Disclaimer: All characters in this story belong to Marvel and are not used to make me a wooden nickel. By that very fact, you should not use them to make you wooden nickels as well - even if you REALLY need them for the gum-ball machine in Monkey Island 3. Drop me a line about this story and I promise that I will get back to you with songs of your praise. ‘Kay? Now that everyone has learned their moral lesson for the day . . . let's begin today's regular programming . . .
RogueStar
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The tiny fairy hung in the air of a musty cave, darting about like a firefly. It swooped beneath the dangling stalactites and dodged in and out of cracks. It poked its nose into gem-encrusted corners and danced in the shifting light on the floor.
"Who goes there?" An echoing voice came hollowly from the center of the cave.
The fairy started, eyes frightened, and almost dropped the golden ring it held. Out of the dark shadows, heavy footsteps crossed the floor, causing seismic tremors as they impacted.
"We are seeking the Phoenix." A woman replied, her hair ghostly white in the gloom.
"I am the Guardian. None come to her but through me."
"C'n come t'rough ya in two diff'rent ways - dependin' on whether ya want t'make it easy or hard."
The fairy darted closer, recoiling in disgust at the hideous monster in front of her. Its misshapen face was suspended on a bull-neck with ropy tendons standing out in harsh relief. In its forehead was embedded a single, bloodshot eye. The young man facing it was handsome, with a slightly cocky look on his face. His one hand was resting on a dagger at his belt.
"You challenge me?"
"No." The white-haired woman intervened, "We simply wish to speak with Phoenix."
"For what reason?"
"We need her help."
"More people coming for selfish reasons to bother her." The cyclops snarled,
"Go before I make you a permanent fixture in this cave."
"Don' have time t'waste wit' ya." The young man pulled out his dagger and stepped closer to the monster. "I be de Avatar. If ya t'ink ya c'n take me, stay where ya are."
"The Avatar?" The cyclops laughed, "You puny creature of blood and bone imagine yourself to be the greatest warrior ever?"
"I can vouchsafe for his identity." Ororo interjected, "He is indeed the Avatar."
"Then prove it. I have vanquished other ‘Avatars.'" The monster gestured to the pile of skulls and bones.
A ripple of energy ran up and down the dagger's blade, bright in the dark air of the cave. The fairy blinked against the dazzling light that emanated from the steel.
"A simple trick." The cyclops scoffed, "Any hedge witch could do it."
"Den mebbe I'll have t'prove it t'ya." The young man thrust forward with his dagger, catching the cyclops in its gut. Green blood poured through the open wound.
"Lucky blow, boy." The cyclops swept a corded forearm in the man's direction, knocking him against the wall with a sickening thud.
Wiping blood from his mouth, the man stood up and approached the monster again. The dagger had fallen to the floor when he impacted on the wall and was now a few meters away from where he stood. The cyclops stood on it, crushing it into splinters beneath his hard, worn feet.
"Looks like you are unarmed, ‘Avatar.'" He mocked.
"Mebbe so, mebbe no. Let's see, hehn?"
With a smooth gesture, the thief created a ball of energy in his hand and threw it at the monster. It impacted on his chest and fizzled out in damp smoke.
"Is that the best you can do?"
"Remy, his eye is his only vulnerable point." Ororo yelled, "If you can strike there, he will be defeated."
Another ball of energy formed in his slender hand and the man threw it at the cyclops, directly into its single eye. The monster screamed and fell, clutching the now bleeding socket.
"Let's go while we still have the chance." Ororo grabbed the young man's hand and pulled him away from the thrashing monster into one of the many labyrinthine tunnels.
"Merci f'r de help, cherie." Remy said, "Just wonder why ya couldn' have attacked him yaself."
"My vows." She explained, "I am sworn to heal and not to harm. Any breach of that vow would displease my goddess."
"Oh."
"I now have a question for you."
"Shoot."
"How did you know how to use the energy in that way?"
"I don' know." Remy looked embarrassed, "Jus' did, I guess. Came t'me when I needed it."
"Then you are the Avatar."
"Looks dat way, cherie." He shrugged, "Prefer not t'talk about it. Seems weird t'be dis mythical figure."
"Indeed. We have a little way to go before we arrive at Phoenix's nest."
"Den let's hurry."
The fairy buzzed closer, dancing like a Will o' Wisp around Remy's head. He swatted at it and it dodged.
"Does bein' de Avatar mean gettin' weird flies as well?"
"That is no fly, but a sprite."
"She's carryin' somet'ing."
The fairy spoke in a high-pitched voice, like the beating of a hummingbird's wing, like the highest note on a flute.
"For you, Remy du Melas."
She dropped the ring into his outstretched hand.
"I bring a message from Sabrina."
"Oui?"
"She says that she loves you and that she will kill the Mage."
"Dat's all?"
"Yes. That is all."
"Bien. She'll need m'help." Remy pocketed the ring, "An' I c'n only help her if I have m'armor an' all de rest o' it."
"Which we can only retrieve if we find the Phoenix." Ororo reminded him.
"Can I take a message from you to Sabrina?"
"Oui," He smiled, "Tell her t'wear her prettiest dress. . . ."

~~~

She had bought a dress, half-vicariously with her gift of money. A beautiful flimsy thing of which she disapproved and, at the same time, loved. A dress of fire-shot white silk that swirled around her ankles, revealing shapely calves. Remy had said that she looked lovely and she agreed. He had brought her a gift of white roses which she had twined into her hair. It felt so good to be beautiful when your life was drudgery and pain. She forgot her calloused, stained hands for a day. Her aching back from bending over her work. She was a princess for a brief, glorious time. They had had a picnic under the spreading canopy of the trees. The deckled shade that slid over them, casting darkness and light in equal measure, had made the day mysterious.
"About ya surprise. . . ." He had said.
"Mah surprise?"
Sabrina had taken his promise in jest and had forgotten about it.
"Oui." Remy had rummaged in his omnipresent sack and removed something.
"Close ya eyes."
She had done so, gasping at the feeling of cold on the bare skin of her neck. When she opened them again and looked down, she saw an exquisite necklace. It was a gold filigree chain set with an uncut emerald, that still contrived to sparkle in the shifting light.
"Remy . . . you shouldn't . . . Ah mean . . .this necklace probably belonged ta some woman who loved it."
"Oui, it did."
"She must be missin' it horribly. Ah know Ah would if it was mine."
"Non. She be beyond missin'."
"Wh . . . What do you mean?" She asked in rapidly awakening dread.
"It belonged t'my mother," he explained, "She died a while back."
"Oh." Sabrina fingered the chain nervously, "Ah'm sorry."
"F'rget it," he grinned, "When c'n I see ya again?"
"Not foh a while. Ah had trouble enough sneakin' off taday without daddy knowin'."
"Bien. I'll have another surprise f'r ya den."
He did. A brooch that was the twin of the necklace. A brooch that must have belonged to his mother with the engraving LB on the back. She had asked Remy what the initials meant. He had hesitated a moment before replying that his mother's name was Lucille Bella. She had put the hesitation down to grief - she was wrong. Finally, after the jewelry set was complete save for a single item, Sabrina had told her father about Remy. He had reacted as she had expected - with shock and disgust.
"A thief? A common criminal? Can't you do better than that, Sabby?"
"Ah love him." She had replied stubbornly.
"I know you aren't the prettiest thing out, but there have to be plenty of Nice Young Men looking for a wife. Men who can't be hanged for their crimes."
"Ah don't care. Ah don't want any of them."
"Sabby . . . ."
She had run into the green heart of the forest where it was cool and dark. Flung herself beneath a cedar tree and had cried her pain into the mossy pillow of the earth. She had returned much later, cool and slim as a sapling, as pliable and yet as strong as one as well. Remy was waiting for her at her doorstep, red roses in his hand.
"Y'all can't be here. If'n the villagers find out . . . ."
"Don' give a d@mn." He had said, "I need t'ask ya somet'ing."
Sabrina had cocked her streaked head and narrowed one eye.
"Shoot."
"Dere be one more piece o' de collection t'give ya, Sabrina."
"Oh?"
"However, dis one comes wit' a condition."
"Which is?"
"Dat ya marry me," he held out a gold ring, going down on one knee.
"Remy . . . ."
"I know I don' have much t'offer an' ya'd be insane t'marry me. . . . Dat dere probably is some other Nice Young Man who owns a smithy who wants ya hand as well. . . . Dat . . . ."
"Remy?"
"Oui?"
She bent down to his level and kissed him on the lips.
"Nice Young Men be d@mned. O' course, Ah'll marry you."
He took her in his arms and stood up, holding her tightly against his chest.
"I love ya, Sabrina."
"Ah love you too, Remy."

