looked from one to the other of the children.
‘The fairy children have found Lyssa? They have found the wondrous fish?’
‘Yes, the child, Laura communicated with her. She needs our help to return to us!’
‘The fairy children have found Lyssa!’ Willow whispered to her Whispers who bobbed up and down in the water in excitement.
‘The fates of the fish Lyssa and Theodora the Lion-queen are entwined,’ Willow told the fairies. ‘To free Lyssa, you must also free the Lion-queen. If one is imprisoned, the other will surely receive the same fate; this has already happened. If one dies, the other will follow. Lyssa cannot live without Theodora and Theodora cannot live without Lyssa. Lyssa is the dreamer of peace; Theodora is the one who manifests the peace!’
‘So … so we need to return Lyssa, right?’ asked Ella.
‘Before we can return Lyssa, we need to bring Theodora back to Marissima,’ Willow explained. ‘We cannot create a spell to return Lyssa unless the Lion-queen has been freed.’
‘There is no choice; the children must go to the Realm of Olombo,’ Oberon said.
‘Olombo? But …’ the children looked at each other in dismay. ‘Oberon is right, we don’t really have a choice,’ Ella sighed. ‘If we don’t try, Lyssa is doomed to die in the Land of Mortals and Theodora is doomed to die in the Realm of Olombo. That way, Marissima will always be ruled by the Lizard-men!’
‘You are right of course,’ Oberon agreed.
‘But we don’t know how to get to Olombo,’ Dominique began.
‘Yes, and how are we going to free Theodora if we do get to Olombo?’ said Zara. ‘We don’t have magic to dissolve a force-field!’
‘And …’ began Laura. Mab lifted up a hand to stop them all speaking at once.
‘So many questions,’ she smiled. ‘Of course you cannot go to the Realm of Olombo without a plan.’
‘Indeed,’ Willow agreed. ‘You must be well prepared.’
Oberon motioned for them all to sit on the banks of the river. ‘First of all, the children must be shown how to get to Olombo.’
‘You must make haste and go to Marissima,’ Willow urged them. ‘We will meet you in the musical waters surrounding the underwater grotto.’
‘What about Silurion?’ asked Ella. ‘Won’t he try to stop us?’
‘It should be safe for you all to travel to the grotto as Silurion does not expect any visitors to Marissima. We go back and forwards to the castle at will,’ Willow said. ‘He knows it is impossible to penetrate our force-field around the castle and he is too lazy to check the waters! When you get to the grotto I will help you formulate a plan and find the best way to get over safely to Olombo.’
‘But what do we do when we get to Olombo?’ Dominique wanted to know. ‘How do we get past the force-field?’
‘Ah,’ Mab said. ‘You cannot get past the force-field, but you can convince the Crocodile-men to release it!’
‘Oh, sure, just like that!’ Tristan said.
‘Of course,’ Zara breathed. ‘We are to use our gifts. You mean that I can get Dentron to release the force-field with the power of my mind, don’t you?’ she asked Mab.
‘Exactly!’
‘Very dangerous though isn’t it?’ said Laura. She didn’t really like the idea of facing those Crocodile-men again.
‘Yes, but don’t forget the wisdom in The Fairy Chronicles,’ said Oberon.
‘Of course! We must remain positive and focus on the outcome we desire!’ Ella said quickly.
‘It is the only way,’ smiled Mab. You must delay no longer’. She was eager to have the dreaming fish returned to the River of Forgetfulness. It was then decided that the children would leave this very day for Marissima. Mab and Oberon would accompany them to the cross-over point behind the waterfall at the mouth of the River of Forgetfulness.
‘Once you enter the Realm of Marissima you will lose the ability to fly,’ Mab reminded them, but you will be able to breathe under water.’
‘What about on Olombo?’ asked Dominique.
‘Your wings will sprout again on Olombo,’ Mab told them. ‘It is only on Marissima that you will lose your ability to fly and gain the ability to breathe underwater.’
‘Once you enter the waters of Marissima, call Lido and his sea-horses to take you to the castle,’ Willow told Laura, handing her the familiar water whistle she had used last time they had visited Marissima.
‘Thanks,’ Laura said, pocketing the precious whistle.
Then with a flick of her hair, Willow disappeared under the water, taking her Whispers with her.
Chapter 4
The great marble statue of Willow loomed overhead as Mab, Oberon and the fairy children made their way behind the waterfall at the mouth of the River of Forgetfulness. As Mab and Oberon held hands and chanted, one by one, the children slowly disappeared. They reappeared on the sandy shore in the Realm of Marissima and their wings began to dissolve.
The ageless statue of Theodora sat watching them as they quickly made their way into the shimmering blue, green sea, knowing that they would easily be able to breathe under the water. Laura quickly retrieved the water whistle from her pocket. Within minutes, Lido and his sea-horses appeared to welcome them.
‘Look, Lido has a family now!’ said Dominique, pointing to the tiny sea-horses following Lido and his mate. Quickly they mounted the sea-horses and sped on their way to the musical waters. The children kept glancing over their shoulders, half expecting Silurion and his Lizard-men to jump out at them. Seeing their concern, Lido communicated to Laura that the Lizard-men rarely came into these waters, they preferred to swim in the waters near their caves.
Don’t worry, he told her, we are staying well away from that part of the sea!
Eventually, the beautiful melodic sound of the musical waters greeted them. Jumping off the sea-horses, the fairies swam lazily in the warm waters until the Whispers spied them and temporarily released the force-field surrounding the castle. Then they followed them down into the grotto. The children had forgotten how beautiful the castle was. Today, the sparking jewels encrusted on the stone walls seemed to shine even more brightly.
‘Lido and his sea-horses will take you through the kelp fields,’ Willow told the fairies later. ‘Hopefully, the Lizard-men will not even be aware that you are there! In the event that they are, remember that you have much power in your possession to disarm them.’
‘True,’ replied Ella. ‘However, we do not want the opportunity of using our magical gifts against them. I don’t know about anyone else,’ she said, ‘but I don’t have any desire to meet up with Silurion!’ The others quickly agreed with her, remembering their last visit to Marissima.
‘There
