2: Mendigo
"This is impossible!" Bracken was yelling. He was tensed up, ready for a fight, but at the same time, Kendra could see the shock on his face. Fairy magic had never failed before-and never so spectacularly.
"How'd this happen?" Kendra shouted, cautiously eyeing the mass of poised wooden limberjacks. She realised something even as she did. "Are they all... are they all Mendigo?"
"Yes!" Seth moaned. "The fairies' magic must have screwed up... I told you they didn't like me!" He was gripping a wooden bat and his eyes darted from one Mendigo to another.
Kendra looked at Warren. "He came alive," Warren said, "and multiplied. One moment there was just one. The next, there were dozens just materialising out of thin air." He gestured at the limberjacks. "The thing is, they haven't attacked, so we don't know-"
"Seth!" Bracken hollered, and Seth leapt back in shock as a limberjack thudded to the ground at his feet still clawing feebly, Bracken's sword impaling it through its body and pinning it to the floor. The three limberjacks nearest to Warren leapt at him, a flurry of wooden limbs. Each of them as tall as Warren was and incapable of pain or feeling, they were a formidable opponent, and Warren, caught off guard, was already struggling.
Suddenly the rest of the limberjacks sprung into action. Several hurled themselves at Kendra, but were knocked off course by Vanessa Santoro, who had charged into the scene with a grim look on her face. The narcoblix surveyed the scene grimly, then launched herself into the fight. Mara was not far behind.
It was one of Kendra's more guilty moments. She had never been much help in a physical fight. She wasn't a fantastic fighter like Warren or Vanessa. She didn't even have Seth's mix of courage and sheer insanity. All she had-and at times like this, regrettably-were fairy powers which did not include magic for combat.
Still, there was no point feeling sorry for herself at a time like this. She'd just have to use whatever she had. Which, in this case, meant the large golden orb she had spied among the presents earlier.
She raced back into the kitchen and scooped up the sphere. The second it came into contact with her skin, it began to glow a pure, brilliant white. It was magic. Excellent. Kendra rejoined the fight just in time to see a limberjack grappling with her brother. The ball was heavy and hot in her hands as her energy infused it.
Seth spotted Kendra. "Help me!" He yelled, attempting to keep the puppet's arms from throttling him. "Now would be a good time for some awesome fairy magic!"
"One second!" Kendra felt the ball hum beneath her fingers, and she knew it was ready. She hurled it at the limberjack, and it smashed into the puppet, bowling it over and cracking its body into splinters.
"Nice aim." Seth said, panting as he stood and picked up the ball. "Can I throw it?"
Kendra eyed her brother, who would gleefully send a wrecking ball into enemies. He might be able to use it more effectively than her. "Okay."
Seth grinned and with a powerful, arching throw knocked the head off a limberjack about to attack Warren. "Like coconuts at the carnival!" He whooped, diving in to retrieve his new favourite weapon. Kendra went to pick up Seth's abandoned bat and found herself being fairly good with it.
Although the limberjacks had the advantage in numbers, they had no thoughts, and were ineffective as a group. On the other hand, Kendra and Seth soon discovered that with the bat and orb, they could take down more than one limberjack with some strategising and careful placement. "Go long!" Seth yelled, a crazy grin on his face as he hurled the ball through the air. It smashed into one limberjack and Kendra whacked it with the bat, changing its course and sending it barrelling into another puppet. Seth cheered and ducked to get the sphere. "Again!"
"Nice batting, Kendra," Vanessa remarked as she took out a limberjack by dismantling it. The wooden limbs clattered onto the floor. Kendra glanced around the room and found the scatterings of dozens of wooden puppets lying mournfully on the floor.
"What about me?" Seth was saying indignantly. "I threw it!"
Vanessa smirked. "Nice throwing, Seth." She plucked the ball from his hands and with a two-handed grip brought it straight down on a limberjack's head. Seth watched open-mouthed as the head cleaved into millions of splinters.
"Cool." He breathed. "Do that again!"
Vanessa obliged, and Kendra rolled her eyes as Seth leapt around like a hyperactive kid, cheering as the narcoblix whipped around causing maximum damage with the solid orb, her slim figure and grace betraying uncharacteristic strength. She was a born fighter. Kendra even found it vaguely unfair that Vanessa was beautiful, powerful and charming all at the same time.
