“But would you just tell everyone what to do?” Elizabeth asked.
“What good is freedom Elizabeth? Does it feed the hungry? Does it provide shelter? Freedom allows some to prosper while others do not. I would take a measure of their freedom, but in return give them all security and equality!” The witch exclaimed.
“And what if they refuse?” Elizabeth asked.
The witch looked at her, a wicked half-grin forming on her lips.
Elizabeth was old enough to know that other kingdoms did not give their people freedom, and that without freedom people lived in slavery. Her parents had taught her the value of freedom, and the wickedness of slavery.
Elizabeth drew a breath, ready to reply, but the witch silenced her. She waved a hand in front of Elizabeth’s face, making her feel sleepy. As she drifted off, she heard the witch whisper to her, “We have company.”
Emily lowered herself into the darkness. Azalea had shown her the way into the witch's lair through a small tunnel in the woods. It had the appearance of a big badger hole, and was just as creepy. Emily would never have guessed that this might lead down into the caverns below, but the faeries knew the forest well, and Azalea had assured her this was the way.
As she worked her way farther down, the tunnel opened up a bit, to where she no longer had to shinny along and could actually crawl. But as the tunnel widened it also seemed to be filled with more and more spider webs, which Emily could have happily done without! It was dark and she couldn't see any spiders, but just the thought of them skittering around made her skin crawl. She pushed her staff and her pack ahead of her to break through, and kept going. Spiders or not she was going to rescue her sister!
The tunnel was fairly straight, allowing her to see a faint light up ahead. She also thought she heard a voice. She would need to be careful now, and quiet. She inched forward until she came to a wall of webbing. The light was coming from the other side.
With her dagger, Emily carefully cut back the webbing enough to peek through. It was a large chamber with tables and a workbench holding bottles labeled in a hand she could not read. Strange globes of a mysterious light provided a soft illumination that barely reached the cave walls. She didn't see the witch, but on the opposite wall from her, covered in webs, she saw her sister.
Elizabeth! Emily covered her mouth to keep from calling out. Elizabeth was alive, or at least she appeared to be. She looked like she was asleep. She was also stuck to the wall with icky spider webs! Emily cut through the rest of the webbing blocking the shaft, and crawled into the open cave. There was rubble on the cave floor in front of the hole she came through, as if it had only recently been opened. There was still no sign of the witch, but she crawled the rest of the way to Elizabeth to avoid being detected.
The webs holding Elizabeth were strong but cut easily. Emily set her staff down and worked to free her sister's arms and legs, leaving the webs around her sister's body to hold her up. She then put her hand over Liz's mouth and whispered to wake her up.
“Mmmph,” Elizabeth groaned through Emily's hand.
“Shhh,” Emily whispered. “I'm cutting you free, keep watch over my shoulder.”
“Miiiih!” Elizabeth groaned again, more urgently.
“Liz, be quiet!” Emily whispered again. “You're going to get us caught!”
“It's a bit late for that,” a voice said from behind Emily. The witch was there, after all.
“I tried to tell you!” Elizabeth exclaimed, after Emily moved her hand.
Emily had turned with her dagger in hand to face the witch.
With a wave of her hand, the witch sent an energy bolt, knocked away the dagger, then lifted Emily and pulled her to within inches of the witch. As the witch waved her hand, Emily noticed an intricate ring on her finger. It was silver with a purple stone that seemed to swirl with black energy.
“So there was another one,” the witch said. “My goblins were right. What is your name, child?"
“My name,” she shouted, “is Emily Daring! Release me now or you will face the wrath of my father!"
“Emily, no!” Elizabeth shouted.
“Daring?” the witch asked, casting Elizabeth a knowing glance, "as in Duke Daring? So you are his daughters. How delightful! I thought you two were nobility, perhaps even worth a nice ransom, but the Daughters Daring are worth far more than that, to me!”
“You won't be getting any ransom!” Emily exclaimed. “When our father finds out you have us, he will come to rescue us, personally!”
