Sparkindarkness 79: The Concord steps in.
Mar. 5th, 2006 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessThis is meaty and wordy and mainly just talking and I've had to wrestle it into submission every damn step of the way. They won't cooperate with me at all on this one and Liam and Darren keep referring to arcane Camaalis stuff that I don't understand, let alone poor Rick & Co.
Still, I've got threw it so I can now move on. At LAST!
Gathering some people together was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Sure, Darren wasn’t exactly everyone’s favourite person at the minute, but I told them all he was having problems with an evil overdose at the time and he’s getting better and just taking each day one at a time and trusting himself to a higher power and doing the rest of the 12 step. I’m not sure if it helped them, but they were a lot happier when Darren just threw a cushion at me and didn’t melt me into a puddle of rotting goo on the floor – see there are many kinds of reassurance. Besides, Mia spoke up for Darren as being alright, she’s always ready to give cute guys a second chance (mental note: tattoo my name on Darren’s ass – he’s mine, Mia). I also think they’re eager to keep in the good books with his magic shop – now it’s finally open again. Even I have had to get my hands on some of the special goodies Darren’s getting (I think Liam’s going to bust a blood vessel or something over it one of these days since Darren’s started using his security clearance or something to get more nice shinies). I’ve managed to pay off most of the chiminage debt being with Darren as got me into. When random bad magic guys stop trying to off us, I’m going to try and contact the spirit of New York. See if I can get in with the big boys.
Of course, they may all have changed their mind by the end of this fucking road trip. Here I am, chugging away in a rental and driving around in merry fucking circles. Yes, circles. I’ve got Liam, Darren and Zara in this great big clunking excuse for a car all giving me conflicting directions then arguing over whether spirits, seers and evil necromancer powers (™) know best. And the heater’s on as high as it can go and it’s still fucking freezing. Who rents a car in New fucking Jersey (also known as the place winters go for their fucking holidays) without a state of the art heating system? Mia’s following us in her dainty little clown car. If it weren’t following in the wake left by the moving (well, just barely) frozen behemoth I’m driving I don’t think it could have made it.
And now we’re stopped while they resolve their latest debate.
“I told you what I know, Darren. All of it, I swear. There’s someone following us. They don’t intend to attack us but there’s a good chance of violence anyway. No, I don’t know what they want, there’s too much magic for me to see things clearly – the variables are unreal. Just about anything can happen.” Liam repeated for like the tenth time.
“How can we investigate Kyernath with some unknown magic users following us? It’s suicide! They could meddle at any time!” Darren’s voice hissed with frustration and he banged his fist angrily against the dash board. Great, wreck the rental Darren, make me pay even more money for this fucking heap of frozen junk.
“The spirits say the Sorcerer is in a town. If these people who follow us, they force us to fight them we may have to fight them and Kyernath at the same time. The people in the town could be hurt.” Even sounding worried and a little stressed, Zara kept her accent. I really was beginning to think it was real and not copied off some old fashioned vampire movie, y’know the one with Dracula with that weird hair?
“Assuming we survive it would be a nightmare to keep it from the eyes of the mundane.” Darren was still growling. “They could even be working for Kyernath and spying on us, ready to launch a trap.”
“They’re not, I told you. But they’re not friendly to us either. Can you narrow down your choices, Darren? Give me something to concentrate on, anyway. The future’s branching so much here I’m getting a migraine.” Liam groaned, rubbing his head as if he meant it literally.
“Right. Rick, turn this car around.” Darren’s eyes had gone all narrow and evil looking. I’m sure his pupils looked bigger than usual, or maybe his eyes were getting even darker. “Let’s… ask these people what they want.”
I could feel Liam and Zara panic a little. “Uh, Darren, you sure?” Why do I even bother to ask things like that?
“Yes.” His voice almost hissed and he was toying with a knife he’d pulled out form under his shirt. No, not a knife, THE knife. That nasty fucking thing that he uses to cut his wards – the one we used to rebind him. Oh fucking great.
“Darren, this is a bad idea. I’m all out of table legs.” Liam put in from the back. He wilted, a little under our combined glares. Well, under Darren’s glare anyway. When his eyes are all dark and evil he has a fucking killer glare.
