Nelind's Estate
Lord Roland clattered along the dark road, his horse feeling wearier by the minute.
"Come along, old girl," he patted the beast. Behind the strong, athletic thirty year noble rode his trusted manservant and bodyguard Domin, and two surly-looking Maian natives from the nearest village who had been hired to show them around the place. He thought their names were Xin and Tai, or something like that. He hadn't really wanted to come to the windswept north of Maia at this time of year, especially not during Nova Verde's top courtship season, but his father Lord Olin had been most insistent on him visiting the estate of the Nelind family. He had money invested in the company they ran, apparently, and so was concerned by odd reports coming from the area.
"Probably all rubbish," Roland thought to himself as they finally reached the gates of the estate, "Father hope I haven't come all this way for nothing"
As Roland approached the gates, he was greeted by the great gate. It was made of iron and was state of the art. A series of levers and pulleys allowed it to open and close, powered usually by slaves. Nelind had issues with escaping slaves in the past, highlighted by the escape of Vallous, and had erected a massive gate designed to let not a single person out, although getting in was relatively simple. One only needed to turn the wheel put near the gate. The gate would then stay open for a few minutes, allowing easy travel inside the great processing plant.
"This doesn't look too complicated," Roland mused, "Tai, you stay here so you can open the gate again when we get back,"
"I'm Xin, he's Tai" grunted the man.
"Whatever," Roland sighed, "Just do what we're paying you for. Come along you two," he gestured at Domin and Tai, who followed him silently as with a heave and grunt Xin used the wheel to open the gate.
As Xin moved the wheel, Roland could hear a thump as several fully armored corpses collapsed. The inside of the gate had scratches and blood scattered all about it. Strangely, quite a few of the corpses had been drained of all fluids, supported only by bones, the skin had pruned up. Those still in tact had looks of abject horror frozen on their dead faces. At least one was impaled onto the wall itself.
"What the fuck?" Roland exclaimed to his two servants, "Either of you ever seen anything like this?"
They shook their heads. Part of Roland wanted to turn around his horse at that very moment and return to the safety of the nearby village, but the last thing he wanted was for his father to hear that he'd had given up like a coward, so he kept going through the gate until they were inside the estate.
As the trio entered the estate, the gate began to close behind them, pushing most of the bodies along with it. A few slid under the gate and Roland could hear their bones crush under the weight of the massive gate. Finally, the gate had closed behind them entirely, and they looked upon the massive estate Nelind owned. Tai, pointed out the three main buildings. On the far right was the slave quarters, where Nelind housed the workers. In the middle was the processing plant, the cornerstone of achievement, some claimed. It could organize, sort, pack, salt and send out thousands of fish per hour. To the left of that building, was Nelind's personal mansion. A beautiful home typically, but most of the wood was damaged, some holes could clearly be seen, and not a single candle was lit.
The three rode up to the Nelind mansion and dismounted, Domin whistling at the damage around the house.
"Raiders yer think?" he said aloud.
"I've never heard of any raiders this far north, not in this century," Roland replied, before shouting loudly, "Anyone at home?" He knocked heavily on the door twice in the hope there would be some kind of response.
All was silent, the door however, appeared to be weakened and swung open after the second knock. It was far too dark inside for Roland to see anything.
"Huh?" Roland looked at the other two, shrugged and then walked into the mansion, his hands on his sword strapped to his right hip. Domin followed him in a similar manner, Tai following up the rear making the sign of the Father with his fingers as he did so.
As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, Roland could see just how expansive the mansion was. A spiral staircase led upstairs, but he could also see at least five different doors on this floor alone. Roland after examining his surroundings, heard footsteps from the other side of the fifth door. After a while, he could also hear the unsheathing of a sword from the door.
"I think there's someone behind that door," Roland whispered to the two servants, each drawing their blades as quietly as they could. "Come out, whoever you are," he called out, "You have nothing to fear, this is Lord Roland, son of Lord Olin, from the Imperial Court in Nova Verde,"
"Liar!" Roland heard. "You're in league with them! You just want to draw me out so you can take me away. I won't let you do it." Roland could hear nervous laughter slowly fade away from the door. Whoever was there, clearly was on the move.
