"Ow watch what the hell you are doing you almost ran me over, come one I know there is a small lake here we can camp for the night" The sound of a young lady's voice said from a cluster of trees.
"Sorry Calli I wasn't paying attention.." A male voice said as the owners as well as the rest of their group walked into a clearing. It had been about a week since the eclipse and they were all still stying to figure out their next move. Group began to set up camp a good way from the shore as to not have to deal with the mud.
"Um guys you might want to look at this I think he is hurt." A young lady called frrom the edge of the camp. She was looking down at the shore, where the body of a young man sat very near the lake shore.
"Leylah be careful you don't know if it's an act or not." Calli said as she carefully pulled her behind her. "Markus could you take a look?" She asked.
Markus moved closer his hand on a dagger that hung at his hip and began to carefully walk over to the boy. As he got closer he noticed that the young man had yellowish grey hair, his skin was so pale that it was hard to believe that he was human. 'This kid looks as if he has never seen the sun, we definitely need to move him inside a tent so he does not burn. Then we can look him over better make sure he isn't hurt.' He thought as he went to place a hand on the boy just to find his sight blinded by a strong inhuman amount of magic. Blinking to clear his vision he saw standing on the boy's head was a rust colored mouse with emerald eyes.
"Hello there you must be some kind of familiar though I have never seen a mouse before but there is a first for everything. We need to move him or the sun will burn him when it comes up. I know you understand. I promise I will be very gentle with your mage." Markus said as he watched the mouse looked from one to the other and gave a defeated huff before allowing Markus to pick the young man up.
He carefully moved the boy and placed him in the tent that he and Zain had been using. He left the door open in case the young man woke up and decided that he needed or wanted to run. 'He look familiar but not his magic. But I know I have seen that boy somewhere but where?' Markus thought as he walked back to join the rest of the group.
With that task complete the rest of them continued to get camp setup. They had chosen this spot to camp because the twins had told Caill that they had never seen pixies before. And even though it required them to travel through the night Caill was hell bent to let the kids see them.
"Look pixies wow they are so pretty just like you said they were." Leylah said as she broke off a piece of a honey cake that they picked up before leaving town the previous day. She laughed at the feel of the small wings fluttering tickled her fingers.
"Hey look isn't that the mouse that was with that boy? What are they feeding him and why?" Zain asked, pointing near the tent. Where the red mouse was surrounded by pixies each giving it a rather odd looking berry.
Before anyone could move or say anything there was a small poof dust and grass appeared right where the mouse used to be.
"Fifteen year stuck can really do a number on one's body, thank you little ones that was the last push I needed to turn back. Unfortunately I'm still notat full strength but i can talk and I'm not a mouse anymore. " A male voice said as the cloud faded revealing a rather tall young man with rust colored shoulder length hair and what looked like elvish ears just nearly poking through.
"Who are you and where did you come from?" Calli asked as she ready a fireball in her hand. Ready to strike if the being before her made one wrong move.
"Wait sis that is the mouse…I think he is one of the Sidhe." Markus said lowing his sister's hand before she could do something stupid. 'That explains the inhuman amount of magic I saw.' He thought
"Your brother is quite correct, I am one of the Sidhe as a matter of fact my name is Robin Goodfellow but you may call me Puck actually I would prefer it if you did." The young man said turning to face them emerald eyes alight with mischief as he gave a small bow.
"You're naked!" Leylah said bluntly her face a brilliant scarlett.
"So it would appear I hate it when that happens, and it seems that I have bonded as Familiar as well guess I don't have to ask I will just have to properly introduce myself." Puck said looking at himself finding that on his right shoulder was a strange rune. "If you will excuse me I will make myself presentable and then I will answer any questions you have." He said as he walked behind a group of trees. It took no more than five minutes before he returned wearing an outfit made of leaves.
"This will have to do for now until I obtain real clothing. Now you have questions for me?" He said as he sat down by the fire and accepted another handful of the odd berrys from the pixies.
"Your pretty, are all the Sidhe as pretty? How did you end up here and bonded to a mage? Does your mage know you two are bonded?" Calli asked.
"Yes we all are, that's a long story, and no I don't even think he has any clue as to what I am let alone who. Well my reputation is shot now." Puck answered.
"Your the Summer's Trickster. I knew the name you gave us sounded familiar." Zain said causing all of them to jump a bit in surprise.
"That's right, young one your very clever so someone so young." Puck said with a small wink. Before anyone could say anything else the sound of someone waking up came from inside the tent.
"Where am I what is going on?" A male voice said from the tent as the owner of said voice poke his head out.
