Rebirth of the Nephilim

The next morning, Jay opened her eyes to find that Kerr was gone.

A small spike of panic leapt through her heart, but Jadis quickly calmed herself. While her Jay and Dys selves had managed to get some sleep, her Syd self had stayed up all night, and she would have noticed if Kerr had left the tent under her own power or otherwise. Probably. Kerr was exceptionally stealthy when she wanted to be. Still, Jadis was certain that no harm had come to her lover. She just wasn’t in the room anymore.

Getting to her feet, Jay let out a groan as her muscles and joints made their complaints known. Supernatural strength and endurance or not, sleeping in armor wasn’t comfortable. After giving her neck a good pop, Jay slipped out of the bedroom door as quietly as she could. Which, in all honesty, wasn’t all that quiet. She still did her best not to make a commotion as she made her way to the central chamber of the tent. Once she got there, the brief mystery of where Kerr had disappeared to was solved.

Sitting at the crescent table was Kerr, with six of the harem mothers who had been keeping vigil the previous night. They had surrounded the younger woman, with a couple standing behind her chair, and were talking rapidly back and forth between each other. One had a large brush in hand and was thoroughly combing out Kerr’s perpetually unruly mane, while another was using a stained cloth to polish her horns. One who was sitting on Kerr’s left was filing the archer’s claws, while the woman on her opposite side was using a very small pair of scissors to trim the hair on Kerr’s beast-like ears.

Jay stood stock still, her mouth hanging open in surprise at the utterly unexpected tableau.

Raising her eyes to meet Jay’s gaze, Kerr made the most heartfelt plea Jadis had ever heard in her life.

“Please. Save me.”

Jadis did her best, but there were limits to her powers. Overcoming motherly concern for a child’s grooming and hygiene was not within the scope of her abilities.

While the circumstance which had brought them together was an unhappy one, Jadis was still glad to finally meet Kerr’s parents. Certainly, they were not blood relations, but the fourteen older women had all played a role in the archer’s upbringing, so they were her mothers in their own right. Keeping track of all the names was going to be a challenge, but she was going to do her best. What Jadis wasn’t looking forward to doing was trying to memorize the names of the one hundred plus brothers and sisters Kerr had.

“I still can’t believe that both Vasyl and Oleh are your brothers,” Syd murmured as she watched the two therions. “It’s crazy.”

“Elves have bigger age ranges between their kids a lot of times,” Kerr shrugged. “It’s not that weird.”

Jadis couldn’t argue against that point. Still, she couldn’t help her own ingrained confusion at the sight of two brothers playing, when one was a sixty-year-old man with children and grandchildren, while the other was a four-year-old boy. Vasyl had grandchildren who were older than his youngest brothers and sisters. She had to wonder if that ever caused confusion at family gatherings. Then again, Jadis realized, the family was pretty much always gathered together in the Nox camp, so it was really just her own outside perspective that was causing her problems.

“Are you glad you got to see your family again?” Syd asked. “Your brothers, sisters…”

“Some of them,” Kerr shrugged. “Some of them are assholes. But I’m glad they’re okay.”

Syd took another sip of the exceptionally strong hot drink she had been given by Nera, one of Kerr’s harem mothers. The drink reminded Jadis of vanilla-flavored coffee, though when she asked, she was told that it was made from some kind of root found in the Verdant Sea, not beans. It didn’t have any sugar, so the drink was bitter and far stronger than anything Jadis was used to from Earth. Still, the caffeine boost was nice, and Jadis was seriously considering buying a bag of the stuff to share with the rest of her lovers.

“I missed jako more than some of my siblings,” Kerr muttered as she took a big slip from her own steaming mug.

“You know, we could always set up a trade route,” Syd commented. “I bet this jako stuff would sell well in Eldingholt. There are probably other things we could trade, too.”

“Maybe,” Kerr shrugged dismissively. “You’d have to make that deal with whoever the next clan head is, and we won’t be around to see who that is.”

“Why not?”

“The clan won’t decide who gets to be the top until after my father’s funeral is over, and that’ll take another three days of traditional mourning,” she said as she curled her lip. “We aren’t sticking around for that.”

Syd nodded as she leaned back against the wooden post that she had staked into the ground behind the second bench she had claimed for herself earlier in the night. The first one had become dangerously unstable, but the second was apparently intended for metalworking, and was holding up much better. After escaping her mothers thanks to a bit of distraction that Jay offered, Kerr had fled outside to join Syd in the open space in front of the clan head’s tent. A light yet constant stream of men and women were coming and going through the area, and while many were eyeing Syd and Kerr, staring at the spectacle of the long-lost daughter and her Nephilim mate wasn’t their purpose. A wooden totem had been set up in front of the clan head’s tent, carved to look like a wild and unkempt therion. Each man, woman, and child was walking up to the totem and placing a piece of leather cord with a few beads on it either in the hands of the totem, or over the wooden figure’s arms.

The totem was supposed to represent Villthyrial, Vidor had explained. Each of the identical trinkets were a piece of the decorations that the Nox wrapped their horns in to signal their clan affiliation. That particular piece was what had represented Ratosh as their leader. With his death, the leather and beads were removed and returned to the clan head, who would take them with him to Villthyrial’s halls when his body was burned later.

“If you wanted to, we could find the time.”

Kerr let out a low sigh before answering.

“No. Last night was enough. I don’t need to stick around for a funeral. I’m done crying over him. The next time I come back here, I don’t want it to be for some sad shit like this.”

