The Test for Two
Chapter 4: The Family Feud
"Intruders?" Tatiana asked surprised as she stood up.
"Yes, they were sneaking into Princess Amber's room but when they heard us coming they fled towards the ball room." The guard said as he stood with a salute and prayed the crown princess didn't sense his fear. "I'm afraid they have returned..."
"To finish the job they started." Tatiana finished for him with a glare towards the ground. She then looked back up with a determined look."Have all the guards to protect the guests but double the guard's post in front of Lucas's room."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" All three echoed and ran out to fulfill the order with no word of protest from either one.
"What are you going to do?" The maid asked.
"I'm afraid I'll have to deal with them. If I don't they'll just keep coming back." The brunette princess stated as she clasped her hands with the woman's to give her a reassuring squeeze after she saw the woman's worried look. "Marie,you have been a great mother figure to me and even if you feel like I've been the daughter you never had I still have to remind you that I am the crown princess and I have royal duty to protect this kingdom."
"We'll help you," Amber stated,walking up to them. "Calista is a sorceress in training and she can be back up on anything you need. Just tell her what to do."
"Calista nodded in agreement. "It's the least we can do as an apology."
Tatiana smiled at the girls. "Thank-you but I'm afraid if you come you will get hurt and besides this is a family affair I need to settle..."
Seeing the sad look on the their faces she continued "But I could use your help in protecting Lucas and the other guests. I'm afraid my guards won't be able to stand up to sorcerers. Can you do that for me, Calista?"
"I sure can!" Calista stated with excitement as jumped into the air.
Before they knew it they all watched Tatiana use her magic to change into black pants, boots , a dark blue shirt and a royal blue sorceress robe with black cuffs on each wrist."Wow, I have got to learn that spell." Calista said in amazement.
Now ready for a magical battle Tatiana raced out of her chambers and headed towards the ball room. She wasn't going to let her parents take the crown back. Not after misusing it and not understanding what being a royal meant. She knew they won't ever learn their lesson, after all she had tried to set them straight all those years ago and it hadn't worked. All she knew was that once she defeated them they were going to face a greater punishment than banishment.
"You told me that a little sorceress was here but when we got to her room we found it empty!" Kelly screamed as she clung to his shirt collar.
"Now, now, don't get upset. She must have sensed us coming and ran." Mark said, trying to calm his wife down. "Perhaps if I go look for the shrimp we'll still be able to take her powers and take down Tatiana."
"And have all that power to yourself. Oh, I don't think so!" Kelly said with a glare. "If we go together then we both will be able to get the power."
Mark smirked. "Considering how we got spotted by the guards and Tatiana is making her way here as we speak, I'm afraid we don't have much time to argue." He then forced her to let him go. "So I'll just go steal the power myself while you deal with our brat."
Before Kelly could argue the man ran out of the room to begin his search leaving his wife standing there growling in anger. "That man thinks he can keep all the power to himself...Oh, I'm going to make sure to kill him slowly so he will regret not sharing."
"I'm afraid he's going to have to wait because you are going have to deal with me first."
Turning around Kelly found her daughter rounding the corner of another entrance. "Surely you would agree, after all I bet you wouldn't want to turn down the opportunity of killing the one person who nearly took all your magic away. Don't you want it back?"
Kelly smirked "My have you grown. It's hard to believe you have survived being in that crippled state. I thought you would have died in a couple of years." She pulled out her wand and aimed it towards her "But I guess I'm going to have to help you meet your end."
"Sorry to say but I'm not going anywhere," Tatiana said. "I have a kingdom to rule, protect and guide. I tried to make you guys realize what it means to be a royal but you were too blind by your greed and in all truth I feel the evil reasons are much deeper than that. You disgraced our family so I had to fix the relationship between our family, our people and the spirits. All I can say now is that you're still that power hungry person you were all those years ago. And I'm afraid you won't ever be welcomed into our family again until you and father learn to straighten up your act but as far as I can see that won't happen anytime soon!"
"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!"Kelly screamed, tackling Tatiana to the ground and began to strangle her. "You think back talking and insulting your mother will get you anywhere,well, It won't! I brought you into this world my dear..." Kelly said as one of her hands ran down the girl's angry face while the other still clung to the girl's neck. "And I can just as easily take you out of this world." She sneered. "And when I do I'll take your offer you mentioned a minute ago."
"Now, where could that little sorceress be? Mark muttered to himself as he wondered the halls of the castle. His search had seemed like it was getting nowhere. He had to have walked for who knows how long. Perhaps, he should have stayed with his wife and helped her to kill their daughter, after all he had waited just as long as she had but then with the little magic they had how were they going to get the rest of it back being so weak?
What seemed after a long futile search the man began to hear voices. Could he be going in the right direction?
"Are sure you can handle the enemy, I mean even if you had just three years of training these sorcerers have mastered their powers..." Amber said as she stood next to Calista who was twirling her wand between her fingers. They were standing with the guards in front of Prince Lucas's chambers just in case the banished royals came after their son.
"Oh come on, Amber, where was that faith you had in me just a few minutes ago?" she asked with grin. "While they may be more experienced I hope to do my best at protecting you and Lucas just like Uncle Cedy and Princess Tatiana have ordered me to do."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to see about that!" Mark said as he rounded the corner with his wand out.
