ShadowDancer and SunSinger
Chapter 10
Rocky Oberlin
Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors of the idea of
ShadowDancer and SunSinger. They belong to big business and Mercedes
Lackey respectively.
Mia pondered her friendship with Lady Kayura before the other had started her search for power. They had been good friends and to a point playmates when younger. The little Kayura had known that Mia was special, but over the years had forgotten her childhood secret. Mia had watched her friend go more towards the promise of power held out to them if they followed Tulpa. Mia knew better from watching her brothers and listening to the stories the shadows told her when she was allowed to be alone with them. Mia tried to tell her friend about the hollowness of the promises, but Kayura hadn't listened. She accused the ShadowDancer of being jealous of her newfound power.
"No, Kayura, I wasn't jealous of your power. You could have been a wonderful Singer yourself, but you wanted what you can't handle. Now you are twisted and I don't know if you can return to the friend I once knew."
Mia left her pondering and memories as she felt the Gate open once more. The other Singers and Dancers also knew that the Gate had opened because they reached for their various weapons. Mia wondered if she could even keep Lady Kayura from knowing that Dais was a traitor and helping the five defeat the little force coming this way.
"You better be telling the truth that this Lady Kayura is coming," said Kento. "And that this Dais is going to help us."
"They both are here," said Mia.
"How do you know?" asked Rowen.
"Dais could never keep hidden from me and the shadows are telling me of a twisted HeavenSinger."
That startled everyone. "Twisted HeavenSinger?" asked Ryo. "How can that happen?"
Mia shrugged. "I don't know how she came to the Nether Realm or to Tulpa's castle, but once she was a possible HeavenSinger. When she started to grow into her powers, Tulpa began to twist her with promises of power." Mia looked down for a moment. "I don't know if she could ever be returned to the person that she could have been."
She looked up to see the sickened faces of her new comrades. They all wondered how close they had been at one point from being like this Lady Kayura that Mia had known so well once.
"Do you think it might be possible for Lady Kayura to be brought back?" asked Rowen.
"I don't know. Cale never told me of anything like this. We didn't have as much access to the histories of the different Singers and Dancers because of our tremulous place under Tulpa's watch. It was only later when Lady Kayura had fully developed her abilities that either one of us knew that she was a potential HeavenSinger."
The conversation lagged as the group approached the area where they had felt the Gate open. Mia quickly started to look into the shadows and watch for the illusions that her brother might be forced into creating to hide the force he was with.
"Over there," whispered Ryo. He pointed to the left of the group to what seemed to be an empty area in the midst of the tree trunks, but his fire-blessed eyes saw through the illusions just as Mia looked to find that he was right.
"I don't see anything," said Cye quietly.
"That's because Dais is hiding them," said Mia.
"How do we convince him of dropping the illusion?" asked Sage.
"By letting him know that you aren't fooled," responded Mia.
"How?"
"Rowen, fire an arrow to the left of the tree with the blaze on the trunk going from the ground to the height of you," ordered Mia.
Rowen shrugged, but found the target he was told. He personally didn't see anything, but then, he wasn't gifted with the ability to see past illusions and into the shadows. He shot to the left of the tree as ordered and watched as the whole scene wavered like heat shimmers in the hot summer afternoon. Instead of seeing just an empty forest, the soldiers that looked like the ones he fought before shimmered before his eyes.
"You're going to have to teach us that trick," said Rowen.
"I don't think they can," negated Sage. "I think it has to do with their different abilities."
"You should have been able to see them," said Cye. "You are the mage of this group."
"I think that something was blocking me. I couldn't see anything."
"That would be Dais," said Mia. "He works like a mage and he has had years of practice to develop his work."
She turned her attention back to the forces in front of them. It didn't seem right to her, there should have been more and where was Kayura?
"Scatter!" Mia yelled as she ran between the boys she was with to the back.
