Myra was morbidly amused at that thought. "Uma, there is a line."

She stared out into the budding forest for a long while. Behind her she heard someone enter, and heard Mely's voice.

Faelen broke the bad news to Mely. "Q'wellen is dead. Khell got him apparently. He has the lantern apparently."

"What was Q'wellen doing there? Lantern?"

Myra sighed quietly.

"Not sure myself. Only Myra knows." Faelen gestured to Myra.

Myra took a breath and just began reciting what had happened as if it were a school lesson to be memorized. "The sword was removed from his possession."

"I'm not surprised," Mely commented about "only Myra knows". "Sword?"

Myra pushed on, her voice quiet. "An old wound opened in his chest. He was... slowly dying."

Mely blanched, almost falling from her new mare. "Wait... wound? Did it go down his chest?"

"...uma. He said Khell did it."

"Khalin has... a similar wound... Mord'sythe did it..."

It was Myra's turn to blanche at the mention of Mord'sythe and Khalin. "He wanted to face Khellenduras. So we went to Andrew's home. And Khellenduras has a temple there now. Another temple."

"I must go." The Shadow spoke up, standing.

"...have a good evening Shadow," Myra turned to look at him.

"Oh, I shall. And I shall see you later."

Myra only nodded, as if she were resigned to the fact that she would indeed see The Shadow again, whether she wished it or not. Then she felt Mely's eyes on her.

"You ... you didn't stop him, did you?"

"...n'uma."

"Why?"

"There wasn't anything I could do anyway. He used the lantern..."

"But did you try?" Faelen asked, as Mely murmured quietly to herself.

Myra lifted her chin resolutely. "N'uma. I stood there and watched." It was what they wanted to hear, afterall. They wanted someone to blame.

"He was in love with you," Mely pointed out. "If anyone could have persuaded him, you could have."

Myra did not pause in her dry recollectoin of events. "He lifted his body from the ground and called lightning down from the sky to kill him."

Faelen looked at her in shock. "You watched him leave for Khellenduras'." There was the accusation she was waiting for.

"N'uma. I took him to Khellenduras. It is what he wanted." She looked at neither of them.

Faelen's eyes grew wide, "You did what!"

Alyzia spoke from the other side of the room. "Then she was right."

"He was dying." Myra stated, as if that would answer anyone's questions.

Mely looked over to the woman Alyzia, "Who was right?"

"The dark one that was just here."

Faelen was still staring at Myra, "Myra, why? Dying? Are you sure?"

Myra did not reply to his questions.

Adding to Alyzia's comment, Faelen addressed Mely, "There was a dark lady here. She said Q's death was Myra's fault."

Mely looked to Myra. "The alchemist?"

Myra nodded once, "K'ryn."

"She mentioned a warning? That wasn't heeded? Nor mentioned to anyone else?" Alyzia offered, 'helpfully'.

Mely was still looking at Myra, "Warning?"

Myra turned to stare out the window again.

Faelen insisted on a full explanation.

"Myra?" Mely prompted her.

Myra took a slow breath, and began reciting the events as dryly as before. "Khellenduras killed him." Deciding that was enough of an explanation, Myra simply fell silent.

Faelen sounded a little upset, "You forgot to mention earlier that you took him to Khell."

But Myra was listening more to Mely. Mely had always been her greatest "adversary" within the Glade... Ever since Baal'morda... "But you did nothing to help him? You who have done nothing but study the lich?"

Myra took a breath, this would be so much simpler if she started at the beginning, perhaps. "Andrew came here. I rejected Khell's offer of 'peace', as it was decided at the Company meeting. Khellenduras came shortly after Andrew left. He had the lantern. ... he used it on me."

"And you live." Faelen interjected. He was growing more beligerant toward Myra.

"The lich won't kill me," Myra repeated.

"Go figure, another suitor." Faelen snipped. "Oh, sorry, that slipped."

Mely asked, "Because you served him?"

Myra glared at each of them. "No. Because he wants to see me suffer. Ask him. He'll tell you." Myra smiled to herself. "Death would be a release. So he won't kill me."

