Guardian: Protectors of Light (21 page)

Queen Eloine smiled
warmly. “It’s all right. But Magic alone won’t break the curse that
has changed your appearance, Samira.”

“
What are you
talking about? I always thought “Magic” could solve any problem!”
Antonio said angrily, while waving his arms in the air.

“
Shut up and
behave yourself when the Queen is speaking!” Violina hissed at him,
but Queen Eloine shook her head at her. Now her attention was
directed toward Antonio. She looked at him over James’s
shoulder.

“
Antonio, I
understand your misunderstanding. But trying to remove Magic buy
using Magic, is like fighting fire with fire. It will just be
replaced with new Magic; it doesn’t work,” she said. “Strong forms
of Magic requires certain Magic to counterattack it. Otherwise,
it’ll do nothing.”

“
Your
Majesty, with all my respect, but I still don’t understand,”
Antonio replied. “Does that mean if one of us would get magically
hurt in any way, there’s no way to heal it?”

“
Violina?”
Queen Eloine said. “I think it’s best if you explain. You are their
Keeper, of course. I’m just a Guide that keeps them on their
way.”

Violina smiled as soon as
she heard she got the ability to talk. “Certainly, sister,” she
said. 

“
Well, Antonio, sometimes, there
is,
in fact, a
cure. The flowers and herbs that grow around this world are
specific for the land, and are very powerful when brought together
in the right way. Like magical medicine.”

“
But you just
said that-” Antonio mumbled.

“
I know what
the Queen said, but the herbs work on most light spells, like a
Fairy Flu.”

“
Fairy
Flu?”

“
It’s a magical, much stronger flu than humans get when
they’ve caught a cold. It causes fevers, and magical side effects,
like... Um... Well, the one that’s considered to be least bad one
for us fairies is sleep-flying or control-less flying, because they
hurt the least and can be solved the easiest.”

“
Sounds
scary,” Antonio mumbled.

“
It is, trust
me,” Violina replied. “One of the Pixies had been cursed with it.
You can only be infected if your opponent uses the special spell
that belongs to the Fairy Flu. For Pixies it’s fatal.”

“
And for
humans?” Bella asked.

“
I think you
could last three weeks with the Fairy Flu in your system,” Violina
replied. “Not longer than a month, for sure.”

“
So we must
be careful with possessed Fixie or Fairy attacks,” James said.
“Whatever you do: don’t get hit.”

Violina nodded. “Avoid
getting hit at all costs boys, and Samira in special, because if
you get cursed with the Fairy Flu, you cannot leave until you’re
fully healed from the Flu. You’ll need our assistance to complete
the healing process.”

“
Then we just
have to make sure it doesn’t happen,” James replied. “Now, what can
we do to get Samira to change back the way she was?”

“
There is a
special kind of flower that can heal anything caused by Magic,”
Queen Eloine said toward the five teenagers in general, while
looking at them one by one.

“
Great,”
Thomas suddenly spoke, who had been sitting silently in his chair
for the past ten minutes. ”Where can we go to collect it? I’ll
just go quickly and be back before you know it.”

The Queen coughed. “Oh, I
beg your pardon, where are my manners...”

She looked directly at
Thomas and spoke with a strict voice. “Thomas, you cannot go and
collect the flower without any assistance, even if it’s just only
having the help of your friends by your side.”

“
Why not?”
Thomas commented shrugging. “Go out, get the flower, get back. No
sweat.”

“
Thomas,”
Queen Eloine said, sounding even more strictly, “these flowers I’m
referring to are growing in secret places, mostly far away from
here. There is one field in the East of the Forest, far away from
the Heart. You will have to collect at least three of them, in case
you’re ever in need of their magical assistance again.”

“
Couldn’t someone have told us all of
this 
before
 we left
the Twilight Forest?” Thomas complained. “If we keep this up, the
Master will find us and blow us to bits before we’ve even gotten
across the mountains, for sure!”

Queen Eloine smiled at
the sight of Thomas’s ranting reaction. “Luckily, a path to the
Lost Area of the Twilight Forest, where the flowers grow, leads
from here straight toward there. It’s some sort of secret passage
only Violina and I know the existence of.”

Thomas let out a loud
sigh of relief.  “Well, at least that spares us a long walk.
At least one thing which is of our profit,” he mumbled.

“
Thomas, what
in the world has happened to you? It’s been hardly three days since
we’ve entered the Silver Valley and you’ve turned in such a grump,”
Samira said.

“
I am not
a-!” Thomas exclaimed. “Why do people always think I’m grumpy when
I’m not?”

“
Nothing
much,” Samira said dryly. “It’s just the way you’re acting that’s
all.” She threw Thomas a teasing grin. “Gotcha.”

Thomas grinned back. “All
right, I’ll buy that. I admit I might have been acting like a
grumpy old man in the past few days, and I’m sorry. But I am so
upset because the role of the “Ultimate Optimist” has already been
taken by James!”

This caused everyone to
laugh, but it didn’t last any longer than hardly a few seconds.
There was work to do.

“
All right
guys, let’s get back to business quickly before we lose it,”
Antonio said. 

“
It’s about
time we went and got those flowers to help Samira.” He looked at
Violina and Queen Eloine.

“
Very well,”
Queen Eloine said as she stood up from her light blue
armchair.

“
Bond of
Light; follow me, if you please.”

The Five followed her,
accompanied by Violina.

They walked through the
hallways of the Palace to an area outside at the back of the
palace, something James would consider to be a huge, private
backyard.

At the edge of the
garden, it seemed like the trees were bending toward each other at
one particular spot. It looked odd.

“
Now watch,”
Violina whispered.

Queen Eloine walked
forward, toward the spot where the trees were bending
over.

