Whisper

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

Lexius preferred to climb. Lexius enjoyed climbing, in fact. Well, he once had. Slipping the beads back into place around his belt, he took the wall with ease, but didn’t outpace the others, reaching the pinnacle last.

Behind them was the forest of grey pine trees they'd left, only the upper portion of the trees visible now given the thickness of the mist. There was no sign at all of the distant swamp. Ahead of them the ground was sloping and stony, a descent giving way to grey grass and weeds that covered a series of rolling hills. They swept away from the cliff as far as the mist allowed them to see.

All had seemed quiet, until the Elf was crested the cliff and pulled himself to his feet.

Below from somewhere amidst the pines, rose a loud, hackle raising howl. And then another. And then five more until the pack of what must surely be wolves was in full voice...and moving toward the cliff.

Aiden winced. "Dire wolves." He said. And then he seemed to brighten, as if struck by a wonderful idea. "Let's go for a jog!" He didn’t waste time in heading for the hills.

"Well they can't climb up after us, right?” Mesteno asked, frowning, though he set off after Aiden without argument, glancing back to make sure Lexius wasn't lingering behind for any mysterious reason before really extending his stride to close any distance between them and the demi-god.

New howls soon answered their cousins from the forest. Just a handful of mournful voices rising from their left. And then another, separate group added their full throated, eerie song from somewhere to their right. The mist played havoc with the sound, one moment far away, the next near upon them.

"Fuckin' demon balls." Aiden cursed, and promptly picked up the pace. "Come on, Whippet. Let's show that desert snake how it’s done."

Mesteno angled a look back, foolishly, and thanks to the uneven ground, stumbled badly enough he very nearly ended up flat on his face for his concern. It was Aiden's fault of course, so Mesteno snarled a reply while he was getting over the blunder he only felt vaguely sheepish about. "Y'talk about speed and here you are holdin' up traffic like some granny driver."

The terrain was not on their side. The hills became steeper and seemed endless, the thick grass and weeds tangling around their boots as they ran. From time to time the soil went unexpectedly loose and rocky, threatening to twist an ankle if one didn't have a care for how they stepped.

In ten minutes, the first of the horse-sized wolves began to appear from the mists, their red eyes burning demonically. Those eyes were the only distinct things about them. Grey coats blended into the surroundings far too well, and the howls ceased as the creatures came close enough to lunge.

The first one came from the front for Aiden as he crested the top of the next hill, meeting him there with snapping fangs and burning paws. At the same time, two more came from the right, rushing toward Mesteno and the Elf from out of the mist.

"All that ground shakin' and we got shit," Mesteno muttered bitterly when no rescue from the nightmares seemed imminent. It was his scimitar he drew, rather than the Colt with its precious, remaining rounds. It would take too many to put down a creature as large as those dire wolves.

He waited until the last minute, the gaping maw of one of the determined creatures near enough that he felt the hot sting of its breath, then neatly turned, stepping sideways to let it lunge past. Matador tactics, making the thing look clumsy so that he could aim a clean swing at one back leg to maim it, leave it hobbling around on three instead. Silent, and with no hasty rushing about, Mesteno seemed inclined to reserve his energy. Each step was economical, light. No extraneous movements and eyes shrewd, cunning as the half-starved wolf he so often resembled.

He followed up first blood with second when he slunk low to the ground and thrust his sword neatly into its throat, up under the jaw and into the skull. Like a wasp's sting, the blade was in and out before the animal could even slump its weight onto the weapon, and its wielder was turning to face the next attacker with the steel dripping darkly.

Aiden's wings flared to life and a wolf snarl became a wolf yelp as the ghostly appendages flashed light and dark around him at the top of the hill. The air crisped with lightning as he drove the animal back more fully.

Lexius was closer to the base of the hill and the wolf that tried to pounce him found itself shoved off balance mid-leap. He danced aside to avoid its flailing legs and when it landed on the ground, the grey grass came to life and started to twist around its struggling form.

But more wolves took the place of the first three. And then a sharp howl came from the right, marking the second pack's arrival on the scene. Two more of the beasts came at Mesteno from different direction, another joining the first where Aiden stood above them and a whole damn pack of five was coming up from the rear where the Elf was positioning.

"Up! Get up the hill." Called Lexius right about the same time Aiden called down to them. "Bring it together, ladies!"

One of the wolves had come near enough for Mesteno to see it off with a warning slice, opening up one side of its face from the corner of its mouth to its ear, and it bought him enough time to sprint up the hill before it could think twice. The other seemed to hang back, cautious after its pack-mate’s high pitched yelp of pain, and so he made the top of the hill without getting mauled, rising through the ubiquitous mists.

The scent of burnt ozone was stronger up there at the top of the hill, the charge in the air enough to raise the hair along arms and the back of the neck. Two crisped wolves now lay on the other side of the hill. His back to Aiden, Mesteno was unlucky enough to be brushed by one of those vaporous wings and with it came the sensation of feathers caressing skin and a hot shot of something that was equal parts holy and profane, a wild mix of divinity in all its aspects. Not unlike Lexius' beads. Something in the necromancer recoiled from it violently, repulsed, yet just as strongly his soul yearned towards it, as if craving something it knew full well could kill it. It had him arching away, snarling and wide-eyed over the sensation, to broaden the distance between them until those wings no longer posed a threat.

The Elf was moving more slowly. He had energy daggers in his hands, was backing up the hill with a sea of writhing grass now between him and the pack behind him. When Mesteno's second Dire wolf decided he might be an easier target than the human with the wicked fang, it learned to its dismay he was absolutely not. The Elf could dance those blades like he'd been born to do it. More wolf blood stained the grass and the creature fell with its head nearly completely severed at the neck.

"Oh, fuck me runnin'!" Aiden suddenly cursed, because behind them now, on the other side of the hill, a third pack closing in.

"Don't lose your fuckin' nerve, we're fine!" Mesteno snapped at him, and he glanced from Aiden to Lexius, hoping to see similar determination in the Elf's sharp features, rather than an apathy he'd begun to fear might override his usual serenity.

Before the wolves could decide to charge and leap and rend and tear, there came another sound.

Thunder growled in the misty sky and a thousand burning sparks came showering from the murky heavens. A streak of hellish flames burned away the mist as it circled the base of their hill, revealing the inky shapes of the Nightmares racing in a ring around the perimeter of the wolves. The steeds roared rather than neighed and the wolves cowered as sparks caught and ignited their coats, spreading the flame from the heavens to the pack in a rush that had the smell of burnt meat soon rising up the hill.

It was amazing to Mesteno, how heartening such a small thing as warmth and colour could be, totally dissimilar to the colours of the putrid Hags. He eased a little, scimitar still at the ready, but no longer poised to defend. The nightmares didn't need their help. The dire wolves were outmatched.

"Jus' when I thought all that noise 'n shake earlier hadn't worked," he murmured, his admiration for the nightmares carelessly undisguised.

The majority of the wolves were cowed enough to scatter and run, but it was a panicked retreat that sent a good number of the flaming beasts loping toward the three of them rather than away. The dire wolves really weren't looking where they were going, they were just running from the Nightmares! Snarling and snapping at anything in their path, driven by fear and pain, a handful of them come charging up the hill. The fight was not completely over yet.

Lexius met the first couple of wolves with those daggers and some precisely applied power, but more moved past him toward Aiden and Mesteno. "Heads up!" Came the demi-god's voice before more lightning sparked through the air.

The Nightmares were magnificent indeed. Each one was dark as the next, with flaming, crimson hooves and glowing red eyes. At first look it was difficult to tell one from another, but their manes and tails seemed distinctive to each. The lead beast had purple streaks decorating a mane that fell nearly to the ground and it galloped several feet above the burning grass with dark lips peeled back from its sharp, carnivorous teeth, chasing the wolves toward the trio as if to test their prowess.

Mesteno adjusted fluidly back into a swordsman's stance, standing his ground until the last moment before delivering precise, swift blows with the aged sword, only crippling them where he couldn't be sure of an outright kill, and then finishing the injured beasts off with surprisingly swift mercy for a sadist. It was not, after all, beasts he liked the screams of. He dealt with it all sans any real vigour, alas for nightmares wanting a show. Partly, this was the Grey Wastes denying him the kill-thrill, but it was equally as much because no slayer's high could compete with his interest in the nightmares.

Between Lexius twinned blades and Aiden's lightning (Mesteno voiced complaint somewhere beneath the din of roaring the static and fleeing lupines about someone being theatrical) it was more of a massacre than a battle.

Aiden was still chuckling when the last of the wolves fell or disappeared into the distance. He had one quick reply for Mesteno's complaining. "Drama's in my blood."

The necromancer snorted, busy picking out the herd’s leader and wiping his scimitar off on the back of his sleeve for lack of anything easier to hand to clean it with.

"Spiriko?" He asked whomever felt inclined to answer him.

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

A few feet from Mesteno, the lead Nightmare reared, sounding another trumpeting roar of victory as its burning hooves arced out brilliant patterns of flame in the air. Mane and tail lifted like twin battle flags, he settled upon all four hooves as the other twelve of the herd circled the base of the hill.

"Yeah, that flashy bastard is Spiriko." It was Aiden, of course, who answered Mesteno, more than a little amused at being out-flashed.

The Nightmare's voice rang out in the air a moment later, telepathically projected. A deep, vibrating bass.

"Measly, mange-ridden puppies is all you have to offer my herd, Angel Boy? They should have left you in chains!" A warm, heartfelt greeting. "Or is the tasty little human to be our dessert?" The stallion eyed Mesteno sidelong, lips peeled back to chomp his sharp, black teeth at him. "A hearty looking snack, indeed! But you can keep the other. Elves give me indigestion."

Lexius had joined them by then, the daggers no longer in evidence. The beads around his waist were doing their very best to snicker, especially when Aiden shoved the necromancer closer to the Nightmare, as if he was, indeed, offering him as a dessert.

