Getting the cub onto a flyer turned out to be the easy part; he was enthralled with the idea of flying. It seemed that that wasn’t how they traveled from planet to planet; instead, the cub’s mother cut the air and they walked. The cub wasn’t able to describe it better than that, but it sounded a lot like a portal to Serenity.
A portal that was open for long enough to move a group of tigers through it had to be expensive. It was even more impressive that it was done without pre-prepared locations; Serenity had seen the work the Messengers’ Guild put into reducing the cost. They had to limit the time each portal was open and use predefined locations, most of which had some sort of localized enchantment to help with the portal, to reduce the cost enough to make it practical. The tiger mother didn’t seem to require either one.
Even more importantly, she could pass through her own portal. That was something that Serenity knew was possible but he didn’t have any spells that could do it. It wasn’t something the Final Reaper had needed, since he hadn’t needed to take anyone with himself. Teleportation was easier when you were alone, while portals were generally better for groups. It would be very useful for Serenity if he didn’t have to teleport himself separately or have someone else set up the portal.
Before they left the area, Senkovar started a process that would collapse the tunnel that led into the Near Point. It would be slow, since he didn’t want to make it obvious there had ever been a tunnel. That meant it would take weeks to fully restore the area, but when it was done there would only be a small depression over a wide area. Serenity expected that would be fine; after all, they didn’t plan to tell anyone what they’d found and the area was still infested with monsters.
There were another seventeen golems killed on the way out. It was significantly fewer than they’d found on the way in, but they were on the same exact route and it had only been a few hours. Seeing that many meant there were still a very large number of golems loose in the wilderness.
Serenity didn’t want to talk about the cub before they were at the ship and had him settled into a safer place. It seemed more polite that way. It also seemed less likely to drive the cub to run off, and that was important. The last thing Serenity wanted was to have the cub head back to the tunnel it cut into the World Core. Once they were at the ship and the cub was settled in, it was a different story.
They met in the small Observation Room. It had the best view on the ship with the possible exception of the large Observation Room and the large Observation Room was both too large and too public for the discussion. At this point, the small Observation Room was quickly becoming the room Serenity spent the most time in, more than even his bedroom.
The fact that Tek kept adding upgrades didn’t hurt.
“Does anyone have a good idea why a white tiger cub would be abandoned and told to eat a World Core by its mother?” Serenity could only assume that it had something to do with the cub’s Tier, but that didn’t mean it made sense. “I don’t even know anything about white tigers. I know I’ve never met one, but that’s really all I know. I hadn’t even realized they were different from other tigers.”
Blaze shook his head. “All I know about them is that they’re one of the Four Icons. That doesn’t really help.”
Serenity nodded. He hadn’t thought of that, but Blaze was correct. It didn’t really tell them anything.
“Four Icons?” Rissa frowned at Blaze. “What are you talking about?”
“A very old symbol,” Blaze said with a shrug. “It predates the Terror War, you run into it in all sorts of places. The one you’re the most likely to see is at the Mercenary’s Guild. They’re used for a lot of different Mercenary Companies and usually mean something associated with the icon. You remember Katya and Hale, don’t you?”
Rissa nodded. “Serenity met them on Tzintkra. He ended up inviting Katya’s family to come to Earth.”
Blaze nodded. “Not what I was thinking of, but yes, that’s the right Katya. She’s Hale’s subordinate; Hale is the leader of the Rising Phoenix mercenary company. That’s partly because they were recovering from a major problem, but you don’t rename a mercenary company to emphasize something like that. Their name means they specialize in recovery and rescue. I expect that’s why they were on Tzintkra. Phoenix companies also tend to have more healers, so operating on a planet saturated in Death is easier for them.”
Serenity nodded. “It’s a term because you often see them grouped together. Phoenix for healing, rebirth, and recovery. Dragons for magic. The black tortoise for the best defense. The white tiger for attack. I don’t see how it helps here.”
Senkovar shook his head. “I don’t either. Both phoenixes and dragons exist, but this is the first time I’ve seen a sapient white tiger. I’ve never seen a black tortoise. I’m pretty sure we’re hunting for meaning where there isn’t any.”
Rissa shook her head. “Those four symbols were in the Dreaming Tree’s prophecy. I thought they were just for flavor, to make the prophecy work, but now that we’ve found a literal tiger cub…”
“Prophecy?” Serenity didn’t remember a prophecy that talked about tigers. Rissa might have mentioned one, but the only one that came to mind immediately was the one about norn-tainted fate.
