Border Crossing

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Richard took the pair of pants and nodded, dropping his others on the floor without a thought. He had never been shy . being a prince, he'd never been given that option. "I am a little put out that I was unable to protect you when the mermaid queen became upset. But I am not angry with you."

The woman held her dress against her breasts and backed toward the door, feeling for the handle on the wall. "I did what I was told. Even your slave knew her place and left when she was told. I am not stupid enough to disobey the king's captain of the guard!"

"Do you see, Richard? I win. You should learn it." Kane took his brother's chin in his fingers and forced him to meet his matching gaze. "One would think you'd have figured it out when I killed your precious Fae Queen but you didnt." He purred. "Utterly destroying you is so much more fun. Taking away everything that gives you joy. That mage with the snowy hair...and now your daughter...I've loved every moment of it." He pressed his lips to the elder man's as once again he shoved the jagged blade deep inside his body. This time Richard howled in agony.

Yena let herself go in killing the monsters. She remembered the pain of loss and anger that she had felt. By the time she was finished, there was one demon left. It was crawling toward them in a pitiful attempt to continue to obey his master. It might have been possible if the mud colored dragon hadn't snapped him up like pig slop and eaten him.

Alice had proven many times to be rather reckless when it came to her own life, this time was no different. The young woman jumped on her brother's back, slender arms gripped tight around him as she sank her teeth deep into his flesh as hard as she could.

Auron had been fighting off several of the demons himself, not that he had really needed to. He had ended up simply standing there, watching Yena in awe.

Richard barely knew what was happening. He was losing conciousness quickly. He knee it was wrong of him, but he whispered  Marisol's name. 
Kane grabbed Alice by the hair and threw her into the wall beside Garrik. "Prepare the ceremony! " he screamed at a cloaked figure. " I will teach you!"

"I'm sorry." When it was over, Yena changed her form back and dropped to her knees, unable to look at Auron. It seemed she was saying that a lot lately.

Alice had slumped down the wall beside Garrik, her vision fading as darkness crept into the edge of it. It was strange, but she thought she saw someone with white hair standing beside Richard. The princess would see nothing more, least of all the cloaked figure Kane was screaming at before she lost her fight with consciousness.

"For what? Saving my life?" Auron asked, sitting beside Yena and pulling her into his lap. "You were magnificent." He added, kissing her temple lightly.

Kane shoved to his feet and stomped toward the cloaked figure. For the moment he left Alice alone with Garrik, who was fighting his restraints to get to her. 
"Where have you been?" The monstrous king demanded. "You are late."

Yena didn't know what to do with the compliment. She'd never received one before. She found herself blushing deeply. "I'm sure you could have done better." She whispered.

"I am never late." The figure replied rather haughtily. "You are simply inept at following a plan."

"Maybe, but I don't think we need to test that theory." Auron chuckled. "Kane will know his minions failed, we should get some distance between us and here, if you feel up to it."

"I have the shards of the female dragon's heart." Kane said, fumbling in his pockets. "Isn't that what you said that exchange was?"

"I can make it. But...what about the hunter?" Yena looked back at the  more than a little shocked to find it delapidated and completely empty.

The was a quiet sigh of laughter from beneath the hood as Kane fumbled in his pocket. "You had the throne, why did you beg like a child to come back here... for her?" They asked, glancing over at Alice.

Auron smiled and shook his head. "What is it they say... life finds a way?" He asked. "He did his job, he kept you safe." He breathed.

"Are we making the exchange or playing twenty questions?"  Kane hissed. "Should I ask why you want the shards?"

Yena pointed at the cabin and shook her head. "That makes no sense. He was here. How could he not be any more?"

"You don't want to play twenty questions, and yet ask me a question of your own? My, what a strange and contrary creature you are, little prince." The distinctly female voice mused. "The shards are mine to do with as I choose, after all, you have your throne... and a Fae royal all of your own."

"The maker moves in mysterious ways." Auron shrugged, as though this was nothing unusual to him.

"Not to mention a perfect dragon body." Jane added with a purr, nodding his head. "The shards are worthless to me now." He placed them in the cloaked figure'something hand with a wicked smile, turning back to his suffering brother. "Funny. Your precious Fae queen didn't even beg for you. Not like your begging for some worthless slave. And certainly not like my darling Alice will be begging for me when the night is over." 
Richard spit blood in his face. "Get off your high horse, boy. You never could ride with the big boys." He grunted. "Alice will be the one to break you. Don't pretend the prophecy isn't real." 