Sage had the presence of mind to look the way she was going and realized that they had been surrounded by the forces. The ones behind them were lead by the hereto-unknown Lady Kayura. Now he knew what she looked like and why Mia said that she would fight her. Sage and Ryo exchanged glances and nods of understanding on why Mia had been so passionate about taking on the Nether Realm warrior.
"She radiates darkness," muttered Kento as he glanced back at the other half of the attacking force. It shook him up to see someone so into the darkness that they were like the black holes Rowen talked about when he felt a star die. He couldn't concentrate on the force behind him any more as the force in front of them started their attack. "Cye, watch your right, there's a soldier coming in from behind you!"
Cye glanced in his blind spot and moved to block the soldier. He smiled thanks to his friend and continued to handle his yari with skillful hands.
Rowen wished that he could use his bow for something other then a quarterstaff, but he had no choice in the matter. The area was too close for him to properly use his chosen weapon and the soldiers were too close for him to do it safely without bringing his friends under friendly fire. So he made do with what he could and kept an eye out for an attacker from behind him.
Sage and Ryo knew that Rowen wouldn't use his bow against the soldiers for fear of hitting one of them, so they unconsciously bracketed him between them while they fought. Sage was aware that Cye and Kento were taking care of the first group of soldiers, but he was worried about the warrior leading them. Where was the one eyed man who had warned them the night before of the coming attack?
"You should watch your blind side a little more, SunSinger," admonished a voice.
Sage looked to his left to see a soldier pinned to the ground with a javelin of some white substance before both dissolved before his eyes. He looked in the opposite direction to see the strange warrior slipping back into whatever realm he hid in. Sage frowned, but didn't say anything. He hoped that Mia as right and her brothers were going to help them.
Speaking of Mia, where was she?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mia held her loose stance and watched her former friend smile cruelly before her in a similar stance. Lady Kayura held her jittes in her hands and seemed to ponder how she was going to defeat the annoying girl.
"Master Tulpa was disappointed that you left in such a hurry," she said sweetly. "He really wanted you to join his little band of warriors just like your brother and his friends. Too bad I have to go back and tell him that you are an ungrateful traitor. He will be upset at losing you, but he will reward me for finding a traitor in his midst. You're a target now, my dear," she ended sneeringly.
Mia didn't respond to her former friend, but inside she was saddened by how twisted Lady Kayura had become. This wasn't her friend that she knew when the other had first arrived at Tulpa's castle; this was a stranger who delighted in pain. Her friend may be dead for all Mia knew.
Mia watched her opponent for the clue that would tell her that the fight would start. The ShadowDancer didn't have to wait very long as Lady Kayura figured to bring her down quickly.
"Star Swords Scream!"
In the distance, Rowen felt the power of the twisted HeavenSinger and Sage felt the power that was so darkly colored. The five Singers and Dancers all paused at the beginning show of Lady Kayura's power. Now they knew why Mia was so adamant at her taking on the other female warrior.
Mia didn't know why, but she was expecting that. She waited until she was sure that Lady Kayura was fooled into thinking that she would be hit by her attack. Then she made her move. Shadows wrapped around their ShadowDancer as she called them and sent to concentrated power into several directions to fall harmlessly on the attacking soldiers.
"How did you do that? Not even Cale can do that!" exclaimed Lady Kayura.
"That is for me to know and you to never find out," said Mia sadly.
She backed up her attack with a physical one. Lady Kayura was forced into the defensive stance as Mia pushed her back with a flurry of moves. Mia had taken out her long daggers after using the power of the shadows to block away the dead stars. Lady Kayura was used to fighting with people with swords, katanas, and other long distance weapons, but she didn't think that she needed to fight in such close contact with her opponent. Mia used the advantage that she found she had and used all the techniques that her four brothers showed her. It didn't have a definite technique, but it was dangerous. What made her more dangerous was that Lady Kayura didn't know what Mia was going to throw at her next.
"You should have studied my brothers more, then you wouldn't be in this bind," said Mia.
