--The Fourth Realm--
A fanfic taking place in the Realms of the Blood, created by
Anne Bishop whom I worship and pay tribute to every day.
Just kidding. Or so you think.
(Written by the Great and Powerful Keski,
spell checked by Microsoft Works Word Processor)
---
Chapter III
Black Widows
---
Lord Versiver eyed his wife's tangled web. "And what does it say?" he said finally. Kennesra drew a breath and let it out slowly.
"It says several things… all of which I don't understand." She let out a frustrated growl. "It says… The Ebon-Gray Black Widow will have a task ahead of her when she arrives."
"I presume that would be the Queen we sent Luseik to find."
"Most likely."
Versiver stretched his black, scaled wings out and yawned. "What else does the web say?"
"We will help, but beyond that which is demanded, we must not interfere."
Versiver nodded. "Such is often the case. What else?"
"Two more things. First, that the outcome, whether she succeeds or fails, will impact the fate of Dachrea and the Darkness itself."
Versiver blanched. "We'll be trusting the fate of our Realm to a foreign Black Widow? She doesn't even wear the Black."
Kennesra's gaze seemed to pierce Luseik's soul. "Neither does Satiyen. And yet were it not for him, you would be dead now."
Versiver frowned and waved a hand dismissively. "Don't dredge that up now, Kennesra. Anyway, what else does the web tell you?"
"Luseik, Satiyen, Keskes, her uncle, and her father will accompany her. Three of them will die, but… the web does not say which. I can't tell whether it refers to the final death, or the body's death."
Versiver frowned again. "This bodes ill," he said quietly.
"Indeed it does."
"Should we tell them?"
"I… No, I don't think so."
"After it happens… They'll find out we knew."
"They will. But Luseik will understand that it would only have made their task harder if we were to tell them."
"What if Luseik is one of…" he let the question hang unsaid in the air between them.
"Luseik…" She broke off. "We'll just have to hope… and pray to the Darkness that he is all right."
"Or that your web…" Versiver stopped himself.
"What?"
"Never mind… You wear the Black, and you are a skilled Black Widow. Your web would not be mistaken."
"Ah… I see. No, even the best make mistakes. Perhaps we would do well to hope I made one such mistake."
Versiver sighed. "I do hope my son will not come to harm in this task he's been appointed," he said. Kennesra laid one arm around his shoulder.
"Luseik will die honorably if he dies at all," she said. "Know that, at least, and let it comfort you. If Luseik must die, he will not die a pointless death."
"How do you know?" Versiver said quietly. "How can you know?"
"Because," Kennesra said, and smiled, "it wouldn't be like Luseik to go out without a bang." She chuckled and looked again at the tangled web. In one deft movement, she swept the entire thing up in her hand. The fragile silk ripped instantly. "No one shall see what was in this web," she said quietly. "Only you and I shall know what it showed."
Versiver nodded. They left the dark room together.
---
Alnevar fell to his knees, grateful to the point of tears that the day was over. A guard had beaten him for an hour over some perceived offense. Unable to strike back for fear of a whipping or worse, Alnevar had been forced to take it.
That guard, however, wouldn't be having much fun tomorrow, after he came down with an abrupt cold. A cold, yes. A cold that would steadily progress until the guard was coughing up blood. All of it. And when the guard had coughed up too much blood to sustain himself… Well, that'd just be too damn bad.
Granted, Alnevar hadn't done many of those spells, so it probably wouldn't go unnoticed. But he hadn't been able to sit there without striking back in some way. Either way, he was satisfied for the moment. He snapped his wings to their full span and let hundreds of sweat drops fly in every direction.
"Well, you're having fun," said a deep, amused voice. Alnevar jumped up and spun around to see an Eyrien.
Except he wasn't quite an Eyrien. Alnevar squinted to see in the moonlight--
Dragon's wings? Those had to be scales all over them, but…
The man's eyes flashed. He smiled. "Yes, they are dragon's wings. I am a draghan. You're niece and brother can explain it to you… For the moment, though, I need to take you back to them."
Alnevar bared his teeth. "I'm not going back there. I'd rather rot here than--"
The man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not this again. Look, I'm sure you can work your way around whatever problem you two have. Either way, my Queen wishes you to come with us, so you are coming."
Alnevar narrowed his eyes. "I can't go. I'm bound here by the Ring of Obedience. So sorry."
The man smirked. "One of those little trinkets? That won't be a problem." Too quick for Alnevar to react, the man was standing inches away from him. The man's hand grasped his organ. There was a jolt, an unleashing of dark power, and a soft clink as two broken pieces of a Ring of Obedience fell to the ground.
The man stepped back, an amused glint in his eyes. "Shall we go?"
Alnevar's eyes narrowed again. "Fine. But make sure Althemen knows I'm not happy about it."
"Oh, he would rather you stayed here as well. Your niece is the one who suggested that you come. I, personally, would suggest that we leave soon. They'll know your Ring was broken, and they'll be coming any moment now."
Alnevar nodded as he sensed the approaching presences of multiple Warlords. Luseik cloaked them both in sight and aural shields.
