Senomar’s interior looked the same as it had the last time Vexyna had been there. She called out to Phantasmine, “Phanta? How long will it take us to reach Illusia?”
“Not long,” came Phantasmine’s voice from the wall. “I will be glad to be back in Illusia.”
“Phanta, about your would-be husband, Span,” Vexyna started to say.
“Leave it be,” Phantasmine interrupted. “He is a pawn of the Red Empress now. For all we know, he is the one she has chosen to ultimately mate with.” A sobbing snicker could be heard echoing quietly through the room.
“In that case, maybe we can put him to good use,” Vexyna offered.
“Explain yourself in a few moments,” Phantasmine interrupted again. “Prepare to disembark.”
“Already? Why does the trip back always seem faster than the trip going to?”
Descending the stairs leading from Senomar, Vexyna spotted Raj and Doctor Deathbrain coming her way.
“Hi Raj! Hi Doc!” Vexyna called out and waved to them.
The two men waved back.
As Raj got closer to Vexyna, the wind caught his clothing. It opened his shirt and pressed his pants in as if they were a second skin.
Senomar’s color changed to pastel reds from its usual pastel blues. Vexyna’s nostrils flared as her eyelids fluttered. Her nose lifted, borne on a scent she could not get enough of. Sapphires now danced in her eyes.
Phantasmine exited Senomar in time to see Vexyna sink her tail into the side of the organic craft. Bracing herself, Phantasmine prepared to separate Vexyna from Senomar. Perhaps it is time for some illusions, she thought. She implanted the image of a depleted Senomar in Vexyna’s mind, causing Vexyna to stop feeding long enough for Doctor Deathbrain to administer treatment.
Vexyna’s pendant flashed as she promptly passed out and was carried to her room in the castle.
Later, in the darkness, a knock came to the door of Vexyna’s room in the castle of Illusia. Slowly, the door opened and in crept Cateran.
Moving quietly, Cateran tiptoed over to Vexyna’s bed. “Vex,” she whisper-shouted. “Vex? Are you awake? Are you okay? Doc says Senomar is dead. Are you getting any of this? Meen told us what happened in Nogard so we’d be prepared if you ever flip out again.”
Opening one eye, Vexyna said, “What do you mean ‘dead’? Senomar is dead? As in lifeless?” She sat up in bed and was conscience enough to put her dark glasses on. It was too soon after waking up to worry about controlling anything.
“Doctor DeeBee says Senomar was drained of too many vital fluids and that caused Senomar’s system to collapse beyond the point its little machines could repair.”
“I’m afraid it’s worse than that,” Doctor Deathbrain said as he walked through the open door and turned on the lights. The lights flickered to a low glow, then brightened once again.
Phantasmine, with the help of Raj, came stumbling in through the door. She kept running her hands up and down his body, continuing to stare blindly straight ahead. Her lips were moving, but no words came from her throat. Repeating these motions, her eyes slowly closed as the lights in Vexyna’s room faded out. In the darkness, Phantasmine stood motionless.
“What’s going on?” Vexyna asked.
“The Red Empress has used Magno-Dust to render all electrical and electronic devices unusable. Electricity will no longer conduct itself as it normally would. It would take too long to explain the whole thing. All you need to know is none of the pieces of technology around this castle will work anymore.” He looked over to where Phantasmine was propped up against Raj. “That also means the nanobots in Phantasmine’s brain have ceased to function and, therefore, she, too, is out of commission.”
Silence filled the room until a gasp came from Cateran. She pointed to Phantasmine.
A red glow came from Phantasmine’s eyes. Suddenly, she snapped to attention. “My crystal still works even without outside electrical power.” Phantasmine’s voice came through the darkness. “Let us carry on. Doctor, how are you progressing with the production of mists and fogs?”
“Ample supplies of all types have already been prepared for use,” Deathbrain informed her.
“Good. Have you prepared the necessary supplements for Vexyna? We can’t have her sliding into madness.”
“Everything is prepared. There are several methods of delivering the fluids,” the doctor began to explain before Phantasmine waved him off.
“Knowing the medication is prepared is good enough for me,” Phantasmine said, almost flippantly. She made faces at herself in the mirror above the make-up table. “How are we going to get around without Senomar?”
“We could always walk,” Cateran suggested.
“Where are we going now?” Vexyna asked. “What exactly is our next move?”
