"You! Obey the fist!" – Zerosoul yelling at members of her own cult
All's fair in love and sorcery; chapter twelve: "my past" a.k.a. "(I would rather kick and scream than talk about) my past"
Mozenrath looked at Sadira, "Natural talent, of course,"
"Natural talent my ass!" Sadira said, pulling more sand out of her hair, "You called down the gods to attack those guys! And they listened!" She paused,"…and how do you know those cult guys anyway?"
"…none of your business," Mozenrath said.
"Hey, I have some important news for you – it is my business!" Sadira said. She waved her arms in the air, "You really have no idea how eccentric your life really is, do you? I mean honestly – an eel thing that follows you around? You knowing about every villain in Agrabah? You talking to yourself on a daily basis? Now this weird religious group comes along and tries to kill everyone and somehow you know them? You calling down gods to do your bidding? That's supposed to 'add up' in my brain somehow! You owe a bigger explanation than you can imagine!"
A moment of silence went between the two. Mozenrath stood up and looked at her.
"My life is more complicated than you can imagine," said Mozenrath.
"Do me a favor, your majesty, and take your precious time to enlighten me," answered Sadira.
Mozenrath snorted. "The All-Seeing cult," he explained, "belongs to a god named Fashir. They are his priests and priestesses and they follow his word without a challenge and I think I am their target as of now…and you,"
Sadira made a face, "Wait…you know those guys? Are you an ex-priest or something?"
Mozenrath almost gagged, "…never say that again,"
Sadira threw her hands in the air, "You are such…a drama queen!"
"Why is it that you feel the need to call me names every ten minutes!" Mozenrath yelled.
"Because they're true, damn it!" Sadira said. She jabbed a finger at Mozenrath and teased, "You're probably just some spoiled prince who's upset because your daddy didn't buy you that kingdom you wanted for your birthday!"
Sadira's teasing struck a sour note with Mozenrath on the mentioning of a father. He didn't say anything but the sky darkened around him and storm clouds began to swirl in the sky and swell with rain.
"I have no father," Mozenrath said.
Thunder clapped and for the first time in about a century or so – it rained over the entire patch of desert. Somewhere, a prophet in the village declared this a sign of the end of the world and forced his cult of stupid people to commit suicide and inadvertently, Mozenrath and Sadira had destroyed another piece of civilization on accident. Strike two for the duo.
Since there are no trees in the desert, there was nothing to hold all the sand in place, so the entire desert began a land of sloshy, goopy, squishy, and nasty mud. Sadira and Mozenrath were huddled inside of a tent, with a magical fire between them to use as lift and heat. Sadira was using the littlest bit of her magic to keep it going. Mozenrath sat on the other side of the tent with Xerxes curled around his shoulder.
"At least Mechanicles and the others were nice enough to give us some provisions," Sadira said, "With this storm going on, it'll take us longer to get to my castle," Mozenrath didn't answer. Sadira made a face, "Oh, don't tell me you're still angry about before!"
'Of course I'm still angry,' Mozenrath thought, 'But I'm too exhausted from that spell to fight with you right now, you stupid midget,'
"Gods, you act like you're the only person in the whole gods-damned desert!" Sadira muttered. She looked at him, "Well, for your information, I didn't exactly know my father either…"
Mozenrath grumbled something.
"Or my mother," Sadira added. She sighed, "Okay – I was pretty much abandoned. The old lady that found me was called Mad Hettie – I never bothered learning her real name – and she ran an orphanage. She told me – when I was older and I asked her about it – that she found me in the Agrabah marketplace. I was barely a toddler and there I was in a stand with a sign nearby saying…"
Sadira paused. The magical fire flickered on and off.
"…saying…'Good riddance'," continued Sadira, "I never figured out why it said that. Never figured out what I had been doing there in the first place. Well, I spent a few good years with Mad Hettie – well, they were so-so years. The so-called orphanage was actually her house and we slept on the ground. We had to steal our food and steal money for her. Eventually I left. I always had…talent in magic and it didn't help me win any popularity contests, so I decided to strike out on my own. I spent years on the streets of Agrabah until I met Aladdin and well…rest's history, I guess,"
To Sadira surprise, Mozenrath had actually been paying attention to her. A few minutes of silence passed between them.
"You know, you're probably the most famous sorcerer around Agrabah," said Sadira, "that's still alive," She was giving another attempt to start up a conversation.
