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Prologue
Dinner finished simply, and the willowy figure of twenty-two year-old Azuroto Tenryiu made his way up the stairs to his room. He lived in a large mansion, three stories and ten rooms, not counting living, dining, and study rooms. It was a large place, with balconies and powerful arches, and gossamer curtains to hide any princess from the dragons and the princes of this world.
Dragons…he thought. If anything needed to be hidden, it was him. He was tired of all the crap he had to put up with. He had had a very hard day training to be a powerful lord.
His simple study was one of the two places he felt most at peace in the rough-and-tumble life of a young noble, heir to the fortune of a powerful warlord. The Tenryiu’s have profited from war for several generations, mostly because they have an innate power about them, power that most new-age types condemn as witchcraft and the work of Satan.
Magic is an ancient art, though not forgotten, and these voices have little influence on others. They are growing stronger, however, and could be a nuisance in the years to follow. Azu was not worried, however, and he often smiled at the ragged bums who claim that a reckoning is coming, and that all the magic-users and mages, wizards and warlocks, witches and wickens, would be cleansed in a burning fire.
He just laughs and hands them a gold piece, which he summons with magic, and sends them on their way. Now was not one of his optimistic moments. His sister had returned from her trip to Val’aya, an elven city in the southern reaches of the forest to the south-west of here. She had not returned the same.
At dinner tonight, she had stared across at her brother, and Azu was not used to seeing Arvada’s eyes so clearly. In them, he glimpsed, for the first time, a potential, nay, a portent, of reckless doom. He did not understand exactly what he had seen, so he retreated to his study to draw it clearly. He needed to see it from multiple angles to truly understand it; He needed to see it in multiple colors as well. Maybe he would then understand it.
He closed his door and went to the desk, sitting in the soft, straight-backed chair that was in front of it. He propped up the easel on top of it, pulling it out of a groove in the desk and sliding the stability bar into the position he wanted it. The fire-haired and fire-souled youth then placed a sheet of high-quality paper onto the easel, and began to sketch.
As an hour passed, then two, and the form took shape; a vague representation of his beautiful sister, the tightly coiled bun that was her hair sitting majestically over her heart-shaped face. He fell into the pencil then, and with the long bar of black lead he made a living, breathing, portrait of facsimile life, and, in a brief moment of clarity, he felt that was exactly what this art was. He was putting life into something that had no life of its own. He was making her real when she truly wasn’t. What that meant, he did not understand, and maybe he would be making drawings of several different things tonight.
His contemplations were broken, however, by a soft knock on his door. He was jerked back into reality by that delicate touch upon the wood, and he quickly entered a different fantasy. One with a certain girl in a white dress walking between seated rows of family and friends…
That knock again and, with a smile spreading across his face, he pushed back from the desk and walked to the door and opened it. There, standing in a simple frock and carrying a stack of towels, was the woman in his fantasy. He almost reached out to crush her into a hug, an embrace more befitting those of an ursine nature, but he cleared his throat and stepped back, saying “Enter, Minnie.” She bowed slightly and stepped in. He closed the door and, the moment it was shut, turned to her and wrapped the scraggly girl in that mentioned hug. She laughed, dropping the towels and returning the hug as best she could, being crushed against him, and kissed Azu lightly on the cheek. He let her pull back far enough so he could kiss her back, then held her tight in another embrace. This was the place he felt most at peace.
“Happy ta see me?” She asked, sliding her arms up and around his neck, and looked into his eyes.
“Nope, I do that to every maid who shows up at my study.” He grinned. “Sort of my way of saying thank you to the help.” She giggled again and pulled him down into another kiss. His cocky façade vanished in an instant.
“That’s what I thought.” She whispered.
She sat in his lap while he combed her dirty-blonde hair with his own brush (Since their hair was about the same length) and told her about what he had done today. Sword practice had gone well, even though he still had bruises from the last time he challenged the reigning champ from the family of Gabrala. She laughed and he smiled. Then they switched places.
