The sudden sensation of Sanria's blood caused a tingle at the back of Velentham's neck, and he stood straighter, dread rippling through him at the idea that she had escaped. The dread was soon replaced by the deep grin on his face. "I sense a tiny bit of Sanria here, cousin."
"Sanria is wherever you have taken her. Somewhere she doesn't want to be. Now return her!"
"I sense her blood, and since she is not with us, do you know what that means? You must have called out for help, my dear cousin... Come out, boy. I can almost smell you. Come out and let's talk, shall we?"
Velentham drew the elf to his leg, gripping her neck, holding onto her like a limp doll. She was his key to fleshing out the hidden bodies in the wood, and he could sense them all, lying in wait, hoping to best him. Unlikely.
Three trees ripped their roots from the ground and charged him, and Velentham dropped his toy and shot out a ray of energy, exploding one of the trees into nothing more than splinters and leaves that showered the glade. As that happened, he barely evaded yet another ray of light by his cousin, the energy searing the back of his shirt. This was not the way this was supposed to be.
He shielded himself, avoiding a crushing blow from one of the remaining trees, and vanished amidst Gilean's cry, "Velentham, give up. you can't win. Where is she?" Colin came charging, and Velentham took the opportunity to throw the girl at him. He had dealt with this lumbering animal before, and he reached into Colin's mind, paralyzing him. He had planned on destroying the man, but what he found, Velentham couldn't have plotted it better.
"Oh... this... he doesn't remember?"
The rains began to pour from the spell cast by Sanria's son, Orn, drenching Velentham and revealing his invisible form through the dripping of water. Nothing could stop the forward momentum. "Cousin! You say I'm a monster? What do you say - a man who uses the disadvantage of another to marry his wife?"
"Leave him, Velentham!" And Gilean sent forth another blast of light. Velentham sidestepped the ray and grinned. "What do you say? Let's let him remember, shall we?!"
"No!" Gilean yelled.
Velentham went into the brute's mind, finding that in certain places, the meddling Rilmani had kept him from remembering his past. Blocks were everywhere in Colin's mental pathways, blocks that for an experienced mindwalker were mere motes of dust. Velentham ripped away the veil that had blocked Colin's thoughts for so long and let forth a booming laugh of triumph.
