Wielders of Magic, Book 1: A Spell Binding Tale
The Chase

". . . And your hands are the main center of control at that point." Jackson demonstrated, a small flame shooting out of his hand after an elaborate sort of dance. "But that's only with the elements. You said something about-"

"Telekinesis. That's my main problem." Drusilla said, sitting on a tall tree root that protruded out of the ground before bending back down and digging into the snowy earth again. "I uh . . ." She looked away, ashamed of what she was going to say, even though it was true.

"What?" Jackson walked towards her, his eyes wide and his ears ready to listen.

"No, never mind, can we just get on with the lesson please?" She became rigid, not meeting his gaze.

"Oh . . . yes, of course." Jackson retreated back to his original spot with a sigh. He was not offended; most people didn't trust him anyway.

He was a little disappointed though.

"Alright. I have a surprise." He turned, a smile crossing his lips. "I am going to teach you something that I bet you never heard of. Not unless you read spell books until your eyes shut down from exhaustion." He laughed a little.

She looked at him than, a very small grin on her own rose petal lips. "What is it?"

"Come here, I'll show you how." He motioned for her to join him. She got up gradually and walked over to him, her footsteps light enough to walk on top of the snow as she met him in the small area he had cleared of the frozen participation.

"Put your hands up like this." He made a small, sort of graceful gesture. She paused for a moment before mimicking his movements, a little apprehensive of what he was teaching her.

"Now you close your eyes, and say asmilic as mosisan-drean." He did so and a small stream of blue smoke rose from his hands and gathered a few feet in front of him, turning into a noble stag that pranced around and played in the snow.

Drusilla gasped in surprise for a moment, staring at the gallant animal in fascination. "That's brilliant!"

"Hush! Do as I told you woman." He smiled after, letting her see that he was joking in his frankness.

Drusilla closed her eyes and resumed the position he had showed her. "Asmilic as mosisan-drean."She said softly. There was a wave of pleasurable feeling that washed over her immediately after saying so, and she felt a slight pull at her finger tips. When she softly opened her eyes, she saw a fox sitting in front of her, staring into her strawberry eyes as if waiting for something.

"Go ahead, make it move." Jackson said, appearing behind her.

"I don't know how." She whispered, as if it was a real fox she could scare away.

"Like this." He lifted a finger and stroked her smooth neck, which made her jump with a slight squeal. The animal did the same as her, its eyes opening to full, outraged capacity.

"How dare you!" She turned on him, the spell slipping from her fingers and the fox disappearing. "How dare you touch me! You could of unleashed something so powerful it could of killed you! I am a sleeping dragon right now, you wake me up and everything dies! How can you not see that you terrible human being!"

"I am sorry, I was showing you how the animal moved and-"

"Yeah, great job by startling me!"

"It had to be done! The fox is part of you, which means whatever you feel like, that's how it will act. You were waiting for something to happen, it was as well, and then you were startled, it was startled as well." He put his hands up, his eye searching for a weapon or spell that would harm him. A protection incantation was on his lips at that moment, just waiting for a movement or threat to make it burst forth and protect its master. It was automatic now, having trained himself into it, and there wasn't a time it wasn't on his mind. "You see? You are angry now; you might do something rash. Control it, Angel, calm yourself, and you will have control."

She slowly dropped her hands, the burning ember in her eyes fading a little. "My . . . my name is not Angel, nor am I like one." She turned away, taking long breaths to settle her anger. This had been the first time she had not exploded when she got livid, and it made her feel so much joy as she moderately came to the realization.

"I consider today a success." Jackson said softly, nearing her once again. "Don't you?"

Drusilla started to feel the warm, excited feeling one gets when a plan is successful, and she did see today as a win. She beat her anger into the ground, calmed the sleeping dragon back into its slumber, she was going to master control sooner than she expected!

"YES!" She shouted and flew into the air, her hair flying around her in a soft pink curtain, whooping all the way. "I did it! I did it!"

