Journey from Highever to the North Road

As Sloane started walking towards the pool, Kaine eyed her lustfully. He told Horus to jump off his shoulder and onto the log seat he was sitting on. Horus did so, but with great reluctance.

He looked at Selene, and glared, letter her know she was not to follow.

He grabbed a change of clothes, and headed after Sloane.

He un-clipped his armor, and placed it on the ground, and stretched his muscles. As much as he loved to wear it, it always felt good to get out of it every once in awhile. He splashed some water on it to get most of the blood off of it, but then decided he will clean it later.

The only piece of armor he kept on was the drake skin arm armor that covered his right arm.

Then with a mighty leap he jumped into the pool of cold water, splashing water everywhere. As soon as he hit the surface his body was shocked by the cold, and he burst to the surface, his dreadlocks dripping, "WHOA!!!! It is cold!!!" Kaine yelled, "But its feels good, especially after a heated battle." he grinned evilly as he beckoned for Sloane to join him.

Sloane reached the pool and set her towel and clean clothes a safe distance from the water. She arrived before Kaine so she slowly took off her armor and began washing it in the pool. It would need the night to dry by the fire to be wearable in the morning or else she'd be wearing plate mail riding all day.

"Hey!" she half shouted and half laughed as Kaine's splashing hit her. She finished up washing her armor and then jumped in the water with her underclothes still on. They needed to be rinced as well so why not save time.

Kaine was right, the water was freezing. Sloane took a deep breath as she broke the surface, the cold having knocked the wind out of her. She quickly removed her soggy clothes and threw them up on the side of the pool and then grabbed the soap and began to wash the blood off herself and out of her hair. While the sight of Kaine was very inviting she really wanted to be clean before she got too distracted to remember why she was in the freezing water in the first place.

Finally clean Sloane floated on her back, her long dark hair a cloud around her head in the water. The black of her multitude of tattooes stood out against the relative whiteness of her skin in the moonlight. She began to lazily swim circles on her back around Kaine.

Kaine watched Sloane swim around him, and took special notice of her tattoos. He raised an eyebrow at them, and gave her a wink.

He closed his eyes for a moment, as if concentrating and all the lines that crisscrossed his body lit up like white flames burning into his skin. He opened his eyes, and all they were were white glowing orbs.

Sloane could feel the lyrium pouring from his body, that white glow of his muscular form engulfed the the water, and made it glow an almost eerie white.

With that, the lines went dark, and his eyes turned to normal. He then dunked his head under water, and disappeared.

He was under the water for a few moments, when he burst through the surface in between Sloane's legs, lifting her into the air on his shoulders. He then lowered his head, and dropped her, only to catch her in his strong arms in front of him, their faces inches apart.

"Kinda cozy in here ain't it?" Kaine said to her, in a low soft voice, giving her a mischievous smile.

"Showoff!" Sloane laughed as Kaine made his tattooes glow. Sobaka knew his human well enough to leave the two alone while he paddled about on the far side of the pool, cleaning his fur.

Sloane let out a startled yelp and a laugh as Kaine tossed her in the air. It was a pretty impressive feat considering she wasn't a small woman.

"Very cozy," she purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled up to him for warmth. "I'm not quite that easy though!" She laughed and suddenly flipped backwards out of his arms and swam off toward the edge of the pool.

As Sloane swam for the edge of the pool, Kaine dived beneath the surface, and swam down to the bottom. He looked up and say the dark silhouette of her figure swimming upon the surface.

He kept himself at the bottom, bending his knees, and bracing himself against the rocky floor. Then with a burst of amazing strength, he propelled himself towards the surface, moving his body in a waving pattern, not unlike that of a fish.

He aimed himself towards the edge of the pool, and withe great speed, he burst from the surface, grabbing the edge of the pool with is hands to propel himself further above the water. He flew up above the water, twisting himself in the air, landing on the side of the pool in a sitting position. The torrent of him breaking the surface sprayed Sloane, and sent water splashing everywhere.

He grinned at Sloane for a moment, then let himself slip back into the cool water, bracing himself on the edge of the pool.

