The contractions make it hard to focus, but Taahira knows she's being carried further underground. Herod is cradling her, and moving quickly - the jouncing doesn't help either, nor the darkness. The three vampires carry the doe out of a tunnel and into a larger underground space, dimly lit by torches but familiar: the real Temple of Diphath. The flicking torches make the gruesome statue seem animated, and the air smells of blood. The statue has blood around its mouth, and the altar that Taahira is laid on also smells of blood and other things. Red eyes watch from the shadows, and there's an odd, hissing chant being raised.
"Ow, ow, ow," is about all Taahira can think. She's aware of being rather damp in that what remaining fluids that supported things have broken. She knew that sort of thing happened, but not how bad this hurts. Her gut is a turmoil of movement as her body prepares itself. It's also a good thing she doesn't see the lower half of herself right now. What with dilation and such; it might scare her off from sex ever again! "Gotta ... OW .... focus. ... OW ... in danger, hiss," the doe thinks, then ends up hissing and crying out herself!
"Soon," Herod says, and forces Taahira's legs apart. There's a sort of sluice under her. She can feel the worms squirming around in confusion. She's pretty sure that in normal births, the child doesn't crawl out by itself! They need to do this orderly if they're going to fit out and not get smashed together.
Taahira's brow furrows in concentration as she focuses on her 'children', trying to 'calm' them and get them positioned so that one can come out at a time. Remaining focused on them for long periods of time is rather hard though. When a contraction comes, the pain is ungodly. "Hurts," the doe whimpers to Herod. She doesn't even think much about the altar she's on at the moment; just on how to control the pain and push her children out. Hormones, for what they are, do make her think of them as her children!
The worms do calm down and seems to align themselves. Mahalia and Anina work on Taahira's nipples for some reason.. but it does seem to help with the pain. Herod is already reaching up into her though with one hand. "It may be breach," he tells the others in Babelite.
Taahira cries out, again! Her body convulses and tries to push Herod's hand back out! "Why did I do this? Why did I agree to this? Why did I let that demon impregnate me?!" she thinks, jaws clenching. Get his hand out ... or ... In her haze of pain, the doe tries to urge a worm forward, so she can push it out! Either on Herod's hand or after it leaves.
"I feel a leg, it needs.." Herod says, and then his face scrunches up into a grimace before he screams in pain! He tries to pull his hand out, but it seems stuck! Taahira can feel the worm that latched onto it being dragged out.
Taahira screams as a wave of pain hits her! Once something begins moving through the birth canal it seems to trigger contractions to push it out.
The sound is disturbingly like 'splut'. Herod's arm pulls out and he falls over backwards out of sight, still cursing and yelling in pain. "Anina, take over!" Mahalia says as she goes to her husband. The young priestess gets up onto the altar with Taahira, and tells her, "Breath deep, regular! In time with the spasms!"
"Easy for you to say!" Taahira practically barks! Wincing and squirming herself, she tries to urge the next of her 'children' into position. She even does try to breath in when the next surge hits. And oh gods does it feel so wrong when something starts sliding through her for its exit!
"I see it," Anina says, holding her hands between Taahira's legs to catch the baby.. and drooling. She ignores everything else, even Mahalia's scream behind her. The worm pops out into the vampire's waiting hands.. and then sprays her in the face with venom! Anina falls forward, her head bouncing off Taahira's stomach.
"Aaaargh!" is all Taahira can say. The impact hurt ... and there is so, so, many more to go! It's all she can do to focus on lining the next one up so that her spasming body can take over pushing it out ... then focus to the freed worm to see if she needs to send it after Mahalia!
Mahalia is visible again, blood-spattered and furious as she rises up at the bottom of the altar. She's found a stone knife, and is coming around the altar to get close enough to strike!
And Taahira bears down trying to force out one of her children to assault Mahalia with it! She can't do much else from here; she can't move with the wracking muscle spasms. Her teeth clench and her jsaws grit as she inhales deep, the contraction hitting her like a hammer. She won't be able to see if it works; but she'll know if she lives!
The next one is delivered, and launches itself at Mahalia's face - biting deep into her cheek with its multiple rows of teeth. The woman screams and falters. The chanting has stopped, and there's sounds of panic and confusion and anger from the coven.
