Chapter 3
Kathrine locked her feet and held the heavy rope to her chest while gravity tried to pull her back to the expanse of onyx colored water. Far in front of her the plane she was on ended in a cascading waterfall off into oblivion while just behind her the creaking of the massive ship whispered of the further unknowns waiting aboard. Would the Sphinx really eat her? What about the tiefling and those strange people with the yellow eyes? She closed her eyes for a moment hugging the rope tighter still, murmuring a quiet prayer to whoever might be listening in this forsaken place.
Then she pushed off with her powerful legs, grabbing a hand full of rope above her and pulling. Locking her feet in again as she'd been taught long ago she looked up to the three faces watching her passively; the two gaunt looking humanoids glanced at each other, their thin lips not moving in the least while right next to them, the tiefling with the slicked back hair rubbed his cheek with a finger watching her with deep pale blue eyes which couldn't really hide the curiosity in his gently lined face. From her perch there she could see his expression turn from curiosity to a strange kind of uneasiness the longer he watched her. He had the look of a concerned father, if only in the most remote sense but soon enough it passed and he pulled back from the railing murmuring to someone near him.
The two men looked at each other for a moment longer and then back down at Kat. The one shrugged and stepped back from the railing as well, followed by the other, leaving her to decide once more what she truly intended to do. Not knowing what else to do, she climbed and locked her feet so she could peer over the railing without totally exposing herself.
There were more of the gaunt, brown skinned men that were fighting a few dozen feet away near the mid deck, their billowing cloth outfits were sashed around the wrists, ankles and waist with just enough freedom to be comfortable and provide grappling points. Several thick grass mats had been laid down and as one slammed another down it became quickly apparent that they were training for something. Behind them similar men were fighting with swords and beautiful gold colored cuirasses laden with gothic lines and a kind of solemn regality Kathrine had only seen in images of fairy tale stories about forgotten kingdoms. Nearer her the two men that'd been watching her were crawling down a small hatch a few paces away near the prow while the tiefling and sphinx stood close by talking quietly to one another.
The creature was powerfully built with thick coiled muscles wrapped tight around his feline body as though at any moment they'd spring and he'd launch off in an attack. Numerous scars here and there marked his milk chocolate colored fur but he looked no less noble with his human head held back, hair flowing in some faint wind and his large wings contracted near his spine. It was only by noticing the swish of his tail that Kathrine got the sense something wasn't quite going as intended. He was upset.
The tiefling stood just in her view from catching every expression but she could tell that he was flustered, trying to explain something to the creature without coming across as insulting, maybe? His deep blue silks reflected in the muted light while he moved his hands this way and that to illustrate his point with small gestures. Kat swallowed when she heard the rumbling growl of the sphinx. His claws slipped from his paws to click against the deck and he took a step forward. The tiefling took a step back.
She didn't know the context of the argument, she really didn't care, she knew she couldn't help the man or even if she should have but it was the one thing that never changed in Her eyes. Chauntea was a goddess of growth, of renewal. . . Her arms burned and throbbed as she forced herself up to grab the underside of the railing and slapped the wood with a loud thud. She wasn't going to let someone get killed if there were other ways. Her body screamed its protest to her pushing off on the rope, hooking her leg over the rail. She tried to sit upright but all she could manage was a shift of her weight.
In the next instant she thumped on to the deck on her back staring up at the black sky as he lungs emptied out a grunt. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the sphinx's claws retract and he started towards her, brushing past the tiefling who'd paled a few shades. She sighed out her relief, however short lived it might be. "T- Thank you. . ." Kathrine took a deep breath trying to hook her foot under her left side so she could roll over. The sphinx stopped a foot away from her and sat down with his nose wrinkled and from that angle Kat could see just how noble he was.
His body had to have been about ten feet long with a proud chest decorated in old scars that lead to a fine angular face of a man no older than thirty, long flowing hair that framed his brown eyes in a soft light; carrying neither warmth nor concern as he regarded her, he frowned slightly before speaking in that same rumbling growl. "She smells. . . Get her cleaned up."
