Reunited
The Queen Faerie held out her hands for the
Jewel, I rolled it carefully into her small delicate fingers and she turned
away and walked into the centre of the room. She turned back to face us and
closes her eyes. She began the chant some strange and forgotten language, which
sounded a lot like the translations from the book that Coltzan gave us. As she
chanted the air around her began to swirl and whistle like the wind when we
were climbing Terror Mountain. The Jewel began to glow and the Queen Faeries
eyes snapped open and she chanted louder. Her eyes were blank with power and
the air swirled more powerfully around her, the jewel was as bright as fire
and it's core swirled faster and faster. Soon the light grew too blinding, and
to look into the jewel was too painful, almost as soon as I had turned away
the room filled with a flash of light and then it died away. I turned back to
see the room filled with hundreds of Eyries, and standing closest to me, was
Zutore.
"Zutore!" I cried with joy as I saw him again,
I rushed towards him and swung my arms around his neck. His feathered mane was
warm and comforting. "Oh my god have I missed you!"
He put his large floppy paw around me and pulled
me tighter into his embrace.
"I thought I would never see you again, Amerock,"
he whispered and pulled away only to be bombarded with yet more hugs from his
two brothers. He laughed and hugged them both. I looked around and saw that
next to him was an old grey Eyrie who was smiling as he watched Zutore laugh
with his brothers. He stepped forwards, noticing me watching him. Zutore looked
back at him and smiled. "Amerock, I would like you to meet Felkora, my father."
I stood dumbstruck for a few moments, staring
at the tall, noble Eyrie.
"It is an honour to finally meet the one who
Zutore has been telling me so much about," he said in a deep and proud voice.
"It's an honour to meet you too," I said still
a little stunned, then something clicked inside my head, "Felkora," I muttered
quietly, "Felkora! Felkora's sword!" I said drawing the sword. He looked at
it in astonishment. I handed it to him and he looked it up and down.
"I'm surprised it's survived all this time,"
he said, "Who told you it was my sword?"
"It was, urm, Helabora," I said nervously.
"Helabora?" he said in shock, "He lives? But
this can't be, I slew him with this very blade!"
"No wonder he didn't want to get too close to
it," I said.
"Where is Helabora now?" asked Zutore rather
concerned.
"From what we can guess, he's still in Terror
Mountain," offered Kathlon. Taba sat on Zutore's head like he always used to,
looking rather concerned at the way this was unfolding.
"What's going to happen?" Taba quietly asked,
I looked up at his worried face; I picked him up and cradled him in my arms.
"I don't know Taba," I said calmly, but what
could I say? I had no idea what was going to happen, this had taken over my
life. Before, I would never have guessed that I would be scared for my pets'
lives like I had been for the past week. All we had ever worried about before
was where our next few neopoints were going to come from, and where we were
going to find the codestones for Zutore's training. But that was the furthest
thing from my mind now, Felkora handed back the sword and I slid it back into
its sheath.
"So what now?" Asked Bong from behind me, Zutore
peered over my shoulder at the new face.
"Oh, Zutore, this is Bong and _Thean_, they're
the ones who helped us make sense of what was going on. We have them to thank
for pretty much everything." Zutore's face lightened and he smiled, dipping
his head in greeting. I gazed around the room; there were more Eyries in here
than I had seen in a very long time, there must have been hundreds of them.
I looked at Felkora as though he would know what to do. He held up his head
and spoke again in his forceful voice.
"There is only one thing we can do," he began;
the other Eyries listened intently to him. "We must find Helabora and slay him
once more. This time he will not rise again."
As we were about to leave, Zutore and I headed
over to the Queen Faerie, the Clan were outside waiting for us and my friends
stood a little way back.
"I can't thank you enough," I said gratefully,
"Now that we have the Clan of Ligmoore with us there will be no stopping us."
"I hope that is true," she said, "Felkora will
guide you, I trust, and keep you safe. I have every hope in you two."
I lay my had on Zutore's neck, I still felt
distant from him for some reason, I still felt as though he wasn't really here
and that I was still trying to get him back. Maybe it was just that I had not
seen him for months and I had missed him more than anything I can remember.
We had always been close and to have been apart for so long was just more than
I could bear. I nodded to the Queen Faerie and turned back to my friends. We
started for the door where Tharvald was waiting outside for us.
"I don't think I've ever seen so many Eyries
before in my life!" he said in amazement, as he led us back down the staircase.
We found ourselves back in the entrance hall, faced with the rest of the Clan.
Felkora stood tall waiting for our return.
"So," I said to Felkora with a sigh, "what do
we do now?"
"I suggest that we find Helabora before he has
time to do any damage to Neopia. Time is in short supply, we must move quickly."
