An angel’s road to hell

53. Of revenge, success and a little bit of trouble

Cassandra Pendragon

We all watched the events unfold through the fiery images, frozen and terrified. My heartbeat thundered in my ears and sweat started to form on my brow. That wasn’t what I had bargained for! The scene reminded me too much of what had happened on Boseiju, friends and family dying left and right as I was forced to watch, unable to protect those I felt responsible for. My stomach turned into a hard lump and when two of the kitsune kids clambered to their feet, ready to take the punishment for the others I just lost it. My wings unfurled, already crackling with more energy than I had ever applied. I could feel the strain on my body this time as transcendent energies rushed from my core but I didn’t care, not even when I felt the skin around my wings sizzle and burn. Reaching forward I closed my eyes and grabbed the spell Astra had conjured. I was ready to tear it apart, to forcefully rip a gateway to the children through space, the consequences be damned!

I heard gasps of surprise around me and I felt Ahri’s tails curl around my waist but I focused single-mindedly on the silver world in front of my mind’s eye and the faint connection to another place just at the tips of my wings. With a shove I sliced through the flimsy membrane that divided one place from the other and pushed, I wanted to enlarge the rapture to allow us to pass through. Within a moment I had to channel more and more energy into my wings as something pushed back, desperately trying to close the wound in space. It felt exhilarating as I realised that I had more than enough reserves to simply brush the opposing force aside, the flow of energy from my core seemingly unending. But my body couldn’t take it. I felt the smaller blood vessels burst and a burning pain raked along my nerves, my body would break before I would be able to succeed. Stubbornly I clung to what I had already managed, a little tear, not much larger than the wing that had cause it and far too small for anything to wiggle through.

But my wing was already on the other side! A grin formed on my face, I didn’t have to physically step through anything, I could simply… as my body collapsed into a shower of silvery sparks, I felt the tattoo on my chest pulse with energy and the last clear image that reached me before I sped, faster than light, along the connection my wings had formed, was a shower of bright red sparks which were tightly wrapped around my presence.

Archimedes Starlight

I was actually looking forward to finally put an end to my misery. The last days had been nothing but fear, darkness and mounting desperation while the last embers of hope slowly died out within me. When Greybeard, none of our captors had told us their names, invited two of us to come forward and take the blame for the stolen water I gave my little sister a nod and tried to get on my feet. Before we had been taken our parents had made me promise to look after little Estrella, but the only thing I could think of that would save us further pain and humiliation were the two nooses hanging above the officers. The journey had been more than I could take and I was sure that it wouldn’t become any better after we would arrive at our destination, wherever that was. Death was an easy way out and far better than anything the humans had in store for us. I simple couldn’t stomach the thought of limping back down into the dark, no food, no water, no light until we would finally arrive to experience the next atrocity.

I did understand what was happening, the starvation and lack of light made us pliable and docile and this little stunt was supposed to ensure that we wouldn’t trust one another. If no one came forth, they would kill at random and we would blame the ones who had caused the punishment, especially since they hadn’t talked to us or shared. If water had even been stolen at all. But we couldn’t have that, so it was not only cowardice that made me stand up but also a however twisted idea to give the others a better chance. And I wanted to spit in Greybeard’s eyes as much as possible.

Estrella was young, barely seven years old and she didn’t understand fully what was going on but she trusted her brother and fought to get on her feet. The sight would have driven tears to my eyes if my exhausted body had still been able to spare liquids. I focused on Estrella’s eyes and even managed to grab her hand as we were roughly shoved towards the ropes, one of the assholes even stepped on my tail. Greybeard was talking but I didn’t care, it didn’t concern me anymore. I concentrated on the warmth of her small hand in mine while calloused hands jammed the nooses over our necks. Estrella started to cry and I wanted to comfort her, but my dry throat couldn’t produce much in the sense of words anymore. I squeezed her hand, it would be over soon. I tried to breathe in her scent, cinnamon and vanilla, but I couldn’t make it out. Something else crowded out every other fragrance, ozone, thick and heavy like I had never smelled before, gathered around us. Even the crippled noses of the humans picked it up, the hands around my neck slipping when the smell hit their owner.

