Practice Writing A-15: The Lantern

File A-15 Title: The Lantern Category: Fantasy Date Published: 15 July 2013, 11:59 Relations: None

Writing Practice(s): File A-15

Category: Fantasy

Title: The Lantern

 

      A tiny flash of vivid pink hurtled past the grove of towering cedars. Little breaths rapidly escaped from the glowing pink fairy’s tiny lungs. She glanced back nervously, fearfully, over her shoulder, her extensive radiant hair draping down her back in long curls like crashing waves against sharp rocks.

      She had never seen such a horrible creature before in her life! Everything from his jagged claws, to his yellow teeth, his hunched back, and his horrifying red eyes, staring down at her like a ravenous wolf with a gruesome appetite and the fairy was his only food option.

      “Got’cha!” squawked the horrid creature and slammed the lantern cover shut, trapping the pink fairy inside. The little fairy gasped and pounded on the entrance from the inside. Panic swelled up in her chest and her bright lavender eyes were overflowing with fear. Ghastly thoughts coursed through her mind like the Black Death robbing her of life.

      The creature attempted a chuckle but nearly hacked up his supper instead. He regained his composure and caressed the lantern’s paper-textured glass. He only needed two more fairies and then he could unlock the Door.

      The tiny fairy stared at the unyielding glass, its surface refusing to become clear and allow her to see where she was being taken to.

      “It’s alright,” reassured the soft voice behind her and placed a gentle hand on the pink fairy’s shoulder.

      The pink fairy gasped and whipped around, terrified of the hand and the possible terror its owner possessed. But she was surprised to see the scene that lay before her.

      Standing before her was another fairy. A blue one with shining azure eyes and a curtain of ocean colored hair with deep blue streaks and golden tints. Her weak smile was reassuring and kind.

      “I’m a friend,” she stated carefully so as not to frighten her further.

      The pink fairy’s fear subsided a little and her panic began to dwindle.

      “W-What’s going on? Where is he taking us?” demanded the pink fairy in a high voice.

      “Relax, he’s not going to hurt us,” reassured the blue fairy once again.

      “Ha! Says the prissy Ocean fairy! Why don’t you shut up and fantasize about tending to some goldfish or something?” quipped the yellow fairy with a scorn that could have scorched a tiger’s snout. The attire she wore was unusual for a fairy. She wore tattered blue pants with holes in the knees and a torn brown tank top. Around her throat was a necklace decorated with wolverine and lizard teeth and slung over her shoulder was a sheath with a sword.

      The Ocean fairy glared at her for a moment before turned back to the pink fairy and wrapping an arm over her fragile shoulders. “Don’t listen to her; she’s only a Fire fairy after all,” commented the Ocean fairy and led the pink fairy to the corner opposite of the Fire fairy.

      “Right, only a Fire fairy . . .” mumbled the pink fairy and sat down. Her brother was a Fire fairy. Although they didn’t agree on everything, he was her best friend. They had done everything together. That is until he was banished from the grove for his acts of violence against Camelot, which would only fuel the humans’ lust for vengeance and provoke their anger, bringing with them only chaos and harm.

      Fire fairies were the bane of all fairies alike. They were dangerous and violent and aggressive and followed too closely to the human traditions and trends. So they were exiled from the Fairy realm and cast out into the Shadow Forest and to the distant Volcanoes.

      Her brother had been an exception to the rule because of his heritage and relation to Fermimus, the Lightning King.

      “She shouldn’t even be in this part of the Grove anyway . . .” muttered the Ocean fairy bitterly and glared at the Fire fairy coldly.

      “Hey, I was on an important mission!” snapped the Fire fairy and stood up in opposition to the Ocean fairy.

      “What? So you could go destroy another valuable life?” accused the Ocean fairy and firmly placed her hands on her hips.

      The Fire fairy unsheathed the small knife hanging in the sheath attached to her belt. “Why you-!”

      “Hey!” interjected a red fairy and stood between the two opposing fairies defensively. “Why not instead of fighting and tearing each other apart how about we try and figure a way out of here?” suggested the red fairy forcefully, her voice full of solid authority and ferocity.

      The Fire fairy laughed mockingly and grinned slyly, quietly slipping her knife back into its sheath.