“I’m just going to ask them questions, Liam.” Darren sounded exasperated. He glanced at me and I tried to keep my face smooth. I think I failed because he rolled his eyes and put away the knife. “I will not harm anyone in any way unless it is necessary to protect myself or any of you. Ok?”
I nodded, trying to make it look like I never had a doubt in my mind as I turned the car around and began to go back the way we came. I could almost feel Zara and Liam’s doubts radiating from the back. Zara was busy telephoning those poor people who had been crammed into Mia’s shoebox on wheels to bring them in to follow us.
We’d hardly gone five miles back up the road before Liam called out to stop. I started to pull in but the Seer leaned forwards and yanked the wheel out of my hands. I yelled as the car twisted to the left and came up broadside in the middle of the road. Zara panted in the back seat, eyes wide. Mia’s wreck had pulled up hard behind us, veering and skidding to the right. The road was narrow, we pretty much blocked it end to end.
“There,” Liam said. “They should be along shortly.”
“You freak, you fucking freak! We could have all fucking DIED!” I screamed at the crazy fool. Do all Camaalis have a death wish?
“Not really, less than a two percent chance of us all dying. Three percent at most.” He replied quite calmly. Three percent chance of death? No jury in the world would convict me!
“You could have at least given us some warning, Liam.” Darren growled, trying to tame his hair.
“Well, I don’t know why you have your hair that long anyway. I don’t think there’s a guy who hasn't lived a century with hair that long.” Liam grinned back, unperturbed by the dishevelled Sorcerer glaring at him.
“Hundred year olds with long hair? Wha-“ I began, I was fucking tired of them speaking in arcane Camaalis code.
“They’re here.” Liam said, easing out of the car. Darren flowed out quickly, leaving me and Zara to scramble out behind them. I saw the others scramble out of their car as well.
Five large, expensive looking cars with tinted windows pulled up. The doors opened in near perfect unison and over a dozen people stepped out, all of them dressed in black suits with mirrored shades. Some of them had long black coats over their suits. Almost half of them were men who looked like they had been carved from stone. Big fucking stone. They towered above me and seemed almost as wide as they were tall and covered in more muscles than any man needed (not that I’m against men with muscles. But these muscles were not at all like the lovely rippling sculpted muscles you get in a gym which are so much fun to lick - no, these muscles weren’t for looking at. These muscles just made them strong and hard.) I glanced at everyone else, met the eyes of my friends who were glancing around just as nervously.
Darren and Liam just crossed their arms and rolled their eyes. Both of the sighed as if being stopped by goons was the most boring thing in the world. Liam looked them all up and down and grinned, stopping just short of laughing at them. “Hey, I think you’re going the wrong way for the Matrix fanclub.” He called to them.
“Did you get a discount for buying cheap polyester suits in bulk from a surplus warehouse, or did the same person dress you all this morning?” Darren added in, his own smile was tighter but definitely amused.
“Um... guys?” Mia said as she stepped back as the ominously dressed muscle men came closer.
Liam spared her a brief look. “I suppose you’re right, we don’t have time for games.” He turned back to the guys who were still advancing menacingly. “Cut the act and tell us what you want, we’ve got better things to do than to be playing with you.”
“You might want to stay back there, as well.” Darren added, quietly. “People crowding me make me edgy.” They all stopped in their tracks as if they’d hit a wall. I blinked and wondered if there was any magic going on...
That was when everything came into focus. You know, like those magic eye pictures which just look like swirling shit until suddenly the picture leaps out and stabs you in the eye? All those menacing faces tight with controlled anger and violence became... tight menacing faces desperately clamping down on terror and about five seconds away from panic. And by Liam and Darren’s smiles, they knew it too.
An older man with solid grey hair and a hard face stepped through the wall of muscle. He looked tough and hard as old boots - and would probably have looked a lot tougher if he’d have dressed in simple work clothes or jeans or something. As it was he looked like a fucking movie extra. The woman who strode forward next to him looked even more out of place. She looked like she should have been a secretary or manager or some stiff business type sat rigidly behind a desk typing and answering phones without any time for nonsense. The black leather trench coat she was wearing made her look like she was at a fancy dress office party.
“We want to know what you are doing here, Camaalis.” The man said sternly. This one wasn’t afraid.
