At the echoing footsteps, Silveredge pulled away from me so quickly that for a few moments, I wondered if she were angry at me. I laid down, since everyone else was in a position of rest, and thought over my brief relationship with this servile creature that was as confusing as a chimera.
Beyond me, Syjen's calm voice split the relative calm.
"Come," he said quietly.
Silveredge wasted no time in bounding right up, and didn't even glance in my direction before walking out of the sight of my squinted eyes. A split second was spent in silence, with no one moving at all. Then came the problem.
"Bring the warrior witch out to me."
I felt Silveredge's fingers clamp around my wrist. Bristling, I flipped myself over, and surprise of all surprises, she went flying into the cave wall beyond me as though I'd really put some force behind the movement of my arm. She cried out, and I forced myself not to look at her.
"Bahlzair? Bahlzair," Syjen urged.
There was movement on the other side, so I assumed that the dark Elf at least stood up.
"I apologize; I see you were trying to get some rest. But if you wouldn't mind checking for any damage the witch may have caused?"
Bahlzair slowly crossed toward Silveredge. I laid still, an iron will crushing my curiosity and concern.
"Well, that's good," Syjen replied as though Bahlzair had given a favorable report. "Just grab that Infernal by her hair, won't you, and drag her out here? We'll leave you in peace to meditate for a few hours before we request some sustenance- thank you, I've got her. Grab the other, and we'll be gone."
In a few moments, I felt a painful clamp on my tail. I didn't have to pretend that the grip on my hair was unpleasant, and I squirmed as Bahlzair bodily picked me up, walked me to the other side of his area and literally dropped me on my behind on the floor in front of Syjen, who was carefully remaining outside of the stone arch that began Bahlzair's area.
"I do wish you enjoyed our little gatherings," Syjen breathed, smilingly. "You're so forceful, so furious after all this time. But, I understand." Syjen's countenance changed- a wave of regret so palpable that it nearly changed the temperature of the hallway radiated from him. "Torrential downpours, should they spend their strength each day for hundreds of years could not wash the blood out of your eyes."
The sea green Eladrin's sudden dive into poetic language made me feel as though I'd somehow hopped into a terrible pageant. I turned my head and watched the dark Elf raise his head slightly with his impenetrable scowl etched deeply into his face.
"Why don't you take your revenge? Why don't you end this?" Syjen charged, his remorseful tone soaring into rage without warning. Bahlzair snorted, unimpressed, and turned around to walk calmly back into his cavern. Of course, Syjen couldn't follow.
"Loves to see you suffer, I bet," I scoffed as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't blame him; it looks good on you."
And Syjen, in one liquid movement, turned and graced my face with a slap so beautiful, it could have been written into a song. I stared down at the floor with confusion for two reasons, one being the suddenness of the strike itself.
The other was a sound, so small that I barely heard it myself, that should have given Silveredge's gloriously effective pretense away.
She gasped.
No dominated creature would so much as blink at any damage caused by their master, unless it were damage to their own person. There was no way in Baator that Silveredge should have had any reaction at all for Syjen's violence toward me. I bit my lip, hoping that Syjen hadn't noticed.
"You'll pay dearly if there are any internal wounds inflicted on this creature," Syjen charged as he reached forward and pulled me to my feet. "Come." He began moving quickly down a narrow hall to the left, and Silveredge trotted after him.
Suddenly, I felt that unusual weight all over me again, momentarily making it difficult to move at Syjen's pace. The sensation left me quickly, but I still slowed my advance at random, just to be an annoyance.
The floor of the cave began descending, but the torches in the walls were real and bright. No debris of any kind littered it, and after a few moments of forced marching, it actually began to smell good- like perfumes and food. At that point, I remembered how famished I was, and my stomach roared like a dragon.
"Is that so?" Syjen remarked, not pausing or looking over at me. I didn't wish to gratify him with an answer.
