Chapter 60- Lancer

Savage Lands, - Temple of the Sun, March 17, 2008 (Evening)

Shanna O’Hara (She-Devil / Lancer)

She didn't know how she did it, but Shanna caused a plant vine to grow from the soil beneath the stone. It pushed through the hindering rock, and take hold of her spear. Then she had it throw the weapon back towards her, which she caught easily like she had been doing it for all her life. Yet it was her first time doing so.

Her attention quickly shifted back to her Master, when the older Chinese man approached him. She watched as the man said to her Master. “I can’t believe it was that agreeable, that you were able to just talk it down. The Horrors we encounter rarely even acknowledge our presence or power when we encounter them.”

Her Master crossed his arms before he threw out a guess. “Their senses are sharper than you’d think. It probably detected the Asgardians and their ship as well as our own mystical skills and it felt possibly at risk. After all, it wouldn't take me much effort to also awaken the Giant now that they fed it so much raw energy." Shanna looked up into the air at the floating boat, as she watched it land she recalled that her master's name was Nath'aniel.

Then Shanna gaze drifted, now that the boat was blocked by the walls around her, towards the still glowing massive statue above her. Here and there the stone looked less rock and more like flesh. She wondered, if her soul had been eaten by that thing would it now be up and about.

A sudden gasp brought her attention back to ground level. Zala's hand reached up and grabbed the altar before she lifted her body up. Shanna readied her spear in case the woman was some kind of undead creature.

“How?” the Chinese man asks as they watch the dead woman get back up.

“Interesting, it looks like she was under the effects of a very complicated protection spell. So when she was executed, someone else took the hit for her." Nath'aniel muttered as he watched the revived woman look around confused.

Shanna frowned at that revelation, but then thought about how she too was saved via magic. A thing that she could now feel, there was a new kind of energy in the air that she hadn't noticed before this rebirth. Much of it felt foul here, but deep in the earth the energy was saved from the ritual committed here.

“Am I a shaman now?” She asked in confusion.

“No.” Her master answered. “You are my Servant, my Lancer.” Shanna nodded at his answer. His answer felt right. Then he added. “That said, if you are anything like Psylocke, you also were given knowledge and abilities that you didn’t have before. So do not be surprised if the next few days are confusing for you.” She nodded again.

“What do you want to do with her?” The older man asked pointing at the less confused Zala.

Nath’aniel took a deep breath, before kicking the decision towards her, saying. “Shanna?”

She blinked twice before saying. “Her sentence was already carried out. That another took the hit instead of her, is a punishment in its own way. She gets to live knowing a friend died for here.”

Her Master smiled at her answer before agreeing. "I agree. We shouldn't kill all of the Sun people’s leadership, nor did we come here to kill their people. Psylocke, the battle is over. Release whoever you still have trapped in there with you."

Shanna wasn't sure how her sister heard their Master, but the large orb of blood floating above the City of the Sun suddenly fell slowly out of the sky and impacted what looked like the town's main marketplace.

The Chinese man wasn't their only audience now, Shanna saw others dressed like him in martial robes of the Orient, though of a different color. Then there was the man with a bow and arrow, all of them stood near the entrance to their courtyard. She tried to keep the archer in her view once she spotted him. He seemed the most dangerous of all of them. Then there was the trio of the Sun people's warriors still standing guard over the now calm Ka-zar.

Shanna walked towards the bound man. As she did she reviewed the new memories that the She-Devil had left for her. Apparently, there were several times when the two of them would 'wrestle' for practice, and she would always draw his blood at least once, honestly more than once.

The She-Devil clearly took out her misery on the poor man, a poor man who took it as a twisted kind of affection. As she walked towards him, she drew one of the machetes strapped to her. Like her spear, it felt like an old friend in her hand.

It only took a swing to cut the bindings, and as they fell, he moved to hug her. Shanna stiffed at the action. With the new memories, it felt wrong. So she said as much. "No, I don't deserve you."

“It’s ok. You’re ok. That’s all that matters.” The man replied.

