Those wounds look familiar, young rider, the sapphire dragon told me. I fear they may belong to the reprobates, and then you will soon be unable to hear—
Her voice faded from my mind.
I bit my lip. Hard.
If they could come out here, they would have already done so by now, I told myself.
The whispering mocked me.
Herrrrrrre…
I cursed silently, and did my best to glide to safety. I would find a way to deal with them on the ground.
Up herrrrre… the whisper continued.
But we continued to glide to safety. We were starting to fall much faster, and it now looked like our aim had been perfect.
Up herrrrrre…
Our descent slowed ever so slightly.
"No," I said in quiet horror. I turned to launch another blast of fire qi, but I was completely empty. Whatever act my Soulscape had done earlier had exhausted most of my power, on top of the multiple battles below.
Commmmmme herrrrre…
Somehow, we began to fall backwards.
I kicked. I swam with my arms.
I yanked on Nova with all of my might, seeing if I could throw her forward.
Still, we began to drift directly downward, as Vessa's gravity suddenly surrendered its control to a foreign and unnatural force.
"No," I said again, expelling the atmosphere of my own world. "Not here. And not now. And not ever."
Somehow, the pull of the mad shadows and the atmosphere of my inner world canceled each other out. Instead of falling, we began to float.
Givvve… the voices continued to whisper.
"No," I said firmly, and did my best to swim, kick, and pull to safety.
Somehow, it was enough to make us drift away, towards the slope, away from the blackened patch and the maddened voices whispering form it.
For a few feet.
Then, our flight became erratic again, and all of my kicking and flailing wasn't enough to keep us from missing the side of the ship completely.
The stress and constant setbacks were beginning to make me go mad, until I heard a small, gloriously familiar squeak some distance away.
Am-here, Nestor told me, look-left.
I turned to see the little lifemouse swimming through the black sea and toward our direction. In his paws was the wrist-thick cable I had seen circling the slope earlier. He must have cut it somehow, though how he had jumped high enough to escape Vessa's pull with it was still beyond me.
Here-here, he said into my mind. Catch-end.
He shot a small blast of fire from his tail and propelled the cable he was riding forward. The thing almost hit me in the face, but I was able to grab it and loop it around my arm, coiling it around to pull me closer into Vessa's orbit.
How did you get this thing up here? I asked the tiny mouse. I saw his front shoulders lift in a shrug.
Don't-know, the fluffy creature answered dismissively. It-floats.
He twitched his tail to fire another blast in the opposite direction, and we began to drift downward, and Vessa's gravity finally took its effect.
Nestor was right; the cable was weightless, but Vessa and I were not, and our combined weight was enough to make it sink back downward like an overburdened balloon.
I wanted to laugh in relief, but I was afraid doing so would jinx us. So I looked back at Nova to make sure she was okay. I saw no injuries on her, except for some tears in the back of her robe from where the harpy queen had blasted her back.
She was still limp. Eyes still closed. Smile still peaceful. Every part of her was relaxed except for the hand holding her sword.
I continued to drift downward with her, anchoring myself to the cable, and her to me, as Nestor guided the rest of our flight to the safety of solid metal.
Givvve, I heard the voices whisper one final time.
Nestor and I continued to glide at our normal pace, but I felt a heavy pull on Nova, as if something were trying to rip her out of my arms.
I yanked with all my might, throwing myself against the gravitational well of the Soulship. I turned to try and anchor my body like a thousand-pound weight on the blonde woman's arm.
With a final desperate cry, I yanked her free of the shadow's sinister pull and we glided the last few feet onto Vessa's hard surface.
I landed against the side of the slope and turned to help control Nova's fall. I let go of the long cable with my other arm to catch the angelic woman by the waist, taking another feathery beating for my efforts. Then I let go of her hand and did my best to catch her head so that it wouldn't strike a hard surface.
Nova's wings slowly vanished, and she stirred slightly in my arms, shifting herself into a much more comfortable position, much like Vessa usually did.
Nestor, I said tensely, help me get her sword.
The little mouse crawled down the cable and onto my hip, then leaped onto Nova's hand and began nuzzling her fingers. I felt her hum in amusement, and then the sword slipped through her fingers. The little mouse caught it by the handle immediately, then wrapped his long tail around her fingers and lowered himself down to gently lay her weapon on the floor.
Nova stirred again, only to lean her head more comfortably against my pectoral muscles. I felt the winged tip of her circlet dig slightly against my chest, and I reflected that carrying crowned, elaborately dressed princesses around was a good deal more awkward than the stories had led me to believe.
Vessa? I tried one more time. There was still no answer. I shifted to look around, suddenly aware of just how tired I felt.
The deactivated archway caught my eye, and I looked at it more carefully. Something about the structure worried me immensely. It had taken Nestor the simple push of a button to turn it off, and I worried that activating it a second time may be easier than Vessa had led me to believe. So I walked around the structure, examining it from all sides, and found that the cable Nestor had saved us with connected to it on one of the sides. The little mouse had severed the cable some distance away, but it looked directly detachable at the base of the structure as well.
"Hmm?" the blonde woman in my arms mumbled, shifting again in my grip, scraping her breastplate against my shirt.