Liam snorted angrily. “What we’re doing is no concern of yours, Concord. We do nothing that breaks the treaty.”
I felt my jaw drop, and even then my reaction was probably better than Mia’s. I looked at Misha in confusion, since she knew more about magical politics than I did but she just shrugged, as lost as I was. The Concord was the international alliance of all magic users. Every magical organisation was a member, in theory anyway. I guess I was technically a member, though I didn’t fill out any forms and they never gave me a badge. you think if I were a member they could at least get a me a fucking badge, right? Anyway, they were supposed to be a major police force and government thing, kind of like the UN. They stopped big organisations eating little ones, they made sure that magical diversity kept going strong. They also encouraged organisations that hated each other to co-operate and learn from each other, I mean, that’s the kind of thing that Darren says made Camaalis so strong. Oh, and Concord also hunts down big bad evil magic users when they cross the line... they might even be able to help us with Kyernath... Why do I not think that’s going to happen? And what’s this treaty thing?
“Your presence here breaks the treaty.” The woman hissed angrily.
“An incredibly loose definition.” Darren almost purred. “Why, are you saying that Camaalis - terrifying, scary Camaalis - is so powerful that the mere presence of say... three members constitutes interference?” As soon as he said the word ‘three’ all of them took a huge step back - only the man and woman holding their ground. Ok, I am officially lost.
“You are using magic here.” The man barked harshly.
“We’re Camaalis Magicians. I realise it may be hard to understand for you but it is easy and instinctive for us to use magic. I know that’s a difficult concept when you need a 3 hour ritual to pull a rabbit out of a hat.” Liam smirked.
“Do you do children’s parties, by the way?” Darren chirped in. “I mean, that would explain the fancy dress costumes you’re wearing.”
“We are a delegation from the Concord Council in America and we demand answers!” The woman hissed, jerking her coat in irritation.
“Demand?” The smiles on Liam’s and Darren’s faces were erased as Liam repeated the word. He said it like he was trying to figure out what it tasted like. All of the Concord guys took another big step backwards. It was actually pretty fucking funny. I mean, Darren’s a total Gnome and Liam’s not much more than an inch or two taller - all Camaalis seem to be cute little bundles, but the guys they’re chasing away are like well over 6’. It’s like watching terriers back great danes into a corner.
“A poor choice of words. Regardless, we have a right to know what you are doing in our land.” The man said.
“A right?” Liam growled. “I don’t recall any part of the Treaty saying you had a right to question us, no matter where we happened to be.”
“If we’re able to assign ourselves new rights then can I grant myself the right to kill any Concord that annoys me?” Darren snarled in response.
“There’s a lot of Concord in the world, Darren. And they’re all pretty annoying.” Liam mused, still giving the Camaalis Glare of Death to the Concord guys. They teach that in Camaalis coolness school, I’m sure.
“I have a lot of free time.” Darren said, all sexily menacing. “And I need a new hobby.”
“You would not start a war over some reasonable questions?” The man asked, his voice outraged. Now it was my turn to take a step back - whoa, a war? Where did that come from?
“Start? No. Finish? Certainly.” Darren hissed back, speaking at the same time as Liam.
“Reasonable?” The Seer spat. “Do you even know what that word means?”
Now another figure pushed her way through the wall of cowering muscle (now I think of it, all that leather is probably waaaay warmer than what I’m wearing. Fuck, if they’re going to have a war, can they have it now? At least if the world’s burning it’ll be fucking warm.) She was tall and dressed in their Matrix-extra clothes, but on her the look kind of worked for her, she was tall and thin but all round curvy bits as well. And she had these killer cheekbones that really worked with her mocha coloured skin. She looked like a combination between a highclass bodyguard in a dodgy spy drama and an expensive hooker. Meant in a good way honest. Her voice was all deep and growly too. Hets like that kind of thing, don’t they? She sounded educated too, classy.
“Enough. We don’t want to start fighting, start a war or even anger you.” She rumbled, giving the two older ones a fierce glare. “You are powerful and you have a reputation, though, Camaalis. we would like to know what you are doing to avoid any unnecessary conflict.” Oh yes, hets like that. Darren was still giving her aggressive eye contact but Liam had definitely shifted his gaze downwards and he had that sexy pirate buccaneer grin again.
