A Fairy Tale With Two

Chapter 8

     Their surroundings had darkened considerably as they moved out of the forest, heading into a craggy rock land of mist and moors. The sky was clouded and gray, only a few rays of light escaping through the dark puffs. The wind had gotten colder as well, making Rowan shiver as the breeze crawled up her forearms.

     She pulled her sleeves down farther, her torn, scarlet cape and cowl not doing much to block the wind. She blew the hair back out of her eyes as the dark auburn strands got whipped about in the wind.

     "This is so fun!" Aliyah was the only one who seemed to be in a good mood, "A real adventure! An amazing quest!"

     Kaden snorted at her words, his sun streaked hair blowing across his face as he pulled his cloak tighter around him, "Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?"

     "Look at that funny rock!!" Aliyah exclaimed, pointing had to a huge shape looming out of the fog. "It's huge!"

       Rowan's brow furrowed as she slowly walked around the tall, jagged stone. Then she found the front, which was smooth and shiny as if it had been polished. Her hands brushed the cold surface, marveling at the smoothness. "Guys," she sprang back suddenly as if she'd been stung, "We need to go."

     "Why?" Aliyah cocked her head to the side, but Rowan stepped away from the rock hurriedly, grabbing the wrists of her companions as she pulled them away.

     "That rock is a key landmark," Rowan said, giving her head a shake as she continued to drag them away, "It's granite, positioned to face the east to catch the first rays of sunlight. Solstice Stone, was what it was called."

     "Was?" Kaden questioned, casting a glance over his shoulder at the rock.

     "The witch who used to operate it is dead now," Rowan said, "Maybe you've heard of her. Janessa, the Black Witch of the moors."

     Kaden and Aliyah exchanged blank looks, then looked at Rowan with raised eyebrows, "Who?"

     Rowan smacked a hand to her head, rolling her eyes back with exasperation, "Of course you don't. You live in the forest, and you... I don't even know where you've lived for the past twenty years." She gave Kaden a lifted eye brow before explaining, "Janessa was the most dangerous witch in all of the four kingdoms."

      "Uh-huh," they nodded.

      "She destroyed dozens of villages and people whenever she felt like it. She would use this rock to capture the first rays of sunlight to contribute to her incredible powers. She used the powers from the sun to steal powers from other witches, fairies, and warlocks. She collected these powers in a necklace she wore around her neck at all times, and got a reputation for being the most dangerous of all magical beings."

     "Wait, I think I remember something," Kaden snapped his fingers, "She was killed by your father, right?"

     "In the end, yes," Rowan nodded, "More or less. Her necklace was broken, and her powers left her. The rock was cracked up one side with a witch's mark on it. It's on the smooth side."

       "But what happened to the witch?" Aliyah asked curiously, "Is she dead?"

     "Once her power source was cracked, she vanished," Rowan shrugged, "But still, I don't want to go near anything that used to belong to her—" there was a tremendous cracking sound beneath her feet, and the ground trembled. The ground beneath her feet yawned open, and she found herself standing in thin air. She shrieked, and Kaden lunged to grab her arm as she fell.

     He locked his feet on the edge as he leaned down, his hand on her wrist to keep her from plunging into the darkness as she dangled above the yawning shadow. She reached up, clinging onto Kaden's arm, trying to keep her grip.

     "Slipping," she gasped, feeling his fingers slid across her own.

      Aliyah leaned forward, grasping the edge with a clawed hand as she reached down to grab Rowan's hand. But Kaden lost his grip.

      Rowan fell hard onto a stone floor that had been disguised by the shadows, and she stood up, looking towards the sky to see Kaden staring down at her from fifteen feet above, "We should really work on that," she said snidely, dusting herself off, "I could be dead right now."

     She looked around her confinements, and in the dim light, she could see shelves covered in cobwebs, filled with books, vials, and jars of variety. Rowan leaned forward, trying to see better in the dim light. There was a desk of heavy, dark wood in front of her, and she brushed a hand over the thick layer of dust coating the slick, polished surface.

      "You okay?" Aliyah called down, "What's down there?"

     "Hopefully a way out," Rowan said, but her eyes were on a black leather bound book lying on top of the desk. It seemed to whisper to her, enchanting and mysterious.

     Rowan slowly picked it up, dusting off the thick coat of dirt and dust. She glanced up briefly at her companions, who could no longer see her. Then she slipped her fingers between the pages, opening it up. The mounting whispering stopped as she thumbed through the pages. Each yellowed page was covered in a thin, twisty handwriting.

     "Rowan," Kaden called down at her with mild annoyance in his voice, "Hurry up or we'll leave without you."

     Rowan stowed the book in her satchel, turning to feel through the darkness. She didn't have to blindly reach too long in the dark- her hand curled around the cold metal of a doorknob, and she pushed it open. A narrow staircase led upwards to a ring of light just ahead, and she walked up the crumbling stone to emerge from a hidden hatch just beside the Solstice Stone.

     "Rowan!" Aliyah and Kaden skidded to a halt in front of her, being the rock with sudden weariness, "What was down there?"

     Rowan felt the black book in her satchel press against her hip, "Oh... nothing really, just a whole bunch of dirt and bugs." She wasn't sure why she was lying, but something told her not to reveal what she had found.

     "We've wasted enough time here already," Kaden grumbled, "Let's go."

      "Yes..." Rowan glanced back at the stone rising up behind them, and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that she was regarding it with something other than spite. It was a tool. For power. Surely anyone could use it? It could be used for so much more than stealing others powers... with a magic strong enough to pull light from the sky, you could win any war and thwart any enemy. You'd just have to-

     "Come on," Aliyah's sudden grip on her shoulder startled her from her thoughts, and Rowan found herself pulled away from the rock. She shivered as she realized what had gone through her mind.

     Rowan pulled the scarlet cloak tighter around her, lifting the hood to shelter her face from the icy wind. Something was wrong here. And she didn't want to know what.