390. Of lessons, stubbornness and a little gamble

Cassandra Pendragon 

"Move out of the way," I ordered quietly, my anger surging through me like liquid fire.

"Cassy," Viyara cautioned hesitantly when she felt my thundering emotions. To her it must have seemed like the gates of hell had suddenly opened on a warm summer day but I was done. Done with his attitude, done with the whole mine and yours idiocy, done with people who couldn't even comprehend my age thinking they had it all figured out. None of us did and we never would.

"Shut up," I erupted, "or, by the Great Fox, I'm going to beat you black and blue as soon as I'm done here." Ahri… she only watched with anticipation.

The room became a flurry of movement, even the frozen animals had been forced to comply with my command. Lethargically they stumbled out of the way without ever waking up while my family and our hosts practically jumped to the side. The glowing butterflies were pressed against the ceiling like a sea of living stars, turning the floor below them into a brightly illuminated stage. I raised my hand and pointed at Arthur, silvery blue flames dripping from my fingers like blood. They hissed menacingly before they petered out without ever touching the wooden ground. The smell of ozone rose as my wings manifested, flooding the room with the crackling of eternity.

"Draw your sword, brother mine, and attack me with all you've got. I've got a lesson to teach." I saw his confusion, I heard his surprise, I tasted his growing fear, but he couldn't resist. With a fluid motion his blade glided out of its golden tabard, silver runes along the ridge burst into flames and with a suppressed yell the uncrowned king of the kitsune channeled his power into a devastating strike. He crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, his tails a shimmering wave in his wake, a spell on his lips and the tip of his sword pointed at my heart. 

My family's dammed up irritation erupted in the lingering silence as I silently recanted my command on them. My mom's silvery power immediately started to gather between Arthur and me, trying to keep us apart, but with a lazy wave of my tails I dispersed the spell, incidentally nullifying my brother's magic and whatever Sera had been trying to accomplish behind my back. This had to happen. He still thought I was his baby sister, despite the fright I had given him on deck, and I'd have to literally punch the truth into him. Just like an older sibling establishing their dominance, I'd wring his scrawny neck until he was going to get the message. As long as he was going to call me family his failures, his pain were mine, were ours as well, and if I had to break his bones to make him understand, so help me god, I would. 

My eyes flashed silver as I danced past him, faster than a thought, my fist connecting cruelly with his stomach. A low groan echoed behind me as I came to a halt, for all intent and purposes invisible. I had moved much too fast for anyone to see but the consequences were obvious. Dark blood dripped from Arthur's mouth, his sword clattered to the floor, and if it hadn't been for my power keeping him upright, he would already have collapsed into a quivering bundle of tails on the ground. "Again," I whispered, the thrumming anger in my voice becoming louder while my wings slithered through the air ominously, their power immediately drowning out the rising smell of blood with another surge of ozone and eternity. I wasn't losing it, but the pit of fiery wrath burning in my stomach needed to be quenched. I had swallowed my temper often enough but time was running out and I was done. He really should have heeded my first warning.

Grunting he pressed his left hand against his stomach and a warm glow ignited between his fingers. A heartbeat later his posture eased but he didn't even take the time to wipe away the blood, instead he bent and gripped his sword with both hands to charge at me again like a lion. The fleeting tap, tap, tap of his graceful steps in the lingering silence ended in a sickening crunch when I sunk my knee into his stomach, targeting the exact same spot. This time he fell flat on his face, despite my order, his tails covering him like a shroud.

While he laid there senseless I echoed sarcastically: "not under my jurisdiction? Arthur… you fucking imbecile. Get up. Again." Blinking blearily he fought to get to his knees but as soon as his head left the ground I stepped closer and drove my heel down, directly in between his shoulder blades. When he crumbled and gasped for air I continued: "it's time to grow up. Cast aside your juvenile convictions of what power is and what it should be or I'll be forced to show you, to teach you the truth. You always hold sway over the things you love and you, brother mine, aren't the king who'll tell me what I can and cannot love. Again."

Pale like a sheet he rolled onto his back, his eyes glazed over. Our audience was stunned into silence, their mouths open, their fingers curled into fists at their sides. When the fallen prince couldn't comply fast enough I grabbed him by the neck and heaved him into the air until our noses were no more than a finger's width apart, my wings reflected in his dilated pupils. "Just like you I bow to no one and you better remember that there are forces between heaven and earth that could turn your paltry strength into a rope to strangle you with if it wasn't for one simple fact. I. Won't. Ever. Allow. It." With a flick of my wrist I tossed him onto the bed, the heavy, oaken beams creaking under the impact.

