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Scritch scritch scritch
Dan's quill pen danced across the page, inked words soon stretching across it's entire length. Nearby on the desk, hanging from a small stand was a little lantern, the black flame inside flickering with each scratch of the nib on the paper.

Clunk

Startled by the noise, Dan looked up from his writing and saw, to his surprise, that the lantern had fallen off of its stand. Black flames began to swirl and soon a face was staring sullenly at the world. When it seemed sure that it had Dan's attention, it began to push at the walls of its metal and glass prison, right next to the latch used to open the lantern door. For a few moments Dan just observed the plague, uncertain about what to do. He had never opened the lantern ever since he had taken it into his possession, somehow afraid of what might happen. However, he also had a feeling the flame would continue what it was doing until it was listened to, and it did look rather unhappy....

Holding the lantern up with one hand, Dan deftly opened the door with the other before he could change his mind. Quick as a flash the flame leaned out of its home and, to Dan's shock, it threw - no, spat - something out onto the desk, and he gawked further when it closed the door neatly behind itself, its expression now similar to that of a smug cat. Mutely hooking the lantern back onto its stand, Dan looked at what it had ejected.

The object itself was rather small, about the size of one of his fingernails. It was white in color with flame burnt edges, and, as he discovered upon gingerly picking it up, surprisingly light. Examining it the best he could, various answers scrolled through his mind as to what it was, but he rejected each one, feeling he did not know enough to make a proper identification. Using magic to identify it was also briefly considered, but was just as quickly discarded - he was not skilled enough in that type of magic to get a meaningful answer. That meant it was time to seek outside help.


Rounding the final corner on the way to his destination, Dan strode over to the doorway he had been seeking and looked inside. "Miss Tanaya?"

The woman in question was the head cook for the estate, and despite being only 30 years old had been around as long as Dan could remember. Her family had immigrated to Panymium from a small island nation to the south and this heritage was easily seen in her bronzed skin and distinct facial structure. Despite the issues of the plague and the extreme difference between Shyregoed's climate and the one of her homeland, her family had still come to the Galdenin family estate to earn a living. Tanaya's superb cooking skills allowed her rise within the ranks in short order, and soon she became a main fixture of the household, turning out meals and dispensing advice to whoever she thought needed it. This latter tendency led to a young Dan often seeking her help, eventually building a sort of friendship between them, and was the reason Dan came to her now.

Looking up as she heard the young lord's voice, she grinned and waved the cleaver she had been using as a gesture for him to come over, the numerous bracelets on her wrists clicking together. "Don't just stand there, come on in!" she quipped jovially.
"What do you need?" she asked as he walked over. Before he had come she had just started carving up a sheep and now she had returned to this task with vigor, deftly slicing the sallow skin off of the carcass.
"I wanted to see if you could help me identify something," he said, holding out a black cloth then unfolding it to reveal the white object. The cook looked at it critically for a moment then looked pointedly back at Dan.

"Where did you get this?"

"....from the inside of my lantern." Dan knew perfectly well if he had told this to anyone else in the house they would have left right then, but he had a feeling the cook might be a little more open minded.
"From the inside of a lantern you say? Hm...." She continued to carve the pig, a thoughtful look on her face. "I'd have to say it's a fragment of animal bone."

"Animal bone?"

"Yup," she said with a nod of her head. "Here in the castle we are able to use high quality oil in our lamps and lanterns. However, poorer individuals aren't able to afford that and use something else instead - animal fat. It doesn't burn quite as well as oil but it still burns pretty good. This means that when someone is out in the wilderness and runs out of fuel for their lantern, one of their options is to kill an animal and use its fat." With this she finished cutting off the slab of meat she had been working on and pointed out the white marbling of the fat. "However, when someone is less skilled than me in cutting up meat, or they have rougher tools, it is quite possible to cut off some of the bone along with the fat."

"I see...." he said, looking at the fragment in his hand.

WHACK!

Dan flinched at the sudden sound, the cook giving an apologetic laugh. "Ah, sorry sorry, still working over here." The sound had come from the cleaver hacking into the base of one of the sheep legs, and his stomach gave an ungainly flip flop at the strings of skin, sinew, and muscle that formed as she wrenched it off of the main corpse. Dan knew full well what eating meat entailed, but that didn't mean he enjoyed watching it.

