Vyx Vlyn and her Mother

[Canukistani]

Khanrhyd says: ok, so you and your Mother are aboard your ship. Your Step-Father has failed his system shock so is unable to be brought back to life however, his still warm corpse may have other uses

Vyxvlyn says: i'll reanimate him in the morning to be my thrall

Khanrhyd says: now... what about the grieving widow?

Vyxvlyn says: well i was going to bring her back to my cabin to chat

Khanrhyd says: ok

Vyxvlyn says: i want to know what happened after i left

 

The cabin, in many ways, is very much like your room back when you were living together; messy and very much that of a young girl.  It has been a very long time for your Mother... but what is time to the dead?  That which interested you before, still does so now.  Your cabin is the largest room on the ship, obviously, and has two armours, two foot lockers and a set of pegs set into a board to store your shoes.  You also have a table and two chairs against one wall, several shelves for books with a bracket that you never needed back home, castles rarely pitch.  Then there are the gowns strewn here and there and the jewelry.  The only piece of jewelry that you commonly take care of is your golden mask for obvious reasons.

 

Vyxvlyn sits down in her informal captains chair

 

"So," Her Mother begins hesitantly.  "Tell me of yourself."

Vyx Vlyn shrugs and says: "what do you want to know?  I am Vyx Vlyn"

"Ah, so eloquent.  I remember.  The only time I really heard your voice was when something you were planning went awry.  Did you marry that boy? The one from the lower city?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"The one you were so careful to not let us know of?  Your Father was oblivious to all except his ledgers, but I'm your Mother.  I knew instantly when you fell in love."

"Oh...him, may the raveners feast upon his flesh"

"Ah, so it ended like so many other loves of youth... I'm sorry.  Did you meet someone else?"

"You could well ask your former husband."

"What do you mean?"

"His name was Conner.  He stole my purse one day.  What a fool I was for those emerald eyes.  I went searching the lower city for him."

"I think I remember that day. You went out dressed like a killer from a Drama."

"Eventually I found him, and his family of thieves.  Didn't you wonder where I had been spending all my time that year?"

"I knew that it was a boy.  A woman does certain things.  You changed your entire appearance almost overnight.  One day you were a little lady, the next you looked like a cross between a dock worker and a doxy."

"Well, I spent that year training as an apprentice thief.  Conner was a journeyman thief."

Her Mother seems shocked, then laughs softly.  "Ah... the fruit really doesn't fall far from the tree."

"What do you mean?"  Vyx demands.

"Your Father was a very skilled Rogue in his day.  He began to court me after breaking into my parent's house and taking everything of value.  Including my maidenhead."

Vyx looks shocked.  "MOTHER!"

Her Mother chuckles.  "He was dashing and so brazen as a youth.  And he knew so much!"  She smiles wickedly at Vyx.

Vyx says "...aaaaanyways..."

"He was a much better lover than Eamon could ever hope to be"

"...umm...okay...."

"I'm sorry Buttercup, please continue."

"...don't call me that!"

"Echoes of a past best left dead, eh love?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm dead."

"As you say Darla."

Vyx sighs and continues her tale.  "Conner seduced me.  We had just gotten back from a second story job and we had split up so I could fence the gems.  When I went back to his flop I saw him with some other woman."

"Ah"

"They were talking about me, what they really thought of me."

"Oh dear.  I imagine it wasn't very complimentary?"

"It broke my heart."

"Oh muffin."  She puts her arms around Vyx and draws in a breath sharply as she feels the chill of her flesh.

"I ran away, blindly into the city.  The worst part was that I had forgotten to take off one of the stolen rings.  I was crying in some doorstep when the lady we had stolen from saw me and her ring."

"Was it a distinctive one?"

"I don't remember.  The fence said it was glass.  It didn't matter if it was hers or not.  I still stole it and that's all the magister cared about.  I'm surprised you weren't notified."

