Yamara

She began walking forward then, stepping down the four steps from the raised dais to the floor level and walking towards us. She practically floated over the floor, so gracefully and sinuously did she move. Evart's jaw dropped open slightly as he saw her. All we could see was her once angelic, now demonic, face and her hands, the rest was obscured by the cloak. That was enough for him to understand her dark and terrible beauty.

"You left me," Brina said to me as she stopped in front of me. Her voice was quiet and cold. "You killed me and left me to die with him."

I nodded, tears threatening to run down my face. I blinked them away as rapidly as I could. I opened my mouth to respond, uncertain of what I was going to say. I had longed for this moment since that fell day, longed for it and dreaded it. Now that I had it, I did not know what to do with it.

"Yamara understood what was happening, Brina. She understood and refused to let anyone have you if she could not!" James called out harshly from his throne.

Evart bristled at his words, he knew they were prompting me into an action that, once entered, could only be seen through to a grisly end. He was right, James always had a way of pushing me into action.

"He lies," I said, my tone tight and controlled as I stared into the twin pools of liquid fire that were Brina's eyes. "He lies and I will have no more of it!"

I took a step towards James, moving around Brina. Her hand, so deadly with its razor sharp fingernails, laid upon my arm with a gentleness that was surprising considering the hidden strength it employed to stop me. That and the battling emotions playing across her face.

"He is my Master, Yamara," She said to me, the inflections in her voice changing with her conflicting emotions. As she talked I also noticed how incredibly white and equally incredibly sharp her teeth looked. "I must protect him."

I looked at her and felt another surge of warmth in my wounded arm. The tingling in it was driving me crazy. I reached across slowly and tore my sleeve away to look at it. The redness had advanced up to at my shoulder by that time, and as I thought about it I could feel it fighting to sink further into my chest.

"Why did you do this to me?" I asked, looking back at her. My anger was forgotten for the moment. I knew why she had done it, but I needed to hear her say it.

Brina turned her head and looked back up at James briefly before turning back to me. I saw no exchange pass between them but suspected they had a silent means of communication. Regardless, she answered me and he remained where he was.

"You dodged the first bolt," she said calmly, "without knowing it. The second only grazed you, nearly a miss."

"But why?" I asked, surprised. I did not know she had missed me the first time. I began to doubt that I knew her after all. "I can understand wanting to kill me. I would want no less in your shoes. For someone to have done what I did, I would know no limit to my search for vengeance."

"And you ask my why I do this to you?" She hissed at me, practically spitting on me. "In death, Yamara, I became the thing you never wanted me to be. I became more like you then ever you realized."

My jaw hung slack for a moment. Brina had slapped me with words more sharp then any hand could have been. I closed my eyes and nodded, a tear falling to the ground almost in slow motion as my head dipped down. I opened my eyes and looked back at her, my vision blurry.

"I lost everything that day, Brina. I even lost myself. And now, in life, these last few days as your poison works through me, I have become more like you were."

"Enough of this!" James shouted, standing up. He liked our conversation and our shared words little, apparently. He had been hoping for more hatred and angst between us, I think. "The poison works through you too slowly, wench! I shall have my vengeance upon you before this day is done. You were promised to me, whore, I will have my fun with you yet!"

I glared at him and dropped my hands to my sword and dagger. Without realizing it, I had easily torn my arm free of Brina's iron grip. "What makes you think you can succeed now when you failed at the same thing before?" I asked icily.

Brina snarled, though I did not think it was at me, but rather at the pending situation. She backed up and dropped a little lower, raising her hands up in front of her in a way that promised much pain to anyone who dealt with her. James chuckled maliciously at the sight of her. "As much fun as it would be to have you kill her, Brina, I want you to watch instead. I will rid this world of her and her treachery."

"You will find, Yamara, that I am far stronger now then I was before," James said, returning his gaze to me as he stepped down the stairs. Brina backed up slowly, lowering her arms and her head. I could not be certain, but I felt as though her eyes still followed me.

