by Quil Carter
Malagant closed his eyes and exhaled. He felt a wave of hopelessness come to him.
The knight’s eyes didn’t leave him as he spoke directly to Malagant. “Are you all right, Knight Ahris?”
Malagant opened his eyes. He raised a sore hand and placed it on Teal’s shoulder, though it hurt more than he could bear, he patted Teal’s shoulder gently.
“I’ll go quietly, just let the hibrid go unharmed,” Malagant found himself saying.
As he got up on trembling feet, he heard Teal say his name in shock but Malagant ignored it. This would be no Serpent slaughter like back in Finlyn’s Hearth, there were too many of them. If Malagant went quietly, they could spare Teal and do what they will with him. He was useless now anyway.
The Serpent laughed, his chainmail rattling. He shook his head in disbelief. “I’ve never had a deserter surrender so. What do they–”
“He’s a cripple!” another knight suddenly laughed. He pointed at Malagant’s hands.
“Teal, get out of here,” Malagant said lowly. He tried to bend over to pick up his crossbow but his hands were stiff.
“What use do we have for a cripple?” the knight said in a taunting manner. “I’ll let General Mozby figure that out.”
Then Teal stepped out in front of Malagant. He flicked his hair back nonchalantly and drew his swords, then wordlessly spun them in his hands.
“Teal…” Malagant said harshly, “let them take me and continue to Birch.”
“Enough, Malagant Avahlis,” Teal said in a shockingly casual manner, “and stop calling me Teal. You know I’m not Teal, so why are you even pretending?”
Malagant stared at Teal, his throat tightening. The creature inside of Teal looked over his shoulder and smiled at him.
And it was then Malagant remembered where he had seen him before.
He had been protecting Teal when Teal had been parasited by Nyte.
It was a fucking demenos. A fucking demenos was inside of Teal. It hadn’t just been there to protect him like Teal had some odd pact with him – the creature had been living inside of Teal the entire time.
Trouble always follows a demenos, with everything else happening I had forgotten about that creature who had been guarding Teal. How could I forget?
The Serpent looked at Teal like he was mad, not quite sure of what to make of him. Teal took another step forward and, to Malagant’s shock, he declared his full-blown insanity by letting out a manic laugh.
“Whoever you are…” Malagant started to say, but it was too late. The creature inside of Teal charged forward.
Malagant swore and spat curses, and in that moment he just stepped back. He knew they were finished; he couldn’t restrain a demenos even if he wanted to. To control a demenos required sheomancy, and though Anagin had been a master of it, Malagant was not.
Malagant watched as the creature inside of Teal lunged forward with a creepy cackling laugh.
The Serpents were taken aback too. They looked at each other in confusion and shock as Teal swung his twin blades in circles. His head was lowered, and his feet firm in an intimidating stance. Malagant could see his chest rise and fall; a growl rumbling his throat.
Without warning, Teal advanced. With a flash of steel and the blunt yet sharp sound of a sword slicing flesh, the knight that recognized Malagant was decapitated. Both of Teal’s blades sending a flick of blood up into the air as the head went flying towards the sky.
The Serpent’s body remained standing for a few moments as blood gushed out of his neck with every beat of his heart, spraying everyone nearby with the crystal, ruby-like cruor. Seconds later the body toppled to the ground with the other four knights staring at Teal in shock.
Teal stood on the dead knight’s twitching body and thrusted his swords into the air.
“Who’s next? Come on! Step right up and challenge the Throateater! Who wants to dance with the Scourge of Jare! One of you MUST WANT TO!” Teal screamed, his blades thrusting towards the night sky like a warrior on the threshold of a great battle.
The first Serpent regarded Teal with a snort and drew his longsword. He didn’t even have a chance to raise it before Teal crouched down and jumped. He spun around in mid-air and, to the knight’s surprise, Teal landed on his back and sunk his teeth into the back of the Serpent’s neck. The Serpent screamed and twisted around trying to get Teal off, as the other three looked at him in horror.
