Party Time chapter 5

During the stretch of the day, Paclal called to inform them that though there was at least one person and hover jet working for Zerrik and his people. The good news being that they had to come through the hoverport just like everyone else, since the mansion grounds or any other land nearby wasn't stable enough or okayed for such things. Low flying hover vehicles over other people's Land Holds was still frowned on, no matter how rich the Holder was.
Also during that stretch, the group loosened down, got more sleep. Bepa was out like a stone sitting on her bag chair, snoring. Kyoh considered joining her but hadn't been given proper leave to do so either by she or his Membayar. The others either milled about, slept in their own comfortable chairs, or wandered to the outside.
Vionn complained bitterly that the house wasn't wired properly: everything in it was either battery driven or candle-lit, save the basic amenities such as heat and the comm unit. He was best at home in the city, and Vanya echoed that sentiment softly while attempting to not pick at the plant Mirage had given him. He gingerly held one of the long ivy-strands and considered talking to it, apparently, but then when Vanya noticed others watching him he put it down and looked away with a grin on his long face.
Finally, in the late of the afternoon when the outdoors had warmed enough that the house needed no heating on, they gathered together and their wits.
The carriage driver came out of hiding at Darkhanis' request, unaware of his last twelve hours spent in the darkness of the laundry and storage rooms. As dusk fell across the mountains, their snow-covered heights provided a beautiful backdrop for the travel. Few of the group wanted to sightsee, however.
They rode into the darkness of evening, over the first hillside. The sun was blocked quite thoroughly after each successive hill, the farther into the Emer zone they rode the darker it got. And chillier, as well, which Bepa muttered about now and then.
They reached what appeared to be the last of the roads to the mansion, and Darkhanis bade the driver again wait in neutral silence for them to return, slightly past the mansion's drive. No lights, he insisted, they'd be able to find their way without, until the main road. All the roads this far into the Emer peaks were wide and carefully laid so that even the most dangerous curves were only that way when taken at much too quickly a speed. Built up on the edges, they could literally feel their way to the main road, if they had to.
And under the stars, without lights from the carriage, that seemed to be the only way. Their carriage was in no danger of being seen, since the road was ill-lit there and the split for Zerrik's long private drive turned before it would come into sight.
The group moved to the edge of the mansion grounds, and Vionn started searching for anything to latch onto with his powers. There were three stations he could see, he pointed them out in the dim light.
"Up there, nearest the mansion, that's the main grounds unit," he said. There was a thin but tall pole with a strangely triangular attachment on the top, echoed by two others at equal distances away from the road. The grounds were flawlessly kept, all noticed, and would have looked better with daylight on them or bright flood lights to show off the thick grass.
The mansion was lit, that was certain. The grounds were huge, Osh and Haesh knew immediately that this mansion was worth considerably more than Mirage's Telva house, but here it was in the middle of nowhere. Why?
Why, Haesh thought, was because if someone is going to the effort of keeping an exile here, it'd bloody well better be in the middle of nowhere.
He watched as Vionn mentally tapped into the system. The gold fingered man waved for attention, gently, and Haesh waited for the mental contact which would be coming momentarily.
"Three levels," Vionn whispered in a hush. "All wired." He paused. "Four levels. Sorry. One's not connected to the main source."
"That's where we're heading," Juvon said.
"I can disable the motion sensors outside, but once we get to the main house it's all visuals, and... Haesh, that's your department now."
With a strange thrill going through his stomach, then, Haesh watched Vionn's schematic crossing his e-pad.
"There are the camera installments," Vionn said, pointing at them on the slightly glowing pad. "If you're near one, you need to concentrate on --"
"Getting the scenery to look the same coming through the transmission wires," Haesh said, catching on. "I hope it works that way. I wonder, but I'm not going to worry about it. Osh, keep your head down."
They smiled to one another. Keeping his head down clearly meant be aggressive, because that posture would kill if someone ran into it.
