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Nights of Babylon	By : kruemel Category: 1 through F > Alexander Views: 12920 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Alexander, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
*Kruemel greets her readers, offers a special salute to faithful Queendel, waves at bob, (and somehow wonders what has happened to lucious.)*
Enjoy the chap.
Disclaimer: Ah, well, you know.
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Chapter 22 - Hide and seek I
"Bitch! Lousy monstrous brute", Alexander roared at the top of his voice. He had been shouting the worst insults he could think of at the silver haired succubus for so long now that he sounded husky by now. But shouting was the only thing he could do, so he kept on to get rid of the boiling wrath and tormenting grief, threatening to burst his heart. What made him even more angry was that Ellestias wasn't affected at all by the obscenities he granted her with. She laughed to his face more amused than angered.
Alexander cursed her under his breath, giving his sore throat a rest. The sight of his dead soldiers down in the arena made him flinch. The winged demons feasted on them, chewing at their still warm hearts and Alexander wondered how he ever could have been fascinated by the predators' beauty. He loathed every single one of them with a fierce might and a hungry hatred, which wasn't satisfied at all by the fact that at least one of the winged monsters had lost her life too.

If only he could get down from this platform and introduce the evil witch and her brute to his sword.
Hephaistion was more worried about the fact that five of the demons including Ellestias were not taking part at the ghastly banquet. The pale succubus was up to something and he was quite sure he wouldn't like it. Before his phantasy could run wild with the most disturbing images of what might be, Ellestias decided not to tantalize her prisoners anymore.

"May I ask your attention, gentlemen", she said in a clear loud voice, the evil smile never leaving her thin lips. "I have thought of a game I'd like to play with you. It's a version of what you might know as hide and seek. The five of you will be granted a head start of an hour. Every man goes alone starting at one of the five passages, which will be opened for you. Every man will have one persecuter. If you manage to escape or kill your pursuer you live until we meet again. Otherwise you will die and we will feast on your dead bodies. You are allowed to keep your weapons and equipment and can take as many torches as you please as I am aware of your weak eyes."
She paused for a moment to let her instructions sink in, smirking at the shocked expression on her prey's faces. "As you are the king, Alexander", she then continued, "you may chose first which passage you want to take." She pointed down to the arena - a puddle of blood by now - where all gates but five were closed again.
"I don't intend to take part in your game", the blond man hissed. "I am not here for your entertainment."
"I see", Ellestias answered cooly. "So you prefer to die at once? Because that's your choice. Die here and now or fight for your life. You are outnumbered as you can very well see."
"She's right", Hephaistion interferred before Alexander had a chance to fire back. "It's a chance, only a tiny one though, but the only one we will get. I rather fight one against one than being ripped to pieces by the brute without a possibility to survive." Maybe they could find Nearchus and the rest of the troop out there, maybe Alexis and Serena hadn't left the place and were still somewhere around here. Hope dies last, the young warrior thought, but as long as I can hope there still is a way out of this trap.
"I agree. If I have to die then in a fight man against man - or demon to be precise. I don't think it is a sign of bravery to deny our participation in the witch's evil game", Cleitus said clutching his sword, while Cassander and Ptolemy simply nodded at Hephaistion's and Cleitus' words.
"You should listen to your generals for once, my dear", Ellestias told him sweetly. She was very pleased with the situation although she missed Alexis and Serena. She had hoped the two fools would lead the humans here, but obviously Alexis had more brains than she had expected. Well, she would deal with them later.
Reluctantly Alexander made his choice taking the tunnel on the opposite of the hall. Then he and his generals were brought back down to the ground and given three torches each. With gritted teeth the king and Cleitus held back the urge to attack the surrounding demons, both aware that this would be their and their companions death.
Then Ellestias presented an hourglas filled with sand to them. "You better hurry, weak humans. The sand in this glas is what is left of your lifetime." With these words she turned it and the five men hurried down their passages into the darkness of the maze.
"Run little men, run. There's no way you're going to escape your destiny", Ellestias called after them.
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When the sound of the soldiers' footsteps had died away the silence following soon got unbearable. Alexis hadn't moved standing as still as a marble statue, staring at the place where Hephaistion had disappeared. Hephaistion's harsh words had struck him hard and left him paralyzed in a thunderstorm of conflicting emotions.
Carefully Serena approached him, embracing him from behind, trailing soft kisses down his neck. She desperatedly searched for the right words to say but couldn't think of any. She knew he had made a very difficult decision for her sake although she felt she couldn't really imagine what he was going through.
However she knew he would never forgive himself for having sent Hephaistion to meet his death alone. She had to find a way to help her brother which meant helping Hephaistion.
"We should follow them", Serena suddenly said.
"What?"
"Well you know, I don't mean we should overtake them, just follow at a distance and make sure they're fine. We both know the catacombes well enough. Nobody would expect us to be there and that's our advantage. Fuck Alexander's objection to ambushes as an ambush is clearly the only chance we have. We would strike Elleastias with her own damn fucking weapons, you know. And maybe we could still help Hephaistion and this dumbass king."
Alexis stared at her as if he didn't understand what she had just said and Serena started to feel pretty stupid. "Well, I'm not the one to come up with plans. I'm just a silly girl. Maybe this isn't a good idea at all", she added meekly.
"No, it isn't", Alexis said hoarsely. "It's actually the best plan I've heard for a long time."
"Really?", Serena beamed following Alexis towards the passage. She hesitated a moment at the entrance and sighed deeply. "Alright then, lets cross the Rubicon."

