You asked for it...
You wanted more, chuck?
The blade slid easily into the man's back, and Kali smiled grimly. The blade had slid through the flesh like a hot knife though warm butter, digging past bone and through sinew to pierce the heart. There was an expression of shock on his face as he slumped forward over the blade, Kali suspected. An expression mirrored on the eyes of the others in the camp, jack slack and eyes wide. In those first few seconds after their leader died, nobody said anything, and Kali pushed the man from her blade. The lifeless body hit the cave floor with a thump, blind eyes staring upward.
Silence ruled over the cave as Kali stared across the motley crew, daring each of them to defy her with a look. None said anything for a long minute, and then Davgeon, a skilled warrior stood. "Why would you do such a think, Kalianna? What did Thavyre do?"
"Thavyre was a fool," Kali spat contemptuously, "and you're a fool to stand with him. If you continue to do so, you will die with him as well." She raised her sword in a challenge. "Will you stand, and die?"
Davgeon nodded, and stepped forward. "It is you who are the fool, Kalianna! And it is you who will die." Drawing his blade, he rushed forward.
Kali sidestepped, turning about to meet his sword. Metal sang as blades crossed, drawing spectators from the inner reaches of the cave. Whispers of "What is going on?" and "Why are they fighting" crossed through the crowd, a soft hum, background to the sound of steel ringing on steel. davgeon blocked Kali's blade, their swords holding for a moment before Davgeon's strength proved too much for her, and she stepped back. Davgeon followed her, pressing the attack now that she had lost the advantage. Kali blocked each attack, waiting for her chance It came to her a few minutes later, as their blades again met and held. This time, instead of stepping back, she stepped forward, too close for him to effectively use his sword against her. She drew a small dagger from her belt and thrust it into his gut. Davgeon's eyes widened in pain. A hush fell over the crowd. The only sound that could be heard was the steady drip, drip of blood falling to the sandy floor.
"Why?" Davgeon's voice was faint. Kali smiled softly, pressing her finger to his lips. She jerked the blade upward, twisted and ripped it out. Davgeon stumbled backwards, fell to the ground. Blood pooled in the sand around him, flowed to mix with the blood of Thavyre. Kali wiped both her blades off on the fur-lined vest Davgeon wore and stood to address the company. "I am your leader now. Let he who disagrees step forward and meet these mens' fate." None stepped forward. "Good." Kali turned and strode out of the cave.
As she did, a gasp ran through the crowd. Kali turned in time to take a sword to the gut. She stared at the wide, mocking eyes of Davgeon. Their blood mingled on the warm sand.
Kali woke with a gasp, her heart pounding in her chest. The memory of the dream sent chills down her spine, and she fumbled to light the lanterns, her shaking hand knocking a crystal decanter from her bedside table. Wine spilled across her feet. She paid it no notice, moving over to the terrace and throwing open the doors.
A knock on the door indicated that the crash had awakened somebody, and a soft voice asking permission to enter named it her maidservant, Alhanna. Kali granted permission, saying that she had simply knocked over the decanter in her clumsiness. Alhanna looked at her strangely, but did not question. Mistress Kalianna was anything but clumsy.
Out on the moonlit veranda, Kali leaned against the railing, gulping in the cool night air. Memories, invoked by the dream, swam through her head.
"I'm telling you, we must go to war! They have taken our lands, forced to live underground like mountain dwarfs!" Thavyre's voice echoed in the silent cavern. Kali stood.
"You are insane! We have how many people? Three hundred. You propose to attack an army of hundreds? And how many of us can fight? Very few. Farmers, shopkeepers. Women and children. What good will they do against warriors?"
Thavyre shook his head, his ice blue eyes shinning bright in the torchlight. "We must have hope, Kalianna. Three hundred people, holed up in caves. Short of food, water. What else can we do but fight?"
And so they had trained farmers and shopkeepers to use swords, swords they won by sending the fighters out to attack scouting parties and slave caravans. The slaves they released, inviting them to join them. Space became limited, food harder to find. It was then that Thavyre said they should attack.
Kali had spent days trying to convince him to take a different route. All of it to no avail, Kali recalled sadly.
The sounds of war filled Kali's head. Shouts, screams of pain. She attacked blindly, men from Sobrem falling under her hand. But for every creature she killed, it seemed that two of her men died. Running, she sought Thavyre.