"I betcha three tons of obsidian he chews you up and spits out your bones like tacks and carpets his house with your ugly hide."

Mesteno had barely avoided running into Spiriko's glossy shoulder, thanks to Aiden's careless push, but he felt a flicker of amusement rise above the Wastes induced carelessness despite the near collision.

"Fuck," he cussed at Aiden. "You don't have three tons of shit to bet with, let alone obsidian. You didn't even have pants when we found you." But the bastard had taken his side, and he angled a somewhat pleased, side-long look his way. "I can assure you I would not taste pleasant," he told Spiriko, unafraid, but not without a certain measure of admiration still colouring his tone. "Think y'the first thing we've come across that I've actually been pleased to meet, present company aside."

He didn't expect a return of niceties, not from a creature as proud as Spiriko and his herd, but he also didn't have time to stand there on ceremony trying to win his respect. Straight talk. Mesteno liked straight talk.

"He called you for more'n the wolves," he told the nightmare bluntly. "We need to find a way to get to his boss. We're in the business of rescuing damsel in distress sorts, he and I." He nodded towards the luckily unappetising Elf.

Admiring was, in Spiriko's lofty opinion, exactly what Mesteno should be doing! He took no issue with the tone and even boomed a somewhat deafening laugh (Lexius winced) for the Sadist’s rejoinder to Aiden.

"Ha! Seems this one knows your tricks already." The big steed lowered his head, snorting smoke toward Mesteno before continuing in a more subdued tone that probably still carried halfway across the Plane. "Never trust anything with wings." He cautioned. "They're all liars and cheats."

"Not all of 'em," Mesteno corrected mildly between coughs; too much smoke. He'd known a man or two with wings he considered decent despite their extra appendages.

"Hey. Horse-face!" Aiden stepped forward hotly, but he was grinning as he went on. "You're the one still owes me his first born foal for pulling his studly nuts out of the lava pit when-"

"Rescuing damsels, you say?!" Spiriko cut Aiden off before he could finish whatever embarrassing tale he was about to spin. "Well, that one," he was referring to Ares, "always did have a touch of the filly about him." Mesteno got to see those fangs up close and personal, a lick of fire burning somewhere in the Nightmare's gullet as the stallion laughed. He sobered quickly enough and continued, his herd now gathering behind him in a milling group. "You've twisted the tails of the Powers, mortals." He was completely ignoring the demi-god now and had moved to better face Mesteno and Lexius both. "But, perhaps, mortals is not entirely correct?" He studied both, but fif not give any time to answer, plowing right on. He did love to hear himself talk. "What do you offer for our assistance?" He demanded.

"Didn't know what a mess I was getting into when it began,” Mesteno admitted. “They shoulda left us alone afterwards if they didn't want their tails twisting. As for what we'll pay, I'd offer you their first born sons if they ever happened to have any," to make up for the one Spiriko might be losing to Aiden!? "But I have a feeling neither's keen to be a daddy anytime soon."

"We offer," the Elf began serenely, ensuring he said 'we' so that it included Mesteno in the deal, "freedom from binding for yourself and one of your herd."

Spiriko snorted another, thicker, cloud of smoke. This time the accidental inhalation resulted in a tingling in Mesteno’s limbs, a peculiar pins and needles sensation. Loath to mention it in case the nightmares saw it for weakness, or worse, in case it was some kind of Grey Wastes contamination that could slow them down, he stayed put... Until something tugged his pack, drawing him backwards in an ungainly stumble. He turned a questioning look over his shoulder.

"Hey, watch that skanky breath, Horse Face." Aiden chided him.

Apparently Spiriko had been surprised enough by Lexius’ offer to forget about the ill effects the vapour could cause. Not that he looked abashed. In fact he ignored Aiden in favour of eyeing Lexius sceptically. "Worthy of Hel's ire," the Nightmare began, "so long as it truly works. What is the term?"

Lexius stopped tugging at Mesteno's pack and answered gravely. "As long as you wear the charm."

That had the stallion pawing the air, which shed more sparks into the grass. Thankfully, it didn't catch fire. The Nightmare didn’t seem pleased.

"Come. On." Aiden insisted, almost insultingly. "What's a little trinket stacked against total freedom? So what if it's not Herd created. They'll be no obligation, right Elf Man?"

Lexius remained silent long enough it seemed he might be about to prove Aiden a liar. And Spiriko flashed his teeth. But the Elf finally inclined his head. "There will be no obligation." he agreed.

The Nightmare snorted and turned away from them, batting Aiden with his overlong tail. "Prepare your charms and yourselves." He agreed. If a horse like creature could stalk, Spiriko did as he returned to his herd. However they spoke it was no out loud.

Mesteno turned to his companions with a wry smile. "I'm sorry. I've nothing they'd value or I'd have come up with something to offer." Now he was indebted to Lexius all over again for including him in the agreement. Knowing how dextrous Lexius' hands were, he suspected creating the trinket wouldn't be a lengthy process, but he did wonder over the energy he might have to expend to empower it. "You sure you can do this?" he asked quietly, arms wreathing loosely against his chest. "Y'running a little low on resources, I noticed."

Lexius had already produced wire from his satchel, and a pouch of tiny gems cut and ready for psionic manipulation. He gave the pouch to Mesteno to hold while he got to work bending, twisting and snipping the wire to his satisfaction. Aiden crowded closer to listen.

"External energy." The stones, of course. This would use up the last of it without a doubt, but the Elf didn't seem overly concerned. "I've energy within me, as well." And a tattoo or two, besides. "We are near the end of our journey. It will be enough." It was difficult to tell whether he spoke truthfully, or attempted to sound optimistic. "Let them choose which gem suits them." He advised with a nod toward the bag.

"They're not too keen on wearing things made by people." Aiden explained to Mesteno. "It suggests ownership and they have to serve others when summoned more often than not. This, though, will keep two of them from getting summoned at all. That's huge. You should have asked for more." He told Lexius plainly.

Lexius just kept working the wire as Spiriko and two more Nightmares turned to head back up the hill. "They are not the ones I wish to owe me." He gave Aiden a direct, hard look.

The demi-god had the gall to wink at him. "That's gonna be fun."

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

Spiriko approached, bringing with him two slightly smaller versions of himself. Both were male, one with a shortly cropped mane and tail and the other with zigzags of blue worked through its mane. "These two." He announced. Funnily he didn't choose himself.

Turning from his companions towards Spiriko and his cohorts, Mesteno tipped the gems from the pouch into the open palm of his glove to let them make their selections. "Are they your sons?" he asked.

It was the bob tailed Nightmare who answered Mesteno's question.

"We ain’t his daughters, that's for sure." The voice was almost a perfect match for Spiriko's, though the glibness of the response removed any doubt that it was the younger Nightmare that answered. His companion shoved him in the shoulder with his own, but remained silent. "Vesper wants the sapphire. And I want the onyx. Where you gonna put these, Elf Man?" He used Aiden's name for Lexius and the Elf didn't both to correct him.

"Your ears."

Spiriko flattened his own ears at that, but the younger Nightmare just bobbed his head. "Good idea. Let's get on with it."

He stepped forward, and the Elf plucked the onyx from Mesteno’s palm and moved in with the wire. It took all of five seconds to pierce an ear (Nightmare blood was hot!) and set the gem in place. Lexius' fingers remained unburnt. He set the sapphire with the silver wire into Vesper's ear next and though the Nightmare bared his fangs for the procedure, still said nothing.

The Elf’s last crystal died and splintered somewhere in the middle of that second placement, and Mesteno’s lips thinned critically. He'd been half expecting it, but it’s failing felt ominous.

Lexius stepped back as the younger stallion spoke again. "You can ride Vesper, Elf Man. I want this guy." He nudged Mesteno's shoulder with his nose. "You got some wicked energy."

"Enough." Boomed Spiriko, striding toward Aiden. His threat was levelled at the Elf. "We will cross Planes and time to find you should this not work, Elf. And I will risk indigestion to grind your bones between my teeth."

Lexius took the threat calmly enough, merely inclining his head.

"Let's mount up!" Aiden tried to lighten the mood and clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he eyed the older stallion. "Oh, this is gonna be a LOT of fun."

Vesper and Lexius eyed each other in silence while Aiden and Spiriko bantered. It ended with the silent Nightmare giving himself a full body shake before stepping closer to the Elf, who mounted smoothly.

Reaching up, Mesteno clapped a palm over his nightmare’s withers, a companionable gesture, rather than the well-meant patting he'd have offered a horse. "Didn't catch your name." He sprang up onto his back with surprising ease. "You faster than those two?" Maybe there was a little challenge left in him despite the wastes.

"You can call me Nox." The beast was eyeing him as he settled, head swung around to look back. The young stallion bared his impressive teeth. "You bet your bony tail I am. Better hang on tight."

"For 'night'. How suitable," Mesteno mused, pleased to hear his own tongue spoken.

"What do they call you?" Nox asked, as he leapt to take to the sky.

Mesteno moved fluidly with the stallion's motions, at no disadvantage due to a lack of saddle or reins to grip. Riding came naturally. "I'm Mesteno," he replied simply, and did not offer its meaning.

Spiriko was less amiable with Aiden. "I should leave you to rot." The nightmare grumbled.

Of course Aiden laughed, clapping his hand to the big Nightmare's shoulder. "You already did that. Just like everyone else."

The stallion's ears flattened again. "You know..." the stallion began hotly, smoke streaming from his flared nostrils.

"Yeah, yeah." Aiden interrupted him, deftly stepping around the smoke to scramble onto Spiriko's back. "I know. No hard feelings. Now giddyup!" And he dug his heels into the stallion's sides as if he wished he had some spurs.

Spiriko bore Aiden's cruelty, became airborne, surging ahead of his too eager son with a snapping of teeth that got Nox snorting fire back at him.

