A/N: For those that missed the announcement, I'm officially trying to follow manga cannon from here on out as closely as I can figure it. The next couple chapters are going to be pretty on their own when it comes to story line. There are some time issues that aren't clear in the manga so I'm working with what I feel would be appropriate on timing. Trying not to give anything away until spoilers would be necessary. Please enjoy!
Chapter 4
The breeze on the sea was exhilarating; Amira had never truly travelled by sea. It was amazing. The wind in her hair and the salt on the breeze invigorated every fiber of her being. The only thing wrong was the salt air reminded her of the scent on Sinbad. It had already been a week at sea and she'd been unable to get that damn kiss out of her head. She'd already slept with half the crew trying to purge it from her mind, but he lingered.
She'd set up target practice on the main deck though the captain was none too happy about her arrows when they went flying. She was ready to be in Artemyra where none of the men could be a temptation. She just needed to focus on training and on things that didn't make her lips tingle. Damn she was at it again. She loosed and arrow toward the target nearly taking out a ship officer. "Sorry!" she called deciding it was time for the bow to go away.
She climbed the rigging to near the top to look out over the sea. They were over deep water now, she could tell by how dark and blue the water was, in shallower water it was almost more green than blue. There was a ship coming up fast on them from the west. "Friend or foe?" she called up to the crew member in the crow's nest.
It was a moment before he responded, "Doesn't appear to be a foe, but they don't look like our friends either."
Amira climbed the rest of the way up and demanded a look for herself. In the telescope she spotted Reim flags on the ship but the ship did look like it was headed dead for them. The ship she was on had decided to fly merchant flags to keep from being stopped before they arrived at port. They were maybe another week out but the summer weather was stirring up a storm. They had originally planned on anchoring closer to shore that night but with a ship on their tails it was likely that wasn't going to happen.
Amira scaled down the rigging as fast as she dared and came to land beside the captain, "How bad do you think this storm is going to be?" she asked.
He gave her a sideways glance, "If we put the sails away we might make it through with minor damages, but there's no telling until we're in the midst of it."
Amira looked over the ship, "Slow her down but don't bring her too close to shore," she said, "I think we have unfriendlies following close behind." The captain looked unsure but nodded to her.
She climbed her way up to the Quarter Deck and watched as the ship approached. And the closer it got the more Amira's heart beat faster. When the ship was within firing range it became clear they were foe not friend. It was then that Amira spotted Knell.
"Captain we're going to have to run. I'll provide some cover if you can get us into that storm!" Amira shouted before the first cannon was fired.
Orders were given, or rather shouted as she ship headed into the storm. "I give you my will and strength to fight, so lend me your spirit Mennea!" Amira dawned the Djinn equip of her archer of poison. Cloth fell like smoke from her body as she rose, hovering feet from the deck of the ship. "Let fire reign on your ship," she called calmly into the waves loosing a round of arrows.
Knell leapt from her ship toward Amira's, her eyes blazed like hellfire. Her knife swings were fast, Amira had never dawned her Djinn equip before; it was slower than she expected. If she'd had a little more time Amaroq might have been more suitable but she didn't want to risk the safety of the ship and lightning and fire was not a way she wanted anyone to have to go down. If they could get far enough into the storm they might just loose the enemy. But now the enemy was onboard and as much as Amira didn't want to hurt a little girl her life was on the line.
Knell was fast as lightning, silver slashes flew through the air, Amira was barely fast enough to dodge them, "You lied to me! I knew you lied but still you deceived me! Parthevian scum!" Amira was tempted to argue but Knell didn't look like she was particular to discussing who was right in this situation and furthermore in any sort of mood to be wrong. And in her brief thought it happened, Knell landed a blow across her arm. It stung; the assassin was using some sort of poison in her blade. "How do you like that? Memories from that dungeon I'll bet," Knell hissed, "Won't do more than hurt though, my master wants you alive for interrogation after all."