"We must retreat!" she cried, dodging the attack of a Sobremesu. "We are losing men, more than they are." She thrust her sword into the man's chest, sharp blade piercing though leather armor. The man fell to the ground.
Thavyre nodded and sounded the retreat. Men turned and ran for the trees, fighting all the way. Kali thought them blessed that they were not pursued, and wondered why.
Kali turned from the balcony, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. It simply would not do for the memories to keep her awake, and yet it was too late in the night to call for a sleeping draught. Walking back into her room, she began to dress, pulling on breeches of dark blue and a tunic of white, embroidered with gold-toned thread. She slipped soft leather boots onto her feet, and, casting a cloak over her shoulders, she hurried out the door.
Her leather boots made no sound on the stone floor as she hurried down stairs and hallways and out into the courtyard. Moving from there to the stables, she led her horse, Olena, out of the gates. Once outside the city walls, she swung herself up onto Olena's back and set off toward the forest. She had forgotten her sword.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
The moon shone brightly as Kali rode across the open field toward the forest. This was, perhaps, her favorite time to be outside. No, she couldn't say that. She loved being outside, no matter the time. This was, though, one of her favorites. There was nobody up, it was late enough that the lights of the city had been doused. The stars hung low in the autumn sky, and it seemed that if she only try she could pluck one from the heavens and wear it for a ring.
She let Olena loose, and the horse raced toward the forests, rider bent almost double of its neck. Her short brown hair flew back in the wind and she laughed, joy bubbling up inside of her. She was never as happy as when she was when she was outside, in the fresh air, and she could put the city and its war behind her.
Kali reigned Olena in as they neared the forest, slowing to a walk. She led the horse down a path, well-known to her but not to others, to a clearing dominated by an enormous tree, an oak of a size that suggested a tremendous age and and sturdiness, boughs spreading in a huge spiral from a trunk so large perhaps a room could have been cut into it. Kali dismounted, tethering her horse to a small aspen that grew at the edge of the glade.
Fallen leaves carpeted the floor, crunching softly underfoot as she crossed to the tree. No bird song or hum of insects, nor even the rustle of a breeze disturbed the silence. It was as if the tree absorbed everything round it. As always, a look of reverence crossed Kali's face as she stood before the tree, placing her palms on it. She sighed softly, at peace here in this secluded clearing.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Armed and on horseback, she could have taken them. Even on foot and with a sword, she would have put up a good fight. She did, once she got a sword. But they still took her.
The first sign of trouble was a whinny from Olena. She spun, seeing Olena crumple, blood flowing from her neck. "No!" Kali screamed, reaching for her blade and finding nothing. oh, no... She fell into a fighting stance, looking around for something to use as a weapon. There was none.
There were five of them. She fought them off as best she could, kicking the first hard in the elbow. She felt the blow through her leg, and the man screamed, clutching his useless arm. His sword - more a long knife than anything - fell to the ground The second man rushed her while she was off-balance, and she ducked, but not fast enough. She felt the blade slice through her sleeve, cut her arm. The cut was shallow, and stung later. At the time, though, she felt nothing. She fought them off as long as she could, but they eventually overpowered her. Holding her down, they cut her clothes off of her and carried her into the forest. Using strips of her clothing for binding, they tied her spreadeagled on the ground. Each had his way with her, and then they untied her from the roots she had been tied to, instead tying her arms behind her back.
She was lucky that they did not kill her, but she later learned why. They took her back to their encampment, a long hike away. It seemed that they were scouts for the Sobremesu, and that they knew who she was. She frowned. They would probably use her for ransom, something she did not want. But she was powerless against them, weaponless in the enemy's camp.
They gave her clothes, a rough tunic and breeches that chafed her skin and itched horribly. She was dirty, bloody from her shallow wound and the rape. She was thrown into a tent and kept under heavy guard, given a saddle blanket to sleep upon. Through the days Kali was held captive, she stayed calm, resolute. This was not the first time she'd been captured.
The room was rank, damp and moldy. An old storeroom, deep within the old castle and windowless. Two guards stood before the door day in, and day out. She was given stale bread and stringy, rancid meat once a day. The meat went to keep the rats at bay. Once a day she was allowed outside, into the inner courtyard, heavily guarded. There she exercised to keep her muscles limber. There, she planned.
It was a simple thing to befriend one of the guards. She offered sexual favors, promised forever, feigned love. And when she had him wrapped around her little finger, it was a simple thing to convince him to run away away with her. And an even simpler thing to kill him afterward.
