After it was completely dark, so dark that we were able to blend in with the shadows of night without even trying...we made our move on the Palace. Walking straight through the center gate...the guards didn't even see us or turn their heads at all...as I walked past them...they fell to the ground unconscious.
"Show off..." Domix snickered under his breath as he followed. "Though they were pretty pathetic...no big surprise."
We entered the palace just as easily. Once inside, it seemed there were hardly no guards...the only thing I could feel was the slight presence of that man...Yamil. He was somewhere here...where? I couldn't be sure. If he got in my way...that would be the last mistake of his nonexistence.
As we walked the halls of the seemingly deserted palace, I noticed it wasn't such a grandeur structure. Perhaps it had been at one time...but the decay was evident. I wondered if it reflected its corrupted ruler. Finally we came to the large doors...most likely the throne room. Pushing them open we entered. It appeared to be a fairly vast and wide-open room. Only a carpet lay on the floor, leading to the throne in the far back...shadows obscuring it completely. There were windows on either side, the crimson red curtains flowing ever so lightly with the breeze. The moonlight being the only source of light during these brief moments.
“So THIS is the famous Ximh i’ve been hearing so much of...” A voice spoke from where the throne sat...the owner couldn't be seen, but it was a woman's voice.
“Who’s there?” Domix asked as he stepped up by my side.
“Keesha, Queen and ruler of Agraba.” She answered once more, remaining in her seated position. As she did so, the breeze blew once more...blowing the curtains just enough to flood the face of the woman with moonlight. A very familiar face...slight differences indeed...but it was the face of Kyxsha.
“THAT WOMAN!” Domix growled with enraged realization as he lifted his finger to point at her.
“Yes and it’s a pleasure to meet you too Domix,” She commented, but looked straight at me. “Do you know how many times you have come into Kyxsha’s head?”
“What?” I spoke nonchalantly.
“You have her wanting to cry and rip your throat out at the same time. It's.... interesting to say the least”
“My affairs are none of your concern, I did not come here to be analyzed by the likes of you...I came to retrieve the weapons, plain and simple...” I clarified immediately. The mission was my top priority.
“Don’t try to deny it. Your happy that she thinks about you. That’s she miserable without y....”
“QUIET, where are the weapons.” I dismissed once more. Quickly becoming irritated on the subject matter.
“ohh, brrr, So cold.” Keesha mocked rubbing her forearms.
I could hear Domix snicker a little. Under his breath he whispered, "Oops...that must be me..."
Stifling a chuckle, I continued to press her for the weapons. “Where are they? We have come to retrieve them. Surrender them peaceably.”
In response to my demands, Keesha spun around and grabbed the spear that hung above her throne. “No you didn’t you just wanted to see me... I mean i’m the closest your gonna get to her without actually having to admit you LOVE her.” She laughed spinning the spear above her head.
“Listen you, Just give them up or we’ll take them by force.” Domix spoke out.
“Thorn of Truth... My favorite piece. Beauty beyond that of a normal spear, and deadly sharp,” Keesha stated ignoring him, and ran her finger along the edge creating a small cut on her finger. The blood ran from her finger. She licked it off and spun her spear once more, holding it lazily to face her opponent. The tip resting on the floor. The wind blew again making the metal glint menacingly in the moonlight. “It’ll get the truth out of you one way or another.”
She gazed at me...as though challenging me to come at her. The way she held her spear...so loosely...a careless move. It could easily by knocked away from her like that. I cast her a confident gaze. "You don't want to do this...just surrender the weapons to us...and we will spare your pitiful life."
"Pitiful am I?" Keesha mocked. "Says a Demigod who lost his heart and faded into NOTHINGNESS. Now who is the Pitiful one?! Tell Me Ximh...what made you fade in the first place? Did you disgrace and cast aside the woman you loved then too? It seems to suit you doesn't-"
"Insolence!" Domix shouted fiercely, his hammer was in his hands as he was about to rush forward.
I swung my right hand over and halted him. Grabbing the front of his shirt in my hand...I turned and gave him a stern glare. "She may be insolent but she is still a woman...we have our honor." I grumbled lowly. "She is MY opponent."
Domix sneered and spit to the side as he pulled away. "Wench! Be grateful we aren't so lowly as to engage you simultaneously." He shouted putting his hammer away and moving over to the wall. Leaning against it angrily while rolling his eyes...he waited for me to move.
"I have tried to spare you pain...but it would seem all you know is disrespect." I spoke as my hand gripped the hilt of my sword. Drawing it out slowly, I pointed at her. "Since you are so desperately taunting me into battle...I shall grant your wish."
"Then quit talking and come at me already!" Keesha shouted, remaining in a poorly executed defensive stance.
