The Real Folktale Blues Part 12

d.a.m.ned fox could sleep through the end of the world.

Twelve.

The Giggling Wind "I want those cannons operational now!" Bonny roared. And I truly finally understood why she had such a dragon bellowing voice. You needed it so your orders could be heard over the chaos of ship battles.

The entire craft jerked again as she turned to me and pointed out into the clouds around us. It startled me slightly to realize this was an airship, not a water ship. No wonder Bonny was Pirate King, Air ships were rare these days and incredibly expensive.

"Get out there! Do something." She commanded of me, with a completely different atmosphere and tone from minutes earlier.

"Yes ma'am." I mocked and would have snickered if it hadn't been such a serious situation. She darted off to yell at a couple more soldiers, before a brisk and fierce wind ruptured through the ship, rocking it again. I started to glance around trying to find what we were being attacked by. But there was no sign of anything other than clouds and lots of condensed moisture on the ship.

I turned around just in time to catch Ettie bursting out from the below deck stairwell. She clasped two silvery pistols in her large hands. She was a pillar over the majority of people dashing around on the deck well before she was even fully up the stairs.

"Where's Han?" I asked quickly as the ship jerked again, nearly knocking both of us off our feet. Luckily we both had gripped the nearby wall.

"He went ahead of me since I had to errr... dress in something else." She explained, looking away from my eyes as she finished. I glanced around briefly as well but I didn't see a thick roll of a man or a ma.s.sive hound anywhere, so I didn't worry about it for now.

I would get back to the comment about what Ettie had been wearing previously, later on. For now she was in a low-cut blouse and thigh length cargo shorts, with her gun belt fastened around it. She had the legs to pull off short shorts like those.

I hooked the long-handled hatchet on my right shoulder, holding it like a woodsman, my eyes falling on Ettie again. "Any idea what it is?"

"Not a clue." She crisply stated as we both rocked again with the jerk of the ship. A few buccaneers around me tossed on the floor or against the railings. I turned around and sighed.

"Great. How are we supposed to fight something when we don't know what it is?" I breathed shallowly as Ettie pa.s.sed by me, totting her guns out in front of her. A single punching roar erupted from one of her hand cannons with a fierceness I hadn't expected.

I realized why, as I saw the burst of bright light rocket through the air catching a nearby cloud in a draft of purple fire, leaving only a wisp behind. They weren't a normal firearm, they were magical weaponry. She was getting better with her offensive magic. Sooner or later she would be one fey of a force, but by then the faeries would be all over her.

Guns could work the same way a wand or a staff worked for wizards and mages of all types, only she was channeling magical energy through a barrel instead. It seemed like more mages were using a firearm instead of a staff these days. I knew one wizard that fired healing and cleansing spells from a magical gun. Staring down his barrel was a good thing.

I felt a swell of pride for a moment over seeing Ettie rocket off another shot, a light purple smoke curling from the chamber of each of her weapons as she rushed on further to the upper deck, likely to get a better vantage point.

My pride was quickly crashed to the floor though, when my feet were whipped out from under me and I dropped like Humpty Dumpty on the wooden floor. I heard the shamble of a childish giggle erupt as wind stretched pa.s.sed me.

Midnight Magic!

Sylphs.

No wonder we couldn't see them. They might as well have been the b.l.o.o.d.y wind, for all anyone knew. But I would never forget those laughs. I had a terrible run in with Sylphs in the past, they weren't nasty or anything, they just loved playing their pranks, they were like little troublemaking children.

Of course the last time I had dealt with them was around Gabbi. So it could be possible that this was her doing, if she still managed any sylphs. She had the power to invoke them and other wind like effects; it was how she pulled off her Huff and Puff in the legends. I'm still not sure where she got that ability though, since she couldn't use magic.

It wasn't from me.

I groaned, pushing the long hatchet into the ground along with my fist to thrust myself into a stand. But before I could, another sweep of wind arched through, slamming into my feet and hands. My arms buckled underneath me and my head slammed against the head of my hatchet. I was instantly sprawled against the wooden floor.

I hate sylphs. But it was okay, the feeling is mutual. I might have allegedly blown some of them up a couple of years back.

Allegedly.

Still, this was just cruel. Not even letting me get a chance to fight. Then again, that was the thing about sylphs. There wasn't a lot that could be done to fight them. Fire burned them up, but only magical fires and that was only if the entire sylph was caught in the blast.

I gripped my hatchet up by the head and tucked it into my body, before rolling a few feet across the wet wood floor and popping up all at once to dash against the nearest wall, just as another swift strike of wind came soaring so close I could feel the crisp and sharp breeze on my legs.

