The Sought, the Sister, and the Sorceress: Part Four

     Kari blurted, "You proposed my prophecy?"

     Fyora smiled.

      "Yes, my Neopian. I trust you have come here to ask how to-er-control your gifts?" I saw what she meant. A complete stranger could look at Kari and know she was not ordinary. She had deep green eyes with gold and cream flecks dancing in them. She had long, cream eyelashes, and had enormous wings the same color as her lashes.

     Kari nodded. "Very well. May I suggest we all get comfortable? I will meet you in my study in one hour." And the Faerie Queen vanished without a glimmer or mist. At first I didn't understand. "Get comfortable"? Then I got it. We were filthy. My usually white fur looked brown. Lori, a Faerie Ixi, didn't look much better. And my clothes! My red T-shirt and jeans than I had put on who knows how long ago were in tatters. Lori's shorts and M*YNCI T-shirt were reduced to rags. Kari's pants and Tombola T-shirt were a sorry mess.

     So we each had a bath which felt soooo good after being on the run for three days. Then we changed into Faerie-made clean, soft clothes. They were light and airy and in bright colors. The slightest wind sent the hem of my wide-ended pants tripping lightly across my feet.

     Two Faeries-in-waiting led us to Fyora's study. The Faerie Queen looked up and took off a pair of wire-rimmed half-moon spectacles. We sat in front of her desk on chairs that seemed to be puffy.

     Fyora began, "Let's get started on your basic abilities." She looked at Kari and a smile played across her lips. It was easy to smile at Kari right then. The little tuft at the top of her head that all Wockies have was tousled and her twilight blue pants suit added tremendously on her look of mystery.

     "First of all, as you have already experienced by my knowledge, you have the ability to slow time and hover those around you. Now that you have wings it would seem quite pointless to use it on yourself, but in great need it would seem best. Second of all, you can see into the minds of your enemy. ONLY your enemy, little one, for I feel that your friends' thoughts are private in their own way.

     "Do you have any questions?" asked the Faerie Queen.

     Kari asked, "Is Sam really my sister? Is my mom really my mom? Or was I born of some kind of sorceress or appeared out of the clouds one day?" This was a good question. WAS Kari really my sister and born of this family?

     Fyora smiled. "No, little one, the ones you love are your own flesh, fur and blood. Samantha is in fact your real sister. You are just the lucky (or unlucky, whichever you prefer) Neopet chosen to be not just special, who everyone is in their own way, but extraordinary. Consider yourself lucky you weren't born out of the clouds. It can be such a bother looking for Christmas and birthday presents for relatives!" and we all laughed.

     Then Lori said, "And I heard that! 'Some sorceress', indeed!" that set us off again (I should explain. Lori is, in fact, a sorceress, and she had already helped us escape from the clutches of Jhudora once before).

     "Oh, I almost forgot! Third: your healing powers. You always have the exact amount of hit points and can never get hurt or killed. However, you have the choice of whether you want to die or not, for living forever soon gets boring. You also have the power to bring someone back from the dead, but only once. Choose your decision wisely, little one. You can only do it once."

     'Wow,' I thought. 'Bring someone back from the dead! I wonder who Kari will choose when it comes time. I wonder….nah. She wouldn't use a one-time power like that on ME. It'd have to be someone important.'

      Then BOOM! A huge boulder smashed into the room through the wall. I was thrown off my feet. Lori thought clearly and alighted into the air and was done no damage. Kari was still in her seat, but looked shaken. And Fyora was bleeding. There was a gash in her arm, and I saw Faerie blood seeming to be a hundred colors at once. Then I blinked, and there wasn't even a scar.

     "Jhudora's found us," said Fyora in a tone of suppressed calm. "My people and I must prepare for battle." She turned away to the door of the study.

     But almost in unison, we all cried, "Let us help!" Fyora shook her head. "It's too-"

     "Too dangerous?" I interrupted. "Lori is a sorceress, Kari is destined to fight Jhudora anyway, I've kicked the Lava Ghoul's butt in the Battledome, and you're saying it's too dangerous?!"

     Fyora bit her lip and said, "Very well." She waved her hand in a circle and a Sword of Skardsen, a Fire and Ice Blade, and a Regulation Meridell Crossbow appeared in front of us. "You'll have to make do with these smaller weapons," she said. Small! And she disappeared.

     I picked up the Fire and Ice Blade and said, "Come on!" Once we got out of the castle, Faerieland City looked a different world. Everywhere there were swords clashing, Neopian mothers clutching their babies and fleeing, and cries of anguish. We paused for an eighth of a second to take it all in and charged.

     We didn't have many opponents. People saw Kari and her magnificence and saw that we were with her and dropped their weapons running for the hills. (Which is pretty fun to watch, considering Faerieland ground is cloud.)

     But there were some who fought back. So I called upon all my sword-fighting skills from training at the Swashbuckling Academy and fought. But I couldn't stand to see blood and corpses, so I used the flat of my blade to just knock them out. That was violence enough for me just to have them wake up with a headache. Kari squeezed her eyes tight and swung her Sword of Skardsen every which way. But it didn't matter that much because no one seemed to want to be the one to battle someone who looked out of this world.

     Lori was another story. Quite ignoring her Regulation Meridell Crossbow, she was beaming her turquoise little bubbles at the enemy. Some Neopets sank to the ground, hysterically laughing and unable to stop. Others just stopped in their tracks with a blank look of amnesia. And still others, the vain Unis in particular, screamed and ran away, trying to hide hideous purple moles. If I hadn't been so tense, I would have laughed.

     Kari was yelling, "I'd like to wake up now!"

     Lori was now doing lazy loop-de-loops in the air while she blasted away, saying "I can do this in my sleep anyway!" But then a spear shot through the air a little too close for comfort for Lori. Then she said, "Never mind!"

     We fought our way to the very center of the fight. There was Jhudora, battling with the Faerie Queen. "You'll be sorry you ever stopped me becoming queen of Faerieland!" Jhudora hissed. Fyora merely laughed. "I didn't stop you. You stopped yourself, Mary," she said coolly.

     "NEVER CALL ME THAT! HOW DARE YOU!" howled Jhudora, or "Mary", as that seemed to be her real name.

     Fyora smiled. Then she tilted her head, as if listening to something we couldn't hear. Then she twirled her cloak around her and disappeared. "Where'd you go?!" shouted Jhudora. "Show your face, you coward!" Then she turned and saw Kari. And she smiled. It wasn't the nice kind of smile. She threw down her weapon and started doing complicated shapes with her hands and speaking ancient Faerie tongue. I heard the word, "Razbellious". I racked my brains; I just KNEW I heard that word in History class! What was it? What was it? Then my heart dropped to my stomach when I remembered what it meant: "Suffer".

     From her hands appeared an orb of sickly green gel - or maybe it was gas - or maybe liquid. Whatever it was, Jhudora was taking great pains to aim it at Kari, who stood rooted to the spot in fear. If you were there, you would've known, too, that this was not a spell that you could live through.

     And Jhudora, with all her might, hurled the orb at Kari. I cried, "No!" and took a flying leap. I knocked Kari out of the way and the orb hit me full blast.

     I felt myself lying on the ground. My sight was blurred. Soon it was just shapes, then shadows. I heard Kari cry, "Sam!" and it echoed in my head. Then all went black.

To be continued...