Immortal Triumvirate ~ Prelude

[Danyxandra]

Prelude:


Danzrielle deFafnyr made a graceful pirouette across the family’s ballroom, watching her reflection do the same. She was ecstatic that the last of the scars borne from the Scourge was finally obliterated from her family’s estate, and being the most unnecessary part of the estate, this ballroom was the last to receive a healing touch. It was almost a cliché that she’d lost her parents to that fight against the Scourge. Hadn’t nearly everyone on Azeroth become orphaned by one war or another? Danz pouted momentarily at the thought. She didn’t like the idea of being a cliché. She was different, she thought forcefully to herself, she stamped her foot a little too hard as she danced. “I am unique,” she reaffirmed and lifted her chin a little higher as she continued to swirl. She was Danzrielle deFafnyr, Baroness deFafnyr, leader of her third of the Nex’Cruor Triumvirate.

Her mind continued to drift, the ever-present essence of mana swirling thickly about her. At the moment, she was the only legal Baroness of the Triumvirate. Her cousin, Danlily, certainly could not inherit house deStrasza, she was not a full blood and it was clearly laid out in the familial contract that had connected the triumvirate that all inheritors must be full blooded Sin’dorei. “And then there’s Clys,” Danz smirked, “the court can’t really consider her full blooded Sin’dorei at this point, perhaps full-deaded Sin’dorei, but she’s blood-elf in the past tense. Technically she needs an inheritor.”

Deep in her thoughts, Danz continued to swirl and spin in her delicate dance slippers. Her gown swayed and made ripples in the mana that enveloped her. In her mind, the music reached a crescendo and Danzrielle spun dramatically in time with it, only to mis-step out of her delicate slipper. She fumbled ungracefully, trying to catch herself. Her now bared toe caught on the hem of her gown and yanked her forward and she began to summersault into a roll that would take her several yards before she landed hard, face first, in an ungraceful pile of silk and lace onto the marble floor. Her now reddened face came up quickly to glare at her reflection, a reflection that did not share the same mishap but simply stood with hand to lips, laughing hysterically at her. Like a mirror’s reflection, the woman laughing at her was an opposite of herself. The laughing woman looked exactly the same, though perhaps thinner. Where Danz was right handed, the laughing woman was left handed. One woman had a beauty mark at her right eye, the other had the same mark but on her left.

“Oh Danz, you are too, too funny,” the reflection mocked her. Non-plussed by Danzrielle’s glare, the reflection spun an elegant pirouette, curtseyed, spun away and continued to dance as Danzrielle continued to glare at the reflection, her sister, her twin, Danyxandra.


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[Teelia]

((Hehe...Awesome!))

[Danyxandra]

“So how do you think we should approach them?” Danyxandra asked with a lazy drawl to her voice. She lounged in a deep upholstered chair, her long legs draped up and over one of the overstuffed arms.

Her elder twin-sister, Danzrielle, paced the Study. “I’ve mixed feelings about it.” She answered. We could go to Danlily and ask her to reason with Clys, but from what I hear Danlily really couldn’t care less anymore about the Triumvirate. Neither she nor her daughter can inherit, her sister has been gone so long as to be presumed dead, so she’s just handed all the business over to Clys; and Clys isn’t handling anything beyond her own laboratory but for a few hit and run assassinations. Clys is just as crazy as Danlily but more dangerous and volatile. I’ve no idea what her reaction will be, but something must be done. I’m told that she’s so deep in her experiments that she can’t even be bothered to get the silk cocoons harvested, and that silk is what keeps House Nex’Cruor rich and in power. For the sake of the entire Triumvirate, we have to get those two houses back on their feet and solid before we open our doors to the world of Azeroth again, and that day is fast approaching. Our Houses have never been so weak. We must become a unified front again or the other Houses of Quel’Thalas will have us dissolved. Property is too precious after the Scourge destroyed so much. We have to prove ourselves productive or they will dissolve our Houses, take the land, and assign it to Houses that can boost the well being of the common good. The Lords have spoken and no one will be allowed to languish in their responsibilities to pull our people back up from the despair we’ve survived over the last five years. We’ve a responsibili…”

Danyxandra cut her sister off. “Yes I know, I know all this,” she waved a dismissive hand. It’s high time for Clys and Danlily to quit playing at their little hobbies and get serious about prosperity, though personally I’d rather just go steal my prosperity from the humans,” she curled her lip, “We’d hardly be where we are now were it not for their betrayals. We teach them magic and we help them in their wars, and what do we get? We get Garithos.”

