Blazing Glory Ch. 08

"Please forgive my intrusion," the man said with a respectful bow, "But I come bearing important news from Stavros."

Five sets a beautiful female eyes widened with hope and rapt attention upon hearing this. Rae smiled inwardly. Of course Stavros would have been informed about what happened and would try to do something to help.

"Firstly, Stavros commends the drowess Rae on her miraculous healing of Blaze, saving him from certain death and ensuring this chance," he said with a bow of his head to Rae. Death's Mistress simply smirked in return at the compliment to her superb skills. Seeing Kendra about ready to leap from the bed and shake the daylights out of him to get the rest of the information, the man quickly stammered out the rest. "Stavros says to quickly take Blaze into the eastern forests of Solomon. There you will find a woman called the Silver Enchantress and she may be able to cure the curse upon him. But she is Blaze's only chance."

All four women of Blaze's group shared one look of understanding before they all became a whirlwind of packing everything up. Kiora rushed the messenger outside along with her to order the city guard to bring preparations. By the time they had all packed up their belongings in their travel packs, Kiora had returned with ten other armed volarian guards. They were all pleased to see that Kiora and her comrades had brought the necessary supplies along with two litters.

'The quickest way we're going to get there is to fly obviously," Kiora stated as they left the inn for city gates. "With few rests and hard flying, we should be able to reach the Enchantress's woods in two days."

They set out ringed by the guards, soaring towards the massive mountains they had hiked down from not just a few days before. Kendra insisted on taking the lead of the litter carrying Blaze with Tyra supporting the other end. Nadine and Rae were forced to be passengers carried on the other litter and passed the time switching places to Blaze's litter when the fliers rested.

The young human warrior continued to suffer and scream from time to time. Nadine and Rae did their best to give him herbs and fluids to try to help him fight the curse. When their height increased and temperature dropped, they covered him with blankets. Tirelessly they flew through the mountain passes and canyons towards their destination with Kendra setting a relentless pace. But none complained, eager to get Blaze to this sorceress to help him.

As the sun began to touch the western horizon, the group exited the lower foothills of the mountains to find them flying over a sea of spruce and leaves. A massive forest as far as the eye could see spread out before them. It went on without end amongst the hilly landscape. The tired group of flying travelers found a small open glen almost an hour later to land in. Kiora quickly dispatched her guards the check the surrounding woods and eradicate any monster or potential threat.

Turning back to the other women, the avatar managed a weak smile with hope filling it. "We are close to where the Silver Enchantress lives. You should be able to find her if you travel to the northwest by about half a day on foot."

"You're not coming with us, Kiora?" Tyra said with a frown, quickly understanding the meaning behind Kiora's words.

The dove-winged beauty shook her head and ran her fingers through her blonde hair as she looked about for her guards to return. "No. I fear we can't stay. The attack on Blaze and me is just a prelude of what is to come. I need to get back to my people and help them prepare for the coming onslaught from Koas's forces."

While understanding her reasons perfectly, none of the four women seemed altogether comfortable with Kiora and her comrades leaving. It wasn't just the added protection, but that Kiora had become an invaluable friend to them over the last week. They were surprised when Kendra rose and left the ailing Blaze's side to walk over to the avatar. In what had to be a first in a world descending into chaos, the demoness embraced the angel-like beauty and whispered her thanks for all the servant of Stavros had done for them. Kiora blushed at first but soon returned the hug with a small smile.

Wiping a tear from her eyes, Kiora was aware of her own guard troop returning. All reported the area was clear and quiet; all volarians safely returned and accounted for. With the exchange of farewells and promises to meet again in the coming future, Kendra and the others were left watching the volarians fly away towards the mountains and the land beyond that they called home. The exhausted women soon set up camp for the evening and a watch over Blaze in tending to him as darkness of night draped across the sky. Though try as they might, they couldn't get much sleep even if there had been the absence of Blaze's occasional moans and screams...

