Chapter 91 – Breakout

“Radar has picked up the hum! It will hit in three hours!”

Fer sat in the darkness, next to Kassandora, and gave her sister one final sniff. She wanted to hang onto that sweet smell of Kassandora. Fer reached to Iniri’s bottle. Iniri was weak. Containing her blood would not be difficult. She uncorked it, put it to her lips and tipped her head back. Iniri’s blood entered her stomach and she felt the cooling power of Nature travel through her. Her muscles got stronger, fur grew thicker, smells became more apparent.

She finished the canteen and reached for Kavaa’s canteen. The same movements again, uncork, put her lips around it, and tip back. Kavaa was stronger than Iniri, but not by much, and her powers weren’t as flashy. Fer felt tiny pricks made by sharp bones she was sitting on forcefully heal. Her matted fur shed, then regrew. Her nails fixed themselves, rearranged to be perfect. It was like her own healing, but simply better and less pleasant. Colder and more clinical, not like the warmth of rest but the coolness of a surgery. “Two down.” Fer said, she kept the tremble out of her voice.

“Isn’t that enough?” Kavaa asked in the darkness. Her voice sounded now that Fer had the blood of two Goddesses inside her. Fer felt Kassandora shake her head through the tiny movements of wind her sister’s hair made.

“No.”

“Oh.” Fer smiled as she reached for the canteen filled with Kassandora’s blood. Her sister was always like that, always so protective and secretive. Did Kavaa have to know about how powers worked? She didn’t know or think so.

Kassandora’s blood hit her stomach. War’s will entered her mind. Kassandora’s intelligence, her strength and power. Fer felt her fur grow thick, each strand angry and sharp, the edges made sharp as they grew to the full potential. That was Kavaa’s doing. And then Iniri’s reinforced the roots. Fer’s mind grew sharper, she always liked Kassandora’s blood, it always brought about new ideas she had never thought of. Kavaa should not be told how her powers worked exactly because she would be able to counter them. That was exactly Kassandora’s thinking, but then her own mind started to work and change those ideas. Kavaa should be told, because if she needed healing, then a moment to explain would be too long.

“Tell her.” Fer said as she reached for the canteen containing Baalka’s blood. A sister stronger than her, a Divine she knew her own body would not be able to handle.

“Are you sure?” Kassandora asked in the darkness.

“If you don’t, I will.” Fer said. “But you’ll explain it better.” Kassandora sighed as if defeated and then proceeded to speak.

“Fer is like a hearth. Blood is fuel. You and Iniri are wood. I am coal. Both work and are safe. The quantity does not matter, it is the quality of the fuel, the more she has, the longer she can burn it for.”

“Oh.” Kavaa said. “So Baalka?”

“Baalka…” Kassandora trailed off. “We don’t know. I would say it’s like pouring crude oil into the hearth.” Fer smiled. She knew Kassandora would explain it better, her sister always did.

“So you’ve never done it before?” Kavaa asked. Fer smelled Baalka’s blood. It smelled like poison. There was no other way to describe it. Poison and nothing else.

“Not with Baalka.” Kassandora said.

“Once I tasted Iri’s blood.” Fer said.

“Irinika’s?” Iniri this time.

“My ears had black tufts for twenty years after that.” Fer smiled to herself as she spoke, then her voice became soft. She missed Irinika. “They were cute.”

“After that, we swore to never feed her the blood of someone stronger.” Kassandora said.

“Why would you do that in the first place?” Kavaa asked.

“There has to be rules to Divines.” Kassandora spoke. “I know Maisara and Allasaria have written about them too. We prefer experimentation to theory.” Fer felt her sister’s eyes pass over her in the darkness. That was another trait of Kassandora’s powers, but made greater by the fact it was in her, and reinforced by Iniri.

“I would describe it differently.” Fer said. She knew she was delaying at this point, but her entire body told her not to drink Baalka’s blood.

“Go on.” Kassandora said.

