Chapter 9: Being Divided

“My queen, the battle at the marketplace is over. General Pattaros surrendered to the Norgar Chieftain,” the messenger hesitantly reported.

“HE SURRENDERED TO A HANDFUL OF NORGAR BRUTES? I WANT THE HEAD OF THE COWARD!” Leandris screamed.

“A huge war-dog and the women who came with the Norgar Chieftain joined the fight,” the messenger added a bit sheepishly.

Disgusted, Leandris stared down the messenger and then turned to her advisers. “Where is my army and who is leading it?”

“General Dhejanis and ten-thousand men are stationed west of Paras, my Queen,” one of them answered eagerly.

“Send them in and...” Leandris started, but a voice out of nowhere interrupted the queen.

“No Leandris, you will not sacrifice anymore lives. It ends now.”

Searching for the source of the voice, the queen and her advisers nervously looked around the room, but could not find anyone.

“You have never listened and you are still blind Leandris. You are the Queen of Ghota, but your power is meaningless to the forces you are dealing with. By now Athea will know of your failed plan and that you did nothing to stop the disaster following in its wake. She will come for you and her fury knows no boundaries. I will try to save you from Athea’s retribution this time, for two reasons only and neither of them is you. The child in your womb is mine and this kingdom is her heritage. That is the first reason. The second reason is that I want to find out how far I can walk at the leash of my new master.”

No one felt a draft, but the drapes decorating the windows of the room suddenly moved. Her messenger and advisers watched, stunned, as their queen was enveloped in a shadow. They heard Leandris screaming in fear as she flew out of the window and vanished into the darkness of the night.

The thirty-four surviving Norgar took Kjorak’s dead body with them and went back to the ship. They had piled up the rest of their brethren and an evil-smelling, dark smoke rose from the corpses burning on the square. Athea was deep in thought as she absently watched them leaving the market place of Paras. Iane was healing Roban’s wounds with Menja and Bosko close by critically observing her progress. The rest of their friends stood around rather aimlessly.

“Do you believe she will kill the Queen?” Denyssa asked Hassika, looking in Athea’s direction.

“That would kill the child as well, but I think that’s the only limit her revenge on Leandris will have. Look around you, what would you suggest to be fair?” Hassika asked in return.

“Most of this carnage is Roban’s work,” Denyssa replied.

“You can’t blame a fire for burning or the rain for wetting your clothes,” Nigulla noted smiling at Denyssa.

“What would you know about wet clothes?” Rhabina asked smirking at the nude ex-priestess.

“I’m not blaming Roban, but it’s not fair to blame all this on Leandris either. She still doesn’t realize whom she is dealing with,” Denyssa argued.

“I’ll make absolutely sure that after tonight there won’t be any doubts left in Leandris’ mind,” Athea threw in as she walked by, heading for her brother.

Roban was lying relaxed on the ground, obviously enjoying Iane’s healing caresses while Menja was pointing out unattended scratches and bruises to her. Athea stood at the side of her brother, watching them.

“I want to go back to the palace. We need our luggage and I want to deal with Leandris before we leave Ghota. Will you come with me?” She asked looking down at him.

He watched her for a moment and then smiled at Athea. “Of course I’ll come with you. I would be a really bad big brother if I don’t watch out for my little sister the same way she always does for me.”

A little later they all were following Athea back to the palace. On their way there Menja was happily skipping along at Roban’s side.

“Since I’m your daddy now, does it also mean that Zeza is your aunty instead of your sister?” Roban asked Menja with a serious expression on his face.

“That’s silly; she can’t be my aunty, because our mamas weren’t sisters,” Menja answered and her giggling dismissed his question and serious expression at the same time.

“Yeah, how silly of me. I think it’s better anyway; in just a few years you’ll be looking down on Zeza and it’s nice to have a little sister, but a tiny aunt would be weird,” Roban mused.

The growling and giggling following his notion let him take a break from further thoughts and enjoy the strangely harmonic sounds.

To enter the palace grounds unnoticed by the guards, they left the road and headed for the water drain, but when they reached it someone was already waiting for them.

“Hello Athea, I’m here to tell you not to waste your time searching for Leandris. I have taken her away from the palace and I won’t tell you where to find her unless you will promise not to punish her any further,” Jenaya told her calmly.

“I see, the child wants to test her boundaries. I will give you the opportunity to learn something tonight. Hopefully I will learn something as well. I’m in much more dire need to learn than you are.

