The Calamity: Chapter 5

The doors that led to the queen’s chambers led to the main hall. From the balcony, she could see the ballroom where the nobles of the line would have constant parties. Dancing, eating, drinking and gossip. Dresses and suits of a style no longer produced in the land and a closely guarded secret.

The symbol of their queen was hanging from a banner across the room and on a wall. But next to that main symbol were five other symbols. Each one was a petal of the flower with another symbol on it. The sword, the mask, the ring, the goblet, and the coin. Each of the five houses served under the Queen serving a different role to keep the kingdom going.

The weight of her new sword was heavy at her hip as she traced her fingers across the balcony. The swords weight was only matches by the weight of the task that she’d been asked to do. How could she stop the Calamity? The mere thought made her falter in her step and hand tighten around the handrail.

She turned her gaze below and watched a few couples dancing. Swirling dances that moved in great circles on the empty ballroom. At this hour, sometimes it was rare to have many people out at once. Though there were many nights where this ballroom would be full even beyond the confines of what it could hold.

Leaning against the banister she watched them, performances of red dresses with their accents of blues and purples and their partners dark blues with yellow and green vines. If needed she could dance just as well or along with them but she rarely attended such events.

“Morrigan. I haven’t seen you in the castle in quite some time.” The voice was snotty and disdainful.

She turned a glance to the side as a man approached her. Raven hair, pale skin, and eyes like oil. He wore the typical garb of noble of Cerise. A black suit jacket with golden buttons and embroidery. Gaudy black pants and a blade at his hip. Morrigan had to fight the urge to snort as she looked at him. His face had a certain shape and sheen that reminded her of a rodent more than anything else.

“Maxwell.”

“Oh, why that tone?” he asked with a smile. “You almost sound like you aren’t happy to see me.”

Morrigan rolled her eyes and stood. “Seeing your face is never a pleasure Maxwell.”

That broke his face of faux confidence and brought a scowl. A scowl that showed the ugliness that seemed to belong on that smarmy face of his. She watched his nose twitch and imagined a rats whiskers accompanying it. “Such rudeness. I wish I could understand what her majesty sees in you.”

“She sees in me what you lack. Strength.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Strength of sword. Strength of character. Strength of conviction. Strength of loyalty. You lack these.”

“How dare you question my loyalty to her majesty.”

“I’ve watched you work Maxwell. The fact that you can complete your assignments keeps you in my Queen’s good graces. The fact that you are nobility keeps you from being the target of others.”

“I am one of her majesties most reliable knights.”

“Before I arrived perhaps. But now try to threaten your way back into that position.”

His eyes narrowed. “And what is that to mean?”

Morrigan turned to face him now and couldn’t help a look of arrogance flash onto her face. “Because I am above you now. A higher rank than you could ever hope to be.” She stated.

She rested her hand on her new katana and smirked at him. He wasn’t ignorant enough to at the very least not know his history. Especially the stories of the Sanguiknight.

“That’s not possible. A commoner like you,” He glared at her with hatred that set his teeth on edge.

“Yes. A commoner like me. Has done better than a noble like you. Sounds like as a noble you aren’t that impressive.” She shrugged her shoulders and she chose her words on purpose. She knew Maxell had a very fragile pride and she was poking at it. Trying to goad him.

What she hadn’t expected was for his eyes to glow red and for him to reach toward his hip. He whipped his sword free, a rapier not unlike her own, and he pointed it at her. “On guard peasant. I won’t let you besmirch my name any more than you have.” His voice was a growl, that echoed with a magic that she wasn’t used to seeing.

She didn’t have a moment to draw her blade when he was lunging at her. She stepped to the side and moved again jumping away as he slashed and thrust the blade again and again. Narrowing her eyes, she brought her hand to her hip and drew her own rapier. The sword flashed through the air clashing with his own.

Her eyes were still guarded by the lenses but they reflected the red that was glowing from his own. They disengaged jumping backwards and keeping space between the two of them. There wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver on this upper balcony and she had the stairs behind her. However, he also had stairs behind him. Taking a step forward she lunged swiping with her sword.

Their blades clashed as she forced him back her swings quick and precise. Her eyes darted to the points on his body that she specifically wanted to strike but Maxwell’s blade met hers halting her attacks. Scowling in annoyance with each blocked strike she could feel Maxwell getting his footing.

After a particularly harsh lunge he didn’t back up. Instead he deflected her blade and sent her stumbling forward. He slammed his knee into her chest knocking the wind from her chest and then tripped her. From the ground, he kicked her down the stairs and she hit every step on the way down.