I actually heard music a bit farther down, and I was sure that I was going insane, until we came to some kind of great hall where the walls sprung back just as they did in Uirrigan's chamber. Whatever it might have been before the collapse of the Avariel city, it was clear that Syjen was using it as a feasting hall- there were throw rugs and comfortable looking pillows, all taken up by male Eladrin- there were four of them lounging around, picking at half full plates, and drinking. The source of the music was a slender Human female, with thick hair chopped short to the shoulders and chains that linked her to her saffron yellow-skinned master. She was soullessly playing a lyre and singing some nonsense tune, but it apparently pleased him to death, and he clapped along. An unchained Halfling was dancing to her music, and a light blue skinned Eladrin had his fist planted firmly under his chin, watching her with a filthy smile.
Other noise captured my attention, and I turned to see that a dazed Aleksei was shambling around in the back of the room, bound by the neck to the wall. He was arguing about something- I wasn't sure what- with some female about a third of his size. I tried not to catch his gaze.
"Here is the Tiefling," Syjen spat, pushing me to the floor on the far side of the fire. "Has some kind of innate magic; I haven't been able to tell what. Ylyssane is quite convinced that my slave was previously hers."
Some hums of assent went up from the assembled group.
"And has Uirrigaen tested her blood?" the yellow skinned one said, sitting up from his reclining position on the floor and taking a good look at my thighs.
"Yes, although not comprehensively. I think that last subject's death made him- unduly wary. He's growing too soft now-"
"How long do you think before the old bag just shuffles off the edge, either mentally or physically?" the blue skinned Eladrin charged, sounding a bit annoyed. "He hasn't done quality work in some time; you said yourself that you have to trust a dark Elf to get any good food made."
My stomach growled again, loud enough for at least the first few party goers to hear. With laughter, an oddly rotund Eladrin waved to the dancing Halfling.
"Dana! Bring your dear sister some food and drink," he commanded, pointing to me. "What's her name?" he asked Syjen. "And why are you still holding her?"
"Mi'ishaen, and she's dangerous," Syjen replied. "Uirrigaen returned her weapons to her for the experiment-"
"Well, that's easily solved," the Eladrin replied, making a broad sweep of his clay-colored hand. My tail knife became much heavier than normal, and I tried unsuccessfully to turn to look at it. "Metal to stone, dear- low cost spellwork, and easily done without a verbal component. Mi'ishaen, was it? Yes. Now, why don't you sit and eat? Come on, be a dear, we won't harm you."
I looked around at all the pairs of eyes and found that genuinely hard to believe. Dana bounced up to me with a full plate of steaming stew, smiling a smile that wasn't quite her own. I recoiled.
"Maybe she'll respond better to her own former slave?" the heavy Eladrin shrugged. "Dana is sweet, but perhaps not as good to her as her own. And say, I wouldn't blame her. Look at those absolutely fetching platinum eyes. Kept the best for yourself, if I may say so."
The other Eladrin hummed and made other noises of agreement, and Syjen let me go, slowly stripping me of my now useless weapons.
"I'll put them with Aleksei's," he muttered, moving toward the back. "Jyklihaimra, feed Mi'ishaen."
I sat down slowly, somehow aware that I was just as much a performer as the lyre player and the dancer. Silveredge took the plate from Dana and knelt before me, turning her back toward the assembly. She ignored the spoon that Dana had brought, instead putting her own fingers into the hot stew and reaching out to me.
I cannot explain just why this madness was acceptable to me, but in that moment, going insane felt good. I leaned forward and gently enclosed the tips of her fingers in my mouth, happy that the food was well made and that she was really quite used to being burned. Beyond us, the Eladrin gathering made various sounds of content or surprise, Sygen included.
"Very nice: you should sell them as a set," one of them commented. It sounded as though it was the high tenor blue skinned one. "Even if they got not a stitch of housework done, to be sure the client would enjoy watching moments like this."
