It was as though my thoughts of him conjured up a bubble that floated up and burst open on the surface, disfiguring my reflection. I crouched down, waiting for the ripples to smooth out so I could see below the surface again.
“Isn’t that right Tali?”
“Huh?” I replied without looking away.
“Didn’t you say you saw her in Green?” asked Emily.
“Saw who?” I asked not having paid attention to their conversation.
“THE FAERY!” said Emily, but then it happened again. Another bubble popped on the surface.
“Yeah, but did you see that?” I asked.
“See what?” both Emily and Justin replied.
“The bubble.”
“Bubble?” repeated Emily.
“Yeah. Do you think he could be following us?” My gaze was fixed on the water.
“Who would be following us?” asked Emily.
“The merman,” I said.
“Oh brother,” scoffed Justin. “He’s coming for you Tali and he’s got you a ring this time!” he laughed, but I paid no attention to him.
I squinted, hoping to see through the bright water, but the surface was too reflective. Then another tiny bubble floated up and broke on the water’s face.
“There, did you see that?” I pointed to the small ripples it made.
“It’s probably just a fish,” said Justin, but then three more bubbles burst one after the other.
“No, look! Something’s got to be down there,” I said, hoping against all odds that the boy had come for me.
Down on all fours, we all looked deep into the water, with Yeri peering in from my shoulder.
“I tink it best we go now,” suggested Yeri, but several more bubbles rose up and within seconds the water’s surface as far as we could see was bubbling rapidly, as though it had come to a boil. We stood back up and the bubbles gurgled beneath the large round leaves, tickling our feet.
“What the heck is it?” Emily seemed alarmed.
“Yes, yes... we go now,” said Yeri, more urgently this time, tugging on a strand of my hair.
“I think we should listen to Yeri,” stammered Emily.
“Yes, is good idea,” he agreed.
“The water’s going down! Look!” said Justin.
The tickling beneath our feet quieted as the bubbling water began to drop, leaving the pads firmly suspended in the air.
“Should we jump in?” asked Justin.
“There’s no way I’m jumping,” I said. “I can’t swim, remember?”
“But what if the lilies don’t hold us?” screamed Emily. “And if they do, when the water drops we’ll be trapped fifty feet up!”
“She’s got a good point,” said Justin.
“No, no!” said Yeri. “Water too turbulent. We must cross on top of pads.”
“But I’m afraid of heights!” screamed Emily.
“Then we better start running, cause it’s dropping fast,” suggested Justin.
“Wait!” trembled Emily who was now looking over the edge of the pad. “Are you sure they’ll support our weight?”
I looked down and noticed how oddly thin the stems of the pads were to be holding us up in the air. Somehow they remained fixed as the water continued to drain at an alarming rate.
“Come on!” said Justin who had hopped over to a pad next to us and was bouncing up and down. “It’ll only get harder the longer we wait.”
“Don’t bounce!” squirmed Emily.
“What? It’s safe,” he said. “See!” Then he hopped onto the same lily pad we were standing on.
“DON’T!” she quivered and crouched down to hold onto the edge of the pad. “You’re freaking me out!”
“Justin!” I scolded. “Get on your own pad!”
“I’m just doing a safety check,” he shrugged, but compliantly jumped back onto the pad next to us.
“Justin’s right,” I said. “It’ll only get harder as the water level drops.”
“But it’s already about ten feet down!” whimpered Emily.
“Ah, I’d say closer to eight,” said Justin. “But it’s gonna be ten feet if you just sit there.”
“Alright, let’s go,” I said taking hold of Emily’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “On the count of three. One, two...”
“Ahhh!” I heard Emily scream as we leapt forward before either of us could chicken out. Landing on the next pad, Emily crouched down and began to shake.
“See how easy that was?” I tried not to show my own trepidation, but even I was beginning to feel dizzy from the height we had been trapped at and I didn’t like it at all.
I looked up at the horizon where the path of suspended pads was leading us. “Just focus on the horizon,” I said, trying to convince myself.
“I can’t do it!” cried Emily. “I’m shaking too much.”
Crouching down beside her, I looked at her face and could see the intense fear in her eyes. I felt horrible for her; she was practically in tears.
“Listen Em,” I whispered. “We haven’t fallen once since we started hopping, so if we don’t look down we should be okay.”
“Just pretend the water is still there,” said Justin.
“Everything’s swaying,” said Emily pinching her eyes shut. “It’s making me feel nauseous.”
“It only seems like we’re swaying cause we’re up so high,” said Justin.
I shot a glance at him with my finger over my lips. Then calmly I said, “We aren’t leaving you Em, so if we have to stay here all day we will, but...,” I paused. “I don’t think you’ll want to stay up here all night. I mean, what if you fell asleep and rolled off by accident?”
The fear of spending the night on a lily pad seemed to be a great motivator. Having made her decision she clutched my arm tightly, took a deep breath and stood up, all while keeping her eyes shut.
“That’s it Em!” encouraged Justin. “You can do it!”
“I can do it,” she stuttered and opened one eye. “No I can’t!” she shrieked and crouched back down again.
