Cassandra Pendragon
I thought about what Xorlosh had said as I picked up Adam from where I had left him and walked over to the fox people, my people. I had to give them hope and reassure them that we were going to be okay. I plastered a smile on my face, rubbed my eyes one last time and strode on purposefully.
They greeted me respectfully, even the wounded ones were trying to get up. I shook hands, hugged children and tried to encourage the down hearted, which were nearly all of them. I answered question and tried to project an air of confidence. “Yes, the garden is safe, every intruder down here has been killed. No, I don’t know exactly what’s happening on Boseiju, but we’re working on a way to get back and reclaim our home. Yes, the palaces have been attacked as well, but I can’t say for sure how each family fared. No, whatever happens we’ll not leave the missing children to fight for themselves…” on and on the bombardment of questions continued and I took the time to talk to everyone, albeit shortly. I wanted to assess how many of them were still capable of fighting and willing to do so. From the start I excluded the ones with families and the ones who were related to one of the missing children. The former had different responsibilities and I would need the latter later on. If anybody was going to help me mount a rescue mission it would be them.
After 20 minutes I had a pretty accurate impression of the survivors. They were shaken to the bones, but more than ready to dish out a little payback. Of the 64 kitsune I was prepared to take 21 back up the tree. The others were either too badly injured, unfortunately my father hadn’t handed me any healing potions, or had children of their own. Of the 21 each and every one was an apt fighter and, being of the fox tribe, could cast a wide array of spells. Together with the 102 dwarfs clad in their runic armour I felt like I had an impressive force assembled around me. Before I headed back to the dwarfs, I asked my volunteers to get ready swiftly. I expected us to move quickly, depending on what my father had told Xorlosh.
I strode back, leaving Adam behind, past burned trees and crumbled houses. Xorlosh was discussing something rather heatedly with two other dwarfs. I couldn’t understand their guttural tongue perfectly, I had never learned dwarvish after all, but my knowledge of languages should allow me get a round about idea what was being said. Unfortunately they abruptly fell silent as soon as they saw me approach. That felt kind of strange. What could they possibly want to keep from me? A spike of panic raced through me as I thought on it. Had something happened to my family? Or was the situation up on Boseiju unsalvageable? These were the only explanations I could come up with on the spot and they made me dread whatever Xorlosh had to tell me. Confidence, I scolded myself and kept on walking.
“Ahh, lass, how’s everyone doing? They okay? And more importantly, are you?” Xorlosh greeted me as soon as I was near enough to communicate without shouting.
“They are angry, hurt, desperate and burning for revenge. It’s quite the same for me, but I was able to get my head back in order. Thank you for that. Now, what’s going on? Did you talk to my father?”
“Yeah, I did. But it’s not sunshine and roses up there. Me ‘n the boys have just been discussing what your da told us. He’s got ‘em observation orbs up and running. He couldn’t get a peek inside the second palace but he got some information on the others and it’s not looking good. You know that your ma, brother and a bunch of friend of yours tried to sneak into the palace of the sun, right?” I nodded, anxious what he was going to say next. It must have shown on my face because he hastily replied:
“Nothing happened to ‘em, as far as I know, but they didn’t find a single soul alive within. There were bodies and no shortage of ‘em, mind you, but no one living was left. From what your da told me, there weren’t nearly enough corpses for the whole family, servants and guards. They have been taken somewhere else, he reckons.” He paused briefly to scratch his nose and continued: “from your da’s scrying he gathered that it’s pretty much the same for the other palaces. The kings and everybody who put up resistance has been executed and the rest disappeared without a trace. I reckon they’ve been taken to the second palace, it’s the only one we can’t peek into after all. Right now, our little group of spies is trying to get inside, maybe they can find out what’s going on.”
“What about the shadows who attacked our palace? Where are they?”
“Oh, right, they are roaming all over the branches, looking for survivors. The stairs have been sealed by a strange magic and a small contingent of 15 shadows is guarding the exit. It’ll be one helluva a dance to force our way through.”
“So, basically we have no idea what the emperor is doing but we do know he barricaded the way up. Doesn’t that mean he needs time for whatever he is planning?”