“I’m the enclosure. Iniri and Kavaa are like tiny little gerbils. Kassie is a cute little raccoon. Baalka would be a charging bull.” Kassandora sniffed in humour.

“Classic.” She said flatly. Fer felt her sister’s arm on her shoulder. “I’ve got you Fer.”

“I know you do.” Fer sniffed the canteen again. “Kassie. I love you. Don’t forget me.”

“I won’t have to remember you. And I love you too.” Fer sighed. This was it. There was no point in delaying anymore. She took a deep breath, put the canteen to her lips and tipped her head back.

Baalka’s rancid blood burned her tongue and throat, Kavaa’s blood immediately started to heal her. Then it hit her stomach. Her own blood turned toxic as it burned her veins. Her spine cracked, then healed and cracked again. Skin ruptured and sutured itself, her sense of smell grew a thousandfold, she could see everyone here simply off their smells. Her hearing grew enough to where she could pick them out by heartbeat. Fer felt Kassandora fly away from her. That meant the gate had cracked and the bull was released. Fer knelt down, looked up, and launched herself off the ground. She heard shouting from below, there must have been a mess made below.

Then Baalka’s blood hit her again. She tasted it in her mouth as her stomach tried to expel its contents. Her senses became dull, her legs grew limp, her heart stopped, then restarted, her trajectory changed and she hit the ground of bones again. “Ka…” She moaned. “Ka…” They were here, Kavaa and Kassandora both of them. Kassandora took charge as always. Fer would have vomited already if Kassandora wasn’t here. Her sister immediately began to shout.

“KAVAA! HEAL! NOW!” Fer, by smell and sound alone, saw Kassandora throw Kavaa towards her. The Goddess of Healing wrapped her arms around Fer’s neck and Fer felt the coolness of Kavaa’s power work along with the woman’s blood flowing through her veins.

“She’s alright!” Kavaa shouted. “Her stomach shut down. I can’t start it!” Fer tried to get onto her knees. Her arms gave out. “STAY FER!” Kavaa shouted at her. “Give me a minute!” The coolness spread, the lethargic dizziness faded away. The world stopped spinning, the smells and sounds became defined, not just general masses in a general direction.

“Fer?” Kassandora asked gently. “Can you hear me?”

“Sick.” Fer replied. “Terrible. Feel. Very. Not. Good.”

“STOP TALKING!” Kavaa shouted. “Keep it in! Hold yourself together! I’m working on you!”

“Is this curable?” Kassandora asked.

“It’s an enteral inebriant.” Fer smiled and closed her eyes. She didn’t know what that meant. “EYES OPEN FER! DON’T FALL ASLEEP!”

“Like an alcohol?” Kassandora asked quietly. Fer smiled. It was satisfying to know there were things her sister did not know either.

“Like chloroform!” Kavaa said. “It’s hit her whole body.”

“Can you heal her?” Kassandora asked.

“I feel better now.” Fer said. The dizziness had stopped, every word still made her want to vomit but that was expected. “I’m keeping it down.”

“I can’t heal her!” Kavaa shouted.

“I’m not lying. I do feel better.” Fer said quietly.

“SHUT UP FER! KEEP QUIET BEFORE YOU VOMIT YOUR STOMACH OUT!” Fer blinked. Oh. It was more serious than just being sick. Kavaa waited for a reply and when none came she finally cooled down. “I’m keeping her body working right now. Her stomach is burning up and her veins are clotting.” Fer moved her fingers. It didn’t feel like it.

“Are you?” She asked quietly, barely moving her mouth.

“I AM!” Kavaa shouted. “YOUR HEART WILL STOP IF I LET GO!” Fer moved. “DON’T STAND UP!”

“We still have to get out.” Fer said slowly, her lips barely moving. Expelling your stomach was a scary image. “We’re this far in.”

“Are you sure Fer?” Kassandora asked.

“I am.”

