Chapter 23
"If
Magbert and those two ingrate males with him think I'm going to just stay here
and count leaves while they join in the fray, they're sadly mistaken,"
said Crystal, standing up in the branches of a tree ahead of Gerald's oncoming
troops. "Got those arrows ready, Dabble?"
"All
set!" he agreed, experimentally aiming at Gerald's path.
"Here
they come!" Crystal said. "Now, when they fan out, I'll take one at a
time and distract them with a spellsong while you shoot...hey, what're they
stopping for?"
"I
dunno. Looks like some guy in the back's got a prisoner or something,"
Dabble said, scanning the group with a frown.
"Now,
who could he have...Great Bios, that's Pandora!!!" Crystal shrieked,
nearly falling out of the tree.
"Well,
what do we do?" Dabble asked.
"I
don't know!" Crystal agonized. "Should I go and tell Ian or should I
try to help her?" She thought a moment, then snapped her fingers.
"Waitaminute, there's two of us! You go tell Ian where we are and what's
happened while I go down and help Pandora." She started to fly off when
Dabble asked,
"Hey,
wait a second...isn't he gonna kill me for following him out here instead of
staying back at the nymph tree?"
"Yes,
he is, so talk fast. Go!" Crystal dropped straight down toward the low
bushes, leaving Dabble to shake his head and jump away.
Crystal
caught her fall a few feet above the ground and flew low in the foliage to stay
hidden. As Pandora passed by, she slipped into one of her pockets, unbeknownst
to anyone, to stay hidden. They walked for a few moments, passing Gerald's men
as they taunted Pandora and teased her.
"Say,
it's the nymph witch!" cried out one.
"Eh,
not so tough with your hands tied, are yeh, missee?" came another.
The
voices continued and Crystal found herself desperately wanting to sing some
sort of horrible spell to shut them up forever. She wisely remained silent,
however, realizing that if she were heard by anyone not affected by her meager
magic, she could be caught as well and be of no help to Pandora. She tucked
herself into the corner of Pandora's pocket and waited.
Finally,
they stopped, as did the voices and a respectful silence grew. "Good God,
Killion, where did you find this one?" came a voice unfamiliar to Crystal.
It was a strong sounding voice, but Crystal thought she could detected a
certain highbred sound in it, the tone she was used to hearing from Lokey. From
the silence around them, she assumed that this must be Pandora's half-brother
Gerald.
"Spying
on our previous encampment," came a much richer and more powerful sounding
voice. Pandora lurched forward, as if shoved, as the voice said, "Tell the
Duke your information, half-breed."
"I
have nothing to say to you, Gerald," Pandora said bravely. Crystal cheered
silently in her pocket, but gasped seconds later as the sound of skin striking
skin and another lurch told her Pandora had just been slapped.
"Duke
Gerald to you, wench," he replied coldly, "or did you forget you
murdered my father?"
"He
was my father, too, Gerald and you know I didn't..." Pandora began
angrily.
"Save
your foolish chatter for my mage," Gerald interrupted. He clapped twice
and Crystal heard nothing for a moment. When she finally heard someone speak,
she was startled to realize the speaker had somehow gotten within 2 feet of
Pandora and Crystal hadn't even heard him approach. Not able to stand it
anymore, Crystal climbed up the inside of Pandora's pocket and peeked out. A
tall dark elf stood in front of Pandora, looking at her with his coal black
eyes in an evil, yet strangely calm gaze.
"This
is your nymph witch?" the voice laughed aloud. Its elven tone gave both
Pandora & Crystal chills, as it sounded not unlike a snake might if it
talked. "I expected a high priestess, maybe even a frenzied dryad or
sorceress recluse, but this wisp..." He laughed again and Pandora spit on
him. Crystal moved farther out to catch the look on his face.
His laughter stopped abruptly. "I see I
shall have to persuade you to believe in your brother's cause", he
said in a acid tone. He cocked his head ever so slightly to the side (to match
his slight smile), raised one hand and said, "Kneel."
