A Simple Shepherd's Cottage, Glacia, Late Saturday Afternoon (Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

The further south their great procession had traveled, the more things had changed. Some of that was purely geographical, of course. They'd left the mountains and the great pine forests long behind them, trading them in for fields and rivers made mighty by the runoff from the mountains that only stopped when the weather turned water to ice. They had not yet hit Glacia's true agricultural region--that lay in the wealthier and more settled south--but small hills and dales were dotted with sheep and brightly-colored cottages in large and prosperous villages.

The weather had also changed as they'd ridden and marched and trained. They had started off in high summer, but even that had been cool and pleasant beneath the vast trees up north, the brightest days dimmed by the dark and heavy pines. Now they were in the fall, almost time for the harvest, and yet still the days grew hotter and more stifling as they traveled. The frequent rivers were cool and refreshing to ride through, but they lent mugginess to the air and the Black Widows and Healers that traveled with Karla's army were hard-pressed to keep up with the demands for salves to prevent mosquito bites and unguents to soothe the inevitable itches away.

But what had changed most dramatically during the course of their procession were the people. Oh yes, they all still had the Glacian stamp on them: pale skin, pale blond hair, pale blue eyes, but the further south they rode, expressions of the people had grown harder, more distrusting, or even just duller, as if their spirits had been all but snuffed. In the north, people had flocked to her banner (and she had one now, a literal banner, carried out in the front of her army, whose idea was that?) by the hundreds; Jono, Julian, and Momoko had been forced to turn people away just to keep the size of her army manageable. That flood had slowed to a trickle and had practically dried up by the time they'd crossed into the Province directly north of Glacia. Lord Mallory, her Steward, had suggested that everyone who had wanted to join had already done so. But Karla knew the truth: it wasn't just potential recruits that had dwindled here, but also her support. These were the in-betweeners, not close enough to be cowed by Hobart, nor far enough to be independent of him, either. At best, they were indifferent to political maneuvering, wanting only to be left alone. At worst, they were willing to play both sides, looking for whichever one offered the best advantage at the time.

Karla looked at the woman in front of her and wished she knew where on that scale the other woman fell.

"Lady Fetya, I beg you to understand," Karla said, keeping her voice calm and soothing, carefully not letting any of the irritation she felt into her tone or psychic scent. "This is not a matter in which to abstain from. We are, quite literally, talking about the future of Glacia. I represent the Old Ways, returning to the Territory we had when my mother still ruled. Do you not agree that that would be preferable that the path we are heading down now?"

Fetya nodded slightly, before recovering and shaking her head. Then she stopped moving at all, save for her hands which twisted a handkerchief around and around. She had been doing that for almost the entire length of the meeting. By the end of it, Karla was sure the poor thing would be tattered and worn, for all that it had appeared immaculate and new when Fetya produced it.

The Rose-Jeweled Queen was a slight woman, with sharp delicate bones that rose up through her thin skin. She reminded Karla of a nervous bird, one that constantly fluttered about, keeping watch for predators she was sure were near. It was at Fetya's request that they had met in this shepherd's cottage, far from the Queen's residence; whether it was because Fetya didn't wish to have Karla in her home or out of fear of potential spies (or both!), Karla had yet to discover.

No one had liked that idea, especially when Fetya had insisted that Karla be accompanied by no more than two people, but Karla had overruled her Court's objections. Winning Fetya to her cause was worth the risk; without her, Karla's months of planning would amount to nothing.

Now, she was starting to wonder if her Court hadn't been right all along. Under Morton's Court mask, she could tell he was already mapping the ways out of this place if it came to a fight. From Warren's rigid stillness at her side, she was guessing he was doing something very similar.

"You have to understand," Fetya said, giving Karla a smile that suggested the lady was suffering from stomach pains. "It's not that I don't agree with you, Lady Karla. It's just that, well, you have to understand, you're asking for quite a lot."

"On the contrary, lady, I feel I am asking very little," Karla rejoined with an equally-forced smile, though at least she managed not to look dyspeptic. "I am not asking for warriors from your Court or access to your funds. I'm not asking for donations of arms or even food--everything my army eats and wears and uses come from our own storess or are bought and paid for for full value. All I asking is that you support me when the vote is called. I hardly see what the difficulty is."

