Kingdoms End

Planet: Guurjey

Person(s): Lord Pascal Pessalis

Guurjey, the largest planet of all five Versall worlds and also the sanest. There was little war on Guurjey, nearly all the nations got along and respected one another. This was the dream world of the Versall worlds. There was only very little or no bad thing happening on Guurjey. Racism and war were very minimal, the nations were very wealthy and the rulers were good. It was a planet dominated by humans, but it had the second largest population of non humans, after Manroh. This planet was very far from the other four and its occupants ways were also greatly different from those on the others. There was minimal crime and joint national organisations battled whatever threats came at nations from nature, animals, or otherwise. There were parts of the planet which were called “Wild lands,” because they were overrun by wild, fantastic beasts of incredible sizes, strength and abilities.

Now, in the Queendom of Amneh, the city of Zerba, there lived Lord Pascal Pessalis. Pascal was the twenty-three year old son of Lady Reina Pessalis, the second of her four children and her only son. His mother was a self-made millionaire, who had no faith in men, after a very bad, but now late father and a tough romance which lasted through her early and mid-teens and ended in great heartbreak for her at the age of seventeen. She had all her children through a high-risk, magical procedure which involved the magical introduction of male gamete into her to get her pregnant. Lady Reina, 45, was incredibly wealthy now and owned a transport company, Pessalis Carriers, the biggest in the entire Queendom of Amneh and one of the best in all of Guurjey.

Pascal’s siblings were Merith, 26; Vira, 21 and Anne, 18. Merith was like her mother, she didn’t like men and wasn’t going to get married, though her mother was against it. She was tough and very authoritative. Vira was the lamb of the family, gentle, but not too gentle. She and Pascal were the most balanced of their mother’s four children. Anne was a tomboy, rough, tough and rebellious. She got into trouble alot and wasn’t really interested in romantic relationships. Anne felt that she could control her own life and that all boys who approached her just wanted her mother’s money. Such were the people with whom Pascal shared his home and life. Pascal was spoiled by his mother, but he turned out very well, respectful, clever and otherwise.

The time was 17:40. Pascal was seated in the backseat of an SUV with his younger sister, Vira, next to him. He was a fine young man with short, red hair and handsome features. His eyes were slightly shut, giving him a contemplating look. He was 6ft and many ladies wanted him, but he just didn’t like any of them. Vira on the hand, she was a pretty lady, long, straight, red hair, bright eyes, a pointed nose and the most innocent smile. She was 5ft 9inches, with long legs like her mother. The boys wanted her and she flirted with them, but she never took any one to her heart.

“Sometimes I get tired of all this security and stability, Pascal,” Vira spoke. “I study about elves, fairies, dwarves, the Tesh and so many other races and their lives seem so interesting. I wish I could find some adventure, or some other thing of the sort.” Pascal turned to his sister and smiled. She used glasses, just like their mother and having them on now, made her look executive. “You can always go to the wild lands,” he suggested. “I would never!” she exclaimed. “Rumour has it those places are riddled with bandits, rapists and cutthroats and I have no intentions of getting robbed, raped or killed.” “Then you have no intentions of setting out on an adventure,” her brother stated. “Besides, the only things out in the wild lands are animals of abnormal proportions, abilities and appearances. If any of those friends of yours which you mentioned were really out there before, they are definitely only pieces of meat and bones digesting in some animal’s bowels right now and such will be your fate if you go adventure seeking.” “You are always so raw and never coat your words even a little,” his sister said with a frown. “Only because I have no plans of loosing you or any other my sisters,” Pascal stated with a satisfied smile. “You enjoy studying everything and there are more than enough books in this city to last you a lifetime, so you study your things and leave the adventuring to stupid folks who do not value their lives.”

The two didn’t speak anymore, until their car entered the compound of their massive four storey villa. Once the car stopped under the portico covered entrance, Pascal got out and went around to open the door for his sister, only for her to push it open once he was before near and striking him with it. Vira got down, scoffed at him and walked away, while Pascal massage his upper right arm where the door had struck him.