She had been captured after the failed battle against the Sobremesu. She wasn't the only one captured, but she was the only one to make it out alive. Most of the others died in the months after being captured, from sickness, want of food, or in the mines. The ones that didn't die lost their minds.
It was a long, three days' march back to the caves where Thavyre had his men holed up. She took the guard's armor and sword. That was what she used to kill Thavyre.
Kali shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She had to have her wits about her, if she wanted to escape. This time it was different. They didn't take her out to exercise. Nobody came in to check on her. Always, the two guards stood outside the tent flaps. They didn't speak, and if she tried to speak with them, they ignored her.
They treated her more kindly in this encampment. The food that she was given was decent, and there were no rats to contend with. However, the solitary confinement was worse on her than any torture they could have devised. She didn't know what was going on. There was no activity in the camp. It was like they were waiting for something....
Her wound worsened, having been left untreated. It festered, pus rising to the surface, coating the sleeve of her shirt. She tried to rip the sleeve off, but the fabric was too coarse. The pain grew daily, and she grew sick with a fever. Still, the guards stood outside the door, silent as stone gargoyles. Finally, when the pain became too much and the fever too great, she stumbled out of teh tent and down the dirt path between tents. The guards said nothing, only followed her.
Her legs were weak, shaking as she hunted for the captain's tent. The exertion of holding herself up was great; sweat swam down the back of her neck. Twice she fell, curling up in the dirt as shakes racked her form. The guards did nothing, standing over her body until the shakes passed and she stood again.
It took her nearly an hour to cross from her tent to the captain's, though the walk could normally have been made in ten minutes. Once there, she sank down into the dirt in front of the tent, holding her legs and rocking back and forth. The guards stood beside her, silent sentinels still.
When Kali's strength returned, she lifted her head high and walked into the tent. She stopped short as she saw who sat behind a table strewn with maps.
"D-Davgeon?"
Kali turned and walked back into the cave, pointing at the two bodies on the floor. "Get rid of them. Bury them out in the woods somewhere. I don't care where, I just want them out of my sight." Six men rose and took the bodies out, two carrying shovels. While they were gone, she instructed the women to clean up the bloody sand. Turning, she walked deep into the caverns, calling out orders as she went. "I want a meal, and a bath. In that order. Somebody clean out Thavyre's room. Leave any papers; I will go through those myself." Stopping Alhanna, she asked her for clean clothes, to be ready after her bath. As she walked into the kitchen, the smell of baking bread nearly made her weep.
"Yes Kalianna, it's me." Davgeon's voice brought her out of her reverie. He stood, walked around the table. Kali shook her head, thinking that it must be some vision brought on by the fever. He crossed to her, put his hands down on her shoulders. "I wondered when you would come to me. I thought it would be a while yet. Ah, but now I see why." he touched her forehead gently, and a frown creased his brow. "Glen, get a healer," he said, gesturing toward one of the guards. Kali stared dumbly at him.
Davgeon crossed over to a pair of chairs, drawing her along with him. "Well, I can see from your silence that you are wondering why I am here. Am I correct?" Kali nodded mutely, sitting in a chair as he applied a slight pressure to her shoulders. "And you are probably wondering how I made it this far, this fast. Correct again?" Another nod. Davgeon smiled ruefully. "As you might have guessed, I wasn't as dead as you thought. Did you ever wonder why those men never came back?"
"I thought you got ambushed," Kali said, staring at the floor.
"And so we did, but we convinced them to not kill us. They brought us to the castle. In fact, the very same castle you were being had been held captive at. But we weren't prisoners there. Not for long. I told them how many fighters we had. I told them everything I knew, right down to your plan to head north and regroup there."
Kali gasped. "Why did you betray us?!"
"This war is foolishness, Kalianna! Don't you see! If you would only surrender, we could restore true peace back over Teritus!"
Kali shook her head. "This talk is foolishness, Davgeon. You're brain is muddled by thoughts of power!" She pushed herself up out of the chair, intending to walk away. However, her legs betrayed her and she toppled. Davgeon rose, caught her quickly. "Kaliana, you simply do not understand, do you?" Turning, he carried her back, through a flap in the tent and into a mock bedroom. He laid her down on the bed of furs and stood, turning. "The healers will be here shortly. I suggest you rest."
Kali, not having anything else to do, closed her eyes and slept.
