Story done. It's a bit rough, I might fix it up later.
The Scholar:
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Atuin, who is not only a scholar, but a wizard and a rogue as well. He seeks knowledge, like any scholar, but he has a special interest in things that others have kept secret or forbidden. Not because of the type of knowledge that is often hidden, but because when somebody says you can't have something, it becomes just that much more enticing.
Oh, and he's not actually observatory trained. He's just never had any reason to admit he isn't to anyone, not even the observatory instructors themselves.
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Ally #1
Primera, a scout of a far-off Arcane clan. She's met Shadowsong once before, in an event that she got no recognition for, as her clan don't remember any of it. Still, she's quite thankful to Shadowsong for what she did, and wouldn't hesitate for a second to help the nocturne if needed.
She eventually admitted that, yes, the Singers do exist to Atuin after he pestered her for a week, but refused to say any more. She'll keep Shadowsong's secrets to the best of her ability.
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Ally #2:
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Jacques, an archer from the Reedcleft Ascent. Still in training, he often travels to the Tangled Wood to practice in private. Nobody bothers him there, and he also appreciates not needing to adjust his aim for the constant winds of the Plateau.
However, there's some places in the woods he's never been to, despite the fact that he's tried many times, and nothing's ever seemed to get in his way. He just never ends up making it there. A stragne phenomenon, one which has piqued Atuin's curiosity.
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It was nighttime in the Tangled Wood, and the forest managed to be even darker than it normally was. Under this night sky, three dragons were having a hushed discussion, as if they were worried the trees themselves might be spying on them. The spiral, Atuin, seemed to be enthusiastic about their prospects; the other two less so.
“Okay, let’s go over the plan one more time,” said Atuin to the others. He looked towards the mirror. “Primera, you’ve met Shadowsong before, so you know what she and her sister are capable of.”
“No I don’t!”, Primera interjected. “I’ve met her, yes, but I just told her who the imposter was and she went and saved the day. I didn’t see any of it!”
If Atuin was listening to anything his companion said, he didn’t show it. “Thus, you’re going to fight Thana, while Jacques and I provide support and go rescue the hatchlings.”
The pearlcatcher flinched at the mention of his name, and clutched his pearl closer to his chest.
“And speaking of Jacques,” Atuin continued, “He knows where Thana is.”
“No I don’t!”, said Jacques.
“Exactly! As you’ve told me, you come to this region of the Tanged Wood quite often.”
“Only during the day,” Jacques mumbled.
“But there’s one spot you claim to have tried going to many times, but always found yourself back in your lair, never having quite made it there. And that’s the same place I found Shadowsong!”
Atuin’s two companions both looked sufficiently surprised by this claim, so he continued.
“Now, you’ve also claimed to have had the same experience once not too far from here. And since this is not where Shadowsong’s clan is, it must be where Thana’s hideout is! I’d guess she’s been planning to betray her sister for years, so Jacques has had a lot of time to accidently stumble into it.”
Primera stared at the spiral. “That’s the loosest reasoning I’ve ever heard,” she said flatly.
Once again, Atuin ignored her. Instead, he flourished one of his claws towards Jacques.
“Now, lead the way!”
Surprisingly, the trio managed to travel without incident. They flew partway, but as the forest canopy thickened, they were forced to travel at ground level or risk flying right past Thana’s hideout without ever seeing it. Jacques was able to navigate just by heading in the directions that he didn’t remember having travelled before, and all the other two had to do was follow. Primera did so grudgingly, her desire to rescue the hatchlings just barely winning out over her desire to do anything but what Atuin wanted of her.
Eventually though, Jacques came to a halt. It was hard to see why, there was nothing about this place that seemed different from anywhere else.
Except, that wasn’t the case at all. Unlike the more open forest the trio had came from, the trees in front of them were covered in a mass of dark, twisted thorns, marking it as the edge of the Foxfire Bramble. But the moment any of the three looked away from the thorned wall, the fact that there were gnarled vines there at all completely slipped their mind.
Primera turned to ask Jacques if she should use some plague magic to wither the thorns, but before she could say anything, she’d already forgotten her question. After having the same idea and then forgetting it a couple of times in a row, she eventually just collapsed to the ground and buried her head in her claws.
“Somebody, please explain to me what is going on,” she groaned.
Meanwhile, Atuin was staring at the wall of thorns, being very careful not to take his eyes off it. An impressive feat when the rest of his body was still spiraling around great speed.
