Skedaddle

[Emora Deen]

Laya nodded. "Do you need help carrying any of those?" she asked him, raising her hands to pull her brown hair back into a ponytail. She drew the hood over her head to keep her neck warm. She reached out and took some of the small things from him.

They split up just outside the palace walls so Adonis could do his research. The walk to the house was about a half-hour trek down the main road, and a ten minute one off the beaten path. The trail had gotten overgrown to the point she barely recognized it.

The house sat in a small clearing surrounded by tall tress with low branches. Curving around the back of the house was a small creek that was filled with water and half-iced over. The house was small, built from logs and mud with windows that had been latched closed. The weeds around it were overgrown, and the house looked forgotten. That was to be expected considering how long it had been abandoned.

She went up the steps, which groaned under her weight and passed the rocking chairs to the front door. She reached above the door for the slender cast iron hook that sat waiting for her. "There is no telling if we can even stay here," she told him.

The door opened and Satine peeked inside. The room was dark, but seemed empty.

“I’ll light a candle,” she went around the room, dropping the bags next to the chair, until she found a small candle. She dug through her bag for the flint and lit the candles around the room to offer some light. Though, it was day, and slightly over cast, the windows were so dirty and the curtains were drawn.

“I am going to wash the sheets I think… They should dry by tonight. There are two bedrooms, and a small alcove that someone can sleep in. Since there are only three of us it shouldn’t be a problem.” Laya dusted off her hands and turned to him. “We should be safe here I think… We are a ways away from people.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis glanced to her arm where he knew the mark still was. He had a feeling she knew it as well. As long as that brand existed, being far away from civilization would make no difference to their safety. He turned his attention to the long box Adonis had given him before they parted ways. He'd made a point to say this one was his, and that the slightly shorter box he'd given Laya was hers. "These must be weapons," he said without much relish as he studied the box. He decided to focus on his surroundings instead. "You grew up here?" he asked her, curiously wiping the dust off a picture on the wall.

[Emora Deen]

"Yeah," Laya said a little breathlessly. "It was a really long time ago." She went into the kitchen and grimanced. "This place is filthy... I better get those sheets before it gets too late."

The bedroom was just as dark. There were two fire places, one in the living area, and one in the main bedroom. She took the candle in and set it on the table beside the large bed. The room smelled musty, as if it hadn't been lived in, which of course it hadn't.

She pulled the sheets off, sending a cloud of dust into the air, and then she went back into the living room and dropped them on the floor. She went to the second bedroom and did the same. She drew a tin bathing tub from a closet and set it in the center of the living room. "If we want to bathe we have to bathe in this, though. I also have to wash everything in this..."

Laya went about cleaning until she had managed to get the sheets washed and hung in front of the fireplace, which at the moment had no fire. She swept and cleaned off the dust, and let the windows air out the building until she was satisfied they could breathe better. That was the next thing on her list.

She sighed heavily, putting her hands on her hips. "Okay... we should get some firewood."

Laya paused at the door. "Telanis... Back at the inn you said that he wanted to hurt me and that you had never felt something so twisted. Could you feel why?" she asked him slowly. Laya wasn't sure how he had planned on hurting her, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, but she couldn’t fathom what she had done to make him want to hurt her. After all, they had just found out about each other.

Did he even have a reason?

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis got to his feet to come with her. "I can't read thoughts. I can only see emotions, but... what he was throwing off wasn't hatred. It was some kind of twisted jubilation, and... possession." His thoughts soured at the memory. "If I had to guess at a reason...it probably wouldn't be anger. It would be "because he can". He walked up to meet her at the doorway. "Did the man...Kron...resemble that creature?"

[Emora Deen]

Laya shook her head as she opened the door. "Kron was very much a "I do it because I can" sort of person... But, he wasn't that random or fast with his actions. He was calculated, cold. He would just as soon befriend you and get you when you weren't looking. I should have known the moment he broke open that door. When and if Kron comes for me he won't come in a flash, but a whisper. I think... we wouldn't know he was here until he wants us too."

She stepped out into the cold, going off the porch. "All the wood is going to be wet. It will be hell trying to get a fire started... But, we will need one to last the night. At least, I'll need one. I do not know how you unicorns fair in the weather." Laya went about digging through the snow with her hands, pulling half-burried branches from the ground. "I can break a chair in the house to get a fire going, something to dry out the wet wood as we feed it in."

When her arms were full she carried the wood inside and laid it by the fireplace. She lifted one of the dinning chairs from the table and cracked it on the floor. She had to do it twice before it splintered into peices. She took the peices and pilled them in the dusty fireplace.

When the fire was lit she went back outside to help Telanis with the wood. "How long do you think before Adonis gets here... Maybe we should go to the end of the road and wait for him so he doesn't miss it? I don't think I gave good directions."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis carried the last of the wood in and spread it in front of the fireplace to dry out. "I don't think he will get lost," he smiled at her concern. "We know these woods quite well. I'm sure he will return soon." He glanced down at the boxes Adonis had given them. "I suppose we should open these. If he comes and finds us unprepared, he's likely to attack us himself."

