Chapter Nine: Finder's Spell
Mordred started off the fight with a spell that Azure ducked and reflected back at him with a conjured mirror.
Carmen, meanwhile, wasn't bothering with spells as she leapt at Russell. Her cry of rage turned into a panther's shriek as she transformed. Russell had just enough time to transform into a lion before she threw him to the ground.
Two-Bit just stood there stupidly for a minute. Man, he thought to himself. I will never see a stranger sight.
Carmen and Russell were transforming back and forth, while Mordred and Azure were rocking the entire house with their spells.
Two-Bit seized the chance to jump in when Russell had Carmen pinned down, his claws ready to tear her throat open. He pulled out his switchblade and, reverting back to the fighting he had always known, threw it manually at Russell.
It acted as a boomerang, slashing Russell's face and flying smoothly back into his hand. Russell roared in rage, a roar that turned into a yell as he became human again.
With Russell distracted, Carmen flung him against the wall with a spell. He was knocked out and Carmen stood shakily, clutching her side.
"You okay?" Two-Bit demanded, running to her and prying her hand away. Her shirt front was torn and soaked with blood, as was her hand.
"He slashed me," she said, her voice trembling almost as badly as she was. "I'm losing blood, fast."
Oh my god, what's that healing spell? Two-Bit thought frantically. Oh yeah…
"Hold still!" he commanded. Carmen did so, yelping as he drew his switchblade once more across the gash in her side.
Her breathing grew steadier as the cut sealed itself with the magic of Two-Bit's wand. "Thanks," she said.
Russell was stirring in the corner. "Uh, oh," Carmen muttered. Two-Bit glanced over at him and felt like uttering that exact phrase.
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Russell had had enough. She had defeated him humiliatingly before; he wasn't going to let her do it again.
He remembered a spell older than time, ancient and so secret that not even Mordred knew it existed.
It was the Finder's Spell. It had been created by Russell's great-to-the-umpteenth-power grandfather thousands of years ago.
Now, it was a family secret, passed down through generations. As soon as one came of a certain age in Russell's family, they were entrusted with the secret of the Finder's Spell.
Russell could hear his mother's words echoing in his head.
"You mustn't use the Spell for anything but self-protection! Russell, this Spell is our family history. It is a sacred but also dark and dangerous weapon. Please, promise me you will not use it against anyone. It is a fate too terrible to be true…"
Because of dire warnings like this, the Spell had been in disuse for generations. All the better for me, Russell had thought, knowing that magic builds up against a spell if one holds knowledge of it but never uses it.
Now, he was past rational thinking, blinded by his rage. That promise can go to hell, he thought. He could feel the Spell consume him as he uttered the three terrible syllables that initiated it. His entire body was trembling with adrenaline and he let out a roar of rage and triumph.
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Mordred and Azure ceased fighting and gazed at Russell with horrified looks on their faces, Mordred only so for a moment before he remembered to be indignant.
"The Finder's Spell!" he exclaimed. "That boy never told me he knew that! We could have gained so much if he had only—"
"You wouldn't have been able to use it anyway," Azure interjected. Mordred turned to retaliate, but she didn't give him the chance.
"It's family magic. You'd have to be a blood relative. If you wanted to use it, you'd have to get Russell to do it for you. But you'd never allow that, would you," she added, smirking. "You'd never share the glory."
Mordred looked enraged for a moment before he remembered his practice of "borrowing" other creature's magic. He was nowhere near as powerful as Russell in this field, but combined with his wizardry and even a bit of Carmen's sorcery, it was enough.
He thoroughly enjoyed the look of disbelief and terror on Azure's face as he, too, transformed…
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"What's going on?" Two-Bit shouted to Carmen over the screeches of the—what were they? Dragons? Griffins? Chimaeras? He had never seen anything like them in any of his books.
"It's the Finder's Spell!" Carmen shrieked. Two-Bit didn't think she had ever looked so terrified.
"The what?" Two-Bit yelled back, but his words were drowned out by what happened next.
"Carmen," Russell rasped. "Feel my wrath!" Russell flapped his monstrous, bat-like wings and raised a terrible storm, uttering at the same time words Two-Bit did not understand.
Carmen fell to her knees. Russell bellowed at her once more, and she stood up and walked reluctantly over to him. Too reluctantly, Two-Bit realized. He's giving her orders, and she has to follow them!
Two-Bit watched helplessly in horror as Russell took Carmen's hands and uttered words that made them glow red with power. Carmen's eyes grew wide and she shook her head, pleading with Russell.
Russell merely laughed cruelly. It sickened Two-Bit, making his stomach twist. It twisted further and repeated the sensation Two-Bit got when he was on a roller coaster as Russell pointed a talon at him and gave Carmen another order, one that even Two-Bit understood:
"Kill him."
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I'm going to leave you hanging, because I can. Don't be alarmed, I'll update soon enough…