Zephyr and the Ringsmiths!

[Cachinnus]

Which could be the name of a really cool band.

I wrote this scene because it was flitting around in my mind. Perhaps I'll expand it into a full blown fanfiction, but right now there's no plot or anything, just this scene. As such, I feel like it could be better if I spent more time on it, but I just wanted to get it out because it was fresh in my mind. In any case, I hope you enjoy!

Oh! Before I forget! The cast of characters, in order of appearance:

Zephyr (Original Character)
Harror
Morag
Pruitt
Yaki
Magam

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Zephyr's eyes fluttered as she came to in a groggy daze.

"Good morning, sister."

Exhaustion and confusion were replaced by fear as her eyes snapped open. She knew that voice. "Harror."

"Very perceptive. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Zephyr tensed, noticing for the first time the shackles on her arms and legs. She was suspended in the air, yet unable to move. Her wings, too, were stretched behind her, almost painfully. Harror stood before her. "Where am I?" Zephyr demanded.

"In a place you don't need to concern yourself with." Harror's voice was cool and slick, as though she had been waiting for this for quite some time, and wanted to drag out the pleasure, instead of experiencing it all at once.

"I think it does concern me!"

"Still have that temper, I see." The prisoner struggled against her bonds, bringing a smile out of Harror. "Do you like them? It was Morag who strung you up, but he allowed me first inquisition. It was easy to convince him I'd get information."

"Where am I?" Zephyr's eyes were narrowed to slits, and her voice dripped venom.

Harror ignored her. "What are you and your friends trying to accomplish here?" When there was no response, she changed the subject. "Tell me, sister, how long has it been?"

Zephyr’s voice was hesitant. "Since I earned my wings."

"Since you earned your wings!" Harror shouted. Fury had contorted her face, and her voice crackled with lightning. "And what of mine? Where are my wings? We were supposed to earn them together! That's why we called ourselves sisters! Because we did everything together!"

The prisoner sighed. Painful memories entered her head. Times of when she and Harror had been so close, two outcasts that had banded together and made a pact. A pact to never leave the other behind. Her voice was heavy as she spoke. "You were too proud."

"And you weren't?! They mocked you just as much as they did me! That’s why we agreed to get our wings, remember? So we could be better than them!"

Zephyr's eyes were filled with sadness as she looked at her old friend. "Yes, but the trials taught me modesty, and I was humbled to receive my wings. Their jeers gave me strength, not bitterness and resentment."

"Oh, shut up." Harror's face sneered in contempt. "I don't need to be lectured by you of all people."

"Harror..."

"So how are they? Do they make you feel better about yourself? Bigger? You always wanted to be bigger. Is it nice flying with them? It’s just as well I never earned my own. The Core’s power has given me more strength than a bunch of feathers ever could. Besides, I wouldn’t even be able to use them. I can't even fly any more." It was hard to make out, but Zephyr could swear she had heard a hint of brooding.

"Oh, Harror..."

"Shut up!” she snapped. “I don't need your pity. The Core has given me more than enough to compensate for my loss of flight," Harror said, a condescending grin on her face.

Zephyr shook her head. "But at what price?"

"No matter," she said, condescension turning into maliciousness. "Tell me what you and your friends are doing."

The Arderian ringsmith closed her eyes. "I can't."

Harror smiled wide. "I was hoping you'd say that." She withdrew a long blade. "I like your wings. They're pretty. It would be a shame to lose them."

Zephyr tensed, her voice catching in her throat. "No, not my wings. Don't take my wings from me."

"Come. Join me, sister." Harror's voice was seductive. Her hand drew across Zephyr's bare midriff as she made her way behind her. The Arderian shuddered at the shadow magi's touch. "Together, we'd be so feared." Her voice became a whisper. "We'd be unstoppable."

"No," Zephyr said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

"Oh well," Harror said. She brought the blade down. Zephyr screamed.


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"Zephyr!" Pruitt shouted when she saw the Arderian ringsmith strung up in the air. She ran towards the girl, her footsteps loud in the open room.

