The Fairy Diary Day 334 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Those little walking sprouts kept us busy rounding them up. Noralei thought they were cute until they began devouring one another – the victors consequently growing in size. 

Finally only one was left standing. We thought we had it restrained, but it snuck a tendril beyond its bounds and unfortunately past the bars of Willie’s cage, and the Will’o’the Wisp pulled it in and ate it. 

At that moment Dunfallon rejoined us and gave us the news after we explained what just had occurred. 

He saw three dark elves emerge from the cave above the abandoned fishing village. He has no doubt that one was the warrior about whom Merlin had warned us. And he was carrying a bulky package. They have taken up a march that should bring them here within two or three days time. 

But there was no sign of our friend the wizard. 

I re-sent him out to keep surveillance on the dark elves. And to look for signs of Merlin. 

Before the pixie departed he gave Rumble a bouquet to give to Noralei, then on watch. 

The flowers were her favorites.

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The Fairy Diary Day 332 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Merlin disappeared without a word to us. We could only surmise that he was off to waylay whoever is bearing the dragon egg. Leaving us to our own devices. 

Rumble wanted us to follow after the wizard as best we could. I countered that we would be little help to him and too slow to make a difference. 

At that juncture Dunfallon laid down his opinion that we stay right where we are and allow the dragon egg to come to us. With a twinkle in his eye, he added an explanation. The pixie is certain that the dark elves have the intent to bypass the area where we laid the traps and are headed for the exit off of the Low-way that is near the abandoned fishing village. 

As he pointed to the passage off this junction I understood his gist. 

They will travel on the surface to go around the problem on the Low-way.  We could hope the goblins are in place and will stop them – and there are those other pixie traps…

Still we will have to decide what to do if they do show up. 

On a sudden I had an inspiration and sent Dunfallon up to the surface and told him to summon his eagle and keep a watch on that other exit by the fishing village.

The Fairy Diary Day 302 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

The passage came to a fork. The ocean sounds came only from the one on the right. I was certain that was not the one we wanted, for I judged that we were still very distant from the canyonlands. But we sent Dunfallon to follow up anyway. 

In the meantime, Rumble, Noralei, and myself evaluated this junction as to its suitability for cutting off the retreating dark elves. 

We were still at that task when our pixie returned. He reported that the passage came out in the hills above the fishing village on the bay. (So I was right, we were nowhere near the canyonlands). 

The village remains deserted. 

Judging by the trampled ground thereabouts, Dunfallon believes that its denizens had passed in by that particular entrance. And we can only surmise that they joined with the other dark elves.

The Fairy Diary Day 266 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

Immediately after Nora ferried Dunfallon and Noralei over, the pixie set to work. He found the second stream larger than the first. By the time the waterhorse returned with Rumble and me, Dunfallon had completed his first foray. 

He was excited. He had destroyed every black plant in the vicinity and believed that the opening in the barrier along the stream has increased enough to allow us fairies to pass through too. 

Soon the four of us were hard at work on the other side. Noralei harvested the red seeds from the plants while the rest of us followed behind and made sure they would not grow and mature into the walking variety. 

I kept a vigil towards the east on the lookout for those we had seen from above near the fishing village. 

Such was our focus in that direction that we did not notice that Nora had joined us. We turned at the sound of his hallooing and splashing about in the stream. 

It was a welcome indication that the barrier was failing. But by the same token I fear it might spur on the arrival of the walking menace.

The Fairy Diary Day 263 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

A day of breakthroughs. Though it certainly did not start that way. Of the four of us, we three fairies were feeling depressed, even despondent. I admit we were homesick for Nonin-gal-dith. Something about this fishing village made us long for home. 

But Dunfallon rallied us. He opened with a joke and followed that with one of his stories – about a prank he played on a bully. (Though he did not say so, I suspect it is a tale from his own experience).

After that we agreed to join him as he continued to explore the perimeter of the enchanted barrier. 

At the point when we were about to finish the last section, I received a message from the High Fairy. He was excited to learn we had landed and had some advice from the Dromadil pixies about skirting the barrier. It seems a way in was always found near a stream or some similar water course. 

