Guardian of the Unknown

Guardian of the Unknown

 

Chapter I

 

Anathra woke up to the sound of birds chirping and someone knocking on her door, “Caelina! Wake up! You’ll be late for warm up! Everyone is already gathered in the field!”

Anathra nearly tripped over her own two feet trying to get out of her bed of moss in her haste, “I’ll be there in a few minutes!” she said struggling into her long white dress. “No time to wash my face today.” Anathra said to herself as she quickly fastened her wings to her dress.

Anathra took one moment to stare at her reflection in the body length mirror nailed to her wall. Anathra didn’t like much about herself; she is not what you would call vain. She thought she was too skinny, despised what she thought was her flat feet and wished to be taller. Anathra didn’t really worry about her face though. All fairies, no matter if they live in the land of Ruan or not are beautiful; even if they are bad fairies. No exceptions. But what Anathra was really bothered by, was her hair. Sure, it was beautifully glossy and smooth like everybody’s, but she longed to really have blonde hair tossing and curling every which way. "Or maybe even green hair." she thought.

But, I can tell you right now, Anathra was rather foolish to fret over her hair and other things which she did not like about herself. Anathra was a slender girl medium in height. Her feet were small, but by no means at all "flat". As for her face, it was beautiful in her own special way, it was not like any others; it was unique. Her hair was hazel colored and fell down to her shoulders. The color was gorgeous but, Anathra, wanting a different color hair, never realized its true beauty.

Anathra pulled out a small bag from under her bed and opened it up. Inside were two kal roots. She pulled one out, crushed it in a bowl, wet her long, hazel colored hair, and began to smear the root in it. Glancing in the mirror she checked for streaks or mistakes. A girl with beautiful blond hair stared back at her in the mirror. “Perfect.” Anathra whispered and rushed to the door. She scanned her little room for anything she might have forgotten. Luckily her eyes fell on a white cloth belt interwoven with gold thread. “My belt! I almost forgot!” and rushed to put it on. Once secure around her waist, she knelt down beside a long box at the end of her bed.

Anathra opened the box carefully lifting her sword out of its resting place. Holding it up in the sunlight it dazzled like so many diamonds and took on the appearance of gold even though it was silver colored metal. Anathra took one precious moment to gaze in admiration at it before she put the naked sword in her belt (celestials never used scabbards). Then, remembering she was already late, she dashed out the open marble door of her little room, down the hall, out of the big marble building of the celestial fairies and began her race across the field.

Anathra raced across the field as fast as she could. She was in such a rush that she did not even notice the beautiful sunrise. The sun had just risen and peeped over the tops of the trees contrasting its fiery orange against the soft green of the willows. Anathra almost tripped over the numerous white rose bushes scattered throughout the field. The land of Ruan was swollen with them; they were common as the grass that grew thick underfoot. Brushing past a bush, Anathra knocked the dew beading on a white rose's petals and green leaves. As the sun rose higher and higher over the majestic land of Ruan the pink clouds that dotted the sky came in view while the sounds of birds and other fairies singing their morning song to the sun was heard floating on the warm morning breeze.

As beautiful as it was Anathra did not stop running. Being late for warm-ups was not good; such things were looked down upon. She could see the group now gathered on the sunny field. Panting and breathless from her run she stumbled over and rested a little ways away from the group. No one seemed to notice her but a fairy boy who seemed bored by the rest of the group.

            He was a tall, handsome youth, his golden wings fluttering in the breeze. He was dressed in a pair of loose white pants and sleeveless tunic top and wore the same belt as Anathra. On his head was a beautiful mess of soft blond curls that were easily tossed and tousled up by the wind. But as beautiful as his hair was, his golden curls were put to shame with the happy grin he bore when he spotted Anathra completely out of breath.

“Sleep late?” he asked grinning.

“Yes, I’m afraid so Lanor.” she replied still panting.

Lanor smiled, “Well c'mon! The director is here!”

Anathra ran up to join nineteen fairies and director on the field in warm ups. Anathra took her place beside Lanor and bended down in an attempt to touch her toes. As she did so she glanced over at Lanor only to see him putting his hands on the ground easily. Need I say Lanor is very flexible? The director yelled something unintelligible and the twenty celestials bent down in a runner's lunge.

After warm up and stretching the director spoke, “Alright. Today we are going to review what we learned yesterday, have a lesson with flying, and then learn how to vault over a chasm.”

No sooner had he said this than all the celestial fairies began to protest, “Chasm vaulting? We don’t need to learn chasm vaulting!” said one celestial girl named Neraia.

Another celestial fairy boy named Erel sided with her, “I agree. Since when will we ever need to vault over chasms?”

 "Chasm vaulting is pointless, why don’t we learn something else?" Xander pouted, his golden eyes losing their glint.

“There is never too much you can learn,” Kalo, Lanor's best (and only) friend said.

 “You're right," the director agreed, "you never know what you will be doing during an attack. Now then, let’s review!” and the training began.

The celestials quickly reviewed yesterday's lesson and then began their session in the air. During this, Anathra pretended to be very tired and persisted that she had to lie down. The director reluctantly agreed to let her have a rest. After the lesson Anathra made a big show of feeling better and walked over to the group. The director was surprised as he fluttered down to the field, “Feeling better already?” he said questioningly.

“Yes, I feel, uh, ready for anything!” she exclaimed pretending to be enthusiastically energetic. Xander looked at her suspiciously but said nothing.

 “Well then,” the director said, “you should do very well on our new lesson. Vaulting!” 

Anathra found vaulting not as easy as she thought. To properly vault over a chasm one had to get a running start, spring off at the edge of the chasm, and do as many somersaults as needed in the air to get to the other side. The only problem was that while doing the somersaults over the chasm one had to propel oneself forward with every flip which proved to be too much for Anathra. She flopped on the other side of the chasm winded and breathless while Xander, who had jumped the pit before her, breathed easily and looked ready for anything. She felt discouraged seeing him take to vaulting so easily while she struggled but comforted herself thinking, “Well he is built for this kind of stuff, I’m only built for gardening and tending to the trees.” and rolled over on the grass facing the sun trying to get her breath back.

But no sooner had she done this then the director yelled, “ALRIGHT EVERYONE! NOW WE WILL VAULT IN PAIRS, AS GROUP, LEARN HOW TO VAULT HOLDING AN UNCONCIOUS PERSON AND THEN PRACTICE IT ALL FIFTY TIMES!” Anathra winced. She wished this new director could be kinder as the old one.

                                              -------------------------

The sun was setting as Anathra trudged back to the marble building behind the nineteen celestial fairies. Passing through the field she spied a group of earth fairies in the trees staring in awe at them. Anathra smiled and waved; it had seemed only yesterday that she was one of them. She was feeling rather tired and sore so right after the evening meal she went straight to her small chamber.

As Anathra lay on her bed in her nighttime gown she looked back on how far she had come. It had seemed only yesterday she was amiably walking into the head director’s room; and then coming out completely shocked.

You see, Anathra was not really a celestial fairy. She was just pretending to be one. In reality she was actually an earth fairy, the most common and lowest in the ranks of fairies. Normally all earth fairies in the land of Ruan are quite peaceful and humble creatures and are content to tend to the grass and flowers. But not Anathra. Anathra was different and ever since she was little, she had watched celestial fairies, who were the rarest of fairies, on the field practicing sword fighting and wishing with all her might that she could be one.

All celestial fairies protect the land of Ruan. It’s their job. Just as the wind fairies are in charge of the winds and the fire fairies in charge of all fire-related things; celestial fairies guard and protect the land, its inhabitants, and the Unknown. But, celestials cannot not make things grow. They cannot command a tulip to open its petals or make a vine grow from a pumpkin stem. But, of course, since things like these are very small and insignificant, nobody really cared.

Now the unknown was a magical object that resided in a cave on the top of Mt. Runa and kept the land fruitful and livable. Without it, Ruan would become a barren wasteland. No one knew what this magical thing was so they called it “The Unknown”. No one, not even celestial fairies, knew what it was for, for  no one had ever attacked Ruan before. The celestial fairies did not need to go up to the mountain to protect it and therefore had never seen it. In fact, none of the celestial fairies had ever even been to the top of Mt. Runa ever. It was not allowed. No celestial fairy was allowed to look and check upon the Unknown in times of peace; only when the land was being attacked. As for what it was, everyone supposed it would have to be some rare jewel considering it was very special; but nobody was really quite sure.

When Anathra had grown of age to take care of herself, her parents had died leaving Anathra an orphan. Being on her own in the world, Anathra had become devastated and lonely; on the point of despair for a time. But on one sunny day, after a very bad day of weeding and being called “farmer fairy” once too many, Anathra had decided that she was tired of being a common fairy and only tending to the dirt. Gardening was alright, but she wanted to do something more; she wanted to help on a larger level. So, even though she knew her quest was hopeless, she decided to go and try to talk the head director into letting her be part of the protecting group of celestial fairies.

She had walked up to the head director’s office and had blurted out if she could join the group. The director had looked her over and asked her what rank of fairy she belonged to. “An earth fairy sir.” She had replied. After sending Anathra home the director did some serious thinking; he thought all night for a fact. In the morning, he had summoned for Anathra and told her that she could be part of the guardians. Anathra had been quite shocked and would have fallen over on the floor had she not been sitting in a chair. What she had wanted to have all her life, what she had wished with all her heart, had now been given to her. She had been dumbfounded. But she remembered that only celestial fairies were supposed to be part of this group. Before she opened her mouth and let out a torrent of questions the director had finally spoken (he had been giving her time to recover from the shock) and told her of his plan. He knew perfectly well that only celestial were allowed in the group but decided that she had what it took. He said she had potential and determination. He told her that she could pretend to be a celestial and presented her with a pair of fake celestial wings, (for only common fairies have no wings and therefore cannot fly) and some kal root to dye her hair blond as only celestials have blond hair. Equipping her with a celestial fairy’s gown he had sent her off into the woods to transform herself into a celestial fairy. Coming back looking very much like one, the director said from now on she would be known as 'Caelina' and had presented her to the group.

