Riding on the back of the mule with nothing else to do but hold on and try to enjoy the rather bumpy, uncomfortable ride, Kharin had plenty of time to think.  Ultimately, it wasn’t what she’d prefer to be doing, but she had little else to occupy her.  While she was tired, sleeping or even attempting to doze was not going to happen.  Her muscles were reminding her quite forcefully that she had overdone it just a bit when fighting, both with her power and with her body.  She had been significantly more successful than she had given herself credit for, all things considered, but that did not assuage the guilt she felt at not being able to save the others.  In her mind, she could still see their terrified expressions as they were taken away.

                In front of her, Eun Mi continued to guide Glory down the road, her body moving easily with the motion of the mule.  The healer had been just as silent as her passenger for the past hour and for both, it was almost a welcome lack of speech.  Both recognized they had a lot of ground to cover and just getting to the capitol was not going to be nearly enough…

                It was while she was thinking about getting in that the thought occurred to Kharin of how she was going to accommodate Eun Mi.  She had no doubt that she was a good healer, but as of yet she had not seen the other woman fight and was hesitant on her capacity to do so.  There was no way they were just going to be able to waltz right into the palace, much less the city where there were probably guards everywhere, but perhaps that would be fine in the end.  Eun Mi was innocuous enough on her own.  She had no special powers or overly distinct features and as they had already discussed, healers tended to have some measure of protection that the rest just didn’t share.

                Awkwardly, Kharin shifted her seat again and readjusted her grip around the slender woman’s waist.  “What’s Lornhaldt like?”

                “Huh?” Eun Mi questioned over her shoulder, caught off guard by the sudden question.  “What do you mean?”

                “What’s the city like?” she asked again.  “Are there guards everywhere?  What sort of layout can we expect?”  It might well be a grand place to visit in better times but she had no use for extraneous information just now.

                Carefully, Eun Mi took a moment to go over what she knew for sure in her head.  “I have not been back in several months, but when last I was there, Enrhyll did have guards stationed at the gates.  If I remember correctly, there are small groups of soldiers that patrol the streets inside the walls.  I never got close enough to the palace to see what was there.  I would imagine he has guards stationed there too,” she muttered darkly.  For all that he was ‘all powerful’ he had a lot of guards everywhere.

                “Hmm…”  Kharin took a deep breath and forced herself not to be discouraged.  She still had a few tools at her disposal that they sure as hell didn’t.

                “What are you planning?” Eun Mi asked after another pause where her companion didn’t elaborate.

                “I’m planning on getting into the palace,” she replied immediately.

                “Okay…  How?” the healer asked.  “What if the guards recognize you?  What if we see more of those things?” she added, a note of worry creeping into her voice.  That was a possibility she had not considered when she had prompted Kharin to join her on the mule to head for the capitol as fast as they could.  Initially, she had chalked her reaction down to being concerned about her patients as she didn’t like losing them any more than Kharin did, but she had to admit it might be slightly more than that.  Despite her disappointment upon first meeting him, she had come to enjoy Siwon’s company in the few days they had spent together.  She considered him a friend and those she did not have many of, nor could she deny her attraction to him…  With a start, she drew her attention back to Kharin who was answering her question.

                Confidently, Kharin had snorted and responded, “The guards I can avoid entirely.  As for the constructs; I am more concerned about you than I am for myself in that regard.  Constructs I can handle.  At least those ones anyway.”

                Eun Mi couldn’t deny she had no idea what she’d be able to do against the things if they did come back and if they took any sort of interest in her.  Her efforts in the last confrontation had been less than successful.  “I guess we’ll just have to worry about that if it happens…” she muttered uncertainly, her hands tightening on the reins.

                That was not an answer that Kharin favored in the least.  thinned out into a slight frown but she refrained from saying anything.  At present, there was really little she could do about it anyway.  Reluctantly, she slouched a bit and placed her forehead against Eun Mi’s shoulder.  The healer was shorter than her so it made using her as a resting post a bit awkward but she was far better than nothing.

                Through the afternoon, Glory continued to alternate between a trot and a canter, distinguished by the former being considerably bumpier the latter.  It was obvious the longer that they traveled the more tired she was becoming as her gate started to get choppier and to her riders’ discomfort, the lack of a saddle or riding pad meant that they were getting sweat soaked too. 

