233 Chapter 233 The Power of Cookies

The moment he saw her, he started struggling fiercely and the vines tightened even more, making him almost pass out and stop his movements.

Small black fairies peeked out from around him, where they were hiding among the vines, to see who he had reacted to. These must be the ninja fairies that caught him.

"Who are you?" asked one of them, quickly pulling out a handful of thin needle darts.

"No!" called the fairy that had led her here. "She's the Releaser! She's the one who freed great-great-great-"

"Okay, okay," grumbled the ninja, slipping the darts back up it's sleeve. "No trouble!"

"I only came to retrieve your prisoner," said Aella carefully. "I need to ask him questions."

"He's ours!" cried another fairy ninja, flying towards her angrily, before darting back into the mess of vines.

"He was caught capturing my people," said a soft feminine voice off to her left.

Aella turned to see a woman, almost as large as a human, floating several inches above the ground. Huge wings protruded from her back, fluttering and throwing dazzling lights and colors all around her.

"Who are you?" asked Aella, keeping one eye on the ninja fairies and Jozef.

"I am the fairy you freed," laughed the woman with a tinkling sound that raised bumps on Aella's arms. "These little ones call me Queen or several greats-grandmother."

"How are you so big?" asked Aella, amazed.

"Are they edible?" asked Precious, staring at some of the fairies and kneading the leather on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't try it, little predator," laughed the fairy queen, "They can fly faster than you think."

Precious sniffed in annoyance that she caught him, and started preening to hide his annoyance.

"All of the magic that was released when the palace exploded gave me a tremendous boost in power," said the fairy queen, turning to Aella. "I had to use it to make a lot of other fairies, to keep from exploding, and even then, I had too much. So, I began to grow. It normally takes us thousands of years to get this big."

"What do you intend to do with him?" asked Aella, nodding towards Jozef. "He's a wanted criminal that needs to answer some questions of mine."

"What is he a criminal of?" asked the queen curiously.

"He has been charged with making evil altars with the intent of sacrificing people and using their life force to bring back the dead," said Aella.

"Wait, what?" asked Aella, glancing back at Jozef and the vines. "Is that what the ninjas are doing?!"

"Oh! No," laughed the queen. "My fairies won't eat him. He would upset their stomachs. Only the finest sweet nectars for them! The mycelium will eat him. His corpse will nourish the forest for several weeks."

"Oh," said Aella carefully. Turning to Jozef, she stepped closer to him, and the vines loosened enough for him to get a good breath.

"Tell me about the altars," she demanded.

"Brother," gasped Jozef, shaking his head. All of the blood had drained down, and he was having trouble talking.

"Could you release him?" asked Aella. "He needs to be upright, so he can think clearly enough to answer my questions."

The queen frowned, but waved her hand. The vines loosened until he slipped from their grasp, but the fairies that were clinging to him through the vines fell with him. It looked like they had small barbs hooked into his clothing to keep him still.

Jozef slowly sat up, wincing as his wings fell behind him, uselessly, and cradled his head in his hands.

"I need to know about your altars," said Aella again, hunching down in front of him.

"So, you can leave me to die?" he spat, not looking up at her.

"You brought this on yourself. I will not step in and stop your punishment. You were going to kill their people, so now they are going to kill you."

"I won't tell you crap! I will take my secrets to my grave, and you and this whole realm will be doomed!"

Aella frowned, rocking back on her heels as she thought about his words. If he thought the realm would be doomed, then he must have already built another altar. How was it going to be powered, if he was dead? There must be others involved in this.

"I can't let you kill him, until I know everything," Aella said the queen. "I have to know how to stop whatever he has planned."

The queen frowned, clasping her hands before her carefully. She wasn't going to budge on her decision.

Aella sighed, thinking she could just grab him, but that would set a bad example for future dealings with the fairies. Then she remembered something from a long time ago. Standing up, she moved in front of the queen.

"What if I traded for him? I will guarantee he is never seen in this forest, ever again," said Aella.

The queen raised an eyebrow. "What could you possibly offer me for him? I won't have to feed the entire mushroom forest for two weeks off his body."

"I have a cookie from a god," said Aella, pulling out the cookie that Stella had given her so long ago. It was still soft and somewhat warm, as if it had just been pulled out of the oven not too long ago.

"I don't think," began the queen with a sneer, but then she stopped with a sniff. "Can I see that?"

Aella held the cookie up, gazing over the melted chocolate bits that dotted its surface and made a show of sniffing it slowly. "I don't know. It smells so good; I might just eat it myself."

All of the fairies in the clearing were eyeing the morsel in her hand, as if they were mesmerized. A few crumbs fell to the ground and there was a mad rush from all of the fairies to see who got there first. A huge fight broke out over who got what crumbs. Aella had to step back, out of the way, to keep from being knocked over.

"Alright! I'll let you have him if you will just give that to me!" cried the queen, reaching forward as she flitted her wings impatiently.

Aella held out the cookie, forcing the queen to fly over her fighting subjects. The moment her fingers came in contact with the cookie, Aella teleported to Jozef's side and grabbed him by the shoulder. As the ninjas went to attack her, she teleported the two of them away, leaving the barbs they had inserted into his skin to fall to the ground.

"Why did you bring him here?" asked Precious in annoyance, flying over to perch on a ledge.

"What are you going to do?" asked Jozef, eyeing the cave they were in. The faintest hint of light was trickling through a hole in the ceiling, but that didn't bother Aella. She could see just fine.

"I've learned quite a few things in my day," said Aella, moving away from him and circling him slowly. "I know just the places to cut someone, so they feel the most pain, without actually killing them."

"So, you're going to torture me? I thought that was Firion's thing, not yours," he spat.

"You're right. Maybe I should get him," she said, thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter!" he shouted at her.

Aella smiled as he realized the space they were in was much larger than he had thought. His voice didn't bounce back like it would in a small room.

"Where are we?" he asked, much more quietly.

"The last place you will ever see alive," said Aella.

"I won't tell you about the altars," he said after a moment. "It doesn't matter anyway. The end of your reign has already begun. All of the time you waste on me only gives my brother more time to bring his army through the rift."

Aella froze, then realized what he was saying had to be false. If there was a rift, the realm would have notified her immediately, like it had before… or would it? The world tree had said the realm was really busy trying to keep the barrier around the realm intact while the podling gargoyles grew. Was it too busy to notice a rift between the two realms of living and death?