"We can enter either through the side there," Vionn continued and pointed at the distant mansion's wall. "Or through the back. Either of those are going to be the easiest to work with, but I don't know about man power and physical defenses, only the electronic ones."
"We'll have to deal with those as we get to them," Vanya said, cold. It was only then that Haesh noticed that when he had taken off the long violet robe he'd replaced his other clothing with a dark slick-suit below it, it was darker than his brown skin, but only barely. "Do you know how many people he might have working tonight?"
"If he's abducting people," Juvon said, "there's a couple right there. They'll be occupied."
"The rest will be on site, and possibly alert," Darkhanis said. "If that isn't the case I'll be much more worried."
"They'll be in one place," Vanya growled, looking at his fingers, "that's much easier to --"
"You can't be thinking of damaging that many of them," Ten said, sharply. "Please don't."
Vanya glared down suddenly, "if they get in my way."
"Try," Darkhanis warned, "to keep it to the necessary damages."
"If it becomes necessary to kill one of his guards," Vanya said, "I will do it and I will not worry about the consequences. Engell can worry about it. That is what he does for me, you know that Darkhanis. We have an understanding, and frankly if he won't see this my way I'm best off without him."
Darkhanis said nothing, but they finally gathered their wits and clumped into two groups.
"You take the back way," Haesh suggested to Vionn. "Neither of these entrances we've got will give us quick access to any stairwells. We'll have to work our way down."
"Down?" Bepa asked, "why?"
"The fourth level is underground, see the three floors here?" Vionn pointed at the mansion. It rose above the darkly manicured lawn and shade trees with straight-lined elegance, three floors evenly matched. Mirage's Telva mansion was also three levels, but they were skewed off from one another, wrapped around the cliff side.
"You take the side entrance," Vionn then agreed, "and we can scour the place."
"We'll head down," Vanya said.
"I will keep the guards occupied," Juvon said, "while we watch your back, BreedMaster. You've got to remember who your friends are, here."
He nodded, and slowly, they decided to move on the mansion.

The grounds were chilly, Bepa thought, but the air kept her awake and thrilled. The light of the mansion glared in her eyes, but she saw no guards walking around. They hustled close to one another, arrived at the back of the place. It towered cold and white, and Vionn kept looking oddly to the side.
"Motion sensors are still out," he promised them. "But once we're inside, keep alert."
The back door was double-wide, at the middle of a wide porch. The porch was five steps up from the ground, they ascended the stairs carefully and jumpily. Vionn tested the door knobs with his bare hands first, failed to open them.
Darkhanis tossed his head to Bepa.
"See what you can do," he said. "Make them into something easily breakable."
"Metal to wood," Vionn said, quietly. "I can deal with wood a little too."
"What can't you do," Bepa said, holding the large round knob. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and slowly the brass colored metal changed. It went through several incarnations of metals, color changes, and finally became a darker wood-like material. "It's going to have to do," the BeastMistress said.
"It's enough," Vionn said. He exerted his will on the now-changed doorknob and it clicked open.
They walked through, Osh and Bepa closest together.
"This way," Vionn said, "the central security room is over here, on the second floor. If there's anything we can learn, it'll be there."
They followed the red and gold man down the hall, carefully, each of them making notes as to where they were in regards the back door. If they had to bolt out, it would have to be the way they came, because none of them knew the layout of the mansion other than Vionn.
It was silent in the huge mansion, there seemed to be no one in any given part of it. The lights were all on, though, something which Darkhanis pointed out meant that someone was here.
"Someone is here," a voice said, behind them. Male, low, almost amused.

"I can get the door open pretty easy," Juvon said, grinning.
"I'd rather you not waste your power like that, Juvon," Vanya countered. "Haesh, you can unlock it more easily."
