The Secret of the Stone

The next morning as we finished off the “unsavory beast” for breakfast the captain announced that we would try to rescue the princess before looking for the third piece of the casing. Jailan had told him that Julian was keeping her in the badlands west of Ruof. So we started on the long trek back north. I spent the next few days carefully avoiding the captain, he on the other hand pretended as if nothing had happened which somehow annoyed me even more. Cloud and the others noticed that we barely spoke to one another but when Cloud asked me about it, I was too embarrassed to tell him what had actually happened between us. I knew he would be disappointed in me and I didn’t want to have to deal with that as well. I already felt guilty for what we had done to Celestia even though I didn’t know her that well. I had mixed feelings for the captain and I wasn’t sure how he really felt about me. On one hand I could barely stand him. He was arrogant and pompous and always trying to boss everyone around. But on the other hand, he was kind and smart and incredibly handsome. I had to finally admit to myself that I did have feelings for him, but then again what about Celestia? How would she feel if she found out that I was trying to steal her boyfriend while she was being held captive by Julian?

When we finally reached the badlands we could see the contrast of the rocky mountains on the other side of a large valley filled with tall green grasses. When we reach the top of the first mountain we could see the terrain below was dry and cracked, without much vegetation just as Celestia had described. It was full of rocks and canyons and smoke rose out from the silvery boulders below.

“Don’t tell me we are going down there?” Tem complained as he looked down into the unfriendly terrain.

“You don’t have to come,” remarked Cordum as he followed the captain down the rocky slope of the first hill.

“I hope that the reward money is worth it?” Tem said as he followed reluctantly behind them.

“Reward money?” I asked him curiously.

“Of course, you don’t think I am risking my life out here for nothing, do you?” He replied. “After Josili and I rescue the princess, we will be set for life.” His eyes lit up as he imagined a large bag of Enocian gold. “Isn’t that right Captain?” The captain ignored him and continued down the slope.

“Is that all you care about? Reward money!” Cordum asked him. “It is our duty to save the princess.”

“She’s not my princess?” He replied.

“You two are the greediest fairies I ever met,” said Cloud.

“Do you think that we’re greedy Violet?” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “We just want what’s fair, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry,” said the captain finally. “You’ll get just what you deserve!” I laughed as Tem gave him a “what’s that suppose to mean” look but I wanted to keep my distance from the captain and nosy Cloud, so I purposely lagged behind the rest of them. Tem and Josili seeing I had fallen behind caught up with me and walked with me one on each side, and Cloud was not too far in front of us. I began to notice Tem and Josili smiling and making faces at each other as we walked.

“What are you two up to?” I asked them. Then they started giggling.

“We found a Raksan lizard in the woods,” said Josili.

“So, what is so funny about that?” I asked curiously.

“We put it in Cordum’s bag,” Tem laughed. “And, I can’t wait to see the look on his face...!”

“You put a lizard in his bag!” I asked him.

“Yeah, he is so high and mighty, it will serve him right,”Josili added as they started giggling again.

“Don’t worry, it’s harmless.” Tem grinned when he saw that I looked worried, but I was not reassured. I quickly headed toward Cordum and the others. I had to stop him from opening that bag. I had to warn him if not for his sake for the fairies sakes before he found out what they had done.

“Cordum!” I cried out, but he was too far ahead.

“Yes, go ahead Violet!” shouted Tem after me, “and when you save Cordum from the dragon the captain will be oh so grateful!”

“Yeah, Violet, he will be SO grateful, he may reward you with a kiss!”Josili added. I could hear Tem and Josili laughing hysterically behind me. It was something about the way she said it and their annoying giggling that stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and marched back up to her.

“What did you say?” The two fairies grew silent as I returned and grinned at me mischievously. The commotion caught Cloud’s attention and he eyed them suspiciously. “And just what do you mean by that, Josili?” I asked her.

“Oh, Jos, I think that you hit a nerve,” laughed Tem.

“Don’t try and deny it,” said Josili. “We saw you and the captain kissing the other night.” I dreaded the thought that the others would hear them and Tem and Josili didn’t make any effort to keep their voices down.

“What!” Seriously, Josili, the captain is Celestia’s boyfriend! Do you know what kind of trouble you could start with those types of accusations.” I warned her in a loud whisper.

