Chapter 15: Misconceptions

Roban looked around the room they had entered and saw his baggage neatly stacked on a shelf to the left of the door. He dropped the clothes he carried next to the bed and then walked along the high windows, opening all the drapes. When he reached the fireplace he stopped his walk around and looked into the flames.

Athea had slipped out of her dress and was lying naked on the big canopy bed. She watched the nude figure of her brother walking around. As he stood in front of the fireplace she noticed that there were no reflections of light on his skin and his body was outlined not by light but by darkness.

“My brother has to be really bad if even the light avoids him,” Athea remarked.

Roban didn’t turn around but he replied. “It’s strange, even as pale as you are and with your history of painful sunburns, you easily come to the conclusion that light is good and darkness is bad.”

“Actually it’s the other way around. I think you are bad and since the light avoids you it has to be good.”

“Is it a new valuation of me because of something I have done recently, or have you always thought I am bad,” Roban asked, turned around and walked over to the bed.

“It’s something I recently discovered. You love someone that you know is evil. I don’t think that makes you evil yourself, but it’s a very bad affection and clouds your decisions,” Athea stated, turned around to lie on her back and watched Roban coming closer.

“Maybe she isn’t as evil as you believe her to be,” Roban replied and lay down on his side facing Athea.

“What is the most evil deed that you can imagine?” She asked and then licked the tip of the finger Roban held to her lips.

His answer was instant, “Betrayal”.

“There, you have your answer,” Athea remarked, shivering shortly as the moist tip of his finger circled the nipple of her left breast.

“It is, but not in the way you think of it,” he said as he watched her nipple stiffening and moved on to her right tit in order to repeat the process.

“Care to elaborate on that mysterious reply?” She asked and held her breath as his wandering moist fingertip reached the areola of her right breast.

“You will never betray me little sister, because you can’t.” His finger had accomplished its task on her right tit and he placed his hand on it. “I promised you freedom and to choose your own future. There are no boundaries, no lines you can’t cross, so nothing you’ll ever do will be a betrayal to me.”

Athea pushed his hand from her breast, sat up and shouted at him. “I never asked for or wanted it! Your stupid promise got you killed already. To let me do what I want is the fastest way to get us all killed. I AM CHAOS, I can’t be trusted. I don’t need you to grant me freedom. I need you to limit the destruct ... I mean I ... The Gods be damned!” Athea cursed and lay down again, staring at the ceiling.

They were silent but after a while Athea heavily exhaled, grabbed his hand and returned it to her right breast. “So that’s it? Ghania was the last piece falling into place. There never was a chance for us, only one way this is going to end. That’s the meaning of destiny, isn’t it?”

Roban gently squeezed the small breast engulfed by his big hand. Smooth skin, taut, unrelenting flesh and the engorged nipple was defiantly scratching the palm of his hand. It was beautiful perfection but the wrong place to be at the moment. He let his hand slide down to her belly. Looking at her tear filled eyes his fingertips sensed the indention of her navel. Athea’s response was a shiver and the straining of the muscles in her belly. He spread out his fingers and let his hand continue its travel down her body. It encountered the gentle rise of her pubis and one of his fingers slid above the small sprinkling of hair that graced it. Short, silvery-white, as fine as spider-silk and it was growing on a patch no more than the size of the first link of his thumb.

“Yes, it is destiny and it will happen. Ghania, Eyna, Zeroth; Creation, Chaos, and Destruction; the Beginning, the Way and the End... “ Roban’s hand enclosed her from pubis to perineum and then he finished his statement.

“We are Destiny.”

Athea’s eyes widened staring at her brother. Her heart began to pound in her chest but immediately she felt a slight increase of his hand’s pressure on her. Just a reminder of its presence and it calmed her racing heartbeat. Athea looked down at his hand covering her crotch and was trying to comprehend her emotions.

Held in the palm of his hand.

That thought was Chaos’ contribution to the riot of feelings, typically cynical and typically true. As Roban started to stroke her pussy Athea’s heartbeat slowed down as the rising feeling of panic vanished, replaced by a mix of comfort, peace and arousal.

