Malevein Part H
Mar. 9th, 2005 08:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljHere's the next part of Malevein for those of you who don't get it on Yahoo. I understand the group it's on has picked up a bad rep, so I'm not going to pimp it. I first joined it 'cause the archive isn't updated as often as I'd like, but you can get fic in other places if you want it.
Xander glanced up from the calculations he was doing when he sensed Elaira returning. Truthfully he was grateful to put them aside - his style of magic was highly mathematical in nature, but transdimensional transportation required postulates and concepts that he just didn't have, or even have any reference for. And he didn't have the artistic flair that would let him go on instinct - he probably wouldn't have managed to master so much of the theoretical aspects if he did. He had the feeling that Willow had just had power to burn and an undisciplined artistic gift for magic, and that Giles had much less power, coupled with a disciplined, trained artistic gift for magic, while he lacked the artistic gift and had to do it the hard way. He had enough time before Elaira got back to make a run to the kitchen and at least get some cold food to eat, even if he didn't have time to cook something. When he got there he was in luck, one of his men was just finishing cooking a big pot of stew.
"There's enough for you to take some if you want, my lord."
"Is there enough for all of my following here, Erant?"
"Yes, my lord. In fact if you hadn't come down here I was going to bring some to you."
"Then could you dish out some for me, and some for Elaira? I'll grab some bread to go with it." Xander ended up with two bowls of stew on a tray, and a large loaf of bread too. He'd just put it down on a table in his room and cast a spell to keep it warm when Elaira arrived.
"Elaira, how did it go today, my snowfalcon?" He pulled his lifebonded into his arms as he asked his question.
"Well, all of your feal following have consorts, and we've each acquired a personal servant. All the elves in the first two harems wanted to be under your protection. With the last harem all we could do was kill the gang who'd been abusing them and give them a basic start." Elaira stepped back from him, a slight frown on her face, from the thought of how little help they could give, then she smield again. "Oh, and Taris collected some money from the bodies of the gangs we killed, he gave it to me." She hefted the purse tied to her belt meaningfully. "What about you, how did the work you were doing go?"
"Not too well. I don't mind staying here, but I have to at least let the people back in my world know that I'm alright, that I wasn't taken against my will or anything. So I was trying to work out a spell for dimensional travel, but I just can't get my head around the mathematics, I can't even figure out the correct assumptions to make."
"Why not use All Hallow's Even to get the postulates you need? Is there someone in your universe of in some fiction you've read who would understand the mathematics?" Xander bit his lip at that - it would work, but he wasn't sure that it was good for him to become as dependent on the boosts he could get from that spell as he was.
"Yes, Stephen Hawking, a famous, genius physicist - among other things - in my world would probably have the postulates, and he'd certainly understand the tensor form notation I need to use to get this right, but...I'm worried that I might be getting too dependent on acessing other people's abilities, it feels like too much of a quick fix, and a cheat."
"But, if you have no other way of getting what you need..." Elaira trailed off reluctantly.
"I'll think about it, and for that matter I might be able to think of someone better to copy." Xander forced a smile at Elaira. "Now, I brought some food for us, so why don't we eat?"
They ate, and talked about minor things, then Elaira bit her lip, as if she was worried about something.
"What is it Elaira?"
"I'm going to have to go out again tomorrow, to do some more. And Princess Arilyn and Lord Thann are both coming to me for a Mindhealing session."
"Then I'll go for a run or something while they're here. I've been cooped up all day, and perhaps running will help me work things out in my head. I'll think about your suggestions as well."
~~~0~~~
Elaira stretched, trying to work out some of the kinks in her shoulders from the stress of trying to help restore Lord Thann and Princess Arilyn to something like they had been before the Malevein arrived and of worrying about the elves she hadn't been able to get to that day. Lord Xander had gone out to do something while she took care of Lord Thann and Princess Arilyn as promised, and she just hoped he got back quickly.
"You want me to get that for you?" He did, appearing in the doorway as if summoned by her errant thought, but she didn't quite understand what he was talking about.
"My lord?"
"Amberdrake is an expert at massage, therapeutic mostly, but other types as well. Would you like me to put that expertise to work on you?"
"Please, my lord." Elaira pulled her tunic off and was lying on the bed in a heartbeat.
"I don't actually have any massage oil, would you be willing to ken some first?" Lord Xander sounded embarrassed by that, as if it was his fault that she hadn't realised that he'd need oil to do a proper job of giving her a massage.
"Of course." She quickly kenned a bowl of oil scented with cinnamon and lay back down.
Lord Xander worked on her back in silence, rubbing the knots out of her muscles and as he worked she could feel herself relaxing. Then something that had been bothering her on and off since Lord Xander introduced himself floated up in her mind, and this time she voiced it.
"My lord, you only ever use one name, but you gave me two. Do you not have another name?"
"Two other names I suppose. My full name's Alexander LaVelle Harris, but I prefer the shortened form of my first name, Xander, I hate my middle name, and my surname reminds me too much of the waste of flesh that is my 'father'."
"You could choose another second name, my lord."
"Hmm, yes. And when I visit my home dimension I can legally change it, just in case. But I'm not sure what I could call myself, unless you have any ideas?" Elaira could tell from his emotions that Lord Xander was completely serious, so she gave the matter some consideration.
"LaVelle is french for the wolf, is it not, my lord? And you are as protective of those you care for as a wolf would be. But Wolf alone would not be enough. What about Darkwolf? For your colouring as well."
"Sounds like a Kaled'a'in or Tayledras name, and it won't be so accurate when it come to colouring if I ever get into using too much node power, that bleaches out the hair and eyes, but...yes, it sounds good. So, you are Elaira Silverhair, and I am Xander Darkwolf."
"Actually I patterned it on the majority of elven surnames, my lord."
"I'm flattered." And even though he laughed Elaira knew that Lord Xander, Lord Darkwolf, truly was flattered that she'd suggest an elven style surname for him. Her back and shoulders were feeling great now, so she rolled over and smiled up at him.
"My lord, please take me." Her arms reached for him, open in invitation, and he let her pull him down. Her lifebonded was an incredibly talented lover, he'd been wonderful the first time they were together, and she'd thought the first time was supposed to hurt, even for a woman, but after that he'd become even better.
~~~0~~~
Afterwards Xander began kissing Elaira again. It was silly he knew, but he enjoyed kissing and holding his lovers as much as actually having sex with them, and even more with Elaira than he had with anyone else. He supposed that it was because he wanted and needed an emotional connection to the women he took to bed, not the stranger sex he'd had with Faith. He'd enjoyed holding Anya more as their relationship deepened, and when they'd got back together during the lead up to the final confrontation with the First he hadn't wanted to hold her at all, or do more than just fuck her really - it had been all physical, partly because he'd still been angry with her about what her victim had done to him, and how everyone had ignored that. Later he'd figured out that the ball her victim had used to show him a possible future had been enchanted to encourage him to believe, but his Spellshield only worked on actively hostile magic, physical threats and outright compulsion, and he'd only thought to bring in that aspect after the Dracula mess.
"My lord?" Elaira sounded sleepily sexy, and Xander loved that.
"Yes, my snowfalcon?"
"If you are going to stay here should you not have a home in Waterdeep?"
"I meant stay here as in stay in this dimension, but yes, if you want us to live in Waterdeep, or at least set up a home here then of course we can. How would you like to do that?"
"I own, or used to own a lot of property, I thought that perhaps I could show you which houses used to be mine on the map of Waterdeep in the illusion room and you could choose whichever one best suits your needs and desires. We will need more servants than we have if you choose to maintain a house here though."
"Will that be a problem?"
"Of course not my lord, but do you know what you wish to do in this world?" Elaira was bringing up things that Xander was worried about himself, he was a good carpenter in his world, and he'd made a minor hobby of carving smaller things, but he had the feeling that he wouldn't be up to this world's standards. He was a very powerful sorcerer now, and equally skilled, and just as good a fighter, but he wasn't entirely sure how to apply that to actually making money.
"I'm not exactly sure, do you have any ideas?"
"I lived in the grey area, not quite legal things, after my Moonblade rejected me, and before the Malevein came. But you could talk to Lord Thann later perhaps. I had a lot of land holdings, but since I'm unrecognisable and didn't leave a will they'll probably be grabbed by whoever's closest and has enough power to hold it. Still, I think you can get ownership of my holdings in Waterdeep, and they should be able to pay for themselves and enough to keep up at least one house here. As long as the managers don't try to cheat you that is."
