EPISODE 2
Rose Velve'Pa'Das watched with mild interest as the members of her family filed one by one through the doors of the Matron's room and came back out again, refusing to meet her gaze. A chill smile lit her lips. They knew. They knew what was about to happen, but none of them knew what the results would be. That suited Rose fine. She watched as her youngest sister, Kirisstind, strode confidently through the doors, directing a malevolent look in the older Priestess's direction. Rose smiled coldly at Kirisstind but the smile faded the instant the younger Drow was through the door.
Something was up, and Rose didn't like it.
But as the hours passed, her nervousness about Kirisstind's glare faded and impatience set in. It hadn't taken her mother this long to assign the others their tasks for the year, what was taking her so long with Kirisstind?
She jumped at the feeling of something rough and wet against her hand. Startled, she looked down into the luminous yellow eyes of Slayer, the pet panther she had found on a trip she had taken out of the Underdark and up to the surface in the last war they had waged against the faerie people. Smiling slightly, she gently rubbed the black panther's ears.
"Hello there, Slayer," she said lightly. "Feeling lonely, were you? Don't let the others catch you though, alone without me. I don't know if you've noticed but they don't take all that kindly to you." Slayer purred deeply in answer and rubbed his head up against Rose's robes.
"Disgusting animal," sneered a sickeningly familiar voice. "I don't know why you bother keeping it." Rose continued to scratch Slayer for a moment more before bothering to reply. She got slowly to her feet and drew herself up to her full height (a good six inches more than Kirisstind) and glared down at her sister.
"He may be an animal," she said coldly, "but he's better company than some of the people around here." A spider-shaped knife flashed in Rose's hand and was gone again as fast as it had appeared. "Now get lost, before I decide you're no longer useful." Kirisstind's eyes flashed with malice, but she knew she was outmatched - for the moment at least. She backed down and turned to stalk away.
"Ah, ah, ah, Kirisstind!" Rose called after her. "You should know better than to take leave of a higher-ranking priestess with such disrespect." Kirisstind turned and glared at her.
"My apologies, Priestess of Lloth," she said bitingly, bowing low. "I hope you can forgive me." She added something under her breath that Rose couldn't quite catch and stood glaring at Rose for a long moment until she realized that Slayer was glaring at her and growling low in his throat, standing protectively in front of Rose.
"Dismissed," Rose said simply, turning her back in a whirl of black robes and entering their mother's chambers. Kirisstind stood glaring after her and her panther as they walked through the doors. Almost idly she pulled a long, slender knife out of her sleeve and raised the blade in front of her face.
"I will enjoy my task for this year I think," she told the knife. "I will enjoy it very much indeed."
Forgetting about Kirisstind for the moment, she had far more important things on her mind, Rose advanced confidently through the doors to the Matron's room, studying the interior around her and making a list of changes that would have to be made.
"Taking stock already I see," said a cold voice from the back of the room. Rose turned her attention to the large throne at the back of the room. It was carved of ebony and slightly resembled a spider in its design. A chill smile flickered across Rose's face.
And it's just my size too, she thought to herself. She at last turned her attention away from the throne to the woman sitting on it. She was a tall and imposing Drowess, who bore a striking resemblance to Rose. A finely chiseled face that looked as though it had been set in stone was framed by thick white hair that fell in waves around it. Her eyes were narrowed at the moment and she glared at Rose challengingly. "I am not dead yet, Rose," she said plainly.
"You will be," Rose replied. "Unless you're willing to abdicate to me without a fight." The Matron gave a short burst of laughter.
"Not likely," she said. "The throne of House Velve'Pa'Das is mine. And it will be as long as I am breathing."
"You have run this House into the ground!" Rose snapped angrily. "Because of your ineptitude we are still only the fifteenth House of Ched Nasad! You are weak! I," she added harshly, "am not. Your time as Matron is up, mother." Coming from Rose's lips, the word sounded like an insult. "I hope you've made your peace with Lloth." A cold, cruel smile split the Matron's face and for an instant it was impossible to tell the two apart.
"We shall see who needs to make their peace," she spat each word as though they were dripping with venom and could themselves rid her of her troublesome daughter. "It was a mistake to let you live this long."
"It was not you who let me . . ." Rose had no more than the soft sound of a footfall as warning of the attack. Reacting instantly, she whirled around and to the side, just as a dagger flew from Kirisstind's hand toward her heart. Her quick reflexes, though they had saved her life, failed to save her from the dagger's metal blade. It sank deeply into her shoulder. She cried out and fell against a wall, clutching her arm.
"You missed!" The Matron cried, leaping up from her position on the throne. A glittering knife fell from her sleeve into her hand. "Oh well." Her eyes glittered malevolently down at Rose. "If you want something done right . . ." She raised her hand to let the dagger fly, but Rose was faster. She ripped the dagger out of her arm and threw it with her left hand at her mother. Her aim was off and instead of hitting the heart, it just grazed the Matron's wrist, but it was enough to make her drop the knife. Rose noticed with a sudden rising of panic that Kirisstind was again advancing on her. She couldn't take them both on at once. She quickly fitted two fingers to her lips and whistled sharply.
