Escana (83 page)

'You think I'm a monster,' he
stated simply, after waiting at length for her to speak.

She murmured agreement but
refused to say anything further.

'It was to be expected when you
cast your lot with that woman, her wiles are almost undetectable and
very difficult to break.'

'Her wiles?' Ella asked.

El-Vador propped himself up on
the bed, he made no move to beckon her over. 'Yes, her dominion over
the souls in her service, I should have realised she would attempt to
ensnare you in an effort to get to me. Once she had met you there was
nothing I could do without making matters worse, now the Emperor is
involved and things need to be rectified.'

Ella had no idea what he was
talking about, was he trying to imply that she was being used somehow
by this woman? 'What do you mean by ensnaring me? Is this some kind
of trap that she has caught me in? All I have seen from her is
kindness and charity.'

'That is precisely what she wants
you to see, she has a glamour of her own that is so powerful that
nobody can pierce its veil, until now.' He swept his legs to the side
of the bed and stood. 'She is more powerful than you know and her
forceful manipulations have remained uncontested for some time. I
have a boon to ask of you.'

She took a step back as he
crossed the room, wary should he decide to defy the Emperor's demands
and take her anyway.

'What would you ask of me?'

He reached out his arm and Ella
did her best not to flinch, his fist opened up and in its palm lay a
small black bead. 'This nut will render you immune to the effects of
her glamour for a short period of time, that you see me in such a
positive light is a result of my ingesting one shortly before your
arrival. It took me a long time to discover these, I assumed they had
been eradicated.'

He had a point, while she felt a
justifiable uneasiness in his presence there was nothing of him that
she had seen before, no darker side or rampant terrifying desire in
his eyes. Had it all been an illusion of the glamour? She felt a
great shame at the screams and struggles she had produced at his
touch, if what he was saying held true then he was innocent and her
reaction was both baffling and unjustified.

Then again, could this not be a
glamour in itself? Was he offering her the opportunity to reveal
Alissandra as the conniving monster or simply absolving himself of
blame by misguidedly deflecting it onto her?

She stared at the small round dot
in his face-up palm, he must have witnessed her contemplation even if
he claimed to be unable to read it. He knew that if she refused to
accept this he would forever be cast as a villain in her eyes. That
irrespective of his true nature he would have lost her to Alissandra,
it was a pivotal moment for him if he was being honest. Could such a
small thing end such a huge problem?

A strange longing rose in her
heart then as she gazed upon his alien features, the assault on her
had been so plainly out of character yet her jaded mind had accepted
it as a harsh reinforcement of her previously accepted reality. She
had wanted someone different, someone to prove her wrong about the
existence she was forced to inhabit. She had hoped for one such as
this, had led a life of longing for a single soul to validate her
dreaming. Was her belief in El-Vador founded upon that or was it
discounted because of the lessons she had learned? She had to make a
choice, she had to trust to hope.

She reached out tentatively,
waiting for the fist to close and crush all that was left of her
dreams, it remained open as her hand brushed his and grasped the
small seed.

'Take it now,' he urged her.
'Then return to Alissandra's. This should give you enough time to see
the reality she has failed to offer you.'

She nodded wordlessly and popped
the seed into her mouth, swallowing it whole. It left a slightly
bitter and earthy taste but nothing entirely unpalatable. She
certainly didn't feel any different or notice any changes for having
swallowed it.

'So that's all I have to do?' she
asked. 'Walk back to her as if nothing has happened and wait for the
transformation you spoke of?'

'Yes,' he replied simply. 'It
won't take long for you to notice the difference, the true Alissandra
lurking underneath the webs and cloaks and disguises is a very
different person.'

She made her way across the flat
tiled surface of Upper Levanin, armed with that knowledge and
bolstered by an inexplicably strong faith. She returned to the
boudoir without comment and settled herself into waiting for the real
Alissandra to arrive.

The woman arrived in a stream of
curses, Eli bobbing along after her like a stray puppy looking for a
morsel. Her disposition seemed entirely soured by the events she had
just witnessed, that or the seed El-Vador had given her was revealing
her true nature.

'Who the fuck does he think he is
keeping news of Greyhawk from me like that? Just so he can avenge
himself of some vendetta that has arisen. It took Mildred all of her
power to make it there to inspect the carnage, not a soul left alive
in the entire fort. All of my plans for the honey trap in ruins
thanks to the incompetence of that shambling freak.'

Ella thought the words would stop
when the woman finally caught sight of her, she was mistaken.
Instead, Alissandra buried herself in the pillows and started to wail
at the injustice of the world, swearing cruel demise upon any number
of people that Ella had no clue about. The woman finally turned her
gaze upon Ella and the look of resentment took her breath away.

'As for you. The new fucking
plaything that I planted to control him, you've completely failed the
only task that I set you. You were supposed to break him, to rend his
heart into tatters, then perhaps he might come back to me after all
this time. No, instead he grows even more distant from me, as if he
knows, as if he divines my every secret with a clarity I cannot help
but desire. How the fuck does he do it?'

She smiled, it wasn't one of
happiness though, an unnerving aspect had been written across her
features, all too manic in its disposition.

'Still, there is one thing he
does not know, one thing he cannot know. The glamour still holds, he
still believes that you are Elven, he still clings to that hope and
through his adoration of you I can vicariously grow closer. In time I
shall strike, I shall find a way and he will be powerless to prevent
me.'

