High Priestess Ariadne was very tired when they reached the Fire doomed Palace. ‘I’m not really hungry,’ she told Princess Eilan and Seeress Onatel after they had been escorted to the magnificent room. ‘All I need is a nice hot bath and about twelve hours of sleep.’
‘Art thou unwell, sister mine?’ Eilan’s voice was concerned; her glorious eyes showed a flicker of anxiety.
Ariadne smiled wearily. ‘No, dear,’ she said, laying one hand on the young princess’s arm. ‘ I am a little tired, that’s all. This touring around is starting to wear on me. You two go ahead and enjoy the banquet. Just send some servant to bring a small pot of tea for me. That’ll be enough for right now. Thanks.’
She spend a pleasant half-hour stretching out in a vat carved out of black marble and immersed to her ears in streaming water. It had been a long day, she felt so much better as she lying in the vat, her mind began to rerun today’s events; the splendid view of the city had quite literally took her breath away. Fire City… Ariadne recalled the crescent-shaped city embraced a deep blue harbour below as she crested the hill. The sun has passed its zenith, and it shone down on the crown of the City of Fire. The architecture was graceful, and every building had a dome-like, rounded roof. The city was dazzling, but its splendour was not the splendour of marble. An opalescent sheen covered the capital; a shifting rainbow-hued fire that blazed beneath the surface of its very stone, a fire that at times blinded the eyes with its stunning magnificence.
She returned to the heavenly bedroom tightly wrapped in her priestess robe and carrying a candle to light her way. The room was large and was decorated in her favourite colour – ivory and midnight blue. There were small oil lamps hanging on long chains suspended from the ceiling, and the lamplight set everything aflame. The shifting, rainbow-hued colours of the walls, floors and ceiling of the broad corridors dazzled her, Ariadne looked around the room, bemused, wondered for a moment why they thought she will need so much space and light. She drew a chair close to the fire and began to brush her long, black hair, humming softly to herself.
‘Vanity, Ariadne? After all these years?’
She started half to feet at the sound of the familiar voice. Zalasdar scarcely looked the same. He no longer wore his priest robe, but rather a leather jerkin of an Arendish cut, stout canvas trousers, and thick-soled boots. He had even so far discarded his heritage that he wore a short sword at his waist. His white hair and beard were tangled, and his handsome face was haggard. ‘Please don’t make a scene, love,’ he told her. His voice was weary and devoid of any emotion beyond a kind of profound regret. He sighed. ‘Where did we go wrong, Ariadne?’ He asked sadly. ‘What tore us apart and brought us to this sorry state?’
‘You don’t really want me to tell you, do you Zalasdar?’ She replied, surprised at how calm and gentle she sounded even to herself. ‘Why couldn’t you just let it go? I did love you, you know – not that way, of course, but it was love. Couldn’t you accept that and forget about the other?’
‘Evidently not. It didn’t even occur to me.’
‘Lord Vanion is going to kill you, you know.’ Absently, she raised her arm and pushes back one of the curls cascading down the side of her enchanting face.
‘Perhaps. To be honest with you, though, I no longer really care.’ He answered, still watched her with that sorrowful eyes. In spite of herself, Ariadne began to feel sorry for him. ‘What’s the point of this then? Why have you come here?’
‘I wanted to see you one last time – hear the sound of your voice.’ He rose from the chair in the corner where he had been sitting. ‘It all could have been so different – if it hadn’t been for Onatel. She was the one who took you into the lands of Thullish and corrupted you. You are innocent, you are of Avalonian. We Avalonian have no business consorting with the barbarians of Thulish.’
‘You’re wrong, Zalasdar. The Defender is a Thullish. That’s our business with them. You’d better leave. Onatel is in the hall having some supper right now. If she finds you here, she’ll have your heart for dessert.’ Despite of the fact that he had betrayed her, Ariadne could not harden her heart towards the one who had been her friend all her life; she definitely did not want him die.
‘In a moment. There’s something I have to do first. After that she can do anything to me she wants to.’ His face suddenly twisted into an expression of anguish. ‘Why, Ariadne? Why? How could you bear the unclean touch of that Thullish savage?’
‘Vanion? You wouldn’t understand. You couldn’t even begin to comprehend it.’ She stood, her beautiful face defiant. ‘Do whatever it is you have to do here and leave. The very sight of you sickens me.’ How dare he criticism Vanion? Her splendid eyes ablaze.
‘Very well.’ His face was suddenly cold as stone.
She was not really surprised when he drew a long bronze dagger out from under his jerkin. In spite of everything, he was still Avalonian enough to loathe the touch of steel. ‘You have no idea of how much I regret this,’ he told her as he came closer.
She tried to struggle, clawing at his face and eyes. She even felt a momentary sense of triumph when she seized his beard and saw him wince in pain. She jerked at his beard, sawing his face this war and that as she called out for help and reached for the Necklace of Divine Gem on the table not far away from her, but then stumbled back and half fell over a chair, and that was what ultimately defeated her. Even as she struggled to regain her feet, he caught her by her raven dark hair, and she knew that she was lost. Despairing, she drew Vanion’s face from her memory, filling her eyes and heart with his features even as she attempted again to claw at Zalasdar’s eyes.
And then he drove the dagger directly into her breast and wrenched it free again.
She cried out, falling back and clutching at the wound, feeling the blood spurting out between her slender fingers.
He caught her in his arms almost protectively. ‘I love you, Ariadne,’ he said in a broken voice as the light faded from her eyes.
