Tang Ri Shan
(Hope you're still with us! Here's the next chapter)
Tinkerbell: Curse of the Duskmoth
(I do not own Tinkerbell or any of the Disney Fairies. Enjoy!)
Chapter 5
"What was that?" Everyone glanced around as the scream lingered in the air. Then there was another one, sounding much closer.
"Look!" Someone cried and pointed as a fairy burst into the hollow. She was flying raggedly, as if she was struggling to remain airborne. She seemed to be trying to reach the stage, but she was getting lower every second. Tinkerbell gasped as the fairy crashed into a table that was near them. The table fell over and food went flying. Immediately fairies began clustering around the collapsed table. Tinkerbell took to the air, flying over the crowd and glanced down at the scene. Lying amidst the wrecked desserts was a fairy wearing the same clothing as the members of the guardian guild, but her clothing was scruffed and torn and her hair was frizzy and wild. It looked like she had been in a fight. She groaned as the surrounding fairies began talking in loud voices. Some were stooping, trying to help her to her feet, but many just stood of hovered there.
"Let me through! LET ME THROUGH!" Kelsier bellowed as the members of the guild pushed the crowd aside. As Kelsier forced his way through the assembled and knelt beside the fallen fairy, a silence seemed to fall over the crowd. Tinkerbell glanced towards the stage, Queen Clarion and the seasonal ambassadors had not moved from their positions, but she saw worry etched on the queen's face.
"Elisa?" Tinkebell's attention turned back to Lord Kelsier as he gently patted the fallen fairy's cheek. The fairy stirred and groaned, her eyes fluttering open.
"Kelsier?" She muttered. She looked at him, but her eyes were strangely blank, like she couldn't see.
Kelsier nodded, than put his hand on Elisa's shoulder. "Who did this to you?"
"It was...It was..." Elisa murmured, struggling to get the words out. Her face became a mask of pain.
"It was who? Please Elisa you must tell me!" Kelsier demanded, placing both arms on Elisa's shoulders and pulling her up into a sitting position.
"It was...the...Duskmoth" With that, Elisa collapsed in Keliser's arms. The fairies around them immediately started arguing again. Some were afraid, some were angry, but many were just confused.
"SILENCE! Everyone, be quiet!" Kelsier yelled over the din and the crowd grew quiet.
"Lord Kelsier is correct!" Queen Clarion agreed, flying over to him. "This is not the time to panic! Can someone get Elisa to a healing talent fairy?" Two sparrow men flew forward and gently lifted the unconscious fairy and flew her away.
"Your highness!" Kesleir took to the air, flittering up to the Queen's level. "If the Duskmoth has returned, than my warriors are in danger! I must go alert them!" He bowed to the queen before flying off, shouting "Guardian Guild, to me!" The guild members took off in perfect formation and followed Kelsier as he flew in the direction Elisa had come from.
"Queen Clarion, what should we do?" Tinkerbell saw Fern, one of the garden fairies, speak up, the worried tone on her voice claerly visible on the faces of the other fairies. Everyone looked at the queen, who seemed to be in thought.
"I would like everyone to return to the home tree and stay there until morning. No one is to leave their homes until Lord Keslier returns!" The queen had to shout to make herself heard over the sound of thousands of wings beating as fairies and sparrow-men scattered in all directions. Some darted off into the darkness like they were terrified, others traveled more slowly, talking and arguing loudly, but everyone traveled in groups, and they stuck very close together, the light from their wings forming pale yellow balls drifting through the grass. Tinkerbell, however, hadn't moved. She was watching the queen, who was speaking with the ambassadors. Tinkerbell wasn't sure, but the queen looked strangely calm about all this.
"Come on!" Tinkerbell felt Klank grab her arm and start to pull her along. "We've gotta get out of here!" At the same time, Clarion noticed Tinkerbell and gave her a nod and a small smile.
"But-but, where's Vidia?" Tinkerbell argued. "I can't find her anywhere!"
"She's probably heading home, like we should be! Now come on!" Bobble grabbed Tinkerbell's other arm.
"Okay, okay" Tinkerbell followed her friends as they flew towards home. "I just hope Vidia's safe" She said to herself as she vanished into the grass.
Meanwhile
Meanwhile, Vidia lad left the gathering some time ago. She was still annoyed at Tinkerbell and the others for teasing her, but she found that taking a nice fast flight always made her feel better.
So Vidia had flown back to the arena and was now standing on the stage where she had been when she took her bows, gazing around at the empty seats. She glanced up at the lip of the arena, where that strange shape had been, near the base of the big tree. There wasn't anything there now though.