"No, that isn't true," Roland said hesitantly, trying to work out if the voice belonged to a man, woman or child, "We're just hear to ask some questions, that's all. About what's been happening here, on this estate, that is,"
"Trying to figure out what I know huh? Is that it? Want to know what I told the others before they escaped? I won't do it, you monsters!" The voice clearly belonged to a man, though it was fairly shrill. Roland barely had time to react before Tai pointed out a man on top of the stairs with a bow drawn. He was loading an arrow.
Before he knew it, Roland found himself thrust aside by Domin, who covered the lord's body with his own. His sword was drawn as he stared angrily up at the man holding the bow.
"I wouldn't do that lad, there's three of us and one of yer" he called up, "At best yer'd have one chance to take one of us down before the other two reached yer with their swords!"
The man looked around for a few moments, saw his odds and looked defeated. "They?they made it right?" Was his final words before his feet were grabbed from under him and he was dragged away into the mansion. The trio could hear his screams get cut short. A gurgle escaped him before it was clear the man was dead.
"What the fuck is this place?" Roland exclaimed in horror, "Lets get the hell out of here,"
"I agree," Domin replied, "Yer father would have my head if I let anything happen to yer, Father forbid, we leave at once,"
Tai nodded and and three started to stride towards the front door, weapons still drawn.
The trio managed to exit without any problems. The light from the moon was a bit blinding, but their eyes adjusted to it. The trio found themselves with the fishing plant nearby. They had just started to notice the very clear stench of rotted fish that was coming from the main plant. It would likely only get worse if they wanted to continue exploring.
"Perhaps we leave now?" Tai asked hopefully, "That bad place, very bad stories about that plant,"
"Whoever thought of putting so much fish in one place?" Roland sniffed at the stench, "Terrible idea,"
"What there is that?" Domin pointed to the slave quarters next to the plant, the three drew closer to get a closer look.
The slave quarters, while not in any way ugly, stood out as being significantly less beautiful than either the packing plant or the mansion. In fact, it was by all rights simply unremarkable. Unlike the other buildings owned by Nelind which were made of wood, this one was made of stone, like many other Maian homes. As Domin came closer to one of the windows, he could hear an audible sobbing. It was clearly a man's but he could tell little else.
"No... no..." Tai muttered to himself as the other two approached the slave quarters but he followed regardless. "Who are you?" Lord Roland called out to the mysterious person, "Do you need help? We're from the capital, we can take you out of here!" And tell us more about what's been going on in this place, he thought privately to himself.
As Roland approached the sobbing, the smell of death began to permeate the air. Every step echoed through the vast rooms until finally he reached the last door. The person behind it had not answered, he was still sobbing uncontrollably. The stench of death clearly was coming from the room.
Roland went for the door handle but his loyal bodyguard stopped him, silently insisting on opening it himself. The noble rolled his eyes but let Domin get on with it, the man slowly cracking open the door while keeping an eye on whatever might lie behind.
If Domin was wondering where the rest of the outer guards had gone, well he supposed he had found it. These bodies were not drained, they had been impaled, slashed, gored, bitten, eviscerated, mutilated or any other terrible fate that one could reach in battle. In the middle of all this death, an unarmed man in rags looked up at the trio and stared.
"What the..." Domin exclaimed at the sight of the murdered guards, never in all his days had he seen a scene so brutal. He thought he heard Roland swearing and Tai vomiting behind him. He himself couldn't do much more than stare back at the man in rags in front of them.
"The?the monsters took them. They took them away. They brought these back and said that I can watch over them instead. They took all the slaves, except me." The man kept rambling for a while, saying just about the same thing over and over again.
Roland and Domin looked each other, both thinking the same thought. Mad? Insane or not, he was their only living witness so they strode in together, each taking an arm and started dragging the man from the room. "We've come to take you somewhere safe," Roland told the man reassuringly.
"Nowhere is safe! They are everywhere! They come and they crawl and they catch and they drag! The monsters are here! Nelind has doomed us all!" The man started sobbing again as the trio dragged him out.
"Uh huh," Roland looked at the other two. "I think it's time to leave, for real now. We've got a witness, lets get to safety and then find out what happened. We can always return later with reinforcements."
