Author's note.
Well, it's been a while, hopefully, this longer than usual chapter will be a good apology for the wait. I also decided to give this specific chapter more of an "Anime" feel, and I'm still not sure if I regret that choice or not... Anyways I apologise for any future events were it'll take ages for a chapter to come out, however, you should never lose that faith of this thing ending, no matter how long it'll take for me to publish a single chapter I will finish this story, I have so many great ideas for future chapters and historical events that I could never abandon this project that easily.
The morning felt much calmer than normal, in addition to the nice bed, the sound of rushing water also filled my head. I had to wake up eventually, so I opened my eyes slowly, as the blur began to fade I saw in front of me a figure. It appeared to be someone in a dark blue cloak with bright red hair, it was only when I fully opened my eyes that I saw who it was.
I jumped up and screamed, "Wha- what the-why are you-" I said in distress.
"Good morning, George!" the woman said cheerfully.
It was then that I recognized her, "You-you're that...that French spy" I said.
The woman looked to the side and scratched her cheek, "Well the French part is correct…"
"You're that witch!" I yelled, "What are you doing here?!"
"You're on my ship, remember?" She said,
"You kidnapped me!" I said breathing heavily from the scare.
The woman smiled, "Well technically you decided to come here on your own will…" she then held up a small plate with a teacup on it, "Look! I made you tea!" she said.
"Were you watching me sleep?!" I asked.
"It would've been rude to wake you up and I wanted to make sure the tea was hot," Ursula said as she handed me the tea.
I grabbed the plate slowly with a weary look, "...Thank...thank you…" I said,
I went to take a sip but I then looked up to see Ursula staring at me with a bright smile and hopeful eyes. I put the plate down on a crate next to me, "It's poison, isn't it?" I said,
"...What?" Ursula said with a tilted face.
"I know you witches, " I began to say, "You make devilish potions to torture people with"
Ursula shrugged, "Well my aunt knew a few things about potions but that was about it in my family, and it was never really passed down to me"
I sighed, got up from my bed and walked upstairs to the top deck. Yep, I was still on that ship owned by that bloody witch, I thought about ways to escape while standing there.
"Wait!" I heard Ursula yell below me, "It's not poison! I swear!" she ran up to the top deck and stood in front of me and took a large sip of the tea, "See? I feel fine! It's not poison!" she cried as she handed me the plate.
I looked at it for a moment, "...Ursula, you drank the whole cup"
Ursula squealed, "Ah! Je suis vraiment désolé!" she yelled as she shook my hand violently, "I'll go make another cup for you!" Ursula said as she ran off towards the captain's den.
As I watched I was shocked by another voice behind me.
"Morning, Washington," the voice said.
I quickly turned around to see who it was, "...It's you...Croix...is it?"
Croix nodded, "Nice to see you still alive after sleeping on a witches ship"
I noticed that Croix also had a cup of tea in her hand, as did everyone else on the ship, in fact, no one was even working that much, they were all just drinking tea.
"George!" Ursula yelled to me from the other side of the ship.
I turned around and saw her running towards me with a teacup raised in her hand, "I have your tea!" Ursula called out.
As she got closer she almost tripped over herself but balanced herself out and handed me the tea. I grabbed the plate and looked at the cup.
"It's not poison!" Ursula said, "Cross my heart and hope to die!"
I sighed and slowly took a sip of the tea, this is a death wish, I thought to myself, today is the day I die, General George Washington, poisoned by a witch out on the ocean after a disgraceful military defeat to the French.
"...This is actually good!" I said as I lowered the teacup.
Ursula's face lit up with delight, she immediately hugged me tight while laughing.
"Get off of me you witch!" I said as I pushed her away, "One good cup of tea is not nearly enough to redeem a woman of witchcraft and evil! You unholy demons must be rid of this world!"
Ursula's happy grin quickly turned to sadness after I said that, her eyes became watery and it wasn't long before she started crying loudly and waterfalls of tears rolled down her.
"...Ursula?" I said,
She kept crying. I had no idea it was physically possible to create a puddle out of your own tears…
"Okay okay!" I said, "I'm sorry for saying that…"
After hearing that, the waterfalls coming from Ursula's eyes stopped, "R- *sniff* really?" She said while drying her eyes.
"...Yes?" I said hesitantly.
"Oh great!" she yelled as her face brightened up once again as if nothing ever happened.
Ursula went and hugged me again and rubbed her cheeks against mine, "Oh thank you! Thank you for forgiving me!" She cried out.
As she was hugging me, both I and Croix looked at each other awkwardly.
"Does she always act like this?" I said, referring to Ursula.
