by Loki Renard
"Hardly." Ayla's lip curled slightly, as if the idea were beneath her.
"Ariadne will destroy you if you cross her. You know that. You're counting on it. This is about Atrocious, isn't it?"
The witch's green eyes glittered. "Everything is."
"You're tired," Kira said. "You'll come to your senses in the morning."
Ayla's soft smile signaled that her decision had nothing to do with being tired, or weary from the road, or any other such passing mood.
"I have lived with the consequences of Ariadne's decisions longer than you can imagine," she said, her voice melodic and smooth, completely absent of stress or fear. "I have decided my path. Do not concern yourself."
"I concern myself," Kira argued, "because I fear for you. This is not a war like any other. This time Ariadne is on the offensive. She intends to establish a new royal lineage, one with magic in its veins."
"And she has the once fearsome witch hunter to help her," Ayla said. "Strange how the twists of fate turn our hands and heads."
Kira's discomfort was evident as she sat straighter and defended herself. "I owe Ariadne my life."
"As has already been said, I do not begrudge you your allegiances. I ask only that you leave me to walk my own path. I will stay tonight and tomorrow I will go to Ariadne."
"Hmmm..." Kira ran her palms down her thighs and fixed Ayla with a curious look. "How long has it been since you took a maid into your bed?"
The question caught Ayla off-guard, made her laugh. "I am almost certain we have had a discussion like this before," she said, "but I assure you, I am not taking aim at Ariadne due to lustful frustration."
"It can do strange things to people," Kira said. "It's important to keep oneself sexually satiated in the interests of good decision making."
"Oh yes? And who is warming your bed these nights? Or is it more a procession of whos?"
"That's neither here nor there," Kira said, her expression strangely reserved. Kira was not normally shy about her love interests, of which there were many. If anything she was a little too cavalier in such matters.
"There is someone special," Ayla surmised, smiling with genuine amusement.
"Everybody is special," Kira replied. "Everyone is special in her own way."
"Evasive!" Ayla's eyes laughed, though she herself refrained. "There is certainly something afoot here."
"There is someone," Kira admitted, looking uncharacteristically sheepish. Her strong features were not suited to the expression at all. "But I cannot take her as my lover, for she is under my command."
"Most all your lovers have been under your command," Ayla replied. "It has never stopped you in the past."
"This one is different. She needs me to maintain distance. If I get too close, I will ruin her. I must be the tyrant to her, and the tyrant cannot be the lover."
"I disagree. Sometimes the lover is the tyrant, sometimes the tyrant is the lover."
"If one were dealing with a normal woman, perhaps. But this one is not normal. This one is..." Kira paused, but her expression said it all. She seemed enthralled by the mere thought of the woman who had claimed her heart.
"I must meet this woman," Ayla said, her lips curling in a smile. "Where is she stationed?"
"Stationed?" Kira gave a short, harsh laugh. "She is stationed in a cell, which is the best I can do for her and for everyone else in this camp."
"You are locking your own soldiers away?" Ayla's brow dipped slightly. "I have never known you to have any difficulty commanding anyone."
"As I said," Kira repeated. "This one is different. She is a born warrior. The hunt is in her blood, barely contained. She acts entirely on instinct, and when she moves, she moves with fearsome grace. No enemy can stand before her, but all she knows are foes. She has no friends, and she loves no-one."
"She sounds dangerous."
"Oh she is." Kira's eyes lit up with excitement. "She is very dangerous indeed."
"It also sounds as though she could use a touch of civilization," Ayla continued. "I hardly imagine she is getting that in a cell."
"She has no use for civilization. She has lived a life without need for niceties."
"That's no reason to let her continue to live that way. If she is as wild as you describe, she needs to be tamed." Ayla let her fingertips dance against the arm of the chair for a moment, then cocked her head to the side and fastened her gaze on Kira. "Is this why you wanted me here?"
Kira's smile grew broader. "You always did have a talent for taking wild things and subduing them to the good."
"So under false pretext of dire events you have me tempted into a war zone with two of your soldiers." Ayla's tone no longer held amusement. "When did you become manipulative, Kira?"
"Around the same time you decided you were going to hide away from the world," Kira shrugged without guilt. "Will you help me?"
"Oh I'll help you," Ayla said, her eyes narrowed on the immortal warrior with definite pique. "I'll help your hide right out of those leather britches and lash it until you cry for mercy."
"Do not be angry with me," Kira chuckled, disregarding the threat immediately. "My intentions were good."
"You know what they say about good intentions," Ayla said, her lips still thin with disapproval. "The path to a striped hide is paved with them. You are fortunate I have worn my arm out these last days on Ariadne's envoy, or I would take you to task."
"Oh yes," Kira said dryly. "I count myself very fortunate - though I doubt that scout does if her rear bore your displeasure with Ariadne."