Domin grunted in agreement and Tai nodded eagerly, pale from his recent sickness. The trio slowly walked back to the gate, keeping a lookout for any other threats lurking in the shadows.
As they reached the gate and began to yell for Xin to open it for them, they were met with silence. The gate looked untouched since they had last gone to it, but Xin was simply not responding. The man they had brought with them started laughing. "I knew it?we are stuck! The only way out is through Nelind's exit and that's in the packing plant itself! I bet more than anything that is where they took the slaves."
Roland sighed. "You never can rely on these locals, I guess we'll have to go out through the other exit."
The four men began to walk back through the estate, up to the processing plant. They covered their noses as they approached, the stink seemed even worse than last time.
The packing plant was possibly the largest building Roland had ever come across. It was larger than most palaces and clearly had some of the best architectural design in the entire kingdom of Aurora. As Roland went inside to the main lobby, he could see stone ramps running in all directions. The ramps were inexplicably smooth and he could guess that normally there would be fish running through them. Where they came from and where they led to, he guessed Nelind didn't want to show. The man accompanying them took every step cautiously and would freeze occasionally. "They are somewhere in here. I know it, they have to be."
"We should be fine, don't yer worry," Domin said gruffly, holding his sword ahead of him as they were lead by the ragged man through the plant. Tai muttered prayers and mantras as they walked through empty hallways, clearly suspicious of the place's aura. Roland heard the native invoking the Emperor's name a couple of times and silently put out his own prayer that they would make it through to safety.
"Whoever knew that young Master Nelind and his mother were making so much money?" he wondered aloud, "I daresay this place rivals the Imperial Palace in size, though sadly not in upholstery," he chuckled grimly to himself.
"Mistress Nelind manages the biggest fish plant on a nation of islands. Of course she is doing well." The man began, he seemed to be gaining his nerve back. "I helped her get this far by keeping the slaves in line and being her personal butler. The boy was just a proxy for her greatness. It's strange though, slowly she began to draw away from things, gave the boy more control of the business, said the Father had given her powers beyond our comprehension. I was not in a position to question her, but I can't help but wonder if this is punishment for our treatment of Vallous, I know the Father cares deeply about the slaves for some unexplainable reason." The man began to move through doors with a sense of urgency, rather than fear and said "The controls are down inside the plant, typically five slaves will activate it and then the gate would be guarded for a time while it stayed open. If we can get there, then leave, I think it will be possible for us to escape this nightmare."
"Wait, the Vallous? Prophet of Lysei?" Roland couldn't help himself exclaiming, "I'd heard rumors about why the late Emperor Kaius, Father rest his soul, pardoned Vallous but I didn't know he used to work here. Huh..." he considered the ragged man's proposal, "Well, it sounds better than any idea I've got, let's do that," Domin and Tai nodded in agreement,.
As the four descended into the plant, the smell of rotted fish only got stronger. The butler explained that they were headed towards the sorting quarter and that most of the fish would be brought there before being salted. Without the slaves running the plant however, they simply would have a massive pileup of dead fish. It was during this, that they reached the first drop point, as the butler described it. "The drop points are designed to make the plant difficult to traverse, basically we store most of our equipment in a large room and then hide the stairwells in order to discourage exploration by the slaves or our guests." The butler walked down the final step and picked up the lantern next to the door. The stairs were still lit by candles, but the inside of the drop point was pitch black. "I'm afraid this will likely be our only source of light from here on." The butler took one of the candles off the wall and lit the lantern. As he did so, he revealed a few figures quickly scattering away from the light.
"Let's... be quick," Tai murmured and the others nodded, following the butler down into the depths of the plant. The smell was terrible and Roland was sure he could feel the gazes of unknown figures hiding in the dark on his skin.
As the butler navigated the drop point, it was clear they were being followed. They could hear at the tip tap of footsteps moving closer, though it wasn't heavy like boots, it was delicate, almost like knives on the floor. Not getting close enough for the Butler, who occasionally made a jerking motion to try and capture one of the creatures in the light, but close enough to observe.
"Show yerself, or leave!" Domin called out from the rear to the figure following the group, holding out his sword as he did so.