“It’s the middle of the night,” Doctor Deathbrain reminded the others. “I suggest we each get some rest and talk about it in the morning.”
The others agreed and left Vexyna to drift back to sleep. Before dozing off, it occurred to her that she was sleeping quite a bit lately.
Moaning accompanied by heavy breathing woke Vexyna. Horror filled her when she realized she had been chained spread-eagle to the four posts of her bed. Her superb night vision would’ve allowed her to look around the room, but to her chagrin someone had placed a cloth over her eyes. Footsteps shuffled closer and she heard a female voice say, “Rest up. When you’re ready, you can do the job with her. You certainly did the job for me.” There was a giggle and the sound of lips dancing.
“Get away from me,” Vexyna warned the intruders. “Don’t come anywhere near me.”
A rough male hand placed itself against Vexyna’s cheek. She jerked violently away from the caresses. The man sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over to kiss Vexyna gently on the lips.
Inside, Vexyna felt her hunger stirring. “Please go away. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Oh, I think I know just what I’m doing,” came the man’s sneering reply.
Even through the cloth over her eyes, Vexyna caught two blinding flashes of silver. Her arms were free. Quickly, she removed her blindfold.
Standing in the darkness was a female figure that stretched two meters in height. Her red hair flowed down her back in a massive ponytail held together on her head by a jade crown. The flowing white pants she sported were connected on the sides just above the ankles, at the knees and around the waist. Silver striping accentuated the gold of her outfit. Slight heels elevated her calf-high sandals to add a touch of glamour to the ensemble. Stray bits of light glinted off the blade of the weapon in her hands. She was alone in the room.
“Are you all right?” asked the woman.
“Yes, thanks to you, I am,” Vexyna responded. “Do you know how I ended up chained to this bed?”
“Dacreel plots against you,” stated the woman. She used her weapon to sever the last of Vexyna’s chains.
Surprise swept across Vexyna’s face with the realization of her savior's identity. “Aliyah!” she cried as she tumbled out of bed to hold her long-lost friend. “Aliyah, it’s so good to see you. So much has happened since we last saw each other. How have you been? Where have you been?” Vexyna began to overwhelm her old friend with questions.
“There will be time enough for catching up,” Aliyah told her friend. “Right now, we need to figure out how someone got in here and managed to do what they did.”
“How did you manage to get here?” Vexyna asked. “Qrxyn said you were off on a quest for the Avatars of Dazartan. Illusia isn’t exactly what I’d call easy to find or get in. How did you do it?”
“Easy,” said Aliyah, “for traveling, I had my grandmother drop me off.”
“Your grandmother dropped you off?” Vexyna’s face assumed a puzzled expression. “How is your grandma?”
“Good, not the way you remember her, but good. I suppose by now you know a thing or two about the ‘real world’ and who we really are. My grandmother can take the form of a drago
n.” Aliyah waited for a reaction from her friend before continuing. “She’s always in good spirits. She’s been hanging around a metal smith called Corbon. He makes excellent weapons. Like this,” she said while twirling her blade. It was a long flat blade on the end of a short staff.
“Weapons? Someone still knows how to create weapons?”
“This place isn’t any place around here, believe me,” Aliyah assured Vexyna. “We live on one tiny continent. There are three others and several large islands. Not all the peoples of the planet went through the Forgetting, you know. Corbon the Carver lives on another continent.”
“The Carver?” Vexyna repeated.
“He’s a metal smith by trade, but also a master swordsman. Corbon is so skillful with his weapons that he can etch beautiful patterns into whatever he chooses in what seems like the blink of an eye. Corbon creates his weapons only for those who can prove they can use them with mastery. Corbon loves a good show.” Aliyah was lost in thought about Corbon. She saw the dimples at the sides of his smile. His laugh drifted through her mind. “That’s how I got this blade.”
“You gave Corbon a good show, did you?” Vexyna enquired teasingly.
“Weapon prowess of considerable magnitude, is what Corbon said,” Aliyah stated proudly as she stuffed her thumbs under the straps on either side of her bodice, between the shoulder pads and the breastplate, and gave them a push forward, causing them to stretch just a bit.
Lighting a candle on her bedside table, Vexyna turned back to look at her friend. From the angle of her vision, Vexyna couldn’t see the long red ponytail gliding down Aliyah’s back. All Vexyna could see of Aliyah’s hair were the straight shiny glistening red bangs in front. They sparkled like a satin curtain and Vexyna realized she had seen that quality of hair before on Cateran. Pausing a moment to mentally compare the facial features of both girls, Vexyna was amazed at the similarities. “Aliyah, there’s someone you must meet,” she said after her pause.
