The Black Rabbit of Glomdoring: Part 1

By Stratas Shee-Slaugh

 

Enlay wasn't supposed to be here alone, of this he was certain. Part of that was remembering Nisha telling him so, in her usual shrill, cutting tones. She loved to scold him ahead of time, knowing he was going to find himself in trouble regardless. That way, she could smirk and say "I told you so" in her infuriatingly smug manner.

But she didn't need to bother this time, not yet at any rate. The pigwidgeon itself was telling him, though in a far more creepy manner than Nisha could hope to achieve. "Yoo shouldent bee heer aloone," it whispered raspily, staring at him from beneath the overly floppy flax hat that concealed most of its features. "I toold yoo so!" It crawled closer to him on its hands and feet, reaching out menacingly towards him.

Enlay took a deep breath, trying to act with a confidence he didn't truly possess. He wasn't a fae tender, and was beyond his element here. But the things he did know, he knew well, and from what the Maestro of the Lament had told him, he used his talents to great effect. As the fae's grasping claw approached his soft black fur, he stood up straighter and tried to look imposing.

"You have a dumb hat," he sneered.

The pigwidgeon paused its advance, baffled and perplexed by the sudden comment. Before it had a chance to muster a retort, Enlay continued his ridicule.

"You can't even dress nicely, and you expect me to feel threatened?" He laughed derisively. "You're also dirty, and smell weird. I don't know why I even thought you could serve Mother Night. Maybe I should just go home. I'd rather return to Lhiannan empty-handed than bring YOU back."

"Whait, whait! Dooon't go!" The fae sobbed confusedly as Enlay turned to leave, tugging on the hem of his tunic and pleading desperately, even if a bit unsure as to why. "I can serve herr, I can, I can."

The furrikin sighed resignedly and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he consented in a huff, hurrying to bind the fae before it realized the swindle and attacked again. "Get in the bag, and we'll see if the Queen can put you to work somehow."

Enlay grabbed the pigwidegon and hurriedly stuffed it into his satchel, ignoring the muffled cries of protestation as he further bent the creature's hat out of shape to fit it in the bag, trusting in what he felt was some vague fae magic to make it shrink to a more manageable size. He wanted to present his catch to the queen of slaugh quickly. A sense of impending danger had been growing ever since he stepped foot in the Faethorn, and he wanted to leave before things got much worse for him.

"ENLAY!"

He winced as Nisha's screech tore through the ethereal forest, confirming his suspicions of doom. Quickly, he latched his satchel with the glittering scarab he had been given, relaxed from the tension of his performance, and ran towards the twisting archway of thorns that marked the entrance to ethereal Glomdoring. Standing there to meet him was a deceptively charming young elfen woman, her soft features carefully moulded into a concerned look while her eyes betrayed her exasperation. Next to her, the igasho warrior Campion stood with his scimitars drawn.

Nisha frowned deeply, the lines of her face becoming severe with disapproval. She made a clucking noise with her tongue as she stared down at the lapine furrikin. He tried to stand firm under her gaze, but felt slightly withered; wilting as she watched and tried to find words that weren't as scathing as she would have liked.

"Enlay," she finally said, managing to keep her voice level, "This is not a place to casually travel. There are many dangers on the ethereal plane, especially for one unskilled in the ways of the fae. Such as yourself."

"Ahh, he made it fine, Nisha," countered Campion with a deep chuckle. "He may be just a little thing, but he's got skills where he needs 'em. Don't you, Enlay?"

Enlay bristled in spite of himself. "I caught a pigwidgeon, you know." He patted his his satchel, which gave a discontented grumble.

"It is not about that, you two," Nisha snapped. "There is something wrong here. There is... a different feeling in the air, like something bad is going to happen. Can you not tell?"

Enlay perked his ears up, twitching them lightly and attempting to find what was wrong. Nisha was right, of course. There was still a feeling of dread hanging in the air. He had thought it was due to his trespassing and anxiety over Nisha catching him, but now that she was here, the feeling remained. He glanced at Campion, who had settled into a crouch, swords at the ready. There was definitely something wrong.

