C16 Chapter 16

The tree palace

Erogat was in his library, as he usually was. But different from all the other times, he was not hovering in front of his reading desk, but instead he was soaring in front of the image wall.

“Hello Erogat. We found the first piece”, Dana greeted her teacher. Only when she’d almost reached him, she saw what he was working on.

“You’re already putting the map together? Do you have enough information for that?”

“Technically, no…there’s not enough data.”

Erogat turned to the three.

“And what are you bringing with you? Ah, the headband of calm.”

He watched it full of respect and devotion.

“Nobody has seen this piece for thousands of years.”

Dana looked at him in horror.

“The headband of calm? The last one who was wearing it destroyed his entire surroundings. Sh…that looked creepy.” Dana quickly told him in a few words what had happened at the trolls’ place.

“It’s obvious what happened there. The headband is especially made for our friend. Only when he’s wearing it does the headband exude its true effect. With other – well, you saw it for yourself…Let’s keep working.”

Erogat turned back to the image wall.

“Come closer, all of you. What do you see?”

They gathered around and watched the lines and octagons they’d collected so far.

“When you try completing the lines, the whole area must be enormous.”

Gomek was almost sure and stepped closer to the wall.

“We have a polygon right here that was erected around a nucleus.”

He pointed to an incomplete part of the map.

“What makes you think that?”

Erogat shot him a surprised glance. Wordlessly, Gomek walked over to the desk that was overflowing with documents, and started scrumming around until he’d find an empty piece of paper. He used it to draw the picture on it. Afterwards, he elongated the lines that, as he assumed, lead to one central point.

“We don’t have much yet, but I think it could look like this!”, Gomek mumbled thoughtfully.

“Interesting.” Erogat nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ll see if you’re right about this. Surely, we’ll find more parts of the map. But now on to part two. Dana, do you have an idea of where you want to search next?”

Dana opened the map and searched for the way she hoped was the easiest to reach the second part of the armor. Sadly, it didn’t mention what they would find at the destination.

“Why there?”

Erogat looked at her curiously.

“This path seems relatively easy and we don’t need to go through the underworld. Shari almost had a meltdown last time we did. I want to search for a way above the ground this time. Plus, the path leads through Rudi’s area.”

She laughed at that.

“One day of rest can’t hurt at any rate.”

Then she placed the first part of the armor down on the desk and said goodbye. They wanted to go back to Rudi as soon as they could … but it was more likely they’d see the beautiful valley. A whole day of relaxation was just what they needed right now.

A short time later, they reached their passions’ place and they day off could start.

The next day, Rudi was looking for Dana. He wanted to tell her that she and her partners could now pass over the barrier to the lava fields whenever they pleased, back and forth, without having to “knock”. But he only found Gomek who was sitting sleepily in front of the house.

“Do you know where I can find Dana?”, he wanted to know from him.

“Sure. In her favorite spot. On the meadow, near the woods, under the old oak tree.”

“And what is she doing there?”, Rudi wondered.

“Dreaming...!” Gomek laughed. “She does that a lot.”

Since he now knew where she was, the dragon went on his merry way. Once he’d touched down on the meadow, he first saw a large gathering of forest animals. Foxes, rabbits, birds, and deer were all surrounding the tree Dana was leaning against. The image appeared strangely familiar to Rudi. It looked like Dana was announcing something. Only that Dana wasn’t that kind of person. She was attentively listening to the stories the animals were telling her.

Rudi slowly approached the small gathering. They all knew him, but he still didn’t want to startle them.

“Hello Dana, are you holding court?” Rudi laughed at his words.

Dana jerked in surprise. She hadn’t realized the Dragon was approaching without barely making a sound.

“Of course not. I listen to the stories they’re telling me. There’s some interesting stuff in there about you, too.”

“Hopefully only good stuff”, Rudi chuckled.

“I only came to tell you that you can now easily cross the volcano fields. I have made it penetrable for you. Now you can cross the barrier at any given time … Have fun with your search.”

Dana thanked him. “Wonderful. Then we can get going early tomorrow.”

She said her goodbyes to the animals and wandered back to the others with Rudi. During their walk, she told him about the newest gossip she’d learned.

The next day, they departed very early. After marching for hours, they reached the rock wall that had been created by Rudi. Without any problems, they passed through the now penetrable barrier. On the other side, they quickly got on their way to the lava lake. Once there, Dana tried to orientate herself with the help of the map. It was intensely difficult, because the plan only showed this part of the cave system before the catastrophe.

