Author's note: Because of the nature of this chapter and the things that have to happen within it, this section of the story is almost solely dialogue. More exciting things will continue in the next chapter, but it stands to reason that there will be some chapters that very little action actually occurs in. I apologize to anyone who may find this disagreeable. Then again, if you're reading this story purely for the action, I haven't been doing my job right. P
-Lady M
Chapter XXXIV: Angels Fall First Part two of four
Far off in a distant place, a hooded figure stood alone, staring through a crystal clear pool as the events of all Time and Space played out over its waters. A second figure appeared, standing at the right hand side of the first. After a moment, the second figure glanced at the other. --All of the pieces are finally in place.--
The first figure did not look at the second, but the hooded head nodded. --Yes. It is time for the game to at last reach its end.-- From beneath the hood, a pair of eyes that were no color and every color flashed for a fraction of a second.
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Moria Vadorian was once more sitting alone in her cell. Although her body was very much there, sitting calmly and serenely upon the bed, her mind was elsewhere, traveling to a Castle made of gray stones somewhere in the distance. She was eagerly awaited, and she knew it, even as her ethereal form slowly took shape before a certain redheaded woman. A very angry redheaded woman.
"Randor's gone mad!" Teelina exclaimed angrily, not even bothering to say 'hello' as her lover appeared before her. "Does he honestly believe that I will kill you?"
Moria's form smiled faintly at her, the mind-body slowly becoming solid enough to touch the other woman. "No, he doesn't," she answered softly, taking her lover's chin in her hand and looking directly into the Sorceress' eyes. "Which is precisely why you are going to do it."
There was an audible pause as Teelina digested what she had just heard. "What?-!" she exclaimed.
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Outside of the castle, the very subject of their conversation was fast approaching. Randor's face stiffened he neared the castle of his ancestor. Beside him in the landspeeder, Teela looked from the direction of the castle to her king with worry in her gaze. He looked tired, as if a great weight had been added to his shoulders, and he had not spoken since boarding the landspeeder. Actually, Teela considered, he had been mostly silent ever since leaving the hall of justice earlier that day.
When Randor had announced the identity of Moria's executioner, there had been near pandemonium in the justice hall. It had taken quite a while to get the masses gathered within to quiet down. Although Teela knew she should have been doing her best to calm those of the Eternian populace around her, she had not been able to keep from watching the Dereskian Queen. Unlike everyone else in the room, Moria's face had remained unchanged. Teela had found it hard to believe what she was seeing, but the Dereskian had not shown the faintest hint of emotion at the announcement. Though it seemed impossible, it was almost as if Moria had already known that the Sorceress would be the one to kill her. She had simply stared ahead, her face empty, her eyes locked with those of the King.
Teela had watched as Randor's demeanor changed, so subtly that she doubted anyone else had seen it. She could not help but wonder what, if anything, Moria was saying to him telepathically. After what seemed like hours, the king finally looked away, and it was not long after that he had ordered the guards to escort the Dereskian back to her cell, and the hall of justice had been cleared.
Shortly after they had received word that Moria was safely in her cell, the King had announced that he was going alone to the castle to speak with the Sorceress. She, her father and Adam had objected in his being unaccompanied almost the second the words had escaped his mouth. After much persuasion, the Randor had relented, but for reasons known only to him, he had agreed to take only Teela with him.
Now, as the landspeeder steadily moved onwards, Teela's unease was growing. She thought she had a good idea why they were here: to see whether or not the Sorceress would agree to be Moria's executioner. Given what her father had told her recently about the Sorceress and Moria's relationship, Teela did not think this was going to be an easy visit. Uncertainly, she looked at her king as he stared unblinkingly onward, wondering if he thought this talk would the Sorceress would be any more uplifting.
