Chapter 23

The Battle for Thenna's Soul

author: Veyanne - yellow , Blackguard - violet

Henos stared in disbelief. His mind was blank. His mother was dead.

Blackguard felt her death as it rippled through the ether. This was unexpected, he fought back tears as he remembered the times they had shared together. The battles they had fought, the nights of passion that had been theirs before the Overlord had appeared.

Without wishing it, the hellfire that was his to command sprang to life, as he hit the wall over and over again. The unyielding stone cracked and shattered as he pounded on the wall in his fury.

"KENDRAAAA!" he cried in anger. "You'll die for this you bitch!" Then marshaling control of himself, he returned to the task at hand. Thenna was his priority now. When that was over, he would deal with Kendra.

The dark woman waved her hand over the temptress' body. It began to burn. Through the smoke Henos saw three figures appear behind the Witch Queen. One was a woman wearing a dark red skin tight body suit. She was lean and elegant. Her hair was long and white and stood out against her black cloak.  She stood poised and ready for battle with a granite headed hammer in her hands. The second figure was also a woman. She was holding a knife in one hand and pulling her top on with the other. Her pants ended around mid-calf and were loose and baggy. Her shoulder length white hair was a mess. She looked like she'd just rolled out of bed. The third figure was a man wearing a dark ceremonial robe. On his chest was the symbol of the goddess, two overlapping circles, one above the other.

Ilsa glanced over at Kiri and looked her up and down, "Nice pants.", she said softly.

"I couldn't find mine, OK?", Kiri was still struggling with her top. "That was not five minutes just then."

Kiri finally got her top in place and looked around the room. Her eyes focused on Henos, "Oh wow, look at the cute little pagan boy!", she exclaimed.

Felicia and Blackguard arrived in what could better be called an "operating room". But this was a room that operated on the soul, not the body. A Black Bishop stood in the center of the room running his hands over a glowing sphere.

"Beautiful isn't it my Lord?" he asked as Blackguard entered the room.

"That it is, " Blackguard said as he reached out and ran his fingertips over Thenna's soul. It was a thing of power it was. And so beautiful to look at, that he could have stood there for days on end just staring at it. But he had little time to waste, such a thing had to be done quickly before the soul dissipated.

He turned to the Bishop and asked, "has the room been prepared?"

The Bishop nodded and indicated the fresh blood on the floor. "The proper sigils have been inscribed. We can begin at any time."

"Very well, " he turned to Felicia. "If you would my dear?"

She stepped outside the incomplete circle and taking the paintbrush finished drawing the circle and locked both men inside it's boundaries. Her part was now to wait until the ceremony was over and she was asked to break the circle.

Inside both men started chanting in a language that had not been heard spoken on this Earth for thousands of years. It was an ugly sound that spoke of darkness and pain and everlasting torment. But it was also a language of power. Blackguard lay his left hand on the sphere and the Bishop covered it with his own. A dark thread seemed to move from within the soul, wiggling like a trapped worm, seemingly drawn to Blackguard's hand.

It was what Kendra had used to bind Thenna to herself.  It was a dark thread of the Dark Power. And Blackguard was using his own connection to it, and his connection to Kendra to unravel that thread.

Little by little it came undone until the veritable gordian knot it had been was completely free. It slowly moved it's way through Thenna's soul until it connected with Blackguard's exposed hand. Working it's way free, it coiled its way into him but his own power kept it in check. And with a single burst of hellfire from his left hand, totally incinerated the black thread. Thenna was free.

He motioned to Felicia to break the circle and he stumbled out from it's confines an extremely tired demon. It had been a rough few hours, first in taking Thenna's soul, then healing himself, and now cleansing her of Kendra's taint. Of course soon he'd have to send Thenna's soul back to her body, he didn't relish the idea of doing it right away, but he had to do it anyway. All he really wanted to do was sleep for a few days, preferably with the elegant assassin at his side.

Kendra turned to the Shaman and pointed at Thenna. He got the message and hurried over to look at her. Kendra looked at Ilsa and pointed at the door.

"Yes, my queen.", Ilsa said and moved to guard the entrance.

Kiri sauntered up to the small boy. She leaned over in front of him. "My aren't you a little heart-breaker?", she said with a big smile on her face, "What's your name?"

Henos was in shock but still managed to say, "Henos."

"He's way too young for you Kiri.", said Ilsa glancing over her shoulder at them.

"Well, duh.", Kiri shot back at Ilsa, then turned to Henos once again. "Yes, you're way too young. You're not ready for that....yet."

Kiri laughed and smiled widely. Henos stared at her, still in shock. All the dark skinned women he'd met before were mean. Kiri was different. Something about her made him feel good. He didn't know what it was. She just did.

Blackguard lay his hands on the young girl's soul once again and was about to send it back when suddenly there was a shudder within the soul. Waves of power were trying desperately to pull it back, and the feel of those waves was Kendra. No, not her, possibly that damned Shaman of hers. But the problem was, the wards around his keep would not allow her soul to leave. It was literally being torn apart by the two opposing forces. Working quickly, he drew on whatever reserves he had and gave the soul a little push so that it passed from his keep, and back into Thenna's body.

And as a going away present, he did two things.

Gave Thenna some more of his knowledge. And a mental slap to the Shaman. That slap would cause the Shaman's brain to ache for the next few days. "Serve's the bastard right, " he thought. "Brualising a poor girl's soul like that."

The shaman worked desperately over the fallen girl. He prayed, chanted, and worked magic over her. After a few minutes Thenna opened her eyes. She looked up into the shaman's face. It all came back to her.

"No. No. No!", she screamed and rolled away from him.

She remembered the shaman, the scar on her face, the horrid lessons that Kendra had taught her, all those unpleasant memories. She looked around wildly. She saw Henos but couldn't see her mother. Everything was going terribly wrong. They were going to take her back to those awful caves. She lay on the ground shaking. She wished for her magic to take her away.

It did.