Pascal laughed and went after his sister. “Forgive me, Vira, I should have been more gentle with my words,” he said, but she just scoffed aloud, pointing her nose in the air and walking on. Pascal was going to go after her, but the sight of his mother’s red, armoured SUV coming under the portico, caused him to stop.

A guard got out of the front seat of the red SUV and made to go open the back door, but it swung open and Anne Pessalis jumped out. The eighteen year old looked angry, but that did nothing to hide her beauty. Her long, red hair was braided at the back, with some brought forward to conceal her left eye. Her lips were painted black, she had a pointed nose like Vira and bright eyes also. She was 5ft 7inches and was the notorious one of the family. She had on a silver half-top with a compressed, elastic neck which could be pulled up to conceal the lower part of her face. Her black jacket had a hood at the back and her black latex pants disappeared into her black leather boots.

Anne walked briskly toward Pascal, while their mother, Lady Reina, git out of the car and rushed toward her rebellious daughter. Lady Reina was 45, but she looked like she was only in her mid-thirties. She looked like a more mature version of Vira, right down to the medicated glasses. The only difference was that Lady Reina was very voluptuous and the white, strapless gown she had on now really displayed those curves.

“Stop there, you stubborn girl!!” Lady Reina ordered, but Anne didn’t obey. The teenager walked up to her brother and held up jer right hand for a hi-five which he gave her. “What?!” their mother exclaimed, she sneaks onto restricted Royal property with those low level scumbags she calls her friends and you give her a Hi-five for it?” “Sneaking onto restricted property?!!” Pascal asked, turning to Anne who stood next to him, arms crossed and a look of nonchalance on her face. “Oh I am going to slap the red out of your hair tonight, young woman!!” the mother threatened. “That js of course if you don’t yell my head me to death first,” Anne murmured. “What did you say?!” her mother demanded. “Nothing, mother,” the girl lied. “See why I like Pascal so much?” the mother asked. “He does not stress me the way you girls do.”

“Please, mother, it is alright,” Pascal spoke. “Nothing shall be alright unto I have dealt with this girl the way she deserves!” the woman shot back. “I’m no child, mother,” Anne stated. “That I will believe when you begin acting like it,” the woman replied. “Now go to my study before I do or things will get jotter for you this night,” she threatened, then walked past her children and toward the front door.

“You’d best rush ahead of her,” Pascal cautioned his sister. “You do not want her any angrier than she already is.” “I am eighteen and it is time mother came to realise that,” the girl stated. “The choice is your own,” Pascal said finally. “Or perhaps I should get to that study before her,” Anne said suddenly. “Though it’s not because I fear her,” she added, then bolted into the house, after her mother.

Pascal watched his youngest sister go and shook his head from side to side. “I knew she wouldn’t dare mother,” he thought aloud. He walked towards the front door which Anne had left open and once he entered the house, yet another issue lay waiting for him. On a sofa which had been positioned across the foyer from the front door, at the base of the grand staircase leading upstairs, sat his elder sister, Merith Pessalis. Merith was taller than her mother and sisters and even one inch taller than her brother. She was 6ft 1inch, with long legs. She was voluptuous like her mother, being the only one among the three sisters to get those extra curves from their mother. She had her hair dome into a bun right now and had the slightly-shut eyes Pascal possessed and her sisters’ pointed nose. She was beautiful and that beauty brought her male attention which was one thing she did not want at all. Besides as a threat and a superior, Merith did not want men seeing her as anything else.

“Will you believe what that bastard’s swine that insults himself with the name Lord Mark Fellin did today at the annual royal auction?” Merith asked her brother upon seeing him. She rose from the chair and approached him as she spoke. “I cannot believe what I have no knowledge of,” Pascal replied with a big smile. He put his hands on his waist and walked toward his elder sister. “He got on stage, collected the microphone from the auctioneer and declared he loved me. The nerve of that swine!!”