“A magical criminal has escaped custody and we seek to gather information on his activities.” Darren had returned to cool formality with an edge of British supervillain (all the best supervillains are British. It‘s a rule) - it was still sexy though.
She did pause and look troubled - she also half-glared, half-stared at Liam who was not even trying to make eye contact any more. “You must understand that the Concord cannot allow Camaalis justice in our territory.” The people behind them nodded fiercely.
Liam did finally jerk his head up. “And leave him to the Concord? Camaalis kept him prisoner for centuries - and that was because we did not know of a way to kill him we were sure would keep him in the grave. What will you do?”
“We will deal with him, he is on our territory. We cannot allow Camaalis to usurp that.” She looked uncomfortable saying it but she said it. And I learned something knew, not only do Camaalis train all their members to do the uber-death glare but they also teach them this really cool ‘you just got off the short bus, didn’t you?’ look. I want to learn this fucking cool looks.
“You dropped the ball, Camaalis. You already let him escape.” The old woman gloated - yup, back to the uber death glares.
“Yes. And we’re still a lot more powerful than you are. What chance do you have?” Darren snorted.
“Our magic is our business.” The lady’s voice was now pretty fucking cold. no magician likes being reminded they’re weak. “Our problems are our business. You may have caused this, but it is our problem to fix - not yours.”
Darren started to snarl but Liam touched his arm and nodded his head behind them. They both turned and started to walk back to the cars. “Fine,” the Seer said, he sounded calm and bored now. “Enjoy playing with your very own local Sorcerer. Have fun sheltering him from Camaalis justice while you wow him by pulling coins from behind his ear or can your Matrix clones do that neat trick where you pull away the table cloth without disturbing the cutlery? Because that’s really going to impress him.” The Concord glared daggers at them as they climbed in the cars. We all kind of followed looking really confused. What the fuck is going on.
Darren leaned out the window just as we peeled away, “I’d wish you people a happy afterlife, but there’s no point. He’s a Necromancer, all of your souls are doomed.” With that parting shot (Camaalis have a seriously bad last word habit) we drove off back to the city.
“What the fuck was that about?” I growled at them.
“I’ll explain on the plane.” Darren soothed. “For now we have to pack and pick up some tickets...”
What the fuck?
Still, I've got threw it so I can now move on. At LAST!
Gathering some people together was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Sure, Darren wasn’t exactly everyone’s favourite person at the minute, but I told them all he was having problems with an evil overdose at the time and he’s getting better and just taking each day one at a time and trusting himself to a higher power and doing the rest of the 12 step. I’m not sure if it helped them, but they were a lot happier when Darren just threw a cushion at me and didn’t melt me into a puddle of rotting goo on the floor – see there are many kinds of reassurance. Besides, Mia spoke up for Darren as being alright, she’s always ready to give cute guys a second chance (mental note: tattoo my name on Darren’s ass – he’s mine, Mia). I also think they’re eager to keep in the good books with his magic shop – now it’s finally open again. Even I have had to get my hands on some of the special goodies Darren’s getting (I think Liam’s going to bust a blood vessel or something over it one of these days since Darren’s started using his security clearance or something to get more nice shinies). I’ve managed to pay off most of the chiminage debt being with Darren as got me into. When random bad magic guys stop trying to off us, I’m going to try and contact the spirit of New York. See if I can get in with the big boys.
Of course, they may all have changed their mind by the end of this fucking road trip. Here I am, chugging away in a rental and driving around in merry fucking circles. Yes, circles. I’ve got Liam, Darren and Zara in this great big clunking excuse for a car all giving me conflicting directions then arguing over whether spirits, seers and evil necromancer powers (™) know best. And the heater’s on as high as it can go and it’s still fucking freezing. Who rents a car in New fucking Jersey (also known as the place winters go for their fucking holidays) without a state of the art heating system? Mia’s following us in her dainty little clown car. If it weren’t following in the wake left by the moving (well, just barely) frozen behemoth I’m driving I don’t think it could have made it.
And now we’re stopped while they resolve their latest debate.
“I told you what I know, Darren. All of it, I swear. There’s someone following us. They don’t intend to attack us but there’s a good chance of violence anyway. No, I don’t know what they want, there’s too much magic for me to see things clearly – the variables are unreal. Just about anything can happen.” Liam repeated for like the tenth time.
