A/N - I wanted to use the chapter to expand James and Daisuke's personalities ... explaining why Jason and Kathryn don't talk that much. Yeah....
Log 31: Aaldoraine-yon
"How much further?" Daisuke groaned, trailing behind his companions on the mountain path. It was almost High, and Kathryn had managed to lead the three young men almost to the summit of Aaldoraine-yon. The sultana had grown deaf to the merchant son's complaints - how often had she heard that royalty wasn't supposed to work this hard in the first place?
After the next turn, Keith's displaced voice echoed in Kathryn's mind. Not much farther.
Kathryn relayed the message to the boys; "The Sleeper be grateful!" they cried in unison.
The cave wasn't hidden, being framed by two windswept trees in plain view. Kathryn and Jason, weapons unsheathed, walked to the cave entrance, their steps drowned out by Daisuke crumbling to his knees.
"We have to go in there?" the boy groaned, but was cut short by James dragging him by the collar into the cave.
Light faded into darkness, and with a whispered command, Xariandagia's blade flared with the intensity of a bonfire. Kathryn now walked at the head of the group, with Jason and the boys following in single file. The party kept their eyes straight ahead, not daring to view the flickering shadows dancing on the worn rock walls.
Minutes later, the passage opened out into a room with near-circular dimensions. A blue light filled the room, eminating from an ivory egg that hovered in the room's center. A shape could be seen silhouetted inside - an angel, curled in a fetal position, its wings covering all but its closed eyes.
"The egg," Kathryn whispered. "The Regency's egg...."
"That's what you came for?" James scoffed. "An egg?"
"An angel's egg," Kathryn corrected. She walked up to the egg, sheathing Xariandagia as she moved. Once by the egg, she lay a hand on it. Its surface was cool, smooth as the sheer silk she wore in summer....
The eyes of the angel in the egg turned to face Kathryn, and its wings parted to show its face. With sightless eyes he stared, and with prolonged movement his mouth formed words.
You should not have come.
"Why not?" Kathryn whispered offhandedly.
Chaos surrounds me, surrounds you. It will manifest....
"Manifest?"
She had barely spoken when Jason's shout filled the cave.
"Kathryn, behind you!"
The sultana unsheathed Xariandagia as she turned around. Before her was the shadow of a man, clothed in dark leather armor. His face was hidden behind a horned helm, and in his hands was a double-bladed sword. He towered three feet above Kathryn, his height alone enough to strike fear into her.
"You ... half-mortal ... you dare invade upon the quarry of Astralægia?" the shadow breathed. "The egg of the Regency is hers now, and I, a general of the Dark Army, have been sworn to guard it. And you challenge me? A girl descended from one of the angelborn?"
Angelborn? Kathryn thought; impossible! "The Queen of Denbridge desires the egg," Kathryn proclaimed. "And I will reclaim it."
"Duel me for it then," the shadow taunted. It stepped back, raising its double-bladed sword to the ready.
"A duel. Excellent," Kathryn sighed. She brought Xariandagia before her at ready, saying the incantation to activate it.
"Xariandagia, arm me in your flame!"
A/N - There's an ACTUAL FIGHT SCENE in the next chapter! YAHOO!!!