Warriors way...a roll of the dice

New story in the growing Hekawi universe!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Las Vegas June, 2016

The door of the elevator slid open revealing the well maintained hallway of the upscale condominium Marcus and his mother had been living at since their recent move to Las Vegas. Marcus dropped his skateboard to the smooth tile floor while hopping on it for a slow ride to his door at the end of the long hall. His mom always took the cheapest place to rent in any building that her work secured for her use, so that the family could save some of the housing stipend for other long term goals and that usually meant their place she finally picked or agreed to ended up being far from the elevators. But Mark never minded that modest inconvenience, because being that far down any hallway meant he could be a little more noisy, or rowdy and the end units usually had the great views.

Kicking the board to his waiting hand with practiced ease, while pulling a key ring from his pocket and selecting the door key from the small number of keys on the ring, one for this door, one for the storage unit in the basement and the last was to his bike locked up inside it. Mark could tell be the silence that he had opened the door to an empty condo yet again.

Marcus sighed knowing that his mother was not home on time again, she was or should be off on Wednesdays from her job at the museum. But she always seemed to be doing ever ongoing research into some old dusty thing or equally dusty old text and forgot to come home for hours past nightfall or even days in some cases.

The teen boys first stop was to his room where he hung up his hoodie on the back of the room's door and placed his board on a set of pegs on one wall that showed off his collection of a dozen finely made and kept skateboards. Marcus was not one to scratch up a board 'grinding' it on railings all day and if he did, it was one of his older boards with plastic guards made just for that sport.

Along the other longest wall of the room was arranged several boxes, all stacked five high and all along the wall from one end all the way across to the other. Each of the boxes was not your normal moving box, but a very high quality one with built in handles and each had a well made list in a plastic sleeve along its side listing the contents of each box stacked along the wall.

Unlike his mother, Mark never really unpacked his personal things because eventually she would want to move again pursuing her near insane pursuit of those 'dusty' historic things of the past. That was right, he did not share her love of history any longer it or any love he had of the subject had been burned out of him years ago with move after move for her to work at this museum or that one, or do a dig here or there, or lastly maybe even steal a few items she hungered after and she had done that one more than once that he was very sure of.

Mark strolled into the condo's kitchen to grab a snack and some soda while he did his homework. After finding the snacks he wanted, plus making a huge PB&J, he took the small assembly of supplies back to his room on a large plate and laid out on his bed for a second skimming over a school book and his notes for any further needs before he started settling down to work.

He found one dire need of his studies today right off, "Shoot need a book of mine...darn it." he muttered out and he set his notebook down to grab a 'smart pad' from his nightstand and quickly swiped it on, then swiped over to data entry. He put in the book title he wanted and a short list appeared back on the screen to his entry, "Box #18, or stack #4, third box down." Yes, Mark had all the room's boxed content, his possessions listed on a smart pad! He had too, because with his mom's constant moving all over the world or soon enough he'd lose track of where any of his personal stuff was hiding inside of all the boxes within one move or two and his mom had done of sudden or quick moves over the years, in some years they did several!

Mark slid off of his bed up to his feet and walked over to the stacks of boxes lining the one wall of his room. At the fourth stack he pulled out two boxes, then pulled the cover off the third box and then yanked out a math text book for today's study that he would need from the collection of school texts.

A few hours later the door of the condo swung open to Sophia Hapgood, Mark's mother who tossed her wide brim fedora onto the waiting hat/coat stand in the corner of the entry and then hung her well used leather jacket under it. 'Used' as in old, repaired tears and a few repaired knife holes, plus even a few bullet holes for that matter! Not all of the young mother's work was inside the safe hallways of a museum and some of her work outside of the pristine buildings of learning was a bit unsavory to say the least and very dangerous!

Sometimes she had to make deals with thieves to obtain certain items of history that she craved after, ones that would prove all of her research was right, not crazy and earn her a better standing with her doctorate, plus maybe a book deal or two or even a higher paying spot at one of the major schools of the world!

"Mark...honey I have great news!" she sang out to the silent condo and nobody replied.

Ignoring his mother's call, but he just rolled over on his bed not wanting to hear what she normally called 'Great News' because each time she said that happy line...the family moved once again!

