The Council

by Phoenix Willow

  “When are you going to get it through that thick, beautiful head of yours?” Frost said passionately. “We have chosen this. All of us have. We have chosen to stand by you and help you through this entire thing, so why can’t you just accept that?”

  “Because she is a leader.” Coralia jumped to Jewel’s defense, much to everyone’s surprise, including Jewel. “And she isn’t just a leader….she’s a true leader, and sometimes as leaders, we must choose what is best for all versus what is best for us.”

  “And what would you know about leading?” Frost scowled. “Far as I can tell, you’re pretty pampered and considering you’re the princess here, I can’t really see how you would have to make any hard decisions.”

  “You would do well to mind your tone.” Dune said threateningly.

  Coralia placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I know a great deal about leading and considering that I am first in line to the throne, I know all too well about needing to make decisions that are not necessarily beneficial to me, but to others.” She replied tersely, her head held high. “Take you all for example. I could have forbidden my brothers from going to retrieve your Unknown from the depths of the Deep. I could have already turned you all in since you are still here, and the tide has shifted. And I could have withheld any sort of assistance with the Unknown’s journey to procure the needed items for the potion. But have I done anything like that? No. Is it in my best interest? No. But that is what a leader, or a good leader does. They do the right thing, even when they know that it might upset everyone around them. You have no idea what my brothers and I have risked by helping you as much as we have. We have defied the King’s orders, and should that ever be found out, we will face harsh consequences. But that is my choice and I regret nothing.” Turning to Jewel, she said, “Now I know you might still be feeling a bit off, but the sooner you are able to open the portal and return, the better. I have no doubt that my Mother will be checking up on us soon, and her finding you still here would be disastrous.”

  “I’m feeling much better.” Jewel said. She stood up and her legs wobbled a bit, but she was able to stand so that was a plus. “But, before we leave, I’ve got to know whether something I heard you say earlier is true or not. And I’m really hoping I didn’t misunderstand, but did you say that I succeeded in getting the spine?”

  Coralia’s face broke out in a grin, and she nodded. “You absolutely did. The porkipuff that attached itself to your leg left behind a bunch of its spines. We had to cut them out of your leg, but your Vampiress friend was able to heal the wound straightaway so you shouldn’t have any lasting effects or scars for that matter.”

  Jewel beamed. She couldn’t believe it. She had done what she set out to do, and the feeling of relief was enough to bring a few happy tears to her eyes.

  “You did it Spitfire. You did it.” Rain smiled.

  “Yep. Congrats, Hybrid. You did good.” Jade said in agreement.

  The celebration was short-lived, however, because a guard barged into Brine’s room. “The Queen approaches.” He said, chiseled chest heaving, and sweat dripping from his brow.

  Coralia’s eyes widened, but she appeared calm otherwise. “Stall. We need only a minute or two, but stall as long as you can.”

  “As you wish, Princess.” The guard said as he turned away. Before leaving, however, he turned and approached Coralia, taking her caramel hand in his ebony one. “Please hurry. The punishment will be severe if you are caught, and you remember the last time.”

  Coralia’s cheeks reddened a bit. “I know. Thank you, Reef.” She said, squeezing his hand in her own and waiting until Reef had closed the door to turn to Jewel and the rest of the group. “Time to go. Grab the Unknown and follow us.”

  Ryker didn’t miss a beat. He quickly scooped Jewel up, and followed behind the three Merpeople who had now exited through a passageway located behind Brine’s bookshelf. They hurried down what appeared to be an underwater cavern, dry sand covering the bottom, until they reached a glass door which separated them from the outside watery depths. Ryker placed Jewel down gently, allowing her to get her proverbial sea legs.

  “Here.” Coralia said, handing Jewel a vial with three porkipuff spines. “You only need one, but just in case something happens to it- you have a couple of back-ups.” She said with a smile. “And I have a feeling with your luck, you just might need them.”

  Jewel chuckled as she took the vial from the Mermaid. “You’re probably right.” She agreed. “Listen, thank you for all your help. And when you become Queen, perhaps an alliance between us can be formed.”

