Taking a deep breath Abel walked away from the shack to a large fallen log. Taking out his well used sewing kit from his bag he set about repairing his shirt and jacket as his mind wandered. Soon Astha would ask more about his different... traits, or he will be faced with the need to use it again… hopefully they can make it to Seth's before either happens. He admitted that letting the crusnik have a full feeding had vastly improved their issues and in general he felt a lot better. William was right… again.
After an hour he had repaired the torn clothing to a serviceable state and the soothing actions of mending cloth had put Abel in a good mood. It would still be a while before it would be dim enough for him to be comfortable with Astha and Ion walking in the daylight. Sure she said their suits would help but… it didn't feel right to risk it.
She had asked for some food… perhaps he could scare up a rabbit or something. He walked back to the shack, setting his bag by the opening and peered in to see that Ion was still asleep and Astha was dozing at the table, having taken off her coat to use as a pillow. Having never seen her in quiet repose before… he blinked a few times before moving away feeling a bit embarrassed to stare at her. She was a bold and beautiful lady when awake but in slumber he felt she looked soft and vulnerable, something she would punch him for if he ever told her, his lips quirked up in a half smile at the imagery.
He gathered a few things and went off to the west of the shack in search of food. It was a decent selection, a pouch of berries, having found some blueberries, junipers and wolfberries. Some edible plants of chicory, chickweed and a larger patch of wild asparagus. While he was gathering the chicory, a ship had flown over and hovered above the crash site before moving away, it was hard to see the vessel through the trees could only really track it by sound. They needed to be on the move before any more ships came possibly looking for them.
Ion and Astha were awake and waiting for him. She was working on the device again and he was putting on the UV cream on his exposed hands and face. Both looked up in surprised at his arrival.
"Is everything ok? I thought I heard a ship earlier." Astha asked, closing the device and clearing off the small table.
"There was a ship but it moved on. I wasn't able to see it with the trees but it seemed to check out the crash site… so how well did you do at rustic cooking?" He raised an eyebrow at her, a teasing glint in his blue eyes.
"Um... well, it was a while ago but I'm pretty good at improvising… did you actually find anything?" She stumbled a bit at his change in conversation and demeanor.
A grin appeared as he placed the washed berries, and the prepped greens on the table.
"Oh! Well… I didn't think you would find so much variety… do we even have something to cook in? Half of this stuff is what, boiled and or eaten raw?" She asked as she inspected the berries, tasting one that make her cough a bit at its bite.
"Those are wolf berries … they are a bit strong." He laughed at her rueful expression.
"Nice name for those."
Ion reached over to try one having never seen them before. His face scrunched up as the tartness hit his taste buds.
"Hope the rest tastes better than the berries."
"I saw an old pot somewhere here in the cupboard. I'll go wash it up and once we eat it's time to move out, that ship could come back or bring others."
They used their small fire only as long as necessary, hoping the smoke wouldn't give them away to any searchers. Astha was able to make a passable meal with what Abel gave her and to be honest she was pretty impressed that it was edible.
"We might survive now that I know you can cook." He grinned at Astha as he carefully quelled the fire and went about the small area to hide their tracks.
"You were doubting my skills?" she challenged.
"Perhaps a little," his grin widened impishly. "There was a reason I was paired with Tres often, he didn't need to eat and so far I haven't died from my cooking."
"I'm hoping we get picked up soon, I can't say I enjoyed that meal enough to repeat it."
"Haha yeah, I do understand the feeling."
"Do you know where we are at all?" Ion asked, peering at the evening sky.
"Not exactly, but our route and time of speedy disembarkment should have us not that terribly far from Über Berlin."
"That's roughly a three hour flight to the capital."
"So we should be home by morning?" Ion asked hopefully.
Abel chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps but I wouldn't hold my breath."
Ions expression fell and he nodded. "At least we got a hot meal."
