Chapter CCXCIII: A Brother’s Gotta Do What a Brother’s Gotta Do ~Lich

Ung’grl was taking his time. Lich could see that his brother’s patience was starting to wear thin. Ark had passed the first stage of drumming his fingers on the Spear, and had just progressed from the second stage of fiddling with a twig on the ground to the third, where his mouth would begin to move silently.

“What are you thinking about, Ark?” Lich asked him.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, and returned to fiddling with the twig.

Half a minute later, his mouth was quivering slightly. Lich began to wonder what he was thinking about, especially when his bent forefinger was raised to his lips.

If only he knew.

“‘Why haven’t you brought him here?’” Ark mouthed, his lips not large enough to give away the words. “‘Because I can’t, master.’ ‘You can’t?! Why can’t you do such a simple task?!’ ‘Because I love h’ – no, he might do something here…” he looked down and passed into the fourth stage of sweeping his leg back and forth like a pendulum, his foot scraping the ground noisily, “I’d better X-Guard, then I say, ‘Because I love him. Do you not know how to love’ – wait, that’s not so good either. Of course he doesn’t know anything about it, that’s why he is the way he is…”

There was a thud nearby where Naaro had dropped his tonfers. Ark’s head rose and his foot stopped scraping. Naaro picked them up and began to idly play catch again.
Lich sighed and held a cloth in one hand, bottle of cleaning-fluid in the other. He dabbed the cloth, returned the bottle to storage, and then started wiping down the Boomerang. Soon, Ark’s other foot began to scrape.

“What’s that thou hast, mister?”

Two Koyoshies had suddenly appeared beside Naaro, the way curious children always seem to materialise out of the ether.

“I’ve never seen that before,” the other boy asked.

The first Koyoshi sniffed through his blocked nostril.

“They’re called tonfers,” Naaro explained.

“Tonfers?” said the second.

“Yeah, Might and Light,” Naaro pointed.

“How didst thou get them?” the second asked.

“Well, I–”

“That will be enough, Gr’at and Ll’arng,” Ung’grl spoke as he arrived. The two children scattered and disappeared back into the shadows. “I apologise humbly, my Lord, Hunter, guest of the A’gul,” he nodded to each of them in turn. “There is much to prepare for thy ordination, Lord.”

“Think nothing of it,” Lich smiled. “I know how much goes into these things.”

“Because you are always being the one celebrated,” Ark muttered sotto voce.

“Please come into my house, and I will tell you what will happen,” Ung’grl said to them, parting the curtain for them.

The four of them entered the hut. To their surprise, it seemed to be divided into rooms, with the walls inside made of wooden screens covered by mud and bark painted much the same way as outside. They entered the central room of the structure, which appeared to be used as a kitchen and eating area, with a very crude table made of a large flattened rock in one corner and a smouldering fire in the centre of the floor beneath a hole in the thatch roof. Well-worn rocks were scattered around the fire in a circle. Three doors in the walls were covered by hides, with one on the left and two on the right.

Ung’grl led them to the table, and showed them to sit on large notches cut out of a log on one side of it. He then sat down opposite them.

“Lord, even though I shall continue to call thee ‘Lord’, would I be rude in asking thee for thy name?” Ung’grl asked.

“Not at all,” Lich answered. “Lich is what would be considered my adult name. My hatching name is Dyluck Thanatos.”

“Such unusual names.”

“Well, that is because I was not born on the homeworld, nor was my brother. We were born on the world of Fa’Diel. My hatching name is that of my town’s hero and his nemesis.”

“How appropriate for thy names,” said Ung’grl. “Thou art one whose strength lies in thy opposites. Just like the chieftain of the A’gul. One always must make a sacrifice when one ruleth, yet the power of the hero granteth one power to continue rule.” He then turned to Ark. “Thy name, Hunter?”

“Ark Beruga Yoshi von Kippo,” Ark answered. “That is my only name. Please call me Ark.”

“Art thou like thy brother in name?”

“Yes. Ark was a hero, and Beruga was his opposite.”

“Thou also hast thy strength in opposites. The Leader of the Hunt is a role that requireth strength and determination. Yet…for some reason, I sense that thou has not yet discoverèd thy strength yet…there seemeth to be much conflict that surroundeth thee, and within thee. I can see inward pain in thy eyes.”

Ark visibly flinched. How could he know?

“It seemeth I speak the truth,” Ung’grl continued. “You will conquer it, Ark.” He looked at Naaro. “Now, my guest, what is thy name?”

“Naaro Garsh Karukylis,” he replied. “I am also a chieftain of my people, the Karmali.”

Ung’grl paused a moment to size him up. “Thou appeareth a Yoshi, yet also not.”

“The Yoshies of Yamauchi found their way to Yoshin, my homeworld. Our blood has been mixed with theirs, which is why we look a little like them.”

