DISCLAIMER: Okay lets see...The original HMC characters belong to DWJ, Daria, Mary, and Brittany are mine!
SUMMARY: A Druid, a bard, and a Magic user are heading to Kingsbury to make their living. On their way they encounter the witch of the waste, and help her to get pass the wards that were cast around Kingsbury. Can they undo the mess they made, or will they end up trapped in their deepest fears?
A/N Monday was one of my friends' birthday. So I want to dedicate this Chapter to my good friend Ashley.
Chapter Five—In which Daria Wakes up and Mary and Brittany can't find her.
Daria woke up in a very strange and hot place.
"Nice to see you are awake Daria," said a cold voice.
Daria turned to see the witch, holding her very magical staff. Her eyes lit like flames. She should of suspected something along the lines of this, "What the hell do you want?" She snapped.
"Oh, don't sound so...angry. Its not like I'm going to kill you...yet," The witch smiled. "You see, I still would love to get my revenge on Howl. However, I'm not strong enough to do it now my fire demons gone, that is. Therefore, you will just have to do."
"What makes you think I'm going to help you?" Daria asked coldy.
"Oh, I imagine you will. I have your staff right here in my hand, and if you do not do what I want, I'll use it to hurt your friends. And trust me I have ways of doing that." The witch said.
"You wouldn't!" Daria exclaimed.
"I would," She smiled cruely.
Daria glared at her. She wasn't going to do a damn thing the witch wanted her to do. Her friends, wherever they were, would understand why.
MARY AND BRITTANY
After Daria left, Mary and Brittany stayed and answered the rest of Howl's, Sophie's, and Calcifer's questions. Then they left for the camp, or that is to say, they had Brittany port them back to the camp. But when they got there, they didn't see Daria.
"Where's Daria at?" Brittany asked.
"Maybe she went and checked into an Inn," Mary said hopefully.
"You know Daria just as well as I do. She wouldn't go check into an inn; we both know her opinion about inns!" Brittany told Mary.
Mary shrugged and searched the camp, "Maybe she went to go get fire wood or something,"
"There is plenty of wood, food, and water. Why would she overdue it?" Brittany said.
Mary said nothing. Brittany rolled her eyes, sometimes Mary could be...useless. "Well she didn't take her pack, or sleeping blankets. The only thing that's missing of hers is her staff. And we already no the witch took that!"
"Do you think Daria went after her?" Mary asked.
"Knowing Daria..." Brittany said.
Mary was silent. She recalled a memory in which a necromancer took Daria's favorite shawl, and Daria tracked him down, told him off, beat the crap out of him (without magic I might add), and told him if she caught wind he stole something else she would come back and bring some of her friends with her. Mary smiled.
"You know, I don't think Daria went after the witch after all." Brittany proclaimed.
"Why?" Mary asked.
"Look at this Mary," Brittany pointed out. Mary looked at it and saw some swishes and skids. "Someone was dragged from the camp to...well...somewhere else!"
"How do you know that?" Mary asked.
Brittany snorted, a Sophie snort. "I'm not a druid for nothing Mary,"
Mary rolled her eyes. "I thought druids couldn't track,"
"We can track, just not as great a ranger can," Brittany told her, Mary could be so...stupid.
"So are you going to track her or not?" Mary asked her.
"No chance in hell, she'll probably bite my head off!" Brittany said. (A/N how do you say No chance in hell, while in Ingary?)
"Oh I imagine she won't Brittany," Mary told her friend with that all-too-cheerful voice people tend to use when they know the others right and wont admit to it.
"Oh I imagine she will Mary, you see unlike you I know exactly how Daria is. If she is angry, she wants someone to take it out on. And seeing how were the only ones who know what she is...well...you get the point." Brittany told her.
They both became silent, and stayed that way till the sun rose to greet the night sky.
DARIA
Daria looked around her prison one more time trying to think of a way out of it. It was just one big air compressed bubble, sealed inside were the things she was most afraid of, the dark and herself. She, along with Mary and Brittany, were as I said the only people who knew her secret, and she knew theirs. Daria remembered the time when she first told them about herself.
Flash Back
"Okay Daria I can understand why your afraid of your self, because you do have untapped potential just waiting to burst out. But afraid of the dark? Our people reveal in the darkness, and you're afraid? That's like-"
"Oh leave her alone," Rosewood hissed. Brittany turned around, gave Rosewood a cheeky grin then turned back to Daria.
"You know Daria, there truly isn't anything to be afraid of, sure were a little different, but that's not our fault! Why should we be punished because of something our good-for-nothing parents did? You don't need to be afraid Daria, you don't need to be afraid," Mary told her compassionately.
End Flash Back
Daria smiled out the memory. She still was afraid though, but that was not going to hold her back, she needed out and she needed out now!
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
A/N Okay I know my other chapters are longer, so please forgive me for that. I'm not feeling good, and my allergies are driving me insane (I am in complete and utter misery). I just want to point out to I ain't anybody but me that I do not believe trees hate humans, and for the sake of argument try reading Diane Duane's "So you want to be a Wizard." In this book, trees don't hate humans, they understand that things are as they are, although in this book trees have properties of magic, I just thought a tree teaching others it's...wisdom...would be a nice change. Please don't take this to offense though.
As for a beta-reader, I have my friend Sabrina helping me out. Although she is just as grammatically impaired as I am. If we forgot to...ahem...fix some words, please point them out to me (yes that means you to Quillswift). And please don't forget to review, I know my friend Ashley is going to be reading this, so don't forget to wish her a happy b-day.