Читать книгу The Realms of Faerie - Linda Massola - Страница 5

Flying high above the forest of Gloomia, Mab, Oberon and the fairy children began to hear the familiar whispering; the River of Forgetfulness was not far away. Now that Drabon and his army of Glooms no longer inhabited the forest, Gloomia was beginning to take on another quality. Some of the remaining Hatchlings and Gloomians had returned to the forest, living their lives in a totally different way than they had during Drabon’s reign of terror and violence. Mab was now seeing the benefits of uniting all the outer realms into the Kingdom of Fairy. Willow had sensed that the fairies were on their way and had been popping her head in and out of the water in anticipation for the last hour.

‘They are here! They are here!’ she whispered excitedly to her Whispers as the fairies began to fly down to the banks of the river. ‘Greetings!’ Mab called to them.

‘Greetings!’ the loud whisper went up among the water sprites. ‘What brings you here, oh mighty queen?’ Willow inquired.

‘I have some very important news for you,’ Mab began.

‘Important?’ Willow raised an eyebrow, flicking away a long wet tendril of hair.

‘It’s about the fish, Lyssa!’

‘Lyssa?’

‘The children have found her in the Land of Mortals!’

Willow looked from one to the other of the children.

‘The fairy children have found Lyssa? They have found the wondrous fish?’

‘Yes, the child, Laura communicated with her. She needs our help to return to us!’

‘The fairy children have found Lyssa!’ Willow whispered to her Whispers who bobbed up and down in the water in excitement.

‘The fates of the fish Lyssa and Theodora the Lion-queen are entwined,’ Willow told the fairies. ‘To free Lyssa, you must also free the Lion-queen. If one is imprisoned, the other will surely receive the same fate; this has already happened. If one dies, the other will follow. Lyssa cannot live without Theodora and Theodora cannot live without Lyssa. Lyssa is the dreamer of peace; Theodora is the one who manifests the peace!’

‘So … so we need to return Lyssa, right?’ asked Ella.

‘Before we can return Lyssa, we need to bring Theodora back to Marissima,’ Willow explained. ‘We cannot create a spell to return Lyssa unless the Lion-queen has been freed.’

‘There is no choice; the children must go to the Realm of Olombo,’ Oberon said.

‘Olombo? But …’ the children looked at each other in dismay. ‘Oberon is right, we don’t really have a choice,’ Ella sighed. ‘If we don’t try, Lyssa is doomed to die in the Land of Mortals and Theodora is doomed to die in the Realm of Olombo. That way, Marissima will always be ruled by the Lizard-men!’

‘You are right of course,’ Oberon agreed.

‘But we don’t know how to get to Olombo,’ Dominique began.

‘Yes, and how are we going to free Theodora if we do get to Olombo?’ said Zara. ‘We don’t have magic to dissolve a force-field!’

‘And …’ began Laura. Mab lifted up a hand to stop them all speaking at once.

‘So many questions,’ she smiled. ‘Of course you cannot go to the Realm of Olombo without a plan.’

‘Indeed,’ Willow agreed. ‘You must be well prepared.’

Oberon motioned for them all to sit on the banks of the river. ‘First of all, the children must be shown how to get to Olombo.’

‘You must make haste and go to Marissima,’ Willow urged them. ‘We will meet you in the musical waters surrounding the underwater grotto.’

‘What about Silurion?’ asked Ella. ‘Won’t he try to stop us?’

‘It should be safe for you all to travel to the grotto as Silurion does not expect any visitors to Marissima. We go back and forwards to the castle at will,’ Willow said. ‘He knows it is impossible to penetrate our force-field around the castle and he is too lazy to check the waters! When you get to the grotto I will help you formulate a plan and find the best way to get over safely to Olombo.’

‘But what do we do when we get to Olombo?’ Dominique wanted to know. ‘How do we get past the force-field?’

‘Ah,’ Mab said. ‘You cannot get past the force-field, but you can convince the Crocodile-men to release it!’

‘Oh, sure, just like that!’ Tristan said.

‘Of course,’ Zara breathed. ‘We are to use our gifts. You mean that I can get Dentron to release the force-field with the power of my mind, don’t you?’ she asked Mab.

‘Exactly!’

‘Very dangerous though isn’t it?’ said Laura. She didn’t really like the idea of facing those Crocodile-men again.

‘Yes, but don’t forget the wisdom in The Fairy Chronicles,’ said Oberon.

‘Of course! We must remain positive and focus on the outcome we desire!’ Ella said quickly.

‘It is the only way,’ smiled Mab. You must delay no longer’. She was eager to have the dreaming fish returned to the River of Forgetfulness. It was then decided that the children would leave this very day for Marissima. Mab and Oberon would accompany them to the cross-over point behind the waterfall at the mouth of the River of Forgetfulness.

‘Once you enter the Realm of Marissima you will lose the ability to fly,’ Mab reminded them, but you will be able to breathe under water.’

‘What about on Olombo?’ asked Dominique.

‘Your wings will sprout again on Olombo,’ Mab told them. ‘It is only on Marissima that you will lose your ability to fly and gain the ability to breathe underwater.’

‘Once you enter the waters of Marissima, call Lido and his sea-horses to take you to the castle,’ Willow told Laura, handing her the familiar water whistle she had used last time they had visited Marissima.

‘Thanks,’ Laura said, pocketing the precious whistle.

Then with a flick of her hair, Willow disappeared under the water, taking her Whispers with her.