CHAPTER 25

“I Tallulah, pledge my obedience, I will work for wickedness and numb my heart.” Recounted the anomalous Witch as she struck a distinguished figure with a youthful appearance. She sported an ivory gown that shimmered in the sunshine and wore tiny white flowers that were incorporated into strands of her slate grey hair.
“I remember it well!” She Said
as they relaxed before a handsome fireplace whilst they sat in their comfortable chairs, feeling toasty. The fire danced and crackled over the bricks of smouldering turf that rested in the fire basket. Its fragrance was agreeable as It wafted and oozed its earthy rich
aroma into the air and travelled through the lodge as the party enjoyed a more Countryfile way of life.

Grozette the strange Witch reflected on her memories they seemed so long ago now, with eyes that were almost as distant and far-away. “T’was before, when we thought we were simple normal girls. Before our awakenings when…” she interrupted herself, for the moment, as she poured out the rich brown tea that made an agreeable swoosh in the odd crystal tumblers. They were lined up succinctly in a row on the heavy wooden coffee table that stood central in the room.
It was strange to see Googlee sitting in a chair. Brownie scarcely thought there would be one in his size. however, there he sat upright looking, for the most part, comfortable, apart from dipping periodically to avoid the dangly light fittings that were an annoyance to him.
they sipped their afternoon tea.
Next, they felt their eyes grow as big as the saucers as the peculiar enchantress seduced them with a couple of rounds of scones with generous helpings of Casper jam and clotted cream.

“Awakenings!” asked Brownie holding her to her narrative as she munched a scone down to the crumbs and experienced a rush of endorphins, perhaps she shouldn’t talk with a full mouth, she reminded herself.
It was a fascinating place. She felt secure here. Its appeal was that it was strewn with many interesting charms and mementos, puzzles and antiques, even stuffed animals, some of which she’d seen nothing akin to before, not in her wildest dreams. Alas Grozette informed her that they were all from bygone days.

Brownie felt her eye caught by a small v-shaped broach as it almost reminded her of a sacred heart symbol pinned to the silk of her apron. As the Wizardess noticed her interest in it and asked, “do you like my amulet?”
“Err yea, I’ve seen one similar!”
“Have you, well then… You must have encountered Paschėlle ūna, my good friend and protégée.” She continued “pretty red hair. You know!”
“I know her!” Interrupted Elkie over enthusiastically, referring to the convergence of their lives “yes my little phantom it’s because of you; I met her, in the first place! Nevertheless, that’s another story!”
“Now where was I…?” She addressed them.
Eulin, Googlee, And Elkie were all engrossed with Grozette’s tale.

“Awakenings!!” Reiterated Brownie for the second time, “yes! I recall. It was a long time ago.” As she gulped from a cup of steaming hot tea and Proceeded to blow smoke rings above their heads. A smattering of smiles erupted between them. She made herself more comfortable grinning with mischievousness as she rested her immaculate feet on the furniture.

Amusing party tricks, though the Brownie in a degree of skepticism, but what was more perplexing was her age? The Sprite gazed upon her face studying it more closely. Apart from the slate colour of her hair, she showed no sign of discernible age.
“A long time ago Grozette, but you barely look older than a teenager,”

“Do not mistake me for a common conjurer Sprite, for there are many things underneath the Heavens.”
Grozette took a deep breath as she recounted that day “I’ll always remember it… I was raised in a fishing village in Georgia province, my father, papa… brought me along to help him on the boats. I was helping him fish on rough seas!”
It was almost as if the strange mage was the centre of attention and her telling of the story on some queer level was entwined with their external sensory perception. As they could contemplate the elements of the wind on their faces and hear the sea that was raging It was only the thin suggestion of the ocean. It wasn’t here, but their imagination led them to believe its spirit was omnipresent as if by magic.
“I was trying to drop the anchor… when the tether snagged my leg and cast me into the watery depths. Down I went like a stone, into the deep. It’s so cold in the deep. It’s like being stabbed with a thousand tiny knives as even the light of the sun won’t stray that far down. Nevertheless, too my surprise I didn’t drown. In fact, I found the stillness of the sea rather comforting. Something happened when I was down there… I sensed I was not alone. It was the start of my transformation. I began to hear cries!”

“Cries asked Googlee.” Looking up at the giant Wyrzel, she acknowledged him with a wink and a smile as she continued her tale “Yes, cries of the creatures that were caught in our keep-nets all day and into the night, I heard them screaming. Until one day, I couldn’t bear it any longer!”

