A "Playdate" With the Enemy
"Ughh, why are we doing this so early?" Eda groaned as she walked down the market's street.
Lilith just shook her head, choosing not to say that Luz has been waking her "mama Edy" up early every morning since the week began, by jumping on her each and every morning. The former coven head decided not to tell her younger sister that it was nearly lunchtime, either.
"Just be patient, Edalyn," Lilith told her sister firmly. "All we need to do is pick up Luz's dress for tonight's dinner outing with our parents, and then we can return to the Owl House for mother's lunch."
Hearing that her mother was cooking again immediately put Eda on alert, and she looked Lilith right in the eyes. A silent message was sent between the two sisters, and it was clear that the little stunt their mother pulled a few days ago was still fresh in their minds.
Luz, meanwhile, was waiting patiently, sharing a cup of juice with her little brother. Unknown to the group, however, was that someone had seen them entering the market. And with the Clawthorne sisters busy with their silent talk, it was the perfect time to act.
The mysterious figure crept on the "knock-down" human and grabbed her and the reduced titan before Luz could react.
Eda and Lilith both felt it; the dull pain in the back of their heads, like a bird lightly pecking at the skulls. They both knew it was their cursed beasts trying to tell them that something happened to Luz and King.
"Edalyn…" Lilith growled as she scanned the streets behind her.
"...I know, Lilith," Eda spoke in a low voice, with murder behind it.
The Owl Lady began to search the street in front of her, her skin prickling as she felt her beast trying to break free. She mentally told it to wait as she found the cup Luz and King were just sharing, on the ground and leaking what was left of the juice the two had been drinking.
Eda got closer and began looking around. She couldn't find a trace of either of her kids, but one thought was going through her head…whoever dared to steal her kids wouldn't live to beg for their lives.
"UHH," moaned Adrian Graye, "Do you think we will get anywhere today?"
The nine strongest witches on the Boiling Isles were currently in their emperor's throne room, actually waiting on the emperor himself. If it had been any other day, this might have worried the nine, but given the state Belos was found in yesterday, it was no wonder why the emperor was late.
"I just want to get past who we can hire to cater the entire thing," Terra said with huff, and looked at the beast-keeper with glare. "And we're not hiring THAT one again."
Eberwolf just growled its confusion and titled it head slightly. And just like that, the floodgates opened and most of the nine began to debate about the services they should hire for the event.
Darius let out a tired sigh and scanned the room, and took notice of something; Raine Whispers looked ready to jump out of their boots. The young bard was looking in all directions, like they were half expecting something random to happen.
Never missing the chance to mess with his (secret) relative, the abomination head casually walked over to him.
"What got you so jumpy, songbird?" Darius asked casually.
For their part, Raine just offered a small glare at their fellow head. "Sorry, but after getting taken for a ride with the emperor, nearly having my back broken and getting hit with a pipe had put me on edge," the bard's voice started weak but became more bold and anger-laced by the end.
Darius cocked an eyebrow and while he would admit, hearing that out loud sounds bad, but it was just a random thing. It's not like someone would burst through those doors and cause something crazy to happen.
Like the titan wanted to prove the secret rebel wrong, the doors suddenly swung open and Wrath power-walked into the throneroom.
"Look! I caught public enemy number 2 and number 5!" The former warden exclaimed proudly and held up his captives for all to see.
The heads witches (even Terra Snapdragon) all gawked as they watched the "knocked-down" human and titan squirm in their captor's tendrils. The shock wore off quickly and Raine took a step forward.
"Wraith, what are you doing?" the bard asked with authority. "You know the emperor's orders."
"But…they're enemies of the Emperor," Wrath squeaked, losing his bravado from earlier.
Darius let out an exasperated sigh and walked up to the bard's side. Eberwolf and the head of the healing coven joined them soon after.
"By that as it might, Emperor's Belos gave specific orders; the owl lady and her kin are not to be harmed," the abomination head said calmly. "And as it stands, we simply don't have time to deal with whatever storm that…creature will bring."
The other head nodded their agreement, and wrath dropped the kids knowing he had lost this round. Suddenly, the head of the Potion Coven power-walked up to Luz and the other heads tense when they saw the glee in his eyes.
"There are so few instantents of a rejuvenation potion being used that I would be foolish to pass up a chance to study such a case," the head said, almostly to himself, as he kneeled down and looked Luz in the eyes.
Raine, Darius, Eberwolf and the healing coven head ready silent spells in case the potion's leader succumbs to his nasty habits.