Malagant watched, fumbling with his crossbow, as the Serpent stumbled forward, spinning around with angry bellows. Teal ripped a chunk out of his throat before he slid down partially off of the Serpent and kicked the soft area behind his knees.
The Serpent staggered and fell to his knees as the kick stunned his legs. Teal cracked his sword over the knight’s head, before pushing his face down onto the hot flames of the fire.
Malagant’s mouth fell open. Teal turned around again as the knight screamed, his face blackened with large glowing coals burning holes into his skin with a sickening sizzle. The now familiar smell of burning flesh reached Malagant’s nose, as he tried to find the lever of his crossbow.
Teal had already turned around, just in time to dodge one of the Serpent’s sword swings. The remaining three were surrounding him now, though Malagant could see every one of them was unsure as to what to make of the insane demi-elf.
“Swords? SWORDS!” Teal gave a crazed laugh. “I’m a hibrid, a stupid little tree-cat and you need a sword? So… funny!”
Teal swung his sword again, slashing the Serpent in the face. A line appeared across his mouth, which split open as the knight gasped. Malagant could see white bone before the blood started to leak through and the pockets of fat. A flash later, Teal sunk his sword into another knight’s stomach, he left it there and with his other sword he drove it up the knight’s neck, Cyan’s tip coming right out of the top of the elf’s head.
Malagant was able to finally draw his crossbow. With a painful cry, he released the lever and was able to hit the third one in the heart. That knight let out an odd wheezing noise before falling to the ground, the one with the slashed face falling down on top of him moments later, his throat cut open. Behind him two orbs of light, Teal’s reflective eyes, glared forward, a bloodied dagger flashing in the firelight.
Teal casually walked to where the knight with the burning face was moaning and crying. He tossed the dagger to the ground, his dead eyes showing no emotion, no remorse. He rolled the struggling knight over, and sat on his back.
Like he was drowning an elf in the river, Teal held his head down onto the coals. He looked up at the sky as the knight screamed into the fire, and started to recite an old song Malagant recognized.
‘Oh forgotten knight, what statue do they carve of you, on the Lazarius Plains? The moonlight on a cold elf’s sword, above a shallow forgotten grave.’
Teal looked down when the screaming stopped; he smiled and patted his head, before getting up off of him.
Malagant could only stare, unable to speak and barely even able to move. Teal found his blood-stained swords and sheathed them, and slung his backpack over his back. Then he got the merile water previously used for Malagant’s hands, doused the fire and sheathed his dagger.
“Well, we better walk for a few more hours,” the demenos said, a billow of steam shooting up to the sky with the hiss of the dying fire.
“Who are you,” Malagant whispered, his throat going dry.
Teal’s eyes found him, the corner of his mouth raised.
“Throateater. Weren’t you listening?” Teal said at him and started to walk into the plains.
“That’s not a demenos’s name,” Malagant called to him as he staggered to his feet. “I command you to identify yourself. Who are you?”
Teal turned around. And as he smiled at Malagant, Malagant felt the fine hairs on his neck start to rise.
“I’m no demenos from Shol, Malagant Avahlis, I’m just another one of Teal’s masks,” Teal said with a grin. “Let’s go. Hail Avahlis!”
&
nbsp; Malagant stared at him, a boulder forming in his throat. There were many things that made him uneasy about this Throateater and one of them was the fact that he knew Malagant’s real last name. His mother had demanded for Anagin to give their sons a different last name when they were born.
Because Avahlis was a demenos name – the last name of King Kaul Avahlis, King of the Demenos. Malagant’s father was… treasured in that realm, and had been given it as the highest honour imaginable.
And Throateater knew this.
Which meant he wasn’t just another one of Teal’s masks.
Throateater caught them a goat kid that night. Malagant was nodding off by the fire when the baby mountain goat was flung into the camp. A battleworn Throateater beaming over his catch like a cat presenting its owner with a mouse. His reflective hibrid eyes only matched by his creepy beaming smile.
Malagant had managed a smile back. Teal quickly went to work skinning the baby goat; it was only a few weeks old so it wasn’t as much work as a full-grown adult would have been.
