As Eleanor approached Rawgh"faz, his attention finally diverted her direction. When he saw her, the c.o.c.ky grin on his face faded, only to be replaced by a look of confusion, followed by a look of outright fury as she stepped past the shattered doorway and into the throne room.She drew to a stop a dozen paces from him, her arms crossed gently behind her back, and spoke softly.
"h.e.l.lo, Rawgh"faz." She said, straightening up and staring him in the eye.
The shaman snarled, baring his teeth and shifting his stance.
"I suppose you"re wondering how it is that I"m standing here now, instead of still chained naked to your bed." She said more than asked as she took another step towards him.
"h.e.l.lo, "mother"." He said, the tone in his voice making it clear he knew exactly who he was talking to. His fingers squeezed hard enough around the shaft of his staff that the wood creaked in protest under his grip. He sneered, before turning his head to the side and spitting a mouthful of phlegm onto the stone floor.
"I have to hand it to you, devil b.i.t.c.h," he said, giving her a look that mixed approval with disdain, "of the many I have kept in thrall, you"re the first to find a way out."
"Impressed? Or disappointed?" Eleanor asked, dropping the pretense of Marg"faz"s appearance now that having it was no longer necessary. When the shaman said nothing in reply, she continued, take one gentle step after another towards him. "Your mistake was creating your illusions from the memories of the victim. All it took was seeing something I knew to be wrong for the illusion to break. Once that happened, it was easy to begin rewriting the illusion as I saw fit by telling myself what was and wasn"t real." Eleanor said. She drew to a stop half a dozen steps away from him, looking up at him in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Clever." Rawgh"faz said, raising his staff. "It"s a shame you won"t be able to enjoy this new-found freedom."
Eleanor c.o.c.ked her head to the side and put a finger to her cheek in mock confusion.
"Oh? And why is that?" She asked.
Rawgh"faz gave no reply. Instead, a jet of dark red flame shot from the end of his staff, striking the ground where Eleanor had stood just a second before. Weaving a litany of sigils in the air as she fell, Ellie pulled a small ribbon from the components pouch at her waist and snapped it out towards the shaman. The ribbon flew towards him at lighting speed, widening and thickening as it went. Rawgh"faz twisted to the side and threw up his empty hand to parry the Binding spell with a Barrier. At the last moment, the ribbon diverted its aim, instead targeting his staff. The bright red ribbon wound tightly around it, and with a strong jerk pulled it free of Rawgh"faz"s grasp. The staff flew through the air behind Eleanor, landing far on the other side of the throne room behind her with a clatter.
She landed gently a short distance from him, her baggy clothes barely hanging onto her pet.i.te frame as she alighted onto the stone floor. Rawgh"faz howled in fury. As he did so, the air around him filled with a chorus of other voices that matched his tone and fury, and the air around him seemed to dark and thicken as he did so. Without warning, he sprang at Eleanor, soaring towards her with such speed and ferocity that she had no time to react before he was on her.
His ma.s.sive furred body bore down on her, tackling her to the ground and pinning her arms to the side. He leaned his ma.s.sive, drooling maw down towards her, his eyes wild with magic and rage, before he smiled viciously.
"Remind you of anything, devil s.l.u.t?"
"Oh no! Someone save me!" She said, her voice sing-songy in mock terror. Rawgh"faz snarled and snapped forwards to sink his teeth into her face, but his snout met nothing but solid stone as the illusion into smoke beneath him. He shot back, placing the back of his hand against his nose to staunch the trickle of blood flowing out of it as he jerked his attention left and right for some clue as to where she disappeared to.