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“Everyone, listen!” Bluey yelled frantically to the villagers.
“I can get you out of here! Just follow me!”
Most of the melancholy prisoners had just been
woken from sleep and weren’t pleased.
“Come on!” Dragoon ordered. “This way! Make sure
no one is left behind!”
“Where are you going?” a sleepy villager asked.
“To find Nikola!”
“Um, why?” asked another.
“To get you out of here! My friends have a way
to escape!”
“Hey,” said a familiar Green Kougra, “you’re
the guys from the restaurant! Did you find your friends?”
“Yes, now come on!” Bluey directed.
A gigantic crowd of Neopians had formed.
“That’s still not everyone,” Dragoon said, worried.
“Take whom you can. I’ll make sure everyone else
comes,” said the Kougra. “My name’s Aurelia, by the way.”
“I’m Bluey.”
“Nice to meet you, again, Bluey. I’ll meet you
at the palace.” With that, she scampered off.
“All right, everyone, just follow me and you’ll
be okay,” said Bluey. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Lead the way!” someone shouted.
So Bluey and Dragoon did just that. The sky was
almost fully dark, and there was no moon. The air was cold and a chilly wind
blew past.
They passed the familiar restaurant, and Dragoon
had an idea. He ran inside and emerged moments later with the Chia shopkeeper
and a backpack stuffed with food.
“Couldn’t resist,” he explained. “I mean, if
we get out of here, the first thing I’ll think will be, ‘I’m hungry.’ ”
Bluey agreed that this was a good reason, and
they pressed on.
For a while nothing happened except much walking,
and at times jogging or paced running. The realm-weary prisoners seemed to like
the exercise and hope of escape.
Bluey, however, was worried sick. What if Nikola
broke the jewel before he was ready? What if his friends were in trouble and
he wasn’t there to help him? What if the spell didn’t work after all? Well,
the Snowager had told him it would work, and the Snowager was his trusted friend.
Bluey decided to just get the Neopians to the palace and then figure out what
to do.
“Do you have a plan?” Dragoon asked.
“No,” Bluey replied. “I’m going to get the Neopians
to the palace and then figure out what to do.”
“Sounds good,” said Dragoon, and the conversation
faded.
The ground consisted mostly of flat plains. Bluey
made sure they were headed west, toward the giant shimmering blue palace that
grew larger every moment.
Finally they heard a noise to their right. It
was Aurelia and a crowd of Neopians, coming very quickly.
“Hey, I found everyone,” she called, waving a
paw to the Neopians behind her, which numbered in the thousands.
“How--?” Bluey asked, his dragon jaw dropping.
She ran over to Bluey and Dragoon and said, “I
told them the truth. I’m rather believable, you see.”
Just then Bluey saw that Aurelia was rather charismatic
and likeable. With all the faerie-chasing and friend-fetching, he hadn’t really
had the time to notice. She wasn’t gorgeous like Nikola, but she was fairly
good-looking.
“All right,” she said to Bluey, “lead the way.”
Bluey felt a rush of adrenaline. He was the leader,
and they depended on him. He marched closer and closer until the palace was
not far away.
Spirit, Darkmoon, and Dantus were uneasy. Nikola
was busy trying to cast a spell. It could be ready any moment and they weren’t
particularly anxious to see if it worked or not.
“I’m heeere!” called a voice.
The trio turned to look, but they could see no
one in the dark.
Nikola saw them, the army of her prisoners led
by an all-too-familiar dragon. She waved her hands at the pond to try to make
the spell prepare faster. She would find her jewel and get rid of the rebel
pests if it was the last thing she did.
“We’re here!” came another voice.
Spirit perked up. He knew who it was--it was
Dragoon, and he was getting close. In a moment, he could see him, then Bluey
and a prodigious crowd of villagers.
Nikola turned to them and spoke, loudly and forcefully.
“I order you all to leave. These three--” she pointed to Spirit, Darkmoon, and
Dantus-- “will be deleted, as well as the dragon and Shoyru. But I will spare
the rest of you if you go now.”
No one budged.
“All right then,” said Nikola, “you’ll all be
sorry.”
“No,” said Dantus coolly.
Nikola glared at him. “What did you say?”
“Your spell isn’t ready,” he replied. “You can’t
do anything to us.”
She fumed. A snowball appeared in her hand. “Are
you so sure?”
But Dantus stood firm. “I was your advisor, wasn’t
I? You did trust me once. Too much. A villain shouldn’t trust anyone.”
“I am no villain.”
“Um, actually, you are,” said Darkmoon. “I looked
up the villain criteria once. Just for fun, you see--”
“Enough!” she yelled. “I’ll just ice you all
until I can delete you, then!”
“Nooo!” called Bluey, running up to them. Dragoon
followed closely behind. “Where’s the jewel?”
“Still in the--” Dantus gasped and stared at
Spirit, who held it in his hand.
“You said--” Darkmoon started.
“I said I couldn’t find it, so Nikola wouldn’t
know,” Spirit said. “Bluey?”
“Smash it!”
Spirit smiled. “Well, I guess it’s time.”
He looked at it one last time, crouched down,
and smashed it into the ground.
“Nooooooo!” screamed Nikola. “You fool! You’ll
destroy this world and us all!”
“Which has been the plan all along,” said Dragoon,
“only, we’re leaving.”
They stood back as a huge column of blue smoke
rose from the broken shards. It was the last portal back to Neopia. The area
around it was suddenly loud with a whooshing sound and quite windy.
“Everyone, get inside the portal!” ordered Bluey.
The villagers were first, jumping in several
at a time. Although there were thousands of them, the portal worked quickly
and a good portion of them were gone within minutes.
Nikola struggled to mingle into the crowd of
people, but Bluey and Dragoon grabbed her and held her back.
“Fools!” she yelled. “Fools! I’m queen! What
happened to my queendom?”
“It has been officially overturned,” said Spirit,
who was guiding villagers into the portal while staying a safe distance from
it.
Finally almost everyone was through.
“My turn,” said Aurelia, stepping up to it. “It’s
been a blast, guys! Thanks so much!”
“Bye!” said Bluey. “Neomail me when you get back
to Neopia!”
Aurelia waved and slipped into the portal.
“I’m next,” said Dantus, stepping in. “Bye, and
thanks for everything!”
Soon only Nikola, Bluey, and his pets remained.
“Spirit, Darkmoon, go!” Bluey ordered.
“We’ll meet you home!” Spirit said, walking up
to the portal and then vanishing.
“See you soon!” Darkmoon, too, soon was gone.
Bluey still held firmly to the struggling Nikola
and glanced up at the sky. It was...falling. The crystal was crumbling and crashing
down, and earthquakes split the ground. The realm would not last more than a
few minutes. The portal, too, was shrinking and closing.
“Come on, Bluey!” said Dragoon, slipping into
the portal.
“Let me go,” Nikola pleaded, desperate. “Please.”
Bluey could see the change in her eyes. She was
no longer evil, but repenting. He had to make a tough decision in a split second.
He didn’t know what made him do it. Maybe it
was the panic of the scene, or the pain he had gone through, but he pushed Nikola
away and stepped back into the portal right as it closed.
“Nooo!” Nikola wailed, but it was too late. Bluey
was already gone and there was no time and no means to escape.
She looked up at the falling sky sadly and ruefully.
As a crushed faerie she had made this world, and as a glorious queen she went
down with it.
To be continued....
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