I’m back, aren’t you all glad? I knew you would be. Well, here’s chapter 8 and I personally really like it. As stated in the previous chapter, new personality quirks are my creation. If you don’t like them, then don’t read. This chapter deals with the Warlords and I’ve never really believed that they were truly evil, but I’m giving too much away, so I’ll stop now and let you start reading.

Happy Reading!

Chapter 8

"I have brought the goddess, Master," Dais stated as he and Rhiannon stood in Talpa’s audience chamber.

"I am glad to see you have returned, my dear," the head said.

"Not by my own desire," she stated simply.

"I’m sure Dais has informed you that I had great plans for you and warlord number four, but I had to do away with him. So I’ve come up with a suitable alternative. But first, you need to bathe and change. Dais, please escort our guest to her chambers. And make sure the Lady does not see her."

"As you wish Master."

"Why do you want me? I have nothing left to offer the master," Rhiannon said as Dais carted her off.

"You should know that the master does not like to loose his servants. And your loss was very upsetting to him. He took your departure very hard, as we all did."

"Dais, what did he do to all of you?"

"That I’ve promised to never reveal."

"You’re all still alive?"

"You well know the answer to that. You’ve seen us battle the Ronins."

"But what about,"

"He’s another matter, love. I cannot say what the Master has done to him."

Rhiannon buried her head in Dais’ shoulder and began to weep softly.

"Hush, love, it’s really not that bad. You’ll get used to it. Remember all the fun we used to have?"

"Dais, we used to kill people! I’ve changed; I don’t consider that fun any more. I read for fun. I train for fun. I shop for fun. But I don’t kill people."

Dais closed his one blue eye. *Things have changed with us too. Ever since, well, the incident, the three of us have been thinking. And the Master’s been using her more often as well. We’re beginning to feel left out. And she’s ruthless. By the time she’s done with the boys, they’ll be nothing left for us to play with. *

*You’re serious? You’ve really thought about all this? *

*Yes, love. Is that so hard to believe? *

*But when I left…You all were so adamant about staying and how wonderful it would be to rule the world. Even he wouldn’t trust me…*

*He was the first to go. I don’t know what hit him, but one day, he decided that he wasn’t going to serve the Master any longer. I don’t know what the Master did to him, but the three of us could sense that it was unpleasant. *

Rhiannon felt fresh tears stream down her face.

"Oh, now, I didn’t mean to do that. We’re here," Dais said as he lowered Rhiannon to the ground. "It will be ok, trust me. We’ll find a way," Dais dared not say more and Rhiannon knew that. Apparently things were worse than they looked if Dais had resorted to mentally communicating. He knew about her shielding abilities. Talpa had never been able to get into her mind because of it. Her sister was the same way. When Talpa had been controlling them he had to resort to devices because they couldn’t be brainwashed.

"I know," she said. Dais opened the door to her chamber and turned back to her.

"Be safe," he said. He kissed her cheek and then turned and left. Rhiannon was alone.

She walked into the chambers and examined them. They were not the ones she had left, but they were perhaps even more luxuriant. Rhiannon flopped on the bed and cried. The world was coming to an end and she could do nothing about it. How had she managed to get herself captured by Dais? This wasn’t supposed to happen. After all these years, she was back in the Dynasty. "I can’t stay here!" she cried. "All right, Rhi, you’re a big girl now. Pull yourself together. You can’t just go off like that. You got out of here once, you can do it again." A knock sounded on her door.

"Enter!" she snapped.

"Haven’t lost that, now have we?" Cale said as he entered her chambers.

"Are you bringing me more bad news?" she asked.

"My darling goddess, the Master wishes to see you."

"Well, let’s not keep him waiting," Rhiannon said as she prepared to teleport to Talpa’s audience chambers.

"Not yet," Cale halted her. "He wishes you cleaned and changed first. He has something special he wishes to inform you of."

"And he’s sent you to make sure I bathe? Oh, how kind of him. Please inform you master that I’m a big girl and I can bathe myself, as I have been doing for the last four centuries."

"I have missed your sharp tongue. Your sister is not nearly as good as you are. She’s coming close. Bashing the ronins has given her something to talk about, but she lacks your talent to turn a phrase." Cale embraced Rhiannon.

"I’ve missed you as well. Dais told me of your decisions." Rhiannon returned the hug.

"Yes—my god, what did he do to you?" Cale examined the bruises on her face and those that showed on her body.

"We were in battle. What did you expect? I no longer wear armor. Never wore much to begin with, though. Talpa much preferred to see my body in action rather than protect it. If it makes you feel better, I gave as good as I got."

"You always did. I remember talking to him about it. He really did care for you a great deal."
"I know. Do you know what happened to him?"

"No, only the master does. But we sensed it was unpleasant."

"That’s what Dais said." Rhiannon turned away.

"You know what we have all been discussing."

"Yes," Rhiannon turned around to face Cale once more. She noticed for the first time the scar under his eye. "What in the goddess’ name happened to you?!" she exclaimed as she ran to examine the scar more closely.

"We’ve all gained many scars since you left."

Rhiannon ran her fingers along the patch of raised skin under Cale’s left eye. "This is not a battle wound. It’s too neat. This was purposefully inflicted."