"We should leave." Enlay's voice quavered as he stepped towards the thorned archway. He reached out his paw to push aside the swirling mists, then flinched back as though stung. His hand was now totally covered in frost. He hurriedly rubbed it, trying to bring warmth back as he looked around confused.

The mist grew thicker as the black-brown vines that made the arch iced over. Within the depths, a pair of glittering eyes appeared, followed shortly by a lanky, prismatic fae. He had a cheery, lopsided grin that was overly large for his otherwise petite features, and a hawkish comb of multi-coloured hair atop his head. The fae spread his arms wide as he walked forward, motes of light flying from his hands and entirely encasing the archway in ice as he passed.

"I can't be letting you leave, not yet. I don't think that would be very fun for anybody." There was a cheerful malice to his tone. "Hmm, hmm. I know. Why don't we play a game?"

A field of flickering rainbow lights appeared around Nisha, prompting her to whip her athame from her belt and surround herself with an aura of shadows. Campion saw the assault and lunged forward, striking towards the fae who nimbly danced just out of reach. Enlay pulled his shabby lute from his back and quickly began to strum a mournful chord, channelling the chilling wyrden mist to rise up and obscure him and his friends.

The dark mists made no difference to the fae. A simple flick of his wrist sent a prismatic spray flashing through the mist, forcing Enlay to nimbly tumble out of the way. The shadow aura around Nisha flared as it absorbed a brilliant yellow beam. Campion was less fortunate, as a stream of blue light struck him right between the eyes. He reeled for a moment, dizzy from the blow, then roared his frustration, standing to his full height and towering over everyone else. With no care or concern, he began wildly attacking, rushing at the colourful fae and swinging his swords with reckless abandon. The fae merely danced about, tapping his feet to the ground in time to the song Enlay was playing as he dodged the igasho's careless swings. The creature giggled wildly as he sent blast after blast of colour at Campion, until finally he fell into a dazed slump, only twitching occasionally as he tried to recover.

Nisha had taken the opportunity provided to spread a veil of shadows across the twisted path, and then sent tendrils of darkness lashing out, reaching into the trees and bushes and dragging what fae they could find to her, bound in shadows. With a whispered command, she sent a brownie and a pixie towards the offending trickster, while Enlay modified his tune to bolster her entourage. Their foe merely chuckled, knocking aside the pixie's arrows and grabbing the brownie as it reached for him. With a glint in his eye, he sent a flood of light through the shadow bindings, burning them away and causing the brownie to fall to the ground in stunned disbelief. The prismatic fae thrust his hand deep into the veil of shadows, closing his eyes for but a brief moment, and suddenly light flooded the area, banishing the shadows and casting about a myriad of rainbow motes. Enlay threw his hand to his eyes to block out the sudden brightness, dropping his lute and letting his song fade away.

"Now, now, wasn't that a nice change of pace?" The fae smiled benignly, then sat crosslegged on the still twitching igasho. "Don't worry about your friend, I'll make sure he's restored before I leave. But, I do need something from you, my dear Enlay."

"And why would I help you?"

"Now, now, don't be so defensive. I was just playing. What is not playing, though, is that I certainly won't be letting you leave until you agree to help. Just imagine! Lost in Faethorn for all time! Delightful."

Nisha twitched, then briskly tucked her athame back into her belt. She put on her most disapproving face, and stared coldly at the fae. "What do you want?"

"I'm glad you're willing to listen. My name is Rhenboe, prince of sky fae. I've been watching the Forest Communes for a while now, and while I admit both are intriguing in their own way, I happen to find the Glomdoring particularly fascinating. There is something about your, ah, fervent devotion that makes me smile. But, I need to know more. I need to know just how powerful your Wyrd can be. "

"And you expect us to be your test subjects?" Enlay frowned, and tried to mirror Nisha's crossed-arm pose.

