Flushing with embarrassment, Pixyresponded, “Of course not, Your Highness, but these invaders arewarriors and come heavily armed.”
“What do the humans looklike?” quizzed the Queen.
“They are all dressed in blackand carry great swords and large bows,” Pixy answered.
“And what were they sayingwhen you observed them?” prompted the Queen.
“He does not know,” answered agreen fairy upon landing on the platform. “According to Nixy, heissued the Sleep Spell before any of them had uttered aword.”
“Thank you, my son,” QueenMita greeted Midge.
“Of course they were sayingnothing,” protested Pixy. “They were trying to sneak up onus.”
“We have a furthercomplication, Queen Mita,” Midge interjected. “We have transportedsix humans, but there are seven horses and they were all beingridden.”
Nixy arrived at that moment and settleddown next to Pixy. “The blond female is the one that is missing,Prince Midge,” she said as she bowed to the Queen.
“How could you lose her?” Pixyblurted out. The Sleep Spell you put on her must not have beenstrong enough.”
“I did not put a Sleep Spellon her,” frowned Nixy. “I thought you had already doneso.”
“I was,” Pixy respondedsheepishly, “until I got distracted by the witch. I thought yourealized that and finished her.”
“Enough!” demanded the Queen.“Midge, we are losing light already. Send out patrols to locatethis missing human and retrieve her. Have them be careful. Pixysays that they are dressed in black and use outlander magic. We maybe facing a band of Black Devils. I would prefer that she besubdued and placed in the Stay Bushes, but kill her if youmust.”
Prince Midge threw himself off thebalcony in a dive and soared towards a large group of green fairiesclad in shiny mail and tiny helmets. The Queen turned to Nixy andfixed her with a look of despair.
“Nixy this is not the firsttime that you have lost a delivery,” rebuked the Queen. “You shallbe in charge of watching over the captives to ensure that they donot wake. Pixy, you shall have the dubious honor of determining whothey are and why they are here. I will not accept any mishandlingof the prisoners, but you will remain within the Stay Bushes untilyou have accomplished your task.”
With a wave of her tiny hand, QueenMita dismissed the other two fairies.
* * * *
Tanya lay under the windswept pile ofoak leaves from last fall’s dropping and watched with fascinationas the fairies levitated the other Rangers away. She wasn’t surewhy she had not fallen prey to their magic, but it was apparentthat her friends were being taken captive and not harmed. Shestarted to fall asleep like the others, but suddenly the feelinghad just departed. At first she had thought to lash out at thefairies and free her comrades, but, thankfully, she remembered thereason for their journey. It was the Sapphire of the Fairies thatthey were after and they had found the fairies, no matter theircurrent predicament, so Tanya slid off the trail and quietlycrawled away.
Tanya cringed involuntarily as anotherslimy thing crawled across her leg. The half-year-old leaves stillheld the moisture of winter and decomposition and she shuddered atthe thought of what type of creatures inhabited them.
When the last of the fairies left shethought about following them, but quickly decided to wait for thecoming darkness. She spent the time trying to remember Uncle Boris’tales about the fairies. She shoved her face further out of thesmelly pile of leaves and was rewarded with the sweet, fresh smellof the apple orchard nearby.
Uncle Boris had told thousands oftales, but not many stories that involved fairies. All of the taleshe did tell seemed to indicate that the fairies were a good andwell-intentioned people. She could only remember one specificnarrative and it dealt with Prince Midge, the son of Queen Mita,and the Great Mage traveling to imprison the Great Demon, Alutar.In the story the Mage created a homeland for the desolate fairiesand centered it around a giant apple tree. She was wondering ifthis was that same orchard when a dozen mail-clad fairies marchedby scanning the forest.
She froze as the fairies passed andpulled her head farther into the leaves when they were out of sightin case they doubled back. An hour passed and the small fairy armyhad not returned. Darkness had fallen over the forest and Tanyayearned to be free of the decomposing pile of leaves and the tinycreatures that lived in it. Slowly she pulled herself out of thepile of leaves and looked around. The forest was dark and eerilyquiet. Slowly she crept in the direction her fellow travelers hadbeen taken. Within a few dozen paces the oak trees thinned and theapple orchard began.
Tanya deeply inhaled the sweet scent ofthe orchard and squinted her eyes to make out the little figuresmoving among the trees. Subconsciously, she stuffed her long blondhair under her leather cap and sat behind a bush to observe thefairies. She watched for several hours and saw several armedparties returning, but no sign of the Rangers. She did observe thereturn of the patrol that had passed her pile of leaves, but theycame into the orchard from another direction.
The amount of activity in the orchardstarted to diminish as fairies flew into holes in the apple treesand did not return. Remembering the lessons that Garth had giventhe Rangers on penetration of hostile encampments, Tanya started amethodical circuit of the orchard. Remaining in the darkest shadowsof the oak forest, Tanya worked her way around the circumference ofthe orchard. When she had almost completed the circle, she stoppedat the sight of Garth Shado.
She had seen Garth first because of hisheight, but the others were there, as well. Each Ranger was tied toa vertical pole in the center of a dense, circular bush. There weremore bushes than Rangers and it appeared that whatever security thebushes provided, the fairies could accommodate a few moreintruders. The bushes had large, sharp thorns, but Tanya failed tosee how a few cuts and bruises would ensure that a prisoner did notescape. Given enough time, she was sure that Garth would be able toescape the rope that bound him and then he would be able to pushhis way through the bushes to free the others. Tanya saw one smallblue fairy sitting on top of one of the bushes looking bored. Everyonce in a while, she could spot a green fairy flying from oneprisoner to another.
Tanya ducked her head down as a pair offairies came walking by between her and the bushes that held theRangers. Only the fact that both of the fairies were looking theother way saved Tanya from detection. Holding her breath, she heardthe voices of the two fairies.
“I did not know that Nixy’shead would hold the brain of an ogre,” the first fairy chuckled.“She sits on the Stay Bush without a thought to the consequences.One prick of those thorns would kill an ogre and she sits amongthem.”
“She will be there all night,”the second fairy laughed. “Queen Mita was very annoyed that sheallowed one of the humans to escape. They have had patrols outlooking for her for hours, but . . .”
The voices trailed off and Tanya couldhear no more, but she had heard enough. Whether the fairies meantto kill the Rangers or not, no longer mattered. Tanya knew that theRangers would attempt to escape and they were not aware of thepoison in the thorns. One by one, the Rangers would die and she wasnot going to stand by and let that happen.
Tanya slid back into the oak forest andsearched for the largest oak tree. When she finally found it, shestarted climbing. She continued climbing until the thin branchesthreatened to break under her weight. Clinging to the trunk, shegingerly settled herself down to a tenuous sitting position on athin branch where it met the trunk. She gazed down at the orchardand had a clear view of the layout of the village. The Stay Busheswere very visible and she could now see the green fairy flittingfrom one prisoner to another. The fairy seemed to be searching themany pockets and pouches of the prisoners. The rest of the orchardwas less visible. Tanya could detect the placement of the trees andcould easily see the trunk of the largest one in the center, as ithad a clearing around it, but the branches and leaves of the appletrees obstructed her view of a good deal of the orchardfloor.