Another wave of fiery warmth spread out from the shoulder, making me grit my teeth and try to ignore it. My arm, while filled with fiery tendrils of sensation, behaved normally and seemed as though it would not betray me and cause my dagger to slip.

"What do you know of treachery, lapdog of Dagrazt?" Evart said, moving beside me. I glanced at him and scowled. This was to be my fight. "Ah, I forgot, you seem to have defined the word, Baron Palungol!"

James stopped and looked at Evart. "Why Evart, I had forgotten you were here. Ever a loyal servant to the Crown, I see. Run along now and I will let you live, so long as you leave Mardurin and never return."

"Unlike you, coward, I will stand by my duties and my charge unto my very death," Evart vowed. I snorted softly at his claim.

"You truly are cursed, Yamara," James said, chuckling and moving towards me again. "Not only will you die, but you will be responsible for Evart dying as well. Ironic, how far you've come only to meet this grisly end. Tell me, how does the poison feel Yamara?"

Again I felt a surge within me, and this time it was accompanied by one of the stomach cramps I had experienced lately. This one was different though, instead of being in my bowels it was higher. I gasped and bent over to spit out some dark blood on the floor. Evart looked at it with wide eyes, suddenly understanding what had made me rush to relieve myself so many times recently.

"You're dying," he said softly, realization settling in.

"Leave me here, you fool," I hissed at him, wiping the back of my hand on my chin to clear off the leftover blood and bile. I spat a few more times to try and clear the foul taste from my mouth.

"No."

Evart drew his broadsword and stepped in front of me protectively. James just laughed more loudly. He drew his own longsword and dagger and advanced on Evart. "Very well, bastard son of the whore of a Havrin, you die first!"

Evart lunged forward first, sinking his blade into James' belly deeply. James brought his sword down in a mighty blow and smashed it into Evart's blade, causing the newly purchased sword to shatter. Evart looked in shock at the broken hilt in his hand, then glanced up to see James' dagger slash across at him. He tried to react but only managed to avoid the worst of the blow, it still cut deeply into his shoulder and sent him reeling backwards.

James advanced on him and swung his sword across in a crude attempt to behead my companion. My friend. My only friend. I rose up, ignoring the pain in my stomach and shouted, "No! You're fight is with me!"

Evart ducked under the cut but met James steel-reinforced boot in the chest, driving him up and off the ground a few feet from the force of the impact. He crashed back down, not moving. James turned to me then and grinned. "Very well, bitch, let us fight."

It was obvious to me that James' strength was far greater now then it had been before, seeing what he did to Evart. As he walked towards me he reached down and pulled the piece of Evart's broadsword free from his abdomen, then discarded it carelessly. Seen through his torn clothing, his skin looked whole and uninjured.

I charged him, knowing my only chance, if I had one at all, was to keep him off balance. I lashed out with my weapons, finding my speed was surprising even me. Each cut or thrust landed, though the ones with my dagger healed up instantly. My shortsword, a remnant from the world of my birth and possessing a magical dweomer that kept its edge keen, caused lasting wounds upon him. Wounds that did not bleed. They reminded me of the wound in my arm.

James reacted as soon as he felt the first bite of my magical blade. Realizing I possessed a weapon that could harm him, he growled at me and tried to cut me down. I dodged the blow, knowing that to block it would probably mean my weapon would be knocked free from my hand. From there we began to move more cautiously at one another. I dodged or deflected his weapons whenever possible and he did the same to mine. My skill and speed was still greater, but his strength and apparent disregard for his own safety made up for my advantage.

Also to his boon was the growing fire in my gut. It stabbed at me from inside and demanded that I collapse and succumb to it. The poison, with my heart rate up, spread throughout my body. It brought it's warm tingling throughout me, reminding me of the shared dream I had with Brina when she first tasted the blood of the demoness. I fought a battle on two fronts, on with my weapons and another one inside my body.

I saw that Evart had managed to roll over but was in no condition to move. He coughed up blood himself, with broken ribs sure to be the cause. His shoulder leaked blood heavily down his arm and onto the floor as well, but it did not spurt out, giving hope that with some pressure or a bandage it might not prove mortal.