"Slayer!" She cried. "Help!" With a ferocious growl the panther came bounding out of the darkness, landing with a flying leap on top of Matron Velve'Pa'Das, who hardly had time to scream before the panther began ripping at her with claws and teeth. Kirisstind watched with an insane grin as the panther destroyed her mother.
"Now," she said, turning back to Rose. "You are the only one who stands in the way of my becoming Matron!" She pulled another hidden dagger out. "Once I've gotten rid of you . . ." Rose reached down to her boot and pulled a knife out of it.
"You're insane, Kirisstind," she snarled. "You think the others will follow you? There are two other females in line ahead of you. They're older and more powerful. You think they'll follow you if I die?" The cold cruel smile reappeared on Rose's face. "No, I think you're as good as dead if I die. There'll be no one left to protect you."
"I need no protection!" Kirisstind screamed, throwing herself at the older Drowess. Rose laughed suddenly and stepped to the side of the wild attack. She brought her own knife out and Kirisstind, unable to stop or even slow her charge, impaled herself upon it.
"You're weak," she hissed. "Like she was." She gestured towards the still screaming Matron. "I'd like to see you survive this wound. But just in case you do . . ." Her smile grew larger and she ripped the knife violently out of Kirisstind's stomach, bringing it up in a slashing motion. The blade ripped in a diagonal line across Kirisstind's once beautiful face. "I'll leave you something to remember me by." Kirisstind choked and fell to the ground. Rose laughed shortly and started to take a step forward but paused as a wave of dizziness passed over her.
"What . . ." Her eyes fell on Kirisstind's knife. "Poison . . ." Her head snapped up as the doors suddenly slammed open and the other two females of the Velve'Pa'Das family exploded into the room.
"Rose! What . . ." Their eyes widened when they spotted the carnage in the room. The tattered corpse of their mother, Slayer's bloodied muzzle, Kirisstind's sobbing form. All eyes turned to Rose who swayed slightly on her feet.
"You succeeded in killing her then," said one of the women. Laughter suddenly rippled from her lips. "But it seems that we succeeded as well. If I'm not mistaken, I do believe you've been poisoned." Rose glared in astonishment at her sister.
"You planned this?!" She demanded, falling to her knees weakly beside Kirisstind. "You double crossed me!"
"We double crossed everyone," replied the other sister. "We knew you'd face off against Mother eventually. So we took steps." She indicated Kirisstind. "Even poor Kirisstind there fit perfectly into our little plot." Rose shook her head in disbelief and tried to clear her mind of the poison's effects.
"You've got about two more minutes to live there, Rose," hissed the first sister. "Before that poison takes you out." Rose grit her teeth and feel to her hands and knees, her strength rapidly fading. I won't be beaten this easily, she swore to herself. I won't!! Something glinting in Kirisstind's pocket suddenly cut through the fog in her head. She reached out weakly and picked it up. It was a small bottle filled with an amber liquid.
"No!" Cried the first sister. "That's the . . ."
"Antidote," finished Rose with a smile. Before they could react, she snapped the top off and downed the whole bottle. The first sister glared at her and snapped a knife out of the sheath at her belt.
"Fine," she said. "I'll just kill you the old fashioned way."
"Not today," said the second.
"What . . ." The first had only managed to turn halfway around before her sister's dagger ripped through her heart. She gasped and toppled to the ground, an expression of surprise and hatred etched on her face. The sister that was still living started laughing insanely.
"Now," she cried, "I will be Matron!! No one can stand in my . . ." She was cut off as Rose's knife suddenly protruded from her throat. She fell to the ground with a gurgled cry.
"Fool," Rose snapped. "You always were a fool. You talk too much." She looked into her sister's now vacant eyes. "And now you won't ever talk again." She looked up at a startled cry from the doorway and looked into her uncle's startled eyes.
"Wait!" She cried, but it was too late. He took off at a dead run, shouting the news through the halls of the House. She glared after him. "Dammit! That idiot male! Now everyone will know! That means . . ." Her face paled slightly. Once the higher up houses found out about this, they'd descend upon House Velve'Pa'Das by night fall! She knew the Matrons of the other Houses considered her a threat and they would waste no time eliminating her while she was weak.
"Well," she said, glancing down at Slayer who peered up at her worriedly. "We just won't let them find me, now will we?" She glanced around at all the bodies littering the floor. "House Velve'Pa'Das is no longer." She quickly considered her options and realized that leaving, quietly, in the middle of the night, was her best bet. If the other Houses caught her, she'd be killed for sure. But if she left now, without anyone knowing, when House Velve'Pa'Das was attacked, it wouldn't be a clean swipe. She could return at a later date and take revenge against those who had destroyed her House and be adopted by another, more powerful House.
"That's it then," she told Slayer. "That's what we'll do." Waiting until she had regained some her strength, she struggled to her feet and shook her head as the poison's effects loosed their hold on her. "Come on Slayer. Let's go."
She was gone by sunset, and by sunrise, so was House Velve'Pa'Das.