Cassandra Pendragon
The winds pulled at the loose sleeves of my shirt and played with the wayward strands of my hair as I blearily blinked against the white hot sun. Huge, flapping sails obscured my view from time to time as the world seemingly rolled by on its own accord… muted, far away. Salt, molten gold and the taste of damp ropes tickled my nose as I breathed in. I tensed, what the… but the warm arms I was resting in rendered my questions superfluous. Viyara had carried me on deck
"Guess I passed out," I mumbled as I snuggled deeper into her caressing embrace. She was warm, hot even, and I felt cold, chilled to the bone. "It's been a while," I added softly.
A beautiful face with flowing, golden, dancing locks blocked out the aquamarine sky, a deep frown of worry marring her brow. "I didn't miss it," she complained. "How are you doing?"
"Not good enough to stand on my own. I'm scared. Did you see…?" I felt her voice resonate through her body, a soothing, welcoming cadence that almost made me smile.
"Hmm… how could I not? You have to go, don't you? Return what has been entrusted to you." I immediately craned my neck, trying to get a good look at my surroundings but I fell back into her when she gently pushed against my waist. "Don't worry. Reia and your mom are just behind us and the latter has the items you are looking for. They dropped from your cube before it vanished into your stamp again. Nothing happened when she touched them. We're all fine. Well, Mordred might be a bit overburdened. He's trying to come up with a feasible explanation as to why you suddenly fell like a puppet with its strings cut and started bleeding like pig. He's managing, though. I even incinerated your blood on the floor. It's going to be alright." I relaxed a little.
"That's something at least… you know you can't come, right?" The muscles along her jaws worked but she sounded surprisingly calm when she asked:
"Why? I'm your steed, am I not? And you're not going alone. You can bury that idea right now."
"She's right," Ahri piped up. "I'll be there in a day, the part of the ocean where her cave is, I mean. And before you even start… no. I don't care whom you bring along but I'll be there, no matter what you say. If Gabriel wants a pound of your flesh she'll have to go through me first." Which was incredibly sweet but also not much of a problem for a fully grown immortal. A crazy one at that. With them there it'd be so much easier for her to break me. Then again, distance wasn't much of a problem for a fully grown immortal, either. A crazy one at that. I buried my face in the silky nape of Viyara's neck, the scent of molten gold and the fluttering of her heart against my cheek much more soothing than I had imagined. I felt her shiver and quickly turned my head away. I had a tendency to forget that what I considered normal affection might seem cruel to her.
Privy to my thoughts Ahri added softly: "if Gabriel means to hurt you through us it won't make a difference where we are. But she won't go after us. Ever since she handed Chaleb her weapons she's waited for you to search her out. If she wanted to harm you she'd have burned Boseiju to the ground the very moment you opened your eyes."
"Only because she doesn't want me dead doesn't mean she won't try to extract a pound of flesh. And the easiest way to make me suffer goes through you both and Reia. I… it's your decision, I won't argue, but Viyara, you should keep in mind that you're nothing but a means to an end to her. Aurelia has shared bits and pieces of her past, hasn't she? Sarai isn't… wasn't that different from Gabriel. To them, Ahri and I are… we're still siblings, two of the very few creatures who can understand them, sympathise with them. You're… not. Despite your transformation you are no immortal and to her… there really are only two types of creatures. Those who are related to her and those who simply don't matter. If she thinks she'll gain anything, anything at all from hurting you, she will. She might have some scruples when it comes to Ahri but she won't have any where you're concerned." A small flame escaped the dragoness as she raised her face towards the sky.
"I know. I've seen it before." I blinked. She had? When? A quiet chuckle followed the silver golden tongue of fire. "You, silly. You aren't that different. True, you don't care about race or power but the difference in how you treat people you consider family or friends and those you do not is still the same. While you'd move heaven and earth for the one you don't particularly care about the other. In that sense… I don't think that's a trait exclusive to immortals. We all choose where to stand and whom we allow to watch our backs. Just means I have to show her that I'm trustworthy, doesn't it?"
"That, or she might simply turn you into a popsicle and be done with it."
"What's a popsicle?" Goodness gracious, was that really the most important bit? Despite myself I felt a smile tug on the corners of my mouth. Seeing how she had glossed over the rest she truly was becoming more like me with every passing day. I just didn't know if that warranted a eulogy or an epitaph. Damn it, it probably was my responsibility to make sure it would be the former. And since my siblings had come knocking on our door over the last two weeks it was about time for me to find the courage to actually open the damned thing and face them.