“And I am counting on that, my dear,” the witch said. “I've waited a long time to get my revenge on your parents. Now I have their children, and soon I will have their beloved kingdom!”
Though still suspended above the floor, Emily tried to reach back for her pack. The witch saw this and, with a wave of her hand, the pack was pulled from Emily’s shoulders and placed at the witch's feet. Emily was then flung to the wall next to Elizabeth. As the energy held her, the webs snaked around her arms and legs like vines.
“I wonder what you wanted in here?” the witch said picking up the pack. She reached in with the hand that wore the silver and purple ring, searching the contents, until she seemed to find something.
Then she screamed.
Chapter 10
Duke Daring ran through the city toward the guardhouse at the gate nearest the Enchanted Forest. Although there were other gates that could be attacked, this one was the most likely. He hoped he would reach it in time.
As he neared the gate, he saw no activity. There were two guards, both asleep, sitting just inside the gate entrance, half-eaten slices of sweetberry pie beside them. One guard appeared to have a broken nose from an earlier scuffle.
As the duke surveyed the scene, a chubby boy walked up. “They're not supposed to be sleeping like that,” he said.
“What is your name, boy?”
“Nathan Wormington, sir,” the boy answered.
“Nathan,” the Duke said, kneeling to his level, “I am Duke Daring. You know my daughters.” The boy nodded and winced. The memory of Elizabeth's arrow still smarted.
“Nathan, I need you to run to the king's court as fast as you can. Tell them the kingdom is under attack! Tell them I sent you! This is of the highest importance. Do you understand?” The boy nodded, his eyes wide.
“Go now, quickly!” The duke watched the portly boy's attempt at running and shook his head. If there were time he would chuckle, but time was something he was sure he didn't have. He quickly moved to the guardhouse and pounded on the door. Receiving no answer, he tried the knob but it was locked.
The guardhouse not only housed an extra reserve of city guards, but also protected the windlass that was used for raising or lowering the portcullis. For a single man, lowering it would be fast and simple, but he had to reach the windlass to do it.
A horn sounded from outside the gate. The duke knew the sound well. It was an ogre war horn, followed by the heavy footsteps of an approaching army. Time was definitely something he no longer had.
Taking a step back and lowering his shoulder, the Duke rammed into the door with all his might. The door stood firm and sent the duke bouncing back onto the ground. Determined, he brushed himself off and tried again. The door did not budge.
“Perhaps we can help?” The small voice seemed to come from the ground.
The duke looked down to see a pair of gnomes, dressed in battle gear, standing at his feet.
“Gnomes!” the Duke roared. “You brought the pies that poisoned the guards, and me!”
“Yes, my apologies Sir Daring,” the gnome answered, “but now we are here to help.”
“Help?” The Duke said furiously. “I should sooner trust a foul goblin!”
The Duke grabbed the little fellow by his armor straps and held him up against the wall, face-to-face.
The little man reached into his pocket. “Your daughter said to give you this.” He held out a slip of folded paper.
“
My daughter—where is she?” He dropped the gnome to read the note. “It says you’re Randolph, and that I should trust you.”
The sound of the approaching army grew louder. “There are goblins out there, Sir Daring,” Randolph said, motioning toward the gate, "and ogres. Please let us help!”
“How?” The duke asked.
“That window, above the door," Randolph answered. “Quickly, toss us through!”
“Find the windlass and lower the iron gate!” The Duke said as he hoisted the gnomes, who were rather light, despite their armor. “I will hold the entrance.”
“Sir Daring, the witch is behind this. She has your daughter,” Randolph said, then disappeared through the window.
The duke shook his head and fought back tears. How could the witch have one of his daughters, and where was the other one? Rage coursing through him; the duke unsheathed his sword. It gleamed in the sunlight as he hefted it before him. He turned toward the gate just as an ogre scout rushed the entrance shouting a battle cry.
