Chapter 17- The Fall of House Faline, pt 1
The Svartalf. The Andskotialf. The Illtalf. The black elf. The adversary elf. The evil elf. Named thus because among the Alfar only the Svartalf enslave both Animals and fellow Primes. No reason was ever given for their treachery, and so, they were named Flaralfar. The treacherous elves.
No one knew, nei, not even the common Svartalf knew the real reason behind their raids on the surface dwellers. Or the special vengeance they heaped upon their unknowing Alfar cousins. The drums they marched to, and the anthem they sung was to betrayal and savage murder. Evils heaped upon them and their foremothers from time beginning…
The Svartalf would never forget…
And, they would never forgive…
It was all a lie.
It was all propaganda designed to keep the commoners disquietingly in check. Disquieting because they wanted the people to be angry, and to hate! Anyone. Everyone! That doesn't look like a Svartalf. That doesn't think like a Svartalf. That doesn't worship at the same altar as the Svartalf!
For anyone not Svartalf their was only death or slavery awaiting them...
The truth…is a deceptive thing. Elusive and hard to find under so many layers of hate and corruption. But, truth can be found...when searched for hard enough, for long enough.
The truth was that the Svartalf numbers were the smallest of the sub-races of Alf to escape during the Exodus. The truth was that soon after they broke away and alienated themselves from their brothers and sisters. The truth was that in doing so they limited their own gene pool so much they were in danger of becoming sterile, and dying out completely as a people. So, from time to time, the Queen-Matron of the Svartalf would send out orders to her Governors. Each city would send out their militia, generally made up of about five-thousand men and women. Then the Queen's Governors assign a few aspiring young nobles of middling rank with the mission of capturing a borg, and every baer and heimili in between. They were to use the slave militiamen as fodder in the battles. Once they were victorious they would take everyone and everything as spoils of war, and whatever couldn't be carried off was set on fire.
Upon the Svartalf army's eventual return with their prisoners and booty, entire families were bought and sold in the slave markets. Owning slaves and Animals became a status symbol where it was customary that a Household's wealth, prosperity, influence, and political station could be estimated or judged by the type and number of slaves and Animals they owned. With slave labor to build their empire, the lowest common Svartalf Household became wealthy enough to own one or two Animals whereas the wealthier commoners might own one or two Villralfar or Dokkalfar, and as many as twenty Animals. As for the wealthiest merchants and noble Houses, they owned hundreds, sometimes thousands of slaves and Animals. Even their own fellow Svartalf, if such a poor soul had fallen on hard times and into debt. If selling his property could not pay off his debt then he could sell himself, his wife, or children into slavery to pay it off.
As time passed the slave markets grew, and very quickly the rarest, the most sought after, and hence, the most expensive of all the Prime races to purchase as a slave became the Dvergr and Nurm. They are hard to find outside of their Fjallheims, and even harder to capture alive. Everyone of them is a mastersmith and engineer making a House's acquisition of a Dvergr or Nurm a guarantee that their Guard would be outfitted with the finest armor, and weapons. The Household staff would have the finest cutlery and silverware, and the Matron and her House would have the finest jewelry and teknology.
Through the millenniums, as with all civilizations built on the backs of slaves, it became common practice that the more beautiful men and women would be raped by the more nefarious masters and matrons whereas the more benevolent would buy and keep families together and slowly intermarry the children. Most though, fell somewhere in between. It became an open secret that no one discussed since every Svartalf House claimed to have pure bloodlines. However, the Matron's began taking Villr and Dokkalfar males as secondary consorts to sire offspring after having a pure Svartalf heir with a Svartalf consort.
To allay bruised feelings the Matron very often also took the Villr and Dokkalfar men's wives and daughters and gave them as gifts to her husband, sons, and ranking House Guard to breed with, thereby constantly mixing new blood into their stagnant genepool.
Though the taking of the other Alfar subraces as breeding stock was an open secret. The greatest taboo among the Svartalf nobility was also taking Exiled High-humans, Dvergr, or Nurm as consorts. Such a scandal could ostracize a House from all political society if found out, and treachery or assassination from within a House to cover up such a humiliation was not unheard of.
