Lysentia, the ceruleus kasari Princess (a female of the planet Adamas donning the extremely rare hair shade of blue) is fleeing in disguise as a boy from three guards bent on arresting her and taking her back to the man who overthrew her family's rule. In the streets of the capital city of Pristia in the new Republic of Metus, she runs into a female warrior from the Kingdom of Orien ... soon to be her protector and best friend. The linear measurement term "pedi" is the Adaman foot. One pedi = 9.93 Earth inches. Zodalis is a term like "comrade" that the Excubian Guards refer to one another.

Lysentia bolted and turned on one street after another hoping to lose the guards. Then she dashed to the nearest door and knocked. "Help me! Let me in! Please let me in!"

     The door cracked open. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

     "I'm being pursued. They think I'm the princess."

     The door opened wider and Lysentia realized she had forgotten to retrieve her hat before she took off running. She lunged to get inside, but a large woman grabbed and held her tight.

     "Who are you? Why, no wonder they're after you. You're a ceruleus kasari. You are the Princess Secundus." She tossed Lysentia out into the night. "By grittlebone, get along with you. I'm sorry for your troubles, but I don't want to lose my life over it." The big woman slammed the door as Lysentia dove for it again. Then she wasted more time by pounding on it.

     "Please! Let me in! Please!" Her common sense kicked in again and she ceased the futile activity. She understood the need to flee the city even if she had to do it alone.

     Lysentia stepped into the street, stuffed her awful blue hair inside her shirt collar, and then sped away.

     If only I had a kerchief … or perhaps a pair of shears. Yes, I'm so desperate, I'm willing to cut off all my ceruleus kasari hair.

     Lysentia darted around the next corner and slammed into a body she thought was another guard. The two tumbled off the walkway and spilled into the street. Sitting up, she saw a female dressed in the traditional Jagas of the women of the Kingdom of Orien. Tight-fitting pants, one leg terminated a fraction of a pedi below the knee, and the other the same distance above it. A baggy fit around the lower torso, they had no front or back so they could be worn either way.

     From visits to the royal court of Metus, Lysentia knew termination above the right knee meant the woman had a mate-above the left knee indicated a woman's availability for marriage. This single woman donned a sleeveless tank with a diagonal sash displaying her family colors of alternating red, black, and white bands.

     "What ho the pellis dung …" The Orien woman said as she rose.

     "I'm sorry," Lysentia said.

     "Young lady, you should be."

     Lysentia jumped up. "You're not frightened? Don't you know who I am?"

     The woman appeared upset. "Better stayed for me 'twould have been had me remained ignorant of your existence altogether … less painful, too. Nay, why should me be 'fraid of you?"

     "I am ceruleus kasari." She threw a hand up beside her head with a finger pointing at it. "You see my hair?"

     The Orien woman brushed herself off. "So?"

     "So? The Excubian Guards are after me. Can you help me?"

     "Excubian Guards? What did you?"

     "What did I what?" Lysentia remembered that Orien people spoke the universal language as all Adamans did, but in their own unique style. "Oh, you mean what did I do? "

     The Orien woman adjusted the sheaths of the swords hanging from either hip. "As me said, what did you?"

     "I forgot the people of Orien speak strangely."

     "Perhaps 'tis the rest of Trinistis whose people strangely speak."

     The princess grabbed the woman's arm. "I'm the Princess Lysentia. They are trying to return me to the castle."

     "So?" the warrior said, peeling off Lysentia's arm. "Perhaps you should return on your own accord to see what the matter be."

     "I can't do that. I've just escaped from there a few hours ago. Help me, please!"

     Lysentia lunged and reached for the woman's arm, but the Orien sidestepped her and walked off. "Nay with blessings. Me need to remain absent from the guard."

     Lysentia darted and grabbed her by the arm again. "Please, help me! Please!"

