Tang Ri Shan
(Stay with me, we're nearing the climax!)
Tinkerbell: Curse of the Duskmoth
(I do not own Tinkerbell or any of the Disney Fairies. Enjoy!)
Chapter 11
Tinkerbell tugged against the bars with all her strength. "Let me out!" She yelled, but it was no use. The bars seemed as solid as the walls around her, and her voice echoed down the hall without an answer. Sighing, Tinkerbell sat down and looked around. Her cell was small, cramped, and cold. Rough stone walls surrounded her on all sides, the only light came from tiny windows that were near the top of the walls and one large, immovable metal gate. Fortunatly, due to the full moon outside, the cell was flooded with moonlight, giving her plenty of light to see. Not that Tinkerbell needed any reminder aobut how gloomy-looking her cell was.
Snorting, she turned away from the gate towards the far wall. There were a few small items of furniture in the cell, a bed, a table, and hanging on the wall, a reflective piece of glass that served as a mirror. Striding towards it, Tinkerbell gazed at her reflection again. She ran her hand over her face, and paused it on her left cheek. Tinkerbell leaned closer to get a better look. Running diagonally from her ear to her mouth was a scratch-mark. It was dark against her skin, making it easy to see. As she ran her finger down its length, her mind flashed back to when she had encountered vidia and her friend had hit her. Tinkerbell remembered how her cheek had stung for a second. But it wasn't hurting now. In fact, Tinkerbell couldn't feel anything at all. If it wasn;t for the mirror, she wouldn't have even known the scratch was there.
Tinkerbell sighed as she walked away from the mirror and sat down on the small bed. Poor Vidia, she thought to herself, feeling very worried, remembering how scared her firend had looked, clutching her burned hands. Not that Tinkerbell herself was doing much better. After Vidia had fled in terror with one of the Guaridan Guild faries chasing her, the other one had taken one look at Tinkerbell's face, freaked out, and flew back towards the tree. Tinkerbell had flown in the direction that Vidia had gone, but hadn't gotten very far before she was captured by members of the Guaridan Guild. She had been dragged before Kelsier, who had been calming the other fairies about a supposed Duskmoth sighting. At first they had been concerned about her, but when the guild fairy showed everyone the scratch on her face and said that she had been marked by a sprite, everyone moved away from her. Kelsier annouonced that she could be contageous, whatever that meant, and that she would need to be locked away for safety. Many of the fairies had protested, but Queen Clarion agreed with Kelsier and Tinkerbell had been dragged away.
Tinkerbell sighed again, glancing around her cell. She shook her head. "It's not fair!" She said aloud. "Why would Queen Clarion do this to me?"
"Do not judge the queen too quickly" A raspy voidce made her glance up. An elderly sparrow-man was standing outside the door to her cell He was wearing black and carried a curved wooden staff in one hand. Tinkerbell's eyes narrowed as she recognized her visitor. It was the seer from last night. Seeing her anger, he continued. "Queen Clarion beleives that Kelsier was wrong to imprison you this way, but she has to think of the safety of Pixie Hollow."
"But Kelsier's wrong!" Tinkerbell argued, rising to her knees. "I'm not infected, Vidia's not infected. Neither of us have turned" She palced emphasis on the last word as her mind flashefd back to the conversation she had overheard between the Seer and the otheer guild fairy.
"You saw Vidia with your own eyes" The seer cocked his head to one side. "You deny the change that has come over her?"
"She's still Vidia" Tinkerbell shot back, clenching her fists. "Just because she looks like a sprite doesn't mean she'll act like one!" But as she spoke, her memory flashed back to when Vidia had tackled her and the bruise on her neck throbbed. She glanced at the Seer againa nd to her surprise, he was smiling. His dark eyes were dancing with humor.
"Whatever you say" The seer nodded, smiling. He rose into the air and turned to leave.
"Seer, wait!" Tinkerbell rushed to the bars. "I want to ask you something"
"The seer paused and turned back to her. "What is it?"
Tinkerbell took a deep breath. "Is the Duskmoth truely real, or is it all a lie?" She asked. "I overheard you and another fairy talking last night and she said that you lied to everyone about your vision. What is going on?" Tinkerbell didn't know why she was asking this, but she had to get answers from somewhere.
The seer's eyes widened for a second, and then he smiled again, hirelief etched clearly on his face. "I was wondering who was hiding behind the bush" He said, and now Tinkerbell's eyes widened. "I thought it was another guild member at first". The Seer landed and glanced both ways down the hall, as if searching for any sign of someone listening. Satisfied, he turned back to Tinkerbell. "Well, I suppose it's time I told someone". His smile widened and he suddenly didn;t look as feeble as he had been a second ago. "The answer to your question, Tinkerbell, is both yes and no. The Duskmoth, the creature itself does exist, I have seen it with my own eyes many times, but the legends about it, the stories that are told, those are not real."
"What do you mean?" Tinkerbell asked.
"Many of these legends were created by Kelsier and Elisa, his second in command." The Seer explained. "They were made after the Duskmoth first appeared in Pixie Hollow. I believe he made them in order to inspire fear in other fairies."
"But why would he do that?"
The Seer shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "I have no definate answer for that. Maybe he himself was afraid, maybe he thought it was the right thing to do". He paused, "Or maybe it was part of his plan"
"Plan?" Tinkerbell perked up. "What plan?"
"His master plan" The Seer replied slowly, turning back to Tinkerbell. "To replace Queen Clarion as the ruler of all of Pixie Hollow."