389. Of misdeeds, sacrifices and a little mistake

Cassandra Pendragon 

Retrospectively it wasn't much of a surprise that I had come to detest social gatherings. Even when it was just my family, and a very strange inter species couple, it felt more like a trial or the end of the world than anything else. Well, at least none of them had slobber running down their chins when they looked at me or were too cowed to even meet my eye. The little things…

Unbeknownst to Arthur I had immediately pulled an image of the soul sigil he had mentioned from his mind, courtesy of Ahri who had lent a bit of delicacy to my rather suffocating touch. Between the two of us we were almost able to wield our magic properly, at least when we had enough time. As to what we had found: there were good news and bad news. The good news: it wasn't a stylised crown which meant Amon hadn't yet sunk his hooks into Arthur's tribe. The bad news: it wasn't a stylised crown and I didn't have the foggiest whom it might belong to. One thing was for certain, though. Whoever it was had a frighteningly deep understanding of soul magic and was apparently interested in our family. Not that we had been battered by fate more than enough.

We were back in Aglaia's private quarters, the spacious room nearly overcrowded by a magical menagerie the likes of which had seldomly been seen. Four kitsune, Mordred, Arthur, Reia and Aglaia, in case you were wondering, a shape shifting dragoness, a Purple Worm, an angel and whatever the hell my mom had turned into could probably have given anyone trying to spy on us a heart attack but with tempers slowly rising it became an actual problem, the air gradually filling with sparks and swaths of power that could ignite at a moment's notice. And of course it fell to me to keep them all from blowing a fuse. See the irony there? I surely did.

Due to the lacking seating arrangements, at least when it came to actually dead furniture, and my family's resolute refusal to turn it into a pyjama party and recline on the opulent bed, we were standing around in loose groups, the realisation that something had gone terribly wrong slowly setting in. Only Reia didn't seem bothered as she leaned into me, distractedly wrapping her tails around my leg. As for the others… Aglaia and Indigorath had known what was coming and were contently standing on the side, deflecting questions with noncommittal shrugs. Arthur and Mordred were antsy, especially Arthur, but it didn't matter that much. He was purely kitsune, after all, but my mom and Sera were another matter. They were bright enough to figure out that something was going on and not knowing what they had to deal with drove them up the walls.

"Enough," I whispered, dispersing the nimbus of power gathering around them effortlessly as I pushed myself away from the wall I had been leaning against, Reia in tow. Silence ensued but it wasn't heavy or suffocating, but rather… expectant, as every single pair of eyes landed on me. "Guessing won't help," I continued, "and I'm the only one who knows the whole story, so listen up. For you it's been mere minutes since last we spoke but for me it has been hours and for them," I gesticulated towards the worm and Aglaia, "years. About a quarter of an hour ago in this very room I took a little detours… four years into the past to be exact." And there went the expectancy, replaced by utter astonishment. With a wry smile I went on: "which should explain most of what has happened since we've arrived." I jerked my head towards our hosts before I added: "to be perfectly clear I saved their lives and I trust them to not have forgotten that little service. If the events of today are any indication they haven't. The more interesting aspect is something else, though: for four years we've had friends acting on our behalf without ever knowing and they weren't idle. They kept an eye on us and what they found is disturbing at best and downright dangerous at worst. Indigorath, would you tell them what you've told me?"

With the air of a seasoned speaker the worm slithered towards the centre of the room, a supposedly benign smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, even though his anatomy turned it into an intimidating grimace. I still appreciated the effort, though. "We've watched Boseiju thrive and fall but you've all lived through the horrors his end has evoked and I won't dare to speak of matters I understand very little of. But we've also kept an eye on the Lord Pendragon's endeavours and what we've seen… doesn't match his own recollections. Here's what's happened, at least from our point of few…" Over the next few minutes he precisely recounted what had allegedly transpired around Arthur's enclave and even went as far as explaining what I had asked them to do all those years ago.

