Chapter Text
" Oh, this place really looks like it's straight out of a cloak-and-dagger tale ! Or a fantasy novel !" Joan exclaimed at the top of her voice, causing several of the regulars at this wonderful place to look her way. The four of them had entered this wonderful tavern, and were looking around for a suitable table when she felt compelled to announce her delight to everyone!
"Yes, it depends on what kind of fantasy she reads... In The Witcher, in a place like this you'd be threatened with being robbed, murdered, or sold into slavery!" Kazi said, looking around as if expecting danger in such a nice place. She frowned at her sister and asked her.
„The Witcher is the book based on this game, right?”
Kazi made a strange sound like a growl, and then screamed.
„The books were published before anyone even dreamed of games!
They looked at her sister in surprise, then she shrugged and said.
„You know, I have to say the books just weren't that good... They probably weren't even published in French because she'd never heard of them!
Kazi gave her a stern look, but then Emira intervened, smiling at her sister so warmly and sweetly… She dreamed that one day he could be the one at whom this wonderful girl smiled so tenderly…
„So maybe you could lend us one of your books sometime?
She felt panic, knowing full well that reading books together could only strengthen their bond. Kazi grimaced and explained.
“I have books, but only in Polish, I will have to translate them while reading for you…
And then she came up with a wonderful idea.
„Maybe we should start a book club at our university?! Many people here like to read books and this way we can get to know each other's favorite titles, for example I could read Azura aloud „she presented her plan.
Emira smiled at her and said.
“My sister and her girlfriend love this book! You know, Luz talks about it every chance she gets, and I actually know it as if I'd read it myself!
She smiled happily and called out.
" Aren't these the greatest books in the world? One of the few valuable achievements of Anglo-Saxon culture, but truly wonderful!"
They sat down together at the table. She had to admit it was rather dirty, covered in red stains, probably from wine, but that only added to the authenticity of the place. She waved to the bartender, who was chatting with Luz, and ordered a glass of wine, preferably rosé! Her friends sat down in their chairs, though Emira eyed hers skeptically. She was a true lady, after all, and probably expected something much more comfortable. Her sister wiped the seat with the empty space.
"That's true, these books are really nice, and I'd definitely like to hear more about them," Boscha, who had been standing behind her, suddenly interjected and sat down next to her. She was happy that her friend had such good taste in literature! And her sister looked at Boscha. surprised, but then she smiled broadly and said.
„Sure, that's a great idea, maybe I'll read The Witcher, and you'll read Azura to us!”
Her friend blushed, probably thrilled at the prospect of reading the greatest literary series in the world to them all! She herself was overjoyed that she would be able to share her passion!
Amity felt her jaw drop, as did her girlfriend's. It took her a moment to get the words out.
"Is this your dad?" She asked quietly. She knew Willow's dad well, and knew that Harvey was her adoptive father. And that Gilbert's previous husband and Willow's father had left him. When she was a child, very little indeed, but since then, no one in her family had really talked about it, they never thought she would meet her second biological father... But sometimes, apparently, the most unexpected things happened. Actually, she should have gotten used to expecting the unexpected. Albert looked at his daughter, blinked a few times, and said with a slight look of surprise.
„Well, you know... Have you grown!?
Willow continued to smile, but it was a very cold smile indeed, and her fists were clenched.
„You know, father, children grow up, and it's been fifteen years since you went for a walk on the beach.
Albert scratched his head nervously and said.
"Oh no! It can't have been that long! I'm still young! Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? Like, ten years?"
Willow took a deep breath and said.
„I would be a really overgrown eight-year-old…
Albert shrugged and said.
"You know, Gilbert always cared about healthy eating! But you didn't come here to collect your child support payments? Because, you know, that's the draconian law of the islands. Here we enjoy freedom and liberty, and nothing can take that away from us!" He shouted the second half of his statement, but Willow drawled slowly.
„We don't need your money, we managed without it for fifteen years and we'll continue to do so. Besides, I'm an adult and I have a job, so no mercy.
When Albert heard her words, his face lit up; he ordered a mug of darknut beer for himself and said,
"So we can get back to business with your friends, since you have nothing against me. So, as for the salary..."
