The Tales of Miriela: Shadowborn

Chapter 22: Alina Morione

The door crept open and soft footsteps trickled in behind her. She sat hunched over her journals, and a book, planning. It was quiet in her chambers, but she knew the city above her was full of commotion.

"I see it has been done then?" Alina asked without turning, still facing the corner where she sat.

"It has, mother," The young boy responded.

"Very well. Off you go then, my love." With her response, Alina stood from the

corner and grinned. Her hand was at work. She left her chambers and ascended the dark spiraling staircase to exit the pub.

As she walked out, the bartender spoke. "Oh, hold on then. Where ya going to miss? Vanguard are running all over this city looking for you. Best that you stay out of sight."

"Your concern is admirable, but there is no need to hide from that which poses no threat. There is no need to fear that which you control." Alina still had a grin on her face, a grin that masked her secrecy.

She walked through the streets towards Lord Gessel's Keep, where she had recently spent much of her time. The doors were heavy, and took nearly all of Alina's strength to push open. But on the other side waited two bannermen, each a familiar face.

"Miss Morione. We've been expecting you." The bannerman offered a smile.

"Right this way, I'll escort you to Lord Gessel's chambers." The other bannerman extended his arm and Alina gently placed hers around it. The two soon reached the Throne Room's doors.

"Thank you, faithful servant. This day will be remembered for ages to come, and surely your services will be as well," Alina whispered to the bannerman. She stepped in through the open door and faced the fat Lord who waited.

"Ah, Alina, blessed be!" Lord Gessel turned from his table, finishing a glass of wine as he spoke. He made his way towards Alina, stumbling with a drunken gate, each step tripping over the last. "The damn Vanguard, dead I take it. Ha! Those bastards didn't stand a chance in Oaksguard! Not on my grounds!" Lord Gessel now stood an arm's length from Alina, a drunken smile on his face.

"Our planning proved worthwhile, my Lord. The Vanguard were perhaps more predictable than we had expected." Alina took a long pause and peered at Lord Gessel. Her disgust with the ruler of Oaksguard had grown to a point no longer tolerable. Like water just before the boil, she felt herself unable to further mask her hatred for the man. She looked away from him, peering towards her feet.

"With the Vanguard weakened, I will lead my army to take the East of Miriela. No king or High Council will govern over me! I will take all of Miriela, and smash each city's gates with my armies, and grow stronger with each city that falls." Lord Gessel laughed and reached his hand toward Alina, gently grasping her chin, and raising her eyes to look into his. "And of course, the future King of Miriela, will not forget the peasant woman who helped deliver the Vanguard this grand surprise."

Alina, felt Lord Gessel's hand against her cheek. His smooth skin was absent of callus, or scar, hands which had never worked, never fought. For all of Alina's sufferings, and the sufferings of those around her, Lord Gessel simply sat and drank with his whores, never even aware of the peasants' starvation and illness. Alina stared into his eyes, and raised her own hand to meet his.

"And I, my Lord, will never forget the noble man who died, unaware of just how grand the surprise truly was." Alina reached her other hand under the red cloth that she wore around her waist, and pulled from it a small dagger. She thrust the dagger and all of her hate, all of her pain, into the fat belly of Lord Gessel, bleeding him like the pig that he was.

She had planned it over a hundred times in her head, but seeing the life escape from Gillian Gessel's eyes was more satisfying than her dreams could have ever imagined.

Blood spilled as Alina pulled her knife from his flesh and stepped back to see his drunken body fall for the last time. Lord Gessel reached his hand to one knee, and caught himself from falling to the floor.

"Bannermen! Guards!" Lord Gessel yelled.

His men entered the throne room, able to hear his call from just outside the door. Lord Gessel stood tall once again, his hand pushed up against the hole in his side.

"Kill this traitor! Draw swords and slit her throat where she stands!" Lord Gessel stumbled slightly, as he struggled to breathe.

With their swords in hand, two guards closed the Throne Room doors. They slowly moved from the doorway towards Alina. But it was not the woman in red whom they sought.

"What, What? What are you doing? Kill her you idiots, or I shall have your heads as well!" Lord Gessel crawled backwards, away from the guards. Desperately scurrying like a wounded animal before a butcher.

"You see Lord Gessel. All these years, that you have spent hidden in your keep, feasting, and drinking, enamored with your whores and luxury, I have spent accumulating wealth. And as you surely must know, coin is the only true power in this world. It turns out, your men are far more loyal to coin than they are you." Alina took a step forward, getting close enough to see one last time the look on Lord Gessel's face.

Gillian Gessel fell back to the ground, now lying in a pool of his own blood, his right hand still held up against his fat side. His face shrank with fear and his voice trembled, unable to plea any further.

"On with it then," Alina ordered her men, for she longed to see Lord Gessel draw his last breath.

The guards raised their swords and struck the Lord piercing through his flesh again and again. The blood turned dark as it splattered like wine poured too quickly. Never had Alina felt such a peace. She cleaned her own dagger and then made her way to leave the Throne Room, a room which was now hers to claim.

"Burn the body. Assemble a faction of men. Ride to the Western gate and kill whatever remains of the Vanguard. Sound the bells." Alina Morione had taken Oaksguard, but her plans had only just begun.