"/More. Five? Don't know. Gotta just ...," Taahira thinks, then the pain hits her again. And then something even more disturbing comes when the next wave of pain hits, and another moves into position. She thinks, pleads, and /prays/, "/Gorphat! Mother!/"
A hard hand takes Taahira's, and another settles on her stomach. Hosheb is there at her side, and there is a buzzing in her ears. "Calm yourself," the demon says, and some of the pain goes away at least.
"Our children ... clutch ... are ... hard to bear my love, Taahira thinks just before another wave hits her and she can feel her insides stretch as another of the larvae slide into position and slowly out of her.
"I am here," Hosheb says, his bug-eyed visage somehow looking supportive. "We are here," he follows on with.. and now the buzzing is more than just in the doe's ears - it's in the chamber. The sounds of panic and chaos increase as the horribs arrive.
"I'm going to miss the eggs being within me," Taahira admits to Hosheb when the pain hits her again, another larvae moving into position. She inhales in a sucking sound through her teeth and bears down.
It seems to get easier, now that she's at the halfway mark. Or it may just be the painkillers that Hosheb may have injected her with. The next two come out in quick succession, and the horrib queen is there, hovering over Taahira. She scoops up the larvae and carries them off, probably to some recently paralyzed cannibal. No reason for the larvae to have to share after all.
Taahira breathes again, focusing the next into position. The pain rolls, then she feels it sliding from her. It's disturbing; it's disgusting; and part of Taahira likes it; being the bearer of slimy death. "Promise me I will carry for you again some day, my love," the doe asks of Hosheb.
"If you so desire," Hosheb promises. The air is full of buzzing now - it's as if the entire hive has decided to relocate to this location. "Your dragon guards the entrance to this place. You must complete Gorphat's mission soon: eliminate the alien sickness."
"As soon as I release the rest of our children ... then shift to Gorphat's other ... demon, Scourge," Taahira promises. Pain hits her again and she bears down.
The final larvae passes through, and is scooped up by the queen. Only the first three are nearby, happily chewing their way into the paralyzed, still living flesh of the Abbas clan leaders.
Taahira feels as through a great weight has been lifted from her ... right up until a final spasm that pushes out the dregs of fluids and sac that held her 'children' safe inside her. "Uuuugh," the doe whines. "Give me a moment, then help me to me hands and knees," she asks of Hosheb.
The demon helps her when she's recovered enough. With the birthing past, the Lapi is more aware of her environment - and the smells are really making her feel ill.
"Good thing I will soon not have a nose, love," taahira thinks to Hosheb, "And I promise I will visit you soon. Gorphat's Temple, of your home in the hive?" she thinks, then closes her eyes and slows her breathing. Time to shift.
Maybe it's the atmosphere, or the surrounding decay.. but the change is more comfortable somehow. And soon lacking a nose makes no difference, as it would just get in the way of Scourge's other senses. There is madness here, in the paralyzed and panicking coven, but it's just a reddish pink sort of madness. Not quite ripe enough. But the bruised purple minds are close.. downward. Deeper. And further below, something else. Something black.
"You will find me when you need me," Hosheb promises.
Scourge licks over its toothless gums, then lips. It's head tilts and twishs as it slinks forward, tasting the air and the madness in the depths. "I must feed," it tells Hosheb as it seeks the passage deeper, "I will find you later; promise."
It takes a moment to really sort out the sussing from the more material senses, so that Scourge can actually find the right tunnel. The rock here is rougher, although the ground worn smooth - no telling just how old it is, but it isn't recent. The food is ahead, evenly spaced out like an orchard. The eyes eventually sync up with the sussing to overcome the darkness. The chamber is long and twisty, and the floor is full of pits. And in each pit, there is the purple meat, each alone save for a partially eaten corpse. Didn't the other one say something like that? That he was made to eat his mother? The madness is so heavy that the meat doesn't even try to climb up or fly out.
Scourge licks its lips, then its tongue splits apart. It lopes, then practically slithers, into the first pit to find its first meal. Its long tongue snakes out from its jaws, grasping for its prey. It shows no interest in the corpse; it wants that purple, living, insanity.
