Lady Ruin

It was the whip’s reaction that helped her understand why she felt such rage. The whip was using the repugnance she felt upon seeing her uncle’s transformation to goad her into attacking him. She hadn’t realized the creature could be that subtle. There was no way she was going to allow the tentacle whip to control her, and so she stopped three feet from her uncle and lowered her sword to her side.

She gritted her teeth against the rage still roiling inside her and forced herself to speak calmly. “I don’t know what went wrong with the experiment, Uncle, but you have to let us help you. You can’t survive long with three symbionts attached to your body.”

Elidyr grinned at Lirra as if what she’d said was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. But it wasn’t her uncle who responded to her words: It was Sinnoch.

“If your uncle was an ordinary human, you’d be correct,” the dolgaunt said. “But he’s become something more, something better. He’s far more than a mere human now.” The dolgaunt paused, and though it didn’t have eyebrows exactly, Lirra had the impression the creature frowned. “Though to be honest, I’m not certain precisely what he is, but I imagine we’ll have a great deal of fun trying to find out. Don’t you?”

You should kill him too, whispered a voice in her mind, and she’d have been hard- pressed to say whether the thought originated with her or the symbiont. Again she felt the rage, so strong this time that it nearly overwhelmed her, but she fought it down and managed to stay in control, if only just.

“Be silent, dolgaunt,” she said. “I’m not talking to you; I’m talking to my uncle.”

Sinnoch’s inhuman mouth twisted into an amused smile, but from the way the tendrils on top of his head writhed, Lirra knew the dolgaunt was irritated with her. She’d never been able to read the aberration’s body language before, and she realized that becoming bonded with the tentacle whip had somehow granted her a deeper understanding of the denizens of Xoriat. But sympathy did not accompany that understanding. She still wanted to ram her sword blade into the dolgaunt’s cadaverous chest and thrust the needle-sharp tip through his heart- assuming the foul thing even had a heart. But she resisted. Just because she was bound to a symbiont didn’t make her a creature like Sinnoch. Not even close. As satisfying as it would be to destroy the dolgaunt-and the way she felt right now, it would be most satisfying indeed-Lirra was a highly trained soldier, and she only killed when there was no other course of action available to her.

A sullen thought drifted through her mind: Spoilsport.

“Nothing went wrong today, child,” Elidyr said. “Everything went very, very right.” He flexed the fingers of his crawling gauntlet, and the stormstalk draped around his shoulders swayed back and forth, keeping Lirra fixed with its single overlarge eye. “I’ve been cooped up in this damned lodge too long. I’d like to take a stroll, get out and stretch my legs a bit. I see things so very differently than I did before. I wonder what the world will look like through these new eyes of mine.” He grinned. “I can’t wait to find out.” He turned toward Sinnoch. “Look after the Overmantle for me, will you? I’ll be back for it.”

The dolgaunt inclined his head. “As you wish.”

Elidyr then looked over to where Ksana was ministering to his fallen brother. “I’d say farewell to Vaddon, but it appears as if he’s somewhat preoccupied at the moment.” He turned back to Lirra, still grinning. “Be a good girl and tell your father that while I’ve enjoyed working together, I think it’s time I went into business for myself. And as for you, my dear, have fun with your new pet. I think the two of you are going to get along magnificently.”

And with that, Elidyr began walking toward the chamber’s exit.

Lirra started after him. “I can’t let you go, Uncle. You’re not in your right mind, and in your condition, you’re a danger to yourself and others.”

Elidyr stopped and turned around to face her. His grin was even wider than before, and his gaze shone bright with madness.

“My sweet child, you have no idea what a danger I truly am.”

Elidyr made no movement, but the stormstalk perched on his shoulders suddenly stiffened and a bolt of lightning blasted forth from its eye. Crackling energy struck Lirra full on the chest. She staggered backward as pain coursed through her body and her muscles went rigid. Her vision grayed at the edges and she thought she would lose consciousness, but as quickly as it came, the pain receded, her muscles unlocked, and her vision cleared.

