Author's Note: Hey guys! All right, so last time, we had Layla get captured by Nezaro without having spent even a full day at Cloud Tower and we had the girls discover the journal she's been keeping which tells all her suspicions of what's been going on. We also had the story of Dracona. And just a side note, I had a comment in one of my reviews that Icy, Darcy and Stormy were descended from the three ancestral witches. Those three witches were also descended from Dracona and Icy, Darcy and Stormy are the last members of that branch of the family. Is that better? I hope it is! Happy reading!

Chapter 7: Attack on the Palace

As they traveled to Fergal, the girls tried to come up with a plan as best they could.

"What do we know about this realm?" asked Guinevere. "Is there something or someone there that can help us rescue Layla?"

"I doubt there's anyone who can help us," said Nirvana. "The chances of finding allies in an evil realm are slim, very slim."

"Tecna, what are you working on over there?" asked Stella suddenly.

"I'm trying to dig up some information on Fergal, anything that'll help us," replied Tecna, typing rapidly on the computer sitting in her lap. What she found was definitely not what she expected. "Oh no!" she said, her hands shaking.

"What is it Tecna?" asked Timmy, gazing worriedly at her.

"There's some kind of spell on Fergal, so that only witches, evil warlocks and non-magical beings can live there," replied Tecna.

"What do you mean?" asked Bloom.

"We won't last long if we stay there," said Tecna. "The boys will be all right, but the realm will drain all the magic out of us. How quickly magic drains depends on the fairy. But the point is if something happens so we can't leave, none of us will survive."

"You mean the spell on the realm will eventually…" said Flora, her voice trailing off. Tecna nodded grimly. All the girls gasped and the boys all exchanged worried glances.

"We're going to have to rescue Layla quickly then," said Jason.

"Tecna, can you find out just how long we have before the spell starts affecting you girls?" asked Sky.

"Apparently, it'll start its work the moment we enter the realm," said Tecna, typing more into her computer. "But we all have varying amounts of time to stay there. Let's see Layla and Musa would last about a week. Guinevere, Flora and I would all have about five days. Nirvana and Stella would last for about three."

"What about me?" asked Bloom, dreading the answer.

"Exactly twenty-four hours if you're lucky," said Tecna.

"So, we only have twenty-four hours to rescue Layla?" asked Riven. "That doesn't sound hard."

"You're too cocky for your own good, Riven," said Sky, who'd turned pale when he heard how long the girls, particularly his girl had before they could end up lying still and cold on the ground in Fergal.

"If we're going to come up with a plan, we'd better do it fast," said Carlos. "Look outside."

"What do you mean?" asked Andrew, who'd been busy comforting Guinevere.

"We've reached Fergal," said Timmy.

The girls all looked out the windows, then took a step back, each one taking the hand of her boyfriend for comfort. None of them liked the looks of the place. It was more or less a barren wasteland, no signs of plant or animal life. The buildings had large gaping holes in the walls and roofs, looking as though they would tumble to the ground at any second. The castle was pretty much the only thing in the realm not falling apart. It was hard to find the castle at first, but then they realized that it was built into a mountain made of black stone. It didn't look like it had an entrance either, no doors, no windows, just plain stone. Each person wondered how they were going to get in, but then decided they'd cross that bridge when they got there.

"Where should we land?" asked Brandon.

"How about over there by the palace?" asked Musa, pointing to a clear patch of land.

"We can't land there, it'll attract every guard in the place," said Nirvana.

"We can't land too far away, or we won't be able to get back to the ship before the time is up," said Guinevere.

"Land in that clearing," said Bloom, pointing to a spot of land in the middle of the small village. Timmy gently set the ship down and they walked out into the realm. Almost at once, the girls all felt a strong ache in their hearts. Each one gave a grimace, Bloom, Flora and Nirvana even cried out in pain. This automatically put the guys in overprotective-boyfriend-mode.

"Flora, are you all right?" asked Helia, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"It's the spell," she managed to say. "It's taking hold already."

Realizing they didn't have much time, they all started for the palace. The girls all transformed, a couple of them with some difficulty, but when they reached the palace, the guards were ready for them.