“I’ve found some old texts that mentioned this,” he said. “It’s a weaker example of Singer magic, so if this is all Thana’s got, she hasn’t had this spot for too long. As long as you never take your eyes off the enchanted object, the magic can’t make you forget.”
Jacques nodded along to everything Atuin said; more than willing to let the spiral deal with Singer magic.
“Thus,” Atuin continued, “All we have to do is walk straight though it without looking away. Beyond the Singer magic, it’s just an ordinary thorn bush.”
With that, Atuin flew directly into the thorn wall, getting a face full of thorns for his trouble. Still, that didn’t slow him down, and with a bit of trouble he began to force his way through the vines.
Primera and Jacques watched Atuin do this, and then made to look at each other to figure out who was going first. Fortunately, both realized their mistake before making it, and then instead reluctantly walked towards the thorns.
Contrary to what Atuin had claimed, this wasn’t quite an ordinary thorn bush. It was a thorn bush of the Foxfire Bramble, and thus it wasn’t going to let even a dragon pass though easily. Claws tore away endless vines while thorns did their best to find their way under scales, but slowly the three made progress.
It took some effort, but the three forced their way through. On the other side was a small cave, shrouded by the combination of vines and trees surrounding it. Only the smallest trickle of moonlight trickled through the conifers, so instead the area was lit by clusters of softly glowing mushrooms.
Jacques began picking thorns out of his mane. “Where did all of these come from?’, he asked, as he threw a clawful onto to ground.
Atuin scowled at the pearlcatcher, and made to reprimand him for being an idiot before realizing that he didn’t know where the thorns had come from either.
“Look, never mind the thorns,” he said instead. “I can sense Singer magic coming from that cave, so we’re on the right track.”
The three crept to the cave’s entrance, Primera in the lead, ready to strike at the first sign of moment. Carefully, they peered inside the cave, but were able to see little in the darkness.
This wasn’t quite due to the dark, and more due to the fact that there wasn’t much in the cave to look at. It was rather small, and bare of anything that implied it was inhabited, besides the two small inhabitants huddled together at the end of the cave. Secretly, Atuin was disappointed. Sure, he’d found the hatchlings, but he hadn’t found anything he could bring back as proof of the Singers, let alone any interesting Singer magic he could study.
The other two had no such qualms, and immediately rushed forwards to check on the hatchlings. After a moment’s hesitation, Atuin followed.
As they neared the hatchlings, the group breather a collective sigh of relief as it became apparent that they were unhurt. The hatchlings, however, did not seem pleased to see the trio. They didn’t even seem to notice the trio, instead looking at something behind the three.
Behind them, a shape flipped down from where it had been hiding above the cave entrance. It spread its wings, taking to the air right in front of the opening.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t expect my sister to recruit some help?”, Thana mocked.
The three rescuers quickly turned around and got their first good look at their foe, her runes glowing blood red in the moonlight. Primera was a first to act, growling and leaping into the air, claws bared. For her troubles, Thana casually threw a shadow bolt directly into her face, sending Primera crashing back onto the ground.
“Grab the hatchlings!”, Atuin ordered.
“On it!”, the pearlcatcher replied.
Atuin bravely hid in opposite side of the cave from Thana, and prepped some wind magic. Unfortunately, Thana easily ducked under his bolt, sparing a second to laugh at him in the meantime. She then looked towards Primera, death in her eyes. Her claws began to glow with dark magic, and she swooped down towards her target, ready to strike.
Fwish!
Thana quickly barrel-rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding an arrow that flew out of the cave and out of sight. At the back of the cavern, Jacques nocked another arrow, while the two hatchlings clambered up onto his back. Upon seeing what he was doing, Thana growled and bared her fangs.
With Thana no longer after her, Primera had shakily gotten back onto her feet.
“Run, you fool!”, she yelled. “Get the hatchlings out of here!”
Jacques obeyed, madly dashing towards the cave mouth, the two hatchlings on his back clinging to his mane for dear life. Atuin watched him run, eyes wide as he realized the Jacques wasn’t going to make it. The pearlcatcher might have been quick, but considering he had to run right under Thana, he had no chance of escape.
Atuin had to do something, much to his annoyance. So he took to the air, and flew as quickly as he could to intercept Thana.
Thana, meanwhile, was entirely focused on the hatchlings, and by extension the one carrying them. Thus she was taken by surprise when an Atuin-shaped blur flew right past her and snatched the headpiece right off her head! Atuin flew right out of the cave, and while Thana was distracted trying to grab her hat back, Primera escaped as well.