“Everything alive has to die, even a world. It is destiny. Creation, the birth and growth of a world, then Chaos arises that finally leads to Destruction. A cycle repeated in eternity. Will it happen? The answer is YES. But ‘when will it happen?‘ is the question important to us. You and I want this world to be our home and Calmyra can be our home as long as we want it to be. There is no running out of time in eternity. I have invited Ghania into our family, because she is our family. You, Menja and I; Chaos, Creation and Destruction, one day we will end this world, but until then it is our home. It is up to us if that day is tomorrow or if it will be in a million years.”

Athea had listened to the flow of words and with it she felt the waves of emotions coming from her brother.

Was it really that simple?

Freedom was what Roban had promised her two days after he had rescued her from Hithad. Back then she didn’t know anything about their history; didn’t know that she and her brother were sharing their bodies with immortal beings. She was just a little girl without any idea what her future would look like. Today, just a few months later, she was the leader of thousands of people, a central figure in a war. Kings, Queens and even Gods and Goddesses were striving for her attention. Freedom her brother had promised. Grumbling and complaining at times, but he let her lead and they were following her decisions. He even had died because of a path that she had chosen for them. They were on the road of destiny, but it was up to them how long that road would be. She and Chaos would do what they had to do to make that voyage an exciting adventure. One day their way would end and she had to accept it like every other living being. Did the particular difference, that the end of their way would also mean the end of this world, really matter?

Athea had found her answer. She was responsible for their direction and to protect her family on the path that she had chosen, but its final destination always was a certainty. A certainty called destiny.

Her angst was gone and now she enjoyed the caresses of Roban’s hand. She was smiling as she spread her legs and raised her knees.

It was morning when Denyssa woke up. She tried to unwrap herself from Jenaya’s embrace without waking her, but that proved to be a futile attempt when she heard her drowsily mumbling.

“Good morning Sunshine, I hope you had as much fun as I had last night and I would love to see your face right now. You are so pretty when you blush, but I teased you enough last night. I’ll let you go now and sleep a little longer.”

As promised Jenaya let her go and Denyssa crawled out of the bed. Looking in a mirror and watching her crimson cheeks, Denyssa wondered if Jenaya had been serious or if it was just another tease. She slipped into her dress with the snapped shoulder straps and left the room tightly holding it to her bosom. Then she rushed to the room she had chosen for herself, put on a new dress, took a moment and a wet rag to clean her body of the residues from the night’s encounter and combed her messy hair.

All in all it took her less than a quarter of an hour after waking up before she was on her way to Menja’s room.

Denyssa didn’t enter when she heard Menja’s voice from inside the room but listened with her ear pressed to the door.

“ ... why not? That would be really neat!”

Silence

“You always say that but what does it mean?”

Silence

“But my mama told me about dragons, and if you made dragons who can breathe fire, why can’t you make Bosko breathe fire too?”

Silence

“I think you just don’t like Bosko, but he is really the best dog ever, and he is protecting our family, and if he could spit fire on all the evil people who want to hurt us that would be really good.”

Denyssa’s eyes opened wide as she listened to Menja’s pleading. She had heard enough and hastily opened the door.

Menja was sitting on the bed and Bosko lay dozing in front of it, but there was no one else to see. But Denyssa knew there was someone else, and that someone was the Goddess of Creation. The realization caused her to shiver, but Denyssa had no time to dwell on it as Menja jumped off the bed and drenched her in a flood of words.

“Good morning Denyssa, do you know that the girl in my head is really Ghania? I thought she is just a little girl like me, but she is a real goddess and can do real magic. And now I am Roban’s real daughter, and Athea is my real sister, because I have a goddess in my head too. Look at my hair! Meyra told me the braid would look better when my hair grew longer, but that would take time, but Ghania made it long just like that, and she can even change the color however I want it. What color do you think would look best?”

Denyssa stared at the huge palm-braid on top of Menja’s head. Her hair must have grown more than a foot in length over night. Denyssa felt like drowning. She wanted to talk to Menja but all she could do was stare and Menja’s onslaught of words continued.

“White like Athea’s hair would look awesome, but maybe she would get angry and I don’t want her to be angry at me. That would be bad. I asked her if she could make Bosko breathe fire and she said she could, but won’t do it. That’s silly, but I am trying really hard to convince her to do it. She also didn’t want to make his eyes blue but I convinced her that it would look awesome, and look at him ... Ohh, he is sleeping, but when he wakes up you can see his eyes are the same color as Athea’s, and Roban’s before he changed. Bosko is family too and we all should have the same eyes, don’t you think? But she doesn’t want to change my eyes, always saying weird things like ‘it’s all about balance’ and other weird stuff that I don’t understand. Do you know what she is talking about, or maybe I should ask daddy. He is Ghania’s Atady that is the same as daddy, so we are both his daughters, and she is my sister ... I think, right?”

