Future danger

hapter 100

"I'll only be gone for a short amount of time," I said to Gresh, who was staring at me uncomprehending. "But while I'm gone, if you want to stay with BRIDGE, you'll need to listen to the rules. This means you have to listen when they tell you only authorized personnel can use an assault rifle. So please, for the love of everything I hold sacred, stop telling everyone who will listen that I'm the only king you'll follow."

I tried not to sound as pained as I felt. I don't think it worked because Gresh looked amazingly disappointed in himself.

"I am sorry."

"Don't be sorry, be better," I quoted my father without thinking. Gresh winced.

The two of us were sitting with Demi in one of the huts that had been quickly set up for the new group. They had been added after both Quinjets had returned with a small army of former slaves and their allies.

I looked between Gresh and Demi. "The city of Saur-Lords is officially an enemy of BRIDGE. And since I'm doubting that you guys are willing to beat the shit out of them too, our soldiers here are on your side, Gresh. They won't be ordering you around, but you need to stop trying to take a rifle for yourself."

Gresh snarled reflexively. I glared at him. "Guns aren't swords and skill in one doesn't translate to skill in the other. If you ask nicely, we'll train you on how to use them. But for now, consider yourself in training. If it helps, I was the same way only a few months ago. So if you're diligent, you won't have to wait. Fair?"

He stared at me, his reptilian nostrils twitching, before nodding. Poor guy. He was like a teenage nerd being told he couldn't play with a real laser weapon. Still, I decided to let that go to focus on Demi.

"As for you, I'd recommend asking X yourself. I will warn you that you two are completely different species," on so many levels. "So he might say no," Demi's face fell slightly. I winced. "But he's a good man. He'll either let you down easy, or he'll say yes. Just… talk to him. Straight on, tell him what you think."

Demi frowned. "That is not the way of my people. Our mating practices require an intermediary."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Ah. All right. If that's your tradition I gues-" then I noticed Gresh rolling his eyes. I took a closer look at Demi. She stared back at me as blankly as she could. As a woman made of stone, she couldn't sweat, and her facial expressions were harder to read. Unless you were a part-time alien. I noticed the nervousness in the way she shifted, the slight twitch to her eyes.

She was lying. She just didn't want to talk to X herself.

"You are freaking adorable," I said at last. After some thought, I nodded. "All right, sure. I'll be your intermediary. Meantime, let's talk about something less fun."

The doors to the cafeteria opened. One by one, people filed into the room. Creel, Fantasma, Gena/Winggirl, the Anklyo-Saur-Lord who had decided to join us, and Dietrich/German Guy, filed in, followed by the sergeant in charge of the BRIDGE soldiers in the Savage Land, a Hispanic with a shaved head and a tattoo of an eagle on his neck by the name of Jamie Silan, and the scientist in charge, Dr. Bernard Kloss.

They moved to sit around the table as I rose up and faced them. As they sat, one more person entered. We looked over at him.

He was tall, built, and tan, wearing only a vest and a loincloth. His hair was a dirty blonde, held up in a rough ponytail. He carried a single knife on his waist and moved with eerie grace.

And following after him was a Sabertooth tiger. Goddamn. Nothing in the universe can prepare you for how fucking big a sabertooth is. Even after all the time I'd spent with dinosaurs, something about a tiger in a shiny cafeteria leant the experience its own level of weird that made Zabu more intimidating.

"Ka-Zar," I said politely. "Zabu. It's nice to finally meet you both."

Ka-Zar nodded politely, while Zabu sat on his haunches and glared at me. "Same. I apologize for not coming to your aid sooner, and I am glad you escaped."

"Same," I snarked a bit. "As for now, I think we all should sit and talk about what's next. Namely, how we prepare," I placed my hands on the table and faced the group. "Bronto and Anklyo. They might want revenge. They might want to parley. They might try to sabotage us. We also can't forget the other threats that might be possible. Corporations, scientists, or just straight evil people trying to take advantage of this place from the outside, or threats from within the Savage Land that could be hiding in the shadows. I'll visit as often as I can, as will a lot of Avengers, but we need a team ready and willing to defend the freedoms of this land's populace when we can't."

I looked around. "A lot of you want the same thing. A good life. The simplest thing in the world for people to want. So it's up to us to start building the framework to defend it. Now, I can't offer you guys positions in BRIDGE, since it's part of another organization I can't get into, and that organization might question your recruitment for way too long for us to go that route."

