Catching the Wind

Hello

"Still yer self, boy, we will get this figured out." After telling this to Caspian with a sense of determination, he turned to the wizard who was just standing there taking it in. He was stroking his long yellow tinged beard with a wrinkled forehead. 

  

"It wasn't I, I can assure ye. I was merely feeling for energy when that nasty curse kicked me out. I have only heard of one incident along my travels that involved a curse like this." Saying it out loud to the group hovered by Caspian, the wizard bent down to talk to Caspian, he pulled his hands gently from his face as Caspian lifted his fair freckled face up to look at him with gold green eyes. 

  

"Boy, now listen to me, ye will fly, I will make damned sure of it, but first, I must hear details of yer actions, places, and people ye have met. Any Fae fold ye may have come to know. We must find the start of this, and continue from there. The magic played upon ye is Fae, for that I am certain." Caspian just listened to the wizard's words and then nodded, wiped his tears and stood. 

  

At the words coming from the wizard, the Captian shouted in outrage. To find how this happened, Caspian would have to stay, face a battle alongside them. This was not going to happen. 

  

"REDICULOUS! How can ye plan on solving this. We soon will be amidst a battle of many, I cannot expect to take time to solve this wizard. Ye and the witch will send him away before the sun peaks through them there trees, do ye understand me." Nikolas was afraid, deeply, for the first time in a long time. Fear of something happening to Caspian, creeped in and hit full force.  

  

"But Cap’n!" Caspian shouted out in a plea. The only dream he ever had was flying, and now he would be sent away before learning, and away from his home. Nikolas was home to him, like a father. How could he betray him? 

  

"ENOUGH! I've spoken, I am Captain here and my rules are to be followed. Ye WILL be sent away safe. The moment things can calm and ye can return, I will die trying to bring ye back. End of discussion." Yelling at Caspian, he felt awful but he had to be strict, for Caspian's own good. He then turned to the witch and narrowed his eyes at her. 

  

"Ye will send him away Hagthoria, no arguments. Send him to a place where dragons no longer exist, where they never existed, where they are completely forgotten or thought to be a babe's imagination. If it is safe, it is where he goes." Staring at Nikolas as he told her this, Hagthoria could feel the pressure. Too many pints already in and the situation turned serious, she almost panicked but didn't show it. She had drank like a fish, thinking she had a night or two before the ritual of sending the young dragon away.  

  

"Ye don't be pointing that sword in I's direction, Nikolas. I will send him safely, but ye must bear the consequences. We will we do it, but once done, it cannot be undone, wary of this ye best be. He will go, unable to fly, unable to fight if he be meeting a fiercer foe in the future." She warned him, hoping to change his mind. Telling by Nikolas’s firm nod of resolute, she had failed. 

  

"Cap’n is this really safe, will he really be safe? He's but just a young lad, never even lifted a sword." Barreth, Nikolas’s First lieutenant stood, he felt wrong for questioning his Captain, but having sat by the fire taking it all in he had to say something. 

"Stand down Barreth, I need not another to fight against over this tonight." He trusted Barreth like a brother, but now was not the time to discuss this. Barreth just nodded at him defeated. 

  

The wizard had stood earlier lost in thought as Nikolas was speaking to Hagthoria. Taking the lead from the Lieutenant, he spoke up as well. 

  

"I also must stress this, Captain. The dragon is defenseless without his flight. To send him to an unknown place could further put the boy in danger. We cannot know ahead, where he will be sent, and with the hags currently condition, do ye really want to tempt fate sir?" Gesturing at the witch who was desperately now trying to hold on to her cane with both hands, both Nikolas and Caspian reached out to steady her.  

"Ye hands off me, I be not so gone as I can't manage a simple spell. Looky here old man, if it be what Nikolas wants, then it be. Don't go on doubting I be able to do it!" The witch shrugged away their help as she spat at the wizard. 

Steadying herself with both crooked hands, now white from her firm grip on the stick, she hobbled over to the small clearing under the branches of a thick pine where Caspian was laying in dragon form. Stopping and reaching into her pocket of her tattered dirt colored robe, she pulled out a small leather satchel.  

  

"Get ye bones over here and help me, old man. Even in well condition I be needing help with this too." Calling for the wizard to come over, she reached in to the satchel and pulled out what looked like thousands of tiny diamonds. Taking a handful, she tossed them in the center of the pine needles covering the small area. The smell of ozone filled the air and rumbling could be heard in the distance.  

  

The wizard hurried over and pulled some plain stones from a small pouch tied at his waist. Murmuring a few words, barely audible to those watching, he tossed the stones onto the patch of tiny sparkles on the ground. Hagthoria began to chant in an old tongue never heard before to Nikolas and the others. Everyone was starting to feel the small pull of magic the two were summoning. 

Watching in awe were a hundred eyes focused on this small clearing. They could see the tiny diamonds sparkle brighter and start to move. It looked like they had melted and formed a small puddle that had a ripple at the center. The plain stones began to float a few feet above this, and rain suddenly sounded around them. The soldiers broke their gaze from mystical scene while Nikolas ordered them to shield the fires. Placing shields on sticks a few feet above the fires helped to keep them at least burning embers. 

  

Neither Hagthoria or the wizard seemed affected by the rain. The clouds could be head banging thunderous sounds as both of them continued to murmur their spell. The plain stones suddenly glowed all colors of a rainbow. They slowly started to spin above the diamond puddle and a swirl of purple smoke formed as the stones circled around it. Turning now from her chanting, the witch looked at Nikolas