Jackson started to notice something about the snow around him. It started to change color, like a rainbow almost, just too light to be confirmed. Grevich left her cottage to see what all the commotion was about and gasped at the scene that was before her. The snow started to rise into the air, slowly floating around her as it was caught in time.

Drusilla descended from the sky and hovered just above the ground, staring at Jackson with her calmed, beautiful strawberry eyes, seeming to silently thank him.

Jackson didn't know how to react, dazed at her overwhelming beauty.

"Alright you two," The old woman said, a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes. "Pumpkin soup is ready for the both of you, now why don't you come inside and have some?"

"Yes, we should." The angelic being softly landed on the snow, the flakes around her slowly descending to the ground. "Come on Mr. Spellbinder."

He shook the cobwebs from his head and quickly followed his voice still a little slow. "How . . . how many times must I tell you, it’s Jack!"

"And they are called what now?" Drusilla asked, her eyes set on a patch of light brown toad stools.

"Poison Apple." Jackson answered. "They taste as sweet as an apple, but kill you after putting you to sleep. Nasty things." He took out his dagger and cut it from its growing place, setting it on the ground and sending a small flame to burn it away.

"Jack . . . stop moving!" Drusilla hissed, grabbing his arm, her grip amazingly strong. He slowly looked out into the distance, both their eyes seeing a small hill blanketed with the white snow. A stag sat on top of it, as if looking over his domain with a kings’ eye.

"Beautiful isn't he?" She asked, her face so close to his he could feel the warmth emanating from it. Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at the magnificent creature, so spellbinding he himself could not bear his own name.

Suddenly an arrow whistled through the air, embedding its self in the dear's eye. The two magic users were shocked as it came tumbling to the ground, three armored gentlemen quickly surrounding it, laughing at their latest kill.

Jack quickly placed a hand over Drusilla's mouth, not wanting her to scream. She shook under his arms, and he could feel the power that was about to be unleashed. He jumped away, finding shelter behind a rock. "Fight it! Keep yourself under control!" He shouted at her.

The three men turned their eyes towards the noise, their ears not missing a single word of it.

Drusilla breathed heavily, thinking of her fox, thinking of the snowy forest, the stag being thrown completely out of her mind. She settled down, her wings relaxing behind her as her hands clenched into fists. It was hard, like Jack had said, it was really hard to control herself, even after all those weeks of training.

It was true, it had been weeks.

"We have to go." Jack said, hopping back over the rock and taking her by the hand. They ran through the forest, both with fear and dread in their throats. Those men were chasing them! Why were they chasing them!?

Another arrow whistled by them, barely missing one of Drusillas white, feathery wings. She gasped and quickly looked behind her, wondering how close the men were.

She tripped.

Both magic users went down, face meeting the puffy white snow. They coughed and sputtered before rolling over, seeing swords pointed at their throats, being held by the armored men.

"Ah, so we have found you finally Red Witch." One said though his face covering helmet, his voice strangely hollow.

"But wait!" The one without a sword to their throat searched through his bag. "That one on the right looks a little familiar . . . AH HA!" He ripped out a paper, holding in front of his fellows. "Jackson Splendor."

Jack snorted, which they didn't take into account. He couldn't believe they hadn't found out his real last name yet.

"Good work Lilith. So we have a witch and a warlock. What were you thinking of doing? Breading maybe? We can't have that."

"You sick twisted bastard!" Drusilla shouted, her face twisting up in anger.

"Whoa, calm down." Jack said, looking over at her fearfully. He could protect himself in a flash, but if her last outburst had almost killed her, imagine what this one would do.

"Don't call me that!" One of them shouted, whipping his sword down the side of her and cutting her arm.

Suddenly his broad sword started to glow with hot fire, burning through his gloved hand and making him cry out. He dropped it and took a few steps back, clutching his hand.

Drusilla got to her feet and spun around once, her powerful wings causing a blast of air that blew the three away from her and Jack. The warlock than stood up and said a few words, his hand outstretched towards them. They suddenly were clutched buy the trees behind them, their long branches curling around their limbs and neck, pinning them to their trunks.

