“Thank goodness, you’ve come,”Fredrik blurted out. “Tedi was stuck in that tunnel when there wasan explosion of some type. We think he may be deaf. Niki is tryingsome spell that she learned from one of those healing books youpurchased in Melbin. Tanya had to crawl into the tunnel and dragTedi out. She got scraped up pretty badly.”
Garth retrieved some ointments andbandages from his saddle pouch and tended to Tanya, while Kalinawent to check on Tedi. Kalina bent down and examined Tedi’s ears.Niki moved aside, but did not say anything. After the examination,Kalina sat on the floor of the cave.
“I think it is just atemporary nerve deafening,” Kalina announced. “He should be allright in a day or so.”
“Of course, he will be allright,” announced Niki boastfully. “I have fixed him up with ahealing spell. He will be able to hear fine in a day ortwo.”
“What spell did you use?”Kalina asked as she shot Niki a sideways glance.
“Nerve Crescendo,” Nikianswered smugly. “He would have been deaf if I did not. The spellmust be used before the nerves go totally dead. By the time you gothere it would have been too late.”
Kalina smiled grimly. “Very well,Niki,” she said. “Let’s get him back to the mansion and get him tobed. Are you well enough to ride, Tanya?”
Tanya just nodded and rolled her pantsand sleeve back down over the bandages that Garth had applied.Everyone rode back in silence and Kalina dropped back so far thatGarth went to see if there was something wrong with Yorra. When hegot alongside Kalina, she put her finger to her lips.
“There was no damage to hisears,” Kalina whispered. “That fool girl may well have started himon the road to insanity. His ears were probably affected about thesame as ours were. His hearing will improve now, slowly at least,but eventually it will be hard for him to stand the noise. Hishearing is going to be so sensitive that his own breathing will belike the roar of the wind in a thunderstorm. If we do not find away to deaden the nerves, he will go crazy.”
“Isn’t there a counter-spellor something that will put him back to normal?” askedGarth.
“If there is,” Kalina sighed,“I do not know of it. I certainly wouldn’t expect to find such aspell in a healing book. We must bear in mind that he will knowwhat everyone in camp is saying. We will have no secrets from himunless we mindspeak. It may be time to reveal our true identitiesbefore they find out on their own. If they do not hear it from us,they will have reason to doubt whatever else we say. I know it willbe hard on you, but you are going to have to learn to deal withit.”
“General Fernandez has alreadygiven me reason to let Garth and Kalina disappear,” Garth stated.“We are being hunted as Garth and Kalina as much as we are as Alexand Jenneva. We could probably adopt some new disguises, but theyknow about the Children, too. So, even though we might hideourselves from Sarac and his minions, we cannot also hide theChildren. The time for disguises and hiding is over. It willactually be a relief to become Alex and Jenneva again.”
“Not to mention getting thishair dye off our heads,” laughed Jenneva. “Did I tell you that Ilove you as a blond?”
“Does that mean I have notbeen lovable since I’ve had my hair black?” Alex teased.
The other riders were glancing back nowthat Alex and Jenneva allowed their voices to pick up so they quittheir bantering and rode to join the rest of the group. When theyarrived back at the mansion everyone assembled in the sitting room.Jenneva, in one of her last appearances as Kalina, announced thatthey would be leaving in the morning. She announced that they hadwhat they had come for and suggested that everyone save theirquestions for the morning and get to sleep as quickly as possible.Without further words, Garth and Kalina retired to their room andbegan the arduous task of removing their hair dye.
In the morning Alex asked one ofGeneral Fernandez’s men to summon the General and have breakfastsent up for Jenneva and himself. The General smiled as he walked inand saw the old Alex and Jenneva couple. Alex told the Generalabout the new hole in the vault and suggested that the tunnel,which Tedi had been stuck in, went through to the dragon’s lair.With a little work the tunnel could be widened and the Generalwould have access to the riches of the vault. The General knewenough about Alex and Jenneva to not bother asking how they hadaccomplished their goal. Alex’s accomplishments had alwaysimpressed the General and Jenneva was known as perhaps the mostpowerful magician in the world. Neither of them would divulge howthe task had been completed.
The General thanked them for coming andpromised his support in any way that it would help. Alex knew theGeneral was quite sincere and thanked him. The Rangers were alreadyassembled outside when Alex and Jenneva came out and the reactionto their new look was astonishment. Alex and Jenneva both hadbeautiful, blond hair done up in braids that hung to theirwaists.
