A/N (Aroihkin's Notes) 07.30.05:
Nothing to see here, move along...
Well, I suppose I do have a few things to say. First... this chapter's shorter than I'd like it to be, but, it was determined to end where it ended. Second... this is only one of many ongoing, massive fanfiction projects I have right at this very moment - iand /i- I'm about to start training for my new job as an AI Agent. So, updates have been pretty fast for this first bit, but, they're about to drop down to the level the rest of the stories are sitting at. Don't go asking me if I've abandoned it if it just doesn't get updated as fast as you expect... XD
05.02.2010: All scene-dividers have been eaten, again, on all of my stories. I give up. Please just go read this story on arowrites dot net where it hasn't been made incoherent; I am unable to keep up with this site's stupidity.
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TAF: SNAFU
entry three, simply irresistible
"Shit." she repeated, trying again, and they made even less of a rise than last time before sinking back down again. Akara was getting tired from his weight, and the Archmagus began coughing again, turning his head away from her. "There's no way I'm getting you up the stairs."
"It would appear not." his tone was ironic, between coughs, and he began to shiver.
"Well, is anything going to maim me if I run up there, grab your blankets, and bring them here? That's better than nothing."
Those wheezing, gurgling sounds were back in force in his breathing, and he shook his head faintly.
"The Guardians already know not to harm you." he was getting even weaker, and even Akara's sensitive hearing had to strain to pick up the words. Raistlin's hands relaxed, finally, letting go of the wads of crumbled, bloodstained book pages. The lantern on the nearby stand was beginning to dim, running out of oil, and the thief eyed it before tensing again. Her grip shifted on him slightly.
"I'm going to at least get you off of these books, first." she said, her mind reasoning out how to manage this. It was going to be about one part leverage and two parts brute force, but it was only for a few feet. "Lean into me if you can, it'll help."
Akara tightened her one-armed grip on his waist, not wanting to rip his arm out of its socket, as he slumped fully into her side. And then she -lunged-, away from him. Keeping her grip as tight as she could and using her powerful legs in this manner, the thief practically threw them to the side, off of the books and onto the carpet in a mad fluttering of pages.
The impact was harsh, the Archmagus' breath was obviously knocked out of him despite having had a convenient thief to land on. She would have thought he'd passed out from lack of air if he hadn't been staring wide-eyed at her. The waning lamp light glimmered off the hourglass-centered eyes in question, and his stare held her captive all over again. That is until, like last time, he turned his face away to cough up fluid.
Raistlin's coughs shook his entire frame, the sound knocking her back to her senses in time to realize that, yes, the Master of Past and Present was sprawled on top of her. She had his wrist in one hand and her other arm still circled around his waist, though she'd instinctually twisted to land on her back rather than her hip. Akara gulped, feeling herself blush a bit. It wasn't healthy to be this... uh... close to the sole object of one's driving obsession.
She let go of him and very carefully slipped out from underneath his form as his coughing continued, shivering worse than before. He was definitely getting fevered.
"I'm going to go get those blankets now..."
And Akara fled.
/ If he lives, I die. If he dies, I die. I doubt this tower would be so friendly without its Master telling it to behave. / she thought, running up the stairs. The thief nearly came to a halt when something else occurred to her. / What if he dies, and I live? /
The idea of no longer having the deadly, cunning Archmage around seemed worse than the other two possibilities. No more challenge, no more danger, no more entrancing hourglass eyes. Adrenalin wasn't her drug anymore, she realized with sudden force, stopping in front of the office door and pushing it open. It had been replaced with golden skin and a knowing smirk... the thought of Raistlin Majere and life-threatening peril had just gone together like bread and butter, until now.
/ I live at -the Golden Hourglass-. / Akara scoffed mentally, crossing the first room she had ever broken into in this tower, passing the desk she'd hid under, and going to the bedroom door. / You would think it would be pretty obvious to me what keeps bringing me back, maybe even without him getting too sick to curse me first. /
But no, because Akara generally avoided too much self-examination. It led to a lot of angst and bitterness, and who really needed more of that these days? So she tossed that line of thought away and pushed the bedchamber door open. 'Know thyself' was really overrated, there were much more interesting things to figure out.
Like, for example, why the Spectral Guardians seemed intent on following her from room to room. Every time she encountered one, it just joined the pack milling behind her. It was, she decided, -extremely- creepy... it was like they could see her now! Gulping suddenly in realization, the thief paused by the foot of Raistlin's bed and raised her hand to her throat as the Guardians filed in behind her, staring intently.
Oh gods, the pendants! The pendants were both missing! Eyes impossibly wide and skin crawling, the cat-burglar slowly turned to stare back at her audience.
"You creeps can see me?"
"Yessss..." said one disembodied pair of eyes and hands as it bobbed slightly up and down and approached. Akara gulped and backed up.
"H-he said you guys aren't allowed to hurt me...?"
"Yet..." the same Guardian hissed, still coming closer. The thief felt the backs of her legs hit the bed, and stopped retreating. More of the Guardians were following the first one's example, slowly floating closer in a tight, weaving pack. The door was soon clear, the entire group hovering close to her with hungry eyes.
"Perhapssss... jusssst a tasssste..." said the one in the lead, reaching one dead hand toward her.