Brina stood watching the fight, her hands flexing in agitation. Other then that and a pinched expression on her face, she betrayed no movement or interest.

We traded blows for many minutes, circling one another and lashing out often. James should have bled from over a dozen wounds but as yet he seemed unfazed by any of the rents in his flesh. My sword had even opened up a gash in his right cheek deep enough to see his teeth. His response had been a macabre grin.

What surprised me as much as his seemingly immortal nature was my stamina. Outside of the pain in my gut, which had begun to lessen now that the poison had free reign in my system and pulled at the edges of my consciousness, I felt no lack of energy or strength from the prolonged fight. Neither did I breathe as hard as I expected to. Then I felt my heart beating within my chest. It actually slowed down a little, scaring me, and beat with a dull dual thud. I did not know what Brina's blood would do to me that would prove fatal, but I vowed I had to fight off it's effects long enough to see James destroyed once and for all.

James outmaneuvered me then, so caught up was I in my condition, and I was forced with the only choice of blocking his sword with my dagger. The blade of the dagger, forged of hard steel as it was, was no match for the cruelly wrong longsword he wielded. The blade snapped off at the tang and did little more then deflect his sword. It sliced through my leather jerkin effortlessly, cutting deeply into my left breast and grating along the skin of my stomach before it's perilous arc carried it away from my body. I gasped in pain at the wound, stumbling backwards several steps out of harm's way.

I reached for another dagger and remembered through my misery the magical blade I had been given by King Avercrombie. I pulled the dagger out from the sheath in the small of my back and without waiting, threw it at him. Surprised at the missile weapon, James reacted late to it and felt it sink into his flesh between his right shoulder and his neck. He spat out a curse at me and yanked it free, throwing it far from me to the ground in disgust. The wound stayed, being made by a magical weapon.

I cast about me for some other source of a weapon but saw nothing. I had only my short sword in my hand to do battle with now, while he had both a dagger and sword at his disposal. And he was well versed in the use of two weapons.

I glanced down then at my chest, expecting to see the reason behind the burning sensation along my chest. What I saw amazed me. The wound was there, a deep cut through my breast missing my nipple by a scant inch and then a more shallow groove a few inches along my belly. My shock came at how very little blood flowed from it.

I looked back up in time to see James had reached me and now punched out at me with the hilt of his dagger. It crashed into my face and sent me reeling. I crashed into the ground, ending up on my back with my short sword several feet away from me. I shook my head to clear the effects of the stunning blow and tried to remember to scramble away from him.

Not in time though. James' boot crashed into my side, sending me rolling with the force of it. I tried to roll away but he followed to quickly, kicking out at me again. The blow only glanced off of me, but it still caused me to gasp in pain. My breath had been driven out of me with his first kick, and while that distressed me, it did not have as much an effect on me as I would have otherwise thought.

It was then that I saw the dagger tucked into my boot. The dagger I had taken from the orc so very long ago in the sewers of Standopolis. The dagger that had the symbol of Dagrazt on it. What better irony then to use it on him, a servant of Dagrazt!

I got my chance to retrieve it after James' next kick landed on me squarely in the abdomen. I doubled over in pain, spewing out what had to be the last of the bloody mess in my stomach upon the ground. While curled into the fetal position I kept my senses about me enough to pull the dagger out and reverse my hold on it so I could hold it concealed against my forearm.

I lay there coughing, gasping, and retching for a few blessed moments of relief when no further kicks came. When I finally looked up I saw James looking down upon me with a victorious sneer upon his face.

"I had expected more from you, Yamara. You disappoint me yet again."

"My Lord, will you hold a moment so that I may repay her for her kindness to me." Brina's words were cold and sent chills down my spine. The chills were nearly welcome, since the rest of my body burned with the unholy fire of the poison within me.

James chuckled. "Of course, do what you will with her, save only that you leave the final blow for me."

Brina walked over to me, her footsteps making no noise upon the cold stone floor. She knelt down next to me and with a strength I had not known even she possessed, she rolled me out of the puddle of my own vomitus. I was a mess, but unknown to both of them, I was not beaten quite yet. My only hope was that Brina would not weaken me so much that I could not have my final attack on James. It was a small thing, but it was the only thing I had left to leave me focused enough to continue my fight to live.