"Oh, see, that's just the trouble," Fetya said, with another sharp twist of her handkerchief. "It's what you don't see that's the problem! My Court is full of spies! Just full! I try to root out the ones I discover, but there are always more. They breed like rats, you know. Big, hairy, nasty rats!"

Karla closed her eyes and silently prayed to the Darkness for patience. It was all she could do not to grab the woman by her scrawny shoulders and shake her. Repeatedly. If for no other reason than because getting rid of an enemy spy you've discovered was a waste of resources! How had this woman and her mother been friends?

"I am sorry for your difficulties--" she began, but Fetya cut her off.

"They're everywhere in my Court," Fetya said, eye twitching. "It's infested with spies. Oh yes, Hobart has me under very close watch. He's just waiting for me to do something, try something. And then he'll have me replaced with one of those little bitches his Ruling Council's hand picked! Pretty and mewling and subservient! And then what will happen to me?" Flecks of spittle flew from her mouth and Karla tried not to wince as they spattered her face. "I'll end up dead, I tell you! Dead in a gutter! Eaten at by rats and worms and maggots! I have nightmares about this! I know!"

Ooookay. So, yeah. Karla was going to have to rethink her strategy a bit. Whatever the Queen had been like when Ilyse was alive, she'd clearly gone a little barmy in the interim. Not that Karla doubted Fetya's insistence that there were spies--other Queens had mentioned that same--but the way she was going on about them didn't exactly sound sane.

See? That's what happened when you rounded up all the Black Widows. People went starkers.

"That must be very distressing for you," Karla began again. "But that's all the more reason you should vote for me. Once Hobart's no longer in power, his spies won't be able to hurt you."

"Oh, so it's going to go as easily as that, huh missy?" Fetya snapped. "That's why you've got that army of yours about, drawing attention to me and mine? Because Hobart's just going to hand over Sidra and Glacia and everything will be well? Is that the line you're trying to feed me? Because I'm not eating it! And while you two wrangle over Glacia, I'll be murdered in my sleep and nibbled on by rats. Rats!"

Okay, well, a bit of madness hadn't robbed the woman of all of her wits. That was something.

"Surely you have people who can keep you safe--"

"I have almost no one!" Fetya shrieked. "Just my sister!" She pointed to the woman that had accompanied her. She'd been introduced to them at the beginning of the meeting but had stayed silent since. "My sister, the only Black Widow remaining in my Province! The others ran off or were rounded up and killed! The only reason Marva survived is because she's not a natural Black Widow, just trained in a coven! Marva is the only one who can keep me safe and she is only one woman! One!"

Marva flushed under her sister's almost hysterical praise. "Hush, sister, hush," she soothed. "You'll make yourself upset if you keep talking this way." She looked at Karla and shrugged. "The lady has your answer, perhaps it's time to think of going."

"Yes, I'm tired," Fetya agreed, drooping a little. "It's not safe out here. Rats."

Not yet! They weren't allowed to leave just yet! Karla was certain that with just a little more time, she could possibly coax the Fetya into just thinking about voting for her. "You were studying to be a Black Widow?" she asked Marva hastily, hoping that they wouldn't up and leave in the middle of the conversation. "How much did you have a chance to learn?"

Marva's tone was frosty. "I may not be a natural Black Widow like some," she said pointedly, "but I am still a full Black Widow. I finished my training and education before you had your Birthright Ceremony." And she let her gaze travel down to the hourglass Karla wore around her neck, the sand caught halfway between the top and bottom, marking her a journeymaid still.

Rather than be insulted, Karla was confused. She'd assumed that Marva wasn't fully-trained because of Fetya's behavior. There was clearly something wrong with her, but it was not so advanced as to be untreatable. Any Black Widow worth her salt should have been able to help her Queen, especially the Queen's own sister and only trusted companion.

"Come, sister," Marva said, standing up and offering her right hand to Fetya. "It's getting late. We don't want to be out much longer. It's almost sundown."