"Mark did you not hear me?" Sophia said once more just as she entered his room.

"Yes Mom I heard you...we are moving again!" he barked then went angrily back to his homework.

Sophia or Doctor Hapgood within the walls of her museum or job, walked slowly into her son's room, not wanting to really upset the growing teen anymore than she was about to, "Well it is great news honey, in this move we get a bigger place out of the deal and its all paid for by the new job!" she sings hoping to lighten her son's mood some.

"Mom, frankly I don't care anymore about how big the place we live in is, or nice or how expensive it is" he started shouting now, "I care more about living in the same spot for a year or two and not the just a few months that I have been dealing with!" he raged back to her, " and that is why I get into fights at school mom, I don't or can't make many friends before we move yet again."

"But Mark, its an adventure to move and see the world. Isn't it?" she asked trying to calm him down.

"You know mom, I could accept all the moving about if we were in witness protection or space aliens running from some evil empire or even that you were a serial killer that had to keep moving to stay ahead of the law...but no! You are chasing after some 'BS' dusty thing I have no idea about and dragging," he sassed suddenly, "Me along for the ride and I hate it all!" he barked once more as she sat on the end of his large bed, the one and only large piece of furniture he had to his name! His mom, Sophia had promised him several times over the years that they would settle down as a family and that he could buy a desk to study from and several other bedroom items to make the place finally be a home...all of the promises fell through just like they always did in the teens mind.

"Mark, we are moving again and I am almost sure this will be the last time." she said softly and tried to soothe the teen by rubbing his back.

"Mom, I know and you know just about 100% by now I did not get any of yours or who ever my dad was....any of either of yours mutant traits and I am not going away to Wh...ever the heck its name is up in the east coast or any other place like that. But I want to go to a boarding school next term none-the-less, because then only then and only then, can I have one place to call home for the next four years till I graduate damn it!" he demanded and knew that his mom had the money 'socked away' just for that need and even more, so the whole idea of his was easy to accomplish money wise!

"But Mark, I want you near me honey and don't you want that too?" she pleaded.

"It's either boarding school or we never move again. Or I leave and those are the only choices you have MOM!" he warned her of his leaving on his own if he did not get his way. Sophia thought to bark back at the teen, to demand that the boy listen to her right now as the adult of the family but she knew if she did...he would leave when she glanced away for a second and he knew how to stay under the radar of most cops, because she taught him well in case he needed that knowledge in his life. Because she had messed up taking, or stealing one of her valued trinkets and the family or he had to run for their lives!

"We will talk later hon...when you have thought on this some and so have I." she said getting up to leave his room and softly closed the door to give the boy time to ponder the situation laid before him and Sophia as a family.

Sophia placed a frozen dinner in the oven for both her and Mark, then sat down at her small desk. The small simple desk was one of many IKEA types that she had owned and it seemed that every few moves she needed a new one because the last one fell apart during a move. It was not because she could not afford a good one, a well built and made one. Sophia just did not want to blow good money on a desk that might need to be smaller or larger to fit their next place.

With dinner cooking away and not going to be ready for at least an hour, Sophia pulled an old leather covered notepad from her satchel, pulled off the clasp and flipped it open to a marked page with a drawing of a small shield on it. The notes at the bottom were very fresh, but most of the page showed the wear of at least a decade since it was first drawn by her..."Well it's almost done, the last major part of the set is this small shield and I will have one full set guard style armor...minus the weapons and the heavier battle armor parts will come later. It took all of my time since I was ten to find all of just this one set and I lost many a friend to my crazed pursuit of this crap. Far too many friends found themselves between me and that next one item and I always chose the item over their friendship. So most of those friendships ended right there by my persistently crazy choices!" she sighed out, "But now this part of my life is over and maybe I can get this drive out of my system by seeing one set all finally finished and complete, together all in one spot after what should be five thousand years of them being separated!"

Sophia flipped through the rest of her dog-eared pages, each one tabbed section showing one part of a suit of armor and each group of pages or tab had dozens of pages of notes on just the one item it showed on the header page, where it might be, who saw it last, where it was seen last, any connections or leads to any of the above and so on till the last entry showing date and time, plus where she found it or bought it, or lastly stole it and in some cases who or what she stole it from!

