To Save a Friend: Part Two by ieva_kasku |  |
An hour had passed and we were walking through the Haunted
Woods. If I had had my way, we would have gone sooner, but ieva said that we
needed to have a plan of action. Thiril, having been there before, said that
she would lead us, but only so far. She had no wish to be captured again. And
so she had led us deep into the forest along a faint path until we reached a
fork. She told us to go down the right fork and to stay on the path and we would
reach Balthazar's cave. Then she took of and we started down the right path.
In about half an hour the path stopped at the mouth of a seemingly small cave.
We went in and found it to be a long tunnel. After a while the tunnel stopped
at a wooden door set into the rock walls. Ieva knocked, and it wasn't long before
a gruff voice called out, "Who's there?"
"Flower_of_Icetor, ieva_kasku, and Ripgirl!
Let us in!"
"Okay, okay, keep your hair on. I thought you
were someone else."
As the door opened, I tried hard not to panic.
After being raised by a Faerie, one develops certain instincts, and fear of
Balthazar is one. I did manage to suppress my fear, but I had to catch up to
everyone else. The tunnel opened up into a medium sized cave, furnished with
a battered desk, moth-eaten couch, and a stool. There were two other passages,
covered with green curtains that apparently served as doors. Then my attention
was distracted when Balthazar asked us what we wanted. Part of our plan was
to let ieva do the talking, because she was taking Speech class and we weren't.
So she explained our situation very eloquently, saying that we were willing
to pay for the release of a certain Earth Faerie, and would he consider even
letting her go for free.
"Well, I might accept your offer, if I still
had this certain Faerie," he said, "But she was special ordered by some kid
with a strong looking Grarrl. He came to get her just this afternoon."
This simple statement left me numb with shock.
After coming all this way, only to find out that it had been in vain. I was
hardly aware of the trip back down the passage, and of the long journey back
through the woods to home in Neopia Central. I just went to my room and sat
on my bed for who knows how long. After what seemed like hours, I heard the
ding that meant that there was a Neomail for ieva. After a long pause, which
I assumed was ieva reading the message, she screamed for me to get in there
right now. Since ieva is usually a very quiet person, and when she gets that
loud it means that either one of her sci-fi club friends has dropped by for
a visit (we can get reeeeeally loony when there's more than one of us in the
same general area), or there was some sort of emergency or horrible accident.
I opted for the latter and ran in there as fast as I could. When I got in there,
ieva pointed at the Neomail, which was on the table. I picked it up, and a lot
of things started piecing together.
i hav
the fary. if u want 2 get it back, cum 2 mistery island at 3 o clok on 2sday.
i know u will b on, bcus if ur not, ill just put it n my gallery 4ever. cum
alone or else. hahaha!
My first reaction was wondering how whoever
this was had found out about my relationship with Carissi. Then, with a sudden,
sick feeling, I remembered The Neopian Times article that I had written a few
months back. So it was really my fault that all of this had happened. But I
banished that thought quickly, it wasn't my fault, it was the fault of this
nutcase who was trying to get at me for some reason. I would never save Carissi
if I just sat around feeling sorry for myself. So I started organizing things
in my mind. So, today was Saturday, meaning that we all had 3 days to prepare.
I got the attention of ieva and Ripgirl, and we started laying out a plan. Ieva
began Neomailing the rest of the sci-fi club, and they started arriving in half
an hour. First came Nat and the 'Loonatic'. Then Jabberwocket, Cindyrella, and
Brownie Child arrived. Teremir and the Bringer of Darkness didn't have Neopets
accounts (yet…). There were the usual wild and crazy greetings, and then we
got down to business. Since it was obvious that we would need to go alone, the
rest of them said that they would wait on the boat.
***
It was Tuesday, and as planned, we were all on the ferry, and all of the rest
of the sci-fi club were actually scaring people (what with the yelling Monty
Python lines and running around and around the boat). When the boat reached
the dock, there was practically a stampede to get off of the ferry. As we walked
off with good luck wishes of 'May the Force be with you', I looked around for
someone out of the ordinary. A big shadow Grarrl over near the bushes caught
sight of us and beckoned for us to follow him. He led us through the jungle
for a long time, and ieva had to carry Ripgirl just to keep up. We finally reached
a small clearing. The Grarrl went over to stand by a smallish figure wearing
a mask. We walked forwards and stopped. Ieva put Ripgirl down and I saw her
tense up with anticipation and nerves. I felt uneasy about the figure, as if
some instinct was telling me to fly as far away from him and as fast as possible.
But I suppressed this instinct, because that would mean leaving ieva and Ripgirl
behind, since they could obviously not fly. Then the person started speaking.
"You came. Now you must pay the ransom. Shoyru,
you must come with me."
"No way! I would never go with you!"
"Well, you asked for it."
As he said that last word, his arm came down
in a chopping motion. The Grarrl leapt forward before we could react and whacked
me over the head with its tail. As my vision grew black, I heard two other whacks,
and then I slid into unconsciousness.
To be continued…
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