"Hey, hey! Careful. Some of that flies back here," Mesteno reminded Nox as the nightmare slowed, positioning himself just behind his sire’s shoulder.

"Where are we going, Angel Boy?" Spiriko asked.

"The Obelisk." Was Aiden's cheerful response. Spiriko actually seemed to trip on air. Even Nox hiccupped a bit, which had Vesper passing them both, lazy as you please.

"What?!" Boomed Spiriko. "You never said..."

But Aiden cut him off again. "Deal's a deal, Horse Face. Off we go!"

"What's so bad about The Obelisk?" Mesteno asked, unafraid to let his ignorance show on this occasion.

It seemed the Elf, too, might have heard their destination. There was a subtle hint of grimness suddenly tickling across the mental ties he still maintained between himself and Mesteno. The necromancer was privy to his emotions again, sure sign Lexius was scaling back the amount of power he used to keep certain things hidden. It didn’t aid Mesteno’s confidence, and he turned a deeply concerned look his way. After all, there wasn't a great deal that could shake the Elf.

Nox pulled back, farther away from Aiden and Spiriko, who began to have a rousing argument about their objective. They was a lot of cursing going on in that third of the sky. At first Nox tried to answer Mesteno mind to mind, but when he found that way blocked, he had to resort to projecting his voice again.

"That's a nice shield you got." The nightmare admitted.

"Yeah, skilled maker." Mesteno’s reply was a little absent thanks to the distraction. His hand had gone creeping back to the rune marked labradorite tucked under armour and shirt, the way a religious man might clutch at a cross. He didn't seem aware he did so.

Nox got down to explaining, and didn’t sound enthused. "No one really knows what The Obelisk is, but that feeling you get when you're on the ground? It's twenty times worse close to the Obelisk. Even we can feel it there."

Lexius added his own two cents on the matter moments later, mind to mind. Some think it the source of the apathy. Some believe it feeds on all other emotions from any who exist on the Plane. I have read that it pulses, sometimes with hope and sometimes with despair. And they were going to go visit it.

Between his nightmare mount and Lexius, Mesteno was left caught somewhere between dull shock and dread. Finally, mirthless laughter, grated harshly in his throat and shook his shoulders. ‘The worst is done’, they'd been telling each other. And now this. There was no music left in his head for such a place, nothing he could fathom which might have a hope in Hell of seeing him through it without succumbing. Perhaps he'd just sit down in there somewhere and never budge another inch until he withered and died in there. Morbid thoughts ran thick.

"Shit, why are they still arguing? I can't wait!" No, he didn't sound hysterical, he sounded like a man who figured he was dead and might as well get on with it.

The Nightmares carried them above the perpetual mist, so that the world below was one big grey bank of fog stretching endlessly away, to a disturbing horizon where it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the ground began. But off in that distance was a vague smudge of blackness bisecting one half of their world view from the other, as if the Powers had drawn a line from the sky to the ground with dark charcoal. Despite all the arguing still going on between Spiriko and Aiden, that line slowly grew closer.

Behind them, the rest of the herd abandoned the three to their goal, sent away by a swift mental command from Spiriko. The verbal battle had finally ceased, though, and the lead stallion boomed out a reply to Mesteno’s exclamation. "Onward then, until night devours the day!" Maybe it was some kind of Nightmare battle cry. Aiden looked back to Mesteno and Lexius and raised one arm above his head, hand clasped in a fist. He still seemed somewhat chipper.

The Nightmares proved to be a smooth ride and though the air remained stale and tepid, the brush of it against the skin lent a certain refreshing coolness that balanced the heat seeping from the dark hides of their mounts.

Nox peppered Mesteno with questions about where he was from, and though the necromancer made a half-hearted effort to answer, was a miserable conversational companion. Lexius remained mostly silent, but he remembered the music Mesteno had apparently misplaced and he hummed it along the link, strengthening those sensations of warm sun, arid wind and the scents of the sand in the Mesteno’s mind.

They drew a quiet mental sigh from the necromancer. It was not disdain, and certainly not dismissal. If anything there was the strange sensation that he leaned towards it wearily, a tired man slumping shoulder to shoulder against someone beside him. He caught himself when he realised he was doing it, too prideful a creature even out there to lean upon someone else so heavily. Being anyone else's burden was inexcusable, entirely against his morals.

You don't have to, came his voice, light as the beating of moth wings, edged with a certain distance that was nothing personal, just unguarded lethargy. I'm fine. Watch over yourself.

The music didn't cease though, and the suggestion of desert sensation remained unchanged despite the assurances. The Elf answered him, his voice layered quietly atop the other distractions. You are correct. He agreed mildly. I don't have to. And that was all he said on the matter.

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

The line in the sky slowly resolved itself into a monumental spire of dark metal that seemed to reach forever upwards. As they came closer, Mesteno was able to pick out strange, man high runes carved into the matte surface of the Obelisk. They remained unlit, and the sense of lethargy only marginally increased as they neared. He suspected the fact they were still aloft had something to do with that.

As they watched, the mist cleared from the ground below, leaving nothing but a stark, dead plain of grey that seemed to surround the Obelisk for miles.

The Nightmares began to descend, Spiriko still in the lead, and as they lost altitude the feeling of emptiness and hopelessness began to thicken. They stopped in a line, perhaps a hundred feet away from the Obelisk and still hovering ten feet above ground. By then the massive structure dominated the view and they were able to see, zigging and zagging lazily around the base of it, another obstacle to their forward progress. Giant grey dust devils.

"The winds will attack the moment we land." Spiriko's voice boomed out, head craning toward Aiden. "We will draw the storms away, as agreed. But you are then on your own." He sounded sombre, none too confident in their chances.

Aiden looked over to Lexius and Mesteno and grinned. "Guess we gotta run for it from here. All we should need to do is touch the Obelisk. That will get us in. Do you have the horn, Whippet?"

Lexius was nudging Vesper closer to Mesteno, reaching into his satchel for the glass encased horn to hand it over, wrapped in cloth.

"I do now," Mesteno replied, eyeing the cloth-swaddled item with some distaste. "Does it need to be removed from these?" he asked dubiously, "or will the obelisk be able to recognise it when I get close enough somehow?"

He was now conveniently flanked, Aiden on one side and Lexius on the other. The Nightmares stayed quiet, but they were telepathically talking amongst themselves as they eyed the storms they'd soon be trying to outrun. Aiden was looking past the Sadist toward the Elf, speaking to him first.

"Whippet has to get there first. Once he opens the gate, we can all go in. We'll have to be close, ‘cause the gate won’t stay open for long." The Elf gave a single, brief nod of understanding. Then the demi-god shifted his bright blue eyes to Mesteno. "You just slam that puppy against the tower. It'll break the glass, but you can hold the horn. Don't lose it. I think we're going to need it inside. Both of you hold on to whatever hope you got burning in you, ok? Once we hit the ground, things are gonna get interesting." His widening grin suggested excitement at the prospect! Or maybe just eager to meet his end. Either way, Aiden said no more and waited for them to signal they were ready.

"Interesting," Mesteno repeated Aiden's word drolly as if to make him aware how inappropriate a choice it was, parroted back at him! "I think those lightnin' bolts did somethin' to your head." Fucking Grey Wastes. If not for them, he might have agreed that their charge to the Obelisk would be interesting. Maybe even exciting.

From his other side, Lexius was extending a hand to him, as if to clasp forearms.

Suspecting it a potential goodbye, Mesteno eyed it grimly, then complied. Which was precisely when those tricksome beads were snapping up from the Elf's belt to wind around Mesteno's forearm snugly.

Bring them back to me. The Elf commanded gravely. And then he let Mesteno go and dropped off Vesper's back.

Aiden barked a sharp, surprised laughed and followed suit. "Go, go, go!"

Spiriko and Vesper were doing just that, flaming hooves making contact with the ground and that clarion roar of battle sounding from their throats.

Mesteno’s mouth dropped open on a ready protest, but snapped shut again with a distinct click of teeth as Aiden's sharp laughter competed with the dust devil noise. As if they wouldn't find their way back to you of their own accord, somehow, he thought across to the Elf. Those beads were as wily as any man could be. Odd, that he should find their wrap about his limb a comfort.

"Good hunting, Whippet!" Was all Nox had to say, but at least he let Mesteno dismount (barely!) before he streaked off after his brother and father, trailing fire as he went. As predicted, the dust devils seemed to turn as one and start streaking toward the steeds.

Mesteno landed cat-like from Nox's sleek back, but spared no breath for farewells to the nightmares. Instead he bolted with the horn in hand, digging deep into reserves as yet untouched, with great, leggy strides that saw him rapidly live up to Aiden’s nickname for him. A combination of light weight and thew as hard as steel cords made for a good combination, but there had to be something else behind that haste, something allowing for an exertion beyond what his physique should have allowed. His hair a snaking whip behind him, and his jaw set hard, he was putting distance between them all before they'd gone twenty metres. Running was easy. Running he could do.

Not submitting to the drag of the Wastes at his mind however, was anything but easy.

Three strides into his sprint and the apathy took hold so viciously, so venomously that Lexius probably wanted to sever that mental connection entirely. Mesteno was not a maudlin man, but in those moments his dearest wish was to simply stop and lie down in the dust to wait for one of those violent spirals of dust to snatch him up and drop him ragdoll broken. He wasn't unaware of its origins though, and battling that desire was a mind rationally trying to persuade him he should be frightened of the apathy, that if he just ran hard enough, forced every lean muscle and straining tendon to work in ways they never had, he'd be able to outrun it.

The split mentality resulted in a mental roar that sounded too bestial to be his own conscious mind. That strange sentience his soul seemed to have, its self-awareness, was not subject to the same apathy, and it more than anything spurred him on, a rider bloodying his horse's sides, one who'd rather flog a steed to death than not get somewhere in time. Perhaps that was all it considered the fleshy shell housing it, in the end.

That tie the Elf held to the Sadist's never wavered. Keep going. Lexius murmured in his mind. We are right behind you.

