A mighty slave

[wynnyelle]

"Tla!" bellowed the tall Secumbrah male. "Go fetch some fruit and bring it to camp." There was to be a gathering, and he wanted all the available Secumbrah to be working to bring in supplies for the festivities.

"Yes lord," said Tla, although the male who had ordered her was not the chief of the clan. It did not matter. When a male gave an order to her she was to obey, and she called all males 'lord'. She hurried along to fetch the fruit. Tla was still young, but fully evolved, and she knew that she would come of age soon. When she entered her first season, she would probably be claimed by a certain male who had his eye on her. She loathed him...but she had no choice.

She headed out to fetch the fruits. He had meant some giant fruits from the nearby Guardian Trees, of course. Most of them produced enourmous fruit that could amply feed even her kind, a giant kind. Tla herself stood about forty feet tall, and that was short by her kind's standards.

Out among the guardian trees, Tla had to be careful to flash her lights and alert the slave to her presence...otherwise he might step on her. She looked way, way up at him and flashed her lights. It took a few moments, but the great grulik responded in kind.

^*^*^*^

Caliban saw her, way down there, gathering fruit while he himself fed on the great trees' fruits and foliage. The fodder was most plentiful and nutritious at the trees' crowns, which was where he fed. As he had in the years before he had become a captive to the Secumbrah, he spent most of his time eating.

His long black hair rippled slowly like a river in the wind, though it was so heavy that even the stiff winds up by his head failed to lift it very far. Everything about him seemed slow, weighted, heavy. Caliban looked longingly out at the vista of the valley. He could go nowhere without the permission of his loathesome master, who used him for his power. Under the master's orders, Caliban had slain many other secumbrah, enemies of the clan. Caliban knew he had no choice. If he dared to disobey, or harm his master, there was a bond around the neck of his most beloved gretta...though she was far away now. If he disobeyed the order of the cursed Secumbrah, the bond would tighten around Truena's neck until it suffocated her. The bond knew no limitations of strength..it went by the magic of the land, not the power of any living individual or even spirit to rise against it. He had seen its power to suffocate Truena displayed for him, and knew the reality of it. The evil Secumbrah was in charge, and his word was law.

Caliban would sooner die than let his favourite gretta suffer so. Sadly he thought of Truena. She would be nearing her time to give birth, soon. Only a few more years to go. Caliban had kept track of the years.

He moved among the guardian trees to feed a little further afield. He could wander where he needed to in the valley to feed himself, which was good, otherwise he woulld not get enough to eat. Caliban saw a couple of secumbrah males nearby and resisted the urge to stand close to them, lift his tail and let a few dark balls of dung fall and hit them where they stood. Alas, it was a fantasy he could only enjoy in his mind.

[wynnyelle]

"Permission to speak?" pipped a tiny, tiny voice. Caliban recognised it as one of the Secumbrah...to him, their voices were tiny peeps, very high but clearly audible. He turned his head down towards the source of the sound. It was that young female Secumbrah talking, and he thought this unusual, as he usually did not hear the females speak at all.

"You don't have to ask permission to speak to me," rumbled the giant grulik. "I'm a slave, remember?"

"I--I ask out of habit. You are a slave, but a male."

Caliban growled to himself. "If you feel better asking for permission, so be it. Permission granted."

He decided to sit down so as to be a little closer to eye level with her. He bent down and placed his rear on the ground and legs to the side. The earth trembled when he landed and his movement created a momentary breeze that ruffled the secumbrah's hair.

Tla shielded her head with her arms as Caliban's long hair swished down near her. She feared he would crush her by accident and backed away until he had settled down into a sitting position. He always seemed to take a long time to shift positions.

"What is it you desire to speak to me about?" said Caliban, looking down at her with intent jet-black eyes that showed no whites. Grulik eyes rarely showed their whites at all.

"Pardon my forwardness, but I am curious...why are you a slave here? What does Lord Khiphah do to keep you captive?"

"He has something," said Caliban, "called the Arms of Justice. Those Arms of Justice have been entwined around the neck of my favourite gretta. If I disobey anything that Lord," he nearly puked on the word, "Khipha says, he will order them to tighten...and they shall asphyxiate her."

[wynnyelle]

"I cannot speak out against what Lord Khipha dictates," said Tla. "He is my lord and when I come of age, he will be my mate. Unless I am traded or he decides to give me to another one of the males."

Caliban listened to her with a patient ruing of her situation. What in earlier days might have been anger had been dampened to a gently smouldering hatred. "You deserve better. Are all your flocks this way?"

"I know not," said Tla. "They are what they are. I am fortunate--I am protected and cared for. I don't mind being kept or traded. What comes, will come." Still, the giant's words touched her. "Either way I will be protected."

"There is more to life than being protected," said Caliban. Still, if you want my protection, I shall grant it."

[wynnyelle]

...Something had happened. Caliban could feel it. A change in the spritual hum of the world. He had been given a gift from his departed mother Sycorra, a gift that gave him partial ability to sense and manipulate the other realm, this was how he felt the change. Like something screaming, something breaking.

He sat up. The grulik had been lying in the shade of several ratharah trees, his favourite and primary plantstuff food, when the change had come over things. Near him, a few of the female secumbrah including Tla lay as well, sleeping after the session of fun they had had earlier. Caliban had enticed them to engage his and even each other's sexual needs, in ways that were possible, though just barely so, despite extreme differences of size. It had been a lot of fun to say the least, and not the first time he had done so, though it was the first time he had let Tla in on it. As long as Khipha didn't find out, all was well.

All in all, being pleasured by a team of secumbrah females was an unusual and unique experience. One that Caliban would miss if he ever got to leave this place and return to his own kind. Then again, what's to stop me from dropping by for a little fun now and then?

"What is it?" said Nai, standing up when the huge grulik moved.

Caliban sifted the air with his gigantic nostrils, which were quite large even for the size of his face. "Something different. In the realm that transcends air, water and earth. Fuck it if I have any clue what it might be." He didn't dare hope. Looking down at her with a lopsided grin, he raised one black brow. "For the meantime it holds no significance. Care for another round of pleasure?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said another tiny, pippy voice behind him. Caliban had started out not being able to tell the difference between male and female voices of secumbrah, but now he could do so easily. He looked around, knowing it was a male and there might be trouble. No, there definitely would be.

"I didn't say you were invited, you prickless ass-sucker," said Caliban.

The secumbra male backed away. "I'm going to tell Lord Khipha what you just told me and may he have mercy."

Caliban couldn't believe it, he had slipped up again. Sometimes he just lost his temper. "Wait..." He scrambled to get up, which for a giant his size, took some time. By then the secumbrah was already making his way back up towards camp.

[wynnyelle]

Lord Khipha knew that the Arms were no longer around Truena's neck.

How could he not know? It was as though those arms had been part of him, ever since Amurai Holdenel had taken residence within him. And he knew Caliban must have some inkling that something had gone awry...

Caliban had to die. As soon as possible. Khipha just had to figure out how he was going to manage this. A snub-nosed grulik thar wasn't an easy thing to kill. But Khipha thought he had the perfect solution. Was he not that loathesome lug's master?

