Chapter Six
“So,” Glifieu said as they pushed through the trees, “what makes you think Swiftwing will have any answers?”
___Isis didn’t look at him. “Just do.”
___He grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Isis…”
___She shrugged him off. “Glifieu.”
___“Isis. Don’t lie to me. Why do you think Swiftwing knows what’s going on? Or at least has an idea? Come on, Isis. I was under the impression we didn’t keep secrets from each other, unless they were strictly personal, or we had been told not to share them.”
___She shrugged uncomfortably. “Someone suggested I talk to her. So I am.”
___“Who?”
___She didn’t answer.
___“Come on. Why won’t you tell me?”
___“Because you’ll probably think this is a trap,” she replied tartly, swiping a branch out of her way.
___“I doubt that. Unless it
is a trap. So who was it?”
___“Lazuli.”
___He made a choking sound. “She told you to go to Swiftwing? And you don’t think this is misdirection at the very least?”
___“She seemed perfectly sincere.”
___“Right. You don’t even know the full extent of her abilities. What if she’s powerful enough to fool you? What if this
is a trap?”
___She shook her head angrily. “No-one lies to me without being caught. This is why I didn’t want to tell you in the first place. You’re overreacting.” She thought her reply was partially pride fuelled, but that didn’t stop her.
___“No. I’m not.” Glifieu’s voice was firm and full of certainty.
___“Yes you are!”
___“I’m being plenty
cautious!”
___“You are-”
___“Who is it?” a voice asked. They had reached the territory of the unicorns. “Please state your intentions.”
___“Isis and Glifieu. We’ve come to talk to Swiftwing,” Isis said quickly.
___“Isis,” Glifieu growled, “we need to-”
___A disembodied face appeared. “Is that so? Well. I suppose you may as well come through, and we’ll see if you’re who you say you are.”
___“Isis-” Glifieu reached for her and missed. She continued forward, and felt a familiar sensation, like a mild electric shock as she passed through the invisible barrier.
___“Hmm, yes… Alright, you too.” The unicorn beckoned Glifieu onward. He came, scowling heavily.
___The unicorn became fully visible. His voice, which had been skeptical and uninviting, warmed. “Hello! I’m Mamba! It’s wonderful to meet the pair of you!” His ears were pricked forward, and he was practically dancing on the spot.
___Their eyes widened as he came properly into view. His coat was scaled green, just like the body of a green mamba. He had no mane, and his tail was that of a snake or lizard. His horn wasn’t visible either, but he radiated magic in a way that only unicorns or winged unicorns did.
___He noticed the expressions on their faces and forced out a nervous sounding laugh. “Ah yeah… Strange choice, I know? What with Devi and all that. But scales are beautiful, and I wanted to be unique. Everyone’s parading around as dragons these days, and there’s still crocodiles about. But you know what they say - don’t judge a horse by their coat!”
___When they didn’t respond, he sighed. “Right, well. I’ll let you get on with, um, yes. Off you go.”
___They gave him one last glance and headed off.
___“I don’t like the look of him,” Glifieu muttered.
___Isis shrugged uncomfortably. “We can mention him to Swiftwing when we see her.”
___Glifieu pursed his lips and didn’t reply.
___Several minutes later, sounds of whinnying and splashing reached their ears, and they found themselves in a clearing.
___The grass at the edge of the clearing was frosted, and crunched under their feet. Running through the clearing was a creek, in which a filly and a colt were splashing about. Some older horses grazed on the banks, and two fillies were watching their friends in the water.
___“I don’t get how either of you can stand the water,” one of the fillies grumbled, peering in. “It’s freezing.” Resting on her back was a pair of wings, and poking from her forehead was a horn.
___The colt snorted. “Rain, have you heard of a little thing we like to call
magic?”
___“Indeed I have,” Rain replied. “But there are some things even magic can’t fix. And you shouldn’t be completely dependent on it, either.”
___The filly next to her snorted. “Because you can’t use magic everywhere. Sometimes all you have is common sense and a brain.”