      “Ha! You morons couldn’t figure a way out of here if the door opened and our captor rolled out the red carpet and hung a neon sign that said, ‘Exit’,”

      “A neon what?”

      The Fire fairy shook her head and blew her glowing red and orange streaked hair out of her face. “Never mind,” she brushed off and returned to her corner of the lantern.

      The red fairy blew a sigh of relief, thankful that she was able to end the fight before it started. The Ocean fairy only glared.

      The pink fairy glanced over at the Fire fairy and sighed. The Fire fairy smiled, satisfied.

      Such raw power. The pink fairy only hoped it hadn’t been given to someone with a lust for more power and evil and destruction. She only hoped this Fire fairy wasn’t as unearthly human as the stories the elders told about other Fire fairies. She only hoped this Fire fairy wasn’t nearly as human as her brother had been.

*****

      I only need two more fairies in order for the ritual to work. Only two more! And then the Lightning Stone will be mine! Contemplated the gruesome creature holding the lantern.

      Everyone had called him crazy. They all had claimed that his quest would never succeed. That the Lightning Stone didn’t exist at all and his whole journey would be completely in vain. He would show them. He would show them all! But first he needed two more fairies; a green Forest fairy and a white Wind fairy. The Forest fairy would be easy enough to catch. But the Wind fairy was another story. They were very rare and very difficult to catch. But it would all be worth it when he laid his hands on the Lightning Stone.

      It was nearly an hour before he reached the forest that housed the Forest fairies, but it certainly wasn’t long before he spotted one. It was tending to a yellow rose about to bloom, patting down the soil around the flower’s base and dropping droplets of water onto its petals, humming softly as she worked.

      The sinister abomination of a man soundlessly snuck up behind her, while the bright green fairy continued to work, oblivious to the presence of the man behind her.

      With surprising speed he snatched her from the ground with his clawed hand. She cried out but was immediately silenced when he threw her into the lantern and slammed the door shut.

      One down, one to go.

*****

      “Oomph!” grunted the Forest fairy as she was tossed into the lantern and the door slammed shut behind her. Shook her head and managed to pull herself to her feet.

      “What just happened?” she inquired softly as she tenderly rubbed her forehead, staring around curiously at the group before her. Her gaze stopped on the Fire fairy. But the Fire fairy only huffed and turned her head away coldly.

      The Forest fairy held her gaze for a moment longer, trying to figure out why a Fire fairy was among the group. But her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the red fairy’s friendly greeting.

      “Hello,” greeted the red fairy in a friendly tone and smiled.

      “Hello,” replied the Forest fairy shyly.

      “Are you alright?”

      “Yes, I’m fine. Just a few bruises, that’s all,”

      The red fairy smiled. “That’s good. My name is Flower, what’s yours?”

      “My name is Edna,” her arms gestured to the lantern. “What is this place? Where is that man taking us?”

      “Settle down. Where’re inside of a lantern. We don’t know where the man is taking us, but I’m fairly certain I heard him say something about the Lightning Stone,”

      “He’s taking us to the Cave of the Lighting Stone?”

      “Yes, at least that’s what we think,”

      “He’ll never get to it,”

      Everyone turned towards the Fire fairy. She was staring intently at the wall of the lantern as if she could see the scene outside unfolding and she hated it.

      “He needs a Wind fairy to get into the Cave and he’ll never be able to catch one,”

      “She’s right. They’re very fast and clever and rare. It will take nothing short of a miracle to catch one of them!” agreed the pink fairy.

      The Ocean fairy reluctantly nodded. She knew they were both probably right. But if this . . . “man” or whatever he was couldn’t catch a Wind fairy, what would happen to them?

      It was barely an hour before the Wind fairy was captured.

*****

      “Help! Help! Somebody help get me out of this!” cried a Wind fairy desperately. She had become ensnared in some kind of net and was struggling to free herself.

      “Ha ha! It worked! My trap worked! And so soon!” commented a raspy voice gleefully.

      The Wind fairy gasped fearfully. It sounded like a man’s voice.

      “Didn’t think I’d catch one of you little critters so quickly, but I suppose fate is on my side today,” he commented and carefully reached his hand into the net and grabbed the fairy and held her up to his face.

