"The Last Changeling" -Tale the Eighth: Truth, pt. 2/4
Title: "The Last Changeling"
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: Vampire!Sheppard/Werewolf!Zelenka/Changeling!Rodney... and Centaur!Carson, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay and Zelenka/McKay/Sheppard ust, pre-slash other pairings background
Category: slash, pre-slash, AU
Spoilers: none
Warnings: graphic violence
Rating: for Mature readers
Archive: Generally yes, but please let me know where
Summary: With our heroes scattered, separated and exiled, those who remain do what they can to bring them back, and Rodney McKay forges ahead with a plan no one can quite fathom.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
****
The Last Changeling
by Taylor Dancinghands
Tale the Eighth: "Truth" pt 2/4
When their road (and that was a generous assessment, Rodney thought) moved out of the forest and into an area of fields and pastures, their escort continued along with them. It was undoubtedly their leader who emerged from the cover of the woods first, his gray fur showing nearly silver in the moonlight. Others soon followed, however, and by the time they had left the forest behind them they could see at least a dozen wolves, striding along on either side, behind them and preceding them on the road.
They continued along together, the road carrying them down a long slope, until they reached something like a valley floor, with a dark line snaking across it which Rodney deduced to be some sort of river or stream. Their road split where it met the river, the main branch veering right to follow the river's right bank, and a smaller proceeding across a small bridge. Their escort made it clear that they were to cross the bridge.
Sheppard remained silent but Rodney could all but see the thought balloon hovering over his head, containing the words, 'We are so very fucked.' He tried to project his own, holding the words, 'We're going to be fine, you moron,' but he feared he lacked the conviction.
Rodney hadn't glanced at his scanner for some time, figuring that there was no point, really, and he almost did when he heard the rapidly running footsteps coming toward them at considerable speed from up ahead on the road. He almost did, but then realized that he didn't need to, because he already knew in his heart who it had to be. This did not mean, however, that Rodney was spared his moment of stark terror when said rapidly galloping wolf barrelled through the leading members of their escort, and leaped at him with the full force of his momentum.
Rodney gave an utterly undignified shriek as he was struck full in the chest by the heavy body of a wolf he knew even in the uncertain light, and then he was on his back, with the creature straddling his chest and licking his face with unbridled enthusiasm. Rodney found himself making a series of choked squawks before he could make any words come out.
"Radek, you lunatic!" he finally managed, turning his head in a hopeless attempt to avoid further licking. Radek did relent after another moment, sitting back and taking hold of Rodney's sleeve in his mouth to urge him upright.
"Ow," Rodney protested half-heartedly, though he was sure that there would be bruises on his chest from where Radek had hit him, and on his back from landing on his back pack full of supplies, not all of which were soft. Then he couldn't help himself and leaned forward to pull the wolf he loved into his arms and squeeze him tight.
"God, I've missed you, you big idiot," he said into a face full of fur. Radek gave a wolfish laugh and nipped his ear. He squirmed free of Rodney's arms then and resumed his grip on his sleeve, pulling back to help him to his feet, after a fashion. Rodney made sure to made a great show of dusting himself off and inspecting his new bruises while Sheppard looked on and laughed.
"You know, I've seem my share of touching reunions, McKay..." he began as they started down the road again.
"Oh, shut up," Rodney interrupted, before he could really rub Rodney's nose in it. "And may I point out," he added, poking Sheppard in the shoulder with said pointing finger, "not dead, either."
"Not, yet," Sheppard replied, looking uneasily at the sizable escort still accompanying them.
Rodney gave a dismissive snort, glancing down at the familiar form of the sliver and brown wolf trotting close at his side. Radek wouldn't let them harm Sheppard, he was sure of it, but what he didn't know was how much trouble it would make for Radek. If Radek was already in trouble with his pack... well, these were things Rodney didn't really know about, but surely if they meant to harm Sheppard they'd have made a move in that direction already.
There would be no answers to these questions until their new friends, and Radek, could talk, Rodney was fairly certain. For now he would hold on to the fact that they were in the company of a friend, if not multiple friends, and wait for his answers come morning.
It was another fifteen or so minutes walking before they came to some sign of civilization. Three cars and a pickup truck were parked at the side of the road and they turned off here, following a narrow track through a crumbling, if once ornate gateway, to see a happily blazing campfire in front of what appeared to have been, at one time, a grand estate of some sort.
In the fickle, silvery light of the moon, it appeared to be little more than an abandoned hulk, with too many darkened, unglazed windows and only the faintest glimmer of light -not electric- showing from one. From what Rodney could see, the building had, at one time, been quite splendid, covered in stucco decoration and ornaments, but now many were damaged or missing, and the stucco flaked away in a multitude of places, to reveal bare brick and stone.
The building was intimidating, but the fire beckoned, and Rodney did not need the prompting of their escort to make his way toward it. A single wolf, older, Rodney guessed by the grey around its muzzle, had been keeping watch there and stood as they approached, stretched and then touched noses with the silver wolf who'd come with them. Rodney and John were now prodded forward toward the benches that ringed the fire and they both sat gratefully, shedding their packs and stretching their hands out to soak in the fire's warmth.
There followed some sort of discussion which consisted of subtle woofs and wolfish body language among their hosts and at its conclusion the majority of their escort departed. Radek, the silver one and a couple of young and lean looking individuals remained as the others melted silently off into the night. Radek nudged Rodney's leg and directed his attention to what seemed to be a coffee pot, perched near the edge of the fire. He reached toward it tentatively.
When no one interfered, Rodney pulled his sleeve over his hand to protect it and took hold of the handle, giving the pot an experimental slosh. Sheppard was already extracting a couple of cups from their packs and holding one out for Rodney to pour a moment later. The brew was bitter, too strong and a trifle scorched, but Rodney didn't care, ignoring Radek's wolfish laugh as he made a not quite dignified sound over the first searingly hot swallow.
"Um... thanks?" he ventured after a moment, feeling the need to be as polite as possible but stymied by the certainty that his host could not reply, and might not understand his words in the first place. There was an exchange of huffs and twitched ears between Radek and the older, gray-muzzled wolf and Rodney came to the conclusion that anything important would be translated, and so relaxed a little. Sheppard made his own grateful sounds over his coffee, and then returned to their packs to extract a couple of very welcome MREs.
