A Tale of Witchcraft... Page 18

The High Commander raised a hand to quiet the clansmen.

  “All of your questions will be answered in due time, but I will not be answering them,” the High Commander said. “For the first time, our gathering will be led by our commander in chief himself. He has decided to pay us a visit to address your concerns personally. So, without further ado, please welcome the Righteous King.”

  Suddenly, the courtyard filled with a crimson glow as the Righteous King appeared on the platform. He wore a shimmering red suit and a matching mask that was shaped like a ram’s skull. Brystal let out a quiet gasp when she realized why the Righteous King’s clothing was glowing—it was made from the same bloodstone as the Righteous Brotherhood’s weapons!

  The clansmen greeted their Righteous King with a generous bow, but Brystal could detect a sense of resentment in the air.

  “Hello, my brothers,” their leader said. “It’s an honor to finally meet you face-to-face.”

  The Righteous King spoke in an authoritative whisper, but the sound was amplified through the horns of his mask and echoed through the fortress.

  “Why is your plan taking so long?” a clansman asked.

  “You said you would be sitting on the throne by now!” said another.

  “You promised to restore the Righteous Philosophy to the constitution!”

  “You swore to destroy the magical community!”

  “None of your promises have come to fruition! Why should we trust you anymore?”

  The Righteous King stood calmly and listened to the clansmen until all their complaints were voiced.

  “I sympathize with your frustrations,” he said. “You’ve all waited a long time—some of you have waited your entire lives—but do not confuse patience with failure, my brothers. I will sit on the throne of the Southern Kingdom, I will restore the Righteous Philosophy, and together, we will destroy the magical community. But such conquests don’t happen overnight and they cannot be achieved by force alone. If we want to succeed, we must strategize.”

  “The Fairy Godmother should be dead!” a clansman shouted.

  “Why did you order the High Commander to keep her alive?!” asked another.

  “What sort of strategy is that?!”

  “Eliminating the Fairy Godmother is the key to our victory—but eliminating her now will lead to our downfall,” the Righteous King said. “You forget she is just as beloved as she is powerful. If we want to destroy her, we must destroy her popularity first. If we don’t give the world a reason to hate the Fairy Godmother before we kill her, they’ll turn her into a saint, and her influence will live forever. That is why I ordered the High Commander to keep her alive at the wedding. The attack was never meant to be an assassination—it was only meant to instill fear. Fear leads to mistrust, mistrust leads to mistakes, mistakes lead to disapproval, and disapproval leads to demise. And I’m proud to say my plan is working beautifully. Soon, the Fairy Godmother will make the biggest mistake of her life, and she’ll become the most despised person on earth. And once the world loathes her, we can annihilate her without consequence.”

  “What mistake?”

  “What could make the world hate her so much?”

  “My friends, this Brotherhood’s greatest attribute is its secrecy,” the Righteous King said. “The less I tell you, the less our enemies can interfere. All you need to know is that the Fairy Godmother is about to commit the unthinkable. In fact, she’ll be so distraught over her own actions, the Fairy Godmother will willingly surrender herself to us! And once she does, the rest of my plan will fall perfectly into place. Have faith, and I promise, your patience will pay off.”

  The Righteous King’s scheme was so far-fetched Brystal almost laughed at it. She could tell the clan wasn’t convinced either.

  “More false promises!”

  “We should have never pledged loyalty to you!”

  “If you’re so confident, tell us when it will happen! Give us a time frame!”

  “Didn’t I mention it?” the Righteous King asked in a playful tone. “Oh, forgive me for burying the lead—it’s all happening tonight.”

  A distrusting murmur swept through the courtyard. They wanted to believe him, but it all seemed too good to be true.

  “That’s right, my brothers, you heard me correctly,” the Righteous King said. “Mark my words, by the end of this coming night, I will deliver everything I’ve promised you! The Fairy Godmother will be eliminated, King Champion XIV will be dead, I’ll be seated on the throne, and the Righteous Philosophy will be permanently restored to the Southern Kingdom! Without the Fairy Godmother to guide them, and without the laws to protect them, nothing will stop us from obliterating the magical community once and for all!”

