23 From the Ashes, What Remains, pt 1

Shouting…

Crying…

Moaning…

The clash of steel ringing out on steel…

The smell of blood and sweat thick in the nostrils…

To each side and all around men, and women, and Animals jostled each other, wrestling back and forth, as they dodged and parried attacks as they killed one another...

Slashing…

Clawing…

Cutting…

Stabbing…

Bashing…

The training grounds were full of life and activity that turned into death and then a cold...still...quiet...

Trina's dark ebony cheeks were stained with dark red blood. Her blouse splattered and swords dripped with it as she moved through the impromptu battlefield. Anyone that stepped within the whirl of her blades died a quick excruciating death that was seemingly effortless for the Blade Master.

The men and women of the House Guard, her guard, men and women she herself had spent years if not decades and centuries training were now insurrectionists aligned with the Faline Lords. Very quickly they learned to avoid her, and that was fine by her. She had eyes for only one person, Gunngrul Faline.

Laughing as he parried a sword blade with his dirk, he stabbed his rapier into one of her Loyalists' breast. She gasped in pain, her eyes regretful as tears trickled down her cheeks. He spit in her face as he pushed her backwards so that she fell off his blade as the life lighting her eyes went out. She was still twenty yards or so from him when he turned and saw her.

His eyes opened wider in surprise and fear, and then suddenly Jafningi appeared in front of her flourishing his scimitars as he grinned evilly and purred, "It's high time this house had a new Blade Master!"

"So be it," She growled and assumed her perfectly balanced sword stance, "If you can take it from me, then so be it…"

They were still circling each other, looking for an opening in the other's defenses, trying to plan out an attack combination when Urthrina trotted up, "You are still a hundred years too young to challenge Blade Master Trina Armiano!" She chortled as she shouldered Trina aside with a glancing smile and a wink before purring, "Go! I will discipline this whelp!"

Trina blinked and then grinned as she backed away and ran after Gunngrul.

——(!)——

Beinbalkr huffed as she pulled her maul out of a stupid Svartalf male's face where she caved it in with a devastating attack. There were a few females that had also been stupid enough to align with Hayden, Gunngrul, and Rweble, but not many. There were also enough men that were wise enough to stay loyal to their wives and to Matron Forelain so it wouldn't be impossible to rebuild once this insurrection was quashed. Of course the men may get to have multiple wives for a time, but then, most marriages among the Svartalf were pretty open and accepting already.

"Time to retreat Pantler Beinbalkr," Byggja-byrr huffed through clenched teeth, "There is nothing we can do for Kvedja now!"

It was true, Kvedja lay in the center of Beinbalkr, Byggja-byrr, and Raudr-daga. She had taken multiple slashing attacks that striped her arms and legs, and then she was knifed in the back while another attacker stabbed her in the heart. Her eyes were still open and staring. Tears could still be seen on her wet cheeks, and drool and blood dribbled from her gaping mouth.

"Yes of course," Beinbalkr sighed as she knelt down to caress the girls cheek.

There was a scream as a new attacker charged Beinbalkr's back, and with a snarling scream of her own she spun as she stood and swung her hammer with all her might. The stupid males eyes bugged out of his eyes sockets as the huge square head of the 'Tenderizer' caught him square in the jaw. Bone shattered as muscle, tendon, and skin was torn asunder, then his right eye popped like a squashed grape as he was lifted off the ground and thrown several feet sideways to land in a heap as his brain and blood ran out of a crack in his skull.

"Goddess!" Raudr-daga gasped at the sight.

Beinbalkr turned to regard the girl just in time to see her eyes open wide in shock as a swords tip and blade suddenly sprouted from her chest. Her eyes rolled to Byggja-byrr and her mouth opened as if she were going to say something. Her lips quivered as tears ran down her cheeks, and her eyes crossed as Byggja-byrr screamed in anguished despair and ran to her.