  “Without a doubt.” Coralia answered. “Now, hurry. My brothers and I must get back.”

  Jewel didn’t waste any more time creating the portal that would take them back to the Lost Meadow. Her powers were as strong as ever, and within seconds the door that brought them to Aquatica popped into existence. Everyone hurried through the portal, with Jewel and Ryker being the last two. Jewel thanked Coralia, Dune, and Brine again, before joining the group on the other side, and as soon as Ryker was through the portal, Jewel sealed it.

  “What are you all doing back so soon?” Winter asked, hurrying over to everyone.

  “What do you mean? We’ve been gone for hours?” Jewel inquired back in total confusion.

  “Hours?” Winter asked with a perplexed expression. “No, my dear girl. It hasn’t been hours. It’s only been about ten minutes since you left.” She said, surprising Jewel and everyone who had been in Aquatica in the process.

  The group began explaining what had transpired in Aquatica and with the addition of some delectable delights, thanks to Winter and Ambrosia- the group sat around, ate, and discussed matters for the next few hours. Well, almost everyone in the group. Galadriel had excused himself and retired to his tent for the night, stating that he was tired. But Jewel knew better. It was obvious that he was still furious and was just trying to avoid her altogether. But hopefully with a good night’s sleep, he would be a little less upset with her in the morning.

  “So, let me make sure I’m hearing this correctly. The Aquatican’s not only aren’t interested in an alliance which would benefit them as well, but they also already have a potion that would save Steele, and they wouldn’t give it to you.” Winter stated in disbelief.

  Jewel nodded. “Yep. And we wouldn’t have even known the King and Queen had it, if it weren’t for Coralia’s honesty.”

  “That’s unbelievable.” Winter vented. “Absolutely unbelievable. I mean, talk about dense. And more than that, the king and queen literally tried to turn Jewel in to a feeble-minded mess with that truthteller bug which is abhorrent. And to put the proverbial cherry on top, they intentionally decided not to help her with saving her own father. What kind of beings do that? It’s all just unbelievable.” She shook her head with a disgusted look crossing her features.

  “Proverbial chocolate covered cherry on top, Mom. Chocolate covered cherry.” Rain asked, chuckling to herself.

  Winter just rolled her eyes at her daughter’s ridiculous obsession with all-things chocolate, but Rain’s comment did bring a bit of a smile to Winter’s face as well.

  “Well, what I want to know is where we are headed next.” Ambrosia said. “We know which worlds we need to go to now, based on the potion’s ingredients, so where to, Girlie?”

  “I was actually thinking about going to the world of Pixies, next.” Jewel admitted. The group stopped talking and Jewel could tell they were mulling things over. “Well, that was my first thought. I’m not too keen on traveling to the ghoul or djinn realm just yet. But what do you think, Sage?”

  Sage nodded. “I think that it’s a solid choice.”

  “But is it the right course of action?” Winter pressed him further.

  “At this point, I don’t think it matters. Aquatica was one of my first choices and it didn’t exactly go according to plan, so I think it’s hit or miss. We’ll have to travel to all the worlds at some point to retrieve the needed
potion items, so the Pixie world is as good a world as any.” Sage answered.

  “Pixies it is then.” Jewel announced. “Anything we need to know?”

  “Well, the only way to get pixie dust is for a pixie to willingly give it. We won’t be able to take it from them, and getting it is kind of gross because from what I understand from my reading, the dust is sort of like a shimmery dandruff of sorts, but only the pixie’s nails are sharp enough to extract it from their scalps.” Sage explained. “The dust itself is full of magical properties, but yeah- that’s where it comes from.”

  “Gross.” Jade muttered.

  “I second that.” Lyric said.

  “Third it.” Dream added.

  “Well, that puts a spin on how I originally looked at Pixies.” Jewel commented, wrinkling her nose.

  “Bunch of dirty miscreants if you ask me.” Foster sneered with a glint in his chocolate brown eyes.

  “I thought it was the Elves you didn’t like?” Ambrosia asked in a surprised tone.

