White Devil

by Janina Franck

  “Go ‘n’ tell Selene,” he ordered and the younger man hurried over to the girl.

  Meanwhile, Balthasar pondered the next step. They couldn’t just barge in and attack.

  Well, they could. But it wouldn’t be very smart. It also wouldn’t make for a good new start.

  *****

  Balthasar looked over the railing again. Someone had to go down there and talk to these people. The raven earlier had spoken in human speech, he was certain of that, but they hadn’t understood a word. The language here must be a different one to their own native tongue. He took a closer look at the girl. She was speaking to the man next to her. Balthasar wondered if they were related, but that made no sense. The man’s skin was as pale as Selene’s, while the girl’s skin was as dark as Skip’s had been. She had short black hair that went to her chin and she was muscular, neither chubby, nor dainty like Selene. She wore a simple grey dress and no shoes. And supposedly, she was able to speak to animals.

  “Zero,” Balthasar called out.

  A pale, fragile-looking man in his mid-thirties stepped next to him.

  His eyes and hair had a washed-out color and even though his spindly hands were steady, they always looked as if they were about to tremble.

  “Ye’re gonna come down with me,” Balthasar declared. “Might need someun to translate.”

  Zero nodded, seemingly feeling a little out of place in his current form. His shapeshifting abilities had been useful to the crew many times over the years. While the human form ought to be the most natural to him, it appeared to be the one he felt the least comfortable in, and he only changed back for the ease and comfort of everyone else.

  Ayalon carried the two of them to the ground. Balthasar tried to look as grumpy as he could manage. It wasn’t hard, considering his feelings about their position. Ayalon left them to their own devices as soon as they had gotten off his back, visibly glad to be able to get away from the odd situation. Balthasar would have preferred to get back to their usual routine. But since that involved fighting against everything in their way, it was possibly not the best course of action in this unfamiliar territory. After all, they had left Jianlah to have a new beginning. They didn’t have to be pirates anymore.

  Zero’s eyes darted from side to side, unwilling to focus on anything for longer than a second. Now, the five stood facing each other, the raven sitting on the girl’s shoulder, its beady eyes fixed on Balthasar. The man folded his hands behind his back, observing Balthasar and Zero calmly, without even a trace of nervousness or distrust visible in his expression.

  He was a tall man with broad shoulders. His dark brown hair and blue eyes gave him a rustic air, but upon closer inspection, it looked somewhat unsettling. There was a sparkle in his gaze, a certain wisdom, a strength, that was underlined by his posture and folded hands.

  No one spoke. They simply looked at each other for a moment. Balthasar and the other man locked gazes. For a moment it appeared as if they were weighing up each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, the other man smiled disarmingly.

  “Uh… you are very welcome here,” the girl said, interrupting their little measure of strength.

  Balthasar looked at her, surprised. So she could speak their language after all! Perhaps the raven hadn’t used human speech like they had thought.

  “Thankee,” he said.

  The other man said something to the girl that sounded a lot like the words the raven had used. Balthasar felt his forehead wrinkle. The man and the raven didn’t appear to speak their language, but the girl did. How did she know it?

  “My name is Lilith and this man is Colm. He wants you to know that you are welcome to stay for as long as you need. You need not worry about anything. He would also like to ask what has happened to you and where you have come from. You do not speak any language he knows. Also, I hope Aestiva has told you that should any of you be in need of medical assistance, he is a skilled healer and always glad to help,” she explained earnestly. She spoke fluently and without accent. Her light-brown eyes were fixed on Balthasar, big and almost pleading, he found. He wasn’t sure how to answer.

  Zero shifted next to him. Balthasar shot him a glance and saw him smiling at the girl. The old man was surprised. Zero was shy at the best of times. He was cautious around people he’d lived with for years, but this girl brought him to the same comfort-level in a matter of moments. He turned back to Lilith.

