Chapter Ten: Owl House Down


Mattias threw his arm forward, sending the two abominations running at Eda. She swung her staff, and a wave of fire incinerated the creations. Before she could move her assault onto their creator, innumerable bramble vines shot in her direction. She vanished in a slash of light before they could reach her, reappearing behind Mandrake. She struck him with her staff and knocked him aside, vanishing again before Sanguinus could strike with his sword.

"Don't let her confuse you! Go all out!" shouted Mattias. In a burst of violet flames, his staff appeared in his hand. Before rushing into the fray, he glanced over at Grace. "Go. Bind her."

Letting out a chuckle, Grace disappeared into the forest. Eda, dodging sonic blasts from Loxton, was almost caught off-guard as Mattias appeared beside her, his staff clashing against hers. Their faces met, Eda's snarl inches from Mattias' sneer. A blast of flame came from Eda, blowing her opponent back. After skidding to a stop, Mattias spun his staff above his head, sending a flurry of magic projectiles towards Eda.

Caelano created more of her glass-like barriers as the missiles battered everything in the clearing. They missed Eda entirely, who launched herself into the air to avoid them. Caelano spread her wings and followed the Owl Lady, intercepting her in midair before she could fire any spells on the Inquisitors below. Eda shot a fireball in her direction, only for Caelano to dodge it in two directions; one was a duplicate. Caelano and her clone rounded Eda, firing bolts of magic at her, most of which she deflected, but a few of which hit their mark.

Still being held by the scruff of her neck like a kitten, Luz could only watch this battle take place. Ophelia held her in such a way that prevented her from reaching her glyph pouch, though not for lack of trying. "Come on, come on, just a little further!" Fortunately for her, the ongoing battle had drawn Ophelia's attention, giving her ample time to reach out. Her fingers brushed against the slips of paper...and eventually closed around one.

Luz didn't take the time to see which one it was, quickly slapping it against the side of the monster's head. It turned out to be a fire glyph; Ophelia screeched and dropped the girl to the ground, where she quickly scrambled away from her former captor. Unfortunately, this meant she ran into another threat.

"Hello, little one." Luz almost fell backward at the sudden, eerily calm voice of Shrike. He slowly stepped towards her, his cape of leaves rustling. "You seem to be in over your head, don't you?"

Luz's eyes narrowed when she recognized him from Amity's description. "Shank!" she shouted, her hand going to her glyphs. "Stay away from Amity, you hear me!?"

"Oh?" Shrike cocked his head to the side. "Am I to believe that you and young miss Blight are acquaintances? Now, isn't that interesting…"

"Shut up!" Luz threw a fire glyph towards him. Without even flinching, Shrike held up a hand. The ball of fire froze in midair, hovering between the two.

"You are a clever one, child, that much I will give you." Shrike closed his hand, and the fire snuffed out. "Clever, but foolish, if you believe that you can stand up against Belos."

Just then, two objects crashed into the ground. One was Caelano, hitting a tree hard enough to break it in half. The other was Eda, landing back in the clearing's center. She stood firm as the Inquisitors ran in towards her, while Stygma rushed towards Caelano.

"Maybe, but I'm not gonna be the one taking on Belos," Luz said. "She is."

Shrike let out a small laugh. "You really think she has the courage to go up against him? You may be clever, but you truly know nothing about our world." He twirled his staff around in one hand, a fireball appearing in the other. "Consider this a lesson."

Luz was able to easily dodge the fireball Shrike hurled at her, but she was unprepared for him leaping up into the air, hurling his staff at her like a spear. With a yelp, she stumbled to the side as it buried itself into the earth just beside her. Like lightning, he instantly shot from above to the staff, grabbing her by the arm and hurling her aside.

Before she could get her bearings, or even land, Luz felt something grab her once again; bulky fingers wrapped around her waist, in addition to pinning her arms to her side. "What Inquisitor Shrike says is true, Luz the Human," said Briares, bringing her up to arm level. "You and Edalyn Clawthorne are no match for Emperor Belos."

"Lemme go!" Luz said, trying to squirm free of Briares' grasp. "Me and Eda'll take you on, just watch! We'll beat all nine of you!"

"Even if you are able to defeat us all," growled Briares, "do you believe Emperor Belos will be any more merciful than us?"

Just as Sanguinus leapt at her, Eda sent him flying with another shockwave. She scorched the vines Mandrake sent her way, and deflected one of Loxton's sound blasts back at him. "What were you saying about these guys being 'Belos' finest warriors?'" she asked Mattias, smirking slightly.

