220. Of suppositions, introspection and the harbour

Cassandra Pendragon

"Holy… what the hell? Are you alright," I blabbered and spun around, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. "Did any of… it touch either of you?" The girls shook their heads, their eyes roving over the deep scars along the walls, where the flood of blackness had eaten into the hard granite of the room. There was no way to tell what kind of magic it had been, but judging from the destruction the spell had weaved, I had been right to not take any chance.

Chaos reigned around us, everything that hadn't been made from unyielding stone or cold metal had disappeared. Wooden handles, the remains of the male priest, the traces of blood, even the hardened, oaken door… it was all gone without a trace, not even splinters or ash had remained behind. Only the burned out husk of the priestess, silvery flames still dancing in the deep gashes where my wings had cut into her, had survived. Black, smouldering lines marked her skin, where it hadn't been flayed off, indicating the path, the foreign magic had taken through her body. My power had completely annihilated the alien presence but her frail from hadn't been able to withstand the onslaught, breaking down wherever we had clashed.

"My family," Alassara suddenly whispered, her face scrounging up in concentration. After a moment, she relaxed again, a faint smile spreading across her features. "They're fine, they didn't even realise something went wrong. Not a spark of power left this room."

"That's good," Ahri added. "For a second I was worried the magic might not even have been targeted at us, but our friends. Still… one of us should head back to the ship, make sure nothing went wrong while we've been stuck here."

"I'll go," I immediately replied. "I can be back within a few minutes. Could you get rid of the corpse in the meantime? It's probably not necessary, but after the last surprise…"

"Quite so." Her wings, still manifested, flared and a bright, crimson tongue of flame engulfed the remains of the priestess, turning her into so much as dust and memories in a heartbeat. "That should suffice, there's nothing left. Before you go… do you think that was orchestrated? A final parting gift from Captain Nightshade, before his minions were entirely dead?"

"Maybe, but it didn't feel like it. That wasn't a ritual, conducted somewhere else, as far as I can tell. She died and when her… soul, or whatever part of her, was truly bound to a deity of death, left her body, he might have taken over. Otherwise, the other priest would probably also have channeled an aspect of his patron. I imagine we would have known, if there had been something going on in the background. You know, him turning into a small sun in this room or something similar. No… but it surely seems like we made another friend today. A pretty grouchy one, at that. We should probably be rather careful in the future, every time someone dies close to us. I don't know how it works, but I'm not going to invite that… thing back, if I can help it. All right, I'm off. Once I'm there, I'll talk to Auguros. As much as he knows about the energies on this planet, he might be able to shed some light on what just happened. If anything seems amiss, you'll call me back immediately. Please." She shrugged.

"Sure, I'm not going to get entangled with a disembodied source of energy, without you here. Do you intend to fly there and back again?"

"The jig is already up, isn't it? I do. It'll be faster and…"

"Don't," my angel interrupted me. "It might become or already be known who you are, but I'm not sure the connection to the dwarfs is already public. You'll endanger them, if you head there directly. You can fly until you're close, but don't let anyone see you climbing on board with your wings manifested. Maybe it's for naught, but I don't want you to take the risk."

"Fine, but it's going to take me a while longer, then. Anything else?"

"If your friend," Alassara interjected, "knows anything, I'd very much appreciate it, if you brought him here. This is my home and if at all possible, I'd like to keep it that way."

"I'll ask him. Hopefully we're done with unwelcome visitors for the night, but still… be careful. The door to the tavern is guarded?" Alassara nodded.

"And mostly repaired. We'll at least know if someone tries to enter. I also ordered the corpses upstairs brought to me. I'm going to arrange a proper funeral, tomorrow. At least for my people. The bodies of the soldiers will be taken to the cliffs and thrown over. They can rot in the ocean for all I care. Some of my children are already on the way. Go, now, we'll be fine for a while."

I hugged them briefly and thundered out of the room, a streak of light, barely visible before it was gone. Within seconds I reached the entrance hall, a handful of vampires keeping guard. They smiled at me, when I materialised in front of the door, and without any questions, they hurriedly pulled aside the makeshift barricade they had erected. I flew up the stairs and out into the night, a pulsing star, detached from the firmament. While the humid, still warm air, carrying along the sounds and overwhelming smells of the bustling city, rushed along my wings, the images of the last hours flashed before my eyes.

