two women plotting to kill the royal family. The threat was taken seriously, which then allowed for Tiri to jump out the window and land in a haycart without a problem or sound. She stealthy hopped out and dartted off to where the two women sat within the castle gardens. Tiri observed the two women, Belyrr, and Nymeth, carefully, one of them held a small packet of sorts, the other held a ghostly glasslike sword. But it was what they were that made Tiri growl in anger. Shadowlings had poisoned her mother!
Nymeth giggled as she held the insanely sharp and deadly cold sword in one hand while she talked with her twin sister. "The Master's will be so pleased! I'll bet that they'll even promote us again!" Oh how she loved rising through the ranks! It meant more praise, more respect, and most of all, more elbow room to do what she wanted! She could torture that ass-hat Masor all she wanted when this job was done for sure!
However she soon paused in her celebrating when she heard the noise. Was someone igrowling/i? The hell? "You hear that, sis?" She asked, turning to look around.
"Its funny sis, the only thing I dont remember exactly was if she asked for one lump or two in her coffee" Belyrr said thoughtfully, the small packet she carried was filled with cubes of 'sugar', it was easier than expected too! Just show up, act as the servants bringing in food to the Queen Regent and then boom, add in the 'sugar' when asked and all was to settle perfectly into place as needed! "I still can't believe how easy... huh ? Oh that ? Nothing important, just some animal or something in the flowers leave it be" Belyrr said
"Besides, if its just an animal, we can take it... what the Pits is that!" Or so they thought; Tiri geared up for pouncing, and then easily vaulted the flower row, tacking the one of the two women holding the ghostly weapon in her hands with a sudden battle cry as Belyrr scrambled backwards out of reach of the sword her sister carried as someone in silver smashed into Nymeth like a freight train.
As the silver clad someone slammed into her, Nymeth let out a startled grunt, the sword flailing around in her hand before she hit the ground, the sword sliding from her grip, allowing her anger to take over as she hissed, slamming her hands down upon Tiri over and over again, head, neck, back, sides, whatever she could reach she was hitting with Shadow-laced fists, making them tear clothing and skin, or in the case of this proud Icewraith, probably just her clothing a bit.
"Get. The. Fuck. Off. Me!" She shouted with each hit, staring absolute daggers at her sister. "Fucking help me, Belyrr!" She screamed slamming a few hits to Tiri's kidneys.
"Actually no I'd like to watch a second or two, Gah, whoa! Hey! Call your shots!" Belyrr quickly sidestepped as the sword slid from her sisters hand and nearly nailed her in the feet, nearly dropping the posion packet she carried at the same time. With a grunt she set the pack of poison on the nearby legdge and dove at Tiri. Who at the last second caught the shot at her left kidney dead on with a grunt she bucked madly as Belyrr tackled her ontop of Nymeth.
To Nemyth Tiri had a silly look as she grumbled "I'd Get off you, Shadowling, if something wasn't on me" She bucked hard then, Belyrr went flying, smashing into a nearby flowerpot, shattering it and falling ot the site, her ears ringing. Tiri pulled Nymeth to her feet then and struck quickly as her silver dress was shredded from each strike. Blocking two more strikes she kicked hard as Belyrr came running at them with a shard of the broken pottery, once again crashing into the same flowerpot, breaking it some more as Tiri called out "Be still!" A flick of the wrist, and slivers of silver energy lodged around Belyrr, holding the shadowling in place.
Silver scales rippled across Tiri's exposed skin through the silver dress Which she could easily repair. But not yet. No, not just yet. She settled into a battle stance. Her left hand went into a motion 'come at me' Without a weapon, on solid ground, it worked out
Maybe.
Nymeth let out another grunt as her sister practically belly flopped ontop of Tiri while she was still on top her, letting out a hiss before laughing as she was bucked off, quickly stumbling back as she was struck after being picked up. She retaliated, was blocked, and then hopped back as Tiri stopped Belyrr in her tracks. "Such a cowardly Dragon; unable to fight two on one." She taunted, rushing forward, her arms turning into Shadow Blades as she savagely struck out against Tiri, aiming to slice, cut, dismember, hell, scratch if it would do something.
She kicked as well, launching blobs of Shadow designed to weigh down their target to incapacitate them so that Nymeth could go in for the kill. She moved with deadly and beautiful grace, constantly spinning, changing directiong, and moving, keeping Tiri literally on her toes regardless of how effective the attacks were. Nymeth had a deranged smirk on her face; Shadowlings had but one advantage over Dragons: They were not bound by the same rules of combat. In fact, Shadowlings had none. A hit was a hit no matter how low or cheap.
Dragons however had their own code; one that even Draco followed to a point. No attacking a defenseless opponent, Kill if you must, but do not dishonor, things usually regarding to that. Draco mainly only followed the former ruling, and ignored pretty much everything else. Nymeth however, knew nothing of Draconian battle etiquette, so she didn't have to follow it, nor care about it at all.
And boy did she ignore it.
Dragons had rules when it came to battle, even battle with humans. Make a clean kill was one of them. Never attack a defenseless enemy. Even if said enemy is bested, Let them leave with their honor and dignity intact. Reds were the worst, kill or be killed was their rule, nothing like Blacks. Which Tiri assumed her brother in law to be, as recently in the dungeons was some prtty evil stuff happening when he was down there. But Tiri knew the rules.
But her mother had been poisoned!
And that told her one thing, which was easy. Fuck the rules, I want my mother to live!, which brought to her mind another rule. heh, rule ? It was simple really, she remembered her grandmother telling it to her when she first learned Dragon combat, 'If dishonored at some point in your life. These rules do not apply to you. What you must do, is face those that dishonored you, or your family, in combat, no rules, nothing. And fight until honor is restored, and those that dishonored you have fallen'
As the shadows came on as they were kicked Tiri brought up her fist, her fingers spread in a eagles claw like stance as silver energy exploded from her palm. Slamming into the shadows dispersing them with holy energy of a Silver Dragon's core as she caught quickly one strike from the shadowblades, then spinning out of reach of a second strike she brought out her own silver blade. Using Nymeths kick as a jumping board Tiri hopped up into the air, her sword striking rapidly downwards at the Shadowling
Tiri was using methodic quick, well thought out strikes. She wanted information. She wanted to save her mother. And then she could banish these two to where they were from. Silver magic was sometimes fun to use. She flipped forwards her sword smashing and locking with Nyemth, Tiri balanced perfectly in the air, all her weight, about six or seven tons at that point, pushing down into her sword on Nymeth.
