'A Royal Performance' (Eothan/The Hawthorns)

‘A Royal Performance’

Approach them, gain their confidence… confuse them and remove them from the scene. Seal them, strip them of their information and abandon them.

Leave them to rot.

With a cigarette between his lips, Eothan walked away from Zech and his operatives and began his short journey to the den of wolves that had been snapping at his heels for months. A smirk curled over his lips as he exhaled smoke, the thought of walking into their estate and fooling all of them would be his greatest victory. A true test of his intellect… his ability to misdirect the mind and senses of his victims.

This would be no easy task, he thought, but it was a task he had no choice but to undertake. If they were to rescue Ledgic, Landrus and Marie had to be out of the way. Everyone around him had called him crazy for his plan, the decision to be the person to face the power that would put an end to any rescue plans. He would be the one to take that threat from the group and deal with it alone, he had not exhausted all of his resources to see Ledgic’s rescue not come to pass.

‘Halt!’ came a yell from atop the walls of the estate.

Eothan peered up as he exhaled smoke and dropped the end of his cigarette to the floor. He smirked as he slid his hands into his pockets and simply tilted his head as he looked at the guard. The guard slowly lifted a rifle from beside him and pointed it at Eothan. He narrowed his eyes as he took aim and carefully licked at the roof of his mouth in concentration.

‘Fire that gun and I assure you, Landrus Hawthorn will not be best pleased with you. Though, I can make it all better for you! Worry not!’ shouted Eothan as he took his left hand from his pocket and lifted it up. The guard lowered the rifle a little and raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head and taking aim again. Eothan let out a quiet chuckle before chanting a few words under his breath as his hand became engulfed in the dark flames of his shadow energy.

Mere seconds later, the guard found himself and his scouting post engulfed in the same flames. Eothan lowered his arm and moved to stand outside the large gates as the screams of the guard filled the air around him. It had been a while since he had taken a life, at least with this little feeling about it. It had been part of the plan, force them to open the gates and leave them open.

‘My name is Eothan Dawn, and I understand you need me. I have made my decision, whether I stick to that is in your hands! Open these gates, oh distant family, and welcome me in!’ he yelled as the shadow dispersed from his hand and the tower.

He smirked slowly as the gates began to open with a loud creaking sound. He stepped forward and carefully slipped through the gap. He stood and folded his arms as he turned his head from left to right, scanning the group of guards and robed nobles stood before him. Rifles pointing at him, swords drawn… and even the faint flicker of shadow energy thought hidden to him. It wasn’t the warmest reception he had ever received upon entering a noble estate, but it was hardly something he hadn’t expected.

‘Honestly, a man comes to join his family and help them achieve their goals and this is his welcome?’

‘Make room for his Lordship!’ came another yell from behind the cluster of guards. Eothan raised an eyebrow as they slowly parted and only lowered it at the site of Landrus Hawthorn. He looked as aged and crippled as he had before, the decay of his body a testament to the techniques he had used over the years. It was hard to tell where his silver hair ended and the fur around the collar of his coat began. The black cloth of the coat slowly came to a standstill as Landrus stopped before Eothan and smirked.

‘It is good to see you again, Eothan Hawthorn. Your brother hasn’t quite measured up to our requirements’ he said with a quiet and slithering tone. Had Eothan been less focused on the task at hand, he would have likely made a comment about it but now was not the time for his jokes.

‘Then I guess we will have to see exactly how I can help you. I request privacy, I will not talk to you in front of your minions’ said Eothan as his eyes slowly moved from Landrus to look over the collection of guards once again. Landrus simply nodded and turned on the spot. Eothan followed as Landrus motioned for him to do so and the pair of them walked away from the guards and towards a keep like building.

Eothan raised an eyebrow at the sound of footsteps behind them but smirked rather than looking over his shoulder. ‘You might want to introduce an exercise regime to these guards of yours, their footsteps are incredibly heavy’ said Eothan as he sped up his pace to walk beside Landrus.

‘It isn’t often that they are required to do much of a job. Though, I’m sure you know of the guest residing with us at the moment’ said Landrus as he gestured towards a door as they passed it. ‘Ledgic Caan has served me well, once I have my third source we will be able to begin the process’.

Eothan tipped his head back slightly at his words and peered at Landrus’ chest, taking note of two shadow crystals hanging from his neck. He was able to sense the presence of Delzen’s shadow with ease, the other… belonged to someone that was on the estate, he knew that much.

