by Sam Ferguson
“Not all ladybugs are female,” Miranda said impatiently.
“Who is after you?” Vindriel asked.
“We don’t know,” Jason replied.
Vindriel then looked to Miranda and pointed at her. “You, you look like the man who came here a while back.”
“You met my father?” Miranda asked.
Vindriel nodded. “He came to speak with—”
A banging came at the door.
“He is here,” Vindriel said breathlessly. “Quickly, hide!”
The fairie shoved the three of them behind Alfax and then exited the room.
Jonathan peeked around the edge of the bug to see Vindriel standing just outside the room, in the foyer. She was weaving her hands in the air and a glowing, glittering line began to appear before her.
A loud explosion erupted and the house shook.
“Where are they?” someone shouted. Heavy footsteps echoed in the hall outside the room and Jonathan understood that whoever was chasing them had just blasted his way into the mushroom house.
Vindriel stood tall in her white dress. “You are not welcome here!” She sent out a blast of energy and another force shook the house.
A male voice laughed wickedly and then Vindriel was engulfed in fire.
Jonathan moved to step around the large ladybug, but Alfax lashed out with a kick that knocked Jonathan to the floor. The beetle then scurried out of the room faster than any of them would have thought possible. With a shriek that nearly pierced their ears, the insect wheeled around to the left and its shell opened to reveal a set of thin, translucent black wings. The male voice yelled out and there was a great commotion.
Jason helped Jonathan up to his feet while Miranda sprinted for Vindriel. The three of them got to her just as a thunderous humming noise swarmed around the house. Jonathan looked to the doorway, but couldn’t see the attacker, for the ladybug blocked his view. A bit of blood splattered onto the floor and then there was a puff of smoke and flame. Alfax hissed and rose up on his hind legs, and the attacker fled.
Outside, the commotion grew louder and louder. Shouts and cries could be heard coming from all directions. Then there was a loud ka-slam! The echoes reverberated through the air like thunder.
“Sounds like he got away,” Miranda commented.
Jonathan nodded and then looked up to see a pair of fairies enter the house.
“Vindriel!” one of them called out.
“She’s over here,” Miranda cried.
The two fairie warriors flew over to them and began administering to Vindriel with a strange, icy blue magic that flowed out from their palms.
“Who was that?” one of the warriors asked.
“We don’t know,” Jason answered. “Did he get away?”
“Yes, but not before he dropped this,” one of the warriors said as he handed a strange, silver charm to Jonathan. Jonathan studied the symbol on it, but didn’t recognize it. He tossed it to Jason. “Do you recognize this?”
Jason shook his head and pocketed the item.
“The bees are here now,” one of the fairies said.
“Who are the bees?” Jason asked.
One of the warriors looked up to Jason incredulously. “Honeybees,” he said simply. “They help protect our lands from intruders.”
“Are there many intruders here?” Jonathan asked. “I thought this was a sanctuary.”
One of the warriors shook his head. “Not many intruders, but it happens from time to time.”
They went back to their work, healing some of Vindriel’s larger burns with their magic.
“I thought there was no magic that could heal burns,” Miranda said breathlessly. “This is incredible.”
Vindriel coughed and sat up slowly. “Fairie magic is among the most ancient and potent of powers on Terramyr,” she said. “We have many skills.”
“Can you teach me?” Miranda asked.
Vindriel shook her head as she waved the other two fairies off. “No, our magic only works in our realm. Even if you could master the skills, you would only be able to use it while living within our borders.”
“Do you know who the intruder was?” one of the warriors asked her.
Vindriel shook her head. “These three came, and then he came in after them.”
The two warriors looked to Jonathan menacingly.
“Explain,” one of them said.
Jonathan let his mouth fall open and he looked to Jason for help. His brother, who was usually good with words, faltered and floundered as much as he did. It was Miranda who spoke up.