"Why should I when I will command the soldiers over your ~brothers~?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Because they know more about fighting then you or I will ever know," answered back Mia. Then she backed off, waiting for Lady Kayura to take the bait.
The female warrior followed her opponent, thinking that Mia had tired out and was ready to defeat. It was only when Mia went down to sweep her legs out from under her that Lady Kayura finally understood that Mia was accomplished in self defense and used it to her advantage. The Nether Realm warrior stepped up her attacks and started to use more of her power against the traitor to Tulpa.
Mia noticed that Lady Kayura was using more of her powers against the ShadowDancer. Mia called the shadows closer to her and asked them to block the dead star's power.
~We can only do so much against her, Mistress. We won't be able to stop everything.~
/~Do as much as you're able and I will try to avoid the rest,~/ Mia returned.
~We will try, Mistress.~
The shadows diligently protected their Dancer from Lady Kayura's power, but the power of the dead stars was thrown around without thought or care. The shadows knew that they were going to need help to protect their Dancer.
~Get help. We will protect Mistress.~
One lone shadow drifted along the ground toward the source of other powers that felt friendlier then the one that its Mistress fought. The closer it got, the more light seemed to brush its senses. That was the one that its Mistress liked.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sage was surprised when a lone shadow seemed to crawl up him and perch on his shoulder. It brushed against him, but he had difficulties hearing or understanding what it was trying to say. All he could pick up was the urgency it gave off in waves. It was Ryo who was able to tell the SunSinger what the shadow tried so hard to say.
"Sage! Mia needs help!"
"Mia" and "help" rang through his brain as he turned to look for the ShadowDancer. He found her covered by her shadows and trying to avoid shots of power given off by her opponent. He didn't need the prompting from the shadow to run toward the fighting women. He opened his mouth and called his power to him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mia knew she was tiring and when she stumbled, Lady Kayura pushed her advantage. She forced Mia to the ground with a well-placed kick to the side of her knee. As Mia tried to scramble to her feet, Lady Kayura used her advantage by holding Mia to the ground with her jittes.
"You lose."
"Not today," hissed a male voice. Sage launched himself at Lady Kayura, swinging his no dachi to block Lady Kayura's jittes.
"Who are you?" growled Lady Kayura.
Sage didn't answer her question, but he did answer with his actions. Light streamed around the three of them and forced the dark warrior back.
"Leave," Sage growled out. He accented his order with more of his power. Lady Kayura had no choice seeing as her soldiers were defeated and Dais was nowhere in sight.
"I will be back and don't think that I won't tell Master Tulpa about your treason because I will."
"And I'll be waiting for you," spat back Mia.
Lady Kayura ran from the watching group towards the now open Gate back to the Nether Realm. It didn't occur to her that Mia had been standing in the sunlight and next to a person who welded the element.
"Are you all right?" asked Sage.
Mia nodded. "That was why I said I would fight her. You didn't know how she fights. Now you know her abilities."
"You did good, little sister," said a disembodied voice. Dais stepped out of his illusion to face the five angry Singers and Dancers and one tired ShadowDancer. "You held out very well against her. I can go back and tell Cale how well you did."
"You could have done more," said Kento angrily.
Dais shook his head as Mia came to his defense. "No, he couldn't. If Lady Kayura saw that Dais was helping us more then he was, she would bring the tale back to Tulpa as fast as she is bringing my defection. It is better if he didn't show up in this fight."
Cye looked at the woman and saw how tired she really was. She held most of her weight on the leg that hadn't been kicked by Lady Kayura. "We should get back to the house. We all need medical attention and Mia looks like she's ready to fall over."
Before Dais left, he walked over to Mia. "Good luck, little sister. Be careful; Lady Kayura will tell Tulpa and he will know."
"I will," said Mia. "Thank Cale for me."
Dais nodded as he retreated to the open Gate. "I'll see you all again," he promised as he left.
"He will, you know," said Mia. "They all will see us again."
