It was like meeting a stranger. This stranger
was spectacularly beautiful. She had brown hair filled with
luminous blonde and red highlights. The rich mass of that hair had
been woven into an intricate plait and wound into a fancy bun of
sorts at the crown of her head, leaving just a few loose tendrils
curling along the sides of her face. Sparkling gold threads had
been worked into the braid and glimmered in the light. Expertly
applied makeup enhanced long-lashed eyes the deep gold color of
newly-minted coins. The contrast between her dark hair and light
eyes was striking, especially with the added effect of the
cosmetics. Amber realized that she had, indeed, managed to inherit
Olivia’s finely arched eyebrows and the shape of her forehead, and
the thought brought a smile to her face.
Where had the dimple in her left cheek come
from? she wondered when she saw it. She noticed that her mouth
still looked much as it had…full, heart-shaped lips that were
presently colored with a soft shade of lipstick. Would her sisters
also have this mouth? Would they have the same defined cheekbones
and delicate jaw line? The same slender neck?
Her skin was golden tan, more like Skye’s
human skin color had been than her rather pasty white. The
definition in her shoulders and biceps was notably improved in her
current form. She looked more like she lifted weights daily than
just a few days a week, as she had back in Newnan. As her gaze
moved over her chest—which had gotten a bit fuller, as well—she
realized that her abdomen could have been featured in any
Sports
Illustrated
magazine. Even her long legs were seriously toned
and pretty fabulous.
Holy cow—she was cut!
She guessed that was why her ceremonial garb
designers had chosen not to cover much of her up. Around her neck
was a flexible hoop made out of hammered gold. The hoop scooped
down to just below the start of her breastbone. Around the hoop was
what Kanika had described as specially-designed armor. It felt just
like a slick, fluid fabric, but it would apparently stop any
weapon. Amber certainly hoped it wouldn’t be put to any tests.
Because it was meant to be ceremonial and not functional, the
iridescent black fabric only covered her from the middle of her
breastbone to the bottom of it. The only back to the top was a thin
strap of the odd black material that crossed beneath her shoulder
blades to connect it on either side. Dangling all along the bottom
of the material from just beneath her breasts to just above her
navel were varying lengths of delicate strands of gold that
reflected the light when she moved.
A second, wider version of the flexible gold
hoop sat low on her hips, beneath her navel. Hanging from this hoop
was a skirt of the same clinging black armor that covered just
enough of her to be considered decent, falling not even to
mid-thigh. Black and gold sandals covered her feet, the thin straps
starting from her ankles and wrapping around her legs to just a
couple of inches below where the skirt ended on her thighs. The
only other adornments she had been given were thin gold coils
tipped with black gems that wrapped around each of her biceps.
She looked like she would wipe the map of her
enemies and take names later. She could only assume that was what
the designers had been going for. It was rather overwhelming.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had
been just standing there gawking for several minutes. She watched
her cheeks turn pink. How embarrassing.
“So…what makeup did you use to do these?” she
asked Kanika finally, pointing to three starburst designs that
appeared to be painted in gold along the outer ridge of each eye,
one at the end of each eyebrow, one at the edge of each eye and one
at the top of each cheekbone, all evenly spaced. They served as
remarkably feminine enhancements to her already highlighted eyes.
Since Kanika also had them, she figured they must be an Estilorian
trend of some kind.
Kanika raised an eyebrow. “Those are not
cosmetics. They are part of you.”
“What? Seriously?”
Now Amber moved closer to the mirror. She
reached up to touch them on her face. How were they able to glimmer
like that if they weren’t painted? Too weird. Then she turned
slightly and looked again at her back. “So, these long, dark gold
lines, um, crescents, tattooed along each of my shoulder blades.
These are permanent, too?”
“Well, of course they are. We all have them.
Did
archigos
Ini-herit not tell you?
“They are for your wings.”
