Fever Blood

Chapter 30: Deadly Blood and Burning Wrath

"Indra," Kyra said. "How did you know he'd have a tail? How did you know to cut in that slit?"

Indra's face reddened. "Well, when I lifted him out of the water before, I, uh... noticed there was a hole in his backside."

"You...you felt him?" Kyra asked. Indra's face was bright crimson. "Never mind that."

Laidu paused, before touching his face with a claw. It was stained red when he removed it. That made him react in a frenzy. His chest lit up, and he released another gout of flame on the ground. Then, defying all logic, he dove headfirst into the flame. And then Kyra saw why.

A giant forearm, crowned with yellow talons, burst from a bloodstain on Laidu's arm. Slowly, inexorably, the grey monster dragged himself out of the bloodstain, his entire body reforming. Laidu struggled to try to get the creature into the flames, but Kazalibad dragged out half a torso and an arm, separating. Kyra could see white ribs, intestines forming, flesh knitting itself together. In a few seconds, Kazalibad stood, complete. Laidu roared.

"It's not him," Thaen said. "Someone else is controlling Laidu!"

Kazalibad charged forward, trying to tackle the dragon-man off the cliff and into the quarry. Laidu, however, deftly sidestepped Kazalibad, grabbed an arm with one hand, placed his other hand on Kazalibad's shoulder, and twisted. Kyra could see Kazalibad's arm slip out of its socket, the shoulder distending. She could hear the pop. Then, Laidu slammed it back into place.

"Nope. I was wrong. Laidu's controlling himself," Thaen said.

"How do you know?"

"That's a move he did a lot in sparring when he was younger. Brightin' painful." Thaen studied Laidu. "Strange. Half his moves seem foreign."

"As if he's working with someone else?" Kyra asked.

"Working in tandem with a second mind." Indra stared. The voices! They were controlling him too!

The voices and Laidu were working fine, it seemed. Kazalibad backed up. "You weren't like this last time!"

"Of course," said the other voice. It had a regality to it, a glory in its timbre, authority in every word. "My other half merely surrendered to an aspect of me. He gave me control when I was a disordered mind. Thus, I was disordered. But now, I am ordered, whole and hale." He smiled. "You, however, are as ugly as ever. Though I can think of some good you do, even looking as nasty as you do."

"Oh?"

"You assure all the lepers of the world that they aren't the ugliest creature under the sky. It's almost a shame I'm going to destroy you," he said, "if only for their sake."

"You? Destroy me?" Kazalibad said, laughing. "I'm an immortal! I don't fear death!"

"You do. You fear death. In fact, you fear it so much you'd kill others to escape it." Laidu's chest lit up again. "It's time to face your fears, Skinstealer."

Kazalibad said nothing. He only leaped forward, claws out to attack. Laidu greeted Kazalibad's charge with an elbow uppercut, tearing the things head off. Blood poured out the wound, some of it splattering on Laidu's arms and chest.

Laidu grabbed the body and, in a second, his entire body burst aflamd. Laidu was glowing -no, he was radiant- with the light of a furious sun. The body in his hands evaporated, cremated in an instant.

A cloud of red appeared, floating off a building, before solidifying into Kazalibad. "Solar Heart, if I'm not mistaken. Very risky, King of Joy."

"Everything worthwhile has risks of some sort," that voice said.