Rodney gave another glance around at their silent hosts before he dug in, finally succumbing to the impulse to check in again, verbally. "It's okay if we, um, eat something, right? 'Cause we've been, like, walking all day, and um..." Radek's head butt to Rodney's knee was a clear sign that he was overdoing it, but he scowled at him just the same, then tucked into his food with enthusiasm.
When their repast was done, and the remains that could be burned consigned to the fire, Radek lead them into the dark and somewhat foreboding house. There was an oil lamp sitting on a table a little ways back from the fire and Radek gestured for them to take it as they went in. The table itself, Rodney noted now, was covered with tools and scraps of wood and tile, which gave him his first clue about what was really happening here -when the moon wasn't full.
Inside, they made their way around piles of insulation, boxes of tiles and wood flooring, and other signs of a restoration in progress, as Radek lead them up what was once surely a magnificent staircase, to the second floor. Maneuvering down the hall around an enormous stack of new windows, they came to a doorway closed with a heavy curtain, rather than a door (as none of the rooms Rodney could see in this hallway seemed to have doors) and followed Radek through it.
There was a hook to hang the lantern near the door, and its warm light was now cast over a couple of ramshackle wardrobes, a desk with a closed laptop on it, and on the floor, a single mattress strewn with disordered blankets. On the far wall, sitting up on bricks over the badly neglected parquet floor, with its chimney leading out a partially boarded up window, sat what had to be a small wood stove -a pile of neatly cut wood stacked next to it. Radek lead them there now, nudging a small pail, filled with tinder and matches, with his nose.
Motivated though they were, the design was unfamiliar to both Rodney and Sheppard, and it took the two of them, with much bickering, more than 20 minutes to figure out how to get the thing going. Radek sat back and laughed silently the whole time. Once they had gotten the fire lit, however, he showed Sheppard where he could get another mattress and some blankets, and even helped drag everything into their room.
The fire warmed the room surprisingly quickly, so that by the time Sheppard had set his bed up it was easily comfortable enough to dress down for bed, and Rodney was more than ready for it. He was more than happy to let Radek, doggy breath and all, crawl under the blankets beside him as well, and even laid an arm over his furry body as they curled together. Sheppard had taken the lamp down to sit beside his bed, and extinguished it when they had all said their good nights.
Settling comfortably in the dark, feeling the bed warm around him, Rodney reflected that he'd never shared a bed with Radek in his wolf form before. For the most part this was because on Atlantis, when the moon was full, Radek always made the most of his monthly bout of wildness, and seldom came to bed till dawn. Rodney often stayed up on those nights as well, sometimes with Radek, out on some distant pier, or on the mainland, or just working alone in his labs because without Radek to share it, he found his bed too lonely. In the weeks since Radek had left, Rodney had not had one really good night's sleep.
And in spite of the fact that the form was unfamiliar, there remained in Rodney's heart the unshakable certainty that it was Radek. The being snuggled against him felt like Radek, for all the sense that didn't make, and it was all Rodney needed to relax as he hadn't for weeks. Content in his reunion, Rodney sighed deeply as he curled around his wolf lover, and fell into the arms of Morpheus with soul deep gratitude.
The first rays of dawn coming in the un-curtained window might have woken Rodney, even if the changing form of his lover in his arms hadn't. It all made for a relatively gradual wakening, and when he woke entirely to the realization of the warm and considerably less furry being beside him, one of the most pleasant awakenings of his life. There was one constant in the transformation, however, as Radek's nose remained cold where it was pressed up against his throat... although at least now it was dry.
"Dobrě ráno," Radek murmured against his neck, lifting his head then to kiss Rodney on the mouth. The taste of his lover's mouth woke Rodney the rest of the way up, and all the longing he'd felt over the last few weeks came surging back. Rodney deepened the kiss, rolling to free his hands and take Radek's head between them. Gods he'd missed this, Rodney thought, letting a little moan escape.
"'Morning, guys," came Sheppard's voice from just across the room. Rodney had, of course, entirely forgotten his presence.
"Oh, um... Sheppard," Rodney faltered. "'Morning...?" Beside him, Radek gave a quiet chuckle.
"You know," Sheppard said after an awkward pause and a sigh, "maybe I'll just go for a run. That gonna bother anybody?"
"Should not be problem," Radek said, half sitting up. "They will be making coffee downstairs, and breakfast, which you may help yourself to, but only Jakub speaks any English."
"Okay, thanks," Sheppard replied, climbing out of bed and stepping into his shoes. "See you guys downstairs."
Rodney watched him go, then turned back to Radek, his familiar, furry torso half revealed above the duvet and seeming to glow a bit in the morning sun. The sun was warm, but the air in the bedroom was chill and Rodney tackled his lover to pull him back under the covers.
"Gods, I cannot believe I let you go," Rodney murmured, drawing his mate close and immersing himself in his warm, animal scent. "We are so never letting that happen again."
"Mmmm," Radek replied, kissing his way down Rodney's body. "I suppose I must concede this point."
Rodney was composing a smug rejoinder when Radek's still cold nose was pressed against his nipple. "Gahh!" he yelped. "You're human now; why is your nose still so cold?"
"There are laws of thermodynamics, you know," Radek replied archly. "I change only form, not mass and not temperature." He punctuated his point with a nip to Rodney's nipple, eliciting another yelp from Rodney.
"You little freak," he said, not without affection. "You just think you're so clever."
"I know I am so clever," Radek refuted, reaching down to fondle Rodney's already hard cock through his boxers. "After all, I am already naked, whereas you, miláček, still retain some impediments."
"Hello, just waking up!" Rodney replied, scrambling to pull his t-shirt off and getting lost in the process halfway when Radek slipped his hand inside Rodney's boxers and squeezed. "Not helping!" he yelped.
"You want help, miláčku?" Radek said innocently. "You only had to ask."
