Chapter 1: An appearance remembered

Baird skipped through the dappled sunlight deep in the heart of The Fey, giggling at the feel of the grass between his bare toes. Ahead of him, the wolf pup bounded after a flying wood-nymph, barking excitedly.

“Skadi, leave the nymph alone!” The wolf yipped at him and came bounding back, knocking the small boy off his feet and placing her front paws on his chest, licking his face.

Baird laughed breathlessly, and rolled the pup off him. Skadi’s legs waved in the air as she wriggled her body, twisting up onto her feet and preparing to leap at him again.

“Skadi, wait!” whispered Baird, looking into the bushes bordering the grove. The pup cocked her head and stared at him quizzically. Deep within the greenery at the foot of a sturdy, gnarled trunk, a shimmering blue light cast reflections off the foliage. Enthralled, Baird went to investigate, Skadi padding along at his side. The wolf sniffed at the spot as Baird bent down and parted the vegetation, revealing an enormous egg nestled amongst the bushes. He whistled appreciatively. “What do you think laid that Skadi? I bet dad will want to see this, I’m sure he’ll know what it is!” Skadi raced in a circle around the boy, bouncing up and down and twisting her body excitedly.

Baird’s father was the village medicine man, and spent many long hours in the forests searching out restorative herbs and plants to make his potions and balm. Even magic-makers sometimes dropped by, paying handsomely for his cures.

Baird had always been fascinated by his father’s work – even now, he had a pouch bulging with a variety of herbs to take back home – but this egg was something else entirely. Baird had never seen anything like it. He wondered briefly if it could be a dragon egg and laughed excitedly at the thought. Skadi echoed his laughter with excited yips of her own.

As Baird held the egg out in front of him, a sudden flash of heat seared his palm and he cried out, dropping it to the ground. He clutched at his injured hand, where a strange symbol was branded into his palm. The same symbol glowed fiercely on the shell of the egg.

“A rune!” he gasped through the blazing pain, collapsing to the floor. As he convulsed in the grass, Skadi nuzzled at him and whimpered. Baird was unable to stop the shaking of his muscles and watched helplessly as the egg teetered on its end, then rolled into the wolf cub’s hind leg. Skadi whimpered, and Baird smelled the acrid scent of singed hair. The pup collapsed next to the boy, and Baird thought for a moment that he could hear her confused thoughts in his mind before they both lost consciousness.

Chapter 2: Disappearance

Lost in thought, Baird blinked and shook himself back to the present. He was staring at the patch of permanently blackened hair in the shape of the Rune of Mars on Skadi’s haunch, which was mirrored by the scar on his palm. Despite the many years that had passed, that scar had not faded. If anything, it seemed more prominent than ever. He tried to shake loose the memory of that day long ago when the magic had dawned within them both… the day that his path away from his family was set in motion. The villagers had been petrified of his sudden unexplained outbursts of power; if he was truly honest with himself, he still had not completely mastered it.

Sensing his troubles, Skadi turned and nuzzled her nose into his hand. Baird smiled; that was one good thing, at least. His bond with the wolf had only grown stronger and stronger since the magic had seared itself into them both. He playfully tugged her ear and she pretended to snap at his fingers and then trotted forward, sniffing the path for clues of their quarry.

They had been working alongside Eric and Pan for the best part of a full seasonal cycle, ranging between The Fey and the other wooded regions of the expansive flats of this part of the world. Over the cycle, the three wizards had had many discussions about the frayed relationship between humanity and the natural world. They had often deliberated the merits of approaching the Green Councilabout addressing this point more firmly with the other wizarding guilds, yet there always seemed to be a new beast to wrangle, a new community to save. For the first time since he had been forced to flee his family home, chased out of the village by people who had known him all his life, Baird truly felt like he belonged.