“Oh? Someone special? Speaking of special people, how’s Trulo?”
“Trulo is as fine as always.” Vexyna smirked.
“I hear that,” Aliyah replied with a wistful smile.
The door to Vexyna’s room slowly opened and admitted a sleepy-eyed Cateran. Her usual coveralls were missing and in their place was a thick cloth robe. “What’s going on? I kept thinking I was hearing things. Who’s this?”
“Cat, this is Aliyah,” Vexyna introduced the two. “Aliyah, this is Cateran.”
Rubbing an eye with one hand, Cateran waved at Aliyah with the other. “Hello.”
“Hello,” Aliyah said as she gave a short nod in Cateran’s direction.
Clambering onto the bed, Cateran maneuvered herself into a lotus position with the soles of her bare feet facing the ceiling. She yawned a sleepy smile at Vexyna. “What’s up?”
“I was just about to mention you to Aliyah,” Vexyna told Cateran. Catching sight of odd markings on the bottoms of Cateran’s feet, Vexyna asked, “Are those stains on the bottoms of your feet, Cat?”
“Eh?” Cateran was surprised. She grabbed a foot and bent over until her face was a few centimeters from the surface of it. Releasing her foot, she straightened up while saying, “Those have always been there. Raj said those marks show I’m special. I always thought it was just his way of saying I’m special to him.” She looked down at the covers on the bed.
“Aliyah,” Vexyna said, looking at the taller redhead, “do you still have your paw prints from when you were a kid?”
“Paw prints? Yeah, I do,” Aliyah said as she, too, sat on the bed. Removing one of her sandals, she turned her foot up so that the other two girls could see the tiny markings on the sole of the foot. Four dots over a curved line resembled a small paw print.
“No way.” Cateran gaped at Aliyah’s markings. “They’re just like mine.” Without thinking, she whipped one of her feet over to compare it with Aliyah’s and managed to knock Vexyna out of the bed.
“Ouch, hey,” Vexyna snapped. “Thanks for that. Suppose it’s getting time to get up anyway.” She rubbed various parts of her anatomy that had suffered collisions with pieces of furniture.
“They match!” Cateran said excitedly. “What does that mean?”
“It means you two are sisters,” said Raj from the doorway.
“Raj!” Cateran exclaimed. “What got you up?”
“You did,” he replied as he made his way to the bed. He stopped in front of Aliyah and took a short bow. “I am Raj,” he introduced himself. “You must be Aliyah.”
“Do you know me?” Aliyah was stunned.
“I know of you,” Raj admitted. “We have never before met, yet the shape of your feet and the markings on the soles prove you are of a specific bloodline.”
“It does?” Aliyah blinked innocently.
“Your direct ancestor was Max Fast, founder of the Vags and one of the three Avatars of Dazartan.”
“How did you know?” gasped Aliyah. “I only found out about it recently myself.”
Unable to believe her ears, Cateran interrupted, “Sisters? Founder of the Vags? Whaaaat?”
Standing between the two redheads, Raj tried to explain, “At some point during the Forgetting, Krajav’s ancestors began using the Crimson Fog on the other Vags in order to seize control. Few of us remain who know the truth. Folktales foretold the coming of the Sister of Balance who would bring either peace or destruction. Krajav believes you, Vexyna, are the Sister of Balance.” He paused to catch Vexyna’s reaction, then continued. “At this same time, the tales also said, the Sacred Sisters would arrive to free the Vags from Krajav’s clutches.”
“Sacred Sisters?” Cateran was dubious until she looked at Aliyah.
Aliyah returned Cateran’s look. Other than the size difference and clothing, there looked to be little difference between them.
“Cateran was given to a young couple to raise as their own amongst one of the tribes of Vags,” Raj continued with his story. “Aliyah was left near Shojiki, where it was known she would be found by the couple who eventually raised her. Those of us who knew the truth were afraid for your lives because we had seen the Mark of the Tiger on your feet.”
“I have a sister.” Cateran blinked repeatedly. “Big Sis Ali,” she said with a grin.
“Raj, what can you tell me about the Mark of the Tiger?” Aliyah asked.