"Thank you for your help," he said with a curt bow, and then he fled back to his room, the cook's laugh following.


Dan sat back at his desk, looking at fragment. He had an answer that fit with everything he knew and made perfect sense, and yet something still didn't feel right. The circumstances were just too strange. For a little while uncertainty about what to do next enveloped him, but soon a memory gave a ray of hope - a neighbor, a noble, and a mage, with just the talents that could help solve this mystery. Taking out quill and paper once more, Dan began to write.

"To Lord Yizhaq...."

"Hurry up you slowpoke!" the young girl on top of the hill called out. Her grinning face was flushed from the climb, but she still looked better than the brown haired boy who was just now coming to the top, his breath puffing in and in out in explosive gasps.

"J-just a moment Faina!" he managed to gasp out, doggedly tramping over the last few feet to where his friend was standing.
Giving a rueful grin at the fact that he was swaying slightly as he stood, Faina went ahead and sat down, Dan following gratefully (and somewhat bonelessly) a moment later.

For awhile the two of them just sat there on the hill, listening to the late evening bird calls and the rustle of the trees. Absentmindedly brushing back a lock of her golden hair, Faina finally broke the silence.

"So.... what do you think?"

For a split second Dan thought she was about what he thought of her. He started to flush, thinking of what to possibly say - and then realized second later that she was asking about the view. Though the blush wouldn't go away, he was still able to look out at the vista before him and give a contented smile. "I think that the climb was worth it."

Spread out before them was a vast swath of Shyregoed forest, the trees swaying in a breeze that also curled the intermittent patches of mist around their branches. However, the most striking part of the picture was played out on the lower sky. Patchy clouds were painted in vivid shades of red, orange, yellow, and pink, some slights hint of purple even seen where these colors met the cobalt sky. Just on the horizon was the molten setting sun, low enough to be seen without hurting one's eyes, and this last piece rounded out the scene the two of them had hiked so far to see.

"Tomorrow...." Faina said quietly.

Dan looked over, confused as to what she meant.

"Tomorrow.... my parents and I are leaving."

"Leaving?!" Dan exclaimed, "b-but why? Your parents said they were going to be here for at least another week."

Faina looked over at him, her blue eyes that had been so happy a moment before now rimmed with red. It took her agonizing moments for her to choke out what she would say next, knowing how much it was going to hurt Dan.
"T-they found out about your magic. How you go blind when you use it. Said that they don't.... they don't want me to be to close to someone like that."

In that instant the bottom dropped out from Dan's stomach. Faina had to leave. She was sad. And it was his fault.

He was just about to stand up and go when he stopped himself. This wasn't right. He wasn't going to let her parents have the last word.
"Letters," he said. "We can exchange letters."
This time Faina was the one to look over, and she saw the look of determination in Dan's purple eyes. She nodded.
"Yes. Letters."
She grabbed his hand, and they both looked out over the horizon, desperately trying to gain everything they could from this last moment together.


In what seemed like an instant later, Dan found himself opening his eyes, still holding Faina's hand and on the hill. The scene before him was now somewhat eerie, the sun completely set and the forest a bit ominous in the diffuse light of the moon and stars.

"Let's go," Faina whispered, and the two them stood in unison, walking down the front of the hill towards the forest instead of the way they had come. They were in the thick of the forest below in moments and Dan looked at his surroundings.

A downy layer of white snow was on the ground, gentle snowfall all around adding to this field of white. He noticed was something in the snow - hoof prints. In the instant that he noticed this while walking, the air was filled with the sound of hoof beats, clinking metal, and the creak of a cart, as if these sounds had been there all along and he was just now hearing them. Around the two of them in the distance he saw the shadow of horses and riders with firefly light before them, the brightest light seen before a horse drawn cart with a single passenger. This last image suddenly convinced Dan there was something complete and utterly wrong with what was happening, but before he could turn to Faina and say something guttural cries and the shrieks of terrified horses cut through the air. Panicked by the noise, Dan broke out into a run, Faina coming right behind him as she held his hand.

As he ran, he began to realize things.

He wasn't a child as he had been on the hill.
He was his full age.
He heard death cries and sobbing.
Not once since he had woken up on the hill had he seen Faina's face.
He heard a young woman scream, and a man bellow.
Nothing.