"Look at me," I rasped, my voice becoming colder, deeper. As if an irresistible force had taken hold of them everyone present turned, their eyes wide open. My silhouette flickered, the outline of a serpentine fox wreathed in silvery blue flames whispered into existence for the fraction of a second only to collapse into a broken, scintillating crown upon my brow. My spear appeared in my hand, my tails fanned out and divine flames consumed my shabby garments until I stood before them, clothed in magic and light like power incarnate. "We will survive, we will get through this, but, by the gods, I'm tired of having to fight the people I love. This will end today. Again."

Like a puppet on its strings he jerked into motion, his will on the brink of collapse as my sheer presence surged against his very being. He pushed himself up and I struck immediately, gliding onto the bed to reach him. He folded around my fist like a piece of paper and I leaned down, holding his entire weight, until the fur on his ears tickled my nose. "You tried to challenge me every chance you had. This… this is mercy. If I were to stoop down low enough to play with your precious power, you'd soon find yourself in the same position you are in now. Except… it'd be public." I whirled around nimbly and allowed him to crash onto the ripped and stained velvet. A few quick steps carried me back to the centre of the room.

"Again," I thundered without turning around. I felt him struggle, I smelled his pain but… he wouldn't allow himself to faint again and… he didn't hate me for what I was doing. Broken and hurting he stubbornly pushed himself to the edge of the bed, his feet touching the smooth floor. "Immolare," he croaked chokingly and a suffocating blanket of ravenous flames roared to life around me. Like a vengeful spectre I rose a handspan into the air as the fires he had invoked ran and churned like water only to vanish into my crown.

I slammed the bottom of my spear into the floor, the resulting thunderclap travelling across the room in visible waves. They parted around our audience harmlessly but when they reached my brother they trembled and turned, crashing into him from all sides with the force of a dying mountain. He would have vanished, turned into blood mist and ground up bones, but I wouldn't allow it. "Shatter," I thought and the cacophonous assault faded away, barely grazing him. He was still thrown back, rattled, disoriented and bleeding. With a thought I was at his side, catching him before he could hit the wall. 

"Influence, privilege… fear," I whispered, my breath turning visible through swaths of suppressed power. "If you insist on thinking along those lines I'll play your accursed game. You simply won't understand until you've felt it, won't you? You are not my elder. Heavy is the crown, Arthur, but I can wear it just as well as you. Maybe even better because I don't desire it. I fear it." I vanished into a shower of sparks and he crumpled, his legs unable to carry his weight. 

"Again," I purred as I manifested. "Come at me again and again, until you've learned your lesson." Stubbornly he crawled, leaving bloody smears on the polished planks. "That's it," I continued, his gruesome plight made visible by my second sight even though I had my back turned. But then I paused. Anger brought clarity and clarity engendered understanding. "You still think you can win, you still think you're the only one capable of suffering, of sacrificing for our people. You think you're the only one capable of cruelty. Oh, brother mine, let me show you how wrong you are." For the first time my wings surged towards him like enraged snakes, the very fabric of creation torn asunder in their wake. "I… I chose to let our father die. I deemed it necessary for our home to burn and our people to suffer. I sullied my hands with the blood of our race today and I'm going to share it with you. You want to see the depths of depravity I'm capable of? You want to ensure that I'm strong enough to embrace the darkness without becoming its prey? Then let me show you, let me take you along on a journey written in blood and pain." Silvery blue lightning flashed, eternity poured into reality for the tiniest fraction of a second and my wings latched onto his head like the tentacles of a squid. 

Before anyone could react it was already over, my brother's eyes rolled into the back of his head and a tired sigh escaped him as his consciousness fled. I felt a tug on my wings as I propelled him into my arms, the transcendent light show around me slowly abating until I stood there, stark naked, breathing heavily. "Sorry, I'd rather have spared you the drama," I mumbled as I sashayed over to the bed and gently placed him on the destroyed covers, caressingly brushing a strand of singed hair from his forehead. "I hope you know why this had to happen," I whispered. "You have to understand that you're not the only one capable of carrying the burdens of a throne." 

