The Son of the Moon God

Zagin remembered her original objective and the reason she had to come to Suagal in the first place.

“Uh… Um! I was sent here by the God of the Moon himself to find his son!” She noticed an impish smile started to tug at the boy’s lips. Regardless of whether he found her quest preposterous, Zagin pressed on, hoping the jinni could at least help. “I was told the child is here… sleeping… but I’m not really sure how to find him!”

The boy turned away, his shoulders shaking violently like a seizure. However, Zagin had already figured out that he was trying to suppress his laughter.

How rude! This was serious!

Forgetting her fear for a moment, Zagin challenged him. “I’m sorry… Do you find this funny? I’ve been risking my life for this quest!”

“Haha… Have you now?” He peeked at her from over his shoulder. “Well, I must admit this is quite amusing.”

Zagin let out an exasperated groan, then turned to the jinni. “P-please, O powerful Jinni. Help me find this child!”

The jinni simply looked back toward the boy, who was beside himself with laughter.

“Pfft! You already found him,” he said, trying and failing to regain composure. Smiling brightly, he extended his hand. “I am that child.”

“...What…? You…?”

He helped Zagin to her feet. She’d been expecting a child! Yet here he was, nearly the same height as her—a damn near fully grown young man!

Suddenly, so many things made sense. The graffiti… The binding spell on the jar… The boy’s incredible powers, and the fact that they’d crossed paths in her previous life…

She yanked her hand away from his and stepped back. He looked at his empty hand in confusion for a moment before closing his fist and putting it behind his back.

“Um, well…” Zagin grasped the air around her shoulder, having forgotten about her impromptu haircut. “This is great! Now that we’ve found each other, we can…” Her enthusiasm petered out when she glanced at the trail of blood left behind when the jinni dragged Jackal away. “...We should get out of here.”

“Very well. Lead the way.”

Zagin looked toward the entrance with its loose cliff of sand. Then she looked around the rest of the chamber, noticing some dark corridors branching off of the main room.

“Um… G-great Jinni, do you happen to know a way out of here?”

“For me, there are many ways,” the jinni said, licking its bloody jowls. “For you, there is only the way you came. Beyond this chamber, other paths have been blocked by cave-ins.”

Zagin sighed. “I see… Thank you.” When she moved toward the entrance, she noticed Nanna’s son was preoccupied with the altar. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I was simply wondering what this place was,” he said with a shrug before joining Zagin.

“So, what’s your name?” She picked up Jackal’s satchel in case it had something useful. “I’m Zagin.”

“Well met, Lady Zagin–”

“Just Zagin is fine! I’m no one important.”

“Understood. You may call me Su’en,” he said with a gentle smile that made her heart skip a beat.

“A-anyway, Su’en, we have a slight problem,” she said, pressing her foot into the sand to demonstrate its lack of footing. “We’re stuck in here unless we can climb over this sand.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, so I was thinking we could try digging our way–” Her thought was cut off by shouts coming from outside. Zagin strained her ears to listen and heard two distinctly accented male voices calling for Jackal. “...They made it?”

Jackal had seemed confident that they would, so why was she so surprised?

“Who?” Su’en craned his neck to try and see past the dune.

“Jackal– That man you fought. They’re his friends.”

Zagin couldn’t see them over the sand, but could hear their voices echoing off the cliffs, talking to each other and searching for Jackal. They must’ve arrived only to see the lone horse with no riders.

“Hey!!” shouted Zagin. She waved her arms even though they probably couldn’t see her. “Over here! We’re over he-mmph…?!”

Su’en clapped his hand over her mouth. “Shh! Do not offer up our position, you fool,” he whispered, keeping his hand over her mouth for a moment longer as he appeared to listen for the men outside.

He was way too close for comfort.

Zagin pushed him away. “Wh-what are you doing?!” She made no effort to match his whisper. “They might be our best chance at getting out of here!”

Su’en motioned for her to be quiet. “If those men are anything like their companion, then how do you presume this to end?”

She hated to admit it, but he was right. Zagin remembered that the one called Boolp had a brand on his cheek—likely something similar to Jackal’s tattoo that was unique to the foreigner’s culture. She felt so stupid all over again, realizing they were all bandits the whole time.

“Then how do we get out of here? It’ll take hours to dig our way out,” she whined, finally lowering her voice.

“There are other ways,” he stated, kicking the sand with his bare foot. “It would be light work for me to accomplish it with magic.”

“R-really?! Then do it!” Zagin stood aside to give him space to work.

Su’en frowned. “Hmph… What do I gain from this?”