  Despite his enthusiasm, the Brotherhood remained skeptical. The High Commander stepped forward to reassure the doubtful clan.

  “The Righteous King is telling you the truth,” the High Commander said. “This is not the time to be cynical, my brothers, because the moment we’ve all been waiting for is here at last. This gathering isn’t just a meeting of the minds—it’s the dawn before battle! This coming afternoon, we will march to the Fairy Territory and accept the Fairy Godmother’s surrender. And once we put an end to her vile regime, the war on magic will begin!”

  The Brotherhood erupted with pure exhilaration. They roared so loudly the fortress rattled around them. The High Commander and the Righteous King climbed to the ground and hoisted the platform upward like a hatch. The courtyard filled with an even brighter crimson glow as the Righteous Brotherhood’s arsenal of weapons was exposed. The High Commander distributed the weapons, handing out crossbows, arrows, swords, chains, and spears to the excited clan.

  As the clansmen prepared for battle, Brystal slowly backed toward the exit. The men were so occupied with the weapons they didn’t notice her slip away. She hurried through the fortress, and once she passed the drawbridge, Brystal broke into a run. She returned to the designated sand dune and kept a watchful eye on the fortress, hoping Seven would make it out in one piece. A few minutes later, a clansman raced out of the structure and joined her. Before he got too close, Brystal cautiously pointed her wand at the clansman, and he put his hands in the air.

  “Brystal, it’s me—it’s Seven,” he whispered, and removed his mask to prove it.

  “Thank goodness,” she said, and lowered her wand.

  “What the heck did we just witness back there?” Seven asked. “Why would the Righteous King promise so many ridiculous things? Was there any truth to what he said?”

  “There can’t be,” Brystal said. “Even if I did commit the unthinkable, as he said, I would never surrender to them!”

  “I can’t believe the Brotherhood would fall for such nonsense!”

  Brystal went quiet as she replayed the Righteous King’s words in her head.

  “I’m not sure all of it was nonsense,” she thought aloud. “We’re forgetting there is someone who could easily take the throne and restore the Righteous Philosophy by the end of tonight. And they’re just as hateful and old-fashioned as the Brotherhood.”

  Seven’s eyes went wide as he came to the same conclusion.

  “That was my uncle Max,” he said. “I mean, who else could be the Righteous King? Maximus has hated magic his entire life, he doesn’t think women should have rights, and he doesn’t think the talking creatures should have territories! He’s practically a walking Righteous Philosophy!”

  “There’s only one contradiction,” Brystal said. “Maximus was at my brother’s wedding when the Brotherhood attacked. Why would he go if he knew it would be dangerous?”

  “That’d be obvious if you knew him like I do,” Seven said. “Max is the most conniving person I’ve ever met—he thinks everything through a million times and always has a backup plan. Being at your brother’s wedding makes him look innocent. It’s the perfect alibi in case he was ever caught!”

  Brystal nodded as all the pieces came together. “We’ve got to get back to Champion Cas
tle,” she said. “I think your grandfather is in danger!”

  Brystal and Seven sprinted across the beach away from the fortress. When they were completely out of sight, Brystal transformed their uniforms back into their regular clothes. She surrounded herself and the prince in a large bubble and they flew over the Southern Kingdom. By the time they reached Chariot Hills, the sun had just started to rise. Brystal and Seven figured the king would still be asleep, so they headed straight to his chambers. As they descended toward Champion Castle, Seven pointed out the windows of his grandfather’s bedroom, and Brystal landed her bubble on the king’s balcony. They rushed inside and found the elderly king snuggled in his four-poster bed, sleeping facedown in his pillow.

  “Gramps, you’ve got to wake up!” Seven said. “Something terrible is happening!”

  The prince nudged his grandfather but the sovereign didn’t move.

  “Gramps, this is no time to be lazy!” Seven said. “We just uncovered a plot to kill you! We’ve got to get you someplace safe!”