"I doubt that," Mozenrath finally said, "Jafar and Destane were far more important,"
"But they're both dead," said Sadira.
'I'm supposed to be dead too,' Mozenrath thought, but didn't speak it. Instead, he said, "I'm of little to no importance,"
"I don't know…owning the Realm of the Black Sands is kind of a big deal," said Sadira.
"Destane owned it before me," interrupted Mozenrath.
Sadira cocked her head to the side, "Okay, Mr. Modest, I've told my story, now you have to tell me yours,"
Mozenrath made a face; "I don't exactly remember agreeing to this deal,"
"Too bad," said Sadira, "and anyway, it's a cold and rainy night and amongst more sociable people, they tell stories at scary nights like these,"
"If you are that interested, I suppose I could humor you," Mozenrath said. He explained, "As you may believe, midget, I don't come from a pampered or cozy life…or existence. I maybe the Lord of Black Sands but I'm a bastard as well,"
Sadira blinked.
"It means I wasn't born within marriage," Mozenrath sighed.
"Oh," Sadira said, "continue on then,"
"Since I was born illegitimate, my mother was…cast out of her so-called society and scorned by it for having me," Mozenrath said, "So, the first thing she wanted to do was get rid of me, so she dumped me on her boyfriend…Destane,"
Sadira made a face, "…Destane was your mom's boyfriend?"
"…unfortunately for me," Mozenrath sighed, "Destane wasn't a father to me. He didn't know the first thing about children, or raising them for that matter. All he did was drill me into a magician until I took his power and his throne for theLand of Black Sands,"
Sadira didn't know what to say. Yes, his story was shorter than her own but there was something…missing about it. It wasn't exactly in the words but in the tone Mozenrath had spoken. There was something bitter and tragic about how he spoke about his mother and Destane. Worst of all, Sadira had read in one of her books about Destane and it only had three words to say about him: "cruel, malicious, avoid".
Mozenrath was sure Sadira would be horrified by the story and had been initially hoping that that it would give her bad dreams to think about his awful childhood, but instead she just quietly sat there with a strange look of…of pity on her face.
"Don't look at me like that," Mozenrath grumbled.
Sadira made a face, "Hey! Don't get all upset at me!"
Mozenrath folded his arms; "I've had enough pity in my life to last me this life and the next,"
"I've got my own problems," said Sadira, "and you've got yours. Unlike you, I can't help it if I feel a little sorry for another human being once in a while when I find out that their life hasn't exactly been great,"
"I don't need pity," said Mozenrath, "it doesn't make the problems go away,"
"Yes…but it helps healing…some wounds," Sadira said.
Mozenrath snorted, "As you saw before, my wounds aren't exactly going to go away with a few nice words and sad looks,"
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you about…" said Sadira; "…you're supposed to be a great sorcerer, right? Why can't you just use an illusion to cover up the bruises?" She smiled, "I mean, I can show you how–"
Mozenrath glared at her and whispered a quick spell to dispel the light.
"Hey!" Sadira growled, now that the both of them were in the dark.
"Go to sleep already," Mozenrath grumbled.
Sadira threw a pillow at his head.
Once again, Mozenrath was in the misty realm of his mind. He groaned as soon as the Inner Teenager dropped in.
"I don't want to hear it," said Mozenrath, "that whole conversation with her put me in enough of a bad mood without you coming along,"
"What are you talking about?" asked the Inner Teenager. He was dressed for summer. He had shades, sandals, a straw hat, and some lemonade with ice, "That was spectacular!"
"…you're joking, right?" Mozenrath asked.
"Nope!" said the Inner Teenager, "All great relationships have to start at the bottom of the barrel and you two finally hit a common point! My nagging is starting to pay off at last!"
"…and that would be…?" Mozenrath said.
"Rotten childhoods!" said the Inner Teenager, "Now you two can cuddle nearby the fireplace and talk about how your mom and dad both suck and maybe even get to second base in the process and then third–"
"I am not listening to this. I am in my happy place. I am thinking about destruction and the downfall of civilization as we know it. I am not thinking about your crude and perverted ideas…" Mozenrath muttered, covering his ears.
"Keep this up and our dream will be complete in no time!" said the Inner Teenager.
"You mean your dream," said Mozenrath.
"Oh, you may want to wake up now. Sadira's shaking you," said the Inner Teenager.
"Wha–" Mozenrath began.
"Mozenrath, wake up!" Sadira said.
