Chapter Two: Enter the Pixies

In the search for Cybill and the missing furniture, Tyler the Mage and her friends run into the pixies.

We had been flying along peacefully for about a quarter of an hour when Blur, and consequently Emma, began to descend. I realized with a thrill of horror that we were going down over the territory of my supposed worst enemy of the pixies. We were in the territory of Countess Melina Jasmine de Ponpon.

I flew closer to Emma. "Why are we going down here? Cybill knows better than to stop here!"

She sighed in aggravation. "Tyler, we have a large burst of magic energy right below us that matches Cybill's signature. Even if she didn't stop, she was here and using magic. You know how Ponpon's army can be. She was probably attacked for the furniture."

"You're probably right." I conceded to my currently nymphean best friend. " But you'd think that those pastel colored jerks would have learned by now not to mess with a being of immense magic power. Especially not Cybill. Those potions are the stuff of nightmares." I finished with a shudder.

Well, we landed in the clearing and I only had time to point out that pastel skin makes it really hard to hide in the dense woods that cover the pixie kingdom before the 'stealthy' guerrilla warriors burst upon us, bubble guns blazing. I stuck my staff in the ground, creating a wind shield that forced the bubbles away from us and shouted, "We just want to talk to Jasmine. I mean you no harm. Plus, you are in direct violation of pixie code by firing with magical weapons on one who is in the part-time employ of the All-Powerful Pixie Queen, Her Majesty Phillippa Cardamom Yttrium the 17th!"

The bubbles only halted long enough for the pixies to shout for me to prove it before Emma, Blur, and I were once more surrounded by the opalescent bubbles. I started digging through my pocket for the rune of the pixie queen, which no one but she could create, as Emma pulled my staff from the ground without disturbing my now-charged air pocket and crept away in the guise of a pixie.

I was up to my shoulder in pocket before I finally found my amulet necklace, and, pulling it out, I began to rifle through my runes, casually flicking aside the detonate rune and delicately moving aside the water rune before finally coming to the rune bearing the sigil of the ruling house of the pixies. I held it up, shouting "This good enough for you, huh? Huh?"

The bubbles stopped firing instantly. A moment later, there was a resounding crack as Emma conked one of the last five pixies standing over the head with my staff. I looked at her stone-faced as I held up my hand and my staff winked out of existence in her hand and appeared in mine with twin bursts of blinding white light. She stared straight back for a second before shrugging. "I was already hitting him. Just because he stopped shooting didn't mean I was going to bother."

I just stared a moment longer before looking at the captain of the pixie guard, a blue-skinned female pixie with sparkly wings that I only knew by the name Chocolate.

I frowned and asked her when she would learn not to shoot at me. She glared with a double measure of hostility and spat out "You are not welcome here Mage Tyler. Just because you work for the queen doesn't mean I have to respect you. What do you want?"

Smirking, I said, "Maybe you don't like me. It's all right, really. But," I continued in a whisper, "If you keep talking like that, you could be arrested for treason. You wouldn't want that, would you, Chocolate?" I raised my voice again and commanded the seething pixie to take me to Jasmine. She had no choice but to comply.

My companions and I were led along a beautifully decorated path, bothered only by the slight clicking sound that increased in frequency and volume the further we walked. When we could hear a slight murmur accompanying the clicks we were told to follow them and it would lead us to the Countess.

After a few more minutes, we hit a spacious clearing dominated by a large wooden chair at the far end of it. The only being in the clearing was a bubble-gum pink pixie who was constantly changing her clothes by snapping, muttering something along the lines of, 'Bo, no, that won't do at all with each change of appearance. Her herald, standing at the entrance of the clearing, coughed loudly, causing her to look up.

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth opened to say something, but before she could utter a single word I said, "How are you today, Jasmine? I'm great thanks. Look, Cybill came through here not long ago and we need to know which way she went and why you have her spoon floating in that bubble by the tree throne."

She was shaking with anger as she said, "I don't have to tell you anything. In fact, you should leave. Right. Now."

I was just a little mad at that. "Okay, Jasmine, but if I leave without that wand and all the information you can give me, I'll tell not only Her Queenship, but the Magic Council what you've done. And don't even bother telling me you didn't do anything wrong. This'll be the thirteenth time that you've heard that under the ninth Codex, subsection Z, subcodex 227' chapter 5, subchapter 893, paragraph 2 of The Cross-Species Laws of Magic, 'stealing or taking possession of an item of power that has been claimed by a wizard or mage that has not chosen the possessor to be it's new owner or been previously stabilized to the presence of said possessor could cause a highly violent and explosive reaction to take place that breaches any fields of containment put in place and that destroys everything within an area determined by how powerful the magic item is. Therefore, if the one who bears the wand refuses to return it to the being of power it was taken from, or one such individual to which said item of power has been stabilized too, the Magic Council must be informed at once so that a stabilizer could be found. If the finder is a stabilizer, the stabilizer can use any method deemed necessary to free the item of power from its captor.'

"So unless you want to be tried for crimes against magic, I'd suggest you give me the spoon and tell me what I need to know."

Her rose colored eyes flashed angrily, and she huffed, "She came through with the furniture, we tried to take it, she bombed us with that pixie-be-gone potion she loves so much. She was heading east, into the lands of the dragon. Now can you go? It's almost time for the royal inspection." She finished with a giggle.

I grimaced and rolled my eyes. "Spoon first."

The bubble carrying the spoon floated over to my hand and popped, releasing the seemingly benign spoon from its grasp.

I quipped a short thank you and we were just about to leave when Jasmine's herald belted out, "All hail the honorable Prince Barry Oregano Verbena Poppy Arugula Thyme Coriander Salt Pepper Rosemary Poppy Juniper Yew Sage Curry Mustard Dill Basil Parsley Bay Cumin Poppy Cayenne Clove Ginger Cinnamon Poppy Apple the Two Hundred and Twenty-third. Lord of the Pixie Realm, Commander of Her Ladyships Armies and Airtroops, Brother of the Queen and heir to the throne of the Pixies."

I turned to Emma. "How do you think he remembers it all?" I said as the Prince walked in.

( I feel now is a good time to mention that for pixies,titles pass to the females instead of to the males.)

The Prince walked up. "I often wonder that myself, Mage Tyler. Especially as I always tell them that just Prince Barry is fine." He turned to Jasmine. "Countess De Ponpon, your holdings are as impeccable as always. Continue with the great work." He inclined his head his head to us both, told all of us to stand back, and held his forearm perpendicular to the ground, palm facing away from him. He rapidly turned his hand toward himself and, performing a spectacular backflip, landed on the back of a hummingbird and flew away in a gust of wind.

I beat a hasty retreat before I could be trapped listening to talk of how fabulous Prince Barry, and we took to the air once more in pursuit of Cybill and the furniture. Only this time, I was riding Blur. We all agreed that I would need as much magic as possible when it came to dealing with the very large and imposing dragon Thaani.