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Author's note: You'll have to read Grey
Despair, Golden Hope: An Impossible Task
in order to understand the plot of this one.
Wind shrieking like some sort of wounded beast! Snowflakes
falling from the sky by the millions, coating the mountainside in a drift deep
enough to bury the Rock Beast. Snow flying so thickly in front of you, you couldn't
know up from down. A chilly breeze picked up, scattering the snowflakes and
ruffling my fur. I braced myself against the wind, cursing the day I had ever
agreed to set off on this journey.
My name is Tessalea Bordorian of Bordor Mount,
and although I am a mountain Lupess by birth and nature, I was not fit to go
out in blizzards. No one is, not even the Snow Faerie herself. Needless to say,
my parents did not approve of me "gallivanting off, especially in the coldest
months of winter." But they took pity on my new friend, Treali the former earth
Faerie, who was now as grey as the gloomy clouds on an overcast day. And when
I explained to them that I was going for her sake, to find the Star of the Elements
on Mist Mountain, they reluctantly gave their consent. They then supplied Treali
with a warm fur coat. A welcome gift after spending days in nothing but a tatty
old dress. Then, after a brief meal, we were leaving, heading onto the journey
of our lives.
Our lives might not be too long if we don't
get out of this blizzard.
"We have to find shelter!" Treali shouted, as
if reading my mind. "I don't think I can go on much further!"
"Neither can I!" Even though I was only a few
inches behind her, I had to shout to be heard. "But where are we going to find
shelter!"
"We'll have to keep moving!" Treali replied.
Frankly, I didn't think we'd find shelter on this desolate mountain. And if
we did, it would probably be something small and cold, like a cave. Mount Ice,
my people called this place. The Peak of a Thousand Snowstorms. Aptly named,
since blizzards occurred there more than any other mountain in the Terror Mountain
Range. You'd have to be crazy to live here.
"You're lost?" called an eerie, low-pitched
voice. "Let me show you the way to my home!"
"What was that?" Treali asked, gasping with
shock.
"I don't know," I replied, bracing myself as
another gust of wind came, nearly knocking Treali off of her feet. As a mountain
Lupess, I knew how to predict these wind gusts. "But it sounds like it came
from over there!" I pointed straight ahead. "And going there has to be better
than staying here until my paws freeze off."
So we followed the voice up the steeply rising
trail. Whenever we seemed to be close, the mysterious speaker just darted away.
Occasionally, we'd see glimpses of him, but only enough to tell that he was
striped in color. Onward and upward we went, us getting closer to him, and him
darting away every time we'd get close enough to see. Finally, huffing and puffing,
we reached the mountain's peak. "Okay," Treali panted. "Where is he?"
"I can't help but think he's leading us on a
wild Lenny chase." I strained my ears to try to hear his voice again, but all
I heard was the howling of the wind.
"Well, it's pointless hanging around here. Let's
turn ba… oof!" My Faerie companion walked into something warm and solid. Spitting
out feathers, she looked up into the fiercest eyes she had ever seen. They seemed
to give fire and life to the Eyrie's snow-white body and pale pink stripes.
They were eyes of a vibrant crimson color.
His companion was ganglier and less solid than
he was. This second Eyrie had cold, steely silver feathers and powerful paws
that seemed out of proportion with the rest of him. But his eyes… his eyes were
a deep maroon, like dried blood. A slight shiver ran down my spine, and it wasn't
because of the cold.
"You think we'd lead you on a wild Lenny chase,
young Lupess?" the silver one asked, extending one of his humongous paws as
if to slap me. "Have you no faith in the ones who rescued you from certain death?"
The bigger Eyrie cuffed the silver one gently.
"They have every right to be suspicious of us, brother. Especially the two-legged
one. I can tell that she is Sra Dessro." Treali hung her head in shame.
"The Lupess, she's got the look of a Bordorian,"
growled the silver Eyrie. "She's got that look about her. I wouldn't trust her
farther than I could throw her."
"Nevertheless, they need our help," the Striped
Eyrie said firmly. He gestured for Treali and I to follow him. Finding a seemingly
random ice-covered snow bank, he tapped on it three times and… disappeared.
Treali gasped in shock. I managed to keep my
cool but I was a little stunned also. A fully-grown, semi-easy-to-spot Eyrie
had vanished before my eyes! "Go on." Urged the silver Eyrie. "You gonna wait
until we all freeze on this faerie-forsaken peak?"
Gently, Treali nudged me forward. A blast of
wind nearly lifted me off my paws. Scared or not, I would have to tap on that
snow bank and find out where that Eyrie went because I could not stay here to
freeze. I walked up to the bank, tapped its surface three times, (were surfaces
of snow banks always so hard? It felt like cold steel under my paw.) Suddenly,
I had no surface to stand on! The bank was a trapdoor! And I predicted that
it would be a long way down. I let loose one long, despairing shriek that was
soon drowned out by the wind…
* * *
Distant voices… speaking, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
One was deep… very deep. He seemed calm and serene. The other person seemed
to be in a foul mood. Ranting… about what? Something about snow… and mountains…
and a Faerie… Treali!
