The Warble

by Victoria Simcox

  “No! I’ll warn them. You all stay here and keep watch for anything else that might look fishy,” Roage said. Then he flew off in search of the fairy colony.

  ~ ~ ~

  While Kristina and Werrien slept peacefully under the stars, the zelbocks grew closer and closer to where they lay. The leader of the zelbocks stopped again and suspiciously sniffed the air. “I smell the remains of a fire,” he said. They were now less than an hour away from the two children.

  Meanwhile, Roage was flying through the dark forest in search of the fairy colony, and he was having a hard time seeing in the dark. He’d stop occasionally to perch on a tree branch to figure out what direction to take. Finally, while in flight, he heard the trickling of a brook, and he knew he was near.

  Fairies always lived by brooks, where they had access to clean water for daily living. Their homes were high in the tall trees, in holes made by woodpeckers.

  Roage flew amid the trees until he found the tallest and largest one, where Oreades, King of the Fairies lived. Roage landed on one of the branches and then hopped his way up to the highest branch at the top of the tree, where there was a very large bulge in the trunk. Inside was King Oreades’s home. He found the tiny door in the bulge and pecked on it. There was no response, so he pecked on it a second time. He waited patiently and then a light shone through a tiny stained-glass window in the door. The door opened, and King Oreades, dressed in shimmering royal blue, stood in the doorway, holding a tiny lantern.

  Roage bowed and said, “Sorry to wake you, Your Highness, but we have seen a band of zelbocks passing through the forest.”

  King Oreades’s face went pale, for he knew that this could only mean something bad was about to happen. “They must know that the Warble has returned,” he said.

  “The Warble has returned?” Roage was taken by surprise.

  “I will wake my daughter at once and have her go to warn the children.”

  King Oreades said farewell to Roage and watched through his window until Roage disappeared into the dark forest. Then he went to his daughter’s bedside and held his lantern over her. “Clover?”

  Clover sat up and rubbed her eyes.

  “You must leave at once to warn Werrien and the girl that zelbocks are in the forest, searching for them.”

  “I was afraid that this would happen. Werrien would be better off to deliver the Warble by himself. That girl will only get him caught,” Clover said disdainfully.

  “Do I detect a bit of jealousy?”

  Clover didn’t respond.

  “I expect more from you, Clover. Remember, you are a fairy princess, and it is your duty to be kind and help all in need. But that is not how you are behaving.”

  Clover sighed. “I’d best be going.” She got out of bed and headed for the door.

  King Oreades watched again through the window, this time as his daughter flew away into the dark forest.

  Looper, who had been listening from his bed, wanted to go with Clover but he knew his father wouldn’t let him go out so late in the night. He waited for him to go back to bed and when he was sure the king was sleeping, he snuck out of the house to catch up with his sister.

  While flying through the forest, Clover heard strange noises, like owls hooting, frogs croaking, and spooky hissing sounds. She had never before left her house so late at night to go into the forest. Being alone in the deep, dark woods was a lot different than just going a few trees away from her own to visit a fellow fairy—and it was much scarier.

  She suddenly heard a weird noise very close to her, and she quickly flew up to a tree branch to hide. Standing very still, she glanced about the dark forest. She could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Soon after, she decided that what she had heard was probably nothing to worry about, so she decided to carry on her search for Werrien and Kristina. Though just as she was about to leave the branch, she felt something cold, wet, and stringy tickling her on her back. She jumped around and at the same time, something jumped down from above and onto the branch where she was standing—and it growled. Clover quickly broke a small twig off the tree and held it out in front of herself, like a sword.

  “It’s just me, silly!” Looper said laughing.

  “I should whip your behind with this branch!” Clover said angrily.

  “Calm down, Sis. I just didn’t want you to have to go all alone, so I caught up with you.”

  “Aren’t you sweet,” Clover sneered.

  Looper looked over Clover’s shoulder and saw a light coming through the trees ahead of them. “Clover, we must hide quickly!”

