Tara and the newcomer glared at each other., "Be sure you want to join these people. Once you take their so called 'hospitality' there's no turning back, and they seem to be a little mixed up on what helping people means, although they do seem to try to do good." Deadsponcelling
By Carly Robb and James Clair Lewis
Deadsponcelling Chapter 6
"Woman, I care not how justice is served, all I care is that it is served. Keep your pity towards collateral damage to yourself," returned Malcuth scornfully.
Semaj distracted them saying, "Look! There's the ocean. Just where I thought it would be. Now all we need to do, is find another lenticular cloud, and we can get out of this desolate place."
Tara pointed out near the horizon, "There's what you're looking for, out there, over that island.."
As they neared the lenticular cloud ten Rogues burst forth from it, attacking them. Sephera warned the others, "Here we go again! Kiiii Yah!"
In response Malcuth shouted almost gleefully "KILL!!!" Malcuth and Kether charged headlong into the pack of rogues, sword and talons flashing, fire spewing madly, shouting curses at the rogues.
Tara shook her head and carefully chose her target, brought Shadowdeath around and up, using the glare of the sun to confuse her enemy, wanting to attack the newcomer but holding herself in check. Shadowdeath dove, talons first into the wing of the rogue, Tara slashed cleanly, precisely and watched helplessly as her victims head fell into the ocean. "Damn waste of good brains" she thought to herself as she chose her next target.
Semaj hurled a fireball into the midst of the attackers, while Daath and Sephera went for the ones on the outsides of their formation.
Tara quickly looked around the melee and made a point of not only staying away from the others during battle, but trying to avoid Malcuth at all costs. He was hacking blindly, not taking notice of his victims weak spots or even making sure it was an enemy, and wasn't paying attention to the fact that he was flying right into the path of Semaj's fireball. For Tara, it was split second decision time. She decided, and urged Shadowdeath into a steep, fast, mostly harmless dive, to try to knock Malcuth and his dragon out of the path of the fireball. Hopefully her split second wouldn't be too long a wait, and hopefully she could avoid the myriad dangers in that area of the battle. "Gods, I hope this works."
Malcuth didn't care what or who he killed as long as he killed, mumbling under his breath in almost a growl about how all of them had to die and revenge must be had. He thought nothing of the wasted knowledge as whole corpses fell to the ocean. The only thing that mattered was that blood was being drawn. A moment of lucidity, and he saw the shadow on his dragon, looked up, and somehow, was unable to react as his dragon was slammed into. "Fucking bitch! What the hell are you doing?"
Tara and Shadowdeath veered off to the side just in time to avoid being singed. She yelled over her shoulder, "Saving your ass... pay attention!", and all but disappeared back into the glare of the sun to pick her next target.
Daath and Sephera mopprd up the remaining Rogues. Semaj flew up beside Tara, "That was a brave thing you just did, young lady! Now! Everyone! Through the lenticular cloud, before more Rogues come through!"
"Just because I don't care for him, for some odd reason, doesn't mean I want to see him dead," Tara mumbled. She looked over her shoulder and saw Malcuth wiping his blade off on his pants and glaring at the blood. She followed the others into the cloud, mumbling under her breath about how he had no appreciation for her saving his life.
Kether looked over his shoulder at Malcuth. "You know, she did save your life... The least you could have done, was thank her."
"Shut up, lizard, I do as I please. Follow them," He kicked his dragon hard in the ribs.
With Semaj in the lead, they entered the lenticular cloud. He went through several turns before choosing a vortex for them to enter. On the other side, they emerged near an island off the shore of a modern city. A small plane flies past them. There is excitement inside the cockpit, and the plane wobbled out of control briefly, before righting itself.
Tara shook her head in puzzlement and thought to herself, "What the hell was Semaj thinking? If he was going to bring us here, couldn't he have brought us in higher up so people wouldn't see us and freak out?"
Semaj looked at her and explained, "I chose at random, and I don't control the height of the clouds. But, this place seems familiar to me. I think that is Catalina Island, and over there is LAX. The pilot seems to be doing ok now. Probably he'll make some money selling his story to a tabloid."
Tara looked at him, "Damn mind reader. You chose randomly? Randomly? Sheesh, I'd think that things like this, done by people who know what they're doing, would be thought out a bit, but I guess I'm wr--" she trailed off, "but even so, I know a place we can rest. A little spot north of here in the foothills. No one ever goes there, except me when I was a kid."
Sephera smiled and said, "Well then, lead on, Tara. I kind of think it would be fun to cruise by the beaches on our way up there.... O! Look there! Down below. A pod of dolphins."
Tara gazed down smiling on the dolphins before leading the way up the beach, using clouds as cover from human sight when they passed areas with people; she knew that if there were too many more reports to the National Enquirer, people would get suspicious... and there's nothing more dangerous than large groups of stupid people.
Within minutes they had landed in a secluded valley with no sign of humans ever having been there, except for a silver ring sitting on a rock. Tara jumped down from Shadowdeath, "Damn, that's where I left it, cool!", she picked up the ring and it fit perfectly on her pinkie. She looked at the others, "Well, it hasn't been THAT long since I've been here."
Sepheroth approached her, "I saw what you did in the battle earlier. That was very brave, and I am proud of you, Tara. You are a team player. We need that."
Tara looked at her feet and toyed with her ring, "Thank you Sepheroth, but I didn't do it out of respect for him. I don't know why, I just don't like him. Look at the way his dragon's glaring at him. Something's wrong up there, he's a few fries short of a happy meal or something. But I guess he means well, I dunno though."