At first, Haesh didn't know what to say, but then he looked at his hand. He desolidified it, pushed his arm through the solid door (feeling the wood -- which was on both sides of a metal sheet, this was a secure door) and onto the lock. He felt around on the lock, had to concentrate very hard to remain solid in his fingers and diffuse in his wrist. The lock on the building's side door failed, and it jogged open.
"See?" Haesh said, hushed. They entered the bright anteroom connecting the door with the rest of the house. It was too bright, apparently, for Vanya to easily look around.
Ten took his Master's hand, and they moved to the inner door. "Locked too," Ten said, trying the handle.
"We don't have time for this," Vanya said. Before he could get any more angry than he already seemed, Haesh reached through, disabled the lock, and carefully looked through. The hallway beyond was large, high-ceilinged, and empty save for the lone table and comm unit by one wall.
"It's clear," Haesh said. "Come on, I think the stairs are supposed to be over this way."
"You all right?" Juvon asked, of Vanya. He stood in the white doorway, leaning against the frame.
"No," he whispered. "Let's go. She's already been taken in."
"How could we have missed it?" Kyoh asked, "they didn't come by us on the road, and the pilot didn't say --"
"Anything is possible," Vanya said. "We're dealing with my creator. Come on." He steeled himself, and Ten moved by him, a blue shadow. Juvon and Haesh exchanged a glance, and followed.
The stairs were around two corners, beyond a huge room which Haesh interpreted as a dining hall. The table wasn't set for any service, but it was definitely long enough and had more than ten seats at the sides. The whole house seemed decorated in objects fround locally, the wood was forrested near, crafted down the hillside.
"There aren't any guards," Juvon said, looking around the curtained doorway.
"They've been caught," Vanya said, looking up and furrowing his eyebrows.
"What?" Kyoh said, louder than he intended. He subdued the urge to run.
"That's all right," Vanya said. "They can take care of themselves. And that leaves fewer guards for us to run into."
He went through the doorway, crossed the dark floored hall beyond, and waited at the top of the stairs. They were beside the two-story tall main entrance, smooth dark wood laquered and polished led all the way across the floor, with nothing but a single elegantly woven carpet in the middle to break up the space. A huge staircase wrapped around the main room, opposite it was a foyer which led obviously to the front doors and porch. The whole of the stair was covered in a pale pink cloth, except the marble top of the wide bannister. The area they were standing by was considerably less ostentatious, appearing to lead to a pantry or nothing more important than a storage room below.
Vanya stood like a dark ghost, waiting, only his eyes bright against the dark of his skin and the darker black suit which covered all but his hands and neck. Ten stood below him, worried look on his beautiful face. Juvon joined them shortly, followed by the Membayar and his charge.
"It's baffled down there," Vanya said, trying to listen.
"Then we know we're on the right track," Juvon said, beginning to descend.
Here was also a spot for the camera installment, Haesh realized, and before he could do anything more, he'd unconsciously disabled it. They went quietly down the stairs, Kyoh bringing up the rear and watching for any unwanted company.

Schesh was a small man, particularly compared to Darkhanis and Bepa. But his hands, restless, moved over Bepa's neck with skill.
"Don't move, darling," he said. "Or you'll die."
Bepa didn't quite know how she'd gotten into this rather uncomfortable possition, with her hands behind her head and this quiet man's hand around her neck. She obeyed his words.
"Let her go," Osh said, lowering his head and obviously offering his horns as an alternative to friendly discourse.
"That's cute," another man said, "see how he acts like an animal?"
The newest addition to their abrupt gathering charged at Osh, but was rather surprised to discover that he rushed by him. Osh moved like a gazelle, he decided. Looked like one too.
"Get the dark one," Schesh said, still holding Bepa tightly.
"Yes," that dark one, Darkhanis, said. "Get him. He's the dangerous one here. Let her go, as the good Master said."
"In your dreams," Schesh said, about to twist Bepa's neck into uselessness.