      “You in particular will play a very special role in getting me the Lightning Stone. But not tonight. We must rest and prepare for tomorrow night; that’s when we’ll go to the Cave,” he explained in an excited tone. The Wind fairy cringed in response to his rancid breath.

      The man quickly threw the Wind fairy into the lantern and shut the door. He chuckled happily. All he needed to do was get to the Cave and he would have the Lightning Stone!

      He excited the thought with glee and with a spring in his step wondered deeper into the forest in search of a place to camp for the night.

*****

      “AHHHHH!!” screamed the Wind fairy as she was thrown into the lantern. She came to a screeching halt when her body slammed into the opposite side of the lantern. Her face contorted into a discomforted cringe when her face and body connected with the wall. The Fire fairy had to resist the urge to laugh out loud from the Wind fairy’s sudden impact. It reminded her of something straight out of a cartoon!

      The Wind fairy fell to the ground on her back but quickly sat and rubbed her head. The red and Ocean fairy quickly ran to her side and helped her to her feet.

      “Are you alright?” asked the Ocean fairy with her concerning tone of voice.

      The Wind fairy nodded. “Yes, I am unharmed,” she cringed and rubbed her bruised knee. “Mostly.”

      She shook her head and took in the scene around her. “Who are all of you fairies?”

      “My name is Ember,” answered the red fairy. “I’m a Mushroom fairy. And the Forest fairy over there is Edna,” Ember gestured the green fairy. Edna waved back shyly.

      The Ocean fairy stepped forward. “My name is Pearl, and this is my friend . . .” she trailed when she came to the pink fairy’s name.

      The pink fairy cleared her throat. “My name is Daisy; I’m a Flower fairy,”

      “My name is Jewel,” replied the Wind fairy, a little unsure of how to respond. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the Fire fairy and turned towards her curiously.

      “Who is that?” she asked and pointed to the Fire fairy.

      “Oh, that is, um,” Ember began but stopped as she tried to recall what her name was, but was unable to because the Fire fairy never gave her name.

      The Fire fairy ignored them, refusing to even look at them. She wanted nothing to do with these clowns and just wanted to get out of there.

      “Come on, you have to help me out; I don’t know your name,” urged Ember. The Fire fairy glanced at them and sighed, standing up.

      “My name is Juliana Caesar Markustripeedope the third,” she replied with an emphasized bow.

      Everyone stared at her as if she were covered in head to toe in mud.

      “Really?” asked Edna with a note of slight surprise and a tint of doubt and disgust.

      The Fire fairy stood up straight. “No, not really,” she replied and sat back down, staring out the dirty glass, unable to view the scene outside but peering anyway.

      Edna breathed a sigh of relief and placed her hand on her chest. “Oh, thank goodness. You scared me for a moment,”

      The Fire fairy huffed. “It’s Lizzie,”

      “Lizzie?” inquired Ember a bit surprised.

      “Yeah, what did you think it was? Sparkatius?

      Nobody said a word.

      “Well, something like that,” replied Edna quietly.

      Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Look, Fire fairies aren’t as weird as the elders made us out to be. We just live differently, that’s all,”

      “Oh, well do Fire fairies really ride squirrels and frogs?” inquired Pearl curiously.

      Lizzie smiled mischievously. “Sometimes. I even rode a fox once,”

      “Woah! That’s sooooo cool!” commented Flower in awe, her purple eyes dazzled and in awe.

      Lizzie smiled, obviously enjoying the praise and attention she was receiving, even if they were only a bunch of clowns.

      “Alright you little critters-“began the man and the lantern suddenly tipped to the point where it was almost turned on its side. All of the fairies screamed as they struggled to find a foothold on the lantern’s base, but to no avail and they all tumbled out like marbles on a hard wood floor. Managed to momentarily hang onto the edge of the lantern, but the man quickly shook her off and she went plummeting down with the rest of the fairies.

      Lizzie grunted with discomfort when she landed and rubbed her back. It felt as if she had landed on a metal rock.

      Something above them clicked. Lizzie shook her head to clear her vision and gasped when she realized what they were in.

      A cage. A metal cage.

      Lizzie immediately sprung up and grabbed onto the door of the cage’s metal bars and started yanking furiously, enraged that she was being kept in such a lowly containment.

