"Once Upon a Wing"

Chapter 24

"Are you sure this is the way to the place Mistress Sallie told us to fly to?" The curious elf inside of Hilde questions all humans and this blonde haired vixen of one, didn't quite garner all her trust as of yet, as she hangs onto her flying pegasus' white winged back for dear life.

"Yes, of course it is! This jewel points the way. Just hold tight and don't fall off your steed." Princess Dorothy commands sharply. Her royal self was quite accustomed to commanding lesser beings as she holds up the pendant piece of the jewel tied around her neck---the jewel that her brave cousins had recovered and brought back from yet another of their quests. King Treize had wisely split its tremendous power into three jewelled segments--one for each of them.

And there, the third piece, was secured around Dorothy's neck, just in case. Now that the "just in case" had come, Dorothy was the only one left of the trio to direct these seeking refuge in the lost world of the mystical land of Mythica.

"Keep heading south! Come, Pegasus!" Princess Dorothy lifts a magic flute to her lips. It calls, with its golden strains, the winged horses to hurry their flight and stay close to her steed's lead in their escape.

But one little pegasus was finding it hard to keep up with the stronger beasts of the bigger, more matured pegasus.

Mariemaia, seated firmly on one of the larger faster stallions saw the tiny foal lagging behind the others. Impulsively, she leaves her own safe and speedy ride on one of the leading stallion pegasi, to take flight on her own fairy wings to rescue the trailing baby horse.

"Mariemaia! What are you doing? Stay on your pegasus! Oh, what is she doing? Please turn around and get her back, Mr. Pegasus!" Cathrine sees her little ward's fairy wings flutter in the wrong direction and attempts to converse with the horse, who could not understand a word she said. She wanted to turn back herself to retrieve the child, but Hilde was quicker. She saw Mariemaia's little fairy wings could not hold up both the orange sprite and the exhausted foal, as both sink into the forest trees below.

"No. You have to keep going, Fairy! YOU can't be captured. I'll go get Mariemaia and we'll both catch up. Keep goin'! After all, these ARE my woods." Hilde grabs hold of the riderless pegasus' reins that Mariemaia had abandoned and she bravely turns back to fetch the fallen fairy from the treetops she had just disappeared into.

Just then, just as Cathrine was about to protest, an explosion of fire and flame overtakes the castle of Aissur's rooftops. The stables and safe refuge of home that these noble pegasi once knew, was devoured by the swirling red and orange lights on the horizon. There was no point in return now. They had to continue their quest forward to peaceful pastures, somewhere out there....

"Don't look back, Cathrine. You have the duty to reach safety, for you are the last of your kind..."

Mistress Sallie's last words ring in Cathrine's shell shocked ears.

"Don't you even THINK of leaving that pegasus! You heard Mistress Sallie! Don't look back, you hear?!" Dorothy could sense Cathrine's urge to turn back in her very veins---so she does what she does best---take charge of the situation.

"Here! Take this. It will show you the way." Dorothy lifts her magic pendant's chain around her own neck and slides it onto Cathrine's auburn curls. "This is MY amulet. It will protect you on your journey to Mythica, as well." Dorothy gives both mystic amulet and the pegasus one final command. The amulet then forms a force-shield, much like that of the one that once surrounded Aissur's rooftop--the Pegasus sanctuary--now around Cathrine and her flying horse.

Dorothy whispers the order to the pegasus to fly to Mythica as swift and sure as their wide wings could take them----and not be separated from the fairy rider--the precious cargo on their back, until they arrive.

The forcefield would stave off any attacks from the outside and at the same time, would keep Cathrine aloft the winged steed on the inside.

"For Prince Trowa's sake, I do this, Fairy Cathrine. It would make him sad if anything happened to you. I know my cousin well." Dorothy's usually crafty eyes were full of kindness as she smiles. She and the golden falcon she had escaped with, turned off in the opposite direction from the flock of pegasi who now traveled into the Southern hemisphere without her.

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Not so far away.......

"What's that light?" The Dragon Master's voice sounded strange, even to his own ears, for not a word had been spoken for the miles and miles he and his fellow traveller had silently traversed upon.

Neither of the men simply had nothing to say up until now. But now they both had something, all at once.

"Aissur Castle!!!" Prince Trowa gasps at the sight of his home on fire at its peaks. His home--the home of their precious Pegasus--and the last place he'd seen someone else, now also precious to his heart, before he and this Dragon Master were teleported away, to the Far East, from which they had trekked, at all possible speed, back.

But they only found the worst possible welcome upon their return. The archer takes off on his long legs, racing towards the fiery tower ahead.

"No, I was referring to that amulet thing glowing around your neck all of a sudden. But I suppose the castle on fire can take precedence over that." Wufei's off-handedly comments to himself in sarcasm, shrugging his tanned shoulders, though Trowa was long gone already.

Perhaps that woman is in the thick of battle. This should be interesting....

Wufei feels driven to witness anything that "certain woman" was involved in. Something about that Water Nymph's warrior nature had inspired him to take to his own feet to run and watch her, and maybe be lucky enough to take part in whatever battle was raging....

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"Geez, this guy talks too much!" Duo, the elf, had never heard someone rattle off at the mouth so much before, in his entire woodland life. He obviously never listened to himself or counted his own tongue-rattling skills.

By now, he felt like he knew this entire human's life---from childhood to kinghood---like the back of his hand.

This King Treize sure can prattle on and on about adventures and quests and castles and horses and pegasus-----Sheesh!

Duo's own lips had, long ago on their walking journey, conceded to this orator's superior talking skills and clammed up his own big mouth to precious silence, miles and miles ago.