“It is the sacred mark seared into Max Fast by the Crystal of Dazartan itself,” Raj said with reverence. “It confers speed, agility, strength, confidence and certain other tiger-like qualities on his descendants who bear the mark.”
“Coool,” Cateran expelled. “When do my awesome powers kick in? Or do they work all the time?” She was excited about the prospect of not being just another ordinary person.
Cateran’s older sister looked at her with bemusement. “Who said anything about ‘awesome powers’? We’re a little faster, stronger and confident than we normally might be. So what?” Aliyah shrugged.
“You’d both look good in tails,” teased Vexyna. “Whiskers optional.”
Red heads turned to issue sideways glances at Vexyna for those last comments.
“Where did you learn these things, Raj?” Aliyah asked.
“Yeah, Raj,” Cateran chimed in. “You’re not much older than me. When did you find out all this?”
“As soon as I was old enough to understand the significance of your life,” Raj replied. “That is when I was told by my father about the Mark of the Tiger and the truth about the ruling houses. My family has served the royal household since the beginning of the Vag culture. I am sworn to protect you, Cateran. Now that I know for certain the other sister is alive, I must be prepared to give my life for her as well.”
“Don’t you worry about me,” Aliyah assured Raj. “Just keep an eye out for my little sister.” She smiled at Cateran, who was still enjoying how the morning was turning out.
Hands resting on his hips, head tilted slightly to one side, Raj accused, “So you are t
he Traveler. You are famous in some parts.”
Aliyah considered the lacing of her sandal. “Yeah, I guess some of my parts are famous.” She looked around at the others, grinning slyly. She cleared her throat and continued, “I get around. Right now, I’m here. And I’d like to know what was going on in this room just before I showed up.”
“I was trying to sleep when a noise woke me up and I found myself chained to this bed,” Vexyna recounted. “My eyes were covered, but I could hear a man coming towards me. Then you showed up.”
“He must’ve disappeared out of a window or down the hallway somehow,” Aliyah said.
“How did you manage to work your way this far into the castle of Illusia without being detected, Aliyah?” Vexyna asked.
“Flawless shadow techniques,” Cateran said with certainty.
Nodding, Aliyah confirmed, “I have been trained by Max Fast himself.”
Phantasmine stumbled through the open doorway. Her garments were in a state of disarray and it looked as though she had put on weight. “What’s going on? Who’s she?” she asked, indicating Aliyah.
“Meen,” Cateran said, “this is my big sister, Aliyah. Ali, this is Phantasmine of Illusia.”
The pair regarded each other coldly.
“Have you two met before?” Vexyna asked.
Answers would have to wait. Noises were coming from the courtyard below the window. They all agreed to get dressed and meet in the hallway before venturing forth into the courtyard.
The empty market stalls cast ghastly shadows in the light of the torches two burly men were carrying. Extremely dim sunlight was only just beginning to seep along the horizon.
Krajav, larger than life and bigger than his pants, stood flanked by two archers and two other guards. “Come along without any fuss and we can avoid bloodshed,” he commanded.
“Not a chance,” Vexyna spat back.
“It is on your head,” Krajav said as he lowered his hand to signal his archers to kill two of the group.
A spinning blade sawed the arrows into bits. “Corbon taught me that trick,” Aliyah admitted to the assembled crowd. Neatly, she went spinning forward, knocking the two archers flying into unconsciousness. She sprang back before again soaring forward through the air with her blade poised toward Krajav.
The mountain of a man blocked her incoming blade with a small knife and sent her reeling.
Getting up, Aliyah went to Cateran and said, “I am going to need your help.” She gripped Cateran’s wrists and Cateran gripped hers.
A warm glow washed through Cateran, filling her with tranquility and confidence. Ideas about her gymnastic abilities as fighting techniques flooded her mind. Blinking a few times, she cocked her head to one side and said, “Huh. I never thought of using moves like that before. Wonder if they’ll work?”
“Krajav himself made sure I was able to fight because he knew he would need good fighters. But I am sworn to protect the sisters of the House of Fast.” Raj leaped forward to strike at the fat man, but was easily sent spinning.
Tripping over a rock, Phantasmine tumbled forward.
Raj leaped towards her with his hands outstretched to catch her.
She landed with her chest neatly packed in both his hands. Phantasmine quickly grasped his arms with the pretext of regaining her balance, but really held his hands in place, causing Raj to feel indentations forming in his palms.
