Part 4
After Mira finished eating, she was sitting up in the cell, and Xellma had disposed of what little remained down into Hell. She noticed Mira was eyeing her suspiciously.
"You smell wrong." Mira said, still only speaking in rusalki. "Smell like Great Destroyer."
Xellma suppressed a laugh. "Well, I suppose I would. I'm a demon."
Mira was still too tired to argue, and nodded. "Why did you help?"
"The rusalki are a race I consider my friends." Xellma replied, thinking back to her mortal life. "They said you were caught eating a ranger. I'm guessing you only speak and understand rusalki?"
"I've never been on dry land before this. But he was a ranger? I found a body floating in a lake, and I was hungry, so I eat." Mira said, shrugging. "Then rangers find me, lots of shouting, lots of arrows, they caught me and I've been here for weeks."
"Were you part of Praetor Svetlana's group?" Xellma asked.
"You mean Facehair? Yeah, before she retired. I was assigned to hunt at that lake." Mira answered.
Xellma was furious. Mira had done nothing wrong, and nearly starved to death in this prison because of it. She looked over at Syndra, who was still regarding them with passive disinterest, and had half a mind to drag her to Hell immediately. Instead, she had a better idea.
"Do you know of Verka Ashe?" Xellma asked.
"She's that rusalki Princess down south, right?"
"Good. I want you to travel down to Lichfield, and speak with Verka. Tell her everything that transpired here, but don't mention me. Just tell her a human let you out, okay?" Xellma said, forming a plan.
"Why not?"
"Let's just say she doesn't like me all that much right now." Xellma said with a wink. "I'll take you to the lake outside, but you'll have to get down to Lichfield yourself. Can you manage?"
"Yes, if you help me. I'll rest in the sunken depths for a few days first, though."
"That's fine. I'll escort you out." Xellma said, dropping the barrier and standing back up.
"Syndra. I'm leaving and I'm taking Mira with me." Xellma said to Syndra, in perfect elven, which surprised Syndra for a moment, as Xellma had been speaking in Gilnan up to this point.
"Oh? It has a name?" Syndra said haughtily.
"How many years ago was it that Svetlana told you this? The rus are not spirits." Xellma answered back angrily.
Syndra was annoyed, but said nothing. Clearly there was more to the rusalki than she realized, if the Demon Queen herself took an interest in the life of just one. She walked behind them and watched impassively as Xellma gently took Mira's hand, and walked her out of the prison and down to the shore of Lake Sargon. After Mira departed into the lake, Xellma turned around to face Syndra, and was quite visibly angry.
"I wonder if your alliance with the Ashen Empire will survive." Xellma said, fuming.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Syndra asked.
"You truly know nothing about anything outside of your own borders do you?" Xellma asked, even angrier at Syndra. "Princess Verka Ashe, the eldest daughter of the late Ashen Empress, is a rusalki. As are her 3 sisters, and the late Empress's husband the Moonfall Prince. I'll see you in Hell, Snow Thief."
Once Xellma left, Syndra realized she had made a grave mistake, she had been treating the rusalki as disposable as the demons. The overlooked information that the Imperial Family of the Ashen Empire are rusalki was a cause for a bigger panic though, and she practically ran back to her room to start hatching a plan.