Chapter 02
Boratia, Temple of Venetia, Guest Chambers, Sunrise
The rays of the rising sun touched the neatly made bed as Laelia and several low level priestesses along with the Temple seamstress bustled about helping Laelia prepare for her presentation. The seamstress was occupied making sure there were no loose threads, falling hems or creases in Laelia’s formal robes hanging on a rack in the corner of the room, while Laelia, dressed in a knit cotton camisole over a light corset and a pair of cotton drawers, with a light robe tossed over for modesty’s sake, and two apprentice Light priestesses ironed her hair straight, removing the waves left by Laelia’s customary braid. A journeymaid priestess brought a breakfast tray and Laelia broke her fast while the two apprentices swarmed around her wielding hot irons and various brushes and combs.
“I’ve not been to Court in Boratia, is there any difference between it and the Lady’s Court in Aubine?” enquired Laelia of the various Boratian priestesses filling her well-lit room.
“None of us have been asked to Court, well except the Head Priestess when she officiated over the wedding of Prince James and Lady Selena. We’ve not been trained in Court customs yet, ma’am.” The youngest apprentice replied, blushing.
“Ah, well I expect I won’t be expected at Court very often after I present myself to the Empress.” Laelia shrugged then pushed the empty tray away.
“Ma’am,” called the seamstress as she stood up, “your robes are ready. You girls, move a bit more quickly, now. The Sister has an appointment with the Empress.” She clapped her hands imperiously. The apprentices scuttled over to the rack holding Laelia’s robes and pulled it closer, making sure not to drag the train over the polished stone floor. The journeymaid held open the cotton robe worn between the undergarments and the first layer of silk, while Laelia shrugged out of her bath robe and then allowed the journeymaid to help pull the first layer on. Laelia stepped into the full pleated split skirt she wore under her dress robes, pulling the sash tight at her waist and tying it in a bow on the right side. Then came the robes in gray, white, black, another white layer and finally the outermost layer in silver silk embroidered with all of the symbols of her skills in platinum. One of the apprentices then braced Laelia as she put on the split-toe socks and sandals worn for dress occasions. Finally, they made sure her hair was still straight and fell down her back in a sheet of golden brown silk, sashes were tied and the layers were symmetrical, showing each layer at the wrists and collar. Laelia allowed her bond bracelets to reappear, and accepted her fan from the seamstress.
The seamstress and the younger priestess all stepped back and admired the view. “Sister Laelia does look well in her dress robes, doesn’t she?” the older apprentice gushed.
“I feel odd in this get up. I’m not used to so many layers of silk to keep balanced.” confessed Laelia, glancing down at her silk-clad body.
“I’ll call a carriage for you, Sister. It is a fair walk to the palace and we mustn’t get the silk dirty before your presentation.” the journeymaid bustled off, closing the door behind her. A few seconds later, she popped her head in the door and asked, “Would you prefer a steam carriage or a horse-drawn one? Some visitors prefer the horse-drawn one, muttering about the smell of the steam carriages.”
“I think I’ll take the horse-drawn carriage today. I may try the steam carriages before I leave Boratia. I wish to observe the city in the daylight and aren’t the steam carriages a little faster than the horse-drawn carriages anyways?” Laelia answered, moving carefully to the door and back to settle the layers and accustom herself to their weight. The journeymaid nodded and closed the door. She quickly returned and bowed, motioning to the open door.
“Your carriage awaits, Sister. If traffic is good, you’ll be at the palace in plenty of time.” Laelia smiled and nodded.
“Thank you for your help everybody. I’m very grateful. Last time I wore this rig, I had to use magic to do everything and I still looked like a haystack and the Lady had to help straighten me out.” She smiled. “The kicker was it was for my investiture as Priestess-Palatine of Aubine.”
“The apprentices don’t help with formal dress?” The seamstress asked, raising an eyebrow.
“If they do, I wasn’t told and nobody offered.” Laelia shrugged. “I’m off to the palace, now, ” she said, changing the subject. She glided towards the door while the apprentices trailed behind to make sure she didn’t get her train snagged on something before she got into the carriage.
“You do know how to sit without wrinkling? The seats in the carriages are too narrow for kneeling and the floors are nasty.” The seamstress trailed after the procession.
“I can do a little anti-wrinkle spell for that. The Lady was adamant all her students learn housekeeping spells alongside our regular studies.”
