Mina tasted blood as she lay there, shock registering upon her face at being hit with such force.
She picked herself up and sprinted through a short passage, clearly trying to escape another conflict until she was ready for it. Aliana followed, her fears disappearing at having got the upper hand of her possessor. The walls melted away, revealing the miscreant as she curled up in the darkness attempting to hide.
Aliana approached her, a strange pang of sympathy hitting her heart at the pathetic sight before her.
Mina spat blood. 'This is my mind, you cannot overcome my power.'
Aliana smiled. 'I was poisoned with your drugs when you took control of my body. You did it because you knew that my will was greater than yours ever would be. Now I am lucid and you have no power over me, even here in your own mind.'
'You presume much.' Mina hissed, rage contorting her features and fighting off the fear that must be racking her. 'You are to be dominated, I will not allow it to be any other way.'
With a leap that defied reality, Mina soared upward and levelled a kick at Aliana's head, it snapped back and the Pixie crumpled.
Mina stood and grabbed a fistful of her hair. She yanked back, exposing Aliana's throat. 'I will feast upon your defiance and make it my own strength.'
Aliana looked up, anger blazing in her eyes. 'No.'
Mina laughed. 'What exactly do you think you can do to stop me?'
The Pixie concentrated hard on the cruel lines of the woman's face, slipping down onto her bare neck.
Mina grinned. 'As I thought, nothing.'
Aliana tugged back further upon the hair of her victim, bore her teeth and sank them deep into the throat of her invader.
Mina's body arched in shock, the transference had been so subtle, so pervasive that she had not seen it until the moment had already passed. Now she lay at Aliana's mercy, her throat slowly being torn out to gurgling sounds of protest.
The darkness exploded, and Aliana awoke for the first time.
The mace came flashing down in a violent arc that sent slivers of stone and dust careening through the air where El-Vador's head had lain mere seconds before. He scrambled clear more from instinct than anything, the primal call of the hunted rang deep in the marrow of his bones to flee certain death and live to fight another day.
El-Vador did not flee, even though his final energies mustered to deflect the brunt of the assault had been expended. He knew that should Salvarius return to that well of power coursing in him, be it by accident or deliberately, he would suffer the fate of all the bodies slumped about him.
He divested one of the corpses of its axe and rose to a crouch, eyeing his foe as he circled once more. He was no stranger to the weapon, the son of a forester and born in the woods. Fighting with one differed greatly from hacking at static trees however.
Salvarius offered him a smile, swinging his mace in feints that had El-Vador constantly on the defensive and not knowing when the man would strike. 'I would have spared you, Elf. Do you know that? Your desecration of this burrow has not altered my plans in any significant way and I once held you with a begrudging respect for the audacity of your actions.'
Behind the man's eyes was murderous rage in its purest form, this confused the Elf further as he had done nothing to muster such a feeling from the man.
'Why then do you insist on trying to rid yourself of me now? What crime have I committed that is worse than slaying all these Orcs?'
Sarvacts snarled at him with an almost Orcish level of fervour. 'You dare act as if you do not know what it is you have done? I asked one thing of you Elf, one thing. I asked that you spare the life of Harg, the Orc that was as a father to me. You knew of this and still you chose to kill him with the rest, to use your darkest powers to devour his very soul!'
El-Vador blinked, he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. 'Stay your mace, fool! It was not I that killed Harg. To my knowledge he and the survivors from the destroyed burrow live to this day.'
There was a momentary pause from the man, the slightest hint of uncertainty in his resolute stance. 'What mean you? Speak quickly, and know that I will see through your every lie.'
The Elf lowered his axe to parley, and the man before him lowered his own weapon in a mirror image. 'I fled from the destruction of the burrow, out into the woods beyond. Your General sent a number of men in pursuit of me but I escaped their senses. They met a member of the Brotherhood in the woods that slaughtered them in some kind of ritual massacre in order to divine my whereabouts. This Brother captured me through a glamour and after besting me through deception took me to their isle.'