                “Alright,” Eun Mi finally called as dusk was beginning to approach, waking Kharin from a restless doze.  “Time to take a break.”  Easily, she pulled the mule off to the side of the road and waited for her passenger to come around before she tried to slide off.  Stiff from the unaccustomed activity, Kharin half slid, half fell off the tall creature, grabbing reflexively at Eun Mi who almost followed her down before steadying them both.  “Careful,” she cautioned as she released Kharin’s arm slowly.

                The shadow elementalist groaned and carefully took a few steps, glancing down at the uncomfortably soaked through pants with distaste.  “Do you actually enjoy riding her?” she asked Eun Mi as the healer slid off with considerably more grace and started to unload the packs before walking the tired mule out.

                She chirped a positive response and rubbed Glory’s forehead affectionately.  The mule whickered softly and lipped at her shirt.  “Do you want to get out the food and water?” Eun Mi suggested easily as she kept her expression neutral though she wanted to smile at Kharin’s antics in trying to get stretched out.  The slightly bow-legged stance gained from riding for too long was familiar to her indeed.

                “Sure,” Kharin waved before she focused her attention on the packs and proceeded to dig out the oil cloth wrapped rations they had packed in each bag prior to setting out.  She kept a careful eye on the road, wary of the travelers that continued to pass them by, some of whom watched them just as curiously.

                While Kharin chewed on some of the meat and continued to try and limber up, Eun Mi finished walking Glory out before letting her graze nearby.  Quietly, they ate together, giving the mule time to rest up more than themselves.  The healer did not want to run her into the ground no matter how fast they wanted to get to the capitol.  Before they got ready to go again, she made sure to give Glory some of the water from her skin and then threw the packs back on.  Awkwardly, she clambered on, showing Kharin how to manage without anyone to offer assistance.

                Somewhat rested, the duo continued on, reluctant to stop when there was still light enough to see by.  When they were forced to break for the night, it was with great hesitation.  Kharin didn’t know Eun Mi well enough to say if she would be a good person to split a watch with and Eun Mi wasn’t used to spending nights out on the road in general.  Normally, if she had to, she at least had Yong-Soo around…

                Uncertainly, they agreed to split the watch and avoided a fire altogether.  Eun Mi tethered Glory to the packs and took first watch, mandating that Kharin sleep.  Ordinarily, the elementalist would have argued but she was too tired.  Fighting had worn her out more than she cared to admit, especially since she was still recovering.  The bindings had held well though and since she wasn’t in obvious pain from more than soreness, Eun Mi had left her well enough alone, to her relief.  Kharin disliked being fussed over and avoided it if at all possible.

                It was a long and lonely night for both of them.  No one else was traveling during those hours, or at least none that had any sense, but that did not make either of them feel any better.  The waning moon gave light enough to see by for at least a little ways around them but it still left much to the imagination.  When Eun Mi woke Kharin, it was a relief to sleep if only because she could stop imagining things.

               More used to the shadows, even Kharin was subject to the normal concerns of the things she couldn’t see at night; the biggest concern being more constructs.  Barring that, the long hours of the night gave her far too much time to think again.  At least the last time she’d been separated from the others, she’d had Leeteuk nearby to help keep her worries at bay.  He had been alternately worried and strong enough for the both of them, but he was taken…because she couldn’t protect him; or Siwon for that matter.  Her eyes burned as tears threatened to fall.  With an angry growl, she scrubbed at her face and hit the ground with her fist, focusing on the pain in her hand as opposed to the pain in her heart.