"Me and Ursula first met when we were around 14 years old, I think it's safe to say she hasn't changed much since," Croix said with a smile, "We sometimes call her the nickname Chariot, after the ship, because just like the ship, Ursula is very quick, cheery and has an adventurous spirit"
I nodded and began to clear my throat, "Chariot?" I said,
Ursula...or Chariot, let go of me, "What is it?
"Could you let go of me, please?" I said,
Chariot let go of me and bowed in front of me, "Pardon! Pardon!"
"Chariot, I have news concerning your ship," I said.
Chariot tilted her head, "Oh? Is there something wrong with her?"
"It...I mean she is heavily undermanned, I only counted 30 men on an 800 required ship" I pointed out.
"That's not counting the women!" Chariot said.
"Even with the women, it's still only 52 crew members, far from enough to sail a Frigate such as this one" I explained.
Chariot giggled, "Clearly you've never seen a ship manned by magic" she then turned around to face the man at the helm and threw a compass at him, "You know the route, Jack, we planned this ages ago" Chariot called out.
The man on the helm quickly turned the wheel to the right and caused the ship to turn violently towards the south-west. Crew members up at the stern ducked their heads so the spanker didn't hit them.
As the ship was moving, Croix went and approached me, "George...Washington, is it?"
I nodded in response, "Yes that is my name"
"Ah...good strong name for a good strong man" Croix began to say, "There is no doubt that Mary is proud of you…"
I backed away from Croix in shock, "...How do you know my mother's name?"
Croix chuckled, "Oh...you know, it takes a witch to know another…"
I looked at Croix angrily, "My mother was a holy woman of the church, not a devilish witch like you lot"
"She was a bloody witch and a mighty good one at that" Croix argued, "Mary Ball Washington was a teacher of me and Ursula for a while"
"Cut your tricks, you witch!" I harshly said, "What have you done to my mother!?"
"She's safe!" Croix said, "Well, I'm not sure if she's safe or not, but if she's in trouble I assure you it has nothing to do with us" Croix then approached closer to me and put her hand on my forehead, "You are the son of a witch alright…"
I slapped away Croix's hand and backed away, "Damn you...how in God's name do you know my mother's name?!"
Croix sighed, "Listen, I'm not telling you to accept it, I'm just telling you the truth, the witch blood is in you, my friend, you have full ability to use magic the same way we can…" she said as she circled me.
"Even if such a thing were true, I would never fall to such practices," I said while trying to keep a distance away from Croix.
Croix sighed and held out her hand to me, she didn't say any words but she looked at me expectantly.
I suddenly felt incredibly nervous, the ship was doing a tacking motion that moved many a sailor across the deck, I've seen it a thousand times yet somehow it was nauseating. Surely this must be the witch's doing. "What are you doing?" I swiftly and nervously asked Croix.
"Give me your hand," Croix said as she moved closer to me with a determined look.
I placed my right hand on my chest and covered it with my left while trying to face away from Croix, "Why would I trust such a suspicious request from a witch no less"
"It takes proper training to use magic" Croix began to explain, "But if I connect my magic energy with yours I can show you what you are capable of"
I backed away from Croix even farther, making sure my hand wasn't within reach of her. The ship stopped it's nauseating motion and was now sailing towards the south. I was relieved, though I still felt a little sick. Chariot ran over to me with a hopeful look.
"Was that supposed to impress me?" I said when I turned to Chariot, "I was once a midshipman, tacking is no mystery to me" I explained, my face with a stern look.
Chariot giggled, "I've yet to show you the best part!" Chariot swiftly pulled out a wand from her cloak and called out to the crew of the ship with her wand held up high, "Come out ye Jib-Hats!"
All members of the crew looked at Chariot, but few started to take action. One by one a select number of crew members began to put pointy witch and wizard hats on and pull out wands of their own. They all soon lined up in a group and held their wands up high along with Chariot.
"Move the yards to the starboard side! Fore and Main!" Chariot once again called out.
In an instant, the wands in the hands of the magic folk began to glow bright green, I didn't think it would be possible but sure enough, the yards on the masts began to move, despite there being no men pulling the ropes, the fore and main mast sails began to turn and face the wind. The yards were successfully moved to the starboard side of the ship, and it was all because of the work of about only 13 crew members, and they didn't even break a sweat.
Chariot turned back to me with a happy cheery look, "When you have Jib-Hats aboard you really don't need such large crews to sail a ship" she giggled.
I turned to Chariot still trying to comprehend what I just saw, "...Jib-Hats?" I said with much confusion.
"Nautical term for magic folk," Chariot quickly explained.
There was a long pause until I took notice of Chariot's garment, she was wearing dark blue robes the entire day, it appeared ill suited for sailing.
