An angel’s road to hell

86. Of victories, costs and a little bit of hypocrisy

Cassandra Pendragon

Erya enjoyed her role as the apparent voice of our group and pranced towards Clovis, a wide smile on her face: “and we graciously accept. If you and your comrades would be so kind as to hand over your weapons. Not that I particularly care but there is a certain etiquette to these matters, isn’t there? Now then,” she waved her hand and the last traces of her magic vanished, returning the ship to its inanimate state. “Why don’t you put them all on a heap right here? And please, don try to hide anything, I’d hate to throw you overboard.” She had them well in hand and the bunch of seasoned cutthroats quietly complied, a varied assortments of sharp utensils clattering to the floor. Erya made them form a line and skipped up and down in front of them giddily. She was having the time of her life ordering them around, especially when Viyara joined the game of let’s-make-the-pirates-miserable and slithered along the railing until she came to a stop behind them. She neatly coiled herself around a mast, her red tongue tasting the air from time to time. Her breath sent waves of hot air across the shaking prisoners, her lungs working like bellows at their back. They were tough, though, I had to give them that. Only one of them sullied his pants and he was the youngest of the bunch. I wrinkled my nose and strolled along the deck, content that nobody was watching me for the moment.

Once I reached the helm I leaned against the railing and focused on my tattoo. Warmth spread through me when Ahri’s mind readily enveloped mine, a surge of emotions flowing between us. For a long moment I simply basked in her presence and relished in the feeling that there was someone out there who had already spent an eternity with me and had still come back. For me. Her soft voice flowed over me like the waters of the emerald springs and soothed most of my worries. She was still there and unhurt. Everything else could be figured out.

“Cassie, you’re fine! Where are you?”

“We’ll arrive before the sun sets, I’ll see you soon, my love. How are things on your side?” A flicker of guilt raced through her thoughts but she quickly suppressed it, along with the string of memories that rose up and reached for me across our connection.

“We won, the pirates are gone. It wasn’t pretty, though. Their casters were tough. The dwarfs had to bring down each ship and they spent most of their arsenal doing so. With each ship they destroyed the remaining casters became stronger. I… I chose to help them with the last group and left the children alone. I expected us to draw all of their attention and we did but in the end one spiteful creature threw a spell and it wasn’t aimed at the dwarfs or me. Cassandra, I’m sorry but Reia and six of the others were hit. She might still make it but… none of the healers we have with us can do a thing for her. The wounds are cursed and we can’t break it.” this time guilt, shame and grief were much more pronounced, a dark veil that dimmed her presence.

“Oh Ahri, that’s not your fault. I’m sure you did everything you could, don’t blame yourself! Damn it, how I’d love to hug you right now.” I took a deep breath and unclenched my fists. Another six dead and one was hovering on the threshold. I had to get the kids somewhere safe, as fast as possible. Everything else would have to wait. “I want the children on their way to Arthur as soon as I get back and Reia is better. We dealt with the reinforcements, at least you’re safe for now and we’ll bring a functioning ship with us. We can send anyone who wants to go on their way within hours. Is there a chance we might find some game to hunt on the island?” Even though it didn’t help much, my words made her feel just a little bit better and she shoved down her emotions to focus on the task at hand.

“Probably, it’s not as small as I first thought and most of it is covered in vegetation. The dwarfs have already sent out foragers, they’ll be back in an hour or two, I expect. With a little luck we should have enough food, but the way things are going at the moment… what about the dragon? Did you manage to kill it?”

“In a way, but we’re definitely rid of it. Unfortunately he was just another chess piece. Here, let me show you…” a wave of memories flooded through our connection. She saw the crown like sigil on the neck of the pirate captain I had decapitated and joined me during my first visit to Erya’s prison. We listened to Erya’s description of what she had overheard through Pete’s ears when she had spied on Galathon and together we strolled through Shafeer’s hoard once more. We marvelled at its splendour, the little feathered snake sparked her curiosity and pity while she didn’t care too much for the statuettes we had found. A faint trace of recognition swirled through her thoughts when she saw Mephisto and I felt her fear for me when we relived the final encounter with the Black.

