[Authoress's Notes:
[Bonus points from the last round go to Nadialyn. Now here's a tougher one – once again only people familiar with other lives are going to understand – who does Etral Misab come back as?
[Another short, pointless chapter. I swear I'm going to get back to the plot at some point…]
Chapter Fourteen "All day long she waits for him to come and night to fall
She falls into her lover's arms, sweet gypsy heart"
~~Linda Eder, "Gypsy Heart"
Chaos, as her Light Sisters had predicted, was not happy. In fact, irate, enraged, and livid would have been more on a par with her feelings. She exceeded all of these, however, in a way that escaped mortal language. The Goddess of Passion had been provoked, and now her emotions were let loose in all their dubious glory. "Xroma chazret! Vrep ranke lir sadwelo sres dus h'ag ro zewu!* Damn it!"
When she had been cursing fluently in a smattering of languages for a full half hour, Chaos turned to her Summoning Shield and screamed "DEATH!"
A wisp of smoke, and Her Sister appeared. "Really, Chaos, you needn't shout."
"Have you seen what's been going on?!"
Death just blinked. "Please, dear Sister, remind me if I care."
"My Daughter! And your plan! It isn't working! Isn't doing a damned thing, and I'm left with nothing but aeha ro torfa lir**—"
"Chaos, please, as creative as your obscenities are, that's not the way to solve the problem."
Chaos halted mid-rant. "You have a way, then?"
"I might."
"Good!"
"But I'm rather busy right now."
"Busy. Busy? With what?!"
Death smirked. "You're not the only one with Children. Or with Nephews and Nieces, for that matter."
"Whatever you're doing can wait. I need help now!" Chaos declared, stamping her foot and looking every inch the petulant child-queen. Death generally took Her Sister's temper tantrums in stride, but She did not like being ordered about any more than any other supernatural being would.
"It's just as well we wait, anyway," Death sniffed indignantly. "Because my plan is delicately woven. Not that you'd know anything about planning and plotting, but it's quite devious but will require time to work."
"Oh?"
"Yes." Death waved an arm at one of the Viewing Shields, where Cassadraine and Etien were still visible, guiding their mounts towards camp. "Break them apart now, and she will be hurt. She will cry and pine and become generally morose, but she will recover. And that will not be enough to turn her back to You."
"So?"
"So, if we let them grow closer together, it will hurt even more when we tear them apart." She strode closer to the image on the shield. "Look at them. The bond is formed but not sealed. Wait for it to settle, for the two of them to come to love each other, really and truly – once the infatuation passes and the true emotion sets in – and then come between them. She will not just be broken-hearted, she will be broken-spirited. She mourn his loss, weep for him until her sorrow threatens to consume her." Death smiled ever-so-slightly. "And that, dear Sister, should be enough to make her call out to You – to ease her pain and avenge the wrong done to her."
Chaos drummed her fingernails against the wall for a moment, considering this. She did not like to take advice, but that did not necessarily mean She did not know how to. "Alright. That's good."
"I thought you would come around. So be patient, just a while longer. See to Your other Daughter."
Chaos nodded. "I have plans for her." She grinned. "Great plans."
~~*~~
They were nearly back to camp, and Etien guessed it must have been close to midnight, at the very least.
"My Mother is a Goddess," Cassadraine said abruptly.
"Come again?" he replied, startled. She had not spoken since her breakdown in the woods, and he still didn't know what was going on.
"I don't have a mortal mother. I was just sort of… put down here. My Mother is a Goddess. Chaos, to be precise."
"Your mother is… huh?"
"You would know Her as Ivlana or Kaistar…but it doesn't matter what name you call Her, it's all one. She is fire. Destruction. Pain and suffering. Chaos."
"Cassadraine, are you sure you didn't hit your head earlier?"
She whirled on him, cold fury in her jade eyes. "You don't believe me."
"Well… err…"
"Why on earth would I make something this absurd up? Do you think I'm particularly thrilled about looking like an utter fool?"
