War of the Races Ch. 13

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...