Mature: Desert Moon

[Emora Deen]

"Knowing Atul, he will ride fast and hard. A two week trip may only take him a week. It depends on what happens when he reaches the forest. There are many dangers there," Lelana replied. "I wanted a confrontation. I wanted him to bring your wife here. I wanted to kill her."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad stared at her. Kill Tenele? "Well, I think that's a stupid plan. You lose planning rights for having the worst plan. What if we bring the golem to the border of the forest with us, and meet him there? No one can throw the first stone if their magic doesn't work."

[Emora Deen]

Lelana frowned at him. "You just want the gollem there so your wife gets her precious memories back and you can ride off into the sunset together," she grumbled. "I'm not going to kill your precious wife, and I don't feel like going to the border of the forest to wait for him. But, feel free to go yourself."

Lelana stepped to the bedside table and lifted a jagged piece of stone. She tossed it to him. "There."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad caught the stone, and didn't move. "I want you to come with me," he said.

[Emora Deen]

"I don't want to go with you," Lelana growled at him. "I belong here. I'm happy here. I'll just hurt people if I go with you. Especially your wife."

[Soran Nightblade]

"You are not happy here!" Vlad snapped. "And you will not hurt Tenele. You belong with us, not in this emotional prison you've built."

[Emora Deen]

Lelana took a step back. "I don't," she shouted at him. "You're just lying. I don't belong with you. You just want to make me your project. You think you can fix me. Well, you can't! Really, you think I can fit in so easily with your family? With your wife, who distrusts me, my brother who hates me, and with your fledgling that I seduced into nearly killing his sister?" Lelana laughed, dark and long. A musical sound that was both beautiful and sinister. "You are a fool. Go, before I jump inside your head and make you wish you were dead."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad rolled his eyes. "I will talk to your brother, and then I am coming back for you. He stood up, a little unsteady, and walked to the invisible wall that surrounded his room. "Let it down," he muttered.

[Emora Deen]

Lelana's face burned with so much emotion as she saw him go to the wall. He was leaving. Good. GOOD! She didn't need his company anyway. Lelana waved her hand and the invisible wall's power faded. "Go, its down. Don't come back here, Vlad," Lelana seethed. "I don't need your help. I don't need your pity."

[Soran Nightblade]

The frustration and exhaustion piled in on him as he reached the barrier. Vlad glared over his shoulder at her with all the emotion of the night before. He fully turned and marched back to her. The vampire leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "What the hell is wrong with making you my project?" he growled quietly.

He took a deep breath, turned around and left through the open barrier. "I'm coming back," he snapped without looking back. He climbed over a huge tree root and jumped to the lower ground on the other side, making his way into the unfamiliar territory with nothing but the stone in his grip.

[Emora Deen]

Lelana cupped her cheek as she watched him disappear. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to laugh madly and burn the whole palace down. Instead she clutched at her chest and fell to her knees. The smallest shred of hope filtered up in her and her darkness threatened to crush it.

"Please," she whispered to herself. "Please, don't."

* * *

“Are you ready?” Atul asked Tenele, standing just outside her bedroom door. She stumbled over her words, admiring the armor he wore over his usual kingly robes. He looked very much like a man going into battle. For some odd reason she found that ridiculously attractive.

“I think so,” Tenele whispered to him, bending down to be eye level with her daughter. Atul followed suit.

“Mommy,” Tenara whispered. “Why do you always have to go?”

“Because, Daddy needs me.”

“Daddy…” Tenara frowned. “Papa?”

“We’ll be back very soon. Until then, Uncle Talon is going to be here for you,” Atul whispered, placing a kiss to the top of his daughter’s head. “Beautiful child, we won’t leave you forever.”

Tenara nodded. “I know. You will come back with Daddy.”

Tenele moved to hoist her pack over her shoulder, but Atul took it from her. “I’ll carry that.” The sun was setting behind the long line of soldiers that the King had collected for their journey. Tenele felt a flutter of nervousness run through her. This was dangerous. Atul had warned her, many times. And, while they were heading out with an army, that didn’t stop her from being nervous about it.

“You’ll ride alongside me,” Atul told her, attaching her pack to her saddle. He hoisted her up, made sure she had her balance, and then took his place on his own horse at the head of his army.

“Is it smart,” his guard muttered next to him. “For a King to ride off to battle with his Queen? Isn’t it compromising to you? You’ll think of her more than the others on the battlefield. It could cloud your judgment. If you die, you need her hear to rule in your place.”

