The dust hid us from the guards well enough, but it also hid any landmarks. When it settled we were still far too near where the palace had been. Vathek hustled everyone into the smaller and far more humble buildings still standing until we could see if it was safe.
Judging by the blue-silver swirling that was taking place in the pit that had replaced the palace, I had my doubts. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Only if you think that it's a portal," he told me. "I've never seen one so large."
"That's... bad. I think."
He nodded slowly. "Phobos can't be allowed to use this... but a lot of my people will want to escape him through it."
I rubbed my head. "That's going to be kind of hard to hide. How many people are we talking about?" Medieval cities weren't usually larger than a few thousand people if the books I'd read were to be believed (I hoped so or my paper might bomb) and Metamoor seemed similar in a lot of ways.
Vathek shrugged. "No one has any idea how many live in Meridian and I couldn't guess how many would take the risk. Thousands upon thousands, I expect. The last mission Cedric gave me before I joined the rebels was to lead a smaller invasion. He said that Phobos believed that doing so could tear down the Veil for good."
Oh great. I could just imagine thousands of Metamoorian refugees spilling onto the streets of Heatherfield. "Then I can't let that happen."
"What gives you the right to say that!" demanded the loudmouthed lizard from earlier. "You don't know anything about our lives! Earth is rich and peaceful! We would be safe there!"
I shook my head. "You wouldn't be safe from Phobos on Earth. Have any of you ever heard of Elias Van Dahl?"
There was a confused grumbling but one of them nodded his head. "I know of him, one of the court painters that vanished after Phobos took over and started having his statues and portraits destroyed."
"He fled to Earth," I told them. "But Phobos sent Cedric after him and imprisoned him for hundreds of years. If you go through that portal then he'll send a whole army after you. And without the Veil there will be nowhere safe."
"Then what can we do!?"
"Do you mean about the portal? Or about Phobos?"
"The portal!" "Either!" "Prince Phobos!" "Both!" The rebels around the room crowded towards me, calling out answers that were really questions.
Vathek raised his hands for silence. "Wait, let her speak."
Well thanks, I thought disgustedly. Why did they think I had answers? I was just a girl who knew almost nothing and had no powers. I wasn't even from a magical world like they were.
Except that to them Earth was a magical world, I realised. One where there was peace and plenty for all. (Even I knew better than that.) A world that magical beings, like the Guardians, came from. If I was from there, why wouldn't they assume me to have some power?
"The portal has to be closed," I told them. "Let Phobos reach other worlds and there will be no hope for this one. That's the purpose of the Veil and why the Guardians must seal the portals through it."
"But why must we suffer under Phobos!?" called out one of the rebels.
I looked him in the eyes. "Isn't that why you are rebelling against him? To bring him down so that the Veil is no longer required. If all the Guardians were doing was containing him then why would Cornelia and I have come here? Portals can be sealed from Earth, but to stop Phobos for good we came here to gather information and to seek out allies: people like you!"
I was stretching the truth. Neither Cornelia nor I had such lofty goals when we came here. But in a way it was true. We both wanted to find out what was going on with Elyon. We knew Phobos had claimed she was his sister - had he taken her into his confidence? Or was this part of some grander scheme. Either way, by learning about her- talking to her - we would learn about his goals and perhaps be able to stop them.
"What can we do?" asked one of the smaller lizards.
"Trust in Caleb," Vathek told them. "Phobos is an usurper but there is a true heir, the Light of Meridian. If we can show her the truth then she can free us all from his terror. But we can't stand up to him if we're running away all the time."
The loudmouth shook his head. "You mean the princess. She's been missing forever."
"Phobos believes he has found her." All eyes turned to me. "Her name is Elyon. I don't know if she is the true heir, but she does have great power. If she is who he claims and if she can be freed from his influence then there will be hope."
Then, just as everything seemed to be getting back under control, another of the rebels scurried into the room. "Caleb's across the other side of the portal," he reported breathlessly. "The Guardian of the Veil from earlier is with him and another Earth girl, a smaller one."
Vathek blinked. "Another Guardian?"
"Let's take a look," I suggested.
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
It wasn't one of the other Guardians.
It was Elyon.
The girl was barely visible, surrounded by scores of excited Metamoorians, all of who seemed to want to talk to her, touch her cloak... or at least be able to say they'd seen her. I was pretty sure I was okay to walk, but Vathek had insisted on carrying me and I'd have not been able to make Elyon out at all if it wasn't for the added altitude.
"You won't leave us, will you?" one old - I presumed, from the balding head - man asked her.
"I promise!" she assured him, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "But don't beg, please."
"Huh," I muttered to Vathek. "Maybe she really is a princess."
Elyon looked up and saw us looming over the crowd. Her face seemed to pale slightly at the sight.
"I don't think she likes me," I noted.
Vathek shook his head sadly. "It's probably me. The last time we met was when I deserted Cedric." He lifted me down from his shoulders. "I saw your friend Cornelia near her, will you be alright with her while I talk to Caleb?"
"I should be."
But when I worked my way through the crowd the first blonde I came across wasn't Cornelia. "Oops, sorry," I said, realising I'd burst into the little circle around Elyon. But when I tried to back up, the press of people was too much for me to be able to move away.
Elyon waved at me awkwardly and I returned the gesture.
There was a tugging at my leg and and I found a little kid - perhaps half my already unimpressive height - was responsible. Kind of cute if you don't mind scales and since at least half the people I'd ever met had them, I was just going to have to not mind wasn't I? "Are you a princess too?" the kid asked me seriously.
I giggled slightly at the idea. As far as I could tell from my scanty education, the main thing Princesses did was to get married to someone their father picked out. All things considered, I would be glad to avoid that. "Not me!"
"But you look like her!"
"We really don't." I scooped him up and held him out to Elyon. "Here, take a closer look."
Elyon, not expecting a sudden miniature lizardfolk to be thrust into her personal space froze in place and I amused myself for a second by imagining her eyes going as wide as saucers. Then she spoiled my fun by taking the kid's hand and shaking it solemnly. He squirmed and I let him down. The minute his feet touched the ground he scampered away, shouting about how he'd "touched the princess' hand!"
