Every week, I’ll be posting a chapter from my book series: Solen Masters. This is a Paid Exclusive for a month in certain places until it’s posted here, before I release it to a Selection of Fiction Sharing sites, such as Scribblehub and Royal Road. Most Chapters for each book will at some point be mostly removed from almost all places. If you spot a typo I can correct it before the final release.
Trey had to get out of the arena. Acacia Latione’s apparent death need to last until he could get her in to a private area to revive her. He was also not ready to perform the skill.
He left though a different gate than the one he entered. He lent against one of the Pillars holding the gates up.
Trey had not planned to cut Acacia’s throat. It would have been messy and alot of fine work to repair the damage to her neck. The Shock on Acacia’s eyes suggested that she didn’t know about before hand. Acacia’s Solen energy seemed to suggest she was connected to someone in the audience. He could bearly feel the trail it left, but Acacia’s partner seemed to sitting within the raised seating. The person who did the cut was at ground level from this right, her left. The gate where this wife was behind him. That left one possibilty..
There had to be unknown Solen user in the Arena.
Could have it been Lord Gast? No, he was in the Royal box, or appeared to be in the Royal box.
Gast had could have several reasons for having Trey killed. He didn’t even need to place Trey in the Arena and get away with removing Trey.
Acacia Latione being present at the arena raised more questions than he cared. Why would she be in the arena as a common criminal? Her Royal Blood would warrant her execution being a headline event, but entering fighting as a criminal? This raised more questions than Trey could answer.
A sudden touch on his shoulder made Trey jump. He grabbed the hand and threw the it. He saw a white blur shoot past his eyes.
When the dust settled, Trey could see a Tailed woman looking dazed sitting and pinning a equally dazed armor clad woman. The tailed woman seemed small to be equivalent to a 15 year old human girl almost completely covered in fur, her fur was white or pale.
The woman underneath recovered first, “Lana, what are doing here? I thought that you where…”
“Never mind that, Lady Xochiquetzal Keiya-Eston. If you wanted to me to ride you, well, all you needed to do is ask,” the tailed woman interrupted her. She seemed to be fidgeting with her belt, “It appears that I have forgotten my underwear.”
“What are you talking about? You flew straight in to me,” Keyia said. Her tone suddenly changed, “Lana, don’t undo that button.. Seriously, Keep your hands out of there. Only my husband is allowed in there.”
It was only then that Lana seemed to take Keyia’s not so subtle suggestions to get off. Keiya sighed, “Seriously, what would your mother say about this?”
“Wear underwear on special occasions, and make your partner walk funny,” Lana said as she pulled Keiya up.
Keiya stepped forwards for a few paces, before stopping to rearrange her belt. “Lana, I’d like to be able to still walk fine before I do my job. Do you know where Mrs Kazuki has gone to? He really shouldn’t be hanging around here for too long, or he’ll be going out again.”
Lana turned to face Trey, “Oh, Mr Kazuki, sir. I’m sorry but your wife wasn’t feeling well and asked me to do some jobs with you.
“Lana, what wrong with my wife?” Trey asked.
“Morning Sickness. Some days it really makes her dizzy, too. You should follow me. She’s got many things for us to do,” Lana said walking to the door, “Come, Come, time is of the essence.”
Trey was confused, was about to ask, when Keiya spoke, “You should go with her. If you are concerned with Acacia Latione, don’t be. It within my power to make sure she is seen to properly.”
Lana grabbed Trey’s hand, and started to pull him to the door, “Come on, Keiya won’t let anyone do anything bad happen to Acacia Latione. I will see to your needs more than you think.”
Trey relented, and let Lana lead him. She took him through several corridors in to a room with a bed in it. Before Trey realised he was thrown on to the bed, with Lana jumping on top of him.
Instead of feeling the force of the 5 foot woman landing on him, the world around him changed. Instead of the bed, he was lying on a spider web. The Room was now dark storm clouds.
“It is worse than I feared,” Lana’s voice came from behind him, “At least, the clouds are not on fire.”