Mozenrath blinked and stared at her. He rubbed his eyes. He wasn't a morning person, "Why did you wake me up?"
"Uh, nothing to be worried about exactly…but it's really strange…" Sadira said. She gestured towards the tent door, "You see, those cult guys showed up…"
"The All-Seeing Eye Cult showed up!" Mozenrath said, now fully awake.
"No, no, it's okay!" Sadira said, "Because this lizard guys showed up and started fighting them before they could come to the camp and now everything is okay. They're fighting right now,"
"Oh gods…" Mozenrath groaned. He peeked outside of the tent to see Sadira was right.
Out there in the sands were the All-Seeing Eye Cult and they were fighting the El Katib with all their vigor and energy poured into it. It was still dark outside – hours before dawn. Mozenrath groaned again and looked at Sadira.
"Apparently they wanted to surprise attack us," Sadira said.
'Apparently Mirage and Fashir's minions are fighting each other,' Mozenrath thought, not responding to her, 'and it appears that the El Katib are our allies…'
"Let's leave now," Mozenrath suggested.
"But…but this is the only chance I'm ever going to have to see lizard-people fight cult-people!" Sadira said, pointing towards the fight.
"I hope you're aware of the fact that if the El Katib lose, we're going to die if we stay around," Mozenrath added.
Sadira sighed, "I guess you're right…"
So, once again, Sadira and Mozenrath escaped the grasp of the cult by simply whizzing away on Sadira's magical flying carpet.
"That was close," Mozenrath said.
"They weren't even paying attention to us," said Sadira, "They were too busy fighting those lizard–"
"El Katib," interjected Mozenrath.
"Huh?" said Sadira.
"The name of the creatures is 'El Katib'," replied Mozenrath.
Sadira narrowed her eyes at him, "And how would you know this? I've never even heard of them before,"
Mozenrath didn't say anything. Sadira landed the carpet, turned around, and looked at Mozenrath.
"I'm not moving until you tell me what's going on," Sadira said.
Mozenrath looked at her; "…you're joking,"
"You're in more of a hurry than I am to get away from the cult," said Sadira, "so I have all the time in the world, unlike you,"
Mozenrath made a face. He thought of several curses to yell at Sadira, but pushed away the urge. It wouldn't do him any good and it would just make the situation worse.
"To make the tale short – I have experience with the…creator of the El Katib," said Mozenrath.
Sadira's eyes widened, "A god?"
"Entity, immortal, Supreme Being, holy spirit…pick your favorite," said Mozenrath, "and it was a goddess,"
"Was she pretty?" asked Sadira.
"No, she…wait, a minute, why do you care?" Mozenrath asked.
"I've never seen a goddess before," Sadira said, "I should have a right to ask,"
Mozenrath made a face, "Anyway – I spent some…time…in the Realm of Darkness with this goddess and she brought back the El Katib with some...improvements in it,"
Sadira raised an eyebrow, "Improvements?"
"Normally, the El Katib can only walk the earth for only three nights every seven years," said Mozenrath, "and they increase their numbers by humans changing into them. This new version of the El Katib can walk the earth at night as much as they please but they have to eat human flesh to sustain this ability and they breed like normal lizards,"
"They don't sound too good to me," Sadira said. The carpet hovered into the air and they were travelling again.
Mozenrath sighed, "They're not. I think you should know a Goddess of Evil is on our side,"
Sadira made a face, "You're joking!" She realized something, "Oh, wait…you never joke. You're serious,"
"Hey, I do joke around but I'm not in the mood,"
Sadira laughed and teased, "If you smiled, your face would crack!"
"That's just an old wives' tale! And I do smile when I feel like it!"
"You never smile. You smirk,"
"What's the difference?"
"The difference is that it's two different things! You 'smile' when you think happy, pure, and non-evil thoughts and you 'smirk' when you think evil and dirty thoughts!"
"I do not think–" Mozenrath began. He made a face, "Stop changing the subject!"
"You changed it first!"
Mozenrath restrained himself from choking the girl, "We should be spending our time trying to keep out of that cult's way rather than argue about trivial matters such as this. If the All-Seeing Eye cult captures us, it won't hesitate to kill,"
"Oh, blah, blah, blah…" Sadira sighed. The carpet was still flying over barren desert sands. She laid back on the carpet and stretched out, "We're almost to my castle. What's to worry about?"
I had writer's block. Oh so terrible blocky-writer-painy-stuff. It makes my head meats hurt to think right now. - Zerosoul
