Illusion of Fear
Chapter Three: Love Cards
The line was longer than she thought.
The woman was beginning to become impatient. She had been waiting in the line for the Coliseum for more than five hours. Now she was the third person in line. In front of her was a bulky man. If one was to judge him by his appearance, you would say he was a barbarian. He had looked back at her more than seven times already. She wanted to tell him what she thought of him, but then she remembered that the locals don't take kindly to women who liked other women.
She never really knew why she was attracted to women until about four years ago. Her partner was a non-violent librarian, holed up in Khazzari, the City of Records. Through her partner, she had found out that her mother, Hurflora, was raped by an elf. So she had finally realized not only her attraction, but why she nearly despised the opposite sex. The bulky man took a step forward, and she became the second in line.
Almost immediatly after she had found out about her mother, a group of Biodes entered the library. Knowing that Biodes were the emperor's army, and that the empire hated and feared the half-elves, called Terans, she had hid in the back of the library. The leader of the small cyborg group asked her partner about her whereabouts. Knowing what would happen if she told, her partner held her tongue. The Biodes beat her and ripped out her golden hair. They said that if she defied the emperor, then she would never have a moments peace.
After the Biodes left, she had come out of hiding. But she did not stop at her partners side. Instead she continued out the door to confront the cyborgs. When they spotted her, they closed in on her, blocking her if she was to try and escape. The leader had begun to state her crimes for being a Teran, and refusing to become a slave as all Terans were.
A fight ensued there after. She sustained many injuries, but appeared to have killed all of the Biodes. Upon returning to the library, she was shocked at the sight of another Biode, who had a hold of her partner by the waist. "You dare defy the emperor? Then feel his wraith." With that the cyborg slammed his knee into her partner's back. She could hear the screams of her love, but only slightly above the sound of breaking bones.
"Next in line. Miss?"
She had been so lost in her memories, that she didn't notice that she had finally reached the front of the line. The woman behind the counter gave her an odd look, then began to read a nearby paper aloud.
"Name?" the woman looked as though she hadn't slept in weeks.
"Ferlynia Rosculi, but I wish to be called Fern." she hoped that this woman would atleast give her that. She had discovered that most people wouldn't serve a Teran, but so far it seemed as though this woman hadn't figured out what she was. She gave thanks once again to her lover for the cloak in which she hid her long, pointed ears and shaded her sharpened nose.
The woman wrote down the information, and handed her a piece of paper. "Take that to the guard down the hallway. Oh, and Fern?"
Fern stopped walking and turned to face the woman. "Yes?"
"You may want to pull your hood down a bit farther, wouldn't want any more of us to be killed today."
Fern looked with awe as the woman lifted up her hair to show a pair of long, pointed ears.
"You.. your a..."
The woman dropped her hair and put a finger to her lips. "You keep my secret, and I'll keep yours." And with that she winked at Fern, and called to the next person in line.
Fern continued walking down the hallway, and gave the note to the guard. That was the only other Teran she had seen in her life. The guard directed her to a room where all of the other fighters were waiting. As soon as she walked in, many of them couldn't keep their eyes off her. Some noticed her beauty, others thought that she was crazy to even be competing. She noticed another woman and made her way toward her.
She was rather unusual. Her hair was a dark, forest green, as was her robes, and she was holding what looked like a deck of cards, slightly bigger than usual. As Fern grew near, she put the cards back into her robes.
"I'm not tha one to be talkin' to lady." Her accent did not fit her, though it sounded Eastern.
"Well I don't feel like being alone right now," Fern replied, "and it looks like you could use some company." The woman seemed to like what she had said.
"Magnissa," she said, "and you are?" She offered her hand.
Fern shook it, told her her name,and placed her own hand back in her cloak pocket. "So were those cards you just had?"
"Aye they were." Magnissa pulled out the cards and handed them to Fern. "Those are very special cards they are. Had some of 'em for more than, oh, 'bout four years now. They hold an ancient magic they do. Here, let me show ya."
She led Fern to another part of the room, where no one could see them, and held up a golden card.
"I'm what you'd be callin' a cartomancer." Fern gave her a strange look, and she continued. "Ya see, each o' these cards holds an idividual spell. I can't work magic so I collect these here spell cards. The look on yer face says tha' ya' don't have any idea wha' I'm talkin' 'bout, do ya?"
Fern shook her head. She had never heard of cartomancy, not even in the books she read as a child. "Sorry, but I don't get it. Why did you bring me back here?"
"For this," she said. Magnissa threw the card in the air and yelled "Ortsug!"
The card almost exploded in light, enveloping the small space that they were in. Fern looked over at Magnissa to see a wide smile on her face, almost an insane smile. Before she could ask what had happened, Magnissa yelled, "Wildu!" and the card returned to normal and fell back into Magnissa's hand. The card, that had once been full of color, was now a dull gray.
"Tha' was me first card, got it from me pa." She handed it to Fern. "Now do ya' see how it lost it's color?" Fern nodded and she continued. "Tha' means tha' I need to recharge it with me own power. Now, I don't think I'll be needin' tha' one for daytime, so tha's why I showed ya'."
Fern handed the card back to it's owner, followed her back into the main room, and sat down with her. "Why did you show me?"
"Because dear, yer tha' only one who's talked to me since I got here," she replied, "most people don't think tha' girls can fight with tha' boys. Ha, I'm gonna laugh when I beat this thing I will. But dear, do you know tha' rules of the Emperor's Challenge?"
Fern shook her head. She had been so obsessed with meeting the emperor, that she had neglected to even think about rules. All she wanted to do was to meet him, and kill him for sending his Biodes after her.
"Well," Magnissa said, snapping Fern out of her thoughts, "each person is given a partner to fight with. Then, they must endure tha' perils of tha' Coliseum, eventually gettin' to tha' final battle." She leaned in closer to Fern. "I hear tha' emperor 'imself grants each partner a wish. Now, I don't really think tha' it's an actual wish, but I think tha' he'll make it worth it, whatever it is."
Fern hoped this was true. If it was, then she would be able to avenge her lover for the malice that the empire had commited. She had not noticed that Magnissa had left. That wasn't important right now. She knew that the emperor was powerful, but she wasn't sure how powerful he was. Magnissa returned holding two pieces of parchment, and smiling her wide smile.
"Deary. we're partners!" she yelled with happiness. Magnissa was happy, but Fern still couldn't get her lover off of her mind. But it didn't matter now. She and Magnissa would complete the challenge. She would be able to avenge Her.
Holly, please watch over me.
