The Mist!

Cassie sighed, and tossed back the rest of the drink, almost oblivious to its burn. She set the glass down on the table and stood. She felt the booze start to take some effect. She wasn't there yet, but she definitely was starting to feel a lot more laid back.

"Why not?" She said. Si took her hand and led her out onto the open floor, where many others were already dancing.

 

Madeline flexed her fingers, staring at the metallic creatures in front of her. She chewed her lip at the thought of a ‘test’.

She tightened the leather, fingerless gloves that covered her hands and would protect her palms if she needed to climb. She took a leather string from a pocket and scraped her hair back, away from her face. In the pale gloom, her skin looked milky pale. Her fingers tangled in the matted chunk of hair at the back of her head. The skin felt tender, but she was pretty sure that she was over it now. It wouldn’t handicap her. At the thought, she looked down at Ceri with a frown. She could barely walk.

Madeline tied her hair back and winced as it tugged at her scalp.

Minutes had passed since Dora had left. It was quiet. If it caught her, we would have heard a scream or something, Mad tried to reassure herself.

 

Ben decided it would be a good idea to learn more about these large metal beasts. He stood up, leaving his pack on the ground. He left his sword leaning on his pack and walked toward one of the 4 beasts with hands open palms up to be sure it could see he was not armed. "May I touch you?" The beasts head turned toward him and watched as he placed his right hand on its front leg.

With what sounded like humor in its voice the beast said, "You don't even know what you wear on your finger. It has slumbered a long time. I will awaken it for you."

Ben's eyes were drawn to his ring with the blue gemstone. His eyes widened as a dim blue light came on inside the stone and gradually brightened until some of its glow spilled over onto the ring and his finger tinting them blue. All at once he felt many tiny pin pricks on the inside of the ring everywhere the ring touched his skin. It felt like pins moving inside his finger. A gasp escaped his lips as he jerked his right hand away from the beasts leg and tried to pull the ring off with the fingers of his left hand. It would not budge. The pain in his finger faded and vanished. The blue light from the sapphire winked out.

He stood there staring at the ring on his finger. It still would not come off. Turning his head he looked at the beast and asked, "So what does it do besides cause me pain and not come off?"

The beast said, "That is for you to learn on your own."

Ben shrugged, and put his hand on the beasts leg again. He ran it up as high as he could. Everywhere he touched seemed to be metal. Finished, he pulled his hand away and looked the beast in the eyes, "What are you? Where did you come from?"

 

(Note this is not the same one who threatened Skraal they all have different personalities) "I am Dron, child and servant of her majesty." The beast introduced itself seeming amused at Ben's curiosity. "

The beast looked around at his brothers, they where serious and quiet, watching for any slight reason to attack. "Forgive my foolish brothers." He whispered comicly so that only Ben could hear. "They tend to take our missions more seriously than they should." He commented.

 

Ben became flustered when he realized he had not even bothered to introduce himself and this creature had remembered to be polite.

"I am Ben. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dron." Then Ben looked at each of the other 3 and then back at Dron trying to see if there was enough different between them that he would be able to tell them apart. "Have you traveled far to find us? And why us?"

 

"One of our sisters dropped us near by." He commented as if it were the norm. "The queens father has requested that she grants you a meeting, though she would not agree without the tests." He said, and snapped at Ben causeing him to jump back. He looked rather amused at his little joke. "I might have to pull rank on my little brother and test you though." He offered. "How does that sound?" He asked permision though did it with an air of not having too.

 

Ben smiled as he realized the snap was a joke. He gulped at the thought of the test. In a shaky low voice he asked, "Ca.. Can you test me without trying to kill me?"

 

"Ah, but that's the interesting part, I get to choose anyway I wish to test you." He commented, looked around noticing that his brothers where giving him glances. "I promise nothing, but you amuse me so I do not wish your death." He conceeded and the one who had threatened Skraal snapped it's jaws in his direction.

