Zayr had been unable to sleep for most of the night, his mind tormenting him by coming up with all sorts of horrible things that could be happening to Nikado and what he could possibly say to apologize. He had been up before the sun had risen, packing away their campsite and preparing to leave.
"You're up early," Pablo commented from his position on the ground.
Zayr jumped slightly, hand rubbing at the pommel of his sword absently. "So are you. Want to help me pack this, then?"
The mage shrugged, picking up his blanket and folding it before carrying it over to the pack mule which had thus far not been important enough to mention. "It looks like you have most of it done already. How long have you been up?"
"Not that long. Yourself?"
Pablo tilted his head in a noncommital answer. "You know, if you were having trouble sleeping, there are ways to fix that."
"Thanks, but I'm fine," Zayr insisted, packing away the blanket.
"Of course you are," Pablo replied tolerantly, picking up the remainder of the supplies to be packed away, handing them to the landowner one at a time. "I think you had an easier time sleeping when you were twelve."
Zayr's hand paused on the packs. "Is it really that obvious that I'm worried, hm?"
"Pretty much, but Tobias is more observant than me," Pablo replied. "I don't do so well with people. Even now I sometimes have problems making myself care about other people. Not so much you guys, though, which is why I'm bringing it up." The younger man looked at Zayr evenly.
Zayr let out a sigh through his nose, taking a seat. "You're a remarkably mature young man for your age, Pablo." Fiddling with a flask in his hands, he opened it and took a drink before offering it to Pablo. "Does that bother you?"
The mage raised an eyebrow, accepting the flask and taking a sip. "You just gave me a compliment. Should it bother me?"
Zayr waved a hand in a vague gesture. "Do you miss being a child?"
"I'm not sure what you're getting at." The mage looked over toward the crack of light. "Do I wish I had been born someone else? Sometimes. Do I wish I had a more cheery personality? Sure. It would have been nice to not have been bound into such a lofty and lonely destiny, but there's really nothing that can be done about it. All of us have our own burdens to bear. Really, the only thing I or any of us can do is live with it and try to find a little happiness in our own ways, I think." He shrugged. "I know I probably come off as cold to you guys sometimes, but it's my way of being a little more honest with myself. With you guys, if I sound like I care, it's because I honestly do. With everyone else, it feels like I'm just going through the motions. That I can feel like I don't have to be a Zenzizenzizenzic around the rest of you is a huge step for me." He ducked his head. "I finally get to be Pablo, and discover what he's like, and I guess he's a pretty okay guy so far." Glancing over at Zayr, he handed the flask back. "Sorry. You probably didn't want to hear all that."
Zayr shook his head. "No, that actually quite helpful. I feel like I can understand what you feel when interacting with others." He was silent for a while longer, then admitted, "Nikado and I had a heated argument. I don't understand him at all. I can't fathom why he acts the way he does or what it means."
"If it helps," Tobias's voice came from behind them, "I think Nikado's a very perceptive and honest person. He may act silly, but there's thought behind his words."
Pablo jumped in surprise, turning to Tobias. "How long have you been there?" he asked, more curious than annoyed.
The zombie looked down, embarrassed. "Well, I was sort of listening in. I hope you don't mind." He rubbed at his neck nervously. "I mean, I'm not really surprised by it. Unlike the rest of us, both of you have roles that you are expected to fill. It's only natural that how you act would be defined by those roles."
"Lack of a role still doesn't explain how Nikado is so damn cheery all the time," Pablo grumbled good-naturedly as he took Tobias's blanket and packed it away.
The older boy shrugged. "I don't know why he's so optimistic either. Maybe he just doesn't like being unhappy."
"Yes, an allergy to unhappiness," Pablo joked. "It would fit. Symptoms include flailing and panic and hasty reassurances of solace."
Tobias smiled at that. "Shall I wake Eris so that we can be on our way?"
Zayr looked over to the girl, still curled up in her blanket. "Let her sleep for a while longer. She had a hard day yesterday."
Eris led them out of the southern path, toward neither Zayr's homestead or the city of Cantercor, but on a tangent away from both of them, heading toward the southern tea cities. "Okay, here's where it was when I hopped aboard," Eris declared, standing in the middle of the well-traveled road, spreading her arms. "It had to be 100 feet long and maybe almost that tall. Kind of shaped like a cone. Well, start looking, it was pretty obvious."
Zayr looked around, scanning the horizon. "I don't see anything."
Tobias was also looking around, but not at anything distant. "Pablo, do you sense that?"
The younger mage sniffed at the air. "Yeah. Feels like magic. Pretty strong, too." That made his stomach sink a little. A mage on his level wasn't supposed to exist, but it looked like it might. "Which way was it heading, Eris?"
She pointed. "That way. Over that field."
Zayr nodded, giving the pack mule's reins a tug. "All right, lead the way."
The group moved off the traveled path, carefully cutting through the dip that was the field below them, picking through the tall grass carefully. "Look, flowers," Eris commented, stooping by one of the large blossoms. "I've never seen ones like this. What are they?"
