Spirit of the Rainbow
Author: Zorra Reed
Moonrise Inn Publications
Chapter One: Puppet Dance
Waves of gray rolled in from the east, darkening the sky as they turned and billowed with the promise of a coming storm. The trio: a stunning steed with a multi-colored mane; a colorless sprite (currently one of only two in the known universe); and a young girl dressed in blue, adorned with the legendary color belt, hovered on the precipice dividing their realm from the barren Pits. Caught between land and sky, the rainbow road upon which they traveled gradually lowered at the girl's silent command; the wind tugging playfully at the purple ribbon bowed around her ponytail. Reflexively, she brushed back the soft curls patting her face and swept her gaze across the desolate landscape, unconcerned with the tremors still vibrating through the earth. They set down near a zigzagging land arch bridging the two realms. The pass, leading up the mountainside to the dwelling of Murky Dismal, reached across a great chasm now filled with burning rock. "Rainbow—"
She silenced Twink's question with a look and slid from Starlite's back with practiced ease, careful not to dislodge the sprite. Landing hard on her toes, she let her fingers linger against Starlite's crest to assure her guardian. She'd only need a moment, and she knew he'd give it to her without probing questions. Gaze transfixed on the distant lair of her enemy, Rainbow ventured forward, closer to the unstable ledge than either of her companions cared for.
Night after night, a haunting voice of nightmares invaded her dreams, feeding upon her insecurities. The visions grew over time, transforming into a reality of their own that often left her fearful of the nightly shadows. Then one night, he came to her, his form descending from the darkness to slither across the bed. He'd laid his cold fingers to her throat; her body had convulsed as the air was choked from her. She had awakened to various hues decorating her neck and arms, bruises she tried to hide. As his power grew, he appeared to her again, pulling her from the bed, his nails digging into her back. She'd screamed, the chilling touch of venom burned into the wounds. She'd awakened two days later in her own bed, unwilling to answer the endless questions from the color kids and offering no explanation for the intruder they'd seen flee into the night. The lesson was learned.
In her dreams, he'd brought her here, back to the place where her new life had begun. Here is where he wanted to face her. He was strongest in this place, buried beneath the rubble of Murky's crumpled dwelling. She felt him there now, as certainly as she felt the sting of cloth against her unhealed wounds. They festered with his evil aura, weakening her. Rainbow clenched her fist in frustration, the only outward sign of her anger that she allowed herself to show. Another tremor passed beneath her feet, chipping away at the friable stone she stood upon.
"Be careful, Rainbow," Starlite cautioned from his place behind her. Unable to move closer for Rainbow's own safety, least his weight collapse the ground as it had once before –long ago— during another earth shake. He nervously stamped his hoof against the rock and urged her to return to him. "You're too close to the edge."
Grip tightening in the polychrome mane he clung to, Twink barked at the unexpected jolt. "Easy, Starlite, I don't want to fall."
The horse whinnied softly, moving back several steps. "I don't like lingering in this place," Starlite explained with apprehension, heightening the sprites own unease. Always, he had sensed the lingering residue of villainy that had spawned in the caverns of Murky's laboratory. Today was no different. Something dark resided here. Worst still, it often shadowed Rainbow, much to his displeasure. "There are too many bad memories here."
"But…this is where we met you," Twink protested weakly, not understanding. For him, the memory was precious. The friendship that had formed between the three that day had been the only good thing to come out of the Pits, ever! It hurt to know that Starlite didn't agree. "What about Rainbow? We met over there," he pointed a way's off towards the thrashing river.
"I'm not saying our meeting is without meaning, Twink," Starlite explained, tilting his head back enough to glance at the emotional sprite while keeping Rainbow within his sights, ready to spring to action if she miss-stepped. "I'm well aware that had Rainbow not found me that fateful day, I'd still be a frozen statue decorating this forsaken land." He allowed his gaze to briefly drift to his old prison. If he'd not been found by the small child he now owed his allegiance too, he would have been buried beneath rubble long ago. "However, the Pits is no place for a child of light to be lingering, nor us for that matter. I'm sorry," he shook his head, mane flapping freely, "but I cannot dismiss this place so easily as you."
