A yellow orb watched silently from the dark control-room, observing with undisguised interest as sun-panels lit, one by one, along the seventh path reflected in the screen. The image flickered for a moment…clearly severing the dark-haired mortal on her ungainly way down the tunnel, and a lightning hand shot out, cuffing the monitor lightly across the head and bringing it sharply back into focus. A moment later, a dark lycan could be seen trailing the mortal's steps down the pathway, and unconsciously, the yellow orb creased as its owner sneered disdainfully at the screen.
Two feet behind the sneering creature, Jonas and Matthew, the two lieutenants recently transferred to the control-room, frowned carefully at the monitor and were disturbed to see a new dent along the siding. One of them sighed irritably, grabbed a pen and placed another notch on a tally card, realizing they'd sooner or later have to replace the general's monitor yet again without him noticing.
In fact, that was all they did these days. Watch Aeduin, replace the monitor, watch Aeduin, replace the monitor. He stifled a yawn. Two months ago, their mistress had assigned them to "guarding" the back of Aeduin wherever he went.
Guarding indeed…
Whenever the aforementioned "he" went anywhere, it was too fast for either of the lieutenants to keep up…and whenever he stayed put, their charge essentially stapled himself to a chair and refrained from moving a single inch. In fact, it had become quite apparent that not only did Aeduin not need them to guard his back, he took great joy in boring them to death by watching the same surveillance screen for eighteen hours at a time.
A hard mission… thought Lieutenant Jonas with a vague smile, still eyeing the chair with some annoyance. Finally, he gave in to the yawn, keeping a hand over his mouth to mask the sound, before turning his head for the hundredth time to scrutinize their surroundings…
A dark control-room…packed with thick electrical wiring, sleek black monitors (covered occasionally with greasy finger-prints) and the disturbingly quiet hum of power and surveillance. Three dozen mortals staring fervently at their screens…all thirty-six of them trained in the art of war. Trained to think…fight…serve…and survive in darkness.
…the Rope Runners.
Prior to the death of Corvinus, it had been the Cleaners that were the primary shadows of the mortal Underworld. And even now, trained in espionage and military warfare, of course, they still existed…followers of Urith who stalked the upper reaches, removing evidence diligently through the night while fighting for their mistress when fate demanded it…
…but with a new era comes change…
And regardless of how efficient and powerful they once were, the Cleaners were now the secondary shadows of the world order…
Glorified valkyries of the one-eyed Aeduin and his underground fortress, the Rope Runners were an elite rank of soldier weaned off the ten mortal Cleaners sent by Corvinus three decades ago…sent with orders to serve Aeduin and Urith as they had served him. Over the years, these special force units were trained through a perilous existence of living and running in the darkness below ground, never safe…never resting…until finally, they had evolved into killing machines…mortal pawns that turned to the iron-clad rooks of a chessboard in the face of true danger. Young and old, it was these Rope Runners who had been given the primary task of hacking relentlessly through the world above and below Valhalla…searching out the plague, monitoring diseases, technology, and warfare while keeping tabs on the vampires, lycans, and demons that milled beyond the ramparts.
…the way a ship had once housed the mortal Cleaners, now the base of espionage lay below ground with Aeduin and his Rope Runners…
Of the ninety-two gates leading to the Tombs, they had managed to harness thirty…one for every year spent digging and building in the darkness, the equipment and manpower provided by Corvinus. By the work of Helias, the First Gateman, the pathways had been altered, twisting and knotting to mimic the labyrinth of tombs where the Master and Mistress had once lived…and as per the agreement, three years ago, Aeduin and Urith had sealed their paths from the darkness…sealed their entrances from the tombs and creatures that reigned below.
Sealed the colossal den which now served as the home of Urith and Aeduin, the Two of Knots…
…Valhalla.
Lieutenant Jonas yawned tiredly once more and turned back to watching his charge, suddenly mindful of how close he and Matthew had come to dying four years ago when they had first ventured below ground with their burden.
…the shock of learning that not a single member of their regiment had survived that night four years ago…
And perhaps the old man knew…mused Jonas silently to himself, thanking the dead immortal in his thoughts…feeling grateful for the air in his lungs. And with a short stretch, the first lieutenant rested his bottom more comfortably into the chair and heaved the warm sigh of one who knew, deep down inside, he'd rather be watching a control-chair for the rest of his life than be dead on the bottom of a pier.
