Timeless Two

23

The guards are holding guns and standing in the way of the car. Grey and Ari are also on their way. Anna looks at Ari, something is different but she isn't sure what it is. "Why'd you bring Ari?" Taren asks the question that Anna has as well.

"You and Anna were busy, Jeshua and that nurse Alexis have disappeared somewhere on a walk. There was no one else I'd trust with her." Grey is annoyed. He hadn't wanted to bring her either but there hadn't been a choice.

Grey walks up to the car, a stretch limo of all things. "I'm sorry but you can't bring that in the camp. We don't have room for it to turn around in. That thing is longer than any of our trucks and our longest trucks have a hard time turning around so we don't use them if we don't have to."

By now the judges are starting to come out of the car. "What do you mean that we can't come in?" The self importance of the judge really sets Grey on edge. "Don't you know who we are?"

Grey narrows his eyes. "Yes, but do you know who I am? I am general of this army. This is my camp. I make the rules. You wish entrance to this camp you get my permission. Denied." Grey likes that denying those self important pricks.

"You can't do that!" The man blusters, angry at being so close to their location and being denied entrance.

Grey smiles nastily. "Oh yes, I most certainly can. If you have issues with that you can take it up with my cousin. Lady Anna here is the one you'd complain too."

"We demand entrance into that camp!" This time the other four judges nod in accordance.

Anna doesn't like being told what to do any more than Grey does. She gets a martial light in her eyes. "This camp is under General Grey's command. What he says goes. If you don't like it too bad and suck it up."

"There isn't any place for you to stay here in camp anyway." Taren says softly to help diffuse the situation." The mention of Grey's name seemed to have a magical effect on some of them. They back away from the quintet. But two of the others are getting even more belligerent.

"Of course there is. We'll just use the VIP accommodations."

"Sorry Lady Anna has already claimed those and they barely fit her. There is no way that all five of you could share the one tent." Grey says that with a great deal of satisfaction.

"Then we'll stay up at the castle." The first judge says. He smiles fatuously.

Ari thinks that it might be a smart idea to intervene just now. She could tell that Grey was getting close to losing control.

"The queen has had many of the surfaces coated with a poison that you can't see but is invariably deadly. I'm sure that's how she killed the slaves." She looks down as if afraid of Grey's reaction for speaking out of turn. In truth Grey didn't like her bringing attention to herself.

Grey takes her lead and uses it. "Yes, I witnessed first hand how that poison works. It seeps into the skin and there is no antidote for it. Muscle weakness, cramping and then the pain hits so hard it twists the body up like a pretzel. We haven't finished clearing the castle yet, but if you wish to go there and tempt your luck...." Grey allows them the choice, he'd already pushed things hard earlier, they might choose someone else to kill Ari and he has plans for that.

"Ariele, do you know of a place that is safe for these men to stay?" Anna asks gently, not sure what those two are playing at.

"Yes, Lady Anna. The prince has a house nearby. He liked to have some privacy from his mother the Queen. He would take parties of Aelven there and bring a bunch of slaves. He'd play games with them by hiding things and ordering the slaves to retrieve them. The slaves never survived. They said that the prince would booby trap his grounds with explosives and the Aelven would watch as the slaves tried to walk across the grounds and find the object the prince had hidden." Ariel had been to a few of those parties herself and hadn't liked being there. But one doesn't ignore an invite from the prince and her father had insisted that she go. She doesn't have good memories of that house. Hatchi's friends had cornered her and she didn't know the layout well enough to find safety.

She still doesn't understand why Hatchi had invited her. There are many things she wishes she could ask him, but it was too late now.

While she had been lost in memories they had asked her a question. When she didn't answer Grey slapped her. "They want to know how to get to the prince's house." Grey repeats with obvious anger. The judges look on in satisfaction they had thought at first that Grey was protecting the girl, but his slap wasn't a light slap. The girl would have a hand shaped bruise there in a short time.

Ari holds her face and covers where he'd slapped her and cowers a little from him. "It's down the road about a mile. It's the only turnoff that close to the castle. The drive is a long one but it will take you to the house directly. Good sirs, stay off the yard, it is said that the prince didn't deactivate his booby traps and any that aren't tripped will still be active." Ari knows that for a fact. She'd heard Hatchi laughing about it with some friends.

Her cousin truly had been a right bastard. What does that say about her? Loved by one and used by other bastards. She doesn't have to fake the tears that fall now she turns her head down and away. That lets her hair fall forward and give her a measure of privacy from all of them. She is still rubbing the slap Grey had given her. He really hadn't been holding back. Her tooth even feels a little loose.

"Answer the man Ariele!" Grey says in a warning voice. He just wants these bastards out of here.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear." Ari says in a small voice. She is on the verge of a panic attack and isn't faking anything just now.

"He asked if the house was safe to enter," Grey is full out angry and gets angrier as Ari cowers away from him.

"Yes, General, the house should be safe enough. The prince only invited those he liked to his parties, there was no reason for him to sabotage the place. And there wasn't time once he heard that you were coming." It had been a sight to see. The Aelven running like ants scurrying one way and the other. For once they had ignored her as they were too busy dealing with the defenses. When the outer defenses fell, that is when the queen ordered the vault to Underhill opened. She had all non essentials go through.

That was when the slaves were killed. Soon after that the queen called her in and gave her the job. She must have blacked out for a time because the queen wasn't where she had been. That must have been when the queen set the dead man's switch. She was given the paper with the combination. Then the shelling on the shields around the castle started.

The queen and all other Aelven retreated to the vault. Her cousin left her without a word. As did her father but she didn't care. Once she was sure the Aelven were gone she'd lowered power to the shields and disarmed half the weapons. She would have disarmed them all but she knew that the invading army wouldn't buy that.

She is brought back to the present when the chair is turned around and pushed back to camp.

The four went back to camp in silence. Lady Anna motions for Taren and they leave. Grey is in a towering inferno of anger and she knows that it will be better for them to not be around when Grey erupts.

Taren isn't quite out of earshot when he says, "Is it safe for us to leave Ari with him like he is? I've never seen him hit a woman before."

"She'll be safe enough, most of that anger is directed at himself because he did hit her. It's better that we leave them be."

"Leave it to cousin Anna to understand," Grey says bitterly. They get to the tent and the guards respectfully open the door for them. Grey pushes her on through then leaves instructions with the guards to not be disturbed.

Ari waits until he is done then turns to him. "It's alright Grey. I know why you did it. If you hadn't the judges would have believed you'd gone soft and wouldn't assign you to be my executioner."

"I wish I could say that was the reason Ari. The truth is, I let them get to me and I took my anger out on you. It's never happened to me before, ever. Perhaps it will serve to keep me as the executioner, but it wasn't the reason. There is no excuse and it makes me sick Ari. I need to go see Anna. I'll leave you under guard here." Grey says completely sickened by what he's done and become.

Ari watches him leave sadly knowing something had changed and unsure what she could have done to stop it. She lets herself out of the cuff and lies down on the cot. She's tired so easily now, the end is soon. She cries for what is lost.