*/203 views! YEAH!!!! Thanks guys! BTW, the picture above is what I imagine the Skatzochoiros (scat-so-choy-ros) to be. All credit goes to the original person who made it or yeah.....!/*
As Mathilda explained to me a little while ago, the Amadi folk tend to take their time and are frequently late. I guess that explains why Matt and I are are still sitting on our cottage steps, 5:30am. and waiting for Pearl to meet us.
We were supposed to leave yesterday for our journey, but Pearl had some people....well, creatures, who she wanted us to meet, and by that time, it was already past noon, so she said it wouldn't be worth starting out until today. For being the Queen of an endangered land, she is extremely relaxed about this this whole thing.
"The one you've all been waiting for! The one, the only, the greatest...." Calls a high pitched voice, and a tiny ball of white fluff rolls around a curve in the wooden pathways, and up to the steps where we are sitting.
"Zircon!" Matt and I giggle as the ball does a little jump and unrolls to reveal a fuzzy looking hedgehog.
Zircon is a creature that Pearl introduced us to yesterday. He's an Amador type of hedgehog, called a Skatzochoiro. Skatzochoiros are very small, only slightly larger than a baseball and covered in dandelion fluff rather than spikes.
With a short hop, Zircon floats through the air with the help of his dandelion fluff covered back and lands gently on Matt's shoulder. Wiggling his fluff across Matt's neck, she begins to giggle and swat at the little hedgehog.
"Zircon, Z-Zircon, s-stop! You-you're tickling my neck-k" she manages to gasp, as she doubles over laughing.
"Good morning girls," addresses Pearl who is walking down the path towards us.
"Zircon," she nods at him, and then to me - "I see he's up to his usual mischief."
Zircon stops and pays attention to his Queen as she continues.
"So, I have one more companion for you guys to meet. If you don't mind, he'll be accompanying you as well as Zirc' "
A large bird streaked with firey red and orange feathers comes flapping to the ground.
"This is Azore, one of our Amadi phoenix's."
The huge bird bows with a sweeping of his wide wings.
"Lady's," he introduces. "Azore, great grand nephew of Garnet, the long ago head of the Phoenix's." He looks both Matt and I in the eyes with his deep black ones. Standing at full hight, Azore is about shoulder hight to me, and his long wings span at least that in length. To say the least, I've never even in my dreams seen a bird this large. Never.
Although he seems quite nice, to be honest, his size is a bit daunting.
"I'm Mathilda," introduces Matt, giving a short bow and a kind smile.
"And I'm Elise," I echo, and mirror her bow.
"Zirc'," warns Azore's deep voice, "I'll have my eyes on you." He said it in a way that seems to mean if you cross me once, don't you try anything, haha now I'm the boss and you listen to me and we'll have some fun together, all in the same sentence. He seems a tough one to read.
"Well then, seeing as you're all....caught up with each other, lets head over to the palace for some final preparations" suggests Pearl as she briskly stide down the path towards the palace. I shrug at Matt and as we follow the Queen, I whisper,
"I didn't know there were any other preparations to do!"
"You never know with Pearl," Matt replies, "you just never know."
As we near the palace yard, I notice a large crowd much like the one when we first entered Amador surrounding a large, flat boulder, where Pearl is standing on like a stage.
Fairies, Pixies, Skatzochoiros, Phoenix's and Gnomes, all of them waiting for Pearl to speak.
I have to confess, last night, Mathilda had to enlighten me about fairyland folk. I mean, did I really not read any fairytales when I was little?
Zircon, who is perched on Matt's shoulder jumps lightly off it and floats around in the air infornt of us. I guess that's a talent the Skatzochoiros are blessed with - floating in the air, as well as water.
"I'm gonna go clear the way through that crowd for ya. Watch the pro do da show!" And with that he zips quickly from where we are walking and into the crowd yelling
"A'scuze me, pardon me...clear out, our hero's are a comin' through..."
After Zirc's little...path clearing mission, we made it through the crowd and to the spot on the boulder where Pearl had instructed us to stand.
"Amadi Folk," begins Pearl, as I am drowning in shyness and trying to hide behind Matt.
