Off to one side was Hewy, the Troll, who was busy giving the Gooblin King, Hir'aeth, the evil eye as the Gooblin King wondered to himself where had Druzzy, the Troll King, snuck off too? Efem, the Tree Mother, was huddled with Dewin by a small bench and waving her hands in the air trying to make a point as she tried to get his complete attention. While Dewin was trying also to see where the Troll King had wondered off as well as try to keep one ear open to listen to Efem. Things were certainly tense and confusing. It was then, as Goodiegood was looking around at everyone, that she noticed the large crystal-like egg in the the middle of the garden. "I doubt that has been here very long," she asked without expecting much of an answer. She realized what it was as she looked closer seeing something blue swirling around inside of it. Turning to her sisters she said, "It looks like what we feared has happened. The Prophesy has begun with the Last Wish Dragon being lost. Now we must find out who sacrificed their magic for this to have happened." As the three sisters started looking around the garden to see who might be missing from the vision they had earlier, Goodie2shues finally hollered to the crowd, "Everyone! We don't have much time so listen up! We need to talk to Ffion or the Shadows' King. Does anyone know where they are?" When the Dowager finished, Goodie4u mumbled loud enough for only her sisters to hear, "Now we know who sacrificed their power, as the King and Ffion being Nyte Shades are the only two beings strong enough to give up their power and not be swayed by the Darkness or Greed." Realizing that speed was now needed, Goodie2shues spoke again to the crowd. "We need to speak to Ffion immediately! The Realm depends on it!"
As her sisters disappeared, Goodiegood quietly mumbled to herself, "The best thing we can do now is get Ffion back to our place so we can whip up our 'Surrogare' recipe before this egg fully hatches. The Ntyemares are the best choice to fly us home in time." As the other two sisters flew off to do her bidding, Goodiegood thought about trying to explain to Awena and the Dowager what was happening, but there just wasn't enough time. All she could do was shout out "Trust ME!" as she ran to follow her sisters.
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The first to arrive was Awena which the Dowager was very glad to see. Griselda had quickly grabbed her and took her down into the depths of the library where the Shadows' King had been holed up for the past several days.
As they approached their destination, a green glow was emanating from under the door to room 101. When they knocked they had already decided not to wait for an answer and rushed in before the King could refuse seeing them. What they saw was a surprise! Both spied the King sitting on a low stool with his head in his hands. His clothes, normally clean and spotless, were rumpled and dirty. His hair stuck out in all directions, no longer combed and braided, but the part that shocked them the most was the defeated look in his eyes. As they rushed to his side to find out what ailed him, the Dowager was first to speak. "What is it King Hunter?" she asked as Awena placed her hands on his slumped shoulders. Awena could feel the tension and frustration that was floating around the King but also something she thought she would never see in him. She could feel his despair! Slowly the King looked up at them and in a weary voice asked, "What do you know about the Dragon tablet?" "Very little," the Dowager replied. "Other than what the flutterby just shared with me a little while ago. It has been located and coming here by way of a Borrower as well as with your faithful Scribe, Dulbbe." "Then there is hope!" murmured the King. Slowly he stood up with a little wobble since he truly hadn't eaten much in days. He placed the silk cover over the green glowing crystal ball that had been beside him. While he was doing this, the Dowager was sharing that she had felt the need to assemble everyone in the King's garden, while she was apologizing that she had used his personal messengers the Nytemares. The King nodded to her as he picked up the crystal ball and proceeded to leave the library room. "I agree," answered the King. Appearing to gain strength from all that he was hearing from the Griselda, he continued, "We will all assemble in the garden as soon as everyone is here, especially Hungry. He is the key element and now it seems is his time. I had hoped to give him more time by sending him to his teachers when he first arrived in the Shadows' Realm. When the tablet had been taken, it started the process and whether or not he is ready, it seems that Hungry will now be coming into his power."
King Hunter, the Shadows' King, lead everyone out into his garden and then down a trail and through a veil of hanging vines that parted as the participants approached. Hidden inside was a secluded garden of Moonflowers which surrounded a small stone bench in the center. The night was black with the new moon and only a handful of dimly shining stars were in the sky but everyone could see the white trail of stones that lead through the Moonflowers and surrounded it. "Hungry, would you please sit yourself on the stone bench in the center of the garden?" asked King Hunter while directing the others to stand in a circle around the bench and the now seated Dragon. "Arnie, as I understand it, you have my tablet?" asked Hunter to the Borrower who was trying to hide behind some of the others in the circle. With a bowed head, Arnie approached the King while offering the tablet in her hands. "It is the one time I am sorry that I 'borrowed' something Sire Sir," Arnie meekly replied. Hunter gently took the tablet from her hands. "You are forgiven, for it was all part of the prophecy and you were just the element that sparked the beginning of it," the King told her. He then turned to Awena of the Sleeping Sisters and asked, "Did you bring the Blue Rose with the Tear that your Order has been watching over for eons?"
