by Elsa Bridger
Felicity heard snapping twigs as he hastened his decent to catch them up. Phew! For a moment she thought Queen Tara’s plan was doomed to failure.
“Wait! You have something of mine,” snapped Nightshade, pretending to have just noticed The Book.
Sophie stopped and turned to face Nightshade. Ignoring that he had just mentioned The Book she said, “I’m really sorry to appear ungrateful but you’re right, it’s not safe to wait the storm out up here. In fact we should be getting back home before we’re missed or we’ll be in terrible trouble.” She half turned to start back down the tree.
“Give it back to me and we will say no more about it.” He was struggling to stop his tone from becoming menacing as he grew tired of the chase. “In fact, once you hand over The Book, which is rightfully mine, I will help you to get home, to show you there are no hard feelings.” He held his hands out to them again and stepped closer.
The girls shrank back, intimidated by him now - for real - then turned abruptly and scrambled down the tree, then ran through the knot doorway. They didn’t need to look back to see if he was following this time – it was as if they could feel his bristling frustration burning through their backs!
They just made it through into the Great Hall ahead of him and ran to the centre, spinning round to face him as they stopped.
“Okay, okay, you can have the stupid book if it means so much to you,” Sophie shouted. “It doesn’t even have anything written in it, so I don’t know what all the fuss is about – look!” Sophie pulled out The Book, and holding it with outstretched arms she flipped through the pages as if to prove her point.
“Here, take it. I just want to go home,” Felicity bluffed, taking hold of the other side of The Book as they’d planned.
Now they both had it as Queen Tara had instructed them. But where were the fairies? If they were there still under the cloaking spell, surely now was the perfect time to appear? It feals as if we’re on our own with him, Felicity thought. For the first time she started to feel completely intimidated. Just have faith….she told herself silently.
Nightshade looked suspicious. Had he seen them looking around for the others? Still, it seemed the temptation was too much and in a sudden burst he flew towards them to snatch The Book, greedy anticipation distorting his otherwise handsome face.
Just as he grasped The Book, Campion and Sorrel appeared from the shadows behind Nightshade and took hold of the girls’ hands to complete the circle around him. Nightshade was trapped! Suddenly realising this he tried to release The Book but seemed unable to do so, his hands invisibly bound to it.
Now Queen Tara appeared, and glided towards the circle.
“Free me this instant, and I might take pity on you and your human…..pets!” snarled Nightshade, with palpable distain. Sophie doubted that he would!
“Oh, but don’t you know, your powers are much weakened in here?” came Queen Tara’s rhetorical question in a cool, controlled voice, with just a flicker of a smile playing on her lips.
Campion and Sorrel began to chant in unison, and the girls joined in.
“We call upon the powers of children’s disbelief
To rid us all
Of The Wicked One’s rule
And return us all to peace.
Be gone the wicked spirit
Within our dear Nightshade
Return him to our kind and
To the ways in which he’s made.
We call upon the powers
Of children’s disbelief
To bind this spirit over
And cause us no more grief.”
They seemed to repeat it over and over with very little change in Nightshade, but then just as doubts were creeping into the girls’ minds, his hands fell away from The Book as he slumped to the floor. It was as if he were asleep. His breath came steadily but slowly. Beads of perspiration shone on his brow, a sign of the struggle that he had suffered in vain to try to overcome their magic.
Sophie and Felicity held their breath and looked towards Queen Tara. She gave a nod and a relieved smile.
“You may relax now,” she reassured them.
There was a collective sigh as everyone’s hands dropped back to their sides.
“Is he going to die?” asked Felicity in a small, choked voice. He’d been such a threat to the fairies, but now he looked so small and helpless lying heaped on the floor like a rag doll.
“Oh no, I’m sure he will recover,” Queen Tara said comfortingly. “We must let him rest now. Campion and Sorrel, please take Nightshade to the secure room and set him on the bed. The girls and I will watch over him until we are sure all is well. Come, Sophie and Felicity, while we wait I’m sure you have many questions you’d like to ask me.”
