“Mortugal can reduce anybody to dust with his finger,” Xuhn said, “didn’t he use his powers on you?”
“He didn’t, though he looked furious. I bet he thought I was sent by my clan to claim you. So he held back his powers.”
Xuhn looked around, almost expecting a certain bush nearby to turn into a wolf. The bush remained a bush.
“So, is this your clan territory… er?” he found himself confused over what he should call the she-wolf.
“Breda, that’s my name,” the she-wolf said, “and no, this is not my clan territory. We are as far away from another wolf as it gets possible in our country.”
“I don’t get it,” Xuhn said, “why would you help us. I- I mean they are vampires,” he gestured at Ritika and her mother, "and you hate vampires, don’t you?”
“Well, I don’t hate anybody if I can make friends out of them,” said Breda. “Plus, I saw you atop that dragon the other day.”
“Mortugal?” Xuhn asked. “What do you want with him?”
“He’s the furry dragon,” said Breda. “That day after you left I told my entire clan about him. They were ready to go to the ends of the earth to find him. And today, Malthur has convinced my people that I was hallucinating, and that the furry dragon doesn’t exist.”
Xuhn couldn’t help but become confused the more Breda explained.
“Why would he do that?” Xuhn asked, “And why would your people got to such extents to find Mortugal?”
“My people want to find the furry dragon because only he can, er, solve a certain ancient werewolf riddle that can open the doorway to limitless power for us,” Breda replied, “and Malthur’s behaviour is what puzzles me. Why should he lie to my people?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want you to get more powerful than him,” Ritika suggested.
“Yeah, but Mortugal never told us about any such riddle, did he?” Xuhn asked Ritika and Ruponi. Both of them shook their heads.
“Maybe he did, but he just forgot?” Ruponi said, “And wasn’t he telling he could remember some things very well, but couldn’t remember others.”
“That can be the case,” Breda said, “and only if you tell me where the furry dragon is, it will be a big help.”
“Well,” said Xuhn, “he’s off to sleep in a lake in Sura. And even if we do awaken him again, I don’t think he’ll lead you to the artefact—”
“Or destroy Hatred,” Ritika said in a sad tone.
“To destroy what?” Breda said, frowning hard as though she had missed Ritika’s words.
“Hatred,” Xuhn said. “It's a magical object only Mortugal can destroy it.”
“Doing so would end the war between the vampires and the werewolves,” said Ruponi. “We have been fighting for way too long for petty reasons, and our fighting is serving Mortugal in some way. Apparently he needs us to continue fighting so that he can keep his control over the Bnomes.”
“The war is serving Mortugal?” Breda said in disbelief.
Xuhn nodded.
“And all you want is to end the war?”
Xuhn nodded again. Breda’s face reddened, her veins becoming visible. Xuhn wondered if she was over reacting to their end-the-war business.
“But until we get the antidote to fix Mortugal’s brains, we’ll never be able to persuade him to destroy Hatred,” said Ruponi. As soon as Ruponi said these words, Brenda fell onto her knees and began sobbing. Xuhn looked from Ritika to Ruponi, raising his brows, both of whom were as surprised as him.
“Now, why are you crying, Breda?” he asked the she-wolf, very uncertain about her reaction.
“I am sorry!” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
“For what? I mean, we should be thankful to you for helping us.”
“I lied,” Breda said, “there is no such ancient riddle or anything, I just made it up. We just want to kill Mortugal. An ancient spirit told us that killing the furry dragon would make us more powerful so that we can crush the vampire race. I am sorry!”
Now Xuhn hadn’t been expecting that. There were Ritika and Ruponi— blood sucking vampires, who wanted to end the war at any cost. And there were Breda and the werewolves, who only desired to wipe out their enemies. But why would Malthur lie to them about the existence of Mortugal? If Mortugal was the only one capable of destroying the Hatred that benefitted Malthur so much, then wouldn’t it be much wiser to let the Werewolves have Mortugal— or even better kill the dragon himself, with that ray he shot out of his finger?
