Twisted Destiny

Part 9 - Fairaes

"Hello humans!" It said in an upbeat voice. "What brings you here to the land of the fairae? We are glad to assist you if you have any, but you shall pass if you prefer. But, what has brought you to our lands?"

"We're just passing through. Now if you would allow us, we'll be out of your hands in a short time," Gabriel immediately replied.

"Well, that can be the case, but wouldn't you like to stay while? You seem weary from your journeys. Stay, talk, we can help provide food and lodgings for the night. Our pleasure," a different fairy replied. They all had skin tones varying from a pale peach to a light green. The one that had originally spoken to them had green skin with hair that was only a shade darker. This one has skin not unlike the tone of Lantana's, but it had bright pink hair.

Suddenly after the fairies stopped speaking though, Lantana felt drowsy and hungry. "When was the last time I ate?" She thought to herself, "A nice warm bed and meal would be quite nice now," She felt drawn to the fairies' offer, and felt her feet spurring her horse toward them. She saw that Violet seemed to have had the same thoughts as her, but Gabriel was resisting. He had his usual scowl on his face, but his eyes weren't as cold as if he was struggling against something. Once again, Gabriel opened his mouth to speak again.

"Even though you are very... welcoming with your hospitality, we have somewhere we need to be. Isn't that right ladies," he spat out with emphasis on certain words.

Oh, but it is too soon for you to be leaving. And at that, we cannot let you go without a proper goodbye," yet another fairy said with a very forced smile on its face.

"Yes. Isn't. That. Right," the first one said again.

"You have refused our offers humans," another new fairy said, this one with brown hair and mint green skin.

"We still have to give you a goodbye," one with yellow hair proclaimed

"Yesssss," the fairies hissed out. All of them spoke in a creepy unison, and that was when Lantana and Violet broke out of the trance they were in.

Then, they flew at them with their razor sharp claws out. Lantana barely had time to react and move her horse out of the way of the oncoming onslaught of fairies. Most of them seemed to want to attack Gabriel, but quite a few had broken from the big pack to take his accomplices. The second she danced away from one clump of fairies though, there was another one to avoid. She knew she couldn't keep this up on horse so quickly dismounted. The fairies were persistent though and weren't going to give up one Lantana. She took a glance toward Gabriel and saw that he was swatting them away like flies on a lazy summer day with the flat of his blade. He was able to hit multiple times each time, but as a few fell, there were always more to take its place. Lantana swung wildly in all directions, but they're were simply too many dairies and too few of them. Gabriel seemed to have the same thought, and shouted out,

"Ride! We need to get out of their territory as fast as possible! Try to keep as many away as possible but run!"

Lantana and Violet immediately followed his lead. Unlike Gabriel though, they couldn't ride with one hand. He was able to continue swinging at the fairies that were still following them, but Lantana and Violet needed both hands on the reins to keep their horses steady and to prevent themselves from falling off. Every time a fairy struck Lantana, their claws delivered small scratches up and down her face, beck, and arms. They were also begging to cause massive holes to form in her clothes. Even though the marks weren't deep, they were so numerous they could actually cause some lasting damage. Lantana spurred on her horse again and rode as fast as the animal could go. Even though they were moving fast, the fairies could fly just as fast as they could ride. It seemed to go relatively well. She thought they were going to make it. She knew the cuts weren't deep, and she knew they had to be more than halfway through the territory. She didn't see it coming though through the onslaught of the fairies. One annoying little pest went straight for the horse. With its claws out, it stuck them in the horse's eye. Time seemed to slow. Lantana saw the horse stop and jerk suddenly, almost throwing her off. Then, the eye started to bleed. Before she knew what was happening, she had lost control of the horse. It whinnied in pain, and started to dash wildly toward the dense forest to get away from the fairies.

"Stop!" Lantana frantically cried out. "Please, don't go in there!"

It was obviously of no use though. The horse was out of her control, and in a matter of seconds, the path was completely behind them, and they were going to who knows where. Lantana desperately tugged on the reins trying to stop the horse, but it was determined to get as far away from the fairies as possible. Lantana's movements only agitated it, and within a second, it had buckled and thrown Lantana off. She landed hard on her back and could do nothing but watch her horse ride off without her. She was far from the path, there were probably the nasty fairies on her tail, and she had no idea which direction to go to get out of the fairy forest, or find Gabriel and Violet.