Endari was hanging in the center of her chamber from her manacles which were hooked into the ceiling.  Head hanging low, she was bleeding from the various cuts her tormentors had inflicted upon her.  Her clothing was in tatters, revealing more than covering now, due to the strike of silver-tipped whips and daggers.  She was a pathetic sight.

 

And still, her aunt didn't come.  Had this been a miscalculation?  Did Endi assume too much? 

 

She tried to raise her head to look about her, but by the look of all the blood on the floor she decided that she was too weak.  She heard movement near the door, but she couldn't raise her eyelids, never mind her head.  So she just waited for the next volley of blows...

Endi awoke from her unconscious state, her heavy-lidded eyes opening slowly into green slits.  It was all she could manage at the moment, what with the blood loss.  She was still losing blood, she knew.  She could see the pool of it at her feet, felt the slow trickle from her wounds.  Damn the silver weakness.

 

Her hallucinations were getting worse, the dreams starting to be painful. She remembered her dream about Malius, smiled at the thought of him.  It had been a neautiful dream, she thought.  She'd promised she wouldn't give up.  She promised to think of Elie and her other children, to think of him waiting for her.  The thoughts bolstered her, and she raised her head to look above her.  She could slide the chains off--with a bit of strength.  Endi stared up, determination in her stare.  Then she began to swing...

 

It took her four tries, and she really hadn't expected to do it at all.  She'd flipped herself up and wrapped her legs about the hooked chain.  She slid her manacles free and grabbed the hook itself with her hands to drop to the floor.  She slipped and fell as she did, having used up all of her strength.  Dragging herself up, Endi limped to the wall where a bucket of water was kept that they used to sluice her off with between beatings and peered inside.  She was lucky that there was a bit in the bottom and lifted the dregs to her lips and drank the small bit.  It was vile, but it was wet.  She leaned against the wall and waited...

Endari had bound her wounds as best she could with pieces of her torn shirt and strips of her leather pants. She didn't know how long she was down there before she heard footsteps coming toward the chamber.  She crouched behind the door and lay in wait.  She was a bit stronger now that she'd had a chance to stop the bleeding and rest a bit, but she was still weak.  However...she was determined.

 

The door opened and the first demon walked in. She wrapped the chain around the first demon's throat, pulling tight.  While she was strangling the ugly creature, she grabbed a long, pointed torture device from its bundle and threw it at the second, hitting it in the eye.  Its death cry was fierce, a piercing cry that startled even Endari's aunt, who stood there frozen in those few seconds it took for her to kill the creatures.

 

Endi's eyes met those of her aunt's and never even blinked.  Hooded, like a hunter stalking its prey, her eyes stayed on the one person who caused this hell in her life.  She unwound the chain from demon's throat and started forward.  She leapt and tackled the woman before she could get off her first spell, tackling her to the floor.

 

"Nice of you join the party, aunt..."

Endari slammed her aunt into the floor of the tunnel, coming to realize that the magic ward was only on the room they'd been keeping her chained inside.  She grinned at her aunt, a feral, evil grin that would have chilled most people to the spot.  But Phila had always been foolish and a tad insane.

 

"You should have told them to kill me, Phila.  It seems you have underestimated me once more," Endi told her, gripping the woman's throat.

 

Phila ground her words out through her constricted throat, "I should have killed you long ago, when your mother first brought you to out tribe when you were a cub.  And once I've finished you, I'm going to go after your cub."

 

Endari felt the rush of power before pure energy slammed into her and threw her against the wall.  She fell to the ground and groaned, rolling onto her knees.  She lifted her head to look at Phila, her eyes a dangerous glitter of emerald.  Before Phila could get off another spell, Endari tightened her fist, holding her aunt into place.  Her aunt's eyes went wide, and now there was fear there.

 

"You see, Aunt Phila, you should learn that I'm always full of surprises..."  Endi got up and walked a slow, limping stroll to her.  "I'm stronger than you've ever realized."  Endi cut off her air supply, knowing her magic was greater than Phila's.  "And I love.  I love my daughter enough to be more determined than you that she lives."  Endi struck then, breaking Phila's neck in a quick movement.  "I should have done that a long time ago..."

 

Endari went back into the chamber and rolled one of the demons over, searching him.  She found what she was looking for, wrapped with various torture devices.  The dagger Malius had given her.  She grinned and walked back into the tunnel, forming a portal for home...