Ground Rules

The reaction was instantaneous, and very vocal. Jaina immediately threw herself towards her daughter, fighting with a sudden grip on her wrist from Warde, alternating fluidly between screaming at the King and Lily to screaming at him, him dragging her away towards the door, Liliana, still on the floor, throwing herself forwards only to be held back by some more damned Will, calling out to her, fighting furiously with an invisible bond, "Mama! Mama, don't, please -"

"Lily! Lily, listen to me! Get your hands off me, get off!"

"Mama!"

"You stay away from her, keep back! Lily!"

"Warde!"

"Lily!" she managed to yank herself away from him, but barely got two steps back before he and another guard caught hold of her again. She fought ferociously with the holds before yanking her head up, her crystal hair layered over her face, "Liliana." She said, panting slightly, "Lily, listen to me. You have to fight. You have to fight."

"Mama?"

They were dragging her away towards the big, heavy door, "Lily! Defend yourself! Don't worry about me, fight dammit! Listen to me, Lily, I -"

But the door slammed shut, covering whatever she had been about to say. Liliana had stopped fighting. She stood perfectly still, eyes locked on the closed wooden doors. Her breathing hurt.

"Well," the man behind her said, slowly, "That was... dramatic..."

Lily didn't reply. She heard him moving closer, and her attention quickly moved to him. She met his amber eyes, saying nothing. The slightest frown moved over his face, and he moved closer, "Too dramatic. Are you alright?"

"Well." She managed, finally, her voice breathy and quiet, "You have left me in... quite the predicament, sir. Because... if Warde so much... as touches my mother... I will tear the whole lot of you to pieces."

He gave a small smile, "As strong as you are, I doubt it, my dear Hero."

"Do not underestimate me, sir." She said, her voice perfectly quiet, perfectly calm, "I do not care if it is now, or tomorrow, or even in ten years time, I will kill you. All of you."

The man watched her for a moment. Then he shook his head, "I apologise for distressing you so, Liliana. I will leave you to think about this. There is much to be done. For now, make yourself comfortable. The castle is yours."

"For now I will start with finding my mother." she replied, immediately.

"You may enter any room in the castle providing the door is unlocked. Any locked rooms will remain, for the moment, inaccessible."

"And the dungeons are which way?"

"When you wish it, a room on the second floor, south-east wing, has been prepared for you." He continued, again as if he hadn't heard her.

"Is that right." She said, uninterestedly.

"Any of the servants will help you should you lose your way."

She looked at him. "The dungeons. Which way are they."

He paused for a second, watching her. "They are below the ground floor. If you continue along this way, the stairs are by the atrium." She moved immediately, "But the door is locked."

She stopped. Turned back to him. "Then unlock it."

He remained indifferent, "I have gone over the system, have I not? If the door is open you may come and go as you please. If the door is locked, the room is inaccessible to you."

Lily gave a small, sceptical snort, "We'll see how 'inaccessible' it is."

"Liliana."

She looked at him, raising her eyebrows, "Yes, my lord?"

He looked at her for a second. "What impetuous boldness for one so young."

"What mulish obstinacy for one so old." She returned, deftly.

There was another pause. Then he shook his head, taking the glove from the font and pulling it back on, easily, "I will take my leave. By all means, please explore your surroundings."

She shook her head, "I have no need to. I do not intend to stay."

"Then feel free to do whatever you wish. The servants' quarters are towards the western side of the castle, if you need anything, please stop there. They will give you whatever is in their power to give."

"Does that include a master key?"

A small smile graced his lips, "I'm afraid not." He bowed to her, politely, "Good day, Liliana. And... do try to think over your situation. Jaina is gone, Liliana. Do not allow your thoughts to linger overlong. You will forget her, given time."

Liliana shot him a scathing, withering look, "There, dear sir... you could not be more wrong."

"No!"

Jaina bolted towards the door as it shut, but hands grabbed her shoulders, wrenching her back, away, dragging her back down the corridor.

"Liliana!"

She fought ferociously against their grips, the knowledge that her hands were being bolted together by some sort of handcuffs not escaping her attention.