Aldrnari, and her companions were children of such mixed unions. She was the darkest of the lot, with the Svartalf ebony skin. Her eyes were a hazel of red, gold, and green, and her hair was as black as polish onyx giving away her Half-alf heritage. In the whole of House Faline, she knew of only Trina Armiano as having the same black hair as her. Besides her hair, she appeared pure Svartalf. She was five feet four inches tall. She was lithe like all Alf with small breasts just able to fill a man's hand quite nicely. Her waist was slim, and her hips were wide enough that were as broad as her shoulders. Her buttock's was taut and thickly muscled and yet not as large as some of her counterparts.
Deild took after her Dokkalfar father in her coloring, but she was built more robustly like her Svartalf mother. Her eyes were a brilliant hazel gold mixed with deep earthy brown and crimson. Her skin was a dark earthy brown with a deep crimson sheen to it, and her hair was a nearly-golden platinum blonde.
Aetla was the tallest of them standing five feet ten inches tall. She was also the only child in all of Idavollr that was Half-nottalf and Half-svartalf. She had the appearance of a pure Svartalf. However, it only applied to her coloring. Her glowing white hair floated above her head just as all Nottalfar's do, and it's glow brightened according to the phase of the moon just as the Nottalfar's skin would. Other than her skin and hair, her star-filled onyx orbs for eyes also gave away her mixed heritage. Aside from that, her frame was long and lithe. Her breasts were small. Her waist was slim. Her hips were a little wider than usual, and her behind was a little thicker.
Baer was the oldest, but seemed to be fine with Aldrnari and Deild's command of their party. She was the daughter of a Villralfar female and a Jarndvergr male taken captive some seventy years ago. Then twelve years ago Forelain, against all Svartalf social norms, took the Jarndvergr into her bed and as a consort.
Some whispered that it was love that prompted such an abominable breach of propriety. Matron Forelain even allowed him to keep his wife and daughters, and gave them over to the Chamberlain to put them to work as chambermaids. Being Half-alf and Half-dvergr, Baer was the shortest of the group, standing four and half feet tall. She was also the broadest across the shoulders and hips. Her breasts were so large they were the size of most Svartalf men's heads. Her arms and legs were thickly muscled while her waist seemed impossibly small. She had a square shaped face with a wide plump mouth and a turned up button nose. She had her fathers ebony skin, but her mother's indigo eyes and hair.
Katr was Baer's sister. She was a little taller than Baer though she was younger by twenty years, and her breasts were so large they hung to her elbows and grew outward like magnificent mountains until they reached her mid-forearms. A Svartalf man's head could be lost between those great pillowy mountains, and he would die happy! It gave her the appearance of being very rotund, and in fact she was plump, but the majority was an illusion cast by the way her clothing draped over her breasts. The fact was, she was only slightly thicker in the waist than Baer. She was very thickly muscled with only a thin layer of dense fat to soften her. To add to her exotic figure, her coloring was of her mother's chestnut colored skin while she had her father's fiery red hair and crimson eyes.
Lastly, there were the two cellar boys, Gaefr and Naor. Both had Svartalf ebony skin, however, Naor's hair was blue and Gaefr's was green. They stood five feet and four feet ten inches tall, and both were slim with broad shoulders.
All seven had long hair following Svartalf tradition, the female's hair falling all the way to the back of their knees while the male's fell to their rear ends. However, following the custom for new recruits to the House Guard or the City Militia, Beinboldr cut her own white hair at her shoulders, then every maid and page's so that all who saw them knew they were ready to fight for House Faline. To make sure they were all marked as Matron Forelain's loyalists, after cutting their hair, she sent Katr to bring back yards of red linen from the napery. Cutting the red fabric into strips, she passed one to each servant, "We must make sure those that fight for our Matron know who are their allies. Tie these strips to your left arm."
