Lyer & Aluraios | Ghovan
Note: Ghovan is from 'Garan' meaning 'darkness' and 'ho~ves' meaning 'life'
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Once again Cerus slipped under his feet, sending a shower of pebbles down the dust-grey path that she was moving down. It wound down the valley's slope, the sun beginning its descent and affording the mountains a bronze sheen as they rose above the pair of horses and riders following the gradient.
"This path is in desperate need of repair." Aluraios sighed.
His partner chuckled in sympathy, moving his own relatively sure-footed gelding down the stone ridden path. "We're coming in from the westlands, they don't see the point of paving for ten people per year." He ducked under a dead branch, mirrors of which littered the barren mountainside they descended.
Aluraios's white hair contrasted with the shadows thrown by the peaks through which they occassionally passed, as much as Lyer's ebony blended in. The blue sky above them had only a few birds dancing in the sunlight, and the Fireborn shifted uncomfortably. "Not much wildlife."
"Not much to eat, and too much chance of being eaten." Lyer answered, just as uncomfortable, his main food source was animals, and the lack of them reminded him of their destination and its close proximity. "And much as I hate it, rather the animals than humans."
"I'll concede you that." Aluraios nodded, "At least there's still birds." He gazed upwards with his own hawken eyes, arching his back slightly to invoke the memory of his wings. Lyer nodded, a half-smile on his lips, "I suspect you'd have insisted we turned back at the last turn if there hadn't been."
"Correct." The Fireborn grinned, "I'll follow you anywhere, as long as there's birds." Lyer chuckled playfully, his soft voice echoing off the sides, "Anywhere?"
Aluraios just glanced sideways, lifting a slender hand to his lips and bit the tip of his thumb. His eyes glittered micheviously as he pulled it away, letting his lips slide slowly over it, and tucked it inside his fist, before taking hold of the reins, casting his eyes downwards with the face of a child.
The vampire's eyes half-closed, "'Rios..." He shifted on his saddle, letting the pommel press between his legs as his reaction to his lover started. "Stop looking so damn innocent." He licked his lips slowly, forcing his emotions to calm down. "We're not going to get to Ghovan tonight otherwise."
"Explain to me again why this trip is so urgent?" Aluraios whispered, shifting himself to get comfortable as to steady himself.
"The shielding on the city was recently modified, Queen Shorsha wants me to check my protection spells will still intergrate with them." The thought of the fire and ice ex-princess turned vampire queen soon did what a bucket of cold water wouldn't do in his lover's presence. The very thought of her sinous dancing for him alone made him shudder inwardly in revulsion.
"And they can't do that themselves?"
"Not with any real accurancy," Lyer turned to grin at the still stimulated fireborn, trying not to let his obvious arousal reignite his own. "And that fact is what'll insure your safety, 'Rios."
Aluraios raised a pure white eyebrow, momentarily distracted from his discomfort, "If anything goes wrong I can always transform."
"Uh, huh. That shield I mentioned is a specific spell that blocks out sunlight. It's perpetual twilight there." He looked apologetically at his partner. "I should have warned you."
"Vampires." Aluraios groaned, rolling his eyes. "No idea of the pleasures of sunlight."
Lyer's eyes shifted to the steadily growing shape of the city below them, looming up from the base of the valley it nestled in between the chestnut mountains. It added it's own sombre shadows to the darkness, and although the eye could pierce the shield, the shapes were indisctinct and blackened. "You can get any pleasure avaliable on the god's way if you pay in Ghovan." He shuddered, knowing his nerves would be shattered after this trip. "You must be careful, 'Rios. I can only try to guarantee your safety with myself."
© Clare Selley 2009
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