“It is time for you to knowthe truth,” Alex declared. “We have been traveling in disguisebecause the Dark One seeks to kill us and we could not accomplishour goal of finding the Children with Dark Riders following us. Youhave been found, and the Dark Riders are after you as much as theyare after us. When they come we will meet them with steel. TheAlcea Rangers ride with Alexander and Jenneva Tork. Let’sride!”
Alex and Jenneva took off for thestreet and the rest of the Rangers followed with their mouthshanging open. Niki looked like she wanted to bolt and run away, butthe rest of the Rangers just appeared dumbfounded. GeneralFernandez personally escorted them to the city gates and bid themfarewell. No one spoke until they were well clear of the city.Tanya was the first to approach Alex and she had a hard time tryingto determine what to say.
“Alex, . . . ” began Tanya, “Iam . . . so sorry for giving you such a bad time as Garth. Ithought for some reason that Garth hated you and so I pushed allthe more. Was your hatred of Alex part of yourdisguise?”
“It was not hatred that youwere sensing, Tanya,” Alex sighed. “It was a dislike for peoplemaking things out to be more than they are. I am no more a herothan you or any of the other Rangers. We all face the same perilsand we face them together. People like to make stories out ofsurviving these perils to live another day, but people just do whatthey must to survive. Am I a hero because I have survived, or arethe men who gave their lives trying, the real heroes? I do notperform my tasks to gain fame or riches. I only do what must bedone and because I am capable of doing it. You are the same type ofperson as I am. Do you yearn to have minstrels write songs aboutyour achievements or do you kill people to live anotherday?”
“I guess I did not understandyou as well as I thought,” admitted Tanya. “I have no great desirefor fame, but I would not get angry with those who look up to me.You not only got angry with us, you sounded like you would like totake Alex’s face and rub it in the midden. Surely, that must havebeen part of an act.”
“Perhaps,” Alex sighed, “I amjust not as thrilled with some of the decisions in my life asothers are. Others get to hear stories about my great deeds. I getto view everything about my life, the bad as well as the good. Youcould not understand.”
“You mentioned something aboutgiving your child to the Black Devils,” Tanya probed. “You do notappear to be the type of person who would give anything to theBlack Devils except the point of your sword.”
Alex glared at the young woman andmoved off towards the front of the procession. “You still push himtoo hard,” Jenneva advised. “A man will carry his own burdenswhether or not you approve. I suggest that is one area which youshould not mention again.”
“Well, it was your child,too,” pushed Tanya. “Do you really expect me to believe that youboth gave up your child?”
Jenneva sighed and shook her headsadly. “We were busy trying to save the world when the Black Devilsattacked our home,” Jenneva related sadly. “They killed a younggirl who’s only crime was that she was in my house. They took ourbaby and Alex will never forgive himself for not being home at thetime. You must not mention it to him again.”
“And how do you feel aboutit?” inquired Tanya.
“Damn you!” Jenneva shouted.“You want to know how I feel about it? I feel like I want to cast aTree Mine into the throat of the next person who mentions it andperhaps I will.”
Jenneva galloped off to join Alex atthe front of the procession. No sooner had Jenneva left than Arikpulled up alongside Tanya. “I don’t know any magic, Tanya,” Arikpointed out, “but the next time you press them on this, you hadbetter be prepared for a practice session which you will neverforget.”
Tanya watched, stunned, as Arik droppedback alongside Fredrik. Fredrik’s face told Tanya that he had heardthe conversation, as well, and his feelings were the same asArik’s. For the rest of the journey back to the fairy village,Tanya was fairly well isolated by the others. She was not excludedfrom conversations, but her actions had created a certain distancebetween herself and the other Rangers.
As the Rangers prepared to make campthe day before reaching the fairy village, Midge flew up to Alex’sshoulder.
“The village is not far fromhere,” Midge stated. “I think we should continue ontonight.”
“Returning the Crown of Lightis important to your people,” Alex protested. “We should arrive inthe daytime so everyone can see it.”
“It is important enough thateveryone will forgo sleep to see it,” Midge pushed. “We shouldarrive there in a few hours and you must entrust the Crown of Lightto Arik. He must be the one to present it to Queen Mita. He is theBringer. It is to the Bringer that the Sapphire of the Fairies willbe presented.”