To be fair, Radek did help get Rodney's boxers off, which was a good thing because it was taking much too long to get his t-shirt off. Then, at last, he was entirely naked with his arms full of an equally naked Radek, and he wanted to touch everything with everything. Radek seemed to be keen on helping with that too, though their efforts might have stood a bit more coordination.
Eventually they found themselves face to face under the covers, limbs tangled, Rodney's mouth slowly sucking what would soon be a fine mark on Radek's collar bone and Radek's warm, nimble fingers wrapped around both their cocks. "Fuck..." Rodney groaned as Radek smeared precum along the hard flesh in his hand, slicking them both as he stroked. "I'm not going to last at all if you keep doing that."
"Pfft!" Radek replied with a chuckle. "There was never any chance of that. Later, when we have time, we take time. Now, we take what we want." He punctuated this remark with a hard nip under Rodney's ear which he knew would leave a mark.
"Ow!" Rodney complained. "You little... oh fuck." And then Rodney consigned himself to following Radek's advice and tangled his own fingers with Radek's, slick with precum as he joined him in stroking their cocks together. Their lovemaking soon became all but mindless, hips thrusting against one another as hard flesh was pressed against hard flesh, a slick, rhythmless rhythm building between them.
Their mouths found one another as the climax loomed, tongues thrusting into moist heat, consuming each other's cries when the ecstasy broke over them like a wave. The kiss lingered as their pleasure ebbed, holding them together through the last shudders of their mutual completion, until the laxity of satiation let them gradually fall away.
Both their hands were sticky with cum, but neither minded as they drew each other into a joyful and grateful embrace. Rodney listened to both their hearts gradually slow as he lay beside his lover, and little by little, the realities of the outside world, and his own mild discomforts, began to creep in.
From below came the sounds of muffled conversation and the smells of breakfast, and from outside the crash of lumber being dropped. Eventually the sound of a power saw shattered the last vestiges of peaceful quiet, and Rodney decided that he really did have to pee. "I know better," he said with a sigh, "than to ask if there is an actual flush toilet anywhere around here, don't I?"
"You do," Radek replied with a smile, "because you are a genius. There is actually a... chamber pot, of sorts, in the corner over there, if your need is urgent, or there is a pit toilet outside, around the back of the house, or you can just go... water a tree like everyone else, if that is all you need."
Rodney sat up, grumbling as he rummaged around in the covers for his boxers. "Any particular tree?" he asked as he pulled them on.
"Pretty much any tree on the property," Radek said. "We drink a lot of beer here, you know, and it's better to spread it around than have it all concentrated in one place."
Eventually Radek accompanied him to where they could water adjacent trees and then showed him where there was a table with a washbasin, some soap and a towel set near the stream side. After their ablutions they made their way to the kitchen and here Rodney's formal introduction to Radek's pack began.
It was odd how the place that had seemed so haunting and mysterious the night before seemed so prosaic and normal now. They made their way around various tools and construction debris as they approached the house, greeting the handful of young men already working there, then around the back and up a set of crumbling concrete steps to enter by a smaller door than the grand front entrance they'd used last night.
Here was a noisy, bustling and scent filled kitchen/dining room, a plump, gray-haired matron presiding over a wood stove with various cooking processes underway before her, and a handful of younger women assisting her. Some worked at food prep or washing up on the cracked linoleum counter to her left, while others carried food to and from the table, around which sat a double handful of men and boys (and a few women and girls), and Sheppard, all eating, talking (Czech, of course), drinking, and in one case, smoking a pipe.
Rodney could smell the pipe, along with frying meat (possibly ham!), fresh bread, coffee and garlic, and Rodney found himself both starved and slightly overwhelmed. Then Radek was saying, "Coffee, yes?" and making some request in lightning quick Czech and a moment later Rodney had a cup of coffee in his hands and all was right with the world.
He was introduced to the matron first, who, it turned out, had been the older wolf guarding the fire last night, and of near equal importance in the pack social structure as the pack leader. This was Jakub, the sliver haired older gentleman who was just now sitting beside Sheppard and conversing with him. While the women had clucked over him, pinching and prodding him like some bit of produce Radek had just purchased, the men sized him up with steady gazes which reminded Rodney that these men at the breakfast table had been their escorts on the road last night.
"Welcome to our pack, Dr McKay," Radek's pack leader said, shaking his hand. "I am Jakub Šenkířyk, Radek's pack leader, as I'm sure you have concluded already. Your mate speaks of you highly, as he should, but I see that he has not misjudged. I am pleased."
"Um... thank you," Rodney said, struggling a bit with how to graciously accept a compliment. The plate of food that arrived a moment later came as a welcome distraction. Sheppard kept the conversation going on the non controversial topic of the restoration currently going on around them as they ate and when they were done the four of them made their way over to a sunny side porch where they sat around a table littered with beer bottles and much worn playing cards.
Jakub cleared them a space at the table, then went to a cupboard and extracted an unmarked bottle containing a clear liquid, and four shot glasses.
"Is necessary, for proper welcoming into pack," Jakub explained as he poured them each a measure. "And it may make the conversation we must have now go a little easier."
This Jakub, Rodney thought, regarding the liquor in his glass, was a perceptive fellow, though there was nothing surprising in that. He was pack leader after all, and probably rather a bit older than he looked. He tossed the glass back, and then gasped a bit. The liquor was smooth, remarkably so, but really, very, very strong. He felt better to see Sheppard blinking hard as he knocked his back.
"You, ah, make this yourself, do you?" Sheppard guessed.
"My brother in law, Antonin," Jakub confirmed with a pleased smile. "But it is considered a family legacy, and the plums are from all of our gardens." There followed a slightly awkward silence in which Rodney realized that they were more or less waiting for him, so he sighed and set down his glass.
"So, um, speaking of gardens... sort of," he began clumsily, "which is to say, the rest of the plan, for us, rather hinges on a, ah, sort of a small favor we would need from you... sir." Rodney directed this toward the pack leader, hoping that he'd come off as respectful rather than obsequious.
"Jakub," the man pronounced his name 'Yah-koob', indicating himself, "please. What favor would you ask?"
"Um, well, Jakub," Rodney nodded. "I'm assuming that you, and your people, know this area well, and might be able to tell us the location of the nearest threshold... into the Realms."