Denyssa could feel her knees go slack and slumped to the floor. Menja instantly rushed to her side and helped her to sit up, but Denyssa fell flat on her back once more when Bosko opened his pale-blue eyes and looked at her.

“Are you sick Denyssa? Shall I run and find Iane? I am sure she can help you.”

The worried expression on the little girls face shook Denyssa enough out of her daze that she finally could utter a few words.

“Please, just stop talking for a moment and let me catch my breath,” Denyssa exclaimed.

She deeply inhaled then slowly exhaled and finally calmed down enough to talk some more.

“Menja, please listen to me. I know you are very excited about all that has happened and of course about Ghania, your new sister. Ghania is a goddess but she also is a little girl like you. She was all alone for a very long time and she is probably more excited than you are about you and her new family. It’s not nice to ask her to do all those things for you because she has to be afraid that when she says ‘no’ to you that you won’t like her and she wants you to like her. Ghania is a goddess and her magic is very powerful, but you and I, we don’t understand magic. Look at Bosko, you made her change the color of his eyes, but did you think about if Bosko wanted it too?” Denyssa asked gently and got a pout in response and Menja, avoiding her gaze, looked down at her feet before she lowly answered, “No”.

“I’m not scolding you and I’m not angry either. I am just worried, do you understand why?” Denyssa questioned.

Wrinkling her nose Menja thought for a moment before she replied. “Because magic is powerful and powerful things are dangerous, like fire, and I’m not allowed to play with fire.”

“That is exactly right Menja. Ghania is a goddess, she knows her magic and how to use it, but you and me we don’t know anything about magic. That’s why it’s dangerous to us,” Denyssa said.

Menja’s gaze lost its focus and she was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Yes, Denyssa is the nicest ... She will be your sister too ... We are all sisters ... We all take care of each other because we are a family.”

Denyssa saw Menja’s gaze targeting her once more and then she continued. “Ghania says hello and she says you don’t have to be scared of magic because she won’t do anything to hurt you ever. I told her that you’re the nicest and I think she likes you too.”

Denyssa watched as Menja wrinkled her brows.

“I am hungry. Are you hungry too when I am hungry? ... It’s when your tummy feels empty ... I’ll show you what I like the most ... breakfast and we have to feed Bosko too ... meat, lots and lots of meat, he is a big dog.”

Denyssa suddenly felt like laughing as she was listening and watching Menja. Fully occupied by her conversation with her inner sibling, Menja casually took Denyssa’s hand and dragged her out of the room in search for their breakfast. Bosko yawned and leisurely followed.

Roban was sitting at the big table in the spacious kitchen of their new house. A few minutes ago the kitchen was as busy as a marketplace. Now he was suddenly alone and it was silent. He was searching his memory, trying to remember what the seven girls had talked about. He knew it was futile, it had been a blur of noise. Trynna and clothes to fetch ... orphans, food and fat priests ... stock up on necessities ... an amazon search party ... a missing chest of clothes. He shook his head to clear it of the fog it was under, deeply exhaled and then shrugged.

Roban spent the next three hours inspecting and taking care of his armor and weapons. Done with it he walked through the house, but avoided the cellar. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to the whines and complaints of their captive. Around noon he returned to the kitchen for a second breakfast. He was thinking about what to do next when he heard some loud knocking on the entrance door of the house. He walked to the entrance and as he opened the door he was greeted by Cybrien Canbierra and his two brothers.

“The Norgar fleet has arrived. The messenger reported that more than three hundred warships disembarked at Daghnis. Warriors, provisions, cattle, carts, horses and all kinds of wild animals, even bloody Ghorgar Bears!” Cybrien told him.

“Daghnis? That has to be the name of the fishing village we used to ship out too. I was wondering if I’d ever hear its name,” Roban easily replied.

“By the gods, what do the Norgar do with Ghorgar Bears in a war; turn them loose on their enemies?” One of Cybrien’s brothers asked.