Trey turned to see Lana naked, white fur covered body. “Where….”
“This is your Soul, and you are under the effect of several Solen Techniques. A dangerous thing for me to be in when it’s corrupted like this, but I need to be here if I want to reverse this corruption,” Lana said.
Lana started to jump on a section of the webbing, when she stopped, her eyes had grown wide.
“What’s wrong?” Trey asked.
“This web is mine. Your soul is being eaten away… more likey to be boiled away. Your life experiences would have prevent this… It could be a few causes. It’s to rapid to be caused to by eroding the morale,” Lana said as she appeared to be thinking aloud, she then turned to Trey, “Sorry, this place doesn’t exactly let you keep your inner voice, well, inside your head. So Trey, can you describe to me your wife?”
“She has white hair, tied up in a …..,” Trey started to speak. Woman with white hair appeared form in a cloud above them. Her eyes where pale grey, until she blinked, when they turned to a Sky Blue. Her face lacked any other features such as a nose or mouth, but was dressed in a cloak. In a cloud next to them, A crashing sound came from a dark cloud next to them. Although the dark clouds obscured her features, it appeared that another woman was trying to force her way out. She threw herself at the side of the cloud again. Her slim body was apparently naked. Trey could see a purple stud earing in her right ear, peeking out from under her dark hair.
Lana sighed, “I know this sounds weird, but that woman up their is not your wife. It was a ruse to fool the guards. I used Solen Mask to transform my appearance. I never expected that he sealed your memory, so you believe what I said. But this woman trapped in this cloud is someone you could consider to be your wife. What’s her name?”
Trey took a few moments to answer, “De.. ja?”
The dark haired woman threw herself even harder against the apparent glass wall of her cloud.
Lana smiled, “I think you may be right. Give me second.. I think I have what I need to find that little bug.”
Lana walked towards a cloud, and place her hand against it. For a second, the cloud appeared to solid, and offer resisitance to Lana pressing against it. Suddenly, the cloud let Lana hand enter. A few seconds later, she had pushed her arm up to her elbow.
“Pesky thing.. It really is a pain to to get hold of…” Lana cursed, before reaching in to the cloud even further, to the point where her shoulder could only been seen of her arm. After a few moments she pulled back and pulled out what appeared to be a purple spider made of crystal.
“Hopefully this is the only one that is in here,” Lana said, as she squeezed the spider, shattering in to dust.
The clouds seemed to move, before Trey realized that the spider’s web started to move. The sudden shift had caused Trey to fall over. The web made a horrible groaning sound before the snapping sound. The web’s mesh seemed to slacken.
“Hey, Trey,” Lana’s voice came from beneath him. Lana was hugging on to a thick stand of the webbing, “I need to get out before my presence here causes us issues that I can’t repair.”
With smile, Lana untangled herself from the net, and jumped off.
Instead of watching Lana plummet, Trey vision returned to the room. Trey could see Lana sitting on him, looked damp with sweat. She smiled, “That soul dive was one of the hardest ones I’ve done. It appeared the person who set you up seemed to how to repair the damage, and made steps preventing someone going to diagnose and repair their handy work. I just happen to be the most experienced person in Soul Dives, and I was planning to do this one for years.”
“I still can’t remember Deja,” Trey said.
Lana sighed, “Your Memories are still sealed. I could have tried to force the seals away, but I fear that your memories would not make sense. The good news is that that bug won’t be keeping the seal, so give it time and the seal will be melted away.”
Trey stretched, and tried to sit up. Lana’s hand was pushed Trey’s chest down, she sighed, “I hope you didn’t forget Acacia Latione on the Arena floor. It would not good for either of us she was to die, as someone would be out to kill us both, and they’re better than you are.”
“So I need to wake her up and then what?” Trey asked.
“There will be a woman called Samantha Solanaea, near Acacia, follow her orders. Keep Acacia close by, we need her alive,” Lana said.
“How do I convince Acacia to follow me?” Trey asked.
