Pony: All right! Here’s chapter eight!

Disclaimer Dude: Pony doesn’t own Neopets.

The Tale of a Lupe and a Faerie

Chapter Eight: Hostage Situation

In the early morning, Blaze awoke, groggy but forcing his still heavy eyelids to stay open. Rubbing at them and slowly peeling off his comforter, he reached under the Soup Faerie’s blankets, and carefully picked up the sleeping kacheek out from underneath, taking care not to wake her. He carried him out of the bedroom where he proceeded to wake him.

Zeek was confused at first, wondering why he was at the Soup Kitchen before remembering the dreadful incident that took place the previous night, and his heart went hallow. It took him a few minutes to realize that Blaze was asking him what he wanted for breakfast, and in a soft voice, he answered for pancakes.

Blaze set the child down and searched through the cookbooks and ingredients until he had everything he needed. He glanced over at the little kacheek with heartfelt sympathy, and asked him if he wanted to help make the pancakes, hoping it would lift his mood. Sure enough, it did somewhat. The pancakes weren’t perfect, but at least they weren’t burnt. He topped a pancake with a generous portion of maple syrup and set it down on the table for Zeek to start eating. The lupe placed a couple on another plate for the Soup Faerie and he went outside for a moment to pluck a few wildflowers. He stepped lightly into the faerie’s bedroom, placing the plate, fork, and flowers upon the nightstand next to her bed. Blaze smiled softly down at the Soup Faerie’s sleeping form, his heart fluttering at the sight of her peaceful face. He tore his eyes away once he remembered Zeek, and he left the room. As he washed the dishes he used to cook the pancakes, he kept an eye on the little kacheek as he slowly ate, sorrow weighing down on his appetite. Once Zeek was finished, the lupe cleaned his face off, and they were out
the door, heading toward the school.

***

The Soup Faerie was enjoying a pleasant, if confusing, dream about daffodils and the Water Faerie singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” when she had the odd revelation that the daffodils smelled like syrup. She took a deep breath, realizing she was hungry. It was the hunger that woke her up, and she sat up with the memory of the smell of syrup. And then realized that she really was smelling syrup, and looked around, spotting the plate of pancakes. Her stomach rumbled loudly. ’Wow, I haven’t had pancakes in forever,’ she thought. Usually she just ate soup. She reached for the plate before noticing the flowers. They made her flush a pleased pink as she realized they had to have come from Blaze. Sighing, she scarfed down the pancakes before heading off to get dressed.

***

Two familiar figures, the devious Darigan neopets slinked into the Soup Kitchen, their extra large talons lightly tapping the wooden planks of the floor as they made their way across the room as quietly as the could. They tiptoed over to their first prize, the soup cauldron. Working together - after the draik had set down the old and dusty potato sack and held a folded up piece of paper between his teeth - they tipped it over onto its side for easy movement, the heavy iron pot touching the floor with a soft clunk. As the eyrie proceeded to roll it out of the kitchen, peering out the door and making sure the coast was clear before making his move, the draik grabbed the potato sack and removed the note from his teeth, he went for cover and waited for the Soup Faerie to arrive into the kitchen.

***

The confusion and anxiety of the night before seemed to have been swept clean with the light of the morning. The Soup Faerie’s mood was better than it had been in ages, and she even hummed a little to herself, between playfully scolding inanimate objects for being out of place around her room. She went so far as to take the wildflowers from her dresser and head out into the main room, intending to put them on the table next to the… cauldron. She froze and stared, nonplussed. The cauldron was gone.

With the faerie’s back turned toward his direction, the Darigan draik slinked out of his hiding spot and held back a snicker as he approached her, then tapped her on the shoulder. “Ahem.”

She started and turned, wings flapping in distress. Her eyes widened when she saw the draik, and then she glared at him. “What are you doing back here? I spent the donation money for the new supplies. What else do you want?” Her eyes flicked to the empty place where the cauldron usually was. “Why would you take the soup cauldron?” she asked, eyes narrow.

The draik chuckled sadistically. “Curious little faerie, aren’t ya? There‘ll be plenty of time for explainin’ later.” In a flash, the draik dropped the potato sack and paper and pressed his thick thumb to the side of the faerie’s neck, intending on making her pass out from lack of circulation.