"When the magister took your name, did you use your own?"

"I had to.  He used a spell that prevents lying.  Most of the people watching the trial were my fellows, even Eamon."

"Eamon?"  She seems shocked.  "Tell me," she says in a very quiet voice.  "What did Eamon say in your defence?"

"Nothing.  No one said anything.  I think I was being sacrificed."

"Your Father was instrumental in him becoming the guild leader.  Picked his own successor your Father did."

"What?!"

"Tell me, did Eamon every ... try to seduce you?"

Vyx frowns, trying to remember.  "Eamon was always calling me Little Vixen."

"What?  What did you just say?"

"...Little vixen.  That's how I chose my thief name Vyx Vlyn.  No...he never tried to touch me but he always had sweets for me when ever I came around the shop."

"That filth...When we would lay abed, he would whisper in my ear that I was his 'Little Vixen' and that he had captured me after a long and difficult hunt.  He would always whisper these things in the dark."

"Well, it's true.  He had to get rid of me and then he got rid of father so he could take you."

"I don't think I was the object of his hunt."

"Hunters change prey.  I became compromised when I was caught and he obviously saw a way to use my exile to his advantage."

"He did."

"Well, what did you do when you saw I was missing?"

"I had the city guards search for you, and finally your Father was interested in something other than his ledgers."

"And how did you come here?"

"Well... it's a long story that really doesn't need to be told here."

"I have plenty of time, services don't start till dawn."

"Suffice it to say that your Father and I disagreed on a few fundamental things and we parted ways."

"So he didn't go Outside and get eaten by the raveners?"

"Yes.  Eventually.  That's how I got caught actually."

"You got caught?"

"Here's a piece of advice darling... never toss a whole body out of a window.  It attracts far too much notice."

"I could have told you that."

"After a few very exciting weeks, I ended up here, penniless and lost.  The Lords of the Citadel were kind to me, but turned me out once I had recovered from the shipwreck."

"Meet any bards along the way?"

"That's an odd question.  But yes.  Then again, aren't bards nearly everywhere?"

"Not all bards pass along good advice."

"He's the one that suggested to me that I seek the help of the Citadel.  And he was also the first customer I had as a fishmonger."

"Was this on board this ship that crashed?"

"Er... no.  I met him shortly after I swam to shore."

"When did you arrive here?"

"Several years ago now.  I've been here nearly 22 years actually."  She seems slightly uncomfortable.

"...What is it you're not telling me?"

"Heh...I see you've matured a lot since we last talked.  Fine, I'll tell you the whole tale."

"I've seen and done things you could never dream of."

"When you went missing, I went a little mad.  I knew in my heart that the boy you had met was trouble.  Why else would you hide him from me?  From us?  Your Father was nearly oblivious to your comings and goings, but I knew when you left, every time.  You didn't know this, but when you opened your window, ours would rattle.  So I knew when you left, and when you returned every night."

"The only time he noticed me was when he thought I was dressing like a painted woman."

"Yes.  We had words about that. A Father should never compare his only daughter to a whore, even in jest.  When you disappeared, I searched high and low, and he did as well.  I thought we were going to come together as a family.  Turns out he was only trying to protect his investment."

"What investment?"

"He was incensed that you had run off with someone and possibly lost your virginity."

"Oh, that."

"He was going to trade you and your virtue for a new business partner in Gyre.  Someone that could get him a better shipping rate."

"That's business."

"Yes.  When he spoke of you, our only child, as a business offer...That's when I stabbed him in his cold heart as he slept.  For three days I fretted over how to dispose of his body.  Eamon suggested feeding it to the Raveners.  They eat any flesh they can find, so it seemed a brilliant idea.  Sadly, someone saw a man fall off of the wall at night and raised the alarm."

"But a whole body is easy to spot by the neighbours."

