Part 2 of Untitled Novel, Day 20 - Words to go: 5092

Part II

"We're going to need to be quiet, now." It was so strange to Goldie not hearing his voice but knowing that he'd spoken. She didn't reply, instead, reaching up to give his head a quick pat. She wondered, since he hadn't always been a cat, if things like rubbing him on the head were condescending. He wasn't just a small house pet, he was a fairy. It was so weird to think about. "Since my voice can't be heard, would you like to hear my story? I'm sure you're curious. Especially since I know a lot more about you than you probably realize."

Goldie nodded, but remembered he couldn't see her, so she patted him on the head in an effort to tell him to go on. She did want to hear about him. She wondered what he possibly could know about her. Couldn't be any more than she'd told him. She had told him a lot the first time they met, out on the porch. That day seemed so long ago at this point, she'd forgotten about it for a moment.

"I was the son of the Light Sprite fairy king," Floyd paused a moment. "I was young and naive and full of myself. I thought that nothing could touch me tucked away in my life of luxury. I abused my servants, was disrespectful to the king, my father, and I wreaked havoc wherever and whenever I could. One day, I chose to wreak havoc where I should never have gone.
"I went to the Dark Fairy City and I taunted its people. I threatened them because I thought they should be assymilated into our kingdom instead of creating a kingdom of their own. I thought that I should rule over all of the people in the world of fairies. I brought my sword and I challenged the king to a duel. To the death. I was so haughty, I thought I would win, but the king of the Dark Fairy City beat me to within an inch of my life. The only reason I did not die right there is because my father stepped in and begged the king of the Dark Fairy City not to kill me.
"The king agreed to let me live. 'He gave me charge of his life when he walked through the gates of my Kingdom. I will have his life. We have an agreement, O King.'
"'As it is written in the treaty, so it shall be, King. You will have my son's life for two hundred years to do with as you like. After that time is up, you will give him back to me whole.'
"After my father was done haggling over the terms of my slavery to the king of the Dark Fairy City, he turned to me and said, 'Maybe this will teach you a lesson that I never had the guts to teach you.' He leaned down and touched me, bestowing a blessing upon me that would help to heal my wounds, then he turned and walked away. I haven't seen him since that day. It's been almost a hundred and fifty years." Floyd sighed inaudibly. "My fairy magic was taken away from me and I was thrown into the dungeon to live out the next two hundred years of my life amongst the king's people collection."

Goldie pressed her hand to her mouth to try and keep from speaking, but a small squeak in the form of a "What?" came out anyway. Floyd's back rippled a couple of times. She must have been holding his hair too tight.

"Kiffen is a pawn of the king, he's a human capturer. And, yes," Floyd continued. "The people collection dates back many hundreds of years. Most of which are captured when they're small and kept until they die. Sometimes that happens sooner, sometimes later, but none of them had ever escaped until I got there and told them about the secret tunnels. I kept ties with the outside world, sneaking messages out through my fathers spies, and eventually the people collection started to wane. Not because they were dying, though, it was because they'd learned how to escape. Many, many people escaped back to their own worlds before the king realized it was me who was helping them.
"The king was furious and I guess the next best thing to killing me was cursing me to live in the human world as a cat. And, that, Goldie, is the story of why I am a fairy, and yet, a regular cat. I promised to find my way back to fairy world to stop the evil king, so I kept an eye out on Kiffen's movements in the human world.
"Everyone in the dark fairy world thought that the king had killed me, so Kiffen doesn't realize who I actually am, either. Somehow, no matter where in the fairy world we place a door, they will always open into that spot, in your aunt's house, so I was content to stay there and wait for as long as I needed to. When you arrived, I knew the prospect of a new addition to the collection would bring Kiffen in no time, but all I could do was wait. I couldn't even keep him from capturing you because I hadn't any resources. But, now, I have you, too, and Kiffen can do nothing to stop us."

Goldie and Floyd rode on in silence until Goldie felt him slow to a creep.

"Cut the light," he barked. Which was funny, because he was a cat. Of course, Goldie was trying not to let the seriousness of the situation overwhelm her so she had to allow her brain to find the fun in things. Goldie's light went out. They were approaching an opening in the wall.
The whole castle was alight. Goldie hopped down from Floyd's back.
"That's unusual," said Floyd. "They almost never have any lights. A few fires here and there, never this. Kiffen must know something is up. Well, to be fair he always knew something was up, especially when you re-appeared in the same room he'd stolen you from. He knew who you were, but he didn't know how it had happened that history had changed, but he was up to the challenge of capturing you again. When you came into the halfway world without a fuss, things were even easier for him. He'd just lead you into to fairy world and toss you right into the same cell the first Goldie was staying in. But, he didn't account for a fairy blessing. He's alerted the big guns, though. His tiny brain finally wrapped around the entire situation. I don't like this. You're going to have to go in alone. Do you understand?"

Goldie was pressed up against the tunnel wall again in fear. How was she supposed to do this alone?

"Listen to me, they can't hurt you. They'll be watching for you, but that doesn't matter. You can make it where they won't see you. I'm going to have to cause a diversion. As soon as they tell the king about me, he'll want to see me for himself. I can't change my size and I won't be able to hide very long if they're looking for me." Floyd stared intently into Goldie's eyes. "You need to hide yourself. Think it and it will happen, Goldie, remember. You need to follow the wooden stairs down on your left. I will be turning to the right and going upstairs. Got it so far?"

Goldie nodded, but said nothing. She was about to cry, but she knew this had to be done. If she could find her other self, she would be able to go home. This was the only way.

"You're going to walk through a large room and open the door at the other side of the room. The steps behind that door are stone. This is the entrance to the dungeon. Your cell is the one at the very end of the hall, facing you as you come into the room. You will not like how she looks. She's lived in this world much longer than you have," Floyd twisted his head back and forth, solemnly.

"How long has she been in the dungeon?" Goldie mustered a whisper.

"It took me a long time to drudge up my old friends to help me and then we had to work on a plan to get you back here. I'm not going to lie. It's been years."

Goldie pressed her head into her hands. Years? The Goldie that had come here first has been here for years. She's likely given up hoping that anyone will ever save her. She made up her mind then and there that she would do anything she could to save her, not for her own sake, but for the sake of the girl who had been trapped in a dungeon for years, who had been missing her mother for years, who had given up hope probably years ago that she'd ever escape, and who had no idea why she was being punished. It was that girl that Goldie was going to save. She stopped cowering at the edge of the tunnel and stepped out into the light.

"Goldie, remember that all you have to do is think about what you need and it will happen. I didn't tell you this before, but that compact you hold in your hand holds the power of every light sprite in the world. I asked the fairies to bless it. Every single one of them. At the moment, you are the most powerful fairy in the history of the fairy world. You can save everyone."

"I will save everyone," Goldie stated confidently. "But, what about you? What will happen to you? You might be killed!"

"Don't worry. They can't kill me, my father made sure of it when he blessed me with that healing blessing the last time I saw him. This is the moment where we part." Floyd leaned his head against Goldie and she threw her arms around his neck. Goldie didn't know whether he was sincere about his father's blessing or if he was just saying that to comfort her. Floyd broke the embraced peeked out of the end of the tunnel into the bright castle. "Think yourself invisible. OK. Now, go! Go now!"

Click here for Part III