"Exactly," Darkhanis said, and while he did lose momentary control over the driver outside, he caught the highly trained guard inside into a complex mental web. Bepa dropped roughly to the floor, rubbed her neck, and then shouldered the small man to the wall. Schesh stood with a slight dumb look on his otherwise pretty face.
"Don't let him grab you again," Vionn said, while he was himself busy with something other than a guard.
"I don't plan on it," Bepa said, watching his bruised form slump loosely to the corner. They turned on the other larger attacker, who was squaring off with Osh. He had the clear size advantage over the Membayar, but Osh had range.
Bepa would have cheered for her friend, but that would have to wait. She kicked at the orange-red man's legs, distracting him.
"Big and strong," she said, "but not very quick. You've a lot to learn about animals, if you're going to mention them so often."
Vionn stood swaying, Darkhanis came to his side and waited. "There's at least three other guards on their way, they can still see us. I think the others have gotten in."
"Then we must keep these busy," Darkhanis said.
Abruptly, an alarm went off.
"They're definitely in," Vionn said, and those promised three more guards entered the small corner room with angry looks on their faces.

Kyoh, get the door behind us," Haesh said, as they entered the lowest realm of the huge mansion. The stairs doubled back on themselves twice, on their way down. Kyoh was less than thrilled with the idea of locking himself in down there with not only these people but Lords knew who else. Not fond of these underground passages, Kyoh obeyed but volunteered to stay by the door in case others came to call.
The stairs got darker the farther down the group went, but it didn't seem to bother any of them yet. Only when a large open corridor was exposed, the slate colored walls and floor indicating that this place had been made to prevent the possibility of escape, did Haesh start to worry.
He wondered, if he might be able to slide through the walls? Into the ground, not a pleasant possibility. His reverie was broken by Vanya's stiff hand pressing him to the wall. Ten still molded himself around the tall Breeder like a cat around its owner's leg, more afraid than protective.
"Juvon, can you detect how many people are in the next room?" Vanya hissed.
"At least three, but one's..."
"Unconscious," Vanya whispered. "Yes, she would be."
"We're here to get her and get out," Ten reminded his Master gently. "You don't have to do anything more than that."
He swallowed, leaned his head back. "Or I could be heroic," Vanya smiled madly.
"Don't," Haesh said. "We know where they are, and how to get out. If the others are doing their jobs, they're keeping everyone else distracted, and we can get to the carriage with no problem."
"I could take her," Juvon said, "directly, if that's how it's going to be."
If that's how it's going to be? Haesh thought, he'd just missed something. He looked at Ten, caught the boy's eye. Above, the alarm rang and momentarily distracted the group.
"Great," Juvon said. "Great. Let's go."
He strode to the right hand corridor, his booted feet making no sound. Vanya and Ten seemed to be fighting with whatever urges either of them had, until Ten loosened his hand from his Master's.
"I can feel him," Ten said. "You ought to stay here."
Laughter from the other room beyond the corner came brightly, but it was mad laughter. A girl's voice, Avaur, Haesh guessed. The High Holder's daughter. Haesh followed Juvon, saw him sway momentarily, and then stop entirely. There were two huge doors, at the end of the corridor, each with a square window in the middle, darkened.
"I suddenly don't feel like walking into this," Juvon admitted.
"But we've come so far," Haesh reminded the silver man, "and I won't like what might happen if we just leave. I don't think we can do that now."
Juvon paused. "Was there anything on the girl, Mihr, when we looked at her with Lam? Anything you might recognize?"
He thought back, wondering. "A pendant, it was round, an algae stone."
Juvon appeared to close his eyes, still covered by the reflective glasses. Then, "I've found it," he whispered. While he was doing so, Ten and Vanya came to their sides, either of them wary. "She's on the far right side of the room, beyond."
"Then we go and get her," Vanya growled. He walked to the door and kicked it sharply, and though none with him expected it to have much effect, the double doors slammed open: they had not been locked shut.