     The woman stopped and turned to Lysentia. "Me do not want more scrapes with guards. In factorum, me recently removed meself from a mess with them. Me arrived here yesterday on a mission." She held up a hand. "Me get into trouble with the guard again? Nay, the ruin of all things 'twill be."

     Three Excubian Guards dashed around the corner. They rushed up to the two females and whipped out their swords in an impressive show of force.

     Tersius stepped forward and pointed his sword at the Orien woman. "We want the girl. Hand her over."

     The Orien woman offered a slight head bow and stepped back. "Me assure you, gentlemen, she is not mine for handing over. Not a thing have me to do with the child. You are welcomed to her."

     "Then let her come to me," said Tersius.

     The Orien woman pushed the princess in their direction. "Child, go. Me must away." She continued striding away from Lysentia without looking back.

     What's with her? She's a warrior. Can't she see I'm in dire straights?

     Alone again, Lysentia understood what her sister wrote when she used the word resilience. To bounce back from something bad meant she had to be as resourceful as possible. Survival mode loomed as an unusual beast, but reality forced her to confront it-she had to do whatever she could to stay alive.

     The pudgy guard reached out and seized the princess, yanking her in his direction. He spun her around and slapped her hard in the face. "Here. What do you mean by running off like that?"

     The Orien woman, about thirty pedi away by then, stopped and looked back. Lysentia thought she caught a glimpse of heart in her stance-and that forced the princess into action.

     Lysentia stamped on the guard's foot and twisted toward the Orien woman. "Ow!" Lysentia wailed as loud as she could, pretending pain rocked her body. "That hurt!" She knew what the guard would do, but that was part of her plan.

     Howling for a few seconds, the guard spun around to Lysentia, slapped her three times, and then pushed her into the street. The princess reeled with pain, but her act did the trick. Through her stinging, Lysentia looked to discover the Orien woman in full flight toward her. The woman stopped and drew an unusual looking sword.

     The princess remembered it as the Trinus Lamina once used only by the people of the Orien kingdom. Much like a Ferrus Gladius, the blade sported a narrower design; but the most noticeable difference featured two half-pedi blades jutting out just past the hilt on flanking sides. In close quarter fighting they could be as deadly as the main blade.

     "Me think you should treat the girl with better care," the Orien said.

     The pudgy guard grew a large grin on his face as he stared at the Orien woman. "And me think me do not care what you think." He and the other men burst out laughing. "Since when does a woman give orders to a man?"

     "She's Orien, zodalis," Tersius said. "You know their women are a little strange. They think they are of a higher status than men."

     "Go on your way, and you won't get hurt," the tall guard said.

     The Orien thrust out her free hand toward Lysentia. "Come to me, little one." Then she faced Tersius. "Would that your mouth be a river's mouth, the largest on Adamas 'twould be. And the Pristina River, since 'tis smaller by half, determines you to be in charge. Me will take this girl, and me will escort her to her castle unharmed."

     Tersius spluttered and shook his body. "Stand down, woman."

     Hunching her shoulders, the Orien increased her intimidation three-fold. "When 'woman' you say, you must smother it with respect, you ugly vacca slop beast."

     The three guards stepped toward the Orien. "Woman," Tersius said, "we're going to cut you to pieces and have your remains hauled to Orien on the back of a vacca. I pity you."

     The Orien shook her head. "Nay. The pity 'tis … there be only thrice you."

     The three men laughed. The pudgy comrade pointed his Gladius at the Orien woman. "You mean only three of us? When are you Orien idiots going to learn to speak properly? It's appalling how you always use 'me' for 'I' and the 'my' in 'myself'. "

     "True that," Tersius added through his laughter. "But tell her, please, that it only takes one man to defeat a loud-mouthed woman."

     The Orien unsheathed a second sword about three-quarters the size of the Trinus Lamina, but narrower. Razor sharp on four edges, it was square-shaped with the flat sides beveled inward allowing contact with only the cutting edges. The four edges tapered to a quick end where a three-quarter pedi pointed spike took over.

