by Willow Rose
“No!” Sara said. ”I don’t want to leave you here.”
Manolo grabbed her hand.
“We have to move on. William is too big.”
“It is true,” William said. “You have to focus on the task, remember?”
“Okay,” Sara said. Then she hugged William.
”I will wait here till you have broken off the spell,” he said. “Then I will be able to find my way out.”
“We will come and look for you if you are not there when we get out,” Sara said. “I am not leaving you.”
“Now go!” the wolf said. ”I will be fine.”
Heavy in her heart, Sara left her good friend and companion behind. And soon others had to be left as well. First it was the three deer that had a hard time climbing the narrow stairs, then Grover the hedgehog who was about the same size as Moeselman had to give up. Also Henrietta the Hyena became too big and soon Arnaldo the eagle couldn’t fit his broad shoulders through the stairwell any longer. As they neared the top, it was only Marland, Nipples, the two mice, Angel and Apollo, and Sara and Manolo left.
In the end, the stairs became so narrow that Sara and Manolo even had to walk sideways to pass. Finally they reached the last step and now they were met by another passageway.
It seemed to be leading them towards a big door at the end. As they neared it they saw that in front of the door was a black cat. It was sleeping.
Satali, Sara thought, the cat that the king of the Will-o’-the-wisps had said was not an ordinary cat. But he had not told her what it was if it wasn’t ordinary.
Sara walked closer to the sleeping cat. She heard it purr in its sleep. As she came close to it, it opened its eyes and stared at her with eyes as green as sapphires. And then the strangest thing happened. It just purred and moved away so she could walk right past it. As she put the hand on the door handle, she heard the cat hiss behind her. She turned around and saw it grow slowly behind her separating her from her friends. She stared at the big black fur that kept growing until she couldn’t see her friends any longer.
“Manolo,” she called.
“Sara!” he said. ”Just keep going. We will fight the cat while you go on and look for Sensisaron and the ring. It seems like it will let you go through but not us. We will catch up to you.”
Still the cat grew larger and larger and its body became longer and longer.
“What kind of a cat is this?” she asked afraid for what might happen to her friends.
“It is not a cat,” Manolo said. “It is a giant sea serpent. Now go on!”
With a heavy heart Sara turned her back to Manolo and the creatures not knowing if she would ever see them again after the encounter with the sea serpent. But they had made a pact. They had to go on even if it meant leaving the other behind. So she turned the handle.
“It is now or never,” she whispered as the door opened.
19
THE WITCH AND THE RING
What Sara saw when she looked inside was not exactly what she had expected. As she entered what seemed to be an old lady’s bedroom, the door behind her immediately shut with a bang. Sara jumped by the sound, and looked at the old lady sleeping in the big king-sized bed. She didn’t seem to wake up. She didn’t even blink. Slowly Sara went closer. The old lady was so pale that Sara for a minute suspected that she was already dead. But as she came close to her she could tell the woman was breathing. But she wasn’t waking up, even from the noise from the passageway where Manolo and the creatures from the valley were fighting the sea serpent.
Slowly Sara came even closer. Was it really going to be that easy? she thought to herself. Then she reached her hand out and touched the white sheet covering the old lady’s body. Carefully she lifted the sheet and saw the old woman’s right hand with the ring on her claw-like finger.
As she laid her eyes upon, it Sara turned her head away remembering what Manolo had told her about the ring.
“One glint of that red ruby in your eyes and you are powerless and helpless you must go where the fortune teller wills and do what she wills,” he said.
But hadn’t they also learnt that the ring was asleep when whoever wore it also was asleep? Sara thought to herself. She dared to look at it again and nothing happened. So it was in fact true. Now all Sara had to do was to pull it off her finger and this would all be over. Sara reached carefully for the finger. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was pounding so loudly she was afraid that it would wake up Sensisaron in the bed.
She would have to do it quickly, she thought, because the old lady would most surely wake up whenever she felt Sara touch her hand. Then she would only have a few seconds to pull it off before Sensisaron knew what was going on.
So she did. She reached down and grabbed the hand. Then she grabbed the ring and pulled with all she could.
Nothing happened. She pulled and pulled, but still nothing. The ring didn’t come off and the old lady didn’t wake up. Sara wiped sweat off her forehead and tried again. With both hands she grabbed the ring and hand and pulled with all of her powers. She thought she heard the old bones creak.
Then something happened.
The red ruby in the ring lit up.
It took Sara so much by a surprise that she tumbled backwards letting go of both hand and ring. The sheet fell back on top of the hand.
Expecting any moment now that the old lady would rise from the bed she turned to look at her. But she was still lying motionless. The ring however was shining under the sheet. And now Sara felt it calling to her, like a small voice inside her head.
“Sara … Sara … Sara. You know you want to. Just do it.”
Confused Sara tried to look away but the alluring red light from under the sheet kept making her stare at it. She wanted it. She wanted the ring so bad.
“Sara … just do it. Just take me. Put me on your finger.”
“No!” Sara yelled. ”I am not going to let you control me!”