Chapter 10
Rocky Oberlin
Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors of the idea of
ShadowDancer and SunSinger. They belong to big business and Mercedes
Lackey respectively.
Mia pondered her friendship with Lady Kayura before the other had started her search for power. They had been good friends and to a point playmates when younger. The little Kayura had known that Mia was special, but over the years had forgotten her childhood secret. Mia had watched her friend go more towards the promise of power held out to them if they followed Tulpa. Mia knew better from watching her brothers and listening to the stories the shadows told her when she was allowed to be alone with them. Mia tried to tell her friend about the hollowness of the promises, but Kayura hadn't listened. She accused the ShadowDancer of being jealous of her newfound power.
"No, Kayura, I wasn't jealous of your power. You could have been a wonderful Singer yourself, but you wanted what you can't handle. Now you are twisted and I don't know if you can return to the friend I once knew."
Mia left her pondering and memories as she felt the Gate open once more. The other Singers and Dancers also knew that the Gate had opened because they reached for their various weapons. Mia wondered if she could even keep Lady Kayura from knowing that Dais was a traitor and helping the five defeat the little force coming this way.
"You better be telling the truth that this Lady Kayura is coming," said Kento. "And that this Dais is going to help us."
"They both are here," said Mia.
"How do you know?" asked Rowen.
"Dais could never keep hidden from me and the shadows are telling me of a twisted HeavenSinger."
That startled everyone. "Twisted HeavenSinger?" asked Ryo. "How can that happen?"
Mia shrugged. "I don't know how she came to the Nether Realm or to Tulpa's castle, but once she was a possible HeavenSinger. When she started to grow into her powers, Tulpa began to twist her with promises of power." Mia looked down for a moment. "I don't know if she could ever be returned to the person that she could have been."
She looked up to see the sickened faces of her new comrades. They all wondered how close they had been at one point from being like this Lady Kayura that Mia had known so well once.
"Do you think it might be possible for Lady Kayura to be brought back?" asked Rowen.
"I don't know. Cale never told me of anything like this. We didn't have as much access to the histories of the different Singers and Dancers because of our tremulous place under Tulpa's watch. It was only later when Lady Kayura had fully developed her abilities that either one of us knew that she was a potential HeavenSinger."
The conversation lagged as the group approached the area where they had felt the Gate open. Mia quickly started to look into the shadows and watch for the illusions that her brother might be forced into creating to hide the force he was with.
"Over there," whispered Ryo. He pointed to the left of the group to what seemed to be an empty area in the midst of the tree trunks, but his fire-blessed eyes saw through the illusions just as Mia looked to find that he was right.
"I don't see anything," said Cye quietly.
"That's because Dais is hiding them," said Mia.
"How do we convince him of dropping the illusion?" asked Sage.
"By letting him know that you aren't fooled," responded Mia.
"How?"
"Rowen, fire an arrow to the left of the tree with the blaze on the trunk going from the ground to the height of you," ordered Mia.
Rowen shrugged, but found the target he was told. He personally didn't see anything, but then, he wasn't gifted with the ability to see past illusions and into the shadows. He shot to the left of the tree as ordered and watched as the whole scene wavered like heat shimmers in the hot summer afternoon. Instead of seeing just an empty forest, the soldiers that looked like the ones he fought before shimmered before his eyes.
"You're going to have to teach us that trick," said Rowen.
"I don't think they can," negated Sage. "I think it has to do with their different abilities."
"You should have been able to see them," said Cye. "You are the mage of this group."
"I think that something was blocking me. I couldn't see anything."
"That would be Dais," said Mia. "He works like a mage and he has had years of practice to develop his work."
She turned her attention back to the forces in front of them. It didn't seem right to her, there should have been more and where was Kayura?
"Scatter!" Mia yelled as she ran between the boys she was with to the back.
