(PRP) The Formation of the Cabal

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Guillotine looked at all those gathered around. They certainly were a motley and assorted crew of misfits. And all of them were together for this one thing that, connected by the same web of evil. She knew that Horus had the book that she needed to take back to the Great Pumpkin King, but her last meeting had not gone well. She had been humiliated and injured just to get lost in the woods with that fiendish cat taunting her every move. That's where she had met Umeko who had become a great and gallant friend of hers.'

Umeko had been sold by Morsmordre who was a business associate of Horus, though likely not on good terms. Horus didn't stay on good terms with anyone from what she'd heard. But that had to be how it was all connected.

"Is that everyone?" She asks.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Umeko sized up her companions with cool eyes. They were all of them much larger than her, and one would think more dangerous. But some of them she could tell had never been in a fight in their life, like that lightning struck stallion. He was wary and too uneasy to have done any real fights. He was green as summer grass. Umeko did not think she had ever been green.

But was this going to be enough? Was this going to even put a dent in the what was going on around them? This was only the beginning, she kept reminding herself. Others will come.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

"That's everyone but Alexi," Ridley says in her gravely voice. "He may be late though, he knows where to go so we are not to wait for him." She motions forward and lead the group to the secluded area that they had picked. The trees were dense with undergrowth, and it was not easy to approach without being heard.

Turning to all of them she spoke low, "Charon and I have asked most of you here because we are all battling the same threats. There's a series of evil soquili who are doing terrible things and through extensive searching, Charon and I have found their connections." She pauses for a moment, "Say your name and why you're here and then it'll be easier to connect all the dots."  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Davina spoke before she could overthink it. "I'm Davina Mo Nighean Donn of House Ormollen and House Tyrell. My cousin was viciously attacked by an assassin in our childhood home. The assassin was meant for me, not her. I have not seen her for years. The last I saw of her was the rose garden back at Highgarden. I want to bring her home, see her safe and whole again. And I want to find out why there is an assassin after me and why they would do that to Margaery. I don't want the assassin to do it to anyone else, to make a mistake of who they're killing.. That's why I'm here." She let her voice fall silent as she looked around at the others, she could see the same kind of look in all of their eyes.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

"I'm Falsetto Amachi. Sometime while Margaery Tyrell was with the Khalasar, we became Paramours. I loved her more than she could ever love me, and so I ended it. But I know she went through some things. I know that she feared a monster that she knew was going to come for her again and others that are enemies of the Tyrells will now be looking at me as a target. Because back home, I have two baskets of mine and Margaery's waiting to open. She does not know of them, and it's safer that way. But others could learn of them. They are in danger."  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

"I'm Oziuhilasven. My parents asked a favor from Avada Kedavra. When they could not pay him back, Morsmordre the slaver came to collect her due. I didn't know for years, I was only a foal and they told me she had left on her own. I didn't know any better. But she stayed because the debt is only paid if she serves it and if she doesn't, then I do. So out there somewhere, she suffers for me. Because she loves me." His voice falls silent. "I don't know what she's gone through or is going through. But I have to save her and we have to stop them from doing this to others."

Out of breath, he looks around at everyone and he sees the small mare meet his eyes, giving him a small smile. Then she says something that shocks him. "Morsmordre sold me too."  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

“Before I was born, my family’s herd was captured,” Umeko continued. My mother was pregnant with me at the time. My older half-brother Sebastian, and my father. They were both killed, along with every other male member of the herd. My sister loved him more than anything and she fought hard for him, but there was no way to save either of them. I was one of two baskets, and one was sold before it ever opened. My sister couldn’t save Sebastian, but she could keep him memory alive. So she told me all the stories she could of him. I was the light of her life she said, and she fought hard to keep me safe. She was defiant, she’s always been defiant. And then they took me while I was still young and they sold me as though I was property. All I can think of is how much she screamed for me as they took me and how I hope it didn’t get her killed. I don’t know how many families Morsmordre has destroyed. But it has to stop.”

wc 182 Umeko  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Guillotine watches her little friend Umeko make her confession. “Horus has a book, a book that the leader of my herd has proclaimed as a relic of our past. I tried to negotiate with Horus about it, tried to tell him what it meant to my people. He set his children on me, told them to feast on my flash and use my bones as decorations. I knew he wasn’t joking. I barely escaped. It wasn’t long after that I got lost in the woods and chased by a humongous Cheshire Cat.” She smiled remembering meeting Umeko.


