Chapter Nine
"I will explain," said Marius. "The story goes way back, to our youth. Me and my brother were born in the Realm of Blue, and were subjects of King Blue. Blue is a tyrant. He treats his subjects like slaves. He forced us to work deep in the horrible Vonstan mines."
"Vonstan?"
"It's a valuable ore. We wouldn't see the sun for days and days on end. The lack of daylight, combined with the horrible monsters that lurked there, and the strong noxious fumes that permeated the very air that we breathed, drove us to the brink of madness, and beyond."
"We were so mad that we even tried to escape from the clutches of Blue. It's a long story, and eventually we made it out, after a string of lucky events, or perhaps by fate. By then we were completely insane," said Marius.
"Green took us in, granted us citizenship. Under the care of his doctors, and with time, we were mostly cured of our insanity."
"But this remnant remains with us from the time we spent in those dreadful mines. About once every six minutes, we get the overbearing urge to attack one another."
"We remember each other from the mines, so we associate each other's faces with the terrible and fearful monsters that dwelled there in the deep."
"We suppress the urge to fight, but it only grows more and more powerful."
"Until it erupts out of our psyches, causing us to fight the imaginary 'monster' to the death."
"It is lucky that neither of us is very strong— "
"—having been malnourished in our youth in the Realm of Blue—"
"—or we would long ago have killed one another."
"And that is why we fight."
Katy looked like she was close to tears. "That is so sad. I wish that there was something that we could do to help."
Meegle's eyes lit up. "You know something, there very well may be something that you can do to help us."
Marius shot Meegle an excited glance. "You wouldn't happen to have on you some medicine, from the Mortal Realm, would you now?"
Katy shook her head no.
"We don't," said Andrew, "but I doubt that anything that we might have could help for the condition that you described anyway. That would probably require some powerful anti-psychotic medications."
"No, you don't understand," said Meegle. "You see, items brought from the Mortal Realm to the Color Realms often take on strange and unusual powers. Even mundane items from the Mortal Realm can become powerful objects in the Color Realms, with the right incantation."
"Perhaps you have some mortal food! Check all your pockets!" said Marius.
Andrew was pretty sure that he didn't have any food on him, but he checked his pockets anyway. In the back pocket of his jeans he found the crushed remains of what was once half a snickers bar. It had to be at least a couple of weeks old.
He showed it to the brothers. "Will this do?"
"Oh, that will do just fine." Excitement showed on their faces.
Andrew handed the snickers bar to Marius. He took it, held his hand over the crushed candy bar, and muttered an incantation. It looked unchanged.
Meegle divided the remains of the bar into two parts, and the brothers each took one, and ate it.
"In several minutes time we shall see if it worked," said Marius.
They waited longer than the usual six minutes, without incident
"I didn't think that Marius was a monster!" said Meegle.
"I didn't want to hurt Meegle!" shouted Marius.
"We're cured!"
The short pair began to sing and dance. "We're cured, we're cured, the mortal food has cured us!
Brothers ruined in the mine,
Deep in forest, they do find,
Mortal men who give them candy,
Everything is fine and dandy!"
The brothers whooped and hollered, and sang and danced, for some time. And Andrew fully understood their joy. They were finally cured of a terrible sickness that they had suffered from for so long. It was cause for celebration.
The brothers hugged Katy and Andrew. "Thank you, thank you so very much. Hundreds of years of horrible, senseless fighting, are finally ended, thanks to you."
"We must give them something in return," said Marius. “The ride isn’t nearly enough.”
"You are right. We must," said Meegle. "What should we give them?"
"I know!" Marius whispered something into Meegle' ear.
"Are you sure? You know that we were saving that to sell to the Lady Lemesna, or the Duke of Anequin. It is worth a great fortune."
"Yes of course. But we owe it to them."
"Okay, I'll fetch it."
Meegle went to the wagon and rummaged through one of the sacks that lay there. He pulled from the sack a small, purple, drawstring bag, trimmed with gold. He walked over to the teens and took from the purple bag a small velvet covered box. It resembled a jewelry box.
Meegle knelt down before Andrew, and presented him with the box. "Please accept this as a token of our gratitude, O Narwah."
Andrew opened it. Inside there was a white whistle, engraved with strange ruins and symbols.
Andrew picked up the whistle and put it to his mouth. He was about to blow it when Marius cried out—"stop! Don't blow it here! We will all be killed!"
"Why?" asked Katy. "What does it do?"
"This is a Xelnia whistle. It is carved from the breastbone of the notoriously hard to capture male Xelnia horse." said Meegle.
"The male Xelnia appears only once every thirteen years, on a remote mountain, in a remote island in the Western Sea," said Marius. "Hence the whistle is extremely rare."
"Blowing it will call the ferocious, winged, fire-breathing, female Xelnia swiftly to your aid."
"The whistle must be used only in times of great peril or need. If she is called for nothing, or for a trifling reason, the Xelnia will become very angry, and will probably destroy you."
"Trust me, you don't want to face the wrath of the female fire breathing Xelnia," said Meegle.
"So it's a dragon?" Katy asked.
"No, dragons are lizards. The Xelnia is a horse. And besides, not all dragons breathe fire altogether," Marius said.
"Then it's a fire breathing Pegasus?" Katy said.
"No, it is a Xelnia. Pegasi are a Greek myth. The Xelnia is real," said Meegle.
"I saw a female Xelnia once," said Marius proudly. "She shot by, while Meegle was driving the wagon and looking ahead at the road. She was a very deep black, blacker then black. And her mane and tail were a bright red, orange, and yellow. Like a flaming coal, she appeared."
"Wow," said Andrew. "This is, this is just incredible!"
"The whistle is not to be blown too frequently, or the Xelnia will cease to heed its call," Meegle admonished.
"Eventually, after enough blows, it will be rendered useless. Use it wisely."
"We take no responsibility for a defective product. Or for an angry Xelnia. Blow at your own risk, as you mortals say," said Meegle.
"Thank you. Thank you so very much for this wonderful gift. It is marvelous," said Andrew.
A flying, fire breathing horse. Andrew thought that it was quite a good trade for half of an old, crushed snickers bar.
Meegle beamed. "It is the least we can do, for our sanity's restoration at your hand."