“Rudi should work on this map again!”, Dana complained.

“It shouldn’t be any problem for a magical map to take on the changes.”

Since the map wasn’t much help here, she created another Seeker, whom they followed then. It was incredibly hard since the small ball aimed directly for their destination. The trio, though, unfortunately had to search a way that was accessible for them. That way, they needed a few days longer than Dana had planned. At some point, the Seeker halted in front of a giant lava fall. From a safe distance away, the small group observed the action. The curtain of lava was several meters wide and at least fifty meters high. If there had ever been an entrance here, it wasn’t accessible by normal means anymore.

“Can’t you try a freezing spell or something like that?” Gomek questioningly glanced at Dana.

“No, it’s way too much lava. Let’s go back. Maybe Rudi knows what to do.”

The way back was much quicker. They found the dragon in front of Rufus’ house. The two were deeply in conversation, as they often were. Once Dana had politely interrupted them and informed them of their problem, she now expected their assistance with the matter.

Rudi chuckled. “You still need to learn how to correctly handle this map. Ask her the right questions and she can show you anything.”

Rudi took the map from her hand.

“Show me a safe way to get here.” With these words, Rudi tapped his claws on the part of the map Dana had originally wanted to go to, but which had been blocked by lava. Right away, another path materialized. Dana had watched in fascination.

“So, that’s our new path? Oh, Shari won’t like that at all.”

The new way lead them through the underworld again. Shari was mad. She didn’t want to go down there again.

“Too bad, I’m very sorry, young miss. Only you are able to cast the transformation spell we need to pass the goblins.”

Together with the now deeply frustrated pixie, they departed again. The path was familiar now. When they entered the pyramid, Tegla greeted them in a friendly manner.

“First I don’t get visitors in forever and now you’re coming by for a second time already!”, the spider enthused.

“Did something happen in the meantime?” Dana only wanted to know if the goblins were courageous enough to access the pyramid now.

“A few have tried to get in. But I could shoo them away.”

With these words, the spider cleaned her jaws.

“Then keep watching out!”, Dana replied without acknowledging the statement further. “We’ve got to get going…have a nice day.”

Then they entered the tunnel system. As was normal procedure now, Dana sent an image of every new room they found to Erogat. This time, they needed several more days for the way. The whole time, Shari was quietly sitting on either Dana’s or Gomek’s shoulder.

Shari was depressed which she made clear by only shining slightly. But this path had, just like the other one, an end at some point, and finally lead them to their destination. After they’d entered another room, Gomek started cheering:

“We’re here! Look, look … the sign!”

He was standing in front of a gate and pointed up. The sign read in weather-worn letter:

“To the kingdom of fairies and leprechauns”

“Finally…”, Dana mumbled.

“But first, the map for Erogat…”

She positioned herself at the table and transmitted that map as well.

“That’s it…Now let’s search for a passageway.”

Dana suspiciously observed the gate. There was a flight of stairs leading upwards. Only this one didn’t seem all that trustworthy. Several pieces of rocks had been broken off from the steps, some were missing entirely.

“We should be very mindful here!”, she warned Gomek and then slowly started ascending the stairs.

Without any problems, they reached the end of the stairs. This was closed with a flagstone as well, like the others had been. Dana opened it carefully. She did watch out for Shari though, who was trying to flit past her.

“Don’t you dare, missy. Don’t bump your head again.”

Dana held her tightly in her hand and climbed through the opening into the room that was located behind it.

“Incredible…it’s so clean here! ”

Gomek appeared behind her and looked around the altar room.

“They must have had real Mr. Cleans working in here. Rufus should call them to take care of his hut!”, he loudly thought.

All of them laughed at that. Dana had let go of Shari by now, who immediately buzzed off to get outside to freedom.

“Mr. Cleans or not. We should be careful to see if they have guards here, too.”

Dana didn’t say that without reason, because after all, Tegla had mentioned something like that, hinting at the fact that all pyramids were guarded. They slowly moved towards the exit. Nothing happened, no guard appeared. When they stepped outside, they lost the ability to speak for a second. They’d never seen anything as beautiful before.

