Tang Ri Shan
(Part 3 of the climax. Could this be the grande finale?)
Tinkerbell: Curse of the Duskmoth
(I do not own Tinkerbell or any of the Disney Fairies. Enjoy!)
Chapter 21
Vidia's heart sank as Kelsier's smile spread over his face. He knelt and whispered something to Elisa and she smiled too. They both took to the air, ignoring the chaos around them.
"Hah!" Kelsier's voice made all heads turn. "You think you can trick me?!" Vidia hissed in response, but she knew it was pointless. Even though she had spruced up her costume with formula from the pool, it obviously wasn't enough to fool Kelsier. "You think you can scare me? You are not the real Duskmoth!" Kelsier cried, waving his pin sword in Vidia's face. Vidia swiped at Keslier with the costume's long arms, but missed. Kelsier darted around her, laughter sparkling in his eyes. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to make you pay for everything that you've done to Pixie Hollow!". Vidia almost gasped aloud as she realized what was happening. Kelsier was using her as a scapegoat! She was being set up! Just as she finished thinking that, Kelsier suddenly lunged sinking his sword into the costume's chest. Vidia could feel the tip of the sword touching her own chest and darted backwards on instinct. Kelsier whipped his sword out, made a fancy twirl and slashed again, forcing Vidia to dart backwards.
Tinkerbell who had realized the same thing Vidia had, shrieked in anger and shot at Kelsier, only to be intercepted by Elisa, who shone a bright beam of light at Tinkerbell. As the light struck her, Tinkerbell suddenly felt like she was on fire. Every muscle in her body, every hair on her head, seemed to scream in protest. Tinkerbell gave an unearthly scream as Elisa increased the light. Terence roared and launched himself at Elisa, but suddenly several guild members appeared out of nowhere, each of them pinning a sprite with powerful beams of light. Vidia watched, helplessly, as her friends screamed in agony under the lights while others raced forward to free the fairies trapped by the vines.
I have to do something! Vidia yelled to herself as Kelsier attacked her again and again, cutting through the costume. But what? Revealing herself would only serve to prove Kelsier's theory, but she couldn't just do nothing. As Kelsier attacked again, she darted backwards and smacked into one of Rosetta's monstrous vines. She was trapped. Kelsier smiled. "I have you now, impostor!" He yelled as he raised his sword.
"Kelsier!" The sparrow-man froze as a loud hiss snaked through the clearing. Kelsier frowned, but still kept his sword raised. Vidia could hear confused muttering from the guild fairies as they glanced around, searching for the source of the hissing. Suddenly, Tinkerbell struggled to her knees, growling. Elisa shot a beam of light at her, bathing Tinkerbell in a golden glow. Tinkerbell flinched, but she didn't cry out this time. Tinkerbell slowly turned her gaze to look out towards the winter woods. The other sprites followed suit. A growl tore through the air, causing the guild fairies to mutter.
A flicker of unease passed over Kelsier's face, but it was gone a second later. "Ha!" He crowed, raising his sword again, "You think you can scare me with cheap tricks?" He reached forward and grasped the mask of the costume. He gave a sharp yank and it came off, revealing Vidia's face.
"Vidia?" Elisa shrieked, causing everyone to glance at her. Kelsier just stood there, holding the mask, but a smile was playing on his face.
"You have a lot to answer for, Vidia" he said in a threatening tone.
"Wait!" A new voice made everyone look up, a guild fairy darted forwards. Vidia recognized her as the same guild fairy that she had scared earlier. "This makes no sense. Vidia is a sprite!"
"No Karen, you can clearly see that she is not" Kelsier replied."That being said, what exactly did you do with your friends?" Kelsier turned back to Vidia, who had been glancing away, met his gaze again.
"Pardon?"
"I said, what did you do to your friends?" Kelsier repeated, his tone deep and dangerous, his sword point coming to rest in front of Vidia's face.
"You mean the whole sprite thing?" Vidia replied "That wasn't my doing" She smiled. "It was the master's"
"What master?" Kelsier demanded. As if to answer his question, another growl tore through the air, followed by a cold wind that shook the leaves of the tree. Tinkerbell lifted her head and hissed, a wicked smile on her face. The other sprites hissed as well, shifting their purple wings. Two of the guild members pinning them down lost their concentration and their lights extinguished. Over the howling of the wind, Vidia heard Elisa yelling for everyone to remain calm but the guild members were all glancing around nervously. Suddenly, a dark shadow fell across the basin, making everyone glance upwards as a large winged figure rocketed from the shadows into the full moon where it let out a spine-chilling cry. The Duskmoth.
