Battle of Forces

by Ali Vali

  She tried to ignore it for now as Kendal held her. The steady sound of Kendal’s heartbeat beneath her ear assured her Kendal wasn’t worked up about anything, so whatever she had in mind wasn’t worrying her. “I think I know what you’re thinking about.” She ran her hand under the open shirt along the muscles of Kendal’s back. “Only this time I can’t promise I won’t leave any hickeys if the same thing happens.” She kissed the spot over Kendal’s heart before she placed her hand on the hilt of the sword.

  “Maybe I should put my pants back on before we do this,” Kendal said as her hand hovered over Piper’s. Their closeness made the air around her almost vibrate.

  “Chicken,” she said, and laughed, but she was being carried away again, only this time passion didn’t seem like the direction they were headed. Kendal laughed with her, and together they took deep breaths.

  “Ready?” Kendal asked.

  “With you here, I’m ready for anything.” Kendal’s hand dropped at the words and neither of them lost eye contact this time, but instantly Kendal knew this was different. It wasn’t a repeat of Piper’s first vision since she hadn’t lost consciousness, but her focus seemed to have flown off somewhere she couldn’t follow.

  Now all she could do was stand and support Piper until whatever she was seeing in her mind’s eye was complete. The waiting, though, made it seem like an eternity, but she restrained herself from shaking Piper and allowed her to wake gently. When she did, Piper sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if whatever she’d seen had scared her. She pressed her cheek against Kendal’s chest again, holding on to her as if to prove she hadn’t disappeared.

  “I saw a place with a lot of rooms, and I think some of them belonged to you.” Piper pulled her nearer and closed her eyes. “It felt old, and a lot of the rooms were filled with rolls of paper and books, while others held art and statues. I couldn’t tell where it is, but it seemed desolate, and the people who stared at me as I moved around there looked at me and asked when you were coming. You’re expected, and they’re angry you haven’t come.”

  “It’s the Clan’s compound in Egypt I told you about.” She tried to fill in some of the gaps for Piper so she’d relax.

  “I sensed a lot of anger, some of it directed at you, but also a building panic. If what I saw was the place we were going, at first they wanted you to come back to face your punishment, but now their focus has changed.”

  “Could you tell what they’re worried about?”

  “I saw a lot of confusion and fear, love. Something’s happened that they didn’t expect and they don’t know how to deal with it, but they don’t know how to ask you for help. If you do go back, some of them will set a trap for you because they want you out of the way so you won’t interfere with something important to them.”

  “Is it something you saw, or something you feel?” Kendal tipped Piper’s head back, wanting to see her face. This time around Piper didn’t seem as anxious to talk about her vision after she’d come out of her trancelike state.

  “I saw only the place, but the rest was just a feeling. There’s every chance I imagined that part, but it seemed so real. Like I said, some of the people living there want whatever they’re freaked out about to happen, and the rest know that would be disastrous.”

  Piper pressed her palm to the side of Kendal’s face. “What are we going to do?”

  “We have to take this one step at a time, so we begin with where we are and what we have.” Kendal stopped and kissed Piper before she went on. “And we have to collect more information.” The past week was like a puzzle missing pieces, so while Kendal could make out the final picture, the real art would be found in the fine details.

  “Think the two with their ears probably pressed to the door know more than they’re telling us?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Kendal said, then kissed Piper one more time before she moved around to collect her clothing. She left her shirt open, but put her pants and shoes back on before she scooped Piper off the table and walked across the room.

  “Hold up, Lord Wallace,” Piper said, and pulled her hair. “If you think I’m going to take the chance of running into my grandparents in this condition, you’re insane.”

  “Your grandfather seems to have started a list of things wrong with me, so I’m not about to add sexual deviant to my growing number of sins. If you hang on I promise we won’t run into anyone until we’ve showered and I find a shirt that actually closes.” She pressed down on the corner of one of the display cases and a small door slid open.

  “If you have a secret passage at your disposal, you should’ve skipped getting dressed again. The sooner we shower, the quicker we can talk to Lenore and the Viking goddess.”

  “I never take these things without wearing shoes since I hate stepping on any stray bugs.”

  Piper looked up to the hidden staircase and laughed. “You fight things that nightmares are made of and you’re afraid of stepping on a bug?”

  “Fear is your word, sweet pea.” She started up the passage that’d lead them to the master suite. “I’m not afraid of them. I just find them gross underfoot. Some hang-ups are a little tougher than others to overcome, no matter how many years you’re given. It’s one of the things I’m still working on, so no teasing or I’ll make you carry me upstairs and we’ll see how much you like squishy stuff under your feet.”

  They took a shower together and went down to dinner. Everyone had changed and seemed to be in better spirits after the long flight, since they were all laughing and having drinks in one of the larger sitting rooms. Piper joined Mac and Molly, and she smiled when Hill approached with an extra glass in her hand.

  “Aside from enjoying a free vacation, do you need me to do anything for you while we’re here?” Hill asked her.

  “There might be, but this isn’t the time to talk about it.” Kendal stopped to take a sip of the scotch Ming had poured for her and allowed Hill to deliver.