Luz also sensed the danger the coven head posed and took a few steps back. She reached for a few of her glyphs, but King wasn't going to let anyone harm his big sister. The young titan jumped in front of Luz and let out a mighty roar.
The nine heads were nearly shock motionless when the powerful sonic scream came at them. But, before it could reach the potion's head, a stone wall burst from the ground and blocked the sonic scream.
The wall came down a second later, and the two "knocked-down" creatures saw the shock on the coven's heads' faces. Luz, wanting to protect her little brother, jumped in front of the young titan and took out a few glyph papers. The heads had nearly recovered and some were starting to advance on the two.
"No bully, Ki-Ki!" the "knocked-down" human boldly proclaimed.
"ENOUGH!"
The very air suddenly became charged with magic, and the titan's heart began to beat in slow rhythm. Everyone looked to their left and saw the emperor himself, with his two aides, walking into the room.
Luz couldn't stop the small giggle that escaped her mouth when she saw the state the mighty Belos was in.
Belos was hunched over ever so slightly, and his staff had gained a couple of feet. It was clear that he was using it to keep himself upright, if the slow pace he was walking was any kind of sign. Strangely, the dunce cap that had mysteriously found its way onto his head was still there.
It took a few seconds but Belos walked up to his coven heads. He looked at the group of witches and then at the current kid.
"I want to know who's responsible for this," it wasn't a question, not even a statement, as his eyes looked towards the ex-wardan.
"But, they are enemies," Wrath squeaked out.
Belos just let out a sigh and said, "My order was as such; the owl lady and her pets were to be unharmed and left alone. They no longer pose any threat to our plans. You have already been demoted once before."
Belos paused as he turned and made his way to his throne. "As such, you shall clean this entire castle and if it is not to my liking, you would spend the next six months on vault duty."
The coven head didn't even try to head their disdain for this rookie assignment; nothing was more boring than watching over a coven's vault.
Belos was a few feet from his throne when he felt something behind him. He turned around and looked down, to see Luz staring at him with defiance.
"Meanie," Luz said defiantly and kicked the emperor in the shin.
Everyone in the room, King included, gasped when they saw this. Belos seemed unamused by this act, and leaned forward just enough to give him a menacing glow.
"Child, I am the most powerful being on this entire island. Do believe something as juvenile as a kick to the shin would affect MEEeEEEe!"
The nine witches and one titan were confused when the emperor suddenly began to twitch slightly. Curious, the ten got closer and all the men grimace when they saw the pipe sticking out of a "certain" area.
"HUMAN!" Hunter screeched, head snapping in Luz's direction.
The "knocked-down" human shrugged and showed Hunter that her hands were free. The Golden Guard blinked and slowly turned his head in his uncle's direction. He blinked three more times when he saw a familiar looking scout who clearly wasn't there a second ago kneeling in front of the emperor.
"STEVE!" Hunter screamed as Belos succumbed to the pain and fell onto his back. "What are you doing?"
The young scout didn't answer, he just straightened up and took up his usual herotic pose. Hunter's eye began to twitch angrily as he took out his Golden Guard staff and charged it with magic.
"THAT IS IT!" Hunter screamed. "Give that pipe! I'm going to throw it at a Trash Slug!"
He lunged at the scout, and Steve managed to dart to his right and bolted for the door, doing so by a goofy run.
"Steve knows something and Steve will act! STEVE!"
Hunter growled and jumped onto his staff as he chased after the scout. The coven heads watched as Luz, deciding she wants in on the game, used some of her plant magic to give chase as well.
"So…does anyone want to give chase as well?" Raine asked awkwardly, after they walked up to and picked up King.
The other heads were in silent agreement, agreeing because it was better than just arguing over a stupid event.
"Why not," Darius said with a shrug, "But we are taking bets this time?"
The other heads nodded and quickly made bets. Once everything was settled, the nine head witches hurried after the three. Kikimora watched as the group left and let out an exasperated sigh. She walked over to the throne and used the secret crow to get in touch with a healer, as the best healer was currently playing a childish game of chase.
"How is he keeping ahead of me?" Hunter growled angrily.
He just couldn't understand it; Steve was running in a very goofy manner. He had his "weapon" high in the air and he was leaping high into the air every couple of paces. And yet, Hunter wasn't able to gain an inch on the scout.
The whole thing was starting to grit on the Golden Guard's nerves…that and one more thing.
"And how are you keeping up with ME?" he screeched as his head snapped to the left.
