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Sands of Time
Author: misura
Beta: none
Email: misuran @ yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Asher/Micah
Warnings: slightly AU, IDWID (Incubus Dreams? What Incubus Dreams?)
Request: fluff, friendship, romance, history, any of these
Written For: sian265
[Prologue] [St. Louis, present]
*
"Jean-Claude ... "
He is speechless. He's not supposed to be speechless, not here and not now, but he finds there's nothing he can say, nothing beyond Jean-Claude's name, and that can never be enough.
"Mon plus cher ami[1]. As Jason would say: 'tis the season to be merry. You are my dearest friend, and I wish for you to be happy. I had hoped that in giving this to you, I might make you smile."
He should be able to manage a smile, surely. For Jean-Claude. For ... everything. His face feels like it's frozen though, like it's as stunned as his mind.
"I love you."
Jean-Claude kisses him, and he knows it's goodbye and hello.
*****
[1] Mon plus cher ami = my dearest friend (male)
*****
[Christmas in Jerusalem] [Jerusalem, Crusades]
*****
"I've heard that there's a man with the English king's army whose hairs are made of pure gold."
Elizabeth, Micah noted with some amusement, almost sounded like she was in love, just because of the colour of someone's hairs. Gabriel certainly seemed to think so, judging by the scowl on his face.
"That's just fool's talk." Caleb snorted. "Everyone knows that."
"No, it's true! I've seen him myself," Nathaniel unexpectedly spoke up, earning himself a grateful look from his sister and a glare from Gabriel that made him cringe. "Only ... his hair's red, like blood."
"Red and gold aren't the same colour." Asher's voice was drowned out by Gabriel's.
"How would *you* know anything about it?" Gabriel scoffed. "You're too much of a scaredy cat to ever go anywhere without Lizzy to hold your hand. Do you really expect me to believe you snuck over the walls all by yourself to spy on the foreigners?"
If Micah was any judge, referring to Elizabeth as 'Lizzy' had not scored Gabriel any points with her. Nathaniel was, on occasion, permitted to address her as 'Elli', but in general, Elizabeth despised all petnames, claiming they were 'for little girls'.
"Rafael took me." Nathaniel lifted his head proudly. "He knows of a secret underground passage."
Gabriel opened his mouth and closed it again, glowering. Everybody knew Rafael, or at least they knew *of* him; nobody knew exactly where he lived or what family he belonged to, but it was common knowledge that Rafael had done things most people wouldn't be able to.
"Do you remember where it was?" Elizabeth asked eagerly.
Nathaniel appeared slightly uncomfortable at suddenly having become the center of attention. "I ... not really." He looked at Elizabeth's expression, and hurriedly amended his reply. "Maybe I could ... try to find it again?"
There was, Micah thought, no 'maybe' about it; not if Nathaniel wanted to live and see the next morning, and sleep in a bed not filled with sand and stones.
He only hoped Nathaniel wouldn't get them all lost; he'd descended into the underground passages below the city himself a few times, to decide that they were far too complicated to navigate. Micah was willing enough to accept that Rafael might have figured out some method to explore them without losing his way, yet Nathaniel was definitely not Rafael.
*****
"This is it?" Caleb kicked at a pebble. "We're *miles* away from the tents!"
Nathaniel cringed, not comforted by the fact that Elizabeth, too, looked somewhat disappointed.
"I assume you'd rather have ended up right in the middle of the army?" Rafael's voice sounded sharp and not altogether friendly. They'd run into him while Caleb and Gabriel had been arguing about whether they'd come here by the right or left corridor, since, as Micah had feared, Nathaniel had guided them for about hafl an hour before admitting that he didn't have any idea on how to go on.
"Can we go back now?" Gabriel sounded bored.
Micah glanced at Asher, who'd remained quiet during most of the evening. Micah suspected that he'd come along for the same reason Micah had; to keep an eye on the others. They were younger, after al -except for Elizabeth, who didn't count because she was a girl.