Kat swallowed back on her voice as she forced herself on to all fours suddenly aware of how cold she was. Her arms felt like wet noodles and her face itched all over. She coughed to the side wondering just what she'd gotten herself into. "Uh-"
"But-" The tiefling began in a wavering tone.
The massive sphinx turned so quickly Kat didn't register the movement until he was standing in front of the tiefling with his hind quarters lowered just slightly as if to pounce on him. The tiefling recoiled reflexively, throwing his hands up to protect his face as a high pitched scream erupted from his throat. "Eee!"
Kat coughed again and forced herself to sit on her knees, not trusting her arms to hold her any longer. Before she could move to help the man, the sphinx stepped to the side and around him, plodding off down the deck past the training yellow eyed men and into the most rearward cabin on the ship. The door opened several feet before he got close and from her angle she could make out a candle lit interior with a large carpet in the center and more stained wood furniture inside. She looked up to the tiefling barely managing a soft sigh. "You okay?"
The tiefling glanced after his would be attacker and then to her before smoothing out his fine silks and in a haughty, high born voice he harumphed. Tugging on his shirt to make it sit right he murmured. "Some day, fur ball."
Despite herself she had to smile. "He's kindda. . . wound tight, huh?"
"You! My dear girl, look like hell and trust me, I know!" He flashed a smile displaying a row of pointed teeth all polished to a mirror sheen. "Up you go!" His slender hand shot out and he motioned her upwards. "Up up, c'mon! We've got a lot to do and you're sitting on the deck like an abused animal. Up!"
Kathrine reached for the railing and dug her sopping wet foot under herself and began pushing up with a low groan. Her knee threatened to buckle under the sudden weight and for a moment she was stuck half way between standing and kneeling as her thighs burned and screamed their protest to the abuse of the last several hours. Or maybe days. Perhaps weeks, if the fluid time concept held up to any kind of scrutiny. She grabbed the railing and forced herself to stand with a sharp exhale of breath. Overthinking. . .
"That's it! This way, now! Come, come!" His higher than normal timbre raked across Kat's ears like nails on a blackboard setting the finer hairs on the back of her neck at end. A shiver ran down her spine as she hugged her arms to fight off the growing chill across her body. The persistent tap, tap, tap of water falling from her coat slowly began to melt into the sounds of the men training and even her own breathing along with the sounds of creating wood forming a kind of odd cadence to the entire ship that made Kathrine think of home on a busy summer tending session. It was normalcy in an otherwise fantastic situation, in some small way it was rather cathartic. "Come on you silly girl." The tiefling's voice pulled her out of her reprieve.
"Huh?"
"You need a shower and something must be done with your hair." The man was already turning towards the hatch behind him as if he had no doubt Kat would follow. When she didn't, he looked back, rolling his eyes with a theatrical sigh. Lips pursed out and pouted he added "You could stand there freezing your considerable ass off or we can get you cleaned up and dressed properly, ay?"
"I uh. . . I'm grateful for the help and-" She blinked. "Hey, what do you mean 'considerable'!"
"Sweety, have you seen a mirror in the last five years?" He rolled his eyes as he turned around at the hatch and started down the ladder. She frowned and rubbed at her arms glancing down the deck and then back towards the hatch. Did she trust this group not to hurt her or something more? They had plenty of opportunity to do so yet hadn't lifted a finger to do anything, infact they'd invited her aboard when they could've just as easily let her drown or worse.
She swallowed and started forward towards the hatch with heavy, trembling knees.
