The Adventures of Draikin and the Light Faerie

     Draikin crawled into the courtyard from under the castle wall. All day the Royal Ixi had been wandering in Foothill Forest and he was tired and dirty. He looked around the empty courtyard, but no one was looking for him. Unfortunately, no one was really ever looking for 16-year-old Draikin. He was the third son of King Blackfawn and wasn’t in the running for his father’s crown. His two older brothers, Erutan and Evale, were competing for that title and his parents were focused them. Draikin had been raised mainly by the Moehog governess, Miss Taff.

     Draikin’s mother had actually named him Dag, which is the old Ixi word for Day, but around the castle he was known as Draikin, because he loved to sneak off to the woods where there were Draiks and Skeiths about. Now, the Ixi prince stood up and brushed himself off. The Ixi castle loomed in front of him with the dark grey sky behind it. The skies had been dark and eerie for a while now, ever since the troubling grey overtook Meridell. With a sudden burst of energy he tore off towards the castle as fast as his hooves could take him, wondering if he would be caught again by Miss Taff, for being off the castle grounds. Not that he cared. He had had one of the most exciting days of his life. He had finally met the faerie.

     For a month Draikin had been watching a faerie in the woods. It wasn’t Illusen whom he had occasionally seen at woodland meetings between the Royal Ixi’s and the guardian faerie of Meridell. This faerie was around his own age.

     One day while he was roaming through the forest he had seen a glimmer of light through the trees. Silently (Ixis can be very quiet when they want to be), he had followed the light to the edge of a clearing and peeked out. There, under an ancient broccoli tree, sat the most beautiful faerie he had ever seen. The light which he had followed through the forest came from her. In fact, despite the grey land and sky, the faerie herself seemed to be sitting in a cloud of sunshine. She was weaving Pebeanjay Flowers into long blades of grass.

     Draikin could not take his eyes off of her. Long, flowing hair like golden and white fire had been twisted into a bun at the base of her neck and curling coils of it fell along her shoulders and back between two gossamer wings. Her features were delicate but she had large, violet eyes that seemed almost to change colour as the light around her shifted. And at each fluid gesture of her hands, sprays of light flashed from her fingertips.

     Draikin had simply sat and watched her that day, overwhelmed. Eventually, she tired of her weaving and flew away, before he had thought to say a word. And from that day to this he had searched the woods for her. He soon found that she came to the clearing in the woods once a week, but the same shyness and bumbling that made him long to escape from the castle to the woods to be alone had also left him incapable of speaking to her. So he would only wait until the day she appeared in her clearing, always wishing he had the will to speak and befriend her.

     Today he was supposed to be out in the yard with his brothers, training for knighthood. But Draikin had escaped the watchful eye of Miss Taff and run to the forest. As usual, it was dark in the woods, for the skies were grey and full of ominous clouds, but Draikin was lit up inside at the prospect of the light faerie and the sunshine she always brought with her. He arrived at the clearing the usual time, but even before he reached it, he knew she was not there, for there was no light glimmering through the leaves to lead him to her. Discouraged, he had fallen asleep beneath a bush next to her broccoli tree.

     Draikin woke up sore and stiff from lying on the ground. He began to crawl from under the bush when he was blinded by light and heard a small cry. The faerie had not noticed him when she arrived and was sitting beneath the broccoli tree looking at some sea shells she had gathered in the lap of her skirts. She leaped from her seat, shells scattering in a spray, and began to run, and then to fly. Momentarily blinded by the light flashing from her as she fled, he followed, blundering through the trees and shouting,

     “Wait! Please! I won’t hurt you!”

     But she was quicker than he was, and by the time he could really see again, she had disappeared. Draikin turned back to the clearing, ashamed of himself for scaring her and began to collect her shells.

     It was hard to find them, given the darkness of the day, but he pressed on, and when he had gathered them all into a pile, he sat and studied them. He had never been away from Meridell and was captivated by the pretty colours and shapes. He wondered sadly where the pretty faerie had gotten them.

     As he sat there moping, a bright light washed into the darkened clearing and lit up the shells in front of him. Draikin held his breath as the light grew brighter until he saw a pair of small cloth slippers land in front of him. He looked up from the slippers to a white gown and finally to a face—that familiar yet unfamiliar face.

     “What is your name?” he asked without thinking. She paused, looking at him with her wide, violet eyes, but finally, she answered.

