The Silent Soldiers

by Travis Stinnett

shrunk down to Ralah’s size.

  “This way,” Ralah said as he turned and began walking away from us. Ava and I started following him and continued looking around at the beautiful forest that surrounded us. We walked for several minutes before a tree, much larger than any others we saw in this forest, came into view in the distance. Ralah told us we were nearly there as we continued to follow him. The tree seemed as large as the mansion. As we got closer I noticed several openings big enough for us to walk through up and down its trunk. Ralah stopped just before we reached the base of the tree. We nearly ran into the back of him as we stared up at the huge tree before us. He explained that he would have to carry us up to the Queen’s level. He grabbed the back of our shirts with each of his hands and we were suddenly flying up toward the top of the tree.

  We made it nearly to the top before he swooped into an opening in the tree and dropped us to the floor. We were standing in a room inside the tree now. Everything was made of wood, leaves, and other things found in the forest. There was furniture in the room all fashioned from forest materials. Ava and I both caught sight of the over sized chair at the same time. A beautiful faerie sat in this chair. She had long beautiful curly blonde hair. She had absolutely the brightest blue eyes ever. She wore a very long flowing dress that nearly matched the color of her eyes. She also wore a crown of flowers on her head. I knew immediately that this must be Queen Ezelah.

  “Please, come,” she said in a soft mesmerizing voice. We walked toward her as I continued to take in her beauty. We walked over to stand in front of her and watched as she motioned to one of the other faeries in the room. This faerie was a boy about our age. His clothes were made of leaves and things found in the forest. He had a very muscular build and was nearly as beautiful as the Queen herself. He grabbed two chairs and brought them over for us to sit in.

  “Thank you, son,” said Ezelah.

  “Mother,” he said with a little bow to the Queen.

  “I understand you are ready to lead the Silent Soldiers to acquire the Koichi sword,” she began.

  “Yes ma’am,” I replied. The Queen wasted no time getting to the point.

  “I believe we can make it a very simple task for you, Luke. That is if you are willing to accept the help of the faeries. We owe your grandfather and the pack tremendously. I have decided to help him with this task. Jack asked us to join in battle, but I don’t believe there needs to be any sort of battle to obtain the sword. Mekah, my son, has scouted the area and finds it to be lightly guarded at the present time.

  “I believe that Ralah can take you into the underworld and get the sword very quickly,” said Ezelah.

  “I really don’t think it’s safe for Luke to go down there alone,” said Ava. Ezelah began to explain how Ralah could take me in to the sword undetected and get me back out before anyone knew the sword was gone.

  “So you have been scouting the sword for a while now? How is that possible when Jack only spoke with Ralah about it less than an hour ago?” I asked quite confused.

  “My dear boy, a few minutes in the human dimension is the equivalent to several hours in the faerie world. In the span of an hour since Ralah spoke with Jack we have had days to scout around where the sword is located,” Ezelah explained.

  “Oh,” I replied.

  “So he is going to take you directly into the cave, grab the sword, and bring you straight back out just like that?” Ava asked.

  “More or less, you are correct,” said Ezelah.

  “I don’t like this idea one little bit! We have been training and planning for quite some time now for this mission. Now the two of you are just going to dance your way in there and bring the sword out alone? I want allow you to go alone!” Ava yelled.

  “This is not your decision child. Luke is the only one that can obtain the sword. It must be him that decides to go through with this plan,” Ezelah told Ava.

  My mind was racing as I thought of what the Queen said about getting the sword so easily. It would be awesome to just go in and grab it and get out without having to fight Nhados or any of his minions. I was snapped back to reality at the sound of Ava and the Queen bickering back and forth about my safety.

  “I’m going with him or he doesn’t go at all,” I heard Ava say as she and the Queen glared at each others stubbornness.

  “I agree that Ava should go with me if we are going to do this,” I said, “I really would rather the whole team go, but if they can’t at least I will have Ava.

