Chapter 193: The Enemy of My Enemy
Elzri Noir stood in the corner of the basement, his eyes never left sight of the lamia behind the iron bars. She sat on the cold stone floor, her tail uncoiled and spread around the small cell. Her blue scales were scratched, a few dented, but most were stained with dried blood. The lamia’s upper body was covered in scratches, cuts, and bruises, and even more blood. Iron shackles wrapped around her wrists and throat.
Most prisoners would usually act scared or angry in such predicaments, yet she was expressionless. The lamia’s indigo eyes were dull and she seemed to stare into nothingness.
The local white mage healer had stated that most of the blood wasn’t her own, which did nothing to reassure Elzri. She may seem like a damsel in distress, but she was a monster, and all monsters were dangerous.
“Has she said anything yet?” Elzri asked.
“Not a word since she arrived,” the human on-duty guard admitted.
Elzri glanced at the only other drow in the room. Vayu Glaz sat on a chair, his bandaged leg was in a splint.
Vayu shook his head, “Docility collars didn’t work on the lamia, brown magic is useless here. The same goes for my purple magic, neither my mind spells nor my true binding magic work on her. I don’t know how, but assuming this lamia is not an anomaly, all lamias seem to be immune to any kind of mental control. I suppose it’s one of the reasons why lamias are so difficult to capture.”
“Along with the fact that they are deadly predators,” Elzri said calmly. “I heard this one was found unconscious next to a pile of corpses.”
“Indeed. The lamia woke up a few hours ago, but she has barely moved an inch,” Vayu said.
“Does she have any major wounds? Perhaps trauma to the head?”
“No head injuries and the healer attended to her serious wounds while she slept. I don’t know why she seems so… distant.”
“Keep her alive. The lamia could prove to be a valuable font of information. There are other means of getting someone to talk.”
The basement door slammed open. A small blue figure barged in and glanced around the room.
“Hey, you can’t be down here!” the guard yelled.
“It’s fine,” Elzri said curtly.
“Stryg, you’re awake,” Vayu smiled.
Stryg glanced between the lamia in the cell and back at the two drow magi, “What’s going on? Why is she in a cage?”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Elzri asked coldly. “Lamias are dangerous, most are wild. This one is even worse, she worked for the Cairn, our enemy.”
“But she betrayed them, she protected my class,” Stryg frowned.
Elzri nodded, “So I heard and now I want to know why. As you can see, she has not been very cooperative.”
Stryg glanced at Vayu, “Can’t you read her mind or something?”
“Already tried, it doesn’t work,” he sighed.
“Stryg! Dammit, stop running!” a femenine voice called out from atop the stairs.
Elzri recognized the voice instantly.
Loh hobbled down the stairs with her crutch, surprise crossed her face as she spotted Elzri. “Grandfather?”
“And I was wondering why Stryg was down here,” Elzri said with a slight frown. “He should be recovering in bed, not visiting the garrison.”
Loh scowled, “I didn’t bring him down here, he smelled you or someone, I don’t know. The kid has heightened senses.”
Stryg’s attention was focused on the lamia. She didn’t move, her head hung low and she stared into space.
“...What are you going to do with her?” Stryg muttered.
Elzri looked at the boy thoughtfully, “The lamia is being uncooperative. Since magic seems to have failed, we will resort to more traditional methods.”
Stryg kept his eyes on the lamia, “Which are?”
“She will be taken to Hollow Shade with the other prisoners we managed to capture tonight. Once there, I will have experts torture the lamia until she breaks. Then we will extract whatever little bit of information is left in her muddled mind.”
“Then what?” Stryg asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Elzri said without a hint of emotion.
Vayu cleared his throat, “The lamia is a threat, she is a member of the Cairn Tribe. The only logical choice is execution; sacrifice her to the shade wall, as is custom when executing enemies of Hollow Shade.”
“...I see,” Stryg mumbled.
Loh grabbed his shoulder, “You don’t seem happy, I thought you hated lamias?”
Stryg tore his eyes away from the lamia and glanced at the keys dangling from Vayu’s waist, “Professor, may I see the keys to the cell, please.”
Vayu laughed, “What? No, of course not.”
Stryg didn’t waste another second. He walked over to the cell.
“~Stryg~ Kiddo, what are you doing?” Loh asked suspiciously.
“Stay away from the cage, boy,” Elzri warned.
He ignored their voices. The lamia sat still, her eyes vacant.
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“Stryg, back away slowly, that lamia is wounded, not incapacitated,” Vayu whispered.
Stryg curled his hands around the cell’s iron bars. He gritted his teeth and pulled his arms apart. His hands shook with effort, yet the iron bars did not budge.
“Stop it!” Loh yelled. “You’re badly injured. You’ll open your wounds!”
Stryg groaned as his muscles were stretched painfully, “She fought her allies because of me. She fought to protect me! I won’t let someone else die because of me, not again!”
“She protected you?” Elzri whispered.
Stryg spread his legs apart, gripped the bars tightly, and pulled with a hoarse scream of anger. The iron bars creaked. Lysaila slowly looked up at him. A flash of recognition crossed her indigo eyes. A petrified wail escaped her lips, she scuttled back, and curled herself into a ball in the corner of the cell.
Stryg’s strength gave out. His knees buckled underneath him, his arms slipped from the bars, and his head fell forward, bumping into an iron bar. Bright red blood seeped over his shirt.
“Stryg!” Loh hobbled to him. “I told you to stop. Fuck, you opened your wounds. We need to get you back to your bed.”
Stryg panted feebly and swallowed.
“Vayu, give me the key,” Elzri said.
“Huh?” Vayu mumbled.
Elzri didn’t bother to respond. He ripped the keys from Vayu’s waist and unlocked the cell door.