Akara felt fear boiling through her veins fiercer and fiercer, like approaching the Grove without her amulet. She turned it into energy with the aid of many years of experience, and... after taking a deep shuddering breath... she smirked at them.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I already had breakfast."
And then she sprung backwards, rolling across the bed to land on her feet on the other side. She yanked the covers off, then, in both hands... and was out the door before the startled Guardians could think to block it. Her maniac laughter echoed through the tower. She was out of breath by the time she surged back into the library, the Spectral Guardians close on her heels.
Raistlin had rolled onto his side on the floor, his breath coming slightly easier than before but still gurgling and rattling audibly in his lungs. Akara ground to a halt.
"That was you?" his voice was still so quiet that it took her straining to understand it, but it sounded faintly amused.
"Know anyone else that laughs in this place? Your Guardians were trying to play 'tag with the mortal'--"
"And that made you laugh."
"Well, yeah?" Akara raised an eyebrow, approaching him with the blankets. "What would you suggest instead, blood-curdling screaming?"
"I had... forgotten that I told them to scare you if they ever caught you." he admitted in that same frail voice, coughing just a bit at the end. "Told them... years ago."
"That's fine, that's fine. Don't worry about it." she said quickly to hush him up. Talking was clearly not going to do his lungs much good. Akara looked around for her pendants as she spread the blankets out next to him, but they weren't anywhere in sight. Ah, well, maybe they'd been buried under the books?
"Here, if you can roll onto these, I can pull you over to the fireplace and get that going. That would help, right? And I hear you have some sort of tea that helps your breathing?"
As if on cue, he exploded into a ragged coughing fit, curling slightly from the force of it. Blood wasn't the only thing coming out of his throat, now, and she winced.
"Yeah, I'm no good at this whole... taking care of other people thing." Akara admitted once he'd calmed again. "So you're going to have to tell me what to do for the most part, I bet."
Seeing his look, she remembered how much he hated accepting help.
"But it's okay, you'll get all better and then you can hang me off the tower or whatever. So no need for embarrassment, right?" the thief sounded oddly cheerful even to her own ears, "I'll help you out and consider it my last learning experience. I've never stolen anything from a sickness before."
Raistlin blinked.
"Yeah, I get that look a lot." Akara said with a knowing nod. "I think it has to do with being a nutcase..."
That pulled a smirk out of him, and she answered it with one of her own.
"Now, unless you can walk..."
"With help," Raistlin sighed, shutting his eyes, "I can walk to the chair."
"The chair?" the thief peered toward the fireplace in the dying lamp-light and managed to make out the outline of a stuffed armchair. "Oh, I see. Kind of."
They managed to make it to the chair without much issue, the Archmage had recovered enough strength to stand with her help, if only briefly, and they had sort of hobbled across the room like a pair of horses with sore feet.
/ Wait, that's a really bad way to put it. /
Well, it worked anyway.
/ ...I suppose. Wait, what? /
Akara paused with a bit of firewood in hand and blinked, wondering what the hell she'd just been thinking about. Well, it probably wasn't important... she poked at the small flames with the firewood, catching the piece in her hand on fire before setting it into the pile. Again, looking at her own thoughts too much was something she tried to avoid.
Especially with Raistlin Majere sitting a few feet away, awake and aware, and not yet stuffing her into a big jar to see how long the air would last. Or however evil Mages killed people who ticked them off... personally she like the idea of leaping off the tower better. Much more dramatic and messy, although it had been done before.
/ Maybe I could even land on the gate next to that other guy. / Akara thought, amused, and she grinned at the fire.
And now she could feel -his- stare boring into the side of her head. The grin faltered... and then died. Akara fidgeted slightly, nervous all of a sudden. This was way out of her depth... all of it, the whole dealing with anyone for longer than ten minutes thing was strange enough. Let alone...
"Interesting."
"W-what?" the thief blinked again, startled, and turned to look at him. He was buried in his blankets up to the chin, but still managed to look formidable in the crackling firelight. Raistlin didn't answer, he simply continued to stare, unblinking.
Akara could feel herself being pulled in, literally leaning closer very, very slowly without thinking about it... but she'd hardly moved an inch before catching herself and jerking back.
The Mage looked amused.
"So, my dear lady of the shadows..." his voice was slowly recovering, it had been a while and a cup of tea between coughing fits now, "do you perhaps have a name?"
"Yeah, I do." Akara looked at him suspiciously, "What's it to you?"
"You simply have me at a disadvantage, you see, knowing more about me than most, and I not even knowing the most rudimentary fact about you."
"Name's Akara Krinir, and I am damn good at what I do." she said the last part automatically, from long habit. Raistlin raised an eyebrow.
"Er, I always say that last bit. The expected answer is 'and what is it that you do?', and then I always just sort of laugh at them. It's a big game over at the Golden Hourglass, them trying to guess what--"
"The Golden Hourglass?"
"Erm..." Akara was suddenly very busy with the fire, and the stare still boring into her skull was now a decidedly amused one.
"Very interesting."
Akara didn't think so. She thought this entire situation was just plain wrong.
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Dragonlance © someone else.
All here that is not found in the books... is mine.
Never steal if you value your spleen.