Chapter CCIX:
Orders – Part I ~Lady North
A few days had gone by before the guys were as good as their word. She had taken a few precious moments to retire to her quarters, and stood gazing out her southern balcony. A light breeze always surrounded her Tower, and it gently pulled at her hair and dress. Just as she turned to return back inside, a light knock came from the door.
“Enter,” she called from across the room, replacing the curtain over the balcony archway.
The marble door on her right opened, and little Misty peeked her head in. “Lady, Sir Sachiel, and Sir Enoch are both here to see you,” she said, and a look of anxiety crossed her features.
“What is it, my child?” Lady North asked her.
The question went unanswered, as it did not need to be anyway, since before the words left her lips, the two men shoved their way into the room, leaving Misty pinned up against the doorframe, utterly terrified. The woman chuckled softly, and waved the girl away. The door closed once again, and turned to face the men.
“It is wonderful to see you both again,” she said.
“Well of course it is! You’re one of the fortunate ones to know the best Hunter in Laria!” Sachiel boasted loudly.
Enoch laughed and clapped him on the back. “I’ve been telling you that for years, and I’m glad you finally agree with me! Yes, I do think I’m the best Hunter in Laria,” the green haired man answered.
Sachiel opened his mouth to retort, but Lady North was faster.
“But do I have to keep asking you two not to scare the children?!”
“It’s not our fault you don’t teach them properly,” Sachiel told her. “They should be bowing to us! Instead they try to chastise us when we call you by your real name!”
Lady North laughed. “Yes, yes,” she replied. “Well, it should come to no surprise that your wonderful Ginnae should be regarded highly in other places as well. I can still kick your arse.”
Enoch laughed and Sachiel made a dismissive gesture. The Lady waved her friends over to a table with several chairs, sitting herself down in one. Enoch turned it around and straddled it, while Sachiel flopped in it, resting his feet on the table, leaning back a bit. The green-haired man glared at his partner, then punched him in the shoulder, sending him flying out of the chair and onto the floor.
“Hey! What the hell did you do that for!” he exclaimed, jumping up and looking ready to attack Enoch.
“Because you’re acting like an idiot. Not like that’s anything new…”
“Don’t start with me, Enoch, or…”
“Or what? You’ll actually hurt me? How many years has it been since we joined up with the Hunters and never once have you actually hurt me? Several thousand?”
Sachiel let out a roar and lunged for Enoch, who gracefully stood up, stepped out of the path of the now falling Sachiel, and smacked him in the back of his head.
“Now sit down and behave yourself,” Enoch told him before calmly setting himself back in his chair.
Sachiel muttered a few curses in Koga before sitting back down.
Lady North just sat and watched, an amused smile on her face. “Surely you both did not come here just to fight with each other. Or did Cougar kick you both out?” She chuckled.
Her two friends
laughed at that comment, knowing that once in awhile Cougar would do just that.
Sure, their primary authority was an insufferable jerk sometimes, but overall
he was a good man.
“Not this time, Ginnae, sorry,” Enoch replied. “I actually came on business, and Unkie here just wanted to see his Nephy Kyara’nya.”
“I DID NOT!” Sachiel screamed. “I wanna kill that annoying excuse for a soul!”
“Oh come now, you like the attention,” the woman answered. “Besides, that ‘pathetic excuse for a soul’ totally adores you. Do you mean to say that you are unworthy of even that much?”
Enoch laughed loudly, and Sachiel said, “Great…now Ginnae is picking on me…”
Finally, there
was silence, and Enoch cleared his throat. “As I said, this is special business
now. We have a job for you and your ‘little’ one. There have been reports of
daemon plots to try and attain more power by means of all the astral planes. Everything from your
“So how is this different from any other time? Why is a unit not sent to be rid of such idiocy?” Da’ana asked.
“I wish I could tell you that, I really do. Nevertheless, I cannot, and only tell you that it is different. Only you can go.”
