The Mad Queen

Chapter Thirty-One: The Castle

After gaining the loyalty of the Centaurs, Visara next went to the Mer and Sirens. Like the Centaurs, the two races were targeted by the Fae and humans. After Visara released the centaurs from their slavery in the mines, security was upped on all the other slave creatures. Unlike the Centaurs, the Mer and Sirens weren't being used for physical labour. Instead, once their powers were removed, the Mer and Sirens were mostly sold into prostitution. Brought by pimps and locked in brothels or by rich lords to be sex slaves in their estates. The Mer and Sirens were seen as a status symbol. That made freeing all of them all the more difficult. Visara ventured alone to find the free Mer and Sirens that had banded together to plan the rescue of their brothers and sisters. To this day, no one knows the location of where Visara found the Mer and Sirens. It was a secret she kept with her. At first, they went to kill her as they did with all those who got too close. However, she did not fall under the spell of the Siren's songs or the hypnotising beauty of the Mer. They soon came to realise it was Visara who stood before them. Having heard stories of her efforts in freeing the centaurs, they asked for her help. Swearing that if she worked with them to free all Sirens and Mer from the captors, they would pledge their loyalty to her.  After spending hours negotiating a deal with the Siren Queen and Mer King, a blood oath was made.

Visara did not use the same destructive approach to free the Waterfolk that she used when freeing the centaurs. She was much too clever for that. She would sneak into brothels carrying Siren's tears and lots of money. She would buy time with a Waterfolk creature. When they were alone, she gave them the Siren's tear, healing all their wounds. The wounds that stopped their magic from working. For Mer, the eye that had been ripped out would regrow. Making them once again enchantingly beautiful. For the Sirens, it would fix their tongues and mouths allowing them to once again sing. It was then that she would allow the healed Waterfolk to take their revenge on those who owned them. After that, she would smuggle them back to the lakes and move on to another estate or brothel. It took nearly two years but in that time Visara freed most of the Waterfolk still alive. Once all their brothers and sisters were free, they pledged themselves to Visara completely.

The Sirens became her Second Army.

The Mer became her Third.

Fallon watches through the small vent. She takes soft, quiet breaths and dares not make a move in case of making a sound to alert anyone of her presence. She sits in a passage that Illyana had shown her. A passage which leads into one of the healing rooms that do not show on the newer castle building plans. The fact that the passage leads to one of the many healing rooms is not what makes this narrow tunnel special, however. About halfway down the tunnel, a small black grate sits on the stone wall. It looks over the council chambers. The room it looks into isn't huge but isn't small either. It is circular in shape with great pillars rising up to the golden carved ceiling. The walls are all white marble with torches hanging on golden candelabra's that sit on the walls. More, free-standing, intricately carved candelabra's sit around the room and a large oak circle table sits in the centre of it. The vent that Fallon looks through it high up on the wall. Almost at the ceiling. Though it is high above the ground, the circular shape of the room and smooth walls means that any sound could easily echo.

She looks down to the table. She has only been in the room a few times. It is the place her father conducts all royal business and has all his meetings on how the country is run. No place for her or her sisters. He sits at the table now. As the table is circular, there is no head of the table. That being said, her father sits on a bigger chair decorated with yet more gold. He talks with his High Council. The five men sit closely together almost opposite him, leaving big gaps on either side between himself and the other council members.