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Darkness had long since settled upon the isolated structure in the low valley surrounded by forbidding mountains. Though easily dwarfed by the mounds of rock that surrounded it, the structure was large and impressive in its own right. Towering above the forest canopy in its multiple levels, the edges of the building curling upwards towards the sky in the traditional way of its people. Smaller buildings of stables, supply storage and other necessities surrounded it. Open spaces of various sizes dotted the complex between these structures. In the darkness of night, the mist of the many marshes in the valley began to rise and partially cloak the complex in its gloomy light. It suited a ninja clan's headquarters quite well.

Kalei Miakoda stared down at her hard earned success with pride. She was a beautiful woman of Shoushan descent. But she did not have the startling looks of vivid color like her own sister Nariko. A fact her older sister liked to point out quite often. But men still fell for her from her looks just as often as they did from her shuriken. Her intense large eyes of purple glanced over to her mirror in thought.

Long black hair cascaded down her back. She loved her long hair even though her older sister made fun of it growing up and bragged about her own shorter blue hair being better. Kalei couldn't disagree more. Long hair signified that she was a woman, a girl no longer. Nariko looked still like a child much at times. Pulling her long hair over her shoulder to run her fingers through it, she caught a glimpse of her more personal look she liked. With her nightgown baring her back alluringly, she could see her clan symbol tattooed on her upper back.

But what drew the eye more was the snake head right above it. Had she been fully nude, it would lead the eye on a wonderful journey following the snake's long body all about her own firm and beautiful physique. It was her pride that she lorded over Nariko as she knew it angered her sibling. Her older sister obviously envied the beautiful detail of it but would never give in to getting a tattoo. Doing such would allow Kalei a victory over her.

Kalei smiled though as she noticed those bright orange eyes glancing at her back even now with jealousy. "Come on! Out with it sis," she sighed eventually, looking over to Nariko sitting on her own bed. "I want to know why you're here. You've never come to visit before and out of the blue you just appear and ask for asylum."

It had been more than a surprise actually. Even though they still maintained warm feelings of being sisters, the rivalry between them had continued to escalate until Kalei finally got fed up. She left her family clan to start her own clan of ninja. But her Yamakagashi Clan maintained good relations with the Miakoda Clan. Yet in all that time since her sister had become the leader of the family clan, she had not come to see her little sister once. In times when Kalei stopped by, Nariko was either away or too busy to see her.

"You've been here more than a week," she continued on when her stubborn 'guest' said nothing. "Clearly you're hiding from something or someone!"

Nariko stiffened and shot her a hot glare. "Fine twerp! You always pestered me growing up and obviously you'll never change. I might as well tell you so you can shut up about it!"

Stiffening herself, Kalei bit her tongue to hold back the rebuke she wanted to lash out with. Turning about, the dark-haired ninja woman leaned against the window and looked to her older sister. This was something she didn't want to miss a word of!

"I was given a mission from Koas to take out a man by the name of Blaze," her older sister began with a sullen scowl. "She tried to warn me of the capabilities of him and his female friends, but I didn't think it would be that much trouble. I found out the hard way I was wrong. His gargoyle companion intercepted my poison dart that I shot at him."

Kalei's purple eyes opened wide. A gargoyle for a companion? Who was this Blaze? Nariko shook her head at the memory of it and continued. "My ninja squad attacked instantly with a few acting to distract the other females while we dispatched him. Damn it! You should have seen how Blaze tore through my ninjas with his swords! They looked like amateurs compared to him! I was going to step in to finish the job myself when his pet lycan bitch showed up to help."

The head of Yamakagashi Clan couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nearly a whole squad of ninja taken out by a single man? If she couldn't believe what she was hearing, she certainly couldn't believe what she was seeing. Nariko hugged her arms about herself as she shivered visibly, eyes closed in the memory of what she had seen.

"And then there was the leather wearing woman coming towards us, his last companion," she said with a haunted voice. "The men that attacked her lay behind her... broken... torn apart even! No human could have done what I saw. And those eyes... Those green eyes... I saw my death assured within them, Kalei. I was alone and outnumbered. So I had to flee...."