But that was a long time ago and the director had died since then leaving only Anathra with their secret.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter II

 

When Anathra woke up it was still dark. “Good.” She thought to herself. “Just enough time to go look for more kal roots.” and got out of bed quietly. She tiptoed across the floor and changed into her white flowing gown.  Then ever so softly she put her last kal root in her hair, fastened her wings, and grabbed the sack which she used to store her roots in. She put her ear to the door. No sound. Nearly stifled with fear she opened the door, tiptoed out into the hall and looked around. No one. Seeing that the coast was clear she half tiptoed and half ran out of the hall until she was outside. “Phew!” Anathra breathed a sigh of relief.

            Even though it was dark, Anathra could see the forest up ahead. She gathered up her skirts and began to run across the field toward the forest. After running for quite some time she finally arrived in a little glen at the edge of the forest. Immediately she began to look around for the distinctive purple fern that grew on top of the kal root. She spotted several purple ferns to her left. Walking over she grabbed hold of one purple fern. Pulling with all her might she yanked the stubborn root out of the ground, tore off the leaf and placed it in her sack. Anathra continued to pull up kal roots until the sun was risen. Her bag was full.

After looking at the sky Anathra raced out of the forest, across the meadow and toward the marble building. When she neared the building she slowed down and started tiptoeing. “I stayed longer than I should, everyone should be awake soon!” Anathra thought nervously. She opened the door and peeped into the hall. No one. Anxiously Anathra tiptoed in her room and shut the door behind her. Anathra placed the sack under her bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She could relax now. Glancing at her bed she decided she had better get some rest and then get up with everyone else. Not even bothering to unfasten her wings, Anathra let herself fall onto her bed and let the soft moss that made up her bed bulge around her. Anathra sighed happily and closed her eyes.

But no sooner had Anathra closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep, than someone was pounding on her door loudly. She sat up in her bed unhappily and straightened her crooked wings. “I’ll catch u on my sleep during the private hour.” She said trying to comfort herself. But it was still hard to drag herself out of that nice warm bed and onto the cold, hard marble flooring of her small room.

She walked over slowly and sleepily over to the door. When she opened the door her face met with Lanor’s anxious one. “What?” she said hoping that he would tell her that training sessions were canceled for the day.

“Have you not heard? There have been rumors going around the village that shadow fairies have been spotted on the border!” Lanor said.

“Shadow fairies? Bah, it’s just a bunch of hooey. Everyone knows shadow fairies are extinct.” Anathra said brushing the matter aside.

“I don’t think it’s just a silly rumor,” Lanor said, “It sounds pretty serious. The director is calling everyone together in the village to personally interview some locals who saw the shadows. After we interview them, we’ll all go to the border and stand watch all night.” Anathra sighed. Standing watch all night meant no sleep. “We’re leaving right now to go interview the villagers. C’mon!” and Lanor raced off down the hall.

Anathra groaned and leaned her head against the doorway. “What’s the big deal?” she thought, “everybody knows shadow fairies have been extinct. The villagers must have been seeing hallucinations.” and sighed. She went back in her room and grabbed a little sack and stuffed all her kal roots, some food, and basically anything else she thought she would need. “That should be enough if we’re going to be standing guard all night.”

Anathra slowly trudged down the lofty hall and soon found Lanor outside with all the other celestial fairies who were gathered in a group on the sunny field. The director was with them also. “Alright! The locals who you will be interviewing will be seated at the old elm tree. Make the interview short and sweet and then head over to the border to stand guard. DIIIIIIIIISMISSED!” the director barked out. At his word the celestials took off running across the field. They ran through the forest, over the hill and past various babbling brooks their bare feet scarcely touching the ground.

Running across another stream, they arrived at the old elm tree in the middle of the village. Four fairies were gathered around it. Their faces were grave and bore a look of fear. When they saw the celestial fairies they rushed over all talking at once, “Oh you must act quickly!”

“They’re not extinct!”

“We saw them!”

“With our own eyes!”

“Whoa! Whoa! One at a time!” Lanor said trying to quiet the anxious fairies. By now most of the fairies in the town square had gathered around the celestials and the witnesses staring curiously at them wondering what all the commotion was about.

By this time Kalo had finally managed to calm and quiet the hysteric fairies, “Ok! Calm down! Everything will be alright. We’re here to protect you. Now, one at a time, please. You there in the blue, you first. What did you see?”

A tall and graceful water fairy stepped forward, her blue hair shimmering in the morning sun, “I saw them,” she whispered, very much afraid, “I was over near the little brook that runs through the forest yesterday making the water flow. I was almost finished when suddenly�"I felt cold and afraid even though only minutes before I had been carefree and singing gaily. I stood up and looked around to see why I felt so and�"“ here  the water fairy stopped, trembling.

 “Well?” Xander said waiting. “I-I saw one. Right there in front of me!” said the water fairy.

“What did he look like?” Lanor asked.

“No older than you I guess." she said pointing at Xander. Xander looked uncomfortable under the water fairy's gaze. "He was dark and mysterious and�"looked so mean and frightening I ran away.” The water fairy confessed. At hearing this all the fairies within earshot gasped or looked concerned hearing all that she had said.

"Oh please. How do we know she’s not just making all this up?" Xander said.

“No, unfortunately it is true.” A wind fairy said, her gowns rustling softly, “I saw the shadow too as I was flying in the air sending a south wind. I was not able to see him very well though. You must do something.” She said gravely.

“Yeah, there might be more of them out there.” One fire fairy put in.

“Yes, you must act quickly!” the water fairy said.

Lanor raised his hand once more, “Alright! Don’t worry! We’re going down to the border to stand watch tonight.”

“No need to worry,” Kalo put in, “you are perfectly safe. No need to be worrying in your beds tonight.”

“Shall we head to the border then? We’ve got a long way go.” Xander reminded all.

“Yes, lets” Lanor replied. And with that they took off running swiftly.

The celestials arrived at the border about early evening just as the shadows were beginning to stretch across the long wall that marked the border; the edge of the land of Ruan. Anathra tossed her sack down on a moss covered rock and sat down to rest for a bit viewing the landscape surrounding the border’s wall.

A flat, grassy land covered the ground several yards from the wall. The plain then slowly grew into a forest; a few shrubs and maybe some old tree stumps. Beyond the stumps and shrubs some small trees were to be seen getting thicker and bigger and closer together until it all finally became the edge of a forest. The edge of the forest was exactly parallel to the rustic stone wall.

“Gives the shadows a rather good place to hide and spy on us doesn’t it?” Lanor asked sitting down beside her, wearing his charming grin as usual.

“Sadly, yes.” Anathra said smiling back at him. “What do you think you’ll do if you ever meet up with a shadow fairy?” she asked Lanor.

“Probably run away!” Lanor laughed.

Anathra laughed along with him. “It’s so nice to have someone around who isn’t serious all the time.” She thought to herself. “I don’t see why you should run away; you’re very good at defense and attack practice. If anyone would try to run away it would probably be me.” She said ruefully.

Lanor became serious, "You? But you are so brave during practice! I mean�"not that we are being attacked but�"you did very well when you first arrived. Most newcomers have a difficult time keeping up with everything! And when you run, you just have this look, this determina--" Lanor blurted out but then stopped himself when he realized he was talking aloud. “Um-I-I’ll be at my post!” Lanor said running away so Anathra could not see his face turning red.

 “Rather funny behavior.” Anathra thought to herself, “He must just be tired like me.” She concluded. She sighed and trudged back to the border wall to prepare for the night.

 

 

Chapter III

 

"Caelina, psst. Wake up." Lanor said as he shook her. "You fell asleep again."

Anathra jumped straight up, "I’m awake! I’m awake!" he said attempting to look sharp and awake. Anathra stood up from leaning on her sword to see Kalo and Lanor standing beside her. For a moment, Anathra was jealous of Lanor and wished she could such a friend as his. Kalo was so brave, strong and fearless; but was also kind and friendly. Anathra gazed over the black plain and into the murky depths of the forest. "What time is it? she asked Kalo.

He stared at the cloudless sky, "Exactly midnight." he said leaning on his sword.

Anathra sighed as she leaned against the ivy covered wall, "Only midnight?" she sighed out loud. Time had seemed to stop. "Or pass by slowly." Anathra thought to herself. She stood up and put her sword back in her belt, "You should probably get back to your posts." she said to the two friends who were gazing out into the forest too.

They presently stood up and put their swords in their belts also, "I suppose you're right." they said and walked back to their posts which were just a little ways along the border wall, not too far from Anathra's.

Turning to the forest Anathra returned to her quite boring job of staring intently at the forest. So she stared. And stared and stared and stared and stared and stared. But then suddenly she stopped, blinked, and stared again. "It couldn't be." she thought to herself. She stared again squinting. In the forest, standing beside a tree, was a faint outline of a fairy all dressed in black. Silent he was, stately in his posture, but did not look friendly at all. His black wings glinted in the moonlight. But the thing that had caught Anathra's attention, was his black eyes that stared right back at her piercing her through. Anathra stood still for one more moment and stared back at the shadow fairy. And then she ran.

 

She sprinted across the field and headed for Erel’s post. It wasn’t too far away.

But as she neared Erel, she beheld him looking very upset and talking with a wind fairy. “What do you mean it’s gone?!?” He was saying, his eyes full of disbelief, “what do you mean the Unknown is gone?!?!!” 

“Yes! The Unknown is gone! Nobody knows anything save it’s gone!” the wind fairy said who obviously had repeated this unbelievable message several times to Erel.

“Erel! Everyone! Anyone!” Anathra yelled as soon as she stopped running.

“Later Caelina, nothing you have to say can be more important, the Unknown is gone!” Xander said hurriedly trying to shush her.

Several other celestial fairies who had overheard Erel rushed over, “Gone?”

“What?”

“When did this happen?” they asked the wind fairy all at once. Anathra was horrified to hear that the Unknown was gone, but she was also annoyed that the group refused to listen to her; this was more important. For all she knew, that shadow fairy might have the Unknown with him.

“Please!” she yelled over the growing din of celestial voices pestering the wind fairy, “Please you have to listen to me!”

“Not now Caelina!” Neraia said crossly. The group was clearly not going to listen to her.

 Anathra did the first thing that came to her mind, “I SAW A SHADOW FAIRY IN THE FOREST!!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. There was an absolute dead silence as everyone turned toward Anathra in shock.

