Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 60: Wonder How This One Will Die

CW: monster hunters, cages, almost torture (you'll see), pieces of creatures/gore (not in detail)

A pixie is different from a fairy. They always have insect-like wings, oh and they're only a few inches big. The biggest pixie Jacob Clay has ever caught was only eight inches tall, sadly they didn't live much longer after that.

See, iron burned pixies just like they burned fairies, except their tiny bodies couldn't handle as much as a fairy's could. Luckily for hunters they were much weaker, so currently Clay had a pixie captured in a wooden cage. Of course, they wouldn't say anything to him.

"How about this, you tell me where your colony is and I'll let you go," he reasoned.

The small pixie he currently had captured thought about the offer for a moment before shaking her head.

This made Clay sighed loudly. "I guess I'll just have to take your pretty little wings and have our dogs follow the scent then." He grabbed a pair of tweezers and reached into the cage, making the pixie gasp and move away in fear.

"Captain Clay!" someone shouted, stopping him from tormenting the poor girl.

"What is it?" he asked, highly annoyed at the interruption.

"Someone needs to speak with you, a rookie hunter from Whitemore base."

Clay turned to glare at the other. "Why should I care? I'm in the middle of something here. The faster we find the pixie nest, the faster we can head back to the base."

"He says that their base was destroyed, everyone inside killed and all of the monsters freed."

The captain froze, his eyes widening. He set the tweezers down and got up. The pixie sighed in relief as he left, curling up at the edge of the cage.

"Where is he? Bring him to my tent." Clay started walking away before the other hunter could answer.

"Yes sir." They left to go find them.

Clay pushed the tent door aside, walking over to the lightweight desk that had been brought with them. He sat down behind it and looked over a map, pondering where the pixie nest could be.

They heard footsteps and looked up, seeing a nervous man standing in front of the tent door. He gave the man a sharp look, making him tense up more somehow.

"I-I um... I'm Jack Davis sir Clay-"

"Captain Clay," he interrupted, making him whimper in fear.

"S-sorry, Captain Clay. I-I just uh... I-"

"Quit the stuttering and explain why you're interrupting my work! What is this I hear about the Whitemore base being destroyed?"

"U-um, we captured a fairy from a small town called Matela. Then we were attacked by them a few days later. They had witches and a-a gorgon, and the whole place was destroyed and-and all the monsters escaped."

"And you're the only one that survived?"

"I-I was sent to inform someone of what happened. I tried to help! I swear! There were just t-too many of them and-"

"Quit stuttering!" Davis shut up quickly, standing straight. Clay sighed loudly, "You said that the town's name was Matela? Then we'll just go there. Now get out of my sight."

"Yes sir- Captain Clay, sir!" Davis quickly scrambled out of the tent.

Clay rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the map in front of him. Matela huh? Well, that wasn't too far away. But they should get extra men first, it'll have to be a full on invasion if they have all of those monsters.

~~~

"Roman," Remus whispered when he opened the door to the room his brother was in. He looked over to see Roman sitting next to the bed, Virgil sleeping quietly in it.

Roman frowned, noticing the look of urgency on his brother's face. "What is it?"

"Um, well, okay so the thing is... You know what, it's better to show you, come on."

"I can't leave." The red witch looked over to Virgil, who frowned deeply in his sleep. "I think he's having a nightmare, I don't want him to wake up without me being here."

"This is important, and Patton can't watch him because they're having that meeting."

"I already said I don't want to go to the meeting."

Remus growled, "It's not that, it's something else." Roman raised his eyebrow, making his brother groan again. "Um... it's... when we freed the prisoners we also took the things that the hunters... took from them. Scales, antlers, cores, and... We also took items that had been taken from them like staffs and amulets."

Roman frowned. "So... V-Virgil's f..." He didn't even want to say it, looking over to the sleeping fairy.

"And... his necklace. I noticed it when I first met him, but we found two similar ones."

That made Roman's heart drop. "But... Th- Is it the same magic?"

Remus held onto the door frame. "Yeah... Elliot actually wants to talk with you about it. They... It's important. We'll be fast, just come on."

He left, but Roman stayed a moment longer. He kissed Virgil's hand before setting it next to him, the fairy whimpering again. "I'll be back soon, love. Please don't wake up until then."

Roman left the room and headed downstairs, passing the Miller's living room where a meeting was being held. They had asked him to join before, but he had declined, not wanting to leave behind Virgil. Janus took his place, luckily, they needed someone other than human in the meeting.

He went outside, seeing several boxes set up and being opened. Several magical creatures stood around, looking for their old things. All looked upset, and Roman couldn't blame them. Not when there were wings, antlers, scales, and even pelts laid out.

Elliot stood there, holding an old wand. The paint on the wood was faded, and it looked like the magic in it died long ago. Their expression was unreadable, but Griffin brushed against them sadly.

They looked up when Remus and Roman walked over, putting the wand in their pocket and instead pulling out two necklaces and a bracelet.

"These um... Remus said one of these belonged to Virgil, correct?" they asked, holding them out to Roman.

Each one of them was full of the same magic. It felt like two different fairies' magic mixed together. He nodded and took the stones. "He said his parents gave it to him," he explained, looking at them. The necklaces were identical, except one was a bit longer.

"I... I thought I recognized Virgil when he first came. I feel dumb now just realizing why... I met his parents a decade or more ago."

Roman looked up in shock, his heart stopping for a moment. "What?"

Elliot looked at Griffin, scratching his neck. "He has his fathers wings, but he looks more like his mother. Ruth and Leo Storm, that's what they told me their names were. They were both stubborn, and loved each other dearly."

"What happened to them?"

"The same thing that would have happened to Virgil if you didn't come. There was too much iron in their systems. It happened to every fairy that walked into that building. Well, almost every."

Roman looked down at the ground, holding the stone jewelry to his chest. "Did you find his feathers?"

"Yeah," Remus answered, walking over to a bag. He picked it up and handed it to Roman. It was pretty light, despite being big. "Don't look inside. Just... don't. We figured you would know what to do with it."

His hand shook, but Roman didn't drop the bag. Instead he looked around at the other things that were taken from other creatures. "Anything that no one retrieves will be buried outside of town, including these feathers. We'll make a memorial for all who had suffered at that... horrible place. As well as any other that has been hurt by monster hunters."