Definitely not like in the fairy tales, I thought to myself, trying to avoid being cut on a piece of armor.
"Nova," I whispered. "Can you hear me? Please be alright?"
"Just five more minutes," she mumbled, shifting my arms. "Slept wrong. Back hurts."
I grimaced as I remembered she had been blasted in the back by the massive harpy's attack, and tried to think of what I could do to help treat her. First aid was out of the question, as I couldn't see any physical damage on her. Her skin didn't feel warm or look burnt, even from where her clothing had torn. From what I could tell, there was a large scorch mark on the back of her armor, but even that was beginning to fade. In fact, her skirt and robes were mending right before my very eyes.
Property of the armor, dear, my grandmother said, and I was immensely relieved to hear her voice again. It should slowly heal her as well.
Grandmother, are you alright? I asked. And will she really be alright?
Yes, grandson, the dragon-woman told me. You protected her from the reprobates once again, to my eternal pride and joy. She was struck by surprise by a hag, the next form of harpy, and an advanced one at that. You were able to drive off an assailant in the sixth stage of Advancement, a feat worthy of songs for your current power. I am very proud of you, she repeated warmly. The damage was nonlethal in nature, a surprise attack designed to quickly incapacitate so that the hag could harvest her victim's Source energy in a safer location. Had Nova been alone, or you less determined, the attack would have been successful and a piece of the holy vessel-saint would have been claimed. The night sky owes you great honor, young rider. It has owed you much for some time, and I have not told you that enough.
Thank you, I said uncomfortably, as old voices in my mind mumbled that honor was never praised, and that the r
ighteous would always be betrayed to die a dog's death in some forgotten ditch. I did my best to shake them away as Nova mumbled again.
"Mmmm. Finally hurts less," she said in my arms, shifting again. "Okay, Mother Anne, I'm getting up. I'm getting up…" Her eyes blinked open. "Jasper?"
"Hello Nova," I said gently. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better now," she said sleepily, blinking again. "Really good, actually… wait." Her eyes snapped open again, and her voice grew sharper. "Why am I in your arms?"
"I had to catch you," I replied. "Can you walk now? Or do you need another minute?"
"Of course I can walk now!" she said, her cheeks reddening. "Put me down this instant! Why are you carrying a woman around without her permission? And Jasper, I have wings! You didn't need to rush out and catch me!"
"I apologize," I said in a deadpan face, lowering her to the floor. "I assumed you were unable to use them while unconscious."
"Of course I can use them while—oh," she added, right after she stepped away from me and adjusted herself. "Right. I was knocked out in that fight, wasn't I?"
"Yes," I answered patiently and deliberately. "How much do you remember?"
"I remember a lot of ugly creatures running around wanting to do really nasty things, and none of them dying fast enough," she grumbled, looking around. "And then I remember some giant winged witch coming out of nowhere and striking me in the back. Then… I think I fought her? Where is my sword?"
Here-here, Nestor sent to both of our minds, bouncing up and down next to Nova's fallen weapon. You-fell. He-caught. I-helped.
"I did?" the blonde woman asked, still confused. "And he caught me from down here? How high up was I?"
High-high, little Nestor insisted. He-jumped. Used-power. Healed-you.
"Right," Nova said, blinking in recognition. "I cut off her arm, then cut her again… did I get her? Please tell me I killed that witch."
I chose to remain silent, but Nestor did me no favors.
Nope-nope. The little mouse pointed at me with his tail. Saved-you. A-gain.
"Again?" Nova demanded. "Nestor, what do you mean 'again?'"
Not-bad, the little mouse insisted. His-job.
"Nova, can you reach Vessa?" I asked, determined to head off this argument. "She hasn't been answering any of my messages, and her last one cut off right before you were attacked."
She looked at me, then closed her eyes.
"Barely," she said after a moment. "She's not making a lot of sense, though. Her words are misspelled, and she feels… groggy," Nova decided. "I can tell through our link. She feels like she overslept and just woke up."
Just like you were just now, I realized, but didn't say out loud. Hopefully nothing else had happened to the gray woman inside the hull. "We need to get back to her as soon as possible," I said. "But this archway worries me immensely. I'm afraid we're underestimating what it can do."
My beautiful friend reached down to pick up her sword, then walked over to the portal, sheathing her weapon in the process. Nestor ran over and helpfully handed over her war baton that she had dropped earlier. I hadn't even seen him pick the item up.
"Let me look at it with my mana, now that it's recharged," the valkyrie said, eyes glowing an even brighter blue. She walked around the device in a slow, but purposeful circle, stopping when she saw the cable running out of it. "This thing is still active," she said, pointing to it. "It's sending power into the portal itself, even though the archway is inactive. Now that it's cut on the other end, it looks like the power is slowly dissipating, but it will take an hour before all of the energy leaves. It's not really doing anything else useful, though. I think its only real purposes are to give the archway a back-up power supply and send a small current that will disrupt the energy of the Soulship itself."
I nodded in understanding as I walked over.
"Can we deactivate it?" I asked. Nova nodded.
