“Hey,” said Bl’azzz. “It’s all blurry.”
“For me, also,” remarked Aeri’elle. She looked at the others and they all nodded yes.
“I must apologize. After so many years, my memory is hazy, at best. But, I do remember how much I loved this outfit. So much so that I had a number of them made in various colors and styles. It is my hope that Egg will choose one to wear.”
“But why would she want that outfit when she has the flying suit?” asked Sassi. All the girls turned to look at the Princess.
Dazzle’s answer failed to satisfy their curiosity. “She will tell you when it pleases her to do so.”
This time the five sisters from Aerianna looked at Sylvia, Egg’s trusted Feminion, to see if she had an answer. “Don’t look at me. I got nothing.”
“Shall I continue my story?” asked the Princess.
Soo’ asked, “Was your father upset with your choice of clothing?”
“I could do no wrong in the eyes of my father. If I did, he would simply change the rules to match whatever silly thing I did. Well, most times that is. No, he loved the outfit and laughed appreciatively when he saw me. However, my mother was less pleased.”
“What did Z’kkk do when he saw you?”
Dazzle smiled . . . but mostly at the memory passing through her mind. “He walked up to the King and said, “Your Majesty, with your blessing, I would have this woman for my wife.” It was the first time I was ever called a woman . . . and it gave me goose bumps.”
Always a stickler for the rules, Aeri’elle asked, “Was it proper for the Prince to make such a statement?”
“Oh, my . . . no. When he said it, the whole ballroom went deathly silent. My father stood up from his throne and for a moment I thought he was about to strike off the head of my beloved.”
The girls gasped at the thought.
“He stood there silently and menacingly staring at Z’kkk. Then he turned to me and said, “Shall I exile this impertinent pup or do you wish to marry him?”
“NOOO,” said Soo’.
“No way,” said Sylvia.
“He knew you loved him, didn’t he?”
The girls all turned to stare at K’ssss then they turned back to the Princess for her reaction. “My mother knew how I felt and I assume she shared it with my father. But he had never mentioned it to me.”
“So what did you do when your father asked?”
“Being ever mischievous, I said, “Marry him . . . never. Exile this impudent boy.” My father and Z’kkk nearly fell over in shock; it was not the reaction they were expecting. Many of the other young men started to laugh. That’s when I quickly added, “On second thought, perhaps I will have him as my husband.”
“WOW,” said Bl’azzz for all of the girls. “WOW”.
After a moment when it became obvious that the Princess had finished her story, Soo’ asked K’ssss, “How did you guess that the King knew she was in love?”
“That’s what is supposed to happen in fairy tales.”
“This isn’t a fairy tale, you goofy giant jellyfish. It’s real life.”
“It seems like a fairy tale.” After a moment she added, “. . . all we need is a happy ending.”
The girls looked at their loopy friend . . . and nodded in agreement.
*****
“Is this not touching . . . the girls sitting around a campfire listening to love stories from our dear Princess? How sad that I cannot be with them to share this precious moment,” said Mobius to his minions.
“Send me, my lord. I will give them something to talk about.” K’aos was not a likeable fellow.
“Patience. Let us just enjoy their little walk through the seven lands. It promises to be delightful.”
“But they made it through the Devil Dunes and the Sand Serpents.”
“Yes, they did. I am much impressed at their resourcefulness. However, the best is yet to come. Perhaps they will not fare as well.”
*****
The sun rose over the dunes and right on cue, Egg awoke. She sat up, stretched and gave a big yawn. “Morning,” she called to her sisters who were watching her anxiously. “Is there any food? I’m starving.”
The girls let out their collective breath and smiled happily. They had their leader back.
Egg looked from one to another in confusion, “What’s so funny?”
And the smiles turned into gales of laughter.
*****
As Egg ate her breakfast, Sylvia explained about the sand serpent sting and the resulting hallucinations. When she learned what she had called Aeri’elle, she was embarrassed. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I think you’re . . . um . . . very cute.”
“Thank you for saying that . . . but I doubt very much if a human could truly appreciate a dragon’s beauty or understand the nature of what we are.” Once again, Aeri’elle showed how well educated a young lady she was. Her thoughts were much more sophisticated than the other sisters.
“Well, I doubt we dragons really understand humans or serpents.” Bl’azzz was trying to defend her human friend.
They all stopped to ponder that for a moment. “Dazzle,” asked Egg, “why is that? Why can’t humans look at dragons and sea serpents the same way as we look at other humans?”
“An excellent question, my sister. I am sure scholars could debate the subject for centuries. But I think the answer is not so complicated. I believe that each race simply does not choose to appreciate the other two races. We are all different . . . that does not make one more superior than the other. If we take the time to really know each other . . . we would find we have much in common. And that which is different is truly of little importance.”
“If I said that I was confused, would you be mad at me?” asked K’ssss timidly.
“No, my sister. The wise ask questions when they do not understand. It is only the ignorant who choose to remain so by being silent.”
“Oh” said the silly serpent still not understanding.
“It is good to ask questions when you do not understand,” the princess patiently explained.