She spat blood on the floor and wiped her mouth slowly. Sliding her lenses off her face she tossed the broken frames on the ground. Raising her gaze, she watched Maxell descended slowly tapping the blade against each step as he walked. “Is this what her majesty has put her faith in? Is this the skill you used to fraud your way into her good graces? How dare you!” he said with a glare.

She got to her feet and all bout bared her teeth at him. “You dare question my ability?”

“I dare and will prove it!”

Morrigan stood and laughed brandishing her sword again at him. “You’ve grown a pair and want to put them on display. Careful that you don’t get them cut off.” Leveling the blade at him she kept her gaze even.

Maxwell smirked clearing the last few steps and jumping at her with a lunge. She stepped around the attack and slashed at his back quickly.  He hissed stepping forward and facing her again. Those who were dancing before had cleared space in the ballroom for their duel. A fight like this wasn’t uncommon. In fact, it was sometimes the height of entertainment for them when one broke out amongst the knights.

“You are not of any of her Majesty’s bloodlines.” Maxwell said stepping around in a slow circle. “You lack her proper blessing. You’re a stray that she picked up off the street.”

His words weren’t wrong but that didn’t mean they didn’t frustrate her more. “You keep talking a big game Maxwell. Back up those words with skill.” She said flicking the sword up. Her pinky flexed and the contraption of the sword flexed, the blade sliding backwards. Her fingers curled around a trigger that she squeezed.

The boom of the gun was loud in the empty ballroom and the bullet slammed into the noble’s shoulder staggering him backwards. Unhappy with the shot, aiming for his chest she whipped the blade to its full length and lunged at him. He faced her with those glowing red eyes and deflected the blade with his own and slammed his wounded shoulder into her except it was like getting stabbed by a spike.

Spitting blood onto his shoulder she stared at him in shock and his glowing eyes met her own. “A commoner like you can never use your blood as a weapon. To be the strength that her majesty requires.” Sliding his shoulder free he turned and punched her with the pommel of his sword. “You may be able to handle the humans but I am your better in every way.”

She swung with her sword quick but his reflex was faster and deflected it. Her arm went wide and her sword slipped from her grasp skidding across the ground. Stumbling backwards she was flustered. What was she doing? How was she even remotely losing to this fool?

 Standing nearly defenseless she glared at Maxwell he threw his head back in laughter. “How could I ever have thought that you were a worthy rival? One worth my talents or even my attention. I’ll end your life here and now. Perhaps the queen shall replace you with one of my cousins. I’m sure they will serve her much better than you ever could.”

He lunged at her suddenly and she was barely able to move when the blade slid into her stomach. She let out a small cry as he came within inches of her. “I’ve always hated you. And now I can finally be rid of you.” Sliding the sword free he kicked her onto the ground with a laugh.

“Come on commoner! Can you not even defend yourself. Everyone knows of your story. Begging for a warrior’s death after you lost your husband. So, pitiful that you weren’t even granted that. You gave yourself to her majesty because you lacked purpose and she took pity on you. Like picking up a broken knife and deciding it still had some uses.”

For a moment, she wasn’t laying in a puddle of her blood. She was taken back to that time. Her husband’s broken body in her hands. The life sapped out of him, a husk remaining. The emptiness from that day so many decades ago was eclipsed by rage. Rage at having to relive that moment. For having to see him not as she wanted to remember but as she last saw him.

She was in the ballroom again with the noble’s judgmental gaze on her. With Maxwell’s arrogant gaze staring her down. Yet she carried that rage with her as she got to her feet and reached for the hilt of her katana. Unlike before it’s hunger immediately grasped her like a fire from her arm all the way to her heart.

Gasping she stared at him through a haze of red. “Come on then you coward. You mention my past as if it defines me now. The woman that I was is dead. Died on that day. I am an extension of my Queen.” Sliding the blade free it felt heavier than before, not in a negative way but stronger. Grasping it with both hands she saw that the blade was longer and coated with blood.

Maxwell looked startled and she could hear gasp from the assembled around her. Lowering the sword slightly she ran straight at him. He regained his footing and brought his rapier forward lunging at her. She blocked the blade and it clanged against hers but she wasn’t done.

Stepping under his swing she slashed at his stomach. He jumped backwards but the blade extended, more blood coagulating onto the edge as it dug into his flesh. His blood sprayed across the ballroom floor like crimson paint. He gasped stumbling backwards looking at her. The wound flashed red and was covered immediately.

Scowling she didn’t back down and came forward with another swing. He was blocking them but each blow sent him stumbling backwards. It was like he was moving in slow motion and her blade was truly an extension of her arm. She didn’t have to put in effort to swing, it just moved.

“This is impossible. Your eyes. This power. You’re a commoner! You shouldn’t be able to do these things!”