“Well you should have thought about that before you kissed him,” said Josili adding an emphasis to the word kiss.

“Violet, I didn’t know you had it in you?” Tem laughed. I felt my cheeks turn red. I didn’t know what else to say or how to make the truth sound innocent. I was so mad and embarrassed at the same time. I didn’t think anyone else had been awake that night but I should have known better. I stomped off towards Cloud and the two fairies continued ahead laughing and giggling all the way. Cloud hurried to meet me to confirm the news he had overheard.

“Sometimes I can’t stand those two!” I said aloud. I could still hear them carrying on in the distance.

“Is it true Violet?” Cloud asked me point blank. I tried to figure out a way to explain but nothing I could think of seemed to make any sense.

“It was nothing, Cloud!” I confessed as Cloud gave me a stern look. “It was a mistake! I just wish those two eaves dropping fairies would keep their mouths shut.”

“So you would rather your crush on Celestia’s boyfriend be kept a secret!” Cloud shouted. “Violet, what were you thinking?” He shook his head at me. “I knew something was going on!”

“It’s not anything like that, Cloud!” I said as we straggled further behind the rest.

“Hey, come on you two!” We heard Cordum calling us in the distance. He and the others had stopped ahead so that we could catch up to them. I walked faster in their direction. I tried to out walk Cloud to escape his piercing gaze but it was no use. He held my pace and we walked along side by side, eyeing one another in silence until we caught up to the others. The fairies gave me a smug look as we approached. I rolled my eyes at them.

“What took you two so long? Should we stop for a break?” The captain asked us. Cloud didn’t answer but only glared at Census. Census pretended not to notice his scowl.

“No,” I replied. “Let’s just keep moving.” Cloud continued to mumble to himself as we made our way through the narrow rocky pass. A short time later, we came to a dead end. A huge boulder had fallen in between two cliffs, and blocked our way to the other side.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Nayr. Cordum, Nayr and the captain examined the rock trying to find a way through. Tem and Josili flew above the rock to see what was on the other side.

“Well it wouldn’t be any problem for us.” They said as they returned.

“Violet can you use your powers to get through the rock?” The Captain asked me.

“I would try,” I replied, “but I am afraid to use the stone I don’t know what kind of spell Julian may have put on it.”

“Your right we had better be careful with it until Celestia can examine it,” he said.

“Yeah, your precious Celestia has all the answers, doesn’t she?” I mumbled to myself.

“What was that?” He asked.

“Nothing.” I replied as I pretended to examine the rock. The others spread out to see if there was another way around and Josili and Tem again flew to the other side to see what was further down the path. The captain and I remained and I could no longer hold my feelings inside.

“Captain, why are you pretending like nothing happened the other night?” I asked him. My question seemed to take him by surprise and he paused a few moments before he answered.

“Look, it was my fault Violet,” He said dismissively. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“So it was just a mistake?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you look so much like Celest that I..,” his words made my stomach feel as if it had been pierced.

“Oh, I get it, since Celest isn’t here. Why not go for the next best thing!”

“No, it’s not like that at all.” He stumbled over his words. “I like you Violet … were friends.” He started to put his hand on my shoulder. I stepped back out of his reach. I felt angry and hurt, more than I had expected but I was not going to let him have the satisfaction of knowing it.

“I am glad you feel that way Census, because that’s exactly how I feel too,” I laughed. “What a relief, I really didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but that was totally weird.”

“Violet,” he began. He could see past the pretense. I held up my hand up to warn him not to come any closer.

“No, there is nothing more to say about it,” I pretended to smile. “I am glad that we sorted this all out.” I quickly tried to make my way towards Cloud who was on his way back to the boulder with Nayr and Cordum before he could say another word, but before I could reach them I saw the two fairies flying fast over the hill.

“What’s wrong?” asked the captain as they approached.

“There is a platoon of Yar soldiers on the other side and they are headed this way,” panted Josili out of breath.

“Also, we think we can see where they are keeping the princess, it’s not too far from here but it is heavily guarded,” added Tem.

“Great, but we have to find a place to hide or we’ll be sitting ducks,” said Nayr.