      “Ah, ah, ah. You can yank all you want, little fairy, but you’re not getting out-“he paused when he saw the Fire fairy gnawing on the metal bars in a vain attempt at escaping.

      “You are a strange little critter, aren’t you?” he commented, but he was only responded with a vicious snarl from the Fire fairy and even a few barks.

      “Did I catch a fairy or a Chihuahua with wings?” he muttered and continued to tend to the fire he had started.

      “What are you doing?” Jewel called up to Lizzie.

      “I want out!” she screamed and continued to gnaw on the metal bars.

      Jewel raised one of her eyebrows. “You have made perfectly clear. But what I do not understand is why you would resort to something as primitive as chewing on the bars,”

      Lizzie sighed and met Jewel’s judgmental stare. “Because I feel like it! Besides, if he thinks he has a crazy fairy he might let me outta here,”

      Jewel shook her head. “Your logical is unsound,”

      Lizzie huffed. “Whatever,”

      “You’d better get some sleep, little fairies. Tomorrow we march on to the Lightning Stone!” the man announced before yawning and quickly falling asleep.

      Pearl sighed and flew up to Lizzie and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Lizzie glanced back.

      “We should go to sleep. We don’t know what is going to happen to tomorrow so we will need all of our strength,”

      Lizzie sighed and reluctantly flew back down to the floor of the cage with the rest of the fairies.

      It took almost two hours for sleep to come to Lizzie, but when it did it was restless with thoughts and dreams of home and what could be waiting for them within the Cave.

*****

      Dawn crept over the glowing horizon and birds greeting the morning with cheerful chirps and flapping wings.

      Lizzie tried to wrap herself with her arms in an attempt to warm herself, but it did little good. A dew drop dripping off the cage’s bars fell directly on her face and then down her back. Lizzie shivered awoke with a start, squinting from the sunlight.

      Jewel shifted slightly beside her and lifted her head. “Good morning,”

      Lizzie grunted. “Mornin’,”

      Jewel sat up and stretched her arms. “Did you sleep well?”

      The Fire fairy huffed irritably. “Hardly. I couldn’t sleep because Senior Pig Nose kept snoring through the night,” she complained and gestured to the still sleeping man.

      Jewel giggled. “He was rather loud. I am amazed any of us slept at all!”

      “Yeah, me too,” agreed Lizzie and stretched her wings tiredly.

      The other fairies began to shift as well, slowly but surely waking up to the bright morning sun.

      “I’m going to fly around for a moment; to stretch my wings. Would you like to join me? We don’t know how long we’ll be able to have the opportunity,” invited Jewel in a friendly manner.

      Lizzie shook her head. “Nah. Maybe later. I’m still trying to function right now,”

      Jewel giggled and nodded, spreading her butterfly wings and pushing herself into the air and she flew around the cage several times.

      Lizzie sighed and stared out into the sunrise, hoping to get a good look at before whatever happened happened.

*****

      The stone wall leading into the Cave opened with a loud groan, like an ancient elder pushing himself up from off of a comfy chair. The man’s eyes were wide with delight when the stone wall shifted aside and opened the gateway into the Cave that led to the Lightning Stone. He took a deep breath and stepped inside. Immediately after he was inside the stone wall behind him closed with a groan until it connected with the side of the cave. And everything was silent and dark outside of their breathing and the faint glow of the fairies.

      He took a step into the darkness and suddenly the cave was filled with light. Embedded in the walls of the Cave were hundreds �" if not thousands �" of blue crystal shards, emanating light so as to the light the way to the Lightning Stone.

      The man smiled and continued forward with the empty lantern and the cage full of fairies.

      Lizzie felt her heart suddenly seize with fear, wondering if he could have just walked into the Cave, what he needed them for.

      It was a little over a half an hour of walking down the crystal lit tunnels before they came to a second doorway. This one was slightly larger and had inscriptions on it she could not read.

      The man knocked three times on the stone and stood back. At first, nothing happened. Nothing at all. But then the stone began to shift over and out of the way, just like the entrance to the Cave. But instead of being greeted by silence and darkness, they were greeted by tremendous light and the bustling sounds of a market.