As Vanessa was drawn into the fight, flashes of silver edged towards her, whipping through the air: Bracken, slicing through the puppets as easily as tissue paper, swords slashing with a magical grace. Between Vanessa, Bracken, Warren and some hollering and attempts from Seth, the puppets soon flopped feebly on the floor, no more dangerous than toys.
Vanessa tossed her hair and frowned down at the mess. "Stan isn't going to like this." She warned. "He's so convinced this house is safe."
"It normally is." Warren reminded her with a matching expression.
"What could have caused this?" Mara wondered, circling the mass of broken, splintered limberjacks. Kendra's eyes trailed her pacing.
"I didn't know Mendigo could multiply." Seth muttered to himself. "Which one is even the real one?"
Bracken was quietly lost in thought, but he met Kendra's worried glance reassuringly. "Tanu and Ruth are not on the premises, but the rest of us are still here. If this was an assassination attempt of sorts, it was a poorly planned one."
"Who would be trying to assassinate one of us?" Kendra asked, then realised it was a stupid question. In their time at Fablehaven, they had gained many friends, but made just as many enemies.
"My guess if they were after Seth, since he was attacked first and alone."
Vanessa's eyes darted to Seth. "When was this?" She said sharply, her voice accusing. "Why didn't I hear about it?"
"Didn't you tell her?" Bracken and Warren questioned Kendra in startled unison.
"I forgot." Kendra said sheepishly, trying to sound apologetic.
"Well, you can update me while we pick up this mess." Vanessa said shortly, eyeing the puppet parts with distaste. "And, Seth, I doubt it will be any small task finding the real Mendigo at this point."
"That's not a priority." Warren said tersely. "We've got to go inform Stan first. Bracken, come with me." He hesitated before adding, "Kendra, Seth, I suppose you'd better come along as well."
Looking excited at the prospect of escaping what would invariably be clean up duty, Seth skipped over wooden limbs to Warren. Kendra followed with a little less enthusiasm and a lot more apprehension.
Her grandfather was in his study, frowning over a letter. Kendra glanced at the minute fairy skull in its display case as she walked by; it seemed a lot less pretty, and a lot more scandalous now that she knew the Fairy Queen. Warren gave a little cough to announce their presence; Grandpa Sorenson looked up, startled, evidently having been too absorbed in what he was reading to notice them come in.
"Ah, Stan-"
"Grandpa, we got attacked by like a hundred Mendigos!" Kendra wished fervently Seth didn't sound so enthusiastic. At any rate, he should be letting Warren explain. Ever since Zzyxz, Seth was usually more mature than he used to be, but he still had little slips of his previous self from pre to early Fablehaven days. Such as now.
Grandpa Sorenson straightened and put down the letter, more creases forming between his eyebrows. He looked at Warren for clarification. "Attacked?" He inquired tersely when he had heard the story. "And what do you think happened?"
"Well, dark magic, for one-" Warren began, but was interrupted by Grandpa's "no, not you. Kendra."
Kendra was startled. "Me?"
"Yes. What do you think happened?"
"Um, I don't know. I mean, I kind of just came home and Mendigo was attacking Seth..." Kendra's voice trailed off sheepishly; she knew it wasn't the answer her grandfather wanted to hear. "Dark magic, like Warren said, I suppose." She frowned suddenly. "Grandpa, you don't think it's a demon or something like that, do you?"
"I don't think so." Grandpa Sorenson said, but unconfidently. "All the demons should now be in Zzyxz-I mean, the fairy kingdom-well, the new prison. On this property, none of the major demons or dark forces remain. Kurisock and Ephira, Graulas, the revenant, Muriel Taggert, Bahumat..." He ticked names off his fingers. "All killed or imprisoned."
Memories had resurfaced with each name. Lena, the naiad who had left her pond and sacrificed her life to end a plague that was falling over Fablehaven at the lair of Kurisock. Graulas, who had caused their friend Coulter Dixon to lose his life. The revenant, who had, for so many years, kept Warren in an albino state until destroyed by Seth. Muriel Taggert and Bahumat, the terrors of Kendra's first stay at Fablehaven, whom she had to enlist the help of the fairy army to destroy. So much death and destruction in those few names. Kendra almost shuddered.
