The Dangers of Being A Faerieland Reporter: Part Two

     “Your lunch, Geo.”

     “What is it?”

     “There’s a Faerie Leaves Hot Dog and some fruity faerie fingers.”

     “Alright... not bad.”

     “Anything you need?”

     I was about to say no, but then an idea struck me.

     “I would like to request to speak to Fyora.”

     “That request is quite a request. I will alert someone higher up. Let me warn you, though, nobody sees Fyora unless it’s very important.”

     “Can’t you at least try?”

     “I will try.”

     With that, Angela turned and left, locking the door behind her.

     “Who do you think you are, Geo? Some golden Lupe that Fyora would just let into her chambers? It’s time you learned your place, young Lupe.”

     “You be quiet before I go get Azalea to force you to.”

     “Ooo! Aren’t we getting feisty?” Mordecai laughed.

     “Don’t talk to me!”

     “Alright, if you insist!” Mordecai replied, throwing his front limbs up and waving them around.

     --

     “What’s the latest news, Celandra?” Fyora inquired to her servant and best friend.

     “Nothing lately. A new prisoner was brought in, though.”

     “Really? Who might this prisoner be and what did they do?”

     “Word has it that it’s a young blue Lupe named Geo. He got in trouble for slander and defamation of faeries.”

     Fyora thought for a moment, but she quickly dismissed the thought, fearing that she would end up showing too much compassion for the prisoner and give a biased verdict at his trial.

     “Fyora!”

     “Azalea? What brings you all the way up here?”

     “A prisoner requests to see you. Geo is his name.”

     Fyora gave a long sigh and then shook her head.

     “Give him a negative on that.”

     “Yes, Fyora. For what reason, though?”

     “Tell him that I don’t have time to visit prisoners.”

     “I will do that, Fyora. But he really wants to see you.”

     “He will see me enough during his trial.”

     “No, I meant he wants to tell you something.”

     “Enough! Leave me be, Azalea. Please...”

     “Yes, Fyora.”

     “I do apologize for raising my voice there. It’s just that I have many things on my mind. I don’t want to give any concessions to a prisoner either.”

     “I understand and I’m sure Geo will too.”

     “That will be all then. You may go.”

     “Yes, Fyora.”

     --

     Azalea came down to my cell and told me that Fyora had rejected my request to speak to her.

     “Oh well, I suppose she has too much on her mind, doesn’t she?”

     “Yes... wait, those were her exact words? How did you know?”

     “Obviously when you’ve written enough stories about Fyora, you get a sense of who she is.”

     “Umm... well, ok... did you finish eating?”

     “Yes, I did; it was quite good actually.”

     I handed her the dirty plate and Azalea took it.

     “Oh and you have another visitor.”

     “Who is it?”

     “You’ll find out soon enough.”

     “Psellia? I didn’t write about you, did I?”

     “No, but you indirectly referenced me a few times. Oh and Siyana said she will come later but she hasn’t the time right now.”

     “Are you here to bring me news too?”

     “Well, not so much news really, just the fact that Illusen and Jhudora are stubborn and refusing to drop their charges against you. I’ve tried to persuade them to no avail. However, what I can offer you is my own testimony. I see that you are just an aspiring writer wanting to entertain others. I don’t see why Illusen and Jhudora should get in your way.”

     “Anything else you would like to tell me?”

     “No, not really... ah, Siyana’s here to visit also.”

     “Shouldn’t you both be in Altador, though?”

     “We took some time off. We just wanted to reassure you that we’ll be at the trial testifying for you. We did check the schedule and it says that your trial will be tomorrow right before Mordecai’s trial. So it’ll be in the morning. Since I am the first to rise, I will wake the dreamer up so we can arrive on time,” Siyana said jokingly to Psellia.

     “Hey! I don’t dream all the time! Don’t listen to her, Geo, I’m not the lazy faerie she’s making me out to be. I’ll wake up even earlier tomorrow!”

     The two faeries smiled and petted me on the head and then shook my paws before leaving. I turned to see Mordecai’s mocking smile.

     “Oh, don’t they just love you, Geo. They are so superficial. They’ll probably chicken out in front of Fyora anyway. They’re talking just to make you feel better.”

     “Will you just shut it, Mordecai! You view everything so pessimistically. I would like to kindly ask you that you would not try to aggressively overwhelm me with your difference in opinion. You have the right to your opinion but let me have the right to mine. Let us be civil.”

     “Alright, I will indeed discontinue my rambling, seeing that you have so much faith in these superficial creatures.”

     “What will it take for you to have a better opinion of the faeries?”

