With her mother's diary in hand, Hailey now has more chance of finding her than ever.
Her search will lead her on a journey to one of the more obscure places of the kingdom of Aeolus where she will discover creatures she thought were only legends...
Previously: Around the village, the trees have moved to form a protective wall. Autumn has left to find the Outpost. Hailey, Chase, and Aiden see a messenger arrive from outside the village.
Chapter 26
The messenger, a fairy with bright pink hair and green dragonfly wings, couldn't keep still as he talked to the Elder One in fairy-tongue at incredible speed. Different facial expression flitted across his face as he made grand gestures with his hands.
"Is this good or bad?" Aiden nudged Chase with his elbow.
Chase pushed him away with his wing, trying to make sense of the conversation.
"Excuse me," I asked a fairy also listening in, careful not to speak too loudly. "Would you mind translating for us?"
She nodded, her braid bouncing on her shoulder. "The forest also awakened outside of the village. Thorns grew and blocked the way of the humans. We thought it would be a victory; the branches tore their clothes and clawed their skin, but they had tongues of fire with them. Not even the green vines and damp earth can truly tame the flames."
Chase grumbled something.
"Our fairies were able to split them into three groups, though. Two of them are still very far north, but one is becoming quite close," our translator completed.
"Well, that is something," Aiden acknowledged.
I grimaced.
"Just saying." He shrugged. "Two hundred is way better than five hundred."
"When you put it that way... But are we sure the two remaining groups won't bother us?"
"One thing at a time." Aiden patted my shoulder.
Just then, a fairy dropped next to us. "Quick! A group of winged humans is approaching the village."
"Aiden," Chase ordered, "position your group around the village - outside the... branch wall. You know." He trailed off, but focused back of the task. "Fire as soon as possible, but don't waste ammunitions. Whatever happens, we mustn't let them use whatever the 'fire tongues' are on our fortifications."
"Yes, Sir!" Aiden sped off, calling out to different fairies who all followed him out of the the village, the branches untangling to let them pass, then closing up again. I watched him disappear with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Chase?" I asked. "What can I do?"
He pointed to a group of fairies, some of which were children. "We need to organize a ferry so all the new darts and whatnot they make can be given to the guys outside straight away. Can you do that? Find some fairies that blend in well with the forest."
"Okay." I opened my wings and took off, happy to have something to do.
When I reached them, however, they told me they already had a system in place. I was about to fly back to Chase when the branches of the wall opened, letting through a fairy who seemed of the verge of having an asthma attack.
"Are you okay?" I reached out to support her before she could crumble to the ground.
She took a few deep breath. "Just came from the mountain... Friend there... Gave us this." She opened the large leaf-bag slung across her shoulder to reveal what looked like a bowling-ball-sized egg. "Have to act quickly-" Her breath was steadying a bit. "-Throw it in the middle of the enemy soldiers."
"Is that all? Just throw it?"
She nodded. "Hurry, only a few minutes left."
Other fairies were finally coming up to see what was going on, but I didn't waste any time. I grabbed the bag with the egg and flew out of the village.
The wall was thicker than I expected, but it moved as smoothly as flowing water. Not once did I scratch myself against a stray branch. Behind me, it was already closing up.
As soon as I was out, I flew up. Here again, the trees opened up for me, clearing a tunnel that shot straight up to the sky.
"Hailey!" Someone called out from behind me. I didn't stop.
The view from above was... Terrifying. Chunks of the forests were charred or crushed, large scars brought to life by the occasional inhuman cry. And more impressive yet, the forest moved. It slithered and grew like a giant snake, eating back up the territory stolen from it, only to be burnt and try again with a renewed vengeance.
"Hailey," Aiden called again. "What are you doing?" He had followed me up. "It's dangerous. They're everywhere; I don't understand."
"I have to drop this on them." I showed him the egg, just as a small crack broke the small surface.
Aiden had grabbed the egg before I could react. He shot up into the sky, spun around, then dove down like a bullet, head first and wings tucked closely to his body. He was gone at frightening speed, the trees clearing his path just in time.
For a second, the top of the trees was almost peaceful. Then, a wail - not unlike that of a fire alarm - pierced the air. The result was immediate. A gust of wind sent me tumbling down as two giant birds, worthy of the vultures in children cartoons, but scarier, lunged past me and into the trees. I had just managed to right myself before crashing into the ground when the screaming began. Hideous, tortured screaming that brought tears to my eyes. It was over as soon as it started, leaving behind deafening silence, and two giant birds with bloody, hooked beaks and fierce eyes took to the skies again, one of them holding in its talons a smaller, pinker, and less feathered version of itself, which squawked in delight at having such fearsome parents.
"Aiden?" I whispered.
My voice was hoarse, for some reason. I wasn't sure which was the fairy village was. A twig cracked. I spun around and came face to face with a sharp, hooked beak.
I screamed as loud as I could.
A large wing batted me in the face, making me fall on my butt. The shock silenced me.
'Are you done?' Indignant brown eyes seemed to ask me.
"Oh, Zarasa. It's you." I sighed in relief.
The gryphon huffed, rearranging its wings.
"I'm sorry I screamed at you." Tears gathered in my eyes. I had had too much emotion for one day. "Can you bring me back to the fairy village please?"
Zarasa opened her wings and presented me with her back.
"You'll let me ride you?" My eyes widened.
Her tail twitched in impatience.
"Thank you." I shook fallen leaves out of my wings and climbed on her back, careful not to pull of any of her wing or neck feathers. "We need to find Aiden."
----- Thank you for reading and sorry for the slow updates! I appreciate your patience!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
