Disclaimer: This story is completely original. All characters, settings, and events are spawned from my own mixed up little mind and may not be used, copied, or adapted without my express written permission. Do not steal my story!!!
17.
They were indeed waiting for Toby and Theo when the two finally arrived. And what a sight "they" were. Somehow, Verum had convinced Toby's mother to part with the dining room table, which was now animated and fidgeting under its load of luggage and various other items. Fiz was back, zipping around the table and chiding it, waggling his little toothpick-sword menacingly to try and keep it in line. There were no less than a dozen other colored lights careening madly through the air, a dozen tiny voices babbling as they tried to direct the chaos that was Toby's entourage. Verum and Linda stood in the middle, both talking to between two and four fairies at a time.
The hubbub suddenly ceased when Toby and Theo rounded the bend, a dozen lights stilling in the air as the fairies turned to stare at their new princess. Toby had to resist the urge to bolt for the road.
"Just think of them as oversized fireflies," Theo whispered into her ear, and she glanced over her shoulder with a faint smile.
"Princess," Verum greeted her, and Linda hugged her. "Are you ready to journey to the Court? They're expecting us."
The fairies hovered about Toby, staring at her with something akin to awed reverence on their faces. They were of both genders, male and female, of every combination of colors. They were all armed to the teeth, the glint of daggers and knives, bows and arrows, whips, and all manner of other weapons visible on their persons. Unlike Fiz, who was dressed mostly in what seemed to be silk, they were fully armored, in everything from acorn shells and deep green scales to burnished leather and silvery steel.
"Uh, sure," Toby said, ignoring the knot that was forming at the base of her stomach. If just a few fairies made her this uncomfortable, what was being in their home court going to be like?
"Then let us go," Verum said with a sweep of her wand. The table snapped to attention, moseying forward. "Say good-bye to your mother, just for now."
Toby turned and hugged her mother tightly. Linda clung to her for just a moment longer before releasing her, stepping back. "Stay safe, Tobydoby," she said with a smile, despite the fact she was obviously trying not to cry. Toby smiled back at her, trying to be as reassuring as possible.
"Now, we're off!"
Then the entire macabre group of them, the dozen fairies zipping about in the air, Verum, Toby, Theo, and the dining room table trundling on behind them, started off down the road. For a moment Toby thought they were walking back towards Dominic's house, but then they veered off onto a path that Toby had never noticed before, even with the hundreds of times she'd walked this very same road.
The trees arched over their heads, the branches twining together to form a sun-dappled canopy of emerald and dark brown shadows. The daylight sparkled on stray dust motes, making the air seem to glimmer. She gazed around them as they walked, wondering how such normal looking forest had suddenly become .. magical. It made her wonder where the real world ended and Believe began.
She looked to her side and studied the silver-haired young woman walking next to her. Verum had traded the oversized sparkly skirts for a travelling outfit that was only minorly less over-the-top, complete with long flowing sleeves and skirts that were only two layers instead of five. How conservative of her, Toby thought.
"So how are we getting to this other world, anyway?"
Verum blinked at her. "Oh, dear, Believe isn't a separate world. It's... well, how to explain this. 'The land of Believe' just refers to all of the magical places in the world, places that are hidden from most people."
Toby wrinkled her nose. "So... like secret gardens and stuff?"
"Not exactly..." The fairy godmother-in-training thought for a long moment, then snapped her fingers. "Ah! It's like a subway system."
Toby stared at her. "... what?"
"Well, a subway is part of a city, but separate from it, correct? Believe is much like a subway. It overlaps with the mundane world in certain places, like the subway has entrances to the city above. If one knows where to go to get to the subway and how to get into it -- the fare, you could say -- one can go from the city into the subway, or vice versa. Once in the subway, oe can visit a variety of stations, which are the magical and secret areas of our world, or return to the city above."
Toby tilted her head, then abruptly grinned slightly. "You know, that's actually a pretty good allusion."
Verum smiled brightly. "Thank you!"
"So... we're heading to one of these entrances? How far away is it?"
"Not very. They're not... exact. It's more a general area and you open the doorway by knowing how to. Some require passwords, some special keys. Some just require you to know what to push or where to stand to get through. Each one is very different."
Toby frowned. "How on earth do you know how to get through?"
Verum giggled, winking at the brunette conspiratorially. "You learn to read the signs, Princess." Toby opened her mouth to ask Verum what these 'signs' looked like, but the question died on her lips at the curious sight of what had to be a bucket worth of water arching through the air towards Verum's back. Toby had just enough time to wonder why anyone would toss water at someone like Verum, then the water splashed all over both of them. Steam exploded around them and Toby threw up her hands to protect her eyes.
When she lowered her hands again, she found herself staring at a tiny, wet, silver rabbit sitting in the crumpled remains of Verum's travelling outfit. The splash seemed to draw the company's attention, a dozen sparkling lights turning to stare at the former fairy godmother-in-training.
Then, like a sudden exhale, trolls burst from the bushes around the path, painted, lumbering, and yelling. They carried staffs and clubs, a few maces between them, and met the swords and shields of the fairies who sprang into action with a deafening crash. Toby froze, standing there in the middle of the mayhem with the rabbit at the base of her feet hopping around agitatedly.
"Princess!" Fiz's voice burst from behind her and she turned, just in time to see him dart between her and a club so large that it must have been the entire trunk of a tree. Toby didn't understand how Fiz wasn't crushed into a pulp. Fiz swiped with his tiny toothpick sword so ferociously that the troll stumbled back, deep gouges appearing in his club. Fiz whipped around to face her. "Run further down the road! It'll take you to Avalon! Go!!" Behind him, she could see fire blossoming between the trees as Theo lunged at no less than four trolls.
Toby hesitated, torn, then saw the troll lunging forward again. She turned and dashed further down the road, hopping over grounded trolls and darting around staffs and swords. Her heart thudded in her ears, her breath tore from her chest in a scared tatter, and the road seemed to stretch out in front of her indefinitely.
She cleared the last of the sparring pairs, stumbled, then got to her feet and bolted down the pathway, not daring to look behind her. Branches slapped into her face as the road she was following became more of a footpath, a single thread winding through the trees. Turning a corner, she skidded to a stop, toppling back onto her rear.
A troll, her skin a deep blue, stood between her and where she was trying to go. The troll regarded her, then reached out and calmly grabbed at her. Toby shoved herself back, her hand scrabbling. She found a branch, then swung it backhanded. A small sliver of satisfaction wound its way through her when the troll jerked back, looking surprised.
Toby got to her feet. Why wasn't the tiara reacting? Wasn't this what it was supposed to protect against? Her heart pounded in her chest as the troll regrouped, then calmly swiped at her. Toby blocked with the branch, which shattered, sending the brunette hard against a nearby tree.
Great, broken ribs. Just what she needed.
The troll grabbed Toby and slung her over her shoulder like the girl weighed nothing. "Stop it! Let me go!! Fiz! Verum! Theo!!"
Toby slammed her fists into the troll's shoulders; it was like hitting solid stone. She kicked, screaming in fury, then felt a surge of triumph as her knee somehow found the troll's neck, making her buck over, dropping Toby to the ground. The brunette scrambled to her feet and bolted for the safety of the forest.
She'd gotten about two feet when pain and stars exploded behind her eyes, toppling to the ground. The world whirled around her, and she had the vision of a pair of deep blue feet in front of her face before she sank into unconciousness.