Skidding to a halt at the sudden lack of sound, Dan turned around to look at Faina. He didn't see her. He saw carnage.

Dead bodies of people and horses littered the ground, the only movement being the wind though hair and the blood seeping into the snow. The worst, however, was in the middle of it all.

Lying spread on the ground was a corpse - a horrifically mutilated corpse. The flesh had been carved from the bones as if it were a sheep on the butcher block, scraps of skin and muscle scattered all around in the surrounding snow. A once white fur lined coat was now completely red as the stained snow around it, the only white now seen being sections of bleached bone, such as the jagged ribs now stretching to the sky instead of surrounding the inner organs they were suppose to protect. The face was a grotesque caricature, only strings of flesh clinging to the skull. Just one part on the entire body was untouched by blood.

The hair.
A halo of golden curls.

Sickness roiled in Dan's stomach, and spots swam before his eyes. However, one last detail still came to his eye.

The corpse was missing a hand.

Dan realized as chills wracked his entire body, that he had never let go of Faina's hand.

Looking down at his own hand he saw the severed hand nestled within. The porcelain form decayed in an instant, bone held together only by strings of skin, sinew, and muscle.

The appendage twisted, and, after only a moment of hesitation, dug all of its nails into his flesh.


Dan stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily, his sheets soaked with sweat and his hand aching from where his own nails had pierced his skin. After a moment he sat up and put his legs over the side of his bed, running his uninjured hand over his sweating forehead and through his hair.

Three nights. This was the third night in a row that he had had a nightmare about Faina. Each one had been different, but the structure was the same - a memory of the two of them together eventually turning into a nightmare that led to her corpse.

Standing up, he walked over to his work desk, fumbled around a bit for a match, then lit the candle that was there. Soon his work space was lit with a warm glow, and he found his gaze traveling over to his lantern. As if sensing his eyes, the black flame inside the lantern began shift until its somewhat familiar face was staring back at him. Dan found himself surprised to admit it, but it almost looked... worried. He gave a rueful chuckle. Somewhat ironic that the one who seemed to worry the most about him was a plagued item that wasn't even sentient yet.

Looking back to the main part of the desk, he saw the envelope he had been avoiding for the past few days. Too weary to avoid it any longer, he picked it up, broke the wax seal, and withdrew its contents.

It was a small portrait of Faina, done shortly before her last fateful trip.
Tears began to drip down on the wood of the desk, and his hands shook as he looked at the picture. Piece by piece he began to replace the nightmare image of her in his mind with the one in his hand, one where she was happy. Beautiful. Whole.

Though he knew the nightmares would return, he now had a lifeline, a raft in a deep ocean.

A lantern to guide his way.

Lady Sage Estratus,

I send this letter back to you to inform you of my success in the task you have given me, researching the history of a woman in the fellowship who also suffered from magic induced blindness. I believe this individual to be one Lady Filena Delphide, prophetess and founder of the Delphide family line. Despite living several hundred years ago, I feel I was able to see the parallels you spoke of.

While not falling victim to the plague as we are today, Panymium in that time faced just as great a threat - war. In those times rife with tension, the only way our continent was able to respond to invasions in time was by the collected meaning of numerous prophecies. Individually, these prophecies had little to no meaning, but when combined they foretold of the coming doom, and in the end saved the continent from destruction. Filena was one of these prophets, a calling she had not expected but she fulfilled to the greatest degree. At first her family had thought her gravely ill, even insane, for her bouts of blindness paired with rambling statements. However, this affliction ended up being both her and many's salvation, for a member of the fellowship recognized her potential and brought her into the fellowship, where one of her prophesies ended up saving countless people in a time of war. In the fellowship Filena found her life's purpose, making staggering achievements and even rising far enough in the ranks to found a noble family.

Instead of prophecies, one of the most important things of today is the plagues. Alone, plague would not make a good deal of difference, only a grain of hope in a sea of sickness. However, with the efforts of plagues combined a true difference in the continent will begin to be made. Personally, my lantern plague and I are only one of these tiny grains of sand in front of a black ocean, but as members of the fellowship we just might be able to make a difference.