  “I’m Balthasar ‘n’ this’s Zero. We’re a long way from home, ‘s better t’explain in time. We’ll take yer offer. Thank ye both,” he declared. For the moment, he threw his earlier doubts to the side. Regardless of whether they had ulterior motives or not, he was more than aware of the crew’s need for help. It would be foolish to decline. Besides, there wasn’t much a young girl and an old man with a raven could do against a crew of experienced pirates, he decided.

  The Enforcer of the Separation of Soul and Body felt a distinct shift in the balance of the world. Technically the shift had happened a few months ago, but as Death was eternal, time felt quite different to her. Hence, to her, it was a mere few moments ago. The margin mattered little. Something had changed, something new had arrived and Death was interested. While things continued along the path they were supposed to, and life and death circled around each other, she turned her attention toward the Highlands. She smelled tension in the air. It radiated from that little region up in the mountains. It seemed her workload would be increasing soon.

  Death was bored. Doing the same thing for eternity left little to dream. She had seen other creatures dream, wander and wonder. In fact, she had always found that the words “wander” and “wonder” sounded similar and had decided for herself that those who wonder will always wander. And that’s what she wanted to do as well. Sometime. There was no hurry. Especially now that things promised to get a little more interesting and unusual. Some god had decided to meddle, and Death was going to find out who and why.

  Lilith watched Balthasar and Zero return to their ship a little confused.

  “I thought you said they spoke a different language,” she chided Amethyst. The raven leapt from her shoulder to the ground with a few flaps.

  “They do,” he replied sulkily. “Your weirdness just got weirder.”

  With that, he half hopped, half flew away, leaving Lilith baffled, staring after him.

  “He’s right, you know,” Colm said, still gazing at the Bat.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They do speak a different language. But it appears that your communication ability includes not only Pbec and animal language, but theirs as well, and if I’m right, quite possibly others. Perhaps even all. The strange thing is, when you speak, everyone seems to understand you, no matter which language they speak. I haven’t seen magic like this before. You don’t even notice it, do you?”

  Colm’s voice remained even and calm as he spoke. Lilith looked to the stars, as if to find some answer there while she thought. After a moment of reflection, she shook her head.

  “No. It just sounds like a different accent. But it is too early to tell seeing as I have only spoken to one person,” she decided.

  Colm nodded, satisfied. His expression bore traces of anxious thoughtfulness, as if he was imagining worst-case scenarios. Lilith had no illusions as to why he had invited the strangers to stay with them. There were multiple reasons: One was hospitality. They looked worn out and had obviously gone through a lot. They had come a long way; their ship was damaged, and they didn’t appear to have a place they could stay. It was evident that they were also foreign to these parts. Colm was taking them in, just as he had done for her a few months ago.

  The other reason was also the same reason he had let her stay with him back then: To keep an eye on them. He felt responsible for the Highlands and needed to ensure they weren’t a threat before he could let them loose with a clear conscience. Once he had determined their personalities and goals, he could take adequate measures and rep
ort back to Lady Xelma, seeing as she was the person actually in charge. Though the report was mere formality, as Lilith was well aware. Colm would do whatever he saw fit, and Xelma would go along with it.

  Patiently, they waited several minutes for Balthasar to return. When there was still no sign of movement, Colm sighed and turned toward the cottage that lay behind a line of trees.

  “I’ll go make some tea,” he told Lilith.

  Shortly after he left, Amethyst returned.

  “Still nothing?” he asked.

  Lilith shook her head.

  “Perhaps they need a little time to get organized?” she suggested.

  Amethyst flapped his wings, which Lilith interpreted as his way of shrugging. But just then, the emerald dragon lifted some people off the deck, a giant bat following with more people. There were eleven of them. The bat turned into Zero once it had set down the people it had been carrying. Lilith looked at them all in wonderment. Aside from Balthasar, Zero, Aestiva, and the dragon Ayalon, there were four more grown men, one blonde girl, probably around her own age, a troll and a little blue man who appeared to be sleeping. When the girl descended from the bat’s back, her and Lilith’s gazes met. The girl turned ashen and dropped to the ground.

