Khyaris adbuptly turned from staring out at the woods atop the cliff that overlooked the beach. It had been nearly an hour after she had a glimpsed the black and tan wolf in the copse of trees that she was able to pull her eyes away.
            She began pacing the rooftop, hands clasped behind her back. Her face was clouded in thought and a hint of tightly coiled rage would momentarily flicker over her features. From time to time she looked up at deep brooding lavender clouds of a pre-dawn sky. There was a building storm coming in from the sea. It so echoed her inner mood that she felt it somehow comforting.
            Immediately behind her and to the left she heard a whisper of a footfall and turned to face the shadows there. A young man came forward. He dressed similar to herself in the dark overjacket of the Shadow Manta. His head dipped in a nod of respect, she inclined hers in the slightest nod of recognition and immediately turned to look down the beach at the waves crashing below.
            "Naveh. So how is she?" Her voice was cold and distant..but her nephew caught the glimmer of concern behind it.
            "Better. Very much so...she is even talking again," he allowed a trace of a smile to grace his lips. "And now we are thinking her healing is coming along a little too quickly" He glanced at Khyaris' back and noted that her only response was a curt nod.
            "And?" it seemed she spoke to the breeze that ruffled her close cropped hair rather than the man that stood behind her.
            Naveh shifted his feet, "And.. there is a gathering. Core Manta and some of our friends among the Common.. They want to discuss current matters..and your presence is requested .. There is a demand to kno--" He cut off as she turned and fixed him with a glare.
            "But of course they demand.. Of course they want answers.. If they need to be reminded then by all means.. Lets remind them why it is that we are allies." Though the words were spoken quietly there was a sharp twinge of impatience as she spat them. She strode right past Naveh and stepped across shadow and faded into the etherial smokiness of shadow essence. He followed behind her stepping thru the shadow and melding into the Shadow Realm, following her to their homeland, N'Teryan.

            Over two continents away from the rooftop of the Quickning House in Arangoth, where they had stood only moments before, Khayris and Naveh stepped from shadow into the SeaWard Enclave of the Shadow Manta. Deep in the underground levels of one of the seven great 'Sentinel' lighthouses that kept vigilance over SeaWards coastline was where the Shadow Manta had their hold.
            She and Naveh walked down a hallway on the way to the room where the others were waiting for them. At the entrance alcove of her 'office' she stopped and waved Naveh to move on. "I'll be in to join them shortly" He nodded in response and continued on.
            She entered and moved with ease thru the relative darkness to the back area of the office, up a short stair run into a lofted area where she had her makeshift living quarters. She nodded to the two attendants who stood by her charge and they silently moved away allowing her room. Khyaris gently sat at the edge of the bed and looked down on the small girl of about seven years. The childs hands where wrapped in bandages. The wrappings would've made her hands seemed over sized mittens except they were obviously the wrong shape, making the nature of her injury apparent. Circles of blood marked the places where every one of her fingers had been cut off.
            Khyaris took a controlled breath and reached to gingerly brush a few locks of hair from the child's forhead.
            "Mouse" came her soft voice "wake up..." The girl's eyes fluttered open, Khyaris moved quickly to catch the child's wrists before she could rub her eyes in an instinctive gesture. "Ssss. Be still.." Mouse looked on her and smiled "Sel-Wolf!" She immediately sat up, throwing her arms around Khyaris and hugged her as best she could. Khyar blinked as she looked down on the girl whos head was buried in her chest. Ever so gently she put her arms around the girl and returned the embrace. She had to listen hard to hear Mouse's muffled voice.
            "Th-They caught me Sel-Wolf...I-I'm sorry...I dint talk...H-H-He kept askin me...but I-I dint know...b-but he k-kept askin me.." Khyaris sucked a quiet breath as she cringed, closing her eyes she held the girl to her tightly and lowered her head.
            "I-I-I'm s-sorry they c-caught me..I w-wont.. ever-- "
            "Shhh Shhhhh... I know, Mouse.. I know.. Its fine.. you are safe now..shhhh" she continued to whisper and murmur comforting sounds as she rocked the girl till her sobs seemed to subside.
