A Leader of Legions

Hifuvé

Hifuvé paced his cell, his eyes long since adjusted to the dark. He knew it was coming. He knew he had gone too far. He scratched out more words onto the cell. Not that it was any use. The cell was warded against magic. But maybe… maybe not against magic older than time itself.

He continued to scratch the wards around the walls of the cell, anything to protect himself. Even a little. His nails screeched and ground, sparking against the stone. The other prisoners had stopped objecting the spine chilling noise. After his incessant hissing and whispering in other languages that didn't exist anymore, their grumblings had deceased. Maybe he should have let them continue to grumble, their misery as evident as his.

He flexed his wings. His cell was so small, he couldn't fully extend his wings from corner to corner of the rectangular box. The leathery material was objecting to the stifling dry heat down in the cells. If there was something worse than frigid, wet and cold cells, it was hot, dry and miserable cells.

He fought the urge to scratch his wings with the talons protruding from his hands. It would damage them. Instead, he folded them back in, pacing and whispering hateful little tidbits.

Hifuvé sighed a few times before settling in the corner, cooling his skin on the cobblestones. It eased him a bit.

It was only a week ago he had the letter in his hand. Only a week ago he was wandering free in the crisp October sunshine. Almost free. Hifuvé had escaped the capture of the villains thrown into the island. As only a sidekick for a greater villain, he was mercifully overlooked, allowing him to shift into yet another common folk coming out from hiding.

Then Audenzitios's letter came and ruined it.

He almost spat in disgust when it came to his apartment. He was glad to turn his life around somewhat and live it up in the human nightlife. The humans might have been weak and ugly little things, but they sure knew how to party and make booze.

Hifuvé,

I have just learned of your position on the mainland. I was quite upset to learn that you had not contacted me with your whereabouts. Of course, times have changed, so perhaps I should be a bit more merciful towards you. You were the leader of a legion after all.

Hifuvé winced as he read the words. Leader of a legion. Until the humans teamed up with the other creatures and overthrew them all. Thousands of his soldiers died that day. It was customary that he should have died with them as well, but Audenzitios had not allowed it. Instead, she sent him to assassinate a long list of officials. By the time that he came back to tell her it was finished, the barrier was up, and she was inside. He took his chance and shifted into a human, working as a bouncer at a club.

I hope you have kept your skills and blades honed and sharpened, because I have need of you. As you must have heard, four children from the island were brought in to the mainland. One of them, my daughter. I charged them all with a blood oath to steal the magic that created the barrier to take it down, but they have resisted persistently. I want you to go and… remind them that I don't want it done someday, I want it now. Make it serious but not fatal. I still need her to do my bidding. She is the only one strong enough to hold that wand out of any contacts I have on the mainland. She carries enough of my magic to do so.

The rest of her plan was impeccably laid out. A few of her other minions and thugs and goons were littered across the mainland. None of them had the shapeshifting ability he had, so he was the one that had to come in and actually do the dirty work.

He sighed, rubbing the pad of a finger around his eye. He had shifted his skin with his remaining magic after Audenzitios' daughter destroyed his own eye. A ghost of pain lingered, making him hiss when his finger brushed against it. The eyes didn't match, but at least he could see. Cat eyes were invaluable in the dark.

He wouldn't have a trial. They wouldn't let him out of this cell ever. No, these cell walls were the only thing strong enough to suppress his magic. And with the time he'd had to heal… he'd be back at full strength. He chuckled, the sound reverberating off of the stone walls.

Then he heard it. Another laugh, deep and dark. And very, very familiar.. He hissed through his teeth. The other prisoners could be heard retreating back into their cells. Whimpering and whisperings echoed. Still the laugh tumbled down the hallway. There was a sinister glee in it as the prisoners fearfully backed away.

Hifuvé turned to the circle he had carved into the floor. It was covered in whorls and strange marks, all meant to ward off the advancing creature. He settled himself down in it, tucking his wings in its midst. The cell was meant to dispel his own magic, but it had not been built to dispel the magic of witches. Magic that did not belong to anyone but was rather summoned.

"I can scent you," the voice whispered. "Hifuvé, she is so disappointed in you…" Audenzitios. The creature didn't have to explain who she was. "She asked you to do one simple task, and you almost brought down her entire… operation." a wicked laugh, "And you thought you could live comfortably here? After what you did?" a long pause, "of course not."

And with a flash, the creature stood before him. Malech. His half brother. Gifted with invisibility, and trained to be completely silent. The two of them had been Audenzitios's trusted assassins. While Hifuvé thought of her as a commander, Malech thought of her as a goddess. Worshipped her. Even now, he still took the form she had most preferred.

"You know what must happen."

Of course he did. Hifuvé hissed, running a tongue along his teeth. He hadn't sharpened them for nothing, of course there would be a fight. He'd never go down without one.

"Of course, of course." Malech's eyes narrowed in on Hifuvé's etchings. He barked a laugh. "Wards?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you were going to let me fight it out or use a spell from her like a coward." Hifuvé shrugged his shoulders, grinning wickedly, but he knew his time was drawing to a close. That the darkness would take him. He flexed his hands. Maybe he'd slash a line down the middle of Malech's devilish face. Mar the smile of that hauntingly beautiful form of his brother.

"You all but killed her." Malech hissed, slamming against the iron bars, "Had you killed her lovely daughter, you would have brought down this entire plan. Had you simply done what she asked, you could have lived in the coming glorious age." Malech siad, raising his whisper as much as he dared. "After everything she did for us," he said, "You still couldn't just listen. And now? Now I have to be the one to bring my brother to meet his end."

With a hideous screech, the bars to the cell flew up into the ceiling, and Malech launched himself at Hifuvé, with feral growling and claws extending. Hifuvé flexed his wings, bracing for the impact. The wards on the floor did nothing, Malech smashing him against the wall.

He hissed, but as the walls were up… He shifted into a creature somewhat like a dog, but the leathery skin and dripping fangs were nothing like the domesticated creatures of the day. He sunk his teeth into Malech's thigh. Though he looked human, his shriek sounded like something out of hell.

Hifuvé ripped his fangs from Malech's leg when he felt the sharp pain in his hind leg. Malech had pulled out his sword, slicing clean through Hifuvé's tendon. He snarled, swiping a large paw at Malech who barely avoided the flesh shredding claw at the end.

The other prisoners huddled in their cells as the creatures clashed. Blood flowed, their magic the only thing between life and death by blood loss. Light began to flare as they switched from hand to hand combat into spells and other types of sorcery.