Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 (5 page)

Five of the guards started to organize us in a line, obvious
preparations to march us south to who knows where.
 
He was trying to think of a way to escape
when he heard a woman scream.
 
It was not
a scream of horror, or one of pain.
 
No,
it was a scream of anger and rage.
 
He
barely perceived the figure of a woman coming at him at high speed before she
was already past him; she had to be running faster than a bullet train.

He watched as the two guards next to him froze, then a
moment later their heads simply fell off their body and they collapsed to the
ground.
 
He saw the blur again, and two
more guards were beheaded.

He saw her then, stopped for the moment, glaring at the
captain.
 
She was short, maybe a few
inches past five feet.
 
She was wearing a
guard uniform, but different from the Egerians, he could only assume it was a
guard uniform from Abelaweth.
 
She had
two blades in her hands that at first he thought were made of glass, they were
transparent and distorted the image seen through them, but he quickly realized
they must be made of compressed air.

He thought she might be attractive, but the look on her face
was of absolute rage and hate.
 
She was
breathing hard as if she were extremely tired.
 
She screamed again and rushed forward, two more soldiers died, and
another three were tossed twenty feet away to crash into a building.
 
They did not get back up.

Then she screamed a third time, but this time in pain and he
cringed in understanding, he had felt that agony.
 
Her blades of air disappeared as she
collapsed to the ground.
 
The captain
looked at her and smiled.

“Good, perhaps the colonel will be happy when I report the
bitch that got away is now dead, just like the rest of them.”

He felt a physical pain in his heart at the scream of agony
that left her mouth at that pronouncement.
 
Not from the physical pain she must be feeling, but the agony of deep
loss beyond his comprehension, and deep sadness.
 
It pierced him sharply, he had never seen
such agony bared before.
 
His own anger
of the situation drained away as his focus changed solely to the woman, he was
filled with compassion for the stranger who had attacked their enemies and a
feeling of protectiveness rose up within him.

With that feeling rose something else, that he had never
felt before.
 
Power.

He burst into white flame.
 
It was not normal fire, it didn’t even give off heat.
 
His chains turned quickly to rust and fell
off of him, turning to dust before reaching the ground.
 
His tired aching and tortured muscles felt
refreshed.
 
These were flames with the
power to change, to restore, to heal, and to protect.
 
He instantly understood this power could not
be used to destroy in anger, it could not be used to kill at all...
 
It had been his compassion that summoned it,
and he knew now, that anger and hate would smother his power.
 

It had been his earlier anger that had stopped him from
finding it earlier in the fight.

White fire exploded from his body in a giant expanding ring
of flames, carrying the intent to protect the woman, and the rest of the town
folk.
 
The soldiers left alive around
them were unaffected, but their weapons along with all the chains on the young townspeople
turned to dust.

The captain gaped around in disbelief.
 
“What magic is this?”

The stranger, the woman who wielded air said as she stood,
no longer in pain, no longer tired and sheathed in a protective flame, her
voice ringing with triumph, “The harbinger of your death.”

He watched as a blade of compressed air shot from her hand
and grew to body width when it reached the captain.
 
The captain opened his mouth and gasped in
pain as his body split in twain.
 
The
remaining soldiers started to attack with their bare hands and some tried to
use their talents.
 
Fire, earth,
telekinesis… they were all transmuted and absorbed by his protective flames.

They did have some luck with hand to hand combat, his power
could not take a life.
 
Or perhaps would
not.
 
Three of the villagers died before
the woman of air and the rest of the townspeople overwhelmed and killed the
remaining soldiers.
 
When the last of the
danger was gone, the flames all returned to him and dissipated.

He understood now, why most people would not want to talk
about their talent.
 
He had felt her,
felt the goddess through an almost intimate connection, had felt her love for
him.
 
It would be wrong, crass, to share
something so private with someone.
 
Worse
than a player bragging at work the next day about the hot bitch he bagged.
 
It was personal, his connection to a goddess
he know knew, beyond a doubt, was real.

He went over and checked on Kat, she was fine and gave him a
hug and a kiss.
 
He was filled with
relief and elation, and not a little wonder at the magical talent he discovered
inside him.
 
When he was able to tear his
eyes of Katrina, who he wanted badly right now, after the adrenaline of the
situation, he was startled at how close the stranger was standing to him.

He recovered and smiled at her, “Thanks, you showed up at an
opportune time to save us.”

