The Magic Lands

CHAPTER NINE • KATIE

After we took Valerie back to her stall we walked to the dining hall for breakfast, it was near the center of the town like the bakery, blacksmith shop, and General Garlison's tent and house. There were a few boys that Carter went to join when we got into the hall, I stayed at the entrance looking around at the tables.

I saw a few groups of girls and decided to go ask one of the smaller groups to sit with them. I started to walk over but before I could I heard a shout come from the window. "IT'S HARLINA!"

A thunder of gasps came through the dining hall and I looked over at Carter who was frantically searching for me. Once I was spotted he ran over.

"What do we do? Is Valerie safe? Should we–" He didn't finish his 20 questions before we heard Harlina's evil voice come from the lawn, which had now been deserted.

"Come on out you cowards." She called and a few villagers went out following the General. The rest of the crowd in the dining hall trailed behind him, carful not to get to close to Harlina.

"What do you want witch?" The General asked sharply and was met by her devilish cackle.

"What do I want? It seems three, trespassers came through my property. One has been handled..." She said grinning. "The other two have seemed to disappear into the forest. If any of you were to stumble upon them, I would be happy to take them off your hands." She said now letting her grin fade. "But if you decide to, shelter them..." She said bringing two men from Jake's crowd up on either side of her. With her staff she brought them to their knees. With a thud of her staff on the ground green flames swallowed them and when they cleared the men were now stone.

A gasp rippled loudly through the villagers and some even took a step away from Carter and I. "Come on." I whispered urgently to him. We walked low to the ground to the back of the crowd, we were still pretty well hidden from her as we crouched down.

"So! Now that I have made my self clear, carry on with your lousy lives." She said, her voice reaching above the crowd. My guess was that she was gone because everyone started piling back into the dining hall and only the two statues, surrounded by a small group of people remained. Among the group was the General and Carter and I ran over to him.

"Jake! I mean General–" Carter started to say but the man cut him off.

"No we must talk in my tent where it is safe. And call me what you want." He said and jogged over to his tent, we jogged behind keeping up with him easily. Once we were safely inside of the big white tent he spoke to us again. "We need to take down Harlina soon, she obviously knows about the picture I showed you, she will do everything she can to stop you." He said with a note of worry in his voice that was almost covered with the seriousness.

"I know it is bad, even if we do get to her though, how will we take her down?" I asked still sort of panicked from Harlina's vist.

"I am glad you asked, see when she got her staff she let all of her power seep into it. If she doesn't have the staff..."

"Then she is powerless." I finished and he nodded.

"But how do we even get close enough to her?" Carter questioned.

"I honestly don't know, we would have to figure something out." He responded shaking his head with a smile and a quite chuckle. "You two seem to have more bravery then anyone in this village. I can tell you, not even the strongest army member wouldn't challenge Harlina."

"Thank you, General, but I might have an idea." Carter said and he filled him in nodding every so often. When Carter was finished Bax stumbled into the tent.

"Sir, Valerie has gotten out." He said looking at us now.

"What?!" Carter and I said and then we dashed out of the tent and to the stable. Once we got there it was true and her stall had its door wide open, and Valerie was no longer inside. "Was it Harlina?!" Carter asked and a chill went down my spine.

"No she couldn't have, she would have punished the villagers." I responded and then headed to the feild where Valerie had first flown. "Valerie!" I called and Carter and I went back and forth as we searched through the feild and the woods surrounding it.

"Valerie!"

"Valerie!"

"Where are you Valerie?!"

"Valerie?!"

"Come on Valerie!"

"I don't think she is here, Carter." I said with a small frown.

"Maybe she ran away when she heard Harlina?" Carter said and I shrugged.

"I guess but she couldn't possibly hear Harlina from all the way over here. We should head back..." I said and he sighed heavily. What happened to her? I started to get worried and Carter put his hand on my shoulder.

"She will be ok, I mean did you see what she did to Bax when he rode her?" He said but then his eyes got wide. I was confused so I tilted my head a bit. "She never liked Bax from the start... and just a second ago he seemed to be holding his arm, didn't you notice?" Carter pointed out and now looking back on it I did remember.

"So what do you think that means?" I asked still puzzled.

"What if Bax took Valerie and then hurt his arm somehow in the process. It is just a theory, but if you think about it, maybe Valerie can see something we can't in him." He finished and I understood now.

"I mean it has a possibly, but just because Valerie doesn't like someone, doesn't mean they are evil. I mean she hardly liked us in the beginning. In fact, I am still not sure if she likes us." I said as we continued walking.

"I don't know, it was just an idea..." He said trailing off. We reached the village and Bax came up.

"Did you find her?" He asked still holding his arm, like Carter had pointed out earlier.

"No, but I meant to ask earlier, what is wrong with your arm?" Carter questioned and he rolled his sleeve up. A large bruse shaped like a hoof print was stamped there. I held back a gasp.

"Yeah, I was helping out at the barn and one of the horses kicked me pretty hard. It still kind of stings, but, when I got out of that horse's stall, that is when I noticed Valerie had gone missing." He told us but I couldn't help but notice how his eyes didn't meet either of us. They stayed focused on his injury.

"Ok hope it feels better, let's go back to our cottage, Carter." I said and as we turned to leave my mind raced. Was Carter right? Where was Valerie now? What are we really up against?

Great, now I was the one asking 20 questions.