Amber wasn’t sure just how many more changes
and surprises she would be able to process. Wings? She would be
able to fly? Oh, not until after the Becoming ceremony since her
“powers” weren’t fully activated until she and her sisters
connected.
But, yeah. She would be able to fly.
Kanika led her back to the chamber she had
arrived in, explaining that all Estilorians could fly, that their
wings matched their eye color and identified them as belonging to a
certain class, and that a few of them had certain powers in
addition to those inherent to their classes. The elders had
forbidden any of those caring for the girls after their transition
from using any powers until after the Becoming ceremony. They felt
it would be too much at once. Amber personally felt that she had
accepted enough of what was happening to her that she was about to
walk into a room full of strange Estilorian males wearing the most
revealing outfit she had ever worn. Somehow, seeing someone exhibit
power just paled in comparison.
“What’s your power?” Amber asked in an effort
to turn her attention from the approaching chamber and the males it
contained.
“Well, as an Orculesti, I can read and send
thoughts.”
“Oh. Right.” She blinked at that. “You can
read my mind?”
A frown appeared between Kanika’s eyes.
“No.”
Relief flooded through her. She remembered
Ini-herit saying that the mental connection had been disrupted when
she and Gabriel exchanged their rings, and guessed that might have
something to do with Kanika’s puzzlement. “Okay. What else?”
“I can retrieve objects using my mind. Just
sort of picture them and make them appear. Not overly large things,
mind you.”
“That’s probably pretty handy.” Amber said.
Even she could hear the nervousness in her voice. She shut up.
Within a matter of a couple minutes, they
reached the chamber. Kanika swept into the room first with Amber
trailing reluctantly behind. Kanika clapped her hands loudly,
gaining the attention of everyone milling around. Amber truly
wished she hadn’t when all eyes turned to her.
“Ambryl is ready,” Kanika announced, as
though it wasn’t incredibly obvious.
Simon stepped forward, his eyes wider than
they had been and moving rather rapidly up and down as he absorbed
her appearance. It made Amber highly uncomfortable. When he started
to reach for her, she frowned and crossed her arms forbiddingly,
standing her ground. He wisely backed up a step and instead gave
her one of his smiles.
“You will be traveling with me to the
ceremony location,” he explained. His expression had smoothed into
sheepishness. “I promise to keep you from harm.”
She relaxed slightly, as she had figured she
would have to be transported somehow without having the ability to
fly herself. And if it brought her to Gabriel, she would have
traveled by camelback through a sandstorm with demons at her heels.
She could do this.
Inclining her head, she lowered her arms.
“Fine.”
She looked around the chamber at the Waresti
who simply stood and stared. With another flash of Mrs. B entering
her mind, she decided that being among a group of people for any
length of time without receiving introductions was unacceptable,
regardless of her discomfort with social situations. She walked
closer to the Waresti who stood in front of the others. His blond
hair was quite short, giving him the appearance of an ancient
Roman. If the muscles revealed by his rust-colored tank top and
tight khaki-colored pants were any indication, he could bend solid
steel into a ball and kick it to Kansas. Those muscles were
liberally covered in burnt orange tattoos of some kind. His skin
was dark enough to indicate a good amount of time spent in the sun.
As she got closer, she realized the top of her head didn’t even
reach this giant’s shoulders.
Holding out her hand, she said, “I’m Amber.
I’m assuming you’re some kind of Waresti team leader?”
Taking the hint, he reached out and clasped
her hand in a surprisingly friendly shake considering his lack of
expression. “I am Harold. Commander of the Waresti class.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harold.” She
focused on his face and repeated his name to herself to memorize
it. Then she turned to the Waresti behind him. This one had long
blond hair and wore a green tank with brown pants. He stood only an
inch or so shorter than Harold.
“I am Donald,” he said, following Harold’s
lead and stepping forward to grasp her hand.
Obviously realizing what she wanted, the rest
of the Waresti came forward to introduce themselves. Amber focused
intently on each name as it was said, as well as some
distinguishing feature of each of them. She was intrigued that they
were a mix of all races and nationalities, but, as Kanika had
indicated, they were all under forty human years in appearance.
