Made of Magic and True Grit

by Landry-Daniel Lié

“It is here” he said sharply then turned around to them “You have to be ready, we do not know what is there”

  “We are” Pinly looked at Vince who nodded. Ayloo extended his hand expectantly. Pinly took out his bag of fairy dust. Ayloo took a pinch of dust and threw it in front of him. In a series of air ripples, The gate revealed itself, like a liquid wall.

  “Let us do this” Ayloo said as they walked through the gate. They were finally there, Pinly's heart was beating as if it was trying to burst out of his chest. He began to sweat, not only because he was nervous, but it was a lot hotter in Jahny than it was in mendy. Luckily, they were surrounded by oversized green sticks. Much taller than they were, the sticks swayed with the slight wind “Bamboo” Ayloo said ,holding one in his hand, there were sounds of wild birds and other animals echoing around.

  “Do not fly” Ayloo said as Pinly's feet slightly left the ground

  “We need to see where we are” Pinly replied as he popped his head up just above the bamboos. What a sight it was. How can so much evil come from such a place? Although very different, Jhany at first sight was as beautiful as Mendy. He heard Vince gasp at the beauty of it all. Endless rows of white buildings with silver ceilings, all circling an immense castle with endless silver curved sloped roofs and green flags. Pinly was not expecting that, it was overwhelming, where would they start searching for Lion in all of that? He felt a grip around his ankle, it was Ayloo pulling him down. “have you seen…” Ayloo shushed him and gestured ahead, he then put a finger behind his ear to tell him to listen. There were voices coming in their direction. They moved out of the way as fast as they could without making too much noise. Pinly discreetly looked through the bamboos. Leprechauns! They were chatting and laughing. Everything about them made him convulse with rage; their unnaturally bright green eyes, pointy ears and shiny silver hair. One wore a black leather uniform and the others were in metal armours. The one in leather was holding a thick thread, rolled around his hand and wrist. It was attached to something stubborn that Pinly could not yet see, but the thread was fully extended. Whatever was at the end of it, refused to move any further, until the green eyed creature pulled hard on it. To Pinly's horror, a young fairy with bright burgundy wings came crashing at the feet of the leprechaun. The green eyed monsters laughed and began to kick the fairy to force him up. The young one had a long, fresh scar on the left side of his face. As if being on a leash wasn't enough, he wore a muzzle and his hands were bound behind his back, probably to stop him using magic. Ayloo and Vince were watching too, in shock. Pinly’s breathing became heavier, Vince had to put a hand on his shoulder to make sure he wouldn't do anything just yet. The three leprechauns began walking away again. The little fairy reluctantly walked and stumbled behind them. When Pinly was sure the other three creatures wouldn't be able to see him, he gently threw a stone at the young fairy. It took two throws before the young one turned around. The three boys showed themselves to the little fairy and Ayloo put a fist against his chest. The young fairy didn't seem to know what to do, his eyes were wide open with sudden excitement at the sight of the boys who disappeared as soon as one of the green-eyed creatures looked back

  “Come here!” He pulled on the leash again. The young fairy began walking, but couldn't stop looking back. They followed them closely.

  “Are we following them all the way to their city?” Vince asked

  “No, we need to stop them before they get there” Ayloo said. The leprechaun arrived at a place where the grass ended. Pinly and the others stayed back, hidden. The foes stopped in front of a dozen fairies, all adults with wings of different colours. Their hands were bound just like the young one, but also around the waist which was linked to a sleigh close by. Pinly prayed this was not what it looked like, They couldn't possibly use fairies like flying horses? Pinly asked himself. They looked so defeated, eyes staring at the ground, bodies wounded and mutilated. This was worse than killing them. He saw how exhausted they looked, they struggled to stand up when the leprechauns arrived.

  “Hurry up before I get the whip out!” the leprechaun in leather shouted. His voice was the most irritating thing to Pinly. One of the armoured leprechauns bound the young one to the sleigh then hopped on it with his fellows. Without warning Vince or Ayloo, Pinly stepped into view. He had his sword tightly clutched in his hand, the other two didn't have a choice, but to follow.