Like the hissing whispering voice of a serpent it continued.
“You and me together we could rule the world. Not just this small valley with all its creatures, but the whole world. If we just put our powers together. You are strong and going to be very powerful one day. Why wait? Why not have it all now? Why not be all you can be right now?”
Sara felt drawn towards the ring even as she tried to resist it. Her human flesh wanted all it promised her. What if it was right? What if she could have it all right now and not have to wait? It would be easier for everybody this way. Maybe if the ring was on a person with a good heart it wouldn’t do bad things. Maybe she could use it to do good instead? She could help all the creatures by giving them their freedom, she could defend her people, the Romani against whoever wanted to hurt them in the future. Wouldn’t it be stupid to not use it? It did have great powers and until she had developed all of hers it could be a big help.
“Come on, Sara. We could be friends. You and I are meant for each other. Powerful as we are. Take me Sara … Just take me. No one would ever have to know.”
Sara kept staring at the light coming from the ring under the sheet. She was pulled in two directions. She knew the ring was evil, she knew she had to fight it. But still … maybe … just maybe she was the one who could use it for doing good.
“Sara… Sara …” it kept calling.
Sara stepped forward and lifted the sheet. The ring kept calling for her and was making her heart pound. She had a hard time catching her breath when she saw it. Then she reached for it.
“If you take me now, I will come right off. Put me on your finger … just put me on your finger.”
Sara touched it, caressed it with one finger. So beautiful so red and fiery.
“Sara! Don’t!”
She turned around. The voice came from behind her. It was Manolo. He looked like a mess from fighting the sea serpent.
“No!” hissed the ring.
He stepped closer.
“Sara. It has gotten to you. Don’t put it on your finger,” he
said. “This is what the ring wanted you to do. See how easy it was for you to get through all the obstacles in the castle. It kept blocking our way but letting you through. It wants you to come in here, because it wants your powers. If you, the great sorceress, put it on your finger it will be mightier than anything in the world.”
“Do not listen to him, Sara,” the ring called again. “He is just jealous of what you can become. All you need is me, Sara. You don’t need him. He wants to take me and use me to become great himself.”
Sara looked back and forth between the two not knowing what to choose. Then she remembered her mother’s words.
“Always follow your heart.”
She looked at Manolo.
“Take me…” the ring whispered.
Sara turned to the ring and put an arm over her eyes.
“Never!” she said.
The ring hissed at her and in that moment it woke up Sensisaron. Like a ghost, she rose from the bed and stared at them with her yellow eyes. She almost floated out of the bed and was now standing on the floor. The ring shone brighter than ever.
“Cover your eyes,” Sara yelled at her friends forgetting what would become of them when the old Sensisaron woke.
The change in their eyes was astonishing. Evil burst out of them. Marland, Nipples, and the two mice growled at them and looked like they were ready to attack. Sensisaron laughed and started walking closer to Sara.“If you don’t want me, Sara. I will just have to kill you,” the ring said.
Quickly Manolo took off his bag and put it on the ground.
“What are you doing?” Sara asked.
Carefully he took out the Beads of Souls. Their screaming faces looked at Sara from the inside.
“The Beads of Souls? How are they going to help us?”
In the leaping light from the sun that was about to rise outside Sara now saw many gray shapes and shadows on the walls of the chamber. Their fingers were like claws reaching out for Sara and Manolo, wanting to drag them with them back to the darkness they came from.
“The Sombras,” she said. “Whatever you are doing you better hurry.”
Manolo put the beads in a circle around Sara while he explained.
“The lost souls inside the beads are all there because they let themselves be deceived by a selfish feeling,” he said.
“The feeling of greed,” Sara said. “You told me that.”
Manolo moved carefully around her placing the beads in the circle, while the shadows on the walls came closer with a horrible shrieking sound.
“Exactly. What I didn’t tell you is that the only way they can be liberated from their prison is if someone does something for them that is equally unselfish.”
“You did not tell me that. You said they would stay in there forever.”
“Well, I lied.”
“So who is going to do something unselfish for them?”
Manolo put the last bead down and perfected the circle. Then he looked at Sara and sighed. Sensisaron stood right behind him now. Sara started shaking her head.
“No! No! No!”
“Yes, Sara … I will.” Manolo said. ”The souls will fight for you against the Sombras. Lost souls against other lost souls and then you can take the ring off Sensisaron’s finger. Remember not to look into it.”
“But …” Sara was about to cry.
“No. Remember our pact.”
With that final word Manolo turned around and looked straight into Sensisaron’s ring.
“No!” Sara screamed as a red light filled the whole room and Manolo disappeared. On the floor where he had been standing was a small worm. It was wiggling and trying to move, but Sensisaron laughed lifted her foot up high and then she squashed it.
Sara screamed again and kneeled at the floor in sorrow while she cried. But as she did all the beads suddenly popped and a howling filled the air. It was the sound of all the lost souls coming out of their prison. They circled around Sara with happy faces, cheering, laughing, and just as Manolo had said they were protecting Sara from the Sombras who were trying to stop her.