Raudr-daga cleared her vision and tried to scream "No!" as eyes opened wide. She shook her head in denial as Byggja-byrr impaled herself on the sword in her chest as Byggja-byrr wrapped her in a hug and pecked her mouth with kisses. They fell to the ground together, dead and still locked in their embrace as the soldier standing behind Raudr-daga withdrew her sword and wiped the blood from the blade onto Byggja-byrr's uniform.

Beinbalkr had never seen this soldier before, a rare thing for her since she was the pantler and headed over the kitchen and cooking. She prided herself on knowing almost everyone within the Faline House, from the Matron to the lowliest scullery maid. However, right now, with all that was happening, she just didn't care anymore. The roar of indignation was the only sound she could hear in her head as she swung her maul as hard as she could.

Poor Raudr-daga...

Poor Byggja-byrr...

She would avenge them!

The treacherous, murdering, soldier deflected Beinbalkr's first blow with her shield but not without the impact splitting it in two. The soldier sneered from behind her shattered shield and stabbed at Beinbalkr with her sword. She had trained for many months with Weapons-master Trina. One simply doesn't have a maul named the 'Tenderizer' and doesn't learn how to use it correctly, and so, she knew from her training that every swing with her hammer left her open to attack. The answer was, Beinbalkr smiled maliciously as she shifted her weight and as if floating sidestepped dodging the warriors attack while twirling, using all of her momentum to supplement her strength, she swung so hard that when 'Tenderizer' connected with the soldier's shield it was shattered asunder, breaking her arm as she was sent flying across the room to land on a halberd.

The soldier gasped and then gurgled sickly as the long double edged spear point ran her through the abdomen just beneath her ribcage while the axe blade sliced through her belly and innards spilling her guts onto the floor beneath her as she struggled momentarily before sagging limply her blood drained out of her.

With a deep heaving sigh Beinbalkr lowered 'Tenderizer' to the floor and knelt down to caress Byggja-byrr and Raudr-daga's cheeks before sniffling and heaving another sigh of regret and standing up. Looking about she searched for Istas, Svartsilki, and Gloa...

——(!)——

Istas snarled as she tore a soldier's head from his shoulders before turning around only to have to jump back as another soldier slashed at her. Lunging at him, ripping long gashes across his belly, the soldier immediately grabbed at his stomach to hold his intestines inside as he tried to back away from her. She wasn't having it though, feigning left she darted right. She was a white blur as she hamstrung the soldier before coming back around and swiping her claws across his throat tearing muscle, arteries, and his esophagus out as he blinked in shock before falling to the floor.

She may not have been given any weapons at the start of this, but both of the men she just killed wielded kopis swords, so she was going to help herself now! Quickly she pulled the men's belts from their waists roughly in her haste and buckled them around her own so that a sheath rode on her right and left hip. Taking up the swords she sheathed them and then looked around until she found another dead soldier. This time a woman with a sturdy leather bra and britches. The bra seemed to still be intact but the britches were slashed and stained with blood. So she took the bra and found that the dead woman had very fine bracers, armguards, and several rings. Poaching her enemy of her belongings, she tied the bra and cinched tight her bracers and armguards just in time to draw her swords as a soldier came storming up.

Dual scimitars rang out as they clashed with her kopis blades. The soldier slashed in mesmerizing serpentine movements that had her parrying and dodging as she moved back under the assault. It quickly became apparent that the warrior was far more skilled with his swords than she was with hers as he pushed her backwards. Jumping from side to side, stepping over the dead, she was barely keeping the scimitars from slicing her up. She hopped backward of another body and the soldier was right on top of her. His blades were swinging in a dual slash, one high aimed to cut through her side and into her belly while the other lower targeted her hip and thigh. She managed to deflect the high blade, but the lower scimitar sliced through her hip cutting into fleshy muscle until she felt steel scraping across bone!

She screamed in pain as she fell backwards and rolled away. Her leg wasn't working properly anymore. It was like trying to move while dragging a log. Crawling backwards she looked up to see the soldier's eyes glinted with delight as he slowly followed her and raised a scimitar high to chop off her head if he could.

