Melody's Whispers (discontinued for a rewrite)

Hunting Palisman

Bundled in our capes, it felt kinda wrong to be sneaking onto campus. The little red palisman hopped from Luz's hands and stared up at the nest, Bat Queen's barrier protecting it.
"So how do we get through this?" Luz asked. I shrugged my shoulders.
"not my spell," I told her. "Bat Queen's one of the most powerful beings I know. You think I can break this? You flatter me." I turned my head to River as she chirped in my ear before drawing my attention to the ground. Our little troublemaker rammed his head into the barrier, breaking it. "Well, I'll be damned." I muttered to myself.
"Ooh, Palisman powers! Neat!" Luz was impressed. We followed the palisman inside its sheltered nest. The remaining palisman turned their heads to us. Luz had an idea, it was written all over her face. She crawled in deeper and sat herself amongst the palisman with a smile. "I'm not leaving until I figure out what my future is and one of you becomes my palisman!" I raised my eyebrow at her. "You can go home." I shook my head.
"Ah, no. Not happening, you'll get yourself mixed up in something crazy," I told her pulling my cape's hood over my eyes, leaning against the walls of the cramped shelter. "Until then, leave me to sleep. River..." she poked her head out from my mess of hair. "Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." As I fell asleep, Luz rattled off ideas of what her future could hold. Yeah... like that was gonna do something for her.

I woke startled as the nest shook violently.
"Welp... how'd I know this would happen?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes. Luz opened the shelter door yelling about being busy, only to find we were being lifted high from the ground. "This ain't good." I sighed looking over the edge. I fixed my hair back into a messy ponytail as I took a look upward. "That's one of the Emperor's air ships." I told Luz. "We're really in deep here, kid."
"I think we're being kidnapped." Luz said closing the door again, checking in with the palisman. They were shaking with fear. "Don't worry, I'll figure this out."
"You're not doing this alone," I told her opening the door. "River, you ready?" She chirped at me. I'm sure Luz believes I'm a crazy idiot for jumping from the shelter into the night air... but there was no way I'd be able to summon a full staff and fly out safely in such a small space. River lifted me back to Luz's level as he climbed the outside of the nest, up to a large hook locked to it. She used her plant magic to climb safely up. On the airship was a caped figure not too different in size to us. "This makes things... complicated." I sighed as Luz and I ducked down out of sight.
"Agh. Him again," Luz groaned. The Golden Guard. I'd not heard much of him since Ma and Luz tangled with him whilst I was out with broken ribs. He whistled to himself as he flew his ship. I didn't get a chance to stop Luz as she launched herself towards him with a fire glyph drawn onto a leaf. I watched from my staff as he was kinda just... rocketed off the ship. "He'll be fine!"

I don't want to admit this kid was good, but... he really was. Quick too. He'd snuck up behind me, I could feel the smug smirk from behind that mask of his.
"Now how do I land this thing?" Luz asked herself, poking around the controls. The magic restraining me, felt... wrong, artificial even. It felt like it didn't come from him, rather the staff he held. I couldn't move and perhaps he'd used some kind of spell to stop me from talking? I couldn't figure it out. River suspended in a magic field I couldn't reach.
"Oh you just pull that cord above your head." Luz began to thank him, not realising he'd made his way back to the ship. She turned and stared at me, wide eyed as she realised what was happening. She had no chance with this one.
"Hey!" Luz growled.
"Yeah good to see you too, Human." The Golden Guard scoffed, dusting himself off. His magic tying he two of us up on the floor of the ship. "And it looks like I caught myself an extra. He held River in his hands, looking at her back and forth. "Oh? Some fine craftsmanship. And I've never seen a palisman with magic this strong. You've got a skilled hand." He turned his head down to me. Watching how I struggled against his restraints, barely making a sound aside from a grunt. "Oh right, I silenced you." He waved his staff briefly near me. "I'm not stupid enough to get close to you. You're too good... But... How'd you make such a tool? With such strong magic?"
"You think I'm dumb enough to fall for that?!" I growled, continuing to fight against my restraints.
"Why are you stealing Palisman, Golden Guard?" Luz growled from beside me.
"Hmm? Frankly, you should be more concerned about yourself." He growled back, getting into Luz's face. "Woah, hold up." He dodged my foot coming towards him. He stepped away just out of reach. "For the crime of rocketing me off my ship, you'll be locked in the dingiest cell of the Conformatorium for the rest of your sad little life."
"Pft. Whatever, I've already broken outta there, like, twice." Luz scoffed.
"then we'll just zap you to dust and throw you into the sea. That better?" I didn't like this guy. He turned to me. "And you're going to be brought before Emperor Belos. He could use a powerful witch like you in the coven, Song Bringer." I rolled my eyes.
"Seriously? You can't come up with anything original?" I grumbled. "Let's go. You and me, one on one." This guy just turned his back and walked away from me. "You scared of a harmless bard?" He stopped still and turned his head slightly. Back still to us.
"You're not a bard. You're a wild witch. And wild magic is dangerous. Don't kid yourself. I'm not that stupid." He said, going back to flying the ship as Luz struggled against her restraints. She stopped and noticed something... her feet were marking the grubby floor of the ship. She smirked at me.
"Say, how did you get back to the ship so fast?" She questioned, drawing a glyph with her heel.
"Staff, duh." The Golden Guard replied.
"Okay, cool." Luz said with a smirk, activating he ice glyph with her foot. Ice knocking his staff off the edge of the ship.
"No!" Luz and I chuckled at this guy who turned back to us. "Oh-ho. Human, it'll take more than that to thwart my mission." My eyes widened as a hand dragon passed overhead, attacking our airship. I'll admit to not remembering much after seeing the dragon... the only thing I remember: We went down... hard.