Shock stained Raj’s face red.
Phantasmine pressed herself firmly against Raj’s hands and slid them slowly down her body until releasing them just below her thighs. She flashed a devilish smile at him and said, “Thank you.”
Turning and walking away from him, she flipped up the long tail of her butterfly shirt so he had a good view of her properly rounded posterior. Behind her, she heard Raj gasp. Quickly, she turned and ran back to him as her distraction formed an opening for a slash from Krajav’s weapon.
Toppling over into the arms of Phantasmine, Raj gasped, “Protect…”
Cateran ran to Raj. “Raj,” she said pleadingly. “Please be okay.” She stood up and glared at Krajav. “You!” she screamed. “You’ve been causing trouble for a long time now.” She rolled up her shirt sleeves. “It ends now.”
“Fools,” spewed Krajav. “As long as I wield the Tiger’s Eye Dagger, nothing can come close to touching me.” He laughed heartily.
Cradling Raj’s head in her lap, Phantasmine tried to make him comfortable. “I am supposed to have incredible powers of healing.” Phantasmine looked down despairingly at the blood on her hands that had snapped her back to a sense of her true self. “Why can’t I get them to work?”
In her mind, Vexyna heard Phantasmine’s pleas. Vexyna, help me! The will of Dacreel lays dormant deep within the substructure of the Crystals of Change in hopes that someday even one Illusian might be its puppet. Now I am that puppet.
What can I do, Vexyna thought back to the real Phantasmine.
If I could just activate my Light of Nogard, I am positive it would cleanse the Crystal of Dacreel’s residue.
Again, I ask; what can I do, Vexyna repeated her question.
Try to find enough love in your heart for me to activate your own inner light. The healing light within you is powered by concern or love for the one being healed.
How will that affect the personality matrix within the crystal? Have your machines had time to transfer all of the information? Vexyna had a memory within that thought. It was of Doctor Deathbrain explaining how the person who was Phantasmine was having her information moved from the Crystal of Change to the organic brain.
‘The information and personality matrix has to be transferred from the crystals to the nanobots. The nanobots then weave the organic brain cells and incorporate that information along the way. The person who is Phantasmine is literally in three different places within herself’ was what Doctor Deathbrain had told Vexyna. ‘Once the crystal has copied all of its information to the nanobots, the crystal is no longer required. Also, once the nanobots have finished implanting the information in the newly formed organic brain cells, the nanobots become redundant. At that time, Phantasmine will have a wholly organic body’.
The nanobots finally managed to finish synthesizing an organic brain. Removal of the machines is only a matter of time. With my release from the Crystal of Change, I would be completely free. That is why the loss of the ability to use electricity did not stop me for long, Phantasmine explained.
Closing her eyes to help block out the world, Vexyna began to concentrate on healing Phantasmine until some of Phanta’s other thoughts started drifting into Vexyna’s head. Sensual images and feelings washed through Vexyna. Opening her eyes, she watched as Phantasmine’s hands explored Raj’s inert body. Stunned and silent, Vexyna felt her thirst growing.
Looking her straight in the eyes through her dark glasses, Phantasmine said in a strange voice, “Yes. Come. Mate with this one.”
Like a zombie, Vexyna lurched in the direction of Phantasmine and Raj. She then sat on Raj’s groin and leaned forward to kiss him. Her tail whipped out from behind her and sank into the helpless man.
Aliyah and Cateran walloped Vexyna and Phantasmine on the backs of their heads, sending them to sleep.
Looking at Aliyah, Cateran stated, “Good thing we’ve got good hearing. I’m glad you knew what was happening. What were they doing? Did Meen really say the word ‘mate’?” A sword struck the ground inches from Cateran. She flipped away and turned around to face her assailant.
The attacker’s sword held firmly in the earth where he had struck it. He was tugging mightily upon the haft when Cateran crowned him with a stone and sent him to the ground.
Bending over Raj, Aliyah said a few brief words that Cateran could not hear. She held her hands with the palms facing each other on either end of Raj’s wound. A pale green light grew between the palms of Aliyah’s hands. It grew until it was slightly larger than the wound, then it melted its way into the gash.
In moments,
Raj stirred and felt where his wound should have been. It was completely healed. He looked questioningly at the inert bodies of Vexyna and Phantasmine. When he saw the agent of Krajav that Cateran had recently sent to the land of slumber, he remembered the fat man was near. Rising to his feet, Raj checked for Cateran and Aliyah. They had gone back to attacking Krajav, who had been standing around laughing at them while the girls had to deal with Phantasmine, Vexyna and the last of Krajav’s personal guard.
