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The Return of Grindomara
"Paranoid? Heh, I never said anything about paranoia.
I was merely stating…" A gentle smack to the ribs silenced Beneterr quickly.
"What do you want?" I asked, looking up into
the ice-cold face of Grindomara. Even though I had never seen her before, my
instinct told me that this was her. She was just as I imagined she'd be, from
her night-black hair to her pale, colorless face to her pitiless smile that
sent the chills of a thousand winters down my spine. A faerie to be feared.
Even though she was riding a slightly-overweight, clumsy, flying Elephante,
the Elephante's eyes were like black holes of space, devouring the light that
touched them like Lupes devoured Chocolate Chias. The Elephante gave a slight
hiss and spat from its trunk, a bitter green acid that stank of rotting eggs.
To my horror, the acid burned a hole in the stone at my paws. Cringing with
fear, I took a few steps back.
"Who in the name of flamin' faeries is she?"
Beneterr whispered, his normally steady voice wavering.
"Someone who would really like to turn us into
a Lupess burger with a side order of mashed Eyrie, so shut your beak!" I replied.
I was being a bit harsh, but I had to under the circumstances.
Grindomara ignored my companion, keeping her
gaze fixed on me. "You know what I want, fool. I want the Dessro."
"Dessro? You're talking gibberish, because I
don't know what a 'Dessro' is. Is it like that Elephante you're riding?"
"No, that's Sra Inanim! I leeched its free will!
Now quit playing dumb! I saw you with Sra Dessro a few days ago."
"Must've been some other Lupess. I told you,
I don't know what a Dessro is!"
"I see right through your fib."
"I'm not…" I started to speak, then thought
better of it. Lying to a Dark faerie was one thing. Lying about lying to a dark
faerie was quite another.
Grindomara muttered a few words of power, and a fireball appeared in her hands.
Rather than emitting light, this fire seemed to drain the light, the joy, the
hope from the air around it. A draining much more potent than the one around
the Elephante's eyes. Although the edges of the flame looked vaguely purple,
the inside was deep black. Black as a night without stars.
"The Flame of Evil. It touches you, it kills you. Unless of course, the Ancient
Magic flows through your veins. As it flows through mine. As if flows through
the veins of my sister, Kilamara. The Darkest Faerie.
"Would you believe that out of all of the Fourteen Sisters of Starless Peak,
out of all fourteen daughters of the Uber Dark Faerie, Kilamara and I were the
only ones who inherited the Ancient Magic? And yet the weak one, my elder sister
Jennumara, rules us. Now we need the Dessro to free the Darkest Faerie." I could
tell her temper was getting away with her, because she was revealing far more
than she should be revealing.
Sensing the bitterness of the rivalry between the sisters, I decided to take
advantage. After all, an enemy divided is an enemy half conquered, right? "Shouldn't
you be the one in control, then? Seeing as how Kilamara is in the bottom on
the ocean and Jennumara is so weak?"
Turns out, that was the wrong thing to say. Grindomara lunged at me with the
fireball. I leaped out of the way and smelled the odor of the tips of my tail
fur being scorched. Too close for comfort. "I will be in charge, fool! As soon
as I bring back that wretch named Treali! Now tell me where she is! I promise
I won't harm her."
"Just suck out all of her free will? Like you did to that poor Elephante?
Never!"
Grindomara lunged again, and I got the common sense to bolt. I'm not quite
sure what happened next, but I heard Grindomara screech, and Beneterr yell,
"Go Tessa! Go! Find Treali! Get out of here!" Then the flapping of wings. I
chanced a look back and saw that Beneterr had the dark faerie's right hand firmly
in his beak and was lifting her up. Grindomara was shrieking, struggling to
lift her left hand (in which the fireball rested) to touch Beneterr's side.
Every time she got close, Beneterr would jerk his head, shaking Grindomara and
causing her hand to drop. The Eyrie was in a dangerous situation, and I could
do nothing about it. It would be best if I got out of there quickly. I did.
For hours, I walked towards Craggy Peak at a brisk pace, worries racing through
my mind. Worries for Treali, but especially for Beneterr. I chided myself gently,
reminding myself that Beneterr got into his mess voluntarily. And he did it
so that I could get away and rescue Treali. There was nothing I could do if
I had stayed around. Not in an aerial battle.
