An Author's note: Hmmmmmm….Malchior…It's a good guess, Agent, but unfortunately I can't reveal if you are right or not. Don't want to spoil the surprise! You did, however, get Arella's motivation for having a familiar follow Raven around correct. In this story a familiar and its owner can literally see through each other's eyes (kind of like what Raven did with Robin in Haunted) so having a familiar around would let Arella know what is going on with her daughter.
Hope you aren't squeamish, the creatures that are coming up next are of my own creation and they are rather…gross.
On with the show.
Chapter Sixteen
What's That Smell?
Jinx sniffed the air repeatedly. She smelled something nasty, worse than Gizmo's dirty socks, and those things deserved to be locked in a steel barrel with one of those radiation warning signs.
"What is that? Can anyone else smell that?" she said. "It smells like st!"
"Thanks for the image, Jinx." Raven said mildly.
"No, seriously, I smell some kaka out here! Smells like someone took a really big dump!"
"Jinx-"Raven started, but surprisingly Beast Boy interrupted her.
"She's right, Raven, I smell it too. It does kind of smell like…what she said."
"Now that you mention it I smell it to." Robin sniffed the air. "It's fading now."
Oh yes, the lovely smells of the forest! Cyborg thought Trees, plants, flowers and animal dung. Wonderful. How people lived like this before civilization I will never know!
They smelled the rather distinct odor several more times, and each time it was Jinx and Beast Boy who smelled it the worst. At one point they all had the "joy" of scenting the fragrance, but no one knew what had caused it. Since it did not seem to be harmful they did not worry about it. They should have. They were being followed. The owners of the stench were following them closely, and they were hungry.
The forest seemed to stretch on forever and ever and showed no signs of stopping. What made it even stranger and more eerie was the fact that there seemed to be nothing here. No birds chirped, no squirrels chattered, no deer bounded around, it seemed like the forest had been abandoned. They could clearly hear their night horses' footsteps as they rode through the forest. Even Raven, who loved silence more that anything, found this silence to be oppressive and a little on the scary side. She did not like it anymore than the rest of them.
"What happened here?" she muttered aloud.
"Huh?" Cyborg looked at her.
"This is not right. Where are all the animals? And why is it so quiet? I don't like this." Raven looked around. "And I feel like something's watching us. Don't you?"
Cyborg nodded. He didn't like this place at all. He wanted out as soon as possible. No matter how bored he had been with the fields at least the fields did not give off this eerie feeling. He wanted to be somewhere else doing anything else.
Eventually, however, they had to stop. It was approaching noon, although it was hard to tell. The large trees kept this place in what seemed to be eternal night, and it was a very disconcerting night at that. But they were getting hungry, and they had to eat. Raven somehow managed to find a little meadow that might have been pleasant under different circumstances. Not looking forward to eating that strange jerky stuff, but not about to complain, Cyborg dismounted his own horse. He was surprised; however, when Raven did not pull out the meat, instead she grabbed a large bag full of what looked like medicine pellets from under Mithrah's saddle.
"Taking your vitamins?" Cyborg couldn't help but ask.
"These aren't vitamins, they're lunch." She replied.
"Huh? I thought that's what the jerky was for!" Cyborg said.
Raven shook her head "That stuff was for the night horses" she placed a colorful pellet on a rock "this is what we are having."
"Isn't it a bit…small?" Beast Boy asked, staring at the pellet in disbelief.
"Just watch." Raven held both her hands over the pellet and spoke something that everyone assumed was a magic trigger word. Instantly the pellet disappeared in a poof of smoke and in its place was…
A huge cheese pizza.
"Wooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." Cyborg's mouth fell open. "How did you do that?"
Raven smiled slightly "You think magic doesn't advance the same way technology does? Wizards figured out how to replace modern technology with magical replacements long ago. This is basically a spell that kind of condenses food into small transportable pellets. You don't even have to cook the stuff. Kind of like a magical version of fast food. Much easier to travel with, and you don't really need your own magic to work it. All you need to know is the trigger word. "
"Where did the pizza come from? I didn't see a pizza place." Beast Boy asked.
