Blessing Moon

Twelve: Am Fumoc

(The Smoke)

The whole of Natanstrelle, Trolls and Fairies, gathered around the entrance of a stone cave that Chief Dìonad and his close friends created when they were young, before Vidorea was born. This was the place Illuminare-Trabem chose for the ritual of opening the portal. It was situated in the Western Forest, not far from the lake where the Sìthicris encountered the Great Power.

Only those who were acting within the ritual were permitted inside, as there was limited space. Vidurram and Vidorea stood within the shadows looking towards a round pool, which Vidorea created with her magic. It was illuminated by the light that streamed from a small opening in the cave's ceiling, directly above it. Beside the pool stood Chief Dìonad, he was ready to retrieve the various ingredients for the Patengailte potion.

Everything was successfully gathered - hair from a goat's back, chaff of wheat, etioirm-berries and ghea-mach from the Northern edge of the western forest and water from the lake of the same forest. Chief Dìonad mixed these elements from Sìthicris Terran together, following the written instructions as carefully as he could, until he held a bowl of dark blue liquid in his hands.

The chief's silvery eyes then met Vidurram's who then fumbled into a pouch that held the leaf from the Troll's sacred tree. He lit the leaf on fire with the blaze of his eyes, brought it to the bowl, and dropped it into the dark blue solution. White smoke then lay like thick mist upon the liquid's surface.

"The Patengailte potion is ready," Chief Dìonad announced. "Bring in the Troglobha."

"His name is Gren!" Vidurram couldn't stop his frustrated words from tumbling out of his mouth.

"Vidurram's right, Father, you must address him properly." Hearing his wife backing him up made Vidurram's heart skip a beat. He had nothing but love for that violet Fairy.

"Right," the chief sighed, then corrected himself. "Bring in Gren!"

Severton brought Gren in, his scent working overdrive to ensure that the prisoner stayed calm until he was in place. He took him to the symbol that Vidorea drew on the ground with her magic. Once Gren stood upon the large carved eight-pointed star, Severton stepped back, disappearing into the shadows. All within the cave then watched whips, made out of orange light, stretch up from the carved floor, wrap around Gren's wrists, and pull him down to his knees.

"Gren, by the order of Illuminare-Trabem, I banish you to a non-magical realm," Chief Dìonad declared, then lifted the bowl full of the potion over the pool, ready to pour it into the clear, rippling water.

Vidurram looked at his cousin, who stared back. The blackness sitting in his eye sockets clawed at his mind and sent a shiver down his spine. When the sound of the potion sloshing into the pool resounded around the cave, Vidurram witnessed a change in Gren as fear evidently gripped him.

"No! No! It's pulling me!" he began to scream in panic. "No please! I don't want to go! I'll die! Please!"

His pleading cries got louder and louder. Why is it taking so long to work? Vidurram thought to himself, every yell tore chunks into him and made him question everything. It made him question the Great Power.

"Make it stop, make it stop..." Vidurram heard his wife's voice tremble beside him. He looked down at her cowering form, pressing her hands to her ears. She then looked up at him, tears streaming from her violet eyes. "When will it stop?"