"Then I'll lose." He grinned slyly.
Suddenly, from the bar, there was a chime of empty glasses falling on top of each other as The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally leapt over the counter carrying a large, splintered wooden bat.
"Nobody comes near!" She screamed with a voice so powerful that she had obviously broken up fights with that bat before.
She stood at Capden Den's side with determination in her eyes and whispered into Den's ear.
"The back door is open."
Capden Den winked back at her as he drew his cutlass and took up his fencing position. As he prepared himself to duel with Dodgy Dave, quick as a flash, he turned his back on Dave and ran from the unruly rabble of pirates while yelling to his mates.
"Run!"
Chapter Nine of?
Capden Den darted out of the back door, closely followed by Bill, Purplerain and Caldora, with Sally following behind them. They hurried into the busy street outside. Around them pirates drunkenly sang songs, made deals, challenged each other to fights or were simply being ill in the gutter. None of them seemed to notice two fairies radiantly lighting up their grim surroundings.
Sally slammed the back door shut and slipped her wooden bat into the handles between the doors to stop the thirty or so irate pirates getting through.
"Blimey!" Capden Den exclaimed. "Thanks Sally."
"We've got to go!" She screamed. "They can still get out of the front door!"
"Oh blimey." Capden Den sighed.
Suddenly there came screams of horror from all the pirates gathered in the street as they noticed who Den, Sally and Bill were with.
"Fairies!" Came the shriek that bounced around the walls of pirate bay.
Suddenly the whole bay fell into chaos; pirates started running all over the place in a mad panic to avoid being struck by fearsome fairy magic. Grown men screamed like frightened sheep and in the melee market stalls were sent flying, crumbling to the ground as if they were made of paper.
Dodgy Dave and the pirates emerged menacingly from the front entrance of the Double Dabloon and glared at the small huddle of five, standing alone in the middle of the street, who were quickly being circled in by the confusion in the bay. Capden Den realised that he did not have a plan.
"I don't have a plan." He admitted.
"Neither do I." Bill sighed.
Prince Purplerain caught their attention.
"We can carry you." He smiled as his voice sang with a calm assurance.
"What!" Bill snorted.
"Both of us can carry you, I'll take the captain and his girlfriend, Caldora can carry Bill."
"I'm not flying! I hate flying!" Bill screamed almost as badly as the pirates had when they saw the fairies.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Capden Den screamed in a similar way.
"But I do love you!" Sally screamed back.
Capden Den turned with shock towards Sally.
"What?" he cried.
Prince Purplerain's patience was now wearing thin. Just as Sally leaned her lips in to meet Capden Den's he picked them both up in each arm and sent them soaring into the clear blue sky. As he looked down to his princess, she grabbed Bill's arms and zoomed up to join them.
Purplerain heard gasps from the crowd far below. He looked down and saw Dodgy Dave yelling up at them, the look on his face together with the angry pump of his arms in the air told him that he wasn't yelling anything very nice. The pirates had been joined by Port Authority Officers who were also beckoning at them to come down, blowing their whistles into the air in an attempt to stop them.
The high pitch of the whistles slipped painfully into the ear of Prince Purplerain and he began to lose momentum.
"Ouch!" he shrieked.
"Get us out of here! Go left, we're going to go down to Alphabet Street." Capden Den pointed to the building of the Pterodactyl Post Office that had pterodactyls flying in and out at regular intervals from the opening in the roof.
"I can't go there! Dinosaurs hate fairies more than pirates do!" The Prince yelled in panic.
"Trust me, we just need to get out of here, over there will be safer than anywhere else at the moment." Capden Den called back.
Prince Purplerain called towards Princess Caldora and, fighting against the whistles that were making them lose concentration, they raced away at such a speed that all they could hear against the rush of the wind was Bill whooping like a cowboy on a rodeo ride.
