Lady Ruin

CHAPTER EIGHT

It looks like I’m not the only one who’s made a new friend today,” Elidyr said, eyeing the tentacle whip coiled about her arm. He nodded approvingly. “It suits you, Lirra.”

She felt an intense surge of rage at her uncle’s words. He’d become a loathsome monstrosity, as much an aberration as the dolgaunt standing next to him, an unclean, unnatural thing that needed to be removed from the world, and she wanted nothing more than to strike him down. Her fingers tightened on her sword, and she felt the coils of the tentacle whip go slack around her forearm as it prepared to attack.

It was the whip’s reaction that helped her understand why she felt such rage. The whip was using the repugnance she felt upon seeing her uncle’s transformation to goad her into attacking him. She hadn’t realized the creature could be that subtle. There was no way she was going to allow the tentacle whip to control her, and so she stopped three feet from her uncle and lowered her sword to her side.

She gritted her teeth against the rage still roiling inside her and forced herself to speak calmly. “I don’t know what went wrong with the experiment, Uncle, but you have to let us help you. You can’t survive long with three symbionts attached to your body.”

Elidyr grinned at Lirra as if what she’d said was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. But it wasn’t her uncle who responded to her words: It was Sinnoch.

“If your uncle was an ordinary human, you’d be correct,” the dolgaunt said. “But he’s become something more, something better. He’s far more than a mere human now.” The dolgaunt paused, and though it didn’t have eyebrows exactly, Lirra had the impression the creature frowned. “Though to be honest, I’m not certain precisely what he is, but I imagine we’ll have a great deal of fun trying to find out. Don’t you?”

You should kill him too, whispered a voice in her mind, and she’d have been hard-pressed to say whether the thought originated with her or the symbiont. Again she felt the rage, so strong this time that it nearly overwhelmed her, but she fought it down and managed to stay in control, if only just.

“Be silent, dolgaunt,” she said. “I’m not talking to you; I’m talking to my uncle.”

Sinnoch’s inhuman mouth twisted into an amused smile, but from the way the tendrils on top of his head writhed, Lirra knew the dolgaunt was irritated with her. She’d never been able to read the aberration’s body language before, and she realized that becoming bonded with the tentacle whip had somehow granted her a deeper understanding of the denizens of Xoriat. But sympathy did not accompany that understanding. She still wanted to ram her sword blade into the dolgaunt’s cadaverous chest and thrust the needle-sharp tip through his heart-assuming the foul thing even had a heart. But she resisted. Just because she was bound to a symbiont didn’t make her a creature like Sinnoch. Not even close. As satisfying as it would be to destroy the dolgaunt-and the way she felt right now, it would be most satisfying indeed-Lirra was a highly trained soldier, and she only killed when there was no other course of action available to her.

A sullen thought drifted through her mind: Spoilsport.

“Nothing went wrong today, child,” Elidyr said. “Everything went very, very right.” He flexed the fingers of his crawling gauntlet, and the stormstalk draped around his shoulders swayed back and forth, keeping Lirra fixed with its single overlarge eye. “I’ve been cooped up in this damned lodge too long. I’d like to take a stroll, get out and stretch my legs a bit. I see things so very differently than I did before. I wonder what the world will look like through these new eyes of mine.” He grinned. “I can’t wait to find out.” He turned toward Sinnoch. “Look after the Overmantle for me, will you? I’ll be back for it.”

The dolgaunt inclined his head. “As you wish.”

Elidyr then looked over to where Ksana was ministering to his fallen brother. “I’d say farewell to Vaddon, but it appears as if he’s somewhat preoccupied at the moment.” He turned back to Lirra, still grinning. “Be a good girl and tell your father that while I’ve enjoyed working together, I think it’s time I went into business for myself. And as for you, my dear, have fun with your new pet. I think the two of you are going to get along magnificently.”

And with that, Elidyr began walking toward the chamber’s exit.

Lirra started after him. “I can’t let you go, Uncle. You’re not in your right mind, and in your condition, you’re a danger to yourself and others.”

Elidyr stopped and turned around to face her. His grin was even wider than before, and his gaze shone bright with madness.

“My sweet child, you have no idea what a danger I truly am.”

Elidyr made no movement, but the stormstalk perched on his shoulders suddenly stiffened and a bolt of lightning blasted forth from its eye. Crackling energy struck Lirra full on the chest. She staggered backward as pain coursed through her body and her muscles went rigid. Her vision grayed at the edges and she thought she would lose consciousness, but as quickly as it came, the pain receded, her muscles unlocked, and her vision cleared.