"About that outfit, you are wearing…" I began to say, but I was cut off.
Chariot giggled and spun a circle with her arms stretched out like a child, "It's pretty isn't it?" she said cheerfully.
"It is very ill-suited for a sailor, especially a captain!" I sternly replied.
Chariot frowned at me, "Oh come on Georgie, it's a cute outfit!" she smiled again.
I shook my head at her with my arms crossed, surely she couldn't be serious, "It'll get torn if you continue to wear it on a ship, judging from the dye colour it must be an expensive coat"
"Work lessens a lot when you're a witch" Chariot responded with a glee look, "Plus, it lets other Jib-Hats out on the ocean know that I am a witch pledge to the practices of European Magic"
That sentence caught my eye, "Other Jib-Hats?" I said with shock.
Chariot nodded intensely, "Yep! There are plenty of Jib-Hatted sailors out there trying to find work, mostly they work for the black market businesses as bigger companies won't hire witches. unfortunately, some witches even turn to piracy"
I put a hand to my chin and started to pace, "Right, and what reason are you sailing-" my words were soon cut off as I was hit with shock as Croix forcefully grabbed my wrist from behind me and placed a wand in it. Chariot also seemed shocked but didn't come to help me.
Croix then pushed my arm to point ahead to the sea, "Murowa!" Croix yelled out, and I quickly felt very numb. Soon it felt as if I was struck by lightning, a large force of energy pushed all the way through me all the way to my hand and into the wand I was holding. A blast of green energy was fired from the wand and launched me out of Croix's grip.
I didn't feel so good, I could hear my heart pounding and my vision began to turn red. I was quickly losing balance, yet even though my faint hearing I could hear the voice of Croix and Chariot.
"Allez au diable, Croix!" The voice of Chariot yelled, "Why did you do that?!"
The figures of Croix and Chariot became harder and harder to see, my vision was getting blurry.
"He needed to learn magic somehow" The calm voice of Croix spoke.
"That is a terrible way to learn Magic!" Chariot whinily said.
"What do you mean?" Croix said, "My parents taught me by using that same method"
The pounding of my heart started to sound even louder, I could almost see the veins in my eyes, every word that was spoken sounded like gibberish and I fell down on the ground yet I barely felt a wooden deck. The only thing I saw next was darkness…
...The next thing I heard was someone singing, the voice was of a man, humming a particular song.
"Step we gaily on we go, heel for heel and toe for toe, arm and arm and on we go, all for Marie's wedding…" The lyrics went.
I opened my eyes slowly, though strangely I didn't feel all that tired. I was lying on a bed staring up at a wooden deck, I was still inside the ship. I turned my head and saw the person who was singing, it was a man wearing a kilt with a brown overcoat and a cap. The man sang in a Scottish accent.
"Are ya awake?" The man asked as he turned to me, "Ye better be"
He had a bold yet raspy voice, the man had a brown beard and blue eyes.
I slowly got up from the bed I was laying in, "May I ask, who are you?" I said to the man.
The man looked at me for a moment, "Edward Donald" He proudly answered.
Edward and I soon heard the sounds of footsteps coming from outside, the door opened and in walked Chariot, Croix and Harald. Croix smiled when she saw that I was awake, "Oh thank Beatrix, I was almost convinced that I killed our general"
Croix and Chariot walked over to me, Harald the Viking gave a smirk at Edward, "Donald, where's your trousers?" Harald jokingly said to Edward.
Edward gave Harald the stink eye, "Say that again and I'll tear away your eyes!" Harald started laughing in response.
Croix turned to Edward, "I know you said you picked up some healing knowledge from the Cavendish house but I never thought you could actually pull it off!"
Edward chuckled, "I may be nothin' but a magicless Scot, but dammit I know how to read a book"
I was confused when I heard mention of the Cavendish house, to my knowledge the Cavendishes were British nobles who had nothing to do with healing. "Cavendish house?" I said in confusion.
"That doesn't matter!" Chariot quickly said, "What matters is that you're safe!"
I frowned at Chariot, "Why is a witch, like you worrying about my well-being?"
Chariot tilted her head with an oblivious face, "...Because you're another human being?"
I looked at her sternly and shook my hand without any words, she must be keeping me alive for something, no witch is this kind.
I got up from the bed and walked out the door, outside I saw the rest of the ship as it was when I passed out, but before it stood land filled with jungle trees and bright golden beaches, in the distance I saw a white flag with a coat of arms represented a shield with a crown on top of it flying beyond the trees. It was the Spanish flag. I thought to myself, surely this must be the Spanish colony of La Florida.
"I thought you were sailing to England," I said as I looked at the flag.
