Tad woke with a lurch of the wagon. He stood and went out of the artifact. He watched as the wagon pulled onto the platform in preparation for the lift to the Hold. He saw Lamruil and Nico on another wagon waiting in line to be lifted.

Tad sent a soulmancy equivalent of a knocking on the door to Lamruil, and they talked, "Lamruil, Kettle is alive. Can you let Nico and Beothorn know if you see him? " The lift started to raise the wagon Tad was on.

"I will. Was he in the cabinet?" asked Lamruil.

"Yea, he severed his connection to his body," said Tad

Lamruil projected a question, "Why didn't he just take the body into the cabinet? "

"There isn't much room in the one with all the crystals. I think he had plans to keep his two legs, but now he can't leave the artifact. He discovered a bunch of things about the artifact. It's some sort of world egg or phoenix something. We need to talk tonight once everyone is inside. " Tad looked at the rising sun. The carts had been slow, and the loading up to the Hold of all the wagons looked like it was taking longer than anticipated. It might be a few hours before the rest of this caravan was in the Hold proper.

Tad saw Nico pull out a coin and hand it to Lamruil as Tad slowly ascended.

"Why did Nico give you a coin? " asked Tad.

Lamruil sent a mental smile, "I bet him that your little friend was still alive. I even said he is probably in the artifact. Nico thought you were right. I won. "

"Oh, I would have lost that bet too, " said Tad thinking of his link to Kettle through their bond and how it looked like his friend had died.

"Yea, I just know they are almost impossible to destroy. You might think of them as a little friend, but they are anything but helpless," said Lamruil.

"How do you know this? " asked Tad.

Lamruil sent images of carvings he remembered as he spoke, "They are all over in fey legends. They march out to capture a relic or dig up a lost city. They can and will overrun whole civilizations to get to something they want. They have all sorts of laws that justify anything when it comes to recovery. You should take them very seriously, Tad. "

Tad thought about that for a moment. He still had the book of automatrons in the bag of holding on his belt. The bag held a Lich called Quigley's phylactery and a book on necromancy. Tad hadn't looked much at either one. He understood what they were, and he wanted nothing to do with them. Only a magic promise kept him from dumping or burying them somewhere. The bag of holding was specialized. It only allowed certain books to be placed inside. Tad hadn't figured out if it would hold anything else. He really needed to finish that book on automatrons. Samphire had got it on loan for him before Beothorn was abducted. He hadn't opened it since.

"I have a book on it that I intend to finish when I get a free moment. If this storm does last a few days, I'll read it then. See you inside, " said Tad as they pulled his wagon out of range up to the Dwarven Hold's main level.

Tad watched as the dwarves locked the lift in place and the wagon pulled forward. Tad jumped down off the wagon before it fully stopped. He talked to the dwarf foreman, asking where the artifact was going to be placed. The dwarf said all of these wagons were being unloaded in a storage room in cavern two. That would be about halfway across the Hold.

Tad thanked the dwarf and left for the rooms. Well, not his room he left for Zanna's room. He needed to talk to her and find out what was the matter. If she was involved in a quest that was this important, then he needed to start getting his thoughts together, plan more, and think about what comes next. She was number one on the list right now.

Tad pounded on Zanna's stone door with the palm of his hand. Zanna didn't answer. He could sense her inside the room and decided he was done with waiting. He pushed the door open and felt something behind it. He shoved hard, and he felt whatever was behind it move, he kept pushing, and inch by inch, the door opened to the sound of scraping furniture against the stone floor.

Tad finished with the door and saw that the bed had been pushed against it to keep it closed. None of their rooms had locks on them. Some had latches, but they could all be opened from outside easily. Tad was told this was normal in this Hold as there was no theft.

He looked around and didn't see her in the room. On the table, he saw the genie bottle. He focused on it and realized Zanna was in the bottle. That isn't good. Did she somehow go back in?

He could sense her in the bottle. It was different than before. She was awake in there. When she was cursed by genie magic, she was never fully awake inside.

Tad rubbed the bottle and set it on the floor when smoke started to rise out of it.

Zanna appeared out of the smoke, but she looked different. Her horns were more pronounced, her skin color was a much deeper red, and her irises were yellow slits. Tad could sense she had changed.

Zanna spoke in a more sultry deeper voice, "Tad, I told you I didn't want to talk. Why are you in here? You need to leave now!"

Tad had concern on his face and in his voice, "Is this something I did, Zanna? What is the matter? " Tad reached out then and tried to sense Zanna's soul. She willed him out.

"Tad, are you trying to see if you can make me angry? You and that Unicorn were wrong. I am changing. I feel part of myself slipping away. That night, something happened. I had to leave because I didn't want to hurt you, " said Zanna looking around the room then taking a seat on the divan next to the window.

Tad realized there was magic in the air. She felt like the demon succubus he had seen when he was a prisoner in the demon's fortress. "Zanna, would you allow me to look at your soul? Jack showed me how to check them. I might be able to help or at least tell you what's going on. "

"I know what's going on, Tad. What little part of myself that was different is slipping away. Soon I'll be just like the others, or worse. " said Zanna.

Tad just looked at her. He didn't' know what to say, so he said nothing, waiting for her answer.

