Page 4 of Bewitched

“I can’t,” protested Rapunzel. “My magic isn’t strong enough to work on a dragon or a portal. You need to do something. This is up to you. You got us into this mess, now fix it and do it fast!”

The dragon veered upward so quickly that Medea lost her travel bag as well as her cloak, and nearly fell from its back. The items fell to the ground as Rapunzel held on to her even tighter. Then, the dragon swooped around and headed right for the swirling mass of colors. Medea froze in fear. “I–I’m scared, Sister,” said Medea, not yet able to fully control her powers, and feeling too reluctant right now to even try. She was at a loss for knowing what to do, since her mother had never told her how to handle a situation such as this.

“Hold on!” cried Rapunzel, laying her head against Medea’s back. “We’re going through!”

“Naaaay,” cried Medea, knowing now that not only her siblings, but also her father was going to be angrier with her than ever before. Aye, when she returned—if she returned—there was going to be hell to pay.

Two

Rhys Blackseed rode his oversized silver snowflake warhorse away from Kasculbough Castle in Mura, on an errand from the King. Being King Rand Osric’s head knight, Rhys had been given the best steed of the land. It took a strong man to control such a large horse, but then again, Rhys was stronger than anyone.

Being the youngest son of the late Sin Eater, Ambrose Blackseed, Rhys had inherited the family trait of super strength from his great-grandfather. He also had the power to heal himself, although he rarely ever needed to use it. The Blackseed brothers had a strong presence in the land of Mura. Zann, the middle brother, was the huntsman for King Drustan Grinwald of Evandorm. Their eldest brother, Darium, was a Sin Eater who made a great sacrifice to ensure the souls of dead loved ones made it to The Haven, instead of ending up in The Great Abyss.

Rhys rode next to Zann, but could tell by the silence that his brother was still upset. With his quiver of arrows on his back and his bow thrown over one shoulder, a scowl plastered on his brother’s face.

“Zann, are you still sulking about the fact our brother has newfound fae powers?” Rhys asked, looking at him from the corners of his eyes. Zann hadn’t spoken much to anyone lately, not even at their brother Darium’s wedding yesterday.

“I am not sulking. I’m just not sure how to accept everything that has transpired lately,” Zann answered.

Their brother Darium married the fae Talia-Glenn, who was also an Elemental of the Earth. They’d almost lost Darium when he was sucked into the portal of the Land of the Dead, but thankfully things worked out. The Kings were grateful for the closure of the portal, because this saved them from the dark spirits coming through from the other side. Two of the Kings even decided to drop the ban prohibiting magic of any kind, since it was magic that closed the portal in the end.

The land of Mura was ruled by three kings who never seemed to agree on much. Each of them was greedy and wanted to rule Mura as their own. Rhys was headed now to King Leofric Sethor’s castle to try to convince the man to join the other two kings in no longer prohibiting magic.

“We should be happy for our brother. Also, thankful that we now have Mother with us again, when we thought she was dead,” Rhys pointed out.

“That’s something else that is going to take some getting used to,” complained Zann, not wanting to forgive the woman for deserting them when they were children.

“Which part do you mean?” asked Rhys. “That we were lied to about her death, or that she is an Elemental of the Air and we never knew it?”

“All of the above,” Zann snorted.

“Our late father is the one you should be angry with, not Mother.”

“Um... Rhys?” Zann looked up over the lake and his eyes opened wide. “Do you see what I see?”

“What?” asked Rhys, turning to look, just as his horse reared up in fear. “Whoa, Sampson.” He tried to still the animal, gripping tightly to the reins. Then he saw what his brother was speaking of. There was a swirling, colorful portal opening at the edge of the water. The Lake of Souls was the largest and deepest lake of Mura. “Darium has been insisting he’s seen another portal opening, and I guess we should have listened to him.”

“What is it exactly?” Zann stopped his horse and so did Rhys. “I mean... it doesn’t look dark and murky like the portal that led to the Land of the Dead.”

“Nay, it doesn’t,” agreed Rhys, his horse turning in a full circle since it was frightened and wanted to run. Rhys held it still. “It oddly seems... colorful and almost... comforting.”

“I suppose we’d better get a closer look and figure out exactly what it is.” Zann dismounted his horse and tied the reins to a tree. Rhys did the same. Together, they slowly walked toward the dreaded lake that only seemed to bring strife and trouble to the land of Mura.

“It looks like something is coming through the portal, but I can’t tell what.” Zann stretched his neck, trying to see clearly the center of the swirling mass that was right in front of him now. Then he reached behind him and yanked an arrow from the quiver on his back, quickly nocking the arrow in case he needed to use it.

“If it’s something bad that comes through, we’ve got to stop it.” Rhys unsheathed his sword, getting ready to fight. “I’m getting tired of this.”

“Me too,” agreed Zann as they stood in front of a large boulder, just waiting and watching, not knowing what to expect.

What came through the portal was something that neither of them could have ever imagined.

“Watch out!” shouted Rhys, pulling his brother out of the way as a large, red dragon swooped through the portal, its sharp talons almost scraping against Zann’s back as it passed overhead.

Zann let loose the arrow, but it only bounced off the hard scales of the dragon, making the beast turn and shoot fire from its mouth.

“Dammit.” Zann dove behind the boulder, but Rhys wasn’t fast enough. His tunic caught fire, flames shooting up past his face. Rhys dropped to the ground and rolled to put out the flames.

“There is someone atop the dragon,” shouted Zann, getting back to his feet.