"Arucules made it. Even though Earth people don't know about Azarath, Azarath knows all about Earth and its cultures. You can walk into a roadside inn anywhere here and order a burger and fries just like you can on Earth, only the burger will be homemade and not precooked and packaged weird. Don't expect a Coke, though, no one has managed to figure soft drinks out yet." Raven picked up a slice of the pizza, which true to her word was nice and hot, and started munching. No one had anymore reservations. They all were starving, and the day that any Titan refused a pizza was the day Trigon would open a skating rink.
"Say what you want about his attitude,"Cyborg said with a loud burp "but that Arucules knows how to make a pizza!" Raven lived with him for how long? How come she never picked up his cooking skills? Cyborg thought as he finished his share of the pizza.
The wind changed direction, and with it came the horrible smell that had haunted them ever since entering the forest. But now it was much stronger and much more noticeable.
Something rustled in the bushes and a low growl echoed throughout the meadow. The Titans leapt up and stood in a circle facing outward, ready for whatever was out there. What looked like hundreds of pairs of brownish-green pond scum eyes glared back at them with hunger. They were surrounded.
Bushes rustled and shook and then finally the things that had been stalking them all this time slowly slinked into view. They were the most horrible things anyone had ever seen: their heads were shaped like goats, their bodies like monkeys, and they had long whippy scaly tails. They had decrepit looking wings with missing black feathers on their backs. No one could tell what colors they were, because they were covered with filth: Their wings were smeared with mud and their claws, teeth and the fur around their faces were caked with brown, old blood. Their fur was also streaked with…well…feces. It was clear now where that smell had come from. They hissed and snarled at the titans hungrily, and everyone could see the fact that said teeth were sharp, and that they did not take any better care of the teeth than they did the rest of them. Beast Boy could clearly here what they were saying, and it sent little chills up and down his spinal column.
"Kill" they were hissing "Eat them, eat them, eat them. Hungry, hungry, hungry."
"They're nuts." Beast Boy muttered. "Really nuts. They sound like a pack of rabid dogs."
As soon as he had spoken the creatures leapt for their prey, ready to tear them apart. Beast Boy had an idea. He grabbed the bag of food pellets from Raven's hand and tossed a handful on the ground. He spoke the magic phrase that she had used and the pellets burst into an impressive array of food. Momentarily distracted the monsters dog piled the food in an attempt to consume it all. Soon it had erupted into a brawl; the creatures had been thrown into a savage frenzy. They were trying to munch on each other as well as the food in front of them. Beast Boy saw one of the smaller ones basically eaten alive right there in front of him, and that would give him a few nightmares for a couple of nights.
Not wanting to waste time, Robin jumped on Hotrod and ordered the others to flee, which they did with no hesitation. The only problem was that Cyborg still had not gotten the trick of staying on your night horse and after a few steps he slid off and fell. The things seemed to zero in on him and at least three of them pounced. Cyborg struggled with the things, trying to dislodge them, but they were tougher than they looked. Suddenly he heard and angry whinny from Gigantus. While the night horse certainly did not like Cyborg he liked the monsters even less and he attacked them, pushing them off Cyborg with his horns and electrifying any stupid enough to get in his way. Knowing that the night horse might be his only chance, Cyborg wrapped his arms around Gigantus' neck and let the creature drag him along the ground. For once he was glad he was mostly metal, as he seemed to hit every single loose branch and sharp rock in the forest as they raced after the others.
Soon the Titans were racing thru the forest, trying to lose the monsters that had started to give chase. The things seemed to be everywhere, even in the trees and in the air. The monsters shrieked and screamed and dived bombed them from the sky, their horrible wings bashing the Titans at every opportunity. They lunged from the branches of trees to claw and bite the Titans and the night horses they rode. If something was not done soon someone was going to be dragged from the saddle.
