Chapter 9

For Tamalain, the next two weeks were hell. If she slept, she had nightmares of her slaughtering all around her with the armor pushing her onwards to even greater atrocities. Awake she could hear it whispering in the distance. The suit was insane, and it wanted to take her with it. Once during the second week as she pounded her body at the gym, she started screaming at the voices. Several people fled in fear, the rest watched as she pushed herself even harder in her anger.

Jordan Trueshot made one and only one attempt to approach her during this period. He almost didn't escape with his life, "Trueshot, I told you to destroy that abomination, but you didn't, I can still hear it calling to me. For that I should kill you in lieu of the rest of Elven kind you traitorous bastard." She charged at him from across the quad with intent to rip out his throat, he barely cast escape in time to prevent that from happening.

After that event, she visited the City Guard commander. "Sir, he still has that armor in his possession. The armor has to be destroyed some how and soon. It has a corrupting influence that will find another to wear it. I know fire and magic will not be able to wreck it, cutting is out as well. Freezing would be delaying a nightmare for some future soul to deal with."

"I don't know of anything else that might work Miss Arrowmark. Those are the primary methods of destruction of any armor. If the fire was hot enough, it could destroy the suit, but the Dwarven forges that work at that level are all in Kaladim and not accessible."

The not hot enough started Tamalain thinking. What could be hotter than the forges? "A volcano may be hot enough sir." She stopped and her hands went to her temples as the Drakota started screaming in her mind to go the Lava Storm. Take it to Lord Nagafin now.

"Miss, are you feeling well? Should I call the healers for you?"

"No. At the thought of a volcano, that SOB started screaming in my head. It wants to go there and meet with Nagi himself. No, I don't think so."

"What are you going to do, it is driving you slowly insane, I can see it in your eyes."

"What? That? No, I have always had that slightly mad look. It comes from being mind raped as a child by a vampire lord."

The guard Commander paled slightly at that admission. "I might suggest you check with the mages and see if there is a way to block its thoughts out. At least then you might be able to sleep."

Without another word, she jumped up and fled the office and building. He watched go and sent a prayer to the gods that she might be able to stop the monster.

Tamalain rushed to the mages tower, hoping they might have a way to block the thoughts. Her old resist amulet had long since failed and did nothing for her. She needed help and fast, she could feel her mind slowly slipping to madness. Her arrival seemed to have been expected by the mages. An apprentice had the doors open and waved her in right away.

Once she crossed the threshold, the voice stopped. She stopped running and looked around the entry foyer, then collapsed into unconsciousness from the sudden release of fighting for her mind every waking second and a sleep spell to put her down.

Jordan looked at B'rill with a look that seemed to plead for help. "Hey buddy, don't ask me for help," said B'rill. "You are the one that has screwed her over time and again, not me. I've had to pick up the pieces and try to keep her calm. But not this time, you are on your own."

"She was going to kill me!"

"Can you blame her? Once she discovered that sigil, it was just a matter of time. What were you thinking when you put that on her anyways."

"She was a loose cannon, out of completely out of control B'rill. She has had a full year of her memory magically wiped just to keep her sane. The loss of her family and the fire pushed her over the edge, she was ready to hunt the gods then and start destroying them, starting with Mayong."

"Why did you stop her, she wouldn't have made it to Mistemoore castle and you know it."

"The sigil did far more than calm Tamalain down; it suppressed her ability that the gods fear. She can destroy astral energy forms, effectively killing the being forever. She could destroy the living soul. She had to be stopped, so the council and I did what we had to do to stop her without killing her."

"Wait, you said you erased her memories? Is that what you said? Jordan, I think our friendship may be coming to an ending really soon. I know about what that spell series does. It suppresses, not erases memories. A high enough stress level can bring them back, are you aware of that?"

"Not in this case, the memories are keyed, they can't release unless I give the key command, and the sigil was the key. It was destroyed so no release and remembrance is possible."

"Well Trueshot, you had better be right in that. The insanity she is fighting may just very well be the key needed to awaken her true self, and we will all regret ever having met her." B'rill left office not looking back to see the pain and fear on the older Elvens face.

"Oh Marr, we did what we had to do, but was it the right thing? We felt it was at the time." Jordan put his files and tools of the trade of Mayor away and slowly walked home, feeling as if a judgment were about to be laid on him for his sins.