Mattias looked as though he was about to lunge at her again, but managed to keep his composure. "They might surprise you," he said, his smirk matching Eda's. His gaze travelled to something behind her, tipping her off.

Eda dove to the side just as the tip of a glowing purple chain slammed into the ground where she just stood. Grace, previously unseen, leapt from a nearby tree branch, a pair of chains emanating from twin spell circles in each hand. She swung them at Eda like a flail, and she sprang into the air to avoid the attack. Eda followed up by sending a flurry of fireballs at the elderly Inquisitor.

Far more agile than her appearance would seem, Grace leapt from tree to tree to dodge the fireballs. She crawled along the tree trunks on all fours before vanishing once again, far faster than even a much younger witch could move naturally. It also seemed her lack of sight didn't hinder her movement in any way. "Hold still, granny!" Eda said in annoyance.

Her onslaught was cut short when a vine wrapped around her ankle, yanking her out of the air and slamming her against the ground. She only just had time to roll aside as Mandrake, gauntlets made of bark wrapped around his arms, drove his fist into the earth. She got to her feet to face him.

Mandrake didn't say anything, only growling as he ran towards her. Eda shot a fireball at him, which he battered aside, slamming his gauntlet into the side of her face. She was thrown aside, coming to a stop when her body hit a large tree. She brought up a hand to her bruised cheek, looking up to glare at Mandrake. "Oh, you're really gonna wish you didn't just do that!"

Eda rushed towards Mandrake, dodging past the vines that sprang up in her path. She brought her staff hard down on his head, following up with a strike to his chest that sent him flying. A vine shot up, grabbing Mandrake by the waist and pulling him back towards Eda. She ducked underneath his punch, sending a magically-charged strike into his back.

There was no time to rest, as Eda had to leap to the side once again to avoid Ophelia's jaws from snapping shut around her. The beast stalked around her, waiting for an opportunity to strike again. She lunged, and Eda leapt backwards, using the tree behind her as a springboard to throw herself over Ophelia. She whirled around in midair to fire a spell at the monster, only for an ethereal chain to suddenly wrap around her wrist.

Eda landed, thankfully on her feet, as Grace tried to reel her in. She pulled against the chain as Ophelia readied herself for another pounce. She steadied herself, waiting for the right moment, and...right as Ophelia launched herself at her, she yanked hard on the chain. She pulled Grace from her perch, swinging her around herself like a flail before slamming the Inquisitor into the beast's side. Both Ophelia and Grace tumbled to the side as Eda pulled the chain from her wrist.

"Oh, Eda!" called Mattias. Eda turned around to see him and Briares standing side to side, Luz held by the latter. "You're doing wonderfully so far, just as powerful as you always were. But I'm afraid we'll have to cut our little roughhousing session short. We wouldn't want your little pet getting hurt, would we?" He held out a spell circle close to Luz's cheek.

"Luz…!" Eda gasped. For a moment, it looked like she was about to drop her guard.

"Don't listen to him, Eda!" shouted Luz, having stopped struggling. "Belos wants us alive, they said so!"

Mattias laughed. "Do you really believe that?" he said. "I mean, sure, he said he does, but do you really think he cares about some ollryn? Eda, you and I both know you're the one he really wants. Isn't that right?"

It was only for a second, but Mattias let down his guard. He waved his arm dismissively when speaking of Luz, taking the spell circle away from her face just long enough for Eda to act. She unleashed a massive torrent of flames towards him, a sound like an owl's cry echoing from the blast.

"High Inquisitor Mattias!" Mattias saw Eda's attack coming before Mattias. He dropped Luz, throwing himself in front of his master. The flames washed over his back as he cried out in pain. Mattias, only just realizing he had almost been hit, retreated from the fire. Briares fell to his knees as Luz sprinted to Eda's side.

"Are y-" Eda's words were cut off as a blast of pure sound knocked her aside. Luz stumbled back as Loxton prepared to fire another. Eda threw a wave of earth in his direction, knocking him back.

Luz ran up to Eda just as Caelano swooped towards the pair. She leapt into the air, hurling a light glyph forward. The glare blinded her long enough for Eda to batter her aside with a blast of wind. Mandrake and Sanguinus then ran in their direction.

With Luz to her back, Eda held up her staff. Mandrake threw a punch, his wooden gauntlet cracked upon slamming into the staff, and Eda battered him away. Behind her, Luz threw a plant glyph to the ground, a tree sprouting up between her and Sanguinus. With a single swing of his blade, he easily cleaved through it, but was blasted away by Eda before he could grab Luz.

