by R A Oakes
Kneeling down beside Ritalso, Aerylln placed Baelfire on his chest. Suddenly, Chen’s father took a deep breath, his chest arching upward and eyes opening wide. The gray pallor left his skin, and he seemed to be putting on weight. Within half an hour, Ritalso was able to sit up.
“The leader of the women who came crashing in here, who was she?” Ritalso asked.
Baelfire didn’t have the heart to tell him it was Chen, the daughter for whom he’d sacrificed so much. So, being vague and evasive, the good sword said, “Oh, she sort of owns Crystal Castle.”
“She owns it? What about Glenitant?”
“Well, Glenitant’s no longer with us,” Baelfire informed him.
“Where did she go?”
“Out a great hall window, I’m afraid.”
“Good riddance.”
“That’s exactly how we feel,” Baelfire agreed. “So, are you well enough to come downstairs?”
“Yes, I believe so. But tell me, who does Glenitant’s sword, Crystal, belong to now?”
“No one at the moment, she’s sort of indisposed. Tied up, that is,” Baelfire said.
“I was afraid my daughter, Chen, would inherit that miserable sword.”
“No, Chen almost got hold of Crystal, but Baelfire stopped her. Chen owns the castle, but not Crystal,” Aerylln said in a rush.
“I thought the leader of those warrior women owns the castle?” Ritalso said.
“Well, yes, she does,” Baelfire admitted, and the good sword waited as Ritalso put two and two together.
“You mean, that woman was Chen?” he asked feeling shocked and surprised. “My daughter is the owner of Crystal Castle?”
“Yes,” Aerylln said trying to be helpful.
“But she doesn’t own Crystal, the dark sword?”
“No,” Aerylln assured him.
“But what do I do now? How can I possibly communicate with a daughter who’s that hostile?”
“I’d give her some time,” Baelfire counseled.
“I didn’t recognize my own daughter. I’ve missed out on everything. I’m so empty and alone, how do I even begin to rebuild?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s an interesting question,” Marcheto said. “Maybe we can begin by simply looking around this room. Using your powers of observation, what do you see?”
“Nothing but a window, a small closet and the four of us.”
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay, I agree, the rest of the room is empty,” Marcheto said. “But we’re sitting within that emptiness, aren’t we?”
“I don’t understand.”
“We can sit here on the floor only because the room is empty. Look outside the door. See the hallway wall?”
“Yes?” Ritalso said wondering where Marcheto was heading with all this.
“Go over to the wall and walk into it.”
“I can’t.”
“And why not?”
“Because the wall is solid. I can’t walk into a solid wall.”
“So, can we agree that emptiness is needed?”
“Yes,” Ritalso said. “But I’m not a room, I’m a person.”
“Then, I wonder if emptiness works the same way with people? All I’m saying is that where there’s nothing, there’s great potential.”
“Marcheto, I don’t have the strength to rebuild,” Ritalso said.
“What if you allowed the emptiness to rebuild your lif for you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your inner emptiness might be of great value to someone who needs a close friend. Eager to be filled, you’re receptive to the thoughts and feelings of others. You would make a great listener. It’s a rare person, indeed, who’s genuinely interested in the lives of others.”
“I hope you’re right,” Ritalso said. “Otherwise, it’s going to be a long, lonely life.”
Chapter 20
While Chen, Gwendylln and Corson were upstairs in Ritalso’s room, Pensgraft and over 50 warriors were gathering in Crystal Castle’s courtyard discussing the ramifications of Glenitant’s death. Dartuke and the noblemen, Balder and his men, and Chen’s warrior women were present, which was virtually everyone living in Crystal Castle. Everyone human.
All agreed that Lord Daegal’s warriors, who’d escorted Pensgraft and were camped outside the castle walls, should be stopped from returning to The Rock. It was imperative that they be kept from reporting Glenitant’s death and about the dark sword being taken prisoner.
“Crystal Castle’s extremely vulnerable, and if word reaches Lord Daegal, we’ll be in serious trouble,” Pensgraft said gravely.
After quickly consulting with the other nobles, Dartuke said, “Yes, if Lord Daegal realizes our predicament, he’ll most certainly attack.”
“We need time to build up our forces,” Thordig, another of the nobles, said. “But if Lord Daegal discovers that we intend on using Crystal Castle as a base for a rebellion, he’ll move against us even faster.”
Malavika, third in command of Chen’s warrior women, said, “So let me get this straight. You’re talking about the 25 warriors Lord Daegal sent along to guard Pensgraft? Is that correct?”
“Yes, to prevent me from escaping,” Pensgraft said.
“And we can’t allow any of them to get away. We must decide on a plan of attack,” Dartuke said, a sense of urgency filling his voice.
“Isn’t the course of action obvious?” Malavika asked winking at the warrior women under her command. Mounted on their black stallions, the women were shaking their heads and smiling.
“Listen guys, how about letting the girls handle this one?” Malavika said chuckling. “We’ll approach them under the covers. I mean under the cover of darkness.”
The warrior women shifted in their saddles.
“But first, I need to find Chen and tell her about this,” Malavika added, but she didn’t have to look far.
