Passage to the Hills
The ground beneath my feet felt hard and cruel
as I walked beside Bong on the way out of Neopia. Brain_stew walked to the other
side of me carrying, as ever, our tent. Kathlon flew a little in front of us
while ReelBigKougraFish leaped about underneath him, trying to catch his tail
as it bobbed above him. Taba sat in my arms and _Thean_ walked beside Bong;
it was amazing how _Thean_ was almost inseparable from his owner. The sword
was strapped across my back and my borrowed bag from Brain_stew was slung over
my shoulder, carrying all our food and water supplies.
We had set ourselves up for a long and tiring
walk to the port, we had planned to catch a boat to Terror Mountain, as there
were no planes flying that day. It was only when I thought about how much my
feet hurt after all this walking, that I remembered Bong's Amulet. It seemed
impossible to me how it had slipped my mind but I guess it had slipped all of
our minds; else we would have used it sooner.
"Why are we walking when we have Bong's Amulet
that can take us anywhere in a split-second?" I asked.
Bong gazed down at her amulet that we hanging
around her neck and sighed.
"I had completely forgotten about this," she
said removing the amulet from her neck; she held it in her hands land looked
deep into its core. "Now, the Grarrl told me that I need only think about where
it is that I want to go and the amulet will take me there, and we all have to
join hands for it to transport all of us at one time.
We all gathered round Bong in a circle and joined
hands. I looked nervously at Brain_stew, who was to my right, and then back
at Bong as she closed her eyes in thought, I had noticed over the past few days
that whenever Bong thought about something really hard, she always closed her
eyes.
All of a sudden, in the time it took to blink,
we all found ourselves standing in a circle like we were before, in the same
place I saw in my vision. It was the grassy area just below the mountain rage,
and, just like in my vision, there was the mountain that we had to climb up
and over to get to the mountain with the cave in it.
"Urm, Amerock?" said Taba from behind me, I turned to face him, he had a puzzled
look on his face. "Your sword's glowing."
I peered over my shoulder and it was true, light
saw spilling out from the leather sheath. I grabbed the handle and drew the
glowing sword, it shone brightly in front of my eyes for a moment and then I
was knocked back by another blinding vision.
I was stood in the Endless Plains, which weren't
very far from where we where by the mountains. I spun round as I heard something
come running up behind me, I turned just in time to see Helabora charging towards
me, only a few feet way. There wasn't enough time to dodge to one side, but
it wasn't a problem as Helabora passed right through me like a ghost. A shiver
went down my spine and I turned to see him go charging off, completely unaware
of my presence. The scene flashed again and I was back standing at the foot
of the mountains.
I blinked a few times, picking myself off Bong
who had caught me as I fell back, then turned to the rest of my companions.
"We need to move quickly," I said urgently,
"Helabora's not far behind."
We turned and made quickly for the mountain
wall, there was no way to get around the wall, and in no place was it shorter
that where we were now. So we started to climb up the mountain, which believe
me, was not easy work. By the time we had reached the top, which was hours later,
we were all exhausted, apart from Kathlon and Taba who had flown their way up.
But we pressed on back down the mountain, which, to be honest, was harder than
climbing up it. The dirt and stones dropped away as we clambered down, half
the time we had been slipping down steep slopes and crashing into rocks to stop
ourselves from falling down the mountain. It was hardest on ReelBigKougraFish,
who's urge to leap off high boulders and go tumbling down the mountain had caused
him to twist his ankle and resulted in Brain_Stew carrying him over his shoulder
for the rest of the decent, which, as you can imagine ReelBigKougraFish was
not overly happy about.
When we finally reached the ground, we stopped
for half and hour of so to rest and have a well earned lunch of Carrot Cones
and Jalapeno Poppers followed by Choco-Strawberry Muffins which we had picked
up while back in Neopia central the day before. While we were eating I scanned
the surrounding area and had seen the mountain that had the cave leading to
the Jewel, it was just like in my vision and I could feel the cold shiny surface
of the jewel press against my finger tips and I looked back at Kathlon and Taba,
who were sitting happily eating their food talking about various goings on in
Neopia and how the robbery of the Money Tree seemed a little insignificant to
what we were facing. It was true, the fate of Neopia, as the Faerie Queen had
told me in my letter, was at stake, but no one knew that apart from me.