“Well it seems I’m more worthy of my Queen’s blessings than you are,” she said walking toward him. She felt numb. Her body was in pain everywhere but the pain forced her to keep focus. It was the blades hunger. She knew it. She could hear the voice whispering in her ear to keep going and this time she listened. She wanted to feed her sword.

Maxwell tried to attack her with a desperation swing. She ducked under it and slashed her katana. It went right through his wrist sending the sword flying through the air.  She didn’t slow down as she lunged forward driving the blade through his chest.  She twisted the blade as she stared into his eyes.

“Please. Please spare me.”

“You’re weak Maxwell. As weak as I knew you would be. If my blade wasn’t starving, I wouldn’t bother feeding her your weak blood.”

Gripping the blade even tighter she slid it free of his chest watching him crumple to his knees. Bringing the blade around she swung again and cut his head clean off. Before his body could fall, she turned the blade and stabbed it through the empty spot on his neck straight down his chest. Her eyes flew open as she felt the blade indulge.

It was like she was drinking him, his very essence through his body. The blade was singing in her mind as it feasted after so long. She didn’t know how much time past. A few minutes or maybe an hour, but when the blade was sated, she slid it free.

When it came out it was a gleaming steel blade. No source of the blood that had coated it from before. It pulsed in her hand, warm to touch. She no longer felt drained at the very least. Maxwell, at least what was left of him, slumped against the ground and she looked at it with disdain.

Taking a slow step forward she wobbled her vision swimming for a second. Grabbing her stomach and trying to steady herself she stumbled forward. Glancing at the sword she sheathed it slowly and as it left her hand she nearly fell over entirely. Squaring her feet, she took a deep breath and glared at the floor and forced herself to take one step and then the other.

She left the ballroom, leaning against a wall for support as she continued forward. Each breath brought a hot burst of pain from her chest and lungs. She felt the moistness at her stomach the bleeding not getting better. She took another step and stumbled forward almost falling onto her face.

Yet she didn’t hit the ground and caught herself. “You look like a mess.” She raised her gaze to the older man. He was old in his eyes, not in appearance. He was still young, no wrinkles on his face. But something about the way he carried himself, with his slick black hair combed back and arms behind him. His button up vest and slacks were flawless maintained as always.

“Walter. Just the man I wanted to see.”

“And why is that Miss Morrigan.”

“Your wit is not appreciated right now.” She huffed a breath and stood wincing as she held her stomach.

“With a wound like that, I can imagine so.” Coming forward he put a gloved hand on her shoulder and took her free hand and put it around his shoulders. Taking her weight, he started to walk and she had to move quick to keep up but she was grateful for the support in that moment.

“So, you got into a bit of a scrap in the ballroom.”

“Word travels that fast.”

“Of course Miss Morrigan. There is nothing that we do not hear. Some of my workers are already cleaning the mess you made. The ring family won’t be pleased.”

“They raised a subpar knight and I was finally done with tolerating him.”

“For a subpar knight, he seemed to have given you a run for your money.”

They turned down the hallway and into a stark white room. There were a few beds against one wall and a table in the center. She was led to that table and she sat on it with a grunt. He walked toward a few cabinets returning with a purse and a bottle. She stared at him as she set it down on a table pulling out scissors, gauze, and bandages. She took a breath and shut her eyes.

She unbuttoned her dress and slid it downward as Walter stared at the wound there. He first soaked a piece of gauze and washed the wound. She grit her teeth through the sting and burn of the gauze but didn’t make a sound. The older gentleman continued to clean it and once it was done to his satisfaction, he began to bandage it.

“It was a clean stab. His sword play was very skilled.” He noted as he cut another bandage and laid it across the wound.

“He may have been skilled with the blade but he begged for his life when death greeted him.” She gripped the table she sat on with a scowl. “He was a coward in the end. More prepared to taunt his opponent than to finish the job.”

“He was not one that I would have respected or trusted to have my back in battle no.” Walter said slowly as he finished dressing the wound. Looking up at her his stoic face did not change. “But he was loyal to her majesty.”

“Loyalty doesn’t begin until you’re willing to give your life.”

“Were your prepared to die for your boast?”

“I was. My word is my bond. If I was going to taunt him like that, I had to back it up.”

“You’re a stubborn woman. But you are admirable in your conviction. Especially for one who was not born to us.”

She nodded slowly. She was the outsider amongst the Cerise. Her Queen had taken her in when she was lost and needed something to believe in. Shutting her eyes, she sighed and then looked at Walter. The wisdom of ages within his gaze put her back to a time when she was young and reckless. When there was nothing she couldn’t defeat.

