Private Finished The King of the Iron Catacombs

For a moment, it was as if everything grew darker. In reality, nothing had actually changed, but Ettercap was a room away and then he wasn't with a few clicks of his spider-like feet on the ground.

He was right in front of Taliesen, leaned down a great deal so his mandibles were a mere inch from Tali's nose. From behind him, a second set of mantis-like arms reached out and slid over Taliesen's face, taking something unseen in.

"You are a bold little gardener, I can see why Facade took you on. But, you are still a gardener. Sure, you've managed to collect something more than mere title in your time with Facade," here he glanced at Mitch, "but if you do this for me, I could offer you something with real power. I could offer you your own court."

Mitch was all sorts of tense with The Faery King so close to her friend. He had all these sharp bits on him that could so easily pierce Tali's skin and Mitch had just seen firsthand how quickly Ettercap could move. She stepped closer to Tali's side until she could feel both of their body heat near her.

Her grip on the blade was white-knuckled and she'd flipped it into a position that would make it easier for her to slash if need be. She debated if she could get through this Dwarf's armor if she needed to.

Something in Ettercap hardened. It didn't show on his face, but there was a silence that signified a storm. tension so thick even Mitch couldn't have ignored it. When Tali stepped back, The King stepped forward. Or, he was forward, though Mitch didn't see or hear him take a single step. When he rose one of those mantis claws next, the rubber band holding all the tension from overflowing snapped.

There was a glowing in the room, coming from Mitch's fur when she'd shifted and the sound of sizzling and cracking, like a volcano about to erupt. Next, the smell of sulfur and coal while Ettercap's claw cracked and fell apart like ash. He turned on Mitch with a horrible, inhuman screech.

The two moved fast around the room, their movements oddly in sync and dance-like. Mitch's knife arced outward at Ettercap a few more times and the lights continued flickering erratically. The knife clanged to the ground, pulling with it a trail of dark blood that could have been either of theirs. And then sounds like rabid animals and angry serpents.

When one crashed into the other, they collapsed the throne Ettercap had been seated on when Tali and Mitch had first arrived. The struggle didn't last much longer than that before the lights flickered twice more and returned, though rather dimly.

Ettercap laid on the floor, Mitch underneath him and motionless. The room was in a state of chaos, blood and upturned furniture everywhere. Some places, Tali might have noticed, there was molten rock where there had not been before.

Ettercap's corpse was torn at the mandibles and throat. Some of his soft underbelly had been shredded and the longer he bled out, the more black and tar-like his blood became. When his body was off of her, Mitch could move freely. Beyond a nasty tear in one of her wings and ears, she was free from harm.

She sat up, focus still firmly on Ettercap until she could be assured he was dead. Her eyes had narrowed and the endless black there shimmered. Her ears folded back. But. But. Taliesen sounded worried.

"Tali?" In this form, Mitch's voice echoed, like a light hum. She shook off some of the blood on her fur and got to her feet, standing guard between him and the body. "I'm okay..." And Mitch was just as amazed by that fact as Tali probably was.

The place was silent. Still. Dead. Around them, the walls and world began to melt away as if it were made of heated wax. Above them, the moon shone over the top of pine trees.

Mitch didn't want to be protected from the rock or the pain. She could handle it better than Taliesen, she was sure. Not only did she have fur right then, but she'd always been more of a fighter than him. By the time they were outside — not home and not on Manta Carlos, but outside nonetheless — Taliesen threw himself at Mitch. She expected anger, but not relief.

Mitch wrapped an arm around him, awkward with the size different (she was taller than him for once) and still on edge about where they were.

"No. Of course not, Tali!" perplexed by the very idea of it. "I got the first hit in and his magic didn't work... Not on me." She stared at where some of his skin had peeled off with the stone.

"Hold on," she stuck a claw into Tali's skin and dug around until she could pull out a black shard that had most definitely grown in the skin rather than buried itself there. Mitch flicked it off to the side.

Staring at where the stone had landed, Mitch felt sick. She could still smell residual brimstone but it seemed none of the Dwarves had followed them out. She didn't think they planned to, either. The door to the Court closed away and they lost any remaining light with it. The moon wasn't cutting through here, which told Mitch they were near The Long Night and likely near Facade.

She hummed something of a prayer to Underhill for that.

Mitch almost wanted to suggest she carry him, just in case, but she knew his pride wouldn't have it. She nodded instead and took his hand as she had each time they went through The Long Night.

Mitch was good at moving through forests. She had to go slower than she would have because of Tali, but that didn't bother her. When her feet went from the forest floor to sheened wood and fighting through curtains instead of trees, Mitch knew they'd reached their destination.

Facade was reaching out to them, calling them back in the way only places of Underhill could. When they were safely within the court, Mitch took her glamoured form so she could be behind Tali and mostly out of sight.

The guards looked at Talisen with eyes gleaming and an inquisition at the ready.

Where had he been? Why had they lost contact? What the Hell had happened?