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The beach was alive and moving, its white sands hungry for war.
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Evita watched the once clear docks; now a mass of wooden sea monsters each bearing a foreign flag from distant lands across the shrieking sea. Hundreds of soldiers scurried up and down the beach, some carting weapons and supplies others pitching tents. They had come in the early hours of the day, unloading horses, supplies and massive grey-brown beasts that Evita could only assume were the fabled elephants.
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"Are those, the creatures priestess Veera told us about? The elephants?"
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"Yes," The low priestess Andreah said, her tongue seemed to linger on the s in annoyance.
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"They're huge, I always imagined they would be smaller, and their noses, look at the length! Are those teeth, in front, next to their nose?"
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"They are horns, these are beasts of death and war," Andreah said.
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"Death and war? They're beautiful, look at them, their ears, their noses. How could creatures like this be of death or war?"
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Andreah moved in front Evita, a long braid in hand, blocking her view of the shore. "They are of hell, of the all-consuming fire, to call them beautiful is to compliment Kolvi. These beasts are nothing more than a means of horrible death for any man their masters deem worthy of it. Just because something seems to be of beauty and goodness does not make it so. Deception is everywhere."
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Evita nodded her head in agreement. Must she be so pious all the time, not everything need be a lesson of the dangers of deception. If Kolvi is so terrible, why does Aran not smite him?
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"If they are of hell how did these men come upon them do you think?"
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The voice of her handmaiden Caterina shifted Evita's focus. "I heard the beasts exist only far in the lands of Aloria past the great desert and into the plains."
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"Aloria? I've only heard of a few tales of this land; is it true the people have black skin and drink the blood of lions?"
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"They say the sun rarely sets in Aloria and the people have turned dark from its heat. They say people pray to strange gods, rocks that came from the sky, giant serpents nearly half as long as a warship and thicker than a man fully grown, and hairless unicorns stronger and larger than any horse in the world."
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"How can a rock come from the sky, Caterina?" Her second handmaiden Rosaleen asked impatiently.
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Caterina pinned the lock she had just finished brushing underneath Evita's braid, ignoring Rosaleen she spoke again. "The people ride them, these elephants deep into the jungle and use them to hunt and kill the walking lizards that roam to close to their villages."
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Evita turned to her with a deep curiosity burning behind her eyes. "What is a walking lizard?"
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Caterina's leaned in, brush in hand. "Walking lizards, my lady, are draconic beasts. They're tall and agile, they walk on two legs with hooked claws and sharp teeth, they eat man and beast alike."
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"Do not listen to her priestess I will tell you the tale of Aloria", Rosaleen said. "Once a thousand thousand years ago Aran gave the Alorians dragons to defeat the minions of Kolvi. The Alorians rode atop the beasts and commanded them to burn away all the servants of Kolvi from their lands. And so they did, but when Aran came back to collect his dragons the people turned on him, their one true god. They tried to use the beasts of flame on Aran, to burn him away as they had done before. But when the beasts spat their fire Aran breathed it all in and spat it back out in the greatest fire the world has ever seen, scorching man and dragon alike. Some say the flames reached so high and far heat could be felt in Phevia and the light seen in Jhyr. When the flames finally settled all the dragons had died, burnt to the bone, and the people, what few remained, forever have black skin that bore the mark of his holy flame."
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Dragon fire and ancient war? gods burning their people in righteous fits of rage? Perhaps you have spent too much time listening to the tales of the clerics, Rosaleen. Evita looked up to see the cold Andreah captivated by the tale. She moved her head to look out the balcony once more.
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"Hold still," Andreah hissed out at her in a shrill voice. She had taken to brushing her hair with a roughness that made her wince with every other stroke.
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Evita matched her with forced patience through gritted teeth and spoke before she could remember herself. "The hair you braid and brush is still attached to my head, I ask only that you at least pretend to know what tenderness is."
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"You will speak to me with respect, I'm not your lesser, I'm here because it was asked of me not because it's my duty," Andreah said. "I'll have to re-pin and re-braid the back."
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That was it? No lecture? Perhaps she's gone tame.