"You don't want to get ownership of your holdings back yourself?" This was incomprehensible to Xander, if it was Elaira's property it should still be hers, and she should try to get it back.
"No, my lord. It would be too difficult to convince people that I was Elaith Craulnober, and if I did they'd expect me to be as I was, and I don't want to be that." Xander could understand that, Giles, Willow, Buffy, none of them had seemed capable of seeing how he'd changed since high school, and even after the Sunnydale Hellmouth was destroyed their behaviour reflected that.
"I see. Do you think there'd be a problem with expecting any of my men's consorts who don't want to relearn how to fight to do general upkeep work in the house we move into?"
"You mean cooking and cleaning? I don't think so, but if you decide not to stay there all the time there could be problems, I mean the consorts would have to stay at the house, but your men would want to come with you."
"Maybe, maybe not, but let's do that to start with, hmm?"
"As you wish my lord." Then they turned their attention to other matters and eventually fell asleep.
~~~0~~~
Elaira rose first, she lifted up on her elbow and looked down at Lord Darkwolf for a moment. She couldn't quite understand how it was that he'd had so few attachments back in his world that he was willing to leave, that no one seemed to have recognised how wonderful he was, but she was grateful for it.
She slid out of bed, dressed and made her way to the room she'd left the elves who hadn't been chosen by one of Lord Darkwolf's men in. It was only accessible through the rooms where the men slept, so they were safe enough.
"I want one or two of you to go to the kitchen and prepare something hot for breakfast for my lord and myself. One of our men will guide you and protect you - and it might help if some more of you went and cooked enough for all of them."
"Yes Lady Silverhair." It was the green elf who'd acted as spokesman for the first harem who responded. "When will you and Lord Xander decide which of us will serve as your personal servants?"
"We won't. We'll just take whichever of you don't end up as consorts. And he's Lord Darkwolf. I never asked before because it didn't seem to matter. Also, plans have changed a little. Any consort who does not wish to relearn how to fight, and who does not wish to spend more than the minimum time on it will be expected to help keep the house we'll be moving to soon in order, and help put it in order. Now, I believe I gave you orders?"
They ran to obey, something Elaira found vaguely amusing, she was used to being feared, but after what the Malevein had one she would have clung to any other elf who showed the slightest sympathy for her, and she'd expected the same sort of reation from the other elves. But then she'd been alone, without any sort of support, and these elves had had each other at least.
Shaking her head she returned to her bedroom, noticing that Lord Darkwolf had woken because of her absence in his bed, and she liked that in a way, not that she'd disturbed his rest, but that he was so aware of her that he'd notice her absence even when asleep.
"Where did you go, my snowfalcon?"
"Put our new servants to work, making us breakfast, my lord. And I could have them tidy this place up a bit and wash our dirty clothes if you want to do some sparring this morning, before I leave."
"No, tempting as that is you'll want to be at full power and not tired out or anything when you go to free those enslaved elves. You can show me the properties you own, alright used to own," He lifted one hand to forestall her instinctive protest at his declaration of her ownership of what had been hers. "and I'll decide which one I want to move us into today. We can move tomorrow, or possibly the day after."
"Yes, my lord, that's a good idea, but what about the men who are serving as Lord Thann's messengers?"
"They shouldn't have any problem staying here for a day and night, and I can check daily to see if they've returned."
They didn't continue the conversation, because that's when their new servants arrived with breakfast. Elaira gave them their new orders then, and after eating she showed Lord Darkwolf where her one-time properties were.
~~~0~~~
Xander whistled at what Elaira was showing him - she'd owned three houses that could best be described as mansions, four inns besides the one they were in, and two other buildings, and that was in Waterdeep alone. To use a colloquialism from his world - she'd been loaded, and still would be if it wasn't for her insistance that what she had owned belonged to him now.
"What about other cities? You said you had business interests outside of Waterdeep."
"Probably about four times what I had in Waterdeep in total, more towards business interests there though. I was based more in Waterdeep than anywhere else." Elaira shrugged casually. "If you don't mind, my lord, I'd like to try and get started on helping the other slaves now, we might get more done that way."
"Sure, but I'm going to want you to ken sixty-four silver rings just like the copper ones. Today or tomorrow I'll take down the spell I've got on this place, since we don't need to keep it a secret any more, and I'll be putting a security spell on whichever place we move into."
"I can do those tonight if you wish, my lord."
"Please." Xander smiled at Elaira, letting his gratitude show. He could have just used the copper rings, but it would be far easier to cast a new spell on a new set of rings, a spell with fewer restrictions, than to try and 'reach out' to modify the spell curently on the rings of his men and their consorts, especially since he'd also have to make sure he altered the spell only on those rings and not the others.
"Then I'll leave now, my lord." The the elf frowned, as if she'd just remembered something. "My lord, I thought you were planning to work on your spell to return to your home dimension for a visit, have you decided against doing that?"
"No, I still plan to visit my home world, but it can wait. I can probably adjust the time factor as well while we're crossing dimensions, returning to not long after I left, and like I said before, I just don't have the right postulates to design that spell at the moment. When Danilo's got time I'll ask him about the spell that brought me here, that might help, and if it doesn't I'll use All Hallow's Even with someone my friend Willow told me about once. I'll be working more with the myth of Nikola Tesla than the reality, but that will certainly give me what I want."
"I do not understand my lord, but then I do not need to." Elaira smiled up at Xander and then left. Xander shook his head in exasperation, he liked it that she trusted him so much, and felt that she didn't need to understand what he did, as long as he was content, but he didn't understand how accepting she was of whatever he did.
Xander decided to treat checking out Elaira's old properties as if he was appartment hunting back in his own world, only without having someone there to show him around. He could easily explore himself, and he spent an hour in each house, finally picking out the house that seemed to be the best suited for his men to live in as well, and most easily defendable, with high, thick walls surrounding the grounds, and thick, strong walls in the building itself.
~~~0~~~
Danilo found himself smiling at Elaira's pleasure at having cleared out five harems in one day, rather than just three as the day before. It wasn't as if he had anything else he could usefully do anyway. Elaira seemed to take his pleasure as a signal that she could start a conversation.
"My lord, do you know what will be happening, with all of us, when Lord Piergeiron returns?"
"Not really, but we've got a lot of work to do to get Waterdeep back to anything approaching the level it was at. I recommended that Xander's men be used as part of the core to rebuild our guard, and that Xander be given a position in it, do you think he would accept?"
"I think so, or perhaps some other position where he can defend the city from outside attack, at least for a while. But Lord Darkwolf does intend to return to his world for a visit at least. He feels he has some obligation to do so."
"Lord Darkwolf? That's a new name, is it his surname?"
"It is now. Lord Darkwolf disliked his original surname, so he permitted me to give him a new one. But, we will be moving tomorrow, to one of my old houses, his houses now, and he intends to take down the spell that was masking our base, as it is not longer needed. Will that be a problem, Lord Thann?"
"Why would it? They're your property, or Xander's if you'd prefer..." Then the surprise on Elaira's face cued Danilo that she wasn't asking about that she was asking about the fact that Xander was taking down the spell on their base and moving out. Danilo decided that he actually needed to give that question a little consideration. "Can I have a few moments to think about that?"
"If you wish Lord Thann." Elaira frowned then, as if she was thinking of something. "But, I doubt I'll be able to dissuade my lord from moving, and if you wish the concealment spell on our base left up, assuming Lord Darkwolf hasn't already taken it down, I will need to know by the time we get there."
"Very well." Danilo spent the quarter of an hour while they walked back to their base deep in thought. Losing the close contact they'd had with Xander could be considered a serious blow, but on the other hand, as long as he was willing to help protect Waterdeep and keep a semblance of order here Danilo didn't really need to see or speak with him every day. And anyway there was nothing he could do about that, so he focused on the one thing he could possibly affect: the concealment spell. Xander had originally put it up to protect them from the Malevein, thinking they'd last longer than they actually had - Danilo couldn't help feeling embarrassed at how much trouble he'd been having against the Malevein before when Xander had defeated them inside of a month - so on that level it was no longer necessary. But on the other hand all the humans, only humans, elves had been kept as bed toys, and the dwarves had all heeded Elaith's warnings and gotten out of Waterdeep or died fighting the Malevein, who'd collaborated with the Malevein were mostly still here even if they were disorganised now. And that was the key point, their enemies now were disorganised. andthen, he hadn't considered how his messengers would guide Lord Piergeiron and his men to their base.
