Pultine was angry, but the Earth calmed her. Far away from the stress of the politics of the Fonlands, Pultine found peace and she relished it. As she sunbathed in a tree of her favorite Earther swamp, three of her fellow Supremes appeared through the portal underneath the water. Tracia, followed by Ahdis and Lorv, emerged from the water of the swamp and they flew to Pultine’s position on her back on a tree branch.
“Will you come with us to Endla?” Tracia asked. “It is time to seal our pact with the archangels.”
“You will come with us,” Ahdis said. “You are responsible for the unfavorable terms Tracia negotiated.”
“I am not responsible for anything,” Pultine said. “And I will not return to Endla until I get clear orders to destroy it and all of its inhabitants.”
“You selfish bitch,” Lorv said. “You are a Supreme!”
“With very specific duties that I do well,” Pultine said. “I have not forgotten what I am and never will. I told Tracia that this was folly. Tracia, I respect you as our leader, my fight belongs to you forever, but I told you that this would not end well. We should only deal with the Aerphim hostilely, not with the diplomatic games we used with the yumboes.”
“But my tactics worked with the yumboes,” Tracia said.
“So you’re planning to make Metatron fall in love with you like Lolof?” Pultine asked.
“Why are you giving her a hard time?” Lorv asked. Her skin was reddish brown and her hair was slick black, long down her back. “She did what you could never do with your scythes and swords, she made us second to Ajê with no peers. The yumboes answer to us now. If we had the fighting tournament you suggested, they’d all be dead now and that is a shameful waste.”
“As I said,” Pultine said, “I know my role. A fighting tournament doesn’t have to conclude with death, and the conditions of our win could have set us up perfectly. But you all prefer your war of words and posturing…”
“Pultine,” Tracia said with a sigh, “I promise you, one day the Supreme mmoatia will engage in a fighting tournament, but you forget that our current ranks are compromised. Our biggest assets right now are my words, Ahdis’s hold on the archangel Gabriel, Lorv’s navigating ability, and your fearlessness. We need to work together to replace Welboas, Mocdi and Vaqel so that we have a formidable defense against the Archangels.”
“There will be new Supremes?” Pultine asked. “The disc will choose them?”
“We don’t have time for that,” Lorv said. “We have candidates to discuss and the four of us must reach a consensus to make them Supremes. We have agreed on Lolof…”
“A yumbo?!” Pultine asked and she flew from her comfortable position on the tree to hover with her sisters. “Have we not learned the lesson of Welboas? She corrupted two of our sisters.”
“Not because she is yumbo and you know that,” Tracia said with annoyance. “We want Lolof and one other yumbo to secure their loyalty. Lolof’s failed assassination attempt on Welboas was unfortunate, but it showed us that the yumboes are capable fighters against the Aerphim. Lolof’s assassins killed many Aerphim guards protecting Welboas and they were only stopped because of Metatron. Thankfully, Lolof currently has no affiliation to our collective, so his attempt has not derailed negotiations.”
“But adding him and another yumbo won’t anger Metatron?” Pultine asked.
“After we agree to terms,” Tracia said, “it won’t matter. The group of Supremes won’t change for the Aerphim, and Welboas, Mocdi and Vaqel will retain their positions from Endla’s perspective, but our new group of seven Supremes will work tirelessly to undermine Lêgba in this realm. We need the yumboes and after their defeat, it would go a long way to ensuring peace on Agê’s disc.”
“Do you plan to marry Lolof?” Pultine asked.
“What does that matter?” Ahdis asked.
“It matters because this is what Lolof and the yumboes have wanted for a long time. It’s the reason Welboas even exists. Are we finally merging the mmoatia and the yumbo, Tracia?”
“Not completely,” Tracia explained. “Mmoatia and yumbo will continue to exist, but there will be a third. Lolof and I will give birth to the umbatia.”
Pultine snorted a laugh. “That’s a dumb name. So this is how you punish Lolof’s failure?”
