Chapter 3 - Faria's Quest

Chapter 1

Faria's Quest

“This task is for you, and no one else,” Faria's mage-teacher told her. “I've contrived a story for your short little disappearance. Everything ready? Good.” And with that Faria disappeared in a flash of green light.

***

“You did WHAT?!” King Archibald Williamburt III shouted. “How dare you just send my daughter away like that?!”

“When you've calmed down enough to speak without shouting, then you can talk to me, but for the moment, do not bother me. I've contrived a little story about why your precious Faria is gone, just in case anyone wonders. But this should not happen, since I sent her out of time. It will be as if time froze when she returns; everything will be the same. Unless of course she takes longer than the time I gave her, or some fatal accident occurs.” The mage Numair was worn out after this speech, since he wasn't used to talking so much at one time.

The king was about to retaliate when the trumpeters announced that King Archibald's lead warrior, Aragorn, was there.

“My lord,” he said while walking in. Aragorn was tall, had dark hair, and a beard. He was about thirty-five. “There has been word of a fearsome creature in this land. I went to see for certain it was true, and the sight that met my eyes was the worse thing I ever did see.”

“Well, what is it?” The King impatiently and irritably waited for a response.

“It was a type of bird. Actually it was a mix between a hawk, eagle, vulture, and buzzard. It was terrorizing the sheep and some innocent farmer. I would have taken it on and slain the foul beast, but it was too large and powerful for just one man to take on.”

“You are dismissed,” the king said curtly. “Gather the army and tell them to hunt down and slay the creature.”

Aragorn bowed and backed away from the throne. He thought about inquiring on the whereabouts of the princess, Faria, who was normally standing next to her father, but thought better of it.



***

When Faria dared to open her eyes again, the world was totally different. She immediately shut her eyes again, though. Why did it seem like she was floating underwater? And why was the pressure so tremendous? I must be underwater, she thought, but how can that be? I can still breathe, and I don't feel wet at all. How strange. When she saw dared to open her eyes again, she was inside of a palace. The palace however, seemed very awkward. Faria started to sit up when she felt a blade at her throat.

“Don't ye move or I'll slice yer neck. Come wi' me an' I'll spare yer life.”

Faria looked around despite the blade, and saw she was surrounded. When she glanced around at her setting, she nearly let out a scream. They were in the ocean, yes, but this was not a regular ocean. For one thing the fish that were swimming by were at least a mile long each, and it was almost totally dark outside of the palace. Her captors appeared to be some sort of a cross between a human and a fish.

Their hair was sea green, and so were their skin and eyes. The perfect camouflage. “If you do not release me at once, I shall use my powers on you and destroy all of you with a single blast.” This was said calmly and evenly, even though her thoughts were totally different.

This seemed to cause a rift in the creatures' courage, but the one who appeared to be the leader said, “She's prob'ly jus' bluffing. Aint that right, little girl?”

She was, of course, bluffing, but she wasn't about to admit to that. “To show weakness is to die” was her first ever lesson. Instead, she raised her arms over her head and made magic sparks fly out of her hand. This was one of the simplest tricks, and one of the first tricks that Numair had taught her, but it was effective, especially with non-magic folk. One couldn't exactly call harsh half-fish non-magic.

“Fool! You think your petty tricks can work on me?! Guards, throw her in the dungeon!”

Faria could do nothing to resist, so she let herself be led away. She was designing a plan for escape.

Her captor was none too gentle in handling her, and Faria was thrown into the dungeon. When she was able to get up, she explored every inch of the prison cell. She jumped when a voice whispered, “Ferget it. I've been here nigh three years and I still haven't found a way out.” Two bright eyes stared out at her through the gloom and darkness. “I'm Gainred, by the way.”

When Faria's eyes adjusted to the light she could see that Gainred was a blond haired copper eyed lad not more than twelve years of age. He looked tired and like he hadn't washed his hair in years. This was probably true, since he had been there three years.

“I'm Faria, and I don't know what offense I committed, other than existing.”

“That's exactly why you're in here. That particular Mermaid tribe is not friendly. Not friendly at all. They don't just put a simple death sentence on ye and be done with it. They leave you to rot in this dirty rat hole for years. If you like, I'll tell you my story.”

“That would help to pass the time, yes.”

“When I was three, my father died in a raid by the Uniragons. You know what Uniragons are, right? You know, half unicorn, half dragon?”

Faria nodded.

“My mother died of grief soon after that. I was left with my older sister Riana, and the twins- Sophia and Borimor. The younger ones are twins. When the evil king Archibald Williamburt II took our lands, I was five. His soldiers then took my siblings and me into slavery for a few years. I remember diving in a lake to try to escape the torture of slavery and I ended up here. I've been here ever since.”

“What happened to your siblings?”

“My older sister refused to get married to some rich lord or other and got sold to one of the cruelest masters as an example to the rest of us. My little brother got sold to another place and I have the feeling that he's either gone evil or died, since I can't telepathically communicate with him anymore. I believe it was the latter one, since even if he did turn evil I could still sense him on this earth. My little sister was walking along one day when in front of my very eyes she disappeared into a puff of green light. I really miss them. They're prob'ly telling stories about how I drowned in the lake or I got killed by the Merpeople.”

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I can see now that it has made an evil memory come back into your head.”

“S'all right. I needed to tell someone. By the way I'm Gainred.”

“You already said that. And I already said I was Faria.”

“I told you my name already? Oh, well. I happen to be eleven, by the way. You see, I tend to have a short term memory.

“Right. I've lived ten years.” Under her breath she muttered something unintelligible, but Gainred decided not to inquire. Suddenly there was an explosion and a series of screams. The cell door was busted down, and the two children did not waste their chance to escape. When the dust settled and cleared, Faria tried hard to stifle a scream. Floating right in front of them was one of the giant fish that she had seen earlier. This one looked like it would swallow her and Gainred in one gulp, when another of the giants came slamming into it, fighting over who got the meal. It turns out neither of the fish did, since the two companions and new found friends silently moved away, out of the cell, away from danger. After they entered the hallway leading away from the dungeon, they appeared to be in some sort of antechamber. Gainred spotted it first.

“Look, a portal!”

Without thinking they both jumped into it. When Gainred looked over at Faria, he saw her slim and long fingers fondling a jewel at her throat. There seemed to be something strange about Faria, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Let's see, he thought her fingers are really long and skinny, but that's natural. Faria's hair is golden. That's natural enough. Her eyes are a violet color with blue speckles. Aha! That's it! Her eyes are what are strange. You hardly ever see violet eyes. Of course there was something unnatural about her hair too, but what was it? When a strand of her hair blew around in the strange wind that was blowing in this strange world, he knew. Faria's hair wasn't just golden. It was also purple-streaked. Not something normal in a girl. She also seemed to be hiding something, but then again, so was he, he admitted to himself.

The portal was of a greenish color. Nothing strange about that. The strong and persistent wind was of those that have died and are meant to stay dead, but for some reason were roused. That wasn't good. That was not good at all. It meant war between kingdoms and people. The Dead Winds always brought bad tidings with them. Another name for these spirits was Thlimnocs, but no one ever called them that. In fact, few ever spoke of these fearsome creatures.

There was suddenly an evil shrieking, high-pitched and foreign. When Faria dared to open her eyes, what she saw was this: A girl about her own age, trying to fight off an evil looking creature that seemed to be a cross between the most fearsome and the foulest birds.

As the two children watched in horror, the Thlimnocs had silently closed in on them and suddenly they were slipping, slipping into darkness.

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