Nixy arrived at that moment and settled down next to Pixy. “The blond female is the one that is missing, Prince Midge,” she said as she bowed to the Queen.
“How could you lose her?” Pixy blurted out. The Sleep Spell you put on her must not have been strong enough.”
“I did not put a Sleep Spell on her,” frowned Nixy. “I thought you had already done so.”
“I was,” Pixy responded sheepishly, “until I got distracted by the witch. I thought you realized that and finished her.”
“Enough!” demanded the Queen. “Midge, we are losing light already. Send out patrols to locate this missing human and retrieve her. Have them be careful. Pixy says that they are dressed in black and use outlander magic. We may be facing a band of Black Devils. I would prefer that she be subdued and placed in the Stay Bushes, but kill her if you must.”
Prince Midge threw himself off the balcony in a dive and soared towards a large group of green fairies clad in shiny mail and tiny helmets. The Queen turned to Nixy and fixed her with a look of despair.
“Nixy this is not the first time that you have lost a delivery,” rebuked the Queen. “You shall be in charge of watching over the captives to ensure that they do not wake. Pixy, you shall have the dubious honor of determining who they are and why they are here. I will not accept any mishandling of the prisoners, but you will remain within the Stay Bushes until you have accomplished your task.”
With a wave of her tiny hand, Queen Mita dismissed the other two fairies.
Tanya lay under the windswept pile of oak leaves from last fall’s dropping and watched with fascination as the fairies levitated the other Rangers away. She wasn’t sure why she had not fallen prey to their magic, but it was apparent that her friends were being taken captive and not harmed. She started to fall asleep like the others, but suddenly the feeling had just departed. At first she had thought to lash out at the fairies and free her comrades, but, thankfully, she remembered the reason for their journey. It was the Sapphire of the Fairies that they were after and they had found the fairies, no matter their current predicament, so Tanya slid off the trail and quietly crawled away.
Tanya cringed involuntarily as another slimy thing crawled across her leg. The half-year-old leaves still held the moisture of winter and decomposition and she shuddered at the thought of what type of creatures inhabited them.
When the last of the fairies left she thought about following them, but quickly decided to wait for the coming darkness. She spent the time trying to remember Uncle Boris’ tales about the fairies. She shoved her face further out of the smelly pile of leaves and was rewarded with the sweet, fresh smell of the apple orchard nearby.
Uncle Boris had told thousands of tales, but not many stories that involved fairies. All of the tales he did tell seemed to indicate that the fairies were a good and well-intentioned people. She could only remember one specific narrative and it dealt with Prince Midge, the son of Queen Mita, and the Great Mage traveling to imprison the Great Demon, Alutar. In the story the Mage created a homeland for the desolate fairies and centered it around a giant apple tree. She was wondering if this was that same orchard when a dozen mail-clad fairies marched by scanning the forest.
She froze as the fairies passed and pulled her head farther into the leaves when they were out of sight in case they doubled back. An hour passed and the small fairy army had not returned. Darkness had fallen over the forest and Tanya yearned to be free of the decomposing pile of leaves and the tiny creatures that lived in it. Slowly she pulled herself out of the pile of leaves and looked around. The forest was dark and eerily quiet. Slowly she crept in the direction her fellow travelers had been taken. Within a few dozen paces the oak trees thinned and the apple orchard began.
Tanya deeply inhaled the sweet scent of the orchard and squinted her eyes to make out the little figures moving among the trees. Subconsciously, she stuffed her long blond hair under her leather cap and sat behind a bush to observe the fairies. She watched for several hours and saw several armed parties returning, but no sign of the Rangers. She did observe the return of the patrol that had passed her pile of leaves, but they came into the orchard from another direction.
The amount of activity in the orchard started to diminish as fairies flew into holes in the apple trees and did not return. Remembering the lessons that Garth had given the Rangers on penetration of hostile encampments, Tanya started a methodical circuit of the orchard. Remaining in the darkest shadows of the oak forest, Tanya worked her way around the circumference of the orchard. When she had almost completed the circle, she stopped at the sight of Garth Shado.
She had seen Garth first because of his height, but the others were there, as well. Each Ranger was tied to a vertical pole in the center of a dense, circular bush. There were more bushes than Rangers and it appeared that whatever security the bushes provided, the fairies could accommodate a few more intruders. The bushes had large, sharp thorns, but Tanya failed to see how a few cuts and bruises would ensure that a prisoner did not escape. Given enough time, she was sure that Garth would be able to escape the rope that bound him and then he would be able to push his way through the bushes to free the others. Tanya saw one small blue fairy sitting on top of one of the bushes looking bored. Every once in a while, she could spot a green fairy flying from one prisoner to another.
Tanya ducked her head down as a pair of fairies came walking by between her and the bushes that held the Rangers. Only the fact that both of the fairies were looking the other way saved Tanya from detection. Holding her breath, she heard the voices of the two fairies.
“I did not know that Nixy’s head would hold the brain of an ogre,” the first fairy chuckled. “She sits on the Stay Bush without a thought to the consequences. One prick of those thorns would kill an ogre and she sits among them.”
“She will be there all night,” the second fairy laughed. “Queen Mita was very annoyed that she allowed one of the humans to escape. They have had patrols out looking for her for hours, but…”
The voices trailed off and Tanya could hear no more, but she had heard enough. Whether the fairies meant to kill the Rangers or not, no longer mattered. Tanya knew that the Rangers would attempt to escape and they were not aware of the poison in the thorns. One by one, the Rangers would die and she was not going to stand by and let that happen.
Tanya slid back into the oak forest and searched for the largest oak tree. When she finally found it, she started climbing. She continued climbing until the thin branches threatened to break under her weight. Clinging to the trunk, she gingerly settled herself down to a tenuous sitting position on a thin branch where it met the trunk. She gazed down at the orchard and had a clear view of the layout of the village. The Stay Bushes were very visible and she could now see the green fairy flitting from one prisoner to another. The fairy seemed to be searching the many pockets and pouches of the prisoners. The rest of the orchard was less visible. Tanya could detect the placement of the trees and could easily see the trunk of the largest one in the center, as it had a clearing around it, but the branches and leaves of the apple trees obstructed her view of a good deal of the orchard floor.
She clung to the trunk for a while watching the Stay Bushes. Every once in a while her vision was drawn to returning patrols. Each returning patrol sent one fairy to the large center tree and on a platform partway up the trunk the fairy bowed to a blue fairy that came out of the hole behind the platform. Tanya surmised that she was observing Queen Mita receiving the reports of the returning patrols and an idea formed in her mind.
Tanya continued watching the village until no more patrols returned and the only movement below was around the Stay Bushes. Unaware of how many hours she had been sitting in that awkward position, Tanya flexed her muscles and quietly climbed down the large oak tree. Slowly and silently, she maneuvered her way around the orchard to the point that would offer the shortest distance to the large apple tree.
Slowly, step-by-step, Tanya inched her way towards the Queen’s tree, stopping every few steps to listen for any sounds. Half-way there, Tanya had to press her back against a tree and hold her breath as a fairy came out of his hole and flew to another. Two many hours of being cramped up in a tree or behind a bush caused Tanya to feel weary, but the adrenaline of sneaking into the fairies’ stronghold kept her alert. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Tanya reached the Queen’s tree. She put her ear against the tree, but nothing could be heard. Steeling her courage, Tanya scrapped her finger along the underside of the platform on the other side of the tree. Leaning so she could just see around the large tree’s trunk, she waited. Nothing happened.