Jakub nodded thoughtfully, frowning as he did. "There are several in these mountains. This is a place where the curtain between the two Realms is thin, but to cross that threshold is forbidden to us, as it is to his kind." The old Wolf nodded in Sheppard's direction, but there was no hostility in his voice or gesture.
"It's forbidden for me too," Rodney replied, relaxing as he got to the heart of his plan, "but I've found a loophole... an exception to the rules that applies to all three of us."
Now all three of them were staring at Rodney, expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces. "What exception is this, Rodney?" Radek asked.
"Legal business," Rodney answered succinctly. "Carson is going to be convicted of having a 'fallen nature' if no one shows up at his trial to testify otherwise. As far as I've been able to learn, no one else is available and qualified to speak on just what he's been doing for the past few years, and without that information the elders are only going to hear whatever fear-mongering that's been cooked up against him -unless we come and speak up."
A thoughtful and slightly astonished silence fell over the table for a few moments,and then Sheppard finally spoke up. "Is that really going to do the trick? They're really going to let us in, just to do that?"
"They have to," Rodney asserted. "Any full blooded fae, or any citizen of the Realms -which I still am, regardless of my exile status- has a right to testify in any legal proceeding in which they've had any meaningful involvement. We've all three worked with Carson for years. He's saved both your lives, for Hermes' sake."
"Yours too," Radek added quietly. Rodney nodded.
More contemplative silence followed, and then Jakub said, to Radek, "Does he know the prophecies, wolfling?"
"I don't deal in prophecies," Rodney said curtly, before Radek could reply. "Don't read them, don't care about them."
"There is your answer," Radek said with a wry smile.
"What prophecies?" Sheppard asked.
The two wolves exchanged glances and Rodney stood with a sigh. "Nature calls. You three can waste all the time you want sharing fairy tales while I'm gone."
Rodney could not help stewing slightly as he made his way to the outhouse Radek had shown him earlier. He hated the very idea of prophecies, certain down to his bones that he lived a life of free choices, not a life predetermined by some destiny. Still, he had also lived all his life under a cloud of prophecies, related to why had had been taken as a changeling.
His fathers had never told him why they had stolen him, only that they were moved by love alone, but others had felt no compunction at sharing their theories for why his abduction had been allowed. There were any number of grand predictions Rodney might find himself fulfilling, and one of them did indeed involve the ending of the exile for Wolves and Vampires, but Rodney refused to let such forecasts guide him.
He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it, and every one of his decisions were based on rational principles. Carson was in trouble, and this was the best way he could think of helping him. He wasn't going to deny that he'd do whatever he could -within reason- to end his own exile, and that of his friends, and if that happened to be a side effect of what he did to save Carson, so be it, but no so-called prediction of future events was guiding him. Rodney McKay was master of his own destiny; he would not have it any other way.
When Rodney returned from washing up a second round of shots had been poured, "For luck in our future endeavors," Radek explained. Rodney had no objection whatsoever to this and so steeled himself and swallowed down the fiery beverage.
"Tak," Jakub said when they had all set their glasses down. "I can take you to the nearest threshold, but it will not open for any of us..."
"Unless one of us should happen to posses a passkey," Rodney said, fishing the talisman Parrish had given him from under his shirt.
"This'll get us in the door," he said, "and then we'll have to make our case to whoever is guarding it, but the law is on our side." This was certainly true, but what Rodney knew better than anyone else at the table was that law in the Fae Realms is nowhere near so cut and dried as it is among mortals. They would have to make their case with conviction, as well as facts, but Rodney had no shortage of either.
The three of them made quick work of packing up, though Radek had a few affairs to settle before he left, and the disposition of some of his belongings which he wasn't going to take with him, such as his laptop. Radek made these arrangements with Jakub while Rodney and John waited out front by the fire pit, enjoying one last cup of coffee. They looked up as the Radek and his pack leader approached, still conversing together in their native tongue, and then focused their attention when the older Wolf spoke once again in English.
"Now, Wolfling," he said, "there is one last honor I would share with you before you depart." He lifted his chin then, turning his head to one side as he did to expose his throat to Radek. Radek's eyes went wide with astonishment.
"Pane..." he stammered, even as Rodney worked out what the pack leader must be implying.
"Never," Jakub said, lowering his head just so that his gaze met Radek's, "have our kind ever known such a pack as the one you have gathered, but it is a pack, nonetheless, and I would have the honor of being the first to acknowledge it, and you, pack leader." He lifted his head again when he finished, insisting even as he made this gesture of submission.
Rodney had never seen Radek look so completely undone, but he completed the ritual as required, stepping into the older wolf's personal space to place his teeth, ever so gently, over the exposed jugular. He stepped back a pace a moment later to lift his chin in kind, and the gesture was returned, followed by a kiss on both cheeks and some comment in Czech that had Radek blushing bright red.
"Way to go, pack leader!" Sheppard said as Radek rejoined him, slapping him on the back enthusiastically. Radek just shook his head.
"Never..." he said, still sounding a bit gobsmacked. "Never in my life did I ever expect to achieve such things."
"He's not wrong, though," Rodney said, pleased beyond words to see his lover so honored, as they stood and made to follow Jakub through the gate and onto the road.
"I suppose..." Radek said, looking back and forth between his two 'pack members'. "I suppose not."
Unsurprisingly, Jakub set a brisk pace which Rodney might have complained about had they been among different company. They left the road before very long and, after a little under an hour's trekking across country, came to a picturesque rock outcropping (not the first they had passed, by any means). Rodney could almost sense the presence of the threshold himself, the air nearly vibrating with the nearness of the other world. The separation between the Realms was almost negligible here; Jakub had been right about that.
When Rodney clutched the 'passkey' tightly in his fist he could see that what looked like it might be a path between two boulders really was one, though it did not lead anywhere in this Realm. This would be their path then. He reached for Radek's hand, the talisman pressed between their two palms, and reached for Sheppard with his free hand. Jakub said something in Czech as Rodney lead them all forward -he hoped it was 'good luck' or something like it- and then they were leaving one world and standing on the threshold of another.
