W.I.T.C.H

Chapter 14

Independence Day

Balsilide

15 Years Ago

Walson sits in his favorite chair, and reads his favorite book. He checks his watch and smiles. Still almost an hour until the trial starts, plenty of time to finish this chapter.

It had been his tradition for a couple years now to read a book right before going to work. It helps him relax, and concentrate. And there was nothing like a good story to put someone in a good mood.

CLANG

Walson frowns as he is forced back to reality at the sound of his mailbox closing. He rushes to the door and catches the young deliveryman on the way down the driveway.

"Hello there, boy!" Endarno shouts at the young man.

The young man jumps with shock, and then turns around. Once he sees Walson, he calms his heart and waves.

"Are you all right?" Walson asks.

"Yes, sir, yes I'm fine." the young man says. "I just didn't expect you to be here."

"Why not? I do live here." Walson replies.

"Yes, that's true sir, but I thought you'd be at the courtroom." The young man says. "Say, why aren't you at the courtroom? The trial started a couple hours ago."

"What?" Walson says. "You must be mad. The trial doesn't start for another hour."

"No that's the old starting time." The young man says. "Oh, dear, didn't anyone tell you? They changed the time of the trial. It's been moved up to an earlier time. I told you're partner. Oh, I knew I should have stayed."

"I've, I've been in the house the last few days, working. The only person I've talked to is, my partner…?"

Walson looks shocked at this information. Then, as he starts to piece together what had happened, his shock turns to anger.

"Endarno."

Walson sprints down the driveway and towards the courtroom.

Balsilide

For the third time today, Will knocked on a large wooden door three times.

The girls could hear the sound of movement inside. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a middle-aged man, with a large stomach and slicked back black hair.

"Bradam's weaponry, Bradam speaking, how may I help you today?" The man said, unenthusiastically.

"We're looking for the maker of this weapon." Will said, handing the dagger to the man.

"And since we've spent all day talking to people who haven't made it, we'd really appreciate it if you said you did." Irma said.

"Yeah, it's one of mine." Bradam said after a brief look at the weapon. "Sold it a couple days ago. One of my finer works, if I do say so myself."

"Well, that's a relief." Will said.

"Do you realize that this dagger was used to kill a Balsilidian diplomat?" Hay Lin said accusingly.

"So?" Replied Bradam. "I don't use them, I just sell them. You want to see my permits?"

"So you just think that once you've sold it, you don't have to worry about who it kills?" Cornelia said.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think, 'cause that's what the law says. I ain't responsible."

Will rolled her eyes and brushed past Bradam to get a better look inside.

"Can you tell us who did buy it?" she asked.

"Nope." Bradam said. "Sorry but it's bad for business if I go giving up my customers. I'm sure you understand."

"Oh sure, we understand." Will said. "Cornelia, why don't you show him just how much we understand?"

Cornelia focused and soon, eight stone bars came down from the ceiling, trapping the storeowner. Bradam swore under his breath.

"Magic. I hate Magic."

"So, feeling a bit more talkative, or do you want to test your luck with fire?" Taranee asked.

"Alright, alright, I'll talk." Bradam said. "Guy named Jovi. He bought it about a week ago. Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost me?"

"Did he buy anything else?" Cornelia asked.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. He bought one of my new dagger shooters. Real useful those things. Powerful too."

"Got any left?" Irma asked.

"Sure, but I not telling you where."

"Irma?"

Irma stared at Bradam.

Tell us where they are, tell us where they are!

"Third drawer on the left." Bradam said.

As soon as he had said it, he shook his head and stared at Irma.

"Man, I really hate magic. Aw, c'mon, those things are expensive!"

Hay Lin looked in the drawer and, sure enough, found the desired object.

"Got it!" Hay Lin said, waving it over her head.

"Hey, hey! Be careful with that!" Bradam said from inside his cage.

"Now, where can we find this Jovi person?" Will asked.

Bradam started to protest, then sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hand me a piece of paper." he said dejectedly

Bradam jotted down instructions to where Jovi could be found. Will took the paper from him and headed for the door, along with the rest of the girls.

"Hey, aren't you gonna let me out of here?" Bradam said.

"Of course not. At least not right away." Cornelia said over her shoulder. "We'll be back. After we figure out whether your information is good or not."

As the Guardians left, Bradam sighed and sat down in his cage.

"I really, really hate magic."

Meridian

The Honor Guard and the R.E.G. scattered.

Grath, the strongest member of the R.E.G., charged Vathek. The attack caught Vathek by surprise, which allowed Grath to drive Vathek through a nearby wall.

"Quickly, I have him pinned! Attack!" Grath called to his Balsilidian teammates, while trying to keep Vathek on the ground at the same time.

Laris began to run towards the pair, but was tackled by Raythor.

"We got your back, big guy. Try not to screw this one up." Raythor said, drawing his sword and attacking Laris.

Vathek shifted his weight and kicked Grath over his head. Grath quickly got to his feet and the two men squared off.

There was no strategy to this fight. There was no defending, no blocking, and no fancy footwork. This was a straight out brawl. The two strongest men in their respective worlds holding nothing back. Vathek met every punch Grath landed with an equally strong counter-attack. If Vathek landed a hit, Grath would respond with one of his own. Slowly, the bigger, stronger Grath started to wear down Vathek's defense, and began to gain an advantage.

