Chapter 22

There was a thundering throb that seemed to radiate from the walls of the castle outside. All the warriors who came to battle watched as dragon after dragon burst into clouds of ash. Pryna and Rajesh looked to one another in confusion as they stood at the crumbled up hole that the armored dragons were piling out of then stared up at the sky. The flood of red was now filtering back to the regular blue color as the winged dragons all but poofed out of existence.

There was a sudden build of cheering from all around as creature after creature began to celebrate their very quick victory. Pryna looked at Rajesh while he was staring straight up the castle, watching gargoyle and shards of roof fall to the ground below. Bit by bit, the castle was falling apart. The magic from the seal was beginning to dissipate and almost collapse upon its self. Windows shattered as bricks crumbled. Rajesh stepped back and let his wingspan out as far as it would go and he launched himself upwards until he landed on the tip top of the castle and sees that the way is blocked. Pryna lands just beside him and looks down, "They will be alright, brother."

Rajesh doesn't look at his sister as he lets out a sigh, "It is not them I am worried about. I can feel their magic dwindling… I can feel…" he looked at his sister with hurt eyes, "… I can feel her pain and fear."

Penelope stared as chunks of boulders began to fall and crash into the cliffs or plummet down to the blackened sea of dried up lava. The witch's screams filled the cave as a black ooze began to flow from Bazinga Sheldor's feet. Penelope backed away trying to avoid the hazy blanket. Her back hit something soft and Penelope looked back to see Althea. The black woman swept her arms around Penelope and pulled her away from the sudden outburst of activity. Onar's growls and jerks seemed to render the witch powerless. Every time she tried to move her hand or begin chanting an incantation, Onar would use his bite to sling the witch and break her concentration.

Althea pulled Penelope to the middle of the tunnel and shook her rattle. A barrier stopped the creeping ooze and she pulled the blonde closer to her, "An lo cheve, something is very wrong. The magic… it's being drained."

Penelope looked back at the entrance of the tunnel and could hear a clash and sparks of light. Althea began to drag Penelope deeper into the tunnel without looking back once, "Ouroboros is a vengeful creature. He is lashing out at the witches by slowly devouring their magic. Soon… they will be no more than human beings. We must leave."

Penelope stopped dead, "Why?"

Althea looked at her with conviction, "He's not your boy anymore, an lo cheve… He is a DEMON. He will kill you. We must go… while he is still preoccupied with the witches."

Penelope shook her head, "I… I… I met my father. You said that my family was dead… YOU SAID they were dead. I watched my father DIE… AGAIN… I will NOT run! I will fight… This is not about Sheldor anymore… this is about ME! YOU'RE the coward, Althea… You are!" Penelope spun and ran back; her ankles buried in the dark fog. Althea gripped her asson and closed her eyes tight then turned her back and moved forward.

When Penelope returned, her eyes widened at the sight of Onar's body being flung her way. She dove to the side and rolled just as Onar's body hit the rock. Flashes of blue caught her eye as she saw Wolowix flipping his hands around making shards of rock spring from the ground below him and shooting towards Lordornia. Penelope stood up and dusted herself off as she stared at the clashing of Bazinga Sheldor and Lady Fowler in mid air. An arrow flung across the cave and struck right in front Lordornia then exploded sending small rocks of debris banging against the witch's face. Penelope traced back to where the arrow came from and saw a man in a long tan trench coat run in her direction.

The man leaned down on his knee with a crossbow in his hand, "Hello Blond and Beautiful… Remember me?"

Penelope looked down at his hand and shook it, "Of course… Wesley, right? Could you do me a favor?"

The rugged, scruffy beard made him quite good looking, but Penelope's tastes in men had changed drastically over the last few months. Wesley's grin made Penelope want to slap the smug look off his face as he spoke, "Anything for you, gorgeous."

She put on a smile and stepped to him to where her hands were splayed over his chest. He gave a very erotic grin as her hands wandered downwards. She kept her hands on his body as she bent down right in front of him. Her fingers gripped at the top of his thighs as she got on her knees and looked up at him with a big smile, "Take off your shoes."