There wasn't really a lot I could do and I hated being useless. I heard the first explosions of cannon fire echoing around me, and a few more shots from Ettie's guns through all the thick yelling and the loud rumbling of the winds and clouds.

I straggled myself along the wall, working my way toward the steps to the higher deck. But I stayed at the bottom of the stairs, as a few bandanna-clad buccaneers came darting down the path, firing basic one-shot gunpowder pistols and attempting to reload them.

A slapping sound broke next to me, as I saw a pirate flip right on their back. Sylphs really needed new tactics; tripping was their favorite, but that just made them expensive banana peels really.

I made sure the hatchet head was pointing away from me, as I made a dash for it once the next breeze pa.s.sed over me. Without so much as a gentle push of wind against my face, I reached the mast pole in the middle of the ship, still on the lower deck. I wasn't risking my neck on those steps yet.

Once there, I gripped on the pole as best I could. I probably looked like some kind of scared little girl at the moment. Thankfully Ettie was distracted for the time, so I wouldn't have to hear about this later.

"Bonny!" I called, glancing around the moist pole I held. "We are dealing with sylphs. Your people are just wasting their ammo and time."

Despite yelling as loud as I could, I wasn't sure if she had heard me. Fey, I wasn't even sure Bonny was over here. I glanced around a few more times, feeling the brisk wind slapping against me a few times, trying to buckle my legs. Some of my hair had come out of the high ponytail I had fashioned in haste, and was slapping against my face, annoying me further.

b.l.o.o.d.y wind...

I shimmied around the pole, probably looking like a total idiot, while trying to glance through the thick clouds and condensation that was rolling in even faster.

Nothing was still in my sight though. Well, plenty was in my sight, including my damp hair that looked like fresh blood now. There just wasn't any Captain Bonny around that I could see, or Ettie, or Han.

"What?" I heard shouted right behind my ear. Which made me jump before glancing back to find the captain slip right up next to me, with some rope in one hand pulling at the sail. She was trying to get it down, so we wouldn't be blown severely off course while in the middle of all these heavy winds. Talk about a level head.

She was thinking way further ahead than I was. I was only concerned with surviving the next few minutes. I repeated myself, "They are sylphs. The shooting is doing nothing unless you've got magic cannonb.a.l.l.s."

"What else do you suggest we do?" Her roaring still managed to somehow be louder than the fiercely blowing wind, especially right up against my eardrums.

"Exactly what you are doing. Just without the shooting, and getting your people safely away from the sylphs. Leave them to me and Ettie." I yelled back, trying to provide justice for what would likely be me going deaf from her voice.

"Trust an unknown witch and a magic-less former faerie to save my ship?" Her voice was toned down, maybe she caught that I had been annoyed by it being so loud. She skewed a single eyebrow up at me, and I just rolled my eyes.

"You don't have much of a choice, considering Ettie is really the only one on the ship that can eliminate the sylph." I finished, feeling my argument was already complete as I started slipping back around the pole.

Bonny stopped me though, with a clawing grip on my left shoulder which nearly made me buckle as bad as the sylph had been attempting to do. I glanced back and she nodded to me, with the shadow of a smile. I grinned despite the look, and nodded back before slipping around the pole, while she went back to her business.

I was just about to run across the empty flat toward the stairs in an attempt to get to Ettie, when I saw a hound fly pa.s.sed me and slam vigorously into the wall of the cabin I was staring toward. Not a clue came over me of where he just appeared from. But looking around I did notice the clouds had sunk in more in some areas of the ship, making it practically impossible to see entire areas, like a thick miasma.

I heard whimpering from the hound, as I felt another dash of wind, and ran across the expanse as quickly as possible. Only this time they had been prepared, and instead of rocketing to strike my legs to knock me down, just one of them filtered swiftly through one ear and out the other.

I managed to slam the hatchet head and my hands against the cabin wall, as the sensation the sylph had caused made the world spin upside down and in fourteen different directions all at once. I practically staggered drunkenly as I reached the cabin and moved closer to where the hound was whimpering and clumped on the floor.

I was ready to puke, and the scent of sickly sweet brimstone coming from Han right below me wasn't helping things any further. Though, the scent did smell oddly familiar as well as revolting.

I gripped my head with my free hand, like I could stop the world spinning by doing so, since closing my eyes only made me feel worse. So I just tried to focus on the hound as I gripped at his fur.