  “If you don’t stop playing pranks on me, I’ll—” Clover was interrupted by the sound of something coming toward them. Looper quickly pulled her close to the tree’s trunk, and the two of them stood straight as pins against it.

  A band of zelbocks walked under the tree. The leader stopped his horse and looked around suspiciously. “We’re very close to the two children,” he said.

  Clover and Looper stood very quietly, hardly breathing, as the zelbocks stood beneath them.

  Finally, the leader said, “Move on,” and the band of zelbocks moved onward.

  “That was a close one,” Clover said.

  “Yeah! Aren’t you glad I snuck out of the house? You’d probably have been caught by the zelbocks and brought to Queen Sentiz’s palace, where you’d spend the rest of your days as a slave fairy,” Looper said.

  “Looper, you’re lucky that I don’t have time to argue with you. We have to beat the zelbocks to Werrien—or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “Or else the zelbocks will surely capture him, and maybe even kill him, and then they’ll take the Warble and destroy it.”

  “And what do you think they’ll do with Kristina?”

  “Oh, yeah, her.” Clover’s lips pursed. Then she said, “I suppose they’ll do the same to her.”

  The two of them jumped off the branch and flew as fast as they could through the dark forest until they were very close behind the zelbocks.

  “What are we going to do if we don’t get to Werrien and Kristina first?” Looper whispered.

  “That can’t happen. We just have to get to him—I mean them—before the zelbocks do.”

  The band of zelbocks stopped again. “We are very near. I can smell them,” the leader said.

  “Look between those trees. There they are!” another zelbock said.

  The leader grinned, revealing his rotten, spike-like teeth. “Our mission is almost accomplished,” he said and laughed in a horrible way.

  “What are we going to do, Clover? They’ve found them!” Looper whimpered.

  “We’ll have to get to them before the zelbocks do.”

  “We’ll never make it.”

  “We must!” Clover pulled her brother by his arm to head in a different direction.

  The fairies flew as fast as they could through the trees to try to beat the zelbocks to where Werrien and Kristina lay sleeping. But they were too late—the zelbocks had already arrived.

  The leader stopped his horse and quickly dismounted. Werrien heard him and woke up. He stood up and tried to draw his knife, but the zelbock threw a burlap sack over Werrien’s head. Taysha reared up at the zelbocks in an attempt to stop them, but they whipped her, and she ran off.

  Werrien strained to fight his way out of the sack, but when two more zelbocks joined in, he was outnumbered. They carried him to the leader’s horse. Looper, having arrived only a few seconds after the zelbocks, flew over to Kristina, who was hiding with Raymond behind a tree. “Quick! Follow me,” Looper whispered.

  Kristina followed Looper, but a zelbock noticed her. “Grab the girl! She’s trying to escape!” the ugly creature yelled to another zelbock.

  The zelbock grabbed Kristina and carried her to his horse. She kicked at him and pounded him with her fists, but the zelbock was much stronger than she was. Then, just as he was about to throw her onto the back of his hor
se, Raymond crawled out of Kristina’s vest and bit the zelbock, hard, on his hand. The zelbock dropped Kristina, and she ran with Raymond as fast as she could into the forest.

  “After her!” the zelbock shouted.

  Three more zelbocks chased after her, but Looper guided her to a hiding place inside a thorn brush. “Quick! Hide in here,” Looper said, showing her a small hole in the bush that was just big enough for her to crawl into.

  Kristina crawled inside the tangled thorn bush, trying to avoid the large, sharp thorns that stuck out at her from all directions. When she was inside, she sat very still, trying not to breathe too hard, but after being chased by the zelbocks, she was practically out of breath.

  The zelbocks searched for her and came very close to finding her. They even stood right beside the thorn bush where she was hiding. As they sniffed the air, she sat very still. They were so close that she could see their ugly greenish-brown feet with their long, cracked yellow toenails. It felt like an eternity, but sitting still in the thorn bush paid off—the zelbocks finally decided to leave.

