Chapter 142

"Guard the others, Quadwar won't be going anywhere." Jaldabaoth laughed, the sewing of the two members of the opposing species was quite complete. Their legs were joined together, sewn tight first with thread and then by magic. The quagoa was missing his right arm, the dwarf was missing his left, and they were joined at the shoulder the same way the remnants of their upper thighs were.

Whatever their names had been before, Jaldabaoth now referred to them as a single being, 'Quadwar'. The two could share one another's pain, as proven when each one howled when the opposite side of the body was seared by a drop of molten lead dropped on each one's cheek in turn.

The pain was great, so great that they each passed out for some time, coming to just in time to hear Jaldabaoth's instructions and listen to the babbling Halfdwarf chatter on and on and on.

The two heads of the single being turned to look at one another, singular hatred for the other was set aside in favor of their singular fear of what more Jaldabaoth might do to them.

More importantly, the things they heard him say… 'Perhaps it tells us how he can be stopped?' The same question echoed in their minds, most of the other prisoners and experimental subjects were moved, but those sewn beings were left largely unwatched, and in Quadwar's case, not even bound as it seemed their tormentors assumed that the two which had become one could not have hoped to escape no matter how they dreamed of it.

"Dwarf… can you move, or are you broken?" The quagoa asked.

"Move or die… I'd rather move… my leg works… yours, quagoa?" The dwarf whispered the response.

"I am quagoa, I do not give up so easily, stumpy." The mealy mouthed and toothless quagoa growled.

"Good… furball… good. We will be alone for hours, but where do we go?" The dwarven half asked.

"My people, they are closer." The quagoa whispered.

"And get myself killed? No thank you." The dwarf whispered in spite of the pain that stabbed all over the side of his face.

"Can we reach yours, thick headed stumpy?" The quagoa growled through his slowly moving jaw.

The dwarf was quiet for a moment, "Fine… Jaldabaoth is worse to both of us than either of us are to the other… we go to yours. But I want you to promise me my life when we get there."

"Would you believe any promise I made, dwarf?" The quagoa hissed the whisper out a few inches from the dwarven face, each bore the same brand like burn on their faces, and each one's eyes burned just as hot with both hatred and fear alike.

"Just start moving before I change my mind… we might not survive, but I won't give that bastard a complete victory." The dwarf grumbled, and they inched their way off the table, pushing an arm and leg in unison until their one good leg each hit the mountain floor.

"I go first… you follow." The quagoa said as they brought their shared body up to a seated position. The stone was cold from sweat and chilled blood, and some dripped down to darken and stain the gray rock in the dim light let in by the hole in the mountain which allowed the stars to peek in on the horror of their existence.

They glanced around. Most of the other 'experimental subjects' were either asleep or dead, but nobody was making any noise.

"On three." The dwarf said, and the quagoa nodded.

"One. Two… Three!" The dwarf grunted out in a hoarse whisper and the quagoa hopped a leg forward.

"One." The dwarf mumbled and hopped his leg farther beyond that of the quagoa.

"Two." The quagoa gasped and hopped past that of the dwarf.

"One."

"Two."

"One."

"Two."

So it went as they alternated, their slow hop was shaking, unsteady, and they fell soundlessly before they'd made it a dozen paces, neither cried out in pain, each thrusting their good arm out to minimize the pain and impact.

"Bastard… you did that on purpose…" The dwarf hissed.

"As if I would do that during an escape… stupid dwarf… I would happily gut your kind, but not if I had to break myself to do it!" The quagoa snarled back as they lay struggling face first on the floor.

"Push up together." The dwarf said without apology. Outside the mountain there was a roll of thunder and the sound of a billowing wind.

The quagoa grunted, and again they counted to three and pushed themselves up to their knees.

"Me first." The quagoa said and popped one leg forward, then up he pushed until the dwarf got his leg under him again.

"Again. Slower this time, wait until we've got the rhythm, then we can go faster." The dwarf said, and the quagoa listened.

They hopped again, putting foot by foot between themself and the place of their torment. Passing between the shadows of buildings, the area was almost completely uninhabited now, though occasionally they saw cages holding their respective races, they glanced at each other in mutual understanding.

'There is nothing we can do for them…' They read the look across the lines of species, and looked with pity at their own. The quagoa and dwarves alike bore numerous nonfatal but crippling injuries. Similarly, the two sides were chained to each other. Though most of both groups were sullen and silent, those few with any spirit left at all used it to insult their opposite numbers in the same cages.

The noise of their bickering seemed to amuse the few demons Quadwar took notice of, while the smell of the captives masked Quadwar's passing between narrow buildings and down various alleyways until the pair was well on their way out of the city, and headed in the direction the quagoa considered to be the most likely place to find whatever remained of his people.

Far out of view, Jaldabaoth stood watching through one of his familiar's little beady bat eyes as Quadwar made his… or perhaps 'their' escape.

The view was only black and white and offered little in the way of fine details, but it didn't need to be perfect, only 'good enough' and with their wide long gait, it was sufficient.

Jaldabaoth smirked, "Excellent… this should serve my master's plan exceptionally well… run along, Quadwar, run along… or is that more of a 'hop'?" Jaldabaoth asked himself and stroked his chin as he thought it over.

He was still wondering that question when the pair hopped out of view into one of the long tunnels that populated the mountain range. "Oh well, now to 'prod' the dragons and their minions along." He laughed, gouts of flame springing from his open mouth as he did, and called forth another handful of demons to do his bidding.