An angel’s road to hell

88. Of reunions, responsibilities and a little bit of curses

Cassandra Pendragon

“It looks almost… peaceful, except for the wrecked ships it could be some kind of holiday camp.” My voice was quiet and the longing I felt for what I had said to be true was strong enough to make it tremble. Ahri’s tails curled around my middle more tightly but she didn’t answer. There was nothing to say. There was no peace for us here, we were refugees on the run and instead of camp equipment and food, the tents most likely contained the dead and one who was fighting for her life. A fight she would win if I had my way.

Exhaling deeply I squeezed Ahri’s hand and turned towards the approaching fey. Erya’s iridescent wings reflected the light of the setting sun in colourful sparks and together with her glimmering horns she made for a striking figure in the approaching night. Mysterious and hopefully powerful enough to bring Reia back from the brink. If not, well, I was decently sure that I could get rid of the curse that had infected her wounds but it wouldn’t be pretty. And I’d very much like to avoid cutting into a breathing child with my wings. I shook my head and drove away that image.

“Now then, Ahri, that’s Erya, a good friend of mine, I’ve already shown you how we have met. Erya, meet Ahri, my…” “guardian and girlfriend, depending on what she needs at the moment,” Ahri interrupted without hesitation. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Cassandra has shared some of her memories and I’m thankful for your help. You brought her back to me in one piece, I’ll never forget that.” I thought it funny how much emphasis she put on “to me”, as if she was making a point…huh, she probably was.

Erya’s laugh, that always reminded me of wind chimes, was honest while she bowed from the hip:

“I see your wings aren’t your only fiery aspect. No need to get territorial, Cassandra has already made it plenty clear that she’s taken. If either of you change your mind, though…” she winked but quickly became serious. “I’d love to continue this discussion and get to know you better but from what Cassandra told me, we shouldn’t linger. Could you tell me exactly what happened? If I know what kind of curse I’m dealing with it’ll make it that much easier to cleanse it.” Without a spoken word we simultaneously turned towards the island and quickly headed for the camp.

“Not in as much detail as I’d like,” Ahri replied over her shoulder, Erya was flying a few wing strokes behind us. “There was a lot of smoke, the ship was on the verge of going down. Most of the sails were on fire and the dwarfs had already broken the hull with one of their special bolts. I thought we had won, only a few pirates remained as well as two of the strange casters they had on board.” She paused and I heard her swallow drily. When she continued her voice was strained.

“Another volley from the dwarfs peppered the deck and I was already on my way to land amidst the last survivors when suddenly every instinct I have cried out. A strange stillness crept over the ship and I could see the remainder of the crew simply crawl up and die, except for one. The last acolyte burned every ounce of energy he could get his hands on, from his comrades’ life to his own, and unleashed a stream of magic. If it helps, the magic appeared sickly green with patches of darkness all over I can’t properly describe. He had targeted the spot where I had left the children. They were already running for cover but not all of them made it. Reia was spurring on the stragglers when the spell hit. Two of them were caught directly and withered away on the spot until nothing remained. Beams of the same colouration exploded outwards and caught the others in the back.” She needed another movement and I gently stroked her side with one of my tails.

“I rushed back as fast as my wings would carry me but there was nothing I could do. I held the hand of the ones that were still alive while they passed away before my eyes. Reia had been lucky. As the fastest the ones behind her stopped the brunt of the magic. She was only grazed but lost consciousness not long after I got to her. There is a cut on her left thigh, not too deep, but the tissue around it is cold and pale. Dark streak are slowly growing towards her heart, almost like blood poisoning, but whatever we tried, we couldn’t cleanse the wound. I fear she will not see the next sunrise if you can’t help her.” Please, just this once…

“Don’t fret, I think I know what’s happening to her. I’ll have to see her first to be sure but most likely she’s suffering from a consumptive curse. Even if I can’t break it, I’ll be able to divert it. Curses are pretty much spells with an added component that binds the magic to a certain purpose. A fire ball explodes, a cursed one follows you around until it hits. A hastily constructed function, like the one undoubtedly used here, can usually be fulfilled quiet easily without causing any harm to the host. No matter how strong the caster was, once the curse achieves what it was made for, it’ll unravel. I’m betting on something along the lines of: “consume whatever you touch until nothing remains”. If that’s the case I’ll offer a bit of my own energy, channeled through the kid’s meridians as a surrogate. Once the curse latches on I should be able to transfer it.” She made it sound positively easy. Somehow I couldn’t imagine it’d work out that flawlessly in reality but I definitely wasn’t going to voice my thoughts out loud.