"I loved you once greater then any friend or sister could," she said to me flatly. I tried to ignore her words, to not hear her so I would not lose my focus on the one thing I still needed to do before I slept.

Rather then continue to speak, she leaned over me and spread my shredded jerkin. I dimly found it more then a little odd. She bent over further and I felt her cold lips upon my breast, kissing it softly. Then I felt a fiery drop of liquid fall into my cut. She had bitten her tongue and bled into me, further poisoning me with her blood. I gasped at the sensation and felt my resolve weaken. Surely I would be dead long before I found the strength for my final thrust.

A new sensation joined the others. A sharp pricking sensation as though I had been pierced with a splinter or a needle. Then more followed and I understood Brina had just bitten me. She pulled what little blood that was in me to surrender to her mouth and swirled it around on her tongue before she swallowed it. She shuddered once, briefly, then looked up at my face. She looked at me then with an expression on her face that caused my failing heart to nearly give up altogether. It was a look mixed with such joy and such sorrow that I had never seen it before. Tears of blood ran down her face.

"Give in to the blood, it will make you strong enough to do what you must," she whispered to me so silently I was not sure if she had spoken the words or if I had heard them in my head.

I closed my eyes and struggled to breathe. What she said made no sense, it would kill me. Yet I knew from the look on her face that she would never cause me harm again. Even now, after the tragedy that had been her life with me, something had somehow changed her mind. She had found some memory or some hidden thing within herself that let her fight James' dominion of her. I was doomed and accepted it. Brina knew it too. She must have also known then that the only way for me to finish what I had come there to do was to do as she bade me.

I surrendered to the sensations coursing through me. I relaxed my body and let the darkness in my assaulting my head overcome me. I lay there and collapsed in upon myself for a moment, with time seeming to come to a standstill. I heard Evart's every shallow gasping breath clearly, heard my own heart beat slowly but clearly in my chest, I heard the rasp of my clothing on the floor as I shuddered. I felt the slight wind on my skin as Brina sat up straight and looked down sadly upon me. Then she stood and moved back behind James.

In a rush everything sped up again. I was clearly alert and fully conscious. Aware of every inch of my body, I had never felt more alive. I felt strong too, stronger then I had ever before. Brina had given me some of herself, enough to sustain me through the dark time ahead. I knew then that the crossbow quarrel had been meant to kill me, but to do so slowly and to force me to endure the visions that I had seen. It was meant to make me suffer before I died.

However, the magical potion I had drank had changed that outcome. Instead it allowed me to fight it off long enough to partially co-exist with it. It also allowed a bond to form between Brina and I. Her blood was magical, and because of that she sensed my distress at the visions and knew what she had been told was not the truth of it. Or at least she suspected there was more to it.

I knew then what I had to do as well. It was as I expected but it involved more then I would have known. The unlikely nature of it all struck me as far to well thought out to have happened coincidentally. Nevertheless, hiding my dagger behind my back I cut into the only flesh I could readily reach, that of my right buttock. Brina's gift made me acutely aware of the pain of the magical dagger slicing into my behind. Nevertheless I endured it silently and coated the blade with as much of my own poisoned blood as I hoped I could, given that I could not see it.

"Finish her, Master, I have had my fill of her," Brina said. James' eyes had never left me, so great was his obsession and hatred of me, so he never noticed the streaks of bloody tears on Brina's face. His hatred and obsession was so powerful it was nearly a match for my own.

He sheathed his dagger and stepped so that he towered over me. Using his now free hand he grabbed my short hair and yanked me to my knees by it. I kept my face downcast as much as possible to avoid him seeing me. He raised his sword in one hand, keeping me steady with the other and prepared to finish me off.

"I'm almost going to miss having you around to hate, Yamara, you above all else have kept me strong all this time. I suppose I will have to do with Brina, she is such a charming creature, don't you think?" James said sweetly, thinking he was treating me to a final condescending show of his power.