Heirot

Talon nodded, patting Vlad's shoulder gently. "I will tell her that," he replied. "I will wait to call her. I worry about it being taken again, and I want to wait until I know more about that fire." Talon folded his arms across his chest, settling back against the table leg. He intended to wait this out with his master.

* * *

By midday the next day Tenele acquired a steady cough. At first she didn't think much of it, but the more they moved and the more she exerted herself, the more frequent it grew. No matter how much she wore she couldn't stay warm.

Admitting she was sick wasn't even an option at the moment when they were so far from civilization, from warmth, and medicine.

But, Atul wasn't blind. He could hear it in her cough.

"Stop," Atul muttered when Tenele coughed until her form crumpled. "Stop walking." He took her shoulders and stood her upright, his blue gaze knowing. He pressed a hot hand to her forehead. "You're on fire."

"I'm fine," Tenele muttered, pushing his hand away.

"We're making camp," he replied, going to a cluster of trees and tying the horse off. "I'll set up the tent.”

"There is more daylight burning. We should use it." Tenele swiftly untied the horse, trying to stifle a cough as she did it.

Atul snatched the reigns from her, spooking the horse. "We are camping," he informed her. "You need a fire and to get warm and to rest. We've pushed too hard and you need rest or you'll get worst."

Tenele glared at him. "I'm fine," she argued in vain.

Atul wasn't hearing any of it, and within a few minutes he already had a fire going and a place cleared for her to lay. He pointed to the palette.

Tenele begrudgingly lowered herself down. Atul removed his own coat and draped it over her, but they both knew without a dry place it would do little good.

"This was a mistake," he growled, angrily stoking the fire.

Tenele frowned as he went about setting up the tent around her. He left the front half open so that the heat from the fire could filter through. The King made dinner and the two of them ate in silence, both glowering at the fire. The silence only interrupted occasionally by Tenele’s cough.

Her cheeks were wind burned and her nose a rose red, a sharp contrast against her unusually pale skin. She snuggled deeper against the fur for warmth.

“We’re going to camp her for a few days,” Atul murmured.

“No,” Tenele argued. “We are not staying-” Coughing stole her voice.

“We are staying. Go to sleep,” Atul sighed. "No arguing until you can do it without coughing." He cast his gaze up to the sun, trying to determine the time of day. He was starting to miss the desert.

Another week passed. Maxwell continued to keep Vlad outdoors where the elements could stabilize his temperature through the treatments. The vampire's body endured consistently, if such a thing could be said, but his personality didn't. He talked less and screamed more, and he couldn't sleep unless he passed out. Any time Maxwell told him he was upping the dose, the vampire just laughed and laughed with fury and madness in his eyes.

"Day 42. Twelve parts to the thousand. Subject indicated loss of vision. Holding dosage until effects stabilize," Maxwell scribbled in his ledger before packing up his things. He reached over the vampire's body and released the binds on the table. Some of them were clinging by a thread. He would need new ones soon. "At ease," he told Vlad, ignoring the vampire's unsteady breathing. He'd given up training the man against it, since Vlad seemed intent on retaining the habit.

"Vladimir," he called to his subject. The vampire just lay there. Maxwell frowned at him. Typically, Vlad was eager to get off the table, even if it meant lying in the ice. Today, he didn't bother. If he even registered the scientist's voice, his numb expression didn't show it.

Maxwell checked his life signs once again, just to be sure. They were all within the threshold of non-critical.

The doctor crossed paths with Talon as he returned to the mansion. "Talk to him. Get him focused," he ordered the young man tiredly.

Talon nodded quietly to Maxwell. "Go pick someone else to torture for a little while," he told the demon as he sat down next to Vlad. The young vampire stared at the snow for a little while, pondering what he could talk about that would give them any hope in this dismal nightmare.

He didn't want to bring up topics that might make Vlad more depressed or withdrawn. He winced, but went with the first thing that came to mind. His daughter. "I bet Tenara is completely terrorizing Ighten," Talon chuckled. "She's far too much like you in her personality. I'm sure she's been playing all her pranks on the maids."

