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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 33, Written January 2012

===

Chapter 33 - Obligations

The canine mage lowered her swords. "Sarina? By the stars, it is you! I didn't recognize you with your soul completely hidden like that," Lady Portia said. "How did you do that, anyway? And where have you been, that coming here through Hell was a sensible shortcut?"

"I'd be happy to discuss that over a glass of wine, in the inn, but first, would you mind dispensing with the banishment circle? And since when do you bother with a visible diagram of that type?" Sarina said, gesturing to the enflamed circle that still burned at their feet.

"Oh! Well, when dealing with an unknown soulless entity that has appeared out of Hell, it is best to take no chances in the casting of a spell to banish them. With the diagram visible, it is harder to make an error in its formation. You will please forgive me, but will you take one more test? Catch this, and have a sip," the mage said, tossing Sarina a silver flask.

Sarina caught it, laughed, and took a drink from the flask, holding it a bit from her mouth so the mage could see the holy water flowing from the flask and into her open mouth, and then swallowed. Then she said, "I am still no vampire, nor an evil creature that holy water can harm. Some may question my methods, or the spells I choose to use, but I assure you, I am not a creature of evil, and I do not intend any harm to your city or its inhabitants. You have my word of honor on that, sworn to with my hand upon the holy symbol on this flask."

Lady Portia dismissed the circle, and took the flask back from Sarina. "Sorry. But I had to be sure," she explained, "because so few untainted things do come out of a hell gate. So why were you there? Where have you been?"

"Let's discuss this over wine, please, rather than standing in a field under the stars," Sarina asked.

"Oh! Of course. Forgive my impatient curiosity. Let us go to the inn," Lady Portia said.

===

A short while later, Sarina, Ashley and Portia were at a table close to the fireplace, and Sarina and Portia were sharing a bottle of very good wine, which Sarina insisted on paying for. Ashley did not take a glass of wine, and sat staring into the fire, ostensibly acting as a servant girl waiting for the whims of her Mistress, but actually using the flames to see through other fires around the area, and get a sense of what was going on in the city.

"So, where have you been, and what adventures took you to such places?" Lady Portia asked. The canine mage was dressed much as she had been the last time Sarina had met her, with one main difference. She now wore a knee-length surcoat of white, with a scarlet cross on it.

"I was literally on the other side of the world, is where. In Shanghai China. And before that, I spent some time in Hong Kong, in the new Crown Colony there. And before that, I was briefly in India, and even in Egypt. Due to misfortunes beyond my control, I had a need to return here rapidly from the orient. But I had never tried making a portal to cover such a great distance, and I realized as I prepared to make the portal that I didn't have enough waypoints memorized along the route that I had taken by normal means to get there, for me to safely return," Sarina said. "With time running short, I summoned my... servant, Ashley... to serve me again, and she suggested a shortcut through the place that you caught us coming out of. It did get us here, though some complications in the process almost killed me."

"I see. There are formulae for making such long distance portals safely. I would be glad to teach them to you, if you have a week or so to spare? Perhaps less, given what a quick learner you've always been. Portals are a specialty of mine, after all. But what misfortune necessitated your return? The last I heard, you had headed off to the Orient with an adopted father or some such?" Portia asked.

"Just so," Sarina replied. "Lord Edward Randall was a widower who had lost his family to a plague. He adopted me, and for a short while I lived with him. But later he asked his brother in law, Lord Thomas Pennington, to take me in, because I reminded him too much of his dead wife and daughter. For several years I lived with the Penningtons, here in this city, and they treated me as if I was their own niece. Lord Randall, meanwhile, went to India and to Hong Kong, seeking his fortunes in the tea and opium trade. When he came back for my twentieth birthday, I asked him to take me with him, so I could see the orient. He did, and we lived for a while in Hong Kong. But then..."

Lady Portia placed a hand on Sarina's arm, and said, "You poor dear. You speak of him only in the past tense. Was he taken from you?"

