An angel’s road to hell

45. Of options, changes and a little bit of happiness

Cassandra Pendragon

“Precisely,” Xorlosh continued. “There’s also a logistics problem. While we have an artefact onboard that collects moisture from the air and provides us with enough water, food is scarce. Right now we are still sufficiently stocked for the next couple of days, but we’ll run out sooner or later. Free Land is 4-6 weeks away, if the air currents hold and my map is at least somewhat accurate. We’ll have to refill our supplies long before then or we’ll soon have to draw straws for rations. As you can see,” he pointed to the blank spots between our position and Free Land, “I have no clue where we might find a suitable place along the way. This means we either follow our prey closely and hope they have to replenish their stores as well somewhere along the way or we invest the time to search for ourselves. If we decide to do that, we’ll have to start soon, tomorrow at the latest, I’d say, otherwise we might still run out before we can restock. The thing is, if we dally too much and these needle dicked butt fuckers,” the insult made a shiver run down my spine, the expression someone just walked over my grave came to mind, but for the life of me, I couldn’t say why, “sail on, there is no way of telling how far behind we’ll fall. They might easily arrive a good week earlier than us, maybe even more.” He finished morosely.

“I think I have an idea…” Ahri and Astra spoke at the same time. They stared at each other for a moment before they had to smile and Ahri gestured with her left hand for Astra to continue. The other one was still tightly wrapped around mine beneath the table.

“Thank you. I’ll try to be quick. I don’t know how much you know about soul bounds but it basically means that Aspera and I can tap into the energy reserves of the other to strengthen our own and channel it into spells or, in Aspera’s case, powerful attacks. With her help I should be able to construct a scrying ritual that should allow me to spy on them, at least once a day. It’s going to take a day to prepare but I think I’ll be able to tell you most of the details about their vessel and the crew by tomorrow evening. We’ll know if they have sufficient provisions with them.”

“Perfect,” Ahri commented. “I wanted to say that Cassandra and I should be able to fly down to the sea and bring fish or something else edible back up. It won’t solve the food problem sustainably, I don’t think we have the stamina to provide for all of us over an extended period of time. How many dwarfs are on board again?”

“39, including meself,” Xorlosh replied instantly.

“Yeah, we can’t carry enough food consistently for 44 people. That’d be like, close to 100 kg of meat a day? The sea is 2-3 km beneath us, no way we can fly down there and back up with our load every day and that’s without considering if we can even catch that much. But we should be able to stretch our supplies at least a couple of days longer. More than enough time to easily make your ritual work, Astra.”

“It’s a good idea,” my mom said, “in theory. But aren’t you overestimating yourselves? There is a good reason why nobody has successfully tried to sail the sea, even though we have been able to reach it for the last 200 years. The waves and large predators that lurk beneath make it neigh impossible to cross, never mind going for a quick fishing trip.” A frown crossed her face as she focused on Ahri intently, who shrugged noncommittally.

“I know, but I think we’d be fine. The ability to fly negates most of the danger. I hope.” She added for my ears only but my mom’s excellent hearing picked it up just fine.

“You hope? Ahri, I really like you, but have you lost your ruddy mind?” Before Ahri could reply I interjected: “if push comes to shove I can teleport us out. I can’t reach our ship from down there but I can easily evade a large predator or a collapsing wave. I’m not saying nothing can go wrong, but the risk is manageable.” Ahri squeezed my hand and threw me a quick smile. Luckily my mom didn’t take it personally but honestly thought about what I had said.

“Are you sure enough of your abilities?” She finally asked.

“Not really, but I can experiment a little before we head down for the first time, can I not? And besides, it might not even be necessary. After all, if Astra’s ritual is a success, we’ll know if the humans have enough provisions with them. If they don’t, we’ll simply follow them to wherever they intend to gather their supplies and even if they do, we can maybe get a more detailed map of the region and find a place for ourselves.” I turned to the elf. “Can you modify the ritual to also have a peek at their maps?”

“I don’t have to modify it. If it works as I hope, I’ll have an invisible spy to control for an hour. I might even be able to cast minor spells through it. Entering the captain’s cabin and going through the maps should be easy enough.”