Danyxandra abruptly stood up. Side by side with her twin, the differences between them were a bit more apparent. Danyxandra walked more gracefully on long, lean legs. Her whole body moved with grace. Danzrielle, on the other hand, was fuller, curvier, and walked with a saucy swing to her hips, and though she was completely ignorant to the fact, she was a total clutz. She was quite convinced she was as graceful as her twin, but the sad truth was, there was good reason why Danyx only had to wear leathers when hunting and Danz was safer in chain-mail. Quite often Danz was more a hazard to herself than to her prey. Danyxandra moved to the window and looked out onto a bright day and started to speak but was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Danyx and Danz turned to see a servant make a small, swift curtsey and announce, “Your attorney has arrived.”

Without further ado, a tall, distinguished yet elderly Sin’dorei entered the study, leather case in hand. He nodded to the sisters, “The matter of House deStrasza has been settled,” Gorith Solaran moved swiftly to the study’s biggest piece of furniture, a highly polished desk, and opened his leather case and pulled out a thin stack of documents. “It’s not official of course until a ceremony is held, but for all intent and purposes, the new Baroness of deStrasza is…” he turned with the documents raised in his hand and looked at the sisters, “…you, Danyxandra. By way of your mother, the wife of Baron deFafnyr but formerly known as sister to Danlily’s mother the Baroness deStrasza, it has been ruled that you are the legal, full-blooded heir to House deStrasza. It would have been Danzrielle, “he nodded to Danz, “as she’s the elder of you two, but she’s already Baroness of deFafnyr and she can’t be in control of both Houses as it breaks the rules of the Triumvirate. There must be three people in control of the three joined houses.”

Danyxandra, though normally the calmest and coolest of the sisters, stood with her mouth open, “but…but I don’t want it,” she spoke in a voice a bit too high. She scowled and turned back to the window.

Danz, on the other hand, clapped her hand and let out a small squeal. “Oh! This is wonderful! Together we shall get the Triumvirite back on its feet!”

“But I don’t want it!” exclaimed Danyx. “I’ve been raised knowing I’d never had that responsibility, I’ve grown quite comfortable living in your shadow, Danz, and I prefer those shadows. I do not want the responsibility of…”

Gorith interjected, “Like it or not, what is left of our ruling body has spoken and the judgment has been signed by our Regent, Lor’themar Theron. They are now prepared to approach House Nex’Cruor, and they ARE going to demand a suitable heir is presented or they will place someone outside of the family to take control of the House.”

“But whoever controls House Nex’Cruor ultimately controls most of the Triumvirate!” That can’t happen!” Danz insisted while Danyx still brooded. “The Triumvirate must remain in the hands of the family, as cousins we’ve…”

“Yes, yes, we know, Danzrielle,” responded the tired attorney,” but unless you can get through to Clys, and unless Clys can present an heir, an outsider will take House Nex’Cruor. They absolutely will not accept an undead leading the House. It must be a full blooded, fully living Sin’dorei.”

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[clys]

A page from Clys' journal:

I've been so busy with my experiments these last few weeks. Or has it been months? I don't know. I emerged from my lab for the first time in ages and wandered about the guild hall. It's nearly empty. Most of the people who walked with me there have drifted away. Only Cyloch and Aydan were present. The others...gone. Not that I blame them, really. I haven't had time to even communicate my progress. Well, it's their loss.

The experiment is moving along well, now. After many failures, this time I truly believe I have the answer in my grasp. It was a breakthrough when I stopped attempting to restore my present flesh, and moved on to growing a completely new body for myself. The transfer of my mind to the new body will be tricky, but I have that covered. It's just a matter of time, now. The new body grows slowly, but it's nearly complete.

I look forward to the finish of my work, my crowning achievement. Immortality is mine. Soon, I will have a new shell, pristine, undecayed, with all the advantages of undeath, and none of the disadvantages. Just a little longer.

Those who lost faith will regret their decision. I wonder if they'll come crawling back? Maybe I'll be magnanimous. Then again, maybe I won't.

