Episode 12: Whyrl's Tale

A glowing yellow jackal sat at the edge of the woods, only half a mile away from Mosor's house. Lantorn, her previous enemy.

As she flipped open pages of the Forbidden Book, her arm turned into an almost whip like construct. She focused on the sections about bad dreams, about how to get rid of psychic interferences, and other spells which required great and dark rituals.

Affixed to her back was the sword of lightning, a legendary weapon able to cleave nearly anything, and give the possessor powers over domains of lightning, wind, and even clouds. Right now, she used it as an extra light so she could read the pages, as even her own glowing body didn't emit enough.

One page caught her fancy, and she muttered to herself, "So it is written down and I will it to fate."

***

Ahmond and Baynana had taken their arrest actually pretty well. Despite some of the more degrading parts of being held underneath Owlis' palace, the two were treated well within the chambers.

The palace's prison held aristocrats, or special persons, not hardened criminals. Still, they were expected to be in prison every weekend for four weekends.

"You know, I've never been grounded for just the weekends," Ahmond said. "I don't get why they don't just do it all in one shot. It'd only be little over a week."

Baynana said, "That sounds really, really long."

Since day had disappeared, a few bulbs remained their main light source, besides a few stars gleaming from the barred windows. A small jar of cookies laid on the counter, obviously pillaged.

Baynana frowned. "Do you think we're bad people, Ahmond?"

"We've not evil," Ahmond said.

"Then why are we here? Would Owlis arrest us if we weren't bad people?" Baynana asked.

"We're not evil, we just..." Committed an error? What error? They did what anyone else would do in their situation.

"I would have been arrested if I stayed in my old home," Baynana said.

Ahmond said, "I doubt that. You're just a kid."

"Didn't we have a whole fight about being more than just kids?" Baynana asked.

"Yeah, but legally," Ahmond said, "we're just kids, and we can't be arrested except for doing, uh, forbidden magics."

Baynana stared around the room. "Do you think we're the only kids who've ever been down here before, under arrest, by orders of Owlis, for doing illegal magics?"

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Ahmond grinned. "With all those qualifiers, yes."

"I don't see how this is funny."

Ahmond groaned, and told Baynana, "Anyway, we've got books, we've got food, we're not suffering."

"Never said we were, but would you say we're the only kids who've been down here?"

"Maybe not the only kids," Ahmond said. "But maybe the only kids who have ever done forbidden, illegal magics, yes."

"Believe it or not, you're not."

The voice came through the door, and Ahmond put her head down on the floor, keeping an ear up. "Who is that?"

"It's me, Whyrl."

"The paddle guard?" Ahmond asked, tone unamused.

Whyrl chuckled. "Is that what you're going to call me from now on? I figured I was a special friend, since we've known each other at our worsts. Me, doing my job, smacking wolves, and you, well, being bad wolves."

Baynana said, "Back to the previous thing, there's others kids?"

"Not right now," Whyrl said. "But you've hardly set any sort of record, as much as there was someone else, quite a while ago, who used illegal magic as well. There's one spell, you may have seen it in the forbidden book, but it was used to great effect. Obsydyn."

"Obsydyn?" Baynana thought to herself. How that name seemed familiar, as if her heart knew it. No, the thought sweltered in her head, burning as if deprived of oxygen.

Whyrl said, "Obsydyn was made from three dark beings that came long ago. Worthlessness, Fear, and Despair."

Ahmond recognized those names. "Despair?"

Whyrl nodded, not that either girl would see. "Despair was a young girl..."

***

"I had a daughter, her name was Bittersweet. A nice little hyena, but it seemed she had a power, when she was going through a growth spurt. Other little girls made fun of her.

"Now, I always told her she needed to get over those names of being too big. In retrospect, I wish I was more understanding. Bittersweet wanted them to know how she felt, and that's when she found the forbidden book, a book made by the three dark beings I mentioned prior. Anyway, Owlis entrusted me with a high status, being a guard, so I had a library card with special privileges. My daughter borrowed the card.

"Imagine my surprise, when, a week later, I hear she's been at trouble in school. I hear how she's corrupted kids - made them into zombies. Sucked all the joy and happiness out of their lives, and it seemed like the only way to cure them was to keep her away.

"I demanded to know how she learned about this magic, and she told me about the book. I read through all of the pages, and tried to understand everything about the book, but could never find anything about the spell of Despair.

"I approached Owlis, and she told me about the Great Book and the Forbidden Book. Soon as the book was opened, it released three qualities. Unfortunately, when she found out my daughter was infected, she knew what that meant. The previous soul of Despair had died, and so the power returned to the book to be renewed and recycled.

"Anyway, the Great Book is now known to you as the Firefly Diary. The Forbidden Book is the opposite of the Firefly Diary, however, Owlis has done her best to keep the darkest qualities out of the kingdom, and has exiled those with the powers. However, her newest policy must be to keep them under protection, or at least, you.

"I suppose Baynana, you must have gotten one quality for one reason or another. But basically, you've been infected. You're not necessarily any more dangerous than anyone else, unless you choose to be, and we have to make sure that won't happen. Whether we have to teach you by carrot, or by stick.

"Anyway, back to where I was, basically, I had to arrest my own daughter Bittersweet."

***

Ahmond listened to the whole tale. "That's awful."

Baynana shook her head. "Awful. Simply awful."

"You said you HAD a daughter."

Whyrl said, "Next week, I'll continue for you the tale, but let's just say things can get quite a bit darker. Anyway, keep your power to yourself. You don't know what could happen to you."

What disturbed Ahmond most wasn't his implications, but was the measured tone he kept while speaking the entire tale. Almost as if he'd been darkened just enough in his life to not care.