  16

  As the zelbocks were leaving, Kristina could feel the heat from their torches as they passed by her. The leader suddenly yelled, “Halt!” The horse that was carrying Werrien stopped right beside the thorn bush where Kristina was huddled and its zelbock rider got off to check if the sack in which they’d placed Werrien was tied down securely. Kristina was so close to the sack that she could have reached out and touched it. But that would have meant doom for Werrien and her, and she felt hopeless as the zelbock leader mounted his horse and rode away. After she was sure they were gone, she crawled out of the prickly thorn bush. The air was still as she stood in the dark forest, with only Raymond for company, but that was about to change.

  Like a flash of lightning, Clover flew down from a nearby tree branch. “Hurry! There’s no time to waste!” she said, urgently. “We must get you and the Warble to the top of Mount Bernovem before Queen Sentiz tortures Werrien—or maybe even kills him!” She began to fly away and expected Kristina to follow her, but Kristina stood still, not knowing what to say or do. When Clover noticed that she wasn’t following her, she flew back and stopped abruptly in midair, very close to Kristina’s face. “What’s the matter with you? Why won’t you come?”

  “There’s somewhat of a slight problem,” Kristina said.

  Clover put her hands on her hips. “And what might that be?”

  “I…don’t have the Warble.”

  Clover clenched her fists angrily at her sides. “You lost the Warble? I knew it! I just knew you would fumble this mission,” she ranted. Then she turned around and began to fly away.

  “Wait a minute!” Kristina yelled after her. Clover didn’t turn around to acknowledge her, so Kristina yelled again, “I gave it to Werrien!”

  Like a speeding bullet, Clover flew back to her. “You gave what to Werrien?”

  “The Warble.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted him to carry it.”

  “Aww! Isn’t that sweet?” Clover taunted her. “Now look what you’ve done. You ruined any chance of Bernovem gaining back its freedom.”

  “Well, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because I have no way of knowing where I need to bring it,” Kristina yelled.

  In the midst of their argument, Looper flew up to them. “I know where they’re taking Werrien. We must hurry and follow them!” he panted.

  “Where?” Clover asked.

  “To a horrible prison in the city of Salas.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I followed the zelbocks, and I overheard them discussing it.”

  “If our father knew you were out here, following zelbocks, you wouldn’t be allowed out of the colony for the rest of your childhood years.”

  “Look, Sis! If not for me, you won’t be able to find Werrien in time, and the zelbocks will surely deliver him into the hands of Queen Sentiz.”

  Clover sneered at Looper. “If you wouldn’t talk so much, we could already be on our way.”

  The fairies flew ahead of Kristina, lighting the way.

  “It’ll still be a ways before we’re out of this forest,” Looper said. Then, as if from nowhere, they could hear the sound of something running toward them. “Quick! Take cover! Something’s chasing us!”

  The fairies flew up to a high branch in a tree, but Kristina couldn’t find a place to hide, so she began to run. She ran as fast as she could, with Raymond clinging to her for dear life. Whatever it was that was chasing her was quickly gaining ground on her.

  Was this going to be the end of her life? Did she survive the arrows of the mysterious black-cloaked figure, and then almost drowning in the raging Indra River, only to be murdered by a disgusting foul creature like the zelbock? The thought of this was so horrifying. Tears began to stream down her face. She tried her hardest not to give up, but the cramp was back in her side, and the more she ran, the more it intensified, like a sharp knife piercing her. She soon couldn’t run any farther, and so she stopped behind a large tree to catch her breath. As she leaned against the tree, she could hear whatever was chasing her had stopped dead in its tracks—on the other side of the tree. It, too, was breathing heavily from the chase.

  Raymond poked his head out of Kristina’s vest and whispered, “Well, if we have to go, at least we’ll go together.”

  “Thanks, Raymond. That really makes me feel better,” Kristina whispered back.

  Raymond crawled back inside her vest. Kristina closed her eyes, as whatever had been chasing her slowly came around to her side of the tree. She could feel its warm, moist breath on her face. “Open your eyes,” it said.

