Cassandra Pendragon
A final impression fluttered through my thoughts, incoherent and blurry before I again found myself in the realm of the spell, the memories I had lived through still vivid in my mind. The shadows were gone and the magic vibrated with a new brilliance. I could feel it now, like an extension of my mind and with nothing but a thought I willed the strands of energy to dissolve. The constructs vanished without resistance and like a rising curtain the realm disappeared. My perception shuddered and I stumbled back into reality.
I blinked in the dim light inside the tent, the crisp smells and muffled sounds that suddenly flooded my senses were disorientating for a moment. I had fallen to my knees in front of Reia's bed, my wings encircled us both in a translucent sphere of silvery light. Erya and Golamosh were standing on the other side, their faces lined with worry. I was exhausted as if I had just truly lived through a fraction of another's life. My hands were shaking and I was struggling to get to my feet. Reflexively I used my wings to push me upright and the small movement caused Reia's eyes to flutter open. Her perplexed expression made me smile.
"Welcome back," I rasped. My voice was hoarse and nearly cracked from the few words. "How do you feel?" Her eyes focused on me and I thought I saw a silvery sheen flicker across them. Before I could voice another thought her thin arms circled around my neck with surprising strength and she pulled me into a heartfelt embrace. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks and into my hair while she breathed: "thank you, thank you so much. I thought I was lost." She started to cry in earnest, her frail frame shook with heavy sobs. I settled down beside her on the small cot and cradle her head while her tears started to wash away most of the dread and desperation she had felt. Gently I moved the blanket that had become entangled between us and studied her thigh. The small wound was gone, a silvery scar all that remained, barely visible among her porcelain skin. The glyphs and dark traces of infection had disappeared and when I carefully brushed over the spot I felt her healthy warmth beneath my fingers. She was cured.
I relaxed and for the first time in I didn't know how long I was truly happy. Instead of killing or destroying I had saved a live, I had preserved something precious and that was the best feeling in the world. I retracted my wings to get a little more space and curled my tails around the girl in my arms. "You're welcome. I'll always be there for you," I whispered. I held her tight, as much for her comfort as for my own, and closed my eyes. It had been one hell of a day.
A warm hand squeezed my shoulder and when I looked up I saw Erya's face close to mine, pride written all over it. "Well done. I'm sorry for what I did, but we can talk later. You should rest, you're nearly as pale as Reia. I'll inform the others, stay here for a while and sleep, at least for a few hours." My temper stirred, albeit only lazily, and after a moment I smiled at her. I rested my head on the pillow and didn't even hear Golamosh and her leave the room anymore.
I slept dreamlessly and when I woke up I felt refreshed. The setting sun blinked through the open exit and I felt Reia's regular breath against my cheek. We were still on the same bed but someone had covered us with another blanket and left food and water close by. The grumbling from my stomach reminded me how long it had been since I had last eaten and I gently extracted my tails from Reia to get up. We were still alone in the tent but the lingering smell of pine trees told me exactly who had checked up on us. I sat on the edge of the cot and after making sure Reia was still soundly asleep I focused on the strips of meat and slices of bread. It was simple but delicious and after only a few moment I had devoured more than half, regretfully leaving the rest for the girl.
My joints protested a little when I stood up, strained by the cramped sleeping arrangements, but all in all I felt much better than before. I stretched and quietly left the tent. The camp had changed, another sky ship hovered in the air close to the other one and fires had been lit at regular intervals to provide some light as soon as the sun would have set. The horizon was already ablaze with red light, an early dusk turning into night before my eyes. An improvised table now stood next to the cooking pit, a couple of dwarfs slowly spit roasting an animal I had never before seen in my life. It looked like a deer but with an additional set of legs and the hearty smell of sizzling fat and meat wafted around my nose.
Everyone I knew by name was sitting at the table on slightly burned, wooden chairs salvaged from the wrecks. The wounded dwarfs had an extra footstool, mugs of ale and water were arrayed before them. The pirates from the ship we had hijacked were nowhere to be seen, I thought they might be retained in the brigs of both airships. Most of the dwarfs were still busy in the workshops but they appeared to be wrapping up for the day. Some of the older children were seated at the table but most of them were still strolling through the camp in groups of twos and threes, exploring and sometimes even playing. The atmosphere was much lighter than I could remember and for a second I imagined that we actually were out on a camping trip, the deprivations and losses of the last days far away.
