A/N: I'm back from my summer excursions. =) Might still be a bit of a lag between updates, but that'll be entirely because I'm either lazy or not quite sure where the next bit is going.

But here's chapter eleven, anyway. Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve

"So we're just supposed to hang around here until Bill rounds up all his little helpers?" Zemouregal asked, clearly put out by the idea. "That's dull."

"Unless you feel like digging the tunnel yourself," Sliske said crossly, "you'll be waiting until the whole thing's done. I suggest you make yourself comfortable."

Lucien frowned. "Tho why are we here?"

Zemouregal smirked. "Because many, many moons ago, Icthlarin–"

"We all have our own reasons for being here, I'm sure," Enakhra interrupted, not wanting to listen to Zemouregal's snark. "I'm here because I wanted to be, Azzanadra's here because he instigated it, Zemouregal's here because he can't resist sticking his nose into things that he doesn't need to be involved in—"

"He's my god too," Zemouregal said mildly.

"You said you were coming before you even knew what it was," Enakhra snapped. "You're just nosy and obnoxious and enjoy tormenting me."

He raised an eyebrow. "You think I came just because of you? That's a bit self-centered."

Her eyes flashed furiously and she walked away. Once she had put a sufficient amount of distance between herself and the group, she sat down grumpily on one of the many crates that were stacked against the wall. She had no idea what she was sitting on, and unless it exploded, she didn't really care.

The end result will be worth it, she told herself. The end result will be worth it…

"What have you done?"

Zamorak sighed. Why had this curmudgeon been pulled through as well? Was he really going to be forced to listen to the old man's nagging and ranting until he could find a way out of the Shadow Realm? That sounded very much less than appealing.

"I made a mistake," he said, his jaw tightening as though trying to hold in such an appalling statement. "You didn't have to grab on and come too."

"I was merely attempting to stop you from leaving," Saradomin replied. "I did not expect this result."

"That makes two of us," Zamorak growled, trudging further into the shifting, shadowy environment that surrounded them. He wasn't sure where he was going—having never been to the Shadow Realm before, he didn't exactly have a map in his head—but he had it in his mind that all he had to do was find a portal. There had to be some, right? Weren't there people who had to regularly traverse the Shadow Realm and left doors open?

Well, maybe not. But it seemed like a better idea to follow up on than "stand in one place and hope that something randomly pulls me out".

"So may I assume that you do not actually know what you are doing and that we may be stuck here for an indefinite period?" Saradomin asked.

Zamorak shrugged. "You could. It may or may not be true."

Think, damn it, he thought at himself. You must know a better way out. How long have you been playing around with shadow magic? But "playing around" had been about the extent of it, and it wasn't like he'd ever gone up to Sliske and asked for lessons. Even when they had been on the same general team, they hadn't really gotten along, and Sliske had always been disinclined to give out favors.

Not that any of the Mahjarrat defied that particular personality trait.

"May I also assume that you plan to wander aimlessly until a miracle or similar event occurs?"

Zamorak didn't even bother replying to that. Saradomin knew that he didn't have a plan, and was just enjoying the chance to point out his incompetence. While he would most definitely have been doing the same thing if their roles were reversed, Zamorak had never really been one for putting himself in other peoples' shoes and was becoming increasingly irritated about the whole situation.

I have to get out of here. Soon.

Conversation was mostly nonexistent between the Mahjarrat waiting in the Daemonheim tunnels, but not between the god and his current vessel. Not that anyone but the two conversing knew that.

I had not anticipated quite so much inaction. It is making me surprisingly frustrated.

Frustrated enough to seek time-passing conversation? Well. I don't get it. Why is that surprising?

My patience is vast, Azzanadra. I do not become frustrated by such inconsequential things as small periods of waiting.

Azzanadra had always had a relatively small attention span, considering how long he'd been around, so he was actually having a rather hard time imagining 'being patient'. Guess it's not as vast as you thought.

Do not be ridiculous. Perhaps I merely have more of a reason to be impatient about this particular subject than others that I have encountered.

Could be. Personally, Azzanadra thought that it was just more of the personality twisting that they had already been experiencing.

I heard that. Of course he had. That thought may have some merit, though. I have been considering the fact that at some point I must find some other way to traverse this plane.

I… What?

While reestablishing myself as a great power in Gielinor would be possible trapped as I am here, it would be difficult and frankly rather demeaning.

…Was that a roundabout way of saying "give Azzanadra his body back"? Despite the somewhat insulting way the thought had been presented, Azzanadra was momentarily stunned. Whether or not he would admit it to himself, some deep part of him had started thinking of himself as a lost cause. Doomed to be a thought in the back of someone else's mind forever.

Doomed to be a pessimist, perhaps.

All of the Mahjarrat suddenly straightened or stood from whatever position they'd been lounging in as Bilrach came back up the tunnel.

"Is it done?" Zemouregal asked. "Can we stop this abominable waiting around?"

Bilrach gave him a disparaging look. "Are you asking if the tunnel is done being dug? Do have any notion of how resistant solid rock is?"

Zemouregal glowered.

"I've set the diggers on the job," Bilrach said. "I just came back to alert you of that. I'll now be going back to supervise. Enjoy the wait."

He turned and headed back down the way he'd come.

Zemouregal growled and leaned back against the tunnel wall, arms crossed. "This is so goddamn boring."

Sliske, who was standing slightly apart from the others coiling shadowy wisps vaguely around his arm, just rolled his eyes.

A/N: Review, review, review. (Well, not really. FFN only lets you submit one signed review per chapter, so you wouldn't be able to "review, review, review". But you know what I mean.)

I'll try to get the next chapter up soonish. =)