Tamalain was in a sealed hexagonal room, no windows or doors, just a series of mirrors on the walls. Each wall held two mirrors. She looked in each one, seeing herself, but not herself at the same time. In one, she was older looking and dressed as a woodworker. In another, she wore a suit of light chain male, green colored and a tree emblazoned on the front, the image of her as a full Ranger of the Wood. Another showed her as a mother with two children and Silor at her side, living in a town far from Fay lands. She realized she was seeing visions of the possible paths she could have followed in life.

One though as she looked she saw the woman out of her worst nightmares. She wore Black and red chain, a sword dripping in blood, a Bow of Flames. She ruled over the burnt remains of the Faydark with a fist of fire and blood.

The last mirror though was the worst, it was not a path, but of memories she did not recall. It showed her rampaging back into the Greater Faydark on a mission to begin killing the gods themselves for taking her Family and home from her in such a manner. She swore they would pay for the crimes against the mortal realms, for she was the God Killer born.

She watched as her younger self charged back to the wood line screaming the gods would die. She was surprised when a blue glow surrounded and rendered her unconscious. The images continued, showing the passage of a year of madness, a year she did not remember. She saw Jordan and several clerics holding her down while another cast a spell on her. Her struggling form relaxed and another series of spells and chants worked on her. As she watched, the memories flooded back to her. She backed away from the image and felt pain, fear and rage building in her heart, the rage was returning.

Tamalain knew this place was not real, yet it was in a way. It was a room of possibilities. She turned away from the memory and faced the ranger, the image that she somehow knew was her true path, a path denied to her. She looked deep into the image and saw another mirror behind the figure; it had another ranger, this one in brown. She knew the Qeynos Rangers wore brown. It was a possible future within a possible future.

She peered deep into the image and saw the path to this previously never suspected future. This new path was open to her, while the path in the first image had closed to her for all time. She focused deeper into the image and saw what she would need to do to achieve this new goal and smiled. It showed a life filled with pain and loss, but it would lead to a greatness she would never achieve with the Trueshot's holding her back.

She even saw what needed doing on how to deal with the Drakota armor in that time line. She could seal it away and achieve this new road at the same time. With this choice, the rage faded and returned to the place it slept. It was there should she need its power, but it would never rule her again. She took one more look around the room, then yelled, "WAKEUP!"

She snapped awake, surprising the cleric that was watching over her. He seemed ready to start chanting at her. "What are you afraid of cleric; I am not going to go mad now. I have seen a room full of possibilities and I have set a new path before me."

"I am sorry ma'am, I have to ask, do you have memories you did not have before?"

"I will answer that in this manner, if you try to stun me, they will be cleaning your brains off the walls for a month. Now to answer, yes, I have ALL my memories back."

He looked at her in terror and started to chant, her open handed slap sent him flying across the room. "I warned you not to try, now shut the hell up."

The door suddenly slammed open, several casters and clerics, as well as a dozen guards all started rushing into the room, moving in to attack with the intent to kill her. Seeing this, Tamalain made a split second decision; she felt the blocks that would prevent escape or porting. She would have to fight them; she would try to put them out without killing them. The nearest cleric had a metal club in one hand, along with a shield in the other.

She charged the poor soul, disarming him with another hard slap to the head. He dropped and she snatched up the club and shield before anybody could get close enough to swing at her. She kicked in her full battle speed and felt more alive than she had in ages. The attackers never had a chance against her. She laid them all out except one cleric that she disarmed as well.

"Take care of them. I have something to take care of then I will speak with that back stabber." As she left, she saw she was still in the mages tower, so quickly found the stairs down and to the doors. The guards never saw her coming at them; she put them out, but alive. She exited the building and started across the street, accelerating into a full SoW movement. She saw B'rill coming at her, nearly as fast as she was moving.

"Tam!" he called. "Wait, I have to talk to you before you do something totally insane!"

She turned to him; maintain a fighting stance that monks would use when waiting for the attacker to move in. "What B'rill, I have a piece of business to take care of, then I will see Trueshot. I won't kill him, hell I won't even hurt him. Just a serious warning for him, never interfere with my life again. He lied by the way; he knew the Drakota spirit was still present in the armor, intact.

"Tam, I know about that, he is being removed as mayor as of today for what he has tried to do. He is acting on orders from outside somehow."

