Fell is going to Fukeru Ukuure.
Feres is going to Darkling Dawn
Vaesai is standing at Lantessama.
That he still lived was nothing more than a miracle... and nothing less than a curse. It would be a blessing if he could end it, if he could find some way to simply... cease.
He had been ready to before Feres had so rudely intruded. Nothing as messy as jumping, of course, but something incredibly easier… and much swifter and surer than that.
Feres was right... of the two of them, Selesst was the one with the true assassin training. Selesst was the one that carried fast acting, mostly painless poison about wherever he went, the poison tipping the lethally sharp points of tiny darts. One small prick was all it took, one small jab at any part of the body.
If a drop of blood welled up, death was already sweeping his scythe to take a life.
He had been within inches of finishing it, when that damnable man had strolled up and calmly threw everything back in his face, and then, on top of that... kissed him!
It was insane. Not that such relationships between men were a shock to him, his country's views on that subject were along the lines of 'whatever makes you happy, enjoy it'. His family on both sides was rife with the same gender pairings… sometimes it almost seemed like his parents were the only ones that didn’t have even a slight lean in that direction, and even that was open to debate sometimes. Yet, still...
Why the hell did he do that? What could have made him do something like that? He could have anyone from what I've seen, and yet he decides to turn his attentions on a man that doesn't even really want it? I am... was... married! I have a child, by all that's holy! What would interest him about someone like me?
Selesst shook his head with a sigh, straightening up and stretching, grimacing as he felt several of his bones pop back into place.
Too many battles and cold nights spent sleeping on unyielding surfaces. The two of us may only be a few years apart, but he is infinitely younger than I... merely because he has not faced the hardships that I went through as a mercenary. The young whelp still has his head in the clouds, despite his supposed courting of death.
With one last glance over the balcony, he walked quietly back into the building, absently reaching over as he passed by a wall hanging and pressing lightly on a bit of filigree that was just slightly raised from the rest of the holder. The soft hiss of movement to his left signaled the opening of the passage once more, and, without pausing, he walked through, making sure that it closed behind him.
He was too disturbed in mind to continue his thoughts for now. His decision would have to come at a later date…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Selverat mentally cursed his bond as he turned where Kerkael had told him to… and found himself in what, basically, amounted to a dead-end alleyway with no sign of anyone, much less a potential candidate, in it.
“Dammit, ‘Kael, this is a bloody dead end you led me too… this is the last time I rely on –you- for directions! Especially when you can’t even get into this place.”
There is a potential candidate not far from you, ‘Rat! She’s just to your right and… a bit below you.
“There’s nothing there, you bloody dragon, except for a solid wall!”
There’s one there, bond-mine.
“There’s nothing. Look, I’ll prove it to you,” Selverat huffed in annoyance as he leaned against the stone wall to his right, pressing all of his weight against it as he did, “Look, see? Noth-- uuaahh!”
The seemingly solid wall had dissolved under his hand, sending him tumbling down a short flight of stairs and into a softly lit room. And over him, stood a definitely amused-looking woman.
To make matters worse, his bond was laughing hysterically in his head.
Told you so!
::Shut it. Just shut it.::
With a muttered curse, he pushed himself to his feet once more, glancing up the stairs as he did, noticing that the entrance was blocked once more with what appeared to be solid stone… and he could feel no draft coming down the stairs from the outside either.
Magic. Of course, it always had to be magic. Kerkael –always- found some way to embarrass him when there was magic around.
“Ah… excuse me for… dropping in like that,” Selverat muttered as he glanced back at the woman, who looked to be struggling to control laughter.
She shook her head, stray wisps of her extremely long, platinum blond hair tossing from side to side as she did so, “Don’t worry about it,” an amused smile crossed her lips, “I was wondering when you’d finally figure it out.”
Selverat blinked, confusion writ large across his face, “What do you mean by that, lady?”
The woman merely smiled, and gestured for him to follow her into the room and take a seat, “My name is Vaesai, if you wish to know.”
“Selverat, rider of Fire Kerkael. I’m on search and…”
Vaesai merely offered him another, rather enigmatic smile, “Yes, I know. Feres should be here soon, and Fell is almost done with her rounds. Selesst, on the other hand…” she shrugged, “I will probably have to send Feres after him.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait a second here… how did you know about me?” This woman disturbed him slightly… she was almost as uncanny as one of those dratted Dream Myrsilkains, and that was saying something.
And that is why I say we should bring her back with us… and these other three too. I’m sure there are places that need candidates, and that will be suitable.
::Fine, fine! Sometimes I wonder whether the only reason you decided to bond to me was to have someone to get into small spaces like this. … And to embarrass.::
Somehow, the feeling that Kerkael sent to him wasn’t very reassuring…
Vaesai glanced up as another strode calmly into the room, “Ah, Feres! Good. This is Selverat, rider of Fire Kerkael. He’s on search for potential candidates.”