"Lord Khipha!" One of the lower-ranking male secumbrah was lumbering over to Khipha with a look on his face of something important. "The slave grulik--Caliban was caught doing taboo things with our females." He proceeded to tell everything that he had seen and heard.

Lord Khipha growled with rage. There would be some punishments meted out to the females--but not yet. Not till after Caliban had died. This was even more fodder for his plan. "Good. Thank you for telling me. I shall decide the punishment."

^*^*^*^

Caliban saw Lord Khipha approaching and stood up to meet him. He wanted to be as far above him as possible.

"I have heard of your crimes, slave," said Khipha. "I am afraid that our pact has been broken and must come to an end. You are corrupting our females and that cannot be tolerated."

"I am very sorry, my lord. It will not happen again," lied Caliban.

"Unfortunately I can not trust that this is true," said Khipha. "Therefore, Caliban, you must die."

Caliban paused. He was not about to give his life! "There has to be another way." Yet his stomach began to churn...what would Khipha do to Truena if Caliban refused?

"I'm afraid not," said Khipha. "We shall march to the sea and you will drown yourself; otherwise I will command the Arms of Justice to strangle your gretta. and for all the females you have corrupted here, to be slain."

As several of the Secumbrah females knelt down weeping, Caliban forced himself to remain calm. He was not about to drown himself OR let Truena be strangled. "Then I have one request. Let me say goodbye to Truena."

[wynnyelle]

Khipha thought fast. "No can do. However, I will send a messenger to let her know of your demise." He was enjoying this, seeing the giant suffer. This giant who had caused so much trouble and pain in the land was finally getting some of his own back to him. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. But he had been corrupting these females! That they had even been engaging in that sort of thing with Caliban--all of them massaging his vile black shaft...no. Just no. Then again, Khipha had long known Caliban to be a lewd sort. He should have suspected this a long time ago.

"Permission to speak," said Tla, in tears.

"Permission granted." Khipha really wanted to hear this.

"Please...I beg you not to kill him," said Tla.

"Your begging is all for naught," said Khipha. "Caliban is to be marched to the sea to die. However, if he consents to this, you will not be punished too harshly. If he doesn't consent..." Khipha looked up at Caliban to see what he'd say.

"I consent," said Caliban, unable to refuse. He wasn't going to let Truena die. However, he had no intention of dying. Tonight...after all of them were asleep...Caliban would weave his magic. He would seek a way out from the realm of the dead and the Unrealm.

~^~^~^~^~^~

As luck would have it, Caliban did not have to venture very far with his powers that night. After all the Secumbrah were asleep, many of the females weeping as they felt that they were at least partly responsible for his death,. Caliban lay awake, on his back, staring up at the stars. His long black hair lay spilled all around him, covering the valley. The giant grulik let his powers venture forth, seeking an answer, anything. Any sort of lead. Lustful thoughts of Truena, Lalola, other females he'd bred with, as well as the multiple Secumbrah orgies he'd had here kept on clouding his thoughts. He jerked off, then tried again.

~Can't you clear your mind and body of lustful thoughts for even one minute?~ came the voice and image of another gror--his own kind, a snub-nosed gror--in his head. Caliban's eyes fluttered open and he focused his thoughts. The voice and image in his mind were not of his own brain's making. Someone was contacting him, somehow.

~Who are you? Are you dead?~

~I am far from it, grikling. It has sure taken you long enough to reach out and find me. But now that you have, it shows you are ready. Do not worry for your gretta--she will be saved. Come to me, alive, and she will be saved. Oh, just make sure you bring that Khipha with you. i want to examine him at length. Somethig about his power waves intrigues me.~

~Khipha is possessed. That would be why. And who are you?~ Caliban made no secret of his suspicion, almost annoyance. Call me grikling and I'll molest you.~ He added it as a quip, clearly not serious with that intent, but serious about his insistence that the stranger not call him a grikling. A grikling was an unevolved grulik, and Caliban certainly was not one. Said to a gror, it was a pejorative term. ~You'll call me Thar-Caliban.~

~Maybe I will and maybe I won't. We shall see when we meet. I hope I can call you Thar-Caliban...would mean something is right with the world. Though you're a little young to be a Thar, aren't you?~

~If I can knock Boqner down I'm not too young to be a Thar.~ Caliban snorted. ~Since you know my name I'd like to know yours. Now.~

~Thar-Cawamung. I haev given you the knowledge to reach me by. Remember, do not worry for your gretta. Trust me on this one. You're to come north to me tomorrow and bring that secumbrah with you. If he threatens you, do not waver. He will not kill her. Not if you do as I'm telling you.~

Caliban sighed, and growled to himself. He did not worry about waking the Secumbrah clan. They could not hear his growls. So he growled as loud as he pleased. ~It is only because I'd rather trust you than that dung-eater Khipha that I'll do this.~ Caliban hated to have to trust him or anyone with his own issues. But at least it would mean he got to tell Khipha what to do...maybe.

~Farewell, then. Go to sleep, you'll need it. It'll be a long journey. Remember, Truena will not die, and you have my word that I'll march into the sea myself if she were going to. Good growling, by the way.~

Caliban growled some more to himself. The word of another gror meant little or nothing to him. Promises were easy to brealk. So...why had he chosen to trust this stranger, this voice?

Why could nothing in the world be simple and easy. Caliban jerked off again then went to sleep.

[wynnyelle]

Telling Khipha what to do.

That thought stirred Caliban to waking from dreams about more pleasant things. His dreams were nearly always at least somewhat sexual. A Thar spread his seed in more realms than one, after all. And for the last many years, Caliban had been limited to the dreamworld in which to breed. Several times he had heard the calls and felt the stompings of distant grettas in season, only to be forbidden to even go visit them by Khipha. There were few things more torturous than that for Caliban or any gror, most likely. Oh yes, Khipha would pay, and pay painfully--emotionally, psychologically and physically.

Caliban stood up to his full height, hair swinging. ~Cawamung?~ he asked to the force he had felt last night, but it was clearly gone now. However, he had a strange new knowledge in his head. He inexplicably knew where he must go. And he would get going on it today.

He browsed for a bit--he sensed that the trip there was not too urgent for him to give up eating to get there super fast--and once he was full he thundered back over to the northeastern side of the valley, where the secumbrah had awoken too and were going about their business.

"Slave," peeped Khipha, looking up at him, "did I say you could go to the westside to stuff your foodhole before you heard my orders? we leave at once, and you are not going to need to stuff yourself any longer. You will be dead in a matter of days."

"I think not, actually," said Caliban. "There's been a change of plans." He smiled gently down at Khipha, enjoying this immensely. He had an inclination to pick him up and dunk him in the little white pond he had left last night near the valley's centre, but decided not to go to extremes just yet. Still, the thought was tempting.

Khipha didn't like the way he said that. "If there's been a change of plans, then your mate will have a change in lifespan. As you wish."

Caliban was tempted to retract everything, but he remembered Cawamung's words. Cawamung was real, and real people like that did not contact him out of the blue for no reason. And anyway, who in the world would care enough to try lying to him about Truena? Well, aside from Khipha....

