High Elve of Red Hallow

CHAPTER 15: Obedience

Snotra would call her ga-li-tso takht, which roughly translated as an elvish slang. It's a rude way of commenting on someone's weight. Vanice was by no means a hefty kid. She was thin and bony. She was a tall elvish soul in contrast to her rounder, more rotund parents. It was not uncommon for an elve with a thin yet hourglass physique to be the beauty or the talk of Hilltop Village.

Yet, Vanice lived in the lower class. Others talked down to her and she was hardly noticed by other elves. Snotra used the word to belittle and manipulate the young girl. Liva allowed him to do so. The words were an ugly description of her daughter. Snotra's words hurt her even though she knew them to be false.

"I am going to leave Hilltop Village! I intend to find a new life in the North!" Vanice said, banging her fists on the table.

"You have no right to speak to us like that, you pathetic ga-li-tso takht!" Snotra was the laziest elven louse that could spin a lie. He owned a few elves in his pocket from the village and had gotten away with some underhanded deeds because of those lies. Her mother was no different. If she was in trouble, nobody was coming to save her.

"You won't last half a week out there. As soon as you cross the threshold, you'll be back." Liva chuckled as she chewed on a piece of fat.

"You'll be crawling back, begging that we let you into our good graces."

Vanice laughed.

"If you leave now, I'll disown you, ga-li-tso takht!" Roared Snotra.

"How can you disown something that isn't yours?"

"...and what is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you were never real parents, to begin with. You never treated me with respect, love, patience, or kindness and you get away with everything. You try to manipulate me, sell my things behind my back. Things that I worked hard to earn. So go ahead, call me disgusting names and deny me all you want, but I am gone and I repeat. How can you disown something that does not belong to you!"

Vanice laughed again, stood up, and turned to leave the smoke-filled home.

"If you leave, I will tell Jezzaul about you and he will banish you. You'll leave and nobody will know who you are!" Snotra said with hate in his heart.

Vanice stopped for a moment, chuckled, and spoke before stepping out the door.

"Then tell them. One day I'll be something. A queen, perhaps. I'll be more than either of you ever will be because you're dead to me."

'CAW' 'VANICE!' The birds buzzed around her, bringing her back to reality-- 

They flew about her thrall in the Cardamon queen's hall.

"Open a window and let them free."

Seseh forced herself to move, sliding and squishing across the floor to one of the windows. All the way being pecked, bit, and mocked. They beat their wings against her disgusting form.

She opened the window and released them. The mass of birds rose into the night sky toward the North, out of reach of their former caregiver. A sacrifice by Vanice, freeing her subjects.

Vanice forced Seseh back onto her throne. Seseh could see the scars sinking across her arm and dissipating where claws had torn into her flesh.

The damage was simple; the rest of her form was not. Seseh crumbled into the throne like melted butter and she felt immense pain.

Vanice felt no pain, yet despised looking the way her thrall did. It disgusted her and all she had to do was use Ezekiel's mud potion again to repair Seseh's skin. She could make Seseh's flesh whole again.