Chapter 19- fatal heartbreak and setting up the quest groups

Dionaea's village

In the village in which a certain elderly Manticore lived, most of the villagers had gone to bed, but especially the young as strict curfew had been set in place by the village leaders. Night-watchers had been stationed around the periphery of the village to keep an eye out for any trouble while search-and-destroyers had departed to help in the missions in hunting down and slaying the roaming minions of Jadis that were still alive, and some were waiting for Chloroplast the Longma to return from Cair Paravel. Messengers had also been sent to Laventon the Kangaroo's clan and region to check on them to see if they needed help and ditto messengers from that clan and its neighbours, such as the Kiwi clan, to Dionaea's village. While the activities occurred, in a certain medical house, Dionaea was being checked over by the lead Capelobo medic and doctor and his assistants, a Curupira and a Naga (Humanoid with the body of a Snake). Since the rescue of Laventon's daughter Jane and Harakeke, a Kiwi chick, from the Siren-Head and its Mimicbird cronies, she had been suffering some ailments from the strenuous activity, especially from the Siren-Head's attack on her which sent her flying and crashing to the ground. The consequences from the adrenaline rush of the battle still lingered on the Manticore's body and she had been showing signs of weakening in her health, and she had collapsed from a heart attack at dusk and had been admitted to here and had been revived just in time via resuscitation.

"I'm afraid you might not have very long left to live, Dionaea," said the Capelobo medic as he checked the Manticore's heart with an instrument made out of a bamboo-like tube, a wooden disc at the end and an earpiece shaped and carved from a larger piece of log, what humans of our world would call a stethoscope though it was stiff and straight and not flexible like one. He pressed the disc against Dionaea's chest and listened to its beat through the earpiece, "Your heartbeat is quite weak and your time is soon nigh."

Dionaea, however, did not show a sliver of worry on her face. She knew that her days on Narnia were limited and she was on borrowed time. Then the Capelobo doctor turned to his Naga and Curupira assistants and gave them a task and they obediently left to carry them out. As the pair left, a head on a long blue neck with a white underside and a few green markings craned into the building.

"Laventon has come to visit us, Di-i-iona-a-aea and Doc Longsno-ou-ut," said Rivier the Mokele-Mbembe, the stretch on 'long' vowel sounds clearly present in his speech for these magical Water Sauropod Dinosaurs always had this speech trait. Dionaea and the lead Capelobo medic named Doctor Longsnout looked up and saw a large Kangaroo Buck with a decorative clan chief necklace (actually his whip worn as a necklace which this Kangaroo brandished whenever entering battle) enter the building. Rivier then withdrew his long neck and head from the building to allow the Kangaroo Buck and chief of the Kangaroo clan living in the neighbouring patch of land to the village, Laventon, a bit of privacy as he paid his visit to check on Dionaea.

"Laventon," said Dionaea with a surprised smile. A coughing episode then came over her as she felt her throat tickle.

"Dionaea," said Laventon with a smile but with a hint of worry in his voice tone, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine but according to Doc Longsnout and his medical team, my time is short," said Dionaea as she beat her chest with a paw, "That rescue of your daughter Jane and that Kiwi Chick Harakeke from that Siren-Head and those Mimicbirds has clearly caused adverse effects on me and my health."

"I'm not surprised," said Laventon, "Though I am glad you have managed to help us save those two kids from becoming two more victims to these kidnappings, I am still rather appalled that you would put yourself through such strenuous action."

"I agree," said Dionaea, "But you would have lost your daughter and Willow-Feather the Kiwi, her son Harakeke had I not taken early action," the aged Manticore entered another brief coughing fit before continuing, "But I doubt I'll be able to lend a paw in any more situations after that. I am, after all, an old Venus Flytrap Lion-Bat who has indeed seen better days..."

Laventon nodded slowly in agreement while Doc Longsnout went to get another device to check the Manticore's blood pressure.