“We need to double-team this guy,” Aliyah whisper-shouted to Cateran. “Up or down?”
Cateran put her right thumb up. Aliyah put her left thumb down. They nodded to each other and prepared to attack.
Aliyah dropped to the ground and swept her legs forward as she spun around. Simultaneously, Cateran leaped into the air and spun in the opposite direction, extending her foot to its fullest. Cateran’s foot connected squarely with Krajav’s face, viciously snapping his neck to one side and causing him to spin to the ground.
Using Krajav’s face as a launching pad, Cateran leaped after the dagger, which had gone flying from Krajav’s hand. She caught it easily. She was landing with her back to the others when she began to scream. What started as a cry of pain and shock became the wail of a cat by the time Cateran had landed.
Placing a hand to her face, Cateran realized something was not normal. Worse yet, something was wriggling around in the seat of her pants. She felt uncomfortable. Embarrassed, she picked at the fabric. With frustration, she tore a small slit in the seat of her pants and out popped a fuzzy red tail. Her luminescent green eyes were wide with amazement.
Cateran turned to face her comrades. Aliyah and Raj didn’t look at all surprised to see Cateran’s new fuzzy red and white cat-face. Bounding over to the others, Cateran asked, “Is there something you wanted to tell me about this dagger that you may have failed to mention earlier?” She tried to hand the dagger to Aliyah, who backed away with her palms up in front of her.
“I’ll take care of the dagger,” Raj said with his hand outstretched.
Releasing the weapon into Raj’s care returned Cateran to normal. Hands swiftly moved to her rear as Cateran realized she could feel the breeze through her pants. A cheesy grin took its place on her face. “Would someone please tell me what all this is about?” she asked. She pressed her back against a worn stone pillar.
“Power, manipulation and greed,” answered Krajav. He had managed to roll over onto his side, but still could not get to his feet.
“What was that about greed?” Phantasmine enquired of the assemblage. Her head wobbled as she took in her surroundings. With a hand at the back of her head, she stated, “Please refrain from violently jarring my new brain.” She felt the front of her head before continuing. “Being a physical entity does have the occasional drawback.”
“Ya think?” Vexyna asked sarcastically. Her head was also smarting from where Aliyah had whacked her. Vexyna and Phantasmine sat on the ground feeling their heads, laughing and moaning. “Did I flip out again?”
“You were caught in an unladylike position,” Aliyah informed Vexyna.
Cateran glared at Phantasmine. “You didn’t help, Meen.”
Phantasmine drew their attention to the fact that Krajav and his men had all risen and were banding together.
“We need the doctor with treatment for Vexyna or she can’t be left alone,” Aliyah said.
“Raj, get Doctor Deathbrain,” Cateran told him.
“But…” Raj started to say, indicating Krajav.
“Go!” Cateran commanded. “I’ll be okay with Ali.”
Raj dashed off towards the interior of the castle to fetch the doctor.
“Vex, stay away from Meen,” Cateran said. She stepped right up to where Phantasmine was seated on the ground before saying, “Meen, don’t you dare go anywhere near Vex or I will pound you.”
Looking up into the glaring green eyes of Cateran, Phantasmine softly said, “I’ll give you a pound or two.” The waving of Phantasmine’s arms caused Cateran to blink.
When she reopened her eyes, Cateran looked down at a body that was three times the size it should’ve been. “Whaaaaaa?” she gasped. So totally engrossed was she that she became oblivious to her surroundings.
“No one here,” Phantasmine said while looking in Aliyah’s direction and again waved her hand.
Aliyah suddenly found herself alone in the empty market of Illusia. She looked around hesitantly and remained quiet.
“Now to play with a little fire,” Phantasmine said. She got to her feet and walked over to where Vexyna was sitting still trying to figure out what was going on. Thrusting her wrist under Vexyna’s nose, Phantasmine commanded, “Take a good whiff.”
Pheromones filled Vexyna’s nostrils, sending the blue in her eyes into expansion.
Phantasmine made note of the size of blue in Vexyna’s eyes and pulled her wrist away when the blue had created a thin circle around the exterior of the brown.
