Mellana was treated very well within the Templar stables. The stablehands fed her the best grain and water, and brushed her twice daily to make her coat silky and smooth. Even her antlers were cleaned and polished to reflect her noble status. For the first time, since she left with Anri, the shemlen treated her with the reverence she deserved.

  She had just finished licking her last bits of sweetened mash in her trough when a disturbing and harsh tune pierced her ears to make her front legs rear: she stomped her hooves with aggitation.

  A potent sensation of fear and loss made her head heavy and her ears twitch. Through her muddled thoughts, she felt her spirit-connection with Anri waning.

  It was his voice carrying the distressful song: similar to one her last owner's soul had released before he had died. This was Anri's Death Song and it was at the start.

  Sudden commotion errupted around her, where those metal ladden men rushed about toward the sight of magical fires burning high beyond the northeast wall. This is where she felt Anri's song was coming from.

  Instinctively, she bit off her tether to the stable post, so she could run free and sprinted with all her might.

  People saw her plight but didn't bother to stop for there was other issues to deal with. She passed a group of slow moving stragglers: young two-leg fawn mostly and all looking like skin and bones with faded auras. But the older shemlen were doing well to keep them together and moving forward. Especially the one with the sword and flame on his metal chest. Despite his tiredness his aura still carried a bright white light.

  Her head skewed to see them being taken in by other shemlen with brighter auras. She returned her focus to the song's direction. Many foul hyenas attempted to attack her but were repelled by her warding aura, which released waves of spirit energy to push back assaults.

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  She had to run faster. Anri's song was reaching past the first verse, and his tune was being altered into an uglier and rotting melody to the soul. Ahead, her eyes saw a blackness forming over the area, but it was still weak. This gave her hope.

  Arrows whizzed over her head, but she sidestepped to evade the blows and kept sprinting to enter into a wide cavern entrance and the darkening area.

  Inside, people were scrambling for the exit. Not one of the metal ladden shemlen used weapons on her: too busy running for their lives in fear.

  She saw why, the way further in was crumbling with the blackened crystals stabbing two-legs as they fell. But the song still resonated strongly in the deeper areas so she kept up her blind sprints, following the led while avoiding the dangerous stuff.

  Foul and rotten spirit energy tried to attack her and bind her to it. Shrieking and sinister scratching on rock tried to disrupt her focus and spirit, but her ward aura was able to stop her from falling to the evil.

  Then she saw Anri who was stuggling against foul winds that wanted to pull him back to danger and destruction.

  She steeled her will and dug in deep as she carefully picked her way to him, resisting the flow with her inbulit ward aura and surefooting as much as she could. The foul noise and feeling of taint was pressing down on her body, so her ears trickled blood, but she kept going.

  Anri fell and began tumbling backward, but she managed to get behind him and stop him. He didn't hesitate as she used her support to get up. He clumsily hauled a young da'lana on her back then tried to climb, she lowered herself so he could.

  Mustering up her strength, she pushed forward against the pull: increasing her will to resist the force and managed to break free from the pull. Her momentum was returned as she raced through the collapsing tunnels to pass through the cavern exits just as the way behind them crashed down.

  "Mellana...thank... you." Anri heaved with tones of respect.

  She let out a breath and nodded. But she wasn't a few steps toward safety when many shemlen surrounded them with dangerous weapons raised. Their aura was black with sick red, humming the same rotting tune within their spirits.