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While the rest of the group had been reading the journal, Nezaro had taken Layla up to a large room and locked her in. He had told her to get ready for their wedding there and not to take too long. He'd laid out a black dress for her, but she hadn't put it on yet. She had been sitting by the window, trying to transform again, but she couldn't do it, at least not while in the palace. She tried to use her Winx to get in touch with one of her friends but the realm's power was stopping her.

Suddenly, the door opened and Nezaro walked in. He took one look at her and said, "I know you don't want to marry me, but can we please do this with as little frustration as possible. I'm no happier about it than you are, so just cooperate and everything will be all right."

"Not for me it won't," said Layla.

"For pities sakes girl, relax. It won't last for long," said Nezaro. "You'll only be able to live in this realm for a week anyway. Come to think of it, when I steal your powers, I might finish you off before the spell does."

"There's no way I'm letting you steal my powers," said Layla.

"You don't have a choice," said Nezaro. "You can't escape." At that moment, a horn sounded from the parapet. Nezaro gasped, grabbed Layla and started to drag her out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded. "What's going on?"

"That horn means there's trouble," said Nezaro. "It looks like your friends have come to your rescue. Little do they know they don't have much time here either. Come on, we have to get to the throne room. We'll be married, whether you like it or not."

But that wasn't in Layla's plans. She realized she'd have to stall Nezaro long enough for the guys to get in the palace, the only question was how. But then it came to her. The spell on the realm only weakened her; Nezaro had a separate spell on her that kept her from transforming. And it was beginning to wear off because he was putting so much more magic into the castle defenses and alerting the guards to get outside and defend the place.

"If I can get enough strength to make him let go of me, maybe I can get enough of a head start to get away from him," she thought to herself. She could feel her magic beginning to flow back within her body, it was just a question of when she'd have enough strength to turn it on him. After a few seconds, she felt her powers flourish, felt her heart burst with the knowledge that she'd be able to fight back. Nezaro stopped abruptly, apparently he'd felt it too. Even though she couldn't see his face, she was sure the expression on it was one of total shock.

"What's the matter, Nezaro?" she asked. "Can't keep track of more than one spell at a time? Ocean Blast!"

A large current shot out of her outstretched fingers, taking her opponent completely by surprise and sending him spluttering and dripping wet against the far wall. But she didn't have a second to waste. She ran as fast as she could, not daring to look back at him. It didn't take him long to get his second wind. She could hear him behind her, running to catch up with her. She turned into a nearby corridor and dashed inside a small room.

She waited a moment and heard Nezaro go past. She looked around the room she was in and saw it was a bedroom, for servants probably. She started to look around to see if she could find anything to help her, but at that moment, she heard something outside. It was Nezaro. His footsteps were coming rapidly back down the corridor. He'd found her at last.

"Come out of there Layla!" he yelled to her. "You can't escape!"

She didn't open the door, but locked it and using a quick spell barricaded it. She could hear Nezaro outside throwing some of his attacks on the door, trying to force his way in. She saw a small hole he'd managed to make in the door. Trying as hard as she could, she managed to transform and sent an attack back out of the hole. She heard him fall back, but then he started to attack more ferociously.

"Hurry guys!" she said. "I can't keep this up much longer!"

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Outside the palace, the guards were advancing on the Winx Club and their boyfriends, prepared to do anything to keep them from getting inside. Jason, by this time, was ready to take down anything and everything that stood between him and Layla. He could clearly see a door in the palace now. Apparently it was spelled so that it only opened when someone from inside wanted to go out and only someone who lived inside could come back in. They'd need one of the guards to get back inside.

"Okay guys," said Bloom. "We have to clear a path to get inside! Flora, Guinevere and Nirvana, you take that left group there. Musa and Tecna, go for the ones on the right. Stella, you come with me right in the center. Each boy, go with your girlfriend. As soon as we have enough out of the way, we'll make a break for the palace. Sound good to everyone?"

"What happens when we get inside?" asked Flora.

"We'll figure that out when the time comes," said Bloom. "Let's just take this one step at a time. Let's go!" They followed her orders and started taking out as many as they could. The girls took out most of the soldiers right away, while the boys handled the tougher ones with more sword practice. Sky and Riven, two of the best fighters of the group, took out several guards after a few minutes of fighting. Both Bloom and Musa were very impressed.