"Very much so. I was very curious why Eamon had suggested it so readily.  It makes more sense now.  He'd obviously disposed of bodies that way before.  Well.  I thought that I had gotten away clean, that your Father was gone and I would be able to focus our wealth and power on tracking you down.  The city guards came to my door and told me that my Husband had fallen from the walls, but that someone was seen with him.  They suspected foul play."

"What I don't understand is why you weren't notified by the magistrate, or why you didn't go to them seeking me?"

"I did, but they were less interested in speaking to me, a woman of no actual means than the businessmen.  Eamon spoke to them for me... at least he said that he would."

"Ah."

"I know now that he never did for he knew where you were the whole time.  When the magistrate himself came to me with some good news, I knew that I was in serious trouble.  They had recovered your Father's head, only partially eaten, and the Duke himself was going to speak to your Father's spirit in the morning to discover who his killer was."

"One moment mother."  Vyx Vlyn leaves her cabin and goes up to the wheelhouse and tells the crew to set sail to a due east coarse for 10miles off shore then to anchor there.  She walks back in.

"Ship business?"

"We have to sail away from this island to hold morning services."

"I see.  Well, I knew that your Father would tell the Duke that I had slain him abed, and it was well past time for me to leave.  Eamon arranged passage for me on a ship bound for Comerce.  As we drew close to this Island, the crew told me of the nature of these people.  I knew that the last place the Magistrates would look for a murderer would be in a temple of the Holy.  Also, I knew that the Raveners would be unable to follow me here as well.  It's a well known fact that the undead cannot abide the touch of consecrated ground."

Vyx Vlyn's eye twitches and rubs one of her feet.  "Not like the magistrates would care once your off the island."

"But I needed to make certain that the crew would not be able to let the Magistrates know where I was, so I set the sails ablaze with an oil lamp.  The ship burned to the waterline, and I paddled ashore."

"Where was Eamon in all this?"

"Why... managing our business back home, of course."

"Did you two make arrangements for him to join you here?"

"After a few years, I sent word to him that I was here and to send me some money so I could retire from the life of a fisherwench.  Physical labour has never agreed with me."

"How did you become a fishmonger?"

"Well, the Lords Above trained me how to fish using rod and net, and I would spend two days fishing, and one day selling.  I would keep my catch in a deep tub filled with water to keep them alive."

"Oh, I've never fished."

"It's not that interesting.  People who don't need to fish for a living do it for fun.  Those that do hate it."

"So you wrote to Eamon."

"Eamon arrived with luggage, a fat coinpurse and news that the company had ultimately failed without your Father.  He settled here with me after spending some time here. He says that the sun is warmer here."

"Did you get married?"

"Eventually."

"What did he do for a living here?"

"Why... he lived on his savings. He was a very frugal man. Plus he had two incomes."

"What two incomes?"

"One very nice legitimate one, and a truly spectacular illegal one.  And he spent very little money on himself.  Silk clothes, of course, and a suit of leather armour that looked nothing like armour.  Did you know that they could do that?  That a skilled armourer could make a suit look like stylish clothes?"

"I know.  Spectacularly illegal one?"

"He was your Father's successor in both businesses after all."

"I was just curious what kind of illegal trade could be feasible here."

"Here? Very little.  No dear, he simply had chests and chests of gold to live on.  A fisherman can live very well on a few silvers a month.  We had stacks of gold."

"You said he had his savings and 2 incomes, 1 legal trade and 1 illegal trade."

"Yes dear.  He managed our business, and was the guildmaster... Please try to keep pace with the story."

"He retired here.  He brought his money and decided to live here.  Why is this so complected for you?  Eventually everyone wants to stop working, no matter what job they do.  It's human nature."  She seems shocked.  "Sorry dear.  I keep forgetting that you're no longer Human."

"So is that it then mother?"

"Well... I suppose that one may live even better than two on the savings."

"Provided the monks believe his death was natural.  It's not like they're going to have a corpse to examine."

