"Mother,"
Islanzadi leapt backwards, swinging her sword free from the Omshurtag's. The witch stepped forward, the point of her wicked blade inches above the ground.
"Has your tongue left you?" The Omshurtag taunted. Islanzadi swallowed heavily, ignoring the numbness in her hands that made her sword feel weightless.
"In the past, I often wondered if it was something that I had done." Islanzadi started.
"But I know now that it wasn't anything that I did, or Evander. Or anyone. You are simply evil." Islanzadi clenched her teeth in anger.
"Did you think of Evander as you marched your armies through his home? Did you think of the families you destroyed, or the soldiers who desperately fought to protect them from you? This horror has not been lost to history. Their bodies are still visible among those torrid dunes, forever a testament to your work within this world." Islanzadi summoned strength from the deepest core of her being. The Omshurtag was strong.
And Islanzadi was afraid.
The former Queen of Elves smiled then, despite herself.
Me? Afraid? How shameful.
Her thoughts drifted to Arya and Oromis. To her people- and even to the young Rider. Then, to Evander.
Evander, Islanzadi prayed.
If this is my last act on this earth, give me the strength to avenge your death.
"A smile? Unbecoming of you."the Suheliel Omshurtag hissed while wearing a wicked grin. Islanzadi wiped the smile away from her face, replacing it with a heavy and set jaw and determined eyes. They narrowed as they fell upon Suheliel. She did not see Alauinel anymore, she saw only the murderer of her husband and King, and the destroyer of his home. The killer of thousands, and the greatest threat to this world.
She isn't using her sword arm, Islanzadi noticed suddenly. The Omshurtag held her blade in her left hand, whereas she had always fought with her right. Her right side was covered with a small half-cape, and upon further scrutiny, Islanzadi could see that Suheliel was missing an arm.
"I lost my arm when I killed Galbatorix." Suheliel declared simply.
Islanzadi's had to contain her emotions, hold her mind and blade steady against the onslaught of fear that washed over here.
For her to kill Galbatorix.. Just how powerful have you become, Alauinel?
"So you truly have no loyalty. Not even to your comrades." Islanzadi spat. Suheliel raised the point of her sword to meet Islanzadi's narrowed eyes.
"Galbatorix was nothing but a means to an end, as were all of you. You said that I was evil, mother. I wonder if that is true." Suheliel slowly raised her sword above her head.
"I never understood this world you brought me into. I never understood you or your people, these elves. I never understood humans or dragons. All of them . . . they seemed so beneath me. Toiling about, content to fight their little wars and cast their old and tired spells. At least humans had conflict. After Aryan united the Elves, there was nothing." Suheliel cocked her head as haunting blue eyes bored their way into Islanzadi's soul.
"I could never understand how you were all content with this. Magic is an amazing thing- boundless and without limit. It is a dangerous and fickle god, but it is a god that can be tamed." Suheliel straightened her stance as pebbles began to rise around her. Islanzadi felt the magic welling within the witch's body.
"When I became a Rider, I learned of Gohlobor. I learned of the world before Riders, and even before the Laen Elves. Back when the elves were separated into violent and warring clans under the heel of the Talin clan. Before humans had even begun to understand the true meaning of magic. In Gohlobor's time, the only limits they suffered were that of their mind. Magic bent to their very thoughts and feelings. They could create life, and destroy it." Alauinel's voice seemed distant, almost cheerful. For a second, Islanzadi saw her former daughter.
"I remember Oromis speaking of your obsession with Gohlobor. You rejected him as a teacher- he was only trying to protect you. I . . . there are some things we cannot control. You believe you can control the uncontrollable because you have never failed at anything, and you have never been denied. And this is why I must kill you- not only for what you have done, but you possess a dangerous combination of intellect, ability, and ignorance."
Islanzadi's words left her lips in the same moment that an arching blast of lighting hurled from the heavens crashed into where she stood.
Without incantation? Islanzadi thought to herself as she floated amongst the smoke and debris that rose from the Omshurtag's attack.
"Oromis said the same thing,"
Islanzadi twirled in the air as Suheliel lunged from below. Their blades met in a symphony of rage and steel. The older Elf inhaled sharply as she ducked underneath a sweeping slash that would have exposed her innards. With a forceful exhalation, Islanzadi drove the point of her blade upwards, aiming for Suheleil's neck. The witch flipped herself over in the air as Islanzadi's strike harmlessly flew past.