The atmosphere changed again, from astonishment to worry and downright anger. Arthur immediately understood what had bothered me, the differences between Indigorath's account and his own answers glaringly obvious once you knew where to look. He didn't interrupt him, though, but instead decided to quietly move to my side which incidentally allowed him to escape from our mom's and Sera's vigilant gaze. The former was standing stock still close to the door while the latter was the only one who hadn't taken offence at the macabre furniture and was lazily lounging on a midnight blue furred polar bear turned sofa. When she felt my stares she winked at me coquettishly, indicating that she was more than satisfied to stay out of it and watch me suffer… I mean handle it. Another ironic twist, considering I had been forced to disperse her cresting magic, which could have blown a decently sized hole into the sky if allowed to manifest. Of everyone present, aside from Reia, only Mordred appeared unperturbed, his expression an astonishing accurate, facial translation of: I've seen bigger and I've dealt with worse, while he stared. Wasn't that the truth.

"You're not going to provide the necessary context, are you," Ahri chided me while Arthur reached us and deliberately intertwined his tails with Reia's around my legs. 

"You mean that Amazeroth has either provided yet another pawn to block our path, or, even worse, has lost control and this is something new? No. I'm not going to. What would be point? And shouldn't you be running after the new elven prince? Didn't you mention something about half an hour?" She didn't even bother with a reply, her presence settling deeper into my mind. "Thanks," I added. "I think I need you now."

"How sweet," Viyara commented dryly, "you're making my teeth ache and they're about as large as Estrella. Before you get entirely lost, what am I supposed to tell the ones you unceremoniously dumped on me? Rachmahn and Nightshade are curious and the overpowered bird is staring daggers at me. Only Richard seems relaxed, at least for now, but they're not going to sit still for much longer. That your new friends have decided to post a handful of guards outside the door isn't particularly helpful, either."

"The truth," I immediately replied. "We're not in danger but for now this is family business." I felt her urge to argue but when she realised I had included her without a second thought she only harrumphed, barely able to keep herself from grinning like a maniac. Which probably solicited the suspicion of her audience even more.

"I'll try," she mumbled embarrassedly when she realised that Ahri and I had been watching her meandering thoughts, "but I'm not sure how long I can hold them here. One of them is a god, Cassy. I can't make…"

"You can," I interrupted her. "Don't try it but your breath, even you magic, contain enough of my spark to deep fry him on the spot. I'd rather we wouldn't have to resort to threats, though. Use your charm. Somehow you managed to wrap a half transcendent vampire around your finger, who was already old when the idea of the Broken Wheel hadn't even been born, yet."

"I fear it was the other way around," she admitted. "I haven't got a clue what to do…"

"For Christ's sake," Ahri cursed. "Start a conversation, keep them interested, stoke their curiosity, flirt if you have to. Just take their minds off of us for a few minutes, half an hour tops."

"If I divulge anything I shouldn't have, it'll be on you" came the muted reply, the dragoness' attention already shifting. Sometimes I truly forgot how young she was. She might have matured twice as fast as a human, but she simply hadn't had the chance to experience much of the world yet, and the little bits and pieces she had seen had been adamant on turning her into minced meat. Great power, great responsibility and even greater problems and all of that. 

"What aren't you telling," Arthur's deep voice rumbled through me and brought me back to reality.

"And why would you think I'd tell you if I chose too keep even mom in the dark," I shot back irritably, watching the flickering reflections of the frozen butterflies dance across his voluminous, silver tails. Combined with Reia's raven black fur it almost looked like I was wearing an extravagant skirt, glowing in the warm, multicoloured light.

"Nothing, just thought I'd give you the chance to, if you wanted to take it." He wasn't even surprised at my scathing inflection and empathised his words with a nonchalant shrug.

"Maybe later," I said much more softly, "but now you have to tell your side of the story. Indigorath is nearly done. I'm sure you've figured out the crux, haven't you?"

"Hard to ignore when you almost have it spelled out for you. Same actions, different intentions. The question is: who's been duped, me or them. Since you asked me to get my house in order I assume you think it's been me?" I listened to the Purple Worm's alien, hissing voice and the distant breath of the ship, interrupted by the occasional crash when one of the crew mishandled the heavy canons they were pulling from storage. A few guard towers with the ability to shoot down most sky ships were going to make me feel much better about running off.

I sighed deeply before I slipped out of the fluffy embrace and turned to face my brother:

"I don't know. Chances are it's been both." Indigorath's hissing came to an end and I quickly added under my breath: "please, don't leave anything out and don't try to gloss over what's been done. Lastly, if you can remember, tell us as much about the soldiers you had killed as possible. Especially when it comes to the sigil or mark they were branded with. We need to know."

