Sae-Mirra had her hands on Nadia's shoulders, her tail swishing this way and that, ears perked forward, golden eyes closed. Nadia let her own eyes close and simply enjoyed the long moment.
Kaidia grinned broadly at the sight and held her fingers up, thumbs and index fingers extended, thumbs touching. She framed the two women within her fingers and a shimmer flashed between her fingers. She glanced around until she spied a blank piece of parchment lying on a nearby table. The mercenary stepped over and settled the magically trapped image onto the paper, smirking to herself as she did. Once the image had settled onto the paper, Kai looked it over and grinned. It was adorable.
Sae-Mirra sat up and grinned at Nadia, flashing sharp fangs, as if the ears, tail, slitted pupils, and clawed nails weren't enough to demonstrate her exotic nature.
"I see you made it back in one piece," the kyrian purred.
"Yes, though my ribs are bruised," Nadia responded.
"Oh, did I hurt them?" Sae questioned, concern on her features.
"Yes, but you more than made up for it with the kiss," the dark-haired woman said with a playful smirk.
"I will keep that in mind. Kisses make up for things," Sae chuckled, stood up, and helped Nadia to her feet. The kyrian then turned her attention to Kai, stepping over to the elder Valengaard sibling, and wrapping her arms around the woman.
"And here I thought you had forgotten about me," Kaidia teased.
"Oh shut up. That's impossible and you know it," Sae-Mirra retorted.
"Good to know," Kai chuckled and scratched behind Sae's ears, eliciting a purr from the kyrian. Sae took a step back and looked between the sisters.
"So tell me what happened," the cat girl demanded.
"Let's go sit down and talk about it over some wine," Kai suggested, gesturing to the doorway of the sitting room that was off to the side of the main chamber. Sae grabbed Nadia's hand and pulled the young woman along with her. As they walked, Kaidia leaned down and whispered into the kyrian's ear.
"You're a what?!"
* * *
Kaidia found herself in the depths of a philosophical discussion about her godhood over a game of cards. She sat at one end of the embalming-table-turned-card-table, five cards in her hand. Nadia sat opposite of her, between them on one of the long sides of the table sat Sae-Mirra. The kyrian and the younger Valengaard also held five cards each. A pile of mostly steel coins lay on the table between the three. A few silver and even fewer gold coins littered the pile with their brilliance. Tankards of ale sat beside each of the women and a deck of face down cards rested on the side of the table where no one sat.
“What do you mean?” Kai asked over the top of her cards, eyes gazing at Sae.
“I mean you fulfill all of the practical godly duties. You give people hope and you protect them,” the kyrian responded.
“What about answering prayers?” Nadia asked, glancing between her elder sister and her new-found lover.
“Don't be silly, gods don't answer prayers,” Sae admonished with a chuckle.
“I'm not some transcendent being that created the world and the stars,” Kai responded to Sae's earlier point.
“Perhaps not, but no one really knows how that all came about,” the cat girl retorted.
“Many religions claim their gods did it,” Nadia interjected.
“Yes, they do. Some claim their god did it all single-handed, some have specific gods that created specific celestial bodies, and yet others claim whole teams of gods worked together on every single little star in the night sky. It's all obvious speculation and likely all of it is entirely wrong,” Kaidia said, eyes drifting back to her cards.
“Alright, explain your astounding power,” Sae challenged. Kai's dark blue eyes snapped to focus on the kyrian.
“Natural talent honed with years of practice,” she stated flatly.
“Oh, come on. You can't believe that's all there is to it, Kaidia,” the kyrian insisted.
“Nadia has overwhelming power and ability and the head priestess at the temple in Sarkos said that Nadia wasn't even a demi-god,” Kai replied.
“That's true,” Nadia grumbled.
“Yes, well... what does she know?” Sae muttered rhetorically.
“A lot,” Kai answered flatly, a smirk on her lips.
“You shush,” Sae growled playfully.
“No,” the mercenary refused, the smirk still present.
“Well then, what do you think of your new status?” the kyrian inquired.