If there is one main thing Filena has taught me it is that any curse can be made into a blessing if one is willing to persevere. I will not let my blindness stop me, and hopefully through my work in the fellowship and through battling the plague with my lantern at my side, I will be able to regard the future with open and seeing eyes.
I thank for the opportunity to become part of the fellowship, and I will give my all in the struggles to come.

Ready to serve,
Young Danylrein Galdenin.

The first rays of spring were beginning to shine into the windows of the Galdenin family castle, casting golden puddles onto the floors. Not even close to a thaw yet, but enough to some of the bite out of the winter wind, and give the residents time to recover from the most recent blizzard. One such resident was currently napping on a couch by the window, and though his face seemed peaceful in the sunlight, without a care, his mind was remembering a much different time.


The young boy scuffed his shoes back and forth over the stone floor, the too tall chair he was sitting in preventing him from planting them squarely on the ground. Not that he would have done it anyway, with him being forced into this exercise. Purple eyes glowered at the door, just waiting to see the person who had dragged him away from the courtyard. One of the warmest days he could remember, and he had been dragged inside - inside, of all places, on such a rare day as this!

The door finally opened, and the individual who entered jumped a bit at the unexpected glare, but a wry smile soon graced his face.... which only served to infuriate Dan further.

"What do you WANT?" the boy whined. He had seen the large tome in the new man's hand, and the amount of time spent in the room it indicated was starting to make him panic. He wanted an answer now, or he was getting out of here.

The older man raised an eyebrow at the direct question, looking straight at Dan. "What do I want? I thought you were the one bugging your parents about learning the basics of magic."

With the word magic Dan's feet suddenly stopped, his face going blank as he looked at the man in front of him. "....Mr. Horace?"

"One and the same," the man replied with a smile. "I'd say though, I had expected a noble son, even one who has just turned seven, to be a little more aware of when the magic tutor he wanted would be arriving, hmm?"

Dan hung his head in embarrassment, mumbling a quiet "Sorry." It was a really nice day today.... but he guessed it would probably still be warm tomorrow. He would stay.

Mr. Horace pulled a chair from another part of the room and set it down across from Dan, scooting slightly closer after he had seated himself. "First thing - can you tell me anything about magic?"

The boy thought for a moment, trying to gather the impressions had gotten from around the household. His parents had been the only ones he had ever seen using magic, and the servants never even mentioned it. He decided to make a guess about what this meant.

"Only.... only nobles can use it?"

"Wrong!" Mr. Horace barked, Dan jumping at the sudden exclamation. Unknowingly, the boy had hit a old nerve with the man, and Mr. Horace stared hard as he began to speak. "I am sorry for my sudden outburst, but this is an assumption I must clean your head of at once. One of the most fundamental rules of magic is this - everyone has the potential for magic. Everyone. If your assumption of only nobles being able to use magic were true, I myself would not be sitting here before you today." He let that statement sink in for a few moments. "Yes, I am common born, and yet your parents still brought me here to teach you. While magic can be influenced by blood, it is not the whole tale. Even the most power potential is wasted if one does not put in work to tap it. Remember that, young lord."

The boy gave a solemn nod, being able to understand the gist of what had been said even at his young age. However, he was still somewhat intimidated by the forceful statement, and it took him a good moment to formulate a question. "How.... does magic work Mr. Horace?"

Mr. Horace gave a grim smile to the boy. "This might be a bit difficult for you to understand - many adults can't quite fathom it, but since you're asking we might as well give it a try." With those words, at that moment, Dan's magical education began.


"Show me where he is," Mr. Horace said to the serving girl in front of him, who gave a short bow and led him down the hall. It had been two weeks since the first time he had seen the young Galdenin, and he had been able to tell on his arrival that something had gone horribly wrong. The boy was alive.... but that didn't mean there wasn't something else. Finally he came to a room with a singular bed and a large window, the bed holding Dan, who was currently turned away from the door. As Mr. Horace walked into the room and around the bed he was finally able to Dan's face, and it was not a pretty sight. Sunken checks and dark bags under the eyes showed recent sickness, this wretched appearance only highlighted by the boy's dejected and hollow expression. Purple eyes flickered to look at the magic tutor, following his face as he sat down. "I'm a failure," Dan said flatly.