"Get up, Han. You lazy ol' dog." I gasped, my head tipping about. I had to grab at the floor a few times to steady my balance. I hadn't ever experienced a sylph doing this to me. And I was trying to avoid the creepy feeling of the fact that it had gone through my head to do it.

I guess sylphs did have other tricks.

Han whimpered a few more times while I watched my vision of him spin around in circles. I had to swallow at least twice to keep down whatever wanted to come up from my stomach.

"Get up, Han!! Seriously, I need your help too." He gurgled and stirred while I yelled at him and attempted steadying myself. I didn't see any blood on him, but considering what the smell of brimstone would often mean blood was hardly the most pressing issue. I didn't understand where it could have come from though.

Brimstone meant serious magic, specifically dragon magic; the kind of magic that could make life and take it away. Neither of which were very good for the world.

I couldn't deal with trying to stir a two-hundred something pound dog from unconsciousness. There were more serious things, and at least this way he would be out-of-the-way. So I popped open the cabin door and rolled Han just inside Bonny's room, before trying to close it again. The wind was making it difficult.

Once the door had closed with a slam though, I glanced around again to notice the clouds had sunk in deeper to where I couldn't see much more than an arm length in front of me. I grabbed the rail of the stairs leading to the upper deck, wishing I had grabbed my belt of hatchets in the cabin room before I had closed the door.

I had to settle with just gripping both sides of the rail while still holding my long-handled hatchet with one hand and hunkering down low. I stepped up the stairs to the upper platform, hoping I wouldn't be getting another sylph style wet w.i.l.l.y. I was still trying to shake off the dizziness of the last one.

I managed up the steps without a thrusting breeze striking me. Though I discovered on the way that I couldn't hear anything around me other than the whistling of the wind through my ears, which was starting to incur a migraine and add to the swirling dizziness. The clouds around me almost seemed to take shapes sometimes, and provide the illusion of spinning through the clouds to my death.

Come to think of it, maybe I was pushing through the clouds to my death?

I could make out a humanoid shadow appearing in the thicket of fog around me though. Smelling the intense sweet burn of brimstone once more, it was the kind of scent that was so absolutely sweetening that it just made your stomach turn until you wanted to puke. Like unicorns, glitter and rainbows, only hundreds of times worse.

"h.e.l.lo?" I called, my hand slipping along the head of the axe I held, to grip the actual handle, in preparation.

I braced myself, curling my hand tighter on the hilt as the figure managed to burst from the thicket of clouds to where I could make out more than a silhouette.

A double-edged sword sliced through the fog, just as I yanked my axe up to block it from cutting me in half.

"Roberts?" I exclaimed, seeing the same adorned scarlet bandanna interwoven to his hair, with the dark tunic and pants. He held the long double-edged sword in his right hand, and had just the same look of shock on his face as me.

His blue eyes beaded and he blinked a few times, before lowering his sword to his side. "Miss Gnidori? Do you know what is happening? I can't seem to find anyone."

I didn't get the chance to say much of anything, as my free hand flung forward to cover over Roberts' mouth. I twirled around him and used him as an anchor to thrust my foot at the person I barely managed to catch approaching over the whistling in my ears.

My foot slammed into them just above the crotch, marking just how tall they were, while I heard a grunt and a stumble away. The silhouette matched all the sounds, and my hand slid from covering Roberts' mouth, keeping one eye trained to him, while watching the grunting figure stumble back into the visible area, gripping their stomach with one hand.

"Faerie Fudge, Riri, did you have to kick so hard?" I heard Ettie's voice plead and groan as her looming shape came into view, one arm at her stomach while bother her hands held her pistols.

"Don't lurk next time." I said casually, now needing to keep track of two different people. For all I knew, with the way magic was being flung around, either of them could have been illusions or shapechangers or any number of magical creations.

"I do not lurk!" Ettie screeched, her voice rising to pitches I wasn't used to hearing from her. Either I struck a serious vein or she was a shapeshifting harpy. And why not? Everyone else seemed to be a shapeshifter these days. Her voice died lower after a second and she added, "It's a spell isn't it?"

"Yes." I nodded, quickly turning in place. My eyes flitted to Ettie, and I figured it would probably be a good idea to tell her that her brother was safely locked away with a week old kitsune. But Roberts b.u.t.ted in.

"A-a spell? We are under a spell?" Roberts sounded like he was about to jump off the ship, his fear was so thickly obvious.

"An expanse spell. It's very effective for breaking up large groups and picking them off. It creates the illusion that there is more room around us then there really is." I explained, my eyes darting between the two people I had now somehow collected and trying to catch any signs of something else. Like more of those blasted sylphs.