You’re stronger now, a voice whispered inside her. We’re stronger …

Without thinking, she flicked her left arm forward, and the tentacle whip uncoiled, sending its barbed tip flying toward Elidyr’s face. Moving with inhuman speed, the artificer raised his crawling gauntlet in time to intercept the whip. Crustacean-like claws closed around the whip’s barb, and Elidyr gave a vicious yank. The artificer was now far stronger than he had been before becoming fused with his symbionts and receiving the touch of a daelkyr lord, and Lirra-unable to resist his strength-was pulled stumbling toward Elidyr. Overwhelming fury surged through her. She was a Karrnathi warrior, and she refused to be defeated!

She still retained a grip on her sword, and she brought it swinging around in a wide arc toward the stormstalk, determined to slice through the grotesque thing and, if possible, through her uncle’s neck as well. Part of her was horrified at the realization that she was ready to kill Elidyr when only a moment before she’d wanted to help him. But that part was as nothing compared to the white-hot battle-fury raging inside her, and she gave herself over to it completely, unable to resist.

Elidyr opened his mouth wide and the tongueworm shot forth. It wrapped around Lirra’s wrist and pushed her sword arm upward, deflecting her strike. The blade whistled through the air above Elidyr’s head, doing no damage to either the stormstalk or its master. She fought to bring her sword back in a reverse strike, but the tongueworm held her arm fast, preventing her.

Two can play at this game, she thought.

She gave a mental command to the tentacle whip, and though its barbed tip was still held tightly in Elidyr’s gauntlet, it had plenty of length left to fight with. Its coils extended upward toward the artificer’s head, looped around his neck, and began to squeeze. However strong Elidyr had become and whatever fell powers he now possessed, he still needed to breathe.

Elidyr had been grinning the entire time they fought, and though his face began to turn a dark red as the tentacle whip strangled him, his grin didn’t waver. The stormstalk swiveled its head toward the whip and unleashed another bolt of lightning, but though Lirra felt the same agony course through her body as before as the energy passed through the whip and into her, she was ready for the pain now, and it came and went quickly. Let the damned stalk loose bolt after bolt of energy at her. She’d endure the pain and stand strong while Elidyr’s lungs cried out for air. It would only take a few moments before he lost consciousness, and a few more after that for him to die. And then she, with but a single symbiont, would’ve defeated an opponent who wielded three! A glorious victory indeed!

No! We can’t kill him! she thought.

Watch us! came the reply, and she couldn’t tell if the thought was the whip’s, hers, or if it belonged to them both.

The coils tightened further around Elidyr’s neck, and the artificer’s face edged toward deep purple. Still grinning, he raised his left hand, the one without the gauntlet, and extended it palm forward toward Lirra. The air around the artificer’s hand wavered, like heat distortion rising off the ground in the summertime. A sudden wave of vertigo gripped Lirra and her stomach twisted with nausea. Her vision blurred, sharpened, blurred again, and all the strength drained out of her body. Her muscles were weak as water, and she slumped to the floor, dropping her sword in the process. Whatever Elidyr was doing, it affected the tentacle whip as well. The symbiont’s coils loosened around Elidyr’s throat, and he released its barbed end from the grip of his crawling gauntlet. The whip hung slack from the artificer’s neck, and Elidyr reached up with both hands and easily removed the coils from around his neck and dropped them to the floor. The tongueworm then released its grip on Lirra’s wrist and retracted into Elidyr’s body. When the worm was once again concealed, the artificer gazed down at his niece.

“Did you enjoy that? It’s a little taste of Xoriat chaos energy. Don’t worry. You’ll recover in due course, though I’ll be long gone by then.” He paused and tilted his head, as if considering. “You know, I really should kill you right now while you’re helpless. I have a sneaking suspicion that it would make my life much easier if I did. But then again, what would be the fun in that? Farewell, Lirra.”

“Hold, artificer!”

Lirra couldn’t move her head to turn toward Rhedyn, but he quickly stepped into her line of sight, cloaked in shadow and gripping his sword. Seeing him filled Lirra with hope. It seemed he had finally shaken off the effect of whatever had held him motionless, and he was ready to rejoin the fight.