“What?” Erel whispered looking like he did want to believe her.

“Yes!” Anathra said, “A shadow fairy, I saw him at the edge of the forest!” Lanor and the rest of the group rushed up to join everyone having heard Anathra.

“Then there’s no time to lose!” Lanor said as he rushed up.

“Well then? What on Ruan are you waiting for?” the wind fairy said.

The group raced across the field sprinting and dodging various scattered stumps and bushes. “Look! See there!” Anathra pointed toward the forest as they neared it. Several shadow fairies, no more than the amount of celestials, were seen just disappearing behind the trees. “Just as I feared,” Anathra thought to herself as pushed headlong into the forest, “there are more of them.” And set her mouth in a straight line, so as not to look like she was afraid.

Anathra looked around at the rest of group as they ran weaving in and out of trees. “Everyone looks like they know what they’re doing but I.” she lamented to herself. “Though, after all, they are celestial fairies.” She turned over to Erel; he looked so tall and stately, even when he ran. Then she looked to her right where Neraia was running. Her long blonde hair was streaming behind her, her feet barely touching the ground. She didn’t even seem to be panting or even breathing very hard. “How does she do that?” Anathra wondered.

She then glanced at Lanor. He had just finished vaulting over a rotten log, his golden mess of curls flying this way and that. Coming across a huge boulder in his path, nearly as big and as tall as him, he leapt effortlessly over it and continued running without stumbling. Lanor was very skilled in all celestial arts and made running, jumping and fighting look easy. “But he’s good about his talent,” Anathra thought, “he never brags.”

Anathra looked at Xander too, he was running extremely fast. She stared absentmindedly at his unusually gold-colored eyes. Anathra had never heard of golden eyed fairies so she assumed that they must be very rare. He almost matched Lanor in his skill and would have if it wasn’t for his much more muscular appearance. His muscle sometimes hindered his flexibility unlike Lanor who was a lithe as a deer.

Anathra sighed and almost ran into a tree as she stared off into space not looking where she was running. She was so tired and she longed to just flop herself down and fall asleep right there in the middle of the forest. She wished she had never seen the shadow fairy. “All I need is some sleep.” She thought drowsily, “Just some sleep…” and trailed off, trying to keep her eyes open as she stumbled along in the darkness.

“Caelina!” Lanor yelled. Anathra was jerked into reality; she leapt to the side, barely missing a tree that she would have run into had Lanor not warned her. Then she suddenly saw the group of shadow fairies up ahead. They were getting closer and closer as they gained upon the shadows. But just as the celestials were so close to them that Anathra could reach out and touch the back of a fleeing shadow fairy; all the shadows turned around, and, laughing a laugh that Anathra knew she would have nightmares about, slowly dissolved into the mist. Just like that.

Xander gritted his teeth, “So they’re trying to turn invisible on us eh? Well we’ll see about that! C’mon!”

The other celestials turned to him in surprise, "How did you know that the shadow fairies turned invisible? Can they? This is the first time anyone has ever seen a shadow fairy!"

"Oh, uh, I mean, I just assumed they turned invisible. After all, why else would they disappear like that?" Xander said reasonably. Everyone else said that was quite true. Lanor was not so easily convinced and eyed at Xander suspiciously.

Neraia interrupted his thoughts, “Well, if they are invisible, trying to go after them would be folly. They could capture us at will. I vote we set up camp here for the night and continue the chase tomorrow.”

“Well said.” said Erel tossing his small pack down on the forest floor.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter IV

 

It was not long before they had a huge fire blazing, its orange flames leaping in the dark night sky. The ensemble conversed amongst themselves and decided it was best to send someone after the shadows to see where they went. This point was easily decided but as for whom would go, there weren’t many volunteers. After much silence Kalo stood up, "I can see we are getting nowhere. I shall go." and with that he walked off into the forest never wavering or turning back. Whilst all this was happening, Xander silently slunk away into the forest.

Everyone was seated around the campfire staring at the flames, reflecting on the events of the day and wondering what to do next. Did the shadow fairies they had chased have the unknown? Anathra shivered and pulled her knees up to her chest. She sighed and stared into the fire, wishing that she had the power to turn all shadow fairies into big fat toads. It was most likely the third hour of the day or 3:00am in our time. Kalo had been gone for almost three hours. "How long does it take to trail someone?" Anathra wondered and looked around the camp. Everyone seemed restless.

"Where on Ruan is he? His job is taking much longer that it should." Lanor said.

"I’m afraid we'll have to send another off to try to find him. Whatever has happened to Kalo, it can’t be good." Erel said, concerned.

 They sent off one celestial named Meke off into the woods after Kalo. "…and remember," Erel had said to him, "Don’t you take too long yourself or we'll have to send ANOTHER celestial after YOU."

"I shall arrive back no longer than an hour." Meke said assuredly.

So the rest of the celestials waited.

The wait seemed interminable to Anathra even though it had only been twenty minutes. She glanced at Lanor. He was twiddling his thumbs and staring into space. "Poor thing," she thought, "he's worried sick."

Anathra's thoughts were interrupted when she saw Lanor staring intently toward the forest and shushing everyone, "Shh! I hear something!" he said.

A few seconds later Meke was stumbling into the clearing panting, exhausted, and shocked. "What!? What is it?" Erel said rising, seeing Meke's expression. Meke gasped and wheezed; he obviously had been running at top speed for quite some time. The group waited not too patiently for Meke to catch his breath. They were all standing by now.

 Lanor practically hopped form one foot to another in his impatience, "What? What!? For Ruan's sake Meke, tell us!!!"

Meke still gasped and panted heavily, "Kalo, he�"he’s dead!"

Every single celestials' heart stopped beating. Anathra almost fainted. Lanor really hoped that he had fallen asleep by the campfire and this all was a bad dream. "What?" he said in a small, non-Lanor-like voice.

Meke managed to get some of his breath back, "Yes, Kalo's dead! You know the river not too far from here? The one with the rapids? I saw his body floating in it all battered�"most likely lots of broken bones! Oh no, don’t ask me if i was sure it was Kalo, I know it was. I know Kalo anywhere! He didn’t look like he had been pierced, which was strange. And don’t even ask me if I’m positive he was dead. He was dead alright!" Lanor paled as he tried to grasp the reality of all this. Kalo was dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

"But didn’t you try to retrieve the body?" Anathra finally managed to say.

"I could not! I tried too, but since the rapids were so fast and so strong I knew I would drown just trying to reach him! And when I actually saw him, I only got a glimpse as river swept him from my sight. No, if there was any slightest possible way to get him, I would have done it. But there was none! I even tried running along the bank to go ahead of the body and then wait for it. But the river was much swifter than I. His body is lost in the river forever." Meke said mournfully.

There was a silence. Not being able to control himself any longer, Lanor covered his face with hands and rushed off into the forest. Anathra stood where she was and tried to drill the fact that Kalo was no more into her head. Who killed Kalo? “Probably some black-haired fairies who  we all know and love.” Anathra though bitterly. But, most importantly, how did he die? That still remained a mystery.

Anathra glanced in the direction Lanor had run and decided he probably needed some comforting. She ran over into forest and came upon Lanor only to find him crying his life out. Anathra stood there for a minute a bit taken aback. Lanor? Crying? True, she had expected Lanor to be exceptionally sad, but she had NOT expected strong, masculine, nerves-of-steel Lanor to be crying! She groped for the right words to introduce her entrance.

"I'm-I'm so sorry." she said kneeling down beside Lanor. Lanor jerked his head from his hands; his face was streaked with tears.

He wiped his tears from his cheeks, embarrassed. "You won’t�"you won’t tell the others I've been crying will you?" he asked sorrowfully.

"I would never dream of such a thing." Anathra whispered.

Lanor put his hands on his face again, "He was the only friend I had in the world. He was so kind�"" and at this Lanor began to cry again trying to muffle his sobs with hands.

"...friendly and the best warrior of us all." Anathra finished for him as she stared at the ground. "I know how much he meant to you Lanor. I’m sorry, he was so loyal. I miss him too." Anathra said and in a wave of despair began to cry also.

For quite some time Anathra and Lanor sat for awhile crying and letting all their fears, sadness and misery pour out onto the already damp ground. They both did not know how long they sat there nor did they care. Lanor stood up having cried every tear out of his body. He offered his hand to Anathra who accepted it and was pulled up to her feet. They both headed back to the camp realizing that in order to continue their chase after the shadows they would need all the rest they could get.

Chapter V

 

Forty five minutes had passed and still Anathra could not get to sleep. As a matter of fact, nobody could. Nobody spoke either. Staring into the fire and thinking was all one could do to pass the time.

Half an hour flew by before Anathra discovered Lanor staring at her. It was rather distracting and she tried to ignore it. After several more minutes of gazing into the flames, Anathra presently noticed Lanor was still staring at her; but this time more intently and in a more inquisitive and doubtful way. “What?” she asked Lanor after still more staring, “Why are you staring at me so?”

“Well, I know this may sound silly, but�"I could swear that your hair looks a little, well, brown right now.” He said still staring doubtfully. “But yet it still looks blonde too.” Anathra glanced down at her locks and froze. Her hair was a tad brown, and getting browner by the second. Several strands of her hair were rapidly losing their blonde color. Then Anathra remembered, she had forgotten to reapply kal root in her hair! Anathra stared to panic as more and more of her blonde hair quickly evaporated into brown.

“Uh, maybe it’s the light from the fire casting shadows on my hair.” Anathra said, trying to keep calm.

“I don’t think it’s that.” Neraia spoke up having heard the conversation. Everyone else, having overheard, commenced to joining Lanor in staring at Anathra’s hair.

“Yes, it does look quite brown.” Erel commented. Soon everyone was giving their opinion on what caused Anathra’s hair to look so. Anathra knew she had to get away; away in the forest and reapply some kal root.

“I�"uh�"I’ll be right back!” she said scrambling up and snatching her little satchel.

“But�"where are you going?” Lanor asked, puzzled.

Anathra didn’t hear him; she was already well out of sight from the camp. Finally, she slowed to a stop when she felt she was a good distance from everyone. Anathra sighed a sigh of relief, “That was close!” she said aloud as she pulled a small gnarled kal root from her bag. Having not found any water where she was standing, she traveled until she found a little brook. There she proceeded to reapply the kal root in her hair.