Nymeth growled as Tiri managed to fight evenly with her. How? Weren't Dragons bound by rules? Obviously she didn't known about the "In case of being dishonored" rule; just like every other rule of Dragon etiquette. She was looking up, locked with this Silver Dragon in a deadly dance before suddenly her swords shattered, her arms collapsed, as did her legs and back, loud snaps echoing throughout the courtyard as she screamed in pain before she was silenced by Tiri landing on her.
Dead? No. Draco wouldn't allow it. Extremely incapacitated? You bet your ass. Broken, beaten, and exhausted, Nymeth the Shadowling twitched weakly underneath Tiri, struggling to breathe as she looked at her sister, almost as if pleading for help that she knew she couldn't recieve.
With a brilliant explosion of light and shadow the Shadowlings swords shattered, Tiri heard many snapping noises, and a few gut wrenching popping noises as she landed dead on the shadowling. Tiri felt a rising pride in her chest. Honor restored ? Fuck no, not yet, not until her mother was out of bed, no longer ill! Pulling herself to her feet she looked to the downed Shadowling, Belyrr stared, helpless, held down by silver magic. Tiri reached down to Nymeth then and gripped her by the neck, raising her other hand towards Belyrr as a portal steamed into being behind her.
Belyrr felt the silver magic fade from holding her, and reaching up quickly she grabbed the pouch of poison quickly casting it into shadows back to their Masters before her hands went to her neck as she was suddenly pulled forwards into Tiri's waiting hand. Silver eyes burned with powerful energy as she took them in. Her mother was dying thanks to these two. So she asked, letting up just enough for the two to answer her "Who sent you. Tell me, and I will make your banishment less painful! How do I save my mother ?!" Her silver gaze went from Belyrr to Nymeth. One of these two had the answers. if Kaedrian did not.
Nymeth didn't even have the strength to try and grab at Tiri's hand around her neck as she hung there, choking and breathing weakly, dark ebony blood dripping from her lips and nose as she wheezed hard. Suddenly the wall in front of Tiri went black, and two large red orbs made themselves known as they stared at the young Icewraith. "Tir wux nafl huven ekess vucot svaust gavira astahi ekess tir nomeno? A dark, rumbling, echoing voice asked, growling at the woman holding the Shadowlings by their throats.
It spoke again, repeating its question in a language that the younger Dragon could better understand "Do you really wish to know who ordered them to do this?"
Nymeth shuddered, her head flopping to face the huge wall of Darkness, a hopeful look in her eyes as two massive Kobold's appeared. Horns of shadow ascended from their foreheads, muscles bulged, eyes glowed, steam rose from their nostrils as they stared at the young Dragon.
The great voice spoke again as the Kobold's stepped closer, growling in ways not normal for their kind as the voice of Draco spoke again. "Release my Shadowlings, and you will be spared, wretch."
Growling as Nyemth's ebony blood touched her ruined dress sleeves that hung at her wrists, burning it the Icewraith snarled as the two red orbs appeared. Followed by the almost ghostly kobolds. Ok, this was not something Tiri was used to seeing. She had dealt with Kobolds before, but nothing like these. Were these even Kobolds ? With a growl she thrust her hands out, throwing both Shadowlings into the portal she had opened, back to the place they had come. Pretty much she banished them to the Pits, if they were lucky, since the job was done already, they'd not land there to begin with.
Tiri turned towards the red orbs, her silver magic active as she spoke, "How do I save my mother ?" All dragons had a rule, and at that moment, none of the rules applied to Tiri or her sister. Not until their mother was healthy and unharmed. "What spell was used ? Is there an antidote ?" So she was doing it to save someone dear. Very briefly the throught of harming one this held dear came to her mind. But Tiri banished it from her thoughts. Not knowing who to try to take down for harming her family. Which was why she asked if there was an antidote. If there was, then this was helpful, it was all she desired. Ontop of that, she let the Shadowlings go.
There was silence for a long while after the Shadowlings were banished, and emerging from the portal-like wall was Draco, a very calm, yet dominating man, his eyes blazing red as the ground shook beneath his own weight of about 28 tons. "You can't." Came his reply to her first question. His hands were behind his back; he was perfectly calm. Eerily calm. No one would dare attack the King of Shadows, regardless of whether they knew of him or not. "But...there is a way. Have fun finding it out." He said, turning away and snarling as he vanished into the portal, the huge, ghost-like Kobolds following him with affirmative huffs.
Soon he was gone, and the wall was normal again.
As he left Tiri dropped to her knees in shock. She herself could not save her mother. and she doubted that Idun could as well. She shook herself, mentally, OK Tiri, think! Who did this, why ? What would they gain ? Tiri knew of scant few people who disliked the royal family. Aside of that one group, that Followers of the Wolf Queen; formed countless generations ago; They could have posioned the royal family ages ago!
But there was a way to save her mother. Tiri slowly stood up, moving to the strange glasslike icy sword she picked it up. It was extremely cold and she took a practise swing with it, it was horribly off balance, and as she stood there holding the sword her sister ran into the garden with a group of guards "Tiri, what happend, the ground shook, are you alright ?!" Idun asked, several nobles also came out, these few of the nobles however followed their queens orders without question.
Idun had just dismissed the council for twenty one days, to give everyone, as she said it with her husband there, a bit of a rest; she needed some time to think her next move and to focus on her mothers newfound illness
"I am alright, I found out what happened to Mother; and its not good. We may have to travel sooner than planned. Come on, I'll take you to her" Tiri said, still holding the strange ghostly glasslike sword in her hands. Idun nodded and helped her sister into the castle, Many of the nobles averting their gaze at the state of Tiri's clothing. That dress was in dire need of repair now for sure!
Somewhere Unknown
Three days East of Arendelle
Evening
Kethend was back home, she had planned it all out, everything was working as expected if not better. She counted out the poison cubes as they were returned to her desk without notice, just a puff of shadows and the packet was there. Once she counted them out she smiled, two were taken, that meant the Queen Regent had two months at best, maybe less depending on how much she ingested in her drink. She went back to work on her plans, reading a massive book on her desk. Her next task, she thought, was to instigate the Followers of the Wolf Queen.
As she was reading, and plotting, a group of Kobolds came into the room, one of them with a limp, they came forwards and assmbled in rank and file, and in a few of them they really did the ranking rather pugently. Kethend looked up, seeing the Kobolds but not her prey with them. She smiled thinly speaking as she stood "Bring me the girl... I said" She stepped around her desk as she spoke calmly, "Bring her to me alive... I said" She paced in front of the assembled Kobolds. "And yet... you bring me... nothing" She traced a finger along one of the Koblolds faces before digging the black nail into the skull just above the kobolds left ear hole.
