Chapter 7

Penelope was like a gazelle on the plains as she sprinted forward and leaped over any obstacles in her way. It had only taken her seconds to re-clothe herself before she took off into the darkened tunnel.

Sheldor got his clothes on as quickly as he could before he ran less hesitantly. Barefooted running was not something he was quite used to, but the ever agile and carefree blonde didn't let it bother her. He managed to catch up to her at the landing of the entrance to the tunnel right beside the thin ledge they had to cross to get back to the kingdom. Sheldor stared curiously at Penelope's still form as he exited the dark tunnel. He rounded to look at her, but the horrible screams caught his focus instead. He shot his eyes to see fairies darting in panicked formations as streams of color bled behind them like a comet tail. Noises of fright and disorder sung out like a lullaby of illness. Sheldor turned his head only slightly towards Penelope, who was still standing behind him, and spoke with a very serious tone, "I seem to be in need of my bow… lead us back to the room, if you please?"

Penelope swallowed the lump of trepidation in her throat and slid to the ledge, "No problem… just try and keep up."

Sheldor moved to the ledge and allowed her a few steps before he moved, "That should be no problem."

They crossed the ledge as quickly as they could and jogged to the opening of the spiral that encircled all the way up the tree. Sheldor stared straight up and his breath hitched as he saw fairies in mid flight being chased by luminescent green and black hornets. As he continued to look up, he began to see sharp, thick, and long objects being plunged into the sides multiple times until there was a marginally large hole all up the tree's tower. From the holes, a blanket of black creatures swarmed against the walls in all directions while elongated and flailing creatures with long, stemy legs wiggled from the middle of the masses. They were fast and unrelenting and Sheldor felt a little sick to his stomach as sounds of screaming filled the hollow space of the tree's tower. He backed up until he could see Penelope from his peripherals. She looked none too pleased herself.

The sound of crunching, digging came from up above and they both tensed up. Three huge spiders crawled upon the ceiling of the path and raised their mandibles up towards them. Sheldor took in a very deep breath and let out a high pitched scream that would've put the banshee to shame. They both backed up a little then took off running in the direction that would take them to their room. They weren't fast enough as four more spiders blocked their escape. Penelope's hand went into her clothing and she narrowed her eyes. Sheldor only had his hunting knife and he wasn't about to get THAT close to these things.

The three behind them had floored themselves and readied to spring forward to attack, but they were all caught off guard by a huge scaled body coiling around them and crushing them together as a spear came down and pierced them. Penelope smiled and threw her hand out and her blossom stars shot out, de-legging the four before them. The snake slithered to their side and Dimitri held up his spear and spoke with his Russian accent slanting through, "Penelope… take your hero and get to the Core… I need you with Goldfarb!"

Penelope looked up at the Russian fairy, "I'll be there!"

Dimitri shook his head, "I needed you there… NOW!"

Sheldor moved to the two, "I am going nowhere without my belongings…"

Dimitri gave a sigh, "I cannot guarantee you'll get to your room without being horribly slain, but I have my men trying to alleviate the situation. They've sent armored bugs to the Core… we don't have much time before we'll be overrun… Hurry… Just… Hurry!" He and his snake slithered off swiftly. Penelope looked over at Sheldor and they both nodded before sprinting.

They made it up one of the spirals and had one to go. They had to avoid the madness of spiders versus fairies all up and down the corridors. Penelope downed as many as she could as Sheldor used a few fire spells on spiders that packed and ganged up on one fairy. He had to conserve his magic… it took a lot out of him to do a spell…

Sheldor felt a rush of relief as he saw the familiar door. Penelope skipped into a jog as Sheldor caught up. They were a mere three paces from the door when a long, slate-grey body moved like lightning around them. The body had mustard yellow legs that tapped against the ground with a menacing crunching noise and it wrapped around them tighter and tighter until Penelope and Sheldor were back to back. The almost feather-like tails on its 'back' end twitched as the 'head' of the massive arthropod raised up. The long, twirling antennae on its head was twitching all around the air and Penelope readied her hand to throw.