Boqner, perhaps? No, Cawamung was definitely not Boqner. Boqner did not have the powers that Caliban and his mother did. And the face of Cawamung was an indiviidual who did not look like Boqner. "Go ahead. I have it on good faith she will not die." Caliban tried to keep a straight face. He knew that if he turned back on this, Khipha would kill Caliban and then Truena. There would be no saving her. Not after everything. He would kill Truena, and with her, her child.

Khipha thought fast. Was the giant bluffing? If he was, what more could Khipha do to call him out? Nothing. He had to go along with this for the meantime and hope Caliban somehow changed his mind. But it was odd that he had suddenly got these ideas into his head. Did Caliban also know???

No, probably not, thought Khipha. If he knew, I'd be dead by now. "If you care that little for your mate I truly pity her. She is better off without such scum as you walking this earth and claiming her, you oversized lech! I have decided to spare her for the time being, no telling when I will change my mind. So what are your high and mighty plans that are worth putting her and your unborn child's lives on the line for?"

Caliban had not expected Khipha to relent. It only strengthened his belief that Cawamung knew what he was doing, and had spoken the truth. "We'll be going on a little trip, you, and me. Where I do not know yet, but it lies to the north. North...where unknown adventures may be lived, unknown grettas may be laid, and unknown pleasures may be taken."

Khipha was not going to let this giant bring him on a trip alone. "If I go, we all go! I own this clan and a Secumbrah clan moves as one." He turned to his clan, who by now had all gathered. "We are all going!"

[wynnyelle]

"Going where, lord?" asked a younger male. He glanced up at Caliban, then back at his leader. "if I heard right, the grulik has yet to tell us where he's even going."

Khipha looked up at Caliban. "That would be a good thing to clue us in on."

"North," said Caliban. "And it's going to be a long trip." He was grinning.

Khipha glared up at him. "Wipe that smile off your face, brute. Your mate isn't going to last long at this rate."

"You spared her once, you can do it again, and you will," said Caliban, beginning to realise just how much power Khipha was yielging to him. One of them was bluffing and Caliban knew it wasn't himself. Yet he had seen the Arms of Justice at work...cinching around poor Truena's neck when Caliban had rushed to try and take them off. Hehad been forced to take his hands away...only then had Khipha ordered the Arms to give his precious gretta air. Yet here Khipha was now, refusing to just do it.

Of course, if he killed Truena, he would be left with nothing to control Caliban with. And then Khipha must know Caliban would wreak his vengeance on his clan. Perhaps it was this way.

"North it is, then, and if you don't think you're going to end up regretting this, you're sorely mistaken," said Khipha. He looked up at Caliban. "Someone more ancient than I am is saying you will live to regret this."

"That ancient someone somehow can't find the courage or time to step forth and tell it to my face," said Caliban. "All right...everybody get ready, for we depart now. I'm growing tired of this."

They set out for the north not too much later. Caliban travelled at a comfortable pace, stopping to eat frequently. He intended to swing by near Truena's home range and see if she was alright, and thankfully that, too, lay to the north, at least generally. She was more than worth a detour.

[wynnyelle]

Ugly. Ugly, cruel, lewd and frivolous. That was all Caliban was, thought Nyko as the young secumbrah male hiked along after the great giant. Ugly with his huge snubbed nose and small {for his face} cruel slanted black eyes; cruel for what he was doing to their clan and leader, lewd in almost everything he seemed to do in his spare time, except for the carving and wearing of frivolous jewellery. Caliban was bedecked with it as he stomped slowly northward along the trail, his sides often brushing the guardian trees that grew on either side. Nyko couldn't even stand the musky smell of him anymore.

"My lord," he said to Khipha, "I beg you to reconsider this journey. we are travelling into unfamiliar land now, at the leadership of a creature who'd be only too glad to harm us." Nyko kept his voice down, just in case the giant might be listening. "Who knows what other great creatures live up in these parts? We've all heard the terrible stories."

"My mind is made up--we will be doing this," said Khipha. "For now, Nyko, we have no real choice. He is my slave no longer."

"Why don't you just give up the hold on his mate and tell him so? Then we can go our separate ways."

"I am considering it," said Khipha. "More and more. I will soon let you know my decision."

~^~^~^~

"Is that all you could find! Worthless female!" Tulgan, an older male, slapped Tla across the face and sent her mostly empty basket of fruits flying.

"I'm sorry!" Tla threw herself to the ground, tasting her own blood. When he had slapped her, she'd bitten her tongue. "I don't know my way around these parts! I did the best I could!"

Tulgan kicked her in the side. "Your best is not good enough, wench. Fill that basket and until you've filled it you won't be eating one shred of our kills!"

Caliban turned his giant head towards the sounds of Tla's and Tulgan's voices. The great grulik bant down and before tulgan even realised it was happening, plucked Tulgan right off the ground in his huge black hand.

"Put me down! Put me down NOW!" Tulgan wriggled helplessly in Caliban's grasp.

"Caliban! It's okay, it's okay, he did nothing wrong! Stop it!" Tla got to her feet and cried for him to stop. Yes, Tla dreaded the day she would be mated to Tulgan, for he had his eye on her and was high in rank to take another mate in addition to his first two. But she avoided any thought of wishing him dead. Such thoughts could get one's soul banished to the Land of Dread.

"I think I shall slake my thirst on a kill, myself," said Caliban, "however a puny one it be, barely enough to fill my mouth. Be grateful I do not eviscerate you first, you piece of shit." And he opened his mouth, put the screaming Tulgan inside and chewed him a little, crunching his bones. He tasted the sweet salt of Tulgan's blood briefly before swallowing him mostly whole.

Several Secumbrah had gathered now and learned what had just happened. They cried their grief.

Tulgan's eldest mate glared at Tla. She cuffed the young female across the face. "You will pay...you will pay, you pathetic wench." She hissed the words, keeping her voice down. She herself suddenly feared the wrath of the out of control colossus.

Khipha knew he had to do something here or this giant was going to eat them all alive, whenever his whimsy dictated he do it. "We part ways here!" he cried. "Your mate can go free, Caliban! But our journey together is at an end."

Caliban looked down at him and laughed. His laughter made the ground tremble under their feet and in their bellies. Finally he spoke his slow, rumbling, giant-rounded words. "That is what you think, worm. Where I am going, you will crawl after me, Lord Khipha, or I will end the life of you and your putrid, cowardly cohorts who dare call themselves males."

"You cannot end my life," said Khipha quietly, but loud enough for Caliban to hear.

"Then I will torture you for as long as it takes," said Caliban. "You come with me whether you want to or not. Or you will suffer a pain worse than any death I would be glad to give you."

Tla would have cried out begging Caliban to stop it, to let Khipha go, but she was female, and forbidden to just scream out while her lord was speaking. She and the other females held their tongues while they listened with terror to the conversation.

"What do you have to gain from forcing me to come with you?" Khipha knew his only chance to get away from this giant was to convince him that it was a pointless, stupid idea. "You can head back to your mate now--the Arms of Justice will no longer be upon her neck when you do. I give my word."

"I will eat my own shit before I take you on your word," said Caliban. "Why am I even speaking to you...you are a waste of time. Let me explain. I said you are coming, and so you are coming. Your clan may go if they wish."

