Chapter Text
The blast of light is near blinding. Eda squints through it as best she could. The Owl Beast in her hates that much light, but she needs to know if they’re okay.
Luz is her kid, dammit. And from the sounds of things, the Golden Guard is also a kid.
When the dust settles and she can finally see again, the figures of Luz and the Golden Guard—Hunter—are crumpled on the floor. Hunter is curled protectively around Luz, as if protecting her from some attack.
Eda’s not sure what her stomach’s doing. Relief starts to mix with her previous fear and anxiety.
She’s gotten them out, (with help) but there’s still a lot of problems that this started.
King and Hooty both try to approach the kids. Eda shoos them back. “Don’t crowd them,” she commands. She softens her voice to address Luz and Hunter. “Are you two okay?”
Luz sits up, staring somewhat blankly at a space to the left of Eda.
She is most definitely not okay. It’s evident on her face. Eda swallows.
Hunter sits up and the Palisman flies to him, chirping repeatedly. Eda can’t entirely make out what the bird is saying, since it’s the boy’s Palisman not her own. But growing up with her dad she learned a lot of tricks. This was one of the Palismans who’d been with the Bat Queen. He’s bonded with the boy, and as such, he’s feeding off of his witch’s emotions.
“He knows!” Hunter gasps, terror in his eyes. “He… he knows we were in there. I can’t… I can’t go back!”
Unsure whether Hunter knew that already, or something Belos did made him certain of that, Eda’d already known that Belos would learn of the kids running around in his mindscape. It’s perhaps the largest problem she’s trying to solve in the back of her head while also dealing with two panicking teenagers.
“Kid, breathe,” Eda says, keeping her voice gentle. This is not the first panic attack she’s been witness to.
Hesitantly, she offers a hand to Hunter, but he backs away, putting his hands up defensively between himself and Eda. He casts no magic, however.
He’s flinching.
He’s afraid of her.
Something is wrong.
She inspects her own arm, making sure she hadn’t shifted without realizing it. But there are no feathers in sight.
Then, as if suddenly realizing what he’s wearing, Hunter throws his cloak with the Emperor’s Coven sigil aside with a horrified grunt. He gets to his feet frantically, then runs out the door, his Palisman close behind. She catches a fragment of ‘you’re making a mistake…’ from the Palisman, but convinces herself she’s imagining it.
It doesn’t matter anyway, Palismans must follow their witches except in very specific situations.
With equal pangs of grief and guilt, Eda wishes she could throw a sleep spell on the kid and try again with him. He’s panicked and not thinking clearly.
“Hunter!” Luz calls after him. Her voice is tearful. It’s scared, too.
“What the heck happened in there?” King asks. His voice squeaks a little.
“Luz,” Eda presses, trying to be gentle. “What did you see?”
Luz looks up at Eda with an expression wrought with pain, fear, disgust, and so many other things. It’s a face Eda’s seen on herself before, and it’s magnified greatly by the fact that Luz is normally so chipper.
Rage burns inside Eda. She will kill Belos personally for this.
Raine stands in the forest with Darius and Eber just behind. All three of them have their hoods up on their cloaks, though it isn’t like Hooty doesn’t know they are there. But they need to know if their teleportation potion works.
Their original plan to infiltrate the Emperor’s mind to learn more about the Day of Unity and possibly how to stop it obviously had gone sideways. Then their night had turned into getting two kids out of that precarious situation. In their years with the Bards Against the Throne, Raine had grown accustomed to spur of the moment changes of plans. Darius, however, wasn’t handling it well.
Or, perhaps, it was because of the Golden Guard in specific. Raine thinks about when Amber, Derwin, and Katya had been younger. How protective they’d been of them when they’d first started working together several years ago. This Golden Guard’s still a kid, practically.
And one the three of them know is abused.
But how do you get an abused kid away from their guardian when their guardian also happens to be Emperor Belos?
“Darius, that is a child,” Raine had said upon meeting him for the first time after becoming Head Bard a month ago. “Isn’t the Golden Guard supposed to be…” Raine had searched for a word. “Older.”
“Yes, the newest Golden Guard is a teenager,” Darius had replied. “But from what he tells me, he completed his scout training and he’s obviously eager.”
“That boy is practically a child soldier!” Raine had exclaimed.