"There's our chance!" said Tecna, pointing to one of the few remaining guards. He was making a break for the palace, most likely to report back to Nezaro. The doors opened slightly to admit it and he made it through before they started to shut. Bloom, however, had been right behind him the entire time and she made it to the doors before they closed. She stretched her arms out on either side of herself and a burst of fire came from each hand. The flames hit the door, keeping it from shutting and allowing the rest of the group to enter the palace. Once they were all inside, Bloom stopped the spell, but was so tired from it, she just barely made it out of the way before the doors closed on her.

"Bloom, are you all right?" asked Sky.

"I'm fine," said Bloom. "That spell took a lot more out of me than it should have." The enchantment on the realm was already beginning to take its toll on her.

Now that they were actually inside the palace, they were able to start tracking down Layla, but that was going to be easier said than done. The place was enormous and because there wasn't any kind of decoration on the walls, every corridor looked the same. It'd be the easiest thing in the world for them to get themselves lost.

"This place is huge, where do we start?" asked Nirvana.

"At the moment, we've got bigger problems," said Guinevere, pointing straight ahead. More guards were coming towards them, and Icy, Darcy and Stormy were leading them.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked Icy. "Some weak little pixies looking for their friend."

"I've had enough of them calling us weak pixies," said Musa. She was about to fly up and attack them, but Riven grabbed her around the waist and held her back.

"Musa no, not until we know what they've got planned," he whispered in her ear.

"Listen, can you losers let us beat you?" asked Stormy. "We're on a deadline here."

"Sorry, not happening!" yelled Bloom. She flew at the witches before the others could stop her. Musa broke free of Riven's grip and flew towards them as well. The fairies started battling with everything they had, but the witches had the upper hand. The spell was weakening the girl's power already and enhancing the witch's powers.

"Venus Vine Wrap!" shouted Flora, raising her hands at the witches. But the vines grew slow and weak and when they did reach the witches, they weren't strong enough to even wrap around one ankle. Flora looked shocked as she realized that even with her full power, she wasn't strong enough to overcome the enchantment that was slowly draining her of her magic.

"Sound Blast!" yelled Musa, creating a set of sound vibrations that reverberated around the room. But it didn't have nearly the impact it normally did. The witches were laughing at the girls feeble attempts to fight the spell and them at the same time.

"Musa! Flora!" yelled Bloom. "Go and find Layla, we'll hold the witches off! Helia, Riven, Jason, go with them!"

"Not so fast!" said Darcy, flying towards Flora. Helia stepped protectively in front of her, but he knew he was no match for the witch if she decided to put one of her darkness spells on him.

Fortunately, Stella was ready for that. "Sun Burst!" she yelled, pointing her staff at the three witches. This had more of an effect than the other attacks did. She was able to create a burst of light great enough to blind the witches for a few seconds, giving Flora and Musa enough time to fly down the corridor and get away from the battle, their boyfriends right behind him. When they had found someplace quiet, the two girls sat down on the floor, very tired.

"Are you ok Musa?" asked Riven worriedly, kneeling down next to her.

"It's this dumb spell," replied Musa. "I can't use my full power and I'm exhausted."

"I can't do anything either," said Flora. "My power is draining faster than I can talk."

"Flora, do you have enough power to find Layla?" asked Jason.

"I think so," she said. She closed her eyes and spoke to the Voice of Nature, asking it to help her find Layla. It told her exactly where to go, although by the time she'd finished the spell, she was even more tired. Thankfully, the room Layla was in wasn't very far away. "This way," she said, trying to get up, but her knees buckled out from under her. Helia caught her and helped her walk down the corridor and she leaned her head on his shoulder, grateful to have him there.

Musa, having a little more strength than Flora did, was able to follow the directions Flora gave her and flew down the next two corridors to scout for more trouble. She returned to the group a few seconds later and said, "it doesn't look good up there. I just saw Nezaro forcing Layla out of the room she was hiding in."

Jason didn't say anything. He just turned pale and ran at full speed down the hallway until he came to the bend that Musa had just returned from. He peeked his head around the corner and saw that Musa was right. Nezaro had a hold of Layla's arms and was forcing her to walk in the opposite direction from where he was, allowing for him to sneak up on them and rescue his girlfriend.

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While the rest of the Winx Club and heroes were forcing their way into the palace, Layla had been doing everything she could to keep Nezaro out of the room she was hiding in. She fired attacks back at him, but eventually he forced his way inside. By this time, she was dog tired, but she wasn't going to just stop and give in to him.