"Because you attempted to betray him?" Mely inquired, "Or because of...."

"His reasons are his own. He used the lantern on me and left." Myra pressed on, growing weary. "Shortly after he left, Q'wellen rushed from the woods. With Wrath in hand. He said he sensed Khellenduras. We convinced him to be rid of the sword and while he had control Q'wellen threw the blade away from himself. It was then that the wound in his chest opened."

The questions came then, first from Mely, "Myra, what information did you give the lich, about Mord'sythe?"

And then from Faelen, "Where is the blade now?"

Myra used Mely's question to dodge answering Faelen's. "He knows only the information that Sythe sent himself." She stared out the window.

Faelen prodded, "So his wound opened... and then?"

"He said the Lady Veil was his last hope. But insisted I take him... to find Khellenduras."

"And you took him..."

"He asked it of me."

Faelen was almost afraid to ask, "Did...did you see him die?"

"I couldn't deny him that." She nodded once to his question.

She could hear the frown in Mely's voice, "Why couldn't you deny him, Myra? You have no problem doing that to others."

"I don't deny those who need my help."

"He needed you to talk sense into him. Instead, you took him to his death."

"Myra..." Faelen spoke a bit softer to her, "This is important... Did he die alone?"

"I was there."

"You were..." Faelen paused, staring at her.

Myra reached a hand out toward the window, her eyes distant. "I could have... touched him.

"Did he fight... or just die?"

"He fought." Myra lowered her hand back to her side. "He fought for all he could."

Mely's disgust was plain, "And you just stood there."

"I could not have helped him, or saved him."

Mely murmured just loud enough for Myra to hear, "Your declarations ring hollow Myra."

Myra tensed slightly, "There was nothing I could do."

"Just like there was nothing you could do... but join Mord'sythe."

"None of you know. None of you. I didn't go to him to join him."

Faelen didn't know what to make of Myra, "Is it true what the lady said...Do you love Mord?"

"None of you know anything of me!" Myra spun around, fire in her eyes. "Shut up Faelen. Don't you ever utter that again." Her cheeks flushed with color.

The Shadow spoke quietly to her outburst, "I know you."

Mely frowned, "Myra, how many more excuses will you have?"

"I have no excuses. I do what I must do. I do what no one else will. To achieve the ends they all want."

"You do what you want for you benefit." Mely stated accusingly.

"Now that is a lie.. Q'wellen would have done anything for you."

"My benefit?!" The fire flared in Myra's eyes again. "You call this my benefit?" She gestured to Mely and Faelen, her standing inquisitors.

"You went willingly to Mord," Mely pointed out, "You went willingly to Khell."

"I went to help Azeron. Khellenduras came to me," Myra countered.

"N'uma, YOU wanted power"

"I want nothing of what they offer! Nothing!" Myra's voice rose with each word, "I want my life back!" Her voiced died back down. "...but I can't have it."

"You willingly gave them your life. You have no life."

Myra turned back to the window. "I have a life. Two, maybe three."

The Shadow seemed to have heard her statement. "One of Darkness...."

"Careful, Mely," Faelen warned her, "Accusations are one thing but she is still of the blood."

Mely looked to Faelen, "You have not suffered at her hands as I have. She is not fully of the blood. She has betrayed her people easily enough."

"Do you declare her cast out?" Faelen questioned Mely.

"I do not have that power. Only the Council does. She's always had Strongbow's protection."

"N'Tel'Quess... They denied it once, did they not, Mely?" Myra mused.

"Because Strongbow was convinced you could be saved. If it comes to a vote again, Myra, I will cast mine."

Myra half shrugged. "You are the only one that would see me burnt."

"Am I? You attempted to kill your lover. You attacked Khalin. You attacked others and were allowed to remain."

Myra spun back around. "I attacked Khalin?!!! N'uma... I did try to kill Ian. I did stab Aramir. I never attacked Khalin, he attacked me."

Mely didn't listen. "You betrayed your people. Repeatedly. And now... now you are responsible for Q'wellen's death."

