The Wrath Of the Forgotten (12 page)

The Celestial Ones promised that the Yaoguai would emerge and thrive once more.

Intense, yet pleasant warmth covered his right arm. Tov glanced down to the little golden armband with the pebble sized yellow jewel embedded within it. The armband covered his wrist and traveled half way up his forearm. As the warmth continued to seep into Tov’s veins, the jewel glowed with a bright yellow hue. The jewel flashed several times. In the depths of Tov’s mind, he heard the all too familiar voices.

They sounded like a beautiful choir who spoke in unison. With each word that entered his thoughts, Tov shivered.

The voices said, “
The Mogwi are near. Establish dominance. They are needed.”

Tov balled his fists up and stood up from a prone position. The vast sea of grass danced all around him, and yet he didn’t see anyone or anything. Unseen eyes drilled into him. His spine quivered under pressure of hidden presences. A palpable malice festered in the air.

He surveyed the grass one more time. “I know you’re out there. Come out, I have summoned you.”

The wind blew past him, and a strange musky animal scent filled his nose. A furry creature rose up from the grass. How it had been concealed before mystified Tov, for the creature stood as tall as he did. A pair of long pointed ears jutted from the side of the monster’s face. A pair of bulbous eyes watched him with keen interest. The creature licked its cracked lips with a slimy purple tongue. Rows of jagged teeth rose up from dark purple gums. White and brown hair covered every inch of the creature’s body. It had claws for hands and feet.

The Mogwi spoke in a screechy voice. “You are the one who summoned us? A lowly human?”

Tov narrowed his eyes at the monster. “I’m aware that your kind has lost much in a thousand years, but surely you can see I’m not a human. Have you truly fallen so far that you’re little better than beasts?”

“Beasts?” The Mogwi asked. It took a threatening step toward him. “I’ll show you a beast, you sickly wretch. I’ll suck out your intestines through your neck.”

The Mogwi lunched at Tov, but Tov rolled away from it. His energy sword appeared in his hands as he made it to his feet. The Mogwi whirled around and stared at Tov with a wild, crazed glimmer in its eyes. It advanced on him again.

Tov swung his sword at the Mogwi’s body. The energy blade touched the creature’s fur and burned a bald spot on the creature’s skin. A foul stench wafted all around Tov, but he ignored it. Welts had formed on the bare skin, but nothing more. Tov’s heart thumped harder.

“Did you think your magic stick would kill the likes of me?” The Mogwi said.

Its savage claws raked against Tov’s chest. Blood seeped from the wounds as he fell away from the monster. Before Tov had the chance to inspect his wounds, the monster leaped at him again. Tov countered and added more welts and bare spots to the monster’s hide.

The Mogwi grinned devilishly at him. It leaned in and tried to bite him. Tov shoved the energy blade into the creature’s teeth.

A dreadful scream poured out from the hairy monster. It pawed at its mouth and felt where several teeth had melted away.

Tov whirled around the Mogwi and slashed at one of the welts that he had created earlier. The skin turned even redder, and blisters covered the exposed area.

“Perhaps you’re not as tough as you think!” Tov said.

The Mogwi turned around and tried to rend Tov with its claws. Every time one of its razor fingers came toward Tov, he dodged the blow. As the Mogwi tried to attack again, Tov counterattacked and focused on the welts. Any amounts of glee the Mogwi once had faded behind a mask of concern.

Tov brought the edge of his sword against one particular welt over and over again. With each graze, the skin got redder and more agitated. As the wound got more agitated, the Mogwi attacked with even more furious ferocity. Tov slid his blade against the same welt again. The Mogwi’s side split open, and blood seeped out like a waterfall. As it tried to close up that wound, Tov focused on another welt.

His lungs heaved at the effort, but Tov kept pushing himself all the harder. Even in its wounded state, the Mogwi could kill him if it landed one good blow. More blood fountains opened up on the Mogwi, and its fur turned crimson .