"Yes. He died there, of a fever that had no cure. I tried to find a way to save him with my magic, but I fear I have always been pathetic with healing spells. I could not find a solution fast enough to save him. He had been very kind to me, and he even named me his sole heiress in his will. I had his remains cremated, and sent his ashes here with a loyal family servant, while I settled our affairs in the Orient. That servant should be arriving here in the next few weeks, if no misfortune befell him. And that necessitated my own haste. I wanted to be here before he arrived, to break the news to the Penningtons. I knew, you see, that Lord Randall would want to be interred here, with the remains of his beloved wife and daughter, in the family crypt. It was my solemn duty, as his adopted heiress, to make that happen," Sarina said.

"How very noble of you! To travel half the world to repay his kindness to you!" Lady Portia said. "So you are here then, to tell the Penningtons, and to see to the funeral arrangements?"

"Yes. Do you know how they are faring, Lady Portia? I wrote to them on occasion, but I have heard little back from them. The mails to the Far East are not very reliable, even in a Crown Colony," Sarina said.

"As a matter of fact, I have kept in touch with them," Lady Portia said. "Lady Pennington and I share a rather unfortunate bond, after that incident with their daughter and the vampires. We see each other once a week, at Chapel. They both still live, but they are no longer together. Lady Meghan Pennington is now Sister Meghan, of Our Lady of Perpetual Forgiveness, a nunnery some thirty miles outside of the city. She divorced her husband to become a nun, and to pray each day for the soul of their daughter, and for her own soul. Lord Pennington took his wife going to the Church well enough. He still lives in the family mansion, but I believe he is quite lonely there, with no family and only three or four servants. He would welcome a visit from you, even with the sad news that you must give him."

"Lady Pennington was already leaning to piety and a religious life when I left, so that does not surprise me. But you say you see her every week at chapel, even though she is at a distant nunnery? How can that be? Surely you have not become a nun?" Sarina asked.

"Not a nun, no. I am needed too much in the world, where my magic can serve the people," Lady Portia said. "But I have taken holy vows of another sort. I am now a Paladin in service to the Church, charged with protecting this city against the forces of evil that on occasion beset us here. In truth, it is little different than my former life. I still hunt werewolves, vampires, and other foul creatures. But I no longer work the docks, nor do I collect a bounty or material rewards for my own enrichment. Any rewards collected for my efforts I donate to the Church, and the Church in turn sees to my equipment and supplies, and provides me with a simple yet comfortable place to live, and an allowance for my food and other necessities. Once each week I attend chapel with the nuns at Our Lady of Perpetual Forgiveness. There I pray for my own soul, and for the souls of those poor creatures who I must dispatch to Hell."

"Indeed? Well, I hope that we may never have cause to fight one another, old friend. Given any choice in the matter, I will not seek to cause any trouble here. Myself, however, I just don't think I could ever serve the Church. But I do respect your choice, and I wish you well with it. Say a few prayers for my soul, if you would be so kind. I could probably use such intercession far more than you or Sister Meghan would have need of it." Sarina said.

"That I will, and gladly, for the one who saved the souls of Sister Meghan and me," Lady Portia said solemnly. "But on another topic, can you tell me how you hid your soul? Never have I seen that done so effectively. I could sense your life with my spells, but nothing could I detect of your soul. It was actually rather frightening, to see a living creature with no apparent soul. I can see, however, that ... where you were ... there would be advantages in being able to hide your soul's presence. How is it done?"

Sarina looked around, and said, "I will tell you, but I fear it is something I am incapable of teaching to you. The hour grows late. Let me get a room for my servant and I, and we can finish our conversation there, in private."

Sarina paid for one of the best rooms in the inn, which got a warm smile from Meridith and a few of the other tavern girls who went both ways for the night trade. Meridith in particular looked curiously at Sarina as she left, trying to recall where she knew the vixen from. But it had been years since the wolf wench had seen Sarina, and she could not remember her.

===

Once they were in the room, Ashley discarded any pretense of being normal, and the black fire elemental melted into the flames of the fireplace. Lady Portia warded the room against eavesdroppers and scrying spells, and the two mages refilled their wine and talked.

"You asked how I could hide my soul, my friend. The answer has to do with who, or more precisely what, my mother was. Have you ever heard the term 'Kitsune'?" Sarina asked.