I awoke with a start, shoving away the soft
blankets that covered me. I didn't even notice the warm carpet under my paws
as I raced my way down a wallpapered hall with hardwood flooring and into the
room in which the two Eyries stood. "Where's Treali?" I demanded, without even
thinking to say hello.
"Relax, Lupess," the striped Eyrie said comfortingly.
"She's in her own room. Down the hall and to the right. I'm a bit worried about
you, though. You bumped your head pretty good when you fell. Knocked you out
for an hour or so."
"I'm fine," I assured the Eyrie, and without
another word, I raced down the hall and to an oaken door with a crystal handle.
There, Treali lay weeping on a cerulean satin canopy bed. "Treali?" I whispered.
Slowly, she turned to face me, her tears glittering
in the light of a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "Tessa… oh Tessa
I was so worried about you. When you fell… you lay so limply. The silver Eyrie
carried you away and I was afraid I'd never see you again…"
It then hit me full force. This Faerie was terrified
of losing me! I was the only reason she hung on to hope. It's a terrible burden,
being bonded to someone so closely. But I just walked over to the bed and put
my paw around her shoulder and let her dry her tears on my fur.
Our cry-fest was interrupted by a knock on the
door. "Lupess? Grey Faerie?" The silver Eyrie addressed us. "You must be tired
after your long journey so my brother and I have prepared a small meal."
Small meal? It was a feast fit for a king! Roast
turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied fruits, delicacies imported from Mystery
Island, the Lost Desert, Meridell, places around Neopia! It was served with
the finest grape juice and followed by a cake the size of a small Chia! Treali
and I stuffed our faces until we could eat no more. Then we chatted with the
Eyrie brothers. It turns out that the striped Eyrie was named Beneterr Eyrpeak
and the silver one was his brother Maloporg. They had come from a very well
to do family in Mystery Island, but decided that the tropical life was not for
them. So, they built this cave under the Peak of A Thousand Snowstorms. Maloporg
was a technological genius who had built the trapdoor. Unfortunately, they had
forgotten that Lupes and grey faeries had no wings to make their landing softer.
Luckily, Beneterr managed to get a pile of pillows for me to land on, so I sustained
only minor injuries. Then, Beneterr returned to the peak of the mountain and
flew Treali down. When they had finished telling their story, we told them ours.
Every event in full detail. With complete and total trust.
Throughout the telling of our story, Maloporg
kept shooting Treali glances of what looked a lot like contempt. Did he really
hate her? Or was my paranoid mind just imagining things? Was he really trying
to avoid my eyes? And were his paws really fidgeting with excitement? I couldn't
tell.
Finally, we had finished telling our story.
"May I be excused?" Maloporg asked quietly, keeping his voice perfectly level.
His brother nodded and he left without even bothering to clear his plate.
It was time to either confirm my fears or put
my paranoia to rest. "May I be excused also?" I asked. Again, Beneterr nodded.
I too left my plate at the table and followed Maloporg to a cavern at the end
of a tunnel that was obviously his bedroom. He closed a heavy oaken door behind
him, and I lay flat on the ground and peered through the crack under the door.
A silver woven rug lay beneath a Regal Oak Wood Bed. Tapestries of famous Neopians
hung on the back wall. Kauvara, Fyora, Jeran, Brucey B. Darigan, Dr. Sloth,
Captain Dread, and a mysterious dark Faerie who looked vaguely familiar. I let
loose a tiny, inaudible gasp. It can't be… her. I thought to myself.
It was Jennumara.
Maloporg paced around the room once, twice.
I only saw his metallic paws pacing, pacing. Feeling secure, he reached under
his bed, (now I could see his head) and pulled out a violet handheld mirror
with green tinted glass. Standing upright, he began to speak to the mirror.
He hissed into the glass. "O Guardian of the Star. I have the escaped Sra Dessro.
I shall bring her to the Craggy Peak at sunrise as you've commanded me."
To my eternal astonishment, the mirror spoke
back! A voice like a thousand shards of ice emitted from the glass. It was a
voice like Kougra claws tearing at my insides, bringing about physical as well
as emotional pain. "You shall be rewarded greatly, my Neopet. The Guardian will
make this worth your effort, oh yes."
By now, I was cringing from the sound of that
voice, curled up on the ground like a tiny Lupe pup. But Maloporg didn't even
flinch. He merely raised a paw as if he were saluting the mirror. "Thank you,
my lady," he said, before stashing the mirror back underneath his bed.
They're going to get Treali! I thought, my mind
close to panicking. They can't get Treali! I've got to protect her! I've got
to warn…
Maloporg's paws came to a rigid halt. "Who goes
there?" he asked firmly, nervousness creeping into his voice. "I hear panting!"
Before I could get onto all four paws and run,
it was too late. Maloporg had opened the door. "It's the Bordorian Lupess. I
should have known. You can't hide now, little Lupess. You know too much."
That's when I noticed the sword in his paw.
The End
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