     "And now there is twice me, " the Orien woman said. "At the ready."

     A clash of steel exploded like few people had ever seen before. The Orien, outnumbered even with two swords, nevertheless flashed like a volucris falcon in the dive-like a Yari cat-beast in the chase. Her moves whipped about so swiftly Lysentia couldn't follow them.

     Within moments, the Orien sliced the sword arm of the pudgy guard with the razor edges of the smaller Medius Ensis. The guard flipped his Gladius to his weaker arm as the double-cut grooves poured his vital yellow fluid down his sword arm.

     At one point the Orien darted in close enough to peck Tersius on the cheek with her lips, but she swung her knee so it kissed his lower torso instead. For some unknown reason to the princess, Tersius fell to his knees unable to move.

     The ineffectiveness of the pudgy guard fighting with his weaker arm enabled the Orien to concentrate her attention on the tall guard. She whipped her blade left and right, high and low, and then caught his blade halfway down the shaft and, in three times the speed as it happened to Lysentia, she executed the flanconnade piercing him through the heart.

     I can't believe it. She killed the man!

     The pudgy guard backed away, not willing to face the Orien without help. Tersius had pulled himself up and limped into the fray again. The Orien spun and feigned a high thrust with her Lamina. Tersius swung to parry it but found the Medius Ensis sticking through his mid-section and slumped to his knees for the last time.

     And there's another one dead. I know she's saving me from capture, but must she kill?

     Lysentia crouched low in the street and tried to stay out of the way. A sudden movement caused her head to jerk around where she spied the pudgy guard sneaking behind the Orien. He had dropped his sword probably having decided it futile against such an able foe, snatched a chair by one of the doors, and swung it toward the Orien.

     "Behind you! Watch out!"

     The Orien twirled around in time for the chair to sweep her swords from her hands. The guard smiled probably thinking he obtained the advantage in forcing hand-to-hand combat. And why wouldn't he? Everyone on the planet knew the male gender carried most of the strength. Unfortunately for the guard, he held rigidly to that mindset.

     The Orien caught him by surprise by jumping at him first. She ducked under his arm swing, popped up behind him, jammed her knee in his lower spine, and jerked his head back.

     A loud cracking sound broke the cool night air as the guard fell to the ground writhing in agony. The Orien wasted no time as she pounced on him and drove her fingers into the sides of his head through his animili. The guard lay still.

     I cannot believe how brutal this woman is.

     "You didn't have to kill them," Lysentia said.

     The Orien retrieved her swords and wiped them clean on a cloth she pulled from around her waist. "Would you rather see me lying dead on the ground, or worse stayed, yourself being taken against your will to the castle? Is not your gratitude misplaced, sweetie? Understand 'twas me who saved your dainty little pellis bottom?"

     Lysentia eased over to the Orien. "You could have done it without killing anyone."

     "Blessings to a childish impulse, now me be on the run again from the guard. Would that me left well enough alone, me would be walking away free of such trouble. However, since me did not … well, when me get involved in combat, me fight to win."

     "How did you kill someone with your bare hands?"

     "Look, you must away before other guards arrive, or worse stayed, remain for a lesson in Contra Heray. Me say to you we should away at once."

     Few people knew about Contra Heray-an ancient form of hand-to-hand combat once thought to be practiced by the "archaic ones". The mysterious race that once flourished on the Magnavis Continent stood as one of the biggest riddles in all of Adamas.

     "How do you happen to carry two swords?"

     The Orien's hand clamped over Lysentia's mouth.

     "Words are not in need. Better stayed is more speed. Forthwith, let us away."

     The Orien woman grabbed one of Lysentia's hands and pulled her down the street.

Houses of Pristia, the capital city of Metus

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The Blue-Haired Princess Series. All rights reserved ©1999 by Dakota Balmore.