An angel’s road to hell

44. Of friends, pirates and a little bit of truth

Cassandra Pendragon

“If I may,” Astra interrupted him, “we think it more prudent to finish with the introductions beforehand. It would make any decisions much easier if we were to know our allies and their background. While we know the others we haven’t had the pleasure yet to meet the young princess Cassandra.”

“Again with the stilted speech,” Xorlosh grumbled, quietly enough that we could choose to ignore him.

“Aspera and I are sisters, born on the Green Island far to the north, a good century ago,” Astra continued without batting an eyelid at the dwarf’s theatrics. “We lived in the kingdom of the five families for the last 20 years, together with a small community of elves that were never interest in the rather political lifestyle back home. Allow us to express our deep felt condolences for what you have lost, all of you. We share your grief, for we as well called the island our home and lost dear friends in the fires of war.” They both stood up and bowed deeply from the waist, first towards my mom and once again towards Ahri and me. “For that is what happened in our opinion. A first bloody conflict, the opening move of a war that is far from its conclusion. So much destruction can only herald even more until the perpetrator breaths his last. You denied our foe his first victory but we are certain you haven’t seen the last of him. We want to help. Our personal desire for vengeance aside, who, or rather whatever committed this heinous attack on Boseiju is a a scourge to all free people, a festering wound that must be cauterised.”

Silence was her only response while we digested what she had said. It had always been apparent to me that we hadn’t reached the end yet but having it spelled out before you bluntly was something else entirely. I knew that the emperor’s interest, and Amazeroth’s as well for that matter, would only grow after he had suffered a defeat by our hands. But I had never thought about what it actually meant for me, for all of us. We weren’t only without a home but also on the run from a resourceful wizard who had already proven that the vast distance wouldn’t save us from him. But aside from Ahri and Mordred none of them had much to worry about if they stayed well away from us, at least I thought so. From what my brother had told me, the emperor wasn’t after influence or power, he was looking for an angel. Sure, as he had proven forcefully, he’d just as well take an island or two for himself if the opportunity arose, but that wasn’t what he was truly after. How would they react if I told them? Would they blame me, or maybe Mordred? It didn’t matter, they deserved to know.

Hesitantly I opened my mouth. “I… I think you’re only partly right, my lady Astra. My story might take a while, so please bear with me.” I took one last sip of mead to flush the dryness from my mouth and began.

“Xorlosh has already told you that I’m an angel, but there is a little more to it, probably more then he knows himself so you should listen carefully as well, my lord dwarf. First of all, but you know as much, I’m not the only one in the room.” I gestured towards Ahri who smiled coyly. “We both have a long and, at least for my part, bloody history that may impact our current predicament more then I realised. I think it’ll be for the best if I start at the beginning. What I know of it, at least. You see, most of our last lives is hidden form us and I only have fragmented memories to work with. Anyway, the immortals, angels and demons, are quiet similar…” I told them what I knew about cores and their nature, how they changed the bonded soul and body and why I didn’t have access to everything from my past, including my abilities. I knew it was a risk to be so forthcoming with information that could be used against Ahri and me, but like I said, they deserved it. They had bled with us, maybe even due to us, and they were still here and for the moment even willing to help.

I narrated Mordred’s fateful voyage, my dear brother was too intoxicated by now to contribute much, I told them about the emperor and Amazeroth and I spoke about my birthday and the conflict I had inherited from my previous life as Lucifer. Ahri grabbed my hand under the table when I talked about what had caused me to go down that road. Finally I explained what had happened during that fateful night when our home had burned. I only skipped the part about Mephisto and what he had told me about the Arete family. Those weren’t my secrets to share and I didn’t know the full story anyway, Ahri and I hadn’t had the chance, or rather we hadn’t been in the mood to have a longer conversation, yet.

