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Fenella knew not time it was when she finally managed
to break away from the high court. They had been discussing long into the night
and morning, deciding the next action, which should be taken upon the matter.
Though they still had not a face to go with the criminal of the crime, they
knew that soon the enemy would make a slip-up, and when they did…they would
make sure to use that to their fullest advantage.
Twilight began to invade the night sky, but the
Faerie queen did not see it through her window . She was thinking of only one
thing, sleep; a way to recharge her batteries after the long and trying day
(and night) that she had.
She didn't even think of changing out of her
formal gown to a nightgown as she simply collapsed onto the soft purple sheets
that covered her bed. The feeling of lying upon them was bliss; to just rest
there floating, not feeling a care in the world. For that time, and that time
only, she was not thinking of the missing faeries or the state of panic that
her entire kingdom was in. It was simply a blank buzz that circled her mind.
Fenella did not know when she finally drifted
off to sleep, but the dreams she had seemed so real and vivid that she could
almost swear to the fact that she was wide awake.
The stone floor walked upon felt cold upon her
bare feet, and through out the corridor that she traveled down there whispers
and shouts. She struggled to discern what they were, but it was impossible to
comprehend them from the distance she was at, and so she broke into a run, her
feet beating against the flagged stone, the pounding matching her wildly beating
heart. Why was she so nervous? It was just a corridor and this was, after all
a dream! Nothing was wrong at all… nothing.
The voices were louder, but no longer were they
voices, they were screams… cries even. The queen began to slow her pace and
quickly stopped in front of a large stone door that was left ajar a tad. Fenella
quietly tiptoed towards the door, not even aware of the actions that she was
taking or why she was doing this. The door gave no sound as Fenella slowly,
ever so slowly, opened it to give her enough room to peek into the next room…
On the other side of the door was a room in a
style much like the hallway she had just come down. The walls, floor and ceiling
were all made of stone and completely barren save for a few torches, which sat
in iron holdings, scattered among the walls
"Please... please don't…"
The queen turned her attention to the corner
of the room. If she hadn't heard the voice Fenella doubted if she would have
noticed the small, huddled figure in the corner. She was bound to the floor
with chains that looked far too heavy for her to even lift up with her thin,
weak arms. For some odd reason seeing their small Faerie just made her heart
cry out with sadness…but why?
"Don't what, my child? I won't hurt you… you're
perfectly safe… I swear," It was a voice like ice and pure evil, sending
the deepest chills down Fenella's spine. Where it came from she couldn't guess,
but the Faerie in the corner heard this voice, and instantly began to cry out
in hysterics.
"NO! PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T HURT MY WINGS!"
"Oh, but you can live without them, you and
I both know that! It's not like anything awful will happen to you," the
voice sneered again. Where was it coming from? Fenella had to know. She didn't
know why… but she had to know who owned that voice.
"Bu-but I won't be-be able to fly or-or perform
m-magic!" the Faerie stammered, trying to inch away from an invisible shadow
that loomed somewhere in the room. The unseen horror chuckled at the Faerie's
fear, finding extreme amusement in her pure fear.
"Hmm… you are right on that one dear little
Faerie You are a bright little one aren't you?" it commended falsely. "Yes…
yes you'll become powerless and weak, but no matter! Everyone will become weak
in the end," the shadow laughed again, but the laugh only send the Faerie
into hysterics yet again.
"W-what are you talking about?!" she howled,
desperate to stall for some time. But there was no more stalling, the shadow
had work to do and it had to start soon…
Something gripped at Fenella's heart almost instantly,
causing her every ounce of willpower to not cry out in pain. Was it the shadow's
doing? And where… where was it?
Almost instantly after Fenella pondered these
very words in her head entered another Faerie, but she was different than the
one in the corner… far different. The wings on her back were large and bat like,
a tell tale sign of the Dark Faerie But beyond that Fenella could make out nothing
else, for her back was towards the door and she appeared to be staring down
at the helpless Faerie
"I speak of an ancient magic little one, something
too powerful for your happy little mind to understand, but you'll understand
someday…all of you will. Step one has already been taken and step two is underway!
