Chapter 34

The crisp morning had broken, the first strands of light had begun to diffuse the horizon, as the two sisters sat comfortably, perched Up high in the bough of a once-mighty sendel tree. The aged tree Stood princely in the desolate corner of the now quiet municipal campus and watched down upon the city. Its story, a tale about a young prince hiding from an opposing army was scarcely known these days. It was an amusing anecdote from a bygone age.
That was a wild night! A voice was overheard to say! Two sets of feminine legs dangled barefoot from the tree in the coolness of the morning rain, the occasional bloom would surrender it petals and sprinkle the air.
It was delightful, thought Tallulah as Grozettes head lay upon her shoulder as softly as a cloud.
Was life merely an assortment of stolen moments.
They often wondered.
“Where will you go Now?” mumbled Grozette who was defying sleep and in a stupor, “don’t know?” answered Tal. “aren’t you going to stick around?” Tallulah was hushed and sighed heavily as she yearned to answer, yes, my God yes, but had doubts that weighed heavier than all the mountains of the world united. “I don’t know, we have a complicated relationship sister we love each other…… and yet, we hate each other,” an uncomfortable silence ensued.
The music of the night dwindled and ushered in, were the sounds of the day creatures. It was between these times that it occurred: the phenomenon that would be thereafter known as the white event. A blinding flash in the shape of a mighty Whitebird, blotting out the stars in the morning sky, it could only mean one thing?
Eulin was now deceased and possibly the girls were in grave danger.
She felt numb, as it occurred to her she had possibly sent them to their deaths, and she despised herself for having to orchestrate their downfall or worse. Now she sat wide-eyed awake and bolt upright. she thought rapidly about a million and one different things in her mind. As everything was bleached out by the phenomenon. “We have to go right now Tal,” Grozette yelped. she morphed swiftly, a grey goose in one instance landing on the hard ground. the next back again as the sound of ruffled feathers and the flapping of wings came like a late dinner guest in a prolonged echo. She was, now back to her old self metaphorically. “I’m right behind you,” said Tal as Grozette turned around to see her appearing there as if by prestidigitation of her own prowess; she retained her new look which was the only consolation that Grozette could now take.
“I am not what has happened to me, I am that which I choose to be!” said the Pa’mina into the open air “what?!” asked Tal infuriated” nothing” replied Grozette sharply looking away like she used to in days of yore with a mischievous smirk as she began propagating the seeds of her own manipulation.
They set out for the rendezvous place as the duo made haste to reach -the Psychic Temple of Marsly knowledge but, nevertheless it was a good 15 minutes away on foot. In their younger days, they recalled chasing through the narrow cobbled streets of their hometown and now With alacrity, the former rapscallions ran up the dogleg, down alleyways and Over Fences. They splashed through puddles as they ran through the allotments assigned to laundry matters. They winded through the clean sheets and attire of the proletariat, crashing through erotic underwear and sturdier underwear without discrimination. Eventually, they reached the winding steps that lead upwards to their destination. Onwards they trudged as they prepared themselves for whatever they might discover. As they broke into the temple courtyard, they were met by the aftermath of something crashing hard into the grey slate tiling. They followed the evidence trail to a crowd of people that were standing together cooing and tutting like a flock of worried pigeons sheltering Neath their colourful parasols. Unsure what had and indeed was happening, perplexed they chuntered amongst themselves. As they looked beyond the audience in terror to see the sprite who had been impaled horribly on-the-spot by a spear of illustrious blackness.
Normally: Grozettes eyes could be described as a warm yellow, like an inviting field of sunflowers, that was un-trampled and welcoming, yet they seemed to burn black with anger or untapped primordial rage as a very real sense of their own fragility began to take hold of them. She hugged Brownies lifeless cadaver and brushed her jet-black hair. With an anguished face, she looked at the crowd of people “what happened here?” She demanded. The chief bystander answered “cannot say my pa’mina, but the knightm” he stopped himself dead as he glanced at Tal who was outfitted in her army uniform and added “the changeling king he had dealings, it was him Ma’am” She thought about Elkie “where’s the other one?”
“Begging your pardon, I saw none else,” he said, “are you sure, she’d be only small to your eyes, with winette coloured hair?”
“Er,’ Yes, my Pa’mina, it was just her,”
“Elkie would not stray far from The Sprite,” she said thinking out loud “so, SHE must be?” She realised the only feasible place she could be was somewhere inside the temple, but where she thought to herself? “Are you on about the dancing girl,” Tal asked as she recalled her previous encounter. Grozette nodded. “I need to ask you something, sir, are you familiar with the Pa’mina faculty” the man nodded “yes I know where you live”,
“take this and fetch me the big red holdall that’s in the kitchen on the hostess Trolley,” as she passed over to him an iron key “and might I add be as quick as you can!”
Later: they found themselves inside the Temple, with a little help and assistance, they had covertly laid the young sprites body across the majestic altar and lit candles in memorial. They paid their respects as thoughts and prayers kept them grounded. There she lay the Brownie, she was strange but Beautiful, an anomaly caught in time… wearing white silver garments, a mystery, who knew the ways and woes of the faeries?
Her eyes were shut as if in a great slumber with no signs of life at all. They searched in every nook and cranny for Elkie but true to herself like a ghost, she was nowhere. Now The sisters were preparing for some sort of new devilry.
The man eventually returned carrying a huge red holdall which he hefted and placed near the altar “my word, what have you got in there, it weighs a ton, I should think … I’ve nearly got a hernia,” he complained red-faced and out of breath. “thank you kindly, sir,” the grey wizardess fluttered her eyelashes at him and he seemed to forget “you’ve been a tremendous help thank you,” she said showing off her pearly white teeth. He stood there knowing he wanted to say more but he couldn’t remember what it was he wanted to say or what he was so flustered about “Everything is under control now,” Tallulah spoke “but everything is not under control,” “no… It’s not,” Grozette said giving her sister a dirty look.
“Farewell then,” he said looking back and was gone.