___“Well, I can’t say they have common sense in abundance,” Rain said with a snort. “But they certainly have brains.”
___“Says the filly who organised a play with Tiki and Hibiscus at the wonderful but extremely unprotected Kaimana Falls,” Swiftwing commented drily through a mouthful of grass. Noticing Isis and Glifieu, she beckoned them over with a wave of her wing. “What’s your problem this time?” she asked, almost seeming to raise an eyebrow.
___“What makes you think we have a problem?” Glifieu demanded.
___“You only ever visit when you have a problem. And you smell of them.” Swiftwing took another bite of grass.
___“We’ve got a couple,” Isis said, shushing Glifieu. “We thought that Mamba, one of the guards, seemed a bit odd.”
___Rain’s head shot up, ears pricked, and Swiftwing let out a chuckling whinny. “He is a bit, but not in the way you think, despite his appearance
or his name. No need to worry about him. What was the other one?”
___“If you say so. The other one’s more… complicated. Have you heard of a girl called Lazuli? She –”
___Swiftwing cut her off with a slash of her wing. “That is something to talk about in private,” she warned, serious. “Come with me.”
___She lead them through the trees, away from the others. Isis could sense her concentration as she cast spells to prevent eavesdroppers.
___“How do you know of her?” Swiftwing hissed, when she was sure no-one could hear them.
___“There’s this homeschoolers’ group that we’ve started going to. It’s on every Thursday during school term,” Isis explained. Sensing Swiftwing’s impatience, she got to the point. “Anyway, she comes to this group. At first we thought she was a bit odd, but today there was this explosion. I didn’t see much of what happened, but I do know almost everyone was fatally injured. And now they’re walking around, happy as Larry, with their minds wiped. And there was this dead man there, too. I have no idea what happened to him – perhaps he got hit by shrapnel from the blast, although, I must say, that’s not what it looked like. More like he was attacked with a weapon of some sort. Also…” she hesitated, frowning, “There were these strange gouges in the ground, like when a dragon takes off, except, all the dragons are four-legged, right? Whatever took off had two legs – a bit like a bird – I mean, who knows what’s possible? There could be a bird the size of a bus, right?” She chewed her lip, embarrassed about what she was going to say next. “Um, and I used my dragon strength at one point – sort of grabbed Lazuli – she pushed me off as though I wasn’t even there. I think Jamyn’s involved too.” One of the advantages of her gift was that she didn’t need to explain who Jamyn was to Swiftwing. The one simple sentence had been sufficient.
___Swiftwing sort of nodded her head, wings shifting as she absorbed everything Isis had said. She tipped her head, almost seeming to frown. “You revealed your dragon strength?” she demanded.
___Isis bit her lip. “Not on purpose. I got angry and – it just happened.”
___Swiftwing shifted uneasily. “And you think there was a dragon involved?”
___Isis shrugged uncertainly. “Maybe, but I feel as though if there
was a dragon, there would be more signs. It’s as though one of them landed and took off again, which I’m certain they wouldn’t do.”
___“Well, out of all of us, you probably know the dragons best,” Swiftwing mused. Glifieu grunted. “Isis, do you recall the dagger you found last time you were here?”
___Isis blinked at the sudden change of topic. “Um, maybe… I’m not sure. It certainly rings a bell.”
___“Well,” Swiftwing began, “we took that dagger for safekeeping. Not long after, a little while before the spring equinox, we had a visitor.”
___“Let me guess – Lazuli,” Glifieu said, raising an eyebrow.
___Swiftwing bobbed her head. “Yes. She turned up one day, out of the blue, somehow having gotten through our boundaries. She was quite nice, actually. Anyway, she took the dagger back, explaining that she was here to claim it, as it belonged to her race. Of course, I was skeptical, but she managed to convince me, although I am still besieged by doubts from time to time. She said those of us who touched it were lucky it wasn’t still, ah,
bound to anyone, as it would have killed us.”
___“Sounds like a load of rubbish and fear mongering to me,” Glifieu muttered.
___Swiftwing flexed a wing by way of a shrug. “Perhaps, although I sincerely doubt it. I do not believe Lazuli is a liar.”
___Glifieu snorted derisively.
___“So, we shouldn’t be worried by or about Lazuli, then?” Isis asked, keen to get the facts straight.
___“She’s no threat, however, I cannot say if she should worry you or not. Perhaps worry
for her.”
