Cassandra Pendragon

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But I didn’t say I am humble, I said I was humbled. Happiness and individual desires tend to become far less important, once you’ve been in touch with a spirit like Gaya. Suffering and delight… the difference doesn’t matter to her, as long as she can… live, grow. I guess that’s why she fears your family so much. A barren wasteland comes very close to what she’d consider a nightmare. Which makes me…” he paused, his head swivelling from left to right until it settled on a spot in the shadows, prompting me to look around. I had been solely focused on our conversation and hadn’t payed much attention to our surroundings. A bit careless, as it turned out.

Three burly figures were barricading our way. We had already left the main roads, which led to the harbour and had entered the maze of winding alleys, sprawling towards the markets. At first glance, I thought we had run into the usual, rowdy stragglers, looking for a bit of entertainment after their favourite tavern had closed for the night, but I was quickly dissuaded of the notion.

While I could smell a whiff of stale schnapps and old tobacco on their breath, they were quite steady and far from drunk enough to have spent the whole night boozing. Another dead giveaway were the cudgels and crude but oversized knifes they tried to hide clumsily behind their backs. No, they weren’t looking for entertainment but trying to secure the funds they’d need for tomorrow’s celebration. I couldn’t help myself, a lopsided grin spread across my face under the hood. I did understand them. An elderly, well dressed human and a tall but slim figure in a pristine, white cloak should make for a decent catch, but little did they know… oh well, they would find out, soon enough.

“Good evenin’,” one of them spoke in a slow drawl, that already made my fur bristle. “‘S a fine night, innit? The two of you seem like well off and friendly fellows. Why don’t you share a bit of your good fortune and we can all be on our way? It’d be a shame to ruin such a fine night with blood and violence, wouldn’t it?” A quiet sound, like rustling leafs, told me that another pair had stepped from the darkness behind us, blocking our way back. That, and the nearly overwhelming smell of garlic. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing directly from the harbour and one of them seemed to be in the dubious habit of chewing the dreaded root. Now, I was forced to enjoy the full spectrum of its rancid taste.

Before I could voice my displeasure, though, Auguros spoke up: “oh my, of course. Good fortune is best shared among friends, don’t you agree, Cassandra? And the best we can do for you, is to make sure, that you leave your current path, otherwise I fear you might not be getting much older. You’re in a dangerous line of work, good sir. Sometimes, you just run out of luck.”

“Huh,” the previous speaker replied eloquently, while he produced his impressive club and swung it in Auguros direction. “I dunno what you want, gramps, but I’m not going to let you make fun of me. See that? That’s about 3 kilos of hardened oak and if you don’t fork over your purse, I’m going to ram it straight up your arse. You hear me?”

The fey’s eyes went wide in an exaggerated display of fright. “Oh no, whatever should I do?” I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer and whispered:

“Would you be just as brazen, if I wasn’t at your side?” He shrugged imperceptibly, but didn’t reply. Instead, he continued with his charade. I would have done the same.

“I hear you, loud and clear. My friend here,” he slapped my back, “is the one carrying all our coin. Why don’t you persuade her to part with it? I’ll just watch from the sidelines.” Asshole.

“Ain’t that right. Well then, missy, why don’t you hand over the money and remove that hood as well, so we can see your face?” Damn it, I had already beaten one human black and blue tonight, I seriously wasn’t in the mood for a few more, but as it stood, I didn’t seem like I was going to have much of a choice. Auguros had made plenty sure of it. In that case, I might just as well have some fun. Who knew, maybe I could even provide some direly needed education.

Sighing, I lowered my hood and suppressed the flow of energy from my core, until my eyes were barely glowing anymore. With a challenging gaze, I raised my head and smiled at the supposed leader of the brigands. “That’s one part of your request fulfilled. As for the second… I’m afraid you’ll have to get the money yourself, provided you can.”

A lecherous glint entered his eyes as he gestured for his companions. “My pleasure. I hope you like it rough, little lady. If you don’t struggle, this might not even hurt, too much.”

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you the same,” I murmured, while I sent a trickle of power to my ears and mind, just in case. The two bozos behind me had taken their clue and were dashing forward, weapons and garlic breath raised, while the ones in front of me tried to keep my attention with a boisterous display of mediocrely executed swings. To their credit, they at least didn’t fool around and took me seriously. Not that it was going to make much of a difference, but I had already expected the most outspoken one to try and take me on, one on one. Maybe there were some brains, hidden under their shaggy, matted hair, after all. Or they just had one routine, they always followed. Probably the latter.

