Chapter 3
The first thing I felt was a soft moist breeze against my face. I opened my eyes and saw a bright blue sky above me. I noticed a flock of birds riding the gentle waves of the clouds high up above... except, these birds seemed to be colored bright blue and red. I had never seen birds like these before, and I wondered what they were doing here. I thought that perhaps they were thrown off of their course of flight by wind, or something.
I stood up, and it dawned on me that the surroundings looked very different than they had they had the last time I was... conscious. A flood of questions entered my mind: Where am I – somewhere different? What were those strange birds doing here? What was that strange ball of energy, and where did it go? I decided that I would learn nothing here, so I picked a direction and started walking.
After I walked for a while, I started to hear a slight roar, like a waterfall. Strange, I thought, because the nearest river was on the other side of the highway from where I lived. I slowly approached the source of the sound, not believing that the source was water. I was wrong: I reached the edge of the trees and froze in my tracks – In front of me was laid a vast ocean, its waves gently crashing onto its sandy beach.
Dumbfounded, I turned around and started to run. I was in a state of panic, not knowing where I was or what I would do. I ran for about half of an hour before I wore myself out and had to stop to rest. I sat down and tried to think rationally. It was difficult, considering what had happened to me. Looking around, I tried to find something, anything that I would recognize. I knew it was vain, for I was near an ocean, and I knew that the nearest ocean had been at least two hundred miles away... still, I was driven by instinct to somehow get my bearings... but I had no such luck. I did, though, notice that there were a lot of wood scraps around, along with ash and pieces of charcoal. The whole clearing seemed to me to be some kind of grounds for burning wood waste. I walked through the ashes for a while, searching carefully for any kind of a clue as to my whereabouts. Eventually, something caught my eye – something golden appeared to be buried in the ashes. On the part that was visible, I could see some kind of runes or symbols etched deeply. I dug it up out of the moist ashes and was very surprised at my find – it was a brilliant golden harp, all of its strings broken.
Fratley, in a blaze of panic, leapt over to where Freya had been standing a second before. "Freya...!? Freya, no...!" he yelled, crouching on his hands and knees beside the statue. It appeared to him that when the statue fell over, it had completely and mercilessly flattened his poor Freya... but then, he heard a muffled cry.
"Fratley... I'm here! I'm alright," Freya called.
Relieved but puzzled, Fratley moved to the head of the statue, as it seemed to slope upward to that point. "Freya!" Fratley cried, when he stooped back down. For there was Freya in the trench, underneath the giant rock, alive and well. "How...? You're alive; thank heavens, but... how?" Fratley asked, awed at how Freya could have survived such an ordeal.
"I saw the rope break and the statue begin to tip over," explained Freya, "and I threw myself down into this trench, bringing this iron bar sideways over the trench. It is what saved me."
"Oh, Freya, I'm so glad you're alright..." said Fratley as he pulled her out of the trench. "You gave us quite a scare, there, for a moment."
"Well, it's all over now, thank goodness," said Freya, brushing herself off. "I'm okay, my dear."
A crowd of others had come over to the scene to see what the commotion was. King Puck, emerging from the crowd, asked, "Freya, Fratley! What's goin' on? We heard a big crash!"
"Freya was nearly killed, when this statue fell over," explained Gary, "It was Freya's quick thinking that saved her."
King Puck looked up at Freya and said, "I'm glad you're alright, Freya... don't go killing yourself – you're one of the most useful people we got right now."
Freya laughed and said, "Alright, my lord... I'll try to be more careful next time." He can be quite an energetic and innocent child sometimes, she thought to herself, like I was once...
Just then, two Burmecian Soldiers came through the front gates looking rather in a hurry.
"Hello, everyone," said one, Doyle, as they reached the group.
"Ah, Doyle, Kal," greeted Puck. "How was your patrol... you look like you have some kind of news..."
"Indeed we do," answered Kal. "We saw another intruder, a human, in the Cleyra wreckage... it seemed like he was looking for something."
"Hmm," thought King Puck, "When will those Alexandrians learn to respect that site and stay off it?"
"I don't think he was an Alexandrian," said Doyle. "No, he was too tall to be one... he was more our height."
"Well," decided the King, "maybe we should finally start making examples of these intruders to everyone else. Go get him and bring him here... he must be interrogated."