"We are gathered here today because Amador, our beloved land, has been in danger of being taken over by King Seth's and to never be Amador again, but Oldveil, as Seth's land is called. But we know, through all dark, a light shines, and these girls here," Pearl sweeps her hand towards Matt and I, "these girls here, are the light. They have volunteered to leave their homes and come here to possibly risk their lives for this place, Amador, and it's people. We owe them more than we can give, but for now, let's give them a big round of applause!!"
Claps, whistles, yells and shouts come from every creature surrounding us. All but one - a thin pixie standing by the edge of the crowd. Running a hand through her short cut, white blond hair, as if nervous or stressed. Her lips sit in a frown and her eyes, from the distance, appear hard and cold.
I look to Pearl, who is still droning on about us 'being heros', and glance at my watch - 8:43am. Better get going soon...if Pearl ever stops talking! Looking back to the edge of the still crowd, I search for the pixie girl again...but she's not there. Hmm, where did she go? And not that I'm desperate for praise or attention or anything, but why didn't she clap with the rest of the folk? Agh, I'm way to critical these days...
"Now, those who have brought along any send off gifts or even kind or encouraging words for these girls, please bring them now. Thank you"
I bury my face into Matt's back. I hate this attention, and gifts? Don't get me wrong, I'm not oppossed to gifts, but...it's just so overwhelming!
"Lady's," croaks a womans voices. A short, grey haired Gnome kneels before us and stretches out her hands. In them lays a bulky black satin bag.
"Ye must accept this gift o' mine to you's. This is Garnet's Horn, Garnet, long ago deceased Phoenix leader. A wonderful lad, I tell ye. Garnet passed this down to my husband when he died, for they were very close friends, just like brothers." Matt takes the bag gingerly from her hands and pulls a curly horn out from it. It's gorgeous, smoothly curved and streaked with Grey's, reds, pinks and creams.
"When ye need strength, for I am certain you will, blow this horn. It shall bring to ye the strength ye need. But remember, it only works for the one who blows the horn." And without time to for a thank you, she is gone, back into tue sea of creatures.
Wasting no time, a phoenix plods up to us with a typical phoenix's low greeting.
"Greetings, girls. Thank you for this deed you are about to do for us. I present to both of you a gift on behaf of our whole phoenix army." He pulls 2 bags from his own and places one over my arm and one over Matt's.
"A simple looking gift in comparison to the one Mrs. Jade just gave you, " he nods at the horn.
"But these packs are what all Phoenix Army Men use. They can fit boundless amounts of cargo and as yet, nothing has ever come out broken or smashed from them. And that's saying something, as you probably know how reckless we Army Men can be."
"Thank you, so much" Matt and I exclaim in unison. After an exchange of bows, which seems to be a strong Amador tradition, the Phoenix departs.
Taking my few belongings from my pockets and bag given to me by Pearl, I stuff them into the largest compartment. The zipper slides easily across the green, moss like fabric. In the middle of the pack is an emblem - I assume it's the Amador Emblem. A cursive 'A' which morphs into a leaf close to the bottom.
Soon, there is only one creature left from the crowd. Ruby comes up to us, presenting both Matt and I with a leaf wrapped package.
"This is for you, from my twin brothers," she explains, bubbly as ever.
"I wanted to bring you a gift too, but the twins said it could be from all of us, so yeah, here you go, enjoy and come back soon!"
As rapidly as she speaks, she flies off, back to her post at the library.
Unfolding the leaves, we find a set of a plain grey long sleeve shirt and pants. Scribbled on a piece of paper attached to the clothing is a note that reads -
Camoflauge is a helpful trait. These suits will assist you with that.
Safe journey,
The Twins, Jasper and Jacinth
And Ruby
"And one more thing, a gift from MEEE!" Sings Pearl, returning from the side door of the palace. In her arms are baskets of what smells like...FOOD!
"No food, no journey!"
Oh yeah, thats the other thing about Amadi folk, food is extremely important to them.
"I brought you some grub to take along with you! And of coarse some other essentials."
"Uh, how are we going to take all this stuff? I doubt we'll be able to carry this weight, anyhow" I protest.
"You have the bags from the Phoenix's, correct?" She confirms, and I nod, remembering what the large red bird had said.
"Then, it'll be no problem!"
❇❇❇
*/Hey guys, sorry for the long chapter! I was actually going to write more for this one, but.....that's it for Chapter 8! Thanks guys for your views, keep on reading because there's some interesting stuff just around the corner!!!!
God be with you always,
❇Paige Jacey. /*