  “Scum!” Pinly shouted, the leprechauns and fairies turned around. Before they could reply Pinly was mid-air, his sword ready to cut through them. They jumped out of the way with astonishing speed, making Pinly miss and cut the sleigh in half. Vince caught one and they began to battle. He was fast, almost as fast as Vince, it was impossible to tell how they struck at each other, they were just a blur of grey and gold chasing each other in and out of the bamboos. Ayloo’s opponent was extremely fast too, but Ayloo had the skills to fight him anyway. Pinly's sword clashed again and again with the leprechaun in leather, he attempted to kick Pinly in the face, but the fairy counter attacked and drove his elbow hard into his knee. The leprechaun wailed. Pinly then put his sword through the leprechaun's throat. He stood still as the body fell back, warm blood stained his arms. He couldn’t move as he watched the life leaving the leprechaun’s body. The bright green glow of his eyes faded until they were as grey as old ashes. Vince came back dragging his opponent by the hair, he was dead too. Seeing that, Ayloo's opponent used his leprechaun's incredible speed to run away, next thing they knew he was meters away, they could see his silver shape, almost at the edge of the city.

  “Do not worry” Ayloo said as he fully extended the string of an invisible bow, suddenly a white arrow made out of light appeared on it, he took a second to aim then let go of it, the arrow was so powerful it lifted a great cloud of dust as it bolted through the air. It destroyed a path through the bamboo before meeting with the leprechaun. But it was too strong, part of a building took the rest of the blow and crumbled.

  “What were you thinking?” Ayloo pushed Pinly

  “What's your problem?” Pinly replied

  “You are too reckless!” he shouted

  “Guys!” Vince came between them, in the heat of the moment the two boys had forgotten the fairies looking at them. Vince walked towards them and began cutting them loose

  “Thank you” they said as they felt their wrists finally free. Pinly and Vince went around, sprinkling fairy dust in the fairies' hands, they tossed it back in their mouths. Pinly could see their wings brightening and their skin recovering from the months of torture they had suffered. The young fairy's burgundy wings flapped when Pinly approached him. There was rage in his eyes. Pinly cut him loose. The boy immediately ripped the muzzle off his face, pinly pinched some fairy dust out of his bag and sprinkled it on the boy's hand, the boy licked his palm clean. The scar on the side of his face disappeared and his wings whilst still shiny, darkened.

  “What's your name?” Pinly asked, the boy didn't answer, he gave pinly a confused look, Pinly remembered that as a fairy the young boy might not speak the common language yet. Pinly pointed at himself “Pinly” he said then pointed at the boy “you?” He asked, the boy put a hand on his chest

  “Benji” he said

  “Ayloo, I need you to translate for me please” Pinly said, turning around to the rest of the group ”how many fairies are imprisoned here?” Pinly asked and Ayloo translated. A lean and tall fairy came forward, he bowed his head to Pinly

  “Sadik” he introduced himself then began to speak in Mendian, pointing at the different buildings. Ayloo listened attentively, before repeating it to Pinly and Vince

  “He says there are at least ten thousand fairies working in different buildings, one thousand in the castle and many others in the prison, but he has never been in there so he doesn't know how big it is or how many fairies are in there” Pinly looked up at what was obviously the prison; A very high building with barred windows all the way to the top.

  “Has any of them seen a wingless fairy that looks l
ike me anywhere?” he asked

  “There are many wingless fairies around, too many to remember” Ayloo translated. Benji walked around and looked into Pinly's eyes, he began to speak Mendian and Ayloo translated at the same time

  “There is a wingless fairy in the prison, he remembers him because he was the loudest of them all when they arrived, his skin is a bit darker than yours and he has freckles like you but his face was badly bruised. I have not seen him for a few months…” Benji stopped talking for a minute as he thought hard to remember something, then he said the only thing that mattered

  “Lion” Pinly's heart stopped, he felt numb, he wasn't sure whether to be happy or worried that they had put Lion in a prison

  “Thank you” he said to Benji. A bell chimed and agitation could be heard from the city “how many of you can fight?”Pinly asked, all the fairies began conjuring weapons “let's free as many fairies as possible. All of you go free the fairies around the city. Vince, Ayloo and I will go to the prison. The gates are still open, you fly out of here as soon as you can” Ayloo translated and they all bolted away to accomplish their different missions.

