Chapter 2
The clash of steel and the angry shouts of the warring council could be heard throughout the Sanctuary of the Clans. Fledglings and generals alike gathered outside the gates, desperately trying to discern what was happening inside. It was needless to assume that Kain was nowhere to be found.
"The humans must be herded to a new location. They're getting far too brave." Raziel said angrily.
"Far too brave? That's nonsense." My own voice held an edge of deadly rage. "Why move them when they're such easy pickings right where they are?" I held my sword out in front of me daring Raziel to approach me. "Besides, dear brother, you wouldn't know the meaning of brave if it ran you through."
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you." Raziel's sharp warning caught me off guard, but I was not about to back down. I had an alternate reason for defending the human herd.
I grabbed the edge of his sword with my claws and threw him to the floor. "You could never beat me, Raziel." I snarled, stepping heavily on his mid-section. "And I doubt you ever will. The humans stay!" I stomped away from him, confident I had made my point clear.
"We shall see, Dumah." The words filled the dormant air around us and I stopped in mid-stride. Behind me I could hear the ragged breathing of Melchia as he waited for another inevitable battle to ensue. He was not disappointed. Turning, I leapt on Raziel my claws tearing at his throat. But I got no further in my attempts to kill him. Another claw, much stronger than that of my brothers, grabbed the back of my hair and threw me into the pillars at the far side of the Sanctuary.
"That's enough." Kain's voice reverberated throughout the throne room. My younger brothers trembled at his sudden appearance. But I did not. "This argument is over." He sighed loudly as he lowered himself to his dais. I got to my feet and shook out my hair. "The human herd will be moved to the place of Raziel's desideratum."
"No!" I shouted angrily. I moved toward my father seething with rage. I could not lose her when I was so close to seizing her for my own.
Kain turned golden eyes on me and scowled. I winced as he withdrew the Soul Reaver from its sheath and held it out in front of him. It shimmered in it's own demonic light. He seemed to study it for a long moment before speaking. "Be wary of your foolish desires, Dumah. They are destined to bring about naught but pain and death." He closed his eyes and let the sword fall with a clatter at his feet, making me wonder if his speech had been meant entirely for me…
"Leave me." I said at last. The door groaned once more beneath the weight of some unseen force. "I'd withdraw to the far corners of Nosgoth if I were you. Death is not that distant from the futures of Kain's children."
Turel let his claws slip slowly from my arm. "Please Dumah, reconsider." He choked, his voice tinged with regret. "A century has passed since the death of Fiene and yet you have endured; let her go. Return to the Sanctuary. Live to fight another day. It's unlike you to give up."
"But I must," I told him at last. "If for no other reason than to return to limbo and forget what has been haunting me for the past aeon."
"Suit yourself." Turel appeared less urgent as he turned his back on me and headed for the doors that led to my inner sanctum. He would be gone long before the door to the throne room had been broken down, but I would remain. I would face my fate just as she had faced hers…alone.