|
Ciakaba, Hittop and Dracko entered Illusen's glade. At the
left and right were big trees with fresh, green leaves and red apples.
"Wow... What does Illusen feed these trees?" Ciakaba
said in amazement.
"Oh, she gives the trees brain food!" Hittop
replied sarcastically.
The Koi turned around to his owner, with her
mouth wide open. "Really?" she gasped.
Hittop rolled his eyes, "No, silly.."
"Welcome to my glade," a soft voice said. Ciakaba
and Hittop looked up, and saw Illusen standing in front of them. "What do you
want?"
"Yes, well... I have a little problem with Jhudora..."
Hittop answered, staring at the ground.
"Oh no, not another," Illusen sighed, followed
by a loud scream. Dracko was crunching on Illusen's dress, drooling over her.
"Go, away, you - Drackonack!"
"Dracko! Get back here!" Ciakaba commanded.
Dracko looked at Ciakaba and slowly walked up to his owner, while spitting some
chewed parts of Illusen's dress out.
"What is it -- what you want?" Illusen snapped,
trying to shake Dracko's saliva off her cape. "My pet, my Kacheek, Jhudora turned
her into a snot Kacheek. He used to be a cute, little, yellow Kacheek," Hittop
answered.
"And, you want me to change your Kacheek back?"
the Earth Faerie guessed.
Hittop nodded.
"It is going to take a lot of energy to change
your Kacheek back," Illusen said. "But if you help me with something, I will
do that for you."
"What do you want help with?" Ciakaba asked,
hoping it wouldn't be a hard task.
Illusen looked around to see if anyone was listening,
then stepped closer to Ciakaba and Hittop.
"I need Jhudora my most powerful potion. If
she does, she will never cause anymore trouble!" she whispered excitedly.
Ciakaba sighed, "And how are we supposed to
do that?"
"Get in Jhudora's castle. When she is going
to get a drink, throw my potion in her drink and make sure Jhudora drinks it!"
Illusen snapped with her fingers, and a cloud
appeared on the ground.
"Hop, on in," she exclaimed, pointing to the
cloud. Ciakaba grabbed Dracko from the ground and sat down on the cloud.
"Where is the potion?" Hittop asked. Illusen
smiled, and handed over a green bottle to Hittop.
"Make sure nothing happens with this potion
and that is doesn't fall in the wrong hands. It is very powerful!"
Hittop nodded and sat down on the cloud next
to Ciakaba. Illusen waved with her hands and muttered something. Abruptly the
cloud took off and headed towards Faerie land.
Once there, the cloud stood still just a few
meters above the cloudy ground. Hittop, Ciakaba and Dracko jumped off. The first
thing they noticed, was the dark, purple cloud at their left. On the cloud was
a castle, a big castle.
"Before we go to Jhudora, let's shop around
first. Maybe we find something useful" Ciakaba recommended.
"Yeah, good, idea. Even if the best stuff can
be bought in the Hidden Tower, wherever that is, we could still find something
useful," Hittop replied.
They started walking to Faerie City when Ciakaba
shouted, "Oh, golly! The Healing Springs!"
He jumped up and down and pointed at a large
pile of clouds, with a Water Faerie sitting on top of it.
"Let's go!" the Koi exclaimed, running up to
the Healing Springs, followed by Dracko and Hittop.
A large crowd of Neopets and owners were standing
around the Water Faerie. They couldn't see what was going on, but flashes of
light beamed up every now and then.
Slowly the crowd got smaller, and it was their
turn. They walked up to the Water Faerie.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" she asked, setting
her hands down on her hips.
"I need something-to-to walk without anybody
noticing-like a..." Ciakaba stuttered.
"Care for an Invisibility Potion?" the Water
Faerie replied, smiling.
Hittop excitedly took the Invisibility Potion
from the Water Faerie, and gasped in amazement. "Yea! This is it!"
Ciakaba rolled his eyes up. "We don't have enough
money to afford an Invisibility Potion!"
"Not to worry," the Water Faerie said. "Just
this once, you can have it for free.."
Hittop almost choked by his own tong, followed
up by a series of coughs.
"Thanks a lot!" Ciakaba exclaimed.
The Water Faerie nodded and turned around to
help another Neopet.
Hittop clutched the Invisibility Potion in both
hands so it wouldn't fall or break.
"So… what do we do now?" Ciakaba asked.
Dracko barked and pointed at the dark cloud
not too far away.
