The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (23 page)

Erebus gaped
at Cara, and was then knocked to the ground by the incredible energy of the
next tremor. The roaring of the wind was deafening and Erebus stumbled to his
feet.
  ‘I told you, Erebus!’
  Cara stretched out her arms, dinking in the power of the Gods. 
  Only a few loyal Wicked remained by the door, calling desperately for their
master to escape.
  ‘How did you summon the Gods?!’ His dry voice cried over the howling wind.
  ‘I have nearly every Charm there is. It took me years to acquire these
powers. Years.’
  Erebus was taken aback by Cara’s words, and he hissed, ‘you
are
a good
substitute… for now.’
  Only Laura heard him.
  Before she could react, Erebus turned to the last of the Wicked.
  ‘GET HER AND GO. RETREAT!’
  They moved at Erebus’ command, and Cara wasn’t fast enough to react. They seized
her, dragging her to the exit.
  Laura broke free of Drew’s grasp and took off after her Mother, but the
shaking of the ground made it near impossible. The Wicked were too far ahead. A
scream of frustration tore from her throat.
  ‘No! NO! DON’T YOU DARE TAKE HER!’
  Laura scrambled on, but the ground swayed like the sea beneath her, and she
couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t stay on her feet. She couldn’t save her
mother.
  Drew struggled to catch up to Laura, and Leo and Stella were too far away to
reach the Wicked.
  Another tremble shook the ground and Laura tripped over a body, jarring her
knee as she smacked against the stone floor.
  Pain shot through her arms and legs as she looked up.
  ‘MUM!’
  Cara whipped her head around as she struggled against the Wicked’s grip, but
they were too close to the door now.
  ‘MUM! I’LL FIND YOU! I PROMISE!’
  ‘Laura, Laura I love you! I will be okay.’
  One of the Wicked gave a harsh tug.
  ‘Stay strong Laura!’
  And then, she was gone.
  Leo appeared out of nowhere, propelling through the door after them.
  Laura slumped to the ground and Drew finally made it to her side. He knelt
down.
  ‘Come on Laura, you need to stand up,’ he said calmly to her ear.
  Stella managed to reach the two of them.
  ‘How do we stop this?’ she yelped, balancing herself while the next tremor
rocked the room.
  Drew helped Laura to her feet while she shook her head.
  ‘I don’t know.’
  ‘Well, good luck with it!’ They heard Erebus shout as he surpassed them,
rushing to the door before the next earthquake hit.
  He reached it, pausing to peer back at three of them. His eyes rested on
Laura’s and he flashed another wicked grin. ‘I’ll be back for you. Or you for
me.’
  Laura charged, ‘were the hell did you put Caspian’s soul! Tell me!’
  She lunged for him, grabbing a hold of his shirt and tugging him to her. ‘Tell
me! Take my body and give this one back to Caspian! God damn it, don’t do this!’
  She clawed at him desperately as he pried himself free of her grasp. He took
a hold of her shoulders, slamming her back into the door jam.
  She slumped to the ground, pulling her knees up to her face quickly, waiting
for the blow she knew was coming.
  When it didn’t, though, she peered up to see Drew’s dagger embedded in
Erebus’ stomach. Blood seeped from the wound and dribbled down his torso.
  ‘You really aren’t him,’ Drew said.
  The wind was dying down, the fire drawing back, the walls de-frosting, and
the earth becoming still.
  Erebus’ eyes fell to his wound, and he stumbled backwards against the doorframe.
  ‘This won’t be the last of me,’ he growled, but Laura could see the pain in
his expression.
  He turned and fled through the door and into the dark of the night.
  Laura dragged herself to her feet, intending to follow, but she was hit with
a wave of dizziness.
  ‘We have to go after him! He won’t get far. We need to find mum and Caspian!’
Laura choked.
  Stella took Laura by the shoulder, urging her to breathe deeply.
  ‘Why aren’t we going after them?’ Laura asked, calmer now.
  ‘We may be strong, but we are outnumbered. We need back up. It’s too dangerous
to go after them, injured, and especially when there are only the four of us. Leo
will find out what he can of the direction they are fleeing in and will be back
any second. Then we will go to the Grand Courts and tell them everything. This
is so beyond us, we can’t do it alone. This is war.’ Stella’s body trembled as
she spoke.
  ‘Then let’s just get out of here,’ Laura said.
  Then, the sky grew dark.
  They glanced up in wonder. The roof had reappeared, and it was shooting
straight for them.
  ‘We have to get out, now!’ Laura cried and pushed at Drew and Stella to move.
  They hurtled themselves through the door, running as fast as they could
through the gravel streets.
  They’d made it only a block before the roof and three floors above made
impact. The ground shook as the tower came crumbling down, but they kept running,
pushing themselves as hard as they could.
  When they reached the old water fountain, they dove for cover in an alleyway,
watching as stone and debris blast past them.
  The ground rippled beneath them and they huddled together, waiting for the
crashing to stop.
  As the final stone rolled by, they stood, peeking out at what remained of the
tower. The entire city was destroyed. Dirt, wood, stone and powder littered the
street, and the whole block around the tower had been wiped out.
  ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Drew said.
  Stella straightened. ‘Where’s Leo?’
  She spun wildly, checking in every direction, before resting her eyes on the
ruins. Tears streaked through her dirt stained face.
  ‘God please no.’
  Laura was about to embrace Stella, when she noticed a figure half limping,
half running towards them.
  Leo.
  ‘Stel,’ Laura whispered, and she raised her face.
  For a moment, she just stood there, staring across the street at the love of
her life. Then she took off, throwing herself into her husband’s outstretched
arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and his grip tightened
around her.
  Laura felt fingers lace between her own, and she knew Drew stood beside her.
She didn’t look at him, just tightened her grip on his hand.
  Caspian’s soul was hidden, Erebus had risen again, her Mother had sacrificed
herself so they could escape and Gemma was fighting for her life.
  This was war, and the Enchanted would have to be ready.
  The Wicked had been weak tonight, but she was sure his army was larger,
stronger. They had been training for war for seventeen years. Now that they had
Cara and Erebus planned to possess her, who knew what was going to happen
  Laura did, however, know one thing. She would not back down. Not until this
war was won.
  She watched Stella lead Leo to a rock, forcing him to sit while she examined
his injuries.
  ‘What do we do now?’ Drew asked.
  This war was not about her. It was about everyone. All the Enchanted were in
danger. She was just one of the many who had been dragged into the front line.
  Laura’s voice came out solid and definite.
  ‘We fight.’

