Paz'kole sat in some discomfort on a pile of cushions as the members of house Reriethra'viel gathered around her in silence. A house slave stitched the wounds in her back with trembling fingers.
Paz'kole winced as another stitch was inserted. The slave flinched away from the expected blow, which did not come.
"That will do for now," Paz'kole said, dismissing the slave.
Three of the house Yathrin began weaving healing magics over the freshly stitched wounds on her back.
"It seems we are forced into defiance of the Goddess's edict against inter-house fighting.," she informed the gathering.
"I have been insulted by that Elg'carin male for the last time. And the dancer ... Sin'ae ... that one was warned three times against threatening me with drawn weapons and chose to ignore my warnings. She thought it amusing to appear behind me with bared blades. Three warnings was two too many. They must have thought me soft not to react after the first time."
"After what happened to Peters you'd think they'd learn wouldn't you?" Imrae asked.
"Well as of now," Paz'kole said, "House Reriethra'viel has a debt of blood to collect from house Elg'carin. But we do it our way. Still these fools look at us and expect the same old drowish tactics of direct assault under shroud of darkness. Not one of them has taken the trouble to learn anything of us or of our way of operation."
The assembled house males looked at each other anf grinned wolfishly.
"From the shadows and to the shadows," Venorik nodded. "Information first of course my Ilharess?"
"Of course. And then we take the friends and allies first. Every person who claims allegiance to or the protection of that house is to be identified, whether they bear the house name or not. We already know many of them. They will die first. THEN we take the blood members one by one. The Yath'tallar last of all."
"Orders!" Paz'kole snapped her fingers and pointed, "Imrae, Lineer'thrae and Thor'englen. Find and isolate Fadia and Nadia, the Yath'tallar's newest guests. If opportunity arises kill them." The named members of Reriethra'viel each nodded their understanding.
"Our younger members will be at risk," Paz'kole looked toward Rerith'holitte and Vinduil'nulen, "Do not travel alone. And remember that I will be watching you in the crystal from time to time. If threatened disengage and wait for help."
The two youngest members of the house nodded agreement.
"Sin'ae may prove troublesome. So we set a dancer to catch a dancer. Venorik. She will be your target. Seek and isolate. Kill if you see a chance, otherwise follow and report."
Venorik bowed and smiled. "With pleasure."
"Dositheus .... Messages to the guild of assassins. I wish to meet with them."
"Asanque, Ilharess" Dositheus Sigers replied, "I'll make the arrangements."
"If we can have them do most of the blood-letting we need not call too much attention upon ourselves." Paz'kole said.
"Shadows away. Seekers away. Tygar and Dositheus, you will stay by my side until this is over. Prepare yourselves Reriethra'viel. We go to war."

_________________
Never knock on Death's door.
Ring the bell and run away!
Death really hates that!

//ooc: For the fact that i'll be offline for the next 3 or 4 weeks i'll add a story myself to give a reason for Venoriks absence.//

The Dancer smiled. Long enough Sin'ae had misused the shadows with no understanding of what it really means to live in them. For him she was just a little child that found pleasure in the game of "Hide and Seek". But living in the shadows was more then only escape to them in between fighting or to make a fun out of it to scare other beings. For him it had meant to become a shadow, to be part of the shadow-plane, having cold black blood running through the veins, never be able to feel any warmth again. He was a cold being, through and through, and if he'd die noone would remember him because noone remembers to a shadow.

He made his way to Udos...following her and spying out all she did in the next few days. But then something unexpected occurred. He followed her to the Underpassages of Cordor, hoping to get the chance to kill her silent and effective. But as her turned around a corner she way gone. While he thought of how he could have lost her so quick he went a step back and suddenly felt a blade in his back. The blade cut through his skin, his flesh and bones and with a surprised smile her saw the tip come out of his chest. The blade was pulled back and he turned slowly around. The poison run quick through his veins to his heart and brain, clouding all in a second. Before he could see who's blade it was he fell to death....still with a disbelieving smile on his lips.

His liveless body was brought to the Matron mother of Elg'carin. She seemed to be pleased as she saw the worthless Jaluk who had tried to kill one of her house. His black blood covered the ground as two servants put him to the torture-room. The sealed him in the middle of the room, layed his hands and feet into chains so he hang there. The Matron came in and send all out. At first she formed a spell on him so she was able to speak to his soul, bound by a spell it could only answer in truth to every question. He was the shade of Paz'kole so he must know everything she had planned against Elg'carin and he might know all the allies too.
After she had finished her questioning she grinned evily. Paz'kole was on her way down. House Reriethra'viel would fall, of that she was sure.

She watched to the remains of the shadow dancer and decided that it was to soon for him to leave this mortal world. Again she grinned as she begged Lolth for granting her the power to resurect him. The life came back to his body and he started to breath again. Everything around him was black but slowly he could see through the mist. The Matron laughed at him as she saw how his eyes wided as he realized where he was.

Not much is known about what happened to him after that. But his sreams of pain were heard for some weeks, yelling through the house, bringing shiver to all who heard him.
"How can one jaluk survive so much torture?"

...to be continued...

//as always i'm sorry for bad grammar or misspelling but i hope you can enjoy the story in some way//