AUTHOR'S NOTE:

It's Wednesday (at least it is here in the midwestern USA), and as promised, here is the next chapter of this tale. The final chapter will appear on Friday.

As always, thank you, readers, for taking the time to peruse my story! And thanks to lovesgod12, TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, AveXCninja11, StoryMaker7, and FirstFandomFangirl for posting such sweet and humorous comments about the previous chapter!

As this chapter begins, the brainwashing process has finished...

Chapter 14 - The Revenge of the Fire Witch

Finally it was over, and there was silence.

No more drumming. No more raspy voice chanting a spell in an unknown language. No more awful moans of agony from her friends.

No more throbbing pain in her head.

Though Sam had endured extreme discomfort in the area right between her eyes, she knew her mind had not been affected by Fiora's spell. She still knew who she was and she still retained her memories. But she dared not let the fire witch know that the brainwashing spell was ineffective on her.

The cerebrum circlet remained over Sam's eyes, preventing her from seeing anything, so she relied on her ears to follow what was going on around her.

"The spell is complete," she heard Fiora announce.

After several seconds, Sam heard the clattering of metal upon the stone ground several yards away.

"Minion, remove the cerebrum circlet from the white ninja," she heard Fiora command. Fiora must have unchained Zane from his chair just now, Sam thought.

"Ninja of ice, rise," she then heard Fiora say. "What is your name?" the witch asked.

"I...am...Zane," the ninja answered in a monotone voice.

"Zane, I order you to walk through that metal door and stand there to await my next command."

"Yes, Mistress Fiora," he replied in the same listless manner.

Sam could feel a slight movement in the air currents as he walked by her chair on his way out the door.

Fiora reenacted the same scene with Cole, Lloyd, and Jay, obviously going down the line of seated ninjas. Hearing her friends speak in unfeeling, emotionless voices was scary to the blonde girl.

Kai was next. But before the evil apparition dealt with the red ninja, she issued a command to dismiss all her minions except for the one who had carried her bowl.

Once they had left, with the last departing soldier closing the metal door upon exiting through it, Sam again heard the clattering of metal falling upon the stone ground. Then Fiora said to her assistant, "Remove the cerebrum circlet from the red ninja and place it under his chair."

The minion apparently complied, for Kai - like his brothers before him - was instructed to rise and state his name.

"I...am...Kai."

Kai's voice was lifeless and filled Sam with chills of fear.

At this point, Fiora deviated from the sequence of commands she had given the other ninja.

"Kai, I want you to form a ball of fire in your hand."

"Yes, Mistress Fiora," the red ninja replied, and Sam could hear the puff of ignition which indicated that the fireball had been created.

The ninjas' powers are working again, Sam observed.

"Kai, from now on you will be my personal assistant. I sent most of my minions away for I did not wish them to see you carry out my next command. Kai, use the ball of fire to incinerate this remaining minion."

"Yes, Mistress Fiora."

Sam stifled a gasp at the unexpected harsh command. Though she had no love for the tumbleweed, her heart broke at the whimper uttered by the soldier just before the fireball consumed it. The smell of something burning permeated the air.

The only beings now left in the cave area were Fiora, Kai, and Sam.

And the focus was now on Sam.

Not unexpectedly, the blonde prisoner's metal restraints slipped to the stone floor.

"Kai, remove the cerebrum circlet from Samantha and place it under her chair."

"Yes, Mistress Fiora."

Sam's heart began to pound. The time had come for her to practice her best acting skills. As Kai lifted the metal ring from Sam's head, allowing her to finally see her surroundings again, she stared straight ahead as a zombie would.

"Samantha, rise!" Fiora ordered. Sam complied, staring straight ahead.

Fiora moved close to Sam and studied the girl's face, as if the witch were searching for something. Sam kept gazing forward and willed herself not to tremble in fear.

The witch concluded her search. "Samantha, I order you to walk through the metal door to join the other ninja and await your next command."

"Yes, Mistress Fiora," Sam replied in her best monotone voice before walking toward the door.

Now's my chance to smother her, Sam thought as she walked behind the apparition, who was now occupied with giving Kai instructions regarding the responsibilities of a personal assistant.

Once out of the line of Fiora's sight, Sam slowly untied the sleeves of her fire jacket from her neck. Ever so quietly, she edged close to the bowl. When she was within striking distance, she swiftly twirled the jacket off her shoulders with the intent of covering the bowl.

However, she hadn't taken into account the fact that in Kai's brainwashed state, he was committed to protecting the witch of fire.

Because he was facing in Sam's direction and could see what she was doing, he shot a fireball at her. The jacket that she held in front of her protected her from the fiery missile, but she let out a scream of surprise.

That's when she noticed that the whites of Kai's eyes were tinted orange.

Fiora twisted her face around to glare at Sam, her own orange eyes reflecting fury.

"You lied!" the witch hissed. "You were never carrying the fire master's child in your womb! At first I thought your eyes hadn't turned orange because of the young age of the child, but now I know there never was a child, for the persuasion process had no effect on you!"

"Now you will pay for deceiving me! Kai, seize her!"

"Yes, Mistress Fiora."

"No, Kai!" Sam ran for the metal door, but escape from Kai was futile, just like it was three days ago when he had playfully chased her around the Bounty in his sweaty uniform after she had poured him iced tea.