"Spot your yapping, we have a job to do and it does not include awnsering these meat sacks." He roared towards Dron. Dron didn't look to put off by the out burst but seemed even more amused.

"Brother this would be one of those reasons I talk about why the queen favors me over you." He seemed to tease.

 

Ceri’s ankle seemed to appreciate the rest, the pain dulling from complete agony to a mere intense throbbing. Sat back against her tree, Ceri was able to watch the rest of the group curiously. She flicked a stray curl out of her eyes to see better, wincing slightly as her fingers brushed the gash on her forehead.

Snarly still maintained his broody, hulking demeanour, and was even more tense and waspish than usual – a sign, Ceri took it, of his worry for Dora. She was a little surprised he hadn’t sprinted off after the younger girl.

Madeline was stood nearby, chewing her lip and looking paler than usual. Ceri could see the same anxiety she felt herself in the other girl’s movements, her sharp gaze trying to penetrate the mist as though she would suddenly see Dora running back towards them.

Ben was the most surprising of all. He had approached one of the metal beasts and actually struck up conversation with it. Ceri couldn’t read the creature’s expressions, but Ben’s smile and easy stance reassured her than he didn’t feel threatened. The other metal creatures didn’t seem to like their brother talking with Ben any more than the humans did, which, oddly enough, relieved Ceri – if he did not meant to kill them, like his brethren, Ben may have just found them a much needed ally.

Of Dora, there was still no sign. Ceri kept counting the seconds, hoping to see the familiar, slight figure topped with her curly mop coming towards them through the mist.

Partly to distract herself, partly out of curiosity, she addressed Madeline. “This place is like a bad dream. I feel like I’m in one of my story books – angels, demons, dragons, and tests set by strange creatures,” Ceri half smiled, then asked, “What do you think our tests will be?”

 

The beast took a long time freeing itself from the trap, finanly seceeding it limped over to where the girl had run. "You pass." It said anger evident in it's voice. "I am under orders to complement you on your creativity." He snarled, and then proceeded to limp back towards the group.

Dora couldn't help but think that she had injured its pride more than it's leg. It mumbled something about humans as the group came back into view slowly. "She passed." It anounced angerly.

 

Ben nodded and turned towards his pack. He figured he was going to have to battle the beast and so would need his weapons. He laughed to himself as he thought about his weapons: A sword and that pineapple shaped thing.

In his mind the word grenade came to his mind and then his mind was flooded with how to use it and a moving image of what happened when activated and tossed. He wondered how he all of a sudden knew what to do with it but was glad that this had come to his mind just now.

The grim look on his face was replaced with a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye as he grabbed the grenade and hung it on his belt. He held the sword in his hand and turned back toward Dron.

His smile changed to one of happiness when he saw Dora and the small beast returning; limping. When they were close enough he heard the beast angrily say that she had passed her test.

 

Si and Cassie danced for an hour or so and then returned to the table. The commander had gotten them new drinks and Si downed hers. The commander and the others decided to go dancing, leaving Si and Cassie sitting there. "You know something Cassie, you're awesome. Seriously, your my best friend, and you're always there for me. As long as you're here I know things will turn out alright. I love you so much. Also I have to say, you....you are the hottest girl here. And I mean that. These other girls have nothing on you. You're just amazing." said Si in a slightly slurred speech. She then orders another drink from the nearby waitress.

