<strong>Before Alka's disappearance.</strong>

The plant mage led the rear of the group as they walked onwards.

Three hundred and nineteen, three hundred and twenty, three hundred and twenty-one... he counted his steps. Alka was playing a game with himself wherein he would count how many steps he took before encountering a plant he couldn't identify at first sight. The lush forest was teeming with vegetation and insects but Alka's knowledge of the plants he met along the way didn't allow room for much error. He had been stopped only twice since their walk had begun.

His eyes spotted a ramweed growing its thistles around a button milkweed plant. He was tempted to stop and gather the valuable ramweed but decided against it because they were in a hurry and his older brother wasn't in a very charitable mood.

A drop of sweat beaded his forehead as the plant mage felt flushed and vaguely uncomfortable. The weather was fine and no one else seemed bothered by the temperature. Three hundred and fifty... Alka looked down at his foot. A thin vine was sliding around his ankle.

Angel's web was his first thought. And then Oh no.. as his vision suddenly became spotted. The stupid plant had already injected him with its toxin, Alka belatedly realised. He tried to open his mouth and say something.

"Ha-" was all he managed to let out before his body began to shut down. Alka felt an arm go around his waist and then darkness as the interloper winked away into thin air taking Alka with him.

______

When the plant mage came to, he was face to face with a man he hadn't seen in many years.

"What's the meaning of this?" He asked with a solemn composure that came from knowing he wouldn't be harmed.

A certain corrupt priest was seated supporting his chin on arms folded over the top of his chair that faced away from Alka. The ash grey hair, strange purple eyes, and the black gem on his forehead were unmistakably Qairu's.

"Hey Alka, long time no see," the priest replied with a smile. "But that's not why I've brought you here."

The plant mage narrowed his eyes at Qairu. He was still bitter about how the ex-boyfriend had dumped him and disappeared without a word.

"I'd spit on you if I wasn't concerned that you'd do something weird with it," Alka replied. "Why am I here? And where is here?"

"We're at Dragon's Hold," he was told by the cheerful priest. Alka mutinously stared at him, wishing he could deck Qairu across the face. He realised there was a lot of unresolved anger that he should have exorcised a long time ago. But Qairu had been his first love. And for all the hopes and dreams he'd had for them, the priest had acted with uncharacteristic coldness during their breakup. "It's very, very, far away from Sigil. I used an exceedingly precious magical item to teleport myself to you and back here."

"My brother will find me," Alka snapped at his captor. "No matter how far away we are, Artemus will find me."

"I don't doubt it, Alka," Qairu said with a smile. "If Artemus wasn't a feline, I'd suspect he was a bloodhound. For a cat, he sure does love dogs, doesn't he? Even his boyfriend reminds me of a clever wild wolf. And together, they make a very scary duo. Big brother Art might kill me if he finds out I kidnapped you."

Alka tried to sit comfortably but his hands were tied to the chair. There was a thick and warm coat around his shoulders to protect him from the chilling cold that permeated Dragon's Hold. From what he could see through the window, it was snowing heavily outside. Even Qairu was dressed in a blue and white fur coat that looked similar to the one draped around Alka.

"It is inevitable that I'll be found," he calmly said to the priest. "So it is in your best interest to let me go now and face my brother's budding wrath. It's not too late yet, priest."

"Na," Qairu responded with a careless shrug. "It's too late. So I might as well fulfil my end of the bargain and keep you here for a while."

"What bargain?"

The priest looked like he was in a good mood as he smiled at the plant mage.

"I'm doing someone a favour," he told Alka. "I'll take care of all your needs till either Artemus finds us or-" without completing the sentence, Qairu held up a glass vial and dangled it before Alka's face. "You should drink this. Its a second dose of the antidote to your poisoning."

"No."

Qairu raised his brows at the stubborn twist of Alka's pretty mouth.

"Don't be like this, sweetheart. You know what Angel's web can do. Drink the antidote."

"Make me," Alka hissed at him. His lips were pressed close tighter than a virgin's thighs.

Qairu sighed. Alka was such a handful when he was being stubborn. Why did he even agree to the blond's request? Ah yes, he had been blackmailed into it. Alka wasn't the only victim here. The priest wasn't afraid of dying at Artemus' hands because he had several means of escape if the anti mage showed up. What annoyed him was the prospect of babysitting a lovely plant mage who looked determined to fight him at every step of the way.

"How about this?" Qairu told him. "If you drink the antidote, I'll tell you the reason why you've been kidnapped."

"Because you're doing someone a favour. I know that's what you're going to say."

It was worth a try, Qairu thought. "You'll die if you don't take the antidote, Alka. Why are you making this so difficult for me when it's your life on the line?"

"Because the thought of dying out of spite appeals to me," Alka snapped at him. "Let me die."

Qairu was momentarily speechless.

"Alka, are you... Suicidal?" He enquired with some concern.

"Idiot."

"So not suicidal then. Petty, that's it, isn't it? You'd even go as far as dying tortuously so that I suffer."

When Qairu put it like that, even Alka thought he was being unreasonable. No, he corrected his thoughts, he didn't really want to die. He just wanted to piss off Qairu and ruin his mood.

"Yeah so let me die," he moodily told the priest. Alka briefly wondered how long he could resist Qairu's attempts at feeding him the antidote. He would struggle till the very last second until he felt himself dying. Then he would swallow the stupid antidote.