Before they could ponder on their last moments alive, a ringing pierce of a shrieking call blared out and Sheldor could see it dive bombing from the air towards them. The Feathertailed Centipede seemed to pay no mind as it tightened it body to grip the two with its gnarly, sticklike legs. A magpie shrike swooped in a curve and tackled the centipede's head with both its feet and pinned the arthropod to the ground, this caused the body to coil madly. Penelope and Sheldor moved and dodged every single leg that grasped in mid air. A masculine grunt came from above them and they both got a glimpse of a fairy doing a Spartan dive from above with a sword above his head and he pierced the centipede's belly mercilessly. He drug the blade down as the shrike ripped its head off. The arthropod eventually stopped moving as the bird began to feast upon it.

The male fairy sheathed his sword in a holster on his back and approached them. He was tall, dark haired, and very handsome. He had a thin red line between two thick white lines of war paint down the left side of his bare chest and the same design around his left bicep. He approached Penelope and took her hand, "Are you alright? I would hate to know that such a beautiful damsel like you would be in any kind of distress."

Sheldor felt a little irritated when Penelope almost gushed over him. The male kissed her hand and introduced himself, "I am Underhill… and you are?"

Before Penelope has a chance to answer, a lilac breasted roller swoops in and an irritated female fairy screams from its back, "Damn it, Underhill! We are under attack! Get your unfaithful, cheating, horny ass on that shrike! We have more enemies to vanquish!" The shrike hopped over and Underhill hopped on its back while muttering, "Yes, Dear." Both the birds burst into the air and they were off taking care of other centipedes.

Sheldor shook his head and looked over at Penelope, who was absolutely stunned. He was not happy… not at all. He actually had a pinch in his chest thinking that Penelope felt anything for that… that… bed companion of a man! He scoffed callously, "Well… That was a fairly disgusting display of manhood… Now…" He kicked open the door trying to release this… ball of anger in his chest… making Wolowix yelp and evaporate from the bed as Sheldor spoke again, "… I get to show them how a REAL gentleman saves the day."

He grabbed his jacket, flinging it on while putting his hat on. He grasped the bow gun, readying it for combat. His rage seemed to pulse through making the arrows throb with power. Wolowix connected into his mind with a bit of worry, "What the HELL is going on? I've been hearing screaming... I thought this place was impenetrable? Guarded by magic and what now… AND why are you so pissed off?"

Sheldor groaned, "Please refrain from speaking to me, Wolowix. You and I need to focus… We have some work to do." He walked out of the room and past Penelope's regretful eyes to stand at the ledge and over look the carnage. Wolowix cursed in his head and Sheldor licked his lips, "Wolowix… I noticed that when I shot the witch, the two arrows separate arrows converged into one… I wonder… how many arrows can diverge from each arrow I fire? I need a calculable answer."

Wolowix paused then answered him, "I would say that one arrow could divide into 30 and still have enough magical energy to be devastatingly powerful. Anymore and the assurance of outcome is flawed."

Sheldor nodded, "Very well." He raised the bow gun and aimed it high. He knew that the Vulcarian spell was still upon the bow gun, even though it had changed drastically. He focused all his energy upon the hand that held the bow gun and shot both arrows in the air. The two arrows shot out like two rockets of fireworks and almost shattered in mid air. They divided into an array of small shards that moved like a school of fish then started darting off like shooting stars. Eventually, all the individual shards had gone off into their own directions. Some hit hornets in pursuit, some hit spiders who had fairy families pinned against the wall, and some hit centipedes trailing up the spiral tower… each one it hit; evaporated it into golden dust.

Penelope stood beside Sheldor and they both looked up at the bow gun. Wolowix ghosted before them and hovered over the edge and huffed on his fingers and polished them on his chest with a smirk, "Yep… I'm that good."

Sheldor rolled his eyes as Penelope grinned. Sheldor spared a brief glance at Penelope before sulking to the side and saying, "We need to get to the 'Core' I do believe Dimitri said."

Penelope sighed, "Sheldor…" She began, but she stopped and let out a pained puff of air. She moved forward, heading back down the spiral and after a few beats… Sheldor followed… heavily and disgruntled.

As they moved down the spiral, they noticed that the insects were slowly dwindling down in numbers. Sheldor fired off another one of his group shots and took out nearly 60 more. While they ran, Wolowix's voice chimed into Sheldor's mind with concern, "Ummm… You mind telling me what's going on with you and Penelope? You… you seem a little… pissed off."