“To sum it up, I think the emperor’s main objective isn’t a war against our continent, but one against me, or maybe both of us,” I added while I gestured in Ahri’s direction. “The attack on Boseiju was, in my opinion, plan B. Since the more or less inconspicuous way had failed, he tried brute force, an all out assault. The presence of a true demon by his side only underlines it. Amazeroth wouldn’t be interested in worldly gains, unless he is the emperor’s puppet, which I highly doubt, he has his own agenda, one that most likely involves the other immortals on the planet. Considering that Lucifer had already marked Amazeroth as an enemy, I think it’s a fair bet to assume he wants my head.” Ahri had already known or remembered everything I had said, but the other’s faces showed varying degrees of surprise and doubt I understood all too well. Strung together like this, I could hardly believe it myself. 3 immortals on one planet, 4 if you counted Mephisto, 2 of which had already been enemies beforehand, had been shuffled together through sheer coincidence. I imagined it to be a bitter to swallow, all the grief and suffering they had endured were byproducts of a different agenda. I expected the elevens and Xorlosh to question me further on Amazeroth or the emperor, maybe even curse us for the suffering we had caused, but…

“There are different worlds?” Astra asked while Xorlosh emptied his tankard and said: “so evil wizard and impossibly powerful demon spawn. Sounds like me mug o’ ale.” I was flabbergasted and then I had to laugh. These amazing people didn’t blame us no, they were curious and ready to help!

They looked at me questioningly and after a moment I could reply through a bright smile: “it’s nothing. I just never imagined I’d be lucky enough to meet so many astonishing personalities and maybe even call them friends. I feared the blame which could rightfully be placed at my door and that you might turn your back on me, on us. I’m just more than happy to have met you all, despite the gruesome circumstances.”

“Lass, you really are alright but if you butter me up even a little bit more, I’m gonna fall flat on my ass. Did you really think we’d walk out on you now? We already guessed much of the motives behind the attack, we’re not idiots, are we ladies? “Astra and Aspera nodded. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, especially after that little stunt during your birthday. The runes on the poor bloke’s body back then had been awfully similar to the magic we encounter two nights ago. From where I’m standing you’re the victim here, as much as the rest of us, and I’ll be damned before I walk away from such a perfect opportunity to jump down the throats of some magic abusing bastards. Angel or not, I’m quite confident that me lads and me can help you out.”

“I agree wholeheartedly with Xorlosh. You did nothing wrong and fought valiantly where most would have crumbled.” Astra said. “The weight of the dead doesn’t rest on you shoulders, but on theirs and we will help you make them feel its dreadful power.” She fixed my mom, Ahri, Mordred and me one after another before she added: “you conducted yourselves with true nobility and brought honour to your name. Aspera and I will always be proud to call you friends.” My useless brother had to burp just then, and not in the inconspicuous way.

“Pardon me”, he mumbled. I felt blood rush to my face but before I could try to think of an excuse, Xorlosh said: “not bad laddie, but lemme show you how it’s done.” Said and done.

Us girls just looked at each other before Ahri broke into a fit of laughter which quickly spread to the rest of us. We laughed until tears streamed down our faces and most of the tension that we had all carried around and that had filled the room evaporated. Maybe Xorlosh had been right and I really needed to work on my people skills. From what I had seen, the first step would be another tankard of mead.

It took us quite a while to calm down, even though we still had a lot to discuss. When we finally regained our composure, it was Aspera who spoke for the first time. Her voice was surprisingly deep, full of rich cadences that reminded me of strong winds in the forest. “My sister speaks the truth. We are soul bonded and she has my voice as well but now I feel obliged to add: we can’t change our past or know the future. It’s the present we have to live in and it’s in the present we must strive for perfection, knowing we are bound to fail, that the future will always be surprising, for better or for worse. Everyone of you chose to fight for others and against something evil. The thought to flee and save yourselves never crossed your mind. My bound is right, it’s an honour to call you friends.” To be honest, the thought had crossed my mind more then once, but I had never seriously considered it. Maybe in the beginning, when I had still thought it had been an assault on the third family alone.

“Thank you,” my mom answered for us. “I know it doesn’t mean much at the moment, but we will never forget your support, your courage and your compassion. I know I speak for every kitsune in this room when I say that we are deeply moved by your sincere words.”

“In other words,” Mordred interjected slowly, he had to focus on his pronunciation, “you’re the best that could have happened to us right now. Cheers!” He didn’t wait for us and drank deeply. We followed suit and even the elves joined in, but with glasses of fresh water. I had read somewhere that their sensitive sense of taste and smell made it nearly impossible for them to drink alcohol. Huh, kitsune had acute senses as well and I was fine. More then fine by now, to tell the truth. Regretfully I abstained from another round and went back to sipping. I couldn’t afford to become wasted now, but if I had the chance, I would try it out sooner or later. Mordred seemed to have fun.