Realizing this, Raven turned to Robin and hollered at him to keep going forwards, than she veered Mithrah off the trail. At first Robin was wondering what she was doing, then he saw Whistler flashing through the air and the sparks leaping of Mithrah's horns. She circled the other Titans like an Indian circling the wagons in an old western; only she was trying to protect the people in the circle with her sword and her night horse. Robin had to wonder how in the world she managed to stay on Mithrah without holding onto the reins, but now was not the time to dwell on Raven's riding skills. Robin saw the trees starting to thin, and knew that they were close to being out of the woods, literally.
Whether or not the monsters would follow them was not certain. With a relived whinny, Hotrod emerged from the trees like a red bullet, followed by the others in swift succession except for Mithrah. Robin turned his horse and stared at the tree line, wondering if he should go back for Raven when she and Mithrah finally burst through the trees. Robin breathed a sigh of relief.
His breath was short lived, just as Raven started to rein in Mithrah a monster shot out of the forest and dragged her to ground in an attempt to maul her. The loud shriek of a peregrine falcon was heard next and a green feathered blur shot past Robin's head as Beast Boy dove toward the monster and knocked it off of Raven's back. The creature tumbled to the ground, and then started to writhe and howl and smoke. The Titans gapped at the thing as it shriveled up and started to melt into the earth. Soon it was nothing more than a bubbling pile of goo, and a black cloud arose from the goo and seemed to waft away in the breeze.
Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head and looked at the remains of the creature in confusion "I didn't think I hit it that hard." He said.
"I don't think it was you," Raven said as she got to her feet. She was completely unhurt because of Beast Boy's fast maneuver. She pointed to the forest behind them. "Look."
The creatures were pacing back and forth just inside the tree line hissing and growling in frustration. Occasionally one would howl and lift its leg, as if it was trying to shake its fist.
"They must be venerable to sunlight." Raven said with a disgusted look at the glop. "That's why they are not attacking."
"Raven, what are they?" Robin asked.
She shook her head. "I'm not sure, I've never even heard of them. I don't think they are native to Azarath. Most people are peaceful around here."
"So what are they? The goat monsters from Planet Gross?" Beast Boy asked. Raven shrugged.
The creatures, apparently giving up, slinked back into the forest. Raven watched the spot were they had left, very concerned.
"What do we do?" she asked quietly, but before Robin could answer a cry went up.
"Oh man! Raven! Come here, I think he's hurt!" It was Cyborg. Raven looked and found her friend kneeling over a fallen Gigantus. The poor night horse was on its side and breathing heavily in large gasps. As she approached she saw that Gigantus' flanks were covered in large, deep scratches. Cyborg, who had once claimed that he hated the night horse, was cradling his head and stroking it. He could not help but feel reasonable for the horses' terrible wounds. If only he was a better rider this might not have happened! He felt horrible for the nasty things he had said and thought about Gigantus, especially since he had gone out of his way to save Cyborg.
"Raven, can you do anything? He saved me." Cyborg looked at Raven, now full of concern.
She looked at the slashes for a moment then sighed.
"I don't have anything that can help him…" she said with a strange look that was half thoughtful, but also half scared "But I know what can help him. There is a town near here that has some of the best healing herbs in Azarath. Someone needs to go there and buy some for Gigantus. I can't go, though."
"Why not?" Beast Boy asked.
Raven winced. "They…don't like Halfbloods in that particular town. I'd never be able to buy what we need; they would not sell me anything. Someone else has to go and fetch the medicine."
"I'll go." Jinx said "I'm the only one who will recognize what you need."
"Me too." Beast Boy said. He wanted to keep an eye on Jinx; he still did not really trust her.
"The rest of us will stay here just in case those things come back." Robin eyed the forest as if it was his worst enemy.
"Don't take your night horses; just fly her there, Beast Boy." Raven said.