“How can we investigate Kyernath with some unknown magic users following us? It’s suicide! They could meddle at any time!” Darren’s voice hissed with frustration and he banged his fist angrily against the dash board. Great, wreck the rental Darren, make me pay even more money for this fucking heap of frozen junk.
“The spirits say the Sorcerer is in a town. If these people who follow us, they force us to fight them we may have to fight them and Kyernath at the same time. The people in the town could be hurt.” Even sounding worried and a little stressed, Zara kept her accent. I really was beginning to think it was real and not copied off some old fashioned vampire movie, y’know the one with Dracula with that weird hair?
“Assuming we survive it would be a nightmare to keep it from the eyes of the mundane.” Darren was still growling. “They could even be working for Kyernath and spying on us, ready to launch a trap.”
“They’re not, I told you. But they’re not friendly to us either. Can you narrow down your choices, Darren? Give me something to concentrate on, anyway. The future’s branching so much here I’m getting a migraine.” Liam groaned, rubbing his head as if he meant it literally.
“Right. Rick, turn this car around.” Darren’s eyes had gone all narrow and evil looking. I’m sure his pupils looked bigger than usual, or maybe his eyes were getting even darker. “Let’s… ask these people what they want.”
I could feel Liam and Zara panic a little. “Uh, Darren, you sure?” Why do I even bother to ask things like that?
“Yes.” His voice almost hissed and he was toying with a knife he’d pulled out form under his shirt. No, not a knife, THE knife. That nasty fucking thing that he uses to cut his wards – the one we used to rebind him. Oh fucking great.
“Darren, this is a bad idea. I’m all out of table legs.” Liam put in from the back. He wilted, a little under our combined glares. Well, under Darren’s glare anyway. When his eyes are all dark and evil he has a fucking killer glare.
“I’m just going to ask them questions, Liam.” Darren sounded exasperated. He glanced at me and I tried to keep my face smooth. I think I failed because he rolled his eyes and put away the knife. “I will not harm anyone in any way unless it is necessary to protect myself or any of you. Ok?”
I nodded, trying to make it look like I never had a doubt in my mind as I turned the car around and began to go back the way we came. I could almost feel Zara and Liam’s doubts radiating from the back. Zara was busy telephoning those poor people who had been crammed into Mia’s shoebox on wheels to bring them in to follow us.
We’d hardly gone five miles back up the road before Liam called out to stop. I started to pull in but the Seer leaned forwards and yanked the wheel out of my hands. I yelled as the car twisted to the left and came up broadside in the middle of the road. Zara panted in the back seat, eyes wide. Mia’s wreck had pulled up hard behind us, veering and skidding to the right. The road was narrow, we pretty much blocked it end to end.
“There,” Liam said. “They should be along shortly.”
“You freak, you fucking freak! We could have all fucking DIED!” I screamed at the crazy fool. Do all Camaalis have a death wish?
“Not really, less than a two percent chance of us all dying. Three percent at most.” He replied quite calmly. Three percent chance of death? No jury in the world would convict me!
“You could have at least given us some warning, Liam.” Darren growled, trying to tame his hair.
“Well, I don’t know why you have your hair that long anyway. I don’t think there’s a guy who hasn't lived a century with hair that long.” Liam grinned back, unperturbed by the dishevelled Sorcerer glaring at him.
“Hundred year olds with long hair? Wha-“ I began, I was fucking tired of them speaking in arcane Camaalis code.
“They’re here.” Liam said, easing out of the car. Darren flowed out quickly, leaving me and Zara to scramble out behind them. I saw the others scramble out of their car as well.
Five large, expensive looking cars with tinted windows pulled up. The doors opened in near perfect unison and over a dozen people stepped out, all of them dressed in black suits with mirrored shades. Some of them had long black coats over their suits. Almost half of them were men who looked like they had been carved from stone. Big fucking stone. They towered above me and seemed almost as wide as they were tall and covered in more muscles than any man needed (not that I’m against men with muscles. But these muscles were not at all like the lovely rippling sculpted muscles you get in a gym which are so much fun to lick - no, these muscles weren’t for looking at. These muscles just made them strong and hard.) I glanced at everyone else, met the eyes of my friends who were glancing around just as nervously.
