The future is always uncertain, so the form
of help which you will find there is too... uncertain. Sometimes the ones who
help you the most are the ones that others think are the most deadly, the most
vicious, while other times they may be the ones who no one would expect to rebel.
Any way they are all destined to come together in some way or another...
Book 2: Strange Meetings
I awoke the next day before sunrise, with a cool
chill running down my back. I opened up my green eyes, and looked down at the
bundle of fur at my feet, and smiled. Apparently Zana Taru had crawled up next
to me while I slept, for there she was nestled up against my fur, slightly shivering.
I thought about what it was like to her,
being so young, yet strung out on a journey so hard. I knew that she would see
it through though. Though young, Zana Taru was very stout, and strong-willed.
I slowly slid out from her grasp, careful
not to wake her, and then looked out at the rising of the sun. Soon we would
have to set out again. As a large whisper of air blew over me, I sighed wishing
that I had taken the time to grab Zarrel's pack. I myself could find food almost
anywhere, but I wasn't sure about Zana Taru.
I stretched out, and let out a large yawn,
and then I started making my way towards a cluster of bushes, which had little
red fruits in them, which by their smell seemed edible. I picked a handful from
the bushes, and then upon tasting one, found it to be quite sweet, so I dug
in, and ate several more until I was full. Then I grabbed as many as I could
carry, and walked back over to Zana Taru.
As I walked over, I smiled at Zana, fast
asleep, and then I dropped the whole bunch of berries right upon her, "You better
eat up. We shall leave within the hour." And then I turned from her to look
up at the sun, and then whispered. "I shall save you Zarrel Charmain... my friend."
Zana Taru finished her breakfast leaving
a mess of the berries left. "What will we do with all the extra berries?" she
asked, looking up to me for an answer.
"I don't know. I can do just fine without
food for up to a week, and I don't feel like lugging around food if I am not
going to eat it myself," I said. Really I had no idea what to do with the leftovers.
Zana pushed her finger into her fur, thinking.
"I got it!!!" Zana yelled, jumping into the air.
"What?" I asked, but she didn't answer me,
instead she started to take off her jacket, which she wore over a smaller vest.
Slightly sticking her tongue from the side of her mouth, she twisted the sleeves
around, and around her hood. Then she tied the sleeves into a knot, and lifted
up her final product.
"Clever," I said, smiling, for she was.
She had turned her jacket into a bag. "Though won't you be cold during the night?
It shall only get colder as we make our way north." And as I said this, a large
gust of wind ruffled up my fur.
"I'll be fine," she said, packing the
leftover berries into the 'bag' and then walked over to me. "Now are we going
to go save mother?"
I laughed. "Just hop on."
Soon we were soaring through the sky, headed
northward once again, though not without problems. The wind was getting stronger
as I flew, and soon it was starting to make me falter while I flew. The wind
was tearing through my feathers, and Zana Taru was bent double, clutching my
main as hard as her hands allowed her, making her knuckles go white. She sat
shivering upon my back, but didn't say a word about being cold; probably too
worried about holding on I thought.
"We have hit a storm!!!" I tried to yell
over the wind to Zana as I was starting to be pulled back and forth by the strong
wind.
"You must land!" she screamed to me. "We
can't kill ourselves!!!"
"No!!!" I said still flying. "We can't give
up on Zarrel, we have no idea how long this storm will last, and weather or
not it lessens farther up," I said still flapping my wings. I would not give
up, and so I kept on flying.
As I flew onward, the storm didn't get better.
It only got worse, way worse. The wind blew past my ears, screaming as it went,
and pulling my wings this way and that. Zana was now holding on for dear life
as all sorts of dust, grime, and other debris blew into our faces. With my eyes
half opened, I swerved this way and that to try and avoid the larger particles
of stuff which flew past me.
With a large gust of wind, my wings finally
gave out under me, and I was thrown right into a branch that was being blown
by the strong winds. Even though the branch was small, it was going really fast
enough, and hit just the right place to make me go spinning out of control.