I took a deep breath and made my way towards the cooking pit. Ahri was the first one to see me and she smiled at me dazzlingly before she got up and strode towards me. With a goofy grin on my face I rushed forwards to embrace her and when we kissed everything around me became insignificant, all that mattered was the taste of her lips. I was still astounded that her presence influenced my mood to such a degree but I was thoroughly thankful to have her in my life. When we parted after a few blissful seconds, she cocked an eyebrow and said:
"How's Reia doing? And how are you?"
"She's fine and as soon as I get my hands on a little more food I'll be great. Thanks for looking after us, by the way. What did I miss?"
"Not much, at least nothing important. Come along, the roast will be ready soon and it should be enough, even for your ravenous appetite. Between what I already knew and what Viyara told us everyone has a rough idea of what's going on but they'd like to hear your side of the story." We had strolled over to the table in the meantime and I grabbed a seat beside Ahri. Xorlosh sat at the head of the table but otherwise there was no apparent order. My mother sat to my left and my brother across from me, in between Erya and Viyara. They got up and hugged me briefly when I joined, the mingled scent of hot metal, flowers and the subdued, musky scent of my brother made me smile again while a feeling of security slowly spread through me.
"Welcome back, lass," Xorlosh greeted me. "The little one is better, I assume?"
"She's healthy and will be up soon. Thank you again for all your help, you've done much more than we could ever have expected." I stood and bowed, first to the wounded dwarfs and then to everyone else. "All of you have proven to be true friends and I hope I can one day repay you. You didn't suffer anymore losses, did you?"
"Nah, only a few scratches." The wounded dwarfs harrumphed. "Don't mention it, like I said, me lads and I have a thing for whacking the noses of creepy wizards, don't we boys?" A resounding "aye" went around the table and most of the dwarfs took the chance to empty their mugs in a salute.
"We have already heard a bit about your exploits from the two lovely ladies you brought along but while we wait for our meal, I'd much like to hear from you what has happened. Also, we have to make a decision on how to go on. Since the kids are safe for now, I don't want to linger here for longer than absolutely necessary. I don't know if anyone has told you yet, but there are old ruins all over this island and some of them may make my beard curl up. This isn't a friendly place by any measure."
"My sister and I," Astra added while she nodded gracefully at me, "just finished a scrying spell and there is magical residue all over the place, most of it close to the centre. The island may be deserted now but it definitely was the home to powerful mages in the past. There's no way to tell what kind of spells they may have left behind. I'd very much like to explore the runes, given the chance, but it would be prudent to not stir any unwanted attention while we're still on the run, more or less." Right, of course it couldn't have been just an uninhabited island. Considering how the last few days had gone, I was just glad that we hadn't landed in the middle of a vampire enclave or the hunting grounds of another dragon.
"Are the two ships or at least one of them fit to fly?" I wondered, my gaze travelling up and down the table, decidedly avoiding eye contact with the children. "I'm asking because whether this place is dangerous or not I want the kids out of here, preferably directly after our meal. We have two ships now and I'd like to send one of them back to Arthur as soon as possible. We'll get the children to safety as well as anyone else who wants to leave." I had to raise my voice to drown out the protests my words had caused but under my seething glared even the most impertinent kids fell silent quickly enough. "Which reminds me, have you heard back from the ship you sent to meet my brother?"
"We did and I briefly talked to him," my mother replied. "He's coming after us as fast as he can. If we get a ship in the air tonight, they will be able to reach him within two days, three at the most."
"Good, we're in danger here, and not only from some remnants of the past we might encounter." I took a deep breath before I continued. "The emperor… Amon, that's his name, or at least was long ago, already dug his claws deep into the local power structure. While I was gone I found out… well, you can form your own opinions…" I quickly recounted my story from the moment I had used the scrying ritual to reach the ship. They listened to me with rapt attention despite everything Ahri, Erya and Viyara had already told them. I talked for a good 10 minutes and was barely finished when two dwarfs carried the heavy roast to the table, the heavenly smell of perfectly seasoned meat with just a hint of an ale-glazing made my mouth water.