“And you brought this sofa out here and sat on it awaiting my return to tell me that?” Pascal asked. “What? Is it not important enough?” Merith asked, her anger rising. “It is most definitely important, big sister,” Pascal replied quickly. “I just wanted to know what the sofa was doing at the base I our staircase and with you in it.” “And about my complaint?” his sister asked next. “I say you tell him you don’t like him and that he should keep away from you,” Pascal replied bluntly.

Pascal moved towards the sofa as he spoke. He got behind the sofa and bent over it, resting his elbows on the back of the big chair. “I went a step further and got onto the stage where I gave him a piece of my mind,” Merith stated, coming to seat on the sofa with her feet up. “Oh, that nasty mind of yours,” Pascal said, squeezing up his face at the thought of what his sister must have said to the man. Merith laughed aloud now and Pascal smiled.

“You have a way of turning everything into a joke,” Merith stated, still laughing. “Vira has a different thought about that,” Pascal spoke, his smile still in place. There came the sound of shouting from upstairs, two voices were attempting to bring the house down with their screams.

“I see mother and Anne are at it again,” Pascal said, looking upstairs. “We should go up there and stop those two before mother goes ballistic on poor Anne,” he suggested. “Anne is nit innocent in any way,” Merith stated. “The girl is eighteen, but does all the stupid , impulsive things you’d expected from a sixteen year old.” “Still that is no reason for us to leave her in mother’s hands when mother is that angry,” Pascal spoke, standing upright. “I’d rather go to my room and let mother knock some sense into that girl,” Merith said, getting up and coming around the sofa.

The two siblings began ascending the stairs together. “I want to just advice that you mind the way you talk down to men, Merith,” Pascal spoke as they walked. “It’s one thing doing it to men who work for you and I understand mother’s hatred for men ribbed off greatly on you, but a man in love is something else. Let him down too harsh and he just might snap.” “I care nothing for the emotions of Mark Fellin,” Merith stated. “I had told him no too many times in the past spread, but he just kept coming. Now, he asked for it publically and I gave it to him. He’s bound to leave me alone.”

Pascal looked at his sister, she had no expression of pity on her face and Mark Felllin had been a pest to the lady for too long. There was the sudden sound of commotion upstairs, feet running, furniture scraping. Pascal and Merith looked at each other for two seconds, then raced upstairs as one. “Don’t kill her, mother!!” Merith yelled as they went.

The next morning, 08:19 to be precise, Pascal just alighted from his chauffeur driven vehicle before the front entrance of Pessalis Transports headquarters. He had on a metal studded suit and held a black briefcase in his left Han. Pessalis Transports was Lady Reina’s great and super successful transport company which made her the millionaire she was today. The company dealt in transportation of persons, goods and services to anywhere on Guurjey and they even did a few deliveries to other planets in the Versall solar system. Zerba was Lady Reina’s hometown, thus she settled here and here she built her company’s headquarters also.

The woman hired men and women alike, but she had the men sign special contracts which limited their progress in the company somewhat. Every one in Zerba knew if Lady Reina’s hatred for men and since it was her hometown, most of the people even knew who the fellow that broke her heart those many years ago was. Lady Reina didn’t want her only boy working, she always told him to just have fun, but Pascal was a wise youngman.

Pascal walked into the reception if the company and was greeted by seven female faces for each male one he saw. Everyone greeted Pascal warmly. He was such a nice fellow and while all the younger female workers wanted to marry him, the older ones wanted him for their daughters, younger sisters or some other relative of appropriate age. Pascal was the jewel of his mother’s eyes, the only man who could do her no wrong and everyone wanted him for themselves.

Pascal entered an elevator, a beautiful, young lady getting in next to him. “Morning, Lord Pessalis,” the lady created. Pascal replied with a smile and nod. The elevator was almost shut when a man dashed like crazy and slipped in before it could close completely. Pascal knew the man, he worked here in the company headquarters and they were acquainted.

