Malaggar

Angry steps were heard almost all over the camp, and many curious eyes were focused on rushing Drake. He had a furious look on his face as he searched for Teo.
Why do people have to be so suicidal? Selfish and stubborn. God, Stupid mage.
He just kept walking fast, shouting Teo's name. After a while he bumped into Iisai, who looked at him with confusion in his eyes.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking Teo for?"
Drake gave Iisai a murderous look.
"Kathy has wandered off, threatening to kill some tauren."
For a moment, all they heard was wind, as Iisai simply stood there, not believing his ears.
"She what? To kill? But why?"
"Look I don't know, I have no idea. I just need to tell Teo"
Drake growled and walked past Iisai with long strides. He heard Iisai running right behind him, bombarding him with questions. Finally, Drake stopped and sighed.
"look, I have no idea what she has against that tauren, and it's not really my problem, I just don't want her to start a war here."
"But who the heck is the tauren, you have any idea?"
Drake halted, thought for a moment.
"I think the name was Malaggar."
And all of a sudden they heard a shout behind them.
"WHAT?! She is going to slay Malaggar?"
The guys turned around and faced the shocked Quesmar.
"Please tell me that's a lie!"
Drake shook his head.
"I'm afraid that's exactly what he said. Is Malaggar somehow important?"
Quesmar looked incredibly angry, but it was not clear whether it was because of Kathy or Malaggar.
"Lord Malaggar Snowmane, my former liege and the leader of all of us tauren. He is the one who banished us from our tribe."
Drake and Iisai exchanged a fast look.
"Don't you think we... should tell Ouragan as well?"
Iisai whispered. Drake nodded with a determinate look on his face.

"What are you guys making ruckus here?" Teo approached them after she had heard the shouts.
"Teo!" Both Iisai and Drake exclaimed at the same time.
It was still rather early morning and she had been away less than half an hour but still they had both had time to notice she was missing.
"You haven't caused us any further trouble have you?" She eyed them suspiciously.
Her head was mildly aching after crying like that and she hoped and wished she wouldn't need to save anyone's butt today.
"Umm... Not us... But Kathy..." Iisai started.
Dear lord... What now?
"She's off to kill some Malaggar..." Added Drake.
Her eyes widened and she stepped aback.
"She's WHAT!?"
No... no no no no!
At this point Quesmar interrupted them.
"We must run to tell Ouragan. This affair demands urgent attention from her".
The small group hurried to the mighty tent of Stormcrow and made their way in. She stood there and gave them a harsh look.
"What brings you here at this time of the morning?" Came her mind startling question...
Teo felt cold shivers run down her spine when she heard it, Ouragan hadn't spoken to her before. Quesmar replied for them.
"The mage with them... Has left to slay Malaggar Snowmane."
There was a moment of complete silence when Ouragan simply burned them with her gaze but then burst out laughing.
"Oh, that's marvellous. Let her try, friend, let her try." She spoke to Quesmar..
Teo, Drake and Iisai were stunned. Ouragan had just heard that their friend was off to kill a fellow tauren and she laughed.
"Excuse me but... You are fine with that?" Iisai asked, hesitating a little on each word.
"By all means. If she succeeds it's a favour to us all Ravenfeather's. If she dies, none of our problems."
"Who IS Malaggar Snowmane?" Drake questioned, looking more and more confused every passing moment.
Ouragan sat down and looked at them slightly tired.
"He is the leader of all taurens outside from out tribe" Quesmar mumbled.
Then he spoke something to Ouragan in taurahe that was followed by a rather long silence.
"Quesmar thinks it is time to tell you why you are here" She finally said, looking deep in thought..
"We would all be thrilled to hear that, we have a mission to fulfil..." Iisai started and looked at Teo for support..
"That's right. You have messed up our schedule by dropping us and we would finally like to hear a reason for that. We don't have time to waste, we have some bloodshed to prevent." Teo spoke for the first time since they had stepped into the tent. She had folded her arms and glared at Ouragan. "My client could have died in that crash!" She exclaimed.
Ouragan leaned back on her seat and returned her glare.
"Like I have said before, not everything went as planned. We were going to fly there with a group and ask you nicely to land. We only would have used force if you had refused. However, Malaggar's troops attacked at the most critical moment and I had to come by my self."
"Then why did you just straight shoot us down, rather than trying to negotiate like you planned at first?" Teo snorted.
"I was out of time and you would have been shot down nevertheless, by Malaggar's troops. Better have you crash on our land than theirs. The whole reason my tribe is here is so that the 'red haired demon' wouldn't be caught by him." "Hold on.. Iisai interrupted.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?"
"It is what Malaggar thinks you are. He wants you dead because for some reason he thinks you are demon. Exorcising you would bring him and his clan great honour. Not just you, Esaias too. You are both to be beheaded if you set foot outside of this camp."
"Why would he think Iisai is a demon?!" Drake laughed uneasily and seemed amused.
"That I do not know, but my strong doubt is that Balu has something to do with it. It is my belief that they want you down, do they not?" She looked at Iisai, from head to toe.
"Yeah. They don't want me to fulfill Soko's request..." He looked small and tired.
"Soko's request? What IS your quest, red one?"
"I am assigned to retrieve some blue prints and then build the device descripted on it. It is supposed to end the war without further bloodshed."
Ouragan looked suspicious.
And what is this device?
Iisai shrugged.
"I don't know. It's my guess it's a weapon of some kind. We were hurrying to Malbo before we were sabotaged when we had to stop at Maue. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"
He looked at her, holding back his anger.