Not that Treize's tales had slowed them down any. Duo found, with quite a bit of surprise, that this mere human was actually pretty good at cutting through short cuts and making dashing bounds through the bushes and trees that Duo elf-like aerobatics naturally lent his nimble body to. In fact, in a way, though dull and tiring at times, with his endless stories, this human named Treize was actually not too shabby as Duo had expected a high and mighty king to be.

He could even be funny sometimes. Duo considered the king before him as they both take a well-deserved rest against a tree stump before going on.

"Here. Have an apple." Duo could always astound Hilde by magically producing apples with a quick sleight of hand.

Maybe that'll shut him up a spell...

"What an amusing fellow you are, Duo. Yes, well..." Treize eyes the raw, unprepared fruit in Duo's proffered hand with curious eyes. "This reminds me of the time my brother Trowa and I went to Crete in search of the Golden Fleece---"

Treize begins to prattle yet another daring tale as Duo rolls his eyes when the human male takes the golden apple in his hand and toys with it as he speaks, frequently tossing it up in the air---

And catching a fairy child in its exchange.

Mariemaia tumbled from the sky right into his surprised lap.

"Ah, hello again." Treize can't help but smile at the orange fairy's cherub like face, looking dazed and disoriented up at him.

"Ohhhh! You have to catch my--my---my---" Mariemaia stumbles on the words in her dizziness as a tiny pegasus comes falling right behind her, landing SPLAT! in a mess of tiny hooves, head and wings, on Duo's unhappy head.

"----horsey? Yup, sure, got him." Duo answers drolly. His wilted elfen ears droop at the little foal's weight upon him.

"How did you come to join this little fellow?" Treize asks, as his most gentle touch caresses first the foal, who was happy to see his master, and then the fairy child's orange mop, when a sudden blast of dark energy razes at the treetops above.

Duo finds now the little fairy plopped on top of him as well, as Treize passes her over, jumping up and producing a swift sword in his majestic hand.

"Go, elf Duo. Hide my treasures as only a woodland creature can." The king orders and the respect gained for this quick-witted, pointy-eared boy not going undeserved. Duo, Mariemaia and the squealing baby foal, disappear from the tree stump they were upon in a flash of green, and flying brown braid.

Treize stands, sword at the ready, as his eyes scan the sky above. The flash of the explosion in the distance and a sudden palpitation in his heart make him clutch the ambient medallion chained around his neck into his hand. He didn't need to look at its bright pulsating light to know that its owner had changed hands. One of the three of them who held the stone pieces in their care no longer had it in his or her possession.

Brother...? Cousin Dorothy....?

His mind had no time to ponder the unwelcomed situation. The explosion on the hill in the distance could only mean one thing---

The one thing in the world he dreaded most....

Aissur....The Pegasus....

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Neigh, whinny!!!

The whimpered call of his winged horses were nearby and crying for his help. King Treize brought the soundless whistle from his pouch to his lips. It was their master's call for the pegasus to come under his protection.

"Hey!!!! Where are you going, Pegasus?!" A young girl's voice calls out, obviously no longer in control of the winged horses descent through the trees. "Whoa, whoa, whooooooaaaaaaaa-----"

"OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Hilde gives out a scream as she is unceremoniously dumped from her flying escort's back onto the woodland ground, but she has no time to ache about it as another red energy blast comes within mere inches of singeing her cute little, elfy----

"Come, woodland maiden. It's no longer safe here. We haven't a moment to lose." Seeing the incoming evil about to track them down in this vulnerable position, Treize dashes over and scoops up Hilde from the ground. He was determined that she would be far safer with him, up in the clouds, than she would against the energy of whatever evil was attacking her and his pegasus in this confined forest area.

Besides, this diversion would give Duo and the fairy child ample time to make a getaway. That little waif's safety was terribly important to him, though he knew not why.

Breaking through the treeline atop the pegasus steed Hilde had brought, Treize directs his winged beast straight up to utilize his speed most efficiently. They get up so quickly that they shoot by, unnoticed by the four eyed Sorceress' evil search.

But Sorceress Anne DID feel something, though less for the hunt of the two stray pegasus and their fairy and elf riders, and more of the stirring in her chest where a woman's heart might have been.

For every mystical sense as well told her that her target was close---

That HE was close.

But the dark clouds in her soul still veiled him from her.

No matter. We do not require anything but the purple fairy with all those Pegasus en route to Mythica. Those stray ones probably perished in my blasts. Ah, well.

Anne was just about to turn and leave when she hears....something....

Her cunning mind tells her wait, though she gives a pretense to leave and disappear, hidden in the treeline.

Perhaps they did NOT perish. This could be the more advantageous means....

"I came to fetch Mariemaia when that Sorceress woman attacked me! Is Mariemaia---?" Hilde asks when Treize's hand releases over her mouth.

"She's safe with your friend." Treize answers, his eyes floating over to Aissur in the distance. The battle there also seemed to have come to an end---one way or the other.

He decided there was nothing more he could do there as he sensed the conflict had moved on and away from his kingdom.

"We had to escape from them at the castle! Sallie held them off long enough for us to get away. Me, Mariemaia, Princess Dorothy, the fairy and all the pegasus! We were on our way to Mythica." Hilde quickly spills her guts out. She felt like she could trust this heroic human.

"Then, that is where we must head as well. Pegasus?" King Treize queries to his steed and it nods back at him, taking off toward Mythica with one final stop to pick up Duo, with Mariemaia, waving to them in the tallest treetop along the way.