"Hello Hook. Who's your friend?" The witch smiled in a wickedly sweet way.
Emma felt the urge to shudder at the woman's voice. She turned to see a lady in her 60's smiling like a sweet old lady. It was like that story where the evil stepmother tried to temp the poor made into eating a poison apple by hiding behind a sweet façade.
Hook was inwardly flinching at the voice. He gave Emma a side glance to see how she was coping with being face to face with a real life witch and she seemed to be doing pretty well. Her shoulders were tense and her fists were clenched but other than that, she looked like the definition of calm. He gave an approving nod to his tough lass and turned around to Cora with his usual charming grin.
"Cora, darling! What can I say, you always know how to make an entrance. You'll be happy to know I've retrieved your compass and our little quest can continue." Hook knew that Cora usually overlooked some things if he was unnecessarily sweet to her. It was odd but he rolled with it.
"Actually, dear Captain, I will be happy once you answer my question. Who is she?" Cora looked straight at Emma expecting her to cower behind the pirate but to her surprise, the young woman met her glare dead on and returned it with one of her own. "She has spunk." She said starting to smile again.
"This is just a friend I met on my travels, she helped retain the compass."
"You mean to say, she bested you and your sweet words fouled her into helping you get it? I would have expected more from you, Captain." She tutted disappointedly. She started walking closer to the pair and circling them like a hungry animal playing with its prey before it pounced.
Emma moved her body accordingly as Cora moved, she never gave her a chance to see the back of her head. There was a voice in her head of a woman. All she could hear was a quiet reminder to, "Never turn your back on your enemy."
Cora, on the other hand, seemed delighted with the woman in front of her. She smiled at her in a way that could be conceived to be innocent but her cold eyes gave her away.
"I don't think we've ever met before, dear. My name is Cora." The witch inspected Emma from head to toe and seen a very powerful source around her. Could it be? Did this stranger truly have magic? Cora was seconds away from ripping the girl's heart out and sucking out all of it's power to use for her own needs but it was then she seen a magical bracelet on her wrist.
Her magical bracelet.
"Oh you're from the giant's tower? You could be useful to me after all." She said with a sinister tone. Emma had the urge to back away from the crazy lady before she started throwing possessed cats at her but her stubborn side kept her feet planted firmly on the ground.
"Umm no offence, lady, but I just want this bracelet thing off then I'll be on my way."
"What do you mean, dear? Just take it off." Cora said with a small frown. Perhaps this blonde was just another pretty souvenir that the Captain wanted to keep and had nothing to give at all.
"Yeah because I'm gonna travel half way across a forest with an ironically handsy pirate-" Emma ignored the sound of protest coming from said pirate. "-with a magic thing strapped to my wrist just so I could be told by a witch to pull it off. I tried that already. It wont budge and Hook said you would get it off so..." Emma finished off by holding out her arm with the bracelet to the other woman.
Cora resisted the sneer that was creeping on her lips.
"Very well." She waved her arm expecting the bracelet to just fall off but instead it lit up with a bright, gold colour before fading again. Her eyebrows furrowed and she tried again but the same thing happened. It was almost like there was a barrier around her that was protecting the girl from dark magic.
"I'm afraid this isn't your lucky day. Oh well, where we are going there is no magic so this trinket will fall right off but that means you will have to help me get there first." Cora said with an underlying tone of smug in her voice.
Emma wanted to scream. Every time she was close to getting away from this magic life, someone pulled her back in. She bottled her emotions and forced a smile. "Sure, why not."
"Excellent. I hate to travel alone." Cora said, turning back on her sweet old lady persona. "Now what I need you to do is go find an enchanted tree and burn it. Once you've done that, bring me the ashes."
"How the hell am I supposed to find an enchanted trees? We're in the middle of a forest!" Emma snapped. She knew she was probably going to get a fireball to the face but it had already been a frustrating day for her so she needed to take her rage out on something.
Cora didn't seem to be phased. "Take Hook. His navigation skills are impeccable."
Hook gave Emma a sideways wink to which she returned with a scowl.
"I expect you to be back here with it by sun down or I will do it myself and leave you both here, attached by the bracelets forever. You have six hours." Cora said before vanishing in her usual purple smoke.
"Well, love, looks like you're stuck with me, what ever shall we do to pass the time." Hook wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"How about look for the damn tree, smartass." She said then shoved him back towards the forest.
It was going to be a looong night.
