by Dani Swanson
“This is why it is taking you forever to write this down….asking silly questions. I don’t know why they had owls down there; I’m just telling you the story as it was told to me.”
“Sorry, you’re right. I’ll be quiet….let’s see….here we are..” She ran her fingers down the lines of her book until she found the right spot.
“The support group continued to grow as the word got out that there was a safe place for those who were wanting to help Erresuma. During this time, Penelope had fallen in love with a warlock named Peter and together they supported the growing community; acting as parents to those who were part of the lost Erresumen.”
“The years went by and the stories from Erresuma were getting worse. The queen of the Kingdom of Owls grew older, and her health was matching her age. She too wanted to help with the problems of the neighboring kingdom. As she stood in the center of the auditorium, she turned the circle looking into the eyes of those who were concerned, tired and weak – wanting to ease their aching hearts. She called to Penelope, who she considered a friend, to join her in the center of the circle. She addressed the group and told them that between all of them, they held more power than those who were causing the chaos over the wall. The queen told the group that they needed a leader who was level-headed and had a good heart. She informed them that Penelope was going to be the best for their group. She had beautiful feathered masks made for each of them that resembled the faces of owls. She informed them that the evils over the wall would be looking for them to destroy their work. The queen turned about the circle one more time and named the group The Circle of Owls.”
“The queen introduced the group to a giant (who was much smaller than a normal giant, but a giant nonetheless) named Tog. Tog’s family lived underground, as they were not welcome amongst the full-sized giants. He had a tunnel started to the other side of the wall of Erresuma. The adventures were continuous throughout the Circle of Owls. Penelope and Peter led the group to fight against the evils that were controlling their beloved Erresuma. Many members died during the escapades – Peter was one of them, leaving behind Penelope with two young daughters, to continue the quest for peace.”
“The Circle would bring food to the poor and capture the orgs and imps who were hurting those around them, imprisoning them in the dungeons of the Kingdom of Owls and forcing them to sign deals with imps to do good deeds. It took some time, but the revolution against King Rupert grew as the masked members of the Circle of Owls recruited people of the neighboring kingdoms to come together against their oppressors.”
“In the beginning of the spring, the Circle of Owls along with a group of vegetarian trolls, and Tog’s family of smaller than normal giants, raided the castle of Erresuma. The king was overthrown and entered into a contract with the Circle of Owls. A magic contract that kept the king from leaving the tunnels, having to do the bidding of the Circle for the rest of his days.” Robin paused from reading the story with an inquisitive look on her face. “……but who took over Erresuma? How long ago was this?”
Robin could hear a sigh – she didn’t even bother to look over the top of her book. “Sorry. I’ll keep going.”
“The Circle of Owls’ group became smaller. Now that peace was found throughout the kingdoms, many of the members started families and left the kingdom all together. Penelope had met the King of Izotza and had fallen in love. She no longer felt that she was needed among the Circle, thus leaving the Circle of Owls in the hands of her two daughters who were now adults, Cricket and Celeste. Both of her daughters were talented witches with an eager thirst for knowledge. They often bickered on who was truly in charge of the group.”
“Peace continued for many years and the group shrank further in size. The queen passed away and the king didn’t take another wife. He ruled the Kingdom of Owls with little regard to the group that resided beneath his kingdom. The sisters craved more than what they were given as they grew bored of their modest life. Celeste, the elder of the two had taken a husband and was with child….leaving behind Cricket, who always wanted more than she had. She saw the riches of the kingdom and wanted not only the wealth, but the control that a queen would have.”
“Cricket started to free the creatures who were imprisoned there. She sent them on a recruitment mission to gather those who had helped King Rupert in the past….elves, giants, imps, humans, fairies, witches and warlocks came from the darkest corners of the world, thirsty to return things to how they used to be. All of them wanting power and chaos to consume anything good.”
“Alright, that is where you left off, what is the rest of the story?” Robin had a new-found interest in the project, and she wanted to know what was going to happen next, even though she knew how the group turned out to be. Pen to paper, she started to take dictation:
“Cricket wanted to destroy what her mother had created, and started to give her minions different bird masks, leaving the name of the group intact, to not draw any suspicion from the kingdom above. She no longer wanted to guard the cells, living in what she considered rags, when there was so much more for her to go out and just take. Celeste, who was about to give birth to her child, came back to the circle to be with her sister. Cricket had promised her riches beyond her imagination and eventually her own kingdom. Celeste’s husband Yousef was failing to provide for her the riches that he promised her, and Celeste feared that she and her child would suffer for it. She agreed to help her sister and became the second in command (though her powers were much stronger than Cricket’s), creating a blood oath contract with the help of one of the freed imps, Sorgin.”
Robin’s eyes grew large as she tried to keep up with recording the story. “She’s part of the circle too! Well of course she is. She tricks everyone into contracts with her.”
