Faerie Forest: Part Two

      She hurried through the forest, but everywhere she went looked the same. All of the trees were identical. The green faeries that flew through the air were all over the place, but none of them seemed to pay her any attention.

      The Cybunny kept running, but it was no use. She didn't seem to be going anywhere. Most likely she was just running in circles- she would have no way of knowing. But just as she was about to give up, she saw a figure standing in front of her in the distance.

      "Now where are you going?" a familiar voice asked. Tammy took a few steps forward, getting just close enough to recognize the figure as Queen Ila. Tammy suddenly felt afraid, but tried not to show it.

      "I've decided that I'm ready for you to take me home," she said. The queen came a little closer, smiling a bit.

      "Now why would you want to go home when you just got here?" she asked Tammy.

      "Umm," Tammy started. She didn't know what to say. "I guess I'm just a little worried that my sisters are wondering where I am."

      "Don't worry," Queen Ila said, her voice sounding warm and friendly, "I'm sure they'll understand when you tell them about this place."

      Tammy shook her head. She didn't want to stay here, but she couldn't just say so. She kept trying to hide the fear she was feeling, but it wasn't working. Queen Ila just smiled.

      "I know what will cheer you up," she said, putting her hand on Tammy's shoulder, "Why don't you come and have some dinner. We'll have some nice soup. I even baked us a cake."

      Tammy smiled. Cake did sound nice, and it wasn't exactly the kind of offer that she would be able to refuse. There was no telling what would happen if she said no.

      "Alright," she said, smiling at the queen, "that sounds great."

      Queen Ila smiled back at her. "Come with me," she said. She started walking through the forest. Tammy followed close behind. They continued on through the identical trees and past the many small faeries that flew through them. Queen Ila seemed to know the way to wherever they were going very well.

      "Here we are," Queen Ila said, stopping suddenly. Tammy looked around, and realized that they were in the middle of a very small clearing. Set up in the middle of it was a wooden table and three chairs. On the table were plates, cups filled with water, spoons, and a few big bowls in the center filled with food of some sort.

      "Everything's all ready for us to eat," Queen Ila said, smiling, "My assistant is also going to eat with us tonight. He should be here any moment now."

      As if on cue, the blue Skeith stepped out of the trees and walked up to Tammy and Queen Ila.

      "Are we ready to eat?" he grunted.

      "Yes, Sir," Tammy replied. The Skeith gave her a menacing glance as he took his seat at the table.

      "Now, now," Queen Ila said, shaking her finger at her assistant. "You need to learn to be polite to our guests. It's no wonder we have so few visitors with the way you treat everyone." She smiled and laughed a little. The Skeith looked annoyed.

      "Are we ready to eat our meal yet?" he asked.

      "Yes, we are," Queen Ila said, smiling. "Would you like to serve us our food?"

      The Skeith groaned, but stood up and took the lid off of the pot of soup. He used the large serving spoon next to it to fill all three bowls with soup.

      "Thank you," Queen Ila said, lifting her spoon.

      "Thanks," Tammy said, beginning to eat. The soup was warm and tasted quite good. She was finished in only a few minutes, but she was still the last one done.

      "Now on to the cake," Queen Ila said. Her assistant lifted the top off of the other tray on the table. Underneath it was a tasty looking chocolate cake. He cut three slices of it, giving one to himself, one to Queen Ila, and the last one to Tammy.

      "Let's eat," he said, taking a quick bite. Tammy and Queen Ila began eating, too. The cake was also, of course, very good. Tammy finished quickly, and the other two finished just after her.

      "Thank you so much, Queen Ila," Tammy said. "That was a wonderful meal. I'm ready to go home now."

      "Yes, of course," Queen Ila said, standing up. "I'll take you home. But first, wouldn't you like to get one last look at the Earth Garden?"

      Tammy thought for a moment. She remembered the absolutely beautiful garden that she had seen earlier that day. She would like to get one more look at it. It couldn't hurt. She would only be there for one minute- just long enough to glance at it, or maybe walk around a little.

      "Alright," she said. "Take me there really quickly. Then I really should get going."

      "Of course," Queen Ila said, looking very pleased. "It's right over that way," she said, pointing to the left. "Just keep going straight and you can't miss it. I'll be there in a few minutes to take you back."

      Tammy nodded her head, and started going in the direction that Queen Ila was pointing in. She headed through the many trees that all looked the same, listening to the tiny twigs snap underneath her feet. It wasn't long until she saw the familiar ivy covered fence in front of her.

      But before she could reach the fence, she heard a sound that made her stop. It sounded like someone was crying. She slowly looked around, trying to figure out where this noise was coming from. It sounded like it was very close. Then, she noticed something move behind a small tree.

      Tammy bent down and turned her head, looking behind the tree. What she saw was one of the little green faeries that were all over the forest sitting on the ground, crying.

      "What's wrong," Tammy whispered. The little faerie jumped and looked up, startled.

      "Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a quiet, high pitched voice. "I didn't mean to bother you."

      "You didn't bother me," Tammy assured the faerie. "Why are you crying?"

      "Well," the faerie began. Suddenly, a frightened look appeared on her face. Her tiny eyes darted around, searching the trees for something. Then her voice got quieter as she asked, "she's not here, is she?"

      "Is who not here?" Tammy asked, slightly confused.

      "Ila," the faerie said, her voice still only a whisper. Tammy shook her head. The faerie looked relieved, and took a quick deep breath before continuing talking.

      "Call me Ora," she said. "I'll tell you my story. See, I used to live in Faerieland with all the other faeries. All of us here did. We were normal sized faeries back then with great powers. But Ila wanted all of the powers to herself. So she created this place. She was a great and powerful faerie, and she used all of her powers to keep us here. She used magic to make us smaller, shrinking our magical abilities as well. She put a spell on this place, preventing any of us from ever leaving it. Imprisoning us here lets her use our powers to keep that garden of hers living, and the pond of the future working. She even got an assistant to help her in whatever ways she needs.

      "But all this still isn't enough for her. I heard her talking today. You have great powers, Tammy, powers that few neopets are born with. Ila's assistant has a few powers himself, but nothing like yours. That's why she chose him, and that's why she chose you. Ila wants to use your powers to destroy our powers, turning us from faeries into woodland creatures. She says that without us to worry about, she would be able to change Neopia forever. Can you imagine what awful things she might do?"

      Tammy looked at Ora in disbelief. All of that had sounded too horrible to be true. But she couldn't say it surprised her. After all, Queen Ila had seemed suspicious this whole time.

      "That's awful," Tammy finally said. "What can we do about it?"

      "We can't do anything," Ora said, "but you, Tammy, can. You can set everything right. That is, if you want to help us. Do you want to help us?" Ora looked up at Tammy with a helpless stare. Tammy couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

      "Of course I'll help you," Tammy agreed. Ora smiled.

      "Good," she said, "it might be hard, but I think you can do it. Here's what I need you to do..."

To be continued...