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"You-you have?" Cheriche stuttered. The small yellow Kyrii
started to quake in fear, but made as if to attack the Darkness Faerie anyway.
The Light Faerie beside her put her arms
around Cheriche's shoulders to hold her back, saying, "It won't do any good
to get her angry. She put the bridle on, she's the only one who can take it
off." The Darkness Faerie nodded. "So how did you know, we were coming, Serenelle?
Did you interrogate her friend?" The Darkness Faerie patted Lynella's now-silver
back.
"No, no, I didn't have to. Dianne told
me everything I needed to know. The promise she agreed to. I ordinarily wouldn't
have allowed it, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to see this poor, pathetic
creature beg for her friend's freedom." Serenelle's lips parted in something
like a snarl. "I didn't expect her to bring… a friend."
"Why? Don't like a fair fight?" Helene
snapped. She was dressed in black but her face and hands glowed fiercely with
her anger. "What happened to honor, and pride?" The darkness Faerie smirked.
"They have been replaced by shame and
misery. What is pride to me? Pride works for the likes of Jhudora, the silly
fool. She has become a joke to the Darkness Faerie community, sending Neopets
after tidbits and trinkets." Serenelle's voice showed a certain amount of contempt,
but also a bit of fear, as if she only badmouthed Jhudora behind her back. She
extended her hand towards Cheriche so her fingertips did not quite touch her.
"This, my darling, is what evil is all about. Soiling the innocent. This little
Kyrii here knows that she betrayed her friend, and she can do nothing to save
her. Isn't that right?"
Cheriche burst into tears. She knew it
was her fault. Lynella wouldn't have gone if she had tried to stop her. Maybe
they couldn't have been friends any more… but Lynella wouldn't be wearing this
Darkness Faerie's bridle, helpless and lacking in any free will.
Helene continued to hold the sobbing Kyrii,
but her eyes flickered upward. There were stars out in the sky, but no moon.
Serenelle's power was at its weakest during the new moon. There might still
be hope.
She stared at the silverbelle Unis, all
standing silent now. She hadn't noticed when they had stopped, but maybe they
were only totally controlled when Serenelle was concentrating on them fully.
That would mean that whenever she was forcing the Unis to move, she was distracted
a bit. But how could she use this?
"You said that Cheriche could see her
on Monday," Helene said. "You have to keep that promise."
"Oh, but it is Monday. It's just a little
past midnight. And when I have tired of watching this sweet little Kyrii cry,
I will go. Taking her friend away with me. Forever."
"Forever?" Cheriche echoed. It seemed
so impossible, so unfair.
"Oh, well, you will perhaps see her some
nights, as a falling star. That will be my way of reminding you of what you
have done. But she won't ever see you again- she doesn't even see you now."
The Darkness Faerie lifted the Uni's head and waved her hand in front of her
eyes. Lynella's eyes stared fixedly ahead, seeing nothing.
"Oh, Lynella," Cheriche sobbed. "I'm so…
so sorry." Helene started to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but she stopped
herself. It wouldn't do any good to tell her this, no matter how true it was,
because Cheriche wouldn't believe her. The only way to fix this was….
"How sorry are you, Cheriche?" Helene
asked, but gently. "What would you give to have your friend back?"
"Anything," Cheriche sobbed. "I'd give
anything." Helene had been expecting this. "Would you take her place?" Helene
asked. Cheriche looked up, wide-eyed. Everything in Cheriche's mind screamed
for her to say no… but her heart was telling her something else.
"Yes. Yes, I would." Cheriche nodded slowly,
and her tears started to dry up.
"Did you hear that, Serenelle? She would
give up her freedom for her friend," Serenelle grinned.
"That can be arranged. I specialize in
Unis, but I have been known to make… exceptions. Come here, Cheriche." Helene
held the Kyrii back from the Darkness Faerie.
"I don't think so. We haven't made a deal
yet, and we're not going to have an even trade." Serenelle raised her eyebrow
sarcastically.
"Oh no?"
"No," Helene said. "We are going to have
a test. Your darkness, against the friendship of these two girls. The winner
takes all." Cheriche stared at Helene open-mouthed. "Cheriche, do your trust
your friendship that much? Enough to bet your freedom on it?"
"I guess," Cheriche said hesitantly.
"That's not good enough. You tell me right
now. You are willing to give up your freedom for Lynella's. If you really care
about her that much, don't you really believe that nothing can break that bond?"
"Oh, please," the Darkness Faerie snapped.