"Die and go to Helheim, you dirty bitch!" He snarled and slashed down at her.

A black crossbow bolt suddenly bloomed in his chest, then a second and a third. He blinked in confusion as he looked down at her as if she had somehow shot him, and he wondered how. He opened his mouth to curse her again just as a war scythe blade exploded from his chest and she watched as his eyes darkened and he fell to the side leaving a grim faced Gloa standing above him.

"That was close," Istas sighed with a shake of her head as she held out a hand for assistance.

"Too close," Gloa answered as she looked pointedly as Istas kopis swords, "You were faring better unarmed…"

"So I was," She answered, "But, I felt naked."

"Better naked than dead," Svartsilki answered as she lowered herself down from the ceiling from a single thread of webbing and gestured to her own and Gloa's nudity.

"Can you walk," Gloa asked as she spun a bandage from spider silk and placed it on the deep gash on Istas' hip.

"No, not well," She hissed in pain at Gloa's rough treatment.

"Then it is high time we retreated," Svartsilki suggested.

"Yes, past time," Beinbalkr said loudly so that she wouldn't startle her remaining maids as she walked up with 'Tenderizer' on her shoulder.

——(!)——

Sinaan stepped out of Forelain's bedchamber alongside Sulabha who was on his left and with Forelain on his right, and immediately they came to a halt. Standing beside the stout red haired shadow-wraith of Hrun'durgahl and the slim, elegant, shade of Lumarra was an array of some twenty shades of the Priestesses Sulabha had risen in the Temple. They were dragging behind them the dead bodies of the slain.

Leading the party was Vitrvilli-eldr. In life she had been Lumarra's daughter and Forelain's mother. She walked with her head held high and a smirk of pride as she nodded to Lumarra and knelt before Sulabha. She spoke but no one but Sulabha heard what was said. Behind Vitrvilli-eldr were five young half-breed maids of various ages and heritages, and only one young male. They were all dressed in servants uniforms except for a red cloth armband on their left biceps and they each wielded some combination of butchering knives, cleavers, and skillets. As they lined up in front of Sulabha, Sinaan, and Forelain the first two maids were very stout and obviously sisters and Jarndvergr half-breeds by their builds and stature. Between them they dragged three dead young men while two other maids dragged two dead maids with knitting pins shoved into their waistbands, and the last young page drug a single young man behind him.

"Matron Forelain," Aldrnari cried as she dropped her burdens and curtsied as soon as she saw her Lady, "We beg your forgiveness my Lady, we were told you and Lady Sulabha were dead. We came to rescue you as soon as we heard you were alive, our deepest apologies! Please, allow us to reswear to you our unfettered loyalty to you as our Matron!"

Forelain locked eyes with Deild and looked down at her large pregnant belly before she subconsciously rubbed her own and looked back up to see the truth in Deild's eyes. Lifting her hands she contemplated each of her maids and noted their torn uniforms, their grim expressions, and saw the fire in their eyes before she signed, "We all carry the scars of my sons' betrayal. Your oaths are seen, and witnessed, and accepted. From this day forward you are my...personal attendants. Come, join us, we are taking back my House!"

"Yes Matron," They chorused happily!

Forelain was about to turn aside, but then Aetla curtsied again and asked in a shy rush, "If my Matron will forgive me, we were also sent with the purpose of informing you that all those who stand with you are marked with this armband." As she finished she placed her right hand on the red cloth on her left arm.

"Thank you…," Forelain signed, and when the girl's name wasn't forthcoming she asked, "What is your name girl?"

"Aetla my Lady, Aetla Radsnjallr at your service," She answered with another curtsy.

"Well Aetla Radsnjallr, your first name means 'purpose or fated' while your last name means 'wise in council', Forelain signed as she smiled, "I can see Pantler Beinbalkr sent her best and most trusted to me. I look forward to learning all of your names, and we shall see if I can use you for more than as mere maids..."