* * *

Tenele shimmied along the ledge behind Atul, the rope around her middle tugging her along whenever she paused to have a look down. It wasn't a straight drop. There was a good five foot staggering slope before it eventually lead to a dead drop to the bottom, some several hundred feet.

"We should have gone over the mountain," Tenele whispered, afraid if she lifted her voice any higher then the snow above them would come crashing down.

"It would have taken too long," Atul reminded. "This is fine. Plenty of room to walk. Just stay close to the wall."

There was plenty of room, enough for even the horse to follow them. But, how far would it go before they ran out of "enough" room.

Tenele watched Atul move gracefully. She tried to push through it, but her heart was still hurt by his words. And every time she thought back to them, it made her think what she was doing was absolutely hopeless.

“No, you are not incapable. You are human. You are weaker than us. You keep trying to keep up, but you can’t, Tenele. You can’t keep up with immortals,” Atul seethed. “Vlad always says I shouldn’t argue with you. That it does no good to fight you on this. Well, I’m fighting you. I love you, and I love Vlad. I want him back. But, he’s strong, and immortal, and you are not. You can die, and I won’t lose you to your own pride!”

Tenele frowned, clenching her eyes and looking out at the canyon below.

Crunch. Clonk. Clonk.

Atul looked up, but there wasn't any time to move. A rock broke away from wall above them and tumbled down. He brought up an arm to shield his face, but the rock cracked across his skull. It happened too fast for him to move, or for Tenele to even see what happened.

The King's knees buckled and his body rolled off the lip. The weight tugged Tenele with him. He slide down the incline and over the edge. Tenele screamed, managing to catch a protruding rock before going completely over.

Atul's weight caught the slack in the rope and the force pulled the loop tight around her chest and middle.

"Ahh!" She grit her teeth, hugging tightly to the rock as the pull of Atul's weight slowly loosened her grip. She heaved, straining not to cough, straining to breathe with the pressure around her middle, and the rope cutting into her.

"Atul," she called, her hands slipping. She kicked wildly to find footing, but her boots just slipped off the surface. "Atul!!"

He dangled limp and lifeless, the only thing keeping him from crashing to the foggy death below was the rope tied around Tenele's constricted waist, and it felt like it was going to cut her in two. It was a miracle in itself that she'd managed to catch his weight at all. But, her grip was slipping...

Vlad turned his head toward Talon's voice. "You're a good servant, Talon," he mumbled.

Talon shrugged it off. "I've almost got that girl to show me the fire," he told Vlad softly. "When she does, when I know exactly where it is... I'll put it out. I'll steal his power..." Talon whispered. He hadn't told Vlad about speaking to Atul, or that Tenele had been sick and that's why they were delayed. He was afraid of making the vampire worry when his strength was already so low.

"Tenele and Atul had a setback, but they are moving again. They think they are close," Talon whispered. "It won't be long. I promise."

* * *

"Atul!" Tenele called, her fingers scraping against the stone, her grip slipping. She gasped air, coughing it out through her healing lungs. She was going to die. She was going to slip and fall and they were going to die. Her daughter was going to be motherless. Her husband would never recover, because she died trying to save him.

Atul blinked his eyes open. His vision blurry at first. The blood gash on his head slowly closed over. He looked up at the legs kicking wildly above him, and at Tenele hanging halfway over the edge of the cliff. He heard her choke on a sob.

He shook his head, opened his eyes wider and had a good quick second to realize that he was dangling mid-air over nothing but wafting fog and ice. He was gone in a shower of blue sparks, and reappeared sitting on the slanted surface in front of Tenele. He drew grabbed her wrist quickly and pulled, laying back as he did so that his body was flat to the slippery surface. When he had a good hold on her he teleported them back to the flat ledge where they'd been walking.

He quickly cut the rope from her middle. "Tenele," he breathed, wiping the blood from his face. His hands moved over her waist, slipping inside her coat and grabbing the edge of her shirt. He moved to shove it upwards and have a look, but she caught his wrist.