Soon all of the pieces will fall into place and you my dear will help me."
The shadow bent down towards the Faerie, closer and closer.
"But first…" the shadow whispered before
quickly whipping around and waving her arm swiftly. The stone door flew open,
barley missing Fenella who ran out of its way. But there was no where to hide…
"Hello Fenella, lovely to finally meet…"
A tall figure stood, dark and meaning. It was
like the specter that one always imagines to be under the bed at night, or possibly
whispering through the trees before you laid down to sleep. The Faerie's hair
was a dark purple, beautifully long and silky, which complimented perfectly
with her dark purple skin. Her eyes were redder than a shade of color Fenella
had even seen before and it sent chills up and down her spine. The shadow stared
at her, smiling with her pearly white fangs…
BANG! The door to Fenella's room burst
open, snapping her out of the fearful dream. A guard from the lower palace levels
ran in, breathless with haste as she held out a letter.
"Queen Fenella! There's been an emergency! I've
been ordered to escort you down to the hall immediately!" The guard thrust the
note into the queen's shaking hands. The dream still swirled about in her mind,
but was it a dream? It was so real…so frighteningly real. Still, there were
other things to do before the dream could be worried about, so Fenella grabbed
the crown off of her bed and placed it on her golden hair.
"Lead the way, Trelnga," Fenella requested, dashing
out of the room to keep up with the palace guard. As the two dashed down the
halls the Faerie queen noticed the flurry of faeries whizzing back and forth
down the halls. It must have been five in the morning and yet everyone was awake,
even the Faerie representatives who had stayed overnight.
This worried her…
"What is the situation?" Fenella questioned loudly
as she entered the room where her court and her always met; she was starting
to become annoyingly familiar with this room. The faeries each looked up from
either squabbling or their paper work, each wearing a different expression of
fear, anger, of panic.
"Nendlitha has disappeared," Yelian quickly said,
thrusting a paper into the queen's arms. "We received word from one of her guards
that something snuck into her room and locked the door. The things that guard
her castle broke in the room in less than ten minutes, but by that time she
and the perpetrator disappeared!"
Instantly, Fenella remembered a quote from her
haunting vision. It made sense now, it all did…
"Step one has already been taken… and step two
is underway," Fenella mumbled mindlessly. Yelian wore a confused glance as she
peered into the eyes of the queen.
"Fenella? What's wrong?" she asked, but before
she could answer there was a gentle tapping outside the window. The Menshlia,
the Light Faerie nearest to the window, quickly unlatched it as a small glowing
purple ball flew into the room carrying a large scroll. The Dark Faerie descended
upon the table and gave a rather resentful bow before pointing down at the scroll.
"Oi, yer names Fenella, aint it?" The dark Faerie
snapped, not noting the angry frowns she received from all the faeries for her
impudence. Fenella give a rather startled nod.
"Good, cause this notes for you. Apparently if
the queen ever disappeared then we were supposed to deliver it to you. Hey is
it true that we have to side with you guys now?" the Faerie asked interestedly.
Fenella gave another simple nod as she began to untie the scroll deliver by
the Faerie
"Ugh, having to work with light faeries! This
day just goes from bad to worse." The miniature Faerie then flew out the window
without another word. Menshlia snarled in anger before harshly snapping the
window shut and turning towards Fenella.
"What does the note say, my queen?" she asked,
however Fenella could not even speak after reading it, so she simply placed
it in the middle of the table where the court clamored around.
This declaration, written on the 7th day on
the month of Gathering hereby indicates that I, current dark Faerie queen Nendlitha,
daughter of Gremlya, hereby relinquish command to the current queen of the faeries,
Fenella, if I am not present to pursue my duties.
