Pyrene the Questionably Sane

Pyrene was already moving without Telest's urgent push. For once the drugs in her system helped, as unreasoning fear gave her feet wings. She didn't even look back to see if the others were still with her until she was stumbled and fell after ducking under the heavy iron door.

The elf's gruesome death moments later stunned her. She stared at the upper half of his body, his face caught between surprise and agony, barely twitching as Cheran shouted and raged on the other side of the door. Only when Katrina used Pyrene's shoulder to pull herself up did she wake up enough to follow them, barely wondering how Korram knew where to go, lost in a fog of despair that flickered in and out of sight and drowned out even the drug-induced paranoia.

And then Wulfric was there in front of her, looking battered and weary, but handsome for all that, come to rescue her just like in her dream. Oh . . . this is a dream. Or maybe a hallucination, she thought dully, staring at him as she waited for him to disappear or turn into someone else.

Quote Originally Posted by Wulfric View Post
Finally noticing Pyrene’s odd condition, Wulfric cocked his head. “Pyrene . . . are you alright?”
The hallucination spoke to her, in Wulfric's voice, and she collapsed, sudden clarity coming to her thoughts as she realized that he wasn't a hallucination at all, and that she hadn't seen so much as a false fog in several minutes. But then the Baron delivered his horrible news and ultimatum, and she wished she was still hallucinating, so that she could attribute the cruel words to her own fearful imagination. As it was, she could imagine all too clearly what a monster like Cheran would do to the sister she had worked so long and sacrificed so much to protect.

Ariella. Don't worry. I'll protect you. I'll always protect you. No matter what.

Quote Originally Posted by Wulfric View Post
“Hey, listen – we don’t have a lot of time to figure out a plan here. And I for one, am not letting myself be taken alive. I got myself and Telest in here on Xera – although that was a little weird how unguarded the way in was – and I can get us out, freakish angels be damned!” Wulfric grunted, striding over to the griffon. He seemed about ready to mount the griffon, and then paused as he turned back with a concerned grimace.

“Of course . . . that was with only myself and Telest aboard, and that elf barely weighed anything. All four of us on Xera is probably going to stress her trying to carry that much weight.”
Without a word, Pyrene pushed herself to her feet and followed Wulfric to the griffon, cupping one hand over the scorch mark on her wing. Forcing herself to ignore the collar burning at her throat, she focused instead on the heat under her hand - the fire of life brought close to the surface by the damage, slowly eating at the edges of the wound, building new flesh rather than destroying it. "*Here,*" she whispered to strange flame, "*use my power.*"

Despite repeatedly dumping all the power she could into commands over the last few days, letting it out in a trickle like this was surprisingly easy, perhaps due to the interference of the mage collar. Once the task was accomplished ((or if it doesn't work after a minute)), she turned at looked at Wulfric, rubbing the iron necklace absently. "Thank you for coming," she said, smiling sincerely. Then she visibly took control of her expression, becoming solemn and determined. "You need to go. Now, before more guards come. Take Katrina with you - Cheran will kill her if he catches her again. I . . . I need to return to the Baron. If I don't, Cheran will do worse than kill my sister. I can't allow that. I can't." Pyrene felt her control start to slip and turned away so the others wouldn't see her fear and desperation. "Go now. I'll do what I can to delay pursuit."