Chen, Gwendylln, and Corson walked out of the tower entrance into the courtyard. The black leather panther didn’t recognize the nobles, but they knew her, and their mood turned hostile. Reacting instantly, Chen’s warrior women dismounted and formed a protective circle around her.
“What’s the matter? Haven’t my women been nice to you?” Chen sneered seeing the angry expressions on the nobles’ faces.
Feeling annoyed, Dartuke took a step in Chen’s direction. Gwendylln quickly unsheathed her sword holding it to his throat. Immediately, all the nobles reached for their swords, Chen’s warrior women following suit, and dozens of weapons leapt from their scabbards.
“Oh, this is a great beginning,” Balder said. “Why don’t we save Lord Daegal the trouble by killing each other? That way, he can walk into Crystal Castle unopposed.”
Chen gave Balder a withering look. It made her feel a little better.
“Don’t you remember us, Chen?” Dartuke asked.
“No, why?”
“Not long ago, you murdered my friend and his two sons,” Dartuke said. “Have you forgotten so soon?”
The black leather panther probably had forgotten about it.
Due to her highly independent nature, Chen rarely connected with other people’s wants and needs. Most people, upon interacting with her, found this to be a great source of irritation. Also, at least to others, Chen’s view of life could be frustratingly narrow. If something wasn’t on the black leather panther’s personal agenda, it didn’t exist.
And for Chen, life wasn’t so much divided by hours, days and weeks but by seconds and minutes. The warrior woman was intensely aware of every waking moment of every hour. Therefore, asking Chen to recall what happened last week was like asking her to dig up an ancient artifact. To her, it had been buried long ago.
Adding to the complexity, Chen saw everything around her in fractions. For every one thing most people noticed, Chen saw not only that but all its component parts. The black leather panther saw life in enormous detail, and this went on all day, every day. Therefore, if somet
hing took place last week, it had already been relegated to life’s dusty archives.
Chen wasn’t imagining these problems. They were real for her. Chen was brilliant, but the strain of being herself took its toll on the black leather panther and on everyone around her.
However, the nobles considered Chen nothing more than a gifted killer, a murderer. Balder, for that matter, had recently lost several men to her madness. Yet, for Chen, this was all in the past.
“Just let go of it,” the black leather panther said providing Dartuke with her brief and direct advice.
“Letting go isn’t easy. He was a good friend.”
“Then come join him in death!” Chen shouted pushing past Gwendylln.
Corson wanted to help, but she knew better than to get between Chen and Dartuke. When the black leather panther was on stage, which is what a fight was to her, it was wise not to disrupt the flow of the play. Chen had an extremely tight mental focus. She intimidated telepathically, locking onto an opponent’s psyche and letting him feel the force of her willpower. Being around Chen was an education and could be very instructive, if it didn’t make you a nervous wreck.
Keeping well away from Chen, Corson spoke up. “We have serious differences, but keep in mind that it was Chen who secured Crystal Castle, thus providing us with a base of operations. And whom do you want more, Chen or Lord Daegal?”
“Both,” Thordig growled.
“Chen has allies at The Rock who may prove useful,” Corson said. “Also, the dark sword views Chen as her master. Even tied up, Crystal could still be dangerous, and we may need to rely on Chen to control her.”
“Plus, she’s our leader, and we’ll need her approval, if we’re going to dispatch Lord Daegal’s warriors for you,” Malavika reminded the nobles.
Chen gave her a questioning look.
“We can’t allow Lord Daegal’s warriors to return home, can we? Well, Dartuke favors a conventional attack, but I pointed out that a blanket can be more powerful than a sword.”
“Sounds like a party,” Gwendylln said wearing a grim smile, having participated in a similar operation that was dangerous, devious and seductive.
“Can’t I be away for an hour without you thinking about men and sex?” Chen laughed.
“Oh, we’ll kill them all, eventually,” Malavika assured her.
“Gwendylln, would you like to be in charge of this rather unorthodox military maneuver?” Chen asked, very aware of what Malavika was suggesting.
“My pleasure.”
“Okay girls, put on your makeup,” Chen said, a code phrase ordering her warrior women to prepare for battle.
Chapter 21
At dusk, Gwendylln mounted her black stallion and rode out of Crystal Castle heading for the encampment where Lord Daegal’s men were staying. Mentally she readied herself to implement the course of action she and the other warrior women had decided upon. They would use as little sex as necessary to lure the men into dropping their guards, then kill them as quickly and efficiently as possible.
War is unpredictable and something can always go wrong, but as Gwendylln got closer to the encampment, she put all concerns and doubts out of her mind. Riding past a sentry, he recognized her and waved the warrior woman onward.
Gwendylln saw Lord Daegal’s men gathered around their cooking fires finishing their evening meal. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and rode boldly into their midst.
“How about a little dessert?” she shouted heartily, overcoming her fears with brash behavior.
“I’ll have some!” one man called out.
Gwendylln dismounted and literally took matters into her own hands. Striding up to a warrior, she gripped his face with both hands proceeding to kiss him roughly, so roughly it appeared to onlookers like she was chewing off his lips.
