Heirot

Tenara's fingers slipped off the book and it thunked heavily into her lap. She stared at Havitharon, her eyes slowly brimming with tears. "Here? He's here? In this city?" She almost cried from joy. “He’s my father.” Vampires did not father children, and few would adopt what they could otherwise eat. It had to be him.

She'd had every intention of leaving this place before Elias came back, but if her father was hunting for her, if he was in the city and searching inns and taverns... maybe she should stay. Maybe he would find her. Unless he'd already been here... and wouldn't make a second round. And if she stayed, she might miss him. But if they left... and he came back, she might also miss him.

She stood and went to the window, looking out at what she could see of Arken’s black capitol. He was out there, somewhere. Maybe. Maybe. For the first time in too long, Tenara felt a surge of hope.

Havitharon was confused. "They didn't say when it happened, perhaps last night? You're sure it's your father? If that's true, one of the ships in the harbor must be his. It's impressive that he came here when he can't swim."

“I’m sure. It has to be,” she said. The idea of going to hunt for him among the ships made her uneasy. Her father wouldn’t take a Hajara-bannered ship here. That would be too obvious… and wandering the harbor looking for the right vessel was likely to get them into a lot of trouble. They could run into any sort of character down there, or worse, the people Edan hired to take her originally. Waiting was the safe option… though waiting in the room might produce nothing at all.

Tenara thought his words over and then blinked. “Wait, why do you think he can’t swim??”

He tilted his head sideways. "They said vampires' fish don't swim, so I assumed. Is Vampire a land-locked kingdom? Is it stronger than this one? They seemed pretty frightened of him.

Tenara stared for a minute, filtering his words back through and filling in the context until she doubled over in laughter. She wrapped her arms around her belly and giggled until she could hardly breathe.

She lifted a hand, as if to tell him she needed a minute, but then said through chuckles, “That’s not… what that means.” After gathering her composure, she took a deep breath and sighed. It felt good to laugh, to feel a single moment of pleasantness after so much fear and pain.

“It’s an expression… It means he can’t father children. He’s a vampire. A living dead man that feeds on the blood of mortals.”

He stared at her, unsure what to make of her laughter, or of the nonsensical creature she'd just defined for him. "But why fish..." he trailed off as his imagination answered his own question. His mouth set into a sharp line, and his whole countenance tightened slightly. He was in a well-established habit of restraining his reactions, especially around females, but the idea of her just explaining such a joke to him was as delightful as her laugh.

Wait, delightful? What was happening to him? He cleared his throat carefully and reminded himself not to stare at her. "Well... it makes no less sense than anything else in this place."

He glanced to the door and a thought came to him. He jumped to his feet and crossed the room in a few graceful steps. He reached to the doorknob and successfully closed his hand around it. A thrill of satisfaction went through him. Whatever she'd done, it hadn't worn off yet. He drew back a step, coiled his strength, and slammed his shoulder into the door with his full weight. The frame made a loud cracking sound, but didn't quite give way. A few boards in the door looked ready to pop, though. He backed up and threw a full-blown side kick into the structure. The movement contained the fierce precision of someone well trained in combat; a skill he'd had little opportunity to leverage since being summoned to this world.

The door practically exploded, boards splintering and flying across the hallway outside. Havitharon looked from the ruined entrance back to Tenara, his mouth set in that same sharp line. "I think the door's unlocked."

Tenara stared at him and the shattered door, her mouth a little open in surprise. So... he could definitely touch things now. She was impressed by his maneuver, the power behind the hit, and a little bit concerned for herself now that he was tactile—she still wasn't certain why the sorcerer had summoned him.

"Well," she said, going to the bed where she'd draped the sword. She wiped her blood off of it onto the covers, and then wrapped it in her makeshift sheath. Then, she gathered the shoulder bag, slipped the book inside, and turned for the door. "This is much better than jumping off the balcony."

She resisted the urge to squeeze his bicep as she passed. Just how strong was he? "To the docks?"

He thought about her question and paused. "That was my thought before, but let me ask you this... Now that we know your father is looking for you here, should we still attempt a ship? He expects you to be someone's hostage... what would be most likely to draw his attention?"

Tenele looked at the mangled pieces of door lying in the hall, watching as the other doors in the hall opened and heads peeked out. One half-naked man went scurrying down the hall towards the stairs.

"Drawing attention to ourselves might invite other interests than my father..." Shea, for one. "But... a good way to get his attention would be..." She thought for a minute, watching as a startled woman—likely a slave—looked down the hall at them, yelped, and ran the opposite direction. Then, it hit her. "I can't believe I'm going to suggest this but, if my father is looking for me, he's likely looking for me in all the places but especially at the auction house. Where they... sell people."

A flare of angry heat rose to Havitharon's expression. No. Not even as part of a ruse could he...

Something in him jolted as he realized she wasn't talking about selling him. "You mean for me to put you up for auction?" The words felt wrong on his tongue, like he'd eaten a mouth full of spiders.

Tenara was about to ask how he could put her on the block if he was invisible, but he'd just kicked down a door like it was tissue paper. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder. She didn't really... like the idea. Especially if it didn't work, and her father didn't show, and someone actually bought her. She felt ill at the thought, but shook it off. She had to believe Thvoros wouldn't just... hand her off to someone and abandon her. She had his sword after all... Well, he couldn’t touch it but maybe he could carry it if it was wrapped in something. Shit. What good was she to him if he could carry his own sword?

"You... won't leave me there, will you? If he doesn't show?"

Havitharon didn't miss the anxiety that had re-entered her expression. "It is not in my interests to have that sword fall to a stranger." It didn't sound as convincing as she probably wanted him to be. What was he to say? Proclaiming real loyalty to her at this point would come across as platitude at best.

"If your father does not attend, can I withdraw you from sale?" He tried to think the idea through, to find the holes. "I'm familiar with how the slave trade works in my world, but here, I am at a disadvantage. The language barrier will also be an issue. There may be a way to modify the spell we used before, but if my improvisations are correct, it could be costly."

"I'm not sure. I've never been to an auction house. They're illegal where I live... But, I suppose you could back out." She glanced at the shattered door and smirked. "Or you could kick them."

They did need to work on his ability to understand and speak the language if this was going to work. But, they likely needed to find somewhere else to do it, because there was a very large man coming up the stairs to see what the fuss was about.

Havi caught sight of the man as she pointed him out. "We can leave through the window, if you trust me to catch you," he said, keeping his voice low as the man reached the landing. "Otherwise, we may have to fight our way out."

"I'd already come to terms with going out the window," she said, backing back into the room. She went to the balcony door and pulled. It didn't open, but of course it wouldn't. Why would they lock the bedroom door so the girls could escape out the window. She rammed it with her shoulder once before stepping back and kicking forward. The door wasn't as well made as the one Thvoros had kicked down, it was mostly thin wood and glass, so the brass lock in the center snapped easily. She flashed Thvoros a cocky smile as she slipped out the door and onto the balcony, looking over the railing at the cobblestone alley below.