The Kobold made no sound as a soft squelch was heard as the fingernail dug into his skin, two seconds later, a trail of black blood snaked from the cut, and the kobold fell over dead with a loud THUD, Kethend looked to the dead Kobold, yet another failure. She cleaned her finger and then pointed at the Kobold behind the dead one "You" The kobold stood at attention, as Kethend motioned him to step forwards and stand in the dead ones place. As soon as he did, she smiled, but with no happiness behind it "Congratulations, you've just been promoted" The Kobold had a look of pure horror on his face as the group was dismissed. She could learn quite a bit from the dead.
It was then two Shadowlings fell into the office, one of them in severe pain. Kethend growled seeing the remains of Nymeths shadowblades littering the area around her on the floor and Belyrr clutching her neck and gagging. "The plan is going as hoped, is it not ? The Queen Regent, she is poisoned ? What happened to you ?" She saw then there was no sword present, "Where is the sword I ordered you to steal ?"
Nymeth only wheezed in pain as Kethend drilled them both with questions, and her foot twitched idly.
"If by hoped, you mean needing to be sped up again. Yes." Draco's voice came from behind Kethend, his feet up on her desk as he leaned back in the chair, his massive Kobold bodyguards beside him, staring at Kethend with blank looks. Draco was angry, annoyed, bordering on livid; his expression and tone stressed those words to their limits as he stood and moved around the desk to tower over Kethend, his lip twitching as a low growl escaped his throat.
"The Sword was dropped by Little Miss Dumb-ass, and Little Miss Gag-reflex was powerless to help her sister." He hissed, glancing to the two worthless Shadowlings behind Kethend. "Tiri; Idun's sister, was the one who did this to them, and know they're travelling to Scala ad Caelum quite possibly tonight." Draco growled in Kethend's face, his eyes drilling into hers, examining her soul for the slightest sign of weakness.
"Sped up again ?" Kethend repeated, hearing the words that Draco never spoke to her, that was a first, hearing those words. But, she laughed, "Already planning to go to Warforge ? As early as tonight ? Perfect!" Already starting to loose her thin grasp on reality she laughed again at the news, now overjoyed, "It is going exactly as I had hoped it would! Who cares if it is sped up at this point, the Queen Regent wont let her children go to Warforge unless she gives express permission to do so, and I doubt very much my dear Shadow Lord, that Idun's ihusband/i will let his wife out of his sight!"
"Oh this is marvolus! Adairon wont let his wife, the Queen, go out of the kingdom, much less the castle courtyard to begin with! Even if Marei, the Queen egent, now on her deathbed!" Kethend clasped her hands together happpily, "Oh yes, yes, this is to plan exactly, the princess of Arendelle, Tiri, passed over the crown, not wanting to be queen, Iduns elder twin sister. Ah she is of no worry for us. If it comes to it, I can easily crush her in battle!" She started rubbing her hands in a plotting manner "Oh yes, this is working out splendedly! How goes the corruption of our puppet princeling ?"
It was now all a matter of letting the pieces fall into place as needed, it did not matter at this point, as Kethend pointed out, on how the pieces or the timing fell into place, all that mattered at this point was that each piece fell into its proper place. Tiri, the Princess of Arendelle, was thel east of her worries. A silver as young as her, ha! Tiri was defenseless; Kethend then had to wonder, how in the world Tiri was able to do it to the Shadowlings. Belyrr had some burns from silver magic on her arms, and neck, but Nymeth looked an absolute wreck. Kethend nodded, they did as required. "Perfect!" She rumbled happily "The plan is going as expected! Promote them! Whatever or however you do it, I dont care! They did as required, the job was a success, Marei is poisoned, and Idun plans to travel with her sister. We will let them travel to Warforge, But now I want our puppet princeling to meet with Idun one day after, Idun arrives in Warforge!" She stepped back from the two Shadowlings on the floor to let Draco's Kobolds take care of them and get them back on their feet.
Then he leaned in close, his tone deepening, and his anger rising. bi"Tir Si rigluin ekess clax rihlilg di nomeno nadot, sia Daariv di Rifrekimatkur?"/i/b he asked. The words slammed into Kethend's ears and very soul. The Words: b"Do I need to take control of this plan, my Queen of Incompetence?"/b were ones Draco inever/i used against Kethend. Unless of course, he was absolutely losing his patience with her failures...which he was.
If Kethend's plans didn't go accordingly; she was in for a world of shit.
As far as Kethend was concerned, Nymeth and Belyrr did their assignment exactly as she desired if not better. At that point, the sword was where Kethend wanted it. Not in Xeirs hands Even though she wanted to see the weapon in person. It did not matter one bit to her. As she turned away from the two Shadowlings she spoke softly to Draco "isva nomeno klewar, tir ti xihood di wer nadot failing usv tepohair ekess clax svern sia danthe ir. coi ui gethrisjir lae yth tepohada charisa, soon, si promisie wux, soon yth geou tepoha arendelle lae hesini, vur wux geou qe daar/i At this moment, do not worry of the plan failing or having to take over my dear one. It is going as we had hoped, Soon, I promisie you, soon we will have Arendelle as ours, and you will be King" She said to her dear friend.
Dispite not having Elsa in her grasp, hence the dead Kobold in her office. Kethend was in a happy mood for once. And that, was actually a good thing.
Draco was quiet the entire time she talked, and as she finished he let out another snarl, cupping her chin in his hand rougher than usual, forcing her to look into his eyes. i"Ocuir batobot coi shinaltic."/i he growled at her. "See that it happens." his tone was tired, and annoyed, it was filled with the hatred for failure. Never had he been this insistant with her, never before had he called her the Queen of Incompetence. But now he had no problems. If she failed God knows what he'd do to her.
He released her face and used had his Kobolds pick up the two useless Shadowlings. With a growl he turned and left through a Shadow portal, the Kobolds followed, and Kethend was alone in silence with her thoughts.
Kethend all but swooned as Draco held her chin, she stared him dead in the eye, showing no fear, only pure love for him. If only he could hold her like that more! Oh how she was deperate for him, she wanted to snog him right then and there regardless with the Shadowlings at their feet! But alas no, she could wait. She had to wait. With that thought wandering in her mind she went to her desk and resumed reading.
