Chapter 7

Everyone trooped out of the door behind me, with Bethany going to check out of the room. I gave Alecia the key to the RV and told her to pull it up to the door as close as she could.

I got a message from Sara that Bethany was behind Alecia in their van.

I was glad she was thinking at least. It wouldn’t be much longer before an Amber alert went out for Ciri. Any abandoned vehicle in the area would draw attention. Attention we didn’t need after the odd events of the con and frying the hunter and his artifact. I got in the van with Bethany and told her to pull into the parking garage. After getting to the corner I had popped the RV out at, I took the van into the ring. Taking off the pendant, I went back to me normal form, and walked out to the street with Bethany. After a short while, the RV picked us up and we were on our way back home.

I stayed in the back with Ciri and the nymphs listening to the radio. When we got to the I-40 I-75 split south, there was an Amber alert message on the billboard. No mention of the RV, but a mention of the van and Brigitte’s old description. I figured she got tied to Sara and Bethany from a camera spotting her in their booth.

After getting a bit further south, we pulled over at exit 81 south on I-75. Driving to an abandoned stretch of road, I popped the van out onto the side of the road. I had Sara and Bethany drive it near the onramp, and stop at a restaurant with a state trooper in front of it. We parked in the corner watching it. The trooper stopped Sara as she left with a small bag of burgers. After searching the van, and questioning Sara and Bethany, they were sent on their way.

We got to exit 68 and turned east for Tellico plains. Finding another quiet stretch of road, I made the van dissappear again. It was a pain in the ass getting in and out, but cheap insurance for keeping their valid ID clean for now. The van needed to dissappear permanently though. Before the night fell, it would be reduced to scrap metal components with the rest buried deep.

I woke in my own bed Sunday morning. I wasn’t sure what woke me up, so I sent a light probe out to my surroundings. I detected an unknown being standing outside my metals shed. I put on my pendant and transformed as the swords were my only weapons. Getting to the shed, I saw the lock was still there, but someone or something was inside.

I walked inside to see a girl staring at the array for charging the Nd.

She floated up and turned her eyes on me. They were pits of black that gave me shivers down my spine.

She spoke with a hollow voice that held danger and violence in it.

“I am the Guardian of fate, and you’ve been a bad boy. She was destined to die until you intervened. Did you really think we wouldn’t notice another creation?”

I looked at the creature while thinking. Then resolved my mind. “Fuck you and your fates.”

It screamed and flew towards me. I reacted without thinking, drawing the silver sword and charging it in one move. When I slashed at the creature it yelled and flashed brightly on contact with the sword. When my eyes cleared, there was a glowing pile of material at my feet. I heard a fading “Thank youuuu” and then from behind me “Holy Shit!”

I turned to the women who’d followed me out and asked “Was that one of those wandering ghost you spoke of?”

Alecia spoke up “Yes it was. But it’s gone permanently now, you severed the tie that bound it to this world. It was probably hoping for that.”

I gathered the pile of material and stored it in my ring.

Sara said “I have to wonder about Andrzej Sapkowski the author of the books now. That looked a scene straight out of the books.”

I asked, “Where was this Sapkowski born?”

“He was born in Poland” Sara replied.

“Is that the only series he ever wrote” I asked?

“No, there is another. The Hussite Trilogy.”

“That’s your next task then. Find and read that trilogy looking for clues. If Sapkowski wrote them with insider knowledge, we need to know. For that matter, we need to build a library of such works. There may be hidden clues to knowledge we need under our noses” I finished saying.

Ciri crawled under my arm with a hug “It’s like living a fantasy” She said.

“Unless I sorely fuck up, You’ve a few thousand years of life to live that fantasy. I fully intend to get us off this planet if I can.”

“What do you mean” Ciri asked?

I pulled out the Quimbaya artifact. “This is a portal key to a spaceship according to the information Hitomi and Yoshika have. There is a vacuum on the other end based on how their former master died after activating it to explore. I have a suit on order to allow exploration. I’ve always dreamed of space travel, I’m not about to pass up this chance if it’s true.”

“If you do, please take me with you” Ciri requested.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you. We’ve all been calling you Ciri instead of your given name. Are you OK with that?”

“I am Ciri now. Fuck my given name. It was my old man that gave me that. He always told me I’d look like a young Brigitte Bardot when I got my tits in. The first time he raped me, he told me he was right while he mangled my tits. Brigitte died already, I’m your bitch Ciri now.”

“He was a real piece of shit” I replied.

I could hear echos of her thoughts through our connection, this must be what Alecia was talking about. Along with the thoughts came the emotional intensity behind them. I became worried and disturbed by what I was hearing and feeling. She declared in her head that she’d take death over losing me. This was mirrored by a white hot emotional intensity that left zero doubt she was serious. This wasn’t wrought by the command compulsions, this was her true heart speaking. She was dedicated to me and me alone. In her head she was my pet. My bitch as she thought of it. I realized I’d need to step carefully with her. She was far from catching up to reality emotionally. Intellectually, she was stone cold stable. Emotionally she was a white hot mess.

The others realized there was a subtext in play and slowly faded away. Only Lisa and Alecia were picking up my thoughts and they looked just as disturbed as I felt.

Lisa sent to me through my mind “I understand how she feels. I feel the same way. No other master will cut it after you. None of them ever cared or thought as you do. I could not go back to living like that again.”

Alicia joined the conversation in my head at that point.

Alicia said “I feel the same way. It’s strange being able to feel someone cares about my well being and thoughts. None of us has ever had that before. I suspect we all feel that way.”

Ciri smiled and said “I can hear those thoughts. I’m glad I’m not alone in them. I know it’s only been a day, but I’d rather be your bitch for a day, than live a thousand years without you.”

The other two affirmed that same feeling.