“Grandfather, what are you doing?” Loh frowned.
“Listening,” Elzri said. “Stryg, you may go in. I’ll be watching in case of anything.”
He nodded weakly, “Thanks.”
“No, this is insane!” Loh shouted.
“Loh, do you remember what we talked about a few hours ago? Whatever soothes the pain?” Elzri asked.
She froze, the memory still painfully fresh in her mind.
Her grandfather’s words echoed in her mind, “Give him whatever he needs to help soothe the pain, it’s the best we can do.”
Was this what her grandfather meant? Or did he have something else in mind? Loh wasn’t sure.
Stryg stumbled to his feet and dragged himself into the iron cell. Lysaila hissed at him from the corner of the cell.
Stryg grimaced in pain and gripped his bleeding chest, “...I’m not here to fight. I don’t know who you are, but I won’t let them kill you.”
“Stay away from me!” Lysaila bared her fangs.
With slow careful movements, Stryg lowered himself to the floor. His body hurt all over, pain pulsated through his sore muscles and broken bones.
He sighed, “I don’t like you, lamia. I actually dislike you very much. You attacked my friends back in Castle Mora, you almost killed them.”
“I don’t like you either, you fucking monster,” she glared at him.
Stryg flexed his fingers, his claws bright in the torchlight.
He hissed, “That’s right. We’re enemies, you damn snake... So why save me last night, huh? Why?”
She spat on the ground, “As if you don’t know.”
He lowered his hand, “Last night… When you were fighting… I felt something. I don’t know what or why, but I felt something. I looked into your eyes and I knew for a split moment, I knew, you felt it too. What aren’t you telling me?”
Lysaila twisted her lips, “...You’re serious, aren’t you? You don’t know?”
“You think I would waste my time asking you, if I did?”
She laughed in scorn, “So the Mortem child turns out to be as ignorant as the rest of us? Wonderful.”
Stryg cocked his head to the side. “Mortem?”
The name sounded familiar, where had he heard it?
“Why don’t you ask the old drow over there? He seems to be far more interested in this than either of us,” Lysaila smiled mockingly, black venom dripping from her fangs.
Elzri stayed silent, but he kept watching them from a distance, his expression indiscernible.
Stryg sighed, this was getting nowhere.
With painful motions, he pushed himself to his feet, “A favor for a favor. You saved my friends and me last night. I won’t let them kill you. Consider my debt repaid.”
“I am not afraid of death.”
He paused and looked at her, “Then what are you afraid of?”
She bit her lip, “Losing myself… again.”
He narrowed his eyes, “What does that mean?”
Loh cleared her throat, “Stryg, we don’t have to kill her, but we can’t let her go free either. She is a threat to all of us. Hell, just being in the cell with her is dangerous.”
Stryg shook his head, “Lysaila won’t hurt me.”
The lamia shivered with fear.
Stryg blinked, “...Lysaila? That’s your name, isn’t it? Why do I know that?”
Her face paled.
His eyes widened, “...You can’t hurt me, can you?”
He stepped closer to her. Lysaila tried backing away, there was nowhere to go.
Stryg didn’t understand why, but something was different. He slowly reached out and placed his hand between her breasts, his fingers resting above her beating heart. Her skin felt cold to the touch. He could feel her heart thrum with a rapid, terrified pounding. Suddenly it quieted, the heartbeat slowing to a calm rhythm. Lysaila’s eyes widened, her breath grew quiet.
Silver sigils stemmed out from her chest and across her skin. More silver sigils gradually began appearing all over her body as if they had always been there.
Stryg swallowed and looked into her vacant eyes, “...What are you?”
“...A weapon, sovereign,” she mumbled blankly.
Stryg stumbled backwards, confused. Lysaila fell over, the silver sigils faded as quickly as they had appeared.
Elzri flicked his fingers, yellow mana coursing through him. A powerful gust of wind smashed the prison guard into the wall. His head smashed into the stone bricks with a splatter of blood. The guard collapsed to the ground, dead.
“What the fuck!? You didn’t need to kill him!” Loh yelled.
“Do you know what just happened with Stryg?” Elzri asked quietly.
Loh glanced at Stryg, he sat at the opposite corner of the cell, holding his trembling hand. His eyes stared at Lysaila cautiously. As for the lamia, her body was on the floor, unable to move, yet her eyes glared at him with pure rage.
“...I don’t think anyone understands what just happened,” Loh gulped.
“Exactly, we cannot risk this getting out,” Elzri said grimly. “Vayu, arrange for this to be cleaned up. If anyone asks, tell them that the guard disrespected me, a city lord of Hollow Shade. They won’t ask anything else after that.”
“Yes, Lord Noir,” Vayu bowed.
Elzri pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Congratulations, Stryg. You’ve gotten your wish. The lamia will be released once we arrive in Hollow Shade, on several conditions that we will discuss later.”
“This is crazy, you can’t just let her free,” Loh said exasperatedly.
“This isn’t up for debate,” Elzri said.
“Why? I don’t understand why you are doing this,” she frowned.
“If my theory is right,” Elzri said cautiously, “I’d rather not keep a budding Mortem mage away from his beast-kin. Everyone, pack your things, we leave for Hollow Shade at first light.”
~~~
A Few Days Later…
Stryg glanced out the carriage window, the ebon black walls of Hollow Shade loomed above him. The city’s banners hung from above the wall, depicting a black sun and a skull at the center.
As they neared the gate, Stryg spotted the familiar arcane words, “Protection of Death” etched into the black magestone above the gate.
He felt a painful pit grow in his stomach as he noted a large procession at the gate. The crowd was formed of several armored warriors along with various men and women dressed in black cloaks. At the front of the procession stood two men, Lord Gale and Lord Veres IX.