"Why?"
Raven pointed to the night horses. They had arrayed themselves like a group of solders in a line, facing the forest with expressions similar to Robin's. They pawed the ground and tossed their heads aggressively. It was pretty clear what Raven meant. If the things did come back the night horses would be a great asset.
After listening to Raven explain the workings of Azarathian money, Beast Boy shifted to a pterodactyl and lifted Jinx into the air and flew toward the village.
Strange lookes followed the two as they walked down the main road. Beast Boy was nervous and wary. These guys seemed very hostile, but he did not know why. He was pretty sure he saw a few people easing pitchforks into view, as if they were preparing for a nice mobbing. Jinx, however, did not seem to notice the looks or if she did she did not care. She was reading shop signs, looking for the place where she could find medicine.
Finally she stopped at a building and said "Good, an alchemist. This place will have what we need."
"Umm, Jinx? Don't take long." Beast Boy eyed the people staring at him "These people look like they want to eat us!"
Jinx looked over at the people and gave them her trademark evil grin. "Just handle em' like you would a crazed dog and don't show fear." She muttered "Bullies like this are worse than any animal, but they react the same way." She then entered the shop and left Beast Boy alone.
The people that had been looking at him now edged closer, and it was clear that they were approaching mob proportions. One particularly aggressive man stepped up to Beast Boy and glared at him.
"We heard about you, you're one of those Earth "superheroes" that took in that filthy demon half-breed! What are you doing here! We don't need your kind around decent people."
Beast Boy glared right back "You call yourself decent, you prejudiced jerk! You don't know a thing about Raven!"
"I know enough. I nearly took care of that thing once and I would gladly do it again!"
"Took care…?" Beast Boy stared at the man, and then what he was saying hit the young shape shifter and threw him into a rage "YOU JACKASS! It was you, wasn't it! You were one of the monsters that tried to kill her!"
"She's the monster! She's the freak! Dirty beast should never have been born!"
"Oh yeeeeeeeees." Jinx said from behind Beast Boy, she had found the medicine in record time and was ready to go when she heard the shouting. Now she was just as angry as Beast Boy. "Raven is completely at fault for being what she is." The pink sorceress continued with sarcasm literally dripping from every word "After all it's not like she didn't have a choice to be born the way she is. Everyone is responsible for who their parents are and what they did years before they were ever even conceived. Kind of like the way you are responsible for the fact that your mamma was a snake and your daddy was a jackal!
"How dare you-"the man began, but Jinx was on a roll.
"HOW DARE YOU! You have no idea what she has to go thru and you spend your time condemning her for no reason you narrow minded, white trash, cow sniffing, st hauling son of a whore!" Beast Boy stared at Jinx with his mouth open, he had never heard anyone insult another like this, and it was rather impressive. And Jinx was not done. "Why don't you take that pitchfork and shove it up your own pie-hole!"
It kind of went downhill from there, five seconds later a rather large green rhino was charging down the road with a pink haired lunatic on its back and a large mob in full chase behind waving pitchforks and other such pointy implements. Beast Boy had decided not to worry about the various wagons and apple carts he was crushing under his large feet, nor did he say anything when Jinx started shooting hex bolts behind them. These people were after their blood, and it was no time for niceties. He weaved and dodged as best he could in an attempt to lose the local crazies, but they were stubbornly persistent.
"Turn around and charge them!" Jinx bellowed in Beast Boy's ear. He snorted in denial, but then his expression changed as she finished what she was saying to him. It was the first time on Azarath that a rhino grinned.
Beast Boy whirled, snorted aggressively and charged at the mob. They stopped and stared for five seconds. Even a mad mob will stop and consider when a large rhino charges at you, especially when the horn looks very sharp. Deciding that they did not want to chase Beast Boy after all, they scattered. Beast Boy knew that he should just run out of the town and leave it at that, but he was still mad and upset. So when Jinx started shouting at him to chase the maniacs, he did.