Everyone nodded and helped their companions tie the red armbands on eachothers left bicep. As everyone was preoccupied Beinboldr retreated to her office and returned with a bag. Turning it over, she dumped the contents on a table, a bag full of silver, gold, and platinum brooches with the crest of House Faline, "Everyone, take a brooch and pin it to your armband. These are the markings of our loyalty to Matron Faline."
Again everyone nodded and took a brooch to pin to their companion.
"Neither remove armband or brooch," Beinboldr warned, "When I reach Trina and Urthrina I will tell them their significance, and that we stand with Matron Forelain. I will have her mark her guard with the same armband so we can distinguish ourselves and know friends from foe."
"Yes Pantler Beinboldr," Everyone chorused.
By the time they left the kitchen there was a pile of hair on the floor ranging in colors from white to pastel blonde, green, blue, purple, red, Katr's fiery red, silver, and Aldrnari's glossy hair black as onyx. Upon leaving, Aldrnari led her small force down the tight scullery hallways headed directly for the Matron's bed chambers. Of the seven of them; Aldrnari, Deild, Aetla, Baer, and Katr were poultry and scalding-housemaids, used to killing and butchering humanoid animals such as chicken, pheasant, turkey, rabbit, deer, cows, and pigs. They were also taller, stronger, and more thickly muscled than Gaefr and Naor. So, the five women led while the males brought up the rear as they navigated the halls of the compound.
The most direct path had them roaming about the labyrinth taking far too many left turns, then right turns, then crossing main hallways or rooms before ducking back into another scullery hall to complete their journey. It was a stratagem designed to stall and confuse invaders, and despite the staff having secret hallways that were short cuts, it was still a trek to get from the kitchens to the private chambers of the High Seat of House Faline. A number of times they crossed hallways where guardsmen fought shades of the dead.
Aetla squealed and covered her eyes while Baer and Katr cursed and spat on the ground as everyone one trudged a little faster across the hallway before ducking into another scullery hall, but no one voiced their fears over the fact that the dead had risen up to punish the household for the young Lords' crimes against their kin. A shade looked up and noticed them and one and all squealed before they ran as hard they could for several seconds before sliding to a halt. Turning the next corner they stood before the entry to the private chambers of House Faline. It was blocked by a door they had never seen before and two chambermaids, Hamingja and Midnott.
At Aldrnari and her troops sudden appearance Hamingja's eyes opened wide in surprise and her mouth fell open before she closed it with a click of her teeth. Her eyes narrowed when they fell upon the armbands. Looking back to Aldrnari, she asked, her tone cautious, "Don't you know that the House is under assault from invaders? What business do you have here, Aldrnari? No one has ordered food from the kitchen as of yet..."
"We are not here to bring food to anyone," Deild growled, as she tried to look menacing despite a seven month pregnant belly protruding out in front of her, "We are here to free our Matron, Lady Forelain, from her bondage within these halls."
"Are you crazy," Hamingja laughed scornfully, "Our Matron is dead. She has been so for a long time now. Go back to your room and sleep off whatever you have been drinking, Deild!"
"Let us through," Aldrnari growled as she shifted the weight of her skillet and cleaver in her hands, "I heard the Lords Hayden and Gunngrul speaking within the last hour and confess that our Lady is still alive, along with her daughter Lady Sulabha."
"It matters not what you think or what you heard," Hamingja refuted with a shake of her head as she rested her hands on a set of steel crochet needles shoved into her belt, "I, nei, we, all of us chambermaids under the authority of the Chamberlain and Wardrobe just received orders to turn away anyone seeking entry into the private residence…by force if need be…"
"We are not leaving," Deild snarled as she hefted her skillet and carving knife, "nei, in fact we are going through that door. Whether it is through you as well is up to you!"
"Well that was all I needed to hear," A male voice purred as Aldrnari and Deild jumped in surprise and turned just as Gunnlath, a violent and mean bully of a man recently hired to work in the stables, stabbed his knife into Naor's throat.