After HYDRA, the UN Officials would be iffy on any recruits who weren't at least citizens of a UN nation, as screwy as I thought that was.

"However, as Gresh suggested, there is another organization that can work with BRIDGE, and thus give you the ability to work with them as well. So, in the words of one badass motherfucker…" I grinned. "I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

And all the while, the Omnitrix glowed yellow.

Later, X and I went with Gena to a nearby laboratory. The one-winged girl was a lot calmer than she had been in weeks, but I could still notice how the blue-skinned young girl was affected by the loss of her limb. It was in two things. First, and most notable, was in the way she walked. She was always off-balance just a bit, always over or under compensating for a weight that was gone.

The second, and saddest, was in how X and I found her. Standing at the edge of the cliff I'd once fallen from, looking up at the sky. Again. She did it all the time. Staring at the blue above, her eyes shaking.

So, before I left, I was going to give her something.

"What do you want?" Gena asked me curiously as I led her into the laboratory. The BRIDGE logo was painted on one of the walls. Some lab equipment was placed everywhere, and the corpses of some velociraptors rested on several tables. It took me a second to realize they were the raptors I'd killed.

"I made a promise to myself. Well, a bunch. It's been a rough week," I said with a shrug. X stared at me blankly while Gena looked even more confused.

"Okay… so why are we in a kitchen?" she asked, poking idly at one of the dead dinosaurs.

Huh. Yeah, I guess a bunch of dead bodies in a room with knives everywhere could be confused for a kitchen, in an older world. Personally, the smell was enough to make me want to avoid breathing through my nose. I ignored that to go deeper into the lab, heading towards the section set up for delicate repairs.

"Actually, this place is for the scientists to work on their projects," I opened another door, Gena stepping in after me hesitantly. "And, since the BRIDGE elites have armor and weapons that gets beat up a lot, this is where they get fixed," we soon stood inside a place that looked like a garage. Mostly because, well, it was a garage.

There were some BMX's, ATV's, and a couple of Jeeps resting inside, along with a few sets of armor left standing. They were the heavier mech suits, made to aid the wearer in clearing paths, lifting heavy objects where vehicles couldn't fit, and punching big things VERY hard.

One of the suits was resting on a table, torn apart and bent. It had malfunctioned on arrival. Which made it perfect.

"Gena," I turned to face her, my lips quirking upward. "Today I'm going to try and help you out. X is here because he can do the more delicate work. But I want to explain, first and foremost, what I'm going to do, okay?"

"...Okay?"

"First, I'll be taking this suit apart in one of my alien forms. While I do that, X will be taking measurements and preparing you for surgery, while also taking advanced scans of your body, nervous system, and other things. While he does that, I'll be in here making the wing."

She stared at me uncomprehending until the word 'wing' left my lips. Shocked, she looked into my eyes, her blue skin turning paler. Then she looked outside, where a Quinjet could be seen just past the windows.

"No," I said immediately, guessing what she was thinking. "This won't be a quinjet wing. It'll be something to provide lift and force according to the way your muscles move in your back. A hover unit. We've been testing prosthetics for a while, and we're getting better. For this, I might have to cheat. But Jury Rigg is good at that."

"I have also been studying the movements of your fellow Aerians," X said, drawing Gena's attention. "Basing my calculation on them and the currently known facts about other winged beings, I agree. With a few hours of work, we can have it done."

"With your permission though," I said hastily. "X has a few medical degrees, and we have a bunch of experts, but this is going to require hooking up a hover unit to your back. With a system made to-" I cut myself off as I realized I was getting into things she might not understand. "Look, just… it'll be a small object that will act like your other wing. Not a real one, but enough to let you-"

"Yes!" Gena stepped forward and grabbed my arm, her grip almost painful as she stared at me with desperate hope. "I-I don't care what it'll look like! Just… as long as I can fly again…"

The last was said in almost a whisper. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You will. I promise."

The small smile she gave me was fragile. But it was so bright that I felt myself smiling back.

"Come," X pulled at Gena, leading her away. "Dial will need space to work."