"I like a good chase. Makes things more interesting." he said winking at her.

"My my, you really are a showoff aren't you?" Sloane laughed as Kaine exploded out of the water. She was really glad now she'd left her towel and clothes a fair way from the water.

Sloane swam gracefully over to Kaine's position on the wall and pressed herself up against his back, beginning to massage back and neck muscles sore from the fight. She moved his hair to the side and began to kiss and nibble the back of his neck while her hands worked on his shoulder muscles.

Suddenly she was gone, vaulting herself out of the pool and running for her towel. "Catch me if you can!" She shouted over her shoulder as she ran and snatched up her towel. Then she ran and grabbed Kaine's towel before he could get to it. She stopped a few hundred metres from the pool and held his towel out teasingly.

Kaine growled at her, and used his powerful arms to lift himself out of the pool and to his feet. He gathered up all his strength, and with his powerful legs he charged forward, his dreadlocks trailing behind him as he gained more and more speed.

He sprinted after Sloane, slowing gaining ground as she stood there, waving his towel teasingly at him.

"Oh you better believe I am going to catch you!"

"And when I do you are so in for it woman," he roared.

As Kaine approached Sloane let out a throaty laugh and debated whether to let him catch her yet or not. Not yet, she decided as she threw his towel at him and used her smaller size and her agility to dodge sizeways just out of range of his rush.

Sloane stuck out her tongue and ran off again. Unfortunatly due to her bare feet and the darkness of the night she couldn't run anywhere near full speed. She let out a small bark and Sobaka went to run interfearance on Kaine to slow him down. She ran for a small grassy patch near the pool. She knew she was going to be caught soon and that was okay with her.

Kaine caught the towel out of the air and wrapped around his mid section.

He then dove at Sobaka, wrestling with him for a moment. Then began scratching his belly, giving him a good scratch and rub down. Soon the Mabari was waging his tail, and licking Kaine's face.

He gave the giant hound a shove towards the trail, got up and dashed towards Sloane, his head down, as if he were ready to tackle or charge through someone.

Sloane halted when she reached the grass and began drying her hair as she watched Sobaka and Kaine wrestle. "Traitor!" she shouted to Sobaka as he began licking Kaine's face.

Sloane's feet were sore from running barefoot on the rock and so she decided to make her stand where she was. As Kaine rushed at her she just stood and waited. At the last moment she ducked low and grabbed for his arm planning to use his weight and momentum against him and flip him over her shoulder and onto his back.

As Sloane grabbed his arm, he grinned evilly. With cat like reflexes, he dropped to the ground, used his great strength to swing around her and take her legs out from underneath her and have her fall on top of him.

He wrapped his arms around her, rolled over, pinning her to the ground.

Sloane laughed as she was pinned to the ground. "Again with the showing off boss?" She made a half hearted attempt to escape his grip then let out an exaggerated sigh. "Oh no, you caught me, whatever am I going to do?" She asked in a sarcastic tone as she pressed herself against him.

Lamont and Selene each raised an eyebrow as they looked over in the direction of the pool. They might not be able to see them, but they could certainly hear them. Kaine's and Sloane's cries of passion echoed through the canyon as they lost them selves deep in their ravaging love making.

"Well, it seems like they are having fun." Selene pouted. She stretched and yawned, "Well, its bout time for me to call it a night, its not like anything else is going to get done with them screaming and moaning all night anyways."

She let out a frustrating sigh as she unrolled her bedding, laid down, and put a pillow over her ears.

Lamont could only chuckle to himself and smirk as he went to the entrance to the camp and began first watch. He tried to ignore the intense sounds echoing through the canyon., but it was pretty hard when that was all he could hear.

Several hours later, exhausted but feeling much calmer Sloane rose and dressed. She covered Kaine with her towel and then grabbed her damp armor and carried it back to camp to dry by the fire. Lamont was still on watch and she went to relieve him so he could get some sleep.

"Quite the racket ye make there lass." Lamont commented with a shake of his head as he went off to set up his bedroll by the fire.

