Breaking the Rules Pt. 13

"I'm glad you said something," Nuru said, frowning as he pulled the towel back into position.

Onyekachi waved his hand, and off Nuru went again, a bit more sedately this time. "Thanks for coming by!"

"Thanks for the level! I'll be back soon, I'm sure."

*****

"-not joining them?" Ace said.

"I dare anyone to say I didn't do enough, getting Nuru out of there," Dayo said. "Besides, he needs an escort back to our rally point for tomorrow, with all those little pygmy trolls no doubt looking for him everywhere."

"Oh, we're not going to make it before I've got to go, are we?" Ace said.

"It is getting a bit late," Dayo agreed. "We'll make it maybe halfway from Sapphire City to the port before the sun goes down."

"I'm not much good against ghouls and vamps anyway," Ace said. "Their heightened senses cancel out my sneak abilities."

"We'll make it work," Dayo said. "Ready to go, Nuru?"

"Yep."

He climbed up on Ace's mount again, and settled in while the thief puffed into a hazy nothingness. It wasn't long, and then the horse started off; Dayo Shadow Walked off into the distance, and the whole way to Sapphire City, he was alone with his thoughts. Once there, however, he met Ace and Dayo outside of city gates, where the horse came to a stop of its own accord.

"You're sure this is a good idea?" Ace said. "We can just wait until tomorrow."

"What do you think, Nuru? Want to get a room for the night?" Dayo said.

"I'd rather be close, so I can go see Gram first thing tomorrow. I don't know how long Jaheem is going to wait around. He's already doing me a favor, showing up."

"Good point," Dayo said. "OK, here's what we'll do. Ace, go to port and call your horse, but make it slower. Light jogging pace. My mount can keep up with that, and I'll ride along behind you in case anything happens on the way. We might get there about midnight, but we'll get there."

"Are you sure? Isn't that uncomfortable?" Nuru said.

"I've done it before, for worse reasons. Slept on the way, once. Besides, Furaha's waiting until I get there to go home to bed; it would be rude not to show up."

"Can't be that bad then, I guess. OK, let's do it."

Ace ran off towards the library, and a short time later they were on the move again. Past city limits, Dayo called the diresnake and let it swallow them up; Nuru shivered to watch it happen. Naturally, they couldn't chat much, so Nuru worked on his drum proficiency.

"!Wahayi mai kida!"

He didn't do musical trance, since the horse didn't need to go any faster; but he did want to calm his nerves, and especially the horse as it got shifty with the sun going down, so he settled on Influence Emotions. Well past dusk, he decided to stop playing and let the spell lapse, since it might be good for the animal's instincts to be sharp for the very real threats the night held, and he didn't want the sound to carry and attract trouble. Once again, he cursed his handling of telling Tusa about the meeting with Gram, for not finding a way to avoid upsetting the lyena; with both he and Dayo around, he would feel much better about his chances out here. For awhile, he thought everything was going to be fine, particularly as he passed a number of adventurer parties riding by with torches. Until the last one, a pair of well-equipped paladins, stopped to confront him.

"Are you mad?! Get to shelter! The ghouls are out!" one said.

"The horse is fast, don't worry," Nuru said.

"I pray you are correct," the other said. "Ghouls are swift, and numerous. Do not underestimate them!"

"Thank you for your concern," Nuru said, not wanting to admit to travelling with a Low Factioner to an already-suspicious pair.

Dayo's mount was pulling through the grass with hardly a whisper just off the road, and they didn't notice as they passed him going the other direction.

(Hey! You got some kind of light, right? What was that Ashanti had?)

/Yeah, not really good for moving around.!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!/

Nuru yelped and the horse shied as a glowing ball leaped from his fingertips and floated up in the air. It hissed and spat angrily.

(No way to bring it with me at all?)

/You can swat it down the road a bit, I guess. If you could summon an imp, it could hold it for you and keep pace, but I can't summon anything to your plane without help. One of those limits placed by the Creators; we need a mortal to supply the spell itself, the most we can do to participate is supply the target name. Here in the demon realm, of course, I can just toss a few EXP to an imp floating by./

(OK, I think I get it.)

"!Motsa Sihir!" he held out a hand towards the ball dwindling behind him; it drifted gently backwards, like a gentle breeze was emanating from him, although he felt nothing physically.

He pondered for a minute, then held his hand high in the air, fingertips pointed forwards and just a little bit down.