She just snorted.
 
“I’d be dead if it weren’t for you, so thank you for that.
 
Now I get to kill a lot more of those fuckers
before I die.”

Now that she was closer, and standing still, he could see
how attractive she was, but overriding that assessment was the look of fierce
hate on her visage, and the offhand comment of her own death was chilling in
the matter of fact way she delivered it.
 
It was what she said next though that caused his mouth to drop open,
then close in shock.

“You need to come with me, join the army.
 
Those pieces of shit fuckers from
Egeria
won’t stand a chance if you’re there to nullify
their talents.
 
I’d rather continue
through the towns killing the bastards, but you are too important to not make
that happen.”

She frowned which gave him the impression she was unhappy to
take time away from her killing until dead spree that she seemed to be on.

When he didn’t answer right away she said, “You will come
won’t you?
 
The goddess gave you that
power for a reason, didn’t you feel that captain’s power?
 
It was evil, which means a dark god…
 
Wake up and stop gaping at me!” she barked
the last of it.

He looked at Kat, mostly for an opinion he trusted, but
partly for reassurance.

Kat nodded slightly, reluctantly, and said, “She is
right.
 
It’s your choice of course, we
have free will.
 
But for reasons we may
never understand the goddess gifted you with a key power for this fight.
 
A Flame of Cytherea hasn’t been seen in the
last thousand years.
 
I know we haven’t
known each other that long, but I don’t believe you would turn away from
that.
 
No more than you could when you
were powerless with a couple of hatchets.”

He just nodded, she was right, he needed to go.
 
It was just taking some time for his brain to
catch up.
 
“I’ll go, when are we
leaving?”

The stranger said, “Now, sooner if it were possible, and by
the way, my name is Nora,” softer she said, “Last surviving member of the Elite
women warriors,” she made a face, “Stupid name I know, but the king named it,
and he is just a man after all.”

He ignored the jab at men the world over and replied, “Very
well, my name is Justin, and this is Katrina…”

He trailed off suddenly feeling very alone.
 
It had only been maybe thirty six hours, but
she was really the only person he knew, plus, he didn’t want to leave her, at
all.
 
Not after last night and the way
they got along.
 
He just looked at her
and she smiled, and then claimed his hand with her own.
 
She must have read the way he felt in his
face…

Katrina snorted, “You don’t think I’m letting you get away
do you?
 
I’m coming too.
 
Ben and Cynthia can watch the inn while I’m
gone, not a problem,” she looked him straight in the eye a mischievous smile on
her face, but her voice sounded quite serious, “I just found you after all,
can’t let you wander off alone now.”

They went back to the inn long enough to grab supplies, then
Nora took the lead since she knew generally where the army would be and they
were off running to meet the army.

Katrina wondered what the hell she was doing.
 
She glanced at Justin again and felt a tug on
her heart.
 
She had just met him
yesterday morning for goddess’s sake, and she just abandoned her inn like it
was meaningless to follow him.
 
Like she
hadn’t poured her heart and soul into it, and fought hard to keep it after her
parents passed.
 
How did that make
sense?
 

She had seen a sense of loss in his eyes at the idea of
leaving her behind, and something inside of her had echoed that back.
 
It had been a spur of the moment response to
that feeling.
 
She found that even now,
thinking about how stupid it was, she couldn’t bring herself to regret the decision.
 
She also knew if she hadn’t come, she would
have regretted it for the rest of her life.

What was bothering her is she couldn’t figure out why.
 
She didn’t love him, not yet.
 
She knew the potential was there for it
though, and everything about him seemed to stir something within her.
 
She finally gave up, deciding to just go with
it and see where it led.
 
She was also
hoping they stopped soon, she had an unbearable urge to go for a walk in the
woods with him, alone.

Speaking of alone, or not being alone, Nora was a mystery
she wanted to figure out.
 
The young
woman had her whole life ahead of her, yet seemed focused on revenge, and
dying.
 
It would be impossible to hold a
conversation at this speed though, so she pushed it to the back of her
mind.
 

-----------

They were jogging at a speed that was incredibly fast due to
Nora’s talent.
 
She was in a hurry to get
things done and was surprised when Justin agreed so quickly, doing nothing but
look trusting.
 
It was strange, she was
all ready to argue with a thick witted male and his simple and trusting
acquiescence had taken the air right out of her sails and she was caught open mouthed
for a moment.
 
