Part 4: Prelude to a Fight
Note: This isn't the split ending yet, I decided that it wouldn't be good to post this twice!
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"It's 5:10, they're not back yet." Murmured Karsh, his eyes fixed on his watch, his foot tapping incessantly on the floor.
"They're probably just sitting around and having fun."
"I'm going to go check on them." He stood up and sent a ball of light towards the gardens to create a portal. It fizzled and failed to produce a doorway.
Aron stood up quickly, "That's interesting."
"What's going on?"
Both Miranda and Aron sent a combined spell which failed in the same method as Karsh's.
"If anyone should be able to open to portal – " Began Aron.
"It should be us." Finished Miranda.
They stared at each other, "The council."
"What about the council?"
"Only the combined power of the council can stop travel between the dimensions."
Karsh stuttered over his words, "Why would they do this?"
"There must be some threat we don't know about."
"The Darkness?"
"It couldn't be, there must be something else."
"I'm not waiting around to find out. We don't need a portal to see the council." Aron extended his hands to his wife and his friend, who took them eagerly. With a spell, the three found themselves in the not so frequently visited abode of the Coventry Council.
Karsh shivered, "I haven't been here before."
"I had to come here years ago when I was crowned King. Everyone just remember to be very respectful. Don't get agitated Karsh."
Karsh rolled his eyes and followed Aron and Miranda into the council's inner sanctum.
"Lord Aron." A council member greeted him almost happily, "It's a pleasure."
"Thank you, likewise. I've come to ask a question about the portals."
"We thought that you would. As of 4:30pm today, we sealed off all the portals due to a threat that we have perceived in another dimension."
"What threat?"
"We believe that the exiled Seren has found a way to mobilize the other exiles into a rebellion."
"Seren?" Karsh echoed the name and wrung his hands.
"Wasn't she the one I sent you to exile?"
"I did!"
"Then why are you acting so nervous?"
"Seren never blamed the exile on you, she's angry with me."
Miranda looked confused, "Aron ordered it though."
"She and I grew up in the same village, we were kids together. The whole time I was taking her to exile she kept begging me to remember that we were friends and she promised that if I let her go, she would never cause another problem or commit treason again. She thought I had to power to disobey my orders."
"But you didn't."
"She still thinks I betrayed her."
A council member waved his hand and Seren's Coventry Jail photo appeared above the table. She was actually quite sweet looking. A genuinely happy smile played upon her lips, her wavy red hair framing what appeared to be a young and innocent face. She even had a spot of freckles playing on her creamy white cheeks. The only thing that could have betrayed this perfected portrayal of one falsely accused was the presence of red eyes. Not bright or glowing, but a flat crimson.
"We believe that these two are her main accomplices." Another member pulled up two photos to Seren's right and left.
The first was a man who appeared in his thirties with olive skin, dark eyes and short black hair. He looked as though he had been simply been expecting to be arrested, but that he knew something the justice officials hadn't.
The second was a woman, also looking to be in her thirties with long blond hair and green eyes. Of all three, she appeared the most vicious, snarling at the camera with a curled lip and scrunched flesh at her nose and eyes.
"These are Azoz and Murasa. Azoz was falsely accused by Thantos of being the one who gave Aron to the darkness. Thantos banished him to another dimension, but never took away his powers. Murasa was like Thantos. She was an acknowledged agent of the Darkness; however, her power is not enough to really control it as he did."
"Where were they banished too?"
"They were banished to the jails in the half dimension, but they all escaped. Up until now, all the exiled have been fighting amongst themselves and none have posed a threat. Seren however, has organized them all in one dimension."
"All of the exiles?"
"A good majority, if not all. We shut down the portals until Seren, Azoz and Murasa are either destroyed or show evidence of a lessening of power."
"You won't open them until all of that is apparent? What if it never is?"
"Correction, we can't. We locked our powers so that any weakness in our personalities would not affect our safety."
"My wife is in another dimension!" Yelled Karsh, "She's supposed to have our baby anyday!"
Aron grabbed his shoulder and spoke to the council, "Our daughters, the heirs to the throne are in another dimension as well."
"What dimension are they in?"
"The mortal dimension, the one they were hidden away in as children."
The council stared at one another, "That was the last dimension that Seren was spotted in."
"Oh God." Moaned Karsh, putting his head in his hands, "If she gets her hands on Ileana, I don't know what she'd do."
"It's likely she's there to go after them in the first place."
"How is that helping!?"
Miranda held Karsh's face in her hands, forcing him to look at her, "Calm down, we'll figure something out."
"Are you sure the portal is closed until Seren is destroyed?"
"Yes, until her powers are neutralized the dimensions will stay separated."
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"We have to go to the doctor!"
"I'll call an ambulance!"
"No!" Cried Ileana, waving her hands at them.
"Why not?"
"They can't know what I am!"
"How would they know that?"
"I don't have insurance or any I.D."
"Can't we just zap one up?"
"It's not that easy!"
"No, we can get them, watch!" Alex charged her powers.
Ileana grabbed her hand, "I won't be able to control my powers! I need Karsh!"
"You can't control your powers?"
"No, witches can't control their powers during delivery. I need a midwife and Karsh took all these classes." She was flustered to say the least.
"So what do you want us to do?"
"One of you has to help me and the other one has to delivery the baby." Ileana managed to get the sentence out before another contraction hit her. She grabbed her belly and Camryn held her so she didn't drop to her knees.
"Alex, find out how to deliver a baby!"
"What, you have books on it somewhere?"
"Google it or something!"
Alex ran for her computer and let her fingers fly across the keyboard, "I've got something."
"Print it out!"
Camryn led Ileana over to her bed where the elder witch immediately lay down. Alex came running over with a few papers in hand, "Okay, how far apart are the contractions?"
"About ten minutes."
"Okay, it says that we don't have to worry until they're two minutes apart."
"That's enough time to kill all of you and be home for dinner." Came a new voice.
The three good witches turned to see the source.
Ileana sat up in bed as best she could, "Seren!"