"Then move quickly we will," I said turning
back to the rest of the group, "But...how will you come with us? None of you
have pets that can carry you."
"That isn't a problem," said one of the Eyries,
"We can bear you on our backs, it would be an honour."
My friends' eyes lit up and they smiled,
"Believe me," said Bong, "the honour would be
all ours."
The Eyrie smiled and Tharvald lead the way out
of the building, soon we were back outside again faced with many Neopians gazing
open-mouthed at the hundreds of Eyries that came spilling out of the palace's
front gates. I clambered onto Zutore's fiery back and watched as Brain_Stew
and ReelBigKougraFish climbed onto one and Bong and _Thean_ onto another. Kathlon
and Taba took to the sky and Zutore flapped his mighty wings, all around me
Eyries began to lift themselves into the air, one after another. Soon the sky
was littered with them soaring and swooping about waiting for Felkora's instruction.
Brain_stew clutched onto his Eyrie as he was lifted from the floor and ReelBigKougraFish
peered excitedly down at the rapidly fading ground. Felkora hovered in front
of his Clan, all eyes watched him as he turned and darted away, like a swarm
of Hornets the Eyries followed him. Kathlon and Taba close to Zutore's side.
***
Helabora stood at the summit of Terror Mountain, his arms outstretched towards
the land. He roared in fury and the clouds grew, covering the now darkening
sky. Flames leapt down from the heavens, thousands of the searing infernos struck
the earth, a firestorm, as the blaze scalded the earth, figures of skeletons
materialized, weapons in hand, an army, soldiers of darkness. They lined the
plains with their rotting faces and in their eyes burned the fires of hell.
Slaves to Helabora, as they once were. Reunited. Their aims alike, to destroy
Neopia.
Into the Belly of the Beast
We soared high in the Neopian sky; Felkora still
lead his clan to Terror Mountain, Bong and _Thean_ flew on one side of me and
Kathlon flew on the other. Taba sat in front of me on his brothers' back. We
had been flying for a little over an hour, but the company showed little is
any sign of tiring. Just over the horizon we could see the tip of Terror Mountain
loom, the sky above it was dark and clouded. It was only then that I remembered
that none of us had eaten since that morning at Bong's Neohome. I delved into
my backpack and handed a packet of Cheesy Neos to Taba, which I had picked up
the day before on our trip into Neopia Central. I also pulled out two Chocolate
Dipped Peophin Cookies, one of which I passed down to Zutore and the other I
gave to Kathlon. I passed the backpack over to Bong and _Thean_. Felkora dropped
back to meet us.
"We are too late," he said simply, I followed
his gaze to what we could see of Terror Mountain, "Helabora has already started
to build his army."
"Well, that doesn't mean anything," said Kathlon,
"We can still beat him, right?"
Felkora looked down at the ground as it sped
past miles below.
"It is possible," he sighed, "Just not very
probable." He looked up again at the mountain, "You see those clouds? And the
faint specks of light coming out of them?" I squinted hard and saw tiny lights
come falling from the clouds, "Well, that's fire from hell, it brings forth
Helabora's army, he's very hard to get to once his army is alive. The Clan only
just managed to kill him before and that was purely by chance."
My eyes fell as he spoke of the army, I had
only just been reunited with all of my pets and straight away we were being
faced with another life and death situation. It wasn't fair that this should
happen to me, or my friends, they had been roped into this whole thing and I
felt that I wanted nothing more than for them to stay away, to stop them from
getting hurt. The truth is I really wanted them to stay safe, but at the same
time I knew that we were going to need all the help we could get.
As we got closer to the mountain I could clearly
see the fireballs, there weren't quite so many of them now as before. We began
the dive down into the mountains, staying well away from the fireballs, and
landed some way away, the rest of the Clan followed, I hoped off of Zutore's
back as he folded up his wings, Taba clambered up his neck and sat on his head
as he usually did. Bong and _Thean_ parted from their Eyrie and met me by my
side, as did Brain_stew and ReelBigKougraFish. We gazed up at the sight of the
rocky mountainscape that lay before us. Felkora turned over his shoulder.
"This way," he said confidently. We followed
him through a narrow passage between two rocky ledges. The sound of trickling
water filled my ears, it was like nothing I had ever heard before. Soon we reached
a circular clearing in the rocks, there was a small lake with an oozing stream
that ran into it from somewhere in the mountain. It was the most surreal place;
I never expected to see anything like this hidden in the mountains. The sun's
rays flickered off of its surface and it seemed brighter here than anywhere
else in the mountainside. I gazed up at the darkening sky, the fireballs came
rarely now, but they struck with exactly the same force. Another one whistled
through the air and collided with the ground not far away. The earth trembled
and the lake rippled in pain. "It is nearly complete, this way!" Cried Felkora,
he tore off to the other side of the clearing and headed straight for the wall.
