The Cost of Peace

[Soran Nightblade]

"Of course," Vlad scoffed, bemused by the concept that he could forgot something. He walked with her casually down the long stairwell. "Do you recall, My Lady?" he grinned mischievously.

[Emora Deen]

"Ugh... Maybe they'll have signs up?" she wondered allowed. The outside was hot, the sun beaming down on them brightly. The courtyard was filled with Outerland Soldiers, and one or two Arken soldiers conversing with them. It was very strange to be surrounded by the enemy, and not being attacked by them.

She still stayed close to Vlad, but then again she liked being close to him anyway, so she couldn't nessasarily blame the enemy. "Was it this hot when we arrived?" she buttered, running her hand through her long hair, brushing off over one shoulder.

The guards opened the large bronze gates for them, and they were suddenly greated by a large number of merchants with trays of goods. "Pretty lady, look at these!" "Good sir, admire this!" "Hungry? Try these wonders!" It was like a swarm of ants, and the opening of the doors had stirred them up.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad studied the humans that swarmed around him with vague amusement. He walked through them slowly, observing the things they held out to him but remaining deaf to their pleas and offers. He wondered if this was a standard marketplace, or if the crowds had gathered specifically to woo the visiting foreigners. Were there no local markets for their goods? He began to suspect that the city was not as wealthy as its golden palace would lead one to believe.

A young girl who looked much too young to be out in the streets alone squeezed through the legs of the older men and thrust a cluster of half-bruised flowers up toward Tenele. "Beautiful flower for your hair," she said, looking half frightened and half hopeful. "Pretty moon hair," she tried again, and it was clear she'd practiced the foreign words to say to foreign guests. Of course, thanks to the Queen's enchantment, both Vlad and Tenele could understand her language already.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled softly, kneeling down to be level with the child. She tilted her head, looking at the flowers. Tenele lifted her skirt to her knee, revealing the knee high brown boots. She reached under the edge, the boot was tight enough that the money she had placed there stayed relatively to the top. She pulled out a pouch and from it removed a silver coin, keeping it concealed in one hand while she replaced the pouch. Tenele held up two fingers, signaling she wanted two flowers.

The little girl smile, and handed her two pink flowers. Tenele handed her the coin, and ruffled her dark hair as she was standing. "Hurry and hide that," she whispered, turning towards Vlad. Tenele gazed at him, placing one pink flower in her hair. Then, with a soft smile, she reaced up placed the second flower on his ear, wondering just how long it would stay there.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad raised an eyebrow at Tenele, though his ego hardly seemed bruised by the flower. If anything, he would probably have considered it inferior to his good looks. He observed as the child wriggled back through the sea of legs and ran off toward an alleyway beyond the crowd. "She has the right idea," he commented. On a more practical note, they were in contested, if not hostile territory. Allowing a crowd of strangers this close to them did not seem prudent. The vampire took Tenele's hand in his, then pulled her forward against him. In the blink of an eye, they were standing in a narrow dirt passageway bordered on either side by yellowed plaster. It was quieter here, but the buzz of activity where they had just been could still be heard, so they weren't far. Over the roofs of the buildings they stood between, the palace loomed in against the blue sky.

"Much better," Vlad said, as if he'd just rid himself of an extremely needy dog by throwing a stick. A broken pot lay in shards of clay at their feet. "Whatever it is they don't want us to find, it's not over there," Vlad commented, walking down the alleyway away from the palace to see what was at the other end.

[Emora Deen]

On the otherside of the small alley there were still a good number of people, but they seemed less interested in attacking them with the things they wanted to sell. Tenele liked this street a bit more. It had lovely architectural arches that hung over the streets. High above their heads were clothes lines with billowing sheets and sheers. It seemed more peaceful here.

She spotted the little girl turning a corner and tapping along in that direction barefooted. She was really cute, and Tenele felt sad for her that she couldn't even afford shoes. She thought for a moment, and glanced to Vlad. "What size shoe do you think that little girl wears?" she asked curiously.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad cast Tenele a speculative look. "Oh, I'd say they're about none-of-our-business sized."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele narrowed her eyes. "I just think that the little girl needs shoes," Tenele argued, knowing his answer told her she shouldn't worry with it. Maybe she was just being oversentimental, but she really wanted to do something nice for her. Tenele wondered silently where she could buy shoes, she didn't exactly know her way around town.

Up ahead the path grew much darker where a tunnel cut under some buildings. The pointed arch made the darkness beyond seem slightly more menacing that it probably was orignally intended too. "We probably shouldn't stray too far from the palace..." As she was walking through a strong gust of wind that smelled of the ocean tore through the tunnel, tossing the flower from her silver hair.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad shrugged indifferently at Tenele's sentimentalism. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, but apparently they were going to purchase children's footwear. "We can get back to the palace at any time," he said, his interest sparking as he glanced down the tunnel. "There's nothing here I can't handle. Besides, Queeny didn't send us here just to see what they want us to see." He replaced her flower with his and gave her a reassuring thump on the head and he started off into the tunnel.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele wated just inside the tunnel and watched him as he began to disappear into the darkness. "Don't make me have to save you!" she called, beginning to walk a bit faster. She wondered idly where the tunnel led, and if they were supposed to go there at all. Come to think of it, the closer they had gotten, the less people they had seen until finally the streets had become completely void. It was hard to tell if there were any other hallways branching off from the interior, or if there were doors of some sort. In fact, the further she went the harder it was to see anything. She couldn't see anything, even what she bumped into. "Sorry. Maybe we shouldn't go down here?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sniffed and waved a hand at Tenele's cautiousness. He was intrigued by how dark and abandoned the obvious tunnel was. It had to exist for some kind of reason. A faintly sour, salty smell was rising from up ahead. He suspected dead fish for a moment, but his sense of smell was too attuned to the scent of blood not to recognize it. "Smells like death," he said with interest as he continued forward. A faint glow of fire up ahead signaled that something was up there, and the tunnel became increasingly steep until they reached a series of steps carved into the rock floor.

