Chirijiraden - Vanishing Memories Chapter 9
Family Affairs
By CD
The weary pair trudged onward through the swamplands as the humid air tainted their flesh with a stench that carried with it an inherent fear that one may never escape it. “What ungodly place is this?” Tue Sho pondered his question and thoughts of it’s military uses flooded his weary mind. The swamp would be an excellent front from a western enemy such as Lesalia. The trek through the marshes would be unbearably strenuous on ones forces, almost obligating them to transport them via airships. He thought about the tactic and gave a new respect for the founders of Limberry who must have foreseen such uses in the castle’s placement.
“This is Dolbodar Swamp. It lies on the western edge of Limberry’s borders. Didn’t you pass through it on your way here?” The mercenary gazed out across the wetlands searching for any sign of life. She hoped to get the jump on anything before it had the chance to get the jump on them. Tue Sho absorbed the new information and contemplated her question. In the end he decided to keep his mouth shut. It was not his place to divulge military information. The two let the question die as their feet continued to push through the soggy mud and plant life. The terrain was harsh on their feet and footwear and seeped through the leather and steel of their boots. Sivitri continued to view the steaming marshes until sighting a pair of figures in the distance.
“Tue Sho? How skilled are you?”
“Enough.”
“Enough better be good. We are not alone.” Tue Sho turned to face Siva.
“What?” The woman’s face was dark and carried a subtle tinge of evil intentions as she pointed a slender finger into the blackened horizon when soothing droplets began to spill from the heavens. They were women. Beautiful young woman that shone in their radiance. Tue Sho’s mouth gaped at their inhuman appearance. Feelings of lust and fear at their awesome show of infinite power and beauty took hold of his mind. Siva sent sharp awakening to his head with the back of her solid fist and he quickly returned to his hardened exterior after rubbing the bruising spot on his head. The two were clothed in tight fitting dresses that left their movements constricted, and a silky length of fabric entwined in their arms and behind their backs. Their faces were beautiful indeed, but held with them the look of the beast. They showed an utter confidence in their abilities as they hovered above the filth of the marsh as though such taint was not fit to touch them.
“You were ordered to slay any survivors, Scar. Why does this one yet breathe?” Siva drew her blade and narrowed piercing eyes at the speaker.
“Don’t concern yourself with my affairs, Celia. How are you, Lede? I hear hell is wonderful this time of year.” Celia clenched a fist that turned her knuckles white as Lede glared at the wench with blackened eyes.
“The stone, Scar.” Siva’s eyes widened at the news of their knowledge. “Now.”
“Like hell you get the credit for this.” Siva pulled the holy stone from her cloak and clenched it tightly in her hand. “Over my rotting corpse.” With that she held her blade forward as her eyes rolled back into her head. A faint blackness spilled from her body in wisps as a small ivory horn pushed from her forehead into the open air. Tue Sho drew his blade into the cooling air behind the power driven summoner, unknowing of whom to strike. “The stone stays with me. But you can try and take it if you feel homesick.”
“Don’t be a fool.” Celia held a hand forward, palm facing the sky. Soon a blue light danced in it like a candle flame, growing quickly to a small blaze. Siva’s eyes pulsated with a black light, flickering in intensity with every heartbeat.
“I warned you...” Glowing green orbs of light appeared out of nothingness and encircled the raging woman as her hands and blade waved in the air in some archaic dance. “Death song, death door, death river awaiting!” The skies blackened to utter darkness as every article of light was blinked out of existence. A sudden blood-chilling scream pierced the deathly silence as a spontaneous wind whipped the summoner’s hair into the air. “Lich!” Bolts of black lightning enslaved the darkened sky as a skeletal demon wrapped in ragged robes descended upon them. A flurry of vampiric bats shrouded it in a living aura as his bones parted the softened earth. The beast’s skeletal hand pulled a wicked scythe from nothingness and waved it in the air, tearing the fabric of reality in a black wave. His piercing black eyes focused steadily on the two sisters as he drew the scythe behind him, preparing for the deathblow. Celia stepped forward, glaring menacingly at her adversary. Without warning the summoned monster slashed, driving the jagged blade downward like a hammer to a spike. The blade rattled and moaned as Celia gripped it firmly in a single hand as lone drop of blood fell to the earth.
“Always the hard way...” The beast of a woman twisted her hand, snapping the steel in two. With a look of unbridled shock the skeletal monster returned to the abyss from whence it came in a blizzard of smoke and flame, leaving the summoner to fight her own battle. “I’m going to rip off your head and shove that horn through your heart you little bitch.” The demon took another step forward before stopping suddenly as Tue Sho’s blade came to rest upon her throat.