___Glifieu raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Whatever for?” His tone was full of disdain for Lazuli.
___Swiftwing swung her head around, as though fearing intruders, despite the spells. Isis glared at him. “If she dies,” Swiftwing murmured, “the whole universe will descend into chaos.”
___Isis frowned. “She mentioned something about someone wanting to kill her, and implied that if they succeeded, there would be a Hunger Games like dystopia and possibly a war.” She recalled.
___Glifieu raised a second eyebrow to join the other in its elevated position.
___Swiftwing lowered her head a little. “Yes… I’ve had essentially no contact with her for the past ten or eleven moons, and I was getting rather concerned that something had happened to her. I am glad to hear that she is at least alive. I take it that she is okay?”
___“Maybe,” Isis replied. “Did she have a limp last time you saw her?”
___Swiftwing tipped her head so far it almost reached a ninety-degree angle. “No, she most certainly did not. Did she appear otherwise unharmed?”
___“I think so.”
___“One moment.” Glifieu raised a finger. “She sound like she’s a magic user.”
___“She is indeed. Quite proficient in it, I might add.”
___He and Isis frowned. “She seemed to have a touch of magic about her, but I never saw a sign of it,” Glifieu commented.
___“Not even at the explosion – hang on, what about the mind wipe?” Isis said. Swiftwing shook her head.
___“No, mind wiping does not require you to even have an aptitude for magic, let alone use it. It sounds to me as though she does not or cannot use her magic, for some reason. I know she can, though, for I have seen her do so multiple times. Or perhaps she has had her magic stolen…” Swiftwing’s tone was thoughtful, but not without a touch of fear.
___Glifieu was so astonished that he forgot he didn’t care about Lazuli. “
Stolen?!” he demanded incredulously. “But I thought…” he trailed off, looking puzzled.
___“Well… I don’t know about
stolen as such. That sort of implies that someone takes it for themselves, which they cannot. But someone
can cause you to lose it. I’m not sure how that works. One of us can lock it, if we are powerful enough to do so, or through the use of certain runes.”
___“I do not believe so, in this sort of case at any rate. Because you and Glifieu were gifted your magic, if you were to lose it or it was taken from you, you could quite likely get it back, unless someone or something prevented that. But if your magic is like that of us winged unicorns and unicorns, once it’s gone, it’s gone. The same applies to Lazuli and her race. It is a literal part of you. You cannot heal that sort of wound.”
___Isis wasn’t sure if Swiftwing was referring to a physical wound or a psychological wound. “That would be really bad for Lazuli, if she has lost her magic,” she said, dismayed at even the thought.
___“Yes,” Swiftwing agreed. “But I sincerely doubt she has lost her magic. Quite likely she doesn’t use it in public without good reason. Even the weakest magic-bearer is nigh on impossible for the most powerful to relieve them of their magic. And Lazuli is extremely powerful to say the least. No, I’m sure she’s fine. Although, I would like to know how she acquired that limp.”
___Isis felt as though there was something else she was missing, but couldn’t recall what it was. Before she could mention the fact, Glifieu spoke up.
___“Right,” he muttered. “And that’s all you need to tell us? Nothing else we should know about?”
___“Oh, there’s plenty more you should know, but that’s all I have to tell you at present, I think.”
___They turned to go. “Well, thanks,” Glifieu said, not sounding anywhere near as annoyed as he had earlier.
___“One moment,” Swiftwing said. They paused. “Do me a favour, will you? Don’t forget - Lazuli’s a friend. Remember that now.”
___“Don’t worry,” Isis replied. “We will.”
___And they certainly would. However, Isis fully intended to have a word with Lazuli next time she saw her. She was not at all happy about the mind-wipe, although she understood it.
___It was around midnight when they reached the house. She sighed. They were going to be tired in the morning.
@QueenAri, @Vexorianite, @WolfLionHeart, @LeaDurnane
Here we go at last. A new chapter! Yay! This one's a kinda long one lol. Have fun with it.
Sorry it wasn't completed about a week ago - I was doing an extracurricular activity for 3 days at the beginning of the week, and it took up pretty much all my time.
Hope you're all okay :)
