Chapter Eight369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNlognZMjG
Insanity well played
By the part of the fool
If only she knew
How much she was my tool
Therese entered the threshold first, her squared off face stern, and her almost lavender eyes were severe as ever. She cringed at the sound of the metal hinges squealing. She looked irritably at the offending door and then snapped her head back to attention. She was oddly contrasted by the young beauty Renee'; her eager brown doe eyes were at the moment downcast in the presence of her superior. 369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5MTL2qv68
Therese eyed the Matron speculatively, judging whether she was of sound enough mind at the moment to take up the task of the new proclamation. Delfina felt some small tendrils of energy playing over her, and she idly batted them away. This woman was clumsy in her attempts and easy to fool. Her arrogance blinded her and sometimes made this game they played almost no fun at all for the Matron. Therese nodded in satisfaction and turned to walk across the room, grimacing in disgust at the state of the room. 369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALvlknsJR6
“By all of Chaos!” Therese cursed, looking at her foot, shaking the newly made pile of feces of her boot. Delfina cackled merrily while shaking her head back and forth. The sorceress picked up her chair and tried in vain to drag some of the excrement off on the flagstones of the floor. Renee' covered her nose with the hem of her robe and took a few steps back from Therese. The sorceress gave her a withering glare, and Renee' slowly lowered her sleeve and resumed her gaze at the ground.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWIYXUEHYd
“It will take me the rest of the day to clean these,” she said mournfully.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQpOd21lpS
“They smell all the sight better, lovely.” Delfina prodded her as she absently picked at her backside. She looked at her fingers absently, “Seems I missed some, mind me leaving it with you?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tpyTD3a34
“Oh, this is like dealing with a child anymore. OK, Mother, do you remember the proclamation we discussed a few days back?” she looked expectantly at the vacant Matron.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3mk6kG05a
“You mean the forbidden?” Delfina asked with a gasp covering her mouth in surprise. She looked side to side fearfully as if someone might overhear. Of course, someone would, and the Grim-Guard waited behind in the listening post for a signal to remove the two woman encase they made to much of a nuisance of themselves.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCl3RcDRTGp
“Yes, that one.” Therese considered her next words carefully. The next portion of the quite take over of Doldrom hinged on this proclamation, “Mother, I considered your objection and although I still think it is the best way to root out the heresy that exists in our sweet City of The Wood. Maybe we should curb it and make the law useful and in doing so acceptable?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zo7Y5N1OI
“But how does one find owning another acceptable?” Delfina said in a soft, almost in an audible whisper behind her hand. She was having fun with this round. Delfina had not had this much amusement since the night she had beat Therese senseless in a fit of rage over the apostate sitting in the Matron's chair.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZschjZhlsI
Therese cracked a sideways grin, “I thought you would never ask. That one, Mother, is easy. You don't.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKtXZO6hrt
“Do what?” Delfina looked at the sorceress with a cocked head. Of all the answers that could have been given, she had not been expecting that. She had almost stumbled out of her guise in the surprise of the statement.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0mDGNoM4I
“No one will find it acceptable to own a person, so we don't. That is what I have been thinking. Instead, we own those who have lost their lives already. The only ones who will be subject to the new law are those who have been condemned to lose their own. But instead of sending them to see Grim immediately, we will use the remainder of their natural life span for hard labor. Thereby, we free up the workforce being used there to go a find skilled labor and better their families.” Therese finished with a smug look of satisfaction.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCtk56NQJY
Delfina stared at the sorceress in surprise. A lot of thought went into this proclamation, one that required her to think it through carefully. Under the technical side of the law, they wouldn't own a person. The person stopped being a person the moment they were condemned, but the intent of Grim's Law was against owning souls. Delfina needed time to think.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNOddi4IO2
“Oh! This is too much to take in on poor Delfina. Oh!” She lunged forwards towards the apostate and latched to her robes and huddled there. She whimpered and cried and wailed. When the guard got here, the two sorceresses would be introduced to a secret edict she had issued quietly. The Sergeant opened the door on the signal and in tromped in a squad of the hand-selected Grim-Guard to form a protective ring around the Matron. The Sergeant reached down soothingly and removed the Matron's hands from Therese's robe and then stepped protectively between the two.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoJI0zHXhO