      Lizzie couldn’t help but stare in awe at the sight before her eyes. Everywhere there were stands and people buzzing and mingling around, everyone trading and selling anywhere to food, tools, jewelry, goats and sheep, birds, books, potions, and other beautiful and useful goods.

      The group of fairies �" even Lizzie �" stared in awe and wonder at the beauty of the Cave itself. The entire market place was lit by giant crystals �" prisms the size of towers, glowing with a radiant light. Each of them seeming to have their own unique hue, like one was blue while another pink while yet another was green.

      The man set the cage full of fairies down onto the table of one of the stands. The man that presumably owned the shop �" a tall and powerfully built man with dark skin and no hair �" turned and raised his eyebrows in surprise, but set down the cloth in his hand and leaned against the counter.

      “Well, well, if it isn’t Yawd, the crazy old coot always rambling on about his fish stew and getting his hands on the Lightning Stone. What can I do for you, old friend?” he teased and chuckled.

      The fairies’ captor laughed but had to cough in the middle. He cleared his throat. “I have come for the Lightning Stone, Mr. Rams,”

      The tall man laughed powerfully. “Is that a fact? Do you have the goods to pay for it this time?”

      “Yes, I do. Just see for yourself,” he replied confidently and patted the top of the cage.

      The tall man peered inside and gazed at each fairy over carefully, and then his eyes rested on Jewel and Lizzie. He watched them carefully for what seemed like hours. Lizzie became impatient and uncomfortable, but simply glared at the man. Jewel shifted uncomfortably and shifted a little closer to Lizzie.

      Finally the man nodded and smiled at their captor, clearly pleased.

      “Congratulations, Yawd, you have yourself a trade,”

      Yawd beamed happily and held out his hands greedily, waiting to receive his shiny prize.

      The tall man reached down under his counter and pulled out a small sack only large enough to hold a few gold coins and handed it to Yawd.

      Yawd snatched it from the tall man and peered inside. His eyes grew twice as large and as wide as a full moon and his smile was big enough to be marked on a map. A dazzling blue light shone through the opening and made Yawd’s old reddish eyes glow blue in the light of the Stone.

      “Don’t touch it with your bare hands, mind you. It’ll hurt,” warned the tall man as he took hold of the fairy cage.

      Yawd didn’t even look up. “Oh yes, of course, of course. Thank you again, Rams,” he thanked and walked off, still staring happily into the small bag.

      Mr. Rams smiled and untied the string that held up a thick grey cloth to cover the window to his stand and set the cage full of colorful fairies on the table behind him.

      “Hey guys, were we just traded? For a glowing rock?” demanded Lizzie, dumbfounded by these humans and their interest in shiny, magical objects.

      “I believe we were,” answered Pearl stiffly, as if she too couldn’t believe the events that had just transpired.

      Lizzie sighed. “This can only go downhill,”

      Small chains rattled below them from under the table.

      “That can’t be a good thing,” commented Edna with a tiny note of fear in her voice.

      The tall man stood up, holding a long chain with little cuffs every two inches.

      “Ah crap,” cursed Lizzie before the tall man unlocked the door and with surprising speed managed to grab each individual fairy �" one by one �" and locked one of the cuffs around each of the little fairy’s necks without actually harming them or allowing any of the other fairies to escape.

      After each of the fairies were chained together he closed and locked the cage door and rolled the tarps back up and tied them in place.

      Lizzie yanked at the chain attached to her thick metal collar angrily, grunting in rage and eventually resorting to gnawing on the chain, annoyed she had been reduced to property in a human marketplace.

      Jewel sighed heavily. “Elizabeth, gnawing on the chain will not make it come off,”

      Lizzie spit the chain out and let it drop from her hands. “It sure makes me feel better,” she muttered. “And it’s just Lizzie, Snowflake,”

      “What?”

      Lizzie sighed. “Never mind,”

      The tall man suddenly picked up the cage, knocking every one of the fairies off of their feet and onto their backs and bottoms. He hung their cage on a hook off to the side of the stand before turning back to his counter.

      Lizzie groaned and forced herself to stand. But just as everybody else was regaining their footing something large snorted and growled outside of their cage. A collection of large and gruesome teeth materialized right behind the cage’s bars.

