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((I wouldn't except, that his only power is that he is magick immune. That kinda specific direct attack is the ones that really do not work on him. Pm me and I'll explain it more throughly if you need me too.))

Alec smiled when Jack mentioned his looks. Quietly, he said, "I've known Remnar for some time now and can read him fairly easily. His eyes were asking me if we could trust him. I wasn't sure but I know that a year ago I would have flatly said no. But you've changed me, for the better," he said with a somewhat goofy grin. "I should give him a chance."

Raven woke some time later, drugs never really having that much of an affect on him; they worked innitially but never to the desired amount. His chest was still awash with pain, but it wasn't as bad as it was. Sitting up, he winced as the bandages around his chest moved, brushing the burns, but ignored the pain.

'Caww!'

Raven turned around with a smile and saw his namesake standing on the bedhead. Holding an arm out, the bird flapped its wings a few times to land on his forearm before hopping up it to settle on his shoulder. He should have known she would refuse to leave him alone while he was unwell.

Leaving the healing tent much sooner than he was supposed to he looked around, hoping to find Roy. He couldn't but remembering the way he had reacted around Grendal guessd where he would be and headed towards the boarder between the two armies. Naturally he couldn't see anyone there but he doubted Roy would be in his material form.

"Roy?" he called out, his voice not particularly loud but he figured if he was nearby he would hear.

*

Alec broke into a grin when Jack said about wanting to antagonize Grendal. "Well actually no, the thought hadn't occured to me, but now that you mention it, it seems like a brilliant idea," he said, teasing his lover.

*

Several hours later they rode into Grendal's camp. All was neat and orderly, tents in rows, latrines at the perimiter, mess tent in the centre near the command tent.

Alec caught up with Remnar and said, "I want to go to the infirmery, see where I can be of help. If you need me I'll be there."

"I will need you," Remnar protested, wanting to keep his most trusted advisor close.

"So do dying soldiers," Alec replied before walking off towards the tent, shooting a look to Jack inviting him to come if he wished but not forcing him; the sights that would meet them there would be far from pretty and he didn't want to subject Jack to them if he wasn't ready. He was glad that Remnar didn't order him to stay with him but even he, in his distress about his brother, could see that Alec was more needed elsewhere. He thought he saw Raven leaving the infirmary tent and frowned, but he was too far away to be sure so he ignored it; he was walking so he couldn't be too badly hurt.

As Alec left, Remnar gathered what remaining courage and strength he had and entered Grendal's tent to hear what had been happening.

Alec wasn't overly surprised when Jack chose not to follow him into the wounded tent; it was a point of contention between them but Alec knew he couldn't live with himself if someone died he could have easily saved. Entering the tent his nostrils were assulted with the acrid smells of blood, gore, human waste and death. War was not a pleasant experience but more so for the wounded when there were not enough healers to tend them and keep the areas clean and aired.

His deep blue eyes expertly scanned the rows of beds and pallets, dismissing those he knew were beyond his help and moving to those he knew he could help but conventional healing could not. The first was a boy, no more than fifteen, bloodied bandages across his stomach giving away the worst of his injuries, his skin pale and eyes blank and staring, accepting what he saw as his fate. It tore at Alec's heart to see ones so young accepting death so readily but he forced a professional distance on himself and knelt by the bed. He didn't say anything as he removed the bandages, placed his hands on the wound and summoned his essence, using it to help the body along, directing the flow of blood, the knitting of tissue, cutting off the nerve endings so he would feel no pain throughout the process. He would always bear a scar to remind him of what had happened, Alec could not prevent that. It took a lot of his essence but he ignored it, merely moving to the next soldier who needed him most once the boy was healed with instructions for rest for a solid twenty-four hours to finish off the healing process.

After that first one though, he stripped off his armour and set it aside against a wall, out of the way; it only got in the way and would get dirty with blood before its time.

He moved from bed to bed, his clothes dirty and bloodied before long, soothing where he could, healing everyone, pouring all he had into saving as many lives as he possibly could.

*

Remnar had known Grendal long enough not to be offended by the fact that the man didn't immediately get up; they were friends as much as general and king.

He waved his hand in dismissal when Grendal asked if he could speak freely. "Of course, as always," he said, though he sat himself down in a chair, knowing that whenever Grendal felt the need to ask that he was about to say something that would be bad, and Remnar had had enough bad news with hearing that his brother was possessed and, if Alec was right, by the most powerful demon he had ever seen.

Remnar gave a mildly amused smirk at Grendal's wording; it wasn't what he had expected, he thought he was going to berate him about something. "I seem to remember you saying something similar when I first took Alec in and used his advice," he said.

He sighed and ran a hand through his somewhat messed blonde hair. "But were it not for Roy I would not have found out that my brother was possessed nor any information about the demon possessing him. You know what Alec is like: while there is wounded around he cannot think of anything else and I would not have gotten more than a few words out of him. This way I could at least ask him what he knew of it. And I would rather you merely hold the line. I am weary of bloodshed, war and bloodshed my father worked so hard to prevent. If they do not attack us, or cross the boarder we have no need to attack them."

Remnar remained silent while the expected berating took place. He couldn't meet Grendal's eyes; here alone he felt as though he could be himself and not hide who he was behind the mask that was kingship. All he wanted was time alone where he could be alone with his grief; he had aged horribly ever since ordering Raven to kill Kierenar and the effort of hiding it all was beginning to tell. He was too tired to even get angry at Grendal's tone, to order him to remember just who it was who was king here.

"I've never thought of you as an errand boy and a nobody," he said quietly, his voice pained. "And I didn't know about what Roy did here. I shall speak to him about it," he said, mentally adding that to the ever growing list of things that required his attention.

"But do you think that I enjoyed signing war against my own flesh and blood, of risking the lives of those who come here to protect me and mine? I don't of that I can assure you. I want nothing more than for the peace my father achieved."

He fell silent for a moment. "Tell me what I should do," he pleaded softly. "Every course I take is wrong, no matter what I do, death always follows. I don't know where to turn anymore." Grendal and Alec were perhaps the only people he felt comfortable enough to bear all like this to, Grendal who he had known since childhood. He would take his advice, he had no where else to turn to.

Remnar shook his head sadly. "I was not laughing off your advice, was merely amused by your way of delivering it," he explained, not that he thought it would make any difference.

"Do you really believe that you are any more able to act unbiased considering your own history with the both of us? I don't think there is a single soul whou could be unbiased in such a situation. Even Roy who has no real interest in the affairs of humans beyond general curiosity I could not trust to be unbiased because of how he views us," he said. "It's not like I haven't tried to act as though he were not my brother, and for a time I wanted nothing to do with him as any sibling of mine. I ordered his death by the most talented assassin at my disposal in the hope of avoiding any serious warfare but I could not take the risk of Kierenar acting before Raven had his oportunity so sent you here incase. That was my attempt at remaining impartial. But now I know he was not in control of any of his actions, for who knows how long... it changes everything. I can't condem someone to death who was not in control of their actions and might be restored to themselves somehow," he said. He knew Alec said that he didn't know of any way to force the demon out but he remained hopeful it would be done somehow.