She didn’t speak directly afterwards but pulled my mind closer until I could almost physically hear her whisper: “it’s never easy with you, is it?” Her presence wrapped around mine in a much more intimate way than I had thought telepathy capable of, even her scent of pine trees reached me. “I’m glad you’re still in one piece. You did well, Cassandra, but I won’t let you out of my sight in the near future. Wherever you go you apparently find a way to stumble across mortal enemies left and right. We’ll stay together from now on, duty and dragons be damned!” Fierce resolution glimmered behind her words.

“I’d love that.” I closed my eyes and allowed the outside world to fade away until all that remained was her. “And I love you.” For a few seconds longer we held our connection, savouring the moment of… peace while everything except us moved into the distance. If it had been up to me I’d have remained like this until I could have wrapped my arms around her in the real world but, like she had said, luck wasn’t exactly favouring us. “Cassandra?” Viyara’s voice, even though directly projected into my mind seemed quiet, muted. Grudgingly I extracted myself from Ahri, a last whispered promise fluttering between us before the link severed. I opened my eyes and had to brush a tear from my cheek.

Viyara was standing in front of me in her human form, I had been so far removed that I hadn’t even realised she had transformed. A sturdy cloak, a stained, white shirt and dark trousers, apparently gathered as a first spoils of war, covered her form and when my gaze rose above her shoulder I could see the pirates form a living chain that reached below deck. They were quickly pulling their unconscious comrades form the bowls of the ship, some of them had developed a nasty rash and all of them were pale with dark circles under their eyes, and deposited them in a neat line between two masts. The destruction the ship itself had suffered hadn’t been too severe, at least up here, I didn’t know how it looked below deck.

Everything that, at least partly, consisted of wood had moved, crates, beams, planks and even wooden keys were literally everywhere, littering the deck. Most of the sails had come down in a chaotic pile when the masts had started gnawing at the rigging but they weren’t torn, much. The few holes and cuts along the edges could be quickly mended and as far as I could tell we only had to replace a few ropes, of which there should be an abundant number of spares onboard. There had been a method to the violence Erya had unleashed, her spells had barely damaged parts of the ship and the feeble resistance the pirates had managed to muster hadn’t destroyed anything vital either. A few thin beams had been hacked in two, as well as some of the smaller parts and the last eruption from the golem had incinerated the planks closest to it but otherwise we were fit to fly.

“Welcome back, I hope Ahri is fine? The one who healed me, Archy, was it, as well, or did something happen to him?” Viyara’s human voice sounded almost exactly like her draconic mind speech, musical cadences interwoven with a deeper resonance that reminded me of an oncoming storm on a warm summer day. I quite enjoyed hearing it out loud.

“They are, but some of the others… wait, how do you know I’ve been talking to her? And what we discussed?” She smirked.

“Honestly, you’re an open book when you’re not aware of your surroundings. The goofy smile on your face was a dead give away as well as the tears you just brushed away. So how bad is it?” I didn’t even bother with a denial, I could vividly imagine how I must have looked, gazing emptily into the distance.

“Bad. They brought down the ships but had to pay for it. Six kids are dead and one is barely clinging onto life as it is, Reia’s wounds are cursed and they can’t break it. Do you think you would be able to help, if you were there? Or maybe Erya?” She surprised me with a hug, her soft hair tickling my cheek. I thought her scent had changed, I recognised a trace of ozone under the layers of molten metal when I rested my head on her shoulder and breathed in deeply. “Is that a dragon custom I’m not aware of?” I mumbled into the cascade of gold and silver.

“Not really, but it’s what you did back when we arrived at my father’s layer. It made me feel better and brought me back from the brink. I thought it might also work the other way around and you looked like you could use a little support. To answer your question, I think we probably could but aren’t you best suited to destroy a malicious spell?” She hadn’t let go of me yet and I truly was grateful for something to hold on to, even if it’d be for just a few moments.

“I honestly don’t know. Rip the magic apart, sure, I can do that, but I don’t know if she would survive. I’d much prefer somebody else to treat her. If you think you can help, will you come with me? It’s still going to take a while to get this ship flying again and Erya seems perfectly capable of keeping the crew in line, literally. I don’t want to waste what little time Reia might have left.”