The clattering of the doors startled whoever was on their other side, momentarily there was silence, and then hastily added movement. Two somewhat burly guards, and a third in the middle appeared in the space beyond the doors.
"You can't come in here--" one of them said, and Vanya simply kicked again, more of a swipe but so high that Haesh wondered how he'd been trained for this. So high, the kick caught the guard in the face and splattered blood: the Breeder wore no shoes and had what Haesh noticed for the first time were extremely long sharp nails on his toes. The guard went down clutching his face, and Vanya turned on the second guard.
Who ran back to the side of the room, beyond the large banks of equipment. He was obviously unwilling to risk his appearance or life for whatever he was guarding. Not a valuable trait in a servant, Haesh thought. And had he not been intent on the third guard, Vanya might have agreed with him.
The third, however, stood his ground. The one below him, bleeding, attempted to raise his head and defend again, once the foursome had entered the room. Without even looking, then, Vanya aimed his hand down, grasped the guard by the hair, and threw him bodily to the left, where he then crashed into a wall and didn't bother to get up again. He sobbed, there, and watched.
"Nice work," the third guard said, voice unwavering and hollow. Mocking. "I've heard of you, you're quite the piece of work, now that I see you in person."
"Go get her," Haesh said to Juvon, and concentrating suddenly on his other power, that of clouding. It seemed to be working, because neither the subdued guard nor this other one regarding Vanya was watching him as he cleared around to the right side, following Juvon.
Ten watched closely as his Master stood his ground before this other guard. The guard was tall and slender, at least as tall as Vanya, but not nearly as strong. He had four arms, though, two of which rested easily by his sides, the other to were bent with their hands at his hips. Then the arms went into motion, quickly. All four hands moved to attack, and all four of them were easily met by Vanya's two.
"Impressive," the guard said, and they circled.
"You're wasting my time," Vanya said, and went to swipe his long fingers at the man's eyes. His hand was met with a glimmer of space: and it stopped. Vanya pulled free of the strange field, and, disgusted, threw himself bodily at the guard.
Clearly, he couldn't move through the field, Ten thought. It was too strong. But his Master had a way of thinking around things like convention and the expected. So the results were rewarding: he bowled over and toppled the four armed guard, watched for the field to go down of its own accord, and struck the man until he was satisfied he was unconscious.
"Good," Ten said, reminding him mentally that killing anyone was out of the question.
They moved to the center of the room, or in that direction, as Haesh and Juvon reached the corner. The whole room was buzzing with equipment, all of which the Breeder and his creation would recognize, but Haesh didn't. The large machines were inelegant, squared off and bulky, but served their purpose.
They were breeding vats. Angled front chambers held (or could hold, it seemed that only a few of them were occupied at the moment) liquids with new life in them, monitored by the machinery backing them up.
The room was lined with them, none of them were backed to the walls all the way, but there was a row which blocked the center of the room from view, and the pair had to move around that to reach anything more interesting.
Haesh and Juvon could see people, beyond the bank of machines they huddled beside, people lit by hanging yellow bulbs. The girl, Avaur, sat atop one of the tables nearest the center of the room, sat rather rudely Haesh thought. She was skinny and leggy, with the same incredibly long ears that Vionn had, and upon closer observation she also had few fingers and toes. She was at the edge of the table, knees up and hands between them, bracing herself. Her shrill voice called out.
"Hoa? What in the world are you doing?" She said, then laughed again. When there was no response, she jumped to the floor. While she was crossing the bright empty floor, Juvon and Haesh moved to the north corner, where Juvon could still feel the presence of the pendant Mihr was wearing.
Haesh lingered and waited, wondering if he was actually doing this? Standing in an illegal Breeding house about to attempt a rescue, and all? Then he moved to Juvon's side. He was sure that his hoof-feet were making too much noise, he was certain they'd been heard constantly.