"If I go, they come with me, because I am their lord," said Khipha. "My word is law to them and our bond is unbreakable."

"Then they are stupid," said Caliban. "All of them."

"WHY do you want me on this trip?" said Khipha. "At least tell me what you plan to do with me once we get there. Please."

"I plan to hand you over to the one who called me to journey north and bring you with me." Caliban brought up some blood-tainted cud to chew. He had decided on a rest stop here. "He visited me in a dream and told me much. He has said that I must bring you with me for our word to be valid...his word that my gretta will be free of you and your sicknesses."

"I free your gretta now!" said Khipha. "but if you force me to go with you, I will recant. I will do it, brute!"

Caliban sighed. "Then I will keep on eating your folk."

[wynnyelle]

Caliban had not made good on his promise to eat more Secumbrah, but then, Khipha had not made any signs of recanting his offer. That had been nearly a month ago. They had been travelling on into the spring now and Caliban had led the Secumbrah clan through many guardian tree forests on the path made by his own folk countless ages ago. He had led them a good way north, and still there was no sign of Cawamung. He stopped the clan in a lush forest where he could catch up on eating, and plan his next move. As he munched on the lush foliage up at the crowns of the ratharah trees, he concluded he would have to get in touch with Cawamung again.

He did not doubt he could do so with a moderate amount of concentration. Cawamung's dark-signal was strong. Caliban wondered if the other thar was alone or if he was getting some kind of help.

"Good night," he said to the clan in general. Since eating that male he and the clan had exchanged few words. Caliban also never slept on his back where he knew they could get at them. What was to stop Khipha from climbing up there with a spear and thrusting it into one of his eyes?

~Cawamung...if you are there, I'd like to speak to you on whether I'm actually getting any closer. I prefer to travel months on end in search of gretta in season, not other thar. In all this time, I could have gone to see Truena a long time ago. An explanation is in order, fellow Thar.~

The response in his mind, his being, clouded through him like stars. It was a much stronger feeling now than it had been the first time. And, Caliban realised, it was not Cawamung this time who was reaching out to him. The face that formed in his mind's eye was not that of the thar, but that of a gretta of breeding age. The gretta had a kind of no-nonsense beauty about her. Caliban's demeanour changed immediately, and she sensed it.

~Who said anything about only going to see the thar? We have much more in store for you than just that, Caliban. Can't talk now, but Cawamung told me to tell you you are nearing where we are...but on your way there, you might want to take a detour northwest. When you see the Ringuma Rock, turn northwest up the pass, there'll be a commonly used trail. Take it until you find the Sentinel Stones. You'll know them when you see them, handsome.~

Caliban's essence folded around hers over the long distance, the way his dark powers only could. ~May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, huntress of the shadows?~

The connection began to fade into stars once more. ~If you reach where we are, perhaps.~ And she was gone, leaving Caliban with nothing but her fresh memory and a black glistening hardon. Caliban growled a soft thunder to himself. He was getting really tired of seeing females in his mind only. He was wondering if maybe she was waiting at this Ringuma Rock or something....but no, she was clearly with the thar. Caliban loved Truena, yes, but a Thar took many gretta. That one he had just seen was something else. Yes, he would take her word and take that detour.

~*~*~*~*~

"We're almost there," said Caliban the next morning, when he was done enough with eating to get going. The Secumbrah had eaten too and seemed ready. Caliban had come to know when they were ready and when they weren't. "We will be there soon. Then finally we will learn what lies in store for your reeking leader."

"I beg you have mercy on him," said Tla, after some hesitation.

"Why?" said Caliban. "All he's ever done is repress you. Great Allmother Plaa--he even forbade you from having fun with harmless little me. But if you ask it, I shall consider. However, the choice may not be up to me."

"Thank you," said Tla in a voice that Caliban could barely hear.

It was not long before Caliban found what had to be Ringuma Rock. It looked vaguely like the head of the giant Ringuma found in these parts--well, giant compared to the smaller types found elsewhere. It was the only type Caliban was actually familiar with, and had ever seen. And he knew he was getting even closer when he saw the trail leading through the pass. He took it with gusto. The trail led out into a wider valley in the midst of which stood a strange rock formation. Boulders, more like tall, steep mountains actually--very little mountains--stood in a haphazard semicircle. Caliban stepped towards the stones drawn in not just because of how they looked, but how they felt.

He was standing in the midst of some kind of locus of Unrealm energy--and from the feel of it, it was somewhere beneath his feet.

Khipha felt the demon within him awakening. The Amurai spoke in his head in an alarming hiss.

~There has been a change of plans, Khipha,~ said the demon in an alarmed tone Khipha had never heard or felt before. ~You cannot allow Caliban to reach his destination with you. You cannot.~

It's not like I have much choice, demon. He can use his powers to bind me.~

~Not if you get away when he has his guard down. Listen to me, I am ordering you to leave. Now. Do not worry about your clan--he won't hurt them if you're gone. You are to leave now.~

Khipha watched as Caliban slowly stepped among the rock formation, while his clan slowly dispersed around the valley, some of them standing in knots around the immediate area. ~I can't abandon them, demon.~

~You must! If you allow Caliban to deliver you to his destination, you will die, your entire clan will die out, and your entire race will as well. Fuck that--You allow him to bring you to the ones calling for him and every last pokemon on this world will die.~

Khipha stopped and stared, out at nothing. The demon's panic was beginning to make his limbs tingle. He could feel it fighting for control in a storm of desperation. ~How do I know you're even telling the truth? Every last pokemon? Isn't that a litle farfetched?~

~You will believe me because if you don't, everyone will die.~

Khipha realised his ability to make the decision himself was being increasingly challenged, from more than one angle. ~You never cared about helping any pokemon live before...what caused the change of heart?~

~I am in danger too.~ The Amurai demon grew like a rumbling inside Khipha, making him tremble. ~But you must flee now. Flee or regret it. Flee or we will all die.~

We.... Khipha took one last look at his clan and at Caliban. Then he fled.

[wynnyelle]

Caliban bent down on all fours, an awkward position for grulik, especially snub-nosed grulik, who were bipeds nearly all the time they weren't sleeping, moreso than their distant relatives, the ampharos. They were most comfy sojourning slowly across the land and browsing from the fruits and leafery of the towering, sacred Ratharah trees. They weren't even that great at crawling. Normally, they never needed to crawl.

Caliban bent down on hands and knees and put his head close to the ground. His hair fell and swept around the valley's bowl, around the stone formation he was in the middle of. His lblue-white lights flickered low and apprehensive. He could feel the source of the power, the magic--and it was below him.

He stood up, making the ground tremble with his movements. He knew what he had to do. He sized up each stone, which were all roughly the height of his waist, and he crouched and placed his arms around the one he chose. He pulled upward, with a thundering groan forced his legs to straighten. His muscles flexed to their limits and the strain made him grimace. Electric sheets of energy flowed from his lights and the giant's charge made ions gather in the sky above him. still he pushed his strength to the upper limit. Loud cracks as he broke the stone free of its soil moorings. The Secumbrah scattered.