Myra growled very quietly. "Shut up."

Silence reigned for a few moments. Mely and Myra looked at one another. "What would you have had me do?" Myra asked Mely.

"Tis too late for what you should have done; the question is what will you do now?"

"The lich will die. And so will Trenton."

"And you?"

"Once I am done with them... I will fade to nothing. You will not be troubled with me." She waved a hand through the air before her. "Gone."

"I still believe you did not slay the daemon." Mely said as she stormed out of the Arrow.

***************************************

Faelen turned to Myra. "He loved you, so I will be there for you whethere I like it or not."
Myra spared only a glance at Faelen before taking a seat. "Do not trouble yourself."

"It isn't any trouble. I just don't get you."

"It is. You'd be best to remove yourself from any involvement with me." Myra folded her arms.

"You are stubborn," Faelen commented. "I'll give you that."

"She is Darkness." The Shadow interjected.

"Shut up Skeletor."

"What do you want of me Faelen?"

Alyzia cut in, "To fall at your feet in front of a lich? Thats what most males want of you, isn't it?"

"I offer all that I can to you Myra," Faelen ignored the woman. "An ear, a helping hand, a shoulder."

Myra frowned. "I don't need any of that. None of it." She paced to the other side of the room.

"Twenty gold says he's next." The Shadow nodded at Faelen.

"My bet's on Galahad." Alyzia grinned.

"Good bet," remarked The Shadow.

"I don't need any of that." Myra turned to The Shadow and Alyzia. "And he will not."

"Oh, but he will." The Shadow countered, moving to sit on the stool next to where Myra stood.

Myra turned slowly, and leaned close to The Shadow. "Not for me, he won't."

"Galahad has fallen under your spell. I want to see him suffer."

Alyzia offered some more 'helpful' comments, "Oh c'mon girlie. You know he will. He was ready to go after the skull for you tonight."

Myra glanced over her shoulder, then back to The Shadow. The Shadow nodded to Alyzia's comment. "That he did."

"Then I'll have to fix that." Myra said coldly.

"Can you?" The Shadow challenged. "He will need to cast you from his heart. He cannot."

"There are things that can be done." Myra stood back up, looking out the nearby window. "He will." She smiled sadly.

"Men are drawn to you. And then they die for you."
"The more you push him away, the more he'll pursue, just to find out what's wrong."
"Myra, you're just too gosh darn cute... Galahad won't be able to leave."

Faelen spoke quietly to Myra. "You should rest, to be ready in case you have to face him again."

"Ah, the next round!" The Shadow, at least, seemed amused.

"Why me." Myra sounded tired. Weary.

"Because of who you are." Faelen offered.

"Because you are touched by Darkness."
"Touched? She embraces it. And it embraces her."

"It is a part of me, yes." Myra acknowledge it. She'd known it for sometime.

Myra paced back to the western window. Mely returned...

Closing her mare, Aikanaro in the back room, Mely started upon Myra quickly.

"Myra? What happened with Trenton... didn't he want you the way you wanted him?"

Myra clenched her fists.

Melyanna tilted her head. "Did he prefer the little girl to you? Perhaps... Pehraps he didn't like... other peoples' discards?" She leaned back against the door.

Mely seemed to be trying to get some kind of reaction out of Myra. "Perhaps you weren't woman enough for him Myra?"

Myra gritted her teeth.

"What do you want, Mely."

"The truth. Something you aren't willing to give."

"My... relation with Trenton is none of your concern."

"Isn't it? Do you betray the Glade to him... just to sneak into his bed? Or do yo pine for his touch?"

Myra's cheeks flushed, in a blush.

"Well Myra? Or is it that he won't let you back into his bed?"

"I was never in his bed." Myra's voice was very low.

"Ah hah! So you didn't get what you wanted."

"That isn't what I wanted." Myra's voice had lowered to a whisper.

"Isn't it?"

"I went to free Azeron from the Affliction he took from you."

Mely flinched at that. "Yes... but you did that because you wanted the power it offered you. You love Trenton, admit it."

