Lyer & Aluraios | Letter
A sharp rap at the door made white hair into a swirling silken cloak as a figure spun upright from the deep bow he had been stood in, motionless, gazing at the rising sun. The lithe silouette rolled his shoulders, stretching his arms forward from their wing-like position before dropping them silently to swing by his side.
The sound came again, and he growled silently, stalking over to the door and pulling on the cord on his emerald robe tighter to cover his pale chest. Is no-one's worship sacred? he thought irrately, glancing over his shoulder at the sun now blinking almost disapprovingly over the fire-touched trees. He offered a silent apology in a prayer for forgiveness to the day's eye as his gaze drifted over to the shadowed bed - careful moved out of the sun - where a prone body lay in the cool darkness, highlighted by touches of pale skin flashing out from under the raven's wing of hair that covered it.
For a few seconds his eyes lingered on the elegant form, the sensual mouth was curved in a smile, the slightly parted lips hiding the hardly noticable retracted fangs. He grinned, running his fingers over his neck where the wounds were already healing, and his eyes continued their exploration of the small perfect nose, straight and smooth, unlike his own which was slightly curved, an echo of the beak he had in his other form. Vampires didn't suffer the echoes of another shape, only the reminder of their inherrant nature which was hidden behind a thin, in most cases, veneer of humanity. If the soft eyelids were lifted, this vampire's gold-brown gaze would belie the child-like innocence with a hunter's power and passion. And pride.
The body stirred, rolling over in the dawn greyed blankets as the knocking disturned the silence again and the awake figure's gaze lifted to gaze angrily at the door, pressing his lips together as he pulled it open to reveal one of the inn's maiden's dropping into a startled curtsy. His own golden eyes, brighter and lit with an inner fire raked the slightly plumpish girl, barely sixteen years to her he'd guess, and he took a small satisfaction in seeing her drop her eyes further and shrink back.
"You're new aren't you?" he muttered as he took in the clean and neat appearance of the fully clothed brown haired maiden. The Wooden Key Inn was totally respectable - otherwise Lyer wouldn't have even let them consider staying in it - but usually inn maidens tended to be a little more disreputable than this one looked. "If you weren't you would know this room is not to be disturbed for any reason. Especially 5 hours into the bloody day!" he continued, snapping the last in a harsh whisper.
"M'Lord, I apologise," the maiden's breath was racing her heart in his sensitive hearing as she spoke in a scared squeak, her voice holding a hint of education that explained her dress. "This letter came for you and your friend. I felt I must bring it to you immediately."
"At..."
"'Rios, take it, it's got a compulsion spell on it." the tired voice was punctuated by a yawn and halted the other's reply. "She had to bring it now."
The man at the door grimanced, glancing into the depths of the room to the bed before reaching out to grasp the prooffered letter and letting his own mage senses stroke across the letter, feeling the set of the magic, while he didn't reconise the spells themselves, the tight shielding and compulsions were obvious. This letter would have found them wherever they were. "Just don't make this a habit." he muttered, snatching the thin envelope impaitently from her grasp, stepping back from the threshold and shutting the door before she could answer.
Aluraios sighed, turning to the bed with an apologetic smile tinging his lips. "Sorry, I was trying not to wake you." he ran his hands through his hair, gathering it at his nape in a horsetail before letting it swing loose over his back. "Goddess, who'd send us a letter that had to be read immediately?" The tug of the compulsions were still pulsing at his shields, subtly set, most people, even mages, wouldn't realise they were there unless they knew.
Ebony hair snaked over Lyer's slim body as he propped himself up on his elbows, fully awake now despite his earlier tired voice. "I couldn't sleep as soon as I felt the magic on that thing. It's Dak's," he gestured to the innocent piece of paper that lay silent to all senses but mage in his partner's fingers. "Can't you tell?"
"Uh huh, I was too annoyed to check for any magic..." he met the darker eyes ashamedly, knowing perfectly well that while the room was shielded to the best of both their abilities if they willing brought danger inside the shields they were probably both in trouble. The worried look in the other's eyes made him hesitate before rushing on, "I know I should have checked as soon as the knock..."
"It's Dak's." Lyer repeated, ignoring him, worry drifting like smoke across his dark fire eyes. "I thought we agreed we'd only communicate via Ferel years ago." And Dak using magic on this is almost as good as signing it, he added silently with his eyes.
"We did."
Their eyes met and held again with equal puzzlement and urgency, Lyer biting the inside of his lip hard enough to draw his own blood as Aluraios quickly tore the letter from its haven. His eyes skimmed it once, blankness stealing across his face, then again with more intelligence and increasing puzzlement.
"What the...." His eyes darted over the page randomly, the words seeming to have little or no meaning as he blinked up to meet his lover's confused and impaitent face. "It's an invitation to Court."