  Kristina opened one eye, and then the other. To her surprise, standing in front of her was Taysha, and at her side were Clover and Looper, giggling.

  Kristina swatted at the fairies but of course they were too quick and agile for her to hit them. “You little brats!” she said. “Taysha! Why didn’t you say that it was you?”

  “You should know by now that the quieter we are in these woods, the better. We can’t take the risk of your getting caught by the zelbocks,” Taysha answered.

  “You have a good point, but you scared me almost to death.” Kristina reached her arms around Taysha’s neck and hugged her.

  “We must hurry. There’s no time to waste. Get on my back.”

  Raymond poked his head out of Kristina’s vest again. “We’re going to ride on her again? How can you be sure she won’t rub us off against a tree—or something even worse? I surely don’t trust her.”

  “Don’t be so rude, Raymond,” Kristina said.

  “She almost stepped on me.”

  Taysha snorted at Raymond, and he ducked back down into Kristina’s vest.

  This was the first time that Kristina rode Taysha by herself, and everything was going quite smoothly until they came across a large fallen tree that was blocking their way. All around the tree were overgrown thorn bushes.

  “How are we going to get around this?” Kristina asked.

  “You’re just going to have to hold on!” Taysha said.

  Kristina grabbed hold of Taysha’s mane and with that, Taysha leaped high in the air and over the tree. Kristina slid sideways a little but didn’t fall off. “Wow! That was actually quite fun,” she said.

  As the group traveled on, the darkness started to fade and the early-morning light set in.

  “Look! We’re almost out of the forest,” Looper said, pointing toward the east.

  “And it’s a good thing,” Clover said to Looper, “because we’ll have to get home before father wakes and sees that you’ve left the colony.”

  “Do you really have to go?” Kristina asked Looper.

  “I’m afraid so,” Looper said sadly.

  “How am I to know how to get to the city of Salas?”

  “It’s easy; you head south until you come to the Citnalta Sea. Then follow the cliffs and bluffs east, along the sea, until you see a small cotta
ge off to your left. Then head north, over the hills, until you come to a dwarfs’ burial ground. At that point, you will head east, and then you will run into the city of Salas.”

  After Looper finished explaining the directions to Kristina, they said good-bye, and Kristina headed out of the forest. She would miss Looper’s company; as for Clover, maybe not as much.

  17

  Eagerly waiting to meet Queen Sentiz; Davina, Hester, and Graham sat in the lavish atrium. They were gazing up at all the exotic plants when the door opened and one of the queen’s servants, a gnome, entered the room. He was carrying a shimmering golden tray, and upon it sat a large mound of powdered cream puffs. The children’s eyes lit up as the gnome, dressed like a court jester, walked up to them with the tray. “Cream puffs, anyone?” he asked, placing the tray on a table in front of the children.

  Without even saying, “Yes, please”—or anything else, for that matter—Davina, Hester, and Graham started digging into the sugary confections. As they devoured the treats, the servant gnome stood silent, like a soldier on guard.

  “Well, are you going to put on a show for us?” Graham asked him, with his mouth stuffed full.

  The gnome didn’t answer or even seem to listen to him. Graham looked at Davina and Hester and shrugged his shoulders. The three of them ate and ate, until there was only one cream puff left on the tray. Hester didn’t want it; her stomach was so full that she said she thought that she might burst. She leaned back on the couch rubbing her full belly, while Davina and Graham both grabbed at the last snowball-like morsel.

  “You had more than me. You pig!” Davina complained to Graham.

  Graham looked at Davina’s wide girth and replied, “Yeah, but you definitely don’t need another one.”

  Davina grinned and suggested, “I tell you what—why don’t we split it?”

  With his mouth still full, Graham shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I’ll go for that.”

  Davina picked up the last cream puff, but instead of breaking it in two, she placed it between her thumb and index finger and squished it. Out squirted gooey cream, all over Graham’s face.