"!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Motsa Sihir!"

The angry ball sprang from his fingertips, and then rocketed forwards, startling the horse again, nearly throwing him free. His hand dropped to the horn of the saddle to steady him; the horse gave the floating ball of energy a wide berth, giving Nuru no chance to give it a shove in the right direction and keep it with him. He studied it as the horse sauntered by.

"OK, that is frigging bad-ass," Nuru said.

He was used to magic being impressive to look at, by the very nature of doing what no other force in the world could; this, however, took it to a whole new level.

(What happens if I touch it?)

/You'll burn yourself. Not enough to do serious damage, but it'll leave a mark. Not recommended. Also, not a great weapon, it got nerfed several Expansions ago, shortly after I got it; pissed me off to no end. Still sets off demon alarms, though./

(So it's like a snowball, made of fire or whatever.)

/It's the lightest version of a hellfire ball. Good for light and, I guess, intimidation if you're not used to seeing those every day. I forgot what that must look like to a mortal; all I can see now is a pathetic little light. It used to kill gremlins; now it's just a slap in the face, to both them and me. Costs less MP now, at least./

(Don't watch, then. I'm gonna have some fun with this.)

/Nuru, you're going to attract attention./

For many long minutes, he practiced conjuring hellfire balls and firing them forward and to the sides. Just as he remembered, striking the ground caused it to burst into a dozen or more hot sparks with a pop. The horse grumbled unhappily.

"Easy there, it's fine," Nuru said soothingly.

/Nuru!/

(OK, I'll stop.)

/Too late./

"Oh... shit. Dayo. Dayo!"

The horse whickered again as gleaming eyes surveyed him from the trees.

"!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Motsa Sihir!"

The hellfire ball scattered a couple dark shapes before striking a bush, making a few leaves glow with embers around the edges. A few raspy, wordless calls came at him, and several more answered. Nuru looked wildly around; the snake was there, just meandering along. He fired another ball directly at it; it stopped and hissed angrily as the light passed within inches of its head. It spat an egg and turned away.

"No... no no no, Dayo where are you going!?"

Two dark shapes approached the egg, looking for an easy meal. What they got instead was an adrenaline-fueled valkyrie that exploded from the egg with an arcane blast, a shadow-walk behind one of them, and a heavy staff knocking it flat into the hardening mud where a rune had been thrown, a whirling scythe strike which caught the other ghoul right in the neck, giving the perfect leverage to lop its head off, not quite cleanly but close enough that it fell backwards held on by only the skin in the back, and then just as the first ghoul tore itself up out of the hardening ground, it was laid back down with a heavy blow to the back of the skull.

"Nuru, we're under attack! Why didn't you call me!?"

"I did!" he replied, throwing a few more balls forward to light up the road.

"Shit, I must have been falling asleep."

This was too much for the horse, which jolted forward, throwing Nuru clear and bolting into the night.

"Dammit!!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!!Gunung Seuneuan Hampang!" Nuru called three balls close together, throwing blinding rays of light in all directions.

"Ack! Nuru, I can't shadow walk with those around!"

"They don't seem to like it either, though."

"What happens when they aren't scared anymore?"

He added two more balls before one of the ghouls decided to test it, darting forward with inhuman speed.

"!Motsa Sihir!" Nuru said, putting his hand straight towards the blur coming his direction.

The ghoul screamed in rage and surprise as, instead of disemboweling him, it was thrown in a huge shower of sparks produced by the impact of all five hellfire balls to flop around on the ground several feet back. This was long enough for the light to die, and Dayo to sweep in and pin the scythe straight through its chest and into the ground.

"Now listen here, and listen good," the valkyrie growled. "This one here belongs to me. You want his blood - you'll pay for it with your own. Come one, come all, I'll rip the soul of your previous life out straight through the chest, just like little Sparky here. Who wants to be first?!Rai Magudana!"

The third ghoul expired noisily and its soul snapped into Dayo's lantern. Nuru caught the slightest sound and conjured a fireball just as a ghoul hand reached out to him; the ball exploded against its shoulder and he dodged instinctively. Dayo caught it somewhere on the leg and sent it sprawling; then repeatedly Shadow Walked in the directions it tried to flee, landing a heavy blow each time, before pinning it to the ground with the scythe just like the other.

"Oh, yes. Bring me your cursed souls, you putrid maggots! I am only growing stronger!" Dayo crowed.