It was an ugly creature, with long, filthy hair and bulbous warts on its chin and nose. This ogre was small for its kind, but still it stood a foot taller than the Duke. It charged him with a short axe in each hand, swinging wildly.
The duke spun, swinging his sword in an upward arc that disarmed the ogre of one of his axes, along with a chunk of his arm. The two clashed again; axe clanging into sword with an impact that shook the Duke’s arm. The ogre kicked at the duke, only to feel the sting of the duke's sword upon his leg. The duke returned the kick to the stumbling ogre, sending him sprawling back through the city gate.
The ogre army was approaching the gate now, with the first rank only yards away. The duke looked with alarm at the portcullis, still overhead. He positioned himself in the middle of the entrance and brandished his sword. This was where he would make his stand.
Seeing the city gate guarded by only one man, the ogres roared and advanced. It appeared this would be their moment of victory. They would take The Shining City and put their own king upon the throne. Two steps into their march, their front ranks were pelted with rocks! A stream of igneous orbs rained down onto them from above, hitting them in the legs, bodies, and heads.
The Duke looked for the source of the rocks and saw, on top of the city walls, two gnome contraptions, one on each side of the gate. The gnomes worked them, aiming and pedaling as pulleys and wheels whipped out a shower of punishing rocks onto the ogres below.
The ogres wore heavy armor, but some of the rocks were larger than goose eggs and hurled with amazing speed. In the seconds that they stopped to shield themselves, the duke pulled the wooden doors shut and braced them with a large wooden beam. He had hoped for the iron portcullis to come down, but it remained high above the entrance.
“Sir Daring!” a voice called out from behind him.
The duke turned to see a captain of the King's Guard approaching with barely a dozen troops. He had hoped there would be more.
“Are these all the men you can spare?” the duke asked.
“The rest are defending the other gates,” the captain responded, “or asleep. The pies showed up just in time for a huge lunch banquet. Nearly all of our knights fell prey.”
“And the king?”
“He did not eat the pie, thank the heavens. The cooks found a warning in his.”
Elizabeth, the duke thought, wherever you are, when the city is safe, I will find you.
“Captain!” the duke commanded, “get your best archers on the city walls and help those gnomes! Have the rest secure the gate, we must hold them back here or the city is lost!”
The captain had no sooner given his orders than they heard the firing of the ogres’s catapults.
Elizabeth Daring watched in awe and horror as the witch crumpled to the cave floor, shrieking with pain. Dark, purple energy flowed out of her and into Emily's backpack on the ground. As the energy flowed out of her, it appeared as if the witch was growing larger.
She looked over at Emily, who was still stunned from the witch's magic and held fast by the webs. Her own binding had mostly been cut through, however, and she went to work on what was left with an arrowhead she kept tucked in one of her pockets.
“Emily,” she whispered. “Emily! Wake up!”
Emily stirred. “I'm awake. What's happening?”
“She reached into your bag, and now this,” Elizabeth said, “What did you do?”
As they watched the witch started to change form. Her body grew while her face crumpled in and sprouted black hairs. Her human arms and legs shrank into her body as eight new, spiny legs sprouted out of her sides. As the dark energy flowed from the witch into the bag, she was changing into a giant spider!
Elizabeth finished cutting herself free and started on Emily. It wouldn't be long before the witch finished her transformation and Elizabeth worried that dealing with the spider-witch would be much worse.
“Elizabeth,” Emily said, “the faeries told me the witch’s ring was the source of her power! Periwinkle must have snatched it from her!”
“But why is she changing into a giant spider!?”
“I don’t know, where’s Periwinkle now?”
The girls looked at the bag together, which was now actively moving and the spider-witch’s eight spiny legs were coming dangerously close to trampling it! Suddenly, the bag opened and a familiar little face appeared.
“Periwinkle!” Emily shouted. “Get out of there!”
The little gnome climbed out of the pack, sad to be leaving Emily’s snacks behind, but now holding the magic ring which looked huge in his small hands. The spider-witch was too close for comfort and he made a dash for the hole in the wall that Emily had entered through earlier.
