Reign of Witches Page 6

  “Anna. The unicorns. They’re still here,” Tay said. We finished walking across the bridge and proceeded on. The unicorns paid no mind to us as we came closer. It was as if they did not fear our presence at all. “Do you think we can touch one?” I asked. My eyes could not leave the sight of these magnificent, striking creatures. Tay was just as uncertain about the unicorns as I was.

  We both stretched our fingers. “Almost there. Just a little further…” I said. The unicorn closest to me bowed its head toward my fingers and said, “You may.” My hand whipped back so fast as my whole body froze in shock.

  “Please do not be afraid, little one. I mean not to upset you. After all, you are a fairy.” The unicorn continued to speak to me. The icy chill began to melt from the nerves in my body and I was frozen no longer. A sense of warmth and peace replaced the chill as the unicorn’s gentle voice soothed my ears.

  Tay didn’t say a word during all the confusion. I still wondered about her sometimes. A lot of uneasy thoughts started to fill my self-consciousness.

  Shaking my head to get away from all those thoughts, I reached my hand out once more, only this time my fingers connected with the gorgeous beast’s head. So soft! Soft as a plush pillow. It glistened as the rays of the suns hit the point of its spiraled horn.

  “This is Tailya, and I am Annalise. Are we able to know your names?” I asked, while curtsying and bowing my head. Tay followed my lead and did the same. The little baby unicorn rose up and kicked its two front hooves up in the air while standing on its other two hooves. He seemed very rambunctious about us learning their names.

  Gravity brought him back to standing on all fours as he replied, “I am Starbeam and this is my mom, Yurika. What brings ya here, fairies?” “Well… It was all a bit strange. Tailya and I were exploring her new tower, and we came across this locked room. We had to break the barrier down, then get the key for the lock. We opened the door and found a picture hovering about four feet from the floor. The portrait you were in looked magical! Tay and I figured the painting was a gateway to your land… and now here we are!” I said, nearly out of breath.

  “Forgive her. She tends to ramble on a lot,” Tay said. Starbeam began to roll around while laughing hysterically. I did not take what she said about me lightly. Tay turned toward me and gave me a playful smirk, not realizing she had hurt my feelings. So, I in return, gave her a hard glare.

  “Oh Anna, don’t be like that.” But the damage had already been done. Because of Tailya’s derision, another piece of my heart was torn from me, to be filled with more darkness.

  Tay and Starbeam were chatting it up as I sorely drifted away in the air. I began holding a grudge against my best friend. Terrible, wicked thoughts were trying to seep through my mind about what I would do to get back and Tay for hurting my feelings.

  “You should steal her wand from her while she’s sleeping. You don’t need her. She isn’t really your friend. She doesn’t even like you.”

  Drowning in self-pity was beginning to make me nauseous. “I have to do something to stop the commotion in my head.” Realizing I had spoken out loud with no one around, I sharply shouted, “NO! STOP!” And just like that, the evil words dispersed from my head.

  I guess yelling at myself brought Tailya and Starbeam to hasten toward me. It only took Starbeam a good solid leap to get to me. Tay soared quickly through the air behind him. She rushed right up to me and said, “Anna, what is it? Did you see something?” They both had anxiety and caution written on their faces, but I couldn’t understand why. The place seemed too perfect to be scary.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. Starbeam looked to Tay and shook his head, letting her know not to say anything. They acted as if I weren’t even there. I wondered if they knew each other… But, how would they? Tay and I had to unlock the door to get here. I kept pondering, but it didn’t get me anywhere.

  Tailya and Starbeam turned back toward me and said, “Not to worry, Anna. You are completely safe here.” What they said shocked me. My nausea traipsed back into the pit of my tummy and made itself at home once more.

  Balls of fear began forming deep inside me as I concluded that they were lying to me. I did have something to worry about. But to them, I smiled, showing that I was oblivious to their silent stares. There was something fishy about this land, and I was going to find out why they were choosing to stay silent about it.