“Pru!” Yaki hissed. He was tentative in following. They had been looking for the Arderian ringsmith for days. Finding her here, out in the open -- well, it just didn’t look good. He looked to Magam, but she had already joined the Naroomian ringsmith’s side.

“Yaki, we need your help,” Pruitt said, and Yaki, giving a quick look around with his glowing green eyes, stalked silently over towards them.

“I don’t know, Pru,” Yaki said once he reached their side. “I don’t like this set up, you know? She’s been gone how long, and then we find her strung up in the open for us like this? It seems too much like a trap to me.”

“We can’t leave her, though,” Pruitt said, her voiced torn between sympathy and logic.

“The corestalker’s right,” Magam said, looking around. “But if a trap has been set, then we’ve pretty much already walked right into it.”

Yaki nodded. Reaching up, he absorbed Zephyr’s shackles, the restraints crackling and turning into dark flames before they were absorbed in Yaki’s hands. Zephyr slumped into Magam’s waiting arms like a rag doll. The Caldan ringsmith grunted. “She feels lighter, somehow.”

Pruitt was quick in casting a healing spell, her hands aglow as she transferred energy from herself to the unconscious magi.

Zephyr groaned. “Wha, what’s going on?”

“Relax,” Pruitt said, her voice soothing as she lay her hand upon Zephyr’s brow, nearly drawing it back in alarm. The girl felt like she was on fire. She looked towards Magam, stoic Magam, who seemed not to have been fazed. She probably hadn’t noticed it, being from Cald. Most skin probably felt cool to her. Another spell set her hands aglow, this one to take down the fever. “Relax,” she said again. “You’re with friends.”

Zephyr’s eyes shot open, and she drew back in fear. “Harror!”


“Harror’s not here,” Magam said, keeping a firm hold on the girl. “It’s just us three, me, Pruitt, and Yaki.”

There was a moment of silence as Zephyr comprehended before she said, “I told her.” Tears formed in her eyes and sobs began to grow in her throat. She lurched forward, hugging Magam tightly. The Caldan, unused to such emotion, felt awkward. Not sure what to do, she rubbed the Arderian’s back, and froze. “I told her everything!”

“No, Zephyr. You didn’t...” Pruitt started, but stopped at a sharp look from Magam.

“Your wings,” Magam said softly.

“She took them from me,” Zephyr sobbed. “She took my wings from me!”

“What?” Pruitt said. “What do you--” but stopped. There in Yaki’s hands was Zephyr’s right wing, quite removed from her body. “Oh, no,” Pruitt said. “Oh, no.” She looked at Zephyr’s back, trying to figure out what had happened. There, in the dim ambient light of the room, she could see the beginnings of Zephyr’s wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. But where they would have blossomed into beautiful white feathers were instead nothing more than bloody stumps.

[Cachinnus]

New scene!!! About two pages long, written much like the first scene, really rushed and quick like just to get it out of my head. Please excuse the poor grammar and spelling, though I did try to proofread before putting it up.

Two scenes from one story idea?! Maybe this is enough spark to get something going!! Perhaps I'll try to make it a point to write at least one scene every week or so. But in that case, I'll probably have to figure out some sort of beginning and go from there.

Quick set up - Harror drops Zephie's belt into a fissure, cause it's an awesome word and a Myst reference.


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Zephyr wasted no time in following. She rushed past Harror, who had taken a step aside to watch. Zephyr didn't care. The only thing on her mind was the belt, which was getting smaller and smaller as she plummeted down the abyss. Zephyr cursed and pushed herself harder. It was not a clean drop. Rocks and ledges jutted out at inopportune times, and Zephyr was hard pressed to avoid the jagged obstacles in her chase. Fortunately they aided more than hampered, as her belt bouncing off the obstructions seemed to slow its descent.

The ringsmith was nearly upon it when it wrapped around a sharp ledge. She grasped it in her hand, but could not turn around quick enough. The momentum of her flight whipped her body against the hard rock wall, stealing her breath and stunning her momentarily. There was a tearing sound, and Zephyr was not sure if it was her belt or her arm trying to rip itself out of its socket. A moment passed before her mallet landed solidly on her shoulder before her belt dragged her down a few feet.

plink, plink

Small flashes of light caught the Arderian's attention. With horror, she realized one of the belt's pouches had torn loose, and a number of her rings were continuing the descent into the fissure. A quick look at which pouch had torn, and Zephyr had dropped her belt in favor of the flashing objects. She searched desperately for the one with a green stone, the only one she truly cared about, but it was fruitless in the dim ambient light. The only option left for her was to collect as many as she could and pray that one of them held her precious tree hinko.