Nathaniel nodded, seeming about to say something when the sound of a snapping branch announced the arrival of what could only be an enemy soldier. Elizabeth paled. Micah turned to ask Rafael if there were any places to hide around, only to see that, apparently, there were -only Rafael had chosen not to stick around to share them.
*****
If it hadn't been for the fact that the guard appeared as surprised to see them as they were to see him, Micah thought it very likely that at least Caleb and Gabriel would have turned their heels and run off to who-knew-where. Nathaniel would probably have stayed with Elizabeth, whose face was ashen, while he and Asher were old and wise enough to realize it was usually better to meet your enemy face to face, rather than to turn your back on him.
The soldier wore a hooded cape which hid his face, and a long broadsword. His clothes were pure white; in the back of his head, Micah could nearly hear what his mother'd have to say about how practical it was to wear that particular colour, especially considering the man was a soldier.
He almost grinned. Surely someone who wore clothes like that couldn't be very smart! If they came up with a good story, perhaps he would even agree to 'forget' he'd ever seen them.
As soon as the guard spoke, Micah's plan turned to dust. It wasn't the words that were spoken, but more the fact that Micah had no idea what they meant -and, with a sinking realization, knew that none of the others would have a clue either.
"We ... we don't understand what you're saying." Elizabeth's voice quivered.
"Child, what are you doing here? Do you not know of the dangers that lie in wandering these hills?"
Micah blinked. Granted, the man spoke Hebrew with a heavy accent, but he did speak it, and he didn't seem to be inclined to harm them.
"We ... Nathaniel said there's a man with golden hair in your army." Elizabeth peeked at the foreigner's face that was still hidden by a hood.
"There are several such men among us, child. But come, will you not sit down and give me your name, so that we may converse properly? As for myself, since I may claim the earldom of Warwick, I am generally called thus, in spite of my mother having named me differently."
"Warrick." Elizabeth's tongue stumbled over the strange name -or maybe she was simply still not entirely at ease. "I'm Elizabeth."
"A name worthy of a queen." Warwick inclined his head, his hands reaching up to pull back his hood.
"Oh! You're one of them, too!" Elizabeth blushed, though Micah wasn't sure if she did so because it turned out that this 'Warrick' was golden-haired, too, or because of his flattery.
"My name is Asher." Micah noticed that even if Asher had sat down and given his name, he still kept a good distance between him and the soldier, unlike Elizabeth.
"I'm Nathaniel. And I saw a man with *red* hairs, not golden." Nathaniel dropped himself on the ground, too far away from Elizabeth to swat him -which, incidentally, also put him a bit further away from Warwick than her.
"Damian!" Warwick stared at Nathaniel with an expression that struck Micah as a little ... peculiar. "You have seen Damian walking in daylight, as a normal man would?"
"Well ... " Nathaniel seemed a bit taken aback. "It was evening. He'd built a fire; that's how I could see the colour of his hairs. Is he a friend of yours?"
"And what do you mean: 'as a normal man would'?" Asher added.
Warwick studied their faces for a moment, before he sighed. "Perhaps it is not right for me to speak of this to you, yet your ignorance might place you in grave peril, so it would appear that I must. Very well then, know that these hills are haunted by monsters that feast upon human blood and are incapable of surviving in the light of the sun. I have sworn to see them destroyed, these hills cleansed."
"One night," Warwick continued, "I encountered Damian, who offered me his aid, yet I was loathe to accept it, as there was no method by which I could determine if he was human, and he adamantly refused to return with me so that he might have the succor of food and rest."
For a moment, Micah was tempted to point out that there was no way for Warwick to determine if *they* were human, either, but he saw no reason to risk Warwick mistaking them for the monsters he claimed to be hunting.
"Ghuls only exist in tales." Caleb sounded like he wanted to convince himself more than anyone else.