  Still, the king didn’t move or make a sound. Seven pushed the sovereign onto his back and let out a horrified gasp. His grandfather’s skin was as cold and pale as snow, and his body was as stiff and still as stone. The king’s eyes were wide open, but there was no life behind his tranquil gaze. Seven was in shock and didn’t want to believe what he was seeing, but Brystal knew exactly what had happened.

  “We’re too late,” she said.

  “This can’t be happening!” Seven shrieked. “I just saw him yesterday! He was in good spirits—he seemed perfectly healthy! He couldn’t have died on his own!”

  “This isn’t a coincidence,” Brystal said. “Someone must be working with your uncle—they must have done something to him while we were at the fortress!”

  “But what? There isn’t a single scratch on him!”

  Seven and Brystal searched the king’s body but they didn’t find an obvious cause of death. The only peculiar marks they found were ashy fingerprints on his right wrist—but the king couldn’t have died from someone’s touch alone… or could he?

  “Brystal, you have to bring him back!” Seven cried.

  “I can’t bring someone back from the dead,” Brystal said. “Even if I knew how, he would come back as something dark and unnatural—he wouldn’t be the grandfather you remember.”

  “Then maybe there’s still time to save him!” the prince said. “Try to restart his heart! Make him take a deep breath! Anything! Please!”

  Brystal knew there was nothing she could do, but she appeased the prince anyway. She took a step back and raised her wand over the king’s body. Just as she was about to perform a spell, the chamber doors flew open. Prince Maximus burst into the room with a dozen armed soldiers.

  “WHAT THE DEVIL IS GOING ON IN HERE?” he shouted.

  Seven glared at his uncle with the hatred of a hundred angry men.

  “How did you get here so fast?!” he asked.

  Maximus acted confused. “I was asleep next door until I heard shouting,” he said. “What on earth are you two doing—”

  “Liar!” Seven yelled. “We just saw you at the fortress! We know who you really are!”

  “Seven, are you ill?” his uncle asked.

  “Don’t play dumb!” Seven shouted. “You did this to him! You killed your own father!”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Maximus glanced at the deceased king and pretended to be shocked. Brystal could tell he had been practicing the performance—his tearful eyes looked genuinely devastated.

  “They’ve murdered the king!” Maximus declared.

  “We didn’t murder anyone!” Brystal said. “Seven and I just got here!”

  “Lies!” Maximus screeched. “I saw you both in the courtyard just a few hours ago! And now I find you hovering over my father’s body with your wand in the air! Any idiot could see what’s going on! Guards, seize them immediately!”

  The soldiers charged across the room and tackled Seven to the floor. Brystal defensively raised her wand, and the approaching soldiers backed away from her.

  “Don’t waste your energy—she’ll never let you take her alive!” Maximus said, and then pulled one of the soldiers aside. “I want you to leave this room and inform everyone in the castle of what you’ve just seen! Send messengers and notify the papers! I want the whole kingdom to know the Fairy Godmother was caught in the act of killing the king!”

  “No! She didn’t do anything!” Seven yelled as he struggled to free himself from the soldiers’ grip. “My uncle did this! He’s been plotting to kill him for months! Arrest him!”

  “And clearly, she bewitched my nephew in the process!” Maximus told the soldier he’d pulled aside. “Now go! Quick, before the Fairy Godmother enchants us all!”

  The soldier hurried out of the bedroom. Brystal wanted to stop him, but she knew it would only make her seem more guilty. Maximus glared at her with a look of triumph in his eyes.

  “I told my father to stay away from you, but he wouldn’t listen,” he said. “I’ve always known you people shouldn’t be trusted! And now I have proof! When the rest of the world finds out what happened here tonight, they’ll finally see you and the magical community for what you truly are—a group of abominable, unnatural, power-hungry barbarians!”

  Suddenly, the Righteous King’s outlandish plan didn’t seem so outlandish anymore. Everything he had promised the Brotherhood was happening right before Brystal’s eyes. Without a doubt, Maximus was going to claim the throne and restore the Righteous Philosophy as soon as the Southern Kingdom awoke. He was going to destroy her popularity by framing Brystal for the murder of King Champion XIV! And the biggest mistake of her life had been walking right into his trap!