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Nearchus cursed loudly. With fourty men left he was stuck in the middle of pitch black darkness. The Macedonian general had never thought darkness could get that dark. He saw absolutely nothing. It was as if the world around them had vanished and catapulted them into nothing. Their torches had burnt down by now and the soldier carrying the package with the kept in reserve torches had been the first to be dragged to a side tunnel by the demons.
As Nearchus had decided they couldn't just stand there in the darkness and wait for the winged beasts to find and kill them, the men had caught hold of each others hand and in a long row groped their way along the walls of the tunnel. There was hardly any hope for them to ever get out of here again but Nearchus was determined to at least try.
There were strange noises in the blackness surrounding them, some sounding like muffled screams, others like the roar of a beast or distant laughter. Soon desperate sobs of some of the younger men following him could be heard. Sometimes Nearchus thought he saw a gleam like a pair of eyes in the dark but when he looked at the space again it was gone.
"Bloody hallucinations", Nearchus cursed.

He blinked and the lights were there again directly in front of him. He could have touched the two dots of light if he reached for them. But before he could do so he suddenly got grabbed by his throat. A clawed hand shot out of the darkness and pulled him of his feet. He tried to scream but his voice faded as the air was squeezed out of his lungs. He let go of the man's hand he was holding, startling the soldier behind whose cry was cut short when his throat was cut open.
During the following uproar the soldiers did no good by drawing their weapons and hitting at the darkness as too often their companions were the target of their assault.
Nearchus flailed with his arms, trying to hit his attacker. He was lucky striking something narrow and hard and lost balance when the beast let go of him. He struggled to get up again but was pushed down by a bare foot. "Stay down", a soft baritone voice advised him. Then a high pitched shriek echoed through the blackness, followed by an ugly death-rattle.

Nearchus was pulled to his feet again by helping hands, two golden orbs shining in the darkness in front of him like fiery suns.
"Are you hurt?", a smoky female voice asked him truly concerned.
"Lassie?", Nearchus exclaimed, causing Serena to frown. Although she had told him her name Nearchus insisted on calling her lass or even worse lassie. To Alexis he constantly refered as lad. He seemed to have enough brains, though, not to call him laddie. The Macedonian warrior quickly ordered the soldiers to stop their attacks. "Gods, I'm so happy you're here, lassie. Where's the lad?"
Another pair of golden eyes appeared in the blackness. "I'm here. Where's Hephaistion?"
"They were caught in some sort of arena."