The meat is crying and shaking, until the tongue sticks to its (his? her?) forehead. Then it goes still, and all of the misery is just.. sucked out. Healing vampirism. It's delicious! And the meat is quiet then, passed out.
Though Scourge has no reason to, none at all, it uses its larger body and its tongue to then drag the body out of the pit and up towards the entrance to the lower passage. Soon, though, it looses interest in that fallen body and slithers itself back towards the next pit. "Hungry," it thinks as it once more slithers into a pit for a ... meal.
It takes time. There are so many! Scourge almost feels full, but the hunger is still there. It doesn't always drag the drained ones all the way to the tunnel, but it doesn't leave any in the pits. There must be a hundred of them, not counting the dead. The last one almost takes an effort to drain. But soon the purple is gone from Scourge's senses, leaving just the deeper down ultraviolet madness.
If Scourge had a stomach, that presence might turn it.
An odd, guttural, growl rumbles from within Source's throat. "Madness such as you should not exist," it soon hisses down the tunnel, towards the lurking infection. It's brow draws down and lips draw into a tight grimace ... then the Gorphat-demon makes its way towards that radiation ... to face it and to destroy it.
The walls of the tunnel it follows seem off. As if up and down change, but without actually changing. The sussing sense isn't affected though. The tunnel spirals lower and lower, until it emerges into a cavern. The space is long and narrow, extending off an unknown distance in one direction, but the madness is closer. The cavern is both natural and unnatural - a fold, a crack left over when the world rippled like a pond when something struck it. The air is thick and hot and humid, but that doesn't really bother Scourge. It actually feels more comfortable. The only light here is coming for its own body, bathing the damp stone in green.
Scourge remembers this from its training with Cyprian; cannot trust normal senses. So, it must focus only on its sussing sense. "Come out, come out," Scourge hisses into the madness and darkness. "Don't hide in part of the wound ... come to me." Onward it goes, following insanity like children follow candy.
The source isn't moving, but it isn't hard to find. The floor of the cavern becomes uneven, and forms a bowl of sorts. In the bowl is.. madness. It's like a shadow dragon, but turned inside out like Lord Verminous was.. only the insides are bigger than the outsides if that's the case. It is formless but also every form. It has a thousand eyes, a thousand mouths, and it flails extensions against the rock, only to have the flesh split and crack and run like water back into the main body. Teki teki teki li is screams in silence, radiating pain and misery like an odor.
"Just what are you? Scourge hisses to it. It then draws back, and up. Its maw splits wide and it hisses, releasing a blast of its spores directly into the bowl.
The headache is fierce! The pit-thing seems to sense a different world than the normal one. Everything is a blur, a smear in time. Even space doesn't work right.. the real world looks flat, but the thing sees into other spaces that don't make sense. It sees itself, tastes itself, devours itself. It seems impossibly alien, except.. there's something. Something that anchors it, lets it exist in the normal world somehow. Buried deep in the ultraviolet is a spark of familiar color.
Scourge roars! Its smooth wings spread wide as it leaps slightly into the air and dives into the heart of madness, towards that spark of familiar color. "Tell me, are you the crystal of a shadow dragon, perhaps?" it thinks as it does something that can only be attributed to madness.
It's like diving into Melusine, if she was made of acid. The volume is wrong.. the thing couldn't be big enough for Scourge to sink in so far, but it apparently is. And the inside is no different from the outside! The mouths bite and the eyes glare, but at the heart, just ahead..
It's an Eeee.
And Scourge forces forward, tongue and tail thrashing. Even its tail has split apart as it goes for that Eeee, intent on ripping it free!
Well, part of one, or the essence of one. It's meshed with the rest, like the shadow is meshed with Alptraum. But it's also more.. natural. It wasn't an Eeee that was invaded or infested or devoured: it was born like this. It's a hybrid. The Eeee opens its eyes, and they are empty, as Scourge makes contact. The tail tentacles find purchase in the amorphous body, so that Scourge can try to pull the Eeee part out at least.
Scourge's tongue wraps around its head, trying to consume its madness if it can ... or rip its head off if it cannot. "You're one of those ... worshipers!" it accuses the strange Eeee .... somehow. "And serving an abomination!"