"Quick, get behind the guards!" Calista pushed Amber and casted a spell making the man fly down the hall.
"It seems you do indeed have powerful magic at your disposal. It will do wonderfully as a weapon to take both my children down!" Mark said, being pleased with his find.
"Sorry pal but all this power is going to be used for good. You on the other hand are going face your daughter's judgement for all the crimes you committed." Calista said with her wand still aimed towards him. "You should have been better parents maybe then your children wouldn't be suffering from your consequences you left behind for them to deal with!"
"For a child so young you think you know it all...but did you know that you can use all that power to get what you want. Whoever told you to use it for good is a idiot!"
Hey, watch what you say about my uncle, he's Cedric the Great and if he were here he would demonstrate greater power than I'll ever poses!" Calista glared and before the man could retort back she casted a powerful spell that knocked him out cold.
"Wow, Calista...I...didn't know you could do that." Amber said a bit stunned as she walked out from behind the guards. "I should start believing you when you say you can handle villains,"
"Yeah, you seem to be just as powerful as the crown princess herself." One guard added. The other guards echoed in agreement.
"Ah, that may have been powerful but I still have a long way to go before I ever be as great as my uncle." Calista said as she waved off the praise. "Speaking of Tatiana we should probably bring this guy to her and let her deal with him."
One of the guards picked him up and followed the children to the ball room, leaving the other two to guard the prince. "I hope Tatiana has defeated her mother already, I'm not sure how much more danger I can take." Amber said.
As Tatiana kept struggling to free herself her mother's hold, it kept getting tighter. "I thought you would be challenge to defeat but it would seem as though I was wrong."
Finally able to slide her wand out of her sleeve she casted a spell that released her from her mother's grip and pushed her back. Once she was standing again she aimed her wand at Kelly. "It seems you need to rethink that thought again."
All of sudden the ball room turned into a magical dueling arena as both sorceress kept shooting magic at each other. This went on for quite a while even as the two girls and the guard that carried the out cold sorcerer showed up at one of the entrances.
"So much for my hopes at seeing Tatiana ending her mother quickly." Amber muttered as she watched the fight.
"Don't worry Princess Amber, our crown princess is really strong," The guard said as he sat the unconscious man down against the wall. "She will win and prove to the spirits that she is worthy of earning the crown."
"It's too bad I can't help her though, Uncle Cedy told me that if there is more than one sorcerer in battle the strength in numbers will do a great deal of help at defeating the enemy." Calista said with sad look.
"In our kingdom, one must face our enemy alone and in this case Tatiana must do this alone to regain the honor of the royal family." The guard continued to explain.
"Do all the spirits make all the rules and laws here?" Calista asked.
"Yes, they are higher than royalty and if you remember from the story Marie told you the spirits had given Tatiana's ancestor the magical powers that are being used today, so they are in charge but don't hate them for it, it's just they are much wiser and want us live to respect our traditions like our ancestors did."
After a long period of fighting the two sorceresses stopped to catch their breath. "It seems you have been practicing your powers well, it's too bad you are not letting me have them back because if you remember, they belong to me and your father."
So you keep saying but the spirits gave our family the magical powers to lead our kingdom, you are just too selfish and that is why the crown was taken way from you and I'll make sure you never get it back."
Before Kelly could call out a another spell Tatiana quickly called out one more spell but this time it had disarmed the woman. "It's over now, mother. You will no longer be a threat to this kingdom." She then sent the woman flying across the room and went to pick up the the wand that landed on the floor. "You won't be needing this any longer." She then broke it in half.
Tatiana turned to the entrance and saw that Amber and Calista had brought back her father. She walked up to them with an impressed expression on her face. "So was it easy to defeat my dad, Calista?" she asked as she searched for her father's wand and broke it as well.
"It was a little bit hard but I got him." Calista said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"If I may, Your Majesty, what will happen to your parents now?" asked the guard.
"That will up to us..." A group of voices echoed through out the ball room. The group turned their attention back inside and saw a group of spirits materialize.
"Who...are...they?" Amber asked astonished.
"The spirits of our kingdom..." The guard stated and quickly knelled with his head to the floor. Not sure if they should do the same Amber and Calista watched in amazement.
Princess Tatiana walked up to the spirits bowed for a second then stood back up. "Crown Princess Tatiana of Marriana, you have proven to us that you have great courage, wisdom that seems beyond your years, and have rightfully taken down your parents once again with a little bit of help. " They glanced towards Calista who blushed at the attention "It seems we won't have to take away the powers that were given long ago. You have used them wisely."
"And?" Tatiana drawled out nervously.
"And we believe you are worthy to made queen." The head spirit said. "Tomorrow, shall be your coronation.
"Thank you," Tatiana said with a bow. "But what shall I do with these criminals."
"They shall be extracted of their powers and be put in a dungeon for the rest of their lives. They won't ever be a threat to you and this kingdom again."
After a few minutes of seeing Tatiana talk with the spirits. Calista and Amber watched as the spirits extracted Mark and Kelly's powers. Before they knew it the spirits had left in the blink of an eye and Tatiana was instructing them to get to bed after she had ordered the guard to take the out cold prisoners to the dungeon.
A/N: Well, there is part of our happy ending. The last chapter shall be posted tomorrow. Please review!