The High Fairy ended with a word of warning – once through, our pixie would need to seek out any nearby black plants – and destroy them to bring down the barrier. 

With this news, it was more important than ever that we hear from Nora. 

We hurried back to the harbor, and there found Nora waiting for us – with news about not one but two streams that empty into the bay. 

The Fairy Diary Day 261 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We are still in the deserted fishing village. All attempts to take either of the roads out of the town failed just beyond the last buildings. We encountered a barrier, much like the one described in the reports concerning the area around the black crystalline tower. 

So we concentrated on the village itself looking for clues or any explanations for this enchantment. 

Dunfallon and Noralei checked out the east end, while Rumble and I went down to the harbor quarter. Rumble continued on the road to the north with the intent to work his way back from there. 

I entered several of the buildings – both shops and homes – they were all neat and tidy. It was as if they were expectant of the soon return of their owners.

I turned my attention to the harbor. It was different there – the ones out by the harbor mouth – which we had passed on the way in – only had their masts showing (probably more than anything that sight is what had spooked the captain). But the ones tied up along the quay seemed gray and fuzzy. Upon closer examination I realized they were covered in hornets’ nests. 

But no hornets. 

That is when Nora happened by. He saw me too and came over to talk. I asked him if he had seen anything of interest in the bay. And at the same instant I added “were there any rivers or streams emptying into the bay?”

This tickled the water horse’s curiosity and he set out to explore. 

As we gathered this evening all our observations were similar and we all await eagerly to hear from Nora. 

The Fairy Diary Day 260 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We are now safely ashore on the land whose name no one will utter – in an abandoned fishing village. How that came to pass is a very surprising story. 

As our ship was drawing closer to our destination we could at last make out some features along the shore. Per Rumble’s map a fishing village was situated somewhere nearby. As it came into our view, we all observed a slow change in the captain. His reluctance to proceed grew greater in direct proportion to our proximity to the shore. 

In fact he called a halt and brought the ship about and anchored when the harbor of the village was yet a good distance off. He refused to go further, giving as reason the lack of charts for this coast and the clear evidence of rocks and shoals ahead.

I was about to protest, when Noralei spoke up and told me it was not necessary to take the ship any closer. She had had a dream last night and in obedience to the same she mounted to the top of the mast and blew on a horn borrowed from Dorgone. 

In two wing beats, Nora, the water horse appeared at the stern, frolicking in great excitement to encounter us again. 

And he agreed to ferry each of us ashore.

Day Four Hundred Thirty Two #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We have arrived on the island after a very long day. Elijah did not want to risk missing the departure of the fishing fleet so we set out well before sunrise. In fact it was dark when we came into the fishing village and seemingly darker still as we cast off.  

I was sick almost immediately. These small craft are nothing like our big ship. They bounce about too much. Elijah was stoic throughout.

As we passed the midpoint, another cloud bank descended obscuring the island. The fishermen hesitated and wanted to put about, but Elijah insisted we continue.

We rounded a point on the northern end and there the fog lifted, leaving a clear path into a lonely beach.

Day Four Hundred Thirty One #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

A momentous day of broadening horizons. We indeed did turn our steps southward and revisited the tiny fishing village.

Elijah inquired of one of the villagers if there were any port cities further to the south. The villager was in the midst of enumerating three such cities when I noticed for the first time a huge land mass stretching across the ocean’s horizon in front of us. And I realized that cloudy weather had obscured it from us ever since our arrival.

Elijah switched his questions to this large island, and learned that there is a major port on its northern side.

Before leaving we made arrangements to ship out to said port with the fishing fleet early tomorrow morning.

Day Four Hundred Thirty #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Well, we almost ruled out ever returning to the area south of the city.

It was the next logical step as we set out this morning. To our surprise we encountered no villages or even farms in that direction. At least until we realized there was no arable soil due to omnipresent rocks. A reality that increased as we went along.

That is until we made our way back along the rugged shoreline. There we ran into a tiny fishing village clinging to the sides of a perfect little cove. The fishing fleet was then out according to those left behind. And indeed we could make out small craft dotting the ocean between here and the city.

We shall return.