Darius had grimaced. “I’m not entirely sure. Things have been different ever since Belos got rid of Lilith as the head of the Emperor’s Coven.”
She hadn’t been replaced.
Light shines from between the shuttered windows of the Owl House. Raine watches with baited breath for what happens next.
Hooty’s got his face in through one open window, so the door is technically unguarded. They don’t risk approaching again though, for Hooty would easily turn on them again. Raine doesn’t want to chance approaching the demon a second time.
They only need to stay long enough to see if the Golden Guard is safe. This has nothing to do with the fact that this is Eda’s house and that they might want to know if she’s okay, too.
Raine knows Darius is thinking about maybe just spiriting the Golden Guard away after this. After being in Belos’ mind, Raine wonders where the kid’s loyalty lies now. Has he been radicalized, or driven from Belos’ ideals? That could be an interesting development.
There’s screaming inside the house, but the words are so muffled even Raine’s trained ears can’t make them out.
But then the door opens amidst a scream from the Golden Guard. Hooty seems unfazed by the door opening around him. His body slithers out of the window and follows after the Golden Guard, looking concerned.
The girl, Eda’s kid, runs out after him, screaming his name. Eda and the demon kid follow after the girl. There’s a quick exchange before the girl crashes into Eda. Eda puts her arms around her, her face full of worry.
Darius, meanwhile, swears, and runs to intercept the kid in the woods. Eber follows behind silently. Raine grits their teeth and follows as well.
The sound of abomination slime slorping around combined with a clearer cry reaches Raine’s ears.
“No! He knows! He knows! I can’t… I can’t go back!”
Raine’s blood goes cold at that thought. They burst into a small clearing to find the Golden Guard mostly trapped by abomination slime. He’s struggling like a trapped animal.
“I’m trying to help you,” Darius says.
Admittedly, he might have been more convincing if he’d dropped his hood. The kid’s eyes are frantic, and there’s a possibility he wouldn’t recognize Darius in his panic regardless.
With a golden flash of light, the Golden Guard frees himself from the abomination slime, his staff cutting through the tendrils easily.
It’s a move Raine’s only seen done by Eda and Lilith. They’ve never been able to recreate it and they do pride themselves on being able to recreate nearly everything via bard magic. They’ve managed to recreate how Eda’s curse affects objects even.
A thought for another time, however.
Raine brings their fingers to their lips and whistles out a sleeping spell. The Golden Guard crumples to the ground. Darius picks him up.
“Let’s get him back to the castle,” he says.
Eber growls.
“I agree,” Raine says. “That’s a terrible idea. He was saying how Belos knows. We can’t take him back, it’ll be a death sentence.”
“People can tell when you’ve been in their minds?” Darius asks. “We were planning…”
“Yes,” Raine cuts them off. “I know. I’m not sure if that’s a common realization to know that someone’s been in a mindscape, but I’m sure that if anyone could figure it out, it’s Belos.”
“Should we take him to your hideout, then?” Darius asks, sounding mildly perplexed.
Raine purses their lips, thinking. Eda’s kid’s gotten wrapped up in this, too. As much as they’ve been trying to protect her and keep her out of this mess, the thought of having her assistance is starting to sound highly appealing. If nothing else, maybe they can workshop a plan to keep the kids out of further trouble together.
Eber chuffs.
He’d either been thinking something similarly, or he realized why Raine was stalling the way they were.
“Well,” Raine says with a sigh. “You wanted to talk to the Owl Lady about things.”
“You said we weren’t putting her in danger,” Darius says flatly.
Raine squeezes their eyes closed, not that Darius or Eber can see this motion. “It’s possible the kids have done that already.”
It was not lost on them that the Golden Guard had been literally trying to stop them going into the Emperor’s mind in the first place. He’d just assumed they were wild witches up to some terrible ritual in the Night Market. Eda’s kid had gotten wrapped up in it for reasons they hadn’t pieced together yet, but if she was anything like Eda, the possibilities were quite literally endless.
Eber snuffs.
“Well,” Darius says, clipping the word short. “You’re the one who knows how to get through to the House Demon that we’re not a threat. So, after you.”
It’s entirely a fair statement. This does not mean there isn’t still a pit in Raine’s stomach.
It’s honestly not even Hooty that worries them.
It’s Eda.