Silence greeted the words as El-Vador kept his eyes trained upon the man, whose anger had given way to suspicion and contemplation.
'Tell me that I do not speak true and have done with it, but I swear to you on the frozen graves of my homeland that I did not see Harg upon reaching the woods.'
The mace wavered and did not return to its previous swinging motion. 'You speak truly Elf, and I know not what to make of it. Harg would not have wanted you to escape into the sanctuary of the Brotherhood after committing such crimes. He rarely spoke of the Brotherhood, but when he did it was never favourably.'
El-Vador chose his words carefully, venturing his opinion now could cause Salvarius to side either way. 'If the Orcs you encountered were killed through darker powers, then that suggests they fell foul of the Brotherhood.'
Salvarius nodded. 'It would seem the logical conclusion, Elf. Perhaps I have been mistaken about you, nevertheless you must now stand aside so that I may complete the bonding.'
The Elf sighed, for all their diplomacy it had to end this way. 'I cannot allow you to do that. If you rent the ether with your power then the Brotherhood will surely kill both me and Aliana.'
'Aliana is dead already.' a sonorous female voice replied from behind them.
Aliana stepped forth, but her demeanour had changed, and the cadence of her speech differed from anything El-Vador had previously heard. 'She has already perished Elf, you are the last remaining defier of the Brotherhood. For your crimes you shall perish, but not after a long and exhilarating torture.'
She touched her form then, eliciting almost obscene moaning noises as she crossed the floor to be at the side of Salvarius.
'You need not kill him, my love. Simply render him powerless to prevent our imminent union and the forces from beyond the ether shall do the rest.'
To El-Vador's disbelief, Salvarius did not smile in return, instead he shook off the affections of the serpentine woman and growled at her. 'Were the Brotherhood responsible for the death of General Harg?'
This gave the woman pause, and in that brief moment El-Vador realised that she knew the truth.
'The Elf was responsible for the death of General Harg, had he not destroyed the burrow then none of this would have come about.' she purred.
It was the wrong thing to say, and the countenance of Salvarius darkened with every word. 'If the Elf did not kill the General then I have no quarrel with him. If the Brotherhood are responsible then I shall not aid them any further.'
El-Vador watched on as the woman's features contorted, a nailed hand swept forth and slapped Salvarius across the face.
'Fool! You could be the ruler of all this realm, you could have everything your heart ever desired. My love, wealth beyond your dreams, bidding servants willing to prostrate themselves to your every need. Why would you throw this all away?'
She made to slap him again, the rage bubbling over. He caught her arm this time, his grip causing her to shake indignantly, the first signs of fear slowly spreading across her face.
'You are poisonous, Mina. I shall do the world a favour and prevent your murderous Brotherhood from ever returning to this land. All the wealth in the world cannot replace my fallen master, and all the promises you make cannot change that you robbed me of my only friend.'
Mina was panicked now, she attempted to wrestle herself free of the grip of Salvarius but his arms
were as powerful as the stone he was clad in.
'What of the Orcs the Elf killed? Will you simply let such a murderer walk free without punishment? He destroyed your home and now he violates this burrow with his taint!'
Salvarius laughed then, and it was a wholesome sound, at odds with the corpses that surrounded them. 'It matters not to me how many of these wretched creatures the Elf kills. As far as I am concerned he is doing the world a favour. No, the only taint here is your poisonous lies, and for those you shall pay with your life.'
The man grasped Mina by the throat then, bodily lifting her from the floor and letting his stone gauntlets close upon the soft pale flesh. Her eyes bulged and she began to choke, but not before El-Vador saw the rage fill.
'Salvarius, look out!' he shouted, bounding toward the man and drawing his attention.
The armoured Captain hurled the pale form of what El-Vador had once thought was Aliana into the air and dove at the same time. His armour and the toll of their previous fight slowed him significantly though, and while his strength had propelled the woman away she hovered in mid-air, dark energies swirling about her arms and wings as she cackled.