As she got to the ladder and began climbing down several questions occurred to her almost instantaneously; what were they doing there at that exact time? How come they'd decided to help her at all? Perhaps more important still, what did they expect to get in return? She was just about to open her mouth when she hit the last rung and turned to see a small hallway melt around them into a large room full of ornate pillows piled in front of rich wine colored curtains to about waist height and ringing a very wide circular bed with dark red silk sheets ruffled up under a pair of white fluffy pillows. Candles flickered alive as soon as the room came into full view casting a warm glow to match the growing temperature that gradually began thawing the chill in Kathrine's body
She sucked in a breath tasting a faint undercurrent of sage and olive oil along with a tang of exotic spices she'd never smelled before. The scents swirled through her mind seeming both familiar and alien, warm and inviting yet mysterious as though born from another time and age so close that she could reach out and touch it. As she exhaled, Kathrine found herself entranced by the concept, dreaming of what might lie in this world her mind was quickly fashioning around her; the sights, the people, the clothing. . . The sounds and-
"It's nothing like my home but it's cozy! So get those clothes off and we'll start with fixing your face."
And then it all came crashing down. She frowned. "What's wrong with my face? Or my backside for that matter!"
The tiefling walked over to the left side of the room leaning just slightly at the waist before pulling a curtain to the side revealing a discrete cubbyhole packed with towels and some kind of puffy sponge looking object that rasped lightly against his hand as he grabbed it. He turned to her expectantly making a shooing motion with the sponge. "Go on! Take it off."
Kat's frown deepened as she looked down at the floor her coat was dripping on. "Uh. . . N- No, I mean I appreciate-"
"Oh, I get it! You think because of the horns and charming good looks I'm going to seduce your butterfly and let her drink deeply from the nectar of my flowering loins in some burlesque show of sensuality that only Sharess Herself would be able to understand?" He tilt his head slightly towards her at an angle suggestively waggling his eyebrows.
She was just about to speak when he cut her off.
"Well get over yourself, honey! You're much too fat for my considerably better taste and I'd never sully my bed with-"
"I was going to say. . ." She kept her tone carefully neutral despite the burning desire to wretch at the very idea of his 'flowering loins'. It almost worked. She coughed to the side. "Ech- excuse me. . . uh. . ." She cleared her throat. "I was going to say, I don't have anywhere to put my wet clothes."
"Oh." He straightened up. "Oh yes, right over here. . ." He turned slightly and Kat watched him silently as he opened a curtain that should have lead right back out to the hallway but instead opened in on a beautifully tiled room full of deep green marble squares wrapped around semi-circular stall with a grate in the center of it. Built into the ceiling a set of finger holes had been punched into a cylindrical extrusion made of gold looking metal while on the side of the tiny room a shelf had been carved into the solid looking stone holding various bottles of familiar bathing oils and some thick milky looking substance she didn't recognize. Just to the right side was a cupboard big enough to shove clothes in.
Kat stepped in subconsciously so as not to keep dripping on her host's carpet, suddenly aware of her manners, she looked to him and opened her mouth to introduce herself. His eyes were searching her form with a slight linger when her got to her hips with slight disdain, just before she could speak he held up a finger and then tapped it against his chin. She tried again and again he held up his finger. Oh for cripes sake.
"Here." He shoved the towel and sponge to her. The sponge had a strange bristle to it, not completely uncomfortable but definitely coarse enough to be felt even through her glove. "I think I have something that can help you." His eyes flicked up to meet her and he flashed a smile, shooing her in. "Go on, get a shower, let me do my work."
"B-"
"Ah, ah! You smell like an Abyssal steel works. Bathe first, then talk."
Before she could even breathe the curtain closed in front of her face. She sighed taking another look around the room trying to figure out how such a place, even considering what she'd seen already, could exist in such a confined area. It had to have been magic but how could it work if she couldn't touch Chauntea's essence? Was it only divine blessings that couldn't be brought into being? Was there something more attached to this plane? She shivered involuntarily as the concept ran away from her, bringing back images of some layer of the hells and driving them into the deepest reaches of her subconscious.
"I don't hear water running!" The man's voice raked over her nerves dragging her from her thoughts, perhaps for the best.