Caliban placed the stone down on its side nearby, which caused the earth to shake even more. He then knelt down by the hole he had revealed. He shined his light in, but couldn't make out much other than the fact that it went in for a way down. And the presence was calling to him from inside. Without hesitation, he reached his arm in and began to feel around. It was an inner chamber, not as long as he had thought. It slanted in towards the middle of the stone circle. Caliban did not have to see the inside of the chamber, though, to know where he was going. His hand closed around a disk-shaped rock and he felt something race through him. He pulled it out, a white marble shape over four hundred feet long at its longest point. Over three hundred feet wide, but small in his hand.

Caliban sat down by the hole and held the disk in both his hands to examine it at length. It was quite regular in its shape, being symmetrical. It was like a triangle with two identical straight sides and a shorter base joining them; this base was rounded. Caliban stared at it, felt the forces swimming inside it like a living thing. On both sides of the flat shape were carved numerous designs and figures, carved more finely than anyone of his own kind could probably do.

~I know this is why you wanted me to take this detour,~ Caliban thought out towards the gretta's distant immaterial gaze. ~I suppose my most acute question is how you knew it was here...and just what the fuck it is?~

[wynnyelle]

He was interrupted by the tiny, peeping cry of Tla, "Caliban! Lord Caliban!"

Caliban turned his head from the piece of stone in his hands to the young tiny female down on the ground.

"Lord Khipha has gone!"

Caliban's lights boomed with electricity. "What." He put the stone piece down on the ground--nobody but him could pick it up, anyway--and looked around. "Shit." He cast a bolt of lightning in frustration. When he vented, he made storms. "Where'd you last see the little shit?"

Tla had backed away from him in terror. "No--I haven't seen him since--before you started moving the rocks. He was right with us then."

Caliban, on second thought, picked up the stone piece again. He knew already that it would be no use trying to track him down purely by physical means. Khipha could not only move much faster than he could, but he could manoeuvre through thicker woods than Caliban could, and he had a good head start. No--Caliban would appeal to him by way of his powers. He could do this because Khipha shared them with him. He had felt it so for a long time. Now it was the only chance he had. "Stay here," he said, his mind and senses already drifting as he stepped out of the valley and down the trail he knew he would find Khipha on. he knew it because Khipha would come to him, not the other way around. All Caliban had to do was say the right thing. So, what was it that Khipha most wanted to hear?

~Khipha...~ he called gently, with his mind and Unrealm-force. It was like psychic powers, but not quite. ~Khipha. I wish to speak with you. I cannot track you down or force you to come back..but I can ask that you do, because a lot depends on it. I also feel where you have gone...I can keep following you.~

An answer stirred from the distance. ~You haven't a chance of ever seeing me again, brute. Of which you should be glad. I lied, Caliban. You ought to know your mate is free now. The Arms of Justice were broken and thrown aside. You felt it as easily as I did. She is free, and you have no need to follow your voices north. We can all go our separate ways. Do so, Caliban...our world depends on it.~

Caliban began to stroll slowly, step by colossal step, down the trail through the guardian tree forest that his head saw easily over the tops of. ~That's where you are wrong. That's where both our instincts are off. We need to get north...both of us. We need to see this mystery to its end.~

He found Khipha sitting on a boulder, at the end of the trail, where the woods petered out onto rolling hills. Caliban looked calmly at the Secumbrah male he had hated for so long. He still hated him, but now, with a new edge to his powers and Unrealm sense, he knew that he had to tolerate him for now. For it was not Khipha he was interested in. It was the demon inside him.

He sat down next to Khipha and looked down at the grey giantlet, as the sun gleamed on his smooth rubbery hide and shiny black hair. "I found something, Khipha. I thought you might want to have a look at it." He held out the giant stone shape, with its many figurines and symbols carved in relief on it, and laid it down in front of Khipha.

Khipha felt the demon boil to the surface again as shards of strange power lanced through his being. He was not in control of himself as his hands were placed on the plate. Then, suddenly, he knew. He looked up at Caliban and spoke.

"Yes...Hello, Caliban. We have much to accomplish. For I am She Who Knows."

[wynnyelle]

Caliban sat still while his mind churned. Then he grabbed Khipha in his huge hand and lifted him up. He knew he could not dare destroy Khipha's body or else he would lose the spirit he housed, but he could not just sit there and do nothing. "You killed my mother."

Khipha's voice spoke, though it was not him in fact speaking. "I did not kill Sycorra. Sycorra was killed by the forces she tampered with and unleashed. Same as those liliks did not kill her, neither did I."

"The amurai told me you killed her. She met her end when she released you."

"Amurai say a lot of things," said She Who Knows. "The truth is that they are all lost. They do not know who or what they really are. They are all waiting for me, all twelve of them--to bring them back to themselves and shed the light on their souls. They do not even know that all of this time they have been seeking me. And thanks to you, they will find me at last. But there is much that must be done. I will require your assistance in--"

Caliban put Khipha back down roughly on the ground, causing the smaller giant to fall down in pain. "You will not force your tasks on me, you slug. If I can I will destroy you. I know you killed my mother. You killed her because she found out something you didn't want her to know."

"Her knowing who and what I am wouldn't change anything for me," said the spirit within Khipha. "I never had a reason or desire to see her die. I do however have a reason for convincing you that you must help me. This world depends on it. Every pokemon in this world depends on what we do and where we go from here."

Caliban swooped his great head down and leaned in close to Khipha's face. "In that case, you have a lot of explaining to do. Describe to me in plain terms just why I must help you."

"They will come, is all I can say at this point," said the demoness. "Our powers--my powers--hav held them at bay. I have been hiding this world from them. the ones that, in a time long faded from the cultural memory of any pokemon kind alive today, were once called the Old Gods. Don't let it fool you. They're not gods nor were they ever. But they are somewhere out there, and ever since they were banished from our world they have been seeking a way back. If they ever find their way here, they will destroy every last living pokemon that walks, flies or swims this world."

"And why and how would 'they' do that?" said Caliban in a voice that sounded almost bored. He was far from sold on her words.

"With powers beyond your imagining. Now are you going to trust me or will we all have to learn the hard way the truth of my words and pay the highest price?"

"Yes, you have me aboard...but what is it you want from me, and what can I do? What do I have that you want? "

"The powers to help unite the Amurai," said Khipha, his eyes still glowing with a faint supernatural green. "The power to unite...Us Twelve. And to do it before those who can and will destroy any of Us get to do so."

"And how am I to go about doing this? I'm not in the business of serving demons," said Caliban. "At least, not those with agendas that do nothing for me and plenty against. I too have a vested interest in the future of this world. And from what I know of the amurai they do not."

"You must find the rest of those disks, the first of which you have already unearthed. I can help you there, but my knowledge is incomplete...at this point...for now. Then we must use the disks' powers to draw the rest of the Amurai in. The Twelve."

Caliban was beginning to see what she/he wanted. "Then what shall we do?"

"I cannot see further without the help from the disks themselves," said the demoness. "We must find them first. Unfortunately, to go about doing this you must head north with the disk you've found and meet with those you have made contact with up there. They will teach you what you need to know."

[wynnyelle]

"They will be expecting me to bring you with me," said Caliban. "How are you going to avoid them if they plan on doing something to you?"

