It was well gone lunchtime when Levi decided to finally make amends.
"Look, I'm sorry okay?" he said, nudging Ethel to go a bit faster to catch up with Hani's regrettably speedier camel.
"Fuck Levi, slow down," Hani retorted, rolling his eyes and pulling on his own reins so they could travel at the same pace. "I'm telling you that camel isn't going to make it if you keep pushing her, she looks like she'll keel over in a high wind. She's probably been ill for months."
"Yes alright," Levi huffed, "you've already said your piece on Ethel's life expectancy. I just wanted to apologize for being a bit of a dick earlier."
Hani didn't reply but instead bit his lip and raised his eyebrows curiously at Levi.
"I saved your life!" Levi burst out, unable to control himself any more.
"You saved your own life," Hani scoffed but his posture looked more relaxed now.
"How's the leg?" Levi asked, jerking his head downwards to indicate Hani's sting mark - now covered up by dark trousers.
"It's alright I guess," Hani shrugged, "I've put some pain ointment on it. What about you?" Hani gestured to Levi's bare chest. "You shedding your skin yet?"
"Not yet," Levi grinned widely, "but it's nice to know how concerned you are Hani."
"You are the only one out of the two of us who knows the freaking way to Alack," Hani replied, looking both embarrassed and annoyed. It was rather an adorable combination really.
"That I do," Levi nodded, allowing Ethel to slow down even more.
Well, not quite. But he knew someone who did. Which is why they were currently heading smack bang in the direction of the city of Egidu.
"Milton better still be there," Levi grumbled in a low voice.
"Huh?" Hani frowned, turning back to look at him.
"Nothing," Levi replied, "just wondering if there's any storms coming up." He attempted to look meaningfully at the completely clear horizon.
"Doesn't look like it?" Hani shrugged, turning back and looking for himself. He sounded somewhat confused by Levi's question and Levi could understand why. The sky was a perfect crystal blue and there were absolutely no shadows in sight - the type that normally indicated sandstorms.
Oh well, Levi sighed to himself. He'd rather have Hani think he was an idiot than not actually knowing the way to Alack. He glanced nervously down at his Seprimo scars, wishing he could fool them that easily. Despite his preference for going topless in full desert sun, he never really did have the desire to be roasted alive.
"When were you last there?"
"What?" Levi frowned and turned back to Hani, who was still reining in his camel to travel at the same pace as Levi's.
"Alack," Hani clarified, "How long ago was it that you found it?"
Levi blinked and thought back to when he was last at Egridu instead, "Few years ago, maybe more."
"You sure you still know the way?" Hani narrowed his eyes.
"Course I do," Levi snorted, "criminals always need to know the fastest routes to places they can hide out for a while."
"You hid in Alack?" Hani asked, a surprised expression on his face.
"Um...yeah," Levi nodded, realising he had still been thinking of Egidu.
"I guess that's like the best hiding place ever," Hani sighed thoughtfully, "most people don't even believe it still exists. You know I'm surprised Muna didn't think you were crazy when you claimed to know it!"
Levi grit his teeth as he wondered how much of a testament that was to how desperate Hani's sister had become by the end of her search.
"Guess I've just got an honest look about me," Levi muttered as Hani snorted loudly and dismissively. Levi shook his head with a faint smile, "Don't tell me Hani - you've never committed a crime in your life?"
"Isn't being dark magic crime enough?" Hani asked grimly. Levi had got to give him that one, it might not actually be illegal or even punishable to be someone born of dark magic, but it was certainly viewed in a negative enough light. Fear and suspicion surrounded the entire concept of not being purely light. Not only that, but dark magic persons’ very limited life spans were often taken as evidence of divine judgement.
"I was thinking more along the lines of stealing some food from market," Levi mused, trying to lighten the mood. After all, they still had a long ride ahead of them for the day.
"Well everyone's done that," Hani replied, clearly biting down on a smile.
"Knew it," Levi laughed, "oh Hani you could make such a wonderful thief with that alluring face of yours."
"Shut up," Hani retorted, but he had finally cracked a grin. "Muna and I grew up without any other family or a home. We needed things sometimes that we didn't exactly have the money for."
"And who could resist the charms of such beautiful twins?" Levi replied with a wink that caused Hani to screw up his face.
"It wasn't like that. You make it sound like all we did was flutter our eyelashes and we'd get given free stuff."
"Flutter your eyelashes," Levi repeated, mimicking Hani, "are you sure you grew up on the streets kitten?"
"Fuck off," Hani replied hotly, his cheeks turning a crimson red.
"I apologize," Levi said after a thoughtful moment of silence later, "I didn't mean to insinuate -"
"One man asked for a kiss," Hani blurted out, not looking Levi in the eye but staring fixedly ahead.
"Oh?" Levi asked with an amused quirk of his eyebrow.
"He didn't care whether it was from me or Muna," Hani continued before swallowing heavily. Levi tracked the bobbed movement of the younger man's Adam's apple. "But he said he had to get a kiss and then he would let us stay in his inn stables for the night without paying."
"So what did you do?" Levi prompted as Hani fell quiet again.
"Muna and I flipped a coin," Hani laughed, "neither of us wanted to kiss him - he smelled awful and had this really weird facial rash."
"Sounds delightful," Levi scoffed, "can't believe you didn't want some of that action, Hani."
"Well I won the toss," Hani grinned, "so Muna had to do it. Only, the man closed his eyes right before. So she picked up this cold piece of ham from his lunch plate and pressed it really quickly against his cheek instead of her mouth! He had no idea and he kept complimenting her afterwards on -" Hani started giggling now, "-how soft her lips were!"
Levi shook his head with a laugh; he couldn't really imagine that the kindly inn keeper was fooled for a second. Perhaps there really were just some actually decent souls out there?
Levi knew that some of the landlords in the towns he frequented would have asked for a damn sight more than a joking peck on the cheek.
Levi startled as Ethel suddenly let out a thunderous groan beneath him.
"Dear gods, what the hell was that?" he exclaimed, turning sharply to an already frowning Hani.
"I told you she was - "
"Hani if you give me one more negative opinion on my camel I swear I will turn us around and march us straight back to Nigeb regardless of what these scars do to me."
"Maybe she needs more water?" Hani suggested instead.
"She already had a long drink at the pool," Levi sighed, "I thought these wretched beasts were meant to fill up for days."
"Maybe she's leaking?" Hani hazarded, although the expression on his face looked all too amused by Levi's camel troubles.
"You know I could probably find another Sabe scorpion around here somewhere," Levi snapped as Hani's shoulders started to shake with renewed laughter. Levi bent down and rubbed behind Ethel's ears to try and tell her it was okay that she was a little defective. He grimaced a moment later however, when his fingers came back covered in some kind of brown ooze.
"Have fun walking to Alack," Hani whispered loudly as he clicked his tongue and somehow magically commanded his camel to start trotting faster again.
"Don't listen to the young upstarts old girl," Levi murmured, patting a relatively clean patch of Ethel's head before starting to wonder why the ground was looking a lot closer than it was five minutes ago.
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