“I have come in search of my father,” she said. “I believe something terrible has happened to him, and I think maybe the person who attacked us might have had something to do with my father’s disappearance.”
The warriors looked to each other and then took to wing, hovering in the air just below the ceiling. They offered a nod to Vindriel and then flew out the front door, which was in process of being repaired by yet another pair of fairies.
“Your father, was he an older wizard?” Vindriel asked softly.
Miranda nodded. “Tall, thin, with gray eyes and hair, and a long nose.”
Vindriel nodded. “That is the man I saw before, the one I told you about. He was here,” she said. “He went to ask the scholars about some sort of artifact.”
“What was it?” Jason asked.
Vindriel shook her head. “I am not sure, and the scholars told me they had never seen it, or anything like it before. They couldn’t help him. He left rather unsatisfied, I’m afraid.”
“Well, did he speak with anyone else?” Jason asked.
“He mentioned seeing Wyrebins in a letter to us, does that mean anything to you?” Miranda pressed.
Vindriel thought for a moment, rubbing the side of her head where some smudge covered a scrape she had received when the attacker had knocked her down. Her eyes lit up and she nodded. “There was one other he spoke to, though I imagine it will be rather difficult to find him.”
“Who?” Miranda asked. “Please, if you know anything that will help me find my father, you must tell me.”
Vindriel nodded. “Alfax,” she called out. The ladybug turned to her and approached. Jason and Jonathan backed away, giving the insect plenty of room. “Oh, my poor friend, you’re hurt as well,” Vindriel said. She rose to her feet and stretched her hand out to Alfax’s left antenna, which had been burned down to a nub. A green and blue energy flowed out from Vindriel’s hand and the antenna grew back before Jonathan’s eyes in a matter of seconds.
Alfax made a soft clicking noise and then nuzzled Vindriel delicately.
“Take them to Nebenuk,” she said.
Alfax clicked twice and then turned to walk outside.
“Follow him outside, then he will carry you to Nebenuk.”
“Who is that?” Miranda asked.
“He is the last person your father spoke to,” Vindriel replied.
The three of them shared a glance and then offered their sincere thanks to Vindriel for her help. The other fairies stood to one side as the three humans walked out of the mushroom and toward Alfax.
“How do you suppose he is going to carry all of us on his back?” Jason asked.
As they got closer to Alfax, the ladybug took to flight and then swooped down, scooping them all up with his strong feet and legs, and then he turned to fly through the tall, massive blades of grass.
Jonathan let out a holler as they flew at what seemed to be a blinding speed. His hair flattened back against his head and his eyes struggled to stay open as the wind rushed around them. Alfax tilted this way and that, swerving around blades of grass as he ascended higher and higher. They passed over rivers and valleys, or at least it seemed to them that they were rivers and valleys now that they were the same size as the fairies.
“Look there,” Miranda called out as she pointed to a small clearing where the grass was thinned out.
Jonathan turned his head to see a herd of white hors
es galloping alongside a stream. As he watched them run, one of the animals turned its head and then Jonathan saw a horn clearly situated upon the animal’s head.
“Unicorns!” Jason shouted. “I thought those were only a legend.”
Alfax chirped happily and swung them back into the thick of the grasses. A few moments later, the large ladybug chirped three times and flew yet higher into the air. Jason was the first to see the mud nests built onto the side of the blades of grass.
Swallows poked their heads out from inside the nests. Strangely enough, the swallows were the right proportion to Jonathan and the others, despite the fact that Alfax was very much his normal size. It appeared that all other life in the preserve was magically scaled down to exist within the small area of the building as though it were miles and miles of vast valleys and forests.
A pair of swallows launched from their nest and flew up beside Alfax, diving and looping through the air. Their feathers were golden in color, and emitted a strange gold and purple dust as they flew.
“Those are the Golden Swallows of Tirnyn,” Miranda said. “I used to read about them from a collection of bedtime stories when I was a child.”
“What do they do?” Jonathan asked.