"I will leave this body if I have to," said the demoness. "I will do what I must. Ideally...I should be taking up residence in you, but then...I would be just as accessible to them there. I must go with you, but you cannot tell them what I have told you about me. Trust me when I say the world depends on it. With your help I can rebuild at last, and build up the power we will need to shake off the threat of danger once and for all."

* * * * *

Caliban and Khipha returned together to the valley where the other Secumbrah were now grazing and browsing. Khipha headed towards them with the same air of authority he had always had. "Let's get going. Giant, lead us north. You and I both know where we are going."

Caliban led them on, knowing that if anything, She Who Knows knew more about it than he did. His left hand gripped the exquisitely carved marble piece.

~^~^~^~^~

"Is it all ready?" Malkin stepped over to the steep mountainside thta Cawamung stood working on. The young snub-nosed gretta peered at his work--white lines scratched onto the cliff face, a circle crosshatched with lines that radiated out in a star.

"Yes--and good thing, too. He is very near now." Cawamung put down the great, edged boulder he had been making the lines with and headed back out into the middle of the valley. He splashed through the lake surrounding the central area and stepped out onto that area--a huge, cracked low stone dome, flat in the middle. It was enormous, large enough for a snub-nosed grulik to sit down comfortably on. Cawamung did just that, knowing that Caliban was going to arrive right in this valley, at this stone very soon. He relaxed and let the power of the stone course through him. And then, that power spoke to him, pushing his thought processes into ideas and conclusions, like shaping a sculpture from clay.

She Who Knows is coming!

[wynnyelle]

The first thing Caliban noticed, when he stepped past the ratharah trees and other guardian trees and through the mountain pass, was the other Thar sitting on the giant stone, waiting for him. Caliban sized him up. The other Thar was not as tall as Caliban was, but he was slightly more heavily built which came from being older. Caliban was still a young gror and had more weight coming. Nevertheless, he was sure he could best this one in a fight.

The next thing he noticed was that Khipha was no longer walking beside him. Caliban was not surprised, though, and knew he would find him in time. He would find him in a place like this. This place...

This place was the Unrealm.

Or at least it was a locus of Unrealm power. It was all radiating from the giant, nearly bare stone dome, lying close to the ground and surrounded by a circular lake, like a ring of blue. Forests of ordinary size trees grew up around the lake and here and there on the stone like a lichen, surviving because it was not worth the time and effort for snub-nosed grulik to feast on them when guardian trees produced a much more plentiful and nutritious food.

The older Thar stood up on the rock, making the ground tremble when he did. He looked up at Caliban--but not very far up. The sun was rising over the eastern peaks, casting a sparkle on his long hair that contrasted with the cold shine of his lights. "Good morning, my son."

Caliban swallowed and licked his lips. He failed to suppress a ripple in his lights that reflected in his father's eyes. "I should have known this from the start."

Cawamung chuckled. "It's all right. It's time you learned...what I have been up to all these centuries. And joined me in my efforts. It's good to meet you."

"Do you know about my mother?" said Caliban.

Cawamung's lights reflected affirmatively. "There is scarcely a grulik who does not. Especially me. Her passing left a great many things unfinished...besides her being an amazing gretta, she was onto things that not even I had caught onto. We think she uncovered She Who Knows...before you did. Speaking of which, where is She now? I could feel that you had her with you."

"I--I never knew, I have no idea," said Caliban. "You told me to bring Khipha with me, and I tried to, but he got away."

"Never mind," said Cawamung. "After we get started on our project here, he will turn up. For dead certain."

"What project is this?" said Caliban.

"To locate and use the rest of the stones that go with the one you're holding in your hand," said Cawamung. "The Chaldean Disks. Twelve of them, and six found now."

"Where are the other five found ones?"

Cawamung turned towards the northeast end of the valley. "Come right this way. We'll show you."

"Who's we?" Caliban was pretty sure he already knew.

Out from behind the northeastern mountain stepped Malkin, and Caliban had to be careful not to let his jaw drop. She was the most gorgeous gretta he had ever seen. Not super tall, about average size, and with a sexy slant to her eyes and beautiful hair and lights. Caliban's voice rumbled like a purr.

"Hello."

"Welcome to the Lodestone, Caliban," said Malkin, and she winked at him.

[wynnyelle]

"Meet my gretta," said Cawamung. "I must have your word you will not look at her the way you are looking at her now, nor will ever touch her. Or I might seriously wound you, never mind teaching you anything. She is not available."

Malkin drew back to stand half behind the much bigger Cawamung, but the vague smile still hovered on her face. Her lights twinkled, her eyes twinkled with Caliban's lights, for that was where she was looking.

Caliban grinned a little. "You have my word." My word that by the end of all this, she will be mine if not carrying my child already. Caliban could not keep his eyes off Malkin's juicy, voluptuous figure or her flirting eyes. He was beginning to wonder if she was real at all, or some illusion erected by his father to weaken him? Oh, sweet Uugbecka, he just had to have her. His loins were beginning to hurt.

"The Chaldean Disks," said Cawamung, "we know now, are all of twelve pieces of a circle, organised as such." He gestured to the lines he had drawn onto the great cliff face. The circle divided into segments by crisscrossed lines. "We have five of them, now six, and from their sized I hypothesise there are six yet to be found."

Caliban held up his piece to the drawn lines. It fit roughly into one of the segments. "Fron having five of them you were able to surmise that it took seven more to complete the circle."

"Exactly."

"So," said the younger gror, "what do these disks do, exactly? What were they made for, and by whom?"

"They focus the power of the Unrealm," said Cawamung. "And they were made by common grulik. Common grulik who as you probably know look down on us as mindless brutes. They would sure not want us to get our hands on these disks. Luckily I found them first."

"Where? Here?"

"Near here," said Cawamung. "Of course, I couldn't have done it without Malkin. It was her idea to search here, and lo and behold. She has a way of bestowing luck on me."

Malkin's grin curled upwards once again.

Caliban drew his eyes back to his father. "Do you have any clue where the rest are, or how to use the ones we now possess? Or do you need all twelve?"

"That," said Cawamung, "is the project we will be working on."

[wynnyelle]

The three grulik browsed on ratharah trees to the north of the valley, spending the height of the day eating, before returning to the valley of the Lodestone. With Malkin accompanying him, Cawamung led his son over to where he had placed the precious disks. He took them out and laid them out on the Lodestone.

Caliban felt their powers seeking to align with his own and that of the two other grulik near him. He studied the relief carvings on the stones. Being a stonecarver himself, as many grulik were, he was fascinated by the level of craftsmanship of the marble carvings. They were of a fineness of detail he could never hope to achieve. "Amazing. I would like to meet the maker of these disks."

"You won't have much luck with that," said Cawamung. "These disks were carved before the time of the Apocalypse of Justice, long before her time, in fact. It was Justice who stole them from their original keepers and placed them in various places over the region, hidden places, after she divined their powers and learned all she could from them. She wanted them put somewhere where no one else could share in what she had gained."

"If we learn how to use them what shall we be able to do that we cannot now?" said Caliban.

