Disclaimer: Serentitel and Alexander are mine. Extreme AU, Nick/OC
Night turned into day and Serentitel wandered the camp, watching the Hands work. Nick was no where to be seen. This didn't surprise her. He was no longer the easy thrall that he had been. At least not yet. She imagined that after a while, Orranis would wear him down and he would be biddable again. Better to check on him. Make sure he and Zander hadn't found a way around Zander's orders.
They were walking away from the tent when she came upon them. Nick's hand was resting lightly on Zander's shoulders as the wolf ambled next to him. When she was spotted, Nick smiled at her. "Hello Serentitel! How are you this morning?"
"I'm fine," she said sweetly. "What are you doing?"
"We were going to check out the lightening trap, see how it was doing." He patted the wolf on the head, "Zander has been kind enough to keep me company." Zander wagged his tail and licked at the hand, looking like a very large puppy.
"Well he does like you," she said carefully, uncertain as to what exactly was happening. Nick was sounding like his old self.
"Yes. I'm very lucky."
Zander looked at her as Nick spoke. His eyes were filled with hate for her, but he didn't say anything. Instead he whined a little and nudged at Nick's hand, moving him forward.
"I'll see you later, Serentitel!" Nick cried, as he was pushed along by the wolf.
They were up to something, she decided at last. That's what it had to be. Which was completely unallowable. They would have to be separated. Zander would be her companion, not Nick's. He would stay by her side and be her protector. And he would tell her more about what he knew. That would be right and proper. She would allow them their last walk and then Zander would be hers.
"Tell me more," Serentitel demanded of Zander. The wolf rested on the floor of her tent with an exhausted look on his face, ears back. He yawned loudly
"I've told you the same thing over and over again for the past three days. You are a Sue. You are not from this world. I don't know where you came from. But you should be killed." That last was said with a snarl.
She had tried to get his temper to improve, but the binding spell that made him obey didn't allow her to fix his temper any. He could be as surly and sarcastic as he wanted as long as he obeyed. And surly and sarcastic and bad tempered was what he was.
"There has to be more than that. I mean, where did I come from?"
"Your mother and father had a very special hug…"
"That's not what I meant!" she snapped.
"That's what you asked."
"Arrrghh…" she stomped away from him, running her hands through her hair. "What about my power? The Sue's power?"
"You have it." He yawned and licked his chops, "No normal person from this world would be of the three bloodlines, able to be a necromancer and have a true charter mark and whatever else you can do."
"There's not more?"
"Not unless you absorb the power of the Shinning Ones."
She stopped and turned to stare at the wolf. "Could I do that?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. Can you?"
Serentitel looked out of her tent to where the hemispheres were being uncovered, thoughtful. "I need to work on something. Go… amuse yourself somewhere else. Go visit Nick."
Zander stood up with a stretch and walked out silently, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. She wished she could tell what he was thinking, but that face, expressive when it came to showing distain or hatred could go stiff and blank when it came to anything that may be considered enjoyable for the wolf. Drawing up marks of quiet and stealth, Serentitel slipped after the wolf. The rangy creature ambled with an easy trot, his silver fur glistening in the moon light, towards Nicholas' tent. He was about to enter the tent, but his head swung up, ears twitching. He sniffed in the air and started out of camp.
Curious, she followed. Could Nick not be in the tent? Could they be working on a way to subvert her power? They couldn't be trusted. No, they could. Zander was hers and Nick was in Orannis' sway. They could be trusted. Zander was loyal to her; she had made sure of it. They walked through the brush, up the hills and then down into a valley where a stream ran.
A dog barked out a challenge. Zander stopped and answered it with his own growling bark. There was a series of barks between the hidden dog and Zander, then a mongrel looking dog; black and tan came into view. The dog touched noses with the wolf and gave a grunt.
"What happened to you?" the dog, decidedly female spoke.
Zander scratched his ear, "Accident. I made a stupid mistake."
"Where's Nick?"
"Retaken. And it's all my fault," he said and hunched down, his tail dipping low. "But, I have information that could be useful."
"Might as well hear what he has to say." Another voice, this time male and belonging to Mogget! Serentitel stared at the white cat that came out of the brush and twined around the wolf's legs. "It may make up for his stupidity."
Zander growled and snapped at Mogget, but it was half hearted. "Best be quick about it before I'm missed."
"That sounds like a story I need to hear," Mogget said trotting off, his tail in the air. Zander followed, the rear taken up by the dog. She watched them go, trying to figure out what to do.
So, she followed them.
They crossed a stream and walked up an Island where people were camped. Two people. One who she knew, the Prince Sameth. They both looked up in surprise to see the wolf with the dog and the cat.
"Who is this?" the girl who Serentitel didn't know asked.
"Nicholas' friend," Mogget said. "The one who rescued him."
Sameth stood up and took quick strides to Zander, "Where is he! What has happened!"
Zander ignored him for a moment and sniffed the air, "Is that food? May I have some?"