"Frozen fruit juice, a desert. If I'm seeing this right I might as well have skipped the warning. Just… I know it's below the belt but have you thought about Aurelia? What would become of her if something happened to you?" She pinched my waist and grinned.
"You don't really think she'll stay behind, do you? We've been talking a lot lately. We knew this would come, sooner or later. Where you go I go and where I go she goes. It's as simple as that." Simple? It was many things, from convoluted over frustrating to downright unfair, considering the ageless vampire had never planned on being tied to another immortal and now she was back in the thick of it, but simple definitely wasn't a description I'd have used.
"If you're that certain," I said, "pray tell, what have you done while I was dreaming?"
"Organising. To my surprise everybody even listened. You snoring in my arms might have played a role there, too, but I'll pretend it was my unfettered genius and uncanny eye for details. Do you know the map of the northern reaches by heart?" I shook my head.
"You really should take a few hours to memorise it, you know? Anyways, there's a small island, hardly any population to speak of, right between the Emerald Island and the cave you've remembered. We'll pass through the portal together. Aurelia, you and I will turn west, everybody else will turn north. We can meet up again on the Wolf's Head."
"Wolf's Head," I parroted.
"Its form. The island looks like the head of a howling wolf. There's even a small tribe of wolf kin living there. Faelan will love it." Faelan… right, Asra's wolf slave. My mind was still a bit foggy. "As for everyone else… well, you've already told them what to do, haven't you. I might have made a small adjustment on your behalf. As we speak the Broken Wheel is on his way to Arthur's colony. He'll snoop around but, with everything you've seen, chances are Gabriel simply kept an eye on everybody closely linked to you. Even her… manipulation of Aglaia and Indigorath could be explained if we were to assume that she simply wanted to make herself known to you right now." True, but again I wasn't convinced if it constituted a reason to celebrate or prepare a funeral.
"The former," Ahri stated confidently. "If she wanted you… if she wanted us dead we'd be corpses floating in the ocean. And she wouldn't have waited until you could at least try to resist. She isn't after your head, Cassy, and I don't think she's after your pain, either. I hope she only wants to talk but that's probably a fool's hope as well considering she probably sent a curse that killed all pubs of your age. It's idle speculation anyways, we have to meet her to know for sure."
"And what if we simply ignore her? Pretend like nothing's happened," I mumbled.
"Would you really want her to come knocking on your door again instead of the other way around?" No, I decidedly didn't want that. She might just freeze Free Land for the fun of it or to vent her anger. "That's it, then," I asked instead of answering. "Time to go?"
"You need to be able to stand on your own, first, never mind flying," Viyara chided. "But once you're back to normal… what else is there?" A good question. Unfortunately I had pushed off my departure for so long now that I simply felt like I had forgotten something very important. Almost how it felt when you packed your suitcase. No matter how often you checked, you were always convinced you had forgotten something essential on the way to the airport.
To make sure I quickly went through the excessive list of people I had… collected. The kitsune would stay here, so would the dragons. The dwarfs would leave as soon as they were sure that there'd be no danger, if they hadn't set sail already. Liz and her friends were probably waiting for Mordred to return. The elves and fey would be coming with us. So would my sister and her friends, whether I wanted them to or not. Will and Vanya would stay, helping Richard, while the two barmaids I had saved and Asra's former slaves still had to make up their minds. Kana would keep an eye on Brianna and her development. With Alassara around there shouldn't be much of a problem there and the Brightblaze sisters… well, they'd stay but I still had to take care of them.
"You don't," Viyara interrupted me. "I told your mother. She'll contact the Burning Court. If anything happens you still have the communication crystals, don't you? It's not like we'll be out of reach."
"Provided we're not headed for a cozy, frozen cell for a few centuries."
"Maybe you should pocket a deck of cards before running off, then," Ahri chimed in. What the hell was wrong with them? Was I the only one taking a crazy angel with a grudge seriously?
"No, but what do you expect us to do," my fiancee replied. "Sit there quivering, like… children on their sand castles when the flood rises?"
"Fair point. Anything else I should know?" Somehow the dragoness had managed to organise more in the scarce few minutes I had been unconscious than I had in almost half a day.
