"You should have held your tongue," Ylyssa hissed into my ear as soon as we'd gotten about ten feet down the hallway. I was surprised she could get in so close while the walls were still so tight.
"You should have let Aleksei tear Syjen limb from limb," I shot back, not turning my head to look at her. "That would have solved at least two of your problems."
"Aleksei's like that with every woman; it seems to be a cultural thing," Ylyssa said quietly.
"Oh, please. Every woman he sees, he grabs them up into his arms at once? The protectiveness I believe, but the comfort he shows with you-"
"Was my mistake. You've never seen a captive grow fond of their captor? Never seen a wild man warm toward a woman that could keep them under control?" The walls edged back, and Ylyssa immediately pushed forward to grab my arm. I looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"And your mistake was allowing this- captive's crush- to continue? Allowing Aleksei to feel as though his rather obvious advances were acceptable?" I stopped walking, and Ylyssa whirled around to fix furious eyes on me. "Or was the mistake encouraging him?"
"Judge me, since you're so wise," she spat, shaking my arm. "Tell me, am I better than Syjenge, or even worse?"
"I have two spells to work, now," I replied simply. "Apparently, I'm to be marketed as a teller of fortunes, or some such idiocy. But I can't do anything useful for anyone if I'm standing here doling out judgement for you."
"You think I'm useless, don't you? A flouncy Elf who can't be bothered to wipe her own ass, just as you said before." She searched my eyes for something- I wasn't sure what. Weakness? Compassion? Forgiveness?
"I think that these walls are as bad for your health as they are for Uirrigaen, and his race. I think that the forefathers of your clans, or tribes, or clutches, or whatever it is that you call them- that they were short sighted and cruel. And I think that you should learn to respect the Elves that were forced to live in places like this, and make their lives there."
We walked down to Bahlzair's lair in silence.
At first, it seemed as though there were no one there. I stood by the hearth, which still held enough heat for me not to want to touch flesh to it. Ylyssa walked all the way into the place, then walked past me to look out into the hall.
"He cannot cross my wards, I know, so where..." she mused.
And then Bahlzair came out of the hearth.
My eyes widened, but I crushed my lips together to prevent any sound from escaping me. There was a sliding sound, probably Ylyssa turning around, and then a sudden hum of surprise and confusion. This melted into a pleasant sound, then soured into something not unlike a muffled scream.
The weight on my ankles dissipated, and I closed my eyes.
"May we never meet another such friend."
"I don't want him to die like that," I whispered, not turning. I didn't have to. Once her voice had died away, I knew Ylyssa was dead. "I want him to be naked, like Silveredge, and screaming aloud, like Uirrigaen. And I want as many witnesses to his slow, painful death as possible."
"Then it is good that I am speaking with the kobolds, yes?" rumbled a most familiar voice. "There are many of them sharing that wish for some time now."
"Oh, now m'lord speaks Common!" I hissed, feigning annoyance. "What an act, you pageant prancer; I wish I had roses for you."
Aleksei smiled and shrugged- the closest to an apology that he could get. "A long time ago, I am learning that I can go as I like, and listen, when no one is thinking that I am understanding. So I am doing this very often. And someone is making diversions necessary, hmm? So I am thinking, 'Maybe it is time to-' what? 'Bury the shovel?' No?"
"The axe, Aleksei," I laughed. "One would say it's time to 'bury the axe' when a quarrel is over. Why would anyone bury a shovel?" I turned around to see Ylyssa's body lying on the ground, wide eyed and puffy faced, stuck in a mask of horror.
"You would use the same shovel again to dig your farmland after burying the diseased dead? You would not bury, or burn, the shovel that is touching that?" Aleksei replied, also looking down at Ylyssa's body.
Bahlzair snapped his fingers, and we both looked up at him. Well, I looked up at him.
Aleksei is seven feet tall, and probably hasn't had to look up to anyone a day in his life.
Bahlzair turned away from us, bustled around behind the hearth for a moment, and produced Silveredge's katars. I stretched out my hands, and he placed the hilts in my palms, fixing me with a penetrating stare.
"She'll get them. I was at the other edge of these, once. They belong in her hands."
Bahlzair slid his hands away, leaving a foul smelling trail on the edges of the blades. Having witnessed what he'd just done to Ylyssa, I would have considered them poisoned even if he'd only looked at them.
And that, I thought to myself, is what Aleksei meant when he first told me about him.
"The Elves are not treating the kobolds well, and there are many more kobolds than Elves," Aleksei smiled. "Without Ylyssane, it will be simple to crush them."
"May their killing be beautiful," I replied.
Bahlzair smiled wickedly, pointing to the bare walls where I'd first seen his shelves full of strange bottles of things. Scrawled on the walls was some hideously dark script, winding all the way around the room. As I watched, the script began to run out of the room and down the hall, turning the hallways nearly black.
"Good," Aleksei grunted. "Destroying this place is the best thing anyone is doing for it in a long time."
I remembered that there were so few actual lamps that the place would be practically midnight black without Ylyssa's persistent cantrip. While it would be useful for my purposes, it could also be an indicator to Syjen that something had gone horribly wrong. I slipped by Aleksei, katars in hand, hoping that I could find Silveredge before Syjen decided to take any revenge on her.
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