Berganashio - Chapter 29

The day of the battle had finally arrived. In full battle gear, Larkin and Villi flew in the lead of the army of merfaries. Pori, Bry and Cotton were still missing. It was an important day. They did not have time to search for them, especially since they knew that Pori refused to join them in the fight against the mutated fairies.

"I wonder where they went..." Villi mused within earshot of Larkin.

Larkin shrugged. "Maybe they went to see Tilly the seahorse again... I don't know but it doesn't matter though. We have to focus on today! With the meerbird mob joining us, we will be unstoppable!" He gripped the hilt of his sword with determination.

King Phineas and Queen Malka were not joining the attack directly. They knew that they could fight just as well from their cold throne room. Over the years, they had sharpened their skill of speaking evil, which manifested as the fiery arrows. They sat stoically on their thrones.

"Look, there come the meerbird mob flying up from the south!" Larkin pointed.

It was surreal to see such a large number of meerbirds all in flight. Their white wings reflected the sunlight. Their black eyes were intense. They had brought all of their best warriors. Swords, spears, bows and arrows were tied to the bodies of the meerbirds.

"Their alliance has held true." Villi nodded.

"Thankfully, and you doubted it?" Larkin acknowledged and asked, with a head nod, but he didn't wait to listen for her to answer.

Chief Keenwai and Kunya fearlessly led the mob of meerbirds. Grinyella, Podder, and Dror were in flight behind them. Many other meerbirds flew or ran along the ground quickly. At last, the merfarie warriors blended with the meerbird mob. Silent power and surreal tension continued to rise. They continued their flight to the caverns of Mem to attack the unsuspecting fairies.

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In the caverns of Mem, Queen Finyellë and the rest of the fairies were thankful for the cavern water that had been stirred and made clean miraculously. However, they were running out of their food rations. The fairies complained about not having enough food to sustain them. Their bodies were growing faint. Every day, their hope continued to dwindle, as they had no way to get out of the caverns. It was difficult to know if it was day or night in the caverns, as the only light they had was from their fires, torches, and a little bit of light from the fireflies on the cavern walls. Suddenly, they were aroused by motion and sounds from the outside of the cavern.

One of the guards called out, "There is movement out there!"

Queen Finyellë's body shuddered, "Impossible!"

Sure enough, the boulders from the outside were being picked up and thrown aside. More and more light began flooding into the caverns. It was blinding to the fairies, who hadn't seen light in several days.

"How could this be?" Queen Finyellë asked in shock. "Another miracle?"

The childish giant had moved the boulders that were blocking the cavern entrance. Whisper, the dwarf, had guided the giant all the way there. After meeting Jovie and the totters, and considering Pori's timely plan, he agreed to help. On one of the giant's shoulders stood Whisper and Pori and on the other shoulder clung Jovie and the three totters. Near the feet of the giant, stood Cotton. Bry was triumphantly riding on Cotton's back. The giant had made a large enough opening, and had been told to pause, so that the fairies could come escape from the cave.

Just as the fairy villagers could flutter out from the cave, Pori looked behind the giant, only to see floods of merfaries and meerbirds running in full speed in their attack. Pori was hoping that they would have more time to warn the fairies it appeared to be too late.

"Look out! They're attacking!" Pori yelled down at the fairies.

Queen Finyellë bellowed at her guards. "Defend yourselves! Quickly!"

The fairies rallied themselves, running back to arm themselves.

Th wings of all the different creatures flashed frantically. Swords clashed. Spears jetted. Arrows from the meerbird mob were shot simultaneously. War cries filled the air. Chaos ensured.

Larkin and Villi quickly split and fought the fairy guards that had come up from the caverns to defend themselves.

Then the fiery arrows came from the spewing words of King Phineas and Queen Malka. Instead of the fiery arrows going toward the fairies though, the fiery arrows were being aimed at the giant who was still standing there. Before Whisper could respond and give a directive to the giant, the fireflies, the protectors of the fairies, flew up and shielded the giant's body. The way the fireflies encircled the giant, made it appear as if it was a layer of chain mail swirling around the giant's frame.

Jovie bellowed down at Queen Finyellë and the fairies, who were continuing to fight and defend themselves as good as they could.

"Cling to the body of the giant!" Jovie was not even sure what made her think of this, seemingly counterintuitive, idea.

At first, the idea seemed ludicrous, but then Queen Finyellë saw the fireflies surrounding the giant. Just in the nick of time, she flew up to the knee area of the giant. Before long, more and more of the fairies did the same, and the giant was covered in the fairy vine villagers. The three hummingbird scouts had flown near the head of the giant. They had the appearance of a hovering crown now!

The merfarie and meerbird warriors were in shock. They slowly started to pull back. Just as they pulled back though, from behind, dozens of sea-wolfs charged at them!

"Ahh. The sea-wolfs!" Villi turned and slashed her sword at the fangs of a mangy sea-wolf.

The surprise attackers had been surprised themselves! The ferocious sea-wolfs had been waiting for an opportune moment such as this! Foul saliva dripped from the mouth of the wild sea-wolf. It was captain Cragg himself. He snarled and snapped at Villi and the other merfaries, trying to claw them out of the air with his massive paw.

He spotted the white fur of Cotton on the other side and started running after Cotton. Powerful fury burned in his wicked eyes.

"You!!!!!" Captain Cragg snarled at Cotton and Bry. "You ruined our ship! I should have put you down a long time ago, you albino mongrel-mutt!"

He lunged at Cotton spastically. They tumbled, rolling over the rocks. Bry held on for dear life. Larkin and Villi charged at the battling sea-wolfs after they saw that Bry was on top of Cotton's back. Larkin stabbed the sea-wolf captain in the flank from behind, which made him turn around. In a flash, a boulder, thrown by the giant, flew through the air. It was aimed for captain Cragg and couldn't have better aimed. The rock came crushing down on the sea-wolf, just before Cotton could jump out of the way. Bry was still clinging to Cotton's back. It had been the scariest ride he had experienced yet. His eyes were wide with relief. Several meerbirds continued to fight the other large sea-wolfs. At this point, all the fairies were clinging to the giant's body.

After the giant had thrown the rock to crush captain Cragg, Whisper told the giant to start walking back to the mountain range that was considered home to the giants. Jovie stood in utter amazement that the giant was able to have rescued all of the fairies. A day ago, she had little faith but today, she felt all the faith in the world. She looked down at all the fairies that held on to the giant's body. The fireflies remained where they were as a shield, as did the three hummingbird scouts as a calm crown above the blind giant's head. The fiery arrows kept coming, but they the fireflies acted as a breathtaking forcefield of protection to the giant and all the small creatures riding on him.

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreatttttt!" Larkin commanded the merfaries and the meerbirds. "Back to the merfarie kingdom!"

The merfaries and the meerbirds rose up in flight, above the jumping, snapping sea-wolfs. The sea-wolfs made all their final attempts to stop them from retreating. Several war casualties had occurred for all of the warring creatures. The astonishing battle had come to an end.

Post battle soundtrack - "Relaxing Violin Music | Melodic Violin" by Rick Oli.

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Author's Note:

Stay tuned for chapter 30, which will be coming soon! Thank you for reading!