Aiden was, at least, so it was mostly true. The words proved only to be an aside to the more prominent and merciless drive of the Sadist's peculiarly sentient soul. Lexius could taste its fury, could sense the darkness of that awareness forcing Mesteno on. At this point, in this place, right in that moment, the Elf did nothing more than encourage it to keep its host alive and running.

The Nightmares diverged ahead, drawing the dust devils apart to open a path straight toward the Obelisk. And that seemed to be working, for as Mesteno broke into a sprint, he suddenly had an unobstructed view of the towering wall of metal inscribed with those strange runes.

Off to his right and behind him, Aiden seemed to be the closest. His long legs were serving him well in the chase and he looked to be keeping apace. Off to the necromancer's left and further back despite his head start, was the Elf. He didn't seem to be putting all his effort into the run...but that was only because he was keeping a close eye on the dust devils. That proved to be a wise decision.

Halfway to the Obelisk, one of the runes on its surface pulsed a dull crimson color and a wave of bleakness and despair came rippling off the objects, straight toward the inbound trio. In its wake, more black dust devils rose out of the dead ground, spinning wildly their way.

Mesteno swerved to one side and Aiden veered toward the other, putting himself between the incoming storms and the necromancer without hesitation.

"Watch your step!" He called on a laugh even as the leading edge of that crippling wave over despair....broke over him and went rushing right on by.

"What the fuck are you--" Mesteno had his head at Aiden's shout in time to see him put himself in that dangerous spot as if he meant to play meat-shield.

He felt the echoes of the wave’s passage right about the time a dust devil twisted close enough in its erratic path to buffet him with the force of its wind. It was enough to pick him up, right off the ground, a weightlessness he could find no terror for, nothing more than a soft, mental oh...

The dust scraped his skin raw as he was snatched up, and he was buffeted as if a toy in a giant's hands, sent sailing like a swatted bug until Lexius intervened. The devil had flung him away again, to the right, but the Elf had wrapped threads of thought around him and gave a mental push that sent him sailing toward the Obelisk rather than away. Like a pinball, the Sadist was going to get bounced around between the dust devils even as he fell toward the unforgiving surface of the metal wall, hard.

It was smooth, cold, and hard as adamantine. Only the runes etched into its surface proved it could be marked. There were no lines of a hidden doorway anywhere in evidence. Mesteno managed to guard himself from a face first collision using his forearms to catch the impact. It was jarring, nevertheless, and as he slid to his feet, he almost sank far enough to end up kneeling.

Luckily for the others, he hadn't lost all sense of purpose, maybe in part to being off the ground. He thrust the glass encased titan's horn against the dark metal of the Obelisk's side, casing falling apart in splinters within the fabric. He managed to shove one end of the fragment against the structure as he'd been instructed, gritting his teeth with eyes narrowed against some half-expected flash of light...

It was morning at last and dawn was just starting to stain the sky outside Mesteno's cabin. Its light filtered in through the windows, kissing across Evander's form where he lay beside the necromancer, chest still heaving from the exertion of a night spent indulging in one carnal pleasure after another. Mesteno could feel the sweet ache of those endeavours, along with the blessed contentment only bone deep satisfaction could bring.

"Give me a minute." Evander growled. "And we'll go again." His voice thick with the promise of more ecstasy and a hunger that seemed depthless.

The hallucination was convincing.

It had always been that way, 'one more time' grated from one throat or another, as if they might need persuading, coercing. Forget work, to Hell with commitments. What did they matter compared to this? Mesteno was ready and willing to succumb, to believe that everything before this had been some fever-dream so long as he could bury himself in and against the dark haired man beside him, the stains of blood and bruising and the flash of that cruel mouth his greatest of weaknesses.

"No reprieve for you," he was murmuring, almost wanting to sob in his relief. How quickly things could change in the Wastes though.

Another voice lifted along with a slender, female arm that draped lazily across Evander's chest. "Ready when you are, lover." Niamh purred, now in the place Mesteno had been.

From the foot of his own bed, unable to move, he watched the pair tangle together with heat and passion across the twisted sheets.

"He could never replace you." Evander told the woman intently, his fingers buried in her hair.

Niamh laughed, the sound pure and clear and knowing. "Of course not." She agreed. And proceeded to show him exactly why.

[Mesteno]

[Continued…]

Mesteno froze, confused.

He'd no bed in the waking world, nothing more than a mattress on the floor, more for the sake of lovers over the years than personal preferences. Yet now he stood at its foot, where a single, tangled sheet had been restlessly kicked aside. The ache and sting of pleasure were gone, he'd been robbed of it by the dark haired woman who'd just as surely snatched Evander, sleek and perverse and corrupted.

Something ruptured in him, a crack like a haemorrhage through which the jealousy erupted like a geyser. Sickening. Crippling. It didn't matter that he'd watched Evander thrust the knife into her chest, right alongside Bjorn and the Alfar. Part of her had survived, in Evander more than the things she'd left behind perhaps. Even with the evidence written in the pristes' own hand, a confession of verboten magic, he'd been convinced the love between them had been genuine.

You can't. You can't do this to me. You can't want me to believe it was all a lie, all those years, everything I did in her name... Evander's words. He couldn't bear to hear the name Niamh spoken, so protective was his old lover of that past.

Mesteno couldn't watch, couldn't act. Instead he turned, and walked numbly away from the bedroom and towards the doorway. The sounds of pleasured groans behind him were a torment.

"I win." Came Niamh's mocking voice, the feel of it licking across his spine as he withdrew.

Some might call him foolish for not fighting for a lover should their interests turn to another. Mesteno had always been the type of man who'd walk through Hell or high water to keep one safe, but never lift a finger if competition threatened. Perhaps that was pride, too. Then again, it might merely have been the feelings of inadequacy most men could be susceptible to if it seemed they were no longer all their loved one needed.

His breathing was ragged in his throat, and the world seemed about ready to tip on its side and throw him to his hands and knees.

When instead he found himself wading through sand, he trudged to a stop, his knuckles kneading into his sternum as if the heartache were so severe he meant to grind right through the bone and tear the useless, haphazardly beating thing right from his chest. What need had he of it? It was nothing but a thorn in his side, a target for cupid's unwanted barb.

The cabin was gone. The morning had become noon. And he was now in an endless sea of sand dunes that rolled away, away, away forever. And there off to the right, lay a skeletal beast the fossilised remains of which the necromancer had once seen encased in a cliff, its burning eyes focused on what lay at the bottom of the dune.

The sun was a blinding, merciless disc in the clear blue sky above him and the dune sloped down toward a clear patch of sand where a crucifix had been erected. Nailed in place to the crossed wood was Samiel, his skin charred red and cracked, blistering for the severity of the burns. He was shivering with fear, grovelling where he’d been nailed, for terror of the beast that was eyeing him hungrily.

This was something else entirely. Mesteno meant to scrub at his eyes as if he feared he were misjudging the sleek, copper-skinned features, but he very nearly jabbed the right one out with something in his hand. It was the fragment of titan horn, jutting from amongst the muslin wrap and wickedly sharp little slivers of glass. He'd only avoided slicing his hand to pieces because of the gloves he wore. Gloves? Why was he wearing those in the desert? And why was Samiel, fire made flesh, so burned from the sun?

Samiel lifted his head when the sand came trickling down the side of the dune and pinned the Sadist with a wide, accusing look, croaking out raspy words.

"You never came for me, Mesteno. Why didn't you come? I needed you!" Blood spilled past his cracked lips when the last, weak shout and the monster moved in to devour him.

In Samiel, Mesteno had known a contentment he'd never known with anyone before him, a meeting of minds so similarly inclined he'd been convinced he was a soulmate. It wasn't easy to disregard what he saw, to shake off the guilt he felt at the accusation from parched lips. There was something so wrong with the vision, wrong with the symbolism of the cross, and the placement of the sea thing with its gargantuan skull though, that he faltered in moving to aid him, struggled to rationalise and not be implored to.

"It's not real," he croaked hoarsely, sinking towards his knees and gripping tight to the horn fragment. "Not real, not real..." he made it a mantra and closed his eyes, praying that when he opened them again it would all be gone.

The sand did not go away. The heat of the sun did not relent. But the whisper of boots suddenly disturbed the grains just in front of him and a shadow fell over his form, bringing just a hint of coolness.

He dared open his eyes. When he recognised Lexius’ boots, he foolishly thought himself returned to reality, and shuddered violently as if it were too sweet for words. But why the sand? He squeezed tight to the horn fragment and looked up warily, sitting back on his heels to look into blue-violet eyes.

There was nothing but disappointment in Lexius’ usually serene expression. The Elf looked precisely as he always looked but for that look and seemed as real as he had been when they'd clasped arms just minutes (hours?) before.

Another nail in the proverbial coffin. Mesteno had never seen Lexius look disgusted by anything before, and that hope he'd dared harbour flickered like a candle-flame guttering in a winter draught. He felt impossibly small under that withering gaze.

Lexius studied him in silence for one, two, three seconds...then spoke in a tone tainted with disgust.

"You are pathetic, Mesteno, and not worth my time." And so saying, the Elf turned to walk away, leaving him to the untender mercy of the wasteland that now surrounded him.

"Wait!" Mesteno’s voice cracked on that single word as everything compiled, the pressure mounting until a single grain of sand tipped the scales and robbed him of everything. "Lexius please!" And how unlike him was it to beg?

Something tightened around Mesteno's forearm and the world...shook. Then metal (where the hell was the metal?) groaned and clanged in a single beat, like a gong had been rung somewhere distant.

The sensation about his arm draw his eyes with a startled hiss - oh hello, beads. When had they got there? A moment later and the resonant metallic noise was ringing in his ears. He didn't rise though. It seemed safer to stay kneeling there in the sand.

