Sludge coughed and wheezed as he flew down to his master, Quagmire. The dragon looked more hostile than ever, “Got yourself nicked, did you!” he growled mercilessly. “Master, I could not find the trident,” whispered the wounded bird. “They must have an enchantment guarding it.” The dragon roared his displeasure at the news, as he thumped his enormous tail, “I warned you of this, you were not careful, and where are those two imbeciles!” Suddenly a large cloud of smoke appeared, with Magpie and the two brothers behind it. “Your age is showing, old hag!” seethed Quagmire, “You once were a powerful witch, now you’re an aging piece of waste!” “I wouldn’t be so cocky,” the witch warned, “You have no powers because your siblings eggs never hatched, in fact, no one knows where the lost eggs are, so don’t you go trying to mock old Maggie!” Querd almost fell over when it seemed like there was an earthquake, suddenly. He grabbed onto his brother and exclaimed, “What’s going on!” as the old volcano shook violently.
Isoldina smiled as she held Sagacity’s hand, “Help is on the way, my old friend, help is on the way.”
Stark, and Herald were back in Dragoness with the king and queen’s warriors. They were happily received, rested a bit, and had a hearty meal. One of the warriors took off her helmet, and Stark said in surprise, “You’re a woman!” Serena and the other women of dragoness smirked, and Serena replied, “Stark, don’t tell me you’re a chauvinist?” The young female warrior walked over to Stark as she blew the hair off her face, “And what is your problem with women, sir?” Stark felt all eyes on him, and spied Herald looking amused in the corner. He pleaded with him with his eyes, ‘Help Me!’ Herald came forward, “My lady,” he bowed, “I think what the gentleman meant was he has never seen such a capable female warrior before, as shown by the many medals on your armor.” “Stark smiled gratefully, “Yes my lady, I was astounded by your apparent, admirable achievements.” The fair haired woman was so quick, Stark didn’t have a chance to react as he found himself knocked on his back with the young woman’s foot on his chest and her sword at his throat. Phinnia giggled out loud and Kerina snorted as the young woman said, “Just an example of my,’Admirable Achievements,’ as you stated. Then she placed her sword back in the sheath of her tabard, and put her hand out to help Stark up. Herald started laughing, and Stark followed along, as did the rest of the large group. “Well, said Adorna, as she walked into the room, I’m glad you are all in good spirits.”
Everyone let out a loud whoop as Ruby, Gregor, Thaddeus and Radkiel followed in behind the expert swordswoman. “Ah, Ornatia, I see you made it here, with the other warriors,” Adorna smiled approvingly. Stark’s face tinged an awkward pink color as he looked at the floor. After everyone was greeted and updated on the latest developments, the newly arrived group ate and sat down with everyone else. Realizing her sister was not there, Ruby asked, “Where is Raven?” Willow was about to reply, when Callioth bustled into the shop. She had a horrified look on her face, and everyone started questioning her at once. “Stop!” yelled Radkiel,” Let her speak.” “Raven and I went Willow’s to check on the trident, she began, “As we approached the house we noticed the garden was torn up, and the windows were broken. There was glass everywhere, and as we cautiously started into the house, Sludge came after us.” Willow gasped and grabbed Stark’s shoulder. Callioth put her hand up, Raven is fine, I cannot say the same for that filthy bird though. She slashed him with her sword, but he managed to fly away, surely back to Murk Island. With your permission Willow, I suggest you send Noble to stay with her to guard the hiding place, as quickly as possible. Ornatia, who was the leader of the king and queen’s army said, “A few of my soldiers can go with Noble, I don’t think there should only be two people guarding such a valuable weapon, if you don’t mind my saying so.” Phinnia who was hovering near by cleared her throat, “I appreciate the fact that we have to get ready for a war of sorts, but there are also the matters of the two missing eggs, and the trident’s missing stone that need to be cleared up. Don’t forget, Daffilda found one egg in the forest, which means there is still one missing. Crizal is hiding the egg at The Spotted Elm.” Radkiel spoke up, “And we still have to rescue Isoldina and Sagacity, if he is ill, we don’t have much time.” “I don’t understand why their powers aren’t working; I mean they are both powerful beings, aren’t they?” asked Ruby. Thaddeus responded, “Don’t forget Ruby, when that awful day happened a few years ago, everyone’s magic became drained, that is why we’ve had to practice too often and so vigorously, just to maintain whatever energy we’ve had left. Something went awry when the Murk brother’s parents were killed.” “I can enlighten everyone about that,” replied Herald, “Queen Primrose told us that she was able to communicate with the goddess telepathically. She said that Isoldina told her that on that dreadful day, Dracha, the brother’s mother placed a curse on the kingdom. Since she was dying when she performed the dark spell, she wasn’t at her full potential and the incantation only succeeded to do half of what she bestowed. She tried to abolish everyone’s powers, and erase our memories of that despairing day so that her sons could rule with Quagmire on their side, and our alliance with the dragons would be destroyed.” Abruptly, Thaddeus turned pale and exclaimed in a pained voice, “Quickly, Raven is in danger!”