Ella continued to listen on in
horrified fascination as Alissandra babbled about further retribution
over events that seemed inconsequential to her in provinces she had
no knowledge of. It was as if the entire land had offended her with
its existence and she desired control over its entirety so that she
may exact vengeance. There seemed no other end result to her demands,
her ploys were destructive and bent entirely upon responding to this
perceived slight on a massive scale. She rose after a time and
started to walk away from this raving woman.

'Where do you think you're
going?' she intoned dangerously, her voice utterly calm if somewhat
damaged from her wailing.

Ella had made her mind up, this
place offered her nothing but the opportunity to be a pawn for a
dangerous lunatic. 'I am leaving, to return to El-Vador once more.'

A look of consternation passed
over her face. 'Sit down child, you don't know what you're talking
about.'

Ella did not sit, her days of
listening to this woman's commands were at an end. 'I heard
everything,' she finally said. 'I have seen who you really are behind
all the glamours.'

A stricken look hit Alissandra
then as she rapidly twisted in her mass of cushions. 'You're
lucid...' she let slip, as if to herself. 'You saw everything...
how?'

Ella didn't reply, letting the
woman ramble on to her own conclusion.

'If you can see everything then
so can he. This is his fault, he has done this to me, turned you
against me. It is a counter-glamour, child, he has poisoned you
against me!'

'So you admit that you worked a
glamour upon me then,' Ella replied, allowing her resentment off its
leash.

Alissandra waved away the
accusation. 'Don't you see? It was all for your benefit! Now he has
decided to take you away from me. To turn me into a loathsome
creature that you despise.'

Ella shook her head at this sorry
state, watching her gasp for words in order to sway her opinion.

'I don't loathe you, nor do I
despise you. You would have me become like you, you would have me
used as a tool to manipulate at your will. All I feel for you is
pity, pity and regret.'

She started to leave again,
turning away from the creature sprawled out on the divan.

'You cannot leave!' Alissandra
shrieked.

Ella kept walking, she'd heard
more than enough.

The sun was blazing overhead in
the sky as she left Alissandra's domain for what she hoped would be
the last time, the sheer brightness of everything overpowered her.

Had she really just abandoned the
most powerful woman in the entire Empire? Was such a being really as
manipulative and manic as she had seemed or was the seed that had
been given to her distorting her perceptions? She knew there was no
way of finding out that she could think of, all she had left was to
place her hope in faith, hope that she had made the correct decision.
She doubted the Emperor would be as receptive to her complaints a
second time.

She had been listening carefully,
waiting for the screaming woman to breathlessly hobble out after her
and make a scene, or send a number of her servants to forcibly fetch
her and discipline her accordingly. What she hadn't expected were the
soft footfalls behind her, had the woman really deigned to send an
assassin to openly murder her in front of so many witnesses on the
plateau?

She turned as the steps grew
closer, they had definitely come from the building directly behind
her so it had to be a member of Alissandra's cadre.

'My mistress would very much like
you to return and discuss matters,' Eli said, looking up at her
wistfully with his hands in his pockets. The boy had no idea what was
being asked, all he knew was that the mistress he adored was upset.
As touching as Ella found the child's loyalty, she couldn't oblige
him now, not after what she had seen.

'I'm sorry Eli, I don't think
I'll be returning ever again,' she replied in what she hoped was a
friendly voice, she hadn't been very good with children at the best
of times.

A look of sadness crossed the
boy's innocent face. Ella refused to fall for his puppy-dog eyes,
reminding herself that Eli was but another tool at Alissandra's
disposal and this personal appeal had a manipulative intention behind
it.

'I'm going to miss you, Ella,'
the boy said simply, a strange look in his eyes. 'We could have had
so much fun together.'

Ella's steps faltered, realising
that she would miss the boy's youthful naivety too. There was
something very pure and unspoiled about the child that even his
association with Alissandra couldn't mar, it was something she hadn't
seen since setting off from Escana. She needed that innocence in her
life and this was the only way she was going to get it.

Another strange look flashed
across the boy's face and then was gone, she couldn't put a finger on
how to best describe it as it seemed so alien upon one so young.

'My dear sweet boy. Isn't that
what she calls you, Eli?' El-Vador said, crossing the concourse at a
relaxed pace. 'My dearest, sweetest of boys. So virtuous and
unblemished by the trials of life.'

He laid a hand upon Ella,
stopping her forward momentum. She didn't realise how far she had
walked back to Alissandra's abode, had Eli led her there?

'After all, fair Eli, what else
could your queen require than the joyous company of such an
innocent?' El-Vador continued, placing his body between Ella and the
boy. 'The sweetest of sensations, to grasp at the past that has
eluded us and nurture it close to our bosoms, never to let it
escape.'

El-Vador's body was blocking Eli
from sight, Ella couldn't tell how the boy was reacting to his words.

'I give you but one chance Eli,
for you have long used up any previous good will your continuing
presence may have generated. Turn back from this place and return
from whence you came, this young lady shall not join you and you will
intimate as much to your mistress.'

Ella heard a hissing noise from
beyond El-Vador that could only have come from Eli, then the Elf's
arm was stretched out and grasping him by the throat as one would a
snake.

'You will leave this place, I
shall not ask you again. Your demise is a small price to pay to fall
out of the Emperor's good graces. Do you hear me? It is a risk that I
am willing to take as I can quite happily operate outside of his
jurisdiction for the general betterment.'

Eli wasn't looking at El-Vador,
he gazed at Ella with beseeching eyes. His pleading pierced her
heart, here was a child caught in the crossfire between two great
powers in their incomprehensible struggle over her.