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part eight.
IP: 95.149.90.190
Posted on December 22, 2010 at 03:34:46 AM by georgia

----------------------- PART EIGHT Ordinarily, that level of fury radiating from Joel would be enough to send Aura (who is more than a little intimidated by the former even when he isn't angry) fleeing for cover, but today of all days she can't afford to be scared. She tries to ignore him, but it's difficult when his heavy eyebrows are knitted together above glaring dark eyes - especially when she can understand his frustration. No one in Set-Merut had received any word of explanation; all she did upon her return was to organise the two groups, tell them the plan and use divinity against them to mute their arguments. She'd deliberately chosen people she'd thought would be least likely to deviate from said plan out of resentment - with the exception of Joel, who she's keeping close by her. Several telepaths have already reached out to her mind, but she'd flatly blocked them to avoid further questions. It had required a magical spell to bar Arthur and Adonis from physically leaving the island (both, she knows, would have tried to help the minute her back is turned). Somehow, Aura doesn't think she's going to be particularly popular when she returns to Apeliotes Island. If. If she returns. She and Joel are crouched in the shallows at Midnight Shores, taking cover behind some rocks. The minute they touch land, they'll be on Per-a'a Nakht's territory and Gwythr will be alerted of their presence. Aura edges out behind the rocks, getting as close as she dares. "Remember," she urges him, "don't use magic unless it looks like things are going wrong. Then only do what I told you to do." He folds his arms and scowls heavily at her. "I'm not your nanny, kid." She ignores this. "Just do it." Fairy souls are partially solid; they have a physical presence within the fairy's body. Under this theory, they can be telekinetically moved around - providing the magician is skilled enough to handle the soul with the delicacy it requires and has advanced to the stage where they can shift objects within a body. Aura would trust no one other than Joel to do this. She fills his mind brush hers briefly before carefully taking hold of the minute conscious fragment of her soul and pressing it beneath the subconscious wild phoenix. 'Why me?' Castiel thinks grimly to himself as he sits hunched under a bush outside the Shady Labyrinth. Truthfully, this mission scares him. Even without Mallos inside, the labyrinth is still a dangerous place filled with monsters and powerful soldiers. Why would Aura pick a lowly, humble man like himself to penetrate it? Surely Arthur or Ewan would be best suited to the task - especially considering they had both entered Mallos' palace before and knew their way around? Castiel would feel much better if he could at least have someone with him to watch his back, but Aura had refused to consider it. The whole plan counts on him getting in and out without being noticed; the more people he has with him, the less likely he is to accomplish this. It's a good thing he doesn't take his eyes off the palace for a moment, because it happens very quickly. Mallos materialises outside the palace, takes half a step forward and soars into the air - within seconds he's crossed the border and vanished into the clouds. That was it. The signal. Taking a deep breath, Castiel summons his courage and sneaks out behind the shrubbery. Luckily the rain and the darkness will cover him for a while... providing nobody notices what he does next. Drawing light from the glimmering beads of water cascading around him, Castiel swiftly constructs a staircase of light outside the palace leading up to the nearest open window several stories up. If it's a drain on his energy he's too pumped full of adrenaline to notice. Careful to dispel the light behind him, he climbs through the window and jumps into the room. Inside. Yes! There's a staircase in the room next door and Castiel begins his descent, praying that nobody is coming up the other way. He reaches the ground floor without incident and has to search around for another stairway, ducking behind a suit of armour as two of Mallos' soldiers patrol past. Close shave. Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, the young man tiptoes down the corridor until he comes across a door ajar with another staircase leading down within it. Following Aura's instructions, he continues down, feeling the air gradually cool on his face as he descends into the dungeons. Mallos won't be taking chances with Poppy; if she's anywhere, she'll be down here. Aura had been right about everything so far - it's probably only to be expected that, after getting this far, she would be wrong about something. She'd given Castiel a special dagger which should slice away the protective spells Mallos would have put over Poppy to keep her in place and two telepotions to get them both out, but she spells she'd expected of him he hadn't used. The door to her cell is unlocked and there isn't a hint of magic in the air - but there is one other, slightly larger problem. She's unconscious. Again. 'Great,' Cas thinks as he gazes down at her peacefully sleeping form. 'Now what?' It's taking every ounce of willpower Joel has to be a good boy and stay behind that freakin' rock. This has always been a bad plan, always - but would she listen? Women! It's a simple enough strategy frought with dangers. Aura had intended to use herself as bait to draw Mallos out of the Shady Labyrinth, in order to give Castiel a chance to break in and free Poppy. There are too many 'what ifs' in this plan for Joel's liking... the whole thing depends on the fact that Mallos has few followers, so if he isn't there Castiel is less likely to run into someone who could stop him... but what if he does? What if Mallos won't be drawn out of the Shady Labyrinth? What if he is, and he overpowers Aura, recaptures her and this whole mess starts all over again? It's ridiculous. The only thing stopping him from pulling them out of this is the knowledge that if he does, he'll leave Castiel exposed to additional dangers. Mallos does come. That was always the lowest risk. He'd have been able to sense Aura from his palace, stumbling around without her consciousness, and he hadn't been able to resist the opportunity to try and recapture her while she's in this vulnerable state. Luckily, Aura's phoenix subconscious doesn't seem to be in the mood to be captured, and when he'd appeared she'd backed away from him, hissing like a cornered cat. He approaches her slowly, apparantly wary of tapping into his magic in case she counters it with hers. Joel had rather been hoping that she'll turn and flee, causing Mallos to give chace, but she holds her ground and spits at his feet. Evidently, Aura's phoenix unconscious soul doesn't like Mallos any more than her fairy conscious fragment does. The fight is brief; without magic, Mallos is physically much stronger than Aura and it doesn't take him long to overpower her. She's still snarling and trying to bite his fingers even as he has her pinned grimly to a palm tree. Joel can't see his face, but he can imagine his smug smile and his (Joel's) hands curl into furious fists. Unable to stand it any longer, he reaches out with his telekinesis and triumphantly snaps Aura's soul back into place, returning her to full consciousness. Castiel peers out of the door. All clear. Cautiously he tiptoes out and down the corridor, the unconscious Poppy floating along behind him telekinetically. If they both make it out of here alive it'll be a miracle. No messing around with stairs this time - it's straight out the front door. In fairness to Cas, they almost make it... almost. Unfortunately, almost doesn't quite cut it in the Intelligence game. He's barely taken two steps out of the heavy palace door when two things happen at once: a shriek from Poppy indicates her return to consciousness, and the wail of an alarm indicates that she's moments away from being knocked back into slumberland.

Replies:

• part seven. - By georgia December 20, 2010 at 09:58:52 PM
• part six. - By georgia December 19, 2010 at 07:26:40 PM
• part five. - By georgia December 19, 2010 at 04:56:50 AM
• part four. - By georgia December 19, 2010 at 04:44:25 AM
• part three. - By georgia December 19, 2010 at 04:41:29 AM
• part two. - By georgia December 19, 2010 at 04:37:40 AM
• part one. - By georgia December 15, 2010 at 03:04:53 AM

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