Project Empress 035

 (Chapter 8 continued)

It was bright day. By now the “Ruhig Blut” was just leaving the river Ruher entering the Rhine, moving upstream towards their goal in Thusseldorp. After having passed a complex of harbours not long ago this part was surprisingly green flood plains, dotted with a few ruins of buildings from the fallen union, which now were overgrown by plants. Cara was trying to pay attention to her surroundings. Everything looked markedly different here than in Monasteria but she kept getting distracted by the strange glances her master and Eliza were exchanging. It reminded Cara of one of the documentaries they were shown at school, always a highlight in young Cara’s life, where two dominant male orangutans had encountered each other, where on of them was obviously in the wrong territory. Yet instead of fighting they made a conscious effort to ignore each other.

In this case it was more an aggressive ignoring that contained suspicious amounts of side eye as well as polite almost gestures daring the other to step forward, if they thought they were hard enough. Cara was fascinated by how these two predators kept just outside of the distance that would force a response of the other. Now unlike how it would have been if they were fencing. Only that this to Cara smelled and tasted mostly childish. Which puzzled her even more, both these woman were obviously masters of the art. Cara could recognise the subtle shift in stances, a slight shift in balance of Eliza’s would result in Natalie moving so very slightly forward in her seat, so that she would be able to counter any attack that might come from the forge walker. While one was still pretending to look out of the window, with Natalie sipping on a mug of coffee that was coming to terms with the fact that it might soon turn into improvised brass knuckles. Manfred had completely removed himself from the possible lines of fire. He was now near the coffee maker checking the fire extinguisher. While so far it was Erika that had been the main fighter of the two, Cara could see that if need be, Wolfram was ready to fight for his bridge when push came to shove.

Instead the two great apes seemingly grew bored as time passed, Eliza actually starting to focus on the vista outside starting to point interesting points they were passing. Interesting to Eliza were smoke stacks of factories that were functional again, the power plant running, the two fortresses of high science that were deeper inland where the bright and the obsessed fought to keep the fading light of science going and of course most important of all the mines old and new that gave this region its enormous power.

“And around this bend”, Eliza said pointing forwards, “Is our goal palace Benrath.”

This woke up even Natalie who had not been as fascinated by Eliza’s accounts as Cara, her head that had hung backwards over the backrest of her seat, snapped up. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand blinking in the direction where Eliza was pointing. 

“I don’t see any palace.” Natalie said yawning.

“I see many ships.” Cara said, “Is that even a real harbour? I don’t see the usual cranes and most of the ships are small…”, she went to the window at the port side to have a better look, “and behind them… is that a fair? A marketplace?”

“A bit of both.” Eliza said, “This is a port of convenience that grew here over the years. The palace is a bit further inland. It changed functions several times. It was a command HQ, a hospital, the mansion of a wolf back in the day, but by now it is the ‘guildhall’ of the independent traders union. The large park of the castle and how close it is to the river made it the perfect place for smaller merchant outfits to come here and trade directly and it somehow turned into this.”, she said with grin. “Took a lot of tenacity to get where it is now, they fought hard to keep this bit of earth mostly independent. To them this confusion of quays is a feature. It is easy to get in there with a small boat while large freighters wouldn’t  dare to land here,” her gaze shifted towards Wolfram, “present company excepted it seems.”

Wolfram smiled a thin smile, his eyes glinting, “We have friends in low places.”

“And in high ones.”, Erika added.

“And in between”, Wolfgang said. After a short pause, “We have friends everywhere.” He moved towards the the radio station next to the helm. “Free Port Benrath, this is captain Wolfram Hartman Serafini of the “FMS Ruhig Blut”, we request permission to dock.” He cast a long roaming glance through the bridge, the shadow of raised eyebrows only reinforcing his poker face. The radio crackled back to life, “Captain Hartmann Serafini, welcome back to Benrath Free port, you can dock at your usual place and convey our welcome also to your wife captain Erika Hartmann Serafini.”

“Thank you and will do. “FMS Ruhig Blut” over and out”, he gave everyone enough time to process what just had happened. Natalie grinned, Eliza smiled nodding to him, while Cara was deeply impressed her mouth forming a an O, her eyes wide. She started clapping, Natalie and Eliza followed her example. Wolfram lowering his head humbly. Erika snorted.

A short while and some impressive manoeuvres later, the “Ruhig Blut” was fastened to the quickly deployed extension of the very first quay of the chaotic port. Cara watched how the freighter moved with a precision that was very close to magic towards the almost fragile looking quay. There were two people, a man and woman, already waiting for them. Erika was already out of the bridge getting ready to throw hawser on shore. Meanwhile Wolfram kept the ship steady, dropping its anchors. Shortly after the “Ruhig Blut” was as safely moored as possible under these circumstances.

“Are you coming to shore with us?”, Natalie asked Wolfram.

“Erika will, we have some deliveries to make here and maybe she will find something small and profitable in the market. I’m staying on board. Security. Both for our cargo and the harbour. That”, he pointed at the quay outside, “isn’t made for a ship like this.”

 “So…”, Cara started, not knowing exactly what to do, “this is goodbye?”, she fidgeted looking almost everywhere apart from Wolfram’s face. 

“I guess it is”, Wolfram said, who suddenly was very focused on his instruments. “I’m not got at this… Please take care, all of you. We will meet each other downstream again some day.” He did not look up from his instruments as he said this. 

Erika nodded and said, “Goodbye Captain Hartmann Serafini, I will remember you and so will the forge fortress”, she turned around and left the cabin. 

“You and your wife are some of the most solid people I’ve ever met”, Natalie said. “Until next time Wolfram, may your business and your boat always stay afloat.” Natalie too left the bridge murmuring, “Hey, that rhymed”, as she left.

“I…”, Cara started, “I just wanted to say thank you for all what you have done for me, I have no idea how to repay you for your kindness…”

Wolfram cleared his throat. “We got paid and we don’t leave anyone behind.” As Cara was still at a loss for words he added, “Become a great swordmaster and remember us.”

“I will”, Cara said. She moved forward a step, saw Wolfram sinking deeper into his seat. She decided to give him a quick pat on his head, turned around and left. ‘What was I thinking patting his head…’, she asked herself as she passed through the door outside. As she closed the door she thought to have heard a silent sniff.

Down on the quay, Erika was signing a paper held by the woman who had helped with the mooring of the boat. She the turned around and with wide gestures said goodbye to  first Erika, there was a lot of hugging too, the she turned to Natalie, the ritual repeating. As Cara moved closer she began to understand what Erika was saying. “…and make sure to eat well, it is not easy out there but a strong warrior like you needs to have a healthy diet. You need to keep that edge right?”

Natalie mumbled something that Cara couldn’t make out, but the answer from Erika was loud and clear. “Who are you calling your mom?! I’m not that much older than you. This is just solid advice. Porco d…, mom…. I’m like your older sister!”