I could have dodged, I could have manifested my wings, I could have ordered them to run, there was a whole variety of things I could have done, but a frontal attack struck me as the most appropriate course of action. While the more or less silent and smelly duo behind me nearly stumbled over their feet, when their heavy swings connected with nothing but air, I collided with the boisterous louts in front of me. I dashed through the gap between the outspoken one in the middle and his friend on the left, my right elbow smashing into a chest and my left foot aimed at a knee. For a split second, their expressions remained frozen, somewhere between disbelieve and anticipation, but when their legs suddenly collapsed under them and the searing pain from a severely damaged knee and a couple of broken ribs caught up to them, their grins disappeared.

I came to a sliding halt, a handful of metres behind them, while their screams began echoing through the alley. They weren’t used to being on the receiving end of a beating and the experience didn’t sit well with them. Leisurely, I twirled on the spot, my tails fanning out from under the cloak. The two I had hit were down and the ones, who had tried to catch me off guard, were still stampeding in my direction, like huffing, overweighted monkeys. The last one though, the one I hadn’t wounded on my way past, was dashing towards Auguros, his overly long machete raised over his head. He was either really clever or cowardly, but for now, he was my biggest problem.

That was, until the wizened and weak grandpa’s indulgent smile became somewhat diabolical and a murderous glint appeared in his eyes. Smoothly, effortlessly, he parried the overhead swing and caught the offending arm in a vicelike grip. “Told you so,” he said. “It’s a dangerous world.” His other hand came up and he locked his adversary’s elbow. “If you’re not careful, you’ll get hurt.” When he spun, the pained wails, of the ones I had downed, were joined by a new voice, his attacker clutching the open fracture of his arm, where a white nub of bone stuck from the bloodied joint. Torn flesh gave way to a torrent of blood and the human fell, like a puppet, whose strings had been cut.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Ouch,” I whispered. Without treatment, that wound wouldn’t heal. Vicious, vicious fey. Shrugging, I focused on the remaining two, but even these knuckleheads had started to realise that something was off. They weren’t charging blindly ahead anymore, but instead were dashing off in two different directions. Without a further glance at their fallen brothers in arms, they were hurtling away, as fast as their feet could carry them. Honour among thieves really was nothing but a myth. For a second, I contemplated rushing after them, but to what end? I wasn’t going to kill them and whatever beating I’d administer, they’d be back at it, as soon as their wounds had healed. “Cowards,” I still spat, but they didn’t even hear me anymore, their shadows vanishing behind the next corner, the staccato of their frenzied footsteps a hurried drumbeat in the night.

“And what have we here,” I murmured, as I approached the fallen would be robbers. “Not so high and mighty, anymore are we?” I crouched next to the one, whom Auguros had wounded and winced in sympathy. Up close, the bleeding, mutilated arm looked even worse and his constant squirming didn’t make it any better. Still, he was present enough to make a token effort and swing at me. “Stop it,” I admonished. “If we don’t help, you’ll lose your arm, no doubt about it. I’ve seen my fair share of wounds and this one is truly marvellous. Either you play along or I’m going to break your legs as well, and leave you here for the rats. Your choice.”

He groaned and whispered but the anger in his eyes was slowly being overshadowed by pain and when I, accidentally of course, brushed against his hand and moved his arm, he quickly relented. “That’s better,” I mumbled. “Auguros, come here. You’ve damaged him, now you can try and fix him.”

“And why’s that? Let him be, I say. If you want to be kind, slit his throat. With the filth he’s lying in, infection is bound to get him. Without proper treatment he’ll die in agony within a few days, so why bother? They asked for it, didn’t they?” I rolled my eyes.

“For someone who’s basically only alive because of the mercy of others, you’re prepared to issue a death sentence surprisingly quickly.” He grumbled under his breath and the few words I could understand weren’t exactly flattering, but he still did as I asked. Unwillingly and with more force than actual care, he pushed the bone back into its place while I held the yammering fellow down.

“That’s about as much as I can do. The rest…” he stopped, even the quiet groans of the bandits died down, when my wings manifested. With a thought, I sent my energy into the wound and coursing through his veins, purifying whatever disease he might have picked up. Gradually, fresh, pink skin spread over the wound and a few seconds later, the arm was as good as new.

“You were saying,” I asked, with a grin.

“Never mind. Now what? We just leave them be, with a story to tell?”