                Somehow, she was going to find them and rescue them.  As of yet, she had no idea how that was going to happen, but she would not fail them again!

~~~~~~

                Nearly senseless in the almost suffocating darkness, Siwon clung to his sanity with an iron grip.  Underground, there was nothing to see and the only thing he could hear was the steady crunch of earth as it shifted around them effortlessly.  He was aware of something holding to him tightly so that his back was pressed against a hard, mostly flat surface and the only thing he could guess was that it was an earth construct.  The urge to retaliate against it was immediately cut off by the fear that he would be trapped here, encased in the ground, if he did.

                Fear and his own helplessness trapped him far more effectively than the creature holding him.  Even the fact that he could breathe was both welcome and alarming because his head told him it shouldn’t be possible but his body continued to regardless.  Desperately, he tried to focus on something else to keep his mind steady so he worked at the problem of being underground.  Perhaps it was that the construct emitted a sort of barrier around its self that made the earth act like water instead.  He imagined in this case it would function somewhat like Eleanara’s barrier as he was surrounded by earth but it did not touch him.

                In the end, he really didn’t know and the more he thought about it, the less he cared to.  There was a certain fear in him that believed the barrier or whatever it was would fail and he would die in this place, unknown and forgotten.  It was a morbid and depressing thought and one he shied away from almost immediately.  When he felt his mind drifting, he shook himself roughly.  With no way of telling how much time had gone by, he couldn’t tell where they were or even how fast they were traveling.  The only thing he knew without doubt was that this thing was taking him to Enrhyll.

                While he still did not have a face to envision, he could take his fear and transform it into anger when he thought of him as a figure.  For at least a little while, that was able to sustain him as he pictured various scenarios that could play out when he met him.  None of them were probable and all were fairly ridiculous, but just the thought of being able to punch him down was satisfying, at least for a little bit.

             When even that failed, the only thing he had left to call on were the people he had grown up with and the newest friends he had met along the way.  He closed his eyes, aware that he did so only by the feel of it, and held their images close.  The familiar faces comforted him as few things could at that moment.  If nothing else, he was being taken closer to Eleanara and Kyuhyun.  They were there at the palace and he would be able to see them and make sure they were okay.

              He only hoped that the others were alright too.  He knew that Leeteuk had been in trouble before he had been dragged into the earth.  Maybe Kharin had been able to help him.  She would not have let him go without a fight, of that much he was sure.  Siwon’s mind darted from place to place, never settling for too long on any one thought and he continued to shy away from his reality.  It was too much to focus on.  Even when he had been drowning, he had some sense of what was going on.

               This depravation was terrifying and he didn’t know when it would end…if it would end.  It would, wouldn’t it?  It had to.  Surely Enrhyll did not mean for him to remain in the darkness.  He had captured the others…  They were still sane, or so he could believe.  Would he be?  His breathing started to increase and panic welled up in him.  How much time had passed?  When would it end?  When…?

                The uncertainty became too much and in his overwrought and already exhausted state, Siwon slipped into unconsciousness quite without thought.  When he woke again, it was because there had been a subtle change from the constant motion of the creature carrying him.  He opened his eyes and found himself still surrounded by that unending darkness.  It was too much.  The water elementalist screamed, a raw and primal sound that echoed in his small enclosure, muffled by the earth pressing around him.  “Let me out!  Let…me…out!!!”  Blindly, he reached out with his hands, flailing in the small space that was his.

                His fear of the earth around him was outweighed by an overwhelming need to see something again.  He had not the strength to get out but water was an overwhelming force when there was enough of it.  With what was left of his increasingly fragile stability, Siwon reached for his power, feeling the water bubbling beneath the surface.  Abruptly, he felt moisture all around him, drenched immediately as his element responded to his desperation, pouring from the walls of the earth itself.

                Their forward motion halted as water created too much resistance for the construct to carry along and when it paused, the pressure built as more water tried to fit a space that was too small for it.  The crack of earth splitting sounded like thunder in his ears as water pressed upward, hauling him and the construct still gripping him through earth and stone.  He would have screamed had he not needed the air to hold his breath.

                He felt the water press against him as the earth construct above him met with resistance; felt himself gasp against the pressure and then something broke.  With a rushing sound and too much pale light, incredibly bright after the total darkness he had endured, both Siwon and the construct were tossed above ground in a geyser that spit them out forcefully.  The construct finally released him and he flailed wildly as he couldn’t decide whether to scream or laugh.  There was little time for either as he found the ground rushing to meet him far too quickly.  With a grimace, he braced for the collision.

                As his body impacted, he felt pain roar to life within him until his head bounced against the stone paved road and feeling everywhere else ceased for the splitting headache.  His vision blurred and he faintly heard the sound of something next to him crunching into the ground before he saw small fragments of earth roll into his vision and then turn to sand.

                A masculine voice in front of him drew his attention but even as he struggled to focus on it, he felt himself slipping away.  “You certainly know how to make an entrance,” a confident, smug tone resonated through his head.