Minnie brushed his lush red locks while she told him about her trip to the market and how she had heard some gossip of the mysterious woman everyone was dreaming up. They say that she steals out at night and kidnaps small children and young maidens, though no one has gone missing yet. Also, in a slightly more realistic manner, she talked about the rumor that the future lord of the Tenryiu household has some secret mistress hidden away. They turned and looked at each other seriously.
For a few seconds. Then they both cracked into delirious smiles and insane laughter.
After several minutes of laughter, they wiped the tears from their eyes.
“People really think that?” Azu asked. Minnie nodded and replied with “They thinks youse about ta elope with some gal from one of the other ho’se-holds in ta city.”
“They think that?” Azu asked again. She nodded, and they shared another laugh.
“I just don’t und’stand how they could get me mixed up with some pompy noblette.” Once again, they laughed. “And I also don’t sees where this elope thing came about.” She laughed, but Azu did not. Her laughter died immediately, and she felt a pang of dread as Azu looked away.
“What’sa matter?” She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and gulped slightly, and they shared gazes again.
His green eyes were unreadable. Hers were full of fear and apprehension. He pulled away and stood up, turning to face her. He licked his lips and tried to keep her gaze, but he could not. He gulped again and looked at the floor.
She walked forward and stood in front of him, reaching up and holding his face in her hands. “Wha’s happened?” She asked.
Azu reached up and took her hands in his holding them close to his face, and she saw that unreadable façade flicker. She caught a brief glimpse of fear, like hers, apprehension, also like hers, but also a little bit of hope.
“What is it?” She demanded, more forcefully.
He cleared his throat and finally spoke.
“Minniara Tokin? Will you…Will you marry me?”
At first, he didn’t know her answer, for though his faces mask of hidden emotion had fallen, one had snapped up onto her face and made her as stone and stoic as he was a moment ago. He had no idea what that meant, but then she shot forward, wrapping her arms around his neck so hard his head arched backwards as she screamed in delight, and he stumbled backwards. He would have fallen if his chair hadn’t been placed in the right spot. He fell into it.
She cut off her scream abruptly, burying her face into his chest and trying to stifle whatever else she was trying to stifle.
“Is that a yes?” He asked, quietly, wrapping her in a soft hug. He smiled as her head moved against his body, and he laughed in delight as she nodded.
The moment was ruined at the sound of running steps. They heard a pounding on the door and Azu scrambled to his feet, pushing Minnie off of him as gently as he could in his rush. He ran over to the door and pulled it open, staring through the opening at, guess who, his sister Arvada.
“Yes?” He asked. She tried to peak around him and he stepped aside,
“What happened?” She asked. Arvada’s words were fletched with an accent of pride and a heritage similar to a well pedigreed b***h. That was all she was in this household, both literally and metaphorically. She was nothing more, because she was not the oldest girl, so she was not next in line for the title of Matron. She was to be sold off to the highest bidder as a nobles plaything, and, If she was lucky, she would get a Patron who does not need both a mother of his children and a sex toy. Unfortunately, those men were rare, and she would, most likely, be sent to be basically a well paid whore with a powerful families name tattooed on her soul and receipt.
For some reason, these were the first thoughts that ran through Azu’s mind as he stared at his attractive sibling. He loved all his brothers and sisters, for he had two younger brothers and an older sister, as well as one younger sister who was standing before him. He loved his siblings. He did.
He repeated those lines, a litany against some unforeseen danger that he probably had imagined.
“Ummmmmm….” He said quietly, looking back at the maid in his room. “She saw a bug.”
“Really…” Arvada said disbelievingly. Nevertheless, she turned and walked away. Azu stared out after her, then stepped back and shut the door.
With one last kiss, Minnie left. It was late at night and she would have been missed if she had cuddled with Azu any longer. She merrily skipped down the hall, and she fell into an easy sleep full of happy dreams of hope and peace.