Southeast of Arendelle
Northest of Scala ad Caelum
About an hour earlier
It had been a peaceful night, the sky abive was active, the lights in the stars and sky dancing madly, it was beautiful; and it made Xeir unable to sleep a wink, the sky so active, so clear, so... beautiful; All night long Xeir laid on the ground, her bedroll under her, she stared up at the stars and the dancing lights of colors in the air. Transfixed on the display. It felt oddly familar to her, and yet she never did this before. Laying outside, in the dead of night, staring up a the sky. Or had she ? It didn't matter, the display was beautiful, and it held her transfixed on it until the rising sun crested to her right. The stars fading from her sight; Up all night long. Unable to sleep a wink. Goodness this was going to be a bad day for her.
As dawn broke Xeir slowly sat up. The fire had long since gone out; and the muledeer were gone... iMuledeer shit not again!/i Xeir thought seeing the wagon, but not the muledeer, if those two deer were gone, or dead or something, then there was trouble to be had for them when they got home! Seeing that their wagon wasn't messed with was a relief, but the muledeer were both gone. Xeir scrambled to her feet, her dress tangled briefly causing her to trip and crash into the wagon side as she kicked at her brother "Mark! Wake up, The Muledeer are gone!" She searched through the wagon, only the swords she still had left to sell as well as one of her own blades she kicked up to catch with her bare left foot.
"Come on sleepyhead, wake up!" Xeir all but shouted at her brother as she slid the harness she and her mother had made for her swords to rest safely on her back and right hip. It was weird, Xeir had sworn several times she had cut herself with her own swords, and yet, upon closer inspection, it was only a bruise, no bleeding, no nothing whatsoever, that meant her magic in the blades made them harmless against herself. Heck she'd even let Marion hit her with the blades, there were no injuries taken, just bruises
Mark groaned and slowly sat up, yawning as he stood up. "W-what?" he asked, looking around. As he saw that the Muledeer were gone, he blinked, stumbling around towards the cart, very quickly getting his sword, still in its sheath, and strapping it around his hip, also getting his shield, and a spear that he'd packed incase he did get in trouble, and didn't want to use his sword. "Who the hell could want our Muledeer, they're not even ours, they're rentals ?" He asked, turning and raising his shield, scanning round them, spear also raised calmly as he deepened his stance. "They're more abundant than Horses or even regular pack-animals in this region! They could tackle a fucking herd of them if the wanted!" He growled. Mark never liked being woken up by anyone but himself; at least, not anymore anyway, not even his beloved sisters.
But it seems that his anger at being woken up would be put to good use if he catches the people who took their Muledeer!
"Shhh, listen, you hear that ?" Xeir clamped a hand over her brothers mouth as she heard something, grumbling voices mostly; Then other voices giving orders, almost constant growling, looking around carefully she saw nothing as far as the eye could see in the clearing they had made camp in. And then the magic lifted and dozens of strange lizard like creatures, standing as high as themselves, were in little camps scattered all around them. Xeir stared at what she was seeing, she counted about twenty six of the things. What on earth was these things ? At a small fire not far away there was a small explosion of fire and smoke, and stink, Xeir heard grumbling and screaming, followed by laughter.
"iDon't do that stupid!/i" Said a Kobold, "itoo late!/i" crowed the small group as one of their member farted on the fire, sending flames reaching as high as possible with a thick cloud of putrid smoke, others in the group laughed as the farter choked on his own drink from laughter. Finally one of that little group noticed the humans watching them, at least they looked like humans. A woman and a man. And the woman looked pretty.
Too pretty.
The lead Kobold stepped into view, dressed seemingly like a normal human like the man and woman both, the guy's black scaly skin glittered in the sunrise, "Good morning! I do believe we've found who we were looking for boys!" The other Kobolds crowed in triumph as their leader stepped right up to Mark and Elsa and looked them both over as he remembered his masters words. 'iBring the girl to me alive, and unspoilt, kill the other/i' The kobold pointed at Xeir, or rather the rope next to her "Tie her up for transport, kill the other" He said to his underlings, the Kobolds wondered why take a prisoner, then again the woman was beautiful...
Mark sniffed the air, shaking his head while cringing. "Oh god why..." he muttered, looking to the Kobolds as they approached. He glanced to Elsa and then let out a huff of challenge and authority, his huff not even human it seemed as his eyes flashed bright bronze while he pointed the tip of his spear towards the Kobolds. "You'll need more luck than anything with us, beasts!" He yelled, his shield, spear, and his sword all glow bronze, stenghtening them while he dropped into another low, defensive stance, the Wolfe Family crest on his shield glowing brightly as he stared down the Kobolds.
"You take the ones on the left, I get the ones on the right. How's that sound, Xeir ?" He asked, his grip on his spear tightening. He had somewhat trained for this moment. Mostly it was just his father saying "You see that tree? You're gonna have enemies that big one day. Go beat the shit out of it." or maybe that was simply made up from Mark's ego and not really his father ?
Either way, Mark felt prepared in some way to fight Kobolds.
Xeir didn't even say a word, ones of the left were hers, alright she could work with that! a flick of her wrists and she had one of her twin swords in hand and one of the unsold swords in the other, and had settled into one of her more relaxed, yet defensive stances, her right sword up her right arm, held with the blade facing out to cover her face, while her left was along her left arm to cover her stomach.
The leader of the Kobolds looked between the two, the woman was wanted alive and unharmed, but the man was to be slain. And just looking at the pair he knew it was going to be impossible to slay one and not harm the other in any manner. Decisions like the one presented to him, were not his strongest suit. Finally he growled out "Get them, take them both alive!" At that the two dozen Kobolds swarmed forwards, splitting up around their boss, half of them going for Mark, the rest going for Xeir. As the kobolds swarmed forwards Xeir noticed several things off, they were slower, and their weapons needed cleaning, but she knew even a blunt axe handle could be deadly in the hands of these creatures!
Xeir waited until the kobolds were about to strike before lashing out. Even in her dress she had made for herself she could still easily fight when needed to do so. Heck she had even burned the thing in the forge a few times but every time she cleaned the ash off the dress was unharmed. Oddly. And yet, she wasn't staking any chances as the first two kobolds came up she flicked her right wrist, the tip of her sword slashed the neck of one cleanly and caught the next in the face as she darted forwards.
She saw the leader backtracking however, and started for him, but stopped and parried and struck at several different kobolds as she was quickly surrounded, and yet, none got within reach to strike her... yet.
Mark had a smirk on his face as the Kobolds started to charge him. Three came at once and his eyes flashed again, His shield suddenly flashing brightly while he held it above his head, lauhing as the Kobolds reeled back in blindness, his spear pericing heart of the Kobold in front of him before he turned and slammed into another with his shield knocking it down before hopping onto it's chest, his spear spinning in his hand, slicing another's throat while he slammed the edge of the shield into the face of the downed Kobold, smashing its skull in.
