Heirot

Telanis went with Laya up to the large deck, where the crewman were preparing the ship for castoff.

"...one more up on board," one of the sailors was saying to his crewmate as they came withint hearing distance of the conversation.

"Lots of latecomers this trip. 'seems," commented the other.

Telanis walked past the men to the railing of the ship and stared down at the low waves that were lapping at the side of the ship. "How long does it take to sail to Ongoreth?" he asked Laya, staring at the water.

Laya looked down at the water and then across at the horizon. "Uh," she said, having to think hard for a moment and remember how long it had taken her to get back to Ighten. "A week, two weeks... maybe more.... It all depends on how hard the wind blows the sails."

The breeze tossed her brown hair around her face and she had to hold it back to her head with her hand so it wouldn't get in the way of her vision.

She wasn't feeling too to good at all. In fact she felt horrible. She wasn't sea sick... She didn't get sea sick... It must have been just a regular bug or something.

"I see," Telanis said thoughtfully as the captain began shouting orders to cast off. The tether lines were soon thrown on board and the sails were sat in a flurry of effort, and the ship began cruising away from the dock. Telanis watched the forested coastline shrink as they departed from it.

"You've been there before, right? What is it like?" he grinned at Laya.

Laya stared off at the horizon for a moment, trying to think of how she viewed Ongoreth before she had met Kron. She wanted to paint a picture for Telanis that wasn't one of evil and sadness.

"Beautiful," she said and her gray eyes shifted slightly to him before returning to the water. "Its green all over almost, with cute little houses and hot springs...." An image flashed through her mind that she forced away quickly. "Some women in elaberate kimonos and some in simple ones... Trees with pretty pink flowers... I think they have a name in there language... I can't remember though..." She knew it started with an S but she wasn't very fluent in the language.

"It sounds nice," Telanis said thoughtfully as the coastline grew smaller and smaller. His brother was on that shore, trapped in his own hatred. Telanis wondered if he was just running away; abandoning his brother when he seemed so in need of help, even if he didn't think so. "What are hot springs?" The image of the place they were going looked like a lake of hot water with odd cottages floating on top and flowering trees growing up from under the surface in small clusters.

"What are hot springs?"

An image of Kron's face flashed through mind like a lightening blot. She closed her eyes for a moment and blinked the image away.

"Uh," she said and thought for a moment. "Hot springs are small bodies of water that come up from under the ground. They're heated from the fires of the God of Darkness's lair. There nice to bath in or to relax in..." she added the last comment on a side note. Some people might find it nice to bath in them, personally she did until he followed her that day.

"You'll enjoy them," she told Telanis, her lips wanting to curl into a slight smile. It never made it though.

"Yes, I'm sure you will," came a friendly voice from behind them. Telanis's nerves went cold as he recognized that voice.

"You're on this ship as well?" he asked tensely, still looking out over the water.

"I've got some business of my own in Ongoreth. I hear there's plenty of work there for herbalists like myself. It seems like the best place to relocate myself."

Telanis turned and gave his brother a worried, suspicious stare.

Adonis gave an understanding nod. "I understand. Whatever your reasons for siding with him, since you've done so it must be difficult to leave him to his own. But I wouldn't worry too much for his safety; from my time observing him, he seems to be highly skilled at looking out for himself." Without the jab of accusation that Adonis communicated mentally to his brother, his comment sounded perfectly friendly, but to Telanis it took on a harsher meaning.

Laya faintly heard the sound of anothers voice as she gazed numbly over the side of the railing, feeling that sudden dizziness come over her along with a chill.

"...place to relocate myself."

She caught the end of that and turned around, using the railing for support. She didn't know why all of the sudden she felt that strange sickness wash over her. She looked deathly pale and had a sickly look to her face.

"Telanis... I think I'm going to... lie.... dow......n...." Then her knees buckles andshe fell slightly forward towards Adonis as everything went black.

Adonis moved forward and caught Laya as she collapsed, though he didn't look particularly surprised about it. "Taking good enough care of your pets?" he asked Telanis calmly.

Telanis looked at Laya worriedly. How had she grown ill so suddenly? "Maybe she doesn't care for boats," he said half to himself, picking Laya up from where she leaned in Adonis's grip. "I'll take her to lie down." Telanis took a few awkward steps on the shifting ship's deck with her weight in his arms, and staggered slightly off balance as the boat hit a wave.

