“Master?” Nefari shook his head nervously and sprinted over to his brother, who was howling in pain. Magpie was seething as she realized Quagmire was starting to believe the goddess’s words, and her rouse was about to be revealed. Instantaneously, there was a loud clap of thunder, and everyone stopped mid- battle and watched, mouth agape, as Magpie rose up in a flash of light and was spinning around in the sky. When the spinning stopped, she slowly came down to the ground, her long black feathered cloak and hood draped around her. Her eyes were red, and although her face appeared younger, she still was ugly with wickedness. “Adorna gasped, “Iniquitous!” “I, I thought she was dead!” exclaimed Raven. “We all did!” replied Stark.
Iniquitous chortled a deep mirthless laugh, “Simpletons,” she wailed, “I have yet to claim these lands!” Then Nefari yelled in disbelief, “Grandmother?” “No you fool!” cried the sorceress; I killed that old hag years ago!” Now Isoldina yelled, “So you pretended to be Magpie all this time, lying in wait for the right time to strike!” “Iniquitous screamed, “You will all bow to me, and I will be queen of Equonicous!” Suddenly there was a fluorescent haze and a loud whoosh, as a portal opened and Sagacity bolted through. “That will never happen,” came the outburst from the old wizard. “Where is the trident?” Sagacity continued. “Is this what you’re looking for?” teased the malevolent sorceress. Iniquitous pulled the trident from behind her robe.
Everyone gaped at the brilliance of the glowing metal. Meanwhile, Ornatia and her soldiers were battling the goblin army. Quagmire, who was beginning to believe the green goddess, raised his tail, and wiped out the grotesque goblins. At that, Iniquitous turned her head toward him, “Ah, so now you betray me?” She screamed venomously. “You lied to me!” roared back the betrayed dragon. “Oh, did I hurt your feelings?” she laughed uproariously. “Are you turning into a sniveling dolt like that weakling, Edrical?” Raven, pointed her wand at Iniquitous, “Don’t you dare, don’t you dare speak of my father that way, he was a great wizard!” Stark pushed Raven’s arm down and stood in front of her. The black hearted sorceress narrowed her eyes, “That imbecile was ruining my agenda with his puritan ways, always preaching of peace and goodness. No one was ever good to me, I’m glad I killed him!” A stunned hush spread suddenly as everyone realized it wasn’t Quagmire who destroyed Edrical. Sagacity flew up and blasted Iniquitous with a jolt and she ducked as she sent one back. Raven exclaimed, “Ruby, your ring!”
She was so full of anger and hatred at the moment that Ruby did not realize her ring was glowing. Suddenly she was being pulled toward Iniquitous. “Nooooo,” she screamed. Raven grabbed onto her sister, but the force was so powerful, it pulled her right along with Ruby.
Raven put a protective arm around her sister as they were pulled toward the evil sorceress, who was now fighting with all of the elders. Iniquitous did not realize the trident had slipped from her robe. The trident was now airborne and heading toward the sisters. Willow yelled and Iniquitous now saw what was happening. “Noooooo!” she screeched as she sent a fireball at the sisters. Radkiel turned himself into a raven and flew up to block the attack from the girls. He then sent a bolt at Iniquitous. Directly, the trident crashed into the girls and Raven whispered to her sister, “Your ring, the missing stone is in it!” Ruby, shocked at this revelation almost dropped the precious ring after quickly taking it off. The ring immediately stuck to the trident and Raven grabbed it. Both girls started to fall and Herald, turning into an eagle swooped them up and carried them safely to the ground. While the other elders were trying to fight off Iniquitous, The goddess restored the onyx to the trident. Iniquitous grew larger and larger as rage boiled within her. Without hesitation, now that the trident was complete, Willow, Raven and Ruby all grabbed onto the trident, and pointed it at Iniquitous. They fell back as the stream of electricity shot out of the weapon, but each held on tightly as the sparks flew at the immoral witch. Screaming, not so much in pain, as to the thought of being defeated, Iniquitous cried out before she perished, “This is not the end!” as she gurgled her last breath, and vaporized out of existence. Nefari and Querd took this moment to try to sneak away, but were caught by Ornatia and placed under arrest. Instantaneously, the sky cleared up and turned a bright blue. Phinnia, whose wings were full of soot, brought over the dragon’s egg she was lovingly protecting, and placed it in front of the green goddess. Quagmire placed down the other egg he was hiding under his wing. Callioth pointed to Quagmire, “Look, he’s turning!” As everyone watched, the dragon’s skin went from dark and dusky to a bright cerulean blue. A big tear fell out of his eye and hit Gregor right on the head. “Yuck!” the teen expressed loudly. Daffilda exclaimed, “My goodness, the eggs are hatching!” Everyone watched in awe as the tiny dragons hatched.