I waved them off. Then, as they closed the door, my smile faded. I felt determination in my heart as I raised my new Omnitrix and watched the dial rise without my prompting. "Wha-" I stared as the dial spun to life and showed Jury Rigg immediately. Curious, I put my hand forward and spun through the menu. Big Chill, Swampfire, Sandrass, Rath. Then, an Aerian form. An Anklyo-Saur-Lord. A Saurian like Gresh. A rock person like Demi. A Saur-Lord raptor, pterosaur, and t-rex.

Man. All these forms, and yet, none of them was more useful than the ones I currently had. Granted, I'd figured this would happen. A lot of Marvel forms would have been cool, but I always knew I would end up with some that were basically just a slightly stronger being, rather than something as badass as an Asgardian or Troll form. Then again, the Brontosaurus form looked useful to just have a big alien.

Still, I liked this. I'd finally be able to do the one thing the Omnitrix was made for. Walking a mile in another person's shoes, to facilitate peace as an ambassador.

I spun the dial again and found myself hunting through a menu full of creatures. "Damn it," I said, frustrated at how long it was taking. "Just give me Jury Rigg!"

A flash of green spread across my body while I was still going through the menu. In that instantaneous change I'd gotten used to, I lost several feet in height, gained red skin, and a mind to match the craziest engineers in all fiction.

"Wow!" I shouted in surprise. I looked down at myself, wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt once again. "I changed… through voice command?"

That was new. In some ways, that was better and worse than using my dial. Touching the dial would be faster than naming an alien in some circumstances, but naming an alien also meant that I could change in human form without any Omnitrix interaction.

What else was new? For a moment, my now genius-level intellect raced through the various implications before I focused myself with a shake of my head.

"Not right now! I have work to do!" I ran towards the table in the center of the garage and grabbed onto the edge, climbing up to stand on it. I stared at the armor in front of me, mentally putting the pieces together. "Fix! Fix, fix, fix!"

With the loud clatter of steel being ripped apart by red alien claws, I got to work.

It took an hour before I realized what else had changed.

Namely, that I was still in alien form. After an hour of using my Jury Rigg form more intensely than normal, focusing everything into making the best damn machine I could.

I kept at it. I took apart the armor, pulling the pieces back together, welding them, placing the circuitry. The blueprints weren't exactly in my head. Jury Rigg didn't plan things out so clearly. Instead, when I took his form, I would work by intuition and instinct.

Soon, after a couple of hours of work, I stopped, staring at the device I'd made.

It was shaped roughly like a large water bottle, with a large portion of it glowing dark blue. It's one and only purpose was to emit force based on the various signals it received when it was inserted into a person's back.

I looked up at the clock. Two hours or so. And the Omnitrix hadn't even thought about blinking red. "Uh… Feedback?"

In a flash of green, I'd become a Conductoid once more. I stared down at my hands, each finger ending in the large golden plug that allowed me to absorb and attack with energy. Then I picked up the hover unit I'd created and started walking, noting the time as I did.

I did my best to ignore the pale white scars marking my body now. The same ones had shown up on Jury Rigg.

Whatever the reason for my scars, they apparently were such a part of me that they were now showing on my alien forms. Just one more part of the Omnitrix I didn't understand.

Gena was in an operating room with X and some of the doctors and nurses we had pulled into the project. I left the hover unit with them and went on to the jail cells.

Ka-Zar and Zabu found me on the way. The big cat and jungle man had been walking the same direction across the grounds, only to stop and stare when I walked up to join them in my Feedback form.

"That is… strange," Ka-Zar said in his British accent as I joined him. "I was informed of this ability of yours, but I had no idea the change was so extensive."

Yeesh. For a guy raised in the jungle, he talked like he'd went to Oxford or Cambridge.

"Even your scent is different," he looked a little spooked. I grinned at him while looking down at Zabu, who walked up to stare at me curiously.

"That's the nature of the Omnitrix. So. You look like you were headed to the cells too."

"I am," Ka-Zar shook off his surprise rather quick. Guess he'd seen weirder things than me, unsurprisingly. "I wish to speak to Sauron."

"Really? Me too. Well, less speak, so much as make it less likely he'll hurt people."

We walked side by side, Zabu leading in front. "I'm also kinda testing something out," I looked down at my hands. "There are a few questions I'd like answered. And Sauron lets me kill two birds with one stone."

We entered the building that held the cells. Sixteen in all, lined up on either side of a hallway. Only one was occupied.

At the end of the hall, four BRIDGE guards stood with weapons in hand. The cell was made of a titanium alloy Tony Stark had made specifically for this. Ka-Zar and I walked up to the guards, one of whom stepped forward.