Throateater/Teal skinned the goat and burned the fur and skin, before throwing more sticks onto the fire for coals.
Then Throateater mixed together Kar’Endian olive oil, garlic, dried crushed flame peppers, rosemary, and salt. He made a paste and covered the little beast before skewering it over the flames.
Well, at least he didn’t try eating the Serpents, Malagant said to himself half-joking. Though perhaps it wasn’t as big of a joking idea as he imagined. The Azoris tribe were cannibals after all and they lived in the mountains around where Teal had been living as a child.
Soon enough, the aroma of roasting meat and herbs could be smelled. A welcome break from the smell of rotting flesh and unbathed elves. When the goat was dripping juices and fat into the fire, Teal started carving up chunks, cutting them up small for Malagant.
I feel like a damn child, Malagant grumbled. If only his father could see him now, what a laugh he would have at him. There is Malagant, being hand-fed by a demenos. Look at him.
“Thank you,” Malagant said, as he rested his plate on his lap. “We might be in a sad state, but you’re taking good care of us.”
“It’s my job. You’re my family,” was Throateater’s reply. He laid out some cheese, and hard bread to soak up the juice. “I need to be strong now and take care of you. I couldn’t be strong as Teal.”
Malagant received a bit of goat meat. It was tender and perfectly cooked; the best meal they’d had for quite a while. “You are a mighty hibrid, you know that? You… and Ben.”
Strangely, Teal didn’t react to the mention of Ben’s name, or rather Throateater didn’t. “I just learned how to survive on my own. You have to do what needs to be done.”
When Teal had finished helping Malagant eat, Malagant pursed his lips. There had been something he had been meaning to talk to his friend about. And since Throateater was the mask Teal was wearing right now, he thought this would be the best time to bring it up.
“Teal, if something happens to me… you need to take my pendant and Ben’s, and continue to Garas. Take my brother with you; he’ll go. Te-Throateater, I know you can do it now, you’re powerful.”
Throateater once again didn’t react, though Malagant could see his pupils retract slightly. He put the cleared plate down and washed his hands with a bit of water from the waterskin.
“If something happens to you, I’m going to kill Kelakheva.”
“What?” Malagant said shocked. Throateater dried his hands and started eating, tearing, vicious bites.
“I’m going to fuck him with his own staff, cut off his head, then stick it on the top of Cilandil, for Anea to see,” Throateater said, his voice sounded as if he had been planning this for quite a while. “I will fuse the pendants back with his burl staff, and bring back Ben and you.”
“Teal…”
Teal shook his head slowly, ripping off a half-raw chunk of goat leg. “You don’t know him, Malagant. He’s a heartless, compassionless, selfish asshole. He was a relentless bully when I was in Ben’s world, he was cruel. He’s – he’s like all the son gods, just bullies with too much power.”
Malagant winced and looked up at the sky, expecting a lightning bolt to strike him down. “They’re still our gods…”
“Elder God Anea is my god, and yours. He is good, he is gentle, caring, loving… but he and his sons abandoned us. He tossed us aside; he grew bored of us and gave us to his demi-deity to torment. Like a lioness training her cub with an injured deer. He left us to his selfish shek-eating demigod to watch over and torture. Kelakheva was supposed to watch over Elron and guide the chosen ones when the prophecies wrote. How is he doing that now? The prophecies are broken. He isn’t helping us. He doesn’t care; he grows bored of us.”
Throateater stared at the fire, his jaw tight. “So I will end his boredom and put his pretty little head on a stake.”
It seems to be a common thing for the chosen of the prophecies to curse the demigod; Malagant recalled his father was quite vocal at times regarding his feelings for Kelakheva. Though he and the demigod had become friends over the years, Anagin had never forgiven him for what had happened between him and Cruz.
The crickets around their camp seemed too quiet as he watched Teal eat. The hibrid still taking vicious bites out of his food, his sharp demi-elf teeth tearing the half-cooked flesh of the goat kid. Blood was running down his stubbled chin; he wiped it up with his jerkin sleeve.