The spider-witch had finished changing. She was completely spider now, with big black eyes and enormous fangs. She saw the gnome running away with her ring, and started chasing him.
“Run, Periwinkle,” Emily screamed. “Run!”
Periwinkle ran for the opening but the spider-witch was faster. She slammed a spiny black leg down in front of him, cutting him off from his escape. He turned to run the other way but she blocked him there, as well. He was trapped beneath her. She looked down at him, her fangs protruding, ready to attack. She would have her ring back, and the gnome would be a tasty snack.
Whoosh! An arrow shot through the air, hitting the spider witch in one of her many eyeballs!
“Get away from him, you witch!” Elizabeth shouted defiantly, her bow already nocked with the next arrow.
The spider witch shrieked with pain and anger. Without the ring, her magic shield was gone, leaving her vulnerable to the young archer’s arrows. She spun around, her body crashing into the cave wall, causing it to collapse over the exit hole. Emily and Elizabeth both fired upon her and she retreated into the darkness.
“She won't be gone long,” Emily said. “We've got to get out of here!”
Elizabeth pointed across the room. “The other entrance, where she brought me in; it leads down into the main cave, but it's our only chance!”
“Are you all right?” Emily asked Periwinkle, grabbing up her backpack as he climbed back inside.
“Well, since you asked,” he started, "I very much do not appreciate being jostled and thrown about, and I certainly do not like being almost eaten by a giant spider! Furthermore...”
The little gnome kept talking but Emily closed the backpack and threw it over her shoulder. She could hear him complaining still, although muffled now.
“Ready?” Elizabeth asked.
“Let's go!” Emily answered.
The sisters proceeded warily. Their safety was not yet guaranteed. Finding the opening in the cave floor leading down into the main chamber was not difficult. However, most of the goblins were still in it. Though their work was done, they were aimlessly waiting for new orders.
The sisters heard a crash back in the witch’s lair. Something large had been knocked over, followed by glass
shattering on stone. The spider-witch shrieked, and the sound of her awkward movements grew louder.
Elizabeth looked at strand of webbing leading down into the chamber. She had climbed ropes before, but this was from a much greater height. She felt her heart pounding, and her hands starting to sweat, as she looked down below.
“We're trapped!” Elizabeth said. “I can’t go down that way!”
“Yes you can Liz!” Emily answered. “We’re the Daughters Daring, we can do this!”
Grabbing the long thick strand of web that trailed down into the lower cave, Emily wrapped her arms and legs around it and slid down. Seeing her sister’s courage, Elizabeth grabbed the web and slid down after her. Neither could resist screaming on the way down.
The sight of two human girls sliding down from the witch's lair was strange to the goblins. They had been told to guard the entrances, but not the witch's lair. Still, goblins were not trusting of humans and they picked up sticks and rocks to meet these new foes. By the time both girls had landed, they were surrounded.
The goblins paused momentarily regarding the two. Emily and Elizabeth stood poised, weapons ready, but the silence was broken by the echoing shriek of the spider-witch above them.
“Goblins!” Elizabeth shouted, “The witch has been attacked by a giant spider, and now it is coming for you!”
At that moment, the spider-witch emerged and started climbing down the web. The goblins went into a panic at the sight of the creature descending through the ceiling. They had never seen such a gigantic spider. They ran in terror, falling over each other in their effort to flee.
Emily and Elizabeth took advantage of the confusion and made their way to the upper tunnel leading out. Behind them, several of the braver goblins had taken up arms against their giant foe. One of them even managed to climb up on the spider witch's back, and was hanging on for his life as the furious spider witch bucked and jumped and tried to shake him off. It was such a sight that the other goblins stopped running around to watch and cheer for their heroic fellow goblin. It was a giant spider rodeo. The furious spider-witch kicked at them, at first, then began wrapping them in sticky web.
The Daughters Daring (The Daughters Daring & The Enchanted Forest Book 1) Page 6
