The Champion's Companion Ch. 14

She liked the effect. The gauntlet felt comfortably heavy. Similar magic to what she saw in Lourndai kept her weapons clean and sharp. The articulated joints were extremely maneuverable. She waited patiently and thought of the jewelry her angels would wear. She decided on some weapons they would have in common.

A ring on her index finger actuated a free wielded, razor sharp, dagger of black poisoned obsidian. The weapon was made intentionally to shatter like dust in its victims and it would reform limitlessly in her hand so long as there was dirt nearby. Its shape was crude and unfinished despite it's extremely shape edges. The girls all agreed the weapon was the best for their fighting style.

Finally, on her right index finger she made a ring to call Lourndai. She found it wouldn't form properly until the two made contact. It stayed as a black smudge on her finger like a tattoo, or a buildings frame waiting to be raised. The girls got rings that called their specialty swords and imbued them to become permanently sharper and stronger like Lourndai.

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The little angels in prison were not getting the reception Mara had hoped for. The men seemed oddly wary of them. Rinis sat staring blankly ahead, Ein talked to a wall designing fantasy armor, and Mara paced with her robe and pants off trying to jiggle up the next meal.

When they first came in a big brute came up and grabbed Mara. She smiled at him sweetly as he stripped her and tossed her roughly onto her back. His cock nudged her insides and she squeezed him in.

From the man's perspective, everything went white after that in a pure orgasm unrestricted for eternity.

The rest of them heard the abrupt snapping and popping of his back and shattered hips. To make matters more confusing he fell gasping as if he was just tired in a very lifelike death rattle. The other prisoners quickly realized big Jorn did more then blow himself early over some 'grade A fine pooz'. The men watched the girls warily after that sitting huddled together whispering to each other in a far corner.

The girls had little black smudges on their hands when booms and explosions started. The guards rushed out and shouted down in confusion. Mara dressed quietly, disappointed and a little miffed. Rinis got up also and walked to the door. Ein pulled out a needle like dart triumphantly as Mara rolled her eyes. She tumbled the lock and opened the door after the panicked guards left. The three each drew their preferred blades of engagement, and advanced along the block heading to Kaarthen, collecting souls along the way.

Rinis moved in front with armored arms and legs, her specialty sword was drawn before her. Mara stood touching her hips with two daggers double fisted, her head stayed in motion swiveling around for a target to charge. Ein was completely armored and walked alone to their left keeping their blind side clear.

Upstairs, Kaarthen was out of the suddenly uncomfortably rickety chair, and pacing and trying to decide what to do. She wanted to see what she could learn if someone came in and questioned her since Marcos could use the information. However, the Goddess was aware Marcos had just killed two people and three more were about to die by fire from his hand. Kaarthen and the Goddess wanted to immediately prosecute targets for her waist chain. Kaarthen also wanted to test out her new toys.

The materialization of her fanciful imagination had devastated the once elegant room around her. The armor and weapons had consumed most of the chair, turned her throwing knives into darts, turned the chandelier into a tangled glittery ball, made puddles of china and sterling vases like half-melted ice, and eaten away some pieces of furniture.

As she paced mulling over whether to play the prisoner or start tossing bodies a voice cut through.

A blond leading the king's sullen brunette and redhead came in. "Thank goodness nothing happened to you Sister. I only just now heard a Head Sister came into the city." The blond kneeled and behind her, the confused women bowed their heads after a moment. "I'm here to get you out. I'm from Dar Delis." She said as if it meant Kaarthen was home free. The goddess told her the name of this randomly helpful soul.

Kaarthen cleared her throat. "Sister Dellin, I am on a mission still. The Queen will be installed and this is only the first stage."

Double doors flew open behind her and without looking Kaarthen reached back and tossed a dart into the servant's neck as he tried to close the doors behind him. He fell paralyzed and suffocated slowly on his own blood.

Kaarthen continued. "In several moments, my traveling sisters will be here. If you are prepared to leave, we will take you to the stables where you can get to the harbor quickly."

The sister continued. "Yes Head Sister, but this city is about to blow, someone just hit the..."