The valkyrie collected the souls of the fallen, and revived a body spat out by the diresnake. It lay motionless until Dayo gave it the command, "!Kare Hoto Cikin Mutuwa!"

It was the body of a burly fighter, heavily armored and, though unarmed, could take a righteous beating from the similarly-unarmed ghouls which didn't bother to hold on to much in the way of armor. Something about the body itself must have attracted them, because they tore at it with gleeful abandon, tackling and dogpiling it in a feeding frenzy. Dayo threw down rune after rune, each time hopping up and casting Arcane Blast and shoving the targeted ghoul deep into the earth where the hardening ground swallowed it up. Then, one at a time, they slammed the scythe blade into the ground, followed by an Arcane Blast to send it slicing deep, straight into the trapped ghoul's body. The blade dematerialized, and the process began again with the next one. Towards the end, the last ghouls were almost able to rip their way back up out of the ground by the time Dayo got there, but this only served to make it easier to attack them without needing the Arcane Blast to drive the tip of the scythe into them; the staff smashed down with lethal force and laid them again to rest.

Dayo was giggling madly as they sucked up the last of the souls. Nuru lit another fireball and let it float up above his head.

"Hi, you OK?" the valkyrie said as Nuru stepped close.

"I want you so bad right now," he said, grabbing them tight in a hug.

"You're wel- oh. Oh!" Dayo's hand found his codpiece rubbing up and down their thigh.

The valkyrie unbuckled the straps holding it on and found his erection pressed against them insistently.

"Should I make a ward real quick?"

"Yes, yes yesss..." Nuru hissed into their neck.

"Well let go then, I need my hands for this," Dayo said, shoving him away. "Give me a light though, will you?"

He hopped impatiently as the ward was formed, tossing a couple hellfire balls high in the air to illuminate the area without being so close as to be blindingly bright. Once formed, Dayo stepped into the middle of the ward, where Nuru mauled them with his mouth, unbuckling the skirt from the high boots and feasting upon the dew from the valkyrie's lower lips. Once thoroughly wet, Nuru tore down his pants and stuck it in as fast as he dared, kissing Dayo passionately and invading their mouth insistently.

/Hey now, you didn't call me, we had an agreement./

(Sorry, not trying to hide it from you, it just kind of happened.)

/Of course it did. Trust me, I know how it goes!/

Sanaa cackled in the back of his head as he rutted with Dayo, oblivious to nearly anything happening around them. He finally came with a great groan of satisfaction. it took a minute for their breathing to slow, and him to climb back up off.

"Gods... you and Mesi both get worked up when I get rough," Dayo panted, fixing their hat and bucking themselves back together.

"What can I say? You're a sexy beast," Nuru grinned as the lights sputtered and went out.

"Speaking of which, you've got me all hot and bothered now. Mesi's not gonna know what hit her when I get back."

"Tell her 'you're welcome' for me," Nuru chuckled.

"Oh, I will."

"Did you come too?"

"No, but you won't hear me complain. It's gonna be one of those awesome nights. She might take tomorrow off; we're both sleeping in, that's for sure."

/I love my job!/ Sanaa gushed.

*****

Nuru squinted, lashing out at the late morning sun stabbing him in the face. He hadn't gone to see Furaha, instead sticking with his notion that he needed to keep his distance in order not to be targeted at her hut. He was already too lax about that.

"Bah... alright, alright, I'm up," he said, lurching to his feet.

He splashed himself in the face, went to the nearby Quartz Port market, and had a corned meat sandwich for breakfast. There was hardly any fresh food here, aside from a few overpriced fruits and vegetables specifically transported in for sailors. He really wanted some of his fermented juice, but had to settle for plain water. He walked to the meeting place, sat down, and waited. A low growl brought his head up and around.

"!Fassada Girma! My friend, I'm glad to see you. Are you still going to come?"

[I gave my word.]

"Let's go then. The sooner we get there, the less time I have to worry myself sick about this."

He cast Influence Emotions and tapped a soothing rhythm, mostly for himself, back to the place where he and Gram had spoken.

[Leave the noise-maker here,] Jaheem growled softly.

"Yeah... OK." Nuru dropped his drum and stepped slowly forward. "...hello?"

Gram got up from beside the fire, which was still smoldering. He stared at Nuru, then Jaheem. He picked up his bow, and set it on the fire, then bent over and picked up his axe. He scanned the area then turned on his heel and hurled the axe, crashing into the undergrowth far away. He stepped forward slowly and solemly, and as he got close to Jaheem, went down to one knee and hung his head.

