Editing Tears of a Fallen Crown:Characters:Mirage:History (section)

==Chapter 16:  Cat-Ridden==


They had been traveling for several days before they even came within a third of their destination of Chairoscuro.  Still, they were well-equipped and were making good time.  The grasslands around them were becoming more sparse, like a savannah rather than a rolling plain.  And, they had finally seen the last of the forests in the distance.  (And, none too soon as far as Mirage and Caleb were concerned.  Even though they were still in the Underworld, the attack from Marian was fresh on their minds.)  


This area was Caleb’s country since he originally came from the Southeast, so he led the group, being used to the dangers of savannah country.  At night, he would tell tales of the fey of the region and how they would travel around disguised as a pack of lions.  Even though he doubted they could be in the Underworld, he insisted that they travel upwind, to avoid being “cat-ridden.”


He even decided to look into the savannah of creation with an ability that he found he had naturally, two-world vision, allowing him to see into creation from the underworld.  His eyes glowed and turned the brilliant blue they used to be, as he looked into reality.  Caleb groaned, “Wow, I actually see some of them in the distance now.  They don’t know we’re here!”  


Mirage felt the rage she felt the day she killed Marian.  She growled, “Where?” 


He sighed, “Mira, even if I tell you where, we can’t do anything to them here.  They’re in creation and we’re in the Underworld.”


She grinned, “Yes, but I get the feeling since we’re so close to the next town, we might be close to the shadowland as well.  And, since its night in creation, we’ll be at a great advantage.”


Jauffrey shook his head, “Not a good idea to try to take on fey in their own territory, not even for a powerful deathknight.”


She laughed, “Jauffrey, I’ve done it once already, with worse odds.  Raiton, how many?”


He looked again, saying slowly, “Looks like about eight.  All in lion form.”


She smiled, “Last time it was fifteen, and that was before I was trained.  Let’s go.  I have the perfect spell that I’ve been waiting to try out.”


Raiton nodded, “Okay.  We’ll try to find a shadowland then.  Jauffrey, don’t worry.  Mirage knows what she’s doing, trust me!”


Jauffrey finally hesitantly agreed.


They traveled quickly on horseback, skirting along the outside of the town, looking for anything that might be an entrance to creation.  Even Jauffrey seemed to be excited and a little nervous, summoning a ghost steed so he could help them search.  Finally, after what felt like hours, they found something very odd.  There was a gnarled tree in the center of the savannah, standing out like an omen of death, but the base of the tree was hollow.  And, to their shock, the large hole created by the roots at the base was the entrance to a very small shadowland in creation, and it was right next to the spot the lions were lounging.


She whispered to her horse, Obsidian, “Do you think you and I can fit inside?”


He seemed to whisper back in her mind, “To kill them, I’ll find a way.”  


She called to Jauffrey and Raiton, saying, “We’ve found a way in.  I have a very good feeling about this, but should something go wrong, I’ll escape into the labyrinth and meet up with you later.  Raiton, if you wish, you can try to attack from here as well.”  


His eyes glowed for a moment and he nodded, “I’ll be watching you.  Good luck, Mira.”


She grinned, “I won’t need it, but thank you, Love.”  She gave Caleb a long kiss, then clapped a hand on Jauffrey’s shoulder, who looked even more worried that Caleb.  With a deep breath she cried, “To the kill!”  Her horse immediately began pawing at the ground, sliding into the hole front feet first, readying it’s hindquarters to kick up for the entrance of a lifetime.


On the other side of the hole, the fey were ripping at the nearly dead carcass of a young man they had recently convinced to be their prey.  He was still alive but barely, still conscious, as the greedy maws ripped at his arms and legs, whispering the ecstatic horror of what they were doing into his mind.  They hadn’t gone for anything vital yet, wanting, as all fey, to drag things out as long as possible for their enjoyment and to further torture the victim.  


Despite his immense pain he was groaning in pleasure, letting the images of his mind take him away, when suddenly he was shaken out of his fantasy by the shadow leaping out of the base of the tree in front of him. 


All of them snapped to attention and scattered, running away from the tree at once, except for the man, who no longer had the muscles attached to his legs to run.  He saw in full view what they did not.  The shadow was a black horse, leaping out of the base of the tree like something out of a nightmare.  The rider was like nothing he had ever seen before, with armor that seemed to make the nighttime air around her a bit darker, and a large sword that looked sharp enough to split a hair.  The horses’ eyes glowed a reddish gold, and the rider’s head was covered with a helmet shaped like a jackal, but even the rider’s eyes seemed to have eye shine through the holes of the mask like that of an animal.