"Guild headquarters, yes we know." Kaarthen said testily. Outside the girls were cutting through Palace like they were running down hill with the wind at their backs. "It was ahead of schedule, but they acted first. The girls are here you may want to move."

Behind them, the hall sounded like a room quietly eating dinner. The sound of metallic clangs weren't like loud sword fighting but rather like subdued quick scrapes of metal on a plate or brushing stone. Frequently, the clatter of dropped weapons on the stone floor of the hallway was heard. That particular noise was troubling for them to understand since they knew most of the wide hallway outside was carpeted. The odd noises grew slightly louder as they listened, but they were definitely getting closer.

The doors behind them burst open suddenly with the weight of a mostly intact body. Three tiny messengers of death came up and stepped over the carcass into the room. The view of the hall through the doors behind them was vastly different scene then what the four saw coming up. Blood and broken bodies littered the landing in front of the door.

Except for Mara, everything on or around them was coated in obscene layers of splashed blood. Only Mara's arms up to her elbows were dripping blood. She had been maneuvering and stabbing her targets gleefully.

The two groups of women looked critically at each other. "Well lead the way," Sister Dellin said finally.

Half the path they took to the stables was over the carnage in the wide hall. The direction the girls came from wasn't very clear because partial remains and broken bodies lined the walls and spread along the floor all the way up and down the hallway. Short tables, pictures, mirrors, and curtained windows dripped with fresh crimson lacquer.

Rinis and Ein strode in front of the group confidently while Kaarthen strode up the rear. Mara disappeared from sight up ahead. The women were surprised to turn corners or pass rooms and see her put the final touches on a guard or servant. It seemed she wanted to add shock value by popping out over an unsuspecting guard and mercilessly stab and slice him to the ground as they came into view turning corners or passing doorways.

As they came down the wide stairs at the entrance, Mara rejoined them and bounced along goose stepping next to Kaarthen. The party exited the open entranceway to find the rest of the Palace in communications break down and in complete uninformed disarray. Many people were not aware of the carnage inside as they watched in wonder the nearby burning guild headquarters. Kaarthen had them quickly sheathe their weapons and move quickly around the crowd.

The Duchess was the ranking person and stood in a shiny chest plate over a purple leather-riding outfit with a jeweled sword on her belt. Despite what she thought of the situation, a show must be made about not giving up her place in line. As the head of house for a royal family, anyone attacking the king had to get through her. She looked out over the city with five armored guards in matching purple, white, black, and gold uniforms.

The color scheme was different but Kaarthen was surprised that out here someone wore Menthino's colors unwittingly. Her party got odd looks as they trooped past from those not facing outwards looking at the ominous pillar of smoke.

Kaarthen's angels were the only ones dripping blood. Everyone else around them was dressed for crisis but didn't know what was happening. None of them knew the Dark Mother's three hands had just seized what they could inside.

"Is someone attacking the palace?" The Duchess asked turning to look at them at the behest of a growing crowd shifting their attention to them.

"Yes, we ran into craven assassins in there." Kaarthen lied. "Form up a supported armored company before entering, but move quickly to catch the murderers." She added confusing them with two mutually exclusive orders. She hustled the group along and had the girls prepare their distance weapons. Incase they randomly stumbled upon their secret.

She didn't have to worry, instant confusion and chaos broke out behind them as the crowd reconnected themselves to the world and learned of the situation inside. Orders were shouted and rescinded. People ran in to check and out to alert.

They scurried through the chaos around the back of Palace's north wing to the stables. The wide long stables sat along the back of the palace wing. In it, Kaarthen had a saddle boy stop gawking at them and saddle their horses. She found Lourndai missing among the baggage. This confused her since she had just seen it here. She turned.

"Where's the..." She was stopped by the Goddess and looked down. Below them, clear as day to her, the treasure of the city had been collected.

She turned to the women and stable boy. "You can all go. Please have pleasant trip." She said flatly.

"What? I..." A knife thrown to the stable boy's throat caught him by surprise. A slash under his arm and between his ribs and he died choking on his own blood despite being able to breath out of his armpit.