“I won’t be able to hold on.” Kavaa said, her voice filled with panic and Fer smiled. Whether it was her own instincts or Kassandora’s mind, she realised how to fix this.

“Put your arm in my mouth.”

“What?”

“Worst comes to worst, you’ll have to regrow it.” Fer whispered gently. She took hold of one of Kavaa’s cool hands, interlocked her fingers to make sure the woman wouldn’t let go and guided the other to her mouth. “Can you work through pain?”

“Ye-“ Fer bit down on Kavaa before the woman even finished. She pulled the woman onto her back as Kavaa’s blood flowed down her chin and filled her mouth. What she could swallow, she did. It felt like a fresh rain on the burning lake that was in her stomach. Kavaa let out a scream and then grit her teeth but she was tough. Her magic did not stop flowing for even an instant.

“Break out and then come back for us.” Kassandora said. Fer grinned and Kavaa kicked her from behind. She had bitten down again. She relieved some pressure and felt Kavaa’s legs wrap around her. Her tail… Fer blinked. She swished it from side to side. There was a tail there, it was as natural a part of her as her arms were. When… Fer pushed the questions out of her mind. This was Kassandora’s power, simply ignore what is not worth searching an answer for. Her tail wrapped around Kavaa to make sure the woman wouldn’t fall off.

Amazing.

Her sister was smart. But also, she was careful. Everything needed to be prepared for. Every possibility had to be accounted, everything had to be written down and gone through. Every plan was a spiderweb of possibilities that the woman would run through in that quick mind of hers before making a move. A mortal would never manage it, but that was why her title was Goddess of War.

Fer had a different mindset entirely. If it could be done, it would be done. She grabbed Kassandora in one arm and tried telling her to hold on before realising Kavaa’s arm was in her mouth. Iniri and Baalka were grabbed too, in the same arm. Kassandora seemed to realise what was going on quickly enough. “You want me to hold them?” Fer nodded, each movement bringing a groan from Kavaa on her back. Kassandora grabbed the other Goddesses, then wrapped her arm around Fer.

Fer stepped out of the Jungle’s acid that was filling the dark pit they were in and walked to the tallest point of the bone-hill. The sound bouncing around the cave was enough to tell her where every sat. She stopped. Then knelt down.

“On my go, everyone hold on, okay?” Kassandora said. She got a series of replies from the rest of the team. “Fer. Are you ready?”

“Mmh.”

Kassandora counted down. “Three.” Fer tightened the muscles in her legs. Iniri’s blood held them together like the ground, Kavaa’s healed her them as they ripped each other apart, Kassandora’s organized them and sure each strand worked perfectly, and Baalka’s gave them raw strength. “Two.” Fer tightened her core until it became tougher than steel. A cannonball shot at her stomach would bounce off, a bull would snap its neck if it her. “One.” Fer calculated the distance. The strength to be used. Everything and anything. “Go.”

Fer shot upwards and felt the blood of others inside her; a mighty reed spiralled into the sky, a scalpel of a doctor flicked away rotten skin, a bolt of a ballista launched into the underside of a tremendous dragon, a disease wiped nations away.

Fer raised her free arm made a fist above her head; an aged oak that stood against a hurricane, a doctor injected himself with a vaccination, a formation of pikemen prepared to take a cavalry charge, a cancer spiralled into another cancer.

Fer’s fist touched the Jungle’s teeth; a flytrap snapped shut, the immune system started to devour bacteria, a spear found weakness in steel plate, a disease entered the wound.

Fer felt the teeth shatter; an avalanche began to pick up speed, a body started to produce its own cells to counter an illness, a shieldwall held as the flanks were encircled, an illness mutated to spread.

Fer broke out of the pit of the pit and flew right past it into the air; a noble wood regrowing after devouring flames, a healthy heart pumping blood, a victorious army cheering after a battle, a land blistering with life.

Fer saw the night sky and heard her own blood calling to her as ivory shards of shattered teeth rained from above; a wolf howling after the hunt, a pack migrating, a healthy cub being born.