I immediately tried to focus on my surroundings, that treacherous spark of hope igniting within my chest. The assembled officers were shuffling on their feet, nervously looking around while Greybeard barked for his mage pet to come on deck. A deafening thunder clap drowned out his words and a flash of blinding light completely disorientated me and threw me on the ground. When my vision cleared a moment later, I couldn’t help but gasp.

Two figures had appeared on deck, one between the chained kitsune and the officers, four wings made of fire flared out behind her and covered the cowering children, the other one directly besides me and my little sister. Torrents of silvery blue energy obscured my view, forming a barrier between my sister, me and the humans. I felt soft tails circle around my middle while I was drawn closer to the figure above us. The spark in my chest turned into a bonfire when I saw my sister, nearly completely covered with silvery tails and a melodic and feminine but crispy cold voice rang out above me: “Enough!” I didn’t see what had happened but Greybeard turned into a corpse riddled with smoking holes, silvery beams of light still piercing his body when he dropped on the deck with a look of terror on his face. “You will pay for what you have done, every last one of you.” The voice above me had become quieter but the cold I felt when her words sounded across the ship made me feel like death incarnate had joined us and I was sure everyone aboard had understood her. It took every last ounce of courage I had left to look up into her eyes and then I had to smile for I would recognise her face everywhere, I had dreamed about it since I had seen her during her birthday not two weeks prior.

Cassandra Pendragon, the princess of the third palace, had somehow become an adult since then but her silvery eyes and perfect features framed by a waterfall of raven black hair would forever be burned into my memory. The look on her beautiful face mirrored the one she had thrown at the monster that had challenged her maid in a duel before she had burned it to cinders and her wings whipped around the ship like living beings, snapping for the humans on board. No weapon was in her hand but I didn’t think for a second that she would need one. The anger and fury that rolled off of her in waves made me tremble and it wasn’t even directed at me.

Through a gap in the wall of tails that encircled her my sister beamed at me with the first real smile I had seen on her face since we had been abducted and I couldn’t help it, I had to smile back. We weren’t save, far from it, but for someone who had thought he would be dead by now I felt very much alive and giddy. I couldn’t keep still and when Cassandra had moved me behind her I started to wiggle to get out of the fluffy embrace but when my eyes roamed up her legs and over her sculpted curves, fear rose once again.

Her black shirt was smoking around the roots of her wings and I could see angry red lines carved deeply into the skin on her back where the cloth had burned away. It looked like she had been whipped with branding irons. I stilled immediately and involuntarily tried to extricate one of my hands form her tails to touch the wounds but she squeezed me lightly and I slumped back down, my eyes taking in the rest of the scene for the first time, so focused had I been on my princess.

Chaos was putting it mildly. Dark smoke was rising from fires that were spreading along the sails and the ship tilted to the side slowly. Within an area of maybe 30 meters around us, corpses with smoking holes in them littered the deck while Cassandra’s wings still slithered through the air and latched onto every human within range that was still breathing. I watched breathlessly as she caught one and my stomach threatened to spill its contents all over the planks when I saw her wings easily pierce completely through the bastard and nail him to the deck. He didn’t even have a chance to scream.

The more intelligent bunch of the lot had quickly gotten out of her range and we’re aiming bows and crossbows at her, shooting as fast as they could. Cassandra remained stock still, eyes closed, her wings deflected and burned the projectiles that hurtled towards her and the line of my still chained friends. I was dazed, the display of light and violence around me nearly threw me into a stupor but I hung on, I wanted to know what was going on and to help if I had the slightest chance. Speaking of help, where had the one with the fiery wings gone? I frantically look around but I couldn’t find her until a streak of fire blew another hole through the sails, small flames hungrily devouring more and more material along the tear, and crashed into one of the humans who had been fiddling with an extraordinarily heavy crossbow covered in ominously glowing runes. With a strangled cry he went overboard, still clutching his weapon closely to his chest where a gigantic gash showed his insides. It wasn’t bleeding, the wound was black and even the bone of the ribs had turned into coal.

