Shadows of the Lithium

I roll on to my side as I hear what sounds like a door at the end of the hall being opened. I'd spent most of the night listening to a barrage of insults and invective that my guards had used to try to provoke me in to giving them a reason to use their spears on me. Occasionally they would search around the floor until they found a stone that they could throw at me. They never did manage to hit me thanks to my quick reflexes, but it was still annoying.

"I really hate people like you. So brave when you know there's nothing that I can do to retaliate, but if I wasn't locked up then you wouldn't even stand and face me for a second! You'd turn tail and run away as soon as you saw me." It was a thought that had been running through my mind all night, and it bubbled to the surface again now as I was forced to look at the smug cowards.

I can hear heavy footsteps coming down the hall now, and unless I'm much mistaken the man that Tealith had called Grodun was on his way back to fetch me. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been real worried about any kinds of torture that the humans might cook up, but Tealith had proven herself to be worthy of my respect, and in this case a healthy dose of fear.

Sure enough within a few seconds of hearing the door close I can see Grodun's bulky frame lumbering his way down the hall. He is actually pretty light on his feet for a man as broad and heavy as him, but that isn't a particularly nimble group to begin with so maybe that wasn't saying much.

Grodun sneers at me as he walks up to the cell door. "Sleep well, Monster?"

I decide that the question and tone don't deserve an answer and so merely roll onto my back again, hoping that my apparent disinterest will provoke him into doing something stupid. Unfortunately he just laughs.

"I don't want to see any funny business out of you, Monster. You don't have a prayer of getting out of here, so don't even think about trying anything."

He is probably right, but I haven't lasted as long as I have by taking things at face value, so I'm not about to change that now. I hear the key being placed into the door and then the click as the latch releases. It takes every ounce of focus in me to resist the urge to spring up right then and try to brake through. Instead I wait as I hear the door creak open on it's hinges, and still as I hear the sound of footsteps approaching me.

As I sense the presence of someone almost at my feet I finally make my move. I swing my leg in the direction of the persons legs while pushing off of the ground behind my head at the same time and launching myself to my feet. It was a pretty smooth move, if I do say so myself, and it had the desired effect of making the person in front of me pause for a moment, unfortunately however they had been expecting me to try something and they were ready for me.

Even as I come to my feet I can see the net coming, and as fast as I am it's too late for me to get out of the way. The net is followed closely by two solid bodies pinning the net to the ground and pulling me back down with it. I struggle to free myself, but I know it's futile at this point. Grodun swaggers over and stands above, smiling for the first time with what seems to be real amusement.

"You couldn't really think it would be that easy, did you? You monsters may be tough, but we can still out think you when it comes down to it."

I close my eyes and breathe out slowly through my nose, unwilling to let this pathetic upstart of a human make me lose my cool. I relax and stop struggling. Even though I know that there's no chance of them slackening in their vigilance now, I'm at least hoping I can avoid any unnecessary violence on their part. I'm wrong, which is starting to become a theme with these humans and that's really starting to annoy me. I don't like it when people can out think me.

My captors bundle me into the air with my net, and then flip me around a couple of times just to make sure that I'm good and tangled before they allow me to slap back to the floor and begin dragging me down the hall. At one time I had looked at the humans mostly with benevolence. Hunting them down only because Bloquan ordered me to, but after my treatment at the hands of these brutes I was beginning to understand and share Bloquan's hatred for them.

The events of last night repeat themselves with nightmarish precision as every single human that passes us does their best to end me with a well placed kick. Again like last night all of them underestimate my speed and so make minimal actual contact, but it is still frustrating and painful, not to mention a little humiliating for someone as proud as me.

We finally reach our destination, a room much smaller than the one they had taken me to last night, where Tealith is already waiting for us standing with her back to the doorway facing a fire burning brightly in the fireplace. As we enter the room I notice an almost imperceptible straightening of Tealith's shoulders. "She's bracing herself for something," I think to myself, "Now if I can only figure out what!"

The guards drag me over to a seat made entirely out of metal with the legs inserted into holes in the otherwise solid rock floor. The holes looked to be at least several inches deep, and I was in no doubt that they were deep enough to make it difficult, if not completely impossible for me to break the legs free. The guards throw me unceremoniously on to the chair and then arrange me, net and all, until they can fasten my arms and legs into place using heavy iron manacles built into the chair.

As soon as the last manacle clashes shut Tealith slowly turns around. Her expression is neutral, so much so that I would be willing to bet that she's doing everything she can not to let anyone see her emotions. I'm not eager to let them have anymore power in this discussion than I have to, so I lead out in my typical nonchalant manner, "Is all this really necessary?"

Tealith snorts in a most unladylike way before she responds.

"You know the answer to that question, monster. I wouldn't trust you at the end of a fifty foot pole-ax!"

She's right, that was pretty much the answer I was expecting her to give, but I still wasn't happy about it.

"What do you want from me then?"

"I want to understand your kind better. For instance; what makes you so strong?"

I shrug, not in the mood to play her game after the treatment that I've received since arriving in their stronghold. The honest truth is that I have no idea what happens when a human is changed into a Lithilium, but even if I did know the answer I wasn't about to tell these humans.

