Javindar's mind froze for a second. Or at least to the best approximation he had to being frozen. There wasn't that much ice in Vinraj in general, and especially not in sunny warm, tropical Ghata. A few enterprising magicians did export those frozen cubes and served it in drinks as a novelty. Javindar recalled as a child at how he stared at those blocks of water for hours. Watching them slowly melt, changing from a stiff solid to a chilly liquid.
That's what Javindar's mind felt like right now as he attempted to process the information given to him by the Baroness. His thoughts were frozen into a single moment of unflinching disbelief which slowly melted into droplets of doubt, and then into pools of questions.
"I still don't believe this, "said Nahbob who was also in disbelief, but recovered faster than his bey. Javindar recovered slightly and saw that somehow during his daze they had ended up in a carriage, presumably headed back to the Great Academy. "Are you telling us that Whelp is Holy Sampada? That all this time we thought her bodyguard, I mean, she's been hiding as her bodyguard."
Baroness Stille smiled sheepishly. "Yes, that's what I'm saying. I've known it for a while now. I would have told you earlier, but I didn't know that Whelp was lost till a little while ago. It's just been our little secret."
"Little secret?" asked Nahbob.
"Well, if you haven't noticed. Sammy is a bit playful, and a bit stubborn."
"But why the subterfuge?" asked Javindar, his mind finally melted to a point where he was lucid.
"Well sir," interjected Nahbob. "It is not unusual for a noble to have a body double, especially when one is the target of numerous assassination attempts both mortal and demonic, such as Holy Sampada. Your own uncle often took the role of a footman during battle due to his fear of horses, and his body double was credited for saving his life on numerous failed cavalry charges."
"I'm aware of this. But it is unusual to act as the bodyguard. I mean the whole point of a body double is to assume a role that puts you out of the line of danger. Being a bodyguard, well that just seems nonsensical. You're still in danger."
Stille smiled broadly. "Well, as I've said before, you've noticed how….umm…playful she is. She's quite the little troublemaker. More importantly, she's also very capable. If there was an assassination attempt, they would …."
"Any brief delay or hesitation by the enemy can be fatal on their part. That would explained how she dispatched those Rakshasa sent after her during the battle at the Holy Temple. Those demons targeted the wrong person, and paid for it with their lives," finished Javindar who was satisfied with the explanation.
Nahbob however was not. "..but..but…this is all so unbelievable. "
The Baroness shrugged. "Well not really. For one thing, there's her height. People from the Impossible kingdoms aren't naturally short, its due to their diet. Their no…what do you call it, Tasmasic restrictions mean you can't eat meat. Believe it or not that affects height. Given how much meat Sammy ate when she was slumming with us barbarians here in Grom, well just look at her. Also you've noticed how powerful her divine magical powers are, and you definitely must have seen those tattoos on her. I was told they were scribed by the most powerful Gurus. Mystics, and Sadhevis in Nashput when she was a child for her protection."
"But… the other Holy Sampada has them as well. By the way, who is the other Holy Sampada anyways?" asked Nahbob.
"She was the original bodyguard assigned to Sammy, a nice girl but in over her head when dealing with demonic assassins, and from what Sammy's told me in our correspondence her replacement had lesser tattoos inscribed on her to complete the guise. I know its all quite fantastic, but if you desire you can ask her brother Lally, Admiral Edmund, or even her Uncle Milan. It was originally his idea, though I doubt he would have guessed she had taken it so far as to deceive her future groom."
Nahbob looked helplessly at Javindar, while the Bey sat in silence. This was all too much. A few months ago, he was in love, no that was not the term, infatuated with whom he thought was Holy Sampada, even though she paid no attention to him. Later he found himself really in love, or at least even more infatuated with the woman who was actually Sampada. They fought together and Puranas forbid even talked together. He even considered taking Whelp as a wife. Now that Stille has revealed her real identity, he wondered how could he face her after abandoning her so easily. Would she care since he was only following the quest given to him, or would she be furious at him for failing her test and not seeing the truth.
No. That wasn't Whelp. She wasn't a spoiled Princess playing tricks to vex him. While he considered the possibility that she was laughing at him for following her deception, or even being angry for leaving her on that island, that wasn't Whelp. Underneath her long giraffe like neck, she was a kind hearted person that would risk her lives to save jungle frog men of all people. She did all of this for the good of the temple, for the good of Vinraj, for all of them to survive.
"What if she's dead?" asked Javindar as the carriage began ascending up the hill towards the Academy. "I thought if she was alive she would contact us by now."
Stille shrugged. "That is a possibility, but the mists do play tricks on even the most powerful spell caster. A backlash from the Alphatian's excessive use of magic. However if she did meet her end, it makes it more imperative that we reach that island and recover her body. I'm quite the capable priestess myself you know. I can bring her back. Her death however is least amongst our concerns. Hopefully her body is near the crossbow I scryed, if not then we will have to find her corpse another way. "
Javindar blanched at the thought. While he had obviously seen a dead body before, probably thousands if not tens of thousands, the thought of bringing a person back from the dead was something bordering on the unclean in his culture. It was not strictly against Puranas' teachings but it certainly wasn't encouraged. Though he had heard of this type of magic, and he been assured by mystics that it was perfectly safe and that no evil spirits would cling to the soul when it returned, it just did not like a very moral thing to do. People had one life and they should live it or die for it, to the best of their ability. Multiple lives just seem to cheapen that concept.
Stille looked at both Nahbob and Javindar and shook her head. "Don't give me that look. That 'you are breaking the natural laws and returning Sammy as an abomination" kind of look. I know its frowned upon in the east, though for some odd reason not to the far far east. For one thing we don't use it that often here in the west either. It's kind of cost prohibitive for one thing, and believe it or not, most people do not wish to return. People do get a choice to return or not you know. However, when the fate of the world is in the balance, I'm sure Sampada will make the right choice. And don't worry about her returning as unclean or some type of evil Bhut or fakir, my own father was killed by a snow baboon once, and he returned fine. Though, uncle Frank is kind of strange, but I think he was always that way. I like to compare it as…."
