Brought Together: Part Five

“Smatty, this is the most frightening thing that I have ever done,” Strophagus claimed, definitely thinking about panicking. The two Neopets were climbing down a nearly vertical cliff and the way down would be a hundred feet or so. The only things they could hold onto were ledges and rocks on the mountainside.

    Smatty was next to Strophagus, having an equal amount of difficulty finding holds and grooves. “Strophy, this is scary, but we’re going to do it. Just don’t look down,” she suggested. She gritted her teeth and jumped onto a big ledge. Beads of sweat were dripping down Strophagus’s face. He leaped onto the ledge with Smatty. It was only a small area jutting out of the cliff, but it could hold both of them. Strophagus wiped his face, glad that they were able to take a break on the ledge. They had descended twenty feet or so, and they saw the patch of Queen’s Clovers at the bottom of the cliff, as if they were calling to them.

     “Gosh, we really should have brought a Shoyru with us,” Smatty said, tired. “We could have just made him fly down and get a clover for us.”

     “Or Fyora could have just made a faerie come here and get one. But Fyora did not think that that would be necessary because she thought that you already had the Clover. She did not know I would be going on a long adventure to retrieve it for her. She’s probably wondering where I have been this past week,” Strophagus thought aloud, looking down.

     Smatty smiled. “Who knows? All we need to keep in mind is that we have to climb down this steep vertical mountain and fetch some herbs for Queenie.”

     Strophagus nodded slowly. “Do you, er,” he began; “did you have, er, fun going on this journey?”

     “You bet!” Smatty said, grinning. “This has been a neat experience, and we’ve gone through a lot.” She strapped her bag back around her shoulder. “Come on! Let’s go down the rest of this thing and get this over with.”

     Strophagus picked his bag back up. “Okay...” he sighed, newly frightened of rock climbing. Smatty grabbed hold of a rock and began descending again. The wind was heavy today and blew ice and snow into their faces. It began snowing heavily and the temperature was dropping significantly from the previous day.

     The Neopets had climbed down another ten feet when Strophagus stepped onto an unstable branch that was sticking out of the cliff. His foot broke it in half, and it went tumbling down the rocky mountain. He had nothing supporting either of his feet. “Ahhh!” he shouted.

     Smatty turned her head. “What happened?” Then she saw. Strophagus was hanging onto a small ledge with one hand, and his fingers were slipping off. “Strophagus!” she screamed. “Grab onto another ledge! That one is going to break off really soon!”

     But the Quiggle stayed there hanging in a frozen panic. He could not grab onto anything else; his fingers were sweaty and slipping off. A million thoughts of doom were swimming in his head at once...

     His hand slipped, and he began falling through the air. He closed his eyes and spoke softly to himself: “So this is it.” He faintly heard Smatty yelling and crying to him, but it was distant and no longer mattered to him. Nothing mattered as he felt his speed increasing and the ground getting nearer.

     Suddenly, everything came to a stop for Strophagus. But he was not dead, he was... living. He opened his eyes and saw that he had not reached the ground yet. He was still thirty feet from the ground. He was... in someone’s arms. He turned his head to see who it was.

     “Taelia!” he exclaimed in delight. He could hear shouts of joy coming from higher up the mountain. “How did you...?”

     The Snow Faerie looked down at the Neopet whom she had just saved. “I’ve been in this area for the past few days waiting for you and Smatty to come. I saw you two leaving that morning four days ago, and I knew you must have been on the quest for the Queen’s Clover. I decided to come here and make sure you two would be safe descending the cliff. You're a very lucky Quiggle, Strophagus.” She smiled at him and flew him down to the bottom of the cliff, a few yards away from the patch of Queen’s Clovers. She then quickly flew up the cliff to transport Smatty down.

     After thanking Taelia over twenty times, Smatty remarked to Taelia: “Nice wings. I have to get me some of those.” The Snow Faerie laughed and set her down next to Strophagus. The two Neopets looked at each other for a moment and burst out into laughter. That same laughter of joy.

     “Go on,” Taelia told them, grinning broadly. “It’s time for you two to finally get the Queen’s Clover.”

