Well just absolutly lovely.

I’ve betrayed him, pure and simple.

I deserve to be thrown out on my ass. No, I deserve to have the shit beat out of me and then get thrown out on my ass.

If it was anyone else, even Ann, I know I wouldn’t feel- like this. Like I’m going to keel over and be sick. As much as I respect and like her, I wouldn’t- fuck, what the fuck did I do? What am I going to do?

After some of the things he said to me- the trust he puts in me- and it gets tested first day out under saddle and I buck and balk and leave him on his ass in the dust, after meaningless words of trust and loyalty.

Hell, anyone else, and I wouldn’t have cared half as much. Dagon, Simon, Ann, Damon, anyone, and I may have felt guilt over putting them in a bad postion but in a way, it feels like they’d expect me to bite them in the end, so when I did it’s not a shock, and they know how to bite back. We’re allies and partners, but we all know, in the end, what we are and will always be.

But he- never , I think, did he expect me to do this. I’m not afraid he’ll be angry, not even a little. I want him to be angry. I want him to yell at me and storm off and hate me and never trust me again. Okay, no, so that’s a lie, I don’t. But I don’t think he will.
What I’m afraid of is what I think- I know- I’ll get. Quiet disappointment. Resignment. Hurt. Surprise. Tired anger. And he won’t, I think, turn away and never trust me again. This will shake it to the core, though.

Fuck.


And just what, you may ask, is the emotional Seimei being so melodramatic about now?

Let me start from the beginning. Because this has not been a very fucking good week for me.
For one, I pretty much had my hopes crushed. Dagon didn’t confront the Man in Black, barely even interacted with him. Instead he watched from inside the little room with the portal, watched the Man in Black and a companion walk down the hallway. They were discussing something, and then came into his room unaided. The Man in Black said something about wanting Dagon to ‘come back’ with him, and other illusions to the idea that the man had known Dagon, once, and had dealings with him. He wanted our dragon boy back, and when he said ‘no’, the were changed, and the room itself blew them- out? The magic came unraveled, I guess you could say undone, and all had likely gotten hurt.

Our dragon boy came back with a clump of were fur, and a bit of skin. I felt a little better.

I investigated around a little bit, but found nothing- and apperantly so did my elf. We came together again in the courtyard, where Dagon sat under a tree. Questions got me nowhere with him, of no real fault of his own, and then Ann took me back inside to the banquet still occurring. She claimed they wanted me back in there- me, not us. I steadfastly refuse to let myself acknowledge that I know perfectly fucking well that that is supposed to mean.

Ardremides too the fur and skin, too, and then slipped away, the only one absent from our lovely little event. And when it was over, it seemed very much like Talron wanted to say- something else, to me. It was an akward little moment, but it was what, in the end, convinced me to do what I’d been planning for at least a week now.

I went to his chambers.

The gaurds out front informed me that he wasn’t in, at the moment, and so I trumped my little self over and sat against the wall until one of the gaurds got me a chair, wordlessly, and helped me up into it. Very amusing, if I do say so myself.

Of course, it didn’t take too fucking long for the help to start running past me and giggling, and I knew full well what they were on about. Rumors would start spreading in minutes, probably already had, but oh fucking well.

Besides, I was kind of getting a kick out of this.
Soon enough (boring hours and hours later) a male servent came up and told me my lovely King was waiting for me in the courtyard.
And so off I troddled, disgruntled as all hell and sure I was going to get yelled at.

He didn’t yell at me.

Instead he was standing under the huge tree that was in the center of our courtyard, the only tree there, in fact, barely lit with his back to me. For a moment, I had to pause- striking image that scene made for, and faintly lonely. I got within a few paces before he turned and closed the gap between us himself- smiling at me.

Okay, yes, shut the fuck up, I liked that he was smiling at me. Fuck you.

Just like a few days back, nothing mattered just then- not the ring around my neck or Damen, not Dagon or the Man In Black or the were or anything. Just that he was waiting for me, smiling at me, smiling for me.

Motherfuck, Semei girl, you just got it smashed over your head with a giant fucking club, didn’t you? May as well follow the man around bleating, you stupid little- what was the word that captian used?- ah yes. Frilly.

But at the time, I wasn’t thinking any of that. I was just thinking total brain function shutdown, rational abandoned, body tempeture dangerously high, unable to vocalize, retreat, retreat! Get out of there, man!

I didn’t move, needless to say.

We talked softly, and I tried my damndest to keep the conversation off the unpleasnetness that had been everywhere lately. We just talked, though he did most of it- honestly, I wasn’t fucking joking in the above statement. I couldn’t put thought together well enough to do much more then encourage him to keep speaking. I probably looked like a fool, but I didn’t feel like one. I was embaressed, yeah, but even that went away the more he talked.

He did tell me what Ardremides was doing with that fur and skin- he should be able to keep the were out of our keep, and maybe even track him. More then I expect to get out of that bit of fur and skin, but I was vindictively pleased. .

He was more open then I think I’ve seen him, and that’s presicly what I was after. I want to know him. And the more I do, the more I-

Oh fuck this bullshit. If I can all but say it to a vampire, I can write it down plain.

The more I know him, the more I find myself falling, stupidly, pointlessly, dangerously, idioticly, brainlessly in love. It can not be returned, it will not be returned, I might be married, he’s a fucking King, but there it is.

Son-of-a-bitch. Just- stupid, stupid girl.

He told me that he’d thought he’d never hear himself called ‘my King’ again for a very long time. Told me how he’d lived for what I can only guess is years on years after Nabudel, but in the end- a King is what he was. He said he couldn’t put that aside, but, at my instance, said he’d always be my- friend. There was a softness in his voice I wasn’t used to, and it turned my insides to fucking pudding. It only got worse when he admitted one of his favorite memories was nearly when he’d first met us, and sat it the woods when we camped, playing for us.

Ironic, isn’t it, that it happens to be my best memory of him?

He said he’d picked this spot both because it was beautiful here- and it was, with the faintest of lighting and the moon and the keep what seemed like a million miles away and this huge old tree standing watchful sentinel over both of us and he and I and a sky that was dark and huge- and because it reminded him of a place in Nabudel. Not around the keep, of course, but just outside. He said he went with his father there- rarely- but always in times of peace.

Only in times of peace.

And then Thandriel came and the entire illusion was destroyed. Suddanly the keep was there again, and everything settled back into my stomach like a heavy load, making a tight knot that had just started to let go.

And then, after saying a soft sendoff, he lifted my hand and kissed the back of it, leaning close to my ear. And said maybe next time I wouldn’t have to wait outside his chambers.

Ann told me later that she could hear my squeal from inside the keep. What? I was damn well pleased with myself.

But then my fantastic night turned sour real fast. I got back into my room, only to find a small lamp glowing the in the corner and a note on my bed that read ‘stay in your room tonight’.

I went over to the wall, hissing Ann’s name. No reply, though- and a few minutes later, the sounds of a fight broke out. I spent a good twenty minutes trying to work out what to do, then checked my door for traps. Found none- but yet still got zapped by one I’d missed. And when I opened it, there was a Halfling there before me.

He scowled.

I blinked.

He shifted.

I slammed the door.

Okay, exit one, no option. Exit two?

Yet another trap I missed. I yelped with pain and swore so vividly that in another situation I may have actually emabaressed myself.

And just outside the door, there was another trap. I yelped out, down to the gaurds, that Ann was being attacked. And then I was trapped in my room, exchanging banter with a wise-ass half elf and too afraid to push my luck with the sound of Ann getting her ass kicked going on just beyond my wall.

The little man told me this was all part of the ‘test’, and that Ann’s life depended, more or less, on his partner’s mood.

