Soul Streets

The Royal Guard

"Macha?"

"Yes, Macha. The red haired war goddess of the Celtic pantheon. Technically the Morrighan themselves watch over the family, but Macha is the one that the Casadin blood line contract with. She's a scary one, that Macha. But, being a goddess of female sovereignty as well she also gives some of the women in the family power."

Sherry still stood, staring at the banner, feelings of admiration and fear rolled off of her aura. I don't know how I knew, or if this was even normal to know another Neotha's emotions, but the feeling that came from Sherry was almost foreboding.

"What, so your saying that the women here are who really run it behind the scenes?"

"Not exactly. We take a big part in the politics, at least we did before Charley. And in each heir's royal guard, the queen shares equal power with the king, except in cases where they disagree."

"Who are the royal guard?"

Sherry smiled at me. "They are the highest department of the family aside from the family leaders, but they are immune to family politics and are loyal only to their king; not exactly to the family itself. Each generation has their own royal guard."

"Who are Trent's?"

Sherry pulled my ear hard and scowled at me. "Didn't I call myself the Casadin family 'Bishop' when I introduced myself? And don't you think Razor being so doting on Trent is a bit much? That's because we are a part of the Royal guard. I am one of the bishops and Razor is one of the knights. We have a rook too, but he isn't at the base right now. His guard is currently incomplete, who knows? If you're good enough, Trent may even place you at his side as part of the guard."

"Really? As what?"

Sherry snickered at me and gave me a playful shove, "pawn!"

I scowled at her. While I didn't understand how the Casadin family worked, I knew how chess did. Calling me a pawn was an obvious insult.

"Sorry, sorry, I should have a little bit more faith in you; after all, Trent approved of you joining the family. Maybe he already intends to put you on the royal guard?"

"Sure, laugh it off all you want." Then a thought came to my head about something she had said about Macha's values. "Who is Trent's queen then? He is pretty handsome, I would think he would have a bunch of girls coming up to him trying to seduce him on a regular basis."

Sherry gave a bit of a sideways look towards one of the side doors. Almost intentionally dodging the question she said, "I have to go run an errand." Then she pointed at the opposite side doors. "Go in there, tell the gorilla that you want a good run through. I will pick you up later to get you ready for the ceremony."

Then almost instantly, Sherry disappeared through the double doors. Whoever the gorilla was, Sherry didn't sound too pleased about them. And from what I had learned about Sherry being scared so far today; there was no doubt there was a lot of pain in store for me.