"He could have moved after leaving that stew recipe." Yena muttered, shaking her head. She was actually a bit sad, through it all she had made a friend. Now she would never see him again. "Where are we going now?" She asked, gingerly, sliding herself into her dress.

The figure was watching the exchange with great interest. "You may have a dragon body, but you are no dragon." She commented. 'Your fear will eventually consume you, if you don't claim the girl soon. She doesn't even know what she is, all the better for you."

"Kane will have gotten word of your power soon." Auron replied. "We need to find sanctuary somewhere, or even allies."

"She is as worthless as my brother. Both of them are weak and..." he glanced toward the elder brother. "One of them is on the road to death." He added with a warm smile. "You're supposed to be on my side, priestess."

"Nothing has changed." Yena said, turning back to him, holding out his shirt. "I'm not the powerful one.".

"I have no side, Dragon King." The hooded woman replied, her head tilting just enough for Kane to see she was smiling.
On the other side of the grand hall Alice was regaining consciousness where she had been left strewn at Garrik's feet.

"You still believe that?" Auron asked sadly as he took his shirt. "The pain is damn near unbearable when I take dragon form, yet you did it seamlessly. You don't think that makes you powerful?"

Garrik was kneeling the best he could, trying to protect her from the demons that were trying to retrieve her. 
Kane ws grinning, liking the title of Dragon king. It was what gave him the idea to kill the other two. After what use were they now? He was eternal. A god. And more than enough dragon for the world. "Well?" He purred, turning to the cloaked figure again. "Shall we begin? I'd like to do it before my fool brother dies in me."

"There is more to your form than mine." Yena pointed out. "You are enormous. You have wings. I look like a mud dweller. There is hardly anything to it. But...maybe I can teach you a method to control it." She offered him a gentle smile. "But first we seem to be in need of a place to stay. I'm thinking we should avoid inns." She teased.

Alice felt claw like fingers brush her arm and she was instantly awake and scooting away from the offending digits. "How long was I out?" She murmured, rubbing at her sore head.
"You know we can't, not yet." The priestess replied. "The blood moon only rises tomorrow."

Auron smirked somewhat and nodded. "Yes, can't have you selling me to desperate innkeepers again, can we?"

"Not long." Garrik side through his teeth. "There's a dagger in my boot. Grab it. Use it. Please, Alice. You must listen to me." 
"Fine. Then heal him just enough so that he will love until then. I'm going to deal with my bride and then take a nap."

"I don't know. That was kind of fun." Yena laughed softly. "That woman and her husband were swindling everyone and in the end...the hunter told me that the two of them killed on another in a fight. Foolish."

Alice heard Kane say he was going to 'deal' with her, and made a quick grab for the dagger. "This doesn't end like this. She told Garrik firmly. I wont let him take you too!" She swore, rising to her feet and kissing Garrik without any kind of care for what Kane would do to her for such an act.
The priestess was smiling again and nodded her head. "You still think you can tame her, don't you?"

"That could have been us." Auron replied, though he was grinning as he said it. "As I recall... you were the one who was mean to me, not the other way around."

"I will break her. Just you wait." Kane hissed, once again slamming his knife into Richard's midsection. "The prince growled in pain, fighting not to show weakness. 
The dragon king disappeared and reappeared before Garrik, the jagged knife now sliding neatly into his second and third ribs. "I warned you." He hissed at her, yanking bloody fingers away. "This is what happens when you don't listen."

"You liked it and you know it." Yena purred, winking at him. "Come on now. We need to head out."

Kane was pushing Alice a little too far. The dagger was hidden within her dress for the moment, but she had the more than strange desire to use it to slit her own throat, simply to make him suffer. "You gave me that boy as a wedding gift, should anything happen to him, I promise you now there will be no wedding." The Pirate Queen's voice was firm and even, despite the blood that now dripped from Garrik's ribs.

"There's a lot of things I like that I shouldn't." Auron chuckled as he finally pulled his shirt on and followed after Yena.