"And the rats come out at night," Fetya agreed with a shudder. Then she looked at Karla, with real sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry I can't give you the help you need, girl. Ilyse was one of my best friends, both before and after she was Territory Queen. It feels like a betrayal to say no, but..." Fetya trailed off, her expression growing clouded. "Rats," she whispered. "Nibbling at me. Want to eat me up."

"Warren!" Karla cried. "Door! Don't let them leave!"

"What is the meaning of this!" Marva demanded. "How dare you!"

In answer, Karla pointed at the table. The light from the setting sun was pouring in through a window to their side. In the air, Marva appeared to have five fingers on her right hand, just like any other woman.

On the table, her shadow had only four. Her right ring finger had been cut off.

"You pledged yourself to Hobart," Karla snarled. "You're the rat your sister should fear." Behind her, Morton drew his sword.

[NFB. Omg, this is incredibly long, much love to anyone who reads it all the way through!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Aren't you precious!" Marva spat. "Figured it out all by yourself and everything." Quick as a snake, she grabbed for Fetya's hair with her brutalized hand and pressed a newly-called in knife to her sister's throat.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

"Don't be stupid!" Morton said, bringing his sword up over his chest. "You're outranked and surrounded! Let Lady Fetya go!"

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, because I look like an idiot?" Marva snapped. "As soon as I let her go, you'll kill me. Put your own weapons down and I'll let her live! How's that for a bargain?"

[glacial_queen]

"Don't do this, Marva," Karla said quietly. "You don't have an exit strategy. You're working off adrenaline and nerves and that's not a good combination. You're going to make a mistake."

[glacial_queen]

"That so, little Queen?" Marva snorted. "I'm not the one on a timetable, you are. People are already coming for you. Here and where you left your ragtag army. Come sundown, you'll be the ones without an exit strategy."

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

*Mother Night!* Morton swore. *You think she's bluffing?*

[wwiii]

*Whether she is or not, somebody had better tell that ragtag army of ours,* Warren thought back at him. *Otherwise at least some of our landens are going to be caught unarmed.*

Meanwhile, his feathers were prickling and his grip was tightening on the pair of sticks in his hands, his back against the door and his wings spread so that any hope of an exit was neatly blocked from sight.

*These people of hers aren't here yet. We need to get her away from the Queen. Morton, vanish your sword, let her think she has the upper hand. Somebody be ready to shield Fetya.*

"Our army is more than capable of holding its own," Warren noted aloud, giving Marva a look that was angry, but that still managed to carry some measure of calm to it. "But here, us? You seem to have us at a disadvantage."

He opened his hands, not enough to show his claws. Only enough to send his sticks clattering to the floor.

"Let her go, Marva."

[glacial_queen]

*That somebody being me, I take it?* Karla snarked, trying to hide her hear and fury behind brittle humor. *Anyone wanna tell me why I'm not just reaching forward and stopping her heart?*

Karla was not best pleased by this current turn of events.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

*Because, my darling, blood-thirsty Queen,* Morton sent, vanishing his sword and holding his hands in the air slightly, *she's obviously had Fetya under her control for a long time. For all we know, killing her immediately will have a particularly nasty effect on the Queen's mind. And we still need that, remember? Or have plans changed when I wasn't looking?*

[glacial_queen]

*Stop being cute,* Karla snarled over the spear thread. *Leave it for those of us who are.*

Because banter in tense situations was just what you did, okay? Someone should probably teach a class on that at Fandom.

"Let your Queen go," Karla said aloud, "and we'll let you live. Don't make us hurt you, Marva. This isn't going to end well for any of us if you do."

[glacial_queen]

"Oooh, you'll let me live?" Marva repeated, mocking. "How kind of you! Hmm, let me think. No."

She gave Karla a smile that was all teeth and sharpness. "Your uncle has promised that I will hold this Province, once my sister finishes her break with reality. I'm not going to let you ruin this for me! So why don't you listen to your Consort--" Marva snorted at the word, "--and realize that you're outmaneuvered."