Wesley, still grinning like a fool, sat down on the ground before her and yanked off his boots. He put them to the side and licked his lips and spoke with a sexy voice, "Now what?"

Penelope gave a huge grin, "You can get the hell out of here… the people outside need your help. Thanks Sweetie." She moved fast and put on his boots. They were a little big, but they would help with the sharpened rocks in the room. She slapped her ripped brim of her dress to dust off and looked down at the shell shocked witch hunter. She smiled again and found the crossbow beside him. She took a small step, kicked up the crossbow with her newly pointed boots, caught the crossbow, and took a shot at the witch who had Wolowix's throat in her grasp. The arrow hit the witch in the belly and the pain caused her to throw the innovagygr from her grip. Penelope tossed the crossbow back into Wesley's lap and she smiled at him, "You are a doll… Now get out!" She bolted off with her hand pulling out her never-ending Blossoms in her hand.

Onar, seeing the witch bend over and cry out in pain, lunged from the side with his teeth bared. The witch barely dodged in time with a stumble, but gripped her hand as a weakened red aura engulfed him and began tearing at his fur then tossed the nerk high in the air. While the nerk battled with gravity with a roar of pain up above, Wolowix wiped the blood from his mouth and sent a scorpion made of rock towards the witch. Though it was obvious that the witch was losing power, she was still strong enough to block and lash out. The arrow was doing its part in weakening the witch too.

Penelope threw her four Blossoms towards the occupied witch as she was fighting off the scorpion. Two sliced at the witch's shoulders as the other two veered far left. Lordornia screamed and gripped at her shoulder and glared at the blonde. The scorpion's tail came down hard and merciless, but the witch's eyes burned red and the rock creature exploded. Her eyes were intent on the blonde and she began to mutter an incantation. Penelope stopped and began to run to the side but the red blur of energy slithered in mid air towards her. The witch had no time to watch or enjoy her curse as Onar, who found his way to the ground safely thanks to his uncanny ability of bouncing off the stalactites, sunk his teeth into the woman's right shoulder from behind. Lordornia let out a scream and built up a static ball of red and zapped off the nerk.

Althea jumped in front of the red mist before it could ensnare Penelope and shook her asson. The barrier absorbed the mist and left the blonde shocked but very glad to see her old friend, "Althea… you came back?"

Penelope gave her a big hug and Althea rolled her eyes as her Haitian accent cut in, "I couldn't let you get away with calling me a coward… and besides… you need me."

Penelope gave a big smile, "I love you, too."

There was a scream from up above and a powerful build of energy that made Althea and Penelope look up to see Lady Fowler still floating in mid air and glowing green and quickly dodging every slash and blast that Bazinga Sheldor's sent her way and it was beginning to frustrate the demon immensely. Penelope grit her teeth staring at the demon roaring and her eyes watered. Onar's body came zooming and slamming into the wall with the red aura disappearing into the hole. She shook her head and put her focus back to Lordornia who was striking forward at Wolowix. Her slash of the faded red smoking flame around her hands came across Wolowix's chest. Four deep cuts across his chest bled and the momentum of the strike made him stumble backwards and slide against the ground. Penelope sidestepped from Althea and then bolted forward. Her boots made her movements faster than barefooted as she ran full blast towards the witch.

Lordornia didn't see the blonde rushing forward as she pulled out the arrow with a groan then was met with a knee against her jaw. Lordornia did a flailing stutter step backwards and regained her balance as her wounds healed quickly. Penelope furrowed her brow as Lordornia spat out what looked like a tooth and began to laugh, "I knew the moment my daughter took you in… you'd be the bitch that would bite the hand that fed her. I think it's time to put you down…" Her eyes burned red and she raised her arms to her side as if she were about to flap her arms and fly. Penelope felt a pressure against her throat and she grabbed at it while gasping out for air. Her feet slowly came off the ground as she tried to scream for help.

