Ascher Legacy

Three - Into the Ring

Mistress Alicia rode just ahead of the pursuit. Ranging around her, others ran. She knew they searched the darkness just as she did, though their vision was better. 

The girl must have fled into the woods. 

The youngest child of the matriarchal house was a little girl, Pandora. Alicia had been present at her birth as she was for every one of the Matriarch's children. From the cradle they were sworn to the royal house of the Ascended Kingdoms. Sworn to the holy office of protecting those in power. Sworn to protect Alicia herself. Which had made it far too easy to enter onto their grounds to begin the slaughter. It was hard to see a weapon coming for your head when your eyes were on the ground between your feet. With a soft curse, she kicked her horse into a gallop. How far could the girl have gone on her own and afraid?

The clearing around the portal, a great stone ring singing with power boasting to be even more ancient than the stones of the palace, was clear. The trees stopped over a hundred yards back as if they stood in deference to the monument. To Cedric, all he cared about was the fact that the last two hundred yards was without cover. If he were caught now, what would he do? Breathing a prayer to the Goddess in Chains to preserve him and his child, he started forward. He had already unslung his ax, feeling, as all Aschers did, more comfortable with a weapon in his grip.

"Pandora, wake up."

He called to his daughter who answered with a soft intake of breath which could only be a yawn. "Daddy?"

"Panya, darling, I need you to get down. Get ready to run."

With a few easy motions, she wriggled herself free of the blanket holding her to her father's back. In the grass, her steps were soft and quiet.

"Daddy, what's happening?"

"Something bad has happened. I think your mother may be dead. We have to go. We have to go quickly before someone finds us."

He took her hand in his free one and led her toward the great stones. Pandora followed easily enough, large eyes looking around. She knew where they were. It was not unknown for Ascher children to come to the clearing and play. They were safe there. They always had been. Now, with night wrapped close around them and her father's uneasy, wary, walk, she didn't feel safe.

The sound of the horse reached them before it burst out of the gloom with Alicia astride. Foot pursuers appeared as if spawned of the darkness. "Halt!" she cried. "Halt!"

Cedric stopped for a moment, his eyes narrowed.

Mistress Alicia was known, yet the company she kept...

He ran, dragging his daughter for a moment before whipping her out in front of her.

"Go, Pandora! Go to the portal."

Pandora slid in the grass and fell forward, her hands finding unyielding dirt beneath the grass as though the weight of the power in this place had packed it harder than the road. Digging her fingers in, she forced herself forward. Her nightgown was soiled now where she'd dropped to her knees, but the fabric still fluttered around her pumping legs as she made for the great arch she saw. It beckoned her.

Behind her, Cedric was already chanting, even as he brought his ax around and chopped off the front legs of Mistress Alicia's horse. He spared no words for her, but continued to chant, his voice rising musically as he swung. The horse went down with an all too human scream, throwing Alicia to one side. Cedric was upon her even as she rolled back to her feet and brought her own sword to the ready.

The ring of steel on steel provided an unexpected counterpoint to Cedric's chanting.

The other pursuers were nearly to the steps when the great stone circle flashed with light, throwing Pandora into shadow as she brought her hands up to shield her eyes. For a moment, she turned back to look at her father, now below her on the forest floor, his ax whirling around him with the ease of hours of long practice. He held Mistress Alicia at bay. Without prompting, Pandora disappeared into the light.

Cedric stopped chanting immediately and dropped to his knees, bringing his ax down to the earth before him in a gesture of obedience.

"I have done what you asked of me, my love. Your blood lives." With that, he drove his head down onto the spiked portion of the heft. It went through his right eye and held up his body as he shuddered a final time.

Alicia growled at the sight then looked toward the portal. "Where does it lead?"

"No one knows, mistress. It is said only the Aschers truly knew its secrets and the final remaining Ascher other than that bastard little girl just killed himself at your feet."

Her companion looked at her with a look of sparse sympathy.

"Our lord," he carefully accented the word. "Is not going to like this."

With a disgusted sound, Alicia made a gesture before the two of them disappeared from the gristly scene of the death of the final Ascher. Beside him, a horse, its front legs missing, continued to thrash and attempt to stand. It would die soon enough following the man's example. None noticed the book against Cedric's waist, the wards cast upon the human skin of its cover blending it into the colors of his tunic. The tome of the Matriarch would lie, untouched for generations in a clearing, a body covering it against the elements. 

[So far, so good. Who are you more worried for: Alicia or Pandora? Don't forget to comment!]