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Dear Diary, Well, I had two really big things come up. First, Ariel and Amber's birthday. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that, I wasn't comfortable sneaking into that school again, so I decided to use an airplane. My guardian has assured me that they really do fly and won't fall out of the sky. I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, but figured out I would figure it out. I was trying to make arrangements, without bothering Major, er, Bird Dragon, when Tinda asked me what was bothering me. I guess I looked a little puzzled. Anyway, when I told him, he laughed and offered to take me. Oh, I should remember to write that Wolfie had asked me to the Valentine's Day ball -- I didn't even have to force him to act the proper escort -- and I was excited to dance (and oh, we danced all night), but the next day he had a special tutorial, so he couldn't go run with me, not to mention I was trying to figure out how to fly. I had been trying to figure out how I would fly out to Switzerland, visit Ari and Amber and fly back for class on Monday and still make the dance with Wolfie (and he looked really nice in that suit. I keep forgetting just how well he cleans up). With Tindalasse flying out on his drepnir, it would be only two or three hours on the sky paths there and I would take the gate back. That was going to be the easiest trip of my life, until we ran into trouble in the wild places, between the sidhe realms of the old and the new world. Next thing I knew, magic was flying and the drepnir reared back, plunged its hooves and Tinda's lance into some massive, cloudlike creature (a storm troll I later learned) and then they lept into the midst of some winged, furious, creatures, leaving me behind, "walking on air" so to speak ...

It was fun to be riding on the back of a drepnir, faster than sound, through the sky paths, with Tindalasse in front of me. Until we got ambushed. Have you ever found yourself thrown off a horse in the middle of a fight, thirty thousand feet above sea level? I was suddenly glad that with my bootscould glide, but it still wasn't pretty, especially when the windwraiths figured out that they could just go up and fire magic at me from a distance and I couldn't reach them as I could only stay level or go down. Gliding helps you get down to the ground, but it doesn't move you up to catch up with things that can soar above you. It was a matter of almost seconds before they figured out I was only chasing them on the level or down and they all moved up. They were clustering, summing their power and glide wasn't going to get me to them, it doesn't move up. But the great leap can go up. That little fact turned the tables on them, as I leaped into their midst with the great leap and then the slaughter began. The great whirl that the wraiths were dancing increases the power of their magic at the cost of making them vulnerable to weapons. Which let me turn my attention to Tindalasse and his fight with the two Succubae and their Harpies. All in it was an "interesting" fight, from the storm troll and wind wraiths to the harpies backing them up and the Succubae-elves behind it all.

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It had been so entrancing. First the dance, as Talia put it, Wolfie has such a sophisticated animal grace about him sometimes. Talia had offerred to set me up with a guy she knows just after Wolfie had asked me to the dance, so I told her "maybe later" and she said "your loss" but at the dance she was impressed.

Then, after a quick nap, I'm on horseback, flying through the midnight dark night sky behind the most gorgeous elven prince I know. It was beautiful, and my mind kind of emptied out and I was almost asleep, just the rhythm of the drepnir's wings and hooves on the sky path and the warm feel of Tinda in front of me. Found myself missing Wolfie, and then my mind kind of jogged and I was wishing my mom could be here to see it all, the stars above, the wisps of clouds, the dark empty wine dark sea below, then I was missing her terribly and crying to myself.

Sometimes you can be with someone, yet be alone. Even with the magic, and the quiet, the air didn't really call for much thought.

I'd been lost in my own mind and slowly just settled back into the rhythm of the journey for about an hour when we had the interruption. After the fight, you would have thought I'd be nothing but eager tension, waiting for another fight, but the next thing I remember was waking up as we came down through the mid-morning mist at the school. With all the time zones we had gone through (hey, that was something I learned in class!) it had not been a lot of sleep, and I was looking forward to brunch since I'd missed dinner, but I felt refreshed. And it was so pretty, mountains, the drepnir, Switzerland and that elf. Ok, looking at him makes me smile, but he is so pretty.