“I am rewarding the strength of the yumboes. I am strengthening the mmoatia and the fire of the Fonlands…”
Before she completed her sentence, there was a loud shriek that made all of the Supremes cover their ears in agony. Pultine closed her eyes as the ringing pierced her ears and when she opened them again, only Ahdis and Lorv were floating in front of her.
“Where is Tracia?” Pultine screamed. They were surrounded by the sounds of the swamp, but the loud shriek had been so loud that it left a ringing in her ears.
They all looked around frantically until Lorv flew suddenly to the ground. Ahdis followed when she saw Tracia unconscious on the earth next to the swamp. There was a mist of light blue around her like the Divine Essence of her body was suddenly all released at once, which only happened in death. Pultine flew to the ground to see about Tracia, but something caught her attention in the woods. There was another loud shriek that made Pultine woozy in the air, like a punch to the brain. She took a second to steady herself from the auditory assault and she realized that Ahdis and Lorv were both sobbing together over the spot where Tracia’s body had been. Tatters of Tracia’s clothing drifted around them like disturbed ashes.
“Her body was destroyed by the sound!” Lorv screamed.
Pultine centered herself, then found the spot in the woods that seemed strange before. She flew into the thick, green foliage where she collided with a winged man and the two tumbled in the dirt. Pultine’s hearing had recovered by this point and she stood before the man as he slowly made it to his feet.
“You must be Pultine, I was warned about you.”
“You are not an archangel,” Pultine barked at the man. “Why have you attacked our leader? If she is dead…”
“She looked pretty dead to me,” the brown skinned man with short hair and white feathered wings said. “Welboas sends her best.” The white wings of the man pointed up to the sky as the light blue mist issued from them and created the oval portal he flew up into before Pultine could catch him. She cursed loudly and punched the dirt hard enough that it flew up around her. Then she went to Ahdis and Lorv who were still weeping.
“She’s in pieces,” Lorv said between sobbs.
Lorv, Ahdis and Pultine cried together over their fallen friend. And then Pultine cursed her sisters.
“There can be no truce now,” Pultine said. “I will go to Endla to harvest the head of that Aerphim…”
“His name is Seraphiel,” Metatron said as he appeared in the mmoatia swamp. He seemed to have tears in his eyes. “And you will do no harm to him. The truce will be made as Tracia negotiated.”
“I will…” Pultine started but Metatron interrupted.
“You will do nothing. You are mighty, Excisor, but I am Metatron. You cannot beat me in your emotional state and I beg you not to try. Even if you can put me down, the Archangels will descend upon Earth in seconds to obliterate it. I do not want that. I did not want this. Seraphiel did this attack on his own in retaliation for the attack against Welboas. I came as soon as I learned of the plans but I am sadly too late.”
“Just in time to die,” Pultine said and readied her wings to dart at Metatron.
“Pultine please,” Ahdis said and grabbed her arm. Pultine glared at her. “We have lost Tracia. We are not enough to oppose them alone. If Metatron is willing to accept the terms negotiated by Tracia, we must accept. Please.”
Pultine knew that she was right and she looked at Ahdis and Lorv with both wrath and intense sadness in her eyes.
“What are we now?” Pultine asked them quietly.
“We are survivors,” Lorv said. “We will survive to avenge all of this. You will have Seraphiel’s head, I will dance in the death mist of Welboas. Tracia prepared us in the event of her absence. Just please, trust us as you trusted her.”
Pultine nodded, glared at Metatron who looked legitimately pained and upset by the death of Tracia, and then she flew away toward the mountains, leaving Lorv to complete Tracia’s deal.
Game Move:
GM: I haven’t been able to get in touch with Lolof, so I think it’s safe to say he has quit our game. That’s a bummer, but the timing is fortuitous because we have come to the end Swamp Bitches. There are more hits on the way though, and we will have a new player next week.
Tune in next week to find out who replaces Lolof in our game!
PRL Serials 