Voodoo Child
Chapter 2 - Cutting Teeth
By Genoscythe
Xan'Jin learned something very quickly about the Valley of Trials: endless pain and suffering was the name of the game. The trials were designed in such a way that only true warriors could pass, and the weak-hearted would run for home. Trials like picking apples off thorn-covered cacti.
The rogue-in-training thought his skin was tough from years of mischief in Sen'jin village, but nothing could prepare him for the pain of reaching into a bristling cactus and probing around for an apple that may or may not be nestled inside. Whether it was there or not, at the end of the day Xan'Jin would be covered in cactus barbs. That became obvious after the first two failed attempts.
As Xan'Jin nursed his bleeding hands, he watched the other volunteers with envy. They rushed about energetically, wielding gleaming weapons and firing off impressive spells at the helpless wildlife. Xan'Jin tucked his shamefully rusty dagger further into his vest, in case someone took notice of him. There was a slim chance of that, for all the others were running about with dreams of glory filling their heads. Xan'Jin thought he would be lucky if the army released him in three years like they did his father, Rai'Jin.
Father... The word sparked fresh anger in Xan'Jin. When he had been told that he was enlisted into the army of the New Horde, he hadn't thought twice about it. Anything would be better than going back to his family in shame, mostly because dishonor was as good as death in Horde households, and Rai'Jin's was no exception. Disgustedly, Xan'Jin kicked at the cactus he had been rummaging through. Due to constant stress, the plant snapped and keeled over. Out of the gnarled branches rolled about half a dozen cactus apples. Xan'Jin couldn't fight the smile on his face.
Two hours later, he was being drilled by Rwag the rogue trainer on how to vanish at will. He called it stealth, but Xan'Jin called it impossible. Nevertheless, after an hour of intense concentration and mental application, he managed to make his snowy white hair disappear. Rwag told him to work on the rest of his body, then kicked him out of the Den and back into the dusty valley.
Next came Zureetha Fargaze, a she-orc that looked as if she ate trainees for all the meals of a day. Perhaps she did, because as Xan'Jin realized from scouting out the Burning Blade's cave, the task she gave him was suicide. He was to kill Vile Familiars, to "slay many" as she had put it. While he wasn't sure how many was 'many', he was sure that with their vast numbers they would overwhelm him instantly.
All daunting odds aside, he managed to lure a few away from their cave by holding out his bag of Cactus Apple Surprise. After slaying three, Xan'Jin realized he could use the vague job description to his advantage. Minutes later, he was standing in front of Zureetha once more. "I did it, mon. They all be dead."
The she-orc raised an eyebrow. "All of them?"
"Ja."
"That cave up there...if I look right now, then there won't be any imps running around?"
"Ja," he said smugly, twirling his rusty dagger in his hand. He quickly put it away after he nicked his wrist.
"Okay. Lead the way."
"...say what?" Xan's resolve shattered. However, he regained his posture quickly if there was any hope of preserving the lie.
"Take me to the cave. I want to see this for myself."
"Oh. Didn't understand ya," Xan'Jin said offhandedly as he turned around. As he loped along with Zureetha at his side, he let out a slow, hissing breath. When she saw that all the Vile Familiars (minus three) were still alive and kicking, she would undoubtedly beat him with that staff of hers. He hoped that he could learn how to stealth by the time they reached the cave.
"You're the one that got dragged here last night, aren't you?" Zureetha said, startling Xan'Jin. From the looks of her, he would never have expected her to start a conversation.
"Ja. By me parents."
"That's tough. I guess you don't wanna be here?"
"I woulda signed up sooner or later. Jus' shows ya how much they don't trust me."
Zureetha looked away. "I'm sorry." An awkward silence fell over them, Xan still in shock that she cared to talk to him and Zureetha thinking of some words of comfort. "I guess this is the best thing for you, then. To get out on your own, I mean."
"You be tellin' me! I haven't been dis free since..." Xan pondered for a moment. "Since I was born!"
"Well, to be honest, you're not exactly free..."