Subsequently noting the blissful sigh behind his back, Aeduin raised an eyebrow. Sighing, are we? Resting our laurels, are we? He sniffed, rolling his eye to himself. Urith had a lot of nerve sending those two down here. Guarding my back, indeed…
Still living in the bowels of the tombs, the tunnels crawling with the demons…their hidden force had been mere months away from sealing the Valhalla and moving within its ramparts when these two primary-school girls had arrived, biting back their screams as Deirdre herded them to the den. He'd been settling down for the daylight nap and they'd nearly brought the tunnel down with the noise they made. Fortunately for them, that was the last he'd seen of the sturdy Jonas or the screaming Matthew for three years until Urith had come slyly near two months ago with some nonsense about them needing "technical experience."
Technical experience, my fur-covered backside…
The two special force lieutenants who, in truth, had never left the tombs after Urith took an unconscionable liking to the nervous one, now spent their days watching him watch the monitors…
…or "guarding" his back, to be more exact.
His lips drew into a smirk. Bodyguards.
How droll…
Unseen beneath the locks of fair hair twining down his back, one of Aeduin's ears pricked slightly at a voice whispering through a personal intercom, the hoarse throat of Helias, the gateman, informing him of a spike in the mortal's blood. Apparently she was starting to smell like a lycan again…only faintly, but the blood seal would have to be strengthened nonetheless.
Third time this year… Aeduin thought irritably. This girl was proving far more difficult than either of them had anticipated, and most unfortunately, Urith might have to target Victoria's memories again. Perhaps it's just the timing…full moon, but regardless, I might go in myself this time…do the child a favour instead of letting Urith rip her blood-memories to shreds.
Speaking of which…
Without a care, the lycan stretched an arm languidly into the air, his quiet and unnerving gaze still trained unblinking upon the screen as the rest of his limbs remained motionless. The arm hovered, fingers flickering as his hand reached as high as it could towards the ceiling…before it dropped onto the arm rest, having been adequately loosened.
Lieutenant Jones sighed to himself, and then…
Beep.
…flicked a small switch to his right, causing a tiny warning sensor above their heads to change from pale blue to bright orange.
The room about him immediately froze, the Rope Runners suddenly wary, one woman holding a forgotten sandwich half-way to her mouth as several junior technicians (recently acquired and very new in their training) became quite flustered and began to shift nervously by the water cooler. Across the room, a number of mortals had pulled out handguns, slapped on hard-hats and were perching on their chairs, staring at Aeduin's arm as if it had just pulled a gun on them before setting itself on fire. Not really caring what happened, one older employee had simply donned sunglasses and was still typing away as if nothing strange had happened…
…but save for the one man, the entire control room had stopped in its tracks and was now doing its best to prepare for either a large-scale invasion and/or instant death. A feat that was by no means easy considering the presence of emergency protocol #207, as noted in the Rope Runners' Manual, page 382:
"Warning: In the event of any obvious movement on the part of General Aeduin, Aeduin Styx, the Second Knot, his Lordship, the One-Eyed Odin, etc. etc., while seated in the control room, please take necessary precautions against the following natural and/or premeditated disasters, not limited to: Flooding, Fire, Power Outage, Electric shock, Poisonous Gas, Earthquake, Tunnel Collapse, Sewage Leak, Gate Malfunction, Lycan Attack, Vampire Attack, Mortal Attack, Demon Attack, Three-headed Dog Loose on Grounds and/or Temporary Blindness. Be advised. Do not leave the premises. Do not call your loved ones. Do not question the general. Instead, raise both feet above the ground if possible, cover your head, sharpen your knives and remain calm. Try your best to examine the general's movements and act accordingly. Be advised that on occasion, the general merely needs to stretch his arm."
(Of course…the majority of the time, an orange warning light meant "cover your eyes, some idiot's about to turn the light on"…but only a year ago, the general had calmly risen both feet onto his chair before dropping his head lazily upon the armrest. Ten seconds later, the wall caved in and a flood of sewage almost drowned half the staff. Ever since then, the entire group of them had been…jumpy…at best whenever Aeduin decided to move slowly enough for the rest of the mortal world to witness.)