This, of course, left me awkwardly faced with the princess for myself. "So you're really a princess?"
"Uh-huh," she admitted, looking a bit lost. "Er, you and your sister... are getting on okay?"
"...mostly," I lied.
Elyon turned her face away. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what? I haven't seen you since that thing with the painting."
"..."
I crossed my arms. "Fine, keep your secret. Just tell me this: were you joking about casting that spell?"
The other girl looked shocked. "Oh, no! I promise, you'll be fine. I don't know exactly how long it'll take though, so don't experiment and have the Keeper try to take back her magic or anything like that."
"I may have been born last month, but I'm not that dumb." I'd been waiting a while to use that line.
Elyon flushed. "Sorry."
"Anyway, that spell's probably the second nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I'll forgive you practically anything for the sake of that." I gave her a hug (partly because she looked like she needed one and partly because if I didn't play nice with the princess I wasn't sure the rebels wouldn't do something nasty) and she returned it. "So did you get to talk to Cornelia?"
"She did," Cornelia confirmed, pushing her own way through the crowd. Well I say pushing, it was more that the crowd instinctively made way for her.
"And...?"
"We're still friends."
Elyon brightened as if this solved everything. Well maybe it did for them but there were a few other issues that might need to be dealt with. You know, Cedric. Phobos. All of Metamoor. Little things like that. "Good. So... what now?"
"Give us the rebels!" roared an angry voice.
The three of us, having been focused on our conversation, all practically jumped out of our skins.
The speaker was at the head of a group that were alike in only three respects that I could see: they were armed, wearing blue uniforms and had orangy scales. "Those who side with them will suffer the consequences!"
"Can't anyone around here speak without exclaimation marks?" I whined. It had been a long day, I think I was entitled.
Caleb stepped forwards, producing a sword from somewhere inside his coat. "Bow down to your Queen!" he shouted, pointing back at Elyon.
Evidently no one could.
"Get them!" the leader shouted and his men - soldiers I guessed - ran forwards. Some of the rebels, apparently no longer afraid now that they had a princess on their side, also produced weapons and ran forwards to block them from our little group. With others - less bold rebels or simple bystanders who had been drawn to the commotion - trying to get away, the streets around the portal almost instantly reduced themselves to chaos.
"Go and find shelter," Caleb called as he took the lead.
Cornelia had her own idea and the ground began to shake as she called upon her magic. "You can't do this alone!" Suddenly I had an idea of what might have called the palace to collapse, although how that had led to a portal opening was beyond me.
Two rebels jostled me and I was swept away from my companions. No one intended to collide with me, but with the soldiers pushing into the crowd and my being below the eye line of most of the participants of what I could only call a battle, it was almost unavoidable. I did my best to find my way back to Vathek - or at least to Elyon - but when I reached the portal, one of the few places that everyone else was trying to give at least a little space, I couldn't see either of them.
I did hear something interesting though.
"I'm not gonna like, this time the Heart of Kandrakar's made the trip awfully uncomfortable."
That sounded like Irma and for once I was glad to hear her voice.
"Look on the bright side, at least we've arrived now."
And Taranee! A bolt of silvery magic streaked through the air and from the gasp of surprise they couldn't be that far away. I ran to the edge of the pit and dropped to my hands and knees, looking down at them. Sure enough four Guardians were scrambling up out of the portal. "Girls, this way!"
Hay Lin flew up into the air over the portal and then came down to hug me, with the others not so far behind - only limited by not being airborne like her. "You're okay!"
I'd barely got loose of her when Will dragged me into an even more crushing hug. "What did you think you were doing, coming here?" she demanded. "You could have been killed!"
"I was thinking that someone needed to watch Cornelia's back, since none of you would."
Will released me and looked around. "And where is she?"
I hung my head. "We got separated."
'Great job then.' Will didn't actually say the sarcastic words but we both knew that she was thinking them.
"I see her!" Hay Lin called, having taken to the air once more. She directed powerful gust of wind down into the mob, aiming at someone I couldn't see. I missed sitting on Vathek - it gave a much needed perspective.
Will looked in that direction. "Then let's reunite the Guardians. We'll keep you safe, sis'." She extended the Heart of Kandrakar and called out "Earth!" A streamer of green energy swept out from her and Cornelia burst out of the crowd, her magic almost visible as she commanded the ground to dash away the soldiers menacing her and the rebels around her.
Irma grinned at Taranee. "Let's work together!"
The two Guardians clasped hands and then unleashed their power together on one group of soldiers. "An attack today; blows the enemy away!" called out the Water Guardian as the resultant blast of steam hurled the soldiers from their feet and blanketed the area with fog.
Scattered and unable to co-ordinate their efforts, the guards disappeared amid into the far more numerous crowd of the rebels.
"That attack was almost as fierce as your rhyme!" Hay Lin declared as she swooped past. "Wow! I see Elyon!"
"What!" Most of the Guardians whirled, readying themselves to defend against an attack. Instead they - like myself - saw Elyon scrambling beneath the blades of a rebel and a soldier in order to pull the young lizardfolk from earlier out of danger.
"Is that the same girl that locked me away in tower for weeks?" exclaimed Taranee.
"What are you just standing there for?" I demanded and ran forwards in Elyon's direction, ignoring Will's shout to come back.
There were feet chasing after me but I had been moving at an angle to come in from behind the soldier and he hadn't spotted me. The rebel had and he struck fiercely as I ducked down behind the soldier's knees. The blue-uniformed swordsman tried to step back and instead tumbled over me, dropping his sword.
Without the press of combat, the rebel fighter realised who he had been about to stand on and stopped fighting to help Elyon and her charge up.
"Why you!" shouted the soldier, scrabbling for his sword.
"I wouldn't suggest you do that," Taranee told him, putting one foot onto his chest and pushing him down.
