Rage

His reaction to my taunt was indifferent at best. He didn't collapse into a puddle of drooling gibbering fear. He had enough fortitude or ignorance to continue to stand, and to return my stare. It didn't mean he was without fear; he wasn't that stupid, his indifference was a front, a mask that seemed second nature for Sidhe. The Seelie and Unseelie Monarchs liked to toy with those Sidhe that showed emotion, especially fear.

I had no intention to play games or alter the course that I was set on taking. From the moment that I had learned of the capture of Irvin, Lohne, Uron, and Cedric I had been consumed with rage. Righteous anger? Only the Gods could judge. My learning that Irvin was being tortured and paraded in front of the Court, his wounds displayed as naked propaganda of what Sidhe can expect if they cross Queen Mab, was enough to feed the fire of my anger.

Irvin stood as mockery and a warning to the Court. My House name could not protect him.

I managed to leash my anger; the rage attempting to escape in a conflagration of fire and ice, a battle to control both the Beleros and Cyronax Aura that responded to my emotions and wanted to explode in retribution difficult.

"You talk of respect owed. Of insults and slights that I have given by not affording you your appropriated title, the entire time ignoring me and mine. You yap and yammer. A small pest barking for attention. And you drone on about the might of those that protect you.

"All while those that I have sworn to protect are being held in contradiction to all Protocols and Treaties owed another Ranked Monarch.

"If my subjects, Vassals, and House members can be treated in manners that contravene all propriety, I too can return the favor.

"You say you are the valued subject of the Seelie Monarchs? You are their ears and eyes; tasked to monitor and oversee the rightful Lord of this fief? Then I shall treat you in the same manner my Vassals and family have been treated.

Glamour is a wondrous magical ability. It can hide the obvious, fool the senses, and delight the eyes. It can also allow you to gain access to the mind and will of another being.

[Mind affinity check. Mind Affinity overwhelms Craig A'Craig's will. Craig A'Craig is charmed.]

"Open your mouth," I ordered. Craig had no choice; once I had established dominance and overwhelmed his will. His actions were now under my control. He was mine to do with what I willed. Reaching in that gapping orifice that had been spewing insult and garbage, I grabbed his tongue. Clasping it firmly, I pulled it out stretching it as far as I could before reaching into my Ring of Hidden Depths and withdrawing a dagger.

One quick slice and that offensive appendage, the organ that spent most time toadying and licking the backside of any in Power, that had yapped and barked, was severed. He who had thought he was beyond my Power, discovered he was not.

My rage would not allow me to stop. And as my vision turned red, as the blood of the Seelie who has sneered with contempt at the fate of Blayney and his son, my dagger moved.

Ears, nose, strips of flesh. Fingers phalanx by phalanx. My blade flashing faster and faster as I inflicted the same torture that I imagined Irvin had suffered. Finally, with one final flick of my blade, I neutered him. Castrated just as Irvin had been.

The red haze remained. My rage was still seething and demanding satisfaction. But I would not kill Earl Craig A'Craig. I would have him return to the Seelie Court as a warning. And so, I offered him a final insult. I signed my name in his flesh, as a declaration of intent.

Blood calls. And the call will be answered.

Using my healing, ice, and fire affinities again, I cauterized his wounds in the same manner as I had the eyes of the two guards. Craig A'Craig would never offend another with his boisterous claims and sneering rejoinders. I had neutered his ability to offend as easily as I would spay a stray cat. And for all the import he and his guards played in this staged drama, it did nothing to quiet the seething rage I felt.

In truth, my actions here amounted to less than nothing. I was certain Queen Mab would dismiss as trivial any reports she received about my actions here today. But it was a start. They had spilled first blood. I intended to answer them in full.

Dismissing the glamour and returning the room to its original shape and furnishings, I also allowed our clothing to reform. The only glamour I kept in place was the ice mask I'd created to replace the one that had been destroyed.

Without the glamour, the blood, shit, and piss that had been spattered became prevalent. The room a scene out of a nightmare. The Sidhe for all their beauty could be monstrous. As I looked upon my handiwork, I pondered if I should let them live. Sending their heads back to the Seelie Court would be as an effective message as this.

And it never paid to leave adversaries alive after you have humiliated and defeated them. They always tend to return at the most inopportune moment to stab you in the back.

The two guards had frozen in fear, too afraid to move until I motioned for them, "Help Earl A'Craig up. I think it time the three of you return to Cathair-bhaile."

My words were the impetus required to allow them to spring into action, they grabbed Craig, supporting his weight as the emotionless man was all but catatonic. I released him from my power, returning him his will, what little there was of it. Considering he was one of those hangers-on that were prolific in the halls of Court, I thought he would have trained his will to survive within those halls of power.

