Chapter 29
The Centurion Ventus had brought two winged dragons.
Tiger stared up at the creatures, even less sure of them than he had been of the rheairds.
"Kid's riding with me," Zelos called.
Turning to look as the redhead strode down the stairs to the beach, Tiger sighed in relief.
"So I get one to myself?" Alvin asked.
"Seems like you could handle one just fine," Zelos said, gesturing at the man who had been inspecting the saddle straps on the creatures. "You don't want Tiger riding with you anyway."
"What? Afraid the monster is going to eat his soul?" Alvin teased.
Lifting a fist, Tiger glared at Alvin. "I will punch your face in," he promised.
"Nah. Monsters don't scare him," Zelos was briefly distracted when the two wyverns took off and the flying dragons looked that direction curiously. "Let's get going. No time like the present, after all." Vaulting up the dragon's side, Zelos settled into the saddle and reached down to help Tiger up.
Irritated and distrustful of the monster, Tiger climbed up and settled behind the redhead, gripping his belt with white knuckles in preparation for an unpleasant ride. The winged dragon seemed to sense his discomfort and looked back at him with a worried whine.
Alvin mounted the smaller of the two winged dragons and Zelos took the lead, urging the dragon to take off and fly northeast towards the battlefield. Tiger wrinkled his nose at the prospect of going there. From the stories he had heard from the various soldiers in town, the whole experience had been a nightmare. At least thinking about that distracted him marginally from thinking about how the up and down motion of the winged dragon's flight was mildly sickening. He tried to stare at Zelos's back, but the man's excessive hair kept slapping him in the face and getting in his mouth, and much as he wanted to push it aside, he couldn't get his fingers to unlock from the man's belt. He grit his teeth in frustration and squinted against the wind.
Suddenly, they dived and did a wheeling circle, giving Tiger a spinning view of dirty water and even dirtier ground. That was when the smell hit him and he held his breath. It was worse than Palamacosta's docks. The winged dragon landed in front of an archway with a soapy bubble shimmer covering the gap.
Tenebrae appeared, hovering in the air beside Tiger and Zelos. "I will assist you in going through," he said.
"Hey, we can take these, right?" Alvin asked, pointing at his mount.
"Of course," Tenebrae said and turned his nose towards the gate.
Tiger caught a look at Zelos's profile as the man turned, looking out across the mounds of corpses and floatsam of dead washing up on the beach nearby. Tethe'alla's Chosen was pale.
"Whoever is responsible for this will pay," Zelos promised coldly and turned his winged dragon towards the arch as the view through it cleared to show a wet forest floor. Alvin urged his mount through the portal. Zelos followed.
The air tasted clean on the other side; the freshness of a forest fresh after rain was heaven after the hell on the other side of the portal. Tiger gratefully breathed, slumping in relief.
"So where are we?" Zelos asked.
"Rieze Maxia," Alvin said and turned in his saddle. "Milla's shrine just south of Nia Khera." He looked up at the cloudy sky above as something white came wheeling down from the branches. Holding out his hand, he let the white bird land on his fingers and took the small note off its foot. Unfolding the paper one handed, he sighed. "Balan's already got a lead," he said. "Zelos, these ah... winged dragons. Will they stay where we leave them or do we need to pen them up somewhere?" He shook his head. "No. Never mind. Let's leave them at Xian Du anyway. I need to pick up some things and talk to Yergen."
"Hey, slow down," Zelos said. "What's going on?"
Alvin looked over, a guilty expression crossing his face before he cleared his throat. "All right. We are supposed to be allies after all... I'm from a fairly important family in Elympios, but I'm sort of... the piggit amongst the rappigs. I still want the same thing as they do, but I'm not going to play the game their way to achieve it."
"And what exactly is it you want?"
"Peace, prosperity, and most importantly, profit." Alvin flipped both hands out with a grin. "I'm running a business while they're playing politics and pretending that they can put everything back the way it used to be."
Zelos rolled his eyes. "That sounds familiar."
"Yeah, well, I guess people aren't much different no matter what world you're on." Alvin shrugged. "This," he gestured with the note, "is from my cousin Balan. He's still allowed to hang out in their social circles - I've been banned from the property due to some prior disagreements, but it's not like their security isn't anything I couldn't handle if I was determined to get back in."
Tiger leaned around. "Can you get on with it?"
"Shh," Zelos told him.