"I don't care what anyone says" Vidia mused to herself as she left the stage and flew towards the lip. "I know what I saw" Touching down gently on the lip, she squinted hard at the ground. Even though there was a bright moon out, it was still dark up here, partially due to the shadows cast by the tree. Crouching down, Vidia ran her hands over the surface, and froze. She gasped, her eyes wide. She had expected to feel smooth dirt, but instead, her hands ran over a series of scratches in the earth. Vidia narrowed her eyes and could just make out what looked like footprints in the earth.
"I was right!" Vidia exclaimed in a whispered voice. Why she was whispering, she didn't know. "Something was up here! But what kind of creature could have left tracks like that?" The footprints were way too big to be a fairy, or even made by the birds that nested in and around Pixie Hollow.
Crack! Vidia jumped as a branch snapped nearby. She leapt to her feet, wing ready, her eyes glancing in all directions. She didn't see anything.
Whisssshhhh! Vidia shivered as a cold breeze blew past her, it seemed to go right through her. She felt herself growing uneasy. Normally she had no problem flying by herself at night, but suddenly she found herself wishing that she hadn't left the feast early after all. She was preparing to fly back to the others, when she heard another rustle, coming from above her. She glanced up, into the tree's darkened canopy. A few leaves spiraled down towards her.
"Who's there?" Vidia called. She squinted into the darkened branches and could just make out movement. "I know you're in there! Come on out!" She demanded, then gasped in fear as a deep growl tore through the air and a pair of purple lights appeared, like a pair of glowing eyes staring out at her through a cluster of leaves. Vidia froze, not moving a muscle. The eyes didn't move either. They just watched her.
Vidia gulped nervously, then she suddenly felt really stupid. "What am I worried about?" she scolded herself, sighing with relief. "It must be Tinkerbell, or one of the others, playing a trick on me!"Chuckling to herself she straightened up. "Okay Tinkerbell, you got me!" She called up to the eyes. They didn't move, just stared back at her unblinkingly. Vidia tried again. "Very funny Irridessa!", she called up, fluttering forwards. The eyes still didn't move, but they seemed to narrow slightly. "Rosetta, is that you?" Vidia called, her smile starting to fade, and fear starting to creep back into her voice. The eyes didn't move.
"Okay, you can stop trying to scare me now!" Vidia demanded, starting to feel annoyed now. The eyes narrowed even further and another growl tore through the air. "And stop with that stupid noise!" Vidia thrust her arms up and sent a strong gust of wind up at the eyes. There was another growl, the branches rustled and something shot out of the darkness and grasped the tree trunk, a claw. As large as Vidia's body, this three-fingered appendage was covered in blue-black fur and each of the three scaly fingers was tipped with sharp-looking talons that gripped the bark. As Vidia stared at it, she felt her anger and relief drain out of her, replaced by ice-cold dread. Slowly, she lifted her head to gaze back up at the eyes, which were so narrowed the looked like slits of anger.
The branches rustled, than exploded outwards in such a force that Vidia was knocked onto her back. Vidia cried out as the large shape with the glowing purple eyes dove through the falling leaves at her. Her mind screamed to fly, to run, to do anything, but it was like her body was frozen. She stood stock still, her eyes wide as the eyes came neared and nearer.
Whooo! At the last second, Vidia ducked as the shape flew over her, missing her by inches. She heard one of the talons rip through the ground. A cold wind followed in its wake, a wind that seemed to blow right through her Vidia Her body felt numb and her mind clouded over, blocking out everything except for one thing, terror. Vidia took off before she even knew what had happened. By the time her brain caught up with her, she was zipping through the night sky as fast as she could.
Hearing a noise behind her, Vidia glanced back, and gasped as her eyes locked onto glowing purple ones. The Duskmoth was chasing her! Panicking, Vidia flew faster, as fast as she could. A few minutes later,she glanced behind her again, the creature was still behind her, and gaining!
Vidia's eyes widened and she put on a burst of speed. The Duskmoth fell back and Vidia gave a sigh of relief. Then the looked ahead. A thick tree truck appeared out of nowhere! "Yikes" Vidia yelled and swerved violently, just missing the tree. Vidia swerved to avoid a second one, and glanced behind her to see the creature arcing somewhat gracefully around the trees, it large moth-like wings barely flapping as if stayed on her tail. Vidia gasped again, and looked forward just in time to see another tree rocket up out of nowhere. There was no time to swerve.
"N. No. No!" Vidia cried out, trying to stop, but it was to late. Whamm! Vidia smacked into the tree trunk, sending pain shooting through her body. Stunned, she tumbled out of the air and landed with a thud on the ground. The instant before Vidia's eyes closed, she saw the purple eyes again, diving towards her. And this time, she couldn't do anything about it.