The rider, to his relief, ignored him and stepped in front of his body, and began chanting in a language that sounded like it came straight from hell, but the voice chanting it sounded beautiful and melodious, and oddly very feminine – yet as commanding as that of the lions’ throaty grumble.  As she chanted, the rider stood up on her horse, and began to hover in the air, and suddenly, a burst of energy, darker than the nighttime sky and swirling like smoke in the wind, erupted in a wave from right in front of her, towards the group of now approaching lions. 


And, to the man’s absolute astonishment and horror, as the wave of black wind covered the lions, they released inhuman shrieks as their skins and muscles seemed to shrug off of their bodies with it, leaving nothing but a trembling skeleton behind, which then exploded into dust with the wyld energy that used to be its soul.  


The rider grumbled, in that same beautiful, terrible voice, “Pathetic.  I had expected a challenge.” and began to turn around to go back into the tree stump.   


He quickly yelled to her, “Wait!  Please, I need to get back to my town.  I can’t move!”


She paused but growled, “Why should I help you?  You didn’t seem distressed when I got here.”


He groaned, “I know, I was a fool to listen to them – but, please!  I know there will be a reward!  I’m a rich noble.  These fey have been plaguing this town for what feels like an eternity, and you just killed them all!  You’ll be a hero.”


She cackled, “A hero!  Do you even know what I am?”


Jauffrey whispered in Mirage’s ear, “Maybe you should take him back to the town.  It couldn’t hurt to collect a reward if there is one for the fey.  Having a good reputation in creation can save your life.”


“Fine.”  She growled, “I’ll save you.  But first…”


Mirage rode up to the pile of fey pelts and began lifting up one to her lips with her back turned, pretending to inspect it while really licking the blood off.  While it tasted a bit bitter, she found this blood gave her emotions of pride, battle rage, and the desire to hunt and destroy with a great insatiable hunger.  While it wasn’t the type of emotion she wanted at the time, she could see how it could be useful and decided to bottle some of it as well.  She also easily peeled the pelts away from what remained of the fey and stacked them on the back of her horse.


“Alright,” She said lifting the man onto Obsidian’s back, “Tell me how to get on the main road and hold on tight!”


Mirage hated having to rescue the man.  While Jauffrey was right, being a hero in creation may someday save her, this man in her opinion wasn’t worth saving.  He complained and talked constantly on the journey and seemed to think that since he was a noble he deserved to be rescued – as though his life was worth more than everyone else’s.  Mirage had once been a noble herself, but her family never put their well-being over that of others.  Though she couldn’t remember much about it, she did remember that she was captured in the first place trying to fight for her people.  This man looked like he hand never lifted a finger to help someone else in his life.


Mirage sent a message to her horse saying, “Make this ride as bumpy as possible!” 


Obsidian released a whinnying chuckle and quickly bucked, making the man flop back and forth like a rag doll.  Both delighted in the man’s pained screams all the way back to the town.  


When they got there, she saw a familiar scene.  The townspeople were on the watch for the fey and a group had formed upon seeing her arrive.  Before she could address them, the “noble” addressed them for her, “MAKE A PATH!  My Father will want to know I’m safe!  MAKE A PATH AND FETCH A DOCTOR OR WE’LL RUN YOU OVER!”


The people seemed to believe him, quickly clearing the path; but Mirage didn’t budge.  He snarled, “What are you waiting for, go on?”


She glared at him then addressed the people herself, “Your cat-ridden days are over.”  She threw half of the pelts at their feet, “Place these in front of the gates so they’ll know to fear you, lest they attack you again!”  


At that, she was given thunderous applause and cheers as she rode towards the keep at breakneck speed, making the noble groan in pain again.


When they got to the castle, they were greeted by an older man who, indeed, appeared relieved at their arrival.


He sighed, heavily, “Thank the gods you’re alive, Son!  Who is your rescuer?”


The noble-man grinned, “I don’t know, actually.  She’s been rather quiet.  What is your name?”


She hesitated, finally saying, “You may call me Mirage.  Because I won’t be with you long, and I’d like it if your memory of me will just sort of fade away.”


His father frowned but nodded, “Very well, Mirage.  I assume you came for the bounty?”


She laughed, “Actually, I came to remove a millstone from my neck.”  She motioned her head toward his son who was being gently pulled off of her horse by a group of doctors and complaining loudly.  