Malagant didn’t say anything back. There wasn’t anything to say, and the fever in his head didn’t allow him the energy to argue with his friend. If Throateater needed to believe he could enact revenge on Kelakheva, he could. Who was he to take away the only good thought Teal had in his head? If killing the demigod, or thinking he could, made him happy he could have it. Heck, Malagant might even help him elaborate his plan eventually. Anything to keep the kid carrying on another day. Malagant wished he had the same thing to look forward to; all he had to look forward to now was amputation or death.
With an uneventful night, once again with Teal barely sleeping, they carried on early the next morning.
Malagant found himself unable to fully wake when Teal roused him. As soon as conscious came to his troubled sleep he shielded his eyes. The morning sun was bright and warm on the plains but it did nothing to help his state. His head seemed stuffed with cotton and a muddled fog had no intentions of leaving him. His head was hot and his hands unbearable.
Throateater packed up their camp and helped Malagant take his medicine. Looking just as out of it as Malagant, since he was now swallowing even more of Ben’s drugs, they both carried on towards Birch.
What a horrible state for the mighty prophecy walkers to be in. Carrying on as fast as he could, Malagant moved one foot in front of the other. When the sun was high in the sky, they passed the ruins of an old mage’s tower. They were not going to stop, although Malagant really wanted to rest.
The painkiller vials of tonic were all that was keeping him going, that and stamina boosters. Malagant had collapsed several times now as the afternoon sun started to dip behind the hills. He knew they had to walk far and fast, and didn’t begrudge his friend making him continue walking. They had to get away from the carnage of Teal’s murder spree, far away. There was more than one patrol for the Lazarius Plains. Though he wasn’t sure how long it would be until they found the dead Serpents, either way he wanted to get as far from the camp as he could.
At least if they did question Malagant and Teal, chances are they wouldn’t be blamed. No one would believe a crippled elf and a single hibrid could do all of that.
Malagant had to periodically stop and rest, if only for a few moments. His head kept going dizzy; a red fog would wash over him, threatening to take his consciousness. He hoped it was from fatigue but he didn’t know for sure. It could be the infection spreading into his bloodstream. If it was, it wouldn’t be just his fingers or hands he would be losing, it would be his life.
And h
ow would Teal be then? Or the Throateater, Tav, or whoever he decided to be that day. What would happen to him when he was dead? Malagant hoped his father would be able to help him and that Josiah would go with him to Garas.
Anagin would know what to do with him. Teal was Cruz’s son; he would do all he could for him but whether Teal would accept that or not was another thing. Teal, as he had demonstrated, was still feral at heart. He would probably push away Anagin’s guidance and flee back to the woods.
And Garas? Their mission? That seemed so far away now, so meaningless with everything else they had been dealing with. They were still heading towards Azoria and Newvark that was the best he could do at the moment. He didn’t even want to suggest to Throateater to check the prophecies. If they had written something, he didn’t even want to know.
A couple steps behind him, Malagant watched Teal reach the summit of the latest hill they had been climbing.
The breeze picked up around them as Malagant leaned against a rock for breath. Teal looked on, his eyes scanning the never-ending plains around them. His hair blowing in the breeze as he brushed it out of his dirt-stained face. Teal’s jerkin was stained with dirt and dried blood, and torn in several places. His wool cloak was also filthy. Or Ben’s cloak; Teal had dried it the night they had left the canyons and had rarely taken it off since.
Malagant looked around too, he was wearing a soaked black kerchief over his head to keep it cool. The sun was hot and he had been with fever for the past several days now.
“I recognize this,” Malagant found himself saying; he was sickened with how weak his voice was. “We’re closer than I thought.”
“How far?” the Throateater asked calmly. He brought out some cheese from his knapsack and held it out to Malagant’s mouth. Malagant took it with his teeth, not even bothering with his hands anymore. He chewed it as they started walking back down the ridge.
“A day perhaps. I’ve been hunting with Dad here.” Malagant should’ve felt excited, but he was too weary to be excited now. “There is a river, past the ridge with the three trees on it, full of fish. A stretch after that and we’ll see the walls.”