Up and Down

Awake and Asleep

When Anna opened her eyes next, she is tucked under a blanket that smells of old books. Her eyelids still heavy, she crawls from under the cover, stiff and sore. The space around her is unfamiliar. A large room with walls of oiled canvas. A tent. A very large tent.

She remembers seeing something like this in the Highlands. The poachers set up their camps to be much bigger on the inside. In one case, big enough to contain multiple dragons.

Where is she now, though?

"Hello?" her voice is hoarse from sleep and thirst, and she clears her dry throat.

"Anna!"

Ominis' voice comes from somewhere behind the canvas, from another 'room'. She can hear his footsteps, hurried but cautious. It seems the space isn't familiar to him either.

"Ominis...?"

It wasn't a dream, then. Or was it? She can't rightly tell what was real and what was not. But if it wasn't, how is Ominis here? And Sebastian was there too...

The familiar blond boy rounds the corner of the room and walks over to her, a thin cane in his hand helping him not to trip over anything. Anna jumps up and meets him halfway, pulling him into a tight embrace.

His cane falls to the ground as he reciprocates, arms closing around her, cradling her to his chest. She feels him nuzzling her hair, breathing her in.

"Oh, my dearest love, you are awake..."

"That's new," she muses, smiling up at him, "since when did you decide to call me that?"

His high cheekbones are dusted with light blush as he leans down to kiss her forehead.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or so they say."

"Oh, they say," she can't help but needle him with a loving smile, "the same they everyone knows and nobody does?"

He chuckles and pulls her into a kiss, so sweet and tender it makes her flutter with anticipation and adoration. His elegant fingers weave into her hair, pulling gently, and she moans into his mouth, her head tilting back, letting him have a better angle.

She feels him smile a wicked smile against her lips as he deepens the kiss, and her knees grow weak.

But, eventually, he pulls away despite her needy, protesting whimpers. Ominis takes a steadying breath and runs his fingers through her hair again with fondness.

"Later. Now is probably not a good time, Anna. Your father and Sebastian should be coming back soon, and I don't care about being interrupted once again."

"Oh? Where did they go?"

"To the city, for more supplies. We weren't sure how long you'll need to rest, and we didn't plan to have four people, so more water and food were required, especially the former. As I could live the rest of my life a happy man without getting on a camel ever again, they left me to look after you in case you wake up..."

"You? Riding a camel?" She snorts in the most unladylike manner, "I'll have to see that."

"Well, I'm certain you will get an opportunity," the boy grumbles, his nose wrinkling in disdain for a brief moment.

She chortles and wraps her arms around him again, happy to simply be next to him.

"Oh and... where are we, Ominis?"

"Vance calls it 'Sorcerer's Necropolis'. West of the Nile, past the Valley of the Kings."

"Oh... it's... I think that's where we were when... it all began to go wrong. Had he been here the entire time?"