      Everyone but Lizzie screamed and rushed to the back of the cage, as far away from the beast as possible. Lizzie cried out as she was suddenly yanked backwards and practically thrown onto the floor by the panicked rush of non-Fire fairies.

      “Hey! Quiet over there!” commanded Mr. Rams in a threatening tone and the beast outside shifted and grunted fearfully. Lizzie stared in wonder at the sight of the massive creature. It was a dark green dragon with black markings and nervous amber eyes. Around his throat was a thick metal collar attacked to a chain and around his snout was a metal clamp that forced his mouth to stay shut.

      She almost couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor creature. It couldn’t hurt them even if it wanted to. It was a victim of trade, just like they were.

      Lizzie turned her gaze on all the cowering, shaking fairies.

      “You wimps!” she mocked and stood up. “You coop of chickens!” she joked; taking a firm hold on the chain attached to her collar and yanked the other fairies forward towards the front of the cage to meet the dragon.

      “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” demanded Jewel and gripped her collar firmly and attempting to dig her feet into the metal floor. But Lizzie was stronger and managed to pull the group forward until she was just close enough to lean against the bars of their prison and get a good look at the gigantic reptile.

      She leaned against the bars and smiled her nicest smile. “Hello there!”

      The other fairies gasped fearfully. Only Lizzie seemed completely unaffected.

      The dragon’s ears perked and he turned his massive head to the cage, his amber eyes full of surprise and curiosity.

      “Yeah, hi! How’s it going, big guy?”

      The dragon blinked and put on a weak smile. “Well, if I had to be completely honest, things could be better,” he managed through the clamp locked tightly onto his snout.

      Lizzie laughed and gently pulled on the chain attached to her metal collar. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,”

      The dragon snorted happily. A dragon’s way of laughing, she supposed.

      “What’s your name?” inquired Lizzie and smiled.

      “My name is Rakjo,”

      “Nice to meet you, Rakjo. I’m Lizzie,” she gestured to the cowering fairies in the back of the cage. “That coop of chickens over there is Jewel, Pearl, Flower, Ember, and Edna,”

      Rakjo leaned in closer, which only made the other fairies step back.

      “Woah! Easy you guys! He’s not gonna hurt’cha!” Lizzie reassured roughly and yanked on the chain attached to her collar. Jewel and Pearl stumbled a few steps forward and then stopped.

      “Come closer, ladies. I just want to get a look at all of you. I won’t bite,” he chuckled weakly. “I can’t,”

      Jewel and the other fairies hesitated for a moment, but reluctantly inched forward, closer to the dragon. His smiling eyes welcomed them.

      “Hello,” greeted Jewel shyly.

      “Hello, Jewel. My name is Rakjo. Don’t worry, I’d never hurt such a lovely lady,”

      Jewel blushed and smiled.

      “I haven’t seen very many fairies around here lately,”

      “I haven’t very many dragons around at all. Have those darn knights been up to mischief?” teased Lizzie.

      Rakjo huffed and smoke came out of his nostrils.

      “Those darn armored fools! We don’t kidnap their darn princesses. Most of them are too dumb to know to stay in their tower or castle and come wondering into our caves. They should really keep a leash on those brutes. It would certainly solve many problems!” growled Rakjo.

      Lizzie laughed. “It sure would!”

      “And now because of all those stupid princesses we dragons have become very rare,”

      “So you’re on the endangered species list now?” she joked.

      “HA! If we had an endangered species list!” laughed Rakjo.

      Lizzie laughed. “No kidding! That would be great, you know? If any species became endangered there would be laws to protect that species to make sure it didn’t go extinct!”

      “Yes, that would be very nice. I hope the humans figure that out soon. Because it’s getting to the point where you hardly ever see dragons anymore,”

      “I know exactly what you mean,” Lizzie paused. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to know how to get out of here, do you?”

      “Why would ask?”

      “I’m a Fire fairy. I don’t do well in a cage and on leash,” she yanked on her chain to prove her point.

      “I see. I can tell you, but you won’t get far,” he gestured with the tip of his snout to Mr. Rams. Hanging off of his belt were the keys.

      “The keys!” exclaimed Flower.