"Sir," she said, sounding almost relieved to see me.

"Lin," I looked at the cell door behind her. "How's he been?"

"Peaceful," the young Asian woman sounded almost surprised by that. "He just asked for a copy of Lord of the Rings. He's been in there just… reading."

"Lord of the Rings?" Ka-Zar looked between us. "What is that?"

"Where he got his name," I nodded to the guard. "Open the door, Lin."

She stiffened. As did the others. "Sir, I don't know if that's-"

"Lin. It's okay," I walked up to the door. "I didn't show up in alien form because I underestimated how powerful he is. We'll be alright."

Lin bit her lip. Then she nodded, stepping aside and pressing some buttons on the keypad. As soon as the cell door opened, I stepped inside. Ka-Zar followed while Zabu stayed out with the guards. The door closed behind me moments later.

Ka-Zar and I stood side by side as Sauron turned to face us. The pterosaur-man gave us a serene look. "Ah… Dial. This form is new for you. And… Ka-Zar," Sauron's serenity faded. "You, young man, have been quite a thorn in my side."

"And you have been a monster," Ka-Zar said, sounding like he was moments from leaping forward and ripping Sauron in half.

"I have indeed," Sauron said without a hint of shame. "But then, aren't all of us? Dial. I've heard that you left Stend alive," when I only stared at him, he gave me a leer. "Interesting… So. Why are you both here?"

Ka-Zar looked at me. I waved for him to speak first. The future King of the Savage Land faced the former one. "Anklyo. He attacked a small village that I was forced to defend. But that village had no use to you. It was far out of the way from your normal raiding routes, had no slaves whose races you have not already taken. In all ways, it was a useless bounty. But he fought like the devil to save something he had no reason to steal. Why? What was important about that village?"

"...Guard that village well," Sauron looked between us. "The Savage Land has had many rulers. I suspect, many of a fantastic nature. Even stories of beings similar to the fictional world of Atlantis exist in the tales of this lands ancestors."

I stiffened slightly at that, but neither man noticed.

"That village is said to rest on the weapon of one of those rulers. I found evidence that could not be ignored and sent Anklyo to begin an outpost there, to guard the place," Sauron looked into my single eye, which I avoided to keep from being mind-controlled, and my head tendrils waved back and forth while he continued to speak. "Whatever is there, it must never be uncovered. Understood?"

Ka-Zar scoffed. "Why should we believe you? Why shouldn't we simply take this weapon for ourselves?"

"We're good on weapons," I said. "I'll warn BRIDGE. And I'll work with them to find out what is going on. You've got my word."

Sauron looked satisfied. "Good… You know, my hopes for the Saur-Lords will live on. I had dreams that they would one day grow enough to enter space. It could have been possible for them to even join the outside world. Barring some great cataclysm, I'd planned to do it in 2020. I suppose I can be happy with what I have."

I decided to ruin that for him.

"No," I raised a single hand. "I think we've had enough of Sauron. Time for Karl to come back to play."

Sauron stared, uncomprehending. Then I pulled at the source of energy that had been emanating from him all the while. Silver-white streams of power flowed from him to get sucked into my body. And he panicked.

"Stop!" the pterosaur leaped across the room and grabbed onto my arm.

"Let him-!" Ka-Zar reached for his knife, ready to help me.

"It's fine!" I held my other hand out, stopping Ka-Zar. I could feel Sauron pulling energy through my skin, his eyes desperate.

"Don't do this!" he kept pulling at my energy. "I need to stay like this! I can't go back to-"

"Humanity?" I shook my head. "We all have to someday, Sauron."

"Not if I keep absorbing the power you're taking from me!"

"...Sauron. You don't get it. In this form, I can pull in the energy of the Big Bang," his eyes widened. "The universe. Compared to that," I doubled up my absorption, and Sauron's eyes shook in horror. "You're fighting a giant."

He opened his mouth, probably to breath flame, while his body began to glow more intensely. But he was too weak. If this had been before my fight with him, he might have been able to run. As it was, he fell to his knees instead. I lowered myself down to him, continuing to fill myself with his power.

"...I don't want to die," he whispered.

"You won't."

"Won't I?" he looked up at me, fear in his gaze. "I've been Sauron for over two decades… Every other time I changed back, I lost all memories of my time in this form," he looked down at his own hands. "If I lose my memories again. That will be the end of me. Of this Sauron."