Alex looked to Jenneva for her commentsand she nodded. “Very well,” Alex agreed. “We shall ride ontonight. Take the Crown of Light to Arik and ask him to guard itwell.”
Midge delivered the Crown of Light andexplained to Arik what he must do with it. Several hours later, theRangers rode into the fairy village. Midge must have flown on aheadbecause the entire village was awake and fairy lights lined theapproach from the edge of the orchard to the Father Tree. Arikdismounted in front of the Father Tree and approached the platformwhere Queen Mita and Prince Midge waited. Queen Mita’s blue bodywas adorned with a blue robe with a silver lining. Arik bowed andheld out his hand with the Crown of Light resting on his palm.Prince Midge gently lifted the Crown of Light and the entire fairyvillage erupted into a solemn song, the words of which were unknownto the Rangers.
Prince Midge gently approached QueenMita and placed the Crown of Light gently on her head. The songended and every fairy in the village dropped to their knees andbowed to the Queen. The Queen stepped to the edge of the platformand recited the Fairy Prophecy:
Your blood will flow til none isleft
While darkness around you descends
On Holy Sapphire all you have
Fate of the Fairies do depend.
The Crown of Light the Fairies’Life
Without it all are doomed to die
The Holy Sapphire just a patch
Redemption only just a lie.
The Bringer knows not what he does
But fate has chosen only he
Who bears the mark upon his chest
The Winged Serpent death doth flee.
From darkest night the Bringercomes
Restores the precious Crown ofLight
The Holy Sapphire shall he own
Fairy fealty his due and right.
The Queen raised her hand and thefairies rose from their kneeling position. Prince Midge entered theQueen’s chambers and came out holding the large Sapphire of theFairies. The Sapphire was very large for a fairy to carry, butMidge showed no sign of distress in carrying it. He brought it toQueen Mita and she accepted it from her son.
Holding the large Sapphire in her tinyhands, she stood while Arik approached the platform. Arik stretchedout his hand and the Queen placed the Sapphire of the Fairies inhis palm.
“Arik Clava,” the Queendeclared regally, “you are the Bringer of the Crown of Light. Intoyour hands, we trust the Sapphire of the Fairies. Into your hands,we trust the Queen of the Fairies. Into your hands, we trust thevery existence of the Fairy People. From this day forward, theFairy People exist for your service. I, Queen Mita, and mysuccessors, exist for your service.”
The Queen dropped to her knees andbowed to Arik, the Bringer, and the whole fairy village fell to itsknees and repeated the pledge. Prince Midge had not told this lastpart to Arik because it was forbidden to speak of the FairyProphecy to outsiders without leave of the Queen. Arik blusheddeeply, but refused to let it spoil the fairy ritual.
“Queen Mita,” he statedsolemnly, “I accept your pledge of fealty. Rise.” Turning to facethe villagers he continued, “Fairy People, I accept your pledge offealty. Rise.”
Feeling foolish, Arik pretended he wasone of the kings he often dreamed about and tried to actaccordingly. He stepped back from the platform and retrieved theSword of Heavens from its sheath. He held its point in the dirt andlaid the Sapphire of the Fairies in the spot that was made for it.The Sapphire snapped into place firmly and sparkled brilliantly.The Sword started to vibrate and Arik held it with both hands.Forcing against his considerable strength, the Sword swung upward.His attempts to hold it level with the ground were futile and theSword kept moving upward until Arik’s hands were stretched over hishead and the Sword was pointing straight up.
A brilliant streak of lightning eruptedfrom the tip of the Sword and arced high into the sky, piercing theDarkness created by the Dark One. In a blinding flash, thelightning exploded into the Darkness and created a hole. Like awave upon the ocean, the Darkness rolled outward in a circlerevealing a black sky encrusted with thousands of stars and stillit continued rolling until there was no sign of the Darkness atall. Hanging in the eastern sky was a large ball of pale light andArik heard someone mention the word “Moon.” Arik stood transfixedstaring at a night sky, which he never imagined he would live tosee.
FB2 document info
Document ID: fbd-809ae3-58ff-0549-a39a-0b40-9e0f-45a552
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 17.12.2011
Created using: calibre 0.8.30, Fiction Book Designer, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6 software
Document authors :
Richard S. Tuttle
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Sapphire of the Fairies soh-1 Page 32