 

hortensio ambled along the avenue, where already the average folk who where also enjoying the ambient atmosphere began to alter their course and return home. As he ambled he moved his newly acquired piece of funny metal over and and through his fingers. as that is all he could describe it as...it was not shiny, but mat white, with a black strip alone one side, but it was not fabric, nor was it hard enough to be bronze or 'titanium'...what ever that was.

as he mused he still could not shake the sinking sensation of something sequacious stalking him under the soft and near sensual scintillation of the over head lights. he decided to take action and turned a corner, then hid against the wall in the shadows waiting for the possible perpetrator and perforator of his personal bubble.

the street was eary and quiet, and it wasn't long before a soft hummmmm could be heard, then ever so slowly a small floating metallic machine moved around the corner, strafing sideways so to see the entire street before continuing on it stalking ways.

popping out of the shadows Hortensio grabbed the...head of the mordent mass of mechatronics and shook it saying loudly and with a great deal of caustic tone "why are you following me!"

the gravity defying metal machine's only reply was; " STOOOooOOOPP SHAAAaaaAAAKINNG MEEeeEEE"

Hortensio stopped the assault on his would be assailant and asked the question again, where by 'fairy' who had now stopped rattling answered

"sorry chief but the others wernt interesting, and i thought you might be up to something and by Satan's underbelly you were! naught naughty!"

"you saw me?-"

"well chief, to tell you the truth id thought that you would have been caught a while ago, what with that card having a tracking UHF transmitter and all"

"a tracking what" Hortensio whispered looking around at all the sombre shadows in the street. "why didnt you tell me"

"well chief i can fix it. or i could make you a copy of the card"

"you can do that?" he asked in awe of the automated assembly of allotted alloys.

"sure can chief, see you want me around. i can see it" and for added dramatic effect his 'eyes' moved in and out of focus with a mechanical- waaaaarrrp woorrrrp wweeewwww.

still slightly more than suspicious he asked "but if they stop tracking then wont they know the card has been stolen?" Hortensio had up until now been against talking to the machine that is generally hovering around cassie, as it made him most uncomfortable. but now being able to see the merrits of the little guy/thing he was kicking him self for not enganging in conversation sooner.

"its a gamble...chief"

"how do you make a copy?"

"i need another card for that one chief." as it happens, as fairy spoke these words, Hortensio scanned the street he sighted a small regular rectangle made of white 'funny metal' and a black stripe on the side facing him. on retrieval he asked fairy.

"will this suffice"

"quite nicely" this was the first time it did not refer to Hortensio as chief

"chief, just pop the card in here chief." and spun slightly for the card slot on fairy to be viewable. also making up for his forgotten 'chief'

he inserted the origional, then when it came out inserted the other coincidentally opportune card " why is it that you have this coincidentally convenient card slot fairy"

"it origionally was so people couldn't turn me on if i was stolen, back in the good old days, i was a very important fairy you know!" the new card popped out and Hortensio studied the identical cards. put the new old one in his right pocket and the copied one in his left. then set off on his way to the hotel, circled in red on his map.

"thanks fairy"

"no probs chief"

"stop calling me chief"

"as you like boss" Hortensio new he wasnt going to win, and left it at that.

 

Cassie took a long draught from the glass. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt alarm bells going off at what Si had just said, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. She passed them off as nothing and laughed. She gave Si a half-hug with one arm.

"Thanks, hon. Love you too." She tossed back the rest of her drink. She had definitely overshot the limit. Her concerns seemed to melt back, the situation around her seemed more and more amusing, and the music blaring seemed to start sounding better and better.

 

"So my freind you are ready to be tested then?" He asked, seeming to become more menicing as he changed the way he was standing. He shifted his wieght back onto his hind legs. Ben braced himself and prepared to react. Then the beast relaxed.

"Lets play riddles. Three guesses each, I shall go first." He said much to Ben's surprise.

"Feed me and I Live

Give me Drink and I Die

What Am I? "

 

Madeline considered her answer, thinking back to the only test she could remember. Most of the people she had spent her teenage years with, had been devious and at times cruel. She remembered her initiation test into their group and her chest became tight. Her hands reached toward the blade she no longer had.

'Some way to prove ourselves. Probably intelligence, stamina, courage.' She paused and her mind flashed back to a dark memory, full of screamed pleas and the sour smell of blood. Her fingers traced the scar across her throat. 'Stomach.'