"How surprisingly feminine of you," Pablo said with a smile.
She stuck her tongue out at him. "I believe they're the southern tea petal," Zayr said slowly, picking one and examining it. "We trade a few shipments with the south every now and then."
Eris wrinkled her nose, more in surprise than distaste. "You can make drinks out of these things?"
"Sure." Zayr plucked off the petals, putting them in a flask of water. "They dissolve in water, as long as they're in the dark long enough. Give it a day and a half or so."
The girl tilted her head. "How's it taste?"
The landowner considered the question. "Well, it is a tea. But it's rather sweet. A bit like nectar, I suppose. It's not bitter at all like the northern or western drinks."
Eris rolled this around in her mind a moment longer, then began picking several flowers as she walked. "Someone start passing me those flasks."
Tobias laughed at her efforts, then began pulling the flasks from the pack mule. "Oh, you silly girl. Once you get an idea in your head you never let it go."
"Oh, but you like that about me," Eris commented offhandedly, tucking a flower behind her ear before she turned to look at the group, lips pursed. "Does it suit me?"
Tobias couldn't answer right away. Zayr smiled, feeling his spirits lifted. "Yes, quite. Perhaps you should become a gardener."
She put a finger to her chin. "I don't know about that. I'd probably kill them all. I'm better at sneaking around and killing things."
"Where did you learn how to do that, anyway?" Zayr asked curiously. "I don't think you've ever told."
"I used to follow my older brother around," she replied with a wave of her hand. "He was a great spy. They used to call him the Neenjah. It's an southeastern term for excellent warriors of stealth."
Tobias caught her reference to past tense, but Pablo wasn't so quick. "I didn't know you had an older brother."
"Oh, he's dead now. Got killed on a mission." She shrugged. "Parents always hated his job, but it brought in the money. They don't really like me doing that sort of thing either, but hey."
"You have a job? Here I figured you spent all your time bumming around my house," Pablo snorted.
"That, and pissing off your old fart of a man," Eris added. "Honestly, I'm not too eager to go into the job. I sort of want to hold on a bit to my so-called youth. And by that I mean I'd rather hang out with you guys and risk my neck for you than for some stranger who's paying me."
Tobias smiled at her, squeezing her hand as he handed her a flask. "I like that idea."
Zayr smiled as he watched the younger pair walk around in the fields, but as they finished the crossing and the sun began to tilt on its afternoon path, his mood slowly became more somber, a sense of foreboding filling his mind. It was like the author was trying to foreshadow something and not doing a good job of it, but Zayr felt increasingly on edge, waiting for something to happen.
"You seem a little on edge," Pablo commented to him after a while. "Still worried about Nikado?"
"I'm sure pops'll be fine," Eris told him. "He's pretty tough, after all. Here, have a flower." She stuck one on his collar.
He smiled at her. "Thank you, Eris. No, I can't really put a finger on it. I guess I'm just anxious for some reason. The sooner we find Nikado, the bette--"
It was like the sun had gone out all of a sudden, casting them all in shadow. The mule brayed at the suddenness, and Zayr ran to catch its reins.
"Holy SHIT!" came Eris's voice. "Zayr, it's right above us!"
He looked up with a growing sense of dread, and was face to face with a black stone surface some twenty feet above his head. Slowly he realized that it must be the bottom surface of the castle. "Oh god. Oh god," Pablo moaned, leaning on Tobias heavily, looking overwhelmed from the magic he was sensing pouring off the behemoth. "It's huge. How can it exist?"
"Where did it come from?" Tobias questioned uncertainly. "It just appeared out of nowhere!"
"Everyone stay calm!" Zayr instructed firmly. "We have to find a way inside." And that was all he got to say, as a beam of light shot from the center of the bottom surface, engulfing Zayr completely. And then he was gone, and the castle had vanished into thin air, as if it had never been there.
"Zayr!" Tobias yelled harshly, spinning around and looking for the departed castle. There was only the faint trace of magic in the air lingering about. "Where did he go?!"
"Where did the fucking CASTLE go?" Eris countered. "Flying fortresses don't just disappear!"
"Both of you calm down!" Pablo snapped, unusually harsh. "Calm down. It's okay, I think I know what's going on."
Tobias looked at him in surprise. "You do?" he asked uncertainly. "What is it? What just happened?"
He nodded. "And I think I have a way to get inside. Come over here and I'll explain...."
Sky. He was looking at sky. Zayr's eyes focused unsteadily on a cloud before he tried to move, muscles feeling a little stiff for some unknown reason. Sitting up, he rubbed at one arm, trying to work the kinks out of his shoulders as he looked around.
Almost as far as the eye could see, there was a sun-filled field, grass and delicate flowers tickling at his skin. The flowers seemed to come in every color of the rainbow, and Zayr thought he heard the sound of running water, from a brook or some other small stream nearby.
Where was he? Was this inside the flying fortress? Zayr wasn't so sure; it sure didn't seem very fortress-like. He pushed himself to his feet, making sure his sword was still at his side as he brushed the stray flora off and looked around.