"I wish I could tell you the answer to that," said Cawamung. "I can say though that it would be nothing like what that ancient dark aruseus managed to do. Nothing even close. Her abilities stretched far beyond anything any grulik ever had. Any other pokemon to ever exist, in fact. But it would likely give a talented grulik such as yourself greater freedom and ability within the spirit realm and the mysterious Unrealm itself. Power to control portions of the spirit realm around yourself. Power to control spirits--maybe even the ability to pull a weak soul from a living body."

Caliban's mouth curled into a gentle smile. "I can see that coming in handy."

"To know more, we must consult those of the common grulik type who would be willing to share with us what they know," said Malkin. She sighed wistfully. "I just wish I knew where they might be."

"Patience, Malkin...we will find them," said Cawamung. "First we will get focused on our task at hand, which is bringing your friend," he looked at Caliban, "Khipha out of obscurity."

"Demonstrate," said Caliban.

[wynnyelle]

Cawamung laid out the six found plates on the Lodestone. He placed four of them in pairs. "These two," he said as Caliban sat down opposite him, "and these two fit next to each other. You can tell by the way the carvings match. And the one you brought goes..." He moved the piece around against one piece then another, looking for a match. "Aha! Fits right next to this one. Making three in a row here. These three, these two and this one. The missing plates fit in between them somewhere, creating a wheel of design."

Caliban studied the carved designs. They weren't just designs or random faces and figures. They were scenes, things happening that seemed to be caught frozen in the stone. "I can feel their power humming in them."

He felt a sudden tug as Cawamung reached out and took hold of the stone pendant hanging from his neck. Caliban snarled and pulled his hand off, not wanting him to snap it off. "What are you doing? That's mine."

"Did you carve this!" Cawamung looked at Caliban with accusation. "Why do you wear the figure of Uugbecka round your neck?"

"I carved it and yes, I wear it because Uugbecka and I, we see eye to eye," said Caliban, beginning to smile.

"So it's true," said Cawamung. "You follow in the footsteps of your witch mother and worship Uugbecka."

"No," said Caliban. "I worship only one person and that's myself. Uugbecka is the one I speak to and feel a kinship with. If you have a problem with it, then you may leave."

"Wrong, worshipper of darkness," said Cawamung, standing up faster than his son. "You can leave. I will not teach the secrets of the Chaldean Disks to a worshipper of the spirit of destruction. What we're doing here is trying to stop Justice from returning--and you might as well know that she was a follower of Uugbecka herself! What she did, she did in his name! Destroyed, and plundered, eradicating whole regions--the destruction she wreaked has never been matched before or since. If you too follow Uugbecka, you are no better than she was."

"Perhaps some kind of compromise can be reached...?" said Malkin, simpering at Cawamung's side. She tugged on his arm. "Cawamung, please!"

"Malkin, this is a serious matter," said Cawamung. "Son, you have much to un-learn, from your mother's treacherous ways. It was those ways that set me on a path away from hers, and that told me never to meet face to face with her or associate with her ever again."

"That is all well and good for you, 'father', " said Caliban. Before Cawamung could stop him, Caliban had snatched up two of the disks. He swerved away and thundered off with them, "Catch me if you can, old gror."

"Caliban!" cried Malkin as Cawamung stomped after Caliban. He grabbed at Caliban's arm, trying to grab the disk back. Caliban luched towards him in a struggle, using his greater weight to push his father back. But Cawamung already had hold of his hand. Caliban tried to wrench it free, Cawamung made a grab with his other hand for the disk itself and the disk broke in two.

"Now you've done it!" rumbled Cawamung as half the disk fell to the valley floor and shattered into several pieces.

The shock waves shivered for miles.

[wynnyelle]

Caliban held the other disk away from his father's reach. He thrust his arm up in the air, feeling the colder, stronger winds in the altitudes that it was now in. Snub-nosed grulik were so tall that the air varied considerably from their feet to their heads. He wrenched his other arm free of his father's grasp, and stepped away to the north, tail lashing, lightz buzzing and snapping. "I take this as payment for the waste of time journey up here."

Cawamung looked at Malkin after his son had gone. He knelt down to retrieve the pieces of the shattered disk. It was irreparable; a new one would have to be fashioned, and before that, a new bed of stone found large enough to even make one. As snub-nosed grulik were a lot larger than, and therefore lacked the fine motor skills of, common grulik, that was a task he didn't look forward to. Simply put: he couldn't do it himself. Probably Malkin couldn't either. "Go after him," he said to Malkin. "We need to get that disk back from that demon worshipper before he destroys it, uses it against us or the world or worse. Considering what he is, he already knows far too much."

"I'm not sure I like the way he looks at me," said Malkin, pouting a little. Her eyelids fluttered. "Is he safe? "

"I doubt he'd do anything to a gretta," said Cawamung, "especially if he thinks you're on his side. All you have to do is wait until he lets his guard down long enough for you to take the disk back and leave."

"What's to stop him from coming back here?" said Malkin. "Once I've taken it? "

"Nothing, but the disks will be relocated to a separate place," said Cawamung. "Where he cannot find them. That won't be hard to do. After the disks are safe, you and I are going on a journey to the needle of Avacus. The common grulik gather there often to study the Unrealm and the whereabouts of the remaining missing disks. We will bring the pieces of the one we have and explain to them that we found it in this condition. We will say nothing about the other five disks we have. Just that we found this one and wish to repair or replace it. Now--you have a job to do. I trust you. Go to him, and get that disk back."

Malkin hesitated, then took a step towards the same northern mountain pass that Caliban had taken. "Yes, Thar. I won't let you down." She turned back to him and gave him a lustful embrace before pulling away from him and departing for the north.

~*~*~*~

Caliban turned the marble piece over and over in his hands. He studied it under the light cast by his cold blue-white headgem. The carvings mystified him, and aroused his curiosity over the things he had seen in the past that might relate to them. The carvings on the walls of the cliffs of Avacus. He knew he had to go there.

Another light coming through the land over the distance alerted him, and he recognised Malkin almost instantly. He had figured on there being pursuit, but had expected the Thar, not the gretta. It pleased him to find this was the case.

He sat back a little, gently stroking himself so that his grorhood peered out glistening black at her, just a little tease. He let the Chaldean Disk lie right on his stomach, close to his hip. "Fancy having a grab for a...disk?"

Malkin stood over him, no trace of pouting or simpering on her face. "He sent me to recover it, but I'll just tell him you wouldn't let me."

"Maybe I will return it, in exchange for a favour or two," said Caliban, looking her up and down. "You would definitely be worth it." But he said it in jest and nothing more. He knew she'd never agree to it.

Malkin sat down beside him. The land gently rumbled. "You really are the ultimate. So, what do you see in Uugbecka that makes him worth worshipping? "

"I don't worship Uugbecka," said Caliban. "I merely see him as my patron spirit, my advisor at times, more like a comerade or a friend even."

"Interesting."

"So, would you be interested in taking the disk back in exchange for some?"

"Normally I'd say yes," said Malkin, "physically, you're an admirable specimen. But I am not interested in actually returning the disk to Cawamung." She said it in an almost gloating manner.

Caliban raised his black brow. "Really."