That is why Sophia was so good at this historic work, her mutant powers let her see the easy, fast way through many a puzzle or alarm system or finally the locks guarding the items she sought themselves! This woman had yet to meet a system she could not bypass or break outright, or lock, or safe or anything with a puzzle for a lock. Be they numbers, letters, or anything under the sun!

Sophia had found it almost funny that the lighter armor of the set, this was the one to be completely found first and not the heavy stuff made for full on war. She had a few pieces of that set, but not a full set and she even had a few pieces of some other linked sets. But this set was part of the very first pieces she had found as a young kid when she was not even yet ten years old!

Maybe it was that very first piece that lead her on to the others somehow and she knew that the set was truly a 'set' but the engravings on the inside of the armor and outside fully matching...much like someone's name being put on them or made into part of the set or each piece!

Sophia got up from her desk, opened up her closet and pulled at a hidden latch to open a small doorway going back to a hidden room at the very back of the closet, then she slid into the small space itself. There was just enough room for her to work, a dressing dummy and a large locked chest. The chest was already opened and the armor was pulled from it, then placed on the dressing form. Even with what looked like a full matching set placed on the dress form, minus the arms and legs because most dress forms did not have them! There were still several mismatched pieces of armor or equipment still left inside the chest, each one individually wrapped within a cloth or other similar padding.

The whole armor assembly should have shown the passing of thousands of years of ageing, yet it shone like the very day it was made! Certainly this armor had magic bound within it, woven into it, hammered into it, and finally cast upon it! Sophia could almost smell the magic of the armor when she assembled it all for the first time a month ago.

That was when she had received the last major part, a greave that covered the right leg its protection was from ankle to just above the knee, then wrapped fully around the back of that section of leg like a big boot and that was the last part she needed to complete the 'lighter' set. The heavy or full battle armor set still had a bunch of missing pieces for Sophia to find in the world and she was doing just that each day at work...on the side for the most part!

This armor was a full set and it's appearance to the untrained eye would place it as Greek or maybe Roman by the skirt Pteruges to Romans used or Pteryges from Greek word meaning feathers, refers to the decorative strips of leather or lappets that flowed about like a skirt did to just above the knees. Most armor of that era did not have thigh armor, but this set did and on down fully to the ankles. On top was a thin decorative head armor, that shone in the rooms light brightly, as did the breastplate and the armor sections that covered both arms from shoulder to wrists.

The armor shone like silver in some ways, but was not and was thus far, shown to be far, far stronger than any steel she had tested it against...she always thought it might be Elven mithril or something they might use. But nonetheless, this was armor made for a human for fighting in the employment or service to a GOD and that human was a clearly female anyone could tell by the breastplate's shape!

Maybe these women were the legends of the Amazons, or the Valkyrie or other races of warrior women from around the world. But from what Sophia had found during her vast research into the subject, this group most likely was in-service to some ancient God from earth or maybe not in some cases she had found too and it also seemed that this one god was a ruler over several worlds or dimensions! She never found any information on the 'who' or the 'what' the god in question was or if they are even still around!

Sophia sighed slowly as she picked up that last piece of this armor only received a few days ago. She had found it in an online auction of all places and they did not know what they had in their hands because the greave looked so new and not aged like something that had seen well over two or more thousand years! The auction was easy pickings for one of her knowledge, the engravings on the armor's interior could not be fake because they had never been photographed that she knew of and that alone proved the items authenticity!....she bought it for a song...$100 bucks!

She placed the greave back at the dress form's bottom leaning up against the standing brace that held the form up off its rolling base next to both of the vambraces that covered the arms. "Maybe I will have Mark dress in this set so I can finally see it all fitted out correctly and take some pictures of it all tomorrow. I know that he will not like it, but I can bribe him with a new video game or two!" she smiled and left the small room locked behind her.

But I have to thank, Both Branek and Nuuan for their vast input and the ability they both have to 'bounce' off ideas and improve them!

To all my readers who have e-mailed me and given support--THANKS!

Please feel free, to add a review to this story and others. As those kind words are 'cookies' that keeps that muse well fed on the 'sometimes' long breaks between stories!

this warning is for our story stealers off site, not the BC family of readers we all know and love!

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.