OMFG! Deary me, is this a post? Why yes! Yes, I do believe it is!

I'm so terribly sorry about my lack of activity on this fic for so long. I lost my way with it a bit and so I took time out. Did a little reading, painting, watched a few movies and went on holiday. That was a while ago now and this chapter has taken me three weeks to get out completely. Apologies now for it's terribleness…I need to get back into the swing of writing you see and so, hopefully, this will be the start of it.

Thank you all for your support and for continuing to read and review. You know I enjoy reading your ideas and opinions so keep 'em coming! And let me know what you think to this chapter. I'm hoping that it's not too awful!

Well, I'd better let you get reading seeing as how I've made you wait for entirely too long, lol!

Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

-ooooo-

Chapter 6: Them's the Breaks.

Riddick was waiting. He hated waiting. No one had ever made him wait since that first time that he had taken another man's life. No one had even dared. And yet, there he was, back pressed to the cold granite and metal that constituted his supposed throne, elbows resting upon the arms as he leant back, fingers laced together loosely.

He glared at them. The old Witch-woman and the young Necro-boy. The latter of the two, he now knew, was a priest, hence his keenness for the Necromonger rituals to be carried out accordingly.

The boy's ice blue eyes flitted about the room nervously. Focusing upon Riddick for little more than a few seconds at a time and then skittering away to the safety of his armoured boots.

"Well?" Riddick demanded finally, his voice rumbling around the chamber and shattering the silence into a thousand pieces. "I asked for some answers."

Aereon cleared her throat, smoothing her gowns in a gesture that had become commonplace for her and that told Riddick that she was anxious, before lacing her fingers together in front of her.

"Answers, Lord Marshall?" she queried, with a slight tilt of her head to one side. "But, first we must have questions."

Riddick pounded his fist into the arm of his throne.

"Don't play fucking games with me, Aereon, because you'll lose!" he warned and she nodded her head, twice, before fingering the intricate silver necklace at her throat.

"Firstly, I shall presume that you want to know how to stop the dreams." her voice was light and flowing but Riddick plainly detected the taint of fear beneath it. The old woman knew that she was treading dangerously heavy on very thin ice.

Aereon took his silence as a confirmation and continued, her eyes focusing on Riddick despite her fear of him.

"The answer to that problem is relatively simple, I must say. I am surprised that you, yourself have not figured it out as of-"

"Aereon…" Riddick warned again, his voice making the air between them thrum with latent power and she paused as if suddenly remembering who she was talking to.

"Of course." she murmured and nodded to herself yet again. Straight to the point. Yes. That was the best policy. Be direct. "Fine. To stop the dreams, you must make her believe that you do not intent to travel to the Threshold to retrieve her soul."

A worrying silence met her declaration for so long that the atmosphere began to cool. Neither of the three moved, they simply remained there, in their triangle, all eyes focused upon the aging woman that had spoken.

Riddick ground his teeth together, silver eyes studying the Elemental intently, trying to decided whether what she said was out of a desire to aid him…or simply a way for her to put her own plans into effect. Everyone wanted something and Aereon, though a lot older than most, was no less demanding. Her words swirled around inside his mind as he attempted to unravel their meaning fully.

Make her think that he wasn't coming for her…lie to her…he had to lie to Kyra…to Jack…he had to make her think that he had moved on and forgotten her…Shit!

A growl, deep and reverberating, slipped unbidden from his throat making both Aereon and the Necro-boy stare up as him in consternation for their safety.

"I don't much like this idea of yours, sister." he stated, a hand moving to rub at his jaw in contemplation. "There must be-"

"There is no other way!" Aereon interrupted defiantly, raising her chin, almost challengingly at the killer before her. Her tone was cold, icy, frigid. She did not like being told that she was wrong. "The best chance that you will ever have in succeeding in this quest of yours, is by being at you physical best. For that, you need rest. You need to be free from her haunting so that you can focus." she swallowed hard, her eyes cold blue flecked with a violet than made them glow with ferocity as she repeated her earlier statement firmly. "There is no other way."

For a split second she thought that Riddick might lunge at her from him perch atop the throne and break her neck neatly in two. Perhaps he wanted to so that he could mount her head upon his wall as a warning for all others impudent enough to question him. Power rippled just beneath the surface of his skin. Annoyance twitched at his temples in a throbbing pulse beating out it's own rhythm. And yet, not matter how much he hated her idea, they both knew that it was indeed the only way. Aereon was indeed telling the truth.

Eventually Riddick nodded in acceptance, though even as he did so his teeth ground together in abhorrence of the idea.

"You must make her soul believe it, Riddick. You only have one chance and then she will guess what you are attempting to do." Aereon continued.

"Don't worry about it." he countered, waving a powerful hand in dismissal, wanting nothing more than to move away from their topic of conversation.

"Really, Riddick, I am serious! You must-"

"I said don't fucking worry about it!" he snarled fiercely. Surely Aereon enjoyed trying his patience? Why else would she be so fucking annoying? "I'll deal with it!"

Aereon considered him dubiously for a moment longer before giving in with a slight dip of her head.

"Very well…" she murmured, her words as thin and insubstantial as a breeze. She turned her gaze to the fearful Necro-boy beside her who had previously been ignored by both Aereon and Riddick.

His eyed widened and he swallowed hard as he noticed that his Lord Marshall's stare had also fallen upon him.

"Secondly," Aereon began regally, tipping her head back slightly and giving the impression that she was looking down her nose at the young quivering man. Her self-important air had returned the very second that Riddick's scrutiny had been displaced from her. "Secondly, I do believe you would like to know how you are going to complete your task in the Threshold, would you not, Lord Marshall?"