This particular squad had a special task, one that had been assigned since the two had come into the Temple. To goad either into using their powers and then kill them. It was a dangerous task but one that each man willingly volunteered for. They had taken every opportunity to be an absolute pain for the sorceresses, interrupting their every plan. Therese had a temper but seemed never to lose control of her power and Renee', well she had too much of a kind heart to hurt anyone.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIKR26wOfb
Therese bristled as her knees brushed the Sergeant's from how close they had to stand. She rose to her feet, kicking the chair backward angrily.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mcVcB4f42
“What is the meaning of this Sergeant!” She demanded.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7KBFyaeCE
“By the proclamation of the Temple, the Grim-Guard must remove all and any person who is to be found distressing the Matron or harassing her. If you need it in plain terms, it means to get out.” His light gray eyes never left her face as it went from a light red to a deep red to purple.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKegKClQnjL
“There is no such proclamation. I should know, I am the Second.” She hissed through clenched teeth. Her eyes were bulging from her head, and the blood veins in her neck stood out with each pulse of her heart. Renee' stood off to the side; her face ashen with fear.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VpeuyfGkO
“One that was ordered not two weeks ago on the official paper. Do you wish a look?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtziFlbsEP
“Yes!” She almost yelled as spit flew from her mouth in his face. He reached his hand up slowly to wipe his face and then the same hand loosened his sword in his sheath. He stared hard at her with ill intent. His next words came in low, even tones of a commander who expected to be obeyed.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2bNpIvS4q
“Then you may read it thoroughly, as you spend the next year in a cell if you do not remove yourself from the presence of this Matron and the Temple grounds themselves.” The Sergeant's eyes never strayed from the face of his contempt nor did his hand ever leave the hilt of his sword. His men behind him stood at ready, even the ones nearer the fire though they did sweat profusely from the heat of the flames.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbPzMSldmV
“And how will I continue to serve this fair city, oh great leader? Your armor has gone to your brain. Leave the thinking to your betters Sergeant. Your brains spent too long between your legs.” Therese shot back venomously. She did not make a move for the door. The Sergeant gave a shrill whistle, and the squad left their position around the Matron and formed a tight ring around the two women. All the faces turned grim. This insult tirade was as close to a confrontation as they had come. Most of them knew if it went to a fight, some of them would perish.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAyFDq6577
“My orders come directly from her--” he indicated with his thumb over his shoulder at the cowering elderly lady on the floor, “-- if you wish to serve the people still, then how better than be among them. Now, if you do not leave under escort, you will be arrested and confined. You may return to the Temple when I have an order to let you in. Do so, and I will surely cuff you myself.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKztQoYRFf
Therese quivered with rage. The audacity of this man to talk to a First Circle sorcerer in this manner was beyond her. She would love to tear him apart with pure energy from her essence, but she was in a fight much larger than that of her ego. 369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8eXp0Fo5C
She raised her hand, tapping her finger back and forth between her ample chest and his lean armored one, “This is not over between the two of us Sergeant.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTUSueUNTb
“Indeed it may not be Second, but may I give you a stern word of warning and a friendly bit of advice rolled into one by means of thanks for complying with the law?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDaA5Zayxx
“And what would that be, avoid the Darken Oak Tavern. Bad beer?” She snorted derisively at him.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VwckrUvhJ
He smiled slightly, “I guess two bits of advice then. That would be the first and the second would be a reminder on a new law made a month after Grim-Tide. Anyone, with no regard of to station in life, who strikes or attempts to harm a member of the Grim-Guard, shall be executed on sight. You have a good evening Second.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpysKFppZRb
Therese's nostrils flared in anger as she left the room, her stomps could be heard echoing down the breezeway to the Judgment Hall. The squad followed her out, and the Sergeant nodded at one of the corporals who looked at him as a question passed between the two as the soldier marched out the door. The Sergeant went to where the Matron was sprawled out on her back and laughing till she coughed. In all, he had not seen her this happy in a few weeks.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJqLJnYQ9t