“The Tiger hunts Tortoises to feed her cubs. If the Tiger and her Cubs tussle over the Phoenix’s Embers, the Phoenix shall never rise again. The Dragon must choose which to protect; only with the aid of Light and Shadow can he make the Cycle turn and bring a new balance to the Four.” Rissa stopped and glanced around the group. “I think we know who the Tiger and her cubs are. The Tortoises seem to be World Cores since that’s what the cub was eating, but I’m not certain of that now. Maybe there are literal tortoises out there that she’s hunting and there just weren’t any on Themrys? Or maybe they were already eaten?”
“If there were any, the cub didn’t know about them,” Blaze proclaimed with certainty. “While we flew back to the ship, I asked him about everything I could think of and what happened after they reached Themrys was one of those things. There wasn’t any fighting on Themrys. He did mention that his mother was injured on some of their earlier stops, but he never saw what she fought.”
“I hate prophecy,” Serenity muttered. It never made sense and you were always left with questions about what applied. It also didn’t speak to what would happen, merely what might happen; the reason it seemed to always come true was how foggily prophecies were phrased. Yes, this one seemed to be connected to the current situation, but it didn’t really tell him anything.
Which meant he should keep it in mind but not put too much effort into it. No matter what the prophecy said, the next step was obvious. “We need to catch up to the tiger mother. Once she’s caught, we can go back and check on the other planets affected by World Eaters and see if she left a cub at all of them. Which means our next destination is obvious.”
“Eitchen,” Senkovar agreed. “She’s probably already there. In fact, she was probably there before we left. We may not be able to find her until the damage to the core is bad.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Serenity countered. “Travel in a spaceship is faster than through the portal network, but it’s still not instant. Her portals should be very fast, but I doubt she can find a Near Point instantaneously and the tunnel through it has to take time, too. If Eitchen isn’t in pain when we get there, we can try a divination spell to locate her; we do have her child, after all.”
“We can try.” Senkovar didn’t sound like he thought it would work.
“Carry all of the packs up to the rooms. Make certain you get the right ones in each room,” Valkyrie Ida told Ann. “When you’re done, lock each room and then you may return for dinner.”
Ann glared at the woman who thought she was better than Ann simply because she’d never been told to do anything that was actually hard. What gave her the right to order Ann around? Where did she come from telling a Valkyrie like Ann to carry the bags of the servants instead of having a servant carry Ann’s bag?
Ann ignored the fact that she was no longer a Valkyrie and that not only had she been told to follow Ida’s commands, she’d been told not to give her own. It wasn’t like she’d asked anything unreasonable; she’d just told one of the guards to take her bag to her room!
Now it seemed like she was going to be carrying the bags AND she wouldn’t get her own room!
They were only six days’ travel from Eadsyt, still weeks away from whatever destination they had. Ann didn’t know what it was and she didn’t care. Ida-the-idiot hadn’t told her and she refused to try to figure it out. She was here because she had to be, not because it was actually important. This was just a punishment for failing.
She was going to have to remember the phrase Ida-the-idiot. It was perfect.
Ann opened each room, tossed the bags carelessly on the floor, then locked the room. The only bag she was careful with was her own; there were things that were actually worth something in there, even if she hadn’t been allowed to take much from the Mound.
Okay, the most fragile thing she had in there was bread, but she didn’t want it squished. She didn’t want her armor dinged, either; she just knew that if that happened, she’d be the one who had to pay for repairs even though armor damage was totally normal!
Ann grumbled to herself and locked up the last room. She couldn’t manage to be alone, but at least she’d stuck Ida’s stuff in another room and made certain that the most annoying of her sycophants were in there with her. Ida would probably like that, but Ann didn’t want to have to deal with them. They were always telling her what she ought to do, how she ought to act to please the oh-so-mighty Valkyrie Ida.
She stomped her way down the stairs and into the restaurant on the ground floor. Everyone else was already eating and having a good time. The only open seat that was close enough that it wouldn’t be obvious she was shunning them (since she didn’t want to get into trouble for that again) was at the next table, near Ida but at least somewhat separate.
It was close enough to overhear the woman, which normally just meant that she had to listen to the painful sounds of her guards sucking up to her. This time, it was different.
This time, there was the pleasant sound of irritation in Ida’s voice. “We have to change our route. Our target has moved and there’s no direct route from Themrys to Eitchen. How he’s moving faster than we are, I don’t know, but we’re still far enough out that it’s not a huge delay. Blessings on the Mimir for telling us as soon as he moved.”
“Blessings on the Mimir,” the guards echoed. Ann didn’t say anything; she wasn’t feeling very blessed right now and it wasn’t like anyone really cared about those phrases.
Ann is very isolated.
It’s her own fault. Not that she’ll accept that.
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