‘Well, I’m interested to know what you have in mind. I tire of scrounging around in the dark’ said Eothan as he continued to follow Landrus. The two of them walked casually through the well-decorated halls of the Hawthorn estate. Walls adorned with silks and fine art. Eothan took note of a similar face in several of the paintings, portraits of an attractive looking woman, or at least, she was attractive in the first few of them.

Eothan turned his gaze from the portraits as Landrus stopped and pushed open a set of large wooden doors. The two men stepped into a dark room, one lit simply by torches on the wall. The room was much like the corridors they had walked though, littered with fine art and silks draped across the walls. The room was filled with bookcases, some of which were as tall as the room itself. Eothan smirked and looked down at a small sofa, and as he had expected, there draped across it was the woman from the portraits.

‘Kariandra Hawthorn’ he thought. It would seem she was the vanity-pained member of the family; one would have to assume that was the case in a castle littered with paintings of her. In this room alone there were four, it would seem vanity came from the Hawthorn side of his blood. It was at that moment that Eothan realised the shadow energy coming from the second crystal around Landrus’ neck was that of Kariandra. What a curious bunch of stick-up-the-arse nobles these people were.

‘Eothan’ came a voice from behind as a woman stepped away from a bookcase, snapping the book in her hands shut. Eothan groaned and turned around, lifting a hand to wave mockingly at Marie Hawthorn.

‘Hello mother, I had hoped you’d remain unseen for this venture. I may have changed my mind regarding who I belong with, but that doesn’t mean I have any desire to hear you speak’ said Eothan, his voice becoming increasingly angry with each word. He lowered his hand slowly and rolled his eyes as Marie moved forward, stopping just in front of him.

‘You are my son, and our greatest ally. You will change us for the better, Eothan, that has always been your destiny. To take us out of the darkness and into the light, to… empower us beyond our own abilities’ she said as she lifted a hand and attempted to rest it against his cheek.

He coughed loudly and slapped her hand away before peering down at his mother. ‘As I said, I have no desire to hear you speak. Now then, since we’re here and it’s all warm and cuddly, honestly I can feel the excitement in my very bones, can we get down to business? Explain what it is exactly you need of me’ said Eothan as he turned and took a few steps away from both Landrus and Marie.

‘Fine’ said Landrus as he pointed at Kariandra and then swung his arm to point at the exit. ‘You’re of no use here, if the Caan still lives, go and have some fun’. The woman let out a deep sigh as she slowly stood up. She slowly slid a hand across Eothan’s shoulder as she passed, she was clearly a woman who was used to getting what she wanted… who she wanted, he guessed. He did his best not to shudder, it was like watching Valerias try to lure him in, only she had been aged quite severely.

He let out a quiet cough as the door slammed behind Kariandra and peered at Landrus again. ‘You’re going to have to tolerate your mother speaking during this, Eothan. She will have something to request of you, both to prove your allegiance has switched… and it is rather personal to you’ he said as he lifted a hand to gently tap at the shadow crystals around his neck.

‘You see… we have always been able to use the shadow, and when one of ours ran away with a vagabond to start a quiet life, it was not taken well. Allowing our shadow to run through the piss layered blood of the Caans… honestly, what would anyone expect of us? Our blood is no longer pure, because of that act of vandalism… and we seek to regain that purity’

Eothan folded his arms as Landrus spoke and nodded very slightly as he finished. Purity was something he couldn’t quite grasp, especially not where the Hawthorns were concerned. There were very few pure things or people in Azeroth, even people such as Omanos were capable of selfish acts… pure blood… he wasn’t sure what that could mean.

‘Your blood isn’t mixed with the Caans, though. So, perhaps I am missing the point’ said Eothan as he looked between Landrus and Marie.

‘Correct, it is not. Apart from you and your sister, we are pure in the literal sense. But the shadow can purify the blood and the mixed bloodlines allow the shadow to be purified when run through a vessel. We seek to become beings of the divine shadow, not merely those who wield its corrupting abilities. You are the embodiment of the shadow in it’s corrupting sense… and we went to a lot of trouble to ensure that would be the case’ said Landrus as he folded his arms.

‘I’m sure you’ve been wondering just how far this goes, Eothan. How deeply into your life the seed was planted’ said Marie as she set the book down on the sofa previously occupied by Kariandra. Eothan tilted his head a little and peered at his mother, the one person who may have spent his entire life outsmarting him.

‘Do not worry, since you claim to have switched sides I’m going to fill you in. Then you will go and do what I will ask of you. My shadow magic is not destructively powerful; my skills lie in mind magic, the manipulation of thoughts. A trait you have recently discovered you possess, no?’

‘I’ve always been able to use mind magic, mother. But… yes, you’re right, in recent days it has suddenly become a powerful skill of mine’ said Eothan as he narrowed his eyes.