We quickly soared over the anchored ship, some of the dwarfs toiling away raised their hands in greeting when we sped past. The closer to the camp we came, the heavier the tang of smoke and fire hung in the air. Our quickly growing shadows raced across the ground and everyone who wasn’t directly engaged with one task or the other looked up. Worried faces, the eyes heavy with grief and anxiety, turned towards us. A few hollow smiles formed here and there but most of the children were much too absorbed in their own misery to truly care. The dwarfs were another matter. Seasoned warriors that they were I could see the tension in them but they went about their tasks efficiently and kept themselves busy organising the camp and gathering provisions. Several parties were preparing for another venture across the island and the rest were either manning the workshops, butchering the already hunted animals or salvaging the wrecks.

We came down close to the tents at the centre, a small throng of people had gathered there to receive us, my mother, brother, Xorlosh, Etosh, Golamosh, the elves and most of the kids, even though I only recognised Archy and his little sister Estrella. As soon as I touched down, my mom came running, or rather limping, towards me, my brother a few steps behind. Ahri took a couple of steps away from me, giving us some space. Seeing my family alive and well, more or less, was another heavy weight off my chest. They were both unharmed, but seemed on the verge of collapse. My brother had dark circles under his eyes and he moved like a zombie, with shuffling, small steps. Soot and ash were liberally coating his clothes and his normally neat appearance was closer to a beggar than a prince, albeit one without a country. My mother was even worse for wear, her skin pale and, I realised that as soon as I hugged her, clammy. She appeared frail, her energy spent. Both of them looked like they had just lived through the worst days of their life, which probably wasn’t that far from the truth.

Xorlosh looked pretty much the same as always, a few scratches marred his armour and he had cut off a chunk of his beard but he stood erect like an old cherry tree, his hands clasped behind his back. The biggest difference I could see was, that his quiver of bolts was now nearly empty, a few lonely shafts all that remained. His lads flanked him on either side, both of them with grim faces but an honest smile spread their hairy features once we landed.

Astra and Aspera seemed untouched but distant, as if they had withdrawn into their own world, leaving the troubles of our situation behind. I didn’t believe it for a minute as they were standing close to the kids and even had their arms around the smallest ones, like two old trees in the middle of a sea of saplings. I appreciated their stoic demeanour, though. There’d be time to wail and repine once we were out of the woods, or rather off the island, so to speak and we needed every ounce of reliability we could get, especially with how the children were doing.

Most of them wore jaded expressions, their eyes empty and their shoulders haunched and it nearly broke my heart. No child should have to live through what they had experienced. They kept together in a tight group but I was glad to see that they apparently had accepted the elves as a source of comfort or maybe even safety. I also didn’t miss the spark of relieve that showed on some of their faces when Ahri landed beside me. After she had taken care of them for most of the fight they looked to her as their protector, a responsibility I truly didn’t envy her for.

Before I could get out a single word, my mom crashed into me, arms wide open and smothered me in a hug that drive most if the air from my lungs. She might appear exhausted but the little woman was resilient. For a moment I thought I heard her snivel but when she pinched my ear, the one Erya had already mistreated, and her scathing voice sounded form somewhere around my chest I knew I must have been mistaken:

“Without a word! You just took off without a word and once we get to where you’re supposed to be, they tell me you went after a fucking ancient dragon! By the gods, I thought I’d never see you again…” and that was that. She dissolved into a crying mess while she clung to me as if her life depended on it. There was nothing I could to for the next couple of minutes except for holding her. I slung my tails around her middle and gently pulled her closer. What was there to say? Considering how I felt when children I wasn’t related to were in danger I didn’t even want to imagine how I’d react if my daughter was in peril and I wasn’t able to help. As hard as the fight with Galathon might have been, I was sure my mom had had an even worse day.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered in her ear. “But there was no other way, I had to do what I could to keep everyone alive. And besides, I’m not that easy to get rid off. You could ask the dragon but he won’t be able to reply.” A strangled chuckle escaped her.

“I know, Ahri already told me bits and pieces of what you did. That girl is a treasure, if she hadn’t already calmed me down, you’d have had a much harder time explaining yourself than a few platitudes and a half-assed joke.” I could feel her breathe deeply. She stopped shaking and energetically wiped her eyes. “It’s good to have you back. You know about Reia? Is there something you can do?”