“Aye-yi-yi,” sighed Yeri.
“You’ll have to go without me,” she cried. She was shaking so much she could barely stand.
I sighed and looked up at Justin who was standing on the lily pad next to us. As I did I noticed something behind him in the distant sky.
Was that a storm cloud? Maybe it looks more like smoke? Suddenly a sick realization curdled in my stomach, goading my heart up into my throat.
“WE’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!” I screamed. “The fire demons are coming!”
“WHAT?” cried Emily.
The large smoke cloud that surrounded the demons was heading straight for us, and fast.
“RUN!” I yelled.
Grabbing ahold of Emily’s hand, I yanked her to her feet, “ONE, TWO, JUMP!” We leaped onto the next lily pad and before we could even take a breath I said, “AGAIN! ONE, TWO, JUMP!”
“Faster now, just focus on the rhythm. Step, step, HOP,...step, step, HOP. I led the way, hopping frantically from one lily pad to the next, and at the same time carefully calculating each move to find the quickest route to the other side. Faster and faster we hopped until we were almost flying across the pads. We were no longer petrified of falling, but rather were motivated to keep running by the fear of something greater - the fire demons, and the horrifying screeching sounds they made as they closed in on us.
“We’re almost there!” I hollered, as the shores of the Saltus forest rose quickly in front of us.
Leaping towards the rocky shore, I jumped off the last leaf, but before my feet touched the ground, two smouldering demons pounced on me and pulled me into the air. Their burning talons tore through my shirt and seared my skin and I cried out in pain. I swung my fists madly around, trying desperately to bat
them off. But the demons persisted and four more grabbed hold of me, making me wheeze as their sulphurous smoke filled my lungs.
“Run into the forest!” I coughed, but it was too late. Emily’s ear-piercing scream echoed up towards me, as she and Justin were also caught by several demons.
“Get off us!” I shouted. Grabbing hold of one of the bat-like creatures, I tore its claws off my shirt and sent it sailing into the air. I screamed in pain as I realized that my hand had been singed by the demon’s burning hot scales. Within seconds two more demons had taken its place. They sunk their talons deeper into my clothes and lifted me higher in the air.
Smoke bellowed out from their black bat-like bodies as I wrestled in their grasp, but no matter how hard I fought, I could not break free and their burning, sulphurous smell was starting to suffocate me.
“Where are you taking me?” I cried, but they said nothing as they fought to retain control.
I thrashed across the sky in their grip, staining my clothes with smears of black ash as we flew. I felt Yeri bury himself behind my hair and heard the sound of my knapsack unzipping. Fearing for his own life, he must have been scrambling into it and out of sight.
Suddenly something whizzed by my head, slamming into the demon that had been holding my right sleeve. Whatever it was hit with such force that the demon released me, causing the remaining demons and I to tumble out of control.
What was that? I spun my head around to see what had hit us, but the black smoke swirled thickly around me, limiting my sight.
“WHAM,” another demon was hit and knocked clear off me, but this time I caught a glimpse of its colourful wings, as it dove past. Was that a faery?
It was. She swiftly circled around, and was joined by three other faeries that headed straight for us again. Together they crashed into the remaining demons, throwing them off me. Gravity seized the moment and began pulling my full weight towards the ground.
I screamed, my stomach tightening against the fall, but within seconds five more demons had swerved into position, and swept me upside down as they took control. Their mouths seethed with anger and their eyes flicked in every direction, anticipating the next attack.
Upside down, my head hung towards the ground and I noticed Emily and Justin flailing and screaming within two patches of smoke below me. Several faeries were darting in and around them like a flock of small birds going after two crows too close to their nest.
“Hissssssss!” a demon above me shrieked in pain. A thorn had been lanced into its wing, wounding it. Blood sizzled down its ember scales and in a flash the liquid ignited into flames, sending him screeching across the sky in agony.
Three more faeries darted near me in a speedy flight formation. They too were wielding thorn swords in their hands, and they darted in and around me, jabbing and stinging the demons. The demons raged with fiery anger, but continued to hang on to me with a determined grasp. A couple of injured demons circled around to join in again, one grabbing hold of my hair.
“Let me go!” I batted at the beast with one hand now free.
A cluster of faeries came out of nowhere. Thorns poised for attack, they tore against the beasts with tremendous speed and agility and sent all but one plummeting through the air. I hung there writhing from the pain in my ankle where the last demon had bit its talons into me, painfully scoring the skin.
I screamed and kicked with my face downward and my hair tangled over my head. My knapsack swung down and nearly slipped off my back, but the last demon must have realized that he was vastly outnumbered and his wavering grasp finally let go.
Wind rushed through my hair as I plummeted downwards towards the tangled treetops of the thick forest. I was falling uncontrollably, my stomach lodged in my throat, feeling dizzy and sick.
I screamed and closed my eyes.
“YOU!” came a familiar voice and I opened one eye to see. It was Prospexi.
“Looks like you’ve made friends with the wrong type,” she said flying fast to keep up to my fall.
