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"Oh?" she said, surprised. She locked her arm with his and followed into the elevator, through the darkness of the labyrinth, and finally, up to the roof.

She gasped in surprise at the sudden strong gusts of wind, silently cursing their ruining of all that work she had put into her hair. Through the mass of pink obscuring her vision, she saw something that made her feel a lot better about the situation. The airship! Of course. This was going to be even more awesome than she had imagined, now. She watched as Matasoga gave some sort of unspoken command to the ship's guards to proceed with the unfastening of the chains. She always thought that was so cool, how he could give orders without even saying a word. She had the most awesome master ever, she thought, smiling to herself.

She then saw Kromli arrive, and gave a brief timid wave that was probably so quick as to not even be noticed. He and Matasoga communicated something, half in a language she didn't understand, half silently, absolutely none of it clear to her. She hoped whatever was being said meant they could get out of the wind, soon. There was no telling how much fixing the mess it made would take.

Shanderaa nodded, in understanding. She didn't even consider there might be danger tonight, but certainly felt a lot safer now. She slowly, carefully climbed the ladder, trying and probably failing to conceal fear. "Don't look down, don't look down..." she kept saying to herself. "Don't look d--- AH!" Finally, she made it to the top! Once on board, she sighed in relief, both to be out of the wind and on sweet solid ground again, and followed her master below deck.

Shanderaa wandered around the lower deck of the airship, lantern in hand to light the way, jittery and nervous. Soon, it would be time. Time to confront Matasoga. The dread felt so overwhelmingly powerful still, even with Kromli's support. Talking it out and forming a strategy had alleviated the feeling of hopelessness considerably, but every day of waiting that followed since had allowed it to slowly regenerate. After a week of this impending sense of doom rebuilding itself, she had to do something to preserve her sanity until the day arrived when they'd set their plan into motion.

Maybe something down here could take the edge off...

The layout down below was still somewhat unfamiliar to her, as she had few reasons to come down this far. "Hmm. Could've swore the wine cellar was down here, somewhere..." she muttered to herself. A bottle or two of mead would be more than enough to enjoy in the privacy of her room for the rest of the week. Lately, venturing outside into the more open areas like the bar felt... somehow unsafe, and she tried to avoid it as much as possible.

In her search, she passed a strange door. A large, intricate lock prevented access to whatever was contained behind it. She eyed it curiously. Was this room always here? I don't think I've ever been in there before... what could be inside? And then... she had an idea.

"... I wonder..." she mused to herself. She had been practicing her lock picking skills all week. Could she maybe get past one like this? It looked to be much more complex than the ones she had been using in her training, but... what if?

"...He won't mind, I'm sure. I'll re-lock it right away. It'll be like I was never here. Just wanna see if I can. No harm in that!" she rationalized, curiosity getting the better of her. She put the lantern aside and set to work, glancing over her shoulder periodically for any sign of Matasoga or the staff. She was well aware how much like a petty criminal this made her look like, and didn't want to have to explain that she wasn't doing something illicit when everything about the situation just screamed GUILTY. This lock proved to be considerably more difficult than any other she had tried to crack before. Of course... master would invest in high quality security. This may take awhile... she imagined.

*THUNK*

After a great deal of effort, the lock released with a loud noise, startling Shanderaa in the process. For a moment she was certain that someone else must have heard, if not the sound of the lock then her surprised squeak for sure. There was no way sounds like that wouldn't carry. But when no one showed up to interrogate her, she relaxed and admired her skills. Whoa. I did it! Yay!! she thought to herself, feeling quite proud and confident in her abilities for once. Okay. Now, to lock it back up...

But before she could relock it, she heard a low moan coming from the other side of the door. She listened carefully, sure that the noise wasn't just her imagination. Was somebody in there? If so... they sounded hurt. I know I shouldn't be intruding into master's private rooms, but... I've gotta do something about this! Whoever that is might be dying in there... Against her better judgement, she nudged the door open a crack and peered inside, swinging the lantern warily to cast some light upon whatever was within...

Shanderaa gasped, and quickly drew back in shock. ...No. Was that... who I think it was? He wasn't anywhere near as bulky as before, appearing to have been starved over a very long period of time, and he was mutilated even further beyond what she had last seen of him. But the sparse white stubble was a dead giveaway. There was absolutely no mistaking it.

Finteus.

She had no idea what he was saying, but there was no way it wasn't some variant of "help". She looked him over, the horror of the situation growing the more she did. The lack of horns and fur, even many of the scars... she was present for all of that. But there was one very notable change that she could not account for.

His legs... what the hell happened to his legs?!

Upon hearing the snap behind her, Shanderaa dropped the lantern, losing her only light source and plunging her vision into total darkness. That sound... she knew exactly what it was without even having to look. Slowly, reluctantly, she turned around to face him.

"S... Sir..." was all she was able to squeak out, sheer terror completely inhibiting her ability to speak.

Upon hearing those words, her heart sank. The last thing she ever wanted was for Matasoga to feel betrayed by her. "N-no! I mean. I was just. T-to practice, and. Heard someone, behind there, so! I mean. S-sounded like they were in trouble!" she tried and failed to articulate through her fear. It was the truth, but even then she doubted he'd believe it. Deep down, she knew this was it. It was all over. She was dead.

She was very surprised he didn't immediately kill her, but still wondered how long he was going to take to actually do it. She felt an uncomfortable sensation coursing throughout her body. Is this it? What is he doing...? Without moving she slowly shifted her gaze, which had been firmly and unblinkingly locked on her master, downward toward her hands which were still raised in a defensive stance.

She was shaking violently and uncontrollably.

Looking back up to Matasoga, her fear partially gave way to a new feeling. Well. If I'm going to die like this, may as well end it on an honest note, right? No use holding anything back now...

"Y-you... w-what... what... what the HELL is wrong with you?!" she spat out, immediately closing her eyes and preparing for the end.