The House of Marlowe
**Characters and text are protected under copyright law
Disclaimer: This story is not meant as 'erotica', but dark adventure-fantasy. It may contain material that sensitive readers might find uncomfortable. Please be advised.
The crowded streets of Solace, full of dirty people drudging about dirty lives, passed drearily by the House Firebridge personal carriage as it wound its way along through the lower merchant district towards the high streets. Inside, HouseMistress Sabrina Marlowe watched the scene of poverty through the curtained window, regarding the multitudes of unwashed peasants crowding up to carts and stalls, hoping to find fair deals. Others, even less fortunate than these impoverished masses, milled among them shaking cups and begging for alms of mercy, hoping for at least enough ferring to add up to a meal.
There was a familiarity to it all, her earliest memories being of the rank stench of these streets and their denizens, the hungry din of their pleading voices. She'd never been one of them, but she had grown up on these streets, among these wretched people.
It seemed so long ago now, another life, but as the daughter of a prosperous merchant, she'd spent her youth watching people scrabbling at the wares sold on her family's myriad stalls and in their shops. Though her father had begun poor, she'd been born into comfort, which had grown into full wealth by the time she was first flowering into a woman. She could still remember the hours she'd spent, at her father's insistence, working in the finer shops of his holdings, talking up trinkets and coaxing people to give over their last coins to own something they didn't really need.
All his children had spent time in one shop or another, the oldest of them having manned stalls before the first of his shops had been bought. While he'd not needed them to ever work a day in their lives, the intent was for them to gain a bit of perspective and understanding of how to do business, as well as learn a bit of gratitude for their own wealth. While most of her siblings had despised their turns, finding it all too sordid and common, Sabrina had thoroughly enjoyed playing peddler.
The challenge of convincing people to purchase something utterly useless, when their money would have been better spent elsewhere, had been interesting. Of course, it had not hurt that she'd been blessed with beauty from birth, learning quickly that a little bit of sauce made every goose more appetizing. What deviances she developed were overlooked by the effectiveness of her ability to garner gold. Her father had plenty of other children that he could use as bargaining pieces to strengthen his business empire through calculated marriages.
As his youngest, the last of twelve children, Sabrina was free to be as much of a black sheep, in terms of virtue, as she wanted. Her talent was making money and manipulating people into giving it. Perhaps, it was for that reason that he'd chosen to leave control of the family empire to her, when he'd died. Though Sabrina knew that her likeness to her deceased mother had at least a little to do with it too, as had her willingness to use that to her advantage to manipulate her father.
Such a scandal it had been when his youngest child, a daughter-child to boot, inherited all control of the family business. Delicious had been the looks of outrage and scorn on the faces of her older siblings. Most knew well what unmentionable things she'd done behind closed doors to cement his favor, but had no power to undo any of it. All the more delicious had been their faces when they'd learned that she'd drained dry all the family coffers within the first year and purposefully leveraged the empire into insurmountable debt.
However, that was learned only after she'd 'reluctantly' bent, at long last, to their constant demands that she sold her ownership of the business to them. She used all the money they paid her for a derelict empire to create her arena stable and establish herself as the only female House owner in the Grand Arena. She named it House Firebridge as an inside joke to the bridges she'd burned to acquire it.
During her time playing salesgirl in her father's shop, she learned that what the people of Solace were most willing to spend their money on was the Arena. It was a place where they could forget their own woes, revel in the spectacle of blood and death, and maybe manage to win a little extra money in the betting windows. It was where real power and real wealth was found.
And so, she'd set out to make herself a part of that world. Carefully and carnally weaving her plans one step after the other. First had been to convince her father to hedge out the rest of the family and entrust the family legacy to the one child who seemed to love being a merchant, not just a spoiled brat. Second had been to arrange for an early inheritance. And then, third, to secretly funnel the family fortune into illegal research.
The result of that research into alchemical transformations and enhancements had been Kalder. The fusion of elemental forces into a human form, altering him into a creature that would excel at combat. Of course, Kalder had been the only success out of dozens of attempts, as well as the only one who'd survived. She'd only really needed the one, however, so upon his creation, she enacted her fourth step.