  “Come on Anna, let’s go back to the meadow and find something to eat.” With my best friend caring about my health, I couldn’t stay mad. I felt content as I grabbed her hand and let go of the grudge I had developed toward her. We faced each other, smiling, as if there had never been a dispute between us. Hand in hand, we fluttered back to the meadow to see Yurika about some food.

  Starbeam leapt over us straight to his mother. Tay and I placed one hand over our mouths so Yurika wouldn’t hear our giggles. “That unicorn is rowdy,” I said to Tailya. Placing a finger over her lips, she shushed me, saying, “You don’t want to offend him, Anna.” I hadn’t even realized that I had just done to Starbeam what Tay had done to me earlier. Thank goodness he hadn’t heard my back biting.

  I filled with guilt as I had been speaking ill of the only one to help us in this land. Wickedness really does rub off on to others. This thought began to overshadow everything good I had stored away in my mind. The guilt was trying to consume me. But Tay’s enlightening giggles brought me back from the dank hole my mind was trying to get stuck in. Her bubbly laugh reminded me of Kedron’s little snorts he would make while laughing. I let go and started to chuckle myself, bringing my mind back to happy memories.

  “You ok?” Tay asked. “I am now,” I said, with a dazzled gaze. I needed to focus on all the good, not the bad. I leaned toward Yurika and asked, “What can we eat here, Ms. Unicorn?” She grinned while answering. “There is a mallow tree next to the waterfall on the east side of the forest. Best go now before the stars appear. Ogres lurk around at that time looking for food.”

  “Ogres? What are those? Tailya, what is an ogre?” Tay and Starbeam looked terrified as they began telling me about the hideous creature that lurks in the forest at night. Tay placed each of her hands on my shoulders and said, “Anna, they are ferocious giants that eat anything alive that they can get their hands on.” She looked distraught and it startled me.

  Starbeam then gazed into the meadow while saying, “They capture you, but that’s not all. They have this huge black pot filled with water and a fire is lit under it. I think you can determine the outcome, Anna.” Starbeam finished the story and I was petrified!

  “Is there anything else we can eat?” I asked, with an uncomfortable bubble in my throat. Tay looked at Yurika. I thought she was hoping for the same answer I was. Yurika nodded while answering, “Yes, you can share the berries in the meadow with us this evening. And you can sleep in the tree above us so you will feel safe.”

  Her words were kind. Tay and I were grateful we did not have to journey into the forest to find our food. Something Yurika had said stuck with me… “You can share the berries this evening” … Oh no! That meant Tay and I would have to venture to the mallow tree tomorrow! The thought scorched my brain with terror as I realized we might get caught by the ogres and never return home again.

  I didn’t get much sleep after that.

  CHAPTER 12

  Not being able to fall asleep had its perks. My eyes dazzled as two suns rose up from behind the trees in front of me. Tailya slept soundly while I witnessed this glorious moment in this newfound land. I blinked my eyes to protect them from the bright suns, only to open them to a wonderous rainbow. It seemed to have appeared from out of thin air. Weren’t rainbows only supposed to appear after storms?

  “What are you mumbling about over there?” I realized I had asked the question out loud when I heard Tay’s voice. “Huh?” I said, hoping she wouldn’t want me to repeat myself. “Never mind. I thought I heard you talking to me,” she said.

  Tay stretched her arms above her
head and yawned. She woke her body up by spinning about around the tree. “Now that I am focused, what do you want to do today, Anna?” she asked with a small yawn. “Not go into the forest,” I replied assertively. She understood. After all, she did feel the same as me. But it had to be done.

  We both needed to eat, and we couldn’t share the berries forever; that was Starbeam and Yurika’s food. We would be taking away their only source of living. Tay and I faced one another as we read each other’s thoughts and we knew we had to go get our own food to eat. Scared as we were, it had to be done.

  Tay grabbed her wand and made it invisible in case we ran into trouble. I had nothing. Just plain ol’ fairy me. That would have to be enough. Tay took off first and I followed. We glided over Starbeam and Yurika, waving slowly like we may not ever see them again. Both bowed their head in unison, bidding us farewell.