"Oh, have you heard about that Snow Siren Yuki-onna who used to roam the snowy landscape of our country when the White Witch ruled it," said the Kangaroo Buck. Dionaea looked up at him while Doc Longsnout came in with a blood pressure checking device. It was made of an inflatable bubble plant for the cuff and a hollowed out vine-like pipe ending in a mouthpiece through which air had been blown to inflate the bubble in the cuff when it was wrapped around a patient's arm or wing.

"She has died and withered away when the Dawn of Spring arrived, hasn't she?" said the Capelobo as he wrapped the bubble cuff around Dionaea's upper left foreleg, "Spring doesn't suit her at all and when the winter curse began to weaken and the ice and snow began to melt, she melted away with it so to speak."

"Some warrior Pachycephalosaurs, or Dome Head Dinosaurs as they are better known," said Laventon, "had discovered her skeleton in a patch of flowers just outside Aslan's Camp during a training session for the then-upcoming Battle of Beruna."

"And as for Krampus," said a blue, green and white head on a long neck as it peered into the building again, Rivier having returned, "When he noticed that the sno-o-ow was melting, he had fashioned some cursed to-o-oys, such as tho-o-ose Sque-e-ezers, as an emergency backup and assistants for Ja-a-adis' surviving minions in their revenge plot."

"There are some of that Father Christmas Shadow's minions on the loose," said Laventon, "A patrol group from my clan and the Kiwis had caught a cursed teddy bear in one of the traps we had set up to help catch any marauding minions. We pack them away during the day to prevent any of our allies from getting caught and at night, we prohibit any visitors except from your village for the same reasons."

"And then there is that dangerous creature Goroth the Terror Bird had confronted with his friends during his escort of his adopted human daughter, Jessie to that human village to get her out of Jadis' reach," said Dionaea as Doc Longsnout checked her blood pressure with the makeshift stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, "The Man with the Upside-Down Face, or Upside-Down Face for short."

"Oh yes, I remember that Be-e-east," said Rivier with a slight shudder in his voice, "However, that cre-e-eature is still at la-a-arge."

"He is another minion of Jadis high up on the most wanted list," said Doc Longsnout as he unwrapped the cuff from Dionaea's upper foreleg and went to pack away the device, "probably just after the Cartoon Shadow Cat."

Laventon, Rivier and Daionaea nodded in agreement.

Outside the medical building, a green, orange and yellow Reptile resembling a cross between a Pegasus and a Dragon with lighter green mane flowing behind her head walked in. The Curupira medic saw the Longma as she walked towards her.

"Excuse me, Rosemary, have you seen the village chief?" asked the Longma, "I bring grave news from Cair Paravel."

"Why? What's happened Chloroplast?" asked the Curupira, Rosemary. Back inside the building, Dionaea, Doc Longsnout, Rivier and Laventon heard commotion erupt from outside.

"What's going on?" asked the fourth one.

"That doesn't sound go-o-o-od," said Rivier and what that, he withdrew his head and turned it in the direction of the commotion. Dionaea struggled to her feet and walked towards the entrance while Laventon walked with his front legs, back legs and tail (like our world's kangaroos, Talking Kangaroos could not walk very well and used their tails to help move at slow paces) to the entrance, Doc Longsnout commanding the former to take it easy. Once the three were at the entrance of the medical building, Chloroplast began to deliver the grave news to the villagers.

"High King Peter has been poisoned with a cursed cake at Cair Paravel," the Longma called out at the front of the crowd, the Village Leaders looking on. Horrified gasps rolled through the crowd. However, the moment this grave news regarding Narnia's High King reached Dionaea's ears, the aging Manticore swayed but it was not just from the shock. Laventon shot the Manticore a worried look as she clasped a front paw onto her chest and began to struggle to breathe.

"Dionaea?" asked the Kangaroo Buck and clan chief, "are you alright?"

Heads in the crowd turned in Dionaea's direction as the Manticore then collapsed on her right side, her gasps becoming more and more laboured and shorter. Gasps rolled through the crowd again and they tried to approach her but Rosemary rushed in and commanded them to stay back while Doc Longsnout seized the gasping Manticore and carried her back into the medical building and her bed. Laventon looked on worriedly just as Chloroplast appeared.

