The Knight and the Acolyte
Book Ten: The Flaming Woman
Chapter Six: The Flaming Woman
By mypenname3000
Copyright 2017

Knave Angela – The Altar of Souls, The Princedoms of Zeutch

My demand hung in the air as I advanced on Lady Delilah, emotions swirling wildly through me. I had so many questions about all the strange things that had happened since my Quest’s start. And she would give me answers. My hand fell to the hilt of my sword. I didn’t care that she was a senior Knight Deute. I didn’t care that she made my heart race with lust’s desires.

I would get my answers, or the Gods would witness my anger.

“I am sure you have many,” Lady Delilah purred, her stance shifting, the chainmail loin cloth swung between her thighs. She wore armor similar to mine, a low-cut half-breastplate showing off her lush mounds, pauldrons shiny on her shoulders, her chainmail loin cloth hanging from her wide sword belt, knee-high boots with greaves strapped over the shins, and vambraces covering her forearms.

Sophia stood beside me, trembling in her white robes. Thrak edged to my right, Minx to my left, moving in slow circles to surround her. Wood clunked behind me, Aurora pulling out her totems while Faoril’s robes rustled as she reached for her vials of cum, ready to perform her magic.

If Lady Delilah was at all disturbed by the menacing looks the hulking orc gave or the sharp daggers in Minx’s hands, she showed only relaxed confidence. Chaun stepped up to my left, his head cocking.

“That’s the woman who hired me,” he said, voice coached low.

“Nudged you on the path,” Lady Delilah corrected, giving Chaun a slow smile. Then she inclined her head. “You gave me a wondrous gift that night.”

“Why did you hire Chaun?” I demanded as I ripped the garnet pendant from my pouch. “Why did you give me this amulet? And why did I find its twin on the warlock Fireeyes after he tried to kill me? Are you the elf who enlisted Minx to steal the sword? Were you the elf we saw in the Deorc forest? How is that even possible? Who are you really?”

“I scarce no where to begin,” she answered, her hands sweeping her fiery hair off her pauldrons and behind her back.

“Are you the Flaming Woman?” Sophia asked.

“Flaming woman…” Her head tilted, an amused smile forming on her lips. “Is that how the Lesbius Oracle described me? Usually, the prophecies give me a different title. But that is apropos, I suppose.”

“Other prophecies?” I furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about?”

“Why, the prophecies about the return of the High King’s heir. The Hero of Lilies who will reforge his empire and take up his sword.”

“Hero of Lilies?” I glanced at Faoril.

The mage blinked her eyes then shook her head. “The study of prophecies is not something pursued at the Collegiate Towers. Most do not delve into such esoteric fields.”

“It is a savior prophecy,” Thrak grunted. “Or so I heard. Spoken at the time the High King died. The Hero who would return and save the world, a second coming of the High King Peter. I heard a lecture on it briefly at my time at Allenoth. But, I must confess, I made a study of philosophy not prophecy.”

“Not many do,” Lady Delilah smiled. “But I have. I have spent a thousand years studying every prophecy given by every oracle.”

I blinked. “What? You can’t be that old.”

“Not even elves live that long,” Xera said. “If you are truly of my race and found a way to appear human.”

“I am not an elf. Nor am I human.” Lady Delilah licked her lips. “I am unique. There are none living who are like me. I have spent the centuries studying the prophecies, waiting for the Hero of Lilies, the descendant of the High King through his only surviving daughter, Lily.”

“And?” I frowned. “I am not the only descendant. Why not my mother? My cousins? It’s been a thousand years. There must be scores of his descendants.”

“But none are the Hero of Lilies. None were given an impossible task. None found the companions and the sword. ‘And thus did the Hero of Lilies, a Knight of Flames, venture forth to quest for the impossible,’ spoke the Oracle of the Sands seven-hundred-and-three years ago.

“’In the Temple of Purity, anointed by virginity, was the Hero of Lilies charged with the impossible. A task no man had completed. But the Hero of Lilies would slay fire, defeat betrayal, and wield the Broken Blade once more,’ spoke the Oracle of Whispers five-hundred-and-thirty-three years ago.

“’For Duty shall the Hero of Lilies set out, death’s maw waiting at journey’s end. Seek boon companions to avoid betrayal’s trap, oh Hero of Lilies. The Whore untouched by Men. The Hunter of Love Unseen. The Mage of Grief and Guilt. The Barbarian who Mourns Love’s Lost,. The Bard with a Thousand Faces. The Thief who Steals Her Love. The Shaman Cursed to Walk. The Guide Who has Seeded the Path,’ spoke the Serpent Oracle nine-hundred-and-thirty-three years ago.”

“Whore?” muttered Sophia.

“You haven’t answered my questions,” I said, growing anger at the nonsense she spouted. Old prophecies about me? “Why are you interested in this? Why have you involved yourself with me? Why did you give Fireeyes a matching amulet?” My anger boiled over. “He tried to kill us! Why help find my companions, and then send a warlock to attack me over and over. To use magic to stop me?”

Lady Delilah’s mouth twisted with distaste. “I gave that amulet to King Edward. Not Fireeyes!” Her fingers flexed. “The King lied to me. He feigned interest in your quest. I have long advised him before he became King, as I advised his father. When he learned of your Quest to kill the dragon, he wanted to support you, or so he claimed. He wanted to give aid. He asked for a way to track you. I supplied the amulets. I have a third.” She reached into a pouch and pulled out a matching pendant. “It is how I have monitored you on your quest.”