He also decided I was stupid. Apperantly, sarcasim doesn’t always work well.

And no sooner had I contented myself wit the fact that acting would only cost Ann her life, then did an very naked (okay, so she had a cloak and a robe on, but that wasn't hiding much) Ann and an almost as naked older woman apper on my balcony.

The Halfling seemed altogether too interested, and I resisted the urdge to cover his eyes.

The fight went on hours, but Ann managed to loose her attacked by turning into a cat and leaping off my balcony. Dispit me, the pair left, and THEN, of course, the gaurds came running.

We got questioned about everything that happened, and absolutely nothing got resolved- it went right back to something on you is letting these people come and go as they please, just as before.

It took us a day or two before we got our heads together enough to see Ardremides about it, and he never saw us at all. It was his apprentice who agreed to check us over for magical items, and she found nothing unusal about our things- but I did have a crystal in my packs I’d never known was there.

Now, this crystal came from the same place I did- the experimentation place Ann and the others had pulled me from, where the Man in Black had first popped out to say ‘hello’.

We took our findings to Talron, who suggested that the crystal was, in fact, the Man in Black’s in to Nabudel, and that we take it back to Ardremides and tell him that, on Talron’s own word, this was important.

Poor man looked like a wrung out rag, or a horse that had been pushed to damn far- but he saw us, and had us set the crystal down. He refused to touch it, and Thandreil, who had come with us, again per Talron, also refused. But they gave it a once over, and then came back with the- um- more then a little jarring information as to what this thing was.

They said it was a psy crystal- an intelligent being all on it’s own, with a will and a personality. If not careful, it could take over the mind of who ever held it…..depending on the crystal’s personality. If it was aggressive and ‘mean’, it could be dangerous…..if it was more timid or, I guess, ‘gentle’, less so.

Neither Ann or I could use it or talk to it, though it was determined that it was in my pack because it wanted to be, and that Lim Dul had had it long enough to have put himself in danger, if there was any.

We also figured there was a very real chance Lim Dul’s familer, Mahpoo, had put it in there.
And so off we went to find Mahpoo. We got stopped, on the way, by Thandriel speaking to Ann- but I couldn’t understand what was said or even hear most of it. We passed through the portal without any trouble and popped over into Shoulwater.

I have gotten past all pity for Lim. I have moved up to annoyed as fuck at the big, stupid dope. He was still moping around in his rooms, and yeah, it was hard to see someone who’d been as- alive as him so lifeless, now, but all I could feel, suddenly, was annoyed.

She’s dead, get the fuck over it.

But we got the monkey from him and took him, without fuss, out of the keep. It’s when we got back to the portal that we had a problem- the little beast refused to go through, and flat out ran away, though he didn’t go far. Ann caught him again, and this time we brought him to the druid that had been working on our ships.

Now, I hadn’t had much to do with this particular person, but I must say, I rather like the snarky son of a bitch. All the other druids I’ve met up until now have been as pale as water, and it was a refreshing change. He told us he would get what we needed out of the little theif (apperantly, our little friend had taken some of his gold) the next day. And we went back home. Or at the least, Ann did-I stayed in Shoulwater, curtisy of the crystal at my hip. I entertained myself for the day, doing nothing of importance (I find myself doing that more often then not) and bored out of my fucking skull. But it was kind of entertaining, and I’m becoming rather fond of the help around the keep- both keeps- the more I have to do with them.

Ann appered sometime in the day, and with four-legged companion in tow, we went back to the druid.

I have never in my life seen anyone quite so annoyed or bored with asking questions of a monkey- or with being made to do so.

I have never in my life seen a more evil smile when he voulenteered to make the little familer tell him what he wanted to know. He seemed to take entirely too much pleasure in doing that little trick, and along with being scared, Lim’s little theif was pissed off about it; I don’t know what chatter-squeak chatter squeak means, but I can guess.

I think I’m mildly impressed.

We found out, though, that he had put the crystal in my pack, and that he’d done it because the crystal had told him to and he didn’t want to make it angry. (And that put my nerves a bit on edge, let me tell you.) He said he didn’t know if the crystal had ever talked to his master, our moping sorccer friend, and that the crystal had been in my pack for what balanced out to being a good couple months.

And I had never known it.

Forget nerves being on edge, that made me downright shivery. Inatimate objects should not have a will of their own. It is just not fucking right.

Least of all so when they get yanked out of a giant monster that has been experimented on.

Whatever possessed Lim to take that thing-

-Never mind. I just- I don’t want to know. Enough that he did. Don’t need to know why. Nope. Absolutly don’t.

Probably will anyway, because I don’t usually get a say in these things, and if I do, it doesn’t usually matter.

Yeah, I’m sure you have a good idea of the look on my face right now.

And no Ann, I’m not pouting. I don’t fucking pout.

Anyhow, we found out our monkey friend had taken some things off us, too, and hidden them in our airship. He’d somehow hidden the things inside a panel on the ship, and not just ours.

We found Thandriel’s things and Ardermides’s , along with the druid’s coin and some ladies’s jewelry.

And an amulet with the sign of a scarab beetle on it. Fucking typical, isn’t it?

Anyway, we assumed that amulet was what had been planted on us- me- to let these freaks in and out, more then the crystal, and took it to our pair again.

We gave them back their stuff, too.

Ardremides agreed that this amulet had been the cause of the pair getting in, and took it- he said it should be pretty nulled, now. He also saw that the beetle on it was a façade, and drew us an
image of the real symbol on the thing.

And then we took off again, as we had planned- to see Ivy and King.

We hitched a ride as mercanaries- gaurds, if you prefer- to some merchants headed Tolgron way (the town about a day before Jhadu.) We got there pretty unharrased by orcs.

It was when we got into town the harassment started.

Okay, not really, I’m exaggerating. But the diadem of this town- the new diadem- is a slimey, greasy little man I don’t like or trust for shit. He had dinner with us and made what seemed to be general small talk, though his entire manner was enough to make me wonder what he was up to, even if it was absolutely nothing.

The man he’d replaced was, according to him, ‘ill’, and could recive no visitors.

At least I’m not the only one that wonders if this ‘illness’ is all natural. Ann had doubts, too, but when we saw him-

-a frail, helpless old man, half mad, who’s ’mad ramblings’ turned out later to be rather spot on for mad ramblings. But he did talk about a ‘she’….a ‘she’ who was ‘waiting’. And about water- water being all around. But we couldn’t get more then riddles out of him, and left. And then we left the town.

We arrived at our goal late, and of course, we were accosted by the same, stomach lurchingly eery cleric-now-vampires that had sent me scurring the other way weeks before. Ann slipped into the darkness at my back, and after some nervous babbling meant mostly to make me- us both-feel a little less tense, we followed them into the building we’d last met Shane and Thalice in. Ivy was waiting for us, in the very same room, and was- unsurprisingly-pleased to see us. To see Ann, I should say, though she’ll fight me on it.

Ivy was pleased enough to see us, and we got a surprising amount of information from her- mostly confirmation or rejection of what we’d already heard.

But this is where my melodrama from above comes into play.

She asked us what she got in return for helping us, for giving us what information she didn- and told us what she wanted.

A cup of Talron’s blood.

I don’t know what made me do either of the things I did then. Something in her tone made me bristle, protective and, yes, I was fucking possessive for the first time that I can remember.

I asked her what she wanted my Talron’s blood for. And you know, I didn’t regreat it for one minute. Even after she echoed me with faint disbelieve, I confirmed it, startled myself to hear the tone in my voice but not showing it.

