"Nova Wave!"
Carla thrust out her hands and released a wave of red energy. The spell flew outwards and vaporized the three demons that had been advancing on herself, Leeta, Carmen, and Minister Garanna. The Star Sage let her arms drop as turned to look back at her companions. She released a small groan as her left hand met with a patch of black demon blood on the gray robe she was wearing. "This thing protects me from most harm, the least it could do is repel nasty stains too." She took some relief to find that there were no stains on the green blouse and black pants she was wearing underneath her Cool Robe.
The Premier continued to wipe the blood from her robe as she stopped before the kneeling forms of Leeta and Carmen. Carla stopped wiping for a moment and looked down at the body between the two other women. "How is he?" she asked.
Carmen shook her head. "Dead. The demon's claw punctured his heart on the first attack."
Leeta reached over and closed the dead man's eyes with her left hand. "You were a bit stubborn, but you weren't a bad man, Garanna. I will miss you." The Princes rose and looked at Carla. "Are there any more of these out there?" questioned Leeta as she gestured to the corpse of an ape like demon not five feet away.
Carla shook her head. "Not right now, but after the little fire works display I just put on, there will be plenty swarming around this house."
Leeta nodded grimly and picked up her long sword. The Princess looked haggard. Her blue blond hair was matted from sweat and demon blood as were the clothes she was wearing. Tares were visible on her tan pants where a demon had wounded her left leg. Her blue blouse was loose and billowing around her waist. She sheathed the long sword, shrugged on a brown traveling vest, and quickly threw on a gray cloak. "Then let's get out of the city. There isn't anything we can do if we get killed here."
"What about our mounts?" asked Carmen. Her white priestess robes were stained too, but with the blood of the humans she had tried to save.
"Dead most likely," replied Carla.
Carmen also stood. "So what are our options?"
Leeta looked out the window of the house they were hiding in and stared at burning city. "I don't think we can make it through the city without getting killed or having a slave chain thrown around each of our necks." A horrific roar split the air. "And I definitely don't want to run into that."
Carla shuddered as she thought of what was making that roar. "That thing is like no dragon I've ever seen. What kind of dragon has purple, black, and blue scales?"
"I don't know," answered Leeta. "But IÊdo know that its too much for just the three of us to handle alone. We'd need at least one of the boys or Aunt Ruby if we want to challenge that thing." She grimaced as she limped to the window.
"Leeta, you need to let me take a look at that," pleaded Carmen.
"Later," snapped the Princess. "We need to get ourselves and the Goddess' Kiss out of here first." Leeta patted a pocket of her vest when she mentioned the Kiss.
"So, I guess that means a translocation spell," said Carla.
Leeta nodded. "We'll teleport several miles away from the city and make a run for it."
Carmen shook her head. "I don't think that teleporting outside of the city will be good enough. You saw how many monsters were out there. I have a dark feeling that this isn't the only city that's been attacked. What if this army is spread all over this portion of the continent? We wouldn't be able to get very far without being captured or killed."
Carla closed her eyes while Carmen continued speaking. Just a day ago, the three women and the now dead minister had arrived at the city of Rexst, which was deep inside of the Pikrakian borders. Keeping a low profile, the small group had stabled their mounts and taken up rooms at a small inn. Then, early that morning, a wave of darkness descended upon the peaceful city. Monsters of all kinds flowed through the streets killing whole families by the score. Those that weren't killed became slaves. And leading this horrible army, was a dreadful dragon covered in purple and blue scales with a black underside.
"She's right," said Carla finally. She opened her eyes and looked at her friends. "We have to get back inside the Lucitanian borders if we want any kind of safety."
Leeta looked worried. "I don't think that either you nor I could teleport us all that far."
"Maybe not us," said the Premier. She reached inside of her robe and pulled out the Star Crest. "But this can. It'll take a lot of energy, but I think I can pull it off."
Leeta limped back over to Carla and grasped her other hand. "We'll help you," she said simply.