The Elf paused, head canting to one side. But he did not look fully back at the kneeling man, as if he couldn't stand the sight of him. A sneer curled his lips, just barely seen. "You prove my point." He said of the plea, then continued on, the beads now dangling at his side.

Yet those same beads were still strangling the Sadist's arm, constricting blood flow, causing his fingers to go numb. The world shook again, seeming to flicker for a moment. The Elf was gone, perhaps having teleported away before Mesteno could call out to him.

A moment later and Lexius was suddenly standing before him again, poised precisely as before, looking at him in the exact same way for one, two, three seconds before he spoke, tone dripping with disgust.

"You are pathetic, Mesteno, and not worthy of my time." Again he turned away to leave the Sadist alone.

Pathetic. So it was no wonder, really, that Niamh had been chosen over him. No wonder at all that he'd been incapable of finding Samiel out in the Dry. Or, and this was worse, perhaps Lexius had been correct that first time they'd spoken at the inn. Maybe the desert man really had simply walked away from him intentionally. It wasn't a great stretch of the imagination to find some truth in it, to really begin to believe it.

Then once more Lexius stood before Mesteno, disgust distorting his features into something beyond alien. He stared for one, two....

Mesteno said nothing more to the Elf's back, but he did suck in breath sharply between the even lines of hard, white teeth. The beads were throttling his wrist, and had it not been for the fabric barring his skin from sight, he knew he'd have been able to see the veins bulging and distorted due to the dam of the blood flow. He did nothing to try and pry them loose, though it should have been a simple enough thing to do, snapping that length.

Instead he heard Lexius' voice again on repeat, ingraining the words until it was the only voice he heard. There was dejection in every line of his posture, the same exhaustion one might expect to see in an animal so old and wasted it was simply waiting for death to come, waiting with unseeing, glassy eyes.

The world flickered again. A whisper wormed its way through the Sadist's mind, almost a word. ....eno.

It echoed and echoed away into nothing.

Then came another voice from nowhere at all. Not one Mesteno had ever heard before. "He is the path." It said sagely.

The change he was perfectly sure he'd only imagined. He waited for the Elf's words to resume the more familiar rhythm, the chain of words that told the truth. Instead another voice, unfamiliar. What was it doing in his head? Be gone. Simple as that.

"Stop being stubborn." The voice chided reasonably, amused with the trait. "Find the path." It encouraged. And then those strangling beads, much too tightly wound to move at all, rattled out a snickering laugh of sound.

This time the desert came in Mesteno's mind. A blast of arid air. A wave of rippling heat. The coolness of oasis waters on the tongue. And the never ending scent of the sands.

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

‘The Path’.

Mesteno had some dim recollection then, of someone being called that. 'The path' had meaning, and yet did he care enough to try and recall? It didn't matter in the slightest if he was just going to sit there in the desert and let the sands take him. Perhaps he'd be whittled away by the winds and the storms and that would be the end of him. Nothing but pale bones ground to dust, bleached so pale it couldn't be identified amongst the desert sands.

Before Mesteno's eyes, the Elf disappeared and the desert changed. He was travelling across it, being pulled over its expanse, formless and light, speeding above the dunes until they dipped down, down, deep into the earth. Then it was tunnels and caves and a stone well, ringed in fire, surrounded with a twist of air. Inside the pools, cool water swirled in an endless mix of dark and light creating a compelling kaleidoscope of colourful energy. Mesteno knelt on the lip of the well and the voice did not speak again.

But another did. From the waters.

Mesteno. Lexius whispered. So quietly.

Between the strange voice, the vicious constriction of the beads and then Lexius’ murmur of his name, he couldn't simply submit as he wanted to. If they'd all just leave him alone and--

That was when the pain hit him. It had no particular origin. Simply pain, suffusing every inch of him sharply enough to make him gasp. It was such a blindingly sharp sensation that the bead's clamp faded to a distant ache he could barely feel, but after a moment it passed, leaving him panting again and confused. It appeared that dark, vicious energy he housed was as eager for him to snap out of his fit of depression as the others, and it didn't care if it made his eyes water to do it.

"Fuck," he groaned, lifting his free hand to his brow as he examined the new locale. He didn't recognise where he was. But no desert, no Elf, no--
Oh but the voice had come from the well, hadn't it? Had it? He crawled forward to its edge, and peered blearily into it.

There was a gasp that echoed Mesteno's barely a second after the pain coursed through his body, as if that pain had been shared. Then a lengthy, breathless sort of silence. In that quiet, as Mesteno crawled toward the edge of the slowly diminishing pool, there came a mixture of emotions. Desperation, determination, misery, hope.

The waters swirled ceaselessly, mesmerizing, tempting. Probably deadly. But no particular sensation came from them. The pool was definitely growing smaller, a closing iris.

The Elf's voice came again.

Mesteno. A trace of command in there somewhere. Pay attention! Come here to me. The command became a coaxing. And then he said that one word Mesteno had said not so very long ago. Please.

The well shrank, and Mesteno stared numbly, as if blind to the diminishing opportunity for escape. The rapid issue of his breath stirred the waters as his failing energy slumped him closer, down on his forearms with his braid a snake on the rocks half unbound. There was something about that dwindling well that made him think of that candle flame again, perhaps the last light in the dark, and when it went out there would be nought else. The closure it promised didn't frighten him, but he didn't want it either.

It was Lexius' voice, the desperation he sensed behind it which managed at last to cut through the malaise, and only then because he felt was so miserable that the Elf had spoken that word of pleading. Scruples again. He couldn't crouch there and not act on it. He had to fix that somehow.

Clumsily, he shifted forwards to reach down into the swirling water, first one hand and then the other, feeling for a bottom he half-knew already he'd never find.

It was as cool as any real water might be, but it was a wash of crispness across Mesteno's mind rather than over his skin. In that mental touch was a vast sense of timelessness, of chaos and calm, of darkness and light, of beginnings...and end. The beads snickered again, somewhere deep in the recesses of his being rather than anywhere outside him.

Finally, too resigned to give those strange sensations the barest lick of a thought, he sank through head first on the tail of a murmur. I'm bringing them back, don't worry. He’d promised, after all.

Nothing pulled Mesteno through. He had to do the work all on his own, and still the pool continued to shrink. It proved a good thing the man was so whip thin even if his passage through the pool wasn't anything physical. The bleakness, the despair, the apathy, it scraped him raw, up one side and down the other. Abruptly, he was back in his real body, his mind ripped free of the Obelisk's control.

Mesteno lay splayed out on his back, the horn fragment digging against his spine, with Lexius crouched over him. The Elf had his hands buried deep in Mesteno's hair, his long fingers splayed over as much of the man's skull as he could span with one thumb pressing hard into each temple. He was bent close enough that his brow nearly touched the necromancer's, his blue-violet eyes right there the second Mesteno opened his own. The blue in those eyes was burning more brightly than the violet, but the mix of the two colours was not unlike the way the energy had swirled in the pool Mesteno had just 'touched'.

"Mesteno?" Lexius’ voice was raw, but at least the appeal was gone. There was nothing but sharp command once again in the ragged tone.

Beneath the thin flesh of lids, Mesteno's eyes were in a wild back and forth flick as he struggled out of the hallucination, and a spasmodic clawing of lean fingers into the ground beneath him hinted at the agonisingly raw sensation he suffered in passing through the well. At last his eyes fluttered open, focusing to pin-point narrowness.

Memory of what he’d just experienced hit him with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and the weakness suffusing his body seemed to have clawed a handhold in the crumbled walls of his Will, because he wanted nothing more than to curl up, crawl away and give vent to the outpouring of everything the Wastes had suppressed. The luxury of that moment of weakness was beyond his reach though.

Perhaps he didn't truly see to begin with, due to the film of saline he was peering blearily through, but once he'd blinked it away he saw Lexius with particular clarity. He was rather close after all, it was hard to see anything else. Poor Elf must have been really desperate to get that near to anyone!

"I'm here," Mesteno told him quietly, a hand lifting to pat clumsily against the outside of his arm to reinforce those words. "It's finished."

The horn fragment digging into his spine made his back arch, and he fumbled weakly beneath himself to try and dig it out, just to show them he hadn't lost it. He couldn't hear Aiden, but he didn't doubt he was somewhere nearby, if not watching it all with some impatience.

The link stayed active for a moment longer. Long enough for Mesteno to feel the heady rush of relief that came shimmering along the tie from the Elf. It eclipsed all other emotions for a moment, then was replaced by resolve and intent as the Elf tightened his fingers, holding Mesteno's head still. With the strengthened grip came the sensation of a trillion little legs skating over the Sadist's mind. Lexius was checking to make sure all of him was there and in its proper place, mentally speaking. He didn't delve through memories or steal secrets. The examination was more on a macro level, ensuring patterns and folds were set just so in the Sadist's mind and brain.

"I promise, I'm all here." Mesteno meant to give the Elf cause to cease his efforts, since he was fairly sure he was much the same mentally as he had been before he'd struck the horn against the Obelisk's side. He didn't try and push him away though when he felt the search leaving no corner of his mind untouched by the check-over. Better to let the Elf see for himself than waste his breath trying to put him off it in the end.

"Aye." Lexius finally muttered, easing back. When his touch slid away, the mental tie broke leaving Mesteno alone in his mind once more.

Lexius was looking rough. His lean, angled features had taken on a gaunt severity despite (or because of!) the brightness of his eyes. He did not move to get up right away, but pressed his palms to his thighs and rested on his heels, just breathing for the moment.

"Goddamned, cock suckin', shit eatin', motherfuckin'...." It seemed Aiden was there, too! The demi-god was cradling his head, cursing up a storm, just a few feet away.

They appeared to be in a vast, empty room of twilight darkness. The floor felt like stone, but somehow seemed opaque. Above them, on the ceiling (or was it a sky?), twinkled lights that almost resembled stars. They provided a dim illumination at best, but enough to identify something like a walkway which led deeper into the nothingness.