"Now, stay calm. I will deal with them." Jack approached them, his brow arched, his mind replaying over and over again how the man in the middle of the three had cut Drusillas arm. He drew his dagger, wanting to cut them into little pieces for doing her harm. Not quickly, but slowly, agonizingly, letting them suffer.

The trees around them started to withdraw themselves. They smoked a little, as if they were being burned by the three witch hunters’ armor.

"You see, we have a little magic ourselves." The one with a gold dragon on the chest of his armor said. "Yours doesn't like it."

Jack tried to freeze them with another spell, but it only bounced off their armor as they broke the rest of the branches off of themselves. They looked his way and began advancing towards him. Nothing he could do would stop them, and he fell to the earth, nothing but a dagger in his hand to defend himself.

"Come on!" Drusilla shouted, grabbing him and taking to the sky with her, her powerful white wings working hard to support the extra weight. "We have to get back to the cottage!"

"Yeah, that way Grevich can heal your arm!" Jack replied, hanging onto nothing but her hands.

"Jack it’s just a cut, we need to lose these guys before they kill us! We can't stay here anymore, we have to leave!"

Suddenly their home seemed forbidden to her.

Grevichs’ house had seemed like their home, and they had thought that it was. Maybe it had been for a while, but this solved the mystery of why Jack's arrow didn't point to it. They had to move on again.

But at least they had each other.

Landing in the vicinity of the old woman's cottage, the two burst through the door, running to gather their things without even saying a word of greeting.

"What are you two doing? Why are you in such a hurry?" Grevich asked, running after then and standing in their way as they rushed about, reminding them of her cat that always seemed to get in their way.

"We can't stay here anymore; we have to leave before you are hurt." Drusilla replied, stuffing her clothes the old woman had made for her into a sack.

"Hunters are after us, and we cannot escape them. They are magic resistant." Jack gave her a swift kiss on the cheek before heading for the door, the winged witch following after him.

"Wait, but you can't leave me now!" She started to cry, her eyes wide and fearful. "I'll be all alone! I have no one either, except you two, and now you are leaving me?"

"Grevich . . . we are sorry, but it’s to keep you safe." Jack went over to her, taking her old, wrinkled hand in his. "We don't want you to perish, because if they find you, find out that you have helped us, they will kill you as well."

"But . . ." Her voice trailed off in a sob, burying her head in his fur lined cloak. "But . . ."

"I know, you old dear." He wrapped her in a hug. "But it’s for-"

There was a savage cry outside and half the house went up in flames. Drusilla screamed and Grevich lost her breath. Jack quickly picked her up and ran outside with the Red Witch, all coughing at the smoke they inhaled and falling to the snow covered ground, inhaling the clean, cold air with strangled gasps.

Three blurry figures walked out of the shadows, two wielding long swords and the third - the smallest - wielding a flail. They advanced towards the fallen group of magic users, flames flying off of Grevichs’ cottage and into the forest behind them.

"Well, your one we haven't seen in a while!" The man with the broad sword picked the old woman up by the throat, lifting her off her feet and laughing through his helmet. "Grevich, is it not?"

She cried out and looked away, not wanting to stare into the steely gaze of the witch hunter.

"Well, best we get this over with, so you won't suffer out in the cold. Which, by the way, I would much prefer, only I don't want you slipping through the cracks of death like last time."

"No!" Drusilla and Jack screamed as his gloved hand drew a dagger from his belt.

"Good night, you old darling." His dagger flew up into her shaking form.

"GREVICH!" Jack screamed, trying to jump at the man but being held down by one of the three hunters. Drusilla sat frozen, her jaw dropped and her eyes quickly filling with tears.

The man dropped the old woman to the snowy earth, staring at her lifeless form for a moment. "I was starting to think we would never catch that one." He chuckled and advanced towards the Red Witch. "Your turn, Pretty."