"Elaira, Xander's right, we don't need the concealment spell any more. If he wants to take it down let him."
Immediately after he'd eaten Xander came to talk to Danilo, and spent nearly an hour interrogating him on the details of how he'd cast the spell that brought Xander here, and as a result Danilo was grateful to be rid of Xander.
~~~0~~~
"My lord, did Lord Thann have enough information to be of assistance to you in creating your new spell?" Elaira looked up from the rings and coins she was kenning when Lord Darkwolf returned. She was a little glad to have an excuse to take a break, she'd been working on those since he'd left and it was getting tiring. But she had made all the rings Lord Darkwolf needed and kenned enough coin to cover the stipends of his men and their consorts for more than a month.
"I don't know. I can try to work out the spell I need with what I learned from him, but if I can't get anywhere within a month or so then I'll settle for using All Hallow's Even and Nikola Tesla, the myth, not the man." Lord Xander was letting Elaira see that he was uncertain about his skills and that scared Elaira a bit, but it also told her a little about how much he trusted her. "What are you going to do after tomorrow, about the harems? I don't think Danilo will still be willing to follow you around to give you magical back up, and it would be a bit awkward."
"I think that I could deal with the people who guard the harems well enough by myself, so unless you wish otherwise I could continue to help them?" Elaira hoped that Lord Darkwolf would allow her to do that, she desperately wanted to free all the people who'd been abused that way she had.
"I'm not happy with that, not entirely, but I'll cast All Hallow's Even for you tomorrow night so you can use node power, the way I can since I gained Vanyel Ashkevron's abilities, which will at least give you an alternate power source if you feel you have to do this without my aid." Her lifebonded trusted her judgement, but he was concerned about her and Elaira loved knowing that he cared so much. She didn't really feel up to kenning clothes to fit the spell, but if he wished it...
"Then what do you wish me to ken and wear for the spell, my lord?" She couldn't keep the weariness from her voice, but Lord Darkwolf reacted in an unexpected fashion.
"You're not up to doing that at the moment, instead I'll use Sartor to make an appropriate outfit to my size and you can adjust it to fit you before I cast All Hallow's Even. That won't actually affect the empowerment of the outfit, so the spell will work without any problems, and it saves your energy as much as possible." Lord Darkwolf tilted his head slightly to one side, considering Elaira. "And of course I'll have to do something with your hair, but leave all of that to me."
"My hair? Is it displeasing in some way?"
"No, it's beautiful, and it's the right length and colour for a Tayledras mage more or less, but I don't think you know how to do the styles, so I'll braid it in a Kaled'a'in style, that should be close enough. Now come to bed with me." Elaira obediently and with hidden relief set what she had been doing aside and began stripping, as slowly as she could, putting on the best show she could manage, before Lord Darkwolf just pulled her into bed with him and kissed her hungrily.
But he didn't just take her, instead he laid her down on the bed and ran his hands over her, as if he were tracing patterns only he could see. It was incredibly arousing, but it also made her feel less tired as his power poured into her.
~~~0~~~
Xander watched as Elaira left the inn for what was probably the last time, he was determined to have everything ready at their new home by the time she returned if that was at all possible. But for that to happen he couldn't afford to take his people through the streets, it would take up too much time, not to mention that it wasn't entirely safe - especially because the non-combatants would outnumber the fighters by almost five to two - and they had too much stuff to bring. So he was going to open a Gate, and hope that with Dark Schnieder's power reserve it wouldn't exhaust him. Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron was at his peak powerful enough to destroy an entire city, and it exhausted him to build a Gate, although he had managed to build one at the end of a mage battle once, but then he had been sensitised to Gate energies by the way his channels had been burned open.
Xander dismissed that line of speculation: he'd briefed his 'personal servant' on what might happen to him, and the sort of care he'd need if he did - mostly to be kept warm and fed, and he'd also left orders for what needed to be done. If he could build a Gate and then go about his daily business, albeit weakened, then he'd take charge himself. His people were waiting for him in one of the larger rooms, with everything they felt they needed to bring, all piled up ready to throw through the gate if necessary - including some of his and Elaira's clothes that were still wet all laid out on top of a clean table.
"One last time before I do this, is everyone clear on what they have to do if I collapse after taking this thing down? You, Darksong, what are your duties?"
"Get you to a bed, whichever one's nearest, take charge of the rest of the 'non-combatants' and make sure everything that's necessary for minimum living standards is unpacked. And make sure that you're fed light, easy to eat meals when you're hungry, and before I let you go to sleep after I get you into bed." The green elf was much less traumatised by his experiences than Elaira had been, and he was very competent. Xander was leaning towards insisting on keeping him, no matter whether or not any of his men wanted Darksong.
"Talin, what do you have to do?" He hadn't insisted that the leader of his guard accompany Elaira after the first day, and he'd insisted that Talin stay with him for the move.
"Set up a sentry system, find the barracks, get my men moved in there, and get it into some sort of shape if we can. You didn't say how the barracks was set up." The barracks had been one of the deciding factors in his choice of houses, besides the other defensive aspects.
"Twenty twin bedrooms. Those of your consorts who are willing to work in the house, or stables get the servants rooms, and you're free to visit those if you prefer, later on. For now I want all my men bedded down in the barracks, once I prepare a spell that will allow me, or someone with the authority to alert you wherever you are that will be relaxed."
"Yes, my lord." Of course a lot of this could be moot if Xander did manage to stay conscious and coherent, but plan for the worst, hope for the best. He turned to the doorway and created the gate feeling it suck energy out of him, but not as badly, or to the degree he'd expected. It probably helped that he was Gating a much shorter distance than was normally used, a factor he hadn't really considered before. He held the Gate open while his people went through it, and then followed them himself, closing down the Gate once he was in his new home. Then he busied himself with organising the household, getting everyone in the right place and settled down - as well as getting them to start cleaning the place, which would be a heavier job than a normal cleaning. Finally he had time to create and empower Elaira's costume as he'd promised.
~~~0~~~
Elaira couldn't quite believe how much Lord Xander had gotten done in the time since they'd moved to their new home. It wasn't totally clean and perfect, but it was in much better condition than she'd expected after it had been shut up for six months, and it even looked as if there'd been little to no looting, at least of this property. The consorts of her guards came up to them, pulling the men away as they made their way to the entrance from the gate in the wall, and Lord Xander was waiting for her just inside.
"My lord?" She knew that her confusion showed as she looked up at him.
"Come on, you're tired. There's a hot bath waiting for you, and our servants are busy cooking a nice meal for the two of us, it should be done in a bit over half an hour."
"Thank you, my lord." Lord Darkwolf carried her up to the bath, undressed her, put her in the bath and generally acted as if he was her personal body slave, finally drying her off, except for her hair, and dressing her in an exotic silk robe she'd never seen before. It was large on her though, and that made sense since Lord Xander could only create clothes this way if they were for him, he obviously hadn't had the time to adapt Sartor for other people. Was this what she was supposed to wear for the spell tonight she wondered?
"My lord, is this what I am to wear for All Hallow's Even?"
"No, I've got another outfit for that, this is leisure wear. I'll do your hair after dinner, and help you into your costume then." Lord Darkwolf led her down to the dining room, and seated her at the table as if she were a lady, then began sharing the Elverquisst ritual with her. By the end of the meal Elaira felt dizzy with how very much she'd been courted, it was something she'd never thought she'd experience.
And then he led her upstairs again, to the master bedroom this time. Lord Darkwolf had used a towel to get the majority of the water out of her hair in the bathroom, and then he'd let it dry in the air during the hour while they dined. It still wasn't fully dry, no where near, but much dryer than it had been before.
"Sit down please, and let me work on your hair. Your outfit doesn't include anything that could spoil your hairstyling, so I'll do that first, but I also need to dry it."
"I can do that for myself, my lord." But Elaira did obey, sitting in one of the chairs and letting her hair fall down its back, rather than get trapped between its back and hers.
"I know you can, but I want to pamper you, let me, please." Lord Xander knelt behind her and began running his fingers through her hair, as he did this she could feel a warm, softly scented breeze through her hair as well, most likely from some spell he had cast. She shut her eyes and just lost herself in the sensation, noting when Lord Darkwolf switched to using a comb, and when the scented breeze stopped, but nothing else.
