does not anymore work

[campanas]

Here, in a place where she is quite an unexpected sight, is:

an eight year old girl with brown-flecked white wings, looking dismayed and lost.

with Prime (Aestrix)

with Edie and Emily (Maggie)

with Gloria (Maggie)

with Gren (Rockeye)

Comments

[campanas]

Pen cracks up.

[iamnotpolaris]

"So once they had rested and provisioned themselves, the merry band took a squadron of the county's soldiers and they all set off for the tower of the evil sorcerer."

[campanas]

"I bet they win," predicts Pen.

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, yeah. It's a story, after all. The good guys almost always win in stories."

[campanas]

"Yeah. But say how winning."

[iamnotpolaris]

"So they tromped through the woods--the county was on the other side of the woods from the kingdom with the sorcerer and the bad king. They tromped through the woods until they came through the other side, and they made their way to the sorcerer's tower.
When they arrived, the sorcerer was out--possibly searching for the boy, possibly arresting someone on behest of the evil king. The boy knew the magic password to get the tower's doors open, because the sorcerer hadn't bothered to change it."

[campanas]

"Silly sorcerer."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, possibly he thought the boy would change his mind and come back. He was very arrogant, you see. So the boy let everyone into the tower, although the soldiers stayed outside and hid nearby because there wasn't enough good hiding places for everyone inside, and they laid an ambush.
When the sorcerer came back, the fire-woman was the first to greet him. She hugged him as she had hugged the mercenary guards, and said in his ear, 'remember me?'
The sorcerer was extremely surprised, but he was far less susceptible to fire than a random mercenary. He flung the fire-woman off of him into a magic pool, and her fire was put out, and she was a human woman again."

[campanas]

"Oh no!"

[iamnotpolaris]

"No, she wanted that, remember? She couldn't go home and take care of her little sister while she was made of fire."

[campanas]

"But now she can't help anymore."

[iamnotpolaris]

"True. So the sorcerer was about to go over to the pool and finish her off when a piercing cry filled the air. The door--which the sorcerer hadn't had time to close--was suddenly filled with a stampede of deer, badgers, wolverines, and other animals. They charged the sorcerer, knocked him down, trampled him, and then fled before he had time to retaliate.
This didn't kill the sorcerer, of course, because he was very magic. But now he was a little singed and a lot battered and very ticked off."

[campanas]

Hee hee.

[iamnotpolaris]

"So the sorcerer, having figured out that there was more going on than one woman wanting revenge, decided that he probably had bigger problems than a girl who wasn't even on fire any more. Carefully, he ascended the stairs, watching out for more ambushes.
The boy was waiting for him in his workshop, and he blasted him with magic energy before the sorcerer could react. The sorcerer was having none of this, so he retaliated by sending a swarm of knives at the boy. The boy turned the knives into golems that looked like ravens, that flew back at the sorcerer and started pecking him."

[campanas]

"Pelting with birds," giggles Pen.

[iamnotpolaris]

"Exactly. So the boy and the sorcerer dueled. The sorcerer was more skilled and experienced, but the boy was fighting for someone he loved, and that gave strength to his blows.
Eventually, the sorcerer managed to overcome the boy, and as he was standing above him to land the final blow--
The countess's brother came up behind him, pressed a hand to the nape of his neck, and sent him into a deep sleep."

[campanas]

"Ooh."

[iamnotpolaris]

"So the two good mages performed a ritual to strip the evil sorcerer of his powers, and left him in his bed, so that if ever it was better for him to be awoken than not it could be done. And they came down and hugged the formerly-fire woman, and were not set alight for their troubles. And the countess sent her home to her sister with an escort of soldiers to make sure she made it home safely. And then the rest of them set out for the capital to overthrow the king."

[campanas]

Nod nod.

[iamnotpolaris]

"So a courier ran up to the king. And the courier said, 'Your Majesty! An invasion force is headed to the capital from the County of Vesser!'
'What?' said the king. 'But I get along great with the Count of Vesser!'
'Ah, well, yes, sire,' coughed the courier, 'but it seems the Count of Vesser has been usurped by his stepdaughter, the last Count's firstborn.'
'Oh, blast,' said the king. 'Well, summon my sorcerer.'
'Er, they got him first,' the courier said."

[campanas]

Heeeeee.

[iamnotpolaris]

"The king tore at his hair. 'You've got to be kidding me? How did they manage that?'
'They've got his old apprentice, sire, the one who ran off last year.'
'Ugh. Did he forget to change the password on his tower?'
'It seems so, sire.'
'I always knew his lack of carefulness would be the end of him.'"

[campanas]

"Why didn't the king say changing password?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"He did. The sorcerer ignored him."

[campanas]

"Oh."