An Army of Good

by K. D. Faerydae

  “Thank you, Great Prophet. I shall return to the beach and inform the children of all that you have said, and then together we will start the selection process.”

  “Zavier, there is one more thing that you are probably not aware of.”

  “What’s that?” Zavier asked curiously, looking up into the weeping willow’s leafy canopy.

  “Each Berthold will be given the ability to share their power with one other that is not born of this realm. Zavier, you must select one Human each for the Berthold to share their power with. The Humans will not be accustomed to possessing such great powers. You must therefore select them very carefully and train them to use their gift appropriately. Only when you are certain that they have full control of this gift can the battle commence.”

  “Thank you, Great Prophet. I will ensure that all selections are made wisely,” Zavier said, backing out of the tree.

  The branches slipped over his head like a veil as they whispered, “Train them well, Zavier, for a poorly trained army may as well fight alongside the enemy.”

  * * *

  Zavier stood quietly beside the meadow pond processing everything that the Great Prophet had said to him. A battle bigger than any seen before, a war, children, an army of good, selections, powers, preparation, training… the words whizzed around in his mind like a swarm of angry bees. He shook his mane, freeing his thoughts of the fretful buzzing, held his head high, then turned and trotted assertively toward his herd, who were grazing in the north of the meadow. The herd immediately stopped feeding when they saw him approaching.

  “Hey Zavier, how are things at the beach?” Lettitia asked, her fair mane flowing behind her as she strode toward him.

  “Good, thank you. The children have settled in well. The boy child, Christian, has become very close friends with Mateo, he seems to be just as at home in the ocean as you are, Lettitia.”

  “Aww, the ocean. I miss the ocean,” Lettitia said dreamily, imagining the cool water on her skin and the warmth of the sun on her face. “Hey, can I come back to Serenity with you? I take it you are going back?” she asked.

  “Yes, of course you can, but first I must speak with the herd. Attention everyone!” he commanded.

  The horses whinnied and shuffled as they gathered around their Berthold to hear what he had to say.

  “I have just spoken with the Great Prophet and I am afraid this peaceful spell of Nomed inactivity isn’t going to last. A great battle has been foreseen and we must prepare an army to fight in it. The Great Prophet has advised that more Humans should be gathered from the Human world. They are to join with us, to help us win this war.”

  “More Humans!” Bethany and Lu Lu, the rabbit sisters, gasped, having hopped through the meadow flowers to find out what was going on.

  “I’m going to return to Serenity today, and then tomorrow, we shall begin the collection… the gathering of Humans. Ezekiel, as the fastest in the herd I set you the task of returning to the north to collect Takoda and Aurora. They are awaiting our summons and should be easy to locate. Once you have found them, bring them back with you and join us at the beach.”

  “I’m going with him,” Hazel stated, not wanting Ezekiel to travel alone.

  “No Hazel, I’ll be quicker on my own. Wait here, I’ll be back before you know it,” Ezekiel said.

  “Okay, but please be careful,” Hazel said, with tears forming puddles in her warm eyes. She remembered the last time that Ezekiel had left her, only to return with huge lacerations down his back. Wounds that had been inflicted during his run-in with the savage Nomed named Fala.

  “I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me,” he reassured her. “I’ll set off now, and meet you back at the beach house around this time tomorrow.” Ezekiel wasted no time and galloped off through the meadow grass toward Winter Forest.

  “Hazel, April and Tobias, the Humans are going to need training for this war. I would like you to accompany me back to Serenity where you can assist me with this task,” Zavier said.

  “Yeah, of course,” Tobias, the young pinto, stated calmly. Despite feeling very proud, he didn’t want to show his overwhelming excitement at being asked to assist with such a grown-up and important matter, so he acted as if it were a normal occurrence, but really, inside his mind he was screaming ‘AWESOME!’ at the top of his voice.

