Circles in the Stream (Avalon: Web of Magic #1) (10 page)

The ferret raced over to the girls.

“Ozzie, what is he doing here?” Emily asked, looking at the purple creature.

“I don’t know yet. He’s not talking.”

“An animal that
doesn’t
talk—what a concept,” Adriane remarked.

“Phel is not an animal,” Ozzie said. “Come and say hello.”

Emily and Adriane followed Ozzie over to Phel. The glade was still. A brightly colored bird darted over the water and zipped past. Emily blinked. It looked like a tiny dragon, with wings! It was gone before she could be sure. She looked around and felt surrounded by animals. They stood at the outskirts of the glade waiting—but for what?

“This is Emily and Adriane,” Ozzie said. “They’re girls, but they seem to have a talent for magic.” He sat back, pleased with himself.

“Hello,” Emily said shyly.

“Hi,” Adriane said.

Phelonius blinked, and Emily felt a wave of warmth and love pour over her.

“What kind of creature is he exactly?” she asked Ozzie.

“Phel’s a fairy creature, he’s
made
of magic.”

“How can that be?” Emily's rational mind wondered. “We can touch him! We can see him!” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to believe, anymore.”

“Prove it,” Adriane said to Phel. “Show us magic.”

The corners of Phel’s thin mouth turned up into a smile. Tiny pinpoints of light sparkled across his fur. Then as if by some silent signal, dozens of animals began to emerge from the forest. Emily rubbed her eyes. “I think I’m seeing things,” she whispered.

“Emily, that’s….that’s a…” Adriane stammered incredulously. “What is that?”

Before them stood a pony with resplendent wings of bright orange and yellow, like those of a butterfly. A dozen Jeeran stepped forward, followed by a host of other creatures. Some had wings, some had scales, one had the body of a cat and the head of a bird. Emily could not even begin to identify the others.

Then she caught her breath. A magnificent white owl with glowing turquoise eyes hobbled to a halt at her feet. Her heart, so full of wonder a moment ago, emptied with a dull ache. The owl’s wings glowed a sickly green—just like the burns on the cat.

“My wings can’t fly.”
Emily heard the words in her head as clearly as if they’d been spoken aloud.

“Emily!” Adriane was pointing to the animals.

Emily was taken aback by the tears that ran down Adriane’s cheeks. She looked more closely at the other animals. “Oh, no!” she gasped.

“Oh, my.” Even Ozzie seemed shocked.

The hind legs and back of one of the jeerans was a patchwork of raw abrasions, all colored with the faint green glow. It swayed slightly, as if just standing up was an effort. The winged pony’s flank was slashed by a lightning strike-shaped burn. Some of the animals couldn’t walk very well, and others were helping the wounded move along. The duck-like creature she’d met earlier was herding forward several others of its kind, all covered in the noxious glow.

Pain throbbed like a hot coals as Emily felt the animals’ misery—but she also sensed a spark of hope that flared in them upon seeing Phel. She gripped Adriane’s hand.

A jeeran, its leg crisscrossed with greenish burns, approached Phelonius. Emily held her breath as the purple giant reached out toward the jeeran. Immense but gentle paws touched the animal’s sides and legs. The jeeran shivered. Phel’s fur shimmered. The brighter he shone, the fainter the green glow became. Then Phel’s light faded and the horrible burns were gone!

“How did you do that?” Emily asked, astonished.

He removed his paws and released a cloud of rainbow sparkles that twinkled through the air. The jeeran bent a front leg in a bow to Phel, then danced away, its hooves kicking up dirt and grass.

Adriane turned to Emily, her face full of wonder as one by one the injured animals approached Phel. As he worked, more and more rainbow sparkles floated and danced over the glade. The air glittered. Rainbow puff flowers sprouted and blossomed. Emily’s pain washed away like that of the healed animals, leaving in its place an incredible sense of hope and dreams…and magic.

Adriane had found Stormbringer herding animals forward and she ran to her friend. “How can this be happening?”

“Magic finds a way, warrior.”

Emily looked down at the owl sitting near her. As gently as possible, she lifted it in her arms. Then she turned to Phel.

“I want to help,” she said.

E
MILY HELD THE
owl as Phel’s great paws stroked its wings. The jewel on her wrist pulsed with a bright blue light. She was concentrating so hard, she was barely aware of Adriane, Ozzie, Stormbringer, and the other animals watching. As the light from her stone mixed with Phel’s warm glow, she could
feel
the poison leaving the owl’s body; could
sense
its strength returning. Her heart leaped into flight. The owl opened its bright eyes and looked adoringly at Emily. She gently scratched its head and was thrilled to see a glimmer of turquoise and gold run through its feathers.

“There, is that better?” she asked.

“A mouse would be good.”

“That was amazing, Emily,” Adriane breathed.

Emily laughed as she brushed the soft feathers with her hand. Then she lowered the owl to the ground.

“Ariel likes you.” The duck-thing was standing there watching.

“Thank you…I think. Her named is Ariel?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?” Emily asked.

“Ronif,” it told her. “I’m a quiffle.”

Emily blinked. “My name is Emily. These are my friends, Adriane, Ozzie, and Stormbringer.” She pointed to each in turn.