Sloane took up her bow and her sword and climbed up the rocks to get a good vantage point and settled in to keep watch. Moments Later Sobaka scrambled up beside her and pushed his head against her leg to get pets. As she stood in silence and scratched Sobaka's head Sloane began to wonder what she had been thinking. Sleeping with a superior officer was not a good idea. Especially on a long term mission. Oh well, she could deal with the consequences later, right now she was content.

Kaine awoke with a renewed energy, and rolled over to ravage the woman next to him some more, only to find her gone.

He grinned evilly as he looked up at the night sky. He knew that it was against the rules to sleep with another officer, but then again he was never one to follow the rules. And there was no one to stop him from doing exactly what he wanted.

He quickly dressed, just wearing the black, soft leather padding that would usually go underneath his dragon bone armour. He also put his clawed gauntlets back on, as he always wore these, because not only did they protect his hands, and forearms, but they were deadly weapons as well. He did not need his sword to tear a man apart, as he was a master of hand to hand combat and usually preferred to tear a man limb from limb with his own two hands.

As he finished dressing, he looked up upon the canyon wall, and saw Horus looking looking down upon him. He whistled to the bird, who awoke, shook its feathers and glided down to rest upon Kaine's shoulder.

It was about time for his turn at watch. He walked into camp, seeing Lamont and Selene sleeping soundly, he could only smile.

He looked up at Sloane, only her shapely silhouette could be seen against the clear night sky. Without wearing his heavy armour, he was able to creep up behind Sloane slowly. Sobaka turned his head, as his keen ears heard the Knight-Captain approaching.

Kaine put his finger to his lips, a singe to keep quiet. Sobaka tilted his head in response, and turned back to look outward in the direction that Sloane was facing.

He jumped at her, spinning her around, and passionately kissed her.

"You are relieved, " he grinned, as he smacked her ass, sending her on her way.

Sloane knew as soon as Sobaka turned to look behind her that there was someone there. By his lack of response she guessed it had to be someone friendly but a dagger still appeared in her hand. Suddenly Kaine was kissing her and she kissed him back in response. "Careful there boss, I almost gutted you." She said with a grin as she motioned to the dagger in her hand pointed at his kidney.

As he smacked her ass she let out a playful yelp and began making her way down the rocks. "G'night boss." She called on her way down. She stopped briefly to check on the horses before curling up in her sleeping bag by the embers of the fire. Seconds later Sobaka appeared and curled up next to her and then she was asleep.

"Careful there boss, I almost gutted you."

Kaine grinned at her, "Well then, I would have had to ravage you one last time before my life slipped away. But what away to go."

"G'night boss."

"G'night Sloane"

He watched her slip gracefully down the side of the canyon wall, Sobaka not far behind.

He positioned himself, so that he could keep a good eye on both of the paths, just in case there was some more excitement to be had this night.

Sadly the rest of the night went without event, as he always craved action.

He stretched his arms, and scrabbled down to the camp below; the smell of food greeted him as Lamont was busy cooking them all breakfast.

"Everyone sleep well I hope?" he grinned, giving a wink to Sloane.

Selene caught the wink, and looked at them both; she could do nothing but sneer. She made herself busy by grabbing a plate of food, and eating it quietly by herself.

Years on the road had made Sloane a light sleeper and she woke to the first sounds of Lamont stirring. She had had two nights of little sleep though and drifted back to sleep until the smell of food woke her up. After getting up and putting away her bedroll Sloane greatfully accepted a plate of food from Lamont as Kaine came down to join them. All the physical activity yesterday had made her starving and she consumed two plates of food before rincing her plate and getting ready to move out.

Sloane noticed Selene's attitude but decided to ignore it for now. While the woman was very attractive Sloane still didn't trust her and she wasn't important to the mission. Slowly Sloane brushed out her long hair and braided it tightly then put on her armor. It was still slightly damp in places but still better than wearing the stuffy templar plate mail all day.

"Come on people let's move out!" She called, "We have a lot of ground to cover today! Those men we took this site from might have friends looking for them, so be sharp! Same marching order today boss?" She asked of Kaine with a smile as she saddled Loshad.

