Along with Konall's solo work, Konall and Aleena's interaction might be my very favorite part of the mission. We get plenty of that here, along with Kadlin and some action!

Both kinds of action, really.

 
Light cursing

Konall woke up holding Aleena, making it officially a good morning. And the lack of hangover meant he could actually appreciate it. He slowly inched his way out from under the sleeping furs. "Leaving me already?" asked the elf. She turned to face the warrior, grinning happily.

"Wanted to let you sleep in," he said. He had wanted to add "beautiful" to the end of that sentence, but didn't.

She gave him a little kiss. "My people don't sleep. Besides, the rhythm of your breath was growing quite hypnotic to listen to."

"Wait, if you didn't sleep, what were you doing for the last, what, eight hours?"

"Reverie... some thinking... programming. And of course, snuggling with you." She smiled warmly.

"Okay. I'll remember that."

Kadlin shouted from outside the tent. "Be decent, I'm coming in!"

Aleena quickly rolled out from under the furs, her cysuit flowing over her skin until it had formed its perfect, seamless catsuit.

"Don't get too good at that dressing quickly thing," Konall said, slipping on his pants.

Kadlin strode in after only a few seconds. "You lead this village, right?"

"Yeah," Konall shrugged.

The sorceress pointed outside the tent. "Well, get out there. There's leading to be done."

Aleena put her arm around Konall's shoulder. "I guess you've got to do a speech, find out what problems face the village, and fix them."

Konall smirked. "And all this before I've had any bacon. They said leadership was hard. I didn't realize it was this bad. At least the chicks dig it."

Konall walked out into the sunlight. The bright, Odin-be-damned sunlight. The only people who should be allowed to wake a man up and force him to go about the day's business are his blood enemies. And he'd be allowed to kill them for that. Hel had to be the goddess of mornings.

Konall looked at the villagers gathered around the tent. "What's going on?" he sighed.

Caedmon came forward as Aleena reached forward to put her hand on Konall's shoulder. "It's your sister," said Caedmon. "She needs to go."

"Why is this?" Konall asked.

"She killed one of our boars," said Caedmon, "and she performed... she did some dark things with it."

Konall looked at his sister.

Kadlin smirked. "I needed to strengthen the enchantments on Xanadon's skull. He doesn't deserve to be a chef in a box anymore. Never did, really." She gestured at Xanadon, now a polished skull floating beside her shoulder. "My mentor deserved better. But necromancy is a reorientation of life energy. To revitalize the dead, there is a price. The boar's sacrifice made this possible. Magic is tied to emotion and belief, and for this spell it needed to be a painful death. I can understand why your people would be upset with what I did with the blood and the entrails. The rites would look barbaric to the uneducated."

Konall facepalmed. He turned to the villagers. "You have permission to stop her when she does something like this."

"We tried," said a villager Konall knew of as Weylin. "She knocked me out with her glaive. But not before she stuck my brother upside down against a wall. She uses black magic!"

Kadlin scoffed. "Levitation is hardly black magic."

"And necromancy?" said Konall.

"I'm not sure. What's blacker than black?"

Caedmon spoke up. "Resources are rare in the desert," said Caedmon. "We can't afford waste."

"I used every part of that boar," said Kadlin. "Parts I used in rituals, the rest I scavenged. Speaking of which, bacon should be almost done."

Konall stood and thought. Aleena moved to whisper something to him, but he nudged her away. He had to do this on his own. He needed their respect. He turned to his sister. "You're going to pay for that boar. Because you stole it, you'll pay double what it'd normally be worth."

Kadlin laughed. "You may have these people convinced you'll lead them somewhere besides their death. But I don't follow you. I'm a Viking. Be thankful I only raided this much."

What to do? It was either fight his sister and make her pay or show the villagers that he only cared about justice when it was convenient for him.

The demon on his shoulder told him to punch her lights out, but Konall told Spaz to shut up.

Maybe there was another option. "I made my judgement," Konall said. "But since you're my sister, I'll pay it for you. Don't mess up again."

Kadlin was about to laugh at him again, but something stopped her. She walked off. He didn't order her around, but that didn't mean she'd undermine him just for spite. Better to at least try to get along for awhile and save some annoyance.