Anathra pulled out a little wooden bowl and crushed the kal root in it with a stone till it was reduced to crumbs. Dipping her hands in the stream, she filled the bowl with water and, with her hands, mixed the crumbs and water together until they became the consistency of a paste. She put the paste in her hair. As soon as it touched her hair it left a blonde stain, but then the actual paste itself evaporated. Anathra was thankful for this. If it didn’t, it would look like someone had dunked her hair in a mud puddle. When she was done, she looked again at her hair. It was all blonde. Anathra let out a sigh of relief. Feeling rather relaxed Anathra absentmindedly took a twig and scratched her name in the mud beside the rivulet. Anathra. it was plain to her as the dirt in which she scratched it in. "what a boring name." Anathra said out loud. "I wish Caelina could be my real name." and sighed.

As Anathra washed her hands and the bowl in the stream she presently became aware that she was being watched. She looked behind her. There was no one. Not even the little dormouse who had been watching her before with curiosity. Anathra broke out in a sweat, she became nervous and anxious with that horrible feeling of being in the dark and knowing someone is watching you. She looked all around her; still no one. Suddenly she became cold. Not cold like when you jump into a river or when snow begins to fall for the first time; cold as in numb, afraid, fearful. Anathra became scared. Not scared of just being alone in the woods, but afraid because she was afraid for no good reason. That bothered her. The fact that she didn’t know why she was afraid which is what scared her the most. She knew she had to get out of the forest and back to the camp; she was trembling. But, as she walked back to the camp, she felt a cold draft of air whisk by her. And as that cold, draft of air blew, suddenly, and mysteriously, Anathra heard a voice as it passed by. She could not understand what it meant, it was whispering in some foreign tongue that Anathra did not know. But it sent chills up and down her spine. She was positive whatever voice it was, it was not friendly. The chills and voice continued as the wind swept by only to stop when the draft stopped blowing by her. That’s when Anathra began to freak out and run.

Chapter VI

 

“Where could Caelina be?” Lanor said for the millionth time fiddling with a blade of grass nervously. “She’s been away for a long time!” and fidgeted.

“Lanor! What’s the matter with you? Why are you worried? She’ll be back soon!” Erel said, exasperated.

 “Don’t worry, Caelina can take her of herself. She’s very good at�"um, uh…..” one member of the group spoke up intending to say, “She’s very good at practice.” to comfort Lanor, but stopped since this was not true. Anathra was the worst of everybody.

Lanor turned to the fairy boy who had spoken, “Exactly.” He said and continued to stare in the fire worriedly. All the celestial fairies exchanged glances with each other in confusion. They had never known Lanor, who was generally pretty tough, to be so concerned about anyone.

Just then, Anathra came crashing through the forest and rushed over to the campsite, taking everyone by surprise. She glanced around the camp to be sure no one was giving her suspicious glances. Xander was still absent from the camp but no one had noticed yet. Lanor looked up, “Caelina! You’re back! Where have you been?” he asked clearly happy and relieved at her return. The cold and anxious feeling Anathra had was beginning to wear off as she sat down by the fire beside Lanor.

“I…uh….was uh…” she stammered as she tried to think of some excuse.

 Thankfully Lanor interrupted so Anathra did not have to answer, “You’re shivering!” Lanor exclaimed.

“In the heat of the fire? Are you feeling alright Caelina?” Neraia asked. The anxious feeling was gone, but Anathra still trembled with that horrible cold numbness. She hated it and wished it would go away.

“I’m fine.” She said trying to avoid eye contact with Lanor and Neraia.

Erel was not so easily convinced, “You look rather worried. What’s troubling you?” he asked.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Anathra replied still shivering.

Lanor rummaged in his satchel, “Here, take my cloak.” He said taking out a deep green cloak and wrapping it around Anathra’s shoulders.

“Thank you.” Anathra replied hesitantly to this sudden act of kindness. She wondered if everyone else had brought their cloaks with them. Was she the only one in the group who did not plan ahead?

After a while, the coldness began to wane. Soon, Anathra felt herself again and tried to forget her sudden fright in the woods. “What made me so afraid?” Anathra asked herself. She looked up at the sky, It was still quite dark and the night showed no signs of turning into day; the sky still twinkled with stars.

“So, where were you?” Lanor asked her, getting back to the conversation. Everyone stared at Anathra. Anathra panicked and was racking her brains to answer when she felt it again. That cold numbness crept over her and she became anxious.

She broke out in a sweat totally oblivious to the exclamations of the group, "Caelina!"

"What’s the matter?!?" Then, suddenly, without any warning, a firm hand clamped over Anathra's mouth while another hand grabbed her arms and held them tight. Anathra felt those same chills up and down her spine.

"Caelina!" Lanor cried as he jumped up staring in disbelief at the shadow fairy that held Anathra captive. The shadow fairy was not any older than Lanor, but yet carried an air of foreboding. The remaining celestials rose when another thirty shadow fairies stepped into the firelight.

Erel put his hand on the hilt of his sword threateningly, "Where did you come from?" he asked the fairy who held Anathra, his eyes narrowing.

 "What does it matter to you?" the shadow said venomously jerking Anathra up. Lanor's cloak fell off her shoulders.

"Let go of her!" Lanor cried angrily (and rather a bit too passionately) pulling his sword forth and pointing it at Anathra's captor. The shadow fairies only laughed.

"Cute. Very, very cute." the shadow said mocking him. "But you wouldn’t want her back." Lanor did not flinch. He continued to point his sword at the fairy.

"Give me one good reason why I wouldn't want her back!" he said.

"Because." the shadow fairy replied, "She’s an earth fairy." All the celestials gasped. Anathra quit struggling against the strong shadow boy who held her and froze. How did he know that?

"What?" Lanor said not quite expecting this answer.

"You heard me. She’s an earth fairy. Not a celestial."

"And how do you know this?" Erel said still glaring down the shadow fairy. "Her hair is blonde. What more can you say?"

"Ah, but what if I did this?" and the tall black haired rogue touched Anathra's hair. Immediately all the blonde kal dye evaporated, revealing her brown hair.

Lanor dropped his sword and forgot how mad he was at the shadow fairy, "Wha�"How??�"This is all some sort of trick!! Some sort of conspiracy!!! How do we know that you didn’t just turn her hair brown? Besides she has wings!!! You�"" but was cut off by the shadow.

"Watch and learn blondie." he said as another fairy unpinned Anathra's fake wings from her dress. Reaching into Anathra's sack he pulled out one of her kal roots. He threw the wings and the root at Lanor, "Satisfied?" he said coldly.

All the celestials stared in disbelief at the evidence. They were thoroughly convinced by now. Neraia was indignant, "So that’s why you never wanted to fly with us! You weren’t a celestial! Where in Ruan did you get the nerve to pull off such a trick like this?"

 "So you lied to us? How could you do such a thing Caelina?"
Erel said coldly.

"Oh don’t bother to call her that, that’s not her real name." One of the shadow fairies put in mischievously.

"What?! You mean you lied about that too?" Neraia cried overwhelmed.

"Of course she did. What do you expect from a farmer fairy? Her real name is Anathra. Not Caelina." Anathra's captor spat out.

"Caeli�"I mean Anathra!!! How could you do this to us?!" Erel said. Anathra just stared back sorrowfully at all those faces. She felt angry with herself for lying and at the shadows for revealing her secret.

 

All of the celestials were furious now that they were convinced that Anathra was not a celestial fairy. Anathra slumped in the shadow's grasp. So now they knew. She felt ashamed, dejected and scared. What would they do to her? She knew that pretending to be celestial had probably deeply offended the group. Looking at angry face after angry face her gaze finally fell upon Lanor. His face was not angry, not even upset. He just stared back at Anathra with such a disappointed look on his angelic face that Anathra was cut to the heart. If that horrid shadow boy had not been holding her mouth shut, she would have told Lanor how sorry she was. He must have truly believed in her false identity. Now that everyone knew she was not a celestial fairy she obviously could not participate in the group anymore. Maybe she would never see him again.

Anathra's black haired captor noticed the way Lanor was staring at Anathra, "Awww what’s the matter? Did the little wittle farmer fairy break your heart?" he said with a mock frown on his face. Lanor broke his gaze from Anathra and glared at the fairy his sapphire eyes aflame. But the shadow fairy was not finished, "Even if you tried to rescue someone like her, you would probably trip over your own sword!" and all the shadows laughed finding this sad joke extremely funny. Lanor looked as if he would enjoy running his black haired opponent through with his sword he apparently always tripped over. "Is the wittle hero going to try to save the damsel in distress and live happily ever after?" by now Anathra was afraid even to look at Lanor lest she melt from the fire blazing in Lanor's eyes. Lanor was not one to be made fun of.

"I just might do that!!" he yelled back and lunged for the accuser. Anathra braced expecting to find herself in the middle of a horrible collision but Erel perceived Lanor and grabbed him just in time.

"Don’t Lanor. Not for her."

Anathra's captor smiled, "Then you won’t mind us taking her with us?"

            "Take her. Do whatever you want with her. She is no longer of our concern, she’s all yours." Erel said speaking for the group. Anathra began to panic, the celestials weren’t really going to leave her at the mercy of the shadow fairies, were they?

Lanor stared at Erel in disbelief, "You mean�"wha�"you mean you're not even going to try to get her back? We're going to go on without her??!! Those shadows could kill her if they wanted to!!!" Lanor shouted at his fellows. But then a thought entered his mind, "Will you�"will you kill her?" he asked the shadow fairies in a hushed whisper.

They laughed, "Maybe we will and maybe we won’t. You'll never know." Lanor could have died himself right there and then.

Lanor turned to the group in one more desperate attempt to save Anathra, "But�"but you just can’t let them take her! It’s�"it’s against the celestial rules! We’re supposed to protect people! Not abandon them!"

Neraia turned to Lanor, "That rule does not apply to liars."

"Let go Lanor, she’s not worth it. She’s an earth fairy." Meke said to Lanor. The shadow fairies turned to go. The celestials did nothing as Anathra struggled against the firm grasp of the shadow boy as he began to drag her back to the forest.