  “Very well, if she must go then I must send another faerie with you. My son, Mekah, will accompany Ava and Ralah will take you,” The Queen told us. I could sense the Queen was not pleased at all by this turn of events, but she agreed none the less.

  “We must leave at once, my queen,” Ralah said. Ava and I turned toward his voice and noticed he and Mekah were now standing right behind us. Queen Ezelah motioned for us to stand. Mekah walked around the chair to stand beside Ava while Ralah did the same taking his place beside me.

  “We will arrive in the underworld just outside the cave entrance where the sword is located. We all will be invisible, and the two of you will continue to be our size. We will carry you straight into the chamber where the sword is being held. We will have to make Luke his normal size in order for him to actually take the sword. Once he has it we will shrink him again and come back here,” Ralah explained,

  “We should be back here in a matter of minutes.”

  “I hope y’all know what you’re talking about,” Ava said sarcastically. Nobody responded to Ava’s sarcasm. The Queen only glared down at her.

  “Let’s do this,” I said. The two faeries standing beside us threw the dust in our faces again and we popped into the darkness as we had before. The only difference this time was we didn’t seem to be falling. I could feel Ralah’s grip on the neck of my shirt. I seemed to be hanging in place. The next second we were standing in another forest looking up at a massive hole in the side of a mountain. I immediately realized this must be the cave entrance that Ralah explained to us. Ralah told Ava and I to stay there while he and Mekah searched the area. I looked around and noticed that we appeared to be in some sort of tunnel. The inside was fairly dark and there was light shinning at both ends. I walked over to the entrance of the tunnel where I realized it wasn’t a tunnel at all. We were actually standing in a hollow log.

  “Luke, I don’t trust them one bit,” Ava said. I turned to face her.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Faeries are not to be trusted. They are very clever and cunning creatures. They are not always what they appear to be. I have always been fascinated with the faerie race, so I have studied their culture,” Ava said.

  “So you think this all might be a trap or something?” I asked confused.

  “I don’t think it’s a trap as much as I think there is a reason they are helping us. Faeries only do things that will benefit themselves in the long run. We just need to be very careful and keep our eyes on those two,” Ava pointed as I turned to see Ralah and Mekah coming back to the log.

  “Its all clear,” Mekah said as they approached us and grabbed the collar of our shirts. Ralah lifted me into the air and we were instantly flying into the cave. We flew through the cave for a while and noticed several tunnels leading in different directions from the main corridor in which we were traveling. I remembered Jenna’s explanation of the cave as she searched through Adriana’s mind. I noticed in the distance a door in the wall of the cave as we came to the end of the corridor.

  I was shocked that we hadn’t noticed a single guard since we arrived here. Where could they possibly be? Why would Nhados risk leaving the sword unguarded? I had the bizarre feeling that something bad was going to happen. We all watched as Ralah flew up to the door handle and turned it. The door slowly began to open. We walked through the door and into an empty room.

  This room was completely dark except for the dull torch light that shone from the corridor outside.
I watched as Ava raised her hands toward one wall of the room and a flame shot out from her fingertips and a torch hanging there burst into flames lighting the room. Ralah lifted his hand toward me and threw dust causing me to grow instantly to my normal size.

  I looked at the stone pedestal in the center of the room and the beautiful sword mounted on top of it. I could not believe we were this close to the sword and not a single drop of blood had been shed. I walked over to the sword and stared at it completely mesmerized by its beauty. I slowly reached out and took hold of the handle. As soon as my hand grasped the handle a brilliant white light filled the room.

  I can’t describe in words the feeling I got with the sword now in my hand. I can only say that an overwhelming power flowed through my body and the light became brighter and brighter causing me to close my eyes. My body slowly began to calm after the surge of power. I slowly opened my eyes. The light was now gone as I looked around the room. Ava stood just behind me and to my left. She was also back to her normal size. She stood there staring at me with her eyes wide.

  “What?” I asked confused. Why was she looking at me like that? She didn’t say anything as she began to search in her purse for something. She walked over to me and handed me her compact.

  “I don’t think I need any makeup right now,” I said with a giggle.