"Exactly! I'm glad you're as perceptive as I thought you were, Enlay. So my task should be just as easy for you. I've taken a beam of moonlight, shattered it into three shards, and spread the shards around the Basin of Life. I simply need you to locate and gather the moonlight using that scarab of yours."

Enlay bristled with irritation, chittering angrily to himself at the fae's bold impertinence. Nisha simply stared, features cold and impassive, though her eyes flicked to Enlay as though hoping some of her chill gaze would settle the rabbit-kin. Rhenboe ignored the elfen girl, however, directing his mirthful smile towards Enlay and waiting for a response.

Without warning, Enlay bounded forwards, snapping up his mandolin as he bolted towards Rhenboe. He leapt up slightly, strumming his instrument in mid-air and sending the jarring sonic wave towards the fae, stunning his foe long enough to slam into his stomach and send the both of them bowling over.

Nisha whipped her athame out and rushed towards the fray, gritting her teeth and crying out "F'ai Glomdoring!". She lashed out with two tendrils of shadow, attacking the rainbow fae with one while using the other to entwine Enlay and drag him a safe distance away. Enlay protested loudly, flailing with his instrument and severing the tendril that held him in the air. He fell to the ground with a thump.

A glittering wave of prismatic motes surged from Rhenboe, again driving back Nisha and her shadows. The fae prince stood, wiping a nosebleed with a disappointed grimace.

"I can see you're not going to agree easily, and that's a pity. I really wanted this to be more pleasant. No mercy, though, is the way of the southern forest, and so no mercy shall you receive."

The motes of rainbow light flickered, then swirled about in a dazzling, chaotic display. An intense roar accompanied the maelstrom, followed by an abrupt silence as the motes all winked out of existence at once.

Enlay rubbed his head as he hopped to his feet. He glanced around, then dropped into a wary crouch. The iced over archway and wyrden path in the ethereal Faethorn were gone, replaced by the mud and dirt and stench of manure that marked the well-travelled Ackleberry Triple Junction. Campion was still slumped over, laying face down in the dirt, while Nisha blinked furiously, trying to get spots of light out of her eyes. Rhenboe was nowhere to be seen.

As Enlay looked around at the junction, Campion stirred from his daze. The giant man stood slowly, shaking his head as he tried to clear the fog that clung to his senses. Noticing the others, he peered down at them, first at Nisha who looked back concernedly, and then down at Enlay, almost squinting at the furrikin. He sighed and smacked his head with his palm.

"Oi, I think I must have drank too much. Pardon me, mister and miss, I didn't expect I'd end up so far from home. Sorry to be disturbing you. I'll make my way hom now."

"Campion, what are you talking about?" Nisha hissed, narrowing her eyes. The big man shook his head again.

"Sorry, miss, the name is Khampey. I have to be getting back to Rikenfriez real quick, or my folks will be worried. So if you'll excuse me..."

Campion gave a short bow, then strode off to the southeast, heedless of the elfen girl trailing behind him. As Nisha passed by Enlay, he grabbed her arm and dragged her back. She whirled with a fiery glare, slamming her fist between his ears and causing him to wince terribly.

"Hey, hey," he mumbled, trying to shield himself from further blows, "okay, I get it. You don't have to say it, I'm sorry. But we've got bigger problems right now, and I think that we need to figure out what's going on."

Nisha clenched and unclenched her hands, pursing her lips and trying to calm herself. "What we need to do is stop Campion. He's gone crazy or something."

Again Enlay shook his head. "Look, that fae set something up here, right? Maybe it's my fault that Campion is still spellbound, but he's also our clue. Rhenboe wants us to do something, get some moonbeam somehow. We need to get it. Even if we stop Campion and break the spell on him, I don't think Rhenboe is going to let up until we do what he wants."

She frowned, then tossed her braids behind her and crossed her arms. "Fine. But we're not leaving him alone. Get a coat, Enlay, because we're going to Rikenfriez."