      “Yes. And if you can get the keys and unlocked your collars and the cage,” he gestured to the stone door. “But you’ll have to figure out how to open the stone door. The humans knock on it three times, but whenever we try it, it doesn’t open,”

      Lizzie nodded. “Seems easy enough,” Lizzie cracked her knuckles and moved over to the entrance to the cage. She turned and smiled to the other fairies.

      “Watch the master,” she said slyly and fell to her knees and started coughing and hacking, clutching her throat as best as she could through the collar.

      “Lizzie!” began Flower, worried and started toward the Fire fairy, but Jewel stopped her and stared down at the acting Lizzie.

      “Just leave her alone guys, she knows what she is doing,”

      “What’s going on up there?” demanded Mr. Rams peered into the cage. By then Lizzie had pretended to collapse and lay motionless on the cage floor.

      “What? What’s wrong with you?” he demanded and groaned, carefully unlocking the cage and Lizzie’s collar and pulled her out. She glanced back at the group and winked. Jewel smiled.

      Lizzie suddenly sprang to life and snatched the keys from Mr. Rams’ hand and whizzed past the cage to straight to Rakjo. She quickly unlocked his collar and cuffs bounding his arms and the clamp forcing his mouth shut. He roared and a wall of blazing flame shot from his mouth. Mr. Rams screamed and sprinted out of the stand and away from Rakjo. The other humans screamed in terror and panic, running in all directions as frantically as they could, like mice trapped in a room with a tom cat.

      Lizzie then rushed back to the cage and quickly unlocked her new friends’ collars. They flew out like a glowing rainbow swarm towards the stone door.

      The sea of people rushed around like white water and the sounds of their clamor was like the sound of crashing waves.

      “Lizzie!” Jewel called to her Fire fairy friend.

      “What?” she shouted above the deafening din.

      “That’s Yawd down there!”

      “So?”

      “Grab the Lightning Stone!”

      “What? Why?”

      “Just trust me!” her deep blue eyes pleaded desperately.

      Lizzie hesitated but eventually nodded. “Alright! I’m going in!” she flew down into the noise and hurried bustle of the sea of human bodies and chased after Yawd, and almost immediately caught up with him and snatched the small sack from his pocket. But before she could bring it up to Jewel, a human accidently bumped her from behind.

      Lizzie cried out and the Stone shot out of the sack and arched over the sea of people and crashed into an open clean glass lantern. It collided with a clash but the glass didn’t shatter. Lizzie stared in amazement as the lantern suddenly began to glow with an eerie blue light. The lantern lifted off of the table and into the air, rising higher and higher. Nobody but the mythical creatures in the Cave seemed to notice it there was a crash of blinding lightning and everything went pitch black.

*****

      A flash of lightning decimated the orchestra of the constant pitter patter of the rain’s steady flow. The little girl woke with a startled gasp and tightly hugged her pink unicorn stuffed animal. She glanced outside and sighed. The lightning was gone.

      Her gazed shifted to her room. Her walls were covered with crayon drawings of her fairies, Pearl, Flower, Edna, Ember, Jewel, and Lizzie and their friend Rakjo the dragon. Drawings of mystical forests and floating lanterns and glowing stones and crystal caves and even the nasty Yawd and Mr. Rams hung right alongside the other masterpieces. There were even pictures of Flower’s brother and the Lightning King and a drawing of Lizzie holding a glowing ruby and gold amulet. Her eyes were filled with wonder and amazement as the powerful amulet worked its magic against the evil Black Wizard!

      The little girl smiled contently and crawled back under her blue covers and stared up at the imaginary constellations her glow-in-the-dark star stickers made on her ceiling and drifted back off to sleep, allowing the pitter patter of the rain outside to be her lullaby.

      A lone blue polished stone with a black marker drawn lightning bolt sat quietly on a little pink plastic table among other various art crafts and art supplies like markers and crayons and paper wands and half finished drawings of fantasy characters and scenes.

      The polished stone glowed bright blue for a brief moment before returning to normal again.

      A crayon drawing of Lizzie the Fire fairy shifted positions slightly and smiled brightly, flapping her wings once before going still again.

Author's Note

I post these practice writings every two weeks. Let me know if you have any requests.

Reviews

[She With Eyes Like Unsh..]

Bravo! Great job! But where it says your logical is unsound, it should be your logic is unsound, or you are logically unsound. Great job, keep up the good work!