Author's Note: Saddle up, It's go-time in Enchancia.
Chapter 36: Determination
James swung the sword up over his head and started to run towards Cedric. The Royal Sorcerer let out a shriek and Sofia blasted James with the paralysis spell. He froze and fell over slowly, the sword still clutched in his hands.
Sofia let out a large sigh and turned to Cedric. He was on his knees, his torso completely bound. She slid over to him and wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing her face into his shoulder and let a few quick sobs escape. "Cedric… Cedric…"
He let out several whimpers and was spasming. She pulled away from him and stared at his battered form. This poor man. He'd been through so much for her since she'd let Samuel take her to Duvall. Smashed against her parent's balcony, imprisoned, half frozen and wandering lost in the mountains, thoroughly beaten up by Samuel, and now James had tried to murder him. All for her. She relaxed her arms and reached her hands up, working her fingers into his hair. He was hyperventilating, distraught, and shaking from the adrenaline. She pulled his head down into her chest and stroked his hair, while humming softly.
Deep breath in. The whimpering began to subside. Long exhale. Deep breath in. His breathing began to steady. Slow exhale, slow inhale. Inhale... exhale... the shaking steadied itself. He shifted to raise his head up and face her. "Sofia…. Is it true? Do you still, even now…" She smiled down at him calmly, he needed her to stabilize him. "Do you still care about me?"
"OH CEDRIC… I'll always love you." Small tears started to roll out of her. They dropped onto his soot-stained robe and vest. He had been inches from death. Her sorcerer.
He took a deep breath, briefly closed his eyes and gave a small chuckle taking it all in. "So you managed to escape, all by yourself. I should have known you would, you're such a clever sorceress." She smiled at him softly and a large smile broke out across his face, "Well, now that you're home and seem to have found another wand I don't suppose you'd mind loosening my ropes, it's murder to scratch my nose like this."
"Oh Cedric." He flung himself forward and planted a deep kiss on her lips. The world melted away and she flung her arms around his neck. She looked at him and the warm brown eyes and silver bangs were exactly where they should be.
After a bit he released her. "But seriously Sofia I'd appreciate it if you could do something about these ghastly things."
The wand rose up and a soft radiant light emanated from it, loosening his bindings. He stretched out his arms, freeing them from the bondage and reached forward, pulling her into a hug while they both knelt there among the fire. A pylon snapped and they shot to their feet. Sofia levitated her brother and they all ran out of the burning woodpile. "Cedric what was that wooden thing?"
He was huffing as he ran ahead of her, "It was my execution Sofia, you're brother wanted the whole kingdom to watch me be hung for trying to steal the Princess. Once the dragon attacked and burnt down the hangman's noose he was intent to finish the job personally."
They were now out of the burning wreckage and Sofia set her frozen brother in the blackened grass. "Are you kidding?" Dad would never-"
"You don't know that Sofia, but James decided my head needed separating from the rest of me after the king summoned his knights to march on Duvall. Oh the humiliation! First that wretched dragon man strapped me to a hinderbeast for the flight here and then your brother took my wand and dragged me in front of the town towards the executioner. Merlin's Mushrooms..."
Sofia reached up and stroked her sorcerer's bangs. "Oh Cedric, I ran after you last night but I couldn't find you."
"You know none of this would have happened if you hadn't been so eager to sacrifice yourself and thrown yourself into danger... or even if you'd run away with me, I would have much preferred that option to the near death experiences I've been having in your wake."
"I know. I'm so sorry Cedric but I couldn't just run away. Running away from you on the tower steps started this whole mess. If I would have just stayed and listened to you none of this would have happened. If only I had been fearless, then I wouldn't have had to.."
He wrapped her in a tight embrace. "Sofia I'd rather eat hemlock than discuss what you've been up to in Duvall. You're here with me now and you're safe, that's all that matters to me, okay?"
"You… really don't want to know, do you?"
"Triton's TURNIPS NO! No NO a million times NO. Let this be the end of it."