Riddick remained silent but shot her a withering glance that was enough to send her careering forwards into speech once more.

"The Necromonger Priest here, may prove more adequate at providing such answers for us." she indicated the blond haired youth who looked as if he would swallow his tongue with fear if he did so any harder from sheer terror.

"Um…" he stuttered, hands trembling as he wove his fingers together. "…A-a-a-a-ah…" he wiped at hid forehead, slick with his own fear. "M-m-m, m-m-m, ma, ma, my L-l-l-l-lord-"

Aereon looked positively gleeful at the boy's expense. She made it no secret that she despised all Necromongers and the barely more than a child Priest was no exception.

It wasn't working. The boy could barely breathe from panic, let alone recount to Riddick what he had to do in order to rescue Kyra. Perhaps that had been Aereon's plan all along? For she had also made no secrets of the fact that she wanted Riddick to abandon his quest for Kyra's soul.

He sighed deeply. Fuck Aereon. He may be able to deal with her through intimidation and scare mongering…but that wasn't going to work with the boy. The times he'd yelled at him or threatened him, the Necro-lad had made himself scarce faster than Riddick could've said 'boo' to a goose.

"What's your name, Kid?" he spoke over the boy's mumblings evoking an incredulous glare from Aereon and a surprised one from the youth.

"Jonty, m-m-my Lord." he stammered slightly, his cool eyes still wary.

Riddick waved a hand in dismissal of his title.

"Jonty, huh? Call me Riddick, Kid. Only fuckers who want something call me by my title." he shot a smouldering stare at Aereon who was not oblivious to the underlying threat in his comment. Her blue-purple eyes flashed with barely concealed ire but for once, she held her tongue.

"How old are you, Kid?" Riddick continued, focusing his attention back onto Jonty, his usually fierce tone conversational for once.

"S-s-s-s-sixteen, L-l-l-lord-I mean, Riddick." Jonty corrected himself with a hasty shake of his golden head.

"And tell me, Kid. You have a girl to keep your bed warm?" Riddick's query was accompanied by a quirked eyebrow and a suppressed smirk of amusement following a wild, hot, red flush that broke out across Jonty's pale features.

"I have a wife…We married six weeks ago." his embarrassment overcame him in waves and washes suddenly and he turned his face to the floor, scuffing the toe of a boot as he looked for a distraction.

"Ah." Riddick smiled, leaning back into his uncomfortable throne and crossing his legs so that his right ankle rested atop his left knee. "Still in the 'honeymoon period' then?" he chuckled, folding his arms behind his head. "Bet she's a firecracker, right? Makes a man outta you, huh?"

Jonty couldn't contain the nervous, self-conscious smile that hovered over his pale lips as he nodded, in small jerky movements, in agreement.

"So, what would you do, Jonty, if someone had off with your wife? Say some fuckin' shit-head steals her away from you. What would you do?" his mercury glossed eyes studied the conflict within the younger man's face as Jonty battled against his Necromonger teachings and his feelings as a man and husband.

Finally, he took a deep breathe, his eyes loosing their focus slightly, turning dull as he reeled off what he had been lectured to say since the day they had converted him.

"Necromonger law states that in such a situation, one must-"

Riddick gave a dissatisfied grunt, returning his foot to the ground with a thud and sitting forwards, resting his elbows upon his knees instead.

"Bullshit! That's the Necro's talkin', Kid. I wanna know what the man in you would do."

Jonty swallowed hard again and clenched his fists at his sides as he contemplated Riddick's question properly. His eyes darkened again, but this time they turned stormy blue as if he were indeed imagining what he would do in such an event.

"I'd kill the bastard, Sir." he spoke and for the first time, true feeling, true emotions filtered into his tone, leaving little doubt that he would actually slaughter any man who tried to take his wife, or die trying himself.

"That's more like it!" Riddick chuckled. "But, see, Jonty. It ain't so easy for me. My problem is I ain't got no one to kill, you get me?"

"Yes, Sir." Jonty nodded, something akin to sympathy colouring his irises.

Fuck! Riddick didn't need anyone's sympathy. He didn't want it for starters and if the boy hadn't been so valuable to his fight for Kyra, Riddick would have probably not thought twice about shivving up his pale, pretty-boy face as a warning. However, as the Fates would have it, Riddick needed him and Riddick knew how to get exactly what he wanted out of people.

"So," he murmured after a considerable pause. "You gonna help a guy out, Jonty? Tell me what the fuck I have to do, huh?"

Jonty nodded once, with more confidence after the nerves and fear had ebbed out of his body enough so as he could string a complete sentence together at least, instead of stammering out his words like a pulse-rifle.

"It is highly dangerous, crossing into the Threshold, and there is only one way in which to do so successfully. If you were to walk into the Threshold as you are now, you would merely see a bare stone chamber." Jonty paused, considering his next choice of words carefully, and for all the desperation within him, for all the demands that the Beast made to be done with it and slit the boy's throat, Riddick allowed his intermission, allowed him to compose himself fully. "You are not going to like what you must do, Sir. It is something that holds so many dangers and risks and it may go terribly wrong if you do not have people who you trust entirely there to guard you."

Riddick's brow furrowed in confusion at Jonty's words and the Necro-boy took several lungful's of air, his blue eyes meeting Riddick's squarely for the first time.

"In order for you to cross into the Threshold and save the soul of your woman…you must die."

-ooooo-

Comments, criticism and anything else. I've been away for so long that I need all the help that I can get to get myself back into the swing of things.