The pirates didn’t take long to head into the cave.
“Meh, Astril’s gonna steal all the fun, again,” Ivan sighed.
I’m actually not sure if this isn’t too much for Astril. I know she’s hiding her strength when Zerae is around, but… what if she is hiding it even from me? Not that I’m not doing it myself… I’m just amazed that she can still surprise me even after knowing her for about eighty years. I guess we lie to each other more than we are willing to admit.
Screaming soon started echoing out from the cave.
“Wanna bet how many will make it back out?” James asked as he suddenly stood next to them, “I’m bank.”
Leena jumped, she didn’t realize he was coming, at all.
How is he so silent? I see tracks in the sand around him, so he literally swam here and walked to us without being noticed.
“Ten gold on about twenty,” Kuroko remarked.
“Ten gold on one,” Ivan countered.
“Ten gold on zero,” Leena smiled and handed a small pouch to James.
The entrance from the cave played a cacophony of screams. The cacophony of pain and terror.
“Stop playing with them, we are on a schedule,” James shouted at the cave.
“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh,” sounded from the cave as an answer. Soon after the screaming stopped and a lone man crashed out of it. It was the captain. He held cutlasses in his hands and morning stars in his tentacles. He was bleeding from several cuts. Astril appeared soon after and swayed seductively as she walked toward him. She was lightly sprayed with blood, but it clearly wasn’t hers.
“What… what the hell are you?” Worley Williams breathed in horror.
“Entertain me and I might tell you,” Astril smirked and charged.
Okay, nothing special, so far. Leena observed as she watched the fight. Worley was fast, strong, experienced and skilled. His tentacles were inhumanly fast, extending and shrinking as he needed them to. He was nothing next to Astril. She dodged every blow and landed cut after cut with her blades.
“Oh come on, you have to have something better!” Astril taunted him.
Worley focused and then launched a quick beam of black from his mouth. Astril sidestepped it with ease. Black light gathered around his tentacles and exploded. Astril teleported outside of the range, then back in.
“They are breaching through!” sounded from above.
“You’re out of time, end it, Astril!” James ordered.
“Alright, he’s boring anyway,” Astril smirked and cut off one of the tentacles with a speed that defied logic. Leena stared as Astril kept teleporting around him and cutting pieces off his body. A few seconds later, there was a pile of body pieces where captain Worley Williams stood.
Okay… Astril’s been lying about her speed more than just a bit. This wasn’t trickery of her flames, the one I know and others don’t. This was her showing off how much of a monster she is when she tries. No… showing it to me, because the others apparently know about it.
“Alright, that’s a wrap. Retreat plan six, regroup on six seven five, we are home for dinner,” James commanded and led the way over the shore.
“Pay up,” Ivan shot at James. James tossed him the three pouches. “The Legion Slayer never disappoints,” Ivan smirked and pocketed the money.
“The Legion Slayer? Why did you show me all this, Astril?” Leena asked as soon as Astril came to her.
“I feel bad about lying about it. Today, I realized that we would get caught with the whole prisoner thing, eventually, but we will. When that happens, we will have to fight our way out… and I don’t want you to get hurt because you think you need to stay behind to protect me. You deserve better than that. So, I figured that, since you already know about my flames, I will just show you the part you don’t know,” Astril explained.
Leena grabbed her by the waist and pushed herself onto her for a long kiss. “Thank you.”
43
Raven
“Tell me you didn’t steal these clothes,” Raven looked at Luna as she brought him a suit. They had snuck into Sirissi Skalla and were getting ready for the masked ball. That wasn’t so easy without having any real money, although Raven was suspicious of the large pouch Luna kept trying to hide under her armor. In retrospect, he should have claimed a part of the pirate treasure from sergeant Red.
“Stop bitching and put it on,” Luna tossed him a suit. Raven sighed and put it on together with a bird mask.
At least the suit is white and mask is black.