Within an hour we were back on our feet again,
it felt like we had only stopped for a few minuets at the most. But there we
were, stuck out in the middle of nowhere gazing up at a huge mountain that must
have been the tallest thing in Neopia. How on Neopia were we going to climb
that? Even though the cave was only half way up, it was still one heck of a
climb. Bong and _Thean_ started to look around for some way to get up there,
while Kathlon and Taba flew around trying to find a pathway leading up the side
of the mountain. In my vision I thought I had seen one out of the corner of
my eye, but so far I had seen nothing to confirm that. I helped Brain_stew and
ReelBigKougraFish try to find a way up, but for some while our attempts where
useless.
"This is hopeless!" cried Brain_stew, "There
is no way to get up this stupid mountain!" He turned and kicked the hard rocks
that lined the base of the peak, "Did not mean to do that," he said cringing;
he turned and limped towards a rock, flopped down on it and sighed.
Above my head I heard Kathlon come swooping
back down to the ground and land beside me, Taba close on his heals.
"Hey, any luck?" I said to them. They looked
at each other.
"Well," started Kathlon, "There's definitely
a cave, but as far as we can see..."
"We can't get to it," Taba interrupted, "there's
no path and I can't see Kathlon carrying all five of you up that mountain."
I looked up at the vertical slope, somewhere
above those clouds was the cave, somewhere above those clouds was Zutore. I
thought about how fast Helabora was catching us up. It was one of those times
that I felt I really needed a vision, just to see where we stood compared to
him. I drew the long sword from its sheath that hung on my back. It was heavy
and swung in my hands, nothing happened, no vision. I held it out so that it
pointed to a mountain opposite me, the jewels in the handle weren't swirling
and it seemed like there was no was to get up there. As I sighed, I felt the
sword pull at my hands so hard that it broke from my grasp; it balanced with
the point piercing the ground.
My eyes widened as I saw it completely defy
all laws of gravity, it was just balancing all by itself, all of a sudden it
started to spin out of control, round and round it went until the jewels in
the handle started to glow and spurt out light. I rose to my feet in astonishment,
as did Brain_stew and ReelBigKougraFish, Taba cowered behind me and Kathlon
moved closer to me. All on a sudden the sword stopped spinning and it focused
its beams of light coming from the jewel onto the side of the mountain. At first
nothing happened and we stood gazing first and the sword and then back at the
beams of light, out of the wall pushed rocks that formed a staircase leading
up the side of the mountain and up to the cave. I looked back at the sword as
it flopped to the ground again, just an ordinary sword.
"Well I guess that solves our problem," said
Bong from behind me. I turned towards the stairs and raced up them, ReelBigKougraFish
close on my heals followed by Brain_Stew and Bong with _Thean_ in tail. I ran
as fast as I could up the rugged stone steps that seemed never-ending. As we
got further up, the wind whistled past my ears and I clung to the wall for safety,
by this time we were rapidly approaching the clouds. Even Kathlon and Taba had
been forced to take to the path since the wind had picked up; it whipped at
our face and tried to toss us from the mountainside.
"How much further Kathlon?" I cried back down
the tight path, my voice was drowned out by the wind but somehow he managed
to hear my voice, and replied.
"It's just a little further! Round that corner!"
he called back, through the screaming wind.
We pressed on again further up the mountain,
it was bitterly cold and I could hear ReelBigKougraFish moaning to Brain_stew
behind me. I felt my way along the wall as we entered the cloud, and much to
my relief I ducked inside the long awaited cave.
"Hey! It's here! We found it!" I cried as I
saw ReelBigKougraFish and Brain_Stew follow me inside, followed shortly by Bong,
_Thean_, Kathlon and Taba, who was clinging to his older brothers neck.
