Chapter Thirty Two

Leea felt like she had been asleep on rock as she felt her back ache. She groaned and heard some people talking as she shifted. She felt a sharp pain in her side, and she snapped away. She tried to sit up but Sage stopped her by putting a hand on her chest. "Hey, don't move your gonna be way sore from the thorn in your side," he said softly as she looked around. She could see a fire nearby, but her vision was still a little weak.

She heard a soft purr, and realized white blaze was laying next to her. She mumbled, "I'd hate to see the rose that bit me."

"Hey, she's awake," she heard Kento beam. She heard him scramble over quickly, a bright grin on his face when he reached her.

"Not now, Kento, I healed her but she needs to rest."

"Why can't Baroness just heal her," Kento pouted as White Blaze licked her softly.

"She's just human, that's why," she heard Bastet quip from far away. "That's an armor healer!"

Leea looked down at her ripped shirt, a soft pink scar had formed, "hey, hey, my first battle scar!"

"Are you always this optimistic," Sage asked with concern.

"Of course, glass half full. What happened," she asked only remembering them retreating.

Kento grinned, "we whooped some ass!"

"What he means is we summoned the Inferno for Ryo so that we could get away," Sage said glaring at Kento, his simplistic explanation made Leea frown. "It bought us some time to fall back behind these gates. They're stronger than the others according to Kayura."

"You're scary looking friend saved me," she smiled softly.

Kento laughed, "hahah Cale, she called you scary!"

She groaned as she heard a soft grumble far away, "can I please sit up, this stone bed is worse on my back than my side!"

Sage and Kento eased her up so she sit up against White Blaze, she could see clearer now. They were sitting around a fire, the buildings were still pretty torn up where they were but the stars still shone brighter than she had ever seen on Earth. There were two moons, both almost full. The heavens were so close she could reach out and scoop up a handful of stars. She smiled at the two boys, "so you whooped that cyclops huh?"

Kento grinned, "no, Sekhmet and Baroness took care of that thing. It was the hydra we took care of!"

"There was a hydra," she asked as she tried to hear what the others were talking about next to the fire. "I missed the best part!"

Sage laughed, "nothing phases you, you just accept things and move on don't you?"

"That's how you survive," Leea grinned she tried to cross her legs. "Adapt or die, rule of the wild, rule of the streets, only rule to live by."

Kento smiled, "hey, I think I'm in love with you."

She winked, glanced at sage, "don't get your hopes up with him around."

Kento glared at Sage who shrugged, "hey..."

She laughed, but her side made her wince, "so what's the plan now?"

The boys looked at each other, and shrugged. Kento jerked his head over towards the fire, "their arguing it out right now. Rowen is still being stupid quiet too."

"But what's the consensus so far," she asked shifted to a more comfortable way to sit up.

"Rest, until the next wave," Sage answered silently. "But the unease isn't about that...it's about Ruby."

Kento nodded, "the warlords don't like the idea of Talpa's daughter running around."

"Ruby? I still get that whole thing," she paused, "shouldn't they welcome their own princess?"

"I don't know," Sage said shaking his head.

They are wise to be untrustful, said Raleigh as she sauntered over in her wolf form. Forgive me, Leea for letting you fall.

"It's okay, I should have held on tighter," Leea answered honestly.

"You mean you don't trust your own princess," Sage asked.

Oh, I believe in her...I believe she's heart broken and angry. Those are not the best qualities to have in the nether realm, Raleigh said as she sifted to her other form. She sat next to them, also her virtue is passion. That's a nasty virtue. It's ambiguous at best, but I guess any virtue can be ambiguous. The wolf glanced at the warlords, I wish it were different for them.

Sage remembered how she was older than they were.

Leea looked at the wolf girl int their silence and she stood up. She pushed Sage and Kento off as they tried to balance her but she started walking over to the group of warriors. Cye grinned, "rise and shine!"

She winked at him, but headed past him and Ryo and Rowen to the Warlords. They obviously had some sort of divide, but she didn't care for past differences. She was going to be proper and thank someone, even though they were scary.

She heard Bastet snicker, "well, now..."

Leea sat down in front of Sekhmet and Cale, the third of their group was looking at her with his one eye suspiciously and Kayura had a smirk on her lips.

"What do yo want," Sekhmet grumbled but Cale just remained quite.