Arterial blood sprayed across the hallway splattering Aldrnari and Deild's cheeks and dyeing Katr, Aetla, and Baer's aprons red as they watched helplessly as Gunnlath stepped back. Naor's already lifeless corpse collapsed to the floor, and Gunnlath stepped over him and thrust his knife into Katr's overly plump breast. Her eyes opened wide in fear and shock, blood bubbled up into her mouth and foamed on her lips, and she fell forward into Gunnlath. With a curse he stepped back away from Katr, but as he did, his heel caught on Naor's body and they went tumbling together.
His fall snapped everyone out of their daze and suddenly everyone was in motion. Gaefr moved first, jumping across Naor and Katr to slit Gunnlath's throat with a quick precise slash that nearly cut his head from his shoulders before he gently rolled Katr over to see if she was alive or dead. Her eyes fluttered and crossed as she wheezed with her effort to breathe. Gunnlath's knife shuddered in her breast with every cough. Blood and spittle coursed down her cheeks and Gaefr panted in fear as he patted Katr's breast where the knife hilt was still protruding from her as he cried, "Oh my goddess! Don't die on me Katr! Don't die my munuo! I am going to marry you one day, so don't you die on me!"
"A...good...reason...to...live," She whispered through clenched teeth. Blinking her eyes in an effort to keep them open, her coughing was quickly weakening as her hands found Gaefr's hand on her breast. Clutching it with all the strength she had left, a small smile curled the edges of her plump mouth as she looked up into his purple eyes with her crimson gaze.
"Nei, I will make sure you both go to Arachni together," Hamingja growled as she pulled her crochet needles from her belt and stepped into the fray. When she stepped forward, so too did Midnott, flourishing her crochet needles like daggers only to be intercepted by Deild while Aldrnari engaged Hamingja.
Seemingly out of nowhere three more groomsmen, companions of Gunnlath, stepped into the hallway with whips and daggers in hand. Gaefr held Katr in his arms, brushing his fingers through her fiery red hair with one hand and the knife in her breast with his other while Aetla, Baer, Aldrnari, and Deild jumped about clumsily dodging and parrying thrusting daggers and crochet needles. Reacting quickly, Aetla reared back and threw her skillet as hard as she could at the first groomsman, and hit him square in the nose and mouth dropping him to the floor instantly, but the action left her with only a carving knife as the second man cracked his whip. Instinctively she raised her hands for protection only for the whip to wrap around her arm before the groomsman yanked her off balance to stumble right into a dagger that ran her through the heart. With the last of her strength she thrust her carving knife into his belly, twisted the blade, and wrenched it sideways gutting him so that as she fell to the floor dead, the second groomsman's entrails fell out of his belly. As he stumbled forward trying to gather up his intestines Baer slid her carving knife between his ribs and nearly cut his lung in half leaving him to pitch forward on top of Aetla, dead.
Baer intercepted the third groomsman, with practiced skill she swatted the man's dagger wielding hand with her skillet, shattering it and sending the dagger skittering across the floor. When she followed up with a thrust of her knife, he rolled away. Cracking his whip he slashed the back of her hand disarming her of her skillet before rolling away again. Shaking off the pain, she grimaced and stalked after the groomsmen determinedly as he jumped away repeatedly. Suddenly he landed near Gunnlath's knife and lunged at Baer. She managed to sidestep just in time for a knife in the chest to become a slash that cut through her clothes and skin, all the way to her ribs just below her overly plump breasts. With a shocked gasp, she grabbed her chest as the groomsman reared back to thrust again. With a feral howl she kicked him in the privates as hard as she could, dropping him to his knees instantly and buried her carving knife in his throat.
Deild and Aldrnari were having a hard time with Hamingja and Midnott. They found that their opponents were more than they seemed. Their skill with their crochet needles was extraordinary and deadly. Aldrnari was on full defense, jumping back, rolling away or to the side and barely slapping aside well aimed needles just in time to keep from getting skewered. It was like a dance, only Hamingja was leading, and if Aldrnari faltered even a little she would be stabbed to death in an instant. However, Aldrnari was an exceptional dancer. Very quickly she started sensing the pattern in Hamingja's movements.