"You can open your eyes now." Laughter filled Lord Xander's voice, not that Elaira could blame him, and she obeyed, standing and moving to look in the large mirror against one wall. She looked strangely exotic the way he'd done her hair, exotic and desirable. Then Lord Xander began dressing her in even more extravagant than the one she'd been wearing earlier, and she altered them to fit, using her magic up slowly but surely.
Elaira shook her head after Lord Xander cast All Hallow's Even, there was something wrong, she hadn't been affected...
Just as she thought that a flood of new memories came to her, and she was aware of a voice inside her head demanding to know why she was trapped inside her own body, and who this invader was who'd taken her body over. Elaira realised that the voice was talking about her, that this time she'd retained control while she'd been possessed, and that she could remember everything that had every happened to Shadowsong. And that she could sense three nodes well within her range.
She didn't mention what had happened until Lord Xander ended the spell, and then she asked him about it, only to be told that the spell always affected him that way now. She drew the energy from the nearest node, and then threw herself at Lord Xander, kissing him deeply and hungrily.
~~~0~~~
Danilo cursed when he woke and realised that they'd all completely forgotten and ignored the money and treasure that the Malevein had looted. There wasn't likely to be much left in his opinion, but he felt that they had to at least try to recover whatever they could, the city would need it to rebuild, and re-establish the culture they once had.
"Dan, what is it?" Arilyn had calmed down a lot since Elaira had began helping her recover from how she'd changed under they Malevein's influence, and he'd stopped thinking of people in terms of what they could give him, how he could use them, and started focusing on them as people.
"The Malevein took the City Treasury, without that how will we be able to pay the Guard, or an army, or all the other things that come with governing a city?" She went pale, she'd spent more time in places without much influence of the law than he had, and she knew how bad things could get, better than he did.
"We have to get it back."
"If it hasn't been looted, but we'd have to find it first, and I don't know where to start looking." Danilo refused to let despair overwhelm him, he knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to do anything, but none of the spells he knew would help him find the missing money - it might be a staple spell for adventuring mages but he'd never needed it, and there was no way he'd be able to find or create an appropriate spell quickly enough. But he wasn't going to turn to Xander for everything he needed, that woud leave him far too dependent and unable to fend for himself. "We can search the buildings the Malevein used that are still standing, I've got the feeling that people avoided them even after Xander showed us how to slaughter those bastards. If we can't find the money today we go to see Elaira and ask her if she has any ideas." Not the best plan, but at least they'd have tried to do something by themselves even if it failed, and they might even find what they were looking for.
"And how are we going to get the money somewhere safe if we do find it?"
"You remember that belt pouch I had when we first met, the one that contained a dozen or so changes of clothes, jewellery, spirits and a spellbook? I can cast the same sort of spell on other bags, and we can put the money into a few of those. It does mean we can't have anyone accompany us, but it isn't as if we need guards, is it?"A deliberate show of bravado, but if all was as it should be they wouldn't have needed guards, and they were still more than capable of defending themselves, even with the raw power Xander's spell had imparted to them lost.
"No , it isn't. Do you know if we're still immortal, or did we lose that when Xander stripped away the powers his spell gave us?"
"I think we're still immortal, he did say we could rebuild our ki reserves over the next hundred years, and he wouldn't say that if we weren't likely to live a hundred years, but we can still be killed."
"I never thought otherwise, I was just worried about how long it would take to do that. He thinks it will take a hundred years? But it took those ningen so much less time to increase their ki levels."
"They had the time to train all day, every day, we don't. We've got to worry about putting the city back together, among other things. Come on."
They were both dressed by then, and Danilo led Arilyn out of the inn with an inexplicable urgency riding his skin. He wasn't sure if it was more a way to distract himself until Lord Piergeiron got back, or some sort of premonition. But he hadn't possessed any form of precognition before this, and if Xander's spell had given it to him he'd have known, and lost that ability by now. Whatever his reasons were Danilo dragged Arilyn around to search all three of the buildings the Malevein had set up in that were still standing, and for some reason now unoccupied, even by the collaborators who'd lived in them. Perhaps, Danilo thought with grim amusement, they were afraid that Xander would destroy these buildings as spectacularly as he had the other one the Malevein had taken. They were unsuccessful, and that meant they had to go to Elaira and Xander for aid.
~~~0~~~
Xander lifted Elaira's hand to his lips and laid a light kiss on the underside of her wrist. He noticed that she shivered in pleasure at that, closing her eyes, and it was enjoyable. No other woman had ever been so happy about his protective tendancies, or so willing to be protected and he loved it, even knowing what the source of her behaviour was.
"Before you leave can you ken some copper disks for me? I need them to be about an inch in diameter, with four holes at the edge, at the cardinal points. And I need thirty-two of them, so that I can cast a spell on them that will allow my men to always be in contact with each other as needed. I'll replace the energy you use of course." He reassured Elaira about that quickly.
"If you wish it, but is it really that urgent, my lord?" Elaira looked puzzled at the idea, and he couldn't quite blame her for that, she had her own concerns and he fully understood that they'd override his to her mind.
"I suppose not. I should have asked you last night, but the idea didn't come to me until this morning. I can do theoretical work on that idea instead. But you'll have to wait for someone to bring you into the grounds when you come back, I'm putting the security spell up today."
"That's what you wanted the silver rings for, wasn't it, my lord?"
"Yes." Xander frowned at that. "I'd wanted to do it yesterday, but the Gate used up a lot of my magical energy. It didn't exhaust me the way I half expected it to, but I didn't feel capable of the precision required, and I wasn't sure I had enough reserves to cast the security spell on such a big...I'm torn between calling it a mansion, or an estate."
"It is a mansion, an estate would have much more expansive grounds my lord."
"I see." Xander laughed, and kissed Elaira again before she left. The security spell itself was fairly simple, not easy, it took even more power than casting the concealment spell on the inn they'd been in before had, but simple. It was a spell he'd already developed, for use on the new slayer headquarters, until he'd realised that there was no one who would have the skill to cast it, even though Willow certainly had the power, and no one would understand his notation either. Casting the spell that would allow his people to pass through the security system was actually easier than the spell to allow access to the inn, firstly because he didn't have to worry about other people accompanying his people, and secondly because there were far fewer of the rings to bespell.
Working on the spell that would allow his men to communicate as needed was a welcome break from trying to figure out the math and physics of dimensional travel, even with the information he'd got from Danilo. All Danilo had been able to give him was a qualitative description of the process he'd used to summon Xander, and even that had been greatly filtered through first his perceptions, and then the limitations of the language he was using. By contrast all he needed to consider with the communications spell was how to convey the information, and what sort of alarms to set. He had it written by the time Elaira returned, and he went out to meet her and bring them all onto the grounds.
Danilo and Arilyn arrived shortly after that, one of his men must have greeted them, and handed them over to one of the elves to escort in.
"Hello Danilo, Arilyn. Are you here for a particular reason?"
"Yes. I realise that we hadn't even thought about the treasury before this. We've been looking for it, but rather unsuccessfully, and I wondered if Elaira had any ideas about where the Malevein might have put it."
"Isn't there a spell that would let you find treasure or valuables?" It puzzled Xander that Danilo wouldn't know that spell, since it seemed to be a fairly common one, and he'd made a point of creating a spell that would do the same thing.
"Yes, but I never learned it. I never needed it, I was born into a family with lots of money, and I've always had that to fall back on." Danilo looked worried, and Xander could understand why. "Elaira, please, can you think of anything that might help?"
"No, I can't think of anything like that, I'm sorry."
"I've got a spell in my style of magic that I could adapt for this. Give me an hour or so and I'll work out what you need to find the money." Xander went up to his office, leaving Elaira to talk with and entertain Danilo and Arilyn while he worked.
"Cast this spell in the room where I put that illusion of Waterdeep. It will show where all concentrations of valuables are, in shades corresponding to how valuable a cache is, with white being most valuable, blue next, then purple, red, orange and finally yellow. This spell can be used to modify the first spell. Every time you cast it it will take the caches of the lowest values out of the spell, and redistribute the values corresponding to the colours. For instance if at first any cache worth less than a Toal was yellow after you cast the second spell the first wouldn't recognise any cache worth less than a Toal, and it would show any cache worth less than say 10 Toals as yellow. This will end the first spell, and this will create a ball of light that will guide you to the most valuable concentration of treasure in the building."