  * * *

  Zavier and the selected Halfses began the journey back to Serenity Sunrise Beach. As they trotted around the east side of the pond, and approached the bank of poppies that bordered the meadow grass and the sand of the beach, Zavier became aware of some movement. Something was springing in and out of the long grass. It was Preble, the jumping meadow mouse, his long, kangaroo-like hind limbs propelling him into the air, while his delicate little forelimbs waved frantically, trying to get Zavier’s attention.

  Zavier lowered his head into the meadow grass so that Preble could jump on in order to speak into his ear. The little mouse hopped onto Zavier’s velvety nose, scurried up the length of his face to the top of his head and grasped hold of his ear rim, popping the whole of his tiny mouse head inside.

  “Hey, Zavier!” he bellowed into the cave-like canal. “The dragonflies tell me that you’re going to be gathering more Humans. They say there’s a great battle coming, is that right?”

  “I’m afraid so, Preble, but don’t worry. When the war is upon us we shall be ready and, for now at least, the Nomeds are inactive, giving us the perfect opportunity to prepare ourselves and also allowing us time to safely bring more Humans into Liberty.”

  “Well, good luck and let me know if there’s anything that I can help you with, won’t you?” the mouse said. Then he let go of Zavier's ear and sprang into the air, landing in the centre of a fluffy dandelion seed-head. Hundreds of cottony seed-umbrellas were sent parachuting into the air, floating gently all around him.

  “I will. Thanks, Preble,” Zavier replied, and as for luck, we are going to need plenty of that! he thought to himself, as the tiny mouse waved him a fond farewell through the hazy flurry of seed.

  CHAPTER 4

  FOUR AT A TIME

  “Flippin’ heck, she must be the most beautiful girl in the whole of the world!” Christian declared, as he watched Lettitia wading out of the sea. She was sweeping her wet blonde hair back off her tanned face with one hand, while the other was held out behind her, fingers gently running through the glistening water as if she were trying to pull the ocean ashore with her.

  “Yes, I think she probably is,” Grace agreed, as she and Christian looked out over the beach from the swinging chair on the veranda. “And have you noticed her eyes? They are the same colour as the water.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.” Christian grinned.

  “So Grace, what do you think about having to select more Humans to come into Liberty? Do you know who you’re gonna choose yet?” he asked.

  “Well, Zavier said we have to choose very carefully, and we have to ensure that we only pick good, kind people.”

  “Yeah, I know. Well your family are good and kind, and so are mine, so we should definitely pick them.”

  “Yes, I agree. What about Henrietta, though? I don’t think I should pick her. She’s spiteful, but she is family.” Grace shrugged.

  “Well, I know she pulled the head off your doll, but that was ages ago. And she did share her sweets with me once, so maybe she’s not all bad. Don’t forget, Zavier did say we need as many people as possible, didn’t he? Maybe we should give her a chance.”

  “Yeah, I s’pose.” Grace sighed unconvinced. “Okay then, so we pick both our families. Who else?”

  “Paul from across the close. He manages my football team. He said I could probably make it as a professional footballer when I’m older. He’s good and kind, and he’s well strong.”

  “Is he the big man from number one who’s covered in tattoos, the one that sells poppies for the soldiers and their families on Remembrance Day? My mum calls him Poppy Paul.”

  “Yeah that�
�s the one. My mum calls him Poppy Paul too,” Chris laughed.

  “Okay, we’ll pick him, and maybe some of the rest of our close.”

  “What, even Elsie?”

  “Yeah, definitely Elsie, she’s the kindest person I know!”

  “Yeah, and the oldest. I don’t think she’ll be very good at fighting the Nomeds, do you?”

  “You didn’t see her out in her garden, waving her walking stick at the fox that tried to get at DD. She looked pretty fierce then. Who’d of thought an old lady would get so angry and go all ninja to protect her pet rabbit?” Grace laughed.

  Ice flew onto the veranda and perched on the wooden balustrade.

  “What are you two giggling about?” she asked.

  “We’ve been choosing good people to come here and help us fight the Nomeds.”

  “My mum and dad, they’re good,” Chris said.