Kat slipped her pack off and held it close to her chest with a soft sigh as she leaned against the wall. Every part of her was cold and ached. She'd killed a man, she'd lost the girl, she'd probably failed all those people who'd still wind up venerating Auril to their dying day and-
"Water, dear! Speak it!"
She sighed. Fine, fine. Cripes. "Water?"
The golden cylinder sputtered softly and began pouring a fine stream of water that almost immediately began steaming up the room. Kathrine stood there for a moment simply feeling the warmth as it wrapped around her casting off the chill of her wet clothes with an invitation, however uncertain. She pushed off the wall and accepted it.
She spent the next fifteen minutes or more trying to figure out exactly what magic or command word might turn the sponge thing into a comb to scrape the oil off her body and silently cursing the concepts of planar magic until she finally gave in and started brushing it down her arms where it left her flesh reddened faintly. She noticed subtle flecks of pale material in the oil as it hit the floor but it didn't immediately register until she started to brush at the under side of her arms that it was actually her flesh and not the sponge that was coming off in the oil.
Everyone on the ship could probably hear her scream of surprise.
Was it a trick by the tiefling? Some kind of inner planes creature that stripped the flesh from its victims slowly? She couldn't channel Chauntea's gifts and he knew it! He'd tricked her! She threw the sponge creature at the opposite wall, launching into the only cantrips she had available to her. She may've been doomed but she could at least keep it from happening to someone else, maybe. By the time she was finished with the incantation the tiefling had poked his head in around the curtain just in time to see the creature explode in a puff of electricity and tattered fibers.
"What the hells're you doing?" He shrieked.
"That's it, huh?" Kat whirled to face the man already running the permutations through her mind- she'd need to get to cover if he attacked her with magic and the room offered very little of it. She might be able to use the slight curve of the room to her advantage if she was quick enough. "That. . .thing! That flesh eating thing you gave me! Some trick!"
"Flesh-. . ." The man blinked looking genuinely perplexed. "Are you mad? That was an exfoliating block! It wasn't eating your flesh you silly twit, it was shedding the dead skin!" His gaze lowered to her feet as he wrinkled his delicate nose. "By the looks of it it was doing a hell of a job too."
"It was-. . . What? Really?" She stole a glance at the remnants of the sponge creature. Was he lying to her? That was possible but why would he do that? She looked at him again suddenly feeling very stupid. "Uh. . ."
"Uh huh. . ."
Her face burned red hot. The words wouldn't quite come. "Oops."
He rolled his eyes and stuck his hand into the room carrying another sponge which he threw towards her. She caught it by reflex. "And you wonder why your race is so easily tempted into pacts." He snorted and pulled back into the room leaving her once more to her shower.
The words cut through her like a knife with flashes of memories; Jezebel staring her down telling her about the pact she'd made for power. She hadn't known what'd happened until her master was in a pool of blood and she had everything she could've imagined. . . There was no repentance, no self loathing or self-pitty. Just a cold statement of fact that Kathrine could hear even alone a million planes away. She hugged herself against the wall only vaguely aware of the sponge in her left hand. I killed an angel, Kathrine. How're you going to help me? A strangled sob broke her silence as Kat threw the damned sponge across the room.
/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\
Kathrine emerged from the shower some time later wrapped in the fluffy towel that felt like it should have been in the Pride of Arabel instead of a ship's hold somewhere between Somewhere and Everywhere else. Her skin, much like her body now ached and her hair was splayed over her shoulders with the burned ends draping down against her reddened flesh reminding her of the mistakes she'd already made on this trip.
The tiefling was just finishing setting some candle saucers down on either side of a small portable mirror that was nestled on a waist high night stand with a small round chair in front of it. A small assortment of brushes and combs lined the space just in front of the mirror next to a pair of golden shears and a small jar with a kind of spray pump mechanism Kat had seen some place or another. It was a perfume bottle. Was he serious? He looked over to her with the faintest of frowns and tsked. "So, if you're done destroying-"
"I'm really sorry about that. . ." Kat licked her lips hugging the towel a little tighter. "I uh. . ." She trailed off into a shrug looking away. "It's been a long day."