You want to be free and don’t like being a pawn in a game. Maybe you would even like to play yourself. But you don’t know the game Jenaya. I am not playing it myself. Sorting and placing the pieces, I’m merely preparing the board and when the game starts I’ll take my place and will be a pawn as well. Leandris was stumbling around and stepping on the board. I have to make sure that she will never again risk everything I need to achieve.

You don’t have to look at my brother; he won’t order you to tell me where you are hiding Leandris. You are an intelligent and very perceptive woman, Jenaya, but that is not enough. Even though I can feel his emotions, I often have no idea what is going on in his mind, but without this bond I wouldn’t understand anything ... just like you.

Now try and stop me Jenaya.”

When Athea finished talking her eyes were glowing and illuminating Jenaya’s figure in swirling colors. Jenaya sank to her knees, groaning in pain and covering her face and eyes with her hands. But then she screamed, jumped up and attacked Athea. Using her hands like claws Jenaya tore and shredded Athea’s clothes into pieces, cutting her skin until many rivulets of blood were running down her body.

“JENAYA IS KILLING ATHEA, HELP HER ROBAN!” Rhabina cried in panic and drew her bow, but she couldn’t shoot at Jenaya without the risk of hitting Athea.

Roban didn’t seem to see a need to interfere and calmly kept watching the pair. Like him, the others saw when Athea moved her hand and brushed Jenaya aside like a bothersome insect. She went flying off Athea and crashed into a nearby tree. Light was shining from the cuts in Athea’s skin now, making it look like her inside was made of light and colors from a rainbow. She was talking to the crumpled figure lying on the ground, but the sound of her voice had changed. No longer was it beautiful and bell-like, but cold, merciless and cutting like a knife.

“He made you a Vampire; a shadow of the night; strong and fast. Powerful enough to fight Athea and maybe even to kill her, but I am Chaos and can crush you with a single thought and a look into your eyes. It is I who want Leandris and you’re neither strong enough to hide her, nor can Athea protect you from me. If you don’t tell me where to find her, I’ll tear your secrets from your mind and leave it in tatters.”

A second before, Athea’s friends were anxious over her, now they were still frightened, but of her. Jenaya looked at her, scared as well, but it was Roban who responded to the threat she had made against Jenaya. His voice was calm and his stand relaxed as he spoke to her.

“No, Chaos, you won’t. What you want to do would hurt Athea. Leandris isn’t important enough for that. You need Athea, let her guide you in this world and don’t fight her anymore. Your brother doesn’t want it and you don’t want it either.”

She slowly turned to face Roban and was smiling at him when she answered. “I hear you my brother. You want this world to be our new home and I will follow you as I always have, now and into eternity.”

The light shining from Athea’s body vanished and was once again replaced by rivulets of blood seeping out of the cuts on her body. Her smile was gone as well and Athea was frowning at Roban when she talked.

“Couldn’t you have done something before she ruined my clothes?” She asked him crossly.

Hearing Athea’s complaint Iane rolled her eyes and walked over to Jenaya. She knelt at her side and gently placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Did you find out what you wanted to know?” Iane asked while she was healing her.

“I’m not sure. Maybe after the ringing sound in my head stops I might be able to see something useful in what I’ve done,” she groaned in response.

Jenaya was warily watching Athea as she came closer until she stood at her side and was looking down at her.

“You wanted it and now I’ll trust you to keep Leandris in check. You’ll be responsible and if something like this happens again, you’ll be the one I am looking for,” Athea stated, glaring at Jenaya before she left again.

Jenaya sighed dejectedly as she watched her leave. “Athea is right, I don’t understand anything, but that realization came a bit too late to prevent the mistake I’ve made. Now I’ll have to live with Athea’s ire and that has to be a very bad thing.”

“Don’t worry too much, you did them a favor and they both know it. Athea and Chaos, they’ve been together for only a few months. That’s not much time for a human and not even a blink of an eye for an immortal. I’m still trying to figure it out myself and can’t explain it to you. Maybe it’s because of her thousand year old bloodline, but I don’t believe it. However, Athea is not a simple human vessel. She was prepared for Chaos. Their merging is almost complete. My sister Ayphera and I, we had a thousand years, but couldn’t do it. My sister’s humanity is just a shadow; worn down, meaningless, nothing more than a manacle tying Domination to this world. Submission, my immortal being, never fought for control over me. I, Princess Iane of Erylaness, a human, was her mistress and until recently there never was anyone else. Now you know my deepest and most guarded secret. It’s not important any longer, because I’ve been made aware of the fact that I wasn’t a satisfying mistress. Now I’ve to live with the consequences of my failure. I can tell you it’s a new and very daunting experience for me. Sorry, I know you can’t possibly understand what I’m rambling about.