Azu’s night was very different. After his love had left the room, he went to his bedroom, near the study, and then proceeded to the balcony, sliding the large glass doors out of the way and walking onto the cold stone floor. He leaned out over the railing, smiling into the black night surrounding the mountain estate. From this position, above all the world and all of it’s inhabitants, he felt free to do as he pleased. He grinned and laughed aloud, not quite sure if any one would hear him, and not really caring.
His laughter petered out, though, when he felt a change in the wind. When he had stepped out, the wind was a gentle breeze, flowing in from the southwest, or, in other words, from Azu’s right. Now, somehow, it had switched to blowing from behind. This is impossible because behind Azu was his room. Wind didn’t blow from inside a building. He looked outside again, and his eyes widened.
Huge and ominous black clouds were blowing in from directly in front of Azu. They were strange clouds, for he had never seen them move that fast. They moved with a kind of purpose that made Azu shudder. He turned to go back inside, but something froze him in place. He looked back out at the billowing masses once again.
As he stared into the swirling depths that got closer, the moments drifted by, and lightning began to roll. Azu’s eyes widened again when, in each flash, he saw a huge silhouette. He rubbed his eyes once, but when he opened them, another flash of lightning illuminated the figure. It was gargantuan, with what could have been wings stretching from a broad back. He tried to back away, but he couldn’t. Instead, the wind picked up and began to push him from behind, push him hard. It was as if the air itself was sucking him towards the billowing mass of ominous cloud. He stumbled forward, slamming against the railing. He would have tipped over had he not grabbed the horizontal wooden rail.
The thunder roared, almost in defiance, and the wind strengthened. He yelled for help, but the whistling gale drowned the words before they could even leave his throat, and he felt his feet lift off of the balcony floor. He screamed as the wind pulled him from the railing, his fingernails scratching lines into the polished wood, and he was sucked over the side as violently as one pitched from a ship in the middle of a tempest…
Azu’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up, calling out to no one in particular. His breathing was labored and his heart rate high as he darted his eyes around the room, taking in all the details.
“Just a dream…” He whispers, laying his head back onto the pillow.
In the pre-dawn light, he could not see the scratches on his railing.
Azu walked down the large stair to the dining room for morning breakfast, feeling strangely content. He understood why he was content, but he did not understand why he was feeling so…relaxed. He was running off with one of his homes maids, fleeing from a inheritance of incredible wealth, and was fleeing the only family he had ever known. He would probably shame them so much that they would scratch his name out of the family ledger! His nine year old brother would get the entire inheritance. He would have to rule the estate when their father died, and so far, he was worse than Arvada when it came to pomp and arrogance!
Oh well. That is the price that has to be paid for my happiness, I suppose. The Tenryiu’s get another haughty old fool for a leader…he thought.
He stopped in his tracks. He had just insulted his father. What had gotten into him lately! He had first called his sister a b***h, his brother an arrogant little b*****d, and now his father a sniveling, blithering idiot.
Must be the stress…It cant be the stress. I don’t feel stressed at all. I actually feel quite relaxed.
He continued his steps and entered the dining hall. He saw his sister reclining in a chair easily, yawning quietly as she shined some silverware. Most odd. She smiled at him as he walked towards his own chair. He saw his mother resting her head on the table, his view previously obstructed by his sister and the angle he had came in.
“Mother?” He called out, walking back towards her. His sister was giggling quietly as he patted his mother on the shoulder. She tumbled out of the chair, revealing her empty eyes and the nasty cut on her chest. He also heard a clatter as the katanas his father always used fell to the ground. There was a note on the table, but he did not read it as he fell to his knees and grabbed his mother, screaming for her to focus on his face.
He knew she was dead before he had fallen, but he didn’t want to know that.
“Mother!!” He called out. “Mother, no!” Then he registered a noise. His sister was still giggling into her hand. He rounded on her, growling at her. “Why are you laughing so!?” He yelled. “Why!?”
