Chapter 8: Pirate Fairies
On the sailing ship, Princess Lapis, Prince Jamie, and their friends were led down a trapdoor to a secret room under the ship's deck. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath from the frightening event that they just escaped from.
"We're safe." Steven said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, for now at least." Amethyst replied. "But who helped us?"
"Can it really be?" one unfamiliar voice whispered.
"That's impossible." another murmured.
Princess Lapis used her magic to create a ball of light that lit up the room and there, standing before them was a group of five more fairies.
"More fairies!?" both groups chorused in surprise.
It was crazy to believe, but there they were: five other fairies from outside the fairy world.
One fairy had light raspberry-colored skin, black eyes, black and purplish-gray poofy hair, and sparkling wings that were the color of wild berries. She also had a gem in her naval and one on her chest. She wore a top with fluttering sleeves made out of wild rose petals, a skirt made out of zinnia petals, and fuchsia-colored slippers with light red socks.
The smallest fairy had light orange skin, short peach-colored hair with bangs that hid her eyes, a gem on the back of her right hand, and wings that were the color of tangerines with being lightly rained on. Her outfit had a skirt made out of orange hibiscus petals, a top made out of ranunculus petals with small spray rose petals on the neckline and sleeves made out of almond blossom petals, and sunset orange slippers.
Two of the five fairies looked like identical twins. They both had light red skin, blackish-maroon hair, black eyes, and glimmering wings that were the color of cherries. However, the two of them looked a little bit different. One of the twins had a thin, red gem on her left hip and her outfit had a short-sleeved shirt with a frilly pink neckline that resembled cherry blossoms and raspberry-colored colored shorts. The other twin had her gem on her right hip and an outfit that had a light pink top made out of peach blossom petals and a skirt made out of dark pink rose petals. Both twins had a bracelet of red cardinal flowers and both were barefoot.
And then, there was a fairy with lime green skin, forest green eyes, pale neon yellow hair, two gems under her eyes that looked like dimples, and glistening green wings that reminded Lapis of a dim forest. She also wore a green top made out of primrose leaves, a white skirt made out of mayflower petals, and bright green slippers.
"We thought we'd never meet others of our own kind." the green fairy said. "Allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Lemon Jade. And this is Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins."
"Pleasure to meet you." Lapis told Lemon Jade. "I'm Princess Lapis Lazuli. And this is-"
"Princess?" Padparadscha echoed, cutting off the blue fairy.
And then out of nowhere, she and the other four fairies started bowing before Lapis and saying, "All hail the princess!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Lapis told the five fairies, halting them. "It's okay, guys. You don't have to bow down before me. I may be a princess, but I don't expect anybody to treat me like I'm high and mighty." They stopped bowing and got back to their feet.
"Anyway, this is my husband, Prince Jamie." the young princess continued. "And these are my friends: Steven, Peridot, Amethyst, Stevonnie, Pearl, Garnet, Ruby, Sapphire, and Bismuth."
"These are the first fairies we've seen in a long time." Rhodonite said. "You should meet our captain. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he meets you."
She opened the small door on the ceiling and led the others up to the ship's deck.
"Captain Lars!" one of the Rutile twins called. "Come look! We found some other fairies!"
"One of them is a princess!" the other twin chimed in. "See for yourself!"
Lapis looked at the hem and saw a young male human who looked in her direction who rushed over to greet her and her group. He was tall, had curly burnt orange hair that was styled like a mohawk, black eyes, and tan skin. He wore a red frock coat over a gold vest, white pants, and black boots.
"You must be Captain Lars." the fairy princess guessed. "I'm Lapis Lazuli. It's nice to meet you."
"Well, how about that?" the human said. "Nice to have some more fairies on this crew. Did you recently run away?"
"Run away?" Stevonnie repeated.
"Some years ago, a fairy hunter invaded the fairy world and attacked a lot of innocent fairies." Lemon Jade explained grimly. "Many of our kind were fortunate enough to be saved by the fairy queens or flee from the fairy hunter in our case. Other fairies weren't so lucky. Eventually, he was driven out of the fairy world; but the fairies he captured were never seen again."
Lapis and her friends gasped in horror, feeling bad for the five fairies.
"We were so afraid of going back to the fairy world that we never did." Rhodonite added. "But then, Lars found us and took us in and we've been sailing across the sea as pirates ever since."
"What a coincidence." Amethyst commented. "We were chased by a fairy hunter just a short while ago."
"So you did run away?" Padparadscha inquired as the rest of her friends stood there with mouths agape.
"Not exactly." Garnet answered. "You see, another fairy named Jasper, who had her wings stripped from her teamed up with the same fairy hunter. They invaded the fairy world with an army of snow monsters in tow and imprisoned the fairy queens."
"And now, Jasper is looking for an ancient magic wand so that she can resurrect an evil fairy named Malachite and shroud the world in an endless winter." added Pearl.
"If Jasper has her way, the whole world will become a frozen wasteland and no one will from Malachite's icy grasp." Stevonnie included.
"So that's why we gotta find the wand before Jasper does." Steven also said.
"Can you please take us to the Iridescent Valley?" Lapis asked Captain Lars, showing him the map of the particular landscape.
"The Iridescent Valley?" he said, studying the map. "That's on Crystal Lattice Island."
"So you can get us there?" Sapphire inquired hopefully.
"Sure we can." the pirate captain answered. "But let me warn you, the journey may take a few days and there's no telling what dangers we might encounter."
"As long as we look out for each other, there's nothing to wary about." Lapis stated confidently as she and her husband's fingers entwined.
"We're always there for each other." Prince Jamie agreed. "We rely on safety in numbers and love, especially in desperate times."
"Once we get the Seven Prism Wand and stop Jasper, we can save the fairy world." Pearl said with a gleam of hope in her eyes. "And then, you five can come back home with us."
"Go back home?" one of the Rutile twins said before sighing at the pleasant thought. "It's been so long since we've been back in the fairy world."
"Then, let's set a course for Crystal Lattice Island and get that wand!" Captain Lars proclaimed before getting back to the ship's wheel and steering the vessel to the west.
The human prince and the fairies cheered except for Bismuth, who hung back from the group and was looking down at her feet as if something was bothering her.