Silveredge must have been just as hungry as I was, because it wasn't long before her own stomach began making telling noises. I gently and wordlessly convinced her to put the next handful of food into her own mouth, and was greeted with an almost imperceptible hum of gratitude. Encouraged, I began digging my fingers in to the stew to feed her as she continued to feed me.
"Oh, how sweet- no, don't stop them, it may be the last time they get the chance. Let's not bother the sweet little warlock. You should properly feed your slaves, then they wouldn't be doing things like this," Dana's master admonished. "I can hear both of their hollow little tummies from here; I'd never starve my dear little Dana. Yes, my darling, Master's talking about you! Yes, he is! Now, say, have you done anything with that scaly fellow in the back other than get him drunk? I'm a little concerned about leaving Imael's girl back there with him."
"I'm not too worried," the blue skinned one replied. Of course he wasn't. He was still staring at Dana, who had gleefully snuggled up on her master's healthy belly like a little puppy.
"Drunk is about as close to docile as I can get him," Syjen responded from somewhere. "His command of the Common is poor, and there's no way he'll learn any variant of Elven, so that makes his understanding of the domination spell tenuous at best. I'll sell him with the iron shackles, and you'll have to use them quite often, believe you me. I suggest learning the dimensional shackles spell as well, and can have my mate teach it to you, for about a hundred gold extra. The missing tail tip doesn't affect his balance, and he somehow compensates remarkably well for the loss of sight in his left eye... I must confess that I'm not sure how."
"But what precisely should a paying client do with him, if he's half blind and difficult to manage?" the yellow skinned Eladrin asked, pausing in his clapping for a moment.
"He's... entertaining... while inebriated," Syjen replied slyly. "Well blessed in all physical aspects-"
I wasn't really listening at that point. My belly was warm and getting full, and Silveredge surprised me again by adventuring to kiss my fingers before she ate the food I gave her. She had spied the hand with crushed fingers, and had rested her hand gently on top of it. Both of us seemed in a world of our own, so distant from the present conversations, and definitely different than the Mi'ishaen and Silveredge that had come at each other with blades just a short time ago.
Different and yet the same, somehow. Even I couldn't make heads of tails of it at that time.
"Oh, yes, sweet Dana, you're so perceptive, I- ooh, oooooh, that's a good girl."
I looked over Silveredge's shoulder, and my eyes widened in complete surprise. Dana was being a very good girl indeed, and every question I ever had about Ylyssa's anger toward Syjen and Silveredge was immediately answered.
"Oh, sorry- I've bothered your warlock. She may have a hard time continu- oommmnnn, Dana- Dana, wait. We're being disruptive."
Dana didn't seem to want to do as she was told, so he enforced his command by holding her head back by her hair. I felt like screaming, fighting, and vomiting all at once.
"Come, Jyklihaimra-" Syjen began, but then apparently thought better of it as Silveredge stood immediately, the stew that had been in her hand falling heedlessly to the floor. "Pick up the dish and put it away. Then bring back a throw rug for Mi'ishaen."
In the back, Aleksei now pushed the female creature away from him- it looked like a common Elf of some sort. She was apparently attempting to give him more to drink, and he pushed her back with such force, that she wound up wearing it. Instantly sorry, he stumbled over and picked her up to see if he could help. She screamed and dropped the cup, panicked that such a huge creature was lumbering toward her with little motor control.
"Calm down, Thene, he's soused," the blue skinned Eladrin smiled stickily. "Give him a kiss; that'll make him feel better."
Thene stopped screaming at once, but gave Aleksei a kiss worthy of a stone golem. Aleksei appeared just as surprised and suspicious as I was.
"Again, Thene, like you mean it. Then come and serve me."
I turned away without seeing the orders carried out, disgusted. Silveredge brought back the throw rug, and an uncontrollable fury lit every drop of blood in my veins on fire.
"This is ridiculous!" I protested, standing up. "This isn't done even in temples- all you flouncy Elves are- are disgusting!"
My shouts surprised the musical slave into silence at last, and for a moment, absolutely everyone in the room was looking at me.
