Sable shouted with joy. “I was right! It was the red pixie. She kidnapped all of the government officials. I was right all along! Missing people! The bad weather! All the Leudox drug labs being destroyed! All of it was the red pixie.”


    The red pixie furrowed her brows as Sable continued ranting. “What’s wrong with you, Cat? You’re acting like a madman. Have you been obsessed with me ever since we parted at the tavern?”


    “I’m a cait-sith,” Sable hissed. “We’re both fey. You should know that.”


    Mathias scratched his head in confusion at the scene before him, then turned to Atticus for confirmation. “Is this the same red pixie Sable’s been going on about? He blamed her for my sword going missing.”


    Atticus nodded his head. “I believe so. The poor cat blames this red pixie for the nox-dragon, too. I guess she was using illusion magic to alter her voice an appearance.”


    Holden on the other hand, knew he would never hear the end of this. With that in mind, he wanted to wrap this up as soon as possible. “Okay, red pixie,” Holden said, cringing. “Let Elliandra go, and come with us.”


    The red pixie crossed her arms as she floated in the air. Several laughing fairies then appeared all around them. They all had twisted expressions as if they were sadistic predators hunting their prey. They also each wore a ring of delirium on their fingers. The fairies known as Maple and Delilah were among them.


    Sable looked around at the fairies with mixed emotions. He was partially elated to see all of his fellow former captives. However, there was also a sense of confusion washing over him. Fairies were playful, and benevolent. The malicious scowls he saw on all of their faces seemed out of place. There was one among them whose facial expression seemed distressed more than anything. It was Maple, one of the fairies Holden and Sable came across during their investigation into the stolen manuscript.


    Sable called out her name. “Maple, what’s going on? What happened to all of them?”


    Maple just gnashed her teeth, and shot a beam of light from her fingertips at Sable. Sable quickly teleported out of the way, then the fighting commenced.


    The fairies began casting a variety of spells. As a species, fairies were competent mage. However, they were limited to only one element of magic. That element could be water, earth, fire, air, dark, or light. Dark and light were the rarest type of magic to find among the fairies, so the spells being fired at Sable and the others were a mix of the former four, aside from Maple, who was a light fairy.


    Sable teleported once again, while the other dodged out of the way. Holden than unleashed a flurry of dagger swipes. Atticus and Mathias swung their sword, while Durik brough his ax down on one of the fairies, only for it to dodge.


    Sable stood there trembling, unable to comprehend exactly what had happened to these fairies who he had befriended in captivity. Why were they suddenly like this? Had the delirium caused them all to go mad? Then why did Maple look so distressed? He then recalled seeing the black collars around Maple and Delilah’s neck during his and Holden’s previous encounter with them.


    Sable shifted his gaze toward the red pixie, who was hovering above the battlefield with a smug grin on her face. The cait-sith teleported onto Holden’s back once more, then jumped in the air toward the red pixie. He then teleported mid-air, snatching the red pixie out of the air, and pinning her to the ground.


    The red pixie growled. ‘Stupid cat. Get off of me.”


    Sable sensed a small fluctuation of magic. The red pixie then disappeared from beneath his paw, appearing in another spot a few feet away. Sable then repeated the same maneuver from earlier, teleporting off onto Holden’s back, jumping into the air, teleporting to the red pixie, then bringing her to the ground with him as he fell.


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    The red pixie gnashed her teeth again. “Hey, stupid cat. Stop that.”


    “Why aren’t you attacking, red pixie? Certain one capable of using a rank four or five teleportation spell should be able to deal with a lowly cat such as myself.” The red pixie growled, but didn’t teleport away. Sable then smirked. “I get it now. The fairies are being controlled by you. Those black collars around their necks are some sort of spell. No. A curse that bends them to your will. Though Maple is a light fairy with a strong resistance to curses, hence why she hasn’t become as twisted as the others, even though she still is under your influence.”


    “What’s your point, Cat?”


    “My point is, once I swat you, they’ll have control once again.”


    The red pixie teleported away once again. At that moment, a black collar revealed itself around Maple’s neck. It then shattered into pieces, liberating her from the red pixies control. She then shouted to Sable, “Hey, Cat. Keep making her use magic. She’ll be forced to release more and more fairies from her control so she can continue using magic.”


    Sable grinned, then continued slapping the red pixie out of the air with his claws. “Why not just teleport away with a big spell? Probably can’t right now. In fact, you recently used a big spell to teleport Halrick away to have him killed somewhere. How many big spells did that require? Two, three, four? You must be close to drained. No big teleportation for you.”


    The red pixie found herself being pinned to the ground over and over by Sable. As her magic continued to run out, she was forced to release another fairy from the curse being used to control them. Curses would take up a set amount of the caster’s magic reserves that wouldn’t recover until the curse was broken. Each time the red pixie released one of the fairies, she would regain a small portion of her magic reserves. These fairies would then look around in confusion, their memories hazing from their time being controlled. Eventually, all of the fairies were freed from her control.


    The red pixie tried teleporting away once again, only to be snatched out of the air by holden. “Not getting away this time.”


    The pixie started kicking and screaming, while shouted like a spoiled child. “Let go of me, human. I’m a high pixie. Pixie nobility. Do you know what’ll happen if you manhandle me like this? You’ll make an enemy of all of pixie kind.”


    “Nice threat. I doubt a high pixie in good standing with her kind would have to mind control a bunch of fairies to fight for her.” Holden used his free hand to dig through his bag, pulling out a large jar, and trapping the red pixie in it. “I had this on hand in case the cat’s paranoia was ever right.”


    Sable burst out into laughter. “Good luck getting out of that jar without your magic.”


    The fairies looked around in confusion. Maple was the only one who remembered everything because of her resistance to curses. Because of this, she ended up being the ones to explain everything that had happened to them.


    Seeing them all free and safe filled Sable with joy. However, it was at that moment he noticed something. “Hey, Maple, where’s the coin-sith?”


    Maple’s eyes popped when she heard the question. “Oh, that’s right. He’s been tracking down another target for kidnapping. He should be in Chrimoria right now.”


    Holden stuffed the jar with the red pixie into his bag, then gestured for everyone to hurry. “Then we need to find Elliandra, and get back to Chrimoria. Quickly.”


    “Maple flew and the other fairies began circling around Holden and the others in the air. Maple then nodded her head. “We’ll show you the way. Follow us.”


    ***


    The fairies led everyone down the hallway. It led to another large room with corridors going out in each direction. They ended up following the fairies down a few more hallways like the first before arriving at yet another open room where Elliandra was currently lying on the ground. She was still tied up, and blindfolded. She also wasn’t moving, causing Holden to panic while running over to her.


    “Elliandra,” holden said, vigorously shaking her. “Elliandra. Wake up. Wake up.”


    Elliandra just about jumped out of her skin when Holden started shaking her. “Ah. Holden, stop. I’m okay. I’m okay. Would you get these ropes off of me?”


    Holden used his dagger to cut the ropes binding her, then removed her blindfold. The two of them embraced one another tightly, while Elliandra sniffled. Her eyes were watering from the sense of relief and gratitude. “You certainly took your time, Holden.”


    Sable then rubbed his cheek against Elliandra. “Don’t forget about me.”


    “Of course,” Elliandra said, patting the cait-sith’s head. “Thanks for coming to save me, Sable.”


    Holden helped Elliandra to her feet. Now that she was safe, they could all finally return to Chrimoria.