A loud groan was heard from the moat and they both froze. Samuel's mother was reviving. Sofia flung her arms around Cedric and pulled him into a deep kiss. His eyebrows rose up as his eyes closed and he pulled her closer.
She pulled away, "I've got to beat her, okay."
Cedric looked nervously at her. "B-b-but Sofia she could hurt you."
Sofia planted her feet on the ground to face him. "Look, I'm going to tell you what I told James, I'm not a little girl anymore, and I don't need anyone deciding what I can and cannot do! This is MY life, and I say that I'm going to stop Samuel's mother from killing everyone."
Sofia turned to run toward the castle but Cedric grabbed her shoulder. "Wait." She started shaking her hands to protest but he stood there, firmly. "If you're going to go do this I'm going to help you!" Sofia nodded and smiled at her sorcerer, but then Cedric froze and put his hands on his pockets... "Aaaasss soon as I find my wand... hmmm... Now where did that possessed brother of yours drop it..." He started looking around frantically but was getting nowhere. Sofia put a hand on his arm, causing the befuddled man to look down at her.
He straightened and she extended her wand toward him. "Here, use this."
"B-B-But what about you Sofia! You need a WAND to fight!"
She shook her head. "No I don't... not anymore." His face went white, well whiter, but she wasn't having it. "Look Cedric, magic isn't inherently good or bad, it's the way that it's used that makes it good or evil. Think about Mabrook and Drago, they shared the same magic, but one used it for evil and the other good. The barriers are artificial constructs, they're not real."
He looked skeptical, but resigned to her will. "Well alright if you're sure you know what you're doing Sofia. I guess I have no room to argue, you know all my little secrets now, and it's not like I'm still the Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia."
WHAT. Guess that makes sense, firing probably comes before execution. One more thing Cedric sacrificed for her. Sofia shook her head but head the dragon started to stand and roar. It was go-time and Sofia wasn't just going to fight with magic, she was going to perform wand-less spells.
The massive dragon began to stand and turned toward where Sofia and Cedric stood. Cedric grabbed her into a hug and stated loudly, "If something happens I'm following you to the netherworlds, just don't force me to keep the promise okay!"
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in his scent. "It won't. I still need to save the past."
Sofia pushed him away a bit started running toward the castle, with Cedric following her as fast as he could. She transformed into the dragon and grew into massive size. "Come at me Witch. I won't let you hurt my family anymore."
The dragon roared and charged toward Sofia and Cedric. He let out a frightened yelp a ways behind her and Sofia shifted into human form while summoning a magical circle of light beneath her feet. She stomped on the ground and swirled the energy, hit the beast directly in the face with the spell. It knocked the witch dragon backward, transforming her back to human shape. Sofia transformed back into the dragon and flew off to a new position. The witch summoned her own blood red circle and shot miasma where Sofia had previously stood, but no longer. Cedric was too far away to be hit with the blast. Sofia shifted back into human form and before the woman could reorient Sofia hit her with another spell. It knocked the woman backward and out of the blood-red circle, causing her to roll in the dirt. The woman let out a series of screams and shot red waves of energy all around. Hundreds of innocuous items erupted into hinderbeasts and started charging Sofia.
"Frizzato!" Cedric had fired a spell and managed to freeze one of the newly formed Hinderbeasts. WOW. That was big for him, he must be feeling pretty confident after that kiss a minute ago. "Sofia spun and shot energy up from the ground, reversing the spell and dispatching several of hinderbeasts, it was but a dent in the torrent that kept forming. They started growling and running in all directions, seemingly without purpose other than destruction. "SOFIA!" Cedric blasted another with a freezing spell. "Sofia are you okay! AGGGHHH!" Sofia shifted into dragon form and lunged at where Cedric had been standing. He'd been pinned by a hinderbeast and was about to have his head lobbed off again when Sofia swooped down, knocking the beast claw over wing down the small hill. Cedric stared at her frightened beyond all else as she scooped him up onto her head and rose up above the mêlée below.