Ciakaba grabbed Dracko from the ground and gave
him a hug, "Very good Dracko!"
The Drackonack growled satisfied and jumped
back on the ground, running in circles.
* * *
As they reached Jhudora's castle, dark clouds starting to form in the sky
and thunder crackled down.
"So what's the plan?" Ciakaba asked.
"Simple!" Hittop answered. "You drink the Invisibility
Potion, enter the castle, go to Jhudora and get the potion in her drink!"
The Koi rolled her eyes, "Simple for you to
say, but hard for me to do! Cant you come with me?"
"No, there isn't enough for two persons.. er...
one Neopet and one owner," Hittop replied, handing over the potion to Ciakaba.
He tapped on Ciakaba's shoulder, "Don't worry,
you will be safe. If you don't come back before tomorrow, I am going to see
Fyora myself."
Ciakaba shook his head and tried to rip the
top of the bottle open. It was stuck and the Koi tried his best to get it open.
After a few seconds, the top popped open and bits of the potion splashed on
the ground.
"Oh, just great!" Hittop exclaimed, looking
at the water on the ground.
"Not to worry!" said Ciakaba, drinking down
the remaining water of the potion. Her body disappeared within seconds.
Hittop smiled and rubbed his chin, "Good. It
works. Are you there?"
"Yes, sir!" replied the voice of Ciakaba.
"Are you ready?"
"Yep, I'm going in, sir!"
They both laughed and Ciakaba entered Jhudora's
castle, opening it's front door as quiet as she could. The door slowly closed
behind her, leaving Hittop alone outside.
"So Dracko, now it's just you and me!" said
Hittop, without getting an reply. "Dracko..? Hello?"
He looked around but didn't see the Drackonack.
"Hmm, he must have headed home… oh well!"
Hittop sat down and leaned back on a big rock.
Suddenly it started to rain heavily. Annoyed, Hittop crawled away from the rock
and settled down under the wide, purple roof of the castle.
* * *
The staircases and corridors of the castle were dark and very long. There
were only a few torches here and there, but nothing more. A dark castle for
a Dark Faerie, how ironic. Outside the thunder clacked, rain washed down and
wind howled, making the castle look even more creepier.
"Just stay focused, and try to be as quiet as
a sleeping Kadoatie... oh… err... never mind that one," Ciakaba said to herself.
Suddenly, she heard sounds coming from the top
of the staircase.
"Go away! Now!" a dark voice yelled.
"Iiiieeek!!" someone else shrieked.
A few moments later, the sound of a slamming
door echoed through the castle and a crying red Chia ran down the staircase,
passing Ciakaba.
She stared confused at the Chia and then started
climbing up the stairs again. It was long and tiring.
Finally, he reached the top and saw in front
of him a big wooden door. He never came to Jhudora before, so he didn't know
how the castle looked inside. The only time he saw Jhudora, was when she sat
in her throne outside of her castle, taking quests from other Neopets.
The Koi opened the door a bit and peeked into
the new room. Jhudora was sitting in her big, golden throne, with her eyes closed.
Next to her was a table with a silver grail on it.
Perfect, thought Ciakaba, she is probably
asleep. Now I'll get Illusen's magical water in that silver grail. When she
drinks it, it is bye-bye Jhudora!
Ciakaba slowly walked to the silver grail and
popped the bottle with the magical water in it open. Then he let the water slide
into the silver grail.
Suddenly, an arm grabbed Ciakaba by her hand,
and before she knew what happened, the Koi felt an energy shock in her stomach
and she was blasted against the wall.
With half-open eyes, he saw Jhudora standing
in front of her throne. She had her hands clutched around her staff, and an
evil smile on her face.
"Did you really think I didn't notice you?"
Jhudora laughed, putting her left hand on her hip. "I am the strongest Faerie
there is! I knew you was in my castle all along!"
She walked up to Ciakaba, who was laying confused
on the ground. Because of the blow Ciakaba had gotten from Jhudora's staff,
his invisibility stopped working and he was now visible again. The smile on
Jhudora's face disappeared and turned into an angry expression. "I am afraid
I will have to... dispose of you. After all, I don't like Neopets sneaking around
in my castle. Ta, TA!"
She raised her staff up and pointed it at Ciakaba.
The top of the staff started to glow brightly. Ciakaba didn't know what to do,
she was too tired to move and could only watch Jhudora energizing her staff.
To be continued...
| 
