carl@fire

Ir'alith scowled as she stared over the barricade at the tall, stone and metal-made buildings of the city. Perhaps I should have begun with one of the smaller cities.

Her father's amusement carried to her across their shared bond from the weapon his soul resided in. {Was it not you who declared she would begin with Khir Turuhm itself in order to frighten the humans and inspire the other cities to rebel? I counseled a slower start, but—}

Why must you always be correct, Papa? It irritates me. She leapt up soundlessly from her perch, bounced off a cushion of wind energy, and landed atop another section of the magically-wrought barricade which the human mages had raised out of the earth countless years ago. She scanned the darkness, pinpointing the locations of more human soldiers.

Humans, along with the occasional trained beast, were the only living beings she had seen; the dwarves were restricted to certain times of the day when they were permitted to leave their domiciles and workshops, and it was far too late for any of them to be outside.

They move in such numbers! Ir'alith marveled at the quantity of humans present. It could nearly be called a city of the humans instead of the dwarves!

Indeed, that had seemed to be the case. The humans had their own marketplace, their own residences, their own entrances and exits to the city, and even their own walkways they used to access the adjacent mines and forges, walking high over the heads of the endlessly toiling dwarves.

Explain to me once more why I cannot simply use my breath. I could slay nearly half—

{Caution, Alith. They must know you have escaped your shackles. This may yet be some form of trap.}

How could they know my plans? She swished her tail in annoyance, dragging her father through the empty space. I could rid this city of its infestation before they became aware of my presence.

{Unless one of their heroes is present. Your interrogations yielded that information, recall. The second of them is said to be in close proximity to one of the dwarven cities, and it would make sense for him to remain at the largest of them.}

The idea was not a new one to Ir'alith. I would surely have overheard one of the humans here mention him were he nearby. Besides, I fear no human now that I possess this armor.

The armor in question, now shrunk by a considerable amount to accommodate the more lithe, stealthy form she had shifted into for her scouting, still emitted its magic-nullifying green glow. She had considered removing it for her scouting in order to better conceal herself, but her father had been correct when he advised against such a thing.

She continued to struggle against the tantalizing sense of victory that pervaded her thoughts and crowded out more rational deliberations. Remove the armor? The only thing which could prevent her from being captured once more?

Had she gone mad?

The realization that she had even considered such a thing had caused her to stop and meditate for a time in order to center her thoughts.

Perhaps her time in that white prison of horrors had not left her as sane as she had believed.

{Suppose you make use of your breath. What then? The humans who remain will be alerted with detection wards they have no doubt placed! They will surely rush to their mages and call for reinforcements. More will come in their portals—}

Let them come! I will turn them to ash where they stand! I will rip their hearts from their treacherous bodies and feast upon them while they watch in terror! The dwaves too, for being feeble and weak enough to live as slaves! I will tear their heads from their shoulders and—

{Alith, my daughter, your emotions frighten me. You are not well.}

Ir'alith snarled. Not well? I am… Her eyes widened, and she pressed her claws to her head.

{Perhaps we should wait on this endeavor. You have acted in ways that concern me since we have been reunited. A day or a week makes no difference when weighed against your safety and well-being.}

I… This frightens me as well, Papa. I feel I am losing my reason. When my mind wanders, I find myself thinking only of killing and bloodshed. I crave vengeance, and I cannot even remember who it is that I hate at times. She rubbed the hairless, dark gray scalp of her head. I am weak, Papa. To be so affected by only a few years or decades of torture, when—

{Enough. Do not think such nonsense ever again, Alith. That you remain as rational as you are after what I have seen in your memories is a miracle. You doubt your strength? Come, let us be away from this place. Spend a week, a month, or perhaps a year or two in meditation. Heal your wounds fully. Find again that strength which I know you have inside, and then rededicate yourself to this cause.}

The thoughts gave Ir'alith pause as she hung by an extended claw from the side of the barricade while an alert patrol of humans passed over her, the same species as the third. It would be so easy to swing up and disembowel them or to simply shear the top of the barricade away, letting them plunge to their deaths while they screamed in terror.

Her muscles tensed. She had not killed a human in too long.

She craved it.

She needed to kill them. She could not find the third hero that she hated with such fire that her reason and judgment were burned away, so she revenged herself on his kin in the meanwhile.

Her eyes glowed red with the combined fullness of her fury and hatred.

A flicker of sanity returned, and she used it to spring off the side of the barricade, bounding with her incredibly light form across hastily-constructed pockets of wind energy and up around to the jagged face of the mountain overlooking the city which stretched partway inside of it. She hopped into a small cave, cutting into its roof with her axe in the process in order that she might fit, and curled up on the floor, clutching her armored legs.

She rocked back and forth like she had done when she was much younger and had heard that her mother had been captured. Papa, I have lost myself. She squeezed her eyes shut. No amount of time can heal what they have done to me. I fear what I may become if I—

"Hey, Ir'alith," the voice of Carl echoed suddenly in her tiny cave as she weakly tapped her tail against the cold stone. "If you're not too busy, I could use your help with something."