Crystal,
who was nearly hanging out of Pandora's pocket in awe, felt the presence of
magic, then felt Pandora drop to the ground onto her knees. Crystal herself
tumbled from her precarious position into Pandora's lap with a small shriek.
She tried desperately to remain inconspicuous, but the hard glittering eyes
caught her in their terrible glare. Before she could move, she was lifted into
the air by some strange force that hindered all movement, then, when she
reached an optimal height for the elf, he pinched both her wings between his
fingers and held them tightly, barring all escape.
"Well,"
said the elf, turning her about to examine her. "What have we here?"
Crystal struggled for a few seconds before realizing that her fragile wings
could be broken by her own efforts to escape if she were not still. Looking
toward Pandora in a panic, she saw a slight smile on the half-nymph's face. What's
wrong with her?, Crystal wondered for a moment. "Pandora..." she
called out to her, but stopped as the elf spoke to her.
"What
in the name of Bios are you doing here, mothwing?" he demanded,
speaking fluent Faerie. "I may actually be forced to kill you for safety's
sake, you know." Crystal's jaw dropped. He was speaking directly to to her
and in her native tongue! She knew none of the humans around could speak
it, so it had to have been specifically for her benefit. She had been hanging
downward before, but now the elf tipped her up to face him directly and she
looked into his eyes for the first time. Even behind the cold glare, she
recognized a familiar glint in the eyes. And didn't he call me
"Mothwing", she thought. Nobody calls me Mothwing, except...
"Lok...!"
she began excitedly.
"Have
to bind them with a faerie spell," said the elf brusquely, speaking human
again to those around him. "Now I can save it for the wings later."
He pulled a leather pouch from her side, opened it, dropped in the surprised
Crystal and pulled the drawstrings shut before she could even annouce her
discovery. Now totally coherent (and offended), Crystal began to yell again.
She knew the bag she was in was magically sealed, but perhaps not impervious to
little voices.
Outside
her prison, the elf was leading Pandora to a secluded spot where he "could
concentrate better". Gerald had appointed Sir Killion to stay with them to
insure neither one tried anything. When they stopped, out of earshot of the
rest of the band, Pandora looked up with a full smile. The elf glared at her.
"Impudent wench," he said.
Pandora
was undaunted. "Ian wouldn't like you talking that way to me", she
replied.
"And
just who is this Ian?" the elf demanded, standing straddled in front of
her defiantly. Pandora could feel Sir Killion move protectively closer to her,
but she held a hand up to stop him.
"You
tell me," she returned, "he's your friend."
The
elf continued to give her his hard cold glare, then after a few moments, he
reached up and pulled what seemed to be an invisible hood from his head. The
hood and the cloak it was attatched to became visible and the face beneath it
changed, dissolving magically into a different face. The elf was still glaring,
but Pandora had learned to expect this from him.
"I
should've remembered you'd know Faerie," Lokey grumbled.
"Actually,"
she said, "that wasn't how I knew it was you. I had an idea you were some
sort of imposter when you didn't force me to my knees; you just drained my
energy for a moment. Then, when you didn't kill Crystal..."
"See,
I knew I should've killed the little mothwing while I had the chance," he
sighed.
"That,
and you could've worn a different set of clothes," Pandora smirked. Lokey
grinned at last and Pandora ran to hug him in relief.
Sir
Killion had watched these whole preceedings with a mixed sense of shock and
confusion. "My lady," he said at last, "who is this man?"
"This
is Prince Lokey of the Highbred Elves of Alkin," Pandora smiled, turning
from him. "He's a friend, Killion. And speaking of friends," she
added, turning to point at Lokey's bag, "let her out, Lokey."
"Do
I have to?" Lokey almost whined, but he reluctantly opened his bag and let
the furious streak of sprite bolt out to berate him to his face.
"If
you ever do that to me again, you lopeared, sorry excuse for a forest
creature," she snapped, wings blurring in motion, "I'll..."