I smiled and rushed her, in a quick motion I was before her and came down with a vertical slash. She parried, just as expected. I rebounded and came in with a horizontal slash. She was fast, slamming the bottom part of her spear to the ground, she stopped my second slash as well. I smiled as I instantaneously came in to hit her with the butt of my hilt...I'd been so confident this would take her down...yet I was surprised when she caught it in her hand.
Smiling at me she looked straight into my eyes. "Looks like you're taking me lightly...Oh Mighty Ximh!" She ridiculed as she pushed the sword away, simultaneously cart wheeling to the side and using her spear as a pole vault, launched herself being my back. She came down and into a forward thrust...straight at my back.
Already I was on the other side of the room...her spear piercing a mere after-image of me and fading away. "Well well Domix...it would seem the little princess has skills after all!" I called out in a near laugh.
"I'm NOT a PRINCESS!" Keesha shouted enraged. She rushed to my location near the windows. I parried her blows with ease, yet a breeze came through blowing the curtains between us. In that brief moment I lost sight of her...only to just barely avoid a thrust from the center of the curtain. It had been aimed for my abdomen, but I'd stepped to the side just in time...the spear cutting my clothes, leaving a rip in it's wake. "I'm the Queen!" She stated forcefully and back-flipped away from me after missing her target. Now in the corner of the room, she planted the spears end on the ground once more, and kicked from corner to corner in order to jump up into the rafters above.
"Why do you drag this out? Your inevitable defeat?" I questioned in an effort to taunt her down. "You can NOT defeat me..."
"Hah! What's wrong? You don't like when things don't go your way do you?!" She recoiled. "You want me to be obedient and simply give you your way...well tough!"
I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. This was incredibly aggravating. It took her several minutes...before she made her next attempt. Throwing something at me, I side-stepped it only to be greeted by the end of her spear as she came down at me in a downward spiral. Using the momentum from the height, she managed to knock me off balance briefly as I'd come up to defend with my sword. She took that moment to land on the ground, and simultaneously spin in a lower kick...aimed to trip me. I stumbled back, but did not fall to the ground...instantly slamming my sword into the stone floor in an attempt to cut her leg off...which she'd moved just in time.
Now I was mad. My sword implanted before me...I did not reach for it again. I could feel my eyes glowing as I glared at her...having to drag this out so very long. She laughed at me, and was about to make some sort of comment but didn't have a chance. Using my lightning fast speed, I was already before her. My fist clenched tightly I swung for her midsection...she reached up to block...but to no avail. She flew out the nearby window, landing hard on the balcony. On her hands and knees she coughed having the air knocked out of her...but I did not give her a chance to recover.
Using my lightning step again, I reached down and picked her up by the throat. The spear clanged hard on the stone floor as both her hands came up to my wrist...trying to claw my hand off her throat as I squeezed her tighter and tighter. I continued to glare at her...I didn't loosen my grip. But still she refused to give up. Enthralled with her struggling...I didn't notice as she planted her feet in my stomach in an attempt to launch away from me. It worked as my grasp loosened and she flew back gasping for air. Rolling to the side, she grabbed the spear and threw it at me like a javelin, I didn't move fast enough to fully avoid it this time and it clipped my arm. I felt as the warm blood ran down from the small cut.
Keesha started to cackle once she'd gotten her breath back...and she stood up and took a defensive position...not wanting a repeat of my sneak punch. Suddenly it went quiet. I didn't even see when he'd done it...but as my eyes scanned up...Keesha was falling forward. Domix was behind her with a sadistic smile of pleasure on his face. He'd knocked her out...but he didn't seem like himself right now...
"HOW DARE YOU!" He shouted as she hit the cold floor. "Impudent woman! Injuring a Demigod with your blasphemy!"
"Domix!" I shouted and he calmed himself instantly. He looked at me with shocked and sorrowful eyes.
"I'm sorry Magni....I didn't mean to interfere...I really didn't..." He spoke in a broken tone. "How...what...did I do?" The last part he said more to himself than out loud. It made me worry about him.
"It doesn't matter...the woman is subdued...we have to find the weapons now." I instructed him. I tore off a piece of my shirt and hastily bandaged up my arm. Domix grabbed Keesha and dropped her on the floor inside the balcony with a thud as we entered back in through the window. He was oddly quiet...so I continued. "Now...where do you think the armory would be?"
"I can help you find it...they aren't in the armory though...THOSE weapons are the war-room..." A voice spoke from the darkest corner of the room. Slowly the footsteps approached us and I reached for my sword...waiting to pull it from the ground if I needed to defend myself.
And then the light from the window with the ripped curtain revealed her face. ".....Kyxsha?"
Ximh
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Wow! That was LONG! lol Hope you all enjoyed the fight though!
Dark: Domix man...what the heck was that?
Domix: T.T I don't know....
Ximh: Just pray it wasn't what I THINK it was....*shudders*