The horn in one hand, Mesteno set about returning the string of beads to their rightful owner, spilling them with particular care across the Elf's knee. They were unusually inert and silent, though struck at the necromancer’s knuckles at the last moment, a stinging blow he didn’t protest.

"Didn't mean to scare y'both," he told them shakily. He felt weak, unsteady, but he wasn't willing to remain sprawled like a damn victim amongst his saviours.

He sent a searching look panning across their new environs, briefly letting it alight on Aiden who seemed to be suffering some effects after all, then on to the walkway which seemed their likely route onward. "Are you both all right? What happened? Lexius y'look like shit."

There was no sign of the Obelisk. No metal walls were anywhere close. But somewhere behind them there was an ugly looking scar hanging in the air. Like a black hole in space, though it didn't seem to be sucking the nearby stars into its maw. Elf handiwork, surely.

Lexius grunted for the observation and Aiden's cursing tapered off. Finally, the Elf surged up to his feet, catching the beads and stringing them methodically back through his belt. "I am well." He lied blatantly. His clothing seemed loose! That gauntness ran across his whole body.

Aiden pushed up to his feet next and growled a few more curses before giving himself a shake. "That sucked Titan ass. And not in a good way." He proclaimed, finally sounding less chipper and just a little bit tired. He looked the pair over then looked around, rolling his shoulders. The little glimpses of his tattoo were dull. "But it looks like we made it. This way." And Aiden went striding off down that vague pathway.

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

Mesteno didn’t follow Aiden immediately. Lexius' lie was an obvious one, and for that he wore a darkly disapproving look as he took stock of his shrunken frame and over-bright eyes. A faint flash of teeth, a grimace somewhere behind all the dust, then he reached to seize the Elf by the arm.

"Take the ink back," he told him firmly. "The one you gave me before, when we were stuck in that damn maze. Use it if you can, you're failing faster physically than I am."

Lexius did nothing to deter the grabbing of his arm, but he did give Mesteno a hard look made all the more fierce by the cutting sharpness of his features. His voice was still rough and gritty when he spoke with patience.

"The power cannot be reclaimed once it is inscribed in the ink. It can only serve the purpose of the pattern." Though abjectly thin, he was still functional and this was not a state he seemed unfamiliar with. "It will be well." He added, as firmly as Mesteno did. "Now walk. It is close and you are still needed."

"Get your asses moving, Ladies!" That from Aiden somewhere up ahead.

Mesteno relented grudgingly, and released Lexius' arm so that he could set off after Aiden with distinctly less fluidity to his usual prowl. It appeared that on this matter at least, he believed the Elf. "Don't fall behind," he commanded him (because he could pull off that tone when he felt like it!) with a glance backward.

Lexius actually growled at him.

Pursuing Aiden down the ill-lit walkway, Mesteno did his damnedest not to reflect on the Obelisk induced hallucination. It's sharp, deliberate targeting had been one of the cruellest things he'd ever suffered, and still he struggled to shake its effects. The grip he had on the horn fragment was vicious, the edges of it digging into his palm through his glove as if he thought he might be able to crush it.

Lexius made no sound at all, and simply followed in Mesteno's footsteps down the walk. It was a little bit like walking through the depths of space without the pesky lack of atmosphere to slow them down. Boots sounded and felt like they impacted stone, yet they didn't seem to be making any progress.

Aiden kept on ahead of them, heading toward a particular point of light, but when it seemed to get no closer for their walking, he paused, waiting for Mesteno and Lexius to catch up with him.

"Ok, walking isn't going to work." He pointed toward the light he had in mind then back at the pair. "See that one? It's kind of red and amber?" The star he indicated was directly ahead and a little up.

"I see it," Mesteno began, but Aiden cut him off.

"We need to get there." His gaze fell heavy on Mesteno and the horn he still gripped tightly. "Only the Titans had the ability to defeat them. If they're holding him, it’s with that sort of energy. And that means the horn will be drawn to it." Aiden reached out and clamped his hand on the Sadist's shoulder, grinning. Like Mesteno was supposed to know what to do now!

Lexius, thankfully, added some speculation of his own. "Will, I think." He did love his will. "You must will the pair to connect." The Elf didn't clasp Mesteno's shoulder, but he did touch fingertips lightly to his spine, just under that messy braid of hair.

Mesteno looked from demi-god to Elf and then back down at the fragment. Of course he'd have to be the one to do it. He didn't protest it, merely looked resigned as he was left to figure out how to Will himself from one point to another and take the others with him.

"Fine," he muttered, "but don't expect me to get this straight away. I'm not used to this Will business." An understatement.

Fixing his eyes on the red-amber star, and keeping the horn fragment between his palms, he concentrated. Wanting to be there wasn't enough. Trying to imagine them there wasn't enough. His tongue darted nervously across a dry lower lip (there was some pressure on him after all!) and as the silence grew uncomfortable he tried to feel out some link between the horn, what he stared at, and that taint the titan had left in him that made the others so sure it had to be him using it. He hit a brick wall on that, because he'd never been able to detect it the way Lexius ad Aiden had. "Oh come on you stupid fuckin' piece of--"

It wasn't the cursing, it was the drive, sudden and surprising which did it. One moment they'd been forever away and coming no closer, the next, he'd done it.

Aiden had been on the verge of saying something, when everything moved around them. Mesteno's drive drew the star to them, though it seemed as if they were the ones suddenly zipping across the distance toward the destination. All those others lights turned into brief, rainbow streaks of colour and then snapped back into distant points of illumination.

"This fuckin' thing should come with an instruction manual," Mesteno declared hotly as the strange sense of momentum ceased. He'd swayed briefly on stopping, but set his feet apart just enough to help balance himself.

Lexius splayed his hand wide across Mesteno's spine as if to further assist him in keeping his balance. It might have been to help maintain his own, as well. Strangely, though, he did not pull that touch away even after everything had stabilized.

Their star was actually a smooth, glittering sphere of something glass-like, transparent. Within the sphere, chained to a rock with manacles about its throat and legs, was the ugliest looking Vulture ever created, easily man sized and looking beyond miserable in its confinement. What remained of its mottled feathers were grey and black and stained with some reddish black liquid that seeped from the gashes all across its body. It seemed to have an endless supply of blood, and the rock it sprawled across was completely coated in the gore of it. Its savage beak was cracked and half falling apart and it had no talons left on its ugly feet. The creature drooped under the weight of the chains, splayed lifelessly across the top of the rocks, dull eyes turned their way but showing no recognition whatsoever.

Aiden hissed in a sharp breath at the sight and lifted a fist.

"I would not." The Elf grated calmly, preventing the man was slamming his fist against the sphere.

"Will the horn work?" Mesteno asked quietly, intending to stand back rather than potentially get in Aiden's way if he had some other plan.

Aiden’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides at he stared at what had become of Ares. The vulture always had been his bird. That's he'd been trapped inside its body was another twisted bit of mocking cruelty from whomever had put him there.

"It better fucking work." Was Aiden's snapped answer. "Slam that gods-be-damned thing in there." He was the one tossing out orders now!

The Elf, after studying the bound creature briefly, turned his attention to the demi-god instead. "Step back." he told Aiden. The demi-god grudgingly did so and nodded to Mesteno to get on with it. Only then did Lexius move away as well, his look shifting to Mesteno. "You will be well." He assured, already weaving more threads as his hand slipped away from the Sadist's spine. He joined Aiden to watch.

"Well it's worked on everything else, right?" Mesteno asked Aiden, hoping the words sounding reassuring as he'd intended. Christ it was good to feel anything again! More than despair at least.

Once the others had backed off, he held the horn as close to one end as he was able. Teeth clenched, he raised the horn up and back as if he intended on a violent stabbing, then slammed it down with every scrap of force he could muster into the shield trapping the Ares-vulture, keeping his eyes open to barely a squint.

Light exploded around him. Every other star in their vicinity pulsed once, hotly, as the prison before him shattered with the sound of glass raining down onto stone. Mesteno bore the brunt of that explosion, but would have done so no matter where he stood. He was the one with the Titan's taint, he was the wielder of the horn. He was the one that got a sudden, vivid image in the falling fragments of seeming glass, of an enormous humanoid with wild wind swirling around it. It turned to look straight toward him.

Whatever the Elf had done to help kept the necromancer from getting blown off his feet, at least!

It only lasted a moment, then the flashy display was over and there was nothing between them and the sprawled the human form of the god himself. Ares looked no better than the vulture had. Still bound in chains, still seeping what might be blood (such potent, powerful, delectable smelling blood), still looking completely wrecked. But he was blinking his black, hawkish eyes slowly, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing was real. Who was this dark souled mortal, this alien elf, this...

"Aiden." Ares croaked, a vicious smile starting to curl his lips and fire sparking darkly in his glassy, ebony gaze.

"You sister-fucking'--" The demi-god got no farther than that. It hadn't sounded precisely angry, but there really was no telling what mood the demi-god was in other than shocked. His forward progress had been halted and he was trapped by something that kept him from moving forward and drowned out whatever the hell he was saying.

Lexius' eyes were burning brightly once more, and he had pressed one hand to his chest, tapping one of the few tattoos he had left in order to confine Aiden in place. He had eyes only for Ares who was suddenly studying both the Elf and Mesteno wide-eyed.

Mesteno had been as surprised as Aiden when that forward momentum was halted, and if it hadn't been for the brilliance of Lexius' stare, he'd have thought it a sign some trap had been triggered. Then he remembered it was time. Time to negotiate. He studied the Elf for a moment as if trying to decide whether he was up to the job when he was so fatigued (and obviously foul of mood) and who could blame him? In the end he decided Lexius was far wiser than he, and far more diplomatic even now, so he stood playing the silent observer, doing his best to ignore the blood.

Lexius reached out and slid his hand back along the Sadist's spine, urging him right along with as he prowled toward Ares. He looked like a very well preserved elven lich in that moment with his gaunt face and those over-bright, colourful eyes.

