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Darko really was a beast. His scales wrapped up around his back and shoulders now and his horns were truly a magnificent crown about his head. The longest was a good foot of razor sharpness. His claws were sharp and his teeth were razor sharp. He was not spared the pain of it through sleep, but he was well distracted by his new mate while he changed.
They trained hard. Both pushed the other to greater speeds and strength. More and more of their fellow fairies were completing their final stages. They had something even more important though, hope. There was a very good chance they could win. Even as the goblins were at their doorstep, they banged the drums of war with heart and courage.
The goblins would turn their lands into a boggy wasteland that only few would be able to survive in. they had to push them back into their territory or many of the land’s animals and insects would suffer along with them. They had to restore the balance of the wilds. The goblins had no desire for anything but dominion over the forest creatures. The fairies had to win.
They were ready for the fight. All of the fighters were armed and ready for days before the goblins struck. Their talons were sharpened and their swords oiled. The workers were ready for defence. The spikes were set around the perimeter, bars on the windows, and the medical supports in place for when the fighting began. They waited with anticipation for the loud army on the horizon to reach them.
The shouts came over the hill as they marched in rows with their long spears and jagged edged swords. They banged their shields and shouted in an effort to intimidate their enemies. The fairies held fast in their trees, watching for the moment to strike. Bows were nocked with arrows and fingers set at the ready. Darko and Meru stood at the highest perch of the canopy in their armour, observing the coming war.
“Where are their archers?” Meru breathed, scanning the foot troops with concern. Darko tapped his arm and pointed to the far right. They were coming up the side, quietly, in an attempt to get close to the canopy. It was a distraction. Darko waved his hand and a bee fairy blew a great horn to sound the alarm and send their warriors to the skies.
A loud cry came from the fairies as they jumped from the perches and soared into the skies in great swarms. The goblins hissed in anger as they watched their prey move out of their reach. The swarms moved in sync, coming around and dive bombing the troupes on the ground. The archers began targeting their closest soldiers, and the goblins began to fall.
Darko nodded to Meru and they both took to the skies, the Royal Elites following them as they began directing the swarms and signalling to the archers. The goblins were being beaten back from the canopy’s edge, their numbers falling faster than leaves in the height of fall. Darko roared from above and some of the weaker ones fled the field in terror.
Meru saw a swarm leader fall and swooped in to take command. He directed them to take out a group of goblins with a giant saw, about to try and take down one of the perimeter trees to the canopy. He dove with them and tore through the enemies with claws and sword. He bared his teeth and screamed a war cry that had the rest of them running.
He barely heard the creak of wood and clank of chains over the noise of the battle. His eyes flew around to pinpoint the source. What he saw had his blood run cold. It was a giant contraption made of ropes and wood reinforced by metal straps. A boulder sat on a stand with a weight on the other end, and they cranked it back slowly to pull the counter weight up.
No one else had noticed it up in the skies, including the fairies that it was directed at: Darko and the Elites. They were too busy working on the armies below the trees to spot the danger. Meru tried to call out, but no one could hear him over the great racket. The boulder was doused in oil and lit, time was running out, so Meru took off into the skies to warn them.
The contraption was released and the boulder took off into the air towards his king. Meru flew faster, pushing himself as hard as he could to outrun the flying projectile. There was no time. He had to get Darko out of the path of the thing. He aimed for his mate’s back and shoved as hard as he could, knowing that Darko could recover from the blow.
He was pushed back a little and turned just in time to see the boulder coming straight for him. Then it hit. The crack reverberated through his body and he was knocked unconscious to fall from the sky. One wing was bent at an awkward angle and he tumbled without reason through the air towards the ground. Darko took off towards them, on the chase of his life.
He carefully gathered his mate to his chest in freefall and then soared into the skies again with his broken mate. He swooped to one of the medical stations and after giving him into the care of a nurse, he took off into the air to end things. His roar of rage instilled fear into the fiercest of their warriors. They had pissed him off and now he was on a mission.
He felt the fury bubble up within him and he swooped down with a swarm of fairy warriors, only to have them hang back as he breathed fire over the goblins in a great sheet of natural napalm disintegrating them where they stood. The others beat back the front line goblins as they tried to climb the trees in terror. He stood on the spikes at the front lines and roared again.
