1

“Putnam has …” Quint hesitated, glancing at Fiona, “… other ways of getting there, and will meet us at an inn about a day's journey into the valley. So if you’re all ready then, we will head into the meditaz and Move.” Quint looked to each of them inquisitively, then added, “I almost forgot. Fiona, there should be a book titled The Art Of Mantrum and Vibration by Morrison Hycondecles, top shelf, second row to the right of the entrance to the meditaz. Will you grab it for me and then we will be on our way? You never know when it will come in handy. Every time I read that book I find a new mantrum.”

Fiona gave a curt nod and moved a ladder over, climbed up, and found a book that looked quite a bit less interesting than her sesnickie book had. It had a light brown cover with a darker brown print and not much else in the way of artwork or design.

She climbed down with the book and put it in her bag with the other one. Quint smiled at this then spun around and started up the steps to the meditaz. Fiona looked apprehensively to Pip who sent her an encouraging image of sunshine, rainbows, and sesnickie flying through the air on pink clouds. Fiona scowled, so Pip sent an image of a sesnickie lying dead, face down in a bowl of potato soup. Fiona laughed in spite of herself.

They all fell in a line behind Quint, walked up the small stair from the common room into the meditaz, and made their way to the center of the cavernous room—Putnam extinguishing candles as he walked—to a spot that was usually used specifically for Moving. Quint waited, allowing Putnam more time to put out the rest of the candles considering he would be gone and Pohsib never came into the meditaz, and couldn’t reach the candles anyway. Fiona guessed he had already done this throughout the rest of the Manor House where thrumming lamps weren’t the main source of light. Once Putnam was done putting out all but the candles closest to the group, he stood and looked at Quint and the rest followed suit.

“Well, alright then. We won’t be back for a while, and where we are going, there won’t be any quick trips back via a Move on our dutiful sesnickie’s back. Are you all sure that you want to come? I am certain Pohsib would gladly take the company considering there won’t be anyone to hear his crude jokes about their mothers,” Quint said.

“Bab Sintu-vushindu calle wanta,” said Carter.

“Quite sure, Master Quint,” said Putnam.

Quint raised his eyebrows skeptically. Fiona nodded her head, her face determined, jaw set, mouth in a thin line.

The sesnickie just sniffed and sent Fiona an image of a sesnickie being beaten after it's been beaten dead, and judging by Quint’s expression, Pip had sent it to him as well.

“Yes, like beating a dead sesnickie,” Fiona said.

“Ok, ok! Well then let’s get on with it!”

Quint climbed on Pip’s back and gestured for the others to do the same. Fiona told Carter he had to get on Pip and sit behind Quint, and Carter did as she said, babbling all the way, then she climbed up herself and sat behind him. Putnam handed Quint his bag and stepped back.

“Fiona, you will have to thrumm into Carter to get his vibrations aligned with mine and Pip’s. Remember, you two do not have to picture the place we are going as long as you two feel my vibrations and attune them as well as Pip’s. Carter won’t have to do a thing as long as you thrumm the vibrations into him,” Quint said.

“Can we do a practice run? Maybe Move three feet away or something? I just want to make sure.”

“Of course. Let’s try. On three?”

Quint counted and they Moved. Three feet away. Perfect.

“Wonderful, Fiona” Quint said with real pride showing in a smile that lit up his eyes. Pip also was impressed and sent a group of thoughts and feelings encouraging Fiona. The corners of Putnam's mouth twitched as though something may have come close to penetrating the brick wall of his emotions.

Fiona smiled and flushed. It felt good to be praised but what did one say to such compliments but something like, “Wonderful. Yes. Can we go now?”

“Let’s do it! We will see you soon, Phildrious. At Lack-a-Daisy’s! Happy trails, friend. Don’t slip in Pilgrim shit,” Quint waved and Putnam gave that twitch again at the corners of his mouth, then a kind of salute. Fiona waved to the phase-shifter, making only the appropriate amount of eye contact.

Fiona felt the familiar fuzzy blanket feeling of Moving as they all attuned the vibration.

2

A river of green grass sloped down into the head of the valley where two mountains met at their base, then reached into the air in an eternal competition of height. The mountains were green and brown at the base up to the top where they met the clouds and donned white peaks. Fiona and her friends were far enough away that they could make out the mountains in their entirety, and from this distance, three miles away, they almost looked like they could be walked up without much difficulty. Mountains had a way of creeping up on you at the last minute with their true potential. As Quint slid from Pip’s back and started the trek through the grassy field toward the mountains, the other three followed.