But in the end, I agreed to give her what she wanted. Why? Because I don’t think she’s a threat. I don’t think she means any harm with it. I don’t see any danger. And I don’t feel threatened.
But I do feel like I’ve betrayed him deeply, offering something so precious and almost- intimate. But then, I’ve been over that. See above.

I got to see King again, too. It made me happy. Grumpy and bitchy as ever, he was, but he and Ivy at least now know about Feng and the oddity going on with the lycanthropes in the citadel.
Ann and my fuzzy puppy had yet another stand off, one that nearly ended in her becoming a werekitty again, I’m sure. The funny bit is, I just watched this time- watched him almost tenderly lift her arm, ask her if she wanted to know if a were could control someone he changed, if King could change her without a full moon.

Watched her say no. I was a little surprised, I admit. I half-thought….but I guess I was wrong.

Nevermind.

Anyway. We talked. We got information and gave it. We stayed the night. And we checked on the beast people, only to find they’d packed up and left.

Damn, they worked fast. It was almost spooky, seeing things kind of- wither, without them around. Seeing everything empty and deserted, and it actually felt empty and deserted. The glowing flowers that had lead to the big moose man were the only things not somehow less, and those were overgrown and everywhere- I think I saw Ann take a couple blossoms. I couldn’t bring myself to even touch.

And when we left, and headed back for the keep-

-I started thinking of ways to stall having to go see my King. The real one, I mean not the- ah, fuck me sideways, you know what I mean!

.......I'm screwed, aren't I?

The water is getting way too deep.

Well, if I had a slow and boring time to report before, it's anything but now.

The first thing we did was get the fuck away from that ship and out of the den. Ann took the man with the odd hat's telling us to 'grab the wind' a bit litterally, which is funny as hell to see an elf snatching at blowing air, but a simply touch to the stone blowing wind at us and we got back into the citadel.

I stuck my tongue out at her for minutes after that one- it's just plain not often that Ann looks a bit silly and I don't. Usually the other way around.

Back in the citadel, the first thing we did was was to the young cleric that had been so taken with Illoria. He might have information- or know where we could get it- on her father, who was a were hunter, and therefore give us a few steps in the direction we needed to go about getting back two of our friends taken by the man who had been our sire.

That was, admitedly, fairly simple as well- we found him in a beautiful garden area, and after some soft greetings, explained to him what happened to Illoria. We then used her 'memory' as an excuse to find information on her father. I felt like a real piss, using her as an excuse, but hey, whatever works. He was shocked and wounded when Ann rather bluntly delivered the news, but he brought us to an older man anyway.

Poor thing- the boy, that is- kept drifting off into stunned, pensive silence. Dispite myself, I understood; our situations were very differant, as the person I was in puppy love with had not just become a bear. But I understood the emotion behind his expression none the less- I'd spent the past month feeling pretty much the way he looked.

He took us to this older man, and this one told us a bit about her father, yes. Relunctantly as all fuck, though, and it was like pulling teeth to get anything from him. And really, we didn't find out much more then we knew.

About the only I interesting thing we found out was why he didn't seem to be burried where everyone said he was. The grave, the man said, had been moved to protect him, shelter him. So that no one could defile the hunter or do unpleasent things to the man after death. The were would have jumped at the chance, this man told us. The rest of the information given was pretty generic- her father had died at the hands of bandits after his gifts as a hunter had been stripped from him, outside child-Illoria's home, while child-Illoria had been in the woods. He had been one of the best, while he was. But if we wanted more information then that- well. We would have had to promise- give an oath, in fact, and I am really starting to fucking hate oaths- that we would do nothing with his information except use it as just what it was- knowledge.

Do nothing with it unless we swore ourselves to the empress and became just more citadel dogs. If we acted in anyway on what he told us as outsiders, then we were not covered by any laws.....and if we killed anyone, deserving of it or not, we were murderers, nothing more. Even if it was in self-defense- if we put ourselves in a situation of 'kill to survive', we were not protected by laws. It's stupid. Just a few months ago, I would have protested this feircly, pouted and sulked over it, growled and grumbled. But I felt strangly calm, if frustrated, and I understood his words. He wasn't trying to be unforthcoming or unhelpful. He was only doing what he must, and obeying the laws he lived by.

I think it was then I realized something. I realized that I'm growing up. It's mostly a forced sort of growing up, but there it is, none the less. It almost scares me.

Stop number two was to find a scholar, someone who could tell us about the west. Now, see, odd little thing to report- I remember things and people at random times, usually when I need them, and this was one of those times. I remembered a scholar that agreed to write us up a book with information on the west, for our 'usual price'- and I just fucking managed to slick my way around that little doozy, luckily, but I don't think the man entirely belived me- and then we left. I think that was, perhaps, the only 'simple' part of our next week.

We left that man, then, after we'd gotten all we could, and moved to our next logical stop. We wanted information on were-who better to ask then a hunter of them? And Ann knew just the guy. We toddled off to the graveyard, where she had last seen him. I've only been here once before, and I forgot how damn creepy the gravekeeper is. He talks to the spirits here, and he- knows things. He may be as creepy as all fuck, but he's not a bad guy, and I can't say I dislike him. He lead us into the graveyard, and proceeded to tell us that his spirits didn't want us to know who or where this hunter was, and they were worried that if we knew, someone else might. Protective of him, it seemed, and in a way, it helped me feel better; in a way it also made me feel worse. I mean, spirits were protective of the guy. It either meant he was someone we wanted to be playing with, or someone we should really avoid.


But in the end, a meeting was arranged for us to rendevouse with the hunter where he wanted, when he wanted. They all seemed able to accept this, if not entirely happy, and we left with the idea that we would know when he was ready to meet with us.

Some further breif conversation, and then we left once more.

Okay, now? Things get a bit messy.

See, we went to another scholar sort of man for imformation about- about Toby, that very special 'person' I mentioned before. And we got way more then expected. An assload of information got dumped on our heads, most of it interesting and helpful tidbits about what Toby and his ilk are, and just what role they played when it came to another complecated part of our lives- vampires.

Suffice to say conversation turned from Toby- after we got an assload of information (I won't say what 'cause then I'd have to say what he is)- to the vampires themselves, and from the vampires to Primov. Yeah, yep, the Big Nasty I explained Ann, Talron and I fought? Well, turns out we really did wake him up. And we did a lot more then that.

I think I mentioned the black orb we took from that place. Well, that, ladies and gentlemen, is Primov's heart. And when we brought it back from the land of the dead, guess what else we brought?
It's like buying fish, and getting home to find out you've picked up a kitten on the way home without knowing it. Not a big shock, and enevitable. Except for I don't expect a kitten is a terrifying monster destined to destory the world. We drag his heart into the real world, ours, and his body is going to follow.

Now, I will say this bluntly. Half-dead, crippled, ancient, and weakened, this monster kicked our asses fuck good. Even though we got out alive and with our goal, he still nearly killed us all. But now? Stronger, maybe? We wouldn't stand a chance.

This man, this surprisingly open and honest man, told us as much as he could about our vampire- about Toby- as he could. Then he told us about the were, and where they'd come from, and we found out some interesting shit.

Vampires made the were. And I don't mean turning-men-to-beasts. These were didn't turn back and forth. These were were what King is- and that is why he calls himself thus.

King of the were.

King is not a man turned into a wolf at the full moon, and he does not need to bite to transfer the disease. That's how the vampires made it, origonally. So that the disease, I suppose, could be spread more quickly. He can turn with just a look at someone.

The vampires made these were like him, and apperantly the orcs as well. They made all kinds of- disease and horrors and brought them right off their little island with them to the rest of the world.

