Angel held the sobbing Rynn awkwardly, unsure what to do. A glance told him that Arokh would be no help. Angel wasn't sure, but the dragon seemed to be regarding him suspiciously.
"Ah, there, there," he said, patting her back. This seemed to be the thing to do in the movies. He hoped.
Rynn pulled away from Angel and choked back her tears, putting her big sword away. Arokh relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry," she said, "I've just...lost my brother. I'm so tired..."
"Okay," Angel said understanding. "I've got some room. You can stay at my place if you like."
"Oh, thank you," Rynn said. "I can't remember the last time I got some sleep."
"That's all right. My friend and car are up this way."
"What's a car?" Arokh asked.
* * *
"No, absolutely not," Cordelia said adamantly. "I'm your secretary Angel, NOT a babysitter." This was just not fair. Angel had called her to come to this godforsaken warehouse for this? Granted it was only a block away, but still!
"Dragonsitter actually," Angel corrected. "The point is that Arokh needs someone to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't have anymore...accidents."
"But there's a party I have just got to attend," she protested. "Lots of important people will be there. Why can't you or Doyle watch Airsick?"
"Arokh. And to answer your question, I've offered Rynn a night's stay at my place; she needs a bath, meal and a good night's sleep. Second, Doyle has taken my car to a mechanic he knows."
"What happened to your car?" Cordelia asked.
"I was startled," Arokh put in. He sat in the middle of the main floor. "You should have warned me better."
Cordy looked at Angel in askance.
"Hey, the car still runs," Angel said with a kind of fake optimism. "It just needs a new windshield and...hood..."
Cordy rolled her eyes. "Great. Sure, I'll do it, but on one condition." She turned to Ar-whats-his-name...the dragon. "You don't eat me."
It's head jerked up in horror. "What kind of degenrate creature do you take me for, madam?!" he asked indignantly.
"I'm sure he has better taste, Cordelia," Angel added as he turned to leave.
"Okay then," Cordy said smugly. Then she frowned. "Hey!" she shouted at Angel's retreating back. "Was that an insult?"
* * *
"Your world is amazing," Rynn told Angel as they entered his apartment. "I just don't understand why you live in a cellar though."
Angel shrugged. "It's home," he said simply. "Have a seat. Would you like something to eat?"
"Yes, thankyou," Rynn said as she sat down on a cushioned bench that could have doubled as a bed. This city was amazing. She had never seen so many people in her life. And the buildings. In Rynn's world, few buildings were two stories tall. Fewer still were taller and they tended to be of a magical nature. Yet here dwellings seemed to commonly be three or four stories tall. And Rynn had glimpsed distant towers that dwarfed anything in her world.
And the lights. There were lights everywhere. Some were garish in the extreme, but they lit the city like it was day. Oh how Delon would have delighted to see this world...
Rynn's thoughts shied away from Delon. Best to concentrate on something else.
"Do you have a wash basin?" Rynn asked, looking around at Angel's home. "I would like to wash up." Angel's home was luxuriously furnished by Rynn's standards. He must be a warrior of some sort, Rynn decided as she studied some of the weapons hanging on the walls. They seemed ordinary enough which was strange given some of the things she had seen in this world.
"A wash basin?" Angel asked. He seemed amused at the notion. "I've got something better." Rynn's eyebrows rose questioningly. "It's called a shower."
* * *
*It's wonderful, Arokh,* Rynn sent happily. *A waterfall inside a house!*
*I'm glad you like it,* Arokh replied. And in truth, he was glad that Rynn was pulling herself out of her grief. Still, he could sense the grief lurking.
Arokh on the otherhand, was utterly miserable. He was trapped with a monster far worse than any he had ever encountered before. Even the Succubus Queen had never tortured him so unmercifully.
"...and I have so many better places to be," the human girl, Cordelia was saying. "I mean, where's Doyle? It was soooo inconsiderate of him to go haring off..."
What was it about this world? Both Angel and Doyle looked and acted human enough, but they smelled wrong, not human at all. On the other claw, this Cordelia smelled like the humans of Drakan, but she never...shut...up. She had an oppinion about everything and wasn't hesitant to share them. Everything seemed to revolve around her as far as Cordelia was concerned.
She would have been boring him to tears except that Dragons didn't cry.
"Hey, Airbutt, I asked you a question!"
She did? Damn, and he had almost been successful in tuning her out completely. "I'm sorry, milady," Arokh grated out as politely as he could. Not that Cordelia would notice. "You were saying?"
"You really ought to pay more attention when people are talking to you, y'know," Cordelia scolded. "As I was saying, I've got this party that I sooo need to attend if I want to become a star."
"I see," Arokh said wisely. He only half understood what she was saying. Why would she want be a pinprick of light in the sky? "But did not your lord instruct you to not leave me to my own devices?"