"Don't," she murmured, pushing his hand away. "I'm fine."

"Did you break anything?" he breathed.

"No," Tenele replied tightly, but she knew that was a lie. She could feel the pinch of a cracked ribs. She wasn't ready to admit it, and she wouldn't. She wanted no more delays and he would insist she rest. "You didn't fall hard enough to damage anything. You were only out a second. I'll just be a little stiff in the morning."

Tenele used the stone wall to pull herself up. "Let's get out of here before the whole thing falls on our heads."

Vlad swallowed, making room in his raw throat for words. "Did you talk to her? Is she doing well? I need them safe, Talon," he rasped. "All of this is meaningless if they're not safe."

Talon frowned. "Tenele was sick," he replied, because he couldn't lie. He could withhold information by not telling Vlad anything, but he couldn't really lie to the man when asked a question. "She's better now. Atul insisted she rest, he made her, and she did. Now, they are continuing on. I was going to call her tonight... If you wanted to talk to her?"

Vlad's eyes glazed with longing. "I can't do that to her. She won't even recognize me like this."

Talon frowned. "She won't care about that. It would make her happy to hear your voice, regardless of what it sounds like. And if Maxwell has any complaints, I'll just tell him it was vital to keep you focused. He did ask me to make you more focused..." Talon drew the stone out from under his shirt.

Vlad shook his head, pressing it into the table hard for focus. "I can't. I can't show her this," he gasped. The humiliation and fury glowed together in his unfocused eyes. "I don't want her sick. I want her to go home. Talon, if she hurts herself... I can't scare her. She has to go home," the incoherent rant ended with him out of breath and exhausted.

Talon frowned at Vlad. "She's too far from home," he replied, staring at the stone. "She's so close that it would be more dangerous to turn around than continue onward. She's not sick anymore. You know Tenele, as bullish and stubborn and infinitely braver than any woman you'll ever meet. She can handle whatever you throw at her..."

That was a lot coming from a man that had spent a lot of his life trying to keep his sister in a cage where she'd be safe.

He dropped the stone so that it plopped against his chest. "I won't push you to do it... But, I know it would make her happy to hear from you."

Vlad's fingers brushed against the stone as if he were testing a lifeline. He'd never needed her so badly. He was terrified. He closed his hand gently over the marble, as if just holding it was a comfort. He lay still and just breathed. For the longest time, it looked like that was all he would do.

Then he spoke, carefully even and barely above a whisper. "Tenele?"

A few long seconds passed with Talon waiting anxiously with Vlad and finally she spoke. "Vlad?" she sounded out of breath, or in disbelief.

Tenele stopped to lean her shoulder against the wall, clutching the stone tightly. Her eyes welled with tears. A few minutes ago she thought she would never hear his voice again. That she would die and he wouldn't know what happened.

She wanted to ask how he was doing, but she knew it couldn't be good. "I'm close," she told him in a tight breath. She couldn't take deep breaths or her ribs protested with sharp shots of pain. But, she also needed to be as normal as possible. So she took deep breaths regardless of how it hurt. "We're almost there."

Vlad smiled through the pain. The sound of her voice soothed through his charred muscles like cool water. "Then I will see you soon," he said lovingly. The words nearly choked him. "Talon says you were ill?"

Tenele smirked. "Damn traitor, he wasn't supposed to tell you that," Tenele muttered, inching along behind Atul. "I'm feeling much better. We had a couple of blizzards and my body didn't take well to the cold. I think I've adapted." She paused to take a deep breath of air, and jerked from the pain. She opened her mouth, but managed to catch the sharp sound before it could alert Atul to any issues. The man just kept walking and listening to her conversation. He was focused on getting them off the cliff's edge since they nearly tumbled over it.

"I dreamed about you last night," she smiled. "It was a nice dream. You were naked." She paused before continuing. "But, you had this strange hat on and whenever I tried to take it off you, you would dance. Atul blames the root we are eating. He dreamed of singing horses."