He didn't slow, but lowered his head and charged harder. Closer and closer he
got to the wall, I stood dumbstruck as he disappeared through the wall like
it wasn't eve there. The rest of the clan started charging for the same bit
of wall, like horses on the starting line, they sped away.
"Come on!" Cried one of them before he too disappeared.
I looked at Zutore whose eyes were set with determination. I looked back at
the wall, too a deep breath, and charged, Taba, Kathlon and Zutore beside me.
The wall grew closer and I screwed up my eyes, not wanting to see the solid
surface come rushing up in front of me. I lowered my head, just like Felkora
had done and sped as fast as I could towards it.
The hands of Felkora stopped me; I opened my
eyes and saw that we were in a deep, dark and rather tight passage. Felkora
blew gently into the palm of his hand and, like magic, a glowing orb materialized,
floating in mid-air. He headed down the passage, with the orb floating in front
of him. I turned back to see my friends standing in awe around them and the
solid wall behind them.
"Weird," I muttered to myself and followed the
long line of Eyries down into the passageway. The light of the orb danced on
the stone walls, guiding the way.
I walked beside Zutore, he seemed very much
a part of his clan I almost felt too distant from him. Ever since I saw him
fading in my vision I had never felt that he was really all here.
"Zutore," I started nervously, "when you were
by yourself, what did you...well..." He looked at me.
"Did I what?" he asked.
"What I'm trying to say is, Bong told me that
for you to get inside the jewel, you have to...die..."
"What?" he asked confused.
"She said for the only way for a member to be
transported into the jewel was that they had to die in a battle," I explained.
"But I wasn't in any battle...oh wait..." His
eyes dropped.
"You were in a battle?" I asked confused.
"Well, not a physical one," he explained, "You
see, I had promised myself when you had gone that I would find you, and I would
look everywhere until I did. But, I had been waiting for over a month and well..."
He took a deep breath and looked back down at the floor, "I gave up, I never
though you were ever going to come back. My life without you is, well its nothing,
there was no point in me going on if you weren't there with me, you're my best
friend..."
I looked into his eyes as they began to fill
with tears.
"I never meant to go," I said as my own eyes
began to water. "I had no choice, we were hacked and I couldn't stay in Neopia.
They kicked me out, Zutore, I really did try to get in as soon as I could but
they didn't understand!"
"It's okay now," he said pulling me into an
embrace, "I'm never going to let you go again."
After a while more of walking we came to what
could only be described as a balcony in a vast hall. It was dark and dusty,
but Felkora looked upon it with hatred. The orb flew to the middle of the hall
and grew, lighting up the surroundings. Felkora's eyes filled with sadness as
he looked down upon a small raised platform. He bowed his head and a small tear
fell from his eye. Before I could say anything he had lifted himself into the
air and glided slowly down the floor in front of the platform.
"I'm so sorry..." he said quietly. I climbed
onto Zutore's back and we glided to his side. The feathers around Felkora's
eyes were wet with tears; he glanced briefly at Zutore and then turned back
to the platform. "Your mother was the kindest soul I ever knew..." his voice
caught in his throat. "I'll never forgive myself for what happened." He paused
for a moment and he bowed his head again. "Helabora...destroyed her...at this
very spot..." His voice trailed off and he turned away. "And now he's back,
he is going to try and take Neopia again. We must stop him, Zutore, we mustn't
fail."
"We won't," promised Zutore, the rest of
the clan floated down, carrying of course Bong, _Thean_, Brain_stew and ReelBigKougraFish.
From the first time I noticed that the hall was full of old, dusty furniture,
it was like an old underground palace-type-lair. At the other end of the room
were large, wooden, double doors and also as the centre point of the room sat
an old throne.
"Where are we?" asked Taba.
"We are in Helabora's lair, this is where he
hides out when times get rough. He can do everything from here, he never has
to leave," said Felkora. From behind the double doors came the unmistakeable
sound of shuffling. We all froze; Felkora signalled for us to hide so Kathlon
and I darted behind the old throne. The rest of the clan hid behind dusty furniture,
soon no one could be seen in the dim light, the glowing orb fizzled out and
plunged us into complete darkness. There was silence in the room; all I could
hear was the sound of Kathlon breathing quietly beside me. The stillness was
broken when the one of the double doors creaked open and a thin beam of light
streamed in. I held my breath as a bony foot slammed down on the ground, followed
by a menacing skull with its burning red eyes, the skeleton peered around and
pushed the door further open, it stepped inside, followed shortly by another
skeleton. The two advanced further into the room, the first one held in its
bony hands a sword and a large shield, the other held an axe which swung loosely
by the it's side. I watched as their glowing red eyes penetrated the darkness,
one of them looked straight at me, I froze, not wanting to make any movement
at all, in case they saw me.
