A tale of two lives - part two

Chapter One – Sniggels and Sorcery

Ig’natz dodged the half full mug of mulled wine that came hurtling at him like a well aimed missile, only to miss him and crash against the doorknob next to his head. As usual, Natani was fast, but he was faster…

“And move faster next time I call you stupid Sniggel…” he heard shouted at him through the, now closed door. Turning, he started back down the steps that lead to the tower study…

…Only to trip over Fuzgig, his pet nocturnem, which had followed him up the stairs…and down they went sniggel, nocturnem and the tray of empty dishes; tumbling down the steps and landing in a heap of green skin, white fuz and broken dishes at the bottom of the first landing. Ig’natz had worked in the tower ever since he was forced in to servitude, by the elves, as a young orcling. Fuzgig, a sort of furless albino cat with small hands, only much sneakier than any cat, had been his only friend; and she loved to play jokes on “Iggy.”

Iggy bent over and picked up the broken shards with calloused hands and thrust them into the deep pockets of the threadbare smock he wore. Taking the ever-present cleaning rag out of his back pocket, he wiped the obsidian steps free of any remnants of food. Snatching up the remaining dishes in one hand and Fuzgig in the other, he made his way back down the steps. Turning to the right he pushed his way through the door to the crowded kitchen. The shards were promptly tossed into the garbage, Fuzgig tossed into a chair and the dishes tossed into the waiting dishwater. Fuzgig set about washing the mountain of dishes for the household he served, a task that was as endless as his servitude.



The moment the door slammed closed behind the household sniggel Iggy, the lithe elf priestess that sat behind the field of mahogany shimmered and began to shift. An altogether different Natani arouse from her desk than was sitting behind it a moment before. A master of illusion, she let the image of her former self, an illusion she had build up over the years, fall away now that she was alone. Grabbing what was left of the bottle of wine, she strode to the window of her tower. She stood there admiring the view from high above the edge of the city. Her loud belch reverberated off the walls of her office as Natani took another gulp of mulled wine. To call her an elf was almost a misnomer. She had grown up with comments such as “You move pretty fast for such a big woman.” She worked hard to overcome such oppressions…whether by hard work on her weight (at which she did not excel) or by violence directed toward those who dared insult her (at which she did excel). As a result she grew up without many friends. If indeed it can be said that any true friendships ever existed amongst elves. Even what passed for friendships were rare occurrences in her younger years. Others were either afraid to become her friend, or afraid to end up disappearing like some of those who had become her friend and teased her about her looks once too often. It had been the affect of her appearance on her life that had been the driving factor in Natani excelling in both sorcery and clerical magic…and the youngest priestess ever to become a teacher. She passed through the academy in record time…record time, that is, until little Kimi Gozen entered the academy. Kimi went through classes so fast that she actually caught up with her older sister Tomoe.

Tomoe and Natani had grown up together. Tomoe had been the closest she had ever come to a friend. They were members of rival houses but had become friends anyway. Unusual for dark elves but not unheard of. What Natani had found so unusual about Tomoe in the first place is that she was probably the only dark elf she ever met that didn’t have some sort of hidden agenda. The entire rest of the House Gozen was another matter however…they were ever greedy for power and prestige….they fit right in with all of the other elves. In fact, it was for this very reason that, until just recently Tomoe didn’t even know she had a younger sister. Kimi Gozen had shown absolutely no aptitude for clerical magic and had been incapable of anything even approximating sorcery. Very odd for a dark elf female. And so…House Gozen had disowned Kimi. Completely. She was thought to be a disgrace to the household, and the Matron had her wisked away to be raised by a minor branch of the house. Until the day that little Kimi Gozen came of age…

…when that day came…that disgusting day, thought Natani, as she continued to gaze out her study window…when the day came that Kimi Gozen had proven to be a “late bloomer” and had not only shown herself to be proficient at magic, but even excelled at it, suddenly she was taken back into the good graces of the Matron of House Gozen. She was immediately enrolled in the academy to become another priestess for the goddess their Clan. When Tomoe not only discovered that she had a sister, but that she would be attending classes with her, she was overjoyed. Tomoe and Kimi became inseparable. “Tomoe pushed me aside” Natani said to the night air…for she was certainly alone. She tried everything she could think of to drive a wedge between the two sisters. Intrigue, innuendo and outright treachery. She had even risked her place in the academy and standing with Lolth when she used her position to influence Tomoe’s counselor at the academy. Nothing availed her. Then the Head Matron of the academy assigned her to teach the senior class in combat magic. On the first day of class…there they sat…Tomoe and Kimi side by side. She had to look at the two of them for the entire year. Or so she thought…

There was no way, Natani thought, that the two sisters could not have known she was trying to drive them apart. In the end, she was right. She took another gulp of mulled wine, remembering the day that they confronted her…her…Natani Migonin. They threatened to go to the head of the academy to tell her about Natani’s treachery…trying everything that she could to deprive House Gozen of another high priestess. She denied it of course. In the end she convinced Tomoe of her sincerity but she knew Kimi would never believe her. Everything went on apace at the academy, as it should. The end of the school year and finals approached. That meant field practicum for her class in battle magic. Natani saw her chance…the chance to drive the two sisters apart forever. Jealousy reared its ugly green head…as green as the household sniggel that crossed her field of vision as she looked out of the window into the courtyard below. Ig’natz was headed for the door that opened onto the servants quarters. The scurrying little sniggel snapped her out of her reverie. Natani took that last gulp of wine, carefully judged the distance and the affect of the wind…and hurled the wine bottle with all her strength. Just as the sniggel reached for the handle of the door the bottle came crashing down on his head…Iggy dropped in his tracks. “Either I am getting faster,” Natani said to herself, “…or the sniggel is getting slower.”