Here is the exciting seventh chapter to our story! I think I got the wrong name for the one of the magical creatures Firenze mentions so if anyone would care to correct me on that I'd greatly appreciate it.
It was only when the sun was beginning to rise over the tops of the trees that and odd collection of 'friends' (a term loosely applied here) stop flying and dropped down into the forest that had before passed oh so quickly beneath them. The sun didn't have any effect on their camouflage technology which made Artemis wonder why Holly stopped flying. It was faster then trekking through the woods, and easier. In truth the elf was getting frustrated by her set of wings.
"D'vart. I need to get this thing a tune up." She muttered darkly under her breath as she let Mulch, Butler and Artemis untangle themselves.
"My foot's freezing! I'm telling you it felt like it was out in the air the entire time.!" Mulch whined as he sat on the warm dirt and began to rub his bare feet. The feeling of the earth on his bum made him pause and look around. He lowered his hands to the ground and cupped a handful of dirt. He tossed it to his mouth and began to chew thoughtfully.
"I thought your thieving skills were better then to have you result to eating dirt." Artemis smirked.
"Care to have me break into your home, again?" he replied with an innocent flutter of his eyes.
"I learn from my mistakes." He replied simply, though not quite implying how. Telling Mulch about his new security systems will just lessen the fun for the dwarf if he ever tried to get in.
"And I've learnt from my mistakes as well." Butler replied with a quirk in his eyebrow. He was the one who picked out most of the security upgrades.
"Alright, enough. The coordinates were the LEP picked up Foaly last is just a short walk from here." Holly said, interrupting the conversation. She had her hands on her hips and was tapping her foot in impatience.
"This way." She said pointing to their left. She began to walk hurriedly in that direction, leaving the others to catch up. Artemis and Mulch walked quickly behind her, both not liking the current situation. Artemis was not dressed to go on a woodsy hike. His shoes better not get ruined or else he'd charge Holly to replace them. He knew she had enough gold. And Mulch… he hated to walk like this. With his short legs he had to walk quickly to keep up and the dirt beneath his toes was so inviting. He had tasted it before to get an idea of the minerals in this area. It was quite an intoxicating flavor, one he had never come across before. Oh of course there was your usual minerals but something else… something that gave him the feeling of what it felt like before he gave up his magic. He had given it up so long ago though that he didn't even realize that what he had tasted was in fact; magic.
Butler fell behind his charge and the dwarf, glancing a bit nervously at the flap on the back of Mulch's pants now and then. He wasn't kidding when he said he learnt from him mistakes; especially ones that almost took his head off.
They walked for twenty minutes in silence before Artemis stopped suddenly. He reached into his pocked and pulled out his cell phone. He flicked it open and looked through his, his forehead creased in annoyance.
"Mudboy! What are you doing!" Holly shouted when she realized that they were no longer following. She had thought that maybe they had gotten separated, or worse and it frustrated her to see him playing with his cell phone. She worried for a moment that it was one of those camera phones and he intended to get proof of the fairies, and then blackmail it for gold. The fear passed when she realized that Artemis was smarter then such a simple plan.
"I .. I feel like I'm forgetting something rather important. Butler, is today my mother's birthday?" He replied, shaken that he couldn't find an answer.
"No, it has passed already." He answered. He to had shared with the feeling of forgetting something and before this had happened was running through a mental check of the weapons he had packed.
"My father? Yours?" He listed.
Butler shook his head.
"You know what, today's my birthday! Now for New Haven's sake put away that damn thing and come on!" Holley couldn't believe what they were doing, in the middle of their bloody search for Foaly none the less!
"Sorry…" he muttered and returned his cell phone to his pocked and continued to trudge after Holly, the feeling of him missing something growing larger and larger with each step. He wanted to turn around and go back but his urge to find Foaly pushed him on. This was quite a delicious mystery after all; one he was eager to solve.
"You know, it's my birthday too. Where's my gift?" Mulch snickered. Artemis ignored him, feeling angry and… something new. Something he had never felt before. It was close to embarrassment but not quite. He had read about it before but… oh my. It hit him what it was. Stupid. He, Artemis Fowl, was feeling stupid!
He groaned mentally and curled his fists into a ball and became determined not to stop again. He found it surprisingly hard though to fight against the urge; and it became a battle of wills.
Each step he took became harder and harder and the urge to turn around was growing to the point that he was starting to develop a headache. He glanced behind him to see that Butler had dropped a few steps as if he had paused before footsteps. His bodyguard seemed to be racked with the same feeling as Artemis was. His forehead was creased with concentration and his eyes not-focused; a rare look for the ever alert Butler.
"Holly, stop." He said at last.
She did just that and turned around, her eyes flashing. "You better be thankfully that this is the coordinates that the last signal the LEP received from Foaly was transmitted from. Now what is it? I'm almost regretting bringing you!"
"Finally!" Mulch shouted thankfully and with as much grace as a troll he fell back onto the ground and dug his toes into the dirt, the hair there squirming with delight.
Artemis didn't blame her from being short with him. One of her best and first friends had gone missing, something that few fairies manage to do in this age. But Foaly's technology just couldn't seem to be able to yield the location of its creator. None the less he thought it wise to be a bit careful around her.
