The old woman held Laanimere"s head with both her hands and stared at it. Her young, beautiful face was not there anymore. Instead, an ugly expression glared back at her, one full of accusations and mixed with the utter terror of being embraced by the cold arms of death.The woman"s own face was bruised and b.l.o.o.d.y, new scars developing over the numerous old ones that bridged the folds of her wrinkles. Her expression was cold and hard as she slowly closed the wide and terrified eyes on Laanimere"s bleeding head with her still fingers
Carefully holding the severed head before her, she limped, taking painful steps over a thick coating of dark blood on the rocky floor of the temple.
Sap! Sap!
Whispered the wet floor with her each step in that utter silence of the hall. About ten steps in, the woman stopped and heaved. She looked down with a clenched jaw and a sudden snarl and took a sharp breath. Her hands and shoulders trembled violently and she fell to her knees. Her shoulder rose and fell with deep and rasping breaths as she waited clutching the head so tight that it looked like it would burst from pressure.
Then slowly, her breath calmed and she stood up again. Her face was masked with calmness as she started to limp through the darkness.
Smoke rose from the embers that were put in for the feast that had just ended a few hours ago, and a dull orange glow of the dying fire was the only source of light as the woman got closer. She paused before a chest tall heap of bodies in the centre, roughly staked over one another, and looked down. At the base sat a man, big and with a hairy face, leaning on the heap with a serene sleeping expression, near him laid the dismembered body of a teen girl; his daughter, Laanimere. The woman carefully put the head into his lap, finally reuniting the remaining family. She gave one last glance at the head that despite having its eyes closed, seemed to still be staring at her with contempt.
Among all the peacefully sleeping faces of the dead villagers, the young girl"s face stood out, from all the pain and horror she had faced right before her death.
"I…am…sorry." The woman muttered in a barely audible voice and stretched her hand toward the heap of bodies.
With a sudden snap and a loud roar a fire burst out from the pile, hungrily eating and spreading over the corpses. Strengthened by the woman"s magic, the fire quickly turned the bodies into charred husks. The woman stared the entire scene standing too close to it, all the while calm and completely unmoving.
When the fire lessened with the lack of fuel and only embers remained of the corpses, something landed behind the woman. A young girl, carefully stepping toward the fire, her face was one of confusion and surprise. Disheveled green hair flowed around her head and her eyes glowed like green fire burned inside them.
"Lady Ava, what-what happened?" She asked in a soft but troubled voice and looked around as if the answer would be hiding for her in the dull hue of the fading embers.
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"Our mission is complete. Get ready to leave."