Chapter 8: Loose

(A/N: I noticed we haven't had a flashback in two chapters. So, this chapter will start out with one! WARNING: Minor character death. It just about goes complete AU from there. Or not...I guess it's up to the audience if Blohdgarm dies...shucks. I just spoiled it. Or...oh, heck, just read the dang chapter!)

Her screams mean nothing to Durza. She realizes this only now, now that he is walking out on her and leaving her to die as the Spirits fight for her mind. "Please don't leave", she manages to whisper. "Please don't." He laughs. "Why should I stay? I have other business, elsewhere." "But...Durza", she gasps, "What happened to you? Have you forgotten...all I know? All we had? I thought you loved me!" "What happened to me? I dropped my act, of course. I stopped pretending to be human. I stopped pretending to feel anything. Love? Bah! Love is for children, for mortals, Ialana. For a great, dark, misunderstood sorcerer like me...bah, love! Soon you will know the feeling." She thinks she might already. For as she tries to cry, as she waits for tears to run, her red eyes merely stare coldly at the space where Durza used to stand.

Ialana knew the sounds behind her. The sound of running feet. The shing of swords being unsheathed. And by the speed with which her pursuers caught up to her...elves. "Nangoroth alfakyn.", she muttered. "Blasted elves."

"Kodthr alfrin!" The leader of the elves screamed. Even without her senses sharpened, she could easily hear what he was saying - "Catch her!"

And with her senses sharpened, she could easily tell he was right behind her.

Ialana turned unexpectedly on a dime, so fast that the leader of the elves, that funny-looking-half-animal they called Blodgharm, almost crashed into her. "Letta!", he screamed just in time for Ialana to drop and slide. She grabbed Blodgharm's legs, pulling him to the ground.

Ialana grabbed Blodgharm's knife from it's sheath. About eleven elves immediately strung their bows, but they dared not shoot for fear they would hurt their leader.

The Shade, on the other hand, had absolutely no qualms. Nimbly jumping back up, she flung the knife downward on a projectile angle, never flinching. She also didn't flinch pulling the knife out of the Varden leader's torso, feeling the warm blood rolling down the handle onto her fingers.

And then the elves fired. Ialana dropped again, and rolled, knocking at least three of the elves over like ninepins. Pushing herself up, she managed to kick one elf in the face coming up and immediately began to fend off the others with a method Durza had simply called Hvass Thrysta, literally "the sharp thrust." I might hate Durza, she thought grudgingly, but he did teach me many useful things.

One elf managed to get up and shoot. An arrow struck Ialana in the leg. Then in the arm. Her fingers seemed to flex all on their own and she dropped the knife. Another blow to the leg brought her crumpling to the ground.

The elf who had fired the shots stood triumphantly over her, a fourth arrow strung on his bowstring. "You killed one of our leaders", he said.

"It's possible", Ialana said, forcing out every word. "I kill a lot of people."

"The penalty for that is death." He pulled back the arrow. "No one could begrudge me the honors." Ialana instinctively rolled over, keeping her back turned to him and the center of her chest, where her heart would be, as protected as she could...just in time to feel a splitting sting as the arrow pierced through her.

Then Ialana was hit with pain and black like an ocean wave, that sent her reeling back into nothingness.

(A/N: Dunh-dunh-dunhhhhh! Cliffhanger! The next chapter is pretty - ah - out there. Read at own risk. Kudos to anyone who can spot the movie quote in there!)