Elspeth Spindle

by Charlie Bowater

I was its author.

**Elspeth Spindle** is a young woman from Blunder, who absorbed the spirit of the Shepherd King when she was nine years old. She is the daughter of the former captain of the Destriers, Erik Spindle and Iris Whitebeam and the maternal cousin of the Queen of Elms, Ione Hawthorn.

## Biography

### Early Life

Elspeth is the eldest daughter of Erik Spindle from his first marriage to Iris Whitebeam, who died from the infection when Elspeth was very young. Following her mother's death, she lived with her father, her stepmother Nerium and her twin half-sisters, Nya and Dimia Spindle. At the age of nine, she fell ill with the infection. Her father sent her to live with the Hawthorns, under the care of her maternal aunt, Opal Hawthorn. Her condition remained a secret to evade being discovered by Destriers and Physicians because contracting this infection resulted in execution decreed by the crown. The infection came with magic and degeneration. Initially, Elspeth did not manifest any magic.

When she was delirious with the fever, her aunt Opal took great care of her with much love and affection. Elspeth grew up with her favorite cousin Ione Hawthorn and kept away from the families of Blunder. Her fourth month in the woods, she watched her uncle Tyrn Hawthorn return one stormy night with six men and a bloodied sword, triumphant, bearing the nightmare card. Having read The Old Book of Alders, Elspeth could not contain her curiosity and sneaked into her uncle's library to see the rare providence card. And in one touch, Elspeth had absorbed the nightmare in the card. That night, she discovered that her magic allowed her to absorb any card she touched.

As a child, Elspeth was terrified of the creature when it spoke in her mind. One unfortunate night, when a physician unexpectedly visited House Hawthorn, she was injured in an attempt to escape into the woods. That night, the nightmare helped her survive and it was the first time she stopped fearing the voice in her head.

### *One Dark Window*

On her nameday, Elspeth visited her father with Ione at the Spindle house. Erik Spindle invited her to attend Equinox with him, which upset her stepmother, Nerium. With her mood ruined by her stepmother, she leaves before dinner. Elspeth walked into the mist with her charm, a crow's foot in her clutch. On her way back to house Hawthorn, Elspeth was attacked by two highwaymen in the woods. She tells them her name was Jayne Yarrow and that she worked in the service of Tyrn Hawthorn. She was asked about her uncle's providence cards, to which she lies. When things escalated, the nightmare took control of her body and managed to push off the highwaymen, allowing Elspeth to run to safety.

Veins as dark as ink covered Elspeth's arms, as a result of the nightmare's ability. With the nightmare, also came strange recurring dreams of a man in golden armor with yellow eyes sitting on a stone table.

#### Event of Equinox

The families of Blunder had been invited to celebrate Equinox at Stone, the King's castle. Elspeth decided to join the Hawthorns in the celebration, where she discovered that her uncle planned to arrange her cousin Ione's marriage with the high prince, Hauth Rowan in exchange of the nightmare card in his custody. Elspeth was deeply disturbed by this knowledge and ended up fighting with her cousin that night. She did not approve of her sweet cousin's association with the ruthless high prince.

Elspeth had not attended Equinox since she was 15 years old and back then, she was in the company of Alyx Laburnum. Alyx had always been very fond of her but Elspeth did not reciprocate his admiration for her. On the first day of Equinox, Elspeth meets the King's nephew, Emory Yew, the youngest son of House Yew. After a few drinks, Emory offers to escort her to her room and starts to behave strangely when they were alone. He grabbed her hand and spoke about yellow eyes and darkness. Elspeth was rescued from this situation by the captain of the Destriers, Ravyn Yew, eldest son of House Yew.

The next day, Elspeth found Ione with a maiden card, bestowed to her by the King. She was unsuccessful in trying to convince her cousin to forfeit the arrangement made by her father. Upset, Elspeth walked into the mist and once again met Ravyn Yew. On their second encounter, she recognized the hilt of his dagger used by the highwayman who attacked her in the woods. Upon realization, she runs away from Ravyn using the nightmare's ability but he catches up to her. He speaks into her mind, revealing a magical ability only granted by a nightmare card. When they came to a halt, the Destrier witnessed the dark veins on her arms like that of an infected person. Elspeth, frightened by the possibility of an arrest but Ravyn assures her he wouldn't arrest her. He leads her to a chamber where he interrogates her about the infection and introduces her to his companions, the second prince of Blunder Renelm Rowan, Ravyn's younger sister Jaspyr Yew, and a physician Fillick Willow. Elspeth hides the presence of the nightmare in her consciousness from Ravyn and tells him that her magic allows her to see the colors of providence cards which in reality is an ability of the nightmare in her mind. After Ravyn confirmed that she can indeed see providence cards, she was allowed to go back to the banquet. She also demanded that Ravyn Yew never enters her mind again, to which he agreed. At the banquet, the engagement of the high prince and Ione Hawthorn was announced. As Ione started using the maiden card, Elspeth feared Ione's heart would be hardened as repercussion.

