[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/50VBWNfh/63507c917b644ae085a53d695ad43269.png[/img]
[img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/2fa3b68ea7ccb5e241580009fa3f8dfe/tumblr_nrjjdcXvK71uq1wtvo1_500.gif[/img][/center][hr][hr][h3][b][i][center][color=8519A2]Arc I - Terreille in Trouble[/color][/center][/i][/b][/h3]
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[center][h3][color=SlateBlue]In the ruined town of Sharon, Shalador[/color][/h3]
[color=SlateBlue]Counter of Days:[/color] 5 days
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The Eyrien Black Widow looked about ready to spit nails at the Warlord Prince as he patted her head like she was an excitable child. To the dead-man-walking, or sitting rather, it was all too amusing. A wheezing chuckle eased through his throat as the two exchanged words. [color=Olive]"Not much of a tale. I was a tailor's assistant in the town. A decent fellow- now half a century dead. Not like I am, he's dead and [i]gone[/i]. A Whisper in the Darkness."[/color] There was a wistfulness to the tone of the demon dead. [color=Olive]"We were making a dress for the bitch's daughter. [i]Lady[/i] Marthea was displeased with the dress her daughter had foisted upon us to make. Who were we to say no?"[/color] Xandar would well know the tales of those who refused a Queen's relative. The punishment from them was often just a smidge below what the Queen themselves could dole out. Daughters were especially cruel and if that daughter was of the same caste as her mother? Then woe betide the wretch who defied the family!

Nodding slightly to himself the demon dead sneered. [color=Olive]"'Course they didn't want to lose the tailor quite yet. There was a exquisite bit of entertainment that was going on they might be invited to. They would have to look their best."[/color] A scoff came from Faeril as she bared her teeth in anger. An icy chill that was filling the basement of a witch's rage, something the Shalador man did not notice. [color=Olive]"So they dragged me to their 'rat pit' and gathered up all those pesky Shaladorians who thought rebelling might be a good idea. Got the traders as well to spread the word in part. In part to turn it into a bit of a festival."[/color] Struggling with the emotions of his death, the Shalador demon dead fell silent for long minutes. [color=Olive]"Found the tailor dead a month later. They fed him to the rats. I've wanted that bitch Marthea dead since my death, but couldn't get close to her. The guards and the town were... repulsed by me. Diseased they thought. Thought I was too, til I drank the blood of some poor guard only trying to carry out his job so his family could eat. Knew what I was then, and I envied that my master never joined me."[/color]

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[h3][color=Gold]Elsewhere in Eldra ,Shalador[/color][/h3]
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The alley was narrow and dirty, something that would turn away even the most curious of the aristocratic class. If they even knew it was there. The traffic seemed to be those too broken to care that the subdued scent of a Queen wafered through the narrow space as Fatima wandered over cobblestone and brick lanes. Broken beams looked to have blocked some areas, but there was a sense about them that power had moved them off the side where they were stacked neatly. A man's footprints tracked deeper into the dim alley as it curved and twisted deeper into the city of Eldra. The sense of power growing strong and persistent enough that now any who followed Fatima could sense it. A subtle and delicate warning of danger and a seducing lure of sweetness that could not be replicated. It was dark and heavy on the air. Dareen would feel the intimidating presence of someone who far our ranked her Yellow Jewel. Even Mikhail and Jandar with their Grey and Red respectively would know this power to be darker than their own. Yet it was a subtle and twisting spell that urged Fatima to follow this wild and dark track. A spell wove in the dark of the night in a desperate bid for a future not drenched in blood and malformed by the greed of what the Blood were becoming.

[color=C71585]"We don't have any by him sadly. The Queens' never approved of Halmer's works and opinion-"[/color] The weary-looking older man who ran the bookstore- and in part black market- with his young daughter and her son informed the well-dressed man. Tugging his white beard the man frowned as he and Saetan SaDiablo stared at the shelves that took up the back of the shop, and could be hidden by a screen which would look like a solid wall. A small alcove giving room for a person to hide as well. The Black Jeweled Warlord Prince had stopped by the shop a time or two before, and the shopkeeper was eager to help this valued customer try to find something to his liking. Never questioning that despite the fact it was going to be in close proximity to the Queens that the book would be safe. It was well known among certain circles that the most powerful man who supposed served Dorothea was under no such notion to his own mind. Though it was not something one brought up in the course of a conversation with the well-rumored man.

[color=Gold]"The purges. Yes, I am well aware. Though I had hoped that some of his works had survived."[/color] There was bitter disappointment in Saetan's tone that he couldn't quite mask. He had hoped that some small rebellion might take his mind off of Laska and her little games. A book was certainly a way to do that and not look overly conspicious. [color=Gold]"I think I shall look for a bit more, if you wish to take care of other things."[/color] 

The propieter of the shop didn't need another dismissal to leave the Black Jeweled Hyallian alone with the books as he moved back to the counter. The rear wall being hidden by more shelves of equally and far less valuable of books, the windows letting in dim and dusty light. In the long term, it was a small sacrifice to keep the Queens away from his livelihood. With a forlorn look at the faded and peeling 'Ambrose & Sons: Books and Basics' that was half ways gone form the window. A legacy that had been destroyed with his father and brother. He had escaped with a lame hand and a family that had been shattered and shellshocked. Their mother had never recovered, and if she did he hadn't seen her since she had been dragged off to the rat pit. Shaking away the old memories form his head the man went back to his book to tally out the total of purchases so far.