Chapter 2
Kaira awoke abruptly, her sleep interrupted by the
dream. Beside her, her husband, Anubis,
was also awoken from sleep, but by his wife's sudden movement.
"No," she whispered morosely.
Now fully awake, Anubis heard the
worry in her voice, "What's wrong, Kaira?"
"The dream…no…it cannot be," she
mumbled in despair. Something obviously
was not right. He crabbed hold of his
wife's shoulders and brought her face towards his.
"Kaira," his voice was forceful as
he tried to get her attention. When it
didn't work, he tried again, "Kaira!"
It worked.
Her eyes fell on his as they
focused. When she realized what had
happened, she gasped and her face fell.
She brought her arms around her husband and she began to shake in his
arms. Anubis waited for her to calm
down as he held her and reassured her.
Finally calm enough, she tried to
begin an explanation. Within the folds
of her husband's strong arms she spoke, "The dream."
"What dream," Anubis asked
patiently.
After awhile, she spoke again,
"Mia's dream." Anubis tenses at the
mention of their daughter. "It has
broken the spell."
"Broken the spell?"
"Yes," she confirmed, "She knows."
"How much does she know," he asked
with trepidation.
"At the moment, only that she is our
daughter, but she will soon find that she has the Starlight crown and
swords…and if she knows…"
"He will know," he ended. With more gusto he asked, "How was the spell
broken. No one outside of you has that
power."
"I don't know." After some consideration, she spoke again,
"It might have been the crown itself."
"Why," was Anubis's simple question.
"The time for its power to be used
is coming up and it has activated itself.
Even if we do not wish for to become involved, she will. Even the power that I have is not a
match. We know that her powers and those
of the Star Warriors might be needed to defeat Akuro."
"It is not for us to decide, in
other words."
"It is destiny," Kaira said
defeated.
"I guess the only thing we can do is
to make sure the she stays safe until the Star Warriors are found," said
Anubis.
"Yes," she concurred, "Get the
Warlords." She arose from the bed and
went to change. Anubis arose awhile
later, his daughter and her future on his mind.
From the vantage point of his
throne, Akuro watched as his
high priest tended the fires that informed him of the goings on of the
Dynasty. Even if he could not be there,
being stuck in this dimension, does not mean that he could not know what was
happening in the Dynasty.
If he could only seize the Dynasty,
conquering the mortal world would be easy.
All he would have to defeat are the Ronins after that, and he could do
it, her was much more powerful than his father. I just need a foot in the
door.
"My
lord," his priest brought him out of his reverie, "The Empress is gathering her
Warlords."
"What is so uncommon with that,"
Akuro snided harshly, "The Empress regularly gathers her Warlords, conferring
with those traitors."
"They
seemed to be getting ready to travel my lord.
Akuro eye shot up to look at his priest warily.
"What do you mean they are getting ready to travel, they can travel
anywhere in the Dynasty without preparing for anything."
"I do believe
that they are going to travel to the mortal realm."
This
piqued his interest, "The mortal realm?"
"Yes, my
lord."
"Why
would they travel to the mortal realm?
Perhaps, they wish to bring the Ronins into this little war here," he
thought out loud, "But why would they do that, they seem to be holding their
own."
"Perhaps,
they are weakening, my lord."
"As much
as I wish that to happen, that is not likely to be the case," he said
dejectedly, "I think there is something in the mortal world that be of use to
me and they do not want me to find it."
"I will
check what the fires say," the priest began chanting and the fires began to
roar to life. Akuro watched with great interest. "I see several powers in the mortal world, most are nothing, but
there are a few great ones. The Ronins
are five of them, although they do seem different now than they were a year
ago. Another is a stone…it could be
that, my lord."
"No, that
is not true. That stone has been there
since Tulpa was defeated. They have not
gone after it before now, why would they try now. No, it is not that. Is
there anymore."
"I do not
believe…wait, my lord, there is something else."
"Is there
suppose to be any other powers?"
"There
were really no others before, my lord.
This seems to be new. It is
coming from a young girl…no, a young women."
"A young
woman…how is that possible…how could you have missed that."
"I
believe that," the priest began quickly to avoid any retribution, "that her
power was kept hidden by the Empress, she is the only one who could have kept
it so."
Akuro
looked into the flames as he contemplated the information that was just relayed
to him; he smiled as another thought came to him, it was kept from the Ronins
as well. The question now though was,
why?