“It’s only understandable,” said Ruponi, “we are blood-suckers. You wouldn’t expect us to try to end the war, would you?”
“I am sorry,” Breda said, genuine guilt pouring out of her sobs, “I am from the border areas and all my family were killed by vampires. I thought you were just devils without any heart. Today I rescued you thinking of using you to get to the furry dragon. I am sorry!”
Just then, a shadow passed overhead. A great shadow. Xuhn looked up to see Mortugal, gliding just above the trees and he didn’t seem in control of his flight.
Mortugal went on to hit some trees, and then fell on the ground just a short distance from where the four of them were.
Breda, who had sobbing with her eyes closed hadn’t seen Mortugal or his shadow, and she only looked up when she heard the breaking of trees.
“What was that?” she asked, her eyes red.
“The furry dragon, Breda,” said Xuhn.
Chapter 15
The four of them rushed to Mortugal. He was lying on the ground, broken trees surrounding him. Blood leaked from countless wounds in his body.
“Mortugal!” Xuhn cried, falling on his knees near the dragon’s head. Mortugal blinked his eyes, as though he didn’t recognise Xuhn.
“Go away!” Mortugal whimpered.
“What has happened to you, Mortugal?” Xuhn said.
“I-I want to slumber at my birthplace,” said Mortugal, the words coming out of his mouth with great pain. “My birth…” And then the great dragon fell unconscious.
Xuhn grabbed his hair. Mortugal must have taken some really bad hits on his head while crashing down.
“He’s injured bad,” said Breda.
Xuhn was so devoid of hope at that moment that he said,
“Well, now you can kill him if you want. He’s all yours!”
“I’ll never think of doing that again,” said Breda, so that Xuhn repented his words, “but the other wolves might have seen him.”
“And so would have Malthur,” said Ruponi.
“Malthur isn’t the problem,” said Ritika, "his camp is far away, and he doesn’t want to harm Mortugal.”
“Ritika’s right,” said Xuhn, “it’s the werewolves we should be worried about.”
“I can bring him some herbs,” offered Breda, and from her face she seemed like she really wanted to help.
“That would be good,” Xuhn said. Breda quickly turned into her wolf form. She was about to go in search of herbs when a voice interrupted.
“It’s not herbs that he needs,” a soft female voice said. Xuhn instantly recognised it as he turned towards the sound. From behind a tree Corpsia stepped out.
“Why have you come here?” he asked her, making it clear from his tone that he didn’t like her. Sure she had flung herself between Malthur and them, but that would never make up for all those fake letters she had sent him earlier.
“It’s me Mortugal needs,” said Corpsia.
“What do you mean?” said Ruponi.
“I am the antidote to that potion the Bnomes fed him,” Corpsia said. She was trying to meet Xuhn’s eyes, but he avoided her gaze as much as he could. “And I can also cure his wounds.”
“How would you do that?” said Ritika. “And why would you do that?” Xuhn didn’t think Ritika liked Corpsia at all.
“Let me kiss him,” said Corpsia.
“That’s ridiculous,” Xuhn said. She was going to heal Mortugal with a kiss? Was she crazy?
Then a voice inside his head
reminded him that Corpsia was an immortal. If she could live for ages, it shouldn't be impossible for her to kiss Mortugal back to health.
“Please, let me,” said Corpsia.
Xuhn thought for a while. If he remembered Mortugal’s earlier words right, Xuhn was sure Mortugal hated Corpsia as much as himself, if not more. Would Mortugal like being kissed by the woman he hated? Well, Mortugal would like or dislike only if he lived in the first place.
“Fine, go on,” he told Corpsia. Ritika gasped at his words, but he nodded at her to indicate it was okay.
Corpsia came over and knelt beside Mortugal’s head. She caressed him for a moment and then kissed the dragon’s lips.
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Xuhn recalled Mortugal’s foul breath and had an urge to laugh, although he suppressed it.
They waited for some tense moments as Corpsia continued to caress the dragon’s head, but Mortugal didn’t revive.
“So?” Xuhn said, Corpsia’s experiment apparently a failure.
“He will revive,” said Corpsia, “but after sometime.”
