Drow's Dilemma Ep. 149: Trained

Ashyr fought harder and better than she ever had in her life. The movement between drow and valkyrie was difficult to track without magically enhanced eyes.

"It's going to be soon," Aster said in an awed whisper. "She barely looks conscious."

A wild fervor had overtaken Ashyr. Though she fought with astounding speed and aptitude, there was something off about her expression. Redspear became visibly excited and unleashed everything she had been holding back. Ashyr met the challenge wonderfully, though she was forced to go on the defensive. The Duskhaven in this state had more focus than the captain of the valkyries, however. All it took was one slip of concentration. One moment where Ashyr had the upper hand.

The dark elf screamed and was dark elf no more. Raven's wings burst from her back in a splatter of blood. Her skin went from charcoal to obsidian black. Her tangled white hair became smooth, beaten platinum. Even her body grew larger and more perfect.

The crowd erupted into pandemonium. A battle scream ripped from both Ashyr and Redspear. But no new valkyrie was a match for an old captain. Redspear recovered from her disadvantage and quickly subdued Ashyr. She held her in an iron lock facing out towards the crowd.

Over the dark valkyrie's shouts of protest, Redspear made an announcement that boomed across the crowd. "I present to you: Ashyr the Obsidian!"

The cheers and applause went on for quite a while. Caleldir and the others made their way through the crowd to the side of the ring, Caleldir waving Ashyr over. Hlara didn't let her go, however, until she stopped struggling. When Ashyr calmed down, the Captain pushed her over to the waiting crowd. Hlara followed closely behind her.

"That was an incredible display!" Caleldir congratulated her. "How do you feel about becoming the world's first dark valkyrie?"

"You look radiant!" Althaia complimented.

Coppereyes looked Ashyr up and down approvingly. "I look forward to completing my own magical upgrades."

"I want to fight," Ashyr growled, a bit wild-eyed. "Fight and Fuck like I never have."

"All the young ones are like this. We usually do this in pairs and let them roll around for a while after. We had to make a special exception here," Hlara explained. "Your whole retinue will have to step in as her partner. Be prepared for a wild night."

"So... a relatively normal night?" Althaia giggled. "Right, Caleldir?"

"Yeah," Caleldir said dryly. "But with much more focus on Ashyr."

The group was interrupted by a valkyrie horn of alarm signifying that a possible enemy was incoming. The Valkyries immediately went on guard and started organizing into units.

A huge winged woman with bone-white skin and features of flaming, blackly sulfurous blue, wearing the Valkyrie's style of armor, landed gracefully onto the field of battle, looking up at the small army of Valkyries without fear. "Valkyries of Frejya and Mercenaries of the Gods!" the woman boomed out. "I am Ceuphaera the Sulphurous Solar! Surely there are those among you who remember me, oh my distant kinsfolk?"

"Fighting her might also be a good way for Obsidian here to unwind," Hlara said in a low tone, looking up at the blue and white woman with excitement. "I have heard your name, Solar! You are quite the impressive, tragic figure! What do you want with my citadel?!"

"I am searching for the last of the true Duskhavens and their immediate allies!" Ceuphaera declared. "The one who freed me wishes to test House Duskhaven to see if it is worthy!"

"A worthy task, then!" Hlara responded seriously. "Shall we set up a battle zone?"

"I am glad the honor of the Valkyries remains unchanged," Ceuphaera said sincerely. "If the Duskhavens do not choose to flee once again, I will be glad to face them on the field of your choosing. But be warned: if they are unworthy, my mistress intends for the House to finally perish, and so I will show no mercy."

"That sounds reasonable. You can fight on that lower peak over there," Hlara said, pointing to a smaller mountain that appeared more jagged than the surrounding mountains. Epic battles had been fought there before. "Do you mind a handful of onlookers? We are eager to see how Duskhaven performs!"

"I do not mind an audience, so long as they do not interfere dishonorably," the fallen solar replied.

Hlara Redspear gave her a flat look but did not dignify that comment with a response. Of course they would not interfere dishonorably.

Caleldir stepped up towards her. "So... Ceuphaera? Who counts as Duskhaven for the sake of this fight?"

"Ashyr, Selene, Sidhriia, Tsabdrin, and the adopted Althaia Duskhaven. Ex-House Consort Sornamal. House Consort Caleldir and his familiar. These are whom my mistress has recognized as the True Duskhavens, who are worthy of her test." The sulfurous solar looked down at Caleldir, her eyes narrowing. "She is especially interested in you, Godling."

"I know," Caleldir muttered. "I made a mistake in the Nymph Palace."

"So I heard," Ceuphaera wrinkled her nose. The stoic woman seemed to be thinking of saying something else, but she stopped herself, shaking her head. "It is not my place to comment further." She left it at that.

"Let's go let's go let's go!" Ashyr said, bouncing up and down until she took wing and began to fly over to the other peak. Ceuphaera swiftly followed, then overtook her, arriving at the distant peak first.

Caleldir watched them fly away. "Well, Ashyr looks good with wings," he commented. "She also learned to use them pretty quickly."

"The boots she was given were good practice," Aster explained. "Nylameian wings function primarily with magic; they would be too unwieldy if they were simple bat or raven wings."

"I figured as much." Caleldir looked over at the group. "We are lacking Tsabdrin, Sornamal, and Sidhriia, but I think we can take the Solar with those we have here. I got a feeling from her that she does not want to win this fight very much."

"I got that impression too," Althaia replied. Her pegasus flew up to her and she mounted. The group took flight: Althaia on her pegasus, Aster on her wings, Selene and Caleldir with magic. Nearly all the valkyries followed, keeping their distance. The winged warrior women were almost as comfortable hovering as they were sitting, and took their places around the mountain to watch the spectacle.