Raven wasn’t expecting another attack so soon, she tried holding off the unexpected onslaught of vultures coming at her from every direction. Her sword was out, slashing violently as she used her telekinesis to throw whatever she could at the vile birds. “Aaaaaaah!” she screamed as one of the evil fowls clawed her arm. She was holding them off well enough, but she was getting tired. Just when she thought her arms would give out, a sword came flying though the air and took out one of the predators. Then she heard yelling and Noble was by her side in a flash. Thaddeus worked on healing her arm, while Radkiel turned into a red-tailed hawk, and Ruby, surprising herself, turned into a great-horned owl. Radkiel whooped his approval at his young protégé, for a quick moment, and then signaled her to follow his lead.
Taking her left wing high, Ruby gouged the eyes of the first vulture that came near her. Kind of feeling a little disgusted and nauseous at the feat, she almost fell, but Radkiel flew to her side, and whispered, “Good job, you’ll get used to it, don’t forget, they’re the bad ones,” and she flew back up. Ornatia let out a battle cry and she and the other warriors took down the rest of the formidable creatures. Once everyone caught their breath, Radkiel said, “We’ve wasted enough time. They are producing these minions to help them, and we do not know how many there are, so we are at a disadvantage.” Ruby ran to her sister and cried, “Are you okay, I missed you so much!” Thaddeus said, “She will be fine, a little sore, but fine.” “Thank you,” Raven said to the feeler, gratefully. Thaddeus smiled and walked away to let the sisters catch up for a moment. “I didn’t know you could turn into an owl,” Raven said in surprise. “I didn’t either,” remarked Ruby, just as shocked. They giggled for a moment and then got serious, “Our father was born a prince,” Ruby whispered. “I figured as much,” Raven whispered back. “But how did you….” Ruby didn’t get to finish her sentence as Stark spoke in a loud voice, “We can all see how dire our situation is. Let’s decide here and now how we will proceed as time is of the essence.” Everyone except for Herald, gathered together to project their strategies.
The owl stood behind Isoldina as Magpie and the brothers stormed the filthy hole in the earth where the wizard and goddess were being held. Isoldina pretended to be weak as she whispered to Sagacity to do the same, not that he wasn’t already. “What sorcery are you up to!” demanded the crusty old witch. Sounding despaired, Isoldina replied, “As I am weak, and powerless at this time, what magic could I conjure?” Swiftly, Herald flew out from behind the goddess and pushed her aside, he threw sea salt at the old witch and held out a black candle made by the wickets, as he lit the flame with his wand, he chanted, with Isoldina, “We bind you Magpie, evil crone, you are powerless to harm others and all w
e have known, you shall cause no harm from this day forth, as we set a fire from this torch!” A cold wind started to swirl as the cowardly brothers ran and left their grandmother, to face her consequences alone, as the wizard and goddess kept up the incantation.
It was decided that half of them would go after the Murk brothers and Quagmire, and the other half would hunt for the dragon’s egg and Onyx. Knowing that it would be more to their advantage if they had the missing stone and egg, in order to conquer the evil dragon and gain all their powers back, they didn’t want to take the chance of Quagmire’s henchmen finding the mystical items first. Just as the vast group was about to separate, Gregor shouted, “Look!” as he pointed to the sky. Everyone cheered as they saw the big eagle with Isoldina held in one wing, and Sagacity sitting weakly on its back. When they landed, everyone bowed low. Isoldina, with tears in her eyes, admonished, “Please get up, I owe you all so much, most of all, an apology, do not bow to me.” Willow was the first to approach the goddess as Thaddeus and the other feelers grabbed Sagacity to attend to his health. “You can still bow to me,” the old wizard joked, in a raspy voice. They all erupted into laughter, and whooped, “All hail Sagacity!” The goddess took Willow’s hands into her own, “I am so sorry my petty jealousy….” Willow interrupted her, “Please…I never knew you were in love with Edrical, I didn’t know his past then.” “I know you didn’t,” Isoldina whispered, “we were both so young, can we put that behind us?” Willow smiled, and hugged the goddess. Adorna said, “Let’s get our old friends nourished and rested…” Stark stood by and smiled, making eye contact for a moment with Isoldina. “Ah, I almost forgot, forgive me for interrupting,” said Herald, as he pointed his wand toward the ground, “Revealous, Appearance!” Magpie, tied up in black binding rope, clunked to the ground, to everyone’s astonishment.