“Nah, he might also have placed the seal and guards there to stop anyone from escaping. We can’t be sure why he blocked the stairs. The only thing I’m pretty confident in is, that whatever he’s doing is gonna take place inside the second palace. Your da and I talked for a bit and we decided to give your ma 30 more minutes to contact your da before we storm the stairs.” He looked sheepish as he said that and threw me glance under his eyebrows.
“I also promised your da that I wouldn’t take you along. You’re to remain here and look after the wounded. Sorry lass, but I gave my word.” He gestured to the two dwarfs with whom he had been arguing and continued: “Atosh and Brombolosh will keep ya company so you don’t get any fancy ideas.” So that had been what they had argued about. No matter, I didn’t intent to take the stairs anyways. He was quite surprised when I answered: “it seems like you have it all figured out. You don’t need me anymore, do you?” He was suspicious and answered slowly: “nah, not really. Why ‘re you asking, though?” I threw him my most dazzling smile and replied: “no reason.”
The wind blew his hair and beard back as I unfurled my wings and soared into the night. What Xorlosh had told me had only strengthened my conviction to help in any way I could and caring for the injured wasn’t the best way to use my talents. I flew through the acrid air and closed my eyes. My attention was turned inwards, I was searching for a speck of myself somewhere above. At first I was blind and feared that I would crash into a branch on my way up. But after a moment something changed. My wings transmitted impressions of everything they touched, air currents, particles of ash and flying leafs. Piece by piece my surroundings came into focus. It wasn’t like I could see with my eyes closed, it was more like a close ranged sonar, slowly generating a map in my mind. The details were amazing, I could tell how many leafs tumbled through the air currents beside me, how the pressure changed around me and I could even feel the starlight touching my wings. When I had closed my eyes, my other senses had started working together much more seamlessly, it wasn’t only my touch but also my hearing and sense of smell that provided me with information. I could decipher the different fragrances of elements around me, from burned wood to charred flesh and, quite subdued, cherry blossoms, and pinpoint the precise origin of creaking of wood, rustling leafs and the loud cursing of dwarfs, well, one dwarf was cursing and two were whistling through their teeth. The world around me became clearer than it had ever been, unfortunately my range was severely limited. Where my wings ended, everything turned dark. I could still hear and smell as well as before, but I couldn’t turn the information into a complete image.
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I mused shortly on the usefulness of my new vision in combat before something else caught my attention. Far beyond my reach I “saw” a speck of light. It was high above me and slightly to the right, exactly where the second palace should be. I didn’t receive any information from the tiny dot, but I felt it quite clearly and I could target it easily enough. I adjusted my course and opened my eyes. My ascent had taken me 50 meters into the air but I was still quite far away from the lowest branches of Boseiju. The information I received from my other sense was limited as long as I used my eyes. I guessed that my brain wasn’t able to produce an image of my surroundings as long as I could see them directly, too much attention had to be diverted to interpret the visual signals I received.
I knew where the coin was, now I had to get there, preferably without triggering an alarm, being shot from the sky or living through any other nasty surprise. My best bet would be to stick close to Boseiju’s trunk, directly beneath the branch where the second palace had been built. I thought the underside was most likely unguarded. While it was true that some constructions stretched on even below the branches, I didn’t expect the emperor to care much about those buildings. Usually they were just walls or small walkways, connecting to Boseiju’s trunk and, additionally, they were mostly kept a secret to provide a safe passage for the royal families. Much good they had done in this capacity. But I shouldn’t complain, my father was probably holed up in one of these passages under our palace right now, working his artefacts.
Silently I soared higher, sticking to Boseiju’s trunk. With a slight adjustment I glided to the right until I could see the huge branch of the second family loom right above me. The underside seemed untouched, white and red blossoms broke through the green of leafs and all I could see was the wall, close to the trunk, which encircled the entire branch. There were no walkways or other structures I could make out. I couldn’t see any movement or light source below the branch either, but that didn’t mean much. Shadows could easily be hiding in the canopy or along the wall.