The second Domin raised his sword, he could feel something grab at it. He wasn't sure what, but it was trying to take his weapon.
"Gah!" the bodyguard shouted and swung the blade wildly into the darkness, attempting to hack at whatever was lurking there. The others looked around in alarm at what was happening behind them.
As Domin swung his weapon around, he felt himself lose more and more control of it. Right at the last moment, the butler swung the lantern over just in time to see that it was wrapped in something that could only be described as spider webs, before being ripped off into the darkness.
"Run!" the bodyguard shouted and the four tore along the drop point as fast as it could be safely navigated, Domin holding up with the rear with a small dagger he'd drawn from somewhere.
"We need to get out of here quickly!" Roland said loudly to no-one in particular.
As the four ran, they could hear laughter behind them. It was clearly not human, having a very grainy sound to it, almost as if someone's vocal cords had been replaced with sandpaper. The Butler quickly found the stairs and began to run down them without any intention of turning around to see what was laughing.
The trio followed the ragged butler closely, with Roland in front, Tai close behind him and Domin guarding the rear. The noble took a quick glance behind him and thought he caught a glimpse of the thing out of the corner of his eye, turning back he wished he hadn't.
As the four descended the stairs, the butler slammed the wall next to him and a passage quickly opened. He slipped inside it and motioned for them to follow him.
They leapt after him into the passageway, hoping that whatever had swallowed up Domin's sword would not notice their change in direction.
The butler quietly closed the passage and sat down. He whispered to the others. "This is one of the chambers Nelind would use if the estate was raided. Simply put, it's hard to find and easy to hide in. We can take a break and let the monsters scurry about aimlessly."
"What are these... monsters?" Roland whispered breathlessly, "Dark magic or heresy?"
"Heresy? I don't understand how they could fit under that category. Dark magic would be more likely, but I can only wonder if Nelind is responsible for this." The butler sighed and looked up. "Was that our only weapon they took?"
"Heresy, as in rebellion against the Father's order of nature," Roland replied, recalling his tutor teaching him the distinction as a child, "If those things aren't against the order of nature, I don't know what is," He shrugged, "I've got my sword here, and Domin and Tai each have a dagger remaining."
"It's not like it matters." The butler sighed. "Our guards are heavily armed but you saw how they faired. I think it's best we try to be more subtle from here on. I don't know if we can beat these things in a fight."
"Yeah," Domin nodded quietly, "Whatever magic they is, I dunno if any mortal blade can take 'em down. We got to be quiet."
The butler scanned around the room for a while, and put his hand on the wall. He hesitated, if only for a moment and then pushed it open, similarly to how he entered. He quickly motioned for the others to follow him and began to descend once more.
The three followed the man, praying to every god they could think of that the thing wouldn't return. Their hands kept returning to their stowed blades, just to check they were still there.
The butler finally, after what seemed like ages, reached the bottom of the second stairwell and hit another drop point. This one was fairly small, as it wasn't designed to throw off guests or keep people in line. A large array of filleting knives, salts and other packing equipment glimmered in the light of the torch as behind the four, they could hear something else go down the stairs.
"What is that?" Tai hissed.
"Quick!" Roland whispered back, "Let's move before it catches up!"
A whisper came through the room, one that was entirely alien. It was from the stairwell. "Clever little prey" it hissed in a gravely manner. "I can't wait to find you." it said before laughing again. This prompted the butler to begin running. He wasn't looking behind himself anymore to ensure the others were keeping up. He just wanted to make it out of there, and he looked as if he knew exactly where to go.
The trio followed closely at his heels, anything to get away from the disembodied voice behind them. Tai let out a cry as he stumbled, falling behind the pack.
At the sound of Tai's cry, the trio heard the sticking of knives on the floor, exactly like before. They had purpose and aim now, and were moving quite rapidly in the direction of the scream.
Roland looked behind him but didn't stop, he barely knew Tai and wasn't going to risk his life for the native, not when he had so much to live for. He hoped the man would escape somehow.