[wwiii]

*Confident one, isn't she?*

Warren risked taking a half-step toward Marva, slowly, carefully.

"You've already got us beaten," he said, in a low, calm voice. "You've said so yourself. We might be able to handle just you, but sunset is in minutes, you've got people coming here as we speak, we're done for either way. Keeping your blade to your sister's neck accomplishes literally nothing, right now."

Another half-step closer, and then he was leaping at Marva, one hand reaching for her arm, the other, directly for the weapon at the Queen's throat. Not a move he could have made if he was still holding his sticks. Not a particularly pleasant one for his hand, either, but closing his fingers around the blade meant a reduced chance that Fetya could get hurt should a shield, by some slim chance, not snap up in time.

"Except giving us no choice but to do something about it."

[glacial_queen]

Marva screamed as Warren's hand snatched at the blade and sawed with it. The knife sliced through his fingers, back and forth, until it caught on bone and would not move. "You landen bastard, let me go!" she shrieked.

Behind the Ebon-gray shield Karla had created for her, Fetya moaned, sagging forward a bit, though Marva's hand was still in her hair. "No...not another rat..."

[wwiii]

The feeling of blade catching on bone prompted a snarl from Warren's throat, and his good hand tightened on her arm, claws pricking at her skin. He moved one wing forward carefully toward Fetya, so that the sagging Queen could have something sturdy to lean on that didn't involve hair-pulling or being stabbed.

"Let go of her," he growled, leaning close to Marva and putting his mouth beside her ear. "If it hurt losing a finger, just imagine what your entire arm will feel like."

It was a bluff. But going by the strength of his grip and the threat of claws against her skin, he didn't imagine he was going to be called on it.

[glacial_queen]

"You wouldn't dare!" Marva snarled, though her psychic scent showed fear. "If you, a landen, lifted a finger against me--"

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

"Actually, as Consort to a Queen, he has a little bit of leverage there," Morton said, his sword back in his hand. "Even more, considering he's doing it in defense of another Queen."

Morton's smile sharpened. "Be grateful he's only threatening your wrist, not your throat."

[wwiii]

"So." Warren lifted his chin a little, looking thoughtfully at Marva's shoulder, his voice still a low, almost seductive sort of purr directly into her ear. "Crushed and clawed away at the wrist, or just ripped clean out of the socket? If it's the only way to get you to stop pulling your sister's hair like a toddler throwing a tantrum, so be it."

His own grin sharpened to match Morton's, and he actually did let his claws sink into her skin a little, piercing flesh all too easily. A year ago, that fact would have terrified him.

"You really can't say you weren't given warning."

[glacial_queen]

Fetya fell into Warren's wing with a cry as Marva released her hair. "No, no, no..." she wept. "No, not the rats, please I'll be good."

[glacial_queen]

Karla hurried forward, plucking Fetya from her feathery landing pad. "Shh, shh, it's okay," she murmured, brushing the older woman's hair back and tipping her head back so she could peer into Feyta's eyes. "It's okay. The rats are gone. We're dealing with the mother of them all."

She looked up at Marva in disgust, curling her lip at the woman's own betrayal. "She is a loathsome creature, I'll give you that. But she won't hurt you any more."

[glacial_queen]

"Ma-harva," Fetya wept. "Not my si-hister...Not Marva. Oh, the rats! The raaaaaats!"

[glacial_queen]

Clearly, this was going to take more work than simply separating her from her sister's influence. Karla cradled Fetya and moved further away, backing into a corner. "You two deal with her," she ordered. "I need to see how severe the damage is."

Karla was fairly certain that Marva hadn't been just clouding Fetya's mind, but actively shredding it. Now to see just how deep that damage went.

[wwiii]

Warren didn't need to be told twice. He didn't so much as flinch as he gave a rough shove, slamming Marva back against the wall with her hands out to either side above her head, his own blood trickling down the length of his arm and soaking into his shirt.

And from there, he was just about to ask Morton what in the world to do with her. Except that was when the door flew open, and the room was full of men with swords.

It was probably obvious by the silence that followed that most of them were actually not quite expecting the scene that was set out before them once they'd entered the room.

