Why didn't you see that coming?
Well, this just can't be good.
Curled up in a little ball, safe. Floating in a pain free world of warmth. The first time in days the pain wasn’t there, pounding away at her sanity. What was left of her conscious mind knew she was in a hospital bed, heavily medicated. The pain was still there, just masked by the medication. The rest of her drug soaked brain couldn’t have cared less. It was just enjoying the break from the agony it had been suffering.
Something, someone called to her from outside the depths of her warm, safe little world. Bliss wasn’t about to leave it. She ignored her body being shaken. She retreated deeper into her drug-induced slumber at the calling of her name. Sorry, Bliss isn’t home right now, please leave a message and she’ll get back to as soon as her mind returns. The feel of lips pressing softly against her own caught her attention though. Warning bells sounded, trying to cut through the haze. For a brief instant a dream took over. A dream of a certain handsome young man, of being safe, warm and well loved by him. It was the only real dream she'd ever had, the subject of it being the only 'thing' she'd ever really wanted. Reality would never let that dream become true, Bliss knew that. So who was kissing her?
She fought her way out of the medicated fog towards consciousness. What if those lips nibbling on her own belonged to Siena? She’d have to throw up on him upon awakening. Her inner self grinned at the thought. Her eyes popped open, not to find Siena’s rich green orbs scant inches from hers, nor the gunmetal greys of her dream lover, but deep dark brown ones. "Prophet?" she croaked out with no small amount of surprise.
Prophet smiled, an action that made her own dark tiers widen further. "I have awoken the lovely princess with a kiss. Does this mean we get to live happily, eternally, ever after?"
Bliss groaned softly. "Prophet, did you want something besides to cop a feel while I’m too out of it to chop off any of your body parts?"
He chuckled, causing Bliss to wonder what medication he was on. Sitting on the side of her bed her reached out and ruffled her blonde locks. "Easy Bliss, I just needed you awake and reasonably alert." He shot a glare at the IV bag hanging next to her bed. "Wasn’t sure I’d be able to wake you."
"You’d better have a good reason for doing it." Already the pain was starting to nibble away at the edges of her mind. "I don’t exactly want to be awake right now."
Slender fingers brushed over her cheek. "I heard the pain was getting the better of you but this isn’t the way to stop it. All you’re doing is masking it." Prophet lowered his gaze to meet hers. He didn’t like the glazed look to her eyes. "But we can discuss your medical treatment later. We’ve got work Bliss. I can give you one more day to rest and enjoy your meds but tomorrow night I need you drug free and ready to roll."
"Get bent Prophet." She closed her eyes hoping he’d take the hint and leave. The light tapping of his fingers against her cheek blew that hope to blazes. "Prophet, I’m ill. I’m not in any condition for a job."
"Bliss, be ready tomorrow night. Don’t make me come in this place and drag you out." He caught the intense glare from her dark eyes when they snapped open at his words. "Understand Bliss, I wouldn’t be doing things like this if I had any choice. I know you are sick and hurting but this has to be done now."
Bliss sighed softly. "This had better be good Prophet. I don’t take well to being ordered around."
He laid a soft kiss on her forehead. "I’ll keep that in mind for the future." He rose from the bed, easily avoiding the limp swing of her arm. "Go back to sleep now Bliss. I’ll meet you out front tomorrow night."
She was asleep again before the door closed behind him but it was no longer the place of warmth and safety it had been.
A night and day of riding through rough terrain on her bike had made her back stiff. Bliss stretched out in front of the small fire one of her traveling companions had built. Prophet was no where to be seen at the moment. He’d faded away into the darkness once they stopped to make camp under the pretense of finding some fresh meat for dinner. At least the pounding headache she had endured for the last several days was gone. That was the good news, the bad new being she was traveling with a group of cultists. Each one of them seemingly stranger than the next and all of them looking at Bliss as if she were the evening’s entertainment. She really was going to have to hurt Prophet a lot for this.
Carrsonn, the self proclaimed leader as long as Prophet was out of earshot, lowered his bulk down uncomfortably close to her. His leering gaze fastened on her. "I still don’t know why Prophet brought ya along. Ya ain’t one of us. Ya ain’t got the talent. Don’t make no sense."
"As a play mate maybe." Birdinna plunked her wiry body down near the fire. "Although she does seem a bit tame for his tastes."