"You don't seem to be listening when I am killing your father so I must up the punishment it seems." Kane said darkly, grabbing Alice by the chin with bloody fingers. "I said I wouldn't kill the boy. I didn't say I would make him suffer. I shall ha e you. Mind bodyou and soul no matter what I have to do to get you." He purred, forcing her to kiss him. 

Yena stood in the market place, stating at the hot apple tarts the baker had just set on the table. Her fingers were itching to slip one into her dress. Or four. No one would ever know. She glanced at Auron, seeing him engrossed in blades. She imagined he was hungry too. It was odd having to worry about someone else. It wasn't something she'd ever done before. 
Eight. She needed to steal eight.

Garrik would be able to see Alice's fists were clenched so tightly by her sides that her nails had drawn blood from her palms. It was against everything within her to not bite the invading tongue that forced it's way past her lips.

Auron had been talking with a rather animated expression to the blacksmith who had made the weapons, clearly rather excited by what he saw. He had no idea his partner thought of getting them into hot water.

Garrik tore at his own restraints, somehow managing to pull ahead just enough to kick Kane's feet out from under him. He didn't care what happened to him, he couldn't let the bastard touch her again. 

"You, knife ear!" Auron would see his lover racing past him. She had half the table of tarts in her skirts, which were pulled up above her knees. "Shoot her!" The baker shouted. "She's stealing my food!"

Alice's gaze met Garrik's and she quickly shook her head. She would let Kane do as he wished to her, if it meant she could save the one she truly loved.

Auron closed his eyes for a moment and inwardly groaned. "Let me handle this for you." He told the baker with a false smile as he turned to face them.

Garrik shook his head in return, his lips set in a thin line. "I won't let him hurt you. Not for me." 
Kane got to his feet, rage in every line of his face. He made a grab for the younger man, slamming his head back against the wall. "I said I would give you a present," he snarled. "I never said it wouldn't be broken! "

"As you wish, sire." The baker nodded, sure the enormous man could make the elf suffer for what she'd done. 
Yena was already trying to find a place to hide her new treasures, ignoring the fact that she was even being chased.

"You'll stop right now!" Alice hissed, Garrik's dagger held to her throat. "You'll let him go right now, or i'll kae this real easy for you... No wedding if the bride is dead, right?"

"You know, in some villages they cut off the hands of thieves." Auron commented, having been able to smell both Yena and the pastries rather easily.

Kane's long fingers were locked on Garrik's face, digging into his forehead. "Don't you dare." He hissed at her, turning his own head to look at her with eyes that were icy blue with flicks of yellow and red. He was sneering like a starving beast, his arm shaking with the effort it was taking not to finish what he'd started. "Don't you fucking dare, you little brat!" He roared, the ground beneath them quaking.

Yena was burying the pastries in a box, bending her nails backward as she dug them into the dirt. "I had no choice and we were hungry." She said over her shoulder, still digging. "Just give me a minute and they will never find them. We can eat for a few days off these. It will be okay, Auron. You will see."

Alice pressed the blade a little harder, enough to send a ribbon of blood sliding down to her collarbone. "You break something of mine, I break something of yours." She told him simply. This was the pirate Queen reacting now, not the scared little princess he always assumed her to be.

"I could have killed some deer and sold the meat and pelts, or are you assuming I'm just a pretty face?" Auron replied, smirking as he watched Yena.

"Enough!" Kane let go of Garrik and stepped away, holding up his hands. His lips were turned into an unhappy snarl but his eyes never left Alice. "Put down the blade." He snarled. "You'll rip that lovely skin and I hate scars. They are...ugly." 

"I can take care of myself!" Yena snapped, one of her nails tearing to the quick. She wasn't used to having another to take care of her. The idea itself was foreign. Even the hunter had only been able to do it when she was too weak to stop him. "Do think me weak? Dread wolf curse you." She muttered, shaking her bleeding finger.

"I'm not putting this blade down." Alice replied rather coolly. "You must really think me the same as your brainless whores. The second I relinquish it, you will hurt Garrik again." She added. "I said I would marry you, what more do you need?"

Auron's smiled faded, and he kept the distance between them now out of hurt more than anything else. Just as Yena wasn't used to being with anyone but herself, Auron only knew how to protect and care for others. "I think myself weak for loving the creature that tore my family from me."