OMG!!! i am so unbelievably sorry it took me so long to get this out...school has been brutal. the MB season was awesome but harsh, and ive ben hanging out with my friends...a lot...im getting a job soon and ive been trying to write in between everything...plus, in the last week or so, i did 3 applications for college...the first one took me almost 4 days to do...im planning on sending out 2 more in the next few weeks...damn Colleges and their lengthy application processes...anybody wanna congratulate me on the fact that i've had one of my poems published in a book or wish me good in my audition a week from this upcoming monday for a part in the school play or my choir concert which is 2 weeks from yesterday? again, i'm extremely sorry for the long wait...

Disclaimer: i don't own em. never have and never will...

Chapter the twenty-sixth(aww, its from my junior year of high school -tear-)

----just as a friendly reminder, this is still in the time period of 1500 years before christ or in short terms 1500BC.----enjoy!!

It was early morning when Anarhria finally turned into a town and slowed the horse from a trot to a steady walk. They both needed a place to stay, and something to eat. She had a few coins to spare but not much, enough for possibly one night of food and stay, and food for her horse. So, she stopped Nightingale in front of a relatively dingy bar, located a stable like fixture, asked the stable hand to look over her horse, and walked into the bar, her hood still covering her face.

"Excuse me," she asked of the bartender who turned to look at her, "Can I possibly have a place to stay and some food?"

He grunted and led her into a room upstairs where he told her she would stay and walked back downstairs just as quickly as he came up. She stood standing in the doorway looking at the ratty bed of hay, and the dirty rug lying on top of it. Laying down, she fell into a non peaceful sleep. Later on, she was woken up by a banging on the door. Imediately, she became worried that her betrothed to be might've followered her and slowly inched towards the door, opened it, and peeked out. The bartender stood in front of her, holding a plate.

"Food. Here." he said, and placed the food into her hands.

"Thank you," she called after him as he walked back down the stairs and disappeared into the noise coming from downstairs. She closed the door and began to eat her food, but as she was cleaning off her plate, she heard the sound of two pairs of feet coming up the stairs. She watched as the two shadows stopped outside her door. In just a few seconds, there was another banging on the door. Now, she was really scared, who was the other person? She opened the door, preparing to see her betrothed, and instead was greeted by a man in a hooded black cloak. She stood speechless as to why they were standing outside of her room.

"You have a room mate." the bartender explained and the man moved forward into her room, as her jaw dropped and the bartender moved to go back downstairs for the third time.

Anarhria turned around and stared at her room mate as he took off his cloak and laid it on…her mind was thrown off kilter for a second. There was only one bed before, and it was made of straw and a rug. Now there were two beds, made of wood and with a blanket and a pillow, and a rug underneath.

"where did-" she couldn't finish her question as her room mate turned around, and presented her with a full body picture of him. Tall, well built, but not overly built, long dark brown hair tied in a braid, and, to her amazement and astonishment, violet eyes.

"What is your name?" he asked in a dark baritone voice.

"My name?" she asked, completely blown away as she stared at him. He was more handsome and more then she could ever ask for in that brute Claudius and more then he could and would ever be.

"Yes, your name. You know, what everyone calls you."

"My name…my name is Anarhria."

"Just Anarhria?" he asked, questionally, "That's all?"

"Yes, that's all." Anarhria answered. "What's your name sir?"

"My name is Duelias Maxwellius. But everyone calles me Duo for short." He held his hand out, smiling imploringly. He watched as she cautiously held her hand out, and placed her hand in his. Her face was scrunched up, as if she'd never done a hand shake before. A shocked look came onto her face as he suddenly, rapidly, pumped her hand up and down. When he let go of her hand, she raised her hand to her face and stared at it before turning her eyes once again to his face, blue eyes confused and wanting to know what just happened. "It's a greeting, Anarhria. That's how people greet each other."

"Oh…," she said, and turned to her bed, which was now Red satin and Egyptian cotton. She turned to him, sure that the bed did not look like that. He was fixing up his bed to sleep in, pulling back the covers and preparing to sleep. Suddenly, there was a knock on their door, a puse and then a loud thump on the floor, like a sack of potatoes dropping. Anarhria walked to the door and opened it, expecting anything but what she found. What she found was the bartender, lying on the floor, eyes wide open in shock, dead. She gasped and backed away.

Duo, who had heard her gasp, walked over and looked at the dead man. "Tsk tsk tsk, leaving a dead body like that in the hallway." He shook his head as if admonishing a young child as Anarhria's head swung with wide eyes from the body to his face, and then back to where the body should have been but wasn't anymore. She'd only turned her head for a second, and yet, an entire body disappeared right in front of her. "Well," he continued, "I guess I'l just have to blank your mind from this event. It's not good for mortals to understand the everyday goings of the God of Death." He grabbed her head, holding it steady and looking deep into her eyes. They stood like that for five minutes, neither saying a word.

Finally, Anarhria broke the silence by asking unashamedly, "Is something supposed to be happening, signor?" Which prompted Duo to let go of her face and go sit on his bed, thinking for a few minutes, and leaving Anarhria standing in the middle of the room.

