Cinnamon, Part 16 - Candle

Riding that fast was simultaneously the greatest and scariest thing I had ever done in my life. I felt almost as if we were flying across the forest, the wind rushing on my face and the trees flashing by. Celer dodged the trees incredibly nimbly. Although it was probably to be expected; he was a centaur after all.

After a while he slowed down to a walk and glanced back. No one followed us, and at least I couldn't hear anything aside from Celer's footsteps and the wind gushing through the trees.

"Have we lost them?" I whispered. Celer turned his ears (which were in fact quite similar to those of a horse's) around and then relaxed. I took that as a good sound.

"I believe we have, though I do not know whether we were pursued to begin with," he said and turned to face forward again. I realized I was still holding onto him pretty tightly and leaned back a bit.

"What happened?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I am not certain, but I believe it was an ambush. It is unlikely they were expecting us specifically, there have been reports of bandits around these parts. But better safe than sorry. I had to protect you, in case it had been Folius's men. It is of utmost importance that your presence here is kept as quiet as possible. We still don't know how much the Prince knows, but the less the better."

"What now?"

"Now, we travel to the place we were supposed to make camp tomorrow. We will meet with the rest back there. But we must take a detour, just in case, so the trip might take a bit longer. You may stay on my back if you like, it will quicken our trip."

We traveled in silence for some time, and soon it grew dark. I could hardly see where we were going, but luckily I didn't really need to. The quietness of the forest was starting to get to me. My head was too quiet, and the ambush had brought back the memories of my nightmare. I tried to force myself to not think about the blood and the laugh, but it circled around me. I drew a deep breath and started to hum quietly. My mother's song. It had always helped me calm down, even as a child, and during many dark and lonely nights after her passing, I had soothed my sister and me to sleep with it. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on Celer's shoulder, my hands hanging loosely around his waist. I could feel his head turning as he glanced back at me before he let out a quiet sigh and turned forward again. Seeing that it didn't bother him, I started to hum louder, enveloping us in the melody.

Suddenly he stopped. I opened my eyes, and was just about to ask him what's wrong, when I saw it too. There was a table. It was fairly simple, wooden and dark, with three spirally legs. On top of it was a beautiful candlestick and one pale yellow candle.

"A Babylon candle," Celer breathed out.

"A babbling candle? What's that?" I asked as he stepped carefully closer to the table.

"A Babylon candle is a magic tool. It is old magic, the power of which is rarely seen this day, and it is rare. I haven't heard of anyone seeing one in centuries. It is told that great fortune comes to whoever lights one and they are even said to grant the person their deepest wish." I hopped down from Celer's back. My muscles were still a bit stiff from all the training and sitting all day, but we stepped slowly next to the table. From up close I could see that there were runes engraved into the table and the candlestick. Next to me Celer let out a sigh. "How I wish I had a tinderbox."

My eyes were glued to the candle, as I absentmindedly dug into my bag and pulled out my lighter. It was odd that such a small thing was so captivating. I flicked the lighter a few times before it caught fire. Celer made a small "oh" sound, but I barely noticed him. I followed the runes with my eyes and felt like if I concentrated enough I could make out what the said. I brought the lighter to the flick and it burst into a blue flame.

There was a small cooing sound.

Both of us turned around to see a small light floating up and down a few meters back. It made another soft coo and a second small flame appeared behind it. I frowned.

"Are those-?"

"Will-o'-the-Wisps," Celer whispered. "The legends are true."

A few more flames popped up and they all cooed at us. And somehow it looked as if they were gesturing at us to come closer.

"Do we follow them?" I asked, looking at Celer, who looked down at me.

"I think we should," he said and offered me his hand. I looked back at the candle and then the small cooing flames.

I took his hand and we followed the trail into the forest.

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DUNDUNDUUUUUN.

You know, I've wanted to include will-o'-the-wisps for the beginning, but I'm glad I hadn't yet. They fit really well here, and it was good to establish some form of a plot at the beginning of the story. So yay.

My lack of interest in writing has probably been due to not feeling like this is my story. I mean, I do consider it my story as much as I consider it your story, but it just feels kinda alien. I guess, I just gotta plan stuff and as I write I sorta plan things and then you write the other half and into the trash goes half of my ideas and it's just all kinds of weird. I don't really do collaboration projects of this kind. But yeah, it's a good experience I guess.

And as a heads up, we are going to Charlotte (where Maria's parents live) for Christmas, and we leave on Friday morning (which means I have to write my post on Thursday). Now, I don't know the circumstances, they do have an internet connection, but I don't know if it's wireless or what, so there's a possibility you're gonna have to write the last four days by yourself. But I'll make inquiries. This might not be a problem at all.

Pie out.

Oh, and btw, if there's someone out there who cares about my personal life, it's basically this. Plus 45hrs/week of childcare. So yeah.