"Damn", Alexis cursed none too happy with Nearchus' information. He felt panic taking over and with much effort pushed it back. He had to keep his mind clear if he wanted to help Hephaistion. There was no good in letting grief and guilt paralyze him now. "How did you get out?"
"Hadn't to as we couldn't get in at all, so I tried to find another way. But our torches were used up too fast and we've lost the reserve ones."
"Oh, you mean these?" The crimson-haired lass shoved a package into his arms. "I found them next to one of your dead companions. Thought it might be useful to take them along."
"Lass, this is damn useful. You're such a bright girl", Nearchus said happily. In the flaring light of the quickly lit torches he now could see the corpses of two of the winged demons lying on the ground. They clearly hadn't expected the demon siblings around and were overtaken before they possibly noticed whom they faced. Their unawareness had been their doom. From among his soldiers five hadn't made it. Three had become victims of the demon brute, two of their own comrades.
"Alright, listen closely", Serena began explaining Nearchus the way out of the labyrinth. Nearchus wasn't sure if he could keep everything the pretty lass told him in mind even after she had made him repeat her instructions twice, still he had to try. "Thanks you two", he said as good-bye. "Hope you find the king and the other guys."
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Hephaistion ran for his life. He had no idea where he was going, taking turns without a thought, but as long as it was far far away from his pursuer he was happy. The venom in the blonde succubus' eyes was enough for him to know he couldn't expect any mercy from her if she got him. Under different circumstances the brunette would have chosen his way carefully trying to figure out the direction in the hope to find a way out of the maze, now he simply hadn't the time to do so. Despite he took care he wasn't running in circles. At least he hoped so.
His footsteps echoed through the long empty corridors, some with high walls, the ceiling stretching somewhere above his head where the light of the torch didn't reach. Other passages were so narrow he had to bow not to bump his head. He avoided tunnels where he would have been forced to crawl as he feared the slow down would take away too much of his head-start.
While he ran through the underground labyrinth he tried hard to think of a plan, getting frantic as he couldn't think of one. His pursuer had night-sight eyes, a superhuman sense of smelling and knew the playgrounds. Hephaistion cursed at the lack of ideas of how he could get out of this mess Alexander had left him in. Still his only plan and hope was that Alexis would somehow materialise out of thin air, take him in his arms and rescue him from death's grip.
Unfortunately Hephaistion's hope was very unlikely to come true.
Panting for breath Hephaistion finally had to slow down as the stitches in his side wouldn't stop. He was striding down a passage leading steeply upwards when he heard a faint giggle in the distance. He froze in his motion, listening carefully. Just when he thought he had only imagined the sound, he heard the laughter again, closer this time. It was a cheerful girlish giggle, very much alike Serena's, but Hephaistion knew for sure it wasn't her - even without his pursuer calling for him. "Oh, little man, stop running. I'll get you anyway", a voice like a soft high tuned bell cried.
Terrified Hephaistion started to sprint down the tunnel as fast as he could, the flame of the torch flaring behind him like a fiery banner. He had fought Ellestias and Tessos and he had seen Alexis and Serena do so. That's why he didn't even think about facing the succubus alone.
"Stop running", the succubus behind him called out. Looking back over his shoulder Hephaistion could see her venom green eyes shining in the dark like acid flames. She got closer fast, no matter how hard Hephaistion tried to keep distance between him and her. He could hear the soft padding of her bare feet on the stone.
Reaching for the reserves of his stamina he stumbled round a corner, racing down a narrow passage and suddenly found himself in a dead end. Cursing he flung himself round and ran back to where he had come from, now facing the venom orbs which emerged from the darkness quickly and now were surrounded by a pale, horribly beautiful face, marred by a beastly, victorious sneer.
In the dim light of the torch Hephaistion saw that there was one tunnel crossing from the right the one he was running down. It was his only possibility to avoid the succubus and a fight if he only reached it first. He doubled his efforts turning into the tunnel right before the blonde succubus.
And then suddenly there was no ground beneath his feet anymore and he fell.
Screaming he let go of the torch, his hands frantically trying to catch hold. His body bounced against hard rock, the impact pressing the air out of his lungs, his fingers scratching over stone, fingernails breaking painfully. He didn't care. The pain was numbed by the panic of hitting the ground.
After what felt like an eternity his fall stopped when he managed to find hold. The forceful tug at his shoulder nearly made the joint dislocate, sending a white flash of agony through Hephaistion's body. He screamed, tears dulling his sight, while the torch he had dropped still fell until it vanished from his sight. A pitch-black darkness surrounded him as if he had been swallowed by a hideous monster.
High above him he could detect the faint gleaming of venom green eyes. A disappointed hiss was to be heard then the shining eyes vanished and Hephaistion was left alone in the darkness.
He felt like crying, a little timid voice wailing that everything was over, that there was no use to fight anymore. He just had to let go and he would dive into oblivion.

But Hephaistion didn't want to give in. He didn't want to die like this. With much effort he struggled until his second hand and feet had found hold to. Panting and painstricken he rested for a while, exploring his surroundings by groping around, and then started to slowly climb the narrow gap he had fallen in. He figured out that he could press his back against one wall and his feet against the opposite one and push himself up like this.
After only a few feet Hephaistion was drenched with sweat, his breath rattling in his chest. Carefully he inched himself upwards, nearly losing balance when all of a sudden the gap grew wider and his feet lost support. He slided down, hitting the rock with his back, causing Hephaistion to cry out in agony.
"I mustn't give up", he muttered. "I mustn't give up." But he felt his strength fade away. With some effort he reached the spot again where the gap got wider so that he had to climb the wall by groping with hand and feet for the next hold. But he was too tired, too exhausted. His body didn't work anymore like he willed it to do, his bleeding fingers started slipping, losing hold and only with much luck he could stop himself from falling down again.
But in the end his luck failed.
He slipped and his fingers gripped thin air.
And with a desperate scream he fell.
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Is this mean?
Yes it is!
:-D
See u next chapter.
- 21
- 22
- 23
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Nights of Babylon