| "We don't have much time," Fred the pixie whispers, dread in his
voice.
Something deep inside him made him wonder if it wasn't already too
late.....
Yet another mad dash for the facility where the other Unseelie afflicted
were being detained (happily those left behind on Nantucket Earth found
that the last of them over in what would have been called Stonehenge over
in what would have been called England).
Provided with information by Inquirer of what she knows from her roleplaying
experiences and armed with appropriate weaponry that could match or exceed
anything they'll likely to meet in this hostile land they plan on journeying
to (some "mundane" scientific from Doctor Who's TARDIS, some of the more
magical equipment from the Hoard of Synizn who's life no longer depends
on it, and some from a nervous Spaceman Eric Jones who'd secretly been
"packing"–the gun components hidden in various points in his clothing–as
all Military members do as their wont). The last transfer was done secretively,
due to Jones not wishing to ruffle the feathers of the local Nantucket
authority.
The other Champions wish to come along, but it is soon decided that
the original group who'd gone off on this quest (plus Fred the Pixie) would
be the best for this one last retrieval. With a LOT of luck (something
that is a iffy thing here), they'd find the last one (an Astra who the
other said had this big thing about Doctor Who).
Equipped, Jarlath's group boards Doctor Who's TARDIS. They travel back
in time to where they need to be. They depart under wishes of good luck
and God speeds, activate the Key and again dodge Dr. Vincent's questions
(knowing very well that in just a few hours the good doctor would stumble
onto the truth but not wishing to cause a time paradox) and finally arrive
on Rifts Earth.
It's getting on to near sunset and the scene before them is almost normal
seeming with a farm and crops in the field...... but over the next hill
they hear some chanting of a spell.... It has a high, musical, elfish,
and feminine quality to it. Quiet pleasant sounding, actually, that voice.
"Well, we see it isn't the ordinary world, eh?" Dragon Synizn mutters
as he half listens to the spell and watch as an aircraft of some type flies
overhead. They'd check out the source of the chanting, on the off chance
it was somehow connected to the Astra they were after here.
Science and magic.....almost at war with each other on this madhouse
they call Rifts Earth, the dragon mage thinks sourly, remembering what
he'd been told of this world.
The taste of the magic is strange....but the mages sense it's not hostile.
Being that this is a rather violent world by reputation, they gather their
charms and spells....ready to counter just in case.
"Shouldn't we be...." Annafrid begins to whisper softly, worriedly looking
in the direction of the chanting.
The chanting suddenly ends. The wish spell (powerful and rare
maic from Morganna Wordeni's old homeworld and known only to her) races
out and shatters the hold the dark curse has upon the one known as Astra.
After hours of scouring her magical supplies and frankly missing the meeting
with Roland and Queen Astra, she had been able to come up with the needed
marterials. She'd only be able to cast this once in time (such strain it
would put on her she'd be weak as a kitten for a month) but it would be
worth it if it worked. She'd spent much time also wording the wish as carefully
as she could (think of The Monkey's Paw and you get the idea of
the danger here for poorly worded wishes). Her spell wasn't as powerful
but had the finesse to accomplish the task It's strength was comparable
to a gentle hand compared to that of a swinging sledge hammer. Vastly different,
but what do you want to thread a needle with?
And did it work?
Well, it...did in the narrow sense.
The Astra that they had found and knocked out magically (to slow the
curse's progress on her so this wish spell would work) was in the process
of slowly morphing back into a normal human. That was good. The wording
of the wish prevented the curse from doing something lik doubling back,
somehow, and afflicting her anew held. But......
The idea was that once the red haired woman was freed, the curse would
have pretty much die here....and also it would "die" by association by
anyone else afflicted by the same curse. Oh, these unknown others would
be stuck in their present forms....but with enough magic that would/could
be remedied. Hard, but without the curse blocking attempts it would be
able to be done......so Morganna hoped.
The elfin woman looks up from the spot where she'd fallen to her knees
and stares at the evil cloud like thing that was the Unseelie curse seem
to warp, change, and then scream as it changed...into something a bit more
than it had been. It then, out of a newly sense of self preservation, rushes
off to "infect" the beings that it can use as a host....
As numbed by all that she'd gone through, she (and those who'd come
to guard her during this delicate time) could see that something was vastly
wrong here. If she'd let this Astra speak a bit more, she'd probably have
known to include the other afflicted in on this wish. That or word it to
where, if the impossible happened and others who'd been afflicted somehow
showed up at this critical time..... The wish would have failed, but.....
Well, the Unseelie curse surprised the bejesus out of Jarlath's group
as it comes barreling out of nowhere and attempts to "infect" the various
compatible "hosts." It has no luck with the Champions, but it finds enough
of a foothold in Fred the Pixie. Oh, it can't turn him Unseelie, but in
desperation it....completes the change! It is a desperate move, but it
is enough for survival!! Jarlath and the other magic users are able to
drive it away (where it then twist upon itself and the changes rush out
into the other realms where the other afflicted are....
The pixie screams a high pitched scream and falls to the ground....and
shivers in reaction. His name is no longer Fred, but Triakoth, basically
meaning, in Fey Speak just Knight of the Faire Folk. His
matrix crystalizes and the transformation from human to fey is complete.
Blue eyes shift for the last time rom normal, human seeming round pupils
to cat like, slit pupil green orbs. Unlike other Fey folk, he (and a few
others like a blue haired fairy woman and some new Light Elves) can handle
cold
iron with no harmful effects. Oh, there are a few things he and the
others can't due that other Feys could....but that is for later.
|