"You know, she's quite right," Dana's master said slowly, without breaking his gaze. "Here we expect her to perform while we are all watching. That may be perversion for Tieflings- who were, as we should all know, mere Humans about three hundred years or so ago. She may have serious, deep and delicate feelings for her girl that were left untouched by the Hells. If so, she would find this upsetting, maybe even- dare I say it- sinful." He pushed his robes down and released his confused slave's messy hair. "Dana, please sit properly. We must be more considerate. This was very rude of us, my dear Mi'ishaen. I most humbly apologize."
The words were meant to be calming, I somehow knew, but instead of being so, they sent me flying even further into a total panic. My eyes teared, my skin crawled, and my stomach lurched. My lungs burned, and I couldn't even speak.
In the back of the room, Aleksei must have decided that enough was enough. The chain that had been holding him to the wall was a joke, and when he focused enough to turn around and simply pull it out, it only took him two tries to make the bolts squeal, strain and break through the stone. With Thene in the crook of his left arm, he did his best to get to me, sending two Eladrin masters and the musical slave alike skittering away from his unsteady advance. I noticed that the chains that bound his hands to his feet were not particularly helpful to the grace of his movement.
"He's monstrously strong, isn't he?" Dana's master laughed, having stayed precisely where he was. "Hey, hey you, put the Sylvan down before you pick up the Tiefling. If you hold them both, the wood Elf will catch on fire, you see."
Despite the inherent stupidity of the statement, Aleksei turned with some difficulty and cautiously laid Thene down on one of the unoccupied throw rugs. He then turned to reach both arms to me, and I walked over, waving a hand to get him to stand down.
"It's okay, Aleksei; rest yourself-" When I caught his eyes, I saw a strangely pure desire that I'd only known once before. The memory that echoed in my mind ached horribly, but I tried to play it off. I smiled as brightly as I could, with still-misty eyes, and patted his left arm. "You can rest."
A stout-scented grunt of assent washed over me, and Aleksei sat down, wrapping his worrisome three-quarter tail around me protectively. He yawned widely, belched, and looked down at me with a bleary smile.
"We're being disruptive," I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest and looking at Syjen pointedly.
"Your unbroken ones are entertaining indeed," Dana's master enthused, obviously pleased with my use of his words. "Oh, sit down, you cowards. Are you all still scared?"
"Syjen, you can't sell them," one of the other Eladrin managed. "Maybe you can keep them like you kept the dark Elf... who makes astonishingly good Spiderblood brew. He maybe went a little strong on the Roo for the Dragonborn?"
"They will merely require extra subjugating tactics. I'm sure a strong and competent master would be more than capable of taking them home tonight." Syjen merely beckoned Silveredge over with two fingers and had her spread the throw rug before him.
"Do it, and I'll kill you," I threatened.
Aleksei stirred from his sleepy daze at once, looking up from me to Syjen with a growl.
"Better yet," came a familiar voice from behind me. "I'LL kill you."
For the first time, I was quite glad of Ylyssa's presence.
"Get out, you layabouts! You're all just here to spoil yourselves, hiding from your partners and delighting yourselves with every manner of female creature not properly wedded to you. Why do you make this grave even more unbearable for those of us who have to try to live in it?" The gathered men made motions as though they would leave, but since they moved with a noticeable slowness, her anger sparked even brighter.
"Get out- get out, I said- GET OUT!" she screamed, entering the room and chucking fireballs after people.
Aleksei watched with little interest, and I figured that whatever alcohol he'd drank was now truly forcing him to doze off. Beyond him, Syjen had taken refuge at the back of the room, leaving Silveredge to stand still as a stone while fireballs roared past her. For all the distaste she'd had for the Shadar-kai upon her acquisition, Ylyssa didn't even pretend to singe Silveredge. When the place was cleared and nearly half burned, Ylyssa sat down on the rug closest to her, put her head on her arms and- shockingly enough- began sobbing.
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