The three women quickly joined hands and began to concentrate. Carla could feel the magic build up between them. Then, ever so gently, she began to tap into the massive power of the Star Crest. The Star Sage could see the starry energy with her mind's eye. It merged with the pooled magic they had all summoned, and there was a quick power surge. That's when she felt the dark awareness.
"I feel something," whispered Carmen through clenched teeth. "I'll try and keep it occupied."
The other two women didn't need to respond. They too felt the darkness begin to search for the source of the previous power surge. A sense of urgency filled Carla, and she started to weave her spell faster. Using her Crest as a foundation, the Sage began to build a sort of magical tunnel stretching from their current location all the way to Lucitania. She could feel Leeta lend her strength in building the tunnel.
"Hurry," urged Carmen. "It's almost on top of us!"
Carla and Leeta had stretched the magic as far as it could go. "I hope that's enough," said the Premier. "Now think of Lucitania! Think of the palace!"
The three friends turned their thoughts to the far away kingdom. Finally, the swirls of teleportation magic began to fly around them. Carla opened her eyes at the last second to see the roof of the house be ripped away by a giant claw. The dragon roared and reached for the three women, but they were already gone.
There was a knocking on the door to the war room. "Yes? What is it?" asked Cole. The Dragonmaster stood poised over a table covered in maps and other war statistics. A timid page entered the room and made a quick bow. Cole raised his head from looking at a current map of the Western continent. "Well?" he said impatiently.
The page looked nervous. "Spit it out, man!" roared Cole. "I don't have all day!"
The other went pale, but he was able to utter his message. "I'm s... s... sorry to disturb you, Dragonmaster, but I have urgent news." He seemed to straighten as he continued to speak. "It appears that the Kingdoms of Pikrak and Tygaul have fallen within a matter of hours."
Cole fell back into his chair and wiped a hand across his face. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Has there been any word on the Princess or her expedition?"
The page shook his head. "They were last known to be in a region past the Kingdom of Pikrak. Since the invasion, all contact inside of Pikrakian territory and beyond it has been cut off." Cole's mood darkened immediately, and the page looked as if he was going to faint.
"You're dismissed," ordered Cole and the page ran from the Dragonmaster's sight.
The green eyed warrior moaned and stared at the papers strewn before him on the table. He had only been back for a little more than a day, and he was already coordinating the defense of the kingdom. Of course this was an important task, but there was another one that he felt deserved his attention more. When he and the Knights had returned the previous day, they had discovered what Leeta and there other women had gone off and done. Cole, Mirage, and Fox wanted to go off and find them. In the end it took Ruby to force the three warriors to stay within the boundaries of Lucitania and help plan for its defense. Cole knew that it was the right thing to do, but he couldn't help but worry about Leeta and the other women. And then there was Argile.
The wound the Black Knight had suffered on his left arm was more serious than any of them had thought. The priests and doctors could do nothing to cure the infection in his arm. The only thing they could do was to keep the infection from spreading to the rest of his body, and then there was only one solution left. The previous night, Argile's left arm, from the elbow down, had been removed. The priests said that the Knight would recover with rest, but that wasn't what Cole was worried about. Argile was a warrior above all else. To a fighting man, the loss of an arm is devastating. No longer would he be able to wield a weapon the same way. His balance in battle would be altered slightly. And worst of all, his morale would be severely hampered.
Cole slammed his fists down on the table in frustration. Leeta and the others were missing, Lucitania was going to be attacked at any moment, Argile was injured in more ways than one, the people were still falling ill from the plague, and now there was the news of Pikrak and Tygaul falling to the Hades Army. He hadn't even had time to change out of his armor since he returned. "You should get a couple of hours sleep," came Ruby's voice from the doorway.