Behind him, the whinny of a horse reached his ears. He turned, but what he saw wasn't a horse. Pure white, with rich chocolate eyes that almost seemed too beautiful to be on a horse, petite and finely-shaped black hooves, and long white mane brushed and arranged carefully with tail equally flowing. But naturally, the most noticeable thing was the long and perfectly smooth iridescent horn that rose out of its forehead, coming to a deadly sharp point. Zayr knew immediately that something was wrong. The editor had already cleared out all the idiotic unicorn references from the first book.
Seated on its back, and apparently urging the unicorn to walk toward him, there was a woman. Her long black hair seemed to stir consistently in the wind, and she wore a long white dress beautifully decorated with gold and silver trim-- real gold and silver, Zayr was pretty sure. And were her eyes changing color?
"Hello there, stranger," she greeted in a voice that was like the softest silk one could imagine, sliding over the strings of a perfectly tuned harp, so smooth and melodious was it. This did not help put Zayr's mind at ease; in fact, it made his tension worse. "My name is Princess Mariah Callista Amethyst Star Hope Faith Charity Sakura Eowyn of the world, the third. I apologize for your rough journey here. Are you injured? Is there some way I can ease your troubled mind?" She leaned over, so that her cleavage was practically in his face. "I have many ways of helping you. Might I have your name, fine stranger?"
He took a step back, mostly so he could look at her face and not her breasts. This had to be the woman Eris had mentioned. So terribly pretty, and yet Zayr couldn't shake the sense that there was some sinister evil lurking under that perfectly white smile that was far too perfect for a medieval setting. "Are you the one who brought me here?" he asked coolly, ignoring the request for his name.
She reached out to touch his face, and Zayr backed out of range. She didn't seem to mind. "Yes, I am, my handsome knight. I have come to deliver you from your suffering. Come, there are many baths here to wash away the smell of your campsite, and great feasts for your partaking, and massage therapists to ease the tension in your nice, broad shoulders."
"I've come for Nikado," he replied flatly. "If you truly mean to help me, then you will take me to him in all haste, and then let us depart and part ways peacefully."
She laughed, and it was like the sound of little tinkling bells, only evil, if bells could be evil. Perhaps forged with evil metal. "Oh, but I am afraid Nikado is also enjoying my hospitality at the moment, and it would be rude to disturb him. Come," she slid off the unicorn with perfect grace, landing on her feet like a cat who has taken ballet, "let me escort you inside and show you around. This castle of mine is very beautiful, and I am sure it will be pleasing to your eyes."
He jerked away from her hand seeking to touch his shoulder, putting his hand on his sword in a clear threat. "I don't trust you," he told her bluntly. "You've kidnapped my friend and injured another of my friends. I have no reason to wish to enjoy your 'hospitality'. What are you planning? You're too perfect to be true, you spend magic like a rich man spends small coins. Your mount there isn't supposed to exist. Explain yourself and why you're after us. This is your only warning."
She smiled and laughed that evil bell laugh again, moving toward him again. As usual, he backed away. "Oh, a smart one, as smart as he is hot. I like them better when they don't have as much brains, though. You and that other one."
Zayr's sword was out at the mention of 'the other one'. "Who are you? What do you want?" he demanded harshly.
She gave him a sweet smile, and while it was perfect and kind, it had a deadly feel behind it that sent a chill down the landowner's spine. "Why, I'm the heroine of the story. The one who saves the day with her beauty and charm and wins the heart of the dashing hero. There's no reason to draw your sword on me." She made a flick of her wrist, and it was torn from his hand, hard enough to cut his palm as she pulled him close, pressing her slim and yet toned torso against his. "As the main male character, it's only natural that you and I be fated to be together and live happily ever after."
Once again, he was reminded of why he hated female characters in fantasy novels. "I'm not interested. Where is Nikado?"
She sighed, bringing his face close to hers. "Oh, him. Stop worrying about him. It's me you should be interested in. Everyone is. I mean, I'm beautiful, and talented, and I have a great singing voice. And I can fix any problem with a simple spell. What's not to love about me?"
"You don't get this plot thing, do you?" Zayr told her. "Nobody wants to read about a perfect character who can fix everything just like that. It's boring. You, woman, are nothing but an author's wish fulfillment. You break every rule of this world, you do not belong and none of us, least of all me, have the least bit of interest in you. Eris makes a far better character than you. Is that why you struck at her? And how can you even claim to be fixing the world by kidnapping and trying to kill the cast? That is better suited to a villain than any so-called heroine."
Her face darkened, and she hissed at the other woman's name. "She is not! She's a lousy ugly tomboy cliche! I'm a much better character than she'll ever be!" She took in a deep breath, composing herself, then smiled sweetly. "So I'm a villain, am I? Well, I suppose I'll have to be villainous, then, and send you away for a while until you're ready to see the light and apologize for your actions and love me with all your heart. So, goodbye."
With a wave of her hand, the ground underneath Zayr's feet, and he dropped into utter blackness, unable to tell how far he really fell until a glimmer of light from a dim room appeared underneath his feet a moment before he landed hard on a rough, cold floor. He lay there for a long moment, eyes shut as he tried to will the pain from his landing to go away, hoping nothing was broken.