The girls nodded their agreement and followed. It was going to be hard to know which of the many questions they had racing about in their minds to ask first!
Joining the Dots
With Nightshade settled in the secure room and still sleeping soundly, Bryony arrived carrying in food and cool water for the girls, and oh, how they needed it!”
“May I?” asked Queen Tara, holding out her hand, gesturing for The Book.
“Oh yes, certainly.” Sophie had quite forgotten that she was still holding it and gladly handed it over.
As they ate hungrily, Queen Tara began answering some of their questions as promised.
“I thought Nightshade was born bad,” pondered Sophie. “The enchantment we all said just then made it sound like there was an evil spirit or something making Nightshade do the things he did.”
“True, I did think that he was born bad originally,” agreed Queen Tara. “Whilst I was confined inside The Book it gave me time to reflect on it all. A question came to me; how could Nightshade have become so powerful? As an answer formulated in my mind, it suddenly became clear to me how it must have all begun. You see, when he was born, he almost didn’t live. He should have died, he was such a sickly child. We always wondered how he managed to survive, but I gave little time to it really as I was just so glad that he had - we all were! The Wicked One must have taken the chance to breathe life into Nightshade during those first few vulnerable moments of his life, and from that point on she was able to dwell within Nightshade. Nightshade was being used like a puppet if you will, a tool with which to overcome us. Having Nightshade growing up right in our midst gave her the perfect camouflage until Nightshade was old enough and strong enough to carry out her plans. Now though, your help has given Nightshade a new chance of life, a proper life, living as he should have been, not what he had been forced to become. The Wicked One has been driven out by the very forces of evil she was using against us, which was probably the last thing she would think of us using! Even she is weak against human non-belief in fairies. We needed a human child with strong beliefs, trustworthiness and bravery, enough to complete such a task. Luckily The Book saw a chance to escape from Nightshade and was able to cross into your world in search of humans such as yourselves, and in turn you released me!
“So how come I drew you? – I just used my imagination,” Sophie puzzled.
“Ah well, you may have been holding the pen but The Book ultimately controls it, so you drew the image the book placed into your mind. It needed a human child to willingly draw me in order to break the spell,” she explained.
“How about when we tried to use the book at home, nothing ever happened?” asked Felicity.
“Not all your land is accessible to our magic. Your school happens to sit right in the middle of a very special place, right next to our Great Oak,” Queen Tara said proudly, reaching out and affectionately patting the wall as if to emphasise its importance. “Step outside the school area…” she continued, “and our powers, depleted as they were due to The Wicked One, failed to be strong enough for The Book to function. The Great Oak was a vital connection, boosting its strength, just enough!
Felicity nodded thoughtfully. It was all starting t
o make more sense now.
“You have saved our kind and we will be eternally in your debt.” Queen Tara rose from her chair to make a slow curtsey, bowing her head as she did so – to them. Royalty bowing to them! Sophie and Felicity felt deeply honoured, and more than a little embarrassed.
“It was teamwork though,” Felicity said, feeling her cheeks flush red at the compliments. “We wouldn’t have known what to do, or even know how to get here without everyone’s help.”
At that moment, Nightshade stirred and struggled to sit up.
“Quickly, encircle him in case…” Queen Tara left the sentence hanging as she flew swiftly to his bedside. Once again they joined hands around the bed and held their breaths……
But when Nightshade sat up, it was clear that things were different with him. He looked bewildered and more than a little afraid.
“What happened? Why are you stood round me like that?” he asked apprehensively, now defensively crouched cat-like on the bed, slowly wheeling round on the spot, as if ready to bolt should any of them make a move towards him. He saw the girls for the first time, “Who are you?” He eyed them with great suspicion.
“It’s okay, we’re friends,” Sophie was quick to reassure him as they broke the circle of arms.