And it's not done.
The blade slid easily into the man's back, and Kali smiled grimly. The blade had slid through the flesh like a hot knife though warm butter, digging past bone and through sinew to pierce the heart. There was an expression of shock on his face as he slumped forward over the blade, Kali suspected. An expression mirrored on the eyes of the others in the camp, jack slack and eyes wide. In those first few seconds after their leader died, nobody said anything, and Kali pushed the man from her blade. The lifeless body hit the cave floor with a thump, blind eyes staring upward.
Silence ruled over the cave as Kali stared across the motley crew, daring each of them to defy her with a look. None said anything for a long minute, and then Davgeon, a skilled warrior stood. "Why would you do such a think, Kalianna? What did Thavyre do?"
"Thavyre was a fool," Kali spat contemptuously, "and you're a fool to stand with him. If you continue to do so, you will die with him as well." She raised her sword in a challenge. "Will you stand, and die?"
Davgeon nodded, and stepped forward. "It is you who are the fool, Kalianna! And it is you who will die." Drawing his blade, he rushed forward.
Kali sidestepped, turning about to meet his sword. Metal sang as blades crossed, drawing spectators from the inner reaches of the cave. Whispers of "What is going on?" and "Why are they fighting" crossed through the crowd, a soft hum, background to the sound of steel ringing on steel. davgeon blocked Kali's blade, their swords holding for a moment before Davgeon's strength proved too much for her, and she stepped back. Davgeon followed her, pressing the attack now that she had lost the advantage. Kali blocked each attack, waiting for her chance It came to her a few minutes later, as their blades again met and held. This time, instead of stepping back, she stepped forward, too close for him to effectively use his sword against her. She drew a small dagger from her belt and thrust it into his gut. Davgeon's eyes widened in pain. A hush fell over the crowd. The only sound that could be heard was the steady drip, drip of blood falling to the sandy floor.
"Why?" Davgeon's voice was faint. Kali smiled softly, pressing her finger to his lips. She jerked the blade upward, twisted and ripped it out. Davgeon stumbled backwards, fell to the ground. Blood pooled in the sand around him, flowed to mix with the blood of Thavyre. Kali wiped both her blades off on the fur-lined vest Davgeon wore and stood to address the company. "I am your leader now. Let he who disagrees step forward and meet these mens' fate." None stepped forward. "Good." Kali turned and strode out of the cave.
As she did, a gasp ran through the crowd. Kali turned in time to take a sword to the gut. She stared at the wide, mocking eyes of Davgeon. Their blood mingled on the warm sand.
Kali woke with a gasp, her heart pounding in her chest. The memory of the dream sent chills down her spine, and she fumbled to light the lanterns, her shaking hand knocking a crystal decanter from her bedside table. Wine spilled across her feet. She paid it no notice, moving over to the terrace and throwing open the doors.
A knock on the door indicated that the crash had awakened somebody, and a soft voice asking permission to enter named it her maidservant, Alhanna. Kali granted permission, saying that she had simply knocked over the decanter in her clumsiness. Alhanna looked at her strangely, but did not question. Mistress Kalianna was anything but clumsy.
Out on the moonlit veranda, Kali leaned against the railing, gulping in the cool night air. Memories, invoked by the dream, swam through her head.
"I'm telling you, we must go to war! They have taken our lands, forced to live underground like mountain dwarfs!" Thavyre's voice echoed in the silent cavern. Kali stood.
"You are insane! We have how many people? Three hundred. You propose to attack an army of hundreds? And how many of us can fight? Very few. Farmers, shopkeepers. Women and children. What good will they do against warriors?"
Thavyre shook his head, his ice blue eyes shinning bright in the torchlight. "We must have hope, Kalianna. Three hundred people, holed up in caves. Short of food, water. What else can we do but fight?"
And so they had trained farmers and shopkeepers to use swords, swords they won by sending the fighters out to attack scouting parties and slave caravans. The slaves they released, inviting them to join them. Space became limited, food harder to find. It was then that Thavyre said they should attack.
Kali had spent days trying to convince him to take a different route. All of it to no avail, Kali recalled sadly.
The sounds of war filled Kali's head. Shouts, screams of pain. She attacked blindly, men from Sobrem falling under her hand. But for every creature she killed, it seemed that two of her men died. Running, she sought Thavyre.
