The Fairy Without a Talent – Chapter Ten
The wind started to pick up a bit as we followed Frostlia through the wood. Flitting past winter bare trees and around icicle falls, we had to flap even harder to keep pace with Casper, who led the way with Frostlia on his back.
"If these directions are right, Icicle Caverns should be here just around this bend," she called out, holding the map against his back while holding tight on with her other hand with her legs tucked right behind his wings.
"Are you sure, it feels as if we're flying right into a snow storm," River called, being led by Snowdust as they both flapped their double etched wings to fly faster.
Snow anxiously looked up from where she held her sister's hand as she turned her head to meet my gaze as flew over to join them.
Teal was right behind me, holding the precious tome in her hands as she said, "We should really wait out this storm … Nora, River, Snow, watch out!"
Snapping my head up to see a trail of falling icicles, I quickly took ahold of both the sisters' hands as we all dived aside, out of harm's way. But, I felt my ears heat up as I realized that another icicle was heading straight for us.
"Nora!" I heard Teal call out as I just hovered there, frozen, the icy sheen of the ice echoing through my head.
"Nora, come on," River shouted in my ear, tugging me away with a sharp pull, but it was too late as the sheen sliced past us. Separating us, all I remember was the rush of a snow drift as I felt myself fall out of the air and into the snow. A rush of ground collapsed beneath me as I felt my world go dark.
A silent hand touched my brow as I felt someone elevate my head against a piece of ice.
Moaning, I raised a hand to my hand when I heard someone say, "Well, it's about time you woke up, Snow and I have been trying to get you to come to for the past ten minutes."
"River?" I asked, the name sounding weak against my tongue. Opening my eyes, I sure enough saw the relieved smiles of River and Snow as they both sat at their knees by my side.
"Yep, you better believe it. Glad to see you're doing ok," she said, turning her sapphire eyes directly at me with the truest smile I had ever since on her face. And, there was something else that was quite visible to them to. Tears. Also, they weren't just regular tears, but tears of joy as she looked back up to her sister and then back to me.
"River, what's going on?" I asked, thinking I had hit my head. Either I was imagining things, or something really weird was going on.
River just smiled and asked, "Well, what do you think?"
"I absolutely have no idea, at least at the moment," I said, gazing up to see a shimmery cave full of mysterious crystals. "Where are we exactly?"
"Some sort of cave, I think, by the feel of it," River said, sliding a hand along the walls around us. "These odd shaped rocks fill like some sort of crystals, but they're as cold as ice."
Trying to push myself up to my knees, I heard that weird sound echo through me again as I murmured, "They do have a strange tone to them."
"Tone …?" River started to say when I heard another voice say, "Nora, be careful …"
"What … Why?" I asked, shooting my head up in surprise to see Snow's hands settle down on my shoulders. Making me sit down again, she held up my right wing.
"That last collusion … when it hit you, it … well, it grazed your wing. Even with the frost protecting you, you won't be able to fly out of here by yourself," I clearly heard her say as she looked back at her sister. "We need to get help," she told her.
"I agree, but that icicle blocked our path out of here. We can't fly out that way, we'll have to take the tunnel and see where it goes," River said, turning sure enough to the illuminated tunnel that stood just before us.
"River, how did you …" I started to say as they carefully lifted me to my feet.
"Something happened when we woke up in this tunnel, that icicle only stunned us enough at least for a second before we knew we were sliding into this cave with you. And, the next thing I know … it's like a light went on behind my eyes," River said, sliding one of arms over her shoulder with a slight smile. "The first thing I saw was you, but then I heard …"
"I spoke, for the very first time," Snow said with a sisterly smile.
"But how is what we are doing now even possible?" River asked in a still amazed expression.
"I think I know, but let's get Nora out of here first so she can get that wing looked at."
Tilting her head back to look at her wing back, Nora asked, "How bad is it?"
"Not that bad, but not good either. I can't see very well in this dim light. It just looked like a small scratch to me, but I have a feeling only a nursing fairy could tell you for sure," she said, no doubt thinking back on something she heard.