The fight went on like this for a couple minutes until both combatants separated to catch their breath. They had found their way into an old house, once used when Mora had been Meridian's capital city. Vathek was breathing much harder then Grath, and it was clear he couldn't last much longer. Outside, the sounds of battle could be heard.

"Do you hear that?" Grath said, sweeping his hand to the door. "This is because of you. Your team is fighting because of you."

"You don't understand how a team works." Vathek said. "Real teammates fight for one another, no matter what the cost."

Grath growled and threw a punch that missed Vathek's head my inches and created a large hole in the wall behind.

"You might as well give up." Grath said. "I'm faster, tougher and stronger then you'll ever be."

Another punch, another hole in another wall.

"Perhaps." Vathek said. "But I'm smarter."

"What makes you say that?" Grath said.

He swung again at Vathek, and again missed. This time, the force of the punch caused the wall behind Vathek to collapse completely.

"Well for one thing, you know that wall you just destroyed?" Vathek said. "That was a load-bearing wall."

Vathek quickly stepped out of the house.

"The last load-bearing wall, to be precise."

Grath looked up at the century old ceiling above him. The roof began to shake as the house fell in upon him. Vathek shielded his eyes from the dust created by the buildings destruction. When he was once again able to look, he saw nothing but a pile of rubble. He started clearing away the debris until he heard a groan. Grath was at the bottom of the pile, bloodied and beaten. Vathek checked for a pulse and smiled. Grath was alive, but he wasn't going to be fighting anytime soon. Vathek cracked his knuckles and headed out in search of another battle.

While Vathek and Grath clashed, Tynar and Drake had separated Hoth and Troth from the others and were about to fight. Tynar and Drake, close friends ever since the fall of Phobos, were best suited to handle the brother pairing of Hoth and Troth.

Tynar was first to strike, charging at Hoth and swinging his axe. Hoth blocked the attacked and countered with a strike of his own. Troth charged at Drake with his sword, but Drake blocked the attack with his daggers.

Tynar continued to test Hoth's defenses, and Hoth continued to be up to the task. Getting more and more frustrated, Tynar's strikes became more and more powerful. It was clear that eventually he was going to get through.

Troth was evenly matched with Drake, and sensed that his brother was in trouble. He slowly started to steer his duel with Drake towards Tynar. As the two battles came side by side, Troth switched targets and went after Tynar, while Hoth attacked Drake.

Such co-ordination by the brothers, forged by a lifetime of fighting experience, could not be matched by Tynar and Drake. One of Tynar's attacks was stronger then Tynar expected, and he stumbled forward, off balance. Troth hit him with a strong uppercut that sent Tynar to the ground, unconscious.

Seeing he was in trouble, Drake went on the offensive. Grabbing Hoth by the shoulders, Drake flipped himself over Hoth, and brought his legs down hard on Troth. Troth hit the ground hard. Drake steadied himself. He tried to catch Hoth off-guard with a backhand, but Hoth was ready. He blocked Drake's strike, and, grabbing Drake by the neck slammed him to the ground.

Hoth surveyed Drake and Tynar's unconscious bodies and sighed. They had fought well, and did not deserve to die like this, on the ground and defenseless. Besides, they had more important matters to attend to. He walked over to where his brother lay and tried to rouse him. After a few seconds, Troth woke up and got to his feet.

"Oh, what happened?" Troth said, holding his head.

"We won." Hoth said.

"Well, of course we won." Troth said. "But how?"

"I'll tell you later." Hoth said. "For now, we need to keep fighting."

The brothers picked up their weapons, ran away from the defeated Meridianites, and towards the sounds of battle.

Balsilide

15 Years Ago

Walson bursts through the courtroom doors. His clothes are disheveled and his hair is uncombed. He runs to the room where the trial is scheduled to be held just in time to see Endarno leaving. Reporters and lawyers are surrounding Endarno, shaking his hand and asking him questions.

"Enarno, can you talk us through the strategy that won you this case?" One of the reporters asks.

Walson's jaw drops.

"Won the case?" He mutters to himself. "But how?"

"I knew from the start what needed to be done in order to win." Endarno tells the reporter. "I always have. I just trusted myself,"

He turns to Walson.

"And I didn't let anyone get in my way."

The reporters spot Walson looking dumbstruck and rush to his side. Within seconds, he is bombarded by questions.

"Walson, where were you?"

"Why weren't you at the trial?"

"Did you know your partner could win it on his own?"

Walson bristles as his face goes red.

"My 'partner', or should I say, ex-partner, neglected to tell me of the change in schedule. He is the reason I was not at the trial!"

The reporters' turn to Endarno

"Ridiculous, of course." Endarno says calmly. "Why would I not want my partner, excuse me, ex-partner, present at the most important trial of my career? It is a shame that Walson couldn't make it, but fortunately, I didn't need him."

"Endarno's partner, Walson, is upstaged, and pathetically attempts to blame Endarno for failure to show." One of the reporters says, writing as he talks.

Endarno heads out of the courthouse as Walson continues to argue his point. He is feeling rather good about himself. Once again, someone he once trusted had the chance to crush his dreams. This time however, he learned from his mistakes, and took matters into his own hands. For the first time in his entire life, he felt free. He had no one to care for, no one to rely on, and no one to slow him down. Nothing could stop him now.

Author's Note

Just a friendly reminder that this will be the last story for a couple of weeks. See you then!

-Heart of Meridian