,Pippa was on the way back to her mistress the queen to report she had no success in finding the ogress who was to be queen of Ogrid. She knew she had failed and her mistress would be angry, but she had been in worst spots before this and she had gotten out of them. She hoped her mistress didn't know about her visit to the dragon and the evil witch. She knew her mistress could follow her every move with that crystal ball, but she prayed somehow that the times she went off to the dragon and her encounter with the evil witch were at times when her mistress was busy with affairs of state. Her mistress would be livid if she knew she had petitioned the evil witch for help. After all, the queen would be upset and have no sympathy for Pippa's plight. She would berate her saying she got distracted from her mission and her getting duped was because of it. As for the evil witch, the fairies feared her, and the last thing they wanted was to draw the evil witch's notice. The last time a fairy had a run in with the evil witch, the Ogrid's won the war against the fairies, and they became their subjects and now could not break the yoke. No one knew if the witch had arranged this outcome for the fairies, but that awful battle that lost them the war, which took place only a few days afterwards surely was no coincidence. All the fairies feared the witch, and she delighted in toying with them. It was more fun for her to make them believe she is the cause of all their problems than to be the actual cause. They worshipped her because they believed she was controlling their destinies, and that satisfied her. If the fairies ever knew she didn't have all the powers they believed she did, she would lose her control over them. She loved the gifts they left at her cave of food and ingredients for her alchemy potions. Even if they didn't leave her gifts she would do it just because she was evil and loved making others fear her. As the witch grew older she was losing more of her magical prowess, and she was basically no more fearsome than a toothless dragon. That is why she wouldn't help Pippa for fear she would find out her terrible secret. Pippa didn't of course know this.
Rainbow Ivy decided that the person was doing more of surveillance and for the moment wasn't a threat. He was an expert on tailing people, so he knew how to lose them if necessary. Problem is though, he didn't want to draw Fiona's attention to their tail. That is one reason he set Fiona to walking again after they had made good time from the night before, and why he was going to let them tail them for a while. He had to determine first if the person was a threat. He turned his attention back to Fiona. He had to keep his mind on her first and foremost. In spite of her obvious pain and tiredness, there was a sliver of defiance and determination in her that he couldn't tolerate. He had to squelch that, or she could cause real problems. He grinned at her stubborn determination which in spite of his annoyance with it, secretly delighted him. He didn't like weak, fragile women. He liked them tough and spirited. It was more fun when he finally brought them to their knees, and they became his unwilling slaves
Fiona limped along the best she could head held high. Oh how she hurt. She couldn't feel anything akin to a real emotion, because the pain screaming through her body left no room to feel anything else. Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and like it was on a perpetual ferris wheel. She hoped she wouldn't pass out again. She would not give him that satisfaction. She wished she could muster up a mild hate or a small snicket of indignant rage as that would make it easier to forget the pain.. She was too tired and dispirited to do anything but slog one foot in front of the other. It took all her concentration to keep her legs moving. Well this was better than being held by Rainbow Ivy. When she had woken up she had felt like she was floating, and realized that he had put her on the horse. Her skin had crawled with every jounce of the horse making her body rub against Rainbow Ivy. It to her was a sick parody of two lovers holding each other close on the horse their bodies as one. There was no love or concern, and she tried to hold herself as rigid and upright as possible to avoid having her body touch his anymore than it had to. She would have demanded to be put down, but her feet throbbed so horribly and her head was spinning like a top, so she gritted her teeth and endured the torture of being close to that evil man. It seemed like he held her for hours, and in spite of her pain she was relieved when he put her down. She had to admit though she was starting to think about how lovely it would be to be able to be on Dragon again, only because her body was screaming in agony. No, she would not think like that. She was better off walking.
Fiona was aware of their shadow and she didn't know what to make of it. It had been an accidental sighting. When she fell and picked herself up, she saw a shadow move behind a tree. She wondered who it was. Were they there to help her, or sent by someone who is working with Rainbow Ivy? If they were working for him though why would they be staying hidden? If they were there to help her, why wouldn't they reveal themselves? Of course it was a possibility they were waiting to come up with a plan. She didn't get a good look at the person, but one thing she was certain of, it wasn't Shrek or Barthus. They probably had just found out she was missing, and they wouldn't care anyhow. She was glad to be rid of them.
