My eyes went past my agitated friends to Commander Rel, and I could see she was focused on me with shock in her eyes. Bari and Dara did not understand, but I knew that what she had just cast was supposed to obliterate all three of us; instead, my robes were not even torn apart.
I pushed myself to my feet, and the world tilted around me. My friends were screaming, Bari's voice raw with fear, Dara's sharp with desperation, but I could barely hear them over the roaring in my ears. The headache was still there, a constant presence, but the anger kept rising.
'How many times do I have to kill you all until you stay dead?'
Commander Rel's eyes widened as I stood, and I thought she was about to run, but Bari and Dara did not understand the invisible communication going on between us, and they were not yet aware that I was on my feet.
I stepped forward and placed a hand on Bari's shoulder, and I felt him flinch. "Elric…"