"No, Awena, Please hand it to me," the king replied. With the Dragon tablet and now the rose in his hand, King Hunter approached Hungry. "Do you trust me?" asked the King to the lil' Dragon. As Hungry looked up into his eyes he could see a great sadness in them but he could also feel an over whelming sense of peace and love. "I don't know you well Sir, but I do trust you," Hungry replied. "Then eat the rose," the King commanded as he handed it to the Wish Dragon. Hungry replied, "That should not be a problem for I am forever hungry and sure could use a little snack right now. Is it sweet? I do love sweet things, especially from the Sugar Plum factory." The King nodded his head and told Hungry that he wouldn't be hungry afterwards. Hungry ate the rose. As he started chewing, he closed his eyes savoring the sweet taste and the lovely smell of the magic ambrosia. Then he burped. It had come from his tummy where a little spark had arisen while he chewed the flower. It had floated up his throat and out his mouth as he burped. The spark continued to rise and was quickly hovering over his head where it grew bigger and brighter. Larger and brighter it grew like a shining star in the sky. The light was almost turning this dark night into day with it's glow and then all of a sudden it burst! Sparks flew everywhere causing those standing around the Wish Dragon to shield their eyes and turn their heads away. When they turned back to look at Hungry, the Dragon tablet laid on the ground, the Shadows' King was gone, and a huge crystal orb was in the middle of the garden where the Wish Dragon had been sitting. As everyone was examining the crystal orb, the others did not notice as the Troll King quickly picked up the tablet and slide it under his crown.
On her way to the library she had to set the tray down several times both to open closed doors and to give her arms a rest. "How heavy could a sandwich be?" she had asked herself again. She was about to set the tray down again to open the door to room 101 when she noticed that it was already slightly ajar. "I think I will peak in just to make sure I don't disturb him," she decided. Looking into the partially open doorway she could see her father was standing with his back to her and was surprised to hear him arguing with someone else. "Who could be with him?" she thought. Deciding not to interrupt them, she continued to stand in the doorway, not realizing that she still was holding the heavy tray with his lunch.
In response to the king, the crystal replied, "The Dragon tablet in question contains the History of the Nyte Shades and the Enlightenment of the Dragons. It also contains knowledge of Dragon magic and it's transformations. As all the Dragon tablets knowledge is contained in this crystal sphere, the location of the tablet is known but not who may have accessed that information," continued the crystal ball. "Now that is something," thought Ffion, but before she could say anything to let her father know she was there, the crystal continued. "The tablet is in a pocket."
Meanwhile, Druzzy, the Troll King, and Hir'aeth, the Gooblin King, are both in their throne rooms wondering why they have not heard back from their minions. "I must have that tablet," mutters Druzzy to himself and not for the first time grumbles about replacing Drat if he doesn't show up soon. Hir'aeth, on the other hand, is thinking of ways to embarrass Druzzy by getting the book first. "I can picture the look on that stupid Druzzy's face when I get that Dragon tablet. Wonder what would happen if I was to then give it away to that little Wish Dragon, Hungry?" chuckles the Gooblin King. "It will be bad enough for me to get it first, but even worse to give it away... old Troll face will be burning red!" As the others are out looking for the Borrower with the Dragon tablet, still others are stuck waiting for answers and some of them were not waiting very patently with their tempers fraying just a little...
While Ffion is wearing out the tiles from her pacing, Hunter, the Shadows' King, is in room 101 of the library seeking the crystal ball that Dulbbe had just recently discovered. Hunter is so concern about losing the Dragon tablet and that a Borrower is now involved, that he is distracted enough not to realize that the green cloth that normally covered the crystal is now laying on a nearby table. "Where is that tablet?" the King muttered to himself. Since the crystal was uncovered it responded with "Your question is incomplete. What knowledge to you seek?"... Speaking of Dulbbe, he found his way to the address that he discovered on the back of the key tag and was now waiting at the door after knocking several times. "The Borrower must not have returned yet," he realized. Soon he decided to hide behind a bunch of bushes to wait for the Borrowers so he could catch Arnie when she returned. Little did he realize that close-by another minion had also been watching the Borrower's cottage and was now watching Dulbbe too.