Her giggling turned into full scale cackling, and Azu found himself rushing forward to grab the front of her blouse. He stopped, though, when she spread her hands wide, revealing the red stains on her clothes.
“Who knew blood stained so easily.” She giggled, that manic gleam still in her eyes. Azu stepped back and stumbled to the ground, bile rising in his throat as he realized what she had done.
“You…you…you killed….”
“Yep!” She said brightly. “And just wait until you see the mess I left in little Syllan’s room. Daddy should have sharpened his spears a little more; even Syllan’s soft flesh proved too much, and I had to beat our little brother over the head with it.”
Azu rolled over and vomited, retching in an attempt to block out the manic laughter and the image she had portrayed. What scared him most was how beautiful his sister looked, with that monstrous image on her face, and the blood on her face. He imagined her dripping with his mother’s gore. His retching increased in strength, but he also felt a stir in his loins. He quickly sat up, staring at his sister, who must have cast a spell on him, and stared in horror as she walked over to her mother’s corpse and bent to retrieve the katanas on the ground. She drew one of them from it’s sheath and went to stand in front of her brother.
“Now, sibling, say hello to mother for me.” She raised the weapon over her head and brought it down in an arc…
Azu reacted on instinct. He kicked out with one foot, knocking into his sister’s knee cap. There was a sickening crunch, which signified a broken knee, and his sister’s scream of pain was evidence of this. Azu hadn’t meant to do that…but it had felt so good. When she collapsed to one knee, screaming in unholy agony, He sat up as well, staring at her.
She swung her arm towards him, but the angle was wrong, and he lowered one hand and grabbed her wrist, twisting it so hard she dropped the sword, and he brought his other hand across and punched her in the face, stunning her screams into non-existence.
Azu wrapped his hands around her throat, and began to squeeze. She writhed and flopped, but she was small, even for a girl, and Azu was a warrior, proud and true. He choked the life out of her easily, bending her over backwards so that her knee elicited the most exquisite agony from her as it bent farther and farther. When she finally passed out, Azu growled at the loss of her agonized screams, and he squeezed, hard. Her neck snapped, and she died.
It took Azu a few minutes to realize this. When he finally did, a shudder racked his body, and the lifeless corpse, not yet struck by rigor mortis, and fell limp to the floor. He wrapped his arms around himself and screamed, staring at his dead sister, then his dead mother, and imagining his dead brother.
Then he screamed more, at the rush of sexual stimulation he felt at the thought of these corpses and the violence of their deaths. The next few moments were a blur, but all Azu could remember was the flash of his father’s blades and the cut-off a maid’s cut-off scream.
When Azu finally snapped back into full consciousness, he was standing on the balcony of his room, staring out at the surrounding country-side. His father’s blades were leaning against the railing, and the blood of the decapitated maid coated the front of his body. He heard another scream, and this time he recognized it. It was Minnie’s scream as she discovered the corpses…Azu’s mother leaning against the table, a look of shock on her face and a stab wound through her back. Arvada, bent over backwards with a broken knee and neck. The maid, with her head lying several feet away. Syllan, Azu’s younger brother, his head misshapen from many blows to the head with the shaft of a spear…Azu would be blamed for them all…
“Azu!” said a voice from behind the troubled young man. He turned his gore-encrusted body to face his love, who was resting a hand on the doorway and a look of utter disgust and dismay. “Azu…” she said again, whispering this time. With a sigh and a look of utter terror, Azu stalked forward, not even bothering with his blades.
The authorities arrived several hours later. They searched the mansion, and discovered the corpse of almost every maid in the house. There was one in the room of Lord Azu, who was naked and wasn‘t covered in blood. There were other fluids that were recognized, though, and a shudder went through the search party.
They did not find Lord Azu. Most believed he was kidnapped, or he fled the scene. Some, though, feel he was responsible. Some feel that the youth slew his maids and his family, then ran off with almost everything of value, including the blades his father used in battle.
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