He slid open the latch on the long box and raised the lid to find a long bowstaff inside. "What is he thinking? With my coordination, I'll probably land a hit on one of you long before I manage to defend myself with this. Although I'll admit it's probably the only weapon I could use." He winced slightly at the memory of stabbing Laya's attacker with Adonis's knife. Blades were a bad idea. It scared him a little that Adonis was able to casually carry one and use it.

[Emora Deen]

"I think you will hit what you want to hit," Laya told him with a smile. "I have faith you can do it. I also have hope that we won't need these."

She smiled as she went to the couch. It sat just behind the curtain of sheets that hung before the fireplace. The reflection of the flames danced off the sheets as they dried, and she watched them, drawing her knees up to her.

"I can see why Kron is so cruel, if that thing made Kron. Maybe he was like me, and that thing turned him into that." Laya shook her head. She felt the makr on her arm sting, and it worried her for a moment. She stopped thinking of him at all. It would do no good.

Laya stood up and opened another box, where her bow sat nestled in fabric. She strung the bow, admiring the wood, her eyes flickering yo to Telanis. "Adonis knows his weapons. These are good quality."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis nodded, but he didn't look happy. "So it seems. I am glad that he is able to help defend you, but it...worries me, that he knows so much of such things. These things he's learned to do, they've made him stronger. But they also changed him." He tried not to take the thought to the next level, but his mind went there anyway. He glanced at Laya, needing it off his chest. It had been bothering him all day. "That monster that attacked you... it didn't recognize him. It didn't know what he was."

[Emora Deen]

Laya frowned, looking away. She went around to poke the fire, throwing some of the wet wood on. "But, it smelled you both. It just recognised you more. That doesn't meant he's completely changed..." Laya sadly knew the truth, or at least she had figured out enough.

She stepped back around to look at Telanis. "If he has changed, Telanis... It doesn't mean it is forever. Adonis is good deep down, that has to stand for something, right?"

She reached down and grabbed his hand with both of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We can help him."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis curled his fingers around hers and held her hand thoughtfully. "I am glad you are here," he whispered. "I don't know who sent you to us, but I am so, very glad. He blinked and stared into her eyes. If we had not met you, I would be wandering, alone, hunted, possibly dead. My brother would have murdered that village...and there would be no returning from what he did to himself there. Maybe things aren't perfect right now, but without you, they would be so much worse." Determination glinted in his eyes. "There is no way I will let that creature harm you. And I think, on some level, Adonis feels the same way."

A loud rap came on the front door of the house, followed by the slam of the door flying open. Telanis jerked his head toward the front hall and frowned warily at the blind corner. Booted footsteps sounded on the hardwood, and then Adonis stepped out into the doorframe. He was carrying a large bag over his shoulder. He looked in at them and surveyed the room suspiciously. "I'm back," he said.

[Emora Deen]

Laya sighed softly when she saw Adonis. "I'm glad you were able to find us," she told him, standing from her seat. "Come in, make yourself at home." Laya took down the thin sheets now that they were dry, and folded them. She set them on the dining room table after dusting it off with a cloth. "Sorry everything is a little messy. No one has been in here for a few years."

Laya stood by the table awkwardly, wanting to ask him if he found any information. Instead, "I washed the sheets, they are clean. I'll make the bed while you get your things where you want them." Laya gathered the sheets and went into the main bedroom to begin making the bed. The fireplace there was the same fireplace as the one that faced the living room, and they shared the same pit and chimney. The room was warming up now that the fire had started.

She returned quickly, moving to the next room to make that bed for Adonis.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis set his bag down by the doorway. He shifted his weight slightly as he studied Laya's former home. He'd been in human homes before, but being treated as a guest by Laya was outside his scope of 'normal'. Telanis was giving him a questioning look. The black unicorn glanced at his brother without really making eye contact and proceeded to the next room, where Laya was making the bed. He leaned against the doorway and watched her work. After a few moments, he stepped further into the room and took the opposite end of the sheet she was working with, pulling it parallel to her end.

[Emora Deen]

Laya looked up at the movement of the sheets. She smiled at Adonis as he helped her, and when she was finished she smoothed her hands over her dress. "Thank you," she said softly. "You're all set for the night."

She sighed. "It might be a little cold in here. I'll dust off some of the blankets. I'll get everything washed up tomorrow."

She felt the burning urge to ask him, but wasn't sure if she was ready for his answer. "Did you find anything?" she finally blurted out.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis looked at the bed she'd made for him. "I found something," he answered quietly, turning back into the other room. He walked back past Telanis to his bag and knelt next to it. After unlacing the strap, he pulled out a black leatherbound book. An arcane symbol was burned into the hide on the front cover, and an odd bookmark strung with a feather and small bones hung from the middle of the volume. He turned back to Laya and brought the book over to a small table next to her. He set it down on the dusty wood. The bones in the bookmark glinted in the firelight. "If there's a way to destroy that thing, I should be able to find it in here."

[Emora Deen]

Laya looked down at the book. She admired its design, and the bookmark with its small feathers, then she met Adonis's eyes. "Thank you," she told him. "I don't know how to thank you.... Well I think I know one way. Is anyone hungry?"

Laya looked to Telanis, giving him a gentle smile. "I think we have some rations I can throw together for supper." She went to her bag where it was piled in the living room and began to dig through it for the food. An idle mind was something she was afraid to have at the moment.