"I came to thank you," she said with a big smile. They starred at her blankly, and the third of their party chuckled to himself.

"Well that's a first," said the the third member.

"Shut it, Dais," Cale snapped quickly. "Well, you're welcome, girl."

She leaned forward and planted a light kiss on each of their cheeks, and she heard Dais roar with laughter. Sekhmet just starred at her, and Cale seemed almost disturbed. She grinned, stood up and turned around to go back to White Blaze.

Bastet whooped, "that's how you beat a warlord!"

She saw a smirk appear on Baroness's lips, as Sehkmet threw a dagger at the silent warrior. Baroness didnt flinch, just sort of glared at the warlord from beneath the helmet. She sat down next to Ryo, he could see she was proud of herself. Cye shook his head, "that was brilliant, dear. Just brilliant."

"Enough," Kayura finally said as their laughter died down. "Baroness, could you find Ruby?"

"I suppose, it isn't my duty though," the warrior said. "I don't think she's a danger to you, I heard she was a coward."

"Coward or not," Kayura paused. "She could still bring us trouble..."

"She won't," said Rowen. "She's passionate, but her focus is on Hoshi. Your princess, despite who her father is, has a soft heart."

"Speaking of this girl," says Cale and looks Bastet. "why is she so important?"

"Because, without me...errr...Hoshi," Bastet paused with a big grin, "you won't find the Light!"

"And what is this light," asks Cale and looks at Sage. "Isn't that what he's suppose to be apart of the armors for?"

"It's not the same," she paused to look at Sage. "The Light is called as such because...because it can destroy the balance and or correct it in the right hands."

"And you don't know where it is," Ryo asked and she shook her head.

"Only Hoshi would know," she grinned and she pointed out to the stars. "And she's unmired in the sea of the stars."

She was mocking Rowen, who just remained quiet at her insult.

Kayura slammed her staff on Bastet's foot and her staff lit making her yelp. She knelt down, "you think you have some power here Old One, you don't. I understand the deal you made, but I don't think you understand our loyalty to one of our own, but if there is any treachery, you will not only have the ronins, the princess, and the yojimbo to deal with but us Warlords as well."

Kayura let up on the girl, and Rowen grimaced. He hated to see her hurt, but he knew the god had to figure out she wasn't in control. He noticed Baroness smile under her armor. She hadn't taken it off like they had. She seemed comfortable in what she wore. She looked over him and smiled, it was almost a cheshire like grin, and her eyes glowed glowed. He shivered, but smiled back. She looked up, "I'm going to go on patrol, does anyone care to join me."

He didn't know why he volunteered, Rowen was surprised he said it himself. He also heard Dais volunteer as well which kind of comforted him, but he realized that it might have been because Sekh and Cale were gonna beat him up.

He thought as they went along the walls, unmired in the sea of the sky, huh...maybe she isn't so far.

Baroness felt the two warriors walking behind her as they left their party. She felt her heart hurting again, she looked back at Rowen. He was the warrior in her dreams. Why was that? She felt like she made a promise to him, but that couldn't be. She had never met a human before.

She asked, "have we met before, Strata?"

He shook his head, "I think not, Baroness. However, I have been to the nether realm plenty of times because of this guy and the old crew he used to run with."

Dais smiled, "crew? Is that what you call Talpa's army now? I doubt you've met a creature like her before, anyways."

Rowen raised an eyebrow, "yeah, you haven't shown us your real form."

"Is it necessary," she asked as she gracefully walked along. She was whirling her ax around like a bataan.

"The boy wants to now what kind of monster you are," Dais snickered.

Her armor glittered and vanished to a sub armor. He was shocked to see a being that was half lion, half human. No that wasn't right. She was a mixture of human and lion. She had long golden hair pulled into a ponytail and a golden circlet on her brown. Her tail swished back in forth as her paws balanced easily in front of each other. Her face was covered in soft pale gold fur, and her eyes deep golden. Her muzzle was shorter than a normal lion's almost like a normal human face.

Rowen starred at Dais, "what is wrong with you."

"With me?"

"Didn't they have manners in your era," Rowen grumbled and said to Baroness. "Don't listen to him, he's the real monster."

"Are you sure," she mumbled softly to herself and then said to Dais. "Maybe I'll let the Hecatone eat you next time."