"Why would
she do that," he voiced his question.
"Perhaps
I should check the fire, my lord," the priest replied.
"Yes, do
that," Akuro said with interest.
The
priest began his machinations once again, begging the flames to reveal the
secrets hidden from all. As his
chanting began to grow, so did the flames.
With the flames growth, an image began to within them.
"I see
the Empress and a man, he is not familiar to me. There is also another man, my lord, and it seems to be the Prince
Consort…The image is changing, it is now the royal couple and another unknown,
older couple. The Empress has something
in her arms, it looks like a bundle or a…baby.
The Empress has a baby."
"The
Empress has a child," Akuro said in shock.
"Wait my
lord, there is more, I can see Lord Tulpa and…he is fighting Kaira and Anubis…"
"And…is
there anymore…what of the child?"
"The
battle has ended…Tulpa has control of the couple…but I don't see the child…he
is not there.
"Did my
father take the child?"
"It does
not seem so, my lord. I believe he was
more interested in the young princess and Anubis. I do not believe he knew of the child."
"Does
that mean that the child may still be out there, alive."
"Yes, my
lord, that is unbearably true. It would
also mean that the child is now heir to the Dynasty."
Then a
thought came to Akuro. He voiced the
thought, "Then this heir will be the Prince of Starlight.
"No, my
lord, I have consulted the flame," the priest dared to contradict his lord.
"What?!"
"The heir
will be the Princess of Starlight."
"Princess,"
Akuro noted stunned.
"Yes, my
lord. If you look into the flames you
will see the former Emperor carrying the child, a young girl. You must also remember what the flames
revealed earlier, a powerful young woman."
"A
princess," he smile, "Yes, that is good.
Can you pinpoint where she is now."
His high
priest smiled cynically. He began
chanting to change the flames power to pinpoint the princess. His chanting grew fiercely as he watched the
fires.
"I am
beginning to see something. The flame
is narrowing the possibilities. It has
pinpointed fifteen possible candidates…now it is down to
thirteen…twelve…eleven…" His eyes
widened in amazement and he stopped his countdown.
"What is
it, priest," Akuro asked with annoyance.
"I cannot
pinpoint the princess."
"What?!"
"There is a block…the Empress
must have felt what I was attempting to do, my lord…she must have blocked the
flame's power."
"The Empress has blocked the
flames!"
"Yes, my lord," the priest
cowered at the sudden rise in his master's voice.
"Damn it," he shouted,
"that…that…Damn." He slammed his fist
into the arm of his throne, shattering it.
"Generals come to me."
Out of the shadows stepped out
three figures.
"You called, my lord," said the
first in a deep male voice.
"It seems dear Kaira, Empress of
the Dynasty, has kept a secret," Akuro appraised them.
"What secret would that be, my
lord," a falsely seductive female voice asked.
"Would you believe the Empress
and her Prince Consort have a child."
"A child," the final figure, a
male also, asked, "You mean an heir, my lord."
"To more that just the powers of
the Dynasty Ancients." When his generals didn't look like they understood, he
continues, "As the heir apparent to the Dynasty, the princess is the holder of
the crown of Starlight."
"A princess," asked the first
male.
"The Crown of Starlight," asked
the female of the group.
"With the crown, then she will
have control of the Starlight swords," the last male said with envy.
"There is more to the crown than
the swords," Akuro replied as he rose from his throne chair to walk closer to
the fires of the high priest.
"What would that be, my lord,"
queried the first male.
As the flames danced in front of
him, his face was cast into a demonic image.
"The armor of Starlight," he announced.
All were quiet as it sunk in, the
finally the priest spoke up, "But Kaira had the crown, yet she did not control
the armor, only the swords."
Akuro eyes fell on to the priest,
who now wished he had said nothing. He then said frigidly, "She did not have
the Key."
"Then should we not get the key
first, my lord," the female spoke.
Still watching the flames he
responded, "No, I know where the Key is.
It will be a simple matter to retrieve it, but to do so early would only
alert the Ronins of what is going on; it is much too early to let them know
what is going on. I want to find the
princess first."
"Why do you want the princess and
the Starlight armor," the second male asked.
"With control of both the
princess and the armor, the Empress nor the Ronins will be able to stop me from
taking my father's place as ruler of all the worlds," Akuro to them as if he
were schooling children.