Chariot walked up next to me and pulled out a spyglass from her dark blue cloak and scoped the area, "We were, but we've discovered some new information about the harp" Chariot put away the spyglass and pulled out a small map, marking an X on it, "So we've sailed to New Spain to snatch a key"
Chariot's words shocked me, not so much the snatching of a key but more so the New Spain part, "This...isn't Florida?" I said in confusion.
"You were asleep for a long time…" Croix said to me with a smirk.
I turned to Croix with a strong feeling of rage in my heart, "You bloody witch! I'll kill you!" I yelled out.
I jumped at Croix only for both Edward and Harald to grab my arms and pull me back, "Stand yer ground, lad!" Edward said to me, "It ain't wise to tackle a witch you know"
Eventually, I calmed down and the two sailors let me go.
I took a deep sigh and looked back at the land before us and the flag in the distance.
Croix walked over to me and smiled a nervous smile, "...Look I'm very sorry about what I did! I should've thought about the consequences of making a magical person use magic for the first time far late into their life"
Chariot walked up with a cheerful look on her face as she placed her arm on my shoulder, "All that magic must've been building up for years!"
Their words only made me angrier, but I kept calm and looked forward into the land, "...How do you know this key is here?" I asked.
Chariot started twiddling her thumbs, "Well...you see we're trying to unlock something-"
She was cut off as I spoke, "What are you trying to unlock!?"
"Let me finish!" Chariot said, "We have the harp, and I thought the harp was all we needed until I remembered that you also needed a specific key to unlock a door to the...thing...we are trying to unlock" Chariot stuttered.
Croix shook her head in shame, "You can be so forgetful sometimes…" she crossed her arms.
"I can't help it!" Chariot cried out.
I cleared my throat, "That explanation doesn't say anything about my original question"
Chariot turned to me and clapped her hands, "Oh! Right! We know that Mexica people had the key, how they got it is beyond me, but I knew they had it, so we sailed around Cape Horn, and halfway there we met up with Edward here, who told us that the Spanish had stolen the key from a dead witch"
Edward stepped in front of us and put one foot on a crate. He looked forward at the land in a very stoic pose with one hand over his eyes to block out the sun and the other hand on his knee. He soon spoke, "I tried to inform ye before we sailed away but I came to the dock seeing that you sailed without me, so I ventured to the Mexica people to take the key and bring it to ya" Edward explained.
"Yep, all to be told that those bloody Spaniards took it," Croix said after taking a step forward.
"Come on then!" Chariot cheerfully said as she handed us all a musket, "Let's make way to that settlement!"
I looked at the musket and then back at Chariot, "...You're giving me a gun?" I said,
Chariot looked at me with a face of wonder, "...Well since you're a general I thought it'd be good to give you a weapon while you come along with us"
Truly this witch lacked the necessary wits to survive, I was going to object but this could be my only chance to escape. I kept the gun and strapped it on my back.
"Hey, George!" Croix yelled to me.
I turned around to see an apple flying towards me, I quickly grabbed it before it hit me and looked at Croix
"After months of no food, I imagine Your quite hungry," Croix said with a smile
I had to admit I was starving, I took the apple and made way to the rowboats.
Chariot, Harald, Edward and I all jumped on a rowboat and started rowing towards the land. Chariot looked back at Croix who was on the bow of the ship looking at her, "Go ahead and sail to England!" Chariot called out, "We'll take a Ley line to Luna Nova!"
Croix nodded and turned around to the rest of the crew, however her words faded away as we rowed to shore. We landed on the golden beach and jumped out of the boat. We all had muskets but I was the only one who was holding it. Harald had an axe in his right hand, Edward was holding onto the pommel of a Scottish two-handed sword and Chariot was holding her wand of course.
The four of us made the way through the jungle until we saw a fort surrounded by white-coated men. We all hid behind the trees and watched.
"Who are those people?" Chariot whispered.
"They're Spanish guards" I sharply said.
Chariot giggled, "I just realized! We have a British general on our side! George if you can just walk up to the soldiers and talk politics or whatever…"
"That's not how politics work!" I said with a stern face, "And to be clear I'm not going to be engaging combat with any Spanish soldiers, I already started a war with the French, no need to get the Spanish involved"
Chariot looked at the two guards at the front gate like a hawk, she was clearly thinking something.
"...So does anyone here speak Spanish?" Harald quietly said.
Chariot, with a determined face, jumped out of the woods and ran towards the two guards as fast as she could, the two guards took notice of her immediately and looked at her strangely. When she got up to the guards she stopped herself and held her knees while catching her breath. The two guards looked at each other then back at Chariot. Chariot looked at the two guards with a bright smile on her face, "Uh...Hola!" she paused. Chariot knew Spanish even less than English, "Uh...Cómo estás?" she said nervously.
