Hit the Road: Part Three

by aishachick100

"A Queen Faerie!" gasped Fionnavar, staring at it, unblinking.

"Yeah..." said Purrows, amazed. She reached out to touch it.

"DON'T!" cried Fionnavar.

"Well, why not?" said Purrows, getting annoyed.

"It could be... a fake!" warned Fionnavar.

"O, don’t you know ANYTHING?" Purrows asked her friend, "only Queen Faeries glow purple. Nothing else can. It's illegal. It is the queens... trademark, you could call it."

"DO YOU REALLY THINK THE DARK FAERIES CARE WHAT'S LEGAL AND WHAT'S NOT?" asked Fionnavar, amazed at her friend's stupidity.

"Not only is it illegal," continued Purrows, as if she hadn't heard her friend, "it's not possible. If you try to create it you-"

"I get it," said Fionnavar irritably.

Usually she was the one with the knowledge, although this was hardly the time, she reminded herself, to bother with things like that. Purrows gently touched the stomach of the Faerie Being very observant, Purrows noticed the Faerie’s almost microscopic eyes flare open.

“Ow!” it cried loudly.

“You’re the Queen Faerie, right?” inquired Purrows, trying not to sound scared. She’d never met royalty before.

“Of course I am,” said the Faerie lightly, “And what am I doing on the floor? Goodness, this dress is...”

All of a sudden the Faerie seemed to realize where she was. “The Dark Faeries!” she hissed, sitting upright.

“We know,” said Fionnavar.

“I remember it all now!” said the Queen, flying up next to Purrows’s nose, “I entered this building- tourist information, wasn’t it? Anyway, the... Wocky? Well, some creature... grabbed me in his paws... seemed to be more than physical barriers keeping me there... my magic didn’t work, you know... and... oh, I don’t remember it all,” complained the Faerie

“We’ve got to get out of here!” said Purrows, urgently, “Surely YOU know how...?”

“Of course I do,” snapped the Faerie, her tone sounding less bubbly and magical, “I’m the Queen Faerie, aren’t I? Goodness deary me, a Queen Faerie not knowing how to escape the dark ones... what IS this world coming to?”

“Never mind the speeches,” said Fionnavar, sounding annoyed, “HOW do we escape?” Purrows shot her friend a look. She knew what happened if you upset a Queen Faerie

“Well,” said the Faerie, glaring at Fionnavar, “you simply have to recite the spell! It’s anti-evil, you know... very effective... now where could my wand be?”

The Faerie flitted around the room, looking for it. “Could you HELP me?” snapped the Faerie, “I AM the Queen, after all. It’s small, golden, should be glowing... the dark magic may have wiped it out..”

“HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND A... A GOLDEN... TOOTHPICK... IN THIS... HAY?” cried Fionnavar incredulously, “THERE’S HARDLY ANY LIGHT!”

The Queen looked like she was about to say something in response when they heard a voice. “Hello, friendsss...” it hissed.

Fionnavar and Purrows looked at each other. The voice sounded like a snake... if snakes could talk. The Queen Faerie immediately stopped glowing, and Fionnavar and Purrows heard her whisper, “A Dark Faerie!”

The two Aishas huddled into a corner, glancing nervously around the dimly lit cell. “Don’t you sssssee me?” asked the Dark Faerie, sounding hurt. Purrows and Fionnavar were too scared to talk, for the voice sounded right next to them.

“I’m right here, and I feel lonely... pleassse ressspond,” it hissed slowly. Suddenly Purrows, with her impeccable vision, saw a faint burgundy light glowing two inches from her nose.

“AAAAH!” she cried, leaping as far as she could. Fionnavar jumped after her.

“Don’t run away... pleasssse... I am not what you think... I can help you essscape... they will eat you otherwissse....”

Purrows was no idiot. Though she had never read about Dark Faeries, it was obvious to her and her friend that this Faerie had no intention of helping them.

“What can I do, eh? Usss Dark Faeriesss hate pain... we can’t hurt you... and we won’t kill you... we have SSSSOME decccencccy,” it hissed, sounding rather forlorn, “pleassse... I’ve been in here the whole time... if I wanted to hurt you I would have done ssso sssssooner!”

Purrows realized this was true, and shakily called out, “W-why would you w-want to help u-us?”

“Becausssse... they captured me... they found out I wassss eating the forbidden... it isss againssst our code to eat flowerssss...”

Fionnavar thought for a minute. She HAD read about some Dark Faeries that weren’t evil... but there were so few that the book on them had only mentioned them in one sentence... ‘Occasionally, you shall come across the Dark Faerie which doesn’t have the power to become evil- even if it wanted to. Be warned, however, there are only a dozen or so in existence. And then you have your regular evil Dark Faerie whom disguises herself as a good one... ’ Fionnavar didn’t have much choice.

“All right,” she said softly, “how can you help us?” There was a pinging sound, and suddenly Purrows found herself face-to-face with the Dark Faerie Realizing she wasn’t evil, the Queen Faerie appeared as a faint purple light behind Fionnavar’s ear.

“Th-the Queen Faerie!” exclaimed the Dark Faerie, amazed.

“Y-yes,” said the Queen haughtily, trying not to sound nervous, “And I would like to have a word with the Uber Dark Faerie If I lose my wand in this mess I would be in despair.”

“Well?” prompted Fionnavar, “Are you helping us or not?”

“Oh,” said the Dark Faerie, remembering, “Well, here’sssss my plan... you can’t tell one Dark Faerie from another... we all look and sssound the sssame... I could pretend to be a... an ‘average’ Dark Faerie when the guards come to give us our rations... they want to plumpen usss up, you know... and I could tell them I got locked in here acsssidentally....”

To be continued...