The moon lit up the night as the group traveled on towards the mountains, Lord Milori continuing to lead the way. There was still almost a full day of flying before they would actually reach the mountains. Milori looked over his shoulder to the others, each of them were obviously struggling to stay awake. Tink seemed to be trying the hardest to stay awake. This didn't surprise Milori though, she wanted to save her sister as soon as possible. He too wanted to be reunited with Clarion as soon as possible.
It was getting late and he knew the group wouldn't be able to last much longer. Milori quickly decided that it was time to take shelter for the night. Ahead of them was a small clearing. Milori let out a low trill, and the owls began a slow descent towards the ground. Once landed the girls slid off their owls and collapsed to the ground, each of them tired beyond belief. Milori simply leaped off his owl and began walking off towards the mountains.
"Where are you going?" Rosetta asked.
He turned back to them. "You want to stay warm don't you?".
"Well yeah, but," Vidia began.
"Then I'll be back with some firewood," Milori stated and then walked off.
When Lord Milori returned with some wood and got a fire going everyone had settled down for the night. Fawn and Silvermist almost fell asleep instantly after lying down near the fire. The others sat and had small conversations. Lord Milori mostly kept to himself as the remaining girls slowly fell asleep. One by one the others fell asleep and soon it was just Vidia and Milori awake. He had stayed awake and had been tending to the fire, but Vidia sat silently.
She wanted to clear her conscience, so she wouldn't have to deal with it's constant nagging eating away at her. "Lord Milori,".
He had been staring into the flickering flames of the fire for the past few moments. When Vidia spoke it appeared to startle him. It somehow seemed like he had been in a more peaceful, comforting place than where he was now, but then he was suddenly being awoken from a dream. Milori looked over toward her.
As he did Vidia let out a huge yawn. "How are you not tired?".
Milori let out a low chuckle and turned to the fire a moment, then stood up.
"I'm sorry about what happened last night. I shouldn't have put you in that position and...".
"No, what you did made me realize that if something were to happen to me, I would need to count on you to continue on and save Clarion and Periwinkle,".
"You trust us, but we're just fairies like everyone else,".
"Yes, you all have risked your lives before, either trying to save each other or all of Pixie Hollow. Does that seem like something anyone else would do?".
Vidia let out a sigh and yawned again.
"Get some rest, we still have a long way ahead of us,".
Vidia nodded back to him and went over by her friends.
Milori let out a sigh as well and walked over to his owl. He leaned up against him and stared up into the night sky. A dark figure suddenly flew above them, a bird of some sort. It was unknowing of their presence as it continued on into the mountains. Milori watched it's direction, it would most likely be going to wherever Clarion was being held. He slowly eased himself to sleep with the thought of having her safe in his arms.
000
A large, bird-like, figure flew into the cave. It's large wings became small and suddenly were the arms of a man. The figure's feathers were now a robe that reached the floor. What was an abnormally large bird, was now a man. This was no ordinary man, he had a bird-like posture. A large curled in beak, sharpened to a point, took up most of the man's face. Two cold dark eyes, that seemed to eat away at your soul, were positioned on the man's face like they normaly would. His large beak wrapped under them.
The man moved deeper into the cave. With the wave of a wand, bowls of coals that were placed along the walls suddenly became inflamed and lit up the room. A crow swooped down and landed on the man's shoulder.
"You keep an eye on our prisoners, Aladar?", he spoke to the bird with a deep Russian accent.
"They're just a bunch of fairies sire," the bird replied with a hissing voice.
"One of them is no ordinary fairy, my pet. She is the queen of the fairies and she harnesses an untold magic which I will use to rule all of Neverland!".
"Will her magic be enough?".
"There is another fairy, a sparrowman in fact. He will prove to be most useful,".
"The one from all those years ago?".
"Precisely,".
"How do plan on capturing him?".
"No need. He's already on his way here. Come to save the love of his life,".
"The fairy queen?".
"Indeed. We shall use her to lure him here and harness both of their magic. Then take over all of Neverland!".
000
Periwinkle skated across the ice, her friends close behind her. She enjoyed ice skating, it gave her peace at mind. Spike quickly dash past her, Gliss as well.
"Come on Peri. Quit being a slow poke," Gliss called to her.
"Coming!".
She skated over but then suddenly Spike and Gliss were gone. Trees suddenly sprouted all around the ice. Many branches stuck out from each of them and they were lined with crows. They all began to caw obnoxiously. Peri covered her ears. Their caws made her head ache, the noise felt like it was splitting her eardrums. She dropped to her knees, she began to feel weak.
The crows leaped off the branches and darted towards her. She cowered in fear and scream as the pecked at her. Her attempts to kick them away were pointless. A laugh rang out and continued to echo.
Clarion was awoken by the sound of crying. She turned to see Periwinkle crying, still asleep, trapped in a horrifying dream. As Peri whimpered and fidgeted, her forehead grew hot. Clarion immediately tried to wake her, but Peri just continued to toss and turn, her skin becoming warmer and warmer as she did. Unable to wake her, Clarion turned to the bars of the cage. She looked to see an all too familiar bird beaked man staring back at her.
"Stop this!" she stated sternly.
"Or else what, you're just a fairy. You don't even have your real powers!" he taunted back to her.
Clarion glanced down at her dress, she had forgotten what had happened. What happened just days ago, now felt like forever. She now possessed each of the winter fairy talents. Something reflected off the metal bars of the cage and shined in her face. Clarion got a sudden idea and quickly created a thin layer of ice around one. She then leaned Peri against the cold bar. Peri relaxed and stopped tossing and turning, her skin grew cooler.
"Quick thinking, your highness," the bird beaked man sneered, "That's not the only trick up my sleeve,".
Peri let out a short groan. Clarion's attention immediately fell upon her. "What happened? And why is it so hot in here?".
"It's going to be alright, just stay where you are,", and she gave her a warm smile. Trying to give her the feeling that everything was going to be alright.
Clarion returned her gaze to the bird beaked man, but he was gone. He certainly gad some untold abilities, and he was dangerous as it was. The bird beaked man didn't seem like the kind of person to infuriate.