Bliss felt that warning buzz start in the back of her head. It had been sounding off since she hooked up with Prophet and his crew but now it was louder. She sat up sharply drawing her pistol. This caused her companions to stiffen up. Honing in on the buzz she aimed the gun out into the surrounding darkness knowing Prophet wouldn’t set off a warning like this. It was Prophet, however, who came sliding into the circle of firelight. Bliss waited a few seconds for him to get clear of the field of fire then started unloading her clip into the darkness. There wasn’t much point to diving for cover, as there wasn’t any. "How many?" she asked as her revolver barked.
"Just two." Prophet rolled on to his back. "Damned bloated rad freaks." His pistol raised to join hers in punctuating the area with lead.
One bullet shy of an empty clip the loud buzzing in her head abruptly stopped. "Well, they’re either dead or have scurried away."
"Carrsonn, Holliss, Lamarr! Grab a light and go secure the area! Make sure those rad freaks are either dead or long gone." Prophet sat up and shot Bliss a grin. "Thanks for waiting until I was clear."
She popped the near empty clip from her gun, her eyes following the trio of cultists as they moved out into the darkness. "I’m not so pissed at you tonight Prophet." Her gaze slid to Birdinna and the last of the group Lurleenn. "That, by the way, is why Prophet brought me along." She methodically reloaded her clip. "Not as some playmate."
Tossing a pair of dead lizards at Lurleenn Prophet cackled. "I was wondering when they’d jump to that conclusion. Lurleenn, stop looking at dinner as if it were going to eat you first. Just think of them as phulpps with scales and cook ‘em up." He moved closer to Bliss, so that one of his legs touched one of hers as they sat. "This is what happens when I’m forced to work with those who have never been out of the city for any length of time."
Bliss slid the now full clip back into her pistol. She felt eyes boring into her so she glanced up to find Birdinna’s wide amber orbs trained on her. "What?"
"Ya ain’t Prophet’s null squeeze toy?" She shoved a hand through her mop of rust colored hair.
"I’m not anyone’s squeeze toy." Bliss kept the tone of her voice steady even though she was starting to get mildly annoyed. "As for my being a ‘null’, I knew something was out there besides Prophet, did you?
Birdinna’s bright gaze slid away, a flush spreading over her sallow cheeks. Without answering she scurried to Lurleenn to help with dinner.
Prophet nudged her leg with his knee. "Patience Bliss, we’ll be on site by tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two to find what we are after then we can head back to the city.
"You still haven’t told me what we are after."
He smiled slightly. "Patience Bliss, all will be revealed in time."
Bliss sat back on her heels, glad that her hat shielded her from the worst of the noonday suns. A day and a half of kicking around in the ruins before her and she still didn’t know what they were looking for. She didn’t even know what the ruins were of but they did sort of remind her of an old photo of a temple she had seen once. Her dark eyes followed Carrsonn as he hefted his bulk over a collapsed section of wall. She truly disliked the man. Loathing at first sight. He was about as graceful as a one legged trokk and not near as smart. It made her wonder at the Gods' collective senses of humor. Here was a man with all the smarts of a blade of grass, no tact and fewer good looks but he had been given the ‘gift’. The ability to manipulate what little there was left of magical energies on their sad little world. Considering the physical cost of using such energy it really wasn’t much of a gift anymore. Fate hadn’t cut him much of a break no matter how you looked at it. Personally, Bliss just wanted to shoot him and put them both out of their misery.
Of the crew Prophet had assembled only he, Carrsonn and Bridina had the gift. Lamarr and Lurleenn were ‘nulls’ the same as she was. She hadn’t figured out whether Holliss was gifted or not yet. The dark skinned man drifted through the ruins with an almost ghostlike grace. Bliss found herself keeping near him or Prophet as if some instinct told her that if she needed someone to cover her backside they were the only two who would do it.
"Shouldn’t you be helping." Lurleenn’s strident voice drew her out of her reverie. Here was another one who needed a bullet. The little harpy was starting to wear on her last good nerve. Such a sweet faced woman complete with enormous big blue eyes and copious amounts of blonde hair; Lurleenn could have been quite a beauty if her face wasn’t always scrunched up in a snarl. Evidently no one ever warned her that if she kept making such faces that one of them might stick permanently. Bliss slowly unfolded herself to her full height then tilted her head down so her orbs met the smaller woman’s baby blues. Part of the reason she stood was to annoy Lurleenn. Apparently she had a major complex about being a scant four foot five inches tall.