"Well, no, but…"
She gave an exasperated sigh and turned Brianna back around, the fire fading from her voice as quickly as it had sprung up in the first place. "I should have expected, I suppose. I mean, you've no good reason to believe me."
Etien blinked at her. Part of him wanted to believe her. It was almost as though part of him knew every word she was saying was the most basic truth. But… my Cassadraine? A Goddess's Daughter? It was far too incredible to believe. My Cassadraine, the country girl I found in a backwater town in the middle of a forgotten region? Semi-divine? Well, the fact that I think she's beyond perfect doesn't make it truth… oh, gracious, she's half-mad, isn't she?
He looked over at her. Cassadraine was shaking her head, her eyes focused downward at the fingers clutching Brianna's reins. Some of her golden curls had fallen loose of the braid and were hanging like curtains on either side of her face, obscuring her features from his view. Well… so what if she thinks she's the Daughter of a Goddess? What does that hurt? She's still my Cassadraine… no different than she was yesterday.
Cassadraine's thoughts were quite different. She had quickly recovered from the disappointment of Etien's disbelief, and was instead thinking of ways to keep the experience from repeating itself. There has got to be a way to block her out of my mind… don't be stupid, Cassadraine, she's a Goddess, she can go in whoever's mind she likes. A mental pause. Wait a minute… she never showed up before… One hand drifted absently to the necklace about her throat. Gracious, but you're an idiot, Cassadraine. Very well, then. I'll just take this thing off, and…
That was as far as the thought went. For some reason, the notion of taking off the Necklace seemed foreign, impossible even. But she knew she had to, if she wanted to be free of her Mother. But the same force which had driven her to find and wear the Necklace to begin with now forbade her to remove it. Perhaps… perhaps I won't wear it all the time, then… not when I'm with Etien, not when I'm around civilized people… but in battle, or when I'm alone… that would be okay… Having rationalized thus, Cassadraine satisfied herself that this would be an appropriate course of action.
The two scouts trotted back to camp in relative silence. They saw that the horses were properly cared for, and Etien walked Cassadraine back over to the women's side of the camp. Before letting her go to her tent, he took her by the shoulders and planted a soft kiss on her lips. He sighed, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "What's the matter?" she inquired.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." And that was, of course, precisely the problem. Cassadraine, ever intuitive, didn't believe that one bit, and just kept staring at him until he felt compelled to give a straight answer. "Don't let it worry you…"
"If something's bothering you, I'm worried."
"I swear, darling, it's nothing…" He kissed her forehead. "I love you."
Cassadraine blinked several times in rapid succession, thrown by both the proclamation and his rapid change of topic. "Y-You do?"
"Wasn't that evident?"
She blinked again.
"Guess not… well, I do."
"You mean it?"
"I don't say things I don't mean. Especially things like that."
She blinked one more time, then broke into a huge, gleeful smile and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Etien!"
He chuckled. "Easy, girl." He ran a hand through her hair. "I'll see if I can get us on another mission for tomorrow night. Until then…"
~~*~~
As it happened, Etien managed to sign them up for a night scouting trip the next night, and many nights thereafter. Cassadraine started taking off the Red Necklace whenever she needed to concentrate – particularly when she was with Etien. Over the next few weeks, she started truly enjoying herself with the army. Benna had enthusiastically told everyone about her pyrotechnic talents, earning her much sudden attention. Cassadraine spent most of her days with the rest of her squadron, learning fighting skills from Tembral and military tactics from Tokala. She grew to love every minute of it, even being shouted at when her mind wandered or she made a callow mistake. It made her feel part of something, part of a group, and that had been missing her whole life.
But the true glory came at night, her time alone with Etien. Regardless of whether or not they had a scout mission, they usually managed to steal away together for some amount of time. Now that she managed to keep Chaos out of her head, she could enjoy it so much more, without worrying that her mind was going to be overthrown at any second. There were some days – usually the ones which were light duty-wise, when she had nothing else to occupy her attention – when she couldn't keep her mind off of Etien. Especially when she saw him during the day. Their eyes would meet, and she would suddenly be lost in thought, her mind drifting far from the present, either reliving a past tryst or looking forward to the next…
"Aswold! Mika!"