Konall wondered where he'd get payment for a boar. In the meantime, bacon!

Konall dished himself up some of the fried pork. Kadlin had added some spices and a light sauce. He didn't know what went into it, but what came out was delicious.

Konall invited Aleena over to sit, handed her some bacon on a plate, and put his arm around her. She held the plate and giggled as the barbarian pulled her close. She wasn't sure what to think of the bacon, but she did take a few, perhaps large, bites.

"So," he said to her. "Out of nowhere I'm suddenly a leader. I guess, it's hard to explain what that feels like."

Aleena smiled and gave Konall a comforting squeeze. "It will be difficult at first, but I am sure you will rise to the challenge."

"I hope so," said Konall. He went over to the water barrel and brought back two glasses of water from the near-empty barrel. And there was only one more barrel left with any water in it. Konall handed one glass to Aleena and sat down next to her again.

"So, I guess I'm a shaman now." Konall sighed. "By the way, are you religious at all? You've never brought it up."

"I am," Aleena replied, vaguely. She took a big gulp of the water, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Really?" said Konall. "What do your people believe?"

"Our people were created by Eleria, the goddess of our world. Unlike most other species we've encountered, we did not evolve from primitive life forms; we've always been this way. It is both a blessing and a curse."

Konall "I don't even remember our creation stories. I think one of the gods made us. Some shaman I am. So do you pray to Eleria?"

"I do not. Eleria cannot hear me, nor can she ever hear me again." Aleena replied. She gave a look of self-restrained upset.

"Sounds like you need someone with better hearing. Have I ever told you about Lofn?"

"I do not know of Lofn."

"She's the goddess of lovers. I think she'd be interested in you."

Konall went on to explain Lofn, and what she stood for. Aleena listened, but the conversation had brought to mind some thoughts she'd pushed to the back of her mind. Aleena remembered the day she had become a traveller of the Black, of the sacrifice it required. There were many days she, and certainly other, space elves regretted. Her people shared a very real bond with their goddess, one they could use to commune with her. A bond that, on the day she became a space elf, was irrevocably severed. A bond that if it had remained, would have killed her if she left her home world.

Konall's voice stirred her from her thoughts. "So that's really what she's about. I don't think your goddess will mind if you go to Lofn for help until you can return to Alfheim."

"I don't know," Aleena sighed.

"Just think it over," said Konall. "Nothing to be decided lightly."

"I am not even of your world. I don't think your gods, if they exist, would accept me. And even if they did, I am forever separated from the divine."

"Hmm... I'll have to work on that."

"There is nothing you can do. There is nothing anyone can do," Aleena stated, conclusively.

Suddenly, Konall froze, started seizing, and collapsed into convulsions.

Aleena moved quickly, getting the barbarian out of his chair and securely on the ground. She held his shoulders to keep him from hitting his head against anything; from her medical training, she knew she had to keep him safe from injury foremost, and to monitor his breathing and pulse, especially if he should suddenly stop. It was difficult for her, though, Konall could vastly overpower her physically.

Konall came to. "That was messed up. I had a vision from the spirits. Why they didn't just talk I don't understand. Hey, Weylin!"

Weylin came up. Konall turned to him. "I owe you for the boar, double its worth. Would two barrels of water be enough."

"Sure," Weylin said.

"Good," said Konall. "We're moving the village. Everyone, be ready to go in an hour."

Then Konall realized Aleena was still on top of him. "Again? He said. "I thought you'd had your fill last night."

Aleena rolled her eyes and cracked a worried smile. "You just had a seizure. It's... bad news. I want to do some tests; it could be caused by rather a lot of things."

"Sure," said Konall. He let her send some bits of her suit through him. Truth be told he wasn't worried about what had happened, it was just a vision. But he liked her caring for him. Konall felt a ticklish sensation where Aleena touched his arm, which gradually moved up his arm to his shoulders as it migrated to his head.

"Well that's the creepiest thing I've ever felt," said Konall.

Aleena explained, "I didn't find anything that could explain your seizure. So I'm going to leave some nanites in your head to keep an eye on things. They'll also let you talk to me at a distance. The sensation will be gone shortly."

"I'm not sure I'm completely okay with that."

Aleena pressed a kiss to Konall's lips. "Does this make up for it?"

