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Chapter 25: In the shadows
“Sister!?” The woman said in a delighted tone when she saw the dark skinned woman, who she called her sister, enter her room.
“Seeing you at my place is so rare I would almost think this is a dream.”
The woman who spoke stood up from her chair, walking up to the lady who had just entered, giving her a soft embrace before placing a kiss left and right on her cheek.
“A rare occasion indeed.” The dark skinned female said, keeping a more serious posture. Her long white hair was combed to her back, a shimmering crown with images of moon sickles and butterflies forged in it, kept it in place. She wore an elegant black gown that was decorated with a silver lining, carefully draped around her shape that accentuated the right points. The dark leather underbust corset even showed her thin waist better and her shoulders were protected with dark colored pauldrons, made of the same leather. She looked beautiful, but also dangerous at the same time.
Which was far different from the look of the other female. Her skin was of a dark color, if not having a slight purple shine to it. On her skin were different purple colored scales of different sizes, marking her hands and face, which was all you saw and accented her purple dragonic eyes. Her purple hair, streaked with white waved over her head, surrounding her two darker purple horns that sprout from her head, curving backwards.
Compared to the elegant dark skinned woman, this female wore a long purple colored cleric shaped dress with gold accents and a scale like pattern. It hardly accented her shape and couldn’t be called elegant. If you had to find a word, she looked like a priest.
Yet what was the same on both, were their pointy ears, revealing their elf blood.
The scaled woman gestured towards her desk, offering a chair towards her sister.
“What is it that brings you here, dear sister.” The cleric said when she sat down behind her desk, leaning back in her chair in a slightly nonchalant way. While the dragonesque woman seemed to be joyful, her companion was giving a rather serious vibe.
The dark skinned woman sat down, folding her hands in her lap.
“You know of the warning my patroness gave me a rough 15 years ago?” The darker female started, her red eyes focused on the woman before her.
The purple scaled female nodded, giving a soft hum as reply.
“From the lightless land with skies of heartless stone,
A Queen shall raise and claim her dark throne.
Mistress of evil, chaos and death,
Her hunt is eternal until your last breath.
Far too powerful for the common men,
Mate a pair to fight her now and then.
A Child of Death, a Child of life,
Forge them to take the knife.
One raised in love, one raised in hate,
Marked by the world, this is their fate.
Separated they are unaligned,
Powerful they are, when combined.”
The dragon elf repeated word for word.
“We know it’s about the Underdark and pointing towards the Drow. I have my eyes and ears there, sister. But until now, we have not seen any signs of a rising power.”
The dark skinned woman nodded, agreeing with what her sister said, before she leaned a bit forward.
“It’s not about the dark power I came to speak, but about the second part.”
“The Children?” The dragon lady asked with a curious tone in her voice.
The other nodded.
“Have you found them?” She asked on her turn again, this time leaning a bit forward, but her sister quickly shook her head.
“No, I haven’t. But I felt a movement in power when I was in communion with my Goddess. The balance has shifted which I think means these children are ‘born’.”
“Born?” The other asked. “You mean as in infants?”
Again the dark skinned female shook her head.
“No, We don’t need to search for babes. But these Children are marked. I don’t think they are aware of who they are gonna be and neither should they, to keep them safe. But they are tied to the Dark Queen in one way or another, binding their fates together.”
“You have no clue who they are?” The purple scaled woman looked hopefully, any hint was handy. But her sister shook her head again.
“I’m afraid not. But from what I have seen, they will cross our path when the time is right. And we will know.”
The dragon female fell back in her chair again, releasing a sigh while placing one hand above her eyes.
“I hate cryptic messages.”
She could hear her sister chuckle before her chair moved, indicating that she was standing up.
“You are the Queen of the Garde after all, defender of justice.”
The dark skinned woman could hear her sister sigh and she cracked a small smile, perfectly aware that her sister had never wanted this. It just fell into her lap. But the dragon lady collected herself, knowing it was indeed her duty. She moved up from her chair, guiding her sister back to the door to let her out.
“Krista …” The dark skinned woman said before she left the room.
“Keep your eyes open in the Underdark. We must learn who this Dark Queen will be.”
Krista nodded, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder.
“Don’t fret, Ivalera, Thaqir is still down there and doing his job perfectly, as expected. He has been able to infiltrate in one of the higher Houses of Che’El’Dheorden.”
Ivalera nodded, bowing her head respectfully.
“Until next time.” Krista smiled. “And don’t wait 10 years again to do that!”
Ivalera gave a teasing smirk, shrugging her shoulders, lifting her hands in the process.
“What is 10 years in the life of an elf, Krista?” Her eyes slightly sparkling at those words before she finally turned around to leave the room for real.
The purple dragon elf sighed deeply, a chuckling smile on her face before she walked back to her desk and let herself fall in her chair. Her eyes drifted to her bookshelves, filled from bottom to top with books, guides, scrolls, … in almost every language you could imagine. Her moment of drifting away was short lived, as someone knocked on her door.
“Queen Krista?” A low voice said and the purple haired woman straight herself to look presentable. Her job was never done.
“Come in!” She said in a neutral tone, waiting for the door to open.
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