Alexander headed straight to his campfire, where some of his regular companions had already made it back. He nodded at them before lying under the covers, trying to think through what was to come. He had no trouble with all the killings, nor the loss of comrades. He had killed more than his share before and had friends die on him enough times that the losses of the mere acquaintances around the fire would not cause him to falter.
The part that wouldn't let sleep take him was the taste of sweet revenge that might follow--the moment he'd see the light in the eyes of the dominus fade, and witness the last breath of the person who had caused him so much pain.
"Nothing yet," Alexander heard Neleth say. "It seems like we're in the clear."
The berserker shifted his body and opened his eyes to see the elf grinning at him.
"Well, if it isn't our sleeping beauty... or rather sleeping beast," he said, in his usual mocking tone.
"Are you talking about the nameless?" Alexander asked quietly.
"Yes," Gardun replied before the elf had the chance to voice another of his witty comments. "All goes according to plan."
"I see," Alexander said, standing up and stretching his limbs.
The sky was still dark and starless. The air still stank of sweat and blood, and screams of pain still echoed around the camp. Yet this was going to be a better day--at least, it would lead to something better. Alexander wasn't sure if this "something better" would mean death or freedom, but he'd make sure it would come to one of the two.
"Then I guess I'd better get myself some water," he said, loud enough for people at the neighboring campfires to hear. "The story only gets more interesting from now on."
Over the hills and far away
"I don't fucking like this, half-Celt," Rory said as we climbed the stairs to board the Learjet. "Why the fuck do ye want to use this stupid Cosmos vessel when we can use a portal?"
"Because it's an experience I've always been curious about," I said, and nodded at the captain who was smiling at us as we entered the plane.
"Then fucking do it yerself next month. Why do we need to do it now?"
"He already said you could go with a portal if you wanted and we'd meet you there," Yelena said.
"Bah," the dwarf said and took his seat in one of the armchairs, trying his best to turn his back to the window.
The interior looked just as luxurious as I had imagined a private jet would be. The walls were mostly white with dark wood finishings, and there were two large armchairs facing each other on one side of the plane and a large sofa on the other. The seats were upholstered in white leather and looked almost as comfortable as the sofa we had at home.
Leo had opted for a skeleton-crew flight, which meant no flight attendants since we wanted to be able to talk about the Apocosmos without having to worry about them overhearing our conversations or, even worse, a talking corgi. But this didn't mean there were any corners cut in what was on offer. I had already noticed the fridge fully stocked with alcohol, something that would prove very useful to calm Rory during the flight.
Between the alcohol, intense planning for how we'd infiltrate the Adamant Hall without being seen, and going over details about our arrow business, I hoped that the dwarf wouldn't have too much of a bad time. It seemed though that we were already on to a rough start.
Yelena took the armchair opposite Rory and immediately turned to look out of the window at the sunny airstrip and the refueling crew that was now preparing us to leave. She had never used a Cosmos plane to travel either, but unlike Rory, she was excited to try something new. Louie tried to jump on the couch but only managed to do so once I gave him a little push when I took my place next to him.
"Quite spacious, isn't it?" Leo said, as he sat next to Louie who was simply wagging his tail since the Cosmos humans were still around.
"It's going to be great," I said and smiled at the dwarf who was now sweating profusely. "We're gonna be there in no time."
"We'd be there in no time if we had taken the portal to Frankfurt and then the one to Edinburgh," Rory argued. "This is going to take hours. Hours locked in a metal box thousands of feet above the ground. And worst of all, the vessel will be commandeered by a Cosmos human."
"Look, why don't we spend this time making some preparations for our quests," I proposed.
"Ye can prepare all ye want, lad," Rory said, nodding at Yelena. "The lass and I are going to be visiting the distilleries while ye're do yer quests."
"Oh, so you're going to be tourists," I remarked as the co-pilot shut the door of the private aircraft Leo had paid for.
"We're not going to sit in a hotel waiting for you," Yelena said, "and the dwarf said the Scots know their shit about whiskey. So I guess I'll have to see if I agree with him."
"Sounds good," I agreed, but before I was able to continue with my train of thought, I was interrupted by the co-pilot giving us our safety briefing.
After the very few and short safety tips, during which Rory groaned and moaned, the man left us and went into the cockpit.
"We still have things to do before initiating our quests," Louie said after he saw the man had left. "We need to get enchantment scrolls or stones to enchant all of our equipment to +3."
"You don't need to do that," Leo said and reached into his inventory to fetch what looked