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Caterina spoke to break the silence. "I heard elephants come from further east than even the Qabari empire reaches; that they were worshiped by the red monks who found roaming the deep jungles. They were once holy things of great respect until the old emperor took the monks lands and turned the beasts into monsters of war."
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"Where did you come to hear such tales?"
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"I was...before the sisters bought me at auction eight or so years ago I was a slave of the flesh markets in Pasan, my lady."
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"We are the same age are we not?"
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"Yes, my lady."
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"You would have only been a girl of fourteen. How long were you enslaved?"
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"Only two years, priestess."
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"Only two? You speak as though two years is a short amount of time to be enslaved. And you've gone from one master to another."
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"Enough of this talk, it's sinful, and I find it disgusting," The words seemed to slither out of Andreah. "Any slave girl from a flesh market of all places should be so lucky to be saved by the church."
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Evita opened her mouth in objection but Caterina spoke before any words escaped. "Yes priestess, I apologize for any offense I may have caused," Caterina said bowing her head in shame.
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Evita turned to Caterina, a fire brewing inside her. "No she isn't," she spat. "You've nothing to apologize for. Andreah how dare you speak in such a manner to my handmaidens."
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"Be still Evita," Andreah said with a sigh. "You know I've had quite enough of today. Hours we've spent here with the three of you constantly clucking away about false idols and myth, and now even whores." Andreah shot a disgusted glance at Caterina.
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So it begins.
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From fire to inferno Evita felt her rage and allowed it to take hold. "If you ever speak to me or one of my girls again I will throw you from my balcony and see to it that you fill the bellies with many fish. Now be silent."
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Noone dared speak, sounds of the waves crashing and gulls calling filled the room. Evita's gaze returned to the shore and the army at her doorstep.
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Hundreds of the Aran guard stood in formation on the beach, their black and blue armor seemed to absorb the light. They watched without word or movement as the strangers and their beasts moved about the beach.
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Evita bobbed her head left and right in an attempt to observe but an unobstructed view was hard for her to come by. Every glance at the foreigners, their warships and beasts on her doorstep was wondrous and brief and cut short by elbows, stomachs and faded blue-gray dresses her diligent handmaidens or the sour face of Andreah.
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The old temple Evita sat atop had many towers and few windows; she was lucky enough that her room sported several of them and a balcony that overlooked the fort harbor. The aged stone that made up the walls had lost their luster, resorting to a faded red-gray all throughout. Her bed, the only source of life and color in the small circular room; it sported silks of deep blue and white that hung from a tall canopy. She lived in a dark-wood and faded stone cage disguised as a room, that separated her from the outside world and the height of her balcony offered neither relief nor communication.
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The sun began to set and Andreah still brushed and braided. She could never seem to finish, always finding another thing to correct, another issue to complain about. They pinned her hair and scrubbed her face with water and herbs. The mint leaves they had rubbed into her skin left a cool feeling within her skin contrasting the heat rising from beneath.
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"You'd do well to hold still, maybe then it wouldn't be such a difficulty to endure. That seems to be awfully lustful staring you're doing at those men, you wouldn't want to shame yourself," Andreah said.
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"I care not for the men; it's the elephants...I wish to ride one."
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Andreah scoffed at her, "Those are war elephants, they would sooner crush you. You have all the dreams and ambitions of a man and seemingly none of a priestess, I knew she was foolish to consider you."
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Evita smirked and met eyes with her. "The balcony it is."
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"Evita, take heed, I know your secret."
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"And what secret would that be?"
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"Do you think you could have some dyes made for me?"
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Evita dropped her smirk and gave no reply. How could she know?
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"So it's true then?" Evita saw her smirk grow on Andreah's face. "It seems you've already shamed yourself."
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"There you are finished, stand, back straight, and suck in your gut, you've the look of a drunk man," Andreah said with a flat tone.
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You vile bitch.
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"Respect must work both ways priestess," Evita said.
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Andreah scoffed, "Perhaps Evita, however, I do not respect you. You two bring her a mirror."
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Rosaleen and Caterina left the room, and returned in an instant, carrying in a large mirror and sat next to her brazier.
