Wysper - Home

For years I prayed for someone, anyone, to bring me back to Britannia again. However, were I to meet my younger self, I would counsel her to be careful what you pray for. Because sometimes prayers are answered.

We had settled into a routine within Lord Osiris' temple, expecting to be there for the annual flooding of the Nile, which always occurred during the first week of May. But Ghostdog had arrived unexpectedly with news. The Gauls were planning a campaign to sweep the Brittani away forever, waiting only for the snow to melt before they launched their attack, and if I truly wanted to be queen, I had to leave Aegyptus now. So we left the temple and Ghostdog led us through the Shadowlands across half the known world.

Britannia... home, or it would be, had the Gauls not overrun the lower half of our island. Ebora was the new capitol, a city near the eastern coast, and protected by the convergence of two rivers on its southern and north-eastern flank. Stout walls defended the rest.

Yet high, thick walls mean nothing when you can walk through a solid wooden gate. I had not been to Ebora since I was a little girl, and it was strange, walking its streets as if wandering in a dream. When I was a child, I thought Ebora to be magnificent. Yet somehow, it seemed to have shrunk, its grandeur now only weathered walls, and covered pig sty's, and fear upon the faces of the shadow people we passed on its streets.

We walked through the northern gate and skirted Ebora's castle on the hill beyond the river, Ghostdog leading us to an old ruin several leagues away. Among the pitted stones, overgrown with the shadows of dead brambles, a woman stood not far from the writhing mass of grey tentacles marking the location of the grey tree in the real world. Her dozen or so guards stood in a semi-circle behind her, far enough away to give her some privacy, but close enough to come quickly were she to shout. They wore chainmail with steel chest plates, three in Artifact armor with the same round discs as my brother wore, and all had swords in their sheathes. Their hands rested on the pommels and their faces were grim.

Ghostdog stopped in front of her shady form and frowned. "I know this woman, but I don't know why she's here."

Titan rumbled, "Or how she knew we would be arriving today."

Greywolf's father absently nodded. "Titan, assemble everyone near the weak point and Greywolf, when I give the signal, put us back into the real world. If the soldiers charge, or Titan gives the order, send us back into the Grey at once."

"Papa-"

"I know," Ghostdog said, glancing back over his shoulder, "we'll be ringing the dinner bell twice. We'll kill that ogre under the bridge when we meet it."

Titan herded all of us to a spot behind the tentacles while Ghostdog positioned himself a horse-length away from the tall woman and looked back at us. He nodded, and Greywolf let one of the tentacles touch him as Ghostdog turned forward again. A wave of grey rolled out just past Ghostdog and rolled back, bringing the real world in all its color with with it.

A cold wind slapped me across the face. I wrapped my cloak tight around me, and everyone else did the same except for Ghostdog. He only folded his arms across his armored chest. "Morgana, this is a surprise."

The soldiers gave a shout of surprise, but the woman standing over Ghostdog raised her hand without looking back, and they subsided. She was tall as Greywolf with dark blue hair, and wore a dress green as the leaves in spring. "I would say the same, O me favorite dog, except an ancient crone came to me in a dream, and not only told me who was coming and when, but also showed me all of your friend's images, and told me a good deal about them. When I woke, I remembered everything, meaning it was a true dream and not something I ate from that harridan of a cook. So here I am."

As Morgana and Ghostdog continued speaking, Greywolf moved behind me and brushed my ear with his lips. "Wysp," he breathed, "who is this?"

"I have no idea," I whispered back, "except that her voice has the lilt of Eire, the island to the west." The ghost-glass in my forehead, patterned in the shape of a long, thin diamond, had remained asleep while we traveled through the Shadowlands. But now I felt it beginning to wake up. Strange symbols only I could see began appearing and falling like the first few drops of a rainstorm. "Woof," I said to him as the symbols multiplied and fell faster and faster, "please hold onto me."

Greywolf held me tight as the symbols swirled like a storm, my senses reeling before new symbols stopped appearing and the remainder falling towards the earth faded. "Gratitude," I said as the last symbol disappeared. "Lord Osiris warned me that the moon-stone in my forehead has to continually speak with the satellite moons overhead, which it cannot do in the Shadowlands, and has to make up for lost time once we are back."

"Why do you think I put myself behind you?" Greywolf gave me a gentle squeeze. "Osiris tried to explain what the moon-stone system was while you were with the Sphinx, and while I don't understand the whole 'system resetting itself' part, I do know it overwhelms your mind until it settles down." He whispered in my ear, "Is your invisible adviser back yet?"

A ghostly image wavered in front of me, then settled into the likeness of Prince Varsena's wife, Sorocan, who as far as I knew was safely back in Bukhara. The image waved at me, then put her thumb to her nose and waggled her fingers at Greywolf. I smiled. "She is, and makes fun of you again." Greywolf snorted the same way Asena did as my senses grew steady once more. "There, everything is returning to normal."

Castor, standing beside Greywolf, chuckled. "Or whatever normal is these days."

Khulan, the Black Dragon warrior, glanced his way and snorted herself before looking at me. "My lady, if you're feeling better, Greywolf's father wants us to join him."

Greywolf let me go, and the five of us walked over to them as Ghostdog stepped beside her and turned around. "Everyone, this is Morgana, the half-human daughter of the Celestial, Queen Eriu of the kingdom of Eire."