"Zayr?" a soft, familiar voice asked, and then a rough but cool hand laid on his arm. The landowner slowly opened his icy green eyes. Nikado was leaning over him, dark blue eyes tinged with concern. The man's hair was loosened from its usual ponytail, stray locks brushing against Zayr's face, and he looked rather tired, but otherwise not terribly worse for wear. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, putting a hand on the other man's face.
"Ow," the landowner mumbled in response, shifting on the ground uncomfortably before Nikado helped him sit up. "That was unpleasant."
"Falls tend to be," Nikado joked weakly, putting his hand on the other's shoulder. "You're okay otherwise?"
Zayr turned his wrists, checking his joints to make sure they were all still working. "I'm sore all over, but I don't think anything's broken. Yourself?"
"I've had better days," Nikado admitted with a sheepish smile. "But I'm okay. Sorry you got stuck in here, though."
Zayr looked over at him, and now that he could see more than the man's face, he realized the other was in poorer shape than he first appeared. His exposed skin was marked with bruises, cuts, and suspicious looking burns in patches all over. Still, the older man was smiling. Lowering his head, Zayr apologized in a rush of breath, "Nikado, I'm sorry."
This caused the other man to flail a bit. "What, why? There's nothing to apologize about. Why are you sorry?"
"No," the other disagreed softly, eyes still lowered, "there is a lot to apologize for. I'm ashamed that I ever said such words to you. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be here, being forced to suffer like this. It is my fault."
"No, no, it's not your fault," Nikado insisted, a little worry and panic edging into his voice. "Not at all. No one's to blame but that crazy witch. Please don't blame yourself, Zayr."
"How can I not blame myself?" he responded bitterly. "It was terrible that I said such a thing to you, my friend and trusted companion. You have never lied to me, and yet I behaved so abymsally." He turned away from Nikado, eyes dull with self-reproach. "I think that somehow I knew all along that it was true. That everything you said was true and that I couldn't have that perfect little marriage I wanted, but I didn't want to accept it. I drove you away, Nikado, and if I hadn't been such a blind fool you would have still been with us and not here."
Strong arms suddenly wrapped about him, and then Nikado pulled the other man into his lap, hugging him tightly. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. Please. Stop it. I can't stand hearing you blame yourself."
"Nikado...." Zayr put his hand on Nikado's arm, unwilling to say anything else that might upset the older man. "I... don't be upset."
The scholar was silent for a long moment, holding onto the other man tightly, as if he was afraid the other man would leave if he let go. "How long has it been?" he finally asked quietly.
"Three days," Zayr told him guiltily. "I wish you hadn't told me not to follow."
"Oh, silly man," and Nikado's voice finally sounded like it was returning to his normal cheer. "I wanted you to follow. I was hoping you wouldn't listen."
"Then why did you tell me not to come?"
He sighed, leaning his head on Zayr's shoulder. "Because if it had been me, I would have followed."
Zayr leaned his head forward. "Sorry. I'm not very good at reading people. Not like you."
"I know," the scholar chuckled, rubbing Zayr's shoulder absently. "I wasn't thinking. Where are the others? Are they okay? I thought I saw Eris a while ago."
"She was injured, but recovered," he told her. "The other three were right below this castle, last I saw. But I don't know how long ago that was."
"Yeah, time kind of slips away for you in here," Nikado agreed. "I can't tell if it's day or night. But at least you're here now, although I sort of wish you weren't. That woman's evil."
"She's a wish fulfillment," Zayr told him seriously. "Of course she's evil. These kinds of people kill stories with ease."
Nikado's eyes widened, although Zayr couldn't see it from the other man's position behind him. "They're that bad? Where did she come from?"
"I wish I knew," Zayr sighed. "I only know about her type from what the editor told me. The editor mentioned that the author had had previous problems with writing in such characters, but none of those books were ever published."
"What happened to those characters?" Nikado asked slowly.
He shrugged. "I imagine some were ported to other settings. Possibly here. But not her, I think. She's too awful a character for any sort of redemption."
Nikado let out a soft sigh, leaning against the younger man. "I feel sorry for those other characters. Being in a world that was destroyed just because their main character was a bad one." He gave Zayr a squeeze. "It's a good thing you're such a good character."
"Even if I'm not a good person?"
"You are, Zayr. You just don't realize it." Nikado played with a lock of the other man's hair. "You're a good, honest person and a good, honest character."
Zayr smiled gently, patting Nikado's knee. "Thank you for your kind words, Nikado."
Nikado grinned back, continuing to play with the messy orange strands. When he spoke again, it was barely above a whisper. "Zayr, could you... stay here, like this, for just a little while longer? I won't make you uncomfortable, I promise."
"As long as you want, Nikado. I won't go anywhere."
