Slimer soared high over the tree tops, his nose breathing in the myriad of flowers, trees and other woodland wildlife. His eyes searched the vast rolling plains, dotted here and there with villages and castles, the woods claiming the land that the valley didn't. It was no wonder so many people have believed there was simply no end to it, that the land would stretch on forever. Slimer turned around and started his flight back to the castle, passing over the village. He could now smell the various meals and such mixed in with the rising smoke from chimneys. It had taken time, but he was now able to ignore the incredible temptation to snatch up all he was smelling as an early morning snack, not after the first time, when the villagers in the market demanded he and the team that traveled with him be exiled, some even wanting to kill Slimer for stealing their inn's special of the day. Luckily, Egon already knew a bit of Gaelic, and after some time and a lot of frustration, he was able to explain killing or even punishing a creature such as Slimer would not be an easy task. Word spread quickly through all of Ireland of the mysterious group and their taming of a restless spirit. Lord Marland's castle was now in sight. Marland was most impressed with the enigmatic team and their odd "pet," and before long he and Dr. Spengler had become fast friends, offering them lodgings within the protected city walls.
Slimer knew where Garrett would be, and splattered through the castle wall directly into the dining hall. His presence only lifted the heads of a few of the knights eating, all of them now used to his abrupt and strange entrances. Garrett was at the far side of the noisy hall, waving his hands in the air. Slimer floated over to join him for breakfast. Garrett, noticing the spud's approach, tossed a bowl, filled with thick stew with large chunks of steak, up into the air with one hand, much like tossing a basketball. Slimer complied by raising his arms up and making a hoop, his gaping mouth underneath. The bowl hit the rim of this arm, teetered, then fell through and into his mouth. He spit out the bowl, empty and with a thin film of slime covering it. Slimer hovered over next to Garrett and placed the bowl on the table.
Garrett swallowed a spoonful of the stew before talking to Slimer. "Hey, Spud. Anything worth reporting this morning, Slimer?" Slimer read off a few points of interest in his high pitched gibberish. The surrounding knights had long since stopped trying to figure out what the heck Garrett could hear out of this slimy loudmouth. "How many sprites? Grouped, or just scattered?" After a moment's explanation, Garrett interrupted, "Hmmm. Probably nothing, but we should still let Egon know about it. Not worth overlooking. Remember two years ago? The Faerie Festival? The last thing we need is another humiliation like that." Garrett handed his bowl over to Slimer. "Mind running them to the kitchen? I'll get my horse ready. Meet me at the stables."
Garrett said his good-byes to some of his fellow knights at the table, then wheeled himself out of the room, heading for the stables. The clop of quick footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned a quick 180 in his wheelchair to see Lord Marland hurrying to meet him. Garrett did a small bow. "Lord Marland, something I can do for you?"
Marland nodded his head in return. "Sir Garrett, I was just curious if our scout found anything out there today. You seemed to leave the dining hall quite hastily, and you're not normally one to cut a meal short." He smiled a friendly smile as he accompanied Garrett to the stables.
"Sprites, sire. Doesn't seem like much to be concerned about."
"Nevertheless, you recall-"
"The Faeries, yes. I was just about to visit Dr. Spengler about it."
"As absurd as it was, I perhaps would not have paid much mind to their little dancing garden spectacle, had not Lord Burnwall been paying us a visit. I was certain he'd destroy our castle after that willow tree began advancing on him. Thankfully he had a sense of humor about it."
Garrett nodded. "On that note, my friends and I, Kylie in particular, were all very pleased you decided not to burn all the nearby gardens afterward."
Marland sighed. "Well, it wasn't their fault." They stopped outside the stables. "Let me know of any news you hear immediately."
Garrett bowed. "Yes, sire." Marland turned and left as Garrett walked into the stables.
"Hey Garrett," Eduardo called out from one of the horses' pens. He finished pouring feed into a small trough and walked over to his friend. While both were wearing similar clothing, Garrett's was much more layered, and had more color. Eduardo's clearly showed his bower financial status, his pants' knees frayed, the clothing brown and ragged. When they went out through the city, people couldn't help but notice how odd the pair looked together, but even when they noticed, they never let it bother them. Eduardo joked that he preferred the light pouch with only a few coins at his waist. "What's up?"
"Not much, Ed. Paying a visit to Egon. No trouble yet, just making sure none gets the chance to find us."
Eduardo nodded. "Tell Spengler I said 'Hello.'" Garrett nodded as he strapped a lightweight folding wheelchair onto the saddle of his horse before climbing on top. Before Garrett rode off, Eduardo stopped him. Did you ever think five years ago that this is what you'd do with your life? Becoming a knight, riding around defending a castle?"
Garrett shook his head. "No, not that I mind. At least it's a job where there's some action. How 'bout you? You ever think five years ago you'd be here?"
Eduardo shrugged. "Close enough." Garrett smirked and rode out.
