The Cost of Peace

[Emora Deen]

Tenele turned his arms worriedly, putting on his arms over her shoulder and a hand on his chest to help hold him up. "Vlad, is somethign wrong?" she asked quickly. She knew something wasn't right, but what was affecting him?

"What are you doing down there?" It was a voice that sounded like a whistle. She looked up, and there were three men dressed in long robes. Two of the men were sickly thin, their faces sunk in. The other was the complete opposite. Short, stocky, and very well fed.

"We got lost," Tenele replied quickly. "We were just leaving."

"Have you touched anything?" he asked.

"No, I realized this was an alter, I didn't touch anything." It was the honest truth.

"What's wrong with him?" He pointed with his staff towards Vlad. Her green eyes flickered to him. She needed to get him out of here... These priests were taking up too much of their time.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad glanced at the priests, fiercely alert all of a sudden. His body felt numb and uncooperative, but his mind was racing. "Don't like caves," he said to them with a shrug. He was thinking that it would be much easier to rip out their spines than to bother with all this conversation. He was even considering doing it, and leaving them mutilated on the cave floor. Not eating them? his subconscious checked his logic. He walked ahead with Tenele, accepting her support although his legs were listening to him now. He just wanted to be past these men, before he listened to his brutal thoughts.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele held his cool hand as they stepped passed the priests and back into the dark hall. "What happened back there?" she asked, pausing in the middle of the darkness. "Did something hurt you?" She wasn't sure about dark temples... She knew holy magic could hurt him... But, what about that? It was definitely not holy.

Her body was close to him, and she reached up and touched his cheek, tilting his head to look down at her. She could barely make him out in the dark. She could still feel the hairs on her neck standing up, but it could be the left over feelings of whatever was down in that room. Whatever it was... It was frightening.

"Okay, you can tell me later.Taking his hand she turned and began walking back towards the light where the alley way became more open. The further they got the less she felt like her skin was crawling. "That was so strange."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's thoughts were cluttered as they made their way out of the cave. After they were out of sight of the monks he began picking up the pace, rushing her slightly to get them out of the cave. He would have teleported them in a heartbeat were he not so wary of a repeat encounter with whatever had just been inside his head. His jaw was set in a very tight line, and he didn't say anything as they made their way up toward the light of the city streets.

When they finally reached the mouth of the tunnel, Vlad kept going straight, rather than head toward the palace. It seemed like he intended to keep walking directly away from the pyre until he met something he couldn't get through. His hand was clasped firmly onto hers, so she didn't get much choice but to walk with him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele stayed silent while they walked, for Vlad obviously seemed to be in no mood to explain to her what had frazzled him so. So they walked until finally thye could walk no more without turning. A brick wall, thick and hard, stretched ten feet high before them. They could either choose to go left, or right, but not forward.

"Vlad, maybe we should get back to the palace now," she wondered, thinking maybe his mood would change once they were in... well, she couldn't honestly consider the palace a safe haven.

She tugged on his hand, waiting on him to even acknowledge her existance. Did he even notice she was still there?

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad stopped in front of the wall and studied it quietly. He was checking inside his head for traces of what he'd felt before, but he couldn't sense any alien power. He felt incredibly alert, like every muscle in his body was ready for action and all his senses were set to high. Tenele's voice made him turn his face toward her, human slow. "Something I hadn't anticipated," he said, releasing his vice grip on her hand. He seemed to have accepted the wall as something impassible, so he turned his back on the brick surface and leaned on it.

"Something was down there. Something powerful. It spoke to me. And it was in me."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele moved to stand in front of him. He seemed like he were tired, or maybe it was her imagination. Maybe he was just distracted. She narrowed his eyes as he spoke, rubbing her hand to get some of the feeling back into it. "In you?" she breathed, looking a bit disturbed by this information.

"I felt it to... but... obviously not like you did. What did it say to you? Could feel what it wanted? Did it tell you what it was?" Suddenly she felt her mouth was running away with her, and with a worried hand she reached out and touched his cheek gently. "Did it hurt you?" she asked him softly. Vlad was a tough man... vampire. He admitted something was powerful, which worried her. Usually her was joking about what a miserable excuse of a vampire-warlock-wizard-witch-queen something was. He hardly ever admitted that there was a hint of something more powerful than he. It worried her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad opened his mouth and hesitated, as if he were actually embarrassed. "I tried to teleport from the cave, and it burst into my head," he said, thought it wasn't exactly right. It hadn't been just his head - it had been like something took over his entire being. "You use your power here in this place. It is mine," he quoted in a low voice. "Whose pyre do you suppose that was?" he asked Tenele gravely, because he didn't like the conclusion he was reaching in his own head and wanted hers to be different.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele narrowed her eyes, the worry clear on her face. It was a fearful thought, to have someone in your head. However, the way Vlad was acting she suspected there was more. He was far to shaken. She didn't think she had ever seen him so bothered over something. She suddenly realized he had asked her a question, but the answer scared her. "The leading diety in this place... is Verin."