Althea stepped in front of Lordornia and her eyes began to glow purple as her asson rattled in her hand as she chanted, "Vin jwenn mwen epi n'a goumen." Columns of purple blasts of energy from five points around the witch shot up from the ground around the witch. Lordornia looked around in shock at the wall of purple as Penelope fell to the ground in a grunt. Lordornia furrowed her brow as she stared at the Mambo, "You too? You betray us…" The witch laughs in disdain, "Do you honestly think that your heathen magic can stop me?"

Althea kept shaking her asson as she stared angrily, "Your magic is weakening… your power over me… over your mindless creatures… it's waning… and my 'heathen' spirits are in the mood to see you finally be put into your place!"

Lordornia laughed, "Weakening… NOT weak, you stupid sacrilegious drudge!" Her red energy ripped the purple veil like wet toilet paper and she moved very fast towards the Haitian. Althea had no time to react as Penelope screamed for her to move, but it was in vain. Lordornia's red covered hands penetrated the sternum of the stunned Mambo. The witch smiled as she ripped her hand out of the woman's chest and laughed as the Haitian fell back with no hesitation as her back easily slammed into the ground. Penelope watched Althea lifelessly fall back and she let out a battle cry with tears streaming down her eyes and ran at her.

Lordornia raised her hand at Penelope with a monstrous smile and the blonde woman went flying back towards the wall. The witch gave a laugh and turned only to be met with an unfaltering holler and a glowing blue arm through her midsection. Lordornia's red energy seemed to flicker out as Wolowix pushed his arm further into her body as he got close and whispered angrily through a bloody mouth, "For my wife…" He snarled and groaned savagely as he pulled out his arm violently.

The witch gurgled and stepped back lazily as the black nerk slid in front of her sluggish moving body and gave a canine chipped snarl and harshly spoke with his telepathy, "And this is for my girl…" Onar lunged forward with his jaws wide open and quickly snapped the woman's head in his jaws. With a fast jerk of his head; the witch's head was ripped clean off. He flung the head far away from her body and snarled as the headless corpse tipped over and shattered when it hit the ground.

Lady Fowler watched as her mother was ripped apart and she used her power to blast Bazinga Sheldor straight out of the tunnel's side showing the beam of sunlight as her eyes burned a hellish green. She balled her fist tightly and screamed as her body was engulfed with in emerald flame. There was a pulse of her scream in the air that haloed out like a ripple and the witch disappeared. The moment she was gone; the castle began to collapse upon itself.

"Penelope… we need to go!" Wolowix spoke as he shook… coming down from the adreline of killing the witch. He moved to the blonde, who was bent down and crying over the Haitian's body, "Penelope… PLEASE… We have to go… Now…"

The woman stared down at the body almost as if she didn't hear the shorter man. Wolowix held his ribs and let out a painful groan as huge rocks smashed into one another, "PENELOPE!" The blonde flinched and kissed Althea's cold forehead then stood up slowly. Her heart ached for the people she had to watch die in this very cave… She bowed her head one last time as Wolowix grabbed her upper arm and pulled her towards Onar. The two perched themselves on the black nerk's back and Onar zoomed through the rubble towards the new hole made and they escaped the confines of the collapsing castle.

Lady Fowler erupted in the center of Omashire and caused all the people gathering there to scream and back away. Centaurs aimed their arrows, the Ahaon pack of garms made a safe circle around her, fairies had the trees making tentacle that were twitching above her, and the group of Dísir took their places in the same circle as the garms with the deer skulled spirit pointing her sword towards the witch. Lady Fowler's green aura was fading and she knew she needed to act soon. She took in a deep breath and raised her arms as if she were about to be hung on a cross and she floated mere inches off the ground. Her lips moved wildly and the ground began to shake as the ground began to crack like a mirror below her feet. All the creatures whimpered and moved to escape the fissures but screamed more when perfectly round boulders ripped out of the ground followed by decayed arms exploding up and slamming to the earth.