“Morning, sir,” Pascal greeted, his left brow raised in suspicion. “Good morning, Lord Pessalis,” the man spoke fast. “I just saw you enter this elevator and I knew this would be my chance to tell you something I’ve been meaning to.” “And that would be?” Pascal asked, but the man looked at the lady in the elevator. “Make her swear to secrecy,” he told Pascal. Pascal looked the guy over, he was at least in his late-thirties, with balding head and small eyes. The guy looked very frustrated. Pascal turned the lady beside him. “My lady, please promise me that nothing you hear here today will be told to any outside the three of us present,” he requested. “Anything for you, my lord,” the lady said with a wink.

Pascal turned to the man once more. “Your words are safe,” he told him. “I just wanted to complain about the contract your mother makes her male workers sign before taking jobs,” the man spoke. “The document grants us financial raise, but forbids our rise in rank in the company.” Pascal smiled now, he’d thought the man had some scary information for him. “Pessalis Transport is my mother’s company, not mine,” he explained. “Severally have I tried getting her to ease up on men, but you all know her story, this is her hometown after all.” “Her father was a beast and she git into a relationship very early. It lasted four years, only to end in too big a heartbreak for her.,” explained the lady in the elevator. “See, everybody knows the story,” Pascal spoke. “My mother will not hear me speak of her treatment towards men. Especially in a company which she has told me severally that I need not even appear in. She wants me out there having fun, but I insist on being here, thus if I don’t like anything she does here, I have ger permission to walk away.”

The man looked deflated now. “It’s just not fair,” he said. Just then, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. “Take heart, man,” Pascal said, placing his free hand on the man’s shoulder. “It could have been worse,” the lady added. “How so?” the man asked, looking at her. “At least she raises your salaries,” the lady stared. Pascal patted the man’s shoulder, then walked out of the elevator.

Pascal walked along the corridor until he came to the door which led into his reception. He entered the reception and his secretary, Dana Hanter, a lady of the dwarf race, was at her desk already. “Good morning, Lord Pessalis,” the dwarf lady greeted with a smile.

“Lord Pesaliss?” Pascal asked, coming to his secretary’s table. “”I thought we were over all that formality?” He was standing before here desk now, a confused look on hos face. “Dana hot to her feet, she was 5ft tall, quite tall for a dwarf. She was a pretty lady of thirty years, with a rounded nose, bright eyes and curly, coal-black hair. She leaned over the table and whispered, “Your mother is in your office.” “Why?” Pascal whispered back. “I don’t know,” Dana replied. “She told me not to tell you she was here, so you’d better act surprised it I could find myself without a job.” Pascal winked his understanding and Dana sat down once more.

“That you for your spiritual guidance, Dana,” Pascal said aloud, moving toward the door to the office. He opens the door and entered without even liking around, then he shut the door and looked around now. The first face he saw actually did surprise him. “Anne?” he asked, staring at his youngest sister who was seated behind his desk. “Morning to you, big brother,” the girl said nonchalantly. “I was going to beat some sense into her last night, but for yours and Merith’s intervention,” came his mother’s voice from the living room area of the office.

Pascal turned in tome to see his mother rise from the main sofa and begin walking towards him. “Good morning, mother. Now, can you please tell me what is going on here?” “Since you won’t let me beat her, then I now place her under your care,” his mother stated. “Any problems she gets into, I will blame on you and she deserves a beating, you will either beat her while I watch, or I will cover your face in slaps.” “But I have to work!” Pascal complained. “No you don’t!” his mother shot back. “I told you many times and I tell you again. My son does not have to lift a finger in his life. If you want to work, then so be it, but Anne Pessalis is your problem now. Any problems from her and you will get some problem from me. She could have been arrested yesterday for sneaking onto that royal property. I had to beg and bribe. I will not do it again. If you want your sister in a jailhouse, you put her there yourself.”

Lady Reina opened the door and stepped out, Pascal following her immediately. “Mother, please,” he begged, but the woman ignored. She crossed to the door that led out of the reception and into the hallway, then stopped here. “Do not follow me into that hallway, or I will have you relieved of your duties and thrown out of this building for good!” she barked at her son. “But mother I...” “Take care of your sister. You are the man of our house and if any harm was to ever come to any of your sisters, I would never forgive you. I have given you everything, all I ask Pascal is that you protect my daughters. Can you do that for me?”