“It’s a long story my dear Nightshade, one for another day,” cut in Queen Tara. “For now, welcome home.” She bent to embrace him. He crumpled into her arms and cried, like the young vulnerable fairy he still was.
“I’ve... I’ve… had the most terrible dream!” he blurted out between sobs.
“We know darling, but it’s all over now. Hush child,” she crooned, rocking him gently. Queen Tara was now certain Nightshade was truly free of The Wicked One.
Bryony wiped a tear of joy and relief from her cheek at having back the Nightshade she had known, loved and missed terribly. The conversation she’d had with Heather as they’d headed to that fateful meeting when Poppy had told them Queen Tara and The Book were missing, seemed like a lifetime ago now; when they’d all thought Nightshade had turned bad. But now she understood it was never his fault; she had her soul mate back – for keeps!
Sorrel, Campion and Bryony turned towards the door, gesturing for the girls to follow, giving Queen Tara and Nightshade some privacy for their emotional reunion. Quietly they walked out, closing the door softly behind them.
Once clear of the secure room, Sorrel spoke excitedly, “We shall have a party tonight; there’s much to celebrate - thanks to you both! Please say you’ll come? He clasped his hands together as if to beg them.
“We’d love to,” the girls answered without hesitation and in unison, making their friends laugh.
As they made their way out into the fresh air, all five paused to look skywards. It was now clear and bright. There was just the odd wisp of dark cloud here and there, dissipating quickly like paint droplets into water. Soon there would be little to show of the storm that had threatened to engulf Serenia and their own world with it.
It was as if even the plants and animals themselves knew they had been given a new lease of life; birds were singing with renewed vigour, flowers were unfurling and the sweet comforting smell of lavender that the girls had come to associate with Serenia, was permeating the air once more.
A stream of fairies following behind them skipped and flew out from the Great Oak, in which they had all sought refuge, each one eager to begin the preparations for the celebrations that night.
Once the finishing touches had been made, the glade fell still as all the fairies hastily went back to their homes to change, leaving the girls to enjoy a rare moment of quiet.
“Isn’t it serene here?” Sophie sighed. “Serene…Serenia! I see why they called it that now,” she added, pleased to have made the connection.
“Oh yes,” Felicity smiled, “very appropriate. It is especially calm and peaceful here, like a little corner of Heaven.” They fell into silence as they soaked in its tranquillity.
“It’s a shame we haven’t anything pretty to wear,” Felicity said wistfully.
“Yes, it would be nice,” Sophie conceded, “but I don’t think I could get any happier if I tried right now. It doesn’t seem to matter to me in the same way as it might have done at home.”
Felicity nodded in agreement as they leant into each other affectionately and lapsed back into silence, trying to take a photograph of it all in their minds eye, in case they never had the opportunity to return.
The tree itself had been decorated with tiny coloured lights. Spiders had spun webs for the fairies to hang water droplets from, and they swung and glistened like precious jewels.
Birds had helped collect the flower petals which had fallen during the winds, and then had scattered them on the ground around the foot of the Great Oak to make the most beautiful scented carpet.
Toadstalls had been gathered and dotted about, small ones for tables and chairs and the largest to dance or rest beneath.
Fairies, laden with food and drink making them too heavy to fly, had run in and out of the Great Oak in two long lines like worker ants, and set it all out on long tables. Sophie marvelled to herself as to where it had all come from with such short notice!
And providing an amazing focal point in the distance, lit up and shimmering as if it were a mirage, sat the castle, once again to be Queen Tara’s rightful home.
New Beginnings
Just a short while later, as everyone returned, the air began to buzz with excited chatter and care-free laughter. The fairies were swathed in beautiful dresses and suits made with the daintiest and most elegant materials the girls had ever seen.
Random strains of music stopped and started as a band fine-tuned its instruments. Once the band was in full swing, the rose petal carpet was soon awash with dancers. Those hovering just off the floor whipped the petals up with the turbulence of their wings so that they too looked like they were unable to resist joining in!