Juvon turned to the Membayar, and gently shook his head. The silver hair bobbed, having lost a little of its sculpted edge over the course of the last day's wait.
I haven't heard them yet, Master Chanay, that's probably your power working right there.
Must be, Haesh thought, and Juvon nodded. Good.
From his view, he could just make out a hand, limply resting palm up on a table beyond the corner machinery. Yellow orange, delicate, young hand. Mihr's.
Haesh tossed his head, indicating the direction, and Juvon dared to peek out.

"I cannot hold them forever," Darkhanis said, with two handfulls of guard's hair clutched between his fingers. "Come on."
"I'm still worried about how they got in without us seeing them," Bepa said, "Vionn, have they found her yet?"
The tech-elf closed his eyes, and nodded momentarily. "But they're kind of busy. How many more servants does this guy have?" He muttered to himself. He knew: fifteen more in this mansion.
They'd already managed to either dispatch or threaten off five. Osh's horns had gored one, mostly by accident, Bepa had shouldered into another, and Darkhanis had taken care of the rest with his mental power.
Smiling, Vionn guided the guards to their location, one by one. His control over their security system could be exerted from anywhere in the house, they were surrounded by it. He was in his element and obviously enjoying it. Each new alert brought another guard out from their somewhat cramped quarters on the second floor. They heard several of Zerrik's guards yelling to one another that they were practically under attack, and how can this happen, didn't they have any perimeter security left?
And what about the outside guards?
"Yes, what about them?" Vionn asked again mostly to himself. As the trio waited for the newest guards to arrive, he accessed the outside view (he was watching on his small e-pad, it was never designed for such use, but he made it that way) and saw that in fact there were two more largely mutated servants, both of them holding back a native hern rat each. They both looked harried by the animals, which were apt to turn on their masters given half a chance. Gloves and leather protection only went so far.
The group indoors had neither, though. "Darkhanis, we're going to be cut off from the outside, if we don't move soon. They've got hern's, short leashed."
"Great," Bepa said, brightly. "I can take care of them, we had a pack of them back in Quman."
"We'll have to do it on the fly," Darkhanis said. "Here they come."
Three guards stood, one of them had a sword standing in his hand.
"Finally," the Breeder said, "a civilized challenger."
At that, the one with the sword motioned his companions to back away. Any excuse, they knew, for a good fight.
Darkhanis removed an elegant and slender foil from his long coat, Bepa hadn't even been aware that he was carrying such a thing. None of his companions had been aware of it, not even Haesh when in his presence. The advantages of such mind meddling, he thought, were his.
Even Vionn stopped his electronic searching to watch, as the pair moved into the larger corridor beyond their corner. They had only gone as far as that, not even finding the back stairs, before they were accosted by the first guards. Darkhanis and this guard tested the air with their swords, and finally exchanged a few delicate blows.
"Hardly a match," the guard said, shifting his feet and moving his blade around to the other side of Darkhanis'. "Your foil is only that. Here is pressed steel." He glided in, attempted to gore the Breeder with the tip of his blade.
"Yes, here it is," Darkhanis said. "I've a penchant for steel, but not a taste for it." He dodged the blade as it moved through the air by his handsome face, and a thrill of danger rested on that face as he did so. Darkhanis was clearly in his element.
Osh and Bepa leaned on one another, watching with a kind of bemusement. None of them had time for this, neither their party nor the guards, yet here were their leaders bantering and exchanging ritual blows with one another like they had all the time in the world.
It was expected that until they were finished, of course, no one would interfere.
After the first few tries, the guard decided on a tact and drew a long course through the air. Before Darkhanis could intercept it with the slender blade in his own hand, the guard's direction changed, he spun in place, and came around lower, striking the Breeder's cloaked leg once.
Though impressed, Darkhanis' group was unworried, for some reason. They trusted that this ostentatious display of courtly battle would be over soon, and that their Breeder would win.
