Chapter13 Bargain and revelation
Netossa rubbed her eyebrows in weary frustration. The bickering between the two men before her accomplished nothing but to delay the aid Brightmoon desperately needed. Peekablu sat at the table with two of her people at her side. The seeress was now completely blind. It had been hard for her to accept at first. She was so used to being alone. She didn't tell anyone about her condition until it was discovered by one of her people. Peekablu was quiet and shy but she was stubborn too and fiercely independent. She hated having to rely on others to help her get around. But such was the price she paid to undergo the transformation. She was now the holy woman for her people and her race was united as one under the banner of the rebellion. Before her ascension to holy leader, Peeka's people were a dispirited race preferring to remain out of the eye of the world at large. They never before believed they would ever regain their city, their tower or their heritage again. After Hordak destroyed their former leader twenty years ago, sacked their city and enslaved many of their people they had become a race of wandering nomads. But with Peekablu's new abilities word spread quickly among her feathered relatives and relations and now Netossa estimated the rebellion in Mystacor consisted of fifty thousand troops who answered to the seeress' call alone. They yielded to her, more out of courtesy than any loyalty.
They agreed to aid the rebellion if after they freed Brightmoon, all the focus would go into redeeming their city and the Ivory citadel from the hands of the horde. Every member of Peekablu's race had the ability to see ahead or around or through objects at varying distances or degrees of accuracy. There numbers alone were reason enough to acquiesce. Bow raised his voice, again in anger, slamming his fist onto the table to emphasize his point and Netossa flinched.
"Adora is not evil! She is just a confused woman and she needs our understanding more than our blind hatred. You are a fool if you think a herd of horses will change our minds about her redemption."
"And you are an ignorant farmer without an ounce of sense if you believe I will allow her to live after killing my father!" Prince Adonai Dusk retorted hotly.
"The rebellion will not sit by and let you murder our former leader!" Bow snapped.
"I don't care how many people I have to go through to get to her but kill her I will- and you! If I have to!" Adonai hissed, spittle flying from his angry mouth to spray across Bow's rugged visage. He then turned a hostile eye to the woman he had come to for aid and asylum. "Lady, before my father died defending his country from the abomination whom your man here so hotly defends, he bade me seek out the rebellion in Mystacor. I rode here with twenty thousand steeds and five thousand men to lend my might to your cause and all I ask for in return is the right to avenge my father. If I must I can ride away as easily as I came, there are other kingdoms with whom I can form an alliance. I had thought to bring myself before the wise and esteemed Castaspella and I find in her place a woman who is not even from this planet. You do not honor your cause by pleading for mercy for your enemy. You should be eager as I to dispatch this cold-blooded marauder yet you continue to allow this 'peasant'," and he spat the word as if it were foul, "to berate me my indignation and righteous fury!" Netossa's obsidian gaze shot up to glare balefully at the men before her.
"Prince Adonai, before you open your foul mouth again to belittle one of the rebellions noblest champions it would behoove you to remember," and here her voice rose, "the rebellion is largely made up of peasants like him! I am one of them." She then turned her angry and weary eyes to Bow, speaking in a calmer but no less forceful tone, "Bow, Adora chose her fate when she sided with our enemy. As far as the rebellion in Mystacor is concerned she is on her own. If Adonai meets her in battle he may do what he likes, if she is captured I will personally insure they face each other in battle." She ignored Bow's incredulous slack-jawed stare, turning her attention again to the prince. "On that you have my solemn oath as the ruling voice of Mystacor." Prince Adonai smirked, bowing low.
"I can have my troops and the horses ready by this evening, select fifteen thousand of your best men to ride with the cavalry. I guarantee you the war horses of Blackmoor are trained for battle and will turn the tide of the siege of Brightmoon in our favor."
"Get it done." Netossa turned to Bow again. "Are those men you've been training ready to fly into battle in the horde flyers?" Bow was furious.
"Yes, but we can't just-"
"Yes." Netossa hissed, wrathfully, "we can. We can turn our backs on Adora, as easily as she turned hers on us. If you want to save your girlfriend then I suggest you stop the Prince before he gets to her- but do NOT jeopardize the agreement I just made with him or I will throw you in the dungeon myself. Adora is not on our side anymore, Bow. Wake up and join reality." Bow could barely restrain his fury as turning, he stormed out of the room.
With a sigh of frustrated anger Netossa collapsed in a chair next to the silent Peekablu. She put her head down on the table and moaned, loudly. Then smacked her head against the table lightly, twice for good measure.
"It is not easy to lead the people you love in a war." Peekablu whispered gently.