Ayla nodded slowly, her expression solemn. "You are not the only one who has been a tyrant."
Kira and Ayla's morose self-flagellation could have gone on indefinitely, but it was interrupted by a young soldier who did not announce herself in the proper manner, but burst in and shouted three words.
"Aeron is loose!"
"What?" Kira sprang to her feet. "Where is she?"
"Follow the shouting." The soldier dove back out of the tent, apparently in a hurry to take cover.
It was not a particularly useful hint, but as first Kira, then Ayla left the tent, it became quite obvious where Aeron was. The blonde warrior was being held at bay by three other soldiers, all of whom had their weapons drawn, none of whom looked like they actually wanted to use them.
"Let me past!" Aeron was making the demand at the top of her voice, speaking in a snarl which contained enough menace to make those who stood before her shake. "I will have at her!"
"Aeron! No!"
Kira's shout, though furious and loud was completely ignored. Aeron did not so much as turn her head.
"Let me." Ayla placed a calming hand on Kira's arm and moved past the warrior. She approached Aeron, moved between her and the soldiers and addressed her nose to nose.
"Stop this at once."
The words were spoken quietly, but with great authority. Ayla locked eyes with the angry woman and did not allow her gaze to waver for a moment.
Aeron blinked and a confused expression began to establish itself on her beautiful though fierce face. Ayla reached out and let her fingers curl through a few stray strands of hair, tucking them back beyond Aeron's slightly pointed ear.
"Go to Kira's tent," she said, still using that ever so calm voice which refused to acknowledge the tension of the situation. "And sit down."
There was a moment in which tensions remained at a combustible high as Aeron stared at the stranger with the melodic voice of power. Then, as quickly as matters had escalated, they were calm. Aeron turned and began walking toward Kira's tent as Ayla had commanded. She might have made it there, if not for Kira snatching her up in frustrated fists.
"How dare you!" Kira's dark eyes flashed anger. "I told you to stay in that cell!"
"Your cell was weak!" Aeron yelled back, her teeth gleaming white as her lips drew back. Soldier and commander were close to being a physical match. Though Kira was stockier and more muscular, Aeron's greater agility and speed combined with a willin
gness to unleash hell at a moment's notice made up for her more slender frame.
"Kira, please."
Ayla spoke softly, but the time for soft voices was over. The camp, which had cleared entirely upon Aeron's escape was suddenly filled with soldiers taking up positions in a circle. The atmosphere became distinctly hostile as the soldiers packed up behind their commander, waiting to see the rogue warrior punished.
Kira had Aeron by her vest, fists balled in the leather holding Aeron up on her toes. It might have been a good position for intimidation, but it was not a good position to start a fight in. Her midsection was entirely unguarded, a fact which Aeron wasted no time in taking advantage of with two quick blows.
They would have doubled a lesser warrior in two, but Kira's stomach was taut and toned, clenched against the assault. She absorbed both strikes with a laugh, then pushed Aeron away so that she might not have to endure further attack.
"Beat her!" Someone in the crowd yelled out. It was a cheer soon taken up by all of the soldiers, each of whom was tired of their fear of Aeron, each of whom wished to see her bested or chased out of camp.
For a brief second, Aeron looked afraid. She was very much alone in that moment. Her features, always angular and severe, seemed to be almost fragile as she gathered herself up in a defensive stance, covering her face with her fists, holding her body sideways so Kira would not have access to her mid-line. Her head was dropped, chin protecting her throat as her eyes burned under her brows with feral rage.
"Silence!" The word seemed to be spoken in the ear of every soldier in the camp. Without being raised in the slightest, Ayla's voice cut through the clamoring din, then the witch herself parted the soldiers as she moved to stand with the troublemaker.
"You will all go to your beds," she said, casting her gaze over the assembled troops. "And you will all stay there until such time as you are released. There will be no fight this day." Her voice dropped a little lower as she addressed Kira. "That goes doubly for you."
"She dared strike me," Kira said, likewise lowering her voice to argue as her soldiers obeyed Ayla and sloped off to their bunks looking suitably ashamed. "There will be no fight, but there will be punishment."
"Yes, of the one who started the fight. That being you."
Kira rocked back on her feet as if Ayla had struck her. "I?"
"Yes," Ayla said. "You were the one who laid hands on this girl. You were the one who shouted in her face. What did you think was going to happen?"
"I can lay hands on my soldiers if I like. They are honored if I shout in their faces," Kira replied. "That is how a military force works. I know you are a simple forest witch, but surely even you..."
"A simple forest witch," Ayla chuckled. "I am a simple forest witch, and I know an instigator when I see one. Go to your tent, Kira. I will speak with Aeron alone."
"You cannot send a commander to her..." Kira's next words died on her lips, for Ayla was giving her the sort of look which killed sentences dead.