Darren and Liam just crossed their arms and rolled their eyes. Both of the sighed as if being stopped by goons was the most boring thing in the world. Liam looked them all up and down and grinned, stopping just short of laughing at them. “Hey, I think you’re going the wrong way for the Matrix fanclub.” He called to them.
“Did you get a discount for buying cheap polyester suits in bulk from a surplus warehouse, or did the same person dress you all this morning?” Darren added in, his own smile was tighter but definitely amused.
“Um... guys?” Mia said as she stepped back as the ominously dressed muscle men came closer.
Liam spared her a brief look. “I suppose you’re right, we don’t have time for games.” He turned back to the guys who were still advancing menacingly. “Cut the act and tell us what you want, we’ve got better things to do than to be playing with you.”
“You might want to stay back there, as well.” Darren added, quietly. “People crowding me make me edgy.” They all stopped in their tracks as if they’d hit a wall. I blinked and wondered if there was any magic going on...
That was when everything came into focus. You know, like those magic eye pictures which just look like swirling shit until suddenly the picture leaps out and stabs you in the eye? All those menacing faces tight with controlled anger and violence became... tight menacing faces desperately clamping down on terror and about five seconds away from panic. And by Liam and Darren’s smiles, they knew it too.
An older man with solid grey hair and a hard face stepped through the wall of muscle. He looked tough and hard as old boots - and would probably have looked a lot tougher if he’d have dressed in simple work clothes or jeans or something. As it was he looked like a fucking movie extra. The woman who strode forward next to him looked even more out of place. She looked like she should have been a secretary or manager or some stiff business type sat rigidly behind a desk typing and answering phones without any time for nonsense. The black leather trench coat she was wearing made her look like she was at a fancy dress office party.
“We want to know what you are doing here, Camaalis.” The man said sternly. This one wasn’t afraid.
Liam snorted angrily. “What we’re doing is no concern of yours, Concord. We do nothing that breaks the treaty.”
I felt my jaw drop, and even then my reaction was probably better than Mia’s. I looked at Misha in confusion, since she knew more about magical politics than I did but she just shrugged, as lost as I was. The Concord was the international alliance of all magic users. Every magical organisation was a member, in theory anyway. I guess I was technically a member, though I didn’t fill out any forms and they never gave me a badge. you think if I were a member they could at least get a me a fucking badge, right? Anyway, they were supposed to be a major police force and government thing, kind of like the UN. They stopped big organisations eating little ones, they made sure that magical diversity kept going strong. They also encouraged organisations that hated each other to co-operate and learn from each other, I mean, that’s the kind of thing that Darren says made Camaalis so strong. Oh, and Concord also hunts down big bad evil magic users when they cross the line... they might even be able to help us with Kyernath... Why do I not think that’s going to happen? And what’s this treaty thing?
“Your presence here breaks the treaty.” The woman hissed angrily.
“An incredibly loose definition.” Darren almost purred. “Why, are you saying that Camaalis - terrifying, scary Camaalis - is so powerful that the mere presence of say... three members constitutes interference?” As soon as he said the word ‘three’ all of them took a huge step back - only the man and woman holding their ground. Ok, I am officially lost.
“You are using magic here.” The man barked harshly.
“We’re Camaalis Magicians. I realise it may be hard to understand for you but it is easy and instinctive for us to use magic. I know that’s a difficult concept when you need a 3 hour ritual to pull a rabbit out of a hat.” Liam smirked.
“Do you do children’s parties, by the way?” Darren chirped in. “I mean, that would explain the fancy dress costumes you’re wearing.”
“We are a delegation from the Concord Council in America and we demand answers!” The woman hissed, jerking her coat in irritation.
“Demand?” The smiles on Liam’s and Darren’s faces were erased as Liam repeated the word. He said it like he was trying to figure out what it tasted like. All of the Concord guys took another big step backwards. It was actually pretty fucking funny. I mean, Darren’s a total Gnome and Liam’s not much more than an inch or two taller - all Camaalis seem to be cute little bundles, but the guys they’re chasing away are like well over 6’. It’s like watching terriers back great danes into a corner.
“A poor choice of words. Regardless, we have a right to know what you are doing in our land.” The man said.