Alvin laughed. "Right." He tapped his fingers on his thigh while the bird still perched on his other hand. "Balan said the family is getting together to have a big party tonight, which is only odd because of who else they've invited and the fact that everyone knows that the Svent family is a little on the poor side at the moment due to some bad investment decisions on the part of the patriarch."
"Sounds like a party worth crashing then," Zelos said and grinned.
"Exactly my thoughts. Though we'll have to go to Xian Du first, drop off the wyverns... Dragons." He looked down at his mount. "And take the ship to Trigleph. I'll send a note ahead so that Balan can have clothes ready for us when we get there. We'll be arriving fashionably late at least."
"We should get moving then," Zelos agreed.
Alvin pulled out a pen, scribbled something onto the end of the note, tied it to the bird and tossed it back into the air. He urged his winged dragon to take off, bursting upwards through the branches of the clearing in front of the odd shrine. Zelos's mount exploded into the sky after. Tiger yelped in terror.
"Tiger - loosen your grip a little please?" Zelos wheezed.
"I almost fell off!" Tiger wailed, clinging tighter as the winged dragon leveled out and turned to follow Alvin's lead, heading north across more forest that turned into grassy hills. Feeling ill again, Tiger pulled his gaze up from the ground below to look ahead, finding that the hills turned into arid mountains some distance ahead. His hands ached already and the flight looked like it was going to be at least another couple hours. He shivered in terrified misery and hunched down behind Zelos.
...
"Well, hello ladies," Zelos crooned at a trio of women as they were coming up the stairs.
Alvin had guided their winged dragons to land on the top tier of a city he had called Xian Du. It was a strange place built right into the cliffs of a river canyon. After placing their monsters in separate pens away from the wyverns, the tall man had led the way to some stairs, down an elevator, and to another landing. Tiger lagged behind, slightly overwhelmed by the place, his gaze drifting up towards the strange building that spanned across the gorge some distance away. Mostly Tiger was uncomfortable with the precariously hanging rocks above. Zelos and Alvin had taken the lead, walking side by side, talking, though his raised voice had caught Tiger's attention.
"Didn't think I'd see such beautiful flowers this far from home!" Zelos exclaimed as he strode ahead several steps to meet the three middle aged women carrying baskets of wet laundry up from the river.
The ladies turned astonished looks towards Zelos.
Gasping, Zelos approached and brushed the tips of his fingers against the chin of the oldest with nearly half her hair gone silver. "What beautiful eyes!" he said and looked at the other two. "All three of you! I've never seen such beautiful gems in my life." He swept up the hand of the woman in red and kissed it with a bow. "I am blessed to make your acquaintance, my Hunnies. If this is a mere taste of the beauty this world holds, I cannot wait to see more of it."
Tiger looked over at Alvin to see what his reaction to this was and found the man nodding in appreciation.
"Alvin, who is your friend?" the woman with freckles asked, her face flushed.
"Ah! Forgive me!" Zelos said and as he took her hand. "I am Zelos Wilder, Chosen of Tethe'alla, most prosperous country in the world of Aselia."
"Another new world?" the freckled woman asked, looking unsure.
Zelos bowed again. "Fear not, my Honey. Aselia has no ill intention towards Rieze Maxia. I'm here with Lord Alvin on a business venture."
All three women relaxed, though the silver haired one asked, "Does your world have anything to do with those horrible monsters that invaded the mountains?"
"Unfortunate side effect of when the connection between our words was made. However, that has been dealt with. No new demons will be arriving and your local monster population should make short work of those that are left," Zelos reassured.
The woman in red nodded. "My grandson was out hunting and saw the monsters killing those creatures as they came out of a black tear in the mountain. He said that even as he watched, the tear stitched itself together. That was your people?"
"Lord Ratatosk, Summon Spirit and Lord of Monsters," Alvin said. "One of the guardians of Aselia. He and Lord Maxwell are working together now."
Tiger's brows wrinkled as the three women exchanged looks of utter relief. "I'm glad Lord Maxwell is still watching out for us," the oldest of the three ladies said as she set her laundry basket down. "Here, dear," she said as she pulled a potion out of her hip bag and pressed it into Zelos's hand. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
"I shall use it in time of need, my sweet," Zelos said as he reverently held the bottle.
The other two women exchanged glances and set their laundry down. "Here, a protection charm," the woman in red said, clipping it around Zelos's neck.
Freckles pulled the ribbon holding her hair back, releasing a straight black curtain to tumble down her shoulders. "To remember me by," she winked and tucked her gift into his hand.
Zelos held the ribbon to his nose and smelled it with a sly smile. "Your eyes will haunt my dreams, my Honey."