If Randor knew of the doubts rolling around in Teela's mind, he did not show it. He stood on with grim determination, though his thoughts were far from unwavering. He was aware that by sheer knowledge, the Sorceress was the only one who could correctly perform the Death of Ten Thousand Cuts. However, her recent behavior had been far from predictable, or even dependable. If Teelina did not agree to execute Moria…. He swallowed visibly, not wanting to think about what would happen; not wanting to consider the fact that should she not agree, he would be forced to declare the oracle guilty of treason.
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"…Why would you want me to do this?-!" The Sorceress demanded angrily, and not unjustly. She paused, trying to work out what Moria's reasoning could be. "The Death of Ten Thousand Cuts will actually kill you, won't it?" she questioned, this time her tone becoming more uncertain.
Moria's answer was slow in coming. "There are …very few ways that I can die, Te lynïa. However, if my life force is very slowly drawn from me, my body will not be able to replenish it, and I would more than likely cease to exist. A gradual bloodletting, which is essentially what this sentence entails, would accomplish that." With a weary sigh, Moria loosely crossed her arms. "…So yes… it is entirely possible… and probable, that this 'Death of Ten Thousand Cuts' will kill me."
The Sorceress slowly nodded, her face a mask of indignation and resentment, not directly towards the older woman, but to what she was saying. "And you are just going to let it happen," she countered acridly. "You'll simply…lie there and let yourself be executed… killed… murdered," Teelina's tone rose as she spoke, and rage began to very quickly replace all other emotions in her voice. "You intend to just lay back and let me… me of all people murder you?-!"
Moria whirled upon her lover, turning towards her with almost feral sharpness, her eyes blazing in what was very near anger. "I have altered TIME, Teelina!" she barked, her voice getting uncharacteristically loud in her frustration. "I have interfered with the future that I Saw! You of all people should understand the importance of that! We are Oracles; blessed with the ability to See the future and cursed with the fact that we can do nothing to change it! …I did!"
She paused, allowing her sudden temper to calm as she inhaled slowly, closing her eyes for a moment and then reopening them slowly. "I did," she repeated, calmer now. "…To alter the future we See is not impossible, Te Lynïa, but that does not mean there are not repercussions." Her eyes rose, slowly meeting those of her lover, and Moria raised her hand, lightly caressing the Sorceress' cheek. She almost whispered, her soft tone a sharp contrast to the angered one of only moments before. "And if altering the terrible future that I foretold means that I must be put to death, …then I must die."
Silence filled the chamber for a long moment as the redhead digested what had been said. "But… but why are you so adamant about me being the one to kill you?"
The elder woman's eyes softened, and Moria gingerly raised her hand and rested it on her lover's shoulder. "Because you will care," she nearly whispered. "…Because my death will affect you." She took a short pause and let out a breath she was not aware she had been holding. " …Te Lynïa… I am well aware that I must die. A great part of me has been dead for nearly eight hundred years," she confessed, and the Sorceress could not bring herself to argue. It was true enough. "This… is my time to die," Moria continued earnestly. "I have known it would be for centuries. But since this is my time to die, and since the Eternian Council has determined that I must be executed… I want you." Teelina looked as if she wanted to interrupt, but Moria hushed her with only a glance, continuing.
"I would much rather be killed by someone who cared for me than by someone to whom my death would mean nothing. …I would rather know that, to the person killing me, I was not simply a nameless foe meeting my just reward. My death must matter to someone, Te lynïa," she stressed, the expression on her face somewhere between sorrow and acceptance of reality. "It must not matter nearly enough to make me a martyr or some kind of saint; I do not want that kind of praise and I do not deserve it. …But it must matter nonetheless and my executioner should be someone who I know cares for me and does not believe the centuries of deceit and lies that has been fed to them about me." Moria drew to a close, reaching out and grasping the redhead's hands, and Teelina was almost shocked to feel how cold the elder woman's hands were. "And also… there is one other reason."
The Sorceress found it hard to speak, but she managed to swallow down the lump in her throat and whisper quietly, "And that would be?"