Elspeth realizes that the King did not know about Ravyn's nightmare card and that he has been stealing providence cards with his companions. She demands to know the truth and Ravyn takes her to meet his council. On their way, she discovers that Ravyn also carries the mirror card. Elspeth finally meets the council that included Renelm Rowan, Jaspyr Yew, Fillick Willow, and Ravyn's parents Fenir Yew and Morette Yew, the King's sister. Before she was allowed to join the council, she had to pass the test of truth. She was presented with the nightmare card, the chalice, and the scythe. Elspeth chose the scythe wielded by prince Renelm. When she came under the control of the scythe, she answered several questions with half truths, assisted by the nightmare. Finally, the truth about the council was revealed to her. The council, like the King wished to unite the twelve of cards to lift the mist that caused the infection and sufferings. Unlike the royal family, they did not wish to persecute the infected. Elspeth discovered that Emory Yew had been infected and he's held captive at Stone by the King to use as a blood sacrifice, necessary to lift the mist upon unification of the cards. The Yews, prince Renelm, and physician Fillick Willow seek to unite the deck themselves to lift the mist and cure Emory by the next Solstice.

Elspeth's ability to see providence cards was very useful to the Yews. The council wielded nine out of the twelve cards and Elspeth agreed to help them find the remaining three, especially the final card, the Twin Alders missing for the past five hundred years. In order to work closely with Elspeth without raising suspicions, it was decided that the Yews would propose to arrange a courtship between Elspeth and Ravyn, to which they reluctantly agreed. After the banquet, Elspeth relocated to castle Yew with the Yew family.

#### Finding the Iron Gate

The search for the next card began as soon as Elspeth moved to Castle Yew. Morette Yew had invited the Pine ladies to her home, so that they may learn where Wayland Pine hides his Iron Gate card. Elspeth discovers from Gerta Pine that Wayland Pine carried the Iron Gate with him at all times. The Yews and Elspeth discuss about their plans for the Twin Alders and the necessary blood sacrifice. They had decided to use Orithe Willow's blood to unite the deck, the infected physician responsible for the deaths of dozens of infected children.

Elspeth explored the wild gardens of Castle Yew with Ravyn. She walked through the ancient ruins of Blunder hidden in the gardens of the castle and saw a five hundred years old ancient stone chamber. Soon after, Elspeth, Ravyn, Jaspyr, Renelm, and two additional friends, Petyr and Wik Ivy set out to retrieve the Iron Gate from Wayland Pine on his way back to his estate from Stone. The crew dressed up as highwaymen, needing Elspeth to change her attire from her usual dress. Elspeth is generally disliked by animals due to the presence of the nightmare. Hence, she was unable to ride a horse by herself and eventually rode along Elm. It was planned that they would ambush Pine's carriage on the road that goes through the mist. But when they awaited the carriage, it turned out that the high prince Hauth Rowan and Erik Spindle accompanied Wayland Pine along with Destriers. They decided to continue with the plan and attacked the traveling party. When her father had Elm cornered, she knocked him down with the nightmare's ability. Jaspyr helped her escape and hide in the woods till she figured Jaspyr had lost her charm. The mist claimed Jaspyr and she ran deeper into the woods. Elspeth followed after her to drag her back. Elspeth went back towards the road to grab an extra charm from Ravyn when she encountered the high prince. Upon discovering her, he could not see her due to the mask covering the face but he broke her wrist. The nightmare emerged at Elspeth's cry for help and severely injured the high prince. Elspeth fled into the woods and found Ravyn. Reunited with everyone, she rescued Jespyr. The mission successfully ended as Ravyn collected the Iron Gate.

Soon after, Elspeth was visited by her cousin Ione Hawthorn, who now seemed cold-hearted and unlike her original self. She asked about Elspeth's broken wrist, to which she said she fell off a horse. The high prince had also visited Castle Yew along with the destriers and he sported an unpleasant claw mark from the jaw to his shoulder. Elspeth doubted that her cousin Ione may have her suspicions.

## Physical Description

Elspeth has long dark hair, which she usually wears in a braid. Her eyes are black, but can appear yellow when the Nightmare takes over.

## Powers & Abilities

### Magic

Elspeth wields the ability to absorb any object the Shepherd King had traded to create the card.

### Abilities

With the nightmare residing in her consciousness, Elspeth gained a few additional abilities she can use in the presence of the nightmare.

* **Providence Cards**- Elspeth could see the colors of providence cards even with her eyes closed, granting her the ability to locate cards in close parameters.
* **Immunity to** **the Scythe**- Due to the nightmare's immunity to card magic, Elspeth is immune to the mind control ability of the scythe, in the presence of the nightmare.
* **Superhuman strength**- When the nightmare takes over, Elspeth gains superhuman strength.
* **Agility**- Elspeth gains enhanced speed and agility.
* **Combat**- She is capable of advanced combat when in control of the Nightmare.

## Trivia

* The name Elspeth is a girl's name of Scottish origin meaning "pledged to God".

1. ↑ *Elspeth*. Nameberry.