"Hey!" The two turned towards where Briares lay, and found Stygma flying in their direction. Behind her, Briares stood up and picked up his sword. Eda launched a blast of fire at her, but Stygma disappeared into the ground to evade it. She flew up underneath Eda, delivering a punch with both of her right arms. Eda fell back, and Stygma prepared to fire a blast at her.

Before she could, Luz threw an ice glyph towards her. A glacier rose up from the ground, freezing Stygma in place. Just as Luz rejoined Eda, though, Stygma shattered the ice into pieces. Each shard of ice hovered in the air for a moment, before Stygma sent them flying at the pair. Luz braced herself, and Eda conjured a massive pillar of flame. The icicles passed through the fire, washing harmlessly over the two as water.

Then they heard it: Loxton's music rang through the clearing, accompanied by the heavy footsteps of a newly-healed Briares, enveloped in a red aura. He picked up his pace as he raised his hammer above his head. Luz threw ice glyphs to try and trip him up, but Loxton's music strengthened him, letting him smash through the blockages.

Just as he brought the hammer down, Eda surrounded herself and Luz with a barrier. The hammer's impact shook the entire clearing, and caused several cracks to spread through the top of the barrier, but it held. Both Eda and Briares pushed against each other's power.

Briares noticed something, and fell back-Eda luckily kept the barrier up, as numerous magic missiles slammed against the shield. Eda staggered as more cracks appeared, the barrier beginning to come undone. Mattias stepped out of the forest as he sent more and more blasts towards them, grinning all the while. "I gave you every opportunity to come with us on your terms," he said. "Now we do things the hard way."

Mattias stopped his barrage. Luz, who had been unable to do anything other than watch, stood up. "Eda, are you-"

"Watch out!" Eda shoved her away just as Ophelia charged into the barrier, shattering it into pieces. Both Eda and Luz fell backwards from the impact. Luz quickly scrambled to her feet, throwing a fire glyph at the beast. Ophelia had grown wise, though, and ducked to the side before rushing at Luz. She slapped the human with her tail, sending her tumbling to the edge of the clearing.

"Ngh...Luz…" Eda shakily got to her feet, using her staff to prop herself up. Before she had time to go after the girl, she felt something slam into her, sending her flying. She skidded to a halt as Mattias prepared to lunge again.

"What's wrong, Eda?" he asked. "Is the great Owl Lady getting tired?"

"You wish!" Drawing a spell circle with her staff, Eda sent a massive blast of fire at Mattias. Without even flinching, Mattias sent a fire blast of his own towards her, the purple flames piercing through Eda's yellow ones and colliding with the witch. Eda was thrown back, colliding with a nearby tree.

"Eda!" Luz stood up, hurling an explosion glyph at Mattias. He turned just as it hit, being consumed in the blast.

However, more music began to play as the smoke cleared. Mattias, glowing crimson, was unharmed by the explosion. What little damage he had sustained was being repaired by Stygma, streams of blue energy travelling from spell circles in her hands to Mattias' body. He smirked in the human's direction, before turning his attention back to Eda.

Eda regained her bearings and ran towards Mattias, but something wrapped itself around her before she could get far. Grace, also glowing red, had sent several chains towards Eda, binding her arms and legs. She struggled to break free, but the chains only seemed to grow tighter as she did so. Unable to escape, she had Owlbert detach from her staff, the palisman flying up towards Grace.

Before he could reach Eda's captor, Caelano swooped in, snatching the owl up in her talon. She landed on the ground near Luz, who ran at her to try and free him. "Hey! Let go of him!" However, Caelano simply aimed a spell circle at Luz, which turned into a bright flash of light.

Blinded, Luz staggered before falling to the ground. "Unpleasant, isn't it?" she could hear Caelano say. She tried to reach for a glyph, but realized it would be pointless if she couldn't see.

Eda's magic was severely hindered now that she was separated from her palisman; her staff was little more than a stick now. In addition to the chains binding her, Mandrake had wrapped her in a layer of vines, while Stygma had encased her lower body in ice. Briares stood nearby, preparing to strike should she somehow escape. Loxton's music empowered every single one of the Inquisitors, and Caelano still held Owlbert. Sanguinus watched Luz, preparing to make a move should she try to interfere. And Mattias stood before them all, looking rather pleased with himself.