"Cedric what are we going to do? She just keeps making more of them!" It came out as a huge roar. Cedric yelped again and grabbed her hair.
"Sofia what in the world are you roaring for! It's horrifying! You know I can't understand DRAGON!"
Oops.
She landed on the roof of Cedric's tower. It was one of the only remaining spires. The sorcerer was frightened out of his wits but managed to cling to the rooftop. "Merlin's Mushrooms SOFIA transform already!" She did, and he let out an exasperated huff. "Well I don't know about you but I think that made things WORSE."
Sofia surveyed the destruction. There were hinderbeasts running wildly everywhere now and at their center was the dragon mage. Not good. "We need a plan."
Cedric nodded, "Well just what do you propose to do Sofia, it's not like you're going to be able to talk some sense into that thing."
Sofia's eyes went wide. Cedric started to shake his head, "I can't believe I even have to say this Sofia. You can't actually be planning on talking to that crazy woman."
"Uh yeah.. you've got a better plan Cedric?"
He started to speak, but nothing came out, just a disgruntled huff. She reached over to him, "Don't suppose you know any really powerful but probably illegal black magic that would clear a path for me between here and that dragon mage, would you?" She batted her eyes at him and he squinted in return.
"This is blackmail you know."
"Doesn't matter, you're already an enemy of the kingdom."
"True enough. But Sofia—"
"Cedric, I believe in you. Everything you need, everything you are, it's all inside just waiting. Please Cedric, I believe in you."
It took his breath away. Right there in his eyes lay something new and beautiful. It almost looked like confidence. "Just remember you said that there is no difference between black magic and the light, and I've never actually performed this spell before, buuuut I guess there's always a first time."
She nodded. "Go for it!"
"Alright, here goes."
Cedric stood up as tall as he could upon the rooftop and raised up his arm, but started to slip. Sofia reached out and caught him, steadying his balance. "Always helping." He grinned. "Alright, now here goes."
He put his hand to his mouth and bit down hard. A tiny bit of blood spilled and he streaked it along the shaft of the wand. Sofia's eyes went wide. It was blood magic. "Hold my hand Sofia, I need to be thinking of you when I do this." She nodded and gripped him in a tight hug, it would help keep him steady and he seemed extremely happy with it. He kissed her forehead gently and then pointed the wand at the witch. The blood on the wand began to glow and he started whirling the wand around in a small circle and chanting some ominous sounding words. The blood sparkled like fire and burned itself deep into the wood. He was still chanting and a disturbing dark cloud of miasma rose around them. The dragon below noticed and let out a massive roar. She launched toward them when-BOOM- the spell erupted from Cedric's wand. It scattered all hinderbeasts within several hundred yards backward and pummeled the dragon witch back to the ground, shifting her back into human form.
Cedric was thoroughly spent from the activity. It was more powerful and darker magic than she'd ever seen him perform. "Blood magic." He nodded but was clearly spent physically. He had used his essence, his very being, to cast that spell. "Is that why you needed to hold me? because you used your innermost feelings to cast the spell?"
He smiled but was starting to loose his footing and was struggling to stay standing on the slippery roof, even with Sofia steadying him. "Sofia… you've got to do whatever you're going to do now… This is your chance... I can't manage another blast like that for a while."
"OKAY!" Sofia transformed into the dragon and flew Cedric back to the ground, depositing him gently on the grass.
Sofia squinted her eyes. The woman was so enraged she'd become unhinged, and was clawing at the dirt, flinging it high into the air as if she was still a dragon. She'd been injured by Cedric's blast, but not enough to incapacitate her. It was time for answers. Sofia screamed at Samuel's mother, "Please STOP doing this! if you don't Samuel WILL find out and he will HATE you for it!"
The old woman's eyes shone red and she launched a series of spells toward Sofia, screaming as she cast. "It matters not what Samuel thinks, I was the vision, I will reunite the world, I will end Drago's shame!"
Sofia dodged every blow the woman hurled, deflecting the last blast back at the dark mage. It struck her and knocked her backward several feet. Sofia used the opportunity to confirm a suspicion she had about the dark sorceress before her.