Shanna tried to step away, and he let her. As they shared a look she said. “No, I hurt you. She-Devil hurt you… Besides, I owe Nath’aniel now. Things will change after today.” A part of her was pleased that she didn’t call him master to him.

Shanna jumped as she felt something coming towards them. A couple of seconds later Psylocke materialized beside their master. Her sister turned and swung her sword once, to clean it of its blood. That the blade did indeed become spotless from the action surprised the adventurer. Then her sister sheathed her blade after taking a sweep over the courtyard.

Shanna now realized what it was she felt was her link with her sister through their master. There was an echo of what he felt, so the other woman must feel it too. The She-Devil side of her thoughts deemed that this was good, it would help them coordinate in battle, while the Shanna side worried what other things she might feel from them and it.

Those at the entrance parted, as a man and woman moved to join them. The robed people bowed to the bald woman, while they seemed to give the stink eye at the man. The woman was dressed in the robes same as many of the outsiders gathered here, but as mentioned she was bald and had oddly mixed blue-green eyes. In her main hand, she held a bloodied metal fan.

If Ka-zar was an eight or a nine, in the attractiveness scale, then the man with this woman was a clear ten. He was tall and lean but still clearly muscular. His blonde hair was long but well-kept, and his eyes were oddly golden in color. His clothes were thick and cut in an old style, but clearly regal in their own way. Also, his sword seemed to shine in his sheath at his hip.

And yet somehow, Shanna didn’t care. The man wasn’t good enough for her, and the why would be a problem for another day, as she had people to watch and a master to protect.

“Hail Vanir, I am Nath’aniel, son of Path’aniel. Welcome to Midgard.” Her master said to the approaching man. Shanna was glad to see her sister’s hand drift back towards her own sword hilt.

“Hail. A good eye you have to tell the difference… I am glad to see this fair lady did not lead me astray, that there is indeed a surviving mage here. Oh, I am Frey, son of Freyr.” The seemingly sculpted man replied to her master.

Then this Frey winked at her, Shanna ignored the gesture and went back to watching all the robed people. They had taken the opportunity to get closer to her Master, as they followed the bald woman. The archer too, something about him still told Lancer that he was the most dangerous one here.

Then the bald woman asked. “What are we going to do about the Giant? With their head priest still alive, she could just do this again.”

“We’ll send him home.” the mage answered, and then he gestured for some space. Once the others moved back a couple of steps, Shanna and Psylocke refused and stayed near him, but he acted despite them being there.

Shanna was suddenly glad for the skimpy outfit that she had been reborn wearing, as her master held up his hand and a stream of intense heat poured out of his palm towards the massive glowing statue. Yet even with the sharp temperature rise, she wasn't really that bothered for some reason.

The blast lasted only a short ten count when they heard a rumbling groan from the massive man. It lowered the large stone in its hands down to the ground, before sitting atop it.

“I know I was the last person to arrive for this fight, but weren’t we supposed to be stopping the Giant from awakening?” Frey asked her master.

"It was the manner that they were using, that was what we were trying to stop. Because had we not, it might have been more than just the one bone-horror that came through. Especially if not for all of us being here, otherwise it might have started a fight instead of listening to our just cause." Nath'aniel explained.

The giant then mumbled something, Shanna didn’t quite understand it at first, but then a feeling in the back of her mind translated its words. “Thanks, noble Mage.”

“You’re welcome." Her master bowed slightly at the massive man, who nodded in response, and then her master added. "I will have these nice sorcerers open a portal to send you home when you are ready. Although, you may need to move a touch distance away, depending on the planar synch.”

“It will be nice to be someplace properly warm. Your world is nice and all, but too cold for my taste.” It mumbled thanks of sorts to them.

Then a pair of the robed men walked on either side of the creature. They both donned an odd two-finger ring, that lit up in a golden light as they gestured in synch creating a large enough portal for the Giant to step through, which it did after taking a deep breath of the sulfur-rich air coming through the opening.

Once the portal closed behind the large man, Frey clapped and asked. “So what’s next, more smiting of these savages?”

“Feasting.” Her master corrected.