"There's something magical going on around here. As we walked closer to this way me and Butler were being overcome with the urge to turn around; to the point that I'm suffering a nasty headache. Isn't that correct Butler." He asked, turning to look at the large man.
"And I can't figure out what it is but nothing comes to mind that needed to be done." He agreed.
"So you mean someone is trying to keep us away?" Holly said, her eyes flickering around the forest as if the guilty one would be hiding in the shadows.
Artemis nodded his head solemnly. "I had nothing recorded in my planner of high importance; these feelings are not being created by our own will. They are incredibly annoying but we'll live. It means that we're getting close. Something big is going on here." He said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"So we better keep going." Holley sighed and turned around. "It always makes me look uncomfortable when you get that look in your eye Artemis." She murmured and continued to stalk foreword.
Butler silently agreed but said nothing. He smiled at Holly's comment and Mulch's loud groans of annoyance by the fact that they were moving so soon again.
Sleep-clouded eyes flickered awake from the harsh glare of the sun. Somehow the single crack in the thick curtains that hung in this room managed to let the sun fall directly in Foaly's face. He groaned and turned his head in the opposite direction. It didn't even register to him that A) The previous night's events B) That it was the sun and not the artificial light reproduced below ground and that C) He wasn't alone.
Of course he realized all these things eventually (He was a very smart centaur after all) and the one that hit him the hardest was letter C.
Firenze had sat back and watched as Foaly woke. He didn't rush the process for that was never a good way to make friends. Instead he was patient and ran over the list of questions he had waited all night to ask. He realized that he didn't do much sleeping during the night. In-between shifts of watching Foaly and watching the stars he got in; at most; two to three hours for the whole night.
Foaly opened his mouth and tried to speak but his tongue felt as useful to him as a brain to a goblin.
"Hnn rugh uuh?" were his first brilliant words to this stranger.
"Oh! The potion must have left your mouth like flogworm in your mouth. That was a strong sleeping draught you were given." Firenze said and lifted a cup of water from the nightstand which was next to the contacts and earring-aid (At least that's what he thought it was called though why a male centaur would need an earring-anything was beyond him)
"Drink." He offered. Foaly gazed at the other centaur with obvious shock written on his face. He wondered to himself what a flogworm was as he downed the drink. It did help a lot more then he thought it was. He opened his mouth and tried again.
"Who are you?" He asked, pleased to find that everything was now working in order. He looked around at the very mudmen location and felt confused. "Where are we? What happened? Why are you above ground? Where are the rest of the centaurs." His questions spilt out quickly and Firenze took it all in stride.
Most of the questions made sense though a few confused him. Why would he ask a thing as silly as 'Why are you above ground?'.
"Where else would I be but up on the surface with the stars." He replied curiously.
"Atlantis perhaps, maybe Haven. You are really breaking many rules by being up here you know. I know that the stars must be a sight to behold on a clear night but is it worth being discovered by mudmen?" He replied smartly.
"Rules? Mudmen?" He asked, the confusion on his face matching, if not surpassing, Foaly's.
"Yes Mudmen you kno-" but before he could finish a trio of mudmen burst through the great doors at the edge of the hall and ran down to greet Firenze. One bushy headed mudgirl held a plate of food in her hands.
"Firenze! You weren't at breakfast so we decided to bring you something to ea-" Hermoine stopped short, her face flushed from running, as she realized that she had just interrupted a conversation.
"He's awake!" Ron announced.
"Good Morning. Thank you for the food but I'm not that hungry, are you?" Firenze asked Foaly only to see a look of horror etched clearly on his face.
He sprang out of the bed at once, a very difficult task for a drowsy centaur to accomplish. The enchanted bed creaked in protest and his knees buckled at first.
Hermoine shouted out in fright and dropped the plate. The plate shattered and eggs and toast covered the ground.
"What's wrong?" Firenze asked Foaly, wondering what could have unsettled him so. Was it the smell of eggs? He wasn't very fond of it himself. In truth he was hungry but not that hungry.
"Hermoine! He's not going to hurt you." Harry said less confident then he felt. He glanced at Foaly a bit hesitantly.
"I-I-I know. I was just startled." She said flustered. She drew out her wand and cast a quick spell. "Scourgify" She muttered embarrassed. The plate and food vanished, leaving the floor sparkling clean.
"W-W-What are you?" Foaly muttered in complete and utter shock. His blood was pounding in his head the noise of his heartbeat drowning out the sounds of the others as he stared in horror at the three newcomers. They looked like Mudmen, sounded like mudmen, acted like mudmen and probably smelt like mudmen to! But they preformed magic; spells!
Oh gods, what had he got himself into.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
Silver-Head Angel: You're true about the last one being a cliff-hanger and hey! This one ends in a very similar way!
Valta: I admit that when I read you compare yourself to Simon Cowell on I was a little afraid. But hey, maybe I can be the next American Idol after all ;
Sealover456: Thanks!
Realfanficts: More specifically it was Mulch ;
Pearl Mist: Fear not! You have nothing more to wait for … except for the next chapter!
Person to Lazy to sign in: Oops. You're right about that. I meant our solar system. Well you all figured out what I meant and as you are to lazy to sign in I'm to lazy to go back and fix it. :x
polka-dotted-pengiuns: Gracias!
The Violent Tomboy: And Chaos shall ensue.