Following behind the ghostly apparition led Peneloper through the market area of Ceralde, where it was said Velma had been last seen. The girl stopped in a variety of places, likely the stops where her mother had searched out the right ingredients for dinner. The stalls had been long put away, but she could already imagine the bustling scene of the market during the day, with so many sounds, people and distractions. The mother and daughter would have felt safer, as there were so many eyes, so many people, how could the child have gotten taken away?
And yet, all it took was a moment of inattention. Suddenly the apparition was lifted up into the air, held sideways and was being sped away hastily by someone unknown.
I see, I managed to recreate Velma as she was on the day she was taken away, but nothing else, Penelope rationed. However, since the streets were clear and nothing stood in her way, Penelope was able to keep following the trail, a glimmer of hope growing. Would she be able to find the missing Velma and return her to her family? Ms Matilda and Mr Ulfric…they had suffered so much these last few months…if she could ease their suffering, then…!
But boy, whoever had taken Velma sure was quick on their feet. Penelope was barely keeping up with the drawing spectre. She could feel a stitch growing in her side and her lungs burned terribly, but who knew if she would be able to get another chance, if she stopped.
Just keep going Penelope, you’ve handled worse before, this is nothing! You chased down rowdy students half your age, you can do this!
Wherever Velma was being taken, it took Penelope through streets she was unfamiliar with. Through back alleys that a young girl had no business being in. Of course, in the moment, she was not thinking of herself as a little girl, but that former 38-year-old security guard chasing down a perpetrator.
Her path took her all the way to the docks, a place she had yet to visit. The sea breeze hit her harder here, yet, Penelope didn’t have the time to enjoy discovering something new, wholly focused on her task.
The trail ended when Velma was taken aboard this ship, her spectre suddenly disappearing. As the end of the road was in sight, Penelope was going to climb onto the ship, when a hand grasped her arm firmly. Thinking it might be one of the kidnappers, she was about to scream but another hand covered her mouth. She struggled as she was being dragged out of view of the ship, panicking.
“Geez, calm down, it’s me!” whispered a familiar voice.
“Mmmf?” Yule?
Yule took his hand off of her mouth, but still kept a hold of her hand as theory made it back to a corner they could hide around, out of general sight.
“That was very dumb, Penelope,” the older boy scolded. “What if the kidnappers had kidnapped you, too and I didn’t make it in time? What would you have done then?”
“I would have….done something,” she replied, unable to come up with anything else.
Yule gave her a stern look, reminding her of his aunt. “You and those skinny little arms of yours?”
Penelope had nothing to say to that.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re thinking half the time, but I need to remind you that you are just a kid, Divine Magic or not. You barely know how to control it.”
The girl looked down at her feet, not wanting to say anything, because he was right. Just what did she think she would do once she got there? She wasn’t an adult anymore, she could barely fight back against Yule and he was barely a head taller than her.
I’m still thinking like Kasumi.
“I got Mr Ulfric to go get my aunt and Cynthia. If we wait, they should track us down soon,” Yule explained.
“How? We ran so far, I don’t think they’d be able to find us.”
“Don’t worry Cynthia’s nose will take them to us. She knows what we smell like, so she’ll find us in no time.”
“Wh–she can really do that?”
“Well, she is a Cyno woman, after all. Her sense of smell is way stronger than ours.”
Well, if that was the case, how come she (or other Cyno people) hadn’t tried to find Velma? Yule seemed to read her mind as he said, “It has to do with time. A Cyno can only track down a scent that’s as old as a day at most. From what I gathered, it must have been about a day when Mr Ulfric and his wife made the request at the guild.”
Oh, so that was why. Made sense, then, why Cynthia had not taken the job herself. Once a trail ran cold, even those with heightened senses had trouble finding a missing person. And if time is money, then chasing someone that is difficult to track really would be a money pit. Well, they could help now and that was honestly all that mattered.
“So, you’re saying we should wait for the adults?” Penelope asked.
“It’s the safer option, yes,” Yule answered.
Penelope nodded, hunkering down at a crouch. “Okay! But I want to keep an eye on that boat! That’s where I saw Velma get taken.”
“You sure it’s that one? The boats could have switched.”
Oh, he had a point. If it had been the wrong boat, then Penelope could have gotten into trouble for trespassing on someone’s ship. Although, she hoped it wasn’t, because then they would lose any lead they had on finding Velma, bringing everyone’s hopes up for no reason.
“I…really hope we can find Velma, somehow,” Penelope stated honestly. Whether or not she was on that boat was still up for debate, but she hoped and prayed that the missing little girl would be found soon. Remembering the thin and frail looking Matilda, wasting away from heartache and worry…
Penelope’s clear blue eyes stung with tears. To be so helpless and unable to do anything, people giving up on you…no one trying to help. Stressing yourself until you were a shade of your former self. Nobody should have to feel that way!