Luz playfully stuck her tongue out and used one of her abomiflower glyphs to pull ahead of Hunter. The golden guard growled as he pushed his magic staff harder. Now, not only was his pride as the Emperor's Coven's head at stake, but his newly discovered pride as a Flyer Derby player as well.
So, there was no way he would let a current child beat him.
Hunter warped ahead a few feet and got ahead of Luz. He almost grinned when he felt something jump onto his staff. The current toddler just smiled at him and tied a plant around the artificial magic item. Next, she used the staff like a slingshot and fling herself forward. For an extra boost, she used a fire spell to pull herself farther ahead.
"That's cheating Luz!" Hunter screamed, more determined than ever to beat the human.
He did a few warps to close the gap and continue to chase Steve. It was a few minutes laters when the heads, now accompanied by a squad of scouts, caught up to the three, and decided (with a bet change) to join the fun.
Darius and the Construction head both made spell circles. A wall of wrinkly oak wood appeared on the left of the hall and to the right, an abomination rose. Seeing this, the two chasers acted accordingly; Luz used some of her abomiflowers glyphs to snap around the wall. Hunter dropped to the ground and, using the momentum built from his flying, slid under the abomination's leg.
Darius and the Construction head growled slightly as Raine and Terra stepped up next. Raine, after putting King on his shoulder, made a circle and called their violin and began to play as Terra summoned a large snapping plant.
Hunter and Luz reached the plant and it was about to snap its jaw down on the two, when an orange glow appeared around it and the plant curled in on itself.
"Hand slipped," Rained replied when they saw the glare the plant head was giving them.
Next up was Adrian and the potion head. The illusionist spun a circle as the potion's head through a couple of vials over the two. A wall appeared in front of Luz and Hunter, and both dove headlong into it. The heads and the scouts wince slightly when they heard someone hit something, and the illusion was taken down. The group groaned when they saw that Hunter had flown into a wall of feather-like muck, no doubt created from the potions. Luz had also stopped and was looking up at Hunter in concern. Even Steven had stopped.
"You better get up, little prince," Darius growled under his breath, "I put some snails on you I don't want to lose."
Hunter pulled himself free a few seconds later, and gave his head a shake. He looked at Luz and nodded, telling her he was fine. Steve saw that as his cue to get back to his goofy run. The two then went back to chasing him, and their audience went back to following them.
The Oracle witch head and Eberwolf were the last to try and put some obstacles between the scout and the two chasing him. The beast-keeper summoned some firebees, and the Oracle summoned a med-level battle spirit.
Luz was the first to act; she took out and activated an ice glyph. Three ice shards flew at the firebees and turned into water. The fire elemental bugs were dosed and they flew away in a panic, and the pea-sized shard bounced off the spirit harmlessly.
Hunter thought he heard the "knocked-down" human growl, but didn't focus on it. Instead, he flipped onto his feet, bringing his stuff forward and down on the spirit. The spirit was dispelled and returned to the nether as Hunter hopped back onto his staff and continued the chase.
Soon, the group entered into the courtyard, and Steve ran to the center. He put away his pipe and threw off his mask. He made a "bring it" gesture and smile that told his pursuers it was time to end this.
Luz, as normal, acted first; she launched herself into the air with an ice spell. Steve darted to the right and avoided the human's grasp. He did a spell circle and Luz landed on the ground softly.
Steve felt the air behind him change and Hunter warped behind him a second later. He jumped at Steve and the guard ducked down. He curled into a ball and rolled away from the young witch.
"AHH," Steve screamed when his foot got caught in something and threw off his momentum.
Steven landed on his stomach awkwardly and that knocked wind out of him. Hunter used that time to run up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. A series of groans and cheers went up as Hunter pulled Steve to his feet.
"You got Steve," the scout said casually.
Hunter smiled triumphantly, until he remembered why he was chasing the scout in the first place. His face flushed and his eyes showed murder, as he took a firm hold on Steve.
"What were you thinking?" he demanded angrily. "Attacking the emperor like that!"
Before anything could happen, an abomination hand suddenly got back the guard and the scout and forced them apart.
"Settle down, little prince," Darius commanded. "No real harm was done."
Hunter could feel his anger growing as he glared at the nine witches. It was the Oracle head who spoke next.
"What I believe Darius is implying is that the emperor had survived worse."
The healing head nodded and let out a sigh. "And this might get the emperor to stay in bed. Why the man never let healers look him over when he's hurt is something I would never understand."
The others in the area tuned out the healer as she went into a rant, and the Oracle head focused on the scout.