"I am helping." Bliss finally drawled as Lurleenn fidgeted under her chocolate gaze. "I’m thinking. That’s where you use your brain for something other than as a spongy grey blob that keeps your skull from caving in. You might want to try it sometime." Before Lurleenn could even start to sputter Bliss turned on her heel and went in search of Prophet.
It didn’t take long to find him. He was perched like some trench coated gargoyle atop a boulder staring off in the distance. She took a packet of dry rations from her pocket as she strolled towards him. "Eat Prophet." She held it out to him. He took it without argument, tore open the package and scarfed down the contents. Bliss leaned against the boulder while he ate. She looked out in the direction of his gaze wondering if he was actually seeing the same arid wastes as she was or if his stare was fixed internally again. He mentally phased out even more often then Shad did.
"Thank you Bliss Nadine, I didn’t realize I was hungry." He brushed the crumbs from his knees.
"You never do." She tilted her face up to see his. "This search might go faster if I had a clue as to what we were looking for."
A small smile crept up over his pale features. "We are looking for the entrance to an underground shelter. We are treasure hunting Bliss."
Bliss nodded slowly. "Was this a place once a temple of some sort?"
"Yup, dedicated to old Sabbatt herself." He hopped down from his perch. "That any help to you?"
Lifting her head she tracked the suns in the sky for a moment. "Temples of specific Gods tend to be built along the same lines. Like with ones dedicated to Oponn, the front always faces towards where she raises each day, back towards where she sets. That way the priests could greet her in the morning and pray for her return as she set each day." She set her long legs in motion. She knew Prophet would follow once he picked his jaw up off the ground.
"This idea of yours had better pan out girl."
"Don’t make me waste a bullet Lamarr." Bliss shifted a rock without looking up. "Who picked these winners anyway Prophet?"
A low rumble escaped the lean figure beside her. "Siena. He said something about survival training." He reached down to lift a slab of rock. A distinctive clicking sound made him freeze in place. "Bliss."
"I heard it." She took two steps over and peered under the slab. "Well, this is ugly." Her dark orbs tilted up to meet his. "Bomb, looks to be recently put here. " She watched what little color there was to Prophet’s skin drain away. "Don’t let go of that rock or we go boom." Her gaze returned to the device under the rock, her fingers gently tracing its wires.
Prophet could hear snickering coming from behind. "She meant ‘we’ as in all of us Carrsonn."
"Not me Proph, I’m outta here." He lumbered away at a good clip; Lamarr, Birdina, and Lurleenn hot on his heels. Only Holliss moved closer to Prophet.
"Anything I can do?"
"Make sure they don’t take off with the gear. If they try to, kill them." Prophet growled. His heart was hammering so hard he was sure everyone could hear it. He watched Holliss move off wondering if it was the last sight he was going to see.
Bliss drew a pair of clippers from a pocket. "Well, of the four, Holliss is the only one that would pass in my opinion."
His attention was drawn back to her. "Pass what?"
"The survival test." She shot him a grin. "The others have no sense of teamwork and you can’t survive out here without it."
Scant inches from a bomb that would blow up in her face if he let go of the rock and she was grinning at him. Crazy woman. He grinned back. "So, we dying today?"
"That all depends on how fast you can run, me, I’ll get away just fine." Her fingers carefully separated a few wires. "Now, when I say go, you toss the rock and run like hell. Any questions?"
"Why am I running if you’ve disarmed it?"
"Cause I can’t disarm both the motion switch and the timer, so I’m going for the motion switch and running." Her tone was almost perky as she spoke, as if she were discussing nothing more dangerous then what was for dinner.
Prophet’s blood ran cold. He didn’t even want to know how much time was left on the clock. The instant he heard the word go come from her lips he tossed the rock and took off at a dead run. He didn’t need to look for Bliss; she was just two steps ahead of him, running faster then he thought possible. And she was counting backwards from twelve. Twelve seconds was not enough time his mind screamed. His body followed Bliss’. She was heading, full steam, for a partially collapsed section of wall. As her countdown reached one she dove for the other side of the wall. Prophet did the same but as he did so he aimed for her intent on covering her form with his own. The noise from the blast deafened him. His mind raced, did they get far enough away? Would the wall hold of fall on them?
Why didn't you see that coming?
The wall held. Prophet felt debris rain down upon his back. He didn’t even think of moving off of Bliss until she wiggled beneath him.