“Over here!” Cloud motioned us to follow him. He had found a small cave on the side of the mountain. The room of the cave was just big enough for all of us to cram inside. Tem and Josili flew up the side of the mountain and hid behind a large rock so that they could keep an eye on the Yar soldier’s movements. The platoon marched in front of a giant tank like machine. The machine had a large mechanical claw on top of it. As the platoon continued down a fork in the road on the other side of the boulder, the tank headed towards the boulder and proceeded to remove it. The machine easily heaved the rock out of the way but placed the rock right in front of the cave trapping us inside.

“Oh! No!” cried Josili. “They’re trapped!”

Inside the cave we could hear the loud machine back up and follow in the direction of the marching soldiers. The roaring of the tank and the soldier’s metal boots echoed in the canyon.

We waited for Tem and Josili to return. After the coast was clear we heard their voices on the other side of the rock some time later.

“Are you guys alright?” Tem asked us. We could barely see them through the crack between the rock and the cave entrance that was much too small to fit through.

“We are okay, for now.” Cordum replied.

“How are we going to get out of here?” I cried. The boulder had blocked most of the sunlight from the cave and inside was very dark. Nayr turned on a flashlight and examined the back of the cave. There he saw a tunnel leading into the mountain.

“There is a tunnel over here.”He pointed to a cleft in the rocks.

“Wait here,” said Tem. “Josili and I will see if there is an opening on the other side?”

We sat down on the cold floor with our backs against the boulder and after a long while they returned.

“Well,” asked Cordum. “Did you find anything?”

“There is an opening, but it leads straight into the enemy camp. We think that they may be doing something underground,” said Tem.

“Did you see Julian?” The captain asked him.

“Well, we overheard some of the soldiers talking. Julian and most of the troops are gone. But I have to tell you that this place is set up for a massive army.”

“Well at least with him gone, there are less Yar soldiers for us to fight,” said Nayr.

“Yes, but the bad news is he has taken the army to launch an attack against Neves and Ruof.” Tem said sadly. We all paused silently because we knew that meant that Julian had made his move and it was only a matter of time before he would attack the other kingdoms as well.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured them. “Once we rescue Celestia, we will be able to defeat him.”

“Violets right!” said Census. “Tem, you said you know where the princess is?”

“Right! In the center of the camp is a giant dome. We believe that is where she is being held,” he replied.

“Good Job!” Census said. “Go back to the camp and stay out of sight until we arrive. The rest of us will go through the passage and surprise them from the other side.”

“What are we going to do when we get there?” I asked him.

“I want you, Tem and Josili to create a diversion while the rest of us find and rescue the princess.” We agreed to the plan and Tem and Josili flew back to the base as the rest of us headed through the dark corridor.

In the cave we could hear the sound of rushing water. There was an underground stream nearby. We found the stream and walked along side it. As we continued down the path it became more and more narrow and even narrower for Cloud. Some of the rocks began to slip under our feet.

“Cloud, be careful!” I warned him just as some pebbles broke off from under him and he began to slip. When he regained his footing, we continued up the rounding slope. Cordum who was in front stopped suddenly ahead.

“Wait!”He warned his voice in a loud whisper.

“What’s wrong?” asked the Captain.

“Bats,” he said quietly pointing his finger towards the ceiling. Above us must have been about 1000 sleeping bats hanging upside down from the ceiling and they were very large bats, as long as a human, not counting their wing span.

“Not bats,” Nayr complained. Cloud started to back up when he saw the bats and then he began to slip from the ledge.

“Cloud!” I cried as the rocks crumbled under his feet. Nayr and I tried to catch him as he scrambled to steady himself on the narrow ledge but he could not regain his footing and he fell down the side of the slope and crashed into the rushing waters below, and a swift wave began to carry him down stream. “No! Cloud!” I cried waking up the bats. They flew into a frenzy all around us. Cordum, Census and Nayr quickly took cover, but I rushed over to the side of the slope in a desperate search for Cloud. I could barely see the water below with the flashlight but I manage to see a patch of white being swept away where the river split in two directions.

“Violet, get down!” I heard the captain shout. Nayr sensed what I was about to do and reached out to try and stop me but before he could reach me, I jumped into the rushing waters below. The bats were still flying over the others in a thick black cloud as the currents swept me away. As the waters rushed over my head, I struggled to stay afloat.