“This is as far as we can go by way of Moving. We will be walking from here until we get to Endynas City. Once there we can get dirfweeds to carry us through the Forever Forest,” Quint said, then nodded to Pip. “Unfortunately, I think they may be a bit small for the likes of you, Pip.”

“I think I can manage on my own,” sent Pip. “These claws can do quite a bit more than most believe. The physical attributes of the sesnickie seem to be downplayed in light of what we are capable of mentally.” Pip raised one of their long, black, human-like claws that ended in sharp points.

“I’m sure you could keep going on Pip, but let me stop you there. I’m well aware of your physical capabilities; I just have a lack of confidence in your—should we call it—spiritual faculties? Patience? Tolerance? Endurance?” Quint said.

“He’s saying he thinks you’re lazy, Pip. He’s got a mouth full of pilgrim shit and he’s not afraid to use it,” said Fiona, smiling.

“I will not be referred to as such! Pilgrim shit indeed,” Pip sent.

“Pilgrim shit?! Fiona, you disappoint me. I’d think your wits would have had time to—“ but Quint didn’t get the chance to finish what he was saying as a red-cloaked mass slammed into him, pointed a transmogrifier at him, and fired. Quint had no chance to defend himself before he became a small, black beetle. The figure that had slammed into him fell to the ground and picked up Quint’s now slick body that crawled across the pile of his clothes and traveling cloak.

Pip jumped toward the figure in the red cloak, but it was too fast and jumped twenty paces away to where a worn-looking sesnickie sat wearing chains. Pip readjusted then attempted to jump as far as red cloak had.

Fiona stood stunned, watching it unfold. After she’d processed what was happening, she attuned the vibrations as she ran toward red-cloak. She repeated a mantrum for lightness and jumped. As she sped toward the figure that held Quint, she crossed her arms over her waist, drawing both her sword and her transmogrifier. She threw the sword with the momentum from her draw and aimed the transmogrifier. The sword sped toward red cloak, finally connecting with its throat and sliding through to the other side. Fiona shot the transmogrifier at the beetle-Quint, returning him to his normal, disheveled self.

Quint looked down at the red-cloaked figure lying on the ground with a sword through its neck. It gurgled. Then he looked down at his nudity and shrugged, laughing.

“Never a dull moment. I mean it does get boring, traveling, so at least we have my old man body to spice things up!” Quint said, putting his hands on his hips and taking it around town. Fiona averted her eyes and went to grab her sword. The blade was pointing down at the ground through red-cloak’s throat. She grabbed the hilt, pulled, and flicked the blade to the side to get excess blood off.

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Quint walked over and turned the man in the red cloak over with his foot. He gurgled. Quint spat.

“You’re a nasty sonofabitch, putting those chains on a sesnickie. I should take them off and let it do what it will with you,” Quint said, spitting again. “Thank you, Fiona. That was quite impressive. You’ve really gotten very good. This here is an empty one, a high-ranking member of The Hate. Leslie was disguised as someone training to be one of these before stealing the Eraser.”

“So they’re after the Eraser? How did they find us?”Fiona said.

“I think it’s safe to assume that is why. And I’m not quite sure,” Quint said.

“If they can find us here… couldn’t they just as easily go to the house and find it there?”

“Oh no. No, no, certainly not. It is near impossible for anyone to find the Manor House but those with permission from our cook, or one of us. The house has to want to be found. Or—like in your case—it needs to be found and the intent must align with the house’s own needs. The house knew you needed it and it also knew that it needed you. It is a very interesting bit of thrumming that I don’t completely understand myself but I believe it mostly revolves around our Pohsib. Hmm. It makes me wonder if the Woman in White has a similar chef-companion in the Tower of Tones. That could be what keeps thi—” and once again Quint was interrupted.

3

Pip watched as three figures grabbed each one of the humans from behind. They seemed to have come out of nowhere. With dark hair, and skin that shone brightly, the figures were hard to see with all of that light coming off of them. It made Pip feel … sleepy. Pip began to drift, but just before they did, they saw another red cloak off in the distance. That cloak was darker, though, than the empty one’s cloak. And those were horns peeking out of the bottom of the hood. Horns.