“It's annoying, but could prove useful at some point. Being a hero elevated to god status is strange to me. All I did was wipe out the remnants of Adathir's original army. That wasn't that big of a deal. Neither was the whole dragon thing in Vortha,” Kaidia answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Maybe you don't remember it that well. Adathir's army had devolved into a raiding mob that did unspeakable things to villages with little to no protection. You were a saving grace for those left untouched, but in the line of fire... and a vengeful wrath for those that had been victimized. You saved Vortha from Adathir, too. Yes, we had a whole army, but you are the one that killed him. You are idolized. The only reason more people don't flip out when you're walking down the street is because you've made yourself so scarce that many people have no idea what you look like,” Nadia explicated.
“They sure as hell knew what I looked like in Sarkos,” Kai grumbled.
“Of course they did. There was a massive painting of you in the temple,” Nadia laughed.
“There was?” Sae asked, looking between the sisters.
“Yes. Huge. It even rendered Rykar's wise ass speechless for a moment,” Kaidia answered. Nadia snickered at the memory.
“Interesting. I'm going to have to go see it at some point,” the kyrian said, making a mental note to do so.
“Regardless of the painting and my official status, I'm not a god. Not in the supernatural sense. I don't know everything that ever has been or ever will be. That's just wishful thinking of mortals projected onto their fabricated deities,” Kai asserted.
“Fine. That settles it for now. Lay down your cards,” Sae said, eyes glancing between the siblings. Nadia laid her cards on the table.
“Two kings, two knights, and a seven,” she said, not entirely confident in her hand. Sae nodded, then looked to Kaidia, who gestured to the table.
“Go ahead, Sae,” she suggested calmly. Sae-Mirra laid her hand on the table.
“Two kings, two queens, and a prince,” she said smugly, having beaten Nadia's hand. Kaidia smiled softly, then nodded and proceeded to lay her cards down one at a time.
“Dragon of Swords, Dragon of Crowns, Dragon of Keys, Dragon of Shields, and Prince of Swords,” she announced each one, grinning.
“How'd you get the dragon of each suit?!” Nadia exclaimed. Kai just laughed in return.
“You either cheated or that's some insane luck,” Sae growled.
“The dragons just come to me. I'm their god, after all,” Kai said with a grin and had to promptly duck a steel coin that her sister chucked at her head. It only served to fuel her amusement.
“Come now, sister. Don't be a sore loser,” she teased.
“Kiss my ass,” Nadia retorted.
“I believe that's Sae's job,” Kai joked with a wink. Nadia and Sae blushed.
“Shut up!” the couple shouted in unison, only to spark another fit of laughter from Kaidia. She calmed after a few moments, leaned back in her chair, and downed the rest of her ale.
“One thing about all of this still bugs me,” she admitted, suddenly serious.
“What might that be?” Sae queried.
“What was the impetus? What made someone think up a plan to resurrect a dead warlord and proclaim him a new god? Also, why did Xerith and the temple recognize him as one?” Kaidia asked, not truly expecting any satisfactory answers.
“I couldn't begin to fathom,” Nadia answered.
“It only takes one crazy person to get a wild hair
and off they go,” Sae reasoned with a shrug.
“I suppose you're correct,” Kai replied with a soft sigh.
* * *
Hours later, long after Nadia and Sae-Mirra had retired to their bed chamber for the night, Kaidia sat in the main room of her home, staring into the dark fireplace, a single candle on the table beside her providing the only light.
“But... what if you're not correct?” she asked of the surrounding darkness.
About the Author
Rickk Berry III is the author of the Realms of Valen series.
When not writing, and sometimes when he is, he enjoys photography, listening to music, reading, playing video games, and the occasional fireball. (Who doesn't?)
Born (supposedly, theories abound) and raised in small down America, he always felt out of place and was always “that weird guy”. Life passed by. Employment for which he held no passion came and went. The sands of the hourglass trickled away. Having always written in some form or another, he finally decided to tackle the beast of a lengthy tale, and found, to his delight, that it agreed with him in a most satisfying way. Thus, the idea for the Realms of Valen series was born, among others to be addressed at a later time.
He can be spotted in the windows of the ruined mountain fortress that he has made his home (which only exists in his mind), darting around, pacing, writing long into the night, working on his tale, and occasionally flinging fireballs about the place. The story of Kaidia Valengaard must be told and he is, apparently, the one to tell it.
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Thank you for reading.
-Rickk
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Realms of Valen - Dragon in the Dark (War of the Gods Book 1) Page 17