A lot of this part I can't really- I can't put down on paper. There's so much of it, too much to recall off the top of my head. I can't even tell you what all that man told us about, without thinking on it for fucking hours. The jest of it, best as I can sum up, is this.

Here is a prophacy. Here is legenadary horror number one, the Great Red Worm (Wyrm?) and here is number two, our vampire. Here is the Dragon Wars somewhere in the middle of it all.
Here is Ann and Semei, starting the whole mess over again.

Here is Ivy and King, a vampire and a were like no other, realizing that letting Primov awaken would just make them slaves again. Here is Ivy and King, wanting to stop Primov, or so it seems. Here is Primov's heart, in the hands of wizards that fled the vampires.

That is a very rough summary of what we got there, leaving out almost everything we discussed. Not counting Toby, of course. And man, did we find out some interesting shit about him. Like I said, it'd take too long to cover everything even if I could remember it all, and I'd have to ask Ann, and she doesn't even know I'm writting all this down. She'd probably laugh if she did.

So there we were, with all this information flooding our skulls, and gettin' ready to leave, (after rather heated debate as to weather or not let this man tell anyone else about Ivy and King, as I have a completly misplaced and unnessicary protectiveness over King that he does not want and does not need. Fuck me, I have a misplaced and unnessciary protectiveness over all my friends and allies and most of them don't want or need it, so what do I care if it's one more?) When the little matter of the empress's staff came up.

Now, this staff- it's got the power to destory. As far as I know, that's what it's for- to destory. It's in three peices, and our enemies have two of the peices now. But a long time ago, apperantly, Ann did something regarding it that resulted in her using it and now she's been subtly accused of stealing it. As far as I know, that's not true, but then. Well. She hasn't said anything about it to me, and I'm a little concerned, particuarly 'cause she sent Lim Dul off to Shoulwater in case anyone should come looking to arrest him.

Arrest. I don't much like that word.

We finally left, now Ann and I snapping at each other- or rather, me snapping at her and her irritated at the world. And the full moon on the come.

We stayed in our inn for pretty much the rest of our stay, becuse now I was paranoid of the citadel coming for us as much as the were, and she was just paranoid about the were. We slept in shifts, and the night of the full moon, I was surprised I got to sleep at all.

I didn't get it long.

About two hours in, I was shaken awake by Ann, poking me with an arrow. Of course, that makes my brain go oh fuck, the elf is armed, because whenever Ann is armed and I am not, it means she has seen or heard something I havn't, and I did not like not having my dagger in my hand. I didn't like not being able to fucking see in the dark.

While she tracked our intruder's progress over our roof, I eased back onto the bed to my gear, and by the time I could see what was going on, our window was open and a form had slipped inside. He payed no nevermind to me, giving me a chance to collect myself, and I only spoke up when I saw it was a man. An exceptional man, but never the less, not a wolf. Our hunter.

I will admit it here and now. If ever there was sex on two legs, he was it. He could have called me to heel and you bet your ass I'd have done it.

No, I don't mean he was attractive. It's weird- I barely even recall what he looks like. Feature-wise, that is.

I remember eyes as hard and unforgiving as any I'd ever seen, with no sufferance for fools and no visible kindness. But they weren't cruel eyes, either, not mean eyes. I remember a voice that rasped almost as much as King's, a growl by itself without any help from wolf blood as far as I knew. Deep, feral voice, on a man that did not waste words.

He was, in every line of his body, in every movement, a preditor.

He started the conversation by telling us point blank that he was not interested in helping us or reciving aid from us. We were not of the citadel and therefore nothing to him. The girls the were held capitive also meant nothing, or so he said. But when we pressed him for information, he gave it, almost willingly.

The were that had been our sire was named Feng. Fang? It was hard to tell which he prounounced it as, and honestly, I don't give a fuck. This messed up son of a bitch had learned how to gain power by killing his own sire, by killing those more powerful then himself. Vampires did it, our hunter said, and apperantly this were had learned how through them. Or by stealing it from them.

He said we didn't stand a chance, trying to get those girls back, not as we were, and that he couldn't help us narrow down anything weres might be weak to besides what we already knew. Wolves to silver, and such.
He belived the wolf we fought in Naubudel was either not a were, or that Nabudel itself had somehow made the creature less vulnerable to our attacks. Even though my dagger should have torn the bitch from stim to stern, and fuck 'less vulnerable'. There is 'oh, this doesn't hurt the way it should' and then there is 'what the fuck, your guts should be on my boot!'

Yeah.

As we talked, I asked if he knew anything about any war the were might be fighting with humans. Too many, he said, and without a name he couldn't help me. I told him I wasn't sure how safe naming the person would be, and he didn't offer any reassurance. It was simple as black and white, to him. Either I told him who and he told me if he knew, or I didn't and he couldn't.

I was surprised how frightened I was to say Damen's full name out loud, but almost the minute I did, recognition came on the hunter's face.

Somehow, saying Damen's full name made this- real. Solid. Before, when he was just 'Damen', I could say 'oh, he's just some guy'. Or 'he's just pretending to know me'. But saying it all, speaking 'Damen Delfott' in that quiet room on a full moon, clutching my ring like a rope and watching a man who seemed more beast then any werewolf I'd ever seen- it became real.

He said Damen had come scouting ahead for the wizards long before they'd come over, years before they'd come over. And yes, he'd had a woman with him.

Then when he came to my side of the bed and snagged my wrist, studying my ring. And called me by name without me ever having told him it. So there, this hunter would not, I'd bet, be a part of a scheme to make me think I was someone I was not. I'd never met him before in my life, so far as I knew.

But he did bring up a good question. A man who loved me, truely- would they let me be in the postion I was in?

But that question just puts me back at peg one, doesn't it?

Who in the fuck am I?

I tried to get an answer to that question.
When I mentioned to the hunter that everytime I went there a were appered to kill me or one of my friends, he wanted to have me go there, to speak to- someone. When my pressance lured out a were, brought them to me, he'd catch it and kill it.

The catch? It could piss the were off enough to kill our girls.

But at the moment, I did not give a fuck whatsoever.

Flash forward to the next day, round four o clock, when I am wandering the streets as bait with Ann following in shadows by me and Master Hunter, as he wanted to be called (and was more then fitting) no where in sight.

The entire building was trapped, so there was no getting inside, and nothing appered after I'd made a fuss for a good half hour, neither freind or foe.

So I headed down, into the sewers below the building, where I knew another path was. Sadly, while I was activly checking for traps, I missed one and set it off. Ended up with a face full of nasty ass poisen, with a gate blocking off our way. I slipped and got it full, and Ann managed to dart away with a wise ass 'you forget to check again, didn't you?'

I have never in my life wanted to hit anyone more.

I informed her, once out, that yes, I fucking well was checking.

Besides, she hadn't seen it either. Damn uppity ass frustrating elf.

Before we could get into full swing (an argument between she and I is usually fast but viciouse) we were alerted to another pressance.

Apperantly, setting off traps makes one of them come to check what's going on. He didn't see Ann, and he almost didn't see me, leaning on the wall. I simply waved, and didn't he look like a mouse caught in a trap.

"Hi." I said, and grinned. He did not smile back.

How rude.

I don't know what would have happened if I'd drawn my weapon on the man. If I'd demanded to see Damen and not taken 'no' as a reply as I'd planed to. And I had, too- I'd meant to demand to see him, refusing to accept anything less then what I wanted.

But the man had said 'Again? Hasn't it been enough?' And all anger drained out into this big puddle of guilt, and
I knew he was right.

So instead I wound up asking questions of a man who couldn't answer them, though an interesting reply to 'why would Damen say anything, if I wasn't supposed to know anything'. Maybe he wanted you to fail, the man said, and it to start again with him.