Prince Purplerain headed nervously for the Pterodactyl Post Office and landed smoothly at the entrance. He released Capden Den and Sally from his grip while pterodactyls swished low over their heads carrying their large post-bags around their leathery bellies.
Sally, still clutching the letter, planted a kiss on the cheek of Capden Den.
"I'll post this, you lot get out of here."
As Princess Caldora and Bill joined them, Capden Den grabbed the arm of The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally.
"Wait." He stated. "You're coming with us."
"No." Sally smiled, "You need to do what you need to do, I'll stay here and you can come back for me."
"But?" Capden Den stammered.
"It'll be ok. I need to get my things together and then I can join you. I'll be here waiting for you when you get back."
Capden Den felt his stomach sink; he couldn't understand it but it felt like his heart had been fastened to a lead weight and dropped into a deep well. A look of confusion crossed his face as he glanced around for anyone to tell him what to do.
Bill came to his side. "She's right." He said calmly.
"Yes." Prince Purplerain chimed.
Sally's eyes lit up. "I can hear him!" she said excitedly.
Prince Purplerain went over to Sally and kissed her on the forehead, as he stepped back a small slither of light trailed from his lips to her head and left a sprinkle of glitter where his skin had touched hers.
"Thank you." He spoke, and it sounded like a tiny bell.
Sally could only laugh shyly towards the glowing fairy in front of her. She looked at Capden Den and their eyes met as a small tear formed in the corner of her eye. She smiled at him, turned around, and walked into the entrance of the Pterodactyl Post Office.
Capden Den watched her go until Prince Purplerain jolted him awake by slapping his back.
Bosun Bill joined them as he looked nervously about the empty street. Suddenly, Princess Caldora collapsed in a heap onto the hard cobbled street, quickly joined by Prince Purplerain. They fell like puppets that had just had their strings cut from their limbs.
"What?" Capden Den said to himself.
Then they heard the noise, whistles, coming from a few streets away, getting closer and fiercer and louder.
"Port Authority!" Bill stated to his captain. "What do we do?"
Capden Den stroked his beard then tried to lift the dead weight of Prince Purplerain, but couldn't get enough of a hold of the glowing body. "I don't know." The captain said. "We're stuck."
Bill tried to lift Princess Caldora but her limp body simply slipped through his arms. He cursed with exasperation and listened as the noise of whistles was quickly joined by the thump of running feet on the road.
"They're getting closer!" Bill said with panic in his voice.
"We need to get back to the Anna Stesia." Capden Den said as he tried to lift Prince Purplerain again, but the fairy would not move; Den slumped down to the ground, knowing that there was no way he could get the fairies back to the ship in time.
As Capden Den and Bill sat there wondering what to do they noticed a swarm of pirates moving slowly towards them. As they got nearer the pirates parted and through the middle of the crowd a row of Port Authority Officers emerged, blowing their whistles and looking very authoritative indeed.
Capden Den lowered his head and said to the ground.
"They've got us this time, but I have a plan."
Chapter Ten of?
Sally stood at the bank of the water behind the Pterodactyl Post Office an
d watched her letter fly into the air, carried in a sack marked Special Delivery, by a fierce looking pterodactyl. She watched and hoped that the letter would get there in good time and waited for the pterodactyl to become a small speck in the sky as it headed northwards, before she turned and walked back to her apartment to pack her bags.
The sprawling ocean spread like a vast, blue billowing sheet beneath the floating body of the pterodactyl, as it flew above the glistening waves.
In the postbag, neatly strapped around the dinosaur's belly, sat the letter that Capden Den had written for the queen at the Fairy Retreat.
It was a journey that would only take the pterodactyl five hours though it would take the pirate galleon of Capden Den far longer. Imminent was a word that he used in the letter somewhat hopefully; and now it was in ink it could not be changed. Capden Den knew that Pterodactyls could not talk to fairies, so he had to leave it up to the queen to judge quite how long a time was meant by 'imminent'.
