Pryor's Hill (solo)

[Dracosius]

Jasmine and Zerith watched as their children filed into their rooms. Once the doors had shut, Zerith turned to Jasmine.

“She shot. A ghost.”

“Yes, dear, I heard it, too,” Jasmine said with a yawn as she headed back to their room. “She is able to harness spirit magic, so it’s not a surprise that her magic can affect spirits. I just didn’t realize she could do it, much less with a normal weapon.”

Zerith followed his wife, closing the door behind him. “So what are we going to do about this adventure of theirs? It was pretty gutsy. Most people wouldn’t have risked the whole ‘no one ever comes back’ thing.”

Jasmine rolled her eyes at the admiring tone in her husband’s voice. He was actually a bit proud of them for daring to test out a ghost story! “Yeah, and by their own admission, it almost got them killed! If Siela hadn’t gone after them and caught up to them in time, we’d be short two children right now and we wouldn’t even have bodies to mourn over!”

Jasmine’s shoulders slumped as she sat down heavily into the armchair in front of the fireplace. In the hallway she had maintained a stern look and tone. Now that she was away from her children, she allowed the full realization of what had transpired and been so narrowly avoided wash over her.

“We almost lost them, Zerith,” she said quietly, holding back tears. “We almost lost them over an incredibly stupid bet.”

Zerith took a seat beside his wife and wrapped his arms around her, “I know, Love, I know. But we didn’t. They have learned a valuable lesson. I’m tempted to say the terror they dealt with last night is punishment enough, but I’m not entirely certain about that. Perhaps they and Jordan can spend the next month helping muck out the stables or something like that.”

Jasmine chuckled and wiped her eyes. “That might suffice. Let’s wait until at least lunch, or maybe dinner to tell them. Let them spend the day wondering what their punishment will be.”

Zerith smiled, “Sounds like a plan. Now, let’s get back to bed for a bit. It’s incredibly early and I, for one, would like some truly restful sleep now that the kids are safely home.”

Jasmine nodded in agreement and got to her feet. With the knowledge that her “babies” were safely home, she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Zerith followed suit. Sleep came a little bit later for the father of three, thinking about just how imulsively reckless his sons could be and what that recklessness almost cost them last night. Little idiots, at least they made it out alive this time. Is a month long enough…?

~~~~~

In her room, Siela quietly pulled her bow from its place across her back and unstrung it. She laid it on the couch in front of the fireplace and set her quiver on the floor beside it. While her brothers were probably thinking more about the “awesomeness” of her new found ability to shoot ghosts or what kind of punishment their parents would decide on, Siela was thinking back to everything she had witnessed last night.

Aside from the surprise of a spirit magic infused arrow hurting a ghost, she had noticed that Pryor stopped when his wife and child were standing before him. For a brief moment he had seemed sane. It was as if he recognized who stood before him, but then the memory that the grievous injuries on the spirits in front of him were his own doing renewed his anguish. The madness returned and it no longer mattered who or what stood before him.

I wonder if the madness can be cured. It was gone for moment, I’d swear it was. If it can happen for a moment, perhaps it can be reversed entirely.

In that moment, Siela decided more research about the legend of Pryor’s Hill was in order. It pained her to see a family forever imprisoned on that hill, unable to move on to the next world. She wasn’t quite sure how she would manage it, but one day she would return to Pryor’s Hill. When she did, she would not be the only one leaving the haunted hill at dawn.