He nodded and squeezed my shoulders reassuringly. With a few, silent steps he reached the centre of the room, his sonorous voice and formidable presence immediately commanding attention. My mom and Mordred were frowning, their eyes fixed onto Arthur without blinking, a hint of confusion smouldering in their depths. Sera… as far as I could tell she was listening raptly but her stony expression didn't betray her thoughts. "It's up to me to explain what's actually happened," my brother began, "but I'm going to start at the end so you, mother, can stop looking at me as if I had set the house on fire. Your spies… they weren't yours to begin with and they weren't executed for the communication crystals they carried. They were traitors, undeniably, their very souls sworn to… well, if I knew to whom I'd have them in a cage by now. They were branded, marked, and I assume you all know what that means. No, it wasn't the crown, otherwise I'd have told you the very moment I landed, besides, it's been years…" he paused, his eyes following the outline of the magnificent bird above the bed.

"That's the execution you witnessed. A kindness, in all fairness. The marks had activated when we had caught them and their souls had long been consumed when we dragged them to the gallows. As for the rest... they have misled you the same way they misled us. I never killed those humans and there definitely wasn't a ship full of children that suddenly disappeared. It is true, though, that I plotted to have our neighbours exiled. For that I used the body of a child, which is the only crime I… we've committed. Our community was struck by… I believed it to be a disease but chances are it was a curse, unleashed by the very traitors we were going to execute a few months later. It began with the cubs." A clod, steely light ignited in his eyes.

"One of my soldiers didn't show up to muster and when I sent someone after him I found out that his clutch, two cubs, had fallen gravely ill. At first I didn't think much of it but around noon the same day he showed up again, deathly pale and sweating. He had come to plea, his children on the brink of death. He hadn't even realised that he didn't fare much better." He clasped his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest in an inadvertent effort to distract us form his quivering tails. He was still hurting and living through the past once again had reopened an old wound.

"The following days were… trying. We lost four families in the first week alone and one by one all our youngsters succumbed… at least the ones who had been born in the the same year." He lowered his head and eyed me cautiously from underneath his bangs. "They were your age, Cassy. They would have turned seven this year." Forcing down the visible lump in his throat he hurried through his next words:

"It was always the same. During the night the cubs would develop a fever. The next day they were lethargic and would pass out around sundown, never to wake again. And everyone of their bloodline contract the same disease as soon as they came into contact with the younglings. For the adults, it was worse. They didn't pass out and with their magic they usually lasted for about ten days. They shouldn't have. It was torture, for them, as well as for us and the sickness, the curse, once it had taken root in a grown kitsune, could infect anyone, not only those with close blood ties." With a sigh he steeled himself and added:

"I had a choice to make. A difficult, disgusting choice. To save the body I cut off the cancerous limbs. After a month without any sign of an antidote or a functioning healing spell I decided to separate the remaining kids of the same age from their families and I… I kept them in isolation until it was over. I told their families that I had them killed, otherwise they'd never have allowed them to die alone… even though they weren't. I couldn't bring myself to abandon them entirely. Sylvia and I stayed with them throughout the night, every night, until they finally slept in silence. We weren't of their line and there was little risk to us. During the first night I vowed to make the best I possibly could out of their deaths and when the last one died in my arms I was dead set on claiming the whole island for ourselves, ensuring the safety and prosperity of my people. You know what happened, except… we didn't slaughter our neighbours, even though some had earned it thoroughly. We gave them two of ours ships and sent them away with enough gold and wares to start a new life, far far away." A low murmur interrupted him, but he raised his hand.

"I'm nearly done. There's one more thing to address. The nobles, my subjects, who vanished during our first year… they were killed. Not by me and not on my orders and I made sure that it would never happen again but there's a very mundane explanation for their deaths. Greed. It was one of my friends but he's been dealt with. Still… they were murdered on my watch, to further my goals, and their deaths are on me. Lastly, there's one thing I have to make very clear." He took a deep breath and looked directly at me. Oh boy, here it comes.

"I've been thinking hard whether to explain myself or not. I'm not under anyone's jurisdiction, not even yours, sister, and my pain, my failures are mine and mine alone to deal with. I'm not here to discuss the past with you. This is about the future. We're being besieged and apparently have been for longer than we thought. That's what we have to focus on and why I revealed the truth."