The Light Faerie walked forward. "Here is your map," she said with a smile.
Then she and the rest of the Faeries disappeared. The pack was silent.
"I suppose it's time to go," said CoalBalt flatly.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," said Flame apprehensively.
The Magical Lupe Pack suddenly burst into applause. The whole pack was wishing
all of them luck and good thoughts, even to CoalBalt. They were just about a
mile out of the valley when Flame finally broke the silence.
"What do you think NightStalker is going to do to Galilobo?" he asked.
"Well, since I grew up in a pack of black Lupes I know just enough that it
wont tickle," CoalBalt said coldly. Petal bit her lip. Flame turned to
his friend. "Don't worry we're going to make sure he doesn't-" But Flame was
broken off as a shower of arrows flew down upon him and his friends. Flame tried
to move his friends and himself out of the way but was hit by an arrow in the
side. He fell on the ground with a soft moan of pain. CoalBalt, his eyes ablaze
with anger turned to the tree were the arrows had come from. He galloped to
the tree and rammed into it. At once a gaggle of Pteris flew down squawking.
CoalBalt grabbed a big red Pteri and pushed him against the trunk.
"Why are you doing this?" he snarled. "Who sent you?"
The Pteri wriggled and tried to get away but gave in quickly when he saw the
look on CoalBalt's face.
"A black Lupe sent us," said the Pteri, resentment deep in its voice.
"He is give us lots of Neopoints for job... now you let BeBoo go I tell other
Pteris to stop."
CoalBalt let him go and hurried to where Flame and the girls were sitting.
RiverBed looked like she was doing some quick, hard thinking. Finally her eyes
lit up. She leaned over to Flame and whispered in his ear, "Flame, can you hear
me?" she asked softly
Flame opened his eyes with a wince of pain. "Yeah," he said hoarsely.
"Okay, I need you to call the Fire Faerie," she told him.
He looked confused.
"Just trust me!" she told him.
He nodded and closed his eyes. When he opened them it was like they turned
into balls of fire. There was a gust of wind and the Fire Faerie stood there
laughing.
"I had no idea that you would be calling so--" But she stopped short as she
looked at Flame. "What in the world?! What happened?!" she exclaimed.
"Ill explain in a minute," Riverbed said urgently. "You need to get me
the Water Faerie." The Fire Faerie nodded and disappeared. She was back in about
a minute. As the Water Faerie worked, Riverbed explained what had happened.
"Well, Flame will be fine. Just watch out for traps the Dark Faerie set up,"
the Water Faerie said gently. Then she and the Fire Faerie disappeared.
Flame stood up carefully and smiled. "Thanks guys," said Flame gently.
CoalBalt grinned."Well, it was mainly Riverbed," he said. Suddenly he
looked thoughtful. "The Dark Faerie will lay traps for us, and since we are
to fight her and the other black Lupes we should be really careful when we are
in the Haunted Woods." He glanced at the map. "Which is our next stop!"
Flame shook himself and started forwarded. "Where else are we going?" Petal
asked CoalBalt.
CoalBalt examined the map. "Well after we go through the Haunted Woods, there
will be a volcano and I guess we have to go through it to get to the portal."
Everyone looked uncomfortable about going through a volcano but no one said
anything. Riverbed broke the silence. "So, how far until we make it to the Haunted
Woods?" she asked.
CoalBalt was silent as he looked at the map. "Well, I'd say we'll be there
around nightfall but we can't go through it at night.... Too dangerous."
"No. We are going to go through it as soon as we get there," Petal said.
"I don't care what's in it."
CoalBalt looked apprehensive, but then Petal continued, "We don't have much
time, and we can't waste a day or a night just sitting."
CoalBalt looked thoughtful and then nodded in agreement. By that time they
had made a good mile or two since the Haunted Woods wasn't too far from the
valley. But it was growing dark quickly. Riverbed looked up at the setting sky
and said, "We should stop a while. We have to eat!" she added when she saw the
look on Petal's face.
"What do we have in our bag?" Flame asked. Riverbed checked the bag she was
holding.
"Oh let's see….some mushrooms and herbs or we could hunt wild Chias."
CoalBalt made a face. "Uh, I'm not sure my stomach could handle Chias,"
he said slowly. "But herbs and mushrooms are fine with me."
Everyone else nodded in agreement. They sat down at the edge of the woods and
ate their dinner. Finally Petal stood up. "C'mon let's get a head start."
Flame stuffed the rest of his mushroom in his mouth, swallowed and stood up.
Riverbed and CoalBalt put away the rest of the food and followed Flame and Petal
into the woods. It was pitch black in the forest even though there was still
some light out outside.
"It might be easier if we had a torch," Petal said. Flame smiled and grabbed
a large stick and blew fire on it.
"There, the perfect torch!" he said with an air of a boast.
Riverbed smiled and took the torch. "Well, it will work." She went a little
bit ahead of everyone else. Suddenly her shriek pierced the air.
"Riverbed!" Flame shouted and looked for her, the light had disappeared. He
bounded forward but CoalBalt held him back. "Wait!"
He listened carefully for a minute then they heard RiverBed's voice again:
"Petal! Flame! CoalBalt! Are you still there? I fell into a hole and there are
spikes at the bottom!"
Flame went forward again but slowly and cautiously. "Where are you?" he shouted.
"I think I'm a couple feet in front of you!"
Flame walked again, but then shouted something that was lost in a sudden burst
of wind. A minute or so later Flame and Riverbed were hurrying toward them.
"I caught a vine when I was falling," Riverbed explained when she had
caught her breath. Flame shook his head in amazement as he took another branch
from a tree and lit it.
"Well, the sooner we get out of here the better," Flame said. "By the
way CoalBalt, how far until were out of here?"
CoalBalt scanned the map carefully. "I'd say in about….a half an hour."
"Well we'd better hit the road then," said Petal.
A little while later they were finally out of the forest. "Thank goodness!"
Petal said as she sat down.
"And we can finally get some sleep now too," CoalBalt said as he curled
up next to Petal.
"Sounds like a good idea," Riverbed said as she and Flame sat down too.
The next morning they were up with the sun. CoalBalt stretched and woke up
the others.
"Morning already?" Petal asked.
"Afraid so," CoalBalt said with a smile.
After they had a quick breakfast of organic fruit, they set off.
"I'd say well be at the volcano in an hour or so," CoalBalt told the
rest of them as he examined the map.
"Good, but there is something I've been wondering," Flame said.
They all turned to look at him. "How are we going to get through the portal?"
he asked.
"Well, we don't know what the portal will be like. So I guess well figure out
what to do when we get there," Riverbed said.
CoalBalt nodded. "It makes sense," he said pointedly. "We don't know what
were up against."
By that time the sun was nearly up.
"Ahh, I think were about there," Petal said and pointed. About a half
a mile away a volcano was set on the horizon, waiting for them.
To be continued... | 