The other Duskhavens caught up with Ashyr, standing well below the solar on the snowy slope. Ceuphaera had landed on the mountain peak and was sitting on a stone, spear in hand, looking down at her mistress's foes with eyes of calmly raging sulfurous blue. Caleldir moved closer to her and shouted up at her. "Lady Ceuphaera, Solar of Sulphur, I heard from Queen Althaia that you fell from grace because you rebelled against Lord Galytyr's participation in the War against Deusterra?"

"You heard correctly, Master Librarian," the Solar said stiffly, her voice effortlessly booming across the distance. She had noticeably tensed up with anger when Caleldir name-dropped her former lord. "He was the God of Paladins. Of Honor. Of Justice. Cooperating with evil gods just because another Cult of the Eternal was getting angry with the gods of this world claiming too much glory for themselves and forgetting their Maker was an act of supreme cowardice and arrogance. He was unworthy of his own portfolio, and all the other Solars who followed him like dogs into dishonor are the ones who truly fell, not me!"

"With such a keen sense of honor, why are you following an evil dragon?" Caleldir asked. "You are not yourself evil, despite your appearance."

"My wondrous skin of bronze, bleached to bone. My holy fires reeking of the pit!" Ceuphaera said in a roar. "Do not attempt diplomatic manipulations with me, librarian godling. I attempted to protect you!. It was a shame what happened to your mother, and your father was always a hero of mine." She glared down at him. "And here you are, squandering everything you could be by playing with magical toys and copulating with every attractive thing with a womb. You could be a god, and all you are is a pretty toy. I do not answer to you." She affixed Ashyr, then Selene with a cold stare. "If one of the True Duskhavens wish for me to justify myself, I will. To them. Not to you, failure."

Caleldir blushed, the lines of his face setting with anger and embarrassment. He wanted to defend himself but knew that there was nothing he could say. She was only saying what he had thought to himself many times before, after all. So, he fell back behind Ashyr.

Selene looked to Ashyr, who was stomping lines into the snow as she paced back and forth in eager anticipation. "I don't think that one can hear us and I personally don't care; there doesn't seem to be a way to avoid this fight when Ashyr is so eager."

"Is it time?" Ashyr asked when she heard her name.

"I suppose it is," Caleldir said regretfully. "But it is clear that there is more to why she is here than she is letting on."

Althaia took Caleldir's arm sympathetically, giving him a light squeeze. "Do not let her words affect you too much," she whispered. "She doesn't know enough of your situation to judge."

"But I do, and I agree with her," Caleldir replied. "Anyway, before we attack and while she is just up there glaring down at us, we should discuss strategy. I am not sure if the Solar actually wants to win, but she certainly does not want to lose, and her honor will not let her throw the fight. And she is much too tough to take without a plan. We should start by using Selene's psionics to mind link this group so we can coordinate better."

"Devise your plans quickly, Duskhaven," Ceuphaera boomed down at them. "I will give you no more than five minutes to discuss how to defeat me. Be warned that I, alone of those here, can still use Divine Magic, for I draw it not from the Gods but from myself. I use bows, spears, swords, shields, pugilism, wrestling, and magic of both divine and occultic natures. I am counted among the best of the mighty Solars in all that I have accomplished. Moreover, I did not fall alone, but took many of my soldiers with me and I can call on them at will regardless of the current Dimension Lock. I have a weakness, but that is for you to discover."

"She is a very helpful foe," Althaia commented. "Honorable and well mannered." The nymph queen stepped forward and shouted back up at the Solar. "Thou art unusually forthcoming, Lady Ceuphaera. Shall we tell thee our abilities as well, or art thou already aware of them?"

"I am already informed of thine abilities and general tactics, or lack thereof," Ceuphaera declared, her language changing to match Althaia's archaic, formal diction. "At least, all of thine abilities as of a fortnight ago. Informing me once more of thine competencies limit thine time to talk tactics. Now converse, for thine time growest short before the battle begins."

-I don't know if we'll be able to rein Ashyr in once she is allowed to unleash- Selene thought to the group once she took a moment to link their minds. -She and I can focus on Ceuphaera if she summons her army.-

And so the conversation began. As it was mental, it went pretty quickly. Ashyr was ready to attack and not ready to plan. Caleldir was cautious and wanted to plan out each person's role tactically. Althaia, who had caused a lot of trouble in the past because of her attack-first-think-later lack of strategy, was inclined to follow Caleldir's lead. Selene was always a planner and Aster always followed Caleldir's lead, so Ashyr was outnumbered.

-Can I attack her now?- Ashyr communicated along with the feeling of pressing impatience. -How much can we really plan for the chaos of a battlefield?-

-Valkyries are well-known for their tactics, Ashyr. You will have to learn to slow down eventually,- Selene responded, annoyed.

-She'll mature,- Aster assured her. -But I do believe we've thought through most contingencies. Master?-

-Everyone knows their roles,- Caleldir thought at the group. -And our time is moments from expiring. We are ready.-

Ceuphaera stood up and hefted her spear. "Duskhaven, the time of trial has come," she declared. "Rise to it, or fall."

She slashed open a door in space with her spear, and a squad of eight sulfurous blue-skinned planetars with wings of burning ash poured forth. Also female in appearance, the fallen angels had matching armor and insignias that marked them as Ceuphaera's soldiers. They bore greatswords that were massive even in comparison to their nine-foot frames.

Caleldir gulped at force, letting out a long breath to steady himself. -Stick to the plan,- he told the others. -Ashyr, go wild and don't die.-

Grinning brilliantly, Ashyr hurtled through the air at Ceuphaera and began her aggressive attack. Aster took wing after her to provide support. Selene hung in the air next to Caleldir, ready to provide magical assistance and cover.