Moon Kingdom: Fair Warning

Cloud of Black Smoke

      "Bridget Power." The woman introduced herself, "Call me Bree."

     "Bree." Athena repeated, noting the onyx stone in the stranger's gold ring, "Okay, I was just leaving for the centre of the kingdom, to tell people what I've heard and seen."

      "I'll come with you." Bree insisted.
      "That was my thought exactly." Athena smiled, "Your testimony will hopefully shake up a response."
      The two women went downstairs and left the house. Outside crowds were mulling around, laughing, sleeping, and drinking in the streets. The dirt roads were a mess of various kinds of filth. Bree seemed not to be bothered that her bare feet were sinking into mud, but she looked overwhelmed by the crowd.
     "It was worse last night." Athena said, guiding her new companion in the right direction.
     Suddenly, the two women were facing a small group of men who blocked their path. Athena recognized them as the Strong Brothers, a gang that had formed recently and seemed to exist for the sole purpose of bullying others into giving them free booze. Athena hesitated to continue but Bree stepped forward.
     "Are you here to party with us?" Carl, the leader, asked.
     "We're just passing through." Bree said, trying to squeeze past the men on the road.
     "That so?" Another man asked as he grabbed Bree's arm.
     Athena watched as Bree closed her eyes and screamed. The sound pierced the silence with a deafening sound. The man holding her arm let go to cover his ears. Athena took advantage of the distraction and rushed forward, sending an icy blast toward the closest gang members. She grabbed Bree and they ran.
     When they stopped, Athena was out of breath. She leaned against the wall of a house and gasped for air. Bree hardly seemed affected but she looked at Athena with sympathy.
     "I could have handled that myself." Bree put her hood back over her blonde hair.
     "You couldn't have screamed forever." Athena shook her head, "And does it matter? We got away."
     Bree looked down and smiled, "Yes, we did."
     Athena looked around. She realized they were getting closer to the centre of Marama, but they still had a while to go. Currently the women found themselves in the Market District. The houses were a bit nicer than they were in the wall. There were a lot of people outside but they were about their usual business- buying, selling, and trading.
     "We should get something to eat." Athena suggested.
     They entered the market square together. Athena kept her bag close to her, to avoid theft. People pushed them from every side, all trying to get their shopping down. The sellers of the good were loud people, who yelled out prices competitively.
     "This is awful." Athena sighed, "I can't even tell where we're headed now."
     "I have an idea." Bree pulled Athena out of the market to a side street with nobody around.
     "How is this any better? I'm still hungry." Athena was confused. She knew she should've just brought food from home. She had been planning on it but was distracted by her new acquaintance.
     "When I've changed, put a coin for food in my mouth, okay?" Bree smiled, amused by the look of confusion on Athena's face, and tapped her onyx ring.
     Before Athena had a chance to question her, a thick cloud of black smoke appeared around Bree. Athena stepped back, coughing. She couldn't see into the smoke at all; it seemed almost solid. Slowly, the cloud grew smaller and then evaporated all together. On the ground where Bree has stood was a hooded crow.
     "Bree?" Athena asked.
     "Bree!" the crow squawked back.
     Athena knew what had happened. Obviously the ring that Bree wore was magical, similar to the one that Athena wore herself. She opened her back and removed a coin, which she then gave to the crow. Bree flew off toward the market as Athena watched in amazement.
     When Bree returned, she carried bread with her feet and smoked meat dangled from her mouth. Athena laughed. She had never seen such a crazy thing before. As Bree flew closer, she dropped the bread and meat to Athena, who caught it and began to prepare from dry sandwiches.
     "It's crazy how few people look up and notice what's going on." Bree said as she walked out of a second cloud of black smoke.
     "That was amazing! But did you actually pay for the food as a crow?" Athena asked, handing Bree her lunch.
     "Yeah. The people there will take money from anyone." Bree shrugged, "I could just tell by how they were acting that they wouldn't mind."
     As they ate their lunches, Athena wondered about her new friend. She really knew very little about her; they were practically strangers. Yet they were on the same mission to save Marama from being destroyed. In her mind, Athena tried to imagine bears that had once been human. She shuddered.
     "Are you cold?" Bree asked.
     "No..."Athena replied, "I don't really get cold very easily."
     "I do." Bree tugged her black cloak a bit tighter, "So what's wrong?"
     Athena hesitated. She didn't want to make Bree relive the terrors that she had seen. It could probably wait until they arrived at the castle, as they would have to explain to the King why they were there.
     "I'm just nervous." Athena lied. "But hey, you can turn into a crow!"
     "Yeah, it's a neat trick." Bree laughed and held up her right hand, gazing at the gold and onyx ring.        "I haven't had this too long, less than a year. I'm not entirely sure if that's all it does or not."
     Athena held out her own hand, showing her own ring. The gold flecks in the lapis lazuli stone sparkled almost as bright as the gold of the ring itself.
     "I've had mine for years." She smiled, "It was my mother's. She taught me how to use it- the subtleties of conjuring ice and snow."
     "So, are you powerful enough to fix this warm winter?" Bree asked.
     Athena frowned and shook her head.
     "Besides," she said, "It would only be a bandage. Something is seriously wrong and my powers alone can't fix it."