Chronicles- A Devil's Daughters Crossover- Book Two(Published Feb 2017)

Troublesome Host

     'We are born with the memories of our ancestors, a gift, we bestowed upon Pathen and the Order.'
     'Then that is how Navina here, could remember shit still, right? I mean, then wiped her memories...'
     'One cannot delete genetics!' The Beast named Emmagen laughed, his shaggy fur coat still dusted with snow, and that furrowed, Human looking brow... 'I may not have seen the birth of this world, but I remember it as if I had been here, standing on the rocks of the moon above. But Pathen, he used our gift, and paired it with the sinister gifts of a race so vile...'
     'The Eno'tai!' Malice grumbled. 
    'Yes! And because of them, the worlds have suffered and we, have been forced into hiding; along with so many others.'
    'Like the Dragons?' Navina blurted out, and the beast looked at her. 'I saw dragons, one white, and one black!' The female added, pushing her long black hair, out of her face.
     'A curse laid upon a couple so fair, their clans at war, and an evil male to blame for it!'
    'Pathen?'
     'Truth! She, was the kin of Rammal, and he, an innocent Prince; and the vicious cycle of hate and anger has continued on, ever since, in the lives of the next reincarnations! Ever since the temple was lost...'
    'Tell us of the Temple!' Malice ordered, almost standing out up from her seat. 'Tell us where it is!'
    'In a Verse, much like this one and guarded, by the pair of Dragons.' The Beast sighed, 'Though that is all I know, there are others of my kind, who could tell you more.'
    'The dragons? They are the same, as in my vision?' Navina asked, before taking a sip of the sweet juices in her mug.
    'Perhaps! But they are not all that guards the sacred temple of old...' He smiled at Malice, 'It is said, that they too, wander its massive halls, banished to the glory of each others arms.'
    'Rammal and Janice? They are there? And alive?'
    'I cannot tell you if they still draw breath, but the others...' His voice was fading.
     'And where do we find, these, others?' Nyx inquired, so close to slumbering you could barely see the slits in his eyes.
    'I will draw a map for you!' The Beast replied.
She remembered well, what the Beast had told her. How his kind had given the Eno'tai the power of time; how the Mornin had shown them how to drift... But it was his mate, Saghe, who she had come to see.
   'We do not see everything, like our Mate does! Emaggen has never shown us how! But our ears work well enough, and the people in the towns talk, a lot!' The female named Sahge, sighed.   'They say that she left, that she had dreams of the massive beasts, that she heard their calls when they arrived...' Another of the Beast's mates, let out.
   'Some even say that she was a Dragon herself. That she was in fact, the reincarnation of Princess Nevelyn herself.' A third female added. 'They say, that when the Dragons left, she and a few others left with them. No one has seen them since, not even the Mangese could locate them, and they have outposts on thousands of worlds.'
     'So, where do you think they went?' Malice urged them to continue.
     'Emaggen had a few too many drinks one night, boasting about his memories. His past lives, and the parties he had shared in...' Her voice drifted off, as if she were trying to imagine it. 'Among them, was the tale of the Warriors. Vicious, vile males, and how they had invaded countless blood moon celebrations, stealing off with the women and...'
    'Really, Sahge! No one  wants to hear of their beastly ways' The second female scolded her.
'Anyhow, it is said that if you dwell beneath the blood moon long enough, you will see the Dragons, and they will lead you to the sword that was lost!"
     'And how was it lost?' Mia asked.
     'No one knows for sure, and Emmagen won't admit it...' The female sighed, looking at her mate as he slumbered. 'But even he believes that the Celestial Temple lies beyond the Gates of Hell themselves, and those Dragons, are they key to finding the sword, and the sword will point the way!'
  'One sword to guide them, one sword to greet them, and a pair of Guardians to protect the path!'
    'I always loved that part!' The third female giggled.
    'But please, don't tell him that we told you? He has searched for so long and and the hardships have been immense. Since the day he heard that hope had been lost beyond the stars...  He swears that Pathen had something to do with it, banishing the females as he did, and then oops; the temple just happens to disappear?' Sahge threw her hands in the air.
     'I can feel his guilt, and you can all sleep well, knowing that we will never spill a word of it!' The Valkyrie smiled. 'Now tell us all you know of the Temple, and these Dragons!'
   Well, from there, Saghe had gone on to tell them all she knew; or had assumed. As she looked at it, her assumptions were based on facts, so she couldn't have been that far from the truth, right? And it had worked, some. Malice had gone to the old tavern where Nan was said to have told her last tale of the Dragons, and she'd heard a few renditions of the tale, spoken by others.