“Ohhh,” said K’ssss, as she finally understood.
“As to my previous comment . . . simply take every opportunity to know one another and show them the same respect you would want shown to you. Above all else, be wise enough to have an open mind and forgo any prejudice against that which is different than you.”
That was a lot to understand. However, they all got the gist of what the Princess was trying to say . . . treat everyone as you would want them to treat you. And, being different is neither good nor bad . . . it’s just different. They looked at each other and for the first time they saw something in their sisters they had failed to see before . . . a little bit of themselves.
*****
They packed all their supplies and resumed their journey. And minute by minute, the tower of rock that was their destination was getting closer and closer. Without realizing it, they began to walk faster. The sooner they were out of this hot, sandy place the better off they would be.
“Hey,” said Soo’, “It’s beginning to get cloudy. You think it’s going to rain?”
“Oh, that would be so wonderful,” said the other dried-out sea serpent.
They all looked up to see some pretty weird looking clouds come speeding in. The chances were that this wasn’t a good thing. And they were right.
“Why do I think that something bad is about to happen?” Bl’azzz asked.
“What can clouds do to us?”
They found out a couple of seconds later when it started to rain.
But it rained sand . . . not water.
It came down slowly at first, then harder and harder. It felt like hail and it hurt. Worse (if that was possible) the sand began to rise . . . like a stream after a heavy rainstorm.
“The rocky mountain is just up ahead,” Aeri’elle yelled to the girls. “Run.”
But running in sand is hard. Running in a sand storm is harder
.
In short order, the sand was up to everyone’s knees (well, human knees anyway).
They struggled to make it to the mountain that was now so very close.
But the sand continued to rise. It was now up to their waist.
“We can’t make it,” yelled Sassi.
“Get on my back,” yelled K’ssss. The serpents had wide bodies that didn’t sink down very far in the sand. The girls struggled but finally made it up.
The dragons got on Soo’.
The Sea Sisters slithered ever so slowly through the downpour. But it was raining sand so hard, it was making breathing difficult.
“K’ssss, go faster, please,” begged Egg.
It took ten agonizingly long minutes, but they finally made it to the rocky pinnacle. And the rain stopped as quickly as it had begun.
They took a minute to catch their breaths and to shake the sand out of their hair or feathers or gills. And when Egg looked up to make sure the clouds were gone, she saw a sight she hadn’t expected. “OH MY GOSH”.
The other girls stopped what they were doing and looked to see what had surprised Egg.
“What happened to the pretty clouds?” asked K’ssss.
“I have no idea,” answered Egg. The color was gone . . . they had turned black and white and shades of gray.
“I do.”
They all turned to see the whacky cat. But she wasn’t standing on the sands of K’actus Kiln. “OH MY GOSH”
“Again with the ohmygoshes.”
But it was just the right thing to say. K’actus Kiln had disappeared and in its place was . . .
“Where are we?” asked Egg.
“Welcome to the Colorless Wood.”
Chapter 6 - Colorless Wood
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make the desert disappear?”
“What desert?”
“The one we just came through . . . oh never mind.” She glanced at her sisters and gave a look that said ‘why do I bother’.
“Whatever. Okay, girlies . . . ask away.”
“She just asked you about the desert,” said an annoyed Sylvia.
“And a wonderful question it was. However, you can’t ask questions about places you’ve been . . . only places you’re at.”
That almost made sense.
“How do we find our way through the Wood?”
“Keep looking for Dead Trees.”
The girls looked around and as far as they could tell . . . everything was dead. There was no sign of green or any color that they could see.
“How can you tell the living trees from the dead ones?” asked Bl’azzz.
“Not dead trees, Gassi . . .”
“Hey, stop calling me Gassi.”
“Little touchy are we, miss fire breath? Anyway . . . it’s not dead trees; it’s Dead Trees.”
Since Dead and dead sounded just about the same, the girls had no idea what the peculiar cat was talking about.
“Your explanation lacks clarity. Please explain.”
“You talk like somebody’s mother.”
“How I talk is of no concern to you; how my Sisters and I find our way through this land is.”
“You guys . . . you just have to try to listen more carefully. Now, read my lips . . . follow the Dead Trees.” She said the last part very slowly.
Since this was going nowhere, Sylvia tried a different approach. “Could you show us one of these dead trees so we know exactly what we’re looking for?”
“The first one is right behind you.”
They turned around and came face to face (so to speak) with a Dead Tree that definitely had not been there a minute ago. And they screamed . . .
“Stop. It is just a tree.”
“What kind of a tree has . . . has . . . whatever that is?” asked the Aeri’elle, clearly as horrified as her sisters.
“It is kinda unexpected, isn’t it?” kidded J’azzz-min.
“Ya think?” said Bl’azzz mimicking the cat.
“Who were they?” asked the Princess pointing at the faces frozen in the trunk of the tree.
“Ummm . . . I’m supposed to say ‘some of the heroes of Aerianna’. But, I don’t know what that means.”
Dazzle, however, did. Tears came to her eyes and she hung her head in sorrow.
“What’s the matter?” asked Egg.
