Drakkhar's Task

"What are we waiting for?" General Jenners asked, impatiently scratching at his beard, eyes set on Leif's back.

Both of Leif's arms now reached out and were pressed against the glyph-imbued, marble door. Both arms shook slightly, the knuckles on his hands white from the pressure he exerted on the door. He had been standing there for longer than Jenners liked, always an impatient sort where magic was concerned.

"For him to do what he needs to do. What Witches do." Korah spat, a bit too defensively, certainly far more so than he really intended to do.

"And how am I supposed to know what that means? Do you?" The General replied, sticking one, stubby finger at Korah, who wasn't paying Jenners much mind. He stood, arms a bit defensively held, folded across his chest. He was concerned about what was on the other side of the door, what had gripped Leif so adamantly.

"I think I have an idea, yes" the Mage replied, eyes not leaving Leif's form, waiting patiently. A skill he had learned from General Jenners but had never really mastered. All who knew him knew as much quite well.

"I do, too." Elle chimed in.

"I don't need your help, sis," Korah chided. From his periphery he could see her smiling which caused him to as well.

She stood to his right, carving images into the sand-like bits of dust into the ground idly. She was thinking, he knew, just not about what. Jenners sat on one of the dusty, leather-seated benches on one of the pews, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the back of the pew in from of him.

"What's he doing then?" Jenners asked a few moments later.

For a moment Korah didn't reply. With those that ranked above him in the limited, but well respected hierarchy that the White Guard held, he chose his words wisely. He was high enough in the chain of command that he wouldn't be removed with the simple slip of the tongue, but Korah was as patient and well-meaning as they came and would rather leave a higher-ranking Guardsman waiting a moment than explaining himself after such a misspeak. If there was anything Korah truly despised, it was explaining himself needlessly.

It was when Elle didn't beat him to the punch, he knew that she was working too, using her unique combination of empathy and telepathy to do something or other, that he finally replied. "Six months--and counting, actually--," Korah began with a harumph and then paused to sigh out a deep breath,"you asked Elle and I--among others--to go out into the Hallowed Dunes to do something. It was to get that man--" Korah paused, turned towards Jenners voice, and without really wanting to look away from Leif, but doing so anyway, "--and Lief is that man. I love that man, a thing you may or may not want to know, yet I'm fairly certain you are quite aware of, anyway," Korah paused again, licked his dry lips, then began again,"and if it was important enough to do that, you can wait a few moments--"

"I can, and I will, but you avoid the question, Korah." Jenners pointed out. Something Korah knew quite well. He was rambling, but had a point and was trying to make it.

"Why did you ask us to go?" Korah asked.

"If you must know--"

"We must." Elle added, now standing nearly side to side with her brother, two heads shorter than he.

"Because I was told to. Straight from the top. Lord Drahkkar himself implored me with the task of finding Leif Starchaser. I know you want to know why Drahkar might want that, but I can't tell you." Jenners admitted.

Korah was unsurprised. His sister made no motion, either. They both just stood there a moment. The mage thought maybe his sister was digging around in Jenners head a bit, but was feeling a rare, flaming anger burning him alive as though he were on fire. He stood, hands clenched into fists at each side. "And why not?" he growled through gritted teeth.

"Because I do not know. Wish I did, I do," he said, apologetically.

"And that's the truth?" Elle asked.

"I'd not lie to another Guardsman anymore than I'd lie to Drahkarr, or anyone else for that matter. No use for a real man to lie. The truth makes falling asleep all the easier at night, take that to your graves, friends--allies."

Elle nodded and turned towards Leif's stoic form once more, apparently satisfied. The anger began to subside in Korah as well, letting the anger fade into a calmer, cooler, controlled state and felt the tension--and his fists--relax back into a more usual composure. He had never known Jenner to lie and had known the man his whole life.

After a bit, maybe only a few moments at his own guess, he turned back to Leif's form as well. He felt much better after Jenner had swore that he didn't know why Lord Drahkkar had sent for his Leif. Still, though, worry creased his brow. He was worried about Leif and wondered quite a bit about what exactly Lief might be doing. He thought he had a good idea. And he thought that Elle had fallen silent because she was poking around Leif's head trying to get a better idea, though he had asked her not to do so without asking, that he found it to be an unfair thing for her to do. She had agreed.

But still....just what was she doing? And how long were they going to stand there?

Quite suddenly, Elle turned back around, her hazel eyes glazed over and odd looking, and stepped past her brother and closer to Jenner. "How long do you think he's been down there, six hours, you say?"

"About," Jenners began, ran one hand through a grizzled, graying beard, "Adams could be doing anything down there this long. Damn, theres so many chambers and corridors through that door. Hard to find a man like Adams down there. He was a scribe. The Scribe actually, only Leif has begun to work through Adams' books. And nobody knows how much he took when he defected."

"I don't think he defected--" Elle began.

"But I do." Jenner growled, a deep terrible sound, even to Korah's ears.

"What would he defect to? We're miles and miles from even the closest of cities--" Korah interceded.

"Well, he came back for something..." Jenners said. Neither Korah nor Elle could argue with that.

For what seemed like a very long time, nobody said anything. When finally the silence was mercifully broken, it was Leif that broke it.

As though he had only been standing at the glyph-imbued door a moment or two, not most of an hour or more, he sprung around and asked, "Is this the only exit? I mean, is there another way out?"

"No." Elle insisted, automatically. "I would've known, I've seen the maps to the catacombs. Once. It was a while ago, but I remember them well."

"I'll summon the rest of the Guard," the General stood up and began weaving his hands back and forth in the air in front of him, blue trails of energy radiating from his stumpy, gauntleted hands.

"Where have they been? I hadn't even thought to wonder why only we were here," Korah said, wanting to press the question but not wanting to interrupt what Jenners was doing.

"They've been checking the higher corridors, the ones that lead to the emergency entrances built into the catacombs," Elle hastily explained. "Those would've been harder to get to, sure, but we had to check. And they're one way. They cannot be opened from the catacombs."

"Stop bickering. This is the only way out. I know enough of where your man is," Leif said very quickly, gesturing with his hands, his pupils constricted, his mind occupied.

Without thinking, the three guardsman all headed to the glyph-imbued door, Leif standing in front of it and not understanding why both Korah and Elle would be going with him. "We can't all go," he insisted. "Can we?"

"Go on ahead, I've cast the summons. Not as young as I used to be, but trust none will get through that door--not alive, mind you," General Jenners said. "The Gate Spells, antiquated but durable, will bring the others here in a matter of moments. If you know where that damned fool Adams is, you'd best be on your way to finding him."

Lief nodded his head, spoke three archaic words Korah hadn't heard in longer than he could accurately remember, and the door creaked open. They pushed the heavy door aside and rushed into the dimly lit corridor beyond.