Lana sighed, “I don’t think you can at least for some time. But Samantha is going to be giving you both orders. Acacia should be very inclined to follow Sammy. Those two are very close. I think even closer that we are now.”
Lana jumped as a knock was heard coming from the door. Without waiting for a reply, the door opened. Trey saw a large figure duck though the door.
As the person appeared to be a tailed Muscular woman wearing a leather chest armor. She shared more features with Lana other than having dark fur covering her but her chin was white. From where Trey was being pinned down, she appear to be 7 foot height compared to Lana’s 5 foot 2 inches.
“Lana? What are you doing here?” she spoke softly.
Lana sighed, “Deja suddenly became too ill to perform her tasks, so here I am doing them for her.”
“Does that include the marital duties? I would expect Deja would have a say. I know that you have an exhibitionist leaning. You left your door wide open before I came to see you,” She lent in to Lana’s face.
Lana lifted herself off Trey, “Who said that I’m not Deja’s play mate, and we share all of our things? Mind you Sharise, that is what I would say to some one who didn’t have my mother’s Solen Blade tied to her hip,” Lana stood on the bed and lent in to the woman’s face, “We both know that if I wanted him to be with a girl, Lord Gast’s Most Wanted Solen user would not be here. I needed one of the few people that are trained in the expert Solen skills techniques to perform them on Trey Kazuki here.”
Sharise shot over to Trey’s face, “Trey Kazuki? It really is you. I thought you had taken that ship never to return. I want to apologize for my actions before you left.”
Trey sat up and turn to Sharise, “Forget about it. I’m sorry I seem unable to recall the incident at all. Lana said something about my memories being sealed.”
Sharise stammered, “Forget about punching a superior officer and braking your nose? I even got ordered to apologize to you about it after you left. It’s the type of thing that would have ended up with me in a cell.”
Lana slipped her hand around one of Sharise’s thick arms, “Sharise, save it until later. You know what I’m capabable of, I did some looking inside his head. He doesn’t remember anything that happened five years ago, it was like if he had not experienced them. I barely got anything on his wife, his real one, not my friend. Given that your dressed for a fight, you’re not here to reminisce about your past, so why are you here?”
“It’s time to get moving, Gast’s Guard is making movements. It’s your plan, so hope I don’t need spell it out if you are late,” Sharise turned to Trey, “It’s time to wake up Lady Latione, Mr Kazuki.”
Trey turned Lana, “I would remember a woman like Sharise, especially if she punched me. So..”
Lana interrupted, “The time I need to restore your memories, I don’t have now. Acacia Latione needs your handy work now, as my payment on treating you is dependent on her survival. Your memories will recover on their own, given enough time. If find me in tomorrow morning, I’ll help you recover your memories, if you need my services by then.”
Trey had found the way to the Mourge. As expected it was busy on a Red sand Match day. There were a few people distraught near the door. Lana had told Trey of the plan to make the guard let him pass, “Miss Sophia Rosa was a member of my order. The Book is clear, I must perform the Final Rites before the sun sets for the day.”
Surprisingly, the guard accepted Trey’s explanation, and let him through, with a chuckle.
The reason the guard was amused soon came clear as stepped though the door to hear Keiya shouting “This Woman is Acacia Latione, Queen of Fal’ana’ta. Not some Blueberry milk drinking plaything.”
A girl with blue skin and silver hair, clearly pregnant, was leaning against a table, “If she is, then I’m a Princess of Bethusta.”
Trey make his way towards the table that the girl was leaning on. There was a woman lying on it, Acacia Latione. She lay lifeless like the other people lying on the other bloodied tables. At the head of Acacia’s table was another tailed woman, this one was wearing a white mask that made her face look like a skull.
The Masked woman was holding a staff with an ornate top. Could this woman be a member of a Local Religious order?
The woman was the first to notice Trey in the room, “Trey Kazuki? It’s rare for someone to willing come here after sending me several lost children to guide on to the lands beyond this land we live in.”
Keiya noticeably relaxed, “I think it’s time to drop this charade, as it was make sure Mr Kazuki to arrive.”