"It's okay," Twink straightened, and smiled. His gaze lifting to the blanket of clouds above as his fur tingled with a growing static charge. Nearly three hundred years had passed with the immortal children since Rainbow's arrival. Time wasn't something he often thought about outside of his duties to help herald the seasons. However, time is what Starlite seemed to require. The willful steed not yet ready to forgive the past. "That was so long ago. We're all together now, and that's the only thing that truly matters."
"Well said," the horse agreed, ending the conversation. Impatiently, he clomped his hoof against the rock again, a spark igniting momentarily at the point of contact. "Why are we here, anyway?" he mused aloud, hoping to gain Rainbow's attention but drawing Twink's instead. The air was growing chilled and he didn't wish to be caught in the forthcoming downpour. Like the other animals, Starlite had sensed the quake moments before it had happened. He'd urged Rainbow and Twink onto his back and the girl had summoned a Rainbow to carry them without question. Once high enough to avoid any unpleasant consequences, they'd watched as their home land suffered. Twink had squawked and carried on, worried for his village. Rainbow, on the other hand, had remained silent, unexpectedly directing the rainbow towards The Pits.
"Rainbow," Twink called, ready to return to their happy home of color and laughter. The Pitts was a place of gloom and seemed to have seeped in to each of them, placing his friend into an oddly negative mood. Twink thought it best not to linger. Besides, he was anxious to see if Rainbow Land had survived the quake. Just then, a strangely warm breath of air struck at them. Twink shuttered at the foul sensation it left crawling over his skin, his instincts screaming for him to run. "Why are we here, Rainbow?" his voice shook at her lack of reaction. Even Starlite had trembled beneath him. "Murky and Lurky are still off-planet. There's no one in there."
"I wouldn't be so certain," Starlite all but growled, body tensing as he shifted his weight to his hind legs, preparing to protect the girl from what he felt coming.
"Come, little pretender," the disembodied voice of her dreams summoned her, filling her ears and drowning all other sounds. "Little Wisp."
"Wisp." Her given name, before she'd saved this world from the dark phantom known only as, The Evil One. At the time, she'd been young and naive to the evil inherent in this cursed land. Believing that inside all sentient beings was the will to do good. A mistake she'd never again make. Two voices becoming one, she repeated the unnerving whispers slowly consuming her mind; "Foolish child from another world."
"Rainbow!" Twink snapped suddenly, wincing with guilt as Starlite pinned back his sensitive ears. Rainbow's words had carried with them a frightening reality as they'd reached the small sprite. For the first time in a long while, he feared for her. "Look at me, Rainbow!"
Oblivious to Twink's pleas, Rainbow reached out, fingers curling around a ghostly hand as the hint of a shadow began to take form before her. She was his puppet now, helpless to break her strings. Tears streamed from her eyes as her lips moved in time with her master's; "Come to me," she stepped forward, "my pet."
"I think not!" Starlite lunged, placing himself between Rainbow and the Shadow, his weight forcing the girl to the ground. Rainbow cried out, skidding along the rocks before settling in a cloud of dust.
"Watch out!" Twink squawked a moment later, his body propelling towards Rainbow as he was flung from the horse's back. Flipping over, Rainbow curled her legs just in time to avoid the sprites summersaulting form from crushing her. Twink rolled to a stop, his white fur clumped with dust. "Are you alright, Rainbow?" he coughed, trying to orientate himself.
Sparing a glance towards the confused sprite, Rainbow's attention was instantly back on, "Starlite!" as the Shadow curled itself around him. She pushed herself up, oblivious to the sea of shards rising from the chasm. It was her fault her friends were entangled in this nightmare, she wasn't about to let them face it alone. Rushing forward, she pressed the star on her belt to summon a rainbow fragment to battle the evil entrapping Starlite.
"Rainbow!" the steed gasped as the rainbow covered the shadows form and slipped between himself and the ghostly tentacles holding him. Rainbow was herself again. The relief that flooded him was short-lived, however; Twink's horrified cry alerting him to the danger approaching his unprotected child. He bucked as the shadow released him, too late to intervene.
Rainbow stopped short, eyes drawn to the oncoming rocks. Having time enough to raise her arms as a shield, she willed the rainbow back to her; its magic withdrawing from the shadow to weave a path through the flying shards. Rainbow's pained screams tore at the hearts of those who cared for her; the shards tearing at her flesh before the rainbow could enclose her in a protective cocoon.
The storm broke.