The women mounted and rode out looking at her oddly. They didn't hide feelings of uncertainty and dubiousness at her actions. Behind them, Kaarthen was already working sweeping out old hay from a unique, wide, and empty stall bearing the royal seal. Under an old layer of hay, a door was found. Kaarthen pulled it open and found herself in the royal secret tunnel.

She dropped down and found herself in an underground tunnel. It seemed an orgy room, everywhere women's under things and accessories were scattered by frantic lovemaking. The king or someone, had been bringing women to the secret location. They must have showed off the royal horde to get a rise before shagging their dazzled dame.

A heavy wood door at one end of the short tunnel led to the palace, another similar door led to the treasure room she had been standing over. She called for Ein to come down and had Rinis and Mara close, lock, and guard the stable.

Kaarthen knew time was short once the stable closed. People would try to force themselves in eventually since horses are a big part of what the city does. The royal stable had two hundred stalls and held valuable product perhaps worth what was to be found below. Kaarthen would set fire to it all and reenter the palace if necessary.

The treasure room door oddly wasn't locked which made her curious about what the room was the tunnel' other end went to. The room had a low ceiling with many old black thick timber beams. The area was roughly the size of the stable above. Yellow light from the stable above illuminated the place. Up top, the stalls were well lit while the stable's interior was less luminous. Down here was obvious why, snorting horses and displaced strands of straw fell from above as the horses hid the secret of this place. Kaarthen hoped her sword hadn't been pissed on.

Inside the treasure room were trinkets of unimportance covered in dust, possibly from when the city was an island a few thousand years ago. Kaarthen walked further and found that a majority of it all was recently placed. The king had seized one fifth of all assets of the guild and placed it all here it seemed. Among the things, she saw one thing that made the goddess focus her as she paused.

A pile of statues and effigies to the Dark Mother were dropped and broken in a large pile. Shine and glitter drew her eyes into it. An old gift from neighboring Dar Delis to Sellis was here. It was an old realistic miniature statue of the death aspect with mithril chain mail. She touched the metal looking at the signature of it written by the gods and before her eyes, it pulsed and extended becoming many times its size.

It grew from being a pretty bracelet to something she could wear. In an instant, the change happened with a whirl wind of changes to key parts of the pieces signature. She actuated it into a necklace and picked it up to look at. Its weight was feathery and pleasant. As a necklace, it still shined with the brilliant radiance of mithril.

As she sat wondering over the divine gift, Ein snooped and found Lourndai. Once in Kaarthen's hand her spell of bonding merged magic and her ring actuated on her right hand. Now with little thought she could actuate Lourndai from thin air by calling it from wherever it was just like the girls with their swords.

Kaarthen moved out of the room feeling suddenly closer to the goddess. With the mithril, she felt much better then with the gauntlet or Lourndai could do for her despite knowing it was mundane compared to the two.

Kaarthen couldn't tell if the other things in the room were really of value. She was annoyed no chests of gold and jewels were found.

She had the girls open the stable doors and come down. Together they opened the door into the palace but found a simple storage room on the other side.

Kaarthen led them back up to the stable. She had Mara open the stable doors and hide the stable boy's body. Ein and Rinis dumped their bloody clothes in a water trough. Kaarthen never realized importance of quick clean material but when they pulled them back out, they were passable. The edges of the splatters had dried creating subtle patterns, but the rest washed out. The women wore them wet and packed up to move out.

Kaarthen had a faint idea where they would strike next.

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Marcos and the Queen reached the harbor within less than an hour by following the canal. He was able to find the captain of the detachment and ready his men quickly. The plan he needed was for the men to find carts hide their armor and sneak into the city in small groups.

He turned around and was back off to the capital to make a formal declaration without even getting off the horse.

The city gate was as crowded as usual getting into the city. He noted the bored and inattentive guards and breathed relief. His invasion depended on these unprofessional guardians of the city.

He moved with the flow of the crowd as he got higher on the hill the energy of the city could be felt. The headquarters of most of the cities workers was burning. The Palace was unresponsive it seemed. He continued up and as he got to the Senate he found the towering head and shoulders of Kaarthen moving through the crowds.

