Excerpt: To Journey's End

They were making good progress; they hadn’t met anyone and were getting closer to the main court room. Their luck ran out before they arrived however; they ran straight into Vythica as they were again hiding in a room to get away from people in the passages. She seemed highly amused by their presence, particularly as they didn’t notice for a good few minutes that she was sat behind them watching.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said eventually. Everyone spun around very quickly and flattened themselves against the wall, too nervous to say anything. She smiled widely, one eyebrow raised. She picked at her fingernails for a bit as she savoured their discomfort. “Oh come now,” she said when still no one would speak, “I’m really not that bad, am I? Indulge me in a little conversation.” She stood up and looked at them all intently. Baruch shuffled his feet anxiously. Rhesa looked like she might be about to cry. Only Adoniram and Shealtiel appeared unruffled by the woman; their expressions remained as calm as ever, their composure still intact.

Elliott looked at Vythica in awe. She had heard many things about her half-sister but none of the descriptions could do justice to the physical attractiveness of the woman. She had the figure of an Ageldra; tall and lithe and impressively imposing, but she held herself differently. The other Ageldra that Elliott had met were graceful; Vythica was dominating and exuded confidence and control. She had very thick flame red hair which was pulled back from her face in a high ponytail and fell down her back in waves as though it possessed an energy of its own. Her eyes were almost identical to Elliott’s in shape and colour, but they were much larger. She wore an impressive outfit; a tight corset did not leave anything to the imagination, nor did her trousers; for attire that seemed it would be better suited to a boy, it showed off that Vythica had a very womanly figure.

What captivated Elliott were the two weapons which were indeed held in holsters strapped around her thighs. They were unlike any sharp implement Elliott had ever seen before, although she recognised the style as being similar to other things she had seen in Luril. They consisted of a central shaft which ran the length of the weapon, as a sword handle would do, but two short prongs curved out from the hilt to the sides, as though imitating a large misshapen fork. They were very elegant weapons and they were clearly very sharp. Out of the corner of her eye, Elliott could see that almost everyone else could not take their eyes from the two strange implements. As they watched, Vythica unsheathed them and began to spin them around her hands. Back and forth they wove around her fingers so quickly that it was difficult to follow them. Vythica took obvious pleasure in their dumbstruck reaction. She slowly walked towards them, her fingers curled around the hilt, the points raised towards the terrified party. She strolled up and down the line, tracing the wall above their heads with the tip of the blade.

“Have you ever seen anything like these before?” she said quietly. She savoured each word as though speaking to a lover. Elliott felt a shiver run down her spine. No one had explained how sensual Vythica was; she took great delight in the smallest motion, as though everything were one great game that could only be won. She stopped in front of Rhesa and traced the stewards neck with the blade, not pushing hard enough to break the skin but enough for the poor girl to shiver with fright. “These are sai,” she said. “They’re best for piercing things.”