Natalie nodded and again said something that Cara couldn’t quite understand, while trying to twist out of Erika’s embrace like a cat that had reached the limits of its patience. It was then that Erika saw Cara approaching. She let go of Natalie who was smiling her politest smile and quickly moved out of Erika’s reach. 

“Cara, carissima, come here”, with a side eye to Natalie, “to your big sister.”

Cara moved slowly towards the waiting captain, who embraced her the moment she got into range. At first Cara was impressed at how good Erik’s perception of distance was, that thought was instantly replaced by the feeling of being crushed. 

“Piccolina, how I wish you could stay with us a bit longer. But you need to go on, train to be a great warrior like your old aunt Natalie over there.” She shot Natalie a look as she said that. Cara heard a gasp coming from Natalie’s direction. Erika continued, “I already told her that she should be paying close attention to what you eat. You still have to grow big and strong.” Erika finally let go of Cara. Mostly. Her hands still remained on Cara’s shoulders. Cara wanted to say that she had not grown anymore in more than ten years but Erika kept talking. “Listen to your instructors, show them respect but most of all show yourself respect and train every day.” Cara nodded. “I know in time you will become a great hero. I am looking forward to the stories the people will tell of you.”

“I’m not a hero”, Cara just said.

Erika just nodded slowly, “N0 not yet. But you are getting there. Facing off against pirates. Breaking out of a slavers cage. Fighting your way to freedom.” 

“But I was…”

“Hurt? Yes you were. And look you are standing again. While the criminals who did this to you are now doing hard labour in Datlem. That,” she finally let go of Cara only to poke her in the chest with her weapon grade finger as she continued, “is how you grow strong.”

“er…”, Cara tried again, only to be attacked by another embrace. “I will miss you, Cara. Please take very good care of yourself”, she suddenly let go of her again. “And now go, Cara. I’ll see you down stream.”

“Thank you. For everything.” Cara tried to say something that could put her feelings into words, but at that moment no words would come. “See you downstream, captain.”

And with that she turned towards Eliza and Natalie. She stepped between them and together they walked towards the open market of Benrath palace.

Project Empress 034

Chapter 8
Kiln, Forge and Steel

Cara vaguely remembered Erika, coming for her at dawn when she was about to take over the helm from Wolfram. She had insisted on Cara to go to bed and sleep a little before they arrived at Castle Benrath as she had a long, strenuous day before her. Cara had resisted, Erika had none of it, more or less shoving her all the way to her bed. There against Cara’s protestations and the mumbling of the heap that allegedly contained Natalie, she had tucked Cara in. After that was a short moment of darkness followed by a long moment of being shaken by master Natalie.

“Come on Cara. We’ve almost reached or destination and you still have to pack your things.”, Natalie said, “at least you are already dressed…”, she added after tearing the cover from Cara. 

“Idonwanna…”, Cara somehow produced, turning away from the demon that had taken over the body of her master.

“I’m going to count to three Cara.”, Natalie said. “Afterwards I will not be held responsible to what happens.”

“Blrb…bleh…”, Cara countered, her mind clinging to the soft embrace of sleep that kept her away from the harsh cold of the outside world.

“One.” Natalie said.

“Twooo…”

“You’re really going to make me do this?” Natalie said, recoiling slightly from her stubborn aprentice. 

“You did this to you self… Three.”, Natalie moved forward until she loomed over Cara’s body that refused to acknowledge her or anything else beyond the blissful darkness of sleep. She moved over Cara’s head, face well hidden in the unjudging folds of Miss Snuggles. She aimed for Cara’s ear, pursing her lips and starting to blow into Cara’s ear.

As the moist, warmish air made its made it’s way through Cara’s ear canal, she felt the judgement of heaven and the contempt of hell worming their way through her body. The conept of sleep was ripped to shreds by the horror that was her body. 

“Gnaaaaaah!”, Cara screamed as she sat up. Nearly head butting Natalie.

“I warned you.”, Natalie said, her body still a bit tense, as she wasn’t sure of she had to fight off Cara.

Cara’s large, tear filled eyes turned towards the traitor she had called master. “How could you?”

Natalie was unimpressed. “Because you need to get up. It’s not my fault that you had to go all existential emo last night. I understand.”, she added with a bit less edge in her voice now, “However, that does not stop time. We need to get up now. We will be reaching Castle Benrath soon and you will want to have had coffee by then. And you probably want to do something about your face.”

“What happened to my face?”, Cara asked, her free hand darting towards her perfectly normal feeling face. 

“Look for your self.”, Natalie said, for this she was prepared. She held a little foldable hand-mirror in front of Cara’s face.

“It is missing a certain something…”, Cara said. 

“I knew you would think that. I have already packed most of our stuff. Minus your sword and your makeup. You can take care of that and then come to the bridge for a little breakfast.”

Cara nodded, following her image as Natalie pulled the little mirror away from her.

What she had planned to be a short shower became a rather long one. The warm water was relaxing, even better it felt that it was washing away all the anxiety from the last day. For a moment there was only the smell of soap, pushing away the memory of the stench of death. When Cara came out of the shower she put a tiny bit of soap on her hands and whipped the mirror in front of her so that it would remain clear. She looked tired. Examined herself for a little while, once she knew how she was feeling and what she would like to feel like, she started to apply her make-up. Again she took her time, this was important. Once she was done she put on the rest of her clothes, she put her makeup kit into her duffel bag, shouldered it, took her sword and went to the bridge.

Everyone else was already there. This morning Erika had taken the helm, Wolfram was standing close to the coffee maker between a beady eyed Natalie and Eliza who stood arms crossed at the other side of him. 

“If you don’t get your ass into gear in time you don’t get to complain when the food is gone.”, Eliza said, trying to move past Wolfram who shifted to block her way his hands held up palms towards trying to stop Eliza from advancing.

Behind him Natalie shifted her weight towards Eliza trying, moving slightly to get past Wolfram. “Yeah and if you put even one finger on what’s left before Cara eats, I will put your ass into gear…”

“Heh! I’d love to see you try.”

“Really, come and… oh hi Cara!”, Natalie instantly relaxed, waving at Cara.

“Er… what’s happening here?”, Cara asked. 

“You are being late and your master is trying to shield you from the consequences little…” Eliza said turning towards Cara. She paused for a second. “Damn, look at you. All polished and shiny.” Eliza looked Cara over nodding.

“Thank you?”, Cara said feeling her face heating up. “May I?”, she asked gesturing towards the coffee maker where Natalie smiling the smile of a predator that had her lunch cornered. “Please Cara, help yourself.”, she said making a grand gesture with her right arm using her body blocking Eliza and Wolfram who was busy trying to leave the line of fire. 

Cara poured herself a coffee, adding a significant amount of sugar, took some flat bread and leftovers from last nights meal. Eyeing her master and the solin-ger she decided to move to the side of the bridge that was the furthest of them both. 

