As the
leader left, he couldn’t get the whole picture of the old woman out
of his mind; how her normal talking voice was rough and tired—yet
when she sang it was as if it came from somebody else.
“It looks
like we are going to the Mistless Mountain.” He held the map close
to himself so nobody around would see where exactly they needed to.
And then, there was that feeling again.
That
feeling of being watched. They were still at the entrance to where
the Nightingale lived. The Star-caster looked around, carefully. He
could see them out of the corner of his eye, peeping over a
thatched roof on a house close by.
The
Star-caster whispered a plan to the others quickly.
The
Beast-caster, also known as the Shape-changer, moved away, starting
the plan.
The other
three were told to go back near the centre of town.
The
Beast-caster, Adea, wandered through the streets alone. She noticed
almost straight away there was something flying above her and it
appeared to be staying near; a bright light that flew in the sky.
It was hard to miss. Adea spotted its fiery glow up close as it
zoomed by and knew instantly thereon what it was. “A Firefly,” she
called out.
There has been no known person to know what a
Firefly looks like. It’s fierce glow always hid what was
underneath, its true exterior. The light was a shield, but what
most people wondered was
—
was it hiding something?
The Spell-caster was right near the entrance to
the city now. She looked around, still following the Firefly near.
“One of these people might be housing the same magick as me. There
is no way a Firefly would follow me this far on its own accord.”
She then saw birds fly over, and decided to close her eyes. A
squawk happened before one of those same birds landed on her arm.
The Beast-caster whispered into one of the ear’s of the bird, as if
it understood her, and her, it.
It leapt from her forearm she held it on, and it
flew up again into the air. The Spell-caster watched which
direction it went before she moved again. “Well that part is
sorted,” she told herself in relief. “It is on the rest of them
now.”
Ematay
arrived at the fountain. “You know what to do,” he said to the rest
of the Spell-casters. The other two split up in different
directions. “I hope it is me they are after,” said Ematay to
himself. He leaned against the fountain, feeling the smooth stone
against his hands and relished in the glorious light most land
dwellers would take for granted. The Star-caster heard the trickle
of water flow as he closed his eyes, calming him briefly. He tapped
his foot, waiting.
Several
minutes passed until there was a sudden ruckus in the background;
Ematay opened his eyes to it. He could see one of his fellow
Spell-casters had caught one of the watchers.
“Got one,” said the Fire-caster
Lauretta.
“Let go of me. Do you even know who I am?” said
the young male they had just caught.
“No, we were hoping you could shed some light on
that for us,” said Ematay.
The young male shrugged off the hands of Lauretta.
The other, Dak, the Battle-caster, joined the company
now.
“Nothing, I’m afraid,” said the twenty something
male Battle-caster. “Is this one?”
“Yes,” replied Ematay.
“He can’t be more than fourteen years old. What is
he even going to do to us,” said Dak.
The two Spell-casters tried to get close to this
new person they caught. Only the male placed both hands out; one
for the left side of him, and one on the right.
Suddenly, a constant force pushed against the
Spell-casters, as if the air immobilised them, yet there was no
breeze. There was only this curious magnificent power, stopping
them from getting any nearer the boy.
“I’m a Warrior of Faith,” screamed the young
boy.
A Firefly came to them, near this youngling, and
soon enough the last of Ematay’s group, the female Beast-caster,
Adea.
Five now stood near the fountain, with little in
the way of people around.
“Oh, you’ve caught one,” said Adea. A flying light
then lowered itself to the ground. The Firefly. “These people must
have magick.”
Ematay looked at the male keeping the two
Spell-casters back, three including the Shape-changer.
“I think we have all figured that much out,” said
Dak to Adea, moving his head towards the boy with his hand stopping
the others getting nearer him and Ematay, which he stood in the
middle of.
“As I was saying,” said the kid looking at the
Firefly moving. “We are Warriors of Faith.”
This exact same Firefly then touched the stone
cobbled path, the light changing into a girl not much older than
Eleanor in a blink of an eye.
“You can’t be the Warriors of Faith. They are only
born every millennium, and there is always six. And we would have
known by now if any still existed.”
“We are both here now, are we not?” said the young
girl, the one who they once thought was a part of their
enemy.
“Which means one thing, unfortunately,” said the
young male in a guilty voice.
“You have failed to protect us,” said Ematay, even
more worried. “If you could not stop them, how can we?”
“The plot thickens, Spell-caster,” said the young
girl. “Amaranth is corrupted by darkness. It has been for a long
time. There is said to be a supreme figure manipulating all others;
making them see only what this person wants them to see. Which is
exactly why we didn’t go back there. They would find us. Kill us.
And we figured if six Edeolon Warriors had a chance, no matter how
slim, to stop an entire war—then imagine what just the two of us
could do to help defend Astora here: Against these vile Shadows.
And we knew they would come back. They always do. That is their
way.”
Ematay rubbed his rosy lips as he went into deep
thought before speaking again:
“We could use your talents on our side now. I bet
the two of you are better than all four of us put
together.”
“Well we have been around a while to practice a
bit more,” said the young boy backing down the mysterious force he
controlled, letting Ematay’s group and him move again.
“A while. Try far too long,” said the young
girl.
“Hmm, the years tend to blur quite a bit when
you’ve lived a thousand years yourself,” said the male.
“We were teenagers when we became the Edeolon
Warriors,” said the female Warrior of Faith.
“Barely,” interrupted the male Edeolon
Warrior.
“One thousand and thirteen years!” said the
elemental caster Lauretta. “But you haven’t aged at all. You still
look like kids.”
“It seems as if their thoughts are genuine,” said
the Swan Knight, confirming the Star-caster’s request in mind after
a delay at reading them.