The butler took a sharp left as Roland looked behind him and disappeared into a crevice just outside of his view. Apparently, not wanting to be caught, the butler extinguished the light of his lantern, leaving Roland, Tai and Domin in the darkness. The pitter patter of knives was getting closer as well, the trio could hear one of the filleting knives clang against a few other assorted metal objects, the creature was armed.
"Ready yerselves!" Domin whispered hurriedly as Tai rejoined the other two and the three all drew their blades, not sure if it would do much but all other options seemed exhausted as this point. Roland looked around the group.
"Where the hell is the butler?" he hissed.
"The butler?" The voice responded. "Is he here too? Some people just never listen." It was then, under the cover of darkness, that the trio realized the voice was on top of them. The creature was pretty clearly using the storage shelves to travel.
"What are yer?" Domin said, the big man trembling slightly, "Show yerself!"
Domin could hear a slight chuckle as the creature began to get closer. He could hear it breathing as the butler shined a light directly out from where he was. The light struck Domin and he could, for a moment, see the creature above him. It was a massive Drider, with a spider's abdomen and human torso. It was covered in a shiny black carapace and had four massive eyes, along with two large fangs that stuck out of its mouth. The creature's eyes grew wide in the light and it leaped on top of Domin.
"Ahhh!" the bodyguard screamed as the spider set upon him and he waved his dagger desperately but it was too late. Within movements the creature had chewed off one of his arms and then went straight for the throat, bright red blood spurting everywhere. With a yell Roland stuck his sword into the creature's abdomen, determined to take at-least one of the creatures with them.
The creature let out a horrifying squeal and darted off away from Domin's corpse. It left a bright red trail behind it and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Tai and Roland could hear its legs quickly run up the stairs, though they seemed to be moving slightly slower, until they heard a thud. The butler whispered. "Hurry you fools! Get in the dumbwaiter!" Light still shining towards them.
Tai jumped for the dumbwaiter and dragged Roland along with him, the noble still staring at the corpse of his dead servant and friend. He could hardly believe what had just happened, so alive one moment, now nothing more than a pile of flesh on the ground. Instinctively he made the sign of the Father, hoping that Domin's soul would find it's way to the paradise.
The butler, seeing the two in with him began to bring the dumbwaiter down. He was operating the ropes and remained silent, except for saying "We are headed to the packing part of this plant." Then he stopped talking, almost refusing to accept what he just saw.
The other two also remained silent, their thoughts fixed on both the fleetingness of earthly life and also whether they would make it out of the plant that night. Tai thought about his wife and children back in the village, while Roland remembered his father's lessons and also a sweetheart he'd met last summer. Maybe he'd meet her again, if he could get out of this place alive.
As they approached the bottom, the butler let go of the rope and let the dumbwaiter slowly sink. The stench of rotted fish at this point was unbearable. It was entirely consuming the room and leaked into the dumbwaiter. The butler turned to the others and said "Are you ready to move forward?"
Roland and Tai nodded silently, stepping out while holding their noses. They probably would have thrown up at this point, if they hadn't already vomited their guts out back up on the surface.
The butler slowly pulled open the dumbwaiter's doors and walked into the total blackness. He had turned off his lantern to save some of the oil in it, but he, and the other two could hear something. He could hear chewing and munching and quick conversations. The butler froze with fear.
Roland and Tai froze behind him, unsure what to do. The last thing they wanted was to catch the attention of another one of those abominations.
The butler couldn't lounge around any longer. He turned on his lantern and saw. He saw the Driders eating the fish. They didn't care it was rotted, because their venom dissolved it all anyway. The creatures paid him no mind, even if he shined a light on their face. They were ravenously eating the fish and it was only when he pointed the light at the top of the fish pile that he could see a gigantic Drider at least two times as big as the others. She looked down at him and sighed. "My scouts reported four of you. I told the others not to attack. Please tell me one of you just got lost."
"He was attacked, by your things, we all were!" Roland said angrily, "Who are you anyway?"
"If you all were attacked by my children, then I believe you would be dead. I am Chelisare, Nestmother of those you see here. Probably a rogue agent who was too excited from the battle attacked your friend." Roland could see Nelind strung up on a web behind Chelisare, along with her nephew. Nelind looked relatively unharmed, though she was unconscious, but her nephew had been stabbed with a kitchen knife and was pretty clearly dead.