It was almost as if he
thought her competent and accepted her word without question.

Admittedly what she was doing was very dangerous, she had to
push and cushion all three of them separately in her mind, it took a lot of
concentration.
 
She was more than up to
the challenge of course, but they wouldn’t have known that.
 
Most air talents would have killed them on
accident by now.
 
Still, she needed to
get this done and get back to her revenge.

When she had thought death imminent it hadn’t really
bothered her, she missed her sisters dearly.
 
But when she felt his flames cradle and protect her she immediately knew
he was a Flame of Cytherea.
 
Most people
didn’t even believe in the old legends of the Flame.
 
Yet, there she had been, protected and
rejuvenated by it.

She had no choice, duty once again trumping her desire for
revenge.
 
Worse, she had the feeling she
should stick around to protect him.
 
She
snorted.
 
Why the goddess chose a male
was beyond her.
 
She knew her opinion of
men was overly harsh, but she couldn’t help herself.
 

It was stupid, them thinking women were less than they were,
when she was a case to prove otherwise, yet they still persisted.
 
She looked at Justin again thoughtfully.

That was another thing that freaked her out about him.
 
He didn’t try to talk down to her, at
all.
 
In fact he had seemed a little
scared of her at times when she went off on a rant.
 
She frowned at that, perhaps she ought to
tone it down a bit.
 
She had been so
focused on revenge and the thought of joining her sisters that all the social
niceties went down the toilet.
 
Well, at
least the ones that she did follow.

She estimated the military was a normal day’s march south of
the capital by now, she couldn’t go nearly as fast while pushing two people
with her, so they probably wouldn’t meet up until tomorrow, sometime mid
morning maybe.
 

She sighed, finally admitting to herself that keeping him
safe was her duty.
 
Her mind had been
mulling it over non-stop since he had saved her life.
 
If the goddess thought the Flame was
necessary, they would probably lose if he died.
 
Not that she knew Cytherea’s mind, it just made sense.
 
If a talent shows up that hasn’t been seen in
a thousand years, the goddess probably only gives it out reluctantly in special
circumstances.

She did cheer up when she considered, that perhaps with him
she would get to kill more Egerian bastards before dying, than she would
without him.
 
Maybe staying to protect
him wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all…

-------------

Nicole Christina
Althone
, princess
of Abelaweth was somewhat of a rebel.
 
She didn’t think her father would mind… too much.
 
Ok, she was lying to herself, but she knew at
the worst she would be punished by her father the king as a dad, not accused of
treason by disobeying his orders.

She was determined to fight.
 
She had been present early this morning when poor Nora came back alone
with a horrific tail of death and invasion.
 
She had tried to join the elite women warriors in the past, but her
father had told her no, and she didn’t understand why.
 
She was a princess, but so what?
 
It wasn’t like she would ever rule, could
ever rule.
 
Plus she had two older
brothers for that anyway.

She was just… an ornament.
 
She hated it.

She understood after a fashion, it wouldn’t look good if the
king’s daughter joined what amounted to the misfits of society… except that was
where she fit in.
 
The royal family had
always been among the most powerful of the shape shifters.
 
The founding king had actually been a dragon,
although there currently weren’t any in her family it still cropped up from
time to time.
 
Still, they were strong,
and had secondary talents based off of what they shifted into.

She was determined to fight… all she had to do was sneak out
of the castle.
 
She looked into a mirror
and saw green piercing eyes, fair skin and long curly hair the color of
fire.
 
She frowned looking at her
elaborate dress, that wouldn’t do for traveling, or fighting.
 
She didn’t have much of a choice though, all
her closets had in them were silly dresses.
 
Whenever she had asked for simpler clothing she was denied.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love wearing a dress, she did, but
having something else for riding or weapons practice would be nice, of course,
she wasn’t allowed those activities despite her begging.

She looked out the window and considered it.
 
There was just no way she could leave that
way, her other form wouldn’t ever be missed by the guards and her father would
be after her in moments.
 
She considered
for a moment in anger, so what, she was more powerful.
 
Then, overcome by shame at the thought she
dropped her shoulders and felt helpless.

She looked in her closet one more time in miserable
desperation, knowing she wouldn’t find anything.
 
To her shock she saw a leather riding
outfit.
 
Excited, she grabbed it then
changed.
 
She looked into the mirror and
blushed.
 

Her large breasts looked squeezed together and lifted,
showing way too much cleavage.
 