Marie smirked and nodded before speaking. ‘Mind magic is a powerful trait of my line, my particular strand of the family. You see… it is something written into our abilities so deeply that it grows in power on it’s own, apparently you have reached the age in which it matures. If you have noticed this difference, then you will have no trouble believing what I am about to tell you.

When you joined the tower of magi as a teenager, I instilled the belief that the arcane was boring inside your mind. This led you to dropping out and seeking something else, another road to travel. On that road I left you a tome, I’m sure you remember the first tome you ever read? Yes… that was me, shortly after that I placed a burning hatred for your father inside your mind, I let it twist and burn on it’s own. Years later it simply took a quick insertion of passing the house from your father to you, to make him arrive at your home.

Your hatred for him, and your subsequent killing of him were all of my design. As was your decision to remain with your former wife. You thought it was the right thing to do… or you were unable to read the layers of my spells. I had you remain there, because I believed that your daughter would be a potential part of our plans. I understand you’ve hidden her, Helena has no memory of the child at all… nor of you’

Eothan lifted a hand to gently scratch his cheek, it wasn’t easy to stop himself exploding… to prevent the unbelievable urge to charge forward and kill them both. It was something he knew he had to contain, at least for the time being. Marie’s words had hit him hard, even if he had suspected that perhaps he had been controlled and directed for the majority of his life.

But to finally know that a single person was the reason for so many things he had done and thought… it was a little too difficult to handle, even for him.

‘So you are basically saying that everything I have done that meant anything to me, you were the reason for? You are the reason I carry the shadow… you are the reason that I murdered my father? It would seem I carry many more traits of your line that you would give me credit for’ said Eothan as he narrowed his eyes to stare at Marie.

‘I am not done, Eothan. This will lead to what you must do to prove your allegiance to this family. I did everything I could to make sure you became a shadow user, and not only that, but I did my best to remove every shred of decency I possibly could. This plan… this technique, requires more than just the corrupt. As we said, we are aiming to purify the shadow, to become wielders of the divine’

‘Rosemary’ said Eothan bluntly as he widened his eyes.

‘Quite correct, the one thing we can thank your father for is your quick thinking. Everything I did to you, I did the utter opposite to Rosemary. She was to become the pure soul, we required you but we also needed your opposite. Originally we had intended to make sure that the two of you were separated, that I would place a dislike for one another in each of your heads… but amusingly enough, in the process of insuring Rosemary’s purity, I had made certain that she would not hate her own brother. She was incapable of it, because of what I had done in the past’.

‘Where does she fit in?’ said Eothan as he stepped forward and stood in front of both Marie and Landrus.

‘We will use a ritual to place our collective shadow power into your body, there it will become more powerful due to the mixed bloodlines. As the ritual progresses, the shadow energy will begin to seep through you and there… well, this is where Rosemary comes in. She is a mix of the bloodlines, but a pure soul, the corrupted shadow energy will filter through her into our separate shadow crystals.

When we absorb the energy into ourselves, the shadow will be divine. Our abilities will be empowered… the remaining Caans will have no chance of stopping us. With your help, Eothan, we will become wielders of the divine shadow and we will use it to smite the Caans and remove their blood. If we are to ensure that we continue to wield the divine through the generations, their blood will be required’ as Marie had been talking she had placed a hand on Eothan’s shoulder. He had found it rather creepy, considering the words that had accompanied the gentle gesture.

‘To prove your allegiance Eothan Hawthorn, you must retrieve Rosemary and bring her here. Only then can we begin the process, you will go down in history as the brother and sister that saved one of the few remaining noble families of Lordaeron’ said Landrus as he lifted a hand to place it on Eothan’s other shoulder. Eothan smirked widely and nodded once, he was rather happy he had spent a lot of his life acting. He lifted his own hands and placed them over Landrus and Marie’s as he let out a deep sigh.

‘Well, I’ve listened to everything you have to say. I’m aware of everything you wish to do… and now you will have my answer’ said Eothan as the shadow began to flicker around his hands. Before Landrus and Marie had time to react, the shadow began to flicker all around them, before where they stood featured only a black mark on the ground.

--

Landrus turned his head at the sound of yelling and explosions and did his best to peer down the mountainside at the estate below. ‘Orcs?! W-…’ he began, only to be interrupted by realising his own complete inability to move. He turned his head to see a complicated rune pattern beneath his feet, and that his feet were brimming in his own shadow energy.

‘Do not attempt to move… he’s rooted us to the ground with our own shadow energy’ said Marie bluntly as Landrus lifted his head again. There, to his utter annoyance, was Eothan Dawn, sat on a rock with a massive grin splattered across his face.

