Supreany, Blaizen, and Orckle were a small distance away, standing outside the only other room to bath in.
Supreany looked over at the two men. "So, who's first?"
Blaizen looked down at Orckle and back up at Supreany. "Ladies first."
"Well, aren't you two just a pair of gentlemen."
"Yeah, well, we're not the ones covered in blood."
Orckle began to walk away.
"Good point."
Blaizen turned to follow Orckle. "We'll be back here. Just let us know when you're done."
She pulled the door shut and set her clean clothes down. She took one last look at her bloody shirt. 'Man, this is going to feel good.' Her eyes lifted to the waterfall. 'Then again, maybe not, 'cause that looks really cold.' She walked over to it and put her hand under the water to test it out. She was then pleasantly surprised, for the water was quite warm. 'Must be Igna. Well, there's no time like the present.'
Meanwhile, Orckle and Blaizen were in a room down the corridor. Orckle had already made himself comfortable in another rather old chair. Blaizen took off his coat and tossed it on a bench.
"So, where did Igna go?" he asked Orckle.
"I imagine she retired."
"How did you know the Ice Witch was once a guardian?"
"Oh, I just knew."
Blaizen smiled and shook his head. "You know a lot more than you ever lead us to believe."
"It is true, I know a great deal. And yet, there is still much for me to learn."
"Like what?"
"Like you. Blaizen, my knowledge is limited to this world. It is true when I first met you, I thought that you suffered from some kind of ailment. But now it is clear to me that you really are from another world, one which I know nothing of. And there is still much about my own world that I do not understand. No matter how old we grow and how much we learn, we can still learn more, if we so choose. When we stop learning, it is of our own doing and to our own detriment."
Blaizen took a seat in a chair next to Orckle and his thoughts drifted to Cecealye. "Man, that's tough."
"What is?"
"Cecealye, finding out about her family like that. All those years of being lied to and then finding out that lies were all that they were. And that opens up a whole can of worms, leading to more questions. Who were the traitors that her family trusted, and who is it that really hunts her?"
"Yes, indeed, but I have a feeling that she will find those answers all in good time. And when she gets those answers, she will then know what to do with them."
'Well, that makes one of us,' Blaizen thought to himself.
They sat there for a moment longer before Supreany came walking down the corridor and into the room. "Well, I'm all done."
"You going, or am I?" Blaizen asked Orckle.
"By all means, you can go first."
"Thanks."
The rest of that night would be relatively quiet as everyone finished getting ready for bed, leading them to retire early that night.
-
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Ellizea: night of sorrows
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Two maidens in their late twenties rushed quietly into a well-furnished room and up to the bed.
"My lady, my lady, please, you must wake!" they said in hushed tones.
A teenage girl with long, dark brown hair rolled over in the bed. "What is the matter?"
"News has reached us; your father has been killed this very night!"
"And now they come for you. You must rise this moment and flee from this place!"
The girl jumped from the bed as the two maidens supplied her with a cloak and weapons: a sword, knife, and hatchet. She then proceeded to the door until one of the women stopped her.
"No, my lady, not that way. They would be just down the hall by now!"
"Come, you will go out the window," the other said as she tied off a rope and rushed out on the balcony, tossing the rope over. "You will go down to the next balcony and go from there."
The girl hastily went out on the balcony. "You must come with me. They will kill you if you stay here."
The maidens smiled and nodded. "As soon as you are safely down on the next balcony." Their lie was convincing enough, for the girl proceeded down the rope. Banging could be heard at the door. The young women had braced it, but it would not hold long.
The older of the two women rushed over to a cabinet and swung it open, turning to the younger woman. "You must hide here. Make not a sound. Stay here till it is safe."
The younger woman did as she was told as the other shut the doors. She then ran to the balcony. The young girl was a little over half way down. She's not going to make it in time, the woman thought to herself. She went back into the room and spotted a knife lying on a table, picking it up just as the doors of the room gave way. A small host of men rushed into the room, an average sized man with light brown hair taking the lead, his attention directed to the maiden.
"Where is she?"
The woman stood rigid, hoping he would not notice the rope going out the window. But before she could answer to distract him, she saw his eyes shift and she knew that he knew exactly where the girl had gone. The woman ran to the rope, only to feel an immense stabbing pain going through her as the man had thrust his sword into her and swiftly removed it. But it was too late; she had successfully severed the rope. He ran out onto the balcony, looking down to see the young girl picking herself up and rushing into the room.
"After her! The next floor down, now!" he commanded in anger. Most of the men jetted from the room. He turned to the maiden, who was now on her knees. "Have you any last words?"
She straightened herself. "Long Live the House of Elleno!" she proclaimed in a loud voice.
Aggravation overcame him and with a single blow, he severed her head from the rest of her body. He stood there a moment. "Take the head and follow me," he commanded, before he turned and left the room.
The young maiden in the cabinet crept out as the men left and went to the body of her friend. She wrapped her arms around it and began to weep. "May you find peace ... Oh, Theos, please let her Highness escape, for if not, her sacrifice will have been for nothing. Please, I beseech thee, please."
The young girl ran through the corridors and to the stairs, only to find a host of men waiting for her. She turned at once as the men rushed after her. Suddenly, she found herself cornered in a room, still on the second floor. The door she had come in and a window were her only ways out. She backed up toward the window as the host of men rushed into the room, the light brown-haired man making his way to the front.
"Well, you certainly have given us a ring around the rosy, but it ends here princess. You'll be glad to know that your maiden had a quick death," he stated as another man held the woman's head. "That's more than I can say for you … 'cause I'm going to have a lot of fun with you before you meet your end," he said as he approached her and ran his fingers down her face.
She pulled her knife, waiting for the right moment, and as he turned his head to give another command, she stabbed him in the throat.
"Over my dead body!" She then turned and jumped out the window.