He took the stairs two at a time, his curiosity burning. A faint energy he understood, but didn't fully recognize was prickling at his skin. Then he reached the base of the stairs, and the ceiling gave way to a vast cave filled with choppy, blue-black water. The stairs stopped at a narrow dock that led out over the water to a circular pyre that stood like an island straight ahead. Torches were lit around the edges of the pyre, and a human body was impaled upon a large stake that stood at the center. He was too far back still to see details, but the body smelled like it had been dead for several days, and the cave at large smelled of something much older and more powerful.

He paused at the beginning of the dock, his skin prickling. "It looks like the locals have some interesting customs," he said, forcing his eyes away from the pyre to glance back and be sure Tenele was still with him. Funny...normally he would know that already without looking. He'd completely lost track of his attention.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele cupped her hand and put her fingers to her nose, looking around in disgust. "It smells terrible," she muttered, moving around to see more. At the sight of the body she gasped, realizing that was one part of the stentch. "Dear, Gods..."

She moved around Vlad and began to head down the steps, find her curiousity getting the better of her. She didn't see anyone around, and wonder who would mind anyway. "It seems to be a ritual scarifce... I'm guessing for Verin," she muttered, the boards to the dock groaning as her light form stepped across. A wind blew in from an opening in the cave, causing the fabric of her clothes to ripple around her form, and her silver hair to toss around her.

She saw a mounted plaque and bent forward. It was rusted over, mostly from the salt water, so it was hard to make out the writing. She glanced back at him, suddenly finding she had an uneasy feeling growing. "Vlad, maybe we shouldn't be caught her. Being the next one up on that spike doesn't seem like a pleasing idea."

[Soran Nightblade]

He followed her out onto the dock, and the prickling stopped. Instead, he felt energetic, almost enthralled. As he approached, the pyre, he heard an odd sound, like the singing of metal, echoing in his ears. Almost like the vastness of battle and death compressed into one efficient, perfect chorus. He was surprisingly pleased by the sound, but a sensible part of his mind was telling him that it definitely wasn't coming from the cave around him, and that something was off.

He heard his name and looked ahead at Tenele. Concentrating on her words above the melody of war was like whispering in a storm. This was strange. Something wasn't right. Still, the feeling sat at the back of his chest as if it were merely a hunch, and not a glaring and immediate truth.

"Do you hear that?" he said over the thick rhythm of steel and drums, deliberately quieting his tone to match hers, though the result was that he hardly heard his own voice.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele glanced around, but all she heard was the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, the whistly of wind through the cave, and the steady creak of boards as the water pressed against the dock. "Hear what?" she asked softly, stepping back towards him. She tired to listen closer, knowing that Vlad's hearing was beyond hers. Still she heard nothing.

"We should get out of here," she muttered, feeling so uneasy that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising up. It felt as if they were being watched, or something was coming. Her mother was an elf, and they were very sensitive to strong magic. But, this felt different. Something just felt wrong. He seemed to be transfixed by something. So she grabbed his hand and tugged him to turn back away from the phyre.

A woosh of air came from somewhere in the cave. The fire spring to life with a sudden roar, as if something had entered the cave. Something evil...

Something unseen. She froze, turning and peering behind Vlad at the alter. The fire... and the skewered body that seemed to be contorted, frozen forever in a look of agony. She barely noticed that her breathing was coming quick and short. "Let's leave. Now." Her eyes met Vlad's, but something behind him caught her eye. She could have sworn she saw a man, tall, shirtless, with a long black open robe... He had long shoulderlength dark hair. But, as her eyes flickered behind Vlad, the image was gone. She had to be seeing things. It was just the air in this place. It was too creepy... to dark for her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's adrenaline was very gradually rising, partly due to his uneasy knowledge that something was wrong. The noise in his head was appealing and enthralling. It made him want to go to the pyre, and that made him want to run. Something was here, something stronger than him, and he didn't know what it would do next.

"Yeah, time to go," he mumbled, letting Tenele tug him back down the dock. Walking was slow - he wanted them both out, now. He stopped Tenele by pulling her back against him, and he opened his mind's link for a teleport back to the alleyway.

Blinding power flooded through his senses. Abruptly, he was surrounded by a current of energy so vivid that he didn't know where his ended and it began. Nothing existed except the drumming. He froze, his arms tense around Tenele, where he could neither see nor feel her. His eyes drained from their vibrant red to a deep, endless black.

"YOU USE YOUR POWER HERE IN THIS PLACE. IT IS MINE," a voice that was far from human boomed in his head. A thrill of energy rushed up his spine, and he forced the alien power away from his mind, trying to focus, to bring himself back to the cave.

When he regained his senses, he was nearly on his knees, half-hanging on Tenele. His eyes shifted back to their normal ruby hue, and his pulse was skipping erratically. The drumming was gone, and the cave was so quiet that it was dizzying. "Time to get out," he breathed, stating the obvious as he regained his footing and stood up. He looked uncharacteristically shaken.