The Bloodline of Torch

[Isirion]

Once again Celeris ignored the hint that it was high time to go back to bed. It was as if her mind simply refused to let her think about anything else anymore. As she never knew her father, her mother was everything she had left. What was a little bit of lost sleep weighed against the matter of life and death. If her mother was counted among the corrupted nobles, Sodger would kill her for sure. Then she would have nobody left and had to hope a family like the Marrovargs adopted her, just like they had adopted Pip. And if her mother wasn't counted among the corrupted nobles, she was still far from being save, because Celeris knew her mother was just as headstrong as the ex-captain of the Royal Blues and would rather burn down the city herself than let an army of Hellfires do it. No. The city would only burn if the corrupted nobles weren't handed over. Lady Taifa had got it right the first time - it did not matter if she thought someone was a corrupted noble - it only mattered what Sodger thought.

 

Mulling over one question at a time, trying to think like a grizzled war veteran, Celeris felt her heart skip a beat with each answer she came up with. Just like Sodger, her mother had quite a reputation of her own - a reputation of mistreating servants, of using the Nebs for her own justice as the burning down of Pride's arena had proven. Then there was her mother's most famous trait - controlling people with an overwhelming display of power and cruelty paired with masterful manipulation...and if people resisted being controlled...well...she had heard more than one whisper claiming that Death had come at her mother's beck and call to all that displeased her. Being unsure what 'jurisdiction' meant, Celeris focused on the last question - for the mere second it took to remember that her mother regarded pity and mercy as despicable weaknesses to be eliminated. All in all it was not that bad, as a ruler her mother had to show strength and could not afford to show any sign of weakness, like admitting burning down a certain arena had been a mistake - surely someone who had lead people himself understood that.

Sounding more cheerful than before Celeris voiced the answers she had found and added: "My mother is a strong leader like Sodger and certainly not a corrupted noble. Now I can finally rest in peace!"

 

In the mean-time in the Marrovarg eternal sleeping chamber

 

Pip turned around and around in his coffin-bed. After everything that had happened today had sunk in and he had time to talk about it with his foster parents, he was worried sick about Celeris. Even though the party had ended in chaos, with today she was an accepted noble of the city - and if anybody judged her by her mother she would be dead by tomorrow. Nobody who had ever suffered from the Nebs justice could call Lady Cerulia Phirestone anything but a corrupted noble. She treated humans like toys to be manipulated at will and dragons even worse and if even half the rumours about her were true, she had filled just as many graves in his foster parents graveyard complex. Burning down his most favourite place in the world was just the last nail in the coffin. But what could he do? Only somebody as cruel as the Blue Lady herself would suggest to the daughter to hand over the mother to certain death. Would asking Celeris to run away and hide so that she would not meet the same fate be really kinder?

 

Lord and Lady Marrovarg in their two-person-coffin-bed heard him trashing around and correctly guessed the reason: "Don't worry about Celeris little dragon warrior, Cery might be many things, but before she lets any harm come to her daughter, she would burn down the whole city and every corrupted noble in it herself. You both can rest in peace with us!"

Edited July 18, 2023 by Isirion

[Alzira]

Alzira kept her eyes on the pondering girl. She could definitely see her wondering about the questions and their possible answers and consequences and coming to the conclusion she voiced before -finally- going to bed.

 

Now it was Alzira´s turn to mull things over in her head.

Sodger was a veteran of the Royal Blue Dragons, same as Ale from the inn and they had been through a very rough time. The Guardianwho she remembered fondly, for his straight belief in truth, had been a member as well. The old man had even been their leader, so Alzira assumed that he had been and still was a seasoned strategist, used to planning, issuing and executing orders. Therefore his attack on the city, a city, which nobles he should be familiar with, seemed a bit... off. Why not attack the corrupted nobles directly? If he had enough dragons to threaten the whole city, singling out the corrupted ones shouldn´t pose much of a challenge. So, what was he aimimg at? Fear? Confusion? People fleeing in a panic? Those points checked out, but she was still missing a big part.

 

Maybe Sodger´s intentions were to unite the innocents to rise against their supressors and get rid of them of their own volition. No,...such things needed lots of subtle preparations and Sodger was not that kind of patient.