The castle was gone, that much was certain. Either that, or it was simply very well hidden. Given the traces of magic lingering around the field, Pablo thought it might have been the latter, but every spell he had tried to make it uncover itself hadn't worked. Even the wrenching he had done against the Web headquarters way back in the first part of the book hadn't worked. Then again, the idea of a magic user as powerful as him floating a moving castle above the ground was ridiculous to begin with, so he wouldn't be terribly surprised if she was breaking some other rule of magic.
Dinner was quiet. Mealtimes had been toned down since Nikado's disappearance, but now with only three people around the campfire, it was even more silent, the mood subdued. Eris had tried to punctuate the inflated, balloon-like silence, but her pins of humor had been more like cottonballs of humor, and therefore had failed rather abysmally. "Doesn't seem like she'll be back tonight," Pablo noted solemnly.
"You know," Eris said thoughtfully as she toyed with her boomerang. "I think we've been referring to this girl the wrong way."
"How's that?" Tobias asked curiously.
"Well, you were just calling her an evil genius, right?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Well, she might be evil, but I really think she failed at the genius part."
"...." Both boys stared at her.
"...What?" She strummed her fingers on the cup, thinking. "So, you think this'll really work?"
Pablo sighed and shrugged. "It's the best I can do right now."
Tobias shrugged as well. "It's not like we can just point at her and go 'villainicus explodicus!'"
The girl stared at him. "No, but if you could, that would be pretty fucking awesome." This got her another look from both boys, and she sighed, picking up the remains of dinner. "Okay, you lot, time to bed down."
Pablo raised an eyebrow. "Yes, mother?"
This got him a solid whack in the head. "It's for your own good. Everyone's tired and we'll just talk ourselves into a depression at this rate. Sleep and we'll feel better in the morning, I promise."
Pablo sighed, but took her advice, laying down as she tossed him a blanket. "And one for you," she told Tobias, handing him one as well. "Go sleep, now."
He chuckled, taking a seat as she threw another log on the fire to make sure it stayed burning for a while. "Our little morale soldier."
"Well, of course," she replied, fetching her own blanket. "Without Pops around to be his silly, eager puppy self, someone has to be the peppy one. And no offense, but neither of you are really peppy."
"Thanks for trying, anyway," Pablo mumbled from his corner of their little camp. "The morning will be okay. I mean, what's some woman compared to and organization with a reality-bending mage?"
"He has a point," Tobias replied before dropping his head into her lap comfortably, closing his red eyes. "Good night."
"...." she was close to smacking him, but decided the pep was more important. The things she did for her friends.
Pablo got the distinct sensation he wasn't in the right world anymore as he suddenly snapped back to awareness. For one thing, he wasn't out in the woods like he thought he had been, but in some building lined with small gray doors on one side. The air smelled like a combination of acid and... lemon? And someone was tapping him on the shoulder. "Weren't you listening to me?" a female voice said in his ear.
He turned to look at her. Eris was watching him with an odd expression. "I said, grab your wristwatch, it's time to go."
"You're in a... uniform." With a skirt, no less. He had to admit the sudden change to femininity suited her rather well, with her long hair thrown in a braid over one shoulder, coupled with the white button-down blouse and tan pleated skirt. He looked down at himself, and continued his stunning observations. "I'm in a uniform." This one was uniformly brown, of a strangely tight cut that was worse than clothing suited to a fantasy setting. Pablo tugged on the collar uncomfortably
"Yeah, and we sort of need a different uniform to fight the giant monsters, so can we get going?" she said impatiently.
He stared at her, then decided she wasn't getting any less serious, and rolled up his sleeve, after a long moment of struggling to get the cuff buttons undone. ".... This is no wristwatch." It was...something, to be sure, a strange device strapped to his wrist that more closely resembled a wire mesh microphone than a watch, considering there were no numbers or hands and just a few buttons around the edge of the wire hemisphere. "What is this?"
"Duh! Where have you been!" At this point, Eris had decided that a good smack upside the head was the better part of slowness, and did so before grabbing his hand and smacking it onto the device on his wrist.
There was a moment of dizziness as the world spun into light, and a series of words slipped past his lips before he could stop them. "Big Superhero Change Time Go?"
And then he was standing in the same hall, and if he thought the previous uniform was bad, this was worse. In fact, it wasn't so much like a uniform as it was cloth that had been spraypainted onto his body and pinned down with boots, gloves, and oversized shoulder pads, mostly red with white accents. In this way, Pablo was introduced to spandex. He decided he didn't like it that much. Whirling on Eris, he began, "Change me ba--" and then noticed that she, too, was in a skintight outfit that was largely pink and white, that did a good job of accenting her figure, which looked a hell of a lot more female than it usually did.
Perhaps this wasn't so bad.
"Come on, we've got to get to our themed giant robots!" she told him, grabbing him by a gloved hand and dragging him out the nearest doors, onto a strange stone patio marked with a pole with a fishnet dangling from it. This definitely had to be one giant anachronism, Pablo thought to himself, or the plot holes were getting worse. Well, it was possible the author had just gotten really, really drunk. "Pink Superhero Giant Robot Summon Go Now!" Eris yelled, holding up a hand, and then a large metal thing in the shape of some predatorial mammal descended from the sky, eating her in a single gulp.