"Are you ready to give up yet Layla?" he asked her. "You know you can't escape."

"As long as there's still hope, I'm not going to give up!" she said and fired again.

"This is getting very tiresome Layla, and besides, hope isn't something that can get you out of every single mess you get into. You have to have plans in order to make an escape like you're trying to make. You have to have a plan like you and your cousin made on Tides. You can't just wish and hope that everything will come out all right because it won't, not for you anyway."

"How did you know Ariel helped me come up with that plan?" asked Layla.

"I overheard you telling your mermaid friends everything," replied Nezaro.

"But if you had overheard, I would definitely have noticed you," said Layla. "I would have at least sensed your presence in the water. I would have known you were there, so what you're saying is impossible."

"For someone like me, nothing is impossible Layla," said Nezaro, taking a few steps towards her. She backed away, knowing there was nowhere for her to run. "I was watching you from my room in Tides. I saw you leave with friends and I cast a spell so I could hear everything you told them. It was a clever plan, I must admit. And it was remarkable how you managed to call out to your 'boyfriend' to help you. I can see you love him but there's nothing you can do. You're going to marry me, I will steal your powers and the first thing I'm going to do with them is capture your boyfriend and let him join you!"

"No, you can't!" yelled Layla.

"Oh yes I can!" said Nezaro in a voice of deadly calm. "Once I have your powers, all I'll have to do is bring him here. Once he finds out about what the spell will have done to you, then I'll finish him off as well. He'll be forced to watch the spell destroy you and then I'll put him out of his misery. It feels good to control everything in this realm!"

"Well newsflash Nezaro, you can't control me!" yelled Layla. "Ocean Blast!" But the attack wasn't nearly as strong as it was on Tides or in Magix. The spell on the realm had already begun to weaken her powers and it was hard for her to stay in her Winx form. She tried her best not to transform back to her normal self and kept firing at him, but Nezaro walked towards her, as though her attacks were nothing more than gentle breezes.

"Now are you ready to give up?" he asked her. He already knew the answer to that one however, and before she could answer or attack, he had fired one of his strongest attacks at her and she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Come on Layla, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get your powers," he said, grabbing her arms and forcing her outside into the hallway. "And it won't be for long. You won't even have time to think about that boyfriend of yours."

"Oh really?" came a voice from the other end of the hallway. Nezaro gasped and Layla smiled as though she'd never smiled before. Musa, Riven, Flora, Helia and Jason were standing there, ready to take her to safety and get even with Nezaro once and for all.

"How did you get here?" asked Nezaro.

"It's a good thing we did," said Jason. "Now release Layla or else!"

"Or else what?" asked Nezaro. "Pretty big words for someone who's about to meet his end."

"You guys have to get out of here," said Layla. "There's a spell on the realm and…"

"Layla, we know and we don't care," said Musa.

"We just want to rescue you," said Flora.

"And it's going to start with a little Sound Blast!" said Musa. She used all the power she had left on Nezaro, but it still wasn't enough.

"Venus Vine Wrap!" yelled Flora. But if it didn't work when she fought the witches, she didn't expect it to work now. She flew towards Layla instead to see if her friend was all right. Nezaro turned to stop her, but Helia and Jason grabbed him from behind, restraining him from hurting their girlfriends. He was distracted for a few seconds, which was enough time for Layla and Flora to rejoin Musa and Riven.

"We have to get out of here!" said Layla, getting to her feet. "Where are the others?"

"Back there, taking care of Icy, Darcy and Stormy and more guards," replied Flora.

"Musa, can you do something to give us a head start back there?" asked Jason.

"No problem!" said Musa coolly. She cast a spell so that music was playing all around them. It was one of her favorite rap songs, but as she expected Nezaro hated it. He covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. "Come on, let's go!" yelled Musa. She, Flora and Layla flew down the corridor, Riven, Helia and Jason, running behind them. A few minutes later, Nezaro released a burst of magic out of pure anger and broke the spell.

"Crafty," he said. "But I'm just getting warmed up."

Author's Note: All right, so we have all the fairies and heroes in Fergal, some of them fighting the witches, the rest rescuing Layla and none knowing how they're going to get out. Not good! But don't worry, everything will be all right! Don't forget to review and as always, stay tuned!