"...This Sauron. He's an asshole. But he's also strong," I admitted. The pterosaur-man looked up at me. His red eyes were changing into a more human brown. "He was a conqueror and slaver. A warrior. And to those who didn't know any better, a hero. An asshole. But a strong one.

"I think, that Sauron. The guy who gave me more of a fight than anyone I'd ever met up to now. That guy wouldn't forget himself so easily."

I didn't know why I said that. Why I tried to comfort him. But he seemed to breathe a little easier.

"...Dial. If I return. I will remember you," he smirked. "Let us fight again. For more honorable reasons, I hope."

Then his face shrunk inwards. His green scales smoothed out to brown skin. Hair sprouted across his head, while the crest on his head sunk in. His muscular form changed until he was almost skeletally thin. With a last sigh, Sauron faded away.

And a human man kneeled in his place. He stared down at his hands, before looking up at me, shock in his features.

"Huh… You really do look like him," I mused to myself.

The face of the great Raul Julia, one of the greatest men to ever grace a screen in my world, turned pale. Then he fainted dead away.

After we got Karl Lykos squared away, Ka-Zar and I walked out of the cells to stand at the edge of the cliff I'd fallen off of originally. I stared down at the waters below for a long moment with Feedback's single eyes. Huh. Surprised I had survived that, actually.

"What do you think?" Ka-Zar asked Zabu. The sabertooth growled for a moment.

"Yeah, I think you're right," I said in response to Zabu.

The pair gave me startled looks. "You understand him?" Ka-Zar asked.

"The Omnitrix," I tapped the symbol on my chest. "He may not speak actual words, but I understand what he's trying to convey. Sauron wasn't lying. Not about whatever is under that village, anyways… The Avengers are going to be needed here," I turned to face him. For a moment, I took in his features. The tall powerful blonde man looked back at me. "So. What do you think? Wanna take the invitation?"

Ka-Zar crossed his arms. "I… suppose, that having an army to aid me would be good. As long as you keep your promise," his eyes narrowed. "I do not want to see the Savage Land hurt. If BRIDGE starts taking advantage of the Savage Land-"

"Then the Avengers will stop them," I cut him off. "Ka-Zar, I don't think you get it. The Avengers aren't an army of BRIDGE or even the world. We work with them, sure. And BRIDGE has been great. But the Avengers are here to protect everyone. Joining us doesn't mean you are forced to follow BRIDGE's every rule. It means that you will help them when they are doing the right thing. And you'll have a group of superhumans to help you whenever the bad guys need a smackdown."

I could feel the sun on my back as I held out my hand to Ka-Zar and Zabu. "So how about it? Become an Avenger. And help us save people. Protect the ones who can't protect themselves."

Ka-Zar stared at me. He looked… well, like he wasn't sure what to say. Finally, he nodded, taking my hand in his. I grinned before looking at Zabu. "How about you, man?"

Zabu growled regally. Then he held his paw up. I shook the dinner-plate-sized paw and smiled. "All right then. I guess I need to warn you guys about something too," I pointed out at the Savage Land. "There's a dragon out there. Last I saw, he headed North. When I get back, I'll try and find him. But until then, Hauzer is a possible threat we all need to be ready for. Or, an ally if we find the right person he'd love to fight."

I faced Ka-Zar. "Let me give you the lowdown on the Earth Dragon."

Hauzer/The Earth Dragon

Hauzer wasn't a being prone to deep reflection. He did what pleased him. It was the simple logic of both the dragon he had become and the dinosaur he once was. Live life in pleasure, take what was yours, and destroy those who would stop you. A simple and primitive thought process.

Still… Styro's words had haunted him, on some level. Hauzer was still satisfied with having killed the massive being. But why, at the point of death, had Styro told him to go North?

Perhaps it was a trap? If so, it would fail. Hauzer almost found himself growling at the thought of ripping through a trap of Styro's making after his death. A final insult at the dead man.

Hauzer prowled through the jungle for several hours, only stopping to hunt down a Brontosaurus and devour it.

He stomped through the Savage Land. And soon, found himself reaching somewhere that felt… right. It felt like he had been called to it, that it had pulled at him. Not with the tug of an enemy, but the way that good food pulled. A scent of benevolence.