"Where the hell is my hat?" They had nearly died and she was worried about her hat. He let her up and watched as she snatched it up from where it had fallen and lovingly bushed the dirt from it. "Still with me Prophet?" He nodded dully and an instant later received a swat. She was hitting him with her hat. "Why the blazes didn’t you ‘see’ that coming? You are supposed to be a seer! How could you miss your own near death?!" He raised his hands to defend himself from her hat attach. From deep inside him a laugh bubbled up. Followed by another and another. His laughter momentarily surprised Bliss. She had never heard laughter like this from him.
Prophet, taking advantage, attacked, quickly pinning her to the ground. "I can’t see everything Bliss." Laughter echoing his words. "And where was your early warning eh? Where was your buzz?"
She pushed up, trying to get loose. "I wasn’t the one about to get blown up, you were." She couldn’t help but laugh. "You cult types really need to recon your missions better."
Prophet gazed down at her laughing face. Felt her soft body wiggling beneath his. It was more than he could take. He gave into the desire that had been plaguing him since he woke her with a kiss at the hospital. He sealed his lips over hers and gave in to it all.
Bliss froze. She didn’t quite believe what was happening. She’d been kissed before but not like this. It was as if Prophet were trying to devour her. Oddly enough she felt no fear. No buzz of danger sounded in the back of her skull. While part of her attempted to come up with a way to extricate herself another wondered how anyone so thin could be so heavy. She opened her mouth to tell him to get off of her. Mistake. Prophets tongue delved into her mouth, a deep groan rumbling in his chest. His hands left her arms to thread through the hair at her temples. Her hands were free, now she could shoot him off. No, that was too messy this close up. Besides, he was lying on her guns. She settled for poking him in the side. It took a few tries but he finally lifted his face from hers. She drew in a deep breath. "Prophet, stop."
He slowly blinked twice. His voice was a hoarse whisper. "Why?"
"Because I said to." She looked into his eyes, now so dark they were black. "But if that’s not good enough for you how about, your pals will be here any minute now looking for our mangled remains and I’d prefer they didn’t catch me with my pants down, literally. Then there is the fact we still have a job to complete and lastly, I think I injured my leg."
It was the last reason that caught his attention. He moved off her quickly. "Where?" His eyes fell on a red stain on the upper part of her thigh. He gingerly pulled away the torn edges of her jeans to get a better look. "It’s a jagged cut but it doesn’t look too deep."
Bliss sat up, leaning back on her hands for support. "I think I caught it on something when I was jumping clear of the blast."
He merely nodded. "We’ve got to get this cleaned before an infection sets in. Can you walk on your own?"
"Just watch me." She grabbed her hat and without any assistance from him got to her feet then started to hobble towards were her bike was parked. "If one of those loser’s has so much as smudged my cycle I’m going to shoot them, a lot."
Prophet followed in silence. He knew he’d crossed that invisible line Bliss drew around herself and was lucky to walk away with all his body parts still attached but damned if he didn’t want to try it again…as soon as he could manage it.
After a day spent under the hot suns digging through rubble, the underground shelter they had found was almost cold. Bliss found it to be a welcome relief. She sat on one of the stone benches in the main chamber wincing as she stretched out her injured leg. It ached but it was livable. She’d probably get a screaming infection because of it but she hoped to be back in the city before it got too bad. Her ears picked up the echoes of the voices belonging to her companions. They were exploring the warren of tunnels that branched off the main room. The light from the lamps cast an eerie glow over mosaic tiled walls. It was obvious to her that this chamber was originally some sort of room of worship. It was difficult to see the patterns on the walls but she assumed they depicted some of the legends of Sabatt. The only problem was that all the figures portrayed were human in appearance. That meant this temple was built and maintained by humans and that those humans had altered the legends of Sabatt to suit their mindset and appearance.
Her eyes drooped close. It had been a very long and difficult day. She wasn’t sure how far underground they were but it taken most of the day to get to the chamber she sat in. The levels above had all been ransacked years ago but it was clear from the traps they had encountered as they delved deeper into the tunnels that someone had recently been here and discovered something important enough for them to attempt to keep anyone else from finding it. She would have to remember to ask Prophet where he had gotten the information about this place. She’d run across a few much older but just as deadly traps that had already been disarmed while checking for more recent ones. A small smile played at the edges of her mouth. Each time she signaled that she had found another trap Carrsonn, Birdina, Lamarr and Lurleenn had cleared out showing exactly how cowardly they truly were. Prophet became more and more agitated with them and finally threatened to shoot the first one of them that ran again. Holliss, with his calm manner, always stepped up to assist her in disarming what ever they ran across. Said he was learning a new skill but hoped his teacher wouldn’t get him killed. His easygoing nature made the job go much quicker. As a cultist he was an oddity as far as she was concerned.