"Why do you say that?" Mr. Horace neither denied or confirmed the statement, wanting to learn what had prompted it.

The face turned away from him, sheets whispering with the change of position. "I used magic for the first time," he said, and at the moment Mr. Horace felt a terrible certainty about what had happened, but there was more, and Dan kept speaking. "My aperture. My mom and dad have theirs on their foreheads. I.... think mine is over my eyes. When I finally did that little spell you told me to try.... I could see so much! I wasn't even trying for it, and yet I could see every little thing, everywhere. I kept the spell going all day. I just knew that if I stopped using magic that being able to see like that would go away, and I didn't want that to happen." Dan paused for a moment here, swallowing, Mr. Horace looking at him in stunned silence.

"They say they found me in the courtyard. I don't remember much from the next two days, j-just that it was horrible. When I woke up, my first time remembering waking up.... I couldn't see." With this he turned his face by to Mr. Horace, a look of absolute terror on his face. "I couldn't see anything! I-I even touched my eyes, pried open my eyelids, tried as hard as I could, but it just stayed all black, totally black! I couldn't see!" Not able to hold it in any longer, the boy began to sob, clutching the hand Mr. Horace had extended to him.

"Oh what a wretched thing...." the man whispered, letting his fingers be squeezed. To look forward to using magic all his life, have it help him see more than ever before, then suddenly have his sight snatched away as the price. He knew even a strong man would take that hard, and to have it happen to a boy.... that was just too much.

"You are not a failure young lord," Mr. Horace said firmly. "Let us see what can be done about this."


Dan found himself blinking awake, the descending sun no longer illuminating his face. It had been a long time since Dan had last thought about Mr. Horace, and the experience was both odd and sad. He remembered the days of magical practice, encouragement given despite his problems with blindness, and barked commands on what to do next. He especially remembered those first attempts with foci, hopeful and earnest, before they had known it was doomed to failure. Mr. Horace, cruelly, had been taken from Dan in his thirteenth year. Not by the plague, but rather a heart attack, an unfortunate family history that they had not been able to stop. Time had dulled the memories, but not the impression that his first teacher had made.

An impulse wiggled its way into Dan's head, and before he could stop it he found himself preforming the first spell Mr. Horace had ever taught him. There, between his two cupped hands, a soft globe of light began to grow, and the world sharped around him, ever single detail visible. He just stared at the light for awhile, but soon something began to tug at his magical consciousness. Following the feeling, he looked down in surprise to see the flame in his lantern staring back at him, as if it wanted to.... He looked at the lantern for a few more seconds, uncertain, the memories of foci training flashing bright in his mind's eye. Taking a deep breath, he quieted his doubts, and attempted to use the lantern as a foci.

In an instant the brightness of the light globe doubled, and Dan felt his mind stutter in shock as he felt the lantern working, actually working as a foci. Abruptly stopping the spell, Dan thought he had just received the greatest shock of the night, but he was wrong. Instead of his blindness setting in immediately like it usually did after using magic, he saw dregs of blackness been drawn away from his sight, and as he looked down it almost looked as if the little back flame in his lantern was eating them!

Soon, total blackness did set in, but he knew in that moment that nothing would ever be quite the same again.

(( Dan takes Nella around for her first tour of the castle, eventually coming to the kitchen where she is greeted by Tanaya and gingerbread stunted named Guinevere. Conversation is started, and at some point Nella wanders into the lit oven, scaring Dan half to death. However, the phasmas emerges completely unharmed, hinting at her latent abilities and possible complications in the future. ))

March 17th, 1411

(( Dan ended up in the town because of wanting to get away from his fighting parents, and it's a good thing he left too. Their bickering over Waldgrave's murder and who was in the right (Valhalla or Waldgrave) has been getting worse, and items around the house have started to be destroyed. The servants are scared out of their wits and Tanaya ends up being the only one left to bring them their lunch. As they eat she sees things devolving even further, and in desperation (and fearing for her life) she convinces them to go out into the forest. Not too long after their departure loud explosions are heard and the servants rush to the castle walls to see a full blown magical duel occurring between the trees. Flashes and noise are all they can observe at first, but then one of them brings down lightning and the gates of hell are opened. By the time things are done a full acre of forest is reduced to the ground (whether it burned, smashed, or vaporized), and Tanaya is close to passing out, fervently thanking Panyma that she sent them out of the castle. The masters head back to the castle side by side, argument finally settled.
Short time gap later, Dan and Nella arrive back from the town in a carriage, and while Dan is blind, from the smell and sound of the surroundings he knows something's up. Nella, slack jawed, tells him what she sees. Tanaya comes and fetches the two of them, and is bombarded by questions almost immediately. She tells them to come inside, and that it was probably a good thing that he got away from the house that day... ))

March 22nd, 1411

She had to be quick.