While Forelain was signing Sulabha's shades deposited the dead to the sides of the hallway and lined them up as they all watched. When they were finished, Lumarra sauntered up to Sulabha and spoke with her. Nodding, Sulabha stepped up and held her hands out over the dead as crimson magic began swirling out from her shadow and swallowed up the bodies. Her crimson magic seemed to writhe and crawl across the floor as it consumed each corpse as she called out, "Rise up! Fight for me once more!"

Sulabha's magic dissipated, but as it shrunk back to her shadows reached out of the corpses as if they were climbing out of deep holes. They placed their hand on the floor and or reached up for the sky! Aldrnari and Deild's mouths hung open while Katr looked like she was about to swoon and hugged Gaefr tightly. Baer spit on the floor with a grumbled, "Abomination," and Aetla squealed and feinted. Sinaan, always quick to react, knelt down and placed a hand behind her shoulders and sat her up as he waved his hand in her face until she came around as shades and shadows climbed out of their once living bodies and took on the appearance of reversed colored corporeal forms of their previously living selves.

"Retrieve your clothes, armor, and weapons," Sulabha commanded, then as they obeyed she looked at Baer's disgusted expression before glancing down at her armband and issuing her next command, "Seek out and help any that are fighting and have a red armband. Kill everyone else that doesn't, and keep bringing the dead back to me. Friend or foe, as the number of dead rises, so does my army..."

"Matron," Aldrnari called, asking for permission to speak. Forelain signed permission and so she continued with her head down and in a half curtsy, "Pantler Beinbalkr went to find Trina Armiano and Urthrina Svartjarn. She was absolutely sure that they remain loyal to you. That was in the direction of the Stables."

"Very good," Forelain signed as she turned to Sinaan who was still helping Aetla recover. Walking over so he could see, she signed, "We must head towards the stables. We must reinforce my loyalist."

"Is there something the matter with our Matron," Baer asked in a whisper that was easily overheard, "She hasn't said a word since we arrived. She's only signing…"

"Yes," Sinaan answered with a nod without looking away from Forelain as he answered, "Your Matron was not lying or exaggerating when she said that you all share the scars of her sons' betrayal. Look at your young pregnant friend there," He said as he nodded toward Deild before continuing, "And now look at your Matron. What they did to you...they did to her also for the last fifteen years, but they were also afraid of her power and so took her tongue so that she may not pray or cast a spell on them..."

Forelain put her hand on his shoulder, and he stopped as the maids all shared horrified glances and wiped tears from their cheeks. She then walked around and up to each of her maids and took their chins between her thumb and fingers and tilted their heads up so that they were looking at her as she signed, "I share the same burden as all of you. Today, this Matron stands on level ground with her maids. We were all forced to do things we didn't want to do. But, I am also standing here and telling you that I am a survivor. I will never let them make me a victim, and most of all, I will never make myself a victim, and you can do the same too. Rise up, be a survivor, dictate your own path, live your life, and do not look down on yourselves because of what someone else did to you!"

"Yes my Lady," The maids chorused again, but this time with smiles and eyes that glinted with rekindled determination.

Forelain gave a curt nod, then took Aetla's hand as Sinaan helped her stand up, and then she turned and they all saw that Sulabha's army of shades had grown from twenty to fifty. Forelain nodded to Sulabha who turned and directed the shadows to take the lead down the labyrinthine corridors...

——(!)——

Trina ran down hallways and corridors with abandon. At every corner she knew Gunngrul could be there waiting to thrust his sword into her as she impaled herself with her own momentum, and yet, she didn't dare think about it. She must catch him before he escapes!

Pumping her legs as hard and as fast as she could, flying down two long corridors, two turns later she saw him fleeing around yet another corner. By the time she reached the end of the hallway, she saw him again turning another corner. Gunngrul led her back towards the private chambers of the nobility. She was gaining ground on him until he was only three-quarters of a hallway in front of her. Turning the next corner, he was gone!