“But what about
the
“What are you worried about? You said yourself that you will most likely leave the post to no one when you pass on. Also that belief becomes less and less, and the past will die out soon enough anyway.”
“Besides, Ginnae, you don’t need to worry,” Sachiel added. “The two of us are going to help with things here.”
“That is what worries me most,” she groaned.
“We can give you a night to think about it,” Enoch told her. “Go speak with your Priest man, take council with your dragon, and think on it yourself.”
Lady North paused a moment, slightly unnerved at how calm and almost caring they both seemed. Did it not bother them that it was she, and not them, that was being ordered to go?
“One night then,” the woman consented. “I shall grant you that. I will have one of the children show you to your rooms. After, you have free run of the Tower. Will you require anything else?”
“Yeah!” Sachiel
said. “That you stop being so damned formal!”
That made her smile, and so she rose from her seat, walked over to her friends, giving each of them a warm hug. They both started to say something, but she cut them off. “You told me to stop being formal.”
“If only you were really that agreeable…” Sachiel muttered.
Suddenly, the door opened, and one of the younger boys peeked his head in. “You called Lady?” he inquired shyly.
The two visitors glanced over at the woman who had not moved from her standing position beside Sachiel.
“What?” she asked innocently.
“I should know better than to ask,” Sachiel muttered as both men stood.
“Luke, dear, please show our guests to their rooms and make sure they are comfortable,” she told the little boy. “I have personal business to attend to.”
He nodded, opening the door all the way to bow to her, then he turned to the men. “Please follow me, Sirs,” he beckoned, walking back beyond the door.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, Ginnae.” Enoch gently commanded.
The Lady nodded
to him, and watched them leave her room. She locked the door behind them, and
walked up the stairs in the back of her room. The four small flights led her to
the Observation Room at the top of her Tower.
“Ah!” Aa’ron said in surprise when he saw her. “My Lady, I was not expecting you. Have you come to monitor the Lines?”
“Actually…no, my friend,” the woman replied. “I have come to speak with you of another matter, if somewhat related.”
She approached the control panel in the center of the room. The tall Priest turned to her, worry creasing his brow.
“Is my Lady well?”
“I am healthy, yes. But concerned.”
He took her arm, leading her to her lavender chair atop the diamond dais, pulling a stool to sit before her. “I will help you any way that I can my Lady.”
She sighed, and nodded. “Another threat is being made. One who wishes the power of all the astral realms. However, it is somehow linked to me, and ‘tis I who must go. I can think of no other reason than my past…”
“I like this not…” Aa’ron muttered, lowering his gaze.
“I know you do not. I never expected you to. Especially…since I doubt you and I would be at all in contact. I might be able to work a deal, where you could report once a month…I know not. Except that my brothers will remain here until my return.”
“Why do you
confide me in this, Lady?” her High Priest asked. “I have no power to tell you
yea or nay.”
Da’ana was caught off guard, and felt as if a great hand had slapped her face. She raised her eyes, taking in the calmness that was Aa’ron’s deep blue eyes with their gold rings. Somehow, the back of her mind clicked, telling her something was not right, yet she could not place it.
“You are right. I need not explain anything to you. You are my subordinate, and only a Child, if even their elder. I shall return with further orders.”
Then she stood, silently reproaching herself for being too harsh. Lady North walked to the stairs which would take her to the main hallway, then to Kyara’nya’s room.
“My brothers are with us for the time being. Obey them as you would me,” she added before descending the steps.
The Lady of the
North Wind, for a split moment, thought she was going to leak water. That was
nonsense, she never cried. Nothing seemed to faze her anymore, not even the
destruction of Kyara’nya’s mind, the death of her
sisters, or the destruction of her
So then why would something as simple as a question upset her to the point of tears? It was stupid to be feeling so…betrayed? Why in the name of the Goddess would she feel betrayed? That emotion was a bit delayed in coming.
Da’ana let out a frustrated sigh and
pushed open the door to Kyara’nya’s room, wondering
how this conversation would leave her.