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Evita stood to meet her reflection. The fire's face danced and reflected off the gold metal embedded within her blue and black dress.
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Her gaze met the bright, chestnut eyes of a girl with soft lips and warm beige skin that drank up the firelight. Her raven hair was done half up in a crown braid entwined with blue flowers that bloomed across her head. A flicker of true confidence that she had thought long dead stirred inside her grew strong, at that moment, she felt as fierce as flame.
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"Vanity is unbecoming, there is a reason we are only allowed a few moments of this," Andreah said with a stare of venom. "The mirror will be here when you return, we are needed in the great hall."
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The old stone halls rushed past Evita in a dimly lit mundane blur. Between the doorways and along the walls hung a mix of decrepit book shelving and dilapidated masonry filled with engravings of scripture.
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Evita struggled to keep pace with Andreah, she stopped in the dimly lit prayer room to catch her breath, she hated this room, too many long shadows reached out from the pillars that held the ancient scrolls of log dead clergymen. "This dress is too long, I can't move this fast."
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Andreah stopped and coiled her neck around. "Shameful. Shameful is all the Mother will have to say as she strips you of your place after I tell her all I know. I'm not one to be tardy, you will keep pace."
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Evita felt fire in her belly but this time she suppressed it. Not all of us can have the speed of a bitch in heat for the Mother's approval, such as yourself.
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"My apologies priestess."
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"Remind me again oh high priestess, what was the punishment for adultery," Andreah said. "Was it flogging? No, perhaps it was caning? And that's just for you, I can only imagine what will be done to the man that deflowered one of the holy high priestesses of Aran."
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"What do you want?"
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"Tell the Mother you renounce your place."
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"You jest."
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"I wonder how much of a jest it will be to you as they flay your man for sacrilege."
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"I'll be excommunicated..."
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"Take your pick, Evita, A graceful exit. Or one where your man dies horribly and you shamed, humiliated then forced to leave. Choose wisely, Evita."
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Andreah spun on her heel and disappeared down the hallway. Evita stood in the hall heart racing and mind a blur of questions.
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"That's quite the predicament you're in," a man said in a gruff low voice.
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Evita's heart nearly leaped from her chest. She spun around to confront the face behind the voice but she saw no one. The low firelight causes shadows to move and play tricks on her as she looked for the man.
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"I'm here girl," the voice said from nowhere.
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Evita looked ahead at the ever so slight sway of the large banner depicting the church and Thacia.
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"Clever girl."
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The man stepped out from behind the banner and entered the light. With black eyes and skin paler than milk he approached. His head seemed nearly too large to be contained within his black cloak. The stranger drew close enough for her to see that it was not his true face she saw but a white mask with no emotion.
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"Remove your mask and speak properly to me," she said unsure if her confidence had outweighed her fear.
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The masked man lifted his mask. He was the ugliest man Evita had ever seen, with a sloped brow and mismatched eyes he gave Evita a look of hunger that sent a shiver up her spine.
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"What do you want? How did you get in here?"
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"Nothing but to offer my services to fair lady," he said taking a step towards her.
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"Step no closer. Should I call for the guard they will come and lop off your head."
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"As you wish maiden. But know I come bearing gifts, not threats."
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"What kinds of gifts?"
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"The kind that deals with your problems and ensure you retain your position."
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"I don't know you or your intent."
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"Nor shall you, but I know you, I know the dyer's son, I know who has betrayed you and I can ensure you safe passage through this rough time."
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"What kind of stranger comes bearing gift without cost?"
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"I never said my gifts come without cost."
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"I'll give you nothing, I have no money."
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"It's not a matter of money dear girl. All I ask is when the time comes you let the ships with the tan sails into port, show their passengers kindness for they require aid."
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"I can't agree to this, I don't have the power and I don't know you."
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"You're the successor are you not? The next Blessed Mother?"
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"I am."
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"Indeed you are, you may lack the power now, child, but soon enough, soon enough. Allow me to prove myself. Go you'll be late but consider what I've said"
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Evita left the room even more flustered than before. Her mind was racing with thoughts of betrayal, exile, and strangers.
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I need to leave this place before it corrupts me.
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