Each Faerie read this in turn, then gaped open
mouthed. No queen since thousands of years ago had ruled over all faeries. No
queen… until now.
"What are you going to do now?" questioned Fiona
the earth Faerie The queen turned towards the members in the room, the shock
still incapacitating her. However, she now had an idea, and there was no time
to dawdle around it.
"I need to go to Nendlitha's palace…"
***
Fenella poured over the ledges and volumes inside the spacious walls of the
Dark Queen’s library. Now that she was queen of all faeries, the library was
hers to scour, and so she did, looking over every Faerie from the last 5,000
years trying to find a picture that matched those fierce eyes.
But the books were large and the pictures nothing
more than awful artists renditions. The Lupes who guarded the palace simply
sat by the door, grudgingly guarding the room Fenella dwelled in, ignoring any
requests from her for help. In the end she knew that if they could, they would
gladly give her up to the invisible threat that circled all of the Faeries.
Her eyes drooped over and over as she turned
page after page. She had barley slept last night and even feared going back
to sleep in case she met her adversary in any dreams again. And so she ploughed
on tiredly, her heart giving a painful ache every now and then, letting her
know that somewhere in Neopia a Faerie was pleading for the evil menace to spare
the wings on her back.
“Excuse me?” Fenella croaked towards the door.
The Lupes ignored her, pretending to find their claws amazingly interesting
spectacles. She voiced over to them again, but they simply got up and walked
off, not wanting to be near the simpering queen anymore.
“Nendlitha has the most interesting choice of
help,” Fenella grumbled as she closed the ledger in front of her and pulled
over a chart and a few tables. A draft from the open door scattered the papers
among the floor, annoying Fenella to no end.
“Even the wind seems against me these days,”
the weary queen signed as she got up from her chair and bent down to grab the
nearest paper from the floor. Simultaneously every entrance to the room close
with a startling bang, each giving a gentle clink as the locks sealed
themselves. Fenella straightened up and, sitting upon the chair where Fenella
had just sat, was the Faerie from her dream.
“Fenella, so glad we could meet in the flesh
this time,” the Dark Faerie smiled with false kindness.
“As am I,” the queen retorted in a calm, collected
voice. The Dark Faerie stretched the bat like wings attached to her back as
she gave a large yawn of boredom.
“My my, so what should we discuss my dear Fenella?
After all, you’ve gone through all this trouble to hunt me down so you obviously
must want to ask me something,” The Faerie noted quietly as she studied the
Faerie queen. Fenella’s mind quickly reeled about what to do in this situation.
The Lupes would surely not come to her aid, and there wasn’t a Faerie who was
truly loyal to her for miles about; not to mention that everything was locked
down.
“Oh yes... hmm you went through a lot of trouble
for me. I’m quite honored,” the Faerie whispered before Fenella could say anything.
She continued to shuffle through the books and ledgers with mild interest as
she flipped back her dark hair. “I assume that you were trying to find all you
could about me. Well I cannot tell you everything… that wouldn’t be fun
at all! But I will tell you that my name is Drentylia, just to make things a
bit interesting,” Drentylia grinned as she looked up from a book before her.
“Drentylia… interesting name,” Fenella nodded.
The Dark Faerie nodded, quickly turning her attention to the other books, which
lay on the table in a scattered mess.
“Yes, it’s modeled after the old Faerie tongue.
Not sure what it really means but it sounds delightfully sinister, don’t you
agree? Well I’m sure you would agree or not, but right now your fear would probably
induce you to say so,” Drentylia drawled on.
“Fear, my sister? I’m afraid you’re mistake for
I don’t fear you at all,” Fenella lied. Truth be told she was positively terrified
of the Faerie sitting across from her, but if Drentylia knew that then half
the battle was already lost.
The bluff worked better than Fenella had hoped
for Drentylia scowled darkly and stood up, her hands behind her back. She slowly
approached the queen, her scowl transforming in a smile that would make anyone
cower in fear at the very sight of it.