They sat with bated breath as even the hiss of breathing escaping would have encroached on their amusement as the rest of the world passed them by in ever decreasing circles. They felt the yarn of Grozettes tragedy pull at their navels as if silk reeling them perpetually closer “what happened next” asked Eulin Curiously?

She continued “I decided to cut them loose ofcourse…, but it wasn’t long before my Parents found out. I told them about the voices!” There was a momentary pause as Grozette looked notably darker as she came to a cross roads and recounted the minor fall from grace of the story. “My actions had bought too much shame to the family; my father took me and my sister in the middle of the night, to not upset mother, and so I would not be alone!” “Nooooo!” Exclaimed Elkie under her breath, “we drove for a whole day until finally he stopped at the side of the road. He took us out and told us. We were not their children; we were something else…. changelings and for the sake of the family, we should never return. I started to cry. I cried a lot that day until it began to rain…. And rain… it rained so considerably that I remember my night-clothes being stuck to my skin with precipitation. I tried to follow the tracks back to home, but they were all washed away and muddy. We lived feral for a time me an’ Tal.

“I’m sorry it’s not a more upbeat story….”
Grozette exhaled. They all sat in silence as uncomfortably they knew no words that could possibly make it better.
The sober quietness was almost deafening.
The fledgling phantoms voice penetrated it as if she were haunting the moment.

“Gee! I thought being murdered was a tough break!”
Brownie elbowed her in her ribs “it’s not a game Elkie!”
“I’m sorry Grozette. I, I,” stuttered Elkie.
“It’s ok!”

“You are rather young!” She attempted a half-smile, to make the littlest one among them feel better. Elkie bolted for the Wizardess “I wanna’ give you a hug, hugs make everything better, don’t they!” she said disarming her with the radiance of her smile.
She agreed as she looked at the young ghost child with winette hair Stroking her face lovingly as an other-worldly chill reminded her about her status of being supernatural, which obscurely she connected with.
“But what did happen to your sis’?” Asked Elkie with an unbridled curiosity.

“My sister was the sweetest kindest person I ever knew, nothing she did warranted her punishment. Honestly, she wouldn’t harm a fly…. but…. Sometimes in life, you get dealt a bad hand it can influence your destiny!”
“Unlike Me she was not cursed. However, I don’t know which one of us was unluckier.”

She straightened herself and looked down at them as she slowly panned her eyes across them all. They sat bewitched and bewuthered by the story as even a pin drop would’ve been too much of a distraction as they hung on Grozettes every word.

“It’s not always the devil you need to be weary of, some-times it’s the wolf that waits!”
She continued to the most delicate part of the tale, making sure she did not stray or drift into much pathos as she recounted the tale.
Because of the rains, Tal got sick, so sick I feared. I might lose her.

Some high priests at a monastery took us in washed us, clothed us. They were kind to us. However, it was no good, Tal was getting weaker every day; my sister was becoming a wraith before my eyes. As she was more disconnected her heart rejected everything around us until it was as if her being was spreading a malignant cancer that would infect and turn all nature putrid and foul. There was only one hope?
There was a rumour among the Gypsies, we sometimesCrossed paths with… about a powerful necromancer who could heal people with this affliction, but it required a payment.

“The knightmare” answered Brownie

Grozette nodded

“The rest is history,”
“What was the payment!” Asked Eulin cross examining the evidence.
“I can’t say!”.
Brownie detected that It wasn’t that she couldn’t, it was more that she wouldn’t. As if even entertaining a Notion would invite bad luck to come calling once again.
Disappointed Elkie began to sulk “what’s the point in telling the story if you can’t tell us the ending?”
“I can’t all right!” Declared the Witch feebly.

She tried to shed light onto the situation
“do you Believe in evil?”
“What, as an idea?” Questioned the Sprite, Grozette shook her head “do you believe in the power of darkness!” asked the Witch trying to quantify her meaning in an easy digestible way. “that’s just superstition!” Said Brownie with her very traditional sheltered View.
“well that’s where you’re wrong! the power of darkness it’s much more than superstition, it’s a living breathing power that can be tapped into at any part of the night.”

“Make no bones, we’re up against the prime evil of this world, and what’s at stake is everything!”
“If we cannot accomplish this task… no one can!”
“You must make this leap of faith now, and trust me, because this is the point of no return!” As she emphasised the importance of these attributes that they were paramount in going forward.