“Now there’s going to be a next time, huh,” Syd murmured with a small smile. “I didn’t think you would want to visit your old clan again.”

“There are some people I wouldn’t mind visiting in the future,” Kerr grumbled. “A few.”

Syd’s smile grew wider at Kerr’s response, and she happily sat in a companionable silence with her lover while they finished their heavily caffeinated drinks. If Kerr had wanted, Jadis really would have found a way to give her more time. However, she was also glad that they wouldn’t be lingering. So far, Clan Nox had been respectful to her, maybe even nice in their own way. But the continual refusal to let Alex into the camp was a big stain on the welcome she had been given. It wouldn’t have been fun to continue camping outside the walls.

“So, who’s going to be the next clan head?” Syd asked after a while. “One of your older siblings?”

“Maybe,” Kerr shrugged. “Vasyl might have the support. But one of my father’s old war dogs might take the spot, if they’ve got the power and the backing. It kind of all depends on how things are going in the clan right now, and I’ve been gone for years. I don’t know who’s who and what’s what anymore.”

“I’m surprised none of your father’s wives are in the running,” Syd frowned.

“Pfft,” Kerr let out a derisive noise. “Not a chance. The only warrior among them is Ren, and she’s not that good. I’d have a better chance of being the head than her.”

“You have to be a warrior to be the clan head?”

“Not necessarily,” Kerr wiggled her hand. “But it’s hard to be the head if you aren’t. You’ve got to show that you have a lot of strength, enough to protect the clan and intimidate the clan’s enemies. You also have to have connections with powerful people who will listen to you, and the support of a majority of the pack. There are clan heads that are mages and healers, but you don’t see clan heads that are, I dunno, merchants all that much.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Syd let out a little chuckle.

“You know, the way you describe it, it sounds like you really could be the clan head if you wanted.”

“Fuck no,” Kerr rejected the thought immediately. “There’s no way I’d ever want to lead a clan, any clan. I don’t want that kind of responsibility. My father had the back to carry—to carry the kinds of choices you have to make when you’re in charge. You have that strength. Not me.”

Syd frowned again, looking down at her lover.

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re way stronger than you let on, in more ways than just stats.”

“Maybe,” Kerr finished off the last of her drink. “But I’m happy following you. You’re my mate. My bonded lover. The head of my clan. That’s enough for me.”

In the end, Jadis and Kerr stuck around the Clan Nox camp for another few hours before departing. Kerr spoke privately with her harem mothers and said her goodbyes to the mass of siblings who all finally got a chance to see her. For her part, Jadis spent the final hour speaking with Vidor, discussing a potential trade deal between the Nox and Fortune’s Favored. Just as Kerr had anticipated, nothing solid could be agreed upon until a new clan head was in power, but Vidor promised to discuss the possibility with whoever did finally take the spot. Since Kerr’s oldest brother Vasyl was the most likely candidate thanks to his high CLR and popularity among the people, Jadis figured there was a good chance that there would be a trade deal in the future.

There was no great chorus of farewells when Jadis spread her wings and lifted up into the sky with Kerr and Alex in her arms, but the feeling in the air was far less grim than it had been when they had arrived. While nothing physical had changed, Jadis felt like Kerr was lighter, somehow. Probably just a trick of the mind, but it seemed to her that a great burden had been lifted from her lover’s shoulders. Maybe there hadn’t been true reconciliation at the end, but she had made her peace with her father. That would have to do.

The flight back to Volto seemed to go faster than the trip to the Verdant Sea had been. Another trick of the mind, Jadis was certain, but the hours passed quickly as she carried her two lovers through the cold skies. There was less to see when they passed over the northern cities of the empire, as no soldiers were out and about and no wyverns flew up from their roosts to chase them. By the time they were passing over the mountains where the Hall of Memories were located, the sun was already ready starting to set. Jadis wasn’t sure where the time had gone, but she was glad that they were nearly back. She considered stopping at Meli’s grove for a quick check in, but almost instantly rejected the idea. She didn’t want any more delays getting back. It had been a short trip, no more than an overnight affair, but it had been emotionally draining, and Jadis was looking forward to holding all of her loved ones in her arms.

With Thracina in view, a pang of worry entered Jadis’ hearts. She half expected something terrible to have happened during her brief time away. However, nothing appeared to be out of place. The city looked the same as when they had left it. No ominous clouds overhead, no demonic armies surrounding the walls. She even spotted the familiar shapes of Tacitus and Noct flying over the city. Only, for whatever reason, they weren’t flying towards her. They were flying further south, towards…

An airship was flying towards the city.

Jadis knew right away that the vessel was not the Leviathan. While certainly Leviathan class, the airship had multiple flags and banners waving along its sides and stern that the actual Leviathan did not possess. Furthermore, upon doing a quick doublecheck, Jadis was able to spot her airship moored along the far side of Thracina’s western inner wall. The approaching dirigible had a black balloon, though, with the three-pointed star Jadis had chosen to represent Fortune’s Favored. The vessel had to be one of hers, but the only one that it could be shouldn’t have been finished yet.

Tegwyn and the rest of his team were supposed to arrive in another two weeks with supplies to help support the war campaign. The main reason for their delay was that the new airship still needed time to complete. Yet here they appeared to be, inexplicably early.

With a confused frown, Jadis changed course to meet the incoming airship. She didn’t know what had caused the change in schedule, but she intended to find out.