Sliding to a halt, she looked down the hallway in front of her and back the way she had come. She played in her mind all the turns she had taken, trying to get her bearings as to where she was. Walking slowly down the hallway, she inspected each door. She knew this place. She had been here before. She had followed a maid down these halls years ago and found guards posted at the door that was directly in front of her now.

Throwing the door open she saw four House Faline assassins and four arbalests with small handheld crossbows. She had time to see Gunngrul in the back of the room near a desk. There was a white light glowing all around him, and then he began to disappear as four crossbow bolts thudded into her chest and belly as four throwing knives hit seconds later. Looking down at her breasts she watched more knives thud into her body as she gave a single bloody cough and crumpled to the floor…

——(!)——

The darkness seemed to pulse all around her. The pulse, she knew it was her heart. It was slowing down with each rhythmic 'bauda bum' that felt like an eternity before the next 'bauda bum' until it became softer and slower, nearly imperceptible, as the 'bauda' of one heartbeat drug out for seconds that felt like hours before the 'bum'...

Her vision no longer pulsed…

It was so hard to think…

There was such a vast nothingness…

No light leading her to an afterlife…

Only...death...

She felt herself exhale her last breath…

Pain…

White hot...searing pain...burning her up…

She felt the crossbow bolts being pulled or expelled from her body, and then the daggers. The strange sensation of her heart suddenly pounding in her chest, her breasts rising and falling as she drew breath once again, and her skin stitching itself back together as her eyes fluttered open and she gave a sudden cough!

Looking up, she found the pale, somber, face of the once Grand Matriarch and House High Priestess Lumarra Faline chanting a prayer of healing for which she heard none of the words. Once the healing was complete, the shadow of the once great woman held out her hand to help Trina stand. She accepted the offer and stood up to see that her ambushers were all dead while a fiery red haired woman stood over them as crimson power like smoke spun out from her feet and engulfed the bodies. She didn't see their shadows extracted from them because at that moment she looked further into the room and saw her Lady, her Matron, Forelain Faline, standing over a desk as she delicately traced the inlaid carvings on the back of a small ladies hand mirror.

"My Lady," She cried as she sheathed her swords and trotted over to kneel before her Matron, "Matron Forelain! It is a relief to see you alive after all these years! My deepest apologies for not knowing and rescuing you sooner!"

"You will need to raise your head to see her answer," A young man said from her side that she hadn't seen as she approached. As soon as she looked up and saw him, a very attractive young man no more than eighteen to twenty years of age, her sharp eyes caught sight of the broach of House Abendroth on his cloak!

She couldn't help her reaction, maybe it was from all her years of hating the Abendroth Household, but as soon as she saw the insignia her hands flew to her scabbards where she found...nothing! Lurching forward she put herself between her Matron and the Abendroth boy as she grabbed the lapels of his cloak and growled, "What are you doing here Abendroth dog!"

The boy didn't make any aggressive movements. Instead he calmly and confidently smirked at her as his pink irises met her dark indigo eyes. He was so relaxed, she wondered if he were awake at all, or was he drunk or on drugs? Suddenly there was a pale hand on her shoulder. Trina hissed as she broke her stare from the boys and looked to Lumarra at her side.

"That Abendroth boy saved Lady Sulabha, and was present when we found Matron Forelain," Lumarra signed and then pointed to the brooch of House Faline below and to the Trina's right. The brooch was towards the boys left hand, which meant House Faline was bound to House Abendroth by marriage now. Looking from the boy to the flaming redhead, she assumed Sulabha was his betrothed and gave a curt nod.

Lumarra waved her hands no, "You assume incorrectly. Your Matron doesn't leave the weighty matter of the salvation of House Faline to the fickleness of youth. She has taken this vow herself and is the one betrothed to the young man that is now in your hands…"

Trina's eyes opened wider and wider, and her long black eyebrows raised higher and higher by each word signed by Lumarra. Her first thought and words were, "Why? We don't need the help of Abendroth scum!"