Hamingja twirled a crochet needle and stabbed with her other hand. Aldrnari deflected the first thrust with her skillet only to have the second twirling needle stabbed into her side. She gasped as pain shot through her body like a lightning bolt. She almost dropped her cleaver, but with a growl she chopped down as hard as she could. Hamingja screamed in pain and jumped back only to watch her hand and half of her forearm fall to the floor at Aldrnari's feet. Bloodlust and rage gleamed in Hamingja's eyes as she snarled and lunged again. It was a clumsy attack after the skill she had shown before, and Aldrnari easily sidestepped it and buried her cleaver in Hamingja's back.
The chambermaid's legs folded beneath her and the girl fell face down, Aldrnari was upon her in a breath and with all her strength and both hands she slammed the skillet down onto Hamingja's head. The chambermaid stopped moving after the first hit, but Aldrnari didn't stop until she heard the crunch of skull breaking and blood and brains covered the bottom of the skillet.
Midnott kept Deild on her heels deflecting thrust after thrust, taking turns aiming at her heart and lungs, or at her pregnant belly. Pushed back further and further, Deild's heel caught on a leg and she fell backwards. Midnott hurriedly closed on her as Deild rolled away. She managed to get to her feet when Midnott stabbed her crochet needle deep into her belly. Pain immediately shot through her and panic for her 'barn', then rage hit her like wellspring gushing forth and she screamed with a savageness only seen when a mother is fighting for her child's life. With a snarl she swung skillet and cleaver wildly, forgoing defense. Some of her attacks landed as Midnott hissed in pain and jumped back to escape. As she stepped backwards a crimson dagger stabbed her through the back. Midnott looked back over her shoulder to see the pale white visage of the shade of a priestess with crimson eyes and flowing black hair that seemed to turn into a crimson smoke. She only had time to blink and her mouth to fall open in her surprise before Deild's cleaver chopped her head from her shoulders.
As quickly as the fighting began, it was suddenly quiet.
"Surrender or die," The shadow priestess signed as Deild, Aldrnari, and Baer turned to her not knowing what to expect.
With heavy breaths they hefted their weapons.
"We fight to free our Matron Forelain and rescue her daughter Sulabha," Aldrnari growled through clenched teeth, "We will not surrender. We will fight for our Matron and die if need be…"
The shadow priestess looked at each of them and then noticed their armbands and signed, "Those are the sign of your allegiance?"
"Yes," Deild answered with a nod as the shadow priestess looked down at the bodies littering the hallway. She saw Gaefr slowly rocking a deathly looking Katr, Naor and Aetla already dead on the floor, and Baer, Aldrnari, and Deild's injuries.
Another shadow priestess suddenly appeared from the hallway and then another. The first one knelt down over Katr and her mouth began moving though no one heard any words. A golden glow surrounded the priestesses hands and then spread to Katr and enveloped her whole body. The priestess removed the dagger from her chest as Katr's back arched until only her heels and head were on the floor. As Aldrnari, Deild, and Baer watched, the soft chestnut flesh of Katr's breasts stitched itself back together and healed as if the wound never happened.
The second priestess turned Aetla over and pulled the dagger from her chest before she began chanting a prayer. A white glow surrounded the woman and the wound in her chest healed. As soon as it did Aetla gasped, then coughed, and then she blinked tears from her eyes. A hand probed her chest where the wound had been, while the shadow priestess that resurrected her offered her a hand up.
The third priestess said a Prayer of Resurrection over Naor's body, and a white glow enveloped it, but as the prayer continued the light of the glow fizzled and disappeared. The priestess stood up and shook her head. Looking at Aldrnari she signed, "He has been dead too long to bring back."
Aldrnari nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks. She heard sniffles from Katr, Baer, and Aetla, and saw sad expressions on Deild and Gaefr before she answered, "Thank you for trying. We know you did your best."
Once their injuries were healed, the first priestess signed, "Come with us. We will take you to Matron Forelain and the Master."