Chapter 420: A Warm Memory

  Yellow mana swirled around the boat as Kithina’s gale pushed the fog away. Callum watched the powerful display of magic in awe. It felt as if they were in the eye of a storm.

  Lysaila sheathed her blade and turned her dull gaze into the open sea.

  “Lysaila? Are you alright?” Callum asked.

  The lamia slowly slithered her way towards the edge of the ship.

  “Lysaila, what are you doing!?” Callum yelled.

  Then he heard it. From far out in the sea he heard the faint enticing song of the sirens. The melodic song echoed above the still waters, entrancing the sailors one by one.

  Captain Greyson paled as he realized what was happening. “The sirens… they’re here! Cover your ears, men! Cover your ears!”

  Kithina’s arms trembled and her wind spell began to fall apart and the fog grew closer towards the ship.

  “Kitty, fight it off!” Callum yelled beside her.

  “I-I’m trying!” Kithina said between clenched teeth.

  “Remember Professor Ismene’s lessons! Clear your mind!”

  “I can’t clear my mind and cast at the same time!”

  “Just hold on a little longer. If I can just reach my satchel, agh, dammit! Lysaila, snap out of it! We need you! Lysaila!” Callum screamed.

  The lamia ignored his voice and grabbed a harpoon from the stash of weapons the sailors had put aside before tying themselves up.

  Callum swallowed nervously, “L-Lysaila? W-What are you doi— Lysaila!?”

  Lysaila gripped the harpoon tight, pulled her arm back, and hurled the harpoon into the water. It flew off in a blur and crashed with a large splash. A siren’s gurgling cry sounded in the distance.

  “Hah! Stupid fish! Did you think your off-tune song could actually work on me!?” Lysaila laughed maniacally. She grabbed another harpoon and hurled it before the stunned sirens had a chance to react.

  The sirens tried to swim around the volleys of harpoons but soon the water was dyed red with blood. The remaining sirens stopped their song and quickly dove deep into the waters.

  “They’re gone…! I don’t believe it,” Greyson muttered in awe.

  Lysaila flicked her fork tongue out with a deadly smile. “They were fools to have attacked our ship.”

  Kithina sighed in relief.

  Callum shook his head in disbelief, “I thought— I thought you were under their magic.”

  “Pfft, please. I told you, vampling, my kind is immune to mind magics,” Lysaila said.

  “But what about the fog?” Callum raised his eyebrow.

  “The fog is different,” she admitted. “It mustn't be mind magic, but some sort of sensory disarray phenomenon.”

  “Well, in any case, the sirens are gone, at least for now,” Callum said. “Care to help me with these ropes?”

  Lysaila slithered over towards him and sliced the ropes between his hands with a single clean strike. “What would you do without me?”

  “Probably die,” Callum answered honestly with a wry smile.

  “It’s odd. The chances of sirens swimming in fog-infested waters and finding our ship within such fog at the same time…?” Greyson shook his head. “It’s almost impossible. Unless…”

  “Unless, what?” Callum asked.

  “Unless the sirens were already pursuing another ship,” Greyson said. “It would explain why they swam into the fog. The sirens must have given up on the other ship and found ours when Mistress Kithina created this shelter among the fog.”

  “But why would the sirens give up on another ship? I doubt they had a lamia among their crew,” a sailor said aloud.

  “Oh, I can think of two good reasons,” Lysaila said and thought of the twin archmages. “Our enemies must be close by. We must hurry if we’re to reach the island before them.”

  “Guys, sorry to interrupt your oh-so-interesting conversation, but I can only hold this wind spell for a few more minutes,” Kithina said with a strained voice.

  “Right, sorry,” Callum winced. “I’ll create a ward dome to keep us safe from the fog.”

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  “You can create one as large as the ship?” Lysaila asked skeptically.

  “Gods, no, but I can create a small ward dome around the three of us. If it’s only that size I should be able to hold it until we sail out of this damned fog.”

  “What about the rest of the crew and I?” Greyson frowned.

  “We’ll keep you safe, I promise,” Callum swore.

  “More specifically, Kitty and I will,” Lysaila said.

  “While Cal supports us,” Kithina added.