Selverat looked over at Feres, and was instantly assaulted with a rather annoying Yes! Him! Himhimhim! as Kerkael looked through his eyes and decided right then and there to mark Feres as a candidate.
Sometimes he did wonder what it would have been like to have bonded a much calmer, more laid back dragon…
Dark green eyes fixed on him with cold power, as the topaz-maned man looked him over, “Candidates? And what, pray tell, would those be?”
“Ah…” he mentally shot a barb at his bond, who was still gloating and saying ‘I told you so!’ over and over again, “A candidate is a person who stands in hopes of bonding a dragon.”
“And you want me to be one.”
“Well… in short, yes. Or rather, my dragon does.”
Something in his tone must have conveyed his feelings on the subject to the tall man, as Feres chuckled in amusement as he took a seat as well.
“Well… there’s nothing much else that I’m intending on doing, so I suppose that I accept.”
“Good, thank you.”
“Accept what?” the voice was soft, and came from the base of the stairs that he had so recently tumbled down. Automatically he made the comparison between Feres’ voice – which was just as soft, yet had an eerie quality to it of barely-heard echoes that Selverat was sure would eventually drive someone crazy… or at least drive him crazy if he had to listen to it for any length of time – and the new one, which sounded so similar… except for the lack of echoes and the much more solid feel to it.
He turned in his seat to stare at the young woman – child? – that was calmly walking across the room, to take a seat next to Feres. It was all he could do to resist the urge to let out another string of curses… why did Kerkael almost always seem to be right about where candidates could be found?
“This man has decided that I would be an acceptable candidate for a dragon, little sister,” Feres smiled slightly.
“Actually… she would too… if she wants to be one.” Selverat sighed as he spoke, rubbing at a temple as he did so.
Vaesai gave him a small smile, before switching her attention to the small woman, “Well, Fell? The choice is yours after all.”
“Candidate? Dragon?” Fell’s voice was slightly suspicious, “Dragons no longer exist.”
“Not here, perhaps, but elsewhere, on other worlds…” he hated trying to explain this to people… there was always that distinct possibility that they’d think him crazy and try to lock him up.
But it looked like this was not to be one of those times, as Fell nodded slightly after she glanced up at her brother, “I guess, then, that if Feres is going, then so am I.”
Selverat started to rise, pleased… three candidates after only a few hours of searching. This world really –was- teeming with potentials, as Kerkael had declared rather abruptly the second they had found it.
“Wait.” Vaesai spoke, as she glanced over at Feres, “Feres, would you go fetch Selesst?”
The man merely nodded, as he rose and slipped from the room quickly.
Vaesai smiled at Selverat’s questioning look, “Selesst is a good friend. I would not want to leave him without at least speaking with him.”
“Ah.”
So, having nothing better to do, he sank back down into the chair to wait.
Considering how his luck had been going recently, he rather expected Kerkael’s reaction when Feres walked back into the room not long after, with another man, Selesst apparently, walking behind him. Vaesai’s knowing glance didn’t help matters in the slightest.
::Why is the whole universe against me?!::
It’s not. You just think it is.
“So?” Vaesai’s soft voice broke him out of contemplating whether he could manage to arrange things so that his dragon was –not- always right, just to show the insufferable creature that he wasn’t infallible.
“Yes.”
She smiled at his answer, then turned her attention to Selesst once more, “This man is Selverat, rider of Fire Kerkael. He’s out on search, right now, looking for potential candidates to bond with dragons.”
Selesst’s lips narrowed faintly, but he nodded, “I see. Off-world, I suspect.”
Selverat blinked, wondering how the man knew already… unless, of course, Feres had spoken to him about it, “Yes, off-world… how did you know?”
“We have legends, my people do. Legends that I’m sure you might recognize remotely, if I was to translate them.”
“Oh…” The possibility of being –remembered- by people other than those he was picking out had seldom occurred to him before… much less the possibility of being remembered by an entire group of people, for however long it had been for them since his first point of entry in the world, “Well, since you apparently already know much… do you accept?”
A small silence stretched between them, as Selesst gazed calmly at Selverat, allowing the silence to drag out, before finally nodding, “Very well.”
::Am I allowed to leave –now-?::
You could leave at any time, bond-mine. You would be just walking wherever you went… and finding yourself stuck on this planet.
::Thanks for the reality check, ‘Kael.::
No problem, ‘Rat.
He could –feel- his bond’s broad grin through their link, blast the creature, and could do nothing about it in the slightest. With a shake of his head he rose to his feet, “Well, come on then, we have a ways to walk… Kerkael can’t exactly fit in the city limits.”
The four nodded and followed him out, mostly silent and lost in thought…
He, on the other hand, was trying to remember the way out of the blasted maze that called itself a city.