Kaine gave Sloane the lead today, allowing her first chance at anything that may come their way.

The next three days were uneventful as they traveled through the canyon pass further and further within the mountain range. There were times where there wasn't a good camp site, and they had to sleep along the trail, but they made do.

Just before supper break, with the sun slowly starting to descend behind the mountains, the group came to an impasse. The trail continued forward, winding upwards further into the mountains, and another turned to the left, winding down the mountain.

Lamont spoke up as Sloane and Kaine looked at him, "Well, we can continue along this path which will lead out of the mountains and get you to the north road, or we can take this turn here, go down the canyon, and there will be a place that will shave a week off of our trip. It is up to you guys of course, I'm just the guide."

Kaine looked to Sloane, "What do you think we should do?"

Sloane looked down both paths but couldn't tell much about them from here.

"Well boss I vote for the short road myself. From our reports in Kirkwall the Circle could really use our help. Unless there is some horrible danger on the short path you aren't telling us about Lamont."

Sloane turned and looked to Selene. "You spent some time in this area before we got here. Do you know anything we don't?"

"Well Lass, the short road actually leads UNDER the mountains before coming back up near the north road. That is all I know about it myself."

"Sorry Sloane, I've only come down the trail ahead, never tried to go down this one, as it seemed to lead in the wrong direction I was going at the time." Selene Respond between mouths fulls of an apple she was munching on.

"Well, if the shorter path still leads to the north road, I say we take it. But Sloane, I will leave this in your capable hands. I consider us partners in this journey. I always ask my men what they think before I give a standing order."

"Under the mountain you say? Sloane asked with a raised eyebrow. She stood silent for a moment staring off into the distance as she thought. "Definatly sounds like it could be interesting. I like interesting. This last she said with an evil gleam in her eye and a hand on her sword.

"My vote goes for short and interesting boss."

Kaine gave Sloane an evil grin, "I like the way you think. Gorgeous and got the Brains for a good battle. Great combination." Giving her a suggested wink.

"Well Lamont, we go do the short and interesting path, let us see what awaits us. Sloane, lets ride."

"Why can't we just go the long way, nothing good ever comes of people always taking a short cut." Selene commented.

"Yes sir!" Sloane said with a smile as she started her horse down the new trail. Sobaka barked happily and ran down the train to scout the way. He always stayed in sight but tended to run slightly ahead of the others to sniff the way.

The quiet of the last few days was putting Sloane on edge. After such a big attack the first day she had expected more trouble. They were starting to run low on supplies. She would have to hunt tonight or tomorrow, so at least she had that to look forward to.

It wasn't long before the trail dipped sharply down. The walls of the canyon grew taller and taller; soon the sun was basically cut off, and the shadows took over everything.

Lamont lit a few torches and passed them around. But even with the torches they could only see so far ahead.

Kaine looked up and around, for the first time feeling small against the mighty stones of the mountains.

"How much further do we go down Lamont." Kaine asked.

"Another hour or so Ser." he replied.

Soon the group was having to fight through spider webs; Sloane getting hit with the brunt of it as she as on the front lines.

Soon the ground starting to crunch underneath them. Selene looked down, trying to see what was making so much noise. She looked up right away, her face white with fright and her eyes huge with terror.

"Ummm....Kaine.......Umm..." Sloane could hardly speak she was so frightened.

"What is it Selene?" he asked

"Look at the ground." was all she could muster, her voice barely a whisper.

Kaine leaned low in his saddle, and put his torch low to the ground. All he that the ground seemed to be crawling. He took a closer look, his eyes focusing against the flicker torchlight. All Kaine saw was hundreds, if not thousands of insects of all kinds crawling on the ground. Beatles, centipedes, and various other shelled critters. However, that was not the only thing; the vermin were crawling in and out of skulls, and over and across bones of many creatures.

Kaine got back up in his saddle, raised an eyebrow, and called out to Sloane, "Sloane, take a look at the ground, take a very close look."