The Wicked
crowded together, talking amongst one another as their leader took to the
stage.
  ‘Do you think he’ll hurt us?’ One of the Wicked asked, a Witch of only twenty
with golden brown hair.
  A Wizard beside her shrugged, ‘he was mad, that much I know.’
  They focused their attention on the platform of the old railway station. The
sky was dark, the clouds shielding the sun.
  The chatter died down as their leader limped to the podium.
  He stared out at his army, a look of disgust and disappointment upon his
face. He stood there for a long time, the crowd quiet and waiting.
  Then, Erebus spoke.
  ‘As I stand here today and look out at my followers, I see nothing but weaklings.
Ungrateful, pathetic, cowards. You deserted your leader when he needed you most
and not once did you stand your ground. Not once did you fight for our right.
For our cause. I am repulsed.
  ‘I had a dream to rid this world of the weak. I chose you all to be my army
because I thought you would be
strong
. I thought you would stand beside
me until we won this war. My plans, they depend on my followers. On all of you.
The numbers are rising and more Wicked are joining us, but if you act as you
did last night, it will be the end of us. Do you want that?’ He paused, and no
one spoke. ‘You all need to buck up or leave. You are either on my side, or the
Enchanted’s. I am not keeping you here. I am not forcing you to serve me. If
you want to leave, now is the time to do it.’ He paused for an entire minute
this time, and not a single Wizard or Witch moved.
  ‘Okay then. You all choose to be here. You all choose to fight for me, and
for what is right. Should anyone repeat last night’s events, punishment will be
immediate execution. I will not have a weak army.
  ‘For now we will go into hiding,
not
because we are weak, but because
we need time to train, to further strengthen our numbers. I will not have a
recurrence of last night.’ His voice rose to a shout. ‘When I declare war upon
the Enchanted, we will be ready to fight. Ready to
win
.’
  The crowd broke into roars or approval, cheering for him and chanting ‘long
live Erebus!’
  Erebus rejoiced at the site, but a man appeared at his side. Erebus raised
his hands, ushering the crowd into silence.
  ‘Soldiers, I would like to introduce The Sargent. He will be training you,
preparing you for war.’
  The crowd was shouting again, cheering for The Sargent, a stumpy man in
battle gear, while he stood there proudly and drunk in the praise.
  He glanced sideways at Erebus and received a nod. As the crowd continued to
cheer a Wicked dragged a small, fragile girl onto the stage. She was too weak
to put up any kind of a fight.
  Again, Erebus hushed the crowd, ‘now, I announce our first conversion. The
first Enchanted to ally themselves with us.’
 ‘I thought we would only turn them if they wanted to join us?’ A Witch
shouted.
  Erebus only smiled, ‘the Enchanted are savages. They can suffer. They can
live as one of us, follow our ways and will serve us until they die. That will
show them that we are a force to be reckoned with.’
  Erebus turned to The Sargent, ‘show her.’
  The Sargent pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and stepped towards the
girl. Her head hung limp, her arms dangling at her side.
  The Sargent handed her the paper.
  ‘Say it,’ Erebus hissed at her.
  She finally lifted her head and looked over the words. She was trembling.
  In a raspy voice, she whispered, ‘I hereby and forever more allege to place
my faith and give my full cooperation to the Wicked of the Spirit World. They
are now my allies, my family, and I shall follow them into the brightest and
the darkest of days. I am Wicked.’
  She closed her eyes.
  A sudden flash of lightning shot from the earth and struck her, sending her
sprawling into the air. Her skin glowed red and gold etching snaked their way
up her arms as her body lifted higher into the sky.
  Her eyes flew open, and she screamed.