Grozette opened the bag, and carefully using the most intricate of care arranged three metronomes in an upside-down triangle formation and slowly mindfully started Them swaying, all 3 in perfect symmetry, all 3 keeping exact time and rhythm. The vibrations resonated perfectly throughout the temple, which was harmonically balanced. Next, she filled a clear vase with water from the quayside and set a small glass hydrometer afloat. She tested its buoyancy with her finger. “Jn joro!” she said. looking up to the eaves of the temple “are you still upset with me?” she waited in the silence, but no reply came back “Joro!” she said unperturbed “are you still upset with me?” Eventually, as quietly as the slow grip of lingering death, the Cuckoo-Bee-Spider slowly emerged from the shadows at the dark end of the temple. the giant black and amber arachnoid revealed herself. “hello Grozette Darkwing, as I live and breathe!”

“do your type breathe? I’ve often wondered,” she remarked flippantly

“Oh! … my type, I see how it is……. you’ll have to watch this one, my friend,” she said to Tallulah “she’s superb at putting a seed of discourse between people… I, however, do not harbour Ill will toward you Grozette Darkwing,” she repeated as if it were some type of pejorative term. “I’d of thought to a spider those would be admirable qualities,” she said between gritted teeth “can you transpose into having four appendages instead of eight?” she asked abruptly as if it were possible to have any number, she so willed.

“I can not … yet!” she said whispering with embarrassment “cannot” she repeated grinning,

“no” she replied as if something had winded her “if I help you?!”
“maybe” Grozette moved closer to the huge spider as she laid her hands on her head, she looked into her two big eyes and saw her reflection in them like a black mirror. Resting the flat of her palms with the thumbs splayed out as if making the shape of the letter L, and avoiding her smaller, sensitive set of eyes that decorated her crown like spheres of onyx. She started to chant. It sounded very nasally as the spider lay down upon her own legs, and in a fit of dizziness that came upon them, they saw the Spider and in the next moment, they saw a woman with Prussian blue hair and blue skin, looking back at them with her cold black velvety eyes that were perfectly formed. Seeming very thin and tall and intricate. As an added accessory she had a small tiara about her head that looked web-like with black stone’s set into it. The slender woman greeted Grozette and greeted Tallulah “how clever… now we are three,”