Natalie sat down making her self comfortable blanketed in her smugness while Eliza moved to a window deciding to look out while murmuring something beneath her breath.

Project Empress 033

 [chapter 7 continued and finished]

***************

Roaring laughter filled the ship´s dining room. The table was a merry mess of half filled plates, islands in a sea of take-out boxes and pots. The air warm, smelling of the expensive and rare spices of the food. 

Read eared Cara had pushed her chair away from her place at the table as far as she could towards the wall were she tried to melt into the half shadow outside of the lamps glowing above the table. 

“She looked behind you?”, Natalie asked, “What was she expecting? A shy miniature container?”

Elisa shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Erika was looking at Cara with a warmth that Cara suspected was powered by pitty, she brought her plate close to her mouth, mumbling into her food. “It might have been a tiny parcel…” She cast a look around; Erika was still looking at her with motherly pitty, Elisa was grinning while mimicking the scene with her knife representing her and her fork looking around for the ‘stealthy parcel’. She gave a little snort, her eyes narrowing a bit as they moved on to Wolfram. He was very focused on his own food, moving it around with his fork as if trying to find a secret morsel under his vegetable heavy sauce, Cara did not miss that he was trying very hard to suppress a laugh. ‘Nice try… traitor’, Cara thought. Next was Natalie who was pointing at Elisa’s fork, laughing with tears in her eyes. 

Cara stood up and went for the door. She opened it, taking care that her cutlery didn’t fall to the ground. She had had quite enough humiliation for a day. As she moved out the room grew a bit silent. She turned back to the others, saying: “I hope you know that you are all”, she started looking at Wolfram, then went to look at Erika, followed by Elisa and ending on Natalie, “ assholes. Of varying sizes,”, a quick glance to Wolfram, who had the decency to keep looking at his food, all traces of mirth wiped away from his face. Cara looked back at Natalie, “but assholes nonetheless”, her eyes narrowed more. She slowly moved backwards out of the room, mostly to make sure she did not stumble on her way out, while appreciating that it allowed her to glower at the room for a while longer. She then turned around using her right foot to slam the door closed behind her. The door slammed shut with gratifying thunder. Cara took a deep breath and then left for the ships deck.

Outside it was dark, most of the illumination came from the almost full moon that had taken centre stage in the night sky, the Milky Way adding to its flair. The silver line was reflecting from the almost still water of the harbour. The only competition coming from the ship’s positional lights, which came a distant second. Cara was looking at the reflection of the water, eating with dogged determination. Her anger was doing a good job of pushing her hunger away, but the taste of the spicy food and the way that she couldn’t quite tell if it was still hot or if this was mostly the peppers doing their work kept her coming back for more. The burning in her mouth was also distracting her from the burning in her stomach. Besides, Wolfram must have spent a fortune for the food. Most of the spices in her food were incredibly rare. Earlier Wolfram had insisted that having everyone back alive and on their way to full recovery was worth more than money. He also added that the Hartmann Serafini’s may be one the suppliers of rare spices to Datlem, that was worth a discount. Still this must have cost them more than Cara used to earn in a week… Another reason to savour the food. Far away from the idiots below decks.

“If you come one step closer I am going to stab you”, Cara said, still looking at the reflection of the moon in the water below.

“With the knife or the fork?”, Natalie asked.

After considering it for a while, Cara answered: “With the fork”, her gaze wandering to the fork in her left hand. 

“Why?”

“Because its stabbier, it turns one thrust into four stabs. Very economic”, Cara said.

“That makes sense”, Natalie said, taking a step towards Cara. “Ow!”

“I warned you”, Cara said, her face neutral with a dash of murder. 

Natalie nodded, the fork still pressed into her skin slightly below the clavicle. “Fair.”

“Yes and there is more where that came from”, Cara added. “So could you please go away again?”

“I came to apologise”, Natalie said.

Cara didn’t answer. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make fun of you.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Well imagining the tiniest parcel, hiding behind that ranger…” Natalie started to smirk, followed by loud, “Oww! Ouch! Arrgh! Stop it”, she said, moving away from the stabbing fork. “It is a funny mental picture. It’s not even about you.”

“Is it not?”, Cara asked, “Is it not funny how dumb Cara is for not thinking that people are cargo? Oh how dumb of her. Ho ho ho. Yes the idea that person could be seen as cargo, after I was kidnapped by pirates who wanted to sell me is ridiculous. Dumb little Cara.” As she spoke Cara moved forward, plate in her right hand, the fork in her left seeking out Natalie. Natalie for her part retreated blocking Cara’s attacks with her arms. 

“Oooowww!”, Natalie shouted, Cara had turned the fork in her hand attacking from above, keeping contact with the blocking arm while continuing to push the fork down until it found its place in Natalie’s upper arm. “Stop that.”

“You stop being an idiot”, Cara said.

“I’m trying…”, Natalie paused, looking at the fork that was now standing embedded in her arm. “Good move.”

“Thank you…” Cara said, looking at the fork. It slowly dawned on her what she had done.  She snickered. 

“Oh so that’s funny?”, Natalie asked, looking at Cara. 

“Yes.”, Cara said. “I mean, just look at it.” Natalie looked, still grimacing, her grimace turning into a smirk. “It kinda is.” The women looked at the fork for a moment, before the both started laughing. 

“Could you please pull it out again?”, Natalie said still snickering.

“Is it deep in your arm?”, Cara asked snorting. 

“It’s mostly stuck in my clothes… I hope. It still hurts though.”

“Good”, Cara said, gripped the fork and pulled it out. Natalie grunted. 

“Are we good now?”, Natalie asked rubbing her arm. 

“No. But we are better.”

“Anything else I can do?”

“Yes I’m getting cold. You could get me Miss Snuggles and a cup of tea.”

“I can do that”, Natalie turned to go back under deck. 

“Wait a second.”, Cara said, she finished the rest of her food with a couple of hasty shovels into her mouth.

“With the fork you just stabbed me with?”, Natalie said recoiling slightly.

“The blood of my enemies is the sweetest spice”, Cara said.

“Is it?”

“No not really. I didn’t think about what I was doing.”

“You could spit it out?”

“Never. ‘tis too good.”

“I see…” Natalie stretched out her arms leaning forward to get Cara’s plate and the cutlery.  

“Not the fork”, Cara said. “I will keep this one for now.”

“Why?”

“It’s for traitors large and small.”

Natalie nodded slowly, retreating from Cara. After she had put a good distance between herself and Cara she turned around mumbling something about rabies.

Cara turned away again, looking at the reflection of the moon again. 

A bit later Natalie returned with a large mug of hot tea and Miss Snuggles. Cara had sent her away as she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. No fork was needed this time. 

Natalie had just nodded, leaving Cara with the moon and the stars.

