Chapter 3
Her day finally came. Vidia reviewed her plan once more, visualizing the path she would take starting from the grassy field where some thistles were loose, then getting "dragged" around and about all of Pixie Hollow in plain sight feigning little or no control all the way and finally to the rise, going up, over and down to the root and into Tinker Bell's home. Vidia would then let the weeds run wild a bit through Tinker's Nook to complete the deception before subtly guiding the sprinting thistles out of the area.
Afterwards she would eventually take them to Needlepoint Meadow. It sounded easy, but Vidia spent extra time playing out everything in her head in great detail. She took into consideration a variety of possible likely complications and worked out ways around them. Vidia was certain she had anticipated everything and was very confident that by the evening she would be triumphant in her revenge while Tinker Bell would be left sobbing in the blasted remains of her little tinker house.
Vidia had wanted to put on something special for the occasion but it would give her away, so she settled on some clothes that were already worn and ripped. Then she went to the field where the thistles she wanted were resting. Vidia crept up on the weeds by hiding in the tall grass and stepping quietly to their resting spot. Both of the thistles she had chosen were settled snuggly into the dirt near each other and were replenishing their leaves with water and nutrients. Vidia expertly stalked the two and moved into the best position to capture both. That's when she bolted into the air and threw the rope over one and then quickly managed to lasso the second before both could wriggle free of the dirt and scamper away. Once out of the ground, however, the thistles charged through the grass with a reckless abandon and pulled Vidia behind them. The fast fairy began to use her winds to silently nudge the thistles to her bidding. At first the thistles seemed resistant to Vidia's commands, but soon began to follow her directions.
And so it began. She was "dragged" across fields and meadows; and through the forests and the warm seasons of Pixie Hollow. The weeds plowed through gardens, grasses and streams while darting around trees and over rocks. They scattered butterflies in Butterfly Cove; sent bunnies and squirrels scrambling for cover; frightened the skunks into spraying Fawn; chased Iridessa into a tree and trampled dozens of flowers much to Rosetta's horror. "Keep those weeds away from my flowers! You're a menace to all of Never Land," the garden talent screamed. Along the way Vidia could see other fairies and sparrow men watching and they began to point, laugh and whoop at her apparent misery.
Laugh it up, fuzz brains, she sneered at them, you'll be laughing me out of my punishment soon enough.
When the thistles ran alongside one of the babbling brooks, Silvermist, the water talent fairy was water skating and saw the fast flyer's predicament. "Out for a brisk morning drag, Vidia?" she yelled out with a laugh. In response Vidia subtly directed a blast of wind that knocked Sil off balance and into the brook. Silvermist plowed face first into the water before going head over heels with a huge splash. The fast flyer looked over her shoulder and saw Silvermist sitting up in the shallow water fuming. Vidia laughed for a moment before changing disappearing into the nearby glade.
Well that should be enough. Vidia figured she had let herself be seen by plenty of fairies and sparrow men to appear more than credible in her alibi. So the fast flyer started to nudge and push the two sprinting thistles onto the path she had mentally mapped out, the one that led directly to the blind rise, the root and Tinker Bell's unprotected tinker made house. Vidia's gusts of wind carefully guided the two running weeds right up to the tree and her heart began to soar; everything was coming together just as she had planned. Vidia cried out as loud as she could, "Runaway thistles!" The weeds charged over the rise, jumped onto the root and towards the tinker fairy's house. She glanced over her left shoulder and there was Tinker Bell who was turning to look towards the commotion. To Vidia, the horrified look on the little tinker's face was, indeed, "absolutely priceless."
This is gonna be good, Vidia said congratulating herself.
Tinker Bell was hovering in the courtyard of Tinker's Nook speaking with Clank and Bobble when Terence approached.
"Hey, Tink," the dust talent greeted with a cheery smile; "Fairy Gary wants to know if you could help him with a project."
"What is it, Terence?" she asked him with a coy smile of her own.
"Well, he was really impressed with how your designs helped speed up production for spring and he wants to know if you could do something like that for us at the Pixie Dust Depot."
"That's quite a tall order," Bobble exclaimed.
"What is it that he wants done?" Clank asked.
Tinker Bell didn't say a word as she was already deep in thought. She had been at the depot a few times and had already been thinking about how to improve the facility. Nothing serious, but her mind just worked like that. She would look at something and would invariably ask herself, how could this be better? How can I make this faster or more efficient? Now here was Terence, her best friend in all of Pixie Hollow, asking her to do just that. Flitterific, she thought. She started going through her ideas when Tink heard something behind her. It was Vidia's voice screaming out, "Runaway thistles!" Tinker Bell turned around and saw two sprinting thistles come over the rise and jump onto the root where her house sat. They had been roped and were pulling Vidia along behind them.
As Tinker Bell's eyes widened with growing terror she cried out, "MY HOUSE! LOOK OUT FOR MY HOUSE!" She took off trying to protect her cottage, but it was too little too late.
Am I making Vidia too mean? Too heartless? Please let me know.
To I Luv Milarion and Black Cat: Your glowing reviews were most gratifying. I was so afraid that this story would end up lining bird cages. Thank you for your amazing support.
To I Luv Milarion: Wow! Those are some great ideas. A whole new story could be written just from that. I had been thinking of writing a follow up to Vidia's Revenge, but what I had developed thus far was rather lean. Your suggestions have set my imagination aflame and I would love to use some of your terrific suggestions in the next story. Thank you, once again.
Feedback is always appreciated and I extend my most heartfelt gratitude to all the readers of this story. You have made my day.