I flipped this way and that, my wings flailing uselessly at my sides. I lost
all sense of direction as I continued that frenzied spin. That was when Zana
fell from my back with a scream, and then I lost her in the twilight of the
wind.
Up was down, and down was up; the whole world
spun before me, and I felt like I was going to puke if I spun any longer. My
wish was then granted, and I was tossed full force right into a tree, and then
fell to the ground. My wings pained horribly, and I couldn't move the rest of
myself. A dark haze started to settle across my vision, and I let out a weak
squawk as I plummeted into a deep darkness. I had failed Zarrel Charmain. I
had lost to the storm; I had lost Zana Taru....
***
Zana Taru opened up her eyes, and then closed them again, thinking of the
dream that she had had last night. She had dreamt that her mother was going
to die if she and Dorono did not get a special flower. Then as they were flying,
she lost Dorono into the abyss, while she herself fell into a large thorn bush.
Zana opened her eyes, looking at all the
brambles that surrounded her, and held her fast to the large bush that she was
in, and then a tear slipped down her cheek. She really did want to believe that
what had happened was a dream, but she knew it to not be true. What happened
had, and from what she saw, Dorono had died. Now it was up to her to save her
mother, but how? She had no idea of where she was, and even if she did, where
could she find the flower of Trinifucus. She knew that it was in the North,
and by the ocean side, but Zana had no idea which way was North.
Zana tried to pull herself from the bush
without scraping her skin upon the many thorns, but luck was against her, for
by the time she got out she was covered with little thorns. Zana Taru began
to flail her arms about trying to get the thorns off, for they burned her like
many fire ants crawling up her pant legs. She looked down, and then let out
a yelp of fright, for there upon her legs were many fire ants; she was standing
in the middle of their anthill.
With a cry of pain, Zana ran headless of
the thorns catching in her hair, for all she wanted was out. Once far away from
the burning ants, she sat down, and began to cry, a long drawn out wale. "Why
didn't I listen to Dorono, and just stay back home with father?!?" she cried.
"Why???"
"Well, I'm sure you could answer that question
of yours better yourself," a voice sounded from up in the trees.
"Wha!!!" Zana Taru said in surprise jumping
up, and looking around, seeing nothing. "Who said that?!?"
"Use yer eyes. Why do you think you've got
them?"
Zana Taru looked up into the trees at two
emerald green eyes that were smiling at her, and she fell back with a start.
The voice that belonged to the eyes then began to laugh. The voice was feminine,
yet strong. Powerful, yet carefree. "Who are you?" Zana asked again.
"If you mean my name, well it's Tron. Tron
Bonne."
Zana looked wide mouthed up into the tree.
Tron Bonne. It was a strange name to her ears. It sounded nothing like a normal
pets name. "Your name..." Zana said. "It's..."
"Different? Yeah, I know. That's because
I'm different myself."
"What are you?" Zana asked, all fear gone
from her now. Whatever was up there didn't sound evil or dangerous, but sounds
like looks can be deceiving. "Show yourself!"
"If you insist!" the voice rang out. Suddenly,
from the tree a girl dropped, but she was no ordinary girl. Upon her back were
large bat-like wings, and her hair was a dark purple, with lime green stripes
going through it. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, which rippled down
her back. She wore a long black and violet dress, and high heel shoes. She spread
out her hands, looking at Zana who stood flabbergasted. "Well..."
"You're a faerie," Zana said at last. She
had heard much tell of faeries. Though she didn't really know that any existed,
and she never expected to meet one face to face; especially not this type of
faerie. This faerie was a faerie of darkness. Zana slit her eyes as she saw
the sword belt upon the dark faerie Tron's waist. She had heard much tell about
these faeries. They were evil, rotten to the core, and wouldn't hesitate to
kill you at all. Zana reached down to the ground, and picked up a large rock,
and then pulled back her hand, ready to release the stone if Tron tried anything
at all. "Don't you come any closer you element of evil!"