"I-I-I think she could be having another heart attack," the Kangaroo Buck cried out. Then a few younger Manticores related to Dionaea rushed in.

"Mother!" cried out one of them, Tityus but he was barred from entering the building by a long blue, white and green neck.

"Sta-a-ay back, Tity-y-yus," said Rivier, "Let the medics se-e-e-e to her."

Tityus reluctantly obeyed and stayed put but he looked on worriedly as the other crowd members including Chloroplast and Laventon, gazed on with dread.

Sometime later, the crowd continued to stand outside the entrance to the medical building, anxiously waiting for the news regarding Dionaea. Chloroplast felt guilt boil within her but the village leader kept assuring her that it wasn't her fault and that it was important that the village knew of the news. Tityus and his siblings stood nearest to the entrance, extreme worry for their mother plastering their faces and their bat-like wings twitching with anxiety against their bodies. Then finally, a row of medics walked out of the entrance to the building, sad and solemn looks on their faces. The last to appear was Doc Longsnout and his face was laced with utmost sadness. Most of the villagers knew that this meant one thing. Chloroplast and Laventon looked on from the crowd as Tityus stepped forward from the group of Dionaea's sons and daughters to ask the Capelobo. Then after a few more seconds of discussion with the Humanoid-Anteater giving the sad news, sobs erupted from the oldest son of Dionaea and his front paws flew to his face as he began to break down. His brothers and sisters came around him and hugged him, tears also streaming down their faces at the news of their mother. Chloroplast's head and Bat-like wings fell along with the ears and heads of the other village members as they took in this sad news. Laventon bowed his head and lowered his ears, his front paws crossed just above his belly.

"She was extremely fragile," he whispered solemnly, "But I didn't think that this news would take such a toll on her."

"The news of our High King being poisoned is terrible, you know," said Chloroplast, before she slightly perked up, "But Martian the lead Little Green Man has that covered."

"Martian?" said Rivier, his cheeks streaked with tear trails with more welling in his eyes, "O-o-oh, he-e-e's excellent, he-e is."

"You'd better tell that to the village chief, Chloroplast," said Laventon. Chloroplast nodded and went to find the village chief and his inner circle once again.

It was indeed a sad loss for the village, especially Dionaea's sons and daughters, and it was going to be a difficult night for them. However, they knew they had important tasks to focus on such as keeping an eye out for any marauding minions of Jadis, and Laventon returned to his clan to tell them of the bad news and the good news regarding High King Peter, and also the sad news regarding Dionaea.

Back at Cair Paravel

The group at the Monarchs' Castle were being organised into groups as directed by Martian, Wan and their accompanying assistants. Several important jobs had already been done, one of which was King Edmund and Queen Susan being put in charge of the monarchy with the former leading in High King Peter's place until their older brother was healed and restored to health. King Edmund had been utterly reluctant to take this spot, especially after what he had faced from the Cartoon Shadow Cat when it tempted him to kill his older brother for it, but he knew he had to do it until his brother received the unique and exclusive Nine-Realms Potion, and he and Queen Susan had assistants and advisors. Hagrid and Alestomeria had been put in charge as leaders of this group and will help the two in running the monarchy until this mess was sorted. Another job, the continued and ongoing sending out of the search-and-destroy groups, had been put in the top priorities and responsibilities of King Edmund and Queen Susan and they had set to this job as temporary monarchs right away and some of the attendees of the Nine-Realms Potion meeting had left Cair Paravel to help the search-and-destroyers already out in Narnia in their missions. Pteranodon had returned to the communicator screen to keep in touch of the assistant Sea and Sky spies as they continued to watch more boatmen take more victims out to sea. However, they could not find their destination and had hoped that they would soon. Things were up in the air for everyone at the moment but they knew they had to fight their way through it at all costs if they were to save High King Peter from certain death from Jadis' Poisoning caused by that cake, and the maker of that confection captured and dealt with as soon as possible and on the double.