‘In case you didn’t quite catch what I just pulled off, I’ll fill you in. First I appealed to your lack of morality, I achieved this by murdering your watchman. I then appealed to your sense of power by showing no fear of you or your people, your desire for secrecy by demanding our privacy…

I then allowed you to tell me everything that you intend to do and carefully pulled the two of you into actually believing that I might betray those around me that actually care whether I live or die. And in the process of all this, gave time… and a signal, to a rescue force that will enter that estate by any means possible and retrieve Ledgic Caan. Who, by the way, I guarantee will be itching to kill you when he’s recovered from what you did to him’

Eothan chuckled quietly as he slowly lifted himself from the rock. Transporting the three of them and placing down both of those runes had left him with very little energy, but the adrenaline racing through him was providing enough for him to at least do a little mocking before he departed.

‘This is ridiculous. I am Landrus Hawthorn, I do not fall for tricks… and I do not get caught in pathetic traps!’ Landrus spat, his voice almost a growl, far from the confident snake like tone he had held before.

Eothan smirked and lifted a hand, pointing at his mother and simply nodded. ‘Yes, you see… you’re quite right there. I didn’t walk in here underestimating your intelligence; after all it’s highly likely that I received it from this side of the fence. The issue lies in the fact that you underestimated me, Hawthorns, and even you, mother, believed that my abilities with mind magic would not have been enough.

I’m a very good actor, yes, but usually it would take a little more effort to draw out the entire plan from someone, especially people such as you. Yet there I stood, using mind magic to gently prod you both into revealing everything and neither of you could even detect it!’ said Eothan excitedly as he turned around on the spot and walked in a small circle.

‘There is something to be said for that, honestly. I’d daresay that I’m smarter than I thought. You see I have put so much effort into making sure this was the perfect little plan that I’d begun to forget what sleep is. And I promise you, I’ll be getting a faultless night of sleep tonight’ he said with a chuckle.

With that, Eothan stood before the two of them and bowed his head, before looking at them with yet another grin.

‘You may have managed to outsmart us, Eothan, but I know what these runes are. And I know how much energy they consume to cast… you aren’t capable of anything else. What will you do now? Simply run? You may have hidden from us up until now but it isn’t like we will simply give up’ said Marie as she stared at her son.

Eothan nodded as he straightened up and walked towards Marie with one hand behind his back.

“Now that is where you’ve got me mother, yes. I have exhausted almost all of my shadow energy with the techniques I have placed here. The main reason I’m still functioning is simply that I have been waiting for this conversation for quite some time. However, mother, I have absolutely no desire to speak to you again… and for the sake of my sister, I am going to make sure that she never has to speak to you either’ said Eothan quietly as he leant forward to whisper in Marie’s ear.

Shortly after his words, Eothan slipped his fingers beneath his belt and swiftly drew a thin blade. Marie’s eyes widened as he plunged the blade into the side of her neck and continued to push on the hilt, forcing the blade as far as it could go.

‘I do hope you enjoy this death, because unless Landrus feels like raising a useless old woman, it will be the only death you’ll have’ said Eothan, his words as sharp as the dagger he had plunged into her. He straightened up, leaving the blade in place and smirked at the thought of having to thank Aniane at some point soon.

As he turned to Landrus and stepped forward, the rune beneath Marie’s feet faded, allowing her near lifeless body to plummet toward the ground. Eothan forward and took a hold of the shadow crystals hanging from Landrus’ neck, just as the sound of his mother’s body hitting the ground filled the air around them.

He yanked the crystals away, the silver chain around Landrus’ neck snapping across it. He carefully placed the crystals into a pouch on his belt and simply nodded at Landrus before turning around and beginning to walk away.

‘What about me? You aren’t simply going to kill me as well?’ he shouted after Eothan.

Eothan turned to look over his shoulder and smirked before speaking. ‘I have actually run out of strength now, besides, killing you is a privilege reserved for another man. You’ll be stuck here for a while, I didn’t have time to place a limit on how long the seal will last.

Also… thank you for the crystals, they will come in handy for tracking certain members of your family. You see… if we can’t kill you all, I’m going to make sure the powerful members of your family are buried before you have time to react’

With those words Eothan turned and continued to walk away, and as he moved further into the dense forests of Elwynn, he felt the pain of shadow exhaustion. He would have to stop somewhere before venturing to the closest town.

It didn’t matter, he thought, and as he smirked widely he knew that he had done everything he set out to do. If Ledgic had been successfully rescued, tomorrow would be a brand new day.

Eothan <3