Cursed: The Legend of Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Twenty Three - Outside of The Box

Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved

After a whole month of painstakingly exploring the interior and exterior of Merlins Keep, Briar Rose was at a loss for the bind of the Curse. What artifact or object was it linked to that would allow it to remain ten years later?

An artifact that powerful would normally stand out like a sore thumb. Concealing an item of great power was no easy feat. It took a countermeasure of equal power to cancel out the force, mitigating the energy waves.

Nepotan, as a Curse Breaker with blue energy, has strength with water and air. Lucinda was the same, which is why her most difficult Casts were against fire. She always made sure to create a base that removed or limited the possibility of flames to ensure the longevity of her Cast.

That was why Briar Rose thought it might be in embedded inside of Merlins Keep. Prince Arthur himself admitted that the Whitewater Royal Court had a spy who had betrayed them. It made sense that the base of the Curse would be near the place it would affect. Distance from the artifact of the Curse weakened a Curses power with active spells, which constantly required energy to support a heightened alteration.

Transfiguring people into animals required a constant source of power that was not normally a befuddling matter.

"I checked the last residence in the Eastern part of the Castle," Prince Arthur huffed as he met her in front of an old bakery in the town square. "The detector showed no indications of magic above the normal range."

Nodding, she held her forehead, trying to think of what she was missing. The information swirled through her mind in a constant loop, frustrating her to the point that she turned and blasted out the front of the bakery.

A green explosion filled the air.

Smoke rose a moment later from the singed edges; all that remained of the two-story building.

"Hey!" Prince Arthur yelled, turning to her. "That was a perfectly fine building! Why did you destroy it?"

"Because this Curse is not making sense!" Briar Rose screamed, holding the sides of her head. "The Artifact should be within three miles of Merlins Keep. So far we've gone out five miles and discovered nothing!"

"I've gone over all of the notes. Interviewed every witness here. Inspected every inch of Merlins Keep and the Castle and I. Have. NOTHING!" She reached out a glowing green hand, incinerating another nearby building.

"Will you please stop destroying my city?!" Prince Arthur yelled, horrified. "I'll keep looking so that you don't have to re-do it."

"I can burn the spell out. Burndown everything until the Artifact gets destroyed. Pure Magic has no rebound!" Briar Rose admitted, her rage illuminating a new path. "I'm strong enough to blast it to smithereens. The Curse was cast with over three dozen Wizards and Witches, but they made it too wide.

Spreading the force weakened the inherent power of the Artifact. All I have to do is blast it. Blast it big."

"Merlins Keep is essential to Whitewater," Arthur argued, his voice tight. "It cannot be destroyed. The knowledge of those walls protect is invaluable. I will never allow it to be destroyed even if I had to spend a century like this!"

"Ugh!" Turning, Briar Rose kicked at a rock, sending it skittering down the empty road. "I'm not talking about blasting Merlins Keep itself. I walked the whole place and found no sign of the Curse being tethered there.

It's most likely is out here, in this mass of empty buildings. It has to be. How am I supposed to break a Dragons Curse if I can't figure out a human?"