Chronicles of Espiria Season 2
Episode 23.1 – The Fall of the House of Vedan
Written by the Dude
A knock at the door echoed throughout the sprawling mansion of Count Vedan. A lone human servant, exhausted from days of restless sleep in the home of the vampiric count, ran to answer the door before his master could grow angry with him. The servant was met by a noblewoman in an ancient but well maintained royal dress, accompanied by two children, a boy and a girl, also dressed in archaic finery.
"Queen Karen to see Count Vedan." the woman said in a careless tone, as if expending her breath in this mortal's presence was more than he deserved.
"I will announce you. Please, follow me." the servant answered timidly.
He led Karen and her entourage through the foyer and up a secret flight of stairs to Vedan's secret library, where he kept his forbidden collection concerning the secrets of necromancy. It was here that Vedan and his children were to be found this day.
"Pardon the intrusion, my lord," the servant said with trepidation, praying that Vedan would, in fact, forgive the intrusion, "but Queen Karen and her children, Izna and Sebastian, seek an audience."
Vedan looked up and smiled at the sight of his fellow blood priest, while Isabella and Sylvina frowned at the sight of her children; while Vedan was rather fond of Karen, Sylvina and Isabella had great difficulty getting along with Izna and Sebastian.
"Karen," Vedan said warmly, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Can I not simply visit an old friend on a whim?" she responded with a subtly flirtatious air.
"Oh, if only you liked me enough for such a thing to be possible." Vedan said with a chuckle as he led Karen to a seat. "Plus, your annual visit to Bantus was weeks ago, far too long ago for this to be a stop on a whim on the way back."
Karen sighed, then responded, "It is my boy. I fear there might be something wrong with him."
"Really?" Vedan's tone asked her to elaborate.
"One minute, he was helping Izna with her blade practice, and the next, he was swearing as loudly as he could that we were surrounded by Hypogeans. It frightened Izna out of her wits!"
"And I imagine you found it a bit disconcerting as well."
"Of course. You of all people know how hard it can be to find a good mage; whatever is wrong with him, it would be much easier to repair him than to replace him. Besides, Izna has grown so fond of him."
"He is my brother." Izna stated.
"Interesting." Vedan said as he pondered Karen's problem. "You know, we had a similar incident with Sylvina. Remind me, the boy has died and been resurrected before, has he not?"
"He has. He allowed one of his spells to get away from him and wound up impaling himself on a piece of wall. Izna begged me to resurrect him, and you know that I cannot say no to that face."
"That could be the key, then." Vedan said as he began to pace. "Isabella has a theory that Sylvina's death made her more attune to the voice of Lord Quadam, and that her fit was a sort of warning from him."
"A warning?" Karen asked, more concerned rather than less. "A warning of what?"
"A very good question, Karen, and one that we are already trying to answer."
Sylvina continued to watch Izna and Sebastian, while Isabella resumed her studies.
"How long have they been searching?" Karen asked.
"Since Sylvina recovered. Actually, if Sebastian's fit was at the same time as Sylvina's, then I'm quite surprised at the speed with which you arrived here. You did not fly, did you? The last thing we need is to draw the attention of the Path of Ascension."
"We did fly short distances at a time, but I felt that time was of the essence. Do not concern yourself, though; we were careful to avoid notice."
"Sylvina, what is wrong?" Isabella asked.
Vedan and Karen looked to Sylvina and found her standing perfectly still in a bizarre pose.
"This is a new symptom." Vedan observed. "Did Sebastian do this?"
"Not at home, but he is now. Look."
Indeed, Sebastian was just as frozen as Sylvina, and completely unresponsive to Izna's attempts to rouse him.
"Brother, what is wrong?" she shouted.
"Father, there is clearly more wrong with them than we can imagine." Isabella said. "We should take them to..."
She was not allowed to finish. At that moment, Sylvina drew her knives and made to stab Isabella, missing only because Isabella chose that moment to shift her weight on her legs. At the same time, Sebastian cast a bolt of necromantic energy at Karen and Vedan, who managed to deflect it with a wave of Karen's wand. Isabella, in a desperate bid to escape from Sylvina's attacks, created a small portal that took her to the basement; unfortunately, it also brought Sylvina and Izna. Izna and Isabella were on their feet in moments, and managed to hide themselves among the clutter before Sylvina could realize what had happened.
Back in the library, Sebastian continued his magical assault on Karen and Vedan, who were having increasing difficulty defending against him.
"We can't keep this up forever!" Karen observed.
"Agreed." Vedan said as he looked around. "Come with me!"
Vedan took Karen's hand and led her quickly from the library. Sebastian was quick to pursue, but soon lost them in the foyer as they converted to their bat forms and hid in the rafters.
"I do not know why, but I always found your bat form rather fetching." Vedan said with a raised eyebrow.
"This is no time to be cheeky, Vedan."
Meanwhile, Isabella and Izna were still hiding from Sylvina.
"Sister, whatever it is that has possessed you, you must fight it!"
"Lord Quadam has commanded that all Graveborn return to Bantus." Sylvina said in an emotionless monotone. "You have resisted his summons, therefore your life is forfeit."
While Sylvina spoke, she spotted Isabella behind a crate. Once she finished her pronouncement, she charged at Isabella again, but this time, the assault was blocked by Izna and her blades.
Back in the foyer, Vedan and Karen were still hiding in the rafters from Sebastian.
"I know you are here somewhere, traitors!" Sebastian shouted. "I will tear this mansion apart if I must to find you!"
"We have to get out of this house!" Karen whispered to Vedan.
"Agreed. There is an escape route in the attic that I built for just such an emergency. We need only a distraction so that we can reach the attic undetected."