'That voice that is the voice that has been calling to me for months now.' Leylah thought as she crossed the space between the fire and the tent before she knew it.
"Wait don't touch him." Puck's voice said a second too late Leylah placed her hand on the young man's shoulder.
"I heard your call, the one you sent with the shadows." She said in a soft voice as she met the young man's dull colored eyes with her dark brown ones. 'I see pain, and fear.' She thought as the two of them held eyes for a few more heartbeats before she broke it a small blush on her cheeks.
"My name is Leylah what is yours?" She asked as she helped him to walk over to the fire to sit down with everyone else keeping him in the shade was a problem before Leylah casted a spell that created a patch of shade just big enough for him.
"That won't hold for long but hopefully long enough for you to get something to eat and then you can sleep again." She said sitting down.
"Caspian, my name is Caspian. And thank you….." He said before his eyes landed on Markus and Calli. "Please, don't take me back there I just escaped please doesn't take me back." He said as he backed up quickly from the two of them. The first sign that something wasn't quite right was that flames in the fire began to slow down and move as if they were in slow motion the air began to feel heavy with out of control magic.
"Calm down Caspian its ok I will not let them take us back, I will die before I let anyone take us." Puck said in a soothing voice as he attempted to calm the blonde down. When it became clear that he was not going to be able to get through to him since fear had gripped the boy tightly. 'I hope this holds him.' He thought as he snapped his fingers and the cattails by the shore snaked over the ground at lighting speed wrapped the blonde up from head to toe and pulled him away from the group.
It became crystal clear that it was only a temporary solution since from the moment they touched him the plants began to wither and die.
"This is bad I'm too weak from my time spent trapped in the hell whole to keep up with him at this rate I will die from pouring power into the plants that I won't be able to keep myself alive. If that happens we are all dead." Puck said with his voice shaking.
The sound of singing caught all of their attention. 'That is a banshee's song great just when I thought things couldn't get worse, oh wait this is me I am talking about.' Puck thought as he felt a tug on his magic warning him that if he continued this spell he would lose his life.
"Now this will not do I can not let fear kill my favorite Sidhe now can I?" A soft breezy voice said just before the sound of a calming song being sung drifted over the lake.
"Cover your ears now or the song will put you to sleep." Puck said as he put his hands over his ears fearing that he may have given his warning too late
As the song continued Caspian who was still wrapped in the cattails his struggles began to slow even though the cattails still withered but at a slower pace.
"Robin, I can not hold him for long you have to calm him down before he breaks loose of both our powers, the only difference is I am already dead." A female voice said from right next to him.
"Sylvanas, to what do I owe the save from the Queen of the Damned." He growled slightly. He knew that it was pointless to do anything even at the height of his power he could not take her.
"His unrestrained power is a threat to everyone, even me." She started "even with my power he will break free of my spell soon. Oh what is that young lady doing?" She finished as the both turned and saw Leylah heading over to the trapped mage.
"Caspian, your free and no one will ever take that freedom from you, you need to calm down or you will become trapped by your own power." Leylah said as she looked around. All around her time was running at different speeds some areas time ran so fast that anything trapped in those bubbles died quickly and in others time moved so slow that it was as if it stood still. "Please, come back to yourself and your freedom." She begged over and over again. After what felt like eternity the wild magic began to recede and time began to flow normally.
"You are either very brave or very stupid only time will tell, but it seems that you have him back in control, well I see no reason to stick around, until next time. Have fun being a familiar Robin." Sylvanas said with a slight laugh, before she dissolved into the woods without a trace. Once she had faded away Puck ran over to the two mages prepared to give Leylah one hell of a lecture when he saw that Caspian had wrapped his arms around her and was holding her as if she was some kind of proof he was free. Leylah continued to whisper calming words in his ears as she watched his eye begin to slowly close.
'That's what he looked familiar. He is the boy from the tower, his magic is very different. I wonder if that has something to do with the spell that was casted at the eclipse. That explains why he reacted in fear to us. Now we have a major problem. He won't go back and it seems that Leylah can calm him where his familiar can not. Me and Caill were hired to bring back LIght and Darkness mages.' Markus thought as he watched from the camp site as Puck and Leylah helped Caspian to his feet to bring him back so he could sleep off the effects of not only the wild magic but the banshee's song as well. It was through sheer will power that kept Markus and Caill awake but Zain was not so lucky he was curled up next to the fire.
"Leylah that was very reckless you could have been killed, don't ever do something like that again." Caill said when they got closer. She looked as if she had tears in her eyes.
"Careful bounty hunter I only obligated to defend my mage but I will stop all who want to harm these kids. I will not allow them to go through what he did." Puck growled causing Caill to take a step back.