Everyone danced and danced, laughed and ate, until they felt they could dance no more and their stomachs were fit to burst.
Sophie and Felicity, who’d found brief respite under a secluded toadstall from all the fairies who wanted to dance with them, couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that Queen Tara was absent. It just didn’t feel quite right without her.
Then, as if she’d read their thoughts, the music stopped and a gasp went up as she came into view and alighted onto a small stage.
Her people bowed and curtseyed, yet unable to take their eyes off of her. She looked stunning! The tiara she wore in her hair radiated a warm golden glow. Pearl earrings and a matching necklace complimented her dress, where more pearls adorned the bodice. The moonlight played over them giving them the appearance of droplets of pearlised milk. The dress itself was made of the finest silk, dyed in the softest shade of pink. From her tiny waist the tiered, lace-edged fabric fell like a waterfall, right down to her dainty ankles. Her exquisite shoes, glittering with sparkle dust, completed her attire. She raised both hands above her head, one of which was holding her very special wand, then by lowering them slowly she indicated for everyone to be seated.
A strange apprehension fell over the waiting fairies, unable to prevent themselves from remembering the last time someone stood on that very spot with the terrible news that Queen Tara herself, and The Book, had been captured.
Queen Tara took a deep breath, before addressing the uneasy crowd. “As you know all too well, it has been a very trying time lately. In fact none of us would be here at all if it wasn't for the bravery and steadfast belief of Felicity and Sophie…” She was forced to pause as a great cheer of relief and joy went up from the crowd.
When hush returned, she continued, “As a token of our gratitude, I would like to present them with a gift on behalf of us all. Please… come.” She beckoned for the girls to step up onto the stage with her.
They curtseyed to her shyly before they stood at her side. Bryony stepped up and handed the Queen
something.
She continued, “I asked The Book for a fitting gift, and this is what it drew and gave life to.”
As she held the object out to the girls, the cloth which had been covering it simply melted away like smoke, but when it cleared, what it revealed was unimaginable. It was another book!
“This book has the same powers as mine,” Queen Tara continued to explain. “Such is our debt of gratitude to you, that The Book has seen fit to bestow upon you the greatest gift possible; a copy of itself! It is yours to keep and use with great care. Once in your land it will look plain and ordinary, so as not to draw attention, but as you now both understand, it is anything but!”
“Wow!” the girls gasped, blushing profusely at the magnitude of such a gift, let alone the wonderful speech the Queen had given and the amazing things she’d said about them.
Felicity tentatively took their Book from her and, almost mesmerised by it, she stroked it softly and slowly, turning it in her hands as if touching it might help her believe what she was in possession of. This one was pink and each page was edged with shimmering silver fairy dust. In its spine was a pen snuggled safe. It gave a little wriggle, as if in acknowledgement of their presence.
“I don’t know what to say. We have had the best time - although it was almost the worst!” added Sophie hastily.
“This gift is way too much - are you sure?” questioned Felicity. Some affectionate laughter rippled round the onlookers.
“Most certainly,” reaffirmed Queen Tara. A resounding cheer went up again, everyone clearly eager to echo her sentiments.
Suddenly there was a flash of purple as Nightshade swooped down onto the little stage. Horrified shrieks ripped through the crowd as they all shrank back.
Felicity instinctively protected The Book, wrapping it tightly in her arms and turning her body away defensively. Sorrel and Campion darted forward to restrain him.
“Oh no, don’t be afraid. I mean you no harm,” Nightshade retreated back and up into the air a short way, holding up his hands to show no malice. He continued, addressing Sophie and Felicity, “I simply wish to have the chance to thank you both myself. You have set me free! If there is ever… ever,” he emphasised, “anything you need, I will be at your service.” He alighted back onto the stage and bowed, but before he could straighten again, the girls rushed at him and almost bowled him over with the biggest hug.