Fiona tried to think what she could do. Should she do anything? What if that person had evil intentions toward her as well? Who could it be? Oh, this pain was muddling her mind. She decided that she would stall as much as she could get away with, and see if this person found an opportunity to approach her. Rainbow Ivy would have to sleep sometime. She didn't think he had slept since the night before. Of course he might have napped on Dragon while she was unconscious. That would be like him to do something like that. After all he couldn't sleep while she was awake at the risk of her escaping. She smirked ruefully, if he only knew she was in so much pain, she didn't think she would have the strength to escape.
Pippa saw the lady stop and bend down. She did so slowly, and Pippa wondered if she was hurt somehow as she was favoring her back. What was she doing?
Rainbow Ivy not amused: Fiona! What are you about? Why did you stop?
Fiona: I -I- she desperately scrambled around in her muddled mind for an excuse. I got a stone in my sandal. I have to take it off. After all you wouldn't want the stone to slow me down even more would you?
Rainbow Ivy looked behind them surreptitiously to see where their tail was. He didn't see them, and sighed heavily. He wondered if somehow Fiona had seen their tail and was hoping for help. Well this wouldn't happen.
Rainbow Ivy: Lace up your sandal now!
Fiona stammered: B-b-b-ut the rock is still in my sandal.
Rainbow Ivy: I said NOW!
Fiona sighed. Well she had tried. She still didn't hurry to lace it up.
Rainbow Ivy growled menacingly: I swear if you ever pull a stunt like that again you will be sorry.
Fiona got up and turned slightly to get a look behind her. She saw their tail slip behind the next tree. It appeared to have wings. Could it be a fairy? She wasn't sure they existed, but she had heard stories of them. It was said if you were nice to a fairy they would give their life to help you. Or so the legend went. Did they in fact exist? Some fairy tales and legends had basis in truth. Could this be a fairy? If it was could she get them to help her? Could they help her get away from Rainbow Ivy? She had to find a way to signal them and let them know she was in trouble. If they refused she would be no worse off than she was now, or would she? What if it was Rainbow Ivy making sure she wouldn't find a way to escape?
Pippa saw the girl slowly stand up and start to limp forward. The man gave her a swift kick in the back knocking her forward flat on her face. She heard the man tell her to get up, and saw the girl slowly curl up into a ball and try to rise. It appeared the wind had been knocked out of her. She didn't like this man and what he was doing to the girl. She wanted to intervene, but wasn't sure what she could do. She would continue to follow them and find a way to contact the girl. She wished fairies had more power. All they could do was shrink to a small size and fly. That would not be much use to the girl. Of course! Why hadn't it occurred to her before? She could shrink herself into a ball of light. The man would think it was a lightning bug and wouldn't feel threatened by it. The only thing was in that state they couldn't talk. How could she communicate with her? Still that was only half the battle, the other half was figuring a way to get her away from this man. Well first things first. Now she just had to wait for nightfall so she could check out the situation for herself and see if there was something she could do.
The man got off his horse and tied her up slinging her on the back of his horse. How dare he treat a woman like that! This man had no honor or chivalry, and that was against everything the fairies lived for. Yes, she didn't normally put her life in danger for others, but in this case she would. She would not let this man continue to treat the girl this way. Even if they were married. She couldn't imagine that anybody not married to her would do this. Still marriage was no excuse. She was going to once again risk the wrath of her mistress, and while this didn't make her happy, or feel comfortable, right was right, and what was right was to stop this man, and give him a taste of his own medicine!
Pippa decided that she would risk getting closer before nightfall. She needed sleep, and knew the only way to do that was to find some place to ride while she slept. Of course the dragon was the logical place. She could shrink into a ball, as her wings wouldn't be visible until nightfall, but the man and the girl would only think she was a fire fly, and that would work to her advantage when night came. Pippa made herself as small as fairies get, essentially a dandelion size blob, and alighted on the dragon's back. She prepared herself for the inevitable violent swish of the dragon's shuddering body to flick her off. Once the shuddering stopped all she had to do was be careful to not move very much, and the dragon wouldn't realize she was still there. This way she could sleep in relative safety and not lose her quarry. Yes, she was going to find a way to pay back this man for hurting this poor girl, and Rainbow Ivy. Revenge would be very sweet. She would destroy them both and have no compunction about it. With that thought she fell into dreamland dreaming grand schemes whereby she had Rainbow Ivy and this man screaming at her feet in abject terror.