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Days passed by before they arrived at their destination.
Where that was, they had no idea. Deprived of nothing but a few Faerie cakes and
omelettes to eat and water from Steffanie's wand, the trio of Faeries grew weaker.
When the last of Steff's light faded, their food supply came to a halt. They spent
the rest of their waking and sleeping moments in absolute darkness.
A sudden movement caused them to tumble over
each other and, then, out of the machine. They found themselves in a huge glass
container with holes to dump them in. Other bounty hunters poured out the contents
of their vacuums in the glass box as well. Their belongings were vacuumed out
the side. Takayla, keeping her wits about her, took a head count.
"Thirty-seven Faeries," she whispered. "Thirty-seven
from over hundreds of Faeries out of the entire gathering!!" She was so happy
that she almost cheered. The other Faeries, however, did not look as enthusiastic
as she did.
Huddled together, they waited for Balthazar
to show. And show he did, pushing a cart carrying hundreds of glass bottles.
When he saw the numbers of Faeries that his bounty hunters brought in he nearly
freaked.
"Tell me there are more!! How could you mess
this one up?! A measly handful! How am I supposed to make a profit if there's
nothing to even sell!?! And look at them! Faeries are supposed to GLOW! Why
do they look like miniature humans in costume? " he raved.
A Lupe boldly stepped forward and answered their
leader, "Sir, the Faeries fought back, even without the Battle Faerie at the
lead. They also, um, became invisible so we could not see them to catch them.
We didn't dare remove the ones we did catch out from the vacuums in case they,
um… in case more got away…" He swallowed thickly, anticipating more wrath from
Balthazar.
Balthazar just stared at his minions, turned
his back, and stormed out of the room. The other bounty hunters followed quickly
behind, leaving the Faeries in the room by themselves.
Takayla faced them and plainly said, "We have
to find a way to get out of here." Many of the Faeries looked skeptical, others
looked hopeful. "There are 37 of us. 10 Fire Faeries, 7 Water Faeries, 5 Earth
Faeries, 6 Light Faeries, and 9 Air Faeries. Surely we can find a way to get
out of this mess!"
After a long debate, they decided to try and
escape. It took only a few minutes to come up with a plan. They had only a tiny
bit of magic left between all of them, but enough to make it count. The plan
was set into action and then they waited.
"Bring the jar, Quinton. We haven't got all day.
We have to ship these Faeries out and get them sold before the value of the
little pixies fall anymore. Another war is sure to come. And the demand for
them should return, but in case they don't… Dervinn, bring the fluorescent light.
We'll stick them in their jars and place them under the light so they can get
some of their glow back. Glowing Faeries sell faster than dull ones." Balthazar
continued to order his bounty hunters around as they walked towards the main
room where the Faeries were kept.
"You there, Skeith, take a head count of those
Faeries and start putting them into the jars," Balthazar said.
"30...31…32…There are thirty-two of them sir,"
the red Skeith said as he starting pulling out one Faerie at a time and placing
her in a jar.
The Faeries scurried about inside the class
container, doing their best to avoid the claws of the Skeith. It was a futile
attempt however and only encouraged more roughness in their capture. Other bounty
hunters came over to help. After all 32 Faeries were transferred into the jars
and placed in front of the light, the glass box, with its lid entirely removed
now, was placed in the corner.
The Faeries sat under the light source, slowly
regaining their energy and light. It was not the same as real sunlight, but
they took what they could get. Balthazar growled a note of approval as the glow
returned to their bodies as they sat meekly in their jars.
"That's more like it. Sit there and behave.
You've only made things worst you know, by opposing my men. You'll be happy
to know something though. There is word that your queen is holding another gathering,
to honor those captured and those that fought bravely. You Faeries make it too
easy for Hunters like me." And with that, he strode happily from the room, already
planning his next phase of attack.
Takayla, blessed with another invisibility spell
along with four others, sat quietly in the glass box hoping that all the Hunters
will leave before their spells fade. It took the combined effort of all the
Faeries captured to summon up enough energy to cast that final spell. Even then,
the spell could not last more than a few minutes. Finally all the Hunters left
except for one. Rashauna, a fierce looking Krawk, stayed to keep an eye on them.
The five free Faeries flew out of the glass
box and sat under the artificial light. It didn't take long before they were
visible again, but hidden behind the mass of jars, the Krawk did not see them.
They sat for awhile recharging their energy. They had to hurry though. They
had to get out and warn their Queen before she was captured as well.
Briar Rose and Rose Petal, sister Fire Faeries,
used their wands to melt the glass on the jars that held other Fire Faeries.
When the holes were big enough, those Faeries crawled out of their jars and
helped as well. One of the Air Faeries had had the foresight to turn all their
wands invisible before they were taken away by the Hunters so they were not
completely vulnerable. It wasn't until nearly six of the Fire Faeries were out
of their jars that the Krawk noticed that something was wrong. But as he took
a few steps forward to stop them, he found himself entangled in a mess of vines
that latched onto his tail, legs, and arms, rooting him to the spot. Takayla
fluttered past him and laughed. The Earth Faeries that were freed next conjured
up thin vines while the Air Faeries flew in circles creating a gust of wind
to remove the jar tops until all the Faeries were free.
The Krawk was yelling at the top of his lungs
for reinforcements, but none came. The Faeries took this as a bad sign that
the Hunters had already left on their next capture. Not knowing which way to
go, they parted separate ways, each hoping to find Faerieland first and warn
the others before Balthazar and his Bounty Hunters collected them all.
To be continued...
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