"It was YOU who sent the Hinderbeasts to invade Friezenburg and the other kingdoms, wasn't it?!"
"YES!" The witch launched another spell from her position on the ground but Sofia easily dodged it. Luckily it landed nowhere near where Cedric was hunched over trying to recover.
"You WANTED to start the wars. WHY!"
The witch crouched on her knees and made a sweeping motion upward. The ground below Sofia shook and rose up, flinging Sofia high into the air. She managed to catch her bearings mid-flight but still rolled on impact with the ground for several feet. Sofia looked back at the witch, who had stood and continued screaming, "I am EVERYTHING and I will rule ALL, I will make this place dark and free my sisters, I WILL! for I was chosen, for I AM THE VISION!"
Sofia thought about all the hinderbeast sightings she had witnessed outside of Duvall. This woman wanted to rule everything, but Samuel was king… WAIT. When Sofia met Samuel he was being attacked by hinderbeasts and schreakenwolves… but REAL hinderbeasts didn't wander outside of the mountains of Duvall and there was no way Samuel's followers would have attacked him… If Sofia hadn't saved him…
"You sent them."
The woman was trying to summon another curse but Sofia blasted her with a small shot of the lightning energy. It knocked the wind out of the woman and she fell kneeling to the ground.
"You SENT THEM! didn't YOU!"
"SAY what you MEAN, FALSE NIHMZAHE!"
"Back then, when Samuel came to find me, YOU MEANT TO KILL HIM, YOUR OWN SON, WITH THOSE MONSTERS!"
The woman froze. She bent her head slightly to one side, and the most horrifying smile Sofia had ever seen graced the face of evil emerged. "So you SEE me little sorceress. He is WEAK, just like you and his FATHER."
NO. WAY. Samuel's father had died long ago when Samuel was very young…. Did she… could she….
"You killed Samuel's father, didn't you?"
The witch began to convulse with laughter, which enraged Sofia. "Why, WHY would you kill your own husband?"
The witch screamed back at her, "Because he was WEAK. He stood in the shadows of great ancestors and cowered at their decisions. He would never allow me to fulfill my destiny, and the boy is just like his worthless father, no matter how hard I've tried."
"The King of Friezenburg NEVER touched you, did he? DID HE! Your wicked heart is what separated you from Samuel's father!" The evil mage stood there, her menacing laugh echoing across the destruction.
Finally the witch spoke, "You see many things, but not the ending of your own tale." That was it, this woman deserved defeat, right here, right now. Sofia transformed back into dragon form but the hinderbeasts had returned. There was simply too many of them. Back into human form, the magic circle was summoned, -BOOM- The nearest three turned back into birds, -BOOM- Another two back into rocks. The woman's maniacal laughter echoed throughout the burnt remains of the palace gardens. "BURN IT ALL, BURRRRNNNN!"
It was hopeless. Sofia turned back to see Cedric. He'd frozen another hinderbeast that had tried to kill him but they were simply outnumbered.
"RRRROOOOAAARRRRRR" The largest angry roar came from above. Sofia looked up as Cedric did to see none other than Samuel descending from the sky.
Thank Merlin. The witch looked up to see him descending. Cedric let out a shriek and Sofia ran back to where he was standing. "Sofia run, please by the name of all things magical you HAVE to run. If he sees you he'll capture you again and I-"
"Not this time Cedric. He'll side with us, I'm sure of it."
Cedric's eyes went wide and he latched on to her arm, "Sofia what if he doesn't. He'll take you, by Merlin he'll take you again and NO! Please No." Cedric was having a small emotional collapse.
"Please Cedric, I know he'll support me. He loves me."
A look of horror crossed Cedric's face but Samuel landed and was hissing at his mother, keeping her at bay, which broke up their conversation. He knocked several of the hinderbeasts to the sides, ripping their heads from their bodies with his long talons.