The drow woman apparently had been formulating a new set of insults to towards Keiya, was taken by surprise by the appearance of Trey. “Well, Your mother was a hamster.. Wait what? He’s here?!”
Trey said, “Ladies, I’m don’t think this woman is here should belong here.”
The Masked woman could been smiling under her mask, “This room is for the dead, this woman is not dead yet.”
Trey looked puzzled towards the Masked woman, “How did…?”
“Did you think Mistress Lana was the only Solen user here. We planned for a few things, just in case that you lost,” the masked woman placed her free hand on Acacia’s head, “this is not the first time I’ve had to heal this woman, but this is just outside my skill level.”
Keiya spoke up, “Mr Kazkuki, I’ve read letters of recommendations for you do this task. Apparently, you managed to impress the Late Queen of Fal’ana’ta. As a Lady of the Wardrobe, a member of Her Majesty’s inner circle, I can tell you that her written recommendations are never taken lightly. There were letters from at least four of the best Solen users around. I doubt that they would all lie about your abilities.”
Trey sighed, “Alright ladies, I’m convinced, but I heard that Samantha Solanaea was going to be here. Do you know who she is?”
Keiya stared at the drow woman, “Tabby, where is your sister? You know we planned for her to take care of Acacia.”
The drow woman sighed, “I left Sammy in the ladies, she wanted to make sure that had freshened up before she got around to business. It looked like someone had hit her hard in her face again. I passed Ashley as she was on the way in to get Dressed for her task.”
The door behind Trey squealed opened, and new voice announced to the room, “Sorry about the wait. I bumped in to Lana on the way out. She wanted to look at my eye. Something about Soul Energy feedback when Cassey was hit. She was surpised that it only bleed, not going blind in the red eye.”
A second drow came in to view, wearing a head scarf. Her bloodied right eye had a red iris, while left eye seemed to match the sky blue pair in the other drow in the room.
Trey asked, “Samantha?”
The woman nodded, “Yes, Mr Kazuki, I see Lana told you about me then,”
“Before I wake her up, Will Miss Latione here will follow you?”
Keiya chuckled queitly, “Acacia will listen to Sammy. Following orders, she hardly refuse one yet, but that’s more down to their postion over Sammy’s ability.”
Sammy smiled, “Thank’s Keiya, we think Acacia will listen to me, especially with Dame Keiya being here.”
Trey walked around the table, to stand left side of Acacia’s head. He place a hand on Acaica’s neck and another on her chest. Trey ran thought the process in his head. Something wasn’t right, he couldn’t wake her without risking her life even more.
Trey turned to the masked woman, “Do you have ability to wake her up?”
The masked woman looked nervous, “If it wasn’t for that cut, I’d be able to wake her up. Your work to put her to sleep isn’t too hard to work out. It’s that she’d bleed to death within seconds unless that cut is taken care of.”
Trey nodded, “Good, I see you know what I need from you. What If I worked on the neck, and you woke her up, could you do that?”
“I see, That could work and I have to very careful on the right timing due to her blood flowing, as we do not want to do more damage than that has already been done today,” the masked woman said.
Sammy spoke up, “What are you talking about?”
Trey sighed, “I don’t think we have time to explain in detail, but we basicly have two tasks that we need to do. I’m going to repair her neck before she bleeds to death. The issue is that I need to start the proccess of waking her up to do that. Miss..”
“Lady Coco Bubbles Weiss, of the Holy order attached to the House Weiss,” the masked woman filled in.
Trey looked at the masked woman for a few seconds, “Erm, Miss Weiss is going to undo the Solen work, that I used to put her to sleep. As I rushed to put her to sleep, it cut some corners, and Acacia could die if I am too late in waking her up. It’s not going to be easy, but my hand was forced in this matter.”
As Trey was about to place his hands on Acacia, the Masked woman interrupted, “Wait. It would help if we had a familiar face to see when she wakes up. Sammy, come here, I want you to calm Acacia as she wakes. I rather not have her still be in a fighting mood, as we finish the job.”