~~~

Sabrina held the lace veil to her lips as she stood by the window, watching the quiet valley below.
"When's that darn sprite going ta come back?" She said, twisting the lower half of the veil in anxious hands. A sudden firefly flicker danced about her head and seated itself on her shoulder.
"‘Bout time too. What did Remy say?"
The sprite cocked her little head like an inquisitive bird.
"I think I deserve a treat for flying all that way twice in a day."
"Ah doubt he said that," Sabrina said sharply, "Tell me an' then you'll get your treat."
"Give me my treat and then I'll tell you."
Sabrina sighed and walked across the room to the small dish of sweetmeats that Magnus had commanded be put by her bed. She selected a small pink one with a rose on top of it and handed it to the faerie.
"Mmmm . . . ." The faerie whispered in bliss as it bit into the sweetmeat, "You're even nicer than Fixx."
"Tell me what Remy said." Sabrina struggled to keep her voice modulated.
"Ummm . . . he said to wear your prettiest dress." The faerie mumbled through a mouth of crumbs. "For another sweetmeat, I'll tell you a secret!"
Sabrina removed a plump green one that was undoubtedly mint. The faerie whizzed down and snatched it from her hand.
"Fixx is working for the Mage. The ring which I gave to Remy was tainted with an evil spell to control his mind."
The color in her cheeks flooded out to be replaced with a livid shade of red.
"An' Ah sent it to him . . . . Dear Lawd. . . ."
"Yes."
"Sprite? Can you fly ta him an' tell him that he must not put on that ring? No matter what."
The sprite sunk down, a sour look on her tiny face.
"Again? All that way?"
"Ah'll give you a sweetmeat if you do."
"Two?"
"Two."
The sprite whizzed up into the air again.
"Off I go . . . ."
Sabrina sunk down into the soft chair, face buried in the soft veil. In the secret place of her heart, she feared that it was already too late.

To be continued . . . .

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