Larkspur Mittel: The Lark & Owl Trilogy

30 - The Wicken Fen

Tamed! Suddenly Hero saw the image of the ogiri crate wide open in her mind, as she had passed it a moment earlier.

She ran back to the crate and looked inside. The lid was wide open and the bird was gone. She was furious and suddenly not afraid anymore.

"Did you open this? Why would you do that?!" She snapped, "you've set it free! Pa-nush was going to train it again, you knew that! You watched him! And now it's gone!"

Aggie bowed her head.

"Why would you do such a thing?! After all the kindness they've offered us!"

Hero slammed the top of the crate shut.

"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Marcus and Pa-nush! We know you're not yourself Aggie, but that was just wrong!"

Aggie ignored Hero once more. She lifted her head, her attention diverted to something beyond, out in the fen. Her face had softened slightly, and her mouth fell open.

"What is it?!" Hero asked sharply. She held tight to her satchel strap in exasperation. Aggie's eyes no longer burned in the darkness, she noticed, and instead reflected bits of light.

"What are you looking at?! What is it now?!"

Hero turned to look.

Out in the distance across the fen, mercurial forms of light, of dallying, teasing specters had risen from the heavy, low mist.

They twirled above the sedge and grasses, beckoning Hero and Aggie to come to them.

Come along! Come to us!

Hero could hear their melodious soft whispers reaching across the Wicken Fen.

They were so graceful with their beautiful contours and gaily changing colors, from indigo to turquoise to white shades of blue.

Amorphous at first, they were glowing, soft nebulae formed by the mist, rising and falling in hypnotic waves that lapped the grasses. Like a slow, incoming tide they rose and fell. Then a change occurred, Hero noticed, and they separated into distinct elements. It was if the haze decided to break apart into several pieces and congealed into figures that performed a mystical dance just for Hero and Aggie across the landscape.

They reminded Hero of the drawings in her notebook. They started off as a series of lines which when connected, formed an identifiable whole.

Except for the fact that Hero could not identify them she thought, staring intently at the scene.

Or draw very well, for that matter.

The mist approached, gathered quickly, and she shivered as it changed into several chilling, ghost-like forms.

"Fen spirits..." She tried to tell Aggie, well aware that they were in terrible danger.

But she could not look away.

Aggie was just as entranced and stood by the deck railing watching.

One of the spirits was a girl holding a satchel just like her own, Hero noticed, but she also had enormous, intricate transparent wings. She skipped along and then flew up into the atmosphere, her wings open wide in exquisite bounds and sweeps that left Hero breathless in awe.

She had never seen anything quite so beautiful in her life. Though she felt a creeping angst and danger, she couldn't help but watch.

Another specter appeared, a beautiful woman carrying a gleaming sword (insomuch as a phantom sword can 'gleam'). Hero watched as the woman marched across the grasses and climbed what looked like the outline of a minaret in the air. She held out a man's arm in triumph at the top, and Hero gasped.