Bliss sat up a bit. She was falling asleep and in her present company she didn’t exactly think that to be a good idea. Her dark orbs turned once more to the great prize they had found in the main chamber. Sitting upon a raised dais in the middle of a man made pool sat the ugliest statue she had ever seen. "I do hope they are planning to melt that thing down."
Prophet’s voice sounded from behind her. "That ‘thing’ is a statue of Sabatt."
She snorted. "That’s not Sabatt. Sabatt has scales and a tail not long flowing hair and big…" She held her hands out in front of her chest.
"They are called breasts, Bliss." His dry chuckle echoed through the chamber.
"I know what they are called." She glanced up at him as he sat next to her. "That ugly hunk of metal is an insult to Sabatt."
Prophet turned his gaze to the statue. He found it a lovely piece of work created from gold and gems but then he didn’t believe in the old gods. To him it was a pretty work of art that would fetch a lovely profit for the cult. Siena would be quite pleased at the arms and information that could be purchased in trade for it. "Yes, we will probably melt it down, it’ll probably be worth more that way." He saw Bliss nod and found himself struggling for something to say to her. She’d been uncharacteristically silent since the incident after the bomb blast. "The water tested out to be usable. Low rad count and bug free. Holliss figures it must be fed by some underground water source or something to not be stagnant."
"Holliss is a bright fellow." She left out the ‘for a cultist’ part of her sentence. Rubbing her thigh absently she cast her eyes over the chamber again. Her gaze caught on Holliss as he stepped out of one of the side tunnels. He ambled towards them with a bright grin on his face.
Holliss stopped in front of Prophet. "We are finding a lot of usable stuff down in the rooms off the tunnels. Who ever once kept this place left in a hurry. You were right Bliss, who ever got here before us had made a few repairs to the air circulation system. There have to be solar panels somewhere above ground powering it. So far we’ve found what must have been their food storage area, not much in the way of usable food supplies but there are pots, pans and other metal objects. We’ve found usable clothing items. The sleeping area looks like it suffered a cave in a few years ago but we might be able to salvage it. We also located a small room that looks as is if it may have been a library of some sort. The room was sealed really well, had to pick the lock to the door to get in. The books look to be in real good condition."
Prophet saw Bliss straighten at the mention of the library. "Interested in adding some books to your payment for this job, Bliss?"
"Yes." She was already on her feet in spite of her leg’s protest. "I can always make use of books."
Raising to his feet slowly Prophet inclined his head slightly to Holliss. "When we get back to the city you can take your pick of them."
Holliss stepped in front of Bliss blocking her path. "You might want to wait a few minutes, we are still clearing out debris from the tunnel."
Bliss nodded and turned back towards Prophet. The warning buzz in the back of her skull sounded. She jerked back only to feel Holliss arms band around her from behind. She heard a pop and a sickly sweet aroma choked off her air. She kicked, wrenching her head away from the smell but she could already feel the darkness closing in around her.
"I’m sorry Bliss." Prophet took her unconscious form from Holliss. He carefully laid her down on the tile floor. "Well, that just blew months of work on my part to gain some measure of her trust."
"Prophet, don’t take this the wrong way, cause the others are going to ask you the same thing, why didn’t you just shoot her?" Holliss backed up a step at the dark look Prophet gave him. "Hey man, they are going to ask."
"I’ll tell them I didn’t shoot her cause Siena wants her alive." He looked about for something to use as a pillow for her head. He gingerly sat her precious hat on the bench. "You know Holliss, she is going to want to kill me when she wakes up." Taking off his duster he balled it up then gently lifted her head and set the coat beneath it.
Holliss lifted a brow at the almost amused tone in Prophet’s voice. "Now I have two questions, what would Siena want with some null merc chick, regardless of how useful she may be, and why is she so damned important to you?" He eased his wiry frame on to the bench looking down at his partner as he brushed a stray lock of hair from the unconscious woman’s face. "Come on Dubhdaleithe, give it up."
Prophet glanced up sharply at the use of his given name. Terrinn Holliss was one of the few who knew it and one of the even fewer that could pronounce it correctly. He seldom did use it but when he did it meant he was very serious. "Siena couldn’t care less whether she lives or dies as far as I know. As for my reasons, let’s just say I still need her alive and leave it at that."