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Well, I'm assured that surprises like that are rare on the sky paths. This surprise I suspect was the work of an enemy of Tinda's father's. The two succubae turned into elves when slain, and I slew them again with cold iron to keep them on the path to the afterlife where they surely belonged. Interesting, all in all, and I took a trivet from the hair of one before I let fire consume the body. We had run into a storm troll as the "stopper" with wind wraiths to swarm us and harpies to pelt us with magic, excretement and arrows from afar. All led by the two shapechangers. I was no where near as amused by it as Tindalasse was, though I was pleased to have the trivet. It would let me summon help when I needed it, something like creating a golem, except it would create a magical creature. When we arrived at the school, we couldn't find it, though at first I thought I just had not woken up enough. We got to the grounds and there was just nothing there. So, I wondered what to do. I was sure it was there, just not there, if you know what I mean. Tindalasse reported that the elven realms were close, but blocked here, and I could feel the gate near-by. I decided to see if I could figure it out and asked Tinda if he would mind if I sent him on through the heart of the school. When he realized that there was a gate there and that he could use it to leave any time he wanted, he was excited about gating in and letting everyone know help was on the way. I touched him and a mark and he was on his way. The Kephalos awoke a little and two went with him, the others staying to guard the gate. I was back to my mark and went into town. The school has an office in town. I knew I could find it, if I just kept looking. Sure enough, I found it, with a cluster of those super cute Swiss Guards and the secretary. I checked her log and one of the names kept twisting. The log records the true names of those who sign it, and sure enough, when I placed my ring on it, the chaos magic broke and the real name of the last magical visitor came out, the outsider. One of the guards had true sight too. He could remember seeking a twisted tree where a man should have been. That gave me a clue, and with a charm and a nudge, I got a magical trail to a grove of twisted trees outside of town, near where the school was. It was an ancient relic of when the dryads had passed, of one who had refused to go and embraced chaos and stayed, becoming the outsider. Sure enough, I found things in that grove, including the outsider, a twisted dryad, mumified with age and chaos taint and basalisk musk. Just as I found the grove and spotted the things (and was sneaking up on them), Tindalasse sent me a message through the mark I had left on him. Something was assaulting the school. Tinda, the two Kephalos, Amber and Ari defended against one incursion, Jean and Marie against another, while the guards withdrew to the heart of the school (and the gate) to protect the rest of the students and face off against a third incursion coming in the gate. The gate guards were slaughtered them, but their attempting to come in kept anyone from getting out. The assault on the school was getting rough. Amber and Ari's magic was slaughtering the attackers, but they were being forced back in the face of being overrun. Fighting backwards as the attackers were channeled down the main hall, they knew that they only had so far before they were forced back to the gate. Jean and Marie were being forced back too, though they had some of the Swiss Guards stiffening their side. Marie kept slaughtering spell casters with her arrows and Jean bore the brunt of attacks by the enemy champions, each being replaced as he fell, while the Guards and their pikes kept a strong wall against the enemy cannon fodder (that was a neat word to learn). I only got the details after it was all over, but Tinda's message pushed a great deal of urgency. I decided I had to do something, so I would cast the trivet to summon a magical distraction and using my great leap, strike down the leader, the outsider, hopefully slaying it before the magical creature faded and my back was exposed. I couldn't see any other way to respond, and I knew if I could strike these threats down, it would affect the attack. So, I used the trivet I had taken from the dead succubae/elf's hair. As it spun through the air, it turned into an image of Wolfie -- talk about fun magic. I was with it, my great leap stunning. As I struck the outsider by surprise, Wolfie's mind reached mine, with just a "?" and then his mind blast stunned everyone my great leap had struck and we were back to back, Wolfie raging in fury against the bodyguard, and my magic and kore against the outsider. It was close, curses and all. I expected whatever I summoned not to make it, but hoped to kill the twisted chaos creature before the minions could swarm me and I had to flee, with the summoned construct lasting long enough to let me escape with a leap. I couldn't just leave Wolfie there to die, but I couldn't let up on the outsider either, so I just fought and hoped for the best. Then I was just fighting and then we were wrapped in anathraxis chains and fire lashed out. The chaos burned in the chains and against me and the dragon's eye burned against it, breaking its power, shattered. As the outsider fell into burning shards, it was broken and bested at last. With a prayer I turned to see what had happened and to give Wolfie what help I could. Wolfie looked at me, and just grinned, his rage had rent the bodyguard, keeping them from assisting their master "the old fashioned way" as he put it -- by killing them all. A wave of relief hit me and then Tinda's voice came through the mark. The attackers in the school seemed to have felt the effect of the outsider's death and their morale had failed, they were faltering and routing. The goatmen, satyrs and the spell casting succubae fled, being slaughtered as they ran. Jean was running the shapechangers through as they fell, the hentai slime creatures that had become succubae were finding the true death as iron took them again and again. He slew them on one side of the school, I and Wolfie rent them from the other as the route almost overran our position. The attack on the gate inside the school had faded and since I was sitting on the other end, a woven gate of twisted chaos vines, I could see nothing was likely to go through. Good thing that the last of those had pushed into the school before my attack on the outsider or we would have had that cohort to deal with at the same time. Ari's cold and Amber's fire destroyed the twisted chaos gate and the guards chased down the last of the attackers who were now leaderless and scattered. Talking with everyone, the attackers included goatmen and satyrs (archers, long knives, axemen and pike wielders), a number of spell casting Succubae/elves as well as more harpy archers and some undead. There was only one twisted dryad, and her bodyguard included a goatman champion, her undead minions and several stone trolls, though some had been among the champions leading the goats (if they had all been with her it would have been too much for us, I think). After the fight, the headmistress wanted to talk with us. She had fought a dream realms battle with the outsider while we had fought in the real world, keeping the magic from overwhelming everyone, and was a bit tired, but she wanted to talk before she took a rest. Since these were hentai slimes, it was obvious that we had fought a remnant of the Basalisk King's followers. But she wanted to know more about that gate. So I had to confess the presence of the gate and my relationship to the guardians. I could see her eyebrows arching even when I had my head down and was humbly reporting. Luckily I'm on the list of "adults" who can visit Amber and Ari, but she wasn't happy about the way I'd been visiting. Now I have permission to visit and to use the gates. It isn't a matter of sneaking in any more and worrying if I will get caught -- but I got a stearn lecture about checking in and signing the guestbook. I'm going to follow it, that headmistress looked stern, though she gave Wolfie and I a present before she took the rest of the day off to recover. Then, it was time for a birthday party and we got to celebrate and the time for being with Ari and Amber was great. We had some neat silk shirts and skirts for both of them as gifts, as well as some other simple things and a couple more charms from Wolfie (that boy has me wondering just what else he has hidden up his sleeve some times). Tinda offered me a ride back to college, but I had ridden enough for a while. I grabbed Wolfie's arm and the portal took us back home to school.