After nearly devouring the man, Gwendylln pulled back and smiled. Covered with teeth marks, the warrior’s mouth was bleeding from several puncture wounds where she’d cut deeply into his skin.
“Who’s next?” Gwendylln shouted shoving him aside.
As the warriors formed a circle around her, she saw the lust in their eyes. This was the moment Gwendylln had been dreading, the development of a mob mentality. Making a quick decision, she threw them off balance by striking first. Slamming a forearm against one warrior’s chest, she knocked him down and began unlacing his pants. Mesmerized by this unexpected development, Lord Daegal’s men froze and looked on in amazement.
However, sneaking up from behind, one warrior grabbed her shoulder. Having been taken by surprise, Gwendylln’s years of relentless training took over, and her knife was out in a flash. Whirling around and lashing out at him, the blade cut along the upper palm of the man’s hand severing two fingers.
Looking at his mangled hand, he began screaming but unsheathed a knife with his good hand and lunged at Gwendylln. Another male warrior intervened punching the attacker square in the jaw, and the wounded man dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap. Gwendylln’s defender, and most of the men, didn’t want such a pretty woman cut up, at least not yet.
On Chen’s command, Malavika and three other warrior women performed a flanking maneuver entering the encampment from the east. After making their way towards a roaring campfire, they allowed their figures to be in silhouette so their curves and flowing hair were clearly outlined. They appeared to be dark warriors engulfed in flames.
“You’ve finished eating, but how about rustling up something for us?” Malavika shouted trying to draw attention to herself and women with her.
This tactic caused about half the men to turn from Gwendylln and head over towards the flaming angels of death. With the encampment in disarray, Chen now led a frontal attack with 22 seasoned warrior women calmly riding in and dismounting by a different fire. Each woman picked out a target and walked towards him dropping articles of clothing along the way. By the time a woman reached her man, he was already defeated whether he realized it or not.
After allowing the men to kiss them, each of the women led her man into the darkness away from the others for privacy. At least that’s what they told them.
Dividing and conquering can be an effective strategy, and Chen’s warriors used it to their full advantage.
Gradually, here and there, sharp grunts punctuated the air sounding like a release, but it was too early for that. Instead, they were death cries. The women were killing the men quietly and efficiently.
The cries continued disturbing the stillness of the night, and each woman took whatever time was necessary to tempt her man into dropping his guard. When he did, the man died quickly and silently.
Some of Lord Daegal’s men were more difficult to fool, so some got more than others, but it ended up the same way, a knife shoved into a critical and lethal area. To Chen’s warriors, the shock and surprise on the men’s faces was almost comical, but none of the women laughed outright. A few of their sisters were still engaged in the task at hand, and stealth was vital.
But suddenly horses began neighing wildly, men started shouting and the clash of metal against metal filled the air. Chen had anticipated this, so before arriving at the encampment, she’d told Corson to dispatch her man as quickly as possible. Chen wanted Corson ready to help troubleshoot any problems that might arise.
As sounds of combat filled the air, some of Lord Daegal’s other warriors shoved their women aside. Then, jumping up to see what the commotion was all about, and finally being distracted, they died at the hands of a female assassin.
From experience, Chen had learned there were a few men, very few, who were ruled by their minds, not their genitalia. Such men were rare enough to be considered an endangered species. And tonight, Chen intended on endangering them even more.
When the fighting broke out, the black leather panther and Corson were already mounted and ready. Both women knew conflicts might arise, and Chen was excellent at planning for various contingencies.
In addition to Corson, the black leather panther had
ordered four more of her best warriors to dispatch their men almost instantly. These women were fully dressed as well and mounted on their black stallions. One was stationed north of the encampment, one stationed south, another to the east, and a fourth to the west of the battlefield.
Being highly disciplined, experienced warrior women, when pockets of resistance did break out, they remained where they were in case trouble arose in their own sector, their primary task being to prevent escape.
Chen and Corson were rovers, and their role was to head for any trouble and quell resistance before an escape was attempted. However, there was one thing Chen hadn’t anticipated. Several men were willing to die helping another get away to inform Lord Daegal.
Even before seeing them, Chen realized several of her warrior women could already be dead. That knowledge made the black leather panther angry enough to remain calm. She forced herself to think clearly and to observe what was happening.
With swords drawn, three men were fighting back-to- back against six warrior women who were in a frenzy to prevent them from escaping. The three men died, but the one they were protecting was riding off into the darkness.
Spurring their horses into action, Chen and Corson rode after the male warrior who was heading west towards The Rock. The warrior woman stationed in that sector darted towards him, but the man turned in the saddle, raised his bow and launched an arrow at her. When Chen heard her warrior crying out and saw the woman clutching her right shoulder, the black leather panther decided enough was enough.
Earlier, a few of Lord Daegal’s men had been snooping around inside the castle, Chen remembered. So, does this man know about Glenitant’s death? Or about the dark sword being taken prisoner?
Chen wasn’t sure of the answer, but she knew he could still report that 24 of Lord Daegal’s warriors were dead. And the black leather panther certainly didn’t want that information reaching her uncle’s ears.