She Who Loves Silence (part 3)

  Meretseger hurried as fast as she could towards the location Averus had indicated in his office. She had made sure to question him about his actions regarding new arrivals. It appeared he belonged to a cult of some type, and she rolled her eyes at the revelation. It also appeared that Averus and the other two Bridgekeepers had formed an alliance. Averus had been the brains but not the power behind the cult and all in the pursuit of immortality. Everyone revolved around the wheel. Mortals, Gods, it didn’t matter. Everything dies and is reborn again and again. There is no immortality but there is the eternal soul and the wheel. Stupid cult obsessed mortals. If she had a gold coin for every cult she had encountered in the course of her life…she wouldn’t have to… What was it that the Old God had said? Pass the Plate?. She missed him.

  On further thought, she realized she wouldn’t be able to become a Bridgekeeper, but how was she going to protect the people in Dakari Province without authority? It didn’t matter. She would try and do her best as she always had, mostly alone since the beginning of her existence.

  She gathered power from the chaotic atmosphere around her and the ley line beneath her. She was walking into a desperate fight. She felt it on the stormy wind. And she would be prepared.

  By the time that she reached the area Averus had indicated, she went in stealth to scout the situation and make decisions on a course of action. Averus had been weak but the image she drew from his mind spoke of the power of the other two Bridgekeepers. Meretseger had not been wrong about slavery. They were sending new arrivals who weren’t Bridgewalkers to different sideverses in the slave trade and draining Bridgewalkers to make a drink that supposedly made people immortal when it actually just extended their life. Averus called it Ambrosia and it was priceless.

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  She came upon a large plaza that had been hit by the storm and it was the worst damage she had seen in the town so far. Then she heard a series of small explosions and a moment of silence before the screams began... Peering into a small alley she saw a vampire of some sort who was even now turned partially into mist with a hand in another man’s chest and the other hand extended to a broken injured woman on the ground and to Meretseger’s surprise she was being healed. It didn’t take long for the vampire to finish his work and his victim dropped dead. The vampire bent down to gather the woman in his arms and lowered his head giving a sign of relief as he said, “Leoris.” Meretseger chuckled when the woman told him in a whisper.. “now put me down.”

  The vampire smiled sheepishly and set her down like someone would set a rare glass or ceramic on a hard iron table without a cushion.

  Was this man really a vampire? She could sense differences. Had he gone beyond to the third stage? She could tell what kind of a man he had been. She sensed the love and fondness he had for the people standing around him, especially for the woman. Meretseger smiled but looked at the 10 bodies on the ground. She could have done to them what she did to Averus, they would still be alive. She watched as the (false?) vampire freed the captives and directed them to arm themselves. He was a leader. The strangest thing happened when the man said activate implants. She could feel a surge of energy running through all of them as she felt them connect. She also remembered what he said before Activate Implants. There were over 3000 men and women, new arrivals in an organization called the Shield’s Service. They were newly arrived all of them and they were fighting against the cult though they didn’t know it yet. Meretseger needed allies and friends and she started to think she may have just found them. But she and they needed time to prepare for the assault she felt coming their way and she made her decision.

  From her position on the rooftops she could see a large force of men dressed in black approaching and their leader was a demigod of some sort? Hastily she floated down next to the vampire, still stealthed and cleared her throat, “Excuse me.” She got a small laugh when the man jerked in surprise, and she came out of stealth.