She expected his father to become angry, but to her surprise, he grinned and said, “So I see.  Still, you’ve done me quite a service and payment is the least we can do.”


The noble she had rescued called out, “Father!  Make her stay!  I want a word with her alone!”


She shook her head, noting where the moon was positioned in the sky, “I can stay no longer than an hour and that would be pushing it.  And, I have no desire to stay.  I killed the fey for an unending thirst for revenge.  Your son was merely lucky.”


He nodded, “Then I’ll fetch your payment at once, with my thanks.  Son, if you have something to tell this woman do so now.  She has done our town a service and we’ll not waste her time.”


After his father left to get the reward, his son motioned to her from the stretcher.  As much as she hated to, she decided to go see what he had to say.  He quickly whispered, “My name is Oren, of house Cynis.  I just wanted to ask you to take your helmet off for me so I can see if your face is as beautiful as your voice.  You see, I’m looking for a bride.”


She snarled, “I take my helmet off for no man.  And, I already am someone’s bride.  I also grow weary of you talking to me as though I’m your lesser.  I’m you’re equal.”


He gasped, “You’re a noble?  Of what house?”


She chuckled, “That is my business.”


He grinned slyly, “Marriages can easily be dissolved.  And, since you’re a noble, you’re perfect!  Please, tell me more.”  The way he was looking her up and down made her sick.


She growled, “Well, I will tell you this; I’m leaving as soon as I get my reward and hopefully you’ll never see me again.”


Oren grinned slyly again, “We’ll see about that.”  He grabbed one of his servants hissing, “Servant, fetch me my red pouch!  I want to give the stranger a special reward!”  He gave her a look as though he was plotting something, “You know I could always get you to come back the hard way.  I saw the way you handled those fey – what if I put a reward on your capture as a ‘dangerous anethema’.”


She grimaced, “Do that, and it’ll be the last thing you’ll ever do.  Besides, I’m nothing but a simple sorceress, surely you know that.”


He laughed, “Oh, you’re good, I’ll give you that.  We have a lot in common, I can tell.”  


The servant arrived shortly before his Father, and Oren whispered, “I know you’ll be back, after you’ve seen what I’ve given you.  Come back and there will be plenty more where that came from.  I have a feeling you won’t be gone long.”   


She laughed, “I have a feeling I will.”


Before he could come up with a witty remark, she was back on her horse.  She grabbed the sack of coins from his father saying apologetically, “Thank you, but I’ve overstayed my curfew!”  With that, she galloped out of the keep straight through the town.  She had indeed overstayed her curfew, seeing now that it was close to sunrise.  It was going to be a very close call, but just as the sun was about to rise she reached the tree and with a flying leap the horse dashed through the hole and back into the Underworld.


Jauffrey and Caleb exchanged relieved glances.  Both of them looked tired and were still on horseback, obviously following her throughout her ordeal.


“So, what did he give you?”  Caleb panted.


She shrugged, “I never looked.”  She opened the crimson pouch and gasped.  It was full of gems and various pouches of illegal drugs.


Caleb, having studied herbs and medicinal herbs in his squiring days recognized them immediately, “Wow!  These are hard to come by!  They’re all very addictive, that’s probably why he assumed you’d come back to him for more.  It looks like he gave you some pain killers, some drugs that help in prophecy, and even some that will let you talk to ghosts from creation.  Amazing!”


She shrugged, “I suppose they could be useful, but I’m not using them unless they’re absolutely necessary.  I think the greatest painkiller of all was getting rid of that guy!”  Mirage laughed dryly. Still she somehow had a bad feeling she would someday see him again.  And, getting the attention of a noble of an imperial house was not something she wanted to do.


They decided to sleep inside of the town that morning, just in case the foolish noble tried to go into the tree to find them.  Still, they were sure he wasn’t that foolish.  As Mirage lay down to sleep she couldn’t help but look back on events of the day and smile.  Walker in Darkness was right, she had been given the ability to wipe out entire villages of fey – and she wasn’t going to waste that.  Being a fey bounty hunter in creation and a Deathknight in the underworld seemed like the perfect idea – she would be a terrible thought for the fey and temporarily a hero for the people that plagued them.  That way she could get close to the citizens in creation, and observe their city’s defenses.  As she stared at the skins in the corner of the room she also had a brilliant idea of fashioning them into a cloak so the last thing the fey would see was a jackal-headed monster wearing the skins of one of their own.  On that wonderfully horrible thought, she drifted off to sleep.