“Help me!” My hand grabbed for her without success, as we both plunged through the tops of the trees and into the darkness of the encroaching redwood branches. The prickly needles slapped against my body, as I continued to fall deep and fast into the forest of Saltus.
Chapter Twelve
Forest of Saltus
Every muscle in my body was tense, as I fell through the tree branches at high speed, expecting that at any moment one of them would sheer off an arm or leg.
“Tardi!” Prospexi called out as she blew something towards my face. I stopped suddenly, three inches above a large branch that would have surely impaled me. My body continued to drift slowly past the branch, as though I were a leaf in autumn. Down, down, down I glided, past the thick boughs where the bright sun paled to a greenish glow and the trunks of the trees stood like tall pillars within the forest of Saltus.
“My father will not be pleased when he finds out that you were found in the company of fire demons,” said Prospexi flitting close to my face. “No, no, not at all. He will want to hear all about it and don’t even think about deceiving him, as you have me.”
“But they attacked u..”
“SHHH! Not another lie or you shall regret that I ever saved you when you have to face my father,” she said.
Turning around, she whistled a short bird-like call, and flew off into the thick forest. Several fairies immediately surrounded me as though assuming a flight formation, and I continued to float downward lightly guided by their gentle draft. They all appeared to be female, with colourful wings of varying shapes that seemed to change in tone and intensity as we lowered into the darkening woodland.
“She isn’t usually that irritable,” whispered a dark-eyed faerie whose golden wings hummed as her slender face hovered next to mine. “She’s understandably uptight about the news.”
“What news?” I asked.
“The fire demons - they’ve woken from their slumber. That is news enough for a thousand suns,” she said.
‘This is not good news for me,’ I thought and I remained silent about the fact that we had woken them.
“What do you suppose she wants with me?” I swallowed, trying to sound impassive.
“It is not her, but her father Cory Phaeus who wants to see you. He is Chief of Saltus and it is he that believes that one of you may be the Myth, yes?”
“Myth? What? I’m not a myth!” I said. “Why would he think that? Can’t you see that I’m real?”
“Don’t worry. He will deal with you justly, although he won’t be too pleased about you being in the company of fire demons.”
The thought of meeting the Chief faery made me very uneasy. Who knew what lies Prospexi had told him about me, and I had no idea why he thought I was a myth. I was pretty sure that it would all be cleared up once he saw me in the flesh. Or at least I hoped so. It seemed ironic that I had always thought that faeries weren’t real; obviously these ones thought the very same thing about us. Then it occurred to me that the book from the cellar was titled with the single word Myth, and I wondered if there was some sort of connection. But, I didn’t have time to dwell on those thoughts, because just then my feet touched down on a large wooden platform that was attached to a cluster of three tall redwoods. I had to steady my balance and get my feet under me to stop myself from teetering off the platform and falling the last thirty feet to the ground.
“Wait here,” she said flitting away.
It’s not as though I had much choice, seeing as I was suspended on a platform thirty feet up in the trees. Relatively speaking though, I was closer to the ground than to the top of the massive redwoods. Tall, thick trunks soared high above me, their sweeping boughs covering most of the dimming sky and I looked around to see if I could spot Justin or Emily, perhaps on another platform nearby. But they were nowhere in sight.
The forest began to darken, a
nd little lights sprung up throughout the trees, flickering like a carnival at night. Some were stationary, making me wonder if they were residences, and some fluttered about like fire flies in June. It was a magical site that one could only imagine in faery tales, and yet here I was in the midst of it, many worries still festering in my head.
Where had they taken my friends? Had Prospexi saved them too? And what were they going to do to us if they found out that we were the ones who had woken the fire demons?
For a moment my stomach tightened with dread, but then I reasoned to myself: Why should I be afraid of a little faery? It was no bigger than a bird. Surely I could squash the Chief with one hand if I had to!
“I’d be careful what you fill your head with when you are in this forest,” came a low voice.
Startled, I looked up and saw a small man-like creature sitting on a branch. He was similar in size to the other fairies I had seen, but his strong voice and presence made him seem larger in some way. He was dressed in what looked like battle fatigues sewn from a variety of earthen materials. His breastplate was of pinecones, his back spine lined with rose thorns, and his boots were strapped with leather. He carried a long thorn sword at his side and a small acorn flask was slung across his chest. His hair was long, dark feathers twined with smaller feathers and thin strips of fur.
“Your friends are safe,” he continued, “although the male sustained some injuries.”
“What do you want with us?” I asked sounding more stoic than I felt.
“My daughter Prospexi was concerned,” he said.
“Concerned?” I blurted out. “She thinks our friends are those horrid things you call fire demons, but it’s not true! They are after us for some reason, and although your daughter doesn’t believe me and who knows what you think, all I really want is to go home!”
“Are there just the three of you?” He remained calm, seemingly un-phased by my outburst. Once again, as with Prospexi, I felt as though I was being interrogated, though this little man seemed much more chill in his approach.
“Yes,” I sighed, figuring it was best not to mention Yeri. I wondered why he got to ask all the questions. I didn’t even know his name.
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