If Rudi’s home was paradise, this must have been heaven. All around them, things were growing and blossoming. A true flood of color swept over the landscape: Trees, bushes and grass in absolute perfection. It was a dream. Dana and Gomek had to sit down. Wherever one looked, there was hectic buzzing everywhere.

“Life is blooming here!”, Dana murmured respectfully.

The trill of birds sounded from all around and the animals here seemed to live together in harmony. Most of all they were curious about the small creatures that buzzed around in flocks and took care of nature.

What kind of creatures were they? Dana tried making out their kind. She couldn’t place them right away, but when some of them came closer, she finally recognized them. They belonged to the kin of nature fairies. They were noticeably smaller than Shari but still looked incredibly like her. Shari had immediately made friends with them and returned to the others with a flock of them in tow. Quickly, a throng of fairies formed around Dana and Gomek. The little creatures were in awe, touched them, and, as far as the three would have it, they even examined them. After all, they’d never seen anything like the three creatures in the fairies’ land.

Dana tried to make herself heard and gather some information from the small creatures. It didn’t work. Everyone talked all at once, until Shari butted in and asked them to calm down. She seemed to be respected by the other fairies.

“I have already gathered a lot of information.”

Shari was proud that once again she knew more than Dana.

“We are in the land of elves, fairies, and … leprechauns.”

“Why are you saying that in such a strange way?”, Dana seemed irritated.

“The queen will explain that to you. She’s already awaiting us. Nothing gets past her. She knows about everything and everyone in her kingdom. She even expected our arrival. Let’s go to the palace. We have an audience with Queen Aurora.”

After half a day of marching through the land, they laid eyes on a lake of gigantic proportions, which was home to a sort of small island in its middle. On the island, Dana could make out an impressive tree that was sitting enthroned atop a hill. A short time later, they were standing on the lake’s shore. Dana observed the impressive structure of the tree.

“That thing must be ancient…look at that size!”, she hissed at Gomek.

Even from the shore, the tree with its magnificent tree crown seemed majestic.

“The palace is over there! As well as the hometown of the elves and pixies. We’re almost there.” Shari pointed at the tree.

“How are we supposed to get in there? We’re way too large.” Dana seemed quizzical.

“Hang tight, she’ll explain it to you. It’s really simple in reality.” With those words, Shari disappeared. She wanted to get over to her new friends.

“I guess I’ll have to use the ice spell to get to the island.”

Dana started moving, but right away a few of the fairies made it very clear to her not to mess with “their nature”. One of the elves explained:

“No magic, not your magic…just close your eyes and you will arrive at your destination.”

After that lecture, she sheepishly looked at Gomek.

“Well then, let’s do it.”

Both of them closed their eyes. A cool gust of wind swooped around them. After they’d opened their eyes again, they were standing in the throne room – in the middle of the tree.

The throne room looked nothing short of majestic. Dana’s first thought went to her own king, the king of the dwarfs, and that he, too, would like this place. The hall wasn’t pretentious. But it was still beautiful with its array of columns and curtains, plants and airy roots. In the middle of the magic, a staircase lead up to the throne. Dana and Gomek fascinatedly studied the stairs. From above, a vision soared down that didn’t seem to be from this world: so beautiful and fragile, simply perfect, and most of all the shining aura around the creature rounded off the image.

Neither of them was able to say anything, let alone move. They watched her as if they were hypnotized. The creature stopped inches in front of them, introducing herself in a warm, mellifluous voice.

“I am Aurora, Queen of the Elves and Fairies. I already know you and I have been expecting you.”

She soared over to Gomek and softly stroked his hair.

“You are Gomek, the dwarf, who is different than the rest of his kind … you will impress everyone.”

Then she turned to Dana.

“Dana from the Olden People, forcefully wrenched from your time and stranded here. You are searching for solutions how to help your people and the dwarfs. Your future is hard to see. Follow your goals without any doubt and you will not fail.”

Finally, she swept up the stairs again and sat down on the throne.

“Come closer and tell me about your adventures.”

Dana and Gomek mindfully ascended the steps to the top. Once there, several of the royal household elves and pixies appeared. They carried over two chairs and a table. In addition, they served drinks and food.

“You surely are hungry! Dig in…”, Aurora pointed at the laden table, “afterwards, we can continue our conversation.”

They dug in, eating plenty, but without forgetting the royal etiquette. After all they both knew how to behave. Between bites, Dana had to squeeze in some questions.

“How did we get into the palace? What happened to our size, and what does it mean that you have been “waiting for us”?

