The Land Never Lost

Chapter 29

This was the backup they needed, thought Fox. He ran up a large tree and jumped high into the air. Fox flew towards Hawk, but as he got closer there was something wrong. Why was Hawk alone? Fox shouted over the chaos, "Hawk. Where are Peter and Belias?". Hawk looked down at Pan, in complete disarray, and smiled. "We are leaving Fox. Get the rest of our brothers." Hawk said calmly.

Fox eyed his friend quizzically, trying to make sense of his words. "What do you mean, leaving?".

"That's enough of these games. Let's go!" Hawk shouted. Fox flinched at the sound of Hawk yelling at him, a sound he was not used to.

Fox repeated, "Where are Peter and Belias?".

Hawk shook his head in disappointment, and charged at Fox. Outside the room of rumination, Leif was fighting off glooms as they tried to attack the defenseless Bear. "Behind you!" Bear shouted at Leif as three glooms charged him. Leif swung a wooden club and knocked down all three enemies, "Focus. I got this, Bear.". Ursa ran to and from the room of rumination carrying any lost fairies to safety.

In another part of Pan, the two sets of brothers were fighting a crowd of glooms. Brutus held two by the neck, "Scale, coming at you.". Brutus threw one towards the boy. The fairy slammed the other gloom to the ground and yelled out, "Begone!". Scale drop kicked the gloom, who exploded in a cloud of shadows. "Hey! Don't run away from me!" Fin yelled, as he chased a few glooms through the woods. Blink jumped from enemy to enemy in flashes of green light. Punching and kicking with speed so blinding, the glooms barely had time to react.

Cadman rushed towards the castle, hoping to get to the king before any gloom could. He ran through the town outside of the castle cutting glooms with his iron sword. "Get to the castle!" he shouted at the townsfolk. "Do not engage the enemy, just get to safety!". Cadman smacked a gloom in the face with his wooden shield and sliced down two more before reaching the doors of the castle.

Trinkett stood at a window, looking out at the battles taking place in Pan. King Reinhold sat on a chair with his head in his hands. "Step away from the window Trinkett." King Riordan told his daughter as he waved fairies into the throne room. "What about the other smaller villages throughout the land?" Reinhold asked. Trinkett walked over to her grandfather, "I'm sure Leif is helping those not close enough to the castle.".

"This is my fault." The old king said softly. King Riordan stomped his foot in protest, "Enough of the guilt. That is why we are in this mess in the first place.". Before the king could continue, Cadman ran into the throne room. "My king, we must shut off the stars!".

Trinkett asked, "What?".

"Close the door between worlds, your majesty." Cadman ignored the princess and pleaded with King Riordan.

"We can't do that. Peter hasn't returned yet, and we can't just lock him out of Pan." protested Trinkett.

"I don't care about your boy!" all the commotion in the room ceased, as Cadman shouted at the princess. The king attempted to reprimand his knight, but Cadman's frustration had reached its boiling point. "Your incessant desire to explore realms beyond your comprehension is a curse passed to you by that old fairy.". He jabbed a finger towards Reinhold. "Cadman!" Riordan warned, but Cadman continued. "The enemy rains down on our land like a storm. Exactly as I predicted. Yet, we were focused on the 'whys' and 'hows'. It doesn't matter! You do not defeat an enemy with questions and curiosities, but action. We are all to blame. I'll be out there protecting the fairies of this land. You can stay guarded here Princess, but not from glooms, from responsibility.". With that, a Cadman stormed out of the castle and ran into a sea of glooms. The king and his daughter and his father all stood looking at one another, the knight's words echoing in their minds.