The Disjointed Tales Of Renryre Island

23-1: A Tale Of Two Villains

"What are you doing out here, Madrik?"

"Out here in the middle of the desert? I'm just here to enjoy a day out in the sun."

The demon-goddess glared at him, then shook her head in disgust.

"Again?"

Madrik shrugged. For some reason he wasn't afraid. He knew he should be, but that thought hid in the back of his mind, overwhelmed by anger, revenge, and the general feeling that he really wanted to punch someone. Not her, of course. Tailfin mostly, and Discreet. In any order.

"You've been poisoned," sighed the demon-goddess. "Again! I suppose I can help."

Madrik felt an unusual tingling sensation under his skin. It felt... different. It felt... good.

"You aren't going to try to seduce me again are you, Lytette?"

"Depends," she said, gesturing to Talyreina who was still sitting on the sand.

"I don't think I want to know what's going on here," said Talyreina, hands swinging defensively.

Whatever Madrik had done in the past – or whoever – well that was his business. She couldn't care less. Although, this girl did seem rather... pretty. No, Talyreina refused to be jealous.

"But," she added, "if you can help us out of this desert alive, I'd be prepared to watch you slap the idiot out of him."

Madrik recoiled ever so slightly. He was suddenly wedged in between two women, both ruthless and vicious. He was supposed to be the ruthless, vicious bastard. He was supposed to be in control of the situation. He didn't need this.

"That's not how this works, ladies. I'm in charge here, and what I say—"

"Oh shut up, Madrik," said Talyreina.

She had learned the hard way that Madrik had a habit of talking too much. Mostly about himself. He wasn't half stupid, but the other half of him was. Brazen, foolish, impulsive. Running into situations without thinking. Getting himself into trouble. Getting her into trouble. Madrik glared at her, uncharacteristically dumbfounded.

"So you can help us... Lytette, is it?" asked Talyreina, ignoring Madrik's glower.

The demon-goddess eyed the two former crime lords, shook her head again, and sighed her agreement.

"Fine, if you tell me how you ended up here again, I might consider helping you out."

"I'll tell you," barked Madrik. "It was those godsdamned bastards!"

Anger welled up just thinking about it. He'd ended up in the desert, again. All because of those godsdamned bastards. He'd had enough of them. He was going kill them. All of them. But not before creating a few exceptionally unpleasant sensations resulting from broken bones.

"Yes...?"

"Well, you see—"

"Can we do this along the way?" interrupted Talyreina. "His story is likely to ramble on for a long time, and involve frequent profanities that will unnecessarily extend it even further."

She knew him too well. Could predict his every move. That's why they were out there, in fact. She wasn't the only one. Tailfin, Arynlock, Discreet, they'd all played Madrik for a fool. They'd played her. Next time, she should be in charge of making the plans.

"Fine," agreed the demon-goddess. "Follow me. But can you two just..."

"What?" they asked in unison.