“Robin shhhh…. Penelope heard word that the Circle of Owls had started meeting again. She was excited that her daughters were finally working together. She left the Izotza Mountains and went to go see them, but when she arrived, she found that there were no more owl masks amongst the group, and the cells had all been emptied. She went to the sisters and questioned everything they had been doing. Cricket told Penelope that Celeste was trying to become the most powerful witch in the world and was studying dark magic, and that she was recruiting creatures to do her biding.”
“Penelope, knowing that Celeste had great power put a curse on her, that when she had her child, it would take all her powers away from her. Penelope believed Cricket, as one of Cricket’s powers is being able to control people. I don’t think that Penelope was aware of that at the time. Cricket convinced Penelope to leave and go back to the Ice King’s palace. Penelope knew that Celeste wouldn’t be able to harm anyone once the child was born and followed the directions that Cricket had suggested to her.”
“Now, Celeste didn’t know that she had been cursed or that her mother had even been to the Kingdom of Owls. She continued to assist Cricket in growing the new chapter of the Circle of Owls – both through recruiting, and then researching the dark arts books that Cricket had to learn in order to know how to take other creature’s powers. As she helped her sister grow stronger with power, she started to lose her own. Then she had her daughter and could barely cast a spell. She blamed her loss on the child and sent her away to her father. The child was raised as if she was a normal human child. She didn’t start to learn about her powers until she was older. Her mother was living a secret life, helping her sister with the circle all the while having a normal life.
The child would spend some time with Penelope and the rest with her father; occasionally seeing her mother, who barely paid her attention. Yousuf started to teach the child magic, which made Celeste angry as she could no longer cast. Yousuf found out about what was happening with Cricket and tried to separate his family from the Circle as best he could. Celeste eventually agreed to not be involved and attempted to be a simple housewife.”
“Are you going to tell me the name of the child or are you going to keep making me writ
e out “Celeste’s daughter”? It’s Thea, right?! You said this was to help Thea!” Some of the sparkle Robin had been missing returned to her eyes as she continued to write.
“Yes Robin, the child is Thea. Ok? Her mother grew to hate her and blamed Thea for all the reasons she wasn’t satisfied in her life. The stronger Thea became as a witch and the awesome talents she possessed made Celeste’s detestation for her grow. Cricket was livid that Yousef had taken her sister away. Personally, I think that she needed Celeste to continue her research for her as the spells didn’t make sense to her, but that’s just my opinion.”
“I know the feeling….” Robin mumbled, as she continued to write.
“The Circle of Owls was no longer being seen as a helping organization. The king of the Kingdom of Owls seemed to have gone missing, as well as his advisor, Lola. News of the chaos being caused below the mountains was growing and a story of a Grimalkin stealing people’s souls surfaced. Penelope went back to the Circle, without warning, to find that her once work of art, was now full of the worst creatures. She confronted Cricket but, this time, was smart enough to not make eye contact with her when she spoke. Penelope and Cricket started to fight, and Penelope was overpowered by Cricket and the Circle of Owls. This resulted in her being forced to wear a black collar and being put in a cell. That is where she told me this story.”
“Wait! You were in a cell?! Why did they have you?” Robin was no longer writing but looking over her book with large eyes.
“We’ll get to that story later; will you keep writing?”
“Cricket had asked her sister to meet her for a visit. Thea could not be found because she was out with you that day, planning how she was going to save the world from the Grimalkin…remember?”
Robin nodded her head without looking up from her writing. A knot was tying itself in her stomach as she listened to a different perspective from that day.
“When Thea went to the field where the Grimalkin had last been seen, she made it just in time to see her mother being taken away in a cage and the Grimalkin attacking her father. Cricket had ordered the Grimalkin to kill…not stupefy, but kill Yousef. Celeste was brought back to the circle and joined the ranks with everyone else. Back to be the second in command and to help her sister become even more powerful. She found out that her mother was being held there and what she had done to her.
Thea continued to hunt for the Grimalkin and as you both had your powers increase toward becoming supremes, Cricket became more aware of your powers and didn’t want the competition to be available against her. She ordered the two of you to be dealt with. You were tricked by Sorgin for your spell abilities and then trapped in her collection case…Thea was to have her soul eaten by the Grimalkin on the orders of her own mother – who was trying to get her powers back and had read in one of her books that, if Thea’s soul was abstracted from her, that she may get her powers back. Thea showed to be stronger than any witch the Circle had dealt with in the past, knocking both herself and Lilly out when she attempted to use the Ether. While Thea was knocked out, Celeste was going to have her put in the dungeon with Penelope, but Cricket didn’t want them to be anywhere near each other. Unbeknownst to them, Penelope had put a protection spell on her granddaughter when she was younger, that prevented Cricket or Celeste from doing any real harm to Thea.” After Cricket and Celeste both had tried to kill Thea, Cricket got frustrated and put a forgetting curse on Thea, leaving her to her own devices out in the wilderness. I don’t know what her end intentions were in doing that, but that is the story of Thea’s past.”
