“I can give you anything you want, name it,” Beatrice negotiated with Tracy. Beatrice was so desperate, but she concealed it perfectly. She couldn’t wait to take over the kingdom. .
Tracy thought about it, she had nothing to lose, this enchantress wasn’t even asking for something much, just a little of her blood. If giving her a little of her blood would make her rise above her sister, then so be it.
Beatrice smiled inwardly when she saw how Tracy was thinking about the offer she gave her. She knew Tracy would agree to her request because Tracy was greedy, and Tracy also foolishly thought that her blood was a little price to pay. Oh! Tracy didn’t know what was coming.
“Fine, I’ll give you my blood in exchange for rising above my sister and ruling the kingdom,” Tracy accepted.
Agnes was so happy when she heard Tracy agreeing. She almost jumped up but refrained herself from doing so. Finally, she was going to have a taste of what royalty was and Tracy would be under her feet, or she could even make Tracy her slave.
******
Tracy noticed how excited Agnes was. She couldn’t understand why Agnes was this happy.
“You seem very excited. Is there something I need to know?”
“I’m just so excited we are going home, that’s all”
They were supposed to journey a long distance before they got to Fairy Paradise, but Beatrice surprised Tracy by opening a portal and when they all stepped into the portal, they found themselves at the back entrance of Fairy Paradise.
“Woooow!” Tracy screamed in astonishment. The enchantress was really powerful beyond what she even thought. Tracy initially has been thinking of how tiresome it was to journey that far, but thankfully the enchantress has made things easy for them.
“It’s time for the ritual, Tracy come forth and offer your blood.”
Tracy looked at Agnes for some kind of reassurance and Agnes nodded, smiling warmly.
Beatrice stood ahead of them, so Tracy stepped forward to where Beatrice stood. Tracy shivered at the sight of the sharp knife Beatrice brought out. She was scared, no doubt, all her life she never got injured, the soldiers always made sure no harm came to her and her sister. So seeing this knife was terrifying.
Tracy told herself to endure the pain that will come from having her hand slit because it was just a temporary pain, and it will yield a lot of good result.
Tracy stretched out her hand to Beatrice and closed her eyes, Beatrice took Tracy’s hand and smiled evilly. Tracy felt an electrifying pain when the knife slit her hand, she bit her lower lips to prevent herself from screaming out in pain.
Beatrice took a calabash and used it to collect the drops of blood that kept flowing from Tracy’s hand.
Beatrice began an inaudible enchantment. Her eyes were dark, her lips moved, but no words came out. Suddenly, a high magical wall of protection that surrounded the kingdom became visible. Beatrice stretched her hand that held the calabash to Agnes and Agnes collected it from her carefully.
Beatrice started to laugh evilly, and that startled Tracy. The wall of protection disappeared and Beatrice, thinking it was broken, tried stepping a foot close to the entrance, but before she could say Jack Harrison, she felt a force throwing her backwards. What happened? What went wrong? Beatrice repeated the process over and over again, and the same thing kept happening. She couldn’t get it. What was happening? What was she not doing right? Beatrice was so embarrassed and felt pained that Tracy was presently watching her failed attempts. Will Tracy still believe that she was powerful after seeing her failed attempts?
Tracy kept looking at the enchantress in a suspicious manner. How sure was she that this enchantress was powerful as she claimed? This was like a thousand times the enchantress kept trying to cast a spell, and it never worked.
Agnes watched as her mistress failed attempts to break the spell. Agnes sighed in frustration, it was the umpteenth time and still, nothing had happened. Then a thought came to Agnes’s mind.
“Mistress, why not sprinkle the blood and try the spell again?” Agnes asked.
Beatrice looked at her and thought for a while. What Agnes just said made sense, maybe sprinkling the blood would make a difference.
Beatrice sprinkled the blood and started chanting the spell all over again. The wall of protection began visible once again and at the end of chanting the spell,
“tttssssssh!” The wall of protection made a sound that was only heard by the three of them, and finally, it dissolved.
“Yes!” Beatrice didn’t know when she screamed and jumped in excitement.
*******
Sabastine sat hopelessly on his bed. He looked very leaned and malnourished due to the disappearance of his daughter. He was dejected. Life was being drained from him. He missed Tracy so much and Ariella on the other hand cried night and day, constantly falling sick.
Sabastine has sent very skilled soldiers to search for Tracy and still no sign of her. It was hard on him, first it was losing his wife, now it was his daughter. Life wasn’t fair to him at all.
“My king, the elders are waiting for you in the meeting room,” His personal guard announced to him.
“I’ll join them soon,” Sabastine said, the guard bowed and left. Sabastine already knew what the elders wanted to say; they were going to bring up the topic of choosing his heir apparent.
Sabastine sluggishly dressed up and went to meet the elders. All the elders stood up and bowed the moment the king stepped in. It was after the king was seated that the elders finally took their seat.
“To what do I owe this gathering, elders?” King Sabastine asked, pretending not to know their intentions.
“My king, we know your first daughter is missing, and we deeply sympathize with you. However, it’s time to make your heir apparent known, and we cannot keep waiting for her at the expense of the future of the kingdom. So we came here to plead with you to make your second child your heir apparent,” An elder stood up and spoke on behalf of the rest
“No way! That’s not happening. How could you all be so wicked? If it were to be your daughter who went missing, would you spill out words you spoke now? Would you be happy? I will not take the throne from my sister, who is missing until she’s found. Yes! She’s the heir apparent to the throne and only her has the right to sit on that throne after my father. I’m sure she’s not dead like you all think she is,” Ariella who was eavesdropping on their conversation lashed out at the elder who spoke and all the elders bowed their heads in shame.
“Regardless of her being the first child, you are the chosen heir, and only you will be the one who would ascend that throne and Not even you can stop that from happening!” The prophet’s voice echoed in the room. When did he enter? Ariella opened her mouth to talk but,
“Hahahahahahahaha! Well! Well!! Well!!!, look what we’ve got here,” Beatrice voice loudly echoed, stopping Ariella from speaking and the room darkened.
Sabastine stood up in shock when he saw Beatrice, so just as Ariel said, Beatrice was alive. Seeing Beatrice was a huge shock to the prophet and the elders as well. The prophet knew Tragedy was coming, but he never knew it was a Tragedy of this magnitude.
“How did Beatrice break the spell?” They all wondered inwardly. They all knew about the spell the Queen cast years ago.
Ariella was also afraid, this strange woman was the same person she saw in her dreams.
Ariella spotted Tracy and Agnes behind the woman, and all her fears disappeared. Tracy was alive and that was all that mattered to her.
“Tracy!” Ariella screamed happily and flew to Tracy. “Ariella, don’t touch me.” Tracy immediately rebuked her sister with hatred.
It finally dawned on them all that Tracy offered her blood to Beatrice, but in exchange for what?
“We are in trouble.” Daisy, who was also present but, has been quiet all along, exclaimed in a whisper.
The elders, one after the other, scampered away in fear, leaving the king and the prophet alone to face Beatrice. Beatrice laughed loudly in amusement, those elders were fair – weather people, they only wanted to benefit and not to ever suffer.
“What do you want from my kingdom?” Sabastine roared angrily at Beatrice. How could she use his daughter as a bait to get him? He’ll deal with Agnes, who was her accomplice. He wasn’t a weak king and would never let Beatrice win.
“Is that how you welcome a guest, Sabastine? Don’t you miss me? It’s been a long time, why don’t we eat and drink to our satisfaction to celebrate our reunion?”
“I’d rather dine with the devil than you, Beatrice!”