We had been to Terror Mountain before, but only
to Happy Valley, the Ice Caves and the Mountain Top, we had always intended
to explore the whole mountain rage, but never had the time before. Bong looked
down the long and dark passageway that stood before us and turned to _Thean_.
"Can you use your ability Flash to light up
that passage?" Bong asked.
"No problem," replied _Thean_, he closed his
eyes and concentrated, he held up a single paw and I blinding flash flew from
it, lighting up the whole cave. A few startled Korbats screeched and darted
about, confused by then sudden illumination. Bong ruffled the hair on the top
of his head in thanks and we gazed around us. The cave was damp and cold, stagnant
water dripped from the ceiling and wind whistled past the entrance.
Taba curled himself in my arms; he was as cold
as ice and shivering. I took off my warm jacket and wrapped it around his fragile
figure. I could feel a tingly feeling in my spine, like we were being watched;
I shook it off and looked ahead, the track split into two different paths. There
was no way of telling which way was the right way. I felt the sword pull on
my back; I grabbed the hilt and drew it, expecting a vision within seconds.
But none came, instead, knowledge flooded my brain, it was a warning, Helabora
was now very close and we had to press on quickly. Adrenaline pulsed through
my veins and I needed to run to Zutore, but which way was it? The sword danced
about in front of my face and it pointed in the direction of one of the tunnels.
"Door number two it is," said Brain_stew observing
the sword.
"We have to move quickly, Helabora isn't very
far behind at all," I said urgently already following the sword's directions.
"I give him five minuets and he'll be here." Taba's eyes widened with fear as
he heard my words, I stroked his tiny head in reassurance and passed deep into
the cave.
After a while of twisting tunnels we reached
the hall I saw in my vision, the heat struck us as we came across the boiling
lakes of lava. I unwrapped Taba from my jacket and set him on the stony ground
beside me. Kathlon didn't seem to be bothered by the heat, I guess it must have
been because all Scorchios originally came from volcanic regions. The ceiling
towered high above our heads, I gazed about me and spotted the Jewel of Ligmoore
high on it's pedestal. There was no way of getting to it, it was surrounded
by fire and lava, but there it was all the same, the Jewel of Ligmoore was within
our grasp.
Within Our Reach
Bong gazed open-mouthed at the Jewel of Ligmoore,
she had always thought that it was a myth and that the Clan of Ligmoore was
just a children's story, but there it was, shimmering in front of her very eyes.
"It looks just like the picture in one of my
books," she marvelled, "I would never had guessed that I would ever get the
chance to see it myself but..."
"There it is," I said and turned to Kathlon,
"Can you fly up there and get it for us?"
"No problem," he chirped, he took hold of his
shield and leaped into the air, beating his wings to gain altitude. He flew
slowly and carefully over the lake of lava, watching it spit and toss. He was
only a little way from the pedestal when the lava began to bubble out of control.
I watched in horror as the Lava Ghoul flew from the molten lava and headed for
Kathlon. The lava Ghoul flew through the air like a bullet and collided head
on with Kathlon, who managed to block most of the attack with his shield, but
still was knocked back down to the ground.
"Kathlon!" I cried rushing towards him, he got
to his feet and brushed himself off.
"I'm OK," he said looking down at his shield;
it had been burnt a little but nothing to major. "I guess he didn't want me
to reach the Jewel."
I glared over to where the Lava ghoul had struck
Kathlon, We had to get to the Jewel, Helabora would be here in minuets and we
where no closer, we had to do something. An idea clicked in my head and I spun
back to Kathlon.
"Are you strong enough to bare me on your back?"
I asked
"Yeah I think so," he said confidently.
I clambered onto his back and he beat his wings
hard, soon we were hovering over the lake of lava, which held the Lava Ghoul.
I drew my sword, held it tightly in my hands, and waited. Just like before,
the molten liquid bubbled and the Lava Ghoul's cackling face came speeding towards
us. Kathlon flinched and screwed his eyes up tightly, not wanting to see the
burning inferno coming speeding towards him yet again. I raised the sword high
above my head and just as the Lava Ghoul was about to collide with us, I sliced
through the air with tremendous force and pierced the Lava Ghoul sending it
shattering into a thousand pieces.