The soldier didn't hesitate to close his hand around the hilt but he released it a moment later with a cry of pain. As I stood up I realised that the metal parts of the weapon were almost glowing with heat.
"Don't you know better than to try to hold a hot iron?" the Fire Guardian chided. "Now you can't hold a weapon in that hand until it heals. Maybe you should give up on fighting for Phobos!"
With a scream the soldier turned and fled.
"Thank you," Elyon exclaimed and then she paled as she saw which of the Guardians had assisted us. "Ah, Taranee..."
"I don't have a thing to say to you," the dreadlocked girl told her coldly.
The little blonde gave me an appealing look and I shrugged. "All you did to me was give me a scare and trap me somewhere for a little while. Taranee..."
The princess seemed to cringe in on herself. "I understand."
It seemed even the fiery Taranee wasn't immune to that pathetic look though - or perhaps it was the hateful glare she got from the little kid or the questioning look from the rebel fighter. "Maybe later," she allowed reluctantly. "Right now we have other things to do."
"You're not wrong there."
Honestly though, soldiers around us were already for the most part on the run. They'd looked fearsome enough as a group but once they were scattered the greater numbers of the rebels had swarmed over them one at a time. The ones that hadn't... well, I saw that at least two of them were lying on the cobbled streets and showed no sign of moving. There were rebels down as well although most at least seemed only injured.
"I think the fight's over," Taranee told me.
I pointed at the fallen soldiers. "Is the killing over?"
She shook her head. "You really are like Will, sometimes."
"Let me help," Elyon offered. She pressed her hands together and then gestured upwards. With a sigh a tall platform - a podium, Taranee later called it - shimmered into existence in front of us, complete with stairs up to the top so that we would be able to get up and look over the packed streets.
I scrambled up the steps, Elyon and Taranee following me. From above I could see further and the same story was being played out: the few soldiers remaining were the stubborn ones who'd managed to get themselves up against a wall or some other barrier that prevented them from being overwhelmed from behind. Even they were now being hard pressed - pelted with cobblestones and by gusts of air and waves of water from Irma and Hay Lin. As I watched, Cornelia yanked down part of a wall, half-burying a soldier beneath the rubble.
"Enough!" called out Elyon from beside me.
Heads turned below, people looking up at us.
"The battle is won!" I shouted. "Let the soldiers go, to spread the word."
They hesitated but Elyon pushed aside her dull cloak, revealing the pale dress she wore beneath it. "Do as my friend says!" she ordered. "There has been enough bloodshed."
That swayed them and cheers burst out from the crowd as they backed up and opened space for the remaining soldiers to retreat. A few of the blue-clad Metamoorians stopped to help up fallen soldiers and carry them away but most simply fled for their lives.
A cheer went up from the rebels. "We defeated them!" called one.
He was joined by other glad calls: "Our first victory!" "The first of many!" "The princess gave us strength!"
"H-hold on!" Elyon stammered as everyone turned to look at her after that statement. She scrambled down from platform but before she could reach the ground, hands lifted her up and she was raised up above the crowd by her new followers and supporters. "I'm not sure if..."
"Enjoy the moment," I advised her before I turned to use the stairs myself. Then I felt Taranee's hands against my back for a moment. "What -?"
"You too," she said with a chuckle and pushed me firmly off the podium.
I almost screamed but strong hands caught me and placed me onto a familiar shoulder. "Vathek!?"
The towering warrior gave me a sheepish look. "Maybe you should take your own advice."
"What do you mean?"
"'Enjoy the moment'," he repeated my words from a moment ago. "Three cheers for Elyon, the Light of Meridian!"
Cheers rang out and I saw Elyon blushing furiously at the naked adoration she was receiving. "Please, don't cheer me," she begged. "I've done nothing to deserve it. Cheer for yourselves, or for Caleb and my friends."
That didn't noticeably dissuade them, although it did add Caleb's name and 'The Guardians' to the names being shouted admiringly.
"They're forgetting someone," rumbled Vathek.
I twisted around to look down at him. "Who?"
"You, silly," Cornelia told me. I hadn't seen her approaching us.
"It's kind of hard for them to cheer for someone with no name," I pointed out cheerfully. Given how Elyon was squirming in embarassment at being the centre of attention, I was quite happy to avoid the same fate.
Cornelia simply smiled knowingly. "Oh well we can't have that. It just so happens that I have the perfect name for you."
"What! But you can't pick my name!"
"Do you think any of us chose our names?" she asked me. "Our families gave us our names, and you've had plenty of time to think of one for yourself."
"Yes, but..."
Taranee looked down at Cornelia and I pouted as I realised that the Fire Guardian was using her telepathy to speak to the blonde. "You're right, Cornelia. That is the perfect name for her."
"What are you three talking about?" asked Will as the other Guardians converged on our position.
Cornelia pointed up at me. "Will, I'd like to introduce you to your sister."
"We have met, Cornelia."
"But you've never been introduced," she said with a smile. "Will, meet your sister: Hope Vandom."
I stared dumbfounded down at them. "Hope?"
"It's a good name," Vathek rumbled. "You do seem to bring it with you."
Will nodded decisively. "You're right." She gestured for him to put me down.
"I think I prefer it here," I said warily.
"Whoa, you don't think she means her and Vathek..." Irma murmured to Hay Lin, perhaps louder than she intended.
The smallest of the Guardians shook her head, setting her long pony-tails flicking back and forth. "I think she, Hope, might want to stay here."
Will looked down at the floor. "Please?"
Vathek must have sensed my doubts for he reached up and patted my legs with one of huge hands. "Family can be difficult, but they're usually worth it," he advised and dropped to one knee so that I was closer to the ground.
I slid down - my feet were still some way from the ground and Will stepped forward and caught me around the waist, helping me the rest of the way down. She didn't let go of me, instead pulling me close. "Hello Hope. I'm Will. I hope we can be friends as well as sisters."
"...I'm kind of still learning about friends," I admitted. "And sisters."
Will nodded sympathetically. "Me too. Maybe we can learn together?"