It wasn't so much the acts of violence and depravity we had committed, they didn't bother me too much, unless I actively wallowed in what we had done, no, it was what the priests had told us, as well as the manifestation of some forgotten god that had haunted us in the final moments. While I wasn't afraid of any deity, whether imagined or real, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that we hadn't seen the last of him and the curse of someone who held dominion over the dead was nothing I could laugh at. My life was already filled with enough enemies and fights, without having to worry, that every single one of them might either rise, once beaten, or even return, once killed.

Not to mention that I was more vulnerable than I liked to admit. Ahri and I, probably even my mum and Viyara, were strong enough to deal with the wrath of a god, but the rest… I had felt the strength of his magic and I didn't want to picture what would happen, if my sister, my brother or even Erya had to face him. They would crumble before his might in the blink of an eye and I… we simply couldn't be everywhere at once. At least it seemed like he had picked Ahri, Alassara and me as his targets, which should mean the others were safe as soon as we separated.

But the vampires, Layla, Alassara's other children… could they weather the enmity of a deity? I simply didn't know. The safest path would lead over the corpses of every worshipper in Free Land. Once his disciples were gone, I couldn't imagine that he'd be able to intervene any longer, but even if we were able to cleanse the city of every follower the Broken Wheel had acquired over time, it didn't mean that we should. Murder, torture and now a possible cleansing for uncertain gains. Somewhere I had to draw a line and I was quite convinced that killing off a whole church was more than just a step too much.

I exhaled deeply, forcefully relaxing my muscles while I approached the harbour. A trickle of energy reached my eyes and the winding streets and cluttered spaces became crystal clear. The wooden footbridges, where the ships were moored, were surprisingly empty, as were the landing sites, since most of the different fleets were still returning from their futile expedition to siege the Pirate Isles. In the dead of night, the blinking lights and festive sounds that spilled from the open taverns seemed almost homely, and if it hadn't been for my heightened senses, I might have been fooled into a sense of… peace. As it was, I could easily make out the clanging of metal during a tavern brawl gone awry, the lurking shadows, waiting for a drunk straggler they could rob and the obscene offers of the whores, manning nearly every street corner. At least everyone seemed much to occupied to glance at the stars and realise that one of them was moving.

It wasn't too difficult to find a secluded courtyard, behind a tall, rundown building that must have looked like a mansion in its prime, where I'd be protected from any curious onlookers. They might see me land, but I'd be gone as soon as I scaled one of the walls and vanished among the dark alleys surrounding the place. While I slowed down and aimed for a gnarly, bent chestnut tree, I recalled the confessions, Alassara had forced from the priests, but even in hindsight, I could find a single hint as to why the girl had suddenly become possessed by her patron. Provided I wasn't completely mistaken and the apparition we had witnessed had indeed been the Broken Wheel…

Damn it! In the midst of my descent, another memory surfaced, one from the night I had lost my home. The merchants, those that had taken the children prisoner, they had worn armour with a broken wheel as an insignia. I didn't know for sure if they had originally been from Free Land, or even if that coat of arms was the same or even similar to what the church, Captain Nightshade had founded, used, but it was just too much of a coincidence to ignore. Could there be a link? Had the followers of the dark god fucked up my life, long before I had even known they existed? If so, the idea of wiping them off the face of the earth seemed far less repulsive than it had, barely a minute ago. Maybe…

Again, I skimmed through my memories, searching for anything that reminded me of the insignia the merchants had worn, but the robes of the priestess had been uniformly black and her pristine skin hadn't been touched by ink. Damn it all to hell, if I had remembered even half an hour earlier, I could have asked… well, it wasn't the end of the world, there were still plenty of people to question. I even knew the name of the local abbott… pretty much the only useful thing the girl had shared before she had embarked on her last journey. Come tomorrow, I was going to pay him a visit and if I found so much as a whisper of a red, broken wheel, somewhere in his temple, I'd reign down hell on him and his posse until even their own deity couldn't recognise them anymore.

As my temper flared, the air, surrounding my wings, became distorted, small motes of light flashed, wherever my overflowing energies tore apart the very element around it. If I didn't manage to calm down, I'd soon light up like a Christmas tree and I highly doubted that no one would bother to look at the fireworks, right above their heads.