  Chapter 37

  Lion

  T he bell chimed louder inside the city. It was complete chaos. The boys were flying into mayhem, there were leprechauns running in all directions, all sorts; young and old, male and female, they took cover as their army filled the streets in no time. Fairies were being liberated and began to fight straight away. They had to act fast if they wanted to reach the prison in time. They soared above the havoc, straight to the prison. but it wasn’t any safer in the air, arrows flew in every direction, Ayloo stopped on a roof and took aim before shooting one of his powerful arrows at a leprechaun on a flying elmer, the boys arrived at the prison. They quickly took out two leprechauns guarding the entrance by pushing them off the roof, they fell to certain deaths. To Pinly’s surprise, the immense building only had one door. The one entrance was only big enough to fit one person at a time and anyone with wings wouldn't be able to just rush through it, they'd have to squeeze in order to pass.

  “What do we do?” Pinly asked and even without thinking about them, their golems began to appear, modelling themselves out of the prison's rock. The golems had begin to appear more and more often, whenever Pinly was struggling with anything or when he was too tired they would just appear and help him without even being summoned. Today the mission was a lot more important than carrying him, today the golems had to keep him alive. Vince hovered over the prison door, he then called for his golem Trampler

  “Is everyone ready?” Vince asked

  “Yes. I'll look for Lion. You guys free the other fairies, create as much chaos and confusion as possible” Pinly said, they all nodded. Vince signalled Trampler to break the door. The massive golem walked back to the edge, then ran towards the door before jumping on it, feet first. The door immediately gave out. A hole big enough for five fairies crumbled into shape. The rest of the gang charged after him. That's when Pinly heard it again; the teeth striking together, there must have been at least a hundred skulls guarding the prison by the sound of it. “Lion!” he shouted repeatedly as he flew through the long curved corridors, he passed cell after cell, one out of two cells had leprechauns in them, they seemed odd, some were banging their heads against the walls or bars, others paced vigorously whilst laughing or talking to themselves and others rocked back and forth on the floor. They were crazy. The cells with fairies were extremely crowded and not high enough for an adult fairy to stand, they didn't even have any space to spread their wings or even walk. Pinly began opening the cells “get out and free the others!” he shouted as he freed two fairies who began to do the same for the others “Lion!” He continued as he opened more cells. More and more fairies were swarming the corridors as they attempted to either free others or just fly out of the prison. The skulls started to show themselves, Pinly conjured his sword and battled his way through them “Lion!” he kept calling desperately,

  “Pinly?!” he heard a voice he hadn't heard in a long time. It wasn't Lion, but he wasn't sure whose voice that was anymore, he turned around to find Sun bud, a fairy from his City, he stood in mid-air, wingless just like him

  “Buddy!” Pinly flew to him. They quickly hugged “Do you know where Lion is?” Pinly rushed

  “Lion is probably at the lowest level, he's been giving them hell ever since we got here, the silver soldier is keeping him close by now. Although I haven’t seen him for a very long time” Sun bud said, his eyes full of worry. All sorts of emotions went through Pinly's body at the mention of the silver soldier, he felt anger but was also worried for his brother

  “Behind you!” Pinly screamed before throwing his sword inches passed Sun bud's face, it pierced through the chest of a very long-haired leprechaun. His bright green eyes faded to grey as life fled out of him “Buddy get out of here, follow the others out!” Pinly said. Sun bud looked beyond impressed at Pinly, but also scared as he began to fly away. Pinly knew no one from his village would have ever believed it if they hadn't seen it; Pinly fighting like a warrior? Saving lives? It was something to see. Now that leprechauns entered the battle inside the prison, not only skulls were after Pinly, but also regular elmers. Some in the form of large wolves chased after him. He had no time to stop and fight them. He had to find his brother as soon as possible “Nits! Blindy! Junior!” he called for his golems. They appeared out of the closest wall and didn't need to be told what to do, they immediately protected him, fiercely battling any creature that dared come close to him. He had never been so fast or so eager to find anyone. He twisted and turned, spiralled and dodged all the way down, nothing and no one could touch him, not even the leprechauns with their impressive speed. They always missed him by an inch then were forced to pull back or fight the golems and their titan like strength. When Pinly quickly glanced back, he noticed that less and less enemies were following him. There were only his three golems, running behind him “go help the others” he said to them and the rocky figures crumbled off. They were only a call away if he needed them again. That part of the prison was quiet, but it felt as dangerous as it was above. Why had the leprechauns pulled back. What, apart from Lion was down there? Then it hit him, the silver soldier was here too, somewhere “Lion” he whispered “Lion please…”

