Author's note: Love y'all who reviewed my fic. Couldn't have done it without you.
Episode IV : "Higher purposes"After the Prince had left her alone, the priestess took her time to admire the beautiful surrounding of the small room she was in. Although not being pleased with her position as a prisoner she enjoyed very much the silk sheets and golden plates that were now at her disposal. She stretched down on the cushions surrounding the table and rested there for a few moments, doing nothing but admiring the colorful surroundings, after which she began tasting the delicacies that filled the plates laid on the table. When the plates were almost empty she finally got up and, without having anything better to do, she lay down on the bed.
She dozed away for almost an hour, when she woke up looking very startled around her, as if she had no idea where she was or how she had got there. She made an effort to gather her thoughts and eventually she managed to remember exactly how she had ended up in that place and for what purpose.
2 days before …
Troops of Persian soldiers were approaching a secluded temple, located at the foot of a mountain, not very far from the city of Babylon. Before the entrance to the temple stood two women, watching the soldiers who were still far away.
One of the two women was dressed in a combat attire, consisting of a short black leather skirt, with two large cuts on each side and a black leather top, her abdomen being exposed. Over her chest and shoulders she wore a light, armor who's purpose was also to hold the sword that she was carrying on her back. In fact, the armor she wore was more for the design rather than for protection, since it was rather small, following the form of the top, which had a large décolletage.
She had an ankle long black cloak, attached to the armor on her shoulders and to some silver bracelets that she had on her upper arms and wrists. A pair of black leather boots covered her legs till above her knees and around her waist she had a belt that held a small pouch, a beautifully designed dagger and a whip.
Her features were both delicate and harsh, showing that she was not only a sensual woman but also an experienced fighter. Her slightly tanned skin had a beautiful gold tone, her lips had a dark red shade and her eyes were completely black, as well as her hair.
The other woman was a few inches shorter, a bit more slender and with a paler complexion, but her hair and eyes were also dark. She was wearing a long, sleeveless, white dress with a golden cord tied around her waist and light brown sandals. She looked as old as the other woman, but not as mature, appearing to be rather sensitive and naïve. Nonetheless, she managed to suppress her fear upon seeing the Persian advancing towards them and spoke to the other woman as if with resignation.
"They have come for me and I must go with them willingly."
"Why do you say this? What could they possibly want from you?" the other woman asked surprised, as she was not yet aware of the situation.
"They are looking for their traitor, the one who revealed the position of their armies to their enemy, and that traitor is me."
"You? But how …… and why?"
"I overheard the Persian soldiers talking when they sought shelter here a couple of weeks ago. Soon after they left I noticed that a most sacred artifact was missing, so I assumed one of the soldiers must have stolen it. When the Syrians came I told them all that I had heard from the Persian. I did this to protect the temple but also because I hopped that the Persians would come to seek their traitor and once they had taken me to their camp, I would be able to retrieve the artifact."
"I admire your devotion but this is insane. Even if the Persians believe you are really the traitor and take you to their camp instead of killing you on the spot, how do you plan on finding the artifact if you do not even know who took it and assuming you are fortunate enough to find it, do you truly believe you will be able to escape with it?"
"I must try. There is no other way. We, the priestesses of Bast have sworn to protect her temple and all her earthly belongings with our lives, if necessary and the urn that has been stolen is the most sacred of them all."
"I can't let you go there, but I have an idea," the woman told the priestess, as she turned to look towards the soldiers that although still far away, were approaching very fast. "Are there any private chambers here?"
"Yes, but please understand that I must at least try."
"I promise you the urn will be returned. Now take me to the chambers."
Half an hour later when the Persians arrived in front of the temple and started climbing up the stairs towards the entrance, they came across a priestess who appeared to be waiting for them.
"We have been informed that a man we are looking for is hiding here," a higher ranked officer began, but was quickly interrupted by the woman.
"Your traitor?" asked the warrior woman who was now wearing the priestess's clothes.
"You knew who he is and still offered him shelter? Do you know you can be imprisoned, even executed for this?"
