Treshigan stood over the body of a frail old woman lying on a bed. The woman’s thin white hair was braided and pinned into place with an ivory comb, and rings, bracelets, and other jewelry adorned her wrinkled and knobby hands and arms. Her face was covered in heavy makeup, which failed to conceal the deep frown lines and other wrinkles etched across her face.

Treshigan loved and hated the woman on the bed. She lay completely still on the table. Her eyes did not flutter, and she did not even breathe, yet Treshigan knew she was still alive. If she were dead, then that would make Treshigan dead as well, and Treshigan was still very much full of life. At least she was for now. But she had failed Vdekshi, and she feared what may happen next.

As a breeze blew in the window and stirred the old woman’s hair, Treshigan scolded herself for coming into the bedroom at all. She knew it would only make her more upset, as it always did, yet she could never resist it for long. She brought her hand close to the old woman and looked longingly at the jewelry that had meant so much to her.

There was a large brooch fastened near the old woman’s collar that had been a present from a wealthy merchant. “A token of your beauty,” he had told her all those years ago. It was the first of many such tokens that she had offered to Vdekshi to be imbued with his supernatural power. She remembered her amazement at how it had gleamed so beautifully that day. How poetic she had found it that a token of her beauty had become the source of her beauty restored.

But the brooch no longer gleamed and shone so brilliantly. Its magic had been spent, and it was now as dull and gray as the old woman’s hair. The same was true of every piece of jewelry the old woman wore. The pearl necklace and earrings given to her by a loud and conceited sailor now appeared to be made of little more than ordinary pebbles. A tinkling bracelet had lost all its sparkling beauty and sat flat and silent on the old woman’s wrist.

After surveying the lackluster collection, Treshigan’s eyes fell last upon her most recent loss. On the old woman’s right hand was an ornate golden ring with a large diamond set on the top. She glared at the thick crack in the diamond, and muttered a curse at the dark-skinned dragon hunter who had caused it. Treshigan had expected the magic within the diamond to last much longer, but the crack had ruined all of that. She hated to lose the ring, but its magic was gone, and so Treshigan had taken it off and put it on the old woman, just like she had with every other piece of jewelry she had once treasured.

The only jewelry left to Treshigan could hardly be called jewelry at all. On her left hand was a simple brass ring that had been given to her by a foolish young farmer who had been stupid enough to think that she could ever love someone as poor as him. Treshigan told herself that she had held onto that ring longer than the others because it meant the least to her, and she was embarrassed to be seen with it.

And yet she knew it was the faint magic remaining in that polished brass ring that separated her from the fate she saw in the bed before her. Treshigan shuddered at the thought, and held her left hand close to her chest. She could not bear to lose it all again.

“How pathetically tragic,” said a cold voice behind her.

Treshigan managed to suppress the urge to jump and turn around, but just barely. She didn’t want to give her unwelcome guest the satisfaction of knowing that his silent creep into the room had alarmed her. He was always doing things like this, and he knew that Treshigan hated it.

“Whatever you want, Laronius,” she said, “I suggest you go somewhere else to get it. I’m not in the mood for your sick games right now.”

Laronius silently floated next to her, and looked down at the old woman on the bed. “Ah, but sadly, there is no other place I can get what I want right now,” he said. “Because what I want at the moment, is to help you.”

Treshigan laughed, and this time she did turn to face him. “Help me? You’ve caused me nothing but grief since the day we met. And besides, I don’t think you’ve helped another living soul in your entire life.”

Laronius shook his head. “Such harsh words,” he said. “Do you ever consider my feelings before you say such things.” A moment later, a wicked smile spread across his face. “Still, you may have a point. It’s not as if I come across many living souls on a regular basis here, so helping them is hard to come by.”

“Why, take you and dear old Granny here,” he said, gesturing to the old woman. “She’s alive, but has no soul. You have a soul, but… well you’re hardly alive, are you?”

Treshigan’s face went red and she had to resist the urge to slap the vampire across the face. “What do you want, Laronius?”

“I already told you,” Laronius said in a singsongy voice. “I want to help you. And it just so happens that the way I can help you is by letting you help me.”

“Of course,” Treshigan said, rolling her eyes. “But you still haven’t said what kind of help you want from me.”

“There are some dangerous intruders marching towards our fortress right now,” said Laronius. “You’ve met two of them already. They were with those dragon hunters you encountered during your last little trip outside.”