There was a long silence. The left guard soon spoke, "Bueno Como Estas?" The right guard next to him punched him on the shoulder and turned to me, "¿Quién eres tú?"
Chariot felt even more nervous, she was almost visibly shaking, "Uh...U-Ursula...Ursula Du-Du Nord"
"...What the hell is she doing?" I whispered from behind the tree.
"Chariot isn't the best at making plans…" Harald said as he shook his head with a hand on his face.
"¿Por qué estás aquí?" the right guard asked.
"¿Estás aquí para pasar un buen rato?" the left guard snickered.
Shortly after he was hit in the stomach by his friend, "Cabrón!" the right guard yelled. They both turned to me, "¿Estás Perdido?" The right guard said.
Edward soon jumped out of the woods himself and cried out a loud battle cry, he pulled the musket from his back and fired a shot next to the guards.
The guards, in shock, yelled out, "¡Ayuda! ¡Ayuda!" The left guard yelled.
"¡Mátalo!" The right guard called out.
Soon a large force of Spanish soldiers marched out of the fort gates and started running towards Edward, some of the soldiers had pikes in their hands while others had muskets.
Edward nervously threw his musket and swung it around to his back and ran away. He patted me and Harald as he ran passed, "Run ye buggers!" he cried out.
Both me and Harald looked at the Scot as he ran away, we looked back to see the large army of Spanish pike and shots running at us ready to kill. Harald patted me on the shoulder, "Have fun with your politics, friend" He said before running away as well.
I turned back and ran after the two, "Wait for me, you idiots!" I yelled out.
Chariot stepped out of harm's way, but the two Spanish guards were still there, looking at her, "Donde estábamos Nosotros" The left one said to her. Chariot sighed and pointed her wand at both of the guards, "Murowa!" She yelled, shooting out a large energy ball and causing the two guards to go unconscious. Chariot then walked through the open gate into the fort.
Meanwhile me, Harald and Edward were still running away from the Spanish.
"Why the bloody hell did you do that!?" I yelled at Edward as we were running.
"Sure I was really…" Edward took breathers in between words, "Really hoping that the guards would run after us instead of calling for their men"
Harald laughed, "Well life isn't like one of your books, frien-" He was cut off by his own yelp as he tripped and fell in a ditch that was in front of us. Edward also fell in the ditch, I stopped right before falling in.
I looked down and saw both Edward and Harald getting up and dusting off their backs as they looked around, "George! Get yer waist down here!" Edward called to me from below
"...I think I might stay up here, thank you" I said sarcastically.
"Look behind ye, lad! There's a real right cave 'ere that might be our way of losing those buggers!" Edward explained.
I looked behind me and saw the Spanish soldiers far away but still heading for me. Hesitantly I jumped in the ditch and faced the small cave in front of me. Harald grabbed a lantern from under his coat and lit it, he made a hand jester to us and Edward to follow him.
I got up from my back and dusted myself off as well and followed Harald into the cave
"Dark in here, ain't it?" Edward said as he looked around.
"No kidding, Donald" Harald said.
"Ye never know in a dark place like this if in e're a creature were to come out and kill ya," Edward said as he turned to me with a sinister smile.
I looked at him sternly, "I'm not some school boy that is easily frightened by stories"
Edward laughed, "Ah sure Jaysus lighten up just a wee bit!"
"I'm a prisoner on a witches ship! Why would I lighten up?" I harshly said.
"Because witches aren't as terrible as everyone says!" Harald quickly responded.
"Please…" I began to say, "Those devils have been terrorizing us for ages, using their black magic for their own personal gain by listening to the sound of human suffering"
"Really? Now, who told ya that then?" Edward began to say, "Was it the Bible? Or maybe the priest?"
"You defy the words of God…" I said ominously.
"And you defy the words of the Nine Ould Witches!" Edward snapped back. "Witches are humans! Some good, some bad. Those bad witches have dammed all magic folk to live in secrecy for their entire life! Many a witch or wizard have watched in horror as family members or friends were burned alive in front of them by bucket head Crusaders and their bloody crosses"
"That was ages ago…" I said after a long pause.
Edward sighed, "And yet, Magic folk to this day are still being forcefully drowned or hanged by the neck until dead" He stopped in his tracks and looked back at me, "Perhaps you might want to know how magic folk see the world around them" He then kept walking and following the light. I stood silent, I decided not to say anything and keep walking.
We soon saw a large light ahead of us, not of the lantern but of daylight, after climbing a large pile of rocks we climbed out of a hole onto the surface. As I climbed out I noticed the Spanish fort we saw earlier, it was before us and also below us, it appeared that we had climbed onto the surface of a cliff.
