Chenga

Mouai Awakes

Nirgalen looked down at the ropes that bound his wrists.  In front of him stood Simarl, his hands bound in manacles.  Nirgalen surveyed the hall once again.  The rocky slope that led up to the cages carried on into a dark, rough-hewn passage, that looked as if it had been mined recently... and a cool breeze blew down from the passage.  If Nirgalen had to bet on the way out, he would bet on that dark passageway.  If only they could reach it, that may have been the way to freedom.  But, to either side of Nirgalen stood K'Vathin, or what had once been K'Vathin.  Their eyes glowed red and their features had altered.  Nirgalen wondered if that was to be their fate.

Nirgalen looked down.  The bed with the blue silk sheet lay before them.  At its centre was Eylana.  His eyes ran over her figure, her full curves, and her proud features.  Once again he felt a longing stir within his heart, as he looked at the woman.  Eylana looked powerful, still a predator waiting for its prey.  But, at the edge of the bed, wings stretched out and talons gleaming, stood another predator, whose aim was not just to kill.

'It has been a long time, since I saw you last, sister.  Do you know how I survived these long years?  Rats, insects, spiders, not quite what you are used to eating, I'd wager.  And do you know how long I scraped at the stone above, trying to escape this tomb?'

Eylana said nothing.

'While you walked the land, I withered here.  While you fed up above, I survived on whatever crawled or slithered its way down to me.  That was until my Treaga friends opened the way.'  The winged vision of beauty gestured to the hulking figures that stood nearby.

Eylana turned to the winged woman.  'It was meant to be.'

'Meant to be!  You walked free up above, while I was entombed!'  Anger passed like a black thunderhead over the features of the creature and Nirgalen saw a strange blue shimmering haze appear around her for an instant.

'The young races... they had to be able to live... for the good of Tau and Uray.'  Eylana was calm and spoke as if her words were the only answer that needed to be given.

'Half-breed mongrels and monstrosities allowed to breed and bespoil the Wode, while I was left to the limbo between life and death?'  The anger in the eyes of the woman standing by the bed seemed to be building.

'You would have destroyed them... or ruled them.  You would certainly not have had their best interests at heart.'

'Yes... compared to us they are as sheep.  They are the food on which we feed, unless you have forgotten?  And don't tell me that you haven't tasted of their blood and taken their lives.  How many of them have died so that you could live for year upon year?'

'You know that for me it is different.'

'Tell me, just how is it different?  The young girl whose form you now wear... where is she now?'

'I walk in the sun, while you are a creature of the night.  That was how we were made.  Those who I have taken are still here with me.  I do not warm my hands on their fire, only to snuff them out.'

'You know that the world was ours, before they came.  We were the hunters of the night, preying on what was light spawned.  It was perfect.  But you and your kind... you cast us all into Hell, because of your righteous beliefs.  Do they really live, those young races that you hold so dear?  Well... I think it's time we saw just how different we are from each other.  Maybe your friends here would like to see just who you are.'

'It matters not.  Do what you will, Mia-Karla.'  Eylana looked down, as if preparing herself for what was to come.

The winged woman smiled, now, and approached Eylana.  She gently stroked a talon down Eylana's neck.  Eylana's fine hairs stood on end and she drew in a breath.