“Useful, that. So since everybody knows housekeeping spells, the apprentices don’t have to assist the masters?” The younger apprentice asked, wide-eyed. “Sounds really nice…” She clapped her hands over her mouth. “Umm. Whoops?”
Laelia smiled and kept on gliding to the front of the Temple, then emerged, blinking in the bright morning light reflecting off gilded trim and beveled glass windows. The guard this morning was turned out in scarlet with gold frogging with white gloves and he was opening the gate and bowing almost before Laelia reached the gate to the street beyond, lined with well-kept cottages. The carriage waiting outside the wrought-iron gates was white with gilded trim and was pulled by a matched pair of white mares.
“We keep a carriage for our guests who require the use of one, Sister.” The journeymaid explained as she bent over the trailing robes, fussing with the heavy cotton liner used for body and to protect the fragile silk.
“Practical. In Aubine, one doesn’t have to walk far to anywhere in the city. We’re sort of in each other’s pocket, so to speak.” Laelia hoisted herself into the carriage while the priestesses helped to tuck in the robes around Laelia, who was busily chanting a spell under her breath.
“To the Imperial Palace, sir! Our Shadow Sister is to be presented to the Empress, so go quickly!” called the Mother of the Temple, as she approached the group bunched at the gates. “Now, let us all say our good-byes and go back to our duties, ladies. Time will not wait for us.”
“We’ll see you later this afternoon!” “Do tell us all about the goings on at Court!” all cried, waving madly as the driver shook his reins and the horses obediently moved forward.
Laelia settled her robes around her and gazed at the scenery, enjoying the sights. They passed out of the residential area through a ring of parks and moved into a booming commercial area, with buildings popping up, with one in particular, which even though it was only an iron skeleton was taller than the Temple. Buildings in all states of construction, from the hole in the ground with men standing around looking in to the ones with people cheering at a ribbon cutting streamed past Laelia’s windows. The carriage stopped at an intersection and Laelia indulged in some covert people-watching, as rivers of people streamed in opposite directions. The carriage jolted, turning right onto another busy street, lined with shops and restaurants. The tide of people thinned out, and seemed to be more fashionably dressed the farther she rode down the bustling avenue. The hats were big and the dresses long and slim and in various pastel shades and the men were dressed in dark well-cut suits and small-brimmed hats. Steam carriages and horse-drawn carriages were in equal numbers with the younger set overwhelmingly choosing the steam carriages, while their elders chose the more sedate horse-drawn carriages. Some of the shoppers noticed the white carriage and bobbed their heads in recognition, while others continued on with their shopping.
The avenue broadened out as the shops gave way to large manicured parks, then large houses, almost rivaling the Temple for sheer size and grandeur were set in slowly greening lawns and bright green leafed trees shaded the quiet sidewalks, occasionally occupied by a black-dressed nanny pushing a bay carriage or walking young children in briaght;y colored wool coats. The carriage topped a small hill and Laelia caught her first sight of the Imperial Palace: white walls surrounding a profusion of multi-colored roofs and in the middle, set off by itself-the Palace proper, a classical study in white, roofed in blue.
They went down the small hill and the houses became even grander as they drew closer to the palace, until they passed the closest house which almost but not quite rivaled the Palace in size, then went through another ring of lush gardens and manicured greens. They approached the gatehouse and the driver leaned down as the guards approached.
“The Priestess-Palatine of Aubine here to be presented to the Empress, sirs.”
“Very well, then. Enter please.” The guards moved to allow the carriage through the slowly opening bronze gates. The driver clucked at the horses and the carriage crept forward under the thick stonework of the Outer Wall. The horse’s steel shoes clattered on the quaint cobblestones of the narrow street leading to the palace as the carriage bumped its way up the long incline. Laelia observed the classical feel of the buildings as compared to the more modern architecture of the houses and other buildings outside the walls of the Palace. The Palace seemed to get bigger as Laelia approached it, yet an odd feeling of belonging passed through her thoughts. All too soon, they were at the foot of the stairs leading to the massive bronze and gilt doors of the Palace. They stopped and a blue-garbed footman leapt to open the door and assist Laelia out of the carriage. He did a slight double-take at her robes, and offered his arm.
“Allow me to escort you to the audience chamber, Sister.”
“Thank you, sir.” Laelia finished straightening her robes from her slightly cramped travels, then, with the assistance of the footman, made her stately way up the stairs, making a lovely picture of silvery satin glinting in the sun, trailing up the white stone steps.