BTW, the Kephalos or Chaphalos sure make me feel better when I see them, as if I can feel my parent's love over all the years. I'm also glad I talked with the headmistress and now my visits are "official" so-to-speak. She was kind to me, at the end, and I think she approves, not to mention she was glad I figured out what was happening and helped them in the fight.
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When I look back at that weekend, it was still one of the best. I need good friends and Ari and Amber are two of the best. I didn't know that Wolfie was my heart's friend (which is how Tinda read the trivet's magic "aid in the shape of your heart's friend," but he sure was a friend in need and forgave me the unexpected effects of the magic, though he had to borrow some clothes before he would shapechange back to human, since the magic caught him in the shower. He's lucky his magic called his bladed chain and armor to him, though it missed his shirt and pants. Too bad he remembered he was without clothes before he shapechanged. That would have been a sight, though the whole school would have seen it. He looks neat half-way shapechanged, the chain wrapped around his hands and the blades sticking out. He just looks neat. Turns out summoning him didn't use up the trivet, so I made sure it ended back up in my purse. A girl never knows when she will need a strong guy at her beck and call. Going to Switzerland that week end was a great time, I felt like I was where I belonged, even if I missed a study session with the Bird Dragon (I'm not sure what else to call her? the eagle dragon? the dragon eagle? Nina? I'll figure it out).

 

When I think back, I'm still glad of the week-end. I got a "B" on my Greek test, but this one time it was worth it. Back to studying and I think I'll sit in the Greek classes with Ari some times. She is taking Greek at that finishing school in Switzerland that they are at. With her background in Koine, she is doing really well, though the Greek kids at school are a help for me.

So, Amber asked, did I kiss Wolfie after the dance? I'm not telling, though since Nina was there the whole time and waiting for me when we got back to the dorm, I didn't get a chance. But it is kind of fun to let Amber guess.

Copyright 2001-2004 Stephen R. Marsh and Heather N. Marsh E-Mail comments and suggestions to: story (at) adrr (dot) com We would love to know how you got here and what you think about the site All Rights Reserved Terms of Use / Story Index

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