The Shadow Priestess: Part 3: War

Chapter 11

I took a deep breath before sheathing Tio and leaving the small house. I projected some water from within my stomach and used it wash off the blood from my hands. After that, my wolfish sense of scent guided me out of the labyrinth of tattered houses until I reached the village square again.

   The same boy who had given me the directions to Thordin's house, was still hanging about the fountain. He was lying on his back in the rain with apparently no other place to go. I sighed and tried to go straight to the inn unnoticed, but the boy sat bolt upright as I tried to pass and stood in front of me. I fought the urge not to punch him out of my way.

   "So, how'd it go?" he asked.

   "Fine," I replied smoothly, "He gave me everything I needed."

   "Wha' did the Shadow Lord want?" he pressed, continually standing in front of me whenever I tried to barge past him. This annoyed me greatly.

   "I gave you payment for the information I wanted from you. Now that I no longer require your asssistance, please get out of my way."

   "Oh, yer usin' big words, aren't ya?" he said admiringly, "Listen, I've go' a deal fer yeh. How 'bout I join ya? I may not have much Ceilos, bu' I'm a great shot, and an excellent thief. How d'ya think I'm still alive?"

   "No thanks, I already have an annoying kid who talks to much in my group."

   "Come on, please-"

   I could not longer contain my irritaion. Before the boy could get another word out, I used Ceilos to press him against a nearby wall by his throat before any of the villagers could notice he had gone.

   "Now, listen to me," I growled my wolfish growl, "I don't have time to waste. I'm on a mission, and anyone who wastes my time, gets punished. If you stand in my way one more time, I'll kill you."

   I let him go and watched for a moment as he choked on his own breath before turning on my heel and walking away.

   "Yer the Shadow Priestess, aren't ya?"

   I stopped in my tracks, consigned to oblivion about my acrimony once I processed the boy's words.

   "The what?" I asked.

   "The Shadow Priestess," he replied, still rubbing his throat, "Don' tell me yeh've never heard o' her. She's the Shadow Lord's daughter, bound to a journey ter end 'is life because he killed their family."

   I felt complacancy wash over me dispite the fact that the boy was talking about my family, and asked, "What kind of rumours are there about her?"

   "She said ter be so fast, yeh can' even see 'er. She commands the oceans themselves, and she can even summon 'em out of her own body. Some people believe tha' she would be able ter defeat the Shadow Lord in a fair fight." He lowered his voice to something barely above a whisper. "She even had a romantic involvement with the High King Lunarian once."

   Once again, I lost my temper. I punched him in the face so that he tumbled to the ground, glowering at him.

   "It is you!"

*

   "There she is," I said a few minutes later, pointing at Lucretia, "If you can beat her, you can replace her."

   "What is the meaning of this?" Cario asked me as the boy, whose name I learned to be Zen, entered the room.

   "He's just as nagging as this brat," I said, nodding in Lucretia's direction, "So I told him that he can replace her if he can beat her."