“Wow…..I met her mom a few times, and she seemed so nice! I can’t imagine everything that has happened with that family……now, how did you end up there?!” Robin had even more questions but was cut short by the rumbling coming from the floor below. Off in the blackness of the cave, they could hear rocks crashing down and water splashing. The entire mountain was shaking.
“We need to get out of here!”
Robin hurried to grab her belongings and was shoving them in her bag when a large icicle fell from the ceiling. Tinker grew and filled most of the void of the cave – her fur had turned to solid ice. The icicle crashed onto her back as she stood over the top of Robin.
They ran out of the opening of the cave, into the snow storm, as the last of the rocks fell, sealing off the entrance.
Robin was shaking – both from the cold and her nerves. She got her things together and bundled herself up and scooped up her cat that was now normal size – placing the little grey cat inside of her coat. “We are going to make it to the bottom of this mountain today!” Robin declared as she marched away from the shaking mountain. All that could be seen from the void of whiteness were her wild red curls dancing in the wind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Baba Yaga bent down to the tattered hem of her skirt where the little orange cat was rolling in a bush of catnip. She scooped the cat and the bush up with one hand – cradling the little cat like a babe, rocking him back and forth as she pointed a wand at Thea and Percy. She started to speak to them in tongues. Thea only understood bits of what was being said, but the tone was undeniably hostile. Once again Thea was fixated on the bones beneath the hut that held it in place – not all of them were of animals.
Thea raised her hand in an attempt to ignite a fireball that only fizzled into a puff of smoke in her hand. “We don’t mean to trespass, please put my cat down and we will be on our way.”
Baba Yaga started to speak louder than before, sparks flying from the end of her wand. Thea and Percy were frozen to the ground, as if their legs were stuck knee high in the dirt. Behind her, a fire ignited under a large caldron of water with an unidentifiable concoction starting to stew within.
“She’s going to eat us.” Percy whispered, grasping his legs at the thighs, trying to pull his legs up.
“I gathered that much!” Thea shaking her hand trying to get the fizzle to grow into a fireball.
The twisted tongue of the Baba Yaga continued to spew her magic at them. Fig seemed hypnotized by the herbs she held in her hand.
“She’s speaking Elvish and Fairy speak of the old world…..I can’t make out what she’s saying!” Percy twisted and turned – falling on his butt, unable to get up as his feet were still glued to the ground.
The now boiling goo in the cauldron spewed a scent of an unsavory smell of death and rot that burned the inside of Thea’s nose. She attempted to breathe through her mouth but could taste the bitterness in the air. She continued to scan behind Baba Yaga, looking for an escape – nothing but the snowy trees. “Fig! Wake up! Get out of here!” She screamed at her cat – her hand still letting off nothing but smoke.
Baba Yaga laughed as she walked over to her cauldron to stir her concoction. With a flick of her wrist the sparks of her wand turned into a stream of pink energy that separated into four ropes – wrapping themselves around each of the cemented feet of Percy and Thea. She pulled her wand back over her head and the feet of Thea and Percy started to slowly stomp toward the boiling cauldron; Percy was still on his back, being dragged toward the pot.
Percy drew his sword, stabbing it into the ground to try to keep himself from moving forward – he gripped the handle, knuckles turning white as the blade snapped in half under the pressure. They screamed and begged with Baba Yaga; their voices echoing back to them from the trees – she returned with the same chatter that had been flowing from her lips.
Thea stopped yelling and started to cry. “Percy, stop! Shut up!” He stopped yelling and stared at her with his icy blue eyes. Thea locked eyes with him and started to whistle a happy tune as loud as she could – she wiped tears from her cheeks as she continued the tune, her feet stomping in unison with Percy’s feet.
“What are you doing?!” His brow furrowed.
Above the chanting of Baba Yaga there was a squawking coming from above the trees – the dark figure of a raven was soaring to her happy song. Thea smiled through her tears as Jaeger came and perched on her
shoulder.
“Help us, PLEASE!” With a tilt of his head, the whispered words guided the bird to the arms of Baba Yaga. He swooped down, knocking the arm which held her wand – the streams of magic broke, allowing Thea and Percy to have control of their legs. Jaeger grabbed the bush of catnip from the nook of Baba Yaga’s arm, flying far off to the trees where he dropped the bundle. He squawked with delight as he swooped back to the group. Fig shook his head out of his daze – his eyes grew large as he gawked up at Baba Yaga. With a hiss, Fig dug his claws into her chest and leaped to the ground. Thea was unable to use her powers as she tried once more to conjure a fireball. She went to help Percy to his feet – his shirt was shredded on his back as his skin had scraped off in the dirt.