Heirot

Tenele watched them, listening to there conversation as she approached. The heated wind was harsh, and it tossed her silver hair around her face, her calf-length coat about her slender form. Her green eyes flashed between the two who were so bent on eventually killing one another. She stepped right between them, just before there weapons, and wrapped her hands on the blades of there swords. “How about,” Tenele began as her eyes flashed between them. “You both drop your swords at the same time.” She didn’t let them have much of a choice. She pulled on the weapons, forcing them until the blade point was facing slightly down.

“There is no time for quarrel between the both of you. Enough blood has been shed by Verin’s army, and this fight will bring nothing. Not a shred of good. If you must fight, and if you must shed blood, than let it be the enemy’s blood your sword tastes. Not your comrades.” Her hands slipped from the blades, the imprint of the side on her hand. It hadn’t cut, but she’d had to press pretty hard to force those swords down. She was hoping that would work, but then again, they might just jump back at it without listening to her. If so, she had other means of stopping them.

* * *

Atul motioned to Fero and they both stepped in to the room. Atul was standing slight between Vlad and the ex-priest of Verin. “We need to discuss some things,” Atul told him gently, glancing to Fero. “There might be a way your recent connection with Verin can aid us tomorrow.”

Vlad friendly expression remained so rigidly in place when Fero entered that his glare was actually conspicuous by its absence. In case there was any doubt of his sentiment, however, the empathic hellhound immediately picked up on his master's fury. Stalker stiffened menacingly, eyes aglow like fire. A low, surreal growl haunted the room.

"I respect you, prince, and I expect the same. This man does not deserve my mercy, and he is not safe just because you brought him here," the no-life king warned, very slowly. The room suddenly seemed twenty degrees colder with the ice of Vlad's voice.

Atul watched the hell hound carefully. "Fero has a theory. That, if its possible, your connection with Verin might help us be able to figure out if he has any knowledge of our plan. Or if he himself as one. My father has blocked me out from him because of this. But, he might not have blocked you out yet, if he feels he might be able to gane you back. There's a risk... Looking for Verin inside you mind might make that around your neck be a little less useful. It should keep you from completely going over to him though. And, when you pull away from him, you should eventually going back to the way you are now."

Fero met Vlad's gaze. "I explained to Lady Tenele that it wasn't my fault what happened. Verin knew I wouldn't betray you in the end, and he changed the ruins I'd drawn. That's the only explanation," Fero tried to explain, but he had a feeling that the vampire wouldn't be inclined to believe him.

* * *

Tenele watched them longer and they didn't seemed to want to kill each other right at the moment. "I guess I need to introduce myself to you all. I'm Queen's Maiden Tenele Raider from Ighten, and Prince Atul has made me your general," she explained.

The men glanced between each other. “We haven’t got a lot of time to get used to the way we act, the way I run things, or the way I can fight with you. I’ve been in more battles, under cover missions, and escapes than I can count, or remember. I’m experienced in infiltration. I’m skilled in a variety of weapons, but my specialty is the sword.” She felt like she was giving a description of herself for a job. “There’s a good chance that most of us will die tomorrow, and if you haven’t come to except that fact than you have the rest of the day and night to think about it. I don’t want a single man who hasn’t got what it takes to go. If we can’t depend on you to hold your own and do your job, then we can’t use you.”

They just stared blankly at her. “I’m not saying don’t be scared. Death is something to fear. Its uncertainty, and the unknown and as humans we’ll always fear that. But, fear can aid you. Anger can guide you. I see vengeance in your eyes, and know well that you all have suffered. You have lost, and might still lose. But, your sacrifice in this war will not go in vain. Your prince will not let it. You will be victorious.”

Tenele watched them, her green eyes twinkling. The sun making her silver hair shimmer like diamonds. “You will win, despite your numbers, despite your training, and despite the fact you go against a God. You will win, because you are fighting for something worth dying for. The enemy, they fight for greed and greed alone. I do not even know you well, and I have faith in you. I ask you to have faith in me.”

Vlad's eyes smoldered, his cool composure gone with the new turn of events. "You expect me to believe your pathetic story, and then to open my mind to Verin at your suggestion?" He stalked toward Fero as he spoke. His eyes blazed so fiercely that they cast hard shadows over his face, amplifying his demonic features. "Sure, that seems reasonable. You've betrayed me once, it would never happen a second time. That would just be silly," he seethed, passing Atul in his steady approach toward the man who had delivered him into Verin's hands.