  “If it’s a matter of trust, I offered to sign a confidentiality agreement, but you turned me down.”

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you.” She led Hill away from the others so their conversation would stay somewhat private. “Piper trusts you and, more importantly, has known you for years and has a deep respect for you. I would’ve offered you a job eventually, but you’re here because of her impassioned defense of your honor and sense of righteousness. I want you to be here, but I’ve always been a very private person, and that’s going to be a hard habit to break.”

  “Hopefully you’ll see that no matter what, I’ll do a good job for you because I don’t want to sit around all day fishing for things to occupy my time. I don’t do well when I’m bored out of my mind.” Hill accepted another drink from the server and took a seat across from her.

  “My business is strange at times,” she said, and tried to think of the best way to ease Hill into the work Piper seemed to think she’d be right for. Lenore and Morgaine were great at research, but they wouldn’t always be around full-time so it’d be nice to have someone with Hill’s skills to do that for them when needed.

  “Strange how? Like human trafficking or something similar?”

  “Human trafficking? That’s where your imagination skittered off to first?” Kendal laughed. “More like…” Ming came in again and announced dinner was served. “Let’s save it until tomorrow and I’ll explain, but I can assure you I’m not buying or selling anyone for profit. Even my ancestors had a definite distaste for that sort of thing when it was legal.”

  The staff served a great meal and afterward everyone retired to the library. Piper smiled as Kendal did her best to make her grandparents and Hill feel as if they were welcome and wanted. After another round of after-dinner drinks, the older couple and Hill had no choice but to retire, if they wanted to start fresh in the morning. Before Lenore and Morgaine could escape, Kendal closed the door, locked it, and pointed to the sofa across from where Piper sat.

  She sat and smiled, waiting t
o see if they’d crack, but Morgaine feigned a bored expression while Lenore stared into the fire. “Is there something you two would like to get off your chest? Some burning piece of information you just can’t wait to tell me,” she said, and took Piper’s hand.

  Lenore finally looked at her and took a deep breath, as if to prepare herself for a cross-examination. “Nothing comes to mind.”

  “How about you, Blondie?” Piper asked Morgaine.

  “Excuse me?” Morgaine said, with heat.

  “Cut the bullshit, both of you,” she said, aggravated as well. “Something unusual is going on, and it’s important enough that Rolla and his buddies were willing to forgive me with no questions asked. At least that’s your story.”

  “Until we know more, there’s no sense in getting everyone worked up,” Lenore said.

  “I’m already worked up, and if you and the others want my help, start talking, and I mean now. To encourage you I’ll start by telling you that something happened to us this afternoon.”

  “Actually, two somethings,” Piper said, and shrugged when Kendal gazed at her.

  “Okay, two things happened, and I think you may know a little about that,” she added.

  “What exactly?” Lenore leaned forward like a child waiting for a treat.

  “We need to make a deal here before we begin,” Piper said with her hands up.

  Kendal had to laugh at the different responses that proposal got from her two old friends. Piper seemed to drive Morgaine mad, but Lenore seemed completely charmed by her. That both of them had any reaction at all to the woman she loved made her feel better about the future and whatever they had to face. If something were to happen to her, both Lenore and Morgaine would make sure Piper came through it safely.

  “What do you want?” Morgaine asked.

  “We both want the same thing,” Kendal said as she put her arm around Piper. “From the time you recruited me, the three of us have been through a lot together, so it surprises and saddens me now that you’ve kept me in the dark. Why all the evasiveness?”

  “Do you think that’s what we’re doing?” Lenore asked.

  “I agree with Piper that you’re not telling us something, and from our first lesson together you told me the most important thing in any fight, besides the skills Morgaine so carefully taught me, was information.” Kendal’s words made Lenore appear almost ashamed. “Now that it seems to count for something, you’ve purposely cut me out as if you don’t trust me. Do you have some reservation about me or Piper?”

  Lenore took a breath to answer, but Morgaine put her hand on her knee and started talking. “Lenore and I are truly happy for what you have found in each other, and you must believe we’re here to protect you both. Please accept our apologies. Piper’s right. We haven’t told you everything, but we simply don’t know all the answers.”

  “Then let’s share what we all know and start from there,” Piper said.

  Morgaine stood, took Piper’s hand, and bowed her head over it. “I give you my word and the promise of my sword to fight for you and Asra in the days to come.”

  “I know that, aside from me, you two love Asra the most, so thank you for including me in your circle,” Piper responded.

  “Let’s be honest with each other, then,” Morgaine said with a smile.

  “This afternoon we went into the sword room so Piper could see the Sea Serpent,” Kendal said.

  “Did you have any kind of reaction when you were in there together?” Lenore asked again, appearing excited.

  “That might be putting it mildly,” Piper said, and laughed as she blushed.

  Kendal laughed as well, since she figured Piper wouldn’t be comfortable having to discuss their sex life with anyone, but there was no other way to explain what had happened.

  “Let’s begin by saying that Piper picked the sword without any help from me, so we can trust the vision she had the night Lenore touched her.” She kissed the top of Piper’s head. “After that we had two very different experiences when we touched it together.”