  “I don’t like them either, but Pixies and Elves aren’t very different when it comes to their ideology of looking out for their own best interests. I don’t believe either will be a good alliance, that’s for bloody sure.” Foster frowned, his wings fluttering behind him in an agitated fashion.

  “Well, we will definitely keep that in mind, but I still think we need to try seeing as though we have no alliances as of now.” Jewel said, as kindly but as determinedly as possible.

  Foster gave Jewel a curt nod.

  “You know, Foster…..you could always stay here and help keep Jewel’s Dad safe if you’d prefer.” Skye offered.

  “No. You’ll need my help and knowledge with dealing with these things.” Foster said, his lip curling in disgust. “I’ll be ready to leave in the morning.” He announced before excusing himself from the group.

  “You get some sleep, Young One.” Teagan said, standing up and stretching. “I’ll make sure he’s okay.” He assured Jewel as he nodded in Foster’s direction.

  “O-kay, well that makes two that are definitely not happy with me right now. Foster’s more irritated than I’ve ever seen him and Galadriel won’t even sit out here with everyone because of me.” Jewel sighed.

  “Give Galadriel some time, Love.” Skye soothed. “He is just worried about you, and the fact that you are quite unpredictable has him feeling a bit helpless.” She said, taking a last sip of her herbal tea. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to get a bit of sleep myself before our next adventure.”

  “You’ve got the right idea, Sparkles.” Lyric said, yawning widely. “I’m going to follow suit.”

  “Sparkles, huh.” Skye mused, her eyes twinkling. “I quite like that.” She smiled before walking away, Winter joining her friend as they made their way to their tents for the night.

  “Sleep, meep, beep, before we leap.” Zekiel stated abruptly.

  “Agreed.” Ryker said, clapping Zekiel on the back as the two headed off to their tents for the night.

  “Does that mean you two are coming with us tomorrow then?” Jade asked Dream and Lyric.

  “Yeah. Can’t let Draconis out of our sight for two seconds without her going AWOL, so I guess there’s no other choice but to come and make sure she doesn’t do anything too stupid and that Galadriel doesn’t sulk too much.” Lyric snickered.

  “Or have a serious tantrum.” Dream added. “Remember that fit he threw a few years back.” She giggled. “You couldn’t even say certain words to him without it resulting in a ridiculously long and nonsensical rant that had nothing to do with anything being discussed or going on.”

  Sage chuckled. “Yes! I’ll tell you what, to this day, you still can’t mention anything about meatballs without him turning all red and looking like he’s going to lose his temper.”

  “Meatballs, huh?” Jewel said, curiosity getting the better of her.

  “Regular meatballs or a special kind?” Rain asked mischievously.

  “Oh, no.” Ambrosia interjected. “Nope. Don’t tell those two anything. Girlie is in enough hot water as it is with the brooding Sorcerer and I hate to admit it, but we need him to be on his A-game, so no more talk of meatballs today.” She smirked.

  “Fine.” Lyric agreed.

  “For now.” Dream added cheekily, before the two girls headed to their tents, giggling along with the way every time one of them said the word, ‘meatball’.

  “Chocolate covered chips.” Rain said, dipping her remaining bits of salad into some of the chocolate sauce she had placed on her plate. “I don’t know about you Spitfire, but I am going to figure out this meatball thing, if it’s the last thing I do. Or maybe we can make some meatballs and see what Galadriel does.” She snickered.

  “You let me know how that turns out, Raindrop.” Jewel laughed. “But as for me, I think it’s time to get some sleep.”

  “Oh, you mean you didn’t get enough earlier. You know, when you almost died and were passed out for hours.” Ambrosia said snarkily.

  Jewel’s eyebrow shot up at the Vampiress’ commentary. She had thought that Ambrosia wasn’t upset with her anymore, but obviously that wasn’t the case. However, Jewel wasn’t one to ever simply let a comment like that go, so she merely shrugged.