First and foremost, I want to thank
you
,
yes,
YOU
reading this right now. The fact that you not only purchased my
book but took the time to read it means more to me than you will ever know.
Thankyou, from the bottom of my heart.

Secondly, I would like to thank my
parents who always supported my dream, despite how farfetched it seemed.
Sometimes even I questioned whether I would ever finish a single book, let
alone publishing it to Amazon! Special mention to my Mum who read countless
versions of this story, and watched it progress from awful writing and terrible
spelling mistakes, (like that one time I wrote shirt but forgot the ‘R’ and the
line was meant to read ‘her shirt billowed in the wind.’) to what it now is
today. I relied on your feedback more than you know and appreciate it.

Thirdly, shout out to my friends who
showed interest in my dream, often asking how my writing was going, and
offering to read parts and give feedback, (especially my fellow writing buddy
Maddy who read the first, very awfully written, draft and gave me awesome ideas
in return).

Lastly, thankyou so much to Amazon
for creating this program for those of us who want to pursue our writing
dreams, but just don’t have the money, experience or connections to do so. None
of this would be possible without this amazing opportunity you have produced
for aspiring writers. I am so grateful to you for allowing me to live my dream.

Once again, I send hugs and
thankyou’s to you reading this. You are wonderful.

Blaire was born in a country town in
Victoria, Australia. Despite having moved houses many times, she has always
remained living on farms, growing up with a love of quiet country life.
Blaire graduated High School in 2015 and has been working hard to further her
career in writing since. Working at her local Library has helped to do this.
Her passion for writing stems from her adoration of books, which has been
present since as far back as she can remember.
Her biggest inspiration comes from the books that pushed her into pursuing her
passion for writing at the young age of 12, those being The Tomorrow series and
The Ellie Chronicles by John Marsden. She often raves about these books, and
has lost count of the number of times she has read them now. Her puppy is even
named after the main character, Ellie.
Blaire is also deeply inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and
anything Cassandra Clare.
Blaire hopes to continue following her dreams, strengthening her career as an
Author.

You can find her here:

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