I forcefully pushed my anger down and took a few deep breaths. By now, I was already hovering only a few handfuls of metres above the tree and as my luck would have it, I was almost certain that someone on the streets had seen me, especially with the last, rather bright flare. Oh well, a bit of entertainment to distract myself wouldn't go amiss, anyways, and I highly doubted that anyone would bother following me discreetly. It was a harbour, for heaven's sake.

I lightly touched down, my wings disappeared and for a few moments I simply stood there, listening, while the scent of wet earth and ripe chestnuts tickled my nostrils. It wasn't quiet, not by a long shot, but everything I heard was the usual background noise of the city. Music, shouting drunks, the groaning of burdened wood and scuttling feet. From time to time a distant conversation reached my ears, but I couldn't quite understand the words. Somewhere close by, a heavy cart was pushed along an alley, the smell of dirty rags and wet rope distinguishable, as soon as I focused on it. A few blocks away, a fight was happening, faint thuds, echoing though the night whenever a fist met a face, a quick drumbeat I could have dance to, but neither did I hear surprised exclamations nor barked orders to investigate the fallen star. Maybe my luck had held true, at least this once.

Shrugging, I turned around, studying the crumbling facade of the mansion. The remains of colourful mosaics shimmered under the moonlight and even though some of the windows had cracked, the rest still showed finely crafted panels of dyed glass. The walls had been painted as well and I could just about make out the outlines of engraved reliefs, close to the thick, iron banded door. Faint light flickered behind one of the windows and from time to time, I saw a blurry shadow move, but it never approached the window.

My curiosity stirred. Who was it? What had happened, for him to fall into poverty? Was he alone? Was there a family, children, waiting for a brighter tomorrow? Or was he a thug who had occupied this place out of convenience. Most likely, I'd never know. It was a sad truth about the world, that we seldomly had the time to get to know the truths, hidden along our path. Even the things we knew most intimately often held stories we couldn't possibly fathom, maybe even secrets that could either send us running in a different direction or entice us even closer.

But it wasn't for me to dive into everything that caught my fancy. Maybe one day, when the wheels had turned, I might just find myself living in a small village, indulging every whim, but right now, I still had places to be. And for what it was worth, the stories I stumbled into usually weren't boring. Most of the time they were exciting enough for several protagonists to lose their heads.

A trickle of energy flushed my muscles and without so much as disturbing a single leaf in the mighty crown of the chestnut tree, I jumped several metres into the air and elegantly landed on the other side of the closest wall. I was in a narrow, almost pitch black alley, the windswept buildings around me blocking the moon light. Nobody was there but I still picked up the regular breathing of several sleeping humans, just behind the flimsy walls. From where I stood, it would take me maybe 5 minutes on foot to reach the footbridge, closest to where the dwarfs had moored the ship. With a thought, I took my cloak from my stamp, distractedly brushing over the soft cloth. The white material seemed to almost glow in the dark, a beautiful present that would always remind me of Barzuk. I might not have seen eye to eye with the orc, most of the time… or rather always, but thinking back, I truly regretted that I hadn't been able to spend more time with him. He had been honest, brash and straightforward and with his love for alcohol, he might just as well have been a dwarf in disguise. Sighing, I wrapped myself in its cozy softness and quickly strode towards the closest main road.

The enchantments still worked perfectly and I wasn't interrupted, hit on or even robbed, while I rushed towards the harbour. The only downside, the larger accumulations of people, at the entrance of a tavern or a brother for example, didn't react to me either, and once or twice I had to use my elbows to make my way through a veritable throng of night owls, still out and about, especially when they had gathered in a tight corner. Nevertheless, it didn't take me long to arrive at the wooden fortifications, supporting the landing sites. Even though I might have left a bruised rib, or two, behind.

Massive oaken beams had been carefully secured against the cliffs, the framework for an almost beehive like structure, nestled against the rock. Before, I had seen the harbour from above, but the ships and gangways I had counted, made up only a small fraction of the available space. Several floors had been anchored below the topmost platform and even though they weren't crowded, the fleets still hadn't returned, there were far more airships than I had thought.

From where I stood, I could glimpse the jumbled up maze of ladders, ropes and walkways, connecting the various alcoves, bridges and ships. Lanterns hung in irregular intervals from wrought iron hooks, but there were so many, that their glow still illuminated a good chunk of the cliff wall. And I had thought, finding the dwarven ship would be the least of my worries.