  “Yep, and we’ve chosen my mum and dad, my brothers, Poppy Paul and Elsie.”

  “Slow down Grace, I can only gather four Humans at a time. Four is the maximum amount of people I can use the cloning enchantment on. So let’s just start with four and go from there, okay?”

  “Oh, that’s easy then we’ll start with my mum, dad, Dan and Harry, that’s four,” Grace said, grinning. She swung her legs harder, making the chair swing faster, as she thought happily about seeing her family again.

  * * *

  Zavier was down on the beach chatting with Lettitia.

  “Lettitia, I know you’ve just finished your swim, but could you go back out there for me and find Mateo? Ask him to tell Pelagia that he is required to come ashore tomorrow morning. Ezekiel should be back by then, along with Aurora and Takoda. I want all of the Berthold at the beach house when Ice and I arrive back with the next gathering of Humans.”

  “Sure,” Lettitia replied, needing no excuse for another swim. She waded back out into the ocean, and dived in, gracefully slipping under its surface without creating so much as a ripple.

  * * *

  “Why can you only do the cloning enchantment on four at a time?” Grace asked, bringing the swinging chair to a halt and planting her feet firmly on the decked veranda.

  “Well, it’s because of what I need to do in order to perform the enchantment.”

  “What do you need to do?”

  “Do you remember that night in your garden when we met? Before we left for Liberty and I had to clone you both, I plucked a hair from each of you?”

  “Yeah,” Grace and Chris replied.

  “That’s because I needed something that contained your DNA and the root of your hair contains DNA. And do you know that owls produce pellets after a meal?”

  “Ughh, yeah, I was watching a wildlife programme with my mum and dad once, it showed an owl hoicking up a revolting looking mush of fur, bone and stuff. Ughh!” Chris shuddered.

  “Well, I need to use a special kind of pellet that I mix with the hair, skin, scale, or feather of whatever is being cloned; and then, I plant it.”

  “Plant it!” Grace and Chris guffawed.

  “Yes, I plant it like a seed, and a clone grows just like a flower, but much quicker.”

  “So what makes the pellet special? And I still don’t understand why you can only do four clonings at a time,” Grace said, baffled.

  “The pellets have to be special regeneration pellets. I can produce these only after I have fed from a starfish.”

  Grace gasped in horror at the thought of Ice eating one of the beautiful, glowing sea creatures.

  “It’s okay, Grace, I don’t harm them. Starfish don’t possess the same nervous system that we do and therefore they don’t experience pain in the same way as us. They also have the ability to re-grow. So you see, I simply peck off one of their arms, and voilà, they grow a new one.”

  “You owls are sooo disgusting!” Chris said, screwing up his face.

  “It was lucky that on the day the Great Prophet told us we would need to collect you, as soon as I could, I ate a starfish arm in preparation, or we wouldn’t have been able to clone you, and your poor families would be frantic with worry. Anyway, several hours after the starfish meal, a regeneration pellet is produced. I can re-eat these pellets, and then use them when needed, but there’s only enough in one pellet to create around four clones, so that is why we can only collect four Humans at a time.”

  “But what about Francis? He’s an owl too. He could eat a starfish arm as well, produce a pellet, and then you could create eight,” Grace declared.

  “That is very true, Grace, but Francis has returned home to the Giant Horse Chestnut in Bluebell Wood for a while. He will come back here tomorrow, but there is absolutely no way Zavier’s going to want three of the Berthold absent from Liberty at the same time. I know the Nomeds are inactive at the moment, but having three of the Berthold away at once might just be an open invitation for them to reappear, and we don’t want that now, do we?”

  “We certainly do not. I haven’t learnt how to fight against them yet,” Chris asserted.

  “Well, we best get practising then!” Grace shouted, and she pulled Chris off the chair and onto the floor, jumping on him and waving her arms in the air while pulling the strangest of faces, as she tried to impersonate a Nomed.