The goblins’ spirits were broken. They had lost hope of winning against the fierce fairy armies and their dragon king. In a mass of panic, they turned tail and ran. Some left their weapons behind with their courage and just took off empty handed back towards the bogs. As the last of them fled over the hills in fear, a cheer went up among the fairy canopy.
They had won. They were not yet ready to assess at what cost, merely celebrating the fact that they didn’t have to fight any longer that day. It was only when the goblins were confirmed as headed back to the bogs that the sorrow of what was left began to set in. Mates went in search of one another and the cries of those who had lost their other half rose on the breeze.
Darko flew with a heart full of fear to the medical station where Meru lay. The fairies there made way for him as soon as he arrived, pointing him in the right direction to where his mate lay. Meru’s face was grey from his injuries, his eyes still shut and his wing now set and bound into position. His feathers were charred from the flames and his skin marred with blood and burns.
Darko sat heavily beside him, then lay his head on his chest to hear his heart beat. It was there, reassuringly steady in a moment fraught with unease. Darko whispered encouragement to his mate. The others looked on in sorrow at their desperate king. His father came up hesitantly and put a hand on his shoulder, consoling his son as he waited to see if Meru would live or die.
“That was a brave thing he did. I will always be grateful to him for saving my son.” He watched his son’s sad eyes raise to his in gratitude for finally accepting his mate.
“We need you to lead the healing songs, my liege. Perhaps your mate may be healed by them as well?” The old advisor reminded him from a few feet away. It was astonishing how that man was able to track him down so easily. He nodded and rose to his feet, collecting his broken mate in his arms carefully. He made his way to the door and directed everyone to bring the wounded to the canopy centre.
The whole fairy canopy was filled with the buzzing and flapping of wings as they gathered around the sacred spring at the heart of the canopy. Fairies carried their wounded and dead to fill the place. Silence overtook everyone as they waited for the moment. Darko closed his eyes and lifted his face to the canopy. He waited, feeling the energy of the forest begin to thrum in time to his heart.
The rest of them closed their eyes and lifted their faces to the canopy. Even the injured who were conscious and the children followed their king’s actions. A hum rose. The ancient language spilled from their lips in a tidal of melody and power. The very grasses beneath their feet grew to the healing voices raised in song. Those whose injuries were not fatal were healed as the music flowed over them.
Those whose injuries were grave were sped along their healing, and those who stood on the brink of death had their pain taken from them. They passed quietly into the next realm with the songs of the ancients on their lips and in their hearts. As the song came to an end, the lament for the dead began. They honoured their fallen heroes of the battle and prepared to take them to the funeral pyres.
The splinters of spears and spikes from their defences were piled high. Then the family or mates of the deceased laid them to rest upon the wooden alters. Darko stepped forth and lit them ablaze with his fiery breath. The stench of burning feathers reminding them all what was lost and what could have been taken from them all.
Darko stepped back to his mate’s still body, listening to the heartbeat that still thrummed within his chest. Would he awaken? He should have been healed, but that did not mean he would be healed enough. His wounds had been grave and though the scars were now closing on many of the cuts and burns across his skin, his wings were still mending and his mind still lost.
“Please Meru. You were supposed to be my new purpose when the war was over… what shall I do if you do not come back to me?” He murmured to his sleeping mate. He bent forward and kissed the bird’s forehead, desperately trying not to cry in front of his people. He did not succeed. A single tear traced his cheek and dropped onto his lover.
Meru flinched slightly from the sensation. His eyelids fluttered as he searched for the source of the liquid that had fallen to his cheek. His eyes opened to see Darko, his childhood friend and mate, hovering over him with so sorrowful a look it made him want to cry too. He tried to reach up, but pain engulfed his body as his senses came to. He groaned and then whispered.
“Darko, my love, why do you weep?” Their eyes connected over his broken body and Darko sobbed in relief.
“I feared you were lost, Meru. That I would not be able to lead you home.” He replied. He stroked his mate’s fevered brow and managed a smile.
“I am here, Darko. Never fear. You could not get rid of me that easily.” He retorted, grasping the hand that was placed into his for strength. It would be a long road to recovery, but he had his king and love by his side.
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