Further questions down that line were neatly averting by a skillful speaker, by his turning the conversation around at me. Before I could get back on the topic, summon the anger of having my questions pushed to the side, he'd found anger of his own. Anger at my doubt of Damen's love for me.

'You go to the graveyard'. He'd said, in the end of our conversation. 'You watch his tears, and tell me if he's lying'.

Now, anyone can make that shit up. But there was an angle to his chin and a note to his voice that told me he wasn't. I had Ann escort him back to where he needed to go, and when she returned to me-

-finally, finally, the shit hit the ceiling as a clawed hand came out of the hole in the floor that lead into the sewers, and from the floor a wereboar yanked itself up. I didn't see it, actually- Ann had shoved me out of the room and into the ally.

I only saw it when it came after her. And then I did one thing.

Ran like a fucking coward. I heard Ann take a shot off and stopped long enough to see her get gored, but then she was running, too, while I yelled at her to haul ass and stop playing hero. That was how I lost one of the girls, the one named Myn- she'd tried to lure it away while I got help.

But Ann came right after me, and we ran like fuck.

You can't outrun a were.

It wasn't long before it ran over the top of both of us, but before it could do more then knock us about, it froze.

Looking past me, at what I thought was Ann, for a moment.


Then I saw Master Hunter, striding very calmly down the street. Bout damn time, asshole. Fucking ambling along like you've got all the time in the world. Like you need to give me another reason to drool over your boots.

But after a moment, the thing snorted twice, then turned around and ran- and the hunter moved from a walk to a run in one movement, flying after the creature. Ann was torn, for a moment, but I told her to go on and leave a trail for my slow human ass to follow. So she blew off after them, and I ran after, following marks of an arrow dragged along the ground every few paces.

I finnally caught them up when they stopped at a building- I could see Ann no where, and people were fleeing the building in a panic- they finally dispersed, particuarly after my yelling at them to do so and not come back, and then through the window of the second story came hunter and hunted.

They crashed to the earth, and the creature made a mad bolt for freedom. And I acted without ever really thinking about it, without worrying about getting in the way- I dove in and slashed at one leg, aiming to severe muscle.

A terrifing heartbeat where I was sure, sure as fuck that I had missed, and then warm blood leaking down and the thing's cry of pain, and it was still running but now labouriously, clearly tired, now wounded.
There was a breif respite, and I felt a strange surge of pride when the Hunter caught me out of the corner of his eye and said something along the lines of 'nice job' with a look that was slightly less full of dislike.

I managed a 'thanks', and somehow even a cocky little smirk. I swear it was nearly returned before he boomed 'back here!' so forcefully that I jumped half a mile out of my fucking skin and he was on the thing again. I swear, he was enjoying this.

And you know what?

I know I was enjoying it. My blood was rushing, pounding in my ears as the two went at it, as our hunter attacked this creature like nothing I'd ever seen. This wasn't a fight, it was the preditor skillfully, artfully putting it's prey down. Every time the thing tossed him off, he seemed to get more pissed off, until I heard a rummbled 'hah- fooled ya'. and he drove his fist, covered in spiked gauntlets, into the creature.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

And it was over.

He drove one into the beast's shoulder and held the other at his throat. Ann melted back into the shadows- she'd been pelting the thing with arrows, a feat I had come to be impressed with, that she could fire into something like that and not peg friend instead-but now she practically evaporated, and I moved up next to the hunter, just a step or two behind.

I was viciously pleased, morbidly satisfied to see the pain and terror on this thing's face as the hunter spoke to it, threatened it to never rest in peace unless it told him what he wanted to know. If it didn't speak fast enough, he drove that spike in further.

I watching that thing, that murderer scream in pain, watched it feel the fear it's ilk had made myself and my friends fear. It deserved torture, torment, it deserved whatever this man could give it and then some, it deserved to suffer for taking two little girls and killing countless other people. It and every single man like it.

Not were. Notice I did not say 'were'.

I said man, and that is what I meant. I do not hate the lycans.

Being a were does not make you evil. King is not evil, and neither was Ann.

This creature. Our sire. They were. And I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to feel the fear and pain they caused.

The hunter broke his attention from the beast to ask me if there was anything else, but rather then answer my question, the creature defiantly spat that they were no where we'd ever find them, and then killed itself on the hunter's weapon.

Cowardly son of a fucking whore!

But the hunter made good on his threat, cursing that creature after it was dead and it's body had resumed human form. Only then did my bloodlust fade, did the red go from behind my eyes. Only then did horror fall in.

Yes, I was- savagly angry. Yes, I was glad this- monster was dead. But did anyone deserve torment and fear?

Does anyone? No matter how evil or how much you loath them, do they?

Because no matter what, if this happened again, I would not stop the hunter. And I would not regret the death or torment of another enemy.

And I did say human. Aren't they only supposed to turn into wolves?

Once the mess was gone, the hunter straightened up. If my expression was anything like what it was not supposed to be, he didn't show it. He either didn't care or he understood completly.

He did inform me that Ann's arrows should have hurt it more, which I already suspected. And he did surprise me by expressing that he would not entirely loath it if we were to cross paths again.

If we do, it will be my honour, Master Hunter. I just hope like fuck I'm not a lycan when that happens.

He stopped, like he wanted to say something to Ann, who was horrified and lingering in the shadows. He stopped, though, and instead went on his way.

I offered what little comfort I could to Ann, who accepted it gracefully but relunctantly. She was stiff in horror, and I felt- dirty, looking at her, ashamed.

We changed inns that night.

To my surprise, the innkeeper of our new temporary abode was more then happy to discuss my past with me.

He didn't question why I asked odd questions, and told me that I had come in with Damen- or a man with Damen's discription- and five other men on three nights of the full moon two years ago. Damen and I had appered to be in puppy love, and we all seemed to be- celebrating something.

A year later, he said, Damen came in alone.

I grilled the innkeeper more, but that was pretty much all the information I got from him....Ann and I made up a lie to explain my questions, and then headed back to the man who was working on our book, to see how far along he'd gotten. I ended up with a troop of three following me that Ann as a kitty warned me about, right before I got a sword in my back.

At my 'happy to see me?' crack, they laughed, so at least I knew I wasn't going to die right off.

Turned out I didn't have to worry. They were men sent from Damen, to tell me to stop following them and not to ever kill another were in their territory unless I planed on making that hunter stick around. And I doubted I could 'make' him do anything. They were moving shop, they told me, and I wasn't to find them again.

Wiseassery aside, I took the moment to appologize and mean it. My selfish curiousity had done enough harm, and after today, I would not bother them further. I warned about one of the ones keeping an eye on me being in possible danger, and then we finished our treck.

We got our item and then I went back to the graveyard. The gravekeeper was not surprised, of course, that I was alive and well, and he took me to my grave- a beautiful stone mosoleum of sorts, not just a plot in the earth. Expensive. More then I ever expected.

The gravekeeper confirmed that yes, Damen came, every Friday, two hours before sunset.

Guess what that day was?

He lead us to a hill, and we watched. I felt the soft warmth of the ring as Damen grew near, watched him leave and flower. I watched the man that called himself my husband sit on the earth and just- talk. To me. I wished I could hear the words, and when I saw the tears start-

-why would he do this? Why would he fake this? Could he?

What the fuck am I supposed to do if this is real?

His tears stopped because he knew I was there- I'm sure he did- so when he left and I came down, I confirmed with the gravekeeper that those tears weren't fake, and the gravekeeper watched me put two intertwined wildflowers on my own grave, next to his own. He wanted to know if he should tell Damen the truth. I told him yes- and to tell him also that I would not be back here while unwanted.