Atul put a hand on Vlad's shoulder to try and stop his approach on Fero, who took a wary step back. "It was not his idea. I merely consulted him," Atul confided in Vlad. "We don't want to walk into a trap tomorrow, Vlad. It would be the end of all of this..."

Vlad froze when Atul touched him, glowering at Fero. He could feel Verin in the back of his mind, drawn to his hatred. "Get out," he growled at the man behind Atul, his voice built of hyper-restrained power. "Get the hell out of my sight, you miserable sandworm, before my dog helps you down the stairs." His eyes flashed and a burst of power knocked the man backward, hard, so that he staggered into the hall. Since Fero didn't appear to be running for his life, the vampire summoned his nails to the length of machetes and held them menacingly at his sides. "Get out!" he roared.

Fero was pale as death, and his heart was racing to the point he was near a heart attack. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Vlad was going to kill him.

Atul's grip remained firm on Vlad's arm as Fero turned and fled from the room, stumbling over his robes as he went. "Well," Atul muttered. "That didn't go as well as I imagined it would." He reached his other hand up and scratched the back of his head. "I know you don't want Verin back in your mind... And I don't blame you if you turn this down. I guess I would want to if I were you. I just don't want my whole army walking into a trap if Verin knows about it. I want to know if he knows were here, if he plans to wipe us out here. You don't have to do this now. Just think about it, and if it isn't something your comfortable with doing I'll consult Fero's oracle again, maybe it has an answer for me now."

Vlad remained glaring at where Fero had been standing while Atul spoke, as if still debating whether to pursue and kill the man. But eventually Atul's voice came into focus and the vampire turned to look at him. The plan seemed slightly more reasonable, though no less unpleasant, now that it didn't have Fero's signature on it. It was much easier to discuss this with the prince.

Still, the vampire hesitated to give an answer. He felt an strong craving for Tenele, which felt a little foolish to him. There was really only one choice. He'd done great harm to Atul and his men. If it was in his power to assist, then he would, in whatever way necessary.

"I'll do it," he said savorlessly. "But there will be safety nets this time if it goes wrong. That is my condition." It was clear from his tone he wasn't referring to his own safety. If he fell to Verin again, he expected a firing squad. Meeting Atul's gaze, he felt he could trust the prince to take him out of commission if it got out of hand.

Atul's eyes met his. "You shall have your safety nets," he promised, nodding his head. "And I won't let you go to that side again. Tenele won't either. And, your Queen will be with you, in her own way. You have lots of people here to support you Vlad, and an army to stop you if need be. We won't do this now.... We'll need to prepare, just encase something does go wrong. Looking into the mind of Verin is a horrible thing anyway, so I'll give you time to prepare yourself if you need too."

Atul turned to walk to the door. "I know that nothing I can say will help you to forgive Fero. I promise that he will not interfer in your life again. He'll keep his distance from you, and as such he should keep his life." He was about to leave when he turned back to the vampire with a small smile. "And thank you... for risking for us."

"Piece of cake," Vlad threw back smugly. After the prince was gone the smirk died on his face, making him look very serious. Another random urge to go find Tenele. He shut the door instead and turned back toward the bed, which he sat on. She was with her squad, there was no need to rush to her with this now. On top of his pride, there was also still the faint feeling that he wasn't quite right with her yet. Besides, this would give him time to think, which he badly needed to do. He lay back on the bed with his feet still on the floor and stared thoughtfullly at the ceiling, looking like a marble statue on the rich-colored sheets. Stalker observed him silently, sitting down next to the door. Neither of them so much as breathed, making the room feel like some frozen painting instead of reality.

One scratched his head, looking at her through slightly narrowed eyes. "No offense, Lady, but... your a woman," he said softly, almost as if he hadn't meant to say it at all.

Tenele smirked as she rested her hand on her sword's hilt. "A woman, aye?" She glanced at the bigger man who'd momentarily been fighting. Well, they were both big, but he seemed to be the largest and most sure of himself. "You." He looked a bit startled. "You seemed to think yourself pretty good with that sword, mind testing it against me?"

"Ugh..."

"Trust me," Tenele said with one of her gloriously gorgeous smiles, her eyes twinkling with mischeif. "I'll go easy on you."

He seemed a bit disgruntled by that comment. So, he held himself in a fighting stance as Tenele drew her sword and handed the sheath to one of them standing next to her. She stood casually, the sword planted in the sand and she used it almost like a cane, holding both her hands at the tip of the hilt as she took a comfortable stance. Waiting.