“Something happened Walter. During the fight.”

“You wielded the blade of a Sanguiknight. And it gave you the powers of someone from the proper bloodline.” He said. “Though I didn’t get to see it myself, from what they’ve told me you manipulated blood like one of them.”

She looked at him shocked and shook her head. “I’m not different from one of you. Just a human. I shouldn’t have been able to wield my blood like that. It was the blade. Like it had a will of its own.”

He rubbed his chin slowly as he looked at her. “I couldn’t say. I don’t know much about the blades of the Sanguiknight. It’s something that is a rarity to observe and only the knights themselves are allowed to even touch them.”

She looked at her sword and nodded slowly. “Perhaps, I’ll seek an audience with the Queen before I leave. To ask her personally. And maybe she would give me an answer.”

“It is worth a try. She seems fond of you more than others.”

Morrigan shook her head slowly. “You give me too much credit.”

“You give yourself too little.” Walter said and then took a step back. “Your wounds are as patched as they are going to be. I would tell you to take it easy for some time but I know that will not be the case.”

She got off the table and shook her head slowly as she dressed herself. “A knight’s duty is never done.”

“No, it is not.”

She lowered her head toward him, “Thank you Walter. Your help is always appreciated.” She was still somewhat dizzy but nowhere near as bad as before. She took a step forward and then moved forward with a bit more confidence.

“My pleasure. Oh miss.”

“What is it Walter?”

“I believe that lord Benidict asked about you. He wishes to see you again.”

She made a face and a wistful look crossed her face. “Ben. I guess I do owe him a visit. Thank you, Walter.”

She walked out of the small pharmacy and retraced her steps back toward the ballroom. When she arrived, there was no one else there. No more nobles dancing, no body of Maxwell nor a head. There were a few servants cleaning the floor but none looked up or greeted her. They were the house that was hidden. Humans who maintained and served everyone.

She took the stairs back up slowly. She glanced at the carpet and saw the marks from the duel earlier. She approached the doors and pushed them over. Walking down the path the guards were there and this time they had their lances crossed in front of the door. “State your intent.” One commanded.

“I seek an audience with my Queen.”

“You were just within her audience.”

“I seek her aid immediately.”

“She is not taking an audience at this time.”

“I must see her.”

“Return. At. Another time.”

The voice was final because the Queen’s orders were final. Morrigan took a slow breath and scowled. Turning away she began to walk but before she could even get a few steps away she heard the door open slowly. A creaking movement and she felt the warmth flood out. She felt the eyes on her and she immediately dropped to her knee and lowered her head.

The steps came down the hallway like an echo within her mind. She lowered her head even further feeling a mixture of shame and embarrassment. She felt her Queen’s presence approach her and then hover beside her like a force of air pressure.

“My knight. To see you so soon. And with such desperation. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“My queen I am lost. The weapon you gave me. The blade. It’s power. I do not understand it.”

“What is there to not understand. Or was your duel with Maxwell not obvious enough.”

She lowered her head even further and shut her eyes in shame again. “That was my fault. I goaded him into a battle because I thought him weak.”

“And you are here and he is not. So, your assessment was not entirely wrong. But your concern is not with the duel but how it ended.”

“Yes, my Queen. The sword, it felt as if it was wielding me rather than I wielding it. And it granted me abilities. Abilities that I should not have on my own.”

“What is it that you have come to ask my knight.”

She took a slow breath as she organized her thoughts. It wasn’t something that she was used to asking. “I ask for your aid in controlling this new power. “

She didn’t respond for some time. She simply continued to walk around and finally stood in front of her. Each second was agonizing as she didn’t even look up to see her feet. Her eyes were square on the ground unable to tempt fate. “You wish to control the blood like those of my proper bloodline. To become one of my children.”

That had been something that she had never considered. She had served as a simple human who had risen far beyond what one had done in the past. “My Queen if it would allow me to better serve you and wield this power in your service then I would ask just that.”

“So timid to ask for power. You worked to prove your worth with your own skill and for that I have always been impressed.” Her queen chuckled again, a ripple of energy passing over her skin and making her shiver. “I knew that adopting you into my fold was a wise idea. Raise your head my knight and take the power you earned so long ago.”

She did and extended in front of her was her finger. Blood dripped from it and onto the floor. Morrigan stared at it perplexed. She had heard stories of this. Of partaking of the Queen’s blood and the power that it instilled. She raised her head, shaking with anticipation. Her eyes shut and she felt the blood fall onto her tongue. One splash after another.

She didn’t have to swallow it for the power to course through her. For her pupils to shrink and her vision to bleed red. “Now go my knight. A true daughter of Cerise.”