Chapter Eight: Bring It On

Azure waved a hand and almost immediately everything flew back into place, an encyclopedia barely grazing Two-Bit's nose.

Carmen sheepishly scratched the back of her neck. "It was an accident," she protested. Two-Bit smothered a laugh and Azure maintained a dignified silence.

She may be cute, but she's also crazy, Two-Bit thought. Cute, crazy, and sometimes careless. C, c, and c. Just like her name!

"I suppose you think you're being awfully clever," Carmen's voice echoed in his head. Two-Bit jumped. It had been a while since she had last done that. He turned to see her glaring at him. He shrugged, unabashed. She shouldn't have been reading his thoughts.

Azure was flipping idly through the sorcery book. "We have to find a good spell for you to learn," she said absently. "Who knows when Mordred and Russell will show up?"

Carmen gasped audibly and Azure turned around. Her jaw dropped and she mouthed a few words, but made no sound.

It was only then that Two-Bit turned to see what was causing their odd reactions. When he did turn, he had a very similar reaction.

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Mordred stepped back from the cauldron, laughing long and loud. It was a terrible sound that echoed off the stone walls of the castle and made Russell want to cover his ears.

"They are pathetic!" Mordred chuckled cruelly. "They are not nearly as prepared as I thought they would be."

Without warning, he grabbed a thick leather bound book off the table and flung it at Russell, who caught it in his stomach with a grunt.

"Find the spell to transport us, boy," Mordred commanded. "I'll start the magic circle."

While Mordred muttered some words under his breath and drew a golden circle that was about ten feet in diameter with his wand, Russell flipped through the book. About a thousand pages in, he found the spell.

"About time," Mordred said scathingly, who had been waiting impatiently. "Come now, we haven't much time."

Russell swallowed hard. He hated transportation spells, being squeamish. Squeamish, cowardly, and bloody stupid, as Carmen used to call him, he recalled angrily.

"Recite the spell, boy," Mordred ordered, snapping him out of his stroll down memory lane. Russell hastened to comply.

"Dhin, dhanak a dhin a dhin, dhin, tha…" Russell chanted, slowly and in an oddly low-pitched voice.

The air around them stirred. The room spun and mutated, twisting. Everything except Russell and Mordred, safe inside the circle.

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They appeared several seconds later in Carmen and Azure's living room with a small pop.

It was so soft that Carmen was the only one who heard it. She turned and gasped loudly. Mordred smirked at her and Russell grinned wickedly.

Azure and Two-Bit turned. They had pretty much the same reactions. "Mordred," Azure breathed. "What are you doing here?"

Mordred seemed amused. "I found you," he said, sounding smug. "Thanks to Russell, my Finder."

Carmen glared daggers at Russell. "You're a sick S.O.B.," she snarled, unable to keep her voice from trembling with rage.

Russell smirked and lifted his hands with an expression that said, 'what can I say?' Carmen narrowed her eyes, and wished that she could kill him on the spot.

"All right," Two-Bit interjected. "Bring it on." Russell and Mordred exchanged glances, and then burst out laughing.

"You? A mortal?" Mordred choked out. "Don't make me laugh any harder." Two-Bit scowled indignantly and slouched, hooking his thumbs in his pockets out of habit. Looking tough didn't have any effect on those two, however.

"Like he said," Carmen said, her voice quiet and deadly. "Bring it on."

"Very well," Mordred sighed. "If you insist on declining from the formalities."

What followed was an explosion of magical power and unleashed mutual hate, the aftershocks of which would reverberate for days to come, including and especially in the mortal world.

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Short, but I have not the essence of time. Review, please.