Elidyr looked at the warrior for a long moment, his eyes dancing with amusement, and Lirra couldn’t help feeling her uncle was laughing inside at some private joke. Then he raised his left hand once more.

“You really need to pay more attention, Rhedyn. Didn’t you hear what I just told Lirra?”

Elidyr unleashed a fresh blast of chaos energy at Rhedyn, and the warrior’s dark aspect vanished, as if his shadow sibling had retreated deep within his body, and he collapsed to the floor.

Without another word, Elidyr turned and walked out of the chamber, moving with an unhurried gait and humming brightly to himself. Lirra, still suffering the aftereffects of the chaos energy Elidyr had attacked her with, was too weak to do anything more but glare at her uncle as he departed. She made a vow to herself at that moment-the instant she could stand again, she was going after him.

A weak thought drifted into her mind from the tentacle whip. That’s my girl …

Vaddon opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but he felt a gentle hand on his forehead urge him back down.

“After what you’ve been through, you need to rest,” Ksana said.

An old joke from his days commanding a regiment of undead came back to him, and he uttered it without thinking. “I’ll rest when I’m dead-and maybe not even then.” He pushed the cleric’s hand away and sat up, though he was unable to keep himself from groaning as he did so. You’re getting old, soldier, he thought, and not for the first time. “What happened? I don’t-”

A quick glance around the chamber brought his memory back in a sudden rush.

Lirra!

All weakness fled at the thought of his daughter, and the general rose to his feet, sword in hand, ready to fight. But another glance around the chamber revealed that the battle was already finished. Seven of his men and women lay dead-the volunteers for the experiment and those who’d been selected to guard them. Only Osten still lived. The young soldier was sitting up, fingers gently probing a ragged wound at the base of his throat. Sinnoch stood next to the Overmantle-which seemed to have been deactivated, thank the Host-but there was no sign of Elidyr. Rhedyn crouched on his hands and knees, struggling to stand but having a hard time of it. Vaddon had no idea what had happened to the lad, but it seemed something had knocked the starch out of him. And then he saw Lirra, and the sight of her nearly broke his heart. She stood not far from Rhedyn, and while she looked none too steady on her legs, she appeared to be uninjured. Vaddon was grateful for that, but the sight of the tentacle whip fused to her flesh filled him with almost unbearable sorrow. The general was in charge of the Outguard’s project, and Lirra was his second in command. They were supposed to oversee the experiments at the lodge, not actually take part in them, not like this. The thought of his daughter’s body being joined with an aberration-being one with it-made him feel physically ill, and he would go to the grave before he’d allow Lirra to be afflicted with an inhuman parasite a moment longer.

Vaddon picked up his sword from the floor, rose to his feet through a sheer effort of will and started toward his daughter. Ksana stood and without a word headed over to tend to Osten. Undoubtedly the cleric would’ve preferred Vaddon continue resting, but she understood why he had to do this, and so she said nothing.

Vaddon cautiously approached his daughter, mindful of the way the symbionts had taken over the bodies of their hosts during the experiment. Was Lirra in control of her body or was the tentacle whip?

“Lirra … can you hear me?” he asked.

She faced the chamber entrance, as if she were looking at something-or perhaps for something-but the doorway was empty. She didn’t respond right away, and Vaddon tightened his hand on his sword, fearing the worst. But then she slowly turned to look at him. Vaddon expected her features to be twisted by the evil of the symbiont attached to her, but he was surprised to see how normal she looked. Her skin was paler than usual, but Vaddon was well familiar with the expression of grim determination on his daughter’s face, and for the first time since seeing the tentacle whip attack Lirra, he allowed himself to hope that her iron will had allowed her to resist the aberration’s attempts to usurp control of her body.

“He got away, Father.”

There was an undercurrent of anger to Lirra’s words that Vaddon found disturbing.

“Who did?” But even as he asked the question, he knew the answer. There was only one person missing from the chamber.

“Elidyr.” Lirra practically spat her uncle’s name. “I was just about to go after him. He can’t have gotten far. If we hurry, we’ll be able to catch him.”

Without waiting for Vaddon to reply, she turned and started toward the chamber door. The tentacle whip was coiled around her left forearm, its barbed tip quivering in the air, as if the symbiont was excited by the prospect of the hunt to come.

“Wait!”