Vexyna sat wobbling as if in a daze. Her thirst told her to act, but she was unsure of herself. Around her, she thought she saw the bodies of men she had just drained. Her skin tingled ever so slightly.
Clapping made Phantasmine turn around.
Krajav’s hands motioned in front of him. “Nice parlor tricks,” he commended her. “Why couldn’t you have done that earlier?”
“I don’t always have the opportunity,” came the strange voice from Phantasmine.
“The boy is what I came for,” Krajav informed the Crystal Queen. “Those redheads have to be dealt with as well.”
“The boy will come for me, I hope,” Phantasmine replied. “Once I have finished with them, you may have them.”
“Do you think your mind tricks will work on me?” Krajav threatened.
“They don’t have to,” Phantasmine hissed back as she indicated Vexyna. “Ever had your glands sucked out?” Her lips curved into a hideous smile.
“The Red Empress wants her dead,” said Krajav.
“Din is a fool to kill Vexyna,” Phantasmine replied. “She is worth much more to Dacreel if she remains alive. You are a fool for bringing the Tiger’s Eye dagger. Now those ghastly Vag girls are aware of too much of their heritage. A heritage I thought you were trying to keep secret.”
“The dagger grants great speed to the user,” Krajav informed her. “I always carry it.”
“Enough out of you. Memory blocks have been put in place so they will only remember what I want them to remember of what has transpired here this morning. Now, leave this place at once before the boy returns with the doctor.” Phantasmine vented at Krajav. “If you are not gone soon, you will all know the glory of giving your lives for the resurrection of Dacreel.”
This statement caused Krajav’s men to fidget uneasily. “I shall expect those redheads and that boy delivered to me in short order. Do as you please with the girls, but Empress Din requires the boy alive. A great honor is to be bestowed upon him. He has been graciously chosen by our supreme Empress Din to be her Seeder,” Krajav said before leading his men from the courtyard.
“Idiot,” proclaimed the Crystal Queen. “Raj is to be Din’s Seeder, is he?” She turned to the three other girls and planted a memory in their minds. The memory would tell them they had fought bravely and drove Krajav off into the morning sun, but they never did find out how he knew where Illusia was or how to get in.
Raj came running from the castle with Doctor Deathbrain ambling up behind.
Doctor Deathbrain quickly administered treatment to Vexyna and she began to return to normal. The others waited for the doctor to finish and Vexyna to regain some of her senses.
“Somehow Krajav knows about Illusia,” Aliyah lamented.
“Krajav?” Doctor Deathbrain was quizzical. “Of the Vag lineage from the Great Fire?”
“He certainly displayed the countenance of someone of that bloodline,” Phantasmine observed in her normal voice.
“If Krajav knows about Illusia, you can bet Din also knows,??
? Vexyna added. “Illusia is no longer safe. I still need an explanation for what happened in my room earlier. I vote for getting out of here.”
“Leaving Illusia is a given,” Cateran agreed. “But where do we go from here? What is our next move?”
“The Red Empress is the one who has been making all of the offensive moves,” Aliyah observed. “She is warlike and we need to start thinking along those lines if we want to defeat her. We need to take out some of her arsenal.”
“Arse and all what?” Cateran asked innocently.
“What?” Aliyah looked at Cateran.
“You said ‘we need to take out her arse and all’…” Cateran repeated.
“No,” Aliyah corrected her. “I said ‘we need to take out her arsenal.”
“That’s a word?”
“Yes. It means ‘a place for making or storing arms’. A broader definition would include all weapons and personnel.” She paused to make sure she had everyone’s attention before she continued. “I heard through the grapevine that Din is using the Earth Elementals as her pawns. We must seek out the other Elementals to aid in the search for the missing earth formling.”
“Searching for Elementals is foolish,” Phantasmine stated flatly. “I will have no part in it. I shall remain here.” She turned to walk away from the rest of the group.
“Phanta? You’re leaving us? Why?” Vexyna called after her.
“I suggest you all leave Illusia at once,” was Phantasmine’s reply. Tension could be heard in her voice. “Please go swiftly before you are not allowed to leave.”
“Not allowed?” Vexyna was puzzled.
“Go!” shouted Phantasmine before turning and running away.
“Electricity may be useless, but the Crystals of Change should provide Phanta with enough power to erect the castle defenses and we don’t want to be around when that happens,” Doctor Deathbrain let them know. “Let’s get out of here and find those Elementals.”
Chapter 18: Braving the Elements