  Frightened, Lilith rushed over to her, as did all of the men. One of them, a dark-haired tall guy with a very androgynous face, immediately checked for pulse and injuries.

  “I cannot determine the cause of this peculiar occurrence,” the man mumbled worried.

  The others began murmuring with concern. Balthasar turned to Lilith, charging threateningly toward her, his complexion dark with fury.

  “What d’ye do,” he growled, grabbing Lilith’s shoulder violently. He squeezed it so hard, she thought he might squish her bones.

  “I did not-” she began, but was cut off by a strong, cutting, female voice.

  “Stop it, Balthasar! She didn’t do anything.”

  Balthasar loosened his grip slightly but didn’t let go as he turned back to the other girl. She was being propped up by the dark-haired man, her green eyes fixed on Balthasar, her blonde hair sticking to the sides of her face with sweat.

  “Do not harm her,” she ordered slowly but distinctly, strongly enunciating every word.

  Lilith could see several faces drop. The grip on her shoulder slowly disappeared. Balthasar shot Lilith one last warning glance before he stepped away from her. No one spoke. The blonde girl stared intently at Lilith, her face still as pale as the clouds.

  Amethyst had watched the entire scene calmly but interested. He hopped over to Ayalon.

  “So tell me, what just happened?” he asked.

  The dragon growled.

  The raven clicked his beak, annoyed.

  “Well you’re no help,” he grumbled.

  Lilith ignored them to focus on the remainder of the crew, the girl in particular.

  “Are you alright…?” she asked, concerned. “Colm is making some tea, it might help you.”

  The girl kept glaring at her.

  “I am sorry if I have done anything to cause this situation, I hope it is nothing too awful,” Lilith babbled on. The other girl let out a heavy sigh and leaned back, facing the sky.

  “By Rum, you really are that pure,” she mumbled.

  Lilith wasn’t sure what to say to that, or if she was supposed to say anything at all. She got the feeling she wasn’t meant to have heard the comment in the first place, so she decided not to react. It turned out she didn’t need to, because Colm arrived with a bunch of cups and a lot of tea, pouring it out for each member of the crew. When he got to the girl and the sleeping little blue man, he halted and frowned. Then his eyes drifted over to the dark-haired, tall man, who was still kneeling next to the two of them.

  “You are a healer,” he recognized. Lilith repeated for him. The other man nodded.

  “I believe Selene is merely in need of rest. For the Klabautermann however, I am not certain of how to proceed,” he explained, and Lilith relayed the information to Colm.

  Colm nodded and held out his hand to the other man.

  “Colm,” he said.

  “Joe.”

  At that, the two shook hands and made to transport the girl and the little blue man, after Colm motioned everyone to follow him. Lilith explained to the crew that they had a cottage nearby where they could rest and be treated. The girl refused to be carried, but instead attempted to walk herself, biting her lip. At her first step, she almost tripped, and Lilith swooped in to act as a crutch for her. She received another glare, but Lilith chose to ignore it. Together, they slowly walked to Violet Cottage, the rest of the crew following them, occasionally whispering, while Joe carried the Klabautermann.

  It had been a few hours since they had moved to the cottage. Since it was too small to fit everyone comfortably, the man, Colm, had set out several tree trunks in a circle just outside with Zero’s help, and Ayalon had lit a fire in the middle. The girl, Lilith, walked around periodically offering people more tea and biscuits.

  Now, Balthasar, Joe, and Colm were inside the cottage looking after the Klabautermann and Selene. Joe and Colm were communicating using pantomimes, trying to explain various things about the Klabautermann’s condition, seemingly getting nowhere. Balthasar was getting slightly annoyed with the spectacle and had some mind to call in Lilith to translate for them again.