There wasn’t much I could do about them though and I was set on reaching my friends. With all my might I pushed against the air around me and shot upwards, the wind of my passage ruffled my hair and made my eyes water. Luckily my form of flight didn’t produce any sound except for my body whistling through the air. Within seconds the stars disappeared as I entered the shadow of the branch. A moment later one of my wingtips touched the first leafs. It was time to try something else.
I knew I could move through space, I had seen it in a memory and I had already done so when I had teleported into the trial cage to save Ahri. I could remember the feeling, how my wings had cut through space and my body had followed on its own accord, passing along the tunnel my wings and created. I tried to recreate the sensation, that particular twist and shove that would let me cut more than just air, but I couldn’t get it right before I passed into the lowest branches underneath the palace. With a rustling of leaves and a soft thud I nestled myself into a green nest of leafs and blossoms. I closed my eyes again and focused on the small speck of light. It was considerably closer and it was moving, slowly. From where I judged the palace to be, I thought they were still on the outside, but really close to it. Maybe 50 meters above me and 100 to my left which would put them in the closest side branch just besides the palace.
From where I was I could maybe hide myself from everyone on the branch and still reach them, flying underneath the side branches and using the canopy as cover. Thought and done I soared into the night again, meticulously avoiding every spot where starlight came through the leafs. Ash and smoke made my life much easier for the first time tonight and I didn’t hear any alarms as I quickly approached their side branch from below. I shuddered and nearly drifted off course when a huge drop of a nasty liquid splashed against my head. Reflexively I wiped my hand through my hair and it came away black in the near darkness, but the smell was unique. Blood had dripped down from the platform and it wasn’t the only droplet. Like a swarm of flies, large, black drops fell towards the earth. Wherever they hit a branch a fine mist, shimmering silver where starlight would touch it, sprayed into the air. What had happened up there?
I didn’t care much for the vicious fluid that slowly soaked my shirt and sped right through. I was below a wooden platform, very similar to our training grounds. With a last burst of speed, I reached the edge with my wings and used my 20 meters of reach to slow down. I hung close to one of the supports, a strong branch rising up from below the platform just to my right. Carefully I pulled myself up, centimetre for centimetre, until I could peek over the ledge.
I had to bite my tongue, literally, as I stared into a pair of glassy, dead eyes. A kitsune, I had seen him around during social events but never talked to him, was sprawled on the ground lifelessly. He laid on his stomach and seemed unharmed but from the amount of blood that seeped into the ground around him, his front must have been ravaged. Grizzly tattoos covered his head. He wasn’t the only one. The lifeblood of over 20 kitsune seeped into the wood. They had been thrown on the ground unceremoniously, their corpses clumped together in stacks of five. Every centimetre of their skin had been inked with runes in stunning detail. I didn’t recognise them but they left me with a rotten, slimy feeling just from looking at them. The chest area of the ones I could see was a gaping, bloody hole with bits of bone sticking out. It looked very much like something had clawed its way outside.
The smell was horrific and together with the scene before me and the blood on my skin I had to bite a hole through my tongue to stop myself from screaming. The pain helped, quite a lot. I forced myself to take in as much as I could and focus on the details, the form of the runes, the clothes the dead were wearing and if I recognise another face. I did, several of them, but if I remembered correctly they would all be servants or guards I had seen around Boseiju on one occasion or the other. None of the royals were present as far as I could tell. When I couldn’t look into their empty eyes anymore I closed mine and concentrated on the emblem. It was further up the side branch, in the canopy.
I lowered myself back down and shimmied along the ledge until I reached the end of the platform. My wings curled around the branch and I continued on, away from the palace. After a couple of meters I heard hushed voices talking in the canopy and pulled myself up and towards them. I clung to the branch, still hidden behind a thicket of leaves and decided to eavesdrop for a moment. I could hear Greta talking softly:
“They conjured the shadows from those poor bastards, no doubt about it. But there aren’t nearly enough bodies for all the shadows you guys have talked about. Something is not right. Do you remember the horde that trampled along the branch not 20 minutes ago? They alone were more than the twenty over there. If your husband is right and the dwarfs are about to attack I say we wait for them. I have no intention of running into a death trap and that’s what this palace has become. If we had Cassandra with us, maybe she could get through the enchantments and runes around the walls or destroy them straight up. But I don’t see a way without her.”