She was also
a little uncomfortable at the amount of skin showing, and the womanly curves
that the dresses hid so well were in plain sight.
 
Then she got angry with herself.
 
Yes, it showed too much for a princess
perhaps, but it was not too much for a warrior.
 
In fact the leather looked a lot like the uniforms the warriors she had
wanted to join wore.

She realized despite being eighteen, she was not used to
others seeing her body, and she was… nervous about it.
 
Yet, war was coming, and she wanted, no
needed, to help.
 
She was not just an
ornament and she would prove it.
 
She
slipped on the calf high leather boots she found with the clothes and headed
for the secret passageway.

It wouldn’t do to get caught now after all.

She slipped out near the armory and grabbed a leather
helmet.
 
Even in these clothes she would
be immediately seen for who she was by her hair.
 
It was unique to her across the kingdom after
all.
 
She put her hair up in a bun, then
covered it with the helmet.
 
Almost as an
afterthought, she looked through the weapons and grabbed a long dagger and
sheathe, attaching it to her uniform.

She took the passages again as close to the castle’s
servants entrance as she could, then boldly stepped out and walked toward the
door, acting as if she belonged there.
 
The guard didn’t say a word as she walked by.
 
She blushed in embarrassment.
 
The guard’s gaze had not gotten any higher
than her chest…

She giggled after making it all the way through the city and
outside the gate.
 
Apparently she had no
reason to be body shy, she was sure a guard would have recognized her, but
their eyes had stayed on the sway of her hips, her backside, her long legs, and
her generous bust.
 
She started into a
jog, wanting to get as far from the city as she could before she transformed and
started flying down to the southern villages.

Her father had asked Nora to stay, to start a new unit, that
she was the only one who could train the next group.
 
She had declined, strongly, insisting her
obligation was met with her report and she needed to go back south and start
killing those… her mind shied away from the rough language Nora had used this
morning.

She was hoping to catch up to Nora and help, surely the
woman wouldn’t turn her down.
 
She
admitted she was helpless with a dagger, but that wasn’t how she was planning
to fight anyway.
 
Deciding the couple of
miles she had run so far was far enough, plus her leg muscles were starting to
burn, she wasn’t used to running so much.
 

Her body was in shape, she had just been confined to the
castle and her work out opportunities was limited.
 
She stopped and took a moment to rest.
 
She smiled trying to feel confident through
the slight tremor of fear.
 
She would
finally have the chance to prove to herself she wasn’t just a worthless
ornament.
 
She was free of her jail, for
now at least.

She ran forward and jumped, changing to light and back to
her other form so fast it was just a quick flash.
 
She flapped her bright burning wings once and
shot off to the South.

-----------

Arnath
sighed in disgust but tried
to calm down.
 
He knew he wouldn’t be
this angry if they had the original two or three weeks as he expected.
 
Life wasn’t simple, and he knew problems
would come up, but with just a week to work things out, any delay was angering
him beyond reason.

He had sent out fifty men for each village while he moved
the bulk of his army further into the North.
 
He was also burning fields behind him every step of the way, just to
make sure the enemy couldn’t miss him and accidentally pass them by.
 
After all, they would assume the Egerians
would stop at the villages like they always did, they wouldn’t look for an
invading army.
 
Much less the five
thousand troops he had with him.

He had even had extremely good luck early this afternoon,
his scouts had found a highly defensible hillock, and he had verified it was a
good place to take a stand.
 
Even now his
soldiers were fortifying it.
 
The enemy
would have no choice but to engage despite him being entrenched.
 
They couldn’t afford to leave an enemy behind
them to bother with freeing the villages.
 

They also wouldn’t want to give him free reign to advance to
any northern villages or cities.
 
In
short, they were screwed if they didn’t attack, and would lose almost three to
one soldiers when they did by his estimation.

He calmed down a bit, realizing the important part went
well.
 
They would be ready in a week for
the coming enemy troops.
 
The fact that
one simple village out of the ten he sent troops to hadn’t sent an update was
almost unimportant.
 
Still, he needed to
see to it.

He growled at a captain who seemed to be somewhat
intelligent, “Send a squad of scouts to this… town of
Nerin
.
 
Then lead thirty troops an hour later to act
on what the scouts find out.
 
If there is
no problem, bring back the captain so I can execute his stupid ass for not
sending a status report, if there is a problem, deal with it.”