Chapter 32

Back to Downland

Aire decided that if she continued to bite her cheek, it would start to bleed and therefore it was time to stop. Alternatively, she started pacing back and forth between two trees, staring at the tip of the hiking boots she had procured for the occasion, similar to the ones Henna was wearing. Their purple suits would help them blend into the underground rocks once they reached Downland.

"As long as Mister Handsome deigns to arrive" the young witch thought with a hint of annoyance. The boy's delay worried her.

One enchanted note had been enough to convince Alec to help her, and even Henna had proved to be less reasonable than expected. Any person with common sense would strongly advise you against embarking on a mission of which you did not know the goal, but neither the Specialist nor the witch of maps had been prayed too much to participate in the action.

- Keep the soles for later. - Henna admonished her at that moment, adjusting her tail of wavy hair.

Aire was considering whether to respond badly or not when she finally heard the engine of an approaching shuttle. But she was disappointed to see a two-seater land in the grassy clearing in front of her. From inside, Alec opened the plate that served as a hatchback and leaned out.

- I didn't think we had company in this thing. If you had told me I would have taken an Owl instead of the jet. - he said.

- No no, this is fine. I take control of the lasers! - Henna exclaimed recognizing the type of vehicle, designed for the battle.

Aire glared at her.

- We will not use lasers. Come on, let's go up or we will never reach them. - she said, flying up to the shuttle.

Henna imitated her and they settled themselves in the copilot's seat. The space inside the passenger compartment was very little, but they would have had to settle for it.

- Route for? - asked Alec.

- The upland, at the Endless Caves. - said the brunette firmly.

Alec whistled, as if to emphasize the madness of the thing.

- What are we going to do over there? Not a great place, full of trolls. -

- You're with two witches, it's not trolls you should worry about. - Henna chuckled.

- With whom do I have the honor of speaking, young lady? - the boy asked jokingly.

- Henna of Zenith. And you are…? -

- Alec of Magix. -

- Okay, presentations made. - intervened Aire, - Two of my friends take part in a mission that foresees the descent to Downland. I don't know exactly the reason of the mission, but something tells me it has something to do with Valtor. -

Alec rolled his eyes.

- You had me steal a shuttle and you can't even tell me why? Ah, leave it alone. Know that I will think of you a lot when my uncle will force me to do two hours of weightlifting for punishment. Do you at least know what to do once you arrive? -

- We will find the others' shuttle, I will find out where they went and then we will follow them to the underground kingdom thanks to Henna's powers. -

- And once we've reached them what do we do? - asked Henna.

- We give him a hand and find out what happens. - said Aire, closing the conversation.

§§

Several kilometers in front of them, on the Owl the tension was cut with a knife. Among those who were worried about their girlfriend, who for their friends, who for their traveling companions, who for what was waiting for them, no one had the necessary spirit to make conversation.

"Stella would be able to make us at least smile" thought Brandon, looking at the place that the fairy of light used to occupy in the shuttle and where Maria was now sitting.

The only words had been those of Stormy, who had described what had happened in class at Desirè's insistence. Sky must have been thinking about it until then because he asked, feigning a casual tone:

- So, it was Musa's footband that opened a breach in your barriers? -

- Yes. - replied Darcy simply.

- I wonder why you're not in a coma. Only you. - said Sky launching a suspicious look at the Trix.

For Icy that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was an insinuation she could not bear, not after the last few days.

- Do you think I'm having fun?! That I am pleased to be in this situation?! Is that what you think of me, that I'm still the evil witch thirsting for power?! I was hoping we had clarified on that point! - snapped the ice witch and then regain control, - Sorry, - she said, - I'm just under pressure. -

What had gotten into her? She wasn't going to react that way, it wasn't like her. It was too emotional a behavior! Emotional... "No, I don't believe it. It can't be an effect of Bonding!" Yet a flow of words and feelings like that would have been expected by her mindmate, rather than by herself. However, she seemed to have achieved what her self-control had failed to achieve, given that Sky had not replied. A vibration broke the silence. It was her cell phone, a message. Without even reading its contents, Icy switched off the phone, muttering something against the stupid reminders. Lzzy would have to wait. She was surprised when Helia asked in a whisper:

- Are they ok? -

There was no question to ask who he was referring to.

- Yes. - she replied in the same way, and Helia tried a half smile to say to her "everything will be fine", but he didn't seem very convinced.

Then no one spoke anymore until the shuttle landed on a plain of barren and dry land, near a crack in the ground.

After getting off the shuttle, Stormy headed for the cave entrance, examining it. She was not at all happy about having to go down in that tangle of tunnels, where her powers would be mortified and dangerous. She was a sixth-level witch, of course, but the distance from the wind made her tire faster than usual and if she had managed to survive for months in the service of the Shadow Phoenix she owed it only to the large space provided by the cave, which allowed to the humid air of the river to move, creating quite strong winds, and of course to the Gloomix that Darkar himself had given her. In the tunnels that she was about to face, instead, the air would not have moved willingly, and she could not have used her electrical powers to avoid the risk of electrocuting her companions by hitting some conductive minerals. She was practically useless, and the thought tore a disconsolate sigh that she hurried to mask clearing her voice.