WC 97 Guillotine  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Ridley Kuzeri shifted slightly in the silence that followed. When she began her words were slow and tortured. “I was part of a herd that had ancient customs. Yuki Tanaki took me in at a young age and trained me to be a Samurai to protect his daughter Rhona. We were inseperable friends. But it was not my place to be her friend, and her father reminded me often of that. He reminded me that it was by his grace I was there and by his grace I could be forced to leave. I put distance between us. She didn’t understand, but I could not tell her what her father had said. I didn’t want her to hate him as I did.”

She could feel the hot burn of tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “Avada Kedavra and his consort Morsmordre came to the herd after Yuki crossed him. Yuki did not need him anymore so he cut him off. Avada was not pleased so he took what Yuki did not want to give. He wounded me, stunned me. I watched in horror as he killed Rhona. I watched the soul flee her body and Yuki threw me out, told me I’d broke my vows. I was a Samurai without a Master, a ronin.”


WC 219 Ridley  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

“Some of you,” began Charon. “I sold or guarded. They were jobs to me, nothing against any of you. I helped Morsmordre, some part of me feels I should be ashamed and another part tells me not to be. You can hate me or not, that’s your choice. I have made as much peace with what I’ve done as I can. And that’s why I’ve brought you here, because I was careless and stupid. I have three sons born of the cursed walker Paris. I just learned of them and she is using them as pawns. I cannot tolerate that, they are innocent. As each of you are.” He paused, “Maybe I deserve to be punished, but not them. And out of that knowledge, Ridley and I have put something together. We are all connected more than we have ever believed to be true. And if we are careful, with planning we can bring each of them down by using the others.


WC Charon 162  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Alexi had been lost for a long time. Not the typical lost in the woods or took the wrong way lost, but the heart-achingly, soul-shatteringly loss of self. He was adrift in a world that no longer made sense to him. Everything he had ever known had been a carefully constructed lie. The wounds of his flesh had healed, but what of his mind? How long would it be before he could forgive himself for the things he had done? For the pawn he had been made to be?

He knew that he could not forget, possibly not even forgive. Then what was left? That hollow word peace? Would it ever come to him or would it stay away as it had done so far?

Ridley had asked him to come, he knew not why and a part of him didn't even care. It was something to give him some sort of semblence of life instead of this hopeless drifting. That had to be enough.

WC Alexi 165  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Umeko looked at Charon and tried to remember if she had seen him before. He had not been one of her guards or even her seller, not that she could recall. In her heart no hate bloomed hot and bright. He was the face to a faceless name she'd long been told of, but as much as she tried to summon up anger for him, she could not.. So she kept quiet.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Davina's heart pounded loudly as Falsetto Amachi had spoke. She felt every part of her burn hot then flash cold as the mare spoke of the affair her and Margaery had carried on. The first conscious thought that registered was that, after all this time, she had confirmation that Margaery Tyrell was alive. The second thought was that she had lost her again, that she was somewhere out there drifting not knowing that her cousin looked for her.

She heard not a word that anyone else said as they spoke. The mare spoke of baskets, of children of her and Margaery's that Margaery did not know about. Bastards would be what the family called them. This mare had Margaery's children, hers and Margaery's. The truth slammed down on her that she had to keep them safe.

"Margaery and yours?" Her voice rang out not even listening to anyone else as Falsetto turned to meet her.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

"Ours," False said. She did not know what this Davina would think or if she would try to take the foals, but it would be over her dead body. "She does not know of them and I do not plan to tell her, at least not anytime soon. They are what is to be kept safe. Margaery is not my concern anymore."  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

Davina could see the bitter loss in Falsetto Amachi's eyes. What had Margaery done to her to exstinguish that light of love? How had she so damaged this mare that she did not want to tell her of their own children. "She has a right to know," Davina spoke gently. "I want to see them."

She watched the cool eyes appraising her and she offered the promise that would be hardest to keep. "I will not tell her. Not till it's safe. Your secret is my secret now too. I swear it on the old gods and new."