“Right, sorry. Izzy’s an elf?”
“Half-elf, half-nymph.”
“Right!” Vyns seemed to finally clue in. “Wait… I just saw her. When I was sneaking down here to find you, she seemed to be sleeping up in the library!”
I sighed. “Thank the Skies!” I rushed by him. “Come on!”
Sending him to Elysial would have to wait. We had a princess to save.
IZZY
Paintore me from an unsettled sleep.
Someone yanked my hair hard enough to pull my head up off the table. It hurt like hell!
“Hey, fuck! Stop it!” I said, coming awake quickly and blindly lashing out. I hit something. Someone grunted, but the pain didn’t stop; they hadn’t let go.
I looked around wildly as I was lifted from my chair and saw… Saldrea and her three goons surrounding me.
Fuck.
The dwarven woman was the one holding me, the one I’d hit. In return she punched me in the gut so hard it felt like she’d rearranged my organs.
I coughed out a breath, then couldn’t seem to get it back as the dwarf slammed me down to the floor and sat on me.
I rasped, not even able to gasp in a full breath as Saldrea’s face filled my view.
“I’m going to undo the binding on you,” she whispered with a sadistic grin. “Then I’m going to have Neya turn you into a toad so I can rip you apart and heal you, over and over again!”
The woman was insane. If I’d had any doubts before this, they were gone.
I couldn’t respond, couldn’t fight, could barely catch a breath.
Saldrea slapped me so hard blood burst in my mouth. Then she clamped her hand over my face and closed her eyes, concentrating.
Doctor Pointy-Ears hadn’t been able to undo the binding on me, but Saldrea… could she? Was she that much stronger?
I didn’t get my answer right away. Whatever Saldrea was doing it took time. And her face contorted more and more in frustration and fury and determination.
“Fucking hell!” she hissed. “Who did this fucking binding? It’s already weakened and I still… Fuck!”
Ha! Maybe she couldn’t undo it and I was safe… at least safe from being turned into a toad. Not really safe with these four ganging up on me.
“There!” Saldrea finally cheered and something shifted within me.
Oddly, it felt… good. That little bit of pain lingering from my ordeal this afternoon vanished. And though I’d never been able to discern the subtle changes to my eyes or ears or hair before, I suddenly had a knowing that I was whole. I looked how I was supposed to look!
And with the restoration of my form and body… came a much-needed breath.
That was all I needed. Because after this change, I also feltdamned strong. I yelled through Saldrea’s hand clamped over my lips and pushed hard, sitting up and throwing Saldrea and her dwarven friend off me.
I shot to my feet and quickly looked for my best escape route.
“Wait…” Hana, the sylph, gasped. “She’s an elf?”
Who? Saldrea? No… wait… me?She was looking at me.
“An elf?” Saldrea hissed from the floor in shock. “No… a half-breed! Disgusting!” Her horror was clear on her face, and luckily, she seemed stunned enough by this revelation that she didn’t immediately get up.