 

The more terrible solution to her were that the old man was simply sick of waiting and everybody was guilty. Guilty because of acting corrupted, guilty of following corrupted orders and threats, guilty of not defying and fighting for oneself. That would mean death for everyone, and that was a conclusion Alzira didn´t want to believe.

 

Still brooding over the missing pieces she finally succumbed to sleep

 

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Alzira

[Isirion]

Next door in the sleeping chamber prepared for Pride and Felicia, both of them lay awake for some time too. In every other situation the ex-arena-master would have explored the funeral themed beds and furniture with a passion, but tonight he sat upon his sarcophagus bed with his knees drawn towards his chest and mumbled: "I dreamed so long of living one of my performances, the excitement, the noble cause, the bonds between fellow adventurers, but in reality all I did was help getting a lot of people killed, and tomorrow will be even worse - all for my pride, for my wishful thinking I could be a hero and my delusion that Death could be anything else but a murderer in cahoots with that vile villainess. What poison did I take that addled my mind that far that I got all those innocent people involved in my mess, that my own innocent wife agreed to plot wholesale slaughter of the only ones that might save us if they manage to work together."

 

"Let my stop you here, my deluded darling," Felicia interjected: "I know fully well that in your head I am that innocent flower girl, that likes butterflies and that you fell in love with at first sight, but that is not all I am. There is blood on my hands too, for every measly flower I sold, I sold a lot more poison to the assassin's guild to make a living. And when a suitor that wasn't as gallant as you tried to force me, I poisoned him and buried his body in my house, using it to nurture that nice little spot of green around our bed you like so much. And the Blue Lady you paint as the epitome of evil - turns out she must be a pretty great mother for Celeris to turn out the way she is. And don't get my started on Death. You abhor him every two seconds whenever he does not match the picture of him that solely exist in your own head. Do I need to remind you that those Nebs he murdered came to kill you?"

 

Pride needed some time to digest some of the bitter truth he had just been force fed, finally he said: "I know, I know, I know, but why can't the world work like one of my performances where nobody gets hurt for real? Why has there to be a Death?" "Because the world turned him into Death, that's why you wanted to change that world, remember? You just went a little bit off track in the way to do that. Instead of sticking to changing people's heart with your performances you got roped into forcing them to change with violence and death, because that way is the only way people like Sodger and Isirion and the Blue Lady know. Now, go to sleep and dream about a new performance in a new arena, because tomorrow will not be the end of everything!"

 

In the mean-time in the Blue Mansion

 

Isirion was pacing around the 'Heaven' like a caged dragon. His head was a mess and as much as he loathed to admit it, so was his heart. He had failed his duty, his loyalties were in disarray and the Hellfire Army he had bred was about to burn down the city. Where had it all gone wrong? It had been such a simple plan he had devised with Sodger long ago. Attack the Nebs, attack the Bandits, blame it on the other side and watch them destroy each other while gauging the reaction of the nobles to find their collaborators and kill them too. But instead of eliminating his targets straight away more and more complications had turned up. First the Gatherer had gone missing, then Sodger had gotten himself captured, some grooms had to be rescued as well, a city noble and his household to be killed with and for Drake, in between the Guardian and Alzira got tangled up with the Nebs and needed rescue, not to mention all those dragons and pygmies. And when he finally thought he had managed to fulfill at least part of the plan and got rid of some Nebs, his own group got blamed for the kills instead of the Black-Air-Bandits, that he didn't even manage to lay eyes on. At least if you disregarded the two-legged Blackjade lookalike, which had been its own fiasco along with those annoying ongoing assassination attempts. So, to sum it up, a lot of people and a few dragons had died trying to kill him, but not even one of those deaths had furthered the cause. Isirion sighed and wondered if the group that had side-tracked him again and again and even got him to play bodyguard had had more success in their endeavours. Somehow he doubted that they managed to poison even a single noble, even though the von Gefallen speech that had turned the party into chaos would have given them the perfect opportunity. Leal was probably back with them, shooting reproachful looks left and right, but that was probably for the best. Watching the Blue Lady mutilate the dead bodies of his swarm, after he had set their broken spirits free, must have been heart-wrenching. Heart-wrenching, since when did he even use words like that...must have rubbed off from Pride, Isirion thought and unbidden the personal-space-invading picture of the ex-arena-master rose up in his mind. Growling, Isirion pushed the picture back, pondering for the nth time why he hadn't killed that obnoxious and annoying man any of the nth opportunities he had given him. The answer he found was still the same - Pride did not deserve to die, neither did his wife or his dragon or the green-haired lady, not even Fingers, but they all would come tomorrow - unless he did what the Blue Lady had ordered him to do in that infuriatingly casual voice before going to bed: 'It would be a shame to let your talents go to waste again - be a dear and go kill Sodger for me. If that stops the Hellfire Army as it should, the walking dressing puppets will be a laughing stock come tomorrow.'