Both methuselahs were packed and ready to leave, wearing their respective UV gear. Abel did a final sweep before leading them onwards to the rise he found earlier. They travelled in silence, letting Abel concentrate on the trail as much as having nothing to say. When they reached the small brook, everyone refilled their water bottles and had a long drink since it could be a while before more water was found.
It was just past dusk when they reached the ridge that Abel had seen earlier. A few rocks and old stumps scattered around the area, otherwise it was devoid of the heavy evergreen trees that covered the path up.
"This area should get signal, right?" Ion asked settling down on a stump and taking a quick drink.
"It's probably the best we can find without more climbing. If you look over there you can just see where the ship came down, its likely about ten twelve kilometers away." Abel pointed down to the south of the ridge.
Astha nodded and set about getting the device booted up.
Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! The device vibrated and lit up as it received signal and message alerts came in.
"I think we were missed." Abel commented as he leaned down beside Astha.
"Oh I'm sure we were very missed" she smirked as she opened the first message.
"Astharoshe, your ship has not made it to the dock on its scheduled time. Is everything alright?" Seth's worried voice came over the speaker.
"Astharoshe, please pick up, we can not get through to the ship and I'm very concerned."
"We have heard a report of a ship coming down on some open data lines. I need you to report back immediately!"
"I don't think I have ever heard the Empress sound that upset." Ion commented.
"Well, she has good reason, since she was monitoring our return quite closely." Astha replied as she set the device to connect for transmission.
"Empress, its Astharoshe, we are alive and well but the ship was shot down around the Uber Berlin area according to Abel. I am trying to get you our coordinates on the device now."
Astha's fingers quickly typed out the commands needed for the coordinates to appear on the screen, and sent the data to the Empress's recorder.
"Astharoshe! I am so glad to hear from you! We will send a ship out right away to get you, were there any injuries?" Seth's voice was brimming with relief.
"No we are all fine. Currently we are on a ridge, surrounded by trees, so I'm not sure where you can land a ship at."
"Don't worry about that, we don't have to land with the ship that is coming. Just stay where you are, it should not be more than a few hours… Abel, are you there?"
"Yes your Majesty."
"Good, please make sure you get on that ship as well."
Abel smiled and nodded. "Of course, your Majesty."
"I will see you all in a few hours then." The communication flickered and ended the transmission.
"Finally something is going right. This whole trip had problems it seems." Ion sighed and sprawled a little more on the stump he was using as a chair.
"That is true, right from our departure it has been issue after issue to get to the cardinals residence, then while there before we had to go to Londinium."
Abel furrowed his brows a little as he mulled over her words.
"How known was your trip to Caterina's?"
"Not at all, we went by cargo ship to Milan, and we were told to keep a low profile."
"The Orden has fingers in every organization it seems… and the comments from those guys last night makes me think this wasn't by chance."
They fell silent as the ominous feeling of his statement hung in the air.
Abel was starting to get tired, the concept wouldn't leave him that Cain or at least the Orden truly had gotten deeper into the Vatican and empire than previously thought. This meant that Seth, Caterina and Esther were all in danger since they were all powerful women who Cain knew were linked to him. A shudder slithered down his spine at the thought of Cain getting access to Caterina who was truly the most defenceless if found alone. Esther was experienced with thugs and other ugly walks of life, as well as truly being a blaze of life and vitality in comparison to Caterina who was slowly fading from some mysterious ailment she had not shared.
"Abel," Astha voice called him out of his darkening thoughts. "Why don't you rest some, I know you have been non stop since we landed, and it wasn't that long ago you were in a coma."
Her sensible suggestion brought waves of exhaustion to his body as he became aware of how tired he was.
He grunted a little and walked around the clearing to find a place that was less rocky to lay down on.
"Should we make a fire or something?" Ion asked as he watched Abel wander.
"I wouldn't till it's a lot closer to when the ship should be in the area."
"Oh… ok. So what should we do while you sleep?"