"Leave her alone!" Jack growled, his face darkening, and his breaths getting shorter and shorter every intake. He was losing control of himself; he was letting his anger control his actions. He couldn't let that happen, he had to-

The witch hunter placed his hand on Drusillas chin, slowly stroking, caressing her smooth, perfect skin. "You know . . . maybe I should keep this one . . ."

Oh, that's it!

Jackson screamed in anger, throwing off the hunter that was on his back and pouncing upon the one touching the Red Witch. "How dare you touch her? How dare you even think about harming her?"

His eyes saw through a sheet of red, everything was blurry; everything was thick, scarlet blood. He only felt the enemies face beneath his fists, the power emanating from his body gradually roasting the witch hunters’ flesh as his armor acted like an oven. He would have screamed, but he could not function anymore, his face was a bloody mess. He couldn't see, he couldn't think; slowly he was slipping away into darkness . . .

"Jack stop it! PLEASE!"

Her voice was like a calm river, gently putting out his angry flame that wielded his soul like a sword. He finally saw what he had done to the witch hunter. Whatever was left behind the helmet couldn't be much, for it was a smashed in, red mess that made him sick!

Jackson got up and ran. He ran away from his anger, the terrible mess of a person he had made. He couldn't bear to see the horrified expression on Drusillas face, her gaping jaw, her large, questioning eyes that pried into his soul without mercy.

Stopping, he collapsed onto his knees, looking down at his hands that were covered in blood. What she must think of me. He thought, tears finding his eyes. This was only a result from loss of control, and he couldn't control it, not when people were going to hurt Drusilla.

No one would even touchher without her consent. And if someone did . . .

"Jack, please stop crying."

It was her voice again; the river that now joined his saddened heart. She came up behind him and her hand slowly grasped his, coming around and sitting in front of him as he stared at the snowy ground. She didn't care about the mess on his hands, he realized.

The reason was, she was used to seeing it on her own.

"You must think me a monster." He said softly, his voice barely audible.

"Yes, I do."

"Thank why are you not afraid!?" He shouted, looking up at her, his raging, chocolate brown eyes - now like burning embers - staring into her calm, strawberry orbs that matched her hair all too well.

"Because you are talking to one." She smiled sadly, a tear streaming down her own cheek. "I am not afraid of my own kind, Jack."

He was speechless.

"Come, we must . . . we must bury Grevich." She pulled him to his feet, her wings quivering behind her. She wanted to break down and cry, she wanted to let her anger out, but she wouldn't.

For Jack.

She had to be the strong one this time, and that was a sensation that was unfamiliar to her. She would do it though, because she cared about her dear, fellow monster, and did not want him to crumble into the being she used to be.

She had the control now, she had it in the palm of her hand, and if she didn't use it when she needed to, why should she have it?

The two buried Grevich together and put out the remaining flames that clung to her beloved cottage. After that was done, they took Jacks horse from the make-shift stable he had built and took off, hoping never to be caught by the witch hunters again.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill them both the way he killed Merivilous!" Lilith ranted, storming through the forest as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, shedding unsettling shadows around them.

The witch hunters’ brother kept silent, his rage almost more than he could bear. They should have had a better plan than to advance upon two, very powerful warlocks and think them nothing but children.

"Why are you not saying anything!?" Lilith screamed, shoving him onto the snowy ground. "Why are you not angry!?"

"I am angry!" He got up and pushed her back, making her fly across the ground and land two yards away from him. He was stronger than people gave him credit for. "I am as angry as a pillaged and plundered dragon! I have more right to be angry than you do, you were nothing but a harlot that accompanied his bed at night!"

Her face flushed, and she sucked in her breath.

"If you ever touch me again I will throw you off a cliff." His voice was darker than the air around them, and his eyes glowed with terrible scarlet infravision, striking a small amount of fear into the woman. "I promise." The last word hung in the air with a hiss.

"Now get up and lets’ get moving. The girl has wings, so they can fly. We will have to get a set of our own." He looked around, searching the skies for any sign of them.

Lilith got up and put her helmet back on. "I know someone."

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