The Mother of Monsters

By the time the rest of the cultists were rounded up and brought back to consciousness, word had spread throughout the caravan about their beliefs and goals. Azrael was once again doubled over, sitting in the carriage as she wheezed out another round of laughter. Paraklytus couldn’t help himself as well, snickering every time he looked at Teyva’s unamused expression. Elat and Sari were beyond confused and Conrad simply covered his face in mutually felt embarrassment for his lady-liege.

“I don’t understand what is so funny,” Sari grumbled, crossing her arms, “These people believe you are a prophesied bringer of the end-times, doesn’t that concern you even a little?”

Azrael howled out another laugh and pressed her face against the glass. Little Stella began to giggle and laugh in her mother’s arms. She obviously didn’t know what was so funny but hearing her aunt’s amusement was enough to get her going. Teyva rested her head against the wall behind her back and looked up at the colony of mockeries that had set themselves up on the ceiling. Azrael finally caught her breath, waving her hands as if begging for mercy before sitting up straight and wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Twice now, twice!” She managed between chuckles. She turned to Sari, “Sorry, you gotta understand that knowing this one as well as we do, and then hearing her described as some ‘unavoidable approaching doom’ is a little much,” She snickered, “Seriously, Elat, you didn’t know about the thing with the Akurai?”

“When did that happen?” Elat asked.

“When you-” Azrael trailed off, “Oh yeah, that was the day you proposed,” She blushed a little and cleared her throat, “I guess you had other things on your mind.”

“Absurdity aside,” Sari bit out, “How do you plan on handling this?” She asked, pinning her stare on Teyva.

Teyva let out a breath, “Well the guards are keeping an eye on the cultists as we travel so I’m not super worried about them causing any real problems. They’ll take us to wherever they’re set up and we’ll have a chat with their leader,” Teyva glanced at Paraklytus who’s body was trembling with mirth and sighed, “I’ll introduce myself as their fabled destroyer and see if we can’t get them to stop dicking around in the wildlands. Sounds like they’re causing problems for the Elven King as well so if we clear that up before meeting with him we might earn ourselves some extra points.”

“Prudent, if a bit aggressive,” Conrad said thoughtfully, “Would it not be wiser to go to the King first and have him offer a reward?”

Teyva chucked, “Who says we have to tell the King we’ve already solved his problem ahead of time?”

Paraklytus’ eyes glowed, “My Queen’s mischief knows no bounds, truly a goddess of change,” He crooned, his voice trembling with an oncoming fit of laughter.

“Would you stop calling me that!” Teyva barked, rounding on him.

“Just accept it, besides, you’re looking a gift horse in the mouth,” Azrael pointed out, grinning ear to ear, “These guys are willing to do just about anything for you. I say use that.”

Teyva rubbed the bridge of her nose, “Fine, I’ll pretend to be their goddess of doom for a little while, happy?”

Perry and Azrael started snickering again and Teyva let out a sigh. She glanced over at Sari and offered the disgruntled orc a smile, “Thank you again for your help out there.”

“I just made sure Sir Conrad here didn’t do any permanent harm, I’d hardly call that helping,” She said, waving her hand, “As far as I’m concerned my debt to you is still outstanding so if you don’t mind I’d like to take on the next batch of trouble.”

Teyva shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

“Now hang on a minute,” Elat growled, rounding on Sari, “I-”

Sari cut him off with a raised hand, “Elat, I can handle myself in a fight.”

“Then why do my men have to escort you out of the forest when you travel?” He demanded.

“First, they escort me to the edge of the forest, second, I handle any fighting we do, and third, they do it to make you feel better because you’re a worry wart,” Sari said, crossing her arms.

Elat opened his mouth to retort only to close it and frown. Azrael patted his shoulder, “She’s got you there, love.”