Stille wasn't able to continue as the horses screamed and the carriage was suddenly slammed to the side. Javindar wasn't sure what was happening, but the three of them were tossed about as their vehicle rolled down the hill and smashed into a building below.
Javindar was the first to recover, rising from the shattered wooden remains with Stille struggling beside him. Nahbob however was felled by the blow, but was being tended to by the Baroness.
"Did you think I would give up that easily?" shouted a voice from above. Ulfgar! "I wasn't prepared for your escape earlier, but I've got my planar lock up now. There's no where to run."
Javindar guessed it was that sorcerer bandit Ulfgar from before. Though he couldn't see him, he drew and let loose an arrow from Red Flight towards the sound of the voice, and was rewarded by a great shriek like that of a giant bat.
Before he could shoot again, the spawn of Varuna charged out of the shadows in full hulking shark man form.
"Bravery! Valor! Glory!" shouted Javindar as he danced to the beast man's left, practically pressing his body against his as he rolled past him, before smashing him in the back of the head with his bow. While he would certainly not do such a maneuver with a regular bow, Red Flight was made from the bones of one of the great serpents it was meant to slay, and would certainly not break from such a strike.
The sharkman stumbled from the attack and wheeled around, but Javindar was already poised to strike. Though there was less than ten feet between the two, the Prince let loose one, two, and then three arrows into the belly of his foe. The sharkman bravely charged forward, but it was an easy side step to avoid his attack and kick the creature's unsteady legs out from under him, causing him to crash heavily into the ground.
Before Javindar could celebrate however, the blond woman with the dead rooster on her head rushed him. While Javindar considered her tall before, especially compared to the relative short women from his country, this time the woman towered close to fifteen foot in height and seemed to radiate some fell divine power as she brought her mace down upon him.
Her blow was too great in mass to parry, so Javindar simply jumped back out of range, as her strike shattered the cobblestones below. While her attacks were indeed powerful, they were still slow, and Javindar seized the opportunity to dash in strike at her before she recovered from her swing. Though he managed two solid swings with his scimitar, they simply bounced off her thick hide and they were again at a stalemate.
"I'll crush you for what you did to Praidaig," she threatened as she swung her mace again, this time in a wide low arc.
It was a difficult attack to avoid by jumping back or even ducking, so Javindar prepared to jump over it. That wasn't necessary as the woman suddenly was struck by a shower of white motes from the Baroness. When the motes cleared, the warrior woman had shrunk to a much more manageable height, and Javindar pounced on her. A quick stab with at her wrist to make her drop her weapon, followed by a slash to her throat. Javindar expected her head to fall off, but her heavy armor saved her and she simply staggered back clutching at where his scimitar battered her gorget.
Before Javindar could move in to finish off the staggering woman, everything seemed to stop. Or at least the area around him stopped. He could see himself mid swing with his blade, and from the edge of his eye he could see the Baroness still shooting white motes at the warrior woman even as she was stopped mid fall. The dust from the smashed carriage and blood leaking from the shark man were all suspended around him, but oddly he could see the commoners flee from the battle unhindered. The Bey had heard of such magics that could stop time, but never thought he would have to face it. Only the greatest of magicians could wield such power. He wasn't sure how Ulfgar was able to wield such magics now, when he clearly couldn't a few hours ago.
As Javindar was suspended powerless in time, a great golden figure walked towards him, shaking the earth even through the magical field. It was a humanoid that even towered over the warrior woman's enhanced form. It had four arms, garbed in baroque golden armor, and seemed to be surrounded by a nimbus of glowing swords. He had never faced such a demon, but Javindar knew of them. It was an Asurendra, a golden destroyer, one of the Asura warlords in Taraksun's horde.
"Is this her?" shouted the Asura in a Vinraji dialect. The big hulking demon grabbed the warrior woman clutching her throat.
"No Lord Pasurendra, the woman with the white magic," shouted a voice from above.
"They all look the same to me, besides, she's not a woman," snorted the big demon as it obscenely sniffed the Baroness with its large snout. "She's more of a half fiend really."
"Interesting," replied the voice above. "Retrieve her, then we can bargain the black blade from James. "
"Hopefully we'll get it for your sake. You've already tipped Taraksun's hand with your failures, " The big Asura grunted as he grabbed the still frozen baroness. It sniffed around and also grabbed the reeling but still frozen sharkman and the three of them vanished.
Javindar was only frozen for only twenty seconds, but it felt like an eternity as he struggled once more at his failure. Why he was mentally frozen before, being physically frozen in time was much worse. He had failed Holy Sampada and now he had failed the Baroness. He was supposed to be the greatest warrior of Vinraj but was bested by a bandit magician and an Asura with but a single spell.
When the spell finally broke, he barely caught himself mid swing and regained his balance before falling over. The Asura and the Baroness were gone. All that was left was a rock with a cloth wrapped around it.
Javindar took the rock and unwrapped the cloth. There was a message written on it in the Western trade tongue. Though he could read a little of that language , Javindar struggled to understand it.
"My...my neck was broken. I was in Nirvana,but ..but she brought me back. I couldn't leave my children," gasped Nahbob as he struggled to stand. Javindar passed the cloth to his servant. "James. I blame this on you. Your ability to elude me has cause me to resort to drastic measures. I have your precious Baroness, you have my precious blade. Meet me at the site and we'll swap and then we'll both be on our way. Ulfgar."
Javindar puzzled over the message. "Who in Abaddon is James?"