~~~~~~

                The sensation of flying might have been a wholly more enjoyable experience under slightly different circumstances.  As it was, Leeteuk was rather uncomfortable with being carted across the sky by constructs.  The wind serpent was wrapped too firmly around his torso to be comfortable and the light dragons had very sharp talons that dug into the flesh of his shoulders.  It wasn’t enough to be even worth considering as a bad injury but the wounds still hurt.

                His other concern was that he had lost his connection to the earth again.  Oh, he could feel it below him, but it was an entirely disassociated feeling.  He knew it was there, just as easily as he could see it, but that was about the extent of his awareness and it was not a feeling he favored.  If he tried really hard, he could feel the construct moving beneath the surface.  The flyers had caught up to it and overtaken it not long after Siwon had disappeared under ground.

                Now though, it was somewhere behind them and all he could do was watch the ground pass by beneath him far below.  The height was somewhat dizzying actually and if he wasn’t so damnably pissed off and if his ankle didn’t hurt as bad as it did, he would have had time to feel fear.  As it was, the constructs were an outlet for his frustration as he beat at them ineffectively with his hands, clawing at elemental surfaces with rough nails.

                A stream of expletives and curses had spewed from his mouth in the first few minutes of his flying and when his verbal library had been exhausted, he continued to pummel them with his fists.  He had no real intention of trying to make them let go from this height as that would be folly, but useless action was better than none at all.  Even that could only last so long, though.

                At last spent from his efforts, Leeteuk clung to the constructs, a mixture of loathing and curiosity swirling in his mind.  If Enrhyll had made these things then that meant that they could too.  He had held the earth one at bay and tore it apart too, not unlike the time they fought the large one at Mount Balaron.  So if they could be taken apart, he should be able to put one together.  Most of their power was about visualization anyway.  As long as they had a clear idea of what they were trying to do and it was relevant to their element, the power they controlled could usually fill in the blanks as it were.

                He dwelt on that thought as the ground continued to pass by quickly underneath, the occasional traveler aware enough to notice a ‘flying’ man above them.  The sun seemed to move incredibly slowly in direct contrast to his flight and when he bothered to look up, he was startled to see what could only be Lornhaldt rising into view.  At the sight of it, Leeteuk felt his pulse quicken and his grip tightened on the body of the wind construct.

                Much faster than he was ready for, the city grew in size.  He was overcome with an array of hard to separate feelings as before him he recognized that he was finally going to reach their goal, just not in any way that he had ever intended.  Alone and injured, he was not prepared to meet Enrhyll as he was.  The only thing he could look forward to was the fact that Eleanara and Kyuhyun were here too.  He could see them again.  He could tell her…  Wait.  He would need to get there first.  One step at a time.  “I can do this,” he told himself firmly as he steeled his gaze and clenched his jaw tight.

                The city wall passed by swiftly under his feet and he eyed the top nervously where a handful of guards watched him curiously as he passed by, weapons at the ready but not aimed at him.  More and more people looked up to see him float by overhead as his speed finally slowed down the closer her got to the tall palace structure ahead of him.  After a few seconds, he stopped looking at the streets and stared intently at the palace doors.  There was power inside that building.  “Enrhyll,” Leeteuk murmured quietly, tension and anger b over in his tone.

                Abruptly, the guards noticed his arrival and they pulled open the doors for him so that they flew in easily, the open hall inside more than large enough for the constructs to fly with relative ease.  Massive pillars passed by on either side of him, blurring together before the next set of doors were opened in turn and he was rushed into what could only be the throne room as denoted by the ornate chair sitting on the raised dais in the center of the room.  Leeteuk frowned fiercely when his eyes fell upon the striking man who lounged there, opulently dressed and dark black hair spilling over his shoulders in a careless but elegant manner.  “Enrhyll,” he growled when the constructs stopped him just in front of the tyrant.