And then we left for home.

Avoiding orcs, we slept that night with soliders that did not know us for the ladies of Beferngaurd Keep until the next day, and then we arrived home at last.

And yes, stupid me had started to think of this place as home. This was my home, the only home I remembered, and these people were my friends.

And Talron. King Talron. He was- he is-

He can be nothing but a dear friend. Not until I know for sure. I can't let him be anything more.

I can't.

Fuck. Just- fuck all up and down. I'm such a whore. Seriously.

We pushed past a man trying to give us a run down of things happening at the keep, gently putting him off and getting in to speak with our King.

And what happened inside- well, that told me where I stood before even I knew it for sure.

We spoke of what happened with the were and of going west, and why he wasn't anymore and that we were.

And then Ann opened her big mouth again and told him I was upset over that fucking boxes. I've never been so red. I've never been so pissed.

But he didn't seem upset. He did, though, not want to involve us in what was in those boxes.

And I felt my hand go to his without my permission. I spoke before I even registered what I said.

All thoughts of Damen were gone from my mind....everyone and everything else just- stopped existing in that moment.

In the moment I told him almost everything. When I told him he was one of my closest freinds and that I would always, always be beside him or behind him. When I told him I would be involved because I wanted to be, because he had done so much for us and asked nothing in return.

I came a hair's breath from saying because I care for you. I came an inch from saying you are more to me then anyone has ever been- that I can remember, of course. And laughing. Just to try and make him laugh.

No one else mattered at that moment, not even Ann, beside me. Talron- not the King, not my King, but my Talron, my friend, was suffering. His expression was so sad, like it had been in Nabudel, and once again, just like there, he looked- so unsure. I'd never seen him unsure, until recently. Not like this, anyway. It broke my heart just as it had then. I didn't want anything else but to give him every bit of-of strength that I had, even if it wouldn't do him a lick of good. He was not supposed to have that look. He was strong and powerful, confident and secure. He was not supposed to be afraid.

He said it wouldn't be an easy road, if we opened those chests. That there would be no going back.

I told him just because it wasn't an easy road didn't mean I wouldn't walk it. And it is true. Least of all with him and Ann beside me.

I never thought I'd say what I did. Do what I did.

And Ann- Ann, who can be so cold at times, so distant, but so good a friend and so stern and gentle and mentor, agreed with me.

I was frightened , that she'd see just how deep I was getting in and not like it- but the woman I look up to and respect, my partner and friend, sometimes my very worst enemy, the woman who could drive me to distraction, only agreed with me.

Her words were- 'we make a good team', and hell, we did, the three of us. And with others to help, now, besides.

He would not walk that road alone. I would not let him. Ann would not let him.

He explained what happened to Nabudel, his hand gripped in my own smaller one, his eyes on the little chests in front of him that he had pulled down.

Talron's father could have destroyed the Great Red Worm with the staff I spoke about before. It would have taken out most of the world, too, leaving only Nabudel and the people inside standing. He didn't take the action that would have done both these things, and after that and what happened at his home, the dragons thought the humans had abanonded them and promptly turned their backs on us.

Flash forward. The entire scenario repeats itself, but this time the staff is used, and a content goes bye bye, as the empress uses the staff to wipe out the threat.

Flash forward. Again, Empress, staff, war, dragons, vampires, Big Nasty one and Two. And us right in the middle, and Talron with the staff in those little chests that could destory everything or not.

Funny, how such a light item can seem so heavy in his hands.

Talron said his father refused to use the staff because he must have known of a better way. And he thinks- for some insane, crazy ass reason- Ann and I are how he's going to find it.

You know, the truely ironic thing is that when I got into a confrontation over the orb we'd taken with the wizard who desired it, that is the very thing Talron said to me. Such a long time ago, but just when it looked like we were on the edge of a fight, he'd shaken his head.

'There's a better way'. He'd said.

And now, still with that strangly aching look on his face, he put the staff away, and I suggested we get some rest and continue in the morning. Honestly, I felt over loaded and had exhausted from all that had happened.

And that's when Talron sprang the banquet on me.

I sat there for a moment, and then the most intellegent thing I have ever managed sprang out of my mouth.

'No.' I said, as if it would change things. He blinked at me. Ann scolded me, but I only half heard. I was focused utterly on him. I said it again, this time stretching it out a bit. Whining.

Sure enough, his lips twitched. Not quite a smile, but good enough for me. I grinned in return, aware of Ann's amused exasperation to my left. It felt oddly warm. Then she asked Talron if he would be attending. He said of course, and she gave me a Look.

"Then you will be." She said, or some form of it, and that was that.

I went to my room for a nap and to sulk.

Two hours later I was jerked awake by a maid knocking at my door and promptly forcing her way in. And for the second time in my life, I was preened. I don't mind saying I was like a wet cat through it, but I was also almost completly ignored by the woman who began to scrub at my nails as if trying to scrap every hidden partical of dirt off them.

I was just going to get them messed up again, and I said as much. I got told that tonight, at least, they would look good. And when I whined once more, I got a wry look and told it wasn't me I was trying to impress.

Well fuck me sideways, the damned little shrews. I'm impressed; embaressed as all hell that she seemed to know just who I did want to show up for. Not that I ever could- I don't care how good they are, I'm just not a dress-and-do kind of female. I don't look good done up, and when you stand me next to Ann I look worse.

All the same, I got fussed over, Ann got fussed over, and we were escorted out and brought into our dining hall. It wasn't as bad as all that, really- I was just tired and irritable. I spent most of the night melting into my seat and trying to avoid Talron's eyes, all too aware of the ring against my neck, and by the time I started to feel alright with things and in a better mood, of course, things had to go downhill.

The big doors swung open, and a hush fell over everyone as Dagon stepped in. For a moment, my fear calmed. Stop it, I told myself, you're being too damned jumpy. Calm the fuck down, enjoy yourself. It's Dagon. Of course they're going to go all weird. Man's probably got so many rumors about himself it's insane, and he probably enjoys the attention. Whatever he is, he's a peacock.

I was about to make a wise ass comment, when he staggered, and I saw the blood roughly when Ann did. We were both on our feet and rushing towards him before we even knew we were moving, and even Talron rose.

We caught him gently just as he started to fall, and eased him down on the floor of the dining hall.

And in a voice that should not belong to someone as sweet and good as Dagon, choked with pain and weak, he said- 'you asked me to tell you if I saw the Man in Black.....'

And in the middle of this wonderful banquet, in my home, my home, in the middle of what had been laughter and song and drink and food and people all talking at once, in the only place I had ever felt something like safe, there lay one of my friends, hurt and bleeding.

No. Not here.


Not in my fucking home, you cunt. I told you to leave them alone. This is my place, and no one, no one, will hurt my friends here.

I'm not scared of him anymore, you know? I mean, I am, but-

but I am not a coward, and I have been pushed way too far recently. I can't fight him. But I'm not alone right now.

Dagon is not dead.

That means Dagon can stand against the Man in Black.

Whatever he is, dragon or no, he can stand. And that's all I need.

Introspection?

When there is not a lot going on, one has way too much time to think.

Our next week-ish- of life at our keep was a fairly slow paced on, especally after everything that happened. Talron took himself off without another word, and there was nothing left for us to do but relax the rest of the day. We couldn't even get through our portal, 'cause Ann's insanly intemidating father was in there still examining it.

We wanted- needed to get into Talron's offices to warn him one of his officers might very well be the werewolf we'd encountered in Nabudel, but we couldn't even do that.

He was, apperantly, too busy, and I for one wasn't willing to create a mess to see him right now. So we went to see Garenar, the little goblin that I spoke about earlier, and then up to our rooms for rest for the evening.

