100 This is War! 4 Mad men and women (1/2)
Breta felt a sense of unexplainable fear rush through her spine as she looked behind her. Her black hair curled to the side as she unhesitatingly clutched onto Terrick's shoulder. Angella looked over at her questioningly as she brought her finger to her lips.
Terrick did not glance back at her, but she could feel the clench of his shoulders as her hand touched his clothe. He had taken notice of a silhouette through the haze of the corridor. It had to be the high priestess, and she was pretty much the last person that he wanted to face at this time.
He looked over at Angella who looked over at him from behind the other wall with a sense of forced calm. 'Do we do this?' his eyes seemed to ask the thin women.
With a serious nod she took point. As she did Terrick turned around looking at the stricken look that his companion had shot towards him.
”What is it?” He whispered. Breta merely shook her head, hastily hiding the fear that shot through her spine a second time.
This time however, Terrick too had felt something. A skin crawling sensation that blindsided his calm façade. An illusion of movement appeared on the periphery of his vision. A limping figure whose entire frame was blurry as if it was seen through the heated mirage of a torrid desert.
Each step seemed to shake his mind as his eyes dilated and his heart rate skyrocketed. With a double take however, the scene was no more.
”Hurry up will you?” Angella hissed from the other side of the wall, not taking her eyes off the translucent veil that characterized the end of the long corridor.
It seemed that the high priestess' quarters was sparse in its design, much like the floors below and above. Its overall structure was wholly minimalistic, opting for a vibe of penitence and silence to the rambunctious cheer that had filled Angella's life the past few weeks.
The walls gleamed in a mixture of ash grey and pearly white colors, always blocked by a sway of gentle fog that had somehow even traversed into the deep end of the fragrant temple.
The translucent reddish curtain signified the end of the long and frankly unenthusiastic hallway, giving a harsh contrast with its sudden presence of color. At its very top was a line of embroidered gold, stitched in the guise of a towering archway, giving the curtain a certain level of sophistication that Breta was not used to.
On the other end of the curtain was a curvaceous figure, that Breta rightly assumed to be that of the high priestess. The women seemed to have her head up, and in the process of ingesting something. 'Probably elixir.' Breta rationalized as she looked at Terrick seriously.
As she peered into the curtain, the first thing that surprised her was the lack of the pinkish tinge of the air. The walls were colored in an overarching green with streaks of vermillion shooting through.
At the very center of the room was a knee deep pool of clear water that she assumed to be where the high priestess bathed. To the right was a platter with a collection of meat and drink, a scanty few fruits too existed on it flabbergasting the naïve girl of the island.
At the top of the room directly above the pool was a figure of a roaring Yuda, colored in an archaic grey with streaks of black that shot through its scales. Its eyes looked to be of a strange yellow, gleaming with a level of intelligence that could only be portrayed in a master's artwork.
Its curling body was contoured by its silky black mane that seemed to shake illusion-like in a nonexistent wind.
At the very back of the room was a masterful bed, with sheets made of the heart scales of sea kings, the softest and most luxurious of its materials, and layered with the same gold that existed on the curtain.
In the center of the pool the high priestess kneeled, completely naked with a brownish earthen pitcher of elixir. A melancholy smile on her face as she closed her eyes, savoring the scanty and aromatic intoxication that came with the cultural drink.
Her silky brown hair stood elegantly on her petite back, flowing coolly down her back.
A small gasp escaped Breta's mouth as she watched the creeping figure of her companion. Terrick sneaked behind the women, a makeshift baton ready in his hands, that he had salvaged from his side of the room. With a quick movement he swung down.
Alas Breta's gasp had alerted the women, for she whipped her head to the side and quickly leapt to her feet, an angry light in her eyes, clouded only partly by her drink.
”Humpf, I should have known!” She spat out, her voice dripping with a level of venom that made Breta wince.
”An outsider, are you an ally to the invader? As if terrorizing my people was not enough you sneak into my island to assassinate me? And you there, islander, why do you share hands with these outsiders!? A Traitor to your own home!” She snarled whipping her head towards Breta as, making no move to cover herself as she raged.
”The invader?” Angella voiced, doubts lingering in the air as she looked confused towards Terrick who shrugged in confusion.
”Humph don't play the fool with me girl!” She roared as she looked over at Angella before doubling back at the recognizable women.
”You! You're the sacrifice, who let you out?!”
”I let myself out, now then HOST would you be so kind as to explain to me the reason for my kidnapping? Are you in such dire need for brains that you have to look outside of your puny well?” Angella retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she shot a look to Terrick, silently telling him to remain silent. It wasn't like there could be anything else that could go wrong.
The high priestess wound up to her full height as she growled at Angella, a barely seen gleam of guilt quickly quelled beneath the interior of her eyes.
”It is your Honor, to be chosen as the meal to the world eater! How dare you!?” Once more dogma ran out her mouth as she repeated what she had been taught by those before her, and what she had in turn taught those that came after.