But the Kyrii slowly nodded, and said,
"Yes. I don't know a lot, and I may make a lot of mistakes, but Lynella is my
friend. And nothing will ever change that." Helene smiled, and looked to Serenelle.
The darkness Faerie glowered, then said
coldly, "Let us begin." She waved her hands in the air, and Lynella joined the
other silverbelle Unis, who then started flying through the air. "You may ask
me to eliminate any number of Unis at a time, but you only get three turns.
If you can choose your friend after that, you will both have your freedom. However,
if you guess wrong, I will keep Lynella as well as you, my darling Cheriche,
forever and ever. Do we have a deal?" Cheriche opened her mouth to speak, but
Helene cut in.
Can I help her? Serenelle thought
for a moment, and then nodded. "You may help with the elimination, but she must
make the final choice herself." Helene nodded in return, and Cheriche held out
a paw for Serenelle to shake.
"I agree," she said gravely, and shook
hands with the Darkness Faerie. Serenelle laughed, and clapped her hands. The
Unis began to fly about rapidly, one on a clockwise loop, one going counter-clockwise.
Helene remembered how Serenelle was unable to concentrate completely on both
the Unis and her conversations, so she asked, "So, that's a binding contract?"
"Of course it is, silly," the Darkness
Faerie snapped. All of the Unis moving clockwise faltered.
"Our first elimination is all the Unis
that were flying clockwise, then," Helene said evenly. Serenelle looked surprised
and annoyed. She flicked her wrist, and the Unis that Helene had eliminated
flew into the sky, toward the hidden moon. Cheriche had been watching the Unis
carefully, and had seen the hesitation when Serenelle turned to answer Helene.
She squeezed Helene's hand, and watched as the Unis began circling again, this
time all circling counter-clockwise but in two rings, one above and one below.
"But I had the fingers on my other paw,"
Cheriche said.
"You know that makes no difference," Serenelle
replied, and the Unis in the lower ring skipped in rhythm.
"Then I eliminate the Unis in the lower
circle," Cheriche said, and Serenelle growled as she sent the Unis Cheriche
had eliminated into the night sky. She turned on the Faerie and the Kyrii and
hissed, "I'm on to you. You're trying to distract me. It won't work this time."
She sent the remaining Unis spinning again. Cheriche couldn't count how many
were left, but it couldn't have been more than half a dozen. However, they were
all going in the same direction.
The Light Faerie, the Darkness Faerie,
and the yellow Kyrii all watched the Unis fly silently. They seemed to have
arrived at a stalemate. Suddenly, Cheriche yelled with all her might, "Hi, Jhudora!!!"
Serenelle whirled around, and all but two Unis stopped in midair. "I eliminate
all the Unis that just stopped moving!" Cheriche shouted triumphantly. Serenelle
actually screamed in rage, but sent all but two of the Unis away.
She brought them before Cheriche, and
said, "You may have come this far, but your luck is about to run out. No more
tricks. No more help from your friend Helene." Helene stepped back from Cheriche,
letting go of her hand. "Believe in your friendship, and believe in yourself,"
she said. Cheriche nodded, and walked up to the two Unis.
Both had the same color, the same impossible
beauty. Neither looked at Cheriche with any recognition. Cheriche stood between
the two Unis and petted their manes, whispering, "Come on. Come on. There has
to be something."
Suddenly, her heart stopped. Her hand
had caught in the mane on the Uni to her right. She gently pulled her hand out,
and there, silver now but still recognizable, was the rest of the ribbon she
had found on the path. The ribbon she had woven into her friend's mane that
afternoon.
"This Uni, that's Lynella," she cried.
Helene clapped her hands as Serenelle shrieked.
"Nooo! You can't! I can't have lost!"
She balled up her fists in frustration.
"I believe you have a promise to keep,"
Helene said. The Darkness Faerie glared at her, then grabbed Lynella's bridle
and snapped it in two with her bare hands.
"There. Are you happy now, you brat?"
she asked. Cheriche smiled and nodded, as her friend blinked in confusion.
"Yes, I am." Serenelle let out one last
final howl, then got onto the other Uni and flew off into the night sky.
"What happened?" Lynella asked sleepily.
"Why is it so dark out?" Helene smiled and clapped her hands, and light filled
the small clearing.
"Better?" she asked.
"Is that a-a Light Faerie?" Lynella asked.
Cheriche laughed.
"I guess I have a lot to tell you on the
way home. But most important, you're my friend, and nothing will ever change
that."
THE END
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