Cassandra Pendragon
“Your… father,” I asked, flabbergasted.
“Our mother died while giving birth,” Astra replied with a sad smile. “So, there’s no scandal involved, at least as far as propriety goes. But still… allow me to start at the beginning. There’s a reason why my sister and I came to Boseiju 20 years ago, I don’t know if you’ve already guessed or been told, but the link we share, it’s not entirely natural…. nor healthy. It’s closer to a curse than anything else, one of the reasons why both of us have been more than glad when you turned out to be more than a talented kitsune. We’d have asked for your help sooner or later, but this seems like a good reason to share our story.” She paused and gestured for us to sit.
“It might take a while, so why don’t you get comfortable. First, there are a couple of things you should known about our people. We share your longevity and affinity for magic, and while neither is as pronounced with us as it is with the kitsune, we can still reach an age of several thousand years without much problems and out of a hundred elves, you’ll not find more than one who doesn’t have a sensibility for the arts. In a way though, we are still very human. We don’t lose an interest in living quite as fast as your people and we most certainly don’t simply die once we have accomplished our ambitions, we carry on, until we are claimed by death, but we never go willingly.” Huh, most kitsune actually left this world once they were convinced that they had achieved what they had been striving for, one of the reasons why there weren’t that many ancient kitsune around. If elves were different, I wondered how many of them still remembered the time from before the cataclysm.
“Consequentially, age is a very determining factor in our society, age and bloodlines. We cherish purity and strength, old families having honed their skills and literally bred themselves towards a perceived ideal, strengthening their magic, enhancing their beauty and broadening their knowledge over millennia. When our continent shattered, hundreds of years ago, the elves lost… we nearly lost everything. The most ancient and powerful of us banded together to save our culture, our home, but alas, even they were but leaves in the wind before the power we now know was the lord of mirrors. In a single night, we lost what we had tried to built for longer than we cared to remember, with only the younger generations, those who were judged too weak to help, surviving. I’m telling you this, because it is the reason why we were born with a curse and why our father probably consorted with a fey.” She gently placed her hand on Morgan’s shoulder before she continued.
“He was one of the older ones, he never told us his exact age but he must have been over 600 years old when he died. Consequentially he had been appointed to a position of power, the responsibility to guard the gates to the green island had been entrusted to him. And while, in the beginning, he took his responsibilities seriously and focused on protecting us, he soon became obsessed with returning us to our glory days, tinkering with dark magic and combing through ancient tomes in his search for a way to bring back what once was. My sister and I… we were the first experiment of his that didn’t end in a complete failure. It cost my mother’s life and made us into something… else, but at the very least, we survived. We aren’t just soul bound, we share one soul, one that has been altered to a degree that it needs two life forces, two bodies, to remain tethered to this world. When we found out what had been done to us before we even had the chance to see the world with our own eyes, we ran. We ran far away until we found another home with people similar but yet different from ours. A place where we wouldn’t feel like strangers but yet without the most terrifying faults of our own people. So much for our past and an explanation why neither of us truly cares about what happens to the elves. We were willing to return, to help convince them to fight for all of us, but they aren’t our people, not as far as we are concerned, at least.
Never the less, this brings us to what we suspect happened to Morgan. We know our father was searching for ways to enhance our bloodlines, by any means necessary and trying to mix the blood of a fey with ours seems just like the short sighted idea he’d come up with. While I’m terribly sorry that you’ve been used in this way and had to pay so dearly for his mistakes, Morgan, I would be glad if his death turned out to be the end of it, but I’m sure it isn’t. I’ve mentioned before that our current ruler trusted my father, valued him even. Hardly surprising since the man was spending every waking our on a quest to return lost power to the elven people, a task that must have endeared him to the king immensely. Long story short, it’s very likely that our father informed the royal court before he left on his expedition and his death… I’m sure there’s going to be a reaction. First, the elves probably think that he was successful and has been killed for his troubles and secondly, they’ll want revenge for the loss of one of their oldest and most venerated mages. Unless we are prepared to watch fey and elves clash in a time when we need unity among the people of this continent, we have to return and stop whatever it is they are planning to do.”