While King Edmund and Queen Susan sought to the monarchy duties with Hagrid and Alestomeria assisting, Martian continued the job with allocating and placing the volunteers who had opted to go on the 9-Realms Potion ingredient quests into eight groups according to their choice or his choice for them when they couldn't make up their minds. Each group was given the task and responsibility of heading out into eight of the nine realms of Narnia, finding the exclusive ingredients and bringing them back to Cair Paravel. The ninth ingredient, the Diamond Pumpkin from the deep underground realm of Bism, had been sorted by Wan and some of Martian's assistants so there was one less ingredient for the quest goers to worry about. Martian continued to allocate more volunteers into the groups, the volunteers still to be allocated arranged in a line for easier and quicker allocation.

"Queen Lucy the Valiant... Tumnus... Guinan... Basophil... Neutrophil... Eosinophil... Monocyte," he said to the youngest Monarch, the two Fauns and four speckled Terror Birds, "You seven join the group who will be journeying to the Garden of Youth to retrieve several apples from the enclosure. Further instructions will be given you once the others have been allocated."

The seven then obediently left the line and joined the Garden of Youth quest group. Queen Lucy and the two Fauns had chosen this quest while the Terror Birds had that choice made for them.

As they joined the group, Basophil gazed at the others.

"How are we gonna get to that faraway place where the famous Digory Kirk and his friend Polly went there with the father of ALL Pegasi, Fledge?" he asked.

"We will be taken on Sleipnir, Longma, Pegasi, Griffins and some other suitable, fast-running and flying creatures, Basophil," said Neutrophil, "Obviously it would take FAR too long to travel there on foot. The others will be taking the Bifrost Transporter to the other areas of the Narnian world as part of their quests to find the other ingredients."

Eosinophil then placed her short clawed wings on her chest and felt her heart pounding from trepidation like the pounding of a frightened horse fleeing from a predator.

"These will indeed be INCREDIBLY risky and dangerous feats to pull off," she whispered nervously, "Already I feel like jelly and my heartbeat's WAY up."

"It's for the sake of our High King, Eosinophil," said Tumnus while his cousin Guinan talked with a Hare and a Red Panda who had also volunteered to go on the trip.

"What about our cousin Lymphocyte who is still out at Sea with the other kidnapped victims?" asked Basophil worriedly.

"Pteranodon, King Edmund and Queen Susan and the others have that covered," said Neutrophil.

"In the meantime, focus on preparing for the journey to the Garden of Youth," said Monocyte. Basophil and Eosinophil did so, worry for Lymphocyte still boiling within them. Monocyte and Neutrophil, especially the former, were also worried for their missing family member and the other kidnapped kids including Malachite and some of her siblings and cousins, all of who were Kushanku and Alexandrite's grandkids and great nephews and nieces. However, they knew that the task of searching and rescuing those victims were covered by Pteranodon and company so they put that aside and prepared for the Garden of Youth quest.

"Cyllene, Beni, Beaver..." Martian said to two young Centaurs and a Beaver in the line, before nodding to another group, "You three join that group that will be going on the quest to the Narnian Moon Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity to retrieve some Lunar Mushrooms..."

The three obediently left the line and joined said group while Martian continued allocating more volunteers in the line. As the three joined the Forbidden Cave quest group, a look of nervousness utterly obvious on their faces and as Mrs Beaver came in to bid her husband farewell for the trip, Cyllene gazed at some of the members which were Rabbits with a frown.

"Oh, not Dandelion's group, not them," she muttered distastefully.

"What's wrong, sis?" asked Beni. Cyllene turned her Humanoid's frown toward her brother.