Trey smiled to Sammy as she stood opposite him, “Thanks, it would be most helpful.”
The Masked woman whispered, “I’m running a risk here, Acacia may not be inclined to fight, but I know that the sight of Sammy has caused Acacia’s Blood pressure rise before, and may do again.”
Trey sighed, as he placed his hands on Acacia. His Solen power let him feel out the insides of people, which work well with the ability to heal wounds. However with Acacia being held within a inch from death’s door, her ability to heal had been effectively stopped. Even with his power, very little could be done, and all that he could do was already done out in the Arena.
He could feel the cut, the way the damage had burned the flesh. It seemed that they didn’t really want Trey to use his powers. If it was just a cut, the damage could easily be repaired but the burn would be a painful to repair. The pain would not just be for Acacia or Trey, it would be for both.
Trey took a deep Breath, “I’m starting to make her heart beat now.”
The rush of blood that came with a beating heart provided Trey the useful building materials to rebuild Acacia’s neck. He needed to work fast, and not cut corners.
After Some bleeding and Sweat, Acacia started to breathe. Or she would have, if she didn’t have to cough up blood.
“Cassey, relax,” Trey heard Samantha say, soon after the coughing fit was over. Acacia’s was close to waking, her muscles had already starting to tense up.
Trey had ran out of time, and the Damage to her voice box was too great for him to repair. Trey let Acacia’s Body retake control of her own heart. Her air way was clear, but she may never speak again.
With his work done Trey took a step back, and lent on the table behind him. He felt more wrung out than he had done three of the matches outside back to back. He looked up to the Masked woman, her mask had been moved on to the top of her head. Her work would be almost done.
Trey sighed, “I’ve done as much I can do. Now I going have to rely on Acacia Latione’s own body to take over from here on out.”
Keyia raised eyebrow seemed to asked more questions than words could do that moment.
“Well, I would have let her body control her survival at some point. If I had some money to place on a wager on that her being alive in the morning, I’d go all in.”
Tabitha sighed, “Well, I heard that you already place that Bet back with Lana.”
The masked woman spoke, “She is coming to, but she is going have a headache that feels like someone has a spike driven in.”
“Woah, that’s the first time in five years, that I’ve ever seen you without one of your masks,” Tabby said.
Kieya chuckled, “I think not, you remember that winter feast, She was that shy Vedran hiding behind Shinora. But I can see why, the only time I’ve seen her without a mask was when she was ordered to not wear one.”
Trey lent over to Acacia. Her face relaxed before, was now screwed up in pain.
Trey had a feeling what the pain could be, “Acacia, Do your toes hurt?”
Acacia nodded, Samantha gave Trey a stare.
“It feels like you’ve been plunged in to ice, doesn’t it?” Trey said.
Another nod from Acacia.
“Try moving your fingers and toes, It’s going to hurt, but your legs and arms will begin to feel a little more normal soon,” Trey turned to Kieya, “Acacia has been lying on the table here, unable to move, getting cold, her entire body is hurting. It’s like when you sleep on an arm, and it goes numb. It’s at least ten times worse. But it should get better over time, but It’s going to be painful until she get the blood flowing.”
A sound that Trey could assume to be a sneeze came from Tabitha, “Sorry, if you want Acacia’s blood flowing…” Tabitha noticed that Kieya was staring, “Sorry Dame Keiya, I realise now that I really shouldn’t be making that joke. My Apologies.”
Trey a feeling that he was missing something, but he thought it was not worth the risk to press the matter.
Keiya lent over to Trey and whispered, “I have been told of the plan from Lana, but this something that I really don’t think she would have thought important to pass on to you. It’s about Acacia’s private relationships, If you are asked, she is not in a relationship Samantha Solanaea Eston or any other woman. I only tell you this as for it’s for Lady Acacia’s protection. There are people who would use this knowledge to harm her.”
