Chapter Fourteen

Brigitte sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it."

No one said anything, so finally Brigitte broke the silence. "Fine, if you want to know about it, I'll tell you." She paused, the shriek of a hawk in the distance.  Her eyes glazed over and she told her story quietly. 

"When I was young, my human father left my mom.  She died of loneliness soon afterward.  Of course, none of the other kids cared. The only thing they cared of was my accent--"

"I think your voice is fine, Brigitte," Kali interrupted.

"--No one ever comforted me. I mean, my parents had gone, I didn't even know my father, who had given me this cursed voice--"

"There's nothing wrong with talking like a human," Kali interrupted again.

"The kids there taunted and teased, and one day," Brigitte stopped and sniffed.  "One day, the chief of our tribe--he, well, he--"

All eyes were looking at Brigitte, leaving her to feel pressured.  Her eyes blurred at the memories, and they were the horrifying stares of the taunters and teasers…

They immediately looked away and Brigitte shook her head, blinking.  She whispered, "He kicked me out of the village, saying, 'You're not our kind.  Go back to where you belong, half-bred.' "

Brigitte's eyes filled with tears and she looked at the valley below.  Everyone was once again quiet; the only sound was the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Brigitte sighed. "But that wasn't the worst of it."

They turned to look at her, but stopped midway as not to pressure her again.

"What was…" Kali whispered.

Brigitte cleared her throat. "Well, before my mom died, I had a boyfriend demon.  He was everything to me; I loved him so much. I had dreams of settling down and having a family with him.  He was so nice to me. Of course, there was always something strange. For some reason, which I didn't even think about back then, he would always have us meet in the woods away from the village."  She snorted, ashamed of herself.  "But I knew later.  When my mom died, he was there to comfort me, but then things started to change.  My mother had been quite wealthy, despite the fact that getting together with a human was considered treason--not most of the demons really knew that my father was actually human. The chief knew, and he told everyone!  It was so embarrassing. But around that time, my boyfriend, Kedar, and I were starting to come out with our relationship.  Of course, he already knew I was part human, but when people started teasing me because I was part human and had a weird voice, he--he--"

She narrowed her eyes, fists clenched, and glared at the valley below. They were approaching the village, Kali noted, following Brigitte's gaze.  She was glaring at the village.

Fire in her eyes, she gritted, "He left me--for some chick--and he started--he started to tease me--with his new girl--and he told me--the day before I ran away--he said it right to my face--"

*Flashback*

"You don't belong her, Esovh.  You're the village scum--the human half-breed.  Run away; run home to your daddy, Esovh.  You'll never fit in!"

"I have a name!" cried a younger looking Brigitte. "It's Brigitte!  Don't you remember? Don't you remember the days when we laughed, and when we cried . . . together? Do you remember . . . me . . .?"

"You even speak like a human!  Always sentimental and all emotional. You don't belong here!  This is our world, leave us alone!"

Tears pouring, she cried in reply, "I am human!  And there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it! I can't help the way I am. Can't you leave me alone?!"

"Guards, take her away!"

The grief-stricken demon was dragged away, out of Kedar's home, the chief's son.

Before they reached the door, she cried, still struggling, "I thought you loved me!  But I was so stupid, so blinded that I couldn't even see what you really were! I'll--"

She managed to struggle out of the guards' grip just as the reached the door and she stayed there, the guards trying to pull her away.

*End Flashback*

"And they dragged me out of his room, but before we reached the door, I shouted--"

"Every night, before I go to sleep, I'll curse your name, let you be burned by the fires of Hell!  But just remember one thing: I loved you, and you broke my heart.  And now you'll have to live with the pain of tearing apart someone else's life. Good-bye forever, lover."

Brigitte--and everyone else--whirled around to face a figure emerging from the trees.  He looked like Brigitte, only built more manly and he skin was a dark gray color, with black hair.  His eyes were a cloudy purple color. Brigitte glared at the demon before them with pure hatred in her eyes, but he did not return her gaze.  He adverted his eyes towards the village below them.

"You came back."

His voice was surprisingly gentle and soothing, and in the three short words you couldn't hear the scratchy hissing of a demon.  Brigitte blinked and looked in the other direction.

"Why do you care?  Do you want to tease me some more?"

He looked at her, slightly wounded by her words. But then he turned back to the village and changed the subject. "The village is awaiting your return."

"Why . . . why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm not doing anything."  He turned away. "Some of our spies have seen your work and involvement against Nwon-Knu.  They want to know the story."

"Why would they care of what happened to me? I was banned from the village; my life is useless to them. Pointless to them."

"No one's life is pointless!" Kali chimed in.  Everyone glared at her and she back down, shrugging down to sit on a boulder.

"But now you're a hero--"

"Oh, so now I'm a hero! I'm famous for getting involved in the everlasting war against Eclipse and her recruits.  Gosh, if I had known that that was all it would take, then I would have killed her 200 years ago!"