The doors opened, oddly silent for such massive doors, then she was ushered into an atrium, with a pool in the floor on which water lilies floated aimlessly and golden carp lazily swam in the blue-tinted water. Silk velvet banners draped the plastered walls with mahogany wainscoting and blue runners covered the black and white marble floors. They ascended another grand staircase to the audience chamber of the Empress where Laelia was handed into the care of the rather portly man dressed in severest black and sporting an impressive mustache. A quick snap of the fingers and a maid, dressed in blue, helped arrange the trailing robes and tidy Laelia’s hair.
“How may I announce you Sister?” he enquired in starchy tones.
“Laelia Frederica Iulia, Priestess-Palatine of Aubine and Senior Shadow Priestess.” Laelia said, arranging the folds of her split skirt, missing the look of shock pass over the majordomo’s normally stoic features. He motioned to the two impassive guards standing at the doors, and they leapt to open the door.
“Now, kneel until Her Majesty, Empress Cornelia acknowledges you, Sister.” With that, the doors opened and as Laelia made her way towards the woman dressed in black kneeling on cushions on a raised platform draped in sheer white silk, the majordomo boomed out:
“If it pleases the court, presenting Laelia Frederica Iulia, Priestess-Palatine of Aubine and Senior Shadow Priestess!”
The court started murmuring, too low for Laelia to hear as she glided gracefully up the blue carpet to the crimson cushion close to the Imperial platform. She kept her eyes respectfully downcast until she reached the cushion. Kneeling, using a bit of magic to make her robes flare out, she folded her arms on the floor and rested her head on her arms until she was acknowledged.
A rustle of silk bombazine alerted her to something being amiss with the usual protocol.
“Laelia?” a choked up voice asked. Laelia cautiously raised herself up to her knees and looked questioningly at the Empress, kneeling in front of her with tears running down her face.
“You look like your mother, m’dear, but you have your father’s eyes, bless their souls.” A wrinkled hand caressed Laelia’s face, then she was engulfed in black silk. “You’re Victoria’s baby, returned to us all grown up and so beautiful.”
“My mother’s name was Victoria?” Laelia managed to choke out.
“Yes, dear. Victoria Emilia Iulia, my eldest daughter, the Crown Princess, and your father was Prince Frederick of Zenobia.”
Laelia smiled and hugged the older woman back.
“One could almost thank those rogue Daevas, since if it was for them, I wouldn’t have found my family, since you wouldn’t have needed a Shadow Priestess to banish them.”
Cornelia turned her head to the left and called out, “Messalina! Your sister has returned home!”
A petite, curvy woman dressed in pale green and yellow hurried over, and fell to her knees, hugging Laelia.
“I remember you as a wee little baby, all swaddled up. And look at you now!” Soon the trio was surrounded by various members of the Imperial family, all exclaiming about how miraculous it was that Victoria;s baby had returned home and how beautiful she was and commenting on her formal robes now being crushed by vigorous hugs. The Court was thronging around the family reunion, all except two men, wearing Caranthian plaids tossed over the Boratian court clothing they were required to wear. Both were propping up the walls and conversing between themselves.
“Now we’ll have to put up with Messalina being giddy about her baby sister returning to the fold, brother.” the younger one mused.
“I’m just glad that she won’t wake up screaming that the baby is gone and make me get up in the middle of the night when it’s freezing cold to go look for the ‘missing baby’”, the older one replied, straightening up off the wall. “Come on, you should introduce yourself to your new sister-in-law.”
“Before we do the ‘meet the family’ again, one question. What’s so special about a Shadow Priestess?”
“I’ll let Laelia answer that question boyo. I’m sure the answer would be educational.”
“Fine, then. I’ll be the hick from the mountains who’s never been t’ th’ city and ask an’ ignorant question. I won’t ask you anything, even though you had to learn about Boratia before you even marry Messalina.” muttered the younger man, glaring at his older brother. Messalina spotted them approaching and darted through the mass of people surrounding Laelia and Cornelia.
“Come on, you two! Meet my sister!” she cried, grabbing their hands and nearly yanking them off their feet then bulled her way through the crowd.
“Laelia? Meet my husband and brother in law!” Messalina yelled over the babble of voices. Laelia turned and smiled at the sight of her petite sister hauling two tall, muscular men around. “Laelia, my husband, Robert of Caranthia and his brother Graeme. Gentlemen, my baby sister, who happens to be taller than me.” They bowed and murmured polite phrases at each other.