"That master" Vidia answered, grinning wickedly in response to the shocked look on Kelsier's face. The Duskmoth hovered in the night air, the full moon behind him haloing his body, making him hard to look at, and yet no one, fairy or spite, could look away. For several long minutes, the Duskmoth hung in the air, its glowing blue-purple eyes flitting back and forth, scanning the crowd, finally coming to rest on...her!
As soon as Vidia realized this, the Duskmoth suddenly dove out of the sky, straight at them. Kelsier's eyes widened and he dove out of the way. Vidia's eyes widened too, but not in fear. She had been with the Duskmoth long enough to recognize its feelings and saw no anger in its gaze as it dove at her, not even when it raised one of its wicked-looking claws and slashed at her.
"OOFFF! Vidia yelled as she was swatted backwards, there was a great ripping noise as the Duskmoth costume she was wearing was shattered by the blow, wood and leaves flying in every direction. Vidia thudded to the ground, groaning. For a few seconds Vidia lay there, the only sound she heard was the beating of the Duskmoth's wings, then it growled and at that moment Vidia felt a burst of intense cold and a tingling feeling flare up from her chest, where she had been slashed. Her breathing became labored and her body began to shake.
"What-what's wrong with her?" Vidia felt a presence directly above her and glanced up. As she did, her vision suddenly went purple. Elisa gasped and jumped backwards as Vidia growled at her, a feeling of primeval energy surging inside of her. Her mind flashed back to when she was a sprite, that boundless feeling of freedom. She smiled as the feeling grew stronger. The tingling sensation spread from her chest down to her legs and up to her arms and back to her wings. Through her now blurry purple vision, Vidia could see her hands start to darken and imagined that the rest of her skin was darkening as well. She could feel the cold creeping into her wings and realized they were turning purple. Shaking her head to clear away the sudden buzzing sensation, she stood up, a sprite again. Elisa gasped in horror and gripped Kelsier's arm as Vidia hissed and spat angrily, flashing fangs at them. Kelsier's face looked ashen as Vidia felt the Duskmoth come to land behind her, growling. One by one, the other sprites joined them, forming a floating, growling mass of purple and gray.
"Kelsier" A voice growled making Kelsier jump and Elisa whimper. But Vidia became confused, that wasn't the Duskmoth's voice. "Erikell?" She thought as two purple blurs shot past her.
Kelsier visibly paled as Erikel thudded in front of him, growling deeply and hefting a large stick like a club. Elisa gasped as the Seer from the Guild, also a sprite, landed next to Erikel. He didn't hiss or growl, but glared at Elisa and the Guild members with murder in his eyes, his staff held tightly in his hands. "I warned you" He rasped in a deathly voice. "To tempt legends is to tempt chaos. Why didn't you listen?" He pointed with his staff at Kelsier and Elisa. Behind them, the Duskmoth reared up to its full height and spread its wings, casting its shadow across most of the basin. Vidia could see terror beginning to unfold on the eyes and faces of most of the guild members. The Duskmoth hissed and Vidia nodded. She flung out her hands and shot a giant gust of wind at the entire guild. As she hoped, the wind was so strong that it literally swept them off their feet and into the air. With growls of rage the other sprites attacked, firing light, water, and vines in every direction. The guild members screamed and scattered. Erikel flew right at Kelsier who turned to run, but was tackled.
"Kelsier!" Elisa screamed rushing to aid him, but Vidia cut her off and Tinkerbell rushed up behind her. The two fairies hissed and Elisa trembled. "No! Stay away! Please!" She begged, her voice becoming more and more panicked. Vidia caught Tinkerbell's eye for a second and saw laughter in her gaze, despite the angry face. She hissed, swiping at Elisa who shrieked, stumbled, and fell as she tried to dodge away. "Please, I'll do anything! Just don't hurt me!" Vidia clenched her fists in an attempt to smother the laughter building up inside her. She caught Tinkerbell's gaze and saw laughter in her eyes as well. She hissed and Elisa screamed and covered her head with her hands, mumbling incoherently. The two sprites looked at each other. Then Vidia knelt down.
