Author's note:
All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.
Hi guys,
Sorry about the delay with this chapter, life threw a delightful spanner in the works which made me and my editor grind to a halt for two weeks, moving home, computer problems, work... and I can keep listing if you like. I hope you enjoy this chapter, also a whle ago when I first posed the S'ephalim, Nephalim and Gephalim an artist set me a link to one of his pictures that he did a while ago and it's a good representation of a S'ephalim. Message me if you want the link.
Again sorry for the delay, after this chapter there are two more to Freedom of Flight then we go onto Bound by Pride. SO don't forget to comment and vote, all feedback is welcome.
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Alanna glanced around the markets in awe. It was like a massive swap meet and food market rolled into one. Tarval chuckled and leant down to talk into her ear so that she could hear him over the bustle. "This is the square," he gently grabbed her shoulders and directed her to an alleyway. "Jewellers and smiths," he turned her again to a different alley. "Fresh produce," another turn to a new alley, "Cloth merchants and tailors. Wood carvers, hot food and entertainment." He said turning her to the other three alleyways.
Dominic also leant down to talk into her other ear, although not as close as Tarval. "The bells toll hourly. Meet us at the hot food alley at fourth toll."
Alanna nodded. Both men released her and let her find her way through the mass of people. She quickly decided where to head to first and then made her way to the smiths. Alanna glanced at jewellers but saw nothing that took her fancy. She crossed to the other side, bumping past people who were busy chatting or looking away.
Alanna paused as she glanced down between two buildings as she walked and saw a small gathering but shrugged it off and kept on looking. She stopped when she spied a well-made locket. She stepped up behind another and looked at it; the merchant stepped forward and offered for her to look at the locket. Alanna examined it and then opened it; the two hearts broke away from a middle fixture, which allowed four pictures to be placed within.
"How much?" She asked, looking up from the locket.
The merchant eyed her critically, trying to place her crest but he didn't recognise it although he had his suspicions as to who the woman was before him. "What is your house, lass?"
"Phoenix, Dominic is my Un…"
"Alanna." he correctly guessed. He felt honoured that she had stopped here and people were gathering and taking notice of the armoured woman with no wings more so of the crisscross pattern that covered her back plate. "12 dhunts."
A woman leant over. "17, merchant and not a dhunt less." She said with a glare, knowing what he was doing, deliberately undercutting his price to ensure that Alanna bought something here, that THE Alanna Brave-Heart, as she had been dubbed, thought his wares were good and that would attract more business for him.
Alanna span around, her eyes focused on a gold breastplate with four black feathers. She glanced up. "Michelle?" She guessed as she remembered what Sage had told her about her grandparents.
"Hello, Alanna. Turn around and pay for your locket." She told her playfully, indicating that Alanna should just pretend for now that they knew each other.
Alanna nodded and turned around. "First, what's a…"
"Here… there are people waiting." Michelle interrupted while handing the amount over, the locket and chain was put in a velvet bag and given to Alanna. Michelle quickly guided her away and towards a small alley between two buildings. Alanna couldn't help herself as she looked up and stared.
Michelle's long white blonde hair hung in loose curls. Her eyes were such a deep blue, they looked like sapphires. Her nose was straight and pointed; her jaw slightly rounded with high cheekbones and perfectly arched eyebrows. She now understood how early humans could have been so humbled, she was both a woman and not, because she was more than a woman… she was… an angel.
Michelle's full lips curved up in a smirk, she was used to this reaction. She had almost laughed at Bianca's bowled-over look.
Alanna blinked, realizing that she was gawking like a teenager and blushed. "Sorry, I…"
"Don't mention it. You should have seen Bianca... that was funny." Michelle answered with a grin.
"Are all S'ephalim so tall?" Alanna asked, still slightly gawking.
Michelle nodded and gave a careless shrug. "Yes, we all stand over seven feet tall. It is how we were made."
"You paid for the locket?" Alanna questioned.
She nodded. "I did not want the merchant to know you did not understand our currency. Besides, he had a small crowd gathered behind you waiting to buy. Now, let me quickly run through our currency, a bharunt is a copper coin," Michelle pulled the coin out. "Twelve make a dhunt, the silver coins. Most of the time merchants will talk in dhunts because they are more common than the khunts, gold coin. Five dhunts to a khunt."