 

Isirion looked at the seemingly asleep form of the Blue Lady on the four-pillar-bed, one strike with his blade and the most corrupted noble of them all would be no more and Sodger would most likely leave the city and everyone in it alone. One strike and Celeris would loose her mother forever...One strike would also be all it took to betray and kill Sodger, the man he respected more than anyone else, the man whose ideals he shared. The man that had ordered him to kill every corrupted noble...

 

Thoroughly conflicted, Isirion continued to pace around the room, until an idea struck him. It was an absolutely crazy idea, but luckily by now he knew a whole bunch of crazy people to make it work. In a heart-beat he shook the Blue Lady awake and asked her: "Where is Celeris?" Lady Cerulia Phirestone opened her eyes as if it was a perfectly normal way to be woken and answered with the faintest hint of a pleased smile: "She told her servant that she will be hiding with the winner of the Search game at the Marrovargs. You should know the place." Isirion looked confused for a moment, then he asked: "Was that the place you sent me to bring all the bodies you could not dispose off in public? The underground one connected to your private arena?" "That's the one, I am glad you haven't forgotten all the fun times we had." Isirion spat a curse, but could not fully suppress the ghost of a grin. His mind a lot clearer now that he had a plan, he said: "We have to go there. Now." Cerulia threw off her blanket and revealed that she was still fully dressed and armed, pointed at her heel with her whip and said: "Then be a good boy and follow me."

 

About half an hour later in the underground tunnels inside the Marrovarg graveyard complex

 

Panting slightly, but trying to suppress every sign of it, with Death right at her heel, the Blue Lady slammed a knocker shaped like a grinning skull against the granite door of the Marrovarg eternal sleeping chamber and awoke everyone in the vicinity. Then she shouted in her most commanding and resonating voice: "Celeris Phirestone and everyone who shelters here with her - present yourself at once!"

Edited July 18, 2023 by Isirion

[Alzira]

Alzira shot straight up, her heart beating like mad. So much for eternal rest, she had slept for  two hours at best, give or take.

Who would come to the Marrovarg´s at this hour anyway? She didn´t have to wait long for that answer for she could hear the command booming through the halls almost immediately. There was no doubt in her mind who had come knocking. She took a quick glance at Celeris´ bed to check on the reaction of the young girl at the voice of her mother. Nevertheless she hurried to make herself presentable.

 

Sappo was on high alert as well, quite noticeable on his blue flame. Alzira tried to calm him down with soothing words and a few crickets. Finally she got him to his red flame again and patted at her shoulder, where he could watch and hide in her hair at the same time.

 

Then she followed her roommate and the other occupants of the guestrooms toward the Marrovarg´s eternal sleeping chamber. She looked around to gather bits of information such as how worried did the different people- hosts, servants and guests- look.

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Alzira

[Isirion]

Celeris seemed torn between trying to obey her mother's command as fast as she could and trying not to look like she had slept in her clothes. The effect was that she almost jumped out of bed and ran towards the door, but stopped every two seconds or such trying to straighten her costume. Outside in the torch-lit hallway it got even worse because the girl tried to brush dirt off her trousers while speeding along the corridor. A wall of legs stopped her, belonging to the burly casket bearers that had just stumbled out of their quarters. Celeris picked herself up and hastened away - this time simultaneously trying to clean her hands and fingernails. A few seconds later she came back looking quite embarrassed and mumbled: "I apologize bumping into you", then she took off again with the approximate speed of light and an effort to comb the hair that almost flew behind her with her fingers. Looking after her, the casket bearers remembered why they were standing in the hallway in the dead of the night and started running to. They knew the servant and guest quarters weren't that far from the main chamber, so they could slow down before the last corner, catch their breath and try to fix up their appearance too.

