Title-- The Demon-God of Jubagh (part fourteen)
Rating and Warnings-- PG; mild language.
Species and Characters-- Rai Gerring, defected black magician (human man); Brandon "Exile" Styhan, exiled paladin-warrior (human man); Lhafa Softstep, possessed spirit warrior (baghan woman); Kerrek Rockhide, dead holy man (baghan man).
Previously-- Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen.



"...is she gonna keep doing that, or what?" Brandon huffed, eyeing the motionless baghan.

Rai sent him a glare. "It's a shock that she's able to fight him at all, Brandon," he snapped, thoroughly uncomfortable with Lhafa's head and shoulders weighing heavy against his chest. His hands were awkward on her upper arms; he didn't know what to do after keeping her from slamming her head into the ground. "We're going to have to be careful. If the talisman makes her faster and stronger, then he'll be dangerous if he tries to--"

"Rai, please." Brandon laughed. "Even a 'spirit warrior' is no threat to us."

"--if he tries to kill her," the magician finished, scowling. "I don't even know if--"

"Hells, Rai," the ex-paladin interrupted again, gazing out over the clearing-turned-battlefield. "You made a mess. Everything's charred to ash." He paused, eyes squinting. "In fact, I think the hexer's body is gone."

"WHAT?!" Lhafa shrieked, bolting upright and springing onto her hooves before either man could react. She spun and ran, her gait jerky and heavy, towards the place on the slope where the hexer had stood; shadows rose from the ash and coiled around her ankles, stopping her before she could get more than dozen strides away. She tripped, rolled, and was standing again before the two men could catch up to her - but the shadow-bonds stayed firm around her legs.

Rai looked pained. "Calm down, Kerrek," he murmured, holding up empty hands in a placating gesture. "We--"

"YOU LIED!" Lhafa howled, trying to lunge for him and nearly toppling herself when the shadows didn't allow her ankles to budge. "You said you would help me back to my body! Now I am trapped as this-- this--" The talisman flashed silver briefly, but the blue overwhelmed the spark. "--agh, she fights, as though she can win!" She paused, peering downwards and plucking at the talisman with curious fingers. "A spirit warrior. Hm. Perhaps I can still use my magic, then." She looked up, a sly grin twisting her lips.

"Look, Rockhide," Brandon interjected, sighing as he approached the bound baghan. "You're in a different body. A body that isn't yours. You don't know how to use it yet, so I suggest you don't try, because I have nothing against keeping you unconscious until we're in a more suitable place." He gestured to the piles of ash and few corpses around them. "Your people are dead, and this place is going to become a battlefield yet again when your enemies decide they want your land." He drew breath to continue speaking, but Rai cut him off.

"If you cooperate with us, Kerrek, we will give you the body of another holy man." The magician's voice was flat, impassive. "All we want is information from you. Give us that, and do not try to harm the body you're in, and we'll lay waste to an enemy tribe and give you their holy man's body. You've seen what we can do - you know I do not bluff."

"You lie," Lhafa hissed. "I cannot trust your word." She flexed her fingers, hooves clicking together where they met against her palm, and looked down again. "This body is ... ridiculous. Whether or not I can still use magic, it is shameful to m--"

"Trust him, trust me, trust neither, it doesn't matter," Brandon grunted. "You're going to do what we want, one way or another. Why not take a good deal when it's offered? We aren't bad people. Just... focused on a goal, is all." He smiled widely, white teeth making a crescent in a dark face.

Lhafa snarled. "You wish sacred stories. I will die before I--"

"You're already dead, Kerrek." Rai gave the baghan a hard look, trying to convince himself that it wasn't Lhafa at whom he was glowering. "This is a second chance at life. Either take it, or you go to join the spirits."

"If you were to destroy a tribe and give me its holy man, that tribe's lands would be taken by their enemies. I would be as homeless as I am now," Lhafa pointed out, her voice cunning. She was beginning to haggle.

Rai tried to not let his relief show. "Then we will be more discreet than that. We will speak with a holy man alone."

"We do not speak with strangers without our spirit warriors," Lhafa countered.

"So we speak with the holy man and his spirit warriors," Rai retorted. "We will kill the spirit warriors and let you have his body, then we will leave, and you can tell your new tribe that we tried to kill you, but you drove us off."

"The holy man's spirit will be as strong as mine. I may not be able to control it." She sounded calculating. "If he were to take over, even once, it would be the end of the deceit."

Rai laughed, almost sadly. "We can extinguish his spirit after you are within his body. That is not difficult." His slight smile faded, and his voice grew dark. "And it means that we can extinguish you, as well, at any time. If you try to destroy her body, Kerrek, you won't last long enough to join the spirits or have a second chance in a new body. I'll crush you." He paused, letting the silence linger; her face was unreadable. "Do you understand the deal, and how gracious I am to offer you anything at all?"

"I understand," she growled. "What I do not understand is why you wish to know about Zeh Gurhai."

Brandon shook his head grimly. "You baghan hexers want to summon him. He's a god of plague and war - a demon. He'd destroy this world, and others. We're not gonna let that happen. But we need to know everything we can before we can even think about a plan of action."

Lhafa stared at him in utter shock. "You... wish to... stop Zeh Gurhai from being called to Jubagh?"

"Yeah. We do. And we're gonna do it, even if we have to kill you and try to find a more cooperate hexer in some other tribe," Brandon grumbled. Rai nodded his agreement, expressionless still.

Lhafa smiled strangely. "I'll help you."