The boulders fell back to the ground but before they touched, the shells burst open and revealed a nasty looking feline beast. One of the villagers screamed out, 'Soft Kitties' and everyone began to panic. As centaurs sent deadly accurate arrows towards the armored cats, zombies of all kinds charged after anything that moved.

It was Rajesh and Pryna who reached the witch first. Rajesh could feel Lady Fowler's aura. They swooped in with their Lady Fowler was still encased in a green fire and she didn't seem to be responsive. Rajesh threw his arm in front of his sister and moved closer while Pryna played her bansuri to take out zombies and Soft Kitties in the vicinity.

"My lady… I know you're in there. I know you are scared and angry and sad… but please… please don't do this. There has been far too many lives taken already." The witch's burning eyes and shattered face looked at Rajesh and he swallowed, "There is a cure… my cousin can cure your Pembe curse. Come with me… stop all this and come with me… Please."

The green aura erupted from around the witch and her eyes died to their solemn blue color and she took a few steps towards him, slowly. She looked up at him and he smiled. His hand caressed the shattered remains upon her face and her eyes softened… then burned with rage as she slammed her metallic hand against his face, "I have lost EVERYTHING… what makes you believe you can replace them with false hopes and ridiculous attachments. You have betrayed me… now… DIE!"

Pryna's screams for her brother went in vain as a green charge of electricity bore through the male Garuda's body and he convulsed in her grip. He fell to his knees like a lifeless puppet and Lady Fowler gave a glowing eyed stare at Pryna before tossing the limp body of Rajesh to the side… the flesh of his face being stuck to the metallic hand and making an awful ripping noise.

Pryna's eyes burned and she shrieked with pure rage and her body burst into her full roc form. Before she could get off the ground, she was attacked by an entire cluster of Soft Kitties and their bites and scratches put the big bird on the ground. They ripped her apart, piece by piece, right in front of the witch, whose eyes smiled angrily.

An arrow whistled in the air and pierced her right in the left shoulder and caused her to yelp in pain. She gripped at the shaft of the arrow and yanked it out with her body cringing. Immediately, another arrow whistled and struck her upper right thigh. That made her grip the shaft of that arrow and looked up to see a man in a tan trench coat sitting on top of a chimney upon one of the houses in the village with a big smile on his face. Wesley wiggled her fingers in a mock wave as he pointed his crossbow at her, "There's more where those came from, Ugly."

Lady Fowler ripped the arrow out of her leg and showed no pain as her hand burned green and she made a slicing motion towards the house and severed the top part of the house making the chimney collapse. After doing that, she noticed herself getting weak and her green aura dulled a little, but the chimney collapse caused the shoeless witch hunter to fall and hit his back on sharpened stones and boards.

Onar raced through the carnage of Soft Kitties and Zombies against everything else. Penelope threw her Blossoms while Wolowix used the trees and ground as weapons, but it wasn't enough… there were too many. The three were stunned when they heard a scream from the outskirts of the huge city and Onar picked up his pace. Wolowix gripped the fur in horror as Penelope wrapped her arms around his torso as he mumbled to the nerk, "That sounded like Pryna." That made Onar's steps even faster.

They got there just in time to watch Wesley's body fall lifelessly. Wolowix and Penelope dismounted and stared in horror at the Soft Kitties ripping and devouring the body of a huge bird and the faceless corpse of Rajesh. Wolowix got a little tipsy and rushed to the side to expel his bowels as Onar snarled madly, "You fucking MONSTER!" Penelope shrilled a 'No' but it was too late… the nerk sprang forward intending on a full attack.

Though Lady Fowler felt dizzy, she shook herself out of it and let a lash of green whip around the nerks neck. She flicked her hand like she was conducting an orchestra, and the thin energy tightened around the little nerk's neck and pulled him up in the air. He hung and thrashed trying to get the energy off his neck but the moment she used her metallic hand to join in the energy pull and put another thread around him… she had a suddenly flint of anger, "You killed my mother… you took her head RIGHT off… let's see how YOU like it!"

