“Hmm,” Everly said in surprise as she and Dullahan approached the gates of the keep, only to discover that they had already been broken open and the troops that should have been guarding them were now dead. “Did we conquer this place earlier and forget about it?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Dullahan replied. “Unless you sent Grail, and it slipped your mind?

“That does sound like something I’d do,” Everly nodded. “But Grail’s the type that would have reminded me later. He’s diligent about things like that. Is that the word I’m looking for? Diligent?”

“I think so,” Dullahan said. “It sounds right.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Everly agreed. “Grail’s too diligent to let me forget about something like this.” She then waved a hand at the ruined entrance to the Eastern temple’s headquarters. “In which case, it would appear that someone has beaten us to the punch.”

“But who would dare lay claim to the prey of the Empress?” Dullahan asked in an outraged voice.

“Well, it’s not like we announced to the world that we were going to stop by and destroy this place,” Everly said. “When you think about it, these templars have enemies all across the world. They’ve been pissing people off for centuries! It stands to reason that someone would have a score or two to settle with them.”

Dullahan glared balefully at the ruined entryway before saying, “Well, that might be true, but I was still looking forward to showing off what I could do. I’ve had a difficult year, Everly!”

“We all know you’ve had a difficult year, Dullahan,” Everly said placatingly.

“Going on a rampage would have been very cathartic for me,” Dullahan fumed.

“Okay, all right. I understand your feelings,” Everly replied. “Let’s just take a look around first and see what we can find out. Maybe we can sniff out some clues or something.”

With that decided, the duo entered the castle, stopping first to inspect the dead gate guards. “Interesting,” Everly said after giving one of them a few curious pokes. “These guys haven’t been dead very long, Dull. I’d even go so far as to say they’ve only recently been killed.”

“Can your power over the earth give you an exact time of death?” Dullahan wondered. “Also, please don’t call me Dull. That’s the sort of terrible nickname that sticks.”

“How about Dully?” asked Everly.

“That's even worse,” Dullahan quickly replied.

“You’re really making this hard for me,” Everly said sadly.

“I don’t want you doing it at all,” Dullahan said.

“Fine, if you’re going to be a baby about it,” Everly said in an aggrieved tone. “And no, I don’t think I can get the exact time of death. Titania could do that for me easily…oh, it’s so annoying to only now realize how much I relied on her and Eris to manage my powers.”

“It’s not like you’ve lost them permanently,” Dullahan said. “When they wake back up, you’ll be stronger than ever.”

“Yeeeeah,” Everly sighed. “It sure is inconvenient for the moment, though. It’s not that their absence makes me feel vulnerable or anything; I just miss them.”

“Really?” asked Dullahan.

“Yeah,” Everly said “I feel…incomplete without them. I don’t mean this to sounds entirely psychotic, Dullahan, but once you get used to having multiple voices constantly speaking in your head, the absence of noise can feel immense.”

“Wow, that almost sounded profound,” marveled Dullahan.

“I’m a still river, but I’m a deep river,” nodded Everly.

“Some would say you’re definitely off the deep end,” Dullahan agreed.

“Thank you,” Everly said, pleased by the compliment.

Inside the keep, more bodies lay where they had fallen in battle. Dried blood was splattered all around where men had died. The floor and walls were also scorched with the telltale signs of spellcraft, and rubble was strewn everywhere.

“Whoo, party in the church, party in the church,” Everly said approvingly.

“Why are there only dead templars?” Dullahan wondered. “I don’t see a single dead invader.”

“Good observation,” Everly said. “These church mice aren’t slouches when it comes to a fight. Whoever attacked them should have left a corpse or two behind.”

“But all we see are fallen templars and clergy,” said Dullahan. “Were they overwhelmed so easily?”

“I don’t think so,” Everly said. Then she realized the answer. “That night, when I met Kestrel…”

“You mean the night when King Septus was assassinated?” asked Dullahan.

“Yeah, yeah, that too,” Everly said impatiently. “I killed two of the three assassins they sent for him. I would have had the last of them as well if Kestrel hadn’t intervened. When they fled from me, they beamed out and took all the bodies in the room with them.”