Cara was lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice the Ruhig Blut coming alive if not for the red light on the side of the ship slowly growing a brighter. As the ship started moving Cara moved to the front. There she was the furthest from everyone else, with only the night for company. The ship was now slowly moving down the canal towards their next destination the Confederated Cities of Rhineland North, where the canal would meet the river Rhine. There they would turn south until the reached castle Benrath in Thusseldorp, from where they would then go towards the forge fortress Solingen. 

These things were not in Cara’s mind. Her thoughts had lost focus, framed inside the pain that was still worming through most of her body. She was mostly lost in the dark, facing down the canal where the stars in the sky met their reflection in the water. Cara wondered what kind of person she was. She had lived a rather sheltered life dreaming of adventure and like a miracle, adventure had finally found her. It had started much like she had imagined it would be. Until the pirates came. That had also been very exiting. At first. Then she had been tied up in a cramped little cell to be sold to god knew who, only to be freed and having to fight her way out of captivity. Which was also quite like the stories. Until the first person died… There was a lot the stories didn’t tell you about that part. The smell for one. Dead people, especially if they had been cut open had a very special smell. Something that Cara hoped she would never have to smell again. 

She had of course not killed anyone. Maybe she was naive like Elisa had said, however this was something she was not ready to do. Turns out bad people look a lot like perfectly normal people and they sound the same when they scream…

Also people had tried to kill her, they had wounded her, she had bled not because of an accident but because people wanted to destroy her. It was here where her thoughts became confusing. Stopping them had felt good. To do that she had to break her opponents. Mostly in spirit, but she felt things that felt a lot like limbs, if not breaking then at least cracking. That memory made Cara feel a bit sick, but what was worse was the tiger that was hidden behind that queasy feeling. There it was lurking ready to pounce and that tiger was elated to break her opponents. This beast inside her heart was also proud of her art. That she had defeated those who had stood in her way. There was this tiny bit in her that was elated by what had happened. That was the part which scared her the most. 

She noticed that her knuckles holding her now cold mug had turned white. Her whole body was tense. “Do you still love me, Miss Snuggles?”, Cara asked. Miss Snuggles somehow shifted around Cara a bit in what would count as a hug for a duvet. 

“Good. That means there is still hope for me”, Cara said focusing on the world around her again, where the first rays of the sun were slowly starting to reclaim the sky.

Project Empress 032

[Chapter 7 continued] 
On their way back to the ‘Ruhig Blut’ Cara was troubled by the conversation with the regionaria. But she kept her thoughts to herself for now. Natalie was her master after all and knew what she was doing. Right?

Back on the ship she was quickly distracted first by the enthusiastic hugs of both Wolfgang and Erika when she came back on board who for some reason were still all hugs and barely repressed tears seeing Cara alive and mostly well. Cara wondered why they were still so overwhelmed by her continued survival. The danger had passed, she had survived and was now back, safe in a civilised city, surrounded by friends. Where they friends? She knew Natalie for about a week and the Hartmann Serafini’s for a bit more than a day… consciously at least. But then, when it was time to act, when Cara had been in danger, when taking care of her was a burden, they stood with her, despite it having been easier to just leave her to her own fate. She was especially surprised by the love and care that she received from the captains of the Ruhig Blut as they were traders. In church she had heard over and over again that traders were suspicious people, who while beneficial to the people of the world, always carried the seed of greed, the ultimate of all deadly sins in their hearts. After all it was greed and how it turned the human mind into that of a degenerate demon that had destroyed the old world and had fed the fires of the tyrant lords that came after the fall. And yet, the Hartmann Serafini’s had been nothing but kind and generous to her. The world was a strange place. Which brought her back to Natalie who had also been nothing but generous to her, who seemed to be the one that was closest to this most malicious of seeds… Of course what Cara was doing was very close to the other seed of destruction, the seed of doubt that once it took root in your soul would turn you against your kin, both by blood and by merit, opening the gates to ruin. Now that she was outside her city, those sermons she had heard all her life began to sound far more foreboding than in the past, when she had wondered why anyone would ever be so dumb as to fall for such obvious traps. 

As these thoughts began to slowly spiral out of control, Erika appeared in her cabin, all broad smiles and kind words, moving her out of the cabin on deck to help with loading the new cargo. The rest of the day went by quickly, in a series of sudden instances of hard work interrupted by phases of slightly less hard work. When they went through the cargo for a last time that evening to make sure that everything was actually what it pretended to be, was present in the right amount and secured to its place, it was something that felt almost relaxing. 

It was all dark by now, a cold breeze coming up carrying with it the smell of the port. Cara’s body felt exhausted and hungry but her mind felt clear. Her doubts from earlier that had not vanished but turned into something more productive. ‘While I don’t understand what master Natalie is doing, she has never done anything to make me doubt her as a person’, she thought. “And the seed of doubt”, she told the water flowing through the canal in front of her, “cannot survive in the light of day and the fresh air.” After a second she added, “in the metaphorical light of day.” She looked up at the night sky, daring it to contradict her. The night sky remained unimpressed, but Cara thought that some of the stars were twinkling at her in an encouraging way. She would do what was to her now the obvious thing to do. Talk to Natalie. A growling in her stomach made her add an ‘After dinner.’ 

When she went to the small dining room of the ship she discovered to her dismay that the adjoining caboose was dark, cold and empty. There was also no one in the dining room itself. When she turned around she almost walked into Erika, who had somehow appeared out of nowhere. 

“Cara!”, she said, clearly happy to see her. “Food will arrive shortly. When we load the ship, it’s tradition that Wolfgang goes into the city to get us a proper feast.” She grinned as she said this, clapping Cara’s shoulder a couple of times. Cara did her best not to crumple under the friendly hammer blows of encouragement. It was no wonder that Erika was able to control the dead gods below deck…

“I’m going to prepare the table”, Erika said, “could you do me a favour while I am doing that?”

“Of course.” Cara said. 

“There is a last piece of Cargo that we have to take care off”, Erika said.

Cara’s smile was almost flushed away, it took all of her willpower to keep it in place. “Yes?”, Cara said, imagining having to direct another container into the already filled cargo hold, checking what it carried and securing it in place. She wasn’t sure she could get any of those steps done on her own.

“Don’t worry, this is the kind of cargo that takes care of itself. You’ll find it on the pier next to the ship. Bring it to cabin C. That is the one next to yours. 

“OK.” Cara said.

“Hey little ingot, haven’t seen you in a while”, Elisa Klein Cunningham said when she saw Cara descend from the ship looking for the cargo she was supposed to take care of. 

“Er… Hello Elisa, I’m also glad to see you”, she paused for a moment to look at the ranger. Elisa looked like a professional carrier in her sensible rugged clothes, boots designed to go almost literally toe to toe with the most hostile of environments. She was now also wearing a wide brimmed hat, together with her now openly carried blade staff. The blade was covered in a luxurious velvet covering and the steel ‘star over anvil, with crossed hammer and sword’ emblem of the forge fortress. Cara was impressed at how official and serious Elisa looked; she was even more impressed that the forge walker did not look like she had been in a life or death fight in her entire live, less only a few days ago. 