Combat was Mark's second love, the first obviously being Forging more deadly and better weapons! And even before that was his family! He figured that make his Family rank 0 in terms of love but that didn't make sense, so he never spoke about it unless asked to directly aboput it.
He hopped off of the chest of the Kobold he was standing on, as he ducked down to one knee, raising his shield over his head as four different Kobolds attempted to smash him on the head all at once, and with a flash of his eyes and shield crest, the attacks literally bounced off and smacked their respective Kobolds in the face.
He spotted one trying to run, and quickly chucked his spear as hard as he could, nailing the sucker in the back of the neck as he turned and drew his sword, slicing off a good limb or two before landing back on the ground, back to back with Xeir. "Having fun, sis ?" He asked calmly, blocking another strike from one of his Kobold opponents.
There was exactly a dozen and a half dead kobolds before their targets were back to back. So once again they split up and tried to take them on. It didn't work. The two worked together so well growing up as a team unlike any other. Back to back just made Mark and Xeir twice as hard to take down, if taking them down one on one was hard, having them back to back was sheer torture! Mostly because of how they acted. Fighting back to back had several rules. And most of them were rewritten by the brother and sister.
'Normally fighting back to back focused mainly on what was in front of you, not behind' Xeir remembered hearing the lecture from their mother time and again, giving them pointers mostly, Charity loved them and rarely had to correct them if at all in their style of fighting. 'In your case you focus on everything around you, not just what is ahead, keep at it, keep moving, dont stay in one place' They took it to heart. Back to back they fended off, struck at, wounded then killed in that order, sometimes the other way around, or a mixup of the three. But they kept moving. Not just in a circle, but closer to their target.
With a nudge to her brother she ducked a spear strike, thankfully his shield was at her back at that point. Then she spotted both of their muledeer, down the valley, carelessly eating grass as if nothing was amiss, then she saw with it, the leader of the kobolds throwing something at them both. A huge ball of electrical energy sparking in many colors and swirling of black and purple eating up everything in its path. Spinning quickly Xeir grabbed a massive rather ugly kobold and threw it in the magics path at the same time of kocking her brother out of its path before backtracking quickly. Her magic sparking madly as the weird energy rolled past, its energy spent it disappated a few paces away.
Seeing what these two could do in battle the kobolds backed off. A call from their leader called them back. Quickly as they could they scrambled off. It was then that the reason of why was made clear. a group of soldiers were walking along the path not far away, dressed in brass armor. and they all looked rather short. Upon closer inspection, Xeir asked Mark "Is that Mike ?" Meaning Jarius' butler.
Everything happened so quickly, and so flawlessly. Mark struck, his shield coming up behind him, blocking a strike from a Kobold that would otherwise hit Xeir, or blocking a strike from one of Xeir's opponents. Constantly moving he frequently bent over to let Xeir roll over his back and her the same for him, allowing each other to move quickly and safely from position to position.
As Xeir grabbed the ugly Kobold and flung it into the ball of magic, Mark raised his shield to block his eyes from the sight. As he looked at the brass armor-clad people approaching them, he squinted, and then nodded. "I beleive so, yes" He said, sheathing his sword while waving to said Butler of Jarius. He then went over to his spear, still sticking out of the back of a neck of a now dead Kobold, and yanked it free, cleaning off the blood with the rags the Kobold wore before returning to the cart, tossing the spear back into it. "Too damn heavy. I might need to make it better an lighter" He muttered, speaking of the spear as he carefully set his shield and sword down again, knowing that Mike and his compainions meant no harm.
With a sharp whistle, the Muledeer came back, and Mark Harnessed them up easilly, and within a few minutes, they were good to go again.
Xeir went over the dead kobolds carefully, picking up their weapons and searching over things they had brought along, as the kobolds fled the magic they used to make their fires and othewise also made their stuff left soon quickly disappear as well unless taken from their bodies. In this case, however, Xeir was merely searching them for info, something of how their leader spoke and pointed at her made her nervous as Mike arrived with a group of about fourty other men
Mike of course came right up to them both "Ah young masters, your sisters are worried and they are safe with my own master now. It seems you ran into trouble have you not ?" He saw thtat Xeir had started to break into a sweat, but it turned to ice as it driped down her face, making her already beautiful dress even prettier with the glittery ice
"You could say that" Xeir said softly, finding no information to be of help. Wonderful, no idea where those creatures came from "what are these ? Other then dead I mean" She asked.
"Kobolds, or otherwise known in the common langauges of most trading cities, dragonkindred of a sort. We've been hunting them for little more then a week now, my brother Mik is now with Jarius and your sisters, who await you." It was another five or six hours to home, and yet there was one thing Mike noticed right off about Xeir "Did you sleep last night at all ?" She just stared at him, her secret was out!
Mark yawned and hopped into the driver's seat of the cart after packing everything up in a few minutes while Mike and Xeir spoke. "Well then! If our sisters await us, we shouldn't keep them waiting much longer!" He laughed, turning to look over the bodies he'd just helped slice and dice all over the ground with a smirk. "Father will be pleased. I think Mother will be pleased as well!" He said, mostly to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear as he laughed again, yawning. Sleeping on the ground sucked, so did being rudely woken up!
Mike saw the sleepiness wearing down on them both, with a smile he clapped his hands twice and said "Mark, Xeir, its best you get some sleep, its a half day ride to Scala ad Caelum from here, I will send two of my men with you, its best you be well rested upon arrival at home" Mikes words rang with advice, and in many cases truth, Xeir was ready to fall over as she climbed into the back of the cart and rested as comfortably as she could on some snow, even forming a blanket of the stuff, sleep fast overtaking her, why hadn't she made herself a snowbed like on the cart ?
It was weird; the more she used her ice and snow, not just to make weapons, but clothing, blankets, heck even just plain cloth, she got more and more used to using her magic. Sometimes she even made cups to drink from as well, lately it came natural to her, for one thing, making the blanket as she did, it just sprang out of nothing, and unbeknowst to her, that blanket she just conjured up to sleep under had attached itself to her dress along the back of the corset, but she'd not notice until later she was too sleepy then
But she heard Mikes words and was nodding sleepily, since they were to see Jarius before seeing Momma and Papa to begin with anyhow. "Its just six hours, Mark, come on, I can make you a bed too" She said from where she laid, iman this snow is comfy!/i She thought, barely able to keep her eyes open. The thought of Mark sleeping with her as one of Jarius' men took them home safely, that sounded good, sounded really good. Heck bed sounded even better.