"LILIANA!"

Her heart pounded in her stomach, her chest, her palms, she couldn't slow it down, couldn't stop it. She felt hands dragging her down the long corridor, and fought hard to regain calm, "Let me go. Let me go!"

"Jaina, if you don't stop struggling, we will have to restrain you in a more... permanent manner." Warde said, his voice completely casual, "Is that understood?"

She hesitated, letting the threat wash over her for a moment, her mind supplying a suitably vicious curse. This was why she hated people knowing about her invulnerability. People suddenly had a lot more leverage on her - what was one bullet in her head when they knew it couldn't kill her, but only subdue her?

As the hands pulled her back again she didn't struggle. Her mind was running like clockwork, trying frantically, desperately, to think of something she could do, anything she could do, to stop this happening. This couldn't happen. This couldn't happen.

"Tell me, Warde," she said, her voice quiet and stable as her insides shook, "Do you have children?"

He shook his head, not even glancing at her as they negotiated her down the long hallways, "I don't think that would be possible."

They passed a coat of arms. It seemed almost completely black, but as Jaina tried to glance at it they pulled her on, "Maybe so." She glanced at the halls around them, trying to get some small bearing of who made this castle and why. "So what are you. Temple of Shadows?"

Her captor gave a small laugh, "Nothing so transitory, I'm afraid. We're part of the Sect of Blades."

She glanced at him, cocking an eyebrow, "How ominous."

He smiled, "Quite."

"But not good enough to be one of the Court, am I right?" she was trying to goad him. She needed space, if only a little. Then she could go find Liliana.

But Warde did not so much as blink, "It's not a matter of skill or ability. The Court are spawned, not taught."

"Spawned?" again he didn't look at her, and she shook her head, "So... what does the Sect of Blades... do, what's it for?"

"We were created many decades ago to further the Blades' cause. We are to resurrect them whenever we can, and spend the rest of our efforts on preparing this world for their return."

"'Preparing'? Preparing how?" he didn't reply. Jaina ground her teeth, frustratedly. If this was how their conversations were going to go, she'd have preferred the bullet to the head. She glanced down at the binds on her hands. Then back to him again, "Take these off. There's no need for them here, surely."

Perhaps she could take them. She was without sword or Will, but if she had the advantage of surprise...

"No." he replied, putting that idea down in a hurry.

"Why."

"Because there is no need for you to die again tonight." He replied, evenly. She glared at him, and he shot her a small, curious glance, "Why is it that you fight when you have no chance of changing anything?"

"Because I have to." She cut back, sharply. She paused, and then took in a breath, "You are going to kill my daughter." Saying it out loud solidified it, confirmed it. Her fingers started to shake again. "I hope you can understand the fact that I cannot let that happen."

"Tell me," he said, giving a small, nasty-looking smirk, "What is it exactly about your current situation that makes you think you have a choice?"

Jaina shook her head, ignoring his words, feeling tears pick behind her eyes as her heart thudded in her chest. No choice. No chance. No choice. She couldn't save herself, let alone Liliana.

Liliana.

"I will find a way," she replied, fiercely, "I can't let it happen. I won't let it happen."

Not again.

"You know nothing. I should have gone out into the dark and found your body that night. But I was hasty. I let the bloodline flourish."

Oh God, not again. Not the flashbacks, not here. Not the memories, not the shivers, not the shakes, she had nowhere to go in this hell, no small, secluded spot where she could wait it out, wait for it to pass. Not here. No. Control yourself, Jaina. Not here.

"And you... have flourished."

No. Not again. This couldn't happen. Not another child, not another life, she wouldn't let them, she couldn't let them, she knew she wouldn't stand the pain of another lost child, another empty chair, another empty grave with no body to bury.

"But this time is different. The last of the Heroic blood will flow out onto this hilltop."

No. Stop. Stop stop STOP! She could NOT handle this right now! She was panting, her heart pounding, wincing and flinching as memories pounded against her mind, her sanity, the Spire Guards' whips on her back, their hands on her skin, her daughter's face, completely blank, when seeing her for the first time in over ten years, little Rose Marie.