"Look at the stars?" He suggested as he finally cleared a spot not far from them and laid down his long jacket and dug out another from his bags to drape over himself.
"The Moons seem so bright tonight. The shield over the Empire never lets them shine so strong in the city." Ion mused aloud.
Abel shifted on his makeshift bed, his fingers laced behind his head so he could look up at the sky. Little did Ion or anyone really know that the smaller "moon" was a ship. Their ship. Where Lilith died by Cain's hand, the hot sting of betrayal and failure momentarily lancing though his mind.
"Do you learn much about the stars and space in the Empire?" He asked after a while.
"There's classes on constellations but not much."
"Ahh, that's too bad as space is really interesting in its cold and distant way." Abel mused, his voice deepening as his mind drifted to far away memories of space.
"You are just a priest, why would you know anything about space?"
A short laugh barked out of Abel. "You met Professor William, a mind that hungry wants all the information and he is just a priest. You shouldn't be judging books by their covers as the saying goes."
"Ah yeah I guess that makes sense, though the saying is one I've never heard it before."
"Really? Huh… it used to be a very common saying… Watch the stars quietly Ion, so I can rest a few minutes." Abel yawned and turned over to sleep.
Astha watched their exchange a bit bemused as Abel's answers exposed a little more about the man. When Abel ended their conversation she took the hint to walk away to let him rest. Taking out her spear, she moved a short distance away and worked on various drills, the repetitive motions soothing as much as making the time pass.
Once he found a comfortable way to lay, Abel fell into slumber. His mind was drifting from memories brought up about space, watching the planets as they traveled past them on the trip to and from Mars.
"Abel…" Liliths soft voice whispered into his mind. "Lilith?" Her lovely face appeared, looking concerned.
"You will need to feed us again soon, 02 won't stay quiet for long."
"Why the need for blood so soon? For many years I had no blood while I mourned your death. And in the last twenty it's been sporadic and far and few between. I refuse to become more of a monster!"
"Full fusion has taken the nanomachines out of their low powered state they had been in from the beginning. We can activate at a thought, generate electricity with a flick of your wrist and give you the wings at a lower percentage, the blood scythe is bigger and charged with power unlike before. It's an optimized system that needs the fuel regardless of being idle or not now. I need you to take care of me and 02 so that I can help you keep him at bay."
"Will the cravings be as bad as they were when I woke up?" He was afraid of the answer.
"Only if you get really hurt, but it was like that even before. If you don't let us get depleted it will stay as an ache before it becomes a need… I don't want to hurt your friends."
She reached out and took his hands, sending warmth to him in comfort. He squeezed her hands in acceptance.
"Will the pills that Astha takes, if Seth has similar, would they work?"
"I don't know… we need the virus and I don't know how well it takes to being dried, Seth will know and perhaps we need a bigger dose."
He nodded. "Here's hoping."
"Sleep now my dear. I'll keep watch."
Her image faded and blackness of sleep enfolded him completely.
It had been roughly an hour since Abel had laid down that Astha came back to sit near them. A few sips of water and she sat down on a few larger stones.
"Only a bit longer till the ship comes?" Ion asked, he had been dozing a bit till she came back.
"Perhaps an hour, soon we should make the fire I think. I'll get a spot ready if you go grab deadfall."
He nodded and went to his task.
Abel hadn't moved much in his sleep. She could hear his deep relaxed breaths as she cleared a spot and made a ring of rocks for the fire. Debating if she should wake him she wandered around gathering smaller sticks and such.
"Astharoshe!" Ion called from the trees. "Come quick!"
She grabbed her spear and ran to where he sounded to be at.
"What is it Ion?"
He pointed down the valley to where the small shack they had stayed in was at… it was up in flames.
"That just happened while I was out here… do you think those guys followed us?"
"Or they got some help from that ship Abel saw earlier."
"Do we still make a fire?"
"I'll see if I can contact the ship… let them know we are not alone.