Title-- The Demon-God of Jubagh (part sixteen)
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, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen.



Rai felt decidedly awkward, one hand gripping Lhafa's upper arm and the other on her back, when she stopped shaking and calmly opened her eyes to look at him. "Are you alright?" he asked, loosening his grip but not quite letting go.

"I won, as you asked," she replied simply, the faintest smile touching her lips before vanishing. She straightened and rolled her shoulders back, uncurling from the hunched position she had assumed. "He will cooperate, for now."

"For now?" Brandon grunted, slowly releasing her other arm and stepping back. He folded his arms across his chest and gave her a skeptical look.

"For as long as he does not have his own body," she affirmed, gaze flicking to his white-marked face. "What do you wish to know from him?"

"Well, for starters," the ex-paladin mused, "it'd be nice to know how the hells they plan to summon Zeh Gurhai. And what they want out of the whole deal. Immortality? Power? Conquest? That sort of thing is typical."

Lhafa paused, eyes half-lidding for several long seconds. "...each holy man is preparing his tribe's lands to be a ... a store-place for power. Those tribes with more than one holy man are sending the weaker of the men out to prepare the unclaimed wilderness in the same way. Once the world is prepared, the holy men will begin rituals to draw and save magic in the land. Then a final ritual by a select few will ... feed off this strength to summon Zeh Gurhai." She glanced between them. "The tribal lands are prepared and already gathering power. As soon as the wandering holy men finish preparing and filling the wilderness..." Her voice trailed off.

"Hells, we're late to the party," Brandon muttered. "So what's the goal? Why are they doing this?"

"The strongest tribes, who rule by force, wish it. They swore they would destroy their neighbors unless they helped, and so it spread. To avoid warfare breaking over all of Jubagh, we-- they-- cooperate." She shook her head, hand rising to touch her amulet. It was blue and silver, nearly equally.

Rai sighed. "Do the people not realize that summoning Zeh Gurhai will cause the planet to erupt into violence anyway?"

The baghan went quiet for only a moment, and her voice gained confidence as she spoke again. "The holy men who began this swear that Zeh Gurhai will spare those who help summon it. Each holy man represents his tribe, and so each tribe that helps will be spared." She smiled.

"What about plague? Rot will corrupt these lands and the creatures on it. Even if baghans are spared, you won't have anything to eat after Zeh Gurhai arrives."

Lhafa shook her head quickly. "Zeh Gurhai spreads plague only wherever it is. As soon as we summon it, it will leave our world and go elsewhere. So say those who wish to summon it. We would not doom our own world."

Rai eyed her, face darkening. "Kerrek, why don't you give up control again, hmm?" he asked quietly, voice a low hiss.

She looked startled, then smiled widely again. "She let me," she said simply. "She doesn't understand what I tell her, so she backed away." Idly, she tucked the talisman under her vest's collar again; its faint aura had become completely blue.

With another sigh, the magician lifted an open hand, then made a grasping motion. Lhafa froze, eyes rolling back - the glow of the talisman extinguished instantly. "May I remind you, Kerrek, that I can and will destroy you," he said flatly, eyes narrowed. "Cooperate with us, and with her, if you want to avoid that fate." He opened his hand again and dropped it to his side, and the baghan doubled over and gasped for air, mouth working soundlessly.

When the talisman again had color, it was silver. Lhafa straightened slowly, one hand still touching her throat. "He knows what you are," she whispered, "but he does not know how you control my flesh so easily. He knows about shadow and Light."

Rai smiled apologetically. "You were bleeding when you collapsed on me on the battlefield. I don't waste opportunity when it literally falls in my lap. Forgive me; it was a precaution. One that's proved useful since then."

She nodded slowly. "How did you kill men without having their blood?" she asked quietly, a shiver rippling her tufted tail.

Brandon glanced at the magician, one brow raised. "You know, that's a really good question. How the hells did you do that, Rai?"

The smaller man waved off their curiosity. "It doesn't matter right now. We were discussing Zeh Gurhai. Does Kerrek actually believe that no harm will come to baghans and Jubagh if the god is summoned?" Brandon stared at him, but Rai glanced at the spirit warrior instead.

Lhafa was quiet for a long moment. "He is unsure. He wishes to believe that the holy men who started this are sure of what they say, but he would rather Zeh Gurhai not be summoned, and warfare not break out. If only the tribes surrounding the strongest would have resisted such orders, this would never have come to be. Weakness disgusts him. The Rockhides are... were... strong."

"Yeah, well, they didn't resist, either," Brandon muttered derisively. "So, everyone's summoning a demon-god because everyone else says so. A god of war to avoid widespread tribal violence. Real smart. So how do we stop it?"

"There will be enough power stored in the land to call Zeh Gurhai soon. Even if there are patches of wilderness that are untapped, or some few tribal lands that are unused, there will still be enough power. We either must drain large tracts of territory of its stored magic, or find the holy men who will summon the god and stop them directly."

"The latter sounds like a swift way to die," Rai remarked thoughtfully. "Facing the most powerful hexers-- er, holy men-- on Jubagh at the peak of their strength. But to drain enough land, we would need to kill off many tribes. And that would have repercussions. People would come to hunt us down. Right?"

Expression unreadable, Lhafa nodded. "The holy man makes the point that, if we claim lands, we are killing many people who do not deserve to die... and also letting the world know of our conquest, so that they may prepare to take up arms against us. But the holy men who will call the god ... they will not expect to be approached."

"Beard the lion in his own den, eh?" Brandon grinned widely, then sighed at Lhafa's confused look. "Don't ask what a lion is. Just go with me here. The Rockhide thinks we'd be better off trying to disrupt the actual ceremony, huh? Would we even have the time to get there?"

"Perhaps." She shrugged a narrow shoulder. "He believes it is a more effective strategy. And he believes that their lands are two weeks' travel away." A faint smile crossed her face. "Two weeks of a tribesman's travel. We would be able to make it in far less. A week, perhaps a week and a half."

"We'd need supplies--" Rai started.

Lhafa cut him off. "The weather will not worsen for another month - we do not head towards colder lands. There will be plenty of water and game on the way. We could leave now." She paused. "I apologize for interrupting," she added, sounding sheepish.

Rai waved the apology off. "And Kerrek can get us there? Will we be able to take the path safely, or will we wind up fighting more tribes?"

The baghan hesitated. "He is unsure. I think we will be fine, so long as we avoid tribal lands who would see me as an enemy. The paths are many and interlinking. There are ways around dangerous places." She glanced between the two men expectantly.

"Well, hells," Brandon shrugged, "then let's move out."