The servant girl ghosted down the corridors of the castle, being sure to make as little noise as possible. It was just around one am with no one else awake; how she wanted it, but the time would do her no good if she made too much noise.

It had been around a year now. A year since the House had hidden her within the Galdenin family household. At first it had just been to keep an eye on a prominent family in the Fellowship, but soon her task gained an even greater level of importance - the young lord had gained a plague. Oh how she wished she had been the first to lay her hands on the most treasured object, that it had not been snatched up by someone bred to be against the cult. Many times she had debated stealing the lantern after Danylrein had laid his claim, but she always convinced herself otherwise - there would be a better time to take it, there would come the perfect opportunity.

The time never came. Just ten days ago the young master had revealed his newly grown plague to the household; she had failed in bring the house its plague, and it was all due to her inability to act. This failure was unacceptable, a personal affront to the house. If she wanted to gain forgiveness, she would have to take dramatic action – an action she was initiating right at this moment.

Turning around the corner, the cultist finally arrived at her intended destination – the kitchen. While most of the home was dark at this time, a faint orange glow could be seen coming from entrance to the kitchen, this light being cast by the embers of the stove and oven; the cook made sure that the fires never went out, preferring to simply stoke the flames back to strength rather than start a whole new fire. The faint light served as another reminder to the servant girl to be careful, and she peered warily around the frame of the door, hoping desperately that Tanaya wouldn’t be right there tending the fire. When she saw that she wasn’t, the girl almost went weak with relief, but soon she gathered herself up again and crept into the kitchen.

With each silent step of her feet the girl’s eyes darted wildly around the space, trying to evaluate the best possible way to achieve her goal. She couldn’t kill the young master, for that would render his plague unable to grow and not nearly as useful, so he would simply have to be drugged, but for the rest of the household....

The girl took a vial out from her clothing, the liquid inside sloshing as she gave it a slight tilt. As she looked upon this small container her face was transformed by the light of the burning coals into a malevolent visage. Bringing the house another plague, and destroying a prominent family of the fellowship.... She would be welcomed back with open arms, and more!


Nella rubbed groggily at her face as she floated down the halls of the castle, a bright speck in the pervading gloom. Dan had fallen asleep almost immediately, exhausted from the events from the past few days, but she had not been so lucky. Her own exhaustion had actually kept her from getting the rest she needed, and after hours of fruitless tossing and turning she had decided to go and find something to help her out. Soon she remembered the oven in the kitchen, a wonderful place she had visited just a couple days after growing, and she headed out of Dan's room, determined to find this place of comfort.

Due to her small size, a trip that would have taken Nella just a few minutes with Dan was instead taking her the better part of half an hour. She knew where she needed to go, she had gone there many times before with Dan, but the distance was taking its toll. Soon the bottom of her dress was dragging against the floor, and she seriously considered just curling up on the floor until someone found her in the morning. However, just as the little phasmas was about to give up she caught sight of the light from the kitchen. Hope rekindled by the glow not too far removed from the glow of her own body, Nella put on a burst of speed to help her finish the last leg of her journey.

With this optimistic burst of speed Nella zoomed over the threshold of the kitchen doorway, but her progress was abruptly interrupted by a tall mountain of black fabric. Bouncing backwards with a wobble, the lantern shook her head to clear the spinning that had started on impact, and then looked up to see what had blocked her path. A woman doing something with food...?

“Miss.... Miss Tanaya?” she asked tentatively to the human behemoth before her. The woman didn’t exactly look Tanaya (the hair and the dress was wrong for one thing) but Nella couldn’t think of anyone else who would be working with food in the dead of night. The figure before her went rigid at the question, and the phasmas floated there for a few moments, confused, as she watched the woman slowly crush the bread in her hands, all while the rest of her stayed completely stiff. A cold feeling began to creep into Nella’s gut, a dreaded sense that she had done the worst thing possible by speaking up – a feeling that was confirmed, to her horror, a moment later when the woman turned to face her with as face that wasn’t Tanaya’s.... and looked just about ready to do something awful.