Dr. Spengler's house, more of a live-in lab, sat on a small hill near the furthest reaches of the city's walls. The small shack's roof now mostly consisted of various gadgets and telescopic lenses sticking out in all directions. Garrett rode up and tied his horse to a nearby rail, tossing a bale of hay down for the horse to occupy himself with while he was inside.
Inside, Egon was placing a telescope lens into a carefully carved alcove in a tube. Around the room bubbling sounds from various liquids in test tubes suspended over small fires kept the room from falling deathly silent. Garrett entered suddenly, and Egon had to keep from dropping the smooth lens alarm. "Garrett," Egon exclaimed, the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, the closest to a large grin he could achieve. "What brings you here? You're just in time, Kylie and I were about to have some tea. Care to join us?"
"Sure," Garrett said, then, calling into a back room, "Hey, Kylie."
"Garrett?" she immediately called back. She pushed a cloth curtain aside separating the rooms and stepped into the lab, Egon's main room. Kylie was balancing three jars of herbs she'd collected from the back, and quickly set them down on a nearby table, knowing from experience she'd trip over her robe if she pushed her luck. She quickly sighed in relief and turned to Garrett, smiling. "How have you been, Garrett?" she asked, walking towards a fire boiling two liquids. She turned to Egon, who was still engrossed fiddling with the lens. "Egon, which is the tea?"
"The one on the right. Don't touch the one on the left, it's toxic." He stopped his work for a moment to look up, staring blankly in thought. "No, no wait. Maybe the one on the right is toxic ..."
Kylie nodded and picked them both up, walked outside, and emptied the contents on the earth. She came back in and began warming some water, adding in some tea leaves from one of many cloth pouches around her waist. "It'll be ready in a minute."
Garrett nodded. "So what's with all the jars full of plants there?"
Kylie smiled. "Sath's coven is having a meeting soon, and she asked me to grab her some supplies she's low on. Thought I'd do the same for myself while I was here." She poured the tea into three cups. "Egon?"
"The one on the right."
"No, we're past that part. The tea's done. And from the sound of it, you could use a break." Dr. Spengler nodded and walked over to the small wooden table they were seated at to join them.
In between sips of tea Garrett told them of Slimer's find. "Hmm," Egon thought aloud, "it wouldn't be any trouble for me to watch over the sprites' movement with one of my lesser powered telescopes. However I think that's the best I could do for the time being. Whether their planning something hostile or not, it's best not to interfere with them until you know what you're up against."
Kylie drank her cup thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke. "Perhaps I could try dreamscaping. I might be able to envision what the sprites are up to now, or even what may happen in the near future. It's worked many times before."
"Don't you have to get that stuff to Sath for her meeting?" Garrett asked.
"Not until tonight. I'd have plenty of time. I could probably do it in the back room. All the supplies I'd need are here."
When their cups were empty, they all returned to the back room of Egon's lab, which had shelves lined with every kind of herb and plant in their land, and a few outside of it, as well as quite a few books and talismans. Kylie walked over to a corner and lit some incense before sitting on the floor. She told Egon and Garrett they were welcome to watch, so long as they were quiet and didn't go within a certain radius of her.
After a few short moments, Garrett and Egon could sense her dreamscaping was successful; they couldn't so much see or hear it so much as feel that her presence was no longer in the room. She let out a small gasp and whimpered, "They're near ..."
Dr. Spengler, afraid to disturb her, whispered back, "Who's near? The sprites?"
Kylie shook her head slowly, her breathing becoming spastic. "N-no ... army ... there's goblins-" A strange sudden tingling sensation filled the entire room, as if there were a bolt of lightning trapped in there with them searching for a way out, yet not visible or audible. Kylie's eyes shot open, her pupils rolled back in her head as a short shout escaped her mouth before falling to a small moan. Her body went limp as she fell to the floor, unconscious, a small bit of blood running from her nose.
"Kylie!" both yelled in unison, running to her. Garrett sat her up while Egon checked her pulse and breathing. After a moment, Egon let out his breath. "She seems okay."
Garrett pulled a cloth out of his pocket and wiped the blood from Kylie's paler-than-usual face. "Let's get her back to the castle, Egon. Maybe the healers can help." Egon nodded and lifted Kylie up, taking her outside. "Go ahead and tell them to get a bed and healer prepared. I'll be right behind you." Garrett nodded and straddled his horse, taking off at full gallop. Egon quickly walked around to the back of the lab. As always, Roland was working on their horse-drawn vehicle, his feet dangling out from underneath. As Egon quickly placed Kylie inside the buggy, Roland scrambled out from under the carriage, afraid once again it would collapse on him. After a short play by play of recent events, Roland attached the horses and headed for the castle. Egon remained by Kylie's side, placed a damp strip of cloth on her forehead, and waited for the slightest hint of change, better or worse. None came; Kylie remained still as death, her breathing shallow, all the way to the castle grounds.