But Lanor was not one to give up easily; He ran after the shadows and tried to yank Anathra from her captor's grasp. A squirrel was examining his forgotten sword with interest back at the camp. Lanor and his opponent struggled with each other. Fully occupied, Lanor did not see another fairy sneaking up behind him. But Anathra did.  She “Mmhmed!!!” to try to get his attention, but her mouth was still covered. Her heart began to race as the approaching fairy drew out a dagger behind the unsuspecting Lanor. Anathra looked back at the celestials. Their backs were turned to them and did not perceive Lanor's danger. Quick as a flash the dagger was deep in Lanor back. Lanor let go of his hold of Anathra and fell to his knees in front of the smirking shadow fairies. Anathra could have cried as Lanor looked up at her with pain in his eyes. He slowly dropped to the ground his clothes and the grass around him stained with his blood. Anathra's captor kicked Lanor as he doubled over, “Don’t get on my bad side blondie, I’m trying to keep my temper here.” and turning around, the shadow fairies dragged Anathra off into the woods.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter VII

 

Anathra woke in the light of another fire. Her head was swimming and she wondered if all that had happened before was just a horrible nightmare. Then as she tried to get up, she discovered her hands and feet were tied. She pinched herself with difficulty. Nope, not dreaming. Presently a shadow fairy noticed she was awake and roughly yanked her up into a sitting position. She saw all the shadow fairies sitting around the campfire in a circle staring at her and speaking to one another in their language. She guessed they were deciding what to do with her. Anathra picked out the shadow fairy that had held her and glowered at him.

After much more glowering and conversing the shadows seemed to come to a decision. They then proceeded to boil some oddly shaped leaves and poured the boiled contents into a cup. They held it up to Anathra's mouth and told her it was something that would help her sleep and that it was pity she had woken up. But Anathra was not stupid. She closed her lips tight turned her head away and refused the drink. She knew it was some sort of drug.

The shadow fairies tried not to look angry as they attempted to get her to drink it. But Anathra would do no more than shake her head and close her mouth all the tighter. Finally the shadows stopped playing sweet and grabbed her head prying open her mouth and forcing the drug down her throat. Anathra coughed and sputtered, the drug tasted awful. "Forget toads." Anathra thought blackly and wished they all would turn into ants so she could step on them.

 

      -----------------------------

 

Anathra gave up glowering at the shadows; all they would do was laugh at her. She wished she could be brave and courageous like a real celestial. Anathra noticed the shadows whispering together, obviously discussing something important. She only heard bits and pieces of their conversation, ".....wait for him.....we'll.....then travel to the cliff....meet up with the rest of the group....they have it." Anathra was not able to hear anymore for the shadows noticed her listening intently to their conversation and stopped talking. Anathra chewed on the information she had received, wait for "him" whom? Did they mean another shadow fairy? Probably. Was the group they were going to meet up with at the cliff have the unknown? Is that what they meant by 'it'? Anathra also wondered what would become of her. She tried not to cry as she watched the shadow fairies talk amongst themselves.

Then, suddenly, Anathra felt something on her wrist. It was a hand. She turned around and stifled a scream as she saw a black figure holding a bloody dagger and fiddling with her bonds. Anathra gave up all hope. So this was the other shadow fairy they had been waiting for; he would kill her and then all would go on to the cliff. She closed her eyes waiting for the death blow. But nothing happened. The black figure still fiddled with her bonds and showed no signs of even pinching her. But Anathra was not convinced, "He’s just putting me off guard, I know what he’s up too. He’s just mocking me with his blue eyes, those�"" but then Anathra stopped and opened up her own eyes. Blue eyes??? But shadow fairies had strictly black eyes! She twisted her back and tried to get a better look. The black figure looked up at Anathra and put his finger to his lips. The blue eyes stared back at her. "It couldn't be..." Anathra thought. A stray golden curl escaped into the firelight. It was. "Lanor?" she whispered hardly daring to breathe.

Lanor looked up at Anathra but did not stop wrestling with her bonds, "Shh, don’t make a sound. When your bonds are cut, just stay where you are as if you were tied. When I say so, jump up and run to where I will be, alright?"

Anathra could have kissed Lanor in her joy, but, of course, this would have been very improper. The shadows still had their backs to her. By now Lanor had finally managed to cut the bonds on her wrists. Reaching for her ankles, he ran into a problem: in order for him to cut her ankle bonds, he would have to go in front of her where the shadow fairies would surely see him. Lanor handed the knife to Anathra, "Here, you'll have to cut your ankle bonds." Anathra looked at the shadow fairies and slowly began to saw away at the ropes. It was harder than Anathra had expected. Her heart was pounding; she kept her eyes on the shadows the whole time ready to throw away the knife at the slightest movement. The ropes broke loose. Anathra arranged the ropes around her ankles to make it look like they were still tied and then handed the knife back to Lanor who was hiding behind her. Putting her hands behind her back, Anathra tried to assume a casual and unworried air. Lanor slunk behind her into the darkness and disappeared.

Thankfully the shadows were still discussing amongst themselves and did not even look over at her. Anathra heard the faint whinny of a horse echoing through the forest�"and then somebody faintly shushing someone or something else. Out of the corner of her eye, Anathra saw Lanor slip out of the woods and advance silently upon the turned backs of the unsuspecting shadows. He slunk up behind the shadow that had held Anathra captor. But just as Lanor was about to pounce, the shadow turned around. For a split second, their eyes met. The shadow's black eyes flickered red, a shadow fairy's way of expressing rage.

The other shadows, turning around and seeing their comrade in a tousle with "that blondie" which they had thought they killed earlier; rushed over to help and joined in the fray. Anathra stayed put where she was. Lanor hadn’t given her the signal yet. But it was hard to just sit there and watch Lanor fight for his life and hers.

Lanor seemed to be losing. The shadows knocked him down on the ground where he lay lifeless. The shadows stepped back and relaxed for a second. No sooner had they done this than Lanor jumped up full of life and tore across the ground to the edge of the forest. He whistled a long and shrill whistle to which a white horse came galloping out of the forest. Lanor jumped on the horse, "NOW ANATHRA!!!!"  Anathra jumped up to the surprise of the shadows and ran as fast as she could across the camp and to Lanor on his white horse.

"After them!!!" Anathra's captor cried. They began to run after them. Anathra could not get onto the horse by herself so Lanor swung her up with one sweep of his strong arms and placed her behind him. Lanor dug his heels into his steed's sides and they bolted off into the forest.

For awhile, Lanor and Anathra seemed to be losing the shadows. Anathra dared a glimpse back; the shadow fairies were upon their own horses and were gaining on them. "Lanor!" Anathra shouted. Lanor looked behind and risked a sharp turn to the right hoping to cut them off. But he didn't, they were still gaining on them. Lanor urged his horse on faster. His white steed was quick, but the shadow fairies' black horses were much faster and were gaining on the spirited steed and his cargo.

 

At that same time, Anathra began to feel funny, her head began to spin and she had to hold on tighter to Lanor to prevent herself from falling off. The drug was beginning to take its toll. Her head reeled and everything went blurry. Everything that was happening seemed to be in a dream; she went limp and had no control over her body. Lanor felt her grasp loosening and turned around to see Anathra limply gazing to nowhere and slowly slipping off his horse. "Anathra!" and grabbed her just before she fell off. Lanor struggled to pull Anathra up with one arm on the horse while still controlling the horse itself. This gave the shadows an opportunity to catch up and soon Lanor the shadows were neck in neck. Before long, Lanor was surrounded by shadows. Lanor didn’t know what to do, his horse was getting tired and he couldn’t hold onto Anathra much longer. He looked down at Anathra. She was unconscious. "Great." he thought, "Just what I need."

Lanor's horse raced through the trees causing the leaves to rustle as they passed by. Rushing by a small tree choked with vines, their wind caused the vines on the tree to swing wildly about. Lanor's horse spooked and reared nearly throwing off his rider. Lanor tried to soothe his horse but his stallion was out of control. The wild horse bolted leaving Lanor to cling on for all he was worth. Suddenly, Lanor's stallion skidded to a stop. They had come to the edge of a giant hole. Lanor and Anathra were thrown from the horse and fell into the pit carried by the momentum. As Lanor fell, his wing caught hold of a sharp rock and tore. Lanor clutched tighter to Anathra and gritted his teeth to prevent the screams from escaping his lips. He would not let his enemies know how much he hurt.         They fell down and down and down into the inky black darkness. Lanor still held tightly to the unconscious Anathra lest he lose her in the blackness. Lanor wished he could see in the dark. He tried to fly but could not. His wounded wing hung useless against his back. For the first time in his life, Lanor was scared. For all he knew, when they came to the end of the tunnel they would fall upon whatever surface they came too and break their necks. It was not the way Lanor thought he would die.

 

 

 

Chapter VIII

 

Lanor woke up lying on his stomach. He sat up but yelled aloud and fell back. His bare shoulder blade and wing burned with pain. Lanor looked around to see where he was. He was in a room�"no, a cave......no, wait�"both…...

Lanor was in a small cave that served as room. The ceiling was smooth, but by the faint circular stains of the ceiling, it looked as if stalactites had been hacked from it. There was nothing in the room save the bed of moss Lanor was lying on and a table which he could see full of bottles and strange looking plants.

"Don’t try to get up. You are wounded." a male voice said.

Lanor looked around, "Who-who are you?" he asked looking around the room. A black haired and black eyed fairy youth came around Lanor’s bed. The fairy had been behind him so Lanor had not seen him. The boy looked to be about the same age as Lanor and carried himself with an air of stateliness and confidence. His eyes were kind and gentle; unlike the shadow fairies'. His black wings glinted with a touch of silver lining on the edges. In short, he seemed to be a quite likable fairy.

Lanor jumped up but fell back down in pain again, "You're not a shadow fairy are you?" Lanor asked hesitantly ready to defend himself.

The stranger laughed, "No, I’m not. I’m a cavern fairy." and smiled.

Lanor was shocked, "A cavern? But cavern fairies are extinct!"

"Do I look like I’m extinct to you?" the cavern fairy smiled again as his black eyes twinkled.

"But�"you have black hair and eyes!" Lanor protested.

