Saving Terror Mountain: Part Four

     Illusen’s head bobbed in agreement and Hagan sighed. “Will you help me, sisters, or will you let the world die?” she asked them again quietly.

     The Faerie Foods shop was silent and Illusen’s question—now asked twice—was still unanswered. Nella, Lionel, and Hagan stood watching the entire room of faeries stare at each other. Nella’s quest to save Terror Mountain had turned into much more than that. Now she was facing all of the good faeries left in Neopia and asking for their help to keep Jhudora from destroying the good in the world.

     “Well, what do you say?” King Hagan asked, breaking the tense silence.

     “I will help you, Illusen, and your friends,” the Light Faerie said at last.

     Lionel smiled in relief. “So that is one of you. What about the rest of you?” he asked sadly. “Are you just going to stand back and watch us fight evil?”

     “I will join you as well,” the Space Faerie said next, taking a step towards the group. “But first, have any of you lost a little Horus?” she asked curiously.

     “You found Rema?” Nella gasped in surprise.

     As if to answer the Bori’s question, Rema burst into the room. “Nella!” she cried, flying into the relieved embrace of her owner.

     “Thank goodness you are all right! I though you were gone forever!” Nella said sadly. She smoothed the Horus’ feathers happily.

     Fuhnah smiled and ran her slender fingers through her reddish-brown hair. “I found her near Jhudora’s cloud,” she said hesitantly. “If she is your Horus, then she has me convinced. I will also join you,” she told them.

     As soon as Fuhnah agreed, the other faeries caved in and agreed to help them fight for their world. “Very well,” Illusen said happily.

     “What do we need to do?” Aethia, the Battle Faerie, asked cautiously.

     “Follow me to Jhudora’s cloud,” Nella said in reply. “And then use all of your powers combined to save the world.”

     “And how do we combine them?” the Negg Faerie asked quietly.

     Illusen paused and then sighed. “We will know when we get there,” Illusen told her simply. “Lead the way, my brave friend,” she told Nella gently, putting a hand on the little Bori’s shoulder.

     Nella smiled nervously and started through the door. The others hesitated a moment too long. When Nella cried out in alarm, everyone darted outside. Sudden black clouds rolled across the sky.

     And there stood Jhudora. “So, you are the Bori who has ruined my plans,” Jhudora growled angrily. Nella squirmed in the Dark Faerie’s grasp. Her clawed feet were off of the ground. “You will pay for spilling my secret,” she told Nella.

     “Let her go, Jhudora,” Illusen called from the doorway.

     Lionel grimaced and looked over to where Rema fluttered helplessly. “Help her!” she told the faeries anxiously.

     “What is happening?” the Light Faerie asked anxiously.

     Nella was now limp in Jhudora’s grip and her dark eyes were dull. “I am stealing the good from her heart,” Jhudora explained. “She will be just another one of my little minions in no time at all,” she said with a cruel smile.

     “Just let her go,” Fuhnah said quietly. A ball of fire appeared to dance over her palm. “Come on, sisters,” she called, “let’s save our land!”

     Jhudora cried out in surprise when all of the faeries threw their powers at her. Vines wrapped around her ankles, water dumped over her head, and other things slammed into her. The Dark Faerie dropped Nella in order to protect herself. “Ah!” she croaked, stumbling backwards.

     Lionel sped to Nella’s side in the chaos and pulled her away from the fight as objects and orbs of power were thrown both ways. “Is she all right?” King Hagan asked anxiously.

     The king crouched to check on the unconscious Bori. “I have no clue,” Lionel admitted anxiously.

     Rema dove and landed on Hagan’s shoulder. “What can we do?” she asked them. They could only shrug and turn to watch the faeries battle onward.

     The Ice Faerie was the one to notice the other Dark Faeries appear. “Watch out!” she cried to her sisters. She ducked a ball of black flames and then moved to freeze one of the faerie’s feet to the cloud.

     Illusen frowned and struggled to tie vines around all of the Dark Faeries. She drew her shimmering sword—one that Lionel had no name for. Jhudora’s own sword was jagged and dark. They rushed at each other and Illusen flipped Jhudora’s sword out of her hand. She put her sword to the Dark Faerie’s throat and the fighting froze.

     Not one of them was injured, except perhaps for Nella. Every eye was on the two of them, waiting and watching for what was to come. “Your evil has gone too far, Jhudora,” Illusen said quietly.

     “Ha!” Jhudora laughed. She shook her head in amusement. “What are you going to do, sister? Do you think you can really hurt me?” Illusen seemed unruffled still. “And why exactly do you think that it is me that you want?” Jhudora demanded with a scowl.

     “I know that you are the one attacking Terror Mountain and the Lost Desert,” Illusen said angrily.