“What’s taking you so long?” Iowen burst into the room. She was already fully dressed in a stunning red dress. “Zero cleavage, covered back, super long slit… seems like you have finally learned how to pick your clothes,” she measured Luna with an appreciative look.
“How do we get in without invitations?” Luna asked as she put on the wolf mask.
“Through the kitchen.”
“Okay… this is different from what I expected,” Zoey breathed as they made it to the ball area. The decorations were obnoxiously luxurious. It looked like the queen gathered every single statue, painting, vase and flower from all over the castle and stacked them into the area of the ball. “By the way, I shall move around by myself, do not tell Lucas I’m here,” she commanded them.
“Why?” Luna asked cluelessly.
“I want to see what he’s up to since he didn’t want me to come,” she revealed.
“Wait, did you just say Lucas said we shouldn’t come?” Raven realized.
“Yea, what about it?” Zoey asked back.
“He usually doesn’t say that without a very good reason,” he remarked.
Zoey sighed and disappeared in the crowd.
“Well… I think that’s him,” Luna motioned toward the tables. Lucas wore a black suit and a mask of a demon-shaped to have a crown of horns.
“What the hell do you think you are doing here dressed like this?” a sharp and high-pitched female voice shot at them from a side. They all turned. In front of them stood an amazingly beautiful woman. Her skin was pale, face young, hair white and dress colorful. She did not wear a mask.
“You, with me!” she pointed at Raven, “the rest of you, piss off.”
“What?” Luna breathed.
“Did you damage your ears together with your fashion sense? Shoo!” she waved Luna off with her hand and motioned at Raven to follow her, “come on, chop, chop, chop!”
Raven shook his head, “I will be back… I guess,” he breathed and went on to follow her. Luna was too stunned to react, while Iowen and the Albertti brothers seemed rather amused.
“You can’t just,” Luna started.
The woman interrupted her, “I can. One day you will grow up and then you might understand that I can. So, go find yourself a food bowl and vanish from my sight, you’ve spoiled it enough already,” she dismissed Luna and walked off with Raven.
The woman led Raven into a side room. She chased off the people in it. “First, some security,” she announced. She motioned her hand and a ball of blue light appeared in it. It was releasing a low humming sound. She made several of these and made them float around the room. With a wave of her hand, the door closed and a metal traverse appeared and blocked the door. Lastly, all curtains moved to block the windows. Raven marveled at the ease with which she used her magic.
“Drop that mask,” she ordered him. Raven focused for a second and released the magic that made his face inhumanly handsome. He didn’t know why, but somehow, he felt that she means him no harm.
“What’s your name?” she shot at Raven.
“Raven.”
“I said name, not nickname!”
“Nobody gave me any other,” Raven made an awkward face.
“That’s not how it works for us. We aren’t given names, we choose them, it’s usually the first thing that pops into your head,” she explained.
“Then I guess… Rael. What do you mean by ‘us’?” Raven tried.
“Rael de Skalla.
Not good, but not completely horrendous either… at least you have some semblance of taste,” she evaluated, “although I can’t say the same about your clothing. This suit is unacceptable! Hold still,” she stepped to Raven and started moving her hands in front of him. Raven stared as his suit was literally changing under them.
Her magic… it’s familiar. Everything about her is somehow familiar.
“Who… are you?” he breathed.
“You don’t know? Seriously? Did you grow up in a cave? Well, your hair looks like that… anyway, I’m lady Luciande de Skalla. You can call me Luci. The surname is a secret so don’t tell it to anyone,” she revealed.
“You said my name was de Skalla as well… how?” he breathed.
“Did you seriously not recognize your big sister? God, you are blind. Anyway, how far are you on your powers?” Luciande pried.
“How do I measure that? Big sister? Who are our parents?” he inquired.
“There are three things you should be able to do. Go spectral, stop time and take out wings. How many of these can you do? Sit down,” she said.
“One, why?”
“Because I said so.”