"Cavern and shadow fairies are related. No one knows how so, but we are. The only difference is that we are good and the shadows are bad. We also have silver lining on our wings instead of black." he replied. Lanor felt a little more at ease and he relaxed on the soft moss.

"Well then, where am I?"

The cavern turned to the table of bottles and shrubbery as he spoke, "You are in a cave room for the sick, part of the underground grotto which my father owns." he said.

"So, your father……is ruler of underground caverns? King of the underworld?" Lanor asked.

"Not really all underground caverns. Just this particular one. For every underground cavern in the earth, there is a ruler." The cavern fairy answered back.

Lanor attempted shifting himself on his side so he could see the fairy better, "So then I guess your prince of this place?" Lanor said.

 "Yes." the cavern boy replied mixing in some leaves with a clear liquid paste, "But I’m the youngest of twelve."

"Twelve?" Lanor gaped.

The cavern fairy laughed, "Yes twelve. Myself and my eleven sisters."

Lanor felt a little sorry for the cavern prince, "Wow. Then I suppose your heir to the throne in this place?"

"Yes." the prince replied still stirring the mixture. There was a pause.

"What’s your name?" Lanor asked.

"Tiflaborashiparafluprinevaeqaorideke." he said calmly and dropped two nut-like objects into the paste. "But you can just call me Tif for short. What’s yours?"

"Just Lanor." answered Lanor as he thanked his lucky stars that there was a shortcut to saying Tif's name.

There was another silence as Lanor twisted and turned to try to see how his back his wing and back were. But then a thought came to his mind, "If you're a prince, then why are you in the sickroom and healing me? Aren’t your subjects supposed to do that while you take care of your princely duties?"

 "I don’t have any duties. At least not now, I’m free to do as I please. When I inherit the cavern realm, then I will have my hands full." Tif said.

"But still.....” Lanor persisted, "How come out of all the things you could be doing, you choose to heal me? Where did you learn about medicine? Don’t you want to go riding or hunting with your friends?"

Tif smiled, "Don’t have any friends. The only friend I had in the world was the doctor here. I used to come to this place all the time when I was little. That’s where I learned about medicine. But the doctor was old and died a long time ago. So, since my father could not find anyone else in his realm that would or could take over, he let me take the doctor's place."

Lanor was beginning to enjoy talking to Tif, "Do you like working as the healer?"

"I enjoy it very much. It gives me much satisfaction to take the wounded or suffering and; with a little time, skill and medicine make them well again. Sometimes my subjects think that it’s improper for the future king to involve himself in the art of healing. They think I should be studying battle tactics." and Tif sighed as if weighed down.

 Lanor was surprised, "You're not interested in fighting? Not even a little bit?"

Tif turned and around, "I hate the mere mention of it. My kingdom is constantly at war with other cavern fairies. It never ends. So many perfectly good lives are wasted." Tif looked sad. "But when I’m ruler, I shall attempt to create peace between all of us." and his face brightened at the thought.

Lanor thought about what he did for a living. Would Tif not want to heal him if he knew? After all, Tif might think that it would be pointless to heal him if he was just going to go out and get hurt again. "What if�"I told you that fighting was-was my job?" he said uncertainly.

Tif laughed, "You don’t seem like the fighting type to me." but Lanor was still serious.

"No. It’s true, I’m a celestial fairy, I defend my land of Ruan and the Unknown."

"Well, that’s makes a big difference. You’re defending. Not attacking." Tif said. Lanor relaxed on his bed of moss.

Tif finally finished the salve and knelt down by Lanor's bed, "This will help heal your wounds." he said as he rolled Lanor over. Lanor winced as Tif smeared the sweet smelling goo on his bare back, "Your cut is deep, it does not look like your flesh was pierced by any ordinary sword. You were lucky the shoulder blade did not shatter. Who pierced you?" Lanor's face darkened as he remembered what had happened the night before. It all seemed so far away in the cavern.

 "A shadow fairy." Lanor whispered as if afraid the shadows themselves might hear him.

Tif's face was grim, "Just as I feared. Thankfully, your back will not take long to heal, but you will bear the scar all your life." and continued to massage the medicine into his wound.

"What about my wing?" Lanor asked hopefully as Tif began to put the paste on this too. Tif's face was still sober, again he asked who or what ripped his wing. "When we were fighting the shadows, I fell into a giant hole and ripped it on a rock." Tif put away the bowl of paste and began to bandage Lanor's wing and shoulder, "Your wing is in worse shape though it was only damaged by a rock and not a shadow. You must be very careful with it for you will not be able to fly for some time."

"Not fly?" Lanor cried.

Tif finished bandaging up Lanor and held his arm out for support, "You may get up now if you want, just try not to use your shoulder too much. Lanor leaned heavily on Tif rising slowly. Somehow his former lightweight wing now felt extremely heavy. Lanor thought he would never get used to it. However in a few minutes, he was walking with ease. He and Tif chatted for a little while longer each enjoying each other’s company. Eventually the conversation turned to how Lanor had ended up in Tif’s care.

The prince’s smile vanished, "One of my father's guards was making his rounds when he discovered you and another fairy girl unconscious on the floor of the outer hall. You were both in serious condition when the guard brought you both to me."

“Then do me a favor will you?” Lanor asked, “Thank that guard for me, he saved our lives!”

Speaking of live-s, Lanor remembered. "Anathra!! Where’s Anathra?!" he shouted with concern.

Tif tried to calm him down, "She’s in a another room being taken care�""

"Where?!" Lanor interrupted.

"Just down the hall�"" Lanor did not wait to hear more, he raced out of the opening hewn in the wall and tore down the corridor. Back in the room, Tif's eyes caught sight of Lanor tunic shirt.

In another minute has was tearing down the hall after Lanor waving his shirt like a flag, "Lanor! Lanor! You forgot your shirt!!!!" Lanor stopped for a minute only to look embarrassed and put on his shirt and belt.

 

 

 

Chapter IX

 

Anathra opened her eyes to a circle of black haired and black eyed fairies staring at her with concern. Anathra sat up very frightened, everything went blurry for a second and she became anxious. One fairy waved her hand in front of Anathra. The hand seemed to become all one big fan, and then suddenly blurred away and transformed into a shadows' face. Her head began to pound furiously and Anathra held her head in pain. She was completely oblivious to the cavern fairies surrounding her and their words, "Quick! Get some more water!"

 "She’s falling into it again!"

"Someone support her!" Anathra felt cold and afraid. The room transformed into the scene around the campfire. After sometime, who knows how long, her vision of the campfire blurred into a big black nothingness and then�"back to the room she was in and its inhabitants.

Anathra touched the bed she was laying on to make sure it was real. Her head throbbed and Anathra cradled it in her arms. A cavern fairy arrived and placed a wet rag on her burning forehead. Anathra looked up and around her at all the staring faces. "Where am I?" she said dizzily.

"Rest your mind." One cavern fairy warned her.

Anathra started to lie back down on her bed, "But what has happened to me? All of a sudden I was around a campfire but now I’m here! What happened? Was I asleep?"

"You are suffering from a drug that is only known to shadow fairies. You must have been given it before you fell in the secret entrance to our realm."

 

Anathra pondered these words. She couldn't clearly remember what had happened after the shadows had led her away. All she could remember was the faces of so many shadows fairies chasing her Lanor on a white ship�"no wait that wasn’t right. A big white leaf? No. A horse? "Yes! That’s it! A horse!" but Anathra couldn’t remember much more. The last thing she could recall was the ground coming closer and closer to her. Anathra's head began to throb again. She decided she'd better rest like the cavern fairies said and try to rest her mind.

Lanor burst into cave doorway, "Anathra! Anathra! Are you all right?" and rushed to her bedside.

"I feel, well, I feel rather odd." was Anathra's reply.

Anathra saw Lanor's bandaged wing, "Oh my! How did that happen?" she asked. Lanor poured out the whole story of what had happened while she was unconscious and how Tif had cared for him. After this, Anathra’s memory of last night flooded back to her.

A cavern fairy told Anathra she could take and short walk down the hall to clear her mind. As Anathra and Lanor walked out the doorway of the sickroom, they spied a group of tittering cavern fairy girls. They smiled and waved to Lanor. Tif came around the corner. "Who are they?" Lanor asked Tif pointing to the circle.

"Those are my eleven sisters." and he ushered them over. "Dear sisters, I would like for you to meet our guests: Lanor, a celestial fairy, and Anathra, an earth fairy." the cavern fairy girls swept into a deep curtsey glancing up at Lanor and fluttering their eyelids.

When they walked back over to their corner, Lanor, Tif and Anathra caught snippets of the sister’s conversation on how Lanor was, "so cute" "extremely muscular" and "adorable with those blue eyes of his". Tif smiled and Anathra giggled at the very embarrassed Lanor who was trying his very best not to look cute, muscular and "adorable". Tif's sisters continued to flirt with Lanor fluttering their eyelids and waving hoping he would notice them. Lanor tried to ignore them. He admitted to himself that they were beautiful, but he found their flirting extremely annoying. Finally Lanor had had enough and walked down the hall away from Tif's sisters back to his sick room to rest. Anathra decided to follow Lanor; she wanted to talk to him more about what happened while she was unconscious.

"I’ll be right back." she said to Tif and started down the hall.

Strolling down the hall Anathra began to feel funny again. She leaned against the wall shakily. The cavern hall blurred into the shadow's campfire again. She heard the shadows speaking. ".....we'll.....to the cliff....meet up…….rest of the group....they have It." Anathra jerked into reality at these words, how could she forget! The shadows plans!

Anathra's vision wavered again into the cavern hall. She raced down the hall and nearly bumped into Lanor who was just walking into the doorway to his room. "Lanor! Lanor!"

"What Anathra?" Lanor asked puzzled by her.

"Lanor there’s no time!" she said almost hysterically.

"ANATHRA WHAT IS THE MATTER?!" Lanor yelled.

Anathra tried to control herself, "When the shadow fairies took me back to their camp, I overheard their plans. I didn’t catch much but I think their plan was to wait up for another comrade�"or perhaps it was comrades�"and then travel to some cliff. There they said they would, 'meet up with the rest of the group' and--then they said something about they had 'It'!" Lanor grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"'It'? Do you mean�""

Anathra nodded, "yes, I’m afraid they are meeting up with the other part of the group or fairy that stole the Unknown. But�"still....I’m not sure that’s what they meant to do; after all, I only heard bits of their conversation." Lanor paced the room.