"No, that won’t do." He grinned showing his straight white teeth. "If I’m going to back on this I need to know why I am protecting her butt, cute though it may be, I still need a better reason."
With a soft sigh Prophet brushed the pads of his tapered fingers across her cheek. "Terrinn, one of the first ‘visions’ I ever had was of this woman dancing around a bonfire. I couldn’t have been more then twelve at the time, which would mean she was all of seven. But I saw her as she is now. I’ve since seen that ‘vision’ become reality. Imagine my surprise when she came strolling up to the bonfire with Blaze." His voice was soft, almost reverent in it's tone. "I’ve had visions of her ever since that first one. When she came to the bonfire I half expected her to know me. I certainly knew her. Bliss has been with me, in my visions, for the last ten years of my life. That’s longer then I had my parents. I was there when her grandparents died. I saw her gain revenge for their deaths. I saw her in a hospital bed recovering from injuries suffered in a crash on her bike. I saw her first meeting with Siena and her dealings with a man called Justice. And I see her still in her dealings with the Man, Dolph." Prophet shook his head. "There is one man I’d like to kill very slowly."
Holliss blinked slowly. "Prophet, don’t take this the wrong way but, do you know what an obsession is?"
He chuckled wryly. "Not only do I know what it means but I also know I have one and her name is Bliss. My dreams are filled with images I cannot even begin to understand most of the time. What I do understand is usually filled with darkness and despair. Then there are my dreams of Bliss. Holliss, I’ve seen joy, laughter, green grass and trees through her. Things I didn't know existed anymore. Each time I think the visions are about to drive me over the edge into complete madness she is there and everything grows calm again."
Holliss watched his friend as he continued to gently stroke his fingers over her cheek. His mind slowly turning over what he had said. He’d seen Prophet teeter on the edge of sanity then pull back from the brink but he’d always thought it was the man’s inner strength. He had no idea the reason was dreams of a woman he had never met. His eyes trailed over Bliss’ face then down her motionless form trying to make sense of his friend’s obsessive behavior towards her. "Ten years of dreams about the same woman, I can’t even begin to imagine that Prophet. Never mind what you are feeling having her actually turn out to be real but we have a job to do and she may get in the way of that." He held out a hand. "Now, don’t growl at me. I don’t want to kill her. I have no reason to…yet. If it comes down to her or our interests though, well, she’s a corpse."
"Then do me a favor, right after you kill her take me out as well."
"What?" Holliss shoved his hand through his sausage like dreds. "Come on Dubhdaleithe, you can not be serious. I understand, well I don’t really but I can try to, your obsession with her but you can’t expect me to kill you if she dies. She’s a null, a nothing. You are a seer, a gifted one."
Prophet turned his dark orbs towards him. "For years I thought her to be a dream, an angel that pulled me back to reality, who protected me from the darkness that threatened to swallow me up. Then I find out she is real. That she is reality and not just a dream. I am a seer. I see the future in all its possible variations. If she dies Holliss who will pull me free of the madness in my dreams?"
With those words it all became clear to Holliss. "If she dies and your visions of her stop, you are afraid you will go mad. Now see, that makes sense to me, although it kind of worries me that it does."
"Somehow we are connected. I don’t know why or how." He settled back on his haunches. "I know my grip on reality is tenuous at best and that is with her in my dreams. I don’t ever want to be trapped in that abyss that is contained in my dreams. If it becomes reality then so be it but I want to be sane enough to tell the difference."
"Then I guess we’ll just have to see that Blissy here stays breathing while in our company. That is a good enough reason for me to watch her backside, besides just plain enjoying the view." He grinned at the dark look that remark earned him from Prophet. "I’d better go make sure that our fellow adventurers aren’t destroying those books."
"You know what we are looking for?"
It was more a statement then a question but Holliss figured that Prophet was not in the best frame of mind at the moment. "Yeah, even Lamarr will know the right letters when he sees them. And I’ll keep what you told me to myself." He headed off at a jog down a tunnel leaving Prophet to fuss over Bliss’ sleeping form. He wondered idly if she ever dreamt of Prophet. He’d have to remember to ask her about that sometime.
Well, this just can't be good.
Bliss knew something wasn’t quite right even before she was fully awake. For one, she couldn’t quite move her arms or legs. Second, the buzz in the back of her head was screaming. She let the buzzing drive her conscious mind to the forefront. Her eyes fluttered open but much to her dismay they wouldn’t focus. She shook her head trying to clear out the haze.
