Chapter 25: The Right Guy

The cage doors opened one by one, and the first young maw tumbled out and plopped into the water. Another tumbled out after it, and another after that, as the black cloths came off and the doors swung open all the way down the line of barges, and young maws spilled into the river.

Each one was bigger than the babies in the Black Seam, about the size of a big dog, and once they hit the water, their teeth began to spin. They weren’t heading towards the barges, and they weren’t heading towards Kai, because every single one of them was swimming downstream.

Kai followed the direction their heads were pointing to a bend in the river ahead, and as the sun went down behind it, he could see the small lights of a village beginning to flicker on.

"They’re heading towards the village," Garrick said.

"They always swim towards the light," Elowen said.

[There are forty young maws in the water. The village is about one mile away. At their current speed, they will reach it in six minutes]

"I need a bigger light," Kai whispered. "Bigger than the village, and behind me, pointing upstream."

[You want to point it upstream?]

"I want to point it downstream," Kai whispered. "That way it’ll go upstream."

[That is the smartest thing you have ever said. I am scared]

Kai let go of the chain with one hand, spun around, pointed straight at the village, and took a deep breath.

"Minor Light," Kai said.

A ball of light formed in Kai’s hand and seemed to think it over for a second, and then it dropped straight down and hit him in the crotch.

Kai looked down and saw that his crotch was glowing brighter than the setting sun, throwing a wide circle of light across the water all around him.

"No," Kai said.

[Yes]

"WHY IS IT ON MY CROTCH?" Kai yelled at the sky. "I pointed it at the village! I missed on purpose!"

[It understood what you wanted]

All forty young maws stopped in their tracks, and forty eyeless heads turned towards Kai.

"Oh, here they come," Dagna said, lifting her gaff hook. "They’re definitely coming our way."

"Kai, your crotch," Mira said.

"I AM AWARE OF MY CROTCH!" Kai yelled.

The water began to ripple as forty small creatures raced back upstream towards him with their teeth spinning. Kai pulled his legs up out of the water, which did nothing to make his crotch any less bright, Garrick lifted his hammer, which was glowing gold, and Elowen drew her sword.

"Garrick, your hammer is glowing!" Mira shouted. "Nobody use any light!"

"I always fight in the dark," Elowen said.

The first young maw lunged at Kai’s crotch, and it never made it there. The mother’s head whipped around faster than Kai had ever seen her move, caught the little maw with her cheek, and flicked it back into the water like a cat swatting a kitten.

Then she opened her mouth and let out a roar that wasn’t like anything Kai had heard from her before, lower and longer, and it traveled through the water and vibrated through Kai’s entire body, until the whole river was shaking with it.

All of the young maws stopped swimming while the mother kept calling, and one by one they turned around, no longer looking at Kai’s crotch, but at their mother, and they began swimming towards her.

They swarmed her, climbing over each other to get as close as they could. Some of them crawled up onto her back next to Dagna and Garrick and snuggled in like puppies, and one even climbed right into Mira’s lap.

"Kai," Mira whispered, barely breathing. "I have a monster in my lap."

"Pet it," Kai whispered.

"I am not petting it," Mira whispered.

The maw nudged its head into her hand, and Mira closed her eyes and slowly began to pet it.

"I hate this," Mira said. "I hate this so much."

[Faith update. Follower: Unknown (Broodmother). Faith: 15%. Status: Mother.]

Kai looked at the mother maw, who had stopped calling and was just floating in the river with all of her babies around her, every one of them lit up by Kai’s crotch.

"She was calling her babies," Elowen said quietly. "She could never have done that in the mines. Draven’s collar would not allow it."

Dagna looked down at the baby maw snuggled against her leg and slowly lowered her gaff hook. These were the creatures that had killed her neighbors and nearly killed her brother.

"It’s not their fault," Dagna said. "It’s his."

[Faith gained. Dagna Reeve: +8%. Status: Determined.]

[You have failed again]

"I know," Kai whispered.

[If your light had gone upstream, they would have followed it, and you would have had forty maws swimming up and down the river for days. Instead, they came to you, and she was able to call them back]

"My crotch saved the village," Kai whispered.

[Your crotch saved the village. I am not putting that in my report]

Over on the barges, the black knights stood frozen with their poles in their hands, staring at the monster that had just taken all of their cargo, and not one of them moved.

The last knight on the last barge looked down into the water and saw the mother maw, all the baby maws riding on her back, and Kai’s glowing crotch. And for the first time since Kai had met them, a black knight spoke.

"Nah," the knight said.

He threw his pole overboard, pulled off his helmet, and threw that overboard too, and then he jumped into the water and swam for shore as fast as he could. The rest of the knights looked at each other, threw their poles overboard, and jumped in after him. In less than a minute, eight empty barges were drifting down the river, and the black knights were running up the bank into the forest.

Kai watched them go, and for a moment he couldn’t believe it. Nobody had died, the village was safe, and he hadn’t hit a single thing he’d been aiming at.

"We did it," Kai said.

"Yeah, I think we did," Garrick said, sounding just as surprised.

"I’m keeping one," Dagna said, scratching the baby maw on her leg.

"No, you are not," Mira said.

"I’m naming it Draven," Dagna said. "That way I can yell at it."

[Kai]

"What?" Kai whispered.

[There are only thirty-nine maws on your follower]

"What do you mean, only thirty-nine?" Kai whispered as his smile faded.

[Forty were let out, and there are only thirty-nine on her back. One was too far downstream when you lit up your crotch. It did not turn around]

Kai looked downstream towards the village, where the sun had dropped below the horizon and every window was glowing bright orange, and then he heard the screaming.

"GO!" Kai yelled, grabbing the chain. "Swim! Swim! SWIM!"

The mother maw didn’t need a light to follow this time, because she had heard it too. She swam downstream faster than she had all day, with thirty-nine maws on her back and five people hanging on to her chains, and Kai held on with both hands and prayed to whoever was listening.

They came around the bend to a village of about a dozen huts on stilts, a few boats, and a small wooden dock with lanterns hanging from it. People were running up the bank away from the water, kids and old folks and everyone in between. A woman was dragging two little boys by their collars, and an old man had dropped his lantern in the mud and kept running without it. Nobody was screaming anymore, though, and Kai saw why.

The fortieth maw lay on the dock, sliced cleanly in half.

Standing over it was a man who had to be at least six and a half feet tall, wearing white steel armor with gold trim and a white cape that wasn’t even wet. His sword glowed gold, his hair was gold, and everything about him shone as if the sun had decided to rise over that dock. He didn’t look like someone who had just killed a monster, but like a painting of someone who had just killed a monster.

The man looked upstream at the mother maw, the baby maws on her back, and the five people hanging on to her chains, and Kai’s glowing crotch.

Elowen’s hand started to shake on the hilt of her sword.

"Kai," Elowen whispered. "His light. I have never seen light like that in anyone. It is like looking into the sun."

[Kai]

Kai had never heard Syraphim sound like that before, not even once.

[That is the Holy Champion of Veyrath]

Kai stared at the man on the dock, and his stomach dropped. This man had never lied, never stolen, and never crawled out of a bathroom window to avoid paying four months of rent. He was the one Syraphim had been made for, the one she was supposed to find, and he was the right guy.

The Holy Champion raised his sword and pointed it at Kai.

"Heretic," the Holy Champion said.