Amadea and the Divinity Blade - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"She lives just over here," Zira directed her friends. The three of them landed, dismounted, and approached the door of a small cottage.

The door opened just as Amadea was about to knock. "Zira! How dare you take so long in visiting me! I was worried sick; I even heard rumors that you had been killed!" The woman immediately rushed to hug Zira, and then shocked her with some lightening. "That's for making me worry!"

"Luna..." Zira's ghostly eyes filled with tears.

"Wait a minute." Luna tried to shock Zira again, with the same results. Nothing. Thinking that there might be something wrong with her power, she aimed a bolt at Zephyr.

"OW!" He cried as Luna tried to shock Zira once more.

"Why won't my power work on you?" Luna wondered.

"Luna, I... I am dead," Zira explained.

"You're what?" Luna demanded.

"Dead," Zira stated.

"Zira, this isn't funny!" Luna insisted.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," Zira informed her.

"It can't be true, it can't be!" Luna beat on her sister in anger. She would have continued on like this for quite some time, but just then, Amadea swooned and fell.

"Luna, we have plenty of time to talk about this, I swear, but at the moment I need you to let my friends rest. They are so very tired, and I'll tell you all about it, I promise, just please let them –"

"Yeah yeah! I get it! Come on inside, you can rest in my bed." Luna pointed it out. The cottage was basically one large room, with the bed along one wall, and the kitchen table along another. Zephyr lay Amadea down gently, and curled up next to her – instantly asleep – while Zira poured her sister a mug of tea.

"Do you want the whole story, or just the most important parts?" Zira asked.

"Just... Just tell me." Luna sipped her tea, and sighed.

"It's a little hard to remember everything, so it may come out oddly, but here goes." Zira started by telling her sister about her death first, then about first meeting her friends, then about as much of her life before that as she could remember. Bits and pieces of irrelevant information surfaced until finally Luna had heard enough.

"Zira, if you're really dead, then how are you still here? And when did you die?" Luna asked. Zira allowed her head to droop on the table sadly a moment as memories faded once more. She faded a little as well, but then resolidified to continue her tale.

"I don't know, close to a year ago. I'm still here because the Gods think I can still be of use to them. Apparently, the warlock had set up several doorways to let monsters into our world, even more so than usual. We've been rushing all over the Empire trying to close them for close to two months now, and we think we got most of them. The problem is that we're officially out of time," Zira groaned, and rested her head on the table once more.

"Out of time? Oh Gods! Don't tell me that the world is about to end!" Luna prayed she was mistaken.

"End? No! Not as far as I can tell. No, we just have to go back to the palace right now, is all," Zira clarified.

"Now I'm confused, exactly why do you have to go to the palace?" Luna wondered.

"We have to be there in time for the coronation," Zira answered.

"No offense Zira, but I really don't think that the coronation requires your presence and that of your friends," Luna laughed at the absurdity, then had a thought. "You don't mean that monsters plan to attack the coronation, do you?"

"I don't know, maybe. There were a few attacks before we left, so there'll probably be more. In any case, I just wanted to see you, tell you what happened, and give my friends a chance to rest. We just finished clearing up an infestation that had them awake for nearly 2 days straight. Most importantly, I want to know how things have been with you." Zira smiled at her sister, and fixed on her with loving attention.

"Mostly, I tend to my garden, and carry out my duties as a Guardian Knight of my God." Luna shrugged. "I recently met a man who makes me... want to get married, and have children, but he's dedicated to a different God, so... who knows what will happen."

"Gavin and I were going to settle down after... at least we didn't leave any children behind. I hope you will have at least one girl, and maybe you could name her after me." This brought tears to both of their eyes, and they embraced in sisterly love that was so hard to show while Zira had been alive.

"Of course I will!" Luna gushed tearfully. There came a firm yet quiet knock at the door. Luna stood to answer it, and wiped her eyes ineffectively. She answered the door to discover the very man she had just told Zira about.

"Oh! Miss Luna, why are you crying?"

Luna couldn't do much more than wipe away tears, and shake her head. If she told him why, she might scare him away. She tilted her head to indicate that he should come in, and put her finger to her lips to warn him to be quiet. He followed instructions.

Zira gave Luna a look that asked if he was the one, and Luna nodded affirmatively.