Harald lightly punched my shoulder, "Come on now! That wall there won't be hard to climb over at all"
I sighed, "I'm going to regret this"
The three of us climbed down the cliff and carefully walked over to the fort from the side, there were no guards protecting the area we were headed for, but we did hear some yelling happening inside of the fort.
We all climbed over the stone gate and quickly saw Chariot inside, hiding behind a house. She was holding a flintlock pistol in her hand, carefully she raised the gun and fired it into the sky. The soldiers at the fort quickly took notice, and a few of them ran towards the noise, however, Chariot dropped the gun and ran away before anyone could see her. She hid behind a cart that was standing before what looked like a warehouse. The warehouse had two guards protecting it with muskets in their hands.
Chariot took a deep breath and fired another heat blast from her wand at the two guards, knocking them out cold. Chariot quickly ran into the warehouse and rummaged through all the things, she looked in the main chest but all it had was some charts. She looked everywhere but couldn't find anything of use. She walked out of the warehouse oblivious until she noticed that she was surrounded by Spanish guards pointing their guns at her.
"¡Estarse quieto!" one of the guards yelled, "¡No te muevas!"
Chariot raised her hands up in defeat, but soon after a gunshot was heard, and one of the guards fell dead. All the guards looked at the dead soldier, and it wasn't till another gunshot was heard that killed off another soldier. The guards looked around, one of them quickly ran towards Chariot ready to stab her with a bayonet, but he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell down on the ground dead with an axe thrown in his back.
Harald ran down and grabbed the axe from the back of the soldier, however, that wasn't the last of them. Chariot and Harald took a short glance at all the soldiers staring at them, some with their guns pointed and ready to fire.
Chariot and Harald ran out of the fort as quickly as possible, grabbing both me and Edward along, we ran as fast as we could until we made it to the sandy golden beaches we saw before. Breathing heavily we were all relieved that we managed to lose them.
"Did ye find the key?" Edward asked.
"There was no key…" Chariot answered as she wiped her forehead of sweat.
"Impossible, this is the exact place the Mexica told me the key was located, they were planning a siege of the place for months now" Edward explained.
"Maybe we should ask The Mexica about it…" Chariot suggested.
Chariot led us onto a small rowboat on a river in a cold damp swamp, as we rowed down the river, Chariot handed me a pointy wizard hat, "You may want to put this on"
"Why?" I simply said.
"Because you might end up like one of them," Harald said as he nodded his head in a certain direction.
I turned and jumped back in shock and fear. Before me hanged a Spanish soldier, he was hanging by the neck on a tree branch, long dead.
"Where...where are we?" I asked nervously.
"In a place that is very protective of its temple" Chariot said as she placed the hat on my head over my tricorn. Edward and Harald also had wizard hats on, and Chariot was wearing a white cape and a bright white witch hat
As we rowed down the river I started to see more Spanish soldiers hanging from the branches of trees, I could almost see bodies below the murky waters. I wondered where we were going but I dared not ask.
It wasn't long till we stood before a large temple, the four of us jumped out of the rowboat and started walking up the stairs. The stairway led to an open doorway with giant carvings of faces next to it. The stairway was steep and seemed to have writing on each step, what was odder was that each step had different symbols almost as if the entire staircase was a written story. As we were walking up we were passed by many fair-skinned Indians, some looked to be teenagers, just a bit younger than I was, and some much older, looking to be in their late 30s or early 40s.
"Forgive me for not knowing...who are the Mexica people?" I asked.
"You probably know them as the Aztecs…" Harald said as he looked around the area with a smirk.
I was baffled, "Aztecs!? I thought they went extinct 200 years ago"
Edward laughed, "The Spanish may have killed the lot of 'em, but ye can't kill off the entirety of a culture that easily"
"This place serves as a final safe haven for the Mexica people" Chariot began to explain, "It is the only ley line to be both a magic school and a home for the last remnants of a culture"
"Magic school? You certainly failed to mention that…" I said sternly.
After what felt like hours we finally made it to the top of the stairway. Before us stood a doorway and inside the temple was a large open room with slopes leading down to different other doorways. There was little light and while there were a few torches placed, most of the people in the temple held candles in their hands to see well. Harald was holding his lantern once again to lead us the way. While most of the people were Mexica and wore black dresses with long hair like bands hanging from certain headdresses or sleeves, some of the people in the crowd were light-skinned and wore traditional Magic hats and dark blue robes, similar to the ones Chariot was wearing.
