The Widow Protest

Chapter One - Go For A Whiskey

Scowling, Zyemaycht slipped easily beneath the floorboards. Slices of light peered down at her as she crawled through the cold, unpleasant underbelly of the courts main room.
   A loud voice cracked through her thoughts. "And if there are spies, Councilman Lukis?"
   Another silky voice came quickly after, who she assumed belonged to this Councilman Lukis. "If there are spies, we will do the honor of carving their eyes out of their head and sending them back to wherever they came from."
    Zyemaycht pressed closer to the dusty floorboards, picking up other snippets of information.
"...can't afford another loss."
"...at it for too long. Why don't we..."
"...it's a shame for your wife..."
She snorted quietly. Why speak about ones wife at a Djel Court meeting, she had no clue.
    Yet another silky voice cut through the other conversations. "There is a liar among us, men." Her body went rigid. "Councilwoman Avarr, step forward please." She let out a small breath of relief.
   The sound of footsteps against wood filled her ears. "What do you want from me?" A soft woman's voice rang out.
    "We want your lies revealed, Councilwoman Avarr. Are you really an advisor of the queen, or was that a ruse to get into our pristine court and steal information?"
    Zye grinned, unsheathing one of her steel daggers as the councilwoman spoke. "I am truly an advisor of a royal, but not the queen. I am an advisor of princess Avarrihe, and she wishes for you to know that the widows will corrupt your doves wings soon enough."
   Another voice called out along with the clamor following her voice. "'scuse me- sorry -coming through."
   Zye flushed in her own embarrassment from whoever this man was.
     "Councilman Julian... Uh... we have a problem. A Widow group was found only a few minutes ago trying to get in and yelling about one of their own..."
   Zye paled, pressing further against the dusty framework. Her breaths began to quicken and she scrambled to escape.
She barely noticed as he continued to speak in the same concerned voice. "They said she may be trapped if she doesn't leave now. This is a great time to catch whoever she is and use her as a bargaining chip."
"You'll never take me alive." She whispered and began to make her way back to where she'd come in. Footsteps sounded above her head, leading right to them. Zye scowled, and slipped out from the hole she'd hastily made and faced the council members.
"She's stranger than I though." Zye instantly recognized this voice as that of Councilman Julian's.
"Strange enough to shove my knife into your throat." She snarled.
"Feisty too!" Another smirked, leaning towards her. "Wonder how hard enough she'll fight to survive."
   "Hard enough to not care when the Widows rip out your organs and sell them to the highest bidder." Zye cackled, unsheathing her daggers. "We're monsters, ladies and gents. Have you not heard?"
"We've heard plenty, Zyemaycht Arradel." Said Councilman Julian. "Yes, I know who you are. We all know of the Steel-Hearted Widow."
And just like that, they were on her, claws drawn like a pack of hungry wolves and they were devouring her like they had done to all those before who took the chance of opposing them.
   She fought back of course, ducking and slashing and landing as many blows as she could but they still managed to overpower her. How?
    "We'll toast to a bottle of whiskey tonight, boys!" One she recognized as Councilman Ruize cackled.
As they dragged her away, the only thought she could manage  lol to catch racing through her head was, I could totally go for whiskey right now.

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AN: yes I know this is short but I wanted to get this out before I forgot about all my plot ideas and started a new one.