Zanna took a deep breath, "You may look but understand every minute you are near me, the harder it is to control my urge to rip your throat out and drink the blood. If I go back into the bottle, at least, I won't hurt anyone. "

Tad nodded and projected his soulmancy. He stood in the middle of his tent then projected towards Zanna, narrowing in on her soul as Jack had shown him. The scenery outside shifted to the planes of hell Tad recognized as her chaos half. He kept pushing till he was standing near Zanna's Elvin soul. It looked larger than before, which he thought was good, but across the top of it were two large pulsing strands of chaos fire. They wrapped around her soul, and the other end was lost in the distance. Tad was hesitant to follow them. He knew they went back to the abyss where all demons spawn. He didn't have to see it. He could feel it.

What could have caused this? He was trying to understand what was going on here. He prodded at one, and it felt full of rage and demonic energy. He tried the other one, and something happened. There was chaos, energy, and rage, but this one also contained a single clear musical note. Tad knew now what was going on. Her soul had grown, and many of the wrinkles had smoothed, but these bands of energy were going to extinguish it as he looked at the burns left under the energy.

He left and exited his soulmancy space.

In a quiet concerned voice, Tad said, "Zanna, I think I know what is going on. It is your magic. When you call upon your demon magic, how do you do this? "

Zanna looked at him. He could see ridges had formed above her eyebrows, and her features looked more symmetrical and harsh.

"Demon magic is called with rage or by instinct," said Zanna.

Tad nodded, "There are two powerful strands of chaos magic wrapped around the half of your soul that is Elvin. For you, it is the only soul you have, but your demonic nature is trying to entrap or kill it. Which spells have you been casting? "

Zanna took a deep breath, and her sight wandered a bit as she thought, "I changed myself, so I could sing, and I cast fire upon the orcs after the shaman angered me by striking me with the stone spear. "

"Can you undo those? The magic seems to be there attached like it is trying to strangle your soul," said Tad. He had no idea how this all worked. He was literally playing this by ear or soulmancy in his case.

"I can reverse the change, I think, for singing and appearance. I do not know how to reverse the other," said Zanna, then she closed her eyes.

Tad projected again to watch for changes around her soul. He saw one of the strands stretch and thin. In a few moments, it released Zanna's soul and slithered out of range of his soulmancy's view.

Tad released his magic and looked at Zanna. She seemed more relaxed, like some pressure had been removed. The ridges above her eyebrows were gone.

"That worked, I feel," she paused for a moment, "better. "

"You still have a problem, Zanna. There is still chaos attached. I think it goes back to the abyss. Can you try to release that? Are you still angry? " asked Tad.

Zanna looked at him and said slowly, "Yes."

Tad waited. He could sense her turmoil right now because she wasn't blocking him.

"You know Thaddius Rockgrip. I am a thousand fifty-one of your years old. I've spent almost all of that time either in fear of being eaten or worse by other demons. Or I was trapped in a genie bottle. My whole goal in life was to become strong enough to protect myself or escape. At first, I desired protection, though, which is what caused all of this. I do not wish to make the same mistake twice, but I find myself barely two weeks out of the genie's magic, and again I need protection for many of the same reasons I initially had. Demons will hunt me down to capture and use me. " she paused for a few moments looking at Tad.

Tad could feel her anger now. Once she started talking, it rolled from her in waves of empathy that startled him. Where did all that come from? He gave her a small smile and nodded affirmatively.

"You know I wanted to hate you. At first, I did hate you. I needed to hate you. I even thought about murdering you a few times. But somehow, you changed that. I'm not sure how. Catarine said something to me once. That you, Thaddius, are not a demon. I have thought about that often in the last week. When I sang and danced. I knew you hated my singing, but you were kind where others would be cruel. Perhaps I was testing you. But there you were again, being kind and guiding. Then we danced. You are a terrible dancer, by the way, " then she chuckled and smiled at him. " I don't want to need protection, Tad. Yet here I am in a supreme position of weakness that no self-respecting demoness should ever be in. "

Tad thought about what she said. He remembered a conversation he once had with Beothorn during sparing practice. His father had told him he needed to be a wolf among sheep if he wanted to fight and win. But Tad's younger self had just replied, "I'd prefer to be a large sheepdog among friends. "

He had always thought of himself that way. He was willing to do the hard jobs, but he just didn't think of those around him as possible food. And here he was talking to a half-demon, a wolf, and Tad didn't know what to say. He decided just to tell the truth and see how life treated it.

Tad walked over and sat next to Zanna on the divan. He reached out and wrapped her in the softest hug he could manage. He held her for a few moments, then spoke softly, "Zanna, I will not stand in front of you or any glory you may seek. Nor will I stand behind you and let you brave your challenges alone. I would be honored, though, if you would let me stand next to you and share those challenges with you, together."

She didn't reply.

They sat there quietly. Tad felt the anger she held flow away little by little. He didn't' need to use soulmancy to understand what was going on. He thought she was crying for a while as her head was against his chest, and he couldn't see her face. Did demonesses cry? Tad didn't know, and it didn't really matter. She wasn't a hugger, he could tell, but neither was Tad's father, and that had never stopped Tad from going for the hug.

Soon her breathing evened out, and Tad could sense she was asleep. He laid her on the divan while trying not to wake her, then he left. He knew the next time they spoke; she would be as unreadable as every other demon he had encountered.

One thought kept running through his mind. It was Breamas speaking before he had changed Tad's life.

"Oh, and Thaddius, if you break her heart, there is no place you will be able to hide from me," said Breamas in a faded, wispy voice. Then he was gone.

Tad went in search of Nico. He needed to talk to a friend right now.

***