FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The escape that caused a genocide and baby theft

Briga cuddled the silent baby in her arms while she and the rest of her family were gathered in the small dining room in her house located in the suburbs of the Batrishan Sanctuary. Although she had married a late Batrishan Priest, meaning Posten was dead from cancer, she refused to leave behind the house where she grew up and continued her family's tapestry merchant trade. But things were different now that she rescued her grandson from the death-seeking priests.

"Briga, this is insane," her sister Sestra said. "The priests will send the soldiers to look everywhere in the city until they find him."

"I don't care," Briga said flatly. "He's my daughter's son. Family is important in Batrishan society."

"Plus, infanticide is the worst unholy crime after rape," Voljeti added. He was Svjetla's older brother by two years, thus making him the youngest child among Briga's children now. He gently caressed his nephew's cheek, who didn't budge. "Didn't Ashiva disintegrate one Batrishan with lightning when he killed five children back in the 13th century."

"Voljeti makes a point there," Sestra's husband Fratar nodded. "Whether it's us or the priests who kill Svjetla's son, we'll be eternally punished by our god Ashiva." Everyone in the room looked in contempt: if there was one thing worse than being found guilty and executed by the Batrishan priests, it would be being punished by Ashiva himself.

"Then we'll leave the city," Briga determined as she stood up, still holding the baby in her arms. "We wouldn't be the first Batrishans to leave the Sanctuary in order to settle in the human world. I have a secret tunnel underneath my basement that leads straight out of the Sanctuary's borders."

"When do we leave?" Sestra asked.

"As soon as we packed all the provisions."

Four days later

"What do you mean, the Evil One destroyed the Batrishan Sanctuary?" Briga asked in horror. Two days ago, they had managed to sneak out of the Batrishan Sanctuary through Briga's underground tunnel while Fratar, his twin brother, and Briga's three elder children stayed in the city to make sure that the scavenging soldiers didn't find the tunnel that the fugitives used to escape. Unfortunately, despite their mission, only Fratar and Ujak, Briga's eldest son, came out alive.

"He came in front of everyone when Gandeje and the other priests summoned our people in front of the Palace in order to see all the young Batrishans bellow thirteen. The Evil One wanted to take his son back with him, but he became furious when he found out that not only was his progeny not around, but the priests wanted to kill the baby. So he summoned his goblin army and had them kill everyone, burn all the houses, and destroy everything that stood in their way." Ujak pointed behind them, where deep, crimson clouds flowing in the air like floating pools of blood and ashes could be seen. "Even at 70 miles away from here, we can see the smoke of the entire carnage."

The fugitives watched in horror as the home where their deepest ancestral roots become nothing but a myth.

"I told you this was insane, Briga!" Sestra told her sister angrily. "Now the Evil One's armies will come after us unless they find the baby!"

Briga looked at her sister darkly as she held the quiet, yet alive baby. "Because you would have let your daughter at the hands of the priests if they wanted her dead while the Evil One wanted to take her for himself?"

Sestra held on to her own five-year-old daughter, who was clinging onto her waist when she heard her aunt mentioning her. The armor-piercing question made sense to Sestra: she didn't lose her daughter the same way Briga lost her daughter Svjetla and she didn't have for a grandson a demigod child of the Evil One whom the Batrishan priests wanted to dispose off. She knew nothing of the pain that Briga had to deal with as she tried to save her one and only grandchild.

"So now what do we do, now?" Fratar asked.

"We need to find the nearest human port and go aboard a ship," Briga said. "I've heard how our nomadic brothers and sisters sailed across the oceans to explore or settle in the distant human lands."

"I believe I spotted a nearby human town last time I went to hunt for food," Voljeti said. "It's about half a day's flight from here, but I bet we can ask for directions towards the nearest port."

"Excellent idea, son," Briga said with a smile. "We split up in order to search for nearby towns that can tell us the directions to the closest port from our current location. We should try to meet back here about 3 days from now?"

"What do we do about the baby, though?" Sestra pointed out. "He might slow us down. Or worse, imagine if the Evil One has spies in the towns that we visit!"

"I'll stay here and watch him," Ujak volunteered. "I'll find some hollow tree trunk to hide him in in order to avoid any wicked passerby from finding him."

Briga hesitantly looked at her grandson, who was sleeping silently in her arms. In the end, she agreed and handed the baby to Ujak.

"I'll be back for you, little One," she whispered to the small thing as she planted a small kiss on its forehead and flew off with the other fugitives in order to find what they were looking for, not knowing that this would be the last time she would ever see, speak, or kiss her grandson ever again.

Ujak managed to find a hollow oak tree not too far from their camping area. He placed a few leaves inside to make a mattress for the baby bundled up in blankets. With the skills he learned as a tapestry maker, he managed to make a bush like camouflage with leaves and branches in order to hide the baby as it slept in the hollow.

When nighttime came, Ujak decided to gather more food and left the oak in order to find anything to eat. He ended up finding a field of red poppies and thought that he could use the flowers' nectar to make a honeyed beverage for his nephew. Unfortunately for him, those poppies came from the distant realm of Oz, and like anybody who had the misfortune of smelling those flowers, Ujak ended up falling asleep and his body became the feast for passing wild beasts.

A day and a half had passed. While the sun was beginning to set, a figure approached the area of the deserted encampment. It was none other than Kaïra, a presumed orphaned young goddess in training from Asgard, home of the Norse gods. On that day, the fifteen-year-old goddess was collecting healing herbs for her adoptive mother, the All-Mother Friga. She was close to filling up half of her basket with herbs until she heard wails. Wondering where the wails of the helpless mortal creature came from, she followed the sound until it led her past the empty Batrishans' camp towards a bush covering an oak tree. Using her sickle, she swiped the camouflage away and found the baby Batrishan, crying from not being fed for almost two days.

"Odin's beard! You poor wee thing!" Kaïra exclaimed, dropping her sickle in order to pull out the crying infant and hold it in her arms. "Who would leave a little baby Batrishan like you out in the wild? You could have died from famine or gotten killed by wild beasts!" She cradled the baby in her arms, which lowered its tone while still hungry.

"It's no use staying here. I'd better take you back to Asgard with me. Friga will know how to save you." Kaïra gathered her belongings and opened a portal to Asgard, taking the baby Batrishan with her.

When Briga and the other Batrishans returned to the camp the next day at dawn, they were horrified to find the remaining corpse of Ujak and no signs of the baby anywhere. Briga screamed in despair right when the Evil One's goblins emerged from the shadows, killing them all.

For many, it seemed like the species of the Batrishans came to an end.