*** a massive army of dark elves encloses around a small encampment on a distant frigid tundra *** The dark winds howled. Jupiter slowly spun his cane in hand and faced the oncoming forces. He glanced over at Ragar, ever true to his name, his blade gleamed in the frozen moonlight. Then to Lord Zeddar of the Shadowcove who steadied his fierce dragons – win or lose this was certain to be a culminating battle for them. There were precious few moments to drink the surrounding events into his memory. He would not relish the effort and manner in which he would have to regurgitate them later. The glow of their campfire faltered as the dark elves gleeful cackled out of the bitter darkness. “Jupiter the Grey, should have listened! Should have stayed! Ragar and his warriors shouldn’t follow fools into the fray! Zeddar and his pets will fall into dismay!” Suddenly the dark sky was alight with hundreds of twinkling lights, a volley of arrows were coming, the battle that never should have be fought began… ========================================================================================================== *** Back in the village of Paws, Catalin awakes with a fevered sweat *** “DON’T GO YOU GREY FOOL!” Catalin shouted as he lurched from the cot. “Don’t.. go,” his shoulders slunk and he softly wept. “Don’t go where?”, came the familiar inquisitive voice that was both genuinely curious and commanding at the same time. “Jupiter? But, I saw you.. you and another great wizard fell. You and, and,” he held his hands to his face as if to hold the welling tears, “and Ragar. You fell in the frozen lands outside her fortress.” “Ah we fell did we? Well it couldn’t have been too terrible a fall, for here I stand. And Ragar as well is on patrol of the roads. But pray do tell, what unpleasantly cold forebodings did Winter give you?” Catalin stared at the infuriatingly calm wizard and while his face smiled, the rest of his body still recoiled with involuntary sobs. “I saw you surrounded by a force of dark elves. They were enclosing on your small party consisting of only you, Ragar, and,” Catalin struggled as if recalling a name on the tip of his tongue and then with an shrill hiss, “and Zeddar of the Shadowcove.” He blinked unsure how he knew that name, and suddenly. Jupiter’s face grew distant, “Thank you Catalin. I am glad you are safe, but you still need to rest. I fear it may not be safe for you to travel too far from the Sapphire Pond until this Winter is passed. Sleep now.” Catalin drifted back to sleep. Jupiter sealed the tower portal and headed for the Shadow Cove. ========================================================================================================== ***Outside a well lit tavern, somewhere in the forests of Yew a most curious event unfolds before Jupiter, Ragar, and a wizard called Lord Zeddar. A womanly shape emerges from the waters, and steps gracefully to the shore.*** “Zeddar of the Shadow Covenant, you have a terrible request to ask of me. If you truly seek my council, then it is this: cast that which you carry into these waters, and trouble yourself no-more with these mortal matters. Fate will decide, as she always has, how the seasons will turn.” Zeddar humbly bowed to the majestic apparition, “With all due respect, with my own oath I have vowed to protect these lands, regardless of the current inhabitants, and no matter the weather. I ask therefore that you assist us and help us reveal what this scroll contains.” “Very well, I will do what I can to help you reveal the White Witch’s secrets” the maiden’s voice was so peaceful it would lull most men into a day dream-like trance. She stretched out her finger, pointing to the seal the scroll and a single drop fell. The seal suddenly gleamed and then vanished from the scroll. “Mind you that all the good folk of Paws are under my watch and care.” The Sapphire Maiden stepped back over the water dropped perfectly into the center of ripples emanating from an invisible fountain. “Zeddar,” Jupiter cautioned, “based on this dark warning and Catalin’s ill foreboding, this scroll is most certainly is a trap. I am sure now that the treasures of the Cerberus and these dark elves are treacherous gifts of the White Witch. With each treasure that the men and women take from her minions, I fear their hearts are freezing over and Winter ever colder. Until at last the fires in their hearts will extinguish, giving way to an eternal Winter. Not nature’s winter, but a dark era where She shall rule over all men’s hearts with nothing left to thaw them.” Nodding, Zeddar agreed, “Any gift from the White Witch is not a gift in truth and is most certainly a trap. But a good man once told me, the best way to avoid an enemy’s trap is to spring it before it’s meant to be sprung.” ========================================================================================================== *** the arrows fell down whistling sharp threats of doom as they fell from the arctic sky*** “Jupiter, do you have it?” Zeddar shouted his question over the howling doom. Jupiter glanced around with a fierce intensity then nodded “Then do it now! Send your memories back through the earthen ways. Meet me back at Shadowcove and I shall be able to help you extract them,” he shouted as he commanded the dragons to attack. “An Kal Vas Xen Ylem,” Jupiter cast a spell, or rather a dispel and their forms all melted like muddy puddles into the ground. The dragons only remained and roared. This would be their battle to present to the elders for remembrance. A wicked shriek howled from deep within the distant fortress. Winter’s grasp was, for now, eluded…
when the lights grow cold her reign is begun, From the hidden forest her children come, So light your candle, children dear, Dont let winter's chill come hither near. "Why are you reciting a children's poem?" Catalin moaned and groped at the night stand for his candle. He couldn't understand why Jupiter kept repeating a children's nursery rhyme, but it was so repetitive and grinding on his nerves he felt compelled to find the Wizard. Errgh! and make him!.. no ask him to stop. No. Why must he stop again? His mind felt terribly foggy if only he could rest. He went to turn out his candle and then the rhyme began again. "Wizard! Silence!" He shuddered with an eerie feeling that the command was not his own. No again. He shook the fog from his mind "Jupiter, if you can hear me, you must not stop! The truth is in the poem. Light the candles!" ********************************** Jupiter stepped into the infirmary where Tybris and his sister Tabitha sat near Catalin's bed, he noted that the cart of warm rags was empty again; the barrel of used cloth filled to the brim. "Any improvement?," there was no need to ask, but the inquiry was meant more to announce his entry and stir there solemn air. Tybris only shook his head. "He keeps muttering in a fevered dream wizard," Tabitha offered, "it sounds like an old children's rhme about winter, but he's getting it wrong. Leastwise it's not how I heard it growing up." Jupiter perked is eye brows, "Indeed, and how to you remember it?" Tabitha closed her eyes as if to read the words hidden inside her eyelids, "When the nights grow cold winter is begun, From the hidden forest children come, So douse your candles, children dear, And weather winter's chill hither near" She opened her eyes, and spoke, "But it is a poem of home coming, teaching children to come in for the night when winter starts." "Perhaps it has become so, but Catalin must be reciting a forgotten verse," Jupiter smiled warmly at the brave man who even in his fevered state, fought against the the night. He stood abruptly, and headed to the front gates. He knew just what he had been missing when Zeddar sent his claymations into the frozen realm. The witch doesn't dwell in frozen towers, but in the heart of the forest. Rally call for all Soarians. Please come if you can