She'd stopped. She hadn't noticed. Her guards had. But this time they didn't drag her along. They just stared at her, Warde watching the emotions flickering over her face with an almost wary interest.

"Just as it now spatters the walls of your family home."

No. No. NO!

"Your husband and children are dead."

Jaina bit into her lip until she tasted blood. She staggered, caught her weight on one of the walls, barely standing. She looked up. Violet eyes met hers. Silent. Expectant.

"Kill me." she said, her voice shaking.

Warde looked at her for a moment, and then smirked, "With pleasure."

After almost three hours of trying and failing to find an unlocked passage into the dungeons, Liliana had made her way slowly to the room on the second floor in the south-east wing. She just needed time, she had thought, if she just played along with this madman's wishes she would have the time she needed, and then she would think of something. Her first sight of her room, though, changed her mind completely. The man wasn't mad. He was vicious.

The room was decorated like The Seraphim.

She had hesitated. She had paused. Everything, down to the smallest detail, the pattern on the cherry wood table, was identical to her old captain's cabin. The red and gold stood out proudly against the black and brown, the shade of cherry wood, the smell of cherry wood.

Liliana looked around herself, quickly. She frowned over the out-of-place wooden cabinet for a moment, before freezing in her place as she realised what was in it.

The Red Dragon.

She was over there in a shot, but nothing she could do would make the damned thing open. It was fitted inside a wooden cabinet, so alike to the many The Seraphim had sported, with a delicate glass front, one that should have cracked so easily with the blow of a nearby marble ornament, but stayed completed unscathed.

Another pause. Another think. Then she shook her head and strode over to the window, swiftly, levering it open and leaning out a little. The sea, lapping at bare cliffs. And a fifty foot drop to the rocks below.

She gave a low, dissatisfied growl, and turned back to the room. She hesitated. It was so like her Seraphim it was almost unsettling. The open window allowed her to hear the calls of the seabirds outside, and the distant rumble of the sea against rock, coupled with the salty smell of unpurified water carried on a westward wind. The whole scene was quite disorientating.

Liliana let her eyes close for a second. If she concentrated, she could vaguely hear the sound of voices on the floors above and below, and, if she let herself believe it, she was sure she could smell the iron-like taint of gunpowder. The Seraphim...

She opened her eyes. Looked around her. She calculated the differences, forcing herself to recognise them. The walls beneath the cherry-wood panelling were stone. The window was long, thin and rectangular, instead of the small, circular portholes on her old ship. The voices, though faint, were completely unfamiliar, and the floor below her feet was oh-so-stable.

She moved over to the luxurious king-size bed - her bed - and sat down, slowly. This was mad. This was insane. Had he actually thought that she would appreciate this? That she would appreciate her prison looking exactly like her ship. Perhaps he thought he would make her feel more at home, that she would truly consider this her home.

He was mad.

Lily moved her gaze dully around the room. Some things in there didn't quite strike true. An unfamiliar vase of white rhododendrons sat on the bedside table, and, fleetingly, the young pirate wondered whether her 'lord' had been unable to find lilies. Or, perhaps, unable to tell the difference. Not that it mattered, of course. She much preferred orchids.

And in purple. Liliana didn't like white, as a whole. It felt to her far too pure, and gimmicky, too, as if staged. Plus it was a devil to keep clean. She wondered why their Majesty hadn't picked her dislike of the colour up, and, if he had, why he had bothered to put the flowers in. He seemed to know pretty much everything else about her, after all. Perhaps he was trying to convert her. Liliana smirked at the idea. She was hardly the Queen type - though she had a royal grace and beauty, that was where the similarities ended - and it was obvious the King knew it. His attempt at indoctrination was laughable. She knew where her loyalties lay.

Her eyes wandered back to her Red Dragon. Her Red Dragon. To have that back in her hands again... She knew the feel of it as well as she knew herself, knew every grain of the handle, the slightest scratch along the barrel that had existed ever since she had first laid eyes on it.

No, this wasn't home. Not by a long shot

This was hell.