            "You're alive and thats whats important to me...Now hush" Her voice was soft and caring yet there was a gruff edge behind it. Placing her hands on the girls shoulders she gently pushed her away so that she could look down on her and wipe her tears away. Swallowing hard she shook her head and smiled down on the girl and whispered "You amaze me, Mouse.. you are so incredibly strong..." Taking great care she settled the girl back down on the bed.
            "I have to go now..I just wanted to see you before I talk to some people.."
            "I want to come" Mouse started to sit up again but Khyaris steady hand eased her back down.
            "Later. We will talk. And then there is someone I want you to see.. in Arangoth."
            "A-Arangoth?!"
            "Mouse. I want you to relax. Rest now. Do you hear me? Good." Khyaris stood slowly "I'll see you after I talk with these people"

            Khyaris strode to the head of the confrence table and surveyed those before her. The arguement she had heard outside seemed to have momentarily died in her wake though there were still uncomfortable murmurings. She nodded in turn to Corrina, Rhashad, Tolamet, Xalla-Ras, Vehruun, Hawk and Onyx Those others that made up the Manta Core --the elite comanders of the guild. Then her gaze turned on the others who crowded the room. Some where Manta some where not. She sat and in a casual air, addressed the room "Now good people. What ever could ever be the matter?"
            Immediately the voices of the Commoners rose up. Questions and accusations reguarding the recent chaos thru out the city. She let the din of voices go on without paying much heed to any of it while she surveyed the crowd of Commoners who had shown themselves trustworthy enough to be allowed inside the Shadow Manta Eclave. These citizens who had allied themselves with the Manta had been escorted here under extreme and rigorous conditions assuring that they couldn't possibly know where they were, how they got there, or how to get out on their own. She stopped when her gaze came upon Ven Ballan. She knew immediately this is the person who insisted she be here. As she spoke quietly the clamor of voices came to a grudging hush.
            "Ah.. Minister Ballan. Its good to see you are in good health inspite of the city's recent insanity. Please, how might I serve you?" She flashed her teeth in a smile that was on the feral side of friendly.
            "Not me, Dear Lady, these people. Tell us once again how you will serve us of SeaWard with this havoc you have caused. Because, for the life of me, I still cannot resolve that your cause is the same as the 'good people' as you put it" The man's gravelly voice was spoken as quietly as her own.. and carried just as well. "It is well known the Shadow Manta harbors a deep grudge with the Council of Lords as well as the Council of Merchants as that coup to bring down Toren Nicharion clearly indicated. Apparently that is not enough for you is it? Now, you will burn down the city and its people to meet your ends"
            "The Shadow Manta *are* the people of this city. We were born when the Overlord decided to reach out beyond his borders to crush a tribe of Zam`Rahi known as the Sha`Vandyr in order have exotic slaves in his House and mighty steeds in his stables. We were the dispossesed who refused to agree to the terms of the Overlords reign. Yes, there is a 'history' between the Manta and the Councils. There is no denying that. But the Sha`Vandyr were not the first nor the last who were broken.. If you look around you will see that it happens everywhere you look. In the city and outside of it. The fishers of Tellanka, The farmers of Sehnat Vale, The herders of the Borderlands. All of Northern N'Teryan is growing fat on the gold from the south. The Merchant Lords trade in gold and the bodies of slaves. We will *all* be slowly driven to our deaths if we allow it."
            "And your Shadow Manta will save us all from this, eh? I find that hard to believe. Your band of thugs, beggars and whores will free the city? Please tell me there is more to it than that."
            "First of all I dont believe myself or any Manta will stand to fight for the weak willed or weak hearted. If the people choose to stand back and watch us strikedown thier foes without taking a stand themselves, they will find that they will burn with the city. If the people rise they will find the Shadow Manta will be the blade in their hands and the fire under their feet.
            "Second Though we have seen fit to allow you to our hold there is much you dont know and will never know of the Shadow Manta or our methods and resources. We know how to strike, we have and we will continue to do so. The city has only had a taste of our fury. If we have to we will hold this city for long as it takes. All of N'Teryan will shake when its pride falls.
