Chapter Eleven
"YOU WILL SURRENDER AT ONCE!" shouted a voice from the ship over the intercom.
"I don't think so!" yelled Inez.
The three Witches separated a bit, and started creating magic spheres.
Before they were completely formed the voice boomed again. "POWER DOWN! NOW!"
Inez threw her sphere at Mirta, who, caught off-guard, had only time to cringe before it hit. But it never reached the half-Witch. A black transparent shield appeared that deflected it toward Zee.
"You did that once," Lucy told Inez, "But never again, not as long as I live."
Zee's choice of target had been Flora, but was forced instead to use it against Inez's sphere. They met and exploded, knocking everyone apart.
It took a few seconds to recover, and the guards in the ship used the opportunity to try and catch the three Witches with a tractor beam.
Megan had glanced at the ship just in time to see the emitters begin to glow, which meant they were about to be used. "Sisters, watch out! Tractor beam!"
Immediately they scattered away from the ship. The computer's lock spoiled, the emitters powered down.
Megan pulled out the remote and tapped some commands. From the half-hidden ship a red beam appeared and struck the guard's ship. Not expecting a ship-to-ship battle, their screens were down. The beam bore a hole and set off several electrical explosions inside. But whatever had been damaged did not include the generators, the engines, or the antigrav because it continued to hold position.
An answering shot was made, striking the Witch's ship and destroying the cannon.
Megan returned the remote to her belt, and flew over to Inez. Zee saw and joined them.
"We'll all attack the Fairies," said Megan, "And I'll wait for an opportunity to take care of the ship."
"Got it," said Zee, and they flew toward their enemies.
They threw magic balls, one after another, as many and as quickly as possible, at Flora, Lucy, and Mirta. Magic shields were put up, but the sheer number of attacks put a heavy strain on them all, and they couldn't counterattack.
Suddenly the Witches changed tactics. Megan continued to target the shields, while the other two threw balls above, below, and to the sides. Once past the defenders, the balls changed course toward them.
"LOOK OUT!" shouted Lucy, and quickly made her shield spherical, enclosing all three of them. The balls of magic exploded against it, but none got through to them. Lucy was relieved. The shield weakens as its surface area grows, and she wasn't sure she could keep it strong enough to protect them.
All this was a distraction, as Megan, the most technologically adept of the three, flew beneath the ship and targeted the engine exhaust ports. She grew her sphere large and powerful, but just as she released it, a tractor beam shot out and trapped her. The sphere was deflected from its path, missed the ship, and flew up into the sky, where it dissipated harmlessly. She was then pulled to a hatch that opened and brought inside, where addle shackles were put on her, and she was led to the brig.
In the meantime, the battle had paused as Inez took in what Lucy said. "Compromising your Witch's Principles to save that pathetic Fairy! Unbelievable! And unforgivable!" said Inez. "If taking you out is what I have to do to get to her, then so be it! You can try out a spell I invented: VENOM WEB!"
In appearance it was similar to the spider web trap used earlier, but this one had a definite greenish cast to it. When it struck Lucy, the tall Witch screamed in pain. The web was laced with a strong poison absorbed through the skin. She struggled with the web, but only tangled herself worse. Losing strength rapidly she fell toward the ground.
Mirta flew down and grabbed the web, gasping at the pain. "No, don't save me, save yourself... look out... behind..." said Lucy, weakly.
"Never! I'll never abandon you!" said Mirta, gritting her teeth as she lowered the bundle toward the ground. Lucy and the webbing was heavy, and the pain pretty bad, but she knew she could do this! She had to! Her best friend's life was at stake!
Inez created another power sphere. "Now I've got you!" She threw it toward the half-Fairy, whose back was to her once again, just as it had been on Bekisan.
Halfway to its target it was met by a greenish-yellow ball of Flora's creation. The two spheres merged, and the colors seemed to fight for dominance. Finally Flora's colors won, and the sphere dissipated.
Inez and Zee paused, amazed at this development. Tractor beams shot out from the ship and nabbed them. They yelled in protest as they were pulled in.
Paying them no more thought, Flora dived to where Mirta was still struggling to keep Lucy from landing hard. She blew some dust at the ground, and enormous vines burst forth, catching Lucy and bringing her safely down.
Mirta had to pull hard, but finally got her hands unstuck. She was looking at her hands, examining the stains the venom had created on her gloves. Because of the gloves very little of the venom had reached her.
"Mirta..." said Flora, landing beside her sister. When Mirta looked at her, Flora pointed at Lucy.
Their Witch-friend was unconscious, the strands of webbing leaving burns on her bare skin, and stains on her clothes. A bit of acid-smoke rose from her body, stinging the two Fairy s noses.
"She's gonna die!" exclaimed Mirta, "What do I do?"
"Use your Fairy Dust," replied Flora, "Get her out of the web and I'll heal her."
Mirta sprinkled her Dust liberally over her friend, and the dark-magic-created webbing dissolved, unable to resist the power. Soon Lucy was free of it.
Flora knelt and put her hands on Lucy's abdomen. Concentrating, she let the Power of Nature flow into the Witch. Time passed, and Flora could feel the venom starting to give up, but Lucy wasn't responding to the treatment the way she should have. The pain had driven Lucy's 'self' far away.
Flora looked at Mirta, who had knelt on the other side of Lucy. "I need you for a Power Convergence!"
"But... I'm not good with healing spells! You know that!" was the reply.
"She's dying, Mirta. We both need you. Put everything you've got into it," said Flora.
"O- of course," said Mirta. She put her hands atop Flora's, and concentrated as well.
The converged healing spell flowed into Lucy with renewed strength. Mirta gasped as she felt what Flora had been feeling; an absence of Lucy's 'being', and the darkness of the venom.
"Call her back!" said Flora.
"No, you can't... don't you dare leave me..." said Mirta, "I need you! You come back! Now!" She redoubled her efforts, pouring all the power of her Enchantix form, all her dark magic reserves, everything, into her best friend. She emptied herself of power, hoping it would be enough to save Lucy.
Flora gasped, as she felt what Mirta was doing pass through her hands and into the Witch. The power was far greater than she could muster herself, so she contented herself with directing it to attacking the venom and repairing the damage.
As Mirta lost her magic energy, things began to gray out for her. But just as she fell into the dark of unconsiousness, she felt the spark that was Lucy come into the area of her awareness. She dropped to the ground beside Lucy, a faint smile on her face. She had won this battle. Lucy was alive.