I heaved a sigh of relief, Kathlon opened one
eye wearily and peered nervously about, then, seeing that the Lava Ghoul was
gone, he calmed down and flew for the Jewel once again. I stretched out my arm
and clutched the cold green Jewel, it was only about the size of the palm of
my hand but it held so much. It was almost impossible to think that such a little
thing could hold such greatness and importance. I held it tightly as we turned
back towards the crowd waiting for us back on solid ground. My eyes shimmered
as I gazed down into the Jewel of Ligmoore. This was it; this was the only thing
that stopped me from having Zutore by my side again. I looked up happily at
my friends, then my eyes darkened in fear as I saw the dark figure towering
behind them. It was Helabora.
"Get out of the way!" I screamed as Helabora
lifted his heavy, muscular arm and prepared to backhand them all, which would
send them flying. _Thean_ was the first to look behind him and see the monstrous
figure snarling behind them, he lunged out of the way as did the rest of them,
and just in time too. I leaped off of Kathlon's back and rushed forward drawing
my sword. "Keep hold of this, and whatever you do, don't let Helabora get it,"
I said to Kathlon handing him the jewel.
I strode confidently towards Helabora and pointed
the now brightly glowing sword at him. Helabora looked down at the sword with
his blazing red eyes. "If you want that jewel, you're gonna have to come through
me!" I yelled. Helabora's eyes were still firmly fixed on the sword, he seemed
to back up a little as I edged closer with it pointed at him.
"You hold Felkora's sword," he snarled.
I looked down at the sword rather confused. Who is Felkora? Helabora's eyes
fluttered back to the Jewel and he snarled again starting towards it. I held
the sword up in front of his eyes to shake his attention back to me again. But
he pushed me effortlessly to one side. I swung to sword at his side and it cut
him deeply. He howled in anger and pain and spun round to face me, teeth bared.
Bong scrambled to her feet and snuck around behind him while his attention was
still on me.
"Kathlon!" she called, "Throw the Jewel to me
and let's get out of here."
Helabora turned back to Kathlon just in time
to see him let the jewel fly from his fingers and soar towards Bong. Helabora
grasped at the air and caught the jewel in mid-fight between his clawed fingers.
I could only stand and watch as my hopes of ever getting Zutore back were dashed.
"Did you ever think you could meddle in this?"
Boomed Helabora in victory, "The Clan of Ligmoore is no more, as is Neopia!"
He lifted his hand hurled to Jewel towards the ground.
"Zutore!" I screamed, my hands outstretched
towards the jewel. There was a flash of blurred green on the ground that I could
see through my tears, but soon enough I was completely blinded by the tears
casing my eyes. They began to spill down my cheeks, as I stood stunned. "Amerock!"
yelled Brain_Stew pulling on my arm, "Lets go! Come on, quick!" I wiped my tears
from my eyes and gazed in amazement at Taba, who was hovering in front of my
holding the Jewel.
"How did you?" I stuttered in bewilderment.
"No time!" yelled Brain_stew dragging me from
the cave, I shook myself back to what was going on and began to tear out of
the cave at top speed. Helabora close on our, heals snarling madly.
"Bong! Use your Amulet!" I cried looking back
over my shoulder.
Bong clasped her amulet and joined hands with
_Thean_, we all joined hands again while still running and headed for the exit.
"Where do we want to go?" she called.
"Faerieland!" I cried as I saw Helabora reach
for Taba.
Almost straight away the surroundings flashed
and we found ourselves no longer sprinting on solid rock but on light fluffy
clouds, which I could never understand why you didn't fall through.
We were stood outside the Healing springs, Taba
was still holding the jewel closely into his chest when we made out way up to
the gates into Faerie City. Taba handed me back the jewel, as it was rather
a heavy weight to carry around for such a small Neopet. At the front gates a
faerie Chia stood on guard, we walked up to him and he asked us what we wished
to do while here in Faerie City. After the recent attempted burglary of the
Faerie bookshop the Faerieland Police had to step up there security by orders
of Fyora herself.