She jerked back in surprise, but not fast enough to evade the sly draik. He leapt up, wrapping both hands around her throat to keep from being dislodged as she struggled, trying to pry him away. She couldn’t breathe, and gasped, feeling her vision dim on the edges. Unable to keep fighting, she dropped to the floor, the flowers falling from her limp fingers.

The draik smirked smugly, lifting the Soup Faerie’s unconscious body and stuffing her into the potato sack. Throwing the sack over his shoulder, his eyes lowered to the floor at the paper he had dropped when he attacked the faerie, and pushed it over to the flowers with his toe, deciding it would be found in that spot, and carried off his victim.

***

Blaze returned close to half an hour later, ready to assist the Soup Faerie for another day. He was surprised not to find her in the kitchen, nor the aroma of soup. With his primary focus upon the faerie, he hadn’t noticed that the soup cauldron was missing, and he peeked into her room. She wasn’t there. Puzzled, he headed back to the kitchen thinking he might have missed her. Once in the kitchen, he froze, now noticing that the cauldron was gone. Then he felt something under his foot. The flowers he left for her were scattered around his feet, and a piece of paper that was folded in half. He reached down and picked it up. He scanned the words scribbled down on it, his eyes widened and his insides turned to cold lead. On the note revealed what had happened to the Soup Faerie and the coordinates to her new location, and that he better come alone or else. He swallowed hard. Going alone would be foolish, but with the faerie in the hands of her kidnappers, he wasn’t going to take any chances. He dropped the note and raced out the door.

***

The Darigan pets and the Soup Faerie were now located in an abandoned building in downtown Neopia Central. The draik had removed the faerie from the sack and tied her tightly to a chair. The large cauldron was sitting a few feet away with the eyrie accompanying it, leaning against it casually as he and his partner waited for their hostage to wake up.

The Soup Faerie woke up groggy. She coughed, and it was painful. Swallowing to wet her throat hurt as well. With a pained wheeze, she tried to lift a hand to feel her neck, but couldn’t. Her hands were stuck, and felt like they were going numb. Opening her eyes and groaning, the Soup Faerie discovered that she was tied to a chair. Her shoulders sagged. This could not be good.

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Nightwing grinned deviously. “I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here.”

“Whatever you’re doing, I’m not going to like it,” she replied, her throat still hurting. “Feeding me to the Snowager so you can sneak in and take things… extortion from my sisters… just a good laugh with your friends… whatever it is, it won’t work.”

Torch laughed. “Nah, not this time. Since your buddy chased us off like scared little pansies, we decided to hit ‘im where it hurts. Care to take a guess?”

‘It’s your own fault you’re pansies.’ She swallowed, and it was less painful this time. “You stole the cauldron. You’re going to starve the pets. You’re sick.”

The duo scoffed, and the draik spoke again, “Depends on what the decision o’ that oversized freak is.”

“He’s not oversized,” she snapped, without thinking. “You’re just midgets,” she ended lamely.

The draik and eyrie doubled over, nearly falling over, laughing hysterically like maniacs for a minute or two. Once their laughter slowed to a stop and took another minute to calm themselves down, Nightwing left his position beside the soup cauldron and approached the Soup Faerie, leaning an arm against the back of the chair.

“Like my friend said: depends on your pal’s decision. When he gets here, he’s gonna have to choose between the cauldron, or his girlfriend,” he said, pinching her cheek at the last word.

The Soup Faerie’s expression went entirely blank. “I’m not his girlfriend,” she said, sounding hollow because she wasn’t sure if it was true. Giving herself a mental slap, she pulled her head away from him. “And he’ll do the right thing, which is to get the cauldron back. He understands the value of life, unlike yellow-bellied arsonists.”

“No one calls me ‘yellow’! I’m purple!” Torch hissed before getting a hold of himself, and speaking calmly. “No matter. Either way’ll result in death and he’ll know he coulda’ prevented it. We originally thought o’ killin’ ‘im, but why do that when pain an’ guilt can eat at ‘im from the inside for the rest o’ his life?”

“Disgusting vermin,” she muttered. It took a lot for the Soup Faerie to hate someone, but these two were getting close. She felt the burn of anger flood her and fought it. “He’ll do the right thing, and he will move on to live a fulfilled life. He survived the pound and starvation and your sad attempt to steal from someone weaker than you - he’ll survive anything you can do to him.” She hoped it was true. She hoped he would take her words to heart and not let his big heart get in the way of living his life to the fullest.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe he will choose the cauldron,” said Nightwing, now leaning against the back of the chair and examining his claws in a completely casual manner. “If he does… we tear you apart bit by bit starting with those delicate wings of yours,” he threatened, whirling around and holding his sharp talons in front of the Soup Faerie’s face for her to see.

