Land's End, Part 3
Nieka Arynel, Sir Bancock’s daughter, had never been to the city of Lystria before, though she had always dreamed of making the journey. The occasion of her father’s death wasn’t exactly the excuse she’d been looking for to pay a visit, and yet it was that precise circumstance that had led to this day.
An emissary for the Lady Telematrice had appeared at her father’s gate just ten days ago, presumably on a diplomatic errand. The coach’s driver had even carried with him the royal papers, which by law her father, as steward of Nabon, was prohibited from ignoring.
The driver had asked for an audience with the firstborn heir of Bancock, which had seemed a strange request to the gatekeeper since Sir Bancock had no heir, at least not a male one, as was implied by the request. By extention, the firstborn heir of Bancock had turned out to be none other than Bancock himself. When the summoner delivered the Lady’s emissary into the residence, Nieka had been startled to see that in fact there was no emissary at all; instead, it was the Lady Telematrice herself in their audience chamber. Before her father was able to react to the shock, Telematrice’s coachman had drawn his sword. In one swift motion, he had surged forward, landing a fatal blow.
Nieka had shrieked, but before she could rush to her father’s side to see if he had somehow survived the assassination attempt, the coachman dropped the sword and caught her with his leftarm, pinning her against the chair. She had watched in horror as Telematrice picked up the dropped sword and casually approached her father’s lifeless body. Wracked with sobs of grief, she closed her eyes to avoid seeing her raise the weapon into the air and drop it on her father’s neck, severing the head cleanly and quickly.
Telematrice would answer for the crime. Nieka would make sure of that, and then, if possible, make her pay with her life.