"We wish to see the Faerie Queen," I said to
the Faerie Chia.
"The Faerie Queen?" he asked, quite surprised.
"Is she expecting you?"
"Well," I started hesitantly, "Not as such,
but we are on very important business. I'm sure that if you tell her amerock201
is here she'll let us in."
The Chia nodded and disappeared inside his office
to consult the palace. He returned a few minuets later with a smile on his face.
"Everything seems in order here, you may proceed
to the palace where they will be expecting you." He flapped his big blue wings
and opened the gates for us. We walked through the coiled metal gates and looked
up at the Palace towering above us. We headed in its direction, eager as ever
to get the jewel to the Faerie Queen. The cloud was strange to be walking on
after such a long time being on solid ground. ReelBigKougraFish was digging
at the cloud watching in sweep past his paw, he turned to us in amazement.
"Hey! Watch this!" he cried and began to dig
madly at the cloud.
"Well, yes," said Brain_stew fighting the urge
to burst out laughing, "That's what clouds do." But ReelBigKougraFish was too
busy wrapped up in his own childish fun to notice his owner's sarcasm.
Soon we reached the tall steps that lead up
to the Faerieland Palace, we climbed to the top and knocked on the heavy wooden
doors. Two tall faerie Kougra's answered the door, sliding a piece of wood away
to revile a small window they peered at us suspiciously.
"What is your business here?" asked one of them.
"We wish to speak with the Faerie Queen," I
said, "Tell you're people, amerock201 and her companions have arrived." The
shutter slid closed and he there was the sound of scuffling and whispering for
a moment and then the door creaked open and we where let inside.
We walked slowly into the entrance hall; it
stretched for a long way back until it reached another wooden door. Hanging
on the walls were portraits of all the faeries, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light
and even the Negg Faerie, Soup Faerie, Battle Faerie, Snow Faerie, the Tooth
Faerie, Space Faerie, Jhuidah the Island Faerie and of course the Faerie Queen
all had their place on the wall, but there were no pictures of the Dark Faerie.
The shiny marble floor reflected the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It
was like a much more elaborate version of the entrance hall to the Neolodge.
A small door to our left opened and an old grey Lupe walked through, his eyes
were yellow with age and his fur was tidy and brushed. He approached us with
a smile.
"Hello," he said in a ruff voice. "I am Tharvald,
the Faerie Queen's oldest and most trusted friend. We have been expecting you
amerock201, your companions are also welcome here, if you would like to follow
me, I'll take you to the Queen."
With that Tharvald headed briskly off down the
hall, heading for the large wooden door at the end of the corridor. We followed
close on his tail still gazing about at the portraits of Faeries on the walls.
The heavy door swung open as Tharvald turned
the handle. Inside was a room with a great staircase in it. Tharvald started
up the stairs and we followed close in tail until we came to another long corridor.
To our left was another door, guarded by two more Faerie Kougras.
"Amerock201 and her followers seek her majesties
council," he said quietly to one of them and then leaned closer and said
something that not even ReelBigKougraFish's ears could hear.
The Kougra guard nodded and opened the doors;
Tharvald entered and gestured for us to follow. At the far end of the room sat
the Faerie Queen on her throne. Tharvald bowed his head in respect, as did the
rest of us, even ReelBigKougraFish seemed humbled by her presence. She rose
and walked slowly towards us, she was tall and delicate but at the same time
you could fell her power. Her long lilac dress flowed like water behind her;
she approached us and dipped her head in greeting.
"Amerock201," she said in a soft and caring
voice. "I am glad to see you once again in Neopia, and just as pleased to see
that you come bearing the Jewel of Ligmoore."
"Believe me, were glad to have it," piped
in Brain_stew, the Faerie Queen smiled at him and her eyes flickered don to
the jewel that I held in my hands.
"I assume you know the power and significance
that this jewel holds?" she asked. I nodded and looked at Bong, she after all,
was the one who told me everything that I knew about it. "Then shall we begin?
It is time after all that the Clan of Ligmoore return to Neopia, for we are
at a time for great need in their services."
To be continued... | 