When she didn’t attack, he got a little nervous and rushed her, supposing that was what he was supposed to do, and it was exactly that. Tenele waited to the last minute and raised her sword. She parried his attack and when she found the opening she kicked forward, putting her boot against his chest. He might have been a heavily muscled man, but his balance wasn’t trained. The hit startled him, as well as knocked the air form his lungs, and sent him crashing flat on his back in the sand. He was blinking as he tried to figure out how this woman, three times smaller than him, and just sent him falling to his ass.

“You’re over confidant, and you rush your enemy without thinking. Never get cocky, and never let your anger fight for you. You can use it to some extent, but when you lose your head, you lose your life.”

The men were gazing at her in almost disbelief, for she had barely moved from the spot she’d originally been standing in.

They were undisciplined, and Tenele wasn’t doing it to be cruel, she was doing it because she needed to. She made them spar over and over, until the city was filled with rebels who’d come to the feast and hear there princes commands. When they’d complained about being tired and needing a rest, Tenele made them run laps around her. She did feel a little sorry, just a little, but at the memory of her own training, she was being decent to them.

One was cursing her, and she laughed. “Pain is merely weakness leaving the body, my friend,” she told him.

And when she’d felt it was enough she let them rest for the day. She felt to really be able to lead them she needed more time with them, but it was not possible. She left them after a pep talk of encouragement, and even smiled as they whispered prayers of thanks that she was going.

She sighed as she entered the cool stone building once again, and saw Fero talking with Nadia and a weary looking Atul. She wanted to carve Fero’s eyes out, but chose to ignore him. “You look like you’ve had a fun day,” Atul commented as she neared them.

“You’re men are weary and ready for there feast,” she told him with a smile.

“There in the kitchens fixing food as we speak. All sorts of things left from when the palace was abandoned,” Atul told her.

“That’s one thing that confuses me. These people were loyal to Verin, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why did they leave? The people were wiped out, taken, or fled to your rebellion. Why did the nobles and other loyalists go and leave all this?” Tenele asked him thoughtfully.

“Maybe they found the capital more inviting?” Atul replied, running his hands through his hair and pulling them back to fix the ponytail.

“You look hot,” Fero commented. Tenele arched an eyebrow, and then remembered he didn’t mean her looks. He meant she’d been in the blazing desert most of the day. “The pool out back is cool, if you want to go for a swim. There’s still time.”

“Have your pick of the clothes that are left here,” Nadia told her kindly. Tenele glanced down at her sweaty dirty and stained clothes. “No one has claim to them now.”

“Thank you,” Tenele told Nadia, and completely ignored her husband. “Vlad still upstairs.”

“Unless he snuck out, that’s where he was last,” Atul told her.

“Thanks.”

She climbed the steps, feeling a slight ache in her legs from walking all day and chasing burly men afraid of her around. When she came to the room the door was closed, and before entering she knocked on it gently, pushing with her shoulder. It was a little hard to open.

Vlad glanced at the door, probably the first muscle he'd moved in several hours. It sounded like someone was having trouble with the door. Without really thinking twice, he smirked and gave the door the force it needed to swing abruptly open. Stalker got immediately to his feet, apparently predicting the results of Vlad's plan and obeying a mental command to play catcher.

Tenele yelped as the door unjammed and suddenly flew open. She lost her usually graceful balance and toppled over ontop of a broad furry form. For a moment she was a bit too comfortable to move, but she knew it probably wasn't all too comfortable for Stalker, who'd just had someone fall on him. "Sorry," she told him as she scatched behind his ears before standing.

She rubbed his head again before glancing to the bed where Vlad was. With a clever smile she eased towards it, crawling slowly across the soft bedding to him, hovering over his body with one hand beside his head. "Are you being lazy?" she asked him, having the strongest urge to kiss him. Well, do a lot more than kiss, but that would have to wait. She narrowed her eyes at his expression. "Is something on your mind?"

"I wouldn't call it lazy, per se. Sunstroke, perhaps," Vlad said suavely. "Aren't you going to scratch my ears?"

Tenele smirked as she lowered her face to his. She reached and stroked her finger tips across his cooled skin and lightly over his ears. "Sure you don't want me to nibble on them instead?" she asked him with a smile as she lowered her face further and kissed his lips. It was a gentle kiss at first, but became a little more needful towards the end. She pulled away with a quick breath, as if she'd realized she'd over stepped some boundary. What boundary that was, she couldn't figure out. It wasn't as if they hadn't gone further than that many, many times before. Tenele took a more comfrotable position, letting her side of her legs and hip rest on the bed and she held the upper half of her body over him.