Baird could now hear the low rumble of the river. To his left, partially obscured by the squat shrubs dotted between the towering trees of the forest, he could see Shimmer working his way forward in parallel to Skadi, closing in on the beast they were tracking. The dog lived up to his name; the delicate drops of mist from the falls up ahead glittered in the sunlight on his shaggy brown coat. Eric silently followed his familiar, who stood almost as tall as Skadi, even if Shimmer was not quite so bulky. The dog and the wolf had formed an instant hunting partnership as soon as Eric had joined up with Baird and Shaman Pan, seeming to instinctively know what the other was going to do at all times.

He couldn’t see Pan, but he knew that the Shaman would be in position. After a short time, Baird’s path converged with Eric’s. The other Battle Mage grinned and nodded to Baird, who slipped his left hand behind him onto the egg’s shell, wondering as always whether the magic would come. He stared at the Rune-scar on his palm, willing it to start glowing. The waxy, puckered skin pulsed, flickered, and he felt the heat coming. He nodded back at Eric, confirming the magic’s presence.

He could see the relief on the other Battle Mage’s face – he knew the pain it caused Eric whenever he was forced to use the toxic Rune of Cinnabar. Baird was sure that this was another reason that Eric had been so eager to join forces with him and Pan… after all, with two other wizards around, the chances of Eric’s rune being needed were greatly diminished. Baird begrudged his friend nothing as the Mercury Rune’s molten energy coursed through him, triggering pain receptors all over his body; he had made peace with the magic – thrilled in it, even – yet he had never asked for it, nor the suffering he was forced to endure.

Baird readied himself for action. The thunderous roar of the waterfall just around the bend in the river drowned out all other sounds, but as they crept around the bend, the beast came into view. The tall, lizard-like creature cooling itself in the shallows near the bank had the curved beak of a raptor and short arms tipped with wickedly curved claws. This one had certainly proven to be a handful the previous day, when Eric had tried to cast his Dryad’s Ear soothing.

They had been prepared when the beast broke free from the spell, yet somehow it had managed to evade their attempts. That was why they had devised this strategy. They needed Pan to strike first, channeling the forest’s magical energy through his Dumb Stick to hypnotise the beast, so that Baird could cast his Rune of Mars to break down its defences. Baird was convinced that if they managed to subdue the creature in this way, Eric would be able to sedate it with his Dryad’s Ear this time.

The agreed moment was upon them; as one, the Battle Mages sprang from the bushes, Skadi and Shimmer converging on the startled beast from either side. But as Baird started to cast his Rune of Mars, he immediately knew that something was terribly wrong. He could not sense the energy of the Dumb Stick. Where was Pan? He felt the scar shudder and the glowing rune on his palm faded. Cursing, he tried to warn Eric, but before he had a chance the beast screeched and sprang straight at him on its elongated, muscular hind legs, knocking him to the ground.

Baird groaned and rolled over as the lanky animal leaped away nimbly through the forest, Skadi and Shimmer in hot pursuit. Panic raced through his mind – he shouldn’t have been able to roll onto his back…

Struggling to his feet, Baird saw the egg rolling down the slope towards the river and all other thoughts fled his mind. Yet even as he stumbled after it, clutching his side, he knew it was too late… the egg picked up speed, bouncing onto the moss-covered rocks and out into space.

The blue patterns on the shell sparkled; the egg seemed to revolve in slow motion, suspended in mid-air over the river. Then it was sucked downwards, plunging into the dark water and disappearing beneath the surface.

Baird ran as fast as he could, but the river ran faster. He could only look on in horror as the white and blue egg popped to the surface, picking up speed as it headed downriver. Entering a stretch of churning white rapids, the egg tumbled end over end in the swirling waters, before being spat out into the smooth, glassy centre of the flow and shooting over the falls.

Story Arc Index:

Prologue: Wizard #2875

Part 1: Wizard #3032

Part 2: Wizard #1182

Part 3: Wizard #3282

Part 4: Wizard #3916

Part 5: Wizard #2550

Part 6: Wizard #3919

Part 7: Pony #433

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