Wizard's Spawn

The Scrying Pool

The three Elders looked at one another. It was getting late and they should be on their way back to Fairhaven, but there was one more task they needed to complete. "Will you look into the Scrying Pool," the old woman asked the elf, "or shall I?"

"I will."

The elf, Starwind, rose to her feet and walked over to where a spring welled forth from the ground. She seated herself, ignoring the damp, and slid into a trance. She looked down at the slightly convex surface of the small pool and waited.

Sometimes she thought the visions she saw were of a possible future. At other times they appeared so alien she thought they showed her a different world entirely. Perhaps a warning of what Aelith might become if the magic died. Tonight was one of those occasions, but instead of misty impressions, this time the visions were frighteningly clear.

She saw a scene where row upon row of houses covered the ground, from one side of the flat horizon to the other. Metal horses raced along tracks at speeds she could only imagine. People walked on streets lined with stones, their faces grey and hard like the ground they walked on. The scene changed to show children playing in garishly coloured structures, some bouncing high into the air and others eating strange things out of little boxes. At least they appeared to be having fun, as children would do everywhere. But where was the space to breathe? The forests? The wilderness?

Where were the elves?

Distressed, she rose to her feet and told the others what she had seen.

"This is a warning. Time is running out," concluded the old woman, Elder Aneiss. "We should return to Fairhaven and meet with the King."

Elder Corwin nodded in agreement. "There is no time to be lost. We must begin the search for his bride immediately."

As one, the three winked out, and reappeared a moment later in the Wizard's Tower, high up in Castle Haven.