Valentina gave a huff, and shook her head, her eyes half lidding.  "You don't think I've dreamed of that very thing my entire life?"  Her voice grew softer, even as she turned her head away from Jurai's glare.  "He... corrupts everything he touches.  Even my... my own mother was just a... a plaything for him.  He has... expectations of his children, expectations... I've tried so hard to fulfill.  To be uncaring, to be heartless.  To be adept at... at causing pain.  My mother... my mother was an angel, and that's not a... a figure of speech."<br/><br/>She shook her head, clearing her throat.  "My... my first task to... earn his approval and... and my place in... in his army... was to... to torture and... and kill my own mother."  There was a strange sound from her then, a sound that almost sounded like a sob.  "He wasn't... wasn't satisfied until I... I made her scream for... for mercy," she said, wriggling slightly against the ground.  This motion caused the edge of her corset to shift up, revealing the beginnings of a nasty network of scars.  "I've longed to... to kill him, but... he's too... too strong.  He has... ways of keeping... keeping people complacent, keeping them from... from lashing out at him."<br/><br/>She shook her head, the motion causing the moisture that was welling at the corners of her eyes to course down her cheeks.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Alexa jerked, holding up a hand as she went completely silent.  But in her head, an entire conversation took place.<br/><br/><em>HIGHNESS!  The entire wood over the Root has just started moving!</em><br/><br/><em><strong>What do you mean, the forest has started moving?</strong></em><br/><br/><em>I mean the trees are pulling up their roots and moving.  They're... they're coming this way, mi'lady!</em><br/><br/><em><strong>Hold them off as long as you can, and inform the city.  Get the army out here, we CANNOT lose the Tower!</strong></em><br/><br/>She yanked the reins of her horse around, signalling to the men around her.  "To the Tower!  They've breached the Root!  We have to stop them!"<br/><br/>All of them thundered out toward the middle of the valley, riding like the winds of Hell themselves were behind them.