Giggling like young girls, the three took their baskets of laundry and hurried away.
"That was smooth," Alvin said and bowed. "I concede you to be the Master Sleezebag."
Looking at the ribbon with a smile, Zelos twirled it around his fingers and flicked his gaze at Alvin. "It's all about the sincerity. They know when you're just faking it." He tucked the ribbon and potion into his pockets and glanced at Tiger. "You're taking notes, right kid?"
"Uh..." Tiger mumbled, completely speechless.
"Oh, I see. That's why you brought him along. He's your protégé." Alvin laughed. "I'd love to take you around town and introduce you to every lady, but we've got a party to be at."
"Ah, yes," Zelos said and followed as Alvin took the lead again, making his way down the stairs to the lowest level.
Tiger jogged to keep up with them, dodging around people on the sidewalk. He was thoroughly turned around by the time Alvin got to a cavern cut into the side of the cliff where they could apparently hire a carriage or horses.
"You have been paying attention, right?" Zelos asked as Alvin strode off and Zelos caught Tiger's shoulder to keep him from following.
Looking up at the man, Tiger squinted. "Not sure what you mean by that?"
"People are nervous here. They're afraid of another world being in contact with them," Zelos said. "Doesn't say good things about Elympios."
"Uh." Tiger blinked once. "They did come up with that dumb 'otherworldy reaction plan' didn't they? Could be they're just jerks to everyone?"
Zelos covered his eyes with a sigh and patted Tiger's shoulder as he laughed softly.
"What? What'd I say?"
Alvin strode over to them again, lifting a brow as he looked from Tiger to Zelos. "You ready to go?"
"The discussion seemed pretty heated over there. Do we have to walk?" the redhead asked.
"Oh, just the usual haggling. I got him to lower the price some," Alvin said. "We got lucky, someone else wanted to go down to the Seahaven too and agreed to let us ride with him. As long as you don't have a problem with his pet."
Zelos lifted both brows. "Pet?"
"Rappig."
Tiger shrugged.
...
Zelos surreptitiously sniffed his shirt as they waited for boarding to start for the ship to Trigleph. "I can still smell it. Are you sure we don't have time to get me a new shirt?"
"Balan will have new clothes waiting for us," Alvin said.
"Yes, but I smell now."
Tiger glanced around to make sure that Cecil and his beloved rappig Peony weren't in hearing range and sighed when he saw neither hair nor ear of the odd pair. "That was the weirdest carriage ride," he added, deciding to stick close to Alvin and Zelos this time since the Seahaven was rather busy. Although Zelos's brilliant red hair stood out amidst the sea of brunets, their native guide was only recognizable by his scarf, but unfortunately everyone in the area was brightly dressed.
"Boarding starts in half an hour," Alvin objected.
"Please, I don't think I could stand to smell like this for four hours more," Zelos begged.
"Stay right here," Alvin said firmly.
Tiger turned to see the man disappearing into the crowd. Looking back, he made sure Zelos was there still and asked, "Why did you want him to go away?"
"Sometimes you're smarter than you look," Zelos said with an appreciative smirk. "I wanted the chance to ask you if you've noticed anything."
"Uh... I thought we figured out I'm not really good at that?" Tiger said. "Last time you asked me."
"You're not completely oblivious. Come on." Zelos prodded his shoulder and leaned down slightly.
Looking around, Tiger shook his head. "I haven't seen many kids around," he said. "Those that are here don't go far from their parents."
"Seems a little odd to me," Zelos said.
"Unless you're scared," Tiger replied and looked at him. "That'd be the only reason why I'm sticking close to you."
"You're scared?" Zelos lifted a brow at him.
"No!" Tiger folded his arms. "Not exactly... I'm being cautious. It's hard to explain. But everyone seems nervous like they're waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Zelos snapped his fingers. "That's it," he said.
"I don't want to get separated from you."
"It's because of those kids?" Zelos asked.
Tiger pointed at a mother and her son. "Why would a boy that old be holding his mom's hand in public? I love my mom but he's holding her hand."
Tipping his head to the side, Zelos considered that then flipped his hair over his shoulder. "Well, you're not going to hold my hand if that's what you're getting at."
"Eew!" Tiger backed away a step. "I'd rather die!"
"Rather die than what?" Alvin asked, apparently having returned. He held a shirt out to Zelos.