     “And you know this how? Because some little Bori told you that it was me?” Jhudora sighed and looked down at the sword against her neck. “But do you have any proof that the culprit really is me?” she asked the Earth Faerie.

     “Why else is your cloud still growing then?” Illusen asked. All of the faeries muttered to themselves now.

     “I believe your evil has gone on long enough. Leave Faerieland, or we will destroy you,” Fuhnah growled.

     Jhudora grinned inwardly. “But Faerieland is my home too,” Jhudora said sadly. The sorrow in her voice startled several of the other faeries, including the dark ones. “I never meant for it to go this far. Really, I didn’t!” she said anxiously.

     Illusen gave her a disbelieving stare. “What did you just say?” she demanded in surprise.

     “I said I did not mean to harm anyone,” Jhudora replied meekly.

     “And why would I believe that?” Illusen asked coolly. “You are the one that forced me to go to Meridell after all.”

     “That was not me,” Jhudora retorted sharply. “It was the other Dark Faeries.”

     “And what about Nella?”

     Lionel jumped when Nella jerked awake, hitting him on accident. “Nella, are you all right?” he asked anxiously, rubbing his sore jaw.

     “What happened to me?” she asked with surprise.

     “See, the little one is fine now. Do you believe me yet, sisters?” Jhudora asked the faeries.

     To Hagan’s surprise, several of the faeries seemed to nod in agreement. Jhudora was going to get away with her evil doing once again, and she appeared to know that fact already. The Negg Faerie frowned doubtfully. “Illusen, please, lower your sword already!” she cried sadly.

     Illusen’s jaw dropped and she turned to look at the faerie. “What? Are you honestly going to let her get away with it again?” she demanded with surprise. “You cannot let her do that again!” she protested nervously.

     “I promise, sisters,” Jhudora said loudly, “I will not do it again!”

     Nella stood with Lionel’s help. “You are going to let her free?” she asked the faeries sadly.

     “Technically, she is right, dear. We have no way to really prove that it was her,” the Light Faerie stated when she looked over at the Boris and the king. “We cannot do anything unless we can prove she did it in the first place.”

     Jhudora smiled happily. “Well then, sisters,” she said slowly, “I need to get back to giving little people their meager quests.”

     Illusen still held her sword up. “Let her go already, Illusen,” the Space Faerie muttered sadly.

     Nella shook her head anxiously and watched Illusen’s pain fill her eyes. “I cannot believe it,” Nella muttered. She dropped her head and sighed in defeat when Illusen lowered her sword.

     Hagan frowned and his wings twitched. Jhudora beamed at the other faeries, all of them except for Illusen, who she felt right to give a cold glare. “Thank you, sisters, for seeing what was true,” Jhudora said with a slight bow.

     Fuhnah’s scowl deepened. “Stay on your own cloud. And do not let us see the darkness in it growing, or we will start to take action,” she warned coldly.

     “Of course, of course,” Jhudora replied happily. “Go home,” she told the other Dark Faeries before vanishing back to her own cloud on Faerieland. The Dark Faeries blinked in surprise and then disappeared from sight.

     “How could they just let her go?” Nella asked with a flustered wave of her paws. She watched the other faeries leave and return to the Faerie Foods store without any other mention of the battle that had gone on—chatting about the quests and items they had given out during the last few days.

     “They have already moved on,” Illusen told her. “They are quick to forgive. I suppose Jhudora will lie low for a few long years before chancing even the smallest potion,” she said quietly. “I will take you back to Meridell, or to Brightvale if you would rather,” she said when Hagan winced.

     “Yes, to Brightvale,” the king muttered. He looked over at the two Boris and their petpets sadly. “I am sorry that we could not prevent her evil, but at least now your mountain will return to its original state, and the Lost Desert as well,” he said quietly.

     Nella sighed and leaned against Lionel tiredly. “Well, that was our quest anyways... To find who was hurting Terror Mountain and then to figure out how to stop them,” she said dejectedly.

     “Come on, let’s go home,” Lionel said as he stood, reaching down to help Nella to her feet.

     She smiled and looked back at Faerie City. “You know, I will be back here someday to visit my siblings. I can come and check on Jhudora once in a while,” Nella said to them.

     Illusen smiled at the little Christmas Bori. “That would be a good idea,” she agreed. The beautiful door returned and they walked through to stand on the dirt road in Brightvale.

     Jhudora smiled from her cloud and watched Illusen’s door close behind her little group. “As if I would stop evil like that any day soon,” she said with a laugh. She turned to her cauldron and her smile widened even more.

     “Jhudora?” a quiet voice asked.

     Jhudora turned to see a young red Gelert. “Searching for a quest, my dear?” she asked and the Gelert nodded. “Fetch me one Raspberry Faerie Bubble,” she said. The Gelert bounced away towards Faerie City. Jhudora sighed and rolled up her sleeves. She had a potion to make.

The End