“They are supposed to grant wishes, if you can catch them,” Miranda replied. “Trouble is, they can’t survive captivity. The only tales I ever heard either resulted in the swallow dying or being released back into the wild. They were hunted nearly to extinction by the Talman Mages a couple centuries ago.”
“I heard about them,” Jason said. “Weren’t they the ones who tried to overthrow the king?”
Miranda nodded. “Not just the king, but they also sought to establish rule over the elves.”
“I bet that didn’t go well,” Jonathan commented wryly as he watched the golden swallows swoop under them, their golden trail of dust glistening in the sunlight.
Then, as they rounded a particularly wide blade of tall grass, Jonathan shouted with excitement and pointed downward. “Look there! Wyrebins!”
The others looked down to see large, beaver-like animals chewing though the tree-sized grass and making a dam in another stream to create a pond for themselves.
“You were right!” Miranda shouted.
Jonathan smiled and watched the Wyrebins work until he could no longer see them.
It was nearly an hour before the group landed on a small mound of dark green, soft moss next to a river and flanked by what looked like miniature oak trees that stood half as tall as the grasses around them. Alfax hovered in the air while he released the three, then he turned and flew away.
“Wait,” Jason called out. “How will we get out of here?” he asked.
Alfax simply chirped twice and disappeared into the tall forest of grass.
“Now what do we do?” Jason huffed.
Jonathan was the first to answer. “We wait, right here.”
“Sure, we’ll wait here on a patch of moss in the middle of a giant forest where no one will know where we are. Probably get eaten by some sort of rat, or maybe a giant snake.”
Jonathan smirked then and had to stifle a laugh. He had already dealt with giant snakes. The Kigyo had caught him trespassing in their lands, but in the end it was the Kigyo who had given Jonathan the magical bow, Kigabané, that proved so helpful in his fight against the trolls.
“A snake?” a voice called out.
Jonathan and the others turned around, looking for the source of the voice, but none of them saw anything.
“Nebenuk is most certainly not a snake,” the voice said.
“Show yourself,” Jason commanded.
“No,” the voice said curtly. “You must show yourselves.”
Jason huffed and glanced to Jonathan. “We’re right here in the open,” he said.
“No, you must show your inner selves!” the voice said loudly. “I can see the physical you, the embodiment of what your spirit walks around in, but to judge you by what I see of your flesh is not much different than judging you by your clothes. Hardly a suitable standard.”
Miranda folded her arms. “What must we do?” she asked.
“You must convince Ma’at that you are pure of intentions,” the voice replied.
“And who is that?” Jason asked.
“Look up,” the voice said smugly.
Jonathan and the others did as they were told and saw a most peculiar form in the air above them. Great wings stretched out, carrying the body of what appeared to be a horse as easily as though it were an eagle circling above them. A great tail of white hair flowed out gently as it came ever lower. Its gray fur was marked with black and white spots that covered the whole of the animal, except for the nose and muzzle, which was one solid patch of black. Ma’at dropped down onto the mossy ground near to them and folded its wings as it shook its head. Great, chestnut eyes scanned Jonathan and the others.
“I am Ma’at,” the pegasus said.
“I am Jonathan Haymaker, this is my brother Jason, and our friend, Miranda.”
Ma’at came two steps closer to Jonathan and angled his head to the side slightly. “Why have you come?”
Jonathan indicated toward Miranda with his hand. “Her father is missing, and we believe he may have come here before he disappeared. Can you help us?”
Ma’at moved three steps to his left and looked at Jason. “You are soon to be married,” Ma’at said.
Jason nodded. “I am,” he said.
Ma’at nickered and shook his head, flinging his silvery mane back and forth several times. “When you come to the Kingdom of Shuldern, you must impress Dignar. If you succeed in this, Dignar will open the way for you to acquire what you seek.”
Jason nodded silently, apparently understanding what Ma’at was saying. Jonathan could only guess that maybe Dignar would give Jason something which he could in turn give to Mortimer.