She grabbed one, and without a second thought slipped it on her finger and summoned a vellup. "Rings," she gasped out, and the creature set immediately to work.

Zephyr was reaching out for another ring before a slight flash of green caught her eyes. With reckless abandonment, she changed course. The ring continued to bounce its way downward, and Zephyr wished dearly to have her wings back. She was so much faster with them, and more maneuverable, too. She gasped in pain as her side scraped against the rock wall, but pushed herself onward, lest that pail green and gold flicker of light be lost to her forever. She had no doubt in her mind she would be on her way skyward, everything accounted for, if only she had her wings. As such, she struggled desperately to catch up to the falling ring, trusting her vellup to collect all that she couldn't.

The soft sound of metal hitting stone resounded through the chasm, echoing and reverberating like a hundred tiny bells. A small symphony of notes, but Zephyr didn't have time to listen. Her thoughts were only on the one, which seemed to get closer with every note it rang out. Wind whipped through her hair, and she worked the stumps that remained of her wings, forgetting that they were no longer there to aid her. The ring bounced awkwardly off the wall, and Zephyr reached out with her hand, exploding with joy as her fingers wrapped around the cool piece of metal. A large flat ledge was beneath her, and Zephyr knew with her speed it was something she could not avoid. She flipped in the air, landing flat on her back against the ledge. Pain exploded through her body, a numb shock that left her breathless and paralyzed. She recognized the sharp metallic taste of blood in her mouth, and her back was arched uncomfortably with the slight lift her stumps gave. She was sure her head had split judging from the pain at the base of her skull, and the rest of her body was in no better condition.

A warm, furry body pressed itself against her cheek, and a soft coo told her that Jispo was at her side. Funny, she didn't remember putting the ring on her finger. Despite her hinko's efforts, Zephyr couldn't move. She lay there paralyzed and bleeding, her breath coming in short gasps. A few moments passed before her vellup returned, bringing with it most of the rings that had spilled from her pouch. She had lost a few, but at least she had retrieved the ones she needed most. Zephyr could not help but look skyward as it was the only direction she was facing. The top of the fissure looked so far away; just a small sliver of light. Had she really gone that far down? A dark shadow obstructed the view for an instant, and Zephyr's eyes widened.

"Go," she hissed. Neither dream creature moved. "Now!"

The Arderian shut her eyes tight once they were gone, and tried to limit her breathing to as light as possible. It was not long before Harror's dark ayebaw was circling above the motionless ringsmith. Zephyr opened her left eye ever so slightly. She could see it circling above, obviously checking for signs of life. A few rotations, and then it was gone. Zephyr waited for the shadow to disappear over the top of the chasm before breathing a sigh of relief that promptly caught itself in her throat once Harror's minuscule head appeared for a moment, but then she was gone. If Zephyr could melt, she would have made a puddle on the wide ledge. Her dream creatures had returned to her for a second time, Jispo continuing to mash his head against hers, and the vellup dropping the rings by her side.

It was a while before she could sit up, let alone stand, and even longer still before she had worked up the strength and courage to fly her way out of the fissure. She spotted her belt along her way, and she sat on a ledge as she tried to assess the damage done to it. It was banged up and bruised, some of the pouches had torn, and she had lost some tools along with those rings. But it was still whole, and the mallet still hung from the loop that bore it. At least she hadn't lost that.

Wrapping the belt around her waist, Zephyr suddenly felt safer, more secure and confident. With Jispo's encouraging chirp, she continued her ascent. As she neared the top of the fissure, she slowed, listening hard for signs of life above. She heard nothing, but she was still tentative as her head breached the surface. Fortunately no one was there. She was alone.

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I promise it gets happier!!!

[Vauz]

man these are great. really need to continue with this and link the scenes together!