Daisy: Hi folks, here is part 8!

Marz: Yeah read enjoy and then review!

Daisy: If you really want then read it again, Oh marzie?

Marz: WHAT!

Daisy: Erm… Where's Artemis?

Marz: He's with Holly; I left them by the lake…

Daisy: Oh okay then! giggles hysterically

Marz: I don't get it…

Daisy: runs over and whispers in Marz's ear

Marz: :D LOL!

Ginnie: I don't get it!

Daisy + Marz: both giggle hysterically ehem cough cough

Ginnie: I really don't get it!

Daisy + Marz: Run over and tell Ginnie.

Artemis and Holly walk in

Sudden silence, cue cricket.

Daisy bursts into laughter.

Ginnie: Oh I get it! looks suspiciously at Artemis and Holly

Artemis Fowl and the Tigers' Den

Chapter 15

Artemis awoke to the voices of Daisy and Holly; it seemed Daisy was explaining something important. Artemis however was unsure of what she was saying as he was not yet completely conscious. He sat up slowly and dispelled the last of his drowsiness. The only word of the conversation that he caught was 'pain', which didn't exactly fill him with confidence. The two women noticed he was now awake and pulled him to his feet, he was about to ask exactly what he had missed when Daisy began to speak.

"Ask questions later if they have not yet been explained, until then you need to come quickly." She said. "The battle is very soon and although the Higher Queens are once again immortal you and Holly need to be able to defend yourselves to a high enough standard."

Artemis couldn't help it; he had to ask a question. "When did you get your immortality back? What was it we wanted above all else?"

Daisy rolled her eyes and smirked at Holly who was smiling lightly.

She answered with two words. "Each other!"

Holly nodded and the two ran off, Artemis was amazed at how fast they were managing to go for a time that was probably very early in the morning. They soon stopped however and Artemis, when he caught up, saw why. They were at the edge of a large pit, its bottom was that far down it could not be seen in the twilight. Artemis and Holly followed Daisy to the wall of the cave and saw her press the palms of her hands against it. That section of wall moved away to reveal a small, dark tunnel. Without hesitation Daisy went right on in, the wall began to move back into place so Holly grabbed Artemis' hand and pulled him in just in time. Holly pulled him blindly along the tunnel, running with confidence he did not feel in the pitch blackness. Eventually however they began to see a light and Holly ran faster, when they reached the end they had to squint because of the brightness. The brightness did not come naturally however, there were lights on the ceiling which seemed to be powered by electricity. The people of this world had no technology to speak of so this was quite shocking; there were large control panels and even what looked to be a very old computer.

"Daisy." Holly began. "Why have electricity in here and yet not give it to the people?"

"Holly, I know what your planet was like a hundred years ago. I dread to think what it's like now!" She growled, obviously very passionate about this. "I will not let that happen to my planet!"

Holly nodded; it was logical, even if not very fair. If the gift of electricity was given to the people then this world would slowly be destroyed, just as Earth was being even as they spoke. Holly felt Artemis coming up behind her and turned, he looked uncharacteristically worried.

"Holly I don't know what it is but something's coming." He told her.

She slid a stray piece of hair behind his ear and he closed his eyes; relaxing slightly. He opened them again a few moments later in shock and pulled Holly close to him. The vibrations shook the entire cave and presumably the land for many miles around. After a while the violent vibrations stopped and Daisy walked calmly over to them. Holly only moved out of Artemis' arms as she began to speak to them both.

"That was Hannah; she says that the battle will begin first thing tomorrow morning, and that we are to be on time." Daisy frowned, her brow creasing lightly. "That means we only have 1 day to teach you all you need to know to keep safe, and alive. Very much alive."

Artemis looked at Holly and she grinned; she knew what they had to do next, he didn't. Suddenly Artemis though of something that would save a lot of trouble for them all, he decided to inquire about it.

"Why not kill them all now?" He asked. "Before the enemy endanger your people. Wouldn't that be much easier?"

Daisy smile at him and gave her reply. "The powers that I was given after the Great War had an unbelievable effect on me. The powers have needs, just like any living thing. Those that I was gifted with are mostly dark, hard to control. Every now and then they need to let off some steam. If I killed them all now my powers would still need a game or two. In theory anything could happen; all life on this planet could be wiped out. A good old fashioned fight is just what my powers love, and so is just what I love."