“Perfect!” said Grozette “what now?” asked Tal, “I can only assume the hungry ghost fell afoul of the Knightmare and is in real peril, So the first step is to locate her,” and then in the next breath she paused whilst she considered the unthinkable “Elkie she’s a ghost, we can’t reverse what’s been done to her because she’s not alive!” Joro and Tal waited as the two them sensed a caveat coming “but!” Said Lullah looking at her younger sibling “but… there is a workaround, it means summoning the spirits of causality”
“NO!” remarked Tal. “Asking time to break in, are you ma…,” She was, about to question her sanity as Grozette cut her to the quip. “It’s the only way!!”.
“Agreed!” Said Joro. “Let’s begin then shall we!”

“whatever occurred earlier would have left an echo, a footprint, if we can make a sympathetic resonance vibration… we can re simulate what’s been done,”

The faint smoke misted the air it was given off by flickering candles and meandered gradually through the gothic hall, they had that old familiar aroma of incense and wysteria.

There they stood in quiet assembly as they heard the ticking of the metronomes “how old Is this temple Joro?” Wondered Grozette “1482 seasons to be precise” answered the spiderling in a whispering voice “An old house,”

“the spirits they will come!” said Joro

“have you got the paper-knife,” She pulled out her sword Ivry and lay it lovingly on the altar next to the sprite’s body that lay cold and still. The Grey Wizardess reached once more into her bag and drew out a tuning fork as she invited the small circle of three to be quiet, she struck it, examining its resonance and pitch carefully. Concentrating on the sound she asked “Remember the contradiction rhyme we used to recite when we were juveniles,” Tal nodded as the face of Joro cringed as she recognised Tallulah as the Knightmares leftenant but said nothing. Grozette glanced at her and said, “She’s on our side now!”
“she’s absconded, then,” questioned Joro who glared back at her. Grozette recalled someone once say. Never enter into a staring contest with a spider, for reasons now that eluded her. She continued “the rhyme … is an old incantation in plain sight”
“A non-conformist …. just like the ghost girl,” remarked Joro “indeed,” answered Grozette as the spiderling continued “I can sense many things with my acuteness of sense, but I, I cannot sense her,” the Grey Witch started chanting again, she nudged Tal as she began to recite the nursery rhyme.
“One bright day, in the middle of the night, two dead girls…” her words froze in her throat as she looked over toward the sprites lifeless body and then continued, “got up to fight, back to back they faced each other.” Something odd had arisen in the environment one of the metronomes it was out of sequence with the other two, she continued. “Drew their swords and shot each other,” now one of the pendulums had ceased altogether and the light in the room was altogether different, “the deaf Pa’mina heard the noise,” she looked at the other two as her sister signaled with her hand to carry on “and nearly killed the two dead girls” only a lonely metronome was still wavering, the one pointing toward a Window that had the most concentration of lumens, “if you don’t believe this tale is true, ask the blind man he saw it too!” and with the last line, the temple was silent and eerie as they stared at one another and said nothing. The float in the vase was submerged to the bottom as if the composition of the water had been altered. Grozette struck the fork again and the familiar resonance cut the silence like a scalpel, humming at 440 hertz. There was another sound.

The 11th Harmonic.

It was faint but joro detected it “there’s a faint noise coming from over there!” She said pointing to the light falling through the coloured glass window. The two went to investigate further, as they told Tal to remain in the circle “Sister, I need you to stay here should anything go amiss, you’re our last line of defence. break the circle using the paper-knife, I know I can count on you”
“I can’t wield Ivry, it’s not meant for me,” she said as she outlined the unkind treatment that often made her feel took for granted. She was still a shadow that lurked beneath the illusion Grozette had conjured. But they had gone, Tallulah wondered if they weren’t listening at all, as she stared at the sword and awkwardly reached out and almost touched it. They stood in the rays of light breaking through the nearby window. Jn Joro asked, “What time of year is it?” “mid-autumn” shouted Lullah from inside the circle “not out here it’s not…. it feels like spring” as they saw the flowers in display boxes scattered about the galleries filled with vibrant spring flowers as the sun shone strongly through the colourful stained glass. Grozette struck the tuning fork once more they heard the tone resonate, but they also perceived a faint tiny voice weeping. “Li Elkie, is that you?” probed Grozette. As they struck the fork again and heard between the sobbing, “it’s me” the tearful voice came back “I failed, the Sprite, Googlee and Eulin they’re all dead, because of me…” she sniffled as she continued “but I go on!”

