Chapter 40

    As expected Tess offered to help them on their journey. In exchange, she asked Zinjo and Aurelia to help protect their cargo. Aurelia and Zinjo hesitated because it meant going to the far east before they made their way home. With multiple kivuli on the loose, the couple hesitated to agree. Time was of the essence. 

   "Is there something you two aren't telling me?" Tess asked, "Your passage is assured, I already told the investors two werelions would be on board to protect the shipment."

   "You had no right," Zinjo growled he crossed his arms, "You wouldn't believe us, even if we told you."

    Aurelia shoved Zinjo aside, "Enough, Zinjo. Tess was eager to show her gratitude, and we did not explain the purpose of our journey. To blame Tess for our current predicament would be wrong."

    "Still didn't have any right," Zinjo grumbled, and he busied himself with the other crates in the room.

    "He's one of the good ones," Tess smiled and gestured to the crate across from her desk. From the looks of the desk, Tess preferred to have ordered over chaos. She folded her hands on the desk, "Your majesty, I know your time is limited, but if you are in trouble, I would like it here in case trouble follows you across the ocean."

  The bright-colored parasol opened and closed in thought. Inside Aurelia knew the right course of action. She stared at the floor, and bolstered her mental fortitude, "In the course of our travels, Zinjo and I have discovered a malevolent force roaming the lands, more than one to be precise."

   Silence came from Tess, and she watched Aurelia with discernment in her eye, "How come I haven't heard of this malevolent force?"

  "The creature can change its form, and cannot be killed, lest seven more spawn from its body"

  Tess turned her head in concern, "Have you been reading Marshall Rouse's adventures? It sounds like something he would write about."

  "The kingdom of Brismond almost fell because of this creature. In the Cherish empire they call it Kludde, in Kiazangi, Kivuli, some call it Lebende Dunkelheit." The conviction in Aurelia's tone and cadence caused Tess to sit up straighter.

  "How many other people know about this creature of yours?" Tess's disbelief morphed into morbid curiosity. She poured a glass of wine, "Tell me everything, and we will work something out."

   Aurelia told of their adventures across the continent, and Tess's passive expression gave nothing away. When Aurelia finished, Tess drained her goblet and sat it on a coaster, "So the creatures sow chaos in their wake and care for nothing else?"

  "You and both know such a creature will have grander schemes in mind."

  "Agreed."

  "Which is why our journey is so important, we have to gather the materials to make witch trap bottles. Although I have no idea where we will find the tears of a divine being."

 "All the more reason to go on the trip to the far east. Perhaps you will find answers to your question."

   "Let me discuss it with Zinjo first. I know he is averse to the journey, but I think if I use your argument, he will see reason," Aurelia rose from the unsanded crate and strode up to Zinjo.

    He refused to look at Aurelia and held his silence, "You're acting like a child."

   "No, I'm not," Zinjo crossed his arms and pouted. The princess giggled and hugged him from behind, for half a second Zinjo leaned back before he stopped himself.

    "Do you know any divine beings?"

   "Do you?" Zinjo refused to turn around and face her. 

    "I don't. This is why a trip to the far east may prove helpful. We can't finish the bottles without those tears. If I'm wrong, at least we chased every lead to completion and it could double as our honeymoon. We are still getting married right."

   Little by little, Zinjo surrendered to her embrace. He turned and the yellow eyes stared at her with love and affection, "You are difficult to stay mad at," he commented.

   Their lips met several times, "It's supposed to be that way."

   "Are you sure?"

   Aurelia giggled and kissed him again, "One hundred percent positive,"

   ***

   Aurelia barely slept the night before they left on the ocean voyage, her excitement was twofold. First, she got to travel the world and experience it first hand, and her impending marriage to the handsome Zinjo She wasn't sure where their wedding was to take place, but the princess was ready to be a wife.

   Seagulls cried out and argued over scraps of fish guts, and the salty air made Aurelia feel alive. They carefully checked the names of the ships, as they were in search of the SS Nightingale. The small freighter would aid them in their quest.

   Zinjo appeared to be conflicted about the situation, and nothing seemed to shake his indecision, "Princess, in Kiazangi mothers acknowledge the bride as fully-fledged women, before they join their husbands in the ceremony. Do you not want that from your mother?" He finally said. 

   How would her mother feel if she eloped? If Aurelia had a daughter would she want to be there regardless of what passed between them? Aurelia knew the answers to the unspoken questions. She turned to Zinjo and sighed, "Would you mind waiting until the journey was over?"

  "No, dark princess. I would want my mother to attend if she could. Your mother needs to see you have become your own woman. It will lessen her worry, although I hear parents never stop worrying about their young."

   "Then we will wait," Aurelia sighed, "Besides I heard new couples are easily distracted by one another. I don't think that's something we need on this particular journey."

   Zinjo pointed to a ship with thick clumps of barnacles on the rudder, "I believe we have found the Nightingale."

   A group of men loaded Supplies With the rough and tumble Gael barking orders, "Put your backs into it lads, you didn't sign up for a pleasure cruise." he waved to Zinjo and Aurelia while he delegated jobs to the crew. He removed his sailor's cap and wiped the sweat from his brow. "We should weigh anchor within the next couple of hours. I want everything checked and double-checked."

  "I've never been on the ocean before," Aurelia admitted.

  "You are either going to love it, or hate it," a jovial grin appeared on Gael's face. "Next stop, the Lemurian islands."