"It's a start." He kept kissing her.

A shiver ran down Aleena's spine, and she quickly found herself straddling the man, her hips rolling against his as she returned his kisses with increasing passion and need.

Konall stood up, Aleena still wrapped around him, Konall still kissing her. He walked back to the tent and there they shared a passionate time.

* * *

The village was on the move. The whole village. Oxen and boars pulled carts packed with tents, belongings, children, basically anything that couldn't make the journey on foot. Konall would need to get a hut of his own at some point.

Aleena took to the skies, flying about far overhead; sharp elven eyes looking for signs of indignants both animal and intelligent.

Konall walked at the head of the procession. It was like a parade, really, a heavily armed parade with no one around to watch. And all the floats were brown.

It wasn't long before the reached the well of souls, as Konall knew it to be called. There was a depression in the ground, filled with rocks. Konall walked to the edge. "We make camp around this well. You may not know it, but the spirits have shown me water below."

No one in the village said a word. They were stunned into silence. As Aleena landed next to Konall, the druidess approached Konall. "This well is haunted. We have filled it with stones, so none are tempted to drink from it. You've brought us to cursed land."

That would have been nice to know earlier. Konall tried to conceal his emotions. "Yes, it's cursed now. By tonight it will be cleansed. Kadlin, come here. We need to talk." Konall moved over the nearest dune to talk with her.

"How the hel am I supposed to get rid of these ghosts?"

"Uh," said Spaz "that's exactly how you get rid of-"

Kadlin laughed. "You're really trying hard to be a fake shaman aren't you?"

"I'm the real thing!" said Konall.

"Oh, then where's your familiar? And I don't just mean a pet. When the spirits choose someone to be a link between worlds they send a familiar, half flesh half spirit to serve as a guide. Where's yours? Don't tell me it's Spaz."

"No," said Spaz. "I wasn't supposed to be Konall's familiar. I was supposed to be yours."

"What?"

"Yeah," Spaz continued. "They told me that Kadlin Bearsmasher was to be a great shaman. She'd watch over the living and guide the dead to the afterlife. You were a natural at sending spirits to rest and you got along well with demons. And you know we guard the dead. That's why helgate's always been your biggest spell."

Kadlin shook her head, teeth clenched. "I don't believe this."

"It's true. Only, the day I came to visit you I saw you with Xanadon. You told people the spirits had finally sent you your familiar. And you'd used necromancy. Someone who cares for the dead wouldn't do that. I hadn't been paying much attention during instructions. Konall Bearsmasher/Kadlin Bearsmasher. He/she. Sounds similar. Must have messed it up. So I went with Konall. By the time I found out the mistake, my instructions changed."

"You're lying!" Kadlin screamed, gripping her glaive in an attack pose.

"Nope. I checked it out. They didn't send you Xanadon."

"I know they never sent me Xanadon. I kind of figured that out when I conjured my own familiar. What you're lying about is that the spirits sent you to me. They never sent me anyone. I waited fifteen years for that familiar, and it never came. Every other shaman in the tribe's memory had one before she got her first period. They were never going to send me one. So I did what I've always had to do when the spirits didn't do their job: I did it for them. That's what a shaman is. Someone who cleans up the spirits' messes. I'm sick of dealing with this idiot. Xanadon, show him what a true familiar is." Kadlin spat the last part of that.

Xanadon flew at Spaz in his skull, arcs of magical power gleaming off his polished skull. Spaz flew at him and darted to the side at the last second, the claws on his left hand scratching briefly against the skull's side. He flew away, taking Xanadon's soul with him. The skull fell to the ground, powerless.

Spaz chuckled. "Forgot demons exist just to keep the dead in place? It's damning time."

Spaz began opening a portal to hel for Xanadon before a stench tentacle slapped him away.

"No!" shouted Kadlin.

Konall had his bow drawn and an arrow readied. "Hurt Spaz again and you die."

"Wait!" Aleena cried. "Drugs, remember?"

"What about them?" said Kadlin. "You ready for another go? Konall didn't satisfy?" She whirled, glaive now in an offensive stance toward Aleena, while still prepared to attack Spaz or Konall.

Aleena advanced towards Kadlin. "It's making you want to fight. You need to beat up Kwadlin, remember? We need to find him and make him remove this curse."