"I can handle that. I just hope you have no attachments to your mortal pet."
Karen closed her eyes and twisted her face in concentration. Moments later, Vedan's human servant appeared in the foyer.
"My lord, did you summon me?" he asked aloud, concerned about being in the open after the commotion he heard.
"Begone, human, before I snuff your life out!" Sebastian shouted, his attention temporarily focused on the human.
This was all the distraction Vedan and Karen needed. They crawled along the ceiling until they found a small hole that they could crawl through, then relaxed somewhat as they slipped through it.
"I know that the boy is trying to kill me," Karen said, "but I am quite proud of the power and tenacity he has shown today."
"He has proven to be quite a challenge. Though it may be wise to teach him some tracking spells; he most certainly would have found us had he had access to them."
"Actually, I have taught him a few tracking spells; I wonder why he has yet to use them."
Meanwhile, Isabella watched and waited for an opportunity to help as Sylvina and Izna clashed in a near-incomprehensible blur of dance and blade. Finally, Izna managed to jump away from Sylvina after suffering an injury to her arm. As Sylvina prepared to finish Izna, Isabella took the brief opportunity to reap some of Sylvina's energy, leaving her suddenly weary. Isabella then used a binding spell on Sylvina to prevent her from attacking anymore, though this proved difficult due to her own inexperience with this sort of spell and to Sylvina's determination.
"Sister, we do not wish to harm you!" Isabella said through her struggles.
"Speak for yourself!" Izna retorted. "I will enjoy cutting her head off!"
"Izna, that is neither true nor helpful!" Isabella said rather more harshly than she meant.
"Just let me at her again! I'll show her which of us is the better assassin! No one outclasses a daughter of..."
"Izna, you talk too much." Sylvina said calmly.
At that moment, Isabella lost control of the binding spell and Sylvina broke free. Before Isabella could repair the spell, Sylvina dashed forward and sliced Izna's head off at the mouth. The swiftness and brutality of the kill shocked Isabella enough that she dropped her spellbook. Sylvina stood with her back to Isabella for a moment, relishing the defeat of Izna, then looked over her shoulder and fixed her murderous gaze on Isabella. Sylvina walked briskly toward Isabella, fully ready to carry out her orders against the free Graveborn, while Isabella knelt and hurriedly turned her book to one of the center pages. Before Sylvina could strike, Isabella leaped into the book, vanishing from the room as the book closed itself behind her.
About that same time, Vedan and Karen emerged into the attic, taking on their human forms again. Cluttered with old family heirlooms and knick knacks, it was difficult to see the escape route until Vedan pointed it out.
"There, just to the left of the window: a small hole plugged by a cork. We need only to pull the cork, resume our bat forms, and vanish into the night."
"Good," Karen said as she started walking toward the hole, "then we can turn our attention to fighting back against..."
She never finished. She was struck in the back by a curse that incinerated her nearly instantly. Vedan did not need to look to know that the curse was cast by Sebastian, nor ask to know that he had, in fact, used a tracking spell of some sort to follow them and surprise them. Had he been in less immediate danger, Vedan may have been able to appreciate the boy's tactical cleverness. Instead, he transformed into a swarm of bats and scattered moments before Sebastian cast another curse; this curse missed Vedan entirely and shattered the glass in the window, making an easy escape route for Vedan. Sebastian could only watch in disappointment as Vedan slipped through the window and vanished into the night.
Vedan circled the mansion once, drinking in the sight of his home, knowing that it may be some time before he could return. Just as he was about to take off in search of a cave for temporary shelter, he spotted Isabella sitting curled up in a ball with her back against the house. As he landed before her and resumed his human form, he noted how odd it was to see her without a book clutched in her arms. Of course, it was even more odd to see her without Sylvina nearby, but this did not occur to Vedan at first.
"Isabella, thank Quadam you are all right!"
"Father!"
Isabella stood and embraced Vedan. Had she tears to shed, she would surely have soaked Vedan's cloak with them.
"I am sorry, Father; I could not save Sylvina or Izna."
"Are they dead?" Vedan asked, obviously more curious than concerned about Sylvina's fate.
"Izna is. Sylvina is still trapped in the basement. Celestials forgive me, I abandoned her!"
"Do not blame yourself, Isabella. Whatever has gone wrong with Sylvina and Sebastian, it is beyond our power to repair at the moment. Our priority right now is to find a safe haven so we can determine what to do next in peace."
"I know what we must do." Isabella said with forceful determination. "We must speak with Mr Niru. If anyone can help Sylvina, it will be him."
"Niru? Are you sure that you do not just want to see Daimon?"
"It would be nice as well to see him safe," Isabella said with what might have been a blush if she had blood, "but we still need a way to save Sylvina, and Mr Niru is the cleverest man I can think of."
"Very well. I have no better ideas anyway. But if Niru's home is not safe, we will not try to rescue Daimon. We will run, fast, and we will not look back. Is that understood?"
"Yes Father." Isabella said as she brushed the decaying grass from her dress in preparation to leave.
Back in the mansion, Sebastian destroyed the lock on the heavy door into the basement, allowing Sylvina to reenter the foyer.
"Isabella escaped." Sylvina reported in an emotionless monotone.
"As did Vedan." Sebastian responded.
"We need to pursue them."
"Where might they be going?"
Sylvina thought for a moment. "She will want to see a friendly face, so she will seek out Daimon at the Exalted Niru's home.
"Good. Lord Quadam has ordered that we guard this mansion in case the traitors return. He has sent others to deal with the traitors at the Exalted Niru's home."
"Hail Lord Quadam."
"Hail Lord Quadam."