Myra glared at Melyanna. Anger, anguish, despair... so many emotions tumbled through Myra at that moment. "Love is... not for me."

"Too close to home?"

"What would you know of love anyway, Mely? How many times have you been married?"

"At least I've been married. What happened to your lovers?"

"I've only had one," Myra replied quietly.

"One? Let's see... Glorfindle, Ian, Aramir, Trenton... Khell... Q'wellen?"

Myra clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. Her anger was growing, beyond anything else and again the whispering from Wrath rose in her mind. "Just Glor..."

"Oh, wait... Glor didn't want you either."

Before she could, or even wanted to think about it, Myra was drawing Wrath from where she'd hidden it in her pack.

"He's much happier with Joylah, than he ever was with you Myra!"

Myra stepped forward, her rage blinding and deafening her to all else in the room. Inside she could feel walls breaking down. "You will take that back. Now."

Mely crossed her arms. "I don't believe I will."

"I will gut you where you stand. He loved me. Take it back, now!"

"Try it, and Aikanaro will have you for lunch."

Myra was trembling with rage.

"You weren't elf enough for Glor."

Myra growled, falling into the most basic fighting stance she knew. She stepped close to Mely, putting the sword's blade to her throat. "Take. It. Back."

"N'uma."

"Take it back!!" Myra screamed, as she swung the sword at Melyanna. The sword sliced through Mely's shirt, drawing blood on her arm. But Myra did not stop. She kept swinging, wanting only for Mely to take back her words, or to die with them.

Dodging some of Myra's unpracticed swings, Mely managed to bind her with magic.

Myra hissed, "Darthiir elg'carress!" Her drow accent was thick, and there was no spark of anything that was Myra ten minutes ago in her eyes.

"Now you have drawn blood." Mely looked at her bleeding arm.

Faelen was babbling something, but Myra saw only the darthiir bitch that had tried to bind her with her filthy surface magic! How dare she think to trap Myra so easily! The surface magic fell away from Myra, as she whispered a prayer... Myra took a step around Faelen, not caring who he was at the moment.

"Weak Darthiir magics," Myra hissed, prowling around to Melyanna's side.

"Myra stop!" Faelen implored her.

She hissed at him. "I'll have your tongue too, 'breed! You are not here to help me."

Again Melyanna bound Myra with magic. And again, it fell away quickly.

"Myra, fight the sword!"

"Why should I? What do I have to fight it for?"

"For Q'wellen, if nothing else. Or did he really mean nothing to you?"

"Why should I listen to you?" Her drow accent was weakening. "None of you know, or care about me."

The Shadow approached Myra. "Myra. Give me the sword. It is obviously too powerful for you to control."

She laughed at him. "It offers me everything I want."

"Or do you enjoy losing control to the Darkness?" His hand was still out, for the sword.

"It can have what is left!" Myra exclaimed. Myra's gaze fixed on Mely. "You'll take back your words or... ah!"

Faelen slapped her hard. Myra growled.

Mely glared back at Myra, "Never. I should simply let Aikanaro have at you."

Myra hissed. The Shadow stepped back out of the way as Myra began to circle Mely again. "Very well. Kill her. It's what you want. You know it. I know it. We -all- know it."

While Myra was distracted by The Shadow's words and her own internal struggle, Melyanna gathered energy from the ether.

"Vas Ort Flam" The air erupted around Myra, setting her stumbling backward. The force was greater than the heat the weak spell caused.

"Darthiir elg'carress", Myra's thick drow accent had returned. "You and your weak darthiir magics...." Myra lunged forward at Melyanna, swinging at her mercilessly, intent on her death.

Mely reached behind her throwing open the door and her mare came trotting out.

Myra took a guarded step backward and hissed. "Hellspawn does not frighten me."

"Aikanaro ... kill." Mely said dryly, her eyes on Myra.

Myra may have been angry, and her mind may not have been her own, but survival was not ignored. She knew that she could not kill this beast with this sword. Pushing open the doors she sprinted along the front of the building to a nearby alcove. Pulling a shadow around her, she watched in silence as the abyssal nag passed her without notice.