"Thank you." Danilo took the spells and left.
~~~0~~~
Xander glanced up from the calculations he was doing when he sensed Elaira returning. Truthfully he was grateful to put them aside - his style of magic was highly mathematical in nature, but transdimensional transportation required postulates and concepts that he just didn't have, or even have any reference for. And he didn't have the artistic flair that would let him go on instinct - he probably wouldn't have managed to master so much of the theoretical aspects if he did. He had the feeling that Willow had just had power to burn and an undisciplined artistic gift for magic, and that Giles had much less power, coupled with a disciplined, trained artistic gift for magic, while he lacked the artistic gift and had to do it the hard way. He had enough time before Elaira got back to make a run to the kitchen and at least get some cold food to eat, even if he didn't have time to cook something. When he got there he was in luck, one of his men was just finishing cooking a big pot of stew.
"There's enough for you to take some if you want, my lord."
"Is there enough for all of my following here, Erant?"
"Yes, my lord. In fact if you hadn't come down here I was going to bring some to you."
"Then could you dish out some for me, and some for Elaira? I'll grab some bread to go with it." Xander ended up with two bowls of stew on a tray, and a large loaf of bread too. He'd just put it down on a table in his room and cast a spell to keep it warm when Elaira arrived.
"Elaira, how did it go today, my snowfalcon?" He pulled his lifebonded into his arms as he asked his question.
"Well, all of your feal following have consorts, and we've each acquired a personal servant. All the elves in the first two harems wanted to be under your protection. With the last harem all we could do was kill the gang who'd been abusing them and give them a basic start." Elaira stepped back from him, a slight frown on her face, from the thought of how little help they could give, then she smield again. "Oh, and Taris collected some money from the bodies of the gangs we killed, he gave it to me." She hefted the purse tied to her belt meaningfully. "What about you, how did the work you were doing go?"
"Not too well. I don't mind staying here, but I have to at least let the people back in my world know that I'm alright, that I wasn't taken against my will or anything. So I was trying to work out a spell for dimensional travel, but I just can't get my head around the mathematics, I can't even figure out the correct assumptions to make."
"Why not use All Hallow's Even to get the postulates you need? Is there someone in your universe of in some fiction you've read who would understand the mathematics?" Xander bit his lip at that - it would work, but he wasn't sure that it was good for him to become as dependent on the boosts he could get from that spell as he was.
"Yes, Stephen Hawking, a famous, genius physicist - among other things - in my world would probably have the postulates, and he'd certainly understand the tensor form notation I need to use to get this right, but...I'm worried that I might be getting too dependent on acessing other people's abilities, it feels like too much of a quick fix, and a cheat."
"But, if you have no other way of getting what you need..." Elaira trailed off reluctantly.
"I'll think about it, and for that matter I might be able to think of someone better to copy." Xander forced a smile at Elaira. "Now, I brought some food for us, so why don't we eat?"
They ate, and talked about minor things, then Elaira bit her lip, as if she was worried about something.
"What is it Elaira?"
"I'm going to have to go out again tomorrow, to do some more. And Princess Arilyn and Lord Thann are both coming to me for a Mindhealing session."
"Then I'll go for a run or something while they're here. I've been cooped up all day, and perhaps running will help me work things out in my head. I'll think about your suggestions as well."
~~~0~~~
Elaira stretched, trying to work out some of the kinks in her shoulders from the stress of trying to help restore Lord Thann and Princess Arilyn to something like they had been before the Malevein arrived and of worrying about the elves she hadn't been able to get to that day. Lord Xander had gone out to do something while she took care of Lord Thann and Princess Arilyn as promised, and she just hoped he got back quickly.
"You want me to get that for you?" He did, appearing in the doorway as if summoned by her errant thought, but she didn't quite understand what he was talking about.
"My lord?"
"Amberdrake is an expert at massage, therapeutic mostly, but other types as well. Would you like me to put that expertise to work on you?"
"Please, my lord." Elaira pulled her tunic off and was lying on the bed in a heartbeat.
"I don't actually have any massage oil, would you be willing to ken some first?" Lord Xander sounded embarrassed by that, as if it was his fault that she hadn't realised that he'd need oil to do a proper job of giving her a massage.
"Of course." She quickly kenned a bowl of oil scented with cinnamon and lay back down.
Lord Xander worked on her back in silence, rubbing the knots out of her muscles and as he worked she could feel herself relaxing. Then something that had been bothering her on and off since Lord Xander introduced himself floated up in her mind, and this time she voiced it.
"My lord, you only ever use one name, but you gave me two. Do you not have another name?"
"Two other names I suppose. My full name's Alexander LaVelle Harris, but I prefer the shortened form of my first name, Xander, I hate my middle name, and my surname reminds me too much of the waste of flesh that is my 'father'."
"You could choose another second name, my lord."
"Hmm, yes. And when I visit my home dimension I can legally change it, just in case. But I'm not sure what I could call myself, unless you have any ideas?" Elaira could tell from his emotions that Lord Xander was completely serious, so she gave the matter some consideration.
"LaVelle is french for the wolf, is it not, my lord? And you are as protective of those you care for as a wolf would be. But Wolf alone would not be enough. What about Darkwolf? For your colouring as well."
"Sounds like a Kaled'a'in or Tayledras name, and it won't be so accurate when it come to colouring if I ever get into using too much node power, that bleaches out the hair and eyes, but...yes, it sounds good. So, you are Elaira Silverhair, and I am Xander Darkwolf."
"Actually I patterned it on the majority of elven surnames, my lord."
"I'm flattered." And even though he laughed Elaira knew that Lord Xander, Lord Darkwolf, truly was flattered that she'd suggest an elven style surname for him. Her back and shoulders were feeling great now, so she rolled over and smiled up at him.
"My lord, please take me." Her arms reached for him, open in invitation, and he let her pull him down. Her lifebonded was an incredibly talented lover, he'd been wonderful the first time they were together, and she'd thought the first time was supposed to hurt, even for a woman, but after that he'd become even better.
~~~0~~~
Afterwards Xander began kissing Elaira again. It was silly he knew, but he enjoyed kissing and holding his lovers as much as actually having sex with them, and even more with Elaira than he had with anyone else. He supposed that it was because he wanted and needed an emotional connection to the women he took to bed, not the stranger sex he'd had with Faith. He'd enjoyed holding Anya more as their relationship deepened, and when they'd got back together during the lead up to the final confrontation with the First he hadn't wanted to hold her at all, or do more than just fuck her really - it had been all physical, partly because he'd still been angry with her about what her victim had done to him, and how everyone had ignored that. Later he'd figured out that the ball her victim had used to show him a possible future had been enchanted to encourage him to believe, but his Spellshield only worked on actively hostile magic, physical threats and outright compulsion, and he'd only thought to bring in that aspect after the Dracula mess.
"My lord?" Elaira sounded sleepily sexy, and Xander loved that.
"Yes, my snowfalcon?"
"If you are going to stay here should you not have a home in Waterdeep?"
"I meant stay here as in stay in this dimension, but yes, if you want us to live in Waterdeep, or at least set up a home here then of course we can. How would you like to do that?"
"I own, or used to own a lot of property, I thought that perhaps I could show you which houses used to be mine on the map of Waterdeep in the illusion room and you could choose whichever one best suits your needs and desires. We will need more servants than we have if you choose to maintain a house here though."
"Will that be a problem?"
"Of course not my lord, but do you know what you wish to do in this world?" Elaira was bringing up things that Xander was worried about himself, he was a good carpenter in his world, and he'd made a minor hobby of carving smaller things, but he had the feeling that he wouldn't be up to this world's standards. He was a very powerful sorcerer now, and equally skilled, and just as good a fighter, but he wasn't entirely sure how to apply that to actually making money.
"I'm not exactly sure, do you have any ideas?"
"I lived in the grey area, not quite legal things, after my Moonblade rejected me, and before the Malevein came. But you could talk to Lord Thann later perhaps. I had a lot of land holdings, but since I'm unrecognisable and didn't leave a will they'll probably be grabbed by whoever's closest and has enough power to hold it. Still, I think you can get ownership of my holdings in Waterdeep, and they should be able to pay for themselves and enough to keep up at least one house here. As long as the managers don't try to cheat you that is."
