Mistress and Slave

Mistress and Slave is a part of Tales of Arkain.

## Synopsis

Mistress Quiraness, overthrown and reduced to be a thrall addicted to Black Lotus was the focus of this story.

## Story

The whips were flying. The slaves hurried up. Their masters were not satisfied. They were too slow. The whips kept punishing them, forcing them to go ever faster. They did no longer care about their own well-being, they only cared about fulfilling their master's wishes - if they did not, the punishment would only get worse. So they worked without care and died more easily than they would have otherwise. Their masters did not care, all that mattered was that the work was completed. Slaves could be replaced. Most of them were male and therefore not considered being worth anything. Quiraness would know. She had once been in charge of the masters, the greatest of them all. And now? Now she too was a slave.

Her family had been powerful once. Quiraness' mother had been respected and feared by many other houses. Until the Aldera Family lost the favor of the Sisterhood. Quiraness was told that another member of the family had defied the will of the goddess and for that, they were all sacrificed. Only Quiraness had been spared, allowed to join the Sisterhood. She was still a child back then. The Sisterhood was her only chance to survive. And she took it. Many looked down on her, she was a "lowborn", an outsider of the Sisterhood, not born into it. They called her "unclean", among other things, and made her life as hard as they could.

Then there was also the fact that she came from a family which had been eradicated by the Sisterhood. She had no powerful house to protect her. Others in her age used this against her, both with words and actions alike. Quiraness had been hurt badly many times, but she never gave up. Dark Elven society punished the weak and rewarded the strong - and she would prove that she was stronger than all others. One day, she would be powerful and all who had defied her in the past, all the noble houses, would crawl before her. As would the Sisterhood. Her strong will kept her alive and her ambition kept her going onward. She had to make the others realize that she was superior if she wanted to rise the ranks. She just needed a chance.

And she got that chance when one of her 'sisters' brought black lotus to the rest of the class. She claimed to have stolen it from a male slave on the streets. They all took a part of it and consumed it. Quiraness waited until they were all dazed from the effects of the plant when she pretended to take her own dose, showing no effect. She demaded more and did it again. And again. And again. The others tried to keep up with her, unwilling to let themselves be 'defeated' by her, but they quickly passed completely out. Quiraness was the only one still standing - and she was of course the only one on the next day who did not suffer any consequences from taking the black lotus. She had seen the effect of this addicting plant and was not interested ever taking it herself. This event had spread like a wildfire among the young acolytes and Quiraness managed to gain at least some respect - the respect was based on a lie, granted, but Quiraness cared little for such things. Of course, only due to their own youth, others were impressed by something like this. And as they all grew in age, they'd also grow wiser. Quiraness knew this but it was her very first step. Only one of many.

As she grew up, Quiraness learned the ways of the Sisterhood and the Dark Elves - and mastered them. Yet, she still had to fight harder than any who was not a "lowborn". Her childish trick to gain some respect had by no means been enough, even though it did make her life slightly easier. She studied and trained the entire day, never allowing herself to be distracted by anything - not by any whim, not by any 'outside activity' or by taking any black lotus. She mastered all of her classes and was a model student - by dark elven standards which meant that she was also very effective using underhanded methods to get what she wanted.

When she finally became a priestess of the Sisterhood, Quiraness knew that the real war had just begun. She plotted and gambled, lied, cheated, tricked, seduced, murdered, tortured and threatened. She did whatever was required of her to further increase her own standing. Many opposed her, she had countless enemies in the Sisterhood - not because of her 'misdeeds' as a young member of the Sisterhood, those were pretty standard, but still because of her family history and her lowborn status. Quiraness had shown them all that she was plain better than ALL of them combined! Anyone who defied her openly, was removed - either directly or indirectly. Her power grew. One day, she had finally managed to become a High Priestess. And the Mistress of the Sisterhood saw this as a sign of the goddess. More lowborn were allowed to join the Sisterhood, becoming fierce followers of the rising Quiraness. Her desire for power and wealth, her ambition to show them all, had made her come this far - and she only kept going forward, only forward, never looking back. She chose one of the strong males who were her concubines to give her a child - a strong daughter who would become an assassin of the re-established Aldera Family. Everything went well and one day, the Mistress 'unfortunately' died to an assassination. Of course, Quiraness had aboslutely nothing to do with it. And then, she took the place of the Mistress. Already when she had reached the rank of a High Priestess, many had 'forgotten' that she was a 'lowborn'. Quiraness never forgot, however, and further promoted the rise of other lowborn - resisting her became either a political or actual death sentence. She became as powerful and as wealthy as she had always wanted to be - and she enjoyed her new life in all ways. The only exception would be Black Lotus. She never ever consumed any of this plant nor felt the desire to. She had come so far by not taking it in the first place but making others think that she had, but now she considered herself above the consumption of such a plant - also the unfortunate death of the former mistress might have had something to do with her 'accidentally' consuming too much Black Lotus. The fool never should have started taking it.

Then, suddenly, it all fell apart. Quiraness knew that the old noble houses hated her and wanted to bring her down. So it came to no surprise when Pentiss, one of her High Priestesses, stood up to her, claiming to be serving the will of the 'Divine One' as parts of the Sisterhood, mostly members of the old houses, refered to the goddess. Quiraness had believed that Pentiss was lying when she claimed that the undead beings that were with her were actual servants of the Divine One. She had believed that this was nothing more than an attempt to grab power. But she made a mistake and spoke too much, her long, uncontested rule had weakened her prudence. And she had to pay dearly for it. Pentiss, who had many friends and allies in the Sisterhood, had managed to convince the Sisterhood to abandon Quiraness. Quiraness called upon her allies - though the term 'puppets' was more fitting - and attack the Lenira Family. But Pentiss' forces were supported by massive amounts of Undead who slaughtered the armies of the Aldera Family and captured Quiraness' daughter Soryena - causing her to switch sides. Quiraness had hoped that Pentiss would simply kill the child as Soryena had planned to kill her Quiraness. She herself had fled the city and retreated to her citadel.

There, she was defeated once more - and what a defeat it was. Instead of being killed, Quiraness and her remaining loyalists were put in chains. Now she was even less than she had been before: A slave. Worth less than the dirt she was standing on. She had to serve her masters - and, if she behaved nicely and notified the overseers of any rebellious words or actions of other slaves, she would be rewarded.The day was over and one of the guards came to Quiraness, a cruel smile on the face. "You have done well, telling me about that old, pathetic male trying to sit down to take a break. Here's your reward, slave." she said and put something out of her bad, presenting it to Quiraness. Quiraness' eyes widened with glee. All thoughts about her rise and fall were gone. She could only think about the small dosis of wonderful, beautiful Black Lotus that was lying on the hand in front of her. And it was all hers...