Chapter 31

Alfonse had raced to where Artemis was, not caring if he was seen or not. Upon reaching his student and her friends, who were still asking her a million of questions, the group fell immediately silent once they saw him.

"Who's that?" Rosetta whispered.

"That is Alfonse." Dash answered, causing the garden fairy to jump slightly when he appeared behind her out of nowhere.

Ignoring her friends, Artemis walked up to the water fairy with concern written on her face. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"A pirate ship has sailed up right outside Pixie Hollow."

"Pirate ship?!" The other's gasped in shock.

Wanting to see it for herself, Artemis suddenly took off in the direction Alfonse had come from. Once she was close enough, she could tell Strider was close in range for her to be able to use the Hawk Sight to get a better view on the docked ship. Recognizing it, she immediately began to feel pale as the memories of her years aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge came flooding back. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see it was Terrence, who was looking at her with concern.

"That's it isn't?" Terrence questioned, and was answered with a nod.

"Why do you think they're here?" Iridessa asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, but my guess is they were hired by Morwen to do his bidding." Alfonse answered, his face had become cold at the thought.

Continuing to stare at the ship, Artemis had to ask "What do we do?" and noticing her teacher leave her side, she turned around to find him climbing onto Strider.

Even though she didn't like it, she understood his plan and began to follow suit. However, she was stopped when a hand gripped her arm.

"Are you sure you're okay going back there?" Dash questioned, his grey eyes piercing into her own.

"I trust Alfonse's judgment." Was her only answer.

Nodding at this, Dash let her go and Artemis proceeded forward. Climbing behind Alfonse, she patted Strider's side and the large hawk took off towards the last place the animal fairy ever wanted to go. They flew high in the sky to keep out of sight, only using the Hawk Sight to get a good look down below. However, even with their shared ability, the things they saw proved a little difficult for them to understand what kind of situation they were facing. This meant they had to get a closer look.

Flying off of Strider's back, Artemis reluctantly followed Alfonse closer to the ship. It was strange coming back to the place she had spent her entire life in a cage, but they were too close to turn back. Staying out of sight, they snuck on board and proceeded to investigate. There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary, the crew were doing their daily duties, canons were secured in place, but Blackbeard was nowhere to be seen. Looking out behind a pile of rope, the two fairies ducked as soon as the captain came out of nowhere.

"Men, I want this ship ready and in top shape for tonight. If it isn't, you all will answer to me!" Blackbeard ordered, his voice threatening.

"Aye, aye, captain." The crew responded.

Peeping out of their hiding spot, Artemis noticed the door leading to below decks. With a jerk of her head, Alfonse followed his student down below. The lower level of the ship was mostly lit by candles, which allowed the two to be able to see where they were going. There were boxes everywhere, all sealed except for the few which were covered by blankets. Flying to one, they lifted the heavy blanket up, only to discover all of the canon balls lying within.

Going to another, they had the same result. They did the same to another and another, all containing the same cargo. This shouldn't have surprised Artemis, as she had seen them before. However, these balls of destruction were brand new and they were stored everywhere.

"We have to warn Queen Clarion and the ministry." Alfonse muttered, and then heavy footsteps could be heard behind them.

Hiding in one of the crates, they lifted its covering up enough to see one of the crewmen bringing yet another box of canon balls.

Suddenly he sneezed and irritably asked himself "Why am I sneezing? There's no birds done here!"

Realizing Strider's scent was on the both of them, Artemis and Alfonse hid even farther into their crate. The pirate sneezed a couple of times, rubbed his nose, and then walked away. Listening for the sounds of heavy footsteps, the two hurriedly flew out of their hiding spot and proceeded going back to where they had come from. They were then horrified to find the door shut.

"What do we do?" Artemis questioned, feeling panic rising inside her.

"You must use the Sight to let Strider know where we are. "Alfonse answered calmly, as if this was a daily occurrence to him.

Artemis did as he suggested and could feel Strider's understanding. Looking through his eyes, she watched as he swooped down towards the ship. When he came close to the door, one of the pirates tried to grab a hold of him. However, being the aggressive hawk he was, he fought his attacker and the results ended with the pirate nocking into the door, where his arm had pushed the door nob down. With the door wide open, the two fairies got onto Strider's back and dodged a few more pirates who were trying to catch him.

Without hesitation, they took off back towards Pixie Hollow. Flying past Artemis's friends, who were waiting for them, they flew straight for the Pixie Dust Tree to warn Queen Clarion all they had seen.

Author's Note: Hey ya'll got another chapter up for you, which surprised me as I hardly have any time for anything anymore. I hope you all liked it and I hope you are excited to see what will be happening in the upcoming chapters! Thanks for your continuous patience and support and I shall update again soon! Bye!