"No, I’m sure your assumptions are correct. It would be something that the shadows would do."

Lanor took Anathra by the shoulders again looking deeply in her eyes, "You're sure about this? You did not hear wrong?"

"I’m positive" Anathra replied staring back at him.

"Then we must tell Tif and set out at once." Lanor said firmly. Anathra wished she could make good decisions as quickly as Lanor.

 

                                      --------------------------------

 

Tif swung his bow and arrow across his back, "I really don’t like violence, but I’ll do it for Ruan." he sighed.

 "Is everyone ready?" Lanor asked Tif's warriors.

 "Oh please hurry!" Anathra begged to anyone who would listen. The assembly stood in a huge grotto that served as one of the many weaponry rooms.   "Let’s go!" Lanor said seeing everyone was ready. They ran to the secret entrance in which Anathra and Lanor had fallen in. There in the faint light that came from above the cavern fairies spread their wings and began to ascend the tunnel. Lanor was picked up by a miscellaneous cavern fairy and Anathra was carried up by Tif. When they reached daylight, Anathra and Lanor were put gently on the ground.

Not knowing what to do next, there was a silent pause as everyone wondered where they went from their current position. "Uh, anyone know the shortest way to this certain cliff?" Lanor asked hopefully.

"How are we supposed to travel to a place when we don’t even know where it is? There are hundreds of waterfall and cliffs in our land. How do we know which one is the one?" a cavern fairy asked.

"We shall begin north from the shadows campfire." Tif said. "Lead the way Anathra."

Anathra led the way through the forest where the shadows had chased Lanor and to the campfire, now black with the ashes. "Tif," Lanor said, "Why exactly do you think we should go north of here? No one really knows where this particular cliff is and any direction we take is just as likely to get us there."

Tif smiled, "Ah, but listen." and he put his ear to the ground. His cavern warriors followed suit. Anathra put her ear to the ground.

"I don’t hear anything." she commented.

"Me neither." Lanor frowned.

"Oh, I’m sorry. I have forgotten you both have not the sharp hearing of us caverns! We hear water, it sounds big and strong, like a waterfall. In these parts, our cliffs are normally located beside waterfalls." Tif said.

"Oh. Well then? Shall we?" Lanor asked. And Tif, Lanor, Anathra and the other cavern fairies ran off towards the north following the sound of the water.

 

 

 

Chapter X

 

Many hours passed before the group reached their destination. Through their journey, Anathra had plenty of time to tell Lanor the whole story about how she was able to pull off playing a celestial. Down to every last detail including the kal roots and the old director. Lanor was very impressed on how Anathra, being an earth fairy, was able to live through celestial training. “Celestial training,” he had said, “is extremely intense and any other common fairy would not be able to endure it! You must be very strong!” Anathra had blushed at this. Nevertheless, her story was not told without sorrow. Neither Lanor nor Anathra mentioned the incident around the celestial campfire for fear of what each other’s reaction would be.

Throughout the expedition, Tif and Lanor became closer and closer as friends despite their differences. Lanor was a celestial and fought for a living and Tif was a cavern and dreamed of someday creating peace in his world. But, nonetheless, they grew closer and were fast friends by the time they arrived at the cliff. To hear them talking one would think they had known each other for years.

"Unbelievable! Look! The cliff! And a waterfall!" Lanor exclaimed he pushed aside a curtain of vines for the party.

"A waterfall? You're a genius Tif!" Anathra said as she came out of the brush beside Lanor. 

The party stood on the edge of a hidden clearing. Thick vines and underbrush covered the edge of the forest surrounding keeping it hidden from view. It was such a clean cut little clearing, hardly anything at all in the middle except some small rocks and occasional patches of bare ground. The deafening roar of the waterfall filled the air adding to the majesty of the place. As for the ground, it continued to run straight until it reached the cataracts. There it stopped suddenly creating a cliff that jutted out beside the foaming waters. it was not the safest place to sit; if one fell off the cliff, it was sure death in the raging, churning waters below.

"So, what do we do now?" Lanor asked presently. He was the only one in the center of the clearing.

"We're supposed to hide, smart one." Anathra laughed from behind an ivy covered tree.

"Oh, right." Lanor mumbled sheepishly concealing himself behind a tangled knot of vines.

"Shh!" a cavern hissed at them and motioned to the other side of the clearing. The bushes and vines were shaking; everyone held their breath. Out from the forest emerged the celestial group.

Tif seemed happy, "Excellent! Aid in our fight against the shadow fairies!" he whispered to one of his fairies. The celestials began to look around as if searching for something. Lanor shifted his weight causing the vines to rustle slightly. The celestials caught the movement at once and began to turn red as they saw Lanor’s golden head in slits through the vines.

Lanor knew they had seen him and emerged from his hiding place. He stood before the celestials with no legible expression on his face.

"We knew we'd find you here!" Neraia said accusingly.

"Why are YOU here anyway? You know that you're not part of us anymore!" Erel said coldly. Anathra was shocked. Not part of the group anymore? What happened? She scrambled from her hiding place and stared at Lanor in her bewilderment. The celestials saw Anathra.

"And you! Don’t even talk to us!" one of the group said pointing at her.

"I guessed as much. I knew you would do it." Erel said.

"Are you really not part of the group anymore?" Anathra asked Lanor from a safe distance.

"Of course he isn’t!" Neraia said glowering at Lanor. "After you left he actually had the audacity to ask us to rescue you!"

"And when we refused he got mad at us! Us! And you wonder why we kicked you out of the group!" Erel said. Tif decided it was time for him to make his entrance.

"Greetings my good friends!” he said cheerfully coming out of the bushes with his cavern fairies behind him.

The celestials couldn’t believe their eyes, "CAVERN  FAIRIES??? But cavern fairies are supposed to be extinct!" they said.

Tif smiled, "Do we look like we're extinct to you?" and he and his followers moved to the middle of the clearing with everyone else.

"Speaking of extinct, didn’t we just kill you two?" a voice came from behind. They all twirled around to see the shadow fairy that had held Anathra emerging from the forest. Anathra ran and hid behind Lanor.

"Well, as you can see, we are not dead. Sorry to spoil your party." Lanor answered bravely. The shadow fairy laughed aloud.

Lanor's eyes narrowed, "You know that laugh of yours is beginning to get on my nerves."

This just made the shadow laugh some more which only made Lanor all the more annoyed, "You don’t have to worry about that......" and he stopped laughing rather abruptly, "because you won’t live to hear it again!" he shouted.

“Huh?” Lanor said questioningly as the crickets chirped, filling the awkward and uncomfortable silence. Suddenly about a hundred or more shadow fairies rushed out of the forest and upon the celestials, caverns and one unlucky earth fairy.

Anathra's heart jumped into her mouth and was frozen to her spot. "Don’t just stand there, run!" Lanor yelled, yanking her arm.

"Where to? They're on all sides!" Anathra yelled back.

"Anywhere! Just don’t get killed!" then drawing his sword, he charged into the growing battle.

Anathra stood planted where she was. As she did, she felt a sudden urge to turn around; she did and to her horror beheld a shadow fairy charging at her his sword drawn. Anathra hand automatically flew to her own sword even though she was terrified. She drew her sword and clashed with the shadow fairy. The shadow stopped for a second having not expected any opposition from one who was so terrified and intimidated before. Anathra was equally taken aback as he was.  She had not expected herself to do such a thing. But Anathra was not about to stop. Raising her hand she went into the pre-attack position she had practiced so many times with the celestials. Never moving her eyes from her challenger, she held her sword perfectly. It flashed in the sunlight and sparkled fiercely. All her training came back to her like a flash, for the first time in her life she felt confident. Her adrenaline was rushing and her fear was gone, she swung her sword in a downwards motion and the two clashed swords again. The shadow fairy was over his surprise and began to move his sword so fast and swiftly that it was all Anathra could do from being sliced right in half. 

Meanwhile, Tif was locked in an intense struggle with another shadow fairy, sweat was pouring down his face moderately blocking his sight. His sleeves rolled up, one could now see the massive muscles on the prince; Tif was abnormally strong for his age. The shadow fairy finally managed to knock Tif's bow and quiver to the ground leaving Tif weaponless. But Tif only kicked his opponent's sword out of his grasp and began to tackle him with his bare hands. “And anyway, that bow was doing me no good in a face to face battle.” Tif thought.

Lanor, however, was oblivious to anything else that was going on around him; he was in the middle of a duel with Anathra's good celestial campfire friend. They each had a grudge against each other which made winning for either of them all the more sweeter. Lanor was furious at the shadow because he had laid hands on Anathra; and the shadow was mad at Lanor because he tried to take Anathra from him. Blades swished furiously singing as they slashed the air viciously. Both fairies had an equal had on the fight. Lanor was fighting splendidly; he nimbly leaped and dodged the shadows blows and swings at his legs. But what he did not realize was that inch by inch, his opponent was slowly pushing him closer and closer to the waterfall. Soon, the two were actually on the cliff itself. It was then that the shadow let out full power. Lanor fell back, a little surprised at this outburst of energy. If the shadow was just playing games before, he was in trouble. Lanor's opponent drove him closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Occupied with his rival that now had the upper hand of the duel, Lanor did not see that he was in jeopardy. Closer and closer the shadow fairy drove him, inch by inch. After clashing with the shadow once more, Lanor stepped back only find his left heel was not supported by anything. Lanor’s heart almost stopped. For the first time in his life, Lanor made his first mistake; he looked behind himself.

The shadow fairy took the opportunity and thrust his sword into Lanor's shoulder neatly spearing him. Anathra turned around only to see Lanor lose his balance, “Lanor!” she screamed. Lanor waved his arms wildly to back and forth to try to keep his balance. The waterfall roared threateningly below him.

It was at this time Erel looked over and saw Lanor, “Fly Lanor! Fly! What on Ruan are you waiting for???!!!!?!” he shouted through the mayhem. Lanor lost his balance the toppled over the edge of the cliff.

“No!!!!!!!” Anathra screamed almost hysterical. But, being quick thinking as he was, Lanor grabbed hold to the rocky ledge. The shadow stepped up menacingly above him and smiled.