A small cry cut through the air, drawing the attention of the two children. Coming up to the boat Penelope had taken as a point of interest was a rough looking man, followed by an accomplice of equal shadiness, holding a girl Penelope had never seen before. The child had loosened a gag around her mouth and was calling for her mother. She was quickly shut up with a strike, which shocked Penelope to see. She almost got up from their position to go confront the brutes immediately, but Yule thankfully had a sobering hold of her.
He shook his head, signalling for them to stay quiet.
Penelope understood, they had to wait for the adults, however, how could she just sit by and do nothing while that little girl was being abused? Just seeing the girl roughed up even a little made her blood boil. But what could she do?
Think Penelope, think! She thought desperately. What was she even capable of doing at this point without getting Yule and herself into danger?
Her hand slipped into her bag, maybe hoping for something to cause a distraction. But all she found was paper, paper, paper and…
Penelope was so frustrated, all she found was her drawing items. All her life, all she wanted to do was draw. To do art to her heart’s content. However, now that all she had to her name was a few coins and art supplies, she almost cursed herself for being so ill prepared for anything outside of that!
They were bringing the child up the plank as she continued to valiantly fight back, even when the men smacked her to keep her compliant. Her gag slipped again and she must have said some kind of incantation, as the water from the sea rose up and splashed all three of them. She used Natural Magic, the element of water to try and slow them down. That child was fighting, she couldn’t give up.
Magic…If only she’d learned more of it so she could use it effectively.
Wait, there is magic I can do. But would it work?
Looking at the men hitting the girl one last time, knocking her out cold and seeing her go limp, Penelope made a decision. There was no time to hesitate, it was do or die!
Pulling out a sheet of paper and the new pen Ulfric had given to her, Penelope made a quick sketch. There was no time for something detailed and long lasting – it didn’t need to last, just be enough of a nuisance that would keep those men busy. She didn’t know if there were more (and realistically, she calculated for at least a good half dozen more by the size of the ship), but if she could keep everyone here, it would give them time for Cynthia and Minerva to arrive.
A fierce face, a striped tail and sharp teeth; a tiger! It was the first thing that came to mind. On a whim, she drew on a collar, her imagination making it a tamed tiger on the fly. Yes, so that it would listen to her incase whatever she drew was too wild to do what she wanted. Her intent was to scare and keep those kidnappers from going in with their newly captured child and nothing worked better than a tiger, at least in her mind.
In a flash of gold, the tiger leapt off of the page, a solid construct that resembled the creature she was aiming for, compared to the ghostly vision she had made of Velma. Maybe since she didn’t think of anything in specific it simply created the real thing? Though the collouring was off, it held the colours of the parchment it came from and the charcoal she used for its stripes. The collar which had a bell attached to it, like those of domestic cats jingled softly as it bowed down before her.
Yule was, understandably, shocked at what he saw.
“What in the world?!”
Ignoring him, Penelope gave the tiger drawing her orders. “Go help that girl!”
The tiger bowed once more, before bounding away at surprising speed. Penelope watched as the animal quickly made its way to the bottom of the gangplank and let out a startling roar. For a fake existence, it sure had a loud bark! Hopefully its bite would be as strong.
The two men were frightened by the appearance of the beast who came at them, dropping the girl on the gangplank and attempting to run inside the ship to safety. The tiger managed to grab one by the shirt, while the other managed to get away. Oh, not good.
Worse yet, in the scuffle of the kidnapper trying to fight off the tiger (who held on tight), the little girl was starting to slide off the plank and was in danger of falling into the water. Unconscious as she was, if she fell in she was in danger of drowning! Meanwhile, shouts of others came from within the ship, alerting of the danger outside.
“Ah, they’re coming out,” Penelope said from their hiding place.
The man the tiger had grasped had been unceremoniously tossed into the water by the tiger, the man flailing in the water as he screamed bloody murder, demanding for someone to give him a hand as others came out. The tiger growled, now standing protectively over the girl. Since the gangplank was not that wide, they couldn’t surround the tiger nor escape any other way. It was quite the stand off.
Wondering what could be done, at this point, a large lance of ice suddenly flew across the air. It sailed gracefully until it met its target, knocking one of the men over into the ocean.
I think I saw that pierce his chest!
In the following moment, there was a howl, a sound so piercing and haunting that it almost resembled a siren. Another man suddenly fell off the plank silently, something glinting sticking out of his body and he crumpled over to his watery grave. Nearby stood a familiar, sleek figure, licking her chops as she glanced over to the children as she passed.