Kalei was beginning to wonder if the world was finally coming to an end. Her sister sat before her completely undone. Her sister had been defeated and failed her mission. Worst of all, she had had to run for her life while bearing the shame. Not worst of all, she corrected herself. The worst was that Nariko had failed Koas and she now knew her older sister was hiding from the goddess's wrath.

She could only shake her head in disgust. That was one of the main differences between her and her older sister. Nariko served Koas. Kalei served no one but herself and those she was responsible for here in her home. Nariko lived for the assassin's kill and found much in such employment through the evil goddess. But she felt differently.

Ninja were not simply cold blooded assassins! Though the job sometimes required kills, the art of the true ninja was protection, infiltration and information gathering for the clan or paying clients. When she saw Nariko leading her family clan down a path of blood, she knew she had to follow her own vision and code of honor. The path her older sister had taken would only lead her to her own destruction. Now it looked as if that was truly going to come to fruition.

"If you can believe it, the bastard even chased me under the city," Nariko spat angrily, quivering in anger now. "I nearly lost him to in the underground until I came upon two dark pointy-eared rats! I killed the one and was just about to kill the female who looked to be an assassin herself. Then Blaze surprised me from behind and I barely made it out of there."

"You attacked the drow!" Kalei snapped angrily. "Are you insane, sister!? Are you trying to start a war between ninja and drow? We already walk a fine line with them! A war would cost both sides heavily with no end ever in sight!"

Nariko bounded off the bed furiously and stomped over to Kalei. "Those drow are vile dogs! Scum! They have no right to call themselves true assassins!" Nariko spat and shook her fist in Kalei's face. "So don't you DARE lecture me on the drow! If I had it my way, all the clans would have long since been at war with the pointy-eared rats and rid this world of their filthy existence!"

Her older sister's level of hatred towards the dark elves surprised Kalei. She herself wasn't too fond of them and their culture. But she at least harbored a healthy respect for drow enough to not meddle with them. But the Yamakagashi clan leader stood her ground before her infuriated sister and silently gazed into the other's maddened eyes. The intense silence worked as Kalei expected and cooled Nariko's temper in the passing minutes.

Nariko frowned and turned around to stalk over toward the shadowy doorway as if looking like she wanted to leave and be rid of her little sister's presence. The older ninja woman stopped and remained there quietly for the next few minutes. Kalei stood where she was, waiting patiently for what was to come.

"I don't know what is in store for me in the near future, Kalei," Nariko said sadly with a rueful shake of her head. She looked over her shoulder to the younger woman with those bright orange eyes and a small smile. "Just know that whatever happens, I'm proud of you little sis. You've built a fine clan from the ground up."

Kalei smiled genuinely and winked, "I love you, too, big sis."

"I know you do. And I love you, twerp!" Nariko returned the wink with a small grin. Both sisters shared a rare moment together of sibling love as they gazed at one another.

A hand shot out from the shadows and seized Nariko by the throat tightly, forcing a pained gasp from her older sister. Kalei barely had time to get over her shock and cry out the alarm before her sister was lifted effortlessly off the ground and wrenched into the darkness. Not caring that she was unarmed, Kalei ran over to where her sister was.

But to her despair, her sister and the attacker were not there. Kalei only found the flickering shadows from the candlelight flames....

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Her green emerald eyes watched the sky turn from a murky black filled with diamonds to a deep blue of the sea before changing fully into the bright blue of a new day. Kendra hadn't gotten much sleep during the night as she lay next to her ailing lover. His fidgeting and occasional howl of agony was enough to keep any person from sleeping. Yet she remained by his side, sensing that somehow her presence provided him strength, even if it was small in measure.

As she rose from her place by his side, she noted that her movements already roused the others from their troubled rest. Staring at the sunshine beginning to filter through the forest gloom with beams of light, she felt the determination to find this Silver Enchantress this very day. Call it woman's intuition, but the determination she felt was fueled by the very feeling that this was Blaze's last day and he could hold on no longer.

"Tyra, you're coming with me," she said to the others who were still waking and beginning to dress themselves. The guardian blinked and nodded slowly in mild confusion. "Rae and Nadine, I'm sorry but we're going to have to leave you behind to follow us north. We need all the speed we can muster and can't do so by hanging back to allow you to keep up."