"Are your wings in good enough condition for flying?" Luseik asked, glancing around for the Warlords, which were dangerously close now. They stepped away from the broken Ring of Obedience.
"Should be," Alnevar said, flexing them. "I haven't been able to use them, but I stretch them just about every night."
"You should be fine," Luseik said. "Let's go."
They both launched themselves into the night sky and were gone.
A group of Warlords with Jewels ranging from Rose to Opal ran to the very spot where the two had just been standing, and looked around. The darkest Jeweled Warlord noticed a glint from the Ring and created a ball of witchfire to show it in light.
"It's his Ring of Obedience," he said quietly. "He's gone."
"How?" another asked.
"Zuultah won't be pleased," a third said. The first looked back.
"You're right. She won't. Although you won't have to worry about Zuultah's repercussions. Consider this a favor." He raised his right hand. As the opal-colored gem around his neck swung listlessly, the Black Jewel on his ring finger flashed. The Warlords surrounding him collapsed, dead. The man began to shimmer slightly, and in a flash, a little shadow creature stood in his place.
Keski panted. "The illussionss aren't that hard, but faking a Jewel iss complicated!" he exclaimed.
Satiyen looked up from where he was already feasting on the dead Warlords. "Whining as usual," he muttered before returning to his meal.
---
Anna looked at Althemen. "You don't look like you're getting enough sleep," she said.
"I'm not. It's nothing to do with you, though. It's--"
"Dorothea."
"Yes."
"I'm home now, Dad. I'm safe. I'm okay."
Althemen nodded. When he looked at her again, there were tears in his eyes. "You don't know how many nights of sleep I've lost, just wishing I could hold you again… But you're not my baby girl anymore." He smiled weakly.
Anna returned it gratefully. "Well, at least I don't have to deal with a clingy dad," she said. Then she laughed. "Although you can be if you want. You're coming to Dachrea, after all. You and me and Luseik and Alnev--"
Althemen snarled. Anna gave an exasperated sigh.
"Dad, what is your problem with Alnevar? What in the name of Hell did he do to make you hate him so much?"
Althemen's eyes narrowed. "You'll never stop asking, will you?"
"Not until I get an answer."
He sighed. "Alnevar killed Tesora."
Anna gasped. "Grandma? Alnevar?"
Althemen nodded.
Anna shook with many different emotions. The foremost one was confusion.
"But why? Why would he?"
"I don't know. All I understood was that it involved Caelar and a Black Widow."
"Caelar, Caelar--Grandpa?"
"Yes. My father. I would have killed Alnevar, but… I couldn't. I regret that now."
"Dad… I'll try to find out why. I'm sure he had a good reason."
"Oh, I'm sure he did. Although I never got to even find out from Tesora because after he killed her body, he burned out her mind as well."
Anna gasped.
There was a rapping at the door. "Room service," came Luseik's muffled voice.
"That guy's sense of humor is entirely too much for me," Althemen said dryly as he went to open the door.
Alnevar stood with Luseik. Althemen emitted a low growl without realizing it.
Alnevar followed suit.
"Murdering scum," Althemen growled, and raised the Ebon-Gray Jewel on his right hand.
"Backstabbing prick," Alnevar hissed, and flared his Eyrien wings.
"Squabbling children," Luseik muttered, and stepped between them. "Come on, now, we can't afford to kill each other before we get back to Dachrea. After all, I'm sure you'll want to at least meet Lord Versiver and Lady Kennesra before you kill each other."
The snarling and growling didn't stop.
"It's a great honor," Luseik continued, as if oblivious.
They continued.
"If you like, you can sleep on the way there." He waved a hand and bothAlnevar and Althemen collapsed. Luseik knelt down and slung one of them over each shoulder. He turned to Anna. "Shall we go, Queen?" he said kindly.
Anna hid her laugh under the façade of a polite cough. She stepped forward and followed Luseik to the Dark Altar that slept just minutes down the street.
---
When they arrived, and no sooner, Keski and Satiyen stepped out of the shadows.
"We took care of it," Keski said mysteriously.
"No one will know what happened," Satiyen added on, licking his paws fastidiously.
Luseik nodded. "Good." He turned to the Altar. A wave of his hands, and the candles lit themselves in quick succession, in a complicated pattern. The stone slab faded to mist.
Luseik entered first, making sure he had a good grip on each of the limp bodies before stepping into the swirling mist.
Keski went next. He seemed to meld into the mist as he vanished.
Satiyen motioned for Anna to take his paw and together they walked to the mist. Before stepping through, though, Satiyen turned to Anna. "Luseik really does love you," Satiyen said quietly. "Don't forget that. Don't let him go." Anna tilted her head, confused. As Satiyen pulled his paw away, she thought she felt something like a tiny tooth scrape gently across her hand. Her eyes widened. No, Satiyen had claws. It was probably…
Satiyen was gone. She didn't remember seeing him step through the mist.
Anna turned to the mist.
He really does love you.
Could Satiyen be…?
Don't forget that.
But Satiyen was a male.
Never let him go…
Anna smiled and ran through the mist.