“Much seemeth to have happened in our exile,” Ung’grl spoke.

“Lots,” said Lich. “I do not know where to begin.”

“Many stories can be told. But, for now, I must tell you what will happen once sunset falls.”

“No, I am not doing that.”

“I trust I don’t have to,” Naaro said.

“No, thou hast no need,” Ung’grl replied.

“Ark, I think this is a necessary part of–” Lich started.

“No! I am not doing that!” Ark rose to his feet and smashed his fist into the table.

Lich rubbed his face with his hand and shook his head. Everything with the ceremony seemed to be going fine so far according to Ung’grl’s explanations.

“I’m sorry, but I am not going to go around naked every day for the rest of my life covered in paint!”

“Just think, though, you won’t have to worry about getting dressed,” Naaro said diplomatically.

“No! Gaa! Ku’b! I am not doing that! Why do we have to bother with this anyway…”

“It’s traditional, Ark,” Lich said in Pandoran. “Besides, it’s not every day you get to be the Yosh in charge.”

“How true,” Ark placed a hand on his hip and replied likewise. “How very, very true. Because guess who’s the one in charge all the time? Hmm, I wonder who that could be…why, I think it’s you!”

Ung’grl and Naaro watched on, trying to understand what was happening.

“Ark, you know what I’ve sai–”

“You’re the one who gets the recognition, the glory, the fame, the rewards, the friends; all the good stuff. Who’s the one in the shadows helping him along? Me, in the shadows just like my arts. You would have died in an inn in Va’kotiku if it wasn’t for me!”

“And for that I’m grateful!” Lich replied, rising from his seat.

“You never said thank you,” Ark sniffed.

“’Thank you.’ Happy now?”

“No.”

Lich shook his head again and held his hand to his face. He would have to go for the dreaded counterattack.

“There’s no shaking you from anything, is there, Ark? Definitely a family trait. I want you to succeed in everything you do!”

“No you don’t; you do it before me or discourage me. You know that!”

Lich stifled a growl, his anger rising. “My brother doesn’t speak to me like that.”

“Of course he wouldn’t. He’s not your brother, machine.”

Lich lunged for Ark. He grabbed his right arm and shook the Spear from it, twisted it behind his back, locked the other arm around both of Ark’s and pushed him to the floor. He knelt on Ark’s thighs, pinning down his legs, then leaned over him and pressed his neck down with his free hand. He rammed his nose into Ark and stared into his eyes, furious.

“Don’t. You. EVER. Call me that, again!”

The other two moved away from the table, surprised by the action.

“Now, I know you’re unhappy because I caught you off guard,” Lich spoke slowly, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth. “Don’t you dare call Eriuch or he will have no-one to use.”

“You wouldn’t kill me,” Ark tried to smile.

“I am very close to it,” Lich growled. “You dare make any mention of it again, in public, I will make your life a living hell.”

“It already is,” Ark said nonchalantly.

“So what if I am…that, huh? What difference does it make?”

“All of it.”

“All? My heart is intact and pure! My intentions are the same!”

“No…you…you don’t love me! You love it! The Boomerang’s a replacement of me! You find it, go to the Light Palace, come out the way you are. And suddenly I come right back into your life and am told a lie for five years, only to discover the harsh, sickening truth! I threw up when I saw what you did to yourself!”

“I did it so I could find you, Ark! Don’t you realise that? I needed a guiding, protecting light when I explored the caverns! You are my first and foremost, always! When you were gone after that fight in the Spectrum, I cried my heart out because I no longer had you with me! You are my strength, my happiness, my hope! Never forget that, ever. The Boomerang gives me pain. Ark gives me comfort. The Boomerang makes me sad. Ark makes me happy. I did it for you, Ark. All for you. I was inspired by your love of robotics; I’m half-robot, for crying out loud. Shouldn’t that give me another half’s worth of your love?”

Ark shed a tear. Lich released his hold and got up, pulled Ark to his feet and hugged him.

“I love you, Ark Beruga.”

Hesitatingly, Ark returned the gesture.

Do it now!

“You too, Dyluck Thanatos,” Ark winced, unseen by Lich, and shed another tear.

“Will you do as Ung’grl said, for me?”

Grab the Spear and kill him!

Ark winced again. “Yes,” he gulped.

Lich let go, gentleness returning to his eyes as he looked into Ark’s once more, then sat down.

“Sorry about that,” Lich apologised to the other two in Yoshian. “I’ve got to be the big brother sometimes.”

Ark sat down beside him, glumly. “I’ll do it,” he muttered.

And unknown to all of them, by a spring not so far away, the Dark Lich’s eyes flashed.

“By midnight tomorrow, else your body’s mine, Ark,” he warned.