Alanna grabbed out her money and after making a swift calculation put three khunts and two dhunts into Michelle's hand. "Thank you. No one explained the currency to me… they just gave it to me." She grumbled.
Michelle chuckled. That sounded like Dominic and Tarval. "So what's the locket for?"
"It's for Sage's birthday gift," Alanna pulled it out. "Look… it opens into three panels and four pictures can go in so her biological parents and her adopted can both be kept close to her heart."
Michelle smiled at the thoughtfulness of the gift. "I'm here to check up on Sage's gift. Want to join me?"
Alanna nodded and joined her as together they left the small alleyway between buildings. "I'm surprised Dominic isn't escorting you around." Michelle commented. Letting Alanna loose and unsupervised in a world and culture she only partially understood could be dangerous… at least for the ones she accidentally annoyed and who went to fight her not knowing that she could kill them with only her hands.
"He is picking up his own gifts; one for me, one for Sage. Our birthdays are a day apart." Alanna explained.
Michelle nodded and made note of it. She would pay attention to Alanna for a while to figure out what to get her. She had gone to all of Sage's birthdays since her first. Bianca had insisted in her coming to be introduced to her 'granddaughter', not understanding that both Michelle and Tarval had just been a means to an end and that although they had given birth to Dominic and that Tarval had raised him, they didn't consider him theirs. He belonged to the god. However, that didn't stop Michelle from forming a bond with Sage and wanting to watch her grow into the woman she was becoming and now she wouldn't miss this party for anything in the world. She may not consider Dominic to be her son but she did consider him a very close friend, a friendship that had grown over the years as Dominic came to her asking for her advice concerning his daughter. Michelle walked her further back towards the blacksmiths. She stepped up to a stall and smiled as a winged woman walked forward.
"This is Gabrielle. She is a master smith and makes magnificent weapons although she never learnt to wield them." Michelle introduced.
Gabrielle smiled then bowed to Alanna. "Greetings, Alanna. Give me a second, Michelle, and I'll get that dagger you commissioned."
Alanna turned to Michelle in surprised, "Does everyone know my name?" She asked with a wrinkled forehead.
Gabrielle chuckled. "Of course! Your capture has been talked about non-stop … or rather, your release. More so the lines that mark the back plate you wear. The men who carried you out swear you stood up and walked from that cell." Gabrielle said, disbelief evident in the way she said it.
"I did." Alanna responded simply. "I got up, took perhaps a dozen steps then collapsed." She grimaced, remembering the pain she had gone through.
Both women's jaws dropped in surprise. A dozen steps after the lashing she received most couldn't even walk after five. Everyone heard of what had happened by now, and since the story had been retold and embellished so many times that, no one knew what to believe any more so most of them were sceptical of what had happened that day.
Gabrielle stepped away musingly for a moment and returned with a wooden box. She put it down and flicked the catches; she then opened the box, revealing a beautiful dagger with a phoenix handle. The blade seemed to be spraying like flames from the mouth of the phoenix, its spread wings acted as hand guards and the body made up the handle.
"Wow… may I?" Alanna asked reverently.
Gabrielle nodded. Alanna hefted the blade up, she hummed the weight was perfect. She started a drill her mother had taught her. She flicked the dagger over her fingers and across her hand. When she was done with the drill, she kept the dagger in her hand, testing its balance.
"She's sweet." Alanna murmured appreciatively.
Gabrielle looked at Alanna, surprised. "Who taught you how to do that?" She had never seen anyone do that… ever. Just watching Alanna do it had been a revelation, Alanna made using a dagger, handling that weapon into an art.
"My ma." She answered as she started the drill again at speed, the dagger moving so fast they could barely make out its movements. "She didn't expect me to master it," she said when the dagger came to a stop balanced on a finger. "She expects it of no one as it is not an easy thing to do. But when I did it without even really trying, she took me aside and told me what grandma told her." She carefully returned the dagger.
"What did she say?" Gabrielle asked, wondering what kind of insight her mother had.
Alanna smiled softly. "Some are born to the blade, it is an extension of who they are; some choose the blade because they have no desire to die; and others die by the blade as it conquers them. Like her, I was born to the blade."
Michelle was very interested in the conversation, wondering what Amy thought about Sage's almost unnatural way with the blade, "What does your ma say about Sage then?"