“They refused to leave their dead behind,” Dullahan said. “A wise precaution when dealing with a necromancer. But wait, aren’t we here because you thought the assassins were with the eastern temple?”

“It would appear that my guess was incorrect,” Everly said slowly as her eyes began to spark red. Then she quickly shook her head. “No, that’s impossible. I’m never wrong about anything. This was Beverly’s guess.”

“Ah, well that makes sense,” said Dullahan quickly. “Gosh, that Bev. What a dummy. She’s never right about anything.”

“Yeah, the only thing she’s ever right about is being wrong,” Everly said assertively. “She’s eggs in a bowl of ice cream.”

“Your hair looks very nice and you’re easily the prettiest girl in this charnel house,” Dullahan assured her.

“I am pretty, thank you,” Everly smiled.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Then she screamed in rage and reduced a nearby wall to rubble with a vicious gesture from her hand.

“I’m not angry,” she said a moment later.

“I’m glad you’re not angry,” Dullahan said quietly.

“I’m just disappointed. I’m allowed to feel disappointed,” Everly said. “I took some time out of my day, I went out of my way to come here, and then it’s like finding out the toy store is closed on Sundays. Who closes anything on a Sunday? Why make a religious observance when there’s money to be made?”

“Isn’t that just so capitalism?” Dullahan asked her. “Full of bleeding hearts and…and cultural respect and all that. At least modern communists care about making a profit.”

“You can stop now, Dullahan,” Everly told her.

Dullahan fell silent.

Everly took a deep breath and let it quiet her unsettled mind.

“All right let’s keep looking,” she decided.

“As you command, my darkness,” said Dullahan.

As they searched the ruined keep, Everly found herself wondering who could have possibly done this. Not only did today’s discovery mean there was a new faction running lose on her world, it was also an enemy of the established order. First, they claimed the king of a great kingdom. Now they’d come after one of the great religious powers.

The question was why?

Oh, now I’m just being silly, she thought to herself. This is obviously all about me.

It made sense if you thought about it. She’d been about to claim Winstead through marriage. And she’d had the ruling council of the eastern temple thoroughly filled with her people. Now both had been taken away from her.

This was all clearly an attempt to deprive her of resources.

She snickered at the thought of it.

All of these poor little soldiers and even Septus. Dead because of me and never to know why. I guess that’s just what happens when an ant gets caught beneath a giant's stride. It’s all just a sad joke that history decided to play on them. Of course, the joke would be even funnier if someone would only let ME in on the punchline.

Kestrel. It all came back to her. The mysterious figure in white bearing the western temple’s sacred armament. Who was she? Why was she targeting Everly?

She talked like a paladin too. A real one, not like that demented fraud, Sarah. Making her little platitudes about justice and patience. She couldn’t hide that look of pleasure in her eyes when she burned me, though. No, for all her righteous talk, this is very personal for her. I did something to make her my enemy. I wish she’d tell me what it was so I could mock her for it.

And that was how, with pleasant thoughts of infuriating her enemy into making a fatal mistake now running through her mind, Everly and Dullahan found themselves walking into a large room in the central chambers of the keep, where the dead bodies of the high council hung upside down by hooks driven through their ankles, naked and divested of every inch of their skin.

Everly looked around very carefully to make certain she was seeing things correctly. Then she frowned. Every single one of her replacement councilors were here, hanging lifelessly.

“Everly, this is horrible,” Dullahan said, stunned by what she saw. “They killed all of our people…”

“They broke all of my toys,” Everly agreed, vehemently. “Why didn’t I know this was happening? Even if Eris is hibernating, I’m still connected to all of you mentally. How could they be here, dying, without me even realizing it?”

It would take organization, precise timing, and considerable spiritual power to blind Everly to the movements of those who acted against her. These assassins had to have more than a few powerful spirit elemental users among their ranks to veil the suffering of Everly’s creations from her. But how did they know so much about her? A technique like this wasn’t something that was improvised on a whim.

Something in her bones told Everly that what the assassins had accomplished here was a proven methodology designed specifically to foil her.

Who are you, Kestrel? What do you represent?