Louder I added: "He'll be fine in a few hours and I… I am tired." Sighing I straightened but I didn't turn around to face the, presumably, accusing stares. "If you want to chastise me, do it now. I can't promise that I'll sit through it quietly in half an hour." Goddamn, asleep he looked so… innocent, as if the kid I had once known had finally emerged from behind its mask of duty and self sacrifice. Ironic, really, since his namesake had managed keep his innocence alive, precisely because he had been denied his birthright until his later years, whereas my brother had grasped it with both hands, his righteous nature almost devoured by the compromises his position as a leader had asked of him. He hadn't been ready. Just like me… he had been too arrogant. But maybe, just maybe, he had come to understand that he truly wasn't alone. That I could do ugly just as well as him. We all could and I had forced him to witness each and every single death, every broken dream ever since my birthday. No wonder he had been knocked out cold.

The first to reach me was Reia. She didn't even speak, she simply renewed her hold on me, her tails snaking around my body to provided the barest illusion of decency. "About time," she finally whispered, "but please, promise me this wasn't some tardy form of revenge for what he's done to… you know, me, when first we met." I chucked morosely.

"Can't. That surely played a role. But I think I understand now why he's done it. In his own, very stupid, very perverted way, he meant to protect you. To keep you away from… this. He already knew, Reia, he knew who you are. And, despite his antics, he's a decent man, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. Who knows, given a bit of time I might even come to learn how to love him."

A dark, distant presence pushed into my awareness, like grey silk pressing against my skin, as Mordred's warm arm came to rest around my shoulders. "You found it in you to love me," he rumbled quietly. "Getting used to our valiant brother should be a piece of cake. Especially now. What did you do to him?"

"Broke his ego. He thought… he was convinced he was the strongest, the only one who could see, who could face the pain leadership brings. Ever since we met, all his actions… he wasn't trying to sideline us. He was trying to stand in front of us. But we can't have that. There's too much happening and in the end… he'll have to take a step back. You all will."

"Not going to happen," my mom harrumphed as she firmly pushed in between Mordred and me. "I might not be able to beat it into you like you just did, but I have the patience of a three times mother. Cassandra, just as much as he needed to understand that we aren't as mallow, as naive as he expected us to be, you need to realise that Ahri isn't the only one who's brave enough to stand by your side. Don't worry, though, if there's a transcendent fireball coming I'll still duck."

"Unless it'd hit one of us, of course," Mordred chuckled merrily. I cocked an eyebrow but before I could ask he explained: "today went rather splendidly, did it not? Well, aside from the strange soul sigil and what it might entail, but that's only fine print. What's one more enigmatic enemy, eh?"

"He's really grown a pair," Ahri commented dryly. "And don't think we're not going to talk about what you just did. Frankly, I don't mind, but your mom is right. This wasn't only a lesson for him. It was one for you as well."

"Don't you think I know," I hissed. "Otherwise it wouldn't have hurt so much." She hummed contently but chose to remain quiet.

"What now," Mordred asked and curiously picked up one of Arthur's arms only to gleefully let it drop back down again. "We can't very well make decisions for the future without him awake."

"Like hell we can't," I groused, my anger stirring again, but it was faint, muted… burned up. With a gentle shrug I extracted myself from them and closed my eyes in concentration. The outline of my stamp shimmered silver before a dark wisp of smoke slowly rose from my outstretched arm. A second later it coalesced into the ghostly shape of a towering spider a translucent, almost invisible strand of mist still connecting her and me.

"That puts my questions on hold," Sera breathed reverently from somewhere behind us. "Mother Magic, that's a fully fletched Arachne…"

"No," a distant, alien voice replied. "I am the Arachne, the oldest one to ever have lived." A strange clicking noise scraped across my eardrums when Shassa manifested entirely right in front of me. Her body was still a construct of will and power but she was very much here, connected to her prison by the barest thread. "And a wee bit surprised," she added, her voice returning to the low, hissing cadence I had already become used to. "What in the nine hells am I doing here?" Like a wave her eight eyes turned and fixated on me. "Cassandra… what have you done?" This time my brother couldn't suppress his laughter, the genuine, bell like, ringing sound as adequate as… well, laughter during a funeral. More or less.

"Gorgeous. First Arthur gets his ears clipped and now my sister gets scolded by the ruthless, soul stealing, mass murdering spider. I really needed that." Still chuckling he forced a modicum of seriousness into his voice as he added: "I do wonder, though. Why is she here?"

"To repay the debt she acquired when I let her out of her box," I pressed out through clenched teeth. "She might not be able to thwart Amon directly but I'm willing to bet she can help us now."