"Of course, sir," I moved forward to take the message, slicing his head off with my claws before the f**ker could even blink.
No, I hadn't expected him to dust in humanoid form but he did, just as much as if he'd been the giant serpent he could change into. And the worst part? Even though I'd known he was Ra'Ak, he wasn't the one I'd first seen in the meadow, eating the priests. I was pounded and blasted against the back wall when the guy turned to dust, his fist-sized particles rocketing outward at a tremendous rate of speed. It's a good thing I automatically went to mist in about a blink; otherwise, I would likely have died. Dragon came running in only a moment later as I was picking myself up off the floor. The rest of the dojo looked like a hurricane had swept through it.
"Are you all right? What happened?" Dragon demanded immediately.
"One of your Ra'Ak friends," I replied, working to get my breath back. "I surprised him by relieving him of his head."
"He wasn't in serpent form?"
"No." I dusted my butt off; I was covered in all kinds of debris. "And he wasn't the one I saw in the meadow, either." Dragon's shocked look caused me to stop trying to clean myself off for a moment.
"You're sure?" Dragon asked after a while.
"Yeah. Different scents," I tapped my nose. "Here, he left this note for you and then tried to place compulsion on me to get you to be here tomorrow night to meet with him." Dragon took the note from me; I still held it in my right hand.
"That one thought you might be what you are," Pheligar appeared at Dragon's side, peering over his shoulder at the note.
"Do you think he told his other scaly friend?" I asked, coming over to stand next to Dragon, too. I had to stand on tiptoe, a little, just to look at the note. It was requesting a meeting for business purposes. Well, business was going to be a big fight, in my opinion; I'd just beaten him to the punch. Or the claw, as it were.
"They seldom share information such as this," Pheligar said, looking around at the mess in Dragon's dojo. "It is a coup for one of their kind to destroy a Saa Thalarr. He would gain much honor from his Prince had he been successful. Lock the door, little one. I will take care of this."
That night, I got to see a little of what the Larentii are capable of doing. Pheligar barely waved a finger and things were whole and complete again. He cleaned everything up with half a thought. Those wizards in children's novels might have been impressed, even—I certainly was.
"Little one, we will speak of this night again, when the assignment is over," Pheligar informed me, laying his hand on the top of my head before disappearing just as swiftly as he'd appeared in the beginning.
"Come on home, I want Karzac to look you over," Dragon said, pulling me out the door. "Did you get hit by any of the debris?"
"Maybe a little, but I went to mist pretty fast and the rest just sailed right through. Of course it probably turned to mist while it was going through, but it rematerialized once it got past me."
"That is quite the talent you have," Dragon said as we made our way home.
Dragon had a sandwich while Karzac checked me over. There were a few bruises, the worst one on my ribs on the right side. A big chunk had caught me there.
"What are these?" Karzac found Kifirin's bite marks.
"I'm going to smack Kifirin," I grumbled. "He put his teeth in my neck."
Dragon was there so fast I barely saw him move. And he started cursing. I later learned it was in Falchani, his native language.
"Only High Demons do this!" Dragon was shouting.
"He said he wasn't a High Demon," I looked into Dragon's dark eyes. "He said the High Demons were made in his image."
"There is nothing to be done about it now," Pheligar was back and looking at my neck himself. "Finish the assignment. We will sort this out later."
"Sort what out later?" I asked, but Pheligar was already gone again. Dragon was rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache. Karzac went to fix that.
* * *
Pheligar stood next to Griffin and both faced Belen, whose race was held in such secrecy that none could speak its name. The Saa Thalarr had dubbed his kind the Nameless Ones, so they could be distinguished from their subordinates, nicknamed the Powers That Be for the same reason. Thorsten, of the Powers That Be, stood not far from Belen. Pheligar and Griffin both had requested the audience with Belen and Thorsten had no choice but to allow it.
"She actually said Kifirin?" Belen stared at Pheligar. Belen didn't often resort to corporeality, but it helped when dealing with the others.
"Yes," Pheligar nodded respectfully to Belen. "I have Looked for myself and it is true. The High Lord of the Dark Worlds is awake."
"Not awake now. He has come back on the timeline. He wakes in the future," Thorsten offered.
"Regardless, he is awake," Belen said. "Time has no meaning to us, as you well know."
"He did this so he can take action to rein in his creations," Griffin snorted.
"How is that?" Thorsten glared at Griffin. Thorsten supervised the Saa Thalarr and their Larentii Liaison, Pheligar. He and Griffin had clashed on more than one occasion.
"When he created the Dark Worlds, as you were creating the Worlds of Light to keep the balance," Griffin said, "Kifirin's rules as he laid them down were that he would not interfere with those worlds. And he has held to that, much to our regret. He slept for a time, we all know that, and the Ra'Ak took all the Dark Worlds down, except for the High Demons' planet. The Ra'Ak are afraid to approach it. Now, Kifirin is awake and attempting to deal with this situation in the only way he can without breaking his rules and his word. One of the laws governing the Dark Worlds is that of mate protection. If he uses the excuse that he is protecting his mate, which is now Lissa," Griffin grimaced at that admission, "then he can do almost anything. And since she is from this side of the universes, he can come and protect her here, as well."
"But should he ever take her to the darker worlds, she will not be able to return," Thorsten folded arms over his chest. Belen looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.
"No. That will not be," Belen said. Griffin heaved a huge sigh of relief. Belen glanced at the oldest of the Saa Thalarr, who was now retired. "What are you holding back?" Belen asked. A small smile played around Griffin's mouth as he explained fully and in detail, just what it was he had held back for a while.