Titan rumbled, "I thought Celestials siring half-human children was against the Code."

Morgana stared up at him with eyes hard as emeralds. "All those who wrote the Code are either dead or fled back to the Heavens, where they will remain if they have any sense."

"Not all of them are dead," Titan countered. "Asena-"

"Is in no position to lecture me mother, if she was so inclined." Morgana exhaled sharply. "Titan, I understand where you stand on the Code and why, yet what she did by having me, honors the spirit of the Code if not the letter. Unlike the Brittani, Eire no longer worships her as a goddess but respects her as our queen, who has kept Eire united and free. And when she dies, which will be soon, I will step into that role. Which is why I am here on this forsaken island instead of my own." Morgana turned her eyes like emeralds upon me. "Tell me, O you who are to become the last Queen Boudica: are you are ready to face the Brittani court, who squabble like children over their mother's favor while a traitorous serpent glides amongst them?"

I thought I would have more time to prepare myself, yet Adviser had warned me I had to be ready from the start. "If by traitorous serpent you mean one of the clan chiefs, I know what he looks like."

Lady Morgana reared back. "How can you know that?"

I tapped the long, diamond shaped ghost-glass embedded in my forehead. "Ever since I received this, I have kept watch over Ebora in my own way. I watched as a clan chief rode out with his war-band and met with a Celestial known to Lord Osiris. A Gaul named Balor One-eye."

Everyone in our group already knew this, but also knew to say nothing as Lady Morgana moved a step towards me. "Tell me what he looks like and I will tell you his name."

I shook my head. "Apologies, Lady Morgana. I know what he looks like, yet I have no idea who he might be allied with."

"Not Morgana," Ghostdog said before she could speak. He turned to look at her. "Wysper described him to me, and if it's who I think it is, the two of you hate each other worse than two dogs fighting over a bitch." Lady Morgana raised her eyebrows, and Ghostdog grinned. "That didn't come out very tactful, did it."

Lady Morgana gave him a look half-exasperated, half-amused, as Adviser whispered in my ear. I cleared my throat. "Apologies again, but in a potentially hostile court, two allies will, at times, pretend to be enemies, so they can learn the intentions of the other side."

She raised her hand before Ghostdog could speak. "Wysper makes a good point, and it eases my mind to hear her question the loyalty of someone she does not know. The strongest defense I can make is that I want Eire to remain free, and not subject to those rabid boars who call themselves Gauls."

"I can definitely vouch for her on that," Ghostdog said. "I've known her mother since the Prince's war, and the two have always doted on each other."

"Mother will give her life for Eire," Lady Morgana said. "Wysper, I have a thought. If I describe the clan chief I believe you saw, will you confirm his identity?" I nodded, and she said, "A broad shouldered man as tall as Ghostdog's son, with black hair gone to grey, and a beard bristling like a forest of spears. Did he have men with him"

I nodded. "About a dozen or so men, all bearing shields."

"Could you see the design painted on them?"

"It was night," I replied, "but my watcher's sight can pierce the darkness."

"Was it a narrow head of a horse?" I nodded again, and her hands closed into fists. "I knew it! His name is Lord Cormac, clan chief of the Brigante, and the most powerful man after the clan chief of the Iceni, Lord Tristam." Lady Morgana smacked her fists against her thighs. "I have ways of me own to keep watch, and all the signs pointed to Cormac as the one who opened the secret gate and let in the Gauls. But I could never get the solid proof the other clan chiefs would need to bring him down."

"You wouldn't need solid proof," Ghostdog says. "Tristam told me the other clan chiefs hate him bitterly, and would jump at the chance to cut off his head and stick it on a pole."

"Leaving his son at the head of an enraged tribe. The boy hates his father even more bitterly than the other clan chiefs, yet to forgive such a slight would stain his, O so precious honor, and he would be forced to break with the confederation and declare war on us."

Adviser was already whispering in my ear. "Lady Morgana," I said as Adviser stepped back, "if we could come up with solid proof, or goad Lord Cormac into doing something rash, how would his son react?"

"Little Boots?" Lady Morgana's expression turned thoughtful. "Cormac, son of Cormac, is smart as a wolf and just as cautious... and yet, if he smells blood, I believe he would go for his father's throat." Her eyes met mine. "Give him the Brigante and you will have a loyal ally for life."

Castor growled, "Unless he smells blood again."

She smileed at him. "There is that, yes."

"Why did you call him Little Boots?" Greywolf asked.

"An incident that happened when he was a young boy," she said with a grimace. "His father had taken him with on a raid, and back at the camp, the child had put on his fathers mud caked boots and pretended to be the clan chief. The warriors had gone along with the joke until Lord Cormac came out of his tent. Instead of laughing at a child's absurdity, or scolding him, Lord Cormac took a whip and gave the child several scars," Lady Morgana touched her cheek, "including one he carries here, to teach him a lesson. His father began calling him Little Boots to mock him, but the boy took the name, and now will not answer to anything else."

I took a deep breath. "Lady Morgana, if you will bring your proof against Lord Cormac to court when I am presented, I will do my best to goad him. I need to take control of the clan chiefs, and bringing down a hated traitor will put me many leagues down that road."

Lady Morgana's expression was half-hopeful, half-suspicious. "What about Lord Cormac's son?"

Part of me felt wicked, yet I could not help but smile. "Little Boots has a secret... and I know what it is."