     “Ciara.” It sounded like her, like wind and light. She smiled. “And you?”

     “Draikin,” he stammered, then caught himself, “Well, my name is Dag, but I am called Draikin.”

     “Oh! You must be Dag Blackfawn!” She clapped her hands, delighted. “You’re the littlest prince!” His shoulders slumped, but when he looked up at her, she was smiling. “I’m the littlest in my family too, you know.”

     “You are?”

     “Yes Dag. And you know, I don’t believe, as some do, that being littlest means being the most unworthy.”

     He blushed. “You can call me Draikin. I collected your shells for you again. I’m sorry I frightened you before.”

     “Aww, that’s alright,” she giggled. “I’m really not hard to startle.” The faerie peered around herself. “You see,” she said conspiratorially, “I’m not really supposed to be here today.”

     “Really?” He grinned at her, “I’m not either! Why aren’t you supposed to come here?”

     “Oh yes!” Ignoring his question, Ciara hopped up and with a flick of her wings, remained hovering just above the ground, her legs swinging happily, looking at her shells. “You did collect them, didn’t you? I’m so glad!” Neatly, she folded her legs beneath her and her wings brought her down gently to sit beside him.

     “Why do you like shells so much?” Draikin asked laughing, having forgotten his former question.

     “They remind me of the ocean,” she said, and he nodded, though he had never yet seen the ocean. “There’s something quite extraordinary about simple things.” She picked up a blue spiral seashell and held it out to him, Draikin looked down at perfect, swirling design of it. It was lovely. Suddenly a wind stirred through the darkened forest, and the sound of its whipping through the leaves became a hissing, moaning voice which called out,

     “Ciara! Ciara!”

     The faerie’s violet eyes went wide and with a flit of her wings she shot straight up into the air just above him. Draikin leapt to his feet,

     “What is that?” He shouted over the hissing and moaning of the wind.

     “It’s my guardian!”

     “Your guardian?” Draikin shook his head, confused.

          “Yes—I must go!” Ciara looked around herself as though the wind itself might see her. “I told you I’m not supposed to be here—and he’ll be angry!”

     “Wait!” Draikin grasped her hands before she could fly away, “When will I see you again?”

     Ciara looked back at him and he saw a smile in her eyes even through her panic.

     “I will be back again—look for me!” And with that she squeezed his hands, and he released her.

     Ciara flew straight up into the dark sky like a small sun. The wind was still moaning her name, but by now she was far above. She glanced back down at him from above the treetops and waved. Then she was gone, taking the light with her. It was darker than he remembered it before, and with a start he realized that it was the lateness of the hour.

     Now, he was home, his mind filled with thoughts of his new friend. Where had she come from? Who in all of Neopia was her guardian? Why wasn’t she allowed to come to the woods? He looked down into his hand and found the small blue shell she had placed in it earlier.

     “Draikin! What in Neopia have you been up to all day?” Miss Taff’s voice caught him off guard and he turned to find the Moehog matron glaring down at him. A few young Ixi and Ogrin pages stood behind her.

     “I’ve been out in the yard, training?” he said, but the governess put her hooves on her hips.

     “Liar! You’ve done no such thing for I was out there myself half the day with your brothers! You were supposed to be training for battle and instead, you’ve been out running in the woods again! One day a big, scary Skeith will come along and then you’ll be sorry! Upstairs with you now and wait for me there!”

     He ran up the steps, dodging her as she swatted after him. He didn’t like her scolding him, particularly now that he was older. But what he most resented was her reprimanding him in front of the other pages. She always seemed to use him as an example: “The king’s own boy doesn’t go unpunished, so watch yourselves!”

          “In trouble again, eh?” A little Yellow Ogrin darted from a doorway. “Awww, that’s too bad,” he mocked.

     It was Blau, one of the Ogrin pages. For some reason he was a favorite of Miss Taff’s and seemed to relish getting Draikin into trouble. The Royal Ixi swung a hoof at Blau, but missed, and the little Ogrin laughed at his clumsiness.

     “Nah, nah! Missed me!” Blau grinned impishly. “Wait till I tell Miss Taff! She’ll have more to say to you now!” And she would, too, Draikin knew from experience.

     But even that knowledge could not wreck his happiness tonight. He had made a friend!

     To be continued…