The woman did not respond and just stared at the man with a defiant smile on her lips.
"Search …… ," the officer began to give orders to his soldiers but the woman interrupted him for the second time.
"That won't be necessary. Your traitor is not inside."
"Where is he then?" the man demanded menacingly.
"Right in front of you," came her calm response.
As she had expected, the men all laughed, but after which they searched the temple and found no one except three other priestesses and some female servants they had no choice but to take as prisoner the woman who strongly claimed to be the traitor.
Present time …
Remembering all this made her wonder if the real priestess dressed in her clothes and riding her horse had managed to safely reach Babylon and go to the address she had given her. She also though about the urn she had to retrieve, a job she did not find all that easy since she did not know who took it or even what it exactly look like, as the priestess's explanations hadn't been so clear.
The woman got off the bed and started walking towards the red curtains that were meant to cover the entrance to the improvised bedchamber she was in. While she had been tied to the pole in the larger room of the tent, she had noticed various trunks laid around and she thought that perhaps the urn might have somehow reached the Prince's treasure chests.
She was just about to pull the curtains open when some terrible noises coming from the other side made her back away. It sounded as if there was a fight going on in there and she wondered whether the enemy troops had attacked the Persian encampment while she had been asleep. She peeked through the curtains when the noise had settled down a bit and to her surprise, she saw that four Persian soldiers had killed the soldiers who were guarding the tent –their own comrades.
"Why is he not here? Where is he?" one of the men, supposedly their captain, yelled furiously at the other tree.
"Over there! Look!" one man suddenly alerted the others, pointing towards the curtains behind which the woman was spying on them, as he had noticed some movement in that direction.
"Maybe it's him," another man said.
"Hiding?" the captain replied sarcastically.
When she saw the man pointing at her, the woman panicked and stepped back quickly, but then she calmed herself, she took a deep breath and all the fear in her eyes disappeared, being replaced by a cold, piercing stare. She lazily turned her head to look down at the table. Her eyes fell on the knife she had used to cut the meat and a wide grin appeared on her face.
While this was going on, a bizarre and chaotic situation had settled within the encampment: soldiers running frantically in every direction, bodies lying on the ground in pools of blood, arrows flying through the air. Yet another battle, one would say, but what made this particular battle be so out of the ordinary was that the Persians were fighting each other. No one had any idea what had been the actual cause. All that the soldiers knew was that some of their comrades-in-arms had gone mad all of a sudden and attacked them as if they were enemies. The soldiers did not want to harm their brethren, but when faced with the situation of kill or be killed, they chose to put their own lives ahead of everything else.
The Prince experienced this himself when he was about to enter Markug's tent; three Persian soldiers rushed upon him, ready to cut him with their swords.
"Wait! Why are you doing this?" he asked confused.
There was no response though, and the soldiers kept coming towards him with the clear intention of killing him. He did not want to hurt his own men but when he realized that it was hopeless to try and talk some sense into them, the Prince quickly took out the two swords he always carried with him, blocking their attack. He kicked the man in front of him in the stomach, smashing him against the ground, while with the swords he held in his hands he slashed the two soldiers standing on either side of him, producing severe cuts on their necks, which led to an almost instantaneous death.
Before he could even catch his breath, an axe flew past his right ear from within the tent, through the gap between the curtains that served as a doorway. He turned around and stepped inside, only to see more of his own soldiers starring at him with rage in their eyes, and Markug trying to fight off the ones who were attacking him.
The soldiers that were nearest to the entrance attacked him at once, but with a few rapid moves of the two swords, the Prince easily disarmed and afterwards killed them. Some more soldiers attacked and he ran to the pillar in the middle of the tent, to which he grabbed on and used it to spin around and kick several men directly in the forehead, rendering them unconscious. When he was back on the ground, one soldier tried to slash him with a sword from behind, but the Prince dodged the attack by flipping to one side. Before the man could realize what had happened, the Prince twirled in mid air and kicked him to the ground, after which he impaled one sword in the man's back, as the latter was lying disorientated on the ground.