“And the best part is… he’ll be watchin’ the whole thing while we do it,” Torch added with a sinister grin.

She frowned and shook her head. “How do you think you’ll manage that?”

They both thought for a moment.

“Shut up!” Nightwing snapped fiercely. “If he comes near you, we kill you right away!”

“Yeah!” Torch agreed, supporting his partner’s words. “It’ll work. An’ to pull this whole thing off, we had to get that flea-bitten mongrel’s attention off o’ you an’ on one o’ those brats. A minor expense.”

She tried to be relieved that the bumbling duo didn’t seem to have a good plan, but where ingenuity failed, often stupidity made up for the lack. Inconspicuously, her fingers searched the ropes she could reach, looking for knots she could loosen, anything to keep her busy so she wouldn’t panic in this predicament. “So, does your brilliant plan include telling him where we are, or did you not think through that part?”

“Yeah, I left ‘im a note,” said the draik.

“And when this is all done, if he ever does anything against us like what he did in that dump of yours, those rugrats are next,” the eyrie threatened once again.

‘You won’t be able to touch them.’ She knew it without a doubt. Whatever happened to her, Blaze would keep these two from ever hurting anyone again. “Well, at least you remembered the simple stuff,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. She had found one of the knots and was pulling on it slowly, distracting them with questions. If they left a note, Blaze would find it as soon as he got home. He wouldn’t have taken long to get back from taking Zeek to school. “How long was I out? I’m getting hungry,” she lied.

“Who says we’re gonna feed ya?” asked the draik, then he and his partner turned their attention to the door when a large red lupe came bursting in. He did not look happy. “Ah, here comes your knight in… um… fur - Never mind! He’s here!”

Blaze stalked closer, hackles raised like quills, ears pinned flat against the back of his head, eyes glittering with rage, and his lips curled back in a snarl.

The Soup Faerie’s heart jumped at the sight of him, her face lighting up. ’This is the second time you’ve come to my rescue,’ she thought. ’What happened to my independence?’ But Blaze certainly looked magnificent, bristling with anger, ready to kick butt and take names. “I was beginning to wonder where my champion was,” she drawled.

Blaze dropped his vicious snarl to smile coolly at the Soup Faerie. “You actually think I’d let anything happen to you?”

Despite the dire circumstances, the Soup Faerie felt a bubble of laughter well up, but forced it down, settling for a grin in return. “Oh, I dunno, without me in the way, you’d get the soup cauldron. Apparently it’s a prized commodity now,” she said, keeping a perfectly straight face as she looked at the Darigan culprits.

“Pretty much, bone bag,” the eyrie smirked, stepping away from the Soup Faerie and taking his previous position back to the soup cauldron. “Time for you to make your decision. Cauldron or the Soup Faerie?”

Torch nodded. “Choose the faerie, thousands o’ pets starve to death. Pick the cauldron, we slaughter the faerie in front o’ ya.”

Blaze’s brows rose, the words of the Darigan pets only made him even more furious. They may be bumbling idiots, but they were dangerous. He had the injuries to prove it. “What happens to the cauldron if I pick her?” he asked curiously.

The duo contemplated on the matter. Nightwing was the first to speak, “We… smash it”

“With… a sledgehammer… until it is useless!” Torch added on, trying to sound menacing, but failed miserably.

The Soup Faerie wondered what these two did with their time when they weren’t stealing faeries and magical soup cauldrons. Thugs for hire? A slapstick comedy duo? She went still as she felt the knot she had been working on start to slip. Her lower lip tucked between her teeth while she concentrated, leaving Blaze to distract the other two.

Blaze looked at the two, shaking his head slightly at their answer. His eyes shifted from the cauldron to the Soup Faerie.

“Don’t even bother thinking about it,” the Soup Faerie told him, trying not to sound like she was more focused on getting herself loose. “Are you really going to let these ignoramuses bully you? I don’t think they have it in them to pull off anything they say.”

“Hey, shut up over there!” Torch barked, he nor his comrade taking their attention from Blaze as they waited anxiously for a reply. The draik’s big mouth only received an enraged snarl from the red lupe.

“You can give us your answer anytime soon, mutt,” said Nightwing.

-

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