A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 37

"What the hell are you talking about?" Azrael demanded hotly.

"I'm talking about how you're on a one-male campaign to repopulate the mountains here all by your lonesome. You keep disappearing for a few days, making noises about looking for leads, but as far as I can tell, that's not what you've been doing, is it, Azrael?"

She indicated Simmit, "Simmit was thrown here from somewhere else and on her own, Simmit was a little too trusting, wasn't she? You just couldn't help yourself, could you? What did he say to you, Simmit? That you were the one for him?"

Simmit nodded, "Yes. I believed you, Harrick."

"This is bullshit," Azrael snorted, "I've never seen her in my life."

How about me?" Luddy asked, stepping closer, "I think I must be at least a little unforgettable, Bron -- or whatever you're calling yourself these days. You won't have to worry about any little blonde trolls leaping around, though."

"Luddy miscarried," Rachel said, "Big relief, huh?"

"May I?" Selena asked Simmit as she reached for one of the little ones who had been staring at her. Simmit nodded and held him a little higher. Seeing his brother with Selena, the other twin began to wave his arms at Shaevre, who reached back with a smiling nod, taking him to hold him as she and Arrax admired them.

The twins would have been happy to see so many big people, and they were a little bold and adventurous anyway, as little ones go, but there was something wrong here to them. They'd recognized the female demon who had hair like theirs. They liked Rachel. That was all they knew as they looked at her hair now and then.

It made them look at the large male at the other end of the room who also had hair like that. They couldn't help it as they were held by Selena and Shaevre. They didn't know where to devote their limited attention for a few seconds, but slowly, they settled on Azrael.

They didn't like what they saw in his face when he looked at them more than once. Far from the adoration that they seemed to be getting from all of the others -- especially all of the females in the room, including the young demon girl who they wanted to see more of whenever they looked at Nahl'een, they saw something far different in the gaze of the male with hair just like their own.

It began to upset the two of them.

Amon and Neeth were identical twins, but that didn't mean that they were the same. Neeth was farther along in speaking -- much farther, and he had more intuitive ability in an outward sense toward the world around him, but Amon wasn't slow. He was just a little different, that was all.

Amon's intuitive ability leaned far more to things and even worlds which were not normally visible without even thinking on his part. As he grew upset and fearful, he sent ripples out that he wasn't aware of. Neeth picked up on it and they began to cry and want to be in Simmit's arms.

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On the world where Simmit had originated, demons of her kind had developed a social structure out of a need for mutual defense, since they weren't at the top of the food chain. They were predators themselves -- just not the top ones. They lived in colonies and out of their need for protection, they'd developed a genetic solution.

Once, every hundred or so male births, a protector was spawned. These were large males who were born with many abilities and talents and knew their place in the colonies from birth. Colonies typically had more than one and they never fought between themselves for they shared a common purpose -- to defend the colony against anything.

In times of stress -- where the colony might have come to the attention of ones who would attack them in any sort of numbers, more protectors were spawned naturally in response though it took the span of twenty years on Earth to reach a size where they could assume their roles.

Protecting the colony was what they were made to give their lives for if it was needed, though it usually wasn't. Whatever they faced usually perished before they did.

Simmit came from a large colony with many protectors, but there was one who was troubled and had been since the day that he'd seen one female pulled into a roiling cloud of bodies to disappear with the rest of them. He'd have been upset over it even if he had no tie to Simmit, other than that she was one of the ones closest to where he lived, and being what he was, all that he knew was that one of the ones in his charge had disappeared without a trace.

But he had a tie and so he'd begun to hunt. He'd been hunting ever since.

There had been little to go on, but that didn't matter. He'd found the place where she'd been dragged off their world, and it had only stopped him for a month. With the innate ability of what he was made for, he'd found that Simmit was far from him in distance, but not in space. She was only on another plane.

He'd found a way to go there.

He'd had to.

It had taken well over a year and he'd had to step onto two other planes to do it, but for longer than the last half year, he'd been hunting on Earth. His journey had landed him closer to where Yuan had begun. He knew nothing of anything here and found himself in jungles on what was once known as Borneo.