Making sure Nora could stand, the three fairies then ventured further into the crystal cavern, with only their glows and the dimmed light of the tunnel lighting their way.
"I think this place is called the Correction Caverns, or so Dewey told me right before we left," Snow said, walking the light in front of us as River and I gazed around at the sights around us. "He said there's a talent key, or clue, to what you were looking for headed in the caverns we were initially looking for. Where we landed when we got separated from the others, I think we landed right in the heart of it."
"Where are Teal, Lia, and the others?" Nora asked, watching the crystals start to take form along the walls.
"Still outside, I think, looking for us. I heard them call out right before that piece of ice sheet plugged the entrance," River said, watching her sister as Snow paused to look down one fork of a two-fold path.
"One way leads out of here, but which way? I can't remember which path to take," Snow said anxiously. "I only glimpsed at the page, but I did see the rhyme that led the way out of here … or maybe I did."
Nora's head shot up as she said, "What rhyme?"
Looking back to meet Nora's eyes, she said, "Now, I'm not sure. It didn't really seem to make any sense …"
"What was it, Snow? Maybe it'll help us find the others," River said to her sister.
"Alright, but I couldn't make any sense of it, remember I only saw it for a second. It read, 'To find the path of right, follow the self-form trail of light. A fork you may find, take the guided direction of the unique kind. A path set to follow, you might find yourself back next to Hollow, but the sight above to behold, fly down to see, a symbol made to represent a fee.'
"See, it doesn't make any sense," Snow said, watching as Nora reached a hand up to the wall.
"No, wait a minute. Look at these crystals," Nora said, watching as one of the gems fell down into her hand. Holding it out for them to see, she said, "What do you see?"
River studied it with her eyes for a second, but her new sight seemed to fail her as she said, "Nothing … but … there is something to it." Closing her eyes, she felt Nora place it into her hand. Cupping it, she clenched it as she blinked open her eyes. Looking on, it was almost as if her sapphire irises were gently glowing, allowing her to see. "Remember when I said it was almost as if a light went on behind my eyes?"
River didn't even wait for Nora to nod before she continued, "It felt like this stone, silent and open, almost like a guide that opened a window for me to see past my darkness."
"It was almost like that with me, but I felt like a door opened in my throat for my voice to come through. It almost didn't feel like it was my own, but a gift of freedom just for this moment."
"Exactly," River said, turning to see Nora's gaze face following down one of the forks.
"The Caverns, this must led out into the Icicle Caves we were looking for," Nora whispered.
"Then, how do we find the way to the Caves?"
"No, we're not going to the caves," Nora said, understanding the riddle. "It's directing somewhere outside these caves, so if we came in, we would have missed it until we came back out again."
"So, which way do we go to get out of here?" Snow asked, catching on. "I'm sure these caverns weren't meant for us to get lost in them."
"Maybe not at first, but let's follow this trail of crystals leading down this fork. Something tells this is the way out," Nora said, pointing down the left fork.
"Uh oh, are you sure, there's a trail of crystals down this trail, too," Snow said, checking out the other tunnel just to be sure.
"Let me see," Nora said, walking over to examine a jutted out shard of crystal. Watching it for a moment, Nora tilted her head as she tapped her fingernail against it. "It hard, but it's cold as ice."
"It's supposed to be, it's part of a glacier," we all heard Lia say as she came flying down and out of the tunnel Snow pointed down. "The others are right behind me. It took us a while to track down this entrance from the other side. Are you all ok?"
"Yeah, for the most part," River spoke up, "but, wait a second, are you telling us that we're inside a huge glacier?"
"That makes sense," Snow said just as Tink, Peri, and Teal came running down the trek as well.
Catching the sound of Snow's voice, Peri just stopped in her tracks as she said, "Snow?"
Snow just nodded as River just said, "Hi Tink."
Tugging her banks, Tink just said, "I just don't understand how you're able to do that, I didn't make a peep."
"You don't have to, I don't need my 'eyes' to know that it's you," River said with a grin.