“What do you… Isn’t getting out of here without lifting a finger enough?”

“I seem to recall that I shall be the one lifting a finger,” he said curtly, crossing his arms. “I no longer work for free. What can you offer me in exchange for this task?”

“What are you talking about?!” she blurted. Zagin clapped her hands over her mouth at the louder-than-she’d-intended sound, then lowered her voice to continue. “You had no problems saving my life before. Why is this different?”

“That was repayment for freeing me from my prison.” Su’en shrugged, a slight smirk tugging at his mouth. “Besides, you do not sound nearly as desperate for my help this time.”

Zagin ground her teeth. What was with this sudden change in attitude? He seemed so chivalrous before, and now it sounded like he was trying to extort her.

“F-fine!” She patted the pouch of coins tucked away under her clothes. “If you get us out of this situation, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“With meat?”

“Work your magic first, and I’ll decide whether you’ve earned it.”

“Ha! You shall regret underestimating me, Zagin.” Su’en acted so put-upon, but he was smiling as he crouched onto the sand spilling through the doorway.

Zagin watched from over his shoulder, trying to hide her excitement. She’d never seen a higher level of magic than that of a party trick because there were no real Magi in Urukalil. None had been born within the city for hundreds of years, and the Temple of Enki had a weak presence at that. Any priests devoted to the God of Wisdom and Magic who managed to develop a reasonable level of skill would inevitably leave for the Magician’s Tower.

She held her breath as the young demigod pushed his fingers into the sand like he was going to grab hold of it. Then, it started to take shape and solidify until a set of stairs had formed.

Zagin gasped as she put her foot on the first step, surprised to find that it was as solid as brick. “Wow…”

“Well, did I earn a serving of meat?” Su’en teased, dusting his hands off.

“You can eat as much as you want. My treat,” she offered with a giggle as the two of them ascended the stairs together.

“By the way, Zagin…”

“Yes?” She shielded her eyes as they stepped into the sunlight.

“What are we to do about them?” Su’en gestured out into the ruins where Batu and Boolp were in the middle of dismounting their horses.

Right. She had forgotten all about them. Maybe they should have waited to leave the ruin…

The two bandits ceased their heated conversation upon seeing Zagin and Su’en. As Boolp stomped over, calling for Jackal, Su’en placed a hand against the stone cylinders hanging from his belt.

“Wait,” Zagin urged, placing her hand on his to stop him. “Let’s not be hasty. We should try talking to them first.”

Boolp shouted something at them in his language, punctuating it by spitting on the ground.

“Talk to them…?” Su’en was incredulous. “Zagin, do these men even speak Emegir?”

“Th-they know enough,” she said, trying to convince herself more than anything. But it occurred to her, in that moment, that she was covered in blood—both her own and Jackal’s.

Zagin ripped the bloodstained white tunic over her head, shouting, “This isn’t what it looks like!” Except…it was exactly what it looked like. Zagin tried her best to wipe what remained off her skin before tossing the tunic aside. Then she hid behind Su’en. “L-let’s see what they do first before we act.”

As the large, very angry barbarian came closer, he drew his sword.

“So what you are saying is that I’m free to defend myself if they attack?” Su’en gripped his magic weaponry, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

But before Zagin could voice her approval of self-defense, a large shadow passed overhead.

All of them looked to the sky in horror as the Rukh circled above. It had hunted them down, likely by following their trail; but perhaps, it had also caught a whiff of blood in the air.

“Run!!” Zagin shouted, grabbing Su’en by the wrist and pulling him with her as she dashed across the sand.

Boolp also wasn’t ready to give up his chase. He stormed after the pair while Batu tried to prevent their horses from scattering in fear of the Rukh.

“Su’en! Do you know how to ride a horse?!” she shouted as one of the horses managed to escape into the slot canyon.

“No! Do you?!”

“No, but we have no other optionnuughhh!!” Zagin lost her footing on the sand, dragging Su’en down with her.

While Su’en tried to help Zagin to her feet, Boolp was quickly closing in on them.

“Girl… I get you!” shouted the barbarian in broken Emegir. Truly, he did know just enough of their language.

As Boolp readied his sword to strike, Su’en stepped in front of Zagin and tugged one of his weapons from its tether.

“Zagin, allow me to make one thing clear,” he said, conjuring a blade large enough to rival the barbarian’s. “I am only doing this to ensure I get what I am owed from you.”

She cowered behind the demigod. “F-fine! I’ll give you a nice bonus if you beat him!”

Yet, as luck would have it, the Rukh went straight for their opponent.