  All the dread aside, I glanced at Tay and said, “It’s daylight. Surely we will be safe.” Only she did not take her focus off our destination, for fear of being blindsided and flying straight into the presence of an ogre. When she didn’t answer me, I became frightened.

  Looking ahead, we had almost reached the mallow tree. The waterfall was striking to my eyes. Beautiful clear water like the pond with the lily pads. There looked to be a cave behind the fall. As we approached the delectable feast we were about to enjoy, I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone lived inside that cave.

  This tree was full of fruit! I had never seen so many berries and flowers! Milk and honey poured from their petals. Scary or not, this land was full of wonderous things and I was starting to feel like I never wanted to leave. Surely Tailya could face an ogre if it came upon us. I filled my belly with savory satisfaction from the mallow tree.

  Tay called for her wand. Honey dripped from my lips as I asked what was wrong. She didn’t appear to be alert about anything. “Don’t we need a basket for these treats to take back with us?” I swallowed my gluttonous mouthful and smiled.

  We continued to fill ourselves up with as much as possible to keep us full for the journey back. “Anna, look!” Tay said in fear. The suns were leaving the sky. “How long have we been gone?” I asked frantically. “Well, it did take half the day to get here.” I could see her calculating in her head. “We will be ok. Look! There’s a cave under the waterfall. We’ll just sleep there tonight.” She seemed optimistic about us being in ogre territory. I, on the other hand, was fear-stricken.

  Tailya used her wand to part the water so we could enter the cave. It was dark and dreary. We couldn’t see anything in front of us. Unquestionably, a place to be agitated in. Nope. Wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, either.

  My thoughts quickly faded as Tay and I heard a thunderous brute sound that echoed inside the entire cave. “I think we found it,” I said in a frantic whisper. “I wasn’t aware we were even looking for it,” she said while grabbing and squeezing my hand. “Ouch! Tay let go. You’re going to squeeze my hand right off.” “Shh…quiet…it’ll hear you and your belly aching.”

  She began to loosen her grasp on my aching fingers when another monstrous groan shook us to our core. “I think it’s close, Tay,” I said while shaking like a dog after its bath. “Gee, ya think?” Tay had a ‘duh’ kind of tone in her voice.

  Just as she started to summon light with her wand, I assertively whispered, “Wait!” “What?” When she answered back, I could tell she was getting annoyed with me. “I’ll take the food and you do that thing with your wand. I’ll meet you in the forest, ok?” “What is it you think I can do, Anna?” “I guess turn it into something less scary,” I said with sarcasm. “It doesn’t work that way, Anna,” Tay said with a panicky voice.

  She flicked her wand and said “Fos!” Her wand shot out a bright white beam that lit up the entire cave. We could see each other’s panicked faces. Tailya’s eyes were wider than I had ever seen them before. Her eyes pierced into mine. She looked horrifically disturbed.

  She gritted her teeth together, trying to be discrete and said, “Behind you…” I squinted my eyes at her teeth, trying to figure out what she was trying to say. Her teeth unclenched as she pointed in terror and yelled, “Behind you, Anna!!” I turned my head back to find that the ogre was standing right behind me.

  YEEP!

  A silent yell rose from within me as I came face to face with this golden-eyed, pale-skinned monster. It had razor sharp teeth shaped like upside-down triangles. Drool was dribbling from its mouth and it looked like it had just eaten, because there was a piece of bone wedged in one of its teeth.

  I was terrified and my best friend was in a frozen state. I mustered up the strength to rear back my tiny fist and pop the ogre square in the nose. “A-a-a-choo!” It let out a hellacious blow, sending Tay and I straight through the waterfall, giving us our chance to escape.

  We heard a thunderous roar behind us, but neither of us dared to look back for fear the ogre would be right behind us. But it wasn’t. It stayed in the cave and we were well ahead, not far from the meadow. The suns began to rise, and we found ourselves feeling protected by them. “Daylight is always a good time,” Tay said. She let out a deep puff as she slowed her wings to a calm glide. I took her queue and again followed her lead.