Raven sat down. Luciande stepped to stand behind him and started moving around his hair.
“What are you doing?” Raven pried.
“You can’t go into public with this caveman haircut. I don’t know where you got it and how much you paid for it, but it’s unacceptable!” Luciande exhaled, “about the parents. We don’t exactly have any. If you want to know more, there is a small hill in the middle of Lake of Dreams. You will find the answers there. They can’t really be told.”
“Zakuma already sent me there,” Raven remarked, “this city. Sirissi Skalla sounds a lot like your surname.”
“Our surname. It was named after sir Issi de Skalla, one of our ancestors. He’s dead,” Luciande breathed.
“This is a lot to take in,” he admitted.
“What’s so hard? Just go to the Lake, see what’s at the top of the hill and don’t be a pussy about it. Not so hard,” she stated, “good, I’m done, here are the instructions how to do it yourself. You seriously need to stop looking like a caveman, it reflects badly on my brand,” she waved her hand and a paper appeared in front of Raven. It had detailed instructions how to arrange his hair into a very complex haircut.
“How are you doing this?”
“Magic, duh! Meh… there is still something missing… right!” she tossed Raven an amulet. It was a symbol of the sun on a simple chain. Symbol of Alnil. “Wear it! Also, wear this!” she moved her hand and a large white cloak with a hood appeared in it. It had a silver symbol of Alnil on the back.
Raven stood up, put on the amulet and threw the cloak over his shoulders.
“Better. Now I don’t have to be too ashamed to be seen in your presence. Anyway, I need to get back to work. I live in Xona in the big ivory tower; you can’t miss it if you go to the center, literally, come by when you are around. I’m off,” she headed to the door, “by the way, I do not give family discounts. Just saying.”
Raven went to check himself in a mirror.
Okay… that’s the best I’ve ever looked. I guess I have a sister.
Raven headed out and went straight for Lucas.
“I see you’ve made it in time,” Lucas remarked for a greeting.
“Ever heard of lady Luciande?” Raven asked straight.
“Almost everyone has… and I see your sister has made sure you don’t embarrass her,” he smirked.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raven jabbed.
“I don’t tell people their secrets. From all the dream walking I do, I know too many of them, so I just tell nobody anything. It’s safer that way,” he breathed.
“What do you want from me, Lucas?” Raven narrowed his eyes.
“There are many weak rulers in the world, I want you to be a strong one,” Lucas revealed.
“Why? Why me? Why this journey?”
“You claimed the title of a prince; you are a ruler no matter how hard you are trying to avoid it. This journey is my way of showing you the world for what it is… and so you can observe how I use my strength and power. Why? Because I don’t want the world to split between just Khalia and Salazar,” Lucas stated, “is Zoey around, by the way?”
“Maybe. Why would that be a bad thing?”
“Because there are too many ways to live for two kingdoms to be enough. That was the problem of the old kingdom; it held everyone to one set of laws and ideology, which resulted in The Upheaval, which wiped out about seventy percent of the world population. My Order needs followers, not corpses,” Lucas explained.
“I’m still not alright with you lying to me.”
“I don’t expect you to be. Anyway, there is no particular mission for this evening. I have something to achieve here, but you don’t really have to be concerned with it. It’s actually better if you don’t know what it is… so have fun,” Lucas smiled and motioned to the man who was coming to them. “Ebilezerhar, I suppose.”
I remember that name… that’s the snake demon prince!
“Kinslayer and his pet, you have the audacity to show your faces here? What an insolence!” Ebilezerhar thundered. He was a middle aged man with sharp features; he was dressed in gloriously decorated green robes.
“Are you done holding funerals for your children or are you saving it up for a big one?” Lucas asked gently.
“How dare you, traitor?”
“Why wouldn’t I? What are you going to do about it? You lost most of your people to two men… but I guess it couldn’t have been helped, after all, when the leader is pathetic, the minions can only follow,” Lucas mused.