Frankly, I was annoyed with my wizard hat. I assumed it was safe enough to take it off and straighten out my tricorn hat, though I did get some strange glances from folks after doing so. I still didn't want to put it on so I held the hat up to my chest just to pretend that I was one of the magic folk just like everyone else, and also to make a good first impression...
As we were walking I soon noticed something even more strange, in the corner I saw two young ladies talking to each other, they weren't wearing blue European robes or Aztec dresses, they were both wearing a white dress with golden outlines, though it could've easily been mistaken as a towel wrapped around them. The two ladies had shortly cut black hair and fools gold makeup on their face, and to add to it all, they both had bright shining necklaces, rings and a colourful choker. They weren't Aztecs, they looked like Egyptians, not modern Egyptians but like the ancient Egyptians thousands of years before now, although probably much cleaner and shiner.
"Who are these people?" I quietly asked Chariot.
"Sometimes magic folks from around the world will visit other Ley lines" Chariot softly responded, "The Blue cloaked pointy hat lassies are from the remains of Luna Nova, like me," Chariot looked around and took notice of the two Egyptians talking to each other, "Oh! And those two are from Clara Sole, all here to visit the Temple of Malinalxochitl"
Clara Sole and Luna Nova were simple Latin names, but I needed a minute to even comprehend the name Malinalxochitl.
Chariot giggled at my confused face, "You can call it The Temple of Serpents if you wish…"
I looked at Chariot and sighed, not saying a word.
After walking up one final slope we saw in front us a few men and women dressed in the same similar style as all the Mexica people, but with capes and robes instead of dresses, they were the caretakers presumably. They were all speaking to each other in a strange language that I've never heard before, it all sounded like gibberish to me…
Chariot cleared her throat to grab the attention of the men and women.
The Headmaster in the middle sighed before turning around, and much to my surprise spoke English, "I'm very sorry but tours have ended for Luna Nova Students…"
I was baffled, the man spoke fluently in English, there was no hint of an accent. He had a weary voice however, he was clearly very old.
The Headmaster turned around to face us, his eye line and forehead were painted black with charcoal and he wore a large headdress with bright colourful feathers. He smiled, "Ah...Chariot Du Nord…" He turned to look at Harald and Edward and softly chuckled, "And of course the Viking and the scot…" but when the man turned to me he frowned, "...Who is this, now?" he asked.
"George Washington!" Chariot quickly responded, "A wizard from…" Chariot paused and took a look at me, "Kanata!"
The man started to look suspicious, "Kanata? I thought the ley line was owned by the Nehiyawak people"
"Since Luna Nova doesn't accept male students the chief of the Cree took it upon himself to allow male European magic folk to come and learn magic in their school," Chariot explained.
Whether this was true or not was beyond me, as long as it kept me alive, the boat ride here told me that these people aren't particularly fond of military men. Though the name Cree took my mind, were they talking about the Cree Indians up in New France?
The Headmaster started to pace, "I have yet to see many students from Kanata…" The man stopped and turned to me with a smile, "Please, Mister Washington, could you tell me what type of magic they teach there?"
"We don't have time!" Edward quickly said, "The key appears to have been lost…"
The Headmaster looked at Edward for a moment, "Key? What…" The paused and looked down, "Oh! That key!" The Headmaster laughed, "Come! Follow me for a bit"
The Headmaster led us through a dark hallway, even with the help of the lantern and the one or two torches that would appear every once in a while it was hard to see anything, I was afraid I was going to trip on something. Something that was strange is that the Headmaster who was leading us didn't seem to be bothered by the darkness at all, he moved through the hallways and took turns like he could see them from miles away.
After walking through what seemed to be an endless maze we all walked into a room with a large pool in the middle, the area had banners hung up from the roof, and inside the pool was a pile of gold.
"This is the treasure room I presume?" I said out loud.
"Treasure room?" The Headmaster said to me as he looked into the pool, "Unlike the greedy Spanish we don't value gold as a form of currency"
Given that a lot of the students wore gold on their person like it was nothing already sort of told me that gold had more of a stylistic value here.
The Headmaster held out his hand above the pool and closed his eyes, he wasn't physically doing anything but he looked like he was concentrating on something…
Suddenly out of nowhere, the Headmaster's hand began to glow purple, and the something in the pool followed suit. The glowing object in the pool started to rise and soon shot up out of the surface of the water and got caught right in the hands of the headmaster.
Even Chariot seemed to be impressed by the magic trick, "How do you do that?!" She said in a childlike tone.
The headmaster gave her a smirk, "Someday, you European magic folk will learn that your own body is all you need to use magic, no need for silly wands" The Headmaster then presented what he grabbed, in his hand was a rusty key, though even with the rust you could see designs of vines and leaves on the key.
"You...had it the entire time?" Edward softly said.