“King Edward?” I blinked. “Why would he want you dead?”

“He was crowned right before your quest,” Lady Delilah answered. “You know the custom of your kingdom.”

“He visited the Sekar Oracle,” Sophia said.

“And got a prophecy,” I groaned. “About me?”

“Apparently. He deduced who you were from it. The closer time has come to your appearance, the more specific the prophecies have become. It was what allowed me to find all your companions years ago. ‘The Bard of a Thousand Faces, Seducer of Princesses and Shame of Princes. Disgraced. Hunted. Seek him in low places, singing bawdy tales,’ spoke the Oracle of Sands one-hundred-and-seven years ago.” Lady Delilah’s eyes flicked to Chaun. “And when you cuckolded Prince Gruber and fled his court in disgrace, I knew I had found you.”

“But why?” I demanded. “Why do you care? Why are you invested in this? Why have you spent a thousand years waiting for me?” I couldn’t believe it. A hero? “I am just a disgraced knight. I’m going to kill a dragon and spend the rest of my life as a fugitive.”

“Or as the Queen. The High King’s heir restored to her rightful place of power, ruling her ancestors kingdom as she wields his sword.” Lady Delilah’s eyes grew wide, her voice breathy.

My stomach squirmed. I did not want that. I just wanted to protect people.

“That did not answer her question,” Thrak rumbled.

“Is it because you’re in the prophecies?” Sophia asked. “The Guide? The Flaming Woman who will change Angela’s destiny?”

“Because I am Queen Aria of Hamilten,” she answered.

“What?” I blinked.

“Impossible,” Faoril said. “Queen Aria has been dead for a…”

“Thousand years?” A smile crossed Lady Delilah’s lips.

“Wait, you’re claiming to be the High King’s wife?” Sophia demanded. “That you’re Angela’s ancestor, too.”

“No, no, that was Rose, his second wife,” Lady Delilah said. “She bore him all his children. But I was his first. I was with him from nearly the beginning. I witnessed him forge his empire. And I watched as that bitch Slata destroyed it.” True anger crossed her face, her cheeks growing as ruddy as her hair. “His sons killed by mishaps. His own body afflicted with a wasting illness. The curse placed upon his only daughter Lily so she and all her descendants would only bear girls. All the work of Slata out of her jealousy for Pater’s indiscretions. She persecutes all the Holy Father’s bastards, including my Peter.

“But I persevered. I swore to my husband as he died I would find the Hero of Lilies and witness his kingdom restored. That I would walk the centuries, searching for her, waiting for the signs to be right, and then ensuring she regained what was stolen from her ancestor.”

Lady Delilah’s eyes fixed on me, the green depths burning with a fiery fervor. “For you, Angela. I have waited for you. I can see it in your eyes. You have Rose’s face and his nose. You are their descendant. You have found his sword. You overcome all the obstacles I placed in your path when I hid the blade.”

“You hid the blade?” I demanded. “You broke it apart and scattered it across the world? This sounds crazy. The High King’s wives are long dead. They’re moldering in the ground. You can’t have lived this long.”

“A demigoddess could,” Faoril said. “She claims she is unique. She can change her appearance.”

“But the High King’s wife? That she’s really a queen?”

“Chaun can prove it. He has seen my husband’s appearance in my thoughts.” Her eyes softened again. “He took my husband’s visage the night we met in Lor-Khev.”

“I did,” Chaun said, nodding his head. “I can see her husband’s form in her thoughts.”

“Become him.” There was such longing in Lady Delilah’s voice, her eyes no longer burning but tremulous. “Let me gaze upon him again.”

Chaun glanced at me. I nodded.

The changeling’s form blurred. His shoulders swelled, his chest growing thicker, stronger. His midnight-black skin became paler, lighter, like my skin. He became a man of power. A man with a regal bearing. A man who knew his strengths because they had been tested time and time again.

“The High King,” Faoril said, a touch of awe in her voice. “He looks like the statues I have seen of him.”

“They have one of him at Allenoth,” Thrak nodded.

“And in Shesax, Angela,” Sophia said, her voice croaking. “In the Water Square. He stands at the center of the fountain. That man.”

“My Lord and Husband,” Lady Delilah breathed. Her hands reached out, fingers outstretched for a moment. Then she yanked them back, tears glistening in her eyes. “Thank you for letting me see him again.”

“You’re welcome,” Chaun said, his voice deeper, majestic. Then he rippled, growing slimmer, taller, more effeminate as he returned to his natural appearance.

“This is madness,” I said, staring at Lady Delilah. Queen Aria. “You’ve been following me? You’ve been watching the quest, nudging my companions to join me? Why not just approach me? Why not help me?”

“I couldn’t interfere directly,” she said. “Though I came close when the erinyes became involved. You had to be strong enough to overcome all the trials on your own. Without my interference. And you did. All of them. You recovered my husband’s sword.” Her head whipped around, staring at the Altar of Souls. “It awaits you. Reforge it. Take up your destiny.”

“To slay the dragon?”

“That is just the start,” breathed Delilah. “The eight of us standing here, Angela, will aid you.