Battle of Souls

Chapter 2

Kathryn:

Sienna felt the cool of the night turn to the growing heat of the morning. She wrapped a scarf around her head to shield her face from the blinding light as she rose on. She had to get to Phthalo.

Sienna struggled to remain awake; she'd seemingly slept less and less in the days prior, especially the last evening. But she had to reach the City of Souls.

The rise and fall of the sand made the journey longer than needed. Sienna could see Phthalo's walls from the towers of the Order. She could've already been in the city if not for the shape of the terrain.

Nonetheless, she was quickly approaching her destination. She straightened on the back of the steed, face growing serious as she slowed it, and walked to the city's gate.

Guards were posted, as they'd always been, around the wall, watching. Always watching. Waiting for action, for trouble, for blood.

Phthalo had the distinct privilege to be stationed in a crater, the lowest point in the Earth for leagues. Easier to see friends approaching, she remembered Sinopia used to say. Easier still to see enemies.

She was the only traveller to seek entrance at this early hour. The guards on the wall paid her no mind. A lone woman could do nothing compared to the vast armies of the realm.

Sienna almost laughed. She was no woman, but a Seer, blessed with knowledge beyond the minds of mortal men. Their ignorance was her cloak, a disguise mastered from years of experience in the city.

Guards atop white horses motioned for her to halt. One on the ground stepped towards her, coming to rest standing by her leg to her side.

The man's dark hair flickered in the stale wind, hazel eyes searching her own grey ones. His name was Pietro, and she knew him well. And she should, they were bound after all.

"The desert is lovely this early in the morning," Pietro greeted conversationally, "but rarely do mine eyes see you, which is lovelier still."

"I thank you. I must go into the city." She replied, distracted in planning.

"I shall escort her in," he waved at the other guards, who parted to make way for the couple.

Pietro led her horse past the thick stone barrier. There were very few people out on the streets, for dawn had only just broken.

He took advantage of the open roads, and weaved through the buildings to the one Sienna knew best.

She looked upon it with nostalgia. It was like its own little fortress, nestled against the stone wall surrounding the city, with no neighbors to its sides. Similar to the city itself, the stone fortress had guards holding vigil outside.

They were waved through immediately, without even a word. Both Pietro and Sienna were known here. They had attended the academy in their youth, both outstanding alumni of the training facility.

It was here among the cold stone where Sienna was made. She would have been nothing without this place, and she never let that thought go.

Because they were frequent visitors, they found no trouble in finding their way. They first stopped at the gate to hand over the horse to the stable keepers.

Afterwards, they walked silently through the compound. Pietro seemed to understand Sienna's urgency, her need for silence, and although he was concerned, he did not speak.

They made their way past the arena boxes, where below they'd broken bones and spirits years ago, just as students now did upon the sand. Sienna was lost in thought, not stopping to watch the couple sparring in the pit of the arena. Pietro followed her as she made her way down the stands of the arena, their steps quiet on the stone stairs.

The students paid them no mind as the descended, too consumed in the battle of their classmates.

Sienna stepped a foot onto the sand, and almost relished the feeling. An emotion welled inside her, not quite happiness, but more like pride. This was where she'd been trained.

The sound of her and Pietro on the sand drew the attention of the students, and therefore their master.

Sienna watched as her oldest friend turned around, light eyes narrowed at the intruders, short hair falling across her forehead and framing her face in choppy brown waves.

"A master now, are you Aurelian?" Sienna spoke, seeing her friend soften at recognition.

"I heard you were a Seer, Sienna," she replied, "and you, Pietro, are a guard for this great city. A better pair I could not imagine."

Pietro grinned and Sienna's cheeks burned.

"Is there a place in private where we can talk, my friend?" Sienna asked, eying the twenty young eavesdroppers behind their teacher.

Aurelian smiled. "Of course. Come,"

She pointed at a door in the bowels of the arena, and the couple made their way out with Aurelian dealt orders to her students.

It was a quaint little room, equipped with few meager belongings, but Aurelian's visitors cared not for splendor.

Aurelian closed the door behind them, and settled on a wooden stool across from her old friends.

"While it is a nice gesture to appear like this, I am teaching. I am a master now, I cannot leave my students alone for long."

Sienna leaned forward. "I have known that you would be a master for some time now. Since I met you, to be frank."

Aurelian raised an eyebrow. "Certainly you had the Gift even then. That explains much of your oddities those days."

"Regardless," Sienna replied curtly, "I find myself in need of an escort. I am traveling far away, for something important that even I don't quite understand."

Aurelian scoffed. "You interrupted my class for that? Sienna, I know you. If you say it's important then it must be, and in that case you need an army to help you."

"Why get an army when I can have you?" Sienna answered with a faint smile. "Far less mouths to feed and complaints to hear, surely you can understand."

Aurelian stood and began pacing, as she was wont to do when agitated or excited. "Far away?"

"Very," Sienna retorted simply, looking at Pietro.

"Urgent?"

"The fate of our world rests on this journey."

Aurelian stopped and looked to her friend. "Dangerous?"

"Beyond imaginable."

Aurelian clapped her hands in glee. "Meet me out front, I'm coming with you."

Sienna let out a sigh of relief, which Aurelian didn't seem to notice. She had hoped her friend's blood lust would prompt her to join them.

Sienna and Pietro stood and made their way through the bowels of the arena, passing little barracks for little children.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" Pietro asked softly as they rounded a corner.

"I just realized my purpose this morning, and came straight to the city, to you. And I couldn't very well tell you out in the open could I?"

"I suppose you're right. But do you intend to tell us everything?"

Sienna bit her lip. "I will tell you what I can. That is all I can promise for now."

He nodded. "I understand."

He yanked open a wooden door, and sunlight poured into the dimly lit corridors. They blinked, stepping into the streets once more.

They waited at the stable for Aurelian, who came quickly. Shouldering a gunny sack, their old friend marched past them and demanded three camels for their journey.

Sienna smiled as a moment later they were atop the desert beasts leaving Phthalo's great walls.

Now all that was left was to find Sepia, and then they would head for Skarvia, to a nest of killers in hopes that one would be the key to the world's salvation.

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