Mark looked to his sister as she offered him an actual-ish bed to sleep on, and nodded, hopping into the back and laying next to his beloved sister, his eyes already closed as he laid down. "Nice snowbed, sis..." he yawned, flopping onto his side with a grunt, yawning loudly as he used his shield as a make-shift pillow.
"Mm... snow...bed... is that... what we're calling ... it ?" Xeir asked, her mind already drifting off to sleep it was getting hard for her to talk! Let alone think, out of nowhere ice and flakes of snow formed a warm blanket for her brother as well as something of a soft bed to sleep on.
Mike watched the two fall asleep, not only had the battle, brief as it had been, taken a lot out of them, but Xeir hadn't even gotten any sleep to begin with that night! Signaling to two of his men to escort them home to Jarius in safety he took the rest of the group of Kobolds and followed the strange black ones as quickly as they were able
2 July 1987
Scala ad Caelum
At that same moment
Breakfast was every morning at sunrise. But it found Jarius outside on the patio looking towards it, every morning he did this. Standing on the deck, watching the sun come up, something about it reminded him of home, back before the wars, when the world was still young.
He knew at some point Charity would come knocking, but once he explained everything to her and showed her the note, they let the girls sleep in. It was now more of breakfast time. And with Mik cooking the morning meal inside, surely the scent could wake up the girls from their sleep. As he turned back to go into the house he felt for the briefist instant, magic at work, dark shadow magic of sorts. With a shrug he stepped into his home and went to the table as Mik went to waken the girls in their borrowed room.
Mik stepped lightly to the room door and knocked twice, at no answer he stepped diligently inside, both girls were still asleep, he heard, and could swear it if asked, one of them snoring. Of course the girl in question would later swear she never snored, Mik however realised the silliness of pointing out such a thing anyway and stepped up to the huge bed in the room, botoh Marion and Diamond slept like rocks, pretty much dead to the world. Not a sound woke them. At least until Mik got too close and spoke in a gentle voice "Young madam, it is time for breakfast, and the Old Master wishes you to join him" Sadly that last part wasn't said until Mik was landed back on the floor as Diamond's hand smacked him in the face as she rolled over.
When they did not get up, he tried again, and again they did not waken right away, so he tried a third time, and thankfully did not have to resort to the cannon ball move he had to do on another young fellow that slept through breakfast, although his brother nearly broke the door clean off at the time from being woken rudely. Bodyslamming is not exactly the recommended way to waken somebody, at least it was better then some kobolds... Finally Diamond woke up enough to see Mik standing over her and Marion. How had he gotten on their bed at his hieght ? "Mik ? What time is it ?"
"Just in time for breakfast, Master Jarius would like for you two to join him" Mik replied, he then skedaddled out of the room before Diamond could throw something at him as at that moment she was rather indecent. Mik however did not really notice that as he was more intent on waking the two girls up.
As soon as Mik closed the door Diamond sat up in bed, "Marion, its morning, wake up! Man something smells good!" Diamond first slammed a pillow on her sisters head to wake her up before she climbed out of bed and got dressed quickly then shook Marion to wake her older sister up as smacking the woman with a pillow did nothing to wake Marion up. "Come on sleepyhead its breakfast time!" She all but shouted in Marions ear
Marion growled, glaring at her sister as she woke up slowly. "Goodmorning to you too..." She muttered grupily under her breath, sighing as she sat up, her see-though nightgown half falling off because of the thin shoulderstrap that was hanging off her shoulder. Unlike her sister, however, she at least wore underwear underneath this night-gown.
Still glaring at Diamond she huffed. "You're lucky you're my sister...y'know that?" she asked, disrobing and then getting dressed again quickly, yawning a few times throughout the expance of time before looking to her sister, looking to her as if to ask if she were ready.
"Yup" Diamond said cheerfully like normal, almost daily this occurred, normally it was the other way around though. With Marion waking her up and then nearly swatting her sister in the face for it. "I'm more then lucky though I suppose, you and Mark, when all I had was Elsa all those years ago" Diamond slid on her boots, the soft black leather made by her father fit snug on her feet, like thick socks of a sort, her stomach rumbled. It was time to eat. She nodded at the look, yes, she was ready, outside the door Mik waited until they were ready and then lead the way to the dining room
With a little more grumbling Marion put on her own boots, yawning again before standing upright and stretching before walking out the door towards where Jarius was waiting for them, she managed to put on a tired smile. "Hello, Jarius. Good morning." she smiled slightly, yawning again before sitting at the table calmly. "Sleep well?" She asked him calmly.
He nodded at the question of sleeping well. "Good morning, I trust you slept well last night ?" Sure they slept well, he could hear them snoring! But he said nothing of it, rather then do so and hurt them somehow, he imnstead motioned to Mik to begin serving, what else, but, waffles! Or at least pancakes or something similar; Jarius also poured some tea into three cups as Diamond took her seat. One sip of the tea was sure to wake them right up good and proper. "I spoke with your mother this morning, she was... quite livid, with your disappearance from your bedroom during the night." He said calmly. "Do not worry, all is taken care of. I explained to your mother that your sister sent you to me for your safety; in the chance that someone came to Scal ad Caelum searching for you, they wont find you there." Mik served breakfast and then stood aside, ready for anything anyone needed. "Any questions ?"
"Just one." Marion yawned again after taking a drink of some tea anyway. "What's for breakfast?" she asked. She knew her mother would be livid, but with Jarius taking care of it, she didn't really have to worry about it. She then looked to Diamond, taking another drink of some tea, mostly because Marion was in no way a morning person; she hated mornings; hated talking to people in the morning, and well, she doesn't like mornings. let's just say that.
"Waffles, so I hear them called" Jarius said, waffles wasn't that something some guy made somewhere that she had tried ? Diakond thought confused. It didn't matter, whatever the breakfast was, it was wonderful!
"Whatever they're called their wonderful!" iBetter then roughac back home every morning the last month!/i Diamond thought, she personally prefered the fox meat, much better then that weird fibre stuff the whole city island was going through. Diamond felt that she had eaten so much roughac she was starting to pass wicker furniture.
"It is not fox meat, but it will do." Jarius replied with a nod, a few minutes passed in quiet, finally he spoke up "I felt magic be used. You know that you sister has ice magic yes ?" Jarius had felt shadow magic, but he knew that Mark and Xeir were both still alive and cared for even then. he'd seen them, at some point returning through his front gates, asleep in their cart, in the snow.
-8-8-8-
"So why exactly am I learning all this ?" Mark asked to Haversham as more information flashed before him. Scenes of an apparent life he lead. People he apparently knew, until it stopped at a scene of a fight, and Mark trying to save a young boy no older than fifteen or so.
