Chapter 2

There was no fanfare surrounding their departure from the Prime Material, no one paid any attention to their ship as it silently lifted up into the sky far above the early afternoon din of dock workers loading cargo or carrying on meaningless conversations. Their concern for the more mundane aspects of life sent a twinge of guilt through Kathrine's mind; they had the blessing of ignorance, yet the very real dangers that swirled around them waited just at the veil between planes. It was maddening to consider even for a moment, yet Kat watched the steadily shrinking image with a certain jealousy. She wanted to be ignorant again, but only just so.

"It's not too late to turn back." Bree whispered beside her.

Kat leaned against the woman's shoulder, saying nothing. There wasn't any more need for her to be here than there ever had been. The city ate away at people, bringing nothing but pain on an ever downward slide which no man or group could seem to stem the tide of even if they weren't so busy pursuing their own agenda. It was a fool's bet to think otherwise. But the warmth on the ship, the companionship of new friends and the solidarity of experience. . . The simple beauty of knowing was all she needed to be happy.

Bree brought her arm around Kat's shoulder in a reassuring gesture as the ship banked upward into a lazy arc. The invisibility spell she'd set up on the ship was only now beginning to fade as they got closer to their destination somewhere across the river to the west of the city. She watched the people go about their lives for just a moment before stealing a glance at Kat, an unreadable expression on her features.

Kat looked over to her and smiled a little. Every part of the moment felt right in ways she couldn't quite comprehend, words were unnecessary but the subtle itch of curiosity in the back of her mind was trying to piece together how everything had come about, why, and more importantly what they were going to do about it. If she knew the whole truth, Syler's people were pursuing Bree and gods knew how many others, trying to gather up their souls to make themselves immortal. But how did they stop that? If the cult could take on dragons and win even a few times, that meant they had powerful magic and tactics behind their efforts.

Bree's hand squeezed Kat's shoulder. "You're overthinking things again, aren't you?"

"Kindda."

The woman's perfectly pouted lips turned upward slightly. "You're going to go grey at this rate. Haven't you ever heard that the future takes care of itself and the past is the past? It's called the present because it's a gift."

Kat watched the trees far below for a moment, considering her reply carefully. "I think you do too, though. Even if you're not consciously aware of it."

She chuckled. "And what makes you think that, hm? I have a very keen memory but I find thinking too far ahead gets dreadfully boring. It's enough to drive a person mad!"

"Yeah, but you're not exactly a normal person."

"Touche." She grinned again.

The ship continued its brisk pace over the thick forest far below, even taking on a subtle shift to the right. Kat watched and imagined any number of orcs or other forms of wildlife looking up to the sky and seeing the ship; what must they have thought about the strange intruder into their life? How did something so alien get reconciled into normality? Was it even possible? She glanced at Bree wondering the same thing.

"You're doing it again-"

"Why did you stock all those reagents for the ritual?" Kat blurted.

Without missing a beat, the woman's hand squeezed gently. "Life is full of mysteries, my good priestess. The answers to some needn't become apparent until they're needed." Her smile faded slightly when Kat frowned. "You might say I was saving them for a time of great need."

"But. . . who was going to perform the ritual if not you?"

"Were I less secure in myself, I'd be offended at that implication. Do you truly think I'd ask someone else to do something like that?"

Kat swallowed. "W-. . . No offense, but you are a dragon, right?"

Bree's hand pulled away from her shoulder as the warmth began to slowly drain from her sharp eyes. When she placed both hands on the rail and looked down into the copses of trees below, her voice took on a perfectly annoyed tone. "That's a dangerous attitude to have, miss Stoneriver. Do you think I-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Kat reached out to touch her but she pulled away ever so slightly, her eyes flashing with a warning that cut through Kat like a knife. "Hey, no, I didn't mean it like that. . . Just that, in my experience, dragons tend to think on a much loner scale than humans can." She swallowed. "No, like, I mean. . ."

Abruptly Bree smiled and her annoyance was gone in the beat of an instant. "You're far too cynical for your age, priestess." She poked the air with a slightly playful smile. "Given a mind like that, I'm surprised you're not running a fiefdom!"

"Pfft. What would I even call it, Katopia?" Kat forced a smile to which Bree responded with one of her own. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't. . . I didn't mean it to sound that way.'

"Dear. You're reading too far into this, really. Since when were we walking on egg shells around one another, hm?"

That question stung a little but it felt like one that needed to be answered. She was right, of course, somehow Bree had become someone different in her eyes. The woman she'd considered a friend was suddenly else, someone so far out of her realm of understanding that she was terrifying in ways no simple fear could quantify. Kat sucked in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Bree. . . I. . ."

"Well, if it helps any, I'm not one of Tiamats daughters." She rolled her eyes with a playful smirk.

And just like that, Kat's resolve wavered all the more. She sighed and closed her eyes, stepping up to the woman- her friend, in any form- and hugged her close. Barely able to whisper, she murmured into Bree's coat. "I'm sorry. It's just a lot to take in." To her surprise, Bree brought her arms around her back and cooed softly in her ear.

"I've told you one, I've told you again; life is full of mysteries and you, my good woman, are not meant to know them all. . . But, take heart!" She smiled at Kat. "One thing I will never let be a mystery between us is that I l-"

Something heavy slammed into the hull with a dull thump.

"Nnnggghhh. Really?" Kat whined even as both she and Bree pulled away from one another. What she was going to say, what Kat wanted to hear, those things would have to wait. If only for a few minutes. It hadn't sounded that bad, probably just a bird or something.

"Oh. . . Well, that's something you don't see every day."

"Huh?" Kat turned to see Bree looking up at the sky to their immediate rear where a massive black dragon sat atop the deck of a ship easily twice the size of Bree's own. It hovered in the air at a perpendicular angle several hundred feet up above them yet still keeping pace with their forward movement. The entire hull of the dark wood ship was clad in layers of metal plating that had been bolted on in a haphazard array, exposing pieces of the inner hull and making the entire vessel look like an armored skeleton . A very heavily armored skeleton. "Oh. . . That's not good."

The ship rolled slightly towards them to get a better angle and that's when it exposed it's deck; hundreds of men and women in black and brown robes stood between dozens of catapults which, in turn, were ringed with mages working a dozen different incantations at once on the iron balls sitting in the bowls of the siege engines. The balls themselves began a steady blue glow before sparking to life with an icy colored fire. At the same time, the dragon took to the air and pivoted away from the ship.

Kat opened her mouth but no words came out. Her breath died right there on her lips only to be robbed by the passing wind.

The dragon flew side around the Oghman's vessel, flapping his wings just once before banking to intercept Bree's ship. No sooner had he flexed his massive claws and focused his one good eye on Bree than a dozen smaller black dragons swooped out from the opposite side of the long ship taking a flight path around the other side. A moment later the catapults fired their first salvo.

As the flaming blue balls of iron sailed through the sky Bree casually straightened out her coat and sighed. "Can't win them all, I guess."