But still, I thought to myself, snapping
my jaws, it would have been so sweet to take a bite out of that Dark Faerie's
ego. So sweet.
Craggy Peak lay a few miles ahead of me. From the ground, it looked even more
forbidding than it did on the ledge. What seemed like tiny rocks were actually
massive boulders. Small ridges were actually like canyons in the earth. Not
someplace I would like to be on better hiking days.
Perhaps I won't have to go there at all, I thought, straining my keen
Lupe eyes to see two tiny specks ahead of me. Probably Maloporg and Treali.
Thank goodness! I hastened my pace, eager to recapture my friend. Then the voice
of reason kicked in. How're you going to rescue her when she's under the
watchful eye of that thrice cursed silver Eyrie? If it should come down to a
fight, he's armed! You only have your claws and teeth!
"I'll figure that out when I get there." I muttered to myself, attracting
the stares of a pair of Abominable Snowballs nearby.
The terrain beneath my paws grew smoother, the stones on the path ground to
gravel by centuries of travelers. Travelers who had been hiking to see the wonders
of Mist Mountain, if only from a distance. Here, I broke into a run, the distance
between Maloporg and me lessening with each step I took. Although Maloporg certainly
wasn't going as fast as a mountain Lupe could run, he was going more quickly
than I expected. Treali seemed to be following him almost… willingly. As if
she wanted to go with him, even though he might very well be leading her to
her doom. If I were in her situation, I'd fight to get out of it with every
ounce of my being. And if I couldn't do that, I'd at least struggle enough to
make him slow down. Make him curse me a little.
* * *
Little did I know that Maloporg was cursing Treali, but for different reasons.
"Shut your sniveling gob, faerie-girl. Crying won't make your precious Lupess
come back." If I have to listen to another minute of this, I'll go insane,
he thought, a low growl vibrating through his throat.
Treali responded by letting out another howl and mopping the tears running
down her cheeks. But she kept following Maloporg, matching his pace with hers.
Whatever the Guardian of the Star might do with her, it had to be better than
whatever lay here. Her last friend, her last spark of hope was gone. There was
nothing left.
"Cursed faeries above! Must you snivel so much? I'll tell you what." He stopped,
took a length of rope out of his hiking knapsack and used it to tie Treali to
a pillar-like boulder. "I'm going to go and find some grub. And if you even
think of moving from this spot, I'll make sure the Guardian makes you
as miserable as possible, understand?" Treali nodded.
"Good. Now stay." With that, the silver Eyrie ran off into the mountains.
* * *
Seeing that Maloporg and Treali had stopped, I slackened my pace. No use exhausting
myself on the journey so I wouldn't have enough energy for the battle. Then
I saw Maloporg run off and thanked my good fortune! There would be no battle!
All I had to do was get Treali out of there and we were home-free.
When I got to the resting spot, I saw Treali tied with a strong rope to a tall,
thin boulder. She was crying, crying so softly. Her tears ran down her cheek
and fell onto her coat, with no one to wipe them up.
What a horrible situation to be in. No one to wipe your tears…
"Treali," I whispered, hiding behind a pile of rocks in case Maloporg was
nearby. I was fairly certain he wasn't, but I wasn't taking any chances. "Treali!"
She kept on weeping, oblivious to anything but her own pain. Taking a chance,
I walked out from behind the rocks and stood in her direct line of vision. "Treali…"
Her eyes blurred by tears, she must not have recognized me. "Go away, you dreadful
Eyrie, and leave me here. I'll die as I've lived; alone."
It was like a knife through my heart, hearing her say those words. "But you're
not alone. You never were alone. And you won't be alone when you die. This I
promise…"
"How can you know such a thing, Maloporg?"
"Because I'm here." Unable to bear it any longer, I raced over and unknotted
the rope that bound my dear friend. "Oh Treali, I'm here! You won't ever be
alone again. Never, never, never…"
Her eyes were still blurred, but she caught
the scent of my fur. Burying her head in it, she continued to sob. "Tessalea?
Tessa… you're here."
"And I always will be here, beside you," I
whispered, putting one paw under her chin and lifting her head. With the other,
I dried her cheeks. "I won't abandon you. Never in life. Never in death…"
"Oh Tessa…"
"Come on," I interrupted. "Maloporg will be
coming back sooner or later. I want to be at Mist Mountain before he realizes
you're gone."
To be continued...
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