Queen Aurora smiled.

“Us fairies know how to do magic as well, just like your friend Shari. It’s fairy magic, but it’s similar to yours. We have frozen you, shrunk you, and afterwards we brought you in here. And my saying that I have been waiting for you means…well, in ancient times, a magician came to see us. He brought me a pair of magical boots that we were supposed to keep safe for the Olden People. At some point in time, one of my ancestors had a vision while standing near the boots, and he saw you coming. We have been waiting for you ever since. It’s that simple.”

After dinner, Dana had to best her story. It took hours until she was finished.

“…and that’s why we’re here now, to bring back the boots with us.”

“There’s only one small problem. We don’t have them anymore.”

The Queen told them about their neighbors, the leprechauns. Always aggressive, with only fights and tricks on their minds. Wherever they went, they brought messiness and unrest with them.

“…during an audience with the King of the leprechauns, I realized that he became calm and relaxed when he was close to the boots. He became very polite and we could even have a regular conversation. That’s why I decided to change the boots into a throne for him. Ever since that day, we’ve been living in peace with the leprechauns.”

“How can we get them back, without having him turn back into his old pattern?” Dana wrinkled her forehead. “Would he maybe exchange his throne for a more expensive one? You know him better than we do.”

“Maybe. But what about that calming influence? How do you plan to transfer the magic?”

“I wouldn’t” Dana smiled at the Queen. “Gomek will create a rune with similar characteristics, which we will work into the new throne. New throne – same influence. All we need is a mountain crystal and a ruby for the rune. A simple letter of recommendation with a short explanation from your majesty would make everything a lot easier.”

Elves were send off right away to acquire a ruby and a mountain crystal. Elves and fairies did not own treasuries. Their treasure was nature, so they had to go out there and search for the things. After they’d gathered everything and had gotten the letter, they wanted to move on right away, if it hadn’t been for another bout of questions that Dana had to ask.

“We have time for that!”, the Queen laughed.

“What do you nature elves do, and why can I see you in here but not outside of your kingdom? Or do you not exist anymore in our world?”

“Well, we heal and protect nature; flora and fauna, everything that creeps and crawls. We ensure harmony and tidiness. Some of us are able to grow new plants and breed new kinds of animals. We help the nature as much as we can…That you can see us here is due to the fact that in here we don’t have to hide from other creatures.

If there are others of our kind outside of our kingdom is what you ask? I do believe there are. After all, we’re at home anywhere in this world. We have always supported your people in secret, quietly and unobtrusively, hiding in nature where we are protected.”

“Why can’t I see you, the fairies, outside of this cave?”

She looked from one to the other.

“It’s our magic … but do you want that more than anything? You too, Gomek?”

Both nodded. Next thing they knew, the Queen clapped her hands. One of the royal household disappeared only to return shortly thereafter with a frog in hand. With the animal clutched tightly, he positioned himself in front of them.

“Relax, it’s starting now.”

Then he tightly pressed the amphibian. She started spitting, protesting loudly in the form of a quak, and exuded a clear liquid that hit the two straight in the eyes. After they’d recovered from the first shock, the Queen spoke to them again.

“The secretion of this frog makes it possible for you to see us, even when we’re invisible.”

“And Shari? What about her?”, Dana promptly inquired.

“She just experienced the same procedure. She’s mighty angry because of it. Now hurry up and find her quickly before she does something silly out of spite.”

Dana and Gomek big their loving goodbyes to Aurora, closed their eyes, and a short time later found themselves back at the lake.

Shari was already waiting impatiently and complained to Dana. She started moaning right away, what she’d thought to allow something so nasty and ended her spiel by saying: “If you want to see the fairies, let yourself be spit at by a frog. I didn’t ask for this.”

Dana took the show of anger lightly. Afterwards she tapped the little fairies’ chest.

“Listen, young lady, if you want to play with your new friends even back home, you need to be able to see them.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier.” Shari’s mood improved immediately.

“Forget what I just said!”, she hastily mumbled an apology.

After they had solved the matter, they started on their way to the kingdom of the leprechauns. A few fairies accompanied them and showed them the right way. One could easily see where the kingdom of the fairies ended and the leprechauns’ kingdom began.

Behind a gate made of rock, they discovered another cave. This one was dark and not as colorful as that of the elves. One could see that the leprechauns didn’t have much to do with the nature around them. At the gate, they said goodbye to their last accompanying elves, before they skeptically stepped through the gate.