            "The inner decay that the Overlord speaks of is not us in the shadows of her spires.. it is the High Council of Lords, who fail to recognize slavery as blight on his very people. It is the Lords in league with the Merchant Lords who undercut the private commoners and erase their existance. Its the Honor Guards who pound on the doors of your places of worship to ensure you are preaching the 'proper' sermons. The city guards that beat as you go about scrambling for the crumbs and scraps that the cream of the city see fit to toss you. And if you arent a slave being worked to death, or a citizen whos livelihood is being chipped away from under you then.. you are worse than beasts..you are called useless, shiftless, leeches living off the 'good will' of the rich. If this is the richest city in all of N'Teryan then why do our children starve? Why are they taking our families from us? If it werent for the small comforts the shadows give you where would you be?"
            "We would be free. Free from oppression on one side and then being shoved to our deaths by your dark influence on the other. Before your little uprising the people weren't as troubled as they are now. You have brought sure death on us where as before there was some semblance of a meager yet peaceful life. With your cruel sense of justice you will have these people suffer for your holy war. Tell me, oh mistress of the Manta, what do you offer once you have toppled the Councils? A city in ruins -their families broken or dead, and then what?"
            "SeaWard will be returned to those who built it." Khyaris caught the motion of a person slipping thru the crowd closer to her. She looked on Mouse who had found her way into the confrence room and moved to stand by her side. She began to lift a hand that would motion the child away when the harsh laugh of the minister brought her back to the conversation.
            "Those who built it are long dead! Ghosts of a golden age. All thats left are the Seven Sentinels"
            "The Sentinels oversaw slaves die building this glory of N'Teryan and they are still witness to injustice. You and I know that we are all sickened by the Marhsal's acts upon citizen and rogue alike." Dark memories and accusations slipped past her carefully guarded rage. It swelled in her head till she could barely speak without slurring into her characteristic snarls, "This child had her fingers taken one by one in a game he calls 'Ten Questions'. Look on her and bring forth your claim of cruetly once more" Khyaris cursed herself inwardly as she realized she brought undue attention to Mouse with her angry words. Still she gave no indication of even noticing the girl fading into crowd. Her sea green eyes remained locked on the minister's, the haze of anger darkening.
            The minister hadn't even glanced toward Mouse. "Look on her yourself. See in her eyes she didn't answer because of you. She is one of your precious Shadow Manta. Next time she is caught they will take her tongue because she would rather die than betray you. No. I don't need to look on her. I see all this looking into your own eyes, Sel-Khyaris." He moved forward pulling from his place amonge the crowd to approach the table. His large hands set before him as he leaned onto the table across from her. When he spoke and his voice lowered to a hush. His intense words singled her out.. no longer adressing the Manta or their leader but the woman who was before him, "You are haunted. You know damn well what this jihad will cost. Your hatred so great, your bitterness so deep you will pay it in the blood of those you call 'your people', citizen and rogue alike."
            The murmurs of the Commoners silenced as those of the Manta rose in an unsettling buzz. Khyaris stood slowly. The color of her eyes seemed to swirl darkening into a smokey gray-green. The room seemed to drop in temperature by a few degrees. Her jawline tensed a pulse or two before she found her voice. Quiet though it was, the razor edge was unmistakeable.
            "The price has allready been paid. The reckoning is now at hand." Her voice rose in volume and she turned her gaze from the minister to address the whole room. "I promise you this I, Khyaris Sha`Vandyr, will burn my heart out fighting the curse upon us rather than silently endure its scourgings. I'll let you choose, Sietgarta" she used the ancient name of the city, "Die on your feet...or continue to live on your knees"

            While her words still rung in the air Khyaris turned her back and walked directly into Shadow Realm leaving the gathering behind her. The coolth of the Shadows closed in on her.. the sepulchral darkness cloying. The thick silence would've been absolute save for a singular voice that followed her.
            "Very well spoken, Khyaris. I remember that fire quite accutely." Hearing that voice caused her to shift direction in mid-meld. Immediately she pulled herself from the Shadow Realm into an outer hall of a temple. She turned quickly trying to see if the owner would follow her from the Shadow Realm. Suddenly she felt the world twist and found she was in shadows again.