Silence was the only response she got for a while, while we digested what she had said.
“Why are you sad, then?” I asked hesitantly. The confused looks I received might have been deserved but it truly struck me as odd. I wouldn’t have cried a single tear for a man who had treaty me like that and I just couldn’t understand why the twin sisters looked so crestfallen. Anger, fear, maybe even confusion I could have understood, but sadness? And I was certain I had seen it in their eyes, heard it in their voices when they had told us for the first time that Solus had been their father.
“You are quite perceptive, princess,” Aspera surprisingly replied. I had hardly heard her speak up before since her sister was usually the one who did the talking. Her voice was soft and deep, almost velvety and not at all what I would have expected from a warrior.
“And also quite right. But we don’t grieve for him, we are… his death means our doom and even though this world can be cruel, neither one of us is yet willing to leave it behind. My sister already told you that we were born of his meddling, that he somehow altered a soul and made it incarnate in two distinct bodies. Our father wasn’t stupid. After all his failures he had learned the hard way what could happen when he played with forces far beyond his understanding. As a precaution he… he bound the spells that keep us alive, that keep the essence of our being glued together, to his own life. And now that he is gone, the spells are crumbling and we… we are fading. It won’t be long before our soul leaves us and all that will remain are two empty husks of what we once were.” Oh… come on. Were they kidding me?
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“Are you gods damned serious? You want to tell me that you didn’t know this was happening? That you didn’t feel the spells unravelling? But never mind that… what the fuck are you doing here? There’s exactly one person on this island you should be talking to and it sure as all hells ain’t me. Go, better run now, search Mephisto. Get him to help. If there’s anybody alive who can help, it will be him, but you should know that, both of you. What were you thinking?” They smiled at me, which infuriated me even more. “Why are you still here?” I almost screamed.
“Because we need you,” Astra replied. “We already talked to him. Believe it or not, we are the reason why he has forced a drop of hellfire back into his ghost of an existence. He wants to help, but he doesn’t have the power. You don’t have the knowledge but with his guidance you could do what he can’t… you could save us. And we haven’t brought it up before because it hasn’t been relevant. You weren’t, in any form, capable of conducting the magic that’ll be necessary, and Mephisto wasn’t sure if there is a way, but now that has changed. But even with your help, we’ll most likely not survive. But at least he promised us that our soul won’t disintegrate, we’ll leave this world intact. That’s why we’re sad, the next days might very well be our last in the world of the living.”
“Since when do you know?” I quietly asked.
“Our father died two nights ago and we immediately felt the magic waning. Truth be told, we had already made our peace with what’s going to happen to us, but then… you transformed and ignited your magic.”
“Has he told you that?”
“For the most part. Some things we already guessed simply from being around you and everything you told us after we fled from Boseiju. Which brings me to why you’re here: will you try to save us?”
“Of course, you know that. Is this the reason why you told us your story? In case you don’t survive and we have to deal with the elves without your guidance?”
“Precisely. We have also created a memory crystal with everything essential we can remember. Should we… should we not make it, you’d better use it.” I was already half standing, when Aspera put her hand on my shoulder to calm me down.
“There’s no need to rush,” she gently explained. “We still have some time left and the ritual Mephisto intends to use needs time to prepare. Time and ingredients we don’t have here. We’ll have to buy everything we’re missing and the only place close enough, where we might find the necessary herbs, crystals and conductors is Free Land. It’s just… there won’t be enough time to fly there and back again with a sky ship, especially if we wait until the morrow.”
“I’ll go,” Viyara immediately said telepathically. “I might not be as fast as Ahri or Cassy, but I can still be back here by noon tomorrow and I know my way around these parts, at least somewhat. I can carry you there and back again quickly enough.”