"Hello, I'm Zira, Luna's younger sister. Perhaps you think we look alike?" In truth, they could almost be twins, but there were many differences to set them apart.

Remembering to keep his volume low, the man replied, "I'm Kyle, pleased to meet you."

He tried to shake Zira's hand, but she wasn't solid enough to touch at the moment.

"I'm sorry about that. I can't seem to hold onto my form when I get this emotional."

Luna finally composed herself to say. "My sister is a ghost."

"A ghost!" Kyle reacted as most people would to the news.

"Ziirraaaa!" Amadea groaned. "Shhh!"

"Sorry Sunny Day, but you have been asleep for a few hours, and we should probably get going soon," Zira said, using the nickname as an affectionate response to Amadea’s groan.

"Awww, five more minutes please," Amadea groaned, and rolled over.

"I'll let you sleep longer on one condition, you must send Rage and Anger to ensure that there are no monsters in the area," Zira bargained.

"Rage, Anger, heed my command, scout the area for monsters. If you find some, kill 'em," Amadea slurred, yawned, and continued, "If you don't find any, take a nap in the sun, and guard the door." The two dogs rose from Amadea's shadow, stretched, yawned, sniffed their mistress almost affectionately, and waited to be let out.

"Behave yourselves!" Zira admonished. "She will be very angry if you hurt any non monsters!"

The dogs rolled their eyes, and growled at Zira in a manner that could have been from a teenager.

"Don't you growl at me!" Zira said as she went to let them out. One of them bit her hand to remind her she was not their mistress. Zira cuffed him. "You can't hurt me, I'm already dead!"

"Must you say it like that?" Luna sobbed, her shock over the dogs broken.

"Sorry, I'm rather used to it," Zira apologized.

"Those were... corrupted dogs." Kyle said in amazement. "They're monsters, yet... they..." Were barking in the background.

Zephyr and Amadea sat up instantly with matching curses coming out of their mouths.

"Sounds like they found something about a mile south of here," Zira judged.

"Let us help you," Luna said as she picked up her sword, bow, and a couple of spears. Kyle had his sword at his hip, and nodded in agreement.

"Why not? It is your village we go to protect," Amadea replied.

Outside the cottage, Cirrus and Cumulus had been grazing and dozing, and knew that the barking meant that they were needed again. Zephyr helped Luna mount behind him while Amadea gave Kyle a hand. Zira faded to practically nothing, and squeezed between them.

Luna and Kyle thought nothing of mounting these horses, since they didn't look any different than normal horses, but both screamed a little and held tight as the horses took to the sky. Moments later, they found the dogs harassing a pack of demon wolves.

"That's it?!" Amadea demanded grumpily. "We had to get out of bed for that?!"

Zephyr recited the spell to turn them into regular wolves.

"Troll!" Zira announced pointing to the troll emerging from the trees about a half a mile away.

"Figures," Amadea muttered. She sent Cumulus into a charge. This was a normal troll, and was nearly killed from Cumulus' attack alone. Amadea loved when she first flew into a battle, and she could use the combined attack of her horse, and diving onto the monster with her sword. She withdrew it now, and jumped.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Kyle demanded.

"Over here!" Zephyr called out. Cumulus, having seen her mistress' successful attack, delivered her other passenger to help Zephyr fight a group of imps the size of toddlers.

"Spirit Arrow!" Zephyr shot one of the bigger imps, causing him to explode.

"Overkill!" Zira chided.

"Sorry, habit!" Zephyr apologized sheepishly.

"Lightning!" Luna was hitting imp after imp with her power.

Kyle was almost unneeded, and watched Luna out of the corner of his eye as he killed imps. He had magic too, but nothing compared to the three of them! After the imps were dead, there were no more monsters to deal with.

"Gods!" Amadea cursed. "Now I'm wide awake!"

"And hungry," Zephyr agreed, then recited the spell to send the monsters to Amethyst.

"Let me just say goodbye to my sister, then we can be on our way. The palace shouldn't be more than an hour away," Zira said.

Luna was momentarily confused, the palace was hours away, but then she remembered that the horses could fly there much faster. She hugged her sister, "Why are you going to the palace?"

"I am going to be coroneted soon, and I'm worried about my father's health," Amadea replied. Zephyr put an arm around his wife.

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