--------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an entirely fictional story (as if you couldn't guess) and is not intended to imply anything about the sexuality of the members of NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and none of these events actually happened in real life. Some of the phrases, places and text are copyrighted to Tolkien (thank you to Kyriel2@aol.com for pointing out that I forgot to add this...). Also, the characters "Hercules", "Iolaus", "Lilith" and "Jason" are copyrighted to the show "Young Hercules" and all other companies associated with the show. This story has hints of homosexual content but will move slowly in that area because of the storyline. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should be sent to ensstyenlc@hotmail.com If you are 18 or older, you may proceed to read the story. If you are under 18 years of age, shouldn't you be studying or at least at a Pokemon website rather than here? ;-) ___________________________________________________________________________ |The BSB NSYNC Chronicles - Chapter Ten| "What do we do?" Howie asked. He glanced at the other cadets who were panicking and running towards the forests opposite of the giants.
"We run!" Estel, Aldgifu and Stile shouted at once. They turned and began to run towards the forests as well. The others turned to follow them. Everywhere, cadets were shouting in terror and running away. One of the giants stretched his long legs and caught up to a small group of cadets. He scooped them up in his big hands and dumped them into a large sack he was carrying.
"What are they doing?" Chris cried, dodging the giant's slow hand and running towards the forest in the distance.
"They're just catching people and bringing them back to their lair alive," Estel replied, running next to him. "They keep their prisoners like a human would keep cows. They eat them whenever they need to."
Suddenly, the booted foot of a giant slammed in front of Chris and Estel. Estel did a forward flip over the giant's foot. Chris was not as lucky and he slammed into the giant's ankle. The giant scooped him up and placed him in the sack.
"Chris!" Howie and Justin shouted at once. They began to turn back to help him but were stopped by Jason and Alegifu.
"Forget him for now!" Jason shouted. "You can't help him if you're caught."
The group ran towards the forest, which seemed to be miles away from where they were. Lilith dodged a female giant's hand and used a staff she had picked up as a pole vault. She soared through the air near the giantess' knee. She landed far away from the giant, but as she began to run again, she tripped over a bucket and fell flat onto her face. She tried to pick herself up, but the giantess got to her first. She soon found herself inside a large sack with her fellow cadets. She wondered how the others were.
Iolaus was not happy. He had been hit on the head a few times and was dizzy, and now he had to run from giants hunting for meat. I should have chosen jail, Iolaus thought. He used to be a thief and was caught. He was given the choice of going to the Academy or to jail. He recounted the adventures he had had with Hercules since he had chosen the Academy. Jail seemed to have been a better choice now that he thought about it. He was lost in this reverie when he suddenly noticed a large hand in front of him. He turned around but found the other hand behind him. The giant hands cupped him and placed him into a sack. He fell into the depths of the sack and landed on one of his classmates. "Hello Howie," Iolaus said. Howie groaned, "I think you should stop eating so much."
Estel and Stile watched as a giant with bright red hair picked their sister up and placed her into a sack. They were helpless to stop such a huge beast. Even Estel's magic was pretty much useless as this species of giant was resistant to magic due to their frequent hunting of Faerie. There was only one village of Faerie that were able to stop the giants, since they shared the same part of the forest. The two brothers spotted Jason and Hercules resting at the edge of the forest. Of the five giants, only one had not caught anything, bring the slowest of the group. He was larger than the others, though, and his strength was unrivaled. He turned his eyes onto the four remaining cadets. He began to jog towards them, his speed increasing with every step.