            "How long before it consumes you?" The voice had changed from when she last heard it. Though it sounded different something told her the owner was the same. A quiet curse slipped past her lips as she stepped thru again, this time into a gritty back alley in one of SeaWards seedier places. She spun on the shadows where she thought she heard the voice fade away. "What is this? Come forth and face me if you still want answers!"
            Shadows fell on her again pulling her back into the Shadow Realm. She hissed and stepped again but this time the shadows kept ahead of her keeping her within the demi-shadow plane. The voice came again this time flat and featureless in the realm of Shadows. "Isn't that what happened when you lost your mind in Rhydin?"
            This time the shadows swirled about her and then left her in a cold dark place. Her vision would not adjust but she knew at least she had been set outside of the Shadow Realm. She could smell ice in the air and feel the frost as she sucked it into her lungs.
            " 'Fire! Fire! Rhydin is a Vampyre!' Isn't that what you chanted as you set the Red Dragon on fire with everyone in it? You know you broke the heart of your only friend there, Safire." The amusement in the voice was apparent. Ignoring the words, she focused on her surroundings. The echos of the voice where sharp enough that she could tell she was in some sort of ice cavern. Being blinded she couldnt see where there were shadows fell so she attempted to pull the shadows to her. She drew to herself all the powers she possessed and did a Shadow Summoning. But again the shadows betrayed her.
            "What is it? The Shadows wont listen will they? Pitty. I've always enjoyed your manipulation of shadow. And now you've introduced young Ebony to that dark art. They still don't know how you gained your shadowmancy do they?"
            Khyaris spun on the voice still blinded though the echos were from all around. "Where are you!?!" she growled. She began to walk forward. If this was an ice cavern then there would be walls.. and walls could be followed.
            "I am right here with you. Watching, as i always have. I especially enjoyed how you tricked Stormy into the Shadow Manta. Classic. Now she's in that Dark Fleet..part of your little war. She'll die among strangers. I wonder if her thoughts will be of you as she is buried beneath the sea."
            "Enough! What do you want!?!" Her rage and frustration were begin to spiral out of control. She had already tried to shift form but it wouldn't come any more than the shadows would. Still the voice went on headless of her questions and demands.
            "I certainly know of one whose thoughts are with you even in death. Poison, that kitsune. You drove her to the brink.. first she lost her mind and then, she killed herself. You could never really face her. After all she gave for you- After all your lovers gave. Alexxis..Xinth.."
            Khyaris cried out in frustration. A strange mixture of a shout and a howl as the wolf within her raged to come out but was being blocked.
            "Tell me. do you miss the howl of wolves in Teryan? Imagine the extinction of a species in your homeland because it was your pelt that was sought. Well.. its good to know you evaded the Pelt Hunters. I even understand that they descended on Arangoth and began taking hides. Your friends probably didnt tell you.. but they got caught by the Pelters too.
            "Still you are probably glad that the pelters aren't around to take your cub's pelt. Quite the feral one. No one would ever know he was just a child before taking him down like a rabid dog. Well imagine being abandoned and on your own for seven or more years. What child could remain sane after that? He'll probably end up one of those wolves that goes thru some insane rage and kills all the children of some backward villiage."
            With a monumental effort she pushed down her anger.. swallowed the rage and forced the words to wash over her. Lowering her head she marched on trying to find the source of the voice.. or anything at all that would lead her out. And without so much as a pause the voice went on.
            "But no..no..That is all nothing. My absolute favorite was when you sold out Flame to Brianna Steel to get your powers back. Was that worth it? Do you really think she forgave you?"
            The temprature seemed to drop and the black viel over her eyes shimmered and seemed to lose density. Pressing onward seemed to be giving way to something.. but still the words were relentless. Her jaws ached with how tightly she had them clenched.
            "She is so willing to die for you yet it'll probably be her rage that will probably kill you both."
            The veil wavered again..allowing what seemed like a muted gray in with the sinking temperature. She bit back a cry of rage and clapped her hands over her ears not wanting to hear more..but the voice slipped neatly past her ears and directly into her mind.
            ~~She gets closer and closer to losing complete control of her rages. Your death at her hands. Quite a fitting end. Its exactly what you deserve for what you did to me~~
            The ground tilted dangerously and something rose up before her as the blackness lifted completely blinding her with a brilliant white. She was knocked back several feet by a rising wall of ice. And as her eyes adjusted she saw it wasnt a wall but more like a pillar.. and within that pillar was the owner of the mind voice. Her breath caught and seemed to freeze solid in her lungs as she look on Jennah. The woman who died to save her life.