  Greyson closed his eyes in regret and sighed. “Dear gods, I hope this works.”

~~~

  Deep in the scarlet forest of Vulture Woods the goddess of the moon lay on her side next to a pond of crystal clear water. Her wolf tail lazily swished in the air as her head hovered over the water, her startling silver eyes staring at her own reflection with a pensive gaze.

  A few bushes across the pond shook and a small blue toddler stumbled out and fell into the grassy clearing.

  “Back again?” Lunae muttered, mildly annoyed. “I can’t tell which is more unbelievable. That you continue to escape the Mothers or how you always manage to find me.”

  Stryg’s pudgy arms slowly pushed himself to his feet with unsteady legs. He spotted the giant white wolf across the pond and his lilac eyes lit up with joy. “Luma!”

  “I am Lunae, goddess of your people, Watcher of the Realm,” she corrected with a deep rumbling voice for the dozenth time. “It is the one name you should learn properly, even moreso than your own.”

  “Ehehe! I found you! I found you!” The two-year-old toddler jumped up and down in excitement.

  “Yes, yes, you’ve found me. Now go away,” Lunae said, uninterested, before gazing back at her own reflection.

  “Why?” he asked with the curious tone only a toddler could muster without effort.

  Lunae glared at him and bared her fangs, “Because if you do not, I will devour you, vermin.”

  He blinked. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t like you,” she snapped.

  Stryg’s eyes teared up. He grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and tried his best not to cry. “B-But,” he sniffed, “I like Luma!”

  “Well, I don’t like you, so leave,” she said curtly, then rolled around and turned her back to him.

  Stryg’s bottom lip trembled but he rubbed his eyes and sniffed. “Why?” he asked shakily.

  Lunae’s tail stiffened in annoyance. She took a deep breath, her patience growing thin. “Because I wish to be left alone.”

  “Why?”

  “...Because nothing out there matters… not anymore.”

  Stryg was no longer listening. He was waddling back and forth at the edge of the pond, searching for a way across.

  Lunae watched him from the corner of her silver eye with mild interest. He could simply walk all the way around the pond to where she was but he seemed too stupid to have reached that conclusion and Lunae was in no way inclined to enlighten him.

  Instead, Stryg inched his way to the edge of the pond and hopped onto the floating log that had fallen into the water some weeks ago. The log shook for a moment but stopped, the toddler’s weight too little to throw him off.

  Stryg kept his eyes on his feet as his chubby arms flapped from side to side while he shuffled his way clumsily towards Lunae.

  “You are a tedious little creature, aren’t you?” the goddess muttered.

  Stryg looked up at the sound of her voice and his eyes met hers. He smiled wide, “Luma!”

  Then he lost his balance and fell into the water.

  “H-Help!” he gasped while flailing in the water.

  “You can’t even swim?” Luma said in disbelief.

  “Luma!” he cried out helplessly.

  “Hmph.” She turned her back to him and ignored his cries.

  “Luma!” he yelled weakly one last time. His tiny limbs tired and he sank to the bottom of the pond.

  A wolfen tail reached into the water and wrapped itself around the toddler before yanking him up. Stryg sputtered and coughed up water, his limp body hanging in the air exhausted.

  Lunae pulled him in front of her and narrowed her silver eyes. “How is it that you can find me inside a forest of deadly beasts yet you cannot even swim to save yourself? You are a disgrace to your nature, little one.”

  Stryg’s tiny arms reached out towards her snarling face. “Luma!”

  “It’s Lunae. Lunae,” she growled.

  He giggled. “Luma!”

  “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

  The toddler cocked his head to the side in curiosity and then suddenly sneezed. His wet clothes and the cold breeze sent a chill through his small body. “L-Luma…” he mumbled faintly.

  Lunae sighed and placed him down on the grass.

  Stryg reached out towards her, stumbled, and fell on her side. He hugged her with what little strength he could muster, closed his eyes, and smiled in contentment. “Luma, warm.”

  Lunae frowned for a moment, then her expression softened. She curled her giant body around him, shielding him from the cold, and closed her eyes.

~~~

  Stryg slowly opened his eyes. The silver moon was staring back at him from the night sky. He was lying on the floor face-up. Though his head was on a pillow he could feel the hardened ground beneath his back, even from between the blankets. He blinked blearily and glanced around.

  There was a campfire crackling ten or so paces away. Five or six goblins were huddled around the fire. They had cloaks drawn over their faces but Stryg recognized them within a moment.

  Blood Fang tribemates.

  “Stryg! You’re awake!” Tauri shouted in a mixture of excitement and relief.

  He craned his stiff neck around and saw a beautiful red face hovering over him.

  “Tauri…?” he mumbled. “W-Where…? Where am I?”

  “You’re safe, that’s all that matters right now,” Tauri smiled and caressed his cheek.

  As he stared up at her he realized he wasn’t lying on a pillow, but her thighs.

  “I was… I was sleeping?” Stryg mumbled, dazed.

  “Mm,” Tauri nodded gently, “And crying.”

  “Huh?” Stryg touched his face and felt his hand wet with tears.

  “Was it a sad dream?”

  “I don’t… I don’t remember. I just felt— warm.”