“where are you asked Joro?” It seemed her voice found them without using the resonance of the tuning fork, “I’m in a dark place, but there’s a light very dim and far away,” “good!” said Grozette as she located her faint shadow on the floor..’
“ok,” she agreed, “there’s something else here, something that wants to keep me captive for eternity, I’m afraid it won’t let me go!”
“don’t look at it, keep focusing on our voices,”
“Grozette,”
“yes!”
“I’m afraid!” The small admission of uncertainty found her heart and made it very sad as she could not find the words to answer her; all she could say is “I know baby girl.”
“I need to tell you something,”
“yes!” said joro, unburdened with human feelings.
“Pica the clockwork doormouse, followed me in here, he’s got the knightmares wand!”
“He’s in here?” asked the witch
“yes,” They looked at one another “QUICK!! find the mouse.”
As Jn Joro stuck out her bare arm into the air, they could see the tiny hairs stand up on end “over there she pointed,” as they quickly located the mouse and the wand.
“What now, will you use the wand?”
Asked Tal “Oh No!” she remarked “it’s well known this artefact causes madness over time,”
“What then?” asked the spiderling incognito
“Pica is enchanted to always find the way; he’ll find his way to Elkie if I order him to,”.
“I’m sending pica to come and get you!”
“Brace yourself!” the cryptic warning washed over her as she proceeded to wind and wind and wind the doormouse until he couldn’t be wound anymore. She placed the small mouse on the white marble and gold flooring as Grozette made the order “bring me the girl Li Elkie, I am not best pleased with her” the little mouse shook as he visibly looked bigger and now was the size of a large hound, joro reminded them “be careful not to open the door to other things” Grozette looked over to “Tal get ready with the paper-knife!”
“Fetch!” she commanded as she sent pica away. The strange mouse flew at speed and vanished into a shadow, they heard the worried voice of the ghost girl “the creature it’s coming closer, I can hear him coming … I can feel him,” the last thing they heard was “arrhhh!” The sound of shock and anguish as Tal and Grozette shouted “Elkie!” In unison and no sound came back “TAL break the circle!!” Implored Grozette as she drew the sword from its scabbard, it caught her off-guard as it burned her hands, and she dropped it with a clang, she looked hard at the others and tried again as she bit hard and tolerated the burning on her flesh, another sound was heard like the stifled sound of something tearing or ripping something else was in here with them as Tal batted the metronomes away, she dropped to her knees and let go of the sword as she despaired at her charred hands.

She cast a cursory gaze to her side to observe the small hydrometer floating in the seawater and breathed a sigh of relief.

The light in the main atrium of the Temple seemed brighter, as they strained hard their eyes to distinguish a small creature holding her hands over her eyes slight in stature with ringleted winette coloured hair and in her lap sat a small wind-up mouse. Grozette looked her over and hugged her long … as they beheld the light acacia coloured eyes beaming out between two curtains of ringlets. the little Ghost who despite being saved, still looked sad “they’re gone, all of my friends!” She said with tears in her eyes “the Knightmare he killed them, as if they were nothing,” They were surprised to see Tal walk over to Li Elkie offer her a badly burnt hand “don’t, don’t let him win, that’s what he wants little one, that’s how he owns you,” they could sense an under-swell of emotion in her voice as if finding her courage was vicariously a tonic for her salvation. “I let everyone down, including the moon princess, what will she say, I dare not imagine,” she said tenderly “fuck her!” remarked Tal much to the shock and embarrassment of the rest of them” maybe she should get off her fat arse and do her own dirty work!” she said unsympathetically.

“Well, all I know is trouble is a coming here real soon.” as she held the knightmares wand and wondered if the Trinity and the little ghost girl would be enough to accomplish the impossible.