While I finished my story with a quick explanation of what had happened when I had tried to break the curse on Reia and what I had seen afterwards, our plates, or rather the wooden planks we used for that purpose, were filled with steaming, succulent food and I could barely concentrate on my words anymore. Luckily Xorlosh cut off any questions:
"You did well, Cassandra, truly. But let's postpone everything else until we've eaten. An empty stomach makes for poor decisions and I, for one, am famished." He raised his mug: "to a good meal and a brighter future!" We echoed his toast and I took a sip from the spicy brew before I started to devour everything I could get my hands on. Meat, bread, dried fruits and pickled vegetables, nothing was save if I could reach it. Low murmurs of conversation flowed up and down the table over the clattering of knives and a few heartfelt belches from the dwarfs but I was much too occupied to pay them any attention. I only glanced at the sick tent once in a while to make sure Reia hadn't come out yet, but other than that I was solely focused on my meal.
When I had cleaned my plate for the third time and had flushed everything down with an ample amount of mead I leaned back in my chair.
Mordred was engaged in deep conversation with Erya and Viyara, his usually somber demeanour forgotten as he gestured wildly to emphasise his words. If I hadn't known better I'd have said he was trying to impress them. My mother was telling one of my favourite fairytales to Archy and Estrella while Ahri conversed seriously with a small boy, not older than 5 summers, who had walked up to her a few minutes prior. Aspera and Astra were arguing with Golamosh about the results of their spell and the poor chap was already red faced and sweaty, unable to convince the sisters to let him look over their spell formation. Pete, whom I hadn't seen before, was talking to Xorlosh quietly, his red nose indicating just how much he enjoyed the dwarven brews. No one was paying attention to me for the moment and I had to stifle a treacherous impulse to slink off into the night and look for a place to close my eyes. Now that my belly was filled and the warmth of the fire was slowly spreading through my body I was feeling bone-tired again but I knew I had to hold on for a little while longer.
I emptied my mug and slammed it down on the table, the loud noise enough to make everyone focus on me again and the few who hadn't heard quickly realised that their neighbours weren't listening anymore, prompting them to turn around as well.
"Now then, hopefully it's clear by now why I want the children far away from here. I imagine most of the captains from the Pirate Islands will be on our tails sooner rather than later and the less time they have to find us, the better."
"You're always talking about the children," my mum interrupted. "Why can't we all leave? We could regroup with Arthur or even try to find allies, the elves, the dwarfs or even some of the human kingdoms are surely willing to help. I don't see why anybody should remain here."
"Because there's a good chance that a path to the other continent will open. Remember what Erya, or rather Pete, overheard? Amon said he'd be here in person soon enough. If he can bring his army with him, we won't stand a chance later on. Our continent is divided, we don't have large empires with to match what he could throw at us, if we don't want to condemn our world to a war we can't win, we'll try everything in our power to prevent that from happening. I quite agree with you, some of us should leave and at least inform the neighbouring kingdoms of what might be coming. I'm going to stay, though. I'm sure some of our prisoners can point me in the right direction." I glanced at Ahri, Erya and Viyara to make sure they were on board with what I said next. "And if I have some help we'll find a way to either stop them or slow the, down enough for anyone else to actually get here before we have to face hordes of golems and soldiers. The attack on Boseiju might have been for personal desires but whatever he's planning here, is about power."
"After everything I've heard I agree with you, but how do you think you, or any of us for that matter, will manage?" Xorlosh asked. "You'll have an awfully hard time to disguise who you are. I hate to break it to you but none of us could walk through a port without causing a stir. Me lads might have a chance as there are some dwarven mercenaries this far south, from time to time, but you fox kin stick out like a sore thumb and the two gals you brought along won't fare much better. They'll know where and who you are as soon as you set foot on an inhabited island."
"I can help with that," Erya chimed in. "A little illusion magic goes a long way when it comes to hiding something. After I'm done no one will recognise us. I don't think there's much of a point in trying to dissuade her, she can be stubborn like a dragon and in case something goes wrong she'll have Viyara, Ahri and me by her side. We'll figure something out. The question is, does anyone else want to come with us?" Before even my mum could answer a quiet but firm voice said from behind: "count me in." Unbeknownst to us Reia had woken up and left the tent.