I see... Murthal mentally replied. He clenched his skinny clawed fingers against the wooden throne so hard that they bled from splinters.
It was unbelievable. The man that had been his chief assassin all this time was losing spine. Was it really that difficult of an order to follow? Find the boy, kill the boy. Certainly Duras had performed more difficult missions before. However, something in the tone of the assassin's mental voice indicated that there was some other motive behind this...action.
Murthal couldn't stand that.
"Duras has swayed," Murthal announced loudly and clearly to nobody in particular. "I cannot tolerate swaying at this point. Find Duras and kill him. Return his body to me."
At first, there was silence. Then, the darkness seemed to ripple and come to life as a dozen set of slanted, evil-looking red eyes blinked. The shadow creatures flooded out of the door, whispering in mad little voices as they sifted out of the room and disappeared.
It would seem that Khalid would be spared this day. Certainly not what Murthal had expected. But, oh well...
If Duras could not be persuaded, then Duras would be controlled. And the undead were so much easier to control than the living.
I think Karnaj is out of town.
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
Well since I've waited days for Parce to do something and he hasn't, I'm going to take things into my own hands and get Jhasira out of the situation she's in so I can actually *play* her.
IC:
Jhasira lets Khasmir hold the embrace for a long moment, then puts her hands on his shoulders and pushes him forcefully away. She boldly tugs at the snakes around her, tossing them away recklessly. Keeping her gaze firmly away from him, she finally manages to free herself and turns, running quickly from the menagerie and back into the garden.
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
Shirlath slipped aside as the young woman came charging past him. He made no move to stop her, and he wasn't sure he would be able to do so. Slight as she was, the young Jhasira looked as if she could bowl even him over right now.
He snickered as he watched her disappear into the courtyard. At least this one had lasted a bit longer than the others. Still chuckling to himself, he walked into the menagerie to find his son standing wide-eyed near the snake pit, two of the coiling creatures at his foot.
"Bad luck with the women, son?" he asked, smiling.
"None of your business," Khasmir snapped back. His gaze drifted downwards to the two serpents writhing about on the floor. Gasping loudly, the young Ashiria bent down and began to collect up his scaly children. "That beastly woman! She threw my children away like they were garbage!"
"And yet you never consult me for advice about women," Shirlath replied, shaking his head as he walked to the aquariums. He grabbed a small vial and began to pinch little flakes of potato out of it, then he spread them along the surface of the water, smiling eagerly as the little fish began to gobble them down.
"Oh, and what could you tell me about women?" Khasmir snapped, gently soothing his frightened serpents.
"Well, for one, I could tell you that they don't often like snakes wrapped around them." Shirlath looked over his shoulder and smiled.
Khasmir made no reply as he slowly lowered his 'children' back into their sandy home. He glowered at his father and turned on his heel and left the menagerie. Shirlath simply chuckled.
"Oh, well," the elder Ashiria said to himself as he continued to feed his fish. "Eventually, he'll learn...hopefully he'll learn."
Jhasira is abruptly pulled from her thoughts by a hissing noise near her. Looking up in alarm, her anxiety lessens when she finds no scaly creatures near her. She looks around, then finally traces the noise to the wall, and a pair of dark brown eyes peering out of a tree branch just barely above it.
Knowing those eyes almost better than she knows her own, Jhasira rushes to her feet. "Akvet!" she exclaims in a whisper, hurrying over to the garden wall. "My love, what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?"
Akvet's already tanned face darkened more into a black scowl. "I followed you today, and when I saw you had not come out with that bastard of a father of yours, I guessed what he had done." Jhasira looks down a moment, sighing, then looks back up at him.
"Yes," she says. "He sold me. I...belong to House Ashiria now." Seeing his scowl deepening, she hurries on, "But this is a perfect opportunity for me to help the movement, don't you see? I can get a look at our opponents firsthand, and know what we'll be up against. It's a good thing, Akvet, really it is."
"A good thing that you're sold away to be a plaything in some lord's harem!?" She winces at his angry tone. "I didn't have any choice, Akvet. I had to do what my father said."
"Because you have no backbone, Jhasira."
Jhasira gapes at him, a stunned look on her face. Akvet had never said anything so horrible to her before! Feeling her eyes filling with tears, she steps back quickly. "I must go before someone sees me," she says, as she hurries away, Akvet's pleas for forgiveness echoing behind her.
OOC:
Feel free, anyone, to witness that little exhange if you like. Will make it interesting if you do 
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
Back up to the top with ye
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