“She isn’t my queen yet, Hagard,” Atul sighed softly. “And her husband is the one in danger. He is not mine yet, either.”

Hagard laughed. “Sire,” he smiled. “They have always been yours.”

* * *

They rode all night and through the next day until exhaustion wore them down, and it was only then that Atul called the army to stop for camp. When his large tent was pitched Atul guided Tenele inside. "I thought we could share it," he sighed. "If it is too forward, I can find another place to sleep, but I thought this would be easier. I can protect you better here. I have your sleeping mat there, and mine over in that corner. Is that agreeable with you?"

Tenele nodded slowly. "That's fine. I mean, we'll be sharing a bedroom before long, right? And a bed. I should get used to your sleeping patterns."

Atul smiled. "I'm glad you are okay with this."

"Just no funny business," Tenele warned him, wagging a finger at him.

"No funny business," Atul promised. He clapped his hands together. "Okay, now, to warn you, even if the men are tired there will probably be a lot of drinking and acting foolish. Shall we join them? I think it will please them to have their future Queen amongst their merry making."

"Isn't that a little improper?" Tenele asked softly.

Atul grinned. "We have different standers of improper in Hajara." He held out his hand to her.

Tenele's smiled brightly and placed her hand in his. "I suppose being a little improper every now and then is alright."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad pushed through the dense rainforest, following the arc of the sun in the sky. There were plenty of natural hazards here. He even had to fight off a large, black catlike animal at one point. Usually, wild animals gave him a wide berth. They could feel it rolling off his skin; he was a more dangerous predator. But with the stone in his pocket and his powers gone, he didn't have the same presence. Fighting things off didn't put him in much danger, but it slowed him down. Injuries meant he had to stow the slice of rock safely away somewhere and escape to another area long enough for his body to heal. It was also a waste of strength, which he needed to conserve if he was going to get across the desert next.

He eventually made it onto the wagon trail he and Lelana had taken to enter the forest. Now that the path was easier, he let himself slip in and out of his thoughts as he took the mossy earth at a brisk pace.

He didn't stop for nightfall. He plowed on through the cooler hours, finding his vision better in the dark anyway. Around dawn, he reached it. The edge of the jungle, where the shade ran out and nothing but miles and miles of cold sands lay ahead. Vlad stared out at it, at the sun rising on the horizon.

His body was really starting to feel like shit. He hadn't slept in two days. He had nothing to think about except the polarized visions Lelana had given him, and he didn't know which to focus on. Sometimes he thought of Tenele and Atul together, crying out for each other, and his body needed them so badly he could hardly bear the friction of his pants as he walked. Other times, he remembered only Tenele screaming in horror beneath him. It drove him mad. At one point, where the memories of pleasure and the cruelty intersected a little too cleanly, it almost felt like a fantasy. He'd dropped his pants then, and availed himself against the jagged bark of a tree until his flesh was torn and bleeding. After that, his mind didn't dare connect the two, but he let the injury fester without healing, just in case.

Now, during the day, was the best time to rest. Then he would cross the desert by night, when the sun wasn't so harsh. He made a small camp at the edge of the trail and let himself pass into sleep.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele laughed, stumbling over her footing. “I can’t, I can’t,” she protested Atul, holding onto his hands as they came to a stop near the fire. “Really, I’m bad at this dance. Let’s go back to the other one.”

“Nah, you’re good at this one,” Atul replied. “Promise.”

Tenele sighed, readjusting her footing. Her cheeks were flushed from the drink, and she felt boiling hot even with the cool night desert air. The soldiers started playing their drums and horn again and Atul carried her off with the music. Unfortunately, both of them were a little tipsy, so the dance ended with them tripping over one another and toppling into the sand.

Atul grunted when Tenele landed on him, an elbow going into his gut. His men laughed and helped them back to their feet. “I think I’m done dancing,” Tenele snickered.

“Ah, me too,” the King replied, rubbing his abdomen. “We should sleep anyway. We rise early tomorrow.”

Atul led Tenele back into the tent, the closer he grew to it the more nervous he got. He hadn’t shared a room with her in a while, and he was still afraid of making her uncomfortable. He held back the flap of the tent and offered her entrance first. Away from the hot fire the night air was freezing. The inside of the tent did little to hold in heat, but it was warmer than exposure to the air outside.