"Run!" Hercules shouted, and plunged into the green shelter of the forest. Jason, Estel and Stile soon followed. Jason and Hercules ran as fast as they could, pushing aside the bushes that whipped their faces. Stile and Estel leaped as high as they could and began to run on the branches of the closely packed trees. They ran on the branches as though they were running on solid ground, and when branches were too far apart to run to, they leapt with grace and ease, or swung on vines or higher branches. Their agility and balance would have put even the best human gymnast to shame. Even the animated Tarzan could not have matched their speed and agility. Even while they ran through the awkward places, they still were faster than Hercules and Jason. A loud crash could be heard from behind them. They did not have to look around to know that a great tree had been felled by the giant. The creature was gaining on them with his long strides. Hercules and Jason increased their pace, but Jason began to lag as he did not have Hercules' inhuman stamina and endurance. They ran for what seemed like hours, the giant in close pursuit. They soon saw an end to the forest, the open sky beckoning to them. As the four friends reached out the edge of the forest, they saw that the forest ended at the edge of a gorge.
"Damn!" Hercules shouted. The giant burst through the forest and Hercules and Jason turned to face him. The giant edged closer towards the two boys. He swung his hand to scoop up the two helpless humans, but two super-fast blurs of green and brown snatched his prey. He caught a glimpse of two elves swinging on vines across the gorge with his prey. The giant roared his fury at the escaping boys before it turned back into the forest.
Hercules and Jason were soaring through the air, held by the two brothers. The vines seemed to magically lengthen and stretched through the entire gorge. Estel released Jason, who landed on his butt on the forest floor of the opposite side of the gorge. Hercules had landed on a branch above Jason. Estel and Stile landed on their feet on branches high above Hercules.
"Ooh..." Jason groaned, rubbing his sore spot. "Think you could have dropped me any harder, Estel?"
There was no reply. Hercules dropped from the low-hanging branch and stood next to Jason. He looked around the now empty forest. "Estel? Stile? Where are you guys?"
There was still no response from the two elves. Hercules shrugged at Jason who rolled his yes in response. The trudged deeper into the forest, as that was the only way to go. After ten minutes of walking, Jason spotted a plaque carved into a tree. He and Hercules walked up to it to read what it said. Unfortunately, the plaque was carved in Quenya, and neither of them could translate it. They shrugged and continued to walk deeper into the forest. If they had understood what the plaque said, they would have thought thrice about entering the forest. It read:
/---------------------------------------------------------------\ |Laws of Llanowar for any race other than the Faerie: | | | |One bone broken for every twig snapped underfoot. | |One fingernail pulled off for every branch snapped from a tree.| |One finger cut of for every flower trampled. | |Neutering for every non-magical animal killed. | |Death for a death of a magical creature. | | | |Ignorance of the laws is no excuse for breaking them. | ---------------------------------------------------------------/
Joey had never felt so helpless in his entire life. He had tried to tell Nick that Shareela was evil, but Nick refused to listen. Nick was also constantly getting angry at Joey for not doing well in his lessons, both in magic and fighting. He could not understand why Joey was so fascinated with the statues that dotted the entire palace. Nick was blinded by his love of Shareela, and no amount of arguing from Joey would convince him that Shareela was evil. Joey had finally given up arguing with him and kept on saying that he was bewitched, but Nick just laughed at him and said that he was the one that was bewitched, claiming that the statues could talk.
Could he be right? Joey wondered. I'm really a a loss of what to do. Joey wandered the halls of the castle, looking at the statues. He did not pay much attention to anything else, and did not notice the white-haired servants following him. He walked down a familiar corridor and found himself in front of Graelynia and the other elven woman who called herself Crewellan. He reached out and touched Graelynia with his right hand, and Crewellan with his left. The flash of white light in his vision cleared and he found himself in the grassy field with Graelynia and Crewellan. He had discovered this new power when he had touched both a centaur and a unicorn simultaneously and had been able to communicate with both, and the two had been able to communicate with each other as well. Both apparantly knew each other and told him stories of the war that they had both taken part in, while he sat and listened in wonderment at the strange and magical things that they described.
<Joey,> Graelynia said, hugging him as soon as he appeared. Crewellan appeared behind Graelynia. She smiled and hugged Joey as well.
<How are you?> Crewellan asked. She sat down on the grass in a cross-legged position, and motioned for him to do the same. The three of them sat in a circle on the grass.
"I'm not doing too well," Joey said sadly. "My friend refuses to believe me when I try to tell him that she is evil. He's fallen in love with her, I think."