It took a long while for Aikatherinee to lose the hostile tauren guards of Windmane tribe that were tracking her down far from everywhere. She stood panting behind some bushes, listening carefully for any suspicious sounds. The tauren were yelling at one another, commanding and blaming. The whole camp was in chaos, everyone running around, screaming and panicking, and Aikatherinee hadn't even gotten a clue where this Malaggar was located. She was upset for she did not understand what was causing all this ruckus.
Screw this, screw this all, she cursed and started running towards what she thought was the fastest way back into the Ravenfeather camp.
The undergrowth got tangled to her skirt and scraped long cuts into her legs. She was very aware that the fact that she had had to execute one of the guards that got too close did not make her attempt to escape any easier. After another while of running and a couple of falling over Aikatherinee suspected that someone was still following her.
"Come on, show me yourself, bastard!" she yelled from the bottom of her lungs, too exhausted to run and hide no more.
At first, it was silent. Then, accompanied by a huge roar, a white male tauren rushed forward from nowhere, making Aikatherinee lose balance in startlement. The tauren stood few feet away from her, straightened himself to his full height and snorted. They merely stood there, both trying to look intimidating, but after a while the tauren had enough and almost ran over Aikatherinee. Only then did she notice the huge bag he was carrying on his shoulder. She just stood there, staring, until she realised what she was running from, lifted her skirt and trotted after the tauren, for he was heading the same way for a reason unknown. It did not take too long for them both to see the familiar tents and dark guards of Ravenfeather. All the guards got on their feet, started shouting and pointing at them. The mysterious white tauren stood silently, watching the scene. And in no time, two familiar figures showed up, Ouragan and - what had Iisai called her, Betsy? Ouragan rose her voice over everything else, pointing her words obviously to this new tauren who didn't listen to the angry words, but simply emptied his bag in front of his new audience, turning out to be a bloody head of some age old tauren with the hugest horns ever. Everything, even the birds, fell silent.

Ouragan was just going to answer Iisai's question when a tauren ran to the tent, shouting something in taurahe. Ouragan bounced on her feet and ran out, Quesmar following right after. The camp was in chaos; all taurens had gathered around one white creature who had thrown something on the ground. Iisai struggled to get through the mass and see what was going on, dragged by Teo and followed by Drake. Suddenly she stopped and Iisai hit his nose on her back.
"Teo, what the heck is going on there!?" He asked her, holding his nose.
"It's Kathy..." She started." Standing by a white tauren, with someone's head in their feet..."
Her voice trailed off. The crowd was restless, and everyone seemed to be waiting for Ouragan's reaction. Finally she spoke. She seemed to ask him something, but our small party could not understand it due to the language wall.
"Who is that tauren?" Teo asked Quesmar as she finally had made her way there.
"That is Alak Mistrunner" He whispered her, as Alak spoke something in an angry tone.
"What are they saying? That head.. It's not Malaggars is it?"
"I'm a afraid it is."
But he didn't explain further as he paid attention to the conversation. Then suddenly, Betsy ran to Alak and threw her arms around, just when Iisai was able to peek over Teo's shoulder. Alak closed her in his arms and there was a silence followed. Some random cheers could be heard over the camp, but there were also disagreeing glares and mumble. Iisai stared in awe. Betsy looked so very happy, maybe even cried.

