The Magic Lands

CHAPTER SIXTEEN • CARTER

I sat on the dry grass next to Harlina's broken staff she had been defeated and all of the people she froze around us started to come back to life. The looked around at first but then realized what had happened and one woman spoke up. "They have done it! Harlina is gone!" She said and a thunderous cheer came up around Katie, Valire and I.

But just thinking of her name caused me to looked down a her and there she was laying on the ground, still in her horse form. "It was supposed to go back to normal. The other spell was broken!" Katie said, I could see tear in her eyes as she looked at Valerie laying infront of her.

I kneeled down beside Valerie as well and put my hand on her shoulder. Was she gone, or just going to have to live out the rest of her life as a pegasus? Katie had let a few tears go and hugged Valerie around her neck. But just as a few of the men and woman on their horses started to get off. Valerie started to rise from the ground.

She wasn't standing up, or using her wings she was just floating. A white light surrounded her and in a flash the light was gone and Valerie was laying on the grass once again, but this time she wasn't a horse.

She groaned as she tryed to sit up and once she was sitting she looked around at everyone that was surrounding her. "What happened?" She said rubbing the side of her head with two fingers. The she took her hand down and looked at it. "Wait, I am back!" She exclaimed and the rest of the crowd cheered. Katie and I hugged her and helped her up. Once she was standing you could get a better look at what she was wearing.

It was a beautiful white dress with long sleeves and a ruffled long skirt. The skirt had layers of material and at the waist there were white feathers that hung down and acted as a belt. They layered over each other and made the dress even more complete.

"So what should we do with the staff?" Katie asked and held it up.

"Maybe throw it over the edge of the island?" Valerie said. My guess is she was still mad that she got turned into a horse in the first place. Then I had an idea.

"Or, we could give it to the villagers. They could keep it locked up and safe." I said and Katie and Valerie thought about it.

"Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea." Valerie said and Katie nodded.

"Alright let's go give the staff to the General."I said and we walked over, Valerie looked relived to be on two legs again. "Keep this locked up in the village somewhere, so nobody can use it again." I told him and he grasped the two pieces of the staff.

"Good decision, we will find a place for it." He said and stowed it away in a pack that he had on his horse. The horse neighed to Valerie and she rolled her eyes.

"No, I am not interested in you!" She said to the horse and the General, Katie and I all looked at each other and shrugged.

"Alright you three, you can go back to the army men in training and catch a ride with them. We will ride fast back to Farlidon so you can get home." He said and we jogged back to Peter and his friends, which made up most of the army men in training. I hitched a ride with Peter, Katie got on with the Arnold looking guy, and Valerie got on with some girl. She was kind of short and had a pixie cut.

The General rode to the front of the mob and we galloped back to the village. "You really did it Carter! Now Elicta is free." Peter said to me and I smiled.

"It was a team effort." I told him truthfully and he smiled too. We reached the village quickly and once we did, everyone who had been left behind came to us cheering.

We hopped off and went to grab our things. Valerie tagged along because she didn't have anything in the stable.

"That's quite the impressive dress Valerie." Katie said and Valerie laughed.

"And this is quite the impressive house, compared to the stable." He said and we all laughed a bit. Katie had her old clothes and Camera and I just had my old clothes. We walked back down the village but before we could get back to the General a little mob of kids came over.

"Do you know where the pegasus is?" One of the kids asked me and Valerie tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, that was me." She said and they all smiled. All at once they hugged Valerie around her legs and Valerie laughed. "They are cute kids." She said to us and we both laughed. I guess she had finally warmed up to them.

•••

We arrived to the portal in no time. Where it all began. We hopped off the horses we had rode with and the people who had rode with us said goodbye.

"Thank you all." The General said as he patted his horse on the neck. We all smiled at him and then faced the portal.

"Are you ready?" Katie asked and Valerie and I nodded in return. We took each other's hands and stepped into the portal. This time we went right through, not being bounced back.