"What happened here?" Roland asked hesitantly, "I mean, where did those... where did you come from?"
"Mother Nelind created me, she says the Father wanted her to. The rest, I gave birth to. As for why all the guards are dead?it's a long story." Chelisare sighed and looked behind her. "Nelind was not well, and attacked her own nephew, he had grown close with the other children and they defended him as best they could. Nelind quickly fell and the guards finally noticed us. When they did, they declared us all monsters and tried to kill us. So we defended ourselves. Some of us?were a bit extra judicious in handling them, but it was self defense."
Roland didn't know what to reply for a few moments, until something he thought was odd came to mind.
"If what you say is true, what happened to all the slaves? I have it on record that the Nelind Estate was one of the largest slave-holders in the region, did they try to fight you too?"
"Before the majority of the fighting occurred, we took them to the lower levels of the estate in order to keep the guards from handing them weapons and ordering them to fight. They did not have much room to argue. Neither did their master." Chelisare said before glaring down at the butler. "We soon will be leaving Aurora to find an actual home. This place?has too many bad memories. You may escort the slaves back to whomever would be in charge of them. I will ensure you don't run in to much more trouble here."
"Thank you," Roland replied with a shiver, "Damn, Domin was a good man, he didn't deserve to die in that way. I hope whoever was responsible will be held to account,"
The man looked around and then up at the ceiling where Nelind was still suspended.
"What is to happen to the lady?"
"She will never wake up. The toxins from her wounds will never allow it. We could keep her alive, but she is practically dead already. If you wish, you could take her back. Perhaps some form of magic may come about to help her. Or perhaps Lysei would help her, if she stays with us then she will remain suspended."
"Eh..." Roland didn't really have much interest in the woman but his father had sent him here to check on her, he could hardly leave her behind now. Besides, with her nephew dead the men of his family might be legally responsible for her now, he'd have to check a family tree when he got home.
"I'll take her," he called up, "Although from what I've heard about the god Lysei, the great volcano of Pesh would freeze over before he'd help a slave owner!"
"So be it, human." Chelisare told three other Driders to move Nelind to Roland, they proceeded to wrap her up in webbing and then handed her to him. "These three shall guide you to the slaves, and out of the estate. Now go, we have preparations to make."
"Farewell," Roland said with somewhat gritted teeth, he hadn't forgotten Domin but he realised he wasn't in a position to argue now. He passed the wrapped woman to Tai, who slung her on his shoulders, before following the three Driders out of the chamber.
-----------------------------------
Across Aurora
The Driders quickly left Nelind's estate. They headed for the Capital of Aurora, to meet with its leaders and to avoid further misconceptions. They would travel through the night, and rumors quickly spread through Aurora of spider-folk. No two stories were the same, but those who truly knew about them, kept their mouths shut. For now, anyway.
---------------------------
Lysei, Kaius' funeral ship
In a way, he had come to pay his respects. Lysei would not wait for Octavius to send him the ashes, not when he could go to them himself. He was invisible to any mortals who might show up, and even if they stood right below him, they would not hear anything he said. Thus, he could speak his mind, and not give anyone nightmares. Lysei looked at the urn and sighed.
"I had hoped it would not come to this. Damn it all you needed to do was see, I guess that was my failing. I assumed anyone who saw what I did would naturally come to my conclusions, but you denied them. You refused to accept their reality and now?well you were warned. They say we learn the most from our enemies, and if Jikashi taught me anything, it was that we can't compromise on a job we want done. I should have just killed you the day we met, I wanted to, but I thought I could change you. Now I see mortals for what they truly are, and I have you to thank for that."
Lysei ensured nobody was around and opened the urn, he looked inside and chuckled. He reached down and slowly touched the ashes, half to see if they were real. "I guess, this is goodbye-" Lysei stopped. This?this was not Kaius, the soul that once inhabited these ashes?was some nobody who lived nearby. Who could have managed this? Lysei knew the answer, Kaius was alive, and Jikahsi had already acted before they fought. He put the ashes back and left the ship. He looked into the sky and laughed. "I guess there is a second chance for everything, isn't there?"