"What about Nick?" Sameth asked. "You haven't answered my questions."
The wolf scratched his ears and then stretched into his man shape. He looked very scruffy, Serentitel decided, and needed a bath. She would make him take one later. "Food first, then I will tell you what happened as best I can."
The girl handed him over a bowl with something in it. He took it and wolfed it down.
"That's made of Charter marks!" Sam said, obviously noticing the pendent around Zander's neck. He nodded, still wolfing down the food. "You've been bound!"
"She forgets to feed me sometimes and won't let me hunt."
"She? Who's she?" the girl asked, "Chlorr?"
"No, Hedge's daughter."
This brought everyone's attention, even Mogget's who had been washing himself unconcerned, to the man.
"Hedge has a daughter?" the girl, a necromancer, Serentitel decided, for she wore the bandolier of bells, much like she did.
Zander put down the bowl and looked around for more food. When he saw that none was coming, he gave a sigh. "Sort of. Yes. It's her that put me in this mess. Bound me to her will. She's an evil one, worse than Hedge in some ways. Powerful. I made a mistake and it cost me everything. I didn't think she would be as powerful as she was and I knew too little about this world and its magics and wasn't prepared.
"She has put Nick back under the Destroyer's control. Everything I've done for him is lost." He hunched over, his head bowed, "He doesn't remember me, except as the wolf. Zander, Serentitel's, that's Hedge's daughter, pet. He knows that I can talk and I visit him when I'm allowed, but all he dreams of now are the hemispheres. Sometimes he has bits of memory of what has happened between us, but it is only a very strange dream to him."
Suddenly Serentitel felt sorry for him. The feeling overwhelmed her and she darted out from her hiding place into the light of the fire. "I want to help!" she declared to Sameth, the dog, the girl, Mogget and Zander.
Zander's hackles rose, even in his man shape. She could almost feel him growling "You want to help?" he said, his voice thick and sarcastic, "Lovely."
"I want to help." She repeated, glaring at him.
"Who are you?" the girl asked. One hand was on her bells the other on her sword. Sameth had his hand up in a spell casting position.
"I am Serentitel. Hedge's daughter and Daughter of the Clayer, descendent of Abhorsen and the Royal line!" she pronounced.
Mogget laughed. "This is what bound you?" he sneered at Zander. "An impossibility?"
"She's more dangerous than you know." He snapped back.
"Zander, Hush!" she demanded, and he fell sullenly silent, "I am not an impossibility. I want to help. Now who are you?"
"I am Lirael, the Abhorsen-in-waiting. This is Sameth, the Disreputable Dog and Mogget."
Serentitel tried to keep herself from glaring at the girl who dared called herself the Abhorsen in waiting. That was clearly her position. But that would have to be dealt with later. Now there was the issue of helping them. Since they so clearly needed her help.
"So how can I help?" she demanded.
Zander rose from his seat by the fire and stalked towards her, his eyes never leaving her face. For a moment she trembled, seeing the great power in those eyes, power that she had bound and was waiting to strike at her, held bristling and waiting. She tried to open her mouth to speak, to order him to heel, back into his wolf shape, but for some reason she found herself frozen in fear.
"You wish to help? Do you? Then you will listen to me and you will do what I say and nothing else and nothing more. Things have already come to head and they are rushing quickly to the end. Do you understand me?"
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
"We will return to camp. And we will do nothing." He held up a finger to stop her protests, "This is what we will do, to do other wise would raise suspicion on ourselves and ruin any chance that they have to succeed. We will lay in wait and at the appropriate time we will strike. Do you understand me?"
He was looming over her now, glaring at her. She thought over what he had said, it seemed like it made the most sense. At the right moment she would strike and save them all from their foolery. "Yes."
"You will do as I say?"
"In regards to this, I will."
"Good enough." He turned to Lirael and Sameth, "We should go now. Good luck with your plans." With that he slung into his wolf shape and started back towards the hole in the earth. Serentitel followed him, deep in thought.
Back at the tent the wolf laid down at his usual spot, his staring at her. She walked back and forth inside, trying to think of a plan to help everyone. But it was hard with him staring at her. "What are you thinking about?"
"How I'd like to kill you."
"Why?"
"You can't be serious in asking me that."
She knelt by him and stroked back his ears, scratching them. They flicked away, but she continued to scratch at them. "I am. I don't understand why."
"You've taken everything away from me. My freedom, my love, my life. I live at your whim. I'm forced to do whatever you want."
Leaning her head against his side, she continued to scratch at him. "I love you." He snarled. "I do. Even when you're cranky like you are now. You're the only one who understands me. You're the only one who touches me like a man touches a woman. Who listens to me. I need you, don't you understand?"
"I only touch you and talk to you because you make me."
"For now. I'm sure soon… soon you'll love me."
"I'm sure you believe that."
"Everyone will love me."
"Nggh…"
She continued to pet him, listening to his breathing and the beating of his heart. It was very still outside, except for the sounds of thunder. "I will have the entire world love me."