"Some of those Rabbits are descendants of Faline, a contemporary of Kushanku when he was a kit," she replied, "and some of her children had sometimes caused trouble for everyone else. Several nearly got themselves and Kushanku caught by that infamous Father Christmas impersonator Krampus and worse, a few had been involved in the Belladonna fiasco in Gandalf the Great Kitsune and Seresute's base during the White Witch's reign. Some of those Rabbits over there, among them Dandelion, are descendants of a particular Rabbit who participated in that Belladonna Nogitsune's 'rescue' alongside Troodon."

Beni gazed at the Rabbits as they continued to chat. One was a young male Buck named Dandelion and he was the firstborn son of the daughter of the Rabbit that had suffered alongside the late Troodon after freeing Belladonna back in Gandalf's base during the Age of Winter.

"I'm surprised Troodon hadn't left any descendants, though," said Cyllene.

"He was framed for a crime by his resentful siblings," said Beni, "And his fiancé left him to marry one of his brothers, driving him into a life of solitude as a hermit. According to Kushanku over there," he nodded to a certain Nekomata in another group, "he took to growing a small fire-flower farm and making fire-flower cordial and had to visit the Narnian Sun (with pass from the Rainbow Serpent who guards it) to gather some seeds and plants from the domain. He was amongst the first Narnians to be visited by Father Christmas and had also seen Aslan in person before he and the other evacuees left their refuge place on the Narnia/Archenland border to return to Narnia for the Winter Revolution."

"Lucky Dino," whispered Cyllene in awe, "INCREDIBLY lucky Dino indeed. As for the perpetrators behind the framing of Troodon of that crime, they had been punished by Aslan and made into servants in a village I can't remember."

"While Troodon had been honoured for his help in developing that fire-flower potion for some of us, among them Queen Lucy over there who will be going to the Garden of Youth," said Beni with a nod to the youngest Human Monarch as she talked with Neutrophil about concerns for High King Peter, Neutrophil assuring her, "Father Christmas had taken some of his produce and distributed it up and down Narnia once he finally got access to the area after 100 years."

"Fire-flowers are INCREDIBLY difficult to cultivate down here," said Cyllene, "I remember Mom telling me that Gandalf and Seresute only ever managed to get a SMALL percentage to germinate and grow in their base."

"True, which is one of the reasons why I have much admiration for Troodon despite his troubled childhood and time in Gandalf and Seresute's base," said Beni. Cyllene formed a smile and nodded in agreement.

Martian and his assistants continued allocating more of the volunteers to their groups as per their choice or his own when the volunteers couldn't decide. Ahhuayo and Teal'c had joined the group who will be going to the Celestial Dome, a rarely visited area of Narnia and the home of the Celestial Beings like Aurora Sprites and Star People, to pick up some Star Fruit; Mackerel, Dorado and Perla, the Merfolk and Sea-Fish People from earlier, will accompany the Silver Sea Kelp quest-goers to the Narnian Sea. The air-breathing quest goers will be given special magical water bubbles to allow them to breathe underwater during their time in that area. the Warrior Mice Sordward, Sheilbert, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Squea'tagnan, together with Mjölnir the Lightning Pika, Rattus the Rat, Kushanku, Paddy and Alexandrite had joined the group who will be journeying to the Sky Domain Gardens, an area outside Asgard Sky City, to retrieve some Rainbowberries, and Kobaruto and some others including Miidori, Sunstone, Moonstone and Merida had joined the group that will be going on the quest to the Narnian Sun to find and retrieve some Corona-Flowers. Yet another group will be going to Atlantis in the Abyssal zone, the area where the Narnian Ocean plunges into darkness and the entrance to the Atlantean area was guarded by the great sea monster Cthulu, and the final group will journey to Four Cardinal Corners' Domain to get some Cardinal-Root Carrots. As the length of the line shrunk, eight groups soon formed. While the allocation of the quest goers continued under Martian's guidance, Alcina had been put on the duty of the search-and-destroy missions and monitoring their progress by a lead Centaur guard who stood outside the entrance to Cair Paravel Castle.

Then as soon as the volunteers had been organised into their quest groups and the other matters had been sorted, Martian ordered everyone to get some rest for the rest of the night. The quests will begin early the next morning.