==========================
On, into the Fae Realms...
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: Vampire!Sheppard/Werewolf!Zelenka/Changeling!Rodney... and Centaur!Carson, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay and Zelenka/McKay/Sheppard ust, pre-slash other pairings background
Category: slash, pre-slash, AU
Spoilers: none
Warnings: graphic violence
Rating: for Mature readers
Archive: Generally yes, but please let me know where
Summary: With our heroes scattered, separated and exiled, those who remain do what they can to bring them back, and Rodney McKay forges ahead with a plan no one can quite fathom.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
****
The Last Changeling
by Taylor Dancinghands
Tale the Eighth: "Truth" pt 2/4
When their road (and that was a generous assessment, Rodney thought) moved out of the forest and into an area of fields and pastures, their escort continued along with them. It was undoubtedly their leader who emerged from the cover of the woods first, his gray fur showing nearly silver in the moonlight. Others soon followed, however, and by the time they had left the forest behind them they could see at least a dozen wolves, striding along on either side, behind them and preceding them on the road.
They continued along together, the road carrying them down a long slope, until they reached something like a valley floor, with a dark line snaking across it which Rodney deduced to be some sort of river or stream. Their road split where it met the river, the main branch veering right to follow the river's right bank, and a smaller proceeding across a small bridge. Their escort made it clear that they were to cross the bridge.
Sheppard remained silent but Rodney could all but see the thought balloon hovering over his head, containing the words, 'We are so very fucked.' He tried to project his own, holding the words, 'We're going to be fine, you moron,' but he feared he lacked the conviction.
Rodney hadn't glanced at his scanner for some time, figuring that there was no point, really, and he almost did when he heard the rapidly running footsteps coming toward them at considerable speed from up ahead on the road. He almost did, but then realized that he didn't need to, because he already knew in his heart who it had to be. This did not mean, however, that Rodney was spared his moment of stark terror when said rapidly galloping wolf barrelled through the leading members of their escort, and leaped at him with the full force of his momentum.
Rodney gave an utterly undignified shriek as he was struck full in the chest by the heavy body of a wolf he knew even in the uncertain light, and then he was on his back, with the creature straddling his chest and licking his face with unbridled enthusiasm. Rodney found himself making a series of choked squawks before he could make any words come out.
"Radek, you lunatic!" he finally managed, turning his head in a hopeless attempt to avoid further licking. Radek did relent after another moment, sitting back and taking hold of Rodney's sleeve in his mouth to urge him upright.
"Ow," Rodney protested half-heartedly, though he was sure that there would be bruises on his chest from where Radek had hit him, and on his back from landing on his back pack full of supplies, not all of which were soft. Then he couldn't help himself and leaned forward to pull the wolf he loved into his arms and squeeze him tight.
"God, I've missed you, you big idiot," he said into a face full of fur. Radek gave a wolfish laugh and nipped his ear. He squirmed free of Rodney's arms then and resumed his grip on his sleeve, pulling back to help him to his feet, after a fashion. Rodney made sure to made a great show of dusting himself off and inspecting his new bruises while Sheppard looked on and laughed.
"You know, I've seem my share of touching reunions, McKay..." he began as they started down the road again.
"Oh, shut up," Rodney interrupted, before he could really rub Rodney's nose in it. "And may I point out," he added, poking Sheppard in the shoulder with said pointing finger, "not dead, either."
"Not, yet," Sheppard replied, looking uneasily at the sizable escort still accompanying them.
Rodney gave a dismissive snort, glancing down at the familiar form of the sliver and brown wolf trotting close at his side. Radek wouldn't let them harm Sheppard, he was sure of it, but what he didn't know was how much trouble it would make for Radek. If Radek was already in trouble with his pack... well, these were things Rodney didn't really know about, but surely if they meant to harm Sheppard they'd have made a move in that direction already.
There would be no answers to these questions until their new friends, and Radek, could talk, Rodney was fairly certain. For now he would hold on to the fact that they were in the company of a friend, if not multiple friends, and wait for his answers come morning.
It was another fifteen or so minutes walking before they came to some sign of civilization. Three cars and a pickup truck were parked at the side of the road and they turned off here, following a narrow track through a crumbling, if once ornate gateway, to see a happily blazing campfire in front of what appeared to have been, at one time, a grand estate of some sort.
In the fickle, silvery light of the moon, it appeared to be little more than an abandoned hulk, with too many darkened, unglazed windows and only the faintest glimmer of light -not electric- showing from one. From what Rodney could see, the building had, at one time, been quite splendid, covered in stucco decoration and ornaments, but now many were damaged or missing, and the stucco flaked away in a multitude of places, to reveal bare brick and stone.
The building was intimidating, but the fire beckoned, and Rodney did not need the prompting of their escort to make his way toward it. A single wolf, older, Rodney guessed by the grey around its muzzle, had been keeping watch there and stood as they approached, stretched and then touched noses with the silver wolf who'd come with them. Rodney and John were now prodded forward toward the benches that ringed the fire and they both sat gratefully, shedding their packs and stretching their hands out to soak in the fire's warmth.
There followed some sort of discussion which consisted of subtle woofs and wolfish body language among their hosts and at its conclusion the majority of their escort departed. Radek, the silver one and a couple of young and lean looking individuals remained as the others melted silently off into the night. Radek nudged Rodney's leg and directed his attention to what seemed to be a coffee pot, perched near the edge of the fire. He reached toward it tentatively.
When no one interfered, Rodney pulled his sleeve over his hand to protect it and took hold of the handle, giving the pot an experimental slosh. Sheppard was already extracting a couple of cups from their packs and holding one out for Rodney to pour a moment later. The brew was bitter, too strong and a trifle scorched, but Rodney didn't care, ignoring Radek's wolfish laugh as he made a not quite dignified sound over the first searingly hot swallow.
"Um... thanks?" he ventured after a moment, feeling the need to be as polite as possible but stymied by the certainty that his host could not reply, and might not understand his words in the first place. There was an exchange of huffs and twitched ears between Radek and the older, gray-muzzled wolf and Rodney came to the conclusion that anything important would be translated, and so relaxed a little. Sheppard made his own grateful sounds over his coffee, and then returned to their packs to extract a couple of very welcome MREs.