[glacial_queen]

Marva grinned up at Warren for a second before howling, "WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED! THEY ARE TRYING TO HURT OUR QUEEN! HELP HER! SAVE HER!"

Hello turned tables. Marva was so pleased to see you!

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

Morton facepalmed and sighed. "Odds that anyone is going to listen to me when I say this is not what it looks like?"

[wwiii]

"Can I point out that I'm the only one actually doing much bleeding, here, and she's holding the knife? Is that a thing I can point out, right now?"

Look, wishful thinking was a wonderful thing.

What probably helped more was the fact that, when half of the men turned to face Karla, to protect their Queen as they'd been instructed, it didn't seem to be Karla that she was shying away from. In fact, judging by the way she was curled up and clinging to the young Queen, they could almost spot a case for things not being as they had been presented to them at all.

It was unfortunate that there were still rats in the army, though. Not all of the men in the room were more loyal to Fetya than to her wicked sister and her promises of power.

For every man that stood confused, there was another moving to turn their swords against Morton, against Warren, and against Karla.

[glacial_queen]

"Don't listen to him!" Marva wailed. "Help me! He's hurting me!"

[glacial_queen]

"Be silent," Karla said, standing up. Fetya clung to her for a moment and Karla gently hushed her as she rose. For her part, Marva was also silenced, whether it was from the sheer force of Karla's personality...

...Or, more likely, from an aural shield. But it seemed better if it was Karla's presence.

"She lies. Look at her right hand. The ring finger is an illusion. She's Hobart's creature and she's been driving your Queen slowly mad."

This was an excellent pronouncement and all. To bad the people aligned with Marva decided that would be an excellent time to attack.

[wwiii]

Well, that seemed like as good a time as any to just take Marva out of commission and be done with it, didn't it? Warren let go of the arm that he'd been clawing at, grabbing Marva's forehead in his hand, pulling her face toward him with a handful of hair, and then slamming her skull good and hard against the wall.

There wasn't much of a chance that she'd remain conscious through that. He let go, and she crumpled to the floor in a heap.

Nice of her to leave her knife embedded in his hand. Less great was the effort that it was going to take to rip it out of knitting flesh in order for him to pick up his sticks and fight these men properly. How fortunate for him that he had a pretty okay sort of wingspan, and just flaring them out as he spun to face his attackers was enough of a blow to knock two men off their feet at once.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

Morton lunged, shouldering the closest male away from Warren and taking up a defensive position behind his back.

*You'd better have your shields up,* he thought furiously to Karla, *or by the Darkness, I will throttle you when this is all over.*

Technically, his place was in front of his Queen, keeping her safe from all comers, and Lady Fetya as well. Over here, however, he would be more use to them all around--so long as Karla remembered to shield and didn't end up with a sword to the throat, anyway.

"In the name of your Queen, stand down!"

[glacial_queen]

*Of course I'm bloody shielding!* Karla snapped, making sure Warren could hear her, too, and didn't do something precipitous and unnecessary. Like dive to her rescue. *One surrounding Fetya and I both.*

Fetya, who was currently clawing at Karla's skirts, crying and babbling. "See, I told you," she wept. "The rats are here, they're all here, we're going to be devoured..."

"That Black Widow bitch has ensnared her mind!" One of Marva's pets screamed. A few others blinked at him in surprise, considering this wasn't actually all that different from the way the Queen usually behaved, but most of the squad simply accepted it, blood up and adrenaline charging. "For Fetya!" they cried as they swept forward to renew their attack.

[wwiii]

Well. That man was going to be the first to go, then. In one swift motion, Warren had ripped the knife from his hand and thrown it across the room, watching it embed itself neatly between his eyes.

That was how you used a knife, Marva.

"That Black Widow is the Territory's rightful Queen and currently the only one with a chance of keeping your Queen from wandering lost in the Twisted Kingdom," he snarled, making a dive for his sticks, "and you'll treat her with the respect she's due!"