It took the Princess a moment to regain her composure. “These were some of my people who rebelled against Mobius.”
“They were real people?”
“Yes. They were my loyal subjects.”
“Not quite right,” said the cat.
“Explain?”
“It’s not ‘were’ but ‘are,” said J’azzz-min mysteriously.
“Is that like cat gibberish?” asked Soo’.
“I think she means that these . . . ummm . . . people are still alive.”
Everyone looked at Sassi then back to J’azzz-min.
“Is this true?”
“Well of course they’re still alive. If you’d stop talking for a minute you can hear them moan.”
Everyone went silent . . . from shock. And sure enough, the tree began to groan. The groaning got louder and louder until it was a sad wailing sound.
“Why do they cry?”
“Wouldn’t you if that was your face stuck in a tree?”
Dazzle walked up to the tree and said, “My friends, it is I, Dazzle, Princess of Aerianna and heir to the throne of M’earth. I thank you for all that you have done to…”
“They can’t hear you,” interrupted the cat.
“But they are alive.”
“Yes . . . but you’re not.” Dazzle looked heartbroken.
“Tree, my name is Egg and I’m a friend of Dazzle’s . . . Princess Dazzle.” Egg was as frightened of the tree as she had been of the sand serpent. But this was important to her friend so she swallowed her fear. She put her hands on the head in the trunk just in front of her and said, “Be not sad. Your loyalty and bravery shall never be forgotten. When the Princess has regained her throne, and the evil that is Mobius has been defeated, you will be honored by all of Aerianna. But first, with the power of the Crystal Egg, you shall be restored to the world of the living.” She, of course, was using the power of the bracelet to bring some peace to these poor souls.
When she had finished, the Tree went silent.
“Thank you, my sister. Thank you. You spoke the words that were in my heart.”
All the girls were deeply touched by Egg’s speech. Each one in turn came up and touched the tree. K’ssss did one better when she rubbed against it . . . as a cat might affectionately rub against a person’s leg. The Tree responded with a ‘sigh’.
“I think I’m going to cry,” said J’azzz-min. The girls looked at her in surprise until she added, “NOT.”
Bl’azzz looked at the cat and was about to say something appropriately mean . . . but instead she burped. The tongue of fire hit J’azzz-min’s hat and it caught on fire.
“NOT THE HAT . . . NOT THE HAT,” she screamed as she pulled it off. But it was too late . . . the hat was a pile of ashes. “Oh . . . that was my favorite one.”
“Sorry,” said Bl’azzz and she almost meant it.
“Sheesh,” the cat replied. And out of thin air, a new hat appeared. “This one’s fireproof.” She put it back on her head. “Any-who, don’t do the fire thing again 'cause it attracts the P’xxxies.”
Getting information out of J’azzz-min was always a challenge.
“How do we protect ourselves from these creatures?”
“Don’t be acting so superior; P’xxxies aren’t creatures anymore then you things are.”
“No offense was meant. Please answer my question.”
“They just hate happy things.”
“How does that help us?” asked Aeri’elle.
The crazy cat ignored the question. Instead, she said, “One last word of advice, if you see anything with color, it proba
bly means trouble.
“How do we know when we found the last Tree?” asked Sylvia.
“There’s only seven. See you lovely ladies later.” With that, J’azzz-min slowly melted into the soft earth and disappeared.
“She’d make a lousy house pet,” suggested Soo’.
With the cat gone, Dazzle turned to Egg and asked, “How shall we proceed?”
“We have to find the next Tree. Who has really good ears?”
The girls looked at her confused. “I mean, who has really good hearing?”
Like before, it turned out that dragons had superior hearing as well as eyesight. So Egg asked Aeri’elle to take the lead. The dragon beamed with pride.
Walking as quietly as they could, they entered deeper into the Wood listening for the moaning of a Dead Tree or the splash of color from a flying P’xxxie.
*****
The Wood actually looked a lot like a normal forest . . . except everything was black, white or shades of grey. And like the Kiln, it was missing the happy chirping of birds or the buzzing of busy insects. All in all, it was a little creepy.
When the silence was broken by the sound of something hooting, Egg and Sylvia both looked up expecting to see an owl. But there was nothing in the trees.
“LOOK,” yelled Sassi pointing at a small knoll off to their right. They all looked and to their surprise, they saw a . . .
. . . pretty strange looking animal. It had a head that looked kind of like an owl and a long furry body. It had a bright orange tale tipped in red. Its feet and eyes were also red. The funniest thing was the green fur on its head that looked like a bad wig.
“It’s beautiful,” cried K’ssss.
“What is it, do you think?”
“A Hoot-Coot,” said a disembodied cat’s head that appeared out of nowhere. The girls jumped in surprise despite themselves.
“Stop that,” yelled Bl’azzz, “or we’ll have barbequed feline for lunch.”
“Just doing my job,” and J’azzz-min disappeared (at least her head did). Then she popped back and said, “Oh, yeah . . . almost forgot . . . I wouldn’t give a hoot for that coot.” And she was gone again.
Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel] Page 57