Rodney gave another glance around at their silent hosts before he dug in, finally succumbing to the impulse to check in again, verbally. "It's okay if we, um, eat something, right? 'Cause we've been, like, walking all day, and um..." Radek's head butt to Rodney's knee was a clear sign that he was overdoing it, but he scowled at him just the same, then tucked into his food with enthusiasm.
When their repast was done, and the remains that could be burned consigned to the fire, Radek lead them into the dark and somewhat foreboding house. There was an oil lamp sitting on a table a little ways back from the fire and Radek gestured for them to take it as they went in. The table itself, Rodney noted now, was covered with tools and scraps of wood and tile, which gave him his first clue about what was really happening here -when the moon wasn't full.
Inside, they made their way around piles of insulation, boxes of tiles and wood flooring, and other signs of a restoration in progress, as Radek lead them up what was once surely a magnificent staircase, to the second floor. Maneuvering down the hall around an enormous stack of new windows, they came to a doorway closed with a heavy curtain, rather than a door (as none of the rooms Rodney could see in this hallway seemed to have doors) and followed Radek through it.
There was a hook to hang the lantern near the door, and its warm light was now cast over a couple of ramshackle wardrobes, a desk with a closed laptop on it, and on the floor, a single mattress strewn with disordered blankets. On the far wall, sitting up on bricks over the badly neglected parquet floor, with its chimney leading out a partially boarded up window, sat what had to be a small wood stove -a pile of neatly cut wood stacked next to it. Radek lead them there now, nudging a small pail, filled with tinder and matches, with his nose.
Motivated though they were, the design was unfamiliar to both Rodney and Sheppard, and it took the two of them, with much bickering, more than 20 minutes to figure out how to get the thing going. Radek sat back and laughed silently the whole time. Once they had gotten the fire lit, however, he showed Sheppard where he could get another mattress and some blankets, and even helped drag everything into their room.
The fire warmed the room surprisingly quickly, so that by the time Sheppard had set his bed up it was easily comfortable enough to dress down for bed, and Rodney was more than ready for it. He was more than happy to let Radek, doggy breath and all, crawl under the blankets beside him as well, and even laid an arm over his furry body as they curled together. Sheppard had taken the lamp down to sit beside his bed, and extinguished it when they had all said their good nights.
Settling comfortably in the dark, feeling the bed warm around him, Rodney reflected that he'd never shared a bed with Radek in his wolf form before. For the most part this was because on Atlantis, when the moon was full, Radek always made the most of his monthly bout of wildness, and seldom came to bed till dawn. Rodney often stayed up on those nights as well, sometimes with Radek, out on some distant pier, or on the mainland, or just working alone in his labs because without Radek to share it, he found his bed too lonely. In the weeks since Radek had left, Rodney had not had one really good night's sleep.
And in spite of the fact that the form was unfamiliar, there remained in Rodney's heart the unshakable certainty that it was Radek. The being snuggled against him felt like Radek, for all the sense that didn't make, and it was all Rodney needed to relax as he hadn't for weeks. Content in his reunion, Rodney sighed deeply as he curled around his wolf lover, and fell into the arms of Morpheus with soul deep gratitude.
The first rays of dawn coming in the un-curtained window might have woken Rodney, even if the changing form of his lover in his arms hadn't. It all made for a relatively gradual wakening, and when he woke entirely to the realization of the warm and considerably less furry being beside him, one of the most pleasant awakenings of his life. There was one constant in the transformation, however, as Radek's nose remained cold where it was pressed up against his throat... although at least now it was dry.
"Dobrě ráno," Radek murmured against his neck, lifting his head then to kiss Rodney on the mouth. The taste of his lover's mouth woke Rodney the rest of the way up, and all the longing he'd felt over the last few weeks came surging back. Rodney deepened the kiss, rolling to free his hands and take Radek's head between them. Gods he'd missed this, Rodney thought, letting a little moan escape.
"'Morning, guys," came Sheppard's voice from just across the room. Rodney had, of course, entirely forgotten his presence.
"Oh, um... Sheppard," Rodney faltered. "'Morning...?" Beside him, Radek gave a quiet chuckle.
"You know," Sheppard said after an awkward pause and a sigh, "maybe I'll just go for a run. That gonna bother anybody?"
"Should not be problem," Radek said, half sitting up. "They will be making coffee downstairs, and breakfast, which you may help yourself to, but only Jakub speaks any English."
"Okay, thanks," Sheppard replied, climbing out of bed and stepping into his shoes. "See you guys downstairs."
Rodney watched him go, then turned back to Radek, his familiar, furry torso half revealed above the duvet and seeming to glow a bit in the morning sun. The sun was warm, but the air in the bedroom was chill and Rodney tackled his lover to pull him back under the covers.
"Gods, I cannot believe I let you go," Rodney murmured, drawing his mate close and immersing himself in his warm, animal scent. "We are so never letting that happen again."
"Mmmm," Radek replied, kissing his way down Rodney's body. "I suppose I must concede this point."
Rodney was composing a smug rejoinder when Radek's still cold nose was pressed against his nipple. "Gahh!" he yelped. "You're human now; why is your nose still so cold?"
"There are laws of thermodynamics, you know," Radek replied archly. "I change only form, not mass and not temperature." He punctuated his point with a nip to Rodney's nipple, eliciting another yelp from Rodney.
"You little freak," he said, not without affection. "You just think you're so clever."
"I know I am so clever," Radek refuted, reaching down to fondle Rodney's already hard cock through his boxers. "After all, I am already naked, whereas you, miláček, still retain some impediments."
"Hello, just waking up!" Rodney replied, scrambling to pull his t-shirt off and getting lost in the process halfway when Radek slipped his hand inside Rodney's boxers and squeezed. "Not helping!" he yelped.
"You want help, miláčku?" Radek said innocently. "You only had to ask."
To be fair, Radek did help get Rodney's boxers off, which was a good thing because it was taking much too long to get his t-shirt off. Then, at last, he was entirely naked with his arms full of an equally naked Radek, and he wanted to touch everything with everything. Radek seemed to be keen on helping with that too, though their efforts might have stood a bit more coordination.