You’re stronger now, a voice whispered inside her. We’re stronger …

Without thinking, she flicked her left arm forward, and the tentacle whip uncoiled, sending its barbed tip flying toward Elidyr’s face. Moving with inhuman speed, the artificer raised his crawling gauntlet in time to intercept the whip. Crustacean-like claws closed around the whip’s barb, and Elidyr gave a vicious yank. The artificer was now far stronger than he had been before becoming fused with his symbionts and receiving the touch of a daelkyr lord, and Lirra-unable to resist his strength-was pulled stumbling toward Elidyr. Overwhelming fury surged through her. She was a Karrnathi warrior, and she refused to be defeated!

She still retained a grip on her sword, and she brought it swinging around in a wide arc toward the stormstalk, determined to slice through the grotesque thing and, if possible, through her uncle’s neck as well. Part of her was horrified at the realization that she was ready to kill Elidyr when only a moment before she’d wanted to help him. But that part was as nothing compared to the white-hot battle-fury raging inside her, and she gave herself over to it completely, unable to resist.

Elidyr opened his mouth wide and the tongueworm shot forth. It wrapped around Lirra’s wrist and pushed her sword arm upward, deflecting her strike. The blade whistled through the air above Elidyr’s head, doing no damage to either the stormstalk or its master. She fought to bring her sword back in a reverse strike, but the tongueworm held her arm fast, preventing her.

Two can play at this game, she thought.

She gave a mental command to the tentacle whip, and though its barbed tip was still held tightly in Elidyr’s gauntlet, it had plenty of length left to fight with. Its coils extended upward toward the artificer’s head, looped around his neck, and began to squeeze. However strong Elidyr had become and whatever fell powers he now possessed, he still needed to breathe.

Elidyr had been grinning the entire time they fought, and though his face began to turn a dark red as the tentacle whip strangled him, his grin didn’t waver. The stormstalk swiveled its head toward the whip and unleashed another bolt of lightning, but though Lirra felt the same agony course through her body as before as the energy passed through the whip and into her, she was ready for the pain now, and it came and went quickly. Let the damned stalk loose bolt after bolt of energy at her. She’d endure the pain and stand strong while Elidyr’s lungs cried out for air. It would only take a few moments before he lost consciousness, and a few more after that for him to die. And then she, with but a single symbiont, would’ve defeated an opponent who wielded three! A glorious victory indeed!

No! We can’t kill him! she thought.

Watch us! came the reply, and she couldn’t tell if the thought was the whip’s, hers, or if it belonged to them both.

The coils tightened further around Elidyr’s neck, and the artificer’s face edged toward deep purple. Still grinning, he raised his left hand, the one without the gauntlet, and extended it palm forward toward Lirra. The air around the artificer’s hand wavered, like heat distortion rising off the ground in the summertime. A sudden wave of vertigo gripped Lirra and her stomach twisted with nausea. Her vision blurred, sharpened, blurred again, and all the strength drained out of her body. Her muscles were weak as water, and she slumped to the floor, dropping her sword in the process. Whatever Elidyr was doing, it affected the tentacle whip as well. The symbiont’s coils loosened around Elidyr’s throat, and he released its barbed end from the grip of his crawling gauntlet. The whip hung slack from the artificer’s neck, and Elidyr reached up with both hands and easily removed the coils from around his neck and dropped them to the floor. The tongueworm then released its grip on Lirra’s wrist and retracted into Elidyr’s body. When the worm was once again concealed, the artificer gazed down at his niece.

“Did you enjoy that? It’s a little taste of Xoriat chaos energy. Don’t worry. You’ll recover in due course, though I’ll be long gone by then.” He paused and tilted his head, as if considering. “You know, I really should kill you right now while you’re helpless. I have a sneaking suspicion that it would make my life much easier if I did. But then again, what would be the fun in that? Farewell, Lirra.”

“Hold, artificer!”

Lirra couldn’t move her head to turn toward Rhedyn, but he quickly stepped into her line of sight, cloaked in shadow and gripping his sword. Seeing him filled Lirra with hope. It seemed he had finally shaken off the effect of