Instead, it was more likely he had been power-leveled. Someone put enough time, energy, and money into getting him Rank and Level, but had not wasted any effort on ensuring he had the skills and abilities to match those Ranks.

He was a paper tiger. Probably created more as a symbol or a placeholder for someone with real Power. If he had never been challenged, most people would assume he was powerful because of his Rank. It was only when confronted when those that backed and supported him were removed from the equation that his true abilities, rather his lack of abilities, become obvious.

Once the three had left, the door was closed, and Blayney had dismissed the servant who had been brave enough to enter the room and clean the blood and fluids that had stained the walls and floors. I confronted Blayney about that strike he had offered, that punch that had preceded the events of the last few minutes.

"Where were we?" I asked trying to think back to where I had left off in our conversation.

"You mentioned forming a Kingdom and rescuing Irvin," he said answering my question even though it had been rhetorical.

"Yes," I agreed, "As you heard, what happened to Irvin is beyond the pale. Even among the Seelie, as duplicitous and tricky as they can be, to capture and torture another Ranked House member is so beyond convention that reparations are the least of what the Seelie Court will owe.

"And I promise," I said, "Irvin will be freed, healed, and his injuries returned tenfold."

[System Notice: You have pledged vengeance to Herd Lord Blayney to personally seek and deliver justice for Irvin H'Teigh. Justice must be sought and delivered personally. Recourse to the Wild Hunt as arbiter is forestalled and forbidden during this event.]

Blayney motioned for me to sit before moving behind his desk and taking his seat. Una opened the door and signaled for more chairs to be brought, the delay minimal as those that had seen the ravaged of A'Craig were filled with both satisfaction and fear. Finally, everyone was seated. The anger had passed, and now only bone-weary resignation remained.

"What happened after we last spoke?" I asked hoping he could fill in the holes that the Mines manager had not been clear on.

"At first things progressed as we expected. Duke A'Daoine traveled here himself, and the two of us made the trip to the mine. Lord Nelson used the teleportation array so that he could join the Duke.

"We had barely begun when everyone received a System Notification that CERN Dungeon had been closed," he said.

"That announcement set off a shit storm that has yet to peter out," Una interjected.

"To say Queen Mab was not pleased would be a disservice. She was furious. And when Cedric reported that the dungeon closing was deliberate…

"She commanded, and the Seelie obeyed."

"A day hadn't passed after she was informed about the situation here and she had a stream of craftsman, Seelie, and Knights en route. New buildings, two docks, a Mining Manager appointed as well as a family of Abhaic commissioned to expand the tunnels, mine ore, and nurture the Silinium.

"The Knights were tasked with investigating the Herd, Fief Kel, any records that remained of Haygan's and Kel's, and to root out and find any Olympians that may have been using disguise, glamour, or illusion to infiltrate the Sidhe and Seelie body politic," he continued.

"It was a pogrom as every individual that was Ranked or had any connection to the Court was forced to divest themselves of illusion and glamour and make themselves available for inspection and verification."

"It was effective. But it caused massive upheaval and disruption as doppelgangers were discovered to have subverted and stolen the identity of some powerful individuals.

"Things came to a head as hysteria reached a breaking point when the Queen's son, Prince Illiad was found to have been replaced."

"That was probably the breaking point," Una agreed, "the moment when the Monarchs ignored all propriety and protocol."

"They used spurious accusations and trickery to arrest Cedric, Lohne, Uron, and Irvin. The news coming from the Court has been foreboding since then. The Court torturer's knives spilling rivers of blood," Blayney continued.

"Here things have settled for the most part. The tithes and fines are going to beggar us soon. But there has been no bloodshed, no senseless violence.

"We have given up our autonomy to survive. But I have not forsaken my son," Blayney insisted. "I have approached the Herd Council, every fortnight, and pleaded his case. I have demanded that treaties and reciprocity those treaties promise be honored.

"And you have been ignored, your words brushed aside," Una railed, fresh anger energizing the room that had become despondent, her anger diminishing any suggestion of acceptance.

"There has been a miasma of fear, accusation, and recrimination as the Powerful purge their enemies, bunker down to survive, and hope that the real Prince can be found and rescued," Blayney said wincing in agreement at Una's words.

"But the Halls of Power whisper that Queen Mab has been driven insane in her anger. That her rage cannot be quenched. And so, even those who might contend or neutralize her, King Lugh or Consort Puck, have refused to act."

"And by not acting they act, complicit in her insanity," I concluded.