"...." Pablo stared, and decided he wasn't quite that stupid. He turned to leave, and what next met his eyes could only be described in the words that Pablo next used. "...Great googly moogly!"
Well, actually it could be described in a good deal more words, which of course the narration shall now proceed to wax on endlessly. Easily over a hundred feet tall, it towered above all of the buildings nearby, and seemed to be composed of what looked like a squishy, fine sponge-like substance. It was almost as if it were a giant prop, or perhaps a very large person in a very large bodysuit. It roared, waving rubbery claws of a hot pink color, and spewed flame on the people below.
As one might have guessed from the first half of the novel, Pablo's brain was not properly configured to deal with things that were Very Large. Backpedaling hurriedly, he decided the metal predator was a better choice. "Red Superhero Giant Robot Summon Go Now!"
After a moment of dizzy discomfort, Pablo found himself in a small room just large enough for the chair he was sitting in. "Be careful, Pablo," Zayr's voice came from somewhere above his head. "This one's tougher than usual!"
"I can see that," Pablo managed as he watched the crab grab a blue metal monster. As he watched, the crab ripped it in half, feeding part of it into its toothy maw, munching down on crushing metal and sparks of electricity with gusto. A scream came from above Pablo's head, a voice he chillingly recognized as Tobias's, and then it was cut off as the crab crushed the remains of the giant robot.
"Oh my god! Tobias! No!" Eris's distraught voice came from above his head, and Pablo finally realized with a sense of numbness that the voices must be coming from the other robots. As he watched, the pink beast leapt for the crab with shiny jaws snapping. The crab brought its claws together, smashing the robot into a two-dimensional shape like a cheap accordian. There wasn't even a scream that time, just static. Pablo just watched in shock. This must be one of those nightmares, he recognized dimly to himself, but the realization didn't help make it any less real.
"Fuck! Fuck!" came Nikado's voice from above, plainly upset.
"Pablo, move!" Zayr instructed. "He's right on top of you!"
He looked up in time to see the claw descending down on him, smashing into his robot with impressive force. The glass window in front of him shattered, peppering his limbs with glassy shards, red stains forming on his red outfit. Heh. Irony. Scrambling to try and get away, he tried pressing several of the buttons in front of him, but the robot only lurched to the side. The claw came down again, smashing into the metal with a screeching sound, and the roof collapsed, pinning him into his chair as he continued to bleed on his uniform. The one stuck in his thigh seemed especially deep, judging by the growing patch of crimson.
He didn't like this dream anymore, but there didn't seem to be any way out. Pablo began yelling for Nikado and Zayr, yelling for help, just yelling in panic and terror as he clawed against the bent metal, trying to pull himself out. His heart began to pound and his head spun dizzily, breath coming in fast pants.
There was a lurch from outside, and then he and his metal cage were moving upwards, into the sky. Through a hole in the metal, he could peer out and see just in front of him, and it was into the gaping maw of the monster, a couple of teeth patched in red and an arm outfitted in blue dangling from between two teeth. Pablo began screaming, scrambling in the seat for any sort of opening, the speaker above his head crackling and broken so that he couldn't hear the other voices even if he'd wanted to.
A piece of metal swung down from the ceiling, striking him hard across the face. Pablo choked on a bit of blood, crying now as his struggles became less frantic, the maw getting closer. The metal swung back, striking him again, causing his ears to ring. He swiped at it, but it swung around again, and the buzzing in his ears formed again, this time seeming to form words.
"...ake up! Pablo, wake up!"
"I want to!" he screamed, banging on the ceiling as the piece of metal struck him again. "Help me!"
"Pablo! Wake up!"
It was dark. The ground was rocky under his back, poking into him uncomfortably, and it seemed like the night might have been chilly, but he couldn't feel it around all the sweat that drenched his body. Eris's face peered into his own, watching his eyes examine her face. "Good job, Tobias."
The zombie rubbed at one hand, now missing two fingers. "That was more difficult than last time."
"I... that was...." The memory of the dream and his close escape came over him all at once, and he began to cry, choking back sobs. "Oh god. I just... and you...."
"Shh," Eris soothed, pulling the younger boy into her lap. "You're okay now. The nightmare's gone. You're with us."
Pablo continued to cry, but slowly his sobs quieted down. Eris gestured for Tobias to grab her a spare cloth, which she used to wipe the sweat and tears off the mage's face. "You're okay, Pablo. You can rest now. We're going to watch over you so you can sleep just fine."
He looked up at her for a moment, then without a word, he snuggled into her arms, curling up against her. Snatches of some old song came to her and she hummed them softly, stroking the younger boy's hair. "I didn't know you could be so motherly," Tobias commented softly, putting her blanket around her shoulders as she let Pablo nod off in her lap.
She shrugged. "I can be when I need to. What a nightmare that was. I thought he was going to die before we got him awake."
"I think he might have thought the same thing," Tobias replied seriously, rubbing at the knuckle of the newly missing finger. "That's three nightmares. Two of which have required magic to wake from."