Of course, the other side felt that very same way, and they could tell. Each of the group seemed to have something of a counterpart opposite them, save that none of the mansion guards had horns or extravagant ears to look at.
They were all young, Osh thought to himself. Very young. Perhaps as young as Kyoh, none looked as old as even himself. Only the guard exchanging swordplay with Darkhanis seemed to be older than thirty summers.
"Bepa, maybe you ought to move out back with Vionn, and see about those guard beasts, before they become a problem," Osh said, quietly. "There aren't any guards behind us, the way to the back stair is clear."
"You should come with me," she said, but he quietly said no, he would only attract attention with his horns and such. She, though larger and louder, would be able to slip away while they watched this madness.
She finally agreed, and carefully waited until the pair dueling were heatedly exchanging more words and steel, then slipped away.
Vionn chose not to follow her, telling her mentally that he would be waiting for her to call out to him if she needed any assistance.
She only asked, frantically thinking about what she'd do if... And recieved the answer she needed because Vionn was so utterly into the electronics of the house.

"The last time I talked to you, little girl, I thought I'd brought some sense into you head," Vanya said, darkly. "But I see that isn't the case."
Avaur snorted, then laughed again. She was clearly as crazy as she looked, Haesh and Juvon could still see her, now at their angle behind the back corner machine.
When Avaur aimed something mentally at the Breeder, Haesh nearly choked. Here was another with their power, she'd shot a blast of burning pain and it was recieved.
With a subtle grin.
"Come now, Avaur," Haesh couldn't see the source of the voice, but he guessed it was closer to them than the other side of the room. "Haven't I told you he'd be... immune?"
Juvon and Haesh exchanged a glance, behind the machine. They both dared a look, and what they saw was Avaur stomping back to her desk, and beyond her the unmoving darkness of Vanya.
"Far from immune," Vanya finally said, quietly. "You can't do anything to me that hasn't already been done, child." The Breeder moved to look at her fully, "but don't you dare try it again. You have no idea what pain is really like."
"Oh but she does," the other voice said, and Vanya looked at the source as if wounded. Ten came to his side, about the same time that Juvon's view was blocked by that same source. "She knows perfectly well what it's like to be hurt. And she seems to thrive on giving, rather than your own flair for recieving, dear Vanya." He paused. "Do you want your little Healer back? She'd be providing me endless fun, you know. Trying to sort through your memories was driving her quite mad already."
"If you hadn't been there first," Vanya spat. "She wouldn't be needed for it."
Haesh bit his lip, the exiled Breeder was too close to him for them to be able to move around the machine and get the Healer, now. Perhaps he'd arranged it that way? He swallowed any further nonsense, concentrated on himself simply not being seen nor heard, and crept around the corner.
Juvon stayed, then got it into his head to go the other direction. While the pair of Breeders looked each other over, their unseen companions were the only moving, breathing things in the room.
Vanya's head was lowered, slightly, and could be interpreted either as a warning with the faint snarl, or as a sign of deference and fear with the way his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows fought to remain still; otherwise he was frozen and clearly angered. The exile, he was standing casually by the corner machine and the abducted Mihr, watching his creation. With pale bronze skin, yellow hair, and surprisingly well-kept clothes, he wore himself like a prize possession, this exile.
"Just get out of my way and stay out of my mind," Vanya finally growled. "Mihr isn't your toy, she's not to be played with."
"Oh, but you," the exile said, low, "you've found yourself a replacement for me? How sweet."
Ten's gasp could be heard over the hum of the machinery, and there was a momentary check in Vanya's stance. He was trembling slightly, Haesh saw it. Wondered if it was pure fear, or anger.
Both, he told himself, and moved to Mihr's side.
When Avaur popped in front of him with an explosive movement, she startled Haesh, who crashed back suddenly into the corner.
"Hah!" Avaur yelled, "thought there was someone else in here!"