Probably due to their class, they were all huge and heavily
muscled. She had to wonder what the Estilorians faced every day
that they needed warriors of this kind. Just one more thing she had
to learn.
After the last introduction was made, she
stepped back enough that she could see all of them. “Okay. Let me
make sure that I have this down.” And she quickly ran through
everyone’s names again, making eye contact with each of them as she
said their name, not moving on until they nodded at her to confirm
that she was correct.
“Thank you. It eases my mind to know everyone
who is apparently placing their lives on the line just to get me to
this ceremony. I want you to know that I appreciate it, even if you
just see this as another duty.” She smiled then, more at ease. “And
I’ll do what I can to keep us out of trouble.”
Harold actually smiled then. She suspected it
was something he didn’t do often, especially when it quickly
faltered and he looked confused.
Laughing and suddenly eager to depart, Amber
turned to Simon, who stood patiently behind her. “Thanks for
waiting so I could do that, Simon. I’m ready now. Let’s get to the
ceremony.”
Amber was mildly surprised to see it was
early night when they departed the cavern. The Estilorians didn’t
prepare to fly until they ventured outside. She had never seen
anything as magnificent as their glowing, ethereal-looking
wings.
Kanika’s segmented wings glowed dark green
and had rounded edges, larger on the top and smaller on the bottom
with slightly scalloped edges, like a butterfly. The wings of the
Waresti, on the other hand, were not segmented and came to points
at the tips. They looked like they were comprised of roaring orange
flames, flickering at the tips. She wanted to get closer to them
just to see if they radiated the heat that they appeared to.
Simon’s wings were also solid rather than segmented. They glowed a
cool, midnight blue. With a slight bend in the tops as well as the
bottoms, they resembled the wings of a bird. The energy that
created the colored wings pulsed within them in mesmerizing
swirls.
Simon settled Amber in front of him so she
wouldn’t hinder his wings. With a harness designed for this
purpose, she was soon safely strapped with her back to his front.
Then they were airborne.
It was a totally exhilarating experience. She
pushed aside the fact that she was pressed rather intimately
against a strange being. She focused instead on the rush of the
wind as they soared. Lights twinkled from the dark landscape
streaking beneath them. They watched the sun rise over an ocean.
She had no idea which one it was. She had never seen the ocean up
close before. Its vastness both terrified and awed her.
They stopped a few times to rest. It puzzled
Amber that she wasn’t hungry or thirsty when she had been in her
new form for more than a day. Simon explained that Estilorians
required less sustenance than humans because their metabolisms were
so vastly different. Amber wondered if she would ever learn
everything there was to know about this other side of herself.
Finally, when the sun had again set and stars
filled the sky, they reached their destination. She realized with
some shock that they were approaching an ancient-looking coliseum.
Because it was isolated and surrounded by darkness, she reasoned
that it wasn’t the most famous one. She still figured they were
probably in Europe somewhere. How crazy was that?
As they made their descent, she searched the
crowd for Gabriel. She noted that her sisters were already there,
but didn’t see any sign of him. She tried not to let that send her
into a panic, but it was a hard thing.
“Amber!” Skye cried happily with a vigorous
wave. The youngest sister was standing with one imposing-looking
Gloresti behind her, about fifty feet from Olivia, who stood in the
middle of the coliseum with her own Gloresti and Aurora. Amber’s
eyebrows winged up over the cat’s new size.
Simon touched the ground gently, fifty feet
on the other side of Olivia. As he unstrapped the harness, he said,
“You must remain here with me until the ceremony commences.”
She understood, so gave him a brief nod. When
he continued to stand right next to her after removing the harness,
she took a deliberate step forward, away from him. He continued to
make her uncomfortable, but she was now easily able to dismiss him
from her thoughts.
She wanted only to see Gabriel at last.
Nothing else mattered.