 

Pride on the other hand in the other guest chamber had not even got out of bed yet. Hearing the Blue Lady's voice had sent him into some kind of shock. Felicia threw a tombstone-shaped pillow at him to try and snap him out of it, but it did not work as intended. Her husband picked up the pillow and draped it over his face, folded his hands on his breast and said a bit muffled: "Good thinking, that way if someone comes, they will just think I am another corpse waiting to be interred or embalmed and leave me alone." Felicia ripped the pillow from her husbands face and teased: "Do you think there will be enough left of you to be interred or embalmed if the Blue Lady finds out, you tried to hide from her command?" A second later, shaking slightly Pride was out of bed, fully clothed and holding out his arm with a very forced grin: "T-Then let's go face Death with a grin right...Till Death do us part?" Felicia happily gripped her husbands arm and whispered: "I knew there was a reason besides butterflies why I married you" Together they walked as fast as they could in the direction the commanding voice had come from.

 

Behind the door to the Marrovarg eternal sleeping chamber, Lord Marrovarg seemed half angry, half panicked while trying to put on his shoes, trousers and shirt: "We should have informed the Nebs, the moment we discovered their escaped fugitive was on our premises. She must have found out and now she is going to execute everyone who has been an accomplice." Lady Marrovarg who had spent her time peering through the eye of a skull to find out the exact situation outside, looked even more panicked: "I think you are right, because she brought her personal executioner with her." Lord Marrovarg sprinted towards the peeping eye-hole and took a peek himself, then he sank back on the bed and whispered: "What can we do?" "Ouch!" In his near-panic Lord Marrovarg had tried to sit down on the wrong bed and accidently woken up Pip who somehow had managed to sleep through everything. Now however he was awake and demanding to know what was going on. Lady Marrovarg, who had used the time to finish dressing herself, quickly hushed him and explained: "Cery is here and we think she wants to execute us all." Pip rubbed his face, hair, ears and eyes to make sure he was really awake and had heard correctly, then he whispered: "But Celeris is here too." Suddenly he found himself whirled around the room and both Marrovargs exclaimed: "Pip - you are a genius. She won't kill us, when we explain that we protected her daughter from the chaos in the city. Quickly get dressed and try to look your best!"

 

In front of the door to the Marrovarg eternal sleeping chamber, Isirion had positioned himself against the nearby wall and pulled his hood even deeper so that his eyes, shadowed by the hood stayed the colour the Veiled Lady liked. A second later he pushed his hood up again and cursed inwardly. He should not be thinking about what the Veiled Lady liked, instead he should focus on cooperating with her...Isirion cursed again because, despite the place, certain memories just did not want to stay dead and burried. It was as if no time had passed at all, even though he had not seen her in years - after less than an hour in her presence, he was back to acting like an obedient pet hungry for his master's approval. He tried to convince himself while he lowered his hood again, that it was necessary to stay in her good graces for the plan to even start, but at the same time he knew that was certainly not the whole reason. Almost too close for comfort, the Blue Lady had placed herself right opposite the chamber doors, seemingly impervious to any doubt and unfazed by the late hour. Her posture was beyond regal and the aura she emanated was brimming with confidence that everyone who heard her command would do his or her utmost to appear without fail or delay.

Edited July 30, 2023 by Isirion

[Alzira]

Alzira hurried forward, only to stop in front of the doors that seperated the inhabitants of the Marrovarg´s premises and the Blue Lady.

 

She chose a place apart from the servants and her hosts, but not too close to Celeris either, so she would be seen as a guest, but not as a lackey or far more dangerous, a threat to the Lady´s daugther, which could be quite a fine line to tread. One step further could define her position as hostile, but she was quite sure that should she be perceived so, the girl would have been trained exceptionally well to defend herself. She  indicated to Pride an Felicitas to chose a similar distance.

 

Alzira took a few slow and deep breaths to center herself, petted Sappo and prepared for the oncoming confrontation. In the end, she was prepared to fight, at least with words.

Edited September 23, 2023 by Alzira