Nella whipped around, trying to float out of there as fast as she could, but due to her small size the woman behind her was still faster, and the phasmas gave a little squeaky half scream as she found herself scooped up by the woman’s hand. She wasn’t crushed, but it was a close thing, and she wiggled frantically as the hand stayed around vice grip tight, body protesting against the pressure. Finally she had to stop for a moment, limp and panting in the hand; that was when she was brought up to a face that could have come from hell.

“Well well well.... what do have here?” the woman said in a singsong whisper, stringy hair floating around her face. Her eyes had a hungry look to them, and Nella began to tremble as she saw the mouth split into a huge grin, the yellow teeth before her looking perfectly capable of biting her head off. At that moment, she wouldn’t have put it past the woman. It was then that the lantern lost it, screaming fully.

Alone the scream may not have been much, only so much volume able to come from such a tiny being, but that was not all that happened. As the woman shook the phasmas to try and stop her, hissing through clenched teeth, “Be quiet!” the plague’s glowing body began to get brighter... and as she got brighter, she got hotter. The shaking slowed, the woman’s mouth working uselessly as she tried to understand what was going on, and then it became all too clear what going on. She let out an agony filled shriek as the inside of her hand hissed and boiled, the stench of burning flesh filling the room. The hand opened convulsively, and the now white hot Nella found herself plummeting to the floor, fading back to her normal color as she descended, just barely stopping herself before she hit the floor. The two of them now scrambled around the room, the woman desperately trying to recapture the plague as she screamed curses, and Nella desperately trying to get away, dodging the woman’s stomping feet.

”What is going on here?”

The two of them came to a halt, the woman turning her head jerkily to see who had spoken, and Nella using the distraction to make her escape, following the frantic gestures of a gingerbread stunted under a table. Standing in the threshold was Tanaya, who, despite only being in nightclothes, looked absolutely terrifying, face contorted in fury and long black hair a wild mane around her head. The woman’s eyes widened and she bolted, but this time it was Tanaya who was faster. The woman only made it into the middle of the hallway before she was slammed to the floor, wind knocked out her and arm twisted painfully behind her back, the cook straddling her to make sure that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“You b***h, how dare you mess with my kitchen!” Tanaya snarled, and the woman began to scream curses once again. When the name of Obscuvos found its way into her screams, the cook’s nails dug into the woman arm, and it took all of Tanaya’s will power not to break the girl’s arm right at that moment.

Gradually the sound of the screams drew people out of their room and through the castle to see what was going on, and what they saw was the cook sitting on and restraining one of the female servants who screamed and cursed, and pleaded to her god Obscuvos. Tanaya’s face was a combination of fury and misery, while the servant’s face contained only misery.

Dan had run almost the entire way to the kitchen after being woken up, heart twisted in panic. He had been woken by the screams, staring blankly at the ceiling for a few moments as he wondered what was going on, but upon looking over to Nella’s sleeping cushion and not seeing her there the young mage had feared the worst. When he arrived and saw that it was Tanaya who was restraining the serving girl, his stomach twisted even more, knowing that if Nella was to wander anywhere during middle of the night it would be the kitchen. His breath had just began to hitch with panic when he finally saw a familiar orange glow peeking out from the kitchen threshold, floating timidly beside Tanaya’s gingerbread stunted Guinevere. Grimm and plague saw each other, and each one rushed towards the other. Soon Nella was cradled in Dan’s chest, her tiny bosom heaving with sobs as her fingers dug into his shirt, Dan himself trembling as his hands shielded his small plague.

Dan turned around to look at the servant girl, and she looked at the grimm and his plague for a few moments before her screams doubled in fury, eventually trailing off into sobs when her energy was finally spent.

The heads of the household, Dan’s mother and father, stood stock still off to the side as they viewed the scene before them. Eventually it was the father who spoke.

“What happened here?” he asked Tanaya, no need for other questions.