Eventually they found themselves face to face under the covers, limbs tangled, Rodney's mouth slowly sucking what would soon be a fine mark on Radek's collar bone and Radek's warm, nimble fingers wrapped around both their cocks. "Fuck..." Rodney groaned as Radek smeared precum along the hard flesh in his hand, slicking them both as he stroked. "I'm not going to last at all if you keep doing that."
"Pfft!" Radek replied with a chuckle. "There was never any chance of that. Later, when we have time, we take time. Now, we take what we want." He punctuated this remark with a hard nip under Rodney's ear which he knew would leave a mark.
"Ow!" Rodney complained. "You little... oh fuck." And then Rodney consigned himself to following Radek's advice and tangled his own fingers with Radek's, slick with precum as he joined him in stroking their cocks together. Their lovemaking soon became all but mindless, hips thrusting against one another as hard flesh was pressed against hard flesh, a slick, rhythmless rhythm building between them.
Their mouths found one another as the climax loomed, tongues thrusting into moist heat, consuming each other's cries when the ecstasy broke over them like a wave. The kiss lingered as their pleasure ebbed, holding them together through the last shudders of their mutual completion, until the laxity of satiation let them gradually fall away.
Both their hands were sticky with cum, but neither minded as they drew each other into a joyful and grateful embrace. Rodney listened to both their hearts gradually slow as he lay beside his lover, and little by little, the realities of the outside world, and his own mild discomforts, began to creep in.
From below came the sounds of muffled conversation and the smells of breakfast, and from outside the crash of lumber being dropped. Eventually the sound of a power saw shattered the last vestiges of peaceful quiet, and Rodney decided that he really did have to pee. "I know better," he said with a sigh, "than to ask if there is an actual flush toilet anywhere around here, don't I?"
"You do," Radek replied with a smile, "because you are a genius. There is actually a... chamber pot, of sorts, in the corner over there, if your need is urgent, or there is a pit toilet outside, around the back of the house, or you can just go... water a tree like everyone else, if that is all you need."
Rodney sat up, grumbling as he rummaged around in the covers for his boxers. "Any particular tree?" he asked as he pulled them on.
"Pretty much any tree on the property," Radek said. "We drink a lot of beer here, you know, and it's better to spread it around than have it all concentrated in one place."
Eventually Radek accompanied him to where they could water adjacent trees and then showed him where there was a table with a washbasin, some soap and a towel set near the stream side. After their ablutions they made their way to the kitchen and here Rodney's formal introduction to Radek's pack began.
It was odd how the place that had seemed so haunting and mysterious the night before seemed so prosaic and normal now. They made their way around various tools and construction debris as they approached the house, greeting the handful of young men already working there, then around the back and up a set of crumbling concrete steps to enter by a smaller door than the grand front entrance they'd used last night.
Here was a noisy, bustling and scent filled kitchen/dining room, a plump, gray-haired matron presiding over a wood stove with various cooking processes underway before her, and a handful of younger women assisting her. Some worked at food prep or washing up on the cracked linoleum counter to her left, while others carried food to and from the table, around which sat a double handful of men and boys (and a few women and girls), and Sheppard, all eating, talking (Czech, of course), drinking, and in one case, smoking a pipe.
Rodney could smell the pipe, along with frying meat (possibly ham!), fresh bread, coffee and garlic, and Rodney found himself both starved and slightly overwhelmed. Then Radek was saying, "Coffee, yes?" and making some request in lightning quick Czech and a moment later Rodney had a cup of coffee in his hands and all was right with the world.
He was introduced to the matron first, who, it turned out, had been the older wolf guarding the fire last night, and of near equal importance in the pack social structure as the pack leader. This was Jakub, the sliver haired older gentleman who was just now sitting beside Sheppard and conversing with him. While the women had clucked over him, pinching and prodding him like some bit of produce Radek had just purchased, the men sized him up with steady gazes which reminded Rodney that these men at the breakfast table had been their escorts on the road last night.
"Welcome to our pack, Dr McKay," Radek's pack leader said, shaking his hand. "I am Jakub Šenkířyk, Radek's pack leader, as I'm sure you have concluded already. Your mate speaks of you highly, as he should, but I see that he has not misjudged. I am pleased."
"Um... thank you," Rodney said, struggling a bit with how to graciously accept a compliment. The plate of food that arrived a moment later came as a welcome distraction. Sheppard kept the conversation going on the non controversial topic of the restoration currently going on around them as they ate and when they were done the four of them made their way over to a sunny side porch where they sat around a table littered with beer bottles and much worn playing cards.
Jakub cleared them a space at the table, then went to a cupboard and extracted an unmarked bottle containing a clear liquid, and four shot glasses.
"Is necessary, for proper welcoming into pack," Jakub explained as he poured them each a measure. "And it may make the conversation we must have now go a little easier."
This Jakub, Rodney thought, regarding the liquor in his glass, was a perceptive fellow, though there was nothing surprising in that. He was pack leader after all, and probably rather a bit older than he looked. He tossed the glass back, and then gasped a bit. The liquor was smooth, remarkably so, but really, very, very strong. He felt better to see Sheppard blinking hard as he knocked his back.
"You, ah, make this yourself, do you?" Sheppard guessed.
"My brother in law, Antonin," Jakub confirmed with a pleased smile. "But it is considered a family legacy, and the plums are from all of our gardens." There followed a slightly awkward silence in which Rodney realized that they were more or less waiting for him, so he sighed and set down his glass.
"So, um, speaking of gardens... sort of," he began clumsily, "which is to say, the rest of the plan, for us, rather hinges on a, ah, sort of a small favor we would need from you... sir." Rodney directed this toward the pack leader, hoping that he'd come off as respectful rather than obsequious.
"Jakub," the man pronounced his name 'Yah-koob', indicating himself, "please. What favor would you ask?"
"Um, well, Jakub," Rodney nodded. "I'm assuming that you, and your people, know this area well, and might be able to tell us the location of the nearest threshold... into the Realms."