"We must retreat!" she cried, dodging the attack of a Sobremesu. "We are losing men, more than they are." She thrust her sword into the man's chest, sharp blade piercing though leather armor. The man fell to the ground.
Thavyre nodded and sounded the retreat. Men turned and ran for the trees, fighting all the way. Kali thought them blessed that they were not pursued, and wondered why.
Kali turned from the balcony, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. It simply would not do for the memories to keep her awake, and yet it was too late in the night to call for a sleeping draught. Walking back into her room, she began to dress, pulling on breeches of dark blue and a tunic of white, embroidered with gold-toned thread. She slipped soft leather boots onto her feet, and, casting a cloak over her shoulders, she hurried out the door.
Her leather boots made no sound on the stone floor as she hurried down stairs and hallways and out into the courtyard. Moving from there to the stables, she led her horse, Olena, out of the gates. Once outside the city walls, she swung herself up onto Olena's back and set off toward the forest. She had forgotten her sword.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
The moon shone brightly as Kali rode across the open field toward the forest. This was, perhaps, her favorite time to be outside. No, she couldn't say that. She loved being outside, no matter the time. This was, though, one of her favorites. There was nobody up, it was late enough that the lights of the city had been doused. The stars hung low in the autumn sky, and it seemed that if she only try she could pluck one from the heavens and wear it for a ring.
She let Olena loose, and the horse raced toward the forests, rider bent almost double of its neck. Her short brown hair flew back in the wind and she laughed, joy bubbling up inside of her. She was never as happy as when she was when she was outside, in the fresh air, and she could put the city and its war behind her.
Kali reigned Olena in as they neared the forest, slowing to a walk. She led the horse down a path, well-known to her but not to others, to a clearing dominated by an enormous tree, an oak of a size that suggested a tremendous age and and sturdiness, boughs spreading in a huge spiral from a trunk so large perhaps a room could have been cut into it. Kali dismounted, tethering her horse to a small aspen that grew at the edge of the glade.
Fallen leaves carpeted the floor, crunching softly underfoot as she crossed to the tree. No bird song or hum of insects, nor even the rustle of a breeze disturbed the silence. It was as if the tree absorbed everything round it. As always, a look of reverence crossed Kali's face as she stood before the tree, placing her palms on it. She sighed softly, at peace here in this secluded clearing.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Armed and on horseback, she could have taken them. Even on foot and with a sword, she would have put up a good fight. She did, once she got a sword. But they still took her.
The first sign of trouble was a whinny from Olena. She spun, seeing Olena crumple, blood flowing from her neck. "No!" Kali screamed, reaching for her blade and finding nothing. oh, no... She fell into a fighting stance, looking around for something to use as a weapon. There was none.
There were five of them. She fought them off as best she could, kicking the first hard in the elbow. She felt the blow through her leg, and the man screamed, clutching his useless arm. His sword - more a long knife than anything - fell to the ground The second man rushed her while she was off-balance, and she ducked, but not fast enough. She felt the blade slice through her sleeve, cut her arm. The cut was shallow, and stung later. At the time, though, she felt nothing. She fought them off as long as she could, but they eventually overpowered her. Holding her down, they cut her clothes off of her and carried her into the forest. Using strips of her clothing for binding, they tied her spreadeagled on the ground. Each had his way with her, and then they untied her from the roots she had been tied to, instead tying her arms behind her back.
She was lucky that they did not kill her, but she later learned why. They took her back to their encampment, a long hike away. It seemed that they were scouts for the Sobremesu, and that they knew who she was. She frowned. They would probably use her for ransom, something she did not want. But she was powerless against them, weaponless in the enemy's camp.
They gave her clothes, a rough tunic and breeches that chafed her skin and itched horribly. She was dirty, bloody from her shallow wound and the rape. She was thrown into a tent and kept under heavy guard, given a saddle blanket to sleep upon. Through the days Kali was held captive, she stayed calm, resolute. This was not the first time she'd been captured.
The room was rank, damp and moldy. An old storeroom, deep within the old castle and windowless. Two guards stood before the door day in, and day out. She was given stale bread and stringy, rancid meat once a day. The meat went to keep the rats at bay. Once a day she was allowed outside, into the inner courtyard, heavily guarded. There she exercised to keep her muscles limber. There, she planned.
It was a simple thing to befriend one of the guards. She offered sexual favors, promised forever, feigned love. And when she had him wrapped around her little finger, it was a simple thing to convince him to run away away with her. And an even simpler thing to kill him afterward.