Graeme took a breath and opened his mouth to ask Laelia his burning question when suddenly screams erupted outside the audience chamber. A flash of light and Laelia had a wicked looking sword in her hand and was wearing a gray knit sleeveless tunic over black leather leggings with a sword belt around her hips with glowing gold enameled bracelets circling her wrists
“Manifest!” she cried and another flash of light occured and then twelve transluscent creatures stood around Laelia.
“Lillas, shield this room, Chaos, assist me, the rest, help Lillas hold the shield. Let only those who are supposed to be in the palace through the shield.” she ordered, eyes scanning for any other points of entry. She turned to the now-panicked Court. “Everybody please stay calm. My bound Daevas will protect you.” Dark blue eyes swung twoards Graeme and Robert. “Graeme, are you any good with a sword? I can use somebody to watch my back.”
He sputtered indignantly, “Of course I know how to use a sword! But I don’t have one.”
Laelia reached into seemingly thin air and pulled out a rather nice two handed sword with a ruby on the hilt, and handed it to Graeme, with the hilt on her forearm. “Here, use it well. Now, let’s go do some housekeeping. There are some pests to exterminate.” She headed towards the double doors leading to the rest of the palace with Graeme following her closely. They approached the now-shimmering doors and momentarily paused for the shield to open up enough to allow then to exit. The duo rushed through the still open doors and encountered the first wave of Daevas. A dark shape followed the duo then took shape as Chaos. He bellowed, “All humans, please go to the audience chamber. There is safety there.” The frightened servants and officials scurried towards the audience chamber, skirting past the large bat winged Daeva. “No rogues shall pass!” He snarled, going into a defensive posture, claws extended.
Laelia looked at the leader of the rogues and sighed. “Artemis, love. Last time I ran into you, you swore up and down that you wouldn’t harm humans, and yet here you are scaring the piss out of these innocent souls. I told you to keep any arguments between yourselves and the Lord and Lady between yourselves, but no. A serious lack of listening is going on here.” Laelia moved closer to the group of rogue Daevas. “So, tell me, why are you here? Is your group the ones behind this little attack?”
“We were hired by somebody wearing a black cape and mask. He promised us lands of our own, where we can live openly, and pardons for any crimes in exchange for assassinating the Imperial family.”
Laelia’s eyes narrowed and she moved smoothly into position “Nice. Now you know what I have to do, dear. I can’t let you kill humans for promises made somebody who didn’t even show you his face.” Then she moved almost too fast to see and before Graeme could even blink she had laid waste to almost half the Daevas and was halfway down the hallway. She yelled back. “Hurry up or you won’t have any tales to tell to impress the girls of Caranthia!” Graeme grimaced and ran after the running priestess.
They made their way down the halls, scaring up hiding Daevas and quickly dispatching them until there weren’t any left. Laelia has pulled several of her Daevas away from assisting Lillas and tasked them to search out rogues in the sprawling Palace complex.
Laelia stood in the courtyard scanning the area for any secondary waves of rogues, when Chaos followed by the her earth elemental and air elemental Daevas approached.
“Mistress, the place is secure and there were no injuries except for bad cases of fright and one of the maids is in labor.”
“Very well. I’ll go and check the audience chamber and notify Grandmother of the results, then I’ll go and assist with the delivery.” Laelia wiped her blade clean and slid it back into its sheath on her sword belt. She turned to Graeme, who was busily examining the blade for any nicks or scratches, and asked, “What were you going to say before the rogues attacked?”
“Oh I was going to ask what was so special about a Shadow Priestess.” He shrugged and went back to polishing his borrowed blade.
“I take it you figured it out with this little demonstration?”
“Some of it. I’m still curious, though, so I’ll be watching. I like to satisfy my curiosity.” He smirked.
“Have fun, then,” she tossed back over her shoulder as she turned to return to her new-found grandmother.
He jogged up to her rapidly retreating figure and asked. “You have Daevas and yet you fight them?”
She stopped, and spun around to stare at him. “First of all, I don’t ‘have’ Daevas. They are willingly bound to me and can be set free at any time. Secondly, I only fight those who would hurt others or who rebel against the Lord and Lady. The leader, Artemis, she wanted it both ways: to return to Aubine, and to strike back at humans who somehow offended her.”
“My apologies if I offended you, Laelia.” He sketched a slightly mocking bow
She looked at him askance, then threw her hands in the hair and walked off, muttering about cocky males and how her sister was a positive saint.