Pascal was weakened by his mother’s words. She knew how to play him into line and even though he knew what she was doing, he also knew that he could never say no. “Yes, mother,” he replied in a defeated voice. “Yes I will protect my sisters.” His mother hugged him now. “I know you will,” she whispered, then let go of him, left the reception and shut the door.

“Can you do that for me, Pascal?” came Anne’s voice from the office door, followed by her laughing. She was mocking her brother and mother’s discussion. Pascal turned around and gave her a stern glance which caused her to stop her laughter. “You need not bother about me, brother,” she spoke. “I will just go out, hang with some friends and return before its time for you to close from work.” “That will not be the case, young lady,” he told her.

He walked toward the teenager. “Mother wants me watching you and if I’m going to suffer, then you will too.” “You can’t make mw suffer,” Anne stated. “I know cant,” Pascal agreed. “I will take the rest of the day off and take you to my sword fighting class. Perhaps you may learn a thing or two from the teacher there. If you even behave well, I might let you start taking fighting lessons too.” “I already know how to fight,” Anne stated and Pascal smiled. “Isn’t that cute. The little lady is trying to impress her big brother.” “Seriously, ask Dana,” Anne said, pointing at the dwarf secretary.

Pascal looked at his secretary and she looked away. “Dana, do you know my little sister personally?” he asked. Dana turned her head slowly to face her boss. “I might have met with her once or twice,” the dwarf whispered. “And where did you meet her?” Pascal asked the secretary, crossing his arms. “I fought her in an underground fighting club,” Anne replied. “What?!!” Pascal shot, anger coming to his face now. “I swear I went easy on her, Pascal,” the dear explained. “She beat the shit out of me and it was but by the gods’ graces that I survived at all,” Anne stated and her brother’s eyes widened. “Then after the fight, I went to her and she was scared when she found out I was your sister, but I told her not to worry,” Anne added. “Dana is a great fighter, too good to be sitting in an office. I had her train me and now, I am a very good fighter. Maybe even better than you, big brother.”

Pascal stood with his mouth agape as he listened to his sister and once she was done talking, he turned to Dana now. “You fight in an underground club?” he asked her, then turned back to Anne. “You too?” “I’m a dwarf, Pascal,” Dana replied. “The fighting, forging and crafting are in my blood. I can only suppress as much as I already do. I came to Amneh to forget the mountain ways and thought it be easier said than done, I am actually doing quite well.” Pascal turned to Anne now. “Dana’s excuse is alright, I doubt you have any,” he stated. “I do it because I like it,” the girl replied simply. Pascal rolled his eyes and and put his free hand on his waist.

Pascal turned and moved toward the door to the hallway now. He got to the door and turned to face the ladies. “Dana, you and I will discuss this issue later and for you, Anne, mother put you in my care and I say we are taking the day off. Follow me downstairs.” He opened the door and held it that way. Anne crossed her arms and walked out the open door. Pascal followed his sister out of the reception and shut the door behind him.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Pascal and Anne stood across from each other on a sparring ground. They were in the outdoor section of a fighting school. The sparring grounds were divided by circles of white stones and out here, there were twenty of them. The scenery was beautiful, with statues standing against the walls of the fighting school’s buildings which closed in the outdoor sparring grounds. There were flowers and little patches of grass scattered around to add to the beauty of the place.

Pascal held a 3ft long wooden training sword, while Anne held a real steel version of his weapon. The lady was clothed in protective gear on her torso, hands, head and hips. She looked like a student, a very amateur one, while Pascal looked like a master in his loose-fitting cotton trousers and sleeveless top.

