Finding Heathcliff

Twenty-Nine

Astrid understood the woman's words, but the tears glimmering in her eyes seemed to change their meaning. What she was really telling Astrid to do was to stay alive and bring her son back home.

"I will," Astrid pledged. She hesitated-- offering Rigel's parents money for their hospitality might offend them, and she wanted to think of them as her friends. But there was something she could give them. "You keep our horses. Please."

"But..."

"No, we don't need them anymore, we might have to buy new horses on our return journey somewhere closer to Land's End. They are yours."

She embraced Andromeda quickly, then exited the house before the tears she could feel tickling the corners of her eyes would find their way down her cheeks.

The sight waiting for her outside took her breath away. A huge balloon swayed in the wind in front of her, anchored safely to the ground of the meadow sprinkled with wildflowers, silhouetted by the rising sun.

It seemed to be patched together from hundreds of scraps of the most colourful fabric, wonderful and perfectly unsafe. A small fire trembled and danced under the rainbow-coloured pouch, a large basket hung below, attached to it by ropes, its bottom hovering centimetres above ground even after the men half-filled it with luggage.

Astrid approached the balloon in timorous reverence, leaning into Orion as she felt her legs shake slightly. Were they serious? Could this thing carry all three of them?

Rigel's words reached her ears as if through a thick fog.

"If everything goes well, we should reach Land's End in three days. That's two nights-- we will choose the places to stop along the way. The wind is favourable, and it should remain so, and it hardly rains this far south this time of the year..."

The rest of what Rigel said was lost on Astrid-- a sudden stronger gust of wind enveloped her in a scent of incense which it seemed to carry from the copse behind their backs, making her turn around. She couldn't see anyone, just a couple of doves fluttering towards the sky painted in it the hues of sunrise in a whirlwind of wings as they struggled against the wind.

"...Astrid?" Orion 's voice pulled her out from her reverie. His eyes, cold and searching, following hers towards the copse, made her shiver.

Does he know? Can Orion feel him too...? Astrid mused, and something within her told her that it would be better if he didn't know. She cupped his face and made him look at her as she said, "Are you three done talking? I'm getting bored. Shall we go?"

Andromeda, eyes red from recently shed tears but dry, reached them then, pulling Rigel and Astrid in an embrace, shaking hands with Orion. Then it was Regulus' turn, and then Astrid, Orion and Rigel were standing in the spacious basket, watching Regulus and Andromeda pulling tens of wooden pegs anchoring the balloon from the soil, before Rigel started to feed straw and wool to the fire burning under the swollen patchwork envelope.

The balloon, billowing aloft until then trembled and started to rise, making Rigel's parents look smaller and smaller until they were two dark dots in the grass, their cottage a white smudge surrounded by moving streaks of dark green, as the trees of the copse fought against the increasing wind.

"Is your girl mad, by any chance?" Ramiel mused as he landed in the trees behind Azrael moments after the balloon took off.

Azrael took a deep breath, summoning patience. He had just been thinking the same. How could anyone use that thing to fly?

"She is not my girl. And we don't have much time to waste by chatting here. If they are lucky and the wind won't change, they'll be at Land's End faster than they would be on horseback."

"And why does that concern us? If they try to descend the pit, they'll meet the same end as the others before them. Problem solved."

"Ramiel," Azrael growled, despite knowing well that his friend was only teasing him. But just the mere thought that the girl might die in the pit was making him want to destroy something.

Ramiel chuckled. "Just as I thought. All right, what's the plan, then?"

"We will meet them at the promontory and hear her out. If she still insists on offering a new treaty then, we'll have to take her to speak to the archangels, as Arcturus' ambassador." He smiled suddenly; this wasn't what Arcturus wanted, he was sure. By sending the girl into the world, he created a greater trouble than he could handle.

Azrael allowed Ramiel to read his thoughts, making him laugh before he forced himself to be serious again.

"Before she reaches Land's End, we must deal with this," he said, pulling an envelope partly from the pocket of his cloak, for Ramiel to see. It was addressed to Regent Arcturus.

"What's that?"

"The girl's demon was busy this morning. He wrote two letters. This one informing Arcturus that he found out where we are hiding, and despite his niece's refusing to return home, asking him to send the army he had promised."

Ramiel inhaled sharply and called, not letting him finish, "But the archangels will not allow this. There will be a new war!"

Azrael nodded gravely. "Well, he'll never get this letter." He pushed the envelope back in his pocket. "But I let the other one go. It will reach the guards who accompanied them to Vesper very soon. They never went back to the castle, as the demon made the girl believe, but followed them here, and continued on their way south. They are a couple of days ahead..."

"Why didn't you take that letter too?!"

"Because we can deal with four half-demons, and the girl needs to know about his treachery. She must see it, she would never believe it otherwise."

Our queenie will be heartbroken when she finds out, Ramiel thought, preceding Azrael into the air, making him sigh.

He really didn't mean to care about her feelings this much.