To my relief the glowing eyes turned away, I
sighed quietly and turned to Kathlon.
"What do we do?" I whispered desperately. Kathlon
shrugged in answer.
"What can we do?" He whispered back, "Felkora
will think of something."
Just as Kathlon had finished speaking an ear-splitting
clang came from across the hall, the skeletons spun round and started for the
noise, a small metal bowl rolled back and forth on the ground next to a pile
of high stacked books. I looked desperately over to them, and saw Taba's tiny
hand reaching out for the bowl, fear welled up inside of me as I saw the two
skeletons striding towards Taba, he was helpless, I had to do something.
"Hey! Over here you big dead creeps!" I yelled
springing to my feet, waving my arms to attract their attention. The two skeletons
swivelled round and one sent the axe spinning through the air, heading for my
face. I ducked behind the throne again. "Kathlon, you have to get away, I'll
distract them while you get over to Taba, okay?" He nodded and put his hands
on my arms.
"Take this with you," he said, a swirling
blue light came gushing from his fingertips and swirled around me. "It's an
Air Shield.
I looked at the swirling blue light that surrounded
me; it was as though I was standing in a miniature tornado.
"Thank you," I said with a smile, I lay my hand
on his shoulder. "Be careful." He smiled back and nodded. I drew Felkora's sword
and gripped it tightly in my hands. I peered around the throne at the rapidly
approaching skeletons. My heart raced, behind me was the axe, deeply imbedded
in the wall. I reached up, plucked it out and handed it to Kathlon. "On three,"
I instructed, "One...Two...Three!" I sprang out from behind the throne and charged
head on towards the skeletons with the sword raised high above my head and the
Air Shield swirling around me. Kathlon ran along side the wall, out of harms
way with the axe clutched tightly in his hand. I charged like a bat out of hell
towards the skeletons, my legs pumped like pistons in a car and I could hear
my heartbeat drumming in my ears. The first skeleton lifted his shield to shelter
its head, I swung at its legs and they crumbled like chalk. I spun and hit the
second defenceless skeleton across the head, its skull split in two and the
fire in its eyes burned out. It dropped to the floor like a rag doll. The first
one swung at my legs with its sword, I jumped over the rusty blade and swung
my own sword down in an arc on its head. Again the fiery eyes burned out and
I was left standing with my Air Shield still intact, breathless in the middle
of the hall. I looked around at the hundreds of Eyries as they began to immerge
from their hiding places. I saw Brain_Stew's face scan the pile of crumbled
bones and then gaze open-mouthed at me.
"What?" I asked with a tint of laughter in my
voice, "I watch Zutore training, I can't help if I pick up a few things."
Taba and Kathlon appeared behind me, I turned
to see their smiling faces.
"Nice job," said Kathlon as Taba jumped
into my arms.
"Thanks," I said, sliding the sword into the sheath on my back.
"Well done Amerock," said Felkora stepping forward, "But I'm afraid more
will be on their way now. Helabora knows when his accomplices have been slain,
he will send more to take their place."
"Then, I guess we had better keep moving,"
said Bong.
"Where to?" I asked Felkora.
"I presume that Helabora will be in his chambers,
which are quite a way from here. I will lead you," he said, turning for
the doors.
"Urm, Amerock?" said Bong, "Don't you think
that some of us should stay behind, you know, to keep the skeletons off of your
back?"
"Well, yeah I guess so, but you have to be careful,
if half of the clan stay behind and half come with us then we should be okay,"
I suggested.
"Can me and _Thean_ stay behind?" Asked Bong,
"He has his abilities and I have a little power of my own that I'm sure I can
weave into some sort of protection."
"Only if you're really sure," I said
"Positive," she replied with a smile, "I wanna
help, and seeing as I'm not that good at hand-to-hand combat I think my place
is here."
"I want to stay too," said a voice from
behind me. I turned to see Kathlon staring at me with pleading eyes.
"Kathlon," I said, "It's too dangerous, you're
not strong enough to hold your own."
"Sure I am," he pleaded
"Okay," I sighed, "You can stay, but watch your
back."
I looked up at Bong and whispered "Look after
him." She nodded and I turned away, heading for the passage to Helabora's chamber.
Felkora walked carefully down the corridor checking that there was no threat.
"We are safe to go, follow me," he instructed
and headed off down the corridor with us close in tail.
To be continued... | 