“And I’ll come with you to make sure you don’t get lost or kidnapped… again,” Erya added. “Besides, the burial tonight might become rather awkward for the two of us. Our peoples aren’t exactly friends to the dwarfs and I imagine they could do without a fey or a dragon lurking around. And if you’d care to join us, I wouldn’t mind your company,” she added with a sidelong glance at Mordred.
“A shopping trip with four crazy girls, how could I possibly decline,” he groaned. “Fine, when do you want to leave.”
“The sooner the better,” Viyara replied. “It’ll still take me several hours to reach Free Land and only the gods know how long it’ll take us to find everything we need.”
“And how are you going to pay for it?” Ahri interjected. “A smile and a handshake?”
“I don’t intend to pay at all,” Erya replied with a smirk. “We’re going to be out of there again before anyone will notice. No need to dig into our nonexistent funds.”
“Seriously? You want to steal everything?”
“Why? Don’t tell me that makes you uncomfortable.”
“No, not at all. I was just wondering if you could get a few other things we need dearly while you’re at it.”
“Sure, what do you have in mind?” It somehow struck me as odd that I had gone from politics, dressing gowns and private tutors to heists, rituals and deadly conflicts within a few days.
“Nothing special, but we do need money, or something that can be turned into it quickly enough. Also, if you have the chance, we could always use healing potions, as many as you can get your hands on.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”
“What about you two,” I asked, turning to Morgan and Auguros. “Do you urgently need anything?”
Morgan shook her head apathetically but Auguros appeared to have a whole list at the ready.
“With our magic gone, there’s a whole plethora of things we could use, but for the most part, I need some form of container that can hold astral energy. It doesn’t have to be much, just enough for a few minor spells. And of course anything related to the fey would be tremendously helpful. Sooner or later we’ll have to find our way back, if we want to revert what they’ve done to us and anything, anything at all, could be useful. As for artefacts, if you could find prepared shells I can fill with a spell or two, that’d be great. And then…” He paused when he realised that we were all staring at him.
“Sorry, I got carried away. Uh, a small container for astral energies would be great, though.”
My mom rubbed her head against my cheek and when I looked down at her, she pointed her tails in the direction of the elves.
“You want to go with them,” I whispered. She nodded.
“Fine by me, I don’t think I could stop you either way. Just be careful, I bet there are enough idiots out their who’d risk their neck for your fur. If you want to do me a favour, stay close to Mordred, will you? I think he’s the most sensible of the bunch and ruthless enough to keep all of you safe.”
She nodded again, squeezed my neck with her tails and scurried off to take a seat on Mordred’s shoulder.
“Well, I guess that’s it,” I said loudly. “Viyara should be able to contact me if anything goes wrong and if you haven’t returned by noon tomorrow, we’ll come looking for you. Good luck, and friendly winds.”
“Thank you, thank you all,” Astra said, her voice hoarse. “I… we… just, thank you.”
“You can save the speech for when we’ve actually accomplished something,” Mordred replied while he was already walking towards Viyara. “Come on, we should get moving.”
A few hugs later, Ahri and I stood side by side while the silhouette of the golden dragoness became smaller and smaller as she soared into the darkening sky, the passengers on her back already nothing more than small specks of colour.
“You have courageous friends, lady Cassandra. A bit strange, maybe, but definitely courageous,” Auguros mumbled behind my back. “Chin up Morgan, there’s hardly a better place where you could have ended up and you heard it before from the elves: that egoistic bastard has used you. He isn’t worth your tears.” Ahri turned away from me to face the two fey.
“That’s easier said than done. Why don’t you come with us, Morgan? We still have a few moments before the sun is completely gone and the burial starts. Since we are going to be spending quite some time together from now on, why don’t we share a cup of tea? It would do wonders for you to simply talk and Cassy and I would love to get to know you. What do you say?”
Her eyes traveled from her to me uncertainly and I could see her wish to simply sleep and forget her woes for a while, lurking just beneath the surface. But she didn’t give in and after a few seconds, she nodded hesitantly.
“Great,” Ahri replied and grabbed her hand unceremoniously to pull her along.
“I guess you aren’t invited, sorry,” I said to Auguros and hurried after them.