Vaddon hurried toward Lirra as fast as his armor would allow. Lirra stopped and turned back around to face him, but the instant Vaddon was within striking distance, the tentacle whip uncoiled from around Lirra’s forearm and lashed toward him. Vaddon quickly raised an armored forearm to block the aberration’s attack, but he needn’t have bothered. Lirra yanked her left arm backward violently, throwing off the tentacle whip’s aim, and the barbed tip missed Vaddon’s face by several feet.

“He’s not a threat!” Lirra snapped.

At first Vaddon had no idea who she was talking to, but then he realized that she was addressing the tentacle whip. From what Elidyr had told him back when they first began the symbiont project, the aberrations possessed a certain amount of intelligence, could understand spoken language, and even communicate telepathically with their hosts, if only in a rudimentary way. But hearing his own daughter speak to one of the damned things as if she were scolding a misbehaving hound deeply disturbed him.

But her words had the desired effect. The whip-somewhat reluctantly, Vaddon thought-drew its length back toward Lirra, wrapped around her forearm once again, and settled down. He slowly sheathed his sword. Lirra appeared to be in control of her body, at least for the time being. And while it might not have been the most strategic of moves, holding a sword against his own flesh and blood didn’t sit well with Vaddon, so battle strategy be damned.

He remained standing where he was, several yards away from Lirra, and he made sure to keep his hand well away from his sword, sheathed or not.

“What happened to Elidyr?” he asked. “I was unconscious for a time and didn’t see.”

“A daelkyr lord reached through the portal to Xoriat and touched him,” Lirra said. “The creature’s touch drove Elidyr mad. He called to the other three symbionts and they bonded with him. It shouldn’t have been possible-a person can’t serve as host to more than one-but Elidyr managed it. That creature’s touch did more than destroy your brother’s sanity, Father. It changed him somehow.” She paused and then slowly turned and trained a suspicious, narrow-eyed gaze on Sinnoch.

Almost faster than Vaddon could track, Lirra dashed across the chamber toward the dolgaunt, unfurling the tentacle whip as she ran. With a flick of her arm, the whip’s coils wrapped around Sinnoch’s chest, pinning his arms and back tentacles in place. The barbed tip of the symbiont hovered in front of the dolgaunt’s face, swaying back and forth as if it was a serpent that might strike at any moment. Sinnoch didn’t struggle against the tentacle whip’s grip, and he appeared undisturbed by Lirra attacking him. He merely grinned that oversized grin of his.

Seeing Lirra move that swiftly made Vaddon realize that Elidyr hadn’t been the only one changed during the course of the experiment. Becoming bonded with a symbiont normally enhanced a host’s strength, speed, and ability to heal to a certain degree, but nothing like what Vaddon had just witnessed. What had happened to his poor daughter?

Lirra leaned close to Sinnoch’s face, and the tentacle whip’s barb tapped the dolgaunt lightly on the nose several times, as if to make sure he was paying attention.

“You were Uncle’s assistant, and you know more about Xoriat and its creatures than any of us here. You must know what happened to him.”

“I might have an idea or two,” the dolgaunt said, still grinning.

Lirra scowled and her lips drew back from her teeth in an expression that was almost a snarl. Though she made no outward move, the tentacle whip’s coils tightened around Sinnoch’s chest, and the dolgaunt let out a pained gasp, followed by an amused chuckle that sent a shiver down Vaddon’s spine.

“Keep making jokes and I’ll keep squeezing,” Lirra said.

Not the whip will keep squeezing, Vaddon noticed. But rather I will. A mere slip of the tongue, or was it a sign that Lirra was beginning to lose her individuality? Vaddon was mindful that Osten had hosted the tentacle whip for several days before the aberration had taken control of his body. Just because Lirra appeared to be in control at the moment didn’t mean she was going to stay that way.

“You humans have no sense of fun,” Sinnoch said, almost sounding as if he was pouting. “Very well. Elidyr designed the Overmantle so that a host might join with a symbiont and remain in complete control, but-if you were paying attention-you also know that the device clearly failed. And very spectacularly so, I might add. Instead of bolstering the host’s psychic defenses to resist a symbiont’s dominating influence, the chaos energy drawn from Xoriat made both host and symbiont stronger.” Sinnoch smiled. “That’s the problem with trying to control chaos, of course. The harder you try, the more you’re bound to fail. I tried to explain that to Elidyr on numerous occasions, but he’s human, and your kind can be so very stubborn.”

