“You must remember,” Garthstated clearly, “that the Universe inhabited by the fairies wasalso inhabited by ogres. If we are near to finding the fairies, wemay also be in the vicinity of ogres and they are ferociousfighters. An ogre is typically stupid, but they are large, strong,and will eat people. If we have to fight ogres, the bow is yourbest weapon. Their strength will make sword fighting dangerousbecause their blows, even if they are blocked, can knock your swordfrom your hand. Knives will be useless unless you score a directhit in a vital area like the throat or eyes.”
Everyone’s attention was riveted onGarth. No one expected to find the land of the fairies to be adangerous place, but the thought of fighting ogres had soberedtheir jubilation.
“You will have to aim at thesame vital areas with your arrows,” Garth continued, “but you maydo so from a greater distance. As far as I know, the ogres have nomagicians, but do not depend on that. If we get into an attack,defense shields will be the first priority of those with magicalcapabilities. If you can maintain a shield and attack at the sametime, do so. There is no such thing as a surrender in a battle withogres. We either kill them all or they eat us."
The mood had turned rather gloomy asthe Children went to the practice area, but the practice itself wastough. All four of the warrior Rangers practiced their archeryskills, each trying to outdo the others. Arik with his longbow wasclearly the winner, with Tanya second. Each of the Rangerspracticed as if the skills they honed today would be used in battletomorrow. Garth called an early halt to the practice and stated hisintention that everybody get as much sleep as possible. They wouldsearch tomorrow until they located the fairies, even if they had toproceed after the darkness came.
Garth let everyone sleep until firstlight and then canceled morning exercises. The Rangers hadbreakfast and took to the trail. The oak forest got thicker and thecoming of light did little to improve visibility. The group rodethrough the morning with two stops for Arik to check on thedirection shown by the Sword of Heavens.
Shortly after their stop for the middaymeal, they started seeing live, healthy apple trees. Tanya startedto gather apples for dinner until Garth told her to keep her handsfree. The light also started to penetrate the forest better as theoak trees thinned. Excitement started to percolate again as therewere several false sightings of fairies. Garth did not share in theexcitement. Instead he started to grow tense with a premonition ofdanger and his eyes started scanning the forest.
Tedi was in the lead when his horsejust stopped. Garth rode to the front of the procession and askedTedi why he was stopping.
“I didn’t stop,” Tedi said.“My horse just stopped. Tedi lowered himself from the saddle andchecked on his mount.
“He’s sleeping!” Tediexclaimed. “I can’t believe it, he is just sleeping.”
Garth also dismounted to verify Tedi’sstatement. Arik came walking forward from the end of thecolumn.
“All of the mounts aresleeping except yours and Kalina’s,” Arik stated. “What is goingon? We didn’t push them hard yesterday. They have never acted likethis before.”
Garth shook his head and startedlooking around at the forest when he heard the shouts behind him.He quickly pivoted and saw Fredrik and Kalina rushing to where Nikihad fallen to the ground. His senses reeling, Garth searched forsome sign of his enemy. He watched as Fredrik collapsed to theground and heard either Tedi or Arik falling behind him with ashout.
“It’s magical!” Kalina shoutedas she hurriedly tried to erect a shield over the entireparty.
Tanya dropped to her knees as Garthheard another thump behind him and turned to find both of the Lorgoboys stretched out on the ground. He pulled his sword from itssheath as he turned back to see Kalina collapse. His arms grewheavy under the weight of the sword and it dropped to the ground asthe trees above his head swirled in flashes of green and gray. Hestruggled to grab onto something to hold him upright as hiseyeballs rolled up into his head and his body collapsed beneathhim.
Chapter 23
Fairies
Nothing moved on the forest trail wherethe Rangers lay crumpled in heaps on the ground. Down from the skyfloated a small, blue fairy no taller than a man’s index finger.The fairy’s wings fluttered as she landed on the back of Tedi’shorse and surveyed the sleeping party.
“Why did you attack them,Pixy?” the blue fairy asked. “They would have passed throughwithout ever knowing we were here.”
A green, and slightly larger, fairyswooped down and soared along the trail over the unmoving forms,finally landing next to the blue fairy with a dazzling flourish ofoutstretched wings.
“Bah, Nixy,” he grumbled.“Humans are always trouble. It is better that we have stopped thembefore they went any farther.”
“I think you just enjoy beingmischievous,” Nixy pestered. “What if they are friends or an envoyfrom another land?”
“The fairies have no humanfriends,” rebutted Pixy. “It will be best for all if we dispose ofthem now. We can levitate them into the acid pits of theogres.”
“Do you speak for Queen Mitanow?” Nixy persisted. “Besides, we can never levitate them that farby ourselves. We will need a great deal of help, especially withthat big one. You had trouble getting him to lie down.”
“It would have been easier ifyou had decided to help earlier,” growled Pixy. “That female withthe long, black hair was trying to use some magic to shieldherself. She distracted me. If I hadn’t been distracted, the bigone would have gone down easy enough.”
“I’m sure,” Nixy drawledsarcastically. “Still, I think we need to get them into the StayBushes as soon as possible. If one of them has the power to breakyour sleep spell, they could be dangerous to us. I will get othersto help with the levitation.”
“I’ll go,” Pixy offered. “Youkeep a watch for any signs of wakening and don’t let any of themget away.”
Without waiting for a reply, Pixyforcefully spread his wings and soared down towards the trail belowbefore fluttering off through the apple trees. Nixy stood watchingthe strange party of humans for what seemed to be a long timebefore Pixy returned with scores of other fairies to help transportthe invaders to the Stay Bushes.
“You are taking them to theStay Bushes and not the acid pits, aren’t you?” Nixyinquired.
“Yes, yes,” Pixy sighed. “Ithink they ought to be disposed of, though. One human in the StayBushes is all right, but all of these can be dangerous. Midge foundout somehow and demanded that they be taken to the Stay Bushes andthat I report immediately to Queen Mita. You will have to supervisethe moving. Make sure they are kept asleep even after you havedelivered them.”
Pixy left the mass of fairies assignedto deal with the invaders and flew into the orchard. Soaringbetween apple trees which held the homes of his fellow fairies,Pixy angled towards the very center of the orchard where the greatFather Tree stood, the tree that the Mage had used to restore theorchard after the blight caused by Alutar and his ogres. FatherTree had a hole through its bark, level with a human’s head andsporting a wide protrusion outside of it. It was on this lip thatQueen Mita held court and Pixy set down on it with the precision ofan acrobat.
“Your Highness,” bowed Pixy tothe blue fairy. “We have captured a large band of humans bent oninvading our homeland. Nixy, at this very moment, is escorting theinterlopers to the Stay Bushes. There is one among them that usesoutlander magic and I think we should send them off to acid pits atour earliest opportunity.”
“I did not know that your headwas large enough to accommodate an ogre brain, Pixy,” Queen Mitarebuked. “Would you send every human who comes close to our homedirectly off to the acid pits? Would you have handled the Mage in alike manner when he showed up to restore this orchard?”