You have patiently listened and therefore I owe you a favor in return. Imagine a lion cub, playing, jumping and prancing around the big, lazy Lion King. You have to look at Athea like that and dealing with her will become much easier for you.” Her eyes were sparkling mirthfully as Iane wittily finished her statement.

“Thank you for your advice,” Jenaya haltingly responded, but there was a lot of doubt in her voice and expression.

After Iane healed the damage done to Athea’s body, the group resumed their way to the palace. Coming closer they could see that the palace was now closely surrounded by royal guards and servants were running between and around in every direction. As soon as the guards noticed their group they were surrounded by about a hundred guards and an upset officer approached them.

“The Queen of Ghota has been abducted by a so far unknown ... ehm ... entity. I’m the officer in charge of protecting the royal palace. For the time being no one is allowed to leave or enter it,” the officer informed them.

“Since we’re on palace grounds but not inside the building, what does that mean for us?” Roban asked curiously.

Athea growled at him and took over the talking.

“You can search for your queen all you want, we will just get our luggage and leave Ghota as soon as possible. Your General and army in Paras surrendered to the Norgar Chieftain. That’s the funny man who just asked you a pointless question. Paras is a conquered town and this palace is a part of it. Are we in agreement about that?” Athea asked annoyed.

The officer looked from Athea to Roban, and then back to Athea again. He seemingly couldn’t find what he was searching for and didn’t respond to her question.

“If you would allow me, I think I can help here.” Jenaya offered soothingly and Athea waved her on to continue. “Djornas, send one of your men and get Baron Pulates,” Jenaya told the officer.

He recognized her as his queen’s close friend and harem-overseer, so he nodded and sent a guard to do as Jenaya suggested.

“Pulates is Leandris chancellor, an old family friend and acts for her in her absence. He is stiff and arrogant like all her advisers, but a bit smarter than most of them,” Jenaya explained and Athea indicated her understanding with a gesture.

“They are really good together and it’s time for Athea to have an assistant. Jenaya is surely experienced in handling, let’s say, difficult attitudes. A vampire is also tough and resilient, that will help her survive Zeza’s tantrums. What do you think?” Roban quietly asked Denyssa.

“They didn’t kill each other a few moments ago. That’s a good sign too. If they both are still alive tomorrow morning, you should suggest it,” she replied grinning.

A little while later the guard returned, leading a portly old man of average height. He watched their group critically, but especially Jenaya.

“You’ve obviously quickly found a new employer after your fall from favor with Queen Leandris,” Pulates condescendingly remarked.

“Stiffly and arrogant indeed, I hope your assessment regarding his intelligence proves to be correct as well,” Athea said before responding to Pulates. “I am offering you a sweet deal chancellor. Your army capitulated Paras, but I will give it back for the small price of us collecting our luggage and our undisturbed departure from Ghota as soon as we are aboard our ship. What do you say?” Athea asked him smiling sweetly.

“You don’t possess anything you could offer. You are surrounded by royal guards and only a handful of Norgar survived the battle. We have ten thousand soldiers ready to engage a few miles from here. You were guests and attacked your host. That’s a heinous crime and when we find our Queen, she will want to judge you for it,” Baron Pulates replied hatefully.

“I still think he is smarter than the rest of Leandris’ advisers, but obviously not smart enough. I am sorry Athea,” Jenaya commented sounding dejected, but the next moment her demeanor changed and now she was radiating fury. “Listen carefully Pulates, thousands of Ghota’s soldiers were sacrificed tonight because of Leandris’ blind overestimation of her own power. I have taken Leandris, because she is a danger to Ghota. She is alive and healthy, because she is carrying a child that is valuable to me and to this kingdom. Your hate and stupidity are endangering Ghota anew, but I can’t see any reason to keep you alive as well. I’ll go now to your home and while I’m waiting with your family for your decision about Athea’s gracious proposal, I’ll think about more sacrifices that may have to be made for this kingdom.”