Haesh regretted being open to Juvon's mind, at that moment. Because it meant that he was also open to others, and particularly when it was Avaur's stabbing mind entering his, he choked back a yell.
Avaur was nut-brown in skintone, barely covered by the loose garments she wore. Her hair tossed around in colors of the sun, bobbed into Haesh's face, when she dove close to him. She was more than just noisy, this High Holder's daugher. She was aggressive, and fast. Her strong, two-fingered hands found their way around Haesh's shoulders, and pushed him down to the floor, while she made noises.
She also created powerful genetic magic, through her hands. Haesh burned with her touch, attempted to writhe out of her grip, but the girl was actually slightly larger than he and had the sudden advantage. Her mind moved in again, and this time Haesh was utterly unprepared for it.
He blacked out, momentarily, and then woke again with the girl's strong fingers choking him.
His only choice was to dissemble himself, which he did practically on instinct. Her hands fell through his neck, she jolted to the floor behind him, and hit her pretty little head on the wall.
Haesh rose, rubbing his neck and wondering how it could be that he could touch himself while she could not. The tableux before him had changed very little, when he came to look. Vanya had moved only one small step forward, Ten had returned to his side a little more bravely than before, and the exile was pacing.
With a grace, Haesh thought. There was in fact something terribly charismatic about the elderly exile, it wasn't his outward appearance which was certainly not unpleasant. It was his bearing and motion, his elegant if aged features twisted into a mock smile.
Crazy, Haesh considered. He's completely crazy. Whatever he's done to the Breeder it's been too long since someone stopped him. But there was nothing he could do: the resistance he might have because of his own pain-giving ability was all he had. It was going to be up to Ten, or Vanya, to stop him from any more action.
So Haesh moved to Mihr, went to wake her up. Juvon watched this all from the other side of the machine, and made up his mind as to his own course of action.
Kyoh came through the doors, just then, finally braving the darker interior below the mansion. He was unprepared for the mess of the guard at the Breeding room's entrance, he looked about and saw that it was none of their own blood.
He'd just gotten some brief word from Juvon, that he was needed.

"Nothing better than a good Lantu blade, eh?" Darkhanis asked of his opponent. "Clearly superior and durable. Not like that rediculous Zuca steel you've got."
Osh watched the fight with less interest now, both parties had drawn a little blood and nothing more. They continued to circle and the guards were also getting restless.
Osh whispered to end the fight, that they had better things to do, and that the rest of the guard house would be alerted by the time they'd finished this duel. Darkhanis seemed to hear the whispered plea, tilted his head back a little, and with one motion stabbed the other duelist directly through the gut. Unexpected, that movement could never have been part of the ritual duels they'd been dancing through moments before, and the guard looked to his bleeding shirt with an equal amount of distress and disgust.
"That was uncalled for," he said, and fell back to his companions. One of them tended to the wound, but the rest suddenly realized that the invading group was on the move.
They'd sprinted down the hallway, back the way they came, and turned the next corner into the main hall before half the troops knew they were gone.
Osh saw the open door to the side anteroom, ducked into it and rapidly caught Vionn's sleeve before he too would have passed the door. Darkhanis was on his own, Osh decided, closing the door quietly and fervently hoping that the guards hadn't seen them.
The footfalls outside the anteroom indicated they had not. "You take the stairs, he's gone this way!" One of the guards cried.
Vionn looked sidelong at Osh.
He smiled suddenly. "They're such fools," he whispered. They leaned against the door, hoping to keep it closed against any unwanted visitors, but also to listen to the guards and servants rushing here and there, half up the stairs and the rest back into the center of the main floor.
One remained, they could hear him panting slightly.
When Vionn opened the hallway door, he smiled and walked directly up to the bulky green-skinned man.
"That," he said, "was brilliant."
"Don't you think?" Darkhanis said, slipping gently back into his normal shape.
Osh watched with a spreading grin on his face. He thought the better of laughing aloud, for they had places to be.