"-outside sources?" Warren was saying in a low voice. "Other beings... you must have heard the stories..."
"I have heard them, but choose not to believe them." Grandpa Sorenson said curtly. "Impossible fairytales."
Kendra seemed to have missed a bit in her reverie. She looked at Seth, hoping for answers, and was surprised to find her brother listening attentively to Warren and Grandpa. She glanced sideways at Bracken, who seemed to be paying as close, if not more, attention to the conversation.
"Stan, you've seen Zzyxz, you've seen your own granddaughter become fairykind... are you still trying to tell me there are things you think are impossible?"
"These are." Grandpa Sorenson said. "It completely goes against everything we know. The thought of it is ridiculous."
"But it's the only plausible answer. Think, Stan. That case up North, the inexplicable deaths, seemingly safe houses penetrated by dark magic, it's the same, isn't it?" Warren leaned forward insistently. "Only those weren't secret preserves like this one. You'd need much more powerful magic to infiltrate the safety of Fablehaven, and whoever it was has done it. Who-or what-else could it be?"
"I refuse to believe it's possible."
"Refusal to believe-that's what mom and dad did, wasn't it? For ages and ages, even though you tried to show them?" Seth pointed out. "And they missed out on so many awesome things!"
"They also missed out on the demons, though, that's a good thing." Kendra reminded him.
"Well, nothing's perfect, is it? When you're past it all the demons were actually pretty cool."
"Cool enough to kill you."
"Yeah, I mean-"
"Enough." Grandpa Sorenson said wearily. "Bracken, you've been quiet... what say you on the matter?" He cast Warren a look as he spoke, as though daring Bracken to side with Warren.
"I don't think it's any of the demons we've encountered before, or even a force known to us." Bracken said carefully. "But I have to say it doesn't seem plausible that the legends are true, even if if appears to be the only solution."
"It fits in perfectly!" Warren cried.
"Do you know what these legends are?" Kendra whispered to Seth, finally unable to take not knowing.
"A little, from what they were saying just now. Apparently there are rumoured to be different kinds of magic," Seth said quietly as Warren, Bracken and Grandpa debated. "Different demons. Not like those in Zzyxz. From somewhere else all together."
"Where would they have come from?" Kendra asked, bewildered. "How? Why?"
"I don't know. Grandpa doesn't believe they're anything more than stories."
"I gathered." Kendra murmured. Warren was insistent that they were real. Grandpa was just as stubborn that they didn't exist. Bracken, born a diplomat, was caught uncertainly on the fence, not quite sure who to support.
"Bracken." Warren demanded. "You're the Fairy Queen's son. You must have heard something..."
Bracken frowned. Kendra felt the urge to smile because it was the exact same expression he'd had when she'd asked him what movie he'd wanted to watch. It was a slightly bewildered look, overwhelmed by the question. "There is... I suppose... my mother, the Queen, mentioned something once." He said hesitantly. "About greater evils than the demons of Zzyxz."
It felt like all warmth had been drained from the room. Warren didn't even look happy that he was right. Greater evils wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for. Grandpa looked defeated and sank into his chair, gesturing for Bracken to elaborate. The unicorn's frown deepened. He pushed his silvery hair away from his face. "Even I don't know much about it. Only that a long, long time ago, just after Zzyxz was created, they found dark creatures beyond their power to subdue. They could not defeat them, or imprison them as they did with the demons in Zzyxz, and thus banished them beyond this realm. No one quite knows where they were exiled to, exactly, but they were still very powerful, and the wizards who banished them almost died completing the spell. Several actually did. My mother could probably tell you more." He said finally.
Warren drummed his fingers on the table. "Stan, how many of the ancient wizards do we know?"
"Agad." Grandpa Sorenson answered. "You're not thinking of asking him about it?"
"As a matter of fact, that was exactly what I was thinking. Do you think I could take a trip to Living Mirage now?"
"No." Grandpa said firmly. "We need to wait for Ruth and the others to return so we can discuss this properly." As he finished speaking, the door burst open. It was Tanu.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said urgently, "but the rest of us would like to join in. We have things to report, and they're not good."