“Master, master!” the excited voices of the Murk brothers rang through Quagmire’s sensitive internal ears. His scales quivered in annoyance at the interruption of his nap. “Well!” snarled the impatient beast. “We found it, we found it!” ‘You found what you infuriating idiots!” Nefari held out a glimmering blue egg, and almost dropped it as Querd slapped him on the back in admiration. Gritting his sharp teeth, the dragon hissed, “Well done, but if you drop it, you worthless slug, all will be lost, and without the other egg, this one is useless!” “Now,” Quagmire tried to calm his voice, “Where did you find it, and where is Magpie?” The brothers glanced at each other in fear. How would they explain their grandmother’s disappearance?
Back at the potions shop, everyone got ready to storm Murk Island. They left Raven, Noble, Herald, and a few warriors to guard the trident, and the frozen Magpie back at the Shadowstone home. The fairies and Kerina went to the forest to retrieve the dragon egg from the Dotted Elm. As the others waited for them to return with the egg, they checked their supplies, and Gregor exclaimed, “Uh oh!” Radkiel turned around, “What is it now?” “I still have Pappa gnome’s telescope!” Radkiel grinned, “Young Gregor, when the Telli is finished with us you’ll know about it. “ “Okay then,” replied Gregor, as he checked his backpack. Ruby said, “I just fed Boon and the baby mum, are we taking them with us?” “Daffilda and Kerina, as well as the wickets are staying behind,” said Stark, “I think you should leave the mum with them.” “She does have special powers,” smiled Ruby, looking at the now napping mum. “All the better reason to leave her here,” replied Adorna, “We need magical beings everywhere. We don't know when another attack will come. If our powers weren't weakened by the curse of Dracha, we would be more cognizant of our senses. We are more powerful in large numbers because we can pool whatever magic we still have, together.”
Nefari and Querd were preparing Quagmire’s army for battle. Querd had escaped from Shimrock Mountain, and was back with his brother. Before Magpie was bound, she had conjured up a horde of foul troops to swarm the kingdom, and kept them hidden in the depths of the old volcano. Now they were gnashing their jaws in anticipation of causing destruction, which is what they were programmed to do. The brothers knew that this was their last chance to avenge their parent’s deaths, and takeover the kingdom. Quagmire bellowed from his lair, “Are they ready!”
Raven was pacing the floor in the disheveled living room of her once beautiful home. Everyone did their best to help clean up the mess left by Sludge and the other vultures earlier, before they left for the potions shop. Noble broke into her thoughts when he came into the living room, “You haven’t eaten much today, dear lady,” he said sounding concerned. Raven looked at him and smiled wanly, noticing he didn’t sound like himself, but she couldn’t put her finger on what was bothering her. “What do you have there,” asked Raven. “I picked some berries,” he said, “You have to eat something.” The young witch’s stomach growled. She didn’t realize how hungry she was, and she grabbed a bunch of the luscious looking berries and popped them into her mouth. “We should see if the guards would like some…” Noble grabbed her arm before she could go into the bedroom, and then the young witch started to feel funny. Before she passed out she looked at the young wizard and was horrified to see Querd holding her, then all went black.