“I’m also impressed by how… normal?…you look”, Cara said.

Elisa’s eyes narrowed very slightly one of her brows quivering a bit. “I look,” she said, ”normal?” The threat carried in her voice flew right over Cara’s head.

“Yes, I feel like I was almost murdered by a horde of elephants.”

“Armed elephants”, she added after short pause, “mostly with clubs and a few with sabres.”

Elisa’s one eyebrow stopped quivering while her other eyebrow rose to join the first. “Elephants…?”

“Yes and you look like you just wandered out of some high academy or temple of science…”

“Ah…”, Elisa said, starting to nod very slowly, her eyebrows slowly returning to their original position but ready to jump into action the instant they were needed again. 

“Well I had a couple of days of rest and while I do not often crush a pirate fleet,” she added a small smile looking at Cara directly, “with help from my friends, that is part of my job.”

“That’s soo cool”, Cara said, “but I can’t get distracted right now. I have a mission!”

“A mission?”, Elisa looked around, dropping the large duffle bag, her now free hand moving towards her sword staff’s cover.

“Yes I need to find and secure the last piece of cargo.”

Elisa relaxed, so much so that entire expression of her face fell, her eyes rolling slightly… “Cargo…?”

“Yes, Captain Erika told me that there was still one piece of cargo left.” After she had scanned the dock for another container and not found one she stepped around Elisa to look if maybe some very small container or package was hidden behind the ranger.

“Does this ship also carry passengers Cara?”, Elisa asked sighing, her eyes completing their roll.

“Yes”, Cara said, continuing her search for the mysterious last bit of cargo. 

Elisa pulled her hand back from her weapons cover making a fist with it, shaking it very slightly. “And was there something special about that Cargo?”

“Special?”, Cara paused putting her index finger against her lips. “Erika said that it is a kind of Cargo that mostly takes care of itself and I should bring it to cabin C. The one next to Natalie’s and my cabin.”

Elisa’s brows knew this was their moment for rising high again. Her fist relaxing into an open palm swung in a graceful arc, indicating that a great revelation was reached.

Cara looked at Elisa, following her gesture into the dark of the docks. Elisa’s eyebrows managed to raise a little bit further while her hand fell limp to her side. 

“Cara.”

“Yes.”

“It’s me…”

“I know who you are…”

Before Cara could continue and after stopping her free hand to dart for Cara’s neck, she said, “I am the cargo Cara. I’m a passenger too.”

“Oh…”, Cara said still looking into the dark. She suddenly stopped, turning towards Elisa again. “Oh! Oooooh…”

“Yes little ingot… oh indeed…”  

Project Empress special. The story so far 2025 edition

The story so far

It is the year 20xx. The industrial world is no more. Neither are the warlord states that came after it.

Societies are slowly growing back on the ruins of the fallen civilisations that came before.

Cara Gibson Müller our protagonist dreams of becoming a sword master of the fabled historical martial arts styles. At the beginning of our story she is a hopeless student of the famous sword master Manfred Brumotti von Burg. Over 4 years of training but almost no progress.

Cara’s fate changes when she gets attacked by 3 ruffian. She does try to defend herself. She fails, but is saved by the wandering journeyman swordswoman Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe.

The latter had sworn to never take a pupil. Too much of a hassle really. But there will be a grand tourney soon, where a secret fencing manuscript will go to the winner. The catch, only a team of master and apprentice can take part. Natalie sees something in Cara so she decides to adopt her.

Natalie gives Cara a crash course in her Style to see if Cara has what it takes. She has. 

Natalie then goes to prepare some business entrusting Cara to Walter for the next training session. 

Walter Balogh Rayne is the owner of Bacchus’ Barrel the wine bar Natalie likes to hang out with her sword master friend and rival Robert Cavendish Gutierrez. 

Walter is an old war veteran who can vaguely remember the old days of the fabled European Union. The utopia Natalie wishes she could bring back. Walter who saw how the “utopia” fell and what followed, has a more down to earth perspective. 

He teaches Cara more about the fundamentals of fighting introducing her to the concept of animus. The force true sword masters can invoke to overcome their limits. 

And he gives Cara a refurbished computer book that she is to use to write down what she learns.

The next day Cara and Natalie go to see the lord bishop of Monasteria to secure the funding for their Cara’s training and their voyage to Vienna where the tournament is going to take place. The bishop duels with Natalie to see if she has the necessary skills. She has. So he offers her a deal with the opposite of the devil. They get the money and the bishop get’s the manuscript for the holy library of Monasteria, for the glory of good and the enlightenment of the people. 

With this deal done, Cara is officially the student of now Master Laukkanen Lapointe. 

As her former master Manfred hears about this he suddenly decides that Cara is a snake and a traitor running away from him to snatch the fabled manuscript for her self and get all the glory for recovering it for the bishop. 

Manfred decides that he will too take part in the tournament, by sending his right hand man and top student and now freshly declared master Eskil Feltis Gavenda and his new pupil and an as of yet unnamed young man, who happened to be one of the ruffians Natalie bet to a pulp earlier. 

Cara doesn't know anything about this. She is busy training and packing her things.

The last night in Monasteria, while waiting for Natalie at Walter’s bar, a bunch of students from Manfred’s appear declaring that Cara is now a Proditor Perfidissimus, a high traitor and demand from Walter that he gives her over to them. Walter hands them their arses instead as he is not only an army veteran but also a grand master of the historical martial arts. 

Cara flees with Natalie to the port, where they have bought passage on the MHS Ruhig Blut a free trader ship of the co-captains Erika and Wolfram Hartmann Serafini. They hope the ship will get them through the lawless lands of the Purgatory Gap from Monasteria to independent trade fortress Datlem and from there into the The Confederated Cities of Rhineland North, where they plan to get out to go to the legendary forge city of Solingen. 

Here in Soling Cara is supposed to get further training and more importantly new weapons from the forge masters of the city.

The HMS Ruhig Blut is one of the fastest freighters in the entire region using forgotten technology to reach incredible speeds, to push past and if must be right through the pirate gangs of the Purgatory Gap. 

Ship, crew and passengers are all prepared for combat. 

Everything seems to be going fine, but of course some pirates do mange to board the Ruhig Blut. A fierce battle ensues where Cara shows of her new skills that she has aquired over the last few days. She does pretty well, until the point where a pirate sneaks up behind her and all goes black.

She wakes up in the cargo hold of a pirate vessel inside a cage with no chance for escape. She has been caught by black sword pirates, who do not kill their prey as they prefer to sell them of as slaves.

Cara’s days of adventure seem to be numbered. 

However there is a stowaway with her in the cargo hold, the Solingen forge-walker Elisa Klein Cunningham, a special agent of the cit of forges, who had planned to use the pirate ship as transport but now sees her hand forced. 