“Not afraid yet, are you? Well you will be, eventually.
But I digress in any case. I must say rather bluntly that I have come here for
your wings,” Drentylia pointed at the purple translucent wings protruding from
Fenella’s back.
“I wish I could give them to you, Drentylia,
but you see they are attached to me and therefore I really cannot give them
to you,” Fenella clipped. Once again the dark Faerie let out a chuckle, just
as she had in Fenella’s dream.
“Ahhh, amusing Queen Fenella, quite amusing!
But you see I did not have the intention of asking you…I was merely going to
take them!” And without another word Drentylia drew a wand out of the air and
charged at Fenella. The queen easily dogged the stampeding Faerie, her wings
springing to life as she floated away.
“Impressive, very impressive,” Drentylia smirked.
“Those wings will make a lovely addition to my collection. Oh yes, I’ve already
started to college some,” She smiled at Fenella’s angry expression. “Though
they were young faeries their power was some what decent, thought nothing like
the power I will absorb from that weakling Nendlitha! Biggest traitor of our
kind if there ever was one,” she spat bitterly.
“You stole their wings?” Fenella gasped, the
dark Faerie nodded.
“Six so far and there will be more tonight! Oh
the faeries are still healthy and alive…though if you can still call them faeries
now. Powerless creatures they have become, turning grey and pathetic as the
days go by. But I wonder how long it will take for Nendlitha’s hair to wither
away. I’ll enjoy it…seeing that pathetic little smirk whipped off her face!”
Drentylia made a slicing motion with her wand, creating a green flame in it’s
wake. The fire flew over to the queen, who managed to barley miss serious injury.
Amazing, the queen thought. Never have
I seen such power from a Faerie before! It confirmed Nendlitha’s theory
that this dark Faerie was indeed sucking the magic essence from other faeries
wings. It chilled her to the very bone to think of the young faeries (wherever
they were) turning grey as she thought upon the matter. But there was another
matter at hand, for Drentylia had a look of pure determination on her face as
she stared at Fenella and her wings.
“Oh the power those will wings will bring,” Drentylia
sighed dreamily as she repeated the motion with her wand again. Fenella was
ready to spring to the side, but her reflexes were far too slow. The blow was
not as serve as Fenella anticipated, but it knocked her on her back and sent
her skidding across the room. Drentylia let out a howl of triumph, convinced
that her victory was eminent.
“This is it?!” the Dark Faerie sneered. “This
is the power, which the legendary queen has? If this is the best that you can
do, why should I even bother to take your wings?!” she questioned. The queen
slowly got to her feet, wincing at the dull throbbing in her legs.
“We don’t have to be enemies. If you simply give
up now then the council will go easy on you,” Fenella’s speech was nothing more
than a whisper. Her hair was tangled and disoriented, but her face was as cold
and hard as stone.
“Give up?! When I have so much to gain?! I-think-NOT!”
Drentylia howled with determination as she pointed her wand at Fenella. She
stood steadfast, simply staring with an ill will at the enemy.
Drentylia began to furiously chant a spell as
she faced Fenella. She had only progressed a few words into the incantation
when a large black shadow erupted from the tip of her cursed wand and began
to charge down Fenella. There was not a motion of remorse nor hesitation as
it charged towards her with a hauntingly focused stare. The queen simply stood
there, steadfast and angry.
SMASH! The shadow collided against an
invisible shield around the queen. Drentylia howled in anger, sending a constant
stream of the shadow crashing against the shield. Fenella leaned against her
shield, desperately pushing against it, trying to keep it working. Her strength
was failing her and if help did not come soon… she feared what might come to
pass.
Suddenly, the barraged ceased. Fenella heard
an angry shout and then a dazzling orange glow that flew across the room across
the room. Beyond this Fenella could remember nothing more, for she simply collapsed
on the floor in exhaustion.
To be continued... | 
