Backwards Fairy Tale

Chapter 2: The witch's brew

Prince Jay neared a small cottage in the forest surrounded in smoke, and he quickly descended from his horse.

As he ventured closer to the house, Gritin grabbed his wrist, his cold hands temporarily startling Jay, and held his staff in front of him.

"You shouldn't go in there," Gritin warned, "The entire house is a trap."

"Is anyone stuck inside?" Jay asked in concern, but the look in Gritin's eyes was enough.

Without any further delay, he hurried towards the house with Gritin following behind him worriedly, and he stopped him right before a bear trap.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Gritin scolded, "I just told you this place was a trap!"

"I can't just leave innocent civilians here to die," Jay argued back.

"You didn't have a problem leaving Princess Clover behind," Giritin argued, "Why are these people any different?"

Jay immediately stopped what he was doing, and turned around to face Giritin seriously.
"This isn't the same thing," Jay explained, closing the gap of space between them, "I love you Giritin."

Giritin's cheeks flushed a bright red, before the sound of screaming could be heard from the inside of the house, and Jay switched gears once again, charging towards the house to save the victims.

Giritin tried his best to keep up while avoiding every trap he sensed nearby, and eventually found himself in a crime scene. The room was unusually large, equipped with overflowing sinks that dripped red liquid. Stacks of pots and pans were filled to the brim with decapitated limbs, the kitchen knives had touches of human skin, and detached thumbs stuck in each blade.

Giritin flinched as his boots squished through the blood soaked tile as he walked through the kitchen and he found a large bookcase stacked with recipes. He closed his eyes and murmured a spell to locate Jay, but instead he encountered something troubling.

Thousands of kids were stashed beneath the floorboards, their frail bodies sleeping in overcrowded cages that were covered in pre flavoring. Tears came flowing from his face as he absorbed their pain, and he pressed his hands to the ground, focusing all of his concentration in his magic.

Slowly the tile began to crumble beneath him, and he heard the witch screaming from far below the cages, rattling his brain defensively.

"I won't let you have them," Giritin growled, his eyes slowly blackening in anger, "So face me witch."

The sound of a few kids crying interrupted his thoughts, and he looked down at hundreds of kids reaching up for freedom. Giritin created a stairway for the kids to escape, and they all fled into the kitchen in terror.

"I'm going to create a path for you," Giritin told them with a thunderous voice, "Follow the exact path I set for you, if you don't she'll find you."

"Yes sir!"!" They obeyed timidly, and Giritin left them to their survival skills before descending into the witch's maze.

"Hey," The witch called from the bottom of the cells, and Giritin created the image of her with his magic, "Does this one look familiar?"

Giritin looked on in horror as the witch lifted Jay up by the neck, completely knocked out cold from her power, "If you want him, you'll have to return those children to me."

"Not a chance," Giritin snapped without hesitation, "I hope you're a fast runner, because I'm coming for you."

Then the image of the witch evaporated into thin air and Giritin aimed his power directly at the cackling witch.

"Hold on Jay, I'm on my way," Giritin promised.