I’d done the right thing, but I still had to play the part of Saldrea’s lackey until my sister was free.
Thankfully, Hana was preoccupied with tormenting the angel and wouldn’t have overheard those thoughts. I stilled my mind and put all of that away for now, going hard once more, enduring what I must, until I was free to act as I wished.
“Now, Bayn,” Saldrea said. “I want you to pay attention. I see how you look at me. I’ve tried to beat it out of you. I’ve tried to beat it out of your sister, but you haven’t changed. So… consider this an object lesson. This is what I do to people who go against me.” She smiled, a twinkle in her eyes. She was happiest when inflicting pain on others.
I nodded, not sure why she thought hurting someone else would change my mind. Though the fact that she knew how I felt was worrying. I’d need to calm my emotions even more for the next few hours; after that… with luck, Wensuria would be free and I could repay Saldrea a debt of pain.
Saldrea turned to Izzy. I gave my attention to the half-breed woman as well. She had been sleeping when we arrived, but a warning from her angel had roused her. She stood, arms crossed, boldly facing us down. Her eyes darted toward the angel, showing her concern for him. I found that fascinating. She was about to be tortured and was worried for another. I didn’t think any elf could be that compassionate. And her defiance in the face of Saldrea’s impending torment was admirable.
I had to respect the woman’s strength.
I’d seen so many others fall apart at the mere mention of Saldrea’s torture.
Izzy didn’t flinch.
Which only angered Saldrea even more.
“Resist all you like,” Saldrea hissed, “but I swear I’ll make you scream. I won’t kill you. That honor I’ll save for tomorrow, but I’ll make sure you’re in so much agony from now till then that you can’t rest, can’t sleep. I’ll heal you… mostly… before the fight tomorrow, so it looks like a fair fight, but it won’t be. You’ll be an exhausted mess, still suffering on the inside while I slowly kill you.”
Saldrea’s words had no effect. Izzy stood there, resolute. In fact, a small smile crept onto the woman’s face.
“You’ve made a mistake,” Izzy said.
“Have I? Tell me?” Saldrea was quickly losing her shit.
“No.” Izzy said simply. “I know, and that is enough.”
“Gah!” Saldrea screamed. If this had been a contest of which woman could make the other scream first, Izzy had won. But I doubted Izzy would like what came next.
Stone rose up from the floor to encompass Izzy’s feet. At the same time, two arms of stone reached out from the wallbehind her to grab her shoulders, restraining her. Then the earth at her feet moved her back while the arms dragged her toward the back wall. There was a bed in the way, but Saldrea paid it no mind forcing Izzy’s body back even as her legs hit the small cot.
Izzy grimaced, eyes wide with pain, but managed to restrain any scream as her body and the bed fought against each other. Izzy’s body won… mostly… The metal frame of the bed was crushed sideways as the bones in Izzy’s legs broke. It was a testament to elven durability that the bed had collapsed before Izzy’s legs had been torn apart. Any unenhanced race would have two bloody stumps below the knee right now.
Saldrea laughed, a gleeful noise, clapping her hands together.
“Wonderful! Oh, look at your face. I’ll make you scream, I promise.”
The stone around Izzy shifted and moved, a band at her hips kept her pressed to the wall while her arms were pried away from her chest by grasping tendrils of rock. Her arms and legs were pulled out to the sides, till she was spread-eagle against the wall. This caused more of the bed to collapse and more pain to Izzy’s already injured legs.
Izzy gave a gasp of pain, but that was it.
Tough woman.
I couldn’t see what Saldrea did next, but I felt it with my earth powers, and saw its effect on Izzy. The half-breed’s eyes went wide, and her entire body went rigid, she bared her teeth, hissing, eyes watering at the pain… as a dozen thin spikes of stone were — very slowly — driven through her body from back to front. Two pierced her upper arms, two penetrated the soft spot inside of each shoulder, below the collarbone. Four sprouted from her stomach and two more bored their way through the soft portions of her hips, finding the gaps in her hip bones to come out close together low on her abdomen, probably just missing her reproductive organs. The last two slid through her thighs. Saldrea’s placement was perfect, inflicting maximum pain with little to no damage to any vital organs.
Izzy let out strangled little noises, but no scream. She drew in a shuddering breath then gave a hard, teeth-gritting smile.
“Nice… try,” Izzy muttered, clearly in pain, still fighting Saldrea.
For the first time in what seemed like ages, something stirred deep within me. Seeing this woman fight with nothing but her willpower sparked a passion I’d thought long gone. I’d been dead emotionally ever since Osserime’s betrayal, feeling little more than rage and emptiness. I’d never expected to feel much ever again. My grand plan was to get my sister back, make sure she was safe, then take her away from the horrors the elves — and our own family — had inflicted on us. Beyond that I’d expected nothing for myself, no joy, except insomuch as I got from seeing my sister free to live her life.
What I felt now wasn’t joy. If I experienced such an emotion while watching someone in pain, I’d be a monster. I’d be Saldrea. No, this was a feeling of interest, of curiosity tinged with awe, maybe a little pride. I couldn’t fight Saldrea the way I wished. Currently, I fought by doing as little as possible for her, but this woman — Izzy — she fought with everything she had, all the time.
I respected the hell out of that.
It had been a long time since I’d admired anyone for showing such strength of character and determination. Izzy shone with pure defiance, rebelling against everything thisworld stood for. A part of me found that fascinating. It made me want to see her live, see what she could do if she had a chance. Hell, if she became queen of the elves…
No, best not to think about that.
