First raffle eyed polycephaly pup on site!
"You must have skills, abilities."
"Numbers, letters, language." Lieza's shoulders moved in a shrug. "My master taught me much. Won't help here. I am Avielle, you Livella."
"And they are?"
"Sisters. One weak, one strong."
-----
""Avielle was a queen," Varulek explained. "Granted the throne by her elder sister who eschewed power for service, preferring to fight rather than rule. When the Dermos fired Jarvek's lust to carry Avielle off to the dark places, they baited a trap Livella could never resist."
---
"The fifty guardians of the gods," Wisdom replied. "Crafted from all the beasts of the earth to fight an eternal battle against the Dermos, denizens of the great fire pit beneath the earth, the eternal enemies of all humanity."
Lyrna's gaze was drawn to the largest of the statues, a broad-backed ape of some kind, with a long serrated tail and arms as thick as tree-trunks.
"That's Jarvek," Wisdom said. "Long held to be the greatest of the guardians, until the shadow folk tempted him into all-consuming lust for a human queen, Avielle. He bore her away to his lair far beneath the earth but, before he could inflict his vile desires upon her, she was rescued by her sister, Livella, the warrior maiden who carried a spear blessed by the gods."
---
"Livella?"
"A great warrior of legend," he murmured. "Favoured by the gods with skill and strength beyond that of any woman. She journeyed into the pits and fought the Dermos themselves, killing three. One with a sword, one with a spear, and one she killed with a bow fashioned from wych elm."
----
"Now behold your Empress's generosity, rejoice as I give you the legend of Jarvek and Livella!"
The Empress lowered her arms, heralding an instant silence.
"Be it known to the ages," she said in tones of grave recitation, "that the Dermos did conspire to steal away good queen Avielle to the darkest pit beneath the earth. And there they did chain her under threat of vile torment, knowing her loving sister would brave any danger to bring her into the light once more. All will acclaim Livella, bravest of the Guardians!"
"But the Dermos were ever cunning in their evil," the Empress continued when the tumult subsided. "For having tempted the mightiest of the Guardians into lust and treachery, they filled his heart with malice and spite, moulding him into their most vile and savage servant. Behold Jarvek!"