*****
"What are you so afraid of?" Ayla asked the question when she and Aeron were alone in the middle of the deserted camp. Each and every soldier, even the commander had dutifully retired. Ayla and Aeron were alone, two blondes stood in the middle of a dust bowl ringed with tents, one calm, one still panting with rage.
"I fear nothing."
"That's not true. Anger like yours does not arise without fear. I ask you again. What are you afraid of?"
Aeron breathed heavily for a few seconds before admitting her concerns. "These people are weak. Our enemy is strong. Clitera City is impenetrable. We will never take it. Ariadne will be displeased when we fail, and she will sacrifice us all."
"That's a reasonable fear to have," Ayla said. "Ariadne is a fearsome goddess."
"They do not know her," Aeron said. "They think she is on our side. But I know what she really is and I know there are no sides for one such as her. She wants what she wants. We are nothing to her. I feel her in every breeze. I can scent her on the wind. She is watching us all and she is not pleased."
"Have you told Kira any of this?"
Aeron shook her head curtly. "The commander's life hangs in the balance as much as any of ours. Ariadne could turn her to a pile of mouldering bones at any moment. We are none of us safe. There is a fire at our back and another at our front and we are to be burned."
"Why have you not fled, if that is the case?"
"Because I am not a coward," Aeron replied. "Because this is all there is for me. I was made for war."
"Yes," Ayla agreed. "You were." She smiled at the warrior, who was still trembling with rage. "I think you and I might have a similar purpose."
"What is that?"
"I have decided to banish Ariadne."
Aeron's eyes widened and her skin grew pale. She shook her head emphatically and took three great steps back from Ayla, as if she feared being in her presence. "You cannot speak like that."
"Oh I can," Ayla said, folding her arms over her chest and standing quite still. She carried herself with a demeanor of perfect certainty, ignoring Aeron's impulse to flee. "All beings have their weaknesses," she said. "Even Ariadne."
"Mutiny!"
A fresh voice rose from the ether of nothingness, startling Aeron into an aggressive posture.
Ayla lifted her eyes to the heavens as if asking for strength. "I see you have discovered how to make an invisibility potion work, Lizling."
"Do not call me that. It is not my name!"
"Lizelda? Lizward? Lizington? Lizben?"
"Stop it! Stop it at once!" The air between Aeron and Ayla was full of annoyance. "I have discovered your plan and I will inform Ariadne of it!"
"No!" The short cry preceded Aeron hurling herself at what seemed to be thin air, but which was most certainly Liz. The two women went to the ground, Aeron straddling the invisible spy.
"Enough, Aeron." Ayla gave the command calmly. "That one is no threat."
"I am the threatiest threat you will ever discover."
Ayla crouched down, whispered a few words and Liz appeared suddenly. She was caught face-down between Aeron's thighs, pinned to the ground quite effectively. Her face was covered in dust and her clothing was twice as ragged as it had been when they last met. She was an unholy mess, her braids bedraggled, scratches across the bridge of her nose and cheeks as if she had been running through bushes.
"Tell me something," Ayla said, still crouched there before her captive. "Have you ever actually met Ariadne?"
Liz frowned. "Well of course I have."
"What does Ariadne look like?"
"She is... uh... she is beautiful."
Ayla shook her head slowly. "You have never been in Ariadne's presence, have you? Admit it."
"Not yet," Liz spat dust. "But I will be, once I earn it. Once I tell her what you are planning."
"How do you intend to tell her what I am planning when you do not know where she is or how to find her?"
"That is my problem, not yours... OWWW!"
Liz squealed loudly, and for good reason. Aeron had leaned down and bitten her swiftly on the back of her neck. It was not a particularly vicious bite, she released as soon as she had done it, but it was no doubt painful none the less.
"Aeron, please," Ayla said mildly. "I know this one just cries out for punishment, but we must pace ourselves."
"Ow, that hurt." There was a plaintive note to Liz's complaint, which made sense for Aeron had broken the skin in a couple places and left an unpleasant looking red ring in the pale skin of her neck.
"It will need to be cleaned. Let her up."
Aeron rose to her feet, keeping a close eye on Liz as Ayla ushered her little party back to Kira's tent where her bag of many tricks was waiting. So was Kira. The commanding warrior was pacing the tent back and forth, a thunderous expression on her face which grew darker still when Aeron made her appearance.
"Sit down, Liz," Ayla ordered. "I have something to clean that wound."
"I cann
ot sit," Liz complained. "Because someone beat me."
"You can sit and you will," Ayla said. "You have the choice of this bed or a hard stool."
Grumbling, Liz lowered her bottom gingerly onto Kira's bed. She winced as she put her weight fully down. "There is not a part of me that does not sting," she said morosely. "But I will suffer for Ariadne as much as she calls for me to suffer."
"I hope you are a glutton for suffering then," Kira said. "Ariadne knows how to cause great suffering. It is her stock and trade."