"What do you make of it?" she asked, tilting her head.
He shrugged. "I did a lot of healing studies when I was still in school, not so much on psionics. They aren't normal nightmares, that's for sure. But I can't sense any magic about them, either. To be honest, I have no idea what's causing them. Should we ask Pablo in the morning?"
"Perhaps not in the morning," she answered, stroking Pablo's hair. "We'll have bigger things to focus on tomorrow, and he won't need the reminder."
"Good point." He leaned his head against her shoulder, pulling his own blanket around himself as he closed his eyes. "Well, I'll see you in the morning, then."
"Hey! When did I become your pillow, too?" she demanded, but got no response. "Sucks being the nice one sometimes," she muttered to herself, but she couldn't help but hum bits more of the nameless tune to herself as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
He had fallen asleep, he realized slowly, and now he was beginning to wake up. Zayr stirred slightly, feeling something warm pressed against his back. Oh, that's right, Nikado had been resting against him. The landowner turned his head slightly, looking at Nikado's head which was resting on his shoulder. The other man was still asleep, some of the tension and weariness gone from his face as he slept. Zayr let out a little sigh, tucking some of the scholar's stray hair back behind one ear, and wondered how much rest the other man had gotten in the last few days since being kidnapped. Well, it wouldn't hurt to let him rest as long as he could, Zayr thought to himself as he settled back in.
The landowner took the momentary peace and quiet to better examine their surroundings. The room was utterly plain, and no more than ten feet cubed, with a barely visible door on the wall opposite them. There didn't seem to be any openings in the room other than the thin seam in the door-- Zayr wasn't sure where the light was coming from that kept the room at a dim level, just enough to see the walls and Nikado by.
His next step along his mental path was to wonder about the three remaining members of their group. No one else had shown up in their cell thus far, so he hoped that meant they were okay. Were they making plans to get into the fortress? Would they be able to handle Mariah by themselves? Zayr wasn't so sure that this was a plot by the author anymore, after the appearance of an unwanted character. It could be that the entire sense of the author he had been feeling had come from the fourth wall. Was Mariah tied to the fourth wall and Naimi's disappearance?
That made him sit up. Mariah had a big problem with Eris on the sole count of her being a female character wereas the perfect woman had been snubbed. Had she locked Naimi away somewhere? How? The idea that she could take down a mage that could alter reality was hard to imagine, and only made Zayr worry more for his friends, if she was that powerful. Then again, five people had been able to "take her down", along with the entire organization, without a huge reserve of power.
That was the key, Zayr thought to himself. Countering power with power wouldn't be enough. They would have to outwit the evil woman, somehow. But how? Would Pablo and the others be able to think of something?
Behind him, Nikado stirred, mumbling something as he blinked into wakefulness. "Oh, it's you," Nikado mumbled, giving the other's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Did you sleep okay? How long has it been?"
"Well enough. You look like you needed that," Zayr replied seriously, standing up and stretching a bit to get the stiffness from sleeping sitting up out of his back and shoulders. "I don't know how long it's been. It's impossible to tell time in here."
"I know," Nikado sighed, standing up as well. "Any guesses as to how long?"
He shrugged. "Maybe the next morning. I don't know." He sighed.
Nikado rubbed his hands together. "Well, another exciting morning, then! What do you want to do? Some sort of word game, maybe? I know lots of games!"
Zayr rolled his eyes. "You've been going stir crazy here in this little room all by yourself, haven't you?"
"YES," Nikado exclaimed empathetically, grabbing onto the other man. "I was lonely and sad and hurty!"
The landowner chuckled, giving the other man's arm a pat. "All right, you nut. I suppose we can try some sort of ga--"
Nikado's mood had shifted in an instant. Zayr could feel the sudden tenseness in Nikado's entire body as he put a hand over the other's mouth, listening. "Footsteps," he warned softly in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Her?" Zayr hazarded, looking toward the door.
The scholar didn't answer, scooting the shorter man behind him as the door slid open, Mariah standing in the doorway. "Hello, my little hottie," she addressed to Zayr, completely ignoring Nikado. "Had some time to think about it?"
"'Hottie' is not acceptable vocabulary for this world," Zayr responded coolly and firmly, as if addressing a child. "Please cease in your anachronistic actions before you get another world destroyed. My answer has not changed from yesterday."
An expression that was positively ugly for a moment flashed across her face, but she quickly smoothed her features back into that sweet yet sinister smile. "I see your friend here failed to instruct you in what happens to those who continue to defy me."
Nikado's face was in a flat, emotionless mask, a highly unnatural expression for him. She looked at him, and chuckled. "Still with that fierce spark. It would be so wonderful if you'd only devote it to me."
"Go fuck yourself," Nikado replied bluntly.
She smiled and made a 'tsk'ing sound, then without warning elecricity shot from her fingers, throwing Nikado against the back wall as the current ran through his body, strong enough to keep him from catching his breath, let alone being able to scream.
"Stop! Stop, you goddamned fool!" Zayr shouted, throwing himself between the woman and his friend. "You'll kill him!"