"How could it fail?" He asked himself, "how could it fail, if shes a human like any other? Unless…shes not like any other human and shes inhuman."

"I am most definitely human, sir." Anarhria said, outloud, causing Duo to raise his head and reply, "Yes, most definitely a human I guess with that outburst."

"If your human, but you can withstand any blanking of the mind, that means that you're otherworldly, and the only person I know of that has the name Anarhria, is the earth born daughter of Desdeluna,dark goddess of the moon.

Anarhria was silent before asking, " And, you know that that is my name how?"

"It's quite easy," Duo replied, "you successfully evaded a brain swiping."

"Brain swiping?"

"Yes, it's when the brain is blanked and wiped clean of a certain action."

"Ah…But, how can you know that's my name? I could be any other goddess."

"True, but then, I've been watching you from afar. You caught my attention in the market place." Duo said, turning towards his bed, which now had black sheets on it. "Sleep on it. We shall leave in the morning."

"We?" Anarhria asked, turning to her bed which had once again changed sheets. She did a double-take yet again before turning to the man currently lying on his side, facing the wall away from her. "Are you the one doing that, signor?"

"Yes, I am. No more. Sleep now." And nothing more was said by Duelius Maxwellius.

Anarhria turned and sat down on the bed. She couldn't believe that she was currently sitting in a room with a god, and she felt no ill feelings for him despite the fact that he'd killed the caretaker…and then he had done something with the body. She laid on the bed, closing her eyes, and fell fitfully to sleep for the night.

Morning came earlier then she thought as she opened her eyes and came face to face with Duo sitting on his bed, staring at her. It wasn't even that blank stare she saw men giving their women as they took care of the children. He was openly and blatantly watching her as she slept.

"Is there a problem, Duo, or are you blatantly staring at me for a reason?" she asked, raising the blood red sheets up to her chin, hiding herself from his sight.

"No, nothing is wrong. Why are you all the way out here, if your family is all the way back there?"

"You're the one who's been watching me. Why don't you tell me why?"

He stood up, "Your horse is ready to depart. Come, we'll buy you some proper clothes so that you can look the part of a goddess."

"Proper clothes? As in New clothes?"

"Well, they're certainly not going to be used proper clothes." Duo replied, snorting as he led her down the stairs and outside. When they walked out into the sunlight, two black horses were waiting for them. One was Nightingale while the other was bigger and more menacing looking.

Helping her to mount the horse, Duo then turned to his own horse which snorted when he came closer, and mounted as well before leading Anarhria down the street to a dress shop. He walked in, leaving Anarhria outside with everyone staring at her in her tattered blue dress and the black mantle. It wasn't long before Duo returned with the shop owner.

"Make her look like a queen by the time I come back. If she doesn't look like a queen, there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear, milord. Please, I'll do my best." The owner looked at Duo as if he were a king himself, bowing his head and nodding his affirmatives to the order.

"Your very best." Duo replied, turning to Anarhria. "Come now. We shall have you properly garbed."

Being led into a well furnished dress shop, Anarhria looked back at Duo and silently wondered, "Have I just been tricked? Or will he really be outside waiting for me when this is all finished?" Her fears were resolved when she walked out of the dress shop in the finest silk dress and dainty slippers that she'd ever seen in her life. Both were a dark shade of blue and with her mantle wrapped around her, she did in fact look like a queen. She'd gotten a bath as well as her hair being combed and brushed out as well to add to the beauty.

Duo looked satisfied with the shop owner's work and the shop owner looked pleased that Duo was satisfied. Duo couldn't believe, beyond his wildest dreams, that he'd find such a lovely creature underneath all the filth that she was covered in. Muddy feet, ratty hair, and tattered clothes just didn't work for him. Silk did though.

"Well done." Duo said, giving the shop owner a knowing smile. He held out a small bag of gold coins. "Your payment." He turned back to Anarhria who was standing in the sunlight, watching him as the people in the square began to stop and stare at her. She walked over to her horse and looked at where the saddle was in regards to her foot. If she rode the way she was supposed to ride, she'd be sore in less then an hour. Turning back to look at Duo with a helpless look on her face, she switched her gaze back to the saddle and noticed that it had changed itself much like the bed had changed itself. "Ride…like a lady should; sidesaddle is the way a Lady of prominence should ride."

"How do you do that?" she asked, getting into the saddle and settling herself in as Duo mounted his own horse.

"Mentally."

"You don't know?"

"No, I just think and it happens. My father taught me how to make things change in thin air."

"Ah."

"Where do you live, Anarhria?"

She pointed in the direction she came from. "That way."

So, the two of them decided to go that way and soon they were back in the small town that Anarhria had grown up in. They passed the vendor where Anarhria had gotten the chicken for dinner the other night as well as all the carts surrounding the vendors. The Vendors and the people buying from the vendors all stopped what they were doing to stare at the woman on the horse. Anarhria had never felt this way about coming into her own hometown. She felt their eyes watching her as she rode the horse back to her home, back to poverty, in a dress that cost more then any amount of money she would or could ever got with a man who was possibly even more dangerous then her Fiancée. What had she gotten herself into, she asked herself as the town thinned and she could see her home in the distance, dirty, brown, and broken.