“Then how about this,” Xorlosh proposed. “Tomorrow you two,” he gestured towards the elves, “try to make your ritual work while Cassandra and Ahri will try to find out if a little fishing trip is safe, meanwhile we try to stay as close to the kidnappers as possible. If the ritual works, we’ll find ourselves a nice place to resupply and if it doesn’t we’ll immediately look for a place manually. Worst case scenario: we need a little more time and only then will we try a fishing expedition. It’ll be some time anyways until we get to that point so if push comes to shove we’ll be able to prepare accordingly. Are we all in agreement?” Everybody nodded and even my brother broke out of his drunk stupor long enough to convey his consent with an unctuous expression.

“Let’s call it a day, then. We’ll have much to do tomorrow and I think we could all use a good night’s sleep.” Chairs scraped over the floor as we got up, my brother had to use a hand to steady himself against the wall. I bowed politely to everyone before I finally left the room, my mom, Mordred and Ahri in tow. We delivered him safely to his cabin where he immediately collapsed on his bed and started snoring. When he started to cuddle with his pillow I remembered that my own cabin was in splinters. Just as well, I didn’t plan on sleeping alone anyways. Call me a coward but the perspective of facing my memories and consequentially nightmares alone didn’t appeal to me overly much.

When we were back in the corridor and had closed his cabin door quietly behind us I spoke up: “I don’t want to spend the night alone, can I stay with you?” I didn’t address anyone in particular but from the series of rather funny expressions that crossed my mom’s face I thought she knew that I hadn’t been talking to her. I hadn’t thought about it until now but she was probably picturing all forms of sinful nonsense. It wasn’t a secret that Ahri and I were more than just friends, my mom had been the first to state it explicitly, after all. And now my body had matured over night, more or less. I couldn’t suppress a grin as I imagined what must be going through her mind right now.

“Don’t worry, I just need someone to hold me tight,” I tried to calm her. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a flicker of disappointment cross Ahri’s face but it was gone too fast to be sure. I still felt rather good about myself.

“If you say so,” my mom said hesitantly. “Sleep well, you two. Maybe we can sit down and chat tomorrow, all three of us, before you rush off to play around in the sky. From the looks of it, we are all family now, aren’t we?” I smiled and hugged her. “That we are, night mom.”

Ahri and my mom were a little awkward when they said their good nights but they even managed a quick embrace before my mom vanished inside her cabin. Ahri’s was just across the corridor and mine to its left. “Give me a second, I think I lost something when I thrashed around in my bed.” Ahri shot me a curious glance but only shrugged and left me alone. I quickly entered my cabin and shuffled through the destruction. I was looking for Lucifer’s ring. The rest of my possessions were already tugged away in my new trousers but I had probably lost the ring when I had woken up and relived the attack on Boseiju. It didn’t take long until I saw the tell tale glimmer of polished metal and found what I was looking for.

The ring was black like polished obsidian but was as heavy as mithril in my hand. I could see minute specks of light within its depth, dancing along patterns much to complicated for me to understand. The ring was formed like an Ouroboros, except that a dragon was eating its own tail, not a serpent. The dragon had 13 sets of wings along its body and in between them the words: “post tenebras lux” had been carved along its spine. I didn’t know the language but the letters were familiar. I knew them instinctively but I couldn’t name their origin. With a sigh a pocketed the ring as well, another mystery that would have to wait.

I tiptoed back through the debris and into the corridor. Ahri’s door creaked quietly when I entered her cabin. She was sitting on her bed, clad in her undergarments, a flameless lantern illuminated the small space which looked exactly like mine before I had rearranged the furniture. I saw a small wardrobe, the door still open, a table with two chairs and a bed. In the flickering light I couldn’t help but notice the alluring shape of the girl on it. My eyes roamed over her body, seemingly on their own accord and I realised that I really had matured. Suddenly nervous I hesitated before I crossed over to the wardrobe and quickly shrugged out of my clothes. Her laughter, a bit like wind chimes, filled the room when I awkwardly fumbled with the buttons and finally managed to remove my shirt. Red like a beet root I hurried over to her and hid under the blanket which made her laugh even more.