The flying dinosaur flew low to cool its body by the spray of the sea, then soared high up into the clouds and breathed in the pure air. The sun was the only form of navigation and these postal reptiles were skilled at using it for the most direct path to their destination.
As the pterodactyl flew across the ocean it skimmed the waves where flying fish, with their sharp teeth and long droopy jaws, gnawed at her belly. Nothing though could penetrate her tough skin except for another dinosaur and instead she lowered her long beak and filled her belly with her favourite snack, flying fish.
The sun began to glow orange as the day reached its end and the pterodactyl soared over her old home on the Third Isle of Solitude. It was a vast island, quite separate from the rest of the world but so central that most had to pass over it or around it to get anywhere. She flew over vast green trees, masses of wide-open vegetation, bubbling volcanoes, deep and treacherous mud pits and the old ruined city that used to belong to the fairies but was now home to the king of the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The pterodactyl drank in the comforting calls from her homeland, the roars and moans of her old friends that reminded her of past times. As she looked down into the open plains of grass, she could see tiny specks running at high speeds; the oviraptors liked to run, and she watched with amusement at their games of hide and seek with each other. As she looked she noticed another speck, smaller than the oviraptor and buzzing around as if it were a large insect, playing with the gang of reptiles. For a second she wanted to swoop down as she thought that the speck had the shape of a small fairy and feared for its safety.
But on she raced, knowing that this letter was urgent due to the price that the pirate girl had paid for it. The pterodactyl continued north; over the open mouth of the last volcano on the island and back across the ocean, towards the Fourth and Fifth Isles of Solitude, past Hippo Lagoon and then an easy flight to the Fairy Retreat just beyond.
After a short journey over the water she caught a glimpse of a beach and saw from it a plume of grey smoke dancing in the darkening sky. It came from the camp of the small band of fairies and she pushed her tiring body onwards to her final landing place.
As she swooped in she was met with a gasp by the small rabble sitting calmly around their fire.
The small band of rebel fairies jumped up immediately and huddled together in fear of the reptile that stood majestically before them.
Queen Loukatos got up gracefully from her cross-legged position on the sand and motioned to everyone to calm down. She straightened her long and lean body, her wings fluttered slightly and she calmly walked over to the pterodactyl, which bowed to acknowledge the queen of the fairies.
The queen bowed in return and opened the post-bag that now hung to the side of the pterodactyl. She took out the letter and, with her delicately long fingers, fastened the satchel back up. Looking up through the parting in her long blonde hair, she stroked the nose of the dinosaur and smiled. The two of them looked straight into each other's eyes with mutual respect.
Queen Loukatos then turned her back to read the letter, as she did she heard the large wings of the pterodactyl flapping away. She went over to the fairies and read in silence by the light of the fire before looking up at her group of loyal fairies.
"It's from a pirate." The queen sung in a voice that sounded as pure as the ocean waves. "He's on his way with my daughter and her fianc?. Imminently." She added.
Interlude
On the Third Isle of Solitude an oviraptor snapped playfully at the wings of a dancing fairy boy. The fairy teased the dinosaur by flying up, then swooping down to kick the leathery hide of the reptile's body.
The boy laughed; a noise that the dinosaur tried to mimic with little success, sounding more like a roar of pain than a cry of pleasure; the other oviraptors in the gang joined in, barking and snapping at the busy little fairy.
Finally, feeling tired, the fairy landed to the ground and curled himself up into a little ball. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the green, pointed reptilian faces above him, their red crests on the tip of their skulls flapping as their heads moved.
"Do you understand me?" he asked as he yawned.
His only reply was a twinkling in their eyes and slow nods of their heads.
"I only want to be understood, thank you Jim. I'm tired," said the little boy. "Will you take me home, Jim?"
Jim, the oviraptor, gently collected the small fairy boy in his teeth and curled him around his neck.
"Remember to hide me." The fairy child spoke, as he yawned again and clung on tenderly to Jim. The crowd of oviraptors headed home, towards the shelter of trees in the dense forest.