The Leere impersonator?

4

Fiona struggled against the bonds of … what?!

Nothingness. Emptiness. They held her in place. She tried to look at her companions but could not. She didn’t know where Carter was. She couldn’t see anyone—just the same landscape of the grassy field leading to the Endynas Valley. No wind blew. Then she saw Him. Or it.

Blood red cloak. Horns. Obscured face. It’s him. The one that did this. But Leere? The Necrolore? It couldn’t be …that’s a fairy tale. This is real life. The figure lifted its hood and revealed part of its goat-like face. And then it … smiled. Somehow it twisted the bones to form a smug grin right as she thought of what had happened to Carter—of what had happened to Leslie.

Fiona began convulsing and fighting against her non-bonds as the creature with the grin walked toward her. The creature sprouted black wings from its back and flapped them.

Flap. Flap. Flap.

Then it was flying. Flying to her, getting closer. Fiona felt two spots on her back itching right below the shoulder blades. Rage and fear bubbled inside and she felt the familiar hives of intense anger covering her eyes. Looking down, she became vaguely aware of her veins darkening, as if they were slowly filling with a black liquid. Then she started foaming at the mouth and her vision went black.

When she awoke, everything was a pure blue. Bright. She turned her head a bit and covered her eyes, blinded for a moment by the blazing ball of flame in—what was indeed—the sky. She sat up. The front of her shirt was a bit wet with what had come out of her mouth, though she only slightly remembered any foaming. Looking from side to side, she saw Pip, Quint, Carter, and three men in white robes all unconscious on the ground. What had happened? Who were these three? And where was that creature in the red cloak with those … horns? Fiona stood up, feeling a little sore as she did so, and slowly made her way over to the sesnickie.

“Pip,” she rasped. I could use a drink of water, she thought. She tried wetting her mouth with saliva from her tongue and then tried again, “Pip. Wake up. Pip, Come on. PIP!” She started shaking the sesnickie and their eyes opened. Pip got up onto all fours and then stretched their back by leaning back on their haunches and pushing into the ground with straightened forelegs. They yawned, sniffed, and looked at their surroundings. Pip sent Fiona an image of the red-cloaked creature with the horns. Had Pip seen the wings?

“I don’t know where it went, Pip,” Fiona said. “Did you … What did you see?” Pip sent her a group of images—the three men in white robes that seemed to be made of light, the three humans being hypnotized by the sickly light, and then the twisted horns and blood-red cloak of the creature walking toward them. It seemed that Pip had not seen the wings, those wretched, terrible, unspeakably beautiful black wings.

“Sygma pi-alpha endarna trumpery treadonme”

Carter had woken up. Fiona went to him to make sure he was ok. Carter was completely unharmed, thankfully, so Fiona went to Quint and shook the old man soft at first, then hard, then …

“I think we ought to take his Worth and leave him!” Pip yelled it as loud as they could within the minds of all. Quint shot up as if he’d had a no-sleep jelly and it was just kicking in.

“Like Void you will! I've taken care of you since you came to me with Valucias, you scoundrel, you—” Fiona couldn’t help but laugh at the lost look on Quint’s face as he observed his surroundings and came back to the present. There was a visible letdown in his features and he looked up at Pip. “That’s just not a very funny joke, Pip. Not funny at all.”

“Well it worked, didn’t it? We have to deal with this,” Fiona said, waving a hand toward the three laying on the ground in white robes. “And I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to throw a sword through all of their throats if they woke up and started their thrumming—or whatever it was—on my brain again,” Fiona said.”Quint?”

“Hm?”

“What are they? I’m racking my brain for something—anything—you or Pip might have taught us but I’m having trouble remembering. I don’t have any idea what they did to us. I felt euphoric and sleepy and awake all at the same time. It was like they had fingers on my brain and knew where to push.” She shivered visibly and folded her arms.

“You think so? Hm. Might be. Only one way to find out. First, let us make sure they can’t move and mind-blind us again,” Quint said, seemingly to the air as he walked over to the white-robe closest to Pip. Carter babbled. Fiona looked from Pip to Quint, then in the direction she’d seen Quint speaking toward.