While Drat sat and ate, the Troll King was plotting what he would do when the Dragon tablet was finally delivered to him. "That stupid Gooblin King's eyes will bulge when he sees that I have the tablet. Finally I will have the power to destroy him!" laughed Druzzy. "The power it will give me will make me the ruler over all of these realms as I know one thing that Hir'aeth doesn't. The tablet is supposed to be the secret of Dragon magic and with that, I will be Ruler Supreme," Druzzy said as he smiled. "I am a busy troll as I have an Empire to create and pillars to topple."
While Dulbbe was searching the tunnel, Arnie, the Borrower, was feeling pretty gloomy. She wasn't getting any help finding out what it was that she had found and felt like she was just running around in circles... or actually very long tunnels. She realized that she needed to find someone, and soon, who could get her out of this mess she was slowly finding herself in. In the meantime Hunter, the Shadows' King, after revealing to his daughter, Ffion, what he knew of the book that was in the tunnel before the Borrower had removed it, thought maybe it was time for her to meet the Sleeping Sisters. (That story was available to subscribers only - but it is never too late to sign-up or by sending me an email to read it).
Even annoyed about the message, Awena did know of her responsibility as a Sleeping Sister to teach Ffion of her heritage. While Meen waited in the receiving room for her response, Awena started pulling out books and scrolls to send back with Meen until she could come to Hunter's castle herself to meet with Ffion. "This will have to do until I arrive," she decided after putting another book in the small pile. Realizing that there might be too many books and scrolls for Meen to carry, Awena sent for a small satchel to put them in for the trip back to the castle. Now if Hunter had been more willing to communicate with her or if Awena hadn't felt like she could solve the problem of the Borrower on her own, a lot of confusion could have certainly been avoided, but then that would have shortened the story (*smiling*).
Ffion picked up the one that fell closest to her which was titled 'Awena's Primary on the Language of Flowers'. Now this could be interesting. Then she heard Meen tell the King, "Sire. The Sleeping Sisters are not available to come now, but sent these books and scrolls so that Princess Ffion may start her schooling immediately until they are available to come to answer your summons."
"Schooling! It was "summer" - who wanted to be doing schoolwork when there was fun to be had out in the Realm!" screamed Ffion in her mind. She watched to see what her father's reaction from the Sisters message would be. When he jumped up from his throne, a small smile escaped her lips... that was until she realized that the King was demanding Meen to find the Royal Tutor to begin her lessons. "Oh no. There goes summer!"
As he peered through the lenses towards the waterfall, he could see past the falling water and into the cave behind it. He wasn't sure but he thought he could just glimpse seeing something purple leaving the tunnel but that was all he could make out before it disappeared. Following the tunnel in the cave, he noticed something moving! Off in the higher part of the cave he realized there was a Wysp hovering in the air. "Your Highness, something has left the cave but there is still a Wysp in the tunnel," Dulbbe told the King as they made their way towards the waterfall. The King commanded the water to part for him so all of them could enter and at the same time he used his magic to freeze the Wysp in mid-air. Wysps are quick and think themselves to be quite clever, but the King was in no mood to have to track it down when he knew that the Wysp would disappear. As they approached the Wysp, still hanging in the air trying to figure out why it could not fly away, Dulbbe started asking it questions. "Was there a Borrower in the cave with you? Who was it?"
Realizing this tactic was not working, decided a different approach. Turning to the Shadows' King, he said, "Your Highness, this Wysp is just a dumb imp who doesn't know anything. I think we will have to search out the cave for ourselves since it probably is just lost in this cave." "Lost in this cave am I," screamed the Wysp! "I would have you know that I outsmarted that stupid Borrower, tricked her into following me, and then left her in the dark at the end of the cave where all the water was. I even know her name!" "Nevermind this one, your Majesty, it is only talking to try and get some attention," Dulbbe told the King. "Do you want me to begin the search for the Borrower or a smarter Wysp?" Ffion, standing behind the King, had never seen a Wysp so upset. Later she would almost swear that the blue imp had turned bright red - it was that mad!
Hearing the Wysp's answer, immediately the King started towards the end of the cave in a run, leaving behind both a confused Ffion and Dulbbe. It was at that moment the Wysp realized that it could move and in a puff of blue smoke, vanished. "Good riddance," muttered Dulbbe. "Dulbbe, what do you think has gotten into Dad? I have never seen him this nervous before..." Dulbbe could only shrug his shoulders before they both turned to start down the tunnel to follow the King.
"Well, this was a dud," thought Arnie. As her eyes adjusted to the dark tunnel, she realized that the Wysp who had led her to the falls was no where to be seen. "At least that's something," sighing with relief. "I will get even with that little troublemaker when I have more time," she vowed, remembering how it had abandoned her in the dark cave earlier.