"You don't want to get ownership of your holdings back yourself?" This was incomprehensible to Xander, if it was Elaira's property it should still be hers, and she should try to get it back.
"No, my lord. It would be too difficult to convince people that I was Elaith Craulnober, and if I did they'd expect me to be as I was, and I don't want to be that." Xander could understand that, Giles, Willow, Buffy, none of them had seemed capable of seeing how he'd changed since high school, and even after the Sunnydale Hellmouth was destroyed their behaviour reflected that.
"I see. Do you think there'd be a problem with expecting any of my men's consorts who don't want to relearn how to fight to do general upkeep work in the house we move into?"
"You mean cooking and cleaning? I don't think so, but if you decide not to stay there all the time there could be problems, I mean the consorts would have to stay at the house, but your men would want to come with you."
"Maybe, maybe not, but let's do that to start with, hmm?"
"As you wish my lord." Then they turned their attention to other matters and eventually fell asleep.
~~~0~~~
Elaira rose first, she lifted up on her elbow and looked down at Lord Darkwolf for a moment. She couldn't quite understand how it was that he'd had so few attachments back in his world that he was willing to leave, that no one seemed to have recognised how wonderful he was, but she was grateful for it.
She slid out of bed, dressed and made her way to the room she'd left the elves who hadn't been chosen by one of Lord Darkwolf's men in. It was only accessible through the rooms where the men slept, so they were safe enough.
"I want one or two of you to go to the kitchen and prepare something hot for breakfast for my lord and myself. One of our men will guide you and protect you - and it might help if some more of you went and cooked enough for all of them."
"Yes Lady Silverhair." It was the green elf who'd acted as spokesman for the first harem who responded. "When will you and Lord Xander decide which of us will serve as your personal servants?"
"We won't. We'll just take whichever of you don't end up as consorts. And he's Lord Darkwolf. I never asked before because it didn't seem to matter. Also, plans have changed a little. Any consort who does not wish to relearn how to fight, and who does not wish to spend more than the minimum time on it will be expected to help keep the house we'll be moving to soon in order, and help put it in order. Now, I believe I gave you orders?"
They ran to obey, something Elaira found vaguely amusing, she was used to being feared, but after what the Malevein had one she would have clung to any other elf who showed the slightest sympathy for her, and she'd expected the same sort of reation from the other elves. But then she'd been alone, without any sort of support, and these elves had had each other at least.
Shaking her head she returned to her bedroom, noticing that Lord Darkwolf had woken because of her absence in his bed, and she liked that in a way, not that she'd disturbed his rest, but that he was so aware of her that he'd notice her absence even when asleep.
"Where did you go, my snowfalcon?"
"Put our new servants to work, making us breakfast, my lord. And I could have them tidy this place up a bit and wash our dirty clothes if you want to do some sparring this morning, before I leave."
"No, tempting as that is you'll want to be at full power and not tired out or anything when you go to free those enslaved elves. You can show me the properties you own, alright used to own," He lifted one hand to forestall her instinctive protest at his declaration of her ownership of what had been hers. "and I'll decide which one I want to move us into today. We can move tomorrow, or possibly the day after."
"Yes, my lord, that's a good idea, but what about the men who are serving as Lord Thann's messengers?"
"They shouldn't have any problem staying here for a day and night, and I can check daily to see if they've returned."
They didn't continue the conversation, because that's when their new servants arrived with breakfast. Elaira gave them their new orders then, and after eating she showed Lord Darkwolf where her one-time properties were.
~~~0~~~
Xander whistled at what Elaira was showing him - she'd owned three houses that could best be described as mansions, four inns besides the one they were in, and two other buildings, and that was in Waterdeep alone. To use a colloquialism from his world - she'd been loaded, and still would be if it wasn't for her insistance that what she had owned belonged to him now.
"What about other cities? You said you had business interests outside of Waterdeep."
"Probably about four times what I had in Waterdeep in total, more towards business interests there though. I was based more in Waterdeep than anywhere else." Elaira shrugged casually. "If you don't mind, my lord, I'd like to try and get started on helping the other slaves now, we might get more done that way."
"Sure, but I'm going to want you to ken sixty-four silver rings just like the copper ones. Today or tomorrow I'll take down the spell I've got on this place, since we don't need to keep it a secret any more, and I'll be putting a security spell on whichever place we move into."
"I can do those tonight if you wish, my lord."
"Please." Xander smiled at Elaira, letting his gratitude show. He could have just used the copper rings, but it would be far easier to cast a new spell on a new set of rings, a spell with fewer restrictions, than to try and 'reach out' to modify the spell curently on the rings of his men and their consorts, especially since he'd also have to make sure he altered the spell only on those rings and not the others.
"Then I'll leave now, my lord." The the elf frowned, as if she'd just remembered something. "My lord, I thought you were planning to work on your spell to return to your home dimension for a visit, have you decided against doing that?"
"No, I still plan to visit my home world, but it can wait. I can probably adjust the time factor as well while we're crossing dimensions, returning to not long after I left, and like I said before, I just don't have the right postulates to design that spell at the moment. When Danilo's got time I'll ask him about the spell that brought me here, that might help, and if it doesn't I'll use All Hallow's Even with someone my friend Willow told me about once. I'll be working more with the myth of Nikola Tesla than the reality, but that will certainly give me what I want."
"I do not understand my lord, but then I do not need to." Elaira smiled up at Xander and then left. Xander shook his head in exasperation, he liked it that she trusted him so much, and felt that she didn't need to understand what he did, as long as he was content, but he didn't understand how accepting she was of whatever he did.
Xander decided to treat checking out Elaira's old properties as if he was appartment hunting back in his own world, only without having someone there to show him around. He could easily explore himself, and he spent an hour in each house, finally picking out the house that seemed to be the best suited for his men to live in as well, and most easily defendable, with high, thick walls surrounding the grounds, and thick, strong walls in the building itself.
~~~0~~~
Danilo found himself smiling at Elaira's pleasure at having cleared out five harems in one day, rather than just three as the day before. It wasn't as if he had anything else he could usefully do anyway. Elaira seemed to take his pleasure as a signal that she could start a conversation.
"My lord, do you know what will be happening, with all of us, when Lord Piergeiron returns?"
"Not really, but we've got a lot of work to do to get Waterdeep back to anything approaching the level it was at. I recommended that Xander's men be used as part of the core to rebuild our guard, and that Xander be given a position in it, do you think he would accept?"
"I think so, or perhaps some other position where he can defend the city from outside attack, at least for a while. But Lord Darkwolf does intend to return to his world for a visit at least. He feels he has some obligation to do so."
"Lord Darkwolf? That's a new name, is it his surname?"
"It is now. Lord Darkwolf disliked his original surname, so he permitted me to give him a new one. But, we will be moving tomorrow, to one of my old houses, his houses now, and he intends to take down the spell that was masking our base, as it is not longer needed. Will that be a problem, Lord Thann?"
"Why would it? They're your property, or Xander's if you'd prefer..." Then the surprise on Elaira's face cued Danilo that she wasn't asking about that she was asking about the fact that Xander was taking down the spell on their base and moving out. Danilo decided that he actually needed to give that question a little consideration. "Can I have a few moments to think about that?"
"If you wish Lord Thann." Elaira frowned then, as if she was thinking of something. "But, I doubt I'll be able to dissuade my lord from moving, and if you wish the concealment spell on our base left up, assuming Lord Darkwolf hasn't already taken it down, I will need to know by the time we get there."
"Very well." Danilo spent the quarter of an hour while they walked back to their base deep in thought. Losing the close contact they'd had with Xander could be considered a serious blow, but on the other hand, as long as he was willing to help protect Waterdeep and keep a semblance of order here Danilo didn't really need to see or speak with him every day. And anyway there was nothing he could do about that, so he focused on the one thing he could possibly affect: the concealment spell. Xander had originally put it up to protect them from the Malevein, thinking they'd last longer than they actually had - Danilo couldn't help feeling embarrassed at how much trouble he'd been having against the Malevein before when Xander had defeated them inside of a month - so on that level it was no longer necessary. But on the other hand all the humans, only humans, elves had been kept as bed toys, and the dwarves had all heeded Elaith's warnings and gotten out of Waterdeep or died fighting the Malevein, who'd collaborated with the Malevein were mostly still here even if they were disorganised now. And that was the key point, their enemies now were disorganised. andthen, he hadn't considered how his messengers would guide Lord Piergeiron and his men to their base.