Ares had narrowed his own look on the pair and he seemed to struggle against the binding chains with no success whatsoever.

"They will come." He rasped the warning. And he wasn't lying. The breaking of the prison had surely set off certain alarms and there would be those that came to investigate.

The Elf looked unconcerned. "And I will let them have all of us." Lexius didn't sound like he was bluffing in the slightest! "Unless you agree to extend your protection unconditionally over this mortal."

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

Ares turned to look at Mesteno again, more closely this time, and recognition suddenly lit in his expression. "Titan slayer." That he'd been involved was enough. That he hadn’t struck the killing blow was of no consequence.

Around them, one by one, the other stars began to wink out.

"S'been a while," Mesteno replied, confirming reluctantly. "He's not lying, y'know. He's pissed off enough to do what he said. But you gotta protect him too, 'cause I ain't havin' him in trouble on my behalf, and you owe him big time, 'cause if he hadn't come along I'd be lyin' out in Nidavellir stuck in a tunnel somewhere, and neither you nor Flash over there would be gettin' early parole."

Lexius couldn't allow any trace of divisiveness to be seen between them during this critical negotiation, but he was silently wishing he'd done something to mute Mesteno, as well. The way he tightened his fingers against Mesteno's spine certainly suggested as much. A lich digging in its claws. Inside Mesteno's mind, the beads snickered madly. Had Lexius re-established the mental link?

Ares struggled futilely, fitfully, then closed his eyes for a moment before looking past them toward the darkening skies, toward Aiden who had calmed to watch the proceedings intently. Then he looked back to the Elf and the necromancer. His look was equal parts resigned, desperate, and calculating. "Done. My unconditional protection for you both." The rock he was draped over shuddered, but that wasn't the reason the God suddenly gasped and bowed within the grip of the chains.

Whatever Lexius had done, it reached right into Ares and bound the promise into his being.

More lights winked out and that sense of apathy they'd left behind when they'd escaped the Waste came creeping back amongst them. With it, subtle strands of mist that began to form near their feet.

Instead of urgency, Mesteno felt that come-what-may nonchalance threatened to make a return, and he recognised it for what it was with a grimace. He clung to the anxious need to act instead, willing the adrenaline to saturate his blood stream and maintain that fight or flight mentality just a little longer.

"It won’t mean anything if I am bound." Ares barked abruptly.

Lexius stirred himself, his hand rising to curl over Mesteno's shoulder. "Use what is left of the horn on the chain." the Elf murmured as, behind them, Aiden suddenly burst from his confinement.

"Hurry, hurry! She's nearly here." He didn't question what had just happened. Instead he was rushing forward to help.

"I know, I know," Mesteno snapped at all the instructions as he hastened towards the God on his blood-slick rocks.

Lexius braced himself once Mesteno stepped away, his gaze shifting briefly to the mist, to the blackening void around him. He had one more thing to do and he did it no matter that it might delay his reaction to the incoming threat. Stepping to the rock, he crouched down and began to mop up Ares' blood, dried and fresh, with one of those ever-present muslin cloths he favoured.

Mesteno did his best to ignore the smell, and not to look at Ares like a meal as he grasped a section of the chain links to pull it into a taut line, the easier to strike. Then, in the same vicious way he'd struck at the transparent shield, he stabbed it with the remains of the horn. The links parted like silk.

Aiden, meanwhile, was jerking the chains out of Mesteno's grip as he parted them, pulling them off Ares' body.

"There, shit-- let's get out of here!" Mesteno demanded. The last scrap of the horn he touched to the collar Ares’ throat, and then it was gone, not even enough in the way of crumbs left to be worth trying to salvage.

When the collar fell open, Aiden flung it away and it was Ares that gave a throaty roar this time as the demi-god pulled him up off the rock.

A woman laughing answered the God of War's guttural call. She resolved from that blackness, the mist of the Waste making up a patchy dress that did little to conceal her grotesque, hag-like form. A truly, unfortunately ugly woman! Half her skin was blue, the other pale, white, and she was studying the three somewhat lazily as she floated closer, his words drifting ahead of her on a tide of dreary emotion. "Oh, someone found my pet." She lamented.

Lexius rose, stepped toward Ares and Aiden and ensured Mesteno did the same.

As for Ares, he stood on his own, his wounds closed now but his body still looking beaten. His eyes, though, they seared into the woman with hot, dark passion in their depths. That right there was sheer hate. "Hel." It wasn't a greeting or a name, it was a curse. "I will show you the true meaning of fury." The God intoned.

Mesteno grimaced. "Ah fuck he's going to..." Blind or deafen them all.

And Hel widened her eyes just a fraction before Ares flung forth his hands and sent gouts of black flames streaking her way, burning away the mists. With their destruction the sense of apathy abruptly faded. They surrounded Hel for several seconds after Ares lowered his hands, his expression still dark and foreboding, like he was working up another attack, but Aiden was having none of that. They weren't going to have to fight this God! Not if he had anything to say about it. He smacked Ares right on the back of the head.

"Use that shit to get us the fuck out of here. You can play with your bitch later."

Ares whipped a look back at them, and snarled. But rather than proceed to do whatever he'd been going to do, he paid heed. Just like Aiden had promised, the blackness around them faded and wherever they were... simply disappeared as the God shifted them all away, away, away.

They emerged in the midst of revelry.

It took Mesteno a moment to realise that they’d been sent to the newly erected temples of the Grecian territory within Rhy’Din’s Old Temple district. Perhaps Ares had heard Hermes or Hades calling him home! The pair of them were present, along with a rapturous looking Aphrodite, a bored Athena, an amused Artemis and a wine drinking Dionysus when the world solidified about them. They were at the very top of the temple, a statue of Ares dominating it centrally. All sides were open to the sky and sounds of celebration rose from the district below. Silks rippled in the breeze, large bonfires burned merrily in marble enclosures and tables were laden with all manner of food and drink.

The second things solidified, Aphrodite was rushing forth to fling herself (dramatically!) into Ares arms. "My Love!" She gushed, gracing him liberally with her ample assets.

Aiden stepped back, looking satisfied, but his gaze swung around to Lexius and Mesteno to make sure they'd made it back whole.

Lexius, at least, hadn't collapsed yet. But his hand had found its way back to Mesteno's shoulder.

The necromancer was numb to the pleasure of the celebrants, and his gaze swung across the temple with nothing more than his usual vicious focus.

If they received any attention from trailing deities and half-deities in their filthy state, he didn't notice them. He was searching for one particular face - Hades - and when his search-light stare found the bastard, it was the best he could do to bite back a snarl. Even with Ares’ sworn protection, he didn't trust him to keep the Underworld's lord from finding some loophole by which to punish him for his past insubordination. Intent on finding an exit, he’d begun to turn when he felt Lexius' hand on his shoulder.

"We shouldn't stick around here," he told the Elf in a low murmur. He didn't intend on offering a farewell, nor attempting to ingratiate himself with the Powers they’d reluctantly served. "Let's get outside the walls and see if we can't give 'em the slip." As if he thought Lexius might need some assistance in complying, he turned all the way around and began to push him backward towards an exit, bullying him along shamelessly.

Lexius wasn't opposed to Mesteno's plan, exactly. But the attempt at bullying had him narrowing his too bright eyes and digging in his heels. He had a surprising amount of strength left for looking so lich-like. He stood in place, gaze slanting back to the Sadist for a moment, then over his shoulder to the collection of deities and finally landing on Aiden, who was striding their way.

"Don't be stubborn jus' f'the sake of it!" Mesteno wasn't about to resort to dragging Lexius out by an arm, couldn't figure out why (beyond the opportunity to watch Powers at play in a situation he'd likely never be in again) he wouldn't simply agree to it.

Thankfully Aiden’s plan perfectly mirrored Mesteno's. "Come on," he said as he closed in, "while they’re busy kissing his boots." Aiden only knew they were in RhyDin (the place had a particular...feel to it that he'd recognized instantly) but he knew enough about how these temples were laid out to get them out of there and he was no more eager to linger and enjoy the family gathering.

Between the two of them, the Elf finally turned to move. They almost made it.

There was a set of stairs leading down just beyond a pillar and Sulphur was peeking his green, scaly head around the marble column and gesturing to them impatiently with one clawed hand.

"Why's he here?” Mesteno asked bluntly. “Ah fuck." Because it wasn't just Sulphur, was it?

Hermes was suddenly standing directly ahead, looking boyishly handsome with his gold hair, glittering blue eyes and a killer smile on his lips.

"You boys aren't trying to leave without saying goodbye, are you?" There was nothing threatening in his demeanour, but he was standing between them and the obvious exit. "Why don't you stay and celebrate?" he eyed Lexius, especially. "You look like you could use the rest. And we are ever so grateful." He even sounded sincere about that.

"Last thing we want is any attention from your fellow Powers," Mesteno told the smiling God without a flicker of one in return. "We did as you asked, we got what we need t'keep the rest of you off our backs. It's done. Finished."

However… "How grateful?" That was Lexius, speaking before Aiden could pipe up.

Hermes laughed, pointing a finger at the Elf and Mesteno both. "Oh, don't think we don't know what you did." Speaking of bargain that had wrested from Ares! "Very cunning." There was nothing but approval in that. "But even you must know, it's not finished."

[Mesteno]

[Continued...]

If Mesteno had been a fearful man, the colour might have drained from his face at Hermes statement. Not over? He was struck with a sudden impulse to slam his knuckles into those pretty, white teeth, but why add to the hold up?

"No. I'm done with all of you. Next one comes calling gets the finger and that's it," he informed Hermes blandly.

"Enough, 'Mes." All that laughing, winking, positive, happy energy the demi-god usually spouted was gone. For a second there, Aiden actually looked dangerous. No wings needed!