“Not quite, I…” I had already begun going through his things, the least we could do was take whatever coin they had on hand, but when I came across a small, black and red pendant around his neck, I froze. There, hidden underneath his filthy shirt was a leather band with a broken wheel, made from blackened metal, with red highlights, attached to it. I hissed and tore the little gizmo free. It had been a while, but I would recognise the design everywhere. Finally, I had my proof, that the mercenaries hadn’t only headed for Free Land out of convenience, but that they were truly tied to this place. I just didn’t know if they were also connected to the church. Not yet, at any rate.

“Where did you get this,” I inquired and when he failed to answer immediately, his eyes still glued to my wings, they suddenly flared brightly, filling the night with the smell of ozone and the crackling of power. “I asked, where’d did you get this piece,” I repeated, my voice thrumming with a foreboding cadence, reminiscent of a brewing thunderstorm.

“I…I,” white like a sheet, he began stammering through a barely intelligible reply. Only when I slapped him hard enough to make his nose bleed, did he manage to form a coherent sentence.

“I… it was given to me! I swear, I didn’t steal it!” He might have thought, that’d be what I wanted to hear, but, oh boy, was he wrong.

“Who,” I demanded to know. “Who gave it to you?” No answer came forth but he began struggling and squirming like an eel. I had grabbed him by the collar and without realising, had begun twisting the cloth, choking him out slowly. With a curse, I relaxed my fingers a bit, my eyes never wavering from his. “Answer me,” I commanded coldly.

“I dunno, I really don’t,” he spluttered and sprayed me with spittle, his face red. “I dunno his name! All of us got ‘em! Boss said, they be coming from heaven and we should wear ‘em to show our allegiance. So, we do! We meant nothin’ by it!”

“Your allegiance? Allegiance to whom,” I asked, while my wings danced around us like a swarm of silvery snakes. By now, the burly mugger was scared enough to wet his pants.

“The flag! Our allegiance to the flag! One of the Captains, I dunno, which! He be pushin’ into the streets for a while now and the boss decided to join with him. He didn’t tell us nothin’, only that we be making twice the money, overnight. Gotta talk to him, if you wanna know more.”

“And where can I find him? What’s his name?”

“John, his name ‘s John! But I dunno,” my eyes narrowed and I decided to cut through his skin only deeply enough to draw a drop of blood, but the faint sizzling of ozone, when my wing connected with his leg, was enough to make him reconsider. “He’s got a brother,” he cried out. “He’s got a brother! He be knowing where you can find ‘im. Richard, Richard’s the name. He’s a tavern brawler. The place isn’t far away. I’ll show you, if you let me go!”

“You’ll show me, either way,” I said menacingly and cut just a smidgen deeper. As far as possible, he paled even further and began to hyperventilate, the crotch of his pants slowly turning wet. I wrinkled my nose at the acidic stench.

“Yes, yes, of course I will! Whatever you say!” I patted his cheek.

“That’s a good boy. Now, up you go.” My wings swirled around his arms and I heaved him to his feet. “I don’t need to tell, what’s going to happen, should you try to run, do I? Just a hint, though, I’m faster than you are, much faster. Having to chase you down will only put me in a bad mood. Well, worse than the one I’m already in. Spare us both the mess, will you?” Threatening him was hardly necessary anymore, he was already scared out of his wits, but a little extra couldn’t hurt.

Eager nodding was my only reply. I let him go and turned to the other two, who had followed our exchange wide eyed. “As for you… your wounds aren’t deadly. Get up and carry your sorry asses out of here. Should we ever meet again, it better be you, serving me a decently brewed ale in a tavern. Prowl the streets again and I’ll tear you limb from limb. It might take a year, it might take a decade, but I’m going to find you. Now, go!” The last words I uttered with the pressure of my power and they fled blindly, even the one with the damaged leg managed to limp along at an astounding speed.

“Am I right to assume that you intend to visit said establishment,” Auguros asked. He had quietly gotten closer, but remained well away from the storm of light, that still raged around me.

“Quite so.” I raised the pendant. “The traders… mercenaries who helped sack my home, they wore an almost identical coat of arms. Those… humans, they slaughtered my people, they took our young and they left us to die cruelly by the hands of a monster. It looks like I’m going to find out, who thought that he could make a profit off the suffering of my people, my family. I’m more than keen on hearing their explanation and expressing my displeasure. But first, I’m going to bring you to Alassara. I’m sure my fiancée and my family would dearly like to vent their grievances, as well. I’m not going to deny them the chance.”