Chapter Eleven of?
Wise Old Fairy Falkirk reached the Fairy Retreat the following day, just as the rebel fairies were preparing a lunch of nuts, red bananas and mixed green salad.
As Falkirk fluttered in, a small group of fairies cutting up the salad stopped and waved in greeting; Falkirk waved back with a serious look on his face and landed opposite them just beside the still glowing fire.
"Where is the queen?" he asked in his wispy and aged, but ever so intelligent voice.
"I'm here." Came the sweet jingle of bells from the pure but powerful voice of Queen Loukatos.
Falkirk turned and gasped at the sight of his queen; she always looked splendid and was wearing a flowing white gown that seemed to blend into her long golden hair. A glow radiated from her, as if the sun were following her every move. Her eternally youthful features lit up softly as she smiled warmly to her most trusted adviser.
"Your majesty." Falkirk bowed.
"Oh stop that." The queen laughed. "Nothing royal here, just us fairies."
"You look wonderful your highness." Falkirk said as he lifted his head. "It seems this life has given you an everlasting richness."
"Yes." Agreed the queen. "But it's terrible for your nails. Now, are you staying for lunch?"
The other fairies had begun to gather round as word spread that the wisest of all the fairies had come to visit and they all mumbled their approval.
"I would be delighted." Falkirk bowed again.
"Good, but stop bowing please, it makes me feel giddy." The queen laughed.
The lunch was laid out on a rectangular stone slab and all the fairies, about twenty-five of them in total, sat around together to help themselves to the food. As they started to eat, the queen looked at Falkirk.
"So what has my husband sent you here for?"
"To spy." Falkirk replied.
There was silence for a moment, until the queen laughed.
"Not much to report then."
"No." Falkirk grinned. "In fact, the king has told me about something that Fairy Otto Mobil is working on and he expects me to find out about it."
"Oh." The queen looked down at her plate. "How did he hear about that?"
Falkirk shuffled as his bottom sank into the sand. "He has ways?that I don't agree with."
"Indeed." The queen agreed before she turned to one of he
r fairies. "Where is Otto?"
The fairy she spoke to looked up from his lunch and spoke. "With his car." He stuttered and spat lettuce onto his lap while he did.
The other fairies all mumbled again, this time with disapproval.
"It's alright." The queen assured them. "We can trust Falkirk to tell the king only what he needs to hear."
"You can." Falkirk nodded.
Suddenly, from beyond the trees surrounding this small fairy hideout, there was a loud crack followed by a roar that sounded like thunder. Then came silence, until a huge plume of black smoke came wafting through the tree trunks.
"That will be him." The queen sighed with slight exasperation.
There was another thunderous noise, as if a great bear was about to rush at them, then another black cloud of smoke and all of a sudden the thunderous noise became an on-going, low purr.
The queen stood up instantly with surprise in her eyes.
"He's done it!" she yelped excitedly.
All the other fairies stood up to join her and started to chatter excitedly amongst themselves.
Then Falkirk got up and looked with confusion toward his queen; the queen went over to him and patted him on the arm.
"I do believe that Otto has done it, he's invented something that will change our lives, something so amazing and out of this world that I didn't believe it could ever be done, but he has. We need to go and see."
As they headed towards the low rumble in the trees the dull purr got louder and was interrupted by loud screams of delight. Otto Mobil, a short, slightly balding and excitable fairy with a round black-speckled face, floated busily around the trees laughing and chortling like a mad man.
The queen called for his attention and he came over instantly.
"Oh your majesty, I've done it! I've done it!" He beamed as a sliver of saliva hung excitedly from his lip. "Using nothing more than banana skins, wheels, a beaten galleon and a three cylinder turbo engine that I had in the dark corridors of my mind, I've finally invented what I like to call?the car."
"Very impressive!" Falkirk said.
The queen looked at Falkirk with raised eyebrows, then toward the excited Otto.