“Thanks for the telling me, but why do you have tell me that these two women know…..?” Trey stopped as looked back at Acacia, and Samantha. Samantha was standing over Acacia, trying ease Acacia through her pain. Trey soon recognise their the way the women held each other. It was not uncommon for Trey to see couples hold each other, in this way. However, it was often done by a married man and woman. Trey soon realised what Keiya meant.
Trey cleared his throat, “Thank you for telling me this, Dame Kieya, But why should I really have the need to divulge what a Lady does in her private quarters.”
Keiya smiled, “I see that you understand what I’m asking you.”
A knock came from the door, a young woman wearing a different mask stepped though, she announced, “Lady Lanta, you asked me to to tell you when they are about to start the fireworks ceremony. They are about to start.”
The masked woman reposition her mask to its normal position, before making some kind of hand gesture towards the new arrival. She said, “Thank you, Acolyte, I will be out shortly. I will be done here soon.”
Kieya asked, “We’re almost out of time. Can we move Acacia?”
“If we carried her out, the problem is going to be distance before my back gives in,” Trey sighed, “but getting her to walk to the city gates is going look like she been drinking way too much.”
Kieya nodded, “We have a now vacant carriage that we used to bring a good lot of food in, sitting a few floors above us. The driver will go when the fireworks start. You should be on that carriage with Acacia and Sammy. It shouldn’t be too hard of you both have to carry her every step.”
Trey sighed, “It seems like you’ve got things planned here. So I better get Acacia to stand.”
As Trey turned away, Keiya grabbed his arm, “You may think that, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. It’s just that we’re adapting to the problems being thrown our way. Just remember that, especially when you’re working with Acacia and Lana.”
Trey sighed, “Thanks for the heads up, but I have no idea what I am to do. I was just told to go to Samantha Eston and do what she asks.”
Keiya released her grip on Trey’s arm, “In that case, Sammy was one of my students, one of the best I ever had. You should be in good hands, but she is not at her best, especially after this last week. She may be distracted, so You may want to remind her that you’re there. Be safe Trey Kazuki.”
Trey turned around and looked back at the table with Acacia and Samantha. Most of the pained look from Acacia had melted away.
“Let me have look at you Acacia, we are going to need to move soon. I’d would like to know you’ll be able to stand without trouble,” Trey said.
Sammy looked at Trey, “It was like breathing hurt her when Keiya pulled you away, but she not really wanting to move. She beginning to shiver.”
Trey placed his and loosly in Acacia’s hand, “Now, Acacia, can you squeeze my hand?”
Acacia sqeezed Trey’s hand.
“Ahh, you can let go now. Your grip is really strong, I see why your sword doesn’t fly out of your hands as swing it around,” Trey winced, “Sammy, I’m going ask for your help. I’ll be getting Acacia to sit up. Can you grab her arm, while I get the other?”
It took a few tries but Acacia was sitting on the table shivering. Sammy soon started to hug Acacia.
“Cassey, You’re chilled to the bone, no wonder you can’t stop shivering. Come on, Sammy will warm you up.” Samantha said.
Trey step around the table on to Samantha’s side. “Samantha, can you help Acacia on to her feet? She going to be very unstable.”
Soon Samantha and Trey had Acacia’s legs over her edge of the table. Acacia’s transition to standing on her feet, as Trey predicted, was very unstable. Samantha almost collapsed in to a pile when Acacia lent on her.
Keiya said from the door, “Sammy, you keep her safe. Now if you excuse me, we need to make a distraction. I heard something about your sister, Tabby getting upset about someone punching you in the face.”
Tabitha stammered, “Kieya, I’d.. I would never get in a fight for an accident.”
“Who said it was? If we keep the Solen power a secret, as any one is concerned, All you know that Sammy was seen running from her seat to you, with a bleeding eye. I’ve known people get in to fights for less. Now if we want Ash and Sharise…” Keiya’s voice was blocked by the closing door, after Kieya and Tabitha had passed though.
“Come on, Mr Kazuki. We need to get to Timon’s cart before he leaves.” Samantha said as she started to drag Acacia to another door.