Cale raised his hand and placed it over Rhiannon’s probing one. "How can you tell?"

"I’m a doctor, remember."

"If I recall correctly, you’re a neurosurgeon. How often do they deal with facial wounds?"

"Hey, I did my emergency rotation. And I was a warrior. I have my own battle wounds. They don’t look like that. And this looks as if it was treated soon after you received it. Battle wounds aren’t treated immediately. Cale, be honest. How did this happen?"

He turned away, unable to face her as he related the tale. "It was soon after you left. The Master had been upset that he had lost his most promising warrior."

"I wouldn’t go that far. He only let me train. I never fought, though I have scars to make one think I was in battle," Rhiannon interjected.

"You don’t know how highly he spoke of you. You were to start an entire line of female warriors for the Master."

Rhiannon gasped.

"Yeah. It’s true. Anyway, he came down hard on all of us. He blamed us for allowing you to escape."

"And you were with me when I made a run for it," Rhiannon continued. "I had escaped you, left you helpless to do anything about my break."

"I’ll never forget that feeling. I had never been helpless before in my life. You showed me what it was like."

"And now you’re here with me?"

"I hated you for centuries. I let my hatred fester. The next time I saw you, I was going to kill you. But then things changed."

"Well, how did you get the scar?"

"Talpa was proud of him for not leaving with you when he had the chance. He became leader. We wanted him dead."

"I know that. That much was obvious when you introduced yourselves to the Ronins."

"You were there?"

"Not with them, but I was there."

"We never sensed your ki. I thought at least he would."

"I was looking right at the four of you but couldn’t sense you. It was a very odd sensation. We’ve all changed, the kis have become so different."

"Well, back to my story."

"Yes, please continue."

"Talpa ordered me into his private chambers one day. He reamed me out for letting you go, and then he flipped. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. He took that huge sword of his and just scored it across my face. Then he left. Dais found me hours later, almost dead. He took me back to my chambers and did something to it. He said I was lucky, I nearly lost the eye. It was so out of character for Dais, I don’t know why he did it. I suggested that he knew what it was like to loose an eye and he didn’t want me to have to go through that. Sekhmet said it was probably because he wanted to be the only one with the cool eye patch."

Rhiannon laughed. "I’m sorry. I’m just glad you didn’t loose the eye, or worse. It could have become infected and you could have died." Rhiannon moved to wrap her arms around the back that was turned to her. Cale turned into her embrace.

"I think that experience was even worse than you leaving me helpless in the practice room."

"I can’t even imagine," she said.

"I should go. Talpa will think something is up if I’m gone this long. He’ll send someone in to help you dress. Another servant will be along to inform you when you are to arrive in the audience chamber."

"Will you and the others be there?"

"Most probably, no. He won’t want anyone to witness what his master plan is."

"Do you think he’ll…"

"Take revenge on you? No, he needs you to complete his plan. He won’t jeopardize that."

"Thank you," she said simply.

"Behave yourself, and maybe he’ll forgo the heavy guards and he’ll let you be. Then you can leave again. The only one you’ll have to watch is the Lady. She’s still under his control. But he’s decreed that we are all to make sure she does not see you. Obviously he still fears you and your powers."

"Cale, I don’t know what to say."

"Just promise you won’t go and get yourself killed."

"I promise," she said with a smile.

"And you still remember how to teleport?"

"Of course, it’s like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you can’t forget."

"Riding a what?"

"Never mind. When we get out of here, I’ll show you how."

"Be safe, Raine," and with that he teleported out.

***

"You sick bastard," Cale heard as he teleported into his chambers.

"Excuse me?" he stared at Dais.

"She’s back not even an hour and you’ve already fallen for her again. I thought you had sworn off women, and that one in particular, when she left you in the practice room."

"I’ve changed, and so have you."

"But to go to her chamber? What did you do? Declare your undying love for her?"

"I was not the one who kissed her."

"What!"

"It’s all over your face. And so what if I still love her? You don’t?"

"We were only friends, which is more than I can say for the two of us."

"Dais, please, we can’t go on like this if we expect to get out of here. Do you want to end up like he did?"

"If you hurt her, I swear, I’ll kill you. I promised him I would take care of her for him."

"You did what?!"

"Right before Talpa sent him off, I was to deliver a final blow. I don’t know what came over me, but he begged me to see that she was taken care of. He didn’t even know if she was still alive. The look on his face, I couldn’t deny him that. And it’s so obvious that she would do anything to have him back. We should have gotten to her earlier, then they both could have left."

"Dais, I never knew. This self-sacrificing thing is really strange."

"Yeah, well, it’s new for all of us," Dais said. "Come, the Master will expect us in his chambers. I will need to give him the details of my battle—such that it was,"

"Ah, yes, you did bruise her."

"She bruises like a peach, I don’t know why Talpa insisted that she train without armor. He didn’t even want her in battle, but my god, she does fight well."

"She fights like we do."

"She’s more like Kayura, ruthless, willing to go to all ends for what she wants. And then she has those powers on top of all her skill. One day, she’ll kill us if we don’t do what she wants," Dais said with a smile.

"Kayura or Raine?"

"Either, they’re sisters, they’re supposed to be alike," Dais answered. And with that, the two teleported out to Talpa’s audience chambers.

***