The Mogwi fell to its knees and held its hands up. “Okay! I concede. Mercy!”

Tov stepped in front of the monster and thrust his sword into its right eye. The blade sizzled as eye juice covered its brilliant edge. For a moment, the Mogwi just crouched there, open mouthed. Within seconds, it collapsed on its back.

The area around Tov grew quiet. The peculiar animal scent still lingered in the air.

“I know you’re there! Come out and attend me!” Tov said. “I have summoned you for a purpose.”

He whirled around and stared into the long bushes of grass. Smaller shapes rose from concealment. Thirty smaller Mogwi had gathered in the area. They all watched Tov with grave concern. One of the larger Mogwi crept up to him, but it placed its belly on the ground.

“W-who are you?” The Mogwi asked. “Why have you summoned us? H-how did you summon us?”

Tov extended his energy wings and flapped them several times. A collective gasp spread throughout the meadow. He raised his energy sword high.

“Heed my words, Mogwi. My name isn’t important. I’m simply a herald for the Celestial Ones. They command you to serve them.”

The Mogwi crouched down and visually cowered.

“What would your masters have us do?” The larger Mogwi asked.

“Our Masters,” Tov said. “Our Masters command you to grow as many babies as you can. An army is needed.”

The Mogwi’s eyes opened wider. “An army?” It looked around at the other Mogwi. “We would have to harvest thousands of humans to do this. We would be noticed. Our kind would be hunted to extinction.”

Tov pointed his energy blade at the Mogwi’s face. “The Celestial Ones are about to return. By the time you’re finished with this task, the humans will be marching to the brink of extinction. Do this and your kind will be greatly rewarded. Use the closest city as your feeding grounds!”

The Mogwi gave Tov a weak smirk. “So when should we start?”

The strange emptiness that Tov experienced before throbbed in his throat again. “Now. You will start today.”

“SO LET ME GET
this straight,” Apisa asked. “Your mother is the head of the city militia in Onista and your father is an Oni historian?”

Nori said, “Yep. During the day, my mother would make sure that I received combat training and physical exercise. She didn’t make it a secret that she wanted my brother and me to join the city militia when we became adults. At night, my father would put us to bed with wild and fantastic stories about ancient Onistan heroes and heroines.”

Apisa’s amusement fell away and she let out a small sigh. “It must have been nice to have grown up with both of your parents in your life. My siblings and I didn’t have that luxury.”

Nori’s innards tightened as he glanced at her. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”

Apisa waved him off. “Oh, it’s okay. We got through it just fine. Don’t get me wrong, it was still pretty sad. It does help to remind myself that my parents were good people though.”

“What were they like?” Nori asked.

She slumped in her saddle a bit. “Oh, they were both amazing, hardworking people who loved life. I was seven when they died. My brother was nine, and my little sister was only a baby. Let’s change the subject, okay? I don’t like dwelling on …that period of my life.”

“Okay,” Nori said. “So what brought you to Jadai?”

Once more, a joyful expression covered the blond’s face. “My granny runs the farm, and she thought I needed to get out and see the world beyond the rice fields. I’m really glad she did. Even though I only came north a couple days travel, it’s still been a great experience. I’m not the simple girl I once was.”

Rayko scoffed behind them. “Simple doesn’t even begin to cover it. To be quite honest, your transformation has been quite remarkable.”

Apisa gazed over her shoulder. “I wasn’t that bad!”

“Trust me, darling,” Rayko said. “You were. It’s not that you were bad, per say. You were just ignorant of the many wondrous ways of expressing yourself through the medium of style.”

Apisa rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I got to Jadai and it was really eye opening. Granted, I was seen as a bit …”

“Unsophisticated? Uncouth? Raw?” Rayko asked. She gave Apisa a playful wink.

“I was going to say charmingly rustic. If I remember correctly, you also had a hard time when you first came to Jadai. At least I made more friends than you did at first.”

Rayko giggled. “That’s because these would-be nobles were intimidated by my incredible sense of taste. It’s not my fault the west coast is so far behind the east.”