"After all that bluster and bravado, the great Owl Lady finds herself incapacitated after all," he said, smirking. "Now that continuing to fight is hopeless, do you think you're finally ready to listen to reason?"

The thorns on the vines scratched at Eda's hands as she tried to free them. "And what makes you think it's hopeless?" she said. "You don't think I have some sort of trick up my sleeve or something?"

Mattias chuckled. "You're in no position for any tricks," he said. "But, if you still insist on being difficult...Shrike? The potion."

"Of course." Shrike, stood beside Mattias despite having previously been unseen, reached into his coat and produced a vial of bright yellow elixir. He uncorked the bottle and approached the bound witch.

"Just a few sips, now," Mattias said. "We wouldn't want her to go full owl beast on us now, would we?"

Although her vision was still blurry, Luz was beginning to regain her sight. "No...Get away from her!" She ran forward, but something large blocked her path. Ophelia growled lightly, and Sanguinus approached the human.

"Don't interfere," he warned. He didn't sound angry, but concerned. "It won't end well for you." Luz grasped at her side for a glyph, but Eda's voice caught her attention.

"Luz?" Eda asked calmly. "You over there?"

"Y-yeah," she said. "I'm here. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "It'll take more than these guys to keep me down!" She chuckled humorlessly. "Luz, listen to me. In a moment here, I'm gonna need you to run, okay? Run as fast and as far as you can, and don't stop until you lose them. Do you understand?"

"What?" Luz's heart sank. "But w-what about you? Where will-"

"Don't worry about me," she said. "Like I said, these guys can't hold me for long. But you need to run. I'll come find you as soon as I can."

"Enough of his!" said Mattias. "Shrike, give her the potion, now!"

"Eda!" Luz ran around Ophelia towards her mentor. As Shrike was reaching up to force-feed her the potion, her hands began to glow. Her body crackled with energy, and her bindings began to come undone. Shrike was distracted just long enough for Eda to look up at Luz.

Eda's eyes glowed yellow. Ice melted, vines burned, and chains broke. "GO!"

Luz could feel the heat in the air. She stepped back, running into Sanguinus. She spun around, preparing for him to try and stop her. He considered her for a moment...before nodding in the direction of the forest.

She did as Eda said, and ran. As much as she would have liked to stay and help, she knew that would have been a bad idea. Her thoughts were confirmed as the space around Eda erupted into a pillar of pure energy. The trees, and Inquisitors, nearby were blown back. The force of the explosion even threw Luz, who was fairly far away by that point, into the distance. She didn't stop to assess her wounds-she got to her feet and kept running, just as Eda said.


"So," asked Gus, "anyone have any ideas?"

"Sort of," said Amity. "I figure that I can use my connections with Miss Lilith to learn more about them, then we can-"

"Hold on, we should save the brainstorming for when Luz is around!" said Willow.

The three young witches walked through the woods towards the Owl House to meet with Luz, ready to discuss their plans to defeat the Inquisition. As they walked, something about the woods seemed off. All three of them felt it, but only Willow was able to put it into words.

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

"I don't hear anything," Gus said, shrugging.

"Exactly," Willow said. "It's usually a lot noisier around this part of the woods. But I can't hear anything either."

"Do you think that-" Amity started to say.

"Shh!" Gus quickly pulled the two of them into the nearby bushes-tried to, at least. Amity and Willow realized something was wrong, and hid beside him. They were almost at the Owl house by now, and the off feeling had gotten even worse.

"What's the matter?" asked Amity.

"Voices," Gus whispered. "Not Luz or Eda. Someone's over there by the house."

"What?" Amity said, confused. "Wait here, I'm going to go take a look."

"Amity, wait!" Despite Willow's insistence, Amity crept out from the trio's hiding place and slowly made her way up to the Owl House. She began to hear the voices as well-she didn't recognize any of them, nor could she make out what they were saying. She got closer to the point where she could see the house-and had to stifle a gasp.

In addition to the door being completely gone, a trio of figures stood guard outside the front. Two of them she didn't recognize, but one was unmistakably Loxton. Inquisitors.

"So, find anything good in there?" asked one of them, a plant man, to someone inside the house.

"If you're so impatient, maybe come in here and look for yourself," said a woman's voice." The man went quiet.

Loxton chuckled. "She doesn't care much for ya, does she?"

"Meh," the man said. "Not for lack of trying."

The third Inquisitor, an elderly woman, turned around. Although her mask had no eyeholes, it seemed as though she was looking directly at Amity. "And who might you be?" she asked.