Moria sighed raggedly. "…If you do not agree to kill me, and Randor is not expecting that you will… he will have no choice to proclaim you a traitor…."
"I don't care about that!" Teelina exclaimed, and Moria noticed that, for the first time in her life, the Sorceress' eyes were beginning to pinwheel. She looked as if she would say more, but the elder woman cut her off.
"I do! There is no point for me to have gone through the entire tedious process of altering what I Saw if you simply nullify what I have done, Te lynïa. " The Ancient Dereskian's tone was entreating, a slight panic building in her voice. Quickly, she continued, quieter now. "…Randor will be forced to condemn you… and since they have reinstated the death penalty for me, it is not impossible that they would not do the same for you…. I cannot allow that to happen," Moria whispered, taking the Sorceress' chin in her hand and just looking at her. "…I will not allow that to happen. She paused for a moment, sighing softly. "…It is not fair to you, I know… but it must be you."
"But I love you!" Teelina blurted out before she could think better of it. Slowly, her mind digested what she had said, and a lump rose in her throat. She had not meant for those words to escape her lips or to even become concrete from the jumbled thoughts of her mind. Still, …she did not regret them. Teelina refused to look away from Moria's eyes, even while her own were threatening to fill with tears. "…I love you," she repeated, and this time her voice was barely above a whisper.
Amethyst eyes softened considerably, and the elder woman finally broke the continued gaze with her lover, dropping her hand and gradually looking at the floor. "…I know…" she stated quietly, her tone more than a little regretful. "I know, and that, too, is my fault…. I'm sorry, Te Lynïa," she admitted, and though the words felt odd in her mouth, they were genuine enough. "…I never meant for that to happen."
For a moment, silence took dominance over the conversation. Then the redhead slowly extended her hand, this time caressing the elder woman's cheek rather than the other way around. She gently took the white-haired Queen's chin in her hand, and moved it until Moria was once more looking at her. "Then… why," she began slowly, true confusion sounding in her voice, "…why did you bother to seduce me in the first place?"
Moria sighed raggedly, closing her eyes for a moment as her lover removed her hand from her chin, and then the amethyst eyes opened and met the green of her own accord. "…Because I wanted to," she confessed quietly. "…I have known that you would be the one to kill me for many centuries…. Ever since I killed your mother."
Teelina turned away from her at the reminder, and her eyes closed as she brought her arms around and hugged herself in slight guilt.
"It is a pattern, you see," the Ancient Queen continued, placing her hand on Teelina's shoulder lightly. "…Your mother killed mine, I killed yours… the next logical step was for you to kill me. …But the pattern will end there, Te Lynïa."
"Why?" came the reply, bitter. The Sorceress didn't even turn, asking the question over her shoulder. "I would think Evil-Lyn would jump at the chance to kill me… and that would be the next act in this 'pattern.'"
It was Moria's turn to take her lover's chin in her hand, and Teelina went along with it as she had, turning slowly around to meet the elder woman's gaze. "Because I have altered Time, my dear. The pattern ends with my death because I have arranged it to do so. Lyn knows how much time I spent with you, even if she does not understand why I did so. She will not hurt you, no matter how much she might want to, simply because she knows that I would not have wanted her to."
The Sorceress of Grayskull nodded slowly, a silent sigh escaping from her as she did so. "…It truly did have to be this way… didn't it?"
Moria replied with a nod similar to Teelina's own. "It did, love. …You asked me when we first began this relationship whether it could end in anything other than tragedy…."
"And you knew even then that it couldn't," the redhead finished for her, not bothering to fight the tears back anymore. A single tear fell unfettered from her cheek, landing almost soundlessly on the stone floor. A red tear. A Dereskian tear.
A pale hand caressed her cheek, wiping away the crimson trail that the droplet had left in its wake. "We both knew… otherwise you wouldn't have asked," she corrected gently.