Jacques took up the rear, but Thana wasn’t going to let him escape so easily. With no time to cast a spell, she instead dove straight downwards, ready to steal the hatchlings off his back. Jacques zigged to the right to avoid her, so instead of young nocturne, Thana’s claws dug deep into his wing arm.
Jacques screamed, as sound that was barely overcame the crash of Thana slamming into the ground, having misjudged her dive. He wouldn’t be able to fly until his wing healed, but he could still run. And so he did, escaping the cave along with the others.
But outside the cave the three were confronted with an obstacle they hadn’t expected. A wall of thorns surrounded the clearing outside on three sides, with the cave making up the fourth. And now that Jacques was injured, they couldn’t just fly over it.
Atuin was dumbstruck. Sure, Shadowsong had entangled him with a vine before, but this wall was on a whole other level! For Thana to have created this in the short time they were here, she must have been far more powerful than her sister.
“I’m sorry… I can’t…”, Jacques blubbered, uselessly shifting his injured wing.
Primera paid him no heed, instead charging straight at the thorns. She leapt, claws bared, and the vines withed away at her plagued touch. By the time Jacques had caught up to her, she had torn a hole large enough to travel through into the wall.
Without exchanging a word, the three sped through the hole, the hatchlings still on Jacques’ back. As they passed through, Atuin conjured some wind magic; strong gusts blowing up a cloud of dust and mushroom spores to cover their escape.
And so the three fled.
Dawn was just beginning its struggle to illuminate even the smallest part of the Tangled Wood by the time the group made its way back to Shadowsong. The nocturne was still injured, though by the looks of her she had recovered somewhat. Upon seeing the familiar face, the two hatchlings jumped off Jacques’ back and crawled over to her.
Shadowsong smiled at the three. “You did it!,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done.” She then looked specifically at Primera. “Especially you. That’s twice now you’ve helped me.”
“It was nothing,” Atuin replied, jauntily spinning Thana’s headpiece on one claw. “Thana had no defenses other than herself. You’d think should would have at least set up a wall or something.”
“Nothing or not,” Thana said, “You still deserve some sort of reward. She unstrapped her woodbasket, and began to rifle through it. “Let’s see here, there’s… aauugh!”
From out of nowhere, a bolt of shadow crashed into Shadowsong’s chest. Right behind it followed Thana, looking almost… disappointed.
“That’s enough from you,
dear sister,” she said.
Atuin, Primera, and Jacques quickly moved in front of Shadowsong’s groaning body to protect her, while the two hatchlings quickly hid behind her.
“How cute,” mocked Thana. “But I’ve had enough of this.”
With a flick of her claws, a deep darkness shrouded the area, blocking all vision.
All vision, that is, except for a tiny zone around Thana’s headpiece, which seemed to absorb the darkness itself. Thinking fast, Atuin flew to a point that he judged was somewhere between Thana and Shadowsong. The other two waited for a tense second, before –
“Now!”, Jacques yelled.
With a thwip, an arrow shot through Thana’s wing, knocking her off course. She then went much father off course as Primera leapt into the air and grabbed her, sending them both rolling across the ground.
In a blink, the darkness faded. Primera had her claws at Thana’s throat, and her face barely a claw’s width away from the nocturne’s.
“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t move a muscle,” she growled.
Jacques walked over close to where Primera was, and then sat down and trained an arrow at Thana’s face. Shakily, Shadowsong struggled up, and also made her way over to check on her sister.
Atuin looked over to check on the hatchlings, but they seemed willing to follow Shadowsong. But he also noticed Shadowsong’s woodbasket, abandoned in favour of her sister.
This was too good an opportunity for him to pass up.
A moderate flight’s distance away from there, and Atuin figured he’d gone far enough. Flying with a headpiece in one claw and a woodbasket in the other was had work.
Atuin couldn’t say he was displeased with the work though. The headpiece by itself was proof of the Singers, and even had some fascinating Singer magic on it, sure, but the woodbasket was the real prize. Who knew what wonderous hidden magics were inside it, what brilliant discoveries he could make!
It was a shame he’d had to steal it, Atuin thought. He didn’t particularly want to slight Shadowsong, but the Singers were rather insistent about staying hidden, so she probably wouldn’t have given him anything interesting as a reward. She might even have taken Thana’s headpiece back! That would have been a terrible blow to research and discovery!
But Atuin couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. He curled up in a nearby tree, and eagerly prepared to inspect his prizes.
But before he had a chance, he felt the pressure of a claw on the back of his neck.
“Did you really think I didn’t see you sneak away back there?”, a familiar voice asked.
“
Boils.”, Atuin replied.