The tongue feels numb. There's nothing there. No mind, just a swirling chaos of sensations. But since the 'head' isn't really connected to anything, it does shift. Scourge can pull it out with some effort!
With a hissing roar, Scourge tries to rip the head free from the amorphous blob!
The world turns inside out! The spores, thankfully, are destroyed before Scourge gets the full brunt of it, but even that little bit leaves it staggered. The massive (or massless) body of the thing burns away with a bright green flame and a keening wail. What Scourge holds in its tongue is.. something like a fetus. A small, deformed Eeee, with an umbilical cord still attached. It's dead.. may have been dead all along, since how could that thing have been alive? But the Eeee must have been what allowed it to exist outside of the Forbidden Zone.
Scourge drops this .... thing on the ground. It is unsure of just what to do with it. "It should be buried, Scourge decides, and looks for another hole, or a place where it can collapse part of the cavern upon it.
There's loose.. gravel.. at the bottom of the bowl. At least, it looks like gravel, but may be the remains of the alien thing.
Scourge doesn't seem ... all that willing to just put it back in those remains. So ... perhaps it should be examined. Mave knows babies better than anyone, so it can give it to her. It scoops the fetus up in its tail this time, then heads towards the exist of this abominable place.
The former prisoners are stirring by the time Scourge returns to the 'dungeon' they were in. They seem disoriented and afraid. "Who's there" one asks.
"Yodhgorphat Scourge," answers Scourge. "You have been in a nightmare, but it is ending. Use your ears, and follow me out. Do not look, do not smell."
The Undercity dwellers make way for the dragon-creature, and follow warily. The upper temple chamber is silent now. Scourge emerges to see that the bodies have been removed - probably by the horribs - and the statue of Diphath toppled. That was most likely done by the silver dragon that waits atop the rubble. Tulani looks peeved. "I had to follow the bugs to know that something was happening," she notes.
"It's hard to think about much of anything when your insides are about to rip themselves out," Scourge counters, "The creature down here is dead, as is the Coven." Scourge looks around again, then asks, "Have you seen a slave named Chiyuta?"
"Nobody's come down here that I've seen," Tulani notes. "There were the degenerate ones, and the three leaders I assume. They were the only normal looking ones."
"I ... I need to find her if I can. She deserves to be free. They all do; but especially her. Before she falls to the level these have," Scourge says as it looks about the carnage. "And she should be taken to Saskanar."
"I can lead these people out," Tulani says, and notices the thing carried in Scourge's taile. "That.. that isn't what came out of you is it?" the dragon asks quietly.
"No, what came out was worse. This is ... the remains of the creature from the pit. Will you take it to Mave? Her expertise on children will help to understand what it is," Scourge suggests ... then offers the fetus to Tulani.
The dragon hesitates a moment, but then takes the body, as if worried it will melt or burst into maggots or something. She puts it on her back and holds it with her wings. "I'll take the survivors to where the children are staying," she tells Scourge. "I'll come back as soon as I can."
"Thank you, Tulani. And some advice for you; having children is over-rated. The pain is beyond description," Scourge says. "And it's funny; but I feel I have failed if I don't save those above. I got to know them; and if I left them ..." That's where Scourge trails off. Now, it just looks for the stairs up.
There's only one tunnel that seems to be going upwards, so that's probably the one to take. There's a mind up there, in a bit of distress from the green tint.
And up Scourge goes. Slowly, so as not to scare the person above. IT is well aware how it looks could be terrifying. So, at least its tail goes back together, as does its tongue.
It's a longer trip than the one going down, but then Scourge isn't being carried by a running Eeee. The exit is shadowed, but through an archway the false temple is visible. Chiyuta is there, holding a basket of fruit and looking worried. "Taahira? Mistress Anina?" she calls out, sounding afraid.
"They are gone, Chiyuta," Scourge says from the shadows, trying to keep its voice soft. Even without having a stomach; Scourge feels like it does emotionally. Part of the core person of all this oddness, Alptraum, is still very much in there.
"Who.. who is that?" the slave girl asks, looking more afraid. "What do you mean they're gone? Gone where?"
"Anina is dead for her crime of trying to sacrifice the children of Taahira. The doe has been taken to a safe place, along with all of the others that were kept down below, in the real temple of Diphath," Scourge explains. "Taahira asked me to come for you and help you find your freedom, and your dreams. She could not come herself because of her condition."