"The Courser programmed him B'rill. All this time I thought I had him free, and he is still controlled. I don't buy that, not one bit."

"He admitted it Tam, he admitted it."

"He's trying to avoid the noose you idiot, he is working for another, but not a mortal agency. One or more of the gods has been messing with my life since before I was conceived. He is a puppet, just like so many others around here. Are a puppet B'rill?"

B'rill stopped and considered that question. "Have I been acting as my own man, or am I programmed to play a part as well. I can honestly say, I don't know Tam, I don't know."

She looked him in the eyes and focused hard, driving her will to his. She felt only him. "If another had been controlling you B'rill, you would have just lost your mind. You are clean as far as I can tell. Let's move, I need more than five hundred pounds of raw lead."

B'rill froze for a second, "Why do you need that much lead girl?" He charged off after her. He caught up with her when she stopped at a smithy, "Why so much lead Tam?"

"Encase the crate in lead and the Armor will not be able to reach me, nor anybody else. Then when I can arrange it, I'll dump it in the deepest part of the Tears."

B'rill thought about it, then asked, "What makes you think that will work Tam, lead can be enchanted you know."

"Yes, and it can hold a sealing enchantment for ages. The mages, whether they want too or not, they will cast it once we are set. If they refuse, I will hurt them badly for their part in my treatment. A year of my life teacher, a year wiped from my mind, I have it all back now, and see the reason, but will not forgive it."

"Hey Smithy, you in here," she called?

A man in a heavy leather apron came out, "Yeah, what do you want?"

"How much raw lead do you have on hand, I can pay as needed if you need more."

"Got me about a thousand pounds in the bin, why?"

"Great, how big of a mold can you build? It will need to contain a standard armor chest, 5 by 4 by 4 feet. It will need to have final wall thickness of no less than two inches all around, top and bottom. Is that doable?"

"Easy, I have the stones for molds that will work. Got a body to hide or something?"

"Not quite, but damned close." She turned to B'rill, "You stay and help him set up, I will get the chest over here."

"Tam, Jordan may not let you just take it."

"I will lay him and every damn guard out that gets in my way. I will get it." She took off towards the city hall where the chest had been hidden.

B'rill looked at the smithy and shrugged, "What do you need me to do to get this going?"

"You can help me move the form stones to start with. Those over on the back wall might be long enough. I make ship weights for folks. The rest are over here by the forge. Keeps sparks from the walls when I'm forging."

Both men quickly started moving the heavy slabs when the apprentice returned, "Ah lad, grab the smaller form stones, we are going to seal a chest today, or late tonight actually. Melting lead can be slow at times."

The boy quickly bent to his task and had the ends of the form set in place by the time the older men had the first long slab lowered in the form. They all knew it was going to be a long night.

Tamalain arrived at the city hall, and as she expected, the guards tried to stop her again. Since she still had the club, she waded through the group like a farmer using a scythe on wheat. After she had laid over half of them out, only hurt, that rest backed off. "I am here to collect that abomination, now out of my way. I am through being nice."

They moved out of her way, quickly. Jordan on the other hand was in armor and had his weapons drawn to stop her. "I can't let you have that gear back, you have proven unworthy of it, therefore; you must be stopped."

"Jordan Trueshot, I am here to take it and dispose of it. You are not capable of dealing with me in full battle mode; you know that. Now get out of my way old man." She closed in on him but he didn't move away.

Just as she came into sword range, a small sphere he held flashed a bright light into her eyes, stunning her for a few seconds, that was all he need to get a swing in at her. She sensed more than saw the sword blow approaching her neck, lifting the shield on instinct she was able to block it. The impact slammed her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her, slowing her even more.

Jordan drove in as hard as he could, with a swing at her mid section, she brought the club around and caught the sword blow, but was not able to fully stop it. She deflected it upwards far enough that it hit her across the ribs, cutting into her left breast, instead of gutting her

The sudden pain shocked her back to full awareness and she struck like a cobra snake striking at Jordan's face. He was not able to raise his parrying sword in time to block it. The last thing he felt was his nose being ripped from his face and his head smashing into the wall next to her. He had not worn his helmet. He dropped to the floor out cold and bleeding.