“That only explains part of it,” Lirra said. “Something else happened to Elidyr.” She leaned her face close to Sinnoch’s and bared her teeth, almost as if she were prepared to bite him if he didn’t answer to her satisfaction. Vaddon found the naked ferocity on his daughter’s face more disturbing than the eyeless visage of the dolgaunt. “Did you have anything to do with it?”

“I did not. Your uncle was blessed by the touch of a daelkyr lord. With that single touch, he reshaped Elidyr, made him into something more than human. Precisely what, I couldn’t tell you, but I’m sure he’s going to have fun finding out.”

Lirra glanced to the side and muttered, as if speaking to herself. Or maybe, Vaddon thought, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, speaking to her symbiont.

“That’s why he can host three aberrations and unleash blasts of chaos energy. I wonder what else he can do.” She looked down at where the tentacle whip joined to her forearm. “I wonder what we can do.”

We, Vaddon thought. She said we.

She turned back to Sinnoch and flexed her forearm. In response, the tentacle whip tightened its coils around the dolgaunt further, and the creature hissed in pain. One corner of Lirra’s mouth edged up in a half smile, and a dark look came into her eyes. Vaddon realized she was enjoying the dolgaunt’s discomfort, and the sight sickened him to the core.

“Stop it, Lirra!” Without thinking, he started to reach for her left arm, intending to pull her off Sinnoch, but he restrained himself. All he’d earn for his effort was another attack by the symbiont.

Lirra relaxed her forearm, and the tentacle whip loosened its coils, though it did not release Sinnoch. She then slowly turned to Vaddon and gave him a calculating look, as if she was reappraising him in some way. “This is a supreme irony, Father. You, defending an aberration. You hate the things more than anyone else in the Outguard.”

“I don’t care about the damned dolgaunt,” Vaddon snapped. “I care about you! Can’t you see what’s happening? That symbiont is poisoning your mind … filling your heart with fury, making you act irrationally … Let us help you, Lirra.”

“Your father’s right.”

Vaddon turned to see Ksana standing by his side, halberd held in a tight grip. He glanced over his shoulder to see Osten was sitting up. The lad looked dazed, but the wound on his throat had vanished, and his color looked good. Rhedyn had managed to get to his feet, but the soldier made no move toward Lirra. He just stood watching the drama play out before him, as if he was unsure how he could best help.

Ksana continued. “We can help you separate from the symbiont. It won’t be an easy process, you know that, for you’ve witnessed it before, and in your case I fear it will be even more difficult if what Sinnoch says is true about the symbiont having been strengthened by the Overmantle’s energies. The creature will not let go of you easily, I’ll warrant. But you’re a fighter, my child, born and bred, and with Dol Arrah to lend me strength, I will do everything in my power to make certain you are free of that abomination.”

“Neither of you understand,” Lirra said. “The Overmantle may not have functioned as Elidyr had hoped, but it did achieve its ultimate aim. It produced a weapon-me. You said yourself that you were unconscious when Elidyr changed, Father. You didn’t see what he’s become. He’s incredibly powerful and absolutely insane. If there’s any hope of stopping him, it lies with me-and my symbiont. After I’ve dealt with Elidyr-”

Vaddon interrupted. “Listen to yourself. Dealt with him? What do you plan to do? Kill your own uncle? Don’t delude yourself into thinking you can control your symbiont, Lirra. If there’s anything this whole misbegotten project has taught us, it’s that creatures of chaos cannot be controlled.”

“I don’t plan to control it, Father. I plan to use it.” She smiled grimly. “There’s a difference.”

Vaddon knew then that reason wasn’t going to work on Lirra. How could it, when she obviously wasn’t in her right mind?

“Lirra, I am your father, but I’m also your commanding officer. I order you to release the dolgaunt and surrender yourself into my custody. Immediately.”

Lirra looked at Vaddon for a long moment, her expression unreadable. When she finally spoke, her tone was calm, almost casual.

“I have never disobeyed an order from a superior, Father. Unfortunately, after today, I’ll never be able to say that again.”

She spun around and hurled Sinnoch toward Vaddon and Ksana. The tentacle whip uncoiled, releasing the dolgaunt so swiftly that neither the general nor the cleric had time to move out the way. The creature slammed into them hard, and all three of them fell to the chamber floor.

Ksana was back on her feet before Vaddon, whose armor slowed him down, and the half-elf helped him to his feet. But it was too late. Lirra was gone.