"Here is a smoother and even trail the Wysp could have taken me on instead of the winding and rock covered trail it had lead me over!" Arnie whispered to herself "Grrrr - I will find the time to get even with that Wysp," she growled. As Arnie was walking in the tunnel and Hunter, the Shadows' King, who was pacing back and forth while waiting for Dulbbe to show up, asked Ffion, his daughter "Where did you see this stranger?" "It was over by the waterfall. Actually, it had come out of the waterfall," replied Ffion.
Hunter, ignoring her reference to it being 'her garden', started walking even faster now towards the waterfall. "Has someone found it?" he wondered to himself. "It is one thing to be curious what a Borrower had found, but if it was MY dragon tablet that I have been guarding, then I need to find that Borrower NOW!" the King was shouting in his head.
"Ffion, that is no way for a faery princess to enter a room." "But Father, there is a stranger in the garden!" Ffion wailed. "It came out of the water and is walking over my flowers!"
Now the Shadows' King knew that it couldn't be Druzzy, the Troll King, or Hir'aeth, the Gooblin King, or even one of their minions as Meen had just updated him of their whereabouts after telling him what happened at the weekly COGS meeting.
He also knew that Hewy, Efem, Parsley and Cornelia were busy helping Hungry, the young Wish Dragon, to learn his lessons. "So it wouldn't be one of them," he reasoned. "What are you going to do about it?" he heard his daughter ask while he was mulling over who it could be. Vaguely he heard her saying something about the stranger looked like it had a tail... If it had a tail then it didn't sound like Dewin's Spite either. "I need to remember to call her Sprigg'n from now on," he reminded himself, "besides she is never very far from the wizard, Dewin, or The CAT and Hunter knew that Ffion would have mentioned The CAT if it was in the garden. "It's dressed up funny too," said Ffion. "It's wearing a jacket with lots of pockets on it and has a funny looking hood that looked like it has two pointy ears". Jumping to his feet he started towards the garden while his startled daughter followed him close behind. "What is it? What was the going on?" Ffion asked.
As Arnie was heading to the hole by the old oak she had fallen into when she found the Dragon tablet, she was totally unaware that at that moment she was the most popular being in all of the realms. Everyone (and every thing) was looking for the Borrower with the Dragon tablet.
Even C.O.G. (Cooperation of Organized Grunts) had called a special meeting to see if anyone knew where a Borrower could be found. It was all very frustrating and not just a few tempers were short...
And across the Realm, two more of the searchers were on a mission of their own. "Tell me again why you think the Sleeping Sisters will help us? I mean, they usually don't get involved in any of the events of the realms. Why this one?" asked the Baron as he and his mother, the Dowager Griselda, were walking to the Sleeping Sisters house. "Also, I would like to know how you know where they live. Hewey, Efem, and the others had to be lead there by a bird."
Stopping in her tracks, the Dowager turned to face her son. "They don't do that," she growled at him with irritation in her voice. "The Sleeping Sisters have been guardians of the realms as long as I can remember and they know of many secrets and prophecies which they study and explore to keep all of us safe. Now, if you would be quiet for a while as I think on how to approach them, it would be appreciated!" Getting a nod from her son who decided it was best not to say another word for a while, they both started back down the trail. While on another hillside overlooking the waterfall, something was watching Arnie as she stepped through the water and started exploring around the pool. "How dare someone come into my garden," it thought. "Something must be done about this..."
For little did it know or care that at that moment it was the only one who knew where the Borrower was ~ even though it didn't know it was a Borrower. It just knew someone was in it's garden! As the Dowager, Griselda, and the Baron said their goodbyes to Hungry and the Shadows' King, Griselda was thinking about all that Hunter had told her about what he knew of the tablet. "Not much," she thought. "I probably know more about Dragon tablets than he does." This thought disturbed her because she knew that the Baron and Hunter were correct in their concerns about the troubles this tablet could bring.
Griselda knew that Dragons only wrote down something on a tablet so it would not be forgotten. That usually meant that tablets were for a secret not to be shared freely or something so important that no Dragon should ever forget it! So, as her and the Baron entered the coach, she was thinking about what to do... "Hunter, dear, do you mind if your Nytemare takes me on a couple of errands before we return home?" she asked the Shadows' King. "It won't be much out of the way to the Baron's Mansion and these old bones are not up to much more exercise today." As the Baron forced back a smile, knowing that his mother could still work circles around him, he knew she was up to something and added, "We would appreciate it." Not wanting to appear uncourteous, he whispered instructions to the Nytemare to be available for them for the night and to take them where ever they requested and soon they were on their way. |
GreetingsWelcome to my blog. This is where I will reveal the magic of my Fae and their stories and share with you some of the success and pitfalls through the journey of doll making, sculpting, and other crafts that all come back to my dolls in many ways. Archives
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