Swiftly, Aikatherinee rushed to the safety behind Drake's back. Teo and Drake were purely confused, but Iisai was seemingly jealous over his friend. Ouragan was still questioning Alak over Betsy's shoulder, and there was certain tension amongst the crowd. Low murmur echoed into Teo's ears and she knew it wouldn't be healthy for Iisai to be in the middle of this flock.
"Alright, Iisai, show's over" She shouted over her shoulder and pushed Iisai back where they came from. Iisai was hardly being persistent and they both were safely in their tent when first tauren hit the dirt and a fistfight began. Iisai was peeking outside from the doorway as Teo sat down and flexed, strangely calm. After fourth tauren knew no more, Iisai decided it was enough for him. He had to admit all these angry tauren made him feel small and weak, but then he just had to remind himself that he always had Teo to look after him. It always, without exception, made him feel better and smile, and so it did this time too. He turned to face the girl to receive a smile or a kind word, but got nothing. Teo was paying close attention to the sounds of the fight, angry shouts and stomping of large hooves. When Iisai suddenly appeared behind her and in his need for attention and caress wrapped his arms around her, she leaped on her feet and stepped a few feet away from the boy.
"What are you doing, keep your hands off me!" she shouted over the chaos outside. Iisai just stared at her, confused.
"Wha.. what's wrong? Teo, I'm... I'm sorry, I won't do that again, promise. Now sit back down, please.."
"No! I'm not here to huggle you, not for your amusement or company! I'm on duty and this is strictly forbidden! Keep your hands away from me, fool!"
Complete silence. Iisai stared, quietly, nothing more. Teo turned her back at the boy and sighed. The fight outside seemed to calm down.

As the taurens had settled down, they began to prepare for a fiesta by the command of Ouragan. There was this certain cheeriness in the air and everyone seemed happy at the peace. Teo was looking at the sight from farther away, Iisai was with Drake and Kathy. He was within her vision, but they hadn't spoken at all after their last conversation. She felt herself shaking inside, knowing what she had said had hurt the boy deeply. It couldn't be helped though. She had already almost touched death, and couldn't risk any further lack off from work because of her softening feelings towards him.
He hates me now... But that's fine... It's safer for him... I can stay focused and do my job.
...And it doesn't matter it eats your heart out?
...No... I would feel worse if he died due to my selfish feelings.
....Fine.
Her consciousness ached, but she stomped its cries down and decided to focus on what was truly important. As the day moved on and the sun had reached it's peak and once again horizon, the fiesta was ready to begin. Quesmar had told them what had happened, roughly going through the conversation between Alak and Ouragan. He had slain Malaggar to end the war between the tauren tribes so he could find a place to be with Betsy since they had been forced to live in different tribes. It wasn't unclear to anyone anymore at that point that the two of those were lovers. Kathy had been just a little too late to do it herself. On good news Ouragan had promised them that they could leave as soon as the airship's repairment was done. A small group of taurens had been working on it all day and they should be good to go come tomorrow. Drake had pointed out Barons absence to Teo who didn't look too worried. She had merely shrugged and told them he was most likely fine. Besides, he would have wanted them to continue as soon as possible, she reminded. In fact Teo knew exactly what had happened to him, but was simply too tired of explaining it. They didn't understand for Atracs or their tricks. Explaining something as complicated as that would have slipped by them anyways. He would show up in time and tell them himself if he felt like it. It was no duty of hers.

As the night grew darker, the air came thick with fest spirit, that was enough to intoxicate every one present. Everyone laughed, sang, celebrated. Alak was lifted on Ouragan's left side, her right side being occupied by non other than Quesmar. Iisai, Drake and Kathy got their share of all the food and drinks, but Teo wasn't in the mood for a feast that had nothing to do with them no more. She had slipped further away to stay out from the public focus when she ran into Esaias. The man smiled politely, bowed and took Teo by the hands.
"You can't understand how happy I am for this wretched war is over! All these poor souls could think was fighting, fighting and more fighting. It's unbelievably frustrating not to mention tiresome. When I heard you all were going to arrive here, I knew, oh I knew in my heart this would finally be done with!"
"Esaias.."
"I know, talking too much, holding hands, sorry" still smiling, Esaias let Teo go. "You simply can't understand how much of your mother I see in you. I miss her so.. She was a fine lady, yes she was."
Teo lowered her head. Again this man had brought forth so many bad, subdued memories. Not intentionally, maybe, but it didn't help much.
"In any case" He kept talking, "I really have to talk with Iisai before you all leave or drink yourselves to stupor. Simply ask him a thing or two, nothing fancy."
Teo rose her gaze and stared deep into Esaias' deep, warm brown eyes. She smiled faintly. Esaias' smile just widened and he tilted his head.
"There, that's the smile I loved so. Oh, how many sleepless nights it saved, so many rainy days. I remember-"
"Esaias, just go and talk to Iisai before he'll have one too many" Teo shoved over at the feast's direction, not being able to help herself from smiling still. Esaias' grin was simply too catchy. He nodded.
"You're right, if he's any like me, he won't stand through this local spirit"
Esaias laughed and rushed past her, waving his hand. Teo waved back, calmly, turned on her heels and kept walking towards some quiet place.