Adonis shook his head. "Really, you're still not used to them?" he criticized, relieving him of the task of carrying Laya. "It's just as well. You were never meant to walk in that imperfect form."

Telanis cautiously passed Laya into his more experienced hands and looked at him strangely.

"Well, where are your quarters?" Adonis said curtly.

Telanis looked away from the hardened black eyes and led him down into the cabin area, to the door that was specified as her room. He opened the door and let Adonis step inside and lay the girl down on a cot.

"She wasn't ill till just now," Telanis said in his low voice.

"So it would appear," Adonis agreed. The two sat there in awkward silence next to the unconscious girl.

Laya was only out for a few minutes. It was just the dizziness and fever had become overwelming for a moment.

She groaned when she was coming to, her eyes opening to see the familiar wood of the inside of a ship. For a moment she forgot where she was or who she was with and she partly expected to feel Krons arm across her or his body next to her.

However, when she sat up slowly and looked around she only saw Adonis and Telanis sitting next to her bed.

She brushed her hand through her hair, the same sickly look on her face as she tiredly looked at them. "Sorry... I don't know what happened..." she said softly, appologizing for ruining there conversation by fainting in front of them.

"I don't usually do that. I've never had a problem with sea sickness..." She placed her back against the wall to help hold herself up.

Neko wasn't nearby to see Laya's collapse. She was up near the stern looking out into the water. Her last experience on a boat was a pirate ship, and it was blown into the water. She had no idea if anyone else besides herself had survived.

"Is this how sea sickness normally works?" Telanis asked Laya uncertainly. He had heard some villagers joking about it once, but they had made it sound like a very minor health issue, treating it more like an annoyance than an illness. He had never actually encountered the disease.

"Of course not," Adonis said, sounding confused by Telanis's naivete. "A little minor nausea and dizziness, maybe, but people don't faint from seasickness."

"Maybe it's an illness, then," Telanis pondered. "Are you hungry, Laya? I'll go and look for something to eat," he said.

Laya ran her fingers through her brown hair again. She sat there and contemplated reasons that she might be sick. She realized he was speaking to her so she looked up. "Oh... maybe that would help..." she said softly.

She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, going back in her mind to try and think of why she could be sick. 'Infection?' she asked herself. 'No... I haven't had any really bad wounds that haven't been taken care of...' She thought about it more and the only possible thing she could think of for being nauseas and dizzy... and...

"No..." she whispered softly. She felt her heart skip a few beats and then speed up until it was thudding in her chest. 'No! That can't be... that isn't right... I can't be... not by him...' She almost died from shock and fear all in once from thinking she might be with child.

That was until she clearly remembered something and it eased her thoughts. No... she couldn't be... Because if she was it would have happened long before now... And, she didn't think that vampires could have children unless they decreed specifically that that person would be the person to carry there child... something like that.

She let out a breath she had been holding for a long time and closed her eyes, her head falling forward for a moment. She had almost had a panic attack.

“Do you have any idea what it could be?” she asked Adonis.

Reya's burst of fear and panic sent Telanis and, oddly, Adonis both visibly on edge. They both shifted up a bit straighter in their chairs and looked at her. Adonis quickly recovered from the burst of emotion and looked slightly away, while Telanis watched Laya worriedly.

"Do you have any idea what it could be?" she asked Adonis.

The ebon-haired man brought he eyes back to her. "Well..." he said sounding uncomfortable. "I know where your loyalties stand..but your symptoms seem to resemble those of the infected villagers. The ones that were taken by the unicorn's curse." He spoke very cautiously, glancing away with regretful eyes. Telanis felt his stomach go cold.

Laya stared at him for a moment, as if it didn’t register. "I know where your loyalties stand..but your symptoms seem to resemble those of the infected villagers. The ones that were taken by the unicorn's curse." She remembered his words.

She swallowed hard, and felt her heart beat faster once again. Didn’t those villagers die? She asked herself. Her heart beat faster. ‘I’m going to die…’ she thought worriedly. ‘But, isn’t this what you’ve dreamed? Isn’t this what you wanted since the moment Kron mad his offer with you?

“I’m going to… die… aren’t I?” she asked softly, her eyes gazing at the bedcovers as her hands played idly with them.

It suddenly came to her, like a flash, that she didn’t want to die. Now that she knew she would, she didn’t want to. She wanted to live, because there were so many things to live for. She could find someone to love one day… and marry… and have children… But, not anymore… because she was going to die.