Something flickered in Kedar's eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"Speaking of which, would you like to know how she's doing?  Good, I'll tell you!  She's dead!  Guess who killed her! Sophia!  This girl right here, weaker than me, weaker than you--she just discovered her powers less than a day before doing it! And guess what.  She's human."

Sophia looked up at the mention of her name, but she hadn't been listening to their conversation.

"What? What did I do?"

Kali rolled her eyes, suppressing a giggle.  Gary whispered something into her ear.

"Oh! Yeah," she crossed her legs and started examining her nails. "It was nothing. Although," she yawned, "I was pretty tired afterward.  Still am, actually."

Kedar's expression didn't move - he didn't even flinch.  "So I've heard."

"So, how is life in the village, Chief Kedar." At the mention of the words, she remembered her flashback, how she had been in the chief's house and words she had said to him.  He had remembered after all these years . . .

She didn't think that he would give them a second thought after she said them. But he remembered it, word-for-word.  She looked up at him with wonder in her eyes.

"Horrible."

She felt a knot form in her stomach and she looked down at the ground.

"Everyone is always fighting and arguing and--teasing. It's family against family, brother against brother. It's been chaos ever since Eclipse's recruits invaded a few years ago. I haven't been back to the village since a few weeks ago.  I'd imagine that things would be the same."

Brigitte nodded absently.

Zale stepped in, having information to give. "When Sophia killed Eclipse, all the pictures on the corridor walls of the half-demon ceremonies disappeared. The prison of human souls was deserted, when only a few moments before it was screaming with cries of pain."

Sophia shivered, remembering the piercing scream of Mayonaka when Ganralf had hit him with the blast of fire.  For the first time, Kedar turned to look at the four humans that had been travelling with Brigitte.

"Ah . . . after years of hiding, Zale has finally come out of his cave.  I see the half-human Kali is also here.  And Gary and Sophia--I remember you two."

Kali looked from Sophia, to Gary, to Kedar, then back again. Then, at once, she realized, "Did you meet them when they were babies?  They were born out here, weren't they?"

Kedar nodded.  "Both times our village helped their mother give birth. She was, after all, half-demon."

Sophia blurted, "So I'm a quarter demon?"

"That would be the reason for your fire powers.  Most humans do not have powers. The number of sorcerers has slowly decreased over the decades. Shame. Although, he happen to be housing one in our village.  At least, we were.  I believe she is still there. She was very weak when she came to us, having just passed the final training test."

Zale's face lit up.  "Does she, by any chance, go by the name Gabrielle?"

"As a matter of fact, I believe she does."

Brigitte crossed her arms, and Kedar finally noticed her wounds and bruises.

"You're hurt," he said, concern evident in his voice.

Brigitte ignored him.  "Come on, let's get going.  I want to get there before sunrise."

They arrived to a dark, quiet village. At first, they thought everyone was asleep.  As they walked through the desolate village, something was wrong.  The only sound was their footsteps on the dirt path.  Hearing a sound coming from the other end of the village, they quickened their pace.

 As they continued on, they that the sky was lit up with a dark red, though it was lighter closer to the horizon. They turned a corner and music drifted towards them. It was a dark and mourning music, at least that's what it sounded like at first. They edged closer, and recognized it as the happy, celebrating tune of drums and dancing. The red sky was all they could see, and it was getting brighter.  It was a yellowish-orange and their faces were already glowing in the light.  They turned one more corner and stopped.

 In front of them danced a rainbow group of demons.  There were purple, orange, and green.  Occasionally there danced blue demon.  Kedar, being his dark gray color, stood out among the group. The demons stopped dancing to look at their chief, bowing in respect as he walked through the group and took his place on a stage with an empty wooden chair.

 All eyes rested on him, waiting for him to speak.

 "What has happened here?  Tonight is no specific holiday. Are you celebrating the disappearance of the demons who kept our village under siege?"

 A blue demon who had not been dancing stepped forward.  "No, Chief Kedar. We are celebrating the disappearance of Nwon-Knu. We have found her body dead a few miles north."

 Kali looked away, up at the top of the mountain, which was now obscured by thin white clouds and the night sky.

 "Ah." Kedar followed Kali's gaze.  "So, Nwon-Knu is dead.  Well, continue your--"

 "No."

 Everyone turned to look at Kali.  "She is not dead."

 "Madam, I assure you, her body is not intact-"

 "She doesn't need that body." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  "Before I pushed her off the peak, I condemned her to a life in her own prison to be tortured forever. On the account that in magic things usually follow through, I'm supposing that she is there right now. She can't get out--it's just her soul, or whatever similar thing to one she may have had."

 The demon people stared at her. "You killed Nwon-Knu?  But you're a human!"

 Suddenly they were all shouting at her, telling her to leave, that she was a lying human scum.  Kali stood taller, glaring at them, lightning flashing in her eyes.