Naturally the fact we were having a moment to ourselves did nothing to stop the rest of the world - this world - from moving on. And it wasn't something insensitive from Irma either. It was someone even more annoying: Cedric.
"Where are you, Your Majesty?" he called out.
I have to give him credit. He was standing there in front of a victorious rebel army - a small one perhaps, but still vastly outnumbering the tiny number of escorts who were with him. It was clear he was not there for violence though. There was no evidence of his giant snakeman persona visible for he was as human in form as he had been in the bookstore and he wore a long turquoise robe not so very different in style from the dress worn by Elyon, along with a long and heavily decorated ceremonial vest and epaulets.
"What is he doing?"
"If he fights here, he loses," Taranee realised. "Elyon would never forgive him for persecuting these people."
Faced not with violence but with courtesy, the rebels lowered Elyon to the ground like chastened children.
Cedric dropped deferentially to one knee. "We've been looking for you for hours," he declared - implicitly dismissing the battle which had just been fought as unworthy of mention. "Your brother is waiting for you at the palace."
Cornelia pushed her way through the crowd to stand by Elyon, the rest of us not far behind.
"Your coronation is near, Elyon," he continued, ignoring us. "And the prince wants to celebrate the occasion properly."
Elyon straightened with sudden confidence. "Yes, I see. Let's go."
We all blinked at the sudden reversal. I'm sure at least half of us braced ourselves to suddenly face her hostility. Vathek had counselled Cornelia and I of how deeply Cedric's influence ran with Elyon.
"Are you serious!?" Cornelia exclaimed out loud.
When Elyon turned to us, however, she was smiling. She took her friend's hands. "Your destiny is on Earth and to guard the veil. Mine is here, to care for my people."
It was entirely clear from Cornelia's sidelong look at Cedric where her concerns lay. "You don't know what you're about to face," she warned.
Elyon simply stepped forwards and threw her arms around the blonde. "Everything will be alright, Cornelia. I will never forget our friendship." They clung to each other for a moment before stepping back.
"Good luck," I mouthed to Elyon, past Cornelia's shoulder. "And be careful."
That earned me a nod of acknowledgement from her before she walked, tall and proud towards Cedric. The man and his elite soldiers fell in behind her, whether by plan or simply wrong-footed I couldn't tell.
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
Cornelia was talking to Caleb, with an eager and almost discreet audience in the form of Irma, Hay Lin and Taranee.
Will and I had other things to talk about.
"Are you coming home with us?" she asked awkwardly. "I'm sure Vathek would look after you if you stayed."
I had to admit it was tempting in some ways. Although, having made use of a Metamoorian toilet, not in others. There would be freedom here. Danger, yes. But it wasn't as if my life in Heatherfield was all that safe. "I'd miss you. And Mom."
"She'd miss you too. You're pretty much the daughter she wants, you know."
"What!?"
Will folded her arms. "You're brighter than I am. I could never have written a report like you did. You do all your chores, you're tidy..."
"I'm easily bored." I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets. "And you're the one that she loves."
My sister shook her head. "That's just because she hasn't got to know you."
"Will she ever?"
"I hope so," she told me. "When this is over. Maybe Miss Rudolph can help us get papers for you."
I wrapped my arms around myself. "She'll probably be furious with me. With us, I suppose."
"I know." Will hung her head. "But please, come back with us, give her a chance. Give me a chance. I shouldn't have gone off swimming like that, when you were at school. I was just so mad at Mom about the swimming team and Elyon tricked me."
"Elyon? What did she have to do with it?" I asked in surprise. "I thought Vera was the one who invited you out."
"There wasn't really a Vera at all - it was all Elyon in disguise. She was encouraging me just to get me away from everyone else. She even broke my phone so I didn't know you were trying to get to me. If Irma hadn't turned up at the pool, she'd have drowned me!"
I covered my mouth in shock. Drowning, the way I almost had when I came here. Had Elyon really tried to do that? "That's what she meant! She apologised earlier for something but didn't say what for."
"Well it'd have been nice if she'd apologised to me! Or to Taranee!"
"Did she get the chance?" I rubbed at my face. "Oh I don't know. She's done all this but whenever I've been around she's been mostly... well, she knocked me out and imprisoned me, but she's never seemed to actually want to hurt anyone."
Will sighed. "I suppose she might have wanted to capture me, not kill me. She'd conjured up a huge water snake. I couldn't even get loose to transform."
"I was afraid that something like that had happened - that Cedric had you locked up somewhere or... or..."
Will hugged me again. "I wish I could promise you that it was all going to be okay, but we know so little about this..."
"Well we know more now."
There was a squeal from Hay Lin that forced us to pay attention to something beyond the two of us.
"And here I was thinking Cornelia was cold and rational," Taranee gasped.
"But she's the exact opposite!" Hay Lin declared, pressing her clasped hands against one cheek as she watched Caleb give Cornelia a silvery flower. "Ah, looooove!"
"Well... he is a pretty cool guy."
"Oh?" Irma asked eagerly. "Spill the gossip! Does Cornelia have a rival?"
"Get real," I told her. "You think I'd try getting between these two? Cornelia would take my arm off and Caleb probably wouldn't even notice me. Mind you, if they weren't attached..." I paused and then nudged Will with one elbow. "...no, never mind, that'd mean leaving Matt to you. Couldn't do that to the poor boy."
She hung her head. "I think he's got a girlfriend already."
"What!?" explained Irma. "No way. I've not heard anything about that."
"She's older. Way older, with like a car and stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "All she did was ask you to give him a note for her."
"You didn't see the note!" she insisted. "They've probably been engaged for years or something like that!"
I wasn't in the mood for more drama so I changed the subject. "Here comes Cornelia."
There was something very melancholy about the way that Caleb stood alone and watched her walk away from him and towards us. I'd seen boys at school watch Cornelia walk away before, and that was when she appeared much younger and was certainly much more conservatively dressed. This was different though. It was almost painful to watch.
"Ehm... we can go now," Cornelia said hesitantly as she reached us, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"But surely we should get some more information," Taranee disagreed.