Lieutenant Jonas calmly did his best to examine the situation (he'd recently read the Rope Runners' manual himself last Tuesday.) Now on the one hand, Aeduin had only raised his arm which suggested perhaps the ceiling might collapse…or poisonous gas would come sailing through the vents…or just a fuel leak… But on the other hand, he'd flickered his fingers…so perhaps Deirdre had found her way out of the kennels again…or maybe vampires would come falling from the skies…or maybe even…
Abruptly the sun-panel above their heads flashed, catapulting the room into blazing light and chaos as the now-blind, sun-deprived mortals began yelling obscenities while wailing in protest (paired with the insatiable joy at finding themselves still alive after such a close brush with death.) As could be expected (or at least Aeduin expected it,) the crisis lasted precisely three seconds before the control room once more dropped into tense silence with the realization that, unfortunately, there would be no bad-mouthing anyone seeing how the culprit was neither "Sergio" nor "that idiot" but instead…
Speak of the devil…
Aeduin smirked, rotating his chair to face the fair-haired lycan stalking purposefully into the illuminated room. The "stupid cow" hardly ever came to the dark control-room, preferring to use their private intercom instead...
"My dear…dear Urith…how can I be of assistance?" Aeduin grinned mockingly, white teeth flashing. "I presume your arm is well?"
Urith ignored him, flipping open one of the consoles and punching in some numbers before dropping into a chair, turning her head on its side to view her brother across the room. Save for the fact that Aeduin missed an eye (and happened to be male), the two of them were identical…both fair-skinned and bearers of a thick mane of pale ivory hanging to their waists. The three eyes shared between them…yellow orbs covered in ice. Cold, heartless and forbidding in both appearance and temperament.
For several minutes, the siblings remained silent…staring evenly at one another, Aeduin's teeth remaining stretched in that horrific and haunting smile, both charming and cruel…the youthful face, faintly scarred and yet beautiful to behold. The mortals, unused to seeing the Two of Knots together in the same room, were unsure if they were about to kill each other or just massacre the lot of them in a maniacal frenzy. (The man in sunglasses, having known the pair during the whole of the three decades, still continued typing.)
Finally, without changing a single muscle of her expression, Urith closed one eye very…very slowly and abruptly began to laugh uproariously with her dark humour…a cruel wintry wind echoing across the room, freezing the ears of mortals, while simultaneously warming the heart of her brother whose face she now resembled. Immediately Aeduin's lips burst into a true grin and his voice, tender with love, but cruel to the ears of those sitting around, joined in her laughter…the rest of him rising easily from the control-chair. He stalked to the water cooler, pinched a cup from the top and bent to fill it (unconcerned by the three junior technicians who had plastered themselves to the walls trying to escape his attention.) In a single motion, the lycan turned, downing the water, and crumbled the paper vessel in his hand…
"I assume this has to do with Victoria?"
"Yes…" Urith smiled coyly. "…and no."
"Then what?" he asked with some interest, chucking the cup in the garbage before starting a slow circle of the room, keeping his one eye trained upon his surroundings and the missing one turned towards his sister. The workforce began shifting uncomfortably as his gaze passed over their faces.
Urith's lips drew back, cold and aloof, allowing her open eye to watch him lazily from her perch as he circled. "Do you remember…" her voice began to lilt, the words drifting and weary as if linked to a tale that had been told a thousand times. "…four years ago when Alexander sent me my gift, Aeduin?"
The yellow orb of Aeduin frowned, still slow walking about his sister. "I remember," he said, the tone grim and pensive. "But what is that to do with the youngling, Urith?"
Her teeth snapped, and Aeduin's eye twisted darkly to face her. In keeping, the yellow orbs of Urith darted beyond her brother's back out of habit, guardedly watching the room as he stood stock-still to eye his wary sister. Regardless of how loyal their followers were, a few decades could never shake the fierce siblings of that tendency to protect each other's backs. In absolute darkness, he might be her eyes…but under the light, it was she who took her place watching Aeduin's damaged left flank.
Urith answered him coldly, observing all that stood beyond while keeping her voice towards Aeduin. "Your so-called 'youngling' appears to have brought one of…" unconsciously, her nose scrunched. "…their cups with her…"
"How would you know that?" Aeduin snarled, breaking her words and causing several employees to jump. Urith, used to the occasional snarls of her warm-hearted twin, simply smiled coolly, allowing her gaze to trail hungrily towards the water-cooler and the startled juniors who were now biting their tongues, wishing they hadn't drawn attention to themselves by jumping. Slyly, the moonlit breeze began to eye each of them in turn, one by one, knowing exactly what was going through their minds until, with a lazy flip of her head, she yawned and said…
"Nigel."