"It's a pity that he died when he saw you though, I was hoping to be able to question him on some of the ... finer points of his past that I thought that I knew."

"Oh, oh you will."

Mother's eyes narrow and she fingers her fishing knife.  "Excellent."

 

There's a knock on the door.  "Cap'n, it's nearly time."

Vyx Vlyn says  "Dawn so soon?"

"Sea light is already staining the horizon."

"Right thank you.  Take this lady up on deck and see that she is looked after."

"Come you,"  The sailor says yanking her to her feet.  "Lady Vyx will give your soul to Krakkuun."

"I said LOOK AFTER HER not scare her."

"Oh... I thought you meant 'look after her'  Sorry Cap'n"

"She's a visitor."  She glares angrily.

"Not the next sacrifice?  The one on the altar is already... well... kinda dead... ish."

"Someone's on bilge duty."

His shoulders sag. "Aye aye Cap'n."

"Now go fetch a sacrifice."

That brings a smile to his face and a spring to his step.

 

Vyx get dressed in her gowns and don her mask.  She strap the dagger to her thigh and take the gilded bowl with her as she head to the deck.  The sermon is touching, stirring for her congregation.  A young woman is the next choice.  She is dragged struggling to the altar and begins to panic when she sees Eamon's corpse.  She loses control of her bladder.  Vyx Vlyn gives her last rites and leads her to the plank.  The sacrifice drops to her knees and begins to beg for her life.  Vyx Vlyn commands the girl "Walk."  She takes a shuddering step, followed by another, then another as the crew begins singing a hymn to Krakkuun.  She's begging for mercy, snot streaming down her face from her wracking sobs, but she still walks on.  Vyx taunts "Be glad you're going to Krakkuun with your skin still on."  Vyxvlyn grins evilly.  She shrieks as her feet leave the plank, and the splash cuts off her wail.

 

Vyx Vlyn turns back to the altar to prepare for the next phase of the ceremony.  She slits open Eamon's chest and removes his heart.  Into the bowl it goes, followed by a bucket of sea water.  She plunges the head of the trident into the water, and a cloud of darkness spreads through the water like squid ink.  Vyx chants over the bowl and the swirling darkness streams into the heart until it is black as a moonless night.  She removes the ice rimed heart from the bowl of sea water and places it back into his gaping chest wound.  She stitches the flesh shut using thread made from her own hair.  Vyx completes the incantation and summons forth Eamon's soul.  Vyx Vlyn takes her mask off.  His soul recoils from her again, shrieking and gibbering madly. 

 

"Heed my words," Vyx begins the second incantation, binding the summoned soul to the dead body before her.  The mad shrieks are replaced by howls of pain.  The soul slowly rotates in the air until it and the body are aligned, identical in aspect.  The corpse opens it's milky eyes and moans.  She completes the incantation with "Arise and obey."

[Canukistani]

Footnote: Eamon

 

Ah yes... he offered you the world, and you spurned him for Conner.  Worse, you ignored him.  He was your boss, not a man in your eyes.  You crushed his fragile male ego and left him sobbing into the bitter darkness.  When he exacted his revenge on you, he hoped you would fall to your knees and beg him for help, that you would give everything of yourself to him to be spared.  You chose death over him and that was a blow he nearly died from.

 

In fury, he slithered his way into your mother's skirt, hoping that by bedding her, he would be bedding you by proxy.  But no matter how many times he mounted her in the darkness, it was never you.

 

Now, after decades of bitter longing and silently cursing your name, you arrive, dead as a fish, and out for his blood.  Then, after dying and escaping your wrath, you bring him back to a semblance of life and have bound him to an eternity of pain and suffering, far worse than anything he has experienced before.  Now his physical pain matches his emotional pain, and now, no matter how close he is to you, you will still never bed him.  Never give him a kindness or even a gentle smile.

 

You are Lady Death, and he is now your humble servant.  Now and for all eternity.