I don't want to die, but I want to kill them all for what they did!
Life was better under Galbatorix!
My knee! My knee hurts! Godammit that evil woman! My knee hurts!
Jahat! Jahat! Please! Why didn't she answer!
I can't die now, I have to find my mother! Galbatorix had promised! He promised! He pro-"

Elva visibly flinched as she felt the man die. The wave of nausea that affected her by now ceased to debilitate her, but it was still uncomfortable whenever she experienced it.

I hope my boy is eating well, oh no I didn't cook any dinner on the road for him! And he better sleep well!

"Are you alright Elva?"

She turned to face the voice, Haya Ser, Faris's mother, looked on quizzically.

"I'm fine, one of their men died, the rest are in bad shape." She said tersely. Before smiling and adding, "I'm sure he's eating like a king in Ilrea now."

Haya stuttered, followed by chuckles from her husband and Angela.

"Oh hush" she muttered, annoyed with their teasing.

Elva felt... complicated about Faris, on one hand his incessant attempt at thinking positively annoyed her, but at the other had it was kind of endearing. When she had seen him, she had felt visible rage, which was why she was here with them all, they all wanted to avenge what happened to Faris, Anya's infiltration of the State Mages may have been an anomaly, but they needed to find out for sure.

Hmmm…. More work, more work, more work.

Elva turned to Solembum, who stared back silently before replying.

…Fine, I'll get them. He morphed into his cat form and slunk off into the night.

Silence followed for a few moments before the men began screaming.

Fuh?! Cats?! Their tearing and biting me!

Argh! A werecat?! Why are they here!? WHY ALL THE CATS?!

No, reaching for my throat! And our wards, broken down!

No! No! Horaquan take them hel-

"Now" Elva whispered. As a unit, the group charged in to the surprised cultists. Haya raised her hand as 2 of the attacked mages fell lifeless to the floor.

Not now...

Father...

Bergan charged in with a mace, braining an unsuspecting cultist before kicking another with enough force to knock them into a wall.

Severe back pain, dislocated elbow, ribs feel weird, hard to breath.

Angela wielded her double-bladed staff, expertly spinning it as she cut through cultist and mage alike.

Hands missing, push them two inches away, and they would have survived. They are all destined to fail if no one intervenes.

And Elva darted into the fray, two poisoned daggers in her hand, she went after those most distracted, one strike was enough

I only joined because my mother sold me out. But I clawed my way to where I am now, I can't die like this! I ca-

Elva slit his throat to quicken his demise, ignoring his final words.

For the glory of Jahat! What a waste! Dying here like this!?

That mage succumbed to a knife in his spine as Elva moved past her, cutting into cultists without pause.

She charged the last two cultists, who raised spears to strike her, she backed up, holding her knives defensively as they approached to flank her.

She! She looks just like our daughter, if the famine hadn't taken her, the blasted war ended our lives, we can't die now, not until the world shares our pain.

Elva felt the woman's steps falter.

My wife was destroyed by Delilah's death, I would have done anything to bring her back. Jahat restored her mind, even if it was a façade, she remembers me, I won't lose that smile! Not to anyone!

Elva watched as the two cultists charged forward. She smiled at them, they stumbled in surprise as she walked closer, looking excited

Two more cultists fell to Angela's blade, the first one, thought to his cousin, who would now be left with no one, the second one had no time to think as he passed on.

"Mom? Dad? It's me, Delilah!" She began to casually walk up to them, even as the bile threatened to fill her throat.

It can't be!

Delilah?! No! It's a trick!

She continued her skip forward, tears glistening as she prepared herself. "It's been so long! I wanted to see you! I forgive you! I forgive you for leaving me at the foot of a tree! I was found! They saved me!"

My Delilah?!

The woman began to lower her spear, before dropping it on the floor loosely. The man could only look on, tears staining his cheeks and wetting his beard.

Solembum howled in pain as a cultist cut at his shoulder, the cats in his command charged the cultist, biting and tearing until the man lay as a twitching torn up mess, crying silently to whatever god could hear him.

Elva walked forward, visibly crying as she smiled at them, raising her hands in the gesture of an embrace, knives still in hand. The two cultists ran to her, preparing to hug their long-lost daughter.

Can we atone for what we did?

Do my bloody hands deserve to hold my daughter?

As they moved forward to hold their "daughter", they fell forward, like puppets cut from a string. The blood from their slit necks pooled at Elva's feet.

Elva puked, and puked, and puked till her stomach was empty, even then she puked some more. Angela ran to her to comfort her.

"Elva! You didn't have to go so far! Why did you?"

"They murdered a family eating dinner, killed the children and forced the parents to watch, under the orders of the Scarlett Heart, all for the promise of their daughter's return." Elva spat; her mouth tasted awful. "Their greatest fear wasn't that they couldn't atone for their sins, that was their surface thought."

Angela watched on in concern as Elva wiped the tears from her eyes. This had been the first time a fight with a group of these remnants of the Priests of Helgrind and Black Hand, who now dubbed themselves the Scarlett Heart, had such a profound effect on Elva's consciousness.

Elva continued bitterly. "Their fear was on how they could sate their blood-lust when it was all over, that even if they had their daughter back, how best could they share with her their newfound lust for death and murder." She smiled. "I only register the surface fears, because the deep and truly twisted ones reverberate my soul. Whoever this Jahat is, we need to stop her, before she spreads too far." She noticed a throbbing on her right cheek bone.

"Do you still not have an identity?" Bergan asked, nursing a bruise he got from a cultist attempting to smash his face in with a club. Haya began healing the bruise. Elva felt immediate emptiness when the bruise was healed, not relief from the pain, but a sort of wiping away, she hated that feeling.

I miss him, at least I could feel the soothing… no, let's not get distracted. She shook her head.

"Whoever Jahat is, she is thorough in wiping relevant enough memories of her appearances from her agents out in the fields. But I learned something troubling, we need to head to Du Weldenvarden."

Solembum pricked his ears at that. Angela frowned, "Why?" she said. "The elves would likely allow us, but they are wary of your ability, and it's a little annoying dealing with their wishy-washy way of speaking."

Elva picked herself up and took a swig from her waterskin, washing out the taste of bile from her mouth. "Because we need to warn Nasuada" She wiped the flecks of water from her mouth grimly, "there's a spy."