Faerie Quest: Part Four

by holly9945

Into the Woods You Have To Go
After celebrating for twenty-five minutes, with Syaoran saying Millie was a crazy genius, Millie saying Syaoran was the coolest, bravest Neopian in the world, Ashtai wailing they were going to be crazily famous and legendary if they lived through this quest and Cutiehoney agreeing with everyone (she couldn't get a straight thought), they calmed down and took the shell/notepad out.

"Our next item is the Ice scimitar, so we have to get to the-the spooky woods." Ashtai read out loud and swallowed hard. The spooky woods? Then again, compared to what they'd just done, it couldn't be too bad.

They climbed down at top speed to where they had left the Korbat and surely enough, the Korbat was back already.

"You're a little late." The pilot laughed. "Watchya been up to?"

"We went through the cave!" Millie shouted in a happy manner. "And we've got the first item on our quest!" She took the Ice Sword out of Syaoran's bag and showed it.

The steel Korbat, which had taken off, wobbled dangerously and almost threw them off. The pilot was too shocked to drive the flying machine.

"You're on a quest! And you went through the cave! But...What about the Snowager?!"

"Syaoran took care of HIM!" Millie laughed. "I don't think he'll want anything to do with Shoyrus for a lo-o-o-ong time."

"It was your idea." Syaoran said, blushing a little. "You're the smart one."

"I didn't think about bringing a megaton bracelet, did I!" And they kept of arguing over who was the best until they arrived fifty meters from the edge of the forest, where their pilot said he'd come back and wait for them in two hours. If they made it back, that was.

"Gee, that's nice." Ashtai said glumly as they got off.

"C'mon! After the Snowager, what could be so bad?" Cutiehoney asked, tapping their leader on the back.

"We don't have any megaton bracelets anymore. That was our only one." She responded.

"Wrong. I have one already, that was my spare one. It's just somewhere in my bag, and I'm not going to try and find it right away." Syaoran said, smiling and patting his bag.

They walked to the border of the woods and stepped in. For a while, there was nothing special, but after fifteen minutes, Millie noticed something.

"Hey! There's smoke over there! I think there's either a house or a camp!" The others whipped their heads in the direction she was pointing, and sure enough, there was a column of smoke going up over the trees.

"Okay." Ashtai sighed. "Let's go, but try and be quiet as possible. We don't want whoever's there to see us, if at all possible."

They walked in the direction of the smoke and soon arrived at a clearing in the center of which was a small house. It was actually more of a cabin that a house.

"Uh, Cutiehoney You got any books about the spooky woods?" Ashtai asked Cutiehoney.

"Well, this is about legends of the world of Neopia, but I saw something in it. Lessee..." The Kau focused on her book, which she had pulled out of her backpack, for a minute before shifting so the others could see the book. Then she read aloud:

In the spooky woods, the most gruesomely frightening part of Neopia, is a small house. Many voyagers are lured to this house by it's poor and modest appearance, but inside is supposed to live a cruel witch

This witch is known to make all of her meals out of pets and there is constantly a fire burning in her fireplace, in case an unlucky Neopian happened to venture onto her property. Though she is almost blind, she can sense any Neopian in the same room as her and when she has pinpointed the poor creatures, they have no way of escaping her.

Many pets have set out to prove this false, and the only ones that have returned either confirm she is in deed there or won't even talk about it. This is, and probably always will be, one of the greatest mysteries of Neopia

"Woah." Syaoran said. "And the image is this house, all right."

"Can she sense us?" Millie shivered and her eyes darted towards the door of the old house. "What do they mean,once she's pinpointed us, we can't get away? Does she send some monster out after us?"

Everyone shivered, and they got up in a flash. Just as they turned around, they heard a loud creaking sound from behind them. Whipping around at top speed, they saw the door was now open. Then, to their horror, something stepped out.

"Millie? Don't ever, EVER be right again." Syaoran said.

***

It was a big lion, a misty greenish grey and very scary. After a moment of staring, the pets took off at a run. Syaoran looked over his shoulder only to see it was following them!

"That...would be...the Mo...Monocerous." Cutiehoney panted as they ran. She was seriously out of breath.

"What's that?" Ashtai asked, stumbling and getting back up immediately.

"A very scary ghost lion!" Syaoran shouted.

"That's p...pretty mu...much it." Cutiehoney admitted.

They ran, the Monocerous following. As a matter of fact, he was gaining on them!

"RuuUUUN!" Millie shouted as the monster roared and pounced, landing a few feet behind them.

"Augh!" Cutiehoney tripped. The lion had landed on her back legs!

"ROOOOOAAAAR!!!" The Monocerous roared, making the trees and ground themselves shake.

"Cutiehoney!" Ashtai stopped dead in her tracks. So did the other two.

The lion, meanwhile, was busy grabbing Cutiehoney's legs and pulling her backwards.

"AAAAH!" the poor Kau screamed in terror. She tried kicking and wiggling, but the monster held on tight.

"You let her go!" Forgetting that the Monocerous was almost three times bigger than she was, Ashtai ran towards it. "Let! Her! Go! Leave 'er alone, you overgrown kitten!" to which the Monocerous growled and swiped at her with it's paw. Ashtai was knocked over, but she wasn't going to give up. It took her a moment to notice Millie and Syaoran were coming, too.

They tried, but the lion wouldn't let go of his prey. He dragged her down a quarry and back up, he pulled her through the forest like a doll, then he reached the cabin.

Running like she'd never run in her life, Millie caught up with it as the door opened. She leaned on her tail and kicked the Monocerous sides as hard as she could, but instead of dropping Cutiehoney he tossed his head sideways and knocked Millie in through the door.

Before Ashtai and Syaoran could do anything, the monster and his prey went into the house and the door closed behind them.

"Cutiehoney! Millie!" Syaoran shouted as he stopped dead in his tracks. He just stared. He and Ashtai were shaken. Very shaken. Nevertheless, Ashtai wasn't going to zombie around.

"Let's go. He'll come back out as soon as he and the witch are done with the others." She grabbed the paralyzed Shoyru and pulled him back as fast as she could.

"But...But Cutiehoney and Millie.."

"Let's GO!"

They ran. They didn't know how much time they'd been running, but soon they were on the outside edge of the forest. Panting worse than Cutiehoney. Syaoran squashed down and Ashtaï did the same.

"They...They're..."

"No." Ashtai was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince Syaoran. "We're going back. Just, now we know to get ready." She looked at her backpack, then at Syaoran's. Then she got back onto her feet and looked at Syaoran. "Well, I am, anyway. Are you coming?"

Syaoran nodded and got up himself.

"Right. I'm not going to stay here by myself, anyway."

To be continued...