The Cliff Keep

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a princess Nea and a princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. Now, Princess Nea and Princess Lulu had just rescued Scorch from the King Bealock and the ogres of Gozdur and Scorch took them all back to his nest in the mountains on the Morren peninsula. [A peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded on three sides by water.]

Now, while they were in Scorch’s nest, Princess Nea could not believe her eyes. Sitting right next to them in the nest was a feather - but not just any feather - it was a magic Skyrabian Feather. She could tell because it sparkled and was a beautiful silver color, like the moon. A feather like that could give the one who uses it the power to fly with wings like an eagle.  

And that’s when Nea realized something very peculiar. When she was standing with Wahl and Lulu at the Enchanted Well, she had secretly wished that she could fly just like Princess Aria of Skyrabia and Jo the botanist. She had never told anyone, but it had been a secret wish in her heart ever since she first visited Skyrabia long ago. 

Was her wish coming true too? She could hardly believe it. But unlike Wahl who had a magic gold coin, Nea didn’t throw anything it the wishing well.

Nea reached over and picked up the feather. Even though she didn’t know how to use it, she had paid special attention when Jo had used hers. She just held it close to her heart and then grew wings. 

“Maybe you just have to concentrate?” said Lulu.

Meanwhile Scorch laid in his nest and licked his arm, happy to be home and grooming himself.

Nea held it to her chest and thought about the sky and about flying but nothing happened.

“Would you look at that?” interrupted Wahl. 

And just to the side of the mountain up a walkway path was a tall tower. And if you looked down the mountain you could see that there was a pathway from the beach below, from a little village in fact, to the tower high up on the mountain cliffs. 

“Let’s go check it out!” said Wahl

“Guess I’m just going to have to figure this out later.” Nea shrugged, putting the feather in her pocket.

As they walked up the windy path towards the tower, the winds kept blowing hard. Even though the winds were blowing, they could hear a bunch of loud noises coming from around the cliffs. 

Bum-bum, bum-bum. They heard. And as the noise got closer, they looked over to see a huge mountain giant, right there heading towards the tower. 

“A giant!” shouted Nea. “Where do all these giants come from!”

“[Garble, garble, garble]?” she said, coming towards them. 

And Lulu, starting to get used to seeing giants, pulled out her magic flute that could put giants to sleep, and started playing.

As the giant heard the tune, her eyes widened and then slowly became heavy. She started to yawn, and then yawn again and couldn’t stop yawning until she crawled to the ground and fell asleep right there in front of the tower.

With the immediate threat of the giant gone, they headed to the cliff castle to explore it. As they looked above the doorway and around the castle, they saw more inscriptions of griffins.  

“It’s a griffin.” Said Wahl. “Just like the ones I rescued.” Had they paid more attention their way to the small castle they would’ve noticed a few other signs down the pathway to the beach that were of griffins as well.

Walking in the castle, it was very, very quiet. In fact, it looked like nobody had been there in years. Everything looked like it was falling apart. And every way they looked, all the furniture had holes, the rugs hanging on the walls had holes and there were cobwebs on the corners. It was actually kind of creepy, scary and lonely inside. 

And then they heard footsteps. Step, step, step and out of one of the back rooms walked up an old elven lady. She was very old and felt very distant. 

“Hello!” Princess Nea asked a little awkwardly. 

“Who is there?” she asked slowly. 

“It is Princess Nea and Princess Lulu of Sparland.” 

“And Wahl of Traycod.” Wahl added bravely. 

“You must leave!” she said, very afraid and very nervously. “You see this castle is cursed and run by a very very powerful and scary monster. A griffin. She’s not a nice griffin, she’s a MEAN one and very dangerous.” 

Princess Nea and princess Lulu looked at each other. Everything about this castle seemed oddly familiar to them. 

“Why is she so dangerous?” Nea asked.

“I do not know. A shooting star fell from the sky. It flew through the tower window and fell at the foot of my bed. After I found it, the monster came and attacked me and took the crystal all for herself. She didn’t want to share it and told me not to tell anyone. And now I’m stuck here in this castle - a prisoner in my own home. But you all must leave, before someone gets hurt.” 

“This does seem awfully dangerous.” Wahl said.

“I think maybe we should get out of here.” Lulu said. 

And as they turned around to leave, they heard wings flapping behind them. And then in front of them the doors slammed shut.

Slam!

Then furniture all around them begin to crash and then a loud cry. When they turned around, the old lady was gone. Just like magic she had disappeared. 

“Quick up the stairs!” 

They ran up the stairs up the tower. Far below, in the main entry, there was crashing and growling and roaring all around them.

As they climbed the stairs - faster and faster - they could hear the griffin behind them, it’s lion claws thumping against the stone steps. 

Thump-pump, thump-pump. 

And they could hear it knocking down more furniture and pulling down tapestries as it chased them up the stairs. 

Finally they made it to the highest room of the tower and shut the door behind them, pushing a large armoire in front of the door to barricade it. No sooner had they caught their breath then they heard a large cry from outside the window.

Squawk! 

And from the window descended the griffin, wings flapping and squawking. Everyone was cornered in the room at the top of the tall tower, they had nowhere else to go. They didn’t know what to do.

But with every encounter like this Lulu was getting braver and braver. As the large beast hurled itself toward her, Lulu pulled out her magic calming flute and played the tune she’d learned that put giants to sleep and had even saved them from the other monster griffin in the elven keep. 

[Calming tune]

And just as the griffin was feet away from the adventurers, her wings started to shrink and her cry started to fade. She fell to floor with loud thud and her lion body began to morph into an old elven body. Her large hawk head began to turn back into the old wrinkly skin of an elf’s until she was no longer a griffin, but the old elf lady from the entryway.

Around her neck, the princesses could see she was wearing a glowing yellow crystal.

“Do you think she’s a Keeper?” asked Lulu.

“I don’t know, I mean, it’s still glowing.”

“She doesn’t strike me as being pure of heart.” 

Nea bent over to pick up the crystal. As she did, Lulu went to the window, still a little curious how the griffin found it’s way outside and then to this window so fast. When Lulu walked away from the elf, the crystal faded out.

“Lulu! Come back here!” Nea shouted.

Lulu stepped closer to the yellow crystal and it started to glow again. 

“She’s not the Keeper. You are!” 

Lulu’s eyes got wide. “Really? I can’t believe it! ME? I was secretly hoping and wishing to be one and - wow!” 

Lulu picked up the crystal. And for a second she felt what others could feel when they had they were able to make a crystal glow. She felt so powerful, so special. She felt like she could do whatever she wanted. 

“Lulu, are you okay?” asked Nea. 

Lulu shook her head, trying to clear her mind. “Yeah, it’s just … it’s just this crystal makes you feel really powerful and special. Like you can do anything - whatever you want. I’ve never felt like that before.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.” Nea reassured her.

And that’s the story about how Princess Nea found a Skyrabian feather and Princess Lulu found the yellow Tornadian Crystal. What they still had yet to figure out was the story of Wahl’s long lost family. But that story is for another time. 

The end.