"Is this the best the Queen of Elves has to offer?" Suheliel laughed as she vanished in a flash of gold light. Islanzadi's green eyes jumped amongst the shifting smoke, but she could not see or sense the Omshurtag.
No matter how fast she moves, she shouldn't be able to escape my senses. And further . . .
Where is her dragon?
Smoke continued to roll past Islanzadi's face. Silence filled the air.
There!
Islanzadi turned into a crushing blow with her blade inches away from the Suheliel's grimace. If she hadn't felt the slight difference in air pressure, the blow would have killed her right then and there. She pushed the banished Forsworn away with a roar. The Omshurtag fell backwards into the smoke with a haunting laugh. Islanzadi followed, swiping her sword across the air before her. The strength of her action blew away the smog, but revealed nothing in return.
She isn't using charms of invisibility. My own magical defenses have not been attacked or compromise, so I'm not trapped within an illusion. So where is she?
Islanzadi gasped as the Omshurtag's sword erupted from her body. The point of the blade poked from between her breasts, and she could feel the breath of Suheliel as it bounced against the back of her neck.
"I must say, I am disappointed." Omshurtag said.
"As am I." Islanzadi retorted. The former queen felt a flash of confusion from Suheliel, and she used that to her advantage. She leaned forwards, freeing herself from Suheliel's attack. Turning in the air, she saw her daughter's sword arm was covered in blood.
"You're still alive, and it looks like no strength has left you."
The witch smiled.
"Perhaps I was wrong about you." The Suheliel vanished once more.
Islanzadi's blood seeped through her armor, painting it in a morbid red as it spilled onto her cuirass and further, to her greaves and sabatons.
But her blood meant nothing to her. At least not now.
At least, not the blood that was on her body.
Islanzadi suddenly flew forward, and delivered a cutting slash to the sky-
Just as her daughter regained tangibility. Laughing blue eyes shot open in surprise as the witch's blood trailed from Islanzadi's sword, vermillion orbs falling from the point of her weapon like a painter's brush. The witch floated backwards, moving her left arm across the wound that trailed from her waist to her right shoulder.
She saw me coming- she was able to defend herself fast enough to save her own life.
The training bestowed upon Alauinel from Oromis, and informally from Morzan, was truly grand indeed. She wondered how much different the world would have been had Alauinel been born someone else, but she knew that such thoughts were fruitless. For someone such as the Omshurtag, someone who was born with natural talent in excess- their power and ability would alienate them from others, even their loved ones. It was this distance that made Islanzadi, and in turn, the world, nothing but ants in the eyes of Alauinel.
It was those eyes that Islanzadi stared into now. Visibly stricken from her wound, the Omshurtag said nothing, but met Islanzadi's gaze with those horrid, hollow eyes. But beneath them, Islanzadi saw something else.
Fear?
The witch disappeared into nothingness again.
She will try to attack me again- but not a committed blow. She is no doubt trying to see if I can truly see her. Islanzadi felt her daughter move across planes. She was not aware how the witch gained the power to do so, but she did thank her daughter's overconfidence. With the blood of Islanzadi on the Omshurtag's arm, Islanzadi could feel her daughter in relation to the physical plane. Using her own blood as a beacon, Islanzadi felt Alauinel come from her right. Islanzadi gripped her hilt tightly-
Islanzadi rushed her blade downwards as she felt a tear open into the physical world. As before, Alauinel was-
Islanzadi's silver blade cut through a bloodied vambrace and gauntlet.
She knew.
Before she could react, Islanzadi felt a hand wrap around her ankle. She looked down to see the witch below her, sword sheathed while she grunted and threw Islanzadi forwards. Islanzadi righted herself as she cut through blue skies, just in time to see a massive ball of flame hurtling towards her. She pressed her arms against her side and flew upwards with terrific speed as a gigantic crash filled her ears.
Alauinel's attack met the ground below, turning once beautiful springgrass into blackened crisps as fresh smoke rose like spirits from their corpses. It was then Islanzadi understood.
She's been trying to minimize my visibility. Ever since her first attack.
She could not sense the Witch, meaning she had escaped yet again into that faraway realm. But what Alauinel did not know is that even though she removed the armor that held her mother's blood, Islanzadi now knew where she hid.
With a burst of light, Islanzadi appeared before a grim sky- the gray clouds that rolled above her head parted at points, to expose a deep maroon atmosphere. The air tasted old and wicked, and the land itself gave off a horrid and cruel air. Islanzadi knew the name of this realm, though she loathed to even conjure it within her mind.
Ra'zacul, the land of the dead.