"I think you should tell us more about your friend there," added Will with a teasing note in her voice.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Judging by the blue-silver swirling that was taking place in the pit that had replaced the palace, I had my doubts. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Only if you think that it's a portal," he told me. "I've never seen one so large."
"That's... bad. I think."
He nodded slowly. "Phobos can't be allowed to use this... but a lot of my people will want to escape him through it."
I rubbed my head. "That's going to be kind of hard to hide. How many people are we talking about?" Medieval cities weren't usually larger than a few thousand people if the books I'd read were to be believed (I hoped so or my paper might bomb) and Metamoor seemed similar in a lot of ways.
Vathek shrugged. "No one has any idea how many live in Meridian and I couldn't guess how many would take the risk. Thousands upon thousands, I expect. The last mission Cedric gave me before I joined the rebels was to lead a smaller invasion. He said that Phobos believed that doing so could tear down the Veil for good."
Oh great. I could just imagine thousands of Metamoorian refugees spilling onto the streets of Heatherfield. "Then I can't let that happen."
"What gives you the right to say that!" demanded the loudmouthed lizard from earlier. "You don't know anything about our lives! Earth is rich and peaceful! We would be safe there!"
I shook my head. "You wouldn't be safe from Phobos on Earth. Have any of you ever heard of Elias Van Dahl?"
There was a confused grumbling but one of them nodded his head. "I know of him, one of the court painters that vanished after Phobos took over and started having his statues and portraits destroyed."
"He fled to Earth," I told them. "But Phobos sent Cedric after him and imprisoned him for hundreds of years. If you go through that portal then he'll send a whole army after you. And without the Veil there will be nowhere safe."
"Then what can we do!?"
"Do you mean about the portal? Or about Phobos?"
"The portal!" "Either!" "Prince Phobos!" "Both!" The rebels around the room crowded towards me, calling out answers that were really questions.
Vathek raised his hands for silence. "Wait, let her speak."
Well thanks, I thought disgustedly. Why did they think I had answers? I was just a girl who knew almost nothing and had no powers. I wasn't even from a magical world like they were.
Except that to them Earth was a magical world, I realised. One where there was peace and plenty for all. (Even I knew better than that.) A world that magical beings, like the Guardians, came from. If I was from there, why wouldn't they assume me to have some power?
"The portal has to be closed," I told them. "Let Phobos reach other worlds and there will be no hope for this one. That's the purpose of the Veil and why the Guardians must seal the portals through it."
"But why must we suffer under Phobos!?" called out one of the rebels.
I looked him in the eyes. "Isn't that why you are rebelling against him? To bring him down so that the Veil is no longer required. If all the Guardians were doing was containing him then why would Cornelia and I have come here? Portals can be sealed from Earth, but to stop Phobos for good we came here to gather information and to seek out allies: people like you!"
I was stretching the truth. Neither Cornelia nor I had such lofty goals when we came here. But in a way it was true. We both wanted to find out what was going on with Elyon. We knew Phobos had claimed she was his sister - had he taken her into his confidence? Or was this part of some grander scheme. Either way, by learning about her- talking to her - we would learn about his goals and perhaps be able to stop them.
"What can we do?" asked one of the smaller lizards.
"Trust in Caleb," Vathek told them. "Phobos is an usurper but there is a true heir, the Light of Meridian. If we can show her the truth then she can free us all from his terror. But we can't stand up to him if we're running away all the time."
The loudmouth shook his head. "You mean the princess. She's been missing forever."
"Phobos believes he has found her." All eyes turned to me. "Her name is Elyon. I don't know if she is the true heir, but she does have great power. If she is who he claims and if she can be freed from his influence then there will be hope."
Then, just as everything seemed to be getting back under control, another of the rebels scurried into the room. "Caleb's across the other side of the portal," he reported breathlessly. "The Guardian of the Veil from earlier is with him and another Earth girl, a smaller one."
Vathek blinked. "Another Guardian?"
"Let's take a look," I suggested.
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
It wasn't one of the other Guardians.
It was Elyon.
The girl was barely visible, surrounded by scores of excited Metamoorians, all of who seemed to want to talk to her, touch her cloak... or at least be able to say they'd seen her. I was pretty sure I was okay to walk, but Vathek had insisted on carrying me and I'd have not been able to make Elyon out at all if it wasn't for the added altitude.
"You won't leave us, will you?" one old - I presumed, from the balding head - man asked her.
"I promise!" she assured him, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "But don't beg, please."
"Huh," I muttered to Vathek. "Maybe she really is a princess."
Elyon looked up and saw us looming over the crowd. Her face seemed to pale slightly at the sight.
"I don't think she likes me," I noted.
Vathek shook his head sadly. "It's probably me. The last time we met was when I deserted Cedric." He lifted me down from his shoulders. "I saw your friend Cornelia near her, will you be alright with her while I talk to Caleb?"
"I should be."
But when I worked my way through the crowd the first blonde I came across wasn't Cornelia. "Oops, sorry," I said, realising I'd burst into the little circle around Elyon. But when I tried to back up, the press of people was too much for me to be able to move away.
Elyon waved at me awkwardly and I returned the gesture.
There was a tugging at my leg and and I found a little kid - perhaps half my already unimpressive height - was responsible. Kind of cute if you don't mind scales and since at least half the people I'd ever met had them, I was just going to have to not mind wasn't I? "Are you a princess too?" the kid asked me seriously.
I giggled slightly at the idea. As far as I could tell from my scanty education, the main thing Princesses did was to get married to someone their father picked out. All things considered, I would be glad to avoid that. "Not me!"
"But you look like her!"
"We really don't." I scooped him up and held him out to Elyon. "Here, take a closer look."
Elyon, not expecting a sudden miniature lizardfolk to be thrust into her personal space froze in place and I amused myself for a second by imagining her eyes going as wide as saucers. Then she spoiled my fun by taking the kid's hand and shaking it solemnly. He squirmed and I let him down. The minute his feet touched the ground he scampered away, shouting about how he'd "touched the princess' hand!"