The young sprite acknowledged her with a nod,
“But you are ok? … you escaped?” She stated calmly, reading between the lines.
Grozette looked deep into Brownie’s dark-brown eyes unflinchingly, and her head was Unabowed
“don’t be So sure I did!” The story finished on a contradiction.

After the chatter had died down, and the empty glasses and plates of crumbs remained. The little sprite decided to tackle the issue head on

“So! How are we going to help one another?”

“There are many ways in which I can help and some in which you can help me?” The Witch replied as she looked upon them and drew her plans against the Knightmare.
She moved her body in near proximity to the Whitebird “my fiery friend the reason you can’t burn is that you are a white phoenix, and White Phoenix’s don’t burn you illuminate. Perhaps you’re trying too hard, and…” she added as she took some seeds from the front pocket of her apron. They were black and shiny and almost looked like tiny apple pips he pecked one down it was by far the tastiest thing he ever had in his beak, “yowzers that’s delicious!” He declared as he emitted an odd glow. “Your glowing Said Googlee “why thank you” he replied with a bow. “no!” repeated the little Sprite “he means you literally are Glowing!”

“ah-Ha ancient knowledge,” Grozette scoffed whilst gesticulating with her finger “You’re welcome, by the way. I have a few of those I use them when baking bread!”
She recited part of an old poem “a Tawnygale in a cage put’s all the heavens in a rage!” And turned to address the next item on the agenda.

Clapping her hands together she made a single soft clap as if she was getting down to the brass tacks. “We have to steal the changeling king’s wand” she slipped it into the conversation as a Trojan horse hoping that it would go unnoticed, but the keen diligence of the red and white Pegasus noticed it as vividly as the princess detecting the pea beneath her mattress.

“WHAT!!” He Cried sharply
“I’m sorry but there’s no gentle way of breaking it to you!” She paused “it’s the source of his power!”
“But how are we going to manage that?”
“Stealthily and quick, concisely, an in and out robbery!” Said Grozette “We’ll have him right where we want him!”
“So where do we begin” asked Brownie as the others looked to her as if she were their appointed leader.
“We must scout the defences Eulin my Phoenix friend you can do that. I have a map of the castle, and I will fly with you!”

“Sprite I want you too?” she seemed to talk in broken sentences a lot, which was annoying to say the least.

She caressed the crimson ribbon where it rested around her delicate neck As Brownie flinched but realised it was harmless and was merely a Witches way. Grozette pulled out the strange key from under the neckline of her clothing.
She looked at the key “yes, yes!” She said in her nasally accent “this what I thought!” She responded enthusiastically
“The key; is a key that can take you anywhere and perhaps any when, only a few have ever been found? A long time ago during a decade of warming, on mount Nemonee, which is not a mountain but a giant glacier. A few were uncovered, but no one over the last millennia has ever seen one, in fact. The scientific establishment believed it was a fabrication. A prank done by scammers to discredit them, and that these never existed at all.”

“But I assure you they do!”
“they’re called Asention keys!”
“I can’t find what it unlocks!” Declared Brownie hoping Grozette knew as a smile grew across her face,
“Well, I can’t use it?” She declared, “it after all found you!” Brownie looked perplexed “don’t you mean I found it!”
“No! It most certainly found you!”

Grozette continued to list their objectives…
“When we have achieved that we need to enter the Temple of Marsly knowledge at the Castle mount and perform the Ritual.”
“The Ritual?”
“Summon the highest power. However, before that I need you to remember.” She said looking at her point-blank with her amber eyes once again as the meme of being something or someone else resurfaced its ugly head to where the little sprite began to ask questions in the dark corners and spaces of her mind.

“I don’t know what you want from me!” She answered with a vulnerability in her eyes.

“Well then, you are lost!”
Grozette said as she tried to console her.
“Please show me how to remember!” She replied almost desperate as her eyes brimmed with tears.
“I can’t,” admitted the peculiar Witch “but this; I know; memories are more than mere thoughts or pictures in the mind. They are emotions of the heart, stirrings of the spirit in the either, which has a presence, in reality, like footprints on the sand and these things MUST be in harmony; we all have to help one another! And we shall try to help you!”
As the grand Pa’mina and Witch placed her hand on top of hers as the other followed hand on top of hand on top of paw and wing.
Looking around them all, Brownie said, “Ok we’re in!”