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Though the queen had traveled far and wide across the
planet of Neopia, she had yet to venture into the Haunted Woods. It was always
considered far too dangerous to allow the queen in a place where many of the
creatures there swore themselves to allegiance to the Dark Faeries.
Even so, the Faeries that dwelled in the Faerie
city rarely mixed themselves among their darker sisters for both reasons of
disgust and fear of their awesome powers. The Dark Faeries did not mind such
treatment and actually relished in it, selecting their own dark queen to lead
them as the evil Faeries saw fit.
The moon disappeared behind the dark twisted
bark of the forest that Fenella walked through. All through the woods she could
hear the sound of creatures snarling and snapping their jaws at her, aware that
such a pure presence was not natural to their environment. Even so, the unknown
creatures kept their distance knowing that the queen was a guest in this place
and was to remain unharmed.
For now at least.
After what seemed like an age and a half, the
queen stopped in front of a large bolder upon which was etched crude drawings
of legendary Dark Faeries. The pathetic etchings told the tale of Menltyl the
heartless who almost destroyed every light Faerie as well as Elinthyla the scornful
who managed to curse almost five thousand Neopets by banishing them to the farthest
corner of Neopia.
“Ahhh, the most noble of our kind,” hissed a
voice. Fenella didn’t bother to turn around, but simply continued to read about
the Faeries whose names had been long removed from the library in her castle.
The voice stood next to the queen eyeing the picture of a beautiful Faerie with
large bat wings cursing a small, pitiful looking Jubjub.
“Such a pity really that your predecessors had
to de-wing these Faeries. Such gracious souls they were, Fenella,” the voice
whispered again, placing a gloved hand upon a drawing of her forbearer. The
queen turned her eyes towards the Dark Faerie, studying her carefully. Her hair
was a dark blue that swept gracefully down to her shoulders. The garment which
she wore was similar to that which Fenella wore, but was not the bright purple
that marked the queen. No, it was a dark, putrid green embroidered with dark
red thread that shimmered owing from the unnatural blue light which was being
emitted from the Spyder broach on her neck. She was known as the Darkness Queen…
“My, my Nendlitha, how long has it been? Two,
possibly three hundred years, if my memory serves me correctly,” Fenella pondered
nonchalantly. Nendlitha, the Dark Queen, turned her head towards Fenella, smiling
a crafty grin.
“Hrm, has it been that long? Really time does
fly when you are away from the wretched do-goody sisters,” Nendlitha cackled.
She whispered a few words to the rock too low for Fenella to understand them,
but it appeared to be a password for after Nendlitha’s voice whispered the final
word the rock began to melt away as if it was nothing more than ice. Behind
the rock was a handsome staircase carved directly from the stone of the ground,
leading down into a giant marble hall deep underground Neopia’s surface world.
It was cold and devoid of all emotion within
the chamber, which disturbed Fenella internally. But she didn’t dare voice this
thought aloud as Nendlitha led the way through the maze of marble and stone
rooms, constantly flanked by a group of fierce looking WereLupes who constantly
glanced back at the Faerie queen as if daring her to try anything.
The somber parade continued until they came upon
a large iron door. The Lupes opened up to iron doors immediately and stooped
into a low bow as Nendlitha walked by ( but simply gave looks of deep disgust
when Fenella passed by). The Faerie queen jumped a bit as the doors clanked
shunt behind her. She was obviously locked in, which did worry her slightly.
The queen of the Dark Faeries noticed this and smiled as she sat down in her
throne, studying the queen through purple tinted eyes.
“Oh, I can sense your fear from a mile away,
dear Fenella. Worried about something, are you?” she asked silky. The queen
raised an eyebrow at her dark opposite.
“A tad, but not as worried as you are obviously,”
Fenella added calmly, smiling as the color drained out of Nendlitha’s face.
“After all, you would not have called me over to your palace if you did not
desire to discuss something of an important matter, because if I remember you
positively despise me, correct?”
The Dark Queen narrowed her eyes in a scowl as
she straightened up in her chair. Fenella could sense that she had indeed hit
a nerve, which was essential in keeping the arrogant Dark Faerie in check.
“I’m worried, as you should be too Fenella. There’s
something lurking among these trees that are dangerous to both you and I alike,”
The queen hissed a low voice, as if worried that someone may be listening in.
Fenella didn’t buy into her scheme, it was a ploy for something…she knew it.
“You have noticed that Faeries have gone missing,
haven’t you?” the Dark Faerie asked, no longer showing signs of taunting in
her voice, but serious concern. The queen nodded gravely her unease starting
to grow.
“How did you find out such a thing? Normally
records are kept under the tightest security,” Fenella asked, more curious than
accusing. The Dark Faerie laughed at the question, her voice reverberating off
the high ceiling.
“The night-sky has ears, dear sister. You of
all people should know that! But no, it is not about spies… it is a Faerie,”
she answered, her face once again contorting into a serious expression.
“Forgive me Nendlitha, but I believe that a Faerie
sneaking into the castle would be a spy,” she joked.
“It’s NOT a spy I am speaking of Fenella! The
Faeries have been kidnapped… captured if you will,” the Faerie howled through
gritted teeth, frustrated at Fenella’s calm. The queen’s eyes grew; she feared
what was going to be said next…
However, the Dark Faerie saw her expression and
began to relish in the queen’s fear. “Oh yes, she will de-wing them, that must
I am sure of,” Nendlitha nodded gravely, rubbing her own wings as if she was
hugging a blanket. De-winging a Faerie was the most serious breech of their
creed that could be done! Even Dark Faeries detested doing such a thing, and
only the foulest of foul Faeries would dare commit such a crime.
“But why would she want the wings?” Fenella asked.
“It is not as if she can do anything with them--,”
“Can’t she?” Inquired Nendlitha with a raised
eyebrow. “Wings are far more powerful than we give them credit. You and I both
know that even a simple little Kacheek could come along with a sword and chop
off our wings like that!” She gave a dramatic snap a few inches from Fenella’s
face.
“Of course, but we never let any Neopet know
such a thing,” she explained.
“They,” and at this word she jerked her head
towards the door where the Lupes stood guard, “are afraid of us and are easy
to bend to our will. But our Faerie kin have the same power as us. They know
our faults and flaws… and the more malicious ones will be eager to exercise
any control they have over your kind,” she hissed. Fenella took in these words,
but something else was bothering her more so than the threat of this alleged
Faerie Such a crisis did occur frequently in Faerie history (every seven hundred
years or so), and the perpetrators always ended up to be the Dark Faeries, hungry
for revenge, chaos, or domination over all the elements that they so disliked.
But none of that was odd… the odd thing was that
this Dark Faerie, the QUEEN of the Dark Faeries was telling the Faerie Queen
vital information! The Dark Faeries usually stood together as one, always keeping
each other’s dark secrets, for they all wished ill upon their cleaner sisters…
So why then was Nendlitha telling her this?
“I hope you are not offended when I say that
all this information that you are giving me is…well…it’s not all that convincing
to me really,” She said in what she hoped was a polite (or as polite as one
could possibly be to a Dark Faerie) voice. Nendlitha’s gazed shifted from the
queen’s face to the floor as if in shame…or possibly fear.
“Five faeries have gone missing Fenella, five…”
she prattled randomly.
“No, only three have gone unaccounted for. One
light, a water Faerie, a young fire Faerie…”
“And two Dark Faeries...”
To be continued...
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