Magicae: Magic

Chapter Seventeen: Ivy Sapphire: Persuasion

Everyone but Ginger goes limp beside me as Leila fires something from her little machine. Sleeping gas. Ginger and I are protected by our dust and Leila and her twins have something on protecting them. I watch the gas exit the palace and it goes out the door and into the world. Leila walks outside and I follow her. She whistles, and her two dragons come. She hops on the male while her twins hop onto the female. I hover with them as Ginger takes some water from the fountain below us. I follow her lead and allow the water to slither around my arm in a snake form. Just as the dragons are about to breathe fire, I thrust the water snake into the male dragon's mouth while Ginger thrusts her water into the other dragon's mouth, making it impossible for either of the dragons to breathe fire for a while. The Savvys glare at us but Leila quickly grins.

"You're pathetic, really," Leila says, circling us. "You'll never even bruise me, just like your mother."

I flick my arm, summoning fire, and throw it at Leila, partially burning her. Leila coughs before nodding to her twins. They get onto the cloud and begin walking inside the palace while I dive after them, grabbing the back of their shirts. Cassandra kicks me in the knee and, startled, I drop them, and they charge inside, locking the door.

"You and me," Leila says, smirking

"How did you get that sleeping gas?" I can't help but ask her.

"Made it," she slaps her dragon as she says that and before I can move he spins around in a circle, his tail smacking my chest.

I tumble to the ground, the event having happened too quickly for me to react. I don't become unconscious, but I've fallen into the woods. I fall onto a nearby tree, and get scratched by a ton of branches. I wipe all of the blood away and fly back up, my wings slightly crimson from blood.

As I fly back up, slowly, making sure I don't do something stupid, I see the twins at the corner of my eyes coming back outside. I take a deep breath, and reach my hands outward, creating another bubble, this time taking all of Leila's machines into consideration, with a sort of magnet involved.

"You've been in power for too long, Leila. It's long past time the true queen returned," I say slowly, raising the bubble above me.

Leila and her twins, who are now on the same dragon, smirk.

"I see you're still a problem. Just like your mother, you just don't know when to die! Well, now you'll get what you deserve!" Leila whistles, and all the creatures from before come from behind her. While she had all of the magical dust she must have taught them to come at a whistle.

Shit I remind myself. I can't fucking whistle so that's not going to end well if I try.

Then some flying lion like creature—a manticore I believe—flies right past my face, claws unsheathed. Not prepared, the claws rake my face. Blood dripping, I wipe my face of blood again, and the bubble pops. There are two creatures behind the manticore: a basilisk and a griffin. Most of the other creatures are below in the water, but they can't hit me from up here. What could a mermaid or a sea serpent do to somebody over 50 feet up? Besides, from what I've heard, those creatures are usually in the water. Regardless, I raise my hands up again, using a spell I read from the book, and create a huge spear, that's at least five feet long. I stab the manticore in the stomach from below, ignoring all of the blood that drips onto me. It falls, and I use a spell to push the dead body into the forest, where it can't hurt anybody. I see Ginger out of the corner of my eye, her fur matted with dry and wet blood, and she appears to be fighting the griffin with her own claws.

"DUCK!" I scream at Ginger, chucking the spear at the griffin.

Ginger moves out of the way just in time, the spear snagging the edge of her tail for a split second, but not hitting any actual flesh. It hits the griffin in the eye, and blood falls everywhere, splattering houses and rivers below. At least Leila put everyone under a sleeping spell, so nobody gets covered in blood and is awake to realize it.

I fly over to the falling griffin, grabbing my spear, the eye coming out with it. Wincing at the gore, I send the griffin in the same direction as the manticore.

"Ah, I see, you're very clever Little Miss Perfect, but how would you like it if you had even more persuasion?" Leila smirks.

She whistles a different sort of whistle from the one a while back, and the twins eagerly leap off the dragon and onto the palace cloud. They go inside, and a minute or so later, return with a few limp bodies and a fence post. The tie all of the bodies together with a rope, put the post at the edge of the palace cloud, and tie the rope to the post. After blinking for a couple of seconds, I recognize everyone: Lily, Lana, Nari, Snapdragon, Ally, Holly, Daisy, Kendall, and Jade. My Jade. My oh so precious and lo...ANYWAY Leila is a bitch and she has me where she wants me. Fuck Leila.

"Uh..." I don't comment more then that, but stab the basilisk with my spear and remove the griffin eye. Ginger moves the basilisk and I stare at everyone. The twins slap them into consciousness, and they scream as they, one by one, realize where they are and what's going on. They see Ginger and I, covered in blood, and plead for help, but I'm stuck.

"Wh-What's the deal?"

"They're saved, Magicae is mine and my children's and their children's forever and you are forbidden from stopping us. Or we continuing fighting, and I will inevitably win, and your friends fall to their deaths one by one, unable to stop it. I have rendered their "family talents" useless, and if you dare help, it will not end well. So what's your choice, princess?"

"DON'T SURRENDER!" Lily screams.

"KEEP FIGHTING!" Lana yells.

"FIGHT FOR US!" Nari cries.

"WE WILL FIGHT WITH YOU THROUGH YOU!" Ally shouts.

"YOU HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING!" Snapdragon howls.

"WE UNDERSTAND!" Holly yowls.

"JUST END IT QUICKLY!" Kendall hollers, attempting to comfort Daisy.

Only Jade stays silent. She hangs her head. She sighs, "Ivy, I..."

"Yes?"

"I...I have always—"

"ANSWER!" Leila roars, interrupting Jade.

There's a long silence.

"Alright then, to help you along, one of your friends will drop at random now," Leila says, looking through the different people. "Just release one, children. I cannot choose for I said 'random.' "

The twins gleefully stare at the people they are taunting with death.

And there is another long silence.

Silent as night. Silent as an empty home. Silent as a hopeless world. Silent as the tears in my eyes. All is silent.

Then, there is a breath.

Then more silence, more silent than the previous silence. This silence is one of the dead. So eerie that you cannot speak, even if you wish to.

"I think we shall drop the dragon one. The one who likes to snap at us," Cassandra says after a little bit, and with a small push from Cassandra, Snapdragon starts to fall.

I instinctively start chasing after her, but Leila smirks.

"Tsk tsk, princess, if you interfere the consequences will be severe," Leila reminds me.