This, of course, left me awkwardly faced with the princess for myself. "So you're really a princess?"
"Uh-huh," she admitted, looking a bit lost. "Er, you and your sister... are getting on okay?"
"...mostly," I lied.
Elyon turned her face away. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what? I haven't seen you since that thing with the painting."
"..."
I crossed my arms. "Fine, keep your secret. Just tell me this: were you joking about casting that spell?"
The other girl looked shocked. "Oh, no! I promise, you'll be fine. I don't know exactly how long it'll take though, so don't experiment and have the Keeper try to take back her magic or anything like that."
"I may have been born last month, but I'm not that dumb." I'd been waiting a while to use that line.
Elyon flushed. "Sorry."
"Anyway, that spell's probably the second nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I'll forgive you practically anything for the sake of that." I gave her a hug (partly because she looked like she needed one and partly because if I didn't play nice with the princess I wasn't sure the rebels wouldn't do something nasty) and she returned it. "So did you get to talk to Cornelia?"
"She did," Cornelia confirmed, pushing her own way through the crowd. Well I say pushing, it was more that the crowd instinctively made way for her.
"And...?"
"We're still friends."
Elyon brightened as if this solved everything. Well maybe it did for them but there were a few other issues that might need to be dealt with. You know, Cedric. Phobos. All of Metamoor. Little things like that. "Good. So... what now?"
"Give us the rebels!" roared an angry voice.
The three of us, having been focused on our conversation, all practically jumped out of our skins.
The speaker was at the head of a group that were alike in only three respects that I could see: they were armed, wearing blue uniforms and had orangy scales. "Those who side with them will suffer the consequences!"
"Can't anyone around here speak without exclaimation marks?" I whined. It had been a long day, I think I was entitled.
Caleb stepped forwards, producing a sword from somewhere inside his coat. "Bow down to your Queen!" he shouted, pointing back at Elyon.
Evidently no one could.
"Get them!" the leader shouted and his men - soldiers I guessed - ran forwards. Some of the rebels, apparently no longer afraid now that they had a princess on their side, also produced weapons and ran forwards to block them from our little group. With others - less bold rebels or simple bystanders who had been drawn to the commotion - trying to get away, the streets around the portal almost instantly reduced themselves to chaos.
"Go and find shelter," Caleb called as he took the lead.
Cornelia had her own idea and the ground began to shake as she called upon her magic. "You can't do this alone!" Suddenly I had an idea of what might have called the palace to collapse, although how that had led to a portal opening was beyond me.
Two rebels jostled me and I was swept away from my companions. No one intended to collide with me, but with the soldiers pushing into the crowd and my being below the eye line of most of the participants of what I could only call a battle, it was almost unavoidable. I did my best to find my way back to Vathek - or at least to Elyon - but when I reached the portal, one of the few places that everyone else was trying to give at least a little space, I couldn't see either of them.
I did hear something interesting though.
"I'm not gonna like, this time the Heart of Kandrakar's made the trip awfully uncomfortable."
That sounded like Irma and for once I was glad to hear her voice.
"Look on the bright side, at least we've arrived now."
And Taranee! A bolt of silvery magic streaked through the air and from the gasp of surprise they couldn't be that far away. I ran to the edge of the pit and dropped to my hands and knees, looking down at them. Sure enough four Guardians were scrambling up out of the portal. "Girls, this way!"
Hay Lin flew up into the air over the portal and then came down to hug me, with the others not so far behind - only limited by not being airborne like her. "You're okay!"
I'd barely got loose of her when Will dragged me into an even more crushing hug. "What did you think you were doing, coming here?" she demanded. "You could have been killed!"
"I was thinking that someone needed to watch Cornelia's back, since none of you would."
Will released me and looked around. "And where is she?"
I hung my head. "We got separated."
'Great job then.' Will didn't actually say the sarcastic words but we both knew that she was thinking them.
"I see her!" Hay Lin called, having taken to the air once more. She directed powerful gust of wind down into the mob, aiming at someone I couldn't see. I missed sitting on Vathek - it gave a much needed perspective.
Will looked in that direction. "Then let's reunite the Guardians. We'll keep you safe, sis'." She extended the Heart of Kandrakar and called out "Earth!" A streamer of green energy swept out from her and Cornelia burst out of the crowd, her magic almost visible as she commanded the ground to dash away the soldiers menacing her and the rebels around her.
Irma grinned at Taranee. "Let's work together!"
The two Guardians clasped hands and then unleashed their power together on one group of soldiers. "An attack today; blows the enemy away!" called out the Water Guardian as the resultant blast of steam hurled the soldiers from their feet and blanketed the area with fog.
Scattered and unable to co-ordinate their efforts, the guards disappeared amid into the far more numerous crowd of the rebels.
"That attack was almost as fierce as your rhyme!" Hay Lin declared as she swooped past. "Wow! I see Elyon!"
"What!" Most of the Guardians whirled, readying themselves to defend against an attack. Instead they - like myself - saw Elyon scrambling beneath the blades of a rebel and a soldier in order to pull the young lizardfolk from earlier out of danger.
"Is that the same girl that locked me away in tower for weeks?" exclaimed Taranee.
"What are you just standing there for?" I demanded and ran forwards in Elyon's direction, ignoring Will's shout to come back.
There were feet chasing after me but I had been moving at an angle to come in from behind the soldier and he hadn't spotted me. The rebel had and he struck fiercely as I ducked down behind the soldier's knees. The blue-uniformed swordsman tried to step back and instead tumbled over me, dropping his sword.
Without the press of combat, the rebel fighter realised who he had been about to stand on and stopped fighting to help Elyon and her charge up.
"Why you!" shouted the soldier, scrabbling for his sword.
"I wouldn't suggest you do that," Taranee told him, putting one foot onto his chest and pushing him down.
The soldier didn't hesitate to close his hand around the hilt but he released it a moment later with a cry of pain. As I stood up I realised that the metal parts of the weapon were almost glowing with heat.