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[Danyxandra]

Danyxandra pursed her lips into a pout. Without thinking where she was going, she'd wandered the halls and found herself standing before a plaque symbolizing her family tree. It wasn't a full geneology tree with names and marriages and such, just a simple piece of art showing the main branches. Danzrielle and Danyxandra actually belonged to two of those branches. Their mother, a deStrasza, had been the sister of Danlily's mother. When their mother had married her own cousin, a DeFafnyr, she'd taken the deFafnyr name. Her children, Danyx and Danz were given the deFafnyr surname from their father, but they actually had a foot in both houses. This placed Danyxandra in her current situation. She'd just come home from the ceremony, full court, where she'd been crowned Baroness deStrasza. She pouted even harder, "Pomp and Courtesans. Bah! Now I am Baroness of Crazyvilla."

She didn't want responsibility. She especially didn't want the responsibility of a crazy house. Now she'd have to oversee Danlily and her daughter. She couldn't imagine the horrors she was going to find having to live in that house.

A door slammed open with a force and in a gust of wind, sunshine, noise and perfume, flounced in Danyxandra’s sister, Danzrielle. "Oh! There you are! Everyone's been looking for you and here you are hiding...as usual. Shouldn't surprise me in the least. Why you've been hiding in the shadows all your life. Now come back to......" Danz rambled on flitting about her sister. Danyx shut her out until her sister's voice became like the sound of distant bees humming in her ears. Predictably, Danzrielle turned to fluff her hair in the mirror and check her lipstick. Just as predictably and with practiced ease, Danyxandra took the expected opportunity to dissolve out of sight.


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[Danyxandra]

Danyxandra, formerly deFafnyr, now legally deStrasza, stretched one elegantly long leg and then another up onto the overstuffed ottoman across from divan she had been holding household court in. She crossed one dainty ankle encased in expensive leather across the other ankle. The housekeeper curtseyed and spun neatly out of the room to carry out her orders, closing the office door behind her and leaving her new Baroness to her privacy. Danyx lifted the long, thin cigar in her left hand to her painted lips and slowly dragged deeply from the dark tobacco. Slowly she exhaled a column of smoke smelling heavily of vanilla and clove and sparkling with mana. In her right hand she held a brandy snifter, swirling the amber liquid slowly around as she mulled over the thoughts that swirled in her head.

Her plans were coming along nicely, she mused. Her sister, Danzrielle, completely believed her professing of wanting nothing to do with titles and power. Her cousin, Danlily, and her daughter were moved into smaller quarters and that gruesome laboratory of Danlily’s had been cleared out to make way for Danyx’s own version of…toys. Danlily’s knowledge of medicine would be applied to the production of alchemy agents that Danyx could make use of, and just to keep the silly troll extra busy, she could tan and process leathers that Danyx sent her way after hunting. Manual labor would do well in reminding the half-troll what her place was here in this household. Danyx’s new household. Baroness deStrasza’s household. She rather liked the sound of that, privately of course. For a time she would have to keep pretending to despise her new responsibilities. If Danlily didn’t like the changes, she could always go live at the Nex’Cruor manor with Clys full time, for as long as Clys could keep it legally hers and time was running out in that matter. It wouldn’t be long before Clys and company would be booted out homeless. In the meantime, Danlily had been a useful tool, swallowing the bait and locating young Eisabeau.

Danyxandra took another long, deep drag from her cigar. Now to just point the accusing fingers in the right direction…

[Upae]

(( I am amazed and the detail and intrigue within this family tree. Fascinating stuff. I think I'm beginning to finally piece together how everyone is related. Nice groundwork for the expansion! ))

[Danyxandra]

WARNING...MATURE CONTENT!!!
(and I promise, this is the last of the long set-up as it's a prelude to the live story. The rest of this story will be much more action based where it will continue in the Nether Legend's forum.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Her green eyes flashed as she watched the nightelf male pass into unconsciousness. He collapsed against his restraints on the inclined board. Whip marks covered his pale body. Danyxandra never liked the blue ones and always had fine, flesh-toned subjects brought to her to vent her frustrations on. This one was particularly fine. She leaned against a tall stool, her long, naked legs stretched out before her. Her body virtually hummed with her recent climatic release.

She reached to the nearby table and extracted a long, thin, dark stick of rolled cloves infused with mana from a flat, gold cigarette case. Lighting it, she drew from it deeply, closing her eyes to enjoy the sensation as the mana raced from her lungs into her blood stream, the tingle fusing with her recent orgasm.