Netossa sat up her silver hair fell in her face like a glittering waterfall of silk. She blew it in mock anger before running her long black fingers through the mop, tossing it back. Her wide generous lips spread with a sad smile, illuminating her heart shaped face with a gentle light. The white and blue costume she wore accentuating her regal beauty. She was garbed in her entertainers outfit, one of several she always wore, for though she was a leader now, at heart, she would always be a performer. The white corset she wore accentuated her narrow waist and pushed her firm full breasts upward; the bustier was complimented by sheer satin of powder blue on a stiff but malleable wire frame at her shoulders, creating a high-necked collar, she felt, made her appear more dignified. She wore a royal blue mini cape and had powder blue gauntlets more for decoration than defense and a skirt created from alternating strips of white leather and blue sheer muslin strips. She did not wear her trap pack as she was inside the palace but it was nearby if needed and loaded with nets coated in a sticky film and two powdered with sleep dust. It also contained a stun rifle she had pilfered from a horde trooper on a raid months ago.
"It's hard to lead anyone when your not used to giving orders or balancing political agenda's." She answered with a self-mocking tone. Peekablu laughed lightly.
"Tell me about it. You should try religion, that's even harder." Netossa grinned unsure of how to respond. There was an awkward silence.
"Adora isn't a lost cause you know." Peekablu said, breaking the moment. Netossa glanced her way.
"Regardless, that's not my concern. The point is we need the reinforcements and the only way we get the cavalry is to let the little prince have his way. I can live with that."
"Even if it means Adora's demise based on a promise you made?" Peekablu asked. Netossa glared into the seress' milky orbs in rankled reproach.
"That boy wouldn't last five minutes with Adora in combat. Right now we need what he has to offer. I'll let the future sort itself out." She waited a moment before asking.
"Do you see anything?" Peekablu was silent before answering.
"If I live all will be lost in the battle for my homeland. If I die there is hope." Netossa went pale.
"WHAT!" She turned her dark-eyed gaze to the two people flanking her friend. "Did you hear what she just said?!" She put her hands on Peekablu's arms, kneeling at her side, gazing in entreaty at her beautiful face with its blank gaze empty of emotion; she read no fear or jest or even grim acceptance. "My friend. no." Netossa felt tears well up in her eyes. Peekablu laughed softly, raising a soft hand to gently cup her friends smooth cheek in her palm.
"It will not be the end of me dear friend. It will merely be the next step of my journey. I don't understand how it will work out but our salvation depends on my death. I am ready for what I face." Netossa buried her face in her friends lap and wept silently.
"We've all lost so much. Too much. I don't want to lose you too." Peeka said nothing merely holding her friend and smoothing her hair away from her face.
Netossa rubbed her eyebrows in weary frustration. The bickering between the two men before her accomplished nothing but to delay the aid Brightmoon desperately needed. Peekablu sat at the table with two of her people at her side. The seeress was now completely blind. It had been hard for her to accept at first. She was so used to being alone. She didn't tell anyone about her condition until it was discovered by one of her people. Peekablu was quiet and shy but she was stubborn too and fiercely independent. She hated having to rely on others to help her get around. But such was the price she paid to undergo the transformation. She was now the holy woman for her people and her race was united as one under the banner of the rebellion. Before her ascension to holy leader, Peeka's people were a dispirited race preferring to remain out of the eye of the world at large. They never before believed they would ever regain their city, their tower or their heritage again. After Hordak destroyed their former leader twenty years ago, sacked their city and enslaved many of their people they had become a race of wandering nomads. But with Peekablu's new abilities word spread quickly among her feathered relatives and relations and now Netossa estimated the rebellion in Mystacor consisted of fifty thousand troops who answered to the seeress' call alone. They yielded to her, more out of courtesy than any loyalty.
They agreed to aid the rebellion if after they freed Brightmoon, all the focus would go into redeeming their city and the Ivory citadel from the hands of the horde. Every member of Peekablu's race had the ability to see ahead or around or through objects at varying distances or degrees of accuracy. There numbers alone were reason enough to acquiesce. Bow raised his voice, again in anger, slamming his fist onto the table to emphasize his point and Netossa flinched.
"Adora is not evil! She is just a confused woman and she needs our understanding more than our blind hatred. You are a fool if you think a herd of horses will change our minds about her redemption."
"And you are an ignorant farmer without an ounce of sense if you believe I will allow her to live after killing my father!" Prince Adonai Dusk retorted hotly.
"The rebellion will not sit by and let you murder our former leader!" Bow snapped.
"I don't care how many people I have to go through to get to her but kill her I will- and you! If I have to!" Adonai hissed, spittle flying from his angry mouth to spray across Bow's rugged visage. He then turned a hostile eye to the woman he had come to for aid and asylum. "Lady, before my father died defending his country from the abomination whom your man here so hotly defends, he bade me seek out the rebellion in Mystacor. I rode here with twenty thousand steeds and five thousand men to lend my might to your cause and all I ask for in return is the right to avenge my father. If I must I can ride away as easily as I came, there are other kingdoms with whom I can form an alliance. I had thought to bring myself before the wise and esteemed Castaspella and I find in her place a woman who is not even from this planet. You do not honor your cause by pleading for mercy for your enemy. You should be eager as I to dispatch this cold-blooded marauder yet you continue to allow this 'peasant'," and he spat the word as if it were foul, "to berate me my indignation and righteous fury!" Netossa's obsidian gaze shot up to glare balefully at the men before her.