"Don't you know better than to try to hold a hot iron?" the Fire Guardian chided. "Now you can't hold a weapon in that hand until it heals. Maybe you should give up on fighting for Phobos!"
With a scream the soldier turned and fled.
"Thank you," Elyon exclaimed and then she paled as she saw which of the Guardians had assisted us. "Ah, Taranee..."
"I don't have a thing to say to you," the dreadlocked girl told her coldly.
The little blonde gave me an appealing look and I shrugged. "All you did to me was give me a scare and trap me somewhere for a little while. Taranee..."
The princess seemed to cringe in on herself. "I understand."
It seemed even the fiery Taranee wasn't immune to that pathetic look though - or perhaps it was the hateful glare she got from the little kid or the questioning look from the rebel fighter. "Maybe later," she allowed reluctantly. "Right now we have other things to do."
"You're not wrong there."
Honestly though, soldiers around us were already for the most part on the run. They'd looked fearsome enough as a group but once they were scattered the greater numbers of the rebels had swarmed over them one at a time. The ones that hadn't... well, I saw that at least two of them were lying on the cobbled streets and showed no sign of moving. There were rebels down as well although most at least seemed only injured.
"I think the fight's over," Taranee told me.
I pointed at the fallen soldiers. "Is the killing over?"
She shook her head. "You really are like Will, sometimes."
"Let me help," Elyon offered. She pressed her hands together and then gestured upwards. With a sigh a tall platform - a podium, Taranee later called it - shimmered into existence in front of us, complete with stairs up to the top so that we would be able to get up and look over the packed streets.
I scrambled up the steps, Elyon and Taranee following me. From above I could see further and the same story was being played out: the few soldiers remaining were the stubborn ones who'd managed to get themselves up against a wall or some other barrier that prevented them from being overwhelmed from behind. Even they were now being hard pressed - pelted with cobblestones and by gusts of air and waves of water from Irma and Hay Lin. As I watched, Cornelia yanked down part of a wall, half-burying a soldier beneath the rubble.
"Enough!" called out Elyon from beside me.
Heads turned below, people looking up at us.
"The battle is won!" I shouted. "Let the soldiers go, to spread the word."
They hesitated but Elyon pushed aside her dull cloak, revealing the pale dress she wore beneath it. "Do as my friend says!" she ordered. "There has been enough bloodshed."
That swayed them and cheers burst out from the crowd as they backed up and opened space for the remaining soldiers to retreat. A few of the blue-clad Metamoorians stopped to help up fallen soldiers and carry them away but most simply fled for their lives.
A cheer went up from the rebels. "We defeated them!" called one.
He was joined by other glad calls: "Our first victory!" "The first of many!" "The princess gave us strength!"
"H-hold on!" Elyon stammered as everyone turned to look at her after that statement. She scrambled down from platform but before she could reach the ground, hands lifted her up and she was raised up above the crowd by her new followers and supporters. "I'm not sure if..."
"Enjoy the moment," I advised her before I turned to use the stairs myself. Then I felt Taranee's hands against my back for a moment. "What -?"
"You too," she said with a chuckle and pushed me firmly off the podium.
I almost screamed but strong hands caught me and placed me onto a familiar shoulder. "Vathek!?"
The towering warrior gave me a sheepish look. "Maybe you should take your own advice."
"What do you mean?"
"'Enjoy the moment'," he repeated my words from a moment ago. "Three cheers for Elyon, the Light of Meridian!"
Cheers rang out and I saw Elyon blushing furiously at the naked adoration she was receiving. "Please, don't cheer me," she begged. "I've done nothing to deserve it. Cheer for yourselves, or for Caleb and my friends."
That didn't noticeably dissuade them, although it did add Caleb's name and 'The Guardians' to the names being shouted admiringly.
"They're forgetting someone," rumbled Vathek.
I twisted around to look down at him. "Who?"
"You, silly," Cornelia told me. I hadn't seen her approaching us.
"It's kind of hard for them to cheer for someone with no name," I pointed out cheerfully. Given how Elyon was squirming in embarassment at being the centre of attention, I was quite happy to avoid the same fate.
Cornelia simply smiled knowingly. "Oh well we can't have that. It just so happens that I have the perfect name for you."
"What! But you can't pick my name!"
"Do you think any of us chose our names?" she asked me. "Our families gave us our names, and you've had plenty of time to think of one for yourself."
"Yes, but..."
Taranee looked down at Cornelia and I pouted as I realised that the Fire Guardian was using her telepathy to speak to the blonde. "You're right, Cornelia. That is the perfect name for her."
"What are you three talking about?" asked Will as the other Guardians converged on our position.
Cornelia pointed up at me. "Will, I'd like to introduce you to your sister."
"We have met, Cornelia."
"But you've never been introduced," she said with a smile. "Will, meet your sister: Hope Vandom."
I stared dumbfounded down at them. "Hope?"
"It's a good name," Vathek rumbled. "You do seem to bring it with you."
Will nodded decisively. "You're right." She gestured for him to put me down.
"I think I prefer it here," I said warily.
"Whoa, you don't think she means her and Vathek..." Irma murmured to Hay Lin, perhaps louder than she intended.
The smallest of the Guardians shook her head, setting her long pony-tails flicking back and forth. "I think she, Hope, might want to stay here."
Will looked down at the floor. "Please?"
Vathek must have sensed my doubts for he reached up and patted my legs with one of huge hands. "Family can be difficult, but they're usually worth it," he advised and dropped to one knee so that I was closer to the ground.
I slid down - my feet were still some way from the ground and Will stepped forward and caught me around the waist, helping me the rest of the way down. She didn't let go of me, instead pulling me close. "Hello Hope. I'm Will. I hope we can be friends as well as sisters."
"...I'm kind of still learning about friends," I admitted. "And sisters."
Will nodded sympathetically. "Me too. Maybe we can learn together?"
Naturally the fact we were having a moment to ourselves did nothing to stop the rest of the world - this world - from moving on. And it wasn't something insensitive from Irma either. It was someone even more annoying: Cedric.