Esaias took his time walking around between the jolly tauren, searching for the newcomers. Behind everyone, he saw a tuft of white braid and a pair of long ears.
Eey, it's the dark elf girl... The pretty one, yea, real pretty, Esaias' mind was wandering away as was its usual wont, and carefully made his way to Aikatherinee.
"Hey.. Hey, darky!" Esaias poked Aikatherinee's shoulder.
"I have a name too, you creepy thing" Aikatherinee snorted. She hadn't gotten used to being outsider in a celebration such as this.
"Sorry" A faint smile rose on Esaias' face "What was it then, Cathrine?"
Aikatherinee burst out laughing. "Wish that it were! No, call me Kathy."
"Got that, Kathy" Esaias tried his best to seem stable. "You've seen Iisai around here, eh?"
"Yup, I saw him just a moment ago, somewhere over yonder" Aikatherinee pointed over some tables and vanished into the crowd.
Esaias decided to make his way to the boy as soon as possible, before something got in the way. It took only a few strides to locate him, and another few to get to him. After a moment's hesitation, Esaias placed his hand on Iisai's shoulder, almost scaring him dead.
"Sorry boy, sorry" Esaias backed off. "I didn't mean to..."
"Yea right, you creep. Where have you been again? 'Cause if you've laid a finger on Teo-"
Sudden wave of anger flew through Esaias and he reached out, grabbed Iisai by his shirt and pulled him away from the crowd. Drake had almost jumped between them, but Esaias' wave of hand made Drake's mug catch fire, causing mild panic among the watchers. Iisai was shoved farther and farther, shocked by what had happened to Drake's drink.
"Now you listen, Iisai, I'm not bothering you for fun." All warmth had escaped Esaias' voice, a deep frown backed his tone up. "I do not know for certain, but I have a strong feeling you are not just about anyone. You're something different. And I don't mean some saviour of the war or the right hand of that rabbit of an emperor; I'm talking about something far more."
Iisai's eyes widened and he tried to open his mouth, but all words got stuck in his throat.
"I know you don't believe me, I wouldn't believe myself, but I have my reasons to believe you are of my blood and flesh, Iisai".
Iisai shook his head. "I can't be, I can't! I refuse to be!"
"You just don't go around deciding stuff like that" Esaias softened his voice slightly. "Can't you see? We look alike, we talk alike, we've developed the same taste for women, too." He waved his hand at the direction he had encountered Teo.
"That's nonsense" Iisai yelled, confused and startled by the attempt of bringing Teo into the conversation. "You're a complete lunatic!" He pushed Esaias as far as he could and escaped into the crowd, but could still hear Esaias shout. "Just think about it, and ask Teo, She'll bind some sense into you!"

Still furious, Iisai staggered around, looking for Teo. He was mad at her, but this troubled his mind far more. That man couldn't possibly be related to him, not to talk about being his father. Then he spotted her, sitting alone in the dark. She looked at him as he approached and got on her feet when she saw the look on his face.
"Iisai... What's wrong?"
He didn't look straight at her, now unsure if it was such a wise decision to come here. She looked worried rather than angry tho, so he relaxed a bit. "Esaias... He's gone crazy! I mean, crazier than before! He... He... He's mad!"
"Calm down... "
She started, gesturing him to sit down. Iisai refused. "How can I calm down when he suggests such maniac things!?"
Then he stopped and took a better look at her.
"Did he talk to you..?"
Teo considered it for a while. She wasn't sure if this was the best of times to confuse him more with telling him about Esaias and her mother, nor to force him believe it, but taking to count they'd leave tomorrow she saw no choice. It could be the last chance for Iisai to talk with his dad.
"He's speaking the truth... I really do believe he is your father."
Her gaze was intense, confronting him.
"You can't be with him! You are supposed to be on my side!"
"Iisai... I am on your side... That is why I'm telling you this. Can't you see it? You are spitting images of each other; he is an elf, what are the chances of this kind of a fit?"
He didn't look at her. Of course he saw it, but did he want to see it? Hardly. Extremely carefully, Teo placed one hand on his shoulder from as far as she could reach, not willing to come too close.
"Iisai... You may not get another chance..."
"He said... He said that..."
"He said what?"
"...He said we have a... have.. a same... same taste for women..."
Teo removed her hand and took a step back.
"...That's why cause he knew my mother quite well it seems..."
Iisai's eyes flew to her when he realized what those words meant.
"He... He what?"
"He knew my mother. At first he confused me as her."
Iisai stared at her, remembering he knew nothing of her mother. The one time he had asked she denied any reply. How could have Esaias known her?
"I..." He started but didn't continue.
"Iisai... Talk to him. Trust me with this. If you won't, you will regret it for the rest of your life. And I know what I'm talking about..."
He could see dark sadness in her eyes, and felt something hard get stuck in his throat.
"You mean I'm supposed to accept something as ridiculous as-"
"Aren't you curious? Isn't there any questions you want answered? I'll say it once more. This could be your last chance. Last chance, as in ever."