Amity stifled another gasp, and retreated back into the bushes, her heart pounding. The other two turned around to look as well. "Eh? You see sommat, Grace?" asked Loxton.

"Just that girl," Grace said conversationally.

"I'm sure you did," the plant man said, rolling his eyes. "Trust me, that human's not coming back here any time soon. We'll need to comb the woods if we want to find her."

Amity, as quickly and quietly as she could, made her way back to the others. Before either of them could ask her what had happened, she said "We have to get out of here, right now."

"Huh?" said Gus. "What's wrong?"

"The Inquisitors are here," said Amity, urging the two of them out of the bushes and back down the path they had come. "They're in the house, but I don't think they have Luz yet."

"What!?" said Willow, trying to keep her voice down. "Well, where is Luz, then?"

"I don't know, I think she ran somewhere," Amity said. "Maybe Eda too, b-but I really don't know, I had to get out of there before they saw me!"

Willow glanced back at the Owl House as they retreated. "Luz…"

"We'll find her," Amity said. "I know it."

"I wonder where she is now?" Gus pondered.


"Just...just gotta...keep going…" Luz muttered to herself, trudging through the bog.

Luz wasn't sure how long she had been running. Given the stitch in her side, it felt like an hour, maybe two. She didn't even know where she was-she didn't recognize this part of the woods. Was this near where the Bat Queen lived? No, there hadn't been a river near there. Wherever she was, she could only hope that the Inquisitors weren't on her tail.

She knew it couldn't be helped. If she had stayed to fight, they would have caught her too. Still, she couldn't help but feel like such a coward for leaving Eda behind. Was she alright? Did she really get away, or did she only say that so Luz would escape?

Luz tripped over a rock in the stream, almost falling into the water. She kept herself upright just long enough to step out of the river and collapse next to a tree. Not only was she exhausted, but she was unsure of how badly she had been hurt in the fight. For a moment, she felt like she was going to pass out right there in the grass. The sleep would have been welcome, at least. She almost did, but a familiar voice kept her awake.

"Luz?"

Her groggy eyes looked up to an approaching figure with pink skin, auburn hair, and a small pair of horns. "T...Tia?" she said weakly.

"Is that you? Oh, Titan, what happened, you look terrible!" The girl dropped what she was carrying and ran over to her. "Luz, are you okay?"

"I've been worse," Luz said. She tried to stand up, but found that her legs wouldn't listen to her.

"O-okay, that seems like a yes," Tia said worriedly. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safe." She slung Luz's arm over her shoulder, lifting the girl up. "What happened?"

But Luz was too out of it to answer. She found herself drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to form coherent thoughts. All she could do was try to walk along as Tia carried her out of the forest.

What happened next was a blur. Luz had flashes of lucidity here and there, but they only appeared as pictures. Tia carrying her into town. The Nocturna residence. A few more figures rushing over to her. A kindly-looking man looking her over with concern. After that, she couldn't remember anything else.


As the morning sun cast a beam across her face, Luz rolled over in her sleep to keep the light out of her eyes. She stirred in her sleep, eventually waking up. "Mmh?" she mumbled, realizing that she was in an unfamiliar room. It was fairly small, with a little staircase leading to a door across from her. It seemed to be a basement, but it looked cozy rather than dysmal. It wasn't dusty, at least.

Although she wanted to get up, the blankets felt heavy on her weary form, and she rested her head back on the pillow. How long have I been asleep? She wondered. Given how low the sun seemed, she would have guessed it was evening, but it seemed too bright for that. She must have slept all day yesterday and all through the night. That wasn't a surprise, given how tired she had been.

After her long rest, she felt much better than she had the previous day. She reached up to scratch an itch on her shoulder, and found a bandage across her skin. She checked herself over, and found that several more bandages dotted her body. Tia or one of her family must have fixed her up. As rested as she felt, a few more hours of sleep would be welcome. She closed her eyes, lulled by a gentle tapping sound coming from the window.

Tapping sound? Luz slowly sat up. There, just outside the window, a tiny paper swan tapped against the glass with its beak. Recognizing the origami creation, Luz opened the window. The swan flew in, unfolding into a letter in her hands:

"Eda and Hooty are safe with me. The Inquisitors have Owlbert, and we don't know where King is. She's safe, but she says it's too dangerous to come here, and to stay safe. K.M."


AN: Is there a better day than Valentine's Day for a chapter about family being separated and hope being lost? I certainly can't think of one.