"Don' have nobody tossin' seawater on me in da mornin', don' got no chores..."
"You still have your duty to the Horde," Zureetha reminded him warily. Xan'Jin pulled out his rusty knife with a roguish grin that he had been working on. He was close, but it didn't quite have the twist that made a grin roguish. Instead, he just looked like a fool, something Xan'Jin was used to.
"Still better than moppin' floors, eh?" No sooner had he said this than something blue and wiry jumped out from over the next hill and latched onto his face. Xan'Jin was more horrified that it was a Vile Familiar than that it was now preparing to launch a fireball into his face. However, a long black staff caught it in the chest and wrenched it off his head.
The creature grabbed hold of Zureetha's staff, aiming the fireball at its owner. However, the hardy orc merely smiled. Xan'Jin noticed a wave of dark energy rippling up the length of the staff. The Familiar was oblivious. As the energy reached the tip of the staff where the imp was clinging, it exploded out of the dark wood in a bolt of shadow magic. Or, more accurately, it exploded out of the imp in a bolt of shadow magic.
Two halves of the creature flopped to the ground, and Zureetha shook the chocolate-shaded blood off her face and arm.
"Uh..." Xan'Jin began, already thinking of an excuse.
"The Burning Blade must be summoning more," Zureetha cut him off, her smile now genuine. Xan'Jin blinked in surprise. Did she just cover for him? To herself? With a wink, she walked over the hill and looked down at the cave held by the Burning Blade coven. Xan'Jin did the same, but he was taken aback. Dead Familiars were scattered about, lying decapitated in the sun or smashed against rocks. Several of the blue imps were starting to crawl out of the cave once again, but there were nowhere near as many as when Xan'Jin had taken his first visit.
"...you were telling the truth?" She said in disbelief.
"Nope," he said flatly, deciding that he might as well be honest since it seemed like she was on his side.
"So then..."
"Who did this? No idea, babe."
"You were the last person I sent out here."
"Lucky break for us?"
"I doubt it, but anything's possible." Zureetha bent down and sifted through a dismembered imp. "Looks like an axe did this." She then stood up, and seemed to be thinking. "While we're here, we might as well take care of something else..." With that, she began walking toward the cave, where the new imps seemed to be taking notice of her. Almost casually, she raised her staff in the air and it emitted a nearly invisible ripple. The effect was instant. All the Vile Familiars surrounding her scattered, scrambling across the ground as if they'd seen a ghost.
"Fear..." Zureetha began, turning her head and giving him a sidelong glance. Her visible eye was glowing with an ethereal purple. "...is a powerful weapon. As a rogue, you'll be able to use it even better than I can."
"How's that?" Xan'Jin asked as he caught up to her.
"That was a spell. An illusion. I forced those things to see something that isn't there. You, on the other hand, can turn invisible at will." Maybe some of us, Xan'Jin thought bitterly. "There is nothing that sentient life fears more than the unknown. With such a weak defense, your only chance at survival is to be unknown. Fear is both your offense and your defense. Remember that."
"Wow..." Xan murmured. "You use that speech a lot?"
"...yeah," Zureetha said bashfully. "You could tell?"
"Nobody says stuff like that on da fly. It was good, but a little forced."
"I'll keep that in mind," she grumbled, blowing away a fel hound with a shadow bolt. "You wanna do any of the work, here?"
"Why? You be takin' good care o' yourself without me."
"That's not the point. You're in training, not me."
"If you so hot, maybe I should jus' quit now,"
"What, and go back to the parents that dragged you here in your sleep?"
Xan took out the next demon himself.
He was vaguely aware that Zureetha was leading them up a stone walkway, and in no time they were staring at the back of a hunched-over orc. He seemed to be turning something over in his fingers.
"Okay," Zureetha whispered. "That warlock has a Burning Medallion around his neck. We need to get it from him."