"Give it a minute Bliss, your mind will clear." Prophet’s voice was soft in her ear.
While she waited for her brain to start working properly again she took stock of her situation. Her arms and legs were tied, weapons gone and her hat was missing. The fog started to lift so she mulled over the different ways she could make Prophet pay for this. It had to be extremely painful, nothing else would do at this point. Her eyes opened slowly and this time they focused. She glanced towards where Prophet’s voice had come and found him trussed up in a similar manner. He looked somewhat worse for wear. "Well, this just can’t be good."
"It’s not. Carrsonn finally worked up the nerve to try something." Prophet pulled against his bonds. "I am sorry you are caught in the crossfire."
"Not to worry, I’ll hurt you for it later…a lot." Bliss felt the ropes bite into her flesh as she too struggled. "Care to tell me why I’m still breathing."
"Cause as long as I got you ‘Chicky’, the mighty Prophet won’t try anything stupid." Carrsonn laughed. "And he’ll co-operate or you will pay the price every time he says no to me." He stepped closer and squatted down to her level. A meaty hand grabbed her jaw in a vise like grip. "Sides, you will provide me with hours of fun."
Bliss lifted a pale brow and managed to spit out a garbled. "Don’t count on it."
Carrsonn’s hand released her jaw then he gave her a healthy slap across the face, laughing darkly at the growl that came from Prophet. "You don’t do what I say Blissy and I’ll hurt Prophet lots."
"Can I watch?" She smirked at the look of surprise that crossed Carrsonn’s flat face. "First chance I get, you are both dead men."
"I told ya man, Prophet may have the hots for the null but the chick don’t return the vibes." Lamarr cackled showing his darkly stained teeth. "Can I have a turn at her when you is done? We can make Prophet watch."
"Make that three dead men." Bliss set a feral smile upon her face, her dark eyes boring into Carrsonn’s. She kept her expression the same when Carrsonn backhanded Prophet hard enough to make the slender man fall backwards. "Do it again."
"Give it a rest Carr, you called that one wrong." Birdina hopped down from the bench she had been perched on watching the scene. "You can sort this out later, right now we’ve got work to do."
Carrsonn gave Bliss one last look then straightened up and walked to his companions. "Yeah, Birdie, Lurleenn can’t keep Holliss busy forever."
Bliss continued to work on her bonds as she watched the three start clearing a space. She felt Prophet lean against her shoulder.
"Do it again?" He whispered through gritted teeth. "Why didn’t you just tell him to shoot me?"
"Because I plan on doing that myself and I do so hate it when someone spoils my fun." Her eyes never left her captors. She kept her own voice to a whisper. "So, what are these geniuses up to anyway?"
Prophet sighed softly. "They think the statue must have some sort of magical property for Siena to want it. They want to use it to boost their own magic so they can take down Siena and anyone else who gets in their way."
"I take it intelligence and loyalty are not prerequisites for joining up with you’re group." She slowly shook his head. "There is no magic in that statue, even I know that."
Wrangling his form around so that he sat shoulder to shoulder with her. "No, there isn’t. Its only value is in the gold and gems." He turned his head to gaze upon her profile. "You really are going to shoot me if we managed to get out of this alive, aren’t you."
The wolfish smile returned to her face. "I plan to start at your knees. I could have over looked that kiss you gave me after we escaped the bomb blast. A heat of the moment type of thing. I won’t over look you drugging me and leaving me helpless. I might have been able to put a stop to this before it even began if I’d been awake." To herself she had to admit that there might not have been a thing she could have done to stop Carrsonn and his cronies but at least she’d have gone down fighting. It galled her to be tied up like some sacrificial lamb, unable to save herself.
"It wasn’t supposed to go down like this Bliss, believe me when I say I never meant for any harm to come to you."
Funny thing was, she did believe him. "And just how was it supposed to go down?" She watched as Birdina started to draw a circle on the stone floor. Not knowing anything about magic part of her was fascinated. That fascination was tempered by the knowledge that whatever magic they managed to unleash was going to cause her a lot of pain.
"I saw this coming, well not this exactly, but I saw Carssonn make a play for Siena’s place. I warned Siena. While he wasn’t particularly worried about Carssonn after all he’d have to get through Rizzo and Mal before he could get to Siena, he did decide to teach him a lesson. It was his idea to bring Carssonn and his crew out here. They were to serve as an example to any other’s that might be thinking along the same lines." He sighed deeply. "They were never supposed to make it back to the city."