            Khyaris could only swallow and shake her head. Her breath thawed and escaped in a ragged whisper that she herself couldn't hear. A numb hand lifted to touch the ice pillar.
            "Jennah,...no"
            ~~Never forget, Thistle, my Dark Thorn, everything you touch dies.. either a slow listless death.. or in a violent soul-breaking. All your debts are payed in someone else's blood. I wonder if Flame will endure your curse as gracefully as I have?~~
            The ground tilted again. The brilliant light of the ice cave faltered and was enveloped with the ambigous shrowd of shifting planes.
            Suddenly Khyaris was no longer in the cave. She was slammed backward and fell heavily on the ground. And suddenly her body was on fire with pain. Everything was a blaze of pain. Two heavy bodies crashing down on top of her and continued the beating. Under the blows time lost meaning. Distantly she wondered that she was still conscious.
            After a time she felt her body being raised roughly and thrown against some wooden barrier and stretched across it. She was able to turn her head enough to see a huge man drive a knife thru the palm of her hand pinning it securely to the platform. She felt rather than heard a scream rip from her throat and her body arched. Another knocked her back down and pulled her other arm out, pinning it in the same fashion. All went dark for a while.
            She woke to someone grabbing her by the hair and pulling her head up. A harsh voice rasped in her ear, "Thats it. Wake up.. now that we finally caught the other bitch.. you get to watch and see what happens to those who betray the Overlord. Watch closely, Khyaris.. I want you to see what will be your fate as well."
            With immediate sickening clarity she knew where she was and what was happening. A place out of her memories.. but this was more than memory. It was happening.. all over again. After a stand off of two days Khyaris and Jennah had finally been overcome by the Overlord Toren and his men. Now she was to watch as Jennah was raped, tortured and killed.
            Only this time it wasn't Jennah who was dragged in and thrown to the ground, it was Flame.
            "O sweet goddess, please.. no. Not Flame" she couldn't tell if the raw whisper came from her lips or her mind. She only knew the feeling of her very heart being crushed under unbearable weight.
            Her body surged forward and came to a sudden jerk as the knives through her wrists held her fast. She did not hear or feel the tearing of tendons, or the scrape of blade over bone as she twisted to get free. Her scream of rage and dispair tore out of her lungs leaving her breathless and sobbing. Toren chuckled darkly and leaned forward.
            "Never forget, Dark Thorn, everything you touch dies...." the voice was Toren's at the same time it was Jennah's.
            "NOOOOOOO!!!" With every ounce of her existance, Khyaris focussed her will. Gathering to her what truths kept her strong and what love kept her alive, she eclipsed the reality before her. The scene first cracked and then, with the impact of a fist on glass, it shattered.
            With a painful jerk she was wrenched from the haunting to find herself doubled over and colapsed on her knees. Her lungs convulsed inbetween choking back bitter sobs and taking huge desparate gulps of air. A cold sweat had dampened her clothes and she felt an icy trickle run down her spine. Her nightmare vision slowly cleared yet still the slightest echo of her scream reverberated in her mind. She worked to control her breathing and slowly with conscious effort unfolded herself till she held her head back. Forcing calm on herself she opened her eyes. The strange darkness around her brought more lucidity. Tear-blurred eyes eventually looked upon the smokey violet dawn clouds that hung above the roof of the Quickning home.
            Though the storm clouds were heavy and laden they seemed withhold thier offering in silent observation. The air itself seemed thick and tangible. It pressed an eerie silence around and into her, even erasing that echo of her scream. The only discernable sound a steady drip-drip-drip.
            She blinked and oriented on the sound. It drew her gaze down to the twin puddles of dark blood growing on the floor where she knelt. The blood came from the deep wounds in both her hands. A gash starting between her middle and ring finger, running upward splitting her hands to the wrists.
            She had barely a moment to wonder at this before she heard the hushed liquid murmur of stone sliding against stone, the tell-tale sound of Flame using her Earth Gift to flow up behind her.

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