Xan'Jin tried his hand at the roguish grin again. Still no luck. "Leave that to me." With a massive amount of concentration, Xan'Jin managed to become invisible. Giving Zureetha a thumbs-up that she didn't see, he began sneaking over to the warlock, who seemed to be muttering sweet nothings to the object in his hands. As he drew closer, he found that the object was the medallion he was looking for.
Xan reached for it tentatively, but the act of trying to take something that was wrapped tightly in the orc's meaty fingers broke his strenuous concentration. As if a cloth was ripped off of him, he became visible again. The warlock let go of the medallion immediately and let it dangle around his neck. With his hands now free, he backhanded the troll rogue into the wall.
Xan managed to leap out of the way before a shadow bolt impacted with his body. He took cover behind a stalagmite while searching frantically for Zureetha. She had disappeared. As soon as he realized this, the rock formation behind him exploded in a wave of dark magic. Xan'Jin darted out into the open, now facing the warlock head-on. Fear is both your offense and your defense, Zureetha had said. Tha's great, lady, Xan thought. I be too scared myself to make him afraid!
The orc waited, presumably to recharge his mana. Xan'Jin waited, hoping to get in a few more lungfuls of air before dying. He noted sadly that it was pretty crappy air to die with.
Suddenly, a roar cut the silence, and something large and muscular was bounding up the walkway behind Xan. He turned around in time to see a burly orc charging forward, a large battle axe held high. He jumped over the insignificant troll, and with a cry of "DIE, HELLSPAWN!", slashed downward with his axe. Blood spurted into the air, and the smaller orc crumpled to the ground with no more than a yelp of surprise.
"Where the hell did he come from!" Zureetha said, suddenly standing right behind Xan. The troll jumped.
"I could ask you that," he said gruffly.
"This is supposed to be your test, not his!" She grumbled, marching forward to the orc who was now yanking the blood-soaked medallion from the dead warlock. "You! What the hell are you doing here!"
The orc looked up in genuine surprise. "I was helping that poor rogue fight off this attacker."
"He's not supposed to have help! This is a test! A test, dammit!"
"He looked like he needed help," the orc said defensively.
"Are you allowed to help people on written tests?" Zureetha asked in a commanding voice.
"Do written tests ever kill you if you fail?" The warrior shot back. Zureetha opened her mouth again, but then shut it when she realized his logic was bulletproof.
"Can I have that, mon?" Xan'Jin asked tentatively. The orc tossed him the medallion absent-mindedly; clearly he was more interested in the argument with Zureetha.
"Look...you're obviously too powerful to be here. Shouldn't you be up at Razor Hill?"
"I wanted to help train the new recruits."
"You can't train new recruits if you're a recruit yourself!" Zureetha hissed, her green cheeks flushed and her voice growling.
"I think you're forgetting something more important here. I saved that rogue's life. Don't I get any thanks?"
"Thanks," Xan offered, but the orc ignored him.
"You're also forgetting something important. The whole point of this exercise was to train him! He won't have people like you to save him every time he gets in over his head!"
"So why not help him while we still can?"
"Because if he does this himself, then he won't need people like you saving him every time he gets in over his head!" Zureetha was breathless now. The orc offered her a moment to catch a breath before starting again.
"Don't I get a say in dis?" Xan'Jin asked.
"No!" Zureetha said immediately.
"Look, you both be right. Now can we get on with our lives?" He pointed out. Both were silent for a moment, but the orc broke the silence.
"The runt has a point. I shall take my leave," he said formally, then leapt off the ledge and down to the pit of demons. Xan'Jin stepped forward and held out the medallion.
"You don't deserve this," Zureetha growled as she begrudgingly took the blood-spattered trinket. As they made their way back down the walkway, she spoke again. "If that warlock weren't dead, I'd make you do it again. Just so you know."
"Da's what makes it so hilarious," Xan'Jin said jovially.
"I could always give you another trial," she threatened.
"But you can' think of one," he said knowingly. Zureetha said nothing, and instead hung her head in defeat.
"Other people will have ones for you; ones you can't do half-assed."
"I'll try anyway." This time, Xan's roguish grin was perfect.
End of chapter 2