Last time: Halari bent down, trying to understand what he said. It wasn't any coherent sentence. It was just one word, he repeated over and over again – "Felicity".
xoxoxo
Halari wondered who this 'Felicity' was, whose name the stranger repeated again and again. She must be someone important to him. "Sshh, go back to sleep," she whispered into the man's ear, but he was too deeply entrenched in his fever-dreams to hear her words and just kept on muttering.
So focused was she on her charge, that she did not hear the door open or the footsteps approaching her from behind. As a hand was laid upon her shoulder, she let out a startled shriek. "Ayyy"
"Everything is fine Halari," a voice assured here – it was the soldier who had left with Ra's.
Halari turned around to look at the man. "Sarab," she greeted him with a respectful bow of the head. Soldiers… assassins… such as Sarab, were of higher standing than her, a simply body servant, in The Demon's society. For that reason alone she had to show him respect, no matter if he'd earned it – or not.
"Is he ready?" Sarab studied the man with something akin to sadness in his eyes.
This surprised Halari and she hesitated shortly before answering his question. "Yes."
"Good, I will take him." With those words, he slipped his hands carefully beneath Oliver's knees and back, like he had done once before, and scooped the man up. His limbs dangled from Sarab's arms, his head resting listlessly on the assassin's shoulder. Hefting Oliver's deadweight a little higher up his chest, until had a good grip, he turned to leave, striding into the direction which he had come from.
"Wait!" The woman's voice suddenly called, making Sarab halt in his steps, glancing back over his shoulder.
"What is it woman? You do NOT keep The Demon waiting."
"Do you," Halari began hesitantly; "Do you know him?" She knew it was none of her business. "Do you know who he is?"
Maseo swallowed. His eyes, for a moment, taking on a faraway look, then they hardened. "In a former life," was all he said, before turning away and leaving with his burden.
Halari sighed, looking at his retreating form until she could see it no more, until it was swallowed by the darkness of the tunnel through which he had left.
xoxoxo
Each step he took, led Sarab further down into the bowels of the earth, a realm of its own, which held ancient secrets and wonders – from a time before men, as 'Earth' had been made.
One such secret wonder Ra's al Ghul had discovered in his quest to save the son of a man he had once called master – a pit in the earth, deep underground, holding a bubbling, sizzling substance of unknown composition, which was fed from the bowels of the earth itself, it seemed. He had learned that it restored health and youth to the one submerged in it – and sometimes – life.
A great wonder it seemed indeed, were it not for the fact, that it rendered its user temporarily insane. The Sultan's son, whom he had tried to save at the time, had gone mad and killed a woman – Sora – the wife of the very man who had saved him. Blame for the murder had fallen on Ra's own shoulders and he had been brought into the dessert, buried and left there to die. Needless to say he didn't die, he had survived, and turned into the man he was today – Ra's al Ghul –The Demon's Head.
At one such pit, the last one rumored still being in existence, Ra's now stood and waited for Sarab's return. Hands folded behind his back, he gazed upon the bubbling mass in the pit. Steam rose from its glowing surface, making the chamber in which the pit lay, uncomfortably hot.
The Pit would be Oliver Queen's final crucible, because once he entered there, he would emerge forever a changed man. One, Ra's hoped, he could form in his image. The perfect assassin… and maybe…
Ra's was disturbed from his musings, when he heard footsteps approaching the chamber and turned around to look at the entrance, where only seconds later Sarab appeared; in his arms he carried Queen's limp body. "Lay him down. Let me take a look at him," Ra's instructed the assassin, who did as he was told, laying down Oliver's body at his master's feet, before standing back.
Gracefully kneeling down next to the boy, The Demon examined Oliver's body, which had been cleaned as per his instructions. Halari had done her task well, he noticed. Good. The boy's head was lolling from side to side feverishly, and unintelligible words fell from his bloodless lips. Ra's did not know what he was saying, nor did he care, because it was of no consequence to him.
He captured one of Oliver's hot cheeks in his strong hand, holding it still, studying the boyish face, before he spoke to the unconscious man. "Don't worry, son. Soon it will be over."
Lifting Oliver's body, he continued his monologue. "Your body will be healed, your strength restored, and your mind will be cleansed of all ballast from your last life."
While speaking, Ra's had stepped into the pool and walked to its middle, until the bubbling mass reached his waistline. There he stood for a moment, inhaling the vapors that rose from the sizzling surface, then, as if he had reached a decision, he lowered Oliver's body, letting it slowly sink into the pool's depth limb by limb, until only his face remained.
"When you emerge, you'll be ready to learn. - And I will teach you." The words sounded like a promise, and they were. With a final prayer upon his lips, Ra's let go of Oliver, stepped back and watched the boy's face vanish beneath the surface. It was done! Oliver Queen had lived his last day.