The home was a grand one. Dozens of rooms, dozens of passages and chambers. It was an old estate building, from the era of the civil war or earlier. Paintings from the early modern era were hung on the walls and ornate colonial-replica furniture filled the halls and entryway. The security systems were lax or non-existent; Kerudath killed two guards and his brother one more. Slit throats, it was entirely too simple and easy.

Both knew they were in the right place to find someone strong, an individual worthy of their skills, and they avoided the service routes, not particularly interested in collateral death of servants. It took only minutes after disabling the video feed and circumventing the watchdog devices before the twins met together at the expected room, the location of the target.

It was a study, overlooking the garden.

They entered together.

The room was large, bookcases lining the walls, chairs and a low table in the centre, a desk to the side, paintings and light fixtures on the walls, a chandelier above. Thick plush carpet on the floor, a dark burgundy. There was a window on the outside wall, and it was there, watching through it, that their target stood.

She wore a silken blue-white gown, hooded. Her back was to them when they entered, and she turned immediately. A veil was across her face, a half-transparent opalescent hue, the features hidden behind it, and she did not move from where she stood. The twins themselves were clad in tight leather, appropriate for their profession, dark reds, browns and black, and Kerudath stepped forward first, his blade unsheathed in hand.

"You conspire with lesser scum, these clueless infidels of the so-named Order." Kerudath bowed to her, eyes still forward upon his target, the dagger-arm to the side in greeting. "So we come, to deliver your life to our father as penance."

There was no reply.

"It is the Lady Shiba, is it not?" Taraxes drew his dagger also. "The ritual blades are ready for your sacrifice. Tell us, do you wish to offer your true name before the end?"

"No." It was but a murmur, but she spoke, a mild utterance. "Does it matter?"

"It does not." Kerudath grinned, advancing, his dagger ready, voice an undertone. "Elder or younger, lesser or greater, you are given to his glory." Nimble, he leaped and danced over the furniture in a superhuman athleticism. Behind and moments after Taraxes began to move also, following the motions of his twin in mirror image across the hindrances of the room. With a speed beyond human comprehension, Kerudath landed next to her, his dagger-arm slicing across the throat. It was on target, the blade hitting where it was aimed, except-

-her hand halted it.

Flesh, only.

"Child," she whispered, the blade motionless, harmless in her grasp, "your 'father' has no power here."

The blade turned crystalline blue from her touch, then white. The ice spread through the weapon into the bodily form of Kerudath, head to toe, imbuing him, solid and statuesque.

In moments it was done.

The Lady Shiba gave a flick of her fingers.

The sculpture of Kerudath shattered into a million pieces, shards scattered upon the carpeted floor.

Taraxes arrived before her, his own blade ready, muscles tensed, yet the momentum was halted by shock. "You! You murdered my brother! You are the-"

"Tempest."

From her, a pulse of intense blue light burst, an expanding orb of it blasting through the room. Loose items were thrown free, lamps and chairs knocked over, the electricity flickering for a second. Taraxes dropped his weapon, rendered paralytic, and the Lady Shiba spoke once more.

"Kneel."

The command in her voice was impossibly strong, the dominion etched into it utterly irresistible. He fell to his knees, staring up, hatred and dread filling his mind. Looming above, she raised a hand and removed the veil from her face.

The terror he felt was complete and consuming.

"There is no protection for you." Her voice was soft, toneless. "Your dreams are simply dreams."

"Lady." His own words were a heavy whisper, vibrating with the strength of his anguish; his rage and fear. "It was foretold. We will return the real fire to this world. Not even you can stop this."

"I will destroy the Conclave, one by one." Her left hand brushed his cheek, and gently gripped his chin. Taraxes shuddered. "You will help me do it. Hear and obey." The dominant force of her will pushed into him, crushing his freedom, bringing low his burning desires, and he broke, all but the most primitive resistance destroyed. "You will never raise a hand to me again. You will tell me their true names, each and every, to the last."

Outside, the darkened cloudy sky rumbled.

It began to rain.