“Now that we got that outta the way, we still gotta decide what we’ll do now.” Xorlosh picked the threat back up again. “As I was saying, for now the emperor isn’t our biggest problem. He was sent home with a bloody nose and his tail between his legs. I’m sure we’ll see his ugliness again, but that has some time. You’re still missing a bunch of kids and we gotta get ‘em back from the human scum that took ‘em. For now, we’re following the signal of the tracking rune me lads managed to brand on their hull and were about 5 hours behind ‘em now. I’ll get to that in a minute.” He scratched his impressively bulbous nose and went on: “The other ship is well on its way to meet your runaway son. They have a communication device with ‘em and me lads will contact me the moment they find him. For now, we are on our way straight south. Gimme a mo’.” He stood up and walked over to the shelf and rummaged through a couple of meals before he returned to the table with a large, hand drawn map of the complete cluster of islands.

He marked our position with a knife he drove through the map and into the table. Huge blank gaps were scattered all over the map, signifying unchartered territory. We were still close to the centre, the island marked as “kingdom of the five families” was only a little further to the north. Far to the northwest I spotted a huge formation titled “the Green Island”, where Aspera and Astra came from. Most of the other names didn’t ring any bells, I recognised only the islands we had been trading with, all of them close to where we were now.

To the south, in the direction we were headed, most of the map remained blank. I could see several clusters of smaller islands, still some distance away, that were accumulatively named “Pirate Islands”, which didn’t fill me with too much confidence. Only one more island was mapped, a rather large pillar named “Free Land”.

“Alright, as you can see I don’t have very much to go on, most dwarfs never venture that far south, so I don’t have very detailed maps. From what I know, the southern parts are the least connected, the elves are the ones who make air travel possible and their home is far away.” He gestured towards the Green Island. “Not many of their flying stones make it this far south. Air ships are even more precious down here than they are elsewhere and Free Land has most of ‘em under its control. From what I hear Free Land is a mostly human state without a king. It’s governed by a board of captains that control most of the ships. They don’t govern much, though, from what I’ve heard. It’s a place without many laws where you can buy almost anything for the right price.” He sighed heavily.

“The neighbouring islands don’t have airships of their own and are mostly exploited for resources, living beings and materials alike, slavery is supposed to be legal. Well, as you can already tell, it’s one charming place. But that’s about as much as I know, you can all probably guess why I don’t have a lot of information about the wild south.” His stubby finger pointed to the Pirate Islands and he added: “one more thing. These island are where everyone who could get his hands on an airship and didn’t want to sail under Free Land’s flag, is hauled up. As far as I know, they make a living by hijacking every vessel they can get their hands on. Free Land is continuously trying to round ‘em up, but the Pirate Islands are full of caves and natural hideouts, some of ‘em large enough to accommodate an entire fleet. If the pirates have a base, no one has found it yet. At the most the Free Land captains get their hands on one or two ships per year, but they never managed to catch a single pirate alive. They always prefer to thrown themselves overboard before they are captured.” He took another swig from his tankard.

“I think our friends are on their way to Free Land, to make some extra profit from their dark deeds. We probably won’t catch them before they arrive, their ship is lighter and faster. Sorry for being blunt, but you fox folk bring in nice sums, especially the young girls, beauty and magic and all that. They’ll be sold quickly enough once they arrive. Don’t expect any help from the officials, though, like I said, slavery is perfectly legal in these parts.”

We were all bent over the map and had listened to him attentively. For someone who claimed to know very little about our destination he was quite the treasure trove of information, but I had to admit that most of what he had told us had painted a very bleak picture. If he was right, we would not only have to get the children back, we would have to break the law to do so and even though Xorlosh had claimed that there weren’t many of them and even less were enforced, I couldn’t imagine that theft would be approved of. I mean, trade brings taxes, theft doesn’t. Every government treats its income like a firstborn child.

“Fuck.” Once again my brother displayed his amazing drunk eloquence but I couldn’t fault him. He had summed up our predicament nicely. If we weren’t able to overtake the other vessel before it made landfall, we would have to either buy the kids back, and I couldn’t imagine that we even had a tenth of the amount we would need, or we would have to stage a heist in the middle of a goddamn den of cutthroats.