                “Welcome to my palace, Elementalist,” Enrhyll greeted with a welcoming smile as he stood up and regarded the young man curiously.  Stoically, Leeteuk kept his silence and glowered at him, to the tyrant’s amusement.  “I know you are aware that I am the god Enrhyll.  What do they call you, Elementalist of Earth?” he asked in a bored tone of voice.

                Leeteuk maintained his severe expression and looked around, trying to find out where the others were.  “Where are Eleanara and Kyuhyun?” he growled quietly, feeling alternately foolish and very annoyed.  It was hard to be at all imposing when you were still dangling in the air from constructs.

                “They’re here,” was his maddening, easy response.  “Now what is your name?” he asked again, his annoyance showing through with one brow raised.

                He was torn between a desire to be as recalcitrant as possible or to attack him, but he desperately wanted to know how the others were.  Nor did it escape him that he was horribly outmatched here.  And where was the neutralizer?  That was a fact he could not dismiss out of hand.  Just because he did not see her didn’t mean that she wasn’t around.

                “It’s alright,” Enrhyll soothed, an annoying sound to say the least.  “You don’t have to be afraid of me.  I’m not going to hurt you.”  He smiled at the elementalist, trying to smooth out the angry and fearful expression on his face.  Fear would certainly explain his reluctance to speak.  Easily, he gestured for the constructs to set him down.

                Surprised, Leeteuk wasn’t prepared to accept his weight when the constructs released him a few inches above the ground and he cried out involuntarily when his ankle was jarred, the leg buckling immediately.  Tears he couldn’t help blurred his vision as he wildly sought to keep an eye on the tyrant.  “Stay back!” he groaned painfully, clenching his fists tightly as he waited for the agony to subside in the broken limb.  The shadow construct had mangled it further when it had bit him and the brace was not doing its job as well as it should have.

                “Shh,” Enrhyll breathed as he knelt next to Leeteuk, concern on his features.  It was an expression the elementalist did not believe for a second.  “Let me help you,” the tyrant stated while he reached out to touch the young man’s obviously injured leg.

                “No,” Leeteuk snarled as he reached out and smacked the hand away, startling and offending the other man.

                “How dare you!” Enrhyll frowned fiercely.  His eyes turned hard and angry at the rebuff.  Abruptly, he stood up and looked down scornfully at the man before he commanded earth to trap him to the floor, an idea that quickly fell through as the bands were melted away the moment they were in place.  “Stop that,” he commanded imperiously, quickly attempting to replace the bindings.  As before, they were wiped away while the young man glared at him ferociously.

                Bad idea or not, Leeteuk wasn’t going to stay still and allow himself to be tethered because Enrhyll said so.  Through the pain, he grit his teeth and summoned the power of earth.  Maybe if he caught him by surprise…  His eyes widened when he realized that the tyrant knew what he was doing and before he could argue otherwise, a fine veil of mist settled over him and for just a second, he fought the impulse to sleep with his anger, but then that failed and unconsciousness claimed him swiftly.

                “Hmm…” Enrhyll brooded for a few seconds as he looked at the now sleeping elementalist.  He was much like Kyuhyun but a bit more stubborn.  Why did their fear of him create such volatile reactions?  He was going to have to work on this when the others arrived.  Perhaps if he had one of the other elementalists present to help make them less nervous?  That might work.  He would have to try that later.  Soon in fact, if his last scrying was any indication.  Impatiently, he knelt next to the injured man again and quickly healed the hurts there.  How he had so managed to harm himself was beyond Enrhyll.

                He would have to make sure Hana was with him next time as well.  They were so much easier to control when they weren’t so fixated on using their power against him.  “Come here,” he gestured to the guards at the front of his hall imperiously.  “Pick him up,” he sighed in annoyance and then impatiently waved them after him.  He had more guests coming very soon, but he had to make sure that the others were going to behave too.

(a/n:  Hello my awesome readers!  I have made it through another month!  Hurrah!  A thirteen hour shift is so not fun...  But I did manage to finish the next update and I am very curious to hear what you might have to say.  I hope you enjoyed it and as always, thank you to my readers, silent and otherwise, who continue ot follow me.  Your words and presence continuously make me smile and help me strive to move forward!  <3  Take care!)