"Cawamung has no idea that I found the disks anway, not him," said Malkin. "The other five, that one included. They were at a site near Avacus. I've always wanted to study the Unrealm, I have a small talent for it, similar to yours. But one problem is that snubnoses like us aren't welcomed into the fold of the commons--who hold most of the power of the Unrealm due to the disks fashioned by their ancestors. Or at least, they did, before I happened to them."

"Explain." Caliban spoke with amusement.

"When I approached their elder at Avacus, wanting to study the disks, I was turned away," said Malkin. "Many years ago. So I waited for a while, then one day, when they had their guard down. I walked in, stacked the disks up in my hands, and walked out with them. I journeyed a long way, until I found a site they weren't likely to come upon, and hid them there. I was still young and inexperienced, baerly into grettahood, I couldn't make head or tail of them alone, so I decided I needed to get in touch with someone who could."

Malkin made herself more comfortable on the field they sat in. "Enter Cawamung, who'd made something of a name for himself in certain circles having to do with the Unrealm. I told him I was looking to study it as well, and he took me in as his student. He was looking for the missing disks, and I suggested it might be in a certain area...he led me straight to where they were hidden. So he believes that he's found them, with my help and a lot of luck. He and I brought them back here to the Lodestone. Now he wants to bring them up to Avacus, but I can already see where that's headed. When the commons see me, they'll put it all together. But--if I hadn't stolen them, I would've never learned about their secrets."

Caliban was quite impressed. The more he learned about Malkin the more he wanted her. "I'm impressed, gretta. Now that you've told me some, let me tell you a few secrets I've learned along the way. You might have heard of She Who Knows. I spoke to her myself. She used to reside in Avacus until I ventured there some years ago and unearthed her. I did not know it was her at the time, but I recognise her signature aura now. She told me something. That if I hand her over to Cawamung, he will destroy her, and every single pokemon on this world will die."

"That's what she said?"

"The truth and nothing but it."

[wynnyelle]

"I wouldn't be so quick to believe it," said Malkin. "She Who Knows is a powerful demon and a very wicked one. Some say she is the spirit of a powerful being long past, such as Justice herself. Others say she is actually a he, the great dragon slain by Justice back in her ruling days."

"And who was he?" said Caliban.

"His name was Crebain, Crebain the Insatiable was his title. He was one of the Ancaura."

"The Ancaura never existed," said Caliban.

"I'm surprised you say that, believing as you do in Uugbecka. They say Uugbecka was one of them, too. I mean, think about it. A huge dragon, with a body like a mountain--wings that blot out the sky--isn't that what the Ancaura are described as having been?"

"Like you, I'm a skeptic about such things," said Caliban. "Besides, Uugbecka is unique. There was never a whole race of dragons like that."

"Well then where did he come from?"

"He came from the Black, in the earliest days, the days before sun," said Caliban.

"Well you'd better start believing in the Ancaura," said Malkin. "Cawamung and I in our explorations have found what may be proof that they once existed. Or even still do, in the Unknown Lands."

"Tell me," said Caliban, "what would something that big eat?"

Malkin looked him up and down. "Us, for starters. And you know as well as I do there are many other giant creatures, like us. What's to say there isn't something even bigger in the Unknown Lands? An awful lot of world out there. As for what Cawamung and I found, he had no idea what it could be, since he didn't have the knowledge of legends that I do. But I knew. The place where Justice battled and slew Crebain. The mate of Anggun the Scarlet, and she was maybe the largest dragon ever to exist."

Caliban sighed. He was feeling horny, although part of him was becoming increstingly entertained by Malkin's story-weaving. She was a good orator.

"After she found her mate dead and his body partially butchered, heartbroken and full of fury she searched everywhere for what could have killed him, She never did figure it out. Her great size was to blame...she was unable to look for Justice, since she could barely have seen her. In her mind all she could think of was some disease had done it somehow--or some great poison. Several others were killed by Justice as well. Some time after that, all of the remaining Ancaura left the Known Lands and were never seen again. Some say they died out, others say they were hunted down and killed by Justice and her army, still others say that the dragons, believing the Known Lands cursed to their kind, left to save themselves, to regroup and learn the causes of the deaths of their kind.

"Anggun didn't know that Justice had, somehow--I don't know how--discovered at least one use of the blood of the Ancaura...greatly increased strength, in both body and attacks. The larger the dragon giving the blood, in general, the more potent the effect. Justice stockpiled Crebain's blood with the help of her huge army. It fueled her and them throughout the rest of her rule. And in using the blood of the slain Ancaura male so liberally, she discovered another one of its effects." Malkin paused.

"What?"

"It is highly addictive. A few swigs of it on separate occasions is enough to addict one for life. Because once addicted, no matter how long you live, the addiction never wears off. You are permanently dependent on the stuff for the remainder of your life. Such was Justice's situation, though it was not what killed her. What killed her was a battle with Alazar, another aruseus."

[wynnyelle]

"I've heard of Alazar," said Caliban, "one of the insect kinds..."

"Yes, but powerful no doubt, in ways we could never be," said Malkin. "Funny how sometimes size has little bearing on power. No one knows just what happened to let Alazar defeat Justice--she was far more powerful than he was, so they say. But he did. But a lot happened before she went down for good. As for proof that the Ancaura existed, I can tell you one thing right now: you're holding a piece of it now." She nodded at the stone disk in Caliban's hand, still resting on his body.

Caliban sat up and looked at it, then back at her. "I thought you said the common grulik carved these things, not dragons."

"Indeed they did. But--feel it. Heft it, for a minute." Malkin watched as he did halfheartedly. "It's kind of light to be made from real marble, isn't it? That's because it's not. Look at the marbling--look closely."

Caliban inspected it closely. It looked like something somehow more organic. "Bone?"

"Yes. In all likelihood."

Caliban stared at it, then at Malkin. "A bone can't be that big. It'd have to be..."

"Yes," said Malkin.

"You're shitting me." Caliban wiped the astonished look off his face. "Why'm I even listening to this. Malkin--nothing in this world has bones that big. Trust me, I've been around enough to know."

"No, actually you haven't," said Malkin. "If they were carved from normal marble, they wouldn't have the powers they have. Ever wonder where the disks' powers come from--and the Lodestone, for that matter?"

"The Lodestone..."

"Is a piece of Ancaura bone," said Malkin. "A skull. Most of it's buried, but if we were to dig it up, I'll bet anything that's what we'd find. Judging by what went on earlier in the valley, we might have to."

"If those disks were made from bone, why'd the one I drop shatter so badly?" said Caliban.

"Over time, things like bone change their makeup. If they are buried, they slowly convert to some kinds of stone. Ancaura bone and tooth lasts extraordinarily long, but even it transforms eventually. If it isn't buried, it just weakens, losing mass bit by bit until it turns to dust. And the disks are very, very old. Not to mention they are pretty thin and finely carved, including that slitted hole each of them has. It's a much weaker shape than the bone shape it started out as."

"So what would digging up the skull do?" said Caliban.

"Well, it might yield a tooth we could recreate that disk from, "said Malkin. "If we're going to use these things, we'll need a complete set."

"We'll need something else, too," said Caliban. "A carver."

"I'm working on that."