“Are you sure you want to fight me using just a stick while I use a real sword?” Anne asked, concern in her tone. “You are just a learner and I don’t wish to hurt you” Pascal replied. “See, you even have on protective gear.” “You made me wear the protective gear,” his sister pointed out. “You know, if you stop complaining and try fighting me now, you just might learn something from your big brother,” Pascal stated. “I warned him,” Anne murmured to herself, then went at him. Pascal swung his sword to parry a thrust from her, but she lowered her her sword and slammed her shoulder against his right shoulder which was turned in her direction. The force of the hit sent Pascal staggering backward and by the Tim he stopped, Anne’s sword point was at his throat.

“I see you have some beginner’s luck on your side,” Pascal stated, using his woods sword to lower his sister’s real one from his gullet. “We take it again,” he said, taking three steps back and assuming a small crouching pose. Anne advanced again, knocked his wooden sword out of his hands and with a spin to gather momentum, she drove her right elbow into the side of his head. Pascal fell to the floor, his head aching madly.

“I apologise if it hurt too much,” Anne said, “but you just refused to accept that I can fight, so I had to prove myself.” Pascal sat up and massaged the side of his head. “Point taken,” he confessed. “How did you learn to fight like that? ” “I learn on the streets where they show you no mercy,” Anne replied. “Here in a fighting school, they try to make you feel good. Out in the streets they want to make you feel bad. I even told you at the office that I fight in underground clubs. That would have warned you of my capabilities, but then you doubted me, so I had to beat the truth into you.”

Pascal got to his feet, his face still screwed up as a result of the pain. “I guess it’s time I quit the fighting school and just learn from you instead,” he said. “It would be the smartest decision you ever made,” said Anne with a smile, taking off her helmet.

“Lord Pessalis?!” a man screamed, coming out into the courtyard that was the outdoor sparring grounds. The man looked around frantically until he found the Pessalis siblings and he ran towards them. Pascal and Anne just stood still until the man got to them. “Your sister, Merith, has been in an accident and is in a hospital,” he informed them in an out-of-breath voice. Pascal and Anne looked at each other in horror.

In a hospital ward, Merith Pessalis was sat up on a bed. Vira was seated next to her, while their mother stood before a window, looking out at the city below. They were on the fifteenth of the twenty storey hospital building and thirteen guards stood outside the door of the room. Vira and Merith were silently watching their mother who was silently looking out the window. The door opened now, letting Pascal and Anne.

“Oh, Merith!” Anne exclaimed, running to the bed where her sisters sat. Pascal walked toward the bed and Merith’s face lit up upon seeing him, while Vira seemed to get angry with his presence. Anne hugged Merith tight and the older sister winced in pain. “Careful not to break her, Anne,” Pascal joked and his elder and youngest sisters laughed, while Vira choked her own laughter down, making a grunting sound as she did so. Pascal smiled and shook his head at Vira’s action. He got to Merith’s bedside and gently hugged her.

“What happened?” Anne asked. “The man who brought the news said you were involved in an accident,” Pascal added. “It must have been your stupid chauffeur’s fault,” Anne stated. “I hope he survived too, so I can get to kill myself.” “Calm down, Anne,” Pascal spoke, placing a hand on his youngest sister’s shoulder. “Let Merith tell us what happened, unless of course if Vira will tell it instead.” Pascal looked at Vira as he spoke and she shot him a scary glance when he mentioned her name, but he just smiled.

“You were right last night, Pascal,” Merith stated suddenly. “About what?” Pascal asked. “Men being capable of madness for whatever their twisted minds tell them is to become their property, even when the thing in question or in this case, person in question, rejects them,” was Merith’s reply. “This is Mark Felling’s doing?” Pascal asked, anger coming upon his face. At this point, Lady Reina turned around and upon seeing the expression on her son’s face, a smile appeared on hers, then she turned back to the window once more.

“My vehicle came to a junction and another car just slammed right into us from the road on the left,” Merith went on. “I turned in time to see the armoured SUV speeding towards us and that bastard the one behind the wheel. Our car summersaulted several times sideways and I thank the gods for my seatbelt else I might be dead. We landed on our head and I managed to crawl out of the, but my right leg was cut very deep at the thigh.” Merith raised the sheets covering her legs for her siblings to see the large bandage wrapped around her right thigh. She had on a one legged trouser, so the bandage was undisturbed. “The swine got down from his car and tried dragging me to away, but my chauffeur shot him and he went down. Seeing that he was down now, I could finally let myself blackout and that was what I did.” “Then Mark Felling is dead?” Pascal asked.

