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Tumunzahar makes Menegroth look like a contract project. Which, the Dwarves assure her, it was. The stonework is astonishingly careful and beautiful, silky to the touch up close while from a distance it gives the impression of stretching on forever above, a sky of stone with crystals for stars. Vast natural cave systems are connected by dozens of perfectly smooth, gently sloped broad stone pathways from which the fall, if she fell, would be several miles down. There are handrails. "We use those to move materials carts," someone explains to her, "we're not going to be reckless."
There's an amphitheater, a place where a hundred of the stone walkways twine around to create space for a hundred thousand people to sit in close proximity, and someone is giving a lecture or a demonstration at the base of it, the seats closest to him filled with eager, tiny, bearded Dwarf-children.
And they spiral down, and down, and down, past waterfalls and egg-sized gemstones left half in the rock and halls of crystal. Everything grows gradually more ornate and more perfectly maintained and the clang of hammers fades behind them. "People say," her guide says, "that we only have a council instead of a single King because there were nine winners of the competition to design the throne so we couldn't just select one person to sit it." And they push open the doors to reveal, indeed, nine thrones so elaborate it would be hard to choose between them, and nine squat bearded people sitting them.
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And out of the corner of her vision the werewolves writhe and change and grow to three times the size, and the tide of that fight changes, they're ripping people apart -
Illusion, Huan says forcefully before she can act.
Illusion, Huan says forcefully before she can act.
purposeful_glory
Thanks.
She focuses on her fencing and fighting Thauron's songs. Doesn't have the attention to spare to try to blind him, but she's got plenty of body memory for killing things and she would like. Him. To. Die.
She focuses on her fencing and fighting Thauron's songs. Doesn't have the attention to spare to try to blind him, but she's got plenty of body memory for killing things and she would like. Him. To. Die.
Instead he starts jumping around the battlefield, behind her as soon as she shifts her weight into a swing, out of reach, back in reach to leave a superficial cut on her cheek - the song is now trying to slow down her reflexes, make the air thick and viscous and hard to move through -
purposeful_glory
Which would matter a lot if she were letting it play but she's not having any of that rrrrrrrrrgh. If he's going to maneuver like that she'll just have a long double-sided polearm suitable for spinning, or thrusting behind her under her arm. Cheek might be nothing might be poison, healing spells work either way, there they go, stab.
She's landing a lot of hits. It's not obvious if they're doing anything. He steps back, claps his hands, opens a gaping crevasse in the ground, restricts his rematerializing to one side of her.
Yes.
purposeful_glory
Well, fuck, she'll have to not fall into that, then. And stab Thauron. As long as he's fighting her he isn't backing up his werewolves, even if she's not making progress per se.
Having fun? Thauron says a minute later, and it's louder than Huan, more distracting, not eye-watering because she knows how to counter that - I could have opened that beneath your feet, I can stop letting you see me, your friends are still alive and this is a good moment to notice you're losing - and a barrage of attacks, with more force behind them -
purposeful_glory
Oh it's just like home, she manages. She's not turning into a bird but if he does open a ravine under her feet it's an option, just not one she loves considering what he did to decoy bird.
She fights. He wants her attention, does he, he can have it right to the ribcage in serrations. She hasn't even been desperate enough to reveal the frost yet.
She fights. He wants her attention, does he, he can have it right to the ribcage in serrations. She hasn't even been desperate enough to reveal the frost yet.
Werewolves streaming from the fight with her allies towards her - Illusion, Huan says.
The crevasse widening - Real.
The sky going black above them - illusion, obviously, not that it much helps -
The crevasse widening - Real.
The sky going black above them - illusion, obviously, not that it much helps -
purposeful_glory
She ignores the werewolves, continues not falling into the hole in the ground, makes sure Thauron is covered in enough light that she can see him and anything close enough to matter. Easier to focus on a few things than a flood of light.
What was the plan, may I ask? Stab me until I get bored?
And he drops the sword, lets it vanish on its way to the ground, waves a hand and projects a crushing wall of force like a giant hand sweeping out of the sky. Reaches out barehanded for the sharp end of Lævateinn, wretches at it while she's off-balance -
purposeful_glory
- it breaks her hand, going, and she can fix her hand but she can't call it back.
She pulls her wyvern tail.
She pulls her wyvern tail.
He steps towards her, not within range of the dagger but not far outside it, not even looking interested in it. "Last words? I think this is the occasion to ask for last words."
purposeful_glory
She lunges at him with the dagger, expecting him to rip it out of her hand, hoping that's all he thinks she was going to do.
The dagger flies out of her hand and through the air and flutters to the ground behind them lazily, like a leaf.
purposeful_glory
And she claps her palms to either side of him and pours ice, so much ice, she has to heal herself again after a moment because she's probably biologically relying on containing all that ice but it needs to be in him instead - she screams ice into his face, and her hands are each shaking with the blast going through him -
The song stops and the crevasse claps closed and the sky goes back to normal, and the dagger drops the rest of the distance to the ground like an ordinary dagger, and for a second that's all, and then a violent wrenching force knocks her thirty feet back and Thauron staggers to his feet again and with osanwë screams.
purposeful_glory
it is time to get the fuck out of here she suggests, and she runs for Lævateinn and scoops it up and gets into the air to skim over surviving Quendi and bird them all as she passes.
Huan lunges for Thauron. Everyone else flies.
purposeful_glory
She turns birds invisible, counting them as she does. Pauses oomph song, replaces with zoom song. Looks like the only casualty was decoy bird. Poor decoy bird. Huan knows what he's doing? she asks Tyelcormo.
Yeah. I wanted him to go help you, earlier, but he thought you knew what you were doing. Which you did.