"Where are you, Your Majesty?" he called out.
I have to give him credit. He was standing there in front of a victorious rebel army - a small one perhaps, but still vastly outnumbering the tiny number of escorts who were with him. It was clear he was not there for violence though. There was no evidence of his giant snakeman persona visible for he was as human in form as he had been in the bookstore and he wore a long turquoise robe not so very different in style from the dress worn by Elyon, along with a long and heavily decorated ceremonial vest and epaulets.
"What is he doing?"
"If he fights here, he loses," Taranee realised. "Elyon would never forgive him for persecuting these people."
Faced not with violence but with courtesy, the rebels lowered Elyon to the ground like chastened children.
Cedric dropped deferentially to one knee. "We've been looking for you for hours," he declared - implicitly dismissing the battle which had just been fought as unworthy of mention. "Your brother is waiting for you at the palace."
Cornelia pushed her way through the crowd to stand by Elyon, the rest of us not far behind.
"Your coronation is near, Elyon," he continued, ignoring us. "And the prince wants to celebrate the occasion properly."
Elyon straightened with sudden confidence. "Yes, I see. Let's go."
We all blinked at the sudden reversal. I'm sure at least half of us braced ourselves to suddenly face her hostility. Vathek had counselled Cornelia and I of how deeply Cedric's influence ran with Elyon.
"Are you serious!?" Cornelia exclaimed out loud.
When Elyon turned to us, however, she was smiling. She took her friend's hands. "Your destiny is on Earth and to guard the veil. Mine is here, to care for my people."
It was entirely clear from Cornelia's sidelong look at Cedric where her concerns lay. "You don't know what you're about to face," she warned.
Elyon simply stepped forwards and threw her arms around the blonde. "Everything will be alright, Cornelia. I will never forget our friendship." They clung to each other for a moment before stepping back.
"Good luck," I mouthed to Elyon, past Cornelia's shoulder. "And be careful."
That earned me a nod of acknowledgement from her before she walked, tall and proud towards Cedric. The man and his elite soldiers fell in behind her, whether by plan or simply wrong-footed I couldn't tell.
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
Cornelia was talking to Caleb, with an eager and almost discreet audience in the form of Irma, Hay Lin and Taranee.
Will and I had other things to talk about.
"Are you coming home with us?" she asked awkwardly. "I'm sure Vathek would look after you if you stayed."
I had to admit it was tempting in some ways. Although, having made use of a Metamoorian toilet, not in others. There would be freedom here. Danger, yes. But it wasn't as if my life in Heatherfield was all that safe. "I'd miss you. And Mom."
"She'd miss you too. You're pretty much the daughter she wants, you know."
"What!?"
Will folded her arms. "You're brighter than I am. I could never have written a report like you did. You do all your chores, you're tidy..."
"I'm easily bored." I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets. "And you're the one that she loves."
My sister shook her head. "That's just because she hasn't got to know you."
"Will she ever?"
"I hope so," she told me. "When this is over. Maybe Miss Rudolph can help us get papers for you."
I wrapped my arms around myself. "She'll probably be furious with me. With us, I suppose."
"I know." Will hung her head. "But please, come back with us, give her a chance. Give me a chance. I shouldn't have gone off swimming like that, when you were at school. I was just so mad at Mom about the swimming team and Elyon tricked me."
"Elyon? What did she have to do with it?" I asked in surprise. "I thought Vera was the one who invited you out."
"There wasn't really a Vera at all - it was all Elyon in disguise. She was encouraging me just to get me away from everyone else. She even broke my phone so I didn't know you were trying to get to me. If Irma hadn't turned up at the pool, she'd have drowned me!"
I covered my mouth in shock. Drowning, the way I almost had when I came here. Had Elyon really tried to do that? "That's what she meant! She apologised earlier for something but didn't say what for."
"Well it'd have been nice if she'd apologised to me! Or to Taranee!"
"Did she get the chance?" I rubbed at my face. "Oh I don't know. She's done all this but whenever I've been around she's been mostly... well, she knocked me out and imprisoned me, but she's never seemed to actually want to hurt anyone."
Will sighed. "I suppose she might have wanted to capture me, not kill me. She'd conjured up a huge water snake. I couldn't even get loose to transform."
"I was afraid that something like that had happened - that Cedric had you locked up somewhere or... or..."
Will hugged me again. "I wish I could promise you that it was all going to be okay, but we know so little about this..."
"Well we know more now."
There was a squeal from Hay Lin that forced us to pay attention to something beyond the two of us.
"And here I was thinking Cornelia was cold and rational," Taranee gasped.
"But she's the exact opposite!" Hay Lin declared, pressing her clasped hands against one cheek as she watched Caleb give Cornelia a silvery flower. "Ah, looooove!"
"Well... he is a pretty cool guy."
"Oh?" Irma asked eagerly. "Spill the gossip! Does Cornelia have a rival?"
"Get real," I told her. "You think I'd try getting between these two? Cornelia would take my arm off and Caleb probably wouldn't even notice me. Mind you, if they weren't attached..." I paused and then nudged Will with one elbow. "...no, never mind, that'd mean leaving Matt to you. Couldn't do that to the poor boy."
She hung her head. "I think he's got a girlfriend already."
"What!?" explained Irma. "No way. I've not heard anything about that."
"She's older. Way older, with like a car and stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "All she did was ask you to give him a note for her."
"You didn't see the note!" she insisted. "They've probably been engaged for years or something like that!"
I wasn't in the mood for more drama so I changed the subject. "Here comes Cornelia."
There was something very melancholy about the way that Caleb stood alone and watched her walk away from him and towards us. I'd seen boys at school watch Cornelia walk away before, and that was when she appeared much younger and was certainly much more conservatively dressed. This was different though. It was almost painful to watch.
"Ehm... we can go now," Cornelia said hesitantly as she reached us, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"But surely we should get some more information," Taranee disagreed.
"I think you should tell us more about your friend there," added Will with a teasing note in her voice.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.