Sheldor was a good distance away from the blonde as they ran and Sheldor, though a bit out of breath, answered the man, "It's… it's nothing."

"Bullshit!"

Sheldor winced at the curse in his head and he spoke… he spoke louder than he meant to, "She… she and some Neanderthal of a fairy nearly engaged in coitus right in front of me… as if I didn't even exist. I… I don't know… I just began to feel… spiteful towards him, but even more towards her. I… I…"

Wolowix spoke with a kind voice, "You were jealous..." Wolowix's kind voice went into a condescending tone, "Oh my goodness… Why Sir Shelly Welly, are you finally getting hair growing in strange places?"

Sheldor stopped dead in his tracks and panted for a moment before defending himself in a high pitched voice, "I am most certainly NOT jealous and… for the record I have had full pubis at the age of 19."

Wolowix ghosted out beside him and gave a mischievous grin, "First off: UGGGHHH… Secondly: Shelly Bean… jealousy is one of those 'human' emotions that you've heard so much about… It seems that you care more about this girl than you're letting on. Don't worry, though… you're secret is safe with me… until I see someone I can tell… then it's every man for himself."

Sheldor shook his head and started to speak, but a familiar scream filled the air. Sheldor ran full speed leaving Wolowix to cloud up in the spot he ran from. He saw two hornets descend upon the blonde while a horde of spiders leapt to cut Sheldor off. He raised his bow gun and shot. It took out the spiders in a puff of glitter, but it was too late… he watched as one of the hornets gripped Penelope tight and began to fly straight up the spiral. Sheldor could do nothing, if he shot the hornet, she'd fall to her death. The other hornet sprung in an attack on him. The hornet dived down, stinger first and Sheldor dodged it easily, but the bow gun hit the ground awkwardly and it slid out of his hand. He cursed loudly… he was wasting valuable time to save Penelope. He moved to try and get up, but the lime green and black hornet slammed its six tarsi down around his body. Up close, Sheldor could see the divots in the hornet's exoskeleton… see the tiny hairs within its crushing mandibles… and the spots upon the hornet's eyes. There was something ominous about this insect… an energy that was far too familiar… and then she appeared.

Lady Fowler stepped forward and looked down at him with her mask still on and his bow gun in the grip of her smooth metallic arm, the one Sheldor had shot off, like it was disgusting. She towered over his head and she tilted her mask before kneeling down, "Hello again, Sheldor… You know… I am a fairly forgiving person. So, I'll forgive you for blasting off my arm… but… I cannot forgive you for stealing my Bestie…" The hornet readied its stinger and pointed it at Sheldor's abdomen. A snarling, guttural growl filled the air from behind Lady Fowler and she spun and disappeared in enough time to avoid the lunge of the fully healed nerkanine. Onar's attempts were not in vain, the bow gun slid only a few feet away from Sheldor.

Sheldor had no time to cheer for the return of his friend as he folded his body and rolled above his head to avoid the stinger then crawled quickly to his weapon and fired it; sending the hornet into flakes of golden ash. Sheldor stood and looked around with wide eyes… trying to find the damned witch. Onar trotted to his side and sniffed the air.

Her voice filled their ears, but she dared not show herself, "It seems that you and I are going to be quite the pair bond of enemies. I have what I came for... this palace shall burn in FLAMES!"

A rumble filled the tree that seemed to flow all the way up and a glow began to ascend the spiral. Wolowix ghosted and spoke as he stared at the approaching glow, "I think it's time to for you and Onar to be reunited as rider and steed!"

Sheldor, Onar, and Wolowix could only stare as an enormous Gila-monster stomped up and stopped a few yards before them. Its front was the black and orange striped lizard, but the rest of it was nothing but flames. The creature gave a gurgling roar and the whole creature became a living burst of flames and it lurched forward with some speed. Wolowix gulped and spoke out loud before disappearing in a puff of smoke, "Ummm… Guys…" Sheldor gripped Onar and mounted him just as the nerk turned and ran full speed up the spiral.

