Chapter 35 Izzy
IZZY
“Your mother, Ysania, was… different,” Lhorine began with a wistful tone.
“Everyone saw it. She wasn’t like most elves, didn’t see herself as superior.
She was the most… down to earth elf I’ve ever met and also not afraid to call out the inconsistencies and prejudices of her own kind.
” The woman sighed. “Even I wasn’t that brave. ”
“And she loved freely,” Olinara added. “Not afraid to tell the world she loved my son and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. It… infuriated a lot of elves. Her mother, Queen Leastrine, tried to quiet such speeches, smooth things over with elven kind, but in the end Ysania was too vocal, too brazen. She was dedicated to changing this world and the real trouble was… some people were starting to listen. That made the traditional elves furious.”
“That’s why she was exiled.” Lhorine picked up the telling.
“The queen was wise enough to see that things were starting to change… but that Ysania was pushing things too far too fast. If Ysania had stayed, she’d probably have been assassinated.
So, the queen sent her away and let things cool down, all the while subtly encouraging the changes her daughter had instigated. ”
“Twenty years later, and the views of nearly all the royals and many others had shifted, enough that…” Olinara pursed her lips.
“That Valnea killed my family,” I finished.
The two women nodded.
“Your mother did more to change elven culture in twenty years than anyone had done over the many millenniums of elven rule.”
I smiled, suddenly damn proud of my mom. Then a tear leaked from my eye, sad that I’d never gotten to know her.
“But it wasn’t her ideals that changed things for the elves,” Lhorine said with a note of awe in her voice. “It was her power.”
I perked up.
“If she’d just been some third-rate earth wielder, I doubt many, perhaps even her own family, would have paid her much mind,” Lhorine continued.
“But she was one of the strongest earth wielders in generations, perhaps ever. When her older brother Jyrandion got married, she and a dryad friend built the happy couple a new castle outside of El’Anderyn.
She single-handedly summoned marble from miles away, shifting it through the earth to become gleaming towers and sturdy walls.
The legend was, she could snap her fingers and shatter mountains. ”
“And there was good reason for that belief,” Grandma picked up the telling.
“When she took the test of power, the glasstone shone with blinding white light, then cracked and crumbled. When sparring with her brothers and sisters, who were no slouches themselves, she regularly bested them without much effort.”
“That’s the legacy you have inherited,” Lhorine said softly.
“But when I tested, I was only orange, which I’m guessing isn’t great,” I said.
Lhorine shook her head. “Olinara told me you were under your mother’s binding at the time.
She must have limited your strength and abilities.
You are most definitely not orange rank anymore.
I was here, off campus, when you fought Saldrea, yet I felt your last push of power.
The earth itself shuddered. That was something I hadn’t felt since your mother. ”
I blinked.
“Oh…”
I mean, yeah, I had overpowered Saldrea and Golana together and that had been a herculean feat, but… these two were saying I was some super-elf? Or at least the daughter of a super-elf.
“We’re telling you this, so you can be confident in your abilities tonight,” Olinara said, laying a hand on my shoulder. She smiled. “My son was a fairly powerful nymph as well, and if I had to guess, you got the best of both your parents.”
A wave of self-consciousness swept over me.
“Really?”
I certainly did not feel that powerful most of the time.
The two nodded.
“You have your mother’s power,” Lhorine whispered. “You are her legacy. Let that guide you tonight.”
This was a lot to take in, but I wasn’t upset that these two had taken the time to tell me. I certainly felt more confident knowing what I was potentially capable of.
“Thank you,” I said, bowing my head to these women, my mentors. “Thank you for everything, all you’ve taught me, all you’ve told me. Thank you.”
The two stepped closer and embraced me tightly.
Then Vyns gave me a long kiss for good luck and we headed out.
We had a narrow window in which to apprehend the succubus, who was to be Myel’s conjugal visit, and take her place. We had to wait till after dark, so we wouldn’t be seen out and about on campus, but that didn’t give us long before she was likely to leave.
She lived in a small residence for non-students attached to the campus bar and lounge.
Grandma Oli had spent all day yesterday staking out the place and learning the forms of others who lived in the dorm.
She and I snuck in, disguised, found the room in question and walked right in. The succubus hadn’t locked her door.
Olinara quickly enveloped the woman in a cocoon of water, ensuring it wouldn’t get into her lungs.
That suffocated the succubus to the point of passing out.
At which point I healed her, to ensure she’d be okay, then we bound and gagged her.
The others were let in through the window.
They’d remain here, watching the succubus and hiding.
I studied the woman, ensuring I had her form down pat, then used Grandma’s trick to lock in the form, so it wouldn’t slip on my way to see Myel.