"How exactly did you find us?" Snow asked.
"Don't ask me, Slush is the one who found the way in here," Peri said, peeking over her shoulder with a smile as a small sparrow man with slicked shoulder length white blonde hair dressed in a winter blue leaf tunic, blue leaf pants, leaf boots, and a winter cap beanie that rested on his brow just over his blue eyes walked up to us.
"I would have found it, too, eventually," Lia mumbled to herself, catching the sight of the caves ahead of us.
Tilting his hand, he just said, "He-eey!"
"He's our honorary ice and glacier talent sparrow man," Peri said proudly.
"Hey, if that's the entrance to the way in here, maybe this is the way out of here like you said Nora. I say we try it," River said.
"Let's go, then," Snow said, looking over at the others. "Nora figured out the clue, it's outside."
"Isn't it here in the Icicle Caverns?" Lia asked, no doubt wanting to explore.
"It leads here, but the answer can be seen from a high point of some kind," Nora said as they all hurried down the tunnel. "From there, the next clue to what should be done will be visible."
"Wait a minute, I think I know what you're referring to. I see it every time Casper and I fly over the falls …" Lia said, looking at Peri.
"Frozen Icicle Falls, that's got to be it," Peri said excitedly.
"What are waiting for, come on," Tink called as we all ran or flew down the opposite fork. River, pausing at the entrance, stooped down long enough to pick up a couple of crystal shards from the Caverns and slipped them into her pockets before she hurried after everyone else.
Running out of the Caverns, the bright white light of the snow caused everyone to blink and squint their eyes as they looked up to see the crystal falls reach up into the mountain alongside the caverns.
"This is it, Crystal Falls. If we fly up to the top of the falls, I think we'll see what you're looking for," Lia said, angling her head up to see Casper swooping in to land beside her.
"Well, that's the thing …" Nora said, touching a hand to her shoulder. "I can't fly."
Teal, seeing the scratch on Nora's wing, immediately flew over to study it as she said, "Nora, what happened?"
Turning her head over to where Snow stood beside her, River just raised her head to speak for her sister, "Her wing got scratched as we fell into the caverns. Snow said that we needed to get her to a nursing talent fairy."
"Oh, Nora, we have to get you to a healing talent fairy, fast!" Teal said, worry written in her eyes.
"What about the clue? It's right here," Nora said, as the wind started to pick back up.
"We can come back later, this is more important …" Teal said, turning to Lia. "Can you give us a lift to the Border?"
"Yeah, but this will just take a second, come on up," Lia said, helping Nora on Casper's back.
"If you don't mind, I'm flying up right behind you," Teal called, watching them as they rose up higher into the sky. "Tink, would you go and see if you can track down Bluebell or Torum, and tell them what's going on? Peri, see if you can find Queen Clarion or Lord Milori …"
Rising higher to the pinpoint of the falls, where they fell seemingly in a crystal array of every color imaginable.
"Wow," Nora sighed, as they hovered near the top of the falls. "It's beautiful."
"Yeah, I agree. Look down there. See where it looks like two frosted water lilies for eyes?" Lia pointed out.
"Huh-uh."
"Well, that's where it begins. What I always see, it always looks like some sorts of rocks. Sometimes I think I see a lake, what with all the blue."
"Water … a lake, maybe … but, wait, what's that? A tail?" Nora observed, following a trail of colored stones to what looked like a stand, but before she had the chance to really memorize it, Teal flew up behind her, signaling them to meet her at the Border.
Before Nora could say a word, Lia flew her back to the edge of the Border where she saw Queen Clarion, Bluebell, Torum, and a couple of healing talents waiting for her.
This chapter just came based purely on inspiration, but there may some areas I can improve very easily. I did promise a bit more with Snow and River's connection, and here it is, along with the next part in Nora's quest. If there's any part of this you feel I need to improve, please let me know in the reviews of any suggestions.
Until I can figure out where she goes from here, please enjoy this.
So, until next time, fly with you later. :)