“Really, you're inviting him? He didn't even fight." The bald woman complained.

“No, but he did save our planet from a pair of massive asteroids, so the least we can do is offer a decent meal and some ale for the man and his crew.” Nath’aniel argued. Shanna didn’t know what this talk about asteroids was, but if they were anything like the explosion like the one they saw the other night then she was glad for the man’s aid.

But before they left, the mage offered his retrieved spear, to the bald woman to hold onto. Then he went over and picked up a blonde woman's body before asking Frey. "Does your transport have a cold room?"

The muscular man looked from the woman in her master's arms to her and back again, before answering. "What, oh honoring the fallen? Of course, of course, we would be honored to carry her to your home."

Before they left, the mage stopped and turned to face the now weeping Zala. “I will be back in the morning to aid your wounded.” Then they continued to follow Frey and the bald woman.

"First you smite them, now you offer them a balm. You are an odd one Nath'aniel." Frey muttered as they marched.

“’Take no pleasure when punishing the young, instead hope that they learn from their mistakes.’” Her master quoted.

“Wise words. Who said it?” the bald woman asked.

“King Bor.” Nath’aniel answered when they stopped for the ramp to be lowered down to them.

“Really?” Frey asked in surprise.

“It was during a hunt, his son had recently injured his eye. And he had yet become adjusted to his poor depth perception, so his spear throw was off and the stag got away. So Bor had him spend the evening meal training his throwing technique instead of letting him eat.” The mage explained.

"Now, that sounds like Bor," Frey stated as the climbed the ramp up onto the ship.

Once aboard they stored the body, and the bald woman returned her master his spear. Then with her Master, his allies, Ka-zar, and the oddly attractive Frey and his crew, Shanna rode the flying boat back to her master's home. The collection of sorcerers abstained and made portals back to their own bases before the ship set off. Before they left, she was surprised to see a pair of bullmen approach and then shake hands with her master before they joined the robed magic users. In all of her years in the Savage Lands, she didn't think she ever saw a minotaur before.

Savage Land- City of the Sun, Temple of the Sun, Date Unknown (Late Evening)

Zala Dane-             

Zala wept openly. She had felt the spear run through her, she was certain it was all over, but instead of a white light or her life flashing before her eyes, she had seen a quiet moment of watching Hor-naf’s ghost taking her place.

As she watched him walk off into the fog, she felt her body healing.

‘That’s how he knew I wasn’t dead from Mal-gato’s lies, because he was still alive too.' She thought as she wept some more.

She heard someone dragging their leg, but still attempted to approach her. Zala sighed, and took a breath, before standing up and facing what was coming. When she turned around, she saw Tor-gim, his crown of tyrannosaur teeth was missing some of them and all were broken or damaged in some way.

“Hor-naf is dead.” He reported.

"I know." She acknowledged the fact, but didn't explain how she did.

Tor-gim continued to report. “He is not the only one, we have lost so much tonight…”

Zala interrupted him and ordered. “We must rally what defenders we have let, I worry that the Bone Gnashers might use this defeat to strike at us. If you want to replace me, we can do it tomorrow. Right now, we need to make sure we lose nothing else tonight.”

“I doubt anyone still alive will demand your replacement. And of those that will, will be reminded, subtly, how your battle with Mal-gato went.” Tor-gim stated. Bowed and started to limp away, to fulfill her orders.

Then she looked around, there were still three warriors over by where they had been holding their two captives. They were looking around confused, as they didn’t really have anything to guard anymore, but they also hadn’t been given new orders.

Zala’s world was coming down around them, Hor-naf was dead. Mic-la was dead. The Petrified Man, Garokk was gone, sent home. So the Sun people’s fire god was gone, and she had nothing to show for it.

Zala remembered the mage's words. ‘I will be back in the morning to aid your wounded.’ She tightened her hands into fists. Because she knew, she would need the man's help. That he would aid them after killing so many of their warriors and priests, seems ridiculous. So was she accepting his help, and she knew that refusing it would only make their people weaker.

“Damn him.” Zala muttered, before moving about and gathering her tools for magic casting and combat.