One of the men saw Warren moving for his weapons and threw them out of the way with his Craft. He got a punch to the jaw, with all of Warren's upper-body strength backing it up, for his troubles, and then Warren simply grabbed his sword as he fell like a sack of bricks instead.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

Another male swung his sword towards Warren's unprotected back--only to be blocked by Morton's own sword. "Don't make us kill any more than we have to!" he gritted out through clenched teeth. "We want to help your Queen, but I have no problems slaughtering all of you to keep my Queen safe!"

The male he'd blocked countered that with a blast of Purple Dusk to Morton's face. Morton's shield absorbed the power, leaving Morton to shake his head and slam his opponent to the floor with the Blood Opal. "Yield honorably and I won't have to kill you."

The male's response was succinct, but most definitely not of the yielding persuasion.

"Had your chance," Morton sighed, and finished him off in short order.

[wwiii]

Those of Fetya's men who were still refusing to raise a sword, Warren ignored completely. They weren't his enemy. Hell, anyone who took a moment to look at a situation and draw their own conclusions rather than rushing in blindly on another man's say-so was the sort of person that Warren could respect.

What he respected even more was the young Summersky Warlord who stood back a moment longer, long enough to draw his own conclusion, and then moved to stand between the Queens and the fighting, blade drawn, but not pointed at Warren or Morton. He stood with back to the pair of females, stood in full trust that this young woman who was cradling his Queen wouldn't do him harm.

Warren smiled, something almost soft that turned into something far more fierce as he dove out of the way of a blast of Tiger's Eye, and then doubled back to neatly sever the hand of the male that had used it.

[glacial_queen]

Not all of Karla's reactions to watching Warren kick ass and take hands were appropriate. Certainly not for the situation at--

Heh.

...The situation in which they found themselves in. Her macabre sense of humor was only one such example.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted, both aloud and on a psychic thread, both enhanced by the power of the Ebon-gray. Winces around the room showed her strategy was effective, especially considering it gave pause to everyone, even the most die-hard of Marva's attackers.

Karla didn't pause for smugness, though. "You are disturbing your Queen," she continued in a voice closer to normal volume. "The next person to raise a weapon will have to deal with me."

Any takers on that?

[wwiii]

None from Warren's side of the room, at least. In fact, he was lowering his own, at least a little, while he looked around to see if anyone else was going to do the same.

One by one, the swords vanished.

Warren made a note of those that were slower doing so than the rest.

[glacial_queen]

Even before taking further care of Fetya, Karla's first priority was the injured. Tapping the male who had taken up position between them and the fighting, she left the Queen in his care and immediately hurried to the one-handed male curled up on the floor.

"Who is going to see to the Lady Marva!" one of the males shouted. Karla looked up at him long enough to memorize his face with a flinty blue stare, then went back to Healing.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

"My Queen will get to her when she gets to her," Morton said easily. "But...I can see why you'd be worried."

*Watch my back,* he sent to Warren, before turning around to lift Marva's limp form in his arms and place her on the table. Not an idiot he made sure to put Opal shield around her. He didn't trust her OR most of the males in this room not to do something stupid and violent.

Holding up her right hand, he created a witchlight to hover behind it. "Look," he said, and pointed to the shadow on the floor. "How many fingers do you see?"

[wwiii]

Warren nodded, stepping between Morton and the rest of the men as a few of them looked dubiously between Marva's hand and the shadow. It was like passing around a candle, watching each man's face shift in recognition, one after the other.

And, from recognition, to anger. Some directed their hateful looks toward Marva, recognizing her as a traitor, as a Black Widow allied with Hobart.

As the reason their Queen's mind had been growing more and more polluted.

And some of them directed that anger toward Morton, for revealing her, toward Warren, for daring to be a landen standing up against men that were so much more worthy than himself, and for Karla, for being the catalyst for their ambitions crumbling around them.

"Black Widow," one man cried. "Kill the traitorous bitch now for what she's done to our Queen!"

A few of the guardsmen nodded their agreement, though they didn't dare raise their weapon. Not with the Ebon-Grey Queen still in the room, her threat looming over them.

[glacial_queen]

Smart males. She might not have to whap them all on their noses like recalcitrant puppy when she was done here.

