Title-- The Demon-God of Jubagh (book two, part six)
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); Jujinkajou, native guide (shapechanger Sivefi man).
Previously-- Book One: Jubagh. Earlier parts of Book Two: Sivef. The part right before this one.



The creature looked to be made of dark, dead trees and patches of ragged grey fur stretched haphazardly across its wooden skeleton; it stood twice as tall as a man and walked on four asymmetrical legs. Knotty protrusions jutted out from its back and flanks, shoulders and haunches, until one couldn't distinguish a head from a tail from a tumor. It made no noise as it walked slowly through the forest, barely disturbing the twigs on the trees.

The Sivefi turned and peered very intently where Lhafa had pointed, and after a good twenty seconds, it nodded emphatically and chattered something in its own tongue. The baghan translated quietly, "He doesn't see them easily, but yes, that is a spirit. He says it is the guardian of this stretch of forest. It will not harm us. He is surprised that we can see it."

Rai's hackles were up as he stared at the creature, the scent of rotting logs and snow-damp pelts reaching him in waves. He wondered how Lhafa even stood the reek of natural things dying. "Should we just... go around?" he grated out, trying to uncrook his fingers. Ahead of them, the spirit was passing perpendicular to their path; presumably, if given a few minutes, it would be gone again.

"Softstep, how the hells did you know that was there before we did?" Brandon muttered, staring at the creature. Out of instinct, his hand had drifted back to his hip, seeking a sword that wasn't there.

"It showed itself to me," Lhafa murmured. "Like the baghan spirits did after I performed the ritual. I did not ask for this, though. It was freely given." Despite her ineffable calm, some startlement was evident in her voice.

The spirit's front end swung towards them. Like a ship veering in slow waters, it leaned left and began curving its path slowly to head for them.

Lhafa spoke hastily in sivefan, and the Sivefi responded by scurrying back to them and pressing itself tightly against her hip. Its long, silky tail was tucked between its legs as it uttered another burst of word-sentences that neither human could understand.

"He says the spirits are not used to being seen by off-worlders, and that it might be curious, but he had never heard of a spirit harming someone who was simply passing through. We have not been chopping trees or digging holes, so we are safe... he says." She sounded uncertain, face angled towards the creature as it approached with gawky strides. It moved like its legs were stilts.

"No bloody wonder the Lightworkers don't police this world," Brandon muttered under his breath. "The bloody spirits do it already." He was still staring as the spirit advanced. "The hells should we do? Back up? Bow? Duck?"

Tendrils of shadow flared up from the half-frozen ground, snaking wildly upwards before being extinguished in an explosion of ashes. Rai shook violently, and Brandon reached across Lhafa to grab his arm tightly. "The hells, Rai?!" the larger man hissed. "You gonna piss off the local spirits already?!"

"I... I didn't ... that ... that wasn't me!" the magician gasped, the arcane symbols carved into his skin glowing with painful intensity.

"Well, shit," Brandon growled. "Lhafa, hold him. Don't let him cast anything. Knock him out if you have to - sorry Rai." He shoved the dark-robed man into the baghan's long arms, then planted himself squarely in front of them, folded his arms across his chest, and stared up at the creature. He ignored the muffled protests from Rai as the spirit came to a jerky halt and lowered a few twisted knobs of dead wood and stretched hides towards his face. The Sivefi shrank back and snuck behind him, pressing its thick-furred flank against the backs of his legs and shivering.

"Hi," the ex-paladin said, not flinching away from the creature's proximity. Some of its tufts of fur and gnarled twigs were only inches from his face. "We're just passing through. Really. We're harmless."

A creaking sound, like a strong wind through weak trees, rushed from the spirit's body - but there was no breeze to cause the noise. It leaned down further, gaunt 'legs' groaning woodenly, until it touched an outreaching twig to Brandon's smooth-shaven skull.

The exile raised a brow, then choked and staggered as flashes of images consumed his mind. The focal point of each flash was a pattern, black-outlined white, and he recognized it instantly as the pattern of tattoos on his own face. The Lightworker marking. There was decay and destruction in each image, fires spreading and trees toppling and blood feeding the cold earth and shrill screaming and the clang of metal-on-metal and--

His eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled bonelessly at the spirit's feet.

The creature leaned back up again, slowly, limbs creaking and rustling with the movement. It leaned and twisted to the right, then took a step forward and began veering back towards its original path. The Sivefi placed itself over Brandon's still body and whined in its throat, watching the spirit leave them.

Lhafa held an unconscious Rai in her arms, ashes dusting her pale fur and clothing, and waited until the spirit was a fair distance away before carefully setting the magician next to his comrade and gesturing for the Sivefi to step away. She pulled her talisman from beneath her tunic and let it dangle from its cord around her neck, cupping both hands around it without touching.

It blazed silver-white quickly, and though she wasn't paying attention, the spirit-creature vanished with the first wave of new light.