[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=8519A2]Location: Winton[/color][/h3]
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Faeril sat listening carefully to Mikhail while the Dea Al Mon spoke. Her lips were thin and her skin pale. Whatever she had been expecting, hearing that they would be tangling with [i]that[/i] one had not been a part of her plan. Oh, she knew sooner or later they would need to get the infamous Warlord Prince on her side. Closing her eyes slowly, she debated on what to tell Mikhail before giving a reluctant sigh. [color=SlateBlue]"We cannot afford to leave him. For all his violent nature- which I might remind you is a part of the caste he is from- he will feel the pull to Fatima just as she and I feel the pull to him."[/color] The Black Widow ran a hand through her dark locks.

[color=FireBrick]"What pull? Ashke?"[/color] Gen's voice was sharp with worry as he narrowed his eyes. He did not like the tone of regret and reluctant defeat in Faeril's voice. She was not one to take news like she had already given into it.

The Black Widow tilted her head and nodded slightly. [color=SlateBlue]"It's complicated. I only know [i]now[/i], because I stumbled across it the tomes. Mikhail, seeing as you signed up for experimentation by some two-mark witch, let me explain a bit of the Hourglass to you."[/color] The woman gestured and the room filled with a shield of her own power. A risk, but one that was needed. [color=SlateBlue]"Black Widows are a natural phenomenon. Most are born so, but there are ways to create them. Something which should, and will be, lost to time if I have my way. The Hourglass is our coven, unlike any other. Most will be a group of relation and friends or a court centered about a Queen. The Hourglass is the Sisterhood of the Black Widows and it spans all the Realms."[/color]

[color=FireBrick]"All the- You do not mean-?"[/color]

It seemed Gen could not help interrupting, Faeril gave her friend an annoyed look. [color=SlateBlue]"[i]All[/i] the Realms. Terreille, Kaeleer and, yes Gennar, even Hell. The Dark Realm."[/color] While the living occupied both the Lighter Realms, Hell was the realm for the dead. Where the legends of demon-dead came from. Where the hell-hounds lived with harpies, those witches who died violent deaths. It was all in the tales children were told, but there was a subtle fear of it that resided in most people. The land of the dead was no place for the living. [color=SlateBlue]"But we're speaking on The pull and Black Widows, and why we are getting the Black to join us."[/color] Faeril continued, her tone clipped as though this wasn't a discussion she wanted to have. [color=SlateBlue]"Only women have even been part of the Hourglass, until we initiated one boy. A Black Jeweled, boy. No, I do not believe it was Saetan Sa Diablo. The book outdated even it's creator's hand so I would hazard it was his father. Either way, we had a High Priest of the Hourglass. Our loyalty was to him as his was to us. It was the same with Sa Diablo when he took the title. Which I will bet you my wings is the reason that bitch Queen wanted us gone. Our support and aid shrivelled up and unable to help him."[/color] Faeril pinched her nose. [color=SlateBlue]"Mikhail, we must take the Warlord Prince who is also a Black Widow with us. We have no choice, and only Fatima can hope to control him. If she wishes to control him at all. I am starting to be convinced things are not exactly as they seem with the Queen's pet."[/color]

The shop was a riot of movement as Fatima was piled high with dresses and different options. But there was something that could not just sit right with the little Queen. But Dareen saw a lucky break, just as Thom and Dunny disappeared into the shadows a young courtier came hurrying by, his face pale white as he rushed in the direction of the Queen's Residence. Jandar was having a good time of getting the information out of the young woman when she saw he wanted to chat to stave off the boredom. Light came into her eyes and her wary nature dropped considerably as she told him of the local exports of fish and pearls. The sea seemed to be the largest bounty in Winton, but as for imports? "Anything that doesn't come by sea. Honestly, we get more imports for paper, jewelry and such. The Aristo like it but a lot of the shops are struggling with all the gifts-" The young helper caught herself and blushed. "Ah, my apologies. We do export olives as well." She continued on the crops that were grown about Winton. Olive, grapes, anything that could be grown successfully so close to the coast.

It was right when they were getting ready to leave when a thread of sorts tapped against Sybl's mind [color=Gold][i]"I do not suppose you would be able to slip away, Prince Syble? I am hardly in the mood to deal with that pompous, cruel bitch of a Queen and I believe one of her little psychopaths already saw me on the beach."[/i][/color] The cool tone of Saetan slide against his mental walls, yet there was a weariness to that tone. [color=Gold][i]"Laska was such a lovely darling, but I don't think I'd do well being shaved."[/i][/color]