More wonderful reviews! Thank you all so much! I'm so glad you're all enjoying it! Please enjoy this next chapter! Things are starting to get real!
"I have a plan," Ronin said after the long silence that had ensued after his decision to stay. He and Soonrah were sitting at the table in the little hole.
Soonrah looked up at him curiously.
"We're assuming he hasn't found the bulbs yet. Otherwise he would already be here. Why don't we distract him? Give him something else to focus on. We can grab the bulbs and bring them here, where we'll have the advantage. We'll be able to defeat him."
"Kill him," Soonrah correctly softly.
"Yes, kill him."
Soonrah nodded. "There are three," she said. "And they're very delicate. We need gentle souls to carry them."
"Gentle souls?"
"Yes. The bulb can sense your being. It will break if a dark soul touches it."
"How can we tell who is gentle enough?"
"I can tell," Soonrah said with a nod. "I will go about your people. I will find them."
Ronin let out a sigh. "All right," he said. He didn't like the idea of letting this stranger peer into the souls of all the people in his lands, but it looked like he had no choice. Once Mandrake had those bulbs, they would be goners.
Soonrah nodded and looked away. Something about him made her shiver. But she wasn't sure if it was a shiver of fear or of something else.
The two fell into an awkward silence.
"You have one," Soonrah said softly. Ronin blinked and looked up at her.
"What?" he asked.
"You," she said. "You have have a gentle soul. You could carry a bulb."
Ronin nodded, trying not to take it as a compliment. "But I should head the distraction team. I am a good fighter and leader."
"You cannot let someone else do it in your stead?"
Ronin thought about this. "It would be best for me to," he said. "If I am not there, Mandrake will suspect a trick."
"He could be expecting one now," she said. "One of his boggans is dead."
Ronin raised his eyebrows. "You killed it?"
"Yes."
Ronin couldn't believe it. This small delicate thing not only spoke of death, but had actually handed it out. Be the victim a nasty boggan or not.
"I had to," Soonrah added, as if defending herself. "He was going to make me disappear like the others. I needed to warn you. To get help. I didn't really know what I was doing. He was on top of me, and I couldn't get him off. I found a twig and next thing I knew, it had sliced through his heart." Soonrah hid her face in shame. She would be crying had she any tears left from her conversation with the Queen. Ronin frowned and reached over, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"The first kill is hard," he said. "And it doesn't get easier. Boggans or not, death is death. Are you sure you are ready for this battle?"
After a moment, the fairy revealed her face and nodded. "I will be helping to collect the bulbs. Mandrake will not expect a fairy to be in ranks with the Leafmen. He will think me safe and sound in Moonhaven." Then she did something she would not expect herself to do. She placed her hand atop his on her shoulder. The touch sent electricity through her. She blinked and took her hand away. Ronin must have felt something, too, for he also pulled his hand away. He cleared his throat.
"It's a plan, then," he said. He looked out at the rain finally began to stop and the sun began to burst through the clouds. "Well, are you ready to discover Moonhaven?"
Soonrah grinned and nodded. Ususally, fairies didn't much like new things. New places, new people. But something about exploring the beautiful forest with Ronin brought excitement to her. She no longer feared his presence. Rather, she discovered, she quite enjoyed it.
"ARIA!" Mandrake roared. He burst into the prison, racing over to the fairy Queen as she sat weakly on the ground of her rotten cage.
Despite her lack of strength, the Queen's golden eyes remained fierce as she looked up at Mandrake. The decay-demon growled as he gripped the bars and brought his face close to them.
"You! You and your little fairy brat! You have a plan, don't you?!"
Fairies began to murmur among themselves. What was he talking about? If their Queen had a plan, they knew nothing of it.
"I'm certain," Queen Aria said as strongly as she could. "I'm certain . . . I do not know what you are talking about."
"That little brat that got away!" he growled. The fairies gasped. He knew! But the Queen remained calm, despite the panic growing inside her. Her little Soonrah!
"I do not know of any fairy that has gotten away," she said, adamant on keeping him in the dark.
"Then who killed my boggan?!" he demanded. "There was a twig through his heart. That was no accident! Your little fairy has gone to warn the Leafmen!"
The fairies gasped again. She had killed a boggan?!
"All my fairies . . . are here."
Mandrake growled again and reached into the cage, grabbing hold of the Queen's collar and pulling her close to the bars. "You will tell me your plan," he said, his voice dark. "Or one by one, you will watch your fairies die." He snapped a finger and a guard made his way to the other cage. The fairies cowered away, but there was not enough room and he grabbed hold of one of the fairies, young Zunco, and forced him to touch the bars. He screamed as his body began to rot at the contact.
Queen Aria flinched. She had to stay strong for her fairies. But she could not let them die so. "Please," she begged him softly. "One fairy has gotten away. But I know not her plan."
"Don't you?" Mandrake asked. He snapped his finger again, and the boggan pulled on Zunco harder until his body was nothing but a rotten twig. He was gone. The boggan reached for another fairy.
"Mandrake, please!" Queen Aria begged. "I swear to you, I know not her plan." Mandrake growled, but called his boggan off. "You little brats!" he roared, letting go of her. "You will all regret this! You will never live to see the light of day again!"