Daffilda flew down with a basket, and placed the babies carefully into it. One was red and the other was purple. While everyone was admiring the new additions to the kingdom an owl hurriedly flew by and landed on Starks shoulder. There was a note in its claw. “It’s from the king and queen,” said Stark excitedly, “Our dear friends, we’ve been told by Pappa gnome that Ralliant has magically been restored, and the curse was lifted. Murk Island is no more!” The whoops and hollering were deafening as everyone shouted until their throats were sore.
“What’s going to happen to the Murk brothers,” asked Ruby. “They are being transported to the castle dungeon,” smiled Sagacity as Willow hugged her two girls. They were all exhausted and hungry from the draining fight. Kerina spoke up, “Good news everyone, Crizal had said that once we won the battle, we were all invited to the Dotted Elm for a feast.” “How did she know we’d win?” asked Gregor.” Kerina smirked, and shrugged her shoulders, “She had faith in her heart.”
* * *
The next day, although still tired, everyone assembled into the forest and took their seats in the lush garden behind the Dotted Elm. There were beautiful flowers and candles everywhere, as well as the scent of fragrant lilacs. Everyone stood up as the bride came down the aisle and stood next to her groom. “My dearly beloved,” started Sagacity, “we are gathered here on this beautiful day to witness the joining together of Radkiel and Adorna in holy matrimony….”
“Finally,” whispered Daffilda. Phinnia shushed her but nodded in agreement. Isoldina was sitting next to Stark, holding her hand, and was glowing. “Maybe I have another chance at love after all,” she thought happily. Pappa gnome and Gerlinda were also there and he retrieved Telli, after thanking Gregor for taking good care of her. Ruby was sad to learn that the little mum she’d become so fond of would have to be returned to the mountain, but Pappa and the green goddess assured her she could go and visit the little creature whenever she wanted.
“Just remember to bring some raspberry jelly biscuits!” Gerlinda giggled. After the ceremony; everyone celebrated not only the wedding, but their valiant victory the day before. Sagacity had offered Quagmire the courtesy of changing his name, but the grateful dragon decided to keep it as a reminder of his past and how indebted he was to the green goddess and his new friends in Equonicous. Sagacity decided to nickname him Mire, due to the king and queen’s admiration of him reforming himself so quickly. It turned out that Mire had two sisters, and he had his wings full so to speak, as he raised them with the help of the fairies. Phinnia and Daffilda each named one, Phinnia named the purple one Amethyst, and Daffilda named the red one Starblaze.
Quagmire approved of the names, and was honored by the fairies’ suggestions. Since Ralliant was restored, some of the inhabitants of Shimrock Mountain decided to go back to the land they once occupied. Isoldina created a tunnel so that if anyone decided to return to the mountain or just wanted to visit, they would have easier access.
The king and queen were happy to be reunited with Isoldina. Apologies for misunderstandings and stubbornness went all around. Herald went back to his post at the castle as did Noble, but not before asking Raven to be his girl. She blushed when he asked her to wear a ring he made
especially for her, out of precious metal and an emerald in honor of her birthstone. Everyone pitched in to restore the Shadowstone home. They could have done it with magic, now that everyone’s powers were restored, but Willow and the girls didn’t want it that way. Edrical had built it from his own hand, and in honor of him, that’s what they did. They also did the same with Serena’s shop. Now that everything was back in order, Willow sighed as she watched her two beautiful daughters from the kitchen window, giggling in the garden as they practiced their magic. “For once,” she thought, “All was right with the world.”
The end… for now.
Acknowledgments
I'd like to thank my husband Tommy for putting up with my shenanigans and having patience as I test my writing ideas with him. To my wonderful children, Charissa and James Hemmer, you are the lights of my life, thank you for being who you are. I'd like to thank my dad, Sam Serio, who encourages me, and always supports my writing. Thank you to my sister Stacey Dufrene, who always gives good advice, makes me laugh, and lets me vent.
Special thanks to Maureen Cutajar and Jeanine Henning, two of the most talented people I know, I appreciate all of your wonderful work and for helping my characters come to life.
Last but definitely not least, thank you dear readers, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it, thank you.
About the Author
Alisa Guttadauro was born in Staten Island, New York. She developed a love for creative writing in middle school, and is an avid reader herself. Alisa enjoys spending time with her family, and going fishing with her husband, Tommy. They're newly adopted cat, Gus, loves to sit nearby while Alisa is at her laptop writing. Alisa is now working on Book 2 of The Sisters of Dragoness.
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