He made his way, living on what he could and waiting, but that was alright.

He knew that he was on the right world; he waited only for the next feeling to come to him. What came to him in the middle of a swamp was the fearful wail of a frightened little heart. That heart knew nothing of what it called, but that was alright too, he thought. He had the last of what he needed to know.

He stopped moving instantly, standing still as a stone as he sensed what came to him. In seconds, he knew who this little one was and that the female must be close by. The next trembling that he felt gave him the direction and the one after that told him the rough distance.

He began to run, but not in the sense that a person born on this plane would run -- over ground and rocks or wading across streams. He began to run as one who had learned that on other planes, he was a little exempted from distance. His thick and muscular legs drove him forward, but not as one who could accelerate to his maximum speed and go no faster.

That was constant thrust and it had its limits. As he ran, his heart drove him and his outline became less definite. He wasn't constrained here by constant thrust -- the maximum power from his legs moving him at a maximum speed.

There was no limit to him in this sense -- there was only constant acceleration, the constant of moving faster every second than the last. His heart pounded, knowing that he was needed by someone whom he'd never met as well as the one that he'd been hunting for almost two years. His hot breath shot out of his open mouth and his footfalls were steady. The difference was that the distance between them kept increasing.

He disappeared, moving through everything that he encountered - a force from another place.

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Since she was no longer the focus of the conversation, no one noticed the way that Simmit hid her face behind her hair, or the silent tears which ran down her cheeks. She was happy now, so in love with Copper and where they lived with Yuan and Sheth, but it was like a dagger to her heart to see the way that Azrael glared at their children.

It was frightening her young.

The next instant, Simmit felt something and smiled to herself, suddenly knowing that she hadn't been forgotten. She didn't know how it could be, but she felt the approach of a protector and she knew who it was. Her lips began to move almost silently and across the room, Ksyusha and Nika turned from Vadren, feeling something.

"Are you enjoying my ale, Earle, or maybe it's oily Azrael?" Copper grinned, "I didn't mind you screwing me over, since I caught on in time -- once I'd seen you with my friend Luddy here. I took care of her afterward since she was a wreck, and then I found Simmit and her babies freezing in the cold. Not exactly the sort of thing that you promised the loves of your life, was it?

You want to blame somebody for this, then right here, asshole," she pointed to herself. "Look no further."

Azrael looked as though he was about to fly into his fury, but Vadren put his hand over Azrael's arm, "Is all of this true?"

"Of course not," the demon scowled, "I don't know any of these females. This is such bullshit." He looked up at Copper, "And you are so --"

He stopped himself, knowing what was about to come out, "I'm not going to sit here an-"

Rachel put her hand on Azrael's shoulder and pressed down, "Oh, don't worry about her, baby. I'm not done yet."

She tossed the sheaf of photos on the table, spreading them around before the others, "I think you can all see the uh, theme here.

Go on Azrael. Talk your way out of this. I've just got to hear your explanation for this.

Ah!" she grinned as she pointed to the top picture, "I know what you were doing in each of these -- with each of these people. Why, you were pumping them for information, weren't you? Yeah, that's got to be it. Why else would somebody leave his wife alone and wondering why the one for her wasn't home so many nights?"

Before Azrael could reach to grab them, Vadren took one of them, and the others began leafing through quickly and passing them on in the other direction.

"The one on the bottom is the dragon female that he's doing now," Copper said, "That one was taken earlier today, about eight miles from here." She looked at Vadren, "You were at the blacksmith's place out beyond the edge of town."

Vadren nodded, "My horse's hooves needed trimming." He looked at Azrael, "You said that you were going to run down a rumor."

Yuan stepped over, "That is Drene."

She chuckled a little, "I have no place in this here, but I can say that you may have met your match with Drene. She does the same thing, promising love, giving none and flying away afterward."

"Who the hell are you?"

Yuan ignored him and walked away with a bit of a mysterious smile to herself. She remembered what her mother had said that she had to do. This was a bit of drama, she thought, nothing more -- though she felt terrible for Rachel.

In answer to his rudeness, she put just a little into her hips as she walked, just the barest, slimmest bit of motion which not even most females could say was ...

