The Forgotten Faerieland: Part Two

     Tuirsa paced around in front of Xewwy. "Something is wrong. I don't care about my feelings or whatever, something bad is going on, and a dark faerie is bound to be the cause of it. How typical!" Tuirsa growled slightly in frustration.

      "I have to figure out what this is, but what faerie is the most likely to do something bad?"

      Xewwy couldn't resist joking lightly, "You mean maybe all of the dark ones?"

      Tuirsa attempted to chuckle but wasn't in the mood. "Thanks for trying, Xewwy. The only dark faeries I know by name are Jhudora and Baelia. Jhudora is in enough trouble with Fyora right now, so I'd bet my wings that Baelia is causing all of this."

      Xewwy suggested, "Perhaps we should go to Fyora?"

      Tuirsa shook her head. "No, not Fyora because we have no proof… But maybe Luce will help us! You know how she can't stand the way dark faeries plot and scheme!"

      Xewwy danced around. "You're right! I remember her saying that she investigates the affairs of dark faeries like every week to see if one of them is planning something. This would be perfect."

      Tuirsa and Xewwy went together to visit Luce. They knocked on the door of her home, which was small, yet when they entered it, it seemed to grow about five times that which it was outside. The walls were a bright yellow and there wasn't a dark thing in the room. This was typical for the home of a light faerie.

      Tuirsa tentatively spoke to Luce first. "Luce, I fear that Baelia is somehow planning the downfall of faerie pets. I don't know how I know this, but it's a deep feeling I have."

      Luce nodded. "That makes sense. You're so deeply rooted as a faerie pet that you can feel when someone is trying to remove that from you. However, how can I be sure that you're right? It's not like I can go up to Baelia and ask her what she's planning."

      Tuirsa looked slightly embarrassed. "That's sort of our problem. We can't confront her, but otherwise how can we know that she's even planning anything?"

      Luce thought about it. "I may know what to do. But first, we have to go to the Wheel of Excitement."

      Luce practically dragged Xewwy and Tuirsa with her as she jogged to the Wheel of Excitement. She waved her hand and 250 neopoints entered the collection box by the light faerie who ran the wheel. Luce gave the wheel a hard spin and explained the situation to Xewwy and Tuirsa.

      "Here's how we'll know. My spin will produce only one of two possibilities. Either we will win 10,000 neopoints as a sign that all is well, or we will land on the picture of a dark faerie and we will know for certain that Baelia is up to something."

      By the time Luce was finally done speaking, the wheel was slowing down. The threesome almost seemed to glare at the wheel as they saw it finally stop spinning with the pointer right at the dark faerie space. They ran off before something could happen to them and they quickly navigated the Faerieland streets until they reached Luce's home.

      Luce warned Tuirsa and Xewwy, "I'll take care of warning Fyora; you must stay out of the way at all costs! There's no telling what Baelia will do if she can get near you. You may not know it, but you're the most powerful Faerie pet. Whatever happens to you will affect every Faerie pet here. It's nearly impossible to understand because of its complexity and simply the time it takes to explain it, so I won't try. Just know that it's of utmost importance that you stay away from Baelia no matter what happens!"

      Tuirsa nodded in submission and stood with Xewwy as they watched Luce fly away to Fyora's castle.

      Luce burst through the castle doors as she cried out with fear accenting her voice, "Fyora, Fyora, come quickly! I have news concerning Baelia and her cruel deeds!"

      Fyora knew the sound of Luce's voice and came running to meet her.

      "What are you talking about, Luce? What's Baelia up to now?"

      "I was warned by Tuirsa that Baelia may be planning something. I didn't tell her quite how much. Baelia is planning to get all the pets in once place so that she can recite one of her blasted poems and turn all faerie pets to grey! Tuirsa is the first one she wants to do it to!"

      "How was it that Tuirsa came to know all this?"

      "Ah, my queen, but Tuirsa doesn't know which is almost the problem. She only knows that someone is planning something, but she knows not what and she barely knows whom. She is defenseless. I ordered her to stay away from Baelia at all costs."

      "That was wise, Luce. Now we must go to Baelia now and stop this!"

      Luce and Fyora rushed off to find Baelia and stop her from her wicked plans.

      Baelia was speaking to herself again. "I'm almost there. I have everything planned except for getting all the pets together at once, but I'll leave that last part of my plan to Fyora." Baelia grinned madly and almost pranced when she went to answer her door.

      Tuirsa gasped; Baelia was up to something. She spoke quickly and quietly to Xewwy, "I don't care what Luce said, but Baelia is going to rip off Fyora's wings, I don't know why, but I can feel it. I have to stop her!"

      Xewwy didn't stand in her way and whispered, "Do what you must, but remember that for whatever action you take there is going to be a consequence."

      Tuirsa nodded, realizing the truth in her friend's words. "Be that as it may, I'd rather lose my wings forever than live as I am knowing that I could have stopped Baelia from doing this to Fyora."

      As Baelia opened her door she was blinded to see Luce in all her radiance as well as Fyora at her door. Baelia groaned and moaned as she spoke. "What are YOU two doing here? Don't you have other matters to attend to?"

      Fyora replied coolly, "No, I don't."

      Baelia grinned. "Very well, this is your decision, not mine."

      Baelia instantly forced Luce against a wall and transported her to Fyora's dungeon so that it would take her quite some time before she had even a hope of coming to Fyora's aide.

      Fyora glared at Baelia. "You won't get away with this."

      Baelia grinned yet again. "Oh, and who do you think is going to stop me?"

      This seems rather cheesy now, but this is what happened so you should know. You should also know that this instance is probably what was the base for so many other familiar lines, but I'm getting past the point here.

      Tuirsa butted the door open with her horns and merely glared at Baelia while saying once, very softly, "I will."

      Baelia rolled her eyes and snorted. "Just how do you think you're going to do that?"

      Overconfident, Baelia turned her attention to Fyora. She forced Fyora around and was about to rip off her wings when she shrieked with pain. It felt as if her back was separating from the rest of her body and she knew instantly what had happened. Not willing to abandon her plan, she yelled out at Tuirsa, "You miserable little traitor! I thought you were on my side! How could you do this to me! You told me that you would keep Fyora from escaping once I had her caught!"

      Baelia continued raving like this as she lost all the beauty that she had once adored. As her last bit of envy and hatred left her for sorrow and pain, she muttered one last time, "You traitor."

      Fyora had no problem sending Baelia to her dungeon and bringing Luce back, but Tuirsa's problem was another one altogether.

      Tuirsa was sent away for her own trial and wasn't allowed to even speak of what had happened. Not to her knowledge, both Fyora and Luce believed that Tuirsa was innocent, but she hadn't defended herself when she could, and they had no choice but to take that as her admission of guilt.

      I remember watching Tuirsa slowly walk up before every pet and faerie. Her admirers turned away in disgust at what they thought Tuirsa had done. Fyora spoke with the voice of a true leader.

      "The faerie council had ruled this faerie Ixi named Tuirsa guilty to charges of conspiring with a dark faerie for the downfall of others. Her sentence is to have her wings removed and to forever be banished to Neopia."

      The crowd was silent as Fyora walked with a heavy heart to Tuirsa and removed her wings. Tuirsa wanted to cry out in pain, but she didn't. She chose to keep that pain inside of her, which was mostly because of the change that was overtaking her.

      When Tuirsa was walking toward the edge of Faerieland, Fyora quickly and quietly came to her, "I believe you're innocent, though I had no choice in the ruling this time. Do you want to at least sometimes be as you once were?"

To be continued...