She had been captured after the failed battle against the Sobremesu. She wasn't the only one captured, but she was the only one to make it out alive. Most of the others died in the months after being captured, from sickness, want of food, or in the mines. The ones that didn't die lost their minds.
It was a long, three days' march back to the caves where Thavyre had his men holed up. She took the guard's armor and sword. That was what she used to kill Thavyre.
Kali shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She had to have her wits about her, if she wanted to escape. This time it was different. They didn't take her out to exercise. Nobody came in to check on her. Always, the two guards stood outside the tent flaps. They didn't speak, and if she tried to speak with them, they ignored her.
They treated her more kindly in this encampment. The food that she was given was decent, and there were no rats to contend with. However, the solitary confinement was worse on her than any torture they could have devised. She didn't know what was going on. There was no activity in the camp. It was like they were waiting for something....
Her wound worsened, having been left untreated. It festered, pus rising to the surface, coating the sleeve of her shirt. She tried to rip the sleeve off, but the fabric was too coarse. The pain grew daily, and she grew sick with a fever. Still, the guards stood outside the door, silent as stone gargoyles. Finally, when the pain became too much and the fever too great, she stumbled out of teh tent and down the dirt path between tents. The guards said nothing, only followed her.
Her legs were weak, shaking as she hunted for the captain's tent. The exertion of holding herself up was great; sweat swam down the back of her neck. Twice she fell, curling up in the dirt as shakes racked her form. The guards did nothing, standing over her body until the shakes passed and she stood again.
It took her nearly an hour to cross from her tent to the captain's, though the walk could normally have been made in ten minutes. Once there, she sank down into the dirt in front of the tent, holding her legs and rocking back and forth. The guards stood beside her, silent sentinels still.
When Kali's strength returned, she lifted her head high and walked into the tent. She stopped short as she saw who sat behind a table strewn with maps.
"D-Davgeon?"
Kali turned and walked back into the cave, pointing at the two bodies on the floor. "Get rid of them. Bury them out in the woods somewhere. I don't care where, I just want them out of my sight." Six men rose and took the bodies out, two carrying shovels. While they were gone, she instructed the women to clean up the bloody sand. Turning, she walked deep into the caverns, calling out orders as she went. "I want a meal, and a bath. In that order. Somebody clean out Thavyre's room. Leave any papers; I will go through those myself." Stopping Alhanna, she asked her for clean clothes, to be ready after her bath. As she walked into the kitchen, the smell of baking bread nearly made her weep.
"Yes Kalianna, it's me." Davgeon's voice brought her out of her reverie. He stood, walked around the table. Kali shook her head, thinking that it must be some vision brought on by the fever. He crossed to her, put his hands down on her shoulders. "I wondered when you would come to me. I thought it would be a while yet. Ah, but now I see why." he touched her forehead gently, and a frown creased his brow. "Glen, get a healer," he said, gesturing toward one of the guards. Kali stared dumbly at him.
Davgeon crossed over to a pair of chairs, drawing her along with him. "Well, I can see from your silence that you are wondering why I am here. Am I correct?" Kali nodded mutely, sitting in a chair as he applied a slight pressure to her shoulders. "And you are probably wondering how I made it this far, this fast. Correct again?" Another nod. Davgeon smiled ruefully. "As you might have guessed, I wasn't as dead as you thought. Did you ever wonder why those men never came back?"
"I thought you got ambushed," Kali said, staring at the floor.
"And so we did, but we convinced them to not kill us. They brought us to the castle. In fact, the very same castle you were being had been held captive at. But we weren't prisoners there. Not for long. I told them how many fighters we had. I told them everything I knew, right down to your plan to head north and regroup there."
Kali gasped. "Why did you betray us?!"
"This war is foolishness, Kalianna! Don't you see! If you would only surrender, we could restore true peace back over Teritus!"
Kali shook her head. "This talk is foolishness, Davgeon. You're brain is muddled by thoughts of power!" She pushed herself up out of the chair, intending to walk away. However, her legs betrayed her and she toppled. Davgeon rose, caught her quickly. "Kaliana, you simply do not understand, do you?" Turning, he carried her back, through a flap in the tent and into a mock bedroom. He laid her down on the bed of furs and stood, turning. "The healers will be here shortly. I suggest you rest."
Kali, not having anything else to do, closed her eyes and slept.
And it's not done.