     The Kyrii and the Quiggle hurried over to the patch gleefully. When they had reached it, Smatty knelt down and looked at the Clovers. Strophagus could not contain his excitement. “These clovers are beautiful.” Smatty grabbed a bunch by their stems and tore them from the ground. The Queen’s Clovers were unusually large, over six inches tall. They were greener than anything on Terror Mountain. Hints of silver ran through their three leaves.

     “Yes, they are very nice,” Strophagus commented quickly, and then he rushed back to Taelia and began thanking her some more. Smatty stayed behind and searched the patch for what she knew would be there. She found it a few moments later: a four-leaf Queen’s Clover. She placed it carefully into her bag then caught up with Strophagus and Taelia.

     “Your journey has come to an end. A job well done,” Taelia congratulated them, proud.

     “Uh...” Smatty started. “The journey isn’t exactly over. I need to get home.” She still clenched the Queen’s Clovers in her paw.

     “Yes, I need to deliver these clovers to Queen Fyora also,” Strophagus added.

     “Don’t worry, I have arranged everything,” Taelia winked. A carriage pulled by two familiar Christmas Ixis marched up. Smatty and Strophagus thanked Taelia again, which was beginning to annoy her, so she sent them off in the carriage as quickly as possible. She sighed with relief and flew away.

     “So how was the big adventure?” one of the Christmas Ixis asked.

     “Oh...” Smatty gloated. “Piece of cake.”

     Strophagus rolled his eyes. “Yes. The easiest thing we’ve ever done.” He had become much more accustomed to sarcasm, he noticed. “Were we not supposed to visit Old Bruce on the way back?” He then asked Smatty.

     “Strophy, I think he’ll understand once I tell him the whole story.” Strophagus nodded, and both of them immediately fell asleep in the comfortable carriage. When they woke up, they were in Happy Valley, but they had no idea how. The carriage stopped, and Strophagus gathered his things.

     “Do you want us to take you up back home, Smatty?” an Ixi asked.

     “Sure, that would be great! Just... wait one second.” Strophagus and Smatty both left the carriage and stood a few feet away. Smatty handed him the Queen’s Clovers. “I think you’ll need these,” she told him.

     Strophagus nodded, and paused for a second while he was looking for the right words to say. “Thank you, Smatty... For everything. These past few days have been really quite fun! And thank you for teaching me how to be sarcastic.” He laughed and blushed at the same time.

     “I had a lot of fun too. Let’s do it again sometime.”

     “Not,” Strophagus countered, and they both laughed again. “Good-bye, Smatty. I hope we’ll meet again someday.” The Quiggle smiled and stuck out his hand.

     “See you later, Strophy.” She shook his hand for a few moments.

     He turned around for the port where a boat was waiting for him and stopped. “By the way, Smatty... What is a ‘get-up’ anyway?”

     The Kyrii chuckled. “It’s clothes. Your get-up is what you’re wearing.”

     “Oh!” He understood now. “I see.” After that, he waved so long and promised her that they would see each other soon, and then he began his march to the port where he was to board the luxurious ship once more. Smatty got back into the carriage and was taken back up to her home, humming a satisfying tune of accomplishment.

     Strophagus gave the Queen's Clovers to Fyora as soon as he arrived back home in Faerieland. Although it had been a rather long wait for the Queen, she was very pleased with Strophagus after she heard the story of his adventure. She gave him the rest of the week off, and he was finally able to catch up on some well deserved sleep. (Not to mention that he ate quite a bit also.)

    Smatty returned to her home and immediately reached into her bag upon her arrival. She gently placed her four leaf Queen’s Clover into her collection of rare herbs. She couldn’t help but smile every time she saw it from then on. For there, she kept it as a token of her newfound friendship with Strophagus the Quiggle.

The End

Author’s Note: Thus comes the end of Smatty and Strophagus's first adventure together, but hopefully not their last. I hope that you enjoyed it, and feel free to Neomail me with absolutely any comments!

And as Fyora promised, Smatty did get a very hefty pay!