  Grace and Christian had reversed rolls in Liberty. Chris was normally the tougher of the two, a typical boy, always fighting; but here he was timid, insecure and afraid. Grace, on the other hand, had a new-found confidence. She was stronger, braver. She pinned Chris to the deck by his arms and pretended to eat him while making growling sounds.

  The children continued to roll around on the veranda in a fit of playful laughter.

  If only it really were that much fun to fight with the Nomeds, Ice thought as she looked down at the gleeful pair. She closed her eyes and sighed, a deep and sorrowful sigh. She realised the innocent children still had no idea what atrocious horrors lay ahead of them.

  * * *

  The next morning, as the sun began its ascent in the east, painting the ocean a rich shade of burnt orange, Ice swooped down from the beach house, soared across the calm sea and plucked a starfish from the shallows, sending ripples across the water that gave the ocean the shimmering appearance of a gently glowing fire. Ice flew to some rocks, where she placed the starfish down and began to peck off a small piece from one of its arms. She stretched her head toward the warmth of the rising sun, closed her eyes and gulped, swallowing her starfish breakfast. Once she had consumed enough of the marine animal for the cloning enchantment, she spread her wings, taking flight, and dropped the starfish back into the glistening water. Zavier was waiting for her by the estuary bridge. She dived down, grasped his silver mane with her beak and talons, and they headed off into the new dawn; off to the Human world, for the cloning and collection of the first four… the collection of Grace’s family.

  *The Human World*

  CHAPTER 5

  THE DARLINGS

  Droplets of water rained down on Zavier from the trees overhead. They covered his silver coat and glistened in the sun, giving the impression that he’d been sprinkled with a dusting of diamonds. The last remains of the snow were melting in Witern Wood, unveiling the grey and brown colours of winter. Fallen leaves that would normally have crunched underfoot were moistened by the melt and they stuck to Zavier’s hooves in clumps, quietening his approach as he navigated his way through the tree-lined pathways toward Grace’s back gate.

  When Zavier and Ice arrived, they could hear muffled voices, and the sound of wood being hammered. The noise was coming from Grace’s garden. Unsure of who it was that was making the noises, Zavier and Ice hung back, hiding behind the foliage of an evergreen bush.

  “Bloody hooligans! Just you wait till I get my hands on the idiots that did this. Mindless vandalism, that’s what it is. Well, I tell you what, when I find out who decided it would be fun to smash up my fence, I’ll be sending them the bill for the new panel, and I’ll be giving them a piece of my mind to boot!” Evan grumbled
furiously as he nailed the panel secure.

  “I know, darling, but it’s not worth getting upset over. I don’t know who’d have done such a thing, and it’s completely beyond me how not even one person that was at the party knows anything about it. Anyway, like I say,” Mary said, rubbing Evan’s shoulder sympathetically, “it’s not worth getting upset over. Come on in and I’ll make you a nice cuppa and a bacon sarnie.”

  “Okay, thanks love,” Evan sighed, “I’ll just pack my tools away, be there in a second.”

  “Mum, Dad, I’m going to Elsie’s now,” Grace’s clone yelled from the back door.

  “Okay, sweetheart,” Mary replied as she walked back down the garden toward the house.

  Zavier and Ice looked at each other, silently acknowledging that the man and woman’s voices were indeed those of Grace’s parents, and that now was the right time to make their move.

  “Don’t you think it would be best if you changed into your Human form for this?” Ice whispered.

  “Probably yes, but I forgot to bring any clothes with me,” Zavier whispered. “I’m trying to decide which will be the least shocking for them, a talking horse, or a naked man wandering into their garden from the woods?”

  Ice widened her eyes in agreement, “Well, I think maybe you should go for the talking horse. You never know, it might just be the kind of shock that they need in order to believe what we’re about to tell them. A naked man, on the other hand, will probably result in a phone call to the police!”

  “Talking horse it is then,” Zavier affirmed. Then, walking forwards, he hung his head over the Darlings’ back gate and emitted a soft nicker.