"Right. Right. I lost control again. That's not like me. I'm sorry Konall."

"You can make it up," said Konall. "What ritual do I use to send these ghosts to the afterlife?"

"If they died valiantly in battle you'll need to call on Frigga and Odin to send Valkyries. If they lived normal lives, there's another ritual you do. If they were worse, you'll need to channel Hel and let her take over your body. This looks like the last, except you can't channel Hel because you're male. And we're in another world, so there are different gods and all the rituals are different. I really don't know what to tell you."

"Well, I guess we handle this Konall-style. Let's kill them. Again. Kadlin, you use your magic. Spaz, I guess you can do the whole damn ghosts thing. I think I might be able to do something for me and Aleena."

Konall bowed his head. "Spirits, bless our weapons. Um, please. Please please." Kadlin scoffed, but Konall felt a presence on his sword, shield, and haxxor. He noticed a gleam on Aleena's cysuit, only if he looked out of the corner of his eye. "Let's go."

Konall charged into the well, sword and shield ready. Ghosts of bandits surrounded him on all sides, charging him, but Konall stood his ground, slashing through them. Tentacles of stench rose through cracks in the rocks on all sides, while Spaz flew in between realms, dragging souls to damnation. Aleena danced behind Konall, her movements mesmerizing the ghosts, distracting them and keeping them from overwhelming the barbarian. She instinctively threw in an attack, and was shocked to find her fist connect with spirit, sending it flying. As the ghosts floated slowly toward her, she held their attention, attacking when she could. And then a kick went right toward a marauder spirits head and went right through. "Konall," she said."Your spell ran out! Oh, shit!" Konall didn't need to think. He threw his shield into a nearby shade and picked Kadlin up with his left arm, hacking at ghosts with his right. "Spaz! Back me up." Konall ran, fighting for a retreat. And then his sword went right through a ghost. Again he slashed, and again it failed.

"Konall," Kadlin shouted, "Get out of there." Konall doubled his effort and was free just as the lines to the helgate finished forming. Five gates opened at the points of a circumscribed pentagram. Demons flew out, clutching souls and dragging them to the next world. Spaz slammed into the transparent walls of the spell, unable to escape the circle. The gates closes, the demons disappeared with their ghostly prisoners, and only Spaz remained.

Konall set Aleena down. "Glad that's over," he said, just as another shade came out of the ground behind Aleena. It moved into her before he could even move toward her.

Aleena looked Konall in the eyes. "You have messed with the Aegan clan once. That's one time too many. Now you die."

"Aleena, stop it," said Konall. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not Aleena. I'm Deathbringer Aegan. You've been in the sun too long."

Aleena's body fought with Konall, and the Viking couldn't bring himself to harm the elf. He could pin her though, and while he had to take a few blows to do so, he soon managed it. "Kadlin," Konall shouted. "Get that thing out of her!"

"I can't. I'm tapped out. Maybe, Spaz?"

"Sorry," said Spaz. "I can't tell which soul's which."

Meanwhile Aleena's lithe body slipped out of Konall's grasp. They stood and faced each other. "Get out of her, ghost," sneered Konall.

"What are you talking about?"

So the spirit didn't know it was dead. Of course. Kadlin had said that if they faced reality and acknowledged their death they... That was it.

"Do this," said Konall, motioning with his hands.

The ghost moved Aleena's hands to copy the motion, fondling itself. "When did I get these?"

"They're not yours," said Konall. "They're" mine "Aleena's. You're dead and you've possessed a body."

"That can't be. But..." Aleena's body flashed brightly, and she fell to the ground.

Aleena climbed back to her feet. "Ugh. That was an experience I could have done without."

Konall picked her up. "Are you... you?"

"I seem to be in one piece," Aleena replied. She quickly pressed a kiss to Konall's lips before slipping out of his grasp. "Thank you for not hurting me, but I would not have held it against you if you had needed to."

"I would," Konall said.

Aleena smiled and gave him another kiss.

Another lengthy but exceptional piece! You get to see Kadlin's story developing and bits of Aleena's history, but it's Konall that again makes the co write something special. Of course, it's also cool seeing him interact with Aleena again. This leads to some huge story developments down the road.