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Untitled Document
Another two hours passed since the Faerie gathering started
and yet the Battle Faerie failed to show up. None of those that participated in
the festivities seem to be bothered by this. The Queen participated in the Dance
of Flowers with the crowd. Near the refreshment table, Fuhnah sneaked extra Faerie
cakes into her pocket. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Takayla, the only Faerie
not dancing, sat perched high above the field, hidden among the branches of a
tall oak tree. Worry creased her forehead.
Nothing's happened and yet I still feel uneasy.
What's wrong with me? Why can't I enjoy the party like the others? Even Aurora
is having a good time. At least the Air Faeries are keeping a closer eye on
the entrances now. Takayla pulled her knees up and laid her head down on them.
Slowly, while peering at the scene below, she fell asleep.
Sometime later that night Takayla awoke to the
sounds of screams. Down below, amid a firework of magic beams, faeries were
fighting cloaked figures carrying bulky machines.
"Vacuums!!! Vacuums! Nets we were prepared for,
but not this!" she cried, adding "At least not all of them have vacuums…" when
she noticed a couple of bounty hunters with nets. She rummaged around the leaves,
trying to find her wand when her hand fell on a quivering form on the branch
near her. Alarmed, she shoved back the branches to reveal her fire Faerie friend.
Fuhnah sat with tears streaking down her face.
"You were right, Takayla. Why did you have to
be right?" Fuhnah said as she sniffed loudly.
"The Battle Faerie never showed up?" asked Takayla
who received a shake of the head for an answer. After thinking a few seconds
longer, she made up her mind. "Fuhnah, you must go and find her! She's the only
one that can help us now!
The Fire Faerie hesitated. She turned her attention
on the scene below. Faeries were scattered everywhere, trying their best to
out-fly the suction of the vacuums. The Queen, surrounded by dozens of faeries,
did their best to disable as many vacuums as possible. A random magic beam shot
near Fuhnah and Takayla, knocking them both away from each other. Fuhnah looked
back at Takayla and nodded. Blessing herself with an invisibility spell she
learned from an air Faerie, she took off to the North.
Takayla, taking Fuhnah's example, blessed herself
with the spell and flitted down to help the Faerie Queen. The field was alive
with the sounds and dust from the beams and magic pebbles that flew in every
direction. Only one thought remained clear, she had to protect the queen while
her magic was still strong. Summoning up all the power she had, Takayla pointed
her wand at the Queen and chanted the same spell she had said only moments before.
In an instant the Queen vanished. Some of the Faeries around the Queen looked
stunned, but the Air Faeries took it as a hint and started directing their magic
towards each other. Faeries begun to pop out of site as the invisibility spells
took effect.
"What's going on? How are they getting away?
Barghan! Check the perimeters and make sure none of them get away. Balthazar
will not be pleased if we don't meet his quota!" yelled one of the cloaked pets.
"Increase the speed of your vacuums! Full power, boys!"
The noise of the field intensified as the bounty
hunters followed his orders. A loud eruption drowned out everything as a fire
Faerie sent her sparks to explode the nozzle of a vacuum. Faeries shot out of
the machine and joined in the foray. Water Faeries rushed around trying to aid
the wounded as needed.
Desperate, the bounty hunters started to swing
the nozzles of the vacuums in every direction. Suddenly, Takayla found herself
trapped in one. Tossed around the inner chamber of the contraption, she became
too dazed to summon any spells to aid her. There were at least two other faeries
in there with her, all giving off a slight illumination so that it was not completely
dark in there.
A few more minutes passed before an order of
retreat was heard. They were loaded into a vehicle of some sort and transported
away. Trapped in the darkness, the Faeries' light begun to fade. With their
magical light gone, their wands were useless. Takayla, having exhausted most
of her powers, turned visible again.
"Is everyone okay?" she asked. "It's me, Takayla."
Next to her, a Water Faerie answered. "I'm Steffanie.
Where do you think they're taking us now?"
The only other Faerie with them, another Earth
Faerie, remained silent for a long time before answering. "I don't know…Do you
think they'll take us to His lair? Annabelle said when she was taken last Spring
that's where they took her. I don't want to meet Him."
"It'll be okay," Takayla assured her. "Fyona
made it out okay. She will find us. Just you watch." She only hoped what she
said was true. Faeries of the past were not rescued, how was she so sure that
she would be?
To be continued...
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