She had the illegal operation uncovered and the research destroyed. She acquired Kalder, convincing him that she'd 'rescued' him from his tormentors, and turned him into a star of the arena. For that, he'd become a slave of unsurpassed loyalty. And his stone-like appearance had inspired her to create a kind of gimmick for her House, her experience as a merchant having taught her that such things were quite effective for gaining recognition.
With the fortunate find of the aljin, Colja, while building her initial stable, she crafted her idea of having a 'Four Elements' to lead her stable. It had taken her almost a full year to find someone who seemed to epitomize 'water' and was capable of being a champion. A beautiful woman who, unexpectedly, was killed during her second time on the sand.
While Kalder and Colja managed to remain survivors, as well as develop very impressive win records, the other two places in her foursome had proven much more difficult to keep filled. It wasn't until Myrinus that she finally found a lasting 'water' and Sasiniel, purchased only a little over a year ago, that she'd found a suitable 'air'. However, by that point, the novelty of the idea, which initially succeeded in earning her House considerable attention, had mostly disappeared and become more of a kind of hierarchy within her stable than an attraction for the House.
She'd been considering for some months to just let go of the long-suffering concept, novelty having a short shelf-life among the masses. As it was, Sasinel only fit the ideal in abstract and Myrinus, though a very capable warrior, lacked the real overall versatility that others had. Leita, for instance.
At the thought of the blonde gladiator, Sabrina sank back a bit into the upholstery of the carriage, a warmth floating up through her. The young woman excited her, she couldn't deny it anymore. Excited her both as a growing champion and popular attraction of her House and as a pleasing toy in her bed. While she'd not thought much of the girl when she'd first seen her, now she found herself lusting for her, at times.
As much as she hated to admit it, she had let the girl get under her skin a little. There was nothing there as absurd as actual romantic desire, but there was no question that she had developed a strong favor to Leita. And so, she'd come to a decision.
While Kalder and Colja was still fonts of unyielding ability, their talents at teaching others to fight were proving almost better than their skills in the arena. However, Myrinus and Sasiniel, though very talented gladiators, lacked real skill as mentors. The sidil was too stand-offish and aloof to be well liked and the mariner lacked any real leadership ability at all.
While both were considered very highly rated gladiators, bringing in good money for the House, Sabrina had decided it was time to remove both from their positions. In the case of the beautiful, pale, sidil, Sasiniel she intended to make into her new concubine. While she was not exceptional as a lover, her exotic beauty and grace made for an excellent jewel to keep at her side for social functions. While she chaffed at being forced into a collar, her strange sense of discipline (or dogma) seemed to obligate her to conduct herself servilely.
In truth, given that sidil were rare as slaves, yet always in high demand, having Sasinel in a role likely to see her maimed and scarred had never seemed like the wisest choice. Better to have her where her considerable talent for dance could help lubricate negotiations or be used as an enticing draw for useful guests. All the better that she was able to defend herself and her owner, should the need arise.
Myrinus, however, had no other use than as a combatant. However, 'demoting' him seemed like a bad move, given his popularity within the stable. While he was a poor leader and teacher, he had excellent charisma in general, and seeming to fickly punish him for no reason could harm the loyalty of her stable. For that reason, she'd decided that it would be easier to just sacrifice him on the altar of profit.
She'd arranged for the guardsman she'd managed to get into her pocket to slip a blade into his side before he stepped into the arena. She'd secretly wagered a hefty sum against him through a proxy, while making a much smaller wager in his favor publically, so to avoid the Arena from suspecting her of tampering. Being that he was favored to easily win, ensuring his defeat would secure her a tidy net return. Only, he'd surprisingly turned out to be far more durable than she'd expected. While he had lost, earning her the return on the wager, he hadn't died, which had been the intention.
When Cornelius and Cookie wound up playing their little gambit, however, placing the blame on her concubine seemed the best recourse. It added fuel to the fire she could use to burn the traitorous whore and deflected any possible suspicions immediately. Luckily, the guardsman had no idea who he actually was acting on the behalf of, so there was no reason not to let him also burn as Cookie's accomplice.
It had also, unexpectedly, managed to motivate Leita to become a willing and eager playmate in bed. Likely, to spite the woman who'd appeared to have not only have tried to kill her, but kill the man Leita had used to thwart her previous attempts at harassment. It had all worked out so beautifully. So well, in fact, that Sabrina had made yet another, very expensive, decision.
