BXBX NOVEL Chapter 783
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Lily stumbled as she hit the stone pavement, she’d taken her dive a bit too far and didn’t pull up in time. Lily winced as she got back on her feet, flexing her wings and trying to ignore the burning sensation the slight stretching was accompanied by. Glancing off to the side, Lily noticed that one of the windows for the rundown shop had been destroyed. Part of her wanted to fly inside to make sure they weren’t seen. A quick glance around though... and she couldn’t see anyone nearby.
Lily’s ears flicked as she tried to find people nearby but found once again it was relatively quiet. She could hear distant sounds of course, but nothing was close by. Lily decided that was good enough. [Kat you can hop out now].
The moment Lily said that, Kat started to pull herself out of Lily’s mind. Purple smoke exploded from Lily’s head and quickly reformed into a full-sized Succubus. As soon as the last dregs of smoke disappeared Lily collapsed. Her mind rapidly filling with the feeling of cotton. “Lily you alright?” asked Kat worriedly as she scooped up her friend.
[Not... not to sure...] Lily’s mental voice was slurred and slightly incoherent. Kat was able to make out the words largely on feel and not because they came through as proper words. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
[Nopedy nope... I... hmm... I think... I think your ability was trying to make me sleep the whole time you were in my head... but... but you didn’t want me to sleep so I didn’t and now it be hitting me all at once? Maybe? Or maybe I’m just tired...]
.....
“It’s ok Lily, you can rest now, I’ll finish getting us to Jara,” whispered Kat softly as she held Lily to her chest. The fact Lily relaxed noticeably was a good sign to Kat. She stood there in the alleyway for a few minutes just carefully petting Lily as she slept before Kat glanced up at the sky. *Now, how exactly do I want to carry Lily while I’m flying.*
*She’s fine where she is... but I don’t want her to get cold. I could just... tighten my sash a bit and drop her down the front of my kimono. It’s probably hold, be nice and warm... but I feel like Lily would really freak out if I did that. Hmm... yeah I teased her a bit much already let’s not take things too far even if they would be convenient.*
With a sigh Kat jumped into the sky and started to push her wings to the limit, climbing as high as she could in the shortest amount of time. As Kat ascended, she looked around at the very empty skyline. *You know... where are the other things you’d see in the sky?*
A quick glance around revealed that there were a few birds... but they were quite few and far between. They also didn’t really seem to have any interest in landing anywhere near the mountain despite the trees near the top, or even the large numbers of humans that they could steal food off of. *Surely this can’t be normal... I wonder why the sky is so empty.*
*I’d have expected that with a magical mountain as powerful as this one that there would be at least a few strong magicians around... but I don’t see any evidence of them. Oh sure the aqueducts are impressive and I can see why Lily was impressed by them... but this city has been around a really long time. They could have worked on them over centuries.*
Kat pondered this as she levelled out and started to fly towards the next compound. She could just barely make out what she thought was the numbers. This particular compound seemed to have 4 stamped into the stonework. It also seemed to be quite different to Apep’s compound.
Whereas Apep’s family seemed to prefer open compounds with separate buildings for a few functions to keep it as a somewhat self-sufficient home this one seemed a lot more like an industrial compound, or perhaps a bit older technology wise than that idea. There was just the one garden area right in the centre with a number of tables and chairs that felt more like a concession than anything else. The main house was set right into the mountain and looked to have been carved out of the stone instead of pieced together.
The rest of the buildings all looked to be warehouses. The only thing it was really missing was the smokestacks and she would say they were going full industry. As it stood though... Kat wasn’t entirely sure why the compound was the way it was. Part of her wanted to investigate... but she had a job. Perhaps asking Apep would work.
Kat levelled out and sped up, instantly surpassing Lily’s old top speed and continuing on. Kat let her wings carry her as she zoned out somewhat. She wasn’t even sure how long it took to fly past the 5th compound. It looked a lot like Apep’s from the air. Slightly different placement of buildings, mostly the same style. Though Kat hadn’t really seen much of Apep’s buildings and couldn’t make that comparison so she just admired the few gardens and nice stonework as she continued to fly.
The sun was high in the sky when Kat made it to Jara’s compound. She was not quite prepared for what she saw. Kat was already regretting the fact she had no better information on where to find Jara. Apep had said ‘in the garden’ but looking down at the compound for the 6th of the 10 Kat was not pleased with such an answer.
About two-thirds of the compound had been converted into a giant green house. It was all enclosed by a glass dome made up of interlocking hexagonal segments and seemingly no support structure. A moderately sized aqueduct ran across the top as well, so apparently the glass could support that weight. The water from the aqueduct rained down on various sections of the glass dome. Kat couldn’t see the splits from this angle all to well but she could make out at least three environments.
*She’ll be in the garden he said. Can’t miss her he said. Well. That might be true if she didn’t have an entire GOD DAMNED RAIN FOREST AS HER GARDEN.* Kat nearly froze up when she felt Lily shifting after her mental yell and Kat reigned in her anger. Apep was right. She probably was in the garden, she just really wished he’d been more specific. *Perhaps one part of the dome is ‘the garden’ instead of ‘the forest’ or something. Dammit. How am I supposed to find here. And how am I supposed to get in without getting spotted? I can hitch another ride with Lily... but if there are doors, as there should be, she won’t be able to open them...*
Kat grumbled internally as she continued her path to be directly over the dome. Scanning around she noticed that unlike Apep’s compound there were no obvious guards watching the edges. Instead, there were four guards she could see at the entrance to the greenhouse, two at the gate, and a number of people she was pretty sure where groundskeepers. Kat also noticed that there was a house inside the greenhouse. It was somewhat small compared to the other compound houses, but might be large enough to be the main home. The are in front of the green house did have a building, but it looked more like a barracks then a fancy home.
Kat settled into a slow circle around the area, and preened at the fact nobody was even bothering to look up. It made it so much easier to just watch everything and look for an opening. It took her at least half an hour of waiting for such an opening to come into view. Off to the side of the glass dome was a squat brick building. A gardener was heading along the path towards it. Letting her gaze rest of the figure, she watched as the entered the door and returned a short time later. This time with a wheelbarrow full of what Kat was guessing to be fertiliser. The gardener was able to walk straight into the glass dome, no checks required. *Well. I suppose it’s a classic for a reason. I think I’m going to have to wake Lily up and then have us, and by us, I mean her, sneak onto one of them to get into the dome. Hmm... should I try and find Jara first though?*
Kat looked into the domes and grimaced. The light made it somewhat hard to look through the glass and quite a lot of the sections had various plants blocking the view even further. Hmm... Kat looked down at Lily who was sleeping peacefully in her arms. *Guess I can wait around for a while. Let Lily have some rest.*