'Did you really believe that you could stand against the Brotherhood, Salvarius? That you were anything but a figurehead we would use to further our own ideals? We shall simply take the artefact from your body and find another more supplicated to wear it.'
Her voice had a note of strain that split across several octaves, making it almost impossible to comprehend. It rang like a serrated knife across El-Vador's ears and caused him to clutch at his head. Salvarius stood unmoving, transfixed by the hovering figure condemning him.
He knew they were dead, Salvarius had shown no aptitude with the power he had been given and El-Vador himself had nothing left to form a shield with. Judging from the swirling darkness that engulfed the figure before them he would have been hard pressed to stop the assault even if he had any remaining energy.
With a scream that rent the air before it, the blackness from the possessed Pixie's body lashed out, a dark wave of terrifying hunger that sought to engulf them in one fell strike.
Nothing happened.
El-Vador opened his eyes, and all was darkness. He wondered briefly if he was dead, then started choking on the smoke that surrounded him.
'I am afraid that I cannot allow you to do that, Mina.' Anacletus said, appearing before them wreathed in smoke. 'They are far too useful to me alive.'
The smoke began to clear and Mina shook with barely-repressed fury, letting out a screech of frustration at being foiled. 'You will stand aside, Anacletus, any further actions from you will tip the balance and rent the veil!'
The assassin smiled at her amiably. 'That much is true, and any further action from you will result in the ether being torn and the Brotherhood breaking free.'
She grinned back at him coldly, letting out a high and piercing laugh. 'You can do nothing to save them, assassin.'
'I don't need to. You have already lost, Mina.'
Mina shook violently, her wings faltering as she fell to floor, Anacletus watched on with the same amused expression painted on his dark features.
'What have... What have you done to me?' she spat at him, faint of breath and swaying on her feet.
Anacletus chuckled. 'I? I have done nothing, you stupid fool.' He pointed at Salvarius now, sweeping his cloak of darkness out before him. 'It is your own incompetence that is your downfall, and the will of the one within you to break free of you.'
'I don't understand!' Mina wailed. 'This is some kind of trick! What have you done to my power?'
'You did this to yourself, Mina. You failed to complete the joining with Salvarius, and thus your bonding with Aliana was also left incomplete. Even now she rages inside of you, tearing away at your control over her body. Flee this place, foul succubus! Else she will destroy you utterly.'
Mina did not give her ground in spite of being felled, she raised her arms in a threatening fashion and conjured forth even more darkness to their tips. Staggering toward them, she poised to strike like a wounded predator lurking in a corner.
Whatever force drove her onward faltered, and Anacletus made no move to shield any of them further. She sank to her knees in disbelief and stared at her fingers as the darkness ebbed away from them, murmurs playing silently upon her lips that the Elf could not read.
'Stay clear of her.' the assassin warned, leading by example in keeping his distance. 'She is not entirely undone, even in this state she may lash out.'
They watched silently as Mina sank to the floor with a sob, clawing her way toward them in a pitiful attempt to finish them off. There was something about her resolute determination to destroy the figures before her even in her impotence that sent a chill through the atmosphere.
Struggling over the broken form of an Orc, she finally stilled. It was some time before Anacletus made his way over to the body and checked for a pulse.
'She lives yet, and Mina has departed her body.'
El-Vador found himself sighing in relief, then checking himself as Salvarius and the assassin stared at him. At least, he thought it was relief. He wondered idly if Judicael had made it to the surface, if only to stop his own thoughts from wandering in uncomfortable directions.
Anacletus smiled at him, in what he thought was an all-too-knowing way, then turned his attentions to the other human. 'What do you plan to do now, half man?'
Salvarius stared down at the armour encasing him, the serpentine mosaic upon his chest had stopped squirming but something had changed deep within him. 'I do not know where I am headed, but I have no quarrel with forces who oppose the Brotherhood.'
