Part of the Grendel Tales series of miniseries. It comes after The Devil in Our Midst and before Homecoming.
Collected in Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths, along with its sequel, 1995's Grendel Tales: Devil's Choices, this two issue story was written by Darko Macan and illustrated by the late Edvin Biuković.
Set in a future in which the ethos of the original Grendel are used to guide a dystopian tribal society, the protagonist is Drago of the Grendel Agram Clan. While on a patrol to find thieves responsible for stealing machine parts, Drago and three other warriors discover children in the aftermath of a Karanitani raid. They resolve to take the children back to their clan until the refugees all die mysteriously, contaminated by a biological/radioactive weapon identified only as "forbidden weapons." Drago is selected to return to the Agram clan and warn the half-blind Grendel-General Vlado that the Karanitani are using these weapons, while the others commit ritual suicide in order to have "warriors' deaths."
Meanwhile, a simple-minded creature created by the same radiation kills some of the Agram's livestock for food. When Petar, the Grendel assigned to shepherd the livestock, attacks the man-beast, it retaliates and smashes his head with a rock. The village mayor, Three-Teeth (later Two-Teeth, and still later Mayor No-Teeth), conscripts the Grendels to kill the monster.
Drago, having returned and warned of the Karanitani weapons, volunteers to deal with the monster and die an honorable death, rather than let his illness enfeeble him and kill him. Vlado reluctantly agrees, though he does not believe in Drago's success. The Grendel-General secretly plans for Zora, his lieutenant, to follow Drago and kill the creature and put Drago out of his misery. Drago makes his farewells to his younger brother, Goran. Zora gives Drago a canteen that she claims belonged to her father as an apparent gesture of peace between the two warriors. However, it contains a transmitter to allow her to track the ailing Grendel.
The ending is heartbreaking, as death makes its rounds, leaving only sorrow in its wake. In the end, Goran takes up his brother's sword and the Agram have a new leader, their stories continued in the next series.
These two issues also feature a Grendel-Prime backup story, written and illustrated by Matt Wagner, the creator of Grendel.
Collected Editions
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