Esaias didn't honestly think Iisai had listened to him at all. Or even if he had, it would take months, maybe years for him to truly understand what had happened. But Esaias knew he could do nothing if Iisai decided to leave him out of his world. Some tauren who had overheard the conversation came giving him some sympathy, not that it would have helped too much. Esaias simply wandered off to a small spring nearby, away from the noises of the feast. Usually he was the first one to enjoy any celebration, but now with low spirits, he couldn't stand others joy. He sat down on a small rock on the edge of the spring and sighed.
Don't mind, you did your part, let him do his, Esaias' mind whispered, quietly. Besides, it's not even sure if he is yours..
Esaias closed toe whispers away both angry and ashamed. He knew, just somehow, that Iisai was the little boy he had tried to protect so many years ago.
"Hey... Esaias...�
Esaias leaped around and lost balance, tripping into the spring. He crawled back on shore and looked even more miserable than usually. Iisai, standing right in front of him, didn't say a thing.
"What, did you watch an old man's misery?" Esaias murmured, tryingly getting up on his feet.
"No, not really...� Iisai helped him up "But let's pretend I believe that you're being my father. What would happen now, then?"
After a while, Esaias look up into Iisai's eyes. "You believe me then? Really, do you?"
"No, but let's pretend I do."
Esaias pondered a while. "If you still have room for me in your life, I'd like to get to know you, now. You, your friends and family, just about everyone. Make up the mistakes I've made."
"Fine enough, but first" Iisai's voice was demanded, "Tell me, why you did abandon me?"
Something got once again stuck on his throat, and he had grown to hate the feeling. Slowly, Esaias laid his hand on Iisai's shoulder.
"It's a long and complicated story, but it's all my fault. For you see, I never regretted of having you, but your mother did not quite agree. He was ashamed of having a crossbred child."
It was like a kick to the guts. Iisai couldn't believe. He felt he was falling, sinking into quicksand. He wanted to run away, leave this all behind, but his legs refused to move. Esaias' grip over his shoulder tightened.
"I didn't want to leave you in such misery. I wanted to take you with me, for I couldn't stay with your mother. I was a general back then, and I couldn't stay still too long. But as you may know, army is no place for younglings, so I left you into Sairin, hoping they could give you what you need and deserve. I still wanted to come again soon and take you home, but I... I kept post poning it...�
Iisai's knees gave in and he collapsed on the ground. His eyes got filed with tears he could no longer hold back. He felt Esaias' arms wrap around him, protecting and caring.
"I'm so sorry I never returned. I have never been so ashamed, so scared. I'm sorry, Iisai.."

Some time later, Iisai found himself back in their tent. Still wiping tears, he tried to look for Teo. She was sitting on her mattress, hugging her knees. She said nothing, but Iisai could feel her gaze. He had never wanted so much to just crawl next to her and be held, but he also knew the chances of her approving were low. He didn't know exactly what had gone into her, but she didn't want any physical contact with him.
"Are you alright?" She finally asked, knowing better than well that he most certainly wasn't okay. He didn't reply but went to her, kneeling on the mattress. At this close distance he could make out her features even in the dark, as she could his.
"Yeah... Sure..." He finally said, looking away.
He could hear her draw a trembling breath and swallow.
"I know you think I'm being cruel..." She started. "But I can't comfort you with this. Whether I would want to or not is not the question. I just can't. It's something you need to figure out by yourself."
Iisai felt more and more alone each passing moment. He was going to reach out his hand but withdrew.
"Go to sleep, Iisai. We can leave tomorrow. You need to have energy by then."
She lay down on her mattress and pulled the covers over. She felt pain strong enough to think she might die to it, as she could sense the boy crying.
He has grown on our way... He hasn't been nowhere near as shy with strangers than he was when we first met but... He is still sometimes like a little child. ...I'll be cursed for this.
She thought as she felt him touch her shoulder, seeking for any kind of support or tenderness at all.
"No."
Was all she could say without losing the calm in her voice and felt him back away.
No...

Chapter 11 - Chapter 13