The assassin nodded, acknowledging the truth in the admission. 'Then you need not die this day, see to it that it remains that way.' he then turned to El-Vador and fixed him with an appraising look, kicking one of the corpses by way of example. 'You still have Orcs to kill, El-Vador of the mountains.'
'Without the Brotherhood's interference the task is one that I relish. We shall undoubtedly meet again, assassin.'
'Of that I am sure, Elf.'
Seeing no need for further conversation beyond these terse words, Anacletus vanished in a cloud of dark smoke that worked its way upward and on to the surface.
'You could have killed me.' Salvarius stated simply, as they walked toward the prone form of Aliana. 'Yet you chose the path of reason, I will not forget this, El-Vador of the mountains.'
'I am finding that words can be an even more effective weapon than the sword if spoken with honesty. I hope that when next our paths cross we may do so as allies, rather than upon the field of battle.'
The man surveyed the bodies of his former servants before answering. 'Likewise.'
They made their way through the suffocating silence of the countless dead, slowly winding their way up to the surface under the guidance of Salvarius. El-Vador tentatively carried Aliana, still not entirely convinced that she would not spring into life once more and attempt to kill them.
There was a brief detour in which they raided the kitchens for supplies, but so far Salvarius had shown none of the malevolence he had displayed previously. El-Vador did not allow himself to relax totally around him, that would have been foolish, but in the aura of peace he radiated it felt like there had been a cessation of any imminent threat.
The whole burrow emanated a mausoleum quality that made El-Vador's directions to Judicael seem prophetic. The silence was at once gratifying and suffocating, his senses stretched out but he could not hear anything beyond the flow of the sewers they left behind. Nor was there any sign of the thief.
Every so often they would come across an Orc that had been cut open with ruthless efficacy, a torn jugular or a missing eye spoke to the lethality of the attacks. Had the diminutive man been playing both El-Vador and his captors by understating his capabilities? Anacletus had held him in surprisingly high regard, and as the challenges mounted Judicael had shown the gritty persistence of a survivor. Someone to
take note of in any future encounters.
They exited the burrow without any attempts at hindrance from the Orcs, Salvarius had intimated what El-Vador already suspected, those involved in the procession had not been the sum total of the inhabitants.
The evening sun greeted them with a lurid red glow as they walked back into the barrens. Salvarius turned and let out a sigh. 'It would seem that everywhere I go you destroy, Elf. I plan on returning to my people in time, my true people. May I have your word that you shall not slay them too?'
El-Vador smiled at the jest. 'Provided that you do not attempt to kill me indirectly or otherwise, I see no need to kill humans.'
Salvarius sported the tired grin of a man who had seen too much, he clapped his fist to the strange stone armour in salute. 'I take my leave of you then, perhaps in a distant time we shall meet again.'
'Perhaps.'
As the man departed, El-Vador lay Aliana down upon the floor of the barrens. Her eyes fluttered behind closed lids as if deep in dreams, and he thought better of disturbing her after all she had suffered.
Crossing his legs, he sank down onto the floor with her and stared back at the shadows of the watch towers in the evening sun. He closed his own eyes and cast his thoughts out into the darkness, probing the burrow beneath them for any spark of life, any brief light that had yet to be snuffed out from his venture. He found nothing.
He woke from the darkness to a touch on his shoulder from a foreign hand. He clasped it firmly in reflex before realising it was Aliana that had shaken him from the trance. A wave of dizziness hit him like a wall, sending him careening down onto the dusty barren floor and retching involuntarily.
Words were being spoken to him, but a ringing in his ears and a static descending over his sight prevented him from acknowledging them. He tried to right himself but to no avail, instead vaguely feeling firm hands pressing down upon him.
The specks of nothingness over his blurred vision cleared shortly after, the now-darkened sky coming into sharp focus and the muffled sounds gaining clarity once more. He ventured a brief tilt of his head and found two palms pressed down upon him and sheathed in darkness.
El-Vador's Travels Page 48