“We have a lot to talk about, but I am assuming those are the bastards, right?”
“Considering they have an unconscious child in their custody, it probably wouldn’t be hard to assume. If we are wrong, we’ll just apologize later,” Minerva said casually as she followed up to her partner, an eerie smile on her face.
“What’s that strange creature up there?” Cynthia asked, trying to figure out what the tiger was, though she did deduce it was trying to help the girl.
“I, er…I made that,” Penelope helpfully supplied, not sure what else to say.
“Oh, dear…now what did we say about using that unique magic of yours, Penelope?”
“Ah, well…nobody saw me, I promise!”
Minerva sighed as she prepared another spell, writing a magic circle in the air with the tip of her finger. It created blue lines as she traced the air, formulating another ice spear that materialized. “I guess we can scold you later. Stay close now, my dears. Cynthia and I will take care of the rest.”
Being attacked by the tiger and the appearance of Cynthia and Minerva on the scene, the men decided to beat a retreat back onto the ship. The girl was left behind, deemed not worth the trouble they were going to. Calls were made, voices shouted to cut their losses and go. They were going to set sail.
Someone on board must have an affinity for wind magic as Penelope felt a strong gust of wind begin to pick up out of nowhere as she saw several people on board preparing to unfurl the sails. They can’t get away! The gangplank was also being pushed off so that any pursuers would have trouble following. This nearly knocked the unconscious girl off into the water, but the drawing tiger grasped onto her and jumped back onto the dock before she came to harm. Time running out for it due to its quick sketch nature, the tiger disappeared into nothingness.
Minerva and Cynthia split up; Cynthia would board the vessel and aggressively take out the people on there, while Minerva would provide long distance support from the dock, so she could keep an eye on the children.
Shouts of pain and anger filled the air, the commotion growing so much that people from the town started noticing. Windows from the nearby houses opened up and people peered outside, shouting for the disturbance to quiet down. People couldn’t help but thinking, typical bystander reactions. But from a few that yelled, it seemed the local guards would be alerted. Well, good. The more attention from the authorities the better, honestly, maybe they’d get more help.
“Well, children, since you’ve been missing out on lessons, how about we have a quick one tonight?” Minerva suggested as she continued to casually toss large icicles at the ship. Not enough to sink it, but enough to cause chaos to the brutes on board. The top of the ship was littered in chunks of ice.
“Is now really the time, Aunt Minerva?” Yule asked, brow raised at the casual carnage both woman were causing. He distinctly heard someone yell something like ‘not the family jewels!’ in a pitiful voice. Cynthia was not showing these guys any mercy it seems.
“Now is a great time,” the mage said in a dangerously sweet voice. “So, take a look at this Natural Magic spell I will teach you! It’s low level, so you should be capable of learning and using it right away.”
While one hand continued to nonchalantly draw the same intricate magic circle over and over, casting the same spell she had been using since the moment she arrived, the other hand began to show them another, more simple, magic circle.
“This spell will make a wave of water rise up,” Minerva explained, firing off another icicle with her other hand. When she fired off that second spell, it did cause a sizable wave to push the ship back, just halfway up the side of the boat. “One of you couldn’t make one as big just yet, but the two of you together could do it. I’m sure you can guess, those people will be trying to escape. They will likely use wind magic to sail off with their ‘cargo’. So, the best thing we can do to delay them until Cynthia finishes up.”
Yule copied what his aunt had done, attempting to cast the spell. As said by Minerva, his wave was nowhere near as high, but it did cause the ship to move a little, giving it a small shake.
Penelope, wanting to help, followed suit. Taking a breath, she imagined the wave, placing her intent into manipulating the water to stall the ship. There was the sound of thick fabric unfurling and she knew she needed to hurry. The circle had been simple, so she quickly copied the movements, clear blue light following her finger as she traced the air. When she made the final stroke, the spell was cast.
Though it was nowhere near as small as she was expecting. Yule’s had been a respectable wave with less power behind it, while Minerva’s was a strong one that visibly rocked the ship.
What rose out of the sea looked more like the hand of Poseidon ready to slap the fear of death into you. A wave as tall as the ship’s mass splashed hard against the starboard, slamming several people trying to tie down the sails away from their posts. Some even fell off the ship as water sloshed off the sides of the deck. Penelope was aghast at what she had done and hoped she hadn’t hurt Cynthia, wherever she was.
That must be the level 10 Magic at play here, hahahaha…
The local guard showed up, demanding what was going on and since Penelope did not feel like it would be a good idea for her to use that wave spell again, she let Yule take lead on delaying the kidnappers as she explained the situation to the authorities.