"Its not exactly, learning" Haversham said calmly from where he sat against a computer chip, the giant things on the board they stood on, a door nearby framed a exit into a old ancient never used harbor. "Code like this is the perfect location."
"Alright, if its not learning, what am I doing ?"" Mark asked
It was not Haversham that replied but a womans voice from the darkness around them. "Remembering. At least, trying to"
Mark twirled around, trying to see into the grim darkness of the computer mainframe. "Who is there ?! Show yourself!"
"Relax, you're among friends" Came the female voice, which remained oddly calm however the owner of the voice never revealed herself just yet.
"Stop with the damned riddles, who are you ?!" masrk called out. Haversham simply sighed.
"You had your fun, Xiaoden, he's not yet ready for the riddles" Haversham said calmly.
A woman in a black cloak appeared in a whisp of smoke. "Partypooper" the woman had spikey long black hair, and crystal orange eyes. Mark could have sworn the woman looked famailar.
Pointing at her he asked. "Do I know you ?"
"Mhm" Xiaoden replied calmly. "Its complicated but yes, you know me, you'll remember soon. At least that is the plan. I just hope the others have better luck with helping the others remember. Marion will be a handful, I just hope Xendras can handle her. Anna's easy, sweet girl. I'm not even gonna get started on Elsa, none of us could even pry into Xeirs mindscape."
Mark drew a sword and pointed it at the cloaked woman. "Dont you dare speak of my sisters that way!" he screamed at her, he was about to got oblows when Xiaoden spoke up
"Are you sure they are your sisters ?" It was a good question, an honest question that had no real honest answer. "After all, they had the same dream as you. Only one of them is indeed your sister" Mark stared at her. "Besides, getting you to remember everything properly is our business right now. Once we get you awake and in tune with reality, then we're all set on our deal."
Mark gave the woman a hard look. Slowly lowering his sword he asked her. "You know about the dreams ?" Xiaoden nodded, Mark sighed. "Our parents think them nothing more then dreams. I am not sure of what to do"
"Let Haversham and I help you wake up" Xiaoden said simply
"Wake up ?" Mark asked her. "I'm asleep ?" Xiaoden simply half smiled, oh how to explain it and have it make sense.
-8-8-8-
Elsa had torn her bedroom apart trying to find the locket. When she hadnt found it she had the servants clean her room for her as she went searching for Sapp. The woman was actually also looking for her. "There you are. I've been looking for you. Something weird is going on in the Center and they called for the Session Elites to be present to find out more" Sapp said, "I cant find Mark anywhere, so I went looking for you"
"Lets go see what we're needed for then" Elsa replied, the other woman nodded and the two headed for the Center, which was more or less like a huge city hall open air and open to the public. It rarely rained on Scala ad Caelum, and when it did, it was rather peaceful yet heavy. As the two walked along, swords in hand or on their belts, Elsa spoke. "Sapp, let me ask you something"
"Sure, Cousin, what is it ?" Sapp replied
"Have you been having strange dreams ?" Elsa asked her
"Dreams ?" Sapp said thoughtfully. "not recently no, why ?"
"The last few days Mark, Anna, Marion and I have been having odd dreams every night, five nights ago alone Marion thought she saw someone outside her window on the street fighting something, she even found broken glass as evidence of the fight. But couldnt find anything further."
"You think it has something to do with how you cant leave the city island ?" Sapp asked.
"Possibly, the first time we tried, a guy in a hooded cloak whose face I couldnt see stole our credits, I had them on me as I was most trusted with our Session earnings. So our attempt at leaving this city island to explore another one by boat was thwarted. The second time, a cable car, we missed it by a minute and it could not be stopped."
"And the third time ?" Sapp asked, Elsa looked at her. "There's always a third try"
"Yes, but only Marion was able to go, she had permission, but only to see the next city islands Hall of Records, she was not allowed to explore the city island." Elsa said with a nod
"The guy in the coat. You mentioned that Marion said she saw someone in a hooded coat fighting others outside her window a few nights ago" Sapp mused. "I heard weird noises, but when I looked there was just the patrolling Guard."
"Yes, Marion found traces of broken glass where the fight was" Elsa said, "she couldnt see who was fighting, and was distracted the whole morning too. Then a few days back there was a explosion in the park when I was speaking to a hooded guy, he seemed, hauntingly familiar to me but I cant quite place it just yet."
"So you met the guy that Marion is looking for ?" Sapp asked
"Maybe, I newver saw his face, so I have no idea what he looks like, or if its even a he. He sounded like a guy though" Elsa said simply
"Not everyone is male thought, like us, we're ladies, its possible the hood masks the voice, and it could be a woman you spoke to." Sapp said, Elsa stopped short and Sapp walked face first into a pole. "Call your stops will you ?"
"Nevermind that, come on" Elsa grabbed Sapp by the arm and puleld her around a corner near an ally, two men in dar kcloaks, their hoods covering their faces in shadow were not far ahead. The two women crept closer and listened carefully.
"Ah, its been a while, I see they finally sent you on a job, huh ?" Said the first man, a voice Elsa instant recognised as the guy she had spoken to a day or so before.
"Yes" Said a much more cultiured voice. "They sent number Six, myself, and Nine to help in this venture. My task was to aid you."
"So they figured that I'd need help, great" Nara said, he draped a arm over the other mans shoulder. "We'll get along just fine."
"Are you two quite done ?" asked a woman out of nowhere as a half dozen soldiers appeared in whisps of smoke followed by a woman Elsa swore she had seen before.
"Ah, so finally Shadow Mist arrives! Was wondering where you were hiding." Nara smirked within the shadows of his hood.
"Oh so now you remember us ?" The woman asked
"Ah." Nara said holding up a hand, then shaking his hood as he waved the woman off, "No, no I dont, what's your name again ?" he pointed at the scarred woman calmly
"Kill them both!" The woman shouted, the soldiers drew their weapons and settled into an attack stance.
Nara shook his head. "No, that's not the name I had something different in my head." Nara ducked at the last second, his weapon forming in his hand seconds later after blocking and sending the soldier back a few paces. The strange ornate steel weapon formed from thin air and electrical energy as it formed.
As Elsa and Sapp watched the soldiers fight the two men both men fought with ease against the strange shadowy soldiers driving them off as quickly as they appeared, the woman disappeared into mist. As the woman disappeared the second cloakd man made to go after them, Nara held up his hand. "Should we not follow them ?"
"No, The Princess has plans, this woman was not the princess, and no doubt was not made aware of those plans. We have our mission, so its best we focus on it. Come on, I heard news of an army massing not far from the city shore coast islands." The two men turned and walked into a portal that swirled into view with a loud tearing noise.