The Dragonmaster looked up and smiled weakly at the Red Dragon. She wore her normal attire and looked just as haggard as he did. "I can't," he said. "I have to oversee the formation of the Second and Third armies. They have to head out to fortify the western borders before noon. Then I have to organize the Fourth and Fifth armies to head north to secure that border. Then I need to send emissaries to the current King of Rourim. We're going to need his help if we want to have a fighting chance. I think that we even need to send word to the Southern kingdoms..."
Ruby cut him off. "Hold on there, Patton." She crossed the room and stood in front of the table. "According to Fox and Mirage, you haven't had any sleep for the past two or three days. And after that little adventure you five had in that place Xobelisk, you should have at least five or six days of rest."
Cole leaned forward, put his elbows on the table and thrust his head into his hands. "Aside from all of this," he gestured to the maps on the table, "I can't get that encounter out of my mind." He looked up at Ruby with unshed tears of frustration in his eyes. "It was me in there, Ruby. It wasn't a doppleganger . That really was... me ." He made a small laugh. "I must be going crazy. I don't understand how this happened."
Ruby didn't move as she spoke. "Yes you do. According to what you told me, there was some sort of imbalance in the space time continuum after old Greeny was sucked into the Eye . That enabled these five doubles to come across some dimensional rift into our world." She started to pace while speaking. "Then they were met by the Demon Dragons and given powers. And now they seek world domination."
Cole shook his head as he rose from his seat. "No, there was something else. I. No. My double said that he was looking for something. A being more power than the gods." He looked Ruby in the eyes. "The master of the Demon Dragons."
Her already pale skin went paler. "My book mentioned something about the master of the Demon Dragons, but only that the Dragons were its minions. That's all."
Then Cole remembered something else. "He's looking for something," he said with the tone of sudden insight.
"How do you know?" asked Ruby.
The Dragonmaster started to scratch his unshaven face. "Before I was confronted, I had a minute to look at some maps on a table. There were maps of the whole world, for the war IÊassumed, but there were several places on each map that were circled. They were like markers for a search." He started to shuffle through t he maps on his desk. He grabbed a map of the Western continent and the Eastern Empire. "I don't remember where the circles in the West were, but I do remember one in the East." He rolled out the map and laid his finger on a mountain range six hundred miles south of the location of Xobelisk.
Ruby peered over his shoulder. "That range is home to the biggest mountains on the Blue Star. The largest is over twenty eight thousand feet tall..." The Dragon looked into Cole's eyes as she came to the same conclusion he had. "The Black Mountain," she said in a whisper, as if the mere mention of that dark place would resurrect Zophar's spirit.
Cole nodded silently. "But why would your double want to find that horrid place again?" asked Ruby.
"I don't know," replied Cole truthfully. "But the fact that he wants to find it, means trouble."
This new discovery left both the warrior and the Dragon silent. Suddenly, there was an urgent knocking at the door. "Come in," said both of them absently.
Mirage burst into the room followed by Fox. Both Knights still wore their own armor and had their weapons strapped or hung at their sides. Neither had anymore sleep than Cole, but they were both full of energy as if they had just spent the last week asleep. "What's got you two so excited?" demanded Ruby.
Both Knights started to babble at a mile a minute. Cole raised his right hand to silence them. "One at a time, guys."
The two Knights looked at each other. "You tell them," said Fox.
Mirage nodded vigorously and looked back at Cole with a huge grin on his face. "Their back!" he said as if it explained the meaning of life.
"Who?" replied Ruby.
"Leeta and the others!" added Fox.
Before their next breath, Cole was running down the hall at full speed with the other three not far behind him.
They exited the tunnel of magic and found themselves directly in the main hall of the palace in Lucitania. Leeta opened her eyes and looked around. A handful of guards, each sporting a spear, had surrounded the three women. As she turned to look a them, the guards' eyes went wide when they realized who they had just raised their spears against. Each guard started to babble apologies, but Leeta just raised her hands to calm them down. "It's all right, gentlemen. You were just doing your jobs, and IÊexpected nothing less of you." She limped forward a bit to get a better view of the hall. "Now, who is the highest ranking soldier among you?"