And as Lanor dangled above the raging waters crashing against the sharp rocks; suddenly, he knew how Kalo had died.

The shadow fairy loomed above Lanor and quoted those famous last words, "Any last words?" he said. Lanor was pain, he had fought more than he should have; his wing and back were throbbing. On top of that, his shoulder was torn and spurting blood.

He looked up, "What is your name and�"did you�"did you by any chance, take part in Kalo’s murder?"

The shadow fairy smiled, "I suspected you would ask that. It’s Xander blondie. And as for your precious wittle friend, I did; I killed him myself. He discovered this little clearing and died just as you are about to!" and with that, Xander kicked Lanor's hands off of the edge of the cliff. Laughing one last time, Xander ran off into the fight.

Anathra had stood staring at the cliff for too long. Delighted, her opponent took the opportunity and stabbed her through the leg. Anathra fell to the ground. But, not letting anything stop her, she half stumbled half ran to the edge of the cliff and knelt down. She saw Lanor hanging on by one hand to a gnarled tree root that was sticking out further down the ledge. His grasp was strong, but he was fading fast. The waters below him churned and crashed over sharp rocks that awaited him. Anathra held out her own soiled hand to Lanor. He reached for it, but she was too far. The tree root began to tear from Lanor's weight, Anathra leaned over farther; Lanor reached again and almost touched her finger. The tree root ripped a little more, Lanor did not look as if he would make it. Their eyes met. Anathra was desperate, "Please Lanor," she whispered, “please don’t give up now.” in one final effort Lanor pushed down on the root and grabbed hold of her hand. Anathra pulled with all her might and gradually Lanor climbed over the edge of the cliff to safety.

They both sat panting on the cliff. Lanor took Anathra by the shoulders. He had no breath, but finally managed to breathe the words, "Thank you." Anathra knew he meant it.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XI

 

Anathra caught sight of Xander in the battle. "Xander!" she scowled furiously. Lanor knew what she was thinking.

"How could he? A shadow? How did he pull off such a trick?" Lanor said.

Anathra smiled, "Easy, he did what I did: kal root in his hair and probably on his wings and eyes too."

Lanor sulked as he held his arm to stop the bleeding, "Great. He knows everything about us including all celestial war tactics. Wonderful. Just what we need."

The two were jerked back into reality when an arrow flew by them. "Behind the tree!" Lanor shouted. The arrows continued to fly by them but luckily no one ever actually came after them. Anathra dared to peer out behind the protection of her tree and saw the battle was getting ugly. No one was down yet, but by the looks of things there would be some casualties if something was not done soon.

 

The celestials and caverns seemed to realize this too. “I’m afraid we'll have to use It!” Tif cried ripping a shadow off his back.

 “It’s rather risky but I’m afraid you’re right!” Erel yelled back.

Tif shouted to his men, “Use It! On the count of ten we'll use It!”

Erel weaved in and out of the battle yelling to the celestials, “On the count of ten we'll use It! We have no other choice!” soon every cavern and celestial was informed of the new strategy.

Erel began to fight again as he yelled, “Ten! Nine!”

“Eight! Seven!” Tif shouted.

The other caverns and celestials joined in, “Six! Five! Four!” by now the shadows were thoroughly perplexed by this strange behavior.

“Three! Two! One!” every cavern and celestial swung his or her sword high in unison and brought it down smashing it against anything in sight. Swords were breaking everywhere; on the ground, trees, rocks, their opponent's head, anything in sight. A flash of light filled the field accompanied by a tremendous roaring rumble. There was an earthquake and Lanor and Anathra were thrown from their hiding places. Anathra tumbled about so much she almost fell off the cliff. Lanor grabbed hold of her and held her tight, he himself clutched tenaciously onto a tree trunk. Almost as soon as it had come, the explosion vanished leaving behind a soft golden mist twirling and twisting around the shadow fairies. Once the shadow fairies were surrounded, every shadow fairy dissolved with the mysterious vapor as it evaporated in the sunlight. All of this took place in less than a few minutes.

Lanor lifted his head when all was quiet. Every shadow was gone and all that was left was a small black bag. Lanor wiped the dirt off his mouth, "So you used it? You know you can only use it once. Was this situation really that bad?" he asked as he pulled himself up shakily.

"Yes. I’m afraid we had to. I don’t think we'll be bothered by them anymore." Tif said softly. Lanor could tell that he would have preferred not to have to do it. A long silence followed.

"What’s in the black bag?" Lanor asked pointing to the black lump on the ground.

"Black bag?!" Erel almost shouted, "Where?" 

"This bag." And Lanor held up the black bag.

"Is it safe?" Neraia cried clutching Erel's arm.

"What? What’s the matter?" Lanor asked, puzzled.

"Careful! The unknown is in that bag!" Erel breathed.

"WHOA!" Lanor exclaimed and nearly dropped the bag. He now held it as if it would break into a thousand pieces at any moment.

"How do you know?" Lanor asked his hand quivering.

"After you left one the witnesses came running to us and told us that she had forgotten to tell us that she remembered seeing a shadow fairy carry a small black lump that looked a lot like that bag." Erel said.

"Well? Don’t just stand there like a fool! Open it and see if it’s alright!" Neraia said.

Lanor reached in the bag, "Ouch!" and drew his hand back out.

"What?" everyone chorused.

"Thorns!" was all the very bewildered Lanor could say.

He attempted a second grab in the bag. This time he seemed to get a hold on it. Slowly, Lanor began to pull it out. Everyone waited breathlessly. No one had ever EVER seen the unknown. What exactly was it? A jewel? Piece of gold? Precious stones? Was it broken? Was the land of Ruan doomed forever? Terrified Lanor closed his eyes and pulled. Out of the bag came a wilted closed white rose bud.  Lanor opened his eyes, "AHHH!" he yelled and jumped back.

"There must be some mistake!" Neraia cried.

"A rose? But those things grow all over Ruan! Those shadow fairies must have replaced it for the unknown!" Erel said.

"No wait," Lanor said gazing at the rose bud. If one looked closely, a telltale, faint, golden light glowed within the tiny bud. But it flickered threatening to die.

Everyone crowded around the rose bud to get a better look, "A golden glow? That must be it then!" someone said.

"But it’s dying! Can’t you see? Its petals are closed!" another cried.

"We have to get it to blossom or else Ruan is doomed!" a third put in.

"But how?!" Lanor shouted above the din.

Everyone quieted down, "How about this?" Erel said and shot a golden beam from his hand at the rose. The rose only quivered and drooped a little more. For the first time in his life Erel felt defeated.

"Great! So now how are we going to get to bloom? I don’t know how to make a rose open! Can you Tif?" Neraia asked.

"No, I have no more power than you." he replied. The din grew again as everyone argued over what was the best thing to do for the bud to get it to blossom.

Anathra held her leg and tried not to cry. It was only till now that she began to feel the pain from her wound. She had been so wrapped up in other things, that she had not even given her leg a second thought. She tried to tell herself what a silly girl she was being for not being able to stand one little scratch while Lanor had three. But nothing would help make the sting go away. In addition to her pain, she was cold and numb again with that feeling that she had been feeling a little too much lately. She presently looked up from the ground where she had stayed and had seen Lanor pull out the rose and how the celestials cold not heal it. Anathra knew the rose was crucial for the survival of Ruan. Her heart began to race and she forgot her leg. Could she heal the rose? Could she make it blossom? After all, she was an earth fairy. But could she?

Anathra mustered up her courage, knowing the celestials had not forgotten to be mad at her during the commotion of the fight, "Um, maybe I could try?"

Everyone stopped talking, "You? How could YOU help? You're just an earth fairy!" Neraia said whirling around.

"Stay out this Anathra." Erel said keeping his back turned to her.

Anathra dragged herself over to the group by her hands, "But I’m an earth fairy.” She was all she said. Anathra tapped Lanor's leg from the ground, "May I?" she asked shyly.

Lanor looked down and his eyes were filled with of hope, "Yes, take it." and he carefully handed the sad bud to Anathra much to the protests of the celestials.

Anathra took a deep breath and with one finger, lightly touched the top of the little bud. For a moment nothing happened. Anathra could almost feel everyone staring through her turned back. Doubts and fears flooded Anathra. Just as everyone was about to give up, the wilted flower lifted its head and its petals uncurled into a brilliant blossom. The golden glow that flickered so faintly trapped in the bud before now burst from the middle of the flower twirling around enveloping it in a sun colored glimmer. The unknown was healed.

The celestials’ jaws dropped as they remembered that Anathra was an earth fairy and had the ability to grow flower and plants; something that had not even occurred to them. Tif and his followers had already thrown away their weapons and were dancing for joy. Lanor looked as if he would explode. He lifted Anathra up in his strong arms in a burst of happiness and gave her a hug that said everything. "Anathra, no one will probably want to admit it, but you saved Ruan!" he whispered in her ear. Anathra accepted his hug and smiled to herself.

"I did it. I finally did something for my homeland." she thought blissfully to herself.

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue:

 

The unknown being healed, the land of Ruan was back to normal and no longer in danger of becoming a barren wasteland. The celestials and caverns returned to Ruan as heroes and heroines; but they all said Ruan owed its life to Anathra, the earth fairy. After the celestials were given new swords, Anathra's identity and story unfolded to the public. The celestials were sorry they had abandoned Anathra and had given her the cold shoulder. They asked for forgiveness after they realized how foolish they had been, which Anathra readily gave. They then asked her if she would rejoin the group. Anathra was shocked but they told her they had already talked to the director and after hearing what she had done for Ruan, he had readily given permission. She happily accepted the offer. Anathra finally realized that now, she could be herself. No more fake wings or blonde hair.

                      

As for Lanor and Tif, Tif returned to his realm where he continued live peacefully and healing the victims of the war. When his father died, Tif took his place as rightful heir and became king. And after many patient months, Tif at last fulfilled his dream: he created peace between all the underground realms. Throughout the years Lanor and Anathra continued to visit their lifelong friend, King Tiflaborashiparafluprinevaeqaorideke.

And to this day, Anathra having been accepted for who she was still protects the land of Ruan and the unknown along with Lanor and the celestials.