"Crystal
the Sprite, Sir Killion of Alkin," murmured Pandora. Crystal waved
absently as Lokey said,
"If
you hadn't interfered in my affairs, Mothwing..."
"Don't
call me that!" she retorted.
"...I'dve
never had to stuff you in there in the first place!" he finished.
"Well,
if you'dve told us you were gonna come hide out with these dumb humans..."
"It's
called infiltrating, you bow-head!"
"Whatever,
lame-brain. If I had know you were gonna be infliperating, I wouldn't have
worried about Pandora in the first place!" Crystal retorted.
"How'd
you get in my pocket?" Pandora asked her.
"Flew
in from above you," Crystal replied, while Lokey raged,
"Well,
if you'd kept your winged butt back at the nymph tree with Dabble, this would
never have happened!!!"
Crystal's
face suddenly blanked into a look of childlike innocence. "What nymph
tree?" she asked, blinking wide-eyed at him.
"Oh,
don't you dare pull that 'sprites can only hold one thought' crap, you
twit," Lokey frowned. "You know what tree."
"Oh,
Lokey, you're being silly!" Crystal giggIed airily, cocking her head to
the side. "You know I'm not very good at knowing anything. You've said so
many a time yourself."
"I
never...!" Lokey began, but Pandora shook her head.
"You
have and many times," she agreed. "More than I can count. She's
definitely got you there." Crystal smirked evilly at Lokey, but became the
picture of absentmindedness again when he looked back at her.
"I
seem to remember a brownie kid now, but I'm still kinda foggy on this tree
thing," she said absently, her voice a lilting melody. "Big tree or
little?"
"Cut
it out!" Lokey snapped.
"You
guys, both of you stop; you're scaring Killion," said Pandora, with a
smile. Indeed, the huge knight looked somewhat out of his element as he watched
an elf battle with a creature he had only heard about in tales. One or two
fairies he had caught a vague glimpse of before, such as the brief few seconds
he'd seen her with Lokey before, but this was his first close up view of a
sprite. And never in his travels had he ever met so small a being with such a
capability for words.
"No,
my lady, please, allow her to continue," said Sir Killion, watching
Crystal intently. "I don't believe I've ever heard a fairy (here Crystal
frowned at him) I mean, a sprite speak before."
"Trust
me, it's an overrated experience," Lokey grumbled.
"Shut
up!" Crystal said to him. Then, in a completely different voice to Sir
Killion, she said, "Really? You mean, you've never talked to a sprite
before?"
"Forgive
my ignorance, lady," said Sir Killion, bowing to Crystal, "but I have
never had the pleasure of even meeting a child of Faerie. The experience is
truly exhilarating, to say the least."
Crystal
opened her mouth to reply, but could only giggle self-consciously. Lokey rolled
his eyes. "So, now what?" he asked. "My position in this camp is
still secure, as is Sir Killion's, but Pandora, they're going to want you dead
soon, or, at least, want you to suffer. What's your plan?"
"To
give Gerald false information about our whereabouts and lead him into our
trap," Pandora replied.
"But
what about you?" Lokey asked. "You know he's going to kill you after
he gets what he wants from you."
Sir
Killion nodded. "Your friend speaks the truth, m'lady. Duke Gerald knows
you will never be subservient to him."
"But
there's no other way he'll believe what you tell him!" Pandora protested.
"Gimme
a little credit, here, Pandora," said Lokey, pretending to be offended.
"If anyone can make this man believe he's found your tree, it's me."
"Well,
what do I get to do?" Crystal asked.
"You
get to go face the wrath of Ian for even coming out here," Lokey replied.
"Noooooo,
wait, I can help, really!" Crystal protested plaintively. "I've even
got an idea on how to get me and Pandora out of here."
Lokey
looked at Pandora, who shrugged, then back at Crystal with a sigh. "This
better be good," said Lokey grudgingly.
"Well,
first of all, Pandora, you're going to have to die," began Crystal.