Tamalain knew she was living on borrowed time, so she gathered herself and was able to cast her limited healing spell on herself. The bleeding came nearly to a halt, but did not completely stop. Jordan had a staff healer on call at all times; she hoped he was in the building, and would help her. She looked at a wall panel that listed the offices and staggered down the corridor the office listed as the healer was in.

She didn't bother knocking, she pushed open the door and saw a older High Elven sitting at the desk. He saw the blood and quickly came around his desk to start rendering aid. He did ask what happened to her.

"Jordan and I finally had it out. He is alive, but needs your services when you finish with me. I need to complete my mission or the Elven people will die from the evil in the back room."

"You are referring to the Dragon scale, that is evil incarnate. I am surprised it has not impacted others before now."

"Until I put on the entire suit at once, it was dormant. It was then I discovered what a mess I had been shoved into. I know how to trap it and silence it, but I need my strength to move it myself."

"Done, all fixed, you will have a slight scar, but it is not bad. You said Jordan is by the front doors?"

"Yes, I hope you can find his nose. I sent it flying pretty hard when I put him out."

Mersinis had heard about the attack on the city hall. She quickly gathered her squad and ran to lend aid to the guards if they needed the backup. What they found was something out of nightmares. The few guards that did not try to stop Tamalain where moving their comrades of to the side, then started working to revive them.

Mersinis looked at the mess and had her team begin assisting in the clean up. "Who's in charge here," she asked.

One young Private stood up and approached. "I am it would seem. We had orders not to let her in the building. With a club and shield," he pointed around, "She did all this without slowing down. I think I heard a brief fight inside as well."

"Who did all this, just one person?" Mersinis was getting a sinking feeling in her guts. She knew of only one Elven that could deal out this much damage, lethal or not.

"Arrowmark Ma'am, Tamalain Arrowmark. She said she needed to deal with the armor, something about sealing it away forever. If she is talking about the Dragon Armor, more power to her. That gear is evil. I was here the day it tried to take control of her and watched her fight it off. I swear I could hear a voice in my head screaming at her, to kill us all."

"Well I know her, she would not kill without justification. She is a good woman, not evil."

"Well it was a close call then, and today she waded through us like we weren't even there. When she comes out, stay far away from her."

"You said she had to get the chest and move it elsewhere?"

"That is what I got from her before we tried to stop her. I don't see how she will move that heavy thing alone though."

Mersinis had stopped listening and started thinking. "She is going to need a cart to move it. I doubt a horse will come near it from what I heard happened before when she had it on." She looked around a saw an empty handcart for hay bales by the stables. "That might work, if we can get the chest on it."

"Help me move that hand cart to the doors, it will help her when she gets it out of the building."

By the time the two of them had the cart near the doors, they could hear shouting inside the lobby. "Stay down Trueshot, or the Healer there will have to figure how to scrape your brains off the walls. I am going to seal this abomination away and dispose of it when the time comes. You two, keep him down, I don't want to kill him, I really don't."

Mersinis went to assist in moving the crate, but Tamalain stopped her. "Run to the back storeroom. You will find two poles that fit the rings for this monster." She returned in just over a minute, dragging two thick heavy poles. "Yep, those are it. Let me have one." Mersinis handed over one pole and watched as the Captain slid it through the rings on the end of the case. She then did the other end pole.

Once the poles were in place, Mersinis attempted to lift her end of the crate. She grunted and the thing lifted a little bit before she had to drop it back down. "What the hell is in there?"

"It's not the content, it is the box itself that is so heavy."

Tamalain looked around, seeing several guards still on their feet, "Hey, You city guards, get over here now. We need to get this on the cart."

Several of the mobile guards came over, but stopped just outside club range.

"Oh don't worry fellows. I only attacked to get the point across that getting in my way then was a bad idea. Now you four, go to that end and lift, Mer, with me." Between the six of them, they were able to lift it and move it to the handcart. Once the chest was seated, she used the ropes on the cart to secure it from falling off to the sides.

"Mer, do you have to be anywhere soon?"

"No ma'am, with things as they are; nobody will notice if I vanish for a few hours. So yes, I will help you get this where it is you need to take it."

"Good girl. We only need to move it a few block to a smithy near the Mages tower." They both pulled on the arms of the cart, to pull it back and over a little bit to balance it. Two of the other cadets saw the women having trouble trying to get it to set right came over to assist.