  Up ahead we saw Starbeam and Yurika. “Hey, you made it back in one piece!” “Was there ever any doubt?” Tay asked, sarcastically. They caught each other’s eye and began to laugh. We felt at ease being safe again. “Phew! I never want to do that again!” I said with a sigh of relief. “We don’t have to, Anna. With these seeds I took, I can plant some berries under that tree in the meadow and we will never run out of food.”

  “Yay!” Starbeam and I leapt in joy as Yurika bowed her head, giving thanks to Tay. Tay nodded her head slightly in return.

  Tay and I returned to the ground and prepared a feast in front of the two unicorns. Starbeam asked about the ogre and wondered if we had seen the hideous thing. I was just about to tell the baby unicorn every horrific detail, but Yurika stopped me with her ‘mom stare’. I could see she was concerned about what I would say, so I turned off story time mode, gave him a chuckle, and said, “No, sorry buddy, we didn’t see anything. Just the mallow tree your mom told us about.”

  Starbeam looked disappointed, but I knew the truth would scare him. So did his mama, hence the stare. She thanked me with a bow, and I understood her caution. We gathered together under the tree and began eating some of the berries we had picked. Starbeam, Tay and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to get into for the day.

  CHAPTER 13

  The three of us hiked off toward the pond. When we crossed over the stony bridge and saw that Yurika wasn’t looking, we took off into the air and headed west toward an open field with a tower that looked identical to Tay’s back home.

  “What are we doing here, Tailya?” I asked, while feeling confused. “Are we going home?” I was becoming even more suspicious. Tay, Starbeam and I landed next to the tower with flowers all around it. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. Tay went inside and came back out with a blue glowing stick, gave it to me and said, “This is where I will train you to overcome your fear of Queen Chelynna. You will be able to destroy the evil inside her so you can have your mother back.”

  I was still confused. The stick that glowed blue had sparks flying off the end. I didn’t know whether to be excited or skeptical of this powerful object. “Here,” Tay said, handing me the wand.

  The moment it touched my hand, a burst of strange, overpowering energy flowed through my entire body. Twinkles of lights circled all around me and it felt like rays from the suns were shooting beams from my head.

  It was a little frightening at first. Never had I felt anything like it before. My hand was starting to shake as I tried to grip this amazing gift my friend had just given me. “How am I to use this if I can’t even latch myself to it?” I asked. Frustration started to take the place of excitement. I was becoming irritated.

  Tailya and Starbeam started to ch
uckle and told me to relax. “Unclench your hand, Anna,” Tay said while still laughing. “Now, give it a flick. See what it’s capable of,” yelled Starbeam. Both of them were starting to get on my nerves. “Ok,” I said with a little anger. “Let’s see what it does then!”

  Holding tightly to the wand, I moved my wrist in a circular motion toward a bud on a stem in front of me. I shouted with force, “GROW!”

  Nothing happened.

  The little bud completely disappeared. "I think you scared the poor thing,” Starbeam said. "It's just a flower. You can't scare flowers,” I replied abruptly.

  Starbeam lifted his head and raised a brow. "Flowers are alive just like you and me. They don't talk like we do, but they hear us. They have senses that we don't even know about or understand." I crossed my arms and sighed while listening to the baby unicorn lecture me.

  When he finally stopped rambling, I sneered and asked, "Ok, so what do I do then, oh knowledgeable one?"

  Starbeam felt my mockery as did Tay. Both gave me a not so friendly glare. I noticed I had upset them. Drawing in a deep breath I said, "I'm sorry you guys, it's just that I let my feelings get the best of me when I don't understand something. And I apologize for mocking you about what you were trying to teach me Starbeam."

  My young friend bowed his head to me. "Forgiven. Now that you have calmed down Anna, concentrate and try it again." The thoughts in my mind started cheering me on. "Ok, you can do this, how hard can it be to make something grow right?" I smiled at both my friends, assuring them I was going to get it this time. They nodded their heads at me as if they could read behind my grin. Circling and pointing the wand, I tried it again. Nothing. This time Tay's supposedly magical wand didn't even flicker.