“Okay,” said Ematay. “We need to head to the Heart
of the Mountain to find this Stone Swan. I suggest we stop off at
Madame Mansion for a quick break, then head straight on until we
get this sorted.” He looked at the Warriors of Faith who now stood
together. “ Are you with us?”
Eleanor
and Christian were up high, surrounded by clouds; they both
shivered numerous times from the extreme temperature inside the
clogs.
“This. Is.
Amazing,” said Christian. He laughed hard as they just escaped a
thick cloud, and saw none near for some time. The land below them
looked small.
“There’s no
doubt about how monumental this feels. The butterflies, the strong
breeze in my hair… it’s a rush. It’s all a rush. We’re flying high.
And not metaphorically, like that Silver Dust.” Her voice was
drained out by them moving, but Christian could hear as she was
yelling into his ear; it resulted in it tingling from her loud
words.
“I guess we
are,” laughed Christian again. “Wohoo,” shouted the male as he
turned the swan with the rein, them turning imminently with a
sudden gush between their skin.
They both
yelled in delight as they dived down, then pulled back a little.
“Can you see anything yet?”
“You’re
really starting to get the hang of this now, aren’t you,” said
Eleanor. She scanned all around her, making sure, she skimmed
twice. “Something feels familiar now. But nothing really stands out
yet. Although… Go down a little farther and turn left for a while.”
She pointed to the left and said, “that might be ‘Canary Canal’.
The one that we past getting to Silvarian.”
“Gee, we
must have went an awful long way back if we are near the
canal.”
“Sure seems
like it, doesn’t it.”
“I know
times are not going so great for our world. But it sure looks
amazing from up here.” Christian turned and went closer to the very
small gap in the land. A gap he honestly couldn’t see right now,
and took Eleanor’s word for being there.
It took
another ten minutes and closer swooping to the land for Christian
to recognise it well enough. “That’s some eye sight you have on
you, Eleanor.”
“Yeah. I’ve
always been a bit more sensitive with my senses. I don’t know
why.”
“I’ve
noticed.”
“That’s it.
That’s Canary Canal. I memorised the map for times like this;
looking at a map in the air wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do.
We need to head on with the canal’s stream until we come to the
Boulder of Dawn, then turn right.”
“How do you
remember all this?” asked Christian.
“Just like
you can decrypt puzzles and words so easy.”
“Yeah, I
guess that’s as good an answer as any.”
“How do any
of us do the things we are good at?”
The two of
them stopped before continuing, speaking at the same time: “By
sticking with it.” One responded with a “hmm,” another, a
“yup”.
This lands
beauty passed before them. The canal was rife with sea life. Fish,
in many different forms. They could be seen because the water was
so clear, and they were so close to the water beneath.
The large
wings from the War Swan spanned over the ditch to block out the
light the water got. The birds feathers fluttered a little from the
air rising upon it, keeping it afloat.
“Hey look,
there’s a rainbow shark,” said Eleanor. “You know the gods were
joking around when they created a shark smaller than a tuna, and
prettier than anything else alive in the sea.”
“The
colours are supposed to attract it’s prey,” said Christian.
“I thought
it would work against it, making itself too easy to spot.”
“Ah, but
there are plenty of others that look like they wouldn’t harm a
Firefly. They have an entire rainbow family of fish for Emae’s
sake.” She cringed. “Oh, I shouldn’t take his name in vain now that
I follow him. “Sorry,” she said sincerely to the sky, the sun.
“You been
praying much?” asked Christian.
“Just the
required ten minutes a night really. Trying to build it up. I know
the more you pray the more you get back. But at the same time we
have so much to learn as well.”
“Not to
mention being in the middle of a dam war.”
“Yeah,
there is that too.” Eleanor tried to elongate her neck, as if she
saw something in front. “Pull up, quick.”
Christian
pulled hard, and the swan responded with a ninety degree turn
erratically. Eleanor held on with her life, clutching to Christian.
He straightened up the graceful bird. It then tilted its head to
them, and both children saw its long neck with it’s unique face; a
one with a long black beak, and little, beady eyes that looked as
if they could stare through people.
“It
shouldn’t be long before we get to Swansie. Another twenty minutes
or so,” said the finder. “I can finally see it.”
They
all looked out to the Anchor Fields filled with people; in all
sizes and at all ages. The sea was gradually being taken over with
air bubbles. Coming from these so called prisoners, their
mouths.
“The
Apostle Stone must be being affected somehow,” said captain
Mileena.
“If this
continues then they could all awaken. There is no doubt about
it—there would be a civil war,” said another female Water Spirit.
“Although I think I would be pretty angry myself in their
situation.”
“Nobody’s
escaping on my sundial. I don’t care what’s happening. I guess I
better go to the surface and tell the King of this news. The last
thing they need is an uprising coming to them in the middle of an
already raging war. We can’t afford to lose to those kinds of
numbers.” She continued to look out to the fields with the floating
Astorians trying to drift to the surface of the sea; the anchors
stopping them—indefinitely, and with ease. “I will leave as soon as
we get to the Ruby Cage beneath the sea.”
The Water
Spirits all swam like they did to get here. It was so fast that
only those with the sharpest of eyes would have been able to see
their movement. Their bodies looked like a darker shade of sea,
leaving a little trail behind, moving like a flag would in the
wind, though this always disappeared after several moments.
They all
got to their boat by jumping out of the water radically, as if it
pushed them up and forward into the air, lending them a hand like a
happy family would. The sprinkled droplets splashed over their
wooden transport, drenching and darkening the solid wood it was
build out of.
“Who is
coming with me?” asked captain Mileena.