The quiffle looked them over. “Mages!” He waddled away to tell the others.

“Come on, let’s help them.” Emily got up to carry one of the wounded quiffles to Phel. Adriane joined her.

The sun dropped low behind the trees, its golden rays cutting across the glade, but Emily hardly noticed, too busy holding and soothing the sick and wounded animals while Phel healed them. Adriane and Storm moved among the larger animals, helping them get to Phel.

At last no more animals came forward. Emily sat down, exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. She held the beautiful owl in her lap and gazed at the extraordinary collection of creatures gathered in the glade. They were all watching her. She sensed their joy at being healed, and yet they seemed nervous, darting glances into the woods and up toward the sky.

Adriane approached, half a dozen baby quiffles riding in her pockets, and three more in her arms. Adriane plopped three into Emily’s lap, then sat down carefully, so as not to disturb her passengers. Ariel let the tiny quiffles snuggle into her feathers; they cooed happily, and Emily laughed.

“Fantastic!” Ozzie said as he walked over.

“We didn’t really do anything,” Emily said. “Phel healed them all.”

“Don’t be so modest.”

“Did you see your stone glowing?” Adriane asked. “Like mine did, when I made those trees move.”

Emily checked her jewel. It wasn’t glowing now. “Maybe the stones react to magic,” she suggested.

“Very possible,” Ozzie said. “Phel’s flowers are seeding the whole place with magic, the stones could be absorbing it.”

“Yeah, maybe they store the magic—like batteries—and let us use it,” Adriane ventured.

“Could anyone use these, or…just us?” Emily wondered.

Adriane looked at Ozzie, eyes narrowed. “What else do you know that you haven’t told us?”

“Those burns.” Ozzie said looking over at the animals. “It’s the Black Fire.

I had no idea it was this bad. And they’re the ones that made it here. Who knows what’s happened to the others left behind.”

“No wonder they’re all scared,” Emily said. “Talk to them, Ozzie.”

“Who, me?”

“Tell them everything’s going to be all right,” Emily added.

“Come on, Ali—Ozzie,” Adriane said.

“Oh, all right.” Ozzie got up and walked over to the animals. “Hello, I’m Ozymandius, er, Ozzie.” The animals all perked up, eyes wide-open, ears pricked forward. The ferret steeled himself and faced the crowd. “I’m an elf.”

“You don’t look like an elf,” Ronif the quiffle remarked.

“That’s right, genius! I know I don’t
look
like an elf!”

“Go on, Ozzie, you’re doing great,” Emily said encouragingly.

“I’m from Aldenmor, like you. I grew up in the village of Farthingdale, near the Moorgroves.”

Sounds of recognition were heard from the animals.

“It’s a secluded Elven place. Too secluded for me—I wanted to explore the world. If I had known any better I would’ve stayed home!” He surveyed the expectant faces and continued. “One day, I wandered out among the Moorgroves and got lost in the dark forests. Phel found me and brought me to the Fairy Glen, and I actually
met
Fairimentals!”

Murmurs of wonderment surged through the crowd.

Encouraged, Ozzie grew more animated, waving his paws and shuffling back and forth. “They knew I was coming, don’t ask me how—who knows the ways of fairies? They told me Aldenmor was in great danger, that soon there would be no place safe.”

An animal bugled agreement; Emily thought it was one of the jeerans.

“The Fairimentals are searching for an enchanted place, the source of all magic. They said they needed ‘humans’ to help. I was to find three mages. A healer—” He paused and looked directly at Emily. “A warrior—” He looked at Adriane. “And a blazing star.”

Eyes wide, Emily glanced at Adriane. “Blazing star?” she whispered, perplexed. Adriane shrugged.

Ozzie continued. “I didn’t have the faintest idea what they meant, but it’s not every day a Fairimental asks for your help. So I followed their directions and somehow ended up getting tossed through some portal and into this world—stuck in the body of a ferret! I don’t really know much else. It’s kind of fuzzy,” he said apologetically. “My giant-sized brain’s been compressed to the size of a peanut!”

Ronif stepped forward. “The Fairimentals were right. The Black Fire is destroying our world, poisoning us. If we hadn’t found our way here, and if you and the great fairy creature hadn’t helped us, we would have died.”

“What is Black Fire?” Emily asked.

Ronif turned to her. “It rains from the sky and seeps through the ground, burning all that it touches.”

Emily turned to Adriane. “My mom was right,” she said. “It’s some kind of toxin, or radiation, maybe.”

“Now we are refugees here in this strange land,” a winged pony said.

“Some of us have left families behind.” The speaker was one of the quiffles. The others voiced their agreement. The baby quiffles buried their heads in Emily’s arms and started to cry.

Another winged horse stepped forward. “We pegasi know of legends.” It looked directly at the two girls. “Old legends say that once, long ago, animals and humans worked together to make magic.”

Emily looked down at her stone.
Mage…healer…magic…
The words ran round and round in her head.

Ozzie spoke up again. “If the legends say that animals and humans once worked together, then that’s what we are going to do again.” He pointed to Emily and Adriane. “The important thing now is that you have friends here. Somehow, we’ll figure it all out together.”