When they arrived, Garrett, two healers, and Lord Marland were waiting there for them. Kylie was handed to the healers who quickly yet carefully carried her inside. Egon and Roland caught up with Garrett and Marland following the healers in.
"Anyone think to tell Eduardo what happened to her?" Garrett asked. Roland offered to find him, taking off for the stables.
"Was Kylie able to discover anything of the sprites?" Marland asked, rather quickly as Garret observed.
"No," Egon answered. "In fact she didn't see anything of sprites, but rather goblins."
Marland seemed to tense. "What did she see?"
"We don't know if she saw anything."
Garrett saw Lord Marland's posture seem to once again relax; disappointment, he supposed. It would have been a great help to see what these goblins had planned.
Less than five minutes later, Eduardo came running into the Healers' Room. Egon quickly stood and walked over to him informing him that Kylie didn't seem to be in any danger from what they could observe. Of course, part of him knew he said it just to calm Ed down; after seeing her reaction in the dreamscape, Egon was just as concerned, if not more, for Kylie than Ed was.
As Eduardo approached the small group gathered silently around Kylie, a familiar, unwelcome face stood up. "Hola, Sath." Sath was dressed in a similar manner as Kylie, simple brown robes with lots of pockets and pouches. Her short blonde hair matted to her forehead from running from her home to the Healers'. She walked over to Eduardo, doing her best to keep her emerald green eyes welcoming, yet finding it a more difficult task than usual between seeing Kylie like this and greeting someone whom she knew hated her. "Hello, Eduardo. Um...you're looking well." She did her best not to crinkle her nose, as he looked well, but smelled rather like a horse stall.
"How'd you get here before me, Chica? You wouldn't have had anything to do with this ... spell Kylie's under, would you?"
Her eyes flashed from those of strained welcome to genuine disgust. "Will you ever get it? We're witches by choice! I had nothing to do with this, or her decision to enter the Craft. Or her decisions in you."
Eduardo could feel the heat radiating from his face, the idea of having it out with Sath once and for all suddenly very tempting. Instead he looked over at Kylie, her face still stretched in panic of whatever she had encountered, her breathing raspy, and turned away, not wanting Kylie to awaken only to see her friends fighting. He quickly walked out the door, suddenly desperate for some fresh Ireland air.
"Eduardo, I didn't-" Sath took one step but stopped herself. Today didn't seem the day to patch a broken friendship, especially one with as shaky a foundation as hers and Eduardo's. She pulled up a wooden chair next to Kylie with the others and laid her hands on Ky's forehead, searching for a shred of consciousness inside her mind.
Eduardo walked around the castle grounds, down a hill against the back of the castle and into a valley the hill led into, oil lamp in hand. He squinted as he walked, watching the last rays of the day's sun dying away beneath a hill in the distance. He stopped for a moment and pulled out a necklace from under his shirt, staring at it. A pentacle dangled on a thin metal chain, catching the last rays of sunlight, seeming to almost radiate from some source inside. It was his second, and final, anniversary gift from Kylie. By that time she had been looking into Witchcraft for almost half a year, and while neither of them dared say it yet, her dedication to the Craft was beginning to put a strain on her dedication to him. He kept the pendant under his shirt for three reasons; working in the stables all day, he didn't want it to get dirty. Secondly, he felt it somehow empowered keeping it by his heart. And lastly, he didn't want Kylie to know he still wore it.
Eduardo cleared his head of memories of hope and happiness that had long since faded. He noticed for the first time that he had walked down into the valley, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Feeling more than a little guilty at leaving Roland at his place at the stables for so long, and hoping to perhaps have a few moments alone with Kylie, figuring Sath had left for her meeting, he turned to head home.
He stopped at half turn, a shadow caught in the corner of his eye. At the top of the hill he had been wandering towards in his thoughts of Kylie stood a large silhouette, a man on horseback. Figuring he could spare a few more minutes, Eduardo turned back and approached the hill, assuming the traveler was in need of some directions or help. Starting up the hill he noticed how cautiously tense his body was for the first time, almost feeling as if he were walking down a dead-end alley of New York in the middle of the night.
"Hey, you," Eduardo called as he neared the top of the small hill. He couldn't help noticing a terribly foul smell as he stepped nearer to the stranger, but tried not to let it show. "You need any ..." Growing up, Eduardo had known many dangers and seen many ugly things in the streets of New York City. But try as he might while his voice trailed off, he couldn't think of a single instance when he'd looked in the face of this much danger, let alone seen anything, real, fictional, or otherwise, that looked as hideously ugly as what stood in front of him now.
An unnaturally long arm snaked out to knock Eduardo's lantern from his hands. The lantern's flame extinguished as it hit the ground and shattered, Eduardo failing to even notice, not able to take his eyes off his attacker. In the complete darkness that quickly followed, Eduardo hoped and prayed that the sight he had seen before him would not be his last.