"Why hello sisters." Marcos called out once getting next to them.

"Marcos, they tried to arrest us." Kaarthen said and looked at the Queen before continuing. "We did some sad things and escaped. We may not be allowed back in there."

"So where are you going now?" Marcos asked.

"To the ambassador's residence to wait for you." Kaarthen said pointing.

"Well woman, you're going the wrong way." He said and looked up. "Follow us to the senate up a head." He looked back at the Queen. "Get us a covered carriage back to the Palace after this"

The senate house was full with the day's excitement. They expected a Queen's abdication and exile or execution today. The King was surprised at Marco's arrival. When the Queen moved in unannounced and sat, he looked truly confused and waved over several aides.

The Queen stopped the proceedings and called Marcos before the court.

"Lord Panthi, for the short time Menthino has been an ally your country has done much good." A murmur arose around them. "Your assistance has been balancing a time of uncertainty here. We have heard of a recent decision regarding our relationship and trade in Mavvus I hope this court can hear it."

Marcos spoke his piece of political theater clearly for the politicians in back. "Highnesses, Members in equal standing of the court, Menthino has decided it will cease trade relations with Sellis during this time of emergency." A furor arose behind him at the words. He waited until things quieted. "Unfair trade practices are cited but general diplomatic cooling is creating an unworkable environment."

The Queen quieted them and spoke. "Perhaps, Lord Panthi, our guild can speak to your fears."

"Perhaps but I have not seen a representative the whole time I've been in the city." Marcos shouted for effect. "If your serious then I need to meet, or whatever trade controlling body needs to meet me before I leave to advise my Crown." He hoped that was clear enough.

"You can decide now?" The Queen pushed.

"Yes Highness, with the proper discussion your city won't lose a trade that could disassemble your magnificent horse trading industry." Marcos gestured.

"Excellent news." She said bouncing back and sitting up in her chair. She turned to address the pale sickly King. "Can we arrange a meeting for this important discussion?" The Queen suggested.

"Aaa...Of course." He sputtered sounding unsure.

He was pasty and sweating again. He looked weak in these halls but boisterous when outside. Marcos noticed a lead advisor not in the party last night. He had a trimmed beard and seemed confident enough to look Marcos in the eye. Rings of gold were on his hands and a circle necklace was worn about his shoulders. His shirt seemed to be silk. Marcos figured that would be his next target for questioning.

"Well then, since you are leaving so soon we hope you can have a meeting tonight. Lord Panthi please have a safe trip." The Queen finished and rose.

Marcos turned and left to walk back past the angry glares of impotent men who voted away their powers.

Marcos walked into the antechamber and saw Kaarthen and her girls looking inconspicuous as they thumbed their weapons in the back of the room.

The Queen came out after a few moments. Outside the doors opened as the large enclosed carriage rolled up. Two maidens bustled out quickly rushing to the Queen.

"Highness a terrible thing has happened. The Palace was under attack!" A brunette squealed

The Queen whitened. As they came up to her. "Oh my how are the girls?"

"We made it fine hiding in a closet. The screams will make it hard to sleep." She sobbed.

The Queen turned to Marcos. "I must be available for my country. Once I have the palace situation controlled I will send word to the ambassador's residence." She turned quickly and left with the maiden in tow.

"Perhaps we could watch her." Kaarthen suggested.

"No, appearing weak is much worse than appearing slightly out of control for a moment. What happened? You were there weren't you? Did you see anything?" He questioned Kaarthen as they moved to the carriage.

"They tried to arrest us. I found the treasure room as we tried to escape and found this." Kaarthen actualized and displayed her gauntlet, weapons, and mithril chain mail once she got into the carriage.

"Sellis has treasure like that?" Marcos stared at each item. "And, you found it breaking out of prison? Let me guess, I bet the door was unlocked?" He joked leaning back.

Around them, the city started moving as the carriage moved out and turned into the street traffic.

"Yes actually." Kaarthen said making him snap up. "Several discarded small pants and decorative hair ties were on the ground too. Well the outer door to the escape tunnel wasn't, but the escape hatch to the stables was so yes actually, the door was unlocked."