Authors note: I have edited this chapter as I prepare to finish off the story. It was originally written a few years ago and my style of writing has changed a little since then. This storyline has very little sex in it so if you are looking for a stroke piece this won't be it. While the content won't have changed much the reading of it should be smoother. Enjoy! ~Ellie
Cities of Power 4
The thirteen bikes roared to life as the first rays of the sun touched the horizon. Talon led the way out onto the plain, his mind firmly on the mission and its completion. He had stolen back to the home of Trix in the small hours of the morning to check on her, and to leave her the gift he had brought to give her should he have the opportunity to see her on this mission. Taken over entirely by the feel of her in his arms he had forgotten the gift's existence until he returned to camp. Mica had created the jewelled unicorn for him with exquisite delicacy, and he wanted Trix to have it, as well as the packet of seeds Mason and Mica had collected for their village.
Trix had clung to him through the window and begged him to stay. He, in turn, promised to return for her as soon as the mission reached its completion. She filled his mind and his world, and he knew that should she return to Phoenix with him he would happily take his place within the council and settle down to ensure the future generations of his family and clan. The thought gave him a sense of urgency as they set out across the vast plain again. The warriors rode hard, barely stopping for food at the highest point of the sun before Talon had remounted and called them all back to the ride ahead.
The last rays of the sun were sliding beyond the horizon when the gates of Pegasus were opened to them, and they rode through the small inner bailey of the castle style city. Talon knew through his education that each of the healing disciplines wore different colours, but he had not paid enough attention to know which class in the cities hierarchy had been sent to meet them. They followed the red robed healers through the maze like castle to a large vaulted room with several fireplaces burning along each side to add warmth to its stone walls.
The heavy boots of the thirteen warriors sounded loudly in the vaulted room as they marched as one to greet the seven rulers of this city. Talon went to one knee ceremonially and held out his empty hands in the traditional greeting of peace when entering a neighbouring city.
"Be welcome, children of the Phoenix," Intoned an elder woman in green.
"We bring greetings from the Great Lord Zhou and our clan leaders," Talon said, formally handing over a scroll and stepping back to his place at the forefront of the thirteen. The woman briefly scanned the scroll and looked up.
"We thank you for heeding our summons and give you a short time to rest. Should you need the healing hands of our people, ask and you shall receive," the woman clapped her hands and once again a small group of red robed healers approached the group to lead them to their rooms.
"The rest would be appreciated after a long ride. We shall be at your service during our brief stay," Talon responded, turning to follow his fellow warriors from the room, hoping he put enough stress on the words to expedite the sharing of their Mystics concerns and their reason for summoning the warriors.
An hour later, Edge wandered into Talon's room exclaiming, "How does the food here taste so much better than at home? We have the same fruits, yet these," he held two peaches in one hand, "are succulent!" Reiki healers had massaged their tired bodies as fresh fruits and cheeses were brought in on platters by softly spoken servants. Talon had shrugged off the healing hands some time ago and sent a servant to find his three friends. He felt fully restored, and, while grateful for the marvel that was the healer's gift, he was anxious to find the answers he came for and return home, 'With Trix,' he thought to himself, and the healers could not take that anxiousness from him.
The four men sat in a small room alternating between speculating on when they would be summoned, why they were here, and teasing Talon on his anxiousness to get back to the princess. It was another full hour before they were called to the hall of mystics. Rather than the thirteen warriors, though, the city elders had asked that only one representative from each clan attend them, as well as their leader.
So it was that Talon and Sirrus along with Briny, Glow and Kaolin approached the group of Pegasus leaders and mystics. "Well met, young Hawk," an ancient seeming mystic greeted the party, "Please sit and be welcome."
They each took a seat around the oblong table separated from each other by at least one member of healers. Discomfort with separation was clear on the faces of the warriors, who from the earliest of ages were taught that there was safety in numbers. It was clear that they had been separated purposefully, and, while respectful of their hosts' customs, Talon was on the verge of speaking to the matter when the ancient woman addressed them again.
"We thank you all for coming so swiftly to our call; I will not beat around the bush, and I ask you to take what I say and give it the full consideration of the night until we reconvene in the morning before making your comments and decisions," She paused and continued. "We are more pragmatic than legend would have you believe, and we have real facts and eyewitnesses to back up our claims that a disease once eradicated from the face of the world has returned to those wanderers of the void beyond our territories, including your relic hunters. Red Plague has reached our ends of the earth, and recent accounts have been brought back from the void that tells us it is spreading virulently through each community it touches."
"I am sure you and the leaders in your city will be as concerned as we, but there is hope. The disease was once eradicated from the world by inoculation before the cataclysmic wars and the reshaping of our world. It is our hope that more information about how this was achieved lies buried in the void," there was surprise on the faces of the warriors at this. "We deal with the treasure hunters as we need much the same as the people of your city do, but rather than technology and innovation we have always sought knowledge of the past to learn from it and not make similar mistakes."
"We have, over time in our dealings with treasure hunters, reasoned the location of a buried and preserved section of a university our elders once resided in," she was tiring as she came to the end of her carefully prepared speech. "We can give detailed maps and the services of some brave seers, but you, the children of Phoenix, only you have the means to get there and the bravery to undertake the journey."
Sirrus, the scholar and politician among them, spoke up, "I understand we are in your home, and we are very respectful of that point; however, we must be allowed to ask questions that will affect our decisions and thought processes." Talon knew if his friend could be pacing he would be as he worked his way through all of what the elder had said.