"You show some respect!"

The command is accompanied by a hard slap from Grodun, who is obviously not impressed by my attitude.

"Now answer the good lady."

I'm not about to let this stupid, violence hungry human intimidate me and so I sit in continued silence, bracing for the blow that I know will be coming. I watch as Grodun raises his arm high again, and force my expression to remain uncaring. The blow lands, hard. I gasp involuntarily as the pain sucks the air from my lungs.

"I'm not going to talk to you, and beating me senseless isn't going to help you get the information you want," I manage after struggling for several seconds to re-inflate my lungs.

Grodun slaps me hard across the face again.

"Perhaps not, but it will make me feel better."

"That's enough for today. Take him back to his cell," Tealith's voice has an edge to it, and I can tell that something has happened to frustrate her. Now I just have to figure out what it was.

Grodun fetches the guards from outside the door and we reverse the process of only moments earlier as they manhandle me back to my cozy temporary home.

This becomes something of a pattern in my life for what feels like the next several weeks, though it's impossible for me to accurately tell time trapped inside the confines of this subterranean fort. Everything begins to feel like a blur as I am transported to and from my cell day after day, given a little food to eat and a small amount of time to sleep, and then taken back to be interviewed again.

As the interviews go on I become more and more intrigued by Tealith and trying to figure out what's going on inside her head. I can tell that her frustration is growing each day, but what seems odd is that her frustration doesn't seem as though it's directed towards me, despite my refusal to answer her questions day after day. I can only hope that I'll be able to figure out a way to use that frustration to my advantage before it's too late and they break me.

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"Enough!"

Grodun's arm halts mid-swing and both of us look at Tealith in surprise. We're in the middle of one of our interview sessions again, and Tealith's outburst has come out of nowhere. She takes a deep breath to regain her composure before speaking again.

"Grodun, how can we claim to be better than these monsters if we turn around and treat them worse than dogs when we have them in our power?" Before Grodun has a chance to answer, Tealith shakes her head, "Just leave. I need to be able to talk to him, not have him terrified or angered into silence. Wait outside the door, if I need you I will call."

Grodun continues to stare at Tealith in slack jawed shock for a few more seconds, before seemingly realizing what he is doing and making a huge effort to regain his composure.

"As you wish, Lady Tealith," he says as he stiffens his shoulder and tightens his jaw muscles. He tries not to let his anger show, but it is obvious that every fiber of his being is rebelling at Tealith's command. He walks slowly to the door, hesitates for a moment with his hand on the knob, and then jerks the door open and walks out quickly as though afraid he might change his mind.

Tealith sighs as she allows herself to sink slowly into a chair that is positioned a few feet away facing my seat.

"I really shouldn't have let you see that happen. The last thing I need is for you to have something to use as a tool to try and tear us down from the inside,"

I try not to react visibly when she so calmly states exactly what I had been thinking only a moment ago. Thankfully for me she wasn't paying attention and she continues without a single pause.

"But I can't stand violence, especially when it's so totally useless. Grodun doesn't understand people as well as I do, that's the main reason that I was able to win the people's favor over him, but when it comes to warfare and strategy we don't have anyone that can equal him."

I'm very confused at this point. The day she captured me she had seemed to be on top of everything, calling the shots before I even knew what I was going to do next, but today it seemed as though she felt like everything was slipping out of her control. I watch in silence as she takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders again, seemingly pulling herself back together mentally.

"That's not why we're here though. We're here because you know things that I need to know, and I will find a way to get that information out of you."

I laugh softly.

"Sorry to break it to you, my Lady," I put as much sarcasm as I can into the title, "but as smart as you are I don't believe you can really come up with a torture so painful that you'll be able to get anything from me that I don't want you to know."

Tealith frowns slightly.

"What makes you think I plan on torturing the information out of you? Didn't I just tell you that I hate pointless violence?"

Now it's my turn to frown. "How do you plan on getting me to talk then?"

She shrugs. "I'm not sure yet, but I know that I'll find a way."

"I guess we'll see about that."

"Shall we begin then?"

I shrug, not sure that I want to know what she's planning to do to me.

"Excellent! How long have you been a Lithilium?"

That was far from the question that I expected her to ask me, and it takes me a moment to decide how I feel about answering that one. In the end I decide that there's no harm in telling the truth.

"Two-hundred years."

Tealith sucks in her breath sharply.

"There's no way! You can't possibly have been alive for that long!"

I shrug, not really caring whether she wants to believe me or not.

"You don't look any older than I am, yet you claim that you've been alive for ten times as long! You must know how crazy that sounds?"

I shrug again.

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But ask yourself; why would I lie about that? What do I stand to gain by telling a lie that you aren't at all likely to believe?"

She looks at me, obviously weighing the options.

"I'm going to reserve judgment on that one. It's far-fetched enough to just maybe be true."

I chuckle softly to myself. "If she's going to be this suspicious of everything that I say maybe I can tell her the truth sometimes after all, just to confuse her."