They separated and went their own way, curling into their own sleeping mats for the night. It wasn’t but a few hours later that Tenele drowsily dragged her bed over to where the King was sleeping. “I’m cold,” she whispered to him, waking him with a gentle nudge.

Atul, still half a sleep, lifted his arm and curled his body over her shivering form. He was hot, always hot, like an eternal fire burned inside him. The heat washed over her chilled skin and her shivering stopped. He settled his face into the crook of her neck, falling back asleep almost seconds after waking.

Early morning came with the blare of a horn that startled Atul awake. He was too comfortable to move, with the gently pressure of a soft form lying next to him, and that heat radiating into his body. He was confused at first, but then he vaguely remembered her seeking him out for warmth. It made his heart swell to wake up next to her, after so many nights of her being so close, and yet so very, very far away.

“Tenele,” he whispered, fighting to urge to kiss her. “Wake. It’s time to go.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad managed about four hours of sleep before a noise woke him up. He opened his eyes to find a long serpent resting on the soil in front of him, just watching. Vlad blinked at it lazily. Then he noticed the others.

At least ten snakes were around him. He'd never seen anything like it. Each was bright yellow, with fire-orange diamonds down their backs and dark black heads. He felt something at the back of his neck and turned. A huge snake loomed over him, marked the same as the others, but with a black hood. Its head was the same size as his. He'd never seen anything like it. "What the..." he muttered.

The vampire's long claws slowly extended from his hands. What was happening? Were they hunting together? He'd never heard of such a thing. Was it even possible for the huge hooded serpent in front of him to be the same creature as the normal-sized creatures on the ground?

He sat up very slowly and prepared to get out of there. He wasn't interested in messing with snakes when he needed his energy for the desert, and if he hit one, the others would strike.

"Easy," he muttered. Snakes wouldn't be interested in something his size. But the big one might go for it. He thrust up on his heel and bolted. A heavy weight struck the back of his head and threw him forward. He was down, on the ground, wrestling with the big snake's heavy coils of flesh. The more he struggled, the more ensnared he grew. Vlad tried to reach for the stone in his back pocket. He couldn't get to it. The grip was too tight, his arm too trapped to move. He wriggled his wrists and did as much damage as he could without hurting himself.

Small jaws pierced down on his ankle. Another found a strip of his forearm unshielded and struck. "I am not food!" the vampire snarled impatiently. How long before the stupid things gave up?

He threw his weight upward, sitting up with the huge snake latched around him, and a wave of dizziness dropped him back down. His head hurt. It felt icy cold and boiling hot at the same time.

It couldn't be...he couldn't possibly be poisoned. Those things didn't work against his body. And yet his limbs felt more and more painful as he was dragged, kicking and growling, off the path and into an enormous burrow.

[Emora Deen]

They rode for another day and a half until the men could barely trudge through the sand. Atul called them to camp again. Tenele was exhausted, and Atul could see that in her eyes. There was no merry making that night, as everyone conserved their energy by going straight to bed after dinner. Tenele didn’t hesitate to sleep near him like the other night, and he was more than happy to lie next to her.

“You stink,” Tenele murmured with a laugh.

“Three days without a shower and walking in the desert heat doesn’t bode well for hygiene, my lady,” he muttered. He lifted his arm from around her waist. “You don’t have to sleep so close to me if the smell bothers you.”

“It’s not terrible,” Tenele replied quickly.

The King smiled and settled back against her. “You don’t smell so awesome yourself, by the way.”

“Then, our scents can be at war with each other while we sleep,” Tenele replied with a smile, eyes closed.

“I’m sure they will battle fiercely,” he sighed.

Tenele laughed again, and it was sweet music to his ears. “I missed this,” he whispered, daring to press a kiss to her cheek. “I missed lying next to you.”

Tenele smiled softly. “You don’t seem terribly worried anymore, I don’t know whether to take it as a good or bad sign.”

“I am worried,” the King sighed. “But, I hide it. I have to hide it. I’m taking my men into another kingdom for a man that I love. I cannot show how worried and fearful I am in the face of them, and I can’t show it to you. Who we go up against… She is dangerous and unpredictable, and if she hasn’t killed him already… the slightest change of heart will end his life or his sanity. We have to tread very lightly once we reach her realm.”

“So you are afraid?” Tenele asked him, reaching up to cup the side of his face.

“Deathly,” the King replied, his blue eyes opening to look at her.