Cassadraine startled to attention. "Sir!" Etien and Cassadraine jogged over to the General. Cassadraine was chewing on her lower lip. Etien noticed and hoped the General hadn't. Not that Misab would know what that means, but… Cassadraine had been stealing glances at Etien all evening, following and, he suspected, undressing him with her eyes. He had been yearning for her to begin with, but the fact that she was looking at him with lust-filled eyes every two minutes was about to send him over the edge. But he wasn't going to get Cassadraine to himself for some hours yet.
General Misab gestured them over to his tent. "I need your opinion on something. Come in and have a look at this map." He pulled back the canvas flap to allow them entrance. The spacious tent was lit with three bright lanterns, with a single cot pushed far to the right side. Taking up most of the room was a large wooden folding table, on which was currently spread a map of Talsyra, dotted with pewter figurines. There were also, Etien noted, four shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey on the table, and there were three officers aside from the General in the tent. "You two are my finest scouts, and so I need to run this by you," Misab said. "We're considering a move to the north." He hovered over the map, gesturing with two fingers. "Following the base of the mountains up to… this point, and then trekking through the woods. We'll go through the Ay'ta Pass, and be at the Misokan camp in no time."
"There's a problem with that plan," Cassadraine said, chewing on her thumbnail and glancing at the map.
"What's that?"
"The Ay'ta Pass is nearly, well, impassable since last winter. There was a bad snowstorm. First some of the trees atop the cliffs were knocked down. Some farmers tried to remove the damaged trees, and in doing so loosened the soil so that the next time it snowed… well, there was an avalanche, and it took with it most of the cliff. Rocks, wood, animal bones… you'd never get an army over it. Well, I mean, you could, but it'd cost us an extra… week, at least, to get all the horses over."
"What do you suggest we do?"
Cassadraine leant over the map. "You could angle further west, but that will mean going through denser forest than we want to go through… not to mention the lower Taipan…"
"Or," Etien interjected, "we could go east half a league and cross the river at the Kai'ti'ka Bridge… follow the river north to the Sse'val Bridge, cross back over… by that point we'll be farther north than where you've predicted the Misokans are… we could take them from the north."
"They'd never suspect we'd be coming from that direction. I'll bet anything they keep sending their scouts south and west… if we go north and east…"
"We'd totally surprise them," General Misab finished. He looked up at Etien and Cassadraine with a half-smile. "Good work, you two. Aswold, I'm glad you found Miss Mika here. She's invaluable."
Etien glanced over at her with a secretive smile. "Sure is."
~~*~~
"I really fail to see how this is helping me."
"Patience, Sister."
Chaos drummed her fingernails against the wall next to the Shield She was watching. "Look at them. It's sickening. All lovey-dovey and…blech…" She whirled around. "When do we get to the heart-breaking part?"
"Not yet."
"Why not? They're clearly in love."
Death just shook her dark head. "The time isn't right yet. They're still in that lustful stage… honestly, Chaos, You ought to know better than anyone."
"Hmph." Chaos's mood changed in the flicker of an instant. "No. I don't want to wait! Remind me why I'm listening to your advice again?"
"Because—"
"No! Forget it! I've got my own plan!"
Death knew better than to argue. She also knew that Chaos was looking for a fight, and decided to irritate the Fire Goddess further by not giving Her one. Rather than engage in verbal sparring, She simply disappeared in a wisp of black smoke.
*You don't want to know. Trust me.
**Ditto.
[A/N:
[Right. Next time. Chaos has a plan, which is really never a good sign. And – a battle! Whee! So R&R, and tune back in sometime in the hopefully not too distant future for the next installment, which is probably going to be titled after a line in Chess – "There's no deal!"]
