Macbeth

There were different kinds of night.

There were quiet nights. There were stormy nights. There were nights when the darkness was a comforting cloak, and nights when it was a sword dangling above the neck of anyone who dared risk it. There were nights when the darkness seemed just a part of the world. For some, the sun may never have set at all.

The night rarely belonged to anyone. Anyone who claimed such a thing had best be dangerous enough to back it up.

Anyone who would dare such nights had best know what they dare.

To anyone who had stumbled onto the sight, it would seem like the women were staring at nothing. Gathered together, eyes peering into the distant void, the sight would have unnerved most. But anyone who could have possibly discovered the scene by accident would have long ago lost their nerve. And soon, their lives. Some shared images were shared solely between peers. The world would not be privileged to see them.

"...we should resume now. They've left..."

"Will they stay gone, though? You saw what they did. To invaders and creature of this world alike. It's mere chance we didn't catch their eye."

"What are you suggesting, then? That we stop harvesting? Let ourselves wither away because some star people managed to win a few minor victories against foes empowered by different magics?"

"If magic it was. They still won. Convincingly. The only reason those lands are not a mass graveyard is because of their...soft-heartedness. And I do not think we can take advantage of that."

"Plant a seed among them then. Let them..."

"The renegade associates with them. He would foil such a plot. And since his boon, I have been unable to even scry on his blood. He's more or less untouchable."

"Then WHY do we even bother to meet? Are you actually claiming that there's nothing we can do now, Mireya? That we should retreat to our grounds and wait to turn to dust?"

"I think perhaps your own wishes for me are coloring your words, Kaldri. No. Our mothers did not let the world's occasional ingratitude turn them away, nor will I let it do the same for me. But the circumstances are unique. We must not only work together, but we must find a way to match their danger."

"And what do you suggest?"

"Let us roll the burned bones, Alkyone. All of them. We will seek a future in the flames, as we have done before..."

"Why should YOU roll the bones?"

"We cannot play this game, Kaldri. If you let your ego blind yourself..." Mireya said, waving a hand and summoning a golden bowl that burst into flame. The natural light of the night and the forest, already muted, seemed to shrink even more, leaving the three women lit only by the dark blue fire that lapped from within the bowl.

"You summon the fire and then claim our fetishes are needed along with yours? You..." Kaldri said, Mireya's smooth face beginning to crease with anger.

"You may as well hand them over. It won't change anything."

The three women had shared dissimilar expressions, but the voice proved to be the first thing that could unite them, their eyes filling with loathsome rage as the figure strolled from the darkness.

"You wish to die, mongrel? You needn't have picked such a roundabout way." Mireya said, black sparks flicking from her free hand.

"I'll die."

"But so will you." Lyall said. "None of you could trust the other, so none of you are in your place of power. Where we are, this neutral ground...yes, I'll die. But so will at least one of you. Probably two. Would you like to try and work out which one will survive?"

"You don't have the STONES." Alkyone said. "You didn't recruit any of those star people to your cause, hopeless as it is..."

"Hopeless? Then why are you the ones meeting in shadow, so concerned you actually show your faces to each other without trying to kill each other? And why, despite this sacrifice, are you finding no answers?"

The Haruspex could only glare at the Therian. Their naked rancor did not slow his step, as he walked right up to where Mireya had left her fire, floating in the golden bowl.

"What you're feeling right now? That was my life. Waiting. Knowing how bad it could go. Knowing I'd have to fight anyway, because the other option was worse. Knowing I may as well have been trying to bail out the ocean with a bucket. Something I've learned living with a yoke. Most can't bear it at all, even a little. They break."

The hood hid his eyes, but the Haruspex could feel them anyway. Meeting their own.

"So why take chances? I know what's going to happen. The numbers have finally changed." Lyall said. "You have feasted, parasites. Feasted long and well. Suckling away at the lifeblood of people like a stubborn, swollen leech. But it's all coming to an end.

"They don't like your kind. They likely won't be distracted by others this time.

"As of now...THE POWER IS OUT OF YOUR HANDS."

None of the Haruspex saw Lyall's hand, as he slashed down and slammed the bowl aside, the power holding it aloft vanishing, the fire within it consumed by the night, the darkness devouring the four forms in turn.

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"...what do we do?" Alkyone said. The Therian had had dared tell them to their faces that they were doomed had used the darkness to vanish. His presumption had rankled the Haruspex so deeply that the nearest vegetation to her was beginning to die and rot, seething negative energies rolling off her soul in a poisonous, angry wave.

The voice that answered her, however, was considerably more confident.

"...we feast. If he assumes we are already done...then it is to HIS folly." Mireya said. "...Thank you, Therian. I think I may actually have an idea now."