  he heard a voice that made his heart leap “Hello?” it was Lion's voice, it was the most beautiful sound he had heard in the year and a bit that had passed “who's there?” Lion asked from a distance, Pinly ran towards the voice

  “Lion it's me, it's Pinly!” he shouted

  “Pinly?!” Lion's voice shouted in shock “how did you get here?” he said as Pinly came into view, Pinly almost didn't recognise his brother physically. Lion's hair was long and dirty, his face was boney and pale with nasty scars. They held each other tightly through the bars, Lion's hands were bound like the others, but he pressed himself against the bars, tears fell from both their faces

  “Turn around I'll get these off you” Pinly let go of lion for him to turn around,

  “I didn't think you were... alive” Lion sobbed, Pinly conjured a knife

  “I am, we both are” he said, but before he could even attempt to cut the bonds, a great force struck him on the ribs, it was cold to the touch and fast. Pinly went crashing meters away, as he tried to stand up he heard armoured feet rush towards him, then kick him in the gut again and again. Lion’s voice resonated around the place, he screamed and threw himself against the bars of his cell

  “Let him go! Let him go please!” he begged “Pinly stand up and get out of here!”

  “Why?” The silver soldier chuckled “We're having so much fun” he picked Pinly up and threw him against the bars of Lion's cell

  “Pinly you have to get out of here!”

  “If you wanted to be here so badly, you should have just come at the same time as your brother” he said as he approached Pinly again

  “No! Don't touch him!” Lion screamed

&
nbsp; “Now that you're here, you can complete my collection of wingless bastards”

  “Never” Pinly muttered, he rolled to his side than flew up to the ceiling, he was now facing the silver soldier. That was everything he had trained for. Pinly threw himself at him and they began fighting. It was evident that the silver soldier was far stronger than Pinly, but he stood his ground. The silver soldier was so much stronger than the other leprechauns or the skulls he had faced so far. By the look on Lion's face he could not believe his eyes. How was Pinly so strong he probably wondered as he watched his brother punch, kick and dodge. The silver soldier pushed Pinly away and took out a sword. Pinly conjured his, both blades clashed, their ringing as they hit each other was almost deafening. BOOM! the ceiling came down and Ayloo came crashing in, he was holding a dead leprechaun in his grip. Five more foes rushed in, they were closely followed by Vince who engaged in a battle of speed with two of them, leaving the others to Ayloo and the golems who rose up from the rubble.

  “We have to go!” Ayloo managed to say between a punch and a kick, he then crushed a fast approaching elmer with one of his wings.

  “Someone open the cell first!” Pinly shouted as he struggled to fight the silver soldier, losing focus almost cost him his life as the sword of the soldier just missed to slash his neck, he jumped back. “Junior, blindy, open the cell!” he said quickly before charging at the silver soldier again, but none of the golems managed to even come close to the cell as more and more elmers entered through the hole in the ceiling, leprechauns and skulls flocked in too.

  “We have to go now!” Ayloo insisted but Pinly ignored him. There were too many enemies and the whole prison even started to shake and move. “No!” Ayloo screamed, he then beat his wings so hard that everyone had to cover their faces. A leprechaun was grinning, his boot raised up, ready to squash something. Ayloo moved just in time. He headbutted him then planted a conjured dagger in the leprechauns neck. He turned around and picked something up. It was Vince, there was a knife going through his tiny chest. From where he stood, Pinly had no idea if Vince was still alive or not. It seemed very unlikely. Ayloo struggled to find something in one of his pockets, he found some fairy dust in it, he took the knife out of Vince and hurried to feed him the dust and also sprinkled some on his body