He squinted just a little and his frown deepened. "You look like a fire elemental, where's-" before he could finish he stepped right up to her and sniffed the air. She backed away at the sudden closeness of the odd man but he took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her forward. "You didn't put any lotion on, did you?" He let out a sigh, depositing her on the chair. "Wait here. . ."
The chair itself widened out slightly to accommodate her, unfolding near the back to support the curve of her lower back and the backs of her thighs almost inviting her to lean back like a couch. She had to fight the urge. Even in this surrounding, it didn't pay to be too relaxed she decided.
The tiefling stepped out of the shower room with his nose wrinkled slightly and a bottle of the milky stuff in his left hand. He waved a delicate hand in front of his face muttering, looking to her he sighed with evident pity in his eyes. "You were supposed to put this on afterwards, it helps the skin grow healthy."
"Oh. . ." Kat frowned slightly. "Uh. . . Sorry?"
He sighed again though for some reason his voice took on a quality of a patient teacher teaching someone who was mentally damaged in some way. It stung, ever so slightly. "Lemmie guess. You're used to. . . ugh. . . public bath houses, right?"
"Uh. . . Not really, no. We had streams and stuff."
Some small color returned to his face as he emptied some of the viscous fluid into his hand and gave her the bottle. "Do your legs, I'm not going anywhere near that." He rubbed the liquid into his hands and without asking permission started to work it into her cheeks and forehead with expert precision which didn't falter in the least when she tried to pull away. The lotion was warm even to the touch and soothing to the fading itching on her face but still she tried to resist, throwing her arm up to bat him away.
"Gah~ I can do it, sheesh!"
"I'm sure, but I don't have all decade. Now shush." The tiefling slipped his hands down to her neck and then shoulders, working the warm lotion in all in one movement. He turned the chair towards the mirror and slicked her arms down in the warm lotion, coming up to her upper back where he stopped and wiped his hands unceremoniously on the back of her towel. "See? Easy, easy."
Kat rolled her eyes and poured some of the lotion into her own hands following his example to work the substance into the flesh of her legs never daring to push the towel up. She glanced up at him in the mirror and exhaled. "Okay, good enough. . . Uh. . ." Her voice trailed off as she caught her reflection. Her normally wispy bangs had been all but singed off leaving ragged waves of hair running in a semi-diagonal line across the front of her skull where most of her face had been directly in the sphere's blast. Along with this most of the right side of her hair had been scorched to just a few inches long where it'd been double that length or even longer. Kat frowned looking this way and that. "No wonder it hurt so bad. . ." She whispered.
"I bet it did! I can't imagine you got that playing around in the water, now, so what's the story?" The tiefling reached over her shoulder and took up the shears along with one of the larger brushes. When Kat frowned he patted her shoulder. "Can't have you walking around looking like a ragamuffin, the captain'd have my horns!"
"The captain? The sphinx?"
"Hmph!" His hands slipped into her hair teasing it out before he brushed it back with a gentle touch that almost felt ethereal against the frayed ends in Kat's body that told her she needed to be trying to get away from this creature. Tieflings were born of infernal blood, everyone knew that. But despite this she didn't get that sense that he was a danger. A bit aloof, sure, but hardly a blood sucking monster. "Over my dead body."
"Um. . . If I may say so? It kind of looked like it might've gone that way earlier." She licked her lips considering her words a little more carefully. "I mean, I'm sure you could handle him and everything but I wanted to try and help. . ."
"I was wondering why you flopped down like a dead fish!" He chuckled a rather high pitched laugh as he held up her hair like a dead squirrel. Clip clip went the shears. "So what was it, huh? Lemmie guess, you tried to brew tea with a fireball."
"Uh. . . Scintilating Sphere- erm. . ." She looked down to the side when she heard the shears cut again. "It's a substitution of fire for electricity but the same basic concept."