“Come, Matron,” He said with genuine concern in his voice, “You will catch a cold down there on that floor, rug notwithstanding.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuE1ew208YQ
He gently knelt beside the senior woman and helped her feather-light frame off the floor, guiding her to her chair. She heaved a little more cradling her sides before she settled back with a bit of groan. She was getting old for this. He was right; she would catch her death one of these times down on that floor. It caused arthritis in her hips to hurt something fierce, even when she did hold these conversations by the fire.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTn6Lkbbxq
The Sergeant was staring absently into the flames as it burned merrily. The logs snapped and popped, almost smokeless as the fire ate them in its quest to make them into ash. He had the look of a man who had stared death into the face and did not like what he had seen there. The Mother Matron reached out a withered hand to stroke his younger and stronger one.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRaaEKNhF7
“It is all right Joseph.” He jumped at the sound of his name, and she smiled up at him encouragingly. His sunset red hair had started to gray early from the hard life of the soldier. She wanted to alleviate as much stress on him as possible.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHqUOcd3sP
“Don't worry about that old wench. She is all bluster. You have done far worse. Do you remember the time when you spiked her drink, and then you slept with her? She did not blow you up that time.” She chuckled at the thought of that horse and the Sergeant.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8erxEHrHT0
“Please don't dredge up nightmares for me. I still wake up in sweats over that.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKinz51Rozg
“But the fact is fact. Now, be a sweety and fetch my Willow Extract from the back drawer. Make sure you get the one mixed with Tabart and not poppy. I want to stay awake for a few peaceful hours yet.” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand over her shoulder. The elderly Matron could hear the soft whisk of the soldier's boots over the smooth stone floor as he walked away. Delfina leaned her head back into the cushion of her soft chair and took in a deep breath and held it. At least for a few days, she would be able to sleep in a real bed and take a bath. A bath, the little luxuries that you could come to miss when you had to live like an animal, her skin and head itched so bad from dirt build up. Sometimes, she thought she would gouge holes in her aged scalp.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFGVWLiZ2z
The heat from the fire soaked into her, and she relaxed to the point of drowsiness. She felt a small presence somewhere, but it did not bother her. She had felt it several times over the past day, and she had ignored it. Had it been a sorcerer, the signature would be much more significant. She felt a lance of pain across her throat as a sharp blade skimmed across it. A hand shot out and clamped the scream the was forming to the confines of her mouth. A silhouetted form slowly came around her chair, his hand never leaving her mouth. He brought himself down to her eye level and spoke softly and gently to her.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDYZSuE0EM
“I am truly sorry Matron. Really, I am. We mean you no harm.” he said softly, his voice was gentle and young but old and wise. It sent her brain reeling in confusion and pain. “But we need some blood to make your death look real to throw the sorceress off your trail.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdZ4PmIIPm
A big man came around the other side and coming down on one knee to look her in the eye with the most astounding blue eyes she had ever seen. “I will perform a spell to make you look dead, but you will still be very much alive. The Sergeant will act like he betrayed you and then we will take your very much living body with us. We are here to save you.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7GhrajTcH
The fire flared up at that point, as if on its own will. It revealed the smaller one's features. He had that hawk nose, the high cheekbones, the dark hair, but the only thing different was the eyes. His eyes were black instead of red. Delfina's eyes teared up.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaugXoqBJYF
“My Grim,” she sobbed, “You have finally come for your humbled Bride.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOR1HukVuQ
“Oh, Shit!” The little man got up and kicked the chair that already had a rough day, “Why me?”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMie5n28Kr
He fumed around the room in disgust. The larger man's shoulders moved silently up and down, shaking.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCYrCpMO2e
“What?” the little man snapped at the larger one.369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAX6bCDdL1
“Well my friend,” the bigger man said with a snicker, “It could have been worse.”369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4ARlKxqJm
“Yeah, how so?” 369Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2yMwl4jws
“It could have been a man,” The big man said with a small shrug. The little man put his head in his hands in defeat and let out a small sob.
