by Paul Simpson
Chapter 10
4th Witch / Element of Earth
After eating and a short sleep, Ffion awoke in one of the abandoned cottages to the sound of music. Sitting up from the sofa she had fallen asleep on, she was greeted by the sight of George trying to play a computer game.
“Hi. You’re up, look what I found!” George turned his back to continue playing. “It took me a while but I finally got it working, it's amazing what people left behind in the initial rush. I’ve always seen kids do this and always wanted to try it for myself, and with these little sticks on the pads it’s much easier than a keyboard. Paws were too big to use them and I always had trouble catching a mouse to use, before I realised that was the name of the plastic lump next to the computer.”
He paused for a second or two “I’ll be quiet now…” he said with a hint of embarrassment, realising how stupid he’d made himself sound.
Ffion smiled at George but had to break up his fun time. “Come on George, play’s over. Once this is all over I promise I’ll get a place to live and you can play on one of those machines all you want.”
George was enjoying himself but he knew there were more important things to be doing, “No problem Fi, let’s go rescue your mother.”
Meeting back up with John, Ffion turned George back into the Snow Leopard-sized cat again as the duo took guard of Jodie.
“OK, you two play nice while I’m go shopping for our fourth piece of the puzzle,” said Ffion as she changed into a cat and ran back over to the webbed mansion to locate the next portal.
Ffion stepped out of the portal into an alleyway. She found herself in the middle of a busy city as people rushed by, going about their business. The roads were filled with cars all racing past, each trying to get to their destination.
Ffion followed the pull of her magic. Before her stood a 40-plus floor skyscraper, bigger than anything she had ever come across.
“WOAH!” she said in awe. There was a large sign with three spirals joined together at a central point, with the words ‘Triskelion Construction’ over the main lobby entrance. She followed the rows of windows all the way up to the top. “What’s the betting I’m not going to find what I want on the ground floor?” she mused.
Peering through the glass front windows she could make out the security guards by the desk, lifts and stairs.
“Think I’m going to need another way in for this one.”
She began to pace around the building, looking for a weak spot to exploit as an entrance. It was near the back of the building where a delivery was being taken of new office equipment, that she spied her chance and changed into a cat. Using her size to her advantage, Ffion slowly crept around the walls up to the bay doors, where she waited for her chance and slipped silently past the workmen and security.
As a cat, Ffion followed the pull of her magic as she took to the stairs and began to climb one floor at a time. It was a long climb but slowly she made her way to the top.
“Is it too cliché to say I knew that was going to happen?” she asked herself, panting for breath.
At the top floor she changed back to human, tired and out of breath from the climb.
“So far so good and I’ve a feeling I need to be over there,” she said to herself as she looked down a single long corridor toward an office door with another large symbol of the three spirals upon it. Nervously she began to make her way toward it as there was no cover if anything happened. The office door was ajar so she changed into a cat and slipped through the doorway in the cover of the shadows.
A woman was talking on the phone, her chair at an angle as she looked out of a singular large window in the office at the bright setting sun over the city scape.
“Yes that’s right, it won’t be a problem but for the moment you’ll have to excuse me as I’m expecting a meeting very soon that I need to be in. OK then, alert the board that phase two might start tonight if all goes well and I’d like any preparations to be in place. Goodbye.”
The woman turned and placed the phone down on her desk, she was dressed in a knee length skirt with a shirt to match. She looked quite formal and business like for a witch, which Ffion thought was to be expected given her environment of work.
As the woman finished arranging her desk and putting her work tidily in place, Ffion noticed something strange about her. As she looked up and stared directly at Ffion there was a shimmer across her eyes. They seemed to reflect in the dark like a wolf's.
“Don’t sneak into my office and think you’re so clever," she said. "Nothing escapes me. Come out of the shadows and be proud, not like one of those whimpering employees that stands there in fear, not daring to say a word.” She folded her arms and waited.
Ffion changed her form and stepped forward into the room’s limited light.
The woman at the desk smiled as she looked at Ffion from head to toe. “So, you’re the one they speak about in the prophecy are you? I have to admit I was expecting something… more. I believe I know why you’re here but I’m not willing to do business with you.”
Ffion was confused.
“You seem to know who I am but I’ve never heard of a prophecy, although you all seem to have, which is becoming a little annoying if nothing else. So, do you want to hand over your soul as payment to release my mother or will things start to get a little rough in here?”
The woman smiled.
“So you are Jodie’s daughter and very much like her I must say. How she was, back when I knew her, same can-do attitude. I’ll think about your offer but for now I’ll settle for rough.” She peered past Ffion and down the corridor to the lift, as the ping of the door alert could be heard and the doors began to open.
Two security guards appeared from within and began to walk toward the office. Ffion watched as their pace quickened and they loosened their buttoned collars with a low growl noise. As they quickened their pace, their size and shape began to change with claws on fingers and large teeth pushing out from their jaws as the hair around their body began to grow. Ffion flicked her hand and slammed the door shut, causing a couple of nearby cabinets to fall, blockading the door.
“What’s the matter?” asked the woman, “never seen a werewolf before?”
“Er, no actually I haven’t!” came Ffion’s bemused reply.
The woman smiled back at her.
“Come on now, did you really think I wouldn’t protect myself, oh and also that my staff were human?”
The door began to break as the shouting became growls and claws began swiping at the door."
"I believe you have come across an imp," said the woman. "The funny thing is, as they consume souls they become more human looking and possess greater strength. Throw in a few animal souls, you’ll begin to realize where stories of vampires and well, in the case of my security, werewolves, come from ha ha ha ha! And last I checked, cats and dogs still aren’t living together.”
