“Baron! Baron!” Viverna called when she was close enough.
“Yes, what is it? Are you hurt?” Baron asked worriedly.
She shook her head fiercely. “No, I found this Red Lupe pup.” Viverna placed
the pup in Baron’s arms. “Baron, who’s Moonlusion?”
“Why, that's this pup’s name!” the Baron exclaimed, surprised.
“Was… was she named after someone important?” Viverna asked boldly.
“Yes, she was,” Baron said. He looked, somehow, hurt. She realised that would
be all she got from him.
“Thanks!” she called, and flew out into the battle field once more.
Triren slashed away at the enemies with his teeth and claws, the roar of battle
all-round him. For some reason, he couldn’t keep Viverna off of his mind.
Is she all right? He wondered to himself. Where is she? Why can’t I find
her?? Is she being protected?? Triren lost concentration of the battle,
and he was slashed across the chest, leaving a large, deep wound.
“NO!”Viverna screamed. She had seen Triren get slashed open, and now the Grarrls
were crowding around him. “TRIREN!” she screamed, and raced toward him. She
cut the larger Grarrls down with everything she had, trying to get to Triren.
When she finally did, there were many cuts across her, many were deep and painful.
But she forgot her pain in the rush of need and dove for Triren and carried
him away. She flew back to Baron, flying as fast as she could.
“Baron!” she wailed in august. “Baron! Triren is hurt!”
Baron came running out of the castle. “Is it bad?”
Viverna looked up and nodded.
Gwen came running out as well. “What can we do for him?” asked the frantic
mother.
“Find a healer,” Viverna inquired.
“We need a healer!” Gwen said called to her servants.
Viverna said nothing, she was too tired, but she stood up. “I have to go out
and fight,” she mumbled.
“What? I didn’t catch what you said,” Baron said. He did, but he didn’t want
it to be true. Viverna mumbled something, then dove off the balcony, and flew
back up in the air after a few tense moments.
Where is he! Viverna’s mind burned with anger, looking for the one Grarrl
that got away, the one that had hurt Triren. There was some other, built in
reason why she was angered at him, but she could not place it. He was a blue
Grarrl with one eye left from a previous war, and he was quite small. Viverna’s
searching eyes found him out of the 1,000 left. She dove down and attacked him,
raking him across the head with her claws. He fell to the ground and Viverna
pounced on him. The Grarrl pushed her off and she flew into the air to protect
herself. She noticed that all of the Grarrls and Lupes were standing still.
I wonder why? Her weary mind wondered. She started to fly over to the castle,
and stopped dead in her tracks. The red Grarrl was holding Triren up by his
leg, and two others had captured Gwen and Baron. Only one thing flew through
her head. I got to save them! It was a firm decision in her mind. She
must save them! She flew to the back of the castle, where the Grarrls would
not see her, and devised a plan. OK, this is what I’ll do, she thought
to herself quickly. First I’ll fly in, and knock Triren from the Grarrl’s
claws, and then I’ll save the Queen and King.
The Grarrls were thrown into confusion and havoc. Triren lay on the floor,
and the red Grarrl was holding his damaged hand. The others released their prisoners
and ran to Viverna, trying to help their leader. “Run!” Viverna yelled, and
she grabbed the Red Lupe pup and Triren, who was not fully enough recovered
to run. She followed a ways behind Gwen and Baron into the castle.
“I was thinking about you,” Triren mumbled.
“What?” Viverna asked in a hushed whisper.
“When I got… hurt, I was thinking about you,” Triren breathed, and he smiled.
Not the regular smile he gave to everyone else, this smile was different.
“Triren, you’re just dizzy from the pain. You’re talking nonsense,” Viverna
scolded. Her mouth scolded, but Triren saw something else in her eyes. Hope.
“No, this is the only thing that I’ve ever said that has made this much sense
to me since the first day I met you,” he murmured. Suddenly, he drifted back
off to sleep.
Finally they got to a room with steel walls and doors, and it had one window,
and a few candles for light. Viverna gently placed Moonlusion and Triren on
the floor and barred the door shut.