Cara and Elisa have a slight dispute about what to do with the pirates, Elisa says kill, Cara insists of leaving them alive. While Elisa strongly opposes to leave slavers alive she grudgingly accepts Cara’s conditions, if only to get her to shut up and moving.

Meanwhile in Datlem an distraught and angry Natalie goes to see the protonotary apostolic regionaria Alperta the leader of the local independent church and de facto leader of the city fortress of Datlem to get her to help with saving Cara. 

The regionaria has better things to do, especially for civilians caught by pirates outside of her sphere of influence until Natalie mentions the tournament and the manuscript the winner gets. regionaria Alperta agrees to help if, when they return they give the manuscript to her to make a copy of the manuscript for the Datlem library. Cara agrees.

Meanwhile Cara and Elisa sneak their way over the small artificial ship island of the pirates, when freedom is almost with in reach at the edge of the island, they get ambushed. However Elisa is a formidable fighter using various different historical styles and weapons to dispatch her enemies. While Cara pushes herself through injuries and pain, fighting to survive. Freedom so very near. 

When they think that they have finally gotten rid of all the pirates in their way, they are stopped by the pirate commander Aurei von Brecksbach, who descends with unnecessary drama from the upper deck to confront our two heroes. 

A fierce battle ensues where both Elisa and Cara are pushed beyond their limits. commander Aurei tries to convince Cara to give up and join his side. Cara refuses and instead decides to attack the commander. Cara is overwhelmed and wounded by the fierce counter that the commander unleashes. It looks like this might be the battle that Cara will lose along with at least her freedom and probably her life. She knows however that she only has to withstand the onslaught for the time it takes for Elisa to join the battle.

Once she reaches the commander, the battle become more balanced. The pirate is still a formidable foe, who in the end is beaten by the wounded and exhausted warriors.

Natalie appears minutes too late to save the day with commandos from Datlem.

When Cara regains consciousness some time later she is back to safety in Datlem, where she learns that Natalie has made another deal with the devil, or rather a powerful representative of the church. Now they not only need to win the manuscript at the tournament but they also have to bring it to the regionaria of Datlem first, so that her scribes can make a copy “for reasons of safety and the greater good of mankind” before they bring the manuscript to the Lord Bishop. As she leaves voicing her feeling of walking into a trap where failure would lead to dire consequences, the regionaria tells her to focus on her growth instead of worrying about failure.

Which is the point where our story resumes this year. 

Project Empress 031

 [Chapter7 continued]

Cara woke up. She was still very cold and in pain. But she was in something close enough to a bed, rolled into something very much like a blanket. Several blankets actually. One was crinkly like the metal foil that you could still buy for ridiculous sums in antiquarian artefact shops. But on top of it was something soft and warm. She opened her eyes, as she drew the soft blanket closer to her. As her eyes focused on it she instantly recognised the soft sand yellow of it. “Miss Snuggles”, she said, tears suddenly filling her eyes. “You waited for me.”

“Hey”, Natalie said, her voice soft, “you’re awake”, she smiled at her.

“No”, Cara’s eyes grew wide, a sudden punch of grief striking her square in the stomach. “Not you too, master…”.

Natalie’s eyes grew wide, lying a hand on Cara’s shoulder. “It’s OK, you are safe, I’m safe. Even that weird stray woman you found is safe.”

“I beg your pardon?”, an aggressive Elisa said appearing in Cara’s field of view. The aggression instantly disappeared when she saw Cara. “Oh no, little ingot. What happened?”

Cara pushing back sobs said, “Aren’t we all dead?”

At this Natalie and Elisa looked at each other, the back at Cara. 

“What? No.”, Natalie said.

“Why would you think that?”, Elisa said.

“Because of Miss Snuggles”, Cara said. “She was cut to ribbons by the dumb blonde idiot, when he attacked me in Monasteria. And here she is whole. So I thought… that we are both in heaven…?”

“Miss Snuggles is not dead, Cara, neither are you.”, Natalie said, her voice soft and her smile warm. “Wolfgang had started repairing her, it was the only thing keeping him sane after we lost you when we arrived in Datlem.”

“So we are still all alive.”

“Yes, little ingot”, said Elisa.

Cara let that sink in for a minute.

“That’s OK then…”, she said, blinked twice and fell asleep again.

When Cara woke up she was in a softer, fluffier bed. Everything still hurt, but the pain had turned into a more numb, throbbing pain. Until she started to move, that is, then her leg, her arm and face flared up again. 

“Careful, cara mia”, Erika said. She sat next to the bed in which Cara found herself. She had been cleaning some kind of machine part, which she now lay away, putting it on the floor. “Are you thirsty? Hungry?”

“Yes”, Cara nodded. “Both.” How long had she been asleep? She was incredibly thirsty. Her eyes were so dry that her eyelids stuck to her corneas. That felt horrible…

“Here, drink first “, Erika said, giving her some water from a cup that thankfully had a straw in it. After she had emptied it, Erika put it away. “I’ll go get you something to eat.”

Erika opened the door. “She’s awake”, she said to someone outside. 

The someone turned out to be Natalie, who came in and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“How do I look?”, Cara asked.

“Like a racoon who played a key role in a brawl.”

“Did the racoon win at least?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good”, Cara said, almost smiling. She did not notice that she had fallen back asleep until she opened her eyes again. A bowl of cold soup next to her on an improvised nightstand. Natalie was gone. This time it was Wolfgang sitting with her. He did not notice her, he was still busy repairing Miss Snuggles, who, as it appeared, still needed some more medical attention. 

“Hmblmn…”, Cara tried to say. She blinked.

It was a very slow blink because when her eyes were open again Wolfgang had turned into Elisa and Miss Snuggles was now back in her arms. The forge walker was focused on removing the burrs from the edge of one of her weapons. Elisa’s eyes darted to Cara.

“Am I steel now?”, Elisa said. 

“Not yet little ingot”, Elisa said, resuming the work on her blade. “But you certainly have felt the heat of the forge and the strikes of the hammer.” She paused in her work for a moment again. “You are on a good way though. You fought well. Behaved like a warrior too. There is already steel inside you, little ingot. Just keep going, You’ll be there soon.”

That made Cara happy. She smiled and fell asleep yet again.

“I was asleep for how long?”, Cara said, now sitting up in what she now realised was the lower bunk of her and Natalie’s cabin aboard the Ruhig Blut. A big bowl of stew in her lap. Next to her on the nightstand was an empty bowl which she had devoured in silence a few minutes ago. 

“Two and a half days”, Natalie said, passing her another piece of bread. 

“Dat makes no sense…”, Cara said stuffing  and chewing on her stew soaked bread. “I was just wounded.” 

“Yeah, but you were exhausted after the fight, you lost blood. Then you got a fever.”

“Fever?”, Cara shrunk back into the corner, her hands gripping her piece of bread and the bowl more tightly. Now that Natalie had mentioned it despite being wrapped in several blankets she was feeling cold. 

