Disclaimer: All recognizable subject material does not belong to me.
Stand Your Ground: Legend of the Monster – and the Firebird that Never Returned
Chapter 3
From a Trickle to a Roar
Just as the dragonfly got close, Vidia reached down and grabbed a stick she had left lying in the sand.
At the last moment Vidia used the stick as a club and deflected the dragonfly, making him fly, stunned, into the sand. She stepped toward him.
"Pick on someone your own altitude!" she shouted, brandishing her stick threateningly. "Now scram."
It scrammed.
"Are you okay?" Scruffy slipped to a stop next her.
"Nice job, Vidia!" Tinkerbell said, landing next to her.
Stand Your Ground
"Wow!" Tink landed, and the others followed.
Vidia slipped off of Scruffy's back and pulled the book from her backpack.
"It says on the map here that we should be standing beside the 'Cold River'."
"More like boiling river." Rosetta pointed out. "You can see the steam for miles."
"I wonder what happened." Silvermist said,
"I wonder if the person who wrote that book has even been on this island." Fawn spoke up. "They've it all wrong."
Vidia stared at the boiling water. I'll bet this has something to do with the Firebird. She thought.
"Look!" Tinkerbell's voice startled her from her thoughts. "I can see a cave just beyond the river. Let's hop over and see if it's the right one!"
"Be careful about the steam." Silvermist warned. "It'll soak your wings almost as fast as water."
Vidia climbed up onto Scruffy's back again, and he bounced right through the steam, taking no notice of Silvermist's warning. Vidia shut her eyes as they went right into the steam and opened them again when they landed safely on the other side.
The other fairies flew far into the air, darted through the steam where it thinned, and floated back down.
Vidia consulted her map. "Yep – this looks like the cave."
"Let's keep going for an hour or so. Then we'll camp and have something to eat." Tinkerbell proposed.
"Sounds good to me." Scruffy agreed.
Stand Your Ground
Vidia stared into the fire. "Did the Firebird take anything with him? A knife? Sword? Pixie dust?"
"Well, there was a famous robbery a day after the Firebird left." Fawn admitted. "Everyone tried not to suspect the Firebird because he was such a good friend and might have died to save us, but it's possible that he took it."
"So what can you use fairy dust for?" Scruffy asked. "It helps you with your talents, and it lets you fly . . . anything else?"
"Nothing comes to mind." Rosetta responded.
"He's allergic to pixie dust." Silvermist suggested again.
Vidia paused. "Maybe we should consider that. I mean, we don't know what his weakness is, and the Firebird did take pixie dust."
"Might have taken pixie dust." Iridessa corrected.
"It's more to go on than we had." Vidia concluded.
Stand Your Ground
Vidia woke with a gasp. She looked around, but no one else was up. It had taken her so long to get to sleep – she was quite tired, though. She heard it again, the sound that had woken her.
Looking down the tunnel, she could see a faint light. Curious, she stood and started toward it.
After a while she rounded the curve in the tunnel that had not permitted her to see what was down here, but she could see it then. Enormous, shiny, and magnificent. For a moment she thought it was a dragon, but no – it was – a -
I can't remember the word. Vidia thought, frustrated.
The monster turned and went back the way it had come. She stayed still for a moment, then sprinted back toward the camp.
"Scruffy!" she screamed. "Scruffy!"
The other fairies were awake in an instant. Tinkerbell saw that Vidia's blanket was empty. "Vidia?"
Scruffy looked around. "Vidia – where are you?"
"Scruffy!" Vidia jumped up onto a rock and came into sight of the camp.
"Are you okay?" Silvermist called,
"What happened?" Iridessa asked.
Vidia slid to a stop next to the rat. "Scruffy – remember before? When we hadn't gotten to pixie hollow -" she paused to catch her breath.
"On the way back from the bat-cave?" Scruffy remembered.
"No – no, before then. When we were on our way to Pixie Hollow from the pirate ship – you built a fire to attract the attention of the fairies – I asked you what would come to fires besides fairies."
"Pirates? There's pirates in here? Indians!?" Scruffy squeaked.
"No, no! That's what I told you. What was it that you said?"
"Moths?" Scruffy said, disgustedly. "You're afraid of moths?"
"No! The other – Sallysomething."
"The monster is a Salamander?" Scruffy said, horrified.