“A weak, untrained wizard and an empty-headed muscle man,” she said with disgust. “I don’t know why you’d call them dangerous.”

Laronius wagged a patronizing finger at her. “I believe it was that kind of thinking that got you into trouble the last time you met them, Tresh,” he said. “Besides, they aren’t the only ones heading here. One of the intruders is… not going to be easy to defeat with our usual forces. It would be unwise to outright attack him, which is why I require someone with your more… subtle talents.”

“My subtle talents will do little good if this intruder is traveling with those two fools,” said Treshigan. “The dark-skinned one has already seen my face when my magic was broken. He would recognize me in an instant.”

“Oh yes, I’m well aware you’re worthless against those two,” said Laronius, waving a hand. “That’s why we’ll be bringing in two of your sisters for them.”

Again Treshigan laughed, though there was nothing remotely funny about the conversation. “Has Lord Vdekshi learned nothing from his past failures? He should know by now that my kind does not do well working together.”

“I think you’ll find that anyone and anything can work together when the motivation is right,” said Laronius. He then added with a gleam in his eye, “Besides, I didn’t say anything about Vdeskshi being the one sending you and your sisters to perform this task.”

“You mean you expect me to do this because you tell me to?” said Treshigan. “Why would I ever spend precious time and magic doing your bidding? You have nothing to offer me in return.”

“Too true,” said Laronius, “but I’m not the one sending you on this errand. You know that there is a far greater power behind the magic that Vdekshi plays at. And he is more than capable of giving you what you want.”

Treshigan grinned, and for the first time since returning to the fortress she felt a rush of triumph. “Your bragging and taunting has finally gotten the better of you, Laronius. I’ve suspected for years that you were secretly plotting with the demon in that twisted rock, but I never had any proof. Now you’ve all but confessed to it. Once I tell Lord Vdekshi what you’ve been up to, I doubt you’ll find your position here quite so privileged.”

Laronius’ smile turned from mocking to menacing in an instant. “Oh, I don’t think you’ll tell that big oaf anything.”

“And how will you stop me?” Treshigan said, putting her face directly in front of Laronius’. “If you kill me, you’ll have to answer to Vdekshi for it. I may have failed him, but he still considers me valuable, and I’m not yours to command.”

“My dear Treshigan,” said Laronius, not backing away, “why do you think you’re still here at all? Why do you think Vdekshi hasn’t already taken that little brass trinket from your finger?” He leaned in close until his mouth was right next to her ear. “Because he’s forgotten you,” he whispered.

Treshigan’s sensation of triumph suddenly sank like a stone and settled somewhere below her stomach. Laronius let the moment linger, and then stepped back from her.

“Look around, you silly little girl,” he said, gesturing to the window. “Haven’t you noticed that Vdekshi is gathering his forces together? He is preparing for war! I told you about the danger of the intruders. Why would he bother with dispatching a little failure like yourself when he has other matters on his mind?”

“Of course, you could go to him,” Laronius continued. “Remind him that you’re still here and that he hasn’t yet punished you like he intended to. Remind him that you’re still hoarding some of his valuable magic that he could be using in more worthwhile ways right now. But really, why?”

Treshigan felt like crying, but she refused to let herself show any emotion in front of her tormentor. “Maybe I would,” she said, “just for the satisfaction of dragging you down with me.”

Laronius dropped his smile, and a strange expression came over his face. It almost resembled compassion and genuine concern. He reached out and touched Treshigan’s hand, and the gentleness of it made her more afraid than anything else he’d done yet.

When he spoke, his voice was no longer mocking or harsh. It was deep and rich, and reminded her of the way that young farmer had spoken to her once. “Once again, I would ask you. Why? Why suffer under an inept and ineffective master, when you can serve one who rewards his servants the way they truly deserve? Why beg and grovel for a few more morsels of power, a few more gleaming trinkets, when you can earn true freedom?”

“What do you mean?” asked Treshigan, and she found her body was shaking.

“I mean Vdekshi doesn’t begin to understand, or he refuses to understand, the power at his fingertips,” said Laronius. “He is content to grant you the illusion of youth and beauty, while my master can actually give it.”

“He can take… this,” said Laronius, waving a hand at the body of the old woman, “and restore you to what you once were, and so much more. He can give you what these trinkets never could. He can grant you the freedom to never feel powerless to another man ever again.”

Treshigan brushed her hair behind an ear and stood tall and straight, fixing a smile back on her lips. “Alright,” she said. “Tell me more about this errand my master has for me.”