„You know, I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for us to hire you in this situation... „Luz said cautiously, but Albert waved his hand as if it was nothing important and explained.
"But it's no problem for me that you're hanging out with my former family! I'm sure these two young ladies will be able to objectively look at my employment and fulfill all their obligations."
Willow intervened.
" Oh, there's no reason why something as trivial as my relationship to this individual should hinder our task. I just don't want to speak to him again, please don't ask me to... Now, please, let me get some fresh air!" Willow ran outside through a side entrance, onto one of the verandas overlooking this strange and cold sea. They looked at Albert, who had just received his mug of black ale, which he drank smilingly to himself, and then they both ran outside after their friend. The plant witch was leaning against the veranda railing, crying softly. They immediately went to her and hugged her. They were silent for a while, letting her vent, and then Amity said.
„No, really. We don't have to hire this guy since he hurt you and your dad so badly. I'm sure we can find someone else here.”
Willow looked at them tenderly, then hugged them both tightly.
"You're really good friends, but it's best not to reject Albert's help. At least not for my sake. I'm not sure you should trust him, but you can't reject any opportunity to get to Belos's vault."
And then they heard a bang…
She tried not to drink too much, not while she was teaching, but they had time to relax a bit, so Eda decided she could take advantage of it and ordered a jug of Apple Blood… They sold it by the jug here! She smiled at Raine, who had ordered a darknut ale, which surprised her a lot, but when she asked them, they answered.
„I'm not sure if drinking milk or juice in a place like this is wise...
You agreed with them, but then she saw that Luz had ordered a glass of spider milk. She expected a brawl, but the girls handled it well. After a moment, a demon waiter, a bloody woman, brought them alcohol. She sipped it out of boredom, watching the guests and trying to relax with her beloved... But then she saw Luz, Amity, and Willow talking to a man, so she started listening and heard that this witch was the father. Willow. Then everyone got very upset because, as she understood, because He abandoned his husband and daughter to… Well, in the end, he ended up here. Only Albert remained calm, probably because he didn't think he'd done anything wrong and was most interested in the money he could extract from Luz and her friends. Then Willow ran outside, her friends following her… Then she felt rage boiling inside her. She liked Willow, even though she'd joined the Citizen Guard, but on the other hand, the Citizen Guard wasn't so bad… This girl was strong, though also very sensitive, but more importantly, loyal, and Luz could always count on her, even in the darkest of times. She'd been on her side from the very beginning of her stay on the islands… So as soon as the girls left the man's table, she stood up and sat across from him.
"Listen to me, asshole," she said, staring into the man's eyes, then continued. " These kids are under my protection, and if you make any of them feel even the slightest bit sorry again…"
The man called Albert blinked twice and then said.
„These mothers today are so protective... A girl will cry a little and she'll soon get over it!
Apparently, the bastard needed a little more explanation. She enlisted the aid of the Owl Beast and took the form of a Harpy. She pressed her hands against the tabletop, digging into the wood, and gritted.
"I think we're misunderstanding each other. I'm sure any of these kids could easily beat you in a fight, but they have good hearts and might be fooled by a bastard like you, but I'm more cunning. If you see me trying to use them for my own purposes, I'll rip out your liver and fry it with onions, you understand?"
"Damn it, woman, you should understand that everyone just wants to live somehow“ Albert said, and she frowned, then grabbed him by the loose, sleeveless shirt he was wearing and threw him to the floor. All the regulars at the tavern clapped and whistled at the sight, and more importantly, Raine smiled at her with a dreamy look on her face.”
„You're so beautiful when you intimidate people.
Evening was approaching. when everyone gathered in front of the man Luz had found in the Pirate Tavern. Well, now he wasn't sure they were real pirates, because there weren't really any big ships around here, just a few boats with single masts... True, a lot of the inhabitants wore blindfolds, or hooks instead of hands, or wooden legs, but then again, it was similar on the Boiling Isles, as Eda was a perfect example of... Actually, he felt a bit disappointed... He and Matt also ordered a glass of rum each, and drank it in one gulp... They weren't prepared for what awaited them, and Kazi and Emira had to pat themselves on the back when they started choking... The blue-haired witch told her that it was best to mix it with tea, it goes down better then. And if you add lemon juice and brown sugar, it's would be real Grog... They also ate fish and chips outside, but they had to give half of it to the goldfish, which looked at them menacingly, demanding to be fed... Luckily, he managed to make it seem like They ordered much less food than they had, so they weren't that hungry.
