[hr][h1][color=92278f]Vyri Underfoot[/color][/h1][hr]

Vyri didn’t know what had changed, Eleuril had grown restless, his ever present voice muttering at the back of her skull about fearsome magyks in their vicinity. Considering that he had been muttering something much along the same lines for most of her journey, and that the undead were roaming the streets, she had simply ignored him. Well, as best she could. She could hardly argue with him now could she, it had been easier on the road, but a skinny girl muttering to herself as she wandered along the road may very well have attracted more attention than the undead.

That had changed very rapidly however, It had seemed like a peaceful city, somehow oblivious to the hordes of wights that roamed the streets. Now it had devolved into chaos. Eleuril’s muttering had grown into shouting, and she’d stared around, almost afraid that someone else would be able to hear the ancient sage imprisoned inside her head, and then everything had changed. Some hidden leash was snapped and the wights, once so peaceful and sedate, had changed into awful monsters.

She’d seen a group of guardsmen torn apart, literally ripped into pieces as they were overwhelmed by a wave of the undead that had come pouring down the street. Weapons and armour seemed to be no use against the inexorable advance of the dead, she’d seen one broken into pieces by the sweep of a blacksmith’s hammer, bones tumbling to the ground like children’s toys. The creature had reformed in a matter of seconds and leapt onto the back of its erstwhile slayer.

Right now she was hiding, berated by the sage bound to her.

[i]HIDING! Coward! You think these pathetic creatures could pose a threat to I?[/i]

“You’re a Ma’el damned ring. They can’t eat iron but they can eat me!”

[i]Allow me control! I will show these foolish creatures how to fight![/i]

Her voice quavered uncertainly, before resolve filled it once more. She’d allowed him control before, and instead of wearing the ring, it had felt like it had been wearing her. The power that had flowed through her was heady, addictive, and terrifying. He hadn’t even wielded particularly impressive magyks, and already she craved that sensation of control, that the earth, the rivers, the very wind itself would respond to her command. Except it didn’t. It was Eleuril’s command, a fae creature that had lived thousands of years ago. They bickered and fought, and sometimes she even liked the strange consciousness that dwelt at the back of her mind. And then she remembered that was what he was, strange, other. She’d known fae, and Eleuril wasn’t quite like any of them. He certainly wasn’t telling her things, though she likely wouldn’t understand any of it anyway.

There was a scratching at the door, a moaning, as of the wind blowing through the bare branches of a tree in winter, or through fleshless bones…

Her mouth went dry.

[i]I WILL PROTECT YOU STUPID CHILD![/i]

She clutched the stool leg, some effort and application to a wall had broken off the rest of the item of furniture, and she now had a weapon, poor though it may be. Eleuril raged inside her skull, and Vyri climbed out of the window.

The house had belonged to someone wealthy. The opulent furnishings had made that clear, and if they hadn’t, the size and fine construction of the building would have given it away. Either a nobleman, or a particularly successful merchant had lived here, and they had either been caught in the streets by the wights, or had the good sense to leave before the inevitable occurred. She was stood on a tiled, gently sloping roof, currently unoccupied by any save her.

Climbing carefully along the slope of the roof, she reached the edge, and looked down into a street that seemed empty. There was a corpse in it. The girl didn’t seem much older than Vyri, though she was dressed finely. Her dead eyes stared up at the servant. There was a man beside her, tall, and good looking in a well-fed and greying sort of way. Perhaps the former owner of the dwelling had not been so forward thinking.

She pressed her back to the wall. It was too high to drop, and the nearest building was at least ten feet away across the alleyway. She was stuck here, barricading the door had bought her some time, and hiding out here a little more. It seemed that there was no way to go from here though.

[i]I can wait, eventually you will have to give me permission. Have you ever been eaten alive?[/i]

“Have you?”

There was an awkward silence. [i]…Well… no…[/i]

“Shut up then.”

There was not an exasperated sigh. Eleuril didn’t have any lungs of her own, but she was pretty sure that the silence that followed contained the mental equivalent aimed firmly at her. He would be extremely smug after all this, but even stubbornness and the fear that she would never get her own body back could only hold her back for so long. She really did not want to be eaten alive.

“Fine, you…”

She trailed off as she glanced down the street, there was something coming, something that resolved itself into an enormous beetle, moving steadily along the concourse. Maybe it would help, but surely it couldn't be much worse than the wights? And it looked like someone was riding it. She cut her thoughts off and began waving wildly, running to the edge of the roof.

“Hey! Hey! Over here! Help!”