"I don't understand." Tinkerbell broke in.
"Fawn, what's a Salamander?" Rosetta asked.
"A legendary lizard that breathes fire." Vidia recalled.
"No, a mythical serpent that is fireproof – there's a difference." Fawn corrected.
"What do you mean? They're both legendary, and a lizard and a serpent are the same thing."
"Legendary means it's become a legend – and may have been distorted by stories." Silvermist pointed out. "But mythical means it doesn't exist at all."
"And they didn't breathe fire. The fairy tales about them all just say that they're fireproof." Fawn explained.
"He and Fira could be friends." Iridessa pointed out. "Too bad we didn't bring her."
"How do you know the monster is a Salamander?" Silvermist asked,
"I saw him. He was wandering around the tunnel – I think he smelled the fire." Vidia replied. "We'd better put it out for now."
Silvermist obediently doused the fire with water.
"Well, what do we do now?" Rosetta asked.
"Wait 'til morning – then we'll go find the Salamander." Tinkerbell decided. "Let's get some sleep."
Stand Your Ground – 13th Day
They walked until it was noon – or they guessed it was noon. Anyway, they had lunch and continued on. Finally, the tunnel stopped, with one large arch to their right.
"Stay back – I'll take a peek." Vidia warned and peeked around the edge.
She froze.
"Vidia – do you see anything?" Tinkerbell asked, impatient.
She pulled her head back and looked at Tinkerbell. "The Salamander's sitting at the other end of the cavern – he's watching this entrance. He's expecting us."
"Any Firebirds around?" Rosetta asked.
"I didn't see anything else in the cavern." Vidia replied.
"No Firebird – can we run?" Scruffy inquired, hopefully.
"Not on your life." Tinkerbell spoke up. "We're getting a firebird tear if it's the last thing we do."
"It is on my life, and it probably will be the last thing we do." Scruffy muttered.
"So what's the plan?" Silvermist asked Tink and Vidia.
Silence.
"No plan?" she said, worried.
"No, but we'd better not keep the Salamander waiting." Vidia stepped out into the archway. "Hi."
"I have been waiting for you fairies." the Salamander was enormous – Vidia was certain that she wasn't even as big as one of his feet. "Who are you?" he seemed very calm about the whole thing.
"I'm Vidia." Vidia kept her voice steady and tried to slow her racing heartbeat.
"I am Kemalth, the Salamander. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for a Firebird. Doiteain came to visit you a few centuries ago."
"Why don't you say 'we' and have done. I saw you and the other fairies last night. And the rodent."
"Scruffy's a rat." Vidia contradicted, unthinkingly.
"And right here." Scruffy stepped out next to Vidia.
The other fairies stepped out into the open.
"Answer the question, Kemalth." Tinkerbell said, sternly. "Where's the Firebird? What happened to Doiteain?"
"He told me to stop attacking the fairies. I killed him in self-defense."
"Self defense?" Fawn exclaimed, outraged. "A Firebird would be so many times smaller than you that it's ridiculous! He couldn't hurt you!"
"It happened centuries ago. I had a short temper back then. I was more impatient."
"What made you so patient that you wait for fairies to find you instead of coming back to Neverland?" Silvermist asked, curiously.
"I've simply gotten older and wiser." Kemalth frowned. "Why are you looking for the Firebird?"
"Firebird tears can heal injuries." Scruffy told him.
"Really?" Kemalth said, sarcastically. "I had no idea!"
"How did you know?" Vidia said.
"It's common knowledge. Besides, I take one whenever I injure myself. Ironically, they've saved my life several times. I'm sure the Firebird never wanted to save me by coming here."
"You have Firebird tears?" Rosetta exclaimed, her face brightening.
"Yes. I took them from the Firebird -"
"Doiteain." Fawn snapped.
"Before I killed him."
"You monster!" Fawn growled, stepping forward.
"Fawn, he has the Firebird tears – don't make him mad!" Iridessa reminded her quietly, pulling her back.
"I'm sure that we could make some kind of trade. We must have something that you want." Tinkerbell called.
"A fairy to eat?" he asked, hopefully.
"That's me!" Rosetta stepped forward. She turned and spoke over her shoulder from one corner of her mouth. "If he doesn't chew properly I'll give him indigestion for years."