    Out of three whole nights, Malice had compiled a list of notes to hand over to Lord Eroch, which included, but were not limited to, the fact that the people in that tavern, were all about, three screws loose of a complete set. So if you took into consideration, there were over twenty people there... that was sixty screws! No wonder the stories were so...
   Malice knew, that the Dragons were white and black; not green, or gray, or purple for that matter. Yes, because Dragon's choose the color of their scales by the color that suited their fancy? See, screws lost!
    Then, there was the talk of the Masters, and how there was one living within the Mangese city just over yonder. That, and the incident after she had left the tavern, with the whole, Human, Fish looking creature... Like, what was that all about? Talk about genetic mutations; but then, Raemon was said to have had fur... Ugh, such a backwards little planet. She had added that to her little list as well; and watched Lord Eroch gaze up at her with his 'WTF?' face.
    There was one point of interest on her list, in all those jumbled stories, only one, that had caught her attention, and it was the barkeep who had said it. 'Find the fortress  with walls of crumbled stone, and the tower that leads to the sky. From there you will see where their fire scorched the earth...'
    So, there was a pair of Dragons, a Lost Temple, Rammal and Janice, and a sword that would point the way... Did it perhaps, sit, on top of the tower in the sky? Not to mention the little side trip she had taken.
   Lord Eroch had ordered her and the Demon to search for the fortress, and what did she find? A whole lot of craziness in the form of a Ghost that called herself Orella. And she was the sister of who, again? Navina, and Marena? She knew who Janice was, and Rammal; and claimed to be the daughter of Foran, a Kor'Mhia....  Malice was so confused, though after her little moment with Kember... But, still confused, none the less. Which is why she had come back to see Saghe. Emmagen had spoken of others, and she was desperate to unscrambled her mind.
    "So, you return!" His voice sent shivers down her spine.
    "You and I, have some unfinished business!" Malice called out into the woods that surrounded her. "You spoke of others..."
     "And I provided you with a map!" Emmagen replied.
      "You gave us a scribble in ancient writing."
      "And your Ellaria, cannot figure it out?" He chuckled, and appeared right beside her.
      "We have been to the tavern, we've heard the stories, we even went in search of the damn fortress and scorch marks..."
    "The what?" He cocked a furry brow at her.
    "The fortress with the crumbling walls and the tower to the sky? The scorch marks on the ground from their fire? Or how about the female who appeared out of nowhere, and claims to be kin to one of my own?"
    But he was no longer listening, his nose up to the wind and his ears up and cocked to the sides. "Silence!" He whispered, closing his eyes for but a moment, and then he looked at her with fear in his face. "The Host, is near! You must leave! I will send Saghe to you! Now, go!" He ordered her, and took off into the night.
   Just great! Here she was, out for a stroll in the middle of the woods, on a planet that still had it's shield up! Oh, let's not forget the fact, that there was a Host, and who knew how many of his followers were with him; and they were all trapped inside the shield, together.
    She felt the tingle rising up her neck, heard the footsteps as they marched over fallen leaves and branches. It was stay here and fight a Host, alone, surrounded by trees and... more trees, or make her way back to the portal so she could slip out when the enemy left. What were they doing here? Why would a Host, come all the way out into the middle of nowhere?
    It didn't matter now, none of it mattered, as the first sight of a red cloak came through the branches. They were here, and she was so ready, for a fight, so when Malice saw that flash of color she blinked, and up she went, thirty feet into the canopy above. These were giant trees, the size of a Sequoiadendron Giganteum. Bloody Hell, she loved how that rang off her tongue, like she was speaking the words of the ancients once more; but on Earth, the Human's called them Redwoods, so plain and...plain.
    Once she got her bearings she couldn't help but grin. As fledglings, she and Mist had lived in the forest of Almaren, spending a hundred years at least, running the branches after their prey. It had been hard at first, slipping and crashing to the ground a million times, but with practice, she had become so light on her feet, not even the leaves dared rustle as she past; but these trees, they had branches the size of sidewalks, there was no falling from these.
   "Somebody's left me vines to swing from." She grinned, but it soon died from her face, as she realized that she couldn't see the portal.
   Where the hell was it? Had they managed to hide it? After that last bout with magic, she was pretty sure they could make a whole city disappear. It was then she remembered Kember's bracelet. It would guide the Warrior right to the female, if, Kember had done as was she was told, and stayed near the portal to guard it.
   'Kember!' She called out with her mind, but only silence answered her call. 'Kember! Where are you? We have a, big, problem.' But again, there was nothing.

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