Jaheem grunted.

[Speak]

"It is with great regret and mortification that I must acknowledge I have done you a great wrong," Gram said, ignoring Nuru. "I have been blind to what the tracks in the soil have to say, and my reputation is beyond redemption. I have no right to ask anything of you. So today I kneel before you, not for my own sake, but for that of another - a child in need. I am sure you know of Jojo, the boy of strange features. No doubt you know what I did not until very recently, that he carries my blood."

[Yes.]

"He tells me that he suffers at the hands of others. He is not well accepted by the children of better parentage. I ask- no, I have no right to ask. I will just say that, if you have any compassion, you need not ignore or shun him for fear of my retribution, because there will be none. We do have one thing in common, it turns out; a love of family above all else. Where it concerns Jojo's well-being, I will gratefully accept anything that can be done to give him comfort or solace. You know how cruel human children can be."

Jaheem gazed at the man imperiously for a minute.

Twang

Nuru looked up sharply to see a small flurry of sparks rising from the fire, where the bowstring had burned through, and the rest of it was beginning to catch flame as well.

"I... am further shamed to admit that my own nephew, of whom you know, remains no friend of you or yours. Nor, it seems, does he heed any sense of duty to his family, though Jojo is his son. I beg you to take care should he ever appear, and do not think any cruelty beneath him, even at the expense of the boy's safety. I thought I knew my nephew once, but I did not know how deeply his hatred could run."

[Coming from you, that is saying quite a bit.]

"I will mount no defense to that charge. I fear I am beyond redemption. I only hope that you will lay those sins at my feet, and none other."

[You wish me to treat this youth as any of the other human cubs I play and sit with?]

"Yes."

[There is no joy in vengeance, only in a life well-lived. I will approach the young one and do what I may.]

Jaheem turned ponderously and walked away; Gram remained kneeling. Nuru followed, and could swear he saw tears in the ranger's eyes. They walked for awhile, quietly; Nuru grabbed his pack and drum, and Tusa fell in beside them.

"Nuru!"

He turned in time for a scroll case to land at his feet.

"The payment due... and delivered."

Nuru broke out in goosebumps, remembering hearing those same words whispered as his home was assaulted, his trapped ghoul killed, and a note left on his fence threatening his life. He snatched it up and ran to catch up to the lyenas.

[You didn't tell him,] Tusa said, looking back and apparently deciding they had gone far enough not to be heard.

[I'm not certain he was ready to know. I'm also not certain the child would want him to know,] Jaheem responded.

[He is family. You don't think he deserves to hear it?] Tusa said.

[Perhaps. But Jojo must be the one to do it.] Jaheem replied.

"Hear what?" Nuru asked quietly.

Tusa shook himself, but held his tongue. It was Jaheem that spoke up.

[A fine lyena you have become, Tusa. I commend your restraint. Nuru, I will say this, because I believe you are positioned to advise - either you, or someone you know, perhaps. The child Jojo was not born a boy. Tusa has told me of your conversation, where the male and the female carry greater roles than their parts in mating and childbirth. These human customs are beyond my ken, but I know it has caused this youth great distress. The male role appeals more than the female, despite the body she was born to. More than anything, I avoided the child because I knew Gram would not take the flattering interpretation of my involvement if he ever learned this truth. He might accuse me of corrupting her, for doing little more than continue to be seen in her presence. Now he has asked for my help, but I am lost as to how, if not the simplest of ways.]

"That might be enough. Sometimes there's nothing you can do but be supportive. But it sounds like someone else might be able to talk to... him. It sounds like he prefers to be referred to that way. Dayo, whom you've met, uses 'they' and 'them' for their references. You're right, it's a complicated thing, and I myself struggle with it sometimes. But... Ace. You know Ace, right? Yeah, you played that keep-away game with the leg armors once. He said he met some people from Samba's Spectrum faction that helped him figure out some issue kind of like that. Maybe he can make the introduction. It's likely Jojo will decide to join that faction if it goes well, but I suspect that is all but inevitable from what I've heard about the faction generally."

[Then I did well to conceal this. Gram must learn in his own time about this, from the child... himself. Hmm. This strains my ability to speak. I will have to practice, lest the youth learn my language and take offense at the mistake,] Jaheem said.