Bliss growled softly. "You dragged me into the middle of a multiple murder plot? What? You didn’t think I’d mind?"
"You were never supposed to know. All you would know is that they were staying behind to guard the water source for a few days." His head cocked at an angle. "And what you and The Man plan for Sylviann is so different?" He managed a grin when she turned a surprised look his way. "I’m a seer, remember. I may not have caught it all but I saw enough."
"It’s a totally different situation. I’m trying to save a friend’s life."
"So am I." He had her and he knew it. "You may not care much for Siena but he’s important to me, important enough for me to want to protect him."
Bliss sighed softly. Somewhere out there she knew Venexx was laughing at her. It was a joke on a grand scale. Here she was trussed up like some medieval sacrifice with no way out. Her only companion being a crazy man who thought Siena was someone worth dying for. It wasn’t a pretty picture as far as she was concerned. She didn’t need any imagination to dream up what Carssonn was going to do to her once he recovered from casting the spell he and his companions were working on. Her mind worked feverishly to find a way out of her predicament to now avail. No matter how hard she pulled or twisted at her bonds they refused to loosen.
A tendril of pain snaked through her brain. Her chocolate gaze lifted to find Carssonn and Birdina standing in the middle of the circle, face to face, palms together. She’d been lost in her own thoughts too long. She hadn’t heard them start to chant softly. It was too late to stop them now. The pain grew in her mind like a thing alive. It’s agonizing creepers weaving themselves into every aspect of her consciousness. Pulsating with a beat all it’s own. She tried to stem the tide of torment using the techniques she’d been learning. It blew through her defenses like they weren’t even there. She was sinking. The pain was choking off her thoughts. Her ears heard Prophet’s voice but her brain couldn’t translate the words anymore. Too much pain, too often, for far too long. Something dark welled up inside her. This wasn’t going to happen again. She was not going to suffer at the mercy of any mage who slung a spell and especially not at the hands of Carssonn and Birdina. No more. Her dark gaze locked on the two who were unknowingly torturing her. "No mercy." She whispered through clenched teeth, turning the swirling darkness within her loose. A rush of energy, the likes of which she had never known before, tore through her the instant she let go. The vague impression of screaming and laughter flitted through her mind for an instant then there was nothing.
Prophet’s black orbs widened in shock. He’d tried to get Bliss’ attention. Her breathing had become erratic as Carssonn and Birdina had started casting. He wasn’t sure of the cause but he figured it was fear. What other explanation could there be then fear, none he could think of. He’d heard her soft voice declare ‘no mercy’ but before he could even question her about it there came a scream from her lips that chilled him to the bone. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. It was as if the call of death, the banshee, had erupted inside of her. The echoing screams of Carssonn and Birdina drew his attention from Bliss. He watched in amazement as they collapsed to the floor clutching at their heads. He could see blood gushing from their ears, noses and even from their tightly clenched eyes. "What in the abyss?" He felt Bliss fall away from him, he heard her laughter echo through the chamber. "HOLLISS!" His voice chased the running form of Lamarr as he sped from the room.
Shad wasn’t sure how long he’d been following the cult members out into the desert. He didn’t even try to rationalize why he’d decided to follow them. He figured chasing them through the desert was a whole lot more productive then running from his own ghosts. At least the cultists were real, solid, something he could destroy if need be. He watched them in the distance, milling around the pair of campfires they’d started. A couple of them he recognized if only by reputation. Delyla was easy to spot and the man they called Gatorr was almost as easy. They stood out from the usual goons that made up the cult.
It hadn’t been the most exciting trip he’d ever taken. Keeping out of sight of the cultists while at the same time not losing their trail had been a bit of a challenge. Doing something seem to keep the ghosts at bay. He kept his mind occupied with wondering where they were going and for what reason.
He shook his head, a sudden, distant feeling pain sweeping through him. Shad jumped to his feet, grabbing up his bedroll. In the space of but a few minutes he was on his bike, helmet secure on his head. The cultists all but forgotten. He revved his cycle and speed out into the darkness. There was no question where he was going now. He knew exactly where his destination was and he couldn’t get there fast enough.
Yeah, I know...I kinda left it hanging here. Not to worry, I will finish this tale as soon as I figure out how it ends. ;)
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Friday, June 04, 2010