Teelina sighed raggedly, leaning forward and pressing her head against her lover's shoulder. "…Even your sister knew…" she whispered quietly into the fabric of Moria's dress. "She said you would lead me to death."
At the mention of her sister, the elder woman's eyes grew distant, as Teelina's had when her mother was mentioned. Slowly, Moria turned away, her gaze moving down to the floor. "…Yes."
As the Sorceress recalled the finer details of her conversation with the dead, sudden realization dawned upon her. "…You said then that she did not know to whom death would come… but she did, …and you knew it too, didn't you?" Teelina pressed, gripping the white-haired woman's shoulder as her eyebrows lowered. Moria's silence was the only answer she needed. "You… you lied to me…?" she questioned, hurt and betrayal creeping into her voice.
Moria could not look at her, keeping her back to the redhead as she sighed raggedly. "…It was not easy for me to do so… but it was not the first time…" she admitted quietly, finding the words akin to ash in her mouth.
The Sorceress' grip on her shoulder tightened, and she forced the elder woman to turn around, anger flashing through her eyes as she growled and demanded, "How many times have you lied to me?"
"Twice…" came the whispered reply, and eyes that were not accustomed to containing shame slowly met Teelina's own. "…There was one other occasion."
"…When?"
Taking a slow breath before her answer, Moria found herself fighting back a lump in her throat. "I… cannot tell you…. Not yet."
"Then when do you plan on it!" Teelina exclaimed angrily, nearly wrenching the elder woman's shoulder as she forced her to face her. "After you're dead!"
Slowly, almost deliberately, Moria lifted her head until her eyes met those of the Sorceress. Teelina stared angrily back, even as the white-haired woman's eyes began to pinwheel, growing steadily faster in a matter of seconds. "…Precisely," the Queen answered in a whisper.
Confusion set in over the younger woman's features, her eyes struggling to not become enthralled by the movement of her lover's. "I don't understand," she confessed.
"I know," Moria replied quietly. "I don't expect you to," she paused, as the next words were difficult for her to get out, and yet she knew they needed to be said. "I'm sorry." There was a tiny moment when the stolid façade that was Moria's trademark dropped, and Teelina felt as if she were truly looking at her lover. Then the sangfroid returned, and the elder woman suddenly jerked, turning and looking at something only she could see.
Uncertainly, Teelina looked in the direction Moria did, but could see or sense nothing "…What is it?"
The white-haired woman suddenly lurched forward, crying out, swooning until she was forced to catch herself on the wall. For the briefest of moments, Moria's mind projection of herself flickered, and when Teelina reached out her hand to catch her, her fingertips passed through the elder woman's shoulder.
The Sorceress looked at the mental projection of her lover with worry painted heavily on her face. Slowly, Moria let out a sigh and the flickering of her form ceased. "Randor and your daughter are outside, love," she said to Teelina's surprise. Moria smiled tiredly. "And, unfortunately, I cannot continue casting my presence into this room for much longer. …Believe it or not, the 'prison' Duncan built for me is at least a little effective…. I will be considerably weaker when I return to my body…."
She paused, returning her gaze to Teelina's and lovingly caressing her cheek, relieved when her fingers did not go through skin. "…Tell Randor," she said softly, whispering the words in her lover's ear, "…that you agree to be my executioner." Once more, Teelina looked as if she would interrupt, but Moria cut her off and continued, "Please," she stressed, her eyes almost begging the other woman. "…If all goes well, I will be escorted to Grayskull this evening so that the sentence can be carried out at dawn. …We can talk 'in person' then, Te lynïa."
"…Very well," Teelina muttered, and not without a great deal of reluctance. "…I am not happy about this, Moria," she concluded, even as the incorporeal form of Moria was fading away.
The elder woman looked longingly back at her redheaded lover. "I know," she whispered, and then was gone.
The Sorceress took a deep breath, exhaled, and readied herself for the confrontation with the King.