Maria approached her, handing her a luminous bracelet.

- It's a locator, in case we lose sight of each other. - she said, - What are we getting into? -

- In a sea of trouble. - Stormy answered sadly as she put on the locator, - Downland is governed by a woman, Amentia, who has every reason to hate us, but Faragonda didn't want to hear any reason. We told her that sending the three of us in person could mean a fatal delay, that we could help the Specialists via radio, that Amentia would be more patronizing with Daphne or with other fairies, but nothing. -

- You can't blame her, Valtor would have no qualms about hitting anyone, while you three are somewhat protected. He wants to keep you last, so for now you're safe, no matter how grim this security may be. -

Stormy reflected on the words of the young witch, upset. The basic idea was that before attacking her and her sisters Valtor would have made a void around them, in order to make them as vulnerable as possible.

The two witches were overtaken by Brandon and Sky, who would lead the group with Timmy immediately behind. Brandon said:

- Our goal is to reach the underground river that feeds Lake Roccaluce, from there we will head towards the city. There may be sentries, but it will be better to use magic as little as possible. Let's keep it as a last resort. -

- They are far enough now. We can land. - Alec said starting the landing maneuver.

Contrary to their expectations, they had managed to reach the shuttle just before it landed and had remained at altitude until the group had entered the cave. They had waited ten minutes before landing so that they wouldn't hear the jet engines: they had not broken half of the rules of two schools to be sent home as soon as they arrived. They would have followed them at a safe distance, reaching them in the city or a little earlier, when it would have been too late to send them back alone.

- Come on Henna, it's up to you. Let me see how realistic your maps are. - said Aire, arousing an amused sneer in her companion.

- Wasn't it realistic enough to bump into furniture? - she said, then surrounding herself with her emerald green aura and starting to fathom the tunnels below them.

- Bumping into furniture? - asked Alec, raising an eyebrow.

- Nothing. - Aire replied, not at all willing to tell him such an embarrassing story.

- All right. - said Alec with a shrug, - Do you know that this suit looks really good on you? -

Aire suddenly blushed as Henna giggled, still focused on her spell. But she spared her the hassle of answering the Specialist because she reabsorbed her aura and made a small three-dimensional projection made up of irregular, intertwined and untidy tubes appear on the palm of her hand, a tidier tube that ran at the bottom of the map and a huge cave full of buildings.

- This, - Henna said, creating a yellow dot near the slit on the surface, - is where we are. The others are here, - and a red dot appeared that moved slowly, lower, - and this is the road we have to travel to get to Downland. - she said finally, making the contours of the tunnels concerned thicker and making the peripheral ones disappear.

Alec was greatly admired. He examined the projection from all angles and said:

- It's perfect! Much more precise than our computer screenings. -

- Modestly. - said Henna, smiling captivating and then turning around, hitting Alec with her red hair.

- I shouldn't have two freshmen treat me like this. - Alec muttered, and immediately wished he hadn't done it because Aire and Henna turned back to him.

- Call us freshmen again and you'll see! - they exclaimed in unison.

The boy raised his hands in surrender.

- Ops. -

§§

Meanwhile, the other group proceeded quickly through the narrow tunnels, illuminated by the spectral light of the crystals. Although disturbing, these were an excellent support for the guys, who had difficulty maintaining balance on the wet and slippery ground. Desirè tried to touch them as little as possible, but she gave in when she almost risked falling and breaking something if Helia didn't catch her.

After about an hour they arrived at the river, which gave Stormy enormous relief: the tunnel in fact widened to reach a height of at least thirty meters, not to mention that between one shore and the other there was at least twice as much space. Without stopping, they began to follow the course of the river, guided by some rare fissures in the vault and by the ubiquitous crystals. Slowly the shore began to shrink and, by the moment when they had skirted the river for half an hour, they found a stair carved in the rock that proceeded upwards. But, hidden by the rocky wall that protected the staircase, thirty warriors were waiting for them who immediately surrounded them.

Desirè instinctively raised her hands, ready to fight, but Nex signaled her to remain calm, yet keeping his halberd in view.

Among the massive figures of the warriors a tall, slender young woman made her way, clutching a long golden scepter and wearing a queen's diadem, just below the red veil that joined the dress and cloak, hiding her dark hair.

- I will not let you enter my city! I'm Queen Amentia and I don't forget who gets in my way! - the newcomer exclaimed, glaring at Icy.

- Your Majesty, we come to ask for your help... - Helia tried to say, but was immediately silenced by Amentia.

- Silence, or you will rot in the prisons for the rest of your life! As soon as you were identified by my sentinels, I realized that today I'll get the revenge I deserve! -