On Death's Honor

Chapter 31: Evil Comes in Bulk

"How?" She demanded. Oh, silly nymph. I straightened, making my way over to the shelving carved within the walls.

Mutnya asked an honest question, but it was certainly not one I was willing to answer. If something happened - if she somehow got out of this alive - I wasn't going to give her any tips on what to look out for the next time an erla came seeking her. She knew I was able to take control of the heart of her power, but what she didn't understand was how I'd done it so easily.

Flashes of light flew behind my eyes. I stumbled, my limbs shaking, and looked down to see something strange going on with my leg, where Mutnya had bitten me. Blood no longer pooled from the vicious wound. No, it was something darker. Something colder.

It's waking up.

I shook my head. What was it, that Orik had called it? A taver. I'd nudged it a bit to create the perfect sense of chaos - the key to interrupt the channelling Mutnya had set in place and therefore, giving me the opportunity to take it for myself - but it seemed like it was not at all eager to go back to rest. Having Orik use auzir the past few days hadn't helped keep it dormant, either.

I still have time.

"Control yourself," I whispered. I gave myself a moment to allow my vision the chance to clear, then continued my pursuit for a particular object sitting on one of the shelves at eye level.

Through her struggling, Mutnya laughed when she saw what I grabbed.

"You plan to give me an outsider's execution?" She sneered. "So typical for your kind."

I hummed a noncommittal sound, brushing my thumbs over the box's smooth surface.

"Do you know the history behind Manweave's Curse?" I asked by way of answering.

"Girl, I am older than the cavern you stand in."

"Yet, here we are," I glanced at her. "They say this particular bug was carefully crafted by Tanryn, the nymphian god of exile-"

"I know," she interrupted. I held up a finger to silence her.

"Most believe that he created this as a gift for a people long forgotten, that it was meant to preserve a body after death and let new life grow from it - before he was exiled." I paused. "They believe it was only in recent times that man discovered how it could be used to send a different message altogether to those of us still living. But that's not entirely true, is it?"

I limped back over in her direction. She narrowed her eyes.

"Your people - and by 'your', I mean nymphtans - went to him, seeking new ways to grow your power."

She grunted.

"It was Tanryn that provided us with the curse, and it will be-"

"But was it, truly?" I stared back down at the box. Holy hell, my leg was killing me. And my side. I swallowed. "Are you certain that it's been him you've been following all this time?"

"You are a babe compared to me-"

"Yet it appears I know my history far better than you." I gestured to her necklace, to the strange metal charm imprinted with a picture of a pair of sleeping eyes and a nose. "That is not the symbol of the fallen Nymphian Prince."

Another strained laugh.

"And what do you think it is?"

I wasn't smiling anymore.

"Refyra."

She blinked, pausing in her attempts to break free from the vines. Blood snaked down her limbs and abdomen, but she didn't seem to care.