The next morning, we managed to track down Talron, and- damn.


From moment one, I've said no matter what title he bore, he would never be anything but- well, Talron. I mean, it felt like moving from Lord to King wouldn't matter to me. Why should it- he was still my friend and my....well, someone I care about. A lot.

But when I told him I didn't want to reveal my information in front of his officers, and he advanced on me, I felt, for the first time since meeting him, intemidated by him. Seriously, it was- the very first time he ever managed to cause me to feel- really, really small. And I meant to just out and have it out with him, the way I always did. Normally, when he's upset or I'm upset with each other, or pissed off or angry or whatever, we have words. And yeah, he typically wins. He's older then me and he's got the power here, primarily, but I never just roll over and show my throat to him. I've never felt like I needed to.

Today, for all I wanted to, I couldn't lift my voice above a fucking whisper. I told him that we thought the danger was from one of his own gaurds, and he didn't say shit to me. He just stopped towering over me and walked away.

My intemidation turned into a cool, rolling anger in a second-span. I have a temper, and very few people manage to spark it the way that confusing enigma of a man.

And don't go saying he's not, either. A warrior who plays music and helps clean up after a meal, a leader who considers a spitfire scrap of a teenager and a young, proud elf to be worth listening to and working with, a King who wore no crown, a man that came near tossing Ann out on her ear but lets me come near cursing him blue, proud but humble, a man who risked his life for us when he barely knew us, more then once, who came to us again when we needed him, who gave us so much and asked for so little in return. An enigma. A good man if there ever was one.

And never, not once, have I been frightened of him until this day. And being scared of him got me pissed. That he went out of his way to scare me pissed me off. He does shit like this- I'll be all gooey over what a guy he is then I'm ready to tear him into strips. Or is that treason to say, now? That I'd sometimes like to shake him until his brains fall out his ears, then stuff them back in for him? If it is, I'm in trouble.

So just the second he turned away, my anger burned away my fear. I held my tounge as he is my King now, and with these men around, I would not challange him. I knew, right then, the minute he pulled that, that I was not Semei talking to the man that was her friend and ally. I was one of the Ladies of the keep, and I was refering to my King.

It was weird as fuck, feeling that click into a differant attitude, almost a differant persona.

He walked away from us, and the rest of the conversation we held with another- gaurd? Someone who wasn't Talron, who didn't seem all too fond of me or Ann. He asked us if we had an item on us that might have allowed the werewolf or our Man in Black into Nabudel, as, he said, there was no way they were in the courtyard when we headed there. They found some other way to get there, and it was a possibility that he'd been there before,even though Talron apperantly did not remember seeing him there.

And so with that, we left. We told Talron we were leaving for the citadel again, and he surprised me by asking- all by himself, like a big boy- how long we would be gone.

I still said nothing- I bite my tounge hard, and the only thing that slipped out was a sarcastic- 'My King' in farewell, rather then a typical goodbye.

We headed back down, and Ann then wanted to see about Shoulwater. We found our portal was still very blocked off, though, as her father was inspecting it. So we again, just took the rest of the day easy. Until the next morning, when we discovered our fish shipment was late. We went down to find out why, and this time- this time we found out her father'd been in there two hours with no word. Ann's reply was simple and had no room for argument. If he wasn't out in the next fifteen minutes, we were going in. And so up we toddled, to our rooms to get our things. My dagger, her bow.

When we came down, he still wasn't out. And so, ignoring the scolding and warnings of her father's- um, companions?- we went in after him.

We came out inside a damn fish tank. Honestly, we did- a fish tank made of magic.

We were pretty far under water, it looked like, and surrounded by a dome of sorts. There was nothing around us, but when Ann wandered around, exploring, we discovered a corridor that suddanly opened in front of us, as if the bubble around us expanded. It took us down an empty corridor, to another sphere on the other side- and then, studying it and discovering we couldn't open any other doors and get through to the other side, we found at least two more of much the same type. All lead us down corridors to stare at rooms and portals much like our own, all with doors sealed on our end to keep water out and us in.

And fish. really, really fucking big fish.

We put the light out when we saw those babies- we did it fast, too.

We kept up this searching pattern until we finally found our man- and he just about took us out before he realized who he was looking at. It's not a nice feeling, coming up close and personal with an elf a step from send something likely really nasty spinning your direction.

It's really not that much better when he folds his arms and glares.

"Anjha?" He asked, his voice all dissaproval. I couldn't help it- I started to snicker. And I couldn't stop, even when he began to lecture us. We, two fully grown (erm, okay, mostly grown, at least on my part) women were scolded like childern, and honestly, I can't say I remember the last time I got that from anyone but Ann, and that's more like getting chewed by an older sister. She didn't seem a quarter so abashed as I was.

He also refused to tell us anything about our portal or what was in it. Our portal. But in any case, we argued like wildcats to find out what was in there and everything about it. But he refused flatly, unless we swore aligance to the citadel. And we weren't doing that, not today and not anytime soon.

So we were none to gently put aside and he began his work again- whatever it was he was doing. I only trusted him because he was Ann's father- frankly, the man scares the fuck out of me, even though I know it's silly. I highly doubt Ann's father is going to turn around and bite me. Just give me looks of what seems to be faintly amused scorn.

Ann is fond of saying 'stupid humans'. Oddly enough, I felt more like a 'stupid human' in front of her daddy then I ever did around her. And he did rarely more then look at me.

Soon after, we were cornered by Thandriel, who I think I already wrote about, and given the same twenty questions game about the werewolf in Nabudel. We asked- Ann and I, that is- Dagen about it, too, but he knew about as much as we did. Nothing got resolved, and then the infirmed people who were supposed to arrive did.

And then the show started.

These were not mildly deformed people, I'll start by telling you. Some of them, as much as I hate to admit it, were rather hard to look at- they were not pretty. But they didn't get scorned by anyone so far as I could tell, and shuffled their way down to where the base of our statue was. And they acted as if our statue was there, as if it wasn't an empty base, and started to chant softly. We all just- watched, quietly.

And then Ann sneezed. Now, see, few weeks, maybe months now, back, this same entity gave Ann a disease that was deadly only to ghosts. We used it to defeat a very bad ghost of a man who lurked inside our mini keep when it was still little. And whenever she was near or interacting with our little group, Ann would typically sneeze.

I did, once, too, when I said something wise ass and got her angry.

But now, I sneezed without having said a word. Everyone was staring, now, and then Thandriel, sneezed, and then-

-and then everyone in the entire fucking Keep, it seemed, sneezed. At just about the same damn time.

A few minutes more, and we went back upstairs, to rest for our trip back to the citadel.

At least, until the cold breeze hit us in the face when we headed into our rooms. We inspected both throughly, then, on Ann's hunch, went to the window.

And we heard a scream.

A maid came out of the room a few doors down from us, all paniced and frightend. She was claiming that she'd seen a ghost 'die'. Fucking hell, a few hours later she wasn't the only one, and Talron had men moving to stations as if we were in danger.

I highly doubted we were- I remembered the sneezing, and what this entity had done with Ann. I doubted we were in much danger, now, anyway. But everyone else was in a frenzy and even Talron was upset and worried, afraid- a fear I shared, dispite my idea that it was the same ghost disease- that this was Garenar's doing, thanks to his obsession with necromancy. But it was not, and Thandriel confirmed my origonal thought when everything was done and had calmed down.

We headed out soon after that, and headed back into the citadel as we'd planned, looking for a place called The Den.