"Elaira, Xander's right, we don't need the concealment spell any more. If he wants to take it down let him."
Immediately after he'd eaten Xander came to talk to Danilo, and spent nearly an hour interrogating him on the details of how he'd cast the spell that brought Xander here, and as a result Danilo was grateful to be rid of Xander.
~~~0~~~
"My lord, did Lord Thann have enough information to be of assistance to you in creating your new spell?" Elaira looked up from the rings and coins she was kenning when Lord Darkwolf returned. She was a little glad to have an excuse to take a break, she'd been working on those since he'd left and it was getting tiring. But she had made all the rings Lord Darkwolf needed and kenned enough coin to cover the stipends of his men and their consorts for more than a month.
"I don't know. I can try to work out the spell I need with what I learned from him, but if I can't get anywhere within a month or so then I'll settle for using All Hallow's Even and Nikola Tesla, the myth, not the man." Lord Xander was letting Elaira see that he was uncertain about his skills and that scared Elaira a bit, but it also told her a little about how much he trusted her. "What are you going to do after tomorrow, about the harems? I don't think Danilo will still be willing to follow you around to give you magical back up, and it would be a bit awkward."
"I think that I could deal with the people who guard the harems well enough by myself, so unless you wish otherwise I could continue to help them?" Elaira hoped that Lord Darkwolf would allow her to do that, she desperately wanted to free all the people who'd been abused that way she had.
"I'm not happy with that, not entirely, but I'll cast All Hallow's Even for you tomorrow night so you can use node power, the way I can since I gained Vanyel Ashkevron's abilities, which will at least give you an alternate power source if you feel you have to do this without my aid." Her lifebonded trusted her judgement, but he was concerned about her and Elaira loved knowing that he cared so much. She didn't really feel up to kenning clothes to fit the spell, but if he wished it...
"Then what do you wish me to ken and wear for the spell, my lord?" She couldn't keep the weariness from her voice, but Lord Darkwolf reacted in an unexpected fashion.
"You're not up to doing that at the moment, instead I'll use Sartor to make an appropriate outfit to my size and you can adjust it to fit you before I cast All Hallow's Even. That won't actually affect the empowerment of the outfit, so the spell will work without any problems, and it saves your energy as much as possible." Lord Darkwolf tilted his head slightly to one side, considering Elaira. "And of course I'll have to do something with your hair, but leave all of that to me."
"My hair? Is it displeasing in some way?"
"No, it's beautiful, and it's the right length and colour for a Tayledras mage more or less, but I don't think you know how to do the styles, so I'll braid it in a Kaled'a'in style, that should be close enough. Now come to bed with me." Elaira obediently and with hidden relief set what she had been doing aside and began stripping, as slowly as she could, putting on the best show she could manage, before Lord Darkwolf just pulled her into bed with him and kissed her hungrily.
But he didn't just take her, instead he laid her down on the bed and ran his hands over her, as if he were tracing patterns only he could see. It was incredibly arousing, but it also made her feel less tired as his power poured into her.
~~~0~~~
Xander watched as Elaira left the inn for what was probably the last time, he was determined to have everything ready at their new home by the time she returned if that was at all possible. But for that to happen he couldn't afford to take his people through the streets, it would take up too much time, not to mention that it wasn't entirely safe - especially because the non-combatants would outnumber the fighters by almost five to two - and they had too much stuff to bring. So he was going to open a Gate, and hope that with Dark Schnieder's power reserve it wouldn't exhaust him. Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron was at his peak powerful enough to destroy an entire city, and it exhausted him to build a Gate, although he had managed to build one at the end of a mage battle once, but then he had been sensitised to Gate energies by the way his channels had been burned open.
Xander dismissed that line of speculation: he'd briefed his 'personal servant' on what might happen to him, and the sort of care he'd need if he did - mostly to be kept warm and fed, and he'd also left orders for what needed to be done. If he could build a Gate and then go about his daily business, albeit weakened, then he'd take charge himself. His people were waiting for him in one of the larger rooms, with everything they felt they needed to bring, all piled up ready to throw through the gate if necessary - including some of his and Elaira's clothes that were still wet all laid out on top of a clean table.
"One last time before I do this, is everyone clear on what they have to do if I collapse after taking this thing down? You, Darksong, what are your duties?"
"Get you to a bed, whichever one's nearest, take charge of the rest of the 'non-combatants' and make sure everything that's necessary for minimum living standards is unpacked. And make sure that you're fed light, easy to eat meals when you're hungry, and before I let you go to sleep after I get you into bed." The green elf was much less traumatised by his experiences than Elaira had been, and he was very competent. Xander was leaning towards insisting on keeping him, no matter whether or not any of his men wanted Darksong.
"Talin, what do you have to do?" He hadn't insisted that the leader of his guard accompany Elaira after the first day, and he'd insisted that Talin stay with him for the move.
"Set up a sentry system, find the barracks, get my men moved in there, and get it into some sort of shape if we can. You didn't say how the barracks was set up." The barracks had been one of the deciding factors in his choice of houses, besides the other defensive aspects.
"Twenty twin bedrooms. Those of your consorts who are willing to work in the house, or stables get the servants rooms, and you're free to visit those if you prefer, later on. For now I want all my men bedded down in the barracks, once I prepare a spell that will allow me, or someone with the authority to alert you wherever you are that will be relaxed."
"Yes, my lord." Of course a lot of this could be moot if Xander did manage to stay conscious and coherent, but plan for the worst, hope for the best. He turned to the doorway and created the gate feeling it suck energy out of him, but not as badly, or to the degree he'd expected. It probably helped that he was Gating a much shorter distance than was normally used, a factor he hadn't really considered before. He held the Gate open while his people went through it, and then followed them himself, closing down the Gate once he was in his new home. Then he busied himself with organising the household, getting everyone in the right place and settled down - as well as getting them to start cleaning the place, which would be a heavier job than a normal cleaning. Finally he had time to create and empower Elaira's costume as he'd promised.
~~~0~~~
Elaira couldn't quite believe how much Lord Xander had gotten done in the time since they'd moved to their new home. It wasn't totally clean and perfect, but it was in much better condition than she'd expected after it had been shut up for six months, and it even looked as if there'd been little to no looting, at least of this property. The consorts of her guards came up to them, pulling the men away as they made their way to the entrance from the gate in the wall, and Lord Xander was waiting for her just inside.
"My lord?" She knew that her confusion showed as she looked up at him.
"Come on, you're tired. There's a hot bath waiting for you, and our servants are busy cooking a nice meal for the two of us, it should be done in a bit over half an hour."
"Thank you, my lord." Lord Darkwolf carried her up to the bath, undressed her, put her in the bath and generally acted as if he was her personal body slave, finally drying her off, except for her hair, and dressing her in an exotic silk robe she'd never seen before. It was large on her though, and that made sense since Lord Xander could only create clothes this way if they were for him, he obviously hadn't had the time to adapt Sartor for other people. Was this what she was supposed to wear for the spell tonight she wondered?
"My lord, is this what I am to wear for All Hallow's Even?"
"No, I've got another outfit for that, this is leisure wear. I'll do your hair after dinner, and help you into your costume then." Lord Darkwolf led her down to the dining room, and seated her at the table as if she were a lady, then began sharing the Elverquisst ritual with her. By the end of the meal Elaira felt dizzy with how very much she'd been courted, it was something she'd never thought she'd experience.
And then he led her upstairs again, to the master bedroom this time. Lord Darkwolf had used a towel to get the majority of the water out of her hair in the bathroom, and then he'd let it dry in the air during the hour while they dined. It still wasn't fully dry, no where near, but much dryer than it had been before.
"Sit down please, and let me work on your hair. Your outfit doesn't include anything that could spoil your hairstyling, so I'll do that first, but I also need to dry it."
"I can do that for myself, my lord." But Elaira did obey, sitting in one of the chairs and letting her hair fall down its back, rather than get trapped between its back and hers.
"I know you can, but I want to pamper you, let me, please." Lord Xander knelt behind her and began running his fingers through her hair, as he did this she could feel a warm, softly scented breeze through her hair as well, most likely from some spell he had cast. She shut her eyes and just lost herself in the sensation, noting when Lord Darkwolf switched to using a comb, and when the scented breeze stopped, but nothing else.
