Once the villagers were certain who she was, they gathered around to walk with her. They wailed at the news her brother was dead and embraced her. Nina knew their grief was genuine. She and her twin were popular with the common folk-unlike her mother.
Nina was offered a cart, which she refused. She did take a mount, however, an old model which squeaked, shivered and farted fumes as she rode upon it. She did not complain, knowing it was the best the villagers could provide. She promised to return it, and rode the beastly thing all the way upslope to the castle.
This final leg of the journey filled her with a growing sense of dread. Her mother must have heard by now of her brother’s death. It was no secret among the folk of Droad fief that Leon was her favorite and that Nina was despised. Nina had never understood her mother’s irritation with her. She’d done her best since puberty to avoid the witch, a feat she found was easily done. Mother seemed content to stay at Droad House forever while Nina preferred to roam the borderlands in search of what adventure there was to be had.
Droad House, once a simple affair, was now clad in walls of dark stone. The castle looked far better than Brienz with its rusty metal defenses, but it was also less inviting. Squatting at the top of the slope in the center of the deepest mountain shadows, the light here was forever muted, and the air was forever cool and wet. Birds sat quietly along the crenulated wall-tops, watching her with curiosity. The much noisier fish in the moat cooed or growled up at her as she crossed the drawbridge, depending on their dispositions.
It had been months since she’d dared walk through these gates. As she passed the stone gatehouse, she noted the smooth surfaces looked blue in the dim light, rather than gray. The waters of the moat were likewise inky-black and utterly still, except for the burbling fish. They poked their heads up to sniff for her scent and filled the air with new odd cries when the recognized her.
Inside the gatehouse, the human retainers were nowhere to be seen. There were only perrupters here, one on each side. They were armed as usual, with a cannon and a single gripper free to grab a peasant’s throat or the power-sword that was strapped to their midsections. The mechs made no attempt to greet her. Olivia Droad had ordered them to stay quiet, saying she found their silence preferable to false human voices. Nina found them much more threatening when they did not speak. Perhaps that was her mother’s true intent.
As Nina passed to the inner keep, the gates closed behind her with a rattle of chain-drives and squealing metal. She glanced back in surprise. She could not recall the last time she’d seen the drawbridge pulled up and the gates closed.
Her mother waited for her, sitting stiffly on her throne of reptile skins. She said nothing as Nina approached, but instead stared with burning dark eyes. There was little light in this place, only the flicker of electric wall-torches in the four corners served to illuminate it.
The builders of Droad House had begun with a simple cut-stone farmhouse. But as the power of the family grew, so had their pride and seeking of status. They’d built a medieval replica of an Old Earth castle eventually, some seven decades back. This was stylish at the time and helped garner council votes for advancement into the titled ranks.
Nina fell to one knee, and bowed her head. “Mother-” she began.
“Do not dare address me in that fashion,” Olivia snapped.
Nina paused and blinked. If not mother, then how should she address this woman? Olivia surely wasn’t going to be acceptable. She decided to be as formal as possible, as her mother loved formalities.
“Baroness Droad,” she said. “I beg your forgiveness.”
The customary response would have been a nod at least, but her mother remained motionless. She only stared malevolently.
Tears welled up in Nina’s eyes. Her mother knew the facts, but it was Nina’s duty to report them anyway. She did not know how to officially inform a woman that her favorite child was dead, but she was determined to do just that-it was her duty. “I have grave news to report-” she began.
“Grave news?” Olivia echoed suddenly. She laughed then. It was a strange sort of laugh-there was nothing healthy or mirthful about it. Nina had never heard someone cackle before, but the term fit the sound her mother made.
“Grave news indeed!” Olivia continued. “Such a way you have with words, girl. Is this your conception of a joke? Is this some twisted manner of speech, meant to lighten the mood?”
Nina paused, at a loss for words. Tears glistened on her cheeks. “I–I don’t know what to say. My twin has perished. My beloved Leon-”
Baroness Droad lurched up from her throne, as might a puppet whose strings had been harshly yanked by a cruel master. She was suddenly erect and looming atop the dais. She was taller than her daughter, and despite her age, one could tell she had once been athletic and beautiful, just as Nina herself was today.
The Baroness pointed an accusatory finger at Nina. She sucked in her breath and shook her head. She let a crystal goblet drop from her hand to smash upon the stone steps that led up to the throne. Nina had not noticed the goblet before, but now she could see the bluish wisps of vapor that rose from it.
“You’ve been drinking, mother. You are not yourself in your grief.”
Her mother laughed at that. It was a full-fledged laugh. “For so many long years you have haunted me, girl. Now, you’ve done your worst. I suffered your existence as no other of my rivals was ever tolerated. You were the viper I took to my bosom. Do you know that when you suckled, you were the one that always bit me?”
Nina opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had seen people in grief, she had seen people intoxicated by the maddening drug known as blur-dust, but this was the first time she’d encountered both at the same time. She tried to think of a way to defuse the situation, but none came to mind. She decided to ignore her mother’s odd behavior, make the report that chivalry demanded, and exit the castle as quickly as possible. Her mother was bound to come to her senses in time.
“We met with a force of mechs, Baroness,” she said, standing at attention as her mother staggered down the remaining steps toward her. “They were not guided by any human group we could see. They ambushed us in the near desert of Sunside. We were overwhelmed, and somehow they disabled our perrupters. I was knocked senseless-”
“And your brother was killed, removing him from the line of succession. Yes, I know your plans, girl. If anything, this proves you really did sprout from my womb, despite everything I’ve felt to the contrary.”
“Wha-what?”
“You heard me. You arranged this. You were twins, but you came into this gloomy house five minutes after your brother. He was thus the elder, and set to inherit everything.”
Nina shook her head, not so much in denial, but as if to clear it. How could she be hearing these foul words? How could her mother suspect her of such evil?
After standing and gaping for a few seconds, something her mother had said managed to penetrated her thoughts. That this imagined murder of Leon reminded mother of herself. “Mother, are you saying you killed someone to reach your station?”
Her mother cackled again. She walked to a table carved with dark hardwood and poured herself a fresh goblet of blue, wisping liquid. She sipped it and hissed in pleasure.
“Of course I did. Did you think all I did was sleep with your father? A dozen girls could have taken that easy route. After any contest, examine the winner. Rarely will you find the contestant that took the easiest path.”
“Who then? Who did you remove from your path?”
Olivia huffed. “Have I not been clear? If there are a dozen girls, and you are perhaps in the middle of the line-up-the math seems clear. By removing the first five or six, you have just reached the front of the line. What could be more obvious?”