She cut off the current as he stepped in the way. Zayr knelt by the other man, putting a hand on his neck. The scholar's breath came in ragged, painful gasps, but his eyes were still clear and focused, meeting Zayr's evenly with an expression of strength and defiance. Mariah watched with a smirk, sneering down at the scholar. "Still haven't learned. Funny that a man of books should be such a slow learner."
"Maybe you're just a lousy teacher," he spat.
"Nikado, don't antagonize her," Zayr warned in a low tone. "Just leave it be. Please."
Nikado gripped his hand tightly as Mariah spoke again. "You know," she said in a whimsical, innocent tone, "I could let him go. He's not the main character like I thought he was. Of course, you'd have to do something for me in return."
Zayr felt his stomach clench in a knot. "If I became your lover."
"See, he's much smarter than you," Mariah commented to Nikado. "You could take a lesson from him."
Zayr bit his lip, but there was really no choice to be made. He stood, not looking at her face. "You have to let him go fir--"
"I'm sorry, but what you're asking is impossible," Nikado cut him off, pushing himself slowly to his feet. "He can't ever love you."
She laughed. "Oh, the stupid one speaks again. Why's that? And what would *you* know of it?"
"Zayr's a homosexual," Nikado replied factually, grabbing onto Zayr's hand and giving it a squeeze of 'please play along'. "I know because we're lovers."
She laughed. "I don't believe you."
Nikado turned to face Zayr, and without hesitation planted his lips against Zayr's, complete with tongue. The landowner felt his heart pound as Nikado's hands ran lightly down his sides, but he suppressed the sensation. He tried to focus on something else, but his eyes closed by themselves, drawing his brain's attention to the feel of the other man pressing against him. It had never been like this with Trallia, through all the kisses they had shared. This was magical, it was electric, and the sensation ran through his entire body, drawing out something in the core of his being that he hadn't known existed. As usual, Nikado was right. He really didn't know himself at all. And he didn't know much about the other man, either, the one who was such a mixture of sunshine and sorrow, need and strength, who had his tongue in Zayr's mouth, provoking the landowner's own tongue into a reaction.
Finally, Nikado broke off the lip contact, removing his hands, leaving Zayr breathless and with a sensation of need that he couldn't properly identify. "You see," he said seriously to Mariah, keeping the younger man pressed against him. "He is mine."
She laughed again, though it didn't sound as certain as before. "I know he has a kid. Explain how that happened, if it takes a penis to get him off."
The scholar made a derisive sound. "He's not the dad. If you're so perfect, you should have known Trallia sleeps around. I bet she's doing it right now."
This earned him a definite scowl. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm so pretty, I can turn gay men straight with my gorgeous body."
"You don't get it, do you?" Nikado laughed. "It doesn't matter how pretty you are, you can't get him turned on as long as you've got Mariah Junior one and two there," he informed her, pointing at her breasts. "Butch li'l Eris is more of a turn-on to a gay guy than you are."
She let out a feral snarl at the name, striking him before either of them could react, sending him against the back wall in a spray of blood. "We'll see who's laughing once I take him from you," she snarled before turning on her heel and leaving, the door slamming shut behind her.
Zayr knelt by Nikado, biting his lip as he saw the stain leaking into the shirt. "Bought us a little time," the scholar told Zayr as the landowner dabbed at the red gash. "Sorry that I had to badmouth your wife again, though."
"You IDIOT," Zayr snarled, pulling off his own shirt to stem the blood flow. "I told you not to provoke her, damn it all!"
Nikado patted Zayr's hand, offering him a shaky smile. "It's okay. Just a scratch. I've had worse."
"Liar," the younger man grated out, pressing against the wound. "This is no mere scratch. Lie down, now. Damn it, Nikado," he snapped, pressing at the wound. "I never asked you to save me."
"No, but I would have done it anyway." The rest of his breath left him in a hiss as Zayr hit a sore spot. "It's just the kind of person I am. I'd rather die than see you in another relationship you'd hate."
"Asshole!" Zayr yelled, slamming a hand down next to Nikado's head. "Fool! How can you be so stupid? Do you honestly think that I or any one of us would be happy being rescued at the cost of your life? Do you really value your own existance so little?"
Nikado's eyes widened at Zayr's anger, then he looked to the side. "I guess you're right. I'm really a very selfish person, you know, Zayr."
He sighed in response. "I know. It's exhausting." The landowner pulled Nikado's hand to his injury, pressing it against the shirt. Hold that there. I'm going to go check out that door and see if there's some possible way to get out. We need to try and do what we can from this end while we wait for Pablo and the others."
Nikado sat back up, back pressed against the wall. "Now you're talking. Maybe you'll see something I didn't."
Abruptly, the walls and everything around them began to vibrate, a deep groaning coming from somewhere between them. "What was that?" Zayr asked uneasily.
"I don't know," Nikado answered honestly, "but it's happened before. Not long before you showed up."
"In that case, keep that shirt against your chest," Zayr instructed, going back to the door. "We need to be ready to make our move at any moment."