"Prince Adonai, before you open your foul mouth again to belittle one of the rebellions noblest champions it would behoove you to remember," and here her voice rose, "the rebellion is largely made up of peasants like him! I am one of them." She then turned her angry and weary eyes to Bow, speaking in a calmer but no less forceful tone, "Bow, Adora chose her fate when she sided with our enemy. As far as the rebellion in Mystacor is concerned she is on her own. If Adonai meets her in battle he may do what he likes, if she is captured I will personally insure they face each other in battle." She ignored Bow's incredulous slack-jawed stare, turning her attention again to the prince. "On that you have my solemn oath as the ruling voice of Mystacor." Prince Adonai smirked, bowing low.
"I can have my troops and the horses ready by this evening, select fifteen thousand of your best men to ride with the cavalry. I guarantee you the war horses of Blackmoor are trained for battle and will turn the tide of the siege of Brightmoon in our favor."
"Get it done." Netossa turned to Bow again. "Are those men you've been training ready to fly into battle in the horde flyers?" Bow was furious.
"Yes, but we can't just-"
"Yes." Netossa hissed, wrathfully, "we can. We can turn our backs on Adora, as easily as she turned hers on us. If you want to save your girlfriend then I suggest you stop the Prince before he gets to her- but do NOT jeopardize the agreement I just made with him or I will throw you in the dungeon myself. Adora is not on our side anymore, Bow. Wake up and join reality." Bow could barely restrain his fury as turning, he stormed out of the room.
With a sigh of frustrated anger Netossa collapsed in a chair next to the silent Peekablu. She put her head down on the table and moaned, loudly. Then smacked her head against the table lightly, twice for good measure.
"It is not easy to lead the people you love in a war." Peekablu whispered gently.
Netossa sat up her silver hair fell in her face like a glittering waterfall of silk. She blew it in mock anger before running her long black fingers through the mop, tossing it back. Her wide generous lips spread with a sad smile, illuminating her heart shaped face with a gentle light. The white and blue costume she wore accentuating her regal beauty. She was garbed in her entertainers outfit, one of several she always wore, for though she was a leader now, at heart, she would always be a performer. The white corset she wore accentuated her narrow waist and pushed her firm full breasts upward; the bustier was complimented by sheer satin of powder blue on a stiff but malleable wire frame at her shoulders, creating a high-necked collar, she felt, made her appear more dignified. She wore a royal blue mini cape and had powder blue gauntlets more for decoration than defense and a skirt created from alternating strips of white leather and blue sheer muslin strips. She did not wear her trap pack as she was inside the palace but it was nearby if needed and loaded with nets coated in a sticky film and two powdered with sleep dust. It also contained a stun rifle she had pilfered from a horde trooper on a raid months ago.
"It's hard to lead anyone when your not used to giving orders or balancing political agenda's." She answered with a self-mocking tone. Peekablu laughed lightly.
"Tell me about it. You should try religion, that's even harder." Netossa grinned unsure of how to respond. There was an awkward silence.
"Adora isn't a lost cause you know." Peekablu said, breaking the moment. Netossa glanced her way.
"Regardless, that's not my concern. The point is we need the reinforcements and the only way we get the cavalry is to let the little prince have his way. I can live with that."
"Even if it means Adora's demise based on a promise you made?" Peekablu asked. Netossa glared into the seress' milky orbs in rankled reproach.
"That boy wouldn't last five minutes with Adora in combat. Right now we need what he has to offer. I'll let the future sort itself out." She waited a moment before asking.
"Do you see anything?" Peekablu was silent before answering.
"If I live all will be lost in the battle for my homeland. If I die there is hope." Netossa went pale.
"WHAT!" She turned her dark-eyed gaze to the two people flanking her friend. "Did you hear what she just said?!" She put her hands on Peekablu's arms, kneeling at her side, gazing in entreaty at her beautiful face with its blank gaze empty of emotion; she read no fear or jest or even grim acceptance. "My friend. no." Netossa felt tears well up in her eyes. Peekablu laughed softly, raising a soft hand to gently cup her friends smooth cheek in her palm.
"It will not be the end of me dear friend. It will merely be the next step of my journey. I don't understand how it will work out but our salvation depends on my death. I am ready for what I face." Netossa buried her face in her friends lap and wept silently.
"We've all lost so much. Too much. I don't want to lose you too." Peeka said nothing merely holding her friend and smoothing her hair away from her face.