"Angel's my boss, not 'my lord'," Cordelia replied. "And I'm not stupid." Debatable but Arokh kept his peace. "You'll just have to come with me. So how about it?" Before he could reply, she went on, leading him toward the big doors he had come through earlier. "First, we'll pass you off as a big animatronic robot..."
Arokh had a bad feeling about this.
* * *
While Rynn showered, Angel examined her things. She had discarded an absurd amount of equipment she had been carrying before going into the shower. Angel could see why; all this stuff wouldn't fit into the bathroom. Where did she hide all this stuff? There didn't seem to be any room on that form-fitting armor of hers. There were two broadswords, a bow, a quiver with half a dozen arrows, and several flasks full red, blue or yellow liquids.
The swords were obviously magical. One was the glowing blue one that Rynn had pulled on him earlier. When he had tried the touch it, the sword had burned Angel's fingers like it was a cross. The other sword was perpetually clouded in red smoke. Almost too low to be heard were moans and screams that seem to be coming from the smoking sword. The demon in him stirred at an off sense of kinship.
Angel shuddered and turned to look at something else.
He locked eyes with Rynn who had just stepped out of his bathroom. She was wearing the robe that Angel had left in there with her. She looked pretty good in it. The question in her eyes was pretty obvious.
"Uh, interesting stuff you have here," he said lamely.
"Yes it is," Rynn replied. Her nose crinkled at an odor that filled the apartment. It looked cute. "What burned?"
"Dinner. Want some fruit?" Angel gestured to a bowl of fruit on the table. "I'm not...a very good cook. Never took the time to learn."
"Thankyou," Rynn said, picking up an apple. She examined it carefully as if she had never seen one before. Which was probably true, Angel thought, given that she was from another world. She took a tentative bite. "Aren't you going to have one?"
"Ah, no, I already ate," Angel replied. "Before you arrived."
"Oh, okay."
There was silence while Rynn ate and Angel tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. Rynn was obviously grieving for a loved one, probably her brother that she had mentioned earlier. There was also a hint of guilt. A situation that Angel was not unfamiliar with.
Might as well start off with small stuff.
"So, um, are swords like these common in your world?" Angel asked.
"Oh no, they're unique," Rynn replied. "The Runeblade and Mourn Bringer." She indicated the blue and red swords respectively. Sadness covered her face.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked concerned.
"I just realized something," Rynn answered dejectedly. "Just about every piece of gear I have was stolen from my enemies. Nothing here is something I can really call my own."
Angel eyebrows rose in surprise, but he said nothing.
"Except for Arokh, I've lost just about everybody I've ever known," Rynn continued. "Friends, family, even my... brother." She looked about ready to cry again.
"Hey, it's all right," Angel said, feeling like a jerk because he couldn't say anything better than cliches. "What happened?"
"My village was attacked by Wartoks and Orcs." Angel didn't bother asking what those were. "I was the only one that got away. My brother, Delon, was captured and taken to be host for the evil spirit of Navaros. Now that I think about it, I'm amazed that Arohk and I actually fought our way through Navaros' whole army to rescue Delon. Rescuing my brother was the only thing that kept me going. But..." Rynn broke down into tears again.
Angel let the tears come. She needed to get this out. "But?" he prodded, then added you don't have to continue if you don't want to."
"It's all right, Angel," Rynn said, wiping her eyes. "It's just that when I finally found Delon, Navaros had taken over his body and I had to..." She couldn't quite make herself say it, but Angel got the idea.
"You killed him," Angel said. Rynn flinched but nodded. "Because the thing in Delon's body was doing its...his... whatever best to kill you."
"You make it sound so nice and neat," Rynn said. "But it wasn't. If I had just got there five minutes earlier..."
"But you didn't," Angel told her sympathetically, "and now all you have is regrets and even vengeance taken doesn't make things right." Angel thought about Tina and how he couldn't save her. "I understand. I've been there."
"But my brother..."
"Your brother wouldn't have wanted this Navaros running around in his body doing all sorts of horrible things," Angel told her. "Trust me, you did him a favor. If he cared for you as much as you care about him, I think that he would rather have you kill him than hurt you."
"How would you know that?"
"I've been there, too."
* * *
"They were here."
Several armored figures stood on hill by the Hollywood sign, acting as lookouts and generally securing the area.
The speaker was a floating and slightly transluscent top half of a skeleton. It wore the ragged remains of a robe and was speaking to one of the armored figures who wore a black armband.
"Are they still in this world?" the Ebon Knight asked emotionlessly.
"Oh, yes," the Death Mage replied. "Although I can't quite say where."
"No matter, we shall find them." the Ebon Knight said. "And we will destroy any who gets in our way." Behind him, a Rift open and the first of the Blade Dragons came through.
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