Title-- The Demon-God of Jubagh (part thirty-three)
Rating and Warnings-- G; mild language.
Cast-- Rai Gerring, defected black magician (human man); Brandon Styhan, exiled paladin-warrior (human man); Lhafa Softstep, blind voodoo warrior (baghan woman); two knight exemplars [Arista Reenla, Erick Glessen], two paladins [Gary Hallin, Theo Doreck], and a young priest [Father Joshua Krein] (human men and women).
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, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen, Part Twenty, Part Twenty-One, Part Twenty-Two, Part Twenty-Three, Part Twenty-Four, Part Twenty-Five, Part Twenty-Six, Part Twenty-Seven, Part Twenty-Eight, Part Twenty-Nine, Part Thirty, Part Thirty-One, Part Thirty-Two.



Brandon yawned, folding his arms and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. They'd been standing around for an hour, and he was getting bored. Lhafa was silent and as still as a tree, the other paladin was leaning on the wall and idly tracing the inlaid symbols on his gauntlet, and Erick was studying Lhafa with avid curiosity. When the knight reached out a hand and waved it in front of her face, she calmly reached up and caught his wrist. He jumped.

"She's blind, not senseless, Erick," Brandon called, a grin tugging at his lips.

"How did she know what I was doing?" the knight asked, startled. He tugged his wrist free easily and continued studying the baghan woman with a perplexed expression.

"Baghans have better senses than we do. But even I can hear your armor clinking, and I'm all the way over here." The exile grinned, settling himself against the wall opposite the other paladin. The ivory was cold through his clothing. "Don't mess with her, Erick. You didn't see how quick she was to grab Arista's sword and knock her around."

"That's Sister Reenla to you, Brandon," Erick glowered, frowning. "Or 'milady'. You don't have the right to address her, or any Lightworker, by her first name."

Brandon rolled his eyes. "Chill, Erick. We'll be out of your fancy hair soon enough." He smirked when the knight flushed; Erick had been teased for having long hair back in training. "Looks like I can still get a rise outta you, after all."

"You're treading dangerous ground, you know." Erick wasn't smiling. "We're in a court of the Light, on a world within the Source. Mouth off and you'll get tossed-- and you know that, don't you?" He walked over to Brandon and peered closely at the man's darker face. "You think you can push me and get away with it? Is that it?" He leaned in, eyes narrowing.

The exile smiled widely. "Erick, you're jumping to conclusions. I'm just bored and making smalltalk. If you want, I'll just talk to her instead." He inclined his head towards Lhafa, who had angled her face to follow Erick's progression across the marble floor.

Erick frowned deeply, then nodded and moved to stand between the baghan and the tall doors. "Fine," he muttered, glaring at the stained-glass windows.

"Good catch," he said in the baghan tongue, grinning when Lhafa smiled faintly. "How loud is he to you?"

"He was loud enough," she replied quietly. "Why was he examining me?"

"Don't know. Probably curious about a non-human. He thought he could study you in detail without having you realize he was staring, I guess." Brandon shrugged a shoulder out of habit. "Wonder what's taking them so long."

"What does a 'truth-test' entail?" she asked, shifting her weight silently.

He grunted. "A potion, a binding spell, and a priest. Rai won't be able to lie while the spell's in place, but the spell is time-limited to prevent any long-lasting control. If he was trying to hide something from Arista, well... it won't work. I hafta think that, since it was his idea, he has the upper hand and knows it..." Brandon cast a long look down the hall, hiding an apprehensive look. "I hope."

Lhafa twitched her ears slightly. "I believe they return now. I hear the woman's metal clothing." She turned her face towards the place where the hall curved out of sight. "It echoes strangely."

"Look alive, boys," Brandon muttered in his own tongue, straightening from his place against the wall and rejoining the baghan in the center of the foyer. Erick and the other paladin quickly assumed guardian positions, and all four faced the curve of the hall as though they'd never moved.

Arista looked furious as she strode into view, boots clopping on the smooth marble floor with unnecessary force. Rai and Father Krein trailed her, the priest's face unreadable and the magician poorly hiding a smug look. The knight stopped before Brandon, scowling up at the grinning exile. "The mage and the native will accompany you to Sivef," she spat. "His name is clear and he has no alias. We cannot charge him with crimes. Somehow, he slipped beneath our radar."

Brandon couldn't stifle his wide smile. "Yes, milady," he said, sidestepping before she could shove past him. "Softstep," he said in the baghan tongue, "you and Rai are still with me, looks like."

"Follow me," Arista grated out, pausing to open the chapel-court's doors with a wave of her hand. "We will return to the Light's Hammer for your debriefing." She fairly stormed out into the dazzling sunlight, cutting through the strolling passers-by like a knife through water.

Rai took his place between Lhafa and Brandon again as the procession resumed, though their pace was hurried to keep up with the knight's gait. "That went better than I expected," he murmured in baghan. "I expected him to ask more crafty questions."

"Silence," Erick hissed as they passed the threshold of the building. "Say nothing until we're back on the ship." Obligingly, they continued through the busy streets with no more conversation.

Once they reached their ship's berth, the two paladins bowed and said their farewells; they would not be shipping out again. The pair of knights escorted the trio up the ramp, trailed slowly by the young priest, and Erick went to speak with the captain while Arista showed them to an open, spacious room on the top deck. "We will discuss your mission here, once we have embarked and risen above the city," she said curtly, exiting with Father Krein.

Brandon and Rai exchanged glances, and Brandon grinned wryly. "Woohoo. Here we go again."