Ashsib and the Cat Beast

Chapter Fifteen

The fog made its way into each person's clothes slowly but surely, soaking them to the bone. The temperature was dropping, and what constituted for night on the forsaken island fell on the Mermaid's crew once more. They were hungry and tired, but stopping was like giving up. Ashsib's purpose was not fully believed, but it was better than wandering the fog rudderless.

"A-a-are we c-c-c-close?" Bretta's teeth chattered.

"Dunno." Vel shrugged.

"I was asking someone helpful." She snapped, her easy anger warming her.

"I also do not know." Ashsib answered, a bit ahead of the Captain.

The sword was swinging wildly from direction to direction. The street was visually the same as any other in the fog, though the cobblestones had changed to flat pavers underfoot as they had walked. Dark lamp posts lined their path like hunched figures, some of the glass shields shattered so the gas burners showed inside. Here, several streets converged in a large star shape.

"It keeps changing direct-ooonns." Ashsib stumbled into a spin.

"Call off. Quinn." Quinn began in the few seconds of reprieve.

"Vel."

"Bretta."

"Challah!"

"Elian."

"Calder."

"Pashqua."

Karihyou hit a signpost, making known it's presence, then it stilled. The point lifted in Ashsib's numb grip, pointing straight at a building's silhouette at the end of a street to their direct left. It didn't pull anymore, instead it remained steady.

"That's the place?" Ashsib asked after a few moments.

The sword lost all force and Ashsib nearly went with it as it tipped to the ground. The tingling in his arm eased, and Ashsib slid it back home into its sheath.

"I think the building at the end of the street is it." He proclaimed more confidently than he felt. Things were very iffy, but Karihyou was trustworthy, Ashsib hoped. Namere certainly looked for it's fastidious courage when she wore it.

Quinn grabbed Ashsib's shoulder and they moved in their queue towards the dark outline in the fog. They approached a little slowly, no one sure what was waiting but knowing it couldn't be good. What met them was a steeple, colorful windows lined with lead, and a large, carved door.

"A church?" Calder asked, "What is this supposed to be? A cliche standoff?"

"A baptism in blood?" Elian added, "What? It was a joke." He said against several reproachful looks.

Ashsib lost all momentum, staring at the grand building. It felt like he could not take one more step, let alone climb the polished stairs. Who knew what waited in that building, or if Namere was even in there. Or, if she was, if she was even still alive.

"To break the curse all of our line must be wiped out. I am the last." Namere's words came to mind.

If she was dead, Karihyou wouldn't be showing him any visions. Ashsib sighed, patting the sword, at least that truth eased the vice on his heart. He'd let her get taken, she'd played the game to let him win, but it was basically his fault. He had wanted her to live when she had wanted to die, and that gave him the responsibility to watch out for her like she did for him.

Quinn gave Ashsib a shove between the shoulder blades.

"Nothin' to it, but to do it." His captain grinned.