At this, Tron took a step back like she had
been punched in the face. Zana looked up into the faerie's eyes, and saw an
expression of sadness, though it was quickly replaced with the same carefree
look that had been upon Tron's face the whole time before. She reached down,
and pulled her sword from its shelf, and then upon swinging it above Zana's
head, replaced it with a smile. "If I was so evil, I could have killed you right
then." Then Tron let out a sigh, "Nowadays, everyone gets cut out for just their
looks."
Zana Taru looked up into Tron's face, and
finally realized that she was right. Just because she was born a dark faerie
did not mean that she was evil. Just like the fact that her mother was the top
assassin in the land did not make her evil either. Zana's frown then turned
into a smile, "Sorry," she said slowly, and Tron laughed.
"No problem Kiddo." Then she looked deep
into Zana's eyes, "You know what? You remind me of someone. A friend of mine;
also a purple zafara. We had so many misadventures together." And Tron laughed
once again. "Bunny," she said. "Bunny Ketsotsu... that was her name." And
Tron smiled as her eyes seamed to go far away, then they quickly zoomed back
to Neopia. "You know what kid? You remind me of her, ya do. Her and I had many
misadventures together. What is yer name kid?" Tron asked looking down once
more upon Zana Taru.
"It's Zana," she said, "Zana Taru."
"Zana Taru!" the dark faerie said with a
smile. "So your not all to good yourself, or at least so I would presume, knowing
the fact that your mother is who she is."
"How do you know my mother?"
"Most creatures around here do," Tron said
with a laugh, "Though of course I have my own ways of finding out news. Now
that I know who you are, I'm curious. Why are you out here in this dangerous
land instead of in the woods were you live?"
Zana Taru looked down, and shuffled her feet.
Though Tron seemed nice enough, she did not want to give out any information
in case appearances were false. "It's a long story," she slowly said, hoping
that the faerie would drop it; she didn't.
"Tell me, I have plenty of time to spare."
"Well I don't!" Zana roared, suddenly becoming
quite fierce. "I am on an important mission, that cannot wait for sake of lives
being lost." Then she cooled down. "Though I doubt that I shall ever save her
now. I don't know where the flower is, and even if I did, I have no way to get
there after Dorono passed away through the winds," Zana said softly to herself
more then Tron.
"A quest, eh?" Tron said, smiling. "And who
is this Dorono, and what about the flower?" Apparently, Tron was not going to
drop it anytime soon.
"He is my friend! Or at least he was. Now
I think that he is dead. Dorono..." she whispered, and a tear started to drop
down her cheek, but the Zana lifted her head, sheer determination around her.
"My quest is to save my mother, if you must know, and in order to do so, I must
find the flower of Trinifucus! Only I have lost my ride. My friend and hers;
Dorono the eyrie. During the storm of yester eve, he and I were blown from each
other, and the last thing I remember... the last thing was his screech, which
sounded as the cry of a rabbit before it dies."
"Now we're getting somewhere," Tron said,
acting untouched. "How can you be sure though that your friend is dead? Surely
if you live he would have a better chance, with wings and all."
Zana Taru looked up at the Faerie. What she
said was true. Up until then, she had not given thought to the fact that Dorono
could still be alive, but now that she did, she saw that chances were that he
was.
Zana Taru had made up her mind. She would
not leave until she had found Dorono. Dead of living was up to fate. "I shall
go to find Dorono!"
"I'll come too," Tron said, walking
up to Zana with a smile. "I don't have much else to do besides sit around, so
I might as well do something." And then Tron grabbed a hunk of her baggy clothes.
"Though I would suggest a change of clothes from you before we go. Something
to make you look more fierce." And then she rubbed her hand over Zana Taru's
hair with a large smile on her face.
Zana Taru smiled up at the dark faerie. Perhaps
they weren't as bad as rumors let on after all.
To be continued...
Authors Note: I would just like to say that usage of Tron Bonne is courtesy
of tronbonne1718, who was kind enough to allow me to use her in my story^_^ Any
questions? Ask her. | 