He grabbed her from behind and dragged her back in front of Fiora as she struggled mightily to free herself. "No! No! Snap out of it, Kai!" she implored him.

"Kai, put her back in her chair and hold her there!" the fire witch commanded.

"Yes, Mistress Fiora."

He shoved the wriggling girl into the chair and restrained her until Fiora shot a beam of light and conjured up shackles to secure her to her seat once again.

"Kai, put your hands around Samantha's neck...and kill her!"

"Yes, Mistress Fiora."

Sam began to cry as the brainwashed fire ninja walked behind her chair and stood behind her back.

"Don't do this, Kai!" she pleaded. "Fight the spell! You're Kai Smith! You're a ninja! You and I are getting married soon!"

His hands encircled her neck. A stream of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I love you, Kai!" she sobbed, just before he squeezed.

The nightmare she had dreamed two nights ago was now coming true.

Oxygen...I need oxygen! Can't...breathe! was Sam's last thought before the blackness enveloped her.

The brainwashed fire ninja tilted his head in curiosity as he felt a sensation on his hands. Sam's tears.

The clear liquid oozing from Samantha's eyes is dripping on me. It's...burning my skin. It's painful!

Wait...why are my hands around Sam's neck?

The tears of the fire ninja's fiancee had broken the spell on him.

Kai immediately removed his hands from her. The girl's chin dropped onto her chest. Only the chains kept her body upright in her seat.

Kai quickly knelt down next to her chair. "Sam!" he shouted, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up!"

"Curses!" Fiora rasped. "The power of soulmate tears! I haven't dealt with humans for so long that I neglected to consider that. How could I be so stupid as to forget the restorative property of such tears!"

Upset that he could not rouse his fiancee from her comatose state, Kai slowly stood up to face the apparition, anger burning in his eyes. "You evil witch!" he hissed as he formed fireballs in his hands. "I'll make sure you never cause any more pain to anyone ever again!"

"Wait, my dear Kai," Fiora began in a gentle, reconciliatory tone. "Before you act rashly, let me state that when I become the Queen of Ninjago in the very near future, I can make you the High Prince, and Samantha can rule by your side as your princess. Agree to my offer and I will heal her."

"Heal her and let her go!" the fire ninja growled. "This fight is between you and me!"

"Hear me out, ninja of fire," Fiora cautioned him. "You do realize that as the High Prince of Ninjago, you'll have great powers. You will be considered even greater than the green ninja!"

Kai was silent. Upon hearing the apparition's words, he found himself being tempted, but seconds later he berated himself inwardly. Why, even after all this time, did he still find the prestige of being the green ninja alluring? He knew he already enjoyed great things in life - a loving sister, a caring sensei, loyal brothers, and a beautiful young woman who loved him deeply.

But before he contemplated his inner struggle further, he realized that Fiora hadn't called for reinforcements to overpower him. Then it dawned on him.

"You're stalling for time, Fiora. What's going on?"

"Very perceptive, Kai. That's another reason why I made a good decision to choose you as my assistant," Fiora commented. "You see, the activation of the healing power of soulmate tears not only reverses spells on the human being touched by them, but when a spell of mine is reversed, my ability to issue commands and spells is inhibited for 88 seconds. So you see, I am completely at your mercy right now."

He silently wondered why she was admitting this. Was she trying to appeal to his sense of injustice at harming defenseless beings?

But then he thought of the firefighters who had been putting their lives on the line for weeks now. And he thought of the endangerment of the water supply for the Ninjago citizenry. Though they were defenseless against Fiora's powers, she had not shown mercy to them and she did not intend to.

"The way I see it, Fiora, you've been trying to destroy Ninjago's way of life, but your efforts just backFIRED!"

Kai hurled his fireballs into Fiora's ornate bowl, igniting a backburn fire which began to consume all the fuel in her bowl. Now that she could not summon an assistant to replenish the material, her life source would soon be used up, and she would die.

"Congratulations, Kai!" Fiora rasped sarcastically. "You may have dealt me a fatal strike, but I am not leaving this realm called Life without casting my own strike upon you!" The villainess chuckled evilly as the fuel for her own power was burned away by Kai's flames. "For though my spells will soon be reversed, and the effects of them will vanish, I can choose one effect of one spell to remain in existence upon my demise. And I choose for Samantha to remain in a coma!"

As the fire witch's orange eyes and forehead symbol faded and disappeared, Fiora cackled loudly, and her evil chuckles echoed in the cave area. The flames in the ornate bowl suddenly leaped up toward the ceiling, and sparks sprayed everywhere. With his bandaged forearms raised to protect his face, Kai stepped in front of the inert Sam, shielding her from the shower of burning cinders.

Then just as suddenly, the flames calmed down to glowing embers, and the cackling dwindled away. The funnel of black smoke slowly lifted up from the bowl and Fiora's cloud thinned out. The cave area was now eerily quiet, making the sudden abrupt clattering of metal upon the stone ground especially startling to the red ninja. He whirled around to see that Sam's metal bindings had come apart. With her body no longer supported, she slid out of the chair and slumped to the ground.

Kai quickly scooped up the unresponsive girl and held her in his strong arms.

Turning around again, he watched as Fiora's black smoke dissipated. When the last thin wisp had floated away and disappeared, the torches on the cave walls flickered violently.

Sensing something was about to happen, the red ninja tightly clutched his bride-to-be against his chest.

Then the torches gave out, and the couple was plunged into darkness.