The Alyta Trilogy: Handmaids, Heroes, and Hierarchy
Kirya lunges at the trio, and attacks Alyta with her staff. Alyta is shocked for a moment, then she jumps back out of the reach of Kirya�s staff and grabs her own. She blocks all the advances and starts to act on the offensive. This egotistical move lets Kirya pull a sword out and places it on Alyta�s neck. Her staff stops in mid-swing. Everything is still and silent in their little sparring space. Kirya�s face skews into a wicked smile. �Now, my dear, I�m afraid I have you.� She says, her eyes filled with mock pity. The sword swoops down and Alyta closes her eyes, fearing the worst. She opens one eye: is she dead? She felt no pain, though. She sees that the sword that came down was Jason�s, and that the girl is on the ground, clutching her leg. Alyta looks at the girl and the two swords, and realizes that she was almost killed. A tear starts to form in the corner of her eye, and she slouches down on Jason. He holds her up and hugs her. Hercules is the one to mention that they have to go; the coronation is taking place right now. Alyta wipes the tear away and nods determinedly. Looking at this girl that tried to murder her, Alyta knows that she must heal her, even if she tries to murder her again. She places her hand on the wound, and water pours out, healing everything to perfection.
Kirya looks up at her opponent in awe: why did she heal her enemy. She is about to thank her, when a strange man appears at her side. One of Alyta�s companions shouts out, �Ares!� She looks up at this so-called �Ares� man. He speaks to the three, ignoring her, lying on the ground.
�Well, it�s been fun, folks. But me and my pal here have really got to run. I�ll be saving her for later.� Ares winks and looks down at the warrior now. The lips that almost said �thank you� now form a tight line and the look of hatred is back in her eyes. They disappear in the same aura of light and leave a strange emptiness in their place.
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In the coronation room, all the foreign princes and princesses are sitting at the table and speeches are being made about the hopeful good relations between lands and peaceful reign. Strife looks totally and completely bored out of his mind. He is eating grapes and chewing them 26 times each, counting in his head, when Hercules bursts in. He interrupts a speech about pig farming for bettering the economy and points at Strife. �Impostor!� He yells at the tops of his lungs, �this man is an impostor trying to take the throne of Corinth and to ravage the land with war. Arrest him!� The guards look puzzled, but one by one people stand up to accuse him. �He always used to like my homemade bread, but now he claims he�s allergic!� a cook yells as she storms out of the kitchen. �He didn�t meet me at the square!� Iolaus joins in, letting that out of his system. More evidence pops up, and the guards start to close in on the fake Jason. Strife beats off the guards and yells, �You mortals are boring anyway!� He fights off the guards, but needs more power, so he changes into his original form. Alyta, now confident that she wouldn�t be fighting Jason or any replica of him, grabs her staff and forces the spearheads out each end. She battles with Strife one on one, who has grabbed a staff from nearby. She grits her teeth and fights with excellent concentration and stamina. Soon, she is backing him into the corner. �I�� she says, jabbing to the right, ��don�t�� left jab, ��do�� she sweeps the staff so that it almost trips him, but he jumps, ��WINDOWS!� she yells pushing the staff into him so that the wind gets knocked out of him. He falls and disappears before he hits the wall.
Jason jogs up to meet Alyta, and puts his arm around her shoulder. �Are you okay?� he asks, concerned. She takes in a few deep breaths and nods.
The Head Chancellor of Corinth steps up to the podium. �Ladies and Gentlemen, We will have a short break, due to unexpected circumstances,� he says, giving Jason a puzzled look on the last phrase.
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