"I think so. We just need to cut it at the other end."
And with that, she drew her sword in one quick motion and sliced through the cable. A faint hum we had never noticed before now suddenly ceased.
Right before our eyes, the archway folded apart, the stones and other materials revealing previously invisible seams as they unfastened from each other, until it was nothing more than a pile of fist-sized bricks and short, curved poles.
"There," Nova said confidently. "That should do it. Glad to know I can still do some things by myself," she mumbled under her breath.
Nestor scampered over to her feet and began squeaking at her. I watched them as I tried to message Vessa again myself and failed, then I walked over to them so that we could just teleport together manually. As I did so, my Soulscape began to turn again, and I reluctantly held out my hand so that it could devour whatever it felt it needed from the deconstructed portal device. To my complete lack of surprise, it sucked up the whole thing, down to the tiniest stone.
As I continued walking over, Nova bit her lip guiltily and looked away. Nestor crawled up her body and began nuzzling her face, and she started to laugh.
"You're right," she said, tickling the little mouse. "I shouldn't worry about it. I'll tell him, I promise. The device is fully disabled now, Jas," she added as she looked up.
"Excellent," I said as I stood next to them. "Vessa still isn't responding to me, so I think we need to see if we can activate the teleporter ourselves. I'm worried that—"
Jasper? The words scrawled across my mind, making me sigh in relief. What's going on? Are you drunk? Why do I have all these missed messages from you?
Vessa, I typed back to her, thank every existing deity you are alive. Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?
Of course I'm not hurt, she typed back to me. I just woke up. Give me a minute, and don't type so loudly at me.
I had no idea what to make of that request, and I felt myself grow concerned again. But then Nova reached over and squeezed my hand.
"Don't worry," the beautiful woman told me. "She's fine. I'd have felt it if she was seriously hurt. And Jasper… thank you for saving me… and for letting me save you. You could have handled those harpies on your own, but you didn't yell at me when I jumped in."
"Nova," I said to my friend, "I hereby give you both permission and gratitude to kill with fire every single monstrous female that makes unwanted advances upon me. I would love to never have to deal with such things at all. And I'm pretty sure you've saved my own hide in multiple fights by now."
"That's true," she said smugly. "Ready to teleport?"
"Yes," I said, as Nestor scampered over to me. But then a message just came into our brains.
I got it, I got it, hold on…
We braced ourselves to be pulled back into the center of the Soulship.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Returning to the center of the ship was somehow not nearly as disorienting as traveling to the surface. It was like someone was grabbing my hand and gently pulling me through a doorway, into the next room where everyone was waiting for me. We stumbled back into the small room we had left earlier, Nova and I stepping a single time to regain our balance.
Vessa was waiting for us… in a sense. The gray woman was leaning against the wall tiredly, as if she had just stumbled out of her bedroom, dark hair hanging everywhere. One of her hands was clutching her temple, and I saw a small bruise peeking out underneath.
"You're hurt," I said, stepping toward her.
"I'm fine, Jas," the ship-woman said as she waved her other hand dismissively. "I just fell against the wall earlier." But the act of lifting her other hand made her stumble again, and I rushed to catch her. "No Jas, you don't need to do that," she protested sleepily, leaning against me all the same.
"Don't listen to her right now, Jas," Nova said firmly as she walked over to us. "She's not thinking clearly. You'd better carry her back."
"No, I mean it," the other woman said, slumping against me, "let go of me right now."
I looked back and forth between t
he two women, who were supposedly also one woman, and tried to figure out what my father would have done in this situation.
He would have asked Mother to help, and she would have just glared both women into submission, I decided, and probably punched Father afterwards, without explaining why. I shifted Vessa to where she could just lean on my shoulder. Grandmother, if you are watching, please help me make some small sense out of this mess.
Would that I could, dear, the dragon spirit said kindly. But I fear you have already dared to go where no man of any race dared tread before.
"Just come this way, Vessa," I said as I walked her back to the sanctuary. I wanted a location where all three of us could lie down, because I was already writing off the rest of the day. "Maybe, when you are feeling better, you can help us figure out what happened out there, and why you were affected as well."
"It's nothing to worry about," she mumbled. "Wait," she added, blinking her gray eyes open. "What do you mean 'out there'? What happened to you guys?"
Her steps grew more firm, as she pushed off me just a bit, supporting more of her own weight.
"You were attacked," she stated, as her eye focused a little more on her surroundings. "You were deactivating the portals interfering with my sensors and general power… you were ambushed by harpies… I told you to keep them away from the eaterlings…"
"That bit proved unnecessary," I stated, recalling how the hungry women had refused to share the outnumbered eaterlings and had chosen to tear the male monsters apart instead. The memory made me grimace in disgust. "Apparently there needed to be a more equal pairing for… what you were worried was about to happen."
"Right," Vessa said with a wince, "sorry. There was a chance before you killed so many of them, but truthfully, you probably could have gotten out of there much sooner."
"No," Nova countered, walking next to us, but still making no move to help me support Vessa. "There was another device interfering with you. We had to disconnect that if we didn't want to make a second trip out there. Then Jasper's hungry planet ate the last portal."
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