  It was odd, no matter who the girl spoke to, everyone seemed to understand her words. She didn’t change languages. Robert Ference, the grumpy old scholar, was probably already studying the girl out there. Balthasar preferred sitting here with his Selene to ensure that she lacked nothing. He was still worried about her episode earlier. It had never happened before and Balthasar just knew that it had to be because of that girl Lilith.

  As if she had read his thoughts, Selene whispered, “She’s pure.”

  Her gaze was lost in nothingness and her hands were clasped tightly around the edge of the blanket Colm had given her. Balthasar knew immediately what she was talking about. He had been her father’s best friend, and this was connected to an ability, or rather a curse, that had been passed down through the generations of that family. Her father Karim had also possessed it. Somehow, they looked at people and saw their souls. They saw how pure-hearted a person was, and how rotten others may be.

  “Griffin-pure?” he asked. To his surprise, Selene shook her head. Griffin had been one of the purest people she had met to this day. When she had first seen him, she had not been comfortable around him in the least, because he was so earnest and good all the time.

  “He is near Griffin-pure,” she nodded over to Colm. “She...” her voice trailed off, and her eyes became glassy at the memory. “She doesn’t have an ounce of evil in her,” she whispered after a moment.

  Balthasar knew her well enough to notice the trace of fear in her voice. It scared him. Not even when they had been sentenced to death a mere week ago had she looked this way.

  Abruptly, he got to his feet and walked to one of the windows. There, he watched Lilith pour more tea while Ryo clearly attempted to flirt with her. Losing a leg and a friend had not changed the young man’s cheerful disposition, Balthasar was glad to see. But he wasn’t certain if he was happy about Ryo’s choice to approach that girl in particular. Of course, he trusted Selene – how could he not – but if it were up to him alone, he would send that Lilith girl somewhere far away, where she could never disturb Selene’s peace of mind again, intentionally or otherwise.

  Suddenly, he noticed the raven watching him with its beady, black, wakeful eyes. Judging by what Balthasar had seen of the bird, it had a similar level of intelligence to Griffin’s cat. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was wary of him. Then again, the feeling was mutual. Despite Selene’s words, the man found it difficult to ignore the distrust he felt for these people. They probably were helping them out of their good hearts, yes, but at the same time Balthasar got the feeling that there was mo
re to both of them than met the eye. He wasn’t even certain if they were human. The dangling mystery left him uneasy.

  He let his thoughts be for the moment and returned to Selene’s side. She had turned to one side and fallen asleep. He was glad. Over the past week she had barely gotten any rest and any time she had laid down to sleep nightmares had plagued her. But now she slept calmly. Balthasar wondered if it had anything to do with the special tea their host had given her. It had smelled normal enough, although he had to admit he wasn’t exactly an expert.

  Said host now walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder, miming him to follow outside. There, Colm said something to Lilith, and she turned to everyone else to explain.

  “Colm says that you may encounter many problems in these parts if you do not speak the language. So, he says that he can infuse a Silphan stone with runes, and by using earth magic to merge it with your body, it will give you knowledge of the local language. Once you know that one, it will be easier to learn the others as well, as some of them are quite similar. It’s not advisable to do this more than once, so it is up to each individual whether you would like it done, but please do think about it.”

  “Magic?” Griffin asked with glowing eyes.

  “What’s a Silphan stone?” Ference asked, his expression hungry for knowledge. Lilith nodded.

  “Yes, Colm is a Celestial Mage and Silphan stones are rocks that harbor and radiate magical energy.”

  She then turned to exchange a few more words with Colm and went inside the cottage, to get more tea, presumably. Balthasar could see the crew thinking. He himself had made his mind up instantly, as had Ference in all likelihood. It was a one-time opportunity. And it would make the studying and the understanding of this plane a lot simpler. Being able to speak the language would also mean not having to go through Lilith if he wanted to ask Colm about things. Balthasar was rather interested in the knowledge the other man surely hoarded. He appeared to be a man much like himself and that was more than just interesting. Balthasar caught Colm’s gaze and nodded. The other man gave him a light smile. The decision had been made.