"However, we can't excuse your actions," he said firmly, "You would be joining Wrath in cleaning the castle. And if it's not up to the emperor's standards you would be on vault duty for a year."
"Steve," the scout said dejectedly, and with slumped shoulders he dragged himself into the castle.
The oracle nodded and popped out his scroll, taking care of one finally loose end.
"How about a group picture!" Adrian suddenly piped in, and got odd stares back. "You know, because it feels right."
The head witches groaned, but several began to work spells. Soon, a stage was created and the witches felt proud of what they created.
The stage had a small platform in front of the Emperor's coven's sigil, and two large abominations stood at each side of the stage. In the abomination hands were literal weeping willows, and behind the creatures were illusions of rushing water geysers.
Everyone got into place as a scout set up the camera. Hunter stood on the platform with Luz to his right, and the "knocked-down" human holding her little brother. In front of them were the coven heads; the head of the bard, abomination, beast-keeping-standing on Darius' shoulder-and the healer all stood tall. Kneeling in front of their fellow witches were the plant, illusionist, potion and construction head. Finally, the Oracle head was off to the right, far enough away to be in the picture but not part of it.
The scout finished setting things up and with one shout of "moldy cheese" took the picture. The creature camera throw-up the picture a second later, and the scout took it. He blinked twice under his mask and did a double take when he saw some…weird; Steve had bonked Raine Whispers.
The scout just shrugged it off and went to get copies made for everyone, owl family included.
Eda dive-bombed for courtyard with a scream of bloody murder. She slowed enough to insure her leg didn't break off as she nearly crushed landed. Behind her, Lilith descented at a much slower pace.
Eda began to widely swing her staff around. "Okay, you no-good-excuses-of-witches, if even one hair on either of my kids is out of place, you're-wow, Lily, did we step into that Healer Why episode where everything is upside-down?"
"You know I don't follow that show," Lilith replied, but couldn't hide her own confusion, "though this wasn't what I was expecting."
Around the Clawthorne sisters were the nine heads, talking about various topics relating to the covention…except for Raine, they were nursing a large bump on their head . But, the most shocking thing was Hunter reading to Luz.
"Ahh, just the witches we requested to see," the Oracle Head said casually, as he walked up to Eda and Lilith.
The two witches readied themselves for a fight, but the head witch just held up a hand, and offered the two a kind smile.
"Know that the kidnapping of your family members was done by an…overzealous scout and he is being disciplined as we speak. You are free to go after we settle one final matter."
The coven head made a circle and a bill appeared in front of the two witches. Eda and Lilith looked at it, and Eda was so surprised her jaw nearly fell off, if her sister had kept it in place.
"This is highway robbery!" Eda shouted angrily. "It's been barely 30 minutes, so what do you need this much for?"
"The emperor's coven heads are busy witches," the oracle replied calmly. "And let not forget all of the trauma that ALL of your children had caused over the last two days."
Even though it implied to both witches, the head was looking at Lilith when he said "children". Eda didn't notice because she was shaking with near fury when she suddenly calmed down and grinned a grin that made the oracle head a little uneasy.
"I will pay…if you tell me who stole my kids."
The owl lady's tone was even and sweet, it made the head witch more uneasy but he pointed to the castle.
"It was Wrath. He's on the third floor heading to Eberwolf's private bathroom."
Eda's grin turned murderously as she snatched a pouch of snails from her hair. She tossed it to Lilith and jumped, going harpy and flying to the castle. Lilith rolled her eyes and counted out the snails Eda gave her. Once she knew there was enough for the payment, she handed the pouch to the head witch and looked toward Luz.
"Luzura, come along now. We have errands we still need to run."
Several groans were heard, and even Hunter seemed a little sad when Luz walked over to her aunt. This made Lilith smile as she realized no matter the age, Luz had a way of sneaking into people's hearts, enemies included.
"You know Eda is going to try and kill Wrath, right?" Lilith told the coven head casually.
The Oracle had just waved off the former head's concern. "Wrath's no way near that area yet."
Like the titan wanted to prove him wrong, the oracle head heard a blood-curdling scream followed by a bird screech.
"...Or he could have been heading in that direction," the Oracle witch stated awkwardly.
(M Corner)
Yup, that was the whole reason I gave Steve the pipe, just so he could Belos a good one to the private zone. It is always satisfying to have your theories even partially right; I knew Darius and Raine aren't related, but it hint-dropped that there was more to him than we were first led to believe. Also, the way the coven heads were setup for the picture is my take on who will betray Belos and who will remain loyal to him.