  “I don’t mean to pry into your private lives, but was one of the reactions of a passionate nature?” Lenore asked in a way that made her sound like she was trying to navigate a minefield.

  “If it had gotten any more passionate I would’ve lost consciousness again,” Piper said, and her blush became more pronounced. Both Lenore and Morgaine nodded as if they already knew that part, but stayed quiet.

  “That was the first thing, but the second time we tried it…” Kendal told them about Piper’s vision.

  Lenore nodded again, then closed her eyes for a moment. “Asra, before we begin this conversation I want to ask your forgiveness for something I did a very long time ago.”

  “Forgiveness for what?”

  “When you asked about Bruik’s vision about you, I told you only a part of what he’d seen because I didn’t think you should have to carry that worry for so long.” Lenore’s eyes were filled with tears, and Kendal could tell the lie of omission truly pained her. “Believe me, I did it only because I thought I was helping you.”

  “Whatever else he saw, I assume the distant future he predicted is upon us, so you don’t need my forgiveness because you did nothing wrong.” She stood and gave Lenore a kiss on the cheek to calm her.

  “Thank you, and you’re right again. Bruik, as you know, had a vision that, at that time, was a long way off, but the signs indicate that the time is indeed now. From our first communication with Rolla after Piper’s first vision, he’s reached the same conclusion.” Lenore retrieved the book Kendal recognized as the one she’d been reading for days. “The one thing Bruik didn’t see was the sword, but he did see Piper, so we’ll have to assume she’ll have to fill in all the gaps for us. Since Piper’s first sight was of the Sea Serpent, I believe it definitely has something to do with whatever happens.”

  “Let’s start with the story of that sword,” Piper said. “Every time we ask, something interrupts, so before the sky starts falling, tell us.”

  Lenore held up the book and opened the cover to show them the picture inside. It was an excellent sketch of the sword, but the dragon on the hilt was uncoiled and alive. “According to legend this weapon is blessed by the gods,” she said, but then shook her head. “I take that back. It’s blessed by only one in particular.”

  “Which?” Kendal asked.

  “Aphrodite or Venus, depending on your background and citizenship.” Lenore turned to the next page and the sketch of a beautiful woman holding the blade across her hands. “It was the only time she commissioned something that could be used in war, but she had her reasons.”

  “Lenore told me that Rolla has had this book for years, but never believed the legend it contained because no one ever thought the sword to be real. And since you never mentioned it in your reports to Lenore, neither did we until Piper’s vision,” Morgaine said.

  “But every time I reread this it mentions that the true owner is somehow marked by the goddess.” Lenore flipped through the pages of the old text with care, obviously trying to find that passage.

  Kendal put her hand on the spot on her upper thigh. “Marked how?”

  “It states here that the dragon will one day awaken, but only if it’s in the hands of the goddess’s chosen one.”

  “If it does awaken, then what?” she asked.

  “I can’t answer that because that’s all this says. The dragon will awaken, but nothing else,” Lenore said, but Kendal could tell Lenore’s eyes were on her hand.

  “What happens if the chosen one isn’t holding it?” Piper asked, pressing closer to her.

  “When Aphrodite had her husband, Hephaestus, cast the sword, she had to make a pact with her brother, Ares, under order from their father. Zeus dictated that if siblings dabbled in things neither knew well, the sword had to be balanced.”

  “Balanced how?” Piper asked.

  Kendal smiled since she could guess the meaning. “Most of the lessons I received when I became
a slayer revolved around the fact that all things in life are balanced,” she said to Piper, and Lenore nodded. “For every bit of good, there is something equally bad, and so on. In the true nature of things, we can’t have one without the other, so if the sword is really of Ares and Aphrodite’s making, it contains the power of both love and war.”

  “The power it contains, and how it’s used, depends solely on the person who awakens the dragon,” Lenore said.

  “Does the book say when?” she asked.

  Lenore flipped through a few more sections and started reading. “The legend starts with a couple in ancient Greece. They fell in love, but their families had been sworn enemies for generations, so they thought a future together would be impossible.”

  “When I first heard this it sounded like a million other stories bards told during that era,” Morgaine said.

  “It reminds me of Romeo and Juliet,” Piper said.

  “A lot of the classics come from legends like this,” Lenore said before she began reading from the book. “With a very bleak outlook for happiness, the two young women ran off one night in search of a place or time when their love would be accepted. They traveled for weeks to reach the shore where they found shelter and consummated their relationship. It wasn’t long before word came that both families were close to finding them, and if they succeeded, the young women would be ripped apart forever. That night they made love one last time and sacrificed themselves to Aphrodite.”

  “I’ve never known the goddess of love to encourage human sacrifices,” Kendal said, remembering the temples back then. “Her altars were always covered in flowers and fruits.”

  “Before they died, they asked for the goddess’s blessing so in death their spirits would be intertwined and they’d be together again in another life.”

  A tear rolled down Piper’s cheek when Lenore finished, and Kendal wiped it away. “Thank God I found you and my family accepted you. It’s sad they saw death as their only option.”