Apisa turned her attention to Nori. “We arrived on the same day, and little Rayko made a few unkind remarks on one of the girl’s outfits.”

A vexed expression covered Rayko’s face. She covered her arms over her chest. “If you’re going to tell the story, you had better inform him of all the details. I swear, you revel in any chance to make me look like a monster.”

Apisa chuckled. “Okay, okay. Granted, the girl that Rayko insulted was insulting me on the way I was dressed. She sorta came to my rescue at first, but then I came to hers second.”

“Oh?” Nori asked. “So what happened?”

“Must we go in to this with him?” Rayko gestured toward Nori. “Why are we spilling out our secrets to one of the help?”

Flara looked up from her scroll. For most of the day so far, she had been engrained in reading. Nori had doubted that she heard anything that was said.

“That’s mean,” Flara said. “Even considering your disposition towards his people, you shouldn’t be so cruel. He didn’t do anything to you.”

Rayko glared hard at Flara. “Well excuse me for having feelings! It’s not that I can just turn them off whenever I want. Am I just supposed to forget it ever happened?”

Rather than shy away, Flara rolled up her scroll and returned Rayko’s intensity. “I’m n-not saying that. I understand how you f-feel, but lashing out isn’t going to make this trip any less bearable.”

Rayko let out a huff and slowed her horse considerably. She still followed along, but she dropped back about twenty feet.

“I’ll go talk to her.” Apisa turned her horse around and trotted up next to Rayko.

Rayko said something, but Nori didn’t quite hear it. A thick, deep aura of unease gravitated toward the center of his stomach. No amount of repositioning made his saddle any more comfortable. Acid pooled up in the back of his throat, and the urge to throw up enticed him over and over.

Flara rode up beside him. She resumed using her meek voice. “I’m s-sorry about Rayko. It’s not about you exactly. I know it won’t make sense now, b-but it’s kind of not her fault she’s acting this way either.”

Nori’s brow creased. “She seems to hate Onistans a lot more than the regular citizen. Why is that?”

Flara replied “I-it’s not my place to say.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Nori asked. “How is it that you didn’t get a Qu-Tar when you first came to Jadai? As a member of the royal family, you should have been better protected.”

Flara averted her eyes and fumbled with the reins of her horse. “I b-begged my mother to let me come to Jadai as a normal p-person. I didn’t want everyone to know I was the daughter of the empress. I thought that would prevent me from making good fr-friends.”

“So that’s why you came up with the silk merchant alias?” Nori asked.

“Actually, it was my eldest sister Cestise who came with that idea,” Flara said. “She agreed that I needed to get out and be free to explore the magic of friendship without having titles affect people’s reactions to me.”

Nori asked “So do you regret having a Qu-Tar now?”

Flara wilted in her saddle. Her voice came out in a barely audible mumble. “No offense, but yeah. I’m g-glad that you’re coming with us on this j-journey, but your presence reminds me of my imperial obligations.”

“I promise that was never my intention,” Nori said. “I never want to make people feel uncomfortable, but it’s what I seem to be the best at doing.”

“L-like I said, it’s not you.” Flara brushed some loose strands of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. “It’s who you represent. A-at least this time it doesn’t have to do with your racial origin.” She let out a weak chuckle.

Nori smiled too.

Apisa and Rayko rode back up to the group. Rayko sat straight in her saddle. She reviewed Nori with a sense of poise and arrogance. Just seeing her demeanor made Nori’s skin expand and contract.

“It had been brought to my attention that my behavior toward you has not been lady like,” Rayko said. “For that, I apologize. Though you need not know what ails me, just be certain that it has little to do with you.” She slowed her horse again and rode several feet behind him.

Flara said “E-excuse me.” She slowed her horse to match strides with Rayko while Apisa caught up with Nori.

“Alright,” Apisa said. “I have a string of jokes for you. I know you’ll just have to laugh at one of them.”