Tenele, being the insanely protective person she was, had half a mind to go back down there and call Verin out. Still, she thought it was probably really foolish to go about calling a God. Quite stupid in deed... Besides, he had only been giving Vlad a warning. Right?

"The God of Darkness was.... inside you?" Tenele blinked. "That's frightening."

Tenele glanced up and could see several of the palaces towers. The feast was tonight, and if they had not been lying about tradition, Verin often graced their table. What if he were there tonight? What would happen with Vlad there? Had he been offended that Vlad would use his power in his sacred place? Would he try and destroy Vlad over something so pety?

"Vlad, maybe you shouldn't come to the feast tonight. I'll explain that you are ill or something. Wait vampires don't get sick." She shook her head. "I could say someone through a holy item at you. Allergic reaction? No, that's silly." Maybe it was the thought of a God being out to get someone she cared for that was making her sick. She could handle demons. She could handle vampires. She could handle ghost and gouls, witches and wizards, but she could not take on a God. "I could tell them that your insuring no assassins get into my room while I'm away. I'll tell them something, just don't go. In case he shows up." Then, again, what was she saying. He was a God. If he chose to, he could appear right then and there and smite them. What if she appologised? Promise to sacrifice a goat or something? Maybe he'd appriciate that. She wasn't good dealing with dieties...

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad shook his head. "It would be meaningless to avoid the feast. He's touched me once - he can probably do it again." His brow furrowed. Not many vampires defied the rule of Verin, if any. So there wasn't exactly a procedure in place for this sort of thing. The only way he knew of to be rid of the god of darkness when he possessed you was to be exorcised by a priest of the light. That option did not appeal to him much.

He realized he was thinking very pessimistically. That wasn't his style. Had he been so spooked that he was forgetting his own pride? The thought brought a pang of fury into the edge of his mood, which was a welcome change. He couldn't afford to fear Verin, especially not now. The sound of a dog barking in the distance made him check the angle of the sun. The day was near its end - they would be due at the banquet hall. "Well," he said, a gleam of confidence rekindling in his garnet eyes, "I suppose we should be dressed to kill tonight."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked at the sky. "I don't even know what I'm going to wear!" she said, suddenly becoming very much a girl.

As they entered the palace gates, servants were pooring in, carrying many pots, bowls, baskets and crates, obviously on the decorating or food commitee. They stepped passed them, the guards having memorized there appearance.

It was even more busy on the inside, and Tenele couldn't help but wonder why they would prepare such an enormous feast for them. Were they really this pleased that Sinead had sent ambassadors? Maybe it wasn't such a lost cause after all.

She had forgotten how beautiful her room was, with its wide vast openness. No windows. No doors. She bathed quickly, constantly a bit nervous for there was no window or door on the bathroom either. She kept expecting for some lost Arken soldier to come wondering in thinking it was his bathroom. She hadn't payed any attention to see if there was a seperating railing between the rooms.

She reluctantly left the all to comforting water, and draped a silk towel around her. She thought it rather impracticle to have a silk towel, but this was the outerlands, and they seemed to care more about style than practicality. It clung to her skin as she stepped out into her room. There were three women there that hadn't been there before. They were calmly going about the room lighting all the oil lamps. The faded sun had left the room a bit darker, but the warm glow of the lamps made it very homely and comforting. She was used to servants being in her room after a bath, so it didn't bother her that much. It wasn't until all of them turned to stare that she felt a bit emberassed.

"Is there something wrong?"

"We were instructed to help you prepare," one of them spoke gently.

"I can do it myself, thank you," Tenele replied gently, stepping over to a deep ocean blue gown that she had set out before bathing.

"A corset is a terrible thing to put on, so we here," another spoke up. She looked eager to help.

"It is," Tenele replied softly.

"May we help?"

"Uh..." What could it hurt? "Sure. Let me get what goes under it on." Tenele let the towel slip to the floor, her cheeks flushing a light rose as she reached for the under garments. Slipping the white fabric on so that it hugged tightly just above her breasts. She grabbed the corset, slipping it over her head so they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of relacing it. "Just pull it taunt, and tie it."

One of the girls stepped forward and began pulling to corset strings as tight as she could. Tenele let out a breath and winced. "I don't need it very tight. It just needs to go on for the dress to fit right." The maid smiled, pulling the strings a bit tighter again. Maybe she wasn't understnad her right?