After finishing explaining herself she walked over to one of the controls and pushed a big red button. All of the lights in the room went off and a small part of the roof above (about 4 feet across) opened up; leaving a circular spotlight in the middle of the room. Daisy sat down in the spotlight and, sensing a mind meld, Artemis and Holly sat with her.

Their knees touched and Daisy began the tuition.

In their minds Daisy was in her animal form, Artemis and Holly morphed to their own creatures. They concentrated carefully on Daisy as she slowly transformed, instead of once again becoming human she stopped halfway. She had the claws, fur, tail and head of her White Tiger, but with a human figure; a perfect fighting form. She stood perfectly balanced and broke the mind meld, deciding to watch the others attempts at the difficult transformation. Timing was critical and there were many unusual mistakes before both Artemis and Holly got it right. When they did Daisy knew they would be able to do it again, whenever they want, for the rest of their lives. Slowly they gained their balance and moved quickly from a steady walk to an all out sprint around the room.

Artemis and Holly walked back over to Daisy, both were proud to see a content smile gracing her feline features. There was only one more thing she had to teach them, the rest was a bonus. Seeing them fight in this form was what needed to be done immediately so she got their attention with a small growl.

"Okay then!" She began. "Do you both know how to fight? If you do then you won't be able to believe how much easier my job will be."

Holly nodded to the affirmative, as did Artemis. Holly's training in the LEP covered hand to hand combat and Butler had taught Artemis the basics.

"Good." Daisy took a breath and continued. "Forget all of the rules you have ever been taught, in war these don't apply. Treat those fighting with you like family and if they are doing badly then help. So I can be sure you'll be okay try your best to land some blows on me, both of you. I will only defend, not attack so you won't get injured."

She took a few steps back and allowed Artemis and Holly to attack. She parried their blows and gave words of advice to improve their tactics. After an hour or so quite a few blows had been landed on Daisy and she was satisfied with their progress. She back-flipped away, over their heads, and signalled for them to stop their onslaught. The battle was getting closer; she could feel it in the ground and taste it in the air. Her powers were becoming impatient.

She knelt Holly and Artemis side by side, still in their impressive fighting forms and placed her clawed hands on their backs. Holly tensed and Artemis gave her a weird look, the next moment however this was replaced by a grimace as pain ripped through his body. Holly was fairing slightly better as she had been expecting it. Soon the pain disappeared only to be replaced by a weird numbness. Artemis relaxed and opened his eyes which had shut themselves earlier. There was something different about his body, he could feel it but was not sure what exactly had happened. Artemis looked over at Holly and saw two magnificent wings, at least 7 feet from one tip to the other, attached to her back. They had the same pattern as the rest of her body; it was a very unusual thing to see on feathers. He therefore correctly assumed that he had wings himself. Artemis remembered the times, deep in the night, when he had tried, in vain, to give himself wings. He now understood why he could not do it; his body wouldn't allow him to cause himself so much pain. Somehow he knew that the wings would now come whenever he needed them.

Holly smiled, her eyes closed tightly. She knew what had happened and automatically felt the difference. She gave her fully formed wings an experimental flap and opened her eyes. She stood and turned to Artemis, as she helped him up his midnight black wings, the same sort of size as her own, unfolded and glinted in the artificial light. He was a truly beautiful creature.

Daisy had wandered over to the other side of the room and was fiddling with one of the walls. Holly walked over and stood by her side, she was then handed some large metal armour. Sensing the importance of this Artemis came over and was given some of his own. Daisy pushed this armour against Artemis' body and it melded to the shape of his torso, she then moved away and did the same with the armour that Holly was holding.

"This is Royal armour." She explained. "In the heat of battle, when your adrenaline gets going, it will change shape and cover your whole body but still allowing you to breath. It cannot be destroyed in that state."

Daisy pressed a symbol on the armour and it shrank to the size of a two pence piece, fixed in the middle of Holly's stomach. Artemis did the same to his own and flapped his wings, rising gently off the floor. Holly followed suit and the two of them practised their movement and turning. Daisy grinned at the two love birds and brought her own wings into action. They were striped and around nine feet across, she took off quickly and gained momentum until she folded her wings flat into her body as she shot up through the small hole in the roof. Back in the open air she found a thermal and waited for Artemis and Holly to catch up. Soon the three of them were soaring higher than the clouds, on their way to win a war.

Thanks for reading! The next chapter should be up in around 6 or 7 days, give or take. The exams "Grrr evil exams" Mutters evil things about exams may change that though.

Don't forget to review!

White-Tiger123 + Marz 0