With that, both Teyva and Elat hung their heads in defeat for a while as the carriage continued up the path. They followed the same route the humans were taking for a while, hours grinding on into nightfall. They made camp at the base of one of the many rocky slopes that had completely filled their surroundings. Teyva set herself up on top of the marble carriage, stroking Nephral’s head while contemplating what to do next. She glanced down at those milling about below, surrounding the various campfires. The cultists kept to themselves, huddled in a small circle and choosing not to interact with anyone else present. Occasionally they would sneak reverent glances in Teyva’s direction. She was relieved that they hadn’t swarmed her and begged her for some kind of blessing yet. She watched Sari set herself up a good distance away from everyone else, while Paraklytus drifted between the various groups and spoke quietly with them.

“What can you tell me about antibiotics, Nephral?” Teyva asked, her gaze lingering on the dangerous orc woman who had begun working in her notebooks again.

“Would you like a technical explanation or something more layman, mother?” He asked, his tail flicking left and right as she scratched behind one of his ears.

She shook her head, “Nevermind, that response is enough for me,” Teyva said, “Sari over there is hungry for knowledge,” She nodded toward the woman, “Would you mind offering her a taste of what you know?”

“I would much rather lounge here with you, mother,” Nephral said curtly, “I do not like her scent. She smells like blood and death.”

“I know she does,” Teyva said, “But she could be invaluable on our side. A little taste of what she could learn from sticking with us might give her incentive to stay longer.”

The feline opened one eye and stared at the woman for several moments before flexing his wings and standing up, “A sound use of my ability, dear mother. What do you plan to do with your evening?”

“I’ve got a request to make of Perry,” Teyva said, “I need to start doing some training ahead of confronting Rani.”

“You believe you’ll be facing her soon?” He asked, looking worried.

“I’ll be facing her on my terms, if that’s what you’re asking. I have no intention of getting dead up here so far away from a respawn point,” Teyva said dismissively, she scratched under his chin and gave him a kiss atop his head, “Be good.”

The feline’s tail twitched and he dipped into a brief bow before leaping off the side of the carriage and gliding over to Sari who jumped when he landed. A moment of quiet conversation later and Sari looked up at Teyva who waved and slipped off the side of the carriage to alight near where Paraklytus had finally stopped to linger. To her left she found Conrad crouched down, his eyes closed and a small snore rumbling out from his lips. She looked over at Paraklytus, “I need your help with something.”

The lich inclined his head, “I am at your disposal, majesty.”

She lead him around to the back of the carriage, out of sight of the others, and rounded on him. “I’ll keep the explanation brief, I have a trait called [Adaptable] which allows me to develop resistances to forms of magic and other effects if I’m exposed to them enough. From what I’ve figured the hardest part is developing the initial resistance. After that I just need constant exposure to build it up. It was how I developed my immunity to death magic,” Teyva explained.

“Ah, I recall your tribulations in the tomb during my scrying on your life,” Paraklytus mused, “Your repetitive deaths and rebirths had served to accelerate the process, yes?”

“Right,” Teyva said, crossing her arms and shuddering at the memory, “Well here’s the thing, I recently developed a resistance to mental and spiritual effects.”

Paraklytus’ eyes flashed, “And you want me to impose my mana on you at a constant rate to help build it into yet another immunity to further innoculate yourself in preparation for your confrontation with Rani,” He said, rubbing his chin.

Teyva grinned, “Look, Perry, I don’t just want to beat her when the time comes, I want to absolutely crush her. I want to see that look in her eyes when she realizes just how bad her situation is. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, I need it to be decisive, no chances taken.”

“Then we will begin immediately, majesty, from this day forth I will be constantly on the attack. I hope you are prepared,” The lich said, “This will not be comfortable and I might suggest you have someone else hold little Stella for a while.”

Teyva nodded, “Whatever I have to do.”

“Excellent, I look forward to seeing how long it takes for you to develop an immunity. It will be an invaluable experiment,” He crooned, “Though might I suggest we pause this training once we arrive at the cultist’s base of operations?”

“Nah,” Teyva said waving her hand, “I figure any additional stress can only help the process along.”

The lich bowed, “Very well, majesty.”