"You can open your eyes now." Laughter filled Lord Xander's voice, not that Elaira could blame him, and she obeyed, standing and moving to look in the large mirror against one wall. She looked strangely exotic the way he'd done her hair, exotic and desirable. Then Lord Xander began dressing her in even more extravagant than the one she'd been wearing earlier, and she altered them to fit, using her magic up slowly but surely.
Elaira shook her head after Lord Xander cast All Hallow's Even, there was something wrong, she hadn't been affected...
Just as she thought that a flood of new memories came to her, and she was aware of a voice inside her head demanding to know why she was trapped inside her own body, and who this invader was who'd taken her body over. Elaira realised that the voice was talking about her, that this time she'd retained control while she'd been possessed, and that she could remember everything that had every happened to Shadowsong. And that she could sense three nodes well within her range.
She didn't mention what had happened until Lord Xander ended the spell, and then she asked him about it, only to be told that the spell always affected him that way now. She drew the energy from the nearest node, and then threw herself at Lord Xander, kissing him deeply and hungrily.
~~~0~~~
Danilo cursed when he woke and realised that they'd all completely forgotten and ignored the money and treasure that the Malevein had looted. There wasn't likely to be much left in his opinion, but he felt that they had to at least try to recover whatever they could, the city would need it to rebuild, and re-establish the culture they once had.
"Dan, what is it?" Arilyn had calmed down a lot since Elaira had began helping her recover from how she'd changed under they Malevein's influence, and he'd stopped thinking of people in terms of what they could give him, how he could use them, and started focusing on them as people.
"The Malevein took the City Treasury, without that how will we be able to pay the Guard, or an army, or all the other things that come with governing a city?" She went pale, she'd spent more time in places without much influence of the law than he had, and she knew how bad things could get, better than he did.
"We have to get it back."
"If it hasn't been looted, but we'd have to find it first, and I don't know where to start looking." Danilo refused to let despair overwhelm him, he knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to do anything, but none of the spells he knew would help him find the missing money - it might be a staple spell for adventuring mages but he'd never needed it, and there was no way he'd be able to find or create an appropriate spell quickly enough. But he wasn't going to turn to Xander for everything he needed, that woud leave him far too dependent and unable to fend for himself. "We can search the buildings the Malevein used that are still standing, I've got the feeling that people avoided them even after Xander showed us how to slaughter those bastards. If we can't find the money today we go to see Elaira and ask her if she has any ideas." Not the best plan, but at least they'd have tried to do something by themselves even if it failed, and they might even find what they were looking for.
"And how are we going to get the money somewhere safe if we do find it?"
"You remember that belt pouch I had when we first met, the one that contained a dozen or so changes of clothes, jewellery, spirits and a spellbook? I can cast the same sort of spell on other bags, and we can put the money into a few of those. It does mean we can't have anyone accompany us, but it isn't as if we need guards, is it?"A deliberate show of bravado, but if all was as it should be they wouldn't have needed guards, and they were still more than capable of defending themselves, even with the raw power Xander's spell had imparted to them lost.
"No , it isn't. Do you know if we're still immortal, or did we lose that when Xander stripped away the powers his spell gave us?"
"I think we're still immortal, he did say we could rebuild our ki reserves over the next hundred years, and he wouldn't say that if we weren't likely to live a hundred years, but we can still be killed."
"I never thought otherwise, I was just worried about how long it would take to do that. He thinks it will take a hundred years? But it took those ningen so much less time to increase their ki levels."
"They had the time to train all day, every day, we don't. We've got to worry about putting the city back together, among other things. Come on."
They were both dressed by then, and Danilo led Arilyn out of the inn with an inexplicable urgency riding his skin. He wasn't sure if it was more a way to distract himself until Lord Piergeiron got back, or some sort of premonition. But he hadn't possessed any form of precognition before this, and if Xander's spell had given it to him he'd have known, and lost that ability by now. Whatever his reasons were Danilo dragged Arilyn around to search all three of the buildings the Malevein had set up in that were still standing, and for some reason now unoccupied, even by the collaborators who'd lived in them. Perhaps, Danilo thought with grim amusement, they were afraid that Xander would destroy these buildings as spectacularly as he had the other one the Malevein had taken. They were unsuccessful, and that meant they had to go to Elaira and Xander for aid.
~~~0~~~
Xander lifted Elaira's hand to his lips and laid a light kiss on the underside of her wrist. He noticed that she shivered in pleasure at that, closing her eyes, and it was enjoyable. No other woman had ever been so happy about his protective tendancies, or so willing to be protected and he loved it, even knowing what the source of her behaviour was.
"Before you leave can you ken some copper disks for me? I need them to be about an inch in diameter, with four holes at the edge, at the cardinal points. And I need thirty-two of them, so that I can cast a spell on them that will allow my men to always be in contact with each other as needed. I'll replace the energy you use of course." He reassured Elaira about that quickly.
"If you wish it, but is it really that urgent, my lord?" Elaira looked puzzled at the idea, and he couldn't quite blame her for that, she had her own concerns and he fully understood that they'd override his to her mind.
"I suppose not. I should have asked you last night, but the idea didn't come to me until this morning. I can do theoretical work on that idea instead. But you'll have to wait for someone to bring you into the grounds when you come back, I'm putting the security spell up today."
"That's what you wanted the silver rings for, wasn't it, my lord?"
"Yes." Xander frowned at that. "I'd wanted to do it yesterday, but the Gate used up a lot of my magical energy. It didn't exhaust me the way I half expected it to, but I didn't feel capable of the precision required, and I wasn't sure I had enough reserves to cast the security spell on such a big...I'm torn between calling it a mansion, or an estate."
"It is a mansion, an estate would have much more expansive grounds my lord."
"I see." Xander laughed, and kissed Elaira again before she left. The security spell itself was fairly simple, not easy, it took even more power than casting the concealment spell on the inn they'd been in before had, but simple. It was a spell he'd already developed, for use on the new slayer headquarters, until he'd realised that there was no one who would have the skill to cast it, even though Willow certainly had the power, and no one would understand his notation either. Casting the spell that would allow his people to pass through the security system was actually easier than the spell to allow access to the inn, firstly because he didn't have to worry about other people accompanying his people, and secondly because there were far fewer of the rings to bespell.
Working on the spell that would allow his men to communicate as needed was a welcome break from trying to figure out the math and physics of dimensional travel, even with the information he'd got from Danilo. All Danilo had been able to give him was a qualitative description of the process he'd used to summon Xander, and even that had been greatly filtered through first his perceptions, and then the limitations of the language he was using. By contrast all he needed to consider with the communications spell was how to convey the information, and what sort of alarms to set. He had it written by the time Elaira returned, and he went out to meet her and bring them all onto the grounds.
Danilo and Arilyn arrived shortly after that, one of his men must have greeted them, and handed them over to one of the elves to escort in.
"Hello Danilo, Arilyn. Are you here for a particular reason?"
"Yes. I realise that we hadn't even thought about the treasury before this. We've been looking for it, but rather unsuccessfully, and I wondered if Elaira had any ideas about where the Malevein might have put it."
"Isn't there a spell that would let you find treasure or valuables?" It puzzled Xander that Danilo wouldn't know that spell, since it seemed to be a fairly common one, and he'd made a point of creating a spell that would do the same thing.
"Yes, but I never learned it. I never needed it, I was born into a family with lots of money, and I've always had that to fall back on." Danilo looked worried, and Xander could understand why. "Elaira, please, can you think of anything that might help?"
"No, I can't think of anything like that, I'm sorry."
"I've got a spell in my style of magic that I could adapt for this. Give me an hour or so and I'll work out what you need to find the money." Xander went up to his office, leaving Elaira to talk with and entertain Danilo and Arilyn while he worked.
"Cast this spell in the room where I put that illusion of Waterdeep. It will show where all concentrations of valuables are, in shades corresponding to how valuable a cache is, with white being most valuable, blue next, then purple, red, orange and finally yellow. This spell can be used to modify the first spell. Every time you cast it it will take the caches of the lowest values out of the spell, and redistribute the values corresponding to the colours. For instance if at first any cache worth less than a Toal was yellow after you cast the second spell the first wouldn't recognise any cache worth less than a Toal, and it would show any cache worth less than say 10 Toals as yellow. This will end the first spell, and this will create a ball of light that will guide you to the most valuable concentration of treasure in the building."
"Thank you." Danilo took the spells and left.
~~~0~~~