“Don’t worry. We treated your wounds, there are no signs of infection or sepsis. I’m not a doctor… obviously… but you seem to be OK. The actual doctors also don’t seem to be too worried. We are to keep an eye on you and if you get worse, then we are to worry. But right now you are doing pretty well.”

“The doctors?”, Cara said, finding her hunger again.

“Yep.”

“Plural?”

“Yes, the Regionaria insisted.”, Natalie said.

“Regionaria?” 

“Yes she is the sovereign of…”

“I know what a Regionaria is”, Cara said. “But why would the Regionaria of… Datlem?”, Natalie nodded, “…send physicians to take care of me?”, Cara asked, her eyes growing wide, bread and stew forgotten for a moment.

“Because you are a hero, Cara”, Natalie grinned. Natalie, now leaning back crossing her arms behind her head, seemed suspiciously self-satisfied. 

“How?”

“Well, you stopped the notorious slaver Aurei von Brecksbach. One of the demon-lords of the Purgatory Gap. Thanks to you, not only was this criminal apprehended, but thanks to you their organisation was struck a serious blow.”

“But Elisa…”

“Yeah the old toad is also very impressed by you”, Natalie said, waving her hand.

“Toad… wait impressed? By me?”

“She said something about turning piggy iron into steal or something like that.”

“Oh…”, Cara said. She continued eating.

“Also the Regionaria wants to meet you.”

“What? Me? Nooo…”, Cara’s bread fell from her hand into the stew.

“Ah… you worry too much. It won’t be that different from meeting the Lord Bishop”, Natalie said.

“There I could stand comfortably in the shadow. In this case she want’s to see me”, Cara said, trying to push herself further into her corner, “I don’t want to be seen.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll take the lead, you just smile and nod. It’ll be easy”, Natalie said with a broad smile.

“Thank you for the introduction, Master Laukkanen Lapointe”, Regionaria Alperta said, a smile suggesting itself into her expression, bringing with it the suggestion that Natalie should acquaint herself with the virtue of silence for the time being. 

“I would like to hear from you, my dear”, she said, turning her piercing gaze towards Cara. The smile in the Regionaria’s face grew warmer, but with it it brought the hints of the last summer days before an early frost. 

Cara froze. “Errrr…”, she tried. “I… umm… I… there were the pirates and… well…” Fighting the pirate commander had been far less scary than this. 

With a languid motion, the Regionaria held out a hand. From the depths of her flowers a servant appeared, handing her a document, before vanishing into the greenery again. 

“My dear child”, she said with her face now radiating maternal affection. It didn’t really help Cara much. While she was impressed by how the Regionaria had flowed into this persona so seamlessly, with her voice embracing her fear and slowly dispersing it, that didn’t change that the Regionaria had a dragon’s eyes.

“I have already read the report and talked to other witnesses”, the Regionaria continued, the dragon behind her eyes carefully adapting to Cara’s reactions. “We already know of your great deeds. We just want to hear your version of things.”

“There isn’t much to tell”, Cara said. “I was locked up in a cage. Mistress Klein Cunningham the Solinger forger-walker freed me. Together we tried to escape. We were ambushed by the pirate commander. We fought. We won…?”, on this point Cara was still not quite sure. They certainly had beaten a couple of pirates and their commander, but was that really a victory?

“And then master Natalie and your most holy troops came and saved us…”

“It was you, however”, the Regionaria said, shifting her gaze as to not look her directly in the eyes, taking a slight step back, “who duelled with and beat the high criminal von Brecksbach.” She looked at her document for a second pretending to read it. “Twice.”

“Nnnn…yes?”, Cara said. “I did fight him. But together with forge-walker Klein Cunningham. The second time I mostly collapsed on him.”

“Because you were gravely wounded”, the Regionaria said. Again, casting a symbolic look at her document.

“So was he”, Cara said, slowly relaxing, now that they were talking about what had happened she felt more secure. Just telling what had happened was easy. 

“It says here”, again the symbolic scan, “that you, despite your serious injurie, crawled at least”, symbolic glance, “twenty metres, to stop him from what ever he was doing.”

“Well he was moving towards a cabinet. Why would you do that when you are wounded yourself? He mostly had blunt force trauma and it didn’t look like the locker held medical supplies”, Cara shrugged, “of course I couldn't be sure. But he had already cheated before.”

Cara paused for a second, now it was her who sought the Regionaria’s eyes. “And I was right. He had an ancient technology rifle. I could not let him use that.”

“And you stopped him by…”, this time the Regionaria didn’t even pretend to be looking at her document, “collapsing on top of him.”

“I had underestimated my blood loss”, Cara shrugged again, then smiled, “it worked though.”

The Regionaria waved the document away. As it left her fingers the servant had reappeared, caught it before it could fall, retreating again. Alperta turned to Natalie, who unclenched her fists before she had come into her focus, trying to fall back into her usual nonchalant bravado. She narrowly missed.

“I can see what you mean, Master Laukkanen Lapointe”, the Regionaria nodded. Turning towards Cara she said, “You show great potential Cara.” Cara’s face discovered some new exiting shades of red. 

Turning back to Natalie the Regionaria said, “And seeing that Lord-Bishop Waltharius has put his trust into Cara, it appears only natural that, for whatever our humble contributions may be worth, the free city of Datlem shall also back you and your apprentice for the upcoming tournament.” Alperta turned around walked over to her table, took a small crystal spray bottle and, still talking, started spraying her orchids with a mist of water. “After all I have a responsibility to cultivate all of the plants in The Lord´s garden. Especially when they are as promising as you”, she said, spraying an especially beautiful flower.

“This concludes our conversation”, the Regionaria said. 

Cara and Natalie both bowed to her, turning to the exit. 

“What happens if we fail?”, Cara said more to herself than the Regionaria.

She heard the smile in Alperta’s voice as she said, “I would not worry about that, Cara, right now all you need to do is grow.”

“Hmmm…”, Cara said, nodding, looking at the discarded pieces of plants and cut of branches lying on the floor.

Project Empress 030

 Chapter 7

Crossing Limbo

Cara didn’t fall unconscious. No matter how much she wished for it. The wound on her head added a piercing burning pain to her headache, which she herself made worse by pressing a piece of cloth onto the wound, which Elisa had insisted Cara do, while she was busy disinfecting, then bandaging Cara’s other wounds. That also hurt.

In the background Natalie was kicking a pirate with little conviction to bring him to put up a fight. She had, a few minutes ago, appeared like an avenging fury on the deck of the ship island, flanked by white and gold armoured soldiers of the church. When she had seen Cara in a crumpled heap, sitting in a pool of her own blood, her eyes had grown wide and she had charged to her side. Cara had looked up, blinked in confusion, waved saying “Hi, Natalie”, trying to smile through her pain. In that moment Natalie’s expression went through a quick voyage starting at surprise, going to relief, taking a detour over slight confusion, before settling in something that looked suspiciously like disappointment. 