Tealith interrupts my musings with her next question, "Why do the Lithilium hate humans so much? Our very existence seems to be an insult to you."

This is a harder question to answer, mostly because I don't really know the answer. After a few moments to gather my thoughts I do my best to put them together coherently.

"Not all of us hate you, at least not as much as you seem to think. Look at it this way; how do humans feel about the Lithilium?"

"We fear them because they are a constant threat to our survival, and many humans do hate them. People like Grodun."

"And you," I add softly.

Tealith hesitates for a moment and then nods slightly. "And me," She agrees.

I want badly to ask her right then what caused her hatred for us, but decide that now's probably not the best time.

"Exactly!" I say instead, "Many of the Lithilium have never seen anything but animosity and cruelty from humans. I recognize that at least some of the blame for that goes to us, but you weren't alive two-hundred years ago when the Lithilium first started showing up. Even then the humans hated us. I was one of them. I hated anything to do with the Lithilium, until my own transformation. For a time I even hated myself for what I am, but I learned to live with it after awhile. It's amazing what you can do when you have no other choice."

The old bitterness has found it's way into my voice now, and I decide that I'd better quit before my emotions get the better of me. I look up from the floor, where my gaze had unconsciously drifted as memories came rolling over me. Memories that I'd been trying for years to eliminate. Tealith is looking at me thoughtfully, and I wish I could go back and change what I said so as not to let her see a part of me that's quite so vulnerable.

"What was it like changing into a Lithilium?"

I hesitate, not wanting to give up anymore free information.

"If I tell you that, will you answer a question for me in return?"

Tealith looks me over, weighing the possibilities I'm sure, before asking, "What question?"

I take a deep breath, "Why do you hate the Lithilium so much?"

Tealith's face tightens immediately, and as she opens her mouth I expect her to refuse, possibly ask how I dare to try and question her when I'm the prisoner here, but then she pauses and looks at me with an odd expression.

"You're full of surprises Zaltath."

That's not exactly the response that I was expecting, and I'm surprised that she remembers my name, but I hope it means I might start getting some answers about this whole thing. I decide that I'm probably better off not opening my mouth and doing something to ruin whatever might be coming next though.

Tealith surveys me for several more seconds before finally nodding.

"Alright, you've got a deal."

Her response is so unexpected that it takes me several seconds to comprehend what she has just said and formulate a response to her question.

"To be honest, I don't remember much of what happened that day when I became a Lithilium. I have a vague memory of being afraid and running from something, and then the next thing that I can remember is waking up in a forest and being blinded by the sunlight when I tried to open my eyes. I could sense things around me in ways that I had never been able to before, not that I remembered much of my life up to that point when I first woke up. Looking back I'm sure that I was running from a Lithilium, but as I said, I have no memory of the events before my change. Honestly I can only remember small snippets of my life before I became a Lithilium."

I stop there, realizing that if I continue to speak I might say something else that I don't want her to know. During my journey into the depths of my memory I had allowed my focus to wander far from the room and task at hand. Coming back I see Tealith looking at me thoughtfully.

"I pride myself on being able to understand people, but you seem to baffle me at every turn. It seems that I have been to quick to judge all of the Lithilium for the actions and opinions of some. You want to know why I hate the Lithilium? I hate them because they took my family from me."

I want to say something, I'm not sure what, but she continues before I have a chance.

"I was eight when it happened. Seeing something like that when you're so young..." Her voice trails off as her eyes focus on a spot on the ceiling for a moment before she continues, "Well it leaves a mark. For a long time I was numb, unable to mentally accept what had happened to me. Some nights I'd wake up thinking that I had just been speaking with them, other nights I'd wake up screaming from a nightmare where I had relived the events of that day," Tears had started to run down her face as she spoke of what had happened to her family, though her voice had remained steady. Now, her face got hard and the venom I'd noticed before came back into her voice.

"Eventually that numbness turned to bitterness and hatred. I want to do to them what they did to my family. Make them see that they can't get away with doing whatever they want to us, that we will fight back, and that we can beat them."

We sit in silence again for several minutes after she finishes. I can only imagine what's going through her mind, but for my part she's caused me to question almost everything that I thought I knew about our purpose in subjecting the humans to our rule. Once upon a time I had hunted down humans that opposed us for similar reasons to those that motivate Tealith, but that anger had cooled years ago as I began to realize the monsters that Bloquan was turning us into. That under his direction we were becoming to the humans what they had once been to us; monsters that haunt the darkest of nightmares.

"I want to help you."

As soon as the words leave my mouth I know they're true, though I'd had no intention of saying them only seconds before. Tealith looks at me in surprise and I can almost see her mind racing to figure out what advantage I could possibly be trying to get from this offer.

"I don't expect that you'll trust me, I know I wouldn't trust you if the roles were reversed, but I'm sick of acting exactly like the monster that you take me for. For a long time I hated your kind just as you hate mine, but I've come to realize that that kind of hatred is useless. All it does is lead to death and destruction. We need to stop fighting each other and find a way to live peacefully together, and if that's not possible then I'd rather die trying to give my kind a better name. So what do you want to know?"