In For The Kill And Out For The Betrayal

[Anadwen]

Aldanith carefully wiped his blades with his cape, and returned them into their sheaths, crossed at his back. "I was ready since the moment I laid a foot onto this stone. Are you?" he replied coldly, dropping the skull and turning towards the exit.

The same pale flame burned as he snapped his fingers, and moved over from the pile of corpses to the narrow tunnel.

[Lion]

It was about time they got a move on, Vandryn was quickly getting bored of this.  He silently followed  after the drow, carefully stepping between his bloodied footprints and peering further into the tunnel.  "You're attracting attention.  Snuff that flame, would you?" he growled behind him.

[Anadwen]

"Are you sure you won't trip over something?" Aldanith replied, twisting his thin lips in disdain. He didn't put much trust in this dark elf's skills, although he definitely had at least some. "I won't be standing on one place if you fall on your face and smash it even more than it already is." he winged off.

[Lion]

"Oh I would never dream of making you wait on me, your majesty.  But if you feel you need the light for your own poor vision, then by all means keep it alit," Vandryn sneered.  "Now shake that pretty princess behind and keep walking."

[Anadwen]

The flame disappeared. "If you trip, I'll take pleasure in kicking you." he snarled over his shoulder, and stepped into the darkness before him.

His eyes were perfectly accustomed to it, recognizing every stone and every hole in the ground there was. He never had a problem with the dark...

[Lion]

"Oh, but do be careful," Vandryn mumbled with half a smirk.  "I wouldn't want you to scuff your fabulous boots."  He gave him a grin and stumbled in behind him, faking a bump against Aldanith and rearing back.  "Whoops."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith scoffed at him, and kept walking. "Stop playing games. We aren't on the playground anymore." he hissed.

The tunnel was getting wider and wider by every step, and it was ascending - only slightly, but still enough to be noticed when walking in such a fast pace as they did. It appeared that they would soon come onto the surface.

[Lion]

"I expected something more dank and dark for the home of some group of goblins," Vandryn commented dryly, walking along in he dark and turning his hands toward his lips and soon a small light smoldered and Vandryn puffed an pipe filled with herb, chewing thoughtfully on the tip.

[Anadwen]

Aldanith sniffed the herbs, and with an enraged expression snapped the pipe out of Vandryn's hands. "You fool! Now isn't the time to smoke! If you want yourself caught, this is the fastest way! I can't believe you are that stupid!" he snarled.

[Lion]

Vandryn's eyes narrowed and he snatched his pipe back.  "You should know better than to take what doesn't belong to you," he warned.  Aldanith was lucky.  He'd taken heads off for lesser things.  And puffed on it again, walking away from the drow to let him enjoy his smoke.

[Anadwen]

"You dense f***er." Aldanith hissed. All of a sudden, the pipe went up in black flames, disappearing within a few seconds, and he was really tempted to do the same with its owner...

"If you want to get caught, then do it alone. You've f***ed this up." His voice was low and silent, but very obviously threatening. His hand was at the handle of a blade, and it would take him just a moment to rip Vandryn to pieces.

[Lion]

"Nonsense.  We only just go started," Vandryn mused, wiping the dust from his hands.  He paused in the dirt and crouched down, looking the pile that had become his pipe and frowned.  "You should smoke more.  It might relax you."  But he didn't even look up at Aldanith and swirled his hands around the ash pile and breathed in the dust that billowed up from it.  He stuck his hands into the ground and pulled out the refurbished pipe, puffing on it once more and spewing out nostrils like the smoke of a dragon.

"Here try this.  Just a puff.  It will open your mind.  And there's no more attention to be had.  We're just out of the cave.  I already looked.  And if you were paying attention you would have noticed too."

[Anadwen]

"Off course I noticed! Just another reason for you to stop!" Aldanith snapped. "Are you really so stupid? There is always attention to be had, and you're only getting more! The stench of that f***ing thing can be smelt for miles!"

He crossed his arms on his chest and scowled at Vandryn. "I'm not going to repeat one f***ing thing one hundred f***ing times. Put it back where you took it from." he growled. He was losing his patience with this fool, and every moment just made him more and more enraged. If he could just grab his neck and snap it, oh yeah...

[Lion]

Vandryn peered at the drow with dull eyes and puffed on the pipe for a long second, drawing the smoke into himself.  "Just come along," he muttered and turned his back to walk up further toward the way they were going.  He reached the top of the incline and peered over the ridge into the night, letting the smoke merge into him and wisp out and change before his sight.

He saw the form of their destination, the temple, though it seemed to be nothing more to untrained eyes and he narrowed them again.  The smoke turned and swirled and moved back into his lungs.  Vandryn turned and continued to walk down the path that came out from the other side of the cavern, smoking along.

[Anadwen]

Aldanith stopped at the sight of the temple in the distance, examining it with his sharp sight. It was hidden among the trees, hardly visible for an eye that didn't know what to search for, but he saw the ruin-like structure, towering afar. He frowned at it, taking his mask off for a short while, and slipping it underneath his armour.

It has only become a nuisance, hindering his sight and movement, and outside the town he didn't need it, anyway. Noticing that Vandryn is already a long distance from him, he ran down the hillside, and in a short moment, he caught up with him again. While still walking in a brisk tempo, he pulled the map from underneath his armour, and studied it, even though it was slightly shaking in his hands, and the light was far less than sufficient for reading.

[Lion]

The smoke flowed in and out of him, for the herb wasn't very strong.  It didn't have to be to achieve it's needed affect and once it clarified Vandryn's mind,  he dashed the ashes out and put them away into the pouch he retrieved them from and put the pipe away, blowing out smoke from his nostrils as if he were breathing fire.  "You saw the temple too, I take it," he wagered to the drow behind him.  "What was the next path again.  The ridge is growing too narrow to continue down it."

[Anadwen]

"Through the forest." he replied shortly. "It's north of this road, anyway." He rolled the map to a tight tube and folded it over a few times, hiding it under one of the steel plates that covered his chest. His hand arose and pointed at the woods on their side.

"That way. Straight." And without any other words, he swiftly climbed up the side of the ridge and stepped into the deep, dense forest that was behind it.

[Lion]

Vandryn's eyes traced up toward where Aldanith scaled the ridge and he followed silently behind.  He watched the movements of the drow before him.  He was a peculiar creature, with an attitude that could kill a dove with a single glance.  He supposed the beast just couldn't help himself, he was a drow after all.  But Vandryn kept his musings to himself and followed along.

And the voices in his head began their ruminations.

[Anadwen]

Leaves hardly even rustled under Aldanith's feet as he walked forth through the forest, light on his feet even despite his height and heavy gear. His eyes were scanning his surroundings, glinting in the darkness as if they shone with their own light. He let his mind wander away from this moment, this place.

Even though he still perceived his surroundings perfectly, he no longer thought about them. His thoughts were far in the dark of a different day.

[Lion]

They walked on in silence for some time.  Vandryn had no words for the elf and he was certain the drow had no words for him either.  Thankfully neither were the type that had to fill the silence with dead words that meant nothing in particular to anybody.