“According to my nurse, an ambulance came to our crash site a short while later and the healers managed to save the swine when he got to the hospital,” Merith replied, disgust in her voice. “He is being held in a criminal ward and will go to trial before the Queen once he gets better,” Vira stated. “And I was only talking to Anne,” she added. Pascal ignored Vira, he wasn’t in the mood for such things. “And why is he being tried by the Queen instead of some common criminal judge or Lord of the city?!” Pascal shot. “Mother wanted the case brought before the Queen so she could seek the death penalty,” Merith explained.

“Now, you know everything, my son,” Lady Reina spoke for the first time since Anne and Pascal entered the room. She didn’t look back as she spoke. “What will you do to avenge your family?” she asked him. “What?” Pascal asked back.

The woman turned to face the children now, her eyes fixed on Pascal’s. “Mark Felling would have defiled your sister if a common chauffeur had not intervened. Now, our family must do its part and that duty rests on your shoulders. I know Anne would willingly do this without questions, but I want my only man to do this, just as any true man would do for his family. What so you say, Pascal?” “Are you asking Pascal to kill Mark Felling, mother?” Vira asked in a hushed tone. “Silence, girl!!” the woman shot, her eyes flashing rage.

The woman shut Vira up without breaking eye contact with Pascal. Pascal was staring back at his mother now, his mind was racing with the thoughts of what she wanted him to do. How could she ask him to do such a thing? “I await your response, my son,” Lady Reina spoke. “I will do anything for you, mother, but I will not kill Mark Felling,” he replied gently. His mother’s face relaxed and she didn’t say another word. She moved toward the exit, but as she went past the bed, Pascal reached out and grabbed her upper left arm.

“I will do it,” he said in a deflated voice. Lady Reina turned to him and smiled. “Mother, House Felling will want revenge and we will only get hurt in their end,” Vira explained. “They need not know our House is responsible for whatever may be our action,” Anne said with a grin. “Also, we will not kill the bastard,” Lady Reina stated with a little laugh. “I am harsh, not a murderer, but I am glad to know that some of my children will go to any length to avenge their blood.” Then she looked at Vira. “Hopefully, the others will eventually come to learn the value of family honour,” she spoke and Vira held her mother’s stern stare.

Lady Reina walked toward the door and when she got to it, she turned to face her children. “I leave punishment of Mark Felling and its discretion to you all. I hope to hear of his broken legs or something of the sort soonest. Also, henceforth, you shall each be transported in a convoy of no less than three armoured vehicles and shall have four bodyguards move with you whenever you are outside the family compound. This nonsense will not repeat itself, not while I still draw breath and if it does, I expect my children to kill the culprit without mercy. Only once may someone tamper with House Pessalis and live to tell the tale of it.” Once done with her orders and statement of expectations, Lady Reina turned, opened the door and left the room.

“She wants us to break his legs?” Vira asked once their mother was gone. “He is lucky she doesn’t want him dead, because I would have seen to that personally, but since she wishes only permanent damage upon him, then I shall just have a friend do the job instead,” Anne explained. “Thank you, Anne,” Merith told her sister, hugging her. “What about you, Pascal?” Vira asked. “What do you think of all this?”

“I thought you were not talking to me anymore?” Pascal asked back. “Oh do forget childish things, man!” Vira spoke sharply. Pascal nodded his head slowly. “If it pleases mother and Merith, then I am in full support of it, especially now that mother says we need not kill him and my only regret is that I won’t be the one to personally damage Mark Felling for life,” he replied. “What kind of people are you all?!” Vira shouted, while Merith hugged Pascal in appreciation of his words. “We are the children of Lady Reina Pessalis of the Queendom, Amneh. What kind of person are you?” Anne replied her immediate elder sister.