Once Phinnia handed the egg to Adorna, she said, “I’m concerned about the color of the egg, its changing.” “She’s right!” exclaimed Ruby, “It’s darker.” Harmonia replied, “That’s not a good sign, it means the other egg was found, and it wasn’t by one of us.” “Are we ready?” called out Stark?” “Not so fast,” replied Willow, “we have a problem. The egg is turning dark, which means the other one was found, probably by the Murk brothers. Like Adorna said before, we are more powerful if we stay together. I do not think it would be a good idea to separate into two groups now.” “I agree,” said Thaddeus, “They are coming for us.” Unexpectedly, Noble bolted into the room, “Help, I went out back, just for a moment, and I was struck down, I cannot wake up Raven, or the guards, and…and, I couldn’t find the old witch!” Filling with rage, Stark yelled, “Send a boy to do men’s work!” Radkiel jumped in between them, “None of this nonsense, let’s go!” Adorna and Serena stayed at the shop with Harmonia, and the rest raced off to the Shadowstone home. It was eerily quiet when they arrived there. Radkiel, Stark and Herald went ahead, and motioned for the others to stay quiet. When they didn’t hear anything, Radkiel threw open the door and saw Raven on the now battered couch. “She’s in here,” he yelled. Willow and Adorna rushed over to the fallen teen. Raven moaned and Willow felt her forehead, “Shhhhh, it’s, going to be okay, we’re all here.” Adorna picked up a goblet that was on the ground, noticing the spilled liquid. She sniffed the inside of the goblet and looked at Willow. Willow grabbed Adorna’s arm in alarm. “Adorna said, “She’ll be fine, its only slumber berries, probably a lot of them, infused into a juice.” Willow let out a big breath, “Slumber berries?” Harmonia said, “Yes, enough to put her into a deep sleep. The brothers aren’t as stupid as they seem. They know they need Raven and Ruby alive to complete their mission.”
“This sounds more like Magpie, than those dimwits,” replied Stark angrily. “Magpie!” Ruby and Gregor both shouted. Herald, Ruby, and Gregor bolted into the bedroom. Magpie was gone, and so was the trident.
Now that Quagmire had gained some strength back, he was able to climb out of his lair. He was grinning as he held one of the eggs that he knew held his brother or sister. Once they acquired the third egg, his siblings would be born, and he would no longer feel alone. Then he could raise them as he pleased, and use their powers to his advantage. The trident was finally in his possession, but the last stone was missing, and those two imbeciles couldn’t find it. Could it be that it was found by his enemies and stored somewhere for safe keeping, but where, and where was the other egg? He felt the heat rise in his leathery face as his anger escalated into rage. He thumped his tail loudly and thundered, “Nefari, Querd, I’m ready!”
Magpie having a few tricks up her sleeve yet, knew she only had a little time left before Quagmire’s tempe
r would get the better of him, so she had to act fast. After Nefari had morphed into that dullard, Noble, she was able to escape the binding with a spell she taught Nefari years ago. Luckily her idiot grandson got it right, and actually had the remnants of the spell reversal. “Well,” she mused, “He is the smarter of the two.” Once the teen witch and the guards were asleep, Magpie and Nefari had conjured up a spell to break the protection charm that was safeguarding the trident. All they needed was something from the three witches, Willow, Raven and Ruby. Raven was easy, Nefari cut off a small piece of her beautiful black hair.
From Ruby they took one of the precious dolls, lying on her bed, and from Willow, a few drops of the perfume, from the bottle on her dresser. Winding the hair around the doll, and dripping the perfume onto it, the two evil sorcerers held onto the doll and whispered, “We call to thee that the trident be free, all in the name of the witch’s tree, all combined by the power of the three!” Over and over they repeated the phrase until the ornate box shattered open. They held their ears at the loud explosion, and then beamed when they saw the trident glowing in all its glory. Grabbing it quickly, Magpie said to her Nefari, “Quickly, we have to return to the Island, before Quagmire’s patience runs out!”
Willow looked around her once beautiful home and sighed. Thaddeus and Harmonia were tending to Raven and the fallen guards, as the others took up different tasks such as, setting up guard stations around the house, surveying the damage, and cleaning up the best they could.
