The Fairy Diary Day 682 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We passed into the pixie territory under lowering skies before midday. A storm appeared to be brewing ahead in the direction of our destination. We could not see Gilgorgon’s mountain as of yet, but the gathering blackness seemed to be settling over its general location.

My companions did not like the look of it. Nor did I.

About that same time the voice from Dunfallon’s ring was intoning an alarm urging us to be on the alert. And the pendants on my chest throbbed in unison.

I passed the word to our escort to be vigilant. And Dunfallon ordered his soldier less weapons to close ranks around the cages. Rumble reined in Cluyjil to a steady walk.

I felt a rush of air behind me and turned about in time to see a black bird swoop down from the sky and attempt to close its talons on one of the cages. It missed. I notched an arrow to my bow and let it fly after the retreating bird. It caught one of its wings and the bird spun to the ground, bursting into flame upon impact.

We halted and sent the escort back to retrieve the remains. They returned, bearing only the arrow, and reported that dust was all that remained of the bird.

Rumble interrogated the Caretaker afterwards, but he could give no answer to his questions, and protested that neither he nor the renegade queen had ever seen the like before.

The thing of it is, we had.

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The Fairy Diary Day 483 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

With everything prepared I had a prompting of sorts to check on the Crack of Doom before Merlin, Dunfallon and I left for his castle. All seemed in order. Four fairy guards were in their new posts high above the bell. I felt assured that it was as protected as we could make it. 

That is until I turned to leave that roost. 

An alarm sounded indicating that one of our traps had sprung. It was soon surrounded by almost everyone in the repository. 

We had once again caught the Will’o’the Wisp. And he was spluttering his displeasure for all to hear. 

We postponed our departure only for as long as it took Dunfallon to question the imp about his recent activities. Longer than that we did not want to indulge. We were satisfied that there was no imminent danger of further incursions. And having transferred him to his new cage Merlin made the decision to take him with us. (We want him as far from the bell as possible).

After exchanging farewells with everyone (and promises to Noralei that we would soon be reunited), Merlin whisked us away. 

The Fairy Diary Day 152 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

I was still awaiting a reply from the High Fairy. Though I confess my thoughts had not centered on hearing back from his excellency. For some reason instead they had settled upon all those human refugees we witnessed traveling between the territories of the fairies and the pixies. Many of them must have been farmers who were forced off of the lands hereabouts. And the burning conclusion I came to is that we must find some way to bring them back. 

I was so caught up in my musings I did not notice that Rumble had left. That’s when I found a note from him – he had gone in search of the rumored local fairies. 

I went to the others, but none had encountered or had even seen him. Caywyn did say that there are stories of fairy folk living somewhere in the parklands adjoining the palace. So, Caywyn led Noralei and me over to the most lovely of parks. 

But Rumble was nowhere to be seen. 

Before we could think of another possibility, an alarm was raised summoning everyone to the walls of the main gate. 

The troll army was attacking.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred Four #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Elijah with his staff and Mawuli with his sling made short work of the wild dogs. Dispatching fully half of them before the remainder scampered away in a panic.

Things returned to normal after that. The new normal anyway.

As a plus the incident seemed to restore Mawuli’s equilibrium.

And the cold snap ended. Another welcome circumstance.

But it all changed again in the middle of my morning watch. Out on the perimeter the wild dogs reappeared. Everyone responded to my alarm. Thus, we all saw them stop in their tracks, turn and flee.

None of us had time to ponder this as immediately the ground shook and the terrain around us undulated like the waves of an unruly sea.

Day One Thousand One Hundred Twenty Six #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

All quiet today on the plain. No sign of conflict by sight or sound. By the end of the day it had been so quiet we had relaxed our vigil, especially when we sighted what we took to be the halfway point of our journey – the well to which Sy had led us – the one whose water was too low to access.

To our relief its water table had risen and we easily refilled our water skins.

Elijah volunteered for the first watch but I had no sooner turned in when he raised the alarm.

Alarm turned to joy when we recognized our intruder was our friend Reuben whom we first knew as a guard in the prison near Jerusalem.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Eight #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Our final decision to pick a village and enter it, was taken out of our hands. A boy and his dog spotted Tomas and raised the alarm. We gathered together before contingents from three neighboring villages surrounded us.

Though armed they seemed more curious than threatening. That is, until their leader showed up.

He was more suspicious and demanded to know why we were sneaking around.

Mei was able to explain that we had business in the city.

Her statement brought a sniff of incredulity from him. It was plain to see we were not merchants.

Then Elijah stood (he had been seated), and the contingents vied with one another to take us into their village, despite the leader’s protests.

Day Seven Hundred Sixty Five #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We set up camp in the dark last night. It took us that long to reach the spot designated by Tomas.

It was a comfortable place in many respects. In fact we may have waited til sunup before rising if it had not been for Mei giving the alarm.

She rousted us all after waking from a dream in which drones were descending upon us. Her dream was reality.

Elijah calmed and held us in place. “Let them get a look at us,” he said.

When they ringed us, he raised his staff and they tumbled out of the sky.

With no sign of pursuit visible on the ground behind us, we broke camp and took to the trail again.

Day Four Hundred Seventy #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

When I was on my first watch of the night we passed the midpoint in the mouth of the gulf. About twenty minutes into this shift, I spotted a small craft pounding the waves coming for our port side. As I raised the alarm, I sighted another on the approach to our starboard.

The Captain called all hands to quarters to repel boarders with fire hoses.

Elijah joined me, his staff in hand. As we looked on, the first craft was lifted by a maverick wave and dashed to pieces on the downstroke. We did not see what happened to the other, but we believe something similar occurred.

Morning found us on the other coastline.  Now for our consignee’s village.

Day Sixty Five #DayoftheEndoftheWorld

An alarm went off upon entering the public auditorium.

Rufus and Clarissa followed suit. Lyle was able to calm them and I located the alarm and shut it off.

Then we waited to see if anyone would respond to it. After ten minutes when no one came to see who had tripped the alarm, Lyle and I began to debate whether or not it was a warning to us to avoid the  area; or an alert to them that they may avoid us.

I opt for the latter scenario, but Lyle is almost equally sure of the first.

The hall and its environs are well appointed, and will likely give up many a treasure to us and our persistence. Later.