Pathetic Imp Whining.

"I've had enough of pathetic imp whining," Raelis continued darkly as he held Jereez away from him, "get me the dragon's breath, that's not good enough, do this do that " Her twisted her arm again painfully and Jereez gasped.

"If you're so fed up," she told him, wincing and trying to block out the pain, "then why do' t you kill her." Raelis drew her closer to him, bridging the gap between them.

"Oh I will," he confirmed nastily, "I spent years searching out the ancient myth of the Dragon's breath, went half-way around the world only to find it right back where I started. That power should be mine, not some ridiculous she-witch's....

"Right now, she'll be fighting that little friend of yours - she'll win of course, but she'll be weakened by the end of it, and that's when I'll strike," his smirk became an angry twitch, "in the meantime, I'll rid myself of my other main source of competition. Guess who that is." Raelis leered over her.

"Me!?" Jereez gasped, faking surprise, "I hardly think I'm competition." But at the same time, she thrust forward with her free arm that she'd maneuvered one of her knives into, cutting Raelis a deep gash into his side. Distracted by the wound, he loosed his grip on her wrist and Jereez managed to pull herself away, holding the bloodied knife up between them threateningly.

"Apparently us imps aren't the only ones who are good at whining," she growled at him, "if you wanted the power of the Dragon's breath, you would have been smarter to simply not tell my sister you'd found it in the first place." Raelis echoed her growl and Jereez leapt at him with her knife, hoping to finish it now.

Raelis lifted his hands and exerted his own mage powers to hold the imp out of weapon range. He lifted one hand causing the knife Jereez was holding to twitch agitatedly, trying to pull itself from her grasp until she could no longer hold it. The knife flew into Raelis palm and he pushed Jereez back against the balcony edge, holding the knife to her throat.

"The Dragon's breath is my future," he hissed at her, and raised the knife to strike.

Suddenly, his eyes bulged out and Raelis gaped in shock. Blood welled up at the corners of his mouth and he pulled himself away to reveal a knife another one of Jereez's, protruding from his stomach. He looked at her, wild-eyed.

Jereez, panting, took hold of the knife once again and hefted Raelis up, which would not have been possible for her small size if he wasn't so thin and bony himself. Raelis didn't even make a sound as the imp lifted him over her shoulder and flung him over the balcony.

The mage crashed down to the ground at the base of the tower and was immediately swept over by the rampaging rebel army swarming towards the castle doors. For a moment, Jereez could still see his face and lifeless eyes - as Raelis always had been, staring back up at her, and then that, too, was gone, crushed beneath the crowd.

"Good luck with that," Jereez said over the balcony, and swept away without another glance.