Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

“But he was not a warrior,”protested Arik. “We are training to be warriors, notmerchants.”

Garth sighed again. He dared not tellthem of some of Oscar’s contributions to Targa because they werestill too secret. He could not tell them that while Alex wascreating the Rangers, Oscar was creating the Spiders, because theSpiders still existed and still gathered sensitiveinformation.

“Oscar Dalek was no merchant,”Garth insisted. “He started out as a merchant, but that is akin tocalling Alex an infantry trainee. Besides, you are alreadywarriors. Imagine being an Oscar Dalek and a greatwarrior.”

The boys perked up at that and startedeyeing each other, looking for the signs of greatness that a kingwould exhibit.

“Oscar Dalek had visionsinside his head that no other person had ever possessed,” Garthcontinued. “When he saw opportunities, the glee in his eyes was notonly for himself, but for Targa. Imagine being able to have thatvision to shape your country and the skills of a warrior to demandthe respect of your enemies.”

The boys were clearly excited at theprospect of being a warrior and a king. Garth smiled to himself atsuccessfully changing the topic of conversation for severaldays.

“Do you know which one of usis Oscar’s son?” Fredrik asked.

“I don’t know for certain,”confessed Garth, “but I believe he is among us. Would you reallywant me to tell you if I knew?”

Affirmative response rang fromeverybody’s lips and Garth was actually surprised. Being a Princewas a heavy burden and Garth would not want to know if he was intheir position. “Very well,” Garth replied. “I will tell you theonly clue that I possess. Remember that what I am about to say isnot proof of a claim to the throne, but Prince Oscar and PrincessCallie were given very special gifts from Jenneva. One of youcarries that gift today. How it was come by, we do not know, butits identity is certain.”

“Do you mean a magical gift?”Arik asked. “That would have to be Fredrik. Tedi and I have nomagical gift whatsoever.”

Garth watched the boys’ expressions tosee if there was resentment created by Arik’s statement. Fredrikappeared shocked and both Tedi and Arik seemed pleased forFredrik.

“I do not mean a gift ofmagic,” Garth finally said. “I mean a physical gift. The necklacethat Tedi wears belonged to either the Prince or the Princess. Wedo not know which.”

Tedi turned bright red and Arik andFredrik slapped him on the back. Tanya looked curiously at the heirto the Alcea Crown, but Niki actually moved to sit between Fredrikand Tedi and examined the necklace.

The next few days were a welcome reliefto Garth. The questions about Alexander Tork had ceased and PrinceOscar became the topic of conversation. The most dramatic change inthe Children was in Niki. She would not leave Tedi alone. Insteadof magic lessons with Kalina, Niki started challenging Tedi atknives and the Lanoirian Star. She even tried to battle him with astaff, but that lasted as long as one swing in which Tedi disarmedher and she complained of a broken wrist.

The Sword of Heavens was vibrating sovigorously now that Kalina could not control it. Tedi took over thejob of using the Sword of Heavens to point towards theirdestination. The terrain of the headwaters of the Black Riverchanged from mountains to rolling hills and eventually flattenedout to forested woods just outside the village of Dani. The grouphad a discussion about entering Dani for provisions and afterKalina pointed out that this area had very few visitors and theywould surely be talked about, they decided to bypass thetown.

Just west of Dani, the pine forest gaveway to an ancient wood of old oak trees. At this point the Sword ofHeavens was vibrating so wildly that only Garth and Arik had thephysical strength to handle it. Garth gave the job to Arik so hewould not be encumbered if trouble arose. The woods were dark andwhatever light the day brought was quickly fading, so Garthannounced that they would camp for the night and start fresh in themorning.

The camp was full of excitement aseveryone realized they would probably meet the fairies in themorning. During the talk period after dinner, everyone hadquestions about the fairies and what they were like. Unfortunately,nobody had any answers. No one had ever seen a fairy, not evenGarth and Kalina. Garth cautioned about being overlyexcited.

“You must remember,” Garthstated clearly, “that the Universe inhabited by the fairies wasalso inhabited by ogres. If we are near to finding the fairies, wemay also be in the vicinity of ogres and they are ferociousfighters. An ogre is typically stupid, but they are large, strong,and will eat people. If we have to fight ogres, the bow is yourbest weapon. Their strength will make sword fighting dangerousbecause their blows, even if they are blocked, can knock your swordfrom your hand. Knives will be useless unless you score a directhit in a vital area like the throat or eyes.”

Everyone’s attention was riveted onGarth. No one expected to find the land of the fairies to be adangerous place, but the thought of fighting ogres had soberedtheir jubilation.

“You will have to aim at thesame vital areas with your arrows,” Garth continued, “but you maydo so from a greater distance. As far as I know, the ogres have nomagicians, but do not depend on that. If we get into an attack,defense shields will be the first priority of those with magicalcapabilities. If you can maintain a shield and attack at the sametime, do so. There is no such thing as a surrender in a battle withogres. We either kill them all or they eat us."

The mood had turned rather gloomy asthe Children went to the practice area, but the practice itself wastough. All four of the warrior Rangers practiced their archeryskills, each trying to outdo the others. Arik with his longbow wasclearly the winner, with Tanya second. Each of the Rangerspracticed as if the skills they honed today would be used in battletomorrow. Garth called an early halt to the practice and stated hisintention that everybody get as much sleep as possible. They wouldsearch tomorrow until they located the fairies, even if they had toproceed after the darkness came.

Garth let everyone sleep until firstlight and then canceled morning exercises. The Rangers hadbreakfast and took to the trail. The oak forest got thicker and thecoming of light did little to improve visibility. The group rodethrough the morning with two stops for Arik to check on thedirection shown by the Sword of Heavens.

Shortly after their stop for the middaymeal, they started seeing live, healthy apple trees. Tanya startedto gather apples for dinner until Garth told her to keep her handsfree. The light also started to penetrate the forest better as theoak trees thinned. Excitement started to percolate again as therewere several false sightings of fairies. Garth did not share in theexcitement. Instead he started to grow tense with a premonition ofdanger and his eyes started scanning the forest.

Tedi was in the lead when his horsejust stopped. Garth rode to the front of the procession and askedTedi why he was stopping.

“I didn’t stop,” Tedi said.“My horse just stopped. Tedi lowered himself from the saddle andchecked on his mount.

“He’s sleeping!” Tediexclaimed. “I can’t believe it, he is just sleeping.”

Garth also dismounted to verify Tedi’sstatement. Arik came walking forward from the end of thecolumn.

“All of the mounts aresleeping except yours and Kalina’s,” Arik stated. “What is goingon? We didn’t push them hard yesterday. They have never acted likethis before.”

Garth shook his head and startedlooking around at the forest when he heard the shouts behind him.He quickly pivoted and saw Fredrik and Kalina rushing to where Nikihad fallen to the ground. His senses reeling, Garth searched forsome sign of his enemy. He watched as Fredrik collapsed to theground and heard either Tedi or Arik falling behind him with ashout.