Chunk 17
Well, it's not midnight yet but I know I'm not going to do much more than this. It's just a few hundred words and completely pathetic, but hey, the boys are moving again. :) And we're at a decent stopping point, which is better than leaving you all in the middle of a paragraph, right?

I really ran out of steam a few days ago and I have no idea why. Alea and I were talking about trying again in January, so we'll see what happens then. I have some writing committments for December that I'm actually looking forward to, so that's good.

So, for a temporary wrap....



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Roscha hauled himself to his knees and Luka stepped over and pulled him up the rest of the way out of reflex. Luka was still staring at the glowing god, his second in less than a month and if it kept up he was going to find himself becoming a pious man.

Dereno planted the head of his hammer on the floor and leaned on the shaft with both hands so he could stare down at Luka. "And why are you still here? You could have been in Cara by now, dealing with this outrage."

Luka froze, pinned into place for a moment by the force of the god's direct attention. Then he shook off the glamour and stared right back. "Because going any faster would have killed or lamed our horses and left us walking, and we wouldn't have gotten here for another month at least, if we'd made it at all."

The god drew himself up and scowled. "Have you never learned any manners, boy?"

"Ahh...." Luka found himself unable to bring forth any actual words from his mouth, for the first time in his memory.

"I apologize for him," Roscha said quickly. Luka felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and Roscha swayed against him. "He's -- we're both -- rather shocked, which I hope you can understand, holy Dereno." Roscha dipped into an awkward bow and dragged Luka down with him, although for Luka it ended up more like a squat since he was supporting most of Roscha's weight as well as his own.

Dereno's fuming black gaze turned to Roscha, which gave Luka a chance to blink a few times and collect his fleeing thoughts.

"You'd do well to apologize for yourself, boy," Dereno said with a snort. "You're the one making the decisions here. What is your excuse for ambling along as though you hadn't a care?"

"Uhh, revered sir, the horses--"

Dereno cut Roscha off with an impatient gesture. "And you didn't take advantage of the courier stations, why?"

"Uhh, they're for official business. I mean, I've never--"

Dereno drew himself up and bellowed, "And if saving your emperor isn't official business then just how do you define it?"

"Uhhh...."

Luka couldn't help smirking. He straightened up, hauling Roscha along with him, and patted him on the shoulder. "My master obviously failed to comprehend the immediacy of the situation," he said.

"This is on both of you." Dereno glared back at Luka, and he felt himself wilting once more. "And don't think you can get away with sass and disrespect just because he's the responsible one. Since he owns you, you're counted as wealth, which means you're under my hand. Don't push me, Ruvori."

Luka ducked his head and had to fight not to fall to his knees. It helped when Dereno snapped, "Well? Why are still loafing here? Off with you!"

Luka and Roscha dragged each other outside and found their horses tacked and loaded. They were cantering down the road before the sun was fully up over the horizon.