The wolf guards burst through the half destroyed door, shaking the shelving around the office like a small earthquake. They were quite human in form standing upright, apart from the shape of their legs which resembled a wolf’s hind leg, curved back like an elongated foot down to the paw. The guards separated to go either side of Ffion as she got herself ready for the first strike. Both wolves jumped together as she turned into a cat, dropping to the floor. The two guards crashed heads, landing on the floor in a heap and then giving out a yelp as they scrambled to their feet again.
Ffion changed back and stood with her forearms aglow with energy. The first wolf charged again as she reached out and grabbed the fur around its head, swinging the creature into the wall with a winding blow. The second wolf swung its muscular arm in a backhand swipe, catching Ffion in the stomach, which sent her reeling across the office to land on her backside with a thud, hitting the shelves across her back and rattling the items upon them.
Climbing up, the two wolves were ready again and faced her as they panted hard, drool falling from their sharp teeth and jaws. This time she str
uck first and leaped forward with a boot to the first wolf’s face, breaking several of its teeth from the impact. She spun around with a foot into the other's gut, making it retch as it fell to the floor.
Grabbing what looked like a glass trophy from one of the shelves, Ffion leapt over to the first wolf and smashed it around its head like she was swinging a baseball bat knocking it out cold. The second wolf rose up again and began throwing punches and claws, forcing Ffion back across the office. A couple of claws made contact as she backed against the wall. Ripping a shelf off, she took a swing at the beast but it grabbed the wood and forced it against her using all of its weight. Almost nose to nose, the werewolf smiled and began to open its jaws to bite Ffion. With a hard push, Ffion moved the wolf away from her enough to drop to the floor, where she promptly punched the creature between the legs. With a high pitched yelp the wolf's eyes began to weep as it slowly hunched over in pain.
“Guess you’re still human enough for that to work then?” said Ffion from the ground beneath the beast, where a bright light formed with a resonating bang, sending the creature flying up into the air and bouncing off the ceiling to come crashing down on top of its unconscious colleague.
Ffion stood up slowly, the glow from her eyes and hands dimming as she stared straight at the witch who was still sitting in the chair watching.
The woman gave a nervous smile at Ffion’s success, trying not to let on that she was impressed and worried at the same time.
“I've more where they came from,” she said
The ping for the lift echoed in Ffion’s ears as and she could hear the growling from within as the next set of four werewolves walked into view at the far end of the corridor.
“But I believe your time is getting short if you want to save your mother," the witch continued. "The longer you spend here, the more vulnerable your mother becomes. I take it you’ve taken measures to guard her but eventually the tide will turn and your hired help will lose to an overwhelming force.”
Ffion twitched at the thought and stood ready to fight, wiping her lip clear of blood.
“Now, now,” said the woman. “We’ve started off on the wrong foot, let’s set that right first. I am Victoria and I believe I’ve something I can offer, if you’ll just hear me out. It's a win-win situation for us both.”
With a wave of her hand the guards stopped outside the office and pulled shut the remains of the doors, while the two women faced each other to talk about the Victoria's ‘business’ proposition.
Moments later Ffion left the office, a fountain pen in her hand, with the collected soul of the witch she had come for within it.
“You do realise you also need something from your mother, not just us, to complete your task? It must have been touched by her power as well, good luck finding that antique.”
Victoria, still in her chair, waved to the guards at the door.
“See her safely to the door gentlemen, guess we’ll have to deal with the prophecy another time." She swivelled around to stare back out of the large window "OH! One more thing,” she added. “If you have any remains of your mother’s body, the spell will take minutes not hours to complete, but it would cause her some discomfort for the cost of speeding things along.” Victoria smiled at the thought of causing Jodie more pain.
Ffion turned and frowned at her, “Why are you doing this? What do you get from helping me?”
The woman just smiled. “You’re wise to question what I have to gain other than saving my mortality, be it a soulless one now, but you’ll have to guess, because what I want is an answer that doesn’t come with the deal we just made. So make your choice, take the easy choice and go back with your gift or stand and fight. I have a whole building full of guards.”
Ffion listened to the woman’s words and looked back at her as she turned in her chair to face her.
“What’s it to be? From one witch to another do you accept the deal?” asked Victoria.
Ffion nodded and turned her back to walk away to the lift and out of the building with her prize.
Back in the village Ffion saw that the imps were now attacking the stones but John and George seemed to have the fight in hand. As she drew closer to the fight she shouted out a loud “BOO!,” catching the imps off guard and causing them to be startled as they realised they were out-flanked in the fight. Quickly they scurried off into their hiding places, leaving the area clear.
Ffion smiled over at her father and friend as she pointed toward the imps. “You should see them when they get bigger,” she said giving a knowing laugh. Pulling the pen from her pocket, Ffion held it to the fourth stone and released the soul. Silently it left the enchanted object and glided silently across to the stone where it was absorbed.
Jodie looked at Ffion. “That was almost a little unnerving how quietly that happened. You look like you’ve had quite a fight, did everything go all right this time?”
Ffion paused for a second. “Not as planned but I’ve got what I went for. I just have the feeling this one’s going to bite me in the backside somewhere down the road.” She smiled back and gave a reassuring nod to put them all at ease.
George was confused. “But the others went kicking and screaming into the stone, what changed?” Ffion didn’t want to explain. “It’s done with, just one more witch to go so let’s finish this off before something else happens.”