"He seems like a hard case to me too, Tara. My sister, Tippy, is a hard case, But, she also loves her dragon, and enjoys things of beauty, like those dolphins."
"You're all hard cases, Sepheroth, at least to me, but other than the fact that I don't understand the way you three work, there's nothing wrong with you." Tara sat down on the rock, "but I never thought I'd meet a sponcellor whose dragon had enough contempt for him to blatantly glare. It's bothersome, I don't trust him. Doesn't he realize that the last person you want mad at you is your dragon? Or does he just not care? Either way he needs to learn... or am i just overreacting? I probably am, if so, I'm sorry, I'll just sit here and shut up if you want." Her ring attracted her hand like a magnet and she absently twisted it around on her finger, "How long will we be here? It feels like I've been awake for days."
Kether and Malcuth were as far away from the others a possible to still be in the same valley. Kether spoke to him in a low growl, "I don't know what's gotten into you, Malcuth, but I don't like it, not at all, and if you're not careful I just may prove how much I do not care for it. Watch yourself."
Malcuth sneered at his dragon, ""Lizard, I told you, I do as I please, if you care not for the way I act, you can leave, if you move against me though, I will have no qualms about putting my blade through your heart."
"The way you've been fighting lately, Malcuth I wouldn't think you even knew thaught living things have hearts and other weak spots, you haven't been yourself, you haven't made a clean kill for a while either, it bothers me to the point that I wish not to be anywhere near you for a while" Kether got up and moved to the complete opposite end of the valley. Tara saw a look of repressed rage in his eyes and decided to ask no questions for the time being.
Semaj started a fire, and began making a meal from the heads that Sephera had collected earlier. Sephera took a lute from a bag harnessed to Ragnarok, tuned it, and began to sing. Daath matched her soprano with a tenor harmony. They sang in a language Tara had never heard before, but it was beautiful, and she began to relax, and let her mind drift with it. The dragons sat down together to listen, and Shadowdeath joined them.
Suddenly, as it got dark, several state police cars pulled up, shining spotlights on Semaj and the fire. "This is not a legal campground, and that fire is prohibited." One of the spotlights caught Semaj in mid-swing, as he was cutting open a last head for the brain soup. "Halt! Drop the weapon!!"
Slowly, Semaj lowered the sword, and placed it at his feet. He raised his hands over his head. Daath and Sephera did the same. A faintly visible blue glow begins to build around Semaj's hands. Guns drawn, the state police advanced toward them. A rookie went immediately to the fire, and saw what was actually in the soup. "Oh my God! They are cooking people's brains! I'm gonna be sick." He leaned over and retched, but none of the other police noticed this. They were staring in frozen shock at the dragons.
Malcuth exclaimed, "Now is our chance, they're easy meals!" Kether looked at him and growled.
Semaj released his spell, and the blue glow spread out like a mist enveloping the state police. "Everything is fine. There is no trouble. There is nothing here."
Tara growled, "I don't know about where you're from, Malcuth, but here you get in major trouble for killing police officers. Touch them and I'll kill you here. Time to get the hell out of here, guys, when they don't report back they'll send more officers." Tara looked around the valley wistfully, not knowing when the next time she'd see one of her favorite places again, and leapt onto Shadowdeath's back. "What are you people waiting for?"
Kether lunged and grabbed the back of Malcuth's shirt in his jaws. "Listen to her, Malcuth, they were only doing their jobs, and you owe her your life and gratitude. I don't doubt her warning to you, and I don''t doubt she would succeed. Join us or stay. the choice is yours, I seek revenge as much as you, but I have not lost my wits." With a casual flick of his neck, Kether tossed Malcuth into the trunk of a large oak. Malcuth landed with a thunk. "Think quickly and wisely, human."
Malcuth looked disbelievingly at his dragon, the fact that Kether had moved against him astounded him, and somehow he felt more like himself than he had in some time. "You're right, that wasn''t a good idea. I will join you for the time being. Kether, I don't know what's been wrong with me lately, I just haven't felt like myself at all."
Semaj and the others watched Malcuth carefully with distrust. Qlippoth walked over to Kether, and gave him a friendly nudge with his face on his neck.
The state police walked back to their cars, and one cracked an X-Files joke. They drove off into the night. Tara commented, "Well, um, it wasn't what I had in mind, Semaj, but it works for me..." Tara slid off of Shadowdeath's back, walked back to the rock she was sitting on, and pondered Malcuth's last words. 'Even if he does feel like himself again, it's not that much better, maybe not as murderous, but still holier than thou, prickish bastard, oh, well, I guess I'll have to deal with him. It would have been a shame to kill him after risking my life to save him, but there's something else nagging me, I'm not sure what, but it's nagging me, something I should see, but I don't.' She leaned back against the tree behind the rock and watched the group.
Semaj brought Tara a bowl of the soup, and Sephera and Daath sat down beside her on the rock. They ate in silence. "They won't be back tonight. We can camp here."
"Thank you, Semaj, I'd hate to have had to find another campsite somewhere else," she sighed and ate her soup. When she was done, she thought to herself, 'Great, at least one more person to deal with, how do they do this? How can they put up with it?" She leaned back on the tree again and closed her eyes hoping for sleep, wondering what she would dream about, now that she didn't have to go through mirrors in her dreams. But couldn't sleep for thoughts of people no longer alive. For some reason her own thoughts were sticking on the subject of reincarnation, and how it could be possible and other such unanswerable questions. Knowing that somewhere in these thoughts was the answer to what was nagging her.