Graelynia lowered her head sadly. <That is not too good. I only wish that we could be of more help. It is a terrible feeling, helplessness. Especially for a Bladesinger like me. We're protectors of the Faerie Folk.>
<I agree, Graelynia,> Crewellan said. <I'm a Ranger and I know the feeling of helplessness, especially since Rangers are supposed to be the helpers of all life.>
"Yeah. I'm lucky compared to you two," Joey said, feeling sorry for his friends. "You two must miss your homes very much."
<Yea,> Graelynia said. <I miss the singing of the birds in the trees when the sun rises in the morning. The peaceful sound of the wind through the trees and the sounds of children playing beneath my house. I especially miss waking up next to my fiance, Paxon. If I hadn't been told by Queen Tuanally to collect some important documents from a messanger from Llanowar. I was ambushed by medusae. I found the messanger as well, he had been turned into ice. I attacked the group and I managed to kill two maedars, but a medusa grabbed me from behind, turned me around and breathed on my face. Then I found myself here.>
"I'm so sorry," Joey said, patting Graelynia's shoulder. He looked at Crewellan and asked, "How did you become ice?"
<My village of Gallantaria was attacked by the medusae,> Crewellan said. <I was shooting arrows from the trees, when I saw a fairy fighting a medusa, protecting her two young children who were still too young to fight, so I took aim. I was about to release the arrow at the foul medusa when a maedar dropped in front of me, hanging upside-down from a branch above me. He breathed on my face and then I was here.>
<We tried to send troops to Gallantaria when we recieved a message from a swallow telling us that Gallantria was attacked,> Graelynia spoke to Crewellan. <We wondered why the medusae attacked Gallantaria when Caeranos is much smaller. I led five hundred thousand of our best soldiers, but it was too late.>
"Five hundred thousand soldiers from one village?" Joey asked, astonished. "How many people live in Caeranos anyway?"
<Caeranos has 100000000000 families,> Graelynia said.
"Wow!" Joey was stunned. "The smallest in terms of population...You guys must be everywhere!"
<So what happened?> Crewellan asked, bringing the topic back to the story. Graelynia cleared her throat and continued. <Gallantaria was lost and everyone was either stoned, iced or eaten. We returned to Caeranos with the news, and we mourned for months. A certain young archer mourned for a year. He still does every now and then. Sometimes I wonder if he would ever get over you.>
<Larel?> Crewellan asked. She began to sob softly. <I wish I could tell him that I'm still alive and I wish to speak to him, but I can't. I never even told him how much I loved him. I was supposed to marry him two weeks later but the attack put an end to that.>
"I could pass a message," Joey said. "I learnt dream messaging a few days ago and I have yet to put it to practical use. I just thought of it."
<But you don't know Larel,> Crewellan said. <It was thoughtful, though.>
"It's true, I don't know Larel, but I do know JC and Lance," Joey said. "Graelynia said that they were being trained in Caeranos by her fiance, Paxon. They could pass the message."
<That's wonderful!> Crewellan exclaimed. She smiled at Joey with gratitude written all over her face. Joey blushed and said, "Nah, it's nothing. It's the least I can do for you."
<Could you also send a message to Paxon?> Graelynia asked shyly. Joey grinned and nodded. "Sure, I'd be glad to."
The two elves told him their messages to pass and Joey memorised them. They talked for a little while longer. Suddenly, Joey felt as though some great force had yanked him backwards. He gave out a small shout and grabbed Graelynia's and Crewellan's hands.
<What's wrong?> Crewellan asked Joey. His face was red with pain as he felt himself being pulled away. He tried to speak but a small gasp came out.
<She's found out about him,> Graelynia said in a frightened voice. <She's trying to 'wake' him from this place.>
Joey felt another strong pull and he lost his grip on Graelynia and Crewellan. He screamed loudly and the world turned red.
Joey blinked his eyes. The world was blurry but was coming slowly back in focus. He saw one of the male servants (Graelynia and Crewellan had told him that the servants were medusas and maedars, medusas being the females and maedars being the males.) leaning over him.
