Little Snake - A Black Legacy

Chapter Twenty one - The Map Chamber

Hazel saw the gates, on the other side of the bridge, open luminously. Behind it a magnificent hall and - as expected - 4 knight statues in niches, three on a pedestal in the back. These, however, were larger. And at the door lay a pile, in which a sword was still stuck. "Jackdaw," Hazel muttered, realizing that the boy must have inadvertently fallen into an ancient magic trap. The doors glowed as if there were a bluish veil over them, and Hazel knew what that meant: it was her fight, her fight alone.

With his vision, Ominis could only see the doors in a blur, but realized there was magic between them and held Hazel as she tried to leave. "No. You can't fight in this condition. Certainly not alone" he said, upset. Sebastian, who had moved forward a bit, turned around in surprise. "Alone?" he asked confused.

"Between the doors, the Ancient Magic has created a barrier. Jackdaw must have triggered it back then. If I'm right, it will prevent anyone from entering who has no connection to that magic" Hazel explained in her cold, lifeless voice. After the fight, she had managed to close everything back up. Fear, pain, anger, despair, none of it just came through to her.

"We are here, so I will go. Don't worry, I still have enough strength to pulverize those chunks of rock" she said. "I-I can't let you run to your death blindly" Ominis muttered, bewildered. "Well, you're going to have to. That there-" she pointed to the doors, pointed to the caves, and finally to the statues behind the doors. "That's part of my destiny. I need those pages and wherever they have already taken us must be found. I feel that in the end everything depends on it. It will go well. These spiders were more difficult than the statues so far. Don't be afraid. If you don't believe that I am strong enough, how can I believe it?" She whispered the last part softly, without looking at him.

Ominis turned her around and pulled her into his arms. Hazel could feel the fear radiating from him. "You are strong enough. You are stronger than any witch or wizard I know. But you are also bruised and wounded. We couldn't help you no matter what happens to you there!" he said to her. Now she pressed him to her as well.

"Trust me. I'm not feeling any of this right now, and if I don't hurry up now, I don't have much of a chance. I need to do this while I still can. These statues won't awaken until I reach a certain trigger point. I'll try Petrifficus Totalus as often and as best I can. I learned it from you. If I take out the weak ones with it, I can destroy the stronger ones at the end with my Ancient Magic. Quick in, quick out, right?" she replied and kissed him on the cheek before she turned ice cold again and separated from him.

"Drink another healing potion before you go. We'll be waiting for you right outside the doors. We'll be here for you when you come back out, Flower!" said Sebastian, patting her on the shoulder before pulling Ominis away from her. Hazel leading the way, the three walked to the doors and Hazel slipped effortlessly through the curtain of ancient magic after drinking the potion.

Hazel slowly took a few steps into the hall and looked around carefully. To the left and right in some kind of vestibule, stood treasures. Egg-shaped crystals on stands, gold-lined objects and boxes. And just a few steps in front of her, in a huge archway without gates, lay the pale carcass of Richard Jackdaw. The skull lay a few feet away from the rest, it wore the same clothes as the ghost now. Two swords were stuck in its chest, she now realized. Deep within her walls, Hazel felt a deep regret that this young boy had fallen into this trap that was meant for her and not for him. Regret that this magic was the reason he had not had a chance to impress Apollonia.