Soul Fire

4.3

Bloom, Flora, Xenia, Musa, and Stella walked through the sludge towards the specialist's ship. They approached the specialists, who were arguing softly among themselves as they tried to agree on a plan. As they saw the approaching faeiries, the specialists stopped bickering and subtly expanded their circle to involve the girls in their conversation. Timothi was already working on the ship, a beaming dart of magic coming out of one of his yellow siphons. Timothi was incredibly skilled with technology, and has found a way to use his magic to weld parts and repair circuits. Xenia watched him work, impressed by his level of accuracy and attention to detail.

Skye turned to Xenia and said, "Timothi told us that the impact knocked out the ship's stabilizer."

Xenia nodded in agreement. "It was a calculated move. Whoever hit your ship intended to bring it down in the simplest way possible.

Musa said, "I bet the person who struck the ship also dealt with the handcuffs."

Bloom was turned away from the group, her eyes on the sludge that they stood upon. She trailed the large footprints with her eyes. The footprints got shallower, before disappearing altogether. "Uh... guys?" Bloom said, looking back at them as she pointed to the ground. "Notice anything?"

Stella snorted as she shuffled over beside the red-haired faerie. "You mean other than having feet the size of an ocean liner?"

"Feet that large not leaving footprints?" Musa said, crouching down beside Bloom. "They become less and less visible and then they disappear altogether. It's strange, right?"

Flora walked over to where the prints disappeared and placed her foot down. Her brown combat boots left a mark behind. "The ground's still soft. He should've left prints here."

"Could he have used magic to erase his footprints or something?" Bloom asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking towards the eerie forest.

"Trolls can't cast spells. Which means it wasn't a weapon that struck the ship.." Xenia hesitated, "someone with magic helped him escape." Xenia frowned.

"Great." Stella mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. "This is just great."

The girls left the specialists behind and trudged through the swamp, the squelching of their boots in the mud creating the only noise. "This silence is eerie." Musa said, "The swamp absorbs every sound."

"Finding a troll in a swamp has turned out to be harder than I thought." Xenia said. The girls had been walking for upwards of thirty minutes, and still had no sign of him.

"He could be absolutely anywhere..." Flora said, tightening her ponytail. "God, what if we don't make it out in time?"

"I'm sure Palladium will come find us." Musa said as she swatted a bug away.

"Oh god," Bloom groaned, "He terrifies me."

"The fae are definitely fierce." Stella said, throwing one of her braids over her shoulder. "You're right to be scared of him, they don't usually bother helping those who aren't fae. Total elitists. I'm really not sure why he's here teaching us."

"He fought alongside Faragonda in a war or something." Xenia said, "But I don't think it's uncommon for fae to teach at magic schools. At least form my understanding, they're great mentors. They have so much shared knowledge."

Stella shrugged. "What was that load of bullshit he told us, again? Listen to the voice of nature? "

"Not that again." Xenia said, rolling her eyes. "I don't hear anything."

Bloom slowed her pace, and tried listening anyways. She stopped, her head turning towards the trees on her right. She couldn't explain it, but she felt a soft tug in that direction. "I think we need to go that way." Bloom trailed off.. She wasn't sure exactly how she knew that it was the right way.