She stood up.
“I must go now. I have been following you four for too long and my father will get suspicious.”
“Wait,” said Breda, still in her wolf form, “didn’t Malthur send you?”
“He didn’t. I came on my own,” said Corpsia.
“Why did you try to save us earlier?” Xuhn asked.
“Because you are Mortugal's friends, I couldn't let my father harm you,” Corpsia said and for a moment her eyes met with Xuhn's. She pursed her lips. “Look I am sorry for all those letters, Xuhn. Please don’t ask an explanation, because I can’t give one. Whatever I did was for… forget it.”
“Tell me why you did it,” Xuhn said firmly. Now that Corpsia had brought up the topic he would rather get to its roots.
“I just wanted to know how it was to love again,” said Corpsia. “After all that happened between me and Mortugal, I became a recluse for hundreds of years. For the first time ever I came out of my dwelling in ages and went south after stealing a flying carpet. When I saw that fair, I liked the cheerful people in it. For as long as I could remember, I have been living with my father and the Bnomes. My mother was a human and she died during my birth. I enjoyed seeing the humans dancing and making merry that day. And then I saw you and… I thought you looked like Mortugal.”
Xuhn glanced at the unconscious dragon and then looked down at his own body. Corpsia had gone nuts, no doubt.
“He looks like him?” said Breda, voicing Xuhn’s thoughts and pointing first to Xuhn and then to Mortugal with her paw.
“Were you a dragon,” Corpsia said to Xuhn, “you would have looked exactly like Mortugal… when he had scales that is.”
Xuhn gaped at Corpsia like she had lost her head.
“My father was one of the creators of this world,” said Corpsia, “so believe me, I know.”
Xuhn shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t really know what to say.
“I must go now,” Corpsia then said, “before Mortugal awakes. I don’t think he will like to see me near him.”
And she turned on her heels and made to go.
“Can you tell us where Hatred is?” Breda asked abruptly. “We would like this war to end.”
Corpsia looked at them all for a while, as though unsure. Then she made up her mind,
“Sorry, I can’t… And I won’t.”
“You know your father isn’t doing the right thing, don’t you?” Ritika said.
“It’s not about my father,” Corpsia said, “not that I don’t care for him, even if he is a devil to everyone. But you don’t want Hatred destroyed.”
“But we know we do,” said Ritika.
“Sorry, I don’t want to be the one who tells you about Hatred’s location,” said Corpsia and she left.
“You can’t go away like that!” Xuhn yelled after her, though his back hurt.
“Let her go,” said Ruponi. “We’ll find Hatred on our own.”
Breda suddenly made a frightened sound, and she began moving about the place with her nose to the direction of the wind.
“What is it?” Xuhn asked.
“My clan,” she said, “I can smell them. They are coming towards us. I think they saw Mortugal when he was descending from the skies.”
Panic struck Xuhn. The wolves were bound to kill not only Mortugal but the rest of them as well. He didn’t think Breda was safe either since she had taken the risk of helping them.
“Can you tell them about the existence of Hatred, and that Mortugal can destroy it?” Xuhn asked Breda.
“My clan members are all hotheads. It takes some good time for anything to get inside their heads, and by that time our bones will have begun to rot.”
Xuhn scratched his head.
“Can you tell if they are coming our way fast?”
“Very,” said Breda, “their scent is getting stronger by the moment.”
“The carpet, the carpet!” said Ruponi.
“We’ll need a Bnome to fly it even if we get to the carpet, mother,” said Ritika.
The great dragon lay only feet away from Xuhn, and if Mortugal had been conscious they could have made an easy escape. Darn it, he thought. If only Corpsia’s kiss could work faster.
“And here they come,” said Breda. Barely moments after the words escaped her mouth that a wolf jumped out from a bush. At least ten more appeared immediately after.
“The dragon is there!” one cried and leapt towards Mortugal. But Breda intervened, lunging at the wolf and biting its neck. The two wolves rolled to a side growling and biting.