"I told you before, Edward, We were planning an attack on the Spanish fort to get the key months before you arrived," The Headmaster said, "When we finally got it we didn't know where you were or how to contact you"
Harald seemed awfully amused by this, though I, Chariot and Edward shared the same sense of annoyance as we risked our lives to try and get that key.
The Headmaster sighed, "Well I suppose it's time to return the key back to it's rightful Luna Nova owners, it was an honour to keep it safe for all these years" He then dropped the key into Chariot's hands.
There was a long pause "So...are the Ley Lines open?" Chariot asked.
"Yes! Come follow me" The Headmaster said in response before walking off again.
Through another maze of hallways we walked, this time the Headmaster was speaking to us.
"The Ley Line to Luna Nova is unfortunately closed," The Headmaster began to explain, "With the all the visitors coming here the magical energy is far too dangerous to travel through"
"We must get to Luna Nova somehow!" Chariot whined.
"Calm down!" The Headmaster said, "If you travel to Kanata you should have a safe straight ride to Luna Nova"
After that we entered another large room with a rock statue at the end of the room, it looked like a portal with strange faces carved into it, and above it hung a large banner with a simple illustration of a man wearing a similar headdress to the on the current Headmaster was wearing, and he was holding an illustration of the sun with a face in his hands.
"Who is that?" I asked while staring at the banner.
"King Montezuma," The Headmaster said, "The founder of this school"
Even more, questions flooded my mind after hearing that, I knew a little about Montezuma of the Aztec empire but had no idea of him being a wizard.
With the flick of the Headmaster's wrist, the stone carving of a portal suddenly started glowing bright green, and a real portal appeared before us.
The Headmaster grabbed and large staff off the wall and threw it to Chariot, "That should hold up to three people," He then turned to me, "And that musket on your back should suffice"
I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Go ahead and jump in!" Harald said to me.
I turned to him and gave him a stern look, "I'm not going in that thing! What, are you mad?!"
"Ah sure you'll be fine," Edward said right before shoving me into the portal himself.
I was instantly terrified, I felt like I was falling even though I was being propelled forward, I tried as hard as I could to keep my hat on during the fall. I was screaming and trying to look around for something to grab onto, but instead, I saw something else.
After calming down a bit I saw in front of me a large number of images and visions. One of the images was of a flag, but no flag that I could recognize, it had 13 red and white stripes with a blue corner that had 13 stars in a circle. Another picture was of two army forces firing at each other, one side I could recognize as the British, but the other wore blue coats that was unfamiliar to me, it looked like it could be French soldiers but the flag bearer was holding the same strange flag I saw before. Along with all that I saw hundreds of images of people I didn't recognize.
I heard whispers, whispers saying strange things like, "President Washington, I have not yet begun to fight, give me liberty or give me death, no taxation without representation" and the like.
I suddenly felt something grab my arm, I looked up to see Edward, Harald and Chariot all riding the same staff that was given to them, with Chariot being the one who grabbed my arm. I looked back to see that all the images and whispers had disappeared.
"Could you pull me up!?" I shouted.
"Sorry! Only three can fit!" Chariot explained.
"This can't be safe at all!" I responded.
Chariot smiled, "Don't worry! I've done this many-" she was cut off as she lost balance and tipped over the staff causing everyone to fall off of it and fly through the maze-like tunnels while screaming.
What am I to do now…?
Historical Info.
New Spain and New France.
Don't recognize the name? Well, that's because they are now known as Mexico and Canada. Spain was the first European nation to colonize the Americas and invited everyone else to follow suit. In 1521 the lands of Modern Mexico, Central America and little bits of the US were officially known as New Spain, the name Mexico comes from the Mexica (Pronounced Meshika) People who lived in the land for ages and had empires of their own. New France, while owning almost the entire east of Canada also owned land in the US down to the modern state of Louisiana. The area was known as the Louisiana colony named after the King of France at the time. places like New Orleans, Quebec, and Hudson bay came from the French, as France owned all of those places at one point, it was until President Thomas Jefferson established the Louisiana purchase that France began to lose it's North American Colonies.
Ley Lines
Ley Lines are not just some cool sounding magical thing from Little Witch Academia, They are the real energy forces that circle the entire earth. A noticeable thing about Ley Lines is that a lot of places where Ley Lines meet is where a lot of famous historical monuments can be found, Pyramids of Giza, Uluru, Glastonbury Abby and many more. It appears to me that the rule of where are Magic Schools in Little Witch Academia is where Ley Lines meet, so this is far from the last chapter in this story where you will see a magic school other than Luna Nova, I've had ideas of bringing characters to new magic schools since chapter one, and I cannot wait to show off the different cultures of these places.