It was an interesting scene, the once crazy mob was still shouting and waving the pitchforks, but now it was they who were being chased, and instead of screaming "Kill! Kill!" they were instead shouting "Run away!". Beast Boy found himself enjoying this immensely. He focused on the man that had taunted him, pursuing the fool around a cow pasture as the other mob members scattered. After they had circled the pasture for the fifth time Beast Boy decided it was time to end this. Swerving he ran till he was next to his prey and sideswiped him. The fool soared through the air, over the fence and landed in a nice large pile of cow dung.
"Hey, Beast Boy, what's that smell?" Jinx laughed "It smells like a bigoted moron full of st, and it is! Hahahahahahahaha!"
Beast Boy snorted in rhino laughter, he wanted to continue, but he had to get the medicine to the others. He shifted to a pterodactyl, gave the dung decorated fool a screech and flapped off with Jinx still on his back.
Maybe Jinx is not so bad after all. He thought as he flapped away.
"How did it go?" Robin asked as Beast Boy and Jinx landed.
"We got the medicine." Beast Boy said as he shifted back. "But I don't think we should go near that town anytime soon."
"Why?" Robin said with a suspicious look. He knew from Beast Boy's stance that something had happened.
"Let's just say that we were chased away by a mob." Beast Boy said as Jinx walked over to Raven with the medicine. Raven and Cyborg had both been hovering over Gigantus.
"Beast Boy, what happened?" Robin said, and Beast Boy shifted around.
"Ummm, well, you see…" Beast Boy explained a bit of what happened, exaggerating the bloodthirstiness of the mob and playing down the parts where he had turned the tables and chased them. Robin looked thoughtful.
"We probably should not stay here long." Robin said. "I don't want to find an angry mob at our heels."
Beast Boy nearly sighed in relief. He didn't believe that he had done a thing wrong, but he knew that Robin would not be particularly proud of the fact that one of his team had destroyed several apple carts and terrorized some civilians.
Beast Boy walked over to check on Raven and Gigantus. She had brought out a small pot of bright red salve and was smearing it on the night horse's wounds. Gigantus winched and whined, but he was somewhat still.
Raven finished and turned to Robin "We should probably stay here for the night so Gigantus can heal."
"We can't Raven." Beast Boy said, and explained to her what happened in town. She did not look happy.
"Well, we can't leave Gigantus here and he can't walk." She said.
"I'll carry him." Cyborg said. "It'll probably be a nice change for him."
"I shall help friend Cyborg carry friend Gigantus." Starfire said "Between the two of us we can handle him with minimal worries."
Robin could not think of a better plan. They marched in single file away from the forest and the village. Robin, Beast Boy, Jinx and Raven were riding, and Starfire and Cyborg were each supporting Gigantus, who looked very embarrassed about the whole deal. Starfire's night horse followed behind Starfire, looking very confused.
Night started to fall, and the team started looking for a place to sleep. They finally settled on a pleasant looking, not to mention defendable, hill. Robin decided that they needed to set a watch in case those monsters came back. Since Cyborg didn't really need to sleep he volunteered to go first.
The others started unloading the night horses of the sleeping bags they had been storing behind the saddles. While Raven was spreading out her bag she felt someone's eyes on her. She looked and saw Beast Boy giving her an odd look.
"Got a problem?" she asked, and Beast Boy seemed to snap out of it.
"No, no problem." He said hastily. He yawned and curled up in his green bag "Night Rae." He said and soon gentle snoring was heard from the bag.
Now, however, it was Raven who was staring at Beast Boy. She did not know why, but for some reason it was hard to look away from him, even though she usually liked avoiding him. For some reason she felt very…odd around him. She had no idea what was going on, and she was a bit afraid of it. She remembered back to when they had almost kissed and felt a surge of inexplicable disappointment. Yawning herself she started to fall asleep, but she could not get a certain green shape shifter out of her mind.