Lumarra shook her head again, "You assume that your Matron has done this to save her House from this rebellion. But you are in error. In her wisdom, your Matron looks beyond her son's betrayal to the future. No matter who wins tonight, House Faline has fallen. Her military power gutted. Very soon rumors and gossip will spread telling the truth of House Faline's weakness. What will we do? What can she do when the minor Houses below us come to finish us off? No! In her wisdom Matron Faline is aligning with our rivals in order to salvage what remains of our House from the ashes of this night!"

By the time the shade was finished, her hands quivered with the humiliation of her actions. In swift order she released the young man, with such lovely pink eyes, and took a step back and knelt before him. One knee to the ground and one before her as she placed one hand on her knee and the other on her hip where her sword hilt usually was, and then she stared at his boots, "My apologies my liege. I throw myself on your mercy for my impertinence…"

"Think nothing of it," He purred as he offered her a hand up. She accepted it with a strained closed mouth smile and stood in front of him as he continued holding her hand firmly, "You were doing exactly the same thing I would have done for another of my Household…"

"Really? Who would that be," She asked expecting him to say his Matron.

"My sister Aalyn Abendroth, the Heiress of House Abendroth," He answered as his smirk turned to a grin when he saw that he had surprised her, "But, of course it goes without saying that I would surrender my life for my mother as well, and now, also for your beloved Matron Forelain, my betrothed…"

"I see," She answered demurely as she cut her eyes to her Matron and bowed before realizing the young man still had her hand.

Looking back at him, then down at her hand, he smirked again and introduced himself, "I am Sinaan Abendroth, fourth child of Matron Hela Abendroth, brother of Aalyn, Thurdain, and Illglan Abendroth, and the promised Consort of Matron Forelain Faline. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Trina stared at him for a minute and then blinked before she finally smiled and answered, "Yes of course, it is my honor to meet you as well Sinaan Abendroth, I am the Matron's Weapons-master Trina Armiano."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," He returned as Forelain shoved the hand mirror into her bottomless bag and marched over.

Waving her hand, she signed vigorously, "Weapons-master? Of course you are, but you are my Marshalsea first and foremost!"

Trina's smile turned bitter as she swept a deep bow before answering, "My apologies my Lady. I was removed as Marshalsea by your sons sum fifteen years ago. Though I never stopped investigating you and your daughter's untimely demise…"

"I see," Forelain answered with a grim expression, "If you were demoted, then what of my Steward, Anarr? My Chamberlain, Skyrta? And, my Mistress of the Wardrobe, Daokir?"

Trina could feel her features growing grimmer and grimmer with each question. Kneeling again she bowed her head as she delivered the news, "Matron Forelain Faline, I regret to inform you that Anarr Beinbrekka and her family have not been seen since the night you supposedly died of illness. As for Chamberlain Skyrta Vaoir and Mistress of the Wardrobe Daokir Fagrala, I have written affidavits from witnesses that they betrayed you to your sons in exchange for marriages into the Faline family, to your sons Rweble and Gunngrul."

"I...see," Forelain signed as her expression changed from concerned, to shocked, to grim before she asked, "Where are they? Skyrta and Daokir…"

"Holed up in the most secure area of the compound my Lady," Trina answered as she shook her head, "The Nursery."

"Well then," Forelain signed, "First things first!"

Sinaan cleared his throat at that and both Forelain and Trina turned their heads to look at him.

"Yes of course my betrothed," Forelain nodded as she signed, "We must stop that assassin."

"My Matron," Trina said, asking for permission to speak. Forelain gave it with a nod and she continued, "Right now the whole of House Faline is in turmoil. All of the House most of the staff and noncombatants are sequestered in their rooms until this night passes, but every Guard we have is in the training grounds right now fighting and dying for either you or your sons. If we don't stop this rebellion soon I fear, as the shade Lumarra said, our military strength will be completely eviscerated."

"Then we must proceed there at once," Forelain signed in sharp commanding gestures, "Then we must pursue the assassin while you Trina lay siege to the Nursery!"

"Yes my Lady," Trina answered as she snapped to attention and saluted her Matron.

Sinaan walked over with her swords and she took them gratefully...