Rachel smiled a little to herself as she saw Azrael's eyes lock on and follow. Though she was upset and hurt and becoming angry enough for this now, she knew what Yuan was doing. For a friend who needed showing, she could see herself doing the same thing.

Without saying a word, Yuan was giving Azrael a chance to damn himself and Azrael was taking the bait which had not even been proffered.

Vadren looked over, "Azrael, ..."

"You've done the same," Azrael said to the Drow as he pulled his gaze away from Yuan reluctantly.

"No, I haven't," Vadren replied, "I have never misled anyone in this regard. I never made promises to get legs to part for me. I have always made it quite clear each time, and that was before. I would never throw away what I have now."

Vadren looked at Simmit but she was looking down. "How old are they?" he asked.

"A bit over a year," Copper replied.

"A year and some," Vadren repeated, "We had just come back here then. You made these long before you left. You wasted no time while you were telling us that you wished to seek the place where you were born."

There was no humor in Vadren's face as he looked at Azrael, "Why?"

Azrael made no reply and in that moment, he lost a friend for it.

Cha'Khah was in shock. She looked at the pictures and back at Azrael, "You told us that you went to seek clues to more riches -- when we sometimes now have people coming to us to ask for our work. I wondered why you seldom returned with anything."

She shook her head, "I trusted you. I followed you. When I met your son and Rachel, I was so happy that I ached, wishing for so long to have the kind of love that Rachel had."

"Well, I thought that I had it too," Rachel smirked, "But that wasn't what I had at all, was it Azrael?"

Azrael looked from one to the other, "Cha'Khah, I --"

She shook her head, "Look at these little ones. I might consider this some sort of mistake, but I see here," she held up the pictures, "the true worth of anything that you would say to me." Her eyes turned instantly red, "Do not speak to me. Never speak to me."

"Do you feel it?" Nika whispered to Ksyusha, who barely nodded.

"I would warn them -- especially him, but I feel where this comes from, and why. That one has borne much pain alone. Something comes now, but what?"

Nika nodded, "This is none of our business," she said as she turned back to watch.

Cha'Khah looked at Rachel, "I am so sorry, Rachel. Why didn't you tell me?"

Rachel looked over and they all saw her tears, "I didn't know for sure until today. I only knew that what I had was gone. In the last six months, he's never even touched me unless I asked for a hug, and then it was as fast as I could blink. You've been friends for a long time. I didn't want to upset you with my troubles. Just tell me that we're ok. That's all that I need to hear."

Cha'Khah smiled, "We were never not 'ok', Rachel. My friendship is not in question."

Azrael looked up, "Come on, Rach, you don't belie- "

He was pressed up against Vadren for an instant as Rachel's fist cracked across his cheekbone hard enough to split his skin. He turned then and looked up, reaching to touch his cheek. His fingers came away bloody.

"Lying bastard," Rachel sniffled, but only a little, "I think I've finally figured out just why we only had Mom. She didn't run to hide from our father so that he couldn't find us. That story I got from the man who raised us with Mom was all wrong. I know the truth now. He knocked her up and was gone. End of story."

She leaned down, "He was worthless -- just like you. She ran because she didn't want to see him again. She couldn't trust the lies that she knew she'd hear."

She kept her voice coldly quiet as she nodded once, "This is the end of another story. You can have all the fun you want now. Just don't ever try to come back to me. This goes beyond my broken trust in my male. I have to wonder what you saved me for at all. Did you just want somebody in case your girlfriends were out of town or something?

Oh, what's the use?" She said as she turned and walked toward her son, "Come on, Sariel, we've got to talk."

Sariel stood up and met Rachel as she came even with where he stood. He saw his mother's tears then, her wall beginning to crumble before his eyes. He took her hand and looked back over his shoulder only once as they walked out.

"I think I want to be away from here for a little while," she said.

"Where?" Sariel asked, "Can I come with you, Mom? Please?"