Now Luz was to speak, to tell them about their future plans for the journey. They were in the harbor, near the moored Silverwind. The sun was setting opposite them, casting a crimson conscience on the gray sea.
"We found a guide, Mr. Albert... " She pointed to a man with a round face and powerfully muscled, long arms covered in tattoos, who looked like someone he would definitely rather be in a completely different place. Everyone already knew, he was Willow's father, or rather, one of her fathers... He understood perfectly well why his friend had been so deeply affected by her encounter with that man. He had only recently learned that his mother was alive and even serving in Alexei’s fleet, yet she hadn’t taken a single moment to meet with him. Sometimes, however, it’s better to remain in the dark. Albert cleared his throat loudly and gestured behind
„Well, this one... As you can see, we are on the archipelago of teeth, supposedly one of the few archipelagos that was not created from the remains of Titans... Apparently, you are looking for a place called Purgatorium... To be honest, this name means nothing to me, but from the description I guessed it was the Sorcerer's Island.”
He had to admit that the sorcerer's island sounded really interesting, Wolf, with that power in hand, hoping that now they were in for some truly wonderful adventure, and maybe even discoveries worthy of his applied archaeology society!
„It's the largest of the islands in the Archipelago, but very few people live there... They say it's haunted... It's full of strange monsters, shapeless and devouring magic... There's one settlement there, Sincare, supposedly built during the time of the sorcerer... Although it must be admitted that this island also has a few... unofficial inhabitants, that is, people who engage in duty-free trade, and besides, many people are looking for treasures that the sorcerer collected... You know, he supposedly discovered some kind of physiologist's stone and such, and could turn various things into gold.
Then Kazi interrupted the speech.
„Not the physiologist's stone, but the Philosopher's Stone, and that doesn't mean anything good for us at all. I watched Fullmetal Alchemist, this is going to be really bad!
"Yes, I hope we don't find a talking dog there... That's not a dig at you, Barkus !" Luz said, turning to the dog-like witch demon in a soothing tone...
Hunter discovered that the shared pursuit of purple potatoes could truly bring people closer together! Ivan turned out to be quite a pleasant man, though he still knew a lot about them. They communicated mainly through sign language and pictures, and he used a bit of a dictionary, but the Rust language was completely different from the one he spoke… Despite this, he felt much less alone during these few days than during the previous stage of the journey… But he was still concerned about this strange and quite eerie Palisman that his brother possessed… He also didn't know who to ask about this strange creature; from what he understood, the only people on board the ship who knew English were his brother and sister Anastasia… And of course, he preferred not to question either of them about his suspicions… Could this creature be more than it seemed? His gaze was much more commanding. Let alone those he had seen in ordinary Palisman … After all, he knew quite a lot about them! In fact, he felt uneasy being near his brother’s metal companion, although he couldn’t describe what was causing that unease. Finally, when he noticed that no one was watching them, he tried to ask Ivan about this creature, using a dictionary and his drawing skills—which, unfortunately, weren’t very good… Ivan looked around as if to check that no one could hear them and said something in a gloomy tone that he didn’t understand. It wasn’t until he spoke with Kazi during their evening phone call that he learned it meant, “The less you know, the better you sleep!”
The next day of the journey, Sister Anastasia entered his cabin. This time she was dressed in some kind of armor.
"Get up, we're going to Purgatorium today..." She said in a firm voice. It took him a moment to understand what she was saying to him. But then he jumped to his feet and protested.
-But I'm completely unprepared for such an expedition and... You understand!
The woman smiled at him, he had the impression that she knew all kinds of smiles except the happy ones, and said.
„We are usually not ready for what fate has in store for us... Now don't hesitate, come with us.”