Hermes lifted his hands in surrender and stepped aside. The elegant gesture turned into a magician's flourish though, and he held forth a little pouch. "This grateful." He said it to Lexius specifically, but his gaze shifted to include Mesteno as he continued. "So grateful, you now have two sponsors." Aiden snatched the bag from his fingers and Hermes clasped his hands behind his back and further removed himself from their path. "You should probably run along now before my Uncle creates a scene. And Aiden?" This time he spoke directly to the demi-god. "We'll expect you back soon. We have so much to discuss."

Hermes moved away, but watched long enough to give Mesteno an exaggerated wink. Then (as if already fulfilling his promise!) the God put himself right between Mesteno and Hades, who was staring balefully at the necromancer. Hermes moved to intercept his fellow deity and do some distracting of his own. The other Gods, but for one, were doting over Ares, who seemed to have completely forgotten Lexius, Mesteno and Aiden even existed! Artemis was the hold out. She lounged on a couch, absently stroking the head of a large brown hunting hound that was sprawled on the ground beside her divan. She was watching the three of them with something less than boredom.

Aiden watched Hermes go, eyes narrowed, but then he was gesturing to the Elf and the Sadist. "Sulphur will build a gate for you. Come on."

The demon had flattened himself behind the pillar again when Hermes appeared, but he peeked around again and hissed toward them. "C'mon! Move y'monkey asses!" As personable as ever that demon.

"Where the Hell do you intend on going?" Mesteno asked Aiden as he moved wearily down the steps. "Are you planning on telling any old friends you're back?"

He did not specifically state Koyan of course. The man seemed to be lacking in sharp memories of the Turk, and perhaps for Lexius' sake, he didn't want to instigate any awkwardness. Mesteno asked because he needed to know ahead of time whether his return was a secret. He was good at holding his tongue.

Aiden ushered the Elf and the Necromancer along to the stairs, passing the pouch Hermes had produced to Lexius when the Elf nailed him with a look and held out his hand. He didn't want to know what was in it. Neither did Lexius it seemed, for he simply tucked that pouch away into his satchel and followed the three as the demi-god answered Mesteno.

"Naw. I aint going anywhere. It's tempting," Aiden admitted, shrugging his broad shoulders, "but they'll find me. And there's still work to do." Whatever the hell that meant! He went right on, gaze turned to them both. "Look, I'll do my best to keep them off your backs, but 'Mes was right. It ain’t finished. There's a lot going on down here. A lot I have to catch up on. But sure as shit you two are going to be known about in Olympus. What we're doing should be enough to keep any of the others occupied." He laughed a bit. "It's not like they can stuff us back into the bottle now. Just do whatever it is your guys normally do and I'll stay out of the way."

At the bottom of the stairs Sulphur had cleared out a spot and had already erected one of those hellish gates they'd been through before. But before they could hop through it, Aiden thrust out one hand and got serious. It was a strange look on him. "I owe you both. More than I can ever repay. Thank you for pulling my nuts out of that particular fire."

"No offense, but your release was a necessary step on the way to gettin' your boss out," Mesteno told him bluntly. "Don't get me wrong, it was worthwhile 'n y'seem a decent sort, but don't go feeling grateful for it when y'were just a cog in the wheel. Tell me though," he went on, his dark auburn brows pinching close together above the bridge of a sharp sculpted nose, "is the taint gone? Will it ever be gone?"

Aiden...laughed. Well then. So much for a heartfelt thanks. He pulled his hand back when it didn't appear the Elf would be shaking it either, waving shortly toward Sulphur, who'd turned a particularly ugly shade of puce, and took a step back.

"Naw. It's still in there. Sorry." He shrugged apologetically, then pulled off the shirt Lexius had lent him, once again revealing the wing tattoos curling over his shoulders and along his arms. "Once you fuck with a Titan, you stay fucked." He handed the shirt back to Lexius, who inclined his head toward the portal.

"Where does the portal lead?" he was starting to sound as bad as he looked. Aiden glanced to Sulphur and it was the demon that answered.

"Da stables." And that seemed good enough for Lexius. He nudged Mesteno back into motion.

Mesteno hesitated, despite nudging, and eyed Aiden with blatant indecision. It was probably foolish, definitely risky, but… "Listen, I'm not about to tell you how to find me, but if you ever need to get word to me you can leave word at the Red Dragon. Find the Grand Marnier on the shelf behind the bar 'n just tuck it under the bottle. No one else drinks the stuff. I'll find it." Because whilst he hadn't been up for shaking hands and heartfelt thanks, he felt a little sorry for Aiden. And it never hurt to have a link in the city if one couldn't spend much time there themselves. "Vale," his final word of parting, and he turned to go striding through Sulphur's portal.

Aiden grinned and dropped Mesteno a lascivious wink. "Sure thing, Whippet. Great ta meetcha." Mr Happy and Carefree and Bawdy once again, though he didn't go so far as to tease the Elf in the same manner. To him, he just offered the grin and a nod. "Take care, Elf Man. Thanks for findin' my pants." He patted the jeans and watched them vanish unescorted step through the portal.

They stepped out into evening gloom and near silence. The stalls were occupied, but there seemed to be no one awake on the premises to see them emerge into the central square in front of the stable building proper. Pleasant to be back amongst the rustle of trees stood tall along the private drive leading to the property, the air full of the scent of clean straw and well-kept leather.

The Hell Gate winked out of existence leaving only a dark char mark on the ground where it had been. By morning, even that would be gone. The beads clicked softly (out loud and in Mesteno's head!) as Lexius shifted from sweeping a hard look across their surroundings to inspecting Mesteno critically. He was still on his feet, but he wouldn't be going much farther. The stables, perhaps. A dark corner behind a stack of hay bales where he could meditate just long enough to draw the energy he needed to get back to the desert. But first...Mesteno.

"You can get home from here?" His voice was still rough, his reserves all but empty, but he still stretched out a thread along with the verbal question, as if to check one last time Mesteno was well and whole.

While the Elf inspected him, Mesteno gave him lengthy consideration in return, and did nothing to try and bump that searching thread from his mind. It went further to sweep across his physical form, cataloguing all those aches and pains. It made Lexius’ already grim express go even more ghastly. But there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"It's a few miles walk, and I'm not feelin' ready to try the Shadow Lands so soon," Mesteno confessed without a scrap of shame. "I got a place here I can go but you..." He knew without asking that Lexius was probably going to collapse the moment he found a good spot. He wouldn't be vanishing in the usual swirl of arid desert winds. "Come with me? We got a cot here f'when one of us needs to sleep over if we got a mare ready to drop. They usually do it in the middle of the night." Wryly added. Typical awkward female creatures.

He took a step towards the stable building, a tall, two storey structure with a single central corridor that led between the individual stalls. There were rooms at the far end for equipment storage, tack and tall feed bins, but there was that promised cot too, tucked away next to the large, empty stall kept immaculately clean for when a mare needed a little extra space to stretch out in her labour pains.

"Use the tattoo." Lexius bid the Sadist, only then allowing a trace of the weariness inside him to seep into his voice. "It will help with the physical, at the very least." And there was no reason Mesteno should suffer any more than he had. Into the stables was where he would have gone anyway, yet the Elf hesitated a moment longer, the thread dissolving away. But finally, he gave a nod. "Very well." And stepped into motion. He lacked the usual grace and quiet, almost trudging.

"I just will it to work, right?" Mesteno asked of the tattoo, tucking his gloves in his belt and rolling up his sleeve so that he could get a good look at the blue ink. He wasn't arguing. If he was going to sleep he wanted to be comfortable.

He led the way with no more grace than the Elf, and certainly none of the usual deliberate quiet. A couple of the animals poked their noses over the stall doors to watch them as they made their way down the central aisle, a roman nosed Friesian who the necromancer seemed to assume would tolerate him smelling odd, if the bare brush of gloved fingers across its velvet muzzle was any indication - oh and a familiar looking Arabian locked up across from him, who flattened his ears and snorted disgust, throwing in a sound kick against the stall door for good measure.

"Yes. Just press your hand to the pattern and Will it to work,” Lexius instructed. “Your Will is strong, Mesteno. You did well."

There were no keys for the rooms at the end of their short walk. Just key codes, and Mesteno hit the buttons with clumsy jabs before opening up the room he meant for Lexius. There was the promised cot, decent enough for snatching a few hours of sleep on with a small desk beside it. There was a monitor perched on it, presumably hooked up to a camera overlooking the brood mares’ stall when it was required, though it wasn't running presently.

"Oh," Mesteno added as if he'd just remembered something important, then turned and pointed to a shelf at the foot of the cot. "Kettle." In case he was in need of that spiced coffee when he woke.

The Elf examined the room briefly before he stepped into it. He did not move to lay down on the cot. Instead, he folded his legs with slow deliberation and took a seat on the floor in front of it. Success! He did not topple over. He did lean his spine against the edge of the cot, though, to ensure he stayed somewhat upright, looking up to Mesteno from the floor. He was already winding the beads through his fingers. Finally, he closed his eyes and went still. "I will check on you in a few days." He murmured then. It wasn't exactly negotiable. "Contact me sooner if there is need."

The Elf choice to park himself on the floor earned him a mildly baffled look, and then something that might have been a smile... or just the ghost of one.

"I'm sure the cot would be more comfortable to meditate on," Mesteno told him simply, but he didn't insist. Instead he returned that lingering look when Lexius tilted it his way as if there were words lurking behind his tongue. Maybe a thank you. Perhaps an apology that he'd suffered through so much with him. In the end, he suspected he already knew thanks to the mental link, and he'd never find a way to eloquently put it into a sentence anyway.

"Stay out of trouble," was all he told him, before slipping away and heading back down the aisle to trudge outside. In the end he wouldn't be all that far away at all, but Mesteno wasn't about to admit he preferred sleeping outdoors anyway. A night beneath the trees under familiar Heavens was more than enough for him.

By morning, the Elf was gone without a trace of him left to prove he'd existed at all.

[End]

[OOC: Huge thanks to Lexius' writer for their epic plotting!]