Onar sprinted as fast as his legs could carry them as the lizard of fire pursued them. Sheldor shot a couple of arrows back, but the flames just swallowed it like a coin thrown within a well. He cursed and twisted back and gripped the fur of the nerk before leaning forward hoping to lessen the wind drag. He had absolutely had no time to appreciate his friend's healthy return to his side because they were now running for their lives.

Onar had to slide to a stop as the path before them was blocked by fallen debris scattered across and piled high upon the path. Wolowix hummed nervously in Sheldor's mind. Sheldor, himself, tried to calculate the exact time it would take to clear a small hole just to get through… they didn't have 2 hours. Sheldor swallowed as Onar turned to the side and started to back up. Sheldor could only react to the notice of the nerk's backward momentum with a mutter of 'Onar' over and over again.

The nerkanine's butt hit the wall and his body tensed underneath Sheldor's legs. Sheldor muttered, "Oh Good Lord… No…" He turned his head to see the gila-monster of fire stomping towards them. It picked up speed towards them and the nerk took off towards the hollowed out tower and Sheldon began screaming, "No... Noooo... Onar… ONAR… OOOOONAR!"

The flames licked at the nerk's back feet as he soared in the air with his front and back legs straight out in opposite directions. When the nerk's body got to almost in the center… they began to plummet fast. Sheldor screamed and lost his grip on the black fur of the nerk and ascended above the nerk as Onar fell faster.

An eagle's call screeched and echoed within the tree and Onar was scooped with large talons as Sheldor's arm was gripped and he was yanked behind a fairy with burgundy hair. The walls of the climbing tower began to stretch. It took a while for Sheldor to collect what just occurred and finally recognized the fairy that he was sitting behind and the flaming red bird they were riding… Stephinaria… Penelope's friend. The woman turned her head and spoke, "Where's Penny?"

Something caught his eye and he looked down and saw an old fairy standing on a protruding ledge, holding up a staff with a glowing red tip and pointed upwards. Stephinaria's voice got louder and angrier, "SHELDOR… WHERE'S PENNY!?"

Sheldor looked up and searches the sky to find the hornet. He points out by the side of her head to make sure she could follow his direction, "There!"

Stephinaria gritted her teeth and spoke to him, "Hang on tight." He hesitated, but as the flaming red bird tilted up and jetted upwards, and his arms were around the fairy. He was surprised at how soft and bendable the fairy's wings were as they brushed against his face.

He looked up as the fire bird's rainbow colored discharge burst from the tips of its wings. It was quite beautiful, but his eyes locked onto the wasp. He heard Wolowix speak to him in a desperate speech, "Sheldor… you can't let the witch take her… she's obviously something important… we need to get her back!"

Sheldor swallowed and nodded in agreement. He took the bow gun and pointed it straight at the insect and growled, "She belongs to no one… she's finally free." He pulled the trigger and the two arrows whistled in the air. One took point and soared forward and destroyed a bubble of energy around them and the other arrow went through the hornet's thorax. The hornet stopped in mid flight and leaned its body back before exploding in golden confetti. Penelope almost floated in mid air until gravity took a hold of her. She flailed her arms in the air as if trying to grab something and her lungs expelled a terrified scream as she plummeted down.

Sheldor sheathed the bow gun and pushed up on Stephinaria's shoulders. The fairy screamed something he couldn't quite understand as his focus was on the falling blonde. He calculated the momentum and moment he needed to jump and join her in the fall… and he took that action at that exact moment. Sheldor ran and leaped off the bird and dove in an angle. Onar's jaws were wide open and making an animalistic scream as he watched Sheldor falling.

Penelope was still flailing and screaming as she fell until Sheldor's slim form caught up with hers and wrapped his arms around her. He held her and she beat on his chest as they spun in mid air. She had tears in her eyes and she screamed at him, "You damn DUMMY! Now we're both gonna die! Why couldn't you just let me go?"

He pressed her close and wanted to say something romantic… something heartfelt… something that would be written in scrolls for centuries, but nothing would come. Instead, he closed his eyes and mumbled something into her neck. The bow gun pulsed and began to bleed out a blue flow of effervesce that surrounded the two clinging to each other for dear life and before they could crash into the ground… there was a flare of blue and the two disappeared in thin air.