“Maybe, but I’d rather not. I’m much better at destroying things than fixing them.” It somehow hurt when I said it out loud but it was true. At least for the moment. “That’s why she’s here.” I pointed over my shoulder towards Erya. By now the rest of the group had gathered around us but the only one who had approached was my brother, his calloused hand coming to a rest on my shoulder. He didn’t speak but his relieved smile when he studied me told me enough. I winked at him and gently extracted myself from my mom’s embrace, my gaze travelling over everyone around.

“It’s good to be back. I know there are pressing matters we should talk about but that can wait. Everyone, this is Erya, a fey. She’s here to help. Could you take us to Reia?”

“Sure, lass,” Xorlosh’s rumbling bass easily carried over the sounds of the camp. “We set a tent up for the injured. I’ll get me boys out of there, they aren’t in that bad a shape that they can’t walk for a while. Actually it’ll do them some good and they can help prepare dinner. Come on, follow me. The rest of you can get lost for the mo’ I’ll call you once it’s over. Unless you want another couple of casters around?” His last question was directed at Erya.

“No,” her eyes roamed over the assembled group. “Unless there’s someone who has dealt with a curse before?” No one spoke up but I saw Aspera and Astra exchange a quick glance. I couldn’t quite place it, somewhere between worry, hope and incredulity but it vanished too quickly. They busied themselves with ushering away the kids, some of which were rather reluctant to leave but they didn’t protest. Estrella waved at me when she walked by, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. I hastily took a couple of steps and hugged her and her brother. With a smile for the others I rejoined Ahri and my family who were having a hushed discussion with Erya while they slowly followed after the dwarfs.

“I know a thing or two about curses,” Mordred was just saying. “But I already tried and I can’t break this one. The spell somehow uses the girl’s own energy to fend off any attempt to destroy it. With the help of the others I could easily crush it but it’d kill Reia on the spot. I don’t know how it was possible to create such a thing in the midst of battle but the way it’s linked to the host and its structure are way beyond me. If you want, I’ll gladly help, though, even if it’s just to supply a little extra energy.” Erya slowly shook her head.

“I appreciate the offer but you and your mother are looking like walking corpses. I honestly don’t want to involve either of you and I think I don’t need to. I’ll take Cassandra with me, just in case I fail, but no one else.” Her eyes travelled across his face and torso before she continued: “but if you want to, you could organise a place for me to sleep. I’ll probably be wrung dry afterwards and since your sister won’t let me sleep in her bed I’m all out of options for someone to cuddle with…” My mother gasped, Mordred turned a bright red that contrasted his black fur nicely and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing softly.

“Social awareness is a thing, you know?” I asked her.

“What? The girl’s going to be fine. Trust me. And look at them, your relatives appear much more healthy now, with a little colour to their cheeks.” I couldn’t deny the truth of that.

Meanwhile Xorlosh and his comrades had already reached the tent to our left and vanished inside.  When we arrived, a group of rather grumpy looking dwarfs were ushered through the entrance, most of them limping. Bruises and cuts were common but nobody was severely injured form what I could tell. Those had probably been taken care of by the magicians. Each of them nodded or grunted a couple of words in passing, most of them directed at their brethren who had unceremoniously thrown them from their sickbeds. A line of 11 dwarfs thus stomped past us, directly headed for the cooking pit. When the last one was gone, Xorlosh closed the flap.

“It’s empty now. Do you need anything else?” Before Erya could reply Golamosh added:

“I’d like to join you. I’m not an expert on curses but I know quite a bit about wards and protective enchantments. Whatever you intend to do, I’m sure I can help.”

“Can you form a containment spell? Any higher variant should be enough.” The dwarf nodded.

“Good, come with me, then.” She gestured for me to follow and strode through the entrance. I was surprised that she had taken the dwarf up on his offer after her rebuke of my brother’s but who was I to judge. I exchanged a baffled look with Mordred and my mother, kissed Ahri on the cheek and ducked into the tent. The smell of herbs and alcohol made my eyes water for a second and the row of improvised beds, some of them a little bloody, didn’t help. In the back a curtain walled off a small space, just large enough for a bed and a few people to stand around it. Erya and Golamosh were already halfway there and I lengthened my stride to catch up to them.

I reached them just when Erya moved the curtain aside. She turned to us and said with a smile: “it’s going to be fine, re…” her voice trailed off when she glanced into the small room.