“Some bad men tried to take away a girl Mr Guard!” Penelope said, laying it on a little thick. As best as she could, she channeled her spoiled sister who could sound like a kicked puppy at will. If it worked for her sister, why wouldn’t it work for Penelope? With hands clasped and peering up at the adult men under her hood, she really sold it as much as possible. “I followed them from town and saw them tie her up and hit her, it was soooo scawy!”
Ugh, why does it make my skin crawl to talk all ‘uwu’? At least she was in the body of a ten year old, but she couldn’t help feeling weird doing it. And her sister did this all the way to adulthood, to boot. Truly, she was too spoiled by their parents. Props to her for being consistent with her acting, I guess.
The men seemed to be taken aback by her display, some clutching at their chest in pain. Was her performance too fake? However, a heavy hand fell on her shoulder (making Penelope flinch as she did not enjoy being touched by strangers) as the adult man practically wept tears, proclaiming he would help.
“Don’t worry little girl, the town guard is here. We shall go save everyone!” he cheered, garnering the same from his fellows. They went ahead, charging up the ship after making their own plank to board the ship. It was achieved through their team effort of Water and Wind Magic working together to create a bridge. This had the double advantage of allowing the guards to enter the ship, but also keep it firmly glued to the docks for a little while longer, though considering the carnage caused by Penelope, Cynthia and Minerva, the girl doubted anyone would be trying anymore.
It was over in minutes after the guards boarded.
A crowd gathered too from the town proper, drawn by the commotion and abject curiosity. A few men were tied up and brought down by the guards, looking worse for the wear. Later Penelope would find that the majority had been taken out by the combined efforts of Cynthia and Minerva, or washed into the sea by Penelope’s own doing. No one knew what happened to the ones who ended up in the sea, but at least a few were captured for future interrogation, because the kidnapping of Birain citizens was not exactly a new thing.
Following the guards and their captives, came a small army of children, all girls at various ages. Penelope clocked the eldest at no more than sixteen with the youngest being a heartbreaking toddler being carried by an older girl. Penelope looked at them all, at least a dozen girls who had been forcefully taken from their homes, some crying from relief that the nightmare was over, some just looking blank faced, as if haunted. Who knew what these girls had been through.
Cynthia was leading the girls, gently coaxing them to follow her with promises that everything would be all right. Some of the smaller ones were carried in her arms, one balanced on each side. The Cyno female looked roughed up, but was otherwise all right. In fact, though she kept up the gentle air, Penelope noticed the proud glint in her eyes; this was a warrior who was not sorry about what she had accomplished this night.
“Penelope, over there,” Yule said, nodding at the crowd of girls.
The girl looked at the group of children, scanned them quickly until she saw a familiar head of bobbed, dark hair. She seemed unsure of herself, looking around furtively, wringing her hands as she followed closely behind the others in the group.
In the same moment Penelope spotted her, Ulfric arrived on the scene, followed by more people who spread out to meet the excited shrieks and cries of many girls. Witnessing so many parents be reunited with children they thought they would never seen again, to see the love evident in the eyes of all those mothers and fathers…it caused a pang in Penelope’s chest. Even watching Ulfric spot his Velma, rushing over to her, scooping her up and spinning her round and round. The way he kissed her face over and over, tears streaming down his cheeks.
It….it really hurt, that she never got that. And she felt bad, feeling that way. She should be relieved and happy. People were returning to their families. And even if they weren’t here right now, these girls would eventually get to see their families again.
Even if she did have her family here (which she really did not want), did she even have anything to go back to? What did she have to look forward to, other than a smack to the face and ungratefulness for her help?
Penelope swallowed the lump that was growing in her throat as heat came over her face and tears fell.
A steadying hand held onto hers.
Next to her, Yule was also watching the happy scene, face stoic, but his eyes also glistening. Ah. He lost people he loved, she remembered, and wouldn’t ever get to see them again.
It was a joyous occasion, but the two of them were held together in a similar pain; him to mourn what he had lost and her to mourn what she never had. But in their joined hands, at the very least, they had each other.
“Thank you for helping, Yule.”
He made a small noise of acknowledgement, squeezing her fingers a little more.
Minerva and Cynthia were working with the local authorities to make statements as the guards sorted everything out. Parents speaking others who had gathered from the town, receiving congratulations. A few expecting parents did fall to their knees in despair as their children were not among those saved, given condolences by other bystanders and guards alike, promises that the search would continue. Penelope’s heart would only go out to them the next day, but right now she wished to act like the physical age she was, to feel jealous and sad. She had that right, didn’t she?
As the scene continued to unfold, Penelope rested her head against Yule’s shoulder while he held her hand, the two just watching quietly until it was their turn to go home with their guardians.