Dora came limping out of the mist, and Mad smiled at the curly haired girl, relieved.

Ben had walked forward to be tested, but she barely listened to the riddle. Her dark memories had surfaced. Madeline walked back to sit at Ceri's side. She folded her knees to her chest and looped her arms around them. She rested her head on her knees and tried to psyche herself up for whatever was coming.

 

During the hug, Si moved her hand down to the side of Cassie's hip and said "You and I should totally get a place together when we move here. Then we can learn about *hic* there magi tech stuff together. Also I bet this place has awesome books about all kinds of stuff."

After They both sit down, Si noticed that Cassie finished off her drink. Si goes ahead and finished her drink. "Hey what-ever-you-are-called, waiteris or something, me and my friend could use some more drinks. I'll have another one of those, um..., coke and rum drinks and she'll have what she just finished off."

After the waitress walks away, Si nearly falls out of her chair. Though she ended up leaning right against Cassie. "Wow, that's never happened before. You have a comfy *hic* shoulder by the way."

 

By the time another hour had passed, both of them were quite drunk. Si continued to flirt with Cassie, who couldn't seem to stop laughing. A couple times, a few guys would try and approach them, but Si would tell them off, explaining that her and Cassie were a couple. To this, Cassie could only laugh harder.

She climbed back half-onto her chair after her giggles had resulted in her falling over. She emptied her seventh glass of the booze, and put it back on the table, letting out a long breath. She looked up at Si.

"Well." She said, her speech a little too loud, and quite slurred. "Shall we get back to the hotel?"

 

Ceri looked curiously up at Madeline, wondering what the other girl was remembering when she traced the scar at her neckline. Before she could ask, however, she was distracted by Dora reappearing through the mist. The curly haired girl was limping slightly, and had a few cuts and scrapes, but didn’t look too much the worse for wear.

A grin of relief broke over Ceri’s face when the metal beast announced that Dora had passed, and, lifting a hand, she waved to her friend as Madeline dropped down to sit beside her.

“Thank the gods!” Ceri breathed.

Then it was Ben’s turn. And his test … riddles. Ceri leaned forward curiously to hear the first one.

“Feed me and I live,
Give me drink and I die.
What am I?”

Ben’s brow immediately furrowed in thought, and Ceri let her own mind wander over the lines of the riddle. Feed me … I live … give me drink … I die … Closing her eyes, Ceri visualised the words before her, then opened her eyes again as the answer popped into her head.

It was always simple when you knew the answer. Ceri just hoped that Ben did know it.

 

Si looked around and noticed a lot of the guys looked at them and smiled after Cassie's comment. "I wonder what they're smiling about."

"Oh um,*hic* sure. Do you by chance remember the way back. I can't seem to remember right now." said Si as she giggled. "I hope the commander doesn't think it's rude of us to just leave, but I don't see her around to be able to tell her. A forget, lets just go. I want to see that magic panel some more. I think I heard others in here call it tv."

 

Skraal stared at the dragons with amusement, though some how he respected what they were doing. Skraal was more than confident in Dora. He saw Ben preparing to answer his first riddle and Suojio stood mouth open at the beasts.

Occasionally one would snap at Skraal as if in taunt but never furthered the gesture. Skraal turned to Madeline and approached her, she seemed shaken and worried what might happen should she fail.

Skraal placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Worry not lass if you are pure and know in your heart you cannot fail.” Skraal said in a low whisper for her ears only.

“Besides if you do. We can always find out what these metal pineapples actually do once the round pins removed.” He whispered with a snigger.

Skraal had a feeling they wouldn’t test him after all he’d already proved his might, but he wondered if Madeline and Suojio would pass a test.

Come what may he mused.

 

Cassie thought for a minute. It was very hazy. She pulled out the little notepad she had written the directions down on. She squinted to try and bring her writing into focus. The words and the small map awakened a few memories that the alcohol had put to sleep.

