Glynnis (Empire of Oz series, #1)

Glynnis by Ellie Bernard - Chapter One

                                                                                        For: Shaun Patrick

                                                                                         Who always knew

                                                                                        Because he used his

                                                                                             Very able brain...

"There are perhaps no days of our childhood that we lived as fully as those we imagined we had not lived at all; those we spent with a beloved book."   ~Marcel Proust

About the Author

Ellie Bernard fell in love with the Bard a very long time ago, and wouldn't you know it just goes to show that writing for fun isn't that hard!

Preface

        Much to her chagrin, a young witch found herself trapped at the bottom of a very damp well.  Frantic, she looked up towards the well's opening and her heart filled with dread.

        A pink-eyed witch peered from over the ledge and snickered at the young witch below.

        "Look what I've caught!" she hissed, her pink eyes glaring with hatred as she smoothed her hands over the well's dainty silver bucket.  "Coo-ee-oh!  Coo-ee-oh!  Coo-ee-oh!" she suddenly yelled, hoisting the bucket over her head and pitching it down the well, aiming directly for the trapped young witch.

        Naturally, the young witch below dove into a corner of the well's floor in an attempt to protect herself.  She needn't have worried, however, for as if by magic the now-cursed silver bucket reversed its downward course and exploded back up the well having transformed itself into a geyser of sparkling rubies.

        "What...?" whispered the pink-eyed witch , shocked and dazzled by the ruby brilliance now shooting out of the well.  A greedy smile stretched across her face and the pink-eyed witch hastily began to claw at the rubies, trying to clutch them in her evil grasp.  The rubies, however, would have none of her and they disappeared into thin air the moment she touched them.

        Fearful realizations began to swell within the pink-eyed witch, for she knew this was a magic that could not be overthrown.  Abandoning her plot to poison a much-needed water source, she began to tip-toe quietly away from the well.  Her stealthy flight was interrupted, however, as a ferocious wind suddenly blew her backwards and pinned her firmly against the well.

        Thus immobilized, the pink-eyed witch could only shudder and scream as she saw a sturdy farmhouse hurl itself towards her.  With no spell at her command to stop whirling winds and flying houses, she was killed instantly and the once-flowing crystalline well was completely crushed.  All that appeared to remain in this place of surprise and destruction was a pair of legless feet shod in fanciful shoes.

        For unbeknownst to all the peoples in this land of Oz, there lay a young witch at the bottom of the well.  She is alive, though unconscious, from all the falling rock.  Her name is Glynnis and she is the hapless younger sister of Glinda.