Chapter 14
Fay City
When Dearekk slammed into the molten gold, he was sure that they were going to die. His eyes were wide open, unable to close as the golden ground rushed towards them. The growl above them reverberated as Sonya and he slammed full on into the circle.
It was like falling into deep water, but without a splash. All there was ripples and then the scalding material surged over him, incasing him in a hot, golden tomb. He was able to turn his head to see that Sonya’s eyes were tightly shut.
The heat ripped through him, scorching his very soul. But after a few moments the pain went away, and all he was left with was a warm floating sensation. As he looked around, images began to appear.
His father, no not his father, the King stood in a room, fuming. He was throwing things around the room. A glass vase shattered against the wall as he screamed in fury.
Rith sat on the edge of a bed, his face in his hands looking dejected and lost. A plate of food sat in the corner untouched.
An elven man with long brown hair and scars punched an earthen wall, tears streaming down his face as a girl elf sat in the corner holding a pearl comb in her hand, crying too.
Another elf, one with black hair and a bow, sprinted through the forest, rage burning in his eyes. His arrows glinted with blood in the moonlight.
Looking over at Sonya, who had now opened her eyes, he knew that she was seeing the same thing. Her lips were drawn into a tight line, but he saw the flash of pain in her bright green eyes.
Suddenly, the lights began to grow brighter and the pictures began to fade. Dearekk closed his eyes, the lights growing to bright for him to look at.
Then he heard birds chirping.
As he opened his eyes and sat up, he saw that he was lying on the side of a grassy hill, blue sky overhead. Bluebirds soared above them, chirping and laughing as they flew around the baffled companions.
“What,” Dearekk began slowly, “just happened?” He looked around, trying to find some clue of where they were. “Weren’t we just in a cave?”
Sonya stood up and brushed herself off. “No,” she stated sarcastically, drawing out the one word. She then turned and began to walk up the hill, about half way up she turned back. “Are you coming?” she asked in an irritated voice.
Dearekk scrambled after her. “Why are we goin-“ he stopped suddenly as they reached the top of the hill.
In the distance was a huge city, surrounded by an amethyst wall. Silver spirals towered above, twisting and dancing like snakes in the sky. Even from a distance, the city was magnificent.
“No way,” Dearekk murmured in awe. “I thought it was just a myth…”
Sonya’s eyes were wide, her mouth slightly open in wonder. “Imperia,” she whispered, “the Kingdom of the Fay.”
All Dearekk could do was stand there for a little bit. It wasn’t until Sonya began walking down the hill that he snapped out of his daze. “What are you doing?” he called down to her.
She flashed him a genuine, mischievous smile, “I think it’s time to pay the Fay a visit, don’t you?”
He laughed and jogged after her.
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After walking for a while, Dearekk and Sonya reached the massive wall outside the city. Awe in his eyes, Dearekk gazed at the amethyst wall. It was violet, like the lilacs in the spring back at the castle, with silver around the huge gateway. But as hard as he looked, he couldn’t find anyway to get in.
“What do we do?” he asked, his eyes never leaving the door.
Sonya hesitated, and then replied, “Knock?”
Dearekk shrugged, “Ok.” The look on Sonya’s face told him that she didn’t actually expect him to do it.
Lifting his fist, Dearekk slammed it hard against the amethyst twice. It produced a clear, bell-like noise that echoed across their surroundings. He was about to try again when an eye-slit in a door opened about thirty feet up. Whoever was behind it looked side to side but not down.
The mystery doorkeeper was just about to close the eye-slit when Dearekk spoke. “Hey!” he yelled, waving his hand when the eyes darted down towards him. “Hey! Can you open the doors for us?”
“Open the doors?” a high-pitched voice shrieked back to him, “Just fly up and come through this one!”
“Hey, wait!” Dearekk called back when the eye-slit began to shut. “We can’t fly!”
Shrill laughter filled the air. “Bennet! Did you hear that? Fay that can’t fly!” the doorkeeper said between laughs. “Oh, that’s choice.” Once again the eye-slit began to close.
Sonya seemed to be getting restless. “HEY!” she roared standing up, “Hey, you stupid fay! Are you blind? We’re both elves!”
“Elves?” the voice scoffed, “We haven’t seen elves in over fifty years! Go play your games someplace else!”
Sonya seemed furious. “You know what? Fine,” she spat. Walking up to the door, she began ramming her fists against the door in a beat. Left, right, left, right. The bell-like sound rang over and over again.
“Stop it! Stop it!” the shrill voice screamed. A head poked out the door revealing a fay with sapphire hair and cerulean skin. “What do you thi-“ she stopped abruptly and gasped, pulling her head back inside.
If possible the voice got even shriller. “Bennet! There are elves down there! Real elves! Standing outside out door! Bennet, come look!” The voice continued to screech until a deeper voice cut her off.
“Shut up and open the door!” the other voice growled.
“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” the first replied.
The huge amethyst door cracked open just enough for Dearekk and Sonya to slip through, then slammed shut behind them. Instantly they were surrounded by fay.
The fay were a hard species to describe. They were shorter than humans and elves, but not by too much. Their wings were all different; some had wings like butterflies, with colors and patterns. Others were like a dragonfly’s and yet others had feathers like a bird. Their hair came in every color of the rainbow and their skin was normally a lighter tone of their hair.
The fay swirled around the air like an endless whirlpool of colors, each chattering to each other as they were drawn down to the two companions like magnets.
“Break it up, break it up!” a piercing voice yelled. Dearekk turned to see the doorkeeper pushing her way towards them through the growing crowd of fay. “Nothing to see here! Break it up!”
But leaving seemed to be the last thing on the curious fays’ minds. As Dearekk and Sonya were ushered through the massive sea of fay, he began to pick up bits of conversations. At first the fay seemed to barely be able to contain their excitement.
“Real elves!”
“Look at her hair!”
“…a moonhawk feather?”
But as they traveled down the streets, the fays’ looks became more disapproving and hostile, as if they were angry that someone else found their secret paradise.
“Letting elves in, what were they thinking?”
“The boy doesn’t even look like one..”
“…our only sanctuary!”
The slamming of a huge door Dearekk didn’t even know they walked through quickly cut off the conversations. Surrounding him was a huge hallway, luxuriously decorated and intricately designed. Silver frames held pictures of royal fay in all their majesty, and amethyst columns soared to the huge ceiling, holding the weight of it. It took him a moment to realize where they were, the palace of the fay.
A young fay maid approached them, flying from down the hall. Landing lightly next to Sonya, she said, “You will have servants to show you to your rooms and answer any needed questions. Tomorrow the Emperor, Sovereign of the Fay, will summon you to the Summerwell Court.” The fay girl looked over their torn and grimy garments, and then added, “And a new pair of clothes will be sent to you both.”
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(A/N Hi! Yet another update! Yay! So yeah, not much of a cliffhanger here, but there will be answers coming up soon!!! Hopefully.....just a few. Believe me there will still be a few twists and turns along the way, so I won't quite give everything away yet. :D Vote and comment, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)