Chiyuta falls to her knees, and the fruit goes spilling across the floor. "What? What?" she asks. "Mistress.. crimes.. sacrifice? Who are you? I can't just.."
"Please do not run. I may look scary, but I will not harm you," Scourge says. There is a pause, then the odd dragon-think slinks out of the shadows. It even keeps its head and tail lowered to seem smaller. "I will not force you to come; I can only ask."
"You.. you have glowing patterns," Chiyuta says, for whatever reason focusing on that in her shock. "Am I bad? Did I do something bad and you're going to punish me?"
"No, child. You have suffered more than anyone should. You are not bad. I am not here to punish you," Scourge says as it moves closer. "I've come to set you free, and if I can ... fix your wing. It is not enough to make up for all you suffered; but my powers are ... limited."
"My wings?" Chiyuta says. "Are you.." she looks up at the statue of not-quite-Diphath. "Did She send you?"
"No. Someone else sent me," Scourge says.
"Who? Are you a god?" the girl asks. She's gotten to her feet now. Maybe the enchantment on this room makes her more trusting of whatever she hears.
"Not ... exactly. Will you come with me?" Scourge asks, then bows its head again, perhaps offering a 'ride' for the child. "Please. There has been too much horror here. I have to save you. It ... matters."
"Horror?" Chiyuta says. Still under the spell of the room, she actually climbs up onto Scourge's back! She also grabs onto two of his head tendrils though.
Scourge tries to not shake the child off, even with how weird it feels to have those grabbed! "Hold on, we will be going ... to the Yodhrinala," it explains .... then has to find the actual way out. Should be easy; follow Tulani's trail of water.
That involves going through the ruined temple, and once there, Chiyuta cries out in fear! "What is this place! I don't want to be here!"
"No one does; this is your former Mistress' real temple. We will not be here long. IT is just the path to the way out," Scourge promises. "Close your eyes. I will tell you when it is safe."
"It smells like blood and death," the girl cries. At least she lets go of the tendrils to just hug around Scourge's neck, burying her face. The path out isn't hard to find, just as Scourge predicted. There's frost patches lining it.
"Many died here. Eventually, you would have been brought here and made one of them, one of the cannibals," Scourge admits as softly as he can. "But, that will not be your fate. Taahira told me you dreamt of seeing the fields of Saskanar and I will make sure that you do."
"You'll take me there?" the girl asks. The tunnel opens up into a ruin in the Undercity, some distance from the actual Abbas tower. It only take a moment for Scourge to get its bearings though.
"If I can, once your wing heals. It will depend on what the Barsunala will require of me. If I am needed elsewhere, he will arrange passage for you," Scourge claims. It looks about for a bit, then spreads its wings and takes to the air! Its destination, the hospice near Mt. Sunala; where the Yodhrinala and Yodhsunala work.
Once in the air, Chiyuta opens her eyes and looks around. "I've never flown before," she says, in an awed voice. There's a lot of activity on Mt. Sunala.. a crowd of people is forming; the recently rescued being reunited with their families, most likely. A flash of silver near the shrine hints at Tulani's location.
"Please do not be afraid of the Barsunala when you meet him. His name is Alptraum and he will not harm you," Scourge says as its wings wilt and curl in, the strange dragon diving towards the shrine.
"Ahhh, fast!" Chiyuta notes, holding on tighter. Even with the glowing symbols on its body, there's enough commotion on the ground that nobody looks up to notice the dark figure. Scourge is able to land behind the Temple, where Tulani also waits.
"I need you to take her to the Yodhrinala," Scourge tells Tulani after it lands. "I have to go find ... Alptraum."
"Oh.. uh, right," Tulani notes, wondering how to do it subtly. "The Yodh took the.. thing.. inside," she notes.
"Or wait with her here and Alptraum will take her," Scourge offers. "I can go find him ... then nods towards the temple itself."
"You must be Chiyuta," the silver dragon says to the girl, once she's off Scourge's back. Chiyuta still seems a bit dazed from the flight.