There weren't many people to Heal; Warren and Morton had been thorough in their attacks. Considering most of the people who had rushed them were likely Marva's own allies, Karla was having trouble caring they were dead.

Once she was done, she looked to Fetya and inclined her head. "Lady, I defer to you. What would you have me do with your sister?"

[glacial_queen]

Fetya had stopped mumbling to herself while Karla was busy. Perhaps realizing that there were other people here had brought her back to some semblance of herself. Perhaps the longer Marva stayed out of her head, the more of herself there was to claim.

"She really...?" Fetya looked at the unconscious body of her sister on the table and shook her head. "I don't want to believe it."

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

"Forgive me, Lady," Morton said politely, "but the facts don't change whether you wish to believe them or not. She's been abetting your enemies, working to undermine you, and poisoning your mind."

He wasn't going to suggest that they kill her, but he wouldn't argue against it, either.

[glacial_queen]

Fetya closed her eyes, willing herself to have strength. "You are certain?"

Karla nodded gravely. "Her missing finger speaks for itself," she said. "And she condemned herself through her own words and deeds. She is the traitor in your Court, Lady."

Fetya looked broken, but her voice was strong when she gave the order to have the shield removed and her sister bound.

[wwiii]

Warren stepped back, then, watching Fetya's men - because not a single one of Marva's dared to move in that moment - move in to carry out their Queen's orders. He watched for a short while, and then threw his stolen sword on the floor, moving to go collect his sticks.

The sword was a good weapon when there wasn't anything else at hand. His sticks, on the other hand, were practically an extension of himself. He could kill, with a sword. That was fine enough. It was all he was really required to do. But if a sword was efficient, his sticks were art. Lucivar had trained him well.

*Feyta needs to know that there are still men in this room that mean to do her harm,* he thought in Karla and Morton's direction as he sheathed his blades at his hips.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

*I'll speak to her males,* Morton promised.

[glacial_queen]

Karla rolled her eyes. *And I'll tell her,* she sent. *Right now, she needs to know as much as she can about everything. She's going to be doubting herself for a long time.*

As it was, she was watching her people tie up her sister with tears glimmering in her eyes. Even so, she did glance over at the men who were not moving and her eyes lingered over each of their faces in turn.

[wwiii]

Singling out the rats that still swarmed in her nest. Warren watched as she began to draw those same conclusions for herself, and he nodded a little.

*I think she and her males can handle it, then,* he noted, and then looked at one of Fetya's, tentatively reaching his bloodied hand out to get his attention. The man tensed a little, looking up at Warren not with contempt, but with the memory of him cutting down his companions fresh in his mind. Warren only offered him a half-smile, raising his other hand as well, showing the man that he wasn't going to reach for his sticks. "I need you to tell me about the males that are coming after our army."

Or, rather, after the small fraction of their army that had come this far. But Warren wasn't about to say as much.

"At least fifty, all told," the man replied, even as the others looked at him to see what he was going to say. "All Blood, of course, properly trained for battle and with a mind to shut down an uprising of misguided landens before it even starts." He fell silent for a second, checking his words, and then he frowned, bowed, and added, "as they were told to expect. If your army fights anything like you do, we'll be lucky if any come back."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, they'll fight," Karla warned. "And they're not just landens. There are Blood there, too. But we're not here to interfere with your Province. I'm here to ask for your Queen's support for my bid to take Sidra back from the Ruling Council."

[glacial_queen]

"And you have it," Fetya said. "I'm still concerned, but...there's no longer a small voice in the back of my head telling me that this will lead to the deaths of those still loyal to me."

[wwiii]

"We aren't expecting a smooth transition into power," Warren noted, looking toward Fetya with a near-apologetic expression and a small bow of gratitude for her support all the same. "For reasons that should be obvious. But Karla supports the Old Ways, and things like this can't be allowed to stand."

He paused, dwelling on that for a moment, before looking between Karla and Fetya.

"Though, if we want to avoid any more loss of life than necessary, we're going to want to get word out to both of our armies that they really don't want to be killing one another right now."