“A right?” Liam growled. “I don’t recall any part of the Treaty saying you had a right to question us, no matter where we happened to be.”
“If we’re able to assign ourselves new rights then can I grant myself the right to kill any Concord that annoys me?” Darren snarled in response.
“There’s a lot of Concord in the world, Darren. And they’re all pretty annoying.” Liam mused, still giving the Camaalis Glare of Death to the Concord guys. They teach that in Camaalis coolness school, I’m sure.
“I have a lot of free time.” Darren said, all sexily menacing. “And I need a new hobby.”
“You would not start a war over some reasonable questions?” The man asked, his voice outraged. Now it was my turn to take a step back - whoa, a war? Where did that come from?
“Start? No. Finish? Certainly.” Darren hissed back, speaking at the same time as Liam.
“Reasonable?” The Seer spat. “Do you even know what that word means?”
Now another figure pushed her way through the wall of cowering muscle (now I think of it, all that leather is probably waaaay warmer than what I’m wearing. Fuck, if they’re going to have a war, can they have it now? At least if the world’s burning it’ll be fucking warm.) She was tall and dressed in their Matrix-extra clothes, but on her the look kind of worked for her, she was tall and thin but all round curvy bits as well. And she had these killer cheekbones that really worked with her mocha coloured skin. She looked like a combination between a highclass bodyguard in a dodgy spy drama and an expensive hooker. Meant in a good way honest. Her voice was all deep and growly too. Hets like that kind of thing, don’t they? She sounded educated too, classy.
“Enough. We don’t want to start fighting, start a war or even anger you.” She rumbled, giving the two older ones a fierce glare. “You are powerful and you have a reputation, though, Camaalis. we would like to know what you are doing to avoid any unnecessary conflict.” Oh yes, hets like that. Darren was still giving her aggressive eye contact but Liam had definitely shifted his gaze downwards and he had that sexy pirate buccaneer grin again.
“A magical criminal has escaped custody and we seek to gather information on his activities.” Darren had returned to cool formality with an edge of British supervillain (all the best supervillains are British. It‘s a rule) - it was still sexy though.
She did pause and look troubled - she also half-glared, half-stared at Liam who was not even trying to make eye contact any more. “You must understand that the Concord cannot allow Camaalis justice in our territory.” The people behind them nodded fiercely.
Liam did finally jerk his head up. “And leave him to the Concord? Camaalis kept him prisoner for centuries - and that was because we did not know of a way to kill him we were sure would keep him in the grave. What will you do?”
“We will deal with him, he is on our territory. We cannot allow Camaalis to usurp that.” She looked uncomfortable saying it but she said it. And I learned something knew, not only do Camaalis train all their members to do the uber-death glare but they also teach them this really cool ‘you just got off the short bus, didn’t you?’ look. I want to learn this fucking cool looks.
“You dropped the ball, Camaalis. You already let him escape.” The old woman gloated - yup, back to the uber death glares.
“Yes. And we’re still a lot more powerful than you are. What chance do you have?” Darren snorted.
“Our magic is our business.” The lady’s voice was now pretty fucking cold. no magician likes being reminded they’re weak. “Our problems are our business. You may have caused this, but it is our problem to fix - not yours.”
Darren started to snarl but Liam touched his arm and nodded his head behind them. They both turned and started to walk back to the cars. “Fine,” the Seer said, he sounded calm and bored now. “Enjoy playing with your very own local Sorcerer. Have fun sheltering him from Camaalis justice while you wow him by pulling coins from behind his ear or can your Matrix clones do that neat trick where you pull away the table cloth without disturbing the cutlery? Because that’s really going to impress him.” The Concord glared daggers at them as they climbed in the cars. We all kind of followed looking really confused. What the fuck is going on.
Darren leaned out the window just as we peeled away, “I’d wish you people a happy afterlife, but there’s no point. He’s a Necromancer, all of your souls are doomed.” With that parting shot (Camaalis have a seriously bad last word habit) we drove off back to the city.
“What the fuck was that about?” I growled at them.
“I’ll explain on the plane.” Darren soothed. “For now we have to pack and pick up some tickets...”
What the fuck?
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Date: 2006-03-08 01:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-16 02:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-17 04:23 am (UTC)