"I think so." Cassie rose and almost fell over again, but found her footing clumsily, and waited a few seconds for the dizziness to pass. She took Si's hand and they headed towards the door. As they left, they saw Jacqueline near the bar; red-faced and drunk, getting pawed by one of the guys she came with.

They left the building and emerged in the dark back alley. The air was cool and crisp, and it made Cassie feel a little less drunk than she was. She led the way back to the hotel, and it took twice as long as it should have. A few times she got lost and disoriented, and just wandered about until something looked familiar.

By the time they returned to the hotel, and their rooms, they were both feeling quite sick. Cassie shed her jacket, and laid on the bed, putting a hand to her forehead.

 

As Si was lead through the city by Cassie, she couldn't help but noticed all of the bright neon lights shining. "I guess that my flashlight would be overly useful around here." said Si as she laughed a little. Once back at the hotel room, she took her boots off and followed Cassie into the bedroom. She flopped down on the bed next to Cassie. Si curled against her and said "Cassie...I....think....I...." before falling asleep.

 

I had talked to the girl for a little while and found out that her father was from the wall and then she smiled at me grabbing ahold of my hand and dragging me. "Come on, I'll show you around." She said and even though it sounded like an offer it felt like an order.

The first place she dragged me was called the Movies. She had insisted the I pay, and that it was traditional around here, even if it was her idea and more or less order for me to follow her around.

The movie it turned out was a horror flick about an angel in full armor going on a killing spree around a city simular to this. About half way through the movie, the tension on the rise, the angel stalking the hero (I had been told that this was simular to a book, except with pictures and sound) when I felt her arms wrap around the top of mine, she leaned in close, holding tight. The angel apeared and the girl burried her head in my shoulder and screamed.

I felt my face turning red as she held me tight, not sure what or how to react. She clung to me the rest of the movie, and I noticed that people still staired at me as we walked. "Now as thanks for the movie." She said dragging me into a large building called a mall. "Oh, and I'm brenda by the way." She added as she dragged me to a clothing store. She picked out some clothes and ushered me into a changeing room and ordered me to try them on.

A wife beater with a plain white short sleaved shirt over it and a pair of blue jeans with a small dragon logo on the back right pocket. I tired the on and several others simular to this and she nodded in approval each time I stepped out causing me to feel like a cow being judge if it was ready for slaughter. Finally I changed back into my armor and clothes and she dragged me to the cashier and had me pay for the clothes.

I had hopped things would slow down, seeing how I had no idea where I was but she pushed me into a bathroom with new orders to change into some of the clothes I had brought. I changed and stepped out of the bathroom, a large bag at my side holding all my stuff except my bronze chest plate which I wore over the white shirts. She simled at the look.

"You're missing something." She commented and proceeded to drag me to a store that sold nothing but leather. She paused, selected a plain black leather jacket and threw it over my arms half dressing me herself, and then pushed me infront of a mirrior. "So what do you think, much better right?" She asked and I pulled the jacket forward so it was completely on my shoulders. I couldn't help but smile at myself. I had to admit I liked the look.

"I like it." I said and to my suprise she smacked me on the butt and statted that she liked it too. Soon after that she led me back to the hotel, and took out a small piece of paper and wrote down some numbers on it and handed it to me. "Whats that?" I asked and she seemed to blush for the first time.

"It's my number, if you dial that into a phone it'll get me, I was kind of hoping you might call me tommorow, my dad owns a smiths shop even though one isn't needed and I'm sure he'd let you fix your dents." She said and I smiled.

"See you tommorow then." I said and she smiled and walked off quickly. I got to my room exausted and went to bed.

 

Madeline looked up at Skraal, grateful for the attempt at reassurance. 'If you mean morally pure then I'm screwed.' She smiled wryly and looked at the strange metal spikey things. 'But yeah, I'm curious too.'

She was only glad that she hadn't got the riddle test. I never was any good at school, she mused.