Jakub nodded thoughtfully, frowning as he did. "There are several in these mountains. This is a place where the curtain between the two Realms is thin, but to cross that threshold is forbidden to us, as it is to his kind." The old Wolf nodded in Sheppard's direction, but there was no hostility in his voice or gesture.
"It's forbidden for me too," Rodney replied, relaxing as he got to the heart of his plan, "but I've found a loophole... an exception to the rules that applies to all three of us."
Now all three of them were staring at Rodney, expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces. "What exception is this, Rodney?" Radek asked.
"Legal business," Rodney answered succinctly. "Carson is going to be convicted of having a 'fallen nature' if no one shows up at his trial to testify otherwise. As far as I've been able to learn, no one else is available and qualified to speak on just what he's been doing for the past few years, and without that information the elders are only going to hear whatever fear-mongering that's been cooked up against him -unless we come and speak up."
A thoughtful and slightly astonished silence fell over the table for a few moments,and then Sheppard finally spoke up. "Is that really going to do the trick? They're really going to let us in, just to do that?"
"They have to," Rodney asserted. "Any full blooded fae, or any citizen of the Realms -which I still am, regardless of my exile status- has a right to testify in any legal proceeding in which they've had any meaningful involvement. We've all three worked with Carson for years. He's saved both your lives, for Hermes' sake."
"Yours too," Radek added quietly. Rodney nodded.
More contemplative silence followed, and then Jakub said, to Radek, "Does he know the prophecies, wolfling?"
"I don't deal in prophecies," Rodney said curtly, before Radek could reply. "Don't read them, don't care about them."
"There is your answer," Radek said with a wry smile.
"What prophecies?" Sheppard asked.
The two wolves exchanged glances and Rodney stood with a sigh. "Nature calls. You three can waste all the time you want sharing fairy tales while I'm gone."
Rodney could not help stewing slightly as he made his way to the outhouse Radek had shown him earlier. He hated the very idea of prophecies, certain down to his bones that he lived a life of free choices, not a life predetermined by some destiny. Still, he had also lived all his life under a cloud of prophecies, related to why had had been taken as a changeling.
His fathers had never told him why they had stolen him, only that they were moved by love alone, but others had felt no compunction at sharing their theories for why his abduction had been allowed. There were any number of grand predictions Rodney might find himself fulfilling, and one of them did indeed involve the ending of the exile for Wolves and Vampires, but Rodney refused to let such forecasts guide him.
He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it, and every one of his decisions were based on rational principles. Carson was in trouble, and this was the best way he could think of helping him. He wasn't going to deny that he'd do whatever he could -within reason- to end his own exile, and that of his friends, and if that happened to be a side effect of what he did to save Carson, so be it, but no so-called prediction of future events was guiding him. Rodney McKay was master of his own destiny; he would not have it any other way.
When Rodney returned from washing up a second round of shots had been poured, "For luck in our future endeavors," Radek explained. Rodney had no objection whatsoever to this and so steeled himself and swallowed down the fiery beverage.
"Tak," Jakub said when they had all set their glasses down. "I can take you to the nearest threshold, but it will not open for any of us..."
"Unless one of us should happen to posses a passkey," Rodney said, fishing the talisman Parrish had given him from under his shirt.
"This'll get us in the door," he said, "and then we'll have to make our case to whoever is guarding it, but the law is on our side." This was certainly true, but what Rodney knew better than anyone else at the table was that law in the Fae Realms is nowhere near so cut and dried as it is among mortals. They would have to make their case with conviction, as well as facts, but Rodney had no shortage of either.
The three of them made quick work of packing up, though Radek had a few affairs to settle before he left, and the disposition of some of his belongings which he wasn't going to take with him, such as his laptop. Radek made these arrangements with Jakub while Rodney and John waited out front by the fire pit, enjoying one last cup of coffee. They looked up as the Radek and his pack leader approached, still conversing together in their native tongue, and then focused their attention when the older Wolf spoke once again in English.
"Now, Wolfling," he said, "there is one last honor I would share with you before you depart." He lifted his chin then, turning his head to one side as he did to expose his throat to Radek. Radek's eyes went wide with astonishment.
"Pane..." he stammered, even as Rodney worked out what the pack leader must be implying.
"Never," Jakub said, lowering his head just so that his gaze met Radek's, "have our kind ever known such a pack as the one you have gathered, but it is a pack, nonetheless, and I would have the honor of being the first to acknowledge it, and you, pack leader." He lifted his head again when he finished, insisting even as he made this gesture of submission.
Rodney had never seen Radek look so completely undone, but he completed the ritual as required, stepping into the older wolf's personal space to place his teeth, ever so gently, over the exposed jugular. He stepped back a pace a moment later to lift his chin in kind, and the gesture was returned, followed by a kiss on both cheeks and some comment in Czech that had Radek blushing bright red.
"Way to go, pack leader!" Sheppard said as Radek rejoined him, slapping him on the back enthusiastically. Radek just shook his head.
"Never..." he said, still sounding a bit gobsmacked. "Never in my life did I ever expect to achieve such things."
"He's not wrong, though," Rodney said, pleased beyond words to see his lover so honored, as they stood and made to follow Jakub through the gate and onto the road.
"I suppose..." Radek said, looking back and forth between his two 'pack members'. "I suppose not."
Unsurprisingly, Jakub set a brisk pace which Rodney might have complained about had they been among different company. They left the road before very long and, after a little under an hour's trekking across country, came to a picturesque rock outcropping (not the first they had passed, by any means). Rodney could almost sense the presence of the threshold himself, the air nearly vibrating with the nearness of the other world. The separation between the Realms was almost negligible here; Jakub had been right about that.
When Rodney clutched the 'passkey' tightly in his fist he could see that what looked like it might be a path between two boulders really was one, though it did not lead anywhere in this Realm. This would be their path then. He reached for Radek's hand, the talisman pressed between their two palms, and reached for Sheppard with his free hand. Jakub said something in Czech as Rodney lead them all forward -he hoped it was 'good luck' or something like it- and then they were leaving one world and standing on the threshold of another.
==========================
On, into the Fae Realms...