“Hopefully the little guys aren’t as dark and gloomy as their country.”

Dana had to laugh. They wandered through the leprechaun kingdom for hours without ever laying eyes on a single one of them. Here and there one could see animals, but never the small creatures. Dana at least had a description of the route to find the leprechauns’ village. Once there, they burst straight into a large festival. It was the King’s birthday. That made Dana think of something. She wanted to hand over the new throne as a birthday present, and by that acquire the boots. There wasn’t much in the letter from Aurora, only that the boots didn’t belong to the fairies at any point.

She went on her way to find the leprechauns’ king and his throne. It took a while to ask around. Some of the leprechauns gave her snooty answers, others ignored her completely, and others again – surprise, surprise – were actually polite and pointed her in the right way. None of the small guys seemed to be scared of them. Luckily, the King resided in a cave that was large enough for our friends. At the entrance, they halted and handed over the letter, waiting for someone to read it out loud for the King. That took a long time. Finally, after a long while, the King was gracious enough to greet them. He introduced himself as King Willi Contrite the First, and then started barking:

“Hear, hear. So, you came to steal my throne.”

His throne – that were the two boots, standing closely together, only connected by some wood and tied together by some ribbon. As decoration, someone had pushed some antlers and twigs into the ropes. It looked strange, somehow. Dana had to bite down her commentary. Shari had left them alone once she’d laid eyes on the sight.

“Your majesty, we came to gift you with a new throne that is worthy of you.”

She had to pull herself together to not fall victim to a bout of hysterical laughter when she addressed him.

“And where is it? You’ve got it in your pocket? What’s it look like?”

After she’d gathered herself, she answered seriously: “One thing after the other. Do you have a craft room around here where I could put together your Majesty’s new chair?”

“Absolutely. Plus, if I like the new throne, you’re welcome to throw out the old one.”

He graciously waved his hand, which meant that he wanted to be left alone. Immediately, Dana and Gomek were lead through several tunnels towards a small but well-equipped craft room. There was everything in there to make a handyman’s heart beat faster. Once the personnel had left them alone and Gomek had closed the door, he started laughing heartily.

“Who gave you Cheerios this morning?” Dana shot him a quizzical look.

“Imagine you just call him Willi … will Willi be all contrite about that?”

He was just about to laugh his heart out at the thought of his well-thought pun.

“Keep yourself together! We’ve got things to do.” But Dana couldn’t completely bite down on her grin either.

“We’ve already completed step one. Now all you’ve got to do is create the rune and have the crystal grow into the correct shape.”

When they had calmed down again, they started getting to work right away. Dana had estimated the size of the King and was now growing the crystal into the desired shape. It turned out to be a magnificent throne. Plenty of motives – animals and flowers – gave him a majestic appearance. The tip of the backrest was decorated with an impressive crown. When they were done, she incorporated the ruby-rune into the crown.

“Done. I hope he likes it.”

She carefully picked up the throne and walked back to the throne room. King Willi Contrite was over the moon when he saw his new throne.

“That’s mine?” He looked at Dana in disbelief. “If that’s true, I’ll make you Honorary Leprechauns and you’ll be welcome here any time.”

“It is yours.”

He immediately had them take away his old throne. He handed the boots to Dana, who in turn put the new crystal throne in place of the old one. He promptly had to try out the newly-finished masterpiece.

“If you want to, you can partake in the festivities!”, he mumbled thoughtfully and carefully stroked his new royal chair.

“We would love to, your Majesty. It’s just that we have to bring these boots home.”

“There will be plenty of time for that. You’re even welcome to use the monolith. That is, if you can get it to work. I know who you are, naturally. It’s one of yours. My ancestor has told me about people like you creating it to use it for travel.”

Dana was so agitated, her mouth gape open. There was a giant monolith here? Even Shari was ecstatic about that. No more dark tunnels! That’s how you travelled in style!

“Where is it?”, Dana wanted to know immediately.

“All in good time. First, the festivities. Then the travelling.” It turned out to be a long night. The next day, it took them until noon to depart. King Willi Contrite made sure he personally accompanied his three new friends to the monolith, which was hidden in the depths of the King’s cave.

They bid their goodbyes with much ado from the tiny guy, activated the stone, and then travelled back to Erogat.