Day 451
I'm woken at 4 in the morning, an ungodly time. Uncle is in my room with news - the phantoms he sent to New Whitewater (which he says was once called Wayward) have been destroyed, as though they'd been just been scooped up and obliterated. It shows the sort of strength some of the more powerful members of my family could summon without too much trouble.
The ensuing minutes drag on as Hella brings tea and I try to rouse myself enough to formulate some plans. I send off a letter to Alder, asking if he and Haze are able to travel. While we wait for his response a better solution forms.
Yneir and I will fly to New Whitewater; Alder, Haze, and Tira will head to Lone Mountain Keep; Lyssa and Onyx will bring Caravel here (where I will leave a bead of rebirth for him) and then continue on to New Whitewater to provide support. I'm painfully aware that this is a trap of some kind, whether it is for me in New Whitewater or for anyone we are leaving in Solace remains to be seen. Still...Kaide, Yneir, and I are not an underpowered group by any means. Uncle alone could probably snuff out any of Drakken's cronies (and even Drakken himself) without breaking a sweat. I hope it's enough.
Another letter from Mystery arrives as well, detailing the death of 3/7 of Drakken's servants and news of armies in the North that she and Charlotte took care of. I tell her more of what's happening and remind her not to track them to their source, but that any on-the-road interference is appreciated. I'm concerned that these armies are coming from Haven and Drakken is truly stoking the flames of human hatred there.
And then Yneir and I depart, flying quickly towards New Whitewater. She's fast and small, darting about me like a little bird. I miss flying with dragons.
Along the way she asks after Uncle and what he is. She can't even see his fate because it's too long. I'm surprised she can't see his resemblance to Magdalena but she admits that she tried not to look at all because Magdalena scares her (rightfully so). As I explain the Treeborn in vague terms, she shares more about her homeland. Spirit folk have legends of fae living in their forests - sad fae who come out at night and drift along the Great River singing their sorrows. Some consider them to be bad luck, but none have been seen for a very long time.
They sound like Temira's children - the fae of the black heart. And it makes sense given what Magdalena told me about where their Grove was. Yneir thinks there must be a karmic balance to such sad fae (grief, agony, hatred, despair) and I mention the fae of Samsara before her own prophetic voice cuts me off.
Legends walk
Time runs back
Winds blow
Truths uncovered
Both of us are unbothered by this. I've heard prophecies before and have concluded that there is little point in dissecting them. Yneir is pleased with it as a sign that her sight is becoming less clouded. She remarks that the two of us are the right two to be handling this particular issue.
After nearly 12 hours of flying we come upon the outskirts of New Whitewater. The walls of Wayward are still standing strong with churned mounds of dirt and mud around the from the process of unearthing them. A ways from the wall itself are giant stakes driven into the ground with unconscious (but living) bodies strung up from them. I count five: Del, Ellen, Wayla, Annette, and Vedrah.
Near them sits a middle-aged man perched upon a boulder. He's human...except for his vibrant blue hair and feathered blue wings. I feel his magic - ocean and water ebbing and flowing in a strict, unnatural rhythm. There's fate around him too, raw and uncultivated. He introduces himself as a scion of the Fisherman, Armanfi, and addresses me as Heiassa. My wings tingle with anger to hear my name on his lips but I know the correction isn't worth giving. Yneir feels similarly as she declines to introduce herself.
You're unworthy of my name. The dead have no need of it.
Armanfi hardly rises to my bait as I draw out the conversation while Kaide and I assess the position of his hostages and how we might free them. He declares himself a friend, not a servant, of Drakken. Not one of his seven servants but an ally who is here to take care of
me since I'm the only one Drakken cares about. It's such a weak flattery but nevertheless good information. He calls me to fight him alone and rapid-fire thoughts pass between Kaide and me and she steps out of me with her sword in hand, taking my place in his little challenge.
You lack the qualifications to challenge her.
While Yneir and I stand and watch with magic at our fingertips, I slip out of my place and send up illusions to mask everything I do. Kaide's flashy, magic-filled distraction is a good cover as I heal the hostages and transport them further away. Yneir carefully moves between the fight and where I've hidden them, using her magic to distract Armanfi further. Kaide is outmatched in this fight - her water magic disintegrates against him and the sword alone is not enough for a real fight. He is barely damaged but I've felt Kaide taking blows through our bond, sustained only by my healing and energy.
The fight begins in earnest when I call her back and take her places. This time it's a more even match - he can't disintegrate any of my arcane magic. Water has never been my thing. I tear through him with beams of light and come away with a bloodied blade. I can feel Kaide forming a dome of ice above the civilians as Yneir begins summoning her own magic above us but I'm distracted and he sends me tumbling backwards with a wave of magic that knocks me to the ground. His spear has severed through one of my wing joints and the searing pain blots out the blood magic I had been reaching for. At the periphery of my vision I see Kaide hurl ice that melts around him before Yneir brings what feels like three blazing suns down upon us. It's bright, fiery, as fearsome as any Collective fire magic I've seen before.
But at least it cuts him off enough that I can reach Kaide and fling his blood towards her. She rends his heart with it and he spins outwards to flee...but not before I can send my own sleep magic through his blood and bring him crashing to the ground, unconscious. Yneir is passed out as well but wakes enough when I reach out with my healing energy.
"End his fate," she says. Easy enough, if she really thinks he's not worth keeping around. He's barely alive anyway. The intimacy of his life trickling out beneath my blade gives me more insight into his construction as well. He's human, no doubt. Not part-Zephyr like I had feared. I can see the intricate mechanism of his magic fully unlocked and empowered compared to any human magic I've touched, as though someone had specifically re-tuned it to work better. A Scion, he said.
The rest of his possessions are minor - a few potions, a string of enchanted pearls, a book of shanties and hymns to the Fisherman.
Del is the first of the hostages to wake and the others all slip into a true sleep while we move them back within the walls of the town. Apparently Armanfi broke through the gate last night and rounded up all the elf-lovers as though he had a list. He told them that they would only escape the Fisherman's net if they were good bait. Overnight Nisset and Brinnon tried to stage a rescue but he killed them and tossed their bodies back over the wall as a warning.
Kaide sends word to Hella that all of our immediate family is safe. It's about all we can manage before Yneir and I need to truly rest.
I don't see Lyssa's flame on the horizon coming towards us so either they have been distracted by something in Solace or have not caught up enough to see the danger. Wherever Drakken is, it's clear that he's too much his Master's servant to come out into the open and challenge me directly. If I want him I'm going to have to hunt him.
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