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad went first to his own quarters. The first thing he did was go to the mirror and stare at himself. For once, it wasn't narcissism - he had the strange urge to make sure nothing had changed. When his suspicions were relieved, he rummaged hastily through his trunks and pulled out something to wear to the dinner, a pair of black slacks and a crimson silk tunic. He decided not to put them on there, as he was still suspicious of Tenele's solarium of a bedroom. He cautiously tested his power by closing the lid of his trunk with telekinesis. No fancy lights, no booming voices in his mind. Feeling more secure, he teleported to Tenele's chambers.

The first thing he saw when he appeared in the room was Tenele surrounded by people, which set him on edge, but they appeared to be maids. After watching for a few seconds, he began to gain a grasp of the situation. He crossed over to the maids, particularly the one who was tugging on the lacing. "You don't have corsets in this country, do you? I can guess what you've heard," he said charmingly, leaning down so that his red eyes were level with hers. "On women this beautiful, we don't tie them quite so tight," he confided, his whispered voice almost intimate. It was delivered as a suggestion, but the tension in the back of his smile conveyed that it could quickly become an order.

[Emora Deen]

The maid arched an eyebrow with him. Tenele glanced over her shoulder at her, for she had the most peculiar expression on her face. She was quite used to dealing with demons and vampires, and Vlad didn't imediately have an effect on her. However, she got the hint that she was tying the corset a little to tightly. So she began pulling it closed a little more gently.

After she was helped into her undergarments and corset she urged the maids to leave, instilling that she could finish preparing herself. They closed the door behind them, though finding it strange that her escort would be in the room while a lady was dressing. From what they had heard of Ighten nobles, they tended to be very prudish.

Tenele grabbed up the deep blue dress and pulled it over her head. The fabric was soft. There were no sleeves, and once buttoned down the back a long stip of blue sheer fabric dangled down the back. It flared out around her only mildly, and had a slight train to it. She reached into her bag for her hair pins and quickly went about pinning up her hair in a loose and elegant fashion. She peered over her shoulder at him, giving him a gentle loving smile. "Would you mind buttoning my dress?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Although he could care less what the maids thought of his modesty for being there while Tenele changed, he waited for them to leave before removing his own clothes. He was half dressed and shirtless when Tenele asked for help with her dress. Smiling, he walked up behind her and kissed the side of her exposed neck. "If you tease me like this, we will be late to the party," he breathed next to ear as his fingers gracefully fastened the clasps at the back of the dress.

Unfortunately, they actually were late already, or Vlad would not have taken a measured step back from her and reach for the shirt he'd laid on the bed. He brought it over his head and cinched the waist with a wide leather band. He walked to her sink and brushed some water through his hair with his fingers, untangling it into soft, slicked-back spikes. He also fastened a few gold cuffs to the rims of his ears. The jewelry was something he didn't wear often, but he'd been briefed that precious metals meant status among the men to these people, and he didn't plan to show up appearing like a peasant. He certainly wouldn't be caught dead in necklaces or rings, so he'd allowed Sinead to provide him with these.

"You look captivating," he praised Tenele as they faced each other fully prepared.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled, trying to get used to the cuffs on his ears. "Thank you... You look very nice yourself."

They were escorted by several guards down to the throne room. The closer they got the more people began to bustle around them. Down on the bottom floor the large doors to the throne room were open. They hurried Tenele and Vlad along. She had her skirt in her hands and holding it up so it would be easy to walk.

The throne room had been decorated lavishly. Tables were put together in the shape of a large angular U. Women were clothed in lovely shimmer fabric. Several of them were barely clothed at all, their jewelery could make up most of their clothing. Men were dressed nicely, most adornered with gold.

The guard made her pause at the entry way, and he turned to bellow loudly her and Vlad's entrance. She flushed, as suddenly felt heated stairs and the room suddenly grew very quiet. She knew they probably did not like that they had come... for Ighten was not very welcomed amongst them.

They continued on through a large crowd of people and around to the center of the large U. The King was standing with his daughter Lalana and his son Atul. Lalana's eyes flickered to Vlad, and she gave him a smile. She was dressed in shimmering red, her belly was bare, revealing a gold belly ring. Her hair was curly and pulled in several strange ways. Her make up was eleborate, with shimmering crimson eyeshadow and ruby red lips.

"Welcome to my home, Princess Tenele," the king said, his smile plastered on his face as if someone had painted it on to insure he'd not lose it. It was oddly creepy.

"Oh, I'm not a princess... Its Lady Raider, or Tenele is fine," she replied warmly.

His eyes turned to Vlad. "The imfamous vampire pet?" he asked, not meaning to be rude. He was actually meaning to be a compliment, even if it sounded the complete opposite.

Tenele blinked, really hoping that Vlad wouldn't say anything that would be grounds for war.