The pegasus then moved in close to Miranda. His eyes locked with hers and he snorted softly. “Young wizardess, be not troubled, for your heart will attain what it seeks. Your father is yet alive, but he is in great peril.”
“Can you tell me where he is?” Miranda asked.
Ma’at shook his head. “I can only see his shadow. His form I cannot see. You will have to search for him. You are his only hope.”
Jonathan saw a tear form and then slide down Miranda’s right cheek. She put a hand up to her mouth and closed her eyes, turning away from Ma’at.
The pegasus then turned to Jonathan and stepped in close enough for the young man to feel its hot breath.
“And then there is you,” Ma’at said softly. Jonathan fidgeted with his fingers and shifted his weight as he tried to meet Ma’at’s gaze. The pegasus stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity. Then, Ma’at bent his head low, nodded twice, and unfurled his wings. “Nebenuk, these are worthy creatures.” The pegasus then took flight and soared across the river. He landed and then began drinking peacefully without so much as another glance to the party.
“That’s it?” Jonathan asked aloud. No prophecy for me? No advice? He never voiced his disappointment aloud, for Nebenuk appeared and commanded all of their attention with his grandiose entrance.
A teardrop of blue and silver formed in the midst of them, spreading out with tendrils of white and black smoke that sizzled and popped with sparks of gold and green. The mossy ground beneath the strange orb bent under its weight and then the light cleared to reveal a peculiar man dressed in black robes with gold trim around the hem. Fiery red hair flowed down into a single plait that laid lazily over Nebenuk’s right shoulder, fastened with a gold bow near the bottom. His skin was so dark it almost appeared to have a purple tint to its blackness, which wonderfully set off the pair of silver spectacles over his purple eyes. The frames extended out and wrapped around Nebenuk’s slightly pointed ears.
“You’re an elf,” Jonathan said quickly.
Nebenuk nodded. “I am one of the patriarchs of the Tomni’Tai,” Nebenuk said. “Few know of my
existence here, and so Ma’at carefully screens any who come seeking my wisdom.”
“Why do you hide here?” Jason asked.
Nebenuk held up a long pointer finger and shook his head. “I am not here to answer questions about myself. As I understand it, you are searching for her father. If I can help you with that endeavor, then I will.”
“Did he come to see you?” Miranda asked quickly.
“Yes, he did.” Pain struck Nebenuk’s eyes then and he took in a deep breath. “Your father had just spoken with Gadrien, one of my few confidants, who had sent him to me.”
“You know Gadrien?” Jason asked.
Nebenuk nodded. “I have known him for a very long time.” He turned back to Miranda then and continued recounting what had happened. “Your father carried an amulet with him, something he wished to know more about. It was made of a deep purple stone.”
“No, it can’t be,” Jonathan said. “I destroyed that amulet in the Murkle Quags!” He was speaking of the amulet that the troll king had worn to control the monsoons that spread throughout the peninsula and extended the reach of the swamps. While it made sense that Raven might have been inquiring about the amulet, it was entirely impossible for the amulet to be whole. Jason had personally smashed it over a magic altar, which subsequently released such a powerful blast of magic that it collapsed the troll king’s tunnels in the Warrens.
Nebenuk frowned and shook his head. “The amulet was whole when he brought it to me,” he said. “He told me that you had destroyed it, but that the idea of something so powerful being used by the trolls nagged at him after you all left the Murkle Quags. He told me that he went to see if he could find any pieces of it to help him identify where it had come from, for he did not believe the trolls could fashion such an enchanted item. He was right. When he returned, he found the amulet had not only reformed and healed itself, but it had worked its way to the surface, and was lying in the open.”
“No, it’s impossible,” Jonathan said.
Nebenuk shook his head. “The amulet is an ancient relic from the days when the first council of the elves sat in congress together. It was used to create and control weather patterns.”
“Who created it?” Jason asked.