“Are we safe?” she asked.
“Basically,” Baron replied. Viverna raised an eyebrow, but did not question.
“We have to defeat the Grarrls! Or we will be stuck in our own prison!” Viverna
exclaimed.
Gwen rested a yellow-covered paw on Viverna’s shoulder. “You have done enough,
my friend. Do not worry. The other fighters will get us out of here.”
“But I have to help! I have to fight with them!” Viverna shouted.
Gwen smiled. “You remind me of someone named Moonlusion, she was the same way
you are.”
“Moonlusion?” Viverna breathed. “Could you tell me more about her?”
“Just a little. It pains me to talk about her. She was a commoner, but in all
its oddness, she was a Cloud Lupe. She was the only Cloud Lupe we know, other
then the Goddess Tikara-lu. “Well, Moonlusion was a fighter, right from the
beginning, and she saved the Lupus Forest Kingdom more then once in war. She
was kind though, unlike most other fighters. And young too; she started fighting
when she was about 6, I think.”
“Well, why isn’t she here? Where is she?” Viverna questioned.
A pained look crossed Gwen’s face. “Well, all we know is that she was about
8 years old, she was being chased by Evien and, well, she was never seen again.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to bring up the subject, Gwenderina.”
“No, no, don’t worry about it.”
“Who’s Evien?” Viverna asked.
“He is the leader of the Grarrl invasion,” Baron replied for his wife.
“Oh.”
The five of them got to bed early, well, at least the four of them. It was
about 3:00 in the afternoon, and Viverna was still awake. She got up and flew
to the window. She smiled when she realised that the window was big enough for
her to climb through, but the not the Grarrls. She looked back at all of them
bidding them a silent farewell, and then she looked at the innocent look on
Moonlusion’s face.
FLASH!
“Moonlusion,” a female red Lupe said as she bucked a strange looking anklet,
one that looked like Viverna’s own, on Moonlusion’s left hind leg, “If you become
in deep trouble, you must strike you foot upon the ground three times, and scream
this as loud as you can thrice times: ‘Magic of the Anklet, Protect me from
all who hurt me, and bring me to Faerieland's refugee!’”
“Yes mother.”
FLASH!
What is happening to me?! Viverna thought. She shook her head. Can’t
think, must fight! She hopped out the window and into the battlefield. “Evien!”
she cried, as loud as she could, “I’m coming for you!!”
Here was the only silver Shoyru, dragged into a battle which was not her own,
and still fighting with a passion she didn’t understand. It was as if she had
been fighting the Grarrls her whole life, like a… like a Lupe. And to top that,
she was seeing weird things about a Lupe who was famous! She shook her head.
It was not time to think about those things; she had to find Evien.
As she was watching down below her, she saw a brave green Lupe, the colour of
moss, try and save another of his kind. In the process of doing so, he was taken
down by a Grarrl solider. It’s the way of war, Viverna, she told herself.
Three seconds later she found herself spiraling down to save the Lupe. Hang
in there, she thought, just hang in there.
“Fire breath!” she cried. A hot, stream of fire shot out of her mouth, heading
for the Grarrl solider. The Grarrl fell down, and troops around her rallied
her with their teeth and claws. When the smoke cleared, the troops gasped. She
was a Shoyru! Viverna smiled her thanks and flew toward the green Lupe.
“I’m going to help you,” she said kindly. “Do not be afraid.”
“Moonlusion?” the green Lupe asked wearily.
“Huh?” she asked. “Oh, no, I’m not Moonlusion! My name is Viverna. You?”
“Techanmoss,” the Lupe replied. Hmmm, Viverna thought, familiar. She
tenderly picked up Techanmoss and flew back to the iron room.
“Hey Techanmoss, can I call you Moss for short?” Viverna asked.
Techanmoss nodded, he was weary from battle. “That’s what she called me.”
“What?” Viverna translated his conversation into weary battle slush.
When Viverna got back to the iron room, she placed Techanmoss on the floor,
and found a healer, and brought him into the room also. He healed him as much
as he could.
“Thanks,” Moss mumbled, and immediately fell asleep. Viverna smiled. Another
life saved.