Urith began to play a little tune on the arm-chair. "He called early this morning, and apparently your little kleptomaniac stole some of the silver yesterday and is bringing it here for documentation."
"Your point?"
She sniffed. "As I was about to say…dear brother…what's especially interesting is, according to our dear confidant, Victoria thinks she found a mark."
At this, Aeduin shifted, a hand reflexively moving to rub his right shoulder. Unseen to the mortals standing about him and covered by the fur-lined suede he now wore, the brand sealed upon them both had begun to itch. His one eye bore into Urith's face…
"Silver..." he murmured, fingers unconsciously digging into the suede.
Urith nodded slowly, and their watchful eyes met once, the room around them forgotten.
"Silver." She answered with a lazy smile, her nails moving to her own right shoulder, an unconscious shiver of the skin where her fur had started to crawl…wishing to break free and bite the aversion she now felt. But, of course, Urith could hold her peace. After all...there was no need to cause a ruckus and accidentally eat someone. Her teeth glinted as she stood up, her body seemingly idle and loose while her mind darted, the highly acute senses prowling the room once more.
Aeduin's one eye stayed on her face…his teeth matching her own as she stalked coyly up to her brother and began to whisper in his ear. "And I don't know about you, Aeduin, but I suddenly remembered I have a gift lying downstairs…"
The yellow orbs of Urith drifted to the key around Aeduin's neck, and her fingers began to play delicately with the chain around her own.
"…and I…" She smiled at him, the words coming out as soft as winter's end. "…would sorely like to open it."
Allowing his fingers to run across his neck and the first key to Lucian's tomb, Aeduin sniffed back at Urith with an ironic smile..."Doesn't everyone?" he murmured just as coyly before snapping at her fingers and pushing her aside.
Even if Victoria was now strong enough to find marks on silver, the chances that she'd be able to pass through that river were next to nothing with the scent of wolves coming off her. And then, even if she did reach the other side, Lucian's bloodsoul would no doubt kill the youngling for smelling too much like a vampire...
...but Urith never thought of these things...
Or if she did, she was willing to make the sacrifice.
The tall lycan walked back to the surveillance monitors, grinning sardonically at the two lieutenants before directing Urith's attention to the on-screen elevator where Victoria and Raze now stood, on their way down to the first floor of Valhalla. "I hate to be a bore, dearest, but I believe you're out of luck. As we speak, Raze is on his way down here, and from what I gather, he has a similar agenda. Of course, it won't work, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait another day before he's done mourning at that tomb. Besides…" he dropped on his control-chair once more. "…Victoria's turning lycan again. So I suggest we put our efforts elsewhere for the time being or she'll be growing fur, not feeling up silver. Turn the light off when you go, will you?"
Dead silence.
...and then.
"Of course…" Urith murmured coldly at her brother, heading casually for the door where she flicked off the one sun-panel, plunging the room into darkness. The moonlit breeze continued to stand there, her body draped against the doorway as she stared lazily at the back of Aeduin's chair. "By the way, Aeduin, it was a long night and I'm a little bit tired…might take a nap or something. Give my regards to the youngling and Raze."
He could sense her anger building beneath the calm exterior. Urith wasn't tired…she was just livid that her earlier blood seal on Victoria hadn't managed to seal the girl from the aftermath of Ambrose's madness.
He closed his eye…
…she might also be a tad cross over how he'd forgotten to aid her last night in putting that rotting pup down to sleep…but by the time, he'd woken up from his nap, she'd already raked her claws across the walls of his bed-chamber…
"Aeduin?" she murmured quietly, now eyeing her nails where talons had started to grow.
"Yes, dearest?" he said with a sigh, knowing what was to come.
"Well, I hate to be a bore," her teeth drew into a mocking smile as she mimicked his speech patterns, the words frosty and hissing with sarcasm.
"...but in all this darkness, I can't seem to find the light-switch...turn it off yourself, won't you?"
Her hand slammed across all six light-switches, reactivating not just the one sun-panel, but the entire lot of them. And with an elegant twist to her steps, the moonlit breeze stalked out of the room, ignoring the painful wails coming from the blind, sun-deprived mortals who were once more yelling obscenities at the heavens.
Aeduin laughed to himself, duly noting that her nails had managed to scratch off the controls, permanently keeping the sun-panels in their beaming state until one of his technicians could reassemble the wiring.
Stupid cow, he thought, grinning as he watched his guests in the monitor and prepared to meet them at the door.