That scream haunted her all the time. In her waking hours, it played over and over in her mind. In her sleep, her dreams were filled with it. If she weren't already crazy, it would have driven her insane, even though it had been nearly six months since she had fulfilled her mother's last, dying wish to run and live on.
"Mother, I don't know if I can do this..." She said quietly while resting against a small rock, her ebon-hued skin looking greyish and haggard as she had barely slept any more but an hour or two at most each day. Slumping down to the cold, stone floor of the cave she had been sleeping in for the last couple of weeks, her eyes slipped closed as sleep over took her weary body and mind, forcing her to rest.
"Where are we going? I demand that you answer me..." Her voice was as cold as death and her tone commanding as she planted her feet and refused to budge a single inch until her question was answered. Folding her arms over her ample chest, the icy eyed drow's dark lips dropped into a deep frown as she regarded the house guard that had been sent by the Matron of her house, her own grandmother.
"To the throne room, Mistress Dylena. Matron Mother Viconia has requested your presence right away. I do not know why though, Mistress. I was ordered to find you and escort you personally." The male guard said as he looked at the female drow, a touch of fear in his crimson eyes that went well with the slight quiver in his voice as he spoke. Dylena's reputation was well known in House Aury'vana among everyone. Being the granddaughter of the Matron Mother accorded her much leverage and freedom usually, and she used it to her advantage well. The House Weapons Master, she was secretly called the Ice Queen or the Ice Bitch by many within the House, though never to her face. It was rumored she was a member of the Crimson Sabers, the most elite group among the drow, a secret society of assassins, and no one wanted to find out personally if there was any truth to the rumors.
Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Dylena waved her hand dismissively at the male. "Fine. Let's go then. I have a two hour practice session with the younger males coming up soon. And you know how much I hate being late." She growled at the guard as he snapped to attention, turning on his heel as he let out a soft sigh of relief that the woman wasn't going to make this hard on him. He walked in silence, two steps in front of Dylena, leading her through the familiar hallways and down the stairs of the house until they arrived at the double door way that opened up into the throne room. He opened the door wide, carved and made from oak brought back from the surface during one of the many raiding or trading missions her house went on, and stepped into the throne room, calling out loud as he did. "May I present, Mistress Dylena Aury'vana! House Weapons Master, Third daughter of our illustrious House, Granddaughter to our beloved Matron Mother Viconia"
Dylena walked in behind him, stopping two steps in front of him as was required during the announcement of her arrival. Once that was over with, she walked across the tiled floor, the heels of her thigh-high leather boots echoing ominously like death knells throughout the large chamber. The tension in the room was so thick she could have cut it with her sword that she always kept strapped to her back. The sight of a ring of twelve royal guardsman with spears standing in a line at attention before her grandmother made her pause inwardly and check her tongue before she blurted out something she might regret later on. It was only once she cleared the line and saw what they had been blocking that the Weapons Master's resolve fell and she stopped dead in her tracks, her jaw dropping in shock at the sight before her.
Her mother, Jhaka, kneeling on the floor, weighted down by chains that bound her wrists and ankles, a collar around her neck that was attached to the ceiling, forcing her head up so that her gaze was staring right at the Matron Mother. Dylena's icy blue eyes darkened and went steely as she strode up before her grandmother, her hands clenching into tight fists that she now put on her hips as she stood with her feet shoulder width apart. "Grandmother! What is the meaning of this? Release my mother...NOW!" Murmured hushes of surprise sounded from the gathered members of the House as the command was given, for no one dared to order the Matron Mother around and lived to tell the tale. It was only because she had a soft spot for her granddaughter that Viconia did not immediately order Dylena's death and the woman only found two spears pointed at her.
Viconia rose from her throne, a seat made of adamantium, ivory, and the skulls of her defeated enemies, and moved down the steps to stand before her granddaughter. Where Dylena was tall and lithe, with curves in all the right places, a unique and rare beauty with her silvery waterfall of hair and icy blue eyes that stood out in stark contrast to her deep ebony flesh, the Matron was shorter and stocker, but still quite the looker even at eight hundred years old, with her blonde hair and violet eyes and lighter grey skin. But it was still clear who held the power in the family, for everyone but Dylena went down to one knee as Viconia descended from on high to come down among the rest of the family. "And why should I release a traitor and assassin, Dylena? You are lucky I don't have you chained with her for dereliction of your duty as my Weapons Master. Can you truly tell me you knew nothing of your own mother's plot to assassinate me and take over our House as Matron?"
Her heart began to pound in both her chest and ears as she heard the accusations against her mother. She shook her head slowly, not in denial, but in disbelief. Her icy gaze drifted to look upon Jhaka as she let out a low growl that only began to build into a sinister snarl as her head snapped back to Viconia. "How dare you! You accuse me of plotting? I knew nothing of this. And I doubt my mother would do this. Clearly she is being framed. Let me investigate this." The Matron shook her head and tsked softly. "The investigation has already concluded. Jhaka confessed once the evidence was presented and she has been sentenced to death. You will carry this out. Her and now. Slit her throat and be done with it, Dylena. That is an order." Shock rocked across the drow Weapons Master's face as she was ordered to deliver the death blow to her own mother. "NO! Never!" Dylena stepped back and moved in front of the chained up drow and brandished her sword, snarling and growling like a feral animal as she looked at the twelve royal guards, as her stance and expression clearly dared them to try and get past her.
She wouldn't allow her mother to die alone. She would fight until the last member of her own House was dead before she allowed anyone of them to touch a hair on Jhaka's head. Then she heard a raspy whisper followed by a cough. "My daughter. Leave me. Run. Live on for me. GO!" Whipping her head around, Dylena looked at her mother and shook her head. "No..mother...I can.." A sharp hiss interrupted the woman's words as a single word was barked at her. "GO!" And years of training kicked in as Dylena listened to her mother out of pure instinct and she jumped up, bowling down two of the House guards that had began to move towards her, thrusting her adamantium sword through the first one's chest, kicking him off it with her boot as she pulled it out and then swung at the second guard, slicing his stomach open as his insides slipped out as he gurgled and fell to the floor in agony. It was as she worked hard to fight her way out, that she heard the sound that continued to haunt her still..."