"Are you okay?" the maedar said. Joey nodded his head slowly.
"I'm sorry I had to pull you away from the statues," the maedar apologised. "Some of us were following you and then we saw you slip into the Outer Realm where our victims go. The others ran to warn the Queen. I had to pull you from the statues otherwise she would have caught you. Now she knows who you are and will try to destroy you. You have to leave at once."
Joey groaned and shook his head to clear the dizziness from his head. "Why are you helping me?"
"Because you are the one chosen to destroy Shareela," the maedar replied. "Then I can be free of the self-proclaimed medusa queen. She will pay for killing the woman I loved."
"Why did she do that?" Joey asked. The maedar looked around to see if anyone was listening.
"It is shameful for my people to fall in love with humans," the maedar said. "We are supposed to kill them, not love them. But I fell in love with a human woman. She loved me even when I told her I was a maedar. Then Shareela found out and killed her. She would not even turn Amery into stone because she knew that the Chosen One would come one day and free all those stoned and iced."
Joey looked about the room. "How am I supposed to get out? Do I bring Nick with me? And how do I know that you're telling the truth? Shareela and Nick seem to be in love."
"That is different," the maedar said, his ice-blue eyes glaring at Joey. "Your friend has Medusae blood flowing in him. He is a decendant of a Medusae and can be taught to use the breath attacks of his ancestors. And I have already packed things I think you will need to escape this place. You must leave tonight, without telling Nick. Already he is with Shareela, and he will be there when my people tell her that you've 'betrayed' us. If I know Shareela, she will use Nick to kill you, so you cannot speak to him anymore."
The maedar grabbed a backpack and handed it to Joey. Joey put it on, wondering what was inside. He was still unsure of whether what the maedar said was true, but he had seen the desperation in the maedar's eyes and felt that he ought to at least humour the poor guy. He followed the maedar out of the room as the maedar led him to a place he could escape from. The maedar left Joey to walk through the underground passage to the forest on the other side.
Joey trudged through the half-melted slush that covered the floor of the passageway. He had seen how the maedar had acted and now he felt that the maedar was telling the truth. He was even more sure of it when he bumped into Nick in the passage.
"Where are you going?" Nick asked. He had a sinister look on his face, which frightened Joey.
"Er...I'm going hiking," Joey said quickly. "I'll be back in an hour."
"Okay, Joseph," Nick said, his eyes showing that he did not trust Joey. He walked towards the beginning of the passage, disappearing into the shadows. Joey sighed with relief. He continued to walk towards safety.
Nick watched as Joey walked towards the opening which led back into the forest that they had originally come through to reach the castle. He smile a sinister smile.
"Let him have a head start and think that he is safe," Shareela had said. Nick had nodded in agreement. Now he watched as Joey plunged into the forest. Nick smile a sinister smile again. He uttered a few words of magic and then felt himself change form.
Joey had the strange urge to turn around, but he did not want to see the accursed castle anymore. He resisted the urge and continued to walk. He should have turned around, though. If he had, he would have seen an enormous winter-wolf exit the passageway behind him. ------------------------------TO BE CONTINUED------------------------------ I decided to put the thanks at the end of the story instead. Don't ask me why I came up with it. Well basically thanks to God, David from Nifty, my friends on the Realms of Despair whose names I have used, JRR Tolkien for writing such nice books that I have read and enjoyed and took elements of things from, everyone who has sent me emails encouraging me especially Rune Therin for all those nice long emails that told me specifically where I went wrong and which parts were nice (you've been really helpful Rune!), to my new friend Lancefan2001 (or Lance for short) for your wonderful emails as well. To everyone at Nifty who reads the story and to those who don't but know it exists. Email me and tell me about this chapter. I like getting response from people. That way I know what most people are expecting and find a way to surprise them... ;) Anywayz, emails of all sorts related to the story should be sent to ensstyenlc@hotmail.com Hope to hear from you guys soon! Ciao for now!
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