RockyShoreline: I actually made a minor alteration to this chapter. (grin) When I first read the your review, I thought I had said something wrong. I hope that I didn't offend you, my comment was only directed at my seldom-sober state.
20050721 Disclaimer: Any true LOK fan knows who they belong to. I'm not happy with this chapter.
We had been walking for what seemed like hours with no new ideas on how to return to Nosgoth. The empty grasslands were starting to mess with my head, and my western outfit was itchy. From the disgruntled comments from the vampires, I guessed they were suffering as well.
The opportunity came when we finally found a shady place to rest. It was difficult to keep track of time in this place; the sun simply traveled randomly through the sky.
I had found a tomato plant and managed to eat my fill. It was mildly disgusting to eat them naked and raw, but my options were limited.
"Those things are poisonus," Kain insisted in shock. "I had a great-aunt that died from eating a tomato."
"They're fine," I argued. "You came from a rich family that ate off of pewter plates, right?" I asked.
"That was the fashion at the time," Kain nodded.
"Pewter has lead in it, and lead is a neurotoxin," I explained. "Normally, you're fine, but acidic foods like tomatoes leech the lead out."
Kain's lip curled in thought as he considered my explanation. However, I was on a roll. "The funny thing is that sometimes people don't actually die of lead poisoning, and they wake up after a few days. The trouble is that it's really hard to tell that they're not dead, and they get buried alive. There's a whole history about that."
"Which I have no interest in hearing," Kain insisted. His voice was just a little too loud and forceful.
Silently, I levered myself onto the ever-present block and began distractedly kicking my feet against it.
"Are you sure that's wise?" Raziel asked, still remembering the last incident.
"These things are sturdier than they look," I said distractedly, my boots still hammering against the unyielding stone.
"This is pointless," Vorador spat. "There's no way to tell if we're even traveling in a straight line." As if to illustrate his point, the sun suddenly sank to the horizon and raced completely along its edge.
"Or if the landscape is changing to keep us here," I added pessimistically.
"Then what do you suggest?" Kain asked.
I licked my lips. "Hey Raziel, try pushing this block aside."
"Why should I?" Raziel demanded angrily.
"Because you're an expert at pushing large stone blocks," I insisted as I jumped down.
"I am not going to do it," Raziel adamantly crossed his arms over his chest.
I cast my gaze at each of the vampires. They had all seen what happened last time, and were unwilling to risk it happening to them.
"Vorador, you were the one complaining about how walking around is pointless," I reminded him.
Vorador laid his ears back and bared his fangs at me in response. With a sigh, I put my shoulder against the stone and tried to push it aside. Naturally, it didn't budge.
Kain bodily pulled me away from the block and asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"Lack of any better ideas," I said bluntly.
Kain frowned as he began pushing on the block. Suddenly, he was hit in the face with my backpack as our clothing flew around him in a colorful explosion.
I leapt and caught Raziel's caplet out of the air. "You're not getting this back because you wouldn't push the block," I laughed as I ran away with the flag waving in the air behind me.
Seconds later, I was sliding along the ground, feeling as if I had just been hit with a small truck. I laid perfectly still as Raziel retrieved his scarf from my stunned fingers and slowly trudged away.
"I think you killed her," Janos' voice sounded above me.
Groggily, I flipped onto my back and groaned, "I deserved that."
Janos gently lifted me and carried me back to the block. He offered no words of agreement or dispute as to what I deserved.
I winced as Janos set me down. There were grass stains on the top of my boot. Comparing those with the way that I fell only meant that my ankle had bent at an unnatural angle when Raziel knocked me down, and that I was lucky that my ankle wasn't broken.
I limped behind the block where I could change into my simple clothes of loose-fitting black jeans and a black t-shirt with the siloette of a wolf printed on it. Kain and Vorador had already changed into their proper outfits. Raziel adjusted his cowl; he kept the pants and dispensed with his shin and arm guards.
Janos simply folded his old clothes and shoved them into my backpack. "I prefer these," he explained, indicating the fringed leather pants.
"Would you like a shirt?" I asked as I accepted my backpack from him. At his nod, I fished around and pulled out a patterned tunic with slits to accommodate his wings.
"Where does that lead?" Kain asked me, speaking of the staircase that had been hidden under the block.
"Another plot hole, probably," I shrugged. "It had our clothes in it, so it's probably something good, and not the lair of some hideous monster."
And so it was with some trepidation that we descended that stair into the dark, dank, underground.