Once Upon A Roya

The clouds burst and the rain came down the valley in sheets before the wind. Roya watched the storm coming towards her hiding place in a niche in the rock wall and gulped back a curse. It was so cold here in Wisconsin, she was already shivering, and now with the rain...she didn't want to think what would happen if she had to stay hidden here much longer. The only good thing about the rain was that it would wash away her footprints. Then she heard the voice.

"Roya."

She flinched at the familier sepulcheral tones. She would have started to run... but her feet were frozen in the mud. She gasped and tried to keep her mind from running around in little circles screaming "Panic! Panic!" It didn't work.

"Roya." said the voice. "You will catch your death of cold."

Roya shuddered at the grim pronouncement. Was she doomed already? "I was just... taking a little walk" she said in a small voice. She didn't look around. She didn't want to see Fiona any more than she had the last time...

Her mind flashed back to the operating table...

Roya could still recall the high-pitched cackle of fiona just before she had that close encounter with the spatula...and not just any spatula, the one fiona used to cut open people's heads!

Roya shut her eyes, praying they wouldn't freeze, but not wanting to keep them open.

"Why don't you come back to my lab? I could make you hot chocolate..." Fiona said, trying not to sound psycho....

God, that sounded good right now. Roya slowly opened her eyes, her pulse pounding and mind racing. Spotting a small rock, she lurched for it, her frozen fingers barely managing to grasp it. With all her remaining might, she threw it at Fiona who promptly vanished. Oh God. Was she hallucinating already? She had to get warm. Warm. Warmth. Backing up, she was reminded of just how hard that rock wall was. She began to move sideways like a crab, until all of a sudden, she fell backwards. Slowly standing up and rubbing her tailbone, her head was introduced to the rock above her. Ow. She was in...a small cave? As she pondered this, there was a rustling noise, and a figure suddenly appeared and grabbed her, putting a knife to her throat.

"Don't move!"

Roya knew THAT voice, too, she was sure...

When she was sure that Roya wouldn't try to blindly escape, Kim removed the dagger from Roya's throat, then, still holding onto her, moved around so that Roya could see her. Roya recognized her even with the sexy black bandit mask and long black cape.

"Kim!" Roya gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"No time for that now!" Kim hissed, pulling on Roya's hand. "You've got to come with me before that...that thing comes back."

Roya pondered Kim not calling Fiona by her name, but quickly put it to the back of her head. Kim had ducked quickly out of the cave, and was now scaling an almost sheer wall of rock a few feet outside. She paused, about ten feet up, and jerked her head imaptiently at Roya. Roya shook her head. She gulped, then put her hands to the rock. After an agonizing climb of ten or so feet, a rope magically fell down next to her right eyebrow and hovered there, twitching. Roya grabbed it, and Kim, who had reached the top and lowered the rope, pulled her up. The first thing Roya noticed once she pulled herself over the very top ledge, bruised and panting, were the people lying gagged and bound on the grass.

"Oh no no no no..." pleaded Roya as Kim tried to tie her arms behind her back. Roya did a quick grass-scan, and noticed others she knew on the grass. She saw Marina and Kathleen among those she knew, and she panicked. Roya tried to free herself of Kim's steel grip, but there was nothing doing. Kim led her to lay next to Marina. "Mmmmmmmm" was all Roya managed to say.

"All right, everyone listen up!" came a familiar voice. It was Fiona.

Roya knew all to well about the seductive powers of Fiona's voice. It was said that she could make a man stop and ask for directions on a roadtrip, and make a cat perform circus tricks (and we all know how stubborn cat's can be) Roya desperatly tried to bury her head in the grass, struggling with her bonds so she could cover her ears. A swift kick from Kim's black leather spiked heels stopped her struggles.

"I need something." Fiona said softly. Roya could detect the slightest tremble in Fiona's sweet deep voice. She almost felt sorry for her, all alone and wet, and.....NO! She had to fight it......

"It's such a little thing," Fiona said, her voice on the edge of tears. "Just a little cucumber that Ryland stole from me. Oh please, please, won't someone help me find it?" Fiona dropped her head, allowing her firey mass of hair to cover the demonic glint in her eyes.

All the unschoolers, trussed up like the tofurky they ate at thanksgiving, tried to stand up. There were shouts of, "Oh Fiona!" "Don't cry!" "I'll get your cucumber!" "NO! I will!" Roya felt a tickle at the back of her mind (and not the good kind of tickle either) but she cried out anyway, "Fiona my darling, I'll get your cucumber, or die trying!"

"Release them." Fiona commanded sharply to Kim, who immediately slipped out a black knife and hacked off Roya's bonds. Roya sagged against a giant elm tree behind her, her mind nearly a blank fog of all the evening's events. Suddenly, a hand reached around the trunk of the tree, and pulled her back, covering her mouth and stifling her screams.

"Be quiet," came a familier voice, "I'm going to get you out of here." It was Jessica! Roya's head whirled. She had to find the cucumber, to help poor Fiona, no, wait, that spatula and the operating table.....and whispered words, "Find Candra and let her thumb kiss you......" Roya passed out.

When she awoke, she was lying on a small couch in a room she didn't recognize. Jessica was sitting in the corner, on the computer as usual, though Roya didn't know why she was looking at pictures of a fox standing on his hind legs wearing only a debonair hat and posing seductivly.

"You're awake!" Jessica said, quickly covering up the computer screen.

Find Candra Fiona's voice whispered through Roya's head.

"Is Candra here yet?" Roya asked casually, still a bit worried about Jessica's strange facination with fox's.

"Of course I'm here silly," came Candra's bouncy little voice. Roya haddn't noticed her standing in the shadows behind Jessica. Besides the strange blue fish wrapped around her neck, she was holding in her hand, a bright green cucumber. Candra's circus midget-like hands stroked the bumpy surface almost unconciously. As always, Candra approached Roya with her hands in front of her face, and planted a big thumb kiss on her. As she did, Roya heard a small *click* and felt a sudden warmth in her mouth........add more