  “Guess not. Maybe you should try and get some too. Or perhaps spending some quality time with Sage might help improve your mood.” And with that last retort, Jewel walked, with a little force in each step, to her tent. She knew she shouldn’t be so upset with Ambrosia for her snark, but Jewel couldn’t handle anyone else trying to make her feel bad for a decision that had already been made.

  Jewel laid down, her body exhausted from the day’s events, but her thoughts whirling around like the particles in a snowglobe. Galadriel was furious. Foster didn’t have the slightest inclination of wanting to go to two of the worlds they needed to travel to. Ambrosia was obviously still mad, as was Frost if his lack of conversation or proximity to Jewel was any indication. The group appeared to be falling apart in pockets, but Jewel hoped that finding the next few ingredients would prove to be a bit easier and that everyone would cool off in the process. They either would, or they wouldn’t. Time would certainly tell soon enough.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sparkledruff and Renuviants

  The night came and went quicker than Jewel would have liked. She wasn’t sure what to expect from the Pixie realm, but she hoped they got a little further than they had in Aquatica with forming an alliance. Gathering a few necessities, including Slayer, Jewel exited her tent and grabbed some breakfast. She immediately noticed that Galadriel’s aura was red and black and that he was separated from the group and sitting by the river with Skye; Frost’s aura was yellow and orange and he was sitting with Zephyr near some of the gem trees wearing an expression of someone who had eaten too many tart blueberries and sour lemons all at the same time; And Foster’s aura was an inky black, and he was dressed in what appeared to be combat gear, boots and all, donning a serious expression and clasping and unclasping his hands multiple times. Seemed like the night hadn’t lessened anyone’s feelings on things after all, Jewel thought to herself.

  “We need to get our wits about us, because that is the only way we are going to succeed. Pixies and Elves have a few things in common.” Foster began once he saw Jewel and had gotten everyone’s attention. “The first, is that they are both very tricky by nature and they will both try to get you to give them more than they give you. And seeing as we need ingredients that only they will be able to provide, definitely gives them the upper hand in this situation.” He continued, fluttering inches above the ground. “The second thing you all need to know is that they will do only what is in their best interest. You can’t bargain with them by appealing to their nonexistent sensibilities, better nature, or emotions. They will either help us or they won’t. And the third thing is that they hate every magical being that have powers unlike their own, so we need to be very selective with who goes on this leg of the trip
if we have any chance of succeeding.” He said as he flew back and forth in an erratic almost pacing-like motion.

  “What are their powers again?” Ryker asked.

  “Pixies are known for their elemental abilities as well as their connection to all things natural, so they have the uncanny ability to camouflage themselves. They are also very good with enchantments.” Foster replied, finally flittering down and landing back on the mossy grass as he adjusted the daggers on his belt.

  “Okay. Here’s how this is going to go.” Ambrosia said, taking charge as usual. “Based on Foster’s assessment, I personally think that Ryker, Skye, Jade, and Teagan should stay behind on this one, and before anyone argues- let me explain. We need someone to guard Steele while we’re gone. Ryker, Skye, and Jade are Sorcerers with powers not similar to what Foster just described the Pixies having but are more than capable of keeping guard while we are away. Plus, a huge group like us going is already going to set off some warning bells, but everyone will have something on their side to use to their advantage, as long as our powers do in fact work in the Pixie world. Case in point- I can sense an individual’s level of magic so I will be able to assess a threat pretty quickly. Dream and Lyric have their powers of persuasion and sleep which could prove useful. Rain, Frost, Zephyr, and Winter have Elemental powers which are closer to what the Pixies have. Zekiel is a little eccentric, but is by far the best spell-caster in the group. Sage has the knowledge we need and is a potion master. Galadriel can teleport so if Girlie decides to pass out on everyone again, he is our best bet with getting out of a sticky situation, and let’s be honest- he isn’t going to be okay with staying behind and letting Girlie out of his sight even if he is acting like that’s what he wants at the moment. And then there’s Foster, who might not like the Pixies, but who has experience in dealings with them which I’m sure will prove invaluable. Now, is there anyone who wants to comment?” Ambrosia said in a ‘I dare you to try and argue with my reasoning’ kind of way.