"Taahira's friend. The doe is being cared for in a quiet place, yes?" Scourge says, probably for Chiyuta's benefit. He starts towards the temple, but goes slow so that Tulani has time to answer.
"Oh yes, she's in a very comfortable place with her babies.." Tulani lies. There aren't any Yodh in the vestibule Scourge finds, luckily, but he can sense them nearby.. and moving away. There's concern in the colors of their minds.
Scourge looks quickly for clothing it can 'borrow' once it shifts back Alptraum.
There isn't anything just lying around.. but then Alptraum can always just wear the shadow if he needs to, since it was one of the first things he learned to do with it.. in what seems like another age, really.
Since that is all that is available, so be it. The dragon-thing settles down and closes its eyes. Time to return to being an Eeee, and a body it misses. It'll have to be wearing robes of shadow ... not exactly something that isn't spooky, but such is what it is.
The transformation takes time, as Scourge naturally wants to default back to Nicora. Eventually everything is back where it should be, sans jewelry, which feels a bit odd. The shadow wraps him like a black cloak, which at least matches what a Yodhsunala might actually wear.
"Don't worry, I will return to Nicora soon enough," Alptraum mutters to himself, amusingly, "Plus I really want my jewelry back; I just hope they still fit after a week." The cloaked Eeee stands, stretches, then walks out of the vestibule.
Chiyuta is sitting on the stone steps, holding.. it looks like a handful of snow in her hand. She looks up when the figure approaches. "Tulani says you are a healer," she says, although it mostly seems to be to reassure herself.
"I'm a lot of things," Alptraum answers as he sits on the stone steps beside the other Eeee. "Some of them I'm not very proud of, admittedly. My name is Alptraum Reisender. I'm the Barsunala; child of Sunala. And ... I'm here to help you. Also .... to ask you to forgive me."
"Forgive you?" Chiyuta says. "You're.. the son of death? Are you going to take me away?"
"No. Fix your wing if I can. As for forgive ... for not returning sooner. For not trying to help sooner," Alptraum answers and looks skyward. "For not being there when you needed help."
"Nobody can be everywhere," Chiyuta says, and reaches up to touch Alptraum's side. "I forgive you."
"Thank you. I can't promise I can fix your wing. I will try, and I can get the Yodhrinala to try, but I understand it has been this way for a long time," Alptraum says, looking over to the younger Eeee. "But first ..." Alptraum displays his heritage of growing up gypsy ... and uses his claws to pick free the lock on Chiyuta's collar; with a little shadow assist as needed.
This seems to snap Chiyuta out of her haze. At first she has a look of horror, as if something terrible is about to happen. Then she just stares at the fallen collar. "What am I now?" she asks quietly. "I've always had a collar."
"You're you. Free. You can choose what you want to do and where you go. I can help arrange a trip to Saskanar if you wish," Alptraum says, "And I have only one request to ask of you. Help others if you can. I know this city can wither the soul and after all you have been through I could understand if you did not help others. But ... please. Small things may never seem like much, but if enough people do small things maybe the world can change. Be better." He shrugs a bit, then looks skyward again. "I know it's a naive dream, a foolish hope. But I have to ask and to try."
"I'll try, for Taahira," Chiyuta says quietly, and wipes tears from her cheeks. "What do I have to do now for you to.. fix my wings? Should I start worshipping Sunala?"
"No. I just need you to relax," Alptraum says as he finally puts his hands on the part of her shoulders where her wings meet. "There may be some pain, but I will try to prevent it."
Chiyuta stays still. Alptraum is very experienced with different sorts of wings by now. The shadow probe shows that Chiyuta's hobbling was done rather expertly - bones were broken near the joints, specifically so that they'd fuse back in ways that made the wing useless for flying. Not every joint, just some key ones. And the muscles where thin and atrophied as a result - even the tendons seemed to suffer.
But then, he's also learned how to destroy and create wings from scratch when shifting between winged and non-winged forms.
"Please let this work," Alptraum thinks as he goes about slowly and carefully reshaping the damaged joints to match the Eeee wing structure he knows very well by now, and hopefully without too much pain. If that works, its then a matter of flowing energy back into the muscles and wings to help them on the way to healing. He may not be able to get them to normal strength, but if he can get it far enough ... she can strengthen them on her own in time.