The succubus had been dressed and ready, so I put on her dress, in case it was known to anyone else. And by dress, I meant lingerie: a barely there baby-doll in black lace with nothing underneath. Why did it not surprise me that a succubus wouldn’t mind showing off everything to the world?
Sigh.
At least it wasn’t my body I’d be flaunting when I went out. Also, thankfully, the arena wasn’t far away.
“Ready?” Vyns asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” I said and blew out a breath, trying to relax and act casual.
“I wish I could go with you,” Koar said, frustration lacing his voice. He’d not be able to protect me during this covert mission. “I know your voice, your spirit. If you’re in trouble shout as loud as you can, I’ll hear you and come.”
Good to know.
“Thanks,” I said, laying a hand on his chest, feeling his sturdy form. I wasn’t sure if the gesture was to reassure him or me, but it seemed to do both. I breathed a little easier and Koar let out a long sigh as well.
I headed out, trying to act like a nonchalant succubus in next to nothing.
It was a level of body-confidence I wasn’t used to.
Being confident wearing something revealing was one thing but being brazen enough to wear next to nothing…
this was new. I tried not to think too much about the few lingering looks I got as I strode to the arena.
Oddly, I didn’t get as many oglers as I would have thought.
How common was this? Did succubi walk around naked all the time? There were still so many things about this world I was getting used to.
A few people called out this succubi’s name and waved as I passed, I waved back, keeping responses to a minimum.
Entering the arena was easy. Guards let me pass, knowing who I was. Koar and Vyns both knew the way to the dungeons and had given me instructions. I only got lost twice making my way into the dark depths of the massive structure.
The holding area wasn’t pleasant, smelling of human waste and rotting flesh. I cringed at the conditions and tried not to gag or vomit. After all my training, I had rather strong control of my body now, so I sturdied myself and continued.
“Hey! Here she is boys!” one of the three guards called when I came into view. He was an ogre, heavy with muscle, but something in his eyes made me think he wasn’t too smart. “Finally!” he cried out, then began undoing his pants.
Sorry? What now?
The other two men began doing the same.
It hit me. They never intended for me to see Myel. I’d be pleasuring them instead.
Yeah… no.
“You boys ready for a night you’ll never remember?” I asked.
“Don’t you mean, never forget?” one replied absently as he dropped his pants.
“No… I do not.”
I put the three of them to sleep.
I found the keys and unlocked the door. There was no light within. I brought in a lantern from outside and hissed when I saw the limp, naked, beaten and filthy form on the floor.
“Myel?” I whispered, shocked. I shouldn’t have been, I’d known what he was going through.
The form cringed and whimpered and tried to roll away.
I went to him.
“Myel, it’s me!”
But he still flinched when I touched him.
It was only as I sent soothing healing through him that he blinked open what had been swollen-shut eyes and looked at me.
“Who?” he asked, confused.
Oh… right.
I shifted my form back to myself.
“Izzy?” he breathed in surprise. “You came?”
He’d doubted me. Though perhaps I’d doubt everything if I’d endured what he had. I didn’t blame him.
“Yes, I’m here,” I whispered. “I’ll be right back.
” I rose and checked outside quickly. No one around but the three guards.
I quickly positioned them so it looked like they’d fallen asleep naturally, one slumped in a chair, one sitting with his torso over the small table, the last leaning against the wall in a corner.
Then I closed the door of Myel’s cell — ensuring I still had the keys — to make sure no one saw what we were about to do.
To make double sure, and to block out any noise, I also raised a stone wall in front of the door on the inside.
There. We were safe, blocked in, but safe.
I returned to Myel and finished healing him.
I didn’t know if it was the intense magical training I’d done or the supposed power I possessed, but I wasn’t winded at all after: putting the guards to sleep, healing Myel, and using earth magic to block the door.
Hopefully that meant I could do what I needed to do tonight.
“I’m so glad to see you,” Myel whimpered, seeming like a shell of the man I’d known only a few days ago: so weak and uncertain.
“And me you,” I said, as I stood back and summoned water to douse him. I did it several times, scrubbing off the filth in between showers to get him as clean as I could. His clothes were shredded, no longer even worth calling clothes, so he’d have to remain naked.
A drain in the floor collected the water I’d summoned, and a byproduct of having cleansed him was a semi-clean area of stone floor as well.
“I don’t know how long this is going to take, so I should get started,” I said.
“I’ll explain as I go,” I added at his confused look.
“The gist of it is, I’m going to enhance you, make you stronger and tougher and faster…
and if I’m able… I’m going to turn part of you into steel.
Then I’m going to undo the binding on your collar so you can use all your powers tomorrow. Got it?”
He looked baffled. “How…?”
“I’m still working on the how, so bear with me.” I tilted my head, sweeping hair off my neck. “And you should drink. You’ll want to be strong for what is to come. We have a long night ahead of us.”