"Of course you can," she said, "but I don't know where I'm going yet." She wiped her tears away for a moment, "I just don't think that I want to be here. Not with your father here. You might not understand, but I don't even want to see him right now. This is between him and I, honey. It's got nothing to do with you. He's your father so --"

Sariel looked up and reached to hug his mother, "I don't care, Mom. I'd rather be with you. I never see him anyway. He doesn't talk to me much anymore, not like before we came here."

The others looked at Azrael for a moment, before their attention was drawn to the quiet sounds of Simmit's words, since they were now the loudest sounds in the room. Far off, they heard the beat of heavy footfalls, someone -- or something -- running.

"It comes now," Nika said quietly to Ksyusha, who only nodded.

Simmit's voice grew loud for only one very short phrase as she raised her hands toward Azrael, fingers held back by her small thumbs, her gray eyes looking very striking in her concentration as she cursed him and marked him for her protector with her mind.

The others could plainly feel this now. Vadren stared, along with Selena. Sariel looked back as well. Azrael looked at Simmit then, seeing the way that her tears ran from her chin almost like rain off the edge of a roof.

He saw no sadness in her face. There was nothing there but her hatred and loathing.

Far off, across the open space outside in the darkness of the mountain, something came through the hundreds of feet of solid granite, moving through it and disturbing nothing. The footfalls were like quiet thunder, rapid, heavy, ...

Relentless.

Simmit shouted the last word and flung her fingers out just as she jumped to push Sariel, Rachel and Yuan out of the way.

"I like her already," Nika smiled at Ksyusha and Vadren as she slid away on the bench, "Move, Vadren."

Ksyusha grabbed Vadren's arm and dove, pulling him with her in the other direction, closer to where Nika was.

The air moved around them and Simmit turned to smile and say something as the protector reached the threshold.

"Rohkanh! Tekt lood qiht!" Simmit yelled, pointing straight at Azrael.

It was answered by another phrase and then there was another being in the bar with them all.

"Ayahckt, Simmit," the massive demon grunted in his deep voice as he passed.

His presence was there, but he wasn't just yet. That was the way that he moved in this way. He was slow now to what his speed had been, but his feet still moved to his pounding pace and there was nothing slow in the way that he entered. The others only barely saw a large and powerful demon, larger than Arrax by a small measure.

His light gray eyes flicked once to Simmit and his lips pulled into a smile, but he looked forward again and the smile turned cold as he ran. Azrael tried to get to his feet, but he stopped still and began to fall over, taken by something which the runner sent to him.

The demon growled as he reached out, still running. He grunted again as he took Azrael's weight and inertia by only one hand - around the blonde demon's throat. "Besht tah," he growled and was gone.

The protector didn't stop. He didn't even slow down a little. He just kept on at the same pace and then he was gone, right through the opposite wall just as he'd come through everything else, leaving no sign of his passage -- no hole in the wall of the bar that he'd run through, nothing disturbed, other than the grainy photographs of Azrael breaking his vows to Rachel as the papers flew in the disturbed air of the demon's wake.

"What in blazes was that?" Copper said, almost in a whisper. She looked at Yuan; they all did, but Yuan shook her head, staring at Simmit.

"That was -- "

Simmit nodded, smiling broadly through her tears now.

"My brother has FOUND MEEEEEEE!" she howled out in joy to the ceiling, her small fist flashing upward in triumph and she called after him, almost cheering, "Tekt-shih Rohkanh! Tekt shih dran!"

"That was your brother?" Copper asked as she looked up and Simmit nodded with a smile. Copper looked farther out and joined the others in staring at the corner of the bar where Vadren gaped at the empty seat next to him.

Azrael was gone.

"Where did he take Azrael?" Rachel asked, but Simmit only shook her head, "I cannot know this, Rachel." Yuan looked at Simmit and tried to feel what she could, but little came to her. Several of the others looked at each other.

"I'd have thought," Selena began, "that for a casting like that, I'd have felt more of a build-up beforehand. I only felt something right at the end."

Ksyusha nodded, "We felt it before this, but we didn't know what was intended."

"But the words --"Cha'Khah began.

"The words were not the drawing of this," Yuan said, "This was no casting. Over the last while, I have come to know Simmit's speech quite well. I did not hear the beginning, only near to the end."