A grin broke out on Everly’s face as she realized that things were getting more complicated than she’d expected.

And a lot more exciting.

“Everly,” whispered the dying voice of one of her children.

It took her a moment to place a name to the unknitted thing that hung before her. His face was of course unrecognizable, but she never forgot a voice, especially when that voice was an occasional source of irritation.

“Hello, Nalec,” she said to him in greetings. With a swing of her hand, she severed the hooked chains that he hung from, and caught him before he fell to the floor. Now she knelt gently and cradled his body in her arms.

“You were really hanging in there, weren’t you?” she asked him, unable to resist the pun.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. Will you forgive me? I failed you.”

Everly considered his words for a bit, then gently kissed him on his skinless forehead. “No. No, I won’t forgive you. Your brothers and sisters are dead, and your killers have escaped to laugh at me. Why couldn’t you do anything right?”

“I’m so useless,” he wept.

“You are,” Everly agreed.

“I wish I had died,” he said.

“You will, soon. Whatever they did to you, I can’t heal it,” Everly said sadly. It infuriated her that she couldn’t. She was used to doing whatever she wished. How dare these assassins impede her with their grubby little tricks.

“Can you tell me anything about the one who did this, Nalec?” she asked him as she gently stroked his cheek, paying no attention to the fluids that clung to her hand. “Tell me who killed the second of my children. In your name, I’ll inflict absolute horror upon them. Before I'm done, they’ll beg for the sweet release of the rat room.”

“There were two of them,” Nalec said in his quivering voice. “One who commanded and one who obeyed. A man in blackened armor who gave directions to a girl in white who tortured us with a burning blade.”

“Kestrel,” Everly said softly.

“You know her, mother?” Nalec asked.

“We’ve met,” Everly replied. “What about the other one? The man whom she obeyed?”

“He knows you,” Nalec rasped. “Everly, he knows you. He spoke of you so intimately. As though you’d been lovers. But he also spoke of events that never occurred. He was so convinced that they had, and so furious to learn when he was wrong. He had Kestrel flay us every time he was mistaken about something. It lasted for days…”

Days? she thought. More like hours. But when your skin is being peeled off, time is the last thing you'll be keeping track of.

“Nalec, can you describe him?” asked Everly. “Can you tell me his name?”

“He had one eye,” Nalec whispered. “He wore a patch over the other and had a scar across his face. He said his name didn’t matter. That nothing mattered as long as you existed in this world…”

“A nameless foe,” Everly said dreamily. “Someone obsessed with me. How intriguing. You know, I’ve always wanted todramatically disfigure someone. Don’t you think handsome men are improved with the presence of a good scar? I’d cut him across his eye and then I’d say–”

“If ignorance ever again obscures your vision, then I’ll come for the other one,” said Nalec before his head dropped back and his chest stopped moving.

“What?” Everly asked him in confusion. “Hey. Nalec! Nalec, how did you know I’d say that? Nalec!”

She cursed to herself in frustration. Nalec was dead.

“Okay, so what the hell was that all about?” she asked Dullahan, as she stood up and let the body drop to the floor.

Dullahan could only shrug her shoulders in confusion. “It would have been nice if he’d hung around long enough to clarify.”

“Well, he never did have a lot of potential,” Everly said dismissively. “He was an early run, you see. A test to see how independently one of my creations could operate while still being utterly devoted to me. He was a little too much. I considered having him destroyed on more than one occasion, but…I don’t know. There’s a certain charm to an early mistake, isn’t there? Could he have grown? Could I have learned to be more appreciative of him?”

“Could you have?” Dullahan asked her with uncertainty.

“Well, if we’re being honest, it’s highly doubtful,” Everly admitted. “But the possibility was still there! That’s reason enough to hold a grudge against whoever this one-eyed bastard is.”

Before Dullahan could respond to Everly’s words, a scream suddenly rang throughout the keep.

“And what have we here?” Everly said eagerly. “Could it be that we have a reason to be here after all?”

“Maybe?” said Dullahan who decided she was simply going to roll with things until she could go back home.

"Well, let's go find out, silly!" laughed Everly as she ran out of the room, leaving its contents behind to be forgotten.