The two women stepped from the corner they hid behind. "What was that all about ?" Elsa asked aloud, "one of those two I could swear was the guy I talked to in the park a few days ago"
"I dunno, but I'm sure as fuck glad they're on our side, come on, we're needed at the Center still" The two headed off on their task.
-8-8-8-
"I got it!" Anna said blasted in on Marions little office, scaring the older woman slightly with a sudden startled chirping noise. "You remember how the woman we saw this morning said she was looking for us for a year ?"
"Yeah ? What about her ?" Marion replied calmly as she tried to get her heartbeat in order.
"Remember the dreams ? The woman we saw this morning was in the dream, she was the sister of the queen of that kingdom Elsa and Mark apparently visited" Anna said, Marion just looked at her dumbly. "Look, the woman said she had been searching for us to speak to us for a year, remmeber ?"
"Yeah, I remember. Why ?" Marion nodded, it made some sense, if any. Then it hit her. "Wait, the woman had been looking for us for a year, but the dream started with two girls on a ship when Mark and I were kids and you and Elsa were adopted into our family with no memory of your real family."
"You think that woman is related to our real family ?" Anna mused
"A possiblity, but it is a scary one" Marion replied. A name had started haunting her that day though. She even absently wrote it down when she signed off on a patrol report. Who was Diamond and why did she feel so familiar to her ? "Why ? I mean, if she has been looking for us for a year, why show up now ? I dont remember meeting her"
"That's the confusing part" Anna replied calmly. None of it made any sense whatsoever to either woman. And yet it was scary, Anna couldnt remember, try as she might, of having met such a woman before. If she had, she'd remember a woman who could shatter like glass.
"I have a Session to do on my own, tomorrow is the last day of summer, see you at dinner" Marion said, Anna nodded and watched her sister head towards the Jail Hall, in this case the one that was used.
As Marion wandered the many cells, she came to a halt as a man called out to her for something to drink. She had never seen the man before, his long silver hair was unkempt and his clothing was tatters as if he had been in the jail for many years. Stepping closer to his cell she said. "What do you want ?"
"The same thing you want" The man answered, his voice echoing in the cell. Marion stared at him, he sounded hauntingly familiar but the man in the cell was not Hao Fan. "What ? Do you not want freedom ?"
"What are you here for ?" Marion asked him.
"To free you of course" The silver haired man said leaning on the cell wall, his arms threading through the bars. "If I wanted to do so, I could easily leave this cell on my own. Dunno why I woke up in here instead of in the guard office though"
"Who are you ?" Marion asked him
"The name's Xen, at least most call me Xen. For now, you may call me... Number Nine. Xendras." Xendras said, his job was to help Tiri wake up Marion and Anna, Xinxin was to help Nara keep out unwanted shadows. And Xiaoden, number Six on the Council, was to help Haversham and Jarius wake up Mark.
He gave her a aidelong glance. "Now uh... about getting me out of here."
"I do not have the keys, and you said you could get yourself out of that cell. I'd like to see you do that." Marion said with a smirk, sarcasm clearly heavy in her tone.
Xendras smirked in reply. "Turn around" he said simply, Marion glared at him but did as he asked. No use getting naked even though it was automatically done for him to shift his clothing so easily to its proper black hooded coat. His hair once more clean and distangled. "Ah much better, you can look now." as Marion turned around she stared, gone was the convict in rags and messed up hair, in its place was a well kept man with a scar over his left eye from his brow to his neck, it was jagged for that matter, yet his hair was nice and neat, long and silver.
What surprised her was the cell door fading into nothing as the chain broke away. Marion took a half step back, her hand going to her sword, she had one sword on her belt the other always in its sheath in her hand ready for use. "What, how did you do that ? What are you ?"
"Not one to be trifiled with" Xendras said. "No doubt your, well, sister is a strong word for it, but we'll go with it, is on her way to the City Center Hall for a town hall meeting of a sort. But you need not concern yourself with them. You mentioned to Anna you have a Session. Perhaps we can do it, as a team ?" Nara knew the Session, it was why he insisted on Xendras helping Marion with it. Nara trusted Xendras with Marions life. And her honor.
"As a team ?" Marion asked, the man nodded at her question as he calmly stepped from the cell and stood eye to eye with her. "Us, as a team, you are not even dressed as a resident, how can I trust you ?"
"Because the one who trusts me with your life trusts your judgement over anything else." Xendras said calmly. The woman regarded him carefully.
"Did Tiri send you ?" Marion finally asked him
"No, but someone equally important did, and he trusts your judgement over anything else. And he trusts me with your life" Xendras said. He looked over her guard uniform as he walked around her. "I think I can mimic the coloration, but not the style" He said, his coat shifted colors to match Marions uniform colors.
She raised an eyebrow as she watched the coat shift colors and patterns, it was actually quite beautiful and somewhat enthralling to see happen directly infront of her eyes. "I think that will do fine, come on. I think I am going to need you on this venture" Xendras smiled and followed a half step behind.
The two stepped into a large underground like room. "it is not often you travel in companionship of someone outside your family" Said a voice. That of Tiri. But Marion could not see her, Xendras voice naturally echoed as if modulated somehow, heavy with synthetic energy yet with power behind his words. "I see you found her" Tiris own voice echoed around them both.
"Easier said then done" Xendras replied. "But yes I found her"
"And was room service kind ?" Tiri asked, suddenly forming out of smoke, pieces of ice blue bonelike forms shifting acdross her body, her feet unseen.
"There was none, if it were not for the Shield asking me to aid you, I would never have gone through with this venture. Next time, dont exit at a jail, exit at a brothel" Xendras grumbled.
Marions mind began working just the mere mention of a brothel got her mind starting to remember bits and pieces of the past, the missing links finally chaining together. "Wait, did you just say... brothel ?"
"Mhm, why, is it important ?" Xendras asked, not seeing Tiri smirk as the bones ofher Icewraith body shifted across her face.
"No, not really I guess, I just remember, somehow working at one ?" Marion couldnt explain it, there came a chittering noise, and Xendras struggled niot to smile as he knew exactly what Marion meant.
He finally nodded. "Dont worry, there is no need to explain, sooner or later it will come to you. Come on, we still have a Session to complete" he raised his arm indicating the way after waving off Marions seemingly odd thought. The two bit tiri good bye and took their leave.
The icewraith watched them go, smiling before shattering into mist. One more day of summer vacation, ewhich meant one more day and the bunch would wake up properly
RESTORATION AT 94%