“Hey, Cara”, she said. “Who did that to you?”, she asked, a slight gleam returning to her eyes. 

“Him”, Cara said, pointing at the unconscious commander lying on the floor. “He was very rude.”

“Was he…”, Natalie said, walking over to him, prodding him with her sword a couple of times. Von Brecksbach didn’t move. 

Natalie turned back to Cara. Cara was a bit confused, as Natalie appeared to be disappointed. “He was really good.”

Natalie smiled as she heard that. “Well done Cara, I’m proud of you.” But then her face fell again.

“I don’t understand your reaction or your face…”, Cara said, “What’s wrong?” 

“I came here to save you…”, Natalie said. Cara wasn’t sure, but the slightly bowed head, the pouting lips… was Natalie pouting?

“You did save us, master Natalie”, Cara said. “Ow!”, she flinched. Elisa had been busy checking her wounds. She had now started cleaning them.

“And who are you supposed to be?”, Natalie asked pointing her sword casually at Elisa. 

Elisa looked at Natalie’s sword raising her eyebrows. After a moment she said, “Who are you to ask other people´s names without introducing yourself first.”

“I just came and saved you from a horde of pirates, is who I am.”, Natalie said, her voice filled with a bit too much ‘come and get it’ for Cara’s taste.

“Really?”, Elisa said, standing up in one fluid motion, her hands pressing a bandage against Cara’s head and pushing one of Cara’s hands against it. While Elisa was almost a head shorter then Natalie she somehow manged to look so very slightly down on her. “We were doing perfectly fine and were about to mop up the rest, when you blundered in.”

In the background a few pirates started a counter attack against the church forces. The sound of combat flaring up again for a moment. 

“Yeah, I can see that.”, Natalie said, “Totally under control. Why don’t I call the troops I brought to save Cara back and leave you to it then?”

Natalie’s sword moved into a guard that looked relaxed but out of which she could strike at any moment, while Elisa’s left hand slowly inched behind her back where she had a large hunting knife. 

“This”, Cara interrupted, trying to stand up, with marginal success, “is my master, Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe and this”, as she was saying that, Natalie and Elisa, while still staring daggers into each others eyes, grabbed Cara under one arm each, pulling her up and holding her steady, “is solinger and forge walker Elisa Klein Cunningham. Who saved me from the pirates.”

“Did she now?”, Natalie said, smiling a tigers smile. 

“Yes and thanks to that it is only you who is late”, Elisa answered with a shark smile.

“Thank you so much”, Natalie said, her tone murdering the concept of politeness.

“You are welcome”, said Elisa, finishing it of.

“We are all friends”, Cara said horribly confused now. “Also could you please stop being weird, for a moment and help me? Everything hurts and I think I’m still bleeding?”

That stopped the strange scene that had been unfolding in front of Cara. They had carried her to one side of the deck where she could sit more or less comfortably resting against a wall. Natalie had given them a bottle of disinfectant and stalked away to look for ‘dangerous individuals’. Elisa had finished dressing Cara’s wounds and then walked over to the officer who had led the church unit and started talking to her. 

And so Cara was left with her pain and her inability to fall unconscious. Waiting. Not sure herself for what exactly. She tried to remember her fight with the pirate commander, but realised that most of the details were gone from her mind. She had been so focused on surviving that there hadn’t been much left in her to take note of what was happening. At least trying to remember it, picturing the situations that still were vivid in her mind, did help against the pain a bit. And the cold. She was starting to shiver, even if the sun was now high enough in the sky to shine directly on her and on the deck. ‘Strange’, Cara thought. 

She looked over to where von Brecksbach was lying. 

There was no one there anymore.

Cara blinked. Still nothing. She looked around and saw von Brecksbach slowly crawling along the deck. Towards a cabinet bolted to wall of the deck. 

‘This can’t be good’, Cara thought. “Hey”, she croaked. “What are you doing?”

The figure on the floor stopped crawling, turning around with groan to face her. At first the commander´s face turned into a grimace of disgust. But then he smiled. “You will see..”, he said with a voice that could only be made by rubbing to dry, brittle vocal cords together. “I’ll have the last laugh.” He resumed crawling.

“Hey!”, Cara tried to shout. But no one heard her. ‘Where is everyone?’. The deck was empty apart from her and the commander. 

So Cara did what she had to do and crawled towards von Brecksbach. She tried to walk. But standing up she got nauseous, her legs giving in under her. 

And so no one saw this slow race between a wounded Cara and a not quite crushed commander von Brecksbach. 

Von Brecksbach reached his goal first. With trembling hands he was unlocking a combination pad-lock when Cara reached him. Inside the cabinet was a rifle from before the fall. While even with a full magazine it would not stop the church army, it could kill many of them. Among them Natalie and Elisa. This thought gave Cara a little push of power. Her body was now mostly deaf to adrenaline’s call. But it was enough to pull her self up to her full, medium, height. Commander von Brecksbach took out the rifle, crumpling under its weight, bowing forward. Cara took her chance and fell on the commander, slamming him back into the ground. There Cara found the unconsciousness she was looking for. 

Cara woke up. She was still very cold and in pain. But she was in something close enough to a bed, rolled into something very much like a blanket. Several blankets actually. One was crinkly like the metal foil that you could still buy for ridiculous sums in antiquarian artefact shops. But on top of it was something soft and warm. She opened her eyes, as she drew the soft blanket closer to her. As her eyes focused on it she instantly recognised the soft sand yellow of it. “Miss Snuggles”, she said, tears suddenly filling her eyes. “You waited for me.”

“Hey”, Natalie said, her voice soft, “you’re awake”, she smiled at her.

“No”, Cara’s eyes grew wide, a sudden punch of grief striking her square in the stomach. “Not you too, master…”

Natalie’s eyes grew wide, lying a hand on Cara’s shoulder. “It’s OK, you are safe, I’m safe. Even that weird stray woman you found is safe.”

“I beg your pardon?”, an aggressive Elisa said appearing in Cara’s field of view. The aggression instantly disappeared when she saw Cara. “Oh no, little ingot. What happened?”

Cara pushing back sobs said, “Aren’t we all dead?”

At this Natalie and Elisa looked at each other, the back at Cara. 

“What? No.”, Natalie said.

“Why would you think that?”, Elisa said.

“Because of Miss Snuggles”, Cara said. “She was cut to ribbons by the dumb blonde idiot, when he attacked me in Monasteria. And here she is whole. So I thought… that we are both in heaven…?”

“Miss Snuggles is not dead, Cara, neither are you.”, Natalie said, her voice soft and her smile warm. “Wolfgang had started repairing her, it was the only thing keeping him sane after we lost you when we arrived in Datlem.”

“So we are still all alive.”

“Yes, little ingot”, said Elisa.

Cara let that sink in for a minute.

“That’s OK then…”, she said, blinked twice and fell asleep again.