"He wanted to hold my hand," Zelos teased. He took the shirt and held it up. "Oh, that's interesting." He shucked his black and pink top and pulled the new white and purple one on, tucking it in and tying the sleeves up to show off his muscles. "Only thing that would make this better would be if it showed my midriff." He put his hands on his hips and turned, showing off the graphic yellow and black design on the back.
Tiger rolled his eyes.
"Now boarding for Trigleph!" someone shouted.
Alvin gestured with a thumb. "That would be us. Come on." He forged a path through the crowd. Zelos grabbed Tiger's wrist and followed, dragging the young blond behind him.
Disliking getting hauled around like that, but not wanting to get lost, Tiger suffered to be pulled through the crowd and up the gang plank onto the deck of a ship. Alvin led the way to a quiet spot on the deck and shoved a hand through his hair as he leaned on the railing, looking back out into the Seahaven. "Wow. Lots of people going to Trigleph today." He shook his head and turned to look at them, snorting and bursting into laughter.
Tiger snatched his wrist from Zelos's grip and glared.
"So tell us more about Elympios?" Zelos said, as if nothing had happened. "And maybe a bit about what happened to make everyone so nervous?"
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you noticed," Alvin scratched the back of his neck. "Elympios was going to use Rieze Maxia as practically slave labor, only without their knowledge, all because they can produce mana and we Elympians can't."
"See? The otherworldy reaction plan," Tiger turned a glare on Zelos.
"That is definitely not what it's called," Zelos retorted.
Alvin squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head once. "There was also a large base of operations here in Xian Du for their terrorist faction, Exodus. Not to forget the government facility run by the king himself to test boosters. It's made the people around here a little skittish."
"Test boosters? Like... on people?" Tiger asked.
"Yep." Alvin lifted both hands in a shrug and leaned back against the railing behind him. The boat rocked slightly as the sailors began casting off. "As you can imagine, Elympios doesn't have that great of a reputation, so the idea of another world being involved with them now, especially after the demon attacks is unsettling."
"So that's why you mentioned Ratatosk and Maxwell."
"Yes. Worship of Maxwell has gotten more popular over the last year now that they know she exists." Alvin glanced out at the Seahaven again, briefly distracted by yelling. "Hm. Looks like Peony got loose again."
Tiger moved closer to peer and snorted as he saw the man in loose blue clothes chasing after the pink rappig. "Should put it on a leash," he said.
"Rappigs are food," Alvin said. "Not pets."
Zelos leaned against the railing on Alvin's other side. "So tell us about this party we're going to? Why is it so suspicious?"
"First, my family is flat broke. Being the ones who founded and funded Exodus and the Otherworld Reactor Plan in the first place, followed by an extended feud over who would be the next patriarch... They don't have the cash to make this kind of affair worth attending unless they've come into something good lately." Alvin turned to face the direction the other two were facing, tapping his fingers on the railing in thought. "And then they invited about four patriarchs from families that previously were in support of the plan but quit when King Gaius made it very clear he would personally kill anyone who tried to make commercial use of Rieze Maxia."
Zelos's brow lifted as he looked at Alvin. "Personally? This king of yours sounds a little crazy."
"Direct," Alvin agreed. "You're either a leader or a follower. He only respects leaders and he pities followers." He shrugged. "Unfortunately unless you've got the backbone to stand up against him if you disagree... well, you're going to be considered a follower." The man grinned slightly. "Interestingly enough he considers me a follower and Jude a leader."
"I would have had that the other way around. So, why does Ivar hate Jude?" Zelos asked.
"Because of Milla Maxwell. Ivar was her Handmaid until she made it clear that she preferred Jude's attentions. Ivar doesn't take hints very well, though and has refused to admit defeat on that score. He's competent enough whenever given a clear task with set goals, but if Jude gets involved, all plans are out the window. I'd be more surprised that Ratatosk has gotten Ivar to behave as much as he has. Not even Gaius could do that."
"Ratatosk is a jerk," Tiger put in. "He threatened to skin me first time I met him."
Alvin burst out cackling.
"Why are you laughing?" Tiger demanded, pushing off the railing to turn and face the taller man.
"Just - it's reassuring to know I'm not special. He nearly cut my head off for upsetting his girlfriend." Alvin shook his head and grinned. "So that's either how Ratatosk lets you know he likes you or the list of people he likes is shorter than I thought." The boat rocked again as the engines started and they were on their way.
Zelos waved his hand, "A little of both. That and Emil keeps him in check. I suspect Ratatosk and your king have a lot in common."
"Yeah, that was an... interesting conversation," Alvin rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "He'll be irritated at me for ditching my mission, but this seems pretty important."