"Welcome back." Raven opened her eyes and saw Malachi. The dragon was a bit more distinct now, and now Raven could see that the dragon's right leg was twisted at an odd angle, as if it was hurt.
"What happened to your leg?" Raven asked.
"What leg?" Malachi asked.
"Your leg! The right one, it looks like its hurt." Raven said.
"Oh, don't worry about it." Malachi snorted "It's been that way for years. Nothing wrong with it."
It looks like you're crippled you loon. Raven thought, but she did not say what she was thinking aloud.
"Are you okay?" the dragon asked. "You look a little down."
Raven bristled. "I'm fine."
Malachi stared at her "Liar." She finally said.
"Nothing's wrong." Raven insisted.
"Oh bull! I can tell something's wrong."
"What makes you think you can tell?! You don't know me!"
"I can tell." The dragon stubbornly stuck to her claim.
"Nothing is wrong!"
"Methinks the dragon doth protest too much." Malachi said smugly.
"Sweet Azar!" Raven groaned "First philosophers, then Meat Loaf now Shakespeare! What is wrong with you!?"
"I've got really eclectic tastes." Malachi said proudly "But don't change the subject. Tell me what is wrong. You'll feel better if you do."
"Leave me alone." Raven said as she turned away. She felt the dragon's claw touch her shoulder in the same way a human would to give comfort.
And then:
FLASH
She sat in the front of the classroom intent upon a paper full of math problems. The teacher was trying to get her attention but she ignored him because he was not using her real name again.
"Elisabeth! Elisabeth answer the question or you will be reported to the principal!"
She looked up "Are you addressing me?"
"Of course I am Elisabeth!!"
"For the last time that's not my name! My name is Malachi!"
"Malachi is not the proper name for a lady!"
"My name is Malachi."
FLASH
"Freak"
"Weirdo"
Reading in the cafeteria was frustrating. All those stupid people tying to bother her. Trying to get under her skin with their derogatory comments. She refused to let them know how much they were hurting her.
"You know what I heard? I heard that she's an ax murderer! Don't go near her house at night or she'll chop you up and feed you to her dogs!"
She sighed. They were all alike. Dumb girls.
FLASH
"Oh vision of loveliness!"
"Jonas! We are in public!" she growled at the blind idiot following her. Literally blind, Jonas had been blind since birth. Maybe that was why he was her friend.
"Oh wondrous goddess!"
"I swear I'm going to leave you in the parking lot!"
"Oh-"
"Joe, if you start quoting Shakespeare again I swear…" She grumbled.
"Malachi." He said, and now he was being serious "I love you."
She sighed. "Joe…I know."
FLASH
They surrounded her, the monsters that she had no name for. But what did you call something that was a cross between a goat, a monkey, a bird, a lizard and a garbage bin?
She opened up her wings and launched herself at them, flames erupting from her mouth to scorch.
Raven pulled back her head and gasped. Those things in that last…vision. They were the same things she and the others encountered in the forest! What was that! Were those some of Malachi's memories?
"Malachi…I saw…I think I saw parts of your life!"
"Same here, who is Slade?" she asked.
"A villain." Raven answered.
"Who was the kid dressed like a traffic light?"
"Robin."
"Hump. Cute name for such an uptight guy."
"Malachi?"
"Yes." The dragon looked at Raven.
"The last thing I saw…was a group of monsters with goat heads, monkey bodies, wings and tails. What are they?" Raven asked.
"I never found out. They destroyed my home. My entire world was consumed by those things." Malachi said with hatred.
"Malachi…I've encountered them before." Raven explained what she had seen in the forest. Malachi looked angry and disturbed.
"Raven" she said "If those things are in your world you are in real trouble. Very real trouble indeed."
An Author's note: Shakespeare quote was from Hamlet. I don't own Hamlet. Or Teen Titans. I do own Malachi and Jonas and the "goat monsters from Planet Gross".