Káel had been cautious about recruiting Alestra and Talli, the thought of his plans reaching unwanted ears plaguing his mind from giving them any real specifics regarding the ritual. But, in contrast to his hesitation, Alestra had cooked up a small batch of pixie lures, strange rough candlesticks that reeked of old cheese with a metallic zing. Talli had held up her end with a list of do's and don'ts in catching pixies, the don'ts dwarfing their partner by a sheet and a half.
Now, prepared to collect the second last ingredient, Káel had discovered a new and unexpected obstacle. Truvius had mentioned that the teachers did not roam the halls through the night, and the safer route of a couple stairways and the closest exit was a tantalising alternative to falling off the roof a second time. However, his attempt failed the moment he opened the door to the silver dorm and found himself facing a bright blue flaming ball with Tia's voice. One of at least twenty floating about the expanse of a room.
He was sent packing back to the confines of his room, and faced a lengthy lecture about the curfew from Lady Samanthra the following morning, along with two weeks of detention dusting the library.
And so, the waiting game began.
Scaling down the roof when suspicion died down was the only option, and Káel had made peace with it.
So, on a clear night he waited until curfew passed and wished Truvius farewell as he climbed out the window. With a sword on his hip and a half asleep dragon to protect him, he looked out over the forest. He was fairly confident the plan would work. After the dozens of lessons with Mr. Mudelin and Mr. Lightwood his combat skills and physical strength had improved quite a bit. Mr. Mudelin had dropped the time back down to a half an hour, 'out of the goodness of his heart'. But he was still one minute and fifty three seconds over breaking Mr. Lightwood's paralysing spell and that's where he'd likely stay.
Káel slowly traced the path Zalius had lead him across, carefully jumping down the levels of the shingled roof until he reached the familiar corner of the building. He sighed, closing his eyes as he grabbed the edge of the roof and swung down, inching across it with his grip until he was hanging over an outlooking statue of a dragon-like creature.
He dropped onto it, almost slipping to his death trying to wrap his arms around its neck, but he quickly slowed his racing heart. Puff glided across to the next statue, perching on it and waiting for Káel to follow. He did, following his dragon's footsteps exactly, until he'd made it close enough to the ground to jump and break his fall with a roll.
Phantom landed lightly on the grass, brushing off his sleeves. "Very nice, not a single faceplant this time."
Káel smiled, lighting one of the baits with a gentle fire spell as they walked. "Time to catch some pixies."
Whatever magics Zalius had worked on Káel's Ceptrum was still sticking to the stone, the plants shuffling from his footsteps without the need for a set trail. With only the licking green flame of his candle, Káel scoured the darkened expanse of rigid trees and stilled shrubs, the greyed smoke of the candlestick choking his nose with a strangely sweet aroma.
Alestra had reasoned that pixies were attracted to powerful smells, the emerald green flame serving as the closest mockery to one of their own kind, should they rise from their dens to inspect the scent. The only danger to them came with distance. The closer one was to the creatures, the more powerful their spells became, seeing one within a meter sealing your fate to what sounded to Káel like mind control.
She had slipped him a thick blindfold to ensure he could get close enough to snatch one without that risk. Phantom would just have to be his eyes.
Ten minutes into walking was all it took, luck stroking his fate as he caught the distant flicker of emerald green, dancing like a glowing tissue paper above a small pond. A few steps closer and more lights sprang up, the ethereal glow spotting the air like embers of death waiting to be fed.
"Okay, don't stare at them, don't touch them without gloves on, don't follow them, don't throw water at them, don't sniff them." Káel counted his fingers with a frown. "Anything I'm missing?"
"Don't make funny faces at them," Phantom snickered.
Káel gently placed the candle on the ground, tying some cloth around Puff's eyes first before helping himself and blindly fumbling to find the candle again. After nearly setting the grass ablaze, he found its base, rising up to smile at the last area he remembered Phantom in. "Tell me when I'm close."
Káel flinched when the response came from the opposite side in a whisper right next to his ear. "I will."
The cloth blocked everything, his breaths coming back to him in hot puffs as he inched towards his destination. Soon he could hear the faintest noise, like dried leaves falling to the ground in a buzzing symphony, pixies swarming the nub of his candle to inspect the scent. Behind the unforgiving wall of black, he stuck to Phantom's directions, grabbing as fast as he could only to miss his target by a hair.
He shot his hand out, feeling it hit something rag-like, yet failing once again to get a hold. "Stupid little-where are they?!" Káel growled, whipping his free hand around.
"Like I said, they're everywhere!" Phantom snapped. "You're too slow!"
Káel took a few breaths, stilling his frustration to use his only sense and listen to what was going on over the sound of his own breaths and Phantom's orders. The air was filled with a tingling buzz, the pixie's magic trying desperately to pierce his vision and take his mind.
He continued to listen to the strange chitters, noticing one strangely close to his ear.
"Blindfold, Káel! They're trying to untie it!"
Káel whipped his arm back, feeling his fist close around something shrieking. With a smile of success he pulled the object forwards, keeping its piercing shrieks from drilling his eardrums. "This one?"
"Close your eyes and hold your breath." Phantom ordered, the hint of disappointment in his voice confusing Káel.
Until he felt the blindfold slip right off his face.
Just a glimpse of emerald green hit his vision before he squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, the pixie in his grip no longer shrieking at the top of its lungs.