The trees parted. And he stood in a grassy field before a wide lake of lava at the foot of a massive mountain. Hauzer stared out at the field and lake, eyes taking it all in. The lake of lava was broiling, leaving a 'shore' of black stone at its edges. Beyond that, the grass was thick and healthy, rising to ankle height for Hauzer. He took a sniff of the air and looked up at the mountain. A plume of smoke was rising out of the peak, and he could see lightning flashing within the black smoke.

On a boulder jutting out of the landscape, stood a woman. Hauzer, for lack of anything better to do, prowled up to her. As he did, dinosaurs began to come out of the forest around the lake. Predator and prey alike, roaming forward, from the fierce T-Rex to the gentle Hadrosaurus. All of them came forth, ignoring one another. But they stopped well away from Hauzer.

Soon, Hauzer stood before her. The woman was short. She was shaped like a human but had black fur covering her from her neck to her ankles, a green loincloth made of scaled skin around her waist. She was holding a long staff in her hand, leaning against it as Hauzer prowled towards her, long white hair blowing in the wind. Her aged face showed no fear towards the dragon, pale white eyes somehow gazing upon him despite the lack of pupils. Hauzer growled at her, questioning.

The old woman nodded. "Indeed. I am the one who asked Styro to send you here," her voice, despite her age, came out with a certain vitality, power quaking through the air while she spoke.

Hauzer snapped his teeth. She shook her head.

"No… the foolish child taking you in was not my doing. I simply asked him to tell you to come," the old woman stood straighter. "I, Hauzer the Earth Dragon, am known as the Hag of the Pits. I have seen many things over the centuries. But months ago, an event unlike any I had ever seen shook even the great powers of the Pits," she shook her head. "Even the Nexus of Realities has been disturbed, forcing the need for a guardian there. And your arrival was but a side effect of this."

Hauzer let out a barking laugh. What did he care for any of this? He was here now. He was free, to eat, to fight, to do anything he wished!

The woman, who called herself Hag, scoffed. "Spoken like a dragon… I wish to grant you a boon, Hauzer. This land," she waved her hands around her. "And these subjects," the dinosaurs around them released various sounds. The Hag pointed at Hauzer. "This place, at the foot of the most powerful mountain of the Savage Land. I protected it these many months. All for you."

Hauzer stared at her. Then at the lands around it. When he looked back at her, she was meeting his eyes. For a moment, he felt the urge to burn her. She wanted something from him. He could tell.

"Permission," she said suddenly, surprising him. The Hag smiled. "I want permission… I have been making something. One day, the Great One Who Sleeps will come to this world. They will destroy the Savage Land. More than that. The entire world. The event has opened the gates to something horrid. The outside world has created it's chosen heroes in retaliation, whether they know it or not. And the Great One's champion will arise, the One who Consumes, while the Fallen Titan prepares his last conquest. And thus, the Savage Land must have its own champions."

"Hauzer, one of the King's of the Savage Land. Look upon my weapon," she held out her right hand. A red crystal was held in it. So small. Almost innocuous.

But to Hauzer, it was like she had pulled a small sun from her pocket. He recoiled, shocked at the power within.

"It is connected to all the lives of this world. Of the world that once was," the Hag looked up at Hauzer. "But now, another power has been added. You feel it, don't you?"

He did. His own energy was there. Mixed in with the thousands more he could feel. Hauzer stared at her.

"If you wish, I can remove it," the Hag said softly, continuing to hold out the gem. Around Hauzer and the Hag, the dinosaurs were joined by more animals. Insects of all kinds, mammals, birds. In the closest river to them, marine life gathered. "I would not allow your power to be borrowed by another," she said solemnly. "But our champion will be worthy of you. Of all of us. So I implore you, Hauzer. If you wish, you can test him. But this must be done. The world depends on it."

The Hag's words were not empty. Because as she spoke, Hauzer's mind was enveloped by a power beyond the world. He felt it resonate with his magic. And for just a moment, he understood what it was the Hag feared.

And fear filled him in turn.

He stared at her. Then, finally, he nodded.

"Thank you," she said solemnly. Then she placed the gem away. "I will prepare our allies. The Devil and his boy. The Savage ones who have just begun to form themselves. The war is coming. And if there is anything we 'primitives' know well, it is the heartbeat of combat."

Hauzer's smile of grim rage and eagerness was matched by the Hag.