Sage had the presence of mind to look the way she was going and realized that they had been surrounded by the forces. The ones behind them were lead by the hereto-unknown Lady Kayura. Now he knew what she looked like and why Mia said that she would fight her. Sage and Ryo exchanged glances and nods of understanding on why Mia had been so passionate about taking on the Nether Realm warrior.
"She radiates darkness," muttered Kento as he glanced back at the other half of the attacking force. It shook him up to see someone so into the darkness that they were like the black holes Rowen talked about when he felt a star die. He couldn't concentrate on the force behind him any more as the force in front of them started their attack. "Cye, watch your right, there's a soldier coming in from behind you!"
Cye glanced in his blind spot and moved to block the soldier. He smiled thanks to his friend and continued to handle his yari with skillful hands.
Rowen wished that he could use his bow for something other then a quarterstaff, but he had no choice in the matter. The area was too close for him to properly use his chosen weapon and the soldiers were too close for him to do it safely without bringing his friends under friendly fire. So he made do with what he could and kept an eye out for an attacker from behind him.
Sage and Ryo knew that Rowen wouldn't use his bow against the soldiers for fear of hitting one of them, so they unconsciously bracketed him between them while they fought. Sage was aware that Cye and Kento were taking care of the first group of soldiers, but he was worried about the warrior leading them. Where was the one eyed man who had warned them the night before of the coming attack?
"You should watch your blind side a little more, SunSinger," admonished a voice.
Sage looked to his left to see a soldier pinned to the ground with a javelin of some white substance before both dissolved before his eyes. He looked in the opposite direction to see the strange warrior slipping back into whatever realm he hid in. Sage frowned, but didn't say anything. He hoped that Mia as right and her brothers were going to help them.
Speaking of Mia, where was she?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mia held her loose stance and watched her former friend smile cruelly before her in a similar stance. Lady Kayura held her jittes in her hands and seemed to ponder how she was going to defeat the annoying girl.
"Master Tulpa was disappointed that you left in such a hurry," she said sweetly. "He really wanted you to join his little band of warriors just like your brother and his friends. Too bad I have to go back and tell him that you are an ungrateful traitor. He will be upset at losing you, but he will reward me for finding a traitor in his midst. You're a target now, my dear," she ended sneeringly.
Mia didn't respond to her former friend, but inside she was saddened by how twisted Lady Kayura had become. This wasn't her friend that she knew when the other had first arrived at Tulpa's castle; this was a stranger who delighted in pain. Her friend may be dead for all Mia knew.
Mia watched her opponent for the clue that would tell her that the fight would start. The ShadowDancer didn't have to wait very long as Lady Kayura figured to bring her down quickly.
"Star Swords Scream!"
In the distance, Rowen felt the power of the twisted HeavenSinger and Sage felt the power that was so darkly colored. The five Singers and Dancers all paused at the beginning show of Lady Kayura's power. Now they knew why Mia was so adamant at her taking on the other female warrior.
Mia didn't know why, but she was expecting that. She waited until she was sure that Lady Kayura was fooled into thinking that she would be hit by her attack. Then she made her move. Shadows wrapped around their ShadowDancer as she called them and sent to concentrated power into several directions to fall harmlessly on the attacking soldiers.
"How did you do that? Not even Cale can do that!" exclaimed Lady Kayura.
"That is for me to know and you to never find out," said Mia sadly.
She backed up her attack with a physical one. Lady Kayura was forced into the defensive stance as Mia pushed her back with a flurry of moves. Mia had taken out her long daggers after using the power of the shadows to block away the dead stars. Lady Kayura was used to fighting with people with swords, katanas, and other long distance weapons, but she didn't think that she needed to fight in such close contact with her opponent. Mia used the advantage that she found she had and used all the techniques that her four brothers showed her. It didn't have a definite technique, but it was dangerous. What made her more dangerous was that Lady Kayura didn't know what Mia was going to throw at her next.
"You should have studied my brothers more, then you wouldn't be in this bind," said Mia.