The cook regarded the Lord Galdenin, giving another quick twist to the arm of the servant girl when she struggled weakly. “I was awoken from my sleep by a scream from the kitchen. What I found was this girl chasing the young master’s plague, along with a portion of the castle’s food strewn onto the counter. Beyond a doubt, it has been poisoned.” A worried murmur went through the collected group. “Shortly after restraining her in the hall here, the name of Obscuvos began to pass through her lips. I believe her to be an agent of the cult my lord.”

A flurry of whispers now exploded among the individuals in the hall, but Dan’s father and mother still stood stock still, Dan’s blood now feeling a slight chill. This time it was the Lady Galdenin who spoke, staring straight at the servant, eyes and voice penetrating. “Is this true?” she asked, and as Dan’s hair rose on his arms, he could tell that magic was being used to make sure that it was not just a request.

The servant went still, and after a moment bared her yellow teeth. “Of course it’s true,” she whispered, voice hoarse from all her screaming. “It is an absolute honor to serve my Lord Obscuvos. I could not do anything less.” At this point her face turned to anguish. “But I have not been doing a very good job of it recently.... I should have been punished for my failures, to have a plague right below me and not take it for my Lord before it was too late, before it had to grow for that pathetic Danylrein of all individuals.” Dan went even colder at these words as Nella shrank away from the malevolence in that voice. The servant’s face then changed into an almost maniac joy. “Then it came to me, a way to fix it all, to regain glory for my Lord. I would drug the grimm and his plague, bring them in for service to the cult, and the same time poison and destroy a prominent family of the Fellowship. I would be welcomed back as a hero, one of best servants of the Lord, a simple spy who had been able to do oh so much more!” It was as that point that the Lady Galdenin broke her spell, and the look of crazed happiness on the servant’s face dissolved, tears leaking down her face as she began to weakly mewl, “No.... no.... no no no no no.... no....” She knew at that moment that her last chance of mercy from the household had just been burned away like mist in the sun.


The collected household stood at the entrance of the castle, the sun just rising and a pronounced chill on the air. Dan’s breath steamed before him, hands gloved and Nella peeking out from the top of his traveling cloak, both of them staring at the female servant, who still was only wearing the clothes she had been found in, crying weakly as Tanaya restrained her arms. Before her stood the Lord Galdenin, holding an old leather provisions pack; he began to speak.

“This night we discovered that you were a betrayer to the house of Galdenin. You had said you loyalties were to this house, but it was revealed that your loyalty was only for another, more sinister house. I do not know how much information you passed on to your compatriots during your year here in this castle, but I do know that it was far too much. Even so, if you had seen the error in your ways, we could have forgiven you, let you prove you worth by serving the Fellowship instead. However,” he said, his voice now going cold, “Your actions from this night now prove unforgivable, a plan to kidnap my son and his plague, and to leave the rest of us to die by poisoning our food. For this crime, your punishment shall be exile into the wilderness.”

Tanaya shoved the serving girl forward, who now cried ever more despite her hands now being freed, and Dan’s father threw the provisions pack at her feet. “While we may technically be letting you go, do not see it as a blessing. Shyregoed is a harsh land, and it is difficult for even the most hardened woods man to survive in its wilderness, let alone a serving girl. We will not pursue you, but neither will we tolerate your return to the castle – that choice will lead to certain death.”

“Another certain death lies within that pack,” he said, and the serving girls lip trembled as she looked upon it. “Inside there lies your provisions, but among those provisions lies the food you poisoned. There is no marker as to which is which. If you wish to eat from there you will have to take the utmost care, and even that may not be enough. If you wish to end your misery in the wildness however, no care shall be needed at all. It is your choice. Now, pick up the pack.”

The servant did as she was told, but it was not without anguish, and as she slung the pack over her shoulders and onto her back, she was no longer crying. She had no tears left that she could cry. One of the male servants guided her out of the gate, her feet dragging ever step, and once she was outside, she just stood there as the male servant made his way back. A loud groaning noise was heard throughout the castle, and the gates of the castle began to laboriously swing closed. In the last few moments before the wooden doors came together, Dan caught a glimpse of the woman in the gap between the doors. She looked utterly spent, all hope driven from her being, now just a limp body to be dragged through the wild.

The image was taken away, and the gates slammed shut with a reverberating bang.