"So what do you do?" Roberts asked; his breath heavy and his sword strung up close against his body.

"Nothing. At least for you or me. Ettie on the other hand, I think it's time you worked your magic." I shifted my weight, slapping the spine of my axe up on my shoulder, while staring directly at the tall blonde hardly a foot in front of me. She took two careful steps back, her hands flying up in front of her, barely gripping her pistols.

"Me? I can't do anything, Gnidori. Charms, sure. A little bang-bang magic, sure. I don't even know where to start with breaking this... expanse spell. I can't do it." Ettie nearly backed out completely from my line of sight, continually one step after the other. I could see the fear ringing around her dark brown eyes.

If I hadn't stepped forward twice, leaving Roberts behind me a couple of steps, she would have been lost as a foggy silhouette.

"What did I teach you about magic, Ettie? Come on." My voice rose, probably a little more annoyed and hasty than it should have been, considering this was still something Ettie had never done. Which meant it would be difficult for her without me getting on her case.

She lowered her head, I could see the worry flashing across her eyes and face but then she looked back up at me with at least a mild determination.

"If you don't believe in the spell, there is no spell." She fervently spoke, her voice shaky but her dark eyes were solid and strong. I nodded to her, and smiled weakly.

"So then why are you telling me you can't do it? You are better than this." My tone was hasty, but honestly we were in a bit of a rush. Not only did Ettie have to knock away this spell, but then she personally had to eliminate each of the sylphs causing trouble. It was a lot of work for one solemn witch, but I had to trust she would do it. I knew she would. I had been the one to first teach her magic after all.

She nodded sharply, but her mouth fell open and the fear returned in her eyes. She still managed to ask though, "What do I do?"

"Spell breaking is harder than Spelling. Elves being the best at it, because it has to do with returning nature back to what it was. This fog isn't supposed to be here. You have to make nature realize something is not in the right place so it can put it back." I explained carefully, dropping a hand firmly to Ettie's fingers, wrapped around her guns. She still looked scared and I couldn't blame her.

"How?" She crisply asked with a weaker voice.

"I can teach you the basic incantation, but you have to be in the right state of mind. Think Ettie, why do elves have an easier time with spell breaking?"

"Love." She spoke even softer, to the point that it was hard to hear her over the wind smacking around. The way she spoke the word though, with such focus and radial energy in her eyes, staring at me so intensely, made my cheeks burn with heat.

She must have noticed when she snapped out of it, because she drew her hand back from mine and glanced down as she finished. "They love nature as it is, not the way someone else is making it."

I nodded, trying to find my voice.

"Then to break the spell I need to love the air as it was before the attack." Her eyes darted back up to me, the fear lingering away as she seemed to sparkle more somehow. She gripped her fists tightly around her guns, and closed her eyes.

I was kind of glad I didn't need to say anything. At least for a good minute, while I felt Roberts saunter behind me.

"What is she doing? Is she okay?" Roberts asked, right up against my ear.

"Magic. One of the purest and oldest kinds of magic in the world." The smile on my lips had grown as I watched her. Her breath shallow and controlled, her lids flickering lightly like she was dreaming but she was really focusing, the only way she knew how. People all focused differently, and hers was always so peaceful.

"Pure magic? Magic is evil. How can it be pure?" Roberts squeaked, his voice actually rising high for once like he was still going through p.u.b.erty. Maybe he was for all I knew; he looked old enough to be a man though.

"Magic is what you want it to be." I groaned. The magic is evil and dangerous propaganda was something the fairies instilled in the majority of people across the worlds. It was just another way of controlling the magic for them. They'd say only faeries had good magic. It's hard to conceive that at one point I actually believed all the non-sense the faeries promoted.

"It's the very will we possess imposed on the world. It's not evil. It's life. It's love. It's what made you join Charming's militia, and get caught up in all of this. What you felt for Ashley; that was the beginning of magic. Don't call that evil. Dangerous, sure. But magic is only evil if you make it that way."

My brows furrowed, the rage seething in me at the way the fairies had been manipulating the world, controlling it. So that people like Ettie, would be convicted and shipped off to their academy or eliminated to keep that control. It was disgusting.

I didn't look at Roberts though, even if I wanted to, to tell him not to be an idiot with following everyone's opinion, and instead make his own. My attention shifted back to the peaceful blonde instead. The wind blowing against us helped me catch that lily scent she had. I breathed it in and let it relax me. My body unclenched, and my eyelids fluttering, as she finally opened her eyes.