"No ghuls." Warwick shook his head. "It is not man-shaped monsters that walk on the hooves of a donkey that have drained a young man named Philippe of his life's blood, for no traces were found around his body but those of humans. To those close to him, he had spoken of having met a woman of extraordinary beauty, who lived in seclusion. If only they had sooner reported the strangeness of his tale, he might yet be alive." Warwick's shoulders sagged.
"I want to go home." Elizabeth sounded scared. Micah had to admit that he, too, felt chilled, but he told himself that it was nothing more than a mild disturbance at Warwick's absolute belief in what everyone knew to be something made up by mothers to scare babies into being 'good'.
"Such would be wisest." Warwick drew something out of his cloak. "Would you wear this, I am sure that no evil would touch you, my lady. It has been blessed by King Richard's grandfather's own priest, and has been in the possession of my family for a long time. It would please me if you would agree to accept this as a gift."
Elizabeth accepted the necklace solemnly, to Micah's relief. He doubted if any Christian relic would offer any kind of protection to a Jew, but doubtless, this, too, was something better left unsaid.
*****
"I've heard that the English king has a golden-haired lover, who's also a singer."
One week after their adventure, and most of them seemed already to have forgotten all about being half-scared to death.
"He's not golden-haired; it's just his name. Blondel. His hair's actually very dark and long."
Micah wondered how Asher knew that.
"He?" Elizabeth made a face. "No wonder Salah al-Din outsmarts him time and time again, if he's so stupid that he prefers boys over girls."
Asher shrugged non-commitally. "Perhaps he once had a good friend who had a friend who had a very loud-mouthed, pushy and bossy big sister."
"What's *that* supposed to mean?" Elizabeth stared at Asher suspiciously.
"Nothing at all." Asher returned her gaze wide-eyed and innocent, but Micah caught a glimmer of a grin in them. "Which reminds me: I've also heard it said that King Richard has sworn to celebrate Christmas inside the walls of Jerusalem."
Elizabeth snorted and asked the obvious question.
"Christmas? What's Christmas?"
*****
[Conclusion in St. Louis] [St. Louis, present]
*
They stare at each other, both of them somewhat awkward, while there never has been any such thing between them before. Micah toys with his food a little, before taking a bite.
Asher watches the way the muscles of his throat move under his skin as he swallows.
"So," Micah says finally, "I don't suppose you actually ... "
"No." Asher sighs, mournfully shaking his head.
Micah's shoulders sag. "It was the same with me. Damn. I'd hoped that perhaps ... "
"It is because they hold us so dearly, I am sure." Asher manages a weak smile. "Scarcely had I confessed to desire you as something more intimate than a friend, and Jean-Claude was already plotting out a way for me to win your heart, and to present his plan to Anita in a way positive enough for her to agree to it."
Micah chuckles. "It was the same with Anita. Although she didn't seem very concerned about what Jean-Claude might think of her helping me to get a date with you."
"Well, two years ago, she would have refused to even consider *sharing* you with me, let alone giving me a chance to make you mine alone." Asher's smile grows. "Let us no longer dwell on what combination of circumstances has brought us here, but rather focus on what we could do, instead of sitting here, complaining about the blindness of our friends."
Bending forwards, Asher softly nuzzles the hollow of Micah's neck.
"Unfortunately, Anita also was very clear about what I could and couldn't do on a first date," Micah gently pushes Asher away.
Asher groans. "Let me hazard a guess: no making out, no drinking of blood and definitely nothing for which we might require a bed."
"That's about it, yes." Micah nods.
"I must say, that definitely limits our activities for the remainder of the night rather severely." Asher frowns, before his expression of disappointment is replaced by a grin. "On the other hand, how much are you willing to bet that Anita's rather busy right now, celebrating her 'success' in 'match-making' two of her oh-so oblivious friends?"
"She'd probably still find out about it tomorrow. It's not like I can lie to her." Micah's tone indicates that he might be persuaded to give in to Asher all the same.
"Tomorrow is early enough to deal with tomorrow's problems," Asher states firmly.
Micah grins and sets to eating his dinner before it gets too cold.
The End
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