"I don't know what you want me to say to you Knell," Amira replied through gritted teeth, "Did your master even tell you why I was leaving?"
Knell smiled, "Owning up to leaving like the sorry snake you are already? That's no fun. I wanted to watch you bleed for a bit."
"I'm not running!" Amira screamed back. The time for playing nice with this kid was over, "Amaroq!" In the midst of changing Djinn equips Knell landed another blow, this time on her cheek. "Damn kid that's gonna leave a scar!"
Knell laughed a sort of possessed laugh that darn near shook Amira in her serpent skin boots. Amaroq was a sort of serpent Djinn, and one who had a tight clothed appeal to her. As a serpent Amira guessed she was just comfortable in her own skin. She called down lightning to her sword and prepared to face off against the fast assassin.
"So scared that you're trying to fight me with what? A shocking surprise?" Knell laughed as she launched another attack. The poison was starting to slow Amira down, even with a lightning boost she was still getting cut down to size, close quarters were not her strong suit. But finally, many cuts later, Amira landed a blow that knocked Knell off her feet. Amira saw her chance and sent her flying back to the enemy ship, now a good distance away, with a bolt of lightning. "You haven't seen the last of me, Amira! Mark my words!" and with those words on the wind Amira was free. But the ship was still headed directly into the middle of a storm that was looking worse and worse the longer they strayed into it.
"Amira!" the captain called, "Those clouds are starting to look like lightning! Anything you can do about it?"
Amira sighed; she'd gotten them into this mess after all. She might as well get them out of it. "I can put up a lightning shield but I don't know how long I can hold it. I'm pretty drained."
"Just do what you can, we can handle more than you think," the captain smiled as the lightning shield went up around the ship.
Amira managed to keep the shield up long enough for them to get through the worst of the storm before she was drained almost entirely of Magoi. The world spun as her Djinn equip fell and the world went black.
Amira found herself having to force her eyes open, though it was bright and she had to adjust. There were blonde women sitting around her as she came to. "Miss Amira, are you finally feeling better?"
Amira had a spinning headache, "Am I in Artemyra?" she asked with a voice that sounded raspier than the sea.
"Of course! Where else would you be?" someone said.
"Sure was quick thinking on your part with that storm!" another voice chimed in.
"You really shouldn't waste that much energy with your Djinn equip. It was wasteful and could have killed you," the voice that spoke now was more commanding. Amira sat up to see a regally dressed warrior. From the stories she'd heard with Sinbad and his friends she surmised that she must be the Queen.
"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble," she said trying to clear the gravel from her throat.
"Oh would someone give the poor girl some water?" the Queen barked, "She's been out for over a week and here we are trying to get her to talk without water." Amira was almost immediately offered a goblet of water. "When you have enough strength come see me at my palace and we'll talk in more detail."
Amira nodded, as she none too gracefully chugged any water that was handed to her. It wasn't long before she felt as though she could get up and move around. A few of the women of the village showed her around. The cliffs that held their village was stunning; truly a breathtaking sight to take in. The giant birds in flight almost seemed to lift the spirits of all those around and all she could think about was if she'd ever get the chance to ride one.
When the day drew to a close Amira was shown to a room off the medical suite. They really needed to create at least a two or three room tavern if they hoped to do business with the outside world. But, she supposed, they were probably already making plans. Sinbad had said that he'd only just come from Artemyra when they found each other. Damn, there was that name again. She'd done so well at keeping him from her mind until now. But in a land with minimal men maybe it wouldn't be so hard to forget about him again.
The following morning she went to speak with Queen Artemina. While they talked Artemina agreed to train her; but she'd have to start out training with her children, all seven of them. Amira wondered why someone would have so many children but it seemed anyone old enough had close to as many.