A moment or two later as her strength returned to her knees, she pushed herself from the stool and walked slowly to the unconscious nightelf. She plucked rose thorns from his skin, licking a trail of the wounds as she plucked them leaving yet another trail of body fluids making a pattern across him as she worked her way down his body. Kneeling before her victim, she caressed his spent manhood as she moved her mouth hungrily to his femoral artery and sank her teeth in. The nightelf convulsed and Danyxandra pushed him back against the restraining board, moaning deeply as she took her fill of the mana rich blood until it no longer pulsed.

Danyxandra stood and wiped her mouth across her forearm. She heard footsteps approaching her sanctuary and spun her head towards the door, growling, “Who dares?!”

A meek voice spoke from the other side of the heavy oaken door, “Your sister, Danzrielle approaches the manor, Baroness!”

With a growl, Danxandra tossed on her robe and slammed the door open. “Delay her, I need to clean up. Keep this door sealed until she’s gone and then dispose of the body as usual in the winery’s compost."

~~**~~

Lady Danyxandra breezed into the parlor to greet her twin sister, “Danzrielle, so good to see you, as usual.”

“Oh Danyx, I haven’t seen you in ages, not since you left deFafnyr manor to take over deStrasza. I’m so used to seeing you every day and now we see so little of each other,” Danzrielle whined.

“Well, we are together now, my sweet sister, come, sit,” Danyxandra indicated a loveseat for the sisters to share before a warmly lit fireplace, “How are things in our childhood home?”

“Well, there was a bit of scandal but I think it’s blown over. It was nothing important, just our half-sister Eisabeau. Someone tried to allude that I was in league with alliance when our half-sister defected, as if my House would dare betray the Lords. I swear they see betrayal at every corner, imagined or not. This treaty with Sylvanus has everyone on pins and needles. But enough of my House, how are you settling as new mistress of House deStrasza? Have Danlily or her child given you any trouble? Have you heard any news from Mistress Clys over at House Nex’Cruor? I cannot help but feel that my House deFafnyr is the weakest leg of the Triumvirate, not knowing anything, completely out of the loop. It makes me terribly nervous,” Danzrielle tittered, fluttering her hands as she spoke like a nervous bird.

Danyxandra let her sister expel her insecurities, patting her twin’s hand comfortingly, pursing her lips appropriately, with eyes full of sincerity. She rose elegantly and moved to a side table adorned with various decanters and goblets and plucked a crystal stopper from one of them. A glimmer escaped the neck of the decanter and Danyx inhaled deeply then turned to her sister, “Would you like one?”

Danzrielle shook her head, blonde bangs fluttering, “Oh no, plain wine for me. Really, Danyx, you should really cut down on the bloodwine. The mana is so strong and we’re trying to break this addiction, are we not?”

Danyxandra smiled indulgently and poured a goblet of the sparkling bloodwine for herself, and then a goblet of white wine for her sister. She paused, her hand hovering over a drawer on the side table. She eased it open and saw the small snuff box she kept a special poison in. Her eyebrow twitched and she silently slid the drawer shut, the snuff box unopened, for now.

“Well,” Danyxandra finally began to answer her sister, “House deStrasza does well and is adjusting quite nicely to the change over with me in charge here now. You know how much I detest the responsibility of power, but I’m managing well enough. Danlily’s daughter has grown, miraculously thanks to Madam Clys and her research experiments. The child is in the care of a Tauren of all things. Danlily has moved to the Nex’Cruor estate to be with Clys and Kittsu full time so I have the house to myself here now, with all the servants intact.”

“And how is wine production?” Danzrielle interjected bubbly; nearly bouncing on the loveseat every time she spoke.

“Better than ever, as though the vineyards were just waiting for someone who cared to start attending to them. The workers are doing a fine job and we’ve come up with a new fertilizing compost that the vines are responding extremely well to,” Danyxandra smiled wickedly from behind her goblet. “Now as for Clys, you asked about her, from that house I’ve heard a few reports, done a bit of spying on my own. Of course, it’s not easy. Clys, herself is a rogue of much more skill than I have, and whether she’s seen me snooping around or not, I cannot say,” Danyx drawled lazily.

“And you’re right, Danz,” Danyxandra continued, “Time is running out, very quickly. If House Nex’Cruor is not settled, and soon, with a named heir, the Triumvirate may be in serious trouble.”

((This is the last installment here in the Prelude of this story. It is continued in "Immortal Triumvirate ~Chapter One" at http://tn.yzeens.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3967.))