"The word is not familiar to me, no," Lady Portia admitted. "Some creature of magic that can breed with normal folk, I take it? Or is it a religious or magical order?"

"You were closer on the first guess, from what I have been able to determine. It is because of my mother that I was interested in the Far East. Half a world away from here, there is an island nation known as Japan. I have been able to find out very little about them, so far, other than that they kill foreigners who come to their island, and they are fierce warriors. It appears that their island is home to a species of fox-like magical creatures, called Kitsune. These fox-spirits can change their appearance, and seem to be a normal fox woman, such as myself, or a Human woman, or any other sort of normal people. They apparently travel in disguise as a normal person, and on rare occasions, they fall in love with a normal person, and mate with them. My mother was a Kitsune, who did so with my father. I was too young when she died for her to explain much more of what she was than that she was of a people called the Kitsune, and came from the Far East."

"One day, she showed me that she could produce a glowing ball, which contained 'her spirit'. She placed great importance on that 'Star Ball', and told me that once, an evil man had tricked her and stolen it, and was able to command her to serve him while he possessed it. She passed through the hands of several cruel masters, until my father discovered what she was and how she was bound, and freed her," Sarina said.

"I later found out that I could also do this trick, and that it was my soul and part of my life force that formed the Star Ball. I used that ability to defeat Lady Pennington, when her daughter turned both of you into vampires. I held my soul to one side and thrust a dagger into my own heart, and then used a spell to inflict that wound instead on Lady Pennington, staking her through the heart. You saw, and I explained it to you while you recovered, but you lost some memories as you recovered, and so you won't remember it now." Sarina said. "There are things that happened that night that we are all better off not remembering. But by combining the spell to place my soul in a Kitsune Star Ball, and then concealing the Star Ball with another spell, my soul seemed to vanish."

"I see. Well, if you have time while you are here, seek me, and I will teach you an improvement on that portal spell, that can cover any distance. Ask of me at any Church in the area. They will know how to contact me," Lady Portia said. Then she stood and released the warding spells, saying, "I will let you get your rest now. Good luck with Lord Pennington."

Sarina saw the mage to the door, and said, "I will seek him tomorrow. Thank you. I will look for you after the funeral."

===

The next morning, Sarina purchased formal mourning attire - a black dress and a black hat with a black veil, and once she was suitably dressed, she hired a carriage to take her and her 'serving girl' to the Pennington Mansion.

Lord Pennington received them formally in his parlor. He was of course dismayed at the news of Lord Randall's passing, but seemed more concerned for Sarina's welfare.

"It is a terrible thing, to be certain. But honestly my dear, ever since my sister Mary died, he seemed to almost have a death wish. He knew that the tea and opium trade was unpopular with the Chinese, and yet he pursued it for the profit that it could bring. And for what? An early grave. He tried several times to get me to invest in that trade with him, but I declined. But what will you do now, Sarina dear? Where will you go?"

"I have inherited the remainder of Lord Randall's estate, so I am comfortable financially. I will remain in the city for his funeral, and then I must return to the Orient. Not to continue his trading, but for magical matters that I cannot well explain to you," Sarina said.

"Please, say that you will stay here?" Lord Pennington asked. "This will always be your home, you know that. We have told you, have we not, that you are our heiress as well?"

"I would like that. Thank you," Sarina said. And then she looked at Lord Pennngton, and stated, "There is one more thing that you should know, sir. Lord Randall took on several lovers while he was in India and the Far East. But no matter how often he mated, he never conceived any other children. I think it is quite safe to say that he was sterile."

"But that would mean..." Lord Pennington began.

"Yes sir. We need not trouble Sister Meghan with the facts of the matter, nor will it be necessary to change your will, since I am already your declared heiress. But it seems clear that Lord Edward Randall did not impregnate my mother. And that, sir, means that you are my biological father." Sarina said.

"Oh my..." Lord Pennington said.

"This changes nothing between us, Father. My maid is absolutely loyal to me, and will speak to no one of what we do or how we address each other. And my bedroom door will always be unlocked for you, while I stay here," Sarina said with a wicked grin, as she set aside her mourning hat and veil.