The man who took us to this place towared over all of us, a freakishly tall and slender man who spoke- damn, this man's voice. Every word seemed as long as he was and took an enternity to get out of him. His companion was a man who seemed more dog then person, who's skin had the faintest blue tinge. He wasn't stupid, per sey, or didn't seem to be, but- not exactly whip-fast, either, maybe.

His tall companion, though, for all he spoke as slow as honey, seemed to think twice as fast as his words escaped. He took us back where we needed to go, and had us touch a stone after speaking a momen with a woman behind a desk. With the sound of a huge- thing- moving, a door opened, and we stepped through a portal-

-right into The Den. A huge, huge carvernouse area, I think the first thing that caught our eye was the giant scarabe carved into the wall behind us. Big shock, that- everything around this place seemed to have to do with them, I was finding.

A man approched us as we stood and stared, dressed like some wanna be hero from a fairy tale with the oddest, fucking ugliest hat I think I've ever seen. He tucked it off and under his arm as he came up to us, and brought us into the main area of this place.

It was packed to the brim with every sort of undesierable you might want to imagine- like stepping into a huge cage full of wildcats. No matter who you are, you're going to stop and blink a bit upon seeing that. But we made our way in with little hesitation, and then stopped.

Now, did we stop because we were abruptly assaulted? Because we suddanly saw an enemy? Because we saw Ann's long-lost compaion? Because my husband stepped out of the masses? Because we saw yet another man being beaten to within an inch of his life?

No. Oh, of course not, no.

We stopped because we had no idea where the fuck to go first. We stopped because we'd walked in here without a plan, and now didn't we look stupid? We were finnally approched by a man who looked like he'd do anything for the right price, just about, and I moved in front of Ann maybe in a way that was a little protective.

He offered to get us the information we wanted for a price we named, and took us to a man who claimed to 'deal in information'. He told us a lot, and most of it meant nothing to me, honestly- it only meant a thing because it mattered to Ann, and I knew I'd be going with her to get her friend, chances are. I mean, I don't have to, of course- but I think I will be.

She is, apperantly, as we thought, somewhere to the west- in the desert. The old man spoke in what seemed to be mostly stories that were likely just that, stories- but you never knew what was true, anymore. And west was the direction she'd pointed us in once before, through a series of clues.

When we left the man, I was more then willing to go home. This place just did not seem like the best of places to hang out, and not the best of people to hang out with. But Ann was determined as fuck to make the most out of out situation. And so we wandered around for a bit, exploring and just trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible with the heavyness of where we had to go on our shoulders. The suddan certianty that we had no choice.

It was about then Ann rememeber Lim had gotten our Ginsing from this place, and we set about looking for the man who'd given it to him, even though we had no idea where to start. We found the man who'd brought us into the main area. And we simply got laughed at and made fun of when we asked how to get out, and second guessed when we asked about how to find the man who made our- creature?

He asked us, 'who is the leader's brother?' And while he'd told us that this was a place he'd lived at, he'd never mentioned realitives. So of course, we had no answer, and almost with true regreat, the man in the odd hat told us he couldn't help us. We went back for the man who had told us where to find Ann's friend, but he wanted payment, and far too much at that. And so we hit a wall and got stuck at it.

We headed outside into the town surrounding this area, and that's when we found something I didn't fully expect- though half-way did- to find here.

In a tavern, we found a small group of men with scarab beatle pins attached to themselves. They ranged in color from silver to bronze, apperantly a ranking of sorts, and they stayed close lumped. It took a deep breath and a more curage then I thought I had to approch them, donning as best I could an innocent, empty-headed attitude, much as we'd had with Simon's friends.

I said the first and only thing I could think of. That's pretty.

That's pretty?

What the fuck, Seimei. What the fuck, girl.

All the same, it got their attention, and managed to irritate the hell out of him when I refused to say where I was from. He saw through my stupid- and bad- act without trying, and from moment one it seemed to be honesty for honesty. He'd seen what Ann and I could do, making sure no one messed with us in this place, and didn't for a minute seem to think we were empty-headed girls.

Ann didn't want any part of this group, and protested that this is what we'd hired Simon for. True enough, but then, if another door is opened for you, why ignore it just because someone's already creeping in the front?

It didn't work out anyway. He asked us a question, and our answer- it wasn't good enough for him. It's stupid, because I rather lied when I answered him.

He asked if we agreed with the empress. I basically said 'I don't know'.....and I don't think that's my answer.

I think, in a lot of ways, it's a no. But see, I also know I don't know a lot about what she's doing or why, and I'm not going to speak and get stuck in an answer I have to backtrack around later.

I've got no problem at all with lying if I need to, but I make a rule that if I'm going to lie, keep it simple and keep it easy to get out of.

This group was neither, or so it seemed.

So maybe it was a good that we didn't get in with them- particuarly after we asked around. We discovered they were an extermist group on one side or the other of the empress and the citadel, and there were several differant branches of this group- we'd delt with one rather closely....the group that delt with the animals. They seemed to think that animals- creatures- had achevied some sort of higher state- in their simplistity, somehow become better? then humans.

It was when we went wandering back inside, looking for more information on it, that we discovered a huge door made out of entirely mechanical gears. Rather then figure it out and go inside, instead we allowed ourselves to be lead away by a man that claimed he knew about our 'clock', as everyone called it.....our metal creation. Or 'the', maybe I should say, as I doubt he was ever owned by us.

The man we spoke with was not the most friendly or trust worthy of creatures- large and exentric, with a greasy, unlikable feeling about him, he was confrontational, rude, agressive, and without paitence. He refused to give us information unless we brought him a specimen to study, and suggested we join something called 'The Hunt'.

Now, here, Semei's brain should have gone put on the fucking breaks, wait a minute! but no. I was arrogent and confident, I disliked this man greatly, I wanted to be gone, and I didn't stop to call a reality halt. I let Ann have the reins and lead the team, and I should have learned by now to never, ever fucking do that.

But nope, I let her lead me out of there and right up to the ship we needed to go to to join up in the hunt without so much as asking around first, too annoyed and anxiouse to be out of here to do any more then let Ann run with things.

The captian of the ship was saw was half clock work, half human....and very fond of mocking us and calling us 'frillies'. This was when apathyu turned to oh hell no, you did not just continue to mock us, and I felt myself sliding into the same cool place I'd been when holding a dagger to Simon's throat-I can't describe that place. I know it's this kind of click over to a place where I am utterly calm inside, no matter how I seem outside, completly eager for a fight, proud, collected, and should not, in any way, be touched or challanaged.

He was challanging me. Us.

A flying creature on a mountian to the- you guessed it, friends, the west- surrounded by a malstrome, terrofizing dwarves that lived on that mountain. The captian called it, perhaps a wyvern or something of the like, and gave us 'no time limit' to get this thing, although the Hunt was only over when this thing was killed.

Yes, killed. That was the part that snapped me awake, that yanked me away from my strange calm. They would take it's 'spirit', I guess, and use it to run- yep, that's right, our 'clocks'.

I stopped likeing this whole thing right then and there. Yeah, killing it? Fine, I've killed things before. Capturing it? Less pleasent, but yeah, okay, whatever, just make it worth it. Hunting it, fun. Fighting it, a nice challange.

This, though- this seemed painfully wrong. But it was too late to back out, or so we were told as the captian walked away.

He doesn't, apperantly, like people who go back on their agreements.

I don't give a fuck. I've got more important things to worry about then this stupid game, and if he doesn't like it, he's more then welcome to offer a fight. He and his lot are utterly unimportant in my mind, unless and until I'm given a reason to think otherwise.

And so here we are- likely about to try and head home.

And then?

I'm going to have words with a certian King.

Wonder if his chambers are boobytrapped?