Diganis led us to the very outskirts of Neopia Central where the houses grew thin and the streets gave way for dirt roads. The countryside was spread out before us, a grim mockery of the joy I had felt at such a beautiful day earlier. Diganis was crippled; there could be no more wonder here.
"Wait here," Diganis said and then collapsed into a heap on the ground, crying.
"What's wrong?" I gasped, reaching out with a paw to comfort her.
"No!" she shrieked violently, "Do not touch me!"
I hastily backed off and felt the fur on the back of my neck begin to rise. Something was amiss here.
"Skyil. Read her mind. Now," I ordered, my paw falling to my dagger.
"I wouldn't advise that if I were you," a voice said from behind us.
I spun around, drawing my dagger as I did. A light faerie stood behind us, flanked by a water, earth, fire, air, and darkness faerie. One from each element.
"You," I snarled, "You did this to her. Whoever you are."
"Yes. We did. Now put your dagger away and come quietly."
"Not after what you did to Diganis!" I cried, and leaped at the light faerie, my powerful hind legs propelling me forwards.
It was a stupid brash move, I admit it. But I could not shake the sight of the crippled air faerie out of my mind. I brought the dagger up to plunge it down as soon as I hit the faerie but instead I smacked into an invisible barrier. I fell and landed flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me. By then my siblings had joined the battle.
"Pah, foolish pets," the faerie sneered, and a brilliant beam of white light burst out and struck Taffin full on. He cried out in pain and collapsed, shuddering. Then there was a pop and he teleported out of my line of sight. I scrambled to my feet and found myself face to face with a fire faerie. She gestured and fire arced out at me. I dove to the side to avoid it but felt it sear into my tail, burning away the fur. I cried out and twisted, beating my tail with my paws. By then another faerie was on me, an air faerie. She murmured something and I felt invisible bonds wrap themselves around my paws, binding them together. I struggled hopelessly, desperately willing my talent to work, to alter reality and end this battle and to restore Diganis her wings. Nothing happened.
"Give it up. We're the best at this. You didn't stand a chance to begin with," the air faerie said coldly.
I twisted my head to catch a glimpse of my siblings. Jaix was out cold, Taffin was on all fours, his glaive a good four feet away, coughing and clutching at his ribs. Skyil… she was face to face with a dark faerie, a look of utter hatred on her face. I had never seen such overpowering rage in her before.
"You did this!" she howled, "You forced her to betray us! How dare you? Crippled her wings… and you claim to be good! You claim to serve Neopia! How dare you?"
I stared at her in shock as she launched herself at the darkness faerie, not even bothering to draw a dagger. The faerie hit her with a spell but Skyil merely shrugged it off, landing full on the faerie and tearing with her claws and teeth. It was like a vicious beast had possessed Skyil and now its rage was boiling over onto the faerie.
The other faeries ran to her aid, pulling Skyil off and throwing her aside. One gestured and with a shriek and flash of light Skyil toppled and fell. And thus the Dragon Thieves were subdued.
Diganis did not move from her sitting position in the grass. She did not look at us or at the faeries.
"Come," one of them ordered her.
"Haven't you done enough?" she whispered, "I've betrayed my last friends. I lost my wings. Isn't that enough suffering for an exile like me?"
"After what you did I think nothing is repayment," the light faerie sneered.
"I beg to differ," the dark faerie interposed gently, "She never specified what should be done with Diganis. Leave her."
"She'll tell Kristen what has happened!"
"Isn't that what we want?"
The two stared at each other for a moment before the air faerie stepped in.
"I say leave her. She's a pitiful wretch of what she once was. She can do us no harm."
The light faerie sighed and bowed her head in acquiesce. The group gathered us up in a circle. I growled at the faerie who roughly pulled me over and tried to bite at her hands. But with my paws bound with magic I could do nothing.
They gathered in a circle around us and chanted in unison the words of the teleportation spell. I desperately cast my eyes about, looking for a last minute means of escape. Instead I caught the gaze of Diganis. Skyil had screamed that she betrayed us. I snarled at her and tried to ignore the pain in her eyes. Then the world around us blurred and reformed into that of a room of the Faerieland Palace.
The first thing I noticed was that my paws were free. Apparently the teleportation spell had negated this one. I did not move though, but quickly cast my eyes about to my siblings. Jaix was obviously hurt badly and Skyil and Taffin were unconscious. Just me then. The air faerie turned to me, ready to resume the spell holding me. I didn't give her a chance. I drew my remaining dagger and threw, then ran straight for a nearby window, not even looking to see if I had hit.
I threw myself at the window, feeling the glass shatter around me and the wind whistle through my fur. We were in one of the towers and for a moment I let myself free-fall, gathering momentum before flaring my wings and pulling out of the fall. I was moving fast, beating my wings to speed my pace to a breakneck rate. I was quickly within faerieland city, diving and weaving between buildings and towers, under bridges and basically performing the most dangerous flying I had ever done in my life. I dared a glance back. No one was behind me, apparently I had lost them.
With a sigh of relief I dove straight into the nearest alleyway, flaring my wings with a pop and landing hard on the ground. I snapped my wings shut and glanced around me in a half-crouch. An extremely frightened white eyrie stared back at me.
"Who are you?" he stammered.
"Doesn't matter," I replied, and took off in a dead run for the intersection of the next alleyway.
I had to find a hiding spot.
"Wait!" the eyrie called after me, "You're running, aren't you? I can hide you."
I skidded to a stop. The eyrie jogged up to me and cast a nervous glance around.
"You're in trouble for something, aren't you? I can tell. You look desperate."
"The faeries. They're after me and my siblings for some reason," I hastily explained, "They've already maimed one faerie to get her to betray us to them."
"Right," the eyrie replied, "This way. Quick."
Already I could hear the sounds of pursuit, shouts heading in my direction. I followed the eyrie through the maze of corridors and buildings. He paused at a back door and fiddled with the knob.
"Hurry," I whispered, "They're catching up."
I looked behind us anxiously but turned back to the eyrie at the sound of scraping. I saw the steel bar he had just picked up seconds before it connected with my forehead. Pain exploded in my head and shot all down my spine. Blackness crashed in on me and I struggled to make sense of what had just happened. I was on my back, moaning in pain and red filled my vision.
"Stupid zafara," the eyrie muttered in disgust, "If the faeries are after you, it's got to be for a good reason. Hey! She's over here!"
The voices increased and I dimly saw two faeries fly down in our direction. Then I lost consciousness completely.