A red streak of scorching flames continued on and when the next in line crumbled, his head falling to the right while his body tumbled to the left, I could finally discern the figure within the fire. It was another kitsune, Cassandra’s maid I thought, with two sets of burning wings on her back. Her white tails slashed out behind her as she quickly darted from one to the other and used her wings to kill or maim them to the point they wouldn’t pose a threat anymore. Her grace and speed were astounding and if it wasn’t for my kitsune senses I wouldn’t have been able to make out her silhouette behind her flaming wings.

Within the blink of an eye she had incapacitated 4 humans and a fifth was already sinking to the ground, his intestines escaping his body through a cauterised wound on his abdomen. A jump and a beat of her wings brought her between two others and with a pirouette she sliced them neatly in half. Faster than I would have thought possible, each one of our captors who hadn’t had the foresight to flee below deck immediately after Greybeard had been turned into a pincushion was dead or dying, over 15 bodies laid on the planks and I had no clue how many Ahri had thrown off the rigging and into the abyss, not 2 minutes after I had first smelled ozone. Silence fell, interrupted only by the creaking sounds of the still open door that lead below and the hurried footsteps behind it. The stench of excrements was overwhelming.

A cheer went up, first it was just one lonely voice but soon everyone who had the strength left joined in as we celebrated the end of our tormentors. From the corner of my eye I saw Cassandra nod in Ahri’s direction and while her tails uncoiled themselves from my sister and me, Ahri quickly strode towards the door and vanished into the depths of the ship. With a quick glance Cassandra made sure that my sister, who stubbornly clung to one of her tails and wouldn’t let go, and me weren’t hurt and turned towards the line of children, her wings fanning out behind her. My friends looked up at her with the same amazement in their eyes that I had felt when I had first seen her.

Cassandra Pendragon

I was hurt, not nearly as bad as I had been before but it still sucked and to make matters worse I couldn’t use my energy to push my regeneration, every time I sent a trickle of my power into my back the burns became worse instead of healing. No matter, for now all I had to do was keep an eye on the kids, Ahri would take care of the rest. I wasn’t sure how she had gotten here but all in all I guessed that the tattoo linked us in more ways than I had thought. I wasn’t going to complain, I had no clue what I would have done if I had been alone. I couldn’t have protected the children and simultaneously hunted down the humans, I would have been sitting ducks until one of them would have managed to hit me with something. Reckless, I had been reckless, but then again, I was getting used to it and I wouldn’t have changed a thing even if I had known that Ahri wouldn’t have been able to come along. I didn’t know what that said about my intellect but I was who I was.

The two kids at my feet, a boy of maybe 12 summers and a girl of no more than 7, were unhurt but the girl kept her tiny arms wrapped around one of my tails without any intention of letting go. I smiled at her and ruffled her hair, not minding her touch overly much. Her brother, I assumed, was struggling to his feet, white like a parchment but otherwise fine. My eyes travelled over the other captives, searching for injuries, while I slung more and more of my wings around the chains that kept them bound until I could pry them apart easily. I didn’t want to try strengthening them, afraid of the pain I was sure I would have to suffer if I channeled energy into my wings now.

When the first strangled cry from below deck reached my ears, the remains of the chain dropped onto the planks, I carefully helped the kids stand with my wings and said:

“I am so sorry for what you had to go through but I promise, your days as prisoners and goods are over. Whatever the future brings, I swear I’ll protect you with everything in my power for as long as I breath.” Faint silvery light pulsed out over the children and I felt the smallest trace of my energy binding to me and to the promise I just made. Had I formed a transcendent pact? That shouldn’t be possible but yet, there were the words, circling around my core, as real as the chains that still clung to my soul as a reminder of what I had promised Mephisto.

“Thank you,” a small voice came from my side and I saw the boy I had saved stiffly bow from the waist. “Thank you so much.” His words seemed to break a dam and the others started speaking all at the same time: “Thank you! Do you know what happened to our families? Thank you! Who are you? Have you seen my mother? Can we go home now? Where are we? Why did they take us? What are you?”

Before I had time to even answer a single question an explosion rocked the ship and I could feel it fall downwards several meters before it regained its buoyancy.