“Pip. If you and nut sack here are going to be having secret conversations the whole way into a place I’ve never been before while my husband has secret psychotic conversations with himself, I’m out. I’ll meet you at the Tower of Tones,” Fiona said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder at the mountains.

Quint peered over his circular glasses at Fiona and gave her a withering look.

“This nut sack is trying to figure out what is going on and how best to fix your husband’s malady. I think we may be in deep shit. Pilgrim shit, if you will.” Quint didn’t smile, and Fiona thought she sensed a hint of Seru in his voice. Fiona changed course.

“I’m sorry, Quint,” Fiona said. Her eyes fell and caught a glimpse of Quint’s genitals. More than just a fear of the white, winged things gripped her now. She covered her eyes. “It would be a welcome gesture of courtesy if you’d cover your actual nut sack, though. I can grab your clothes and maybe then you can tell me what you and Pip were talking about.” Quint nodded and Fiona went to grab his clothes.

Fiona gathered up Quint’s black cloak and clothes and brought them over to him. Quint got dressed and then bent over, putting his head to the chest of the man who lay at his feet.

“He’s dead,” Quint said.

“You’re sure?” Fiona asked.

“Feel him. He’s gone.”

Fiona did just that. She thrummed into the man and felt no vibrations. No life.

Quint then lifted the man up and untied his robe. Still holding the man to his chest, Quint let the robe slip down, leaving the man naked. Quint laid the man down, face first, on the ground.

“Seems we had the truth of it, Pip,” Quint said, then looked at Fiona. The man looked completely normal except for two slits below his shoulder blades that had small black points sticking out of them, attached to a leathery skin that was also black. Like bat wings that had been retracted somehow into the back of the creature.

5

“What is it?” Fiona asked. She remembered the … thing in the blood-red cloak with the twisted horns. The thing that had sprouted black wings and flown at her before she blacked out. “It looks like …” No, it couldn’t be. Not here. And … the other thing. Fiona couldn’t bring herself to tell them about the form in the red cloak with the horns. They would have said something by now if they’d seen it too. Wouldn’t they have?

“Rakshasas. That is what they are called, Fiona, though they have other names: pilgrims, angels, demons, mind-blinders. Their oldest name is Rakshasa. They are the highest among the Hate, only second to Leere Himself, their mythical savior. Then of course there is THE LOW SELF, but HE and Leere are the deities that cannot be seen, only spoken of, and never lightly. Rakshasas are the actual prophets that we here on Dandelion can see, touch, and feel if we are unlucky enough to get close to them,” Quint said.

“I know what they are, Quint, it’s just … I don’t know. I never thought I’d actually see one,” Fiona said, opening one of the books she’d brought from the Manor House—The Art of Mantrum and Vibration by Morrison Hycondecles—to the glossary at the beginning. Thrumming/trancing, binding signatures, visualizing, thinking vs. feeling … no, none of those, she thought. She turned the page, then saw it: Rakshasas. She flipped to the page and marked it with a leather cord and put the book back. Books were sometimes her only way of finding the world she’d lost from her amnesia, so she never missed a moment to look something up and maybe get a missing piece back. It felt like she was playing catch up with the world.

Pip sent Fiona some images of sesnickie in chains, Moving for the Rakshasas. Then there were images of Pip in chains with a Rakshasa on their back. Pip being forced to Fish for them. Now an image of a Rakshasa sprouting wings from its back and flying. Black wings. She remembered now. She’d read of the Hate and their prophets, their angels, but to see one in real life, let alone three of them …. These were the creatures that had enslaved the Drakes upon coming to Dandelion from their previous planet. There was something vaguely familiar about the creatures, something … it was gone.

“Pip … you were chained?”

“I was,” Pip sent.

“And that,” Quint said, “is a story for another day. Right now we need to focus on getting far away from here. I’m not completely sure how they died, thank the Void for small favors that they did, but I’m uncomfortable with how quickly we were found. We need to get in the valley and hide as we travel. At least we won’t be traveling by sesnickie now so they won’t be able to smell the vibrations of a Move.”

Quint started off toward the valley which was about three miles from where they stood. Fiona reached her hand up to her mouth to chew a fingernail then stopped herself and pretended to itch her cheek instead. “Quint, I have phase masks,” Fiona said, just loud enough for Quint to hear. Quint stopped and turned toward her, beaming.