 "She speaks the truth," said a strong voice near the stage. Everyone quieted down to look at the figure standing next to Kedar.  Zale gasped, then his eyes lit up with joy. The person on the stage noticed him and gave him a warm smile back. "This here is Kali--Kali Krisone, the one from the prophecies. She has freed us from Nwon-Knu and condemned her to the horrible life of pain she has set upon you." She looked at Brigitte.  "And that you have set on one of your own kind. Without whom, Kali may have never succeeded."

 Gabrielle was like a Greek goddess. She even wore a toga-violet in color.  Her hair was dark brown and cascaded down her back, silky as satin.  Her eyes were green, the color of wisdom, and they even held the light of wisdom within them.  Her smile seemed to calm everyone's nerve and brighten up the day around them.  It was no wonder Zale liked her so much.

 While Kali and the gang were all looking at Gabrielle in wonderment, all demon eyes turned to them. And soon, they turned to Brigitte, who looked away.

 "She has shown true bravery while you have sat down here at the bottom of the valley doing nothing for hundreds of years. You set yourselves so low as to tease your own kind. It is not her fault that she is part human.  I'm human after all.  I'm surprised that she hasn't used her powers against you."

 Kali smiled at Brigitte, who blushed. Whispers were heard among the crowd. "Powers? What powers? I didn't know she had powers?  What is she talking about?"

 Gabrielle smiled. "But I thought every demon had powers. Why are you surprised?"  Her smile faded and she turned to Kedar. He was gazing at Brigitte, though no one had noticed since they were listening to Gabrielle.  He quickly turned away and faced Gabrielle.

 "Yes?"

 "You. You have shown yourself unworthy of her love, broken her heart, and worst of all, loved her the whole time through."

Brigitte's eyes widened. Loved me the whole time . . . but what is she talking about? He never loved me!

 "Why did you ever do such a thing?"

 Kedar looked at Brigitte apologetically, his face contorted with pain and a little confusion. "My father, he . . . he didn't want me to be with her. Said she was the laughingstock of the village. He wanted me to marry Eclipse-" Kali, Sophia, Gary, and Zale gasped at this "-because in doing so it might bring a peace between the born-demons and half-demons.  But Eclipse suddenly left the village on short notice. I was never really in love with her. She was a born demon gone 'bad'. I was grateful for that, but my true love had left the village just a week before on account of the harsh words I spoke to her.

 "She cursed me with equally harsh, perhaps even harsher words:

"Every night, before I go to sleep, I'll curse your name, let you be burned by the fires of Hell!  But just remember one thing: I loved you, and you broke my heart. And now you'll have to live with the pain of tearing apart someone else's life. Good-bye forever, lover."

He took a deep breath. "But I can't blame everything on my father.  I was confused and afraid then, with all that was going on. And though I didn't like the idea of marrying Eclipse, I thought that it would be the best for the village.

"But I did live with that pain because I tore apart her heart."

Brigitte stared back at him, tears streaming down her face.  "But how can I trust you? You could have done something! You could have come with me or something.  How can I believe that your story is true?"  Guards, take her away.  So much pain . . . so much heartbreak.  Could she ever trust him again, let alone forgive him?

Gabrielle had left the stage and was walking confidently to the group at the back. She reached Brigitte and put a hand on her shoulder, every face looking at the two.

"If you love him, you will find it in your heart to forgive him. Your heart always knows the answer.  Everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what the crime.  Now, if you'll excuse me . . . "

Gabrielle turned to Zale and kissed him on the cheek, whispering something in his ear. "My friend and I have a little to catch up on. We'll be back at the medical hut if you need us."  She took Zale's hand and led him back the way they came. He followed with no protests.  The demons started talking and were soon back dancing again.

Sophia sighed. "I was starting to like him."  The others stared at her. "As a friend, I mean!" She sweatdropped and look towards the demons.  "Heh. Funny, how after all that they can just start celebrating again, isn't it?  Heh heh." Kali sighed.

"Sophia, Sophia, Sophia."

Brigitte was edging away from the group, sitting down a dark corner to think.  The group continued without her.

"So, what do we do next?" Gary asked.

"I'm going home."

"I thought you had ran away. You want to go back?"

"Ah, but before that must meet my father." She turned to Gary. "I can't wait to see the look on my mum's face when she hears all I've discovered!" She grinned evilly.  "Pay back time!"

"I want to go to the city, too.  Maybe I'll find my parents."

"Yes, I would like to meet my mum," Gary said. "We could meet with my father and grandfather. Maybe they'll decide to come with us.  After that, it's off to the city."

"Sounds fun!" Sophia exclaimed.

"An adventure through the wild outback . . . duh-na-na!  The city! We'll wrestle those turkeys--er, chickens, whatever, to the ground!  MWUHAHAHA!  I can already taste the chicken soup!" Gary and Sophia sweatdropped.

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