I’d have liked nothing more than to join in her mirth but I was seriously embarrassed and I didn’t even know why. Well, I did, but try as I might, I couldn’t get the image of her body in the flickering light of the lantern out of my head. I wondered how it would feel to trace her curves with my fingers, how soft her skin would feel to my touch and I remembered her taste from back when she had kissed me. I shivered a little even though I wasn’t cold and Ahri’s laughter cut off. The smell of pine trees filled my nose as her arms and tails circled around my body and drew me closer to her until my back rested comfortably against her. Her movement sparked a different train of thought as the memories from the last time she had held me came to the forth, how she had protected and supported me while I had been stuck in a waking nightmare, how her presence had calmed me and brought me back to reality.

The shivering stopped and I slowly managed to relax into her embrace. A happy smile formed on my face as her warmth spread through my body and I felt my anxiety melt away. I really was in love! Not having to think about every step I took and simply trust in how I felt would make things so much easier.

“Now, that’s better. How is my angelic princess?” She whispered into my ear.

“Happy,” I mumbled. It became more difficult to stay awake by the second. In her embrace I felt safe, protected… loved and my body demanded rest. Since my birthday I had either had strange dreams or had fallen unconscious outright, except for last night. It had been far from enough and now I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore.

“That’s good. Sleep, my love and don’t fear your dreams. I’ll be right by your side.” The last thing I felt before I was overcome were her soft lips against my neck.

When I woke up the bluish rays of an early morning sun poked through the porthole. I could see a speck of the crimson colours of the sunrise still splattered over a dark sky but my attention quickly turned to the slow and steady breathing that tickled my cheek. With a content sigh I snuggled deeper into Ahri and tried to doze off again. I wasn’t afraid of what I might see anymore, last night had done wonders for my courage. I could only remember fragments of my dreams but I knew they had been peaceful, mostly. I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth when I thought of the few instances when they had turned violent and had been on the verge of returning to the gruesome scenes from back home. Ahri’s body had tightened around me and even though I hadn’t woken, my dreams had changed and I had slept on undisturbed. As I shuffled through my memories, I realised that only one episode remained fathomable. I remembered a scene with my father, we had been walking through the garden, an unblemished Boseiju behind us. I couldn’t recall what we had talked about precisely but I saw his face from when he had bade me goodbye before me, clear as day. He had smiled and he looked calm, serene. I knew it had been only a dream but I felt like I had found closure, like my father really had said his farewells and had wished me good luck.

Some time during my introspection I had dozed off and I didn’t wake again until I felt movement behind me and several light tugs on my tails.  Ahri was quietly extracting herself from the mess of tails and blankets the bed had become and hurriedly put on her clothes. I didn’t know what she was up to but it was tempting to simply pretend like I was still asleep and enjoy the stunning few through half closed eyelids. Unfortunately she was done much too quickly and silently left the cabin. I decided to relish in her receding warmth for as long as possible before I’d get up. There was so much to do, I had to tryout my new power, hopefully without any accidents this time around, I wanted to check if I could use my core to maybe revitalise Mephisto, Ahri and I had promised my mom to sit down for a chat and we would also have to try out her plan to hunt fish down in the sea. I had to make sure my teleportation worked just fine before we flew down there. And there was also the matter of the token Mordred had given me.

I didn’t want to take anything else from the dwarfs, even something that had already been paid for, but if I had the chance to somehow get a dwarven made armour I’d be an idiot to waste it. If Mephisto had been right, I’d now be able to channel energy into my muscles which should allow me to carry heavy armour without an issue. I would have to talk to Xorlosh if it were somehow possible to cobble something together while we were in the air.

My musings were interrupted when the door opened again and Ahri brought a tray laden with bread, butter, honey, eggs and tea into the room. The delicious smell made my mouth water and I couldn’t stop my tails from waging.

“Ah, someone’s awake. Good morning, Cassy. How did you sleep?” Her silky voice sent pleasant shivers down my spine.

“Good morning, love. Thanks to you I feel like a new person. It’s astounding what a night in the arms of someone you cherish can do for you.” Her radiant smile outshone the stars and I truly felt happy for the moment.