“They are used in a ritual. A Norgar warrior not yet bloodied during a battle has to spend a night in a pit with a Ghorgar Bear.” Noticing the horrified expressions of the men Roban added to his statement. “The bear is chained and can’t reach the man unless he panics and steps into its range. Well, either that or if he falls asleep, the bear will get to him as well. He has to stand close to the wall to stay out of range.”

Cybrien laughed out. “You Norgar are bloody savages alright! Tell me, did you have to go through that ritual too?”

“No, since Vhoren’s son, Djorgan, killed the bear my family doesn’t have to do it anymore,” Roban told them grinning.

“Those Norgar legends are hilarious. So your young ancestor killed the Ghorgar Bear with his bare hands I suppose. I heard Ghorgar meat is delicious and standing twelve feet, weighing about a ton he could have invited the whole town to a feast.” Cybrien laughed out once more.

“According to the legend Djorgan had some temper issues. After he had killed the bear he also killed the audience and vanished. A week later he came back to Falkath but never told anyone what he had done that week in the wilderness of Kurgath,” Roban finished the story and shrugged.

Cybrien looked at Roban and raised his eyebrows then shrugged as well. “Anyhow, the whole Norgar baggage train is heading for Notabir. The first of them will arrive tomorrow evening and the last could be here in three or four days.”

Roban nodding showed his agreement with Cybrien’s estimation just as he noticed two Amazons marching through the gates and approaching their group.

“Hassika sent us to tell you that we found the rotting corpse of a little girl hidden close to the road that leads from the camp to Notabir. No signs of a fight and no news from Rhabina. Hassika also ordered us to guard a woman who is confined in the cellar of this house,” one of the Amazons briskly told Roban, ignoring everyone else.

Roban shrugged once more. “Go ahead, and in case you’re getting hungry you’ll find the kitchen to the right after a small corridor.”

They watched the Amazons leave and looked at each other.

“It’s exciting as a fantasy, but in reality meeting an amazon is a rather chilly experience,” Cybrien sighed.

“I’ve never seen anyone better with a bow than these Amazons. Now that I think about it, they are pretty good with a baton as well,” Roban mused.

“You are a very strange man my friend,” Cybrien stated, shaking his head.

The Canbierra brothers broke out laughing then, but Roban turned and stared to the north. The three men followed his gaze but couldn’t see anything. Suddenly there was a sound like a tower made out of glass being smashed by a giant’s hammer and a fountain of light from somewhere in the center of Notabir burst into the sky. For a moment the light formed a rainbow on the clear blue sky before it simply disappeared.

“Great Mother, what was that?” Cybrien gasped.

“A door was opened and destiny walked through,” Roban answered.

After Menja and Denyssa had finished their breakfast they had plundered the kitchen and pantry. With the help of Nigulla and Patessa they loaded two horses with the food they had gathered. Even Bosko was carrying an overstuffed saddlebag. Now on their way to the orphanage, Menja was happily babbling nonstop and Denyssa was trying to figure out whether she was talking to her, Bosko or the goddess in her head.

“The priests are mean and fat and they won’t get any of the food. They said that they are priests of Ghania, the Great Mother, but you are Ghania and you are a girl like me. One of them said that Ghania wants them to have all the food ... If you have never talked to any of them, then they are lying and stealing the food of the children ... I know it’s not your fault but it’s not right that they use your name to do mean things like stealing and lying ... We can ask Denyssa, she is an expert about right and wrong ... Denyssa, lying and stealing is bad, right?”

Denyssa saw Menja’s questioning look and swallowed. It was one thing to teach a six year old girl about right and wrong. Teaching an almighty goddess was something entirely different. It was different, or wasn’t it? However, she knew that behind Menja’s sea-green eyes, Ghania was waiting for her answer.

“Yes Menja, lying and stealing is wrong, but sometimes people don’t know the truth and make mistakes. The priests of Ghania probably don’t know she is a girl like you and...” Denyssa stopped.

Denyssa had no doubt that the priest they had met the day before was a lying and stealing scumbag. She had seen the same thing as Menja, so why was she trying to excuse the priest? Denyssa knew the answer and it made her angry. She was used to looking up to priests, not only to priests but to everyone with power and authority. They were allowed to do as they pleased because there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Denyssa realized that she wasn’t excusing the priest but her own helplessness. Just ... that wasn’t true anymore. She had seen more power than the priest could ever imagine and behind Menja’s eyes a goddess was waiting for her advice.