She raised her left hand,
as sparkling pixie dust surrounded both her hand and the trees,
that suddenly bended back until they were as straight and static as
the others.

The secret passage had
been revealed.

“
Whoa, how
did you do that?” Antonio asked in awe. Violina smiled at
him.

“
Only The
Royal’s Magic works on the gate,” she said. “Which is either mine
or Eloine’s.”

“
So Samira
couldn’t open nor close the gate if she tried?” Bella asked.
Violina shook her head.

“
No, no Pixie
or Fairy can, except The Royals. It’s magically protected, that’s
why. Once you enter, the Gate’s timer starts. It shall count the
number of life sources passing.
The Passage’s Gate will remain open until the same number of life
sources that entered has returned.”

“
So if
something like a Warlock Spirit catches up with us and they’re at
the Gate first-” Thomas said, but Violina cut him off in the middle
of his sentence.

“
One of you
shall not be able to return through the Passage, someone of The
Royals shall have to open it at the other side.” 

“
Does every
area have pixies?” Samira asked. “Just curious.”

“
Of course the other realms have pixies,” Violina answered
the blonde-haired pixie’s question.

“
The Fantasy
Valley has the most, in special then the piece that has been
reserved for us. But in every Realm there are small, hidden Pixie
Villages you can only find when you’re a Pixie or have a Pixie
keeping you company. They are very careful with picking
acquaintances.”

“
They must
be, with all the danger roaming this world,” Thomas said while
holding his chin with his right hand, like he was thinking. “I
think we’d have better chances of surviving if we could win their
trust and get as much allies spread over all five the Realms as we
can.”

“
I’d give you a low chance in the Land of Void, my boy,”
Eloine said. “No one with a pure soul has ever entered there and
returned with the same, pure soul. It’s nearly impossible that
you’ll find 
anyone
 like you
and us at all.”

“
But where
are the other two Keepers, then?” Bella asked. “The Five of the
First Generation were chosen to be the Keepers of the other
Generations. And we’ve met only three.”

“
They are
probably waiting for you somewhere behind the mountain range,”
Violina answered. “And that’s why you need to hurry. People are
waiting for you.”

“
What do you
suggest we’d do?” Antonio asked Violina. “Should we split up when
we get there?”

“
I think
splitting up isn’t a wise thing to do, Antonio,” Thomas said,
trying to prevent getting himself separated from James.

“
Like Violina
said: we need each other. That’s all we have.”

The others nodded in
agreement, and Antonio sighed. “Fine, fine,” he said. “I suppose
that we’ll go back to the Twilight Forest together. But splitting
up would’ve been faster.”

“
Splitting up
might be faster, but not safer!” Thomas grunted through gritted
teeth. “You know what happened last time that we got split
up.”

“
When?”
Antonio asked sceptically,

“
Remember
when you almost fell to your death in a secret trap?” Thomas
commented dryly.

“
I still have
no idea what you’re talking about, Britty-boy,” Antonio replied
shrugging, but his mouth was grinning. “Come on, we should
go.”

Thomas bowed quickly for
the Queen, but then walked toward the gate with big, quick steps,
so the others had to nearly run the first ten meters to keep up
with him.

“
Thomas,
Samira is kind of right, you’re acting like a little bit of a huge
gru-”

“
James, I don’t want to shout at you, because I’ve had the
feeling I’ve been angry at you - 
at all of you
 without any reason too much lately,” Thomas cut
James’s sentence.

“
Just don’t
mention it and it will fly by. It are just my nerves who can’t take
this whole thing.”
The nineteen-year-old British-born quickened his pace, so the other
four’s attempts to keep up with him were kind of in
vain.

“
Thomas,
you’re the one who’s ranting about the importance of not getting
split up, but you’re walking twice as fast as us!” Bella shouted,
starting to pant. “We can’t keep up with you!”

“
Antonio
wanted to get those flowers fast, and so do I,” Thomas replied.
“The quicker we’re out of here, the better. I don’t feel
comfortable with the idea of being back in the Twilight
Forest.”

The others couldn’t do
anything but agree with the green-haired teenager, and responded by
shrugging at each other.
It didn’t take so much of a long walk before the Bond of Light had
left the passage and entered the darkness of the Twilight Forest
once again.

“
Guys, watch
your step here,” James said, half whispering. “Make sure not to
make too much noise; the Warlock Spirits are probably following our
every move, waiting for a chance to strike.

Violina, can you, by any
chance, locate the village hidden here?”

“
Certainly,
James. I’ll try my best,” the silver-haired Pixie who had shrunk
back to her usual size replied.

It took her a while, but
after they’d been walking for some time, Violina had found
something. She opened her eyes, and shouted in a whisper:
“There!”

She pointed at somewhere
in the shadows, but somewhere in the darkness, there were some
lights glowing, like fireflies. The teenagers walked toward the
village, and as they came closer, the illusion that hid the village
disappeared. Suddenly, they were standing in the middle of the
village, as if the rest of the Twilight Forest had never been
there.

“
Illusion
spell,” Violina mumbled to herself. “Smooth move.”

As soon as the presence
of the teenagers and their guide was noticed, Pixies started to
come near them.
They fluttered around the teenagers, chattering excitedly in Latin,
and as soon as they noticed Violina, they started to chatter even
louder.

“
Seems like
they don’t get visitors like us all day,” James said and squatted
to greet some of the Pixies around them.

“
Hi, I’m
James, and I’m looking for a special flower,” he said, while waving
with his hand. The Pixies squeaked in fear and quickly backed away,
shaking with terror.

“
Hey- no,
it’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you,” James said and smiled, like
he was talking to a stray or wounded animal at the streets back in
his home town.