Spellbound
Chapter 20

Daria Calarook paced around her dark home under the ground thinking of what spells to best bring the house of The Magic Guardians to a quick and painful death. Her son gazed at her while she perseverated constantly the words that echoed in her cave dwellings in front of him. Zell knew that she was going to attack, and attack with everything that she had learned over the centuries with a venom that would surely not be forgotten and spoken of for decades to come. The cave oozed with hatred. Daria turned to face her son and address him in dark forbidding tones........

“We rest, son of my womb, cocooned in the body of the earth, feeling the rock beneath our feet. In the darkness I feel my blood return to a comfortable warmth, my eyes as calm as they are in my nightly dreams. Water runs ever so cooly from the cave opening down fissures, feeding springs in other places. And in those moments without the noise or distractions of the world, in that pristine peace, I am me. Whatever waits out there, whatever we face, I’m ready” said Daria and her words echoed around the cave she had called home for as long as Zell could remember.

It was as if he was only seeing what his mother was capable of just now; the fires rose and changed from red to deep blue and crackled with the sounds of snapping bones. The air became thick with a hatred born from a long time past. As Zell looked at his mother he knew this would be a fight to the death and every nerve ending in his body stood to attention. He knew that his mother was a powerful Witch and that she had given him all she knew by way of magical skills to fight, summon and attack what ever was thrown against him in battle. He felt that he was ready and stood next to his mother as they chanted across the blue flames to each the vow of loyalty and strength before setting about to bring an end to Azadarin, Nathaniel and Penelope.

All the shadows the fire cast against the cave walls dissolved like ink and trailed their way down the walls and into the bodies of Zell and Daria as they stood before the evil blue fire. Within their bodies they felt the heinous vicious liquid enter their skin and fill them completely with depraved and beastly intent. Both Zell and Daria’s eyes changed colour and became black as ash, their finger nails grew and their skin became white as the driven snow. Daria looked at her son and spoke him.....

“Are you ready my son, to retaliate against the man and his fledglings that have caused our family so much grief and death?”

“Yes mother...I am”

“Then....so it begins....let us fix the wrongs done to us and erase all memory of the Guardians....FOREVER!!!”

This last word filled the cave and resonated into every nook and cranny of the mountain making it groan and shake to the very foundations of the earth. Evil had been awoken and was now on its path to cause as much destruction and death as was possible to all who bore the name of The Magic Guardians.

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Everyone sitting at the dining table in the log cabin all stopped eating and smiling then they looked at each searching for answers to what they had just felt, then to Azadarin.

“It has begun as I feared it would....ready yourselves my friends for evil is on its way to cause our death and destruction” said Azadarin solemnly and he cast his eyes downward towards the ground. Everyone felt a shift in the energy around the cabin and listened to what Azadarin said intently not moving at all until he finished telling them some things they needed to hear....

“Legend says their hearts died in their chest cavities long ago, that they putrified and made a heavy slime about their lungs as thick as underworld tar. That’s how they became killers and perhaps why. The Witches of the north say their emptiness is their madness, that they take life over and over as if they may possess the hearts and souls, yet never so. To be healed someone pure has to love each of them, to reform their heart as if it was the finest of clay, then set it to beating with pure nature’s essence. So until they replace such a being to forgive all that they have done, to break the universal scales and set them free to begin anew, the killing goes on. Daria and Zell are the last of their kind and my friends we are the last of ours as well. Nibbles please take these Letters I have written to Nathaniel and Penelope’s parents to warn them of what is about to take place and for them not to worry but to get ready to defend themselves in case Daria and Zell try to come at them first as is their way, please be swift of wing dear friend....this is very important” said Azadarin casting loving eyes towards Nathaniel and Penelope as they sat and watched his every move.

Nibbles flew to the sides of Nathaniel and Penelope and bowed to them mid flight then she darted to the table, bit down into the letters and was out the front door and gone. Her flight there and back from the village would take some time depending on whether Daria had placed spells ahead of time to intervene with her progress in the air.

Azadarin hoped that this was not so and he began to set the log cabin and surrounding Scarlant Forest ready for battle. Being a smart Wizard had its advantages over a Witch who was planning and reacting from a place of deep emotional displacement. Azadarin was thinking from a place of logic and this was different. He had already set the forest into a state of readiness even before he had tested Nathaniel and Penelope that very first day. It was just a case of setting the protective spells in action and he did this while Nat and Pen gathered weapons and their courage in their bedrooms. Once they were ready they both came back into the dining room and walked with Azadarin to the front door and porch to witness how powerful Azadarin really was.

He rose up to his full height and extended his arms and hands towards the forest. In a deep resonate voice he bellowed out........

“OBLITERENDO DEMONICESEO” and the forest changed quite dramatically right before their eyes. Pine trees twisted and changed shape into gnarled sharp swords with razor sharp spikes extending out in all manor of shapes to prevent anything coming to the log cabin with out them being sliced in half. The trees were alive and now soldiers called into the battle by Azadarin. Holes appeared in the ground with spears pointed towards the sky then they covered themselves with branches and pine needles to be hidden from view awaiting what ever creature fell into them at their own peril.

All the windows in the log cabin shrunk down to the size of ones hand so as not to allow access and a protective golden cage descended over the log cabin to protect it from anything that was hurled through the air at it. Nathaniel and Penelope reached for each others hands and gripped each other tightly as Azadarin set about protecting not only them but his home and the forest as well. One spell set about a chain of events that were truely astounding to behold.

The robes Azadarin was wearing turned golden as did the clothes that Nathaniel and Penelope were wearing. They felt lighter and indeed like they were wearing a suite of magical armour now. Everything was coming into a state of readiness for any eventuality that the Blackwatch was to thrust upon them. Azadarin was fully aware of what Daria was capable of because he had faced it before with his Guardian Wizards in previous battles. She was not be underestimated in the slightest. She was evil incarnate and knew no mercy when it came to battle. Azadarin still had the scars to prove that on his body. As the forest kept changing and morphing into readiness Azadarin turned and looked at Nathaniel and Penelope and opened his arms widely looking at them both and said a spell over them that at once made their clothes glow very brightly and a deep sense of comfort fill both of their bodies.....

“DUOLUS PERFECTUS” said Azadarin waving his hands over the heads of his companions.

“I have just given you as much protection that I can dearest friends, use all of your skills that you have been taught by me to your advantage, be careful, use logic at all times and be prepared for the worst....because Daria will show no mercy in the heat of battle and neither will her son” said Azadarin gazing at his friends with all the love a parent would their own child.

Nathaniel looked at Penelope and he could tell that she was very scared at what was about to happen. It was now that only after a few days of training and learning that all of their collective skills were to be put into action and he could see it in her eyes and feel it emanate from her so he spoke gently to her.....

“Pen....don’t be scared ....I wont let anything happen to you ok”

“Thank you Nat...oh Nat... just so you know...I like you a great deal as well”

He smiled and gripped her hand a little tighter in recognition of what she said and spoke back to her...

“Thank you Pen” said Nathaniel feeling her faith in him traverse through his blood and body with a strength he had never known before. He was ready and so was Penelope for what was about to happen. Azadarin looked at them both and smiled then turned to face the forest.

“She comes with him now....ready yourselves” said Azadarin walking down the steps of the log cabin and standing defiantly in front of his home and forest ready to defend it...to the death.