The first thing I felt was a soft moist breeze against my face. I opened my eyes and saw a bright blue sky above me. I noticed a flock of birds riding the gentle waves of the clouds high up above... except, these birds seemed to be colored bright blue and red. I had never seen birds like these before, and I wondered what they were doing here. I thought that perhaps they were thrown off of their course of flight by wind, or something.
I stood up, and it dawned on me that the surroundings looked very different than they had they had the last time I was... conscious. A flood of questions entered my mind: Where am I – somewhere different? What were those strange birds doing here? What was that strange ball of energy, and where did it go? I decided that I would learn nothing here, so I picked a direction and started walking.
After I walked for a while, I started to hear a slight roar, like a waterfall. Strange, I thought, because the nearest river was on the other side of the highway from where I lived. I slowly approached the source of the sound, not believing that the source was water. I was wrong: I reached the edge of the trees and froze in my tracks – In front of me was laid a vast ocean, its waves gently crashing onto its sandy beach.
Dumbfounded, I turned around and started to run. I was in a state of panic, not knowing where I was or what I would do. I ran for about half of an hour before I wore myself out and had to stop to rest. I sat down and tried to think rationally. It was difficult, considering what had happened to me. Looking around, I tried to find something, anything that I would recognize. I knew it was vain, for I was near an ocean, and I knew that the nearest ocean had been at least two hundred miles away... still, I was driven by instinct to somehow get my bearings... but I had no such luck. I did, though, notice that there were a lot of wood scraps around, along with ash and pieces of charcoal. The whole clearing seemed to me to be some kind of grounds for burning wood waste. I walked through the ashes for a while, searching carefully for any kind of a clue as to my whereabouts. Eventually, something caught my eye – something golden appeared to be buried in the ashes. On the part that was visible, I could see some kind of runes or symbols etched deeply. I dug it up out of the moist ashes and was very surprised at my find – it was a brilliant golden harp, all of its strings broken.
Fratley, in a blaze of panic, leapt over to where Freya had been standing a second before. "Freya...!? Freya, no...!" he yelled, crouching on his hands and knees beside the statue. It appeared to him that when the statue fell over, it had completely and mercilessly flattened his poor Freya... but then, he heard a muffled cry.
"Fratley... I'm here! I'm alright," Freya called.
Relieved but puzzled, Fratley moved to the head of the statue, as it seemed to slope upward to that point. "Freya!" Fratley cried, when he stooped back down. For there was Freya in the trench, underneath the giant rock, alive and well. "How...? You're alive; thank heavens, but... how?" Fratley asked, awed at how Freya could have survived such an ordeal.
"I saw the rope break and the statue begin to tip over," explained Freya, "and I threw myself down into this trench, bringing this iron bar sideways over the trench. It is what saved me."
"Oh, Freya, I'm so glad you're alright..." said Fratley as he pulled her out of the trench. "You gave us quite a scare, there, for a moment."
"Well, it's all over now, thank goodness," said Freya, brushing herself off. "I'm okay, my dear."
A crowd of others had come over to the scene to see what the commotion was. King Puck, emerging from the crowd, asked, "Freya, Fratley! What's goin' on? We heard a big crash!"
"Freya was nearly killed, when this statue fell over," explained Gary, "It was Freya's quick thinking that saved her."
King Puck looked up at Freya and said, "I'm glad you're alright, Freya... don't go killing yourself – you're one of the most useful people we got right now."
Freya laughed and said, "Alright, my lord... I'll try to be more careful next time." He can be quite an energetic and innocent child sometimes, she thought to herself, like I was once...
Just then, two Burmecian Soldiers came through the front gates looking rather in a hurry.
"Hello, everyone," said one, Doyle, as they reached the group.
"Ah, Doyle, Kal," greeted Puck. "How was your patrol... you look like you have some kind of news..."
"Indeed we do," answered Kal. "We saw another intruder, a human, in the Cleyra wreckage... it seemed like he was looking for something."
"Hmm," thought King Puck, "When will those Alexandrians learn to respect that site and stay off it?"
"I don't think he was an Alexandrian," said Doyle. "No, he was too tall to be one... he was more our height."
"Well," decided the King, "maybe we should finally start making examples of these intruders to everyone else. Go get him and bring him here... he must be interrogated."