"Ah ha, ah ha. That's an interesting use of evocation for someone so young." Clip clip.
Kat frowned. "How much are you taking off exactly?"
"Just enough to make you look good~ The captain likes women to be feminine . I'm betting you do too, hm?"
Kathrine's cheeks burned a little. It wasn't that she was in any way ashamed of her attractions, afterall it wasn't like she could help it if she wanted to but still, having someone directly call her on it felt odd. Like the time she almost walked in on her parents making love. "That apparent, huh?" She swallowed.
He chirped a soft laugh. "You haven't made a pass at me once! Says one'f two things- either you're of unusual proclivities or you're married. And I don't see a ring so. . ."
"You called me fat, I hardly see how that says I have 'unusual proclivities'." She crossed her arms over her breasts frowning at her reflection as he clipped a little more off to the side. He glanced at her and checked either side of her skull before going back to clipping seared ends off here and there. "And then there's the whole butterfly thing. . ." A shiver ran up her spine. "I mean, really?"
"It happens! You'd not be surprised the number of women- or men!- I've turned away, girlie, don't think you can resist forever."
"I think you've got the wrong idea. . ." Clip clip.
"Ah, yes. But so do you!" The man turned a brush over and began teasing her hair out with that same gentility. "As far as Nyx goes, he's not the captain. I'll let you two make introductions but I'll suggest you bring your best truths or your very best lies unless you plan to swim home, mmhmm?" He continued teasing her hair out a bit more until it was a mass of errant fluff that made her look like she'd been on the receiving end of a lightning bolt. Much to her surprise all the burned ends had been either cut off or masked by the random swirl patterns.
Kathrine swallowed. "Yeah, I uh. . . I don't lie well, so I guess I'll have to be upfront, huh?" She shifted uneasily. "Uh. . . What'm I supposed to say? How do I address him?"
"Her. Captain'll work. Mistress if you've been really naughty, I suspect! Or if you're really naughty, friend." He chuckled again. "I think you'll be just fine but I've been wrong before!"
A soft sigh escaped her lips as she watched him brush her hair downward giving her a very slight overhang near her right eye where the burns had been the worst. Layering her hair to favor the right side of her skull, he weaved very subtle lines into the layers to give it definition before teasing some from the back into a pony tail that hung loose between her shoulder blades. It danced the line between practical and rather opulent in some strange way. Kathrine watched him work for a few moments before she licked her lips. "That uh. . .That looks nice, mister uh. . . ?"
"Vaius." He said offhandedly, pulling his hands back a little to inspect his work. In short minute he'd turned a mangled disaster into a respectable, even kind of pretty display of hair that framed her face with two longer strands of hair draped down on either side and a very slight curve that hid one of the singe spots near the crown of her skull.
"Nice to meet you mister Vaius-"
"No mister." A single brush stroke straightened out some loose hair on the left side of her head and he smirked to himself nodding approval with that same far away look she got when she was satisfied with her own work. "Good, good."
"Yeah that looks really nice." Kathrine turned her head slightly managing a half smile. "Thanks."
"Oh don't thank me yet! The best is yet to come!" Vaius casually tossed the brush and scissors on to the table, whirling to the left in a flurry of blue silk and black hair. The soft rustling of cloth soon gave way to his humming a soft melody as he turned to her and held up a pale brown vest that came to a v near the bottom, flowing into a mid length skirt cut generously- perhaps too generously- around the hips. He smoothed out the velveteen fabric once and held it over his chest looking to her. "I saw your pants and just had to pick this out for you. I even found the matching boots, you lucky thing."
"Uh. . ." Kathrine swallowed as she looked at the dress, trying to imagine how she'd ever close it over her chest with no visible buttons or ties. "That's neat but um. . . Kind of 'airy', you know?"
Vaius looked down at it. "Oh don't be silly. I've got just the thing." In another flash he turned the dress around showing off a pure white blouse with a low collar and fluffy mid elbow sleeves. "Now then! Get dressed, you've got work to do!"
