Despond

Eleven

A a team of butchers hacked away at the great sky serpent's neck. They stood or climbed half enveloped in the blood-matter fur as the sickening whacks dug deeper and deeper into the flesh.

Large portions of the sky serpent have already been scavenged away, revealing rib bones the size of elephant tusks and a seemingly endless supply of foul smelling organs. The crowds of the entrance courtyard continued on in their revel as those who's businesses happened to be within the throng fought desperately for space.

This had led to fighting, which soon led to more and more squadrons coming in to beat the troublemakers and shoo away the drunks. The unrelenting river of new arrivals battled through the city gate. Horses were spooked, wagons overturned, and as the morning sun welcomed more and more into the mass, the celebration became a riot.

Ryder perched atop a slanted roof, hidden by shadow and a stolen cloak. It was made for a human, so it had originally trailed behind him as he walked, but a few quick alterations with the business end of his daggers soon saw to that.

He watched the sky serpents dead-eyed head bob in the rhythm of the butchering. The cobblestone and compacted dirt was now stained a sickening red as workers tried in vain to collect and remove the blood.

Every glimmer of yellow and gold caught his eye and tightened his aching muscles. He had no reason to believe Hopper and the egg were here. He'd spent the entire night scouring the streets in his search, but tracking a human in this maddening, artificial hive was beyond impossible.

The shouts and laughter of the celebration caught his ear a few hours before the sun rose, and the Despian had been watching with disgusted fascination. Three tiny forms hung lifelessly upon a raised platform for all to see. They're unmistakable floral robes shifted in the breeze, shedding their petals like yellowing leaves.

Ryder hadn't seen them collect and hang the cultists, but as he watched the petals vanish into the chaos his arm throbbed and his heart sank. These humans feared the forest. They lashed out to mask their cowardice and danced in its blood. Worse, however, were the smaller forms he spotted amongst them.

They hid their blue skin beneath hoods and hats, but they were impossible to mistake for an adult human. Urban Despians chose to live as second class citizens within the human world in preference to their homes amongst nature. The reasons were varied; some had been outcast from their tribes whilst others found the lure of wealth too enticing. Some were simply the resulting generations of long before deserters, and have never known any other way.

Ryder tried not to watch as he saw his intoxicated kin being kicked around by brutes for their own amusement or chastised for fabricated offences.

He instead focused on a lone Despian scampering through the crowds with surprising speed. The robed creature ducked and weaved around guards and drunks alike and slipped out of view before they could react. It slid through the centre of a fistfight, untouched by the swings as it made its way directly towards the gate.

A petal escaped from a flower weaved into the robe's shoulder, and a tiny, golden paw reached up to grab at it.

Ryder leapt out of the shadows.

Black, jagged fabric bellowed like a cape as he dropped towards the ground. His chosen spot of temporarily empty stone vanished as a human hurried to fill it, and the two crashed to the floor.

"Get off me you son-of-a-" Hopper shouted as he shoved a hand into Ryder's face and pushed off.

Ryder bit the soft skin, removing the filth coated fingers from his eyes and slid a dagger into a free hand.

Without breaking from the ever interrupted view of the fleeing cultist, Hopper yanked his hand free with a hiss and clambered to his feet. The unseen dagger snagged at the tattered cloth of his trousers but he was already forcing his way out of reach and didn't even noticed.

Ryder cursed and forced the insult out of his mind. Some random human was not worth losing the creature again. He picked himself up and scoured the immediate crowd for the path of least resistance. A small opening had materialised as a handful of guards wrestled with two beastly women as they clawed and shrieked at each other.

He tripped a gormless onlooker as he broke into the clearing, using one guards bent back as a stepping stone as he launched himself into the air. Another footfall onto an unsuspecting woman's shoulder and he managed to find purchase of the rickety wooden roof of a wheeled stall.

From his vantage point, and whilst ignoring the insults being hurled at him, he spotted the cultist within her own little clearing.

"I've found another one!" a man shouted, slurring his words. "Someone call the guards!"

Hopper had seen the display of hanging robes, it was impossible to miss, and the cry stole his breath away as he put the two together. A concentration had formed before him as people pushed away from the cultist and met the restraint of those around them.

Guards were forcing there way towards her as more and more people advertised her position. Hopper fell to the floor and clawed his way through the forest of legs, ignoring the too numerous to be accidental kicks to his face and ribs. The opening came into view as he appeared from beneath a pastel petticoat, and the woman above him screamed and fell backwards, giving him the room the stand and enter the clearing.

Ryder, now deftly avoiding attacks from canes and a broom, spotted the dishevelled human. A flashback of their collision at the edge of the world reddened his vision, and he leapt into the air with his teeth bared.

"Give it back!" Hopper shouted at the cowering cultist. "Now!"

The trembling robe hunched over the Jarken and before Hopper could take another step a familiar weight crashed into him once more.

"Hopper!" Ryder roared as he tackled the human. "You left me for dead!"

Hopper didn't fall this time, the adrenalin pulsing through his body steadied his feet and he twisted and bent, throwing the smaller creature to the ground. It was a complete fluke, but Hopper couldn't help but enjoy the stunned silence of the immediate onlookers.

Ryder was winded, clutching his stomach as he lay face up on the hard stone. The pikes and helmets of the guards grew agonisingly closer as the wall of bodies quivered away to the three figures at its centre.

Hopper now really saw the crowd for the first time. The hanging bodies taunted him from their perch, and yet his attention was drawn back to the unseen creature within the folds of the robe.

He grabbed Ryder by the arm and pulled him to his feet. The Despian tried to double over as he gasped, however Hopper yanked him upright and began to tug off his cloak. Unable to resist, Ryder span under the pull of the human and the cloak came free, knocking him back to the ground.

Without hesitating, Hopper grabbed the hood of the cultist with both hands and lifted. The creature was light, and she cried out in shock as two slipper-clad feet wriggled into view. She released the Jarken, lifting her hands to grab onto Hopper's. The upward movement of her arms caused her body to slip further from the robe and her helplessly kicking legs attacked the air.

With one more undignified flick Hopper dropped the cultist to the floor. The crowd repulsed as the sunlight exposed the poor naked creature, and Hopper's illusion she was a Despian shattered in disgust. Hopper tossed the floral robe at Ryder and then gathered the wailing Jarken, cultist and the cloak into one big bundle, charging out of the clearing.

His skull met shoulders and chests as he plunged into the sea of people, disappearing into a collection of outbursts and horror just as the guards entered the clearing. The crowd thinned the further from the gathering he ran, and without stopping, they slipped through the gate and left the madness of the city behind them.