Chiyuta whimpers. It probably does hurt a bit, but life as a slave tends to keep one from showing or reacting to pain. The damaged joints are broken down and rebuilt, the tendons strengthened and the muscles stimulated. The soft tissues need more than just energy though, without taking needed protein from other parts of the body. They'll need to be built back up naturally after all.. but now the wings have a full movement again.
"I'm sorry," Alptraum apologizes again when the Eeee starts showing pain. "You will need time to practice and strengthen your wings; I can't build up the muscles without ... damaging something else of you and I do not want to do that." He goes over and over the structure, making sure it matches his knowledge of Eeee wings at least five times before he slowly withdraws the shadow. "Please, try to move them."
The girl moves her wings, spreads them, twists and turns and even flaps. "I didn't know they could move like this," she admits.
"You can't fly yet. You will have to strengthen them," Alptraum explains, "The muscles are too weak."
"I have to learn how to fly anyway," the girl says, still crying. "So much.. at once.."
Alptraum reaches out and gently wipes away Chiyuta's tears. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Anything at all?" he asks.
"Make sure Taahira is happy," she says. "Someplace where nobody knows her past."
"That I can do," Alptraum claims, though he feels a bit guilty about it. "She wants you to be happy too."
"Where should I take her from here?" Tulani asks.
"Is there a refugee camp near where she will be safe? Once she strengthens her wings a bit, I will find a way to get her out of this city and to Saskanar," Alptraum offers. He then blinks and adds, "And I know the contact who can help; the friend of Butterscotch."
"Ah, the merchant," Tulani says. "I'll bring her to one of the camps on the mountain then, where we can find her easily."
"I get to ride on a dragon again?" Chiyuta asks.
"You'll get a cold butt, but yes," Alptraum says, then smirks at Tulani. "Scourge probably needs to check on the item you delivered that came out of the pit."
"They might be more welcoming of the Barsunala here," Tulani notes, and then looks concerned. "They weren't happy when they saw that thing. I'm sure they took it to Srinala."
"Possibly. I'll go to them, then. You will see her safely out of here? She's ... important," Alptraum says, then even hugs the probably surprised young Eeee.
Chiyuta squeaks from the hug, and blushes before hurrying over to Tulani. "Be careful," the dragon tells Alptraum.
"Hey, am I ever not careful?" Alptraum asks, smiling.
There's a bit of snow as Tulani snorts, then she winks at the bat. With Chiyuta on her shoulders, the silver dragon launches over the temple.
Alptraum rolls his shoulders. It's never easy in dealing with the Yodhsunala. But, things must be done and that strange Eeee-thing may have some answers. Or if nothing else, they're surely able to get rid of it here safely. So, the Eeee turns ahdn heads back into the temple, again. It's really strange to have a 'tail' in front again, not to mention to not be bloated and with a squirming cargo. "Ugh, that's one thing I'll leave out of any memoirs I write," he mutters.
The way to Srinala's suite has quite a few Yodh, although seem to be just waiting around for orders. They back away instinctively before Alptraum. The door guard stands her ground, but then says, "You're expected," before opening the door.
"And only an hour or two ago I was expecting," Alptraum quips nervously. He bites his lip, then walks through the open door.
The rooms seem empty (although a quick flash of golden fur through a slightly open door hints that Daughter-of-Shadows is in her room). In the main chamber, a small table sits with a small bundled up form atop it. Srinala stands next to it, looking.. restrained.
"That was lurking beneath the Abbas towers in a Temple dedicated to Diphath," Alptraum explains as he walks closer, but slowly and carefully. "It was part of some great monster of Madness. I tore it free to destroy it ... then unsure of what to do with it, I had it brought here. I know now what it is, other than a mutated child Eeee."
"It's a srinala," Srinala notes, an undertone of anger in her words. "A forced one."
Alptraum's brow arches slightly. "Forced? For what purpose? The Srinala are conduits of the souls of the dead. Why would ... " he starts to say, then stops, realizing in horror what that could imply. "A way to usurp the souls of the dead; a way to power undead creations. That's ..." His jaw sets. If he's right, Srinala will be able to confirm. If he's wrong; it must be something even worse. He didn't expect to feel good for very long, anyway.