The device in this chapter was actually from a story I wrote in the sixth grade (and I think my teacher still has it). Also, another former Jewel Rider character comes back! Whee....
Log 23: The Wildwings Device
Merlin - as was the assumed name of all heads of the Wizard's Council - arrived at the Crystal Palace in Anya's chambers. It was an early spring evening some days after the Sálíphiran sultana had arrived, and the queen was taking a nap, the giant cat she was Bonded with lying beside her.
«Should we wake them?» a bespectacled snowy owl perched on Merlin's shoulder whispered in bondage-speech.
"We have to," the wizened sorcerer replied. He shuffled over to the bed by Anya, and gently shook the queen's shoulders. "Queen Anya! Silverclaw! Waken!"
"Oh, good morning," Anya yawned, almost drowned out by Silverclaw's roar-like moans. "Merlin! And Archimedes! How did you come here?"
"Of no concern, milady." The wizard bowed slightly. "The Council has discovered something of importance."
"Oh." The Council was known for prophecies, though a Merlin had not come to the royal family so freely since some centuries past. They only appeared in the Great Councils ... but that was before the Disbanding.
"Your granddaughter brought an angel with her," Merlin started. "His staff is the Staff of Avalon, which was missing from the keep a few days ago. I am to assume he is of the Regency, milady?"
She shook her head. "Lord Keythedrian," she offered. "Not of the Regency."
Merlin closed his eyes. "So he has awakened. This is worse than I thought."
"What do you mean, worse?" Anya sat up and glared at Merlin; Silverclaw growled lowly, nearly knocking the spectacles from Archimedes' beak.
"We have had a vision," Merlon stammered. "We saw Avalon blanketed in darkness, and two people with the god-angel's blades in their hearts atop the Crystal Palace's dome. The Council has reason to believe this will be soon."
Anya stared at the wizard. A Merlin - the same one? - had fortold a similar future during a Great Council her father had dragged her to - she could remember him trying to surpress a wave of some sort of emotion, as angels were known to do.... "How do you know this?"
"We saw three on the roof: One wears the queen's crown, and she looks like your granddaughter, maybe some months older than she is now. As for the others...." The wizard cleared his throat. "One is your sister."
"Kayle? That's strange. Go on."
Merlin paused. How was he to say this...? "She will kill the Lord Keythedrian, and he will kill Kayle with his last breath."
Anya didn't reply - didn't know how. Kayle wouldn't kill a god-angel, even though she left because of her birthright ... and even so, the god-angels couldn't be killed...!
"Their deaths can not be prevented, but the darkness can be," Merlin whispered. "You, or your heir, must reunite Avalon and find the Regency's egg. Only then will the darkness vanish."
Then the wizard and the owl vanished, leaving behind a small calling card in his wake. On it was painted a hut by the sea, smoke piping from a small chimney. There were words n the bottom corner of the card.
The Wildwings Device's instructions are on the reverse. ~Merlin