“Of course I will, but I think the girl will have better chances if you take Erya with you. She’s much more knowledgable and her magic is powerful. I would have to rely on my nature and instincts mostly whereas she might actually know what to do. Don’t worry, I think I’m just as able as she is when it comes to making our new friends behave. Come on, we’ll talk to her and I’m sure you can be on your way in a trice.” I squeezed her tightly before letting go with a whispered: “Thank you.”

Erya was having a hushed conversation with Pete, both of them keeping a vigilant eye on the toiling pirates. Our captives worked quietly and efficiently for the most part, but from time to time they shot speculative glances our way. In most of their eyes I saw a bone deep fear that would make them put their best foot forward but one or two were decidedly curious, maybe even hopeful. All in all I didn’t expect them to become a problem in the foreseeable future. The officers where another matter and we had to quickly find out which ones of them, if any, had been branded. As there was no one missing from the group who had surrendered I assumed they had all checked out.

Erya looked up when we approached, her dark eyes glinting with worry and Pete followed suit, turning to us with a frown on his face. Something she had said had upset him. I quickly found out what it had been:

“Ah, maybe you can make him see sense. We found three people who bear the mark. I want to throw them overboard but he insists that that’d be a terrible idea…”

“It would be! Damn it, woman, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on the run because you had to be so … fey!” He massaged his temples and continued calmly:

“Listen, I know I’m not exactly in the loop but I figured a few things out on my own. Your obviously in some kind of feud with the Pirate King and, whatever happened before, you can rest assured he wants your necks as well after what you did today, incidentally, mine as well if he even knows I exist. The three branded buffoons are you best shot at getting any from of reliable information. Kill them if you will, but make them talk first. Hells, it can’t be that hard with how much magic you have at your disposal, maybe you can even break the rune!”

“I’m telling you, that’s not going to work,” Erya interjected. “I have had a look at the marks and those things are works of art. They’re much more than a typical rune, even combined with an enchantment. They’re nearly alive, a perverse and parasitic existence at that, but they’re evolving and growing all the time! The one I examined has already infected the very soul of the poor fellow and is slowly transforming his life force and astral body. If I had to guess I’d say that it’s the first step in becoming one of the golems we have fought. I don’t think there’s a way to save them. A clean death would be a mercy and much saver for us. I for one don’t want to interact with someone who is basically in the process of zombification! Entering their minds is a gamble I’m not willing to take and waking them up seems like an awful risk as well.”

I had first hand experience on just how powerful the emperor’s runes could be. Never the less I understood Pete’s reasoning too, we weren’t likely to get anything of value out of the ones nobody had thought important enough to control. But I wouldn’t put it past possible that they were going to explode or turn into an hellish abomination the moment we started to meddle with them. Which made me wonder…

“How did you down them in the first place? Every one they carry on deck is unconscious and they look like they have been poisoned, at least mildly.”

“That’s exactly what I did. When I filled the acolyte’s chambers with gas I thought: why not flood the rest of the ship? I used a much less toxic variant and that should have knocked them out for a couple of hours. The rashes you see are an allergic reaction, I think. As far as I can tell, the marks didn’t react but that might change. Also, I assume they can be activated form the other side and I can’t even begin to guess what could happen, then. Every moment we keep them around is a moment too much. There are possibilities enough for us to learn what we need from someone else. If society has changed fundamentally since I was locked away, one of them,” she gestured towards the line of unconscious pirates and their comrades who still hauled more of them up the stairs, “will know someone who will know someone who knows something. A little short cut isn’t worth the danger.”

That was the problem with magic, or life in general, taking a risk was only wise if you could weather the fall out, which in turn meant that things like mercy should be the prerogative of the powerful. It was somewhat ironic that the most gracious acts were none the less usually committed by the poor and powerless. Abstract musings aside, Erya was right in my opinion. I wasn’t going to debate the point much longer, though, but I’d be damned if I ever willingly risked the life of my friends for an intangible gain. My wings flared into existence and I unceremoniously threw the three bodies, Pete and Erya had separated from the rest, overboard.

“There, that should put an end to the discussion.” Erya smiled and Pete look somewhat shocked, his expression mirrored on the faces of the crew. “I have a favour to ask.” Erya’s musical laughter contrasted Pete’s consternated expression nicely.