Callioth, having just come from the forest said, “Crizal was generous with the amount of sap from the tree she gave me. We can start making some healing elixirs.” Serena thanked Callioth and said, “Let’s go to the kitchen and get started,” she looked at Willow for approval, and her friend nodded. Kerina followed behind Callioth with a small army of wickets. The colorful troll like creatures brought a bounty of magical candles with them. “I had to leave some of my people behind on Wickardia,” said Kerina, “I…” Adorna put her hand up, “No need to explain dear friend, each land in the kingdom, will have guardians left behind to protect them, we cannot take any chances of losing control of another one.” Kerina nodded, and took a white healing candle made with bilberry and lilacs, to Raven’s room. The sweet scented candle had a calming effect, which everyone needed at the moment. Ornatia, the captain of the guards, after setting up her soldiers around the home, came in and said, “Sagacity should be with the king and queen by now, and the goddess told me to tell you she would return soon. She had to go to Shimrock Mountain to check on things there and acquire some essentials she’ll need here.” All of the elders nodded, and Radkiel replied, “Okay, so each land has a witch or wizard on it and an assembly to defend it?” “For now,” replied Ornatia, “Unless they are needed…” Without warning, there was a loud crash on the roof, and everyone took a stance. Raven jumped up off her bed, and screamed, “They are here!” In a flash, Ornatia and Herald bounded outside, followed by Radkiel, Stark, and Gregor. With one blow of his tail, Quagmire had the ground shaking uncontrollably. Adorna and the others held up their wands. Magpie shot a fireball at Adorna, but missed as the swordswoman rolled onto the ground out of the way. Willow shouted, “Quagmire, your fight is with me; do not destroy our land, a land that you were born unto!” Stark leaped to his sister’s side, and stepped in front of her. Quagmire flicked his wicked tongue at the corners of his mouth, and raged on,” You, and that diluted wizard of a husband of yours stole my siblings!” he thundered angrily. Ruby, her temper rising yelled, “You leave my father out of this, you foul breathed lizard!” Querd raised his wand and pointed it at Ruby, but Gregor was too quick for him and shot the brother with a bolt from his wand, hitting him in the shoulder, and stunning him. “Akkk!” yelled Querd. Appearing out of nowhere Isoldina yelled, “Quagmire, you were not born for this, you were supposed to be born with your siblings and brought up in peace and harmony, to live on dragoness.” The dragon shook his ugly head, and pointed at Willow, “That witch, killed my mother, and stole the other eggs!” he hissed. “Not true,” continued the green goddess, Iniquitis was not your mother that was an illusion perpetrated by her!” She pointed her want toward Magpie. Magpie, flicked her wand, and the goddess held up her hand to deflect the assault. For a second, the dragon looked confused, but then he bellowed, “Lies!” and he roared angrily. Querd nervously tapped his wand in the air and hit Raven’s cape which went on fire. Noble ripped it off of her, and he and Raven both cast a bolt at Querd who was hit in the arm and screamed. He leaped behind a rock and moaned in pain. “Quagmire listen,” demanded Isoldina, “Dracha and Xenos killed your mother.” Magpie tried to shoot a bolt at the goddesses’ mouth to quiet her, but Stark threw his shield up and blocked the attack. The goddess continued, “Your mother was a beautiful dragon by the name of Eragonia, she was the last of her kind, and felt safe here. She was protected by the kingdom, after your father was killed by the Elder Murks for not conforming to their ideals. You were trained by Iniquitous to be evil, she was Magpie’s other daughter.” Everyone looked shocked at this revelation. Nefari was at Quagmire’s ear, “Master should we release the goblins yet?” The dragon shook him off, “All in good time,” he whispered sounding annoyed and perplexed at the same time. Magpie took this moment to flick her wand toward Willow who was caught off guard. The bolt hit her wrist and she dropped her wand, and she cried out. Radkiel caught her as she fell to her knees. Ruby’s blood was boiling and the heat was rising to her eyes, she could no longer control it, and flames shot out toward Magpie. The old witch tried to block the fire, but Raven used her telekinesis to remove the boulder that Magpie tried to hide behind. Querd, not waiting for approval, motioned for the goblin soldiers to move in. Everyone was fighting now. Balls of fire and lightning bolts flashed simultaneously, lighting up the darkened, cloudy sky. Isoldina knew she had to try to reason with Quagmire, she felt that if he knew the truth, he could repent and become whole again, not that Willow and the girls would forgive him for killing Edrical. Willing herself to fly up to the dragon, while the others battled Magpie’s army, she spoke to Quagmire in a gentle voice, as she sprinkled remembrance dust in the dragon’s face, and he sneezed as it went up his nostrils, “Try to remember,” she coaxed in a soothing voice, “Your beautiful mother, hatched three eggs. Iniquitous stole the eggs and hid them except for you. She kept you to turn you evil, and hate all that is good. Her goal was to turn your siblings evil too, and take over the kingdom. She didn’t care about you or your family. She, Magpie, and the brother’s evil parents all wanted the kingdom for themselves. Iniquitous was jealous of the king and queen. Remember, Remember!” Quagmire’s head felt heavy for a moment as he vaguely recalled a sweet voice singing to him. Then a foggy vision of a great beautiful blue dragon flashed before him, and he heard himself whimper. Shaking his head violently, he roared and pointed one of his legs at Nefari, “You! You lied to me!”
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