"Hmm…," Viyara mused, "Aurelia has been down at the tree for a while now. In case you're interested the two barmaids you brought along have moved in and decided to stay. They are currently driving Greta and Alassara up the walls with their pleas. You do remember that you invited the vampire over, right? Well, it doesn't look like she's leaving anytime soon. Unless the two can scare her away… Can we get a carpet here, a silk screen there would be truly marvellous, would you mind if we brought in some booze and a counter for old time's sake? They're quite lively. I'm sure they'll have turned the entire tree into a tavern look alike by the time we get back." At least I wouldn't have to deal with them. That was something Greta and Alassara could worry their pretty little heads over.
I blinked at the sky again, focusing on the cool, silky caress of the wind and Viyara's warmth behind me. The low murmurs amongst the sails and the whiplike cracks of loose hawsers turned into a cacophonous but familiar melody and my senses came alive. My mom's breath and Reia's worried heartbeats reached me as the acidic smell of Black Powder, the confusing taste of a fully crewed sky ship and the scent of my family again became a reassuring tapestry I couldn't see but feel. The fog was lifting. In a few minutes I'd be fine.
"Where's Aglaia," I asked quietly, unwilling to vacate my cozy resting spot just yet.
"Going through her ledger," my mom piped up as her sparkling tresses and oversized ears traipsed into view. A heartbeat later her cool fingers ran along my cheeks. "Could you not… do that in the future? Seeing you vulnerable just doesn't feel right. Especially with…" her voice trailed off but I knew what she meant. The last time I had collapsed under the weight of my past Free Land had burned.
"It's not the same," I tired to reassure her as I clasped her hand and breathed a kiss against her palm. "I'm not in danger, simply overwhelmed. I thought you'd be thrilled, considering that I'm always rubbing in my age and it's been proven once again that I can't really cope myself."
"We've always known you to be a hypocrite," Reia chuckled as she stumbled closer, almost faltering under the weight of a iridescent blue trident, a white, shimmering sword and a diadem of moonstones. My mom had apparently decided that she needed her hands to make sure I wouldn't suddenly vanish and the little troublemaker had had the good fortune of standing next to her at that moment. Hence the arcane arsenal she was trying not to drop. Oh boy, if they knew what they were actually holding… I wasn't so sure about the diadem but the two weapons were as powerful as my spear. As if she had suddenly developed a knack for reading my mind as well she added: "what are those things, anyways? They're much too heavy for normal weapons but yet they are too small for dragons or other strong species." She paused, her eyes darting from the pristine tools of destruction to me and back again. "Don't tell me…" I nodded.
"Right now you're the second mortal, after mom, who's holding a transcendent artefact. Three to be precise. Don't let go. They're not just… things and if they decided to feel slighted by how you handle them it would be a tad more serious than you can imagine." With a crooked smile I added: "the end of the world serious." Her eyes went wide as she pulled the sparkling gems and alloys closer to her chest.
"Are you pulling my tails," she stammered.
"Afraid not. Don't worry, they seem to like you. You'd know otherwise." A suspicious, rapturous gleam entered her eye and I immediately continued: "you still can't have one. Not now, at least. They already have an owner." Mentally I added: "don't they, darling?"
"Is that some underhanded way of asking whether or not I'm angry you haven't handed me that blade a few hundred years ago," Ahri retorted without any real heat. "If it is, I'm not. I'm glad I didn't…" the acrid taste of guilt and the bitter tang of rage welled up but she quenched the smouldering flames before they could bloom. "You were right," she finally admitted. "A sword without a path is just a deadly edge, no matter what it is made of." I pondered for a heartbeat before I replied:
"Do you want it now?" She had known the question would be coming but she still took a moment to formulate a response.
"Yes and no. I won't be able to bind it until I've reached my maturity. Would you mind keeping it safe for me until then?"
"What is mine is yours. Of course I will. But… are you sure? Even as a pointy stick with an edge it's much better than anything you can ever hope to find. And you're already well past the point where its weight would make a difference. Also… I think it's yearning for a name. Of the three only the blade is still shackled by obscurity. I can't set it free. You can."
"I don't have the strength, yet, and I don't need a transcendent weapon for now. Once I grow my ninth tail or we have to face one of our siblings in earnest I'm sure I'll change my tune but until then I think it'll be for the best if you simply keep it safe and hidden."