The sadness within Sara soon turned to anger and she rose from the floor while she at once grew into triple her normal size. By the power of her anger alone, Sensisaron was blown backwards against the wall. Things in the room started to fly like torpedoes hitting walls, crushing mirrors and glass, leaving the room like a war zone.
Sara started walking towards Sensisaron lying on the floor. She tried to get up but Sara put her foot on her stomach with the urge to just crush her like she had done to Manolo. Then Sensisaron lifted the ring up high. Sara covered her eyes with her arm, took out the knife and with one quick stroke she cut off the finger with the ring.
She heard a high-pitched scream coming from Sensisaron as life slowly poured out of her. Her skin dried up, turned to dust and left nothing but dried up bones on the floor. The ring that had kept her alive for more than three hundred years had finally come off.
At the sight of the corpse on the floor Sara exhaled and became her own size again. She fell to the floor, exhausted from using her powers, but she found herself recuperating much faster than she had done after escaping the hell-hounds. As she sat on the floor getting her strength back she looked at the finger with the ring.
Then she reached out and picked it up. The ring seemed dull and ordinary now that it had no light in it. She took it off the finger and held it in her hand. She turned it in the light. It didn’t seem like much, she thought. Then she put it in her pocket.
Behind her Marland, Nipples and the mice were all on the floor. Sara hardly recognized them since they had now regained their own natural shape. Marland was flapping his wings, jumping around trying to remember how to fly like the hawk he was, (and what a most magnificent one he was). Nipples the Labrador barked and wagged his tail, while Apollo and Angel most surprisingly turned out to be well … two goblins. Two small wrinkled goblins, their faces brown as a baked apple, their heads covered with bonnets made of withered leaves and their eyes glittering like stars.
As they saw Sara, they smiled.
“We owe you much thanks,” Apollo said. “We are back to our own selves again, thanks to you.”
“You are welcome,” Sara said and looked at the spot where Manolo had been.
“Well it is not that it helped anything on the old stomach,” Angel said to Apollo. “Still hanging on the heavy side, are we?”
“Hush, woman,” Sara heard Apollo say while she tried to look for the remains of Manolo. But there was nothing on the ground where he had been.
“He is gone, dear,” Angel said and took her hand.
Marland, Nipples and Apollo nodded and came closer.
“We will never forget what he did,” Marland said.
“Neither will I,” said Sara.
She got up from the floor and they all started searching for the crystal ball. Not long after, Sara found it in a golden coffin covered by a glittering purple scarf.
Sara left the chambers feeling heavy in her heart. Saying goodbye to Manolo was the hardest thing she ever had to do.
20
THE EYE OF THE CRYSTAL BALL
The victory over Sensisaron left Sara with a bitter taste in her mouth. She was happy and wildly excited that she had fulfilled the purpose of her quest and finally retrieved the crystal ball and even helped the creatures of the valley by breaking that spell that had kept them in bondage, but at the same time she felt a great sadness inside. Like some big part of her was missing. So when the creatures wanted to celebrate, Sara told them she had to leave. It was no lie. She did have to get back and she was running short on time, she could only hope that it wasn’t already too late.
It was too soon for Sara to celebrate. She still had a long way to go.
“Are you sure, you don’t want me to escort you home?” Marland the hawk said.
Sara nodded.
“I will be fine.”
“Here is a little something for the road,” Angel said and handed her
a bag full of bread and water. “We won’t need it, I have to get him on a strict diet anyway,” she laughed and nodded in Apollo’s direction.
“Thanks,” Sara said with a small smile and took the bag. Gently she put the crystal ball in it as well. She had kept it covered by the purple scarf.
Someone cleared his throat behind her and she turned to look.
A big old turtle crawled closer to her. She kneeled in front of him.
“If I could still run like the wind I would carry you all the way home,” it said.
“You already did so much, William,” Sara said. “Now it is time for me to do the rest alone.”
Sara shouldered her bag and waved her friends goodbye. Then she started walking. The valley had now turned into the most flourishing marshland Sara had ever seen. High green grass went to her waist, beautiful flowers grew everywhere and trees were filled with green leaves. The gentle wind was sighing in their branches. The heavy clouds were gone and finally the sun shone from a clear blue sky.
Sara turned once again to wave at her friends and spotted Sensisaron’s black castle in the background. It was no longer hidden in dark clouds and it was no longer black. It seemed to have been turned all white over night.
Sara heard a bird tweet over her head and lifted her face towards it. In the blue sky circled a small nightingale and was singing its enchanting song just for her.
When she had walked for about three hours she rested. She could no longer see her friends the creatures from the valley and she was now completely on her own. Sara found the bread in the bag and began to eat. When she was done she put the remains back and that was when she saw it. The crystal ball under the purple scarf. She took it up with both of her hands and sat with it in her lap for a while.
“I might as well do it now,” she said to herself. “There is no reason to wait. The sooner I know how I can save my brother the sooner I can get it to him.”
So she took in a deep breath and exhaled.