     “I have formulated my own opinion and will not budge, so please don’t try to persuade me to change my opinion. They are nothing more than a vicious swarm of gossiping liars who squander our time with meaningless quests. Their so-called 'magic' is nothing more than a tool of destruction, a weapon to keep us in line and subdue us from questioning the truth. Anybody as prim and perfect as Fyora must be hiding something, some dark secret, a secret we deserve to know! When you get down to it, they are superficial. All flash, no substance.”

     I had just been slapped in the face, hard. For a moment I remained speechless, stunned at such heartless squabbling. Finally, I regained my nerve.

     “So what are going to do about it when you have to face them during your trial?”

     “Oh, I’m not going to trial,” Mordecai said, laughing mockingly and inserting his hoof into his pocket. He pulled out a shiny key.

     “How! How did you get that?!”

     “Oh, those faeries like you so much that they don’t notice me when I’m in the cell right behind them. All I’ve got to do is reach out and pull out the keys from their pockets.”

     “How dare you take advantage of them!?”

     “Oh, I hardly see this as taking advantage of them. I see this as being resourceful. I’ll let myself out. Then I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll let you out to if you agree to help me escape. All you’ve got to do is make sure the coast is clear. I will help you by telling you where to run and hide. It’s your only opportunity to escape, unless you assume that the faeries’ favoritism toward you will still last during the trial,” Mordecai said, once again with the same mocking laugh.

     That was the last straw. I was sick and tired of Mordecai’s incessant mocking and it was time for me to just show him that I wasn’t a servant to the words of the faeries.

     “I’ll do it.”

     “Oho! He’s finally getting tough.”

     Mordecai pulled out the keys, carefully pushed them into the keyhole with his two hooves and then turned the key with his mouth, unlocking his cell door. He then handed the key to me.

     “Here we go, come along, make haste, don’t slow us down. Oh and you’ll need this; just throw it in the air when I tell you to.”

     He pushed a Weewoo plushie into my paws.

     “What’s this for?”

     “You’ll see, Geo... you’ll see,” Mordecai chuckled.

     I shrugged, inserted the keys into the keyhole... but nothing happened; the key won’t budge.

     “Oh, I forgot; I haven’t disabled the magic on that door yet.” Mordecai muttered something and then tapped the door. The door clicked. I inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the door.

     “How did you...?”

     “I used to study magic. Gave it up when I decided that I hated faeries.”

     The Halloween Moehog and I snuck around the corner where the other prisoners all seemed to be napping. We crept slowly as to not disturb the other prisoners, lest they give our position away. Soon after making a few more turns, we came to the prison entrance where Azalea and Angela were standing.

     “Uh oh, what do we do now?” I whispered.

     “Take the weewoo plushie and hold it. I will tell you when to throw it.”

     “They’ll see us!”

     “Shhh... now! Throw it in front of Azalea now!”

     I was dubious but listened to Mordecai anyway, taking the plushie and throwing it. The plushie glided in the air like a real weewoo.

     “Oh! What a cute weewoo plushie! I love weewoos! Oh the weewoos have come to visit Faerieland! Oh! Oh! Oh!...” Azalea squeaked, breaking into an eccentric raving about weewoos.

     “Azalea, will you cut that out?” Angela said, walking over to Azalea to see what was going on.

     “Let’s go while they are distracted.”

     Mordecai and I snuck past the two distracted faerie officers. We just made it out of the prison when there was a shout.

     “Azalea! Stop! The prisoners are escaping! Forget about the plushie.”

     Angela flapped her wings and flew up into the air. Azalea, suddenly realizing what was going on, followed suit.

     “Stop! We’ve got you! You can’t run anywhere!” Azalea shouted.

     Mordecai trotted along. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my back and then tripped. Mordecai continued to trot along without turning back, successfully barging through the gates and out to the Faerie City as I lay there helpless on the cloud. I saw Azalea and Angela land right next to me.

     “Please don’t hurt me!” I cried out.

     “Shh. You’re ok, just relax,” Azalea said softly. The two faeries lifted me up and then began to carry me. At that moment, I realized that I was paralyzed.

     “What did you do to me!?”

     “Shh, just a mere paralysis spell. We’ll take it off when we get you back to your cell,” Angela replied gently.

     “This is an outrage, using such dark spells!”

     “Poor dear, I knew we shouldn’t have put him next to that Mordecai. He’s been brainwashed,” Azalea said sadly, stroking my ear.

     I tried to avoid her stroking but realized that I was still paralyzed. Suddenly, I realized that I could try to fight the spell. I struggled to move and managed to move my arm a few inches before a sharp pain shot through it.

     “Don’t try to fight it. You’ll only hurt yourself!” Angela said frantically.

     I ignored her warning, continuing to fight the spell. Azalea immediately pulled out her scepter and the world went black instantly.

To be continued...