"Why should I when I will command the soldiers over your ~brothers~?" asked Lady Kayura.
"Because they know more about fighting then you or I will ever know," answered back Mia. Then she backed off, waiting for Lady Kayura to take the bait.
The female warrior followed her opponent, thinking that Mia had tired out and was ready to defeat. It was only when Mia went down to sweep her legs out from under her that Lady Kayura finally understood that Mia was accomplished in self defense and used it to her advantage. The Nether Realm warrior stepped up her attacks and started to use more of her power against the traitor to Tulpa.
Mia noticed that Lady Kayura was using more of her powers against the ShadowDancer. Mia called the shadows closer to her and asked them to block the dead star's power.
~We can only do so much against her, Mistress. We won't be able to stop everything.~
/~Do as much as you're able and I will try to avoid the rest,~/ Mia returned.
~We will try, Mistress.~
The shadows diligently protected their Dancer from Lady Kayura's power, but the power of the dead stars was thrown around without thought or care. The shadows knew that they were going to need help to protect their Dancer.
~Get help. We will protect Mistress.~
One lone shadow drifted along the ground toward the source of other powers that felt friendlier then the one that its Mistress fought. The closer it got, the more light seemed to brush its senses. That was the one that its Mistress liked.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sage was surprised when a lone shadow seemed to crawl up him and perch on his shoulder. It brushed against him, but he had difficulties hearing or understanding what it was trying to say. All he could pick up was the urgency it gave off in waves. It was Ryo who was able to tell the SunSinger what the shadow tried so hard to say.
"Sage! Mia needs help!"
"Mia" and "help" rang through his brain as he turned to look for the ShadowDancer. He found her covered by her shadows and trying to avoid shots of power given off by her opponent. He didn't need the prompting from the shadow to run toward the fighting women. He opened his mouth and called his power to him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mia knew she was tiring and when she stumbled, Lady Kayura pushed her advantage. She forced Mia to the ground with a well-placed kick to the side of her knee. As Mia tried to scramble to her feet, Lady Kayura used her advantage by holding Mia to the ground with her jittes.
"You lose."
"Not today," hissed a male voice. Sage launched himself at Lady Kayura, swinging his no dachi to block Lady Kayura's jittes.
"Who are you?" growled Lady Kayura.
Sage didn't answer her question, but he did answer with his actions. Light streamed around the three of them and forced the dark warrior back.
"Leave," Sage growled out. He accented his order with more of his power. Lady Kayura had no choice seeing as her soldiers were defeated and Dais was nowhere in sight.
"I will be back and don't think that I won't tell Master Tulpa about your treason because I will."
"And I'll be waiting for you," spat back Mia.
Lady Kayura ran from the watching group towards the now open Gate back to the Nether Realm. It didn't occur to her that Mia had been standing in the sunlight and next to a person who welded the element.
"Are you all right?" asked Sage.
Mia nodded. "That was why I said I would fight her. You didn't know how she fights. Now you know her abilities."
"You did good, little sister," said a disembodied voice. Dais stepped out of his illusion to face the five angry Singers and Dancers and one tired ShadowDancer. "You held out very well against her. I can go back and tell Cale how well you did."
"You could have done more," said Kento angrily.
Dais shook his head as Mia came to his defense. "No, he couldn't. If Lady Kayura saw that Dais was helping us more then he was, she would bring the tale back to Tulpa as fast as she is bringing my defection. It is better if he didn't show up in this fight."
Cye looked at the woman and saw how tired she really was. She held most of her weight on the leg that hadn't been kicked by Lady Kayura. "We should get back to the house. We all need medical attention and Mia looks like she's ready to fall over."
Before Dais left, he walked over to Mia. "Good luck, little sister. Be careful; Lady Kayura will tell Tulpa and he will know."
"I will," said Mia. "Thank Cale for me."
Dais nodded as he retreated to the open Gate. "I'll see you all again," he promised as he left.
"He will, you know," said Mia. "They all will see us again."