Wolowix sent an air blade to slice at the witch, but it was too late… the two energies snapped and sparked into two different directions and the nerk's head snapped clean off. The air blade made the witch fly backwards, but she rolled and caught herself just as the body of the nerk listlessly hit the ground and his head, bounced to the ground a few moments after.

Wolowix felt numb… he felt everything in his body just leave him. He couldn't breathe… he couldn't cry… he couldn't think or speak or even move. He fell to his knees only a few feet from the nerk's severed head and just watched as the eyes went vacant. Wolowix raised his eyes to the high in their sockets as he slowly raised his head. His breathing went erratic as he pushed himself up off the ground and the darkest blue energy swarmed around him.

Penelope stared at the dead body of Onar and couldn't stop all the tears that flowed from her face. A thundering noise came from around them and they were surrounded by enormous wolf-like creatures… they were almost twice the size that Onar was, but they looked like nerkanines. Lady Fowler put a weak green flame barrier around her and watched as a huge, reddish brown nerk moved to be right behind Wolowix and Penelope. The two looked up in horror and moved away as the nerk moved to the corpse of the black nerk. The nerk just stared down at it with big eyes and the ears straight back. The nerk bent down and touched nose against the nose of the severed head in a very softened moment. There began a guttural rumbling in the nerk's throat and the teeth the size of Penelope were bared, raw and angrily. The head snapped to where two very dangerously glowing eyes pierced into the soul of the blonde and a voice filled her head, "Who did this? WHO KILLED MY SON? WAS IT YOU?"

Penelope shook her head and tears began to pour down her face. She couldn't speak… she could barely breathe, but Wolowix could, "I wasn't the blonde... it was Her. The WITCH… The witch killed your son… The witch killed Onar... OUR FRIEND… MY friend!"

The nerk looked over at the glowing blue innovagygr then at the glowing green woman in the center of the nerk's circle. Before anyone could react, a gray nerk sprang from the ranks with a ferocious intention. The red nerk screamed out but it was too late to gather the pack… every last nerk swarmed in to avenge their fallen and the red one pounced in, too. Penelope turned her head and cried… not just for Onar or for any of the others who were dead now… but for the mother who had to see her son dead right before her. For the people who had to keep fighting knowing their friends and family and loved ones were gone and they had nothing to fight for. She cried for them… for ALL of them.

Wolowix moved to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a knowing look upon his face and she put her hand against his cheek for support. Suddenly, there was a collection of yelps that caused the two to snap their focus and see a sphere of green energy fling the nerks in all sorts of directions and make a bubble around her. Wolowix glared as Penelope joined his side and they both barged into the globe. There was a spark of pain, but both were too numb to feel it.

Lady Fowler looked like she couldn't stand still or focus too well but her energy stayed strong, although monumentally weaker than before. Wolowix didn't hesitate… he sent shards of spiked ground towards her as Penelope charged full speed behind them. The witch blocked the barrage then side stepped the blonde's attack and took her chance and grabbed Penelope's throat in a death grip with her metallic arm. She moved the blonde in between her and the innovagygr, "You make one more move… and I'll snap her neck."

Wolowix strode towards her until he was mere feet away and she tightened her grip but only enough to make the blonde struggle for air. Wolowix spoke, "We both know you don't have it in you to kill the only thing left in your life. Your 'Bestie'… I can see you struggling with your inner demon right now… Go on… Kill your best friend… You've killed everybody else's… why not your OWN?"

That struck something in the witch and she made it as though she were about to do something, but instead, she slowly put Penelope back on the ground. Wolowix grinned as his hand burned blue and was about to strike until something big crashed behind him. He didn't have time to turn and look for a blackened arm went right through him then flung him off like a stray piece of food. In shock, the witch let go of the blonde and the green energy weakened tenfold. Penelope backed away and saw Wolowix's dead body to the side then looked up to see Bazinga Sheldor… no… Khimero void of all human emotions… now face to face with the weakened witch and a very lethal smile on his face.