"D-don't hurt me" Elisa whimpered.
"We don;t want to hurt you" Vidia whispered. Elisa stopped trembling and peeked up at her through her arms. "We want to help you. We want you to join us"
"No, no!" Elisa's eyes widened.
"Yes" Tinkerbell whispered, taking Vidia's cue. "Pixie Hollow belongs to the Duskmoth now. All who stay will join us" She smiled.
"No! No! NOOOO! I won't join you!" Elisa shrieked, taking to the air. Screaming, she rocketed away into the night.
"Elisa!" Kelsier yelled, but Elisa was screaming so loud she didn't hear him. He made to follow her, but Erikel grabbed his hand.
"Where are you going, old friend?" He growled. Kelsier's eyes widened.
"Erikel, I..." He started, but Erikel grabbed him and held him by his vest, hissing.
"Join us, Kelsier" He growled. "Bow to the master" He twisted Kelsier so that he was facing the Duskmoth, who narrowed his eyes at him. Kelsier stared up at the Duskmoth and his face visibly paled.
"You are Kelsier?" The Duskmoth hissed. "You are the one who leads the Guild?" Kelsier, who was beginning to tremble, nodded timidly. The Duskmoth roared, making everyone jump. "You are the one who destroyed my brood!" The Duskmoth screeched as it flexed its claws. Kelsier's eyes widened and he shot a glance at Vidia, who smiled and hissed, flashing fangs.
"Yes! Make him one of us!" Tinkerbell cried out joyfully. Terence caught the cue and hissed, and soon all the sprites were chanting "One of us! One of us!" The Duskmoth's eyes gleamed as it raised a claw to slash Kelsier, who immediately started struggling. 'No!" he cried.
"You will feed my children!" The Duskmoth growled, slashing at him.
"NOOOOO!" Finding a sudden burst of strength, Kelsier broke free of Erikel's grasp an instant before the claw reached him. Still yelling, he rocketed off into the darkness. Laughing freely now, Vidia and the other sprites collapsed on the branches as the Duskmoth took off, its beating wings filling the basin with a cold wind. It threw back its head and gave a strange, piercing cry, and the trees around the clearing seemed to explode with small black shapes, squealing and chittering as they buzzed around like a gigantic swarm of bees. Vidia and the others gazed in awe as several of them passed in front of her. They were winged humanoids about the size of a fairy, but their skin was deep black and their eyes were purple. Their wings were also edged with purple and looked like a cross between a butterfly's and bee's wing. One of the creatures caught Vidia staring and paused to stare back at her. The antennae on top of its head quivered, moving slowly through the air and the creature flexed its fingers, the claws at the end of each finger seemed to gleam in the moonlight. It looked like a miniature Duskmoth.
"The brood" Vidia gasped as the creature flew off to join its kin.
"Wow" Tinkerbell's eyes were wide. And so were everyone else's, even Rosetta.
"Amazing" The Seer mused. Erikel didn't say anything, he just smiled. Fro a few minutes, there was only silence.
"Guys" Terence suddenly realized. "You know what this means? We did it!"
"We saved the Duskmoth's brood!" Fawn twirled with glee.
"And we stopped Kelsier!" Iridessa added.
"All right!" Klank and Bobble slapped a high five.
"Okay, we saved the day, but how much longer do we have to stay like this?" Rosetta complained making everyone else laugh. Chuckling, Vidia turned to watch as the Duskmoth flew to join its brood. As the swarm drifted through the trees in the same direction Kelsier had fled, the Duskmoth made to follow, then stopped, and turned back towards them. For a minute or so, it held their gaze, and even though it said nothing, Vidia could see gratitude in its pupil-less eyes. She nodded, smiling. Suddenly, the Duskmoth's eyes began to glow brighter, and at the same instant Vidia felt intense heat flare up inside her.
"What's...going on?" Vidia rasped as she felt her legs begin to shake . The Duskmoth raised its hand and clenched its fist. Vidia felt the heat zoom through every part of her body, she was burning up, but she couldn't move a muscle. Then the Duskmoth flicked its fingers, almost like it was dismissing her and Vidia's body tensed, then fell out of the air, crashing onto the basin. She lay there, unmoving, while the Duskmoth turned to follow its brood.
(Is this the end? Wait and see!)