It was singing a humming tune.
Káel couldn't help but focus on one thought flashing through his mind.
Was he squeezing it too hard before?
Was it actually friendly?
Before he could even register the action, he had cracked his eyes open, fixed to the beautiful glow of the pixie singing in his hand. Its blackened eyes were looking up at him, attached to a tiny smile as it sat on his hand to splay its cloth-like cloak of a body over his glove.
"Stop looking at them you mudbrain!" Phantom yelled, his voice easily reaching Káel to grab his attention.
Phantom had a habit of being dramatic though, if his clothes were anything to go off of. "I think these ones are friendly." Káel smiled as the swarm of pixies danced and sang around him, a few of them drifting towards the shallowed edge of their pond.
The water looked incredibly welcoming with the way it ate the starlight, hundreds of green flickers dancing over its edges like beacons of safety.
Like friends.
Káel looked down at the pixie in his hand, one arm pointing towards the water's edge. "I think they want to go swimming."
"Is there even a point to telling you anything?" Phantom growled, his voice carrying with a boom of authority. "Puff, light those glittery rags up before they drown him!"
Káel heard the roar, 'stop' unable to escape his lips before a fluffy white dragon blindly tackled him, the searing heat of his wrathful flames sizzling part of his cheek where the wet grass and Puff's massive paw wasn't covering. The singing shattered into a cacophony of shrieks as the swarm of pixies fled into the depths, a few of them burning to dust on their way down.
Káel remained on the ground after Puff lifted off him, taking a couple shallowed breaths to process everything.
He had gone over Talli's list at least a hundred times. He knew damn well pixies drowned their food, and he thought they wanted to go swimming? The beautiful green light flashed through his mind again, only this time the friendly facade it had worn was stripped back to the caution he had first greeted it with. "Did I...?"
"Yeah," Phantom growled, pulling his arms up into a fold. "You did."
Idiot. Káel thought, pushing his top half up to sit on the grass, his gaze drawn to the faded and cloth-like body of a partially squashed pixie. He immediately reached for the jar in his satchel. "I can't believe I thought they wanted to go swimming."
"At least you know what mind control is like now," Phantom replied.
Káel could feel Phantom's gaze on him as he smacked the pixie corpse over the rim of the jar, sparse flecks of glistening dust falling into the container to form a tiny dusting at the bottom. He waited until Phantom dubbed the lining to be thick enough, twisting the jar shut and rising to his feet.
As he rose he could feel a swarm of heat shoot up his chest, his vision spotting with silver as his brain pressed against his skull in bashing rhythms. The strange rush subsided as quick as it came, but was enough to buckle his knees and topple him against Puff.
"You alright?"
"Just... got up too fast..." Káel replied, rubbing his eyes with a stiff blur fogging every joint. He tried to cough out the itch plaguing his throat, giving up to pay Puff a weak smile as he found his own balance. "Thanks buddy."
Phantom softened his posture, bending a little to dip to Káel's eye level. "You held your breath... right?"
Before Káel could even provide the question with a shrug, a low rumble scattered through the air, it's rich tune surprising Káel when he realised it was coming from Puff. His ears had flattened back, the hairs upon his back standing on end as his tail slowly curled up around Káel.
He knew the habit. It was something Puff had done a number of times when he smelt danger, but the pond before them had dimmed with the fear of his searing flames.
Káel turned to the forest, his vision useless from the lights it had been exposed to. But he could still make out passing shadows lurking a handful of meters away. "What's wrong?"
Puff warbled softly, looking around in bewilderment as the faint snapping of twigs gave life to the dark forest.
"Unicorns," Phantom translated, spiking Káel's heart with dread as he tried to count the circling shadows. "We're being hunted."
Káel drew his sword, the cold steel buzzing with a white glow as his necklace burned at his chest. The circling shadows came closer, their crunching steps growing louder as the dim glow of Káel's sword eventually illuminated the snarling teeth of the first demonic steed.
"They're all young bucks," Phantom muttered, taking to Káel's side as he poised his blade at the first unicorn. "I don't see any queens... yet."
The unicorn in front let out a growling snort, charging headlong into Káel. With a quick sidestep he slashed its horn, jarring his wrists as the unicorn's head barely budged from the blow. But Puff was quick to the rescue, tackling the unicorn and turning to wash the forest with a ring of fire to keep away their attackers for a few seconds.
Káel could feel the bashing rhythm returning, the sword in his grasp slipping as his grip weakened for a split second. He didn't have time to pick the blade up again, the quickened gallops of another unicorn charging past the dying flames as Puff distracted himself with a small pack creeping to their left.
Rastasnatch was the first spell that came to him, a roaring fireball conjuring at his finger tips to slam the unicorn in the face and force it to flee into the swarm of shadows waiting for their turn at a stab.
"We need to run!" Káel ordered, tugging Puff towards a patch of trees where the shadows didn't move. They made it a couple meters, but what Káel had first mistook for the shadow of a massive rock moved to their right, a massive horn plunging into the dirt in front of them and slowly drawing a line as they skidded to a stop.
Looking up at the savage eyes of the Queen, Káel recognised the tactic.
He just wasn't used to being on the receiving end of it.
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COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)
Quality Quip #41:
'When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.'
~Herman Wouk