"SOFIA!" It was Roland. He was riding on Samuel's head. The dragon king bent down to let him disembark. Sofia ran over to her Dad and they embraced while Samuel kept decapitating hinderbeasts. The mother retreated several steps while watching this display of death before her.
"Sofia I was so worried about you!"
"What were you doing riding Samuel Dad? I thought you hated him!"
"I do, but he didn't give me much of a choice Sofia. It seems he promised you that I would be returned home unharmed, so he personally delivered me."
At that moment there was a large cry, several hinderbeasts were flying in from the north at full speed. These ones could fly unlike the one's Samuel's mother kept conjuring… "Hammond!"
The new arrivals started to do battle with some of the beasts made by Samuel's mother. Reinforcements.
The mother looked around at Samuel and the scene that lay before her. She transformed into the dragon, bolting into the distance. Suddenly a hinderbeast approached where Sofia was hugging her father. He grabbed her arms to shield her body from the beast, but it prevented her from conjuring the magical circle. Samuel turned from the pursuit of his mother and swung his tail into the creature, flinging it several hundred yards into the base of Cedric's tower. It rose no longer. Samuel turned back toward where his mother had fled. No sign of her. He let out an angry fireball and roared commands to his followers. They continued destroying the newly conjured hinderbeasts. Sofia stepped away from her father to rejoin the fight when Roland grabbed her tightly.
"No Sofia you can't!"
That was it. This needed to end, NOW.
"No Dad. Not this time. Not anymore. I'm a grown woman and I can make my own choices."
Roland started shaking his head furiously and looked around. He saw an opening in the battle that led to the castle. He started to pull on her arm to lead her toward the door but she planted her feet, refusing to follow. "Sofia I need to get you to safety. You can't be here."
She looked at this man. He was a great king to his people, but he was also a man, and every man has their faults. "No Dad, you need to understand that I love magic. I love to help people, and I use my magic to help and to heal. No more barriers. I don't care if society says that I have to choose between being a royal or a sorcerer, I'm going to do what I feel is right above everything else. No one will tell me what I can and cannot do anymore."
Roland's eyes went wide. He was speechless. She hugged her Dad and ran off to join the battle again. Roland stood there, watching her go. She took out a couple more hinderbeasts using the magic within and surveyed the fighting. Samuel's forces seemed to have the upper hand.
Samuel transformed into human shape and ran toward Sofia. "What are you DOING here Nihmzahe, you were to remain safely sealed in our chambers-".
Cedric had stood and run over to where Sofia and Samuel were, his wand pointed squarely at the dragon king. "STAY BACK you wretched thing!"
Whoa. Cedric didn't stutter. That's new. "Cedric calm down!"
"No Sofia I won't let him take off with you again!"
Samuel's eyes shone red, "YOU AGAIN!"
"Indeed! Now stay away from her before I banish you back to the abyss!"
Samuel didn't seem impressed. He growled as if he were still in dragon form and his teeth shone. These two were totally wrapped up in hating each other. "STOP, please both of you STOP!" Sofia's cries fell on deaf ears.
"Enough of you worthless Sorcerer, I have had enough of you interfering with fate!"
"As have I you cursed creature! Tell him Sofia, tell him what you told me earlier, tell him!"
Sofia went blank. What was Cedric referring to? She looked at him, perplexed. Cedric let out a series of huffs, "Sofia, tell him that you love ME, and not HIM, tell him!"
She looked back at Samuel, he was standing there looking triumphant. It made her feel sick. "Nihmzahe..."
She looked back at Cedric, then at Samuel. "Please stop fighting! We all have a common enemy!"
Cedric's wand shone red from the blood etched into it. "I don't care if you are a dragon king, YOU'RE the one who's worthless!"
"Prepare, for you have now invited death sorcerer." The silver circle of energy formed at Samuel's feet.
"No SAM! You can't DO THIS! I love -!"
Samuel started his attack. Sofia flung her hands up and saw Cedric start to cast a spell using the blood magic. She lunged directly in between them to stop the fighting, but they had both discharged their spells. They each watched in horror as the magic connected with her on either side.
"SOFIA!"