"Dak doesn't send us invitations though." the vampire untangled himself from the light covers in a smooth motion, impaitently throwing off the folds that wrapped over his limbs as he levered himself easily off the bed. "Well, he never sets the compulsion spell on the official ones we get. And I'm betting that's not official." Scooping up a sky-flower blue robe that lay discarded on the floor he shrugged it on, walking over to look over Aluraios's shoulder.
"It's not." He silently passed the paper over. "And don't look over my shoulder," he grinned, slipping from the loose one-armed embrace round his waist to move behind Lyer. Resting his head on the other's shoulder he ignored the narrow teasing glare that shot sideways at him as he kissed the soft earlobe, speaking very softly in the sensitive ear, "I'll look over yours instead."
"Fine." Lyer sighed resignedly with a hint of a loving smile, moving his free hand to cover Aluraios's hand as it snaked round to rest on his stomach.
Their eyes moved as one over the black script, the hand bold and strong, although the tails and peaks of the letters seemed unsteadily written, and smudged in places. The grasp on his hand made the hawken mage gasp as it grew steadily stronger and painful, and Lyer winced slightly at the sound, releasing the pressure. Aluraios entwined his fingers between his lover's before he spoke returning a gently squeeze of understanding.
"I." Lyer's voice was soft and dangerous, "He never uses 'I', it's always the Court 'we'. Ferel'll use 'I' but never Dak."
"It's mainly to include Ferel in the invitation, you know that, solar."
The letter crumpled in Lyer's hand, the pale paper being consumed by silent fire as he struggled to keep the anger from turning his face to its vampiric form, the fangs half extended as he spoke. "Something's happened to Ferel."
Aluraios's own face crumpled into carefully controlled rage, he'd known Dakram's non-mage manservant and lover for longer than Lyer, and his mind cruelly threw up the laughing leaf-green eyes, blonde sandy hair carelessly falling into them. The face was a balance of handsome and beautiful, more masculine than both himself and Lyer, with a youthfully strong body that he'd fallen for before he'd found the boy, then 18, was already spoken for, or rather had already spoken for another. He half smiled inwardly, he'd never cope with the relationship Dak had had... No, that was past tense, he couldn't think like that. Not from just this small suggestion. He forced himself into outward calm, the memories being erased with pain and a prayer that Lyer was wrong. "'I have a problem I'd like to discuss with you' and a few 'I's aren't the strongest evidence, Lyer. It's not a usual Court invite though."
"Seeing as Dak holds Court so rarely, and his last one was a moon ago, that's not a hard conclusion to come up with."
Aluraios ignored the sarcasm, knowing just how hard the vampire was finding control. "And there's something wrong with Ferel because Dak wants us to visit?" Much as he prefered being the teasing and joking part of their relationship, someone had to be rational.
"There was a damp stain, a tear stain, on the page, and why else would Dak be so damn careless?" He stepped back from the fireborn's embrace, his voice clipped and cold, his eyes amber eye. "He hasn't lasted nine years with Ferel by being so bloody careless!" His voice rose and Aluraios let it, the shielding would damped their voices to almost nothing, "He set powerful shields on that letter, 'Rios. You're Major, you know how easily shields like that can be felt and any mage knowing Dak's magic and with a remote talent at telling magics apart could tell they're Dak's and wonder what he was hiding! Yet there's nothing in that letter that would remotely hint at his connection with Ferel. He's being totally irrational, if he wanted to see us and Ferel was there, you know damn well he wouldn't connect himself to us, and Ferel'd write a letter as usual and his pet Court mages would compulsion spell it and send it!"
The vampire almost fell to the ground as he finished, his anger draining out of him like the handful of ashes trickling through his fingers and giving way to a despairing sorrow. "It's Ferel, love. It has to be. And if Dak's revealed..."
"We are too."
"I was think more along the lines of they'd both be destroyed, but that too." Lyer managed a tight smile at the mercenry tone, straightening suddenly with descision to stalk over, his movements filled with predatorial preciseness, to the saddlebags on the chest by the still open shutters where the sun was stroking the dark wood sensually, unaware of the charged atmosphere.
Catching the one thrown at him, suddenly extremely grateful they'd expended the extra energy to shield the window whether open or shut, Aluraios immediately went to the cupboards. "How long are we going for?" He didn't try to argue or ask what Lyer was doing, no matter what was wrong, it'd still need a visit to Dak to find out. And they would have to ride. He wasn't comfortable in hawk-shape at night, and the climate here wasn't reliable enough for him to know he could catch the sun every day. Anyway, leaving anything here for any length of time wasn't particularly secure, especially as Lyer was a well known silver-smith, and the tightest shielding would fade over time.
"Until we find out what on the god's way is going on." Lyer said softly, still having to force himself into strict control as he carefully and precisely placed their jewellry and money into tough leather pouches.
© Clare Selley 2009
Return to Lyer and Aluraios