Once more Viverna was out in the battlefield, and still there was no sign of
Evien. I will find you, she thought, and when I do, you won’t live to tell
about it. She flew faster then every before, Evien would not get away. There!
There he is! She flew down close enough to do what was needed. “Fire breath!”
she cried, aiming the fire at Evien. Suddenly, one of the largest claws Viverna
had ever seen came flying towards her. She was hit, and she flew, careening
to the ground. She fell with a thud, and Evien ran over to grab his prize.
“You!” he roared. He grabbed her. “I need five men to come with me back to
Sonslte! Now!”
Viverna, a voice called. No, that wasn’t right. I could feel the voice,
not hear it. Viverna, it is I, Tikara-lu. There was a swirling ball of light,
and there, in front of me, stood the most beautiful Lupe I had ever seen, she
was a cloud Lupe.
“Aren’t you a Lupe Goddess?” I asked.
Yes. I came here to help you.
“Help me? Why, what is wrong? Is someone hurt?” I asked in fear.
I heard Tikara-lu chuckle. You are hurt, Viverna. The Grarrls have captured
you, and they will destroy you, or imprison you for the rest of your life. I came
here to help.
“I’m hurt?” I gasped. Then I remembered Evien. “Oh.”
Remember everything you have seen today, everything you have heard. That
is all I can tell you, Tikara-lu ‘said’ with a sigh. It is not the Faeries'
job to meddle in your business.
“Thank you, Tikara-lu. I greatly appreciate your meddling,” I said.
Viverna gasped and woke up. What kind of dream was that? She thought.
It felt so real! She looked around, noticing she was in a prison. She
saw the keys to the door lying right out of reach, taunting her. Tikara-lu,
did you really come to me in my dream? Viverna asked herself. She racked
her brain, trying to think of what had happened that day. Of course! How
could I have been so dumb? She thought. She looked at the Anklet on her
leg, remembering when she was young.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Luprena, but we do not have any records of Viverna since
she was 7. We found her along the path.”
“Oh, okay. I still want to adopt her,” Viverna’s mother had said.
“Are you sure ma'am? She is . . .silver.”
“I told you sir! I want to adopt her!”
“O-okay ma'am.”
“What Anklet numbers are available, sir?” Viverna’s mom asked.
“You don’t need one.”
“And why is that, sir?"
“Because we found a Anklet on her,and when we tried to take it off...”
“Oh. Come on Viverna! We’re going home.”
No one had ever questioned that her mother was red, and she, silver, but Viverna
alone had always felt awkward. She never had memory of when she was little,
before she was 7, and that she never would understand. After her mother left,
her father left her, but she never did like him. But there was always something
different between her and the other Shoyrus, and she could never place it.
Maybe if I recite the thing Moonlusion’s mother had said before, maybe it
will bring me somewhere safe! Viverna thought hopefully. She stomped the
foot with the Anklet on three times on the stone, then recited, as loud as she
could, “Magic of the Anklet, Protect me from all who hurt me, and bring me
to Faerieland's refugee!” A cloud of white smoke engulfed her. She became
bolder and bolder, as she saw this as her last resort. She said it the second
time, and the white cloud of smoke turned purple. She began thinking of a life
here and she would never last long. And, as she continued thinking, that if
she would have to live in here for the rest of her life, she would never see
Triren ever again. And a life without Triren, she decided, was no life at all.
“Magic of the Anklet, Protect me from all who hurt me, and bring me to Faerieland's
refugee!”
The purple smoke turned silver, the colour of the supernatural. It swirled
around Viverna, coming closer and closer, and thicker and thicker. It soon became
too thick to move in, and Viverna had trouble breathing. What kind of refugee
is this? She asked herself. The silver smoke tightened it’s grip on Viverna,
Tighter and tighter. So much for hope. She was soon enough dizzy from the lack
of air, and then a soothing sound washed over her… it was a female Lupe, howling,
and she was getting louder and louder, as if she was running nearer. The female
Lupe erupting in a cry of joy, just as Viverna passed out on the floor.
To be continued... | 