Nadine nodded in understanding. Rae snorted and crossed her arms beneath her breasts, eventually giving her consent grudgingly. Leaving their few belongings of little importance for them to carry, Kendra and Tyra moved swiftly to the litter carrying Blaze. The powerful demoness and gargoyle lifted him effortlessly before leaping into the sky together. The sun greeted both fliers on the horizon as they broke from the forest canopy and headed northwest.

Both women said nothing to each other the entire time. They knew that there was no point in words at that time. Instead they focused on flying together in unison so as not to lose control of the litter and keep their eyes scanning around the woods below for any sign of the sorceress. Kendra was both thankful and cursing the silence as the air rushed by them. The quiet had a soothing calm to it, but she hated its tendency to make her mind wander into thoughts. Such thoughts as in losing Richard.

Shaking her head quickly, her green gaze returned to studying the way north ahead of them. They had been flying for no more than an hour when Kendra spotted it. She had nearly overlooked it at first and wouldn't have seen it for a while longer had she not been concentrating. A small thin tendril of smoke snaked and coiled about itself as it reached upwards. In the vastness of these forests, it was the only sign of habitation. It had to be her!

Kendra looked behind her and signaled to Tyra where they needed to head towards. The guardian was already one step ahead of her and nodded. Both women banked gently to the left until they were heading directly towards the smoke. Flying with renewed vigor at the sight of their goal within reach, they arrived quickly within the vicinity.

To her disgruntlement, the succubus could see no clearing for them to land in. Apparently the Silver Enchantress liked to live deeply entrenched in the forest. Tyra quickly pointed out a narrow gap in the trees in which they could land. With a few annoying scratches from some branches, they managed to get through to ground safely without disturbing Blaze that much. Kendra and Tyra immediately started walking north while carrying their wounded companion. Even though they had lost sight of the smoke now, they had sharp memories and knew their bearings enough to know where they were going.

Kendra felt her heart swell with cautious hope as small cabin came into view through the tree trunks. It was a small structure with a single chimney. Surrounding it were various gardens filled with vegetables, herbs, and flowers. It certainly had the look of a home to someone who practiced magic and healing.

They had found the Silver Enchantress who would cure her Richard of this evil curse destroying him. Kendra's jaw tightened as they drew closer to the cabin. The sorceress will help him. Or else Kendra would kill her....

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Death's Mistress sighed in anger over having to be left behind. She was forced to admit that the succubus had been right. Flight was certainly a lot quicker than being on foot. But the famous assassin didn't like being away from her Patron while he was ill. She could feel her icy friend Death was searching for her lover at this very moment and was drawing near. When he found Blaze, she wouldn't be there to be able to stop him from being claimed. She doubted she could stop Blaze's death even if she were there.

Never before had she felt such a limit on her own power. She always believed her potential boundless. Rae believed that the powers of the drow were supreme and undefeatable through the training she had received. That belief had run head long into a wall. Now she was no longer sure about her abilities being so limitless. It was a feeling she didn't like one vithing bit!

Moving north, both she and the catwoman walked solemnly amongst the trees and root riddled ground. Neither said a word to each other. They were like their two flying friends in determination to reach this Silver Enchantress as soon as possible. Rae wanted to be there to witness how this sorceress could supposedly do what she herself could not. That or at least be by her Patron's side when he died. Pain tore through her at that thought and she quickly brushed that thought out of her mind. She wouldn't lose Blaze like she had lost Raviv! Whether she liked it or not, she wanted this woman to succeed where she had failed.

Rae stopped dead cold in her tracks. Nadine stumbled behind the drowess to prevent from walking into the dark elf having stopped so abruptly. The catwoman mewed softly in aggravation and about asked why the sudden halt before Rae silence her with a hand signal. In the forest quiet, there were soft sounds of everyday life of insects to the tree branches swaying. But Rae knew what she had heard and listened with her keen pointed ears. Then she heard it again as she suspected. The sharp yet small snap of a twig breaking from being stepped on. Even Nadine's cat ears twitched in catching the sound.