"I am, my lady," said a fairly large soldier. He had brown hair and eyes and wore the same steel full plate as the other guards, but he also wore a light blue cape which signified him as a lieutenant.
Leeta gave him a warm smile. "I want you and your men to spread the word to the rest of the palace that I have returned. Send word for the Head Priestess and the remaining ministers to meet me in the council chambers."
"Understood," replied the lieutenant. He clicked his heels, bowed, and ran off shouting commands to his men to announce the return of the Princess.
As the guards ran off, several court officials gathered around the Princess and her friends. Each one started to jabber at her about one thing or another, but Leeta didn't hear a single thing they said. All she wanted to do was get the wound on her leg looked at and drop her haggard body into a hot bath. She continued to limp her way towards the Royal chambers with an entourage dogging her every move. Finally, after several graphic threats from Carla, the mass of court officials disappeared suddenly. "Pays to be a bitch sometimes," said Carla with a smirk.
The three women laughed as they walked slowly down the marble hall leading to the western wings of the palace. They entered the main hall of the west wings. Its white marble floors shone with brilliance gained from constant buffing. Multi colored tapestries hung on the walls, which were bathed in sunlight from the large, door sized windows on each side of the room. The three friends made their way towards the staircase leading up to the living quarters when the sounds of hurried foot steps echoed from the hall behind them. Leeta grimaced as she turned to meet the next wave of nagging officials. However, neither she nor the Premier or the priestess were ready for the small group that rounded the corner.
Cole, Mirage, Fox, and Ruby, each one looking just as disheveled as the three women, burst into the room and stopped short a few feet from the Princess. In a mass of joyful tears and shouts, they all fell into each others' arms. If it hadn't been for Leeta's injuries, they all would have been more than happy just to stay in the hall and bask in the joy of the reunion.
A cool night breeze blew in from the open balcony doors. Cole and Leeta lay in their bed under a thin white sheet. The only light in the room was that shed from Lunar as it silently drifted in the heavens. The brick fire place, the purple velvet sitting chairs, the small coffee table, the light blue walls, the dressers, everything in the room had a soft pearl like glow to it. "It's kind of cool in here," said Leeta in a somewhat drowsy voice.
Cole kissed her her forehead and pulled her closer in his embrace. "That's because most of our clothes are on the floor next to the bed," he replied softly.
There was silence for a moment. Leeta finally broke it. "It's hard to believe that there is a war going on out there. That people are dying..."
Cole didn't respond. He just lay there for a minute and stared at the ceiling. "It's all my fault," he murmured.
Leeta raised herself on one elbow and looked at him. "He isn't you," she said flatly. "You cannot be responsible for what he's doing."
He closed his eyes. "Yes. But I could have stopped it. I had the momentary advantage at Xobelisk, but I didn't take it." He released a disgusted sigh. "Instead, I ran like a coward."
The Princess made a huffing sound at him and climbed out of the bed. Wearing only an oversized white shirt she walked around to his side of the bed to stand over the Dragonmaster. "No you didn't run like a coward. You did the right thing as a leader. One of your friends, Argile, was hurt beyond anything either you or the other Knights could do for him. You got him out of danger and probably saved his life."
Cole didn't open his eyes. "Still, war will be coming to Lucitania, and I could have stopped it."
Leeta choked back a retort and stormed off into her closet. Cole opened his eyes and looked in her direction. Minutes later, she came back into the room with her hair in a pony tail and wearing a sleeveless, flowing white dress with silver trimming. Her pendant hung around her neck and there was something clutched in her right hand. Cole propped himself up on his elbows. "Where are you going?"
She stopped at the door to the hall outside and looked over her shoulder. "I'm going down to the temple to meet with the Head Priestess. With a little luck we can unlock the power of the the Kiss of Althena and cure this plague caused by the Demon Dragons." Her eyes narrowed as she continued speaking. "If you can stop feeling sorry for yourself, I'll see you there." She slammed the door on her way out.