“What are you doing, Breda?” the wolf said, even as Breda hit the wolf on its face several times with her claws. Breda let go of the wolf and rushed to stand in between the wolves and the unconscious dragon.
“Nobody shall harm them,” she said firmly.
“And why is that so?” a female wolf asked. “We agree we were wrong in not believing you earlier, but you cannot stop us from killing the furry dragon now we know he exists.”
“Yeah, don’t you remember what the Mother said?” another wolf asked.
“Nobody knows for sure what the Mother's spirit told us,” Breda replied, a growl ever present under her breath. “So many of the ancient words have been forgotten.”
“You dare deny the collective wisdom of the clan in understanding the Mother?” the grey clan leader said in his coarse voice.
“I do not,” said Breda, this time somewhat respectfully, “but what if the Mother actually meant us to protect the furry dragon instead of killing him, eh?”
“You do not want us to win against the vampires, Breda?” the grey leader asked. “And why are you so intent on protecting those vampires? When we went to Malthur asking for them, he told us one of us had already taken them away. You should have taken them directly to the clan. What you are doing is utter betrayal.”
“I just want this war to end, grey sir,” said Breda. “And these vampires,” Breda swung her conical head towards Ritika and Ruponi huddled with Xuhn, “they only seek to end the war.”
“To hell with you, Breda,” an agitated male werewolf suddenly said, “that dragon must be killed for the betterment of out kind, and those three must be shredded to pieces!”
And the werewolf raced in a curved path towards Mortugal, avoiding Breda altogether. Other werewolves followed suit. Xuhn held Ritika’s hand and looked into her eyes to reassure her.
Just as the first werewolf reached Mortugal, the dragon’s great tail sprung to life, landing such a lash on the werewolf that he flew many metres away. This made the other werewolves stop for a moment, but then they went again at Mortugal.
The dragon stood up and landed blow after blow with his sharp claws on the oncoming werewolves.
Now that is something optimistic in a long while, Xuhn thought as his hopes returned. Corpsia’s kiss had finally worked despite everything.
“What werewolves are you?” Mort
ugal said, “I only knew werewolves to be my friends. You seem intent on killing me!” And he hit another wolf with his tail, sending the man-animal flying.
“Mortugal,” Xuhn called the dragon.
“Hey, aren’t you the one who awakened me once?” Mortugal asked.
“Of course, you idiot!” Xuhn said. A werewolf lunged at Ritika and Ruponi, and the three of them ducked just in time to avoid the beast. After that Breda attacked the werewolf with her jaws and it fled. “I am. We need to get out of here.”
“Get onto my back,” Mortugal said. The three of them made their way towards Mortugal and a wounded werewolf tried to attack them. Xuhn kicked it on the head. They climbed onto Mortugal’s back.
Mortugal flapped his wings, ready to take off.
“She is with us!” Xuhn said, pointing at Breda, who was fighting with a werewolf furiously, trying to rip of its ears. Xuhn recognised Breda easily from the other wolves due to her dark brown fur.
“Is she?” Mortugal said. “Urgh!” A wolf had bitten Mortugal’s leg taking advantage of his distraction. Mortugal grabbed it with his claws and threw it away.
“She does want to come right?” Mortugal said.
“Hey Breda, come with us!” Xuhn called the she-wolf.
Breda looked towards them and froze for a moment, as though in a dilemma. She then turned towards the grey wolf, who hadn’t participated in the fight thus far. And then she abruptly turned and rushed towards Mortugal. She leapt, changed into her human form in mid-air, and climbed atop Mortugal in an instant.
“That was fast,” Xuhn said, while Breda panted furiously.
“Now that’s quite a load for my poor back,” said Mortugal, “but I guess I’ll manage it.” He flapped his wings and got airborne.
The werewolves below looked up at them angrily. Most of them were bleeding at some parts of their bodies, thanks to Mortugal and Breda— who was definitely a better fighter than many of the other wolves—, while some wolves lay unconscious. The grey leader was the only one who stood without a scratch.
“Breda, you are a traitor!” he shouted from down below.
“I promise I’ll end this war, sir,” Breda replied.
The Banishment of the King Page 10