For the following few weeks Amira learned to fight well with her sword and learned even better how to use her bow in combat. She figured it would come in handy if she ever ran into Knell again. But as the weeks drew on Amira grew worried, thinking about her battle with Knell made it all the more important she work on her speed. Artemina told her speed wasn't her problem, the problem was that she still didn't fully know how to use her Djinn equip. And so began her real training. She was impressive with Mennea but her speed was lacking. It also appeared that her Magoi was lower than expected; one only has so much and though dungeon capturers unlock more than the average person it was nowhere near what a mage could unlock. Still, from what little Artemina could assess it seemed as though there was some sort of block within Amira.
After near a month of Djinn training Artemina finally decided that was as much as she could do for Amira. All that was left was a journey of self-discovery. So Amira spent her days in the palace gardens meditating. Sometimes Artemina's daughters would join her, Pisti in particular took interest in her, though she never spoke a word. She would just sit with Amira as she meditated. After the first week Serene and Myrina, Artemina's third and fifth children, would join after their battle training. Something about meditation seemed to sooth even the worst bruises the children would accumulate.
Amira spent her nights with Artemina and her daughters. It was nice to see the maternal side of the Queen. She was a harsh teacher for these amazing warrior women, even at such a young age, but she was so kind and gentle as you would expect the best of mothers to be. Though the time that Amira spent she grew fond of the children, it was apparent that she was missing something. And so as her third month in Artemyra drew to a close she knew she would have to leave soon.
The day before she was to depart they threw a grand festival. There were dancing and feasting and bird trials. And Amira finally got her chance to tame a giant bird. Amira expected it to be hard but she hadn't bargained for the birds personalities. The bird that seemed to have chosen her was just as cheeky as she was and boy did it give her a run for her life. Free falling, vertical takeoff, this bird was really putting Amira through the tests. At one point it even flew so high that Amira nearly lost consciousness, thankfully the bird was merely cheeky and not homicidal.
With both of her feet planted firmly on the ground Artemina awarded her the red feather that symbolized her as a warrior of Artemyra. No outsider had ever received the honor of a full-fledged warrior before; Sinbad was more of an honorary member. As the night drew to a close Amira was sad to be leaving. She'd sent word back to Scheherazade to tell her she would be returning and hadn't received word back. She assumed it would be safe, but was expecting to be sent back out into the world. But she had no idea where she would want to go next. The desert land north of Balbadd could be intriguing or even to go so far as the plain lands could prove enlightening. But she was starting to get homesick honestly.
She'd sent a letter off to Sinbad to let him know she'd be returning soon and expected a drink upon arrival but hadn't gotten a letter back either. Was Reim just having problems with the mail? Were Artemyra's birds making it there? Those were problems she'd worry about later. For now she needed to rest, after all now that she could ride the birds, it was her ticket home.
Bird travel should be the way of the future. Amira couldn't even comprehend that a two day trip was all it took to get from Artemyra back to Reim when it had taken two weeks to get there by ship. But then again the birds were rather rowdy and hard to control unless you had the right touch like the Artemyrian warriors.
The warriors dropped Amira off at the Sindria Trading Company along with a few goods, said a quick hello to Parsine and were off before the birds had time to mess with anything.
"Sinbad? Well he's in a bit of a pickle, we haven't seen him in some months now," Parsine said when Amira asked about him.
"That sounds just like him," Amira laughed.
"We're gathering delegates from all over to celebrate the re-opening of the company in Balbadd though. I'm sure they would all love it if you came too, after all you are an Artemyrian Warrior now," Parsine motioned to the feather adorning Amira's head.
"That would be nice," Amira admitted, "but I'm sure there are other matters I must attend to. Thank you, and wish everyone luck for me!" She smiled and turned to leave only to feel a sharp pinch in her neck. Instinctively her hand flew up to find a dart which she plucked from its lodgings. Immediately she felt dizzy as the world spun around her.
A well-dressed child approached her, "Miss are you okay?" The voice was familiar…Knell. But there wasn't time to react before the world turned black around her and she was swallowed into nothingness.