  “Brystal, you’ve got to get out of here!” Seven said. “The Southern Kingdom isn’t safe for you anymore! You need to go back to the Fairy Territory!”

  “No—I won’t leave you!” Brystal said.

  “Don’t worry about me! You’re the only person who can stop the Brotherhood!”

  “Seven, I can’t—”

  “Go!”

  There wasn’t time to think of a better option. Brystal dashed to the balcony outside and flew away in a large bubble. She drifted back to the Fairy Territory without a plan and without a clue of what was going to happen next. The Righteous King had successfully outsmarted her, and the damage was so significant Brystal didn’t know how she would ever recover.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  THE MORNING AFTER

  Lucy awoke with a jolt. She had been in such a deep sleep it took a couple of minutes for her senses to kick in. She found herself safe and sound in her nest at Ravencrest Manor, but she had no recollection of how she had got there.

  The last thing she remembered was being at the Enrollment Ceremony.… She and Pip had drunk the potion and become dizzy.… They had lain on the ground as the witches danced around the clearing.… Mistress Mara had hovered over them, conducting a spell of some kind.… And then everything had gone dark.

  She sat up and looked around the bedroom. It was light outside and the sun was peeking through the curtains. Stitches, Beebee, Sprout, and Pip were still asleep in their nests. The witches were wearing their golden necklaces again and all traces of witchcraft had been erased from their appearances. Lucy noticed Pip was wearing a necklace, too, and her whiskers, claws, and skunk tail had disappeared.

  “Good morning, Lucy.”

  The unexpected voice made her jump. Lucy looked up and saw Mistress Mara standing in a shadowy corner of the bedroom. The witch stared at Lucy with a devious grin, and Lucy had a hunch Mistress Mara had been watching her sleep all night.

  “Um… good morning,” Lucy said. “What are you doing?”

  “Just checking on you, dear,” the witch said. “How are you feeling?”

  Lucy had to think about it, and the answer surprised her.

  “Actually, I feel great,” she said. “Better than I’ve felt in a long time.”


  “Excellent,” Mistress Mara said. “I’m happy to report the Enrollment Ceremony was a complete success last night. In fact, you responded to the ceremony better than any student I’ve ever had.”

  “Well, that’s the first time I’ve been top of my class,” Lucy said with a laugh. “What happened exactly? I don’t even remember how I got back here.”

  “Don’t be worried, the ceremony is always an exhausting process to new participants,” Mistress Mara said. “You and Pip lost consciousness shortly after taking the Oath of Witchcraft. Once the ceremony was over, the girls and I brought you back and tucked you into your nest.”

  “I’m a little embarrassed—usually I can party with the best of them,” Lucy said. “Did you cast a spell on us last night? I vaguely remember you standing over us and muttering an incantation of some kind.”

  Mistress Mara’s smile faded—clearly, she wasn’t expecting Lucy to remember that part.

  “Just a minor spell of protection, my dear,” the witch said. “Nothing to fret over.”

  Lucy rubbed the back of her head and discovered something around her neck. She glanced down and saw she was wearing a golden necklace with a bright moonstone, too. Lucy hopped out of her nest and hurried to the wardrobe to see her reflection in the mirror. Not only had her hair and eyebrows returned to normal, but the necklace also made Lucy much prettier and taller than she had ever been.

  “Holy makeover!” Lucy said in disbelief. “I look fantastic!”

  “From now on, your necklace will conceal all traces of witchcraft and correct whatever you don’t like about your appearance,” Mistress Mara said.

  “Gosh, I wish I hadn’t cursed the Binkelle Sisters,” Lucy said. “Their pointed jaws would have hit the floor after seeing me like this!”

  “That reminds me,” Mistress Mara said. “Brick and Stone asked if you could keep the swans somewhere besides the graveyard. Apparently, the lynxes have been trying to hunt them.”

  Lucy was so fixated on her new appearance she barely heard a word Mistress Mara said. She wanted to compare her new reflection with her old reflection and started pulling the necklace over her head. Mistress Mara lunged forward and stopped her before the necklace was removed.