Faerie Quest: Part Five

by holly9945

Little Cabin
They walked. Syaoran had bubblebeam, and he wasn't afraid to use it. "It won't affect him much," Ashtai said, holding an explosive snowball.

"Well neither will your snowballs," Syaoran said.

"I know." Ashtai didn't look too comfortable with this fact. They walked for a while, until finally they were standing on the edge of the witch's clearing, staring at the house.

"So...What do you think they're doing?" Syaoran asked. "Do you suppose they're badly hurt?"

Ashtai didn't answer. He had read her mind. Instead, she looked at the house. How would they get in without the Monocerous catching them? Then, she had a thought. "Let's go over to the other side of the clearing. Through the forest."

They did, and soon were staring at the back. A large flap of a door, which was probably for the lion to get out quickly, was in the wall. "It's big enough for us to pass through, and he wouldn't have time to notice we've entered the clearing because it's such a short distance. Got it?"

"Uh, yeah, for the getting in part, but what do we do once we're inside?" Syaoran asked, wearily.

"Well, then we improvise." Ashtai smiled sheepishly.

Syaoran smiled back, but it was obviously not a genuine smile. "On go. One...Two...Three...Go!"

They ran, as fast as they could, and soon leapt, and crawled, through the flap. As soon as they were in, the Monocerous could be seen, sleeping. He was sleeping!

"It's nice to know it was worth the trouble. He didn't even notice!" Syaoran whispered, feeling stupid.

"Well, be quiet or we WILL be in trouble!" Ashtai hissed.

They tiptoed around the monster's bed, and crawled into the hall. There were a dozen doors, all closed. Just as Ashtai was about to try opening one, Syaoran grabbed her paw and shook his head in great disapproval. He had read about home-protecting spells, and he didn't like the idea of being sent into a flaming pit by just touching a door knob. They walked, quietly, down the hallway until they came to a door that was open. Hiding in the shadows, the two pets listened.

"Wh-Wh-Wha-Whaa-" they heard the Usul's familiar voice mumble.

"Oh, stop bickering!" a sharp voice ordered.

In the background, there was a low sobbing sound. "And if you're going to say 'What are you going to do with us' like all those other ones, then know you'll soon be soup!" she crackled, and Cutiehoney let out an even bigger sob.

Gathering up her courage, Ashtai shot a glance at Syaoran, who had a determined look on his face, clutching his Bubble beam, and then she stepped out of the shadow and into the kitchen, because that's what it was. Right away, the witch spun round, holding a bottle of something green and slimy, which Ashtai strongly suspected to be mucus.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" she took a step forward as Syaoran came into the room, shaking like a leaf, but still looking as brave as in the ice caves.

"I'm Ashtai, and you'd better let go of my friends!" Ashtai said, waving a paw towards Millie and Cutiehoney, who were on the other side of a sort of fire fence, surrounded on all sides.

"Yeah, or you'll have big problems, and we're not joking!" Syaoran added. He aimed his Bubble beam and waited for her to answer. The witch seemed to consider this for a minute, then she burst out laughing, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You-YOU're threatening ME!" she laughed, motioning at the two armed pets. Apparently, it was all very funny to her.

"Some baby Aisha and a teeny Shoyru!"

"I am NOT a baby, and Syaoran is not teeny!" Ashtai was getting madder by the second. Who did this witch think she was?

"And I'll have you know WE defeated the Snowager and made it safely through the ice caves!" Syaoran shouted proudly. This seamed to make the witch somewhat more serious.

"You what?" she screeched. "That's impossible!"

"Is it? We're on a Faerie quest, and we need the ice scimitar. Do you have it?" Ashtai asked, dead serious.

"Heh. I have it, all right, but you're not getting it anytime soon. You'd have to find it, and then there's Monocerous." The witch seemed more confident now.

"Speaking of which," she waved her hand, and all of a sudden loud, fast steps could be heard running down the hall, then the lion appeared in the doorway, snarling and growling. He moved forward, towards Syaoran, and growled a bit.

Meanwhile, Ashtai moved to the fire cage and came up next to Millie. "Where's your bag?" she asked her.

"It's right here. The ol' blind witch there didn't notice it," Millie whispered back, pointing at the bag that was next to her.

"Pass me the sword. It's our only valuable weapon against the Monocerous," Ashtai hissed, glancing over at Syaoran, who was firing Bubble after bubble. It was barely keeping the monster from biting him.

"Right. Back up a little." Millie heaved the sword over the flames, through the air, to where Ashtai caught it (with great difficulty). She passed the sword to Syaoran, but he dropped it immediately.

"It's too heavy!" he complained, to which Millie added, "Yeah, I could barely get it over the flames!"

Ashtai moved towards the sword, protected by Syaoran's Bubbles. "Well, then, how are we supposed to-" she stopped.

She had reached the sword and clasped her hand on it, then lifted it. She had been prepared for an immense weight, but instead, it seemed light as a feather. "-use it." she finished.

"Hey! It's light as a feather!" she lifted it and did a few fancy moves in the air, making the Monocerous stop growling for a few seconds. It seemed a little stunned.

"Well, it was heavy as a load of bricks a second agoOOO!" Syaoran jumped aside and hit the ghost lion with another bubble, which made him back up into the hall.

"Well, anyhow, it's perfect now." Ashtai spun on her back paws and moved to stand I front of Syaoran. "It's time to see if it's as good as in the legends."

As she moved forward, the witch let out an exclamation, Syaoran moved to block her from putting a spell on Ashtai and Cutiehoney stopped sobbing, but Ashtai didn't notice. She wasn't holding the sword, she was part of the sword, like if it was part of her body. It moved when she wanted it to, and it stopped in the air where she wanted it to. She was the sword and the sword was her. They were one.

The End