“YOU WORTHLESS TRASH!” a woman next to Ebilezerhar picked up a knife from the table and lunged at Lucas. He sidestepped the strike and hit her in the neck. *CRACK* echoed through the hall as he broke her spine. She collapsed to the ground.
“Don’t be too salty about it, at least her death was quick… your other children won’t have the luxury,” Lucas added to the stunned demonic prince and waltzed off. Raven did his best to disappear in the crowd. From lack of better things to do, he shadowed Lucas.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Khalia intercepted Lucas dozen seconds later.
“By the ethic codex you sent me, I am allowed to defend myself against a weapon-based attack with a single move. Yes, lethal strikes with weapons are forbidden, but by the list of weapons from the third appendix, cutlery knife counts as such whereas my fists do not. I can show you the passages,” Lucas pulled out a few sheets of paper with a lot of colored markings on them. They were the torn-out pages from the codex.
“Did you seriously run my ethics codex by a lawyer?” Khalia sneered.
“Of course, I did. Lovely event, by the way, I can’t wait to enjoy the supper,” Lucas smirked and walked off.
His next target was easy to find. Luna was roaming the halls with her nose up.
Luna seems to be searching for something… or someone. What was her name, Yen? I guess she’s looking for a trace of her perfume.
Lucas followed her for a while and saw she found her target. Yen was in a side saloon, dressed in a long formal gown. He whirled around a column to get straight in front of Luna. She bumped into him awkwardly. He pinned her down with a murderous stare. “Looking for Yen?”
“I just… want to say hi,” Luna breathed, embarrassed.
“I’m sure Miranda would love to hear that you went to Yen first, wouldn’t she?” Lucas asked poisonously.
“I’m just saying hi, nothing more,” Luna stated.
“You would better. Because I will tell her, be sure of it,” Lucas confirmed.
He watched Luna awkwardly leave and try to get lost in the crowd. He made sure to follow her with his eyes for a while to make sure the message reaches home. Then, he went on to see the other demon princes.
Lucas kept go
ing at the same course. He was running from one demon prince to another and threw as many mortal insults as he managed. Raven deemed it best to stay as far away from him as possible. He couldn’t stop him and really didn’t want to be dragged into this.
Whatever beef Lucas has with the demon princes is clearly personal.
“If you are trying to hide, you aren’t doing it well,” a woman interrupted his thoughts.
Raven looked at her. “Kayleanne!” He instantly took a defensive stance.
“Chill, I’m not here to chop off your head,” she smiled charmingly, “I’m just here to talk.”
“Sorry… didn’t think you would be into talking,” Raven apologized with an awkward face, “given what happened.”
“Why? Because I’m an uncivilized savage, who knows nothing but to kill humans? Or because you called me Dogfood?” Kayleanne asked pointedly.
“No, it’s just that I thought you would be mad about the nest and all,” Raven remarked.
“I am, but this isn’t the place for it. If there is anything you should be worried about now, it’s me getting mad at you staring at my cleavage,” she revealed.
Raven forced his eyes up, “Sorry… it’s just…”
“You find me attractive and can’t figure out why, can you? Why me and not others? Come have a drink with me and I just might tell you,” Kayleanne smiled provocatively.
Raven followed her with a sheepish smile. They went on to grab some drinks and depart from the main hall.
“It doesn’t feel nearly as strange as you expected, does it?” she tossed up.
“No.”
Actually, it feels like the most natural thing to do. Is this some kind of a spell?
“Amuse me, how is your romantic life going?” Kayleanne pried.
“Ehhh…”
“That’s doesn’t sound like much. Strange, isn’t it? You are rich, attractive and a prince, yet the whole romance thing just isn’t happening, is it?” she pressed.
“I’ve been busy with other things,” Raven tried to evade.
“Were you? Or, perhaps, do you have issues with finding a woman you would consider attractive, any woman, actually?”
Legacy of Death: Revenge (Legacy of Dreams Book 2) Page 37