Mercy

Silent death stalked on quiet footfalls as the survivors rushed blindly through the dark tunnels, seeking salvation from the ever-present darkness. They were young and old, women and children, not a warrior among them. Their men had rushed to defend their homes when the dark ones came. Not one among them had survived. The blood of the vigilant and the valorous had run freely that night…leaving only the innocent and the defenseless to pray for salvation at the hands of their Lord Ilmater. Dawn brought no deliverance from the darkness that now sought to consume them. It only brought more death. They gathered what they could and fled to the mines, their last hope and shelter. But the dark ones were already there, waiting silently in the darkness…

From her perch, Va’Korali watched vigilantly as the last of the routed humans made their way down the darkened passageway. The raid had gone exceptionally well and many trophies had been claimed for Lolth this night. Slender black digits flexed impatiently around the polished hilt of her long sword and she drew the finely crafted weapon from its leather sheath. Her movements were unseen by the fleeing humans as she dropped down from the ledge and fell into step behind them. Her orders were clear: Hunt down and end the lives of those who fled into these tunnels. Va’Korali smiled contently as she gazed more closely upon her prey. Not a warrior among them. Twenty in all and not even a dagger present on any of the able bodied women! “Like rothe to slaughter…” she mouthed silently as she followed behind the fleeing peasants, remaining in the shadows and always one step behind.

Her slender blade pierced the elderly woman’s heart before she could even raise her feeble arms in protest. The old woman fell to the ground silently, her features forever frozen in a mask of horror and disbelief. Her blood joined that of the seventeen other souls who had fallen to the silent death that now walked openly among them. The chamber’s stone floor was now streaked red with the lifeblood of the fallen innocent, all who had died without ever seeing their murderer. Only two remained huddled against the far blood streaked wall of the chamber, a middle aged graying woman and a small female child who clung to the woman’s homespun skirts. A soft whimper escaped the woman as the ebony skinned elf approached her slowly, her blood splattered blade hung low at her side. The drow woman smiled wickedly, pearly white against a backdrop of onyx. Her dark leathers were stained with the blood of the middle-aged woman’s neighbors, family and friends. This beautiful creature of elven grace and ebony skin was the silent death that had stalked them into the tunnel and had ended their lives one by one. The dark elf’s amber eyes burned with anticipation of the next kill as she stepped closer to the now wailing human woman. Her screams for mercy and deliverance at the hands of Ilmater fell upon deaf ears as Va’Korali liberated the woman’s head from her shoulders with a quick swipe of her keen blade.

The small female child watched with unblinking sky blue eyes as this creature of nocturnal beauty cut down her mother before her. Her diminutive hands clinched into tiny fists at her side as she shook with anger and fear. Va’Korali watched the child with amusement and chuckled softly when the young girl screamed out for her to leave her alone. The dark elf raised her blade and brought it up to the human child’s alabaster neck. As the bloodied sword brushed against her exposed flesh, the girl merely looked up at her mother’s murderer and fixed her stern gaze upon her. She would never give this monstrous killer the satisfaction of showing fear. That was something her mother would not have wanted. Va’Korali was visibly stunned by this unusual display of courage. And in a human child of all things! Her blade wavered for a moment and moved slightly away from the child’s neck.

“What is your name?” the dark elf asked in a melodic voice that could have almost been described as beautiful had the small girl not known the evil that lurked in the drow’s heart and twisted her soul.

“Isabelle…” the child stated bluntly, her eyes never leaving Va’Korali’s own amber gaze.

“Are you not afraid of what is about to befall you? Are you not terrified of death?” the dark elf said, growing rather amused by this human child.

“No…I will be with my mommy…and the rest of my family…and Ilmater. He will give my family a new home…and a new life…away from you! You can never take that away from me! NEVER!” Isabelle yelled and spit with all her rage into the drow woman’s face.

Dumbfounded, Va’Korali wiped the spittle from her eyes and glared down at Isabelle.

“Go…” as soon as the word left Va’Korali’s mouth Isabelle sprinted away from her would-be killer and disappeared into the tunnel, seeking her way to the surface and the salvation that hopefully awaited her.

The human child had shown more courage than any of the warriors she had ever faced. The young girl had shown no fear of death when it was merely a sword stroke away. Was it girl’s defiance and courage or was it that she had grown weak? Why had she let the human girl go? Va’Korali stood amongst the blood-streaked